On Patrol - A Team-up Guide (last updated 11.29.16)

xellessanova
xellessanova Posts: 183 Tile Toppler
edited March 2017 in MPQ Tips and Guides
This is a Team-Up primer as of R113.

The update to SHIELD Rank in R108 included XP for common actions in-game: one of those actions is sending Team-Ups to your alliance. The higher the star level of the character sent, the more XP the sender receives.

Send a star.png TU - 1XP
Send a star.pngstar.png TU - 2XP
Send a star.pngstar.pngstar.png TU - 3XP
Send a star.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.png TU - 4XP
Send a star.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.png TU - 5XP

The updates in R106-107 made it so that any Championed character sent as a TU would have 5/5/5 covers so you no longer have to rearrange character covers before sending. (This didn't work the first time through, setting Championed characters at 2/2/2 for one update before it was fixed.)

The Champions mechanic in R91-92 came with a massive nerf of 2* and 3* ability strength unless both Championed and Boosted, while increasing the range of levels that gifted and won Team-Ups can have. What this means is that 4* ability strength far outclasses that of 2*s and 3*s, and Team-Ups of value belong to the following categories: 2-3-4* Accelerators, 4* Team Damage, 4* Single-Target Damage, 1-4* Stuns, 1-4* Board Shake. 5*s have complex, expensive, or double-edged powers that can rarely be gifted or won as TU.

In addition, only new 4* and 5* characters are being released at this point; this guide has been slow to update because of that. On the upside, no one should be providing undercovered characters to you either icon_e_smile.gif

Feel free to update the thread with patrol times.

How do Team-Ups work?
none.png Team-Ups are selectable from the Team-Up tab in fight selection mode, and act as one-time use powers in a fight. They charge by matching Team-Up tiles, and have the same cost in TU AP as their color version costs to play. Team-Ups must be from characters that are not on your active team -- and in certain PVE matches (like Gauntlet) must not be from characters on the opposing team.

none.png Any empty slots not filled with Boosts or Team-Ups during fight selection mode will be automatically filled with random Team-Ups from your inventory, so you could use up to 3 Team-Ups per fight.

How do you get Team-Ups?
none.png 1. If you defeat a playable character that matches tiles, there is a 15% percent chance that one of their active powers will drop as a Team-Up. This power will have the same number of covers as the character you defeated (so for instance, beating Original Black Widow with 3 Purple covers will drop an 8 TU AP cost Team-Up that steals 3 of each non-Purple AP). The level of the Team-Up power is equal to the average of your 4 highest-level characters or the maximum level for that character's star level, whichever is the lowest.

none.png 2. You can request Team-Ups from your alliance if you have fewer than 20 Team-Ups held in your Team-Up inventory. From the Team-Up select screen, there is a Yellow button on the bottom to "Request Team-Ups from your Alliance!" This causes a request button to pop up in Alliance chat at the top of the tab. When you receive 5 Team-Ups the button will go away. These Team-Ups will have covers identical to the character in your alliance mate's Roster that they sent out On Patrol and levels equal to the average of your 4 highest-level characters or the maximum level for the character's star level, whichever is the lowest.

How does the Champion mechanic affect Team-Ups?
none.png Championing raises the maximum level of the character. Championed characters that you fight may drop TU that are higher than the standard max level for that tier. Your Champion levels do not matter.

none.png Example: If you fight a Level 167 Champion Iron Fist, you have a chance of getting a Level 167 IF TU. Your Iron Fist does not have to be Championed. You may get TUs over your top 4 characters' average level via drop here.

none.png If you fight a non-Champion 2*Wolverine and you have a Champion Level 100 2*Wolverine, the TU you get is a Level 94 none.png 2*Wolverine TU.

none.png Championing does affect gifted TU from your alliance. If you receive a champed Carnage TU from your alliance and you have a champed Carnage, the level of the TU is the maximum for Carnage that you can support.

none.png You can switch levels on powers for Championed characters at will, so any Championed character sent as a TU will by default have 5 in all covers.

On Defense in PVP, what Team-Ups do people see when fighting me?
none.png It's entirely random.

How can we tell which Team-Up the AI will be using?
none.png The AI can use only ONE Team-Up per fight, which you can preview on the fight setup screen. The strength of the AI Team-Up is always 2 covers -- however, AI Team-Ups are scaled to the average level of the opposing team, so their effect may still end up brutal. AI Team-Ups can come from any playable character of any star tier (so no Gorgon, no Ultron) with the exceptions listed below. Hulk Smash, Sentry Supernova, and Ragnarok Godlike Power have been removed from the AI power tables because the ally-damaging drawback is not much of a drawback for the AI. If you see these powers or any similar powers appear as AI TU from new characters, COMPLAIN.

none.png During a Dark Avengers PVE the AI Team-Ups are pulled from a table of villain-only powers.

none.png In PVE, the Team-Up for the AI cannot be a TU of a character that you have on your active team. If you see that the AI has Red Hulk's Gamma Siphon TU, you can change the AI TU to something else by putting Red Hulk on your team.

none.png There is no such character restriction in PVP and putting the AI's TU character on your team does not change the TU.

What powers can be given out as Team-Ups?
none.pngAny Active (non-Passive) power that is not self-damaging or self-stunning, or keyed to character abilities that the Team-Up cannot trigger since they aren't a real character in the fight. Sentry's Sacrifice, Juggernaut's Headbutt, Colossus's Immovable Object, Iron Man 40's Recharge, and Spider-Woman's Seeking Redemption cannot be given out. Gamora's Bad Reputation or Patch's Best There Is cannot be given out because they do not have tiles to match as a Team-Up. Professor Xavier can never be sent out On Patrol as he has no Active powers that do not affect him. Active-Passives, like Doom's Diabolical Plot or Silver Surfer's Perfect Being, count as Passives and cannot be given out.

none.pngIn addition, powers that are too complex are not available for Team-Ups. Ant-Man cannot be sent because all of his powers are complicated double-drop powers that assume he is a playable character. Powers that change function if a condition is met cannot be given out, such as X-23's Holding Back/Berserker Fury or Iceman's Build/Punch a Snowman; thus Old Man Logan may not be given out as a TU at all. Peggy Carter's Blue has multiple conditional effects (stun up to 2 non-targeted opponents then drop CD tiles equal to number of active teammates that deal damage). Gwenpool's 'Sploits! are not available either.

none.png TU affecting TU AP or tiles are iffy: Classic Cyclops Yellow and Red aren't giftable, although Black Panther and MoStorm Yellow are giftable. 2* Capt. Marvel Yellow was not giftable but this bug was fixed in R92.

What conditions do Team-Ups obey?
none.png Team-Ups act as if they were cast by that character, except that the character is not on the active team. Countdown tiles placed by a TU, such as 4*Deadpool, Kingpin, or Star-Lord, will persist until matched or the end of the CD, since there is no character to down.

none.png Team-Ups that have additional effects that require that character to fulfill a condition, such as Colossus's Red (X damage; plus additional damage if Colossus is in front) or Ares' Red (X damage to opposing team; +Y damage if Ares is hurt) will ignore the secondary effect. Team-Ups that require X amount of colored AP, such as Ares's or Classic Storm's Greens, will not be used if there is 0 AP of that color even if you have enough Team-Up AP to cast the Team-Up.

none.png Team-Ups count as powers, so Passive abilities that trigger on an activated power, such as Kamala's or Professor Xavier's Yellows, will trigger when a Team-Up is used.

none.png If a character is Boosted in PVP or PVE, Team-Ups from that character are also Boosted.

none.png Team-Up instant effects are owned by the character in the middle, so Vision's Heavy Density will add damage to a Team-Up cast if he is in the center position.

What happens when I send out Team-Ups to my alliance?
none.png You can send out up to 5 characters for each Team-Up request and gain XP for each. For each character, your teammate will receive one Team-Up chosen at random from that character's TU-compatible powers (see above). You can have up to 5 characters sent out On Patrol at any given time. Each character has a different length of time that they can be out On Patrol, which just means that they cannot be sent out again until the timer runs out OR until you pay hero points to recall them. These times vary widely as seen below but scale linearly, and the recall prices decrease along with the time spent On Patrol. You can use characters who are On Patrol while they are out On Patrol.

Team-Up On Patrol Times Sorted by Character
none.png These times depend solely on who the character is -- they are not level- or cover-dependent. Patrol times http://www.d3pforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14332 thanks to j12601
Colors not available are explained unless they are Passives.

36 Hours (300 hero points to recall)
none.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.png (0.1111 XP / hour)
yellowflag.pngblueflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.png Nick Fury
redflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Thing (Ben Grimm)
redflag.pngyellowflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.png Thor (Goddess)
blackflag.pngpurpleflag.pngyellowflag.pngicon_nobody.png Kingpin
redflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Hulkbuster IM none.png (no blackflag.png self-damage)
purpleflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Jean Grey
greenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Amadeus Cho / Hulk
greenflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Howard the Duck none.png (no purpleflag.png targeting Howard)
redflag.pngyellowflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.png Nova
greenflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Quake
redflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Peggy Carter Captain none.png (no blueflag.png double drop too complicated)
purpleflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Kate Bishop none.png (no blackflag.png self-damage)

28 Hours (0.1785 XP / hour)
none.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.png
blackflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Silver Surfer none.png (no blueflag.png Passive)
redflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Phoenix
greenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Black Suit Spider-Man
purpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Green Goblin
redflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Iron Man XLVI
blueflag.pngredflag.pngyellowflag.pngicon_nobody.png Steve Rogers (1st Avenger)
blackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Bruce Banner / Hulk
yellowflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Black Bolt
purpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png 5tephen 5trange, I presume

24 Hours (225 hero points to recall)
none.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.png (0.1667 XP / hour)
purpleflag.pngyellowflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.png Star-Lord none.png
greenflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Wolverine (X-Force) none.png ( yellowflag.png self-heal)
redflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Deadpool (X-Force)
yellowflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Sam Wilson (Captain America)
blueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Mr. Fantastic
greenflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Iceman (no blueflag.png double drop)
greenflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Red Hulk
purpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png X-23
greenflag.pngredflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.png Ghost Rider
yellowflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Miles Morales
greenflag.pngyellowflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Venom (Eddie Brock)
purpleflag.pngredflag.pngyellowflag.pngicon_nobody.png Spider-Gwen
purpleflag.pngblueflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.png Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes)
blackflag.pngpurpleflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.png Drax the Destroyer
redflag.pngblueflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.png War Machine (James Rhodes)
blackflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Moon Knight
blackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Gwenpool none.png (:purpleflag: too complicated)
purpleflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) none.png (:blackflag: self-targets)
yellowflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Luke C4ge (Power Man)
yellowflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Wasp

none.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.png (0.125 XP / hour)
yellowflag.pngblueflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.png Black Panther
redflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Deadpool
redflag.pngblackflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.png Human Torch (Classic)
greenflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Kamala Khan
yellowflag.pngredflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.png Magneto (Classic)
blackflag.pnggreenflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.png Punisher
blackflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Quicksilver
purpleflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Scarlet Witch
redflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Sentry none.png (no yellowflag.png self-damage)
purpleflag.pngyellowflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Squirrel Girl
greenflag.pngyellowflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.png Storm (Mohawk)
redflag.pngyellowflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.png Thor (Modern)
redflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Vision none.png ( redflag.png Attack Protocol: Solar Beam only, blueflag.pngyellowflag.png affect Vision)

16 Hours (175 hero points to recall)
none.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.png (0.1875 XP / hour)
greenflag.pngredflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.png Black Widow (Grey Suit)
redflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Captain Marvel
redflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Colossus none.png (no yellowflag.png self-target)
redflag.pngyellowflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.png Cyclops
blueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Daken (Classic)
blackflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Doctor Doom none.png
blueflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Doctor Octopus
purpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Falcon
greenflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Gamora none.png (no blackflag.png keyed to match tiles)
yellowflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Hood
greenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Hulk
redflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Iron Man (Model 40) none.png (no yellowflag.png self-stun)
blackflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Loki
yellowflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Luke Cage
redflag.pngblueflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.png Psylocke
greenflag.pngredflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.png Ragnarok
greenflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Rocket & Groot
blueflag.pnggreenflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.png She-Hulk
greenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Wolverine (Patch) none.png (no redflag.png keyed to match tiles)
purpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Doctor Strang3

12 Hours (125 hero points to recall)
none.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.png (0.3333 XP / hour)
redflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Carnage
redflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Elektra none.png (no blackflag.png self-targeting)
blueflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Invisible Woman none.png (no yellowflag.png too complicated)
blueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Cyclops none.png ( redflag.pngyellowflag.png too meta)
greenflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Bl4de

none.pngstar.pngstar.png (0.1667 XP / hour)
purpleflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Black Widow (Original)
redflag.pngblackflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.png Human Torch (Johnny Storm)
greenflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Storm (Classic)
redflag.pngyellowflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.png Thor (Marvel NOW!)

8 Hours
none.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.png (0.375 XP / hour)
blueflag.pnggreenflag.pngyellowflag.pngicon_nobody.png Beast
blackflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Blade
purpleflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Bullseye
yellowflag.pngredflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.png Captain America (Steve Rogers)
purpleflag.pngblueflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.png Daredevil
greenflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Iron Fist
blueflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Mystique
yellowflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Spider-Man (Classic)
none.pngstar.pngstar.png (0.125 XP / hour)
greenflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Ares none.png (no yellowflag.png self-damage)
blackflag.pnggreenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Bullseye
blueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Daken
redflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Hawkeye (Modern)
blueflag.pngpurpleflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.png Magneto (Marvel NOW!)
greenflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Wolverine (Astonishing X-Men)
redflag.pngblackflag.pngyellowflag.pngicon_nobody.png Ms. Marvel

6 Hours
none.pngstar.png (0.1667 XP / hour)
purpleflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Black Widow (Modern)
greenflag.pngyellowflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.png Storm (Modern)
redflag.pngpurpleflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.png Spider-Man (Original)

4 Hours
none.pngstar.pngstar.png (0.5 XP per hour)
yellowflag.pngredflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.png Captain America (Modern)
redflag.pngpurpleflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.png Moonstone
yellowflag.pngblueflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.png Spider-Man (Bag-Man)
none.pngstar.png (0.25 XP per hour)
purpleflag.pngredflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Hawkeye (Classic)
redflag.pngyellowflag.pngblueflag.pngicon_nobody.png Iron Man (Model 35)
greenflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Juggernaut (no redflag.png self-damage)
purpleflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Venom

2 Hours (50 hero points to recall, 0.5 XP per hour)
none.pngstar.png
purpleflag.pngblackflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Yelena Belova

N/A (cannot be sent, period)
none.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.pngstar.png
icon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Professor Xavier none.png (no actives that aren't self-targeting)
icon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Ant-Man none.png (2 double-drop powers + 1 passive)
icon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Old Man Logan none.png (all double powers not sendable)
icon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Punisher MAX none.png (1 double-drop, 1 stuns allies, 1 passive)

Data Pending
greenflag.pngredflag.pngpurpleflag.pngicon_nobody.png Devil Dinosaur

redflag.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.pngicon_nobody.png Venom (Agent Venom)

Advanced Team-Up Guide

What are the best characters to send and powers to receive as Team-Ups?
none.png As of R72, where you can now fight with characters that you've lent out, it becomes less critical to have spare characters built with only one color and reserved for Team-Up purposes -- as you can send your best characters AND use them.

none.png At best, Team-Ups extend the number of power combos you can use -- for instance, bringing Moonstone's Photon Blast without having to bring Moonstone and match Red, particularly with 3*Cyclops to feed Yellow into Red and/or 2*Magneto to add Red to the board.

none.png At worst, Team-Ups do nothing - either they're too expensive to use, or they have no effect or even end the turn. Good luck using Hood's Yellow without Hood to steal AP.

none.png Certain TUs are stronger than they are on the playable character because they count allies or cast from TU AP (Luke Cage and Black Panther Yellow) while others are weaker because they are tuned for specific synergies (Mystique Black, which needs Mystique Purple; Storm Yellow, which has minor board shake and a net loss of TU AP; Ares Green, which drains both TU and Green).

none.png Your alliance's rosters and responsiveness affects the Team-Ups you can get. You should immediately delete Team-Ups that you don't use, Team-Ups that you will never use (I'm looking at you, seed team 1*Storm), and fill your stash with Team-Ups that you will use and use often. TU are free and can help you punch way above your weight class, more than boosts ever will. Keep MBW Blue in your pocket against Carnage, Iceman, 4DP or OML and some of the hardest PVP matches become much easier.

Most Reliable Characters for Sending Team-Ups
High reliability (only good actives and no bad actives)
Quick Return (low patrol time means they can come back quickly -- especially with XP for sending now)
Strong effect for their AP cost


star.png
1. Modern Black Widow - blueflag.png - A+ worth keeping her as 0/5 for TU purposes only
2. Juggernaut - greenflag.png - B+ super cheap board shake

star.pngstar.png
1. Original Black Widow - purpleflag.png A+ for PVP/PVE, blueflag.png A+ for PVE - best cheap AP steal
2. Classic Storm - blueflag.png A+ stun with team damage, greenflag.png B+ board shake with AP collection (especially if you do not have a Green user)

star.pngstar.pngstar.png
1. Deadpool - purpleflag.png A+ when you absolutely need to deal <270,000 damage, redflag.png B takes a good chunk out o
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Comments

  • Cymmina
    Cymmina Posts: 413 Mover and Shaker
    A couple things missing here:
    • Does the level of the hero matter? Is a level 40 GSBW as good as one that is level 166, assuming they have the same number of covers?
    • Does the number of covers matter? Is a 0/0/1 GSBW as good as one that is 0/0/5?
  • xellessanova
    xellessanova Posts: 183 Tile Toppler
    edited October 2015
    Cymmina wrote:
    A couple things missing here:
    • Does the level of the hero matter? Is a level 40 GSBW as good as one that is level 166, assuming they have the same number of covers?
    • Does the number of covers matter? Is a 0/0/1 GSBW as good as one that is 0/0/5?

    Thanks, good questions.

    Hero Levels Example
    Say I have a 5 greenflag.png / 3 redflag.png / 5 purpleflag.png GSBW at level 40.

    I send her out to my alliance-mate whose highest-level heros are all level 94. He receives one of the three possible Team-Ups: Sniper Rifle 5; Pistol 3; or Deceptive Tactics 5; the Team-Up level he gets is scaled to 94.

    Tomorrow I send the same GSBW out to another alliance-mate with 270 X-Force, 222 Nick Fury, 166 Blade and 166 Captain America as her highest-level heroes. (270+222+166+166 = 824 / 4 = 206 average, but GSBW is a 3* so the highest possible level for this Team-Up is 166. The second alliance-mate receives one of the three possible Team-Ups: Sniper Rifle 5; Pistol 3; or Deceptive Tactics 5 -- scaled to level 166.

    Since the level of the Team-Up is tied to the average level of the receiver's 4 highest-level heroes, the level of the sent character doesn't matter.

    Cover numbers matter a lot, since some powers increase significantly from cover 1 to cover 5: sending a 0/0/1 GSBW won't be nearly as effective as sending a 0/0/5 GSBW. Some powers don't scale with level - for GSBW Deceptive Tactics the Team-Up level doesn't matter, but the cover number definitely does -- contrast with Sniper Rifle, where the Team-Up level and cover number both matter.

    You can see the character, power color, power name, and character level of the Team-Up on the front the individual Team-Up in the Fight selection screen. It is significantly harder to tell what number of covers are tied to that Team-Up -- you need to click on the (i) link to get more info on the Team-Up. This will give you the power information on what the Team-Up does and how much AP it costs, but it will not tell you how many covers are linked to the Team-Up. So for instance, it will tell you how many AP a power costs, and what number of targets it affects, and how much damage it does.

    If you have two Sniper Rifle Level 166 Team-Ups, you can deduce from the linked info that one is a Sniper Rifle 5 Team-Up because it costs 19 AP and shoots the entire team, while the other is a Sniper Rifle 4 Team-Up because it costs 18 AP and deals damage to one target. Unfortunately, they will look the same in the Team-Up selection screen.
  • udonomefoo
    udonomefoo Posts: 1,630 Chairperson of the Boards
    I totally forgot about the scale up/down for alliance mates. Thanks for the clear explanation.
  • HariSeldon
    HariSeldon Posts: 22 Just Dropped In
    Thanks for a great post! One thought on the Steve Rogers Yellow - I find it to be quite useful in goon fights where they are generating yellow countdown tiles. Because it give 3 yellows to place, I can often knock out a CD (and sometimes more than one), manage to get a match5, and shake up the board a bit in the process. It's not the TU I'd want for more 3-on-3 hero fights, but in those high level good situations, I still find it handy to deploy. Thanks again!
  • TxMoose
    TxMoose Posts: 4,319 Chairperson of the Boards
    How do you get Team-Ups?
    none.png 1. If you defeat a playable character that matches tiles, there is a small percentage chance that one of their active powers will drop as a Team-Up. This power will have the same number of covers as the character you defeated (so for instance, beating Original Black Widow with 3 Purple covers will drop an 8 TU AP cost Team-Up that steals 3 of each non-Purple AP). The level of the Team-Up power is equal to the average of your 4 highest-level characters or the maximum level for that character's star level, whichever is the lowest.
    so...I beat a level 160 axwolvie (feed by goons) and he drops a 94 adamantium slash? how cheesy. I swear I just did that earlier in EotS.
  • xellessanova
    xellessanova Posts: 183 Tile Toppler
    HariSeldon wrote:
    Thanks for a great post! One thought on the Steve Rogers Yellow - I find it to be quite useful in goon fights where they are generating yellow countdown tiles. Because it give 3 yellows to place, I can often knock out a CD (and sometimes more than one), manage to get a match5, and shake up the board a bit in the process. It's not the TU I'd want for more 3-on-3 hero fights, but in those high level good situations, I still find it handy to deploy. Thanks again!

    Thanks!

    19 AP for Cap's Sentinel of Libery is a ton - like you said, useful in PVE, particularly in Survival waves where you can build up quite a bit of TU AP. For PVP (and I admit I play more PVP) it's much less useful than either his Red or Blue.

    YMMV - generally, Team-Ups don't suffer as much from slight overcosting as picking up the TU AP is secondary.

    Colossus's Fastball Special is slightly overpriced at 13 Black - it's only valuable if you can get a substantial discount by flinging another team member who only has expensive powers, which restricts teammate selection even further, and it's quite possible that the teammate you wanted to toss has already gotten themselves knocked out before you can get 13 Black. And why bother with Fastball Special when you can just collect 14 Green for Call the Storm or 11 Black for Surgical Strike? But used as a TU power? Fantastic. You don't have to take Colossus and you don't have to build the rest of your team to have only expensive powers.
    TxMoose wrote:
    How do you get Team-Ups?
    so...I beat a level 160 axwolvie (feed by goons) and he drops a 94 adamantium slash? how cheesy. I swear I just did that earlier in EotS.

    Yes. Prior to R73 if you beat that same Wolverine in PVE you would have gotten a level 160 Wolverine Team-Up for Red 5 (because PVE opponents scaled over their max levels are usually 5/5/5).

    After R73 (to make it simpler?) the levels on PVE drop TUs were capped, while the alliance TUs were scaled up so their character levels don't matter any more. I can't confirm whether stored TUs existing in inventory were scaled down or up respectively after R73, but I think they were.

    During the initial TU rollout I collected around 4 Level 300+ Hulk Smash TUs. Good times. But I also collected a bajillion Level 1 Storm TU from Lightning Round seed teams -- like it or not at least it's consistent now.
  • slaxer723
    slaxer723 Posts: 40 Just Dropped In
    After R73 (to make it simpler?) the levels on PVE drop TUs were capped, while the alliance TUs were scaled up so their character levels don't matter any more. I can't confirm whether stored TUs existing in inventory were scaled down or up respectively after R73, but I think they were.

    They weren't. I still have a level 393 smash and 275 thunder strike
  • xellessanova
    xellessanova Posts: 183 Tile Toppler
    Updated guide for R75 - Sentry's Supernova seems to be back in rotation as an AI Team-Up, even though Sentry and Juggernaut powers were removed for AI use as of August 2014. Not sure if this is a bug or a feature.

    Star-Lord Red and Yellow are back since they are no longer bugged.

    Confirmed that existing superscaled TU from pre-R73 PVE remain live in TU inventory, though all post-R73 TU are capped/scaled to your team. The stated reason from the developers was that the super-scaled TU made PVE nodes too easy, adding to community scaling; they thought that having TU autoscale would be a good replacement.
  • GothicKratos
    GothicKratos Posts: 1,821 Chairperson of the Boards
    Very concise and informative write-up. I have no idea how I missed it before, but you have some glue now! :]
  • TxMoose
    TxMoose Posts: 4,319 Chairperson of the Boards
    The stated reason from the developers was that the super-scaled TU made PVE nodes too easy, adding to community scaling; they thought that having TU autoscale would be a good replacement.
    I don't ever think I'll understand that. if you have to beat high level opponents in pve, you should get the very small benefit of a high level TU drop. I would be totally ok with them not allowing those in pvp (that would be an unfair advantage directly against another player team/points) but in pve it just seems like a slap in the face to scale nodes unreasonably high and then downscale the TU drops. and if it screws with community scaling, then maybe that's a part of the game that needs to not be part of the game (or at least a heck of a lot smaller part of the game). that's great to use one of the broken parts of the game as an excuse to explain another **** part of the game. not that all parts of the game are ****/broken, but these 2 subjects are in the ****/broken group.
  • Scoregasms
    Scoregasms Posts: 373
    I have tried for the past week to get a KK Green (Embiggened Bash) team up and always end up only getting her Purple (Inhuman Stretchiness) instead, now 6/6 for Purple instead of Green. I have a Green in my inventory, so I know I've gotten it before, but wanted to see if anyone else has gotten one recently (i.e. in the past 7 days) and if this is just my bad luck or if this is a change I'm not aware of?
  • Malcrof
    Malcrof Posts: 5,971 Chairperson of the Boards
    Scoregasms wrote:
    I have tried for the past week to get a KK Green (Embiggened Bash) team up and always end up only getting her Purple (Inhuman Stretchiness) instead, now 6/6 for Purple instead of Green. I have a Green in my inventory, so I know I've gotten it before, but wanted to see if anyone else has gotten one recently (i.e. in the past 7 days) and if this is just my bad luck or if this is a change I'm not aware of?

    yes, got one today.. have never received a purple team up from her. Other side of that is, the person sending them only has 3/0/5, so no purple to send.
  • stowaway
    stowaway Posts: 501 Critical Contributor
    I think Fireball is underrated as a teamup. For eight TU you get 3400 damage, two red AP and minor board shake (including potentially removing enemy special tiles). I don't know if it deserves to be on the "best" list, but I'm always happy to get one. Of course Torch's other two abilities are fairly lousy as teamups.

    One option for the worst list is Ares. I get them constantly from players in my alliance with 2* rosters. They know he's a powerful character, so they send him along thinking they're helping. But it's a very rare situation where I would want to drain all my green AP for a 2* ability, albeit a very good one at that level.
  • d0nk3y
    d0nk3y Posts: 213
    stowaway wrote:
    One option for the worst list is Ares. I get them constantly from players in my alliance with 2* rosters. They know he's a powerful character, so they send him along thinking they're helping. But it's a very rare situation where I would want to drain all my green AP for a 2* ability, albeit a very good one at that level.

    That TU is literally the last ditch emergency attack - two down from a terrible cascade and the enemy's 1 turn away from finishing you off, so you nuke him and hope for the best. Supernova is kinda the same way.

    *edit* Also, why no love for 1* Hawkeye? His TUs are cheap, selectable and can be used to really get you out of a bind. 7 TU AP to wipe out a row or 8 TU AP to turn any basic or Protect tile into a critical tile? Yes please.
  • TxMoose
    TxMoose Posts: 4,319 Chairperson of the Boards
    d0nk3y wrote:
    stowaway wrote:
    One option for the worst list is Ares. I get them constantly from players in my alliance with 2* rosters. They know he's a powerful character, so they send him along thinking they're helping. But it's a very rare situation where I would want to drain all my green AP for a 2* ability, albeit a very good one at that level.

    That TU is literally the last ditch emergency attack - two down from a terrible cascade and the enemy's 1 turn away from finishing you off, so you nuke him and hope for the best. Supernova is kinda the same way.

    *edit* Also, why no love for 1* Hawkeye? His TUs are cheap, selectable and can be used to really get you out of a bind. 7 TU AP to wipe out a row or 8 TU AP to turn any basic or Protect tile into a critical tile? Yes please.
    I actually use that ares TU on my goon only team that doesn't have a green user - steve/cyc/mnmags. that seems to work well for that but I agree - any other team I make, green is going to be far more important for an actual ability than a TU. I rarely ever use the TUs I take in with me since I'm focusing on usable ap and unless I 1) get a cascade that nets me some green or 2) i'm matching away green cds on that team, I don't usually have much green to use and many times I never get enough TU ap to use it. hulk has a 50/50 shot at doing the same thing.
  • Pwuz_
    Pwuz_ Posts: 1,213 Chairperson of the Boards
    I too use Ares often enough that he certainly isn't the worst TU. Like D0nk3y & TxMoose said, he's useful when your only Green user is downed or if you are building a team without an active Green. Especially since it takes so little TU AP to cast, you are almost always ready to cast it when the conditions are right. Try building a team with Daken, Blade, & C.Mags (or any Red user).

    Yeena, IM 35, Bagman, Baglady, Beast, & Falcon all offer worse TU's than Ares.
  • xellessanova
    xellessanova Posts: 183 Tile Toppler
    d0nk3y wrote:
    *edit* Also, why no love for 1* Hawkeye? His TUs are cheap, selectable and can be used to really get you out of a bind. 7 TU AP to wipe out a row or 8 TU AP to turn any basic or Protect tile into a critical tile? Yes please.

    Classic Hawkeye actually was very usable against Ultron, and taking him as a TU does mitigate his extraordinary squishiness. He does have two good powers that enhance the tactical side of Marvel Puzzle Quest.

    But honestly I forgot all about him because only 2 out of 20 players in my alliance have kept him. He's just not a very good character overall -- so he's one of the first characters sold by most people doing the 2* transition, and so by the 3* transition he's almost certainly gone. A lot of people carry a Juggernaut for DDQ or Combined Arms, and MBW's Widow's Sting is so amazingly useful that vets with spare roster slots load multiples of her up to send out.

    So good powers, bad character.
    stowaway wrote:
    One option for the worst list is Ares. I get them constantly from players in my alliance with 2* rosters. They know he's a powerful character, so they send him along thinking they're helping. But it's a very rare situation where I would want to drain all my green AP for a 2* ability, albeit a very good one at that level.

    I also have used Ares Green as a Team-Up -- it's really situational but there are a number of good teams that won't use Green. Daken/Blade/CMags, Capt. America/Cyclops/CMags were mentioned, but any team where Blade or Loki is the only Green user on board might find it useful to do something with the stored-up Green. (I personally like having that damage nuke available when I run Daken/Blade/Falcon in PVE.) If you don't have that team, though, it's pretty useless. Unless it's boosted. Ares Green is incredible when boosted and may be better than low-tier or situational Greens.
  • stowaway
    stowaway Posts: 501 Critical Contributor
    I usually end up burning those Onslaught teamups on Lightning Rounds when any of Loki, Cmags, Hood and Doom are boosted. But that's about half a point shy of just deleting it. For a highly situational 2* green ability, I actually really like Storm's, since it grabs tiles based on the number of green you have without actually using it. Even in the rare cases when I don't bring a green user (like the last node of the most recent Hulk event), there are more potent options available.
  • xellessanova
    xellessanova Posts: 183 Tile Toppler
    Updated for R77 with Vision (24 hrs, should be only Red) and Bullseye (8 hrs, should be only Purple and Green).

    Vision's Team-Up should only provide Red, since Yellow and Blue's CD affects only Vision and Vision's matches; it should only be Attack Protocol: Solar Beam (destroy a random 5-tile + and deal X amount of damage to one target). Very very poor, since Solar Beam is the weakest Vision Attack Protocol by design.

    Bullseye's Purple is highly situational (I prefer Loki Black or She-Hulk Blue to deal with enemy special tiles) but his Green is a phenomenal board-control/shake/cascade AP generator with a passable amount of damage, excellent at color denial and screwing over opponents who place Trap tiles on particular colors (Daredevil, Doom, Elektra). Pretty good, especially for 8 hours.

    I have no idea why Vision is priced at 24 hours and Bullseye at 8; it makes absolutely no sense to me.
  • Platzy
    Platzy Posts: 77 Match Maker
    Revamped Moonstone's blackflag.png Control shift might be worth a mention on the "deal with enemy special tiles" front. It only affects up to three tiles, but costs less than Loki's blackflag.png and can also deal with attack tiles.