Which five 3 or 4 stars you never use unless required?

Wumpushunter

During the boss event I noticed I have never used Sentry, Vision, Venom (brock), winter soldier or the king pin ever unless required by the game. What is your list?

LavaManLee

All of them minus Chavez and 4* RockGroot.

Pr0spect0r

Listing the ones I use is easier and faster. Rocket groot, gamora, medusa, Chavez, coulson and vulture

The rockett

For 3*. None of them except for E or Thanos Fodder. 

For 4*, any GOTG or AC.  That is about it unless Cap Mar/Medusa is boosted. 

For 5* it all depends on the node and situation. 

ThaRoadWarrior

I rarely use 3*s anymore on purpose, unless they have a strong battery component like SWitch. But in the spirit of the post, I used to never use Loki, Hood, Sentry, R&G, or BP. I was playing in 4* when Angel and Gambit came out, and I never would seek either of them out over other options, but that could be from lack of familiarity more than anything; are they good? Also 3* Lord, because I have 5* Lord, and why would I bother?

4*: There are too many I have unchamped to properly evaluate them, but I suspect I'd rarely if ever use Jubilee or Widow. From my list of champs, Kingpin is probably the biggest disappointment - I won't use him unless he's boosted and there are no other options because he doesn't do anything Coulson isn't doing better.

bbigler

LavaManLee said:

All of them minus Chavez and 4* RockGroot.

Your game play must be very boring

Punisher5784

bbigler said:

LavaManLee said:

All of them minus Chavez and 4* RockGroot.

Your game play must be very boring

Boring, but fast

LavaManLee

bbigler said:

LavaManLee said:

All of them minus Chavez and 4* RockGroot.

Your game play must be very boring

Depends on the definition of boring.  I personally find long matches boring.  I would much rather clear things as fast as possible which is my personal play style.  If others prefer a different style, to each their own.  But it is definitely not boring to me.

Tensuun

When I had very few 4* characters champed, the three-star characters I generally didn't choose (even when powered up, generally) included:
Hood: costs a health pack in every battle against anyone who makes matches, no matter the outcome or powers used.
Ragnarok: costs two health packs if I'm able to use his green; if not using his green, then what is even the point
Psylocke: if match lasts long enough for me to activate her abilities, something's wrong
Punisher: see Psylocke notes
Deadpool: Technically, I used him every day and still do, but his thing where he absorbs nukes, but doesn't absorb non-nukes, but doesn't absorb nukes if he's already tanking, but doesn't heal back as much as the amount of damage he takes, and doesn't do anything at all helpful if the enemy matches the countdown —it spreads damage around, but doesn't actually seem to prevent it that often on net, so just increases the rate of health pack use overall.

Now I have about half the 4* characters champed, with the rest at level 209 or lower (so not desirable in SCL8 or PVP even if they were powered up). Obviously, I don't use the non-champs unless I have to. I try really hard to make useful teams with all of my champed 4* characters so that I can progress in S.H.I.E.L.D. Sim, and also try to actually feel how large my roster's gotten, but there's still a handful of characters who rarely see use:
Devil Dinosaur: The only "thing" I can think of to identify him with is that he's kind of spammy. But...Cloak & Dagger do it better, plus they have lots of useful defensive feats on the side.
Punisher: Maybe I just need to stop fixating on his passive, but I badly want to pair him with other Strike tile generators, especially Nova since specifically black Strike tiles are his whole thing. But every time I play Punisher+Nova I lose hundreds of points to some bland-cat cookie-cutter team 30 minutes later and can't retaliate without spending some health packs. Nova pairs well enough with others anyway.
Mockingbird: I keep trying to find good uses for her, but the psychological cost is too high; her red power is too expensive to realistically use unless it fires for free, which it never does. Other potential team members are similarly silenced by this mechanic; if I spend the AP, I can't fire powers for free!! when an opponent makes a match. If I don't spend the AP, I...lose anyway, because I'm slowly chipping away with matches instead of using powers.
Invisible Woman: OK, I do sometimes use her in very specific situations, specifically when her blue power can be reasonably expected to lock down an opponent's countdowns or other severe-but-not-common specials. I used to try to use her against the Grockmoradusa Group, but the bubbles backfired as often as not and cost way, way too much AP to be reliably ready before match damage killed somebody. Sue was actually my first 4* champ, so I'm sad that I don't get to use her much anymore, but weak teams lose me points in PVP.

TPF Alexis

Tensuun said:

Ragnarok: costs two health packs if I'm able to use his green; if not using his green, then what is even the point

Riri is the key partner for Rags. Get as close as you can to maxing red, one way or another. Fire his red until you're out of and/or are maxed on blue. Then switch to Riri's blue. Rinse and repeat until everyone on the other team goes down the drain.

Tensuun said:

Mockingbird: I keep trying to find good uses for her, but the psychological cost is too high; her red power is too expensive to realistically use unless it fires for free, which it never does. Other potential team members are similarly silenced by this mechanic; if I spend the AP, I can't fire powers for free!! when an opponent makes a match. If I don't spend the AP, I...lose anyway, because I'm slowly chipping away with matches instead of using powers.

Again, she needs the right partner. In this case, it's America Chavez. Ideally at a higher level than Mockingbird, so America tanks as much as possible. Don't spend the AP, still win because you're spawning crits all over the place and America's match damage is through the roof, plus you're getting free powers. Mockingbird helps mitigate enemy cascades, making it much easier to stay ahead of them in more colours.

In PvP, I round out the team with someone who covers blue and black, and has minimal actives. JJ with only blue covers is pretty much the ideal, I think. Daken would be great if there was a higher tier lazy version of him (or maybe in Balance of Power). Almost impossible for the AI to screw up.

purplemur

"I got 5 on it..."

3*:
Gambit 
Angel 
Elektra : just the laziest
She -Hulk : I avoid her PvP and only use her for DPD. not even when boosted
Cyclops
4*:
Elektra
Bucky
Flap
Devil Dino
cyclops

Shintok17

5 Never use unless Essential: 

3*: Elektra, Sentry, Ragnarok, Squirrel Girl, and Doctor Octopus.

4*: Kraven, Venom (Eddie Brock), Spider-Woman, Sam Wilson, and Miles Morales.

5*: The Hulk, Doctor Octopus, Phoenix, Captain America (First Avenger), and Spider-Man (Back in Black).

Obviously the never used or most used characters are not determined by choice, but by who you actually have rostered, Champed, or a lot of covers for. 

ThaRoadWarrior

Mockingbird: I keep trying to find good uses for her, but the psychological cost is too high; her red power is too expensive to realistically use unless it fires for free, which it never does. Other potential team members are similarly silenced by this mechanic; if I spend the AP, I can't fire powers for free!! when an opponent makes a match. If I don't spend the AP, I...lose anyway, because I'm slowly chipping away with matches instead of using powers.

As previously mentioned, she pairs well with Chavez who has all passives, so you limit the pool of possible abilities that get fired off. Two Mockingbird teams I really like are:

1) Main Event/Mockingbird/Chavez: This team has limited fire-able abilities, and the ones that do fire are either huge nukes or AP generating. Main Event comes in and busts up the board, which has good odds of giving you a jumpstart on banked-up AP right out of the gate. The biggest problem with Main Event is that his powers are very expensive; if you can fire them for free, you get the ridiculous cascade potential with crits all over the place from Gamma Powerbomb, or the AP generating Crowd Goes Wild which further fuels both Chavez and Mockingbird. From Mockinbird you get either Bombshell which does good damage, or Secret Mission, which steals a bunch of their strongest color and drops it into your strongest color pool. Chavez continues to engage in tomfoolery in the background throughout. 

2) C4rol/Mockingbird/Loki: In this scenario, you get a double benefit from enemy match-4s. Try and get Photonic Barrage out early to get some strikes going, then when anybody's powers fire off you get short-ish countdowns that start boosting the strikes and stealing AP. It's not C4rol/Coulson/Hawkeye, but it's still a really fun team.

Dormammu

There were a lot of 3-stars I never used unless required:
Hulk, DD, Gamora, Capt. Marvel, Mystique, Beast, Vision, Colossus

With 4-stars, I use them all. When they're boosted even the worst ones elevate beyond their mediocrity.

Jaedenkaal

Dormammu said:

There were a lot of 3-stars I never used unless required:
Hulk, DD, Gamora, Capt. Marvel, Mystique, Beast, Vision, Colossus

With 4-stars, I use them all. When they're boosted even the worst ones elevate beyond their mediocrity.

I do (rarely) use 3* Marvel if I need a cheap black stun, but otherwise this seems pretty accurate

udonomefoo

purplemur said:

"I got 5 on it..."

3*:
Cyclops
4*:
cyclops

Haha, why do you hate cyclops so much?  I never liked Scott in the comics, is that it?

STOPTHIS

When I was in 3* land:

Daredevil - His red was too inconsistent for my liking and I'm not impressed by his purple.

Doctor Octopus - His black is great, but his blue is too expensive for how niche it is and his green is a jack of all trades, master of none type of move that made it useless.

Psylocke - Before her (decent) buff, she was far too weak to normally use. Which is a shame because one heroic event (when rosters were still limited) her, Beast, and Scarlet Witch were all boosted and made for a surprisingly great team.

She-Hulk - Her green is a nuisance against you, but always misses when I use it and her red is weak.

Vision - Aside from the one time he was broken and his blue bumped up every attack he is a bench warmer through and through. He never tanks enough to make his blue really worth it.

In 4* Land:

Howard the Duck/Devil Dinosaur - Jokey characters not really meant to be used outside of their special events.

Spider-Gwen - This might change with a Peter/Miles/Gwen team, but there are better stuns and quicker heavy hitters.

Winter Solider - His powers are too expensive and countdown based. I'd like to use him more though but there's always a better option.

War Machine - Just like Winter Solider, I'd like to use him more but blue is too expensive and waiting on his red only does damage if the countdown goes off.

Captain Falcon - He might just be biggest turd in the game. Red costs way too much, he can lower friendly countdowns you want to keep around, and his yellow is too board dependent to be worth a damn.

Not really in 5* land, but I've never used Black Widow, Captain America, Banner, Doctor Octopus (again!), and Ghost Rider. Even as cannon fodder I ignore these guys.

DyingLegend

3 Stars:
I don't use any of them outside of required, but i use to avoid Daredevil, sentry, Psylocke,Rags,Bullseye, Squirrel Girl

4 Stars:
X-Force Wolverine,Flaptain,Nick Fury,Quake,Mordo,Elektra, Invisible woman,Mr. Fantastic, War Machine

Not in 5 star land yet, so no opinion 

broll

I see two different versions, don't use regularly now and never did.  I'll differentiate.

3* (Can't remember ever using other than boosted)
Angel,
Beast,
Black Panther,
Daredevil,
Elektra,
Gambit,
Hawkeye,
Loki,
Mystique,
Psylocke,
Ragnarok,
Sentry,
She-Hulk,
Spider-Man,
Squirrel Girl,
Star-Lord,
The Hood,
The Punisher, &
Vision.

3* (Don't use regularly now)
All 3*s except Deadpool (once daily for taco points and occasionally for whales x3)

4* (Can't remember ever using other than boosted)
Agent Coulson,
Black Panther,
Black Widow,
Carnage,
Cyclops,
Devil Dinosaur,
Drax,
Elektra,
Ghost Rider,
Howard the Duck,
Invisible Woman,
Jubilee,
Kingpin,
Kraven the Hunter,
Lockjaw,
Miles Morales,
Mockingbird,
Mr. Fantastic,
Nick Fury,
Quake,
Sam Wilson,
Sandman,
Shuri, 
Spider-Gwen,
Spider-Man,
Spider-Woman,
The Hulk (TA),
The Thing,
Valkyrie,
Venom (Agent), 
Venom (Eddie), 
War Machine,
Wiccan,
Winter Soldier,
Wolverine,
X-23,
Yondu

4* (Don't use regularly now)
All 4*s execpt Chavez (Use daily in PvE), &
Rocket & Groot (Use occasionally in PvP)

Just realize it probably would have been easier to list the characters I have used when not boosted lol.

DAZ0273

3* Agree pretty much with what Dormammu posted.

I want to like Beast but he really is a bit underwhelming, although his yellow is occassionally useful in an emergency.

Having Doctor Octopus as an essential for Apocalypse v X-Men pretty much nailed on why I never use him. I guess having a green stun is different.

The really frustrating one is Mystique because in the hands of the AI she is a constant pain in the backside but as soon as she is on my team she just seems sadly useless.

4*

Have to disagree with Mordo - he is OK and boosted he is very good. His purple can ruin someones AP happy gathering day! Also disgree with Mockingbird - her red is very nice and I can usually get a free power fired off. Her Secret Mission can be a mixed bag if your strongest colour is purple as there is no gain from firing it unless you get it free. Otherwise though she is decent.

I've tried to get along with War Machine but his only good power is blue. FalCap - the best chance of firing that red is hoping for a Mockingbird freebie. It says something when even IM40 doesn't help much as a team mate.

JackTenrec

3*: Sentry, Ragnarok, Angel, Elektra, Gambit

Least-used 4* champions: X-23, War Machine, Devil Dinosaur, Miles Morales, Ghost Rider.  (yes, sometimes I even use Flaptain for giggles, but almost always with Wasp)