Softcap 5*s or bring up more 4*s?

Calnexin

With the end of vaulting the pace of champing new releases has slowed.  I've got 4 latest undercovered with the closest still 3 covers away, so the choice of what to spend on has opened up a bit.

I just champed my 34th 4*.  Of the "classics" I have 9 fully covered, 6 cover shy.  The path of least resistance is just to hoard Iso until the next champ opportunity arises, but I've been giving significant thought to softcapping some of my 5* around level 375.  That's where my fully covered OML is now, so I doubt doing so will affect my MMR.  I have a 10-cover Hawkeye that I almost decided to bring up to that point so I could pair him with boosted Coulson in PvP, but doing so would have required sacrificing a cover for the 34th 4*.  I've been using OML since he only had 6 covers and he was really useful at level 360ish, so I think using a HE/Coulson team might be viable at my level of competition.

I'm not going to champ 5*s because that will give me 5* MMR, and the rest of my roster isn't ready for that challenge.  But I'm eager to start playing with some of my 7-10 cover 5's and see if they stack up with boosted 4* champs, either in PvE or PvP.  What are your opinions?  Is it worth delaying the 4* champs a little to kick a few 5* up into the usable range?

SpringSoldier

I'm far from 5*, but from what I've heard, it's only worth level 5* if you have some of the good ones, like Thanos or Black Panther. Otherwise, you'll be fighting against other champed 5* who are way stronger than you.

Calnexin

That only appears to be true when you champ them.  With a single 5* leveled to 375 right now, I only get pounded by champ 5* teams when I pass 800.  I get hit by a few single-5*-champ teams on my climb from 600-800, but I don't think I've ever seen one appear in my queue, other than retaliations.  I think so long as you keep them around your boosted 4's your MMR will consider them just like boosted 4's, so your opponent selection will be similar.  It's when they're 100 levels past your boosted characters that you enter 5* MMR hell.

I just don't know if the return on investment is sufficient.  OML has been useful as a health pack saver and his match damage allows 1-shot kills in the easy PvE nodes and LR seeds (with Thanos).  I'd be bringing up a 10-cover HE and a 7-cover BB (2/5/0 after last night).  I'm not sure they'd be any more beneficial for speed in PvE, or whether they'd be any more intimidating to the usual boosted 4* champs in PvP over just champing more of the vintage 4*.

broll

I've been wondering the same thing.  I'm just crossed the 50% barrier on my 4* champs.  I have 2 full covered waiting on ISO (X23 & Devil Dino), Carnage will be at 13 soon from a 3* reward.  

Once I get those 3 I'm strong considering soft capping my Thano5 2/3/2 (max would be L360) and/or Black Panther 4/4/0 (max would be L375).  My gut is that BPs red is his bread and butter so with 0 it's probably not worth leveling him other than to be a scarecrow.  Thano5 might be more useful but he's only got 2 in his black, which is his bread and butter.  The ISO for each is pretty close to what a 4* champ would cost.

From people more in that boat would it be worth leveling my Thano5 and/or BP at this point?

amarrero

This has been my experience with the 4* -> 5* progression:

1. OML is the only 5* that decent both under-covered and under-leveled.  All others are not as effective until level 420 or so.  Having a lv375 OML with boosted 4* is a sweet spot in 4* land.
2. Only softcap 5* to the level of a boosted 4*. You want to go from lv350ish straight to champed.
3. One champed 5* will not mess up your MMR by much, especially if that one is OML.
4. Two champed 5* can be a tough place to be at in 5* unless those two are Thanos and Black Panther.
5. The game really opens up once you have about four champed 5*.  Then you have options to play with in PvE and PvP.
6. Support 4* characters are vital in 5* land.  You running HE? Make sure you BH your Coulson to beef him up. You running SL5? Try 4* R&G.  Just have OML? Let me introduce you to Cloak & Dagger.

My recommendation in general?  A decently covered OML at lv350-375 will go a long way.  If you can champion him even better.  Then you want to wait until you have 2 or 3 fully covered 5* to fully commit to jumping into 5* land. Otherwise, just keep championing your 4* so that no covers are wasted.

But what if I don't have OML decently/fully covered, you ask?  Same recommendations apply, except for the part about the lv350-375 OML going a long way...

Finally, these recommendations do not apply to the following 5*: GG, Banner, BSSM, Doc Oc.  They flat-out suck!

amarrero

broll said:

From people more in that boat would it be worth leveling my Thano5 and/or BP at this point?

Nope.  A BP without red is like a piñata at a kid's birthday party.  It's going to get lit up and the end result will not be pretty.