**** Mordo (Master of the Mystic Arts) **** Updated (8/7/17)

DesertTortoise

If his black power is "create charge tiles or destroy them if..." instead of the way it's worded in this post along with the possibility of generating AP from destroyed charged black tiles that really changes the type of character he is. Most descriptions go out of their way to mention that destroyed tiles do not generate AP if they don't generate AP. If you have 3 charged tiles out and fire his black power, you'll basically come away with at least enough to fire it again. That'd really give him a unique power set.

Total speculation, but it appears that he'll be a 5/3/5 character. His blue doesn't really deal a desirable amount of damage for 10 AP, even when he's maxed out. I'd use it as an emergency charged black tile generator for his own black. His black's relationship with itself really makes or breaks how great he can be but there's no way I'd put anything less than 5 in his purple.

Polares

Pongie wrote:

In game description has "or if". 7ap to deal damage and make charged tiles, another 7ap to deal aoe and destroy all charged tiles. Unless you have someone else to create charged tiles, think of it as 14ap

You are right, the ingame description has an "or if" statement, it is the description here in the forum the one is wrong. So yeah, if there are less than 3 charged tiles, it creates 3 more charged tiles, if there are 3 or more it does damage and destroys the tiles. So as it really is I don't think it would be OP if it generated AP.

Right now the AP generation is the big IF. If it doesn't generate the AP then he is much meh than what I originally thought, you need to fire blue before firing black or you need to fire black twice to get the AoE bonus. Kate is much better now. A real pity because I liked how I think he was

Now for 14 black you get 3.8k+3.8k+2.4K AoE that is 14.8k that's 1.05k/AP which is good, but probably not great.

It is hard to know best build, 5/5/3 maximises the black charged tiles generation and his damage ratio, 5/3/5 makes it easy to get black AP (and also blue and purple) faster. 4 in purple might be good enough, with 4 at least you also steal black, but blue at 4 is a bit meh. I guess 5/4/4 might be a compromise so you basically focus evrything just on his black.

DesertTortoise

Confirming, as speculated, that 5 black doesn't create then immediately shatter the black charged tiles. It does one or the other. Haven't tested whether or not it will generate AP on destroyed charged tiles yet.

Jarvind

Pongie wrote:

In game description has "or if". 7ap to deal damage and make charged tiles, another 7ap to deal aoe and destroy all charged tiles. Unless you have someone else to create charged tiles, think of it as 14ap

If you run 5/5/3 then you can just fire blue into black.

GrumpySmurf1002

Polares wrote:

Right now the AP generation is the big IF. If it doesn't generate the AP then he is much meh than what I originally thought, you need to fire blue before firing black or you need to fire black twice to get the AoE bonus. Kate is much better now. A real pity because I liked how I think he was

Now for 14 black you get 3.8k+3.8k+2.4K AoE that is 14.8k that's 1.05k/AP which is good, but probably not great.

It is hard to know best build, 5/5/3 maximizes the black charged tiles generation and his damage ratio, 5/3/5 makes it easy to get black AP (and also blue and purple) faster. 4 in purple might be good enough, with 4 at least you also steal black, but blue at 4 is a bit meh. I guess 5/4/4 might be a compromise so you basically focus evrything just on his black.

Heh, sounds like he's more how I read his powers.

The black charge tiles have to survive too. Could easily be 14 black for 'just' 7.6k damage, if you don't hoard and fire them back to back at least.

I can't imagine it generates AP on destruction either. Instant 9+ black to re-fire the ability seems like crazy XForce 2.0 type stuff.

As far as builds, I'm usually against ever gimping damage, but his purple firing at 0 AP loss (9 AP to get 9 back) is a bit much to forfeit. I think 3/5/5 and using him as a black battery for someone else is probably best. Else I guess 5/3/5, I don't think the blue will fire frequently enough to worry about.

DesertTortoise

Agree, Grumpy. That's sort of where I land. He would likely be an excellent character if you could go 5/5/5 because it's clear his blue into his black into a second black (permitting black generates AP) looks like it's supposed to be his killer combo but I just can't pass up the ability to sap 9AP for 9AP. It's one thing to be like Kate Bishop, where all three of her powers are good at 5 covers, but it's another to be someone whose powers synergize with one another very differently based on build. I think whether you got 5/3/5 or 5/5/3 will be based fully on the team you're creating, which is fine - not everyone can be Iceman.

Straycat

Jarvind wrote:

Pongie wrote:

In game description has "or if". 7ap to deal damage and make charged tiles, another 7ap to deal aoe and destroy all charged tiles. Unless you have someone else to create charged tiles, think of it as 14ap

If you run 5/5/3 then you can just fire blue into black.

Yes, but if black is not at 5 you will need to fire abilities multiple times and protect the charged tiles to get the aoe damage. Theres also the rare possibility that blue will create matches when used, but that would make enough black ap to still be worth it. But if both powers are at 4 covers, you can go black blue then black again to get the aoe damage, but only for 4 tiles. 5 covers in black is pretty much the only way to go.

Unless you save up 14 black and 20 blue you are going to cap out at 6 charged tiles, for 5.2k team damage. He seems interesting, but I would probably use his black like Novas black. If the conditions are met, cool, but don't count on it. I would try to match his charged tiles to generate ap to use it again. The 7ap cost is probably the best thing about him.

Vhailorx

Straycat wrote:

Jarvind wrote:

Pongie wrote:

In game description has "or if". 7ap to deal damage and make charged tiles, another 7ap to deal aoe and destroy all charged tiles. Unless you have someone else to create charged tiles, think of it as 14ap

If you run 5/5/3 then you can just fire blue into black.

Yes, but if black is not at 5 you will need to fire abilities multiple times and protect the charged tiles to get the aoe damage. Theres also the rare possibility that blue will create matches when used, but that would make enough black ap to still be worth it. But if both powers are at 4 covers, you can go black blue then black again to get the aoe damage, but only for 4 tiles. 5 covers in black is pretty much the only way to go.

Unless you save up 14 black and 20 blue you are going to cap out at 6 charged tiles, for 5.2k team damage. He seems interesting, but I would probably use his black like Novas black. If the conditions are met, cool, but don't count on it. I would try to match his charged tiles to generate ap to use it again. The 7ap cost is probably the best thing about him.

But the problem with your nova comparison is mordo's other two powers can't touch Nova's.

With Nova, his black is solid, but his best build is 5/5/3 because his other two powers are even better, and even cheaper.

But with Mordo black is his best power by a fairly wide margin. Even at 5 covers his purple isn't great. it's too expensive, and relies on the other team having the right AP mix. His blue is fine, but also a tad expensive for what it does. So there doesn't seem to be much value is dumping his black (which is cheap enough to be spammed a bit, and can combo with some of the other characters that make charged tiles).

poomermon

A teammate did some testing with him and black either does single target damage + generate charged tiles OR destroy charged tiles and deal aoe dmg (no single target dmg and does not generate ap from destroyed charged tiles). Seems pretty weaksauce tbh.

DesertTortoise

No AP from the destruction of the charged tiles on his black? Yeeeeeesh. That really damages how useful he may end up being.

Jaedenkaal

DesertTortoise wrote:

No AP from the destruction of the charged tiles on his black? Yeeeeeesh. That really damages how useful he may end up being.

Well, that was probably a pipe dream anyways. You'd get enough AP to use the move again immediately; if not twice... and if you could do it twice, then you'd get enough AP to use the move again immediately...

DesertTortoise

Jaedenkaal wrote:

Well, that was probably a pipe dream anyways. You'd get enough AP to use the move again immediately; if not twice... and if you could do it twice, then you'd get enough AP to use the move again immediately...

Don't get me wrong, I fully get why it could be troublesome in a long match once you're just spending 14 black AP to get 9 back immediately. I really can't defend going 5/5/3 since with those numbers here are your options:

• For 10 blue AP and 7 black AP you'll get 5,674 + 3,813 + (874 * 3) = 12,109 damage (712 damage per AP).
• For 14 black and firing off his black twice you get 3,813 + 3,813 + (874 * 3) = 10,248 (732 damage per AP).

Since you don't really get anything in addition to the damage, that's not really very exciting and it's easy to delegate blue out to someone else. I think 5/3/5 is the way to go.

Straycat

poomermon wrote:

A teammate did some testing with him and black either does single target damage + generate charged tiles OR destroy charged tiles and deal aoe dmg (no single target dmg and does not generate ap from destroyed charged tiles). Seems pretty weaksauce tbh.

If black doesn't do single target damage before it does team damage:

For 10 blue and 7 black you get 5,764 + 874*3 = 8386 (493 damage per ap)
For 14 black you get 3,813 + 874*3 = 6435 (459 damage per ap)

If you used black and matched away a charged tile so it doesn't change abilities
14 black you get 3,813 + 3,813 =7626 (544 damage per ap)

Its hard to get his black to fire with a lot of extra charged tiles, so you're better off just using black as is.

So 5/5/3 would be better if he doesn't do single target damage on top of the team damage. Not that much better tho and you can find a better blue user.

Dayv

Polares wrote:

EDIT: I was wrong. The power description in game clearly states "damage OR create charged tiles" but not both, so forget this comment completely

I just edited the post to reflect the in-game descriptions. It's weird. It felt a little over-powered with the "and", and a bit under-powered as an "or".

DesertTortoise

I just verified that it's basically (direct damage + charged tile creation) OR (AoE damage + charge tile destruction). Also verifying no AP from destroyed black charged tiles. That's pretty disappointing.

DrDevilDinosaur

No AP on charge tile destruction is disappointing. Do the devs need some help in writing consistent power descriptions?

notamutant

https://youtu.be/mDsTWckelx8

Character analysis video. Really disappointed with him. He is pretty much a boring solid middle-tier character, with few good teammates. I would pretty much only use him with Thor. Not bad, but there are too many other better characters out right now. Even boosted, he isn't that great.

Vhailorx

DrDevilDinosaur wrote:

No AP on charge tile destruction is disappointing. Do the devs need some help in writing consistent power descriptions?

This is a much bigger problem. the devs have created a pretty consistent pattern the last year: if a power says it DOESN'T generate AP, then it doesn't. Otherwise, we should expect that it does. Unfortunately, mordo does not follow this pattern.

Mutant: Why use him with thor? just to fuel her? Seems inefficient since her blue is straight up better than his. Chulk would seem to be a better pairing for either thor or mordo.

Eduted to clarify that thor's blue is superior to mordo's.

notamutant

Vhailorx wrote:

DrDevilDinosaur wrote:

No AP on charge tile destruction is disappointing. Do the devs need some help in writing consistent power descriptions?

This is a much bigger problem. the devs have created a pretty consistent pattern the last year: if a power says it DOESN'T generate AP, then it doesn't. Otherwise, we should expect that it does. Unfortunately, mordo does not follow this pattern.

Mutant: Why use him with thor? just to fuel her? Seems inefficient since his blue is straight up better than his. Chulk would seem to be a better pairing for either thor or mordo.

Did you watch them take out 3 5 stars in the video with just Thor, Mordo, and IM40? Purple steals blue and black and more purple, so black only costs 4 ap and Thor blue only 6. Black adds cheap charge tiles to the board at 4 ap, then blue is cheaper because of purple. Its not great on pvp defense, but on offense it makes Thor better. Still, not that many great teammate options for Mordo. Chulk really needs to be at 5/5/3 to be most effective, so I wouldn't use him with Thor usually. Only other teammates I would really use would be Ant-Man, Nova, and Jean Grey. Maybe 5/3/5 War Machine.

Edit: Sorry, didn't really answer your question. The best way to use Mordo is with 5 in black. Anything else makes him bad. Using him to boost Thor, you are better off using her blue. The reason is not because his blue isn't better, but because making his purple 5 is mandatory in that team. Otherwise, you would have a useless blue from either Thor or Mordo, meaning only 3 good actives (red on Thor and black and blue on Mordo). His purple is useless without 5 covers. It works much better. Trust me, play a few games and you will see. Mordo's blue just doesn't do enough damage to make it better than a 3 turn stun and the AP stealing from purple.

ErikPeter

Vhailorx wrote:

DrDevilDinosaur wrote:

No AP on charge tile destruction is disappointing. Do the devs need some help in writing consistent power descriptions?

This is a much bigger problem. the devs have created a pretty consistent pattern the last year: if a power says it DOESN'T generate AP, then it doesn't. Otherwise, we should expect that it does. Unfortunately, mordo does not follow this pattern.

Yep, they should just say "Shattered" when it generates AP and "Destroyed" when it doesn't, it'd be so helpful (and more concise, not having to say "does not generate AP" all the time).