10 Questions to ask when evaluating a character

bbigler · December 2018

In the interest of being fair to new characters that come into the game, I've made this list of questions which I think cover all possibilities of a character being useful in some way (other than champ rewards and unlocking pve nodes). I think too many times people judge a character based on being useful in 1 situation only, such as PVP. I am referring to the fallacy of "Will they replace the PVP meta? No? Then they're trash. Next please." Please remember that just because a new character may be useless to you that doesn't mean they are useless to everyone else. New 4*s and 5*s may be very useful to someone new to that tier.

Questions to Ask Yourself:
1. Can they be useful in PVP? - unboosted and forming a good or fast 2-person combo in the same tier. If their best partner is in a lower tier or they need a 3rd partner, then you could wait for that PVP to come around.
2. Can they be useful in PVE? - are they good against certain pve enemy types, such as sentries. Can they clear nodes fast on the right team?
3. Can they be useful in Boss Events? - high single target damage? Tile and board manipulation? Winfinite combos?
4. Can they be useful in Shield Simulator? - Are they annoying to fight on defense? Do they only shine with 2 partners instead of 1?
5. Can they be useful to clear seed teams and easy nodes? - quick damage? Cheap AOE's?
6. Can they be useful in wave nodes? - do they need time to build up? Trigger off of downing enemies? Winfinite combos? Repeating AOE's?
7. Can they be useful to counter other top tier characters? - anti-meta characters.
8. Can they be useful half-covered to players in a lower tier? - can a half-covered 5* be useful to a 4* player? Same goes for 4* characters being used by 3* players.
9. Can they be useful when boosted? - many boosted 4*s and 5*s can outdo the standard meta for that tier.
10. Can they be useful with the right support? - will supports give a team the extra edge they need to outperform another?

If a character can be used in at least 1 of these situations and that team would be better than their current one, then it is worthwhile to chase after them. I would like to show that some non-meta defining characters are still worthwhile.

bbigler · December 2018

For example:

1. Carnage & Medusa is a great PVP combo which I've been using with success, but they're no longer meta-defining in PVP. During the Iron Fist PVP, I used Kitty & Grocket to climb higher than ever before, even though people say Kitty isn't useful in PVP. To a 4* player, Kitty is useful everywhere.

2. Hawkguy & Doc Ock are great against sentries in 3* land, but they aren't meta-defining.

3. In 2 past Boss events, I've used Cable with good success. I don't regret getting him mostly covered even though he's "mid-tier".

4. I see people using Thing & XFDP in Shield Sim because their passives are annoying to get around. They're not the meta, but they are useful.

5. Ghost is a good example of a new 4* character that clears easy nodes and seed teams fast.

6. 3*Bullseye is useful in wave nodes. 3*Black Panther, paired with Fist and Switch are useful in wave nodes for repetitive AOE's.

7. Some people use Kraven in Shield Sim just to counter Grocket. I would use Dazzler as well to counter Grocket.

8. I'll see half-covered non-meta defining 5*s used in 4* PVP and Shield Sim, such as LumberCap. Of course, Kitty is extremely useful to 4* players even though she's not "meta-defining".

9. You can argue that boosting most 4*s or 5*s will make them good and a viable play option. Since 5*s all get their turn in the boosted spotlight in PVE, then it's not a waste champing them all.

10. Again, Kingpin is a good example here. He needs cheap specials to give away for his Blue. Supports could do that. Kitty & Grocket need to fortify those buffed strikes, supports could do that.

TPF Alexis · December 2018

bbigler said:

For example:

4. I see people using Thing & XFDP in Shield Sim because their passives are annoying to get around. They're not the meta, but they are useful.

They also fall under #7, counter-Meta, since they pretty much nullify and/or heavily punish Grocket teams.

Dormammu · December 2018

Analyzing a character that deeply only needs to happen for 5-stars. Why bother looking at 3-stars or 4-stars when we roster them all (or want to) regardless?

But when I've spent months building up a hoard for 5-stars, you better believe I want to know...

bbigler said:

Will they replace the PVP meta?

This is an important question. Consider this: I had a hoard ready to blow when the likes of Archangel and Chrome Rider were in the latest three. Then JJ came along and looked amazing. Lots of players blew their hoards to get her, especially after Lumbercap was announced as the next 5-star and they were trying to avoid him.

I held off. I maintained the hoard.

I knew I wanted JJ, but I also knew I didn't want Angel or Rider because they wouldn't help me in PvP. So I waited... and then Okoye came along and I was SOOOO happy I did. i was able to champ Okoye and JJ at the same time. From that moment until now I have been sitting on a champed meta-defining Okoye, while all those players who blew their hoards on JJ too early moaned and complained on these forums that they couldn't get Okoye before she left the latest three.

Now I have duplicated my JJ hoard for Kitty, but instead of an Okoye coming along before Kitty leaves, it's Kingpin. If I'm going to blow my hoard for Kitty/Cable/Kingpin... I want to know if any of them can help me in PvP.

bbigler · December 2018

Dormammu said:

Now I have duplicated my JJ hoard for Kitty, but instead of an Okoye coming along before Kitty leaves, it's Kingpin. If I'm going to blow my hoard for Kitty/Cable/Kingpin... I want to know if any of them can help me in PvP.

This is my point, there is more to this game than playing PVP.

With a weekly boosted list and different required characters each PVP, you could play different teams for every PVP event. You could, but many people don't. At least do your initial climb with different teams, then pull out your fast climbing team for the end. Variety is good.

Yepyep · December 2018

Nice post demonstrating a refined critical thinking skillset.

I recognize this analytucal paradigm — do you happen to write middle/high school textbooks for a living, @bbigler?

AardvarkPepper · December 2018

bbigler said:

I used Kitty & Grocket to climb higher than ever before, even though people say Kitty isn't useful in PVP.

Hang out with different people. Kitty is useful.

2. Hawkguy & Doc Ock are great against sentries in 3* land, but they aren't meta-defining.

Hawkguy is the meta-defining anti-special tile meta in 3*. Generates AP, regenerates, what's not to love? He came out later, so some of the older guides and ranking lists don't put him high, but he's pretty meta in my opinion.

5. Ghost is a good example of a new 4* character that clears easy nodes and seed teams fast.

For easy nodes, faster than 4* Rocket and Groot / Gamora / Medusa? Faster than an assorted 5* and 3* Thanos? For seed teams too, I like Thanos, typically with a multi-step damage dealer like Daken so Thanos black can be triggered twice in a turn.

7. Some people use Kraven in Shield Sim just to counter Grocket. I would use Dazzler as well to counter Grocket.

I've seen a lot of people go on about Dazzler. Personally I feel she's overrated. On offense, she's all right, but generally I would go with Kraven.

Responses in bold.

"New 4*s and 5*s may be very useful to someone new to that tier." - mmmmmm well to be fair, walls of text are intimidating. But rather than simplifying to say "new 4*s and 5*s are useful" I'd say - generally there are events featuring newly released 4*s, so collectors can collect and use them and get more rewards in less time. But in terms of permanently rostering, I would really not recommend new players to just jump on the collect-what's-new-4*-bus. What players in the 3*-4* transition need are characters that will either define a new way to play, and/or characters that will work with their 3* lineups. Maybe less the latter and more the former, but even so.

And for that, effective combos usually come out to meta choices. 4* Rocket and Groot, 4* Gamora, 4* Medusa, then to some degree 4* Carnage, Vulture, others I won't get into here (though I did mention Kraven above).

As to 5*s, I don't think players should have the idea they can and should just collect the most recent 5*s. Basically they accumulate on the order of 500 Latest Legends tokens and a chunk of HP, then they go nuts on opening and try to get all three featured 5*s fully covered at once - that's the 5* transition there. But that doesn't mean the three latest 5*s will be *good*. Imagine you saved for a year after reading some short advice about how to make the transition into 5* and you got your fully covered 5*s, and you end up stuck in a higher PvP tier, and you just can't cut it against Thor/Okoye or whatever. (I mean yeah you can make it work, but it's a lot harder than it might have to be).

As far as showing non-meta characters can still be useful - frankly I think it's time for some new ranking lists and metas to be released. I mean, what is this meta in which 5* Kitty Pryde and 3* Hawkeye aren't meta? They're meta.

Now if you're saying for someone new to the 5* tier and looking for a core 5* team sure okay maybe you would go with Thor and Okoye instead. But 3* Hawkeye is super meta imo.

Straycat · December 2018

Additional questions I ask.

Do they work well on their own, or do they need a specific team or enemy team to function?

Do they work well with my favorite characters?

Are they fun?

Last one is up for interpretation, but for me a character is more fun when specific matches are worth more. Like 5* Daredevil, getting a big cascade on a stunned enemy, and making a match 4 to set off his green. And tile buffing is always fun for me. I like using Nico and 3* Punisher to try and make the strongest strike and attack tiles.

bbigler · December 2018

@AardvarkPepper without quoting everything, here's some comments:

Personally, I think Kitty is/will be meta-defining in PVE.
Ghost is faster than GrockGamDusa in PVE when paired with Grocket and Thanos. All easy nodes are cleared in 1 move.
Few 4* players have a champed Dazzler, so time will tell. But Dazzler can be very offensive with a red & green battery. A Dazzler + Grocket + IM40 team should kill the 4* meta teams very fast.
New 4*s and 5*s are the easiest to cover for new players, so they may be their only choice, whether good or not. New players would naturally look for synergy within the most recent 4*s and 5*s and play them. I guess that was my point. So, the new characters are useful because it takes much longer to champ the older ones. With Classic 5*s it's almost impossible to champ them without a huge hoard and a new release store.
I would like to see a ranking list divided by event type and tier; not a blanket ranking for each tier. Even specific events like Balance of Power or Combined Arms should have a separate ranking list. That would be useful, whose the best for certain events? That should expand people's thinking about what the meta is.

TPF Alexis · December 2018

bbigler said:

Ghost is faster than GrockGamDusa in PVE when paired with Grocket and Thanos. All easy nodes are cleared in 1 move.

How does that compare to Grocket/Thanos/random single-cover 5*, tho? That generally cleared them in one move for me even before Grocket, and it's easier to get a single cover for a 5* who complements Thanos's colours for match damage than it is to champ Ghost.

bbigler · December 2018

TPF Alexis said:

bbigler said:

Ghost is faster than GrockGamDusa in PVE when paired with Grocket and Thanos. All easy nodes are cleared in 1 move.

How does that compare to Grocket/Thanos/random single-cover 5*, tho? That generally cleared them in one move for me even before Grocket, and it's easier to get a single cover for a 5* who complements Thanos's colours for match damage than it is to champ Ghost.

Yes, a 5* could work too, but Ghost has higher match damage than a level 255 5*. If the 1-cover 5* is boosted, then it's better, but Ghost would still deal a little more damage. I found this out in a PVE where my level 255 Cable was boosted and I didn't know if I should choose the boosted Cable or Champed Ghost for easy nodes. So, I put them both in the battle and compared their match damage. Ghost was still higher.

The point is that Ghost has 5* match damage for the 4* tier. So, she will outperform a 1-cover 5*, even boosted ones. For that reason, she is useful to champ for 4* players. I also use Ghost to clear seed teams in PVP. Grocket would be better for that, but I use Grocket everywhere else, so it saves health packs to use Ghost instead.

TPF Alexis · December 2018

Good to know. Thanks for doing the comparative analysis!

10 Questions to ask when evaluating a character

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