How character levels will influence my PVP matchmaking

darkman84

Hi all! I'm slowly moving into 4* land, and would like to see your view on what strategy should I take, not to make my PVP matchmaking change to high?

Currently my rooser lvls looks more or less like this:

two 4* at lvl270
three 3* around lvl260
some 4* between lvl209 and 250
several 3* above lvl200
the rest at lvl166 or below

Only month ago I had one 4* at lvl270, and the rest of the characters below lvl200. PVP back then was pretty easy - 3* character opponents mostly. Then I decided to use some of my hoarded tokens and leveled up several characters (maybe too quickly) to the state described above. I noticed pretty significant change in PVP (mostly 4*, or underleveled 5*, a lot more health), nothing that couldn't be handled, but it slowed me down, and of course made me hitting SKIP button more often.
Now I have some 4* which I could level up to 270 (or above), but after described experience I'm now a bit hesitant. Also maybe it's worth mentioning I'm playing PVP on SCL7, and my goal is at least 40win progression + T25 placement, which at this point is managable.

So my question to you is - should I wait with leveling until I have more 4* fully covered, and keep them underleveled? Or at this point leveling up to 270 should not make any significant difference in PVP?
What do you think my strategy should be for now, and the future?
Also do you know if Shield Rank has anything to do with PVP opponents?

Thanks in advance for any advices.

DAZ0273

At least three things affect your MMR:

1.) How highly levelled your top characters are

2.) What slice you play in and when you play

3.) How many points you have.

Whilst base MMR is a value determined we *think* by an average of your top level characters (some claim without boosts applied, some claim with boosts being applied), MMR is actually able to stretch wider than this base figure to search for opponents within a range. Obviously this is heavilly influenced by what other players are out there playing and also how many points you have as at certain choke points you will "break" MMR and be able to see more teams. Those 5 4* between 260 and 270 have definitely now put you in champed 4* MMR (and also max champed 3* MMR) - The AI considers that you are a champed 4* player as it doesn't deeply analyse your roster beyond the top end. My advice would be that adding more 270 champions can only give you more variety and better chances at boost lists because your 3* MMR is probably gone or skating on very thin ice.

Shield Rank does not affect opponents that you can fight against but it will lock you out of lower Shield Clearance Levels once you reach a certain rank (can't remember what, sorry).

The real question is who are the 4* that you could level up? Are they meta? Remember - any boosted 4* is normally very good (OK, maybe not Talos) so the more 4's you have boosted the better in any event. However your core team of 4* will need to be at least part Meta to be able to compete - this means the likes of R4G, Karnak, Polaris (upcoming), Gamora, etc. Hellcat is a pretty useful newer 4 also.

As Bishop & Worthy get nerfed come next week I guess they are not worth chasing so much now.

Hope some of that helps.

darkman84

Thanks for the tips.

Right now I have Karnak and SuperSkrull at lvl270. Then there are Juggs, R4G, Hellcat, Legion, C4rol, and Medusa nearly champed. Polaris will be my focus, but I probably wait for some events with her, so I hope I got her ready to champ around the end of her season. Gamora is not even close unfortunately, but I still have her 3* feeder at lvl166 gathering covers, and some hoarded tokens left, so we'll see how it goes.

DAZ0273

You wont need Gamora too much if you can get Polaris as she can double as your stunner and  3* Gamora can complete your Juggernaut/R4G/GotG character steamroller team for PvE. Otherwise that is a strong core group of 4* to be your champion base so I would definitely look at bringing them up. You will obviously still be a bit inbetween 3*/4* MMR but having boosted 4* is a whole new ball game and can allow you to float higher. 4* tier is the best place for maximum fun in PvP in this game. You will also find that before long you start maxing out 3* characters which will have pushed you towards 4* MMR anyway so having some strong 4's to compliment your max/high level 3's will do no harm.

The only ones to really be careful with levelling are 5* characters.

darkman84

Ok, I will remember to keep 5* around lvl270 when I start collecting them. Thanks.

Dormammu

Also, once you have a small number of champed 4-stars and are fully in 4-star MMR, PvP can be a bit tough for a while as you'll see a lot of players with much broader 4-star rosters. This is a challenge because you won't have any of the boosted characters champed and they will. This slowly becomes more manageable as you champ more and more 4-stars, of course, but it takes time.

During this period I focused on max-champing my key 3-stars as much as I could and leaning on them to help get me through. The AP batteries among the 3-star tier (IM40, switch, fist, kamala, etc) are especially useful, but even a guy like Cage dropping his defense tile for match damage protection is extremely useful when he's at max level and boosted. 

Speed283

Is it ok to roster 5* characters as they come and avoid leveling them up or should I avoid them altogether?
 Thanks
( I am just starting to max champ 3* - I think I have 4 with at least 6-7 more who are getting close)

Sekilicious

Speed283 said:

Is it ok to roster 5* characters as they come and avoid leveling them up or should I avoid them altogether?
 Thanks
( I am just starting to max champ 3* - I think I have 4 with at least 6-7 more who are getting close)

You can roster and they will not affect your PvP MMR if left at lvl 255. 

Speed283

Ok thanks 

mpiter

And what about championing a character that you covered the way you wanted? For example, I built Okoye with her power at 553. I do not have a 14th cover and I raised her level to the maximum for 13 covers. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to champion her? I do not dare to do it in fear of an MMR update.

darkman84

Leveling up characters will always somewhat affect your MMR. If I understand you correctly you have your Okoye leveled to 450, but not champed yet, is that correct? If you don't have any covers stored for her, then after championing her, she will remain at lvl 450, which won't change anything in your MMR. As far as I know, only leveling up will affect MMR. The only difference is that once you champ a character, you can't save any additional covers for him - it can be either added to the level, or recruited in a separate slot.

mpiter

Thanks for your answer.  You correctly understood my non-native English.  She is at level 450 but not champed yet.  I will not champion her as long as I do not receive a 14th cover because she was raised as I wanted and I do not need the useless Howard the Duck cover from the Milestone reward.