Step 1) get 13 covers (doesn’t matter what color combination). Step 2) level to maximum, for a 2*, that’s 94. Step 3) pay some ISO to Champion the character. Once championed, then you can shuffle the colors around freely whenever you want. Also, once championed, each additional cover provides a single level, with a bonus reward (with 2* hitting max Champ level at 144).
And can somebody help me understand the idea of “farming” - or is it too early to worry about that? I’m trying to figure out options before actually selling the 8 off for ISO.
Can I play TWO instances of 2*Thor in one match if I recruit my extra 3 
covers?
Selling a maxed 2* (at level 144), gives you a lot of ISO, and some HP. It only takes a tiny bit more ISO to re-level a new 2* from 15 all the way to 94, at which point you can start applying more covers for champ levels and champ rewards (which include 3* covers, tokens, HP, and CP, in addition to more ISO than the extra 2* covers would be worth if you just sold them instead). So selling a level 144 2* Thor would pay most of the cost in championing a new 2* Thor, and then you get to re-earn all of those rewards again. (and no, you can’t run two Thors in one match, but if ThorA is defeated, you can use ThorB without having to spend a health pack, so there is some benefit to it)
It might be too early for you to worry about. Of course, I’m 500+ days in, and only barely farm myself (whereas plenty of alliance members that aren’t as far in as I am farm regularly). I’d say to keep an eye on it, and if you can manage it, it doesn’t hurt. Odds are you’ll need those roster slots for any 3s and 4s you come across, but if you can hold off on opening tokens and spending CP (slowing your intake of 3* and 4* covers), and have extra roster slots to spare, you can benefit from farming early on. It might take a while to do, but the 125HP means more when your roster slots only cost a few hundred, where mine are 1k each, you know? Slowing your growth to 3s and 4s might not be the best thing ever, but the increase in HP will help you be able to roster other characters (so you don’t have to sell them), and once you’ve got characters rostered, you can go crazy opening tokens to build them up.
So while it may be too early, you’ve got the advantage of being able to benefit from it way earlier than most do, so if you can manage it, why not? Might help you get further into the game faster, in the long run.
There is so much knowledge in this forum, and I know now that everybody says “don’t open your Legendary”…but I did, and I guess I’m going my own route. And even though my roster is all lopsided, I do have plenty of excitement, challenge and frustration. I can’t hang in there with higher levels of PvP, but I’m building, and I’ll get there in spite of myself. Not going to toss out my 4*'s.
The reason not to open Legendaries is the 5* characters. A 4* starts at level… 70? And 3s start at 40. Seems like a lot, but once you’ve built up your 2s to champ level, they’ll outshine 3s and 4s with only a few covers, and they’ll be level 94 and up, so it won’t be that big of a deal for your roster. But a single level 5* character starts at 255, which will make your roster WAY more lopsided. Supposedly they changed scaling to take care of that, but they never released the math, so nobody knows how much it’s been “fixed”. So a single 255 will completely overshadow the rest of your roster in a way that a few 4*s can’t do to an early roster, even one just a month in.
I really don’t understand the whole alliance thing - can’t find a “primer” anywhere (link if you have one, please). I’m kind of a solo guy anyway, but I’d like to understand what else is going on in this game.
At least join one for alliance rewards at the end of an event, and the free ISO each day in the Shield Resupply. You’ll get better rewards as you can find more competitive PVE/PVP alliances that match how much you put into the game, but early on you’ll get the most mileage out of the free ISO and extra rewards, even if you don’t intend to really engage in the social aspect of an alliance.
Also…I keep getting awarded Health Packs, but I haven’t found them yet. I do cycle my 10 regenerating ones constantly, of course. But I can somehow add “health” during a match?? Or before? I thought they would be in the page with “Boosts” and “Team-ups”…but no.
Health Pack rewards go to the 10 that regenerate. If you have 10, and get 1 as a reward, you’ll have 11. Once you drop below 10, the timer starts for them to regenerate. If you have, say, 6, and you get 1 as a reward, you’ll go up to 7, and the regen timer keeps going until you get back up to 10. So you benefit in that it cuts the timer down to get back to max, but your max is still 10, so getting a health pack when you’re under 10 sometimes feels like it “disappears”. It’s just the way it is.
You heal from the character select screen, which you can do before a match, but it’s BEFORE you get to the boost/team-up page. Healing IN the match is only done by certain characters (Wolverine, Daken, Ragnarok, Kamala Khan, Rocket & Groot, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man, etc; some heal automatically, some with powers, and some have “temporary” healing that only lasts in that match and looks green on their health bar, and some have “true” healing that sticks around after a fight, meaning you can take a weak Wolverine into a fight and let him heal up, and carry that health into the next fight, which is cool).
