With only 5* Hawkeye is it sensible to move into 5* land?

AXP_isme

hi all,

some advice wanted here. I’m a fairly long-in-the-tooth 4* player. I have most of them champed with only a few left to do (two from classics @13/13 and four from latest at between six and thirteen covers). None of my 4*s today are above level 300 and all of my 5*s are at level 255. 

I recently drew my 14th 5* hawkeye cover. As of now he’s 4/4/5 (not great) and level 255. The 14th cover is a blue so I could always apply it rather than selling it and get a slightly better build. 

I’ve been having fun with the hawk-son/ carol combo anyway, both carol and coulson are 295-300 ish so they would make a pretty good sim team (or PvE for that matter). 

I don’t have any other 5*s at 13 covers. The next closest are gambit (4/4/4), archangel (5/2/5) and thanos (5/2/5) with a few others at 11 covers. 

I have a few 3*s in the bank that I could sell to max hawkeye but I don’t know if it’s worth it. I mainly play PvE in SCL8 with a bit of pvp to 575 in most events and 2k in sim. It won’t do any harm to my PvE experience but I don’t want pvp to be even more of a chore than it is today if I end up having to use hawkeye in almost every match. Having a diverse stable of 4*s is interesting to me as the gameplay is varied. 

Anyway, i’ve rambled long enough. Any advice you fine forumites can give will be greatly appreciated. Feel free to ask more questions if it helps and i’ll try to keep the length down on my responses. 

abominatrix

In my recollection, single 5* MMR is an interesting place. I went in while Gambit was still latest with Thor, and I went and actively hunted gambit teams (half-health Thor is an AP generation machine that Gambit can't completely neuter). I don't know the situation now, but I have to assume that most people with only 1 5* champ probably have something like Archangel or Ghost Rider; if this is the case, then Coulhawk would be a good counter. However, if it's mostly still Gambit, then your road will be harder since Gambit can pretty much neutralize Hawkeye between the AP drain and the purple. 

On the plus side, your PVP expectations aren't that high; your float point will probably be lower, but you'll be able to gain points more quickly. 

You also seem like a mostly PVE player; Coulhawk will make your PVE experience much better, and you can still use your boosted 4* champs in SCL 8 if you'd like.

In your shoes, I'd do it, but that's just me.

Huntah86

Late to the party here but I made Parker my first (and still so far only) 5* champ about 4 - 5 months ago and it was the best thing I've ever done.  I was struggling with the 5* nodes in PVE but I was terrified that it would make my PVP unmanageable.  PVE is WORLDS easier (Parker and my fairly high level Vulture are a great dual) and PVP didn't become that much harder. You typically see teams of 1 decent boosted 4*, a 5* champ of around 450 - 455ish or 2 high level boosted 4* but nothing you can't manage.  I still hit at least 1k every event with only one shield at the end.

frederec

One thing that can be useful to consider if you play PvP is that Hawkeye and Coulson are pretty beastly on defense (and good defensive teams are pretty rare).  I have four 5*'s champed, Gambit, Thor, Archangel, and Jessica Jones, none of them high level, and I hesitate to go up against Hawkeye/Coulson combos.  If I can kill Coulson quickly, then things are good, but if they manage to start resolving countdowns, not only will I very possibly lose, but it can take a while to watch them all resolve.

So if I were you, especially if I had a pretty high-leveled Coulson, I'd go for it.

Jexman

Same question, but for Ghost Rider. I just drew a 14th GR cover. I have Phoenix at 13 covers (level 345), Thor at 2-5-5, Strange & Archangel at 11 covers, and Gambit at 9.

Jexman

I have almost all the 4 stars champed: I'm currently finishing Shuri, and then I just have Jubilee, Valkyrie, Black Panther, Kraven, BW, and Sandman left (plus DD & Howard). 

I'm probably rushing too fast & should sit tight instead, but I'm on day 1600 & constantly jonesing for something new & interesting to happen in this game.

Jexman

Ok cool! I already have no problem with PVE CL8 clears, well, except for time, because the repetition is boring. I can hit 900 in PVP right now whenever I want, but 800+ I become a target for 5* champ teams and it's the same hassle it has always been. But 900+ just means another 4* cover, which isn't the thrill it used to be.

Jexman

Thanks! Then it's a question of whether I can find enough ISO to finish Shuri and then champ GR from 255. I've been selling 3* champs while building dupes as needed, so I can fund this, at least for one champ. I'm not gonna hurry a second champ right now, because I gather that's when MMR really breaks.

Pongie

My first 5* champion was hawkeye. This was when he was released and I pulled the bags of tricks token so my advice may be out dated. 

He is definitely one that is worthy to step into 5* land. Paired with coulson, he can basically take on any 5* teams (except Gambit, stupid purple overriding your arrows. It's still beatable, but not a sure thing like other teams), I think I even went against 3x 500 5* teams (with a bit of challenge). Basically, takes about 2-4 turns to set up before you are punching blue six times every turn, and red nukes every other turn.

The main problem was speed and health packs. The ability to turn off animations helps now, but the amount of banners from the countdowns resolving is still a pain (which is why I suggested all countdowns resolve simultaneously here, would require a bit of code rework and I doubt the devs have time for this). Since hawkeye is your lone 5*, he will be tanking (as you chase blue and red matches). The length of battles also means others are unlikely to hit you on their hops (as it risk their potential to be hit while out for that long). However, for those climbing, you are one juicy target compared to higher tiered 5*s. Hopefully mmr works in your favour and you don't get too many teams that you aren't able to retaliate. 

He doesn't have any true healing, and if I remember right, it takes almost a day to heal him. Therefore, you're limited by the number of health packs. Luckily, if you're not going up against gambit, the battle should be over well before hawkeye suffer significant damage, Dr Strange was another troublesome opponent. At least the second arrow has a stun ability but it's short. if you don't knock him out before the stun expires, prepare to spend another health pack.

Again, if I recall correctly, the mmr for lone 5* means you will hardly see teams of 2x 5* champions. It will be a mixture of lone 5* champions and very high 4* champions. 

Rod5

If the rumours are to be believed, Hawkeye is about to become relevant again, so I’d go with him.

DyingLegend

My only 5* currently is Hawkeye. He is rather fun to use and works well with a lot of 3* and 4* .

Since i maxed him out a few months ago i haven't had any trouble hitting 2k in the SIM, climbing to 900 or anything. I mean you will get hit by gambit teams, thor teams and what not but whatever. I can say that the theory that if you have 1 5star, you will only get hit by teams of 1 championed  5star is complete garbage, i get hit by teams with multiple championed 5 stars all the time. It is what it is.

Some teams for Hawkeye you might wanna try;

Coulson/Shuri 
Coulson/Carol
Chavez/Vulture
Switch/MEHulk ( make sure switch is front and center)
Starlord/Vulture

Rod5

Hawkeye/Coulson/Starlord is hilarious also.