A little while ago, whilst discussing C.Mags I was a bit stuck on how valuable board shake up abilities were (looking at his red) so I tested it out some (averaged almost exactly 2/3 of a match per use) and it got me to thinking about other abilities, how much they actually achieve and how valuable the shake up part of an ability really is.
So to break up the monotony of the TaT PvE i’ve been (over)using L.Thor, Hulk and Ragnarok to see how their board shake up abilities play out.
At time of testing all abilties had 5 covers apart from Mjolnir’s Might at 3 covers but it only scales damage after than point anyway. (Thanks for pointing out I needed to clarify this Mehhh)
Hulk Anger
116 total uses of Anger some of which were consecutive uses after multiple hits (not many though). This resulted in 51 instances of no matches at all and 65 of 1 or more matches. Lowest cascade was 1 (obviously 
) and highest was 6. 1 was the most common number and frequency reduced as cascade size increased.
The 65 uses providing 1 or more matches produced a total of 101 matches, mostly 3 but as high as 8. Total matched tiles was 327. This means each use of Anger provides, on average, 2.8 matched tiles.
Hulk Thunderous Clap
184 total uses of thunderous clap as close to 10 green AP as possible each time. Of those 65 produced no matches and 119 produced 1 or more matches. Lowest cascade was 1, highest was 8. 2 was actually the most common number of matches, followed by 1 then less frequent as you increase from 3 onwards.
The 119 uses providing 1 or more matches produced a total of 263 matches, mostly 3 but as high as 6. Total matched tiles was 825. this means Thunderous Clap provides, on average, 4.5 matched tiles.
Thor Mjolnir’s Might
Pretty unexciting (as expected). 59 total uses of which a painful 49 produced no matches. Of the 10 that provided matches only 1 instance was greater than 1 (2! 
) for a total of 33 matched tiles which equates to 0.5 matched tiles per use.
Thor Thunder Strike
35 total uses of Thunder Strike. Of those 6 produced no matches and 29 produced 1 or more matches. Lowest cascade was 1, highest was 5. 1 was the most common number of matches, then less frequent as you increase from 2 onwards.
The 29 uses providing 1 or more matches produced a total of 55 matches, mostly 3 but as high as 8. Total matched tiles was 183. this means Thunder Strike provides, on average, 5.2 matched tiles.
Ragnarok Godlike Power
64 total uses of Godlike Power. Of those 30 produced no matches and 34 produced 1 or more matches. Lowest cascade was 1, highest was 4. 1 was the most common number of matches, then less frequent as you increase from 2 onwards.
The 34 uses providing 1 or more matches produced a total of 54 matches, mostly 3 but as high as 7. Total matched tiles was 178. this means Godlike Power provides, on average, 2.8 matched tiles.
Ragnarok Thunderclap
70 total uses of Thunderclap. Of those 36 produced no matches and 34 produced 1 or more matches. Lowest cascade was 1, highest was 5. 1 was the most common number of matches, then less frequent as you increase from 2 onwards.
The 34 uses providing 1 or more matches produced a total of 40 matches, mostly 3 but as high as 5. Total matched tiles was 131. this means Thunderclap provides, on average, 1.9 matched tiles.
Loki Illusions
60 total uses of Illusions. Of those 27 produced no matches and 33 produced 1 or more matches. Lowest cascade was 1, highest was 6. 2 was the most common number of matches, 1 next then less frequent from 3 onwards.
The 33 uses providing 1 or more matches produced a total of 81 matches, mostly 3 but as high as 5. Total matched tiles was 255. this means Illusions provides, on average, 4.25 matched tiles.
GSBW Sniper Rifle
54 total uses of Sniper Rifle. Of those 17 produced no matches and 37 produced 1 or more matches. Lowest cascade was 1, highest was 11! 2 was the most common number of matches, 1 next then less frequent from 3 onwards.
The 37 uses providing 1 or more matches produced a total of 98 matches, mostly 3 but as high as 6. Total matched tiles was 310. this means Sniper Rifle provides, on average, 8.4 matched tiles.
Summary
Mostly some food for though on the value of these powers. Thunder Strike being amazing was instinctively obvious, same with Thunderous Clap but I was surprised how much work Godlike Power got done. Always though it was pretty bad but it was giving almost half it’s cost back in random AP which is not to be sniffed at. Thunderclap returning just under 1/3 of its cost was also a pleasant surprise.
The less said about Mjolnir’s might the better
. Probably should perform a bit better but because I prioritize yellow so highly with L.Thor there’s probably not all that much there for the tiles to match with. Similar situation with Anger to some degree I imagine.
Illusions is kind of meh. It’s an under-represented colour which is a plus and you can hope for a good match after use but don’t get your hopes up for an influx of AP after a use. Almost half the time it matched all of nothing for me… I will say that on every occasion I had a crit tile on the board Ilusions at least had the decency to match it for me 
.
Sniper rifle, on the other hand, is pretty amazing for board shakeup. You can target tiles to be destroyed (I can often pick three or more goon CD tiles off in PvE for example) and it supplies a healthy return of AP plus match damage alongside it’s high AoE damage output (at 5 covers). Admittedly a fight is often pretty much over when sniper rifle goes off but it’s still a potentially valuable bonus to the ability and in her popular Hulk combo you can get the rather daunting 19 tile cost fairly quickly.
