Devil Dino knocks on the door, (nearly) one year of MPQ

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ Tips and Guides
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Tomorrow will be my 365th day of MPQ. For the curious ones, here is my roster :

http://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/Lee-T/

I obtained this roster mostly via PVE and DDQ, not a big fan of PVP right now. I currently end PVE at t150 at worst, t100 most of the time and t50 from time to time.

My PVP is limited to jumping in at the last hour and grab whatever I can, often finishing within t100 and between 400 and 650 points. I never spent HP on shields as my results are not currently worthy of protection. I obviously do not aim for the big 1k yet.

I’m part of a friendly alliance, far away in the placement rewards. I have no project to jump ship as I enjoy being part of a group I know IRL.

Moneywise I spent about 60€ (three Logan on sales) for roster slots, I never bought a cover and probably never will. I recruited every character I could which gave me a wide roster at the start of DDQ. Since the beginning of DDQ I only missed four covers (2 Doc Ock and 1 Gamora, because I didn’t have them yet, and 1 Rocket & Groot because of server issues).

I’m currently aiming at leveling as much 3* as I can to 135 and then start to level a handful to 166.

Any advice on where to go from here is welcomed ! (Especially on which one to push to 166 first)

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respes I would suggest:

3*
Black Panther to 5/3/5 his black is his signature move and his yellow enhances it

Black Widow to 5/3/5 her green is fierce at five and her purple feeds it

Captain Marvel to 5/5/3 - many would disagree with me on this but they would be wrong! t 5 her red destroys every single protect tile on the board. Ap generation is nice but she has to take a hell of a hit to make that trigger and it aint worth it, nor is it worth it giving up the 5th black and losing the second turn of stun. She is the backbone I built my entire roster with. Great under rated character.

Cyclops to 5/3/5 his black is great as is his red, yellow you will only use once or twice a match and by then you wont have any more team up tiles to change or you will have won or be dead.

Human Torch I really dig using when he is boosted and I prefer him 3/5/5 because even when he is boosted there are much better three star red powers.

Magneto I prefer 3/5/5 just because both his red and blue are highly poewerful and I don’t really care for protect tiles that I can’t place my self, like Steve’s.

Patch is perfect the way you have him.

Thor change to 3/5/5, his red is a dud compared to his yellow and his green. You wont regret it for a second.

Steve, finish out at 3/5/5, believe me, you need Steve able to overwrite any tile with two different powers. His red is fierce and his blue protect tiles make Cage’s look week and irrelevant. Along with Captain Marvel everything I have was built by having Steve.

Hood finish 5/5/3 his black is underwhelming.

Deadpool you want 5/5/3 if you want to finish fast and avoid damage, 3/5/5 if you want to tank it out.

Kamala - get 5 green! That is the only must, there is no duds in her builds, I have mine 3/5/5.

Cyclops, Steve Rogers, Kamala Khan and Captain Marvel are all great, as is Iron Fist Thor and Cage. Don’t spend iso on the inferior characters like Sentry, Beast Quicksilver and Doc Ock. It’s better spent on leveling the truly great characters. The Best Support Characters in the game are Loki and Hood in 3* land but which ones you should focus on is entirely up to the way you play. Steve and Carol along with OBW make survival nodes a snap. Other than that my best advise is never sell a 3* or 4* character. You never know when they will be essential.

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And I’d like to beg to differ on Human Torch. His red is one of the best 3* red powers out there, dealing 424 dmg/AP on its first use at l5 (that’s about on par with Cyke’s red at L5), and with the AP return essentially dealing 565 damage per AP on each subsequent use. The only red in the game that gives you more damage per AP is Hulkbuster’s at level 5.

Whether to go for 5 black or green is a matter of personal preference, but 5 red for him is pretty much a given, especially since you only use him in boosted weeks anyway, during which his red is even more of a monster.

Either way, OP, congrats on the anniversary! Looks like you’re on the right track. I would recommend stopping at L120 as a baseline when leveling your 3*s, though. That’s enough to make boosted PvP characters useable, and after 120 the ISO costs to level go up very steeply. That will leave you more ISO to level the best of the bunch to 166.

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Thanks guys !

Yep, I know I still have some work to do with most of my 3* and these are indeed my specs goal right now. Most of them should have optimum specs in the next 3/4 month via DDQ at worst, hopefully quickly via prog/placement/tokens.

Captain Marvel to 5/5/3 - many would disagree with me on this but they would be wrong! t 5 her red destroys every single protect tile on the board. Ap generation is nice but she has to take a hell of a hit to make that trigger and it aint worth it, nor is it worth it giving up the 5th black and losing the second turn of stun. She is the backbone I built my entire roster with. Great under rated character.
I’m debating between 5/5/3 the specialized tool and 3/5/5 which has hurt me more than once when I forgot to take someone to stun her. I’m trying the middle of the road way. But with 40(+?) 3* having a specialized tool might not be a bad idea.

Human Torch I really dig using when he is boosted and I prefer him 3/5/5 because even when he is boosted there are much better three star red powers.
I tend to play rainbow team so this isn’t a problem, that’s why I favor the 5/3/5.

Cyclops, Steve Rogers, Kamala Khan and Captain Marvel are all great, as is Iron Fist Thor and Cage. Don’t spend iso on the inferior characters like Sentry, Beast Quicksilver and Doc Ock. It’s better spent on leveling the truly great characters. The Best Support Characters in the game are Loki and Hood in 3* land but which ones you should focus on is entirely up to the way you play. Steve and Carol along with OBW make survival nodes a snap. Other than that my best advise is never sell a 3* or 4* character. You never know when they will be essential.
Steve is already my MVP right now, I love the multi-tool aspect of his powers and can’t wait for the 5th blue cover (my usual survival team is Steve/Mohawk/OBW).

I do not use him much right now, though that might change when I have 5 green cover.

I do agree here, especially because I do only use him on boosted weeks.

Either way, OP, congrats on the anniversary! Looks like you’re on the right track. I would recommend stopping at L120 as a baseline when leveling your 3*s, though. That’s enough to make boosted PvP characters useable, and after 120 the ISO costs to level go up very steeply. That will leave you more ISO to level the best of the bunch to 166.
Ok, so it might be a good idea to start leveling the big guys right now then.

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OP:

Ignore all advice regarding 3* cap. Marvel. She just isn’t worth using except when boosted in any build (yes, that advice is paradoxical!)

Swap out mostorm for patch in survival nodes. Regen to soak up the odd countdown you can’t clear, and strike tiles for obw to double dip.

Try to work on cage and if when possible. They are very strong 3*s (if is the best there is, cage is useful because he makes Loki and hood easier to use). Also go 5/3/5 and 3/5/5 respectively for cyclops and kk.

As for leveling, don’t worry about 166 yet. When you have 3-6 well matched 3*s, and then take all of them up to 154-160. That gives almost all the benefit of 166s (especially withbweekly boosting) and is much cheaper.

How do you feel overall about your roster? Are you happy with your progress after a year? Do you think thinkbyransitiontransition is too slow? Always curious to hear what people think.

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personally I would stop leveling everyone and continue on with only the top tier guys. start with bp, Cyclops, loki, mags, thor, steve and when better covered, KK, witch, fist, cage. hood is in that group too, but where you level him to depends on your play-style. get those to 140 and that is a great group to get a couple of boosteds out of. once a good core is at 140, then I’d push select guys to 166. I did it backwards because I did it right before they started the boosted program. with scores so much higher now and large chunks of the player base getting higher, not sure only a pair is a good idea. unless it is fist and you have all the best black users at 140 (cage, Cyclops, panther) - instant team if one is boosted.

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Interesting question. I’ve been through a few transitions and they’ve all been different.

From 1 to 2**
I think it’s way too fast. When I started DDQ all my 2* were maxed and I was slowly entering 3* transition. Loading the first node I relised that none of my 1* were maxed. None. You’re so fast into 2* that you do not need to level your 1*.
This fast pace creates an illusion that makes the following slog feel harder than it should.

From 2 to 3**
Back in february, just before DDQ, I was about to quit the game.I had all available 3* in my roster but Doc Ock and Gamora and all of them grossly undercovered. They felt more like PVE essential entry ticket rather than actual developable characters. I felt like there was no progression in sight, essentially an endgame of a sort. DDQ was what kept me in the game and made me devellop my roster.

We’ve been through almost two full cycles of DDQ, Take a look at my roster and mentally substract 2/2/1 from all my 3*. I probably would have even less covers as it would have been harder to place without DDQ’s covers.

My roster is not perfect but DDQ provides a conforting timeframe. I know rather than expect that most of my 3* specs will be optimal within six month. That’s a good feeling.

The upcoming 3 to 4**
My 4* are where my 3* were before DDQ, PVE essential entry tickets. I’m not concerned about it right now. I still have plenty to do with my 3* before considering my 4* a priority. I hope in the menwhile they’ll provide for a DDQ equivalent.

Overall I’m pretty happy with where I am. I avoided burn out and still feel good playing the game. However there is a slow weariness setting in. I’ve started bypassing PVE with uninteresting rewards, something I wouldn’t have done a few month ago. I hope the devs will shake things a bit and add some interesting stuff in the game to renew my interest before I actually get bored.

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get into PVP

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This wasn’t exactly what you asked about, but an unsolicited suggestion.

I understand the desire not to leave an alliance of friends for a different alliance. However, especially for events where you’ve put up a solid score, you may want to consider leaving for a couple of hours at the end of an event to merc for a different alliance (there’s always a forum thread for people and alliances looking for a temporary fit), and then coming right back home to your friends.

Usually, if the placement award is worth you putting in the effort to get a T50 score, the possible extra cover that can come from an alliance reward will also be valuable.

As long as you don’t do it for every event, you can probably (hopefully?) avoid any hard feelings with your alliance friends, and it can be a mutually beneficial arrangement with another alliance, as many times there are T100 alliances with players who don’t need the alliance cover.

I’ve personally stepped out so many times, to allow other people to temporarily join and get the alliance cover, that my alliance looks forward to seeing me use a particular farewell sticker on LINE as I leave. (Or maybe they just look forward to me leaving)

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to piggyback on stax - your roster appears to be pve-ish with everyone leveled evenly, giving you a wide range of characters to throw at pve. if your alliance is pve focused, you might find a partner alliance that is pvp focused and the few that play both at a high level might could merc to the other - I know the alliance I’m in has that kind of arrangement and it really works out well. my alliance is pvp focused and completely pve optional.

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I agree he is a ton better since his buff but every time it comes down to it I look at him and I look at Rocket and Groot and then I go with them, because I can place their blue and the yellow usually triggers a good to awesome cascade and their green is excellent for clearing the center of the board and creating opportunity if it’s full of a color you don’t need but your opponent does. Plus, it’s True Healing!

I honestly found myself getting more damage out of his green and black when I had them on the board. I do tend to always be running Carol, Steve, Magneto, Deadpool or Cyclops so as far as my rainbow goes I tend to look at Torch as my supplemental damage dealer rather than my main attraction and I love to clog up the board with his specials. You only have to keep them on the board a couple turns before their damage surpasses what you lose in having red at three. Great design on him, no real duds in his build either!

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I think it is sound advice, however PVP doesn’t appeal to me. Doing the last hour jump already feels like a chore (yep, more than PVE), so having to monitor shield hopping and LINE doesn’t feel like a fun proposition. I suppose I’ll bite the bullet when (and if) I’ll really need those 4*. Who knows, maybe once I learn the ropes I’ll have more fun with it than my current dabbling.

I woudn’t be honest if I said I never considered it and I do appreciate the advice. Some of my friends have already lost interest in the game, if the boat ever sink I’ll join another more competitive alliance (should they accept me) or join the realm of the “free agents”.

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Good advice everyone. Let’s me know what to look ahead for build-wise

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Re: torch.

His black saps all ap reserves. That’s a huge problem for me and leaves me uninterested in maxing it. Green is underrated, especially against goons and combined with Blake’s ap steal.

OP:

Re PvP. Hopping is a pain (i have been complaining about shield cooldowns since january, but the devs seem to have won on that front). But the good news is that with a deep enough 3* roster, you don’t need to worry about hopping. His to pay earlier in events, and off-peak. You can usually get to 1k on 0 or 1 hops in almost every event. So PvP doesn’t have to be painful most of the time (especially if you don’t need to protect a score for you alliance) and the rewards are the best in the game relative to time spent.

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PVP doesn’t have to ‘appeal’ to you, especially since you’re describing “last minute/I don’t have a 3* roster” PVP.

There is a different PVP where you can consistently be top 5.

I don’t monitor LINE. I don’t monitor shield hops, I shield hop every (5) hours, you win some, you lose some.

PVP > Deadpool Daily > PVE in terms of cover efficiency(and, basically, game efficiency)