What is GamBat?
For those who don’t know, GamBat refers to the 3* 0/0/5 black gambit build.
This build generates 3 red AP and 3 purple AP passively each turn. Since 0/0/5 Gambit has no active red or purple skills to fire, this means that any other ally can use that AP gain as they please to fire off skills.
What makes GamBat powerful?
GamBat pairs perfectly with Phoenix as a duo. Phx fully protects all match damage on the board so GamBat will never take skill damage or match damage. Her Red and Purple skills are devastating on offense especially when given a chance to build up and spam. 18 red and 21 purple is just about enough to take out any PvE or 3* PvP team cascade luck depending. If they do survive (like in the case of high health 5* requirement nodes in PvE) then it probably won’t be for long.
GamBat isn’t limited to one 5* duo though. Right now in the Ghost Rider pvp we can see one of the main duo’s being used by top alliances for high end placement and enforcing has been 3* GamBat and 4* boosted Spider-Gwen. This combo allows Gwen to stun a team of two characters indefinitely since that skill costs 6 purple and GamBat generates 6 purple every two turns. In addition Gwen his a red skill that hits rather hard when boosted such that two castings of it (a skill that also costs 6 most of the time if played well) will down most 5*'s in the game**.** Some with high champ levels will require a 3rd red not that this really changes things.
Spider-Gwen isn’t the only good 4* character to pair with GamBat as we’ve seen people try out various 4* characters with good red and or purple skills. People like Gwenpool, Nova, XFDP, Spider-Woman, etc can all be rather successful even if they are on a lower tier than the primary two above.
We have plenty of duo or trio teams that can win matches, what makes GamBat so different?
This question is where the real debate comes in and where the poll becomes relevant. There is absolutely an argument that could be made that this is just another good duo/trio team that gets wins in a way that’s not genuinely harmful for the game.
Need other examples of teams that can hit well above what their tier suggests?
- Hawkeye/Coulson
- Peter Parker 5* / Vulture
- Xavier / (insert character that fires off special tiles here)
There is an argument to be made that good character synergies and creative teams should be rewarded. Its also a fine, fairly arbitrary line that tells us when something goes too far in this case.
What makes me feel that GamBat stands out is just the terrible precedence he sets.
- Since when is gaining 6 AP a turn considered reasonable?
- Do we really want to see more characters with this level of power added to the game? A Blue/Green and Yellow/Black similar style character for example?
- Are we really okay with a 3* character making such a big impact on both PvE and PvP play? GamBat is sufficient enough to easily place top 20 in PvE if not top 10. In PvP you can do your ENTIRE climb with GamBat saving tons of health packs and place top 25 (or in the extreme case of this most recent Ghost rider pvp as high as 1st place.)
If GamBat needs fixing, how do we fix it?
“So long as Gambit remains conscious, other allies cannot fire active red or purple skills”
My proposed fix is pretty simple. Keep the character working as it is when built up properly with 13 covers while putting an end to abusive teams that can really take advantage of massive AP ramp. The problem here certainly isn’t with the existence of Spider-Gwen for example…its the AP gain.
Conclusion
I hope this gives the context people need without too much of my bias built in.
I think its important to say that a championed 5* Gambit is still excellent and appears to be more appealing than building him 0/0/5 so far. Its rather early to come to that conclusion since Gambit is so new but a 5* 0/0/5 Gambit could negate some of the drawback of the 3* version and potentially take over long term. We won’t know this for a long time.
- Yes - GamBat is fun and opens up new team options.
- No - This much AP gain to be used by any team as they please breaks the game balance
- Undecided - Greatness at the cost of only 4742 health on a 3*…I could go either way.