I do this too. I have other 4s leveled up but really XF is the key, imo. I usually pair him with a 3 and boost up and I can beat any foe including maxed XF/4Thor/featured, without much concern. Smart timing and hopping and I can rank high consistently.
My XF is cover maxed but I don’t see any reason to level max him as I already consistently reach my goals and I’d rather spread ISO around.
I’ve only tried the late start once, and it nearly worked out - but not quite. found since I was playing near the end I was getting hit with less than an hour to go. I also need to hit minumum scores for alliance, but you’ve encouraged me to give the late start a shot again.
I feel your pain jozier. I knew I couldn’t play this PVE because of family obligations and I was out of any service area to play. I decided to jump into the last slice that opened when I got home, which was 1 with 18 hours left. I missed a sub ending for the bracket so I knew I wasn’t going to get top 5, but I did two refreshes and a final grind. Got one cover and I couldn’t be happier with zero stress. After this, I will never go back to grinding PVE ever again.
I grind for a week to get 4 star thor just to have connection problems in the last hour of the event costing me the 4 star (went from 34th to 53rd i know your pain.