Who would you champ for your first 5*?

Cataliban

Shang-Chi

My option was for Wandavision. But, as she isn't in the poll, I tried SC. I expect to have a few more covers before he leaves LL, then favorite him until the end.

Sekilicious

Stay in 4* MMR for tinykitty’s sake

So this thread is dead and it looks like a narrow victory for SC over Kitty, with 4* MMR a distant third. Thanks everyone for participating and making my decision for me, lol. All your arguments for each were great. 

fiirst

Shang-Chi

Good luck with upcoming 4*/5* mmr

Sekilicious

Stay in 4* MMR for tinykitty’s sake

Thanks. I imagine it will be awful, lol. The shield simulator isn’t too bad yet. It will take some time to get used to not being terrified of champed 5*s. 

Phumade

Shang-Chi

You really can't go wrong with either of them.  They are both so good and fun to run.  My first 5* champ was Banner, so your already doing way better than I did when I entered 5* land

Yepyep

Kitty

Phumade said:

You really can't go wrong with either of them.  They are both so good and fun to run.  My first 5* champ was Banner, so your already doing way better than I did when I entered 5* land

Totally agree with this. But I picked Kitty for the reasons @TriSentinel discusses below.

LavaManLee said:

As someone mentioned earlier, it depends on if you are looking to do primarily PVP, PVE or both.  If PVE, I think Kitty shines best.  I have 38 champed 5*s (all the meta) and still routinely use PolGritty in PVE because it is quick and effective.  Yes, I use others after my first four clears when I need to but I haven't found anything quicker that doesn't use healthpacks.  If PVP, then I think SC is definitely better.  Kitty scares nobody on PVP for the most part.  Perhaps a Kitty/Pol/BRB can be a skip but that's about it.  If you are looking to do both, I would wait and champ them both at the same time and go from there.  JMHO.

I have a very similar experience. I have 46 champed 5s and still use Polaris-Gritty the same way.

TriSentinel said:

I would champ Kitty first because she'll be great at supporting and leveraging your four stars into five star territory. She's great for making the transition from a four star to five star game since you will be able to buff a lot of four star special tile generating characters.

Shang Chi is great, but more as a stand alone or when buffed by other five stars, so you won't be able to bolster and draw on your four star roster as you would with Kitty.

I think this is my answer, too. Kitty just makes so many other 4*s better. Especially when you factor in her somewhat unheralded purple -- it can really be a lifesaver, though it's unpredictable. It has saved me in many, many fights against Mindless Ones's with an eyebeam tile in a corner.. And when you're lucky to get the last special tile it pops for a big damage hit.

The thing that makes me hesitate, though, is that for transitioning from 4* to 5* match damage is vitally important. THAT is the difference between the 3-4 and the 4-5 transition -- 5* match damage is a massively greater increase over 4* md than is 4* over 3*. Combined with health increases, 4-5 is exponential while 3-4 is linear. 3s can compete with 4s, but 4s really can't compete with 5s, at least not meta 5s.

And SC's match damage is obviously spectacular if you can get a couple of Combo Points going. And you can frequently self-heal which will help with his low health.

But, that said, I just think Kitty is more versatile. And overall faster. And with Polaris-Grocket you already have her best partners.

The real key to transitioning to 5* is to have a big bench of fully covered meta 5s ready to champ all at once (or in a short period of time, at least). Then save up ISO through a double-ISO event and champ 4 or 5 of them at once. You'll immediately be competitive in PvE and, if you time it right, in PvP, too.

My $.02... Good luck and enjoy!

Sekilicious

Stay in 4* MMR for tinykitty’s sake

Yepyep said:

Phumade said:

You really can't go wrong with either of them.  They are both so good and fun to run.  My first 5* champ was Banner, so your already doing way better than I did when I entered 5* land

Totally agree with this. But I picked Kitty for the reasons @TriSentinel discusses below.

LavaManLee said:

As someone mentioned earlier, it depends on if you are looking to do primarily PVP, PVE or both.  If PVE, I think Kitty shines best.  I have 38 champed 5*s (all the meta) and still routinely use PolGritty in PVE because it is quick and effective.  Yes, I use others after my first four clears when I need to but I haven't found anything quicker that doesn't use healthpacks.  If PVP, then I think SC is definitely better.  Kitty scares nobody on PVP for the most part.  Perhaps a Kitty/Pol/BRB can be a skip but that's about it.  If you are looking to do both, I would wait and champ them both at the same time and go from there.  JMHO.

I have a very similar experience. I have 46 champed 5s and still use Polaris-Gritty the same way.

TriSentinel said:

I would champ Kitty first because she'll be great at supporting and leveraging your four stars into five star territory. She's great for making the transition from a four star to five star game since you will be able to buff a lot of four star special tile generating characters.

Shang Chi is great, but more as a stand alone or when buffed by other five stars, so you won't be able to bolster and draw on your four star roster as you would with Kitty.

I think this is my answer, too. Kitty just makes so many other 4*s better. Especially when you factor in her somewhat unheralded purple -- it can really be a lifesaver, though it's unpredictable. It has saved me in many, many fights against Mindless Ones's with an eyebeam tile in a corner.. And when you're lucky to get the last special tile it pops for a big damage hit.

The thing that makes me hesitate, though, is that for transitioning from 4* to 5* match damage is vitally important. THAT is the difference between the 3-4 and the 4-5 transition -- 5* match damage is a massively greater increase over 4* md than is 4* over 3*. Combined with health increases, 4-5 is exponential while 3-4 is linear. 3s can compete with 4s, but 4s really can't compete with 5s, at least not meta 5s.

And SC's match damage is obviously spectacular if you can get a couple of Combo Points going. And you can frequently self-heal which will help with his low health.

But, that said, I just think Kitty is more versatile. And overall faster. And with Polaris-Grocket you already have her best partners.

The real key to transitioning to 5* is to have a big bench of fully covered meta 5s ready to champ all at once (or in a short period of time, at least). Then save up ISO through a double-ISO event and champ 4 or 5 of them at once. You'll immediately be competitive in PvE and, if you time it right, in PvP, too.

My $.02... Good luck and enjoy!

I agree with all of this. If anything this poll showed I really couldn’t go wrong. If I did not luck out and Kitty wasn’t already 5/5/3 I would have chosen her I think. In addition to this poll, I chose Shang-Chi because I was having lots of trouble with tile movers and needed someone with a massive nuke. Switching him from 5/3/5 to 5/5/3 or 3/5/5 has unleashed his potential. I will probably stay in single 5* MMR until Apocalypse (5/2/4) and BRB (4/3/3) are ready in the next couple of months. But those 4 (maybe with Seri) should let me compete against broader 5* rosters than I have. 

Yepyep

Kitty

Sekilicious said:

I agree with all of this. If anything this poll showed I really couldn’t go wrong. If I did not luck out and Kitty wasn’t already 5/5/3 I would have chosen her I think. In addition to this poll, I chose Shang-Chi because I was having lots of trouble with tile movers and needed someone with a massive nuke. Switching him from 5/3/5 to 5/5/3 or 3/5/5 has unleashed his potential. I will probably stay in single 5* MMR until Apocalypse (5/2/4) and BRB (4/3/3) are ready in the next couple of months. But those 4 (maybe with Seri) should let me compete against broader 5* rosters than I have. 

Keep in mind supports make a big difference in assessing these things, too. Is there a support that gives extra red AP at the start of a match? I couldn't find one, though Chimichanga gives an extra red AP upon a red match.

Sekilicious

Stay in 4* MMR for tinykitty’s sake

Yepyep said:

Sekilicious said:

I agree with all of this. If anything this poll showed I really couldn’t go wrong. If I did not luck out and Kitty wasn’t already 5/5/3 I would have chosen her I think. In addition to this poll, I chose Shang-Chi because I was having lots of trouble with tile movers and needed someone with a massive nuke. Switching him from 5/3/5 to 5/5/3 or 3/5/5 has unleashed his potential. I will probably stay in single 5* MMR until Apocalypse (5/2/4) and BRB (4/3/3) are ready in the next couple of months. But those 4 (maybe with Seri) should let me compete against broader 5* rosters than I have. 

Keep in mind supports make a big difference in assessing these things, too. Is there a support that gives extra red AP at the start of a match? I couldn't find one, though Chimichanga gives an extra red AP upon a red match.

Yessir I’m covered. I have a R4 Chimichanga (33% for red or 38% for purple with matches) on SC, R2 Arc Reactor (35% for 5 red at start) on Hulkbuster, and R2 Quantum Realm (35% for 5 purple at start) on Lokigator. With HB and LG I have a decent chance to start with red or purple and SC as a backup in case. I sometimes forget that they don’t work in PvP and wonder why everything takes so long, haha. I don’t think there is one not restricted to HB, though. I don’t have one anyways.