iHulkoye Mirror Match Strategy

sambrookjm

So we've reached the point in the game where just about everyone is using either iHulk and Okoye or BRB/Kitty.  Are there any good strategies for the iHulk/Okoye mirror matches?  It seems like it's essentially a **** shoot about who gets either the most TU for the Okoye damage boost or if there's enough green on the board to only trigger one team's iHulk passive.

Any good third character to bring along?  (I'm been using Prof X, Daredevil, and Thano5 at various times, with varying degrees of success.  I just champed BRB with the Cyclop5 store, so haven't been using him in that team at all.)

Which character should get targeted first?

Any decent boosts to bring in?

Since there's been no real indication that either of these characters are going to be changed very much in the near future, any thoughts on how to best fight them with your own team?

gravel

Boost +2 TU, +2 Red/Yellow, target Okoye first.  You can also boost +2 all AP instead of red/yellow if you feel like you need it.  Chase TU, red, or yellow.  I usually bring a stun too just in case.  They usually aren't that bad depending on the levels.  The only other thing to pay attention to is the green count.  Sometimes you can end up in a bad spot where your passive isn't triggering, but their passive is.

HoundofShadow

It seems like you are talking about shield sim. If that's the case, 

Polaris and BRB with + 4blue ap. Match blue = good night IHulk, unless IHulk gets a cascade on his turn and gains 15 TU ap.
This is guaranteed to work unless you have bad luck.

When he awakes from his sleep (as if he could), the board will be filled with special tiles. Just watch out for the red if he ever wakes up.

You can throw in Riri as a safety net. Use her green to send opponent airborne for 3 turns. You can throw Talos and Emma into this team and you will still win.

658_2

Boost and use Hulk red on Okoye, as early as you can. There’s no way to avoid wipes altogether, I even get them from 550s a couple times a month.

ThaRoadWarrior

Generally speaking, I target iHulk right away when facing him so that he'll tank more on their turn. I haven't personally had any luck with a mirror match, I typically run BRB Kitty or Magneto/Kitty to attack them if I'm feeling like rolling the dice, and I'll use +2 to yellow/red and blue/purple. If using Magneto, it's imperative you chase yellow and drop it on green quickly, if using BRB it's imperative you chase blue and get it out as fast as you can, after that I like to get Kitty's red moving even though it seems like it actively avoids dropping attack tiles on green for as long as possible (in the same way Polaris kind of feels like she prioritizes multiplying protects over other SAP types in a mixed match).

If you're talking about a Pick 3 pvp, I've been using Onslaught/Thano5/Apocalypse with +2 to all the individual color boosts, put their hulk in front, chase Yellow or Blue so you can get Shared Strength out or Onslaught's cascade moving, and then walk all over their stunned team with your boosted court death. If you can get green below hulk's threshold, Thano5's purple will prevent Green Door from doing anything, but be aware green still comes in from the top, at which point your options to do anything about it with Onslaught are just as hampered.

I've been trying to find a reliable team involving Hela so I can lean on her tile strengthening passive and green punishing wolf, but so far I've not settled on one I love. I guess BRB/Hela/Kitty.

When facing down BRB/Kitty I just run ThorPocalypse, and it's over pretty fast if you can get Shared Strength out fast enough.

SnowcaTT

Healthpack x 3
+2 yellow/red +2 TU +2 all
Pray for no cascades


Repeat another 45 times each event.

jp1

I’m not advocating for a nerf, but making a big push in PVP I definitely understand the frustration. 

I also have seen some rarely or never mentioned teams that were surprisingly tough to beat. However, those are few and far between and it does seem like everyone has BRBitty, Hulkoye, or ProfX/Onslaught.

Currently shielded out at 1700 or so in sim and in a pick two I’ll be happy if I close out at 500-700. I don’t have time or energy for competitive PVP, so I’m usually just working for season progression.

Pongie

I wipe almost every event to a ProX/Onslaught team. I find that even more frustrating. It's not like I battle a bunch of teams using this paring but I kid you not, every single time I do, there's a cascade of match 4s and 5s that outright kills me.

Phumade

Pongie said:

I wipe almost every event to a ProX/Onslaught team. I find that even more frustrating. It's not like I battle a bunch of teams using this paring but I kid you not, every single time I do, there's a cascade of match 4s and 5s that outright kills me.

You gotta change your play pattern.  Focus on match 4 defense.  Keep your matches limited to top 3rd of board to minimize bad positions.

You need to be careful how you play board shake on these boards

Borstock

Phumade said:

Pongie said:

I wipe almost every event to a ProX/Onslaught team. I find that even more frustrating. It's not like I battle a bunch of teams using this paring but I kid you not, every single time I do, there's a cascade of match 4s and 5s that outright kills me.

You gotta change your play pattern.  Focus on match 4 defense.  Keep your matches limited to top 3rd of board to minimize bad positions.

You need to be careful how you play board shake on these boards

The RNG gods accept your challenge.

Rosraf

Yeah, I don't shy away from these unless Okoye is leveled really high. The odds are in your favor to dominate the TU count (objective1) and yellow/red (objective 2).   I don't ordinarily take any more damage than other top defense teams.  It's just spread out to non-self-healers. 

_Vitto

For mirror matches, you really want to pay attention to the enemy TU count and yours.

That's why you should hit enemy Okoye first only if enemy TU ap is 0. Otherwise, hit iHulk (or the third character) so Okoye's passive will deplete TU during the enemy's turn. 

To maximize your damage, remember to place your iHulk to the left and Okoye to the right. This way, if by any chance you have iHulk on the front, his passive aoe will trigger, and only afterwards Okoye's passive will make you lose 1 TU. 

It's a battle of details and luck. 

Warbringa

I haven't found mirror matching to be very successful as it is toss-up who gets Okoye ap first and gets their iHulk to fire first and board luck.  The team that I have success with quite a bit squashing Hulkoye teams is BRB/Kitty/Apocalypse.  Usually I see Prof X as a third defensive character on Hulkoye teams but he isn't too much a problem for this group.  You get so many options with this team that you can usually do the following:

1.) Deny green if needed to prevent iHulk firing his ability quickly and build up BRB's nuke
2.) Match blue to get off a BRB blue, which paired with Kitty, stops iHulk AoE very early 
3.) Gather yellow once you have the first two under control and then nuke the entire team with Apoc/BRB
4.) This team also give you massive health pools with BRB/Apoc and good color coverage so you can usually minimize risk if you see a iHulk red nuke coming etc.  
5.) I always nuke Okoye first just because her AP mechanic drive those teams and without her iHulk + whoever is toast

You will take damage vs Hulkoye but this teams usually minimizes the best of any I have used.  I usually end up using 1.5 healthpacks per victory as you can sometimes allow Apoc and Kitty go into these matches with lower health but I always keep BRB full because you initially are always matching blue/green and he is more likely to take Prof X hits early etc.  Yes I have wiped before but it is pretty rare unless a terrible board completely denies me blue or Prof X chains back to back to back match 4s (which does happen).  

Daredevil217

Warbringa said:

I haven't found mirror matching to be very successful as it is toss-up who gets Okoye ap first and gets their iHulk to fire first and board luck. 

I think of Hulkoye as a pick-2 problem. Professor or Warlock or Deadpool or whoever that third is are just additive, but NOT the central issue. In pick 3, there are a lot more options to deal with Hulkoye as well as a wider variety of opponents if you choose to skip (Polaris teams have a huge uptick in use for example). 

I think the biggest human player drawback in mirror matches is that the AI’s Hulk almost assuredly will fire first (on their first turn). If you are trying to punch up (Ie, hit an Okoye higher than yours) and their Green Door leads to cascades involving teamups *then* hits you with that AOE, it can take out one of your legs before the fight even starts (especially if you entered the fight wounded thinking “I can do one more before using a pack”... we’ve all been there). You are then dealing with an uphill battle and have to target someone other than Okoye to drain their AP, and have to choose between chasing yellow to sustain you or red/teamup to take out Okoye and stop the bleeding. 

While the above does happen, human players have pretty much every other advantage and should be winning mirrors way more than they lose. I don’t go into those matches without +2 r/y and +2 tu. So I’m already starting with that advantage over the enemy Hulkoye.   Second, Okoye’s strong color is useless black; Hulk’s strongest is useless green. So while the enemy can find themselves loading up on useless AP, the human player is smart enough to load up on those r/y/tu matches. Getting to choose who tanks (ie keeping your Okoye in front so she keeps her AP, then switching to Hulk tanking when the AI has their red ready to fire) is also a huge advantage. Finally, Okoye and Hulk both heal. So I find that I’m actually spending most of my healthpacks on the essential character (thus trying to get three max champed 3*s as they are usually the tag-alongs for pick-2 events). I’ve found lately I can climb to 1200 in one-two shots using just Hulkoye. I skip BRBitty and Hulkoye as long as I can but mirror when it’s the only thing I can queue and/or the only thing I can queue where the points are worth it. Sometimes I can hit full progression just using the 10 packs I have to start. Sometimes I have to dig into my taco tokens to get 5 more. That’s USUALLY enough, but of course there have been exceptions to all of what I’m saying. 

IceyOne

I'm assuming that now that Okoye and Kitty and Polaris are buffed for this pvp tournament, the players that play on autopilot are actually participating more. Usually I notice people wait until the final 8 hrs to really participate in pvp, but it seems like people are playing more this time. 

Fair enough but I'm not having fun with the main meta teams being buffed. It's bad enough most of the playerbase use the same 6 heroes over and over, but having them buffed now is a huge turn off for me.