2025 MPQ Progression Guide

bbigler · August 2018

Hello, and welcome! I've played this game since the beginning and have restarted my roster from scratch, twice. I was surprised to find that I could progress faster than most players and essentially "catch up". So I'm simply sharing my advice and tips for this interesting game. This guide is organized into categories, so you do not need to read this in order. You can jump around and read what you need to know. One thing I need to point out is that this game is constantly changing.

Acronyms / Abbreviations / Terms:
HP = Hero Points
CP = Command Points
XP = Experience Points
HT = Heroic Token
LT = Legendary Token
RISO = Red ISO
PVE = Story Events
PVP = Versus Events

SCL = Shield Clearance Level

AOE = Area of Effect Damage, meaning it hits the enemy team

CD tile = Countdown Tile

Farm = Characters that are champed /ascended to get rewards but not used

MMR = Match Making Algorithm which gives you similar power teams to fight in PVP

Cascade = the subsequent matches that can happen after your initial color match

Winfinite = having an endless turn using abilities that feed each other (self-sustaining)

Nerf = reducing a character's effectiveness

MPQ Principles:
1. Spend your HP on mostly roster slots to build your reward farm
2. Spend your ISO on your main fighters first then on your farms second
3. Spend your CP on Legendary stores only, not on directly buying covers
4. Understand PVP mechanics & gameplay, then choose what works for you
5. Join a good alliance and move to better alliances as your performance improves
6. Shard build characters / supports that help you to fight tougher battles or win faster
7. Play in the highest SCL you can handle in order to maximize your rewards.
8. Hoarding tokens and resources is not advised in the beginning
9. Timing is very critical to this game, so develop a routine you can live with

10. Spending money can increase your progression speed, but it takes a lot of money

11. Champ and/or Ascend characters for rewards and greater strength

Shield Clearance Level Difficulty:
SCL 6 - Need 3* Champs

SCL 7 - Need Top 3*s or Mid-Level 4*s
SCL 8 - Need 4* Champs
SCL 9 - Need Top 4*s or Mid-Level 5*s
SCL 10 - Need 5* Champs

Top Characters:
1* - Spiderman, Juggernaut, Yelena, Hawkeye
2* - Nightcrawler, Electro, Headpool, Wolverine, Widow
3* - Aunt May, Namor, Strange, Fist, Iron Man, Kamala, Thanos, Hawkguy
4* - Juggernaut, Polaris, Rocket & Groot, Medusa, Chavez, Karnak, Valkyrie, Morbius, Moonstone, Multiple Man, Deathlok, Coulson, M'Baku
5* - Sam Wilson, Chasm, Mighty Thor, Shang, Beta Ray Bill, Kitty, Prof X, Onslaught, Omega Red, Agatha, Magik, Aunt May Goldie, Emma,

Beginning Campaign:

This should be completed in the first week of play. It rewards HP & 2-star covers in addition to ISO. This extra effort in the beginning is worth it.

General Progression Advice:

The way to progress is by improving your main fighting teams, either pick-2 or pick-3 teams in PVE and PVP. So, your efforts should be focused on improving those teams or building new ones, but it’s also essential to build up your reward farms. If your main teams are leveled up as high as possible, then spend your HP and ISO building the farms. This means that you would start champing 3*s before your 2*s are finished, and start champing 4*s before your 3*s are finished, etc. Having 1 great team is better than having 5 average ones. And these reward farms will produce more and more as time goes on, exceeding your expectations.

Favorites / Shards:

These are fractions of a cover and very precious! You can select the best characters in tiers 3, 4 and 5, and shard build them to completion. But do this 1 character at a time per tier. This means that you need to research the top characters in order to know what you want to chase. There's no right answer for everyone on this, it depends on how long it will take you to build a new character and what characters you already have. I would have short, medium and long term plans to improve my teams. This also applies to Supports, which are just as good as characters. Shards can also be used to continue leveling up and ascending a character. Your favorites (for shards) should represent your character goals in the game.

Placement & Progression Rewards:

Most events have both placement & progression rewards. It is wise to get all the progression rewards because it's usually easy, but placement rewards, such as top 10, is very hard and probably not worth the effort given the small differences between the reward brackets. Those small differences do add up over time, but the time commitment to get them is substantial.

Roster Slots:

This is the biggest constraint in the game, which encourages players to spend real money on HP. That's your choice, but don't feel bad for selling covers because you don't have the space. The best strategy here is to simply roster the best characters and spend your naturally earned HP on more slots every week. Eventually, you'll roster everyone, but I would focus slots on new characters too because you'll get the most covers for them. Ascending characters is very taxing on roster slots as you will need many duplicates of a single character at certain times.

Ascending Characters:

This allows you to level up your characters from tier to tier until they reach the 5-star level and eventually max out at 550. This is a very long process, taking years, but the purpose is getting tons of great champ rewards and reaching the top level of play (and continuing to use your favorite lower level guys). And because everyone can ascend to be 5-stars, the team combinations and strategies are endless. That's the good part, the bad part is the ton of time, roster slots and ISO required to do this. There's also a cover conversion rate with ascended characters that really slows down the leveling up. I'll break this down by tier:

Ascending 1-Stars:

These 8 characters move the fastest by design and are capable of reaching 550 in less than a year. That means that new players can enter the highest PVP MMR with only ascended 1-Stars. This sounds like a slaughter, but because 1-Stars are frequently boosted, they can legitimately fight those battles. Common Ascended 1-Star Teams include Spiderman, Juggernaut or Yelena and can be paired with an ascended 3-Star Aunt May or Namor to deal very high damage quickly. AP Boost Supports are added to this combo for first turn kills.

Ascending 2-Stars:

These characters move the slowest in ascension because you cannot favorite them. This tier is still being expanded too, so the cover dilution will only get worse over time. So, it can take 2.5 yrs ascending a native 2-Star to level 450, and then another 1.5 yrs to reach 550. But if you spend the HP to exchange 2-star covers, you could fast track 1 of them. There are some new 2-Stars that would be great at the 5-Star level, such as Headpool, Nightcrawler & Electro. But character powers may change after ascension to keep the game balanced, so check their stats before making plans.

Ascending 3-Stars:

Technically, these characters ascend the slowest because of the cover acquisition rate and cover dilution, but you can favorite 1 of them for shards to fast track their ascension, such as Aunt May or Namor. With cover exchanges, they can move even faster (months not years), which I would suggest given how awesome they both are. These are the best 3-stars as they can double or triple the damage of any 5-star. But a warning on Aunt May, her damage buff of 200% at the 4-star level drops back down to 100% at the 5-star level.

Ascending 4-Stars:

This is what I call the 4-star crawl - 2s, 3s and 4s can spend years at this tier! If they're not favorited or have cover exchanges, they would probably move at 1 level per week. Ascending the 3-Star Lightning Round characters is wise because they get a 50% level boost during the event. This means that a level 300 Magneto would become a 450, and a level 550 Magneto would become a monstrous 799! There are many native 4-Stars that destroy at the 5-star level (like Juggernaut and M'Baku), but some have nerfed abilities instead, like Moonstone. So look before leaping into the 5-star tier.

Ascension Time, Rewards & Roster Slots:

This is a little complicated and comes down to personal preference, but here's my opinion. Ascending characters can take years to do and if you choose to only ascend with 2 max champ level characters, it takes even longer. On top of the time problem, you have the immense amount of roster slots needed to keep a dupe of every character at every level! As for rewards, 2-star champ rewards are almost nothing, 3-star rewards have some LTs and CP, but mostly at the upper levels, and 4-star rewards are a steadily increasing stream where they get really good after level 330. So, for the sake of time and slots, I recommend to ascend with Max + Min at tiers 2 and 3. Then watch them crawl at the 4-star level while getting those great rewards, and eventually ascending with a 370 + 370 .... unless you would regularly use them for fighting, so in that case, ascend early.

Supports:

In terms of game mechanics and strategy, supports are like extra characters with passive powers that can be brought into a battle. Just like forming killer combos between characters, you can form killer combos between characters and supports. Essentially a team is composed of 6 parts, 3 characters and 3 supports, and those supports can be just as important as the characters you're fighting. You probably already know the difficulty of leveling up supports, so my advice is to focus on 1 at a time - meaning, favorite 1 of them and pour your precious Red ISO into it. The best way to get favorite support shards is the Boss event at the end of each season. Plus, the puzzle gauntlet is another way to get some support tokens, which also give favorite support shards. Between these 2 end of season events, you can get about 800 favorite shards.

If you have a maxed out support (level 5) and get that support again through a token, those shards will be converted to favorite shards instead. So, the more level 5 supports you have, the more conversions to favorite shards you can get, which leads to more level 5 supports. A self-reinforcing cycle that accelerates your acquisition of level 5 supports. Another good thing about supports is that you can pass them around endlessly between your teams. The real question here is, what supports are the best and what combos can you make? The combos are probably endless, but here's the ones I've seen: (PLEASE NOTE: the top 4 supports are currently being rebalanced)...

Fantasticar (Heros): it boosts match damage, causes cascades and reduces enemy ability damage; but those effects are temporary. Nevertheless, it's a powerful tool when attached to a high match damage Hero (i.e. 5-Stars like Colossus or an ascended M'Baku). Add in 3-Star Namor and May and you have a killer team that even new players can make. Be cautious when fighting a team that uses this, bad luck can wipe you out!

Thanos Copter (Villains): it primarily causes cascades (at level 5) and gives boosted match damage for them, plus the team gains increased ability damage. The caveat is the Cosmic Cube repeater tile that when matched / destroyed, sends that character airborne for 1 turn. This effect can mess up winfinite combos and it's possible for the enemy team to destroy the tile and remove it's benefits from you. It's particularly nasty when attached to an ascended 4-Star Juggernaut or a 5-Star Mephisto. Add in 5-Star Sam Wilson, and you have one of the top teams around.

Leapfrog (Anyone): this is basically "nuke protection" for all your characters. It will reduce the damage from the enemy hit and give them invisibility as well. It's normally attached to the required character in PVP and is generally seen as annoying to fight against. AOE damage can bypass invisibility, but a level 5 Leapfrog can send the character away for 1 turn. This support is essential when fighting certain teams in PVP that can kill a character on their 1st turn. Fighting against it is frustrating, especially if you can't get rid of the invisibility tile or don't have AOE / Random damage.

Eros Arrow (Anyone): this is another defensive support where it "Nerfs" a random enemy while protecting your ally in front. That's its main purpose, but it does a few other things with the "Lovestruck" Ally and Enemy which involve AP gain/drain, health bursts, damage and a 1-turn stun. I find this support very useful when fighting a team with one big guy and 2 smaller support characters. I quickly take down the 2 small support characters, then the "random" enemy will be the 1 big guy left, which then becomes nerfed (no longer dangerous). If you're lucky, the random enemy will be the big guy from the start. Fighting against this is annoying, but not as bad as Leapfrog.

Omnipotence City (Godlike): this is a powerful support that grants extra AP, extra damage, plus strong strike and protect tiles. The limitation is being attached to Godlike characters, but there's a good amount of Godlike top tier characters in the game. With an all Godlike team, there's a significant synergy perk of increased health and ability damage. Fighting against this is not a big problem, unless their team gets lots of cascades.

Symbiote Goo (Anyone): this significantly increases match and ability damage for the supported character, but only in the color which they have the most AP for. This can exploit a single ability or match damage if used wisely. Fighting against this support is usually not a concern though.

Implanted Bomb (Villains): this also greatly increases the supported character's match and ability damage, plus it provides significant health bursts on match 4+. This is basically a better version of Symbiote Goo, but the caveat is that the supported character must make a match or use a power every 3 turns or they die. So watch out for stuns! Fighting against this support hurts a little.

Refreshment Cart (Anyone): this support is ideal for winfinite characters because it generates 1 AP in their strongest color whenever anyone on your team fires a power or makes a match-5 (at level 5). And it doesn't need to be attached to the character that can go winfinite; just attach it to any character where you want AP in their strongest color. It's basically an AP engine with some added perks of reducing enemy stuns, creating SAPS, dealing damage and reducing CD and Repeater tiles to 0. It works particularly well on 1-Star Hawkeye or Juggernaut, 2-Star Electro, 3-Star Namor, 4-Star Moonstone or Shang Chi. Fighting against it is not a problem though.

Krakoa (Mutants): the main purpose of this support is to get Red, Black or Blue AP because those color supports are limited. Red only comes from Arc Reactor (Stark Tech) and Proxima Midnight (Villains). Black only comes from Tinkerer (Villains) and Milano (Gaurdians). Blue AP supports do not exist. A popular usage of Krakoa is on 3-Namor to start with 3 Black. It could also be used on Polaris to start with Blue AP.

Chimichanga (Anyone): the main purpose of this support is to get extra Red & Purple AP on Red & Purple matches. An ideal support for Shang-Chi or 1a5-Hawkeye.

Power Stone (Anyone): the main purpose of this is to fire a random power at no cost. The odds are low, but it can happen and may ruin a match for you.

AP Supports: There are many AP supports out there, but the ones that grant 6 AP at start are the most desirable. There are many ways to start with lots of Green, Yellow and Purple. This could setup first turn winfinites or stuns or criticals or AOEs. There are limited supports to get Red, Black and Blue though. Red & Black attacks tend to hit the hardest and Blue's best use are stuns. With these AP Supports, plus AP boosts, the possibilities are endless for first turn wins (or at least taking down the biggest threat). This allows very fast play of PVE nodes and can be a threat in PVP too. You may not want to play a team that's going to hit you hard on their first turn. There's too many combinations to list, but know what these supports do.

Spending HP:

In the beginning, only spend HP on roster slots and 1 shield per PVP. Eventually, you'll have excess HP to spend on either more shields, good vaults or good Lightning deals. But ascending characters requires a lot of roster slots, so it may be a long time before you have any HP to spare. But don't underestimate those champ & ascension farms - the rewards are worth it! If you are in a position of excess HP, you could spend some of it exchanging covers in order to ascend / level up someone quickly. It's generally a bad idea to use HP on token stores.

Spending ISO:

The general advice on ISO is to champ your fighters first and then farms second. If champing someone will improve your daily play, then do that instead of building up the farms more. But if another champ won't change your daily teams, then champ whoever will be most beneficial for rewards. But don't get into the mindset that you have to champ everyone in a tier before starting the next tier. That mentality will slow you down. Spreading your ISO out among all tiers isn't a bad idea, but prioritize your fighters first. Spending a little ISO on AP boosts is OK as long as the rewards outweigh the cost. The "Skip Tax" in PVP battles is annoying, but the cost is so low that it's worth finding easier teams to fight.

Spending RISO:

Just like ISO, spend this leveling up your best and most used supports. Having 3 great supports is better than having 10 average ones. 1 great support can be the difference between winning and losing Crash of the Titans with a weak 4-star. Because RISO is much harder to get, I would focus on just 1 support at a time.

Spending CP:

In the beginning, it’s very useful to get a 5* character, even at low levels. This will help speed up your progression, so it’s best to spend your CP on the Latest Legendary store since that’s your best chance of covering a 5*. Milestones give you more 5* shards to better cover the best one you have, which should lead to your first 5* champ. Hoarding in the beginning is not advisable, but once you have a good 5* fighting team, then hoarding could be wise. If a great 5* comes along in Latest or another special store, then spend your CP to max cover them. If you don’t have all Classic 5*s rostered, then you could open Classics to get them and finish covering the 4* tier as well. But remember that 4* champ rewards give 5* covers and shards, so you could acquire classic 5*s that way. At the top level of play, you hoard CP in order to add champ levels to the best 5*s from a special store. Do not spend CP directly buying character powers.

Legendary Tokens:

These are acquired in champ rewards mostly, but you can also get them from top placement rewards, Boss Events, Introducing events, DDQ Crash of the Titans, Vaults, VIP membership and other special offers. These tokens are usually for the Latest Legendary store and you should acquire enough of them to get every new 5* rostered. Depending on your token acquisition rate, you may be able to max cover every new 5* without spending any CP on Latest Legends. This high level of LT acquisition comes from champ / ascension farms and playing SCL 10. Some players choose to hoard their LTs and CP for a new meta breaking 5-star. This is actually a good idea as long as you still cover and champ everyone else. A few great characters is better than a hundred mediocre ones.

Getting to Level 550:

The best way to do this is in steps instead of hoarding LTs and CP forever. If you already have strong 5-Star teams, but they're "baby champs" (below level 475), then focus on building up your LT and CP production rates, which is a simple matter of building up your farms at all levels. This includes ascending all characters to get better rewards. You should acquire enough LTs to champ all new 5-Stars without using CP on Latest, which means that you can use CP on Special Legendary Stores to add levels to your best 5-Stars. In addition to this, you can use your excess HP on Special Vaults to get those 5-star covers directly. Of course, you can favorite a character and put them on the "fast track" to 550. Over time, your best fighters will grow and grow until they hit 550. It can be done, it just takes some dedication.

Now what about ascended characters reaching 550? This will happen very fast with 1-Stars, which will affect your MMR. If you don't like that change, you can always sell them and ascend them again, but certain boosted 550 1-Stars are formidable. But who will win the race to 550 between the other tiers? 2-Stars will be the slowest because you can't favorite them, only exchange their covers. There are a chosen few 3-Stars that would kill at 550, but the real race is between the 4s and 5s and I'm not sure who would get there first.

Versus (PVP): The team you climb with is just as important as the team you defend with. Climbing fast is helpful, but discouraging attacks is just as helpful. The strongest team you win with will be the team that other players fight, unless it’s a retaliation. Progression rewards are based on points or number of wins. So if you can’t hit 1200 points, you could always grind out 50 wins (you could play in the beginning of the event and beat seed teams). Remember that the higher you climb the more likely you will get attacked. I try to pick high point battles (38+) to discourage players from retaliating for lesser points. When considering retaliations, it’s only profitable to attack for more points than you lost. You also need to know when to skip; you can’t win every battle. Shields are essential to getting good placement, but I limit their use in the beginning since they cost precious HP. Some players climb early and shield early because it’s easier (but costs more HP). Climbing late is risky as most high point players are shielded, plus it makes you a target as well. Battle chat rooms can certainly help for climbing higher, but that takes more time for coordination.
Shield Simulator: You could treat this event as a testing ground for new teams. Just remember to play your last battle with a team that would discourage attacks. However you play it, hit 2000 points or 50 wins, then shield before it ends. For most players, the real game in MPQ lies in the required character PVP events, not the Simulator, so I wouldn’t focus too much effort on improving your Simulator teams.
Story (PVE): This is the daily grind for rewards, so some players go down to lower SCLs to minimize their grind time. There are many methods people use here, but you basically want to clear each node until the timer starts, then wait as long as possible for points to replenish and clear the nodes again until all points are gone (just before the event ends). The order and timing of clearing nodes is the tricky part, but take into account the points & time it takes to clear a node when determining the best order. Unlike PVP, scoring well here requires a dedicated block of time everyday. Some of the best characters here are 3*/5*Thanos, Okoye, IHulk, Omega Red, Adam Warlock, 4*Grocket, Kitty, Polaris, 4*Juggs, 5*Thor, Shang, Morbius, Chavez, 4*Doc Ock, Scorpion, 4*Star Lord. The competition here is intense, where a small mistake can cost you in rank. Playing PVE to full progression rewards (and node rewards) is essential because these rewards outweigh PVP rewards.
Deadpool's Daily Quest (DDQ): this should always be completed because the rewards are great and the effort is small. Because of DDQ, you need to maintain a decently leveled 1* character. The required character nodes reward you for rostering and champing everyone. With a great support, any 4* can beat Crash of the Titans. You can also use boosts and team ups to make these battles go faster.
Alliances: at this point you should be a part of a good active alliance. Most importantly, you get alliance rewards, plus the occasional CP from purchases. A good alliance has active players and gets decent placement rewards. A great alliance gets better placement rewards and full progression rewards in Boss events. Some alliances are a family of alliances, and you’re placed in them depending on your performance.
VIP Membership: if you don't mind spending a little each month, VIP membership is good for getting extra rewards, most notably it gives 2 LT, 1 CT & 20 CP per month and you get PVE bonus rewards from spending in general. Technically, your characters heal faster, but I don't think I've noticed. It's definitely good to spend the bare minimum per month (Lightning Deals) just to get the Bonus Rewards.

Lightning Rounds: These are weekly 48 hr periods of 90 min PVP events with required 3* characters. They are only good for gaining extra ISO, Heroic tokens and trying out new teams. Because these additional events may be too much of a time commitment, you could either play for 5 min in the very beginning to beat the seed teams and reach 250+ points OR play in the last 20 minutes to get top 50 or better placement rewards. I have found that placement is much harder when I join early but easier when I join late. It only takes 300 points to get decent placement here.
Puzzle Gauntlet: This is a monthly PVE event that rewards support tokens and RISO. Each node has a different “puzzle” or win condition to meet. This is another reason to roster, champ and be familiar with every character. 2 of the nodes limit who you can use and it may seem impossible to beat, but with the right supports and team ups, it can be done. Don’t be afraid to ask your alliance for specific characters in order to get those team ups. This event is one of the few ways to get support tokens.
The Off Season: This is the week between the season events that typically has unusual PVPs with less competition. You don’t need to worry about Shield Simulator or your season score. To avoid MPQ burnout, it’s a good idea to relax during the “off season” and not worry about placement rankings.

Pongie · August 2018

Good guide but note that the recommended number of pulls for 3x 5*s is not 300 (it was under 50% with swaps).

Number of pulls required

To cover all three:

50%: with swaps: 315, without swaps: 377

55%: with swaps: 323, without swaps: 388

60%: with swaps: 331, without swaps: 398

65%: with swaps: 339, without swaps: 410

70%: with swaps: 348, without swaps: 423

75%: with swaps: 358, without swaps: 438

80%: with swaps: 369, without swaps: 456

85%: with swaps: 383, without swaps: 478

90%: with swaps: 402, without swaps: 508

95%: with swaps: 431, without swaps: 556

bbigler · August 2018

Pongie said:

Good guide but note that the recommended number of pulls for 3x 5*s is not 300 (it was under 50% with swaps).

Number of pulls required

To cover all three:
50%: with swaps: 315, without swaps: 377
55%: with swaps: 323, without swaps: 388
60%: with swaps: 331, without swaps: 398
65%: with swaps: 339, without swaps: 410
70%: with swaps: 348, without swaps: 423
75%: with swaps: 358, without swaps: 438
80%: with swaps: 369, without swaps: 456
85%: with swaps: 383, without swaps: 478
90%: with swaps: 402, without swaps: 508
95%: with swaps: 431, without swaps: 556

Thanks for the information, I updated the guide recommending around 400 pulls.

rixmith · September 2018

This is a fantastic guide! Very nice work. Every new player who wants to excel at this game should read this!

AardvarkPepper · September 2018

1) 1* Juggernaut is best 1*. When transitioning to 2*, a 6 AP red that hits for 1100 is still relevant, and a 6 AP green that destroys 16 tiles is great. His red-green-black suite also means he can take some hits.

On the other hand 1* Spiderman's red-blue-purple often hides behind 2*s, and I don't consider his purple quite worth the slot he takes up on a team.

Adding 1*s to roster and covering them is fine as long as a player has roster slots available. But I would not put iso into anything but Juggernaut. More Juggernaut covers can be obtained in Standard tokens, available through Lightning Rounds.

2) In 2* land, Bullseye and Daken are both useful though situationally. Bullseye offers precision board control and persistent Protect tiles. Daken is a functional regenerator. Wolverine is not as reliable a regenerator against larger hits, as Wolverine won't heal up much past 50%, so often can't tank even one big hit. (Daken feeds off Strike tiles and is almost useless on offense without Wolverine's Strike tile generation, but his regeneration and two-hit power make him worth considering - especially since the two-hit power can be used in PvP to kill two weak enemies using only 5 AP, triggering 3* Thanos twice, which helps speed a lot.

I also piloted a new account for a while for fun, and I found both Bullseye and Daken useful. Nothing on the level like Mag-Storm in most situations, but each has their own particular uses.

3) "2 weeks I had: Rank 29, 54 roster slots, 48 HT, 1 LT, 100 CP. " - All respect, but this does sound like it's fueled in some part by money. It's a good idea to at least mention special deals available to new players, and how they match up against other deals, but providing reference points absent context can be misleading to free players. I don't think free players would normally be able to hit 54 roster slots in two weeks; would you disagree?

4) I don't recommend two slots for 1*s. Instead I recommend one slot for 1*, and two open slots to rotate in 3*s (and 4*s as applicable). Assuming a player isn't buying in to new player specials, their roster slots will be quite limited, but they can still get the Essential character for PvE events by earning them as progression rewards. If they play at SCL 7 (which is quite possible with just a few good 3*s, key 3* Strange and Iron Man but also imo others which I won't get into here) - but anyways they can push to PvE SCL 7 pretty quickly.

Yes, SCL 7 usually has 4*s that newer players can't afford to roster so much (even more so for free players), but I think even new players should identify which particular 4*s they want, then go after them.

I would fully agree that a player's infrastructure and rewards structure favors rostering all 3*s before 4*s. But I also think earlier key 4*s helps cut a player's real time spent in game, which is also important.

5) At the beginning, I don't think it's "correct" to save Heroic tokens. Yes, once a player has developed key 3*s to push into higher SCL, then I'd think saving Heroic tokens might be a thing to do. But at least in the beginning, Heroic tokens represent possible additional 2* and 3* pulls that feed the player's roster strength.

I'm not saying it's "wrong" to save Heroic tokens; again in terms of infrastructure and rewards it's the smart thing to do. But again, I think opening Heroic tokens can speed a player's development especially when they're making that initial transition from 2* to 3*. Imagine your 3* Iron Man or 3* Doctor Strange don't quite have the right covers you want, but that you don't have enough covers to champion them. Would it make sense, in that context, to open Heroic tokens for a faster and easier push?

Yes, a player will have to discard an occasional 4*. But I think a player can afford to keep *good* 4*s, and that they should do so even while they're making the transition from 2*-3*. I also think that a player should look into pushing into PvE SCL 7 ASAP so they can earn key 4* covers when they are available.

6) "then clear those nodes 2 or 3 more times just before it ends. The order that you clear also matters. In general, do the first 4 clears on the highest point nodes first."

Isn't it always 3 clears at the end? When the timer starts, the points are reduced to 2/3 maximum. When the timer is near zero, the points are near 100%, then once removes 1/3, twice removes another 1/3, third removes another 1/3 then the node's worth near zero.

Also I'm not sure that doing the first 4 clears on highest point nodes is always correct. It depends on clear times. If a player's clear times for highest point nodes is super quick, then sure, they want to set those timers ASAP. But if the clear times on highest point nodes is a little slow, all the easy node timers are starting later as well.

Besides, there's the question of having to have hit easier nodes in the first place to *get* to the harder nodes.

7) "Heroes for Hire (HFH) and Vaults: Once you have rostered all 4*s, something new becomes an option for you: Heroes for Hire (HFH) and Vaults. -

I think it depends in some part on the player. Let's say you've finally max champed some 3*s, and let's also say that by that point you're some way along in the 3*-4* transition, so you have a good number of fieldable 4*s. But do you still really want to start over with that 3*? Or do you want to dupli-roster 3*s? The same is true for 4*s, what happens when you max a 4*? Do you really want to sell it?

My thought is a player may want to dupli-roster so may need those HP. It depends on the player, but it's an option I think at least worth considering.

8) "Who to Champ First: there are many good ones, but here's my 2 cents: Star Lord is awesome against goons! His passive triggers immediately and he can overwrite their CD tiles. Peggy is generally good. Combining her with IM40 and Red Hulk is a near perfect team. Medusa and Grocket are a PVP deterrent and do great against goons. Vulture is a good green & blue battery. Wasp, Carol and Gamora are generally good. Thor works well with IM40. Cage works well with Wasp. Cloak & Dagger are a good yellow or black battery. Iceman is very good alone. Prof X can form a winfinite with 3* Widow. Rogue is a good tank. Kate Bishop and Moon Knight are strong. "

Is that in a context of playing PvE SCL 9?

Specifically - from what I've heard, PvE SCL 9 offers more points than SCL 7, so if you *can* play SCL 9 then you can score higher points, so you're more attractive to top alliances so you can pull better alliance rewards. So yes, if those 4*s are going to enable you to hammer PvE SCL 9 then that's a consideration.

But if you're just playing at PVE SCL 7, then perhaps 4* Rocket and Groot would be the priority instead. Sure, it's overkill, but you *really* burn through nodes a lot faster.

==

I liked what I read, but I think in places a bit more context would provide readers with a clearer understanding of why particular recommendations were made over others.

AardvarkPepper · September 2018

Pongie said:

Good guide but note that the recommended number of pulls for 3x 5*s is not 300 (it was under 50% with swaps).

Number of pulls required

To cover all three:
50%: with swaps: 315, without swaps: 377
55%: with swaps: 323, without swaps: 388
60%: with swaps: 331, without swaps: 398
65%: with swaps: 339, without swaps: 410
70%: with swaps: 348, without swaps: 423
75%: with swaps: 358, without swaps: 438
80%: with swaps: 369, without swaps: 456
85%: with swaps: 383, without swaps: 478
90%: with swaps: 402, without swaps: 508
95%: with swaps: 431, without swaps: 556

By "swaps" you mean asking customer service to swap one 5* cover for another? Do they still do that?

bbigler · September 2018

@AardvarkPepper Thanks for the feedback. Here's my comments on your comments:

1) Juggernaut is very good, but the problem with using him in the beginning is timing. By the time I had a 5/5 covered Juggs, I was already fighting with 2* Wolverine, so Juggs never saw any play until I leveled him up for DDQ. The same goes for Spidey, but I did get 1* Iron Man covers immediately, so I put ISO into him. In my restart experiment, I only fought with 1*s for 2 days, then moved onto 2*s.
2) Agreed, Bullseye and Daken can be useful, but both lack the ability to deliver a killing blow. I hate how Daken's Blue ability works against himself - collect Blue, he doesn't heal but hurts himself instead and then removes the few strikes tiles you tried to build up. 3* Daken is useful against seed teams or easy nodes though.
3) Yes, I spent a good amount of money in the 1st 2 weeks (around $100) on SCL Starter Packs and HP purchases, which is how I got 54 roster slots. A free player would not be able to do this. I thought it was clear that I was spending money, but I'll add a sentence explaining that my timeline is not for "free" players.
4) The extra slot for 1*s is simply for farming XP. My overall strategy is "no cover wasted", which is why I opted to buy HP for roster slots rather than rotate 3*s and 4*s for required PVE nodes.
5) Opening Heroics in the beginning is a short term gain long term loss, I believe. I was gaining 3* covers so fast that it was not limiting my progress. ISO and roster slots are what limited my roster progress. Plus, I don't want to waste any of those precious 4* covers. I do agree that playing in SCL 7 ASAP is best.
6) You're right, but I didn't want to go into the details of ideal clearing order for new players. I think they'll naturally figure out that order by following the principal of clearing the highest point nodes first because they regenerate points the fastest.
7) I consider having roster slots for 3* and 4* dups to be a veteran practice, meaning that it doesn't apply within the 1st year. This progression timeline is so fast that by the time your 3*s have reached max champ level, you're already champing 5*s. In my experience, my 3* champs gained an average of 1 level per week, each. So, it would take well over a year for any of them to reach level 266. 4*s would gain 1 level every 2 - 3 weeks.
8) The SCL you want to play at is a personal choice, I believe, instead of a strategic one. SCL 9 has slightly better rewards, but it will take longer to play. It's a greater challenge, especially for a 4* champ roster. SCL 7 with 4* champs would be a breeze, and perhaps time is more important than rewards. In the referenced paragraph I was just giving my advice on good 4*s.

Anyway, I'll go back to my OP and modify a few things, thanks for reading it.

Pongie · September 2018

AardvarkPepper said:

Pongie said:

Good guide but note that the recommended number of pulls for 3x 5*s is not 300 (it was under 50% with swaps).

Number of pulls required

To cover all three:
50%: with swaps: 315, without swaps: 377
55%: with swaps: 323, without swaps: 388
60%: with swaps: 331, without swaps: 398
65%: with swaps: 339, without swaps: 410
70%: with swaps: 348, without swaps: 423
75%: with swaps: 358, without swaps: 438
80%: with swaps: 369, without swaps: 456
85%: with swaps: 383, without swaps: 478
90%: with swaps: 402, without swaps: 508
95%: with swaps: 431, without swaps: 556

By "swaps" you mean asking customer service to swap one 5* cover for another? Do they still do that?

No, the saved cover feature replaced it.

AardvarkPepper · September 2018

@Pongie Thanks for the reply.

@bbigler Thanks for the reply; comments:

1) 1* Juggernaut is a usable character early in the 2*-3* transition for his cheap red hit and green shakeup. You mentioned keeping things simple, which I understand can be best for some guides. So take my word for it that 1* Juggernaut is without question the way to go.

2) There may not be a need to write "2* Bullseye and Daken are not as good as you may think." Players want to roster them anyways for 2* farming.

3) 2* Daken is not for killing blows. He's only fielded if you want a regenerator, and then he's as good as you'll find in the 2* range.

As to 2* Bullseye, he's damage mitigation and precision black/green board control. Not killing blows.

If I were going to dump on any 2*s it would be 2* Bagman. He doesn't come in regular tokens, so he's slow to build, and he's not an Essential character in almost any event.

4) I understand you may not want to go into the details of each character, but rather than saying particular characters aren't good (which only tells readers what not to do), focus on a couple specific good combinations, like 2* Wolverine's Strike tiles combined with 2* Black Widow's Espionage, or 2* Magneto's purple feeding 2* Storm's blue.

5) As I read it, the priorities of the guide are spending minimal money (but still spending) and not throwing away any covers, and in that context not opening Heroic tokens makes sense. My thought regarding opening Heroic tokens is free players will have to be throwing away covers anyways, so they may as well get on with it - but that they should prioritize characters that will bring them better gains considering real time spent. Then free players can leverage those gains to building roster slots and conserve tokens as they like, once the push to develop a few key characters is over.

6) Regarding "real time spent" (and health packs) - as I see it, a player may spend only a certain amount of time on the game in a day. Suppose you have a player in the 3*-4* transition playing PvE SCL 7. They could push to PvE SCL 8 and spend more time and get slightly better rewards, or they could stay with PvE SCL 7 and spend additional time on PvP SCL 7 for an additional source of tokens, 3* covers, and 4* covers.

I'd say PvP doesn't pay as well as PvE for time spent, but doing PvP and PvE combined will earn better rewards than pushing up in PvE SCL.

Theire · November 2018

Thanks for this guide! I'm still building my 3* champ roster and found it very useful. Just some comments from my personal experience:

The Day 55 milestone (Champ 10x 3*s) was pretty accurate for me, but nearing Day 80 I'm nowhere near Champ 20x 3*s. I'm have 14x 3*s champed and another 11x 3* max covered, but am horribly short of ISO.

Also, even though I have most of the top 3* champs you mentioned (only Magneto max covered, the rest like Strange, IM40, SWitch, IF, Cage, Kamala, Thanos, Hawkguy, etc. are champed), I still found that SCL7 was a horrible grind and got burnt out very quickly. I would struggle to hit the 4* cover progression reward and stop (meaning that I would miss out on the CP progression rewards).

I've ended up dropping down to SCL4 for most PvE events, which allows me to clear out all the nodes quickly and hit full progression. SCL4 full progression gives 20 CP, which is good for a CL pull (so I figure it's worth missing the 4* progression reward in SCL7, since I won't hit full progression in SCL7 anyway). At this point, I'll only do PVE SCL7 and/or hit 40 PvP wins when there's a specific 4* cover I want.

bbigler · November 2018

Theire said:

Thanks for this guide! I'm still building my 3* champ roster and found it very useful. Just some comments from my personal experience:

The Day 55 milestone (Champ 10x 3*s) was pretty accurate for me, but nearing Day 80 I'm nowhere near Champ 20x 3*s. I'm have 14x 3*s champed and another 11x 3* max covered, but am horribly short of ISO.

Also, even though I have most of the top 3* champs you mentioned (only Magneto max covered, the rest like Strange, IM40, SWitch, IF, Cage, Kamala, Thanos, Hawkguy, etc. are champed), I still found that SCL7 was a horrible grind and got burnt out very quickly. I would struggle to hit the 4* cover progression reward and stop (meaning that I would miss out on the CP progression rewards).

I've ended up dropping down to SCL4 for most PvE events, which allows me to clear out all the nodes quickly and hit full progression. SCL4 full progression gives 20 CP, which is good for a CL pull (so I figure it's worth missing the 4* progression reward in SCL7, since I won't hit full progression in SCL7 anyway). At this point, I'll only do PVE SCL7 and/or hit 40 PvP wins when there's a specific 4* cover I want.

Thanks for the comments, I'm glad you're finding this useful. The timeline is aggressive, so if you're close to it, then you're doing good. Champing all 3*s does take a lot of ISO, so I know it's tough. Double ISO events are your relief and catch up time, which should happen around Christmas.
As for SCL 7, it is a long grind with a 3* roster. It took me about 60 - 90 minutes to do the beginning or ending clears. It's not easy, but it is worth it if you can manage. Against tile movers, I would use IM40 + Strange + Kamala. Against goons, I would use Strange, Hawkguy(5/3/5) and Switch(3/5/5).
But my fastest team against goons, which reduced the grind was Thanos + Strange + Fist/Essential. To avoid using a lot of healthpacks, I would make sure Strange hit 3 times with his passive when the first enemy goes down so that Thanos' ally damage would be negated. I would also make sure that Court Death triggers just once because it kills a 2nd goon. So, I would switch targets when 1 goon is below the Court Death threshold. Plus, you have to watch their CD tiles. It's a little tricky process overall, but if you get the hang of it, the team clears goons fast with almost no healthpacks. With Thanos + Strange, SCL 6 should be a breeze and SCL 7 is manageable.

Theire · November 2018

bbigler said:

Theire said:

Thanks for this guide! I'm still building my 3* champ roster and found it very useful. Just some comments from my personal experience:

The Day 55 milestone (Champ 10x 3*s) was pretty accurate for me, but nearing Day 80 I'm nowhere near Champ 20x 3*s. I'm have 14x 3*s champed and another 11x 3* max covered, but am horribly short of ISO.

Also, even though I have most of the top 3* champs you mentioned (only Magneto max covered, the rest like Strange, IM40, SWitch, IF, Cage, Kamala, Thanos, Hawkguy, etc. are champed), I still found that SCL7 was a horrible grind and got burnt out very quickly. I would struggle to hit the 4* cover progression reward and stop (meaning that I would miss out on the CP progression rewards).

I've ended up dropping down to SCL4 for most PvE events, which allows me to clear out all the nodes quickly and hit full progression. SCL4 full progression gives 20 CP, which is good for a CL pull (so I figure it's worth missing the 4* progression reward in SCL7, since I won't hit full progression in SCL7 anyway). At this point, I'll only do PVE SCL7 and/or hit 40 PvP wins when there's a specific 4* cover I want.

Thanks for the comments, I'm glad you're finding this useful. The timeline is aggressive, so if you're close to it, then you're doing good. Champing all 3*s does take a lot of ISO, so I know it's tough. Double ISO events are your relief and catch up time, which should happen around Christmas.
As for SCL 7, it is a long grind with a 3* roster. It took me about 60 - 90 minutes to do the beginning or ending clears. It's not easy, but it is worth it if you can manage. Against tile movers, I would use IM40 + Strange + Kamala. Against goons, I would use Strange, Hawkguy(5/3/5) and Switch(3/5/5).
But my fastest team against goons, which reduced the grind was Thanos + Strange + Fist/Essential. To avoid using a lot of healthpacks, I would make sure Strange hit 3 times with his passive when the first enemy goes down so that Thanos' ally damage would be negated. I would also make sure that Court Death triggers just once because it kills a 2nd goon. So, I would switch targets when 1 goon is below the Court Death threshold. Plus, you have to watch their CD tiles. It's a little tricky process overall, but if you get the hang of it, the team clears goons fast with almost no healthpacks. With Thanos + Strange, SCL 6 should be a breeze and SCL 7 is manageable.

Thanks for replying!

I had a couple of questions and clarifications:

1. Is it possible to negate Thanos ally damage if Court Death kills the rest of the enemy team? My Court Death hits allies even on the starter nodes where goons have ~1000 health.

2. Your recommendation of IM40 + Strange + Kamala works nicely for non-goon nodes, but what team would you recommend if you had to include an Essential?

bbigler · November 2018

Theire said:
Thanks for replying!

I had a couple of questions and clarifications:

1. Is it possible to negate Thanos ally damage if Court Death kills the rest of the enemy team? My Court Death hits allies even on the starter nodes where goons have ~1000 health.

2. Your recommendation of IM40 + Strange + Kamala works nicely for non-goon nodes, but what team would you recommend if you had to include an Essential?

1. On the easy nodes, you can't avoid Thanos' ally damage, so I would use Thanos + 3*Grocket + Any 5* (for match damage). You should win in 1 or 2 turns. When Grocket is low, match yellow to heal. Doing 9 - 12 clears this way should only require 1 health pack. If you have 4* Grocket and/or 4*Ghost, they ensure a 1st turn win on easy nodes.
My previous suggestion to negate Thanos' ally damage using Strange, only works on harder nodes that have higher level goons. If you had a usable 4*Medusa, she could also help to burst heal and kill faster. It's faster than Hawkguy + Switch + Strange, but the latter is more fun.

2. For essential nodes, I used IM40 + Strange against tile movers. Strange's blue stun is so awesome! It solves any problem being both offense and defense. If the essential doesn't have a good red or green power, then simply wait for IM40 to nuke someone with Unibeam. This team also works well against goons, but Thanos + Strange is faster against any number of goons.
Any other 3* combo I've tried is slow compared to Thanos or IM40 teams. This should allow you to place top 50 in SCL 7.

Some other notable 3* teams:
Panther + Fist + Switch => generate 15 purple, flood board with black, Rage of the Panther, flood more black, Rage again. Also good on easy wave nodes, but I would use the Hawkguy team above for hard goon wave nodes.
IM40 + Magneto + Kamala => recharge, clear TU tiles, Magneto blue nuke, Kamala purple to create green cascades, Green Bash x 2. Many times, this can go on and on, which works well on boss events, like Sinister 6.
Another Sinister 6 team could be 3*Thor + Kamala + 2*Storm, which is a true winfinite. Yellow and Purple flood green, and Storm's green destroys 25+ tiles to keep things going on and on. Don't forget to hit with Red and Blue too. It's slow to get going, so use AP boosts and AP producing supports.

marvel_dayz · August 2020

For the budget player,
(With this, on a low $ spend, I have every character except 5*s.)

Wait for ~$3 deals: Note that you get the same month long of purchase bonuses regardless of how much you spent. So if you are on a tight budget, you can plan regular small purchases to leverage the purchase bonus. Remember that players who spend more money will have stronger rosters so just accept that and enjoy the play.

In the end, you only need 1* Spiderman 5/4/4: That is to play DDQ 1* node. Spiderman alone can handle that 1* node. His red at 640 can usually take out any enemy. Typically it will be the active enemy with life > 640. Match that enemy down below 640 and down the active enemy first. The worse match is with Ultron flyers but that is rare.

2* Magneto, Storm, Hawkeye is a very effective team. Don't complicate this decision, Just go for the purple. The thing is you want to use all your other 2* for resource farming so only keep one fighting 2* team around for DDQ again.

Resource farm all 2*. The thing is if you do not have slots, there is no point collecting covers unless you want to spend money. If you do not mind playing the long game, 2* resource farming will keep you supplied with 1000 HP for that slot when you need it. Having all 2* around at all times allows you to maximize special PVE nodes.

Conserve your 3* shards: I would say use your 3* shards only to get that final cover to complete a character. Do not use shards to promote levels. Why? Back to resource farming. If you conserve shards, when you fully champ and sell a 3*, you can use the shards to quickly complete its covers so the character is useful again. This works especially well for characters who are fed shards from 2* characters.

Not all characters are equally effective: When starting out, a single 4* cover is not useful. A single 5* is only useful for the match damage and as a meat shield. Do not worry about selling 4* or 5* covers while you build up your roster. Review the character ranking rosters and target keeping the "good" ones, especially to form teams. Like the OP said, conserve tokens till you think you can actually use them. Expiring covers is annoying however often inconsequential. Like many of the new 4*s, no big deal if do not have them on your roster.

Build fighting teams: You will find you use the same characters over and over again if they prove effective making most of your roster expendable. If I am against a special tile enemy, I use 4*/5* Carnage, Mr. Fantastic and Medusa. General enemies, Oyoke, Medusa, 3* Dr. Strange. Vulture, Karnak, any 5* with colours different from Karnak to boost critical tile damage. Spider-Gwen, Spider-man 2099, Vulture. To name a few. The thing is once you have your effective team, you can slowly build up the other characters.

5* meat shield: A single cover 5* powers are weak. You can use a 5* to protect more powerful lower ranked characters in PVE by giving them Supports that boosts their weaker colour so your 5* is in front for 4 instead of 3 colours.

Aim for SCL7: OP mentioned it but I think it should be highlighted. PVE SCL7 provides more or less, guaranteed 4* cover. As long as you play 7 nodes, you should get it. Since the game is mostly 4*, the 4* covers will be crucial in building out the roster.

Speed283 · September 2020

I’m a newer player. Didn’t pay attention to much and was/am willing to spend money.
i started reading forums and just joined this one. I see that no way should I have 40 some 4* characters. Should I sell them at this point? I have champed and am selling 2* characters. Have all the 3*, but of course haven’t champed any of those yet, but am getting close.
Thanks for any help!

Speed283 · September 2020

Thanks OJSP!

Speed283 · September 2020

Helpful article! What do I do with the 20+ covers I have sitting there? I can’t use them!

Speed283 · September 2020

I think I asked my question incorrectly and/or with not enough information.
I have many 2* characters with over 20 covers. I either can’t or don’t know how to use them.
Thanks for the help!

Speed283 · September 2020

Thanks again OJSP

bbigler · January 2022

Since I have restarted my roster again and the game has changed in the past few years, I’ll update this guide soon.

Sekilicious · January 2022

I’m pretty stoked about the upcoming update. I used this guide quite extensively to optimize my own gameplay somewhat, back in the day. The recommendations are gold, even if you just take the pattern of play and only spend what you are able, if anything at all.

2025 MPQ Progression Guide

Comments

Categories