I'm Back.........and I'm Starting Over

bbigler

Tee said:

bbigler said:

Perhaps my abbreviation was confusing, Max/Champ meant Max cover OR Champ, not going to the maximum champion level.

With the amount of characters in the game, Max/Champing a 5* in 8 months is very very difficult. Bonus heroes help but they're incredibly rare for the 5* lot. The others are... possible.

Those time frames are cumulative, hence the "+" sign.  So, I could have written it like this:

NOW - expectations
Champ my first 2* = 2 weeks
Champ my first 3* = 1.5 months
Champ my first 4* = 4.5 months
Champ my first 5* = 12.5 months

But here's my plan:

Buy HP and other special starter packs, for the initial boost - maybe $100 total
Setup my 2* Champing Farm ASAP, which will give me a boost into the 3* tier
Champ my 3*s as covers become available, while slowly collecting 4* covers
Once the majority of 3*s are champed, I'll change focus to champing 4*s
This whole time I'll be hoarding LTs and only spending CP when needed for 4* covers
The last 6 months of the plan is mainly champing 4*s and hoarding LT/CP/ISO

I think this is possible given my experience playing from 2016 to 2017.  We'll see, but if it works, then it would prove that a new player can become competitive in 6 months and enter the 5* tier in a year.  I imagine that you guys would be interested in seeing how fast I can progress from nothing, so I'll post my progress periodically.

crackninja

Good luck with this project!  It seems really aggressive as a whole, but as long as you prioritize champing the first 5* over building out the 4* tier, it's doable.  Since you plan on quitting after accomplishing this, that totally makes sense, but would be something of a nightmare for someone that planned to continue playing.

Rod5

Qubort said:

Rod5 said:

No, the 5* version completely rules the PvP meta

But Thor rules PVE and you don't seem to have an issue with that. I guess your beef with Gambit is personal bias for the format you prefer to play.

I do fine in both thanks.

You can get by no problem in PvE without Thor. Thanos is more of an issue...if you play high-level PvE you’d know that there is actually nothing faster than Thanos + Groot/Guardian/boosted 5*.

—————————-

edit - just seen the point being made by others, not surprised 

bbigler

Qubort said:

Rod5 said:

No, the 5* version completely rules the PvP meta

But Thor rules PVE and you don't seem to have an issue with that. I guess your beef with Gambit is personal bias for the format you prefer to play.

Why does Thor rule PVE?  Are we talking about 5* Thor?

Rod5

bbigler said:

Qubort said:

Rod5 said:

No, the 5* version completely rules the PvP meta

But Thor rules PVE and you don't seem to have an issue with that. I guess your beef with Gambit is personal bias for the format you prefer to play.

Why does Thor rule PVE?  Are we talking about 5* Thor?

Gladiator Thor is extremely efficient in PvE, especially when teamed with America Chavez. Whether it is the most efficient team is up for debate, for me he’s great in the 5* Essential, but  other than that Thanos is the better option generally.

HoundofShadow

Not just your normal 5* Thor. It has to be a <50% health 5* Thor. 50% health Thor will trigger his passives, which destroy 5 tiles and he gains AP for those tiles destroyed. America's Chavez will create critical tiles if you have more ap than the enemy in 3 colours. You would be creating critical tiles every turn and dealing critical damage.

Moon Roach

Every poll where the question "Would you recommend MPQ to a new player" comes up in some form, I say "Heck no".  I'm not alone in doing that.

Run away.

Quebbster

HoundofShadow said:

Not just your normal 5* Thor. It has to be a <50% health 5* Thor. 50% health Thor will trigger his passives, which destroy 5 tiles and he gains AP for those tiles destroyed. America's Chavez will create critical tiles if you have more ap than the enemy in 3 colours. You would be creating critical tiles every turn and dealing critical damage.

A boosted fivestar also has their match damage increased, making those crit tiles even more effective.

Punisher5784

bbigler said:

Here's a list of the new characters I'm unfamiliar with (excluding 5*s) - could you all tell me which ones are the best and why?

America Chavez
4* Black Panther
4* Black Widow
Jubilee
Kraven the Hunter
Lockjaw
Mockingbird
Nico Minoru
Nightcrawler
Rogue
Sandman
Shuri
4* Hulk
Valkyrie
Vulture
Yondu
Angel
3* Gambit

Thanks

I would start by whaling Kraven.. his passive is always useful and his two abilities deal massive damage! He is probably not the best character in the game. I've seen him get taken down by 5*'s easily. He will greatly help take you to 2* land with no problems.

bbigler

Well, after 1 week of playing from the beginning, here's where I'm at:

Rank 21 (up to SCL 5)

Roster Slots 35

ISO 0

Hero Points 9550 (I made some purchases)

Command Points 17

Legendary Tokens 1

Heroic Tokens 15 (I need ISO, not more covers)

Top 5 Characters:

3* Black Panther - level 95

2* Wolverine - level 83

3* Scarlet Switch - level 75

2* Storm - level 75

2* Capt. Marvel - level 75

3* Characters - 4 at level 75+

2* Characters - 4 at level 70+

My experience this week:

Going back to using 1* Iron Man was novel, but it only lasted 2 days; he was quickly eclipsed by 2* Wolverine, which became my new main fighter all week.  I got the Black Panther covers from a Starter Pack and getting some lucky BH.  For a couple days I used Moonstone as a side, because she was boosted, but I still don't like her.  There are 2 low level characters that I like using though: Kamala Khan and 2* Widow.  Despite their lack of covers and power, they're still good. 

I was able to complete PVE nodes from day 1, PVP was a little harder though.  I was humbled by DDQ, not being able to complete the 2* nodes at first, but now I can.  Even though I wanted to fight many battles, I had to admit many times that my roster was too weak to do it.  Level 100 guys look tough from this perspective.  I advanced through the Ranks and SCLs very fast, even too fast.  I've noticed other people in those SCLs have better rosters than me, so I need to play below my top SCL.  Roster slots was a big problem until I bought some HP for $50.  Once the Sinister Six event started, I've been dying for ISO. 

Plan this week: hit PVEs hard to get ISO and champ my 2*s, which will relieve my ISO needs.  I'm also mining from the prologue as well.  Just like before, my biggest limitation is ISO, not covers. 

bluewolf

It’s unfortunate that your plan for the week that includes a boss event and DPvMPQ is “hit pve hard for iso”.

Daredevil217

This is super awesome. I look forward to hearing your updates. I’m a 4* only player with only 4 left to champ and so I have extensive use with all those characters. I’ll do a quick write up with my thoughts on them.  

I also love the game. Maybe because I’m not in 5* land. I took a super long time in each tier (opposite what you’re planning). I was not in a race to the end. That was back when you could softcap with no penalty. Now if you do that you risk throwing covers away and losing resources. Champing was an ingenius way to stop softcapping when you think about it. I’m over 1300 days in and still love the game! The whole roster building and trying fun new character combos even if not top tier is my jam. I don’t understand why the people who are miserable playing and complain incessantly don’t just quit. Good luck on your new player journey. I’d like to know it’s possible to make it!

Daredevil217

Okay, these are the 4* on your list that you want to prioritize. All are top tier. All are probably top 15 in the game. Everyone else on the list falls somewhere between mid and garbage tier.

1. Vulture
I feel Vulture has finally taken the 4* crown. If speed and defense are king, no one is better than Toomes. With boosts, a single match 3 is all it takes to get the machine running. No character in 4* land can single-handedly dismantle an entire team on their own the way Vulture can. He is annoying on defense the way he makes you chase black AND kill him (or Medusa) first lest he take out YOUR whole team. He has use unboosted as a battery fueling strong boosted blue/green users. Boosted, his own green is a STRONG AOE nuke. Pro tip: his blue not only destroys any tile type, but he also collects the AP from those tiles as well.

2. Rogue
Rogue to me is one of the most fun characters to play in the entire game. She involves a lot of thought (both playing with and against) and is by no means a “point and click” character.   Aside from Vulture she is probably the best defensive character in the tier. She will frustrate opponents to no end leaping in front of matches and absorbing big damage. She is what a tank SHOULD be after so many weak attempts prior (Thing, Colossus, etc.). Her red is my favorite team-up in the game and the only one you will get if you request her.  It can remove any tiles in a 3x3 block, cause direct damage, creates cascades and nets you +9 AP. That’s a great use of your team up AP!  Her green is her bread and butter though; simultaneously fueling your team and blocking your opponents’ ability to collect their strongest color.  If Rogue holds too much of said color she explodes but when paired with and against the right teammates she becomes one of the better batteries in the whole game, assuming you have an outlet for the AP. Even if you don’t have an outlet, her Power Siphon does a ridiculous amount of damage and is absolutely worth the feedback she takes (especially boosted). Pro tip: She will not take feedback damage if she kills off the last character with Power Siphon.

3. America Chavez
America’s big claim to fame is her crit generation that occurs when she outpaces her opponent in AP held.  Thus she is one of the few 4s that are more effective in the 5* tier than in her own, due to the ramp-up in match damage. She is pretty easy to counter on defense (especially in the 4* tier where Gambit isn’t a thing) as you just need to hold more AP than her (plus her CPU teammates will fire powers). On offense though, her crits will add just enough chaos to accelerate your team to victory. Said chaos, cascades and setups for match-4/5s also make Multiverse Tickets more common than you might think. She also gets a match damage bonus for each AP she holds in a color. Boosted she can clear nodes off match damage alone making her a threat even when not paired with 5s. Finally, her red also makes you think about leaving her for last as her damage will ramp up with each match she makes. Pro tip: Chavez actually has higher match damage than every other 4 in the tier allowing her to tank those several levels above her. Everyone else has the exact same match damage.

4. Shuri
Shuri is a fortified tile specialist. She makes them and the team gets a damage boost for matching them away. Her green is also a moderate damage dealer/board shaker that stuns when the random destruction hits a fortified tile. All of that is well and good but what makes her really shine is her passive that allows her to lower friendly powers by -3 AP and up opponent costs by +3 AP when there are at least 5 fortified tiles on the board. This makes for some very fun/interesting team combos and gives Shuri a niche no one else can fill.

5. Mockingbird
Bobbi’s claim to fame is her yellow passive ability that triggers off enemy match 4s. She either gathers AP when they do or if she’s holding enough of the color they match 4 in, someone on your team will fire a random power for free.  She also has one of the bigger single target nukes in her Red, while her Purple is a decent outlet and does the classic “destroy enemy AP and fuel my own” thing that many characters have. Like Rogue, Mockingbird really shines in PVP matches where you want to goad the AI into match 4s for free AP and powers.

6. Valkyrie
Valkyrie is the other 4 (along with Chavez) that pairs well with 5* characters. Her Black creates a respawning countdown that names a random opponent. Do enough damage to said opponent and you get a “bounty” of +4 AP in your strongest color and -4 in your enemy’s strongest.  She benefits from teammates who can do good amounts of damage to help pop the bounty early and often (strikes, attacks, passive damage, 5* match damage, etc).  Her Red is her other neat (and her only active) power. It’s essentially a big nuke broken down into 5 separate strikes. It allows any “overkill” to be applied to the next opponent and each attack benefits from any strikes you have out. And what do you know? Her Yellow happens to make strikes when any ally takes a certain amount of damage. She also happens to give your team a match damage bonus if the opponent has less than a certain number of AP in said color.

Daredevil217

7. Black Panther

King T’Challa has a decent kit but his main problems are 1) all his best partners in the tier have severe color overlap. Nico, Cage, and Shuri would all be fantastic partners but each overlaps in 2 colors. 2) He is also one of those who would greatly benefit from 5 in all colors. 3) He has a pretty hard counter in Medusa. So what does he do? He spams, fortifies, and strengthens special tiles. And he passively does extra damage for each protect tile on the board when he matches one away. He has one okay direct damage dealer in his Red that deals some damage but also strengthens fortified special tiles.

8. Nico Minoru

Nico is an interesting character who’s claim to fame is “death by 1,000 cuts”. She needs to tank at least one color because when she takes damage she puts out a super long countdown that changes all her powers. I won’t go through each one, but the highlights are 1) if you have more of a special tile type than your opponent, she will buff every single one a small amount every turn. This adds up if you can flood the board with specials (ala 3* Storm’s Hailstorm). 2) She creates protects that only her allies benefit from. 3) She has a true heal dependent on the number of protects out (see how she could pair so well with Panther!?) 4) She has a stun that removes opponents countdowns and lengthens the stun for each one removed 5) and she can create one of each special tile for 8 purple. She’s a great support character, that gets stronger as the match wears on. But in a game where speed is king, many don’t have time for “death by 1,000 cuts”.

9. Yondu

Basically he has one move that makes him worth playing, but it’s a fantabulous one. His Centurion Archery is a Blue nuke that does huge damage up front, then proceeds to do smaller passive damage each turn to the character with the lowest health. He will keep the assault up as long as he isn’t hit for big damage. His other two powers are nothing to write home about. Since I only play him boosted, his Yellow is a great true heal that can allow him to tank and bring him back to full if you can protect the countdown (it’s triggered by making a match 4 when he’s below a certain health threshold). His Black creates weak strikes and destroys enemy AP. It’s his throwaway power. 

10. Nightcrawler

Kurt is one of those fun yet unreliable characters. Some people rank him pretty highly. I tend to think he’s great to mess with in Sim, but that’s about it. His big unique power, and reason to play him (his Purple), doesn’t scale at all when boosted. For 8 AP he will flood the board with whatever color is most prevalent. Since there’s already tons of that color, he will create cascades, crits, and lots of fun chaos. If the most prevalent color on the board is Purple he can keep spamming the power and go winfinite on his lonesome. It’s super fun (albeit slow) when it actually happens and you match damage three characters to death. The fact that his power does not indicate which color is the most prevalent, means that you don’t always know what you’re going to get. I feel that down the road he could be part of a meta team if the right character comes along to exploit his Purple. His Blue and Red are okay damage dealers. Nothing to write home about. The former deals damage for each AP in the enemies strongest (and steals some), the latter does extra damage if you are holding 10-12 AP in your strongest. Oh yeah he’s also completely immune to AOE attacks... so there’s that!  He just goes airborne, and negates all damage  

11. The Hulk

Hulk really has one great power.  His Purple (Gamma Powerbomb) does big damage and floods the board with crits. It’s easily my favorite nuke in the 4* tier just for the chaos and fun factor. But man is it expensive. His Yellow is also expensive and creates 5 fortified Yellow Countdowns. Each one will either heal him, damage the enemy team a small amount, or gather AP each time it ticks down. This is overcosted for what it provides. And his Green is just annoying. He does a board shake to start the match and then begins each turn randomly swapping two tiles. It mostly does nothing, but you will occasionally get a free match and it will occasionally screw up that match 4/5 you were planning to make. Really what it does is prolongs matches.  Basically he’s a fun character when boosted, if you have a great Purple battery, or a way to lower is crazy high power costs; but said costs make him not the most efficient character. 

iron-n-wine

@Daredevil217 - who have you found partners particularly well with Rogue? 

JHawkInc

King T’Challa has a decent kit but his main problems are 1) all his best partners in the tier have severe color overlap. Nico, Cage, and Shuri would all be fantastic partners but each overlaps in 2 colors. 

He only overlaps one color with Shuri. Her blue is passive, and won't interfere with his blue.

They're a great pair. Shuri's red to make fortified tiles (one use is enough to trigger her passive to reduce the cost of powers). Panther's yellow to make a repeater to slowly generate fortified special tiles of all types (and thanks to Shuri, it's easy to get 2-3 of these repeaters out). Panther's blue strictly for fortified protects. Where they shine is matching fortified protect tiles, as Shuri gives bonus damage for matching fortified tiles, and Panther gives bonus damage for matching protect tiles, and it adds up, especially with cascades.

Daredevil217

12. Lockjaw

The pup basically has two niches he excels in- bodyguard (or guard dog as it were) and charged tile specialist. For the former he will jump to the front of any enemy match that includes one of your special tiles, he’ll negate all the damage, and he’ll bite you back for a small amount. Not to shabby!  So flood the board with friendly specials to get the most out of him!  The problem with him as a bodyguard is he is only staving off match damage. He does zero against powers. His Green puts 8 charged tiles on the board and he deals a small amount of passive damage each turn if there’s a charged tile in the enemy’s strongest color. Again, not too shabby. The problem here is you want to pair him with people who benefit from charged tiles. You could use Gambit or Bolt, but why bring a low tier 4 to a 5* fight? That leaves Jubilee and Thoress in his tier. But the former is utter trash and their best powers overlap (Green). The latter could be an amazing pairing, with doggie’s Green fueling Smite. Finally his Blue is his throwaway power. It gives one of six effects depending on the color most prevalent on the board. But aside from when he summons Medusa (which is only really effective against special tiles), all the effects are pretty dang weak. 

13. Sandman

Sandman was a character that was vilified by the forums upon his release. People screamed for a buff but to no avail. When compared to those released immediately before (Coulson, Fist, Clagger, Grocket, Gamora) and after (Vulture, Mockingbird) the cries seem more than fair. But when taken in the context of 65+ 4* characters, people realized he’s not THAT bad. And in fact he’s pretty dang good boosted. His best move is his Green which gives a decent AOE attack and 2-turn stun. Having a stun in a non-Blue/Purple color makes him unique and gives him a niche. His Purple swaps a bunch of tiles and turns 3-5 of them Yellow for 8 AP.  Finally for 10 Yellow he creates 5-6 protect tiles, or if there are seven or more out he removes all of them for a nice chunk of damage. While he’s nothing to write home about, he isn’t as terrible as people think either on boost days. 

14. Kraven

Kraven is the first character since Sandman to get vilified on the boards upon release for being weak. Again, people tend to overstate how bad he actually is. His Purple is easily his best ability and the only reason you’d play him. It’s niche. But a dang good one. Against tile spammers he will weaken their specials each turn into nothingness and deal passive damage each turn to boot. He was likely created as a counter to the Rocket/Gamora/Medusa special tile meta and he does that reasonably well. Problem is that is pretty much all he does well. So literally any other team will cream him. Once he negates special tiles he sits on your team doing nothing else. His Black does okay damage but it’s attracted to an unfortified, randomly places countdown. And it taxes you even more AP upon expiring. His Blue is just weird.   He creates a trap that siphons a single AP each turn that doesn’t stack with more traps. When the enemy matches it; they have the potential to create a cascade in your strongest color. Like I said... weird.

15. Jubilee

For some reason she hasn’t gotten the outcry that Sandman, Kraven, or even Lockjaw got upon their releases, but she should have. Jubilee is a pretty bad character.  Her best power is her green that does AOE damage and replaces enemy strikes, attacks and protects with charged tiles.  Sadly she only does about 2400 damage.  Boosted its not that great either.  Ghost Rider, Quake, Punisher, Blade, Sandman, Red Hulk, Iceman, Vulture, etc. all do better green AOE per AP. Some of those names are bottom of the 4* barrel.  And that’s her best power. Her Purple is weird. It does much more respectable damage (about 6500... and also weirdly randomizes the colors of two chosen blocks of tiles).  It also stuns two random enemies for two turns.  But it also costs 12 Purple AP! That’s just insane.  Her Yellow gives a bump in match damage if she’s tanking and has lower health than her target.  If there are enough charged tiles out her allies get the same bonus if they meet those conditions as well.

Not Ranked: Black Widow

One of the very few I’ve yet to champ (mine is 2/4/2), most people around here do not like her but I think she’s has an interesting kit.  Everything is just a tad too expensive for what it does. Purple allows her to spam invisibility tiles to keep her protected and only costs 7 AP.  She can pop out the shadows and get rid of some pesky enemy tiles (gathering AP for them as well), but that’ll cost you another 10 and probably isn’t worth it.  Having a Black stun is very nice and quite unique (even if a bit expensive) though it’s the passive attached that’s truly amazing.  Enemies lose three random AP whenever they begin the turn stunned.  So pair her with any number of stunners in other colors and you have a nice suppression team. Finally, her Yellow for 10 AP will give a chosen character a huge huge chunk of health and put out a countdown lowering allies AP costs by three. Not too bad at all.  Widow is definitely a support character and I personally can’t wait to try her out.

Gambit and Angel are trash tier as far as 3* go. I’m not going to bother with them.

Daredevil217

iron-n-wine said:

@Daredevil217 - who have you found partners particularly well with Rogue? 

I did a 4* Power ranking and people said they’d like to hear rationales for why I rank people the way I do. Some of what I just posted was from my yet to be released power rankings. I was going to do an “optimal build” and “pairings” section along with each write up. For Rogue:

Best Build: 5/3/5

Alternate Build: 3/5/5 (If building to not trigger Power Siphon’s explosion component)

Pairings: Rogue being such a Swiss Army Knife excelling in so many things means she pairs well on most any team (in PVP. Much less effective against goons in PVE). Use her to protect more fragile characters (Professor X, Nightcrawler, or my favorite pairing... Vulture), or use her to fuel more expensive ones (ME Hulk). Also, characters who spam cheap powers (Iron Fist, Cloak and Dagger, Nova, etc.) can provide quick outlets to stave off Rogue exploding. I’m also wondering if Shuri or Star-Lord could pair decently with her (despite color overlap) by lowering AP costs and thus providing even more of an “explosion buffer” firing powers quicker... might have to test this and update this section accordingly.

JHawkInc said:

King T’Challa has a decent kit but his main problems are 1) all his best partners in the tier have severe color overlap. Nico, Cage, and Shuri would all be fantastic partners but each overlaps in 2 colors. 

He only overlaps one color with Shuri. Her blue is passive, and won't interfere with his blue.

They're a great pair. Shuri's red to make fortified tiles (one use is enough to trigger her passive to reduce the cost of powers). Panther's yellow to make a repeater to slowly generate fortified special tiles of all types (and thanks to Shuri, it's easy to get 2-3 of these repeaters out). Panther's blue strictly for fortified protects. Where they shine is matching fortified protect tiles, as Shuri gives bonus damage for matching fortified tiles, and Panther gives bonus damage for matching protect tiles, and it adds up, especially with cascades.

Yeah, I think they were made to be played with one another but every time I try it just feels slow and I ultimately end up pairing Shuri with better partners. Mr. F has a similar “double damage” effect with his Black Countdown out and honestly I find him to be a better partner. Seriously try them if you haven’t. Also, ME Hulk and Iron Fist pair pretty great as well. I did rank Panther at the top of the mid tier. He has a good kit. I just want more great partners to pair him with is all. 

bbigler

Daredevil, thanks for the write up, I know that took some time.

Right now, my roster is limited, so I have to re-discover good combos given my limited options, but it looks like I'm progressing very quickly.  Unfortunately, I'm ISO hungry as usual; I thought I would be able to keep up when starting over and making 25K+ ISO per day, but the 2* and 3* covers pour in, especially if you buy their "Special Starter Packages".  Because of that I haven't opened any HTs, but I plan to once my 2* farm is setup.  Like before, it's all about avoiding cover waste and creating a champing assembly line.  One thing I didn't do before but I am now is farming XP from 1* covers (it's a tedious process, but profitable).

Last week my main fighting team was 2*Wolverine + 3*Panther + 2*Widow.

Panther was 2/5/1, so usable but not great.  I found myself always waiting till the end to use Rage of the Panther because I didn't want to get hit back from fueling the enemy.  Honestly, strikes and protects are his best feature.  I used to play a fun team of 4*Star Lord + 3*Fist + 3*Panther to generate buttloads of Black AP and Rage them to death.  I bought the Lvl 5 Starter Pack, which gives 9 covers each for Iron Fist and Luke Cage.  Do to event rewards, I also got 9 covers in Scarlet Witch.

So my new main fighting team this week is 3*Fist + 3*Cage + 3*Switch.

They all have 9-10 covers at levels 95 - 100, so the combo doesn't work as well as it could, but it works well enough.  Right now I'm in a tricky situation of wanting to spend ISO to level up my main 3* fighters, but I also want to start champing my 2*s to get that reward farm going and reduce that ISO need. Well, I guess that's the strategic balance of the game and the real "puzzle" in MPQ.  This probably sounds sad, but I've been grinding the Prologue to harvest ISO. 

Daredevil217

Just so you know, once you hit a certain shield rank, you will have to play in SCl 6, 7, or 8 and will be locked out of all lower levels in PVE. So just be aware that farming 1*s may propel you into a bracket you’re not ready for. If that doesn’t bother you, then keep it up!