***** Crystal (Crystalia Amaquelin) *****

245

Comments

  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2022
    I read the green as being like spiderwoman's purple.  You cast it and get some splash buttons to select an element. And your passive is then set on that element. I think it's recastable, but it's possible that you have to pick once and lock in the passive a la SW and Sersi.
    Also, I am pretty sure her match damage boost is +104 per *type* of special. Not per tile.  So it caps at +~600, and will more typically be 300-400.  That's good for her to tank, but not enough to tank for Colossus (on strong colors) or SC.
  • tonypq
    tonypq Posts: 557 Critical Contributor
    edited March 2022
    As far as using her as a special tile buffer, she'll buff that one tile higher than Kitty. But she has to first fire green then pick green as the element and it only buffs one tile unlike Kitty who can buff multiple. Ultron buffs one tile by 1K+ when more than 5 tiles are out. Polaris floods the board with ease. She doesn't seem she'd work as a tile buffer or someone to design a team around in hopes of buffing tiles. Sure she could buff more tiles as you match green but the results will vary depending on the board you get and how many greens are there. To bring another teammate along to add green to the board just to buff tiles seems like most cases you'd have other gameplans that would be better. 

    I'm just trying to figure out where she fits or how  I'd try to use her if rostered. Being a tile booster seems to have it's challenges the way her green works. As far as being a match damage focused character she doesn't have the health like Colossus to take a beating when she's tanking many colors. Yes she can heal with blue matches if chosen but you're limited to however many blue matches are available to heal up. In some cases there might not be many and she could get burned down rather quickly with her health on the low range. Plus I'd imagine you'd want to usually pick red as the element for the bonus damage in most cases, I couldbe wrong. Just seems the better choice than trying to force her into a tile buff role with green. I don't think she makes enough charged tiles to bother with yellow except maybe in a few obscure team combos.

    Her yellow passive is interesting and might make her good on defense who knows. It seems like it would be handy for other things like match and attack tile damage mitigation. Topping off the teams health should happen rather often I guess the way it works. Not sure if this ability gets any buffing from Okoye or Apoc to boost the healing further or if her yellow is exploitable in other ways. 
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,180 Chairperson of the Boards
    She’s a master of the 4 elements: Earth, Wind, Water & Fire?  Doesn’t that make her like the Last Airbender? 
  • Bad
    Bad Posts: 3,146 Chairperson of the Boards
    Electro has a cheap yellow creating a 6500 strong strike at the bottom of the board, making it harder to match.
    Based on crystal wording, a 2 green cascade would make that strike into 23k strenght strike tile in same turn. Not bad!
    In the case of a strong strike well placed and having many green matches she would be the best buffer.
    Odin also has strong strikes and fortified, but it's more chaotic.
  • MadScientist
    MadScientist Posts: 317 Mover and Shaker

    More like Planetina :)
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    We have three defensive/support 5* in a row this year. Is this trend going to be carried to the next 5* or are Q2 5* releases going to be freshen up?

    Here are some underrated gameplays that have not taken off in 5* land yet: airborne, web tiles, trap tiles, charged tiles. Let's hope the next three releases will focus on trap tiles, which fits into Multiverse of Madness tie-ins where traps are everywhere.

    As for Crystal, play her defensively for a piece of mind. Focus either on Fire or Air and you'll be fine. Water and Earth element are the worst elemental powers.


  • MoosePrime
    MoosePrime Posts: 969 Critical Contributor
    Srheer0 said:
    I guess she has synergy with black bolt and onslaught specifically.

    BB because of the charged tiles and onslaught because he has blue and pink spenders and can make an invis tile.
    Onslaught uses trap tiles to be invisible, so he won't help Crystal's match damage.
  • Srheer0
    Srheer0 Posts: 510 Critical Contributor
    MoosePrime said:
    Srheer0 said:
    I guess she has synergy with black bolt and onslaught specifically.

    BB because of the charged tiles and onslaught because he has blue and pink spenders and can make an invis tile.
    Onslaught uses trap tiles to be invisible, so he won't help Crystal's match damage.

    Yes, you are right.
    Arg. 
  • tonypq
    tonypq Posts: 557 Critical Contributor
    For anyone who's been hoarding for better releases is Crystal going to get you break your bank ?


  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,180 Chairperson of the Boards
    (Potential) Crystal partners or teams: 

    Crystal + Shang: choose Fire and get extra dmg from red matches.  Her green AOE and burst healing is an added bonus. But she will be a PVP deterrent on defense since Shang is a target.  I would run her 3/5/5 here.  

    Crystal + Sersi: Use Sersi’s purple to restrict purple and create 1700+ strikes.  Crystal now tanks over Sersi.  Then just match green first and red second.  Fire green AOE (boosted with Sersi’s strikes) and set the passive to Fire.  Use Crystal’s red power to hit and add more specials.  Fire Sersi’s green to add more red tiles and fortify-buff any red specials you have.  Run Crystal as 5/5/3 here.

    Crystal + Polaris: Focus on blue and green.  Polaris multiplies strikes and stuns, while Crystal hits with a boosted AOE.  Set her passive to Water here since she will tank everything, thus ending the battle unscathed.  If needed, use Crystal’s red to get Polaris going.  Even though Polaris is squishy, Crystal is a defensive deterrent.  

    Crystal + Apocalypse / Okoye: Simply exploit Crystal’s cheap AOE with their damage “multiplier”.  Apoc’s red is better than Crystal’s, but her red is better than Okoye’s.  You could also set her passive to Fire here and get buffed extra dmg. She provides something Apoc & Okoye are seriously lacking, PVP defense.  

    Crystal + Sersi + Kamala: This should be a fun tile buffing semi-winfinite team => collect purple and green.  Create strikes with Sersi (restrict red) then set Crystal’s passive to Earth.  Then proceed to add green with Kamala (buffing strikes), then add purple with Sersi (fortifying and buffing purple strikes) and repeat.  The cascades alone will down the enemy, no need to fire Crystal’s AOE again, unless to end the match.  
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,180 Chairperson of the Boards
    Srheer0 said:
    MoosePrime said:
    Srheer0 said:
    I guess she has synergy with black bolt and onslaught specifically.

    BB because of the charged tiles and onslaught because he has blue and pink spenders and can make an invis tile.
    Onslaught uses trap tiles to be invisible, so he won't help Crystal's match damage.

    Yes, you are right.
    Arg. 
    Her match dmg increase would have been much better if it included ALL tile types: 

    Strike
    Attack
    Protect
    Countdown
    Repeater
    Invisibility
    Web
    Trap
    Charged
    Fortified
    Locked
    Critical

    That’s 12 types; and if it counted both friendly and enemy types, even better.  But I guess they don’t want to make her “too” good
  • Warbringa
    Warbringa Posts: 1,318 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2022
    tonypq said:
    For anyone who's been hoarding for better releases is Crystal going to get you break your bank ?


    Nope.  She reminds me of Ultron.  She does a lot of things ok but nothing great.  

    Match Damage - SC and Colossus are better choices 
    Tiles and Buffing - she has good tile production and so-so buffing 
    Healing - she's not good
    AP generation - her Mockingbird lite passive is ok but there are much better AP generation 
    AoE- cheap and has the flexible choice but not amazing damage

    Poor health and common color scheme as well

    As a whole she can be good but on paper, I would never consider her even close to Shang-Chi for example.  She doesn't heal anywhere close to him, her match damage pales since she doesn't produce critical tiles and she doesn't self feed like he can do and she is squishier with a generic red/green/yellow power set (ahem 5Thor is a much better companion - even undercovered, than she will be with SC).  

    Apocalypse is better than her too.  His red hits harder and targets the squishiest opponent, his yellow provides defense and damage buff and his black is a far more potent AoE.  He is also beefy.
  • Warbringa
    Warbringa Posts: 1,318 Chairperson of the Boards
    bbigler said:
    (Potential) Crystal partners or teams: 

    Crystal + Shang: choose Fire and get extra dmg from red matches.  Her green AOE and burst healing is an added bonus. But she will be a PVP deterrent on defense since Shang is a target.  I would run her 3/5/5 here.  

    This is the only team combo I don't see much value on from your list.  Does anyone else actually think Shang is an issue in PvP on defense when taking on SC teams?  I always leave him last as the AI can't play him correctly.  He has never significantly hurt me in battles and I love targeting teams that use him on defense.  I think there are several better options than her for SC.  For example, Big Wheels green is just way way better with SC for the same AP cost.  It is really easy to get 20 charges on BW with someone like SC and 5Thor and you do far more damage and get a board flip which is super valuable with BW and SC.  

    I agree that your other team combos with Crystal may look good!
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2022
    bbigler said:
    She’s a master of the 4 elements: Earth, Wind, Water & Fire?  Doesn’t that make her like the Last Airbender? 

    Wouldn't that make her the avatar. . .
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,180 Chairperson of the Boards
    Warbringa said:
    bbigler said:
    (Potential) Crystal partners or teams: 

    Crystal + Shang: choose Fire and get extra dmg from red matches.  Her green AOE and burst healing is an added bonus. But she will be a PVP deterrent on defense since Shang is a target.  I would run her 3/5/5 here.  

    This is the only team combo I don't see much value on from your list.  Does anyone else actually think Shang is an issue in PvP on defense when taking on SC teams?  I always leave him last as the AI can't play him correctly.  He has never significantly hurt me in battles and I love targeting teams that use him on defense.  I think there are several better options than her for SC.  For example, Big Wheels green is just way way better with SC for the same AP cost.  It is really easy to get 20 charges on BW with someone like SC and 5Thor and you do far more damage and get a board flip which is super valuable with BW and SC.  

    I agree that your other team combos with Crystal may look good!
    I think you misunderstood me.  I was saying that Shang is easy on defense; so if you climb with him, you’re a PVP target.  But if you combine Shang with Crystal (who has a very defensive passive), then your team is less of a target.  

    I also think you misunderstand Crystal: 

    - she’s not meant to deal high match damage, so it’s pointless to compare her to Shang; her match dmg increase is to make her tank most colors in case you want to play her defensively by making frequent blue matches to heal her 4K each time.  

    - she’s not meant to be a great AP generator, so it’s pointless to make those comparisons.  Her yellow passive is meant to be a big defensive deterrent, which sometimes helps on offense. 

    - her tile buffing can be exponential under the right conditions.  A single special can be nearly doubled in strength with each green match.  
    - her green AOE actually has very good damage output, being 3,315 per AP. 
    - her extra dmg on red matches is just simply good

    - her red power is not meant to be a nuke, but a decent hit that allows her to start tanking or having specials to buff 

    Too many times people judge a character by what they want them to be instead of what they are meant to be.  
  • Anon
    Anon Posts: 1,455 Chairperson of the Boards
    That Green is gonna get ugly. I love it!
  • Bzhai
    Bzhai Posts: 579 Critical Contributor
    Venomous said:
    Can we just take a moment to appreciate her kit honestly? I know I'm not really like most players but the thing I am noticing from the posts from the thread is just how versatile she is. So many messages regarding 4 stars who are interesting that the forums wish were a 5 star instead. She isn't exactly meta or super strong, but her kit is very interesting. Unlike a lot of 5 stars, she seems very good at doing multiple things being tile buffing, healing, or just raw damage. Even her increased match damage on her Red isn't as bad as people think it is. It's a flat rate instead of a percentage. This means that even when she makes matches, she doesn't focus in, she is still doing a ton of damage. Colossus and Shang Chi are both super strong yes, but them both being a percentage means their colors that aren't their own don't do much more damage. 

    She isn't meta and she isn't super strong, but honestly her kit is very interesting, and I sure would love to try her. Imagine all the possible synergies she could have. 
    She reminds me of Super Skrull but more team oriented. They're trying really hard to make tactical characters with flexible playstyles. Most of them end up with bloated AP cost (Cyclops and Elektra) or powers that contradict each other (Magneto). 
  • Venomous
    Venomous Posts: 236 Tile Toppler
    Bzhai said:
    Venomous said:
    Can we just take a moment to appreciate her kit honestly? I know I'm not really like most players but the thing I am noticing from the posts from the thread is just how versatile she is. So many messages regarding 4 stars who are interesting that the forums wish were a 5 star instead. She isn't exactly meta or super strong, but her kit is very interesting. Unlike a lot of 5 stars, she seems very good at doing multiple things being tile buffing, healing, or just raw damage. Even her increased match damage on her Red isn't as bad as people think it is. It's a flat rate instead of a percentage. This means that even when she makes matches, she doesn't focus in, she is still doing a ton of damage. Colossus and Shang Chi are both super strong yes, but them both being a percentage means their colors that aren't their own don't do much more damage. 

    She isn't meta and she isn't super strong, but honestly her kit is very interesting, and I sure would love to try her. Imagine all the possible synergies she could have. 
    She reminds me of Super Skrull but more team oriented. They're trying really hard to make tactical characters with flexible playstyles. Most of them end up with bloated AP cost (Cyclops and Elektra) or powers that contradict each other (Magneto). 
    Exactly. The price is the problem.... Which honestly makes me think. Maybe the trick to mixing Team Orientated and Versatility would be a unit who can decrease the cost of abilities like Hellcat. It would help fix the bloated AP costs characters like those tend to have. 

    But team orientated is still so important.     going back again to Crystal. Honestly, it's really refreshing seeing everyone come up with synergies. It was one of the poll options and actually one I voted for. It's nice seeing all the different synergies you can make in the game. For example I found out 4 star Punisher and Nova play very very well with one another. Both make special tiles on only black, and Punisher makes good use of em. 

    Cyclops I don't really think makes a     good team orientated unit since his green and red need to be used to help each other fire them. His Yellow was great, but not on it's own. Honestly when it does come to ideal team orientated units.... I really think Nico is up there for me. While her niche is special tiles, on her own she isn't very strong. She needs allies to help generate her special tiles because by default she doesn't many many of them. Overall. More supports would be nice honestly. That's kinda what a lot of the team based units have that other lack. Even those in the most powerful of metas are great synergies. HulkOkoye, Shang Chi and Valkyrie ( Even though I don't know why they work), or even Polaris with basically anyone. That is why "The Bishop Meta" kinda sucked. Because having a single unit be so powerful or able to play on their own defeats the purpose of making synergies. And again, the synergy building is one of my favorite things about PQ. 
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 11,504 Chairperson of the Boards
    Happy to have Crystal in the game and her powers look really interesting and fun. She seems the best 5 of the recent lot to me.

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