When to start saving 5* covers

froggerjohn

My current roster:
https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/froggerjohn/revisions/113

I'm approaching having all the 4*s covered. Kingpin and HulkTA on the vine, with some 2*s ready to recycle so I can roster them.  I'm missing four: ProfX, DPXF, Gamora, and Sandman.

Up to now, I had been saving only one 5*, a 1/2/1 BP, so I could use available roster slots exclusively for 4*s. This also let me pull CTs more aggressively, trying to get more covers for some of my best 4*s. Where I'm at now though, I'm down to 140CP, so that's no longer a big part of the equation. (And I'm still hoarding my LLs until later).

Latest pulls yielded 3 5*s in the batch, Archangel, Ock5, and Strange5. I definitely want to save the Strange5, but not sure about the other two, even though I have the slots for them. They'd be more valuable for the other 4*s, but since I don't have many left to get (and no longer lots of CP either), it might be time to just start collecting 5*s as they come.

Any thoughts?

froggerjohn

The Strange cover is a yellow, and Archangel is a blue. I did roster the Ock green right away, since that one was the closest to expiring. The other two are still 12d out.

Thanks for the note about remembering earlier posts. That's pretty cool, and I certainly owe a lot of the progress to the helpful people here on the forum.

The 5* damage has definitely been helpful in both the easy PvE nodes, and lightning rounds. I also used him in the Ultron boss event to be able to tank high-round bombs and give IM40 and Cap3 time to get the shields rolling. Otherwise, doesn't seem like I would use them very much, and no real need for more than one. In fact, my 2/2/3 Ghost exceeds the 5* match damage, albeit with not enough health to survive Thanos on a full set of clears, so I still bring BP along after that.

Keeping the 5*s is mainly for the 5e nodes, and just because in general, I'm going to keep them eventually. Now seemed like it might be a good time to start. 

I did forget to mention one aspect, which is that I don't know if multiple 5s will affect MMR. For some reason, I've been getting *much* better matchmaking in the season that just ended, and not totally sure what's responsible for that, but it would be sad if changed again too soon. I was having fun in PvP for the first time, and content with a 3K season started late, and played casually for the most part. But I guess I'll find out. The 3*s are high enough now, that the boosted 3s exceed the 5s, so I'm thinking I'm probably okay rostering more 5*s, as long as I don't put any iso into them.

froggerjohn

I really like America Chavez.  So far only used the loaner in "join forces", but looking forward to a few more covers.

In 4*, I'm already using:
- Medusa with Patch and Switch (1 more purple, and I can do Medusa + Carnage)
- Kraven against enemy Carnage
- Wasp4 with Falcon and Switch (I love this team against active tile movers)
- Nico with Mohawk

There's a lot of variety in the 4* tier that I'm looking forward to, but it's already making a difference even though some of those are low covers. They still work great in specific circumstances.

TPF Alexis

As soon as you have the HP income to roster everyone, and enough characters who Boost to over 255, go for it.

W4sp/3* Falcon/Medusa was my go-to team during my 4* transition. A bit slower to get going than with SWitch, but once you have some Strikes out, Medusa really starts speeding it up, and she also means they save on health packs.

Dormammu

Once you have champed 3-stars it's safe (from a PvP MMR standpoint) to start rostering 5-stars. Go for it.

froggerjohn

> W4sp/3* Falcon/Medusa

Could you expand a bit on how that team works? I'm not grasping what Medusa does to speed things up, unless fighting enemies that are supplying attack/strike/protect tiles for her to steal.

Rod5

froggerjohn said:

> W4sp/3* Falcon/Medusa

Could you expand a bit on how that team works? I'm not grasping what Medusa does to speed things up, unless fighting enemies that are supplying attack/strike/protect tiles for her to steal.

Proliferation of attack tiles that Falcon will buff, as well as heal when they get matched.

TPF Alexis

Yep. You don't get the help from SWitch on getting Falcon's Protect tiles out as quickly for Wasp to flip, but once you do, the extra hits from Entanglement/Attack tiles start double dipping on those Strikes, and opposing teams pretty much just melt. And if the enemy does happen to make A/P/S tiles, she often can still help accelerate Bird Strike.

3* Iron Fist can also work there to provide an Attack tile, but he can't help accelerate things, and he and Wasp have different priorities regarding your black AP. He does provide a green outlet, tho, and another source of tiles for Wasp to work with.

Either Medusa or Iron Fist will add a fifth colour to your Match damage as well, compared to using SWitch. It's a minor thing, but worth noting.

froggerjohn

Just got a 4Elektra from the event vault, and a 4BH that gave me another Medusa purple, now 3/5/4. That really opens some possibilities, now that she steals Attack tiles as well. (So I can run her with my 3/3/3 Carnage).

I know what you mean about adding another color. It's not even the match damage so much, as being able to utilize a board that just happens to have a lot of green on it. Hate having tons of AP in a color I can't use.

I'll definitely try the Medusa/W4sp/Falcon team. Especially since health is often one of the weaknesses of Switch/W4sp/Falcon. But I really like two things about how the Switch version plays:
- Almost no dependency on board colors. With a +2Y boost, I only need one yellow match, and Switch provides the purple.
- A good board with yellow and purple usually leads to a second set of Falcon + Wasp (and/or an extra double Wasp boost) 

I suspect there will be great options with the Medusa version as well though. I really like all three of those characters, whereas Switch is basically just a battery.

froggerjohn

Mixed results so far with Medusa/W4sp/Falcon. One one hand, clearly more interesting than the Switch variant, but does seem to take longer, since getting the boosted strikes out is the key, and Switch is no longer there to accelerate that.

That said, I suspect that I'm just not up against strong-enough opponents yet. I'm playing SCL7 in Simulator, and I'll reevaluate when I get to the higher-level nodes. Feels like as the matches get harder, the Medusa benefits will add up and eventually overtake the "quick start" from Switch. I can foresee playing easier matches with Switch (or another team entirely), and play Medusa later on. I'll stick with it.

Also tried Medusa + Carnage in the 4e Hulkbuster node last event. (HB prevented me from using the typical IM40 + Strange I usually pick for 4e with a low-cover 4*). Succeeded once, but failed twice. Ended up with Cap3 + Strange there. (Cap3 boosted, which helped a lot).

TPF Alexis

froggerjohn said:

Mixed results so far with Medusa/W4sp/Falcon. One one hand, clearly more interesting than the Switch variant, but does seem to take longer, since getting the boosted strikes out is the key, and Switch is no longer there to accelerate that.

That said, I suspect that I'm just not up against strong-enough opponents yet. I'm playing SCL7 in Simulator, and I'll reevaluate when I get to the higher-level nodes. Feels like as the matches get harder, the Medusa benefits will add up and eventually overtake the "quick start" from Switch. I can foresee playing easier matches with Switch (or another team entirely), and play Medusa later on. I'll stick with it.

That's a good point. When I was at the point where I was using that team all the time, we were still stuck with Roster-based Scaling. So a lot of the fights were tougher, and it was more worthwhile to have teams that could finish them at all, even if it wasn't fast, since I wasn't going to be placing well regardless.

DAZ0273

W4sp/Falcon I find is more effective in PvP as the fights tend to last longer. I like to use 3* Spidey with that team as it gives an outlet for accumulated blue AP apart from Wasp's passive and matching purple makes extra shields for Wasp to flip and you still have the option of Spidey's yellow nuke. C4ge is also great but can again be slow as you have to wait to actually get hit.

Medusa will absolutely save your bacon in harder fights with her healing although she needs protecting as you don't want to rely on her as last one standing.