How to finish unbalanced 3* characters

froggerjohn

I'm at the point where I'm recycling 2*s, have all but one 3* covered, many of them champed, and enough roster space to start saving 4* covers.

https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/froggerjohn/revisions/96

I have some decent team combinations, but there are other characters I'd like to finish and/or I keep having to sell covers of a number of unbalanced 3*s.

Loki - 4/5/2
Blade - 5/3/0
Daken - 2/5/3 (already lost 2 blacks, and another on the vine)
Sam Wilson - 4/1/0

Are there any reasonable options for dealing with characters like this? 

Rod5

I would say if you play a fair bit you’ll get the covers eventually. 3* cover waste isn’t a big deal really. None of the above I’d say were useful enough to justify spending CP on.

Story mode gives out a ton of 3* covers, I’d focus on taking on the highest CL you can place well in and optimise your play as far as possible.

Dormammu

Cover loss, unfortunately, is part of MPQ and it's just as annoying at the 3-star tier as anywhere else. So we sympathize with you. My best advice is to shrug it off when you lose one.

It's just a number's game, froggerjohn. The covers will come with patience. Chase after every 3-star resource you can - Elites, Heroics, vault tokens, DDQ, and if you can handle it: SCL7 in PvE. Daken should happen the quickest if you're farming his 2-star version. And I disagree that they're not worth spending CP on; I wouldn't spend more than 20 on any one of them, but sometimes 20CP just to be done with it to get that last cover is good for your mental health.

Watch for the covers you need in vaults. They often come around in Taco vaults so you could try hoarding DDQ tokens for short periods of time until one is flush with the covers you need.

TPF Alexis

Dormammu said:

Watch for the covers you need in vaults. They often come around in Taco vaults so you could try hoarding DDQ tokens for short periods of time until one is flush with the covers you need.

Specifically, the colour distribution in the Taco Vaults is random, so occasionally you'll get a Vault that has 4 of the colour you need, and only one other. I've fixed up a couple of unbalanced 3* that way.

froggerjohn

Thanks for the notes about the Taco vaults, that's a great tip. I didn't notice the change in distribution before, and I do have some tokens saved up. I typically horde them until I need heath packs, and then pull until getting one, accepting whatever covers I get in the process.

I suspect I can't do much in scl7 yet. I've only just started playing scl6, and it's been ok for the most part, but was definitely a slog a couple of events back. So I probably need to stay in 5 for the tougher events, and/or figure out more optimal teams and play. I can consider trying to catch a flip, especially if I have the required 4*, but it's still likely an uphill battle since I have no 5*s (over and above whether I could handle the difficulty itself).

There were a couple of characters that I finished up with CP when I had dying covers, and it seemed like a good investment. 20 CP here and there in the early days seems pretty inconsequential. When I eventually need the CP, I'll be making it faster than I am now, and doubt I'll notice small amounts missing. And in the meantime, those characters are helping me get better rewards each week. These characters however are still too far away for that.

Hopefully, some upcoming story rewards will match up.

Dormammu

You've got a good roster of champed threes. Once you get them into the 200s for level you'll be able to move up SCLs. You've got key champs that will help you punch above your level if needed.

IM40+Cap+ Bullseye = This team allowed me to take on wave nodes of goons much higher in level when I was in 3-star land. Use Cap strategically and get his shields rebounding, taking out any dangerous countdown tiles. Bullseye with his green is good for board control too, and his purple is useful for any special tiles goons like to spit out - try to use him to take out the last of an enemy's health and you can FILL the board with his strikes. IM40 will keep them filled with AP. Make sure you set IM40's blue to 5 for some nice AoE damage if Cap's stun isn't needed. (Swap Bullseye out for Kamala against active foes.)

IM40+Patch+Strange = If you need to take out 3 high level guys really fast, this is your team - especially PvE goons. Use IM40 to fill up Patch's green/red and Strange's blue. Stun the most dangerous enemy with Strange, then chew someone up with Patch and get all his strikes out. Now watch as Strange's yellow passive and blue countdown do all the work for you.

Storm+Iron Fist+Cage = Watch for events where Storm is boosted, as her attack tiles reach epic damage. Use Iron Fist to make as much black as possible so Storm can keep spitting them out. Set Cage to 5/5/3 and let his protect tile keep you safe from match damage while you set up; use his yellow as the coup-de-grase.

froggerjohn

Interesting! I've used all of those characters extensively, but in different combos.

IM40+Patch+Strange is one of the more unique combos. I always assumed that I needed more removal of enemy strikes with Patch, but against goons, that's much less of an issue.

So much still to learn...  Thanks so much.

Thanks also for the notes about cover loss. It's a frustration that most games don't have, but in the grand scheme of things, really doesn't amount to a critical difference. My 2* farm has both Wolverine and Moonstone eating covers for over a week now, refusing to spawn their last one. Probably has me more sensitive than usual about the losses.

froggerjohn

> IM40+Patch+Strange

Just tried this...  OMG!  At first I couldn't figure out where the massive damage was coming from, but it looks like the strikes amplify both Strange's yellow and blue. I see now that's what you said, but it didn't register at the time.

Even with two active opponents, I only need to pick up two blue matches. That plus recharge is enough to stun both actives, and then it's "game over".

THANK YOU!

Dormammu

Yeah, Strange will really benefit from Patch's strike tiles. They make him go from dangerous to downright scary. Plus you can use his purple to get rid of a couple of Patch's enemy strikes that might be hard to match away. Lots of synergy on that team.

froggerjohn

> Stange's purple to get rid of enemy strikes

Did you ever use that team for 3 actives? Doesn't seem ideal for that, needing either 2 recharge cycles to stun everyone, or accepting that you're going to take a fair amount of strike damage. 

Or do you just mean when the remaining goon[s] still have active countdowns?

Dormammu

It's a much more efficient team against 2 or more goons. Active opponents take a little more finesse due to Patch's enemy strikes, but the team can be used. Against active tile movers, wait to use Patch's green until you can see Purple matches on the board so you can get rid of a couple of them right away. Then use Strange's purple to get rid of a couple more. Also, against actives, I'd use IM40's red instead of Patch's.

jtsings

   My go to simulator team, when I relied on three stars, was Scarlet Witch/C3ge/IF3 and PVE as well.  Try to collect 12 black and by that time SW might give you enough to double shot IF3 4k damage and use the 12 black to damage and then stun with C3ge.  Or you can also use SW's AOE attack too, depending on the situation.  And you're match damage will pretty much be nil the whole fight too.
  Don't be hesitant to use Thor/IM40/Str3nge.  You'll have to collect a few more green ap to fire his awesome green nuke but his health pool is really high as well and he should also tank two colors for you to help keep IM40 in another round to be a battery for someone else.

   As to your posted question you have some of the best 3*s champed if you want to spend 20 cp to finish off one character to save a few covers I would do so, but other than that just keep the cover til the last day and see if you can use bonus heros to hopefully finish them off.  As you keep playing you'll eventually get the right covers and then you get to have fun with things like the 5/0/5 Red Hulk 4* I have in my roster .

froggerjohn

I've definitely used Switch/Cage/IF as well as IM40/Strange/[Thor | KK | GSBW]. The interesting thing about Thor in that combo, is that I've used his red when the board is very stingy with the yellows, and it sometimes allows for completion of the Recharge. Kind of a Hail Mary, but a bit of extra chance against bad boards.

More recently though, KK helps avoid damage, is the easiest to fire the green (albeit with the least damage), and her purple can help shuffle the board a bit.

The other Patch team I had been using, was Switch / Patch / Bullsey3, although I tended to reconfig Patch to 4/4/5 so I didn't have to deal with 6 enemy strikes.

Back to the OP:
>  see if you can use bonus heroes to hopefully finish them off

That's definitely part of the original inquiry, because I've been trying to weigh the potential risk of wasting BH covers (if they happen to generate in the one wrong color), versus the guaranteed loss of extra covers on the vine. I've done this before when I know I have a backup plan like DDQ that will save the unlucky BH covers should they occur, but I'm guessing that the frustration of wasted BH covers (should that happen) would outweigh the potential gain, so I'd probably be hesitant to try it without that kind of protection.

jtsings

That's definitely part of the original inquiry, because I've been trying to weigh the potential risk of wasting BH covers (if they happen to generate in the one wrong color), versus the guaranteed loss of extra covers on the vine. I've done this before when I know I have a backup plan like DDQ that will save the unlucky BH covers should they occur, but I'm guessing that the frustration of wasted BH covers (should that happen) would outweigh the potential gain, so I'd probably be hesitant to try it without that kind of protection.

   Very solid point and I'm going to actually have to retract my statement about using bonus heroes because I keep forgetting one thing.  When I was in your shoes a year ago I kept hearing people saying to just set your bonus heroes and you'll get them covered in no time.  Many people that say that have a developed roster and are more likely getting 4 to 5 3* bonus heroes a week because of getting so many tokens.  Well when I was at your point in the game I wasn't getting bonus heroes all that often.  So if you're not getting all that many a week, I would say unless a character that you are very interested in playing with and you're willing to spend some CP on them, I'd just set your 3* bonus hero to whoever doesn't have 5 covers and sell the extra covers you get when they expire.  Honestly, of who you have left to champ I don't see any of them being a priority (except for maybe Rocket and Groot: works as a good third for str3nge and IM40, Falcon and Deadpool).  But even with those if you hit 5 covers in any color just move onto the next 3*.

froggerjohn

Thanks for the update, and I concur with not yet having a reliable BH stream. RNGesus hates this profile in fact, since I have yet to earn even a single 4* BH. (My alt account has gotten 4 of them, in maybe 20% of the playtime of my main account).

Another scenario where it makes sense to use the BH on an unbalanced character, is once I reach the point where I've decided I'll spend CP if necessary to finish it. In the last couple of days, I can set the BH, and then maybe it will save me the CP if I get lucky. If not, then I spend the CP anyway, and any BH covers just go to extra levels.

I currently have Deadpool as my next BH, thinking he would be the most interesting/different from what's left. I've been using him every day for awhile already, so there's a good stockpile of DP points. Being able to tank damage from others seems like a really useful ability as well.

Dormammu

Deadpool's a good choice. Thanos, 3Falcon, & Hood would see use as well.