Thoughts on ever evolving 4* bonus hero strategy as my roster grows in power

dramatist

I've been thinking about how my bonus heroes, specifically the 4* one has evolved as my 4* roster keeps growing and new roster building metrics are introduced.  

When bonus heroes were introduced I probably had about a dozen 4* champs, all older ones. This was the same time vaulting was introduced. I remember my first 4* bonus hero was Peggy to chase her while she was still in tokens.   

I did this sort of thing for a long while. Use my 4* bonus hero to chase someone I wanted to champ that was close (I always have only 1 bonus hero per tier selected).     

As my roster of champions grew (I have 45 now) I stopped chasing particular heroes because I was getting enough fully covered heroes that I was never not needing Iso to champ someone, not covers. I now was just leaving Rocket & Groot as my favorite because every level makes the strikes stronger. Rocket and Groot has become my highest champion because of this.

Now things have changed again with the changing of certain rewards to 5* covers. I switched from Rocket and Groot to Medusa to have Medusa hit 280 to get my first 5* cover from a 4* reward. I got some Medusa bonus heroes this morning and she is now level 285 and I got a green Black Bolt cover.

This is nice, but not particularly important to me because it's only cover 4 for Black Bolt. I don't really need single covers for Peter Parker (4 covers) or Thanos (3 covers) either. I'm hoping that more 4* hero champion rewards are changed to 5* covers in the future that will help me more than the starter 3.

So now I'm at a junction where I'm not sure who to bonus hero. Should I keep Medusa favorited because I'll get my Black Bolt's first black cover in 15 more Medusa levels? That seems far in the future to not really be that great. Should I favorite Rocket & Groot again to keep those strike tiles ever increasing?

I think I found a favorite for now; Red Hulk. Red Hulk is a vital part of my beating Medusa, Rocket and Groot and Gamora team. Along with Carol and Rocket & Groot.  To be vital Red Hulk needs to tank all his colors and with Rocket and Groot being 19 levels higher he's in danger of not tanking green soon.

What are other people's 4* bonus hero strategies? 

Dormammu

I hoard so it really doesn't matter who I set in the 4-star tier, because I never get any bonus heroes from the rare Heroic Token drop. When I tap into my hoard for something I'll usually set it to whichever of the latest 12 is most desirable to me that isn't fully covered.

aa25

My alliance mates call my BH strategy weird, but I personally like how my roster turns out so far. So basically, I use BH to flag 1-2 vintage 4* at a time to help them catching up with the latest. (My logic is latest 4* get 3x drop rate, so they are more likely to gain more levels and pass vintage 4*.) I usually pick 1-2 damage dealers (since levels matter to them the most) and keep BH on them until they catch up with latest 4* near the top of my roster.

With my play style and resource earning rate, a 4* tends to get to around lv 320-330 before they leave the latest, and that is my goal. Once the chosen vintage is around that level, I will move the BH tag over to a new one.

Currently, I have one 4* graduated with this strategy and one is up and coming. I am very happy with the results so far. When they are boosted, they are monsters (JG and Peggy). For example, my Peggy with based level of 311 is boosted to lv 420 this week. Her red deals 19k, her blue deals 15k per cd tile, and she has 42k health.

PS: I personally believe that champ level is very important in 4* land. Get them high, and they will turn into monster, especially those damage dealers and strike tile maker.

Pongie

I was aiming to get them to 330 before switching. Peggy was my first choice and once she hit 330, I did switch over to rhulk. However, when rhulk hit 320, I switched over to Medusa just to try and get some blackbolt covers. He is nly 1/0/0 and is now 2/1/0. When Medusa hit 320, I'll probably return to my next target iceman. It will take too long to get 3 more blackbolt covers. Unless more 4* gets updated to reward 5* then I'll have to rethink my priority.

sambrookjm

I generally try to have my bonus hero as one who will give me a Legendary Token at the next level.  Currently, that's Hulkbuster, C4rol, and Kingpin.  I've got a few more at LVL 278 or 288, so if I get a non-Bonus cover for one of them, I'll add them to the collection.

broll

My progression was similar to the OP, but I never marked a character just because it was favorite.  I went straight from chasing the characters I didn't have champed to now I have Vulture favorited because at 300 (currently 280) he'll give the 13th Spider-Man.  He also happens to be one of my favorite characters so double whammy!

ThaRoadWarrior

I struggle with this question as well, because i tend to get them so infrequently at the 4* tier it almost doesn't matter. With my 3*s, I typically set whichever un-champed character I'm trying to get over the hump as my only BH. My current roster means that is only Torch, who is pretty close to champ. There are still a few 4* characters that are being fed by 2 different 3* characters, so I'm thinking that as I add roster slots and can put 3*s back on, I may try and force-feed my sad 4* Lord (0/1/1) before 3* Gamora gets retargeted to giving out G4mora. Then move on to Elektr4 who is being double served by Dar3devil and 3lektra, and so on. 

At 4* tier, I've been using it to accelerate somebody in Latest 12 to champion status. My only BH is currently set to Vulture, because he is mechanically interesting and I just wasn't organically landing any covers for him. He's at 4/2/2 now, so it seems to be working.

Straycat

Normally I use it for anyone without 5 covers in any power, but I'm in no rush to get Main Event or Nico champed. I am trying to save iso for 5*s now, so I only have champs as bonus heroes. Right now its Vulture, Medusa and Gamora for the potential 5*s, as well as anyone at 279 or 289. Just waiting for them to announce the next 4*s to get 5*s added to the champ rewards

ThaRoadWarrior

I got my Vulture to champ over the holidays, and moved my BH over to Nico. I feel that her passive tile buff is going to be the new meta-pairing with 4ocket. She's at 2/2/3 now. I have other 4* characters that are nearer to champion, including some classics like Red Hulk (3/1/5) and Hulkbuster (2/4/4) and some latest like Yondu (2/5/3), so I'm not sure if trying to accelerate her up is the move right now. But I'm going to stick with it and see I guess. Opinions to follow.