If this goes into TL/DR territory, apologies in advance.
What follows are “my” rules of play, which is to say, some of this aligns with popular opinion, and some … uh, may not. Hard to say. I do things my way, and it works for me, so it may work for you (collective you, rather than specific… “you! In the pants!”)
1s: There’s one required 1 star node, I’ve been playing long enough that I have 3 1s at max level: Spider-Man, who is frankly as Spectacular as the name implies, Storm and Black Widow. This is my daily 1* DDQ team, and even if Bag-Man, OBW or 2torm are on the other side, the other two make up for it. If you ever need to ask the question, “Which 1 stars are worth it?” there are only two: Spider-Man and Black Widow. I keep Storm for her Yellow/Black coverage so I have a rainbow 1 star team. Everything else is unnecessary. To that point, most people will tell you that having 3 one stars is unnecessary, but I’ve had some weird DDQ matches.
2s: In the new meta, where you can Champion 2s to 144, I strongly recommend building out a roster of them for rounds 2 & 3. If there’s a character that you know chains into another character you want for a 3, hold it and champion it. My primary DDQ team for those nodes is: OBW, Magneto (MNM), and 2torm. That combination can slice through just about anything, has rainbow coverage, and Mags still chains to Wind Storm which ends most matches, either directly or by opening up the field to drop Magnetic Flux (5). Other combinations were listed above, and they’re all good. Also, if you’re still building, Moonstone has shockingly high HP and is positively unpleasant to deal with, since you can steal your opponents special tiles, then Gravity Warp them for damage. There’s some good stuff in there.
3s: Keep all your 3s. Seriously. Never sell a 3 or 4. (Yep… there are some real questionable characters in these tiers, but I’ll explain in a second). You can see from other rosters, understanding power interactions and so on who is best and worst in both categories, however:
As you advance, you’ll continue to champion characters, which opens up 4 star covers. 2torm → 3torm → Jane Foster (Thor, Goddess of Thunder, or ‘TGT’). Among best in class 3s are Daredevil, Thor, Blade, Daken, Patch, Mystique, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. These all vary based on covers, situation, and what have you, but the point is, it’s really where you’ll start to have solid combinations. A staple for many people is: Daken (1), Thor (2), Blade (3). This is a rainbow coverage dedicated color team that can positively demolish a lot of other units. IM40 is also incredibly useful in almost any situation as 5 recharge positions you to take down just about anything if you’ve got the right support. For example, IM40, Scarlet Witch and Gamora give you a nearly guaranteed 5 + 2 round team stun and around 3.5k of AOE damage while you plan your next move. There’s a lot of options in this category.
4s: Never sell a four. Even though Sue Storm is buffed this week, there will be another week where she’s required, and another week where she’s required for the Legendary Token in a fight against Quicksilver (I have her at 150, and I win that fight every time, although it may take 2 or 3 tries depending on the board disposition).
Epics: This is a whole nother thread.
Resources:
ISO-8: There’s two ways to do this. Way 1 is pick a single character, preferably someone with regen to start, and build them up to champion level. Then continue this process until you have your first solid rainbow coverage team: Daken/Blade/Thor, Patch/Magneto (3*)/Loki, and so on. Way 2 is to pick that team now, and build them up round robin style. There isn’t enough ISO to do any of this quickly (not a complaint, just stating facts as I see them) so you want to be deliberate.
CPs: 20 CP will buy you a 3 star level, or a draw from the Classic Vault. 25 will buy you a draw from the Current Legends vault, as will any Legendary Token you have. Some people go nuts and burn their tokens quickly, others have a sit and hold mentality. As you might have guessed, I fall squarely into the sit & hold camp, as I find wasting any covers to be infuriating (this is a me thing; early game you’ll be far less impacted).
Hero Points: After your initial roster build, new slots cap out at 1000 HP each; you can earn sufficient HP through play to meet this requirement. The highest/best use for Hero Points I’ve found is: Daily Draw from the Heroic Table or a Vault, or, build to 1k and buy a slot. Either works, depending on your goal. For me, I’m focused on buying slots most of the time.
So my recommendation is:
Build your 2 star roster to full functionality and your preference. You should have all of them eventually for required nodes in PVE, but they won’t all need to be leveled or championed.
Build your 3 star roster on the back of your 2 star, with an eye towards who champions into what. This will save you frustration mid game (i.e., the 3/4 transition).
Build your 4 star roster focused heavily on those characters that give you longevity in a fight; I cannot stress enough to never sell any of them, because at some point even the ones I despise (…TA Hulk, looking at you) will be needed somewhere along the line.
Hope that helps.
