Must Have 4* Characters

eaise

As someone in the 3*-4* Transition I'd like to get as many opinions as possible on what 4* are must haves (or top 10). I know there are some lists already out there but with new releases and patches to old characters those lists are outdated.

So who do you think are the top ten 4*? (Assume for this list I have no 5* characters but I do have all 3* characters). Also if you'd like to state why you think a particular character deserves to be top 10 that's be awesome. But just a list of names is cool too.

Pylgrim

https://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=52712

Second to last paragraph of the OP. The whole thread is a good read too.

Orion

If you're looking for a top 10, I can give you mine in no particular order...

Iceman
Hulkbuster
Jean Grey
Nova
Cyclops
Red Hulk
Peggy
Punisher
Thor

Ok, that's 9. 10 is Deadpool? X23? I don't know, it's really who you like and have covered at that point. Most people consider the top 8 on that list the top tier and Thor, Deadpool and X23 the second tier.

eaise

Pylgrim wrote:

https://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=52712

Second to last paragraph of the OP. The whole thread is a good read too.

Orion wrote:

If you're looking for a top 10, I can give you mine in no particular order...

Iceman
Hulkbuster
Jean Grey
Nova
Cyclops
Red Hulk
Peggy
Punisher
Thor

Ok, that's 9. 10 is Deadpool? X23? I don't know, it's really who you like and have covered at that point. Most people consider the top 8 on that list the top tier and Thor, Deadpool and X23 the second tier.

Thank you both! This is very helpful info!

Lytes420

I totally agree with Orion's top 9,as well as his mention of x-23 and deadpool as just below them in 2nd tier.i would also count quake,moon knight and Kate bishop as high 2nd tier characters as well.quake is a top ten for pve with her passive that laughs at tommy guns and kishus.moon knight and Kate are very good damage dealers,especially when boosted.you can't go wrong with any of those 14 characters.

spectator

As a transistioner, your token luck will generally decide who you end up levelling first anyway. Also top ten list may not take into account transitioner rosters. A well established roster will be running multiple four stars together while you will most likely run them with a three star, mainly awesome accelerators such as im40 and sw

Polares

Orion wrote:

If you're looking for a top 10, I can give you mine in no particular order...

Iceman
Hulkbuster
Jean Grey
Nova
Cyclops
Red Hulk
Peggy
Punisher
Thor

Ok, that's 9. 10 is Deadpool? X23? I don't know, it's really who you like and have covered at that point. Most people consider the top 8 on that list the top tier and Thor, Deadpool and X23 the second tier.

I agree with that list too, top8 is very clear. Then MoonK is also in the next tier ( very good when buffed ) with thor and deadpool, he has completely replaced x23 in that tier for me. I have Kate also champed but I have not played with her a lot, but I suspect she can be there too.

MoonK, Peggy, Punisher and Iceman play really well also with OML and PH.

For PvE I would also add ProfX, for a 3 to 4 transitioner, Charlies Angels is still very reliable in PvE.

GrumpySmurf1002

Polares wrote:

For PvE I would also add ProfX, for a 3 to 4 transitioner, Charlies Angels is still very reliable in PvE.

He's good 5/5/3 while transitioning, after which he's really good 355, especially boosted.

Orion

spectator wrote:

As a transistioner, your token luck will generally decide who you end up levelling first anyway. Also top ten list may not take into account transitioner rosters. A well established roster will be running multiple four stars together while you will most likely run them with a three star, mainly awesome accelerators such as im40 and sw

4*s who work well with 3*s should be a priority. Jean Grey works great with SWitch, and Thor and Iceman are spectacular with IM40.

TetsujinOni

Remember this fundamental when evaluating my observations: My roster is weird. 11 cover OML, 4 covers in SS and BSS, and 2 champed 4*s. Dumping iso into PunMax and RHulk next because they've covers in queue.

The priority order for leveling 4*s is: does it prevent you wasting a cover on a 4* you'll use?
Does it let you win their DDQ CoTT

What you'll be able to use depends on whether you get a usable 5* or not. Usable happens at different cover coverage for different 5*s who aren't named Old Man Logan. He's useful from 0/1/0 and somewhat from 0/0/1...

And the RNG of cover awards determines more about what you'll be able to use, followed by ISO income constraints.

Vhailorx

spectator wrote:

As a transistioner, your token luck will generally decide who you end up levelling first anyway. Also top ten list may not take into account transitioner rosters. A well established roster will be running multiple four stars together while you will most likely run them with a three star, mainly awesome accelerators such as im40 and sw

This is a good point.

For transitioners, true healing characters are significantly more valuable, since transitioners don't have deep rosters to mix and match, but do face 4* scaling. So x23 and xpool may be "only" high tier 2 characters, but they are also excellent first 4*s to champ (this is even true of xfw, though his healing is a bit hard to use and he is quite squishy for a 4*).

Also pay attention to 3* pairings. One reason the top tier 4*s are top tier is that they all work very well when battery powered. And most of the best batteries in the game are still 3*s. So IM40 (iceman, cyclops, 4thor, peggy) or Iron First (imhb, nova, punmax), or Switch (rulk, jg), are also especially useful to transitioners, since they will frequently be running 3*/4* mixed teams anyway. If you have iron fist champed, but are still building switch, then put more priority on covering IMHB and Punmax. But in any event, everyone building a 3* roster should have IM40, iron fist, and swtich covered and champed as soon as possible. Don't delay on those three for just about any reason.

amusingfoo1

For me, the top three are, in alphabetical order only, Iceman, Peggy, and Punisher.

The ones I see just below them (in order of best to worst) are Red Hulk (a one-trick pony, for sure, but oh, what a trick), Cyclops (rewards careful play generously), Kate (she hits hard), Hulkbuster (all roads lead to red), and Jean (queen of AoE).

Rounding out the top-10, I see (again, purely in alphabetical order) Nova (almost another one-trick pony) and Quake (love her flexibility).

But to return to must-haves, XPool is a must-have for the 5* transition. Not sure he has a lot of value outside of that, but he just kills it there (literally and figuratively).

OzarkBoatswain

#1 Peggy, absolutely super powered.
2. Iceman for his stun alone
3-5. Cyclops, Red Hulk, Iron Man HB -- all batteries + users
6. Jean Grey
7. Pun

It looks like Star-Lord will be entering the top tier too. I'd say Prof X is also a must-have for his winfinite teams.

jobob

First... you didn't specify PVP or PVE... I'm going to assume PVP, because generally if a character is useful in PVP, it translates well to PVE, but the reverse isn't true.

If we are talking "Must-Haves," you aren't going to necessarily get them all at once. Since a lot of the top 10 fall into Blue/Black/Red or Green/Purple users, I think it's a "Must" to have one from each category to form a solid pair.

Blue/Black/Red:
4 Clops
Peggy
IMHB*
Nova*

Pink/Green:
Rulk
JG
Iceman*

(rounding out the Top tier is Maxie)

...So focus 2 of those (one of each) first. Iceman and Nova/IMHB are a little different, because IMHB best colors are actually Red/Black, Nova doesn't use Blue, and Ice's best is actually Blue/Green. So they combo a little differently. Anyone from that first list will pair well with anyone from the second list.

So you need to think in terms of best Combos. JG and Rulk are both Top 10... but they share the same active colors, and have a passive, so you don't want to focus on them first.


It's hard to rank them, because it changes based on partner, the feature, and if they are boosted. But those are the "Super 8" in the top tier:

IMHB
Nova
Maxie
Iceman
JG
Rulk
4Clops
Peggy

The next tier is harder to define, because you start to get characters that are more specialized. But I would say the ones just below that are:

Kate
MK
GT

jobob

Ozark Boatswain wrote:

It looks like Star-Lord will be entering the top tier too. I'd say Prof X is also a must-have for his winfinite teams.

Disagree on SL until I see him in action. I think he will be a force against goon PVE, just like Cage... but I'm not sure he be top tier in PVP. I'm not saying he won't, but it's hard to judge beforehand.

Also, I agree that PX Winfinite is an important tool in the 3->4* transition. He's a different type of "must have" though, because you only need 5 covers, and don't really need many levels.

broll

Thanks for this guys. As another soon to be transitioning this is great info. Right now I'm at 32/40 3* champed and my highest 4* have 10 covers. Out of this list of must haves:
HB 5/2/3
Jean Grey 4/1/2
Peggy 1/2/4
Punisher 3/2/2
Thoress 0/3/3
Nova 5/0/0 -_-
Red Hulk 2/2/1
Ice Man 0/3/1

Another questions I had related. Since I may get to a point where I don't have any 4*s championable when it's transition time is there a soft cap level to level 4*s up to. So that they can start being used in conjunction with some 3* and more useful when essentials?

TxMoose

broll wrote:

Another questions I had related. Since I may get to a point where I don't have any 4*s championable when it's transition time is there a soft cap level to level 4*s up to. So that they can start being used in conjunction with some 3* and more useful when essentials?

that depends on where the top of your 3s are. I'm guessing 180ish would be fine for your hb and jean. your hb with 5 red can be used as is to fill a red slot. that is his main ability and his others feed it (black is equally good, but useless without red covered). any other red feeders can be used with him, although guys like cyke and im40 have great reds on their own. one more purple on your jean and she'll be very useful in pve with witch. I still use my jean for goon nodes - even into level 300+. I'd guess peggy will be useful with a 5th blue but mine just hit 5 blue and I don't have much experience with her. her blue sounds really strong. the rest probably have some work to do before they'd be beneficial at all. and definitely don't take the 4s beyond where your 3s are until they are finished (or mostly finished - example jean or hb at 5/1/5 or 5/2/5).

Roland113

Thank you for starting this thread, I'll be watching it closely as I'm in a similar position.

Thank you also to everyone that is giving advice here.