The great days of Po(op)laris

Chrynos1989

Is it just me or is actually every event and every 5* week boost in this season tailored for Polaris?
Honestly, I slowly get the Illuminati vibe from it

Perhaps on last dying gasp before Lorna nerfs?

Borstock

I live in 5* land, so maybe you're not talking to the likes of me, but I don't ever see Polaris.

Chrynos1989

Borstock said:

I live in 5* land, so maybe you're not talking to the likes of me, but I don't ever see Polaris.

Which shard you’re in? S5 is flooded with her

Borstock

Chrynos1989 said:

Borstock said:

I live in 5* land, so maybe you're not talking to the likes of me, but I don't ever see Polaris.

Which shard you’re in? S5 is flooded with her

S1. I guess that's why.

HoundofShadow

5* land and I see a lot of her. Many 50k hp Polaris on the loose. As you climb higher 1100-1200, you see fewer of her. It's populated with Colossus/5witch by then 

TheEyeDoctorsWife

HoundofShadow said:

5* land and I see a lot of her. Many 50k hp Polaris on the loose. As you climb higher 1100-1200, you see fewer of her. It's populated with Colossus/5witch by then 

This is exactly what I experienced. Normally Polaris teams are easy picking as she’s out in 2 turns but I saw many 50K of her. I didn’t use her because she was tanking so much. 90% in 5* is Steel Witch . 

Mr_F

4*->5* here. I see a lot of Polaris with Kitty or BRB. 500-700 pts, have not been higher yet. If I had a lot ot Health packs I could fight them so not much of a problem. But still annoying.

Bad

5* land and I didn't see her much. Even being boosted 50k health she cannot survive much against the 5* godboost.
If I see her and that team is high, I rejoice with the easy points there.
On the other hand at the start of the event I tried a brolaris team and I won just 200 points.
The next day I had 3 hits so I understood that was not the right team.

Mr_F

Brolaris? BRB + Polaris?

HoundofShadow

Yes.....

Sekilicious

If this thread is predicting a Polaris nerf it probably won’t happen in my opinion. Too many 4* players need her to punch up to the higher SCL levels in PvE. I’m sure 5* players can handle her boosted one or two weeks a year.

entrailbucket

"Too many players rely on this character" has never stopped a nerf in the past.  Frequently, it's been the reason for a nerf.

Bad

I could understand a nerf... if there were'nt actually 2 characters directly countering her, and now a duo inmune to her stun.
But you all feel free to dream.

HoundofShadow

Past nerfs, like Gambits and Bishop, were due to very limited or ineffective ways of countering him. Such experiences persisted for a long time, at least six-twelve months, before the dev do something about it.

We have so many different counters against Polaris that she's not even a problem anymore. If today, players still find it difficult to counter her, then the probability that she gets nerfed is there. But, the conversation is that Polaris is a glass cannon and she will be taken down in a couple of moves. Over in reddit, players are coming up with different counters against her easily. This is very different from Gambit and Bishop, where the conversations were "you need Gambit to counter Gambit" or "you need Bishop to counter Bishop". The keyword is "need".

Sekilicious

entrailbucket said:

"Too many players rely on this character" has never stopped a nerf in the past.  Frequently, it's been the reason for a nerf.

Rely on to punch up to SCL9 and 10. I love Polaris as both a crutch and a target for faster PvP clears. I have always said that the key to nerfing Polaris without pissing off the 4* tier is to make an alternative that can do similar things. Maybe Hydra Stomper is that alternative for new players.

edit - actually Stompy (thank you Reddit; with highest level) Peggy, Mantis/Morbius would be a pretty good counter to many Polaris teams. Maybe even Difficult to just power through using Polaris and Grocket as well.

hothie

I think she does need a minor tweak to her wording/timing, because she does have the potential to wipe out an entire team in 1 cascade. I think that's what is broken about her. One lucky or (usually) unlucky cascade should not be game-ending, and from what I've seen, it normally is with her. Are there other characters with that potential? Probably, but she absolutely rules 4* land, and even the counters to her are hit and miss at best.

What should said nerf be? Someone (sorry, i forgot who) mentioned that new special tiles shouldn't be placed until after all cascades are finished. So that would be a small timing tweak that could make a big difference. I've thought that rewording her purple to either:

1)  Make it so that she only creates new specials on a specific friendly (or enemy) special match (add the word "friendly (or enemy)" before the word "Strike")

or 2) eliminate the words "or destroys", so that she can only create new tiles on a match.

I think either of these 2 (or both, although 1 moreso than 2) would potentially reduce the impact of a Polaris cascade to make it a bit more survivable for the other team, especially if the timing tweak is implemented, without greatly impacting her overall effectiveness or playability.

Will a Polaris nerf happen? If it hasn't yet, I doubt it will, but honestly have no idea. I will continue to play her until one does, or until I move into 5* land, because she is just that much better than everyone else in her tier. But when I saw that she was boosted this week, I gave a silent groan, knowing that she would be all I see this week. Although as it has played out, I see a ton more Karnak as well. So the devs at least thought about boosting one of the counters to Polaris along with her.

Sekilicious

hothie said:

 I see a ton more Karnak as well. So the devs at least thought about boosting one of the counters to Polaris along with her.

I wis Karnak was boosted this week as Vulture isn’t quite cutting it as a counter to Polaris with Mantis, Medusa or Sabertooth. Though I would be terrified of the boosted Polaris Karnak teams so maybe not. Boosted Karnak was fun against the boosted Grocket counters last week though.

Mr_F

Let me explain IMO an important term here: a flip coin character.

I learn that term in another game and it fits Polaris too. The Problem with Polaris, if any exists for someone, lies also with Kitty and BRB who are are most common teammates of her. Those team are beatable even for me and my Wasp roster but I avoid them cause... those are a flipcoin enemies. I can as well as loose as win to them. Like a flipcon competition. 50/50. And cause my goal are wins not points... Also as many stated, she is not that hard to beat in defense making her a flipcoin on defense too.

More! Polaris is so strong with those two that is is better to use her than other 5* and often even skip boosted  5* for those two combos.

At the same time Polaris has make the meta stagnant and more versitile at the same time. Most of the enemies in Simulator in 4* and transition to 5* lands from certain level of pts are various Polaris teams yet they number of option makes more possibilities then pre-Polaris era. In Pick2 90% of the time is Brolaris, Kitilaris or Boosted 5* teams. If I have bad start in pick2 PVP all I can use to get any wins is Brolaris. I am in developing a strategy to avoid that.

Neverthless I would like to see a change in Polaris's kit which will make her less powerfull and dominant yet will not shut her down as in case of Bishop. Maybe making her powers to NOT wirk with strike tiles (like Sabertooth)? Maybe a limit of tiles she can create in a turn? I dunno.

ThaRoadWarrior

I’m mostly seeing variations on the 5* boost list myself, but since that is what I’m running (Heimdall/Hawkeye, Heimdall/Hela, Hela/Hawkeye) I guess that tracks. A very boosted Polaris with Beta Ray Bill can still get a stun lock out on you if you aren’t careful, and that can be trouble, but generally I still target teams with a 4* component of they are available and worth points. You need a protect bypasser like Apocalypse, and even boosted she is a Shared Strength + Survival of the Fittest away from being a non-issue (as a 5* player). Just match away a couple easy protects on match one if you can to keep her from making more. How many Protect avoiders are there at the 4* tier? Eddie Brock Venom, Red gaurdian and Luke Cage? Anyone else?

hothie

ThaRoadWarrior said:

I’m mostly seeing variations on the 5* boost list myself, but since that is what I’m running (Heimdall/Hawkeye, Heimdall/Hela, Hela/Hawkeye) I guess that tracks. A very boosted Polaris with Beta Ray Bill can still get a stun lock out on you if you aren’t careful, and that can be trouble, but generally I still target teams with a 4* component of they are available and worth points. You need a protect bypasser like Apocalypse, and even boosted she is a Shared Strength + Survival of the Fittest away from being a non-issue (as a 5* player). Just match away a couple easy protects on match one if you can to keep her from making more. How many Protect avoiders are there at the 4* tier? Eddie Brock Venom, Red gaurdian and Luke Cage? Anyone else?

If I see a BRB/Polaris in 4* land, which happens often enough, I look at how covered the BRB is. If he's over 6 covers, usually I'll skip it, but if he's 5-6 covers or less, I use Polaris and 3* Captain Marvel, with the strategy of stun enemy Polaris, then fire CM red to flip the board from enemy to friendly shields (while trying to keep enemy blue ap low before I fire this combo.) It's incredibly effective as long as I can keep my CM and Polaris alive long enough to fire the abilities. Therein lies the challenge. Generally I win if I can fire that combo and lose if I can't.

So that is another 4* strategy against Polaris and BRB.

Sekilicious

ThaRoadWarrior said:

I’m mostly seeing variations on the 5* boost list myself, but since that is what I’m running (Heimdall/Hawkeye, Heimdall/Hela, Hela/Hawkeye) I guess that tracks. A very boosted Polaris with Beta Ray Bill can still get a stun lock out on you if you aren’t careful, and that can be trouble, but generally I still target teams with a 4* component of they are available and worth points. You need a protect bypasser like Apocalypse, and even boosted she is a Shared Strength + Survival of the Fittest away from being a non-issue (as a 5* player). Just match away a couple easy protects on match one if you can to keep her from making more. How many Protect avoiders are there at the 4* tier? Eddie Brock Venom, Red gaurdian and Luke Cage? Anyone else?

Medusa isn’t necessarily an avoider but can use Polaris spams against her. Same to a lesser extent with Mantis though not nearly as reliably.