Champing Strategy

Warbringa

So I have several older 4* that I can champ but have been waiting on - Nick Fury, XWolv, and Invisible Woman.  I can also get a Flaptain cover relatively easy and champ him but I don't see the need for that now.  I am sitting on about 1,700,000 iso and I have several older 4* close to 13 covers (I need to update my sig later today as I opened a hoard of covers at the start of this season).  The only new characters that I am close to 13 covers for is Gwenpool and Coulson. 

My strategy is to keep enough iso for Gwenpool as I think she rotates out of tokens next (or very soon).  Coulson can wait since he has a long time to go.  Of my older 4*, I am two covers away from Iceman, one cover away for 4* Cyclops and 1 cover away from X-23.  The first two I will buy from heroes for hire since it is the easiest way to get the specific covers I need as opposed to bonus heroes.  X-23, I will get her last cover from shield supply within the next month.  All three are at level 188 and require 270,000 iso each to champ approx. (not counting 10,000 iso champ cost I think).  The only other vaulted characters I am working on atm are Moon Knight and Peggy through bonus heroes but neither one has more than 9 covers at this point, so still a ways off.   

My question is, are any of the older 4* I listed above (Fury, XWolv, IW, or Flaptain) worth putting iso in to champ at this point for me?  I am basically a PvE player only.  I love Fury's blue against active AI opponents and his other powers are meh. XWolv's Black is awesome and his yellow healing power is ok but he is such a glass cannon.  IW seems way better than she used to be as well but don't know how well she is for PvE.  I waver on Flaptain only because he is slow and I will already have a lot of (Blue/Yellow/Red) heroes since I have 4Thor champed, will soon have 4* Cyclops and am working on Peggy.  I could probably have enough spare iso to champ one or two of the above and still have a reserve for Gwenpool, should I get the covers I need for her. The next closest 4* in the cycle for me to champ I believe is Riri (maybe 8 or 9 covers now) and I don't know if she is worth it either.  

Advice?

Ducky

Just going off of the characters you listed as possibly being able to champ (I'll even throw in Riri for comparisons sake) I think their usefulness goes like this:

IW > Riri> Fury > XWolv > Flaptain

I didn't include Gwenpool since you seem intent on champing her regardless, but I'd place her at the top of that list. Now the only caveat to that list is that XWolv gets moved up near the top if you have XFDP champed. Those 2 make a great pair when XFDP is boosted.

I hope this gives you some insight. My rankings are based off of playing all of them champed and boosted in PvE. Mine all range from 290-330+ out of the characters you asked about. Gwenpool is probably the most fun to use, followed by Riri then Fury. Fun doesn't always equate to most efficient though, haha.

Calnexin

I've found XFW to be somewhat useful in certain situations.  Champing him is a good idea because it allows you to make optimal use of his healing.  If he's particularly beat up from a match you can respec yellow to max, hit an easy node to heal him back to full, then switch right back to 5/5/3.  That said, I rarely use him because I'm using OML instead, who serves the damage sponge role better.

IW is extremely handy since her rework.  None of her powers are useless and fill very specific roles.  The invisibility, in particular, saves your bacon when you know there's an incoming heavy nuke, and the blue negates a few specials anywhere, so it's a great counter to tile specialists.  And while the green nuke isn't top-notch, it's relatively cheap for its damage.  Champing helps keep her alive, but the main draw is the effect of yellow and blue, which don't depend on level so you can use her at lower level and be nearly as effective in PvE.

The other two can probably wait.  Flaptain's nuke is potentially the most powerful on the 4* tier, but like you said, it's very slow.  You need both red and yellow, preferably one right after the other for best effect, which means IM40 boosting isn't preferable.  Same with 3* Cyc.  Hulkbuster can make red for him, but his own nuke is nothing to sneeze at and he may as well use it himself in most situations.  Flap's nuke is usually overkill by a fair margin, having whittled your opponents down somewhat by the time he's ready to fire.

Fury is one of the least used on my roster and I consider him a juicy target.  His traps can be dangerous but that's about it.

Warbringa

I do have XFDP champed and while XFW yellow is hit or miss, as long as he is still alive the strategy of refilling him on an easy node is a good one.  I just wish his green did something, it is so useless other than a minor board shake.  Fury would be a target in PvP I agree but in PvE I use a Star Lord/Dr. Strange against goon passive nodes.  Thought maybe Fury would be good since blue isn't usually a damage dealing ability against three active AI matching nodes and its relatively cheap to fire for the damage, especially if paired with Star Lord.  Thanks for the input Calnexin and Ducky.  If anyone else has advice let me know as I probably won't make any major decisions right away!

Warbringa

Ok so here is an update on my 4* champing possibilities as I have had a few fortunate token pulls over the past few weeks:

Invisible Woman, Fury, XFW, Flaptain, Agent Coulson, Gwenpool, Cyclops, Prof X (intentionally keeping him under leveled though)

Within the next month (or 40 days) I will be able to champ:  Iceman and X-23

I am also one cover away from the following:  Moon Knight (technically 2 cover but will have another green cover soon from Sentry champ rewards to bring him to 12 covers), Riri Williams

I am currently working on Peggy Carter through Heroes for Hire and Bonus Heroes but right now she is still only at 7 covers (will be at 8 tomorrow).  

I still have 2,000,000 iso to spend and all of the characters listed above are at level 188 (except Moon Knight, Riri and Peggy) and cost me about 280,000 each to champ.  I will want to keep at least 500,000 to champ Iceman and have a cushion so that means I can champ.

As stated above, I mainly play PvE, but if I did want to dip my toe back into PvP, probably to snipe a specific 4* cover, would I even be able to reasonably get to 900 with my older base of 4*?  

Once I can buy Iceman's last cover (next rotation of HfH store), I was thinking about having a team of Iceman and Hulkbuster (both self booster generators with only blue as a crossover).  Would a team of Hulkbuster and Iceman still be viable (along with required 3* of the event)? Or would I simply be too much of a target with all of the newer and more efficient (?) 4* teams out there now?

Based on my current 4* roster and those 4* which I can champ or will be able to champ soon, do I have any better combos?  Looking mainly at 3* required PvP events where you can pick the other two characters. 

aa25

If you play primarily PvE, Gwenpool is one of a few 4* I use very frequently even unboosted (SW+Rulk+Gwenpool).

On PvP side, I adopted a strategy that I will champ someone based on the boosted list of each week which helps me tremendously. With one boosted 4* + a battery, I can climb or hop to 900 very consistently.

As for Hulkbuster, I wasn't in 4* land during his prime time, but I think the meta has left him behind already. He is still a viable choice fora  red battery, but, for damage dealer, his red is not that good anymore (630 damage per ap vs 750 average or 900 for good nuke these days.)

heybub

I had a similar issue and got a lot of good advice here: https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/59156/should-my-first-4-champion-be-wolverine-x-force

I ultimately decided to wait, and have since championed Peggy and Nova.  I'd wait until you have some top tier guys to champ than making XFW/IW/NF your best team.

AkCrisp

Another good combo you can use is Iceman/Cyclops.  Add in starlord during pve and you have a great team

Warbringa

Well RNG made choices for me somewhat.  I received an IW token from Strange Sights vault and with champing her, I then received a Gwenpool cover, who I then champed.  I still have about 1.3 million iso left.  I will champ 4clops tomorrow when I can buy his final cover too.  I will keep enough iso in reserve for Iceman when I get his final purple cover.  

I think I can still champ 3 more 4* while still having a reserve for Iceman.  I think I will champ Coulson, XFW, and X-23 (should get the final X-23 cover in a few weeks).  

heybub

Warbringa said:

Well RNG made choices for me somewhat.  I received an IW token from Strange Sights vault and with champing her, I then received a Gwenpool cover, who I then champed.  I still have about 1.3 million iso left.  I will champ 4clops tomorrow when I can buy his final cover too.  I will keep enough iso in reserve for Iceman when I get his final purple cover.  

I think I can still champ 3 more 4* while still having a reserve for Iceman.  I think I will champ Coulson, XFW, and X-23 (should get the final X-23 cover in a few weeks).  

I am interested in how this will all turn out.  If you can let us know what kind of boost you get from champing these guys, that would be great.  Do you place higher in PVE/PVP?  

Warbringa

heybub said:

Warbringa said:

Well RNG made choices for me somewhat.  I received an IW token from Strange Sights vault and with champing her, I then received a Gwenpool cover, who I then champed.  I still have about 1.3 million iso left.  I will champ 4clops tomorrow when I can buy his final cover too.  I will keep enough iso in reserve for Iceman when I get his final purple cover.  

I think I can still champ 3 more 4* while still having a reserve for Iceman.  I think I will champ Coulson, XFW, and X-23 (should get the final X-23 cover in a few weeks).  

I am interested in how this will all turn out.  If you can let us know what kind of boost you get from champing these guys, that would be great.  Do you place higher in PVE/PVP?  

Well I don't play a lot of PvP but may start playing a bit more.  For PvE, I found both IW and Gwenpool to be really good.  Gwenpool purple is amazing for a damage/board control combo.  IW blue is really cheap for some nice tiles and also board control with lockdown of enemy tiles.  I used a team of Gwenpool, IW and Switch (to feed purple for Gwen) and it absolutely rocked PvE against Mindless Ones and Maggia in the last sub I did.  It was more effective than using boosted Iron Fist, 3* Blade and 3* Strange, the team I had been using. The Fist/Strange/Blade combo did a lot of damage, but I took a lot of damage too due to less board control (Mindless one tiles).  Whereas Gwenpool and IW were both far better board control options and paired together nicely. I took hardly any damage on the hard wave node since I locked down the board fairly early and the opponents were well over level 300.  I placed high in the sub-event (top 20) but didn't try really hard in the overall event (only did 5 clears and 6 clears for all easy nodes). I think I placed top 60 or 70.  I wish I had champed IW and Gwenpool at the start of the event now!

Warbringa

Ok an update about a month later....I have champed a few more 4* since my last post. This includes XFW, Coulson, and Medusa.  I have not really played much PvP due to time constraints and the recent test change of needing wins is actually steering me further away except for situations where I may need that specific 4* cover, then I might grind out 40 wins for it.  

Would appreciate input from the community!

Here is my new situation and current plan, feedback or suggestions are helpful.  I have about 1.2 million in saved iso, but that goes fast when you are champing 4* as you all know.  I have seen progress in covers over the past month and have more champing options and a few very close on the horizon. My current 4* roster, while not large, has a lot of very good 4* imo and I am not hurting for useful teams in PvE.  Here are my champ options and characters that I believe I will be able to champ very soon:

13 covers: (all currently at level 188) approx. 270k +12500 to champ each
X-23
Nick Fury
Flaptain
Blade
Riri

12 covers: (all currently at level 188)
Iceman (will get his 13th cover when I get 15 more Mystique covers)
Moon Knight

3* Bonus Hero: Set to Mystique in order to get 13th Iceman cover (I think I am 15 covers away approx.)
4* Bonus Hero: Peggy (currently at 4/4/2)

Other Considerations: (all currently at level 70)
I do have a handful of current 12 characters in the 9-10 covers range, so with a bit of luck, I will probably have a few more eligible champs from the current 12 within the next month (Carol, R&G, C&D. Mordo, and AV)

I will probably be champing Riri because I will have 4 covers waiting after the Sinister Six alliance event.  I am waiting to see her new build but will probably still champ her with that many covers on the line.  That leaves me with approximately 2 more characters I can champ while still having a decent reserve of approximately 350,000 iso.  Blade seems like the best option but right now I am thinking of just waiting until I get a 14th cover for him first, as I am in no hurry.  I think I will get one from 3* blade champ rewards in not too long.  Would it be wise for me to just sit on the rest of the iso after champing Riri at this time since I have a number of current 12 characters getting within reason of the 13 cover mark?  In addition, I estimate that I may be able to get those remaining Mystique covers within the next 1-2 months if RNG is at least average or better.  I want to make sure I have enough to champ Iceman when I am able since he is a great character and I have been working on champing him for a long time.  I must admit that champing vaulted older characters give me much more satisfaction than champing a newer character for several reasons! 

Almost forgot, I do like to keep an iso reserve in order to increase other 4* characters to level 188 when their Crash comes along and I think I can compete for the token.  I found level 188 to work well on multiple fronts in that it makes that 4* around 270 when boosted and I can usually win a crash at level 188 on the first-third try (depending on the matchup).
 

aa25

I agree with champing Riri. She will be in the tokens and her new buffed looks very good on the paper imo. She will work well with several red battery (IMHB, 4Cyke, or IM40).

4Blade is quite situational. You need either a red-flood board or have red battery at hand to make sure he will do something. Don't get me wrong, he is a solid 4* to have.

From the list of 13/13 above, I would say Riri, then 4Balde, then maybe X23. Fury and Flaptain seem to get left behind by the meta quite badly.

I agree with sitting on that 1M iso for now and wait for the latest 4* to be ready.

I would also keep an eye out for Vulture. He is a rare green battery. which maymake character like iceman or x23 become shiny again.

heybub

Fury and Flaptain are too slow.  I'm not sure about Riri,and not smart enough to estimate how her new buff.

I've heard Blade is good and should be in tokens for awhile (yeah?).  The thing I like about X-23 is her healing, but you have to pair her with people where she outmatches green/red/purple.

I would make sure to save enough iso to champ Iceman when you get him.  Dude is awesome (jealous).

Warbringa

Ok so another update and a minor dilemma and a few PvP questions.  

You can see my roster.  Several recent 4* champs have really helped out in PvE including Iceman and Riri.  Currently I have 1.43 million iso saved up but more and more possible characters to champ so I may start slowing down on pulling tokens and spending CP since I don't want to be chasing covers.  Here are my champ options and character very close to champing: 

13 covers (between level 70 and 188):
Flaptain (1 cover waiting queue) (level 188)
X-23 (level 188)
Blade (level 188)
3* Star Lord (level 117)
Nick Fury (level 188)
Professor X (won't champ due to Charlie's Angels)
Peggy (level 70)
Cloak & Dagger (level 70)

11-12 covers (between level 70 and 188):
Nova (11)
Captain Marvel 4* (11)
Carnage (11)
Rocket & Groot 4* (12)
Thing (12)
Spider Woman (11)
Moon Knight (12)
Ant-Man (11, soon to be 12 due to bonus hero)
Elektra 4* (11)
Kingpin (11)

I know objectively Peggy, C&D and Blade are my best options as far as power level characters.  I currently have my 4* bonus heroes set to Grocket, Carol, and Carnage.  Would I be best to just wait as I don't really need any of these characters for PvE as my current 4* stable is doing quite fine?  Should I just sell the Flaptain cover since he is one of my worst 4* champ candidates?  I can see doing that but at the same time, some day I will champ him so it seems like a waste to just throw the cover away, especially when it gives me another legendary token on his first champ level.  

I am also looking at beginning to dabble once again in PvP.  I know I can field a lot of effective teams on offense but based on my roster and those 4* I can currently champ, what would be a good defensive team?  Playing against C&D a few times has seemed to be a pain (especially with the power that lowers cover levels).  Are they any good in PvP and do they scare anyone?  I was possibly thinking of a defensive team combo of Peggy, Iceman and C&D? Advice would be helpful.  I know Carnage with Medusa is a rough team to fight, hence my desire to finish off Carnage.  

spatenfloot

Champ Blade, Peggy, and C&D then go from there

heybub

spatenfloot said:

Champ Blade, Peggy, and C&D then go from there

I concur.

abominatrix

I don't usually champ anybody until I have a 14th cover in the queue, but you can't go wrong with those 3. I would add X-23 to the list. I might even rank R&G lower than X-23 given the rest of your roster, at least until you can get Gamora and/or Carol champed, although Rocket/Starlord/Medusa works pretty well.

As for PVP, I wouldn't worry much about defense. Until you can run 5* you won't scare too many people away, but even your roster, you should pretty easily get to 575 or 650, even when your 4* champs aren't boosted. You'll get hit, but get to your desired reward early and just let it happen (or shield, although I don't think that the placement rewards are worth the trouble). When you can run 2 4* champs, you can probably get to 900 or more, although at that point shielding is necessary. Just run a good team, keep an eye on the boost list, and you'll be fine.

Warbringa

I champed R&G, Peggy and C&D and they are all awesome.  I also champed Flaptain, who is actually great when boosted.  I have been hoarding CP and legendary tokens since my iso hoard has taken quite a hit.  I currently now only have 400,000 iso left and my current dilemma is the following:

• I have 12 covers for 4* Carol.  I also have 2 covers for the 3* version in waiting, but I haven't redeemed them yet since the first one will give me a yellow 4* Carol cover I can't use atm.  I still have about 12 days left on the 3* covers.
• I received a 4* Elektra cover from a heroic and I have 13 covers on her but wasn't planning on champing soon before I received the 14th cover
• I also received a 4* Moon Knight who is at 12 covers but not the color I needed.  Moon Knight is the 4* I have been wanting to champ for quite a while actually.  

I have about 250 cp saved up and generally am averse to using CP to buy individual covers but have done so twice in the past.  I could buy either 4* Carol or Moon Knights 13th cover but I really only have enough iso to champ one now.  I probably earn between around 22,000 iso per day on average (on the low side not factoring in VIP or bonus rewards).  I also have 200 of each taco token as well but don't plan on using them until I find a vault with two 4* covers I really want (hoping a black Moon Knight shows up at some point there or maybe a green 4* Carol).  

My initial thought is to wait on 4* Carol because while she is the best of the lot, I effectively have almost a month to work on getting iso for her with 12 days on the 3* covers left and another 15 days on the 4* cover.  I am leaning to Elektra over Moon Knight even though I think Moon Knight is the better character and I have been waiting to champ him forever.  The reason is at least for Elektra, I don't need to spend CP.  I suppose I am willing to just eat the lost 4* cover for Moon Knight.  Alternatively, i have considered just eating both the Elektra and Moon Knight tokens and keeping my iso reserve and just build it up to champ 4* Carol.  Any suggestions or strategies I may be missing?  

Huntah86

Honestly I'd just wait until you had somebody you wanted to champ fully covered.  Looking at your roster now, the 120 CP would be much better used as legendary pulls rather than a single cover.  I'd just open tokens until you got a 4* you wanted to champ fully covered then stop until they're champed and you rebuild ISO. Rinse and repeat. That's what I've been doing and eventually you stay ahead of the curve. 

LogamericanSpidey

I know this is a little off topic, but how many covers do you have of OML?  What level is he?