Cons to champing 2*?

Erndiese

1st Thanks for the replies to my previous post, the 2nd KK cover ended up being in place of a 3rd OBW cover, as I now have 2 more OBW covers in my queue which would bring her to 13, which brings me to my next question.

In words:

The following is for 2* - I currently have Daken and classic storm at 13 covers, Daken has 5 covers in my queue with 1 expiring in about a day, classic storm has 2. I also have Thor @ 12 covers with enough covers to max +3 extra in the queue and he sits with 5 at the moment so not the optimal build. I also have OBW @ 11 covers with 2 in my queue that would bring her to 5 3 5 again not ideal, but if I champ her which I understand would only require to bring her to max level, I could change the build right away. Please correct if I am misunderstanding how it works, do I need a 14th cover to champ and change her build?
My roster is in my sig below but I do not have a 3* with more than 4 covers which would bring them to level 55 or another 2* with more than 9 covers which would bring them to 62. I also have enough to do that as well.

TL;DR
2* -
Thor 12 covers +4 in queue (currently 5 )
cStorm 13 covers +2 in queue (+1 more in Prologue)
Daken 13 covers +5 in queue
OBW 11 covers +2 in queue (would make 5 3 5 )
next highest has 9 covers so max level 65
3* -
2 with 4 covers so max level 55
roster in sig

I have enough to bring all 4 to level 94, but given the rest of my roster lagging behind I was concerned that would effectively leave me with only 4 useable characters given scaling/MMR.

Is this accurate and if so, do pros outweigh cons or vice versa? My understanding is that 2* covers are common enough where selling them would not set my progress back much, but not having enough useable toons could or at least make the game less enjoyable/harder/more time consuming. Hulk has felt like a slog even with Vision, with 1st 4 clears taking >2 hours as is.

Are there downsides that I am not thinking of? If I do champ them should I do them all at once or 1 by 1? Will I be able to change OBW build right away?

TIA

carrion_pigeons

Champing 2*s is great. In the long term it's a slight loss of Iso (in the short term it's a significant Iso inefficiency), but it makes up for that by accelerating you through pretty much every other part of the game.

And yeah, you can respec your characters immediately after champing.

Pope Belligerent

You do not need a 14th cover to champ and respec. You can do that on 13 covers, and the 14th cover will give you your first champ reward: a heroic token. And the moment you champ you can respec, so you could fix your OBW and Thor builds

I'm not an expert on scaling, but I don't think champing those 2*s is going to hurt you too badly, especially since Storm, Thor and OBW are all very useful 2*s.

I would advise champing at least Thor, Storm and OBW. Champed 2*s are a great source of HP and 3* covers, and the way your roster looks right now you'll really benefit from being able to respec them and grow them past their current level caps.

abominatrix

The other posters have advocated for champing your 2*, and I agree, but I think it's more important than just the rewards. I think the reason you're finding Hulk to be a slog is precisely because you haven't bumped your 2* to 94+.

Your Vision is going to show up as level 138 boosted, your Loki and doom at about 126 boosted. This is going to determine your scaling, which is unfortunate since they're so under-covered that it'll be a slog at best.

Let's say, instead, that you take your 2* to 94+. All of the sudden, the boosted Thor is now level 150 or so, and while the other champed 2* won't replace Vision in the scaling calculation (you're a bit unlucky with which 2* are champed this time around), you'll find that their increased damage will make up for it. Scaling is based on the highest level characters on your roster AFTER boosting is accounted for, so you want your best characters controlling that calculation.

The game is based on getting groups of characters fully covered and champed. You have a group of characters ready to champ, there is no downside to doing so.

If I were in your shoes, I'd do the following:
a. Sell all 1* on your roster except for Jugs and perhaps your 0/5 Widow (alliance-mates always like getting a 5 cover blue Widow Team-up). Use the slots to roster 3* as you pull them; there are many guides on the forums for pointers as to the best ones. I have never regretted getting Jugs to level 40, although it's not really required. If you don't like Jugs, pick one you're comfortable playing the first round of DDQ every day and stick with it; even Yelena can clear that one.
b. Focus on champing as many 2* as you can stomach. The champion rewards are good, and since there are always 3 boosted 2* in every PVE event (1 essential and 2 boosted), having them all champed means you control the scaling.
c. This might be a bit more controversial, but open all tokens EXCEPT for legendary tokens (and just hold onto CP for now). This will give you more 2* & 3* covers, as well as the occasional 4* that you can decide to roster or sell. Legendary tokens can wait for a few months until after you start championing 3* characters and want to start building 4* characters.
d. Play DDQ every day; for now, once you champ your 2* you should get through the first three rounds which will give you 1700 ISO and a taco. As you start getting 3*, you can get the required character round for another taco. And you can try doing the BigE with a 2* champed roster, although the last set of changes they made to BigE make doing this with 2* a bit of a crapshoot.
e. It's been said many times, but HP are for roster slots. Sure, at some point you might want to use them for PVE shields, but for now, HP are for roster slots. If you want to donate some $$$ to the developers, buy HP and use it to buy roster slots.

That's the top of it, there are others (lightning rounds are a good source of ISO and covers, but you have to play them optimally, for example), but just doing the above will get you a roster that's less of a slog than I'm sure you're having now.

Hope that helps