A Mostly Accurate 4* Ranking (Final Update 8/11/18)

Jarvind

Yeah, the way scaling works definitely impacts who's good as they go up in levels. C4ge is one of the best examples - his red is mostly trash normally due to the high cost, but it scales into the ionosphere when he's boosted, so the cost becomes worth it because he can one-shot a 5*. I do take it into account, since I assume most, like me, check out the boost list at the start of a new week and build their go-to teams around that.

Yepyep

Jarvind said:

Yeah, the way scaling works definitely impacts who's good as they go up in levels. C4ge is one of the best examples - his red is mostly trash normally due to the high cost, but it scales into the ionosphere when he's boosted, so the cost becomes worth it because he can one-shot a 5*. I do take it into account, since I assume most, like me, check out the boost list at the start of a new week and build their go-to teams around that.

Good call on C4ge. I was recently commenting on him in another thread in which I had advised the OP that C4ge is a beast in certain situations -- really a must-have champ based on his black and yellow. @TPF Alexis accurately pointed out that his red also is not to be slept on and is kind of a sleeper nuke. I really, really like C4ge! He's fun to play, too, negotiating around his protects while scooping up yellow, red, and whatever else you need.

AlexNapalm

Thanks for the update, Jar! Love reading these. 

Jarvind

AlexNapalm said:

Thanks for the update, Jar! Love reading these. 

LavaManLee

I "only" have 13 more 4*s to champ (counting the new Black Widow) and want to thank you so much for this guide and helping me decide who to champ and when.  This has been extremely valuable as I moved to 4* land.  Thanks so much!

Wil88

My first thought when clicking over to the list was "Holy ****, there are 65 4* characters now?"

....stays on the hamster wheel

Great list though, thanks for doing it. 

Bubba3210

@Jarvind, thanks for being my mpq spiritual guide! You’ve helped me decide between several 4s to champ.

NastyNate

Looking forward to the next update! Any time-frame?

Jarvind

NastyNate said:

Looking forward to the next update! Any time-frame?

I've never had a time frame. I just do it when I have the time and the inclination. Right now my playtime is pretty low and I've got a lot to deal with in Real Life™ so I probably won't do one in the near future.

Jarvind

Ubbdubb:

- Added Infinity War Spidey & Blonde Widow to Not Yet Rated.
- Moved Valkyrie out of NYR to #27.

Could use some feedback on Nico, Panther and Shuri if anyone is inclined, as I haven't gotten a chance to use Nico much and Panther/Shuri still need covers.

Bulls

I still can't belive that r4g is so low - he's basicly one of best characters for pve speed clearing and I belive 4* sim is still full of r4g gamora and medusa?

About 3 that you were asking about - only time when I can test 4* chars is during boss events when side nodes scales really high. I still dont exactly remember how panthers powers works, Nico is fine as special tiles booster but I prefer other combinations more. But out of those 3 I really like shuri - her with coulson and HE leads to hilarious situations when you can just "club opponents to death with bow when you're out of arrows" - enjoyed that team in growth infustry on both wave nodes before they removed opponents mana transfer between waves. Another team with her that works nice during waves is oml and 50thor - after first firing of red you need just 6 black to transform and have enough yellow for 4x oml aoe. Ive also heard about some sick dmg combos with her, dd and mr fantastic.

Jarvind

Bulls said:

I still can't belive that r4g is so low - he's basicly one of best characters for pve speed clearing and I belive 4* sim is still full of r4g gamora and medusa?

About 3 that you were asking about - only time when I can test 4* chars is during boss events when side nodes scales really high. I still dont exactly remember how panthers powers works, Nico is fine as special tiles booster but I prefer other combinations more. But out of those 3 I really like shuri - her with coulson and HE leads to hilarious situations when you can just "club opponents to death with bow when you're out of arrows" - enjoyed that team in growth infustry on both wave nodes before they removed opponents mana transfer between waves. Another team with her that works nice during waves is oml and 50thor - after first firing of red you need just 6 black to transform and have enough yellow for 4x oml aoe. Ive also heard about some sick dmg combos with her, dd and mr fantastic.

Rocket and Groot are where they are mostly because they are shackled to another Guardians member. Without one, their strikes are pretty weak so you're just left with two expensive powers. They're still very high overall - highest out of the 4* Guardians, by a tidy margin - just not quite top tier.

Yepyep

Jarvind said:

Bulls said:

I still can't belive that r4g is so low - he's basicly one of best characters for pve speed clearing and I belive 4* sim is still full of r4g gamora and medusa?

About 3 that you were asking about - only time when I can test 4* chars is during boss events when side nodes scales really high. I still dont exactly remember how panthers powers works, Nico is fine as special tiles booster but I prefer other combinations more. But out of those 3 I really like shuri - her with coulson and HE leads to hilarious situations when you can just "club opponents to death with bow when you're out of arrows" - enjoyed that team in growth infustry on both wave nodes before they removed opponents mana transfer between waves. Another team with her that works nice during waves is oml and 50thor - after first firing of red you need just 6 black to transform and have enough yellow for 4x oml aoe. Ive also heard about some sick dmg combos with her, dd and mr fantastic.

Rocket and Groot are where they are mostly because they are shackled to another Guardians member. Without one, their strikes are pretty weak so you're just left with two expensive powers. They're still very high overall - highest out of the 4* Guardians, by a tidy margin - just not quite top tier.

I agree with your ranking of them. Another damatic shortcoming is that their other powers are expensive and/or hard to control. So that means they are primarily dead weight after the start of a match until very deep into it. They are worth suffering that cost, overall, but certainly it keeps them out of the top tier, IMO.

Bulls

Well, from my pov I would sugest any new player that would like to enter 4* tier and try to play somewhat competitivly in pve to go for r4g and another guardian (most likely gamora) in first place, then focus on whatever they like or is considered "top tier". Also you're saying that they're strong only when paired with other guardian, but what about chavez? On her own she's not that awsome, in fact she's really great mostly when supporting 5*. 
But no point point to drag this any furher, usually I have opinion different from most other ppl. Overal it's really nice guide and I've already sent few friends to it (just added them my opinion on r4g )

ammenell

i love shuri, but she is slow.

i have no useable 5*s nor 4*panther, so my experience is from playing her with some combination of 4*cage, coulson, reed, and hobo fist. might have forgotten someone.

shuri can make (unboosted) cage easily one hit unboosted 4*s, with ridiculous damage potential later in the match. for 5 yellow per punch.

she lowers the cost for reeds blue 3-round stun to 4ap. pair this with coulson and/or rogue and stunlock the enemy team by turn 4.

but she needs those partners, on her own she lacks nukes but draws out the match by poking stunned opponents. 

her passive damage, her increasing the cost for enemy powers and her stun; every single power of shuri depends on fortified tiles. with a poor board it could take a while to get going - and shuri just watches until 8 red ap. 

by that time, you are already thinking 3 steps ahead - do you fire her red instantly to get fortified tiles in the board and risk losing some or do you hold back for that blue match reed needs? 

fire green to hopefully stun somebody or do you need the fortifieds? after firing, are there still enough left for the cost increase? 

i like the strategy she implements, a team with her can feel slow because there are so many possibilities to consider and brings a bit of a puzzle feeling into the game. 

but she needs specific partners to really shine, which is fitting for a support character. there just aren't that many characters to support who can fortify tiles, at least in the 4* tier. 

she doesn't really support, she needs the team built around her. perhaps this all changes with her brother in the middle seat, but my 4*panther is a bit undercovered with 3 covers... 

Straycat

Gameplay wise, my Shuri advice is don't bring countdown characters. She fortifies countdowns,and when they expire they take the fortified tile with them. Nothing gets rid of your fortified condition faster than tying it to a bunch of countdowns.

Jarvis_Jackrabbit

It's worth it if Shuri's fortified two or three of Vulture's green countdowns because the enemy team is going down. She doesn't seem like much by herself, but when she's teamed with P4nther, there are suddenly a wealth of options which open up as useful third members of the team. I've found myself using P4nthuri+____ as often as Grockamoradusa of late because they're so reliable and let me try out a surprising variety of other characters.

Rockwell75

Shuri, Vulture and Hobo is a wrecking crew.

Jarvind

FINAL UPDATE:

As I no longer plan on playing MPQ, this will be the final update to the document for the foreseeable future. Thanks to everyone who offered feedback and helped keep it going. I'll leave it up here for any who care to use it as a guide.

Yondu, Ant-Man, Mockingbird, and Miles Morales all had their ranks increased.

Minor edits and formatting fixes.

Since no further updates will be forthcoming, it didn't seem to make any sense to have a Not Yet Rated category, so I've moved everyone out and rated them to the best of my ability:

-Ghost at #25
-Infinity War Spidey at #30
-Nico Minoru at #31
-Wiccan at #44
-Black Panther at #39
-Shuri at #42
-Jubilee at #61
-Blonde Widow at #67, narrowly avoiding dead last

Thanks again dudes. I had fun keeping this going and I hope it continues to help for as long as it remains relevant.

DyingLegend

Jarvind said:

FINAL UPDATE:

As I no longer plan on playing MPQ, this will be the final update to the document for the foreseeable future. Thanks to everyone who offered feedback and helped keep it going. I'll leave it up here for any who care to use it as a guide.

Yondu, Ant-Man, Mockingbird, and Miles Morales all had their ranks increased.

Minor edits and formatting fixes.

Since no further updates will be forthcoming, it didn't seem to make any sense to have a Not Yet Rated category, so I've moved everyone out and rated them to the best of my ability:

-Ghost at #25
-Infinity War Spidey at #30
-Nico Minoru at #31
-Wiccan at #44
-Black Panther at #39
-Shuri at #42
-Jubilee at #61
-Blonde Widow at #67, narrowly avoiding dead last

Thanks again dudes. I had fun keeping this going and I hope it continues to help for as long as it remains relevant.

Nice work as always, good luck in your future endeavors.