Week 35 - Archangel, Black Bolt, Captain Marvel, Ultron

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  • Bad
    Bad Posts: 3,146 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Funny! After all the negativity...
    Personally I think the same. He is slow, he doesn't have any defensive deterrent and he works better with 4* partners.
    Only if I had kitty champed I would had pulled for him but it's not my case.
  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 4,903 Chairperson of the Boards
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    A lot of things can be true at the same time. 

    With a +100 level boost, every character should be really, really good. 

    Ultron is pretty good with a +100 level boost, but not great.  His black power doesn't scale, but his red actually does passable damage at that level.  His special tile clone/boosting is probably his best power, but if he's the only one creating tiles, it's slow.

    I would say he's in the bottom part of tier 2 -- he's usable when boosted, but probably not the best choice if you have other boosted choices.  If you don't have other characters getting +100 levels, then he might be your best choice.
  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 4,903 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Oh, also: the rest of the boosted guys this week are older/weaker characters.  For many people, Ultron will be the best option,  because they don't have the other guys at all, or because he's higher level than those guys.

    That's one reason why I hope they continue to rotate the boosted list groupings.  Even though I don't think Ultron is that great, skipping a character is still a bad idea.  You never know if someday, that guy you skipped would've been your best option.
  • Glockoma
    Glockoma Posts: 553 Critical Contributor
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    entrailbucket said:
    Oh, also: the rest of the boosted guys this week are older/weaker characters.  For many people, Ultron will be the best option,  because they don't have the other guys at all, or because he's higher level than those guys.

    That's one reason why I hope they continue to rotate the boosted list groupings.  Even though I don't think Ultron is that great, skipping a character is still a bad idea.  You never know if someday, that guy you skipped would've been your best option.
    Truth.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
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    I think a lot of players skipped Ultron because at least for me, I see more Blackbolt or Archangel than Ultron. For every 10 skip: I see only 2 or 3 Ultrons.
  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 4,903 Chairperson of the Boards
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    HoundofShadow said:
    I think a lot of players skipped Ultron because at least for me, I see more Blackbolt or Archangel than Ultron. For every 10 skip: I see only 2 or 3 Ultrons.
    It's really hard to say!  In a vacuum, Archangel is probably the strongest boosted guy this week, but the game doesn't exist in a vacuum.  Some players don't have Archangel at all because he's older and not top tier.

    I'm using Black Bolt with him instead of Ultron, because for me, Black Bolt is like 100 levels higher.  Both guys are slow and somewhat limited but for me Black Bolt hits way harder.  Everyone's roster is different though.  The boosted meta should be about having as many options as possible so you're always covered.
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,162 Chairperson of the Boards
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    This Daken PVP is a better showcase than most for Ultron since there are bulk strikes dropping passively on both players turn.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
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    I saw quite a number of Ultron/Kitty pairings in Daken pvp.

    Anyway, Ultron/BRB record for all 3 pvps are:

    Pre-shield
    Loss: 3
    Win: 1

    Post-shield
    Loss: 5
    Win: 1

    The extra 5 losses (2 pre- and 3 post-shield) and 1 win came from Daken pvp. It seems that even though Daken synergises with Ultron, but I'm getting hit even more. 

    I also used Ultron/Kitty for 3 or 4 matches during my climb to test them out and it was fine. 

    I'm hoping to champ BB this year because he seems like a good partner with SC.


  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,162 Chairperson of the Boards
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    I like Black bolt, but he doesn’t really enhance Shang-Chi a ton outside of potentially spec’ing him up to 5/5/5 if you cascade into enough yellow.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
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    I use SC at 3/5/5, so his yellow could be nice. The other use is because he can create 2 charged tiles in the beginning, (subjected to RNG). There's a 1/3 chance of him creating it on either red or purple tiles. And I like BB's rows destruction for some nice board shake to give a higher chance of free matches.
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,162 Chairperson of the Boards
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    The bummer about Bolt is that he charges whatever color is most present, which leads the player to match all colors to try to maximize the requirements of Quasi-Sonic Scream. So if you are using him as a specific color battery the more you match the color you want the less likely it is to get charged. 

    If you use Negasonic as a third you can get a ton of board shake passively by matching/destroying any charged tile, which I find really beneficial with SC. Keep the board fresh constantly. I run mine at 5/5/3 for reference. I prefer the higher health regen and the board control to the faster damage ramp.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
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    I used Negasonic and SC last month and it was fun with those tiles destruction, which is one of my favourite mechanics in the game. I feel this team can be even greater with one more ingredient to create a loop. Currently, the cycle looks like:

    Fire SC's purple -> match charged tiles -> Negasonic destroys random tiles -> end of cycle.

    The other way is to use SC's red to match charged tiles created by Negasonic.

    I wonder if there's any character who can bridge the gap that links those random tiles being destroyed to purple/red ap gains?

    What build is your Negasonic?
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,162 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited January 2022
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    I use Onslaught as a third to remove team ups. It is my go to for challenge nodes now, and even my normal grind team on the harder nodes in PVE. His blue can add to the fun as well. Alligator Loki is a strong partner with tile charging and board shake on SC’s off colors, but now you have a pair of 4*s and the team is a bit brittle.

    Negasonic is 5/3/5. You want to match her green when you can, but you are never firing her red over Shang-Chi so it’s an obvious dump stat. Mine is level 302 just from organically having her on roster, I’ve never had her as a favorite.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
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    I like Onslaught with SC too but I find him a little risky because he could potentially give opponents match-4 and match-5, which I've experienced a few times. This could be solved by firing SC's powers or his blue though.

    I think running 1 5* and 2 4* is fine as long as they synergise well together. With 4* Dr Ock out, I wonder if he would be under your radar? 
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,162 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited January 2022
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    I’m still working on finishing Ock, but I expect him to be pretty strong with keeping Ronan fed with blue. For me, the big thing about SC is just starting the infinite loop, and having characters that can contribute to it over and over rather than at battle/turn start. I like 4* professor X over Negasonic as a third sometimes for that reason.

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