Tips for "A Rocket and a Hard Place"?

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imsel
imsel Posts: 21 Just Dropped In
edited November 2016 in MPQ Tips and Guides
I've failed this node a number of times already it's only at the 3/6 rewards stage for me. Muscle is 211, Hood/Bullseye are 212. My roster is pretty limited (in the sig, Steam version). I've tried my 3 5*s but the Muscle manages to get out the strike tiles (800+) and then match damage proceeds to slaughter my team. I've also tried Widow/Bolt/Strange with much the same results. Anyone have any thoughts on how to get through this node?

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  • Astralgazer
    Astralgazer Posts: 267 Mover and Shaker
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    Looking at your roster, if it's an accurate representation of your current one, I think you got screwed by the PVE scaling. I was once in a similar bog, when I had Phoenix and OML, while my roster was still in the 2* land. You see, the scaling is based on your TOP 3 characters for each sub-event. You have three level 270 characters, thus the game assumes that you're ready to tackle level 221 Muscles.

    I have a significantly stronger roster than yours, but I only get to face lv 265 Muscle, Hood and Bullseye in the said node. And that's for 5th and 6th clear. And for me, having championed 3* roster helps a lot to silence Hood before Muscle can put out more than 2 CDs. Having a max level Dr. Strange helps even more. FYI, my top 3 characters for the current MRG event are boosted 3*: Blade (274), Mystique (263) and Psylocke (257).

    The only remedy for your case is to hurt yourself: loose those 5*. I know. With them, you could win a lot of PVP matches. But in PVE, you will get your butt handed to you on a silver plate. Speaking from experience, I hoarded my CPs and LTs until my 3* roster matured. Then, and only then, opening LTs and spending CPs are safe, in regard to PVE scaling.

    If you don't wanna do that, I understand. Bite the bullet, then. And wait for your roster to catch up with the scaling.
  • Roland113
    Roland113 Posts: 298 Mover and Shaker
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    Yikes, that's a rough match.

    You mentioned Widow / Bolt / Strange, which Widow? If you haven't tried OBW, I'd give that a whirl, if you can perpetually increase the countdown on the Muscle's strike tiles then that could help. Combine that with Strange's passive yellow and you're hitting and healing with each and every countdown he places.

    Moonstone could come in handy, her black can steal the strikes before they do much damage and her purple is unpredictable, though if you revamp her powers to set purple to 3, you'll have a bit more control over which tiles she steals. I believe when she's at 3, you lose blue and green. This means that you'll mostly be moving yellow or purple special tiles which could help.

    Cap's ability to overwrite count down tiles and Bullseye's protect tiles can also come in handy.

    Captain Marvel's ability to overwrite anything (albeit unpredictably) with team up tiles with her yellow comes in handy in a pinch.

    Finally, if Ant-Man has enough hp to stick around for a while, his ability to steal tiles with his blue power is huge in this instance.

    I'd pull out my boosts on this one and focus on team ups that steal tiles or deal with strike and protect tiles specifically.

    If you can't manage the tiles with Cap or OBW, then make the resultant strikes (and protects) yours by stealing them with Moonstone or Ant Man.

    Good Luck!
  • deadtaco
    deadtaco Posts: 409 Mover and Shaker
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    Astralgazer wrote:
    Looking at your roster, if it's an accurate representation of your current one, I think you got screwed by the PVE scaling. I was once in a similar bog, when I had Phoenix and OML, while my roster was still in the 2* land. You see, the scaling is based on your TOP 3 characters for each sub-event. You have three level 270 characters, thus the game assumes that you're ready to tackle level 221 Muscles.

    I think your scaling description is out dated. I was in your position too, I had OML and Phoenix and a bunch of star.pngstar.png - PVE was unplayable. I was about to sell when I saw the post about them refactoring scaling.

    After the change went through it wasn't a big deal anymore. I believe scaling takes into account more than just the top 3 characters now, and undercovered token_legendary.png are discounted. At the time I only had 1 cover on OML and Jean and their impact in the new scaling was negligible.

    All of that said, raising the token_legendary.png to 270 doesn't help at all and only raises scaling to some unknown degree. Having 3 covers might hurt, I have no idea.

    With that roster I might give Black Bolt (tank) 3Mags and Mohawk a shot. If you can get her black filled her tiles can overwrite the enemies. Moonstone is probably better though since she can steal them and give you the damage. The strategy is to try to match their CDs or strike tiles away until you fill moonstones black and then let them do it.
  • imsel
    imsel Posts: 21 Just Dropped In
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    When I said Black Widow, I was talking about the 5*. With Bolts inspiration she can deal with 3 tiles and it's cheaper to cast with countdown tiles on the board. That group wasn't able to survive long enough to get that going. I ended up getting the 4th clear with Black Bolt, Captain Marvel (yellow for dealing with tiles) and Doctor Strange. I couldn't get a 5th clear. The day of the event has seemed much more reasonable in terms of scaling.

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