Time to champ my first 5*?

ZeiramMR

First, thanks to everyone who has threads here or commented in them about their experiences. @Dragon_Nexus @BlackBoltRocks @Jarvind in particular, but I've read the other ones since the summer that I could find.


Up until now I had focused more on the 4* level and getting 3* dupes going, and that was at least in part due to poor RNG on the active meta characters that I was aware of:

• Thanos is 2/2/5 after the Gamora champ levels
• Panther is 2/1/4
• Hawkeye is 4/0/4 (which doesn't seem worth the Coulson pairing without his Blue arrow power)
• Daredevil is 4/4/0
• Black Bolt is decent at 5/4/1. 

I now have Gambit at 13 covers, with 4 more covers in my queue. My thinking is that I should champ him (but waiting until after any season announcements like rebalances first) and hold off on champing another 5* until I have another high-end character due to the MMR impact for PVP.

Thoughts? My roster in the signature link is current apart from state of my 2* farm, but some of the bullet points for my roster and playstyle:

• All but three 4*s championed, the highest of which is at 310.
• A little over half of 3*s are at 266 with dupes in progress.
• Other fully-covered 5*s are Green Goblin and OML
• 5*s at 12 covers: Phoenix and Dr. Strange
• I usually play Story to at least full progression but on my own schedule, and most PVPs will shield out at 900. From what I understand, championing a 5* is going to lower my float point, but maybe that won't drop as much with Gambit as someone else?

Quebbster

I assume your Gamependium roster is accurate. I agree that you should be fine having Gambit as your only fivestar champion, but a few practical tips:

* Dr Strange is the fivestar essential this weekend, and since it is the first time it should be his blue on offer. Make sure you have 250 CP on hand to buy it - you don't need to champ him yet, but going from 2/5/5 to 3/5/5 should be Worth 250 CP.

* Set Medusa as your fourstar bonus hero if you haven't already until you get her to level 320. That gets your Black Bolt to 5/5/2, and that will be good enough for PvP purposes once you move fully into fivestar land.

* After you are done with Medusa, you can do Vulture as your bonus hero to get Peter Parker to 5/3/4. You might even be able to finish him off next time he is in Heroes for Hire, I am unsure which color is up next.

All in all I'd say you are in a pretty good position to move to fivestar land if you want. Gambit is definitely the best start though, but Strange, Bolt and Parker are excellent as well. You should probably go with Bolt first once you decide to take the plunge.

Magic

Champion Gambit and don't look back. It will change your PvP (you will see plenty of Gambits) but Gambit vs Gambit is a matchup I always take (his running mates always determine if it's a go - Bolt or Strange or a boosted 5* - might be better skipping). You might want to level Bolt a bit but not to high (depends where you are with 4* - i would go to 300-350 region max).

I don't expect any changes to Gambit for another month or so. Then I think he will be nerfed beyond usability. If that happens be ready to sell him and go back to the 4* land maybe.

And think strongly before you bring another 5* to high levels (you might be tempted with Thanos or Bolt) - that can put you in double-champion 5* MMR. Still workable with Gambit but a bit more of pain. 

ZeiramMR

BlackBoltRocks said:

Since you've read about the experience of others, you should know that you have nothing to worry about with a single champed 5*. Your 4* roster is more than good enough to back up champed Gambit. So I'd say if you're ready to take that step, go ahead and champ him. It'll speed up your already optimum progress in PvE and PvP. I'm not sure about float point, because personally I just play to 575 and call it a day. But Gambit is definitely a good scarecrow, albeit for those who don't have champed or near-champed Gambits of their own. And even if he does get nerfed, you still shouldn't have much problems in PvP.

I am expecting it will shake up my PVP playstyle in some way, just a matter of how much. I typically join about 24 hours before it ends, climb in two bursts, and then shield-hop to 900. I am expecting that I may need to start earlier, but will see how that goes once it comes up.

Quebbster said:

* Dr Strange is the fivestar essential this weekend, and since it is the first time it should be his blue on offer. Make sure you have 250 CP on hand to buy it - you don't need to champ him yet, but going from 2/5/5 to 3/5/5 should be Worth 250 CP.

That should be doable. Chasing after my first Archangel for Strange Sights dropped my CP reserve by quite a bit and I am currently at 133. But there is more than enough CP available to reach 250 sometime this weekend.

Bowgentle

ZeiramMR said:

BlackBoltRocks said:

Since you've read about the experience of others, you should know that you have nothing to worry about with a single champed 5*. Your 4* roster is more than good enough to back up champed Gambit. So I'd say if you're ready to take that step, go ahead and champ him. It'll speed up your already optimum progress in PvE and PvP. I'm not sure about float point, because personally I just play to 575 and call it a day. But Gambit is definitely a good scarecrow, albeit for those who don't have champed or near-champed Gambits of their own. And even if he does get nerfed, you still shouldn't have much problems in PvP.

I am expecting it will shake up my PVP playstyle in some way, just a matter of how much. I typically join about 24 hours before it ends, climb in two bursts, and then shield-hop to 900. I am expecting that I may need to start earlier, but will see how that goes once it comes up.

Quebbster said:

* Dr Strange is the fivestar essential this weekend, and since it is the first time it should be his blue on offer. Make sure you have 250 CP on hand to buy it - you don't need to champ him yet, but going from 2/5/5 to 3/5/5 should be Worth 250 CP.

That should be doable. Chasing after my first Archangel for Strange Sights dropped my CP reserve by quite a bit and I am currently at 133. But there is more than enough CP available to reach 250 sometime this weekend.

With Gambit there will be no need to hop for 900.
Just float at 600 and let the hits roll in once you run out of health packs, you can beat all those retals easily and go to 1000-1200 with a few good queues.

Just plan on running out of health - 5* MMR requires HP management.

Magic

I second Bowgentle - with Gambit in the mix 900 without packs i fairly easy to do. Getting 1200 is a question of Hero points and health packs. 

ZeiramMR

I was playing in two bursts more for my free time availability than health pack regeneration (unless it is a grinder PVP like Blade, Cyclops, or Iron Fist). :-)

ZeiramMR

First impressions... are muddled by it being Best Friends Forever.

I am certainly getting attacked more often, and that was expected from the other threads. But it doesn't seem an unbearable amount and looks like I could make net progress while I have health packs. I'm going to experiment a bit and see where my float point seems to be in this and the next PVP.

Quebbster

Yeah, BFF is an odd event since it's only two characters, it messes up the matchmaking a bit. See how High Stakes goes.

rainkingucd

ZeiramMR said:

First impressions... are muddled by it being Best Friends Forever.

I am certainly getting attacked more often, and that was expected from the other threads. But it doesn't seem an unbearable amount and looks like I could make net progress while I have health packs. I'm going to experiment a bit and see where my float point seems to be in this and the next PVP.

What about second impressions?

I was about to post for advice and my post would be nearly identical to yours I think.  I usually play PVE, and occasional PVP (so 575, on occasion 900)

5*:
I have one 13 covered 5* (PHX).  I'd been avoiding leveling her as I wasn't interested, and was enjoying 4* tier.  I just got my 13th cover for Gambit which changes a little (I'm 300K iso short, but will get that soon enough).  
After that Daredevil has 7 covers, so my 5* roster not so strong

4*:
All but 10 champed, highest at Level 301

3*
15 at 266 and dupes in progress

Very similar roster and play style.  Very similar decision to be made.  So now that BFFs is over, what's your take?

ZeiramMR

I was going to make a longer post after sitting down for Constant Kraven today.

High Stakes saw a lot more incoming attacks than before the Champion. I also saw a very small pool of opponents once I got to the 700s and was not able to make a net climb once I was in the 775-850 range without Shield Hopping. I considered trying to keep hopping once I cleared 900 but decided against it: seemed to be more people than normal pushing Top 10 higher desperate for Kraven covers.

Quebbster

ZeiramMR said:

I was going to make a longer post after sitting down for Constant Kraven today.

High Stakes saw a lot more incoming attacks than before the Champion. I also saw a very small pool of opponents once I got to the 700s and was not able to make a net climb once I was in the 775-850 range without Shield Hopping. I considered trying to keep hopping once I cleared 900 but decided against it: seemed to be more people than normal pushing Top 10 higher desperate for Kraven covers.

What slice did you play? How much time did you have left? Is important!

ZeiramMR

I usually play Slice 5, which I know is not as high scoring as other slices but not the weakest either.

I'm pretty sure I was at the initial bouncing I described around mid-morning EST, maybe 10ish?

ZeiramMR

Quebbster said:

ZeiramMR said:

I was going to make a longer post after sitting down for Constant Kraven today.

High Stakes saw a lot more incoming attacks than before the Champion. I also saw a very small pool of opponents once I got to the 700s and was not able to make a net climb once I was in the 775-850 range without Shield Hopping. I considered trying to keep hopping once I cleared 900 but decided against it: seemed to be more people than normal pushing Top 10 higher desperate for Kraven covers.

What slice did you play? How much time did you have left? Is important!

Answers in the above post.

As for Kraven PVP, today was supposed to be uncommonly busy at work, so I didn't push as hard as I could have.

EDIT: And then the meetings that required me to take a short lunch were rescheduled, so I am pressing for the Kraven 900 after all. (Shielded at 890)

Quebbster

ZeiramMR said:

I usually play Slice 5, which I know is not as high scoring as other slices but not the weakest either.

I'm pretty sure I was at the initial bouncing I described around mid-morning EST, maybe 10ish?

I don't know much about slice 5 to be honest, but my understanding is that it is probably the second weakest slice. Try slice 4 if you can, that is supposed to have higher scores.

If I am Reading you right the hits came when there were around five hours left in the slice, right? It gets tougher and tougher to score towards the end because more people join and try to do a late climb, which means the early climbers stay shielded more. It's easier to reach the progression rewards if you join earlier (though you may have to wait for the scores to grow a bit, you may not be able to do it all in one go). Placement may be more difficult if you join early just for progression rewards though. Experiment a bit and see if you can find a way of play that suits you and lets you get the rewards you want.

ZeiramMR

Quebbster said:

ZeiramMR said:

I usually play Slice 5, which I know is not as high scoring as other slices but not the weakest either.

I'm pretty sure I was at the initial bouncing I described around mid-morning EST, maybe 10ish?

I don't know much about slice 5 to be honest, but my understanding is that it is probably the second weakest slice. Try slice 4 if you can, that is supposed to have higher scores.

If I am Reading you right the hits came when there were around five hours left in the slice, right? It gets tougher and tougher to score towards the end because more people join and try to do a late climb, which means the early climbers stay shielded more. It's easier to reach the progression rewards if you join earlier (though you may have to wait for the scores to grow a bit, you may not be able to do it all in one go). Placement may be more difficult if you join early just for progression rewards though. Experiment a bit and see if you can find a way of play that suits you and lets you get the rewards you want.

This was more like 16 to 17 hours before the slice ended (referring to High Stakes on Sunday), which is what surprised me at the activity. I totally expect there to be a lot of late climbing in the last couple hours.

I'll have to count next time, but it feels like somewhere around a third of incoming attacks are from double 5* champions. Is that expected, or might my MMR be a little higher than usual for only having one 5* champ? If I am visible to people with multiple champed 5*s that would explain things.