CL9 5 star nodes

therightwaye
therightwaye Posts: 459 Mover and Shaker
I'm really like these 5 star required nodes in SCL9.  First time in a long while I played a set of matches that felt like puzzle/skill challenge. Choosing appropriate characters with abilities to mitigate the **** symbiote powers. Loved it. 

How are you enjoying it?
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Comments

  • KGB
    KGB Posts: 3,241 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited September 2017
    I asked this in another thread  (don't have 5* Starlord) but since there are no tile movers and the Symbiotes lack an AOE attack wouldn't the node be a sure thing if you just paired Starlord with 2 characters who can go invisible (Howard especially but also Invisible Woman, Miles, Prof X etc) and then just match them to death (assuming you aren't super unlucky and are forced to match away your own invisible tile)?

    Sure Starlord may need a health pack but theoretically you can beat this at the highest levels in the same way I won Miles's clash with a 2/1/1 Miles at L110 a few days ago.

    KGB
  • therightwaye
    therightwaye Posts: 459 Mover and Shaker
    Yes having invisible woman was one of my strategies. Lock enemy tiles and keep my guys invisible. 

    Previously I won a few node clears by using Medusa to steal the buffed enemy special tiles. Or without Medusa used StarLord's purple to steal.

    I considered trying the last node with just vulture and Invisible woman. But worked well enough sans vulture.

  • Milk Jugz
    Milk Jugz Posts: 1,122 Chairperson of the Boards
    I ran Phoenix and Iceman. Phoenix for strikes to help overcome their protects, Iceman to stun and hit them with AoE. Went well for me as long as I didn't let their specials get out of hand. Agree with the OP, I like the puzzle/challenge aspect of it. 
  • qandols
    qandols Posts: 1,178 Chairperson of the Boards
    I use CL7 and still have 5* Starlord as required. Is that as intended? Never seen 5* as required in that CL before.
  • NMANOZ
    NMANOZ Posts: 108 Tile Toppler
    5 star required is for CL 7,8 and 9
  • Bowgentle
    Bowgentle Posts: 7,926 Chairperson of the Boards
    The node would be fine if I didn't have to clear it 7 times.
  • Wonko33
    Wonko33 Posts: 985 Critical Contributor
    If you can protect him , Ant Man blue is just a killer power vs them. 
  • vinsensual
    vinsensual Posts: 458 Mover and Shaker
    qandols said:
    I use CL7 and still have 5* Starlord as required. Is that as intended? Never seen 5* as required in that CL before.
    It's annoying that there is no warning other than browsing the forums that you'd run into a 5* essential fight.  Or even which 5* would be needed before you choose your SCL and slice (Star Lord now, Spidey next pve). 
  • Sm0keyJ0e
    Sm0keyJ0e Posts: 730 Critical Contributor
    Welcome to day 3, where after 4 clears Venom and Sandman have nearly 110k health and Doc Ock is close to 90k. Without a well-champed trio of 5*'s this node is extremely difficult.

    Not looking forward to clearing this thing three more times...
  • Angjo
    Angjo Posts: 42 Just Dropped In
    qandols said:
    I use CL7 and still have 5* Starlord as required. Is that as intended? Never seen 5* as required in that CL before.
    It's annoying that there is no warning other than browsing the forums that you'd run into a 5* essential fight.  Or even which 5* would be needed before you choose your SCL and slice (Star Lord now, Spidey next pve). 
    To be fair there was an in game pop up - although it only popped up once so easily missed
  • Milk Jugz
    Milk Jugz Posts: 1,122 Chairperson of the Boards
    Bowgentle said:
    The node would be fine if I didn't have to clear it 7 times.
    Technically you don't even need to clear it once. The points given from the 5* node are not figured into the progression rewards structure. So you can skip that node and just clear the rest, however your placement will suffer. 
  • JHawkInc
    JHawkInc Posts: 2,605 Chairperson of the Boards
    Angjo said:
    qandols said:
    I use CL7 and still have 5* Starlord as required. Is that as intended? Never seen 5* as required in that CL before.
    It's annoying that there is no warning other than browsing the forums that you'd run into a 5* essential fight.  Or even which 5* would be needed before you choose your SCL and slice (Star Lord now, Spidey next pve). 
    To be fair there was an in game pop up - although it only popped up once so easily missed
    You can still get into such announcements via the settings (gears in the top left corner). But it would be nice if they added another button near the top, like next to the Shield Rank progress circle, and the Resupply up arrow, put a Newspaper icon, and any pop-ups you close are visible there so you can still see them. I mean, people who see pop-ups and close immediately would still be in the dark, but making the information more readily accessible after the fact couldn't hurt.
  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,825 Chairperson of the Boards
    JHawkInc said:
    Angjo said:
    qandols said:
    I use CL7 and still have 5* Starlord as required. Is that as intended? Never seen 5* as required in that CL before.
    It's annoying that there is no warning other than browsing the forums that you'd run into a 5* essential fight.  Or even which 5* would be needed before you choose your SCL and slice (Star Lord now, Spidey next pve). 
    To be fair there was an in game pop up - although it only popped up once so easily missed
    You can still get into such announcements via the settings (gears in the top left corner). But it would be nice if they added another button near the top, like next to the Shield Rank progress circle, and the Resupply up arrow, put a Newspaper icon, and any pop-ups you close are visible there so you can still see them. I mean, people who see pop-ups and close immediately would still be in the dark, but making the information more readily accessible after the fact couldn't hurt.
    Except:  the pop up news that the Gear accesses does not say who is essential.  It says SCL9 is available, with a link to the general announcement about SCL with tables, etc.  It does not say "you need Star Lord for Venom Bomb" in any way.
  • smkspy
    smkspy Posts: 2,024 Chairperson of the Boards
    Scl 8 and first sub I was using carndusa and often lost starlord cause of his powers dominating tiles, but the second sub I switcued to iceman/im40, which greatly helped to knock opponents before they had a chance to start up.

    Still the 5 star is essentially useless to most, but unlike other essentials where a low covered or higher level essential doesn't really matter, the high scaling the node makes having a good five valuable for the match. If anything this clearly points to the flaws of how hard covering 5s really matters because those 5s will dominate your tiles because of their levels.
  • Bowgentle
    Bowgentle Posts: 7,926 Chairperson of the Boards
    Milk Jugz said:
    Bowgentle said:
    The node would be fine if I didn't have to clear it 7 times.
    Technically you don't even need to clear it once. The points given from the 5* node are not figured into the progression rewards structure. So you can skip that node and just clear the rest, however your placement will suffer. 
    Progression is a byproduct of playing for t5.
    If I wanted progression I'd be in 8.
  • beyonderbub
    beyonderbub Posts: 661 Critical Contributor

    How are you enjoying it?
    I'm glad for the additional rewards for this node. I have a champed 5Lord but even if I didn't which will be the case for most of the less popular 5*s, you can bring your other champed 5*s to clean up. I used champed 5Lord/5Strange/4Grocket to 4x clear this node with no health packs used. 

    I read others used 5Lord with 5HE/Coulson and breezed thru the node as well without wiping once. 

    At SCL 9, it is a welcome challenge for my current roster level; however, I think it would be almost impossible if you don't have some champed personnel to go along with your weak link 5* essential. Will see down the road when the 5* essential is Hulk, Doc Ock, or some weaker 5
  • stewbacca
    stewbacca Posts: 82 Match Maker
    Hulk gets a horrible rap..  he's awesome to use... 
  • ZeiramMR
    ZeiramMR Posts: 1,357 Chairperson of the Boards
    I ran 4* Cage (292) and 3* Strange (246) with my 4/1/2 level 290 Star-Lord. Works fine for the first or second clear, then starts taking a little luck in how much damage you take. I was shocked that a great board and lots of early crits meant I only took *two* damage during the first attempt.

    On Day 2, I swapped in Capt Marvel and Wasp based on an alliance's members suggestion, to mixed success.

    My Peter Parker is not as well-covered (3/1/0 and 271) so I'll go back to SCL 8 for the next one.
  • Sabintribal
    Sabintribal Posts: 13 Just Dropped In
    Yes, the "challenge" is great when you have multiple capped 5 stars.  Otherwise, it's stupid, and grossly unfair.  My guess would be the people loving it are the people that can clear it relatively easily.  It basically destroyed placement for what I would consider "most people" in SC 8 and now 9, unless you're already stacked, and frankly, don't need the high placement.  I'm thrilled it doesn't affect progression awards, don't get me wrong.  i just think it should be worth the clear rewards, and not points. 

    Oh no, a dissenting opinion!  What should we do? 
  • LifeofAgony
    LifeofAgony Posts: 690 Critical Contributor
    I am all for the challenge - it finally has a node that cannot just be Panther/Thanos auto-win.  Kudos for adding some skill to a puzzle based game.