Restructure after sale packs

froggerjohn

I picked up a few of the recent sale packs, and the changes have me a bit overwhelmed. I'm looking to improve my PvE clear times, and not sure how best to proceed.

https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/froggerjohn/revisions/116

(If you check out the diff for that revision, you can see the effects of the recent changes).

One of the target goals of the sale was America Chavez, now 5/3/4, and this did indeed make a big difference against the Dark Avengers nodes in The Hulk. Along with Hood and boosted 1-cover Okoye, I'm getting a taste of the fast clears you guys with the big guns are used to.

The main area where I'm still struggling, is the essential nodes when they have active tile-movers. Especially the 4e, where I usually have a low-cover 4. In The Hulk, the 2e/3e/4e nodes took me longer to clear then all the other nodes combined.

Notable new roster highlights:

Champed Ghost (didn't actually mean to, but opened the red covers first without thinking, so I had to champ to get a 3/5/5)
12-cover Medusa (250), America (238), and Vulture (140).
Fully-covered RHulk (78) and Wiccan (78) -- but a long way from having enough iso.

164K iso, 14K HP, <20 CP, 77 LTs.

Current 4BH is on America.

Tips for where to focus next would be most appreciated.

Here's some of what I tried on the 3e/4e nodes:
America/Hood didn't have anyone to reap the high-damage crits, so took a long time.
America/Okoye [or Ghost] was great when it worked, but not reliable when the AI gets a lucky cascade.
Falcon/W4sp wasn't bad, but highly dependent on getting a favorable purple/yellow board.
Medusa/Carnage showed a bit of promise, but was never 'fast'.
Medusa/Patch I forgot to try, but would also be dependent on favorable board.

ThaRoadWarrior

I tell everybody who will listen, and most people who won't, that Vulture is (to me) the best single 4*. If you want reliable victories, set him to 5/5/3 and it won't much matter who the other two people are on most nodes. But since his powers are countdown based, you're going to be in that match for a hard minimum number of turns which may or may not be "fast" relative to the teams you're able to field currently.

Vulture /Chavez/Wiccan (5/3/5) is a fun team, I don't know that it's all that fast - Vulture goes up, makes AP for everybody and removes himself from the board to let chavez/wiccan tank colors like they want to, Chavez engages in nonsense while you collect AP for Demiurge. You can play with the specs on Vulture and Wiccan to see whose green is better for your needs - Wiccan does slightly higher single target damage off his green with potential to clear out enemy tiles spam, but Vulture's green does really good AOE damage if you can wait the 2 turns for it to go off. Once you transform into the Demiurge, you don't need to keep that AP in the bank, so you're free to use Vulture's high single-target damage blue if you want. This is one of those teams you can tailor to the opponent if you're so inclined I think.

Dormammu

Yeah, essential nodes can be a pain against active (tile moving) opponents if for no other reason than they'll slow down your clear times - as you stated. Coming up with good duos is important.

If you go the Chavez + 5-star route, you can reduce how often it won't work by bringing along +1AP boosts.

Vulture + Kamala or Strange works. Get Vulture airborne and have him feed Kamala's green AoE or Strange's blue stun. Set Vulture's blue/green to 5 depending on who you bring.

The team I used when I needed fast clears on essential nodes was IM40 + Peggy (with one Recharge Peggy could take everyone down between her red and blue). When Iceman was boosted I'd plug him in instead of Peggy. When Rhulk was boosted I'd use him and Switch (she feeds his AoE which gets huge). Your Rhulk is well covered enough to use now with some ISO investment. Maybe set Peggy as your bonus hero after chavez?

ThaRoadWarrior

Just for the record, vulture's AoE on green is equal to or better than Rulk's 18ap damage, especially a baby champ Rulk. Sandman's green similary does comparable AOE damage (to Rulk's base damage) for the same AP cost but it comes with a target character stun. Rulk does come with unparalleled green denial/generation, so you'll just need to decide which of those choices matches your play style. Given how well covered  your Rulk is, maybe it's a non-choice anyway.

DAZ0273

The only thing that can throw a spanner in the works with Vulture's green is that as it is a countdown it can be vulnerable to tile movers.

ThaRoadWarrior

That's true, but a quirk of his green is that a countdown accelerator like C4rol or Coulson can make that tile go off before he lands while airborne, and it behaves the same way as if he'd done it himself. Bug or feature, it's hard to say, so exploit that pro-tip while it's a thing lol

froggerjohn

It's funny that I had very little use for iso just a short while ago, and now it's going to be my limiting factor for many months. (Ghost champing drained 400K, or I would have had more options).

I'll probably float the iso I have for a bit, while I feel out some of the new combos, and get a better idea where I'd get the most benefit. Need to look into America, who was only tanking green, thus not getting much benefit out of her red. Might shuffle some supports to help out there too.

jtsings

   I'd interchange IM40 with Strange and Wolvi3.  With Strange, try to focus on colors that IM40 tanks and use blue to take away the color that could do the most harm to you.  With Wolvi3, he should tank most colors and when IM40 goes airborne he'll probably tank most or all colors, which makes his red even more powerful.

DAZ0273

froggerjohn said:

It's funny that I had very little use for iso just a short while ago, and now it's going to be my limiting factor for many months. (Ghost champing drained 400K, or I would have had more options).

I'll probably float the iso I have for a bit, while I feel out some of the new combos, and get a better idea where I'd get the most benefit. Need to look into America, who was only tanking green, thus not getting much benefit out of her red. Might shuffle some supports to help out there too.

There has probably never been a better time though for transitioning to the 4* tier, the costs are brutal but at least now the game will no longer force you into spending iso just thanks to RNG.

froggerjohn

The anniversary and raid events have been really great for 4* progress. I updated my roster:
https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/froggerjohn/revisions/122

Now have champed America (insane, in the current boosted state), champed Medusa, and 13-cover Vulture, RHulk, and Wiccan. Also 840K iso, so a lot of options now.

Other notables making progress are:
1/3/3 Carol
2/3/3 Peggy
2/2/3 Star-lord
3/2/4 Nico
1/3/3 MEHulk

Once America leaves boosted status, I'll be trying to figure out where to go next. Maybe see what the next boosted list looks like.

Quebbster

froggerjohn said:

The anniversary and raid events have been really great for 4* progress. I updated my roster:
https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/froggerjohn/revisions/122

Now have champed America (insane, in the current boosted state), champed Medusa, and 13-cover Vulture, RHulk, and Wiccan. Also 840K iso, so a lot of options now.

Other notables making progress are:
1/3/3 Carol
2/3/3 Peggy
2/2/3 Star-lord
3/2/4 Nico
1/3/3 MEHulk

Once America leaves boosted status, I'll be trying to figure out where to go next. Maybe see what the next boosted list looks like.

That's definitely a solid set of starting fourstars, congratulations. I see you also have a champed Ghost, who seem to be pretty good in my pretty limited experience - that boosted match damage is nasty. Vulture and Red Hulk are also top notch, so I definitely recommend leveling them up. All those four are good enough to use in regular play even when not boosted, so it's a solid investment.

One thing I notice you omitted is your 11 cover Carnage, who absolutely could be Worth leveling up for you - he and Medusa are nasty together since Carnage keeps pumping out special tiles that fuel Medusa's special. If you want more covers for Carnage, I notice your 3* Doc Ock is unleveled - if you get him to level 183 he gives a red Carnage cover as a champion reward. You do need to get the thirteenth cover somewhere else though...

Both Vulture and Chavez would work as thirds in a Carnage/Medusa teamup - Vulture can clear out enemy specials with his blue, and if he's Airborne he doesn't take damage from Symbiote Scythes. Chavez can absolutely use any AP generated by Medusa matching Carnage's tiles to boost her damage...

TPF Alexis

Vulture definitely jumps out as a prime choice for your next 4* champ. Rulk isn't far behind, but Vulture's a better all-rounder, while Rulk basically* has one schtick, but he's really, really good at that one thing.

*OK, he also has a role in some counter-Grockamora teams featuring C4rol, but for the most part he acquires green and then squishes the whole enemy team.

froggerjohn

Vulture does seem really useful, I went ahead and champed him. I think it was the Medusa PvP where I ran Vulture and Medusa (both boosted) with Strange. Easily took out teams well above my level, taking near-zero damage, until I ran into Carnage. (Couldn't beat the RBG/Gamora teams either, but found that out early on, and just skipped them).

Which makes it sounds like Carnage should be a priority, but I've had fairly poor results every time I tried to play him. Maybe too small of a sample size, and maybe against the wrong opponents or with the wrong third. I remember at least some of the time, I tried the duo on PvE essential nodes with a useless third, so that might be part of it. And I think another big part is that his black needs to be 5 covers, and I only have 3.

Been waiting for Ock to be used in DDQ or PvE before leveling, since 8 saved covers is a ways from the Carnage reward. But thanks for taking a thorough look.

DAZ0273

TPF Alexis said:

Vulture definitely jumps out as a prime choice for your next 4* champ. Rulk isn't far behind, but Vulture's a better all-rounder, while Rulk basically* has one schtick, but he's really, really good at that one thing.

*OK, he also has a role in some counter-Grockamora teams featuring C4rol, but for the most part he acquires green and then squishes the whole enemy team.

Of course Rulk actually makes a good partner for Vulture as he has high health so can be left to take the hits whilst Vulchy is airbourne and he loves all that green Vultch makes, still leaving blue for Vulture to slice and dice.

TPF Alexis

DAZ0273 said:

TPF Alexis said:

Vulture definitely jumps out as a prime choice for your next 4* champ. Rulk isn't far behind, but Vulture's a better all-rounder, while Rulk basically* has one schtick, but he's really, really good at that one thing.

*OK, he also has a role in some counter-Grockamora teams featuring C4rol, but for the most part he acquires green and then squishes the whole enemy team.

Of course Rulk actually makes a good partner for Vulture as he has high health so can be left to take the hits whilst Vulchy is airbourne and he loves all that green Vultch makes, still leaving blue for Vulture to slice and dice.

This is a good point, and, well, "both" is obviously the ideal answer, but if resources permitted only one, I'd take Vulture over Rulk.

DAZ0273

TPF Alexis said:

DAZ0273 said:

TPF Alexis said:

Vulture definitely jumps out as a prime choice for your next 4* champ. Rulk isn't far behind, but Vulture's a better all-rounder, while Rulk basically* has one schtick, but he's really, really good at that one thing.

*OK, he also has a role in some counter-Grockamora teams featuring C4rol, but for the most part he acquires green and then squishes the whole enemy team.

Of course Rulk actually makes a good partner for Vulture as he has high health so can be left to take the hits whilst Vulchy is airbourne and he loves all that green Vultch makes, still leaving blue for Vulture to slice and dice.

This is a good point, and, well, "both" is obviously the ideal answer, but if resources permitted only one, I'd take Vulture over Rulk.

Agree with this - Vulture's battery aid is too good to waste.

Quebbster

Vulture arguably does better damage per green AP than RHulk does, though he has to jump through more hoops to get it. RHulk is absolutely good and Worth the ISO investment, but I agree that Vulture should be a higher priority.