Need advice: Shang-Chi or BRB?

1356

Comments

  • Sekilicious
    Sekilicious Posts: 1,766 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited October 2021
    Being good defensively is a detriment in PvP if you are going for 75 wins. The easier teams that die quickly are all below 7-800 pts. My 3/0/3 Shang-Chi is much faster than  my 3/2/3 BRB once he gets rolling. At 10 combo points every he makes hits like a truck or nuclear freight train if he gets a critical tile. The problem I find is he doesn't always get rolling, which is only a problem with BRB and Polaris against certain anti-SAP teams. 
  • helix72
    helix72 Posts: 996 Critical Contributor
    PvE: One word of caution on Shang-Chi--he was a wrecking crew while boosted. I'd like to hear from folks who use him post boost if he still holds up as a meta option.

    PvP: Agree with everything everyone else has said. If you leave SC out on defense, I'm probably hitting you if you're worth points, and you're probably going to be able to successfully hit me back if you want. So you're going to encourage more "action".

    Beta Ray I will hit, but between a BRB + Polaris team and a Shang-Chi + anyone else team both worth the same points, I'm hitting Shang-Chi first.
  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,828 Chairperson of the Boards
    Sekilicious said:
    Being good defensively is a detriment in PvP if you are going for 75 wins. The easier teams that die quickly are all below 7-800 pts. My 3/0/3 Shang-Chi is much faster than  my 3/2/3 BRB once he gets rolling. At 10 combo points every he makes hits like a truck or nuclear freight train if he gets a critical tile. The problem I find is he doesn't always get rolling, which is only a problem with BRB and Polaris against certain anti-SAP teams. 
    I think the "getting rolling" thing gets much better with practice.  Shang-Chi plays so differently from every other character in the game that we're just not used to looking at the board this way.

    The more I use him, the better I get at seeing patterns on the board that he can use. 

    It was exactly the same way with 3* Magneto back in 2014 -- it was difficult to go infinite at first, but I used him so much that eventually, I could win almost every fight before the enemy even got a turn.
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,454 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited October 2021
    He plays exactly like 2* Bullseye actually. Targeted destruction on one color, crit drops on a second color. If you enjoy the 2* Hawkeye/Bull2eye/Magne2o DDQ team like I do, it's not that big of a stretch lol.
  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,828 Chairperson of the Boards
    ThaRoadWarrior said:
    He plays exactly like 2* Bullseye actually. Targeted destruction on one color, crit drops on a second color. If you enjoy the 2* Hawkeye/Bull2eye/Mage2o DDQ team like I do, it's not that big of a stretch lol.
    I simply cannot accept that anyone in the past 8 years has ever successfully cast 2* Bullseye's black ability. 

    How much does that thing cost?  I think it's about 40 or 50 AP.
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,454 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited October 2021
    I cast it all the time in DDQ, dropping a pair of crits even at that tier is no joke lol. Now, hitting that 4-crits on the board conditional, I can't say I've ever done it or even tried to do it. But it costs 16 black, presumably so you can't just cast it back to back for that 12k damage. The point though is that Shang-Chi has a better version of that exact powerset.
  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,828 Chairperson of the Boards
    I wonder how popular that team is in DDQ.  I really haven't used it. 

    I know I haven't played a board-manipulation character regularly since 2014, so I was way out of practice!
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited October 2021
    Before 1* Spider-Man was simplified in 2018, I used him with Bullseye to pull off the crazy damage. 

    You can always choose black basic tiles to be replaced with critical tiles. This way you can cast it twice with just 30 black aps.
  • Sekilicious
    Sekilicious Posts: 1,766 Chairperson of the Boards
    entrailbucket said:
    Sekilicious said:
    Being good defensively is a detriment in PvP if you are going for 75 wins. The easier teams that die quickly are all below 7-800 pts. My 3/0/3 Shang-Chi is much faster than  my 3/2/3 BRB once he gets rolling. At 10 combo points every he makes hits like a truck or nuclear freight train if he gets a critical tile. The problem I find is he doesn't always get rolling, which is only a problem with BRB and Polaris against certain anti-SAP teams. 
    I think the "getting rolling" thing gets much better with practice.  Shang-Chi plays so differently from every other character in the game that we're just not used to looking at the board this way.

    The more I use him, the better I get at seeing patterns on the board that he can use. 

    It was exactly the same way with 3* Magneto back in 2014 -- it was difficult to go infinite at first, but I used him so much that eventually, I could win almost every fight before the enemy even got a turn.
    Yeah I agree. Sometimes rng does not bless me with enough red and purple on the board which makes me sad. It was better when I switched Riri for Hulkbuster though. 
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,454 Chairperson of the Boards
    entrailbucket said:
    I wonder how popular that team is in DDQ.  I really haven't used it. 

    I know I haven't played a board-manipulation character regularly since 2014, so I was way out of practice!
    I have no clue what is or isn't popular in DDQ, I just have always loved building teams around power synergy over rainbow coverage or whatever. But I only keep a random 3 2*s champed at once, and flip them as soon as they hit 144 and champ the one with the next-most saved covers and just make it work. My least favorite 2*s are probably Cap, Torch, and maybe Moonstone or Ares, though I can work with them. My favorite combo is just something to maximize Speed Shot, often 2* Magneto or Bullseye driven.
  • Captain_Trips88
    Captain_Trips88 Posts: 268 Mover and Shaker
    For those worrying about non-boosted Shang-Chi then don't worry. The combo is easy to get going with the right team and match 3 skill and once you get to 7/8 combo points the crit match damage on *any* colour is insane. The right placement of crit tile sees you do 150k+ damage. 

    Can't agree with the comments either regarding him being slow to play in PVE, again with skill and a small amount of RNG (but really not much) luck you get the combos going and the opposition melts away. 

    As someone who, pre Shang-Chi, was running BRB/Kitty/Polaris in CL10 it is much faster, and more importantly, much more fun playing with SC in PVE 
  • MoosePrime
    MoosePrime Posts: 969 Critical Contributor
    Warbringa said:
    For PvE players I believe Shang Chi is the superior choice as he can basically winfinite with many different character combos and is a true healer.  There is not a traditional node that you can't be with him unless it is the Kaecilius node or other different type of node.
    I haven't tried it, but he should work well against Kaecilius, if you take someone who can make enemy strike tiles, like Elektra or Sabretooth.
  • Captain_Trips88
    Captain_Trips88 Posts: 268 Mover and Shaker
    MoosePrime said:
    Warbringa said:
    For PvE players I believe Shang Chi is the superior choice as he can basically winfinite with many different character combos and is a true healer.  There is not a traditional node that you can't be with him unless it is the Kaecilius node or other different type of node.
    I haven't tried it, but he should work well against Kaecilius, if you take someone who can make enemy strike tiles, like Elektra or Sabretooth.
    He works well paired with the usual suspects. Board manipulation and crit tiles help hugely for matching strike tiles
  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,828 Chairperson of the Boards
    Captain_Trips88 said:
    For those worrying about non-boosted Shang-Chi then don't worry. The combo is easy to get going with the right team and match 3 skill and once you get to 7/8 combo points the crit match damage on *any* colour is insane. The right placement of crit tile sees you do 150k+ damage. 

    Can't agree with the comments either regarding him being slow to play in PVE, again with skill and a small amount of RNG (but really not much) luck you get the combos going and the opposition melts away. 

    As someone who, pre Shang-Chi, was running BRB/Kitty/Polaris in CL10 it is much faster, and more importantly, much more fun playing with SC in PVE 
    "Slow" is relative.

    For players who are competitive in PvE, you're opening and closing a CL10 sub somewhere in the 20-minute range.  (That's a wild guess because I don't play CL10 like that, but when I compete in CL9 I'm around 12-14 minutes on either side of a sub).

    I don't believe Shang-Chi is fast enough to put up a time like that unless you're extraordinarily skilled with him. 

    When people say he's too slow to compete in PvE that's what they mean.
  • Captain_Trips88
    Captain_Trips88 Posts: 268 Mover and Shaker
    I agree that speed is a relative term and the comparison was between BRB centric teams and SC. Personal experience has SC as fast if not faster than BRB/Polaris/Kitty but not a guarantee due to a bad board. The latter team is more reliable and almost guarantees a win in every PVE battle (that kraven one aside) but wouldn't say it is always fast. 

    There are faster teams out there, although boosted SC is lightning 
  • helix72
    helix72 Posts: 996 Critical Contributor
    I’m not surprised he’s faster than BRB + Kitty + Polaris, frankly that’s a slower team. But I doubt he’s faster than Okoye + iHulk + 3* Thanos or 1/2 Thor + Okoye + Polaris. I say doubt because I haven’t tested it so it’s just a hypothesis.
  • Akoni
    Akoni Posts: 790 Critical Contributor
    entrailbucket said:
    Godzillafan67 said:
    I had a retal in sim for a team consisting of Alligator Loki, Shang-Chi, and 2* Mags. I sorely wanted there to be a "props" button so that I could let the other player know that I really enjoyed seeing that team.
    Alligator Loki + Shang-Chi is *legit*, I run Shang-Chi/Cyclops/Alligator Loki on challenge nodes and win easily.
    I assume you're using Cy (yellow) and Loki (black) for their board shake.
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,454 Chairperson of the Boards
    Sighclops green to add 9 red as well
  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,828 Chairperson of the Boards
    Akoni said:
    entrailbucket said:
    Godzillafan67 said:
    I had a retal in sim for a team consisting of Alligator Loki, Shang-Chi, and 2* Mags. I sorely wanted there to be a "props" button so that I could let the other player know that I really enjoyed seeing that team.
    Alligator Loki + Shang-Chi is *legit*, I run Shang-Chi/Cyclops/Alligator Loki on challenge nodes and win easily.
    I assume you're using Cy (yellow) and Loki (black) for their board shake.
    Cyclops green also converts 7 tiles to red!

    There's even more synergy though.  Cyclops yellow is good boardshake to keep your combo going, but it *also* gives Shang-Chi a stacking 75% match damage boost every time you cast it.

    Loki works because his black power is also cheap boardshake, but he charges 4 tiles if he's invisible.  Shang-Chi loves charged tiles -- 3x match damage.

    So basically, instead of only chasing red and purple, you store up enough to cast a few of red, purple, green, yellow, or black, then go to town.  In the process you'll get a bunch more of those colors and you can keep going forever.
  • Bad
    Bad Posts: 3,146 Chairperson of the Boards
    Shang-chi is great for CN and hard requireds 5* nodes. He can clear those usually in 2 minutes, full health. 
    In other nodes types okoye is faster.
    Like I said when he is boosted he is the God of Destruction.
    Unboosted he is Deadliest Man In The Galaxy.
    I'm starting to see him in pvp. And odin too.

Categories