Grand Experiment 2: Treading Water in the SCL 10 Post-Shardpocalypse

Bowgentle

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
I was kind of in stasis around 2 million for awhile, but with all the recent champing I'm down under 300k. But it's not the end of the world, I can easily just keep stacking champable dupes and just put them over as the iso shows up like in the old days.

In the old days you'd have scrambled to champ them before the covers expired.
Saved covers were such a massive, fundamental change.

rainkingucd

@rainkingucd said:

@rainkingucd said:
With Goose (Chewie!) out, I'm going to go all in on her as my 3* favourite. Nearly all of my current 3* are Max-Max or close to as I kept my dupes when BCS was handing out all those retro rewards, so I have no real need to target any 3* unless I really wanted one in particular the 5* level.

So now I'll test how long it takes to max a 3* from scratch (hehe) before I can ascend.

Update: With the bonus pull rate now at an end, Goose is at 207.

She was my only 3* target the entire time, I've been pulling all my Standard/Heroic/Elite/Mighty tokens. 54 covers in 2 weeks. Will see how long it takes to get the next 59 covers without the bonus pull rate in effect. I'm guessing 8 more weeks.

Update 2: 1 week later, and Goose is at 224. 17 covers in a week from random pulls & shards. May slow down a bit this week with Boss Event, but I don't think it'll take another 8 weeks. Likely 3-4 depending on if the next batch of Ascension gives me some extra tokens to play with.

ThaRoadWarrior

I went up a Shield Rank and was able to ascend Cyclops, moved my fav to Mordo who has a 12 cover dupe.

My own goose is at 178, my fav Arcade is now at 190 for comparison.

ThaRoadWarrior

I had a big chunk of Ascension Batch 3 ready to go at the 4* tier, and a bunch more waiting on finished dupes. I usually like to take them for a spin in Simulator, but since that just ended, I'll probably have to wait a few days to try out some of the ones I was expecting to be fun. Current 4* ascendants from all batches:
Agent Coulson
America Chavez
Ant-Man
Black Panther
Captain Marvel
Cyclops
Emma Frost
Gamora
Ghost rider
Gwenpool
Iron Man (hulkbuster)
Jean Grey
Jubilee
Juggernaut
Kate Bishop
Lockjaw
Luke Cage
Medusa
Nico Minoru
Nightcrawler
Peggy Carter
Rocket & Groot
Rogue
Sabretooth
Sam Wilson
Shuri
Vakyrie
Winter Soldier
X-23

370s that are ascendable but with unbuilt dupes:
Black Widow (2/3/4)
C&D (0/0/0)
Dazzler (3/3/1)
XFDP (4/2/2)
Elektra (0/0/1)
Iceman (dupe is built, just needs iso)
Hobofist (1/2/1)
Karnak (1/2/0)
Mockingbird (1/1/1)
Moon Knight (2/3/2)
Mordo (dupe is built, just needs iso)
Mr Fantastic (2/2/2)
Nebula (0/0/0)
Professor X (5/4/3)
Riri (1/1/1)
Thing (0/0/2)
Thor (2/0/0)
Wasp (4/3/5)
XFW (5/1/3)

I was expecting to end up with a lot more iso than I actually got from ascending this batch for some reason, though I didn't do any predictive analysis to see if any were actually coming. So I'm still waiting on more of that to roll in. My Polaris was up in the mid 360s, so I moved my favorite over to her. I suspect she'll be pretty valuable pretty fast so I don't want to get caught empty handed. I cleaned out that essentials vault, and got 4x black Juggernauts and 5x blue Yelenas, so I have an okay lead on ascension there.

rainkingucd

@rainkingucd said:

@rainkingucd said:
With Goose (Chewie!) out, I'm going to go all in on her as my 3* favourite. Nearly all of my current 3* are Max-Max or close to as I kept my dupes when BCS was handing out all those retro rewards, so I have no real need to target any 3* unless I really wanted one in particular the 5* level.

So now I'll test how long it takes to max a 3* from scratch (hehe) before I can ascend.

Update: With the bonus pull rate now at an end, Goose is at 207.

She was my only 3* target the entire time, I've been pulling all my Standard/Heroic/Elite/Mighty tokens. 54 covers in 2 weeks. Will see how long it takes to get the next 59 covers without the bonus pull rate in effect. I'm guessing 8 more weeks.

Update 2: 1 week later, and Goose is at 224. 17 covers in a week from random pulls & shards. May slow down a bit this week with Boss Event, but I don't think it'll take another 8 weeks. Likely 3-4 depending on if the next batch of Ascension gives me some extra tokens to play with.

Update 3: Another week, and Goose is at 236. A little less this week, but 12-17 a week is pretty solid. Should be 2 more weeks until Goose is maxed, then a week more to have her ready to ascend.
So guessing around 7 weeks to get a 3* Ascended from scratch if you go all in on them.

I'm also pleased with this month's Classics boosted draw list. My Deathlok dupe is at 2/2/1 right now, so the bonus draw rate should get him ready to ascend in Batch 4.

Plus my 4*Thor dupe is at 298, so a few more covers and Mighty Thor shards before I ascend her.

ThaRoadWarrior

my own incidental goose is at 181 currently, so yours is moving right along.

I champed Sir Pegsalot yesterday, moved my 5* favorite over to Goose who is at 1/1/1 now that it's rotated into latest. I'm still pretty iso-poor, hovering around 300k depending on what's going on with low-level ascension. I moved my 1* juggernaut up, he is at level 100. I have a 5/5/3 Yelena and a 0/0/5 yelena, along with 7 blue yelenas on the vine from clearing out the essentials vault a second time. Since she is still limited, I'm going to sit on them on the off chance I get that second dupe fully built until the last moment before rostering a third, and I guess fourth blue-only duplicate. I currently have some vacant slots from ascended 4s, so there is room for it.

I ascended Nico early, and while I wasn't going to cry for the lost Hunter covers, since they've made it available I did put in a CS request.

It's interesting having an ascended rocket/juggernaut clear team available. I'm still trying to settle on the best 3rd for it, but it is now a viable "hard node" clear team for sure under most conditions. Nico is pretty good, I suppose Polaris is maybe the best option. My base polaris is at 368, so I'll be able to ascend her at some point soon and take it for a spin.

I was experimenting with some nonsense ascended pairs in lighting rounds yesterday. Ant-Man and Carol don't work like they used to now that Ant-Man is making swarm tiles. I also took Nightcrawler and Heimdall for a spin. Now that we are seeing AOE characters like ascended juggernaut and Omega Red everywhere, Nightcrawler is largely immune to it, and Heimdall takes less damage if he's alone, I don't know if it was life changing or anything but it was working. Once we get a decent pick-3 event I'm going to see how BRB/Gamora/Polaris feels with ascended health.

skittledaddy

ThaRoadWarrior said:

It's interesting having an ascended rocket/juggernaut clear team available. I'm still trying to settle on the best 3rd for it, but it is now a viable "hard node" clear team for sure under most conditions. Nico is pretty good, I suppose Polaris is maybe the best option. My base polaris is at 368, so I'll be able to ascend her at some point soon and take it for a spin.

They don't need to be ascended to be a viable clear team.
I have been using them (Polaris being the obvious 3rd) on hard nodes in CL10 PVE for almost three years now. And only recently (maybe 4-6 months ago) did I get them to lvl370.

rainkingucd

@ThaRoadWarrior how is your targeted Arcade coming along? I'm curious to compare targeted 3* progress.

ThaRoadWarrior

@skittledaddy said:

ThaRoadWarrior said:

It's interesting having an ascended rocket/juggernaut clear team available. I'm still trying to settle on the best 3rd for it, but it is now a viable "hard node" clear team for sure under most conditions. Nico is pretty good, I suppose Polaris is maybe the best option. My base polaris is at 368, so I'll be able to ascend her at some point soon and take it for a spin.

They don't need to be ascended to be a viable clear team.
I have been using them (Polaris being the obvious 3rd) on hard nodes in CL10 PVE for almost three years now. And only recently (maybe 4-6 months ago) did I get them to lvl370.

It never felt as fast as using omega red/iHulk/Okoye to me to mess with a 4* team in SCL 10, but I know people were doing it.

@rainkingucd said:
@ThaRoadWarrior how is your targeted Arcade coming along? I'm curious to compare targeted 3* progress.

Currently 202, it doesn't really seem like it's been skyrocketing or anything. At least right now, I kind of want to compare what a natural born 5* Arcade is like next to a jump up lazy 3* who has been ascended. I'm also curious how long that's going to take. I'm really not that emotionally invested in any of the 3* characters so this one is about as good as any of the others really to try that.

Bowgentle

@ThaRoadWarrior said:

@skittledaddy said:

ThaRoadWarrior said:

It's interesting having an ascended rocket/juggernaut clear team available. I'm still trying to settle on the best 3rd for it, but it is now a viable "hard node" clear team for sure under most conditions. Nico is pretty good, I suppose Polaris is maybe the best option. My base polaris is at 368, so I'll be able to ascend her at some point soon and take it for a spin.

They don't need to be ascended to be a viable clear team.
I have been using them (Polaris being the obvious 3rd) on hard nodes in CL10 PVE for almost three years now. And only recently (maybe 4-6 months ago) did I get them to lvl370.

It never felt as fast as using omega red/iHulk/Okoye to me to mess with a 4* team in SCL 10, but I know people were doing it.

It's much slower, but a softcapper wouldn't know that.

ThaRoadWarrior

Wow, shout out to CS on that Nico reparations. They got to it quick.

ThaRoadWarrior

I started my duplicate of Polaris, I had a decent string of bonus heroes there. I’m up to 12 blue Yelenas on the vine, only picked up a single black from PvP for my duplicate.

4Black Panther5, Shuri5, and Heimdall is fun in simulator.

rainkingucd

@rainkingucd said:

@rainkingucd said:

@rainkingucd said:
With Goose (Chewie!) out, I'm going to go all in on her as my 3* favourite. Nearly all of my current 3* are Max-Max or close to as I kept my dupes when BCS was handing out all those retro rewards, so I have no real need to target any 3* unless I really wanted one in particular the 5* level.

So now I'll test how long it takes to max a 3* from scratch (hehe) before I can ascend.

Update: With the bonus pull rate now at an end, Goose is at 207.

She was my only 3* target the entire time, I've been pulling all my Standard/Heroic/Elite/Mighty tokens. 54 covers in 2 weeks. Will see how long it takes to get the next 59 covers without the bonus pull rate in effect. I'm guessing 8 more weeks.

Update 2: 1 week later, and Goose is at 224. 17 covers in a week from random pulls & shards. May slow down a bit this week with Boss Event, but I don't think it'll take another 8 weeks. Likely 3-4 depending on if the next batch of Ascension gives me some extra tokens to play with.

Update 3: Another week, and Goose is at 236. A little less this week, but 12-17 a week is pretty solid. Should be 2 more weeks until Goose is maxed, then a week more to have her ready to ascend.
So guessing around 7 weeks to get a 3* Ascended from scratch if you go all in on them.

I'm also pleased with this month's Classics boosted draw list. My Deathlok dupe is at 2/2/1 right now, so the bonus draw rate should get him ready to ascend in Batch 4.

Plus my 4*Thor dupe is at 298, so a few more covers and Mighty Thor shards before I ascend her.

Update 4: exactly 6 weeks from release to max champ. Goose now at 266, and will start my dupe soon. Average draw rate was ~15 a week, so the bonus pull probably gave me ~25 covers (The Hunter is at 190 so seems about right).

1 more week and I can ascend a Max-Min Goose, or 7-8 more weeks and I can ascend a Max-Max Goose.

Will likely go for max min and switch over to maxing out the hold out 3* that I have (Magik just hit 266 and I need a dupe, She Hulk and Switch dupes are both at 250+)

ThaRoadWarrior

I ascended Professor X, he is like his old self but about double damage on his stuff, so definitely worth it.

My Arcade is at 218, and my duplicate Polaris is 3/3/4, I did move it to PX for a bit to finish his dupe since he was just one cover away.

Goose 5* is 2/3/2
Hunter 5* needs 75 shards to be complete thanks to the Nico remedial rewards.
Miles is at 460 with 402 shards
Peg worth is at 450 with 300 shards

rainkingucd

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
I ascended Professor X, he is like his old self but about double damage on his stuff, so definitely worth it.

My Arcade is at 218, and my duplicate Polaris is 3/3/4, I did move it to PX for a bit to finish his dupe since he was just one cover away.

Goose 5* is 2/3/2
Hunter 5* needs 75 shards to be complete thanks to the Nico remedial rewards.
Miles is at 460 with 402 shards
Peg worth is at 450 with 300 shards

I ran Prof X / Nightcrawler with both ascended and it was a blast

Bowgentle

Nightcrawler is very, VERY annoying to go against with Omega Red.

rainkingucd

@Bowgentle said:
Nightcrawler is very, VERY annoying to go against with Omega Red.

I also really enjoyed Nightcrawler with Rogue. Both boosted, and ascended. Nightcrawler's purple at 5* match damage hits hard, and if you can coordinate Rogue's green to siphon the same colour, it got pretty wild

dramatist

I now have 0 hero points. Thanks December Deals vault. I do now have Modern Thor, Shang Chi and Okoye all above 500 now. My first the 5*s over 500.

It will be interesting to see how quickly I build up hero points. I also have about 45 open roster spots so I won’t need any hp for roster spots for a year, probably.

ThaRoadWarrior

I ascended XFW, haven’t used him yet. Polaris is at 13 covers but I’m out of iso, so I’ll probably be ready to ascend her around the time her 14th cover shows up.

ThaRoadWarrior

Goose is now fully covered, and Polaris is ready for ascension. I moved my 4* over to Black Widow who was closest to having a covered dupe. Now that iso is back to being scarce, I'm wondering how people are prioritizing their champing/ascending characters? It's certainly cheaper to ascend a 4, and very likely going to result in a superior character. Certainly Polaris has priority for me at the moment, though I can also currently do:
Mordo
Wasp

and the following are within a few covers, only a couple of which are mechanically interesting to me to try using as 5* characters:
Widow: 3/4/5
Mr F: 2/2/2
Moon Knight: 2/3/3
Kraven: 2/4/3
Hobofist: 1/3/2
XFDP: 5/3/2
Dazzler: 3/3/1

There's a bunch of others with less covers, or no dupe, or still up in the 360s that could be interesting to use, as well as a bunch like Vulture and most of the spider-fam who are just not ascendable yet.