Week 36 Beta Ray Bill, Deadpool (Spirit of Vengeance), Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes), Hulk (Immortal)

Sekilicious

HoundofShadow said:

Some of those special events require slightly more wins for me too because there are more hits and players seem to shield up earlier. For example, any pvp with Carbage + strong teams as defense = tons of hits and early shield up.

I imagine if you have Colossus or Wanda champed, you should be able to climb to 1200 with SC more easily. I'm not sure if your Rogue is champed, but if she is, this team will be great against teams with red or purple as one of its strongest colours. I suppose you are still in single 5* champ territory?

I currently have Shang-Chi, Apocalypse, Beta Ray Bill, and Kitty Pryde champed. Waiting for iso for Ultron and shards from her next PvE and iso for Gamora. Shang-Chi is my fastest character unboosted, though the set up with Chavez is still less reliable than Valkyrie as his partner.  I like the thought of Rogue, but am currently prioritizing acquiring my missing 5*s with feeders. So she remains unchamped for the time being. After I acquire Daredevil with Kingpin I can shift strategies. 

None of my characters seem to deter being hit. I even put boosted BRB and Kitty on defense yesterday in Gamora’s PvP and was smacked repeatedly. There are a lot of boosted BRB’s out there so maybe if I left SC on defense I would have ended with 0 points, lol.

But I also figure if I have Wanda my PvP experience will be different. I think if I add her and Thor I will be able to do most things people with a fully champed 5* roster can do.

DAZ0273

Sekilicious said:

acescracked said:

HoundofShadow said:

I always hit 1200,  and usually in 20 wins.

I think you might be playing in those low scoring slices like S5, S2 and maybe S3? I can't remember whether S3 or S4 is "harder" to climb compared to other high scoring slices.

Or maybe it's due to mmr? My average mmr is high 45X. 

I don't know what any of those S2, S5 things mean.  Kinda new to PvP.  All I know is when I try to climb everyone isn't very nice and beats me up! 😥

I am only putting this here for those that are unsure about shield hopping, which I’m sure is a small percentage of people here. 

I have a similar experience to hounds, but do not have his roster so I have to shield hop to get to 1200. I usually can push to 1k pts with Shang-Chi and Valkyrie in slice 1 (either ending 4am or 4pm EST) in one sitting without shielding but if I go any higher I lose more than I gain.  So I take a 3 hour shield.  I do this with about 27 to 25 hours left. 

I then skip until I find 2 worth 70 to 75 pts but don’t have boosted characters. I wait until less than 24 hours, apply all the boosts (+2 all ap, +2 p/b, and +40 to 100% all match or critical damage), switch SC to 3/5/5, switch Valkyrie to Chavez, hit those two as quick as I can prioritizing purple then red matches, and apply an 8 hour shield. 

I then repeat the previous but usually only need 1 to hop off to get to 1200 of instead of 2. I then apply the 24 hour shield and move on to the next. Don’t worry about finding grills (those are the unboosted characters, usually Okoye/Chavez or SC/Chavez), there are lots of people hopping around that time so they’re easy to find. If I don’t find one in about 20 skips I come back in about half an hour. I haven’t been able to hop with less than 8 hours left because it gets too busy. I would not try to do 2 if I did.

I never got this to work with the Polaris meta, but others apparently do. I have only made it to 1200 without shield hopping once. I normally get to 1050 or 1100 then lose 150 pts during matches. Finally, I have trouble with this method in the off season in certain events (house of X and balance of power during the last for example).

@acescracked be all    

HoundofShadow

You got hit a lot because you climbed early. If you play 24 hours before pvp ends, I think it should be better. But if your schedule doesn't allow this arrangement, then, you have to find the best schedule. Apocalypse and BRB  should be much better.

Sekilicious

HoundofShadow said:

You got hit a lot because you climbed early. If you play 24 hours before pvp ends, I think it should be better. But if your schedule doesn't allow this arrangement, then, you have to find the best schedule. Apocalypse and BRB  should be much better.

Oh yeah. I play early because I don’t really trust being able to get to a point where I can shield hop effectively yet. So I like to have the 75 wins as a back up plan, especially in the off season.  I missed a couple of progressions last off season because I neglected that detail. 

With BRB boosted I probably didn’t need to push early but was curious how Kitty/BRB would do if left unattended during the night. I am currently test if BRB/Polaris do any better but I expect not. BRB/Apocalypse do well on offence, but defensively they are as trash as everyone else. 

Sekilicious

DAZ0273 said:

Sekilicious said:

acescracked said:

HoundofShadow said:

I always hit 1200,  and usually in 20 wins.

I think you might be playing in those low scoring slices like S5, S2 and maybe S3? I can't remember whether S3 or S4 is "harder" to climb compared to other high scoring slices.

Or maybe it's due to mmr? My average mmr is high 45X. 

I don't know what any of those S2, S5 things mean.  Kinda new to PvP.  All I know is when I try to climb everyone isn't very nice and beats me up! 😥

I am only putting this here for those that are unsure about shield hopping, which I’m sure is a small percentage of people here. 

I have a similar experience to hounds, but do not have his roster so I have to shield hop to get to 1200. I usually can push to 1k pts with Shang-Chi and Valkyrie in slice 1 (either ending 4am or 4pm EST) in one sitting without shielding but if I go any higher I lose more than I gain.  So I take a 3 hour shield.  I do this with about 27 to 25 hours left. 

I then skip until I find 2 worth 70 to 75 pts but don’t have boosted characters. I wait until less than 24 hours, apply all the boosts (+2 all ap, +2 p/b, and +40 to 100% all match or critical damage), switch SC to 3/5/5, switch Valkyrie to Chavez, hit those two as quick as I can prioritizing purple then red matches, and apply an 8 hour shield. 

I then repeat the previous but usually only need 1 to hop off to get to 1200 of instead of 2. I then apply the 24 hour shield and move on to the next. Don’t worry about finding grills (those are the unboosted characters, usually Okoye/Chavez or SC/Chavez), there are lots of people hopping around that time so they’re easy to find. If I don’t find one in about 20 skips I come back in about half an hour. I haven’t been able to hop with less than 8 hours left because it gets too busy. I would not try to do 2 if I did.

I never got this to work with the Polaris meta, but others apparently do. I have only made it to 1200 without shield hopping once. I normally get to 1050 or 1100 then lose 150 pts during matches. Finally, I have trouble with this method in the off season in certain events (house of X and balance of power during the last for example).

@acescracked be all    

I expect ace didn’t need this information. I only recently figured it out so put it here for the two or three people left who don’t have this information. 

Bad

Sekilicious said:

None of my characters seem to deter being hit. I even put boosted BRB and Kitty on defense yesterday in Gamora’s PvP and was smacked repeatedly. There are a lot of boosted BRB’s out there so maybe if I left SC on defense I would have ended with 0 points, lol.

You can lose points to a certain extent.
The point when you are no longer a tasty win.
Many times I've forgotten to renove a shield on the final 15 hours, when I had 1100 points.
And never I've lost more than 350 points, even one time I remembered that after 3 hours expiring the shield. 
Answering the retals and hopping a bit more I've won all the cps, expect one time that there were buffed 5*s too annoying. 

HoundofShadow

That confirmed my suspicion because I find that nick familiar in game, but I can't be sure whether it's the correct name. Despite that, I think it could still help other players who have trouble climbing in pvps. 

Is anyone planning to run iHulk? What a change in status for him after Wanda was released. He became from the most feared to the most beatable in pvp ( subjected to your roster).

Sekilicious

HoundofShadow said:

That confirmed my suspicion because I find that nick familiar in game, but I can't be sure whether it's the correct name. Despite that, I think it could still help other players who have trouble climbing in pvps. 

Is anyone planning to run iHulk? What a change in status for him after Wanda was released. He became from the most feared to the most beatable in pvp ( subjected to your roster).

In my MMR, there are almost as many iHulks out there on defense as BRB’s but who knows if they are left as Scarecrows 

skittledaddy

Sekilicious said:

I never got this to work with the Polaris meta, but others apparently do. 

It is still possible.
I just got my new personal best (2,200 points) in Abigail's event using nothing but Polaris/Grocket.

Long live the 4* meta!!

Beefhammer69

acescracked said:

HoundofShadow said:

I always hit 1200,  and usually in 20 wins.

I think you might be playing in those low scoring slices like S5, S2 and maybe S3? I can't remember whether S3 or S4 is "harder" to climb compared to other high scoring slices.

Or maybe it's due to mmr? My average mmr is high 45X. 

I don't know what any of those S2, S5 things mean.  Kinda new to PvP.  All I know is when I try to climb everyone isn't very nice and beats me up! 😥

Try removing the “Kick Me” sign before climbing. 

entrailbucket

Sekilicious said:

HoundofShadow said:

Some of those special events require slightly more wins for me too because there are more hits and players seem to shield up earlier. For example, any pvp with Carbage + strong teams as defense = tons of hits and early shield up.

I imagine if you have Colossus or Wanda champed, you should be able to climb to 1200 with SC more easily. I'm not sure if your Rogue is champed, but if she is, this team will be great against teams with red or purple as one of its strongest colours. I suppose you are still in single 5* champ territory?

I currently have Shang-Chi, Apocalypse, Beta Ray Bill, and Kitty Pryde champed. Waiting for iso for Ultron and shards from her next PvE and iso for Gamora. Shang-Chi is my fastest character unboosted, though the set up with Chavez is still less reliable than Valkyrie as his partner.  I like the thought of Rogue, but am currently prioritizing acquiring my missing 5*s with feeders. So she remains unchamped for the time being. After I acquire Daredevil with Kingpin I can shift strategies. 

None of my characters seem to deter being hit. I even put boosted BRB and Kitty on defense yesterday in Gamora’s PvP and was smacked repeatedly. There are a lot of boosted BRB’s out there so maybe if I left SC on defense I would have ended with 0 points, lol.

But I also figure if I have Wanda my PvP experience will be different. I think if I add her and Thor I will be able to do most things people with a fully champed 5* roster can do.

None of *anyone's* characters deter being hit.  You'll often hear that there's no defense in MPQ, and that's generally true. 

There are 3 effective ways I can think of to avoid hits or be hit less.  Only one method is available to most players.

1.  Use extremely high level characters.  The game hides 550s from most players, because the game tries very hard to only show you fights you can win, and many people don't think they can beat 550s.  Using 550s on defense makes you invisible to most players.

2.  Make truces.  This involves out of game communication.  Players agree not to attack you before you shield.  Obviously it's not possible to make a truce with literally everyone, so this won't prevent all attacks.

3.  The best way, and the only way that's available to everyone: don't be worth very many points.  If your own points are low then you're an unattractive match for people who know what they're doing. 

If you're worth a lot, you're a target regardless of what kind of team you're running or how good you think it is on defense.  This is why shield hopping has been a thing for 8 years.  The best way to score a lot and keep your points is to minimize the time you're unshielded when you have a high score.

Sekilicious

Sekilicious said:

With BRB boosted I probably didn’t need to push early but was curious how Kitty/BRB would do if left unattended during the night. I am currently test if BRB/Polaris do any better but I expect not. 

As a side note that will only interest me, boosted BRB and Polaris get hit significantly less than boosted BRB and Kitty. Indeed, I've been attacked twice in the last 8 hours, both defensive wins. I'm not sure why (it probably has something to do with that 30k, 6ap blue that BRB is packing right now), as I am happy to target boosted BRB and Polaris with the mirror. It feels weird having a float point again. 

ThaRoadWarrior

My guess is that Polaris has an obnoxious amount of animations, and it’s possible that her tile proliferation scales faster than Kitty’s tile boosting does. Even with animations turned off I imagine the protect mitosis isn’t immediate (I’ve never turned mine off so I can’t be sure).

entrailbucket

You're hiding.  Using a 4* on defense means 5* rosters can't find you until you're over a certain point threshold.

ThaRoadWarrior

Wouldn’t the BRB/Kitty team he tried be his defense team once he used it?

DAZ0273

Sekilicious said:

Sekilicious said:

With BRB boosted I probably didn’t need to push early but was curious how Kitty/BRB would do if left unattended during the night. I am currently test if BRB/Polaris do any better but I expect not. 

As a side note that will only interest me, boosted BRB and Polaris get hit significantly less than boosted BRB and Kitty. Indeed, I've been attacked twice in the last 8 hours, both defensive wins. I'm not sure why (it probably has something to do with that 30k, 6ap blue that BRB is packing right now), as I am happy to target boosted BRB and Polaris with the mirror. It feels weird having a float point again. 

I'd hit your BRB/Polaris team!!!!! I love Polaris - so snacky!

entrailbucket

ThaRoadWarrior said:

Wouldn’t the BRB/Kitty team he tried be his defense team once he used it?

It's...complicated. 

You can switch from 5/5 to 5/4 pretty easily under certain circumstances, depending on the levels of the characters in question.  Based on what I know of his roster I'd assume he has Polaris out right now. 

Someone could probably check if you guys weren't all piled in S1 (I have no idea how you'd find someone specific in a crowd that big).

HoundofShadow

My understanding is that BRB/Kitty will be his default team because it's the highest level. That is pretty new to me if BRB/Polaris can override them to be the new defense team. Both his BRB/Kitty are champed.

Beefhammer69

HoundofShadow said:

My understanding is that BRB/Kitty will be his default team because it's the highest level. That is pretty new to me if BRB/Polaris can override them to be the new defense team. Both his BRB/Kitty are champed.

A 5/4 team would definitely show for him. That’s how “grills” work after all. 

entrailbucket

HoundofShadow said:

My understanding is that BRB/Kitty will be his default team because it's the highest level. That is pretty new to me if BRB/Polaris can override them to be the new defense team. Both his BRB/Kitty are champed.

It's much more complicated than that.  Without getting into all the insanity and edge cases, your defensive team is the last team you won with, as long as the levels of that team are *relatively close* to the team you previously won with.

(Dwelling within the words "relatively close" there are a bunch of rules which can be figured out if you care, but are essentially irrelevant for 99.999% of players).

It's actually possible to switch down stepwise from a 5* team to a 3* team, but it has to be done in quite a few steps, which rather limits the utility for cupcaking purposes.