Daredevil217's 5* Character Ranking and Analysis (Updated 2/14/2021)

ThaRoadWarrior

My own take on GE Doom is that he is pretty awesome with Profe$$or X, and he makes a great first 5* due to his self heal. I know there' s a lot of talk about the devs over-valuing board shake, but to me, if you have a choas team, board shake can be very effective and i find that it tends to be under-valued by a lot of players.

As my second 5* champ, he replaced Ghost Rider immediately due to the sustainability of his health and the reliability of his black. I routinely bring him into matches and keep him in the back row to heal him back up off of enemy black/yellow matches. Doom/Okoye/Professor X can be much greater than the sum of its parts. You can also kickstart his black with 5torm, since her charge tiles are always black (the passive ones anyhow).

ThaRoadWarrior

Is anybody running Clint with Bobby? I feel like that passive CD spam ought to keep him pretty flush. It seems like it would be akin to pouring out your glass of water, but i imagine it's more like opening the drain in the bathtub with the tap turned on to full in practice. 

Daredevil217

ThaRoadWarrior said:

My own take on GE Doom is that he is pretty awesome with Profe$$or X, and he makes a great first 5* due to his self heal. I know there' s a lot of talk about the devs over-valuing board shake, but to me, if you have a choas team, board shake can be very effective and i find that it tends to be under-valued by a lot of players.

As my second 5* champ, he replaced Ghost Rider immediately due to the sustainability of his health and the reliability of his black. I routinely bring him into matches and keep him in the back row to heal him back up off of enemy black/yellow matches. Doom/Okoye/Professor X can be much greater than the sum of its parts. You can also kickstart his black with 5torm, since her charge tiles are always black (the passive ones anyhow).

Yeah, and that's the thing about this game and being fresh to a tier.  You would often talk about Ghost Rider being ranked too low or not being given enough credit for how good he is way back when he was one of your only 5s.  It's not that he's bad by any means.  He is an amazing black outlet.  And great if you don't have other options.  But once you have better options to fill that role (and you now have two of them in the form of Jessica and Doom), the only real reason to play him becomes if you want to switch things up for fun.  That specialization means/meant a lot to me when ranking these characters.  I think in a vacuum, Rider is better than Black Panther.  But when at least three others do what Rider does better, and no one in the game has a skill like "Move... or Be Moved", I rate Panther higher.  Or why I give someone with a great purple nuke bonus points over someone with a great green or red one, as the former is a lot more rare.  That's why I think the narrative around why I rank people where I do is just as important as "the numbers".

And yes, Doom/Storm, despite their best colors overlapping is brutal in pick-three.  And for that exact reason you stated (which I commented on in Storm's write-up).  It seems she creates more black than she alone can use as you wait for charged tiles to trickle in.  Doom might have the best black active in the game so, bringing him along works very very well.

ThaRoadWarrior

For sure; I think right now I am almost in a spot where I enjoy not having the truly top tier characters since it forces me to play more interesting teams and find uses for every 5 that comes along. It reminds me of how you used to talk about the 4* tier. I know once I get 5 green on thor, it’ll be nothing but Thorkoye forever after that for me lol.

Daredevil217

ThaRoadWarrior said:

For sure; I think right now I am almost in a spot where I enjoy not having the truly top tier characters since it forces me to play more interesting teams and find uses for every 5 that comes along. It reminds me of how you used to talk about the 4* tier. I know once I get 5 green on thor, it’ll be nothing but Thorkoye forever after that for me lol.

Yeah I came into the tier with all the meta and binged on Thorkoye for like a month. It was amazing at first. But it gets old fast. After awhile I started looking forward to champing.... well anyone, just to breakup the monotony of Thorkoye and play something different. Under the “old meta” anyone could beat anyone and you could run more fun teams.  Now after a certain point you have no choice but to run a handful of counter teams/characters when all you see are these highly defensive (or broken in the case of Bishop) teams.  Then of course run the stuff yourself for the free shield.  

Thorkoye still has tons of uses (5* Essential, crazy scaled boss events, quick hops, Gritty counter, and OMG I forgot PVP is ending and I need to climb super fast!). Since they get play in so many places I try to not play them when I can. 

Anon

Very informative post! I only have 2 5* champs (Thor and Thanos) but Kitty is less than ~300 shards away. Not sure what to do after that.

Gambit is fully covered. Cable is 130 shards away from fully covered. PX is 1/1/5. Storm is 2 covers away. Okoye is 4/1/4. 

I..I..what to do...I... *Head explodes*

ThaRoadWarrior

Anon said:

Very informative post! I only have 2 5* champs (Thor and Thanos) but Kitty is less than ~300 shards away. Not sure what to do after that.

Gambit is fully covered. Cable is 130 shards away from fully covered. PX is 1/1/5. Storm is 2 covers away. Okoye is 4/1/4. 

I..I..what to do...I... *Head explodes*

If you have Thor finished, work on Okoye. It'll take awhile, but I think that's your play. She is good even partially covered, so depending on your ShuriSituation, you could top off black. For lols as a 3rd, bring 2* Captain Marvel since she puts out over 2X as many team ups as a 5-yellow-okoye. Alternatively bring 3* Storm and use her yellow to just gobble up all the available Team Up after Thor collects that yellow for you. I think the danger will just be Thor over-tanking, but it would probably work as intended mostly.

Anon

ThaRoadWarrior said:

Anon said:

Very informative post! I only have 2 5* champs (Thor and Thanos) but Kitty is less than ~300 shards away. Not sure what to do after that.

Gambit is fully covered. Cable is 130 shards away from fully covered. PX is 1/1/5. Storm is 2 covers away. Okoye is 4/1/4. 

I..I..what to do...I... *Head explodes*

If you have Thor finished, work on Okoye. It'll take awhile, but I think that's your play. She is good even partially covered, so depending on your ShuriSituation, you could top off black. For lols as a 3rd, bring 2* Captain Marvel since she puts out over 2X as many team ups as a 5-yellow-okoye. Alternatively bring 3* Storm and use her yellow to just gobble up all the available Team Up after Thor collects that yellow for you. I think the danger will just be Thor over-tanking, but it would probably work as intended mostly.

Thanks for the advice. Yeah I figured with a champed Thor, Okoye should be the next step after I finish Kitty. It's just that I have characters closer than her, but admittedly she's the best of the bunch.

And my Shuri is at 278 so just 2 more levels until WF to take Okoye to 5/1/4. Yeah I guess I'll work on her next.

dramatist

Fun list, thanks for doing this.

Also I believe Iceman might go up some in the rankings based on how important he is on the challenge node for people with baby 5* champs.

ThaRoadWarrior

@Daredevil217 You have any thoughts on Sinister yet, or haven't pulled for it?

Daredevil217

ThaRoadWarrior said:

@Daredevil217 You have any thoughts on Sinister yet, or haven't pulled for it?

I pulled for him using all my LTs (277) but unfortunately the RNG gods haven’t smiled on me (he’s 2/2/6).

If I finish him it likely won’t be until he’s right about to leave. At that time I’ll see how many covers I have from progression shards (seems like it’s possible Latests won’t be featured as frequently) and go from there. So by the time I get my analysis up, it’ll be too late for people to decide whether to pull for him.

I’m also intrigued by the Havok store. Surfer and Bolt are the highest ranked classics on this list that I don’t have champed, so I’m holding onto my CP for now. I’m torn on how to spend. Obviously the power creep Latests are better characters and I’d want to make sure to finish them, as well as those who come after, but Bolt/Surfer will only be available in this store a limited time and it’s a great opportunity to chase both while hopefully having a decent head start on one of the Latests. Right now I’m holding tight, and will probably just spend LT as they trickle in. I’ll probably use my CP to get at least one Havok in his store. I’ll see where the others land at that time and make a decision to either pull or keep hoarding then.

Daredevil217

1. Bishop (Classic)
2. Thor (Gladiator)
3. Okoye (Warrior General)
4. Kitty Pryde (Uncanny X-Men)
5. Professor X (Classic)
6. Thanos (The Mad Titan)
7. Beta Ray Bill (Korbinite Warrior)
8. Jessica Jones (Alias Investigations)
9. Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
10. Doctor Doom (God Emperor)
    
11. Daredevil (Matt Murdock)
12. Iceman (Bobby Drake)
13. Doctor Strange (Sorcerer Supreme)
14. Spider-Man (Back In Black)
    
15. Black Bolt (Inhuman King)*
    
16. Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
17. Hela (Goddess Of Death)
18. Green Goblin (Norman Orborn)
19. Black Panther (Civil War)
20. Captain America (Infinity War)
21. Storm (Ororo Munroe)
22. Carnage (Prophet of Knull)*
23. Gambit (Classic)
24. Loki (God Of Mischief)
25. Cable (Nathan Summers)
26. Wolverine (Old Man Logan)
27. Jean Grey (Phoenix)*
28. Silver Surfer (Skyrider)*
29. Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)
30. Captain Marvel (Galactic Warrior)
31. Captain America (First Avenger)*
32. Rescue (Pepper Potts)*
33. Doctor Octopus (Classic)
34. Archangel (Classic)
35. Iron Man (Mark XLVI)
36. Star-Lord (Awesome Mix Volume 2)*
37. Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff)*
38. Kingpin (Spider-Verse)
39. The Wasp (Hope Van Dyne)*
40. The Hulk (Bruce Banner)*

Though I'm not updating right now, ... I'm thinking with intro of CL10 and that being such a huge rewards bump over other CL, there will be a shift in the rankings, and how characters tackle that difficulty will be taken into consideration (along with PVP strength).  That said, expect:

- Thanos to drop as he does nothing against those high health characters

- Iceman and his stunlock to get a bump

- Hawkeye to get a slight bump due to the ability to winfinite any challenge node (so he's now good in PVE and PVP)

- Jessica to drop a slight bit as others pass her by.

- Havok to fall around the 15-17 range.  Doesn't bring anything "special" but is crazy efficient for his AP.

- Still have no idea where to place Sinister.  Such a wildcard IMO.

Also, since other characters absolutely affect where these characters are ranked (the game is not played one on one), with the recent wave of strong blues, expect:

- Surfer to drop as he no longer counters Bishop teams at all (his one good characteristic).

- Bishop to be ranked much higher... I don't know what's higher than #1... have to think of something.

ThaRoadWarrior

I find going up against Sinister in PVP, even at near baby-champ levels, has been pretty rough. since those traps go off when matched by either team, you can end up knocking your self out fairly quickly.

Kolence

For pve CL 10, and if you have Hawkeye and Okoye, jumpy Cap can go somewhere top 3 also. Just for the speed in dealing with the toughest non essential node or a few.
Thorkoye Iceman is the other reliable and speedy option, but they may be slower to start against all 3 tile movers. 

atomzed

Thanks for the list! Really enjoyed reading it!
i have a champ sinister and the traps goes crazy against pve goons. But the problem I have is in generating blue, since you only have 3 damage trap tiles generated, it’s tough to match them if they are at the wrong place. 

Maybe I would try to use sinister with Quicksilver, since quicksilver black allows me to swap tiles. 

Regarding about how CL10 impact on the ranking, I agree that my go-to team of Jessica+Thor fall a bit flat against those high health teams. Now my go to team is actually Thorokoye and Iceman. Iceman is absolutely crucial Because of his stun and chip damage, amplified by Oko passive 

ThaRoadWarrior

Using Sinister at 1/0/2 on SCL10 required node was way better than last event where I had to use my 3/2/1 Phoenix. Not sure what that says about anything, but I remain tentatively hype for his chances. 

Akroma

ThaRoadWarrior said:

Anon said:

Very informative post! I only have 2 5* champs (Thor and Thanos) but Kitty is less than ~300 shards away. Not sure what to do after that.

Gambit is fully covered. Cable is 130 shards away from fully covered. PX is 1/1/5. Storm is 2 covers away. Okoye is 4/1/4. 

I..I..what to do...I... *Head explodes*

If you have Thor finished, work on Okoye. It'll take awhile, but I think that's your play. She is good even partially covered, so depending on your ShuriSituation, you could top off black. For lols as a 3rd, bring 2* Captain Marvel since she puts out over 2X as many team ups as a 5-yellow-okoye. Alternatively bring 3* Storm and use her yellow to just gobble up all the available Team Up after Thor collects that yellow for you. I think the danger will just be Thor over-tanking, but it would probably work as intended mostly.

:O shurisituation? please explain that to me thanks
(i have thor and iceman champed, but okoye only at 3 covers )

ThaRoadWarrior

#ShuriSituation - how good is your Shuri? lol Is she near a champ payout?

Akroma

ThaRoadWarrior said:

#ShuriSituation - how good is your Shuri? lol Is she near a champ payout?

hahaah. i didnt know shuri feeds okoye  

btw i went crazy, spent all my hoard, now i have 13 covers on both kity and okoye!!! (from fan favorites store)

still needs iso tho.

also god willing next pve ill get enough shards to 13 cover brb  

but my okoye will be 451 and my thor is 451 too is that a problem?

ThaRoadWarrior

I feel like it's not the worst problem you could have, but also, you could always refer back to that #ShuriSituation and do something about it lol

BRB is awesome, i'm really happy with him. Hope you get there.