PvE tips and theorycrafting optimal clears

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ Tips and Guides
1

Hey all, just sharing some random tips, as well as some mathing of node clears. I recently applied these principles to win a fairly competitive bracket in the most recent PvE.

TL;DR: If you want to maximize points in a highly competitive PvE, then do your final grind low-to-high.

General Tips:

  • Ask yourself if you really want to do the PvE. It’s pretty brutal. Are you really, really sure?
  • Utilize bracket threads (like this) to enter fresh brackets in order to maximize your chance to win.
  • If you decide to spend HP, spend it on +3 all AP boosts rather than health packs. Wipes are very HP-expensive.
  • Sub leads are absolutely crucial to maximizing your placement. If you enter a late fresh bracket near the end of the sub, grind it AS FAST AS POSSIBLE (if you’ve decided to spend HP, this is a good time to use it). (In my case, the last Florida node of The Hunt was open for about 80 minutes and I netted myself 17k points and roughly a 2k lead, essentially winning my bracket right there.)

Optimal node clear order

Captain Obvious says, “When a node is refreshing, it is generating points at a percentage of its full value. When a node is full, it stops generating points.”

Practically, this means two things:

  • If nodes are full (not generating points), clear highest point value nodes first to start generating higher point values sooner.
  • If all nodes are refreshing, clear nodes from lowest point value to highest to maximize high percentages on high point value nodes.

Example: Final clear for a two-node sub.

Assumptions:

  • Points generate in the node while you clear it. However, even if point generation freezes in the currently played node, it actually does not change the overall result.
  • A clear will cut 1/4th of the node’s point totals (currently in actual PvE it is 1/6th)

Node A: 400 points. Four consecutive clears will result in 400 + 304 + 208 + 112 = 1024 points (4 extra points generated during each clear).
Node B: 1000 points. Four consecutive clears will result in 1000 + 760 + 520 + 280 = 2560 points (10 extra points generated during each clear).

Eight-node clear example point totals

  • BAAAABBB = 3704 points (1000 + 400 + 304 + 208 + 112 + 800 + 560 + 320)
  • ABAAABBB = 3686 points (400 + 1000 + 308 + 212 + 116 + 790 + 550 + 310)
  • BABBBAAA = 3650 points (1000 + 400 + 770 + 530 + 290 + 316 + 220 + 124)
  • ABBBBAAA = 3632 points (400 + 1000 + 760 + 520 + 280 + 320 + 224 + 128)
  • AAAABBBB = 3584 points (400 + 304 + 208 + 112 + 1000 + 760 + 520 + 280)
  • BBBBAAAA = 3584 points (1000 + 760 + 520 + 280 + 400 + 304 + 208 + 112)

BAAAABBB wins; B is cleared first to maximize initial point generation, then A is fully cleared to allow B to generate points as long as possible. If A and B were both refreshing, it is always optimal to clear A to one point before doing so for B.

Random thoughts and opinions on the recent PvE event

  • T50 alliance 4* covers is a logistical nightmare for alliance commanders. Even if they refuse to change personal 4* placement rewards, they should at least change alliance rewards to T100 so alliances can stay together.
  • I grinded every node in Savage Lands down to 1 point each for my final clear, with a primary team of 219 X-Force, 219 4hor, 53 Iron Fist/GSBW, using +3 all AP boosts for the hardest node. I bought a single five-pack of health packs that I ended up using 2 of.
  • I reiterate my support for removing AP boosts from the game. They are way too unfair of an advantage, especially for someone like Iron Fist.
  • XF/GT/IF is an utterly insane PvE team. I came in expecting to use a large number of health packs for my final grind but they mostly just destroyed everything over and over again. Frankly, I think 4hor and IF deserve their nerfs.
2

One more tip: while your method is most efficient for point optimization, I prefer to sacrifice a little bit of points by doing the hardest node repeatedly until I need to use a health pack: having full health packs is also bad, and keeping them on regen will probably be more important than grinding down optimally (which no one even does anyways).

3

Assuming that there isn’t an overwhelmingly powerful broken combo exists (like IF + X Force) where you never have to worry about actually losing, here’s how I approach the nodes:

If health pack = full

Start with the hardest node that’s worth the least points. This isn’t a strictly level breakdown. For example in Savage Land the node with a Pyro/Sniper mixed with villian is probably hardest of that set simply because of the goon’s insane match damage + AP acceleration. If several looks comparable, do it in whatever order you feel is hardest.

Once your health pack is no longer at max, start doing the mission order from least points to highest points. You can take a detour to heal up X Force (e.g. you might as well use the goon only nodes in Savage Lands to heal up X Force).

If health pack dips to a dangerous number (like 2), either wait if there is still time (or hit some trivial missions), otherwise do mission in the order of easiest mission worth most points down to the hardest mission worth least points. You should of course also clear from easiest/most points first if you’re running low on time regardless of your health pack situation.

Generally speaking, you want to get the hardest missions out of the way while you’re ahead on time/health packs and save the easy missions worth big points for as long as possible. Now, if beating the nodes is totally trivial, you’d always want to do from lowest point to highest point, but that’s probably not happening after the next character balance.

4

Something I found out too late into Brotherhood: for 8hr refresh on 12hr nodes, it may be best to clear every 4hrs, instead of 8 hrs.
This gives 3 clears at 0hr, 4hr, 8hr, before a last push. It is more profitable than doing two full point clears at 0hr and 8hr before the last push.
Took a long time to realise why there are still loads of people way ahead of me when I was doing supposedly optimal clears.