5* Tier Guide and Ranking (new poll opened - 12 Mar 18)

atomzed

Intro

There has been no consolidated guide and ranking for the 5* tier so far. As the 5* tier is mainly progressed through RNG by (1) playing hard to get LTs, (2) hoard to 300 pulls for the latest and (3) whale, it didn’t really make sense to have a guide nor a ranking. So what if you know which 5* is the best? There is no firm path to work towards the 5* of your choice. 

Not anymore. With the R140 patch, 5* are obtainable through progression rewards from the 4*. Currently, 5* characters like Peter Parker, Black Bolt, Thanos, Daredevil and Hawkeye are obtainable through 4* 'feeders' like Vulture, Medusa, Gamora, Kingpin and Kate respectively. We can expect more 4* to feed the 5* tier (about 1 new feeder announced every season).

In addition, the Heroes for Hire (HfH) stores have also been updated to include 5* purchases, with the latest 5* and classic 5* priced at 500 CP and 250 CP respectively. It is still a hefty investment, but it is cheaper than 720 CP and you do not need to have an existing color. 

Hence, this is really a suitable time to have a guide for the 5*. 

A guide will not be complete if we don’t have a list ranking the different characters. I intent to do an open polling for every 2 - 4 5* release, so this will be a regular affair.  
- The first survey (Dec 17) was with a small sample with SSOLU friends from Skynet, Singapore and S1 BC. I did a quick survey with my SSOLU friends from Skynet, Singapore and S1.
- The second survey (Mar 18) build on the lessons learnt from the 1st survey, and separate PVP and PVE ratings. It also include some simple questions on the respondents' roster strength, so that may allow me to glean different insights. The survey will be opened until end Mar 2018.

Why do you want to acquire 5*?

The 5* tier is currently the end game for MPQ. A champ 5* is much more powerful than your unboosted 4* champ. The 5* tier also has more unique abilities that you cannot find in other tiers, such as ‘cannot be stunned’, ‘prevent the board from being changed’, ‘revive after death’, etc.

A champ 5* also has huge match damage, often doing 1500 – 2000 match damage on their strong colors. A 5* cascades can often end the game quickly.

How do I acquire 5*?

The primary way to cover a 5* is through the Latest Legends (LT) tokens or Classic Legends.

LT consists of 3 latest 5* characters at a total percentage of 15%, which means the individual character pull rate is 5%. You can gather LT tokens through (1) champ rewards (3*, 4* and 5*), (2) weekly DDQ and (3) SCL9 Top 5 PVE rewards. You can also purchase a LT with 25 CP.

Classic Legends consists of all the 5* characters that are not in LT. As of Mar 18, there are 19 5* in Classic Legends. The total pull rate is 15%, which means the individual character pull rate is at a discouraging 0.79%. There are no tokens for Classic Legends. You can only purchase them at 20 CP.

There are secondary ways to gather 5*.  

-         Some 5* are obtainable through progression rewards from the 4*. Currently, certain 5* have 4* feeders.  Peter Parker (4* Vulture) Black Bolt (4* Medusa), Thanos (4* Gamora), Daredevil (4* Kingpin) Hawkeye (4* Kate). You will get the 5* covers at level 280, 300, 320, 340, 350 and 360. We can expect more 4* to feed the 5* tier. I am hoping that there will be more than 1 feeder 4* for each 5*, which means that if you can get 4 level 320 4* feeders, you will be able to get 12 covers of a specific 5*.

-         Heroes for Hire (HfH) stores have been updated to include 5* purchases, with the latest 5* and classic 5* priced at 500 CP and 250 CP respectively. It is still a hefty investment, but it is cheaper than 720 CP and you do not need to have an existing color. HfH will cycle through the 5* essentials required for PVE; so if the current PVE requires Thanos, you will be able to purchase a Thanos cover with CP.

-         Occasionally, MPQ will offer a special 5* vault, which gives you a LT character plus 2 Classic Legends characters. An example is the Mes Amis Store, which contains Gambit (latest) plus OML and Phoenix. This store offer better rates for the character that you want, so you may want to spend your CP at this store if the offered characters contain one that you like.

-         You can also set a 5* as your Bonus Hero (BH), which gives you a 5% chance to pull your BH everytime you draw a 5* cover. In practice, this is very low, as you need to pull 100 5* covers to get 5 BH covers.

What is the best way to break into the 5* tier?

The best way is through LT tokens. The percentages for each character is at 5% each, as compared to the dismayed <0.8% for each character in Classic Legends. Someone has crunched the maths in the forum and you need A LOT MORE tokens for Classic Legends to get a 13 cover 5* than for LT. In addition, LT currently allows for swaps for duplicate through CS, so you need way less tokens for LT than Classic Legends.

As the primary way of getting 5* is through RNG of LT, you are pretty much dependent on luck to get a 13 cover 5*. Once you have 13 covers, you need to decide how much the champ 5* will affect your MMR. My personal opinion is to go with the flow, and champ the 5* once you have them covered… but YMMV.

There are others who advocate for having 3 13 cover 5* before you champ them. Their logic is that once you have 3 5*, you can use them interchangeably in PVP and PVE. If you prefer this modality, the best way is to hoard for 300 LT pulls (mixture of LT and CP). Someone in the forum has crunched the maths, and found that 300 is almost certainly going to net you 13 covers for the 3 LT characters.

atomzed

Ranking (2nd Survey – end Mar 18)

History: The first survey (Dec 17) was done with my SSOLU friends to get their opinions of the 19 5* characters. I was trying out the Typeform platform for free, and hence have limited options (i.e. no more than 10 questions per survey). The sample size is 18, but the people who responded generally have a good feel of the 5* characters.

Current: The second survey was completed in end Mar 18, with 136 participants, which is about 7 times more than the previous survey. This is a huge improvement over the previous survey, and is surely more representative of the 5* tier player population. The second survey made improvements over the previous survey by (1) having separate ratings for PVE and PVP, (2) changing the scale to a 5- point scale, (3) allowing for people to select N.A. if they don’t want to rate the characters and (4) asked participants for some simple demographic data such as the number of champ 5*s, and their typical PVE and PVE performance.

The write-up is based on my own experience with the characters. I currently have 10 5* champs 16 5* champs and have experience playing against all the 5* characters in PVP. In certain cases, I may invite some guest write-ups, for those who has good experience in playing the characters.

As of Mar 18, the 23 5* characters are below, arranged in order of release:

_________________

CHARACTER	PVE Rating (Rank)	PVP Rating (Rank)
Silver Surfer (Skyrider) released on 9/4/2015	2.66 (rank 12)	2.33 (rank 11)
Wolverine (Old Man Logan) released on 10/5/2015	3.18 (rank 7)	2.16 (rank 13)
Jean Grey (Phoenix) released on 11/2/2015	2.47 (rank 14)	2.18 (rank 12)
Spider-Man (Back in Black) released on 1/13/2016	2.26 (rank 17)	1.96 (rank 16)
Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) released on 2/18/2016	2.28 (rank 16)	2.05 (rank 14)
Iron Man (Mark XLVI) released on 4/28/2016	2.25 (rank 18)	1.94 (rank 19)
Steve Rogers (First Avengers) released on 4/28/2016	2.01 (rank 21)	1.73 (rank 21)
The Hulk, (Bruce Banner) released on 7/5/2016	1.4 (rank 23)	1.21 (rank 22)
Black Bolt (Blackagar Boltagon) released on 7/29/2016	4.10 (rank 5)	4.00 (rank 4)
Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) released on 9/2/2016	2.19 (rank 19)	1.94 (rank 18)
Doctor Strange (Socrerer Supreme) released on 11/1/2016	4.24 (rank 4)	3.17 (rank 7)
Thanos (Mad Titan) released on 12/22/2016	4.57 (rank 2)	4.06 (rank 3)
Black Panther (Civil War) released on 2/2/2017	3.08 (rank 9)	3.28 (rank 6)
Hawkeye (Clint Barton) released on 3/9/2017	3.17 (rank 8)	3.05 (rank 8)
Star-Lord (A.Mix v2) released on 4/27/2016	2.56 (rank 13)	1.90 (rank 20)
Doctor Octopus (Classic released on 6/1/2017	1.45 (rank 22)	1.19 (rank 23)
Spider-Man (Peter Parker) released on 7/7/2017	3.02 (rank 10)	2.98 (rank 9)
Daredevil (Matt Murdock) released on 8/24/2017	4.06 (rank 6)	3.84 (rank 5)
Gambit (Classic) Released on 10/5/2017	4.60 (rank 1)	4.88 (rank 1)
Thor (Gladiator) Released on 11/3/2017	4.54 (rank 3)	4.48 (rank 2)
Archangel (Classic) Released on 12/21/2017	2.13 (rank 20)	1.96 (rank 17)
Ghostrider (Robbie Reyes) Released on 1/26/2018	2.29 (rank 15)	2.00 (rank 15)
Jessica Jones (Alias Investigation)  released on 3/8/2018 Ranking in another form	2.91 (rank 11)	2.75 (rank 10)

stochasticism said:

I went ahead and broke down the pve and pvp rankings into more easily digestable lists. Here they are.

PVE

1. Gambit

2. Thanos

3. Thor

4. Dr Strange

5. Black Bolt

6. Daredevil

7. OML

8. Hawkeye

9. Black Panther

10. Peter Parker

11. Jessica Jones

12. Silver Surfer

13. Starlord

14. Jean Grey

15. Ghost Rider

16. Green Goblin

17. BSSM

18. Iron Man

19. Black Widow

20. Archangel

21. Steve Rogers

22. Doc Oc

23. The Hulk

PvP

1. Gambit

2. Thor

3. Thanos

4. Black Bolt

5. Daredevil

6. Black Panther

7. Dr Strange

8. Hawkeye

9. Peter Parker

10. Jessica Jones

11. Silver Surfer

12. Jean Grey

13. OML

14. Green Goblin

15. Ghost Rider

16. BSSM

17. Archangel

18. Black Widow

19. Iron Man

20. Starlord

21. Steve Rogers

22. The Hulk

23. Doc Oc

    
    

atomzed

Silver Surfer PVE = 2.66 (rank 12), PVP = 2.33 (rank 11)

I still remember when SS was introduced, there was a 'test-play' node which pitted SS against IMHB, Teen Jean and Carnage, the top 3 4* at that point in time. SS will trashed the 3 4* like child's play. SS does good damage, can heal and cannot be stun. While the 5* power creep has made SS much less powerful, he still plays a very good supportive character in the 5* tier.
Pros
SS is a good support character with 3 utility skills; his skills are all good such that he has no 1 best build. You can build him as 5/3/5,3/5/5, 5/5/3 and any other variations and it will be the 'ideal build' based on his team mates. For example, if you pair him with OML, you should use 5/5/3 as OML has a better black. If you pair him with Gambit, you should use him as 5/3/5 since you are not using his red.

Though his red ability damage is poor (~7-9k), it is relatively cheap and allows you to double-dip on strike tiles or special abilities (such as BP or DD). His blue allows him to true heal, and he is one of the three 5* with true heal (the other 2 are OML and DD). That makes him suitable for extended climbs. As he cannot be stun, he is also useful against those pesky enemies that stun, such as Iceman or Gamora. His black cost 12 ap, and  at 5 covers, allows you to passively gain up to 15 ap from the board.
Cons
SS is ultimately only a good support character, but not the centre piece of any team. If SS is your first champ 5*, you may sometimes find that his damage output pales compared to a buffed 4*. He doesn't deal big damage, so you often have to spend a lot of turns killing the enemy. His black is inconsistent; you may place the black hole beside charge tiles, but it can miss the charge tiles every turn. 

Good team mates
SS pairs well with many characters, because of his versatility. He pairs well with Thanos (as he is immune to Thanos stun), Gambit (his blue can help create charge tiles and black cans shake up the board), OML (two true heal characters) and DD (two true heal characters with no color overlap). Just remember to change his build according to your team composition. 

Old Man Logan PVE = 3.18 (rank 7), PVP = 2.17 (rank 13)

How the mighty have fallen. Once the undisputed king of 5*, whom many people (including me) chase after, he was hit hard by the undeserved nerf and power creep. He is still good in PVE for saving health packs, as shown by his top 10 rating for PVE. But for PVP, he is generally too slow.

Pros

His yellow heal is still a great health pack saver. I often bring him into PVE to tank damage, and he will heal back with time. Especially for 4* players, his heal will be very useful as he can take a beating and heal back to full in a few turns. 

His red passive and black generates decent strike tiles.

When you transformed OML, his attack is potent. You will be able to cast yellow twice, double dipping on your strike tiles. His black can often take down an enemy in late games.

Cons

OML is just too slow. He has no real offensive move before transformation. You need 12 yellow ap AND 9 black ap to transform; that's a late game move. 

Before his nerf, his good heal means that he could have the time to collect all those ap... but now, against other 5* characters, he will be floating around the 60% mark before he can transformed. 

Good team mates: Anyone that has cheap ap move to trigger his red passive and double dip on his strike tiles (such as Psylocke). You could also bring a yellow generator so that he can transform faster, such as Kingpin. Finally, OML is often paired with Thanos to clear PVE nodes because he can tank the damage from Thanos court death. 

 

Phoenix PVE = 2.47 (rank 14), PVP = 2.18 (rank 12)
One of the 3 original 5* that was released, Phoenix has a unique revival ability that allows her to come back after death once a turn. Her best ability is the purple, which generates a lot of deadly cascades.
Pros
She's all about da purple! Store up enough purple, usually 14 or 21, cast them consecutively, and watch the board turns red. That will generate a lot of match 5 and trigger the passive component of buffing own and debuffing enemy special tiles.This also makes her a good red generator. If you want to save health packs, Phx is a good option; you can bring her into battle with low health, let her die and revive with higher health. Finally, when she revives, her green AOE dmg is substantial. 
Cons
Phx is a one trick pony, as her real damage potential comes from her purple. Her red ability damage is low, and you cannot spam it as you will create black attack tiles for the opponent. For her green, she need a CD to be resolved, and I have experiences which the AI match it on the turn it is created. 
Good team mates
Scarlet Witch is a good partner, as she generates purple and creates possible match 5 for Phx. In the 5* land, BP and Phx is a good duo. Cast BP black on the enemy, then watch Phx purple-induced cascades destroy the enemy. 

 

Spiderman (Back-in-Black) PVE = 2.26 (rank 17), PVP = 1.96 (rank 16)
Usually called Black Suit Spider Man (BSSM), he is the 4th 5* that was released. And oh boy, we can see how much power creeps have moved him to the lower tier. He have 1 very good passive, his purple that can reduce all strike tiles to 1; this is massive in a game which strike tiles are very important. But his other abilities are kinda meh.

Pros
It's all about the purple, rendering enemy strike tiles as useless. You remember the pesky maggia strike tiles? Bring BSSM and you can laugh at their yellow CD when it resolves. Boss event-Kaecilius... you will clear him easily.

His blue can also be very irritating for an opponent, as he will be invisible and untargetable. An interesting 'can't-touch-me' duo is BSSM + Vulture. Vulture goes airborne and generates green and blue ap. BSSM stuns an opponent and goes invisible. Suddenly, both of them are invincible. I had use this team to clear over-scaled PVE nodes before and it worked really well (you asked about the third person? Just bring a loaner and let him die, heh). 

BSSM is a rare character with stuns on 2 color, blue and green. His green can stun for a very long time. 

Cons
Poor ap-to-damage ratio. BSSM dmg is really low. His blue deals 5k dmg by itself. If you manage to get him invisible, it deals double dmg... at only 10k. BSSM by himself will need to cast 2 blue consecutively to get that double dmg, which is 12 ap for 15k dmg.

His green cost 14 ap and 1.5k dmg. Compare to his 5* tier, Thanos, who deals 20k AOE dmg... and you have an idea of how underpowered BSSM green is. Granted, his green has a stun component, but you still need to kill the enemy to win the match.

 Good team-mates: Vulture works well with BSSM, as vulture generates green and blue for BSSM to stun and go invisible. I called them the ‘can’t touch us duo’ because once Vulture goes airborne, and BSSM goes invisible, you only have the last character who will get hit. 

Green Goblin PVE = 2.28 (rank 16), PVP = 2.05 (rank 14)

 As the first 5* villain, GG is a fun 5* to use. He has good synergy across his 3 cheap abilities. His purple pumpkin bombs can be tailored according to your needs.

Pros

His purple is a wonderful swiss army knife. You have stun (blue), ap steal (purple), strike tiles (black), protect tiles (yellow), board shake (green), red (direct dmg). While most people use his red (3 cd of 10k dmg each), they often forget how useful the other colours are, especially in PVE. In the past, GG blue pumpkin bombs will resolve on one enemy, wasting his stun. But after the change to how stun works, his blue will stun the whole team if 3 cd resolves. His purple pumpkin steals 3 random ap; because the cd resolves sequentially, it will not target colors that are empty, you often will get the full ap steal. Compared to Starlord steal, which can steal only 1 ap, GG ap steal is much better. Finally, his strike tiles and protect tiles are decent, at 1450 value per tile. 

His black is a mini-nuke, doing 20+k dmg with only 8 ap. Compared to IM46, who deals 24k dmg for 9 ap with conditions, you can see that GG black is a good ability. Finally, GG yellow completes the synergy, as it will fortify at least 3 random CD tile on his turn. This helps to guarantee your pumpkin bombs will survive. 

Cons

GG is wholly dependent on CD, which means that his purple need time to react. You need a stun at your current turn? Opps, tough luck you should have cast your blue pumpkin bombs 3 turns earlier. So while his pumpkin bombs are akin to a swiss army knife, it takes some skill to cast it at the right moment. His black has a huge draw back that you need his CD to resolve before you can cast again. This prevents him from casting it multiple times and also sometimes you can lose the ability entirely. 

Good team mates 

GG is able to stand by itself and don't need other team mate. However, he can benefit from having team mates that draw out his CD power, such as Coulson (reduce cd and random ap steal) and Carol (buff tiles). 

 

Ironman (Mark 46) PVE = 2.25 (rank 18), PVP = 1.94 (rank 19)

It surprises me that IM46 didn't do well in this survey. IM46 has 3 great active abilities, and with some good team mates, he can really shine. Maybe the problem of needing to find Team IM members lower his rating.... or maybe power creep just render him a relic of the past. 

Pros

3 great actives. His red deals decent dmg with 2 Team IM members, and with 3 members, the red dmg is awesome. His yellow is a utility move, which you can use it for damage after the CD resolves, or you can use it to block an enemy attack. His blue is the stand out ability, as it is an ap denial move (deprive enemy of their strongest color) and a great board shake. The cascades potential is huge... when you pair it with strike tiles or BP black or DD passive, the cascades can down an enemy really fast. A full health Thanos has been down by a IM blue + BP black combo, which shows you the damage potential. 

A great team for IM46 will be IM46-BP-BSSM, which is rainbow color and allows you to utilise the full extent of IM46 red. IM46-BP-Riri is also great as Riri can generate a lot of red ap for Repulsor blast. Finally, if you don't mind less Repulsor damage, IM46-BP-Thanos is also a great team with an active ability for all colours. 

Cons

His red requires Team IM members and that limits your set up. His blue sometimes creates zero cascades, so you may want to time it by looking out for potential red matches with the ability. Finally, yellow dmg only on CD resolves and can be match away, leaving you with nothing. 

Good team-mate: Any character that is Team IM member will be good for IM46, including 4* Carol, 5* BP and Peter Parker/BSSM.

 

Steve Rogers (First Avenger) PVE = 2.01 (rank 21), PVP = 1.74 (rank 21)
I am actually pretty surprised that Steve was rated so poorly. Before the re-work, he was indeed trash tier. But after the re-work, he is actually pretty decent. He has a very good yellow active. With the right team-mates (generating a/s/p tiles), his blue is also very good return.

Pros
Steve has a very good yellow, which do a mix bag of everything. AOE, stun, protect tiles and attack tiles. What i value the most is the protect tiles. Once his protect tiles are out, it blocks out most of the 5* match dmg. I have games which i just can't kill the opponent Steve because he got an early yellow and the protect tile just kept him out of death reach... and during that period, his red resolves and he got more yellow ap to generate more yellow protect tiles.

I have whales who tells me that Steve and Daredevil are a great combi in 5* tier. Steve yellow just complements DD purple passive so well, as it stuns an enemy and the attack tiles double dip on DD passive.

Cons
Steve suffers from a lack of big dmg move that can swing the game. His yellow is great for the long game, but in a game which prioritize speed, his yellow can be seen as meh. His blue requires 8 a/s/p tiles to gain it's maximum benefit, and it is tough without the right teammates. And his red does pitiful dmg, with 11ap for 8k dmg. It does generate ap in the strongest color, but again, you need Team Cap members to reap his full benefit.

In short, Steve can be very fun and devastating if you build your team around it... but why build around him when there are other better 5* around?

Good team-mates: Steve pairs well with 5* DD, because of synergy between their abilities. You get active abilities that covers 5 colors. Steve yellow will stun and generate attack tiles, which DD passive will tap on. DD will generate strike tiles, which will increase Steve blue ability. And to cap it off, DD is Team Cap member, so that gives more ap for Steve’s red ability.

atomzed

The Hulk (Bruce Banner) PVE = 1.4 (rank 23), PVP = 1.21 (rank 22)

The strongest Avenger… but not in MPQ. He comes in last for PVE and second last for PVP. It is not surprising, since he has always been called to be ‘trash-tier’ by forummites, and there are good reasons for this.

Pros

Theoretically, he has unlimited potential health. Once he transform into Hulk, Bruce doesn’t take any damage and he can take a huge beating without worrying about healthpacks. Need someone to tank damage in SCL9 PVE, Hulk is da man.

Cons

His blue and black abilities are seriously underpowered. Blue is activated only when the board has less than 7 green tiles, which is a very hard to trigger. Imagine if the board has 6 green tile, you finally manage get blue to trigger once and create 2 green tiles… and the board has 8 green tiles and it stops again. Compare with 3* Hulk and 4* CHulk who can generate a lot of green tiles, it is clear that Banner blue sucks. 

Black costs a low 7 ap and create good attack tiles, but it also create attack tiles for the enemy. That makes it a double-edge sword… and attack tiles are generally below strength tiles in usefulness. 

Finally, the coffin in the nail is that transformed Hulk auto-match does not generate ap, unlike 4* Grocket green ability. And Hulk green AOE isn’t that amazing anyway.

Good team-mates: Any team that can generate green for him to transform will be great. This include Red Hulk, 5* SL, 5* Thor.

Black Bolt PVE = 4.12 (rank 5), PVP = 4.00 (rank 4)

Like all the great characters, having a champ BB changes how you experience the game. His black passive means that you are able to deal 5k+ dmg consistently at every turn. That is a game changer, in both PVP and PVE.

Pros

BB passive generate charge tiles and deal 5+k dmg when there are 4 or more charge tiles on the board. At level 5, this translates to a fastest turn 3 dmg. 5+k dmg every turn, without using ap... that is what makes BB so freaking awesome. The charge tiles is also icing on the cake, as it allow you to gain ap on a faster rate. His green also deals good dmg and board shake at 10 ap. Occasionally you can get the max scream, which deals terrific aoe and just straight up destroy the board. 

Cons

Pretend the yellow doesn't exist. It is largely useless and peripheral for a champ BB. His charge tiles can also be a double edged sword as it also allow the enemies team to gain ap faster and increased their match dmg. Tbh, the 'weakness' of BB doesn't detract him from being an excellent character. 

Good team mates

One of the meta flavour in PVP is Gambolt (Gambit + BB). Black Bolt passively created charge tiles means that Gambit red will always deal max dmg, even on the first cast. Gambit red also create charge tiles, which ensure that BB passive is trigger all the time. 

 

Black Widow PVE = 2.19 (rank 19), PVP = 1.95 (rank 18)
(i have very limited experience with BW, so i got my alliance mate, Johnnyzero to give his analysis.)

Kudos to demiurge for designing 5* Widow to be very true to the comic character: a very capable, sometimes under-estimated, character who is equipped to deal with lots of different situations. The biggest complaint I hear about widow is that she's "too situational", but really, these are the situations you find yourself in!

Pros

Her Purple is damage and an excellent way to deal with countdowns and other specials. Its especially useful to keep enough purple in your pocket to deal with Thanos green, BP Black, Phoenix resurrection, HE's arrows, etc. Her red is big damage with an extra damage kicker if the enemy team has 12ap in any color. Just watch the AP bar to time this correctly. This move also destroys random AP if it downs the enemy. Her black is solid damage with a big extra kicker if a teammate is below 20% health. This move can take you from the brink of defeat to escaping with a win. Her black also steals 2-4 random ap, but that's just a bonus. Her stun passive, if a teammate is stunned, she stuns a random enemy for a turn, is useful, but really is like a half turn stun since it happens on their turn.

When fighting Widow, she's got three damaging moves, so three colors to deny. Plus her black hits very hard if an ally is below 20% health so you have to be mindful of that if you are going to leave her to the end.

Cons

Unfortunately (and unbelievable to me) she has been completely pushed aside by Gambit. Complete color overlap and faster and a better partner for her former best buddy Black Bolt. Its a damn shame imo. (atomzed will also add that Black Widow moves are more expensive as compared to other 5*, so you probably fire it only once in a game.)

Good team mates 

Pair her with Black Bolt and his charged tiles make her somewhat expensive moves charge up quite a bit faster. In shield sim or PVE Dr. Strange makes a perfect 3rd to cover up the blue/yellow needs of that team.

(guest analysis by JohnnyZero, #1 5* Black Widow fan)

Dr Strange PVE = 4.25 (rank 4), PVP = 3.18 (rank 7)

Dr Strange is awesome in PVE, which is reflected in his ranking as top 5 in PVE, as he changes your PVE experience. After I champ him, PVE became a breeze. I was especially looking forward to nodes with goons, as they melt in front of Strange. He is also good in PVP in the current Gambit meta, because gambit will cast a lot of abilities, and suffer the wrath of Strange’s yellow passive.

Pros

Strange has 2 excellent abilities (blue and yellow). His blue is an all rounder, combining stun with DOT and ap denial, for a very cheap 9 ap cost. However, it is his yellow passive that makes Strange an asset in PVE. Each time the enemy cast an ability, they will take 5+k dmg. Against goons, this can be triggered multiple times in a turn. In PVP, Strange can slow down the game as the players try not to cast abilities before he is taken out or stun. 

Cons

His purple is useless. It is too slow and too unreliable to removing enemy special tiles. Strange also has one of the lowest health points in th 5* tier, which means he can be taken out fairly quickly. His yellow takes 14 ap to nuke an enemy and hence is very slow.

Good team mates

Strange is largely independent. You can pair him up with DD to tap on DD purple passive. You can also pair him up with BB for max effectiveness in PVE, melting goon nodes in double quick time, with 5k+ bolt damage and 5k+ strange damage. 

 

Thanos PVE = 4.55 (rank 2), PVP = 4.06 (rank 3)

The Mad Titan takes the 2nd spot because of his usefulness in both PVP and PVE. Some people have argued that  to be competitive in PVE, you need a Thanos as you just need to kill 1 character to Court Death the rest to death. This is especially true for lower SCL, where your hardest node can be cleared quickly with a champ Thanos. In PVP, Thanos has the advantage of having the highest health points, which means that it takes longer time for your opponent to chew through. Also, Panthos is *the* fastest team in eating grills for PVP. However, his PVP ranking dropped slightly because of how fast Gambit + Thor is.

Pros

His black passive, Court Death, makes short work of the enemy team. This is especially true when the enemy team has a weak link, say a loaner character. 15+k dmg and 2 free turns due to stun. His green deals massive AOE dmg for his cost, dealing around 20+k dmg. Finally, his purple is often overlooked by less experienced players. His purple can be used to negate many character abilities. Want to prevent Phoenix from resurrecting? Cast purple before killing her. Want to stop those pesky DD strike tiles; cast purple and you also stop him from healing? See that enemy OML has 9 black ap? Cast purple and you see OML ending his turn with no strike tiles generated. And not forgetting the increase match dmg it does, which can increase it to 2k-3k per match for his strongest colors.

Cons

His green, while being an extremely good nuke, relies on a 3-turn CD resolving. I have countless situations which my CD gets matched away in a cascades, even though i took care to cast it when there is little green on the board. The inherent unreliability of the green has made some players adjusting his green to 3 cover and maxing purple at 5 cover.  Thanos black also requires the enemy to be killed first for activation, and against very high health enemies, it is much less effective. 

Good team mates

Thanos and BP are a match made in heaven. Kill an enemy, Thanos black trigger (15+k dmg) and stun BP. BP red passive trigger for 10+k dmg on one enemy. So as long as you kill the first enemy, you will deal 25+k dmg to the next enemy, which allows you to trigger Thanos black again. Thanos also pairs well with 5* Hawkeye and Green Goblin, as their passive will fortify Thanos green CD ensuring it will go off. 

 

Black Panther PVE = 3.08 (rank 9), PVP = 3.28 (rank 6)

When BP was first released, he was widely derided as he looks weak. He only has 1 active, which doesn't deal straight up dmg. However he plays better than on paper, as his 3 abilities are all very useful. While i don't think he deserves such high ranking, it is clear that people love him as part of the Panthos (Panther + Thanos) team which combines with perfect synergy. Panthos is the fastest team to eat grills, which explains why BP is rank higher in PVP than in PVE.

Pros

BP black seems meh on paper, but it's actually really strong. You get a 5-turn CD to trigger 5+k additional damage. Assuming you only do match dmg to trigger,that's 25k dmg for 9 ap. If you add in cascades, or attack tiles or special tiles (like 4* Gamora red or 5* DD green), you can deal a lot of damage. 

BP red is useful to tank a major attack, as you straight up avoid 60% of the dmg. And you get a nifty benefit of BP coming back from stun to deal 10+k dmg. His red is *the* reason why BP pairs so well with Thanos. Finally, his yellow is often overlooked, but when it triggers it hits like a truck (20+k dmg). As it is a passive, you can use it to kill Dr Strange without triggering Strange yellow ability. 

Cons

BP has only 1 active ability that rely on CD. Your CD can be matched on turn 1 or it can be blocked by moves such as Thanos purple or Gambit purple. You also can't rely on his yellow when you in a pinch; i have games which i had the required TU ap, but there was just no yellow matches for me to trigger it. 

Good team mates

Thanos and BP are a match made in heaven. Kill an enemy, Thanos black trigger (15+k dmg) and stun BP. BP red passive trigger for 10+k dmg on one enemy. So as long as you kill the first enemy, you will deal 25+k dmg to the next enemy, which allows you to trigger Thanos black again. Panthos is *the* fastest grill eating team, though against an A team, Panthos will be very slow. 

 

Hawkeye PVE = 3.17 (rank 8), PVP = 3.05 (rank 8)
CD, CD, CD galore! HE is a CD machine, as his purple passive generates blue and red ap when a CD resolves. This allows him to generate more CD, which gives him more blue and red to... endless cycle! The great synergy is what gives him such high ranking in PVE and PVP.
Pros
HE has great internal synergy. You just need 5 blue to get the ball rolling, and that's not difficult to do. His purple also helps to protect the CDs by fortifying them. With the right team mates, HE can beat any team. I heard of level 550 teams being beaten by HE teams.
Cons
HE arrows are a mishmash of effects, in a specific sequence. You can't choose the right arrows according to your situation, which means that sometimes you will waste an arrow. HE also need the right team mates to shine, which means that you are limited by choices. 
Good team mates
Coulson-HE are the ultimate SHIELD pair. Every time you use HE arrow, coulson blue passive generate a 1-turn CD. When this resolves, it gives HE more blue and red ap. This is the pair that can beat any team. To complete the trinity, you can add in 4* Carol, who will buff special tiles upon the resolving of CD. Gambit also works well with HE, as gambit purple will generate CD that feeds on HE passive, and giving more red for Gambit to throw cards.

 

Starlord (A.Mix 2) PVE = 2,57 (rank 13), PVP = 1.90 (rank 20)
Starlord is a good support character. He plays better than he looks on paper, and his yellow and green can shake up the board a lot. While he may not be a centre piece of a 5* team, he is a very good third wheel. I have a champ SL and i often use him as a green-purple user (because thanos just sucks up healthpacks). This also explains why he has a higher rating in PVE than in PVP, because in PVE you can usually choose 3 characters.
Pros

His yellow creates 5 charged tiles in place of the enemy strongest color, and if you timed it well it can create good cascades. And not forgetting that charge tiles multiple the match dmg by 3, which in 5* land is a non trivial dmg source. 

SL purple can steal tiles or ap, and in 5* tier, only DD can steal tiles. 

SL green is a wonderful board shake, as it destroy basic tiles & enemy special tiles but leaving friendly special tiles intact. Strangely, the game considered the charge tiles as friendly, so the charge tiles you created will remain on the board. SL green is great in a team which relies on special tiles, such as OML,Phx and HE.

Cons

SL purple is a weak link, as it either steals ap or enemy tiles, meaning that if there is a protect tile on board, it will default to stealing it. In addition, if the ap it steals is random and from only 1 colour. which means you can easily steal just 1 ap in a useless color or steal 8 ap in your strongest color. 

While his green is an excellent board shake, it's dmg is very low at 8k. Compared to similar 12 ap move, Thanos green does 20k (with a CD) and Thor green does 13k, it's clear that SL is inferior. 

Good team-mates

SL plays a supporting role, so you usually don't build the team around him. You can use him as a green ap generator, so he's useful for Thanos or Thor. You can use him as a charge tile generator so he's useful for 4* Thora and Gambit. I usually use him with Gambit, because Gambit red allows me to collect the green ap, which fuel SL green board shake. SL-Gambit have a lot of way to handle enemy special tiles that you are well covered in PVE.

atomzed

Doctor Octopus (Classic) PVE = 1.45 (rank 22), PVP = 1.19 (rank 23)
As expected, Dr Ock is rated very low in the survey. When he was released, he was already seen as a very poor character as he has limited synergy within his own abilities. In fact, he was so bad that many players decided to hoard their CP and LT and wait for him to be rotated out. I have limited experience with him, as i am not planning to waste iso levelling him (though mine is 3/3/5).

Pros
His black ability stun and enemy and generate strike tiles which is quite decent. For a stun, it's on a very rare color. His green is complex, requires you to cast it 3x to reach final phase... and if you fulfill the complex criteria of matching it at 1-turn CD, you will win the match against any opponent! You definitely have a sense of accomplishment if you manage to do that.

Cons
His blue require multiple casting before it deals good dmg. 8 ap for 6.5k dmg is really poor return. And the secondary power of the tentacles making a match for a stun Dr Ock? Well, there is currently no reliable way to stun your own allies (besides Thanos Court Death and Punisher Merciless Charge), so it is hardly useful.

His green is sooo complex that you are likely to kill the enemy before you fulfill all the criteria. I have never achieved it ever, even in those 5* essential nodes that i have to bring him for a ride.

Good team-mate: Vulture + Dr Ock makes a good pairing because Vulture black will generate a lot of green and blue ap for Dr Ock to use. Add in 4* Carol to get Ock’s green CD tile to zero, and you can deal good dmg quickly.

 

Spider-man (Peter Parker) PVE = 3.02 (rank 10), PVP = 2.98 (rank 9)
Finally,  Spidey that is reflective of his power in comics! PP hits fast and hard, and has a bag of tricks in his bag to deal with his enemies. His blue can stun the whole team, and he can create up to 3 critical tiles (critical tiles are awesome in 5* tier).
Pros
PP has good synergy within himself. PP abilities rely on web tiles, so it's awesome that PP red can passively create web tiles. Blue can be used as a team stun, but it's primary use is to generate web tiles. All the web tiles feed into his green, allowing to deal additional ~5+k dmg per web tile, up till a max of 5 web tiles. The dmg is dealt separately, so PP can tap on strike tiles for more dmg. His red also deals good dmg (~12k), and if you have more than 6 web tiles, it can create 3 critical tiles. 
Cons
Because PP plays around his web tiles, his abilities need to play in specific sequence. Hence, he can be complex to play with. He is also very poor on defence. 
Good team mates
PP need web tiles, so Miles and SpiderGwen are the best partners for him. In 5* tier, PP plays well with any 5* character as he is self sufficient.

Daredevil PVE = 4.06 (rank 6), PVP = 3.84 (rank 5)

On paper, DD looks hugely underpowered, but when people had their hands on him, he was found to be very good in both pvp climb and pve. You just need to get him down to 50% health and he will prove his worth. 

Pros

A true heal character is hard to come by. DD can true heal up to 50%, and as long as he don't get killed by cascades or a big move, he will continue fighting. Also, he generates good strike tiles every turn for the team to kill and for him to heal. His other 2 abilities synergise well with his strike tiles. In green, you have an additional DOT, tapping on the strike tiles; the big dmg on enemy match is a bonus that is hard to trigger. In purple, he stuns and convert enemy tiles into more strike tiles. And the passive, oooh... it hurts so badly for the enemy. Every time a stun enemy is hit, he takes additional dmg. This can be trigger infinitely, so the dmg piles up quickly. The purple passive also double dip on the strike tiles, giving you more oomph. 

Cons

You really need him to be below 50% health to maximise his effectiveness. Which means that your DD is 1 bad cascade away from death. You will have to manage carefully when he is out in front to prevent him from surprise deaths. Another weak point of DD is his reliance on purple passive to deal major damage. Against enemies who are immune to stun, you take a longer time in killing them.... and unfortunately that includes all the boss events. 

Good team mates

Thanos is a good team mate for him, as Thanos black self damage DD and keeps him below 50% for max effectiveness. 4* Gamora also works perfectly with DD. Gamora has a team stun and generates attack tiles which feeds into DD purple passive. 5* Steve also works well with DD, as they have good color coverage and Steve yellow can stun and generate attack tiles.

 

Gambit PVE = 4.60 (rank 1), PVP = 4.88 (rank 1)

Is there any doubt of who is the king?Gambit is so good that he side lines all the other 5*. Esp in PVP, Gambit outclass the rest. The "nerf" did make him slower, and i heard feedback that he isn't unbeatable without your own gambit. But his drain makes it hard to beat without one.

Pros

His black passively generates purple and red ap, which feeds his moves. His black also drains 2 ap every turn. This means that Gambit black self accelerate and slow down the enemy. This ability is unprecedented as it is not dependent on the board condition (eg Hood). Putting it into numbers, a Gambit team is gaining +2 purple +2 red +3 match ap every turn. A non gambit team gains +3 match ap -2 drain ap every turn. The advantage is huge. 

Gambit red does good damage (~15k) for only 7 ap. Oh, and not to forget that he gains the ap of the tiles that is destroyed. So if there are charge tiles on board he uses 7 ap and gain back 6 ap. 

Finally, Gambit purple is the mother of all counters. It overwrites enemy special ties. 5* HE fortified Cd tiles? Laugh at him as you replace it with yours. Phoenix wants to resurrect? Take over her cd with Gambit cd tiles. The damage of his purple move is also good. 

Cons

What weakness? He is practically god- mode. Ok, you still want me to point out his issues. If there's one area of concern, it is that Gambit deserves another look to make him less OP. So be prepared for another change in the future. 

On another note, there are newer characters that can be faster than Gambit. Thor is one with his passive. JJ is the other with her blue passive that Gambit purple cannot deal with. so maybe D3 will release new characters in the future that make him look noob.... we should see.

Good team mates

Gambolt is awesome with Black Bolt passively created charge tiles which means that Gambit red will always deal max dmg, even on the first cast. Gambit red also create charge tiles, which ensure that BB passive is trigger all the time. Gambit also pairs well with 5* HE as HE passive will generate red everytime a CD resolve. Gambit purple cd thus feeds the team with more red. GamThor is also very good, as Thor passive generates free red ap every turn, which leads to more cards throwing for Gambit.

 

Thor (Gladiator) PVE = 4.54 (rank 3), PVP = 4.48 (rank 2)
The latest MCU Odinson, GladiaThor still packs a punch even without his hammer. This survey shows how good he REALLY is… with him being ranked 3rd in PVE and 2nd in PVP. He was previously underestimated because he was just released then.  
Pros
His green does massive AOE at ~13k instantly. Compared to Thanos, his damage is lower but there are no conditions attached to it. In addition, when GladiaThor is below 50%, he will destroy random red, green and yellow tiles. At 5 covers, GladiaThor is doing around 3k dmg from tile destruction, gain 5 ap and generating possible cascades every turn. This is massive ap acceleration, and he will be able to cast his 3 abilities much faster. The other 2 abilities also do good damage in the 5* tier, with some nifty secondary effects. Finally, GladiaThor has the second highest health pool at 53k in the 5* tier, which makes him a good meat shield.
Cons
If GladiaThor is not below 50%, you will find him much slower. But if you bring him into a battle at 50%, sometimes a cruel cascade can just down him. So it is a catch-22 situation. In addition, his yellow suffers the 'Falcap problem' of 'creating special tiles on the same color'. You cast it at 9 ap, creating many protect tiles, and you want to trigger his second part of his yellow... well, now you have to collect more yellow ap, and usually matching away the protect tiles in the process.
Good team mates
Thor-Gambit is currently one of the more common PVP teams. Thor-DD is also a great team, as their below 50% health passive just feed on each other.

Archangel (Classics) PVE = 2.13 (rank 20), PVP = 1.96 (rank 17)

Archangel is an interesting support character, who has two unique abilities. 1st, he is the only person who can counter airborne characters with his blue passive; this may prove useful for future characters. He also has an ability that blocks ap gain. Alas, his abilities all do very little damage, which means that you can’t rely on him to kill the other enemies.

Pros

His black blocks all ap gain, including Gambit/ Hood/ Red Hulk type of ap generation. At a low cost of 7, you can gain huge strategic advantage using him. Don’t forget that you can also block ap gain in goons too! His blue passive is an easy counter against airborne characters, specifically Vulture.

Cons

His damage is pitiful especially for a 5*. Also, for his blue passive, there isn’t many characters that goes airborne.

Good team mates

AA plays well with Gambit. Between Gambit passive ap drain, and AA’s green (which destroy ap in 2 colours) and AA’s black, you can keep the opponent ap at a very low level.

 

Ghostrider (Robbie Reyes) PVE = 2.29 (rank 15), PVP = 2.00 (rank 15)

GR is a fun character to play with, as his moves are cheap and he has ap generation, stun and big dmg moves. Unfortunately, in the meta of unconditional ap generation (gambit and thor), GR green is comparatively lackluster.

Pros

His green is his signature move, creating 3 repeaters ties that generate up to 9 ap AND doing 3x dmg! Once you cast his green, GR will self-accelerate to give you more ap for his moves. His black dmg is awesome, and you can always choose the enemy to trigger the higher dmg.

Cons

His green can be inconsistent at times, as it only destroy red, green and black tiles. Also, if the green repeater tiles drop to the bottom row, it’s usefulness drop greatly. His red passive isn’t that much useful, especially in PVE against goons.

Good team mates

GG will fortify GR repeater tiles, making his green stronger.

 

Jessica Jones PVE = 2.91 (rank 11), PVP = 2.75 (rank 10)

While JJ is very new, it seems that most people who had her gives very good ratings, making her the top 10 in PVP.

(guest entry from GKar of aXe Reavers)

The sarcastic Defender with a strong instinct for investigation, JJ brins a new mechanic to the game. She is able to find dirt enemies, translated into game as her creating enemy trap tiles that if matched by the player, will do a large amount of dmg and gain ap. This a well designed mechanic that matches the character flavour.

Pros

Her abilities are designed beautifully to self synergise. Her primary colours are red, black and blue so you want to match those colours. Most characters put special tiles they create on their own colours. However, JJ’s red ability is smart enough to put the strike tiles on green, yellow and purple. Hence if you are matching her colours, you won’t be getting rid of your own strike tiles. In addition, JJ’s blue ability create enemy trap tiles on red, black and blue which are the colours you want to match! Finally, her black ability hits like a truck, with the strike tiles contributing to the huge dmg. JJ’s health pool is also one of the highest currently.

Cons

Black cost is a bit high, and some matches it won’t fire at all. She can play a bit slow if you are unable to match her trap tiles early in the match, or if you aren’t pairing her with an ap generator.

Good team mates

JJ has perfect rainbow coverage with fellow Defender, Daredevil. The strike tiles JJ’s red create will allow DD to heal quickly. JJ and Thor are also near perfect functional pair, as Thor passive will remove green, red and yellow tiles, making it easier to match the trap tiles in blue and black. 

LegallyUndead

Just a quick heads up: there are 20 5*s.  Thanks for making this ranking!

Pongie

The suspense of who will be #1 is killing me

atomzed

LegallyUndead said:

Just a quick heads up: there are 20 5*s.  Thanks for making this ranking!

Oh shucks! Thanks for the heads-up on my typo! I made the changes.

Pongie said:

The suspense of who will be #1 is killing me

I can't be sure whether you are joking or genuinely wanting to know who is #1.... I think #1 is quite obvious based on forummites opinion, heh!

atomzed

Revealed the characters for joint 17th and 19th.

Also completed the write-ups for them.

Comments welcome... especially on 5* Steve. I seriously don't think he should be rated so low....

Jarvind

Boy, I'd rank 5teve way, way higher than Black Suit. Steve has 3 solid powers - his only real weaknesses, IMO, are that his red is expensive and he lacks a powerful passive, which is basically a requirement for meta-status these days. Black Suit, on the other hand, has two weak actives and a passive that's only helpful against strike-heavy teams. 

Anon

Fairly certain I can guess the top 3. The others, not so much.

atomzed

Jarvind said:

Boy, I'd rank 5teve way, way higher than Black Suit. Steve has 3 solid powers - his only real weaknesses, IMO, are that his red is expensive and he lacks a powerful passive, which is basically a requirement for meta-status these days. Black Suit, on the other hand, has two weak actives and a passive that's only helpful against strike-heavy teams. 

agree Jarvind. i would have rated Steve higher too. But the sample who rated the 5* felt otherwise...

Anon said:

Fairly certain I can guess the top 3. The others, not so much.

would you like to hazard a guess on the remaining ones? i guess it will be kinda fun. 

Starfury

One small thing, the current rate for classic 5* is 0.88% not 1.13%.

atomzed

Revealed no 16 and no 15!

Starfury said:

One small thing, the current rate for classic 5* is 0.88% not 1.13%.

thanks! i made the change!

BlackBoltRocks said:

The thing about the 5* tier is, Banner and perhaps Ock aside, the rest of the 5* can be deadly in the right teams (let's not talk about Gambit eh). TLDR: trash and uber tiers aside, the remaining 5* are all very close in viability, so ranking becomes more of an arbitrary "have to" rather than a definite hierarchy.

I agree with you @BlackBoltRocks, i was mulling over whether i should create a tier list, and there's bacially a 3 tier list. Trash tier (Hulk and Dr Ock), Mid tier (contains a lot of the 5*) and a God tier. eventually we will see who is in the God tier. 

Based on your feedback i try to add another section detailing the good team mates for the 5*.

General_Tojo

Can't wait to see where Thor and Daredevil are on the list! Thanks for compiling!

atomzed

Added write up for 12, 13, 14th. 

Black widow, Green Goblin and Starlord. 

I got my alliance mate to do the write up for BW, bec he's a fan of BW.

kennn712

This thread is super helpful for those leaping into 5* land 

sinnerjfl

Does BW's red steal AP? Ability says destroys and fairly sure thats what it does when I used it.

atomzed

sinnerjfl said:

Does BW's red steal AP? Ability says destroys and fairly sure thats what it does when I used it.

typo! amended. thanks!

poomermon

There is a bit of misinformation in the green goblin writeup. Pumpkin bombs create only 3 countdowns (not 4). Purple bombs steal 3 ap from 3 random colors each. So fully resolved purple bombs can steal up to 27 ap. Also lvl 450 goblin glider does 22k dmg.

I think GG is solid character but he has low health for a 5-star and AI can't play him correctly so he is weak on pvp defence.

atomzed

@poomermon, regarding the purple pumpkin bombs for ap steal, i read it as 3 ap of 1 random color per bomb. are you sure it's 3 ap of 3 colors per bomb?