The ChaHulk meta

Yeah the Kate thing was specifically to nullify the forever mirror match situation by preventing him regaining more health than he loses off a match 3 with web tiles involved.

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
Yeah the Kate thing was specifically to nullify the forever mirror match situation by preventing him regaining more health than he loses off a match 3 with web tiles involved.

Crystal.
Very, very slowly.

Permanent damage is definitely one of the ways I’d suggest a hard counter, but everybody who can do it does it in micro doses. Maybe a Old Man Daken or Knull are on the rebalance table soon?

The hard counter we are looking for shoudl be one which should not be pounced upon when we are fighting one chahulk team and winning with bare minimum health and we come back to see minus 220 points to retal then no point in fighting it at all ;skipping is a better option

Here is an example of a pick-3 team that can win but I wouldn’t say is a counter. Kind of hilarious for getting hulk down to 1 health point, this started out as a hulk/Crystal/Chasm team. It eventually flooded the board to the point chasm couldn’t keep up, which is another strategy that could work if there were a 5* who can do what Polaris does. Carbage is the closest who can do it passively.

My middle character there is Electro, probably would have worked better with somebody else some the yellow was only good for making one strike at a time.

@HoundofShadow said:
After looking back at all the 5* meta in pvps since Thorokoye, I say players still don't understand the aftermath of the tyoe of team they want in pvps. If we were to use all the meta since Gambit (Bishop aside) as benchmarks, here are the typical attributes players want:

1) speed in finishing matches (Thorokoye)
2) 1-2 healthpack usage every few matches (Britty) or zero healthpack usage (Thorokoye)
3) Good scarecrow (iHulkoye due to sheer offense, or Britty or Colossus/Wanda due to defense)

Players want to put up a team that can do 1, 2 and 3 in pvp, but they also hate teams that can do 1, 2 and 3.

Thorokoye meta has 1&2 but players were complaining due to lack of variety.

Then, we had Britty, who has 2&3. Complains: matches against them were slow. It was slow using them as well.

IHulkoye had all three, and players wanted them nerfed because fighting against them means using healthpacks or having slow matches (Britty).

Then, Wanda/Colossus came and they could also do all three. There were players who wanted them nerfed as well before weekly 5* boost was introduced. The complain was matches were slow and they require players to use healthpacks against them.

If your criteria in dealing with meta like Chasm/iHulk need to have 2 & 3, then prepare for slow matches when you fight against them. Either that, prepare for healthpack usages if they were decimating iHulk/Chasm with speed.

So far, there has not been a successful counter meta that doesn't invite complain for these past 4-5 years. ShangChi/America Chavez is probably our modern Thorokoye but given today's standard, not even players with 550 SC are using them because they are glass cannon.

You left out the 5* god boost meta which was actually the healthiest I believe the meta has been in a very very long time; maybe ever. Prior to Chasm, I feel that they figured it out. Chasm broke that.

@HoundofShadow said:
There are a few counters to Chasm/iHulk in pick-2 already but they fail the speed and probably healthpacks test. Speed test is subjective. Personally, ~ 2 minutes win speed is fine for me. Some players probably expect 45-60 second matches. Riri/Dr Thor might fail the healthpack test.

Replace Polaris with Ultron/Apocalypse and it will be much better. Electro will take 50% fewer damage, instead of 25% fewer damage. Ultron will help to buff and create strike tiles, while Apocalypse will boost his permanent damage to over 10k.

The problem with Chasm counters more than any of the three things you listed is the “target test”. Does playing this team put a target on my back where I’m getting hit to the point I’m losing points faster than I gain them. And trust me, if you are playing anything other than Hulkgasm (and yes that includes a boosted Chasm/Crystal), I’m hitting you and not thinking twice about it. Last PVP I think I joined too late and people “figured it out” that unboosted Hulk is a better partner than boosted Crystal because that’s all I could find and had to hit only Hulkgasm for like my last 300 points. I don’t really play the PvP meta game (coordinating, using line, memorizing times to play optimally etc.). I just hit targets that look good and don’t look at the names. So I’m likely doing a ton wrong.

@HoundofShadow said:
I look at pvp from a more pragmatic approach: how can I hit 1200 in the fewest wins possible? Variety is less of a priority to me. If I see 6X-7X, I hit. On the other side of the spectrum, there's at least 1 550 player who wants the dev to reduce 5* boost level by 70-80%. I'm not in Line, so I'm not sure what % of the 550 players in Line support that idea.

The thing about counter that also don't put a target on your back means that it's either slow to play against, or you use 1-2 healthpacks to take them down. I noticed a lot of 550 SC in SCL 10 when I went up to take a look recently. I guess it's due to them pulling for SC in vaults/stores. However, I don't recall seeing 550 SC in pvps. I've seen some other organic 550 meta like Okoye/Apocalypse/BRB being paired with other characters. SC actually pass speed and healthpack test but he's a glass cannon. In essence, the trade off is either slowing down of matches or causing heavy healthpack usage to deter multiple attacks in quick succession.

I have no problem hitting 1200 without relying on Hulkgasm in slice 1. It has always been the case that you will find limited targets due to joining late. It happened to me even when Chasm didn't exist back then. I assume joining late means joining with. 4 or fewer hours left. I think the differences could be due to different playstyles and personal comfort levels when it comes to risk appetite.

My “late” is under 24 hours. What non-hulkgasm teams are you using in pick-2 that don’t make you an instant target?

By the way I’m doing the chase wins/retal game this PVP and it’s so much nicer and the matches are insanely faster. Basically I joined at the beginning and beat seed teams with the loaner and 1* characters. Wait for retals from other 1-3* teams (because that’s all that can see me), then hit the retals with my loaner/1* widow/ 1* Spidey.