Help plan for PvP 900 in Webslinger event

Rick_OShay

I'm currently making the progression into the 4* world, having all 3*'s champed except Strange and Thanos (Doom finally in a few days).
My roster is updated, see link in the signature below.
For the next PvP event Webslinger, an Iceman green power is awarded at the 900 point level. I wanted to reach out to the informed player base on the best strategy to reach this goal.

Typically I can score in the 700's then I get crushed, even when using all the boosted 3* characters. I've read the tips on shielding and timing hops etc. Since I'm cheap, I rarely spend lots of HP to get further.
Looking at the boosted character list, the only 4* I may be able to use is XFWolverine. He is currently at level 146, 3/4/4. Is he worth leveling to around lvl 200? If so, what other 3* would you use from the boosted list? KK? IM40? He's likely a must when climbing. I recently took 4Cyke up to lvl 200 so he's a viable candidate as well. My Black Bolt and 5*IM could be used if needed.

I typically play CL7 or CL8, in slice 4 or 5 (with ending time of 12am ET, or 3am ET).
So, please chime in on how many shields I should plan to use, and at what point levels etc. Who to hop with, and what time frames / time-left works best. Thanks for the help and any suggestions!

Dragon_Nexus

In my experience, reaching 900 is reserved for the 4* rosters. A 3* roster is a free win for the 4* guys, so you get chewed up and spat out fast.

Smudge

Climb as early as you can. XFW is a solid choice (and probably who I'll be pairing with IW), but I'm not sure how much mileage you'll get out of a 3/4/4. I'll let others chime in on the characters.

I desperately wanted the blue 4clops cover from the BFF event a couple weeks ago, but none of my 4* characters were really in good shape from the boosted list.

I took my 4/2/5 Bucky to max level, which boosted him to 320, and paired him with IM40. I climbed ASAP and didn't even wait until the 24 hour mark - I started right as the event opened in slice 5, SCL 7. If you were a winnable match worth over 25 points, I hit you. Those two took me straight away to 900. I got hit a couple times in my climb, but I didn't shield once and just forced my climb as hard as I could.

900 points is tough even with a working 4* roster, but it can be done. Don't wait until 24 hours remaining - do it as soon as humanly possible and try to make quick work of your matches.

Good luck!

MarkersMake

Try to make your final climb at an odd time of day, if at all possible (4am?).

Your team will have a bright red bullseye on it past 700, so play when (at least some) other people aren't able to (tricky with new year's, I know). If you play at or near a normal peak time, you'll lose more ground than you gain when you try to make your final push.

morph3us

Agree with what has been said so far.

Start as early as you can, push as high as you can. It's in your best interests to play when the event is relatively less populated, since you'll be a walking cupcake once you break 700+ (or even less). You want to get as high as you can before dropping your first shield.

Shield hopping is going to be extremely risky with your roster, and you're likely to be limited to single match hops. From that perspective, this could be an expensive exercise, and you need to decide whether it's worth the HP spend or not. Make each hop count. Line up your targets well in advance, preferably with a verifiable score from your leaderboard (unless you're in a check room, in which case you can verify their score then). Hit them when they're shielded (they're likely to be worth more if you let them complete their hops). With your sort of roster, you're going to need to limit your hops to 3-4 minutes tops, so you're going to need to play very fast. Boost, if you need to.

From that perspective, you're best playing with a fast, high damage output team. Unfortunately, your options are somewhat limited. It's a pity you don't have a strong red or blue user from the boosted list, since with IM40 boosted, you can finish your matches very quickly. XFW is still a decent choice, since he'll allow you to push hard at the beginning of the event with less health pack usage. He should be playable at 3/4/4, but you will need to level him to increase his damage output, and his health. For your hops, you may want to pair him with Iron Fist, for his cheap black generation, even though he's not boosted. For your climb, you may want to choose a more sustainable partner (such as Kamala Khan).

Chrono_Tata

Been a long time since I play at the 3-star level and even when I was the meta was vastly different to how it is now. In any case, a set of general advices to how best to hit the 4-star progression would be:

- The best time slice for maximum score is S4 so go for that
- As a relatively low level roster, try to avoid playing in the final 3 hours as that's when a large amount of players will be going their final push
- You probably know this already but as a general rule don't hit anyone who will net you less than 40 points and always try to hit the maximum amount of points available
- If you really want a certain cover and willing to spend HP to get it then use the maximum amount of shields you can buy. My advice is to score as much as possible at around 12 hours left to go (around 500-600 points), then put up an 8-hour shield. As it's about to expire, unshield and hit a few targets to get to about 700-800 points (depending how fast you can play, if your matches are taking more than 5 mins each then maybe hit less targets and shield up faster). Put up the 3-hour shield. Wait around 30-60 mins for the attacks to die down and hop again hitting 2-3 targets. That should get you up to 800+ points. Put up the 8-hour shield. Wait another 30-60 mins, then do your final hop and hit another 2-3 targets before putting up your last shield. That should get you over 900.
- If not and you don't care about final points/placement, shield up and wait another 30-60 mins, break and try to get to 900. You've run out of shields by then so you'll lose a ton of points. Your alliance will hate you but you will have an Iceman green cover
- When you are lining up targets, do them just before you unshield, or the targets you have lined up may be worth a lot less points than you see
- Don't skimp on boosts. AP boosts are your friend. I'd save the rainbow AP boosts for the final hop
- Ask your alliance mates to send you good TUs

As for characters to use, based on the 3-star boost list, Kamala and IM40 are probably the best choice. For early climbing X-Force is a decent choice but he's not reliable enough for hops.

WelcomeDeath

Step 1. Beg the devs to remove the 10 cp at 575. That's the main reason more 3* players aren't pushing more and its impossible or next to impossible to get to 900 now. Never was that way before. Move it to 1100 and more 4* guys shoot for that, youre less of a target, everybody wins.
Step 2. Climb like you would in ssim. Use one shield. Done.
Step 3. Wake up. They're not gonna fix this any time soon, unfortunately. Barring that, follow everyone else's advice.

MarkersMake

Welcome Death wrote:

Step 1. Beg the devs to remove the 10 cp at 575. That's the main reason more 3* players aren't pushing more and its impossible or next to impossible to get to 900 now. Never was that way before. Move it to 1100 and more 4* guys shoot for that, youre less of a target, everybody wins.

Hey now, don't be taking my cp at 575 away! It's my precious!





... my precious...

spectator

Level 4clop to 229 and run im40 4clops. Use overlapping 3/8 shields and try and get to 900 a day out from end of event. Use 2yellow/1all boost for your hops and bring kingpin yellow or 2 star mag blue teamups although you really should save tu for your cyclops red. Restrict your hops to 1 match and if at all possible, join a shield check room. Good luck

carrion_pigeons

Wow, this thread has more useful and specific advice for competing in pvp as a 3* player than probably any other thread on the forum. Thanks for asking about this!

CT1888

For the final one or two hops, when all you can find are massive 4 or 5* teams, break out the super whales. Deadpool, Scarlet Witch, +2b/p, +2all, protect the countdown (or match it away quick), get 14 purple, Whale them all to death, hide behind a shield. Don't be tempted to run 2 matches back to back, it's incredibly weak on defense, and if the countdown gets tied up or stuck in a corner on the second match, you are a sitting duck.
This also means that you can target one of the higher value targets that are otherwise outside your ability to beat.

It can be a high risk strategy, but Whales have helped me cross that 900 point threshold many a time. Use them wisely.

vinsensual

10 CP at 575 was the best thing to happen to pvp for those in the slog of the 3-4 transition. No 3 star team was making it to 1000 (I don't think 900pt/4* reward was a thing until 575pt/CP was a thing), nor 900 now, without shield hopping. It's good to get people to spend HP, but I would guess the people wanting to stay free and not shield outnumber the people playing only to hit 575 and then quit. 10 CP can't buy anything on it's own and it encourages play in all levels, serious and casual. Putting more CP in the player pool is a rising tide that raises all ships.

There definitely needs to be a 1k or 1.1k prize. I don't see why there's this huge gap in reward thresholds after the 4* cover. PVE has the same problem with the last 3 tiers of progression rewards.

mpqr7

Don't worry too much about hitting 900. For now, it's a big challenge, but soon enough, when you have a decent 4* roster, it will be the only goal you ever hit, and you'll do it without too much work. You'll stare at 1200 points but realize that there's no way to get there without some combination of perfectly-timed shield hops, Line Alliance Family coordination, boosts, 1BW TUs, lightning fast wins and a bucket of frustration and stress.

stowaway

I would think anyone who can make 700 points without shields can make 900 with a few careful hops. Of what's already been said, I would just emphasize that you should get used to the idea of just one fight per hop. . . not only are you an attractive target, but Spider-Man PvP is slow business. That, and use Scarlet Witch + Deadpool for your hops. If you've been saving Deadpool points, well, this is exactly the sort of thing you've been saving them for.

I personally don't think it's worth trying to use XFW. He's a glass cannon fully covered/leveled/championed/boosted. Without 5 in black, he's not even much of a cannon. Until it's time to switch to Deadpool (TM), you have mighty fine 3* available for you in the boosted list, in IM40 and Kamala (who pair pretty well with Spidey, for some nice stun-locking).

Rick_OShay

carrion pigeons wrote:

Wow, this thread has more useful and specific advice for competing in pvp as a 3* player than probably any other thread on the forum. Thanks for asking about this!

I agree, thanks so much for the advice everyone.
I'll run early and shoot for 900 as quickly as possible, I've only done Whales twice in over a year, so yeah, I have DP points to use, ha.
After reaching the Iceman cover, there's no reason to shield-out for the duration, just plan to get top 50 placement before it ends.
We've been needing a thread specifically discussing 3* rosters and PvP strategy.

adamdivine

Def use im40, Kamala, 4clops. That was my go to team for a long time. It hurts you just a bit that Cyc blue only has 3 covers, but he still has great utility. Like others said, climb early and fast to 700+ if you can. Use 3 and 8 hr shields and hop to 900. Just remember to q someone right before you un shield. That's the only way you can be sure to get anywhere near the points shown for the fight. You should be able to q reasonable teams up until you get close to 900. That last fight to get over 900 may require you to take on a beefier team. I would suggest taking in a DP whales tu if you can get one. Good luck!

GurlBYE

Unfortunately 900 isn't for us transitioning players.

It was a year ago, if you had all 3's champed but not it's for champed 4's.

Chrono_Tata wrote:

Been a long time since I play at the 3-star level and even when I was the meta was vastly different to how it is now. In any case, a set of general advices to how best to hit the 4-star progression would be:

- The best time slice for maximum score is S4 so go for that
- As a relatively low level roster, try to avoid playing in the final 3 hours as that's when a large amount of players will be going their final push
- You probably know this already but as a general rule don't hit anyone who will net you less than 40 points and always try to hit the maximum amount of points available
- If you really want a certain cover and willing to spend HP to get it then use the maximum amount of shields you can buy. My advice is to score as much as possible at around 12 hours left to go (around 500-600 points), then put up an 8-hour shield. As it's about to expire, unshield and hit a few targets to get to about 700-800 points (depending how fast you can play, if your matches are taking more than 5 mins each then maybe hit less targets and shield up faster). Put up the 3-hour shield. Wait around 30-60 mins for the attacks to die down and hop again hitting 2-3 targets. That should get you up to 800+ points. Put up the 8-hour shield. Wait another 30-60 mins, then do your final hop and hit another 2-3 targets before putting up your last shield. That should get you over 900.
- If not and you don't care about final points/placement, shield up and wait another 30-60 mins, break and try to get to 900. You've run out of shields by then so you'll lose a ton of points. Your alliance will hate you but you will have an Iceman green cover
- When you are lining up targets, do them just before you unshield, or the targets you have lined up may be worth a lot less points than you see
- Don't skimp on boosts. AP boosts are your friend. I'd save the rainbow AP boosts for the final hop
- Ask your alliance mates to send you good TUs

As for characters to use, based on the 3-star boost list, Kamala and IM40 are probably the best choice. For early climbing X-Force is a decent choice but he's not reliable enough for hops.

issue is, this is advice that works for 4 star rosters.

-s4 is the most crowded slice, it also has the most people with champed 4's looking for high scores, 3's will barely make it to 575 let alone 900.
-The time advice is weird, people say, avoid the last 3 hours, the first 24 hours and random 6 hour blocks. aka never climb. Like I've noticed people won't even touch a bracket until 12 hours are left.
-Unless the 3 roster is using deadpool's whales, there is no way to deal with the 6 covers 5's, champed 4's and 3 stars champed with 50 more covers. They all have so much health that any more than 1 fight, put you at a HIGH risk. Even single cover 5's take time to take down
-bringing non boosted characters makes you not only a target to 4's but other 3's. I like fighting people who can't survive without unboosted (even boosted he isn't fast enough without someone who can use his ap effectively ASAP) IM3 . he stuns himself, and has tiles out that can be matched away fairly easily. He hits hard, but hits hard too late, 3 mag can usually make short work of him, while in sim, he's fodder for charlie angels because i can destroy 2 of his tiles and then save him for last when he stuns himself, and he's reliant on a countdown.
IM 40 and kamala even boosted aren't a great shell for spidey because he literally does no damage and IM doesn't provide enough immediate AP for kamala to fire anything, unless she got a few green matches on her own or gets a nice purple set up.

-At point equilibrium in slice 4, due to MMR, 3 star rosters have a large block from 400-600+ where there are no matches worth above 40 points, most of the highest scoring rosters can't be attacked, the ones that can't sit comfortably higher than 575 are shielded or have a team that can annihilate 3's in 4 seconds and the 40's are incredibly rare. The rest have at leats one boosted 4 champ on them, and would take more time and health packs to beat and recover from then a 3 roster could handle.
-Everyone you have beat, at this off hour we're playing, has you in their sights, the higher you climb, the juicer you get, they come back to pvp with a giant red "hey hows this one look to you" and if you're roster can't hang or has a serious scare crow, you're free points.
a 45 point quick target is leaps and bounds more preferable than a 50 point or so with peggy, or red hulk boosted or champed, or both.

It's sadly still the best chance of making it to 900.

Also most importantly.

have good team ups., always have good team ups.

A well timed board shuffle, stun, tile steal, whales or otherwise beats 4 ap at the start of the round in any color.

CT1888

aesthetocyst wrote:

Score . . . Reward 25 . . . Standard token 50 . . . 250 iso 100 . . . AP boosts 150 . . . 250 iso 200 . . . Elite token 250 . . . 1 cp 300 . . . Event token 350 . . . 500 iso 400 . . . 25 hp 450 . . . 2 cp 500 . . . 750 iso 550 . . . 50 hp 600 . . . 3 cp 650 . . . Event token 700 . . . 50 hp 750 . . . 4 cp 800 . . . 3* cover 825 . . . 1000 iso 850 . . . Event token 875 . . . 100 hp 900 . . . 4* cover 1000 . . . 5 cp 1100 . . . 1250 iso 1200 . . . 10 cp

Now something like that would probably make me hop more. Currently I can normally hit 900 without any hassle. Chasing that extra 300 points is HP expensive and time consuming through the day, so generally it's 900 and out. But easily achievable targets... They make me want to chase them like a terrier after a ball...

joaoleal

I have Iceman champed, the past two pvp it was very easy to reach 900. Yesterday I got from 100 to 900 in 1hour during the last 3h period. It was very easy.

The problem is that when you try to jump from 700 to 900 or from 800 to 900, you only get teams with at least 1 4* champion, but most likely 2 4* champions. There's no 3* team that can go through them quickly enough to maximize the chances of getting to 900 without losing to many points. Deadpool whales is the exception, but you'll need points.

The Bob The

I like CP at 575, even while recognizing the issues it creates. If there was some kind of rewards structure betwixt the Scylla of 900 and Charybdis of 1200, a strait which no sane human seeks to pass, I think it'd alleviate the smackdown ceiling currently installed at 850 (but impossible? C'mon guys. Tough for a 3* player, sure, but why on earth shouldn't it be?).

RogueZeroOne

Odysseus betwixt Scylla and Charybdis. I love that MPQers are so classically educated.