Advice on who to champ next: Coulson, Luke Cage, or Riri?

mega ghost

I'm currently sitting on an Agent Coulson cover, a (4*) Luke Cage cover, and presumably two to three Riri covers by the end of the boss event. All three are at 13 covers, and I only expect to be able to champ one of them before the additional covers expire. Normally these situations have a clear winner, but I'm not sure what to do here. Luke Cage is vaulted, so I won't be stumbling on his cover again anytime soon without the aid of bonus heroes. I was planning on champing Riri, but now that her updated numbers are released I'm a bit less excited for her — but two or three Riri covers might outweigh one Coulson cover.

mega ghost

And if it's pertinent info, my other 4* champs are: Hulkbuster, Kingpin, Carol Danvers, Deadpool, Jean Grey, Professor X, Star-Lord, Red Hulk, Thor, The Punisher, The Thing, Wolverine, Ant-Man, Cyclops, Medusa, Mr. Fantastic, Nova, and X-23. I also have Peggy at 250 and 13 covers, but postponed champing her to address one of these three first, since I have no Peggy covers dying on the vine.

KC_Hammer

Since Luke Cage is out of the latest 12 I would not recommend champing him. We have yet to see where the new Riri will rank so she is a bit of an unknown. Though you will have more covers for her on the vine, so that weights things a bit in her favor. Coulson is pretty good and works in a number of teams, so he would be my recommendation. 

Berserk_Al

I have Cage and Coulson champed, and I'm trying to champ Riri. All them are really nice to have.
But Luke's red is too situational to use in this format full of Medusas and Captains, and his yellow is not always the best option to spend your AP on, when you have Carol yellow on the same team (and you will probably have a lot of the time).
Coulson's damage is always small, so it doesn't matter that much its level, just what it can do.
In conclussion, I would say Riri is the best option.

csista

Have all three champed. Play as Cage the most. Although Coulson and Riri are recent champs who I haven't had enough time to form a strategy with. That being said, from my experience using all the characters you mentioned, my vote would be to ignore the spare covers since one or two make very little difference, and champ Peggy. She's a great character to play as, and she's good defensively because other players want to avoid her.

vinnygecko

Berserk Al said:

I have Cage and Coulson champed, and I'm trying to champ Riri. All them are really nice to have.
But Luke's red is too situational to use in this format full of Medusas and Captains, and his yellow is not always the best option to spend your AP on, when you have Carol yellow on the same team (and you will probably have a lot of the time).
Coulson's damage is always small, so it doesn't matter that much its level, just what it can do.
In conclussion, I would say Riri is the best option.

I'm in the same boat here - I really like using both Cage and Coulson, but it's very situational.  If you are constantly using Carol - Coulson makes a really good partner with all his countdowns.  You'd want to pair those two with someone else who can produce lots of countdowns (like Hawkeye) or special tiles (Blade, Medusa, Wasp).

That being said, Cage is an absolute beast in PVE when dealing with goons. It also gets really nice if you pair him with his counterpart (Fist), and adding Medusa or Wasp to the mix is really fun.

I haven't used RiRi too much and am still unsure on her updates, so I can't speak to much on her.

If you have a lot of LTs hoarded, I'd say go with Coulson since he's still in the T12.  If you don't - Cage would be the better pick IMO.  

Once you champ one of those three, champ Peggy!  She's better than all of them - but you'll probably have to keep her as a favorite for a while to get more covers.

Taganov

The Riri remake might make her worth the effort. Cage isn't in tokens. Coulsen murders the opposition when paired with any countdown character. I'd vote Coulsen.

mega ghost

KC_Hammer said:

Since Luke Cage is out of the latest 12 I would not recommend champing him.

Is this just because I'd be cut off from additional champ levels without making him a bonus hero or winning him as a reward? Honestly, since all 4* characters are doomed to be vaulted after a set period of time, I've never seen much value in the difference between level 270 and say, level 281, which is my current highest-leveled 4*.

Berserk Al said:

Coulson's damage is always small, so it doesn't matter that much its level, just what it can do.

He definitely seems like a very useful assist character versus a direct damage dealer.

csista said:

...my vote would be to ignore the spare covers since one or two make very little difference, and champ Peggy. 

Oh, I'm definitely champing her ASAP! She's nearly there. I just hate wasting covers, so I wanted to prioritize one of these three first.

vinnygecko said:

That being said, Cage is an absolute beast in PVE when dealing with goons. It also gets really nice if you pair him with his counterpart (Fist), and adding Medusa or Wasp to the mix is really fun.

While I like Cage the most of the three as a character, I don't have any other champed 4* characters that would work perfectly with him. My Iron Fist is maybe half-covered, and my Wasp is one or two covers away and has been de-prioritized since she's vaulted. Given that I do have Carol and Medusa champed, I'm now thinking Coulson would be a better pick over Cage for the time being.

turbomoose

I'd say cage as he has the most power at the moment, I haven't used coulson enough to form an opinion on him and I just don't like Riri as a character, maybe her rework will change my mind on her though 

mega ghost

So really Riri is the wildcard here. I might have to wait until the new season starts to get some feedback on her update from people who have champed her — or just face her in PvP and see how brutal of a foe she is. The other thing working against her for me is her colors. I already have plenty of champed 4* characters with strong red, blue, and green powers. 

FokaiHI

Cage- no
Coulson - great support with characters that fire fast
Riri - rework will make her really good. She is already underrated. 

I'd go with Riri since Coulsons really only useful with others. 

SpringSoldier

Keep in mind that you'll be receiving 3 new Cage 4* covers from Cage 3* champ rewards. I prefer him over Coulson, because he shields the team. I haven't played Riri enough to have an opinion on her. Good luck and maybe you'll champ all of them!

Borstock

I have all three champed. I've never consistently used Riri, but obviously the re-work changes things. She's pretty decent.

I love Cage, but if you don't have someone to pair him with who can change his shield tiles (like Wasp), he's probably not worth the trouble.

I don't love Coulson as a pairing with C4rol, to be honest. He does produce a lot of CD tiles, but I can probably find those elsewhere (like Fisk, or Star-Lord for goon nodes in PvE). I mainly use him on a team with Switch, since on a good board, I can fire off Arcane pretty much constantly. When Teen Jean is boosted, it makes the three of them absolutely lethal.

I'd probably pick Coulson, mostly because he fits my particular play-style. But it looks as if Riri is going to wind up a very solid option as well.

JackTenrec

I haven't played enough with reworked Riri to be able to tell whether she's worthwhile, but I love both Cage (champed) and Coulson (13 covers, waiting on another cover and ISO).  Cage is one of the best counters to symbiotes, both due to spamming protect tiles as well as removing enemy strike/attack/protect at five covers.  His actives are pretty expensive, but there are a couple of good new yellow generators (C&D, Sandman) that can help.  Obviously, he pairs great with tile-oriented characters like Carol, Wasp, Professor X, and Medusa (or Green Goblin if you're lucky enough to have yellow covers) and is designed to let 4* Iron Fist unleash a world of hurt. 

Coulson is a countdown spammer, which can often be counterproductive, since there's actually a fair amount of board move when the countdowns expire (plus the sniper tile almost always takes out one or two friendlies when it removes a 3x3 block).  I almost never use his blue since I usually team him with Hawkguy, but his tile swap is often a good way to generate new matches or a burst of AP.  I find he's especially good with 4* Star-Lord (who also spams countdowns and can help crank out even more AP), Hawkguy, and as usual, Carol.

If you're primarily a PvE player, I would actually recommend Cage, even vaulted. He counters pretty much all goon types except Ultron sentries (whose powers don't trigger Cage's passive) and maybe Konran/Snipers (who only generate countdowns and usually hit harder than even a board full of protects can deflect). On most boards, his protect spam even trivializes massive countdown AOE (caltrops, tommy gun, etc.) to the point where I'm no longer sad about not collecting enough Quake covers.

JarvisJackrabbit

mega ghost said:

I was planning on champing Riri, but now that her updated numbers are released I'm a bit less excited for her.

I'm still stuck on this. What part(s) of the ri-ri-re-work have made you less excited about her? I champed her awhile ago and am definitely excited about her changes, particularly to her blue, which seems like a great implementation of community feedback. Just curious.

FokaiHI

JarvisJackrabbit said:

mega ghost said:

I was planning on champing Riri, but now that her updated numbers are released I'm a bit less excited for her.

I'm still stuck on this. What part(s) of the ri-ri-re-work have made you less excited about her? I champed her awhile ago and am definitely excited about her changes, particularly to her blue, which seems like a great implementation of community feedback. Just curious.

Not only that, but an increase in health as well. 

aa25

My 2 cents;

4Cage: No. He needs supports from others way too much, imo. He hits hard, but very annoying to achieve. His yellow needs special tiles maker and maybe yellow battery to help you spam the power (There aren't many other characters to help him fortify tiles that much. So he probably have to do it himself.). His red needs a red battery and may also special tile remover.

Coulson: He is a great support. Apart from cd tile meta, he goes well with strike tile meta too (from his blue passive that deals additional damage and slight board shake). He is great with Nova. And his yellow passive sort of discount the ap cost of your powers by 2.

Riri: Like you said, she is a wildcard at the moment.

My vote would be Coulson, then Riri, then if you have extra iso, 4Cage.

veny

Well, Luke Cage is gone... not gone forever - you still may get them from vault and from champed 3*, but right now, i would ignore him (however my goal is to promote all 4*s that can be gained from promoting 3*s).

My honest advice? Save LTs, save CPs then promote both Riri and Coulson. After doing so, open stockpiled LTs and CPs. Right now it is pretty easy to get ISO for promoting 4*s (my rate is approx one 4* champed per 1 month).
Riri will stay for 4 months and Coulson for 6 months (or maybe slightly less) so i believe you can get some cool stuff from promoting them both (when they got vaulted, you will be getting them much less often, but in long run, i think it is a good investment)

Landale

I personally prefer to promote vaulted characters first as the opportunity arises, since their covers are harder to come by, making them a scarcer resource.  Remember too that the first champion level at 271 is a Legendary token, so you get something good right from the get.  

However, it also depends on the vaulted character.  I like Luke Cage quite a bit - he saves a significant number of health packs for me against a team with even 1 goon, and his Yellow can pack quite the punch (har har).  I would probably choose Coulson over, say, Winter Soldier, but probably not over Luke Cage because he's vaulted.

My personal non-expert opinion would be to champ Cage first, but it depends entirely on your roster, preferences, and what characters you enjoy.

Ruinate

Not Luke because of two reasons.  Luke isn't in packs which means his growth is very limited and you don't have any partners for him.  Looking at your list you don't have Wasp who makes a good Luke absolutely crazy and you don't have fortify makers other than Carol.  Carol Luke is okay but Carol has far better partners who are in packs.

Coulson depends on your playstyle.  If you enjoy pvp then yes.  You have Carol which is reason enough to champ Coulson.  The thing about him though is that he doesn't really need levels.  His full passives are available at 4 covers and aren't reliant on levels.  You don't need levels to steal/generate ap or move tiles around.  His CD damage does benefit from levels but I believe their values were set with strike tiles in mind.  All his partners are strong and can make strike tiles.  So if his partners are champed, he doesn't need to be.  He has a good build at 4/5/4 and doesn't need to be changed a whole lot.  If you are pve only, he can wait.

Riri is a yes.  To me it looks like she's been pushed more into a supportive role after her changes, but she would still benefit from levels more than Coulson.  Though her damage is small, it's direct and instant.  It's also nice to do some damage while stunlocking.  I would change up Riri's build very often from crowd and board control to full damage.  She's in packs and has plenty of time to grow.

If you are a hybrid player, I'd go with Coulson because levels and health matters in pvp and it's nice to have him up there with his strong partners.  If you are pve only go with Riri.  

mega ghost

SpringSoldier said:

Keep in mind that you'll be receiving 3 new Cage 4* covers from Cage 3* champ rewards. I prefer him over Coulson, because he shields the team. I haven't played Riri enough to have an opinion on her. Good luck and maybe you'll champ all of them!

The reason I'm sitting on a Cage cover is because I got a cover for my champed 3* Luke Cage and didn't realize I was going to be at lvl 223. And all three of these 4* characters are basically at lvl 70, so I sadly won't be able to get enough ISO in time to champ more than one.

Borstock said:

I love Cage, but if you don't have someone to pair him with who can change his shield tiles (like Wasp), he's probably not worth the trouble.

I don't love Coulson as a pairing with C4rol, to be honest. He does produce a lot of CD tiles, but I can probably find those elsewhere (like Fisk, or Star-Lord for goon nodes in PvE). I mainly use him on a team with Switch, since on a good board, I can fire off Arcane pretty much constantly. When Teen Jean is boosted, it makes the three of them absolutely lethal.

JackTenrec said:

Cage is one of the best counters to symbiotes, both due to spamming protect tiles as well as removing enemy strike/attack/protect at five covers.

Coulson is a countdown spammer, which can often be counterproductive, since there's actually a fair amount of board move when the countdowns expire (plus the sniper tile almost always takes out one or two friendlies when it removes a 3x3 block).

If you're primarily a PvE player, I would actually recommend Cage, even vaulted. He counters pretty much all goon types except Ultron sentries (whose powers don't trigger Cage's passive) and maybe Konran/Snipers (who only generate countdowns and usually hit harder than even a board full of protects can deflect). On most boards, his protect spam even trivializes massive countdown AOE (caltrops, tommy gun, etc.) to the point where I'm no longer sad about not collecting enough Quake covers.

This is very useful info Borstock and JackTenrec, thanks!