A Mostly Accurate 4* Ranking (Final Update 8/11/18)

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  • Jarvind
    Jarvind Posts: 1,684 Chairperson of the Boards
    DAT UPDATE DOE.

    - Added Agent Coulson at #18 and Mordo at #36.

    - Spider-Gwen's rank launched to #23 post-rework.

    - Wasp soars from dead last to #28 post-rework, leaving the trash tier empty for now. Bzzbzzbzzzzzz.

    - Luke Cage (Power Man) ranking increased slightly.
  • STERLING21JJ
    STERLING21JJ Posts: 103 Tile Toppler
    Nice write up Javrind, helpful guide for players still learning characters.
  • Anon
    Anon Posts: 1,455 Chairperson of the Boards
    Good write up, but I really feel like 4Cage should be higher. Dude is nuts.
  • DesertTortoise
    DesertTortoise Posts: 392 Mover and Shaker
    I've got some minor disagreements here and there but Luke's placement is the one I have the biggest issue with. At the same time, I think he falls into being a niche character that's just really, really good at their niche.
  • Jarvind
    Jarvind Posts: 1,684 Chairperson of the Boards
    Do keep in mind that I'm not a megawhale - I champ a 4* maybe every 2-3 weeks. I'm ranking some of these characters with minimal experience using them beyond trivial-node level.

    For what it's worth I did crank C4ge up to 175 and play with him a bit during his boost week, and he'll probably get bumped up in the next revision.
  • OneLastGambit
    OneLastGambit Posts: 1,963 Chairperson of the Boards
    Jarvind wrote:
    Do keep in mind that I'm not a megawhale - I champ a 4* maybe every 2-3 weeks. I'm ranking some of these characters with minimal experience using them beyond trivial-node level.

    For what it's worth I did crank C4ge up to 175 and play with him a bit during his boost week, and he'll probably get bumped up in the next revision.

    I think a lot of people are ranking cage high due to him being boosted. He's one of the rare characters who when boosted is absolutely mental in the right team (hi wasp and mrf) but I think when he's not boosted he'll just be good. I was using him before being boosted and he is still good but not t20 material. Boosted he's absolutely awesome.
  • Alsmir
    Alsmir Posts: 508 Critical Contributor
    Our Lord and Saviour RNGsus granted me 3 bonus covers for Cyke, putting him at 11 total.

    Now I have two questions:
    Should I keep pulling LTs or start saving cp and just buy remaining covers? RNG was very generous so far, but I migh as well go for another 100 pulls without luck, and I really want to finish him (he would be my first 4* champ).

    I'm 10 3* Cyclops covers away from his red cover.


    What next?
    Ideally I want to favourite some other really strong character, that also pairs well with Cyke.
    My options:
    Iceman - Lousy 3 covers so far
    Peggy - 5 covers (same colours as Cyke tho)
    Rulk - 4 covers :<
    Punisher - 8 covers, how good is he really?
    Carol - uhh, a whole kitty 0, but she is in LTs so that could in theory help
    Nova - 4 covers
    IMHB - 6 covers
    Jean - 2 covers
    Quake - 2 covers
    Thoress - 5 (soon 6)

    Punisher feels like a decent choice, but on the other hand Carol is tempting and IMHB is the guy I wanted for a long time. What should I do?
  • DesertTortoise
    DesertTortoise Posts: 392 Mover and Shaker
    Alsmir wrote:
    Our Lord and Saviour RNGsus granted me 3 bonus covers for Cyke, putting him at 11 total.

    Now I have two questions:
    Should I keep pulling LTs or start saving cp and just buy remaining covers? RNG was very generous so far, but I migh as well go for another 100 pulls without luck, and I really want to finish him (he would be my first 4* champ).

    I'm 10 3* Cyclops covers away from his red cover.

    What cover spread do you have with him? That would make a significant impact on whether you should spend the 120 CP or not. How covered is your Gwenpool? She makes a perfect rainbow with 4-star Cyclops and is in tokens for another few months.
  • Alsmir
    Alsmir Posts: 508 Critical Contributor
    Cyclops is currently 3/3/5

    Gwenpool 2/0/2
  • Jaedenkaal
    Jaedenkaal Posts: 3,357 Chairperson of the Boards
    A note on Coulson's Call the Cavalry: Rank 5 also boosts Sniper damage by an additional 85% (roughly) to 2480 (plus destroyed tile damage) and Spy damage by an additional 85% or so to 1298. I'd say his optimal build is really 5/3/5; the damage on Best Laid Plans 5 isn't that exciting and the 2 turn CD timer reduction isn't that much of an improvement over 1 turn. The good countdown tiles (that you want to resolve ASAP, anyways) are pretty much all 1 or 2 turn anyways, so speeding them up by 1 means they'll either resolve right now, or on your next turn.
  • Tatercat
    Tatercat Posts: 930 Critical Contributor
    Another vote for 4* Cage, he’s been in constant rotation since I champed him (2 months I think), boosted or unboosted. Not as great in PVP (unless boosted) but that constant special tile generation in PVE (triggered by most goons except snipers) is really valuable with so many buff powers (active or passive) out there now like Wasp, 4* Carol, Medusa, etc (that Cage is popular with the ladies). Also teaming him with Mr. F and Carnage actually makes Venom Bomb fun.

    4* Cage/Wasp/4*Carol is my regular Big Enchilada Team now (though that's partially due to the countdown bug that I hope never gets fixed). When you finally get around to him, I think you’ll really enjoy him. Even if he’s just tanking on defense for other characters. Not sure how well he’ll jell with a champed 4*Iron fist at this point (mine is just 2/1/2), but that may be IF’s fault as character, not Cage’s.
  • Jarvind
    Jarvind Posts: 1,684 Chairperson of the Boards
    Alsmir wrote:
    Our Lord and Saviour RNGsus granted me 3 bonus covers for Cyke, putting him at 11 total.

    Now I have two questions:
    Should I keep pulling LTs or start saving cp and just buy remaining covers? RNG was very generous so far, but I migh as well go for another 100 pulls without luck, and I really want to finish him (he would be my first 4* champ).

    I'm 10 3* Cyclops covers away from his red cover.


    What next?
    Ideally I want to favourite some other really strong character, that also pairs well with Cyke.
    My options:
    Iceman - Lousy 3 covers so far
    Peggy - 5 covers (same colours as Cyke tho)
    Rulk - 4 covers :<
    Punisher - 8 covers, how good is he really?
    Carol - uhh, a whole kitty 0, but she is in LTs so that could in theory help
    Nova - 4 covers
    IMHB - 6 covers
    Jean - 2 covers
    Quake - 2 covers
    Thoress - 5 (soon 6)

    Punisher feels like a decent choice, but on the other hand Carol is tempting and IMHB is the guy I wanted for a long time. What should I do?

    To be honest I would probably just keep pulling tokens in this situation - you're a long way off covering anyone else fully (especially with vaulting, ugh), and just having one maxed 4* probably won't make a huge gameplay difference except on the one week out of 8? 9? where he's boosted.

    Punisher is really, really good. I know he doesn't look that stellar on paper but when you get that green/black combo off you will see the value immediately, I promise. He's probably not the first on your list that I'd suggest to pair with Cyclops - that honor would go to Rulk, Carol, or Jean, in that order - but he certainly wouldn't be a bad choice either, and he's your most developed.

    If you wanted to look at characters currently in tokens, decent possibilities are Gwenpool, as already suggested, or Spider-Woman - her red sucks, but you'll want to use Cyke's anyway, and her black and purple are both solid powers.

    Ultimately, though, it's a game and if you really like him, go ahead and CP it up. If you set 3Cyke as your only 3* favorite you should get that extra red cover in no time, and it doesn't take too long to save 120 for the last. He's top notch and fun to play, so I could think of plenty of worse ways to go about your roster management. Personally I enjoy obsessively min-maxing everything, but I'm aware lots of people don't share that mindset.
  • Jaedenkaal
    Jaedenkaal Posts: 3,357 Chairperson of the Boards
    Does this forum have a shorter character limit than the previous one? This list looks cut off.
  • whitecat31
    whitecat31 Posts: 579 Critical Contributor
    Part of this list has been cut off due to the migration.  Also can you please raise Elektra's ranking up, and place Carbage  (Carnage + garbage = Carbage) at the bottom of the rankings now.
  • Jarvind
    Jarvind Posts: 1,684 Chairperson of the Boards
    Messaged a mod to see if the cutoff issue can be fixed. Stand by I guess.
  • Jarvind
    Jarvind Posts: 1,684 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited April 2017
    FYI for anyone wondering I've been going back and forth with a mod and Brigby almost since the forum switch trying to get this fixed. Still working on it.
  • Milk Jugz
    Milk Jugz Posts: 1,122 Chairperson of the Boards
    Medusa better than 16, she has passive damage almost every turn, can create attack tiles, team heal, ap generation, enemy tile steal/buff, and board shake. She is a nightmare to fight against. 

    Also, I think Wasp is better than 28 after her rework. I set her 5/3/5. Can create ~650 strike and protect tiles, for 5 yellow. Then buff/swap them by that much, for 5 more each time. Her black does almost 10k damage for 7 ap, plus @8 blue it also has a 3 turn stun. Plus her ap steal is great, and it starts at 6 blue. And if the enemy matches the steal tile she hits them with about 5k. All that is her @ level 272, boosted to 377.

    I'd definitely call her more than a support character. In the current story, prodigal sun, I'm running Peggy @380, Wasp @377, and GR @373. I'm finding that Wasp is "leading the charge" and Peggy is the support character for her awesome passive!! I respeced her 5/5/3 cause I find myself not firing her blue so Wasp can keep going. Yeah her red is an awesome nuke, Wasp just gets going so much faster!! 
  • Pants1000
    Pants1000 Posts: 484 Mover and Shaker
    This is the best power ranking list I've seen.  Nice work maintaining it and taking feedback from others into account!

    You can add me to the list of people that think Peggy belongs at #1.  Her blue is just insane when used at the right time.

    It may seem odd after the OML nerf, but I still love my OML and I prefer characters that he can tank for.  Iceman doesn't play well with OML IMO because Iceman has to tank blue and green.

    I'd also put Wasp higher, maybe even top 10.  When boosted in PS I've found myself using Wasp even over Peggy in essentials because her black does a fast 10k damage for 7ap.  In longer matches, her yellow can create some crazy strike and defense tiles, leading to 5k+ for basic matches.


  • Jarvind
    Jarvind Posts: 1,684 Chairperson of the Boards
    @Brigby, my dude, the people like my guide! Increase the character limit by a lot so I can fix it and get back to maintaining it please? Thanks bro, you're the bestest.
  • Milk Jugz
    Milk Jugz Posts: 1,122 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited April 2017
    Jarvind said:
    @Brigby, my dude, the people like my guide! Increase the character limit by a lot so I can fix it and get back to maintaining it please? Thanks bro, you're the bestest.
    Is that why it stops at #39? I was wondering if my computer just wouldn't load the whole thing....