On the leap to 5* land - but how to proceed?

Steirerbua

Dear fellow players,
I have reached a point in the game where I feel stuck - that's why I would like to ask the community for advice.

I am a casual player, paying my monthly VIP fee. I play mainly PvE as it is most compatible to my life outside the game. Therefore I do not aim for high placements but rather for max progression in order to develop my roster.

A while ago I found myself getting bored with the game. Defining goals helped me keep my motivation at this point. These goals were to champ certain of my favourite characters as well as to establish a solid 4* roster.

Now that this landmark has been passed, I found myself not as excited with all those new 4* character (that are released way too frequently imho) as I am supposed to be. Therefore the logic next step would be to finally progress to 5* land.

And here is where I ask for your advice: I gathered enough ISO8 to champ several 5* characters at once, and there is no shortage of HP on my side. The only resource that comes painfully scarcely, are 5* covers.

For an impression of my stats and my 5* lineup I enclose the relevant screenshots.

To conclude: What is your advice on how to procede?
I would like to keep up the playing style described. What else, I am aware that the most common way to enable the transition is to hoard up to the point of 300 Latest Legendaries. BUT: The last time I did so, I strived to finish my Okoye before she left Latest, and the results were frustrating. Therefore I am getting tired of waiting and feel like driving with the handbrakes on.

Thank you very much for your assessment in advance!

Edit:
Allright, since I can't seem to post my screenshots here, I'll let you have my stats:
ISO8: > 4.000.000
HP: 64170
CP: 4055
Latest Legends Tokens: 103

The 5* characters and their covers:
- Thanos: 551
- Okoye: 245
- Wolverine: 542
- Thor: 135
- Doctor Strange: 225
- Green Goblin: 152
- Hawkeye: 341
- Wasp: 341
- Loki: 511
- Spider-Man(PP): 402
- Black Widow: 114
- Gambit: 213
- Silver Surfer: 123
- Captain America (FA): 320
- Jessica Jones: 222
- Jean Grey: 311
- Black Panther 122
- Spider-Man (BiB): 212
- Doctor Octopus: 211
- Black Bolt: 201
- The Hulk: 120
- Daredevil: 200
- Iron Man: 111
- Captain America(IW): 110
- Archangel: 010
- Cable: 001
- Ghost Rider: 100
- Star-Lord: 001
- Kingpin: not rostered
- Kitty Pryde: not rostered

BlackBoltRocks

Since you largely play PvE, my advice will be geared to that.

First off: your Okoye is 2/4/5. Can I ask what level your Shuri is at? If Shuri is below lv280, Bonus Hero the hell out of her until she's lv300, so you can complete Okoye. if Shuri is above lv300, then...bugger. In any case, set Okoye as your sole 5* Bonus hero until she's completed. She's the best support character in the 5* tier and the game.

Second: looking at your CP and LT stash, you have enough (theoretically) to complete the three 5* currently in Latest LTs.

The first question you should ask is: am I willing to bust my hoard for the current three Latest 5*?

If the answer is yes, then the next question is: do I want to complete Loki, or wait until he leaves i.e. choose Kingpin over Loki? Loki will likely leave Latests around New Year's Eve, so you have about a week and a half to decide. Kitty is a very solid support 5*, especially with 4* Rocket & Groot. Cable is...decent. Personally I feel he's a bit meh, but definitely not the worst 5*. So once again, this question comes down to whether you want a trio of Loki/Kitty/Cable or Kitty/Cable/Kingpin.

If you are not willing to bust your hoard now, that's fine, but you should be able to answer the question of why you choose to continue hoarding, especially since you say you're bored with your current state of affairs. Perhaps you want to wait for the upcoming Family Legends store and see which 5* are in there. Perhaps you want to wait for (a very likely) 5* Captain Marvel when her movie comes out. Perhaps you want to wait until all of Kitty, Cable, and Kingpin have left Latests. It's all up to you.

Miscellaneous: once you're done with Okoye, switch your 5* Bonus Hero to Thanos. His Black will greatly speed up your PvE clears, and also greatly speed up your healthpack usage.

Postscript: If you decide to play PvP more frequently, or perhaps competitively, I strongly urge you to do so with at least three champed 5*. That makes the MMR more manageable, as your can rotate your 5* around (to pair with the essential). And you'll be better equipped to handle SHIELD Simulator. In this scenario, Okoye is practically a must, given how awesome she is. Your GladiaThor and Jessica are nowhere near, sadly, and they're stuck in the Classic LT purgatory. A trio of Okoye/Cable/Loki or Okoye/Cable/Kitty should be serviceable enough.

All the best.

Steirerbua

BlackBoltRocks said:

Since you largely play PvE, my advice will be geared to that.

First off: your Okoye is 2/4/5. Can I ask what level your Shuri is at? If Shuri is below lv280, Bonus Hero the hell out of her until she's lv300, so you can complete Okoye. if Shuri is above lv300, then...bugger. In any case, set Okoye as your sole 5* Bonus hero until she's completed. She's the best support character in the 5* tier and the game.

Second: looking at your CP and LT stash, you have enough (theoretically) to complete the three 5* currently in Latest LTs.

The first question you should ask is: am I willing to bust my hoard for the current three Latest 5*?

If the answer is yes, then the next question is: do I want to complete Loki, or wait until he leaves i.e. choose Kingpin over Loki? Loki will likely leave Latests around New Year's Eve, so you have about a week and a half to decide. Kitty is a very solid support 5*, especially with 4* Rocket & Groot. Cable is...decent. Personally I feel he's a bit meh, but definitely not the worst 5*. So once again, this question comes down to whether you want a trio of Loki/Kitty/Cable or Kitty/Cable/Kingpin.

If you are not willing to bust your hoard now, that's fine, but you should be able to answer the question of why you choose to continue hoarding, especially since you say you're bored with your current state of affairs. Perhaps you want to wait for the upcoming Family Legends store and see which 5* are in there. Perhaps you want to wait for (a very likely) 5* Captain Marvel when her movie comes out. Perhaps you want to wait until all of Kitty, Cable, and Kingpin have left Latests. It's all up to you.

Miscellaneous: once you're done with Okoye, switch your 5* Bonus Hero to Thanos. His Black will greatly speed up your PvE clears, and also greatly speed up your healthpack usage.

Postscript: If you decide to play PvP more frequently, or perhaps competitively, I strongly urge you to do so with at least three champed 5*. That makes the MMR more manageable, as your can rotate your 5* around (to pair with the essential). And you'll be better equipped to handle SHIELD Simulator. In this scenario, Okoye is practically a must, given how awesome she is. Your GladiaThor and Jessica are nowhere near, sadly, and they're stuck in the Classic LT purgatory. A trio of Okoye/Cable/Loki or Okoye/Cable/Kitty should be serviceable enough.

All the best.

Thank you a lot for your very helpful response.
To answer your questions: My Shuri (435) is at level 209 and is already set as a BH. However, since I am hoarding, I did not pull too much recently.

Actually I was planning to get myself a little present for Christmas and use up the 100+ LL covers. That would make Loki, Kitty and Cable available to me. That would leave out Kingpin and probably get me some covers for the not favoured Cable. Well, I am willing to take that. Last time I did so (when I failed to complete Okoye) I was left with several covers for Wasp
I do not intend to play competively hard in PvE, so I would enjoy well covered (ie playable) characters. (btw: As I found out in the Strange Sights PvE, Loki can be of value).

As for Kitty: I tap into PvP occasionally and strtive to get the 4* cover in the Simulator. I have learned the hard way to skip teams with Kitty on them

Concerning 5*Thanos: He, 4*Grocket and MEHulk are my standard lineup to race through the easy PvE nodes.

Again thank you for all the aspects to consider you brought up, have a great time!

Quebbster

110 pulls is not enough to champ the Latest Legends fivestars, if that is your goal then you need to aim for 350 pulls at least. You seem to have around 160 pulls in your CP stash but even with that it's not enough.

I take it from your Shuri comment that you still have unchamped fourstars. You probably want to work on champing them all Before busting a hoard so you can get champ rewards immediately. It's not as big a problem as it used to be now that we have saved covers though.

Loki is useful in Strange Sights because he is the essential fivestar and thus gets a significant level boost. This is probably the last time he will be essential in a long while though as he is about to leave Latest Legends. Try him out in Hearts of Darkness (where he is not boosted) and see what you Think of his performance then.

It's a shame your Thanos is only 5/5/1, he is very useful for PvE (even for hard nodes when he's leveled). What's your G4mora at? It's a shame the Bid Bad store already closed, it could have been Worth it to chase Thanos covers there.

TL:DR - I suggest you be patient and build up your hoard further.

Steirerbua

Quebbster said:

110 pulls is not enough to champ the Latest Legends fivestars, if that is your goal then you need to aim for 350 pulls at least. You seem to have around 160 pulls in your CP stash but even with that it's not enough.

I take it from your Shuri comment that you still have unchamped fourstars. You probably want to work on champing them all Before busting a hoard so you can get champ rewards immediately. It's not as big a problem as it used to be now that we have saved covers though.

Loki is useful in Strange Sights because he is the essential fivestar and thus gets a significant level boost. This is probably the last time he will be essential in a long while though as he is about to leave Latest Legends. Try him out in Hearts of Darkness (where he is not boosted) and see what you Think of his performance then.

It's a shame your Thanos is only 5/5/1, he is very useful for PvE (even for hard nodes when he's leveled). What's your G4mora at? It's a shame the Bid Bad store already closed, it could have been Worth it to chase Thanos covers there.

TL:DR - I suggest you be patient and build up your hoard further.

Thank you for your precious input.
Yes, I do have unchamped 4*s. To be precise, in my roster there are
- 17 unchamped
- 61 champed
4* characters.

Champing them, is what happens anyway, when I get the covers. It is just that I have stopped chasing 4* covers aggressively. I am not in a hurry with my 4* tier. It just gets a little dull with the high frequency of releases and many of them are only played when being the featured character in PvE. (Yes, I know, that's the way the game works, it is just a pity that so few of the 4*s really make a difference.)

Hmm ... I was looking forward to opening a little Christmas hoard, but you are right, when using a more rational approach, it is more reasonable to wait for that 350 threshold. 

And by the way, my G4mora is at 293.

Greetings, and best wishes!

Quebbster

Steirerbua said:

Quebbster said:

110 pulls is not enough to champ the Latest Legends fivestars, if that is your goal then you need to aim for 350 pulls at least. You seem to have around 160 pulls in your CP stash but even with that it's not enough.

I take it from your Shuri comment that you still have unchamped fourstars. You probably want to work on champing them all Before busting a hoard so you can get champ rewards immediately. It's not as big a problem as it used to be now that we have saved covers though.

Loki is useful in Strange Sights because he is the essential fivestar and thus gets a significant level boost. This is probably the last time he will be essential in a long while though as he is about to leave Latest Legends. Try him out in Hearts of Darkness (where he is not boosted) and see what you Think of his performance then.

It's a shame your Thanos is only 5/5/1, he is very useful for PvE (even for hard nodes when he's leveled). What's your G4mora at? It's a shame the Bid Bad store already closed, it could have been Worth it to chase Thanos covers there.

TL:DR - I suggest you be patient and build up your hoard further.

Thank you for your precious input.
Yes, I do have unchamped 4*s. To be precise, in my roster there are
- 17 unchamped
- 61 champed
4* characters.

Champing them, is what happens anyway, when I get the covers. It is just that I have stopped chasing 4* covers aggressively. I am not in a hurry with my 4* tier. It just gets a little dull with the high frequency of releases and many of them are only played when being the featured character in PvE. (Yes, I know, that's the way the game works, it is just a pity that so few of the 4*s really make a difference.)

Hmm ... I was looking forward to opening a little Christmas hoard, but you are right, when using a more rational approach, it is more reasonable to wait for that 350 threshold. 

And by the way, my G4mora is at 293.

Greetings, and best wishes!

Patience is a big part of this game unfortunately.

Daredevil217

Wait for the Family Legends store reveal. I know you only have 160 pulls with CP. But might be able to finish some people you have close. 

bbigler

Considering your roster and playing style, I would BH Shuri and Okoye, and open your hoard on Latest around Christmas, which is a nice present to yourself. This should give you a mostly covered Kitty (10 - 14 covers) and allow you to champ / level up Shuri to 280. With 1 Okoye BH cover and 1 from Shuri, you should be able to fully cover Okoye. If Kitty is not fully covered, no problem, she'll be in Latest for 6 more weeks. 

This would leave you with 2 awesome teams for PVE: Kitty + Grocket and Okoye + Medusa which both go with your 5*Thanos. They would clear hard and essential nodes very fast and you can switch between teams to save a couple health packs. Kitty+Grocket work great against goons and Okoye+Medusa work great against tile movers, like sentries or dark Avengers. I would also recommend using 3*Thanos for easy nodes to save health packs. 

With the above teams, you can get top 10 placement in PVE. Whether Kitty and Okoye are champed or soft-capped to 360, they will be your queens of death. If you want to play PVP, then I would soft-cap Kitty and Okoye to 360 until you have another 5* that pairs well with either of them. 

Daredevil217

Yep. I would take my shot at Thor as well. Okoye is close. Get them and you are not just in 5* land, but you have the current meta and likely will get OML as a third as well. Curious where your Valkyrie is as she can net some Thor covers if needed as well. 

According to Hadronic’s tool, if you are willing to cover swap and set Thor as your BH, 188 pulls gives you a 95% chance to finish Thor. you’re right there. 

Steirerbua

Thank you again for your advice on how to proceed in the development of my roster. 

While it is clearly understandable that 100 LL tokens would not get me to three fully covered 5* characters, the Family Legends might help me to complete at least two of my better covered 5*s. 

Therefore I decided to spend my Command Points for 100 Family Legends tokens with Shuri and Okoye set as my Bonus Heroes.

My goal was to get Old Man Logan (542), Thor (135) and Okoye (245) fully covered. 

Although I took notes on every cover received, I will spare you too much detail. In short the results are:

total pulls: 123

4* characters: 109

5* characters: 14 

4* Bonus Heroes (Shuri): 4

5* Bonus Heroes (Okoye) : 0

Looking at the 5* covers I was aiming for, I received:

OML black: 6

OML yellow: 1

OML red: 0

Thor green: 1

Thor red: 1

Thor yellow: 3

I admit, I exceeded the self imposed limit of 100 tokens. I was ambitious enough to gamble a bit, but after getting the 6th black OML cover, I gave up. My final results are:

Old Man Logan: 5/5/2 (6 saved covers)

Thor: 2/4/5 (3 saved covers)

Okoye: unchanged

My conclusions are the following:

* I realized again how many four star characters there are actually in this game.

* Obviously the game does not want me to become a 5* player.

* I expected a boost in my motivation to play this game. Instead I ended up seriously questioning myself whether I am still willing to sacrificy hours of my life to the game the way I used to do. 

Quebbster

Steirerbua said:

Thank you again for your advice on how to proceed in the development of my roster. 

While it is clearly understandable that 100 LL tokens would not get me to three fully covered 5* characters, the Family Legends might help me to complete at least two of my better covered 5*s. 

Therefore I decided to spend my Command Points for 100 Family Legends tokens with Shuri and Okoye set as my Bonus Heroes.

My goal was to get Old Man Logan (542), Thor (135) and Okoye (245) fully covered. 

Although I took notes on every cover received, I will spare you too much detail. In short the results are:

total pulls: 123

4* characters: 109

5* characters: 14 

4* Bonus Heroes (Shuri): 4

5* Bonus Heroes (Okoye) : 0

Looking at the 5* covers I was aiming for, I received:

OML black: 6

OML yellow: 1

OML red: 0

Thor green: 1

Thor red: 1

Thor yellow: 3

I admit, I exceeded the self imposed limit of 100 tokens. I was ambitious enough to gamble a bit, but after getting the 6th black OML cover, I gave up. My final results are:

Old Man Logan: 5/5/2 (6 saved covers)

Thor: 2/4/5 (3 saved covers)

Okoye: unchanged

My conclusions are the following:

* I realized again how many four star characters there are actually in this game.

* Obviously the game does not want me to become a 5* player.

* I expected a boost in my motivation to play this game. Instead I ended up seriously questioning myself whether I am still willing to sacrificy hours of my life to the game the way I used to do. 

Yeah

, unfortunately the fivestar transition is very slow and requires a lot of patience. You need to go big or don't bother.

Do you have any covers coming from Valkyrie's or Xverine's champion rewards that could help you finish Thor and Logan?

Steirerbua

Quebbster said:

Steirerbua said:

Thank you again for your advice on how to proceed in the development of my roster. 

While it is clearly understandable that 100 LL tokens would not get me to three fully covered 5* characters, the Family Legends might help me to complete at least two of my better covered 5*s. 

Therefore I decided to spend my Command Points for 100 Family Legends tokens with Shuri and Okoye set as my Bonus Heroes.

My goal was to get Old Man Logan (542), Thor (135) and Okoye (245) fully covered. 

Although I took notes on every cover received, I will spare you too much detail. In short the results are:

total pulls: 123

4* characters: 109

5* characters: 14 

4* Bonus Heroes (Shuri): 4

5* Bonus Heroes (Okoye) : 0

Looking at the 5* covers I was aiming for, I received:

OML black: 6

OML yellow: 1

OML red: 0

Thor green: 1

Thor red: 1

Thor yellow: 3

I admit, I exceeded the self imposed limit of 100 tokens. I was ambitious enough to gamble a bit, but after getting the 6th black OML cover, I gave up. My final results are:

Old Man Logan: 5/5/2 (6 saved covers)

Thor: 2/4/5 (3 saved covers)

Okoye: unchanged

My conclusions are the following:

* I realized again how many four star characters there are actually in this game.

* Obviously the game does not want me to become a 5* player.

* I expected a boost in my motivation to play this game. Instead I ended up seriously questioning myself whether I am still willing to sacrificy hours of my life to the game the way I used to do. 

Yeah

, unfortunately the fivestar transition is very slow and requires a lot of patience. You need to go big or don't bother.

Do you have any covers coming from Valkyrie's or Xverine's champion rewards that could help you finish Thor and Logan?

My 4*Wolverine is at level 296, at 300 I expect an OML yellow cover ... at least it's not black
Valkyrie is at 275 - 5 more covers and Thor will be happy about a green one.

Quebbster

Steirerbua said:

Quebbster said:

Steirerbua said:

Thank you again for your advice on how to proceed in the development of my roster. 

While it is clearly understandable that 100 LL tokens would not get me to three fully covered 5* characters, the Family Legends might help me to complete at least two of my better covered 5*s. 

Therefore I decided to spend my Command Points for 100 Family Legends tokens with Shuri and Okoye set as my Bonus Heroes.

My goal was to get Old Man Logan (542), Thor (135) and Okoye (245) fully covered. 

Although I took notes on every cover received, I will spare you too much detail. In short the results are:

total pulls: 123

4* characters: 109

5* characters: 14 

4* Bonus Heroes (Shuri): 4

5* Bonus Heroes (Okoye) : 0

Looking at the 5* covers I was aiming for, I received:

OML black: 6

OML yellow: 1

OML red: 0

Thor green: 1

Thor red: 1

Thor yellow: 3

I admit, I exceeded the self imposed limit of 100 tokens. I was ambitious enough to gamble a bit, but after getting the 6th black OML cover, I gave up. My final results are:

Old Man Logan: 5/5/2 (6 saved covers)

Thor: 2/4/5 (3 saved covers)

Okoye: unchanged

My conclusions are the following:

* I realized again how many four star characters there are actually in this game.

* Obviously the game does not want me to become a 5* player.

* I expected a boost in my motivation to play this game. Instead I ended up seriously questioning myself whether I am still willing to sacrificy hours of my life to the game the way I used to do. 

Yeah

, unfortunately the fivestar transition is very slow and requires a lot of patience. You need to go big or don't bother.

Do you have any covers coming from Valkyrie's or Xverine's champion rewards that could help you finish Thor and Logan?

My 4*Wolverine is at level 296, at 300 I expect an OML yellow cover ... at least it's not black
Valkyrie is at 275 - 5 more covers and Thor will be happy about a green one.

Thor is within reach at least, you just need to get Valkyrie to level 300. Could be worse, though obviously it could be better too.

If this was last week I might have suggested you buy a green Thor cover for 250 CP if you wanted to speed up the process but alas that ship has sailed.