In PvP, does choosing a lower SCL give you easier matches?

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
21

i think your opponents seem manageable. It’s probably their high hp that makes you think twice about hitting them. If you are bleeding iso-8 from skipping teams, then I think you might want to consider other strategy. In the next PVP event, would it be possible to list down 10 teams and their levels that you are seeing?

I’m not 100% about the availability of seed teams. Other players reported not seeing seed teams sometimes even though they entered as soon as possible. I guess some other players are just faster.

How does your roster look like? Did you enter your roster into MPQ Gamependium?

R4G is 4* Rocket & Groot. R4G, (any member from Guardian of the Galaxy) and Juggernaut is currently the meta/speed team for PvEs in 4* land.

The general advice is to build your 2*, followed by 3*, then 4* roster. 2* farming will help you to generate various resources so that you can progress a little faster.

22

More than you think.

23

@HoundofShadow
I’ve just started the Ice Breaker PVP, entered the 4th time-slot this time. it’s true their high health deterred me away - trading blows with 20k Hulk 5* against any 40k doesn’t seem an easy win. Or, it could be that I didn’t know better. I’m used to getting 8-10 wins before I need any health packs when I’m still matched with 3* and 4*.

The seed teams weren’t there, as expected, as I was late for several hours already. 3 teams that awaited me were combos of lvl 270+ 4-stars/lvl 300+ 5-stars.

The top 10 opponents are:
lvl 250 R4G 4* l
lvl 271 Juggernaut 4*
lvl 399 Iceman

lvl 315 Cable 5*
lvl 273 Karnak 4*
lvl 172 Iceman

lvl 273 X-23
lvl 258 Dr. Strange
lvl 324 Iceman

lvl 300 Apocalypse 5*
lvl 282 Karnak
lvl 167 Iceman

lvl 271 Vulture
lvl 273 R4G
lvl 278 Iceman

lvl 307 Prof. X
lvl 367 Quicksilver
lvl 403 Iceman

lvl 375 Kitty 5*
lvl 273 Karnak
lvl 167 Iceman

lvl 278 R4G
lvl 273 Juggernaut
lvl 282 Iceman

lvl 300 Apocalypse 5*
lvl 282 Karnak
lvl 167 Iceman

lvl 273 Hulk 4*
lvl 367 Riri
lvl 282 Iceman

My top three are lvl 213 Iceman, lvl 360 Apocalypse 5*, and lvl 330 Hulk 5*. The way I see it, I can only win one round then stop to cycle the health.

I’m currently out of the country and the local internet is terrible due to the many censorship and restrictions put in place I couldn’t access the MPQ Gamependium. The covers of the top 3 are Apocalypse 041, Hulk 215, Yelena 220.

Your advice is exactly what I am having in mind, hence the farming for HP. At the rate it is going right now, I suppose it will take me approx. 180 days to farm the 10,000 HP I need to collect all the 2-stars. There are only 3 2-stars in my roster. Farming in the 3* land was at least twice as quickly.

24

Your opponents aren’t as bad I expected. Most of them are manageble(less than 20k hp), except those with boosted 4* team, team R4G/Juggernaut & Kitty/R4G. I usually skip these two teams in PvPs. Your MMR is similar to what I’m seeing in Iceman PvP now.

I forgot to ask who your champed 4* is. Once there’s a better understanding of your roster, it would be easier to help you in dealing with PvP opponents. But that has to wait until you have access to more stable internet and fewer restrictions.

Since HP is more important to you, go for top 5 or 10 placement rewards in PvE SCL 6 if you have the essential 4* and if the schedule fits you well. Every T5/T10 sub-placement rewards give you 50-80? HP. This adds up quickly. If not, just stick with SCL 7, which I’m assuming to be the case. 180 days to get 10,000HP is seems long to me. However, once your full 2* roster is running, your HP gain will increase significantly.

25

@HoundofShadow
If I remember correctly, most of the first 10 opponents were close to 20k, which explained my reluctance. But after skipping a lot, and engage one team with quite high health and won, I started to see sub 15k now. In general, I avoid Juggernaut, Kitty, Karnak, and Vulture.

My only 4-star champion is lvl.273 Invisible Woman. The other champions are 3-stars, 43 of them. The top 3 3-stars are lvl.226 Magneto, lvl.226 Strange, and lvl.222 Hulk.

I agree with you that I should probably get into SCL6 for the PvE. I’ve started the Cosmic Chaos PvE SCL7 today, and I got clubbed quite easily even with my top five, including Apocalypse at 33k health.

From my simple calculation, HP reward is much lower from PvE compared to PvP, especially since PvP runs only for 2 days. 120HP every 2 days means 2 x 9 x 10 to farm approx. 10,000HP. Throw in some extras from PvE and daily bonus, maybe some lucky pull from tacos daily to shave few days off. But it is an awful long time, nonetheless.

26

If you can hit top T5-10 placement in SCL 6, sub placements will give you between 55-85hp per day. Overall placement will give you more. It should add up to about 300-350hp (including progression rewards) for a 3-day event. Note: I can’t remember the exact amount, so you need to check again for the next event.

For SCL 6 PvEs, 3* Dr Strange and 3* Thanos will help you speed up your clears in goon-heavy nodes. Dr Strange will take some damage from Thano’s AoE but if you have support that increases healing amount, you might want to equip it to Dr Strange. I remember my core 3* teams for clearing in SCL 6 were: Dr Strange, Thanos, IM40, Hawkeye, Patch and whoever is boosted. iHulk and 3* Thanos could potentially help you burn through SCL 6 quickly, if you are not concerned about healthpacks.

Anyway, R4G pairs well with iHulk. I’m not sure who you are prioritising shards for, but R4G has always been the first 4* to be recommended for PvE clearing.

27

@HoundofShadow
I will try to join SCL6 in the next PvE. But I forgot to mention that I have been skipping a couple of essential nodes because I lacked those specific heroes, mainly the 2-stars. As for the 4-stars that I do actually have, are too lowly leveled so I compensated with two 5-stars on those nodes. This is why I have kept my farming on PvP.

For the past two months I have been winning easy rounds on the Deadpool Daily with Thanos, along with Strange, those two are my most often used. My shards goes toward those closer to be championed, but perhaps this is not the best idea.

As for R4G 4-star, with 231 covers, it’s still too low to be of any use. I truly had no idea R4G is one of the best for PvE.

28

It’s going to take time. Using champed 4* is not important in PvE SCL 6. You need only 1 cover of them and you just need to make sure they can tank 4 rounds of 3* Thanos AoE without using healthpack. Don’t bother leveling up 4* just for the sake of their essential.
If the node consist of tile movers, IM40 and Dr Strange were all I need most of the time. You can swap in Dr Strange for iHulk if you want to. Practise your core teams often and you will be able to gauge what to do and whether they need healthpacks.

As for 2*, playing PvP and Shield Simulator will drop 2* covers occasionally. I hope Shield Simulator is slightly easier in terms of variety of opponents.

As for R4G, just max level him if you have the ISO-8 and focus on building up his yellow power first. That’s the main thing they are good for: putting out 7 strike tiles on the board at the beginning of the game. Pair him up with another GotG members and your strike tile strengths are increased by ~110%. After that, you can transition to Dr Strange, Thanos, R4G for clearing goons nodes in pick-3. Your PvE will be a blaze.

29

Today’s update:
Time remaining is 1d9h.
Top 3 points are 1,788 1,580 1,517. 1st rank is mayasoleil, with top 5 heroes lvl.468+.
I am at 552 points, ranked 33rd.

My opponent - lvl 540 5* Okoye, lvl 451 5* Hulk, lvl 506 Iceman. Match reward is 56.
How am I supposed to fight this kind of match?

I have stopped leveling the 4-stars, but at lvl 70 their health ranging from 3,000 to 4,000. That will lasts for 2 or 3 hits from Thanos’s Court Death, exactly useful for one match. I suppose you want me to cycle 4-stars as placeholders?

After the 5-star leveling mistake, I have considered to get myself the HP pack for some roster slots boost, since the 2-star rewards have been going for the ISO exchange. In my own experience so far, the Simulator’s match-making is more or less similar to the PvP’s.

30

Did that team appear in red or yellow node? It’s likely to be retaliation node / red node. I have seen even 550/550/essential enemy teams in my retaliation node. So, it’s “normal” due to “breaking” MMR.

Essential 4* characters are boosted, so their HP will be at least 7-8k. A max champed 3* Lvl 266 Thanos deals 1285 team damage. So, your essential 4* can tank at least 6 AoE. Since your Thanos is not max champed yet, I think your essential 4* should be able to tank 4 clears or 7-8 Thanos friendly AoE.

As for roster slots, I think you have to decide what’s the best choice for yourself. If you have more than 1 1* rostered you might want to keep only 1 and sell the rest.

31

You guessed correctly, it was a red node. I skipped it and a few more, then I started to get a couple of matches within my level. But I have to say those “easy to win” matches were much less than I previously had. There is this feeling that I’m being punished for having an unbalanced roster. I definitely would give back those level upgrades any day now.

I totally forgot about the boosted character. My only max champed are those 3 2-stars I keep around for the Deadpool Daily, and 1-star Spiderman. I am looking forward for the next PvE to test out your advice with SCL6 and post the result. Or should I go even lower?

For the past couple of years I have been prioritizing to complete the 3-stars, so the 2-star and 1-star were ditched a long time ago. With the currently going summer sale, that would be my option A. Or, option B, resume grinding at a much lesser frequency. Never would I have thought that having a stronger roster could actually detriment my grinding routine.

One thing I’m still curious about: were I to champion all of my 4-stars (not maxed, though) while keeping my 5-stars level as it is, will I still be matched with the current opponents, or will they get even stronger?

32

It’s both a plus and a minus having your roster. The minus is in PvP, and the plus is in PvE up till a certain SCL (6). PvE is usually the meatier part of the game, as far as earning resources is concerned.

Looking at the level of your top 3 3* roster, SCL 6 should be good for you. PvE are mostly made up of goons, so your Dr Strange is at a good level. As for going down to SCL 5, there are no hard and fast rule. You have to find out how comfortable SCL 6 is for you.

With enough practices, you should be able to keep your SCL 6 PvE clear to between 20-25mins, if you are able to play competitively. If not, just play like how you usually play. Hopefully, this helps to relieve some pressure from playing PvPs. I think if you were to continue playing SCL 7, you will get burned out pretty quickly: tough PvEs and tough PvPs.

33

The reason your mmr is the way it is is because of your single champ 4 star and your level 360 half covered 5 star.

34

Yeah it is :\ I really regret leveling them up hastily. But there’s no way to undo that - the CS couldn’t undo it, or so they say. I don’t mean to rig the match-making, but my game time is now tremendously reduced by the MMR. It seems that I actually paid to lose - I’ve just bought a little extra HP to complete the 4-star slots then pulled my tokens to fill them up.

35

I didn’t see your last question. Based on what I’ve experienced from 3* land to 4* land, this is what I observed:

3* land break MMR (>800 points) and sees only boosted champed 4* team and you can’t beat them unless you use Whales. Chances are you beaten by champed 4* teams once you climb too high.

4* land break MMR (>800 points) and sees mostly boosted champed 4* team, and occasionally single champed 5* team. You can beat those boosted champed 4* teams but you get beat down by 5* teams if you climb too high.

I guess if you have champed 5*, you get beat down by Lvl 550 5* teams.

To answer your question, you will still be seeing similar teams, except that you can take down those boosted 4* team more easily.

36

@HoundofShadow
I have no particular preference for PvP over PvE. Earning rewards is what matters to me, while enjoying the gameplay. Then, I wouldn’t mind to spend on the game regularly.

For the next round of PvE, I will drop down to SCL6. I am running SCL7 Savage Beasts, and the Black Panther Civil War node is already clubbing me to death with lvl.200 5-star Wolverine and Hawkeye. Before the unfortunate leveling, I could comfortably clear the essential nodes at least for the first three runs.

You haven’t answered my curiosity so please allow me to ask again, if I continue to level-up the 4-stars and 3-stars, will I face even stronger PvPs? Also, should I refrain from champed them or not, considering my MMR thing?

37

This is what i was hoping for - I could try to pay my way to speed things up and level-up my roster as many as I can to level the playing field. Or, I could let it go and call it a day ^^

38

Would you think the best way out of this is to level-up 3 and 4-stars as many as I can but not champed them? At least by then I would have some meat shield for the 5-star ^^

39

Given that MMR is based on your top 3-5 highest levelled characters, I would say your opponents won’t change much. The opponents that you are seeing is similar to what I’m seeing now. As long as you don’t level up your 5* any further, you should seeing similar levelled team.

MMR affects only PvPs, it doesn’t affect PvEs. That Black Panther node is difficult because OML puts out strike tiles passively due to that goon spamming its powers and Hawkeye fortifying its cd tiles. Without goon, that node should be easier.

40

This is what I was hoping for as well. Thank you for the comprehensive explanation. ^^

I will test my roster on the next PvE SCL6 and post the result.