***** Crystal (Crystalia Amaquelin) *****

245

Comments

  • tonypq
    tonypq Posts: 557 Critical Contributor
    The wording on the green is up for interpretation I guess. If the "choose an element" is literal then seemingly you have to cast the power and pick one. If they're just being cutesy with the wording like they often like to do, then maybe each match does what that color is supposed to and you don't need to pick one element. She'd be much better if you didn't actually have to choose an element. But the way they worded it it felt like to me you had to make a choice after firing off green.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    Based on the wording, you should be able to re-select another element per cast. For reference, look at Sersi's or Wanda's purple power wordings where the chosen colour will be locked in for the rest of the game.
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2022
    I read the green as being like spiderwoman's purple.  You cast it and get some splash buttons to select an element. And your passive is then set on that element. I think it's recastable, but it's possible that you have to pick once and lock in the passive a la SW and Sersi.
    Also, I am pretty sure her match damage boost is +104 per *type* of special. Not per tile.  So it caps at +~600, and will more typically be 300-400.  That's good for her to tank, but not enough to tank for Colossus (on strong colors) or SC.
  • tonypq
    tonypq Posts: 557 Critical Contributor
    edited March 2022
    As far as using her as a special tile buffer, she'll buff that one tile higher than Kitty. But she has to first fire green then pick green as the element and it only buffs one tile unlike Kitty who can buff multiple. Ultron buffs one tile by 1K+ when more than 5 tiles are out. Polaris floods the board with ease. She doesn't seem she'd work as a tile buffer or someone to design a team around in hopes of buffing tiles. Sure she could buff more tiles as you match green but the results will vary depending on the board you get and how many greens are there. To bring another teammate along to add green to the board just to buff tiles seems like most cases you'd have other gameplans that would be better. 

    I'm just trying to figure out where she fits or how  I'd try to use her if rostered. Being a tile booster seems to have it's challenges the way her green works. As far as being a match damage focused character she doesn't have the health like Colossus to take a beating when she's tanking many colors. Yes she can heal with blue matches if chosen but you're limited to however many blue matches are available to heal up. In some cases there might not be many and she could get burned down rather quickly with her health on the low range. Plus I'd imagine you'd want to usually pick red as the element for the bonus damage in most cases, I couldbe wrong. Just seems the better choice than trying to force her into a tile buff role with green. I don't think she makes enough charged tiles to bother with yellow except maybe in a few obscure team combos.

    Her yellow passive is interesting and might make her good on defense who knows. It seems like it would be handy for other things like match and attack tile damage mitigation. Topping off the teams health should happen rather often I guess the way it works. Not sure if this ability gets any buffing from Okoye or Apoc to boost the healing further or if her yellow is exploitable in other ways. 
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,111 Chairperson of the Boards
    She’s a master of the 4 elements: Earth, Wind, Water & Fire?  Doesn’t that make her like the Last Airbender? 
  • Bad
    Bad Posts: 3,146 Chairperson of the Boards
    Electro has a cheap yellow creating a 6500 strong strike at the bottom of the board, making it harder to match.
    Based on crystal wording, a 2 green cascade would make that strike into 23k strenght strike tile in same turn. Not bad!
    In the case of a strong strike well placed and having many green matches she would be the best buffer.
    Odin also has strong strikes and fortified, but it's more chaotic.
  • dianetics
    dianetics Posts: 1,641 Chairperson of the Boards
    bbigler said:
    She’s a master of the 4 elements: Earth, Wind, Water & Fire?  Doesn’t that make her like the Last Airbender? 
    No, it makes her Captain Planet without the heart.
  • MadScientist
    MadScientist Posts: 317 Mover and Shaker

    More like Planetina :)
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    We have three defensive/support 5* in a row this year. Is this trend going to be carried to the next 5* or are Q2 5* releases going to be freshen up?

    Here are some underrated gameplays that have not taken off in 5* land yet: airborne, web tiles, trap tiles, charged tiles. Let's hope the next three releases will focus on trap tiles, which fits into Multiverse of Madness tie-ins where traps are everywhere.

    As for Crystal, play her defensively for a piece of mind. Focus either on Fire or Air and you'll be fine. Water and Earth element are the worst elemental powers.


  • MoosePrime
    MoosePrime Posts: 969 Critical Contributor
    Srheer0 said:
    I guess she has synergy with black bolt and onslaught specifically.

    BB because of the charged tiles and onslaught because he has blue and pink spenders and can make an invis tile.
    Onslaught uses trap tiles to be invisible, so he won't help Crystal's match damage.
  • Srheer0
    Srheer0 Posts: 510 Critical Contributor
    MoosePrime said:
    Srheer0 said:
    I guess she has synergy with black bolt and onslaught specifically.

    BB because of the charged tiles and onslaught because he has blue and pink spenders and can make an invis tile.
    Onslaught uses trap tiles to be invisible, so he won't help Crystal's match damage.

    Yes, you are right.
    Arg. 
  • tonypq
    tonypq Posts: 557 Critical Contributor
    For anyone who's been hoarding for better releases is Crystal going to get you break your bank ?


  • dianetics
    dianetics Posts: 1,641 Chairperson of the Boards
    She’s not worth breaking for unless the 5 after her is a top tier toon.
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,111 Chairperson of the Boards
    (Potential) Crystal partners or teams: 

    Crystal + Shang: choose Fire and get extra dmg from red matches.  Her green AOE and burst healing is an added bonus. But she will be a PVP deterrent on defense since Shang is a target.  I would run her 3/5/5 here.  

    Crystal + Sersi: Use Sersi’s purple to restrict purple and create 1700+ strikes.  Crystal now tanks over Sersi.  Then just match green first and red second.  Fire green AOE (boosted with Sersi’s strikes) and set the passive to Fire.  Use Crystal’s red power to hit and add more specials.  Fire Sersi’s green to add more red tiles and fortify-buff any red specials you have.  Run Crystal as 5/5/3 here.

    Crystal + Polaris: Focus on blue and green.  Polaris multiplies strikes and stuns, while Crystal hits with a boosted AOE.  Set her passive to Water here since she will tank everything, thus ending the battle unscathed.  If needed, use Crystal’s red to get Polaris going.  Even though Polaris is squishy, Crystal is a defensive deterrent.  

    Crystal + Apocalypse / Okoye: Simply exploit Crystal’s cheap AOE with their damage “multiplier”.  Apoc’s red is better than Crystal’s, but her red is better than Okoye’s.  You could also set her passive to Fire here and get buffed extra dmg. She provides something Apoc & Okoye are seriously lacking, PVP defense.  

    Crystal + Sersi + Kamala: This should be a fun tile buffing semi-winfinite team => collect purple and green.  Create strikes with Sersi (restrict red) then set Crystal’s passive to Earth.  Then proceed to add green with Kamala (buffing strikes), then add purple with Sersi (fortifying and buffing purple strikes) and repeat.  The cascades alone will down the enemy, no need to fire Crystal’s AOE again, unless to end the match.  
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,111 Chairperson of the Boards
    Srheer0 said:
    MoosePrime said:
    Srheer0 said:
    I guess she has synergy with black bolt and onslaught specifically.

    BB because of the charged tiles and onslaught because he has blue and pink spenders and can make an invis tile.
    Onslaught uses trap tiles to be invisible, so he won't help Crystal's match damage.

    Yes, you are right.
    Arg. 
    Her match dmg increase would have been much better if it included ALL tile types: 

    Strike
    Attack
    Protect
    Countdown
    Repeater
    Invisibility
    Web
    Trap
    Charged
    Fortified
    Locked
    Critical

    That’s 12 types; and if it counted both friendly and enemy types, even better.  But I guess they don’t want to make her “too” good
  • Warbringa
    Warbringa Posts: 1,299 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2022
    tonypq said:
    For anyone who's been hoarding for better releases is Crystal going to get you break your bank ?


    Nope.  She reminds me of Ultron.  She does a lot of things ok but nothing great.  

    Match Damage - SC and Colossus are better choices 
    Tiles and Buffing - she has good tile production and so-so buffing 
    Healing - she's not good
    AP generation - her Mockingbird lite passive is ok but there are much better AP generation 
    AoE- cheap and has the flexible choice but not amazing damage

    Poor health and common color scheme as well

    As a whole she can be good but on paper, I would never consider her even close to Shang-Chi for example.  She doesn't heal anywhere close to him, her match damage pales since she doesn't produce critical tiles and she doesn't self feed like he can do and she is squishier with a generic red/green/yellow power set (ahem 5Thor is a much better companion - even undercovered, than she will be with SC).  

    Apocalypse is better than her too.  His red hits harder and targets the squishiest opponent, his yellow provides defense and damage buff and his black is a far more potent AoE.  He is also beefy.
  • Warbringa
    Warbringa Posts: 1,299 Chairperson of the Boards
    bbigler said:
    (Potential) Crystal partners or teams: 

    Crystal + Shang: choose Fire and get extra dmg from red matches.  Her green AOE and burst healing is an added bonus. But she will be a PVP deterrent on defense since Shang is a target.  I would run her 3/5/5 here.  

    This is the only team combo I don't see much value on from your list.  Does anyone else actually think Shang is an issue in PvP on defense when taking on SC teams?  I always leave him last as the AI can't play him correctly.  He has never significantly hurt me in battles and I love targeting teams that use him on defense.  I think there are several better options than her for SC.  For example, Big Wheels green is just way way better with SC for the same AP cost.  It is really easy to get 20 charges on BW with someone like SC and 5Thor and you do far more damage and get a board flip which is super valuable with BW and SC.  

    I agree that your other team combos with Crystal may look good!
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2022
    bbigler said:
    She’s a master of the 4 elements: Earth, Wind, Water & Fire?  Doesn’t that make her like the Last Airbender? 

    Wouldn't that make her the avatar. . .
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,111 Chairperson of the Boards
    Warbringa said:
    bbigler said:
    (Potential) Crystal partners or teams: 

    Crystal + Shang: choose Fire and get extra dmg from red matches.  Her green AOE and burst healing is an added bonus. But she will be a PVP deterrent on defense since Shang is a target.  I would run her 3/5/5 here.  

    This is the only team combo I don't see much value on from your list.  Does anyone else actually think Shang is an issue in PvP on defense when taking on SC teams?  I always leave him last as the AI can't play him correctly.  He has never significantly hurt me in battles and I love targeting teams that use him on defense.  I think there are several better options than her for SC.  For example, Big Wheels green is just way way better with SC for the same AP cost.  It is really easy to get 20 charges on BW with someone like SC and 5Thor and you do far more damage and get a board flip which is super valuable with BW and SC.  

    I agree that your other team combos with Crystal may look good!
    I think you misunderstood me.  I was saying that Shang is easy on defense; so if you climb with him, you’re a PVP target.  But if you combine Shang with Crystal (who has a very defensive passive), then your team is less of a target.  

    I also think you misunderstand Crystal: 

    - she’s not meant to deal high match damage, so it’s pointless to compare her to Shang; her match dmg increase is to make her tank most colors in case you want to play her defensively by making frequent blue matches to heal her 4K each time.  

    - she’s not meant to be a great AP generator, so it’s pointless to make those comparisons.  Her yellow passive is meant to be a big defensive deterrent, which sometimes helps on offense. 

    - her tile buffing can be exponential under the right conditions.  A single special can be nearly doubled in strength with each green match.  
    - her green AOE actually has very good damage output, being 3,315 per AP. 
    - her extra dmg on red matches is just simply good

    - her red power is not meant to be a nuke, but a decent hit that allows her to start tanking or having specials to buff 

    Too many times people judge a character by what they want them to be instead of what they are meant to be.  

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