ISO towards 4-stars or 5-stars?

sambrookjm

I've reached the point where some of my 5-stars are coming close to being fully covered.  My OML is 5/3/3.  Thanos is now 5/5/2 after getting two covers for him in the past hour! (One bonus hero, one from champed G4mora)  Strange is 5/4/3, and Silver Surfer is 2/4/4.  They're all sitting in the LVL 290-300 range, as I've been busy putting the ISO towards champing my 4-stars.  Between just those 5-stars, I'd need over 1.5M ISO to get them up to their max levels.  (360K for OML, 436K for Strange and Thanos, and 341K for Surfer.)  The rest are all sitting between 2-8 covers, with the exception of Thor, who I don't have rostered yet.  (If it helps, Panther is 2/2/2, and Gambit is 0/2/1)

Should I start focusing on putting the ISO towards the 5 stars?  All of the 4-stars that I have at 13 covers are champed and between levels 270-293.  I have cover #13 for Winter Soldier coming up in a few more champ 3-star Cap levels, and I've been putting the ISO towards him.  My non-champed 4-stars are also underleveled, with about a 1.2M ISO deficit between them all.

The alliance I'm in has a total of one champed 5-star (an OML), so there's not much experience there.

dr tinykittylove

Hang on to your iso, wait until you get a 14th cover. 

Bowgentle

dr tinykittylove said:

Hang on to your iso, wait until you get a 14th cover. 

This.
Champ 5s when you get the chance, but not before.

Exceptions:
Daredevil to save on health packs.
Bolt once you get 5 black and green.

sambrookjm

Thanks for the tips.  I appreciate the help from people who know what they're doing far more than I do in these situations.  It sounds like Thanos is probably the best one to level up, and not only because he's the highest covered of the set.

dr tinykittylove - If RNGesus frowns upon me, and I get a non-green cover for Thanos, is it worth putting 720CP towards that cover and champing him to not let that one go to waste?  I took him off as my bonus 5-star (that's now Panther) so I won't have to "worry" about that as much.  MPQ First World Problems!   I've hoarded a little over 900 CP right now, as I've been trying to reduce the ISO deficit for quite some time now.

Bowgentle - Nice tip on Daredevil...except mine is 0/3/2.  NO HEALING FOR YOU!   My Bolt is 4/1/1, with a daily reward of his green coming up in a few days, so he'll be 5/1/1.  One of those Green was the Medusa Champ bonus.

OJSP - Which of the other 5-stars would you level to 375, besides Thanos and OML?  Both Surfer and Strange have blue, which is the one color that OML/Thanos miss.  As for the farm, I have two 266 3-stars (Blade and Patch) and six more within four covers (Thor, Black Widow, Black Panther at 265, Torch at 264, Strange at 263, and Storm at 262)  I have a duplicated Patch at 4/4/2, Panther at 2/2/3 and Blade at 1/1/1.  No 2-stars at 144 currently (highest is Cap at 140), but those happen often enough that I'm not too worried about it.

halirin

+1 to the 360 plan. Even if you get a 14th cover, I'd consider just selling it (or redistributing powers) if you would only have 1 5*. That is, if you are mainly PvP. If you mostly do pve, then I guess nothing matters. 

bluewolf

For Thanos, you are probably better off bonusing Gamora to get her to 320.  720 is a lot of CP for a developing roster. You don’t say how many 4’s are champed or at 13, but getting them champed is the best use of CP.  And a high level Gamora is very useful.

sambrookjm

bluewolf said:

For Thanos, you are probably better off bonusing Gamora to get her to 320.  720 is a lot of CP for a developing roster. You don’t say how many 4’s are champed or at 13, but getting them champed is the best use of CP.  And a high level Gamora is very useful.

All of the four-stars that have 13 covers are champed. The ones that aren't champed are, in order of their current LVL from high to low:

• Winter Soldier (2/5/5) - My current ISO sink, at around LVL 220 or so.
  
• Yondu (3/4/2) - max LVL in preparation for his Clash next round.
  
• Spider Woman (5/5/1)
• Spider-Gwen (4/5/3)
• Quake (5/1/5)
• Howard the Duck (3/4/5)
• Nightcrawler (1/1/2)
• Main Event Hulk (1/1/2)
• Rogue (3/2/5)
• Lockjaw (2/4/5)
• and obviously, the new event's 4 star, who I don't have rostered.
  

Yep...even Devil Dinosaur is champed.   Bonusing Gamora will likely take a very, very long time to get her up to 320.  Currently, my highest 4-star is XFW, at 293.  My current bonus 4-stars (and my usual MO) is to bonus hero the ones that will give me a Latest Legends token with their next cover - C4rol and Hulkbuster (289) Kingpin (279) and Moon Knight (270)

OJSP said:

It's nice to have maxed 3*s for emergency iso, but I think at this stage, try to avoid selling them. Iso from selling maxed 2*s ideally should just be used to continue the 2* farm, otherwise there will be always other characters to spend iso for and the farm gets neglected. There's no need to sell at the moment, because there's no rush to spend all your iso into one character yet.

I agree 100%.  The only time I've farmed 2-stars that I didn't already have a 13-cover duplicate for was when I had a 4-star cover dying in the queue, and needed that shot of ISO to max them out.  That's happened a couple of times recently, and I generally use my ISO to build them back up until the farm is rolling again.  I've already farmed my first 3-star (Cap), but his successor is going to give me the next Winter Soldier cover I need to get him up to LVL 270 in about 10 levels or so.

Dragon_Nexus

I currently have five 5*s at 13 covers.
I dunno where I'm going to get the ISO for that. I now have Thanos, Daredevil, OML, Pheonix and Spidey ready to champ...and all at level 255.

Used to be I dared not open legendaries in case I got a 4* dupe. Now my 4*s are nearly done and I'm scared of getting 5* dupes.

Milk Jugz

Dragon_Nexus said:

I currently have five 5*s at 13 covers.
I dunno where I'm going to get the ISO for that. I now have Thanos, Daredevil, OML, Pheonix and Spidey ready to champ...and all at level 255.

Used to be I dared not open legendaries in case I got a 4* dupe. Now my 4*s are nearly done and I'm scared of getting 5* dupes.

Only ~2.875M iso to champ them..... You can do it.... In a few months.....

vinsensual

I only have about half the 4 star tier champed, but I'm content with the idea of only champing the characters that I wanted to play, especially if that means more iso can go towards 5s.  I'm gonna get infinitely more playtime, and more enjoyment, out of maxing a 5 than champing a 4 I don't even like in the comics, much less the game.  

There'll be times where I sit down and tabulate ISO needs between the tiers, to see how much I can appropriate to 5s.  There's a sort of enjoyment out of the book keeping part of growing your roster, but there's also an enjoyment in seeing DD/Gamora take down a full health Thanos in 1 turn.  

veny

dr tinykittylove said:

Hang on to your iso, wait until you get a 14th cover. 

This...
There is no reason to upgrade 5*s before reaching their full potential, that means having 13 covers in it and 14th one waiting.
You should prioritize 4*s because:
- you will max them out sooner and propably you will be getting more duplicates (especially for those with 3x chances)
- after being promoted to champs, you will be getting upgrade rewards that are very helpful, especially CPs, LTs and some ISO (both direct and trough SHIELD XPs)
- Maxed 4*s are very useful, especially if they are powered in some events. Powered up promoted 4* can usualy compete with most of 5*s on level 450.

My ultimate advice: Save ISO, dont use it unless it is really nessesary. You should be able to fully upgrade one 4* from level 70 to 270 with ISO you get during 14 days. If you have one 4* ready to promote with 1 cover waiting, stop opening legendary tokens - you will reduce the chance of getting another 14th card for another hero and avoid painful decision whom to sell and whom to promote.

Wonko33

Very interesting thread. Thanks for all the input. 

sambrookjm

aesthetocyst said:

Is the OP PvE or PvP focused, or hybrid, and which SCL is he playing?

I generally place higher in events (Top 100) than PvP (Top 200).  As for the SCL, it's usually either 8 or 9, depending on how good the boosted characters (including the 5-star) are for my roster.  Like with the Nico Minoru release event - Jean Grey and Peggy both boosted with a 0/2/1 Gambit as the 5-star?!?  You better believe that's an SCL9.

veny said:

My ultimate advice: Save ISO, dont use it unless it is really nessesary. You should be able to fully upgrade one 4* from level 70 to 270 with ISO you get during 14 days. If you have one 4* ready to promote with 1 cover waiting, stop opening legendary tokens - you will reduce the chance of getting another 14th card for another hero and avoid painful decision whom to sell and whom to promote.

I agree with waiting on the tokens.  At one point, I had about 90 LTs in the hoard.  I opened about 70 of them to try and get some Daredevil/Peter Parker/Gambit when the were in the Latest Legends...with varying degrees of success. (Daredevil is 0/3/2.  Peter Parker is 1/1/3. Gambit was 0/1/1)  I occasionally open one up now and then, which is how I got my second Gambit Red and bonus Thanos purple) but the hoard is slowly rising again.  That's also why I don't have 5-star Thor rostered yet...I haven't opened enough tokens to pull him just yet.