Daredevil or Archangel

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VizMantis
VizMantis Posts: 280 Mover and Shaker
A new 5* is here, so I figured I’d be the one to ask the usual question.  Given a ripe hoard, is it best to pull for Daredevil now or wait on Archangel to enter packs?
Pretty early to tell for Archangel I’d imagine, but is one obviously better?

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  • JarvisJackrabbit
    JarvisJackrabbit Posts: 232 Tile Toppler
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    DD definitely seems the better of the two unless there's something major I'm missing about Archangel and you reeealy hate Vulture.
  • Tiger_Wong
    Tiger_Wong Posts: 1,018 Chairperson of the Boards
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    I guess you’re missing the AP denial it can do with a chosen CD. 
  • VizMantis
    VizMantis Posts: 280 Mover and Shaker
    edited December 2017
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    Archangel didn’t seem all that great to me either.  Unless there’s a mess of active airborn characters in the pipe, I don’t really see the need for the blue direct counter to a single 4* character when I’m in the 5* tier.  The black ap denial is cool, and fairly economical, but seems like it might be like defense tiles in a “why should I prioritize powers that drag out the fight instead of finishing it” sorta way?  The same can be said of his green.  

    Then again, none of DD’s powers look that great to me on paper either.  His one attraction for me is his true heal.  As my 1030 health packs can attest, I like me some true healing characters.  The fact of the matter is, I have no idea how to effectively the 5* tier, since I have 0 experience there.  Since, at least in my case, I have no 5*s currently, another question to ask is which will be more useful in a pair with Thor/Gambir (or both in the Sim)?
  • Anon
    Anon Posts: 1,455 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Archangel could also be useful to counter Rogue and her siphon.
  • BlackBoltRocks
    BlackBoltRocks Posts: 1,161 Chairperson of the Boards
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    VizMantis said:
    another question to ask is which will be more useful in a pair with Thor/Gambir (or both in the Sim)?
    I'll address the trio of Daredevil/Gambit/Thor and Gambit/Thor/Archangel specifically. Not gonna go into pairings

    From what I see, the latter trio of Gambit/Thor/Archangel is better than the former. Because Gambit blocks both Purple and Red, which means you're preventing Daredevil from using arguably his best power, so that's already a huge hit to team synergy. Archangel doesn't have that problem; in addition, he helps complete an active rainbow (if you're like me and are OCD about rainbow teams), and like Daredevil, he can stun, albeit on Blue. Plus, Gambit and Archangel look like they'll work devastatingly well together, with all that free friendly AP generation and enemy AP destruction. If Thor is below 50% health, all the better, as you'll be generating additional Green, Red, and Yellow AP. With that trio I'd go Gambit at 3/5/5, Thor defaults to 5/3/5, and Warren at 5/3/5. I'd rather use Thor's Green over Archangel's, because all that AP destruction is just overkill.
  • Dyspeptic
    Dyspeptic Posts: 7 Just Dropped In
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    True healing and strike tile generation (DD) vs a hard counter for a niche ability (Aerial Superiority for Archangel). Sure if you work hard you can use Nova or Riri to proc the damage, but you'll have an easier time proccing Sonar Strike by stunning an enemy with DD in the lineup.

    IMO it's no contest. Go for DD
  • VizMantis
    VizMantis Posts: 280 Mover and Shaker
    edited December 2017
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    As blackbolt points out gambit will block Daredevil’s purple.  He’ll also block Thor’s red.  Both are colors that seem to be rated as 5 cover colors in most people’s “top build”, so it seems like neither would be fighting at peak efficiency with Gambit.

    So it seems to me, while Archangel may not be as good with DD, he probably pairs better with Gambit, who I think is clearly the star of either trio.  For someone who has some other 5*s to work with, seems like Daredevil is the way to go.  But if these 3 are all I’ve got, I’m leaning Angel.  Or is DD/Thor a mighty “go in injured” team?  I can see some synergy with DDs special tiles boosting Thor, I guess?
  • VizMantis
    VizMantis Posts: 280 Mover and Shaker
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    To argue against myself, having done some reading on the boards, it seems like most consider DD to be top 5.  While he may not pair well with Gambit, it seems silly to opt out of a top 5 DD just because AA happens to pair better with Gambit.
  • Bowgentle
    Bowgentle Posts: 7,926 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Daredevil, by a country mile.

    You bring Thor for his green and AP generation at half health, and DD for his half health strikes.

    Neither is affected by Gambit's colour blocking.
  • vinsensual
    vinsensual Posts: 458 Mover and Shaker
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    The Sonar Strike double tap is really fun to see damage rack up.  I'm sure the strikes and regen are more important when climbing, but Sonar Strike adds more enjoyment to the character and Gambit blocks that.  

    Same as when the latest trio had Spidey and Gambit.  Spiderman was entirely viable just using green, but spamming crit tiles with his red created some fun chaos. 
  • VizMantis
    VizMantis Posts: 280 Mover and Shaker
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    Purple does seem like a good power.  At least the passive component will still function.  Too bad neither Thor nor Gambit have a stun to activate it. 
  • Quebbster
    Quebbster Posts: 8,070 Chairperson of the Boards
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    VizMantis said:
    Purple does seem like a good power.  At least the passive component will still function.  Too bad neither Thor nor Gambit have a stun to activate it. 

    There's Always team-ups. Bring a Widow's Sting or Three and Watch the damage rack up!
  • jki_23
    jki_23 Posts: 13 Just Dropped In
    edited December 2017
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    I think the dilemma is whether you have another 5 star what has a blue and black.

    Like everyone said Gambit's best teammate is Bolt and may pair well with Thor for example. Assuming you have Bolt / Thor, you will already red, purple, yellow and green covered.

    Then you look into your roster, whether you have another 5 star that has blue and black active skills. If you have surfer, you are all set. I would rather use Surfer over Archangel.

    Archangel's blue and green are both mid-tier skills in my opinion. How often can you use his blue passive. If not it will only do 7K damage and 2 turns stun for 11AP at 5 covers

    For green, I would rather use Bolt's and Thor's green

    Now, it comes down to black which is Archangel's best skill. it is cheap and quite good to be honest. But if you have Surfer, I think he will fit better than Archangel on a team with Bolt and Gambit. Plus Surfer is also a charge tile generator.

    In additional, DD is a way better overall character than Archangel. In my opinion, DD is top tier and Archangel is mid / low tier in 5 star land.  
  • VizMantis
    VizMantis Posts: 280 Mover and Shaker
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    Yeah, it seems clear that DD is the superior character.  The only thing in AAs favor is his colors pair better with Gambit.  In the absence of anyone better (I mentioned earlier I have no other 5*s to speak of), the question is, is it worth settling on an inferior 5* just for the superior pairing?  Given how highly rated DD is, and the fact that he can probably function adequately with Gambit, I’m thinking he’s the way to go.
  • SlappyDingle
    SlappyDingle Posts: 60 Match Maker
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    When does DD leave tokens btw? Anybody know?
  • Anon
    Anon Posts: 1,455 Chairperson of the Boards
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    When does DD leave tokens btw? Anybody know?
    End of the season likely. Then Archangel enters.
  • SlappyDingle
    SlappyDingle Posts: 60 Match Maker
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    Awesome! Thanks Bolt!
  • jki_23
    jki_23 Posts: 13 Just Dropped In
    edited December 2017
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    I would suggest to pull all before DD leaves. In the current latest pool, you are having two top tier 5 stars in Gambit and DD. Plus Thor is pretty ok, a solid mid tier.

    And that's what I did, 265 pulls, 3 days ago. I was 46 / 265 (17.4%)
    https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/69561/265-latest-pulls#latest

    Ended up with

    Thor 459
    Gambit 451
    DD 450

    Thought the current latest pool is just too good to pass up, I have another 9/45 mini run last night (20%), with the following results:

    Thor 464
    Gambit 453
    DD 452

    Will pull again before AA comes in

  • VizMantis
    VizMantis Posts: 280 Mover and Shaker
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    Yup, I’m sold on pulling for DD and I just hit 300 LL pulls yesterday!  I’m probably going to sit on it a bit longer so I can build up as much ISO as possible (I’ve only got 3.8 mil right now).  But I’ll definitely be pulling before AA makes his appearance.