Explain why Carol is so good

Zyrook

It probably helps her exposure that she's the best you can pull from LT tokens right now.

Medusa is a contender to be sure, but she's damage over time who's simply a nuisance if you keep her CD from being matching or bring people who counter her tile generation.
Blade spams Attack tiles like mad then starts dealing auto damage, which is nice, but that's all he really brings to the table. Sure he has an AOE and AP destruction, but they're no where near as good as other characters' in 4* land.
Cage is also good for a defensive character, but in a meta built around speed he just can't pull the weight.

Then who else is there in the current packs? Coulson is cool as a support but doesn't really pull his weight like Carol does, Cloak & Dagger are weird an fun but are new enough most people haven't done much with them. Gwenpool is alright and has a versatile purple but you need to memorize the codes to get it to do anything and good luck having the AI make any use of it. Iron Fist and Mordo are underwhelming, Spider Woman is alright for her trap tile but otherwise unremarkable, and Riri and Venom are in need of a boost.

All of the other contenders for top slot; Hulk Buster, Rulk, Peggy, Jean, Iceman, Punisher, Nova, they're all vaulted and a lot harder to build. Plus, I don't know if it's just me, but I find myself playing more and more with newer characters than the classics. Maybe the new ones do more, or maybe it's because I've been playing for 3 years and I'm tired of the classics for day to day use.

Jarvind

Zyrook said:

It probably helps her exposure that she's the best you can pull from LT tokens right now.

Medusa is a contender to be sure, but she's damage over time who's simply a nuisance if you keep her CD from being matching or bring people who counter her tile generation.
Blade spams Attack tiles like mad then starts dealing auto damage, which is nice, but that's all he really brings to the table. Sure he has an AOE and AP destruction, but they're no where near as good as other characters' in 4* land.
Cage is also good for a defensive character, but in a meta built around speed he just can't pull the weight.

Then who else is there in the current packs? Coulson is cool as a support but doesn't really pull his weight like Carol does, Cloak & Dagger are weird an fun but are new enough most people haven't done much with them. Gwenpool is alright and has a versatile purple but you need to memorize the codes to get it to do anything and good luck having the AI make any use of it. Iron Fist and Mordo are underwhelming, Spider Woman is alright for her trap tile but otherwise unremarkable, and Riri and Venom are in need of a boost.

All of the other contenders for top slot; Hulk Buster, Rulk, Peggy, Jean, Iceman, Punisher, Nova, they're all vaulted and a lot harder to build. Plus, I don't know if it's just me, but I find myself playing more and more with newer characters than the classics. Maybe the new ones do more, or maybe it's because I've been playing for 3 years and I'm tired of the classics for day to day use.

Personally I mostly choose my teams based on who is boosted. I don't always end up with the most efficient team (Cho, Wasp and Drax is my go-to this week, which is decent but not earth shattering) but it keeps me cycling through different characters and makes PVE pretty easy due to everyone having tons of health and damage output.

aa25

bbigler said:

MarkersMake said:

Bowgentle said:

Go play a mirror match against her in PVP, preferably with a 5* Thanos.

This. 

In a mirror match, you (probably) both have black as your strongest color. If you match black first, then you eat a 2k AOE, plus the other team gets 3 black as well. You match black 2 more times, and your whole team is down about 7k health, but you are ready to fire Carol's countdown. 

But so is the other Carol, and it's her turn, not yours. Naturally, she has also gathered 5 yellow, so she immediately burns her CD tile and one-shots your Carol.

Bringing Peggy helps obviously, but it's a similar situation to Rulk, in that they are the best counter to themselves. 

Then just don't match black!

This emphasizes how great her green passive is, in my opinion. There are not many characters in the entire game that have this type of impact on your play style like she does. (JG, Loki, and Hood are the only three I can think off right away.)

Edit: I'm not saying she is overpowered or anything. I think her awesomeness is her green passive rather than the other two powers.

MarkersMake

bbigler said:

MarkersMake said:

Bowgentle said:

Go play a mirror match against her in PVP, preferably with a 5* Thanos.

This. 

In a mirror match, you (probably) both have black as your strongest color. If you match black first, then you eat a 2k AOE, plus the other team gets 3 black as well. You match black 2 more times, and your whole team is down about 7k health, but you are ready to fire Carol's countdown. 

But so is the other Carol, and it's her turn, not yours. Naturally, she has also gathered 5 yellow, so she immediately burns her CD tile and one-shots your Carol.

Bringing Peggy helps obviously, but it's a similar situation to Rulk, in that they are the best counter to themselves. 

Then just don't match black!

Lol, yes that's the obvious solution. Neuter your own Carol until the other Carol is down. You have to be very careful with cascades too though, as they can lead to the same outcome. 

Realistically, it means that you either don't bring a strong black user at all (much better to bring your own Carol and passively collect instead), or if you do then you pretty much have to take out the other Carol as a very high priority.  Either way, she dictates a lot of what you do when she's on the opposing team. 

Crowl

aa25 said:

This emphasizes how great her green passive is, in my opinion. There are not many characters in the entire game that have this type of impact on your play style like she does. (JG, Loki, and Hood are the only three I can think off right away.)

Edit: I'm not saying she is overpowered or anything. I think her awesomeness is her green passive rather than the other two powers.

I think you are very much underestimating just how good her yellow passive can be in any team that can supply her plenty of cooldown tiles and the active component is hardly useless either.

The strength of her as a character is that she is a well-rounded character and not simply a one-trick pony like all too many characters are in this game.

Crowl

Jarvind said:

Zyrook said:

It probably helps her exposure that she's the best you can pull from LT tokens right now.

Medusa is a contender to be sure, but she's damage over time who's simply a nuisance if you keep her CD from being matching or bring people who counter her tile generation.
Blade spams Attack tiles like mad then starts dealing auto damage, which is nice, but that's all he really brings to the table. Sure he has an AOE and AP destruction, but they're no where near as good as other characters' in 4* land.
Cage is also good for a defensive character, but in a meta built around speed he just can't pull the weight.

Then who else is there in the current packs? Coulson is cool as a support but doesn't really pull his weight like Carol does, Cloak & Dagger are weird an fun but are new enough most people haven't done much with them. Gwenpool is alright and has a versatile purple but you need to memorize the codes to get it to do anything and good luck having the AI make any use of it. Iron Fist and Mordo are underwhelming, Spider Woman is alright for her trap tile but otherwise unremarkable, and Riri and Venom are in need of a boost.

All of the other contenders for top slot; Hulk Buster, Rulk, Peggy, Jean, Iceman, Punisher, Nova, they're all vaulted and a lot harder to build. Plus, I don't know if it's just me, but I find myself playing more and more with newer characters than the classics. Maybe the new ones do more, or maybe it's because I've been playing for 3 years and I'm tired of the classics for day to day use.

Personally I mostly choose my teams based on who is boosted. I don't always end up with the most efficient team (Cho, Wasp and Drax is my go-to this week, which is decent but not earth shattering) but it keeps me cycling through different characters and makes PVE pretty easy due to everyone having tons of health and damage output.

It just makes sense to build your teams like that, there are few characters that are going to be a better option in your team than a good boosted character, if nothing else their higher hitpoints reduces the amount of healthpacks you need to do your clears.

I have mostly been using that trio too, not sure I would really describe is as merely decent, you have some good, cheap nukes, ap gains, special tile generation/buffing and passive damage too with the latter being quite amusing to watch when the other team keeps matching themselves to death with wasp's cd.

aa25

Crowl said:

aa25 said:

This emphasizes how great her green passive is, in my opinion. There are not many characters in the entire game that have this type of impact on your play style like she does. (JG, Loki, and Hood are the only three I can think off right away.)

Edit: I'm not saying she is overpowered or anything. I think her awesomeness is her green passive rather than the other two powers.

I think you are very much underestimating just how good her yellow passive can be in any team that can supply her plenty of cooldown tiles and the active component is hardly useless either.

The strength of her as a character is that she is a well-rounded character and not simply a one-trick pony like all too many characters are in this game.

I agree. The passive part of her yellow is also great. (I like running that with Antman, by the way).

Daredevil217

Every last one of her powers contains two good to great powers.  That's enough for me to put her solidly in the top 3.

Black- creates strikes AND nukes
Yellow- strengthens tiles AND resolves countdowns
Green- AP gain AND passive AOE damage

Many great characters suffer from a bad or so/so ability (like Rulk Red, Punisher Blue, etc.), while all of Carol's are unique and valuable making her very versatile.

Orion

5Hawkeye/Coulson/Carol is quite funny.  It's a little slow in getting the strikes out, but Hawkeye is firing 2-3 arrows a turn, plus Coulson's additional CD each time.  So once the strikes come out, they quickly get ridiculous.  A little slow for PvP, but it would crush wave nodes.

Vhailorx

Orion said:

5Hawkeye/Coulson/Carol is quite funny.  It's a little slow in getting the strikes out, but Hawkeye is firing 2-3 arrows a turn, plus Coulson's additional CD each time.  So once the strikes come out, they quickly get ridiculous.  A little slow for PvP, but it would crush wave nodes.

Yup, it's just silly.  Collect 5 red or blue and start the engine with a hawkeye arrow.  Pretty soon you will be getting 5-10 blue and red ap every turn from all the cds.  

vinsensual

Talk about a Losefinite in the Hulk pvp.  Didn't think about the matchup, but my XFW/IF just got destroyed by an underleveled Carol.  Any green match triggers her aoe damage which is enough to get Anger out, and you just watch your team destroy itself on the next turn. 

Fightmastermpq

She is annoying on defense, but really good on offense.  When boosted I always run her with Thanos over my other 5*s.  Being able to place a fortified tile all but guarantees that it will resolve - even being 5 turns long.  So I use my yellow on Thanos green and it's lights out.  It's easy to set up matches in the enemy's strongest color to help you generate black as well - especially good if you are fighting someone like rulk, or PHX who have passives in their strongest color.  Her yellow boosting strikes is just a huge bonus on top of an already strong ability, and with so many other strong CD users popping up her usefulness just continues to grow.  She is easily one of the best 4*s in the game if not the best.

Jaedenkaal

vinsensual said:

Talk about a Losefinite in the Hulk pvp.  Didn't think about the matchup, but my XFW/IF just got destroyed by an underleveled Carol.  Any green match triggers her aoe damage which is enough to get Anger out, and you just watch your team destroy itself on the next turn. 

Ok, that's funny.

Crowl

vinsensual said:

Talk about a Losefinite in the Hulk pvp.  Didn't think about the matchup, but my XFW/IF just got destroyed by an underleveled Carol.  Any green match triggers her aoe damage which is enough to get Anger out, and you just watch your team destroy itself on the next turn. 

I was using her in the Hulk pvp and it was great, just try to find teams where their Hulk was well boosted and just sit back and cackle with glee as the ai proceeds to kill themselves.

D4Ni13

Crowl said:

vinsensual said:

Talk about a Losefinite in the Hulk pvp.  Didn't think about the matchup, but my XFW/IF just got destroyed by an underleveled Carol.  Any green match triggers her aoe damage which is enough to get Anger out, and you just watch your team destroy itself on the next turn. 

I was using her in the Hulk pvp and it was great, just try to find teams where their Hulk was well boosted and just sit back and cackle with glee as the ai proceeds to kill themselves.

That's exactly what I did. Had the best time.

D4Ni13

And to answer your question, Carol is not the best 4*, but she is very strong.

Now there are 2 questions that people are usually confusing to be the same: 1. Why is Carol strong? & 2. Why do people play her ?

1. Carol is strong because of her ability to create strike tiles and improve them quickly, and because she can immediately fire any given friendly CD tile. The AoE dmg and AP gain is really just a bonus.

Now, for that strike generation and improving to be effective you need certain team-mates that can help you either create strike tiles, either generate CD tiles.

Thus, Carol is not magnificent in any given team. But luckely she has a large variaty of teams in which she can be great.

2. Some people use her a lot, because A) she's one of the few champs they have in 4* land, B ) for her AoE on defence, C) because they like her or D) a combination of A, B and/or C.

Personally, I like her fun playstyle and strategic choices she gaves me when playing, and because I had no 4* champed when she came out, I made a goal to make her my first 4* champ (and fortunately, I did). After that I read her 2016 comics + Civil War 2, and I fell in love even more with her. So now, she is one of my best heroes and also one of my favs. So you will see me playing her a lot even 1-2 years in the future. 

For others, this trend could change, because they don't have better heroes just yet, so they use her, but as other good heroes come up, they might let her rest.

byc

I think she's great because I play 5* Thanos, and the two of them together are amazing.

Her green gives me black, so I can put out Barrage very quickly.  This allows it to put down some strike tiles while I get green for Thano's Come And Get Me.

At higher level play, I really need somebody who can do about 10k while being syngergic with Thanos.  Depends on the situation, I will either finish Barrage or Come And Get Me, and then start the cascade of Court Death off of one of those.  My preference is definitely Barrage naturally so Court Death is boosted more from those strike tiles.

I don't really have a steady 3rd.  It depends on the situation.  If the match is going to be tight, I often go Red Hulk to accelerate green.  If it's slow, I got Old Man Logan (even with the nerf).  Hulkbuster if I need more single-target damage.

I like Carol a lot with Coulson and 5* Hawkeye's winfinite team.  She's not needed, but she helps accelerate the process.

bbigler

byc said:

I think she's great because I play 5* Thanos, and the two of them together are amazing.

Her green gives me black, so I can put out Barrage very quickly.  This allows it to put down some strike tiles while I get green for Thano's Come And Get Me.

At higher level play, I really need somebody who can do about 10k while being syngergic with Thanos.  Depends on the situation, I will either finish Barrage or Come And Get Me, and then start the cascade of Court Death off of one of those.  My preference is definitely Barrage naturally so Court Death is boosted more from those strike tiles.

I don't really have a steady 3rd.  It depends on the situation.  If the match is going to be tight, I often go Red Hulk to accelerate green.  If it's slow, I got Old Man Logan (even with the nerf).  Hulkbuster if I need more single-target damage.

I like Carol a lot with Coulson and 5* Hawkeye's winfinite team.  She's not needed, but she helps accelerate the process.

How does the Carol, Coulson, Hawkeye winfinite work?

Piro_plock

bbigler said:

byc said:

I think she's great because I play 5* Thanos, and the two of them together are amazing.

Her green gives me black, so I can put out Barrage very quickly.  This allows it to put down some strike tiles while I get green for Thano's Come And Get Me.

At higher level play, I really need somebody who can do about 10k while being syngergic with Thanos.  Depends on the situation, I will either finish Barrage or Come And Get Me, and then start the cascade of Court Death off of one of those.  My preference is definitely Barrage naturally so Court Death is boosted more from those strike tiles.

I don't really have a steady 3rd.  It depends on the situation.  If the match is going to be tight, I often go Red Hulk to accelerate green.  If it's slow, I got Old Man Logan (even with the nerf).  Hulkbuster if I need more single-target damage.

I like Carol a lot with Coulson and 5* Hawkeye's winfinite team.  She's not needed, but she helps accelerate the process.

How does the Carol, Coulson, Hawkeye winfinite work?

It's not a winfinite per se (because you need to give your opponents a few turns), but basically:
- get out strike tiles (Carol black or one of Hawkeye's arrows)
- fire cheap Hawkeye powers, causing Coulson to create (even more) CDs
- use Carol yellow whenever possible or collect TU AP so that Coulson can accelerate CDs
- watch as your enemies melt away

Here's how it works against a high-champed 5* team:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7X5J3JA1OA

bbigler

Piro_plock said:

It's not a winfinite per se (because you need to give your opponents a few turns), but basically:
- get out strike tiles (Carol black or one of Hawkeye's arrows)
- fire cheap Hawkeye powers, causing Coulson to create (even more) CDs
- use Carol yellow whenever possible or collect TU AP so that Coulson can accelerate CDs
- watch as your enemies melt away

Well, that looks fun, but those 5*s hit really hard with match damage.