The strategy which worked for me was honestly to kinda ignore the LLs beyond rostering them and focus on the classics.
I found it to be a far better use of resources.

I am at the low 600's for CP and am saving them in the hopes of an awesome anniversary store.

I think I will just go with opening LLs once Daken is required and hope a pull a cover without having to go into my CP.

Newest 4* is previewed

https://d3go.helpshift.com/a/marvel-...RlgzWkraofG2bM

Seems to work well with Medusa/Carnage, though not as well as Kitty (of course) but could make things a bit more interesting with Gritty, BRB, or Apoc if I read the purple power correctly. I am not a fan of the blue power.

I am a big Polaris fan, so glad she is making it into the game AND I think she pairs very nicely with Kitty (and maybe Valkyrie or Grocket). Truly she's got a lot of synergies, especially in the 4* tier.

Her auto-damage will be interesting if it's boosted by Okoye. That will make Hulkoye one extra level of crazy in her PvP.

For the math/stats people....

I am wondering if anyone has come up with a formula that could tell me when it is "safe" to spend shards on covers for unchamped 4*s.
I have something (below), and I'm seeking a second set of eyes on that or a better way to make the call of when to spend.

Basically, in the new system where getting to 10 covers is no longer a requirement I have been doing a few things differently.
1) I'm no longer favoriting the new guys when they become favoritable. I figure that I'll get them when I get them, and they'll be slightly heavier in the rotation at first, so it should not take too long.
2) I'm not applying the covers I could apply from shards until it comes time to where I could get them prepped for champing. Basically, I do not want to run the risk of "wasting" covers.
Like, if I applied a shard cover to slot 3 and then proceeded to get a bunch of natural covers that were all for slot three, then I've "wasted" that shard cover which could have been applied anywhere.
(Yes, I know that due to saving it is not truly wasted as it will just become a champ level later, but in the interest of getting the toon champed, it is temporarily wasted.)

Right now I have....
Misty Knight 2/2/2 w/ 1790 shards (4 covers)
Antivenom is 1/2/2 w/ 2020 shards (5 covers)

In an ideal world I will apply my covers to take a guy to 12 with a 4/4/4 build. Then I am assured that the next cover gets it champed.

Taking Antivenom as an example, my worst case scenario is 1/2/5, but even in that case my current 5 shard covers can get him completed. In fact, the moment he reached 1/2/4 I would have applied the five covers to make him 4/4/4.
So, really, what I am trying to determine is whether I am safe spending any of my shards now. If so, is there a formula to determine that?

Like, right now I think I'm safe spending one cover on him (AV) to get him to 2/2/2. That puts me in a position where my next two covers, no matter where they are, will allow me to fill in with shards for a 4/4/4.
I would be at 2/2/2 with enough shards for 4 covers. 4/2/2 and 3/3/2 can both be taken to 4/4/4 with that.

But at the same time I think I should not at this point put him up to 3/3/3.
In a case like that, my next 2 covers could result in a 5/3/3, and then my remaining shard covers (1) could only make him 5/4/3, resulting in a slot where I could get wasted covers.

However, I'm thinking that once I get one more cover...either via shards or a natural...then I could safely put him at 3/3/3. I would have 2 shard covers left, ensuring the ability to get him to a 4/4/4 on the next cover.

So here is my "formula":

It is safe to use shards to take an unchamped 4* to X/X/X as long as the total remaining shards will be at least equal to 2*(4-X).

1/1/1 worst case scenario would be 4/1/1. That would take 6 shard covers to reach 4/4/4. X=1 --> 2*(4-1) = 6
2/2/2 worst case scenario would be 4/2/2. That would take 4 shard covers to reach 4/4/4. X=2 --> 2*(4-2) = 4
3/3/3 worst case scenario would be 4/3/3. That would take 2 shard covers to reach 4/4/4. X=3 --> 2*(4-3) = 2

Does that sound correct?


---------------------------
Addendum:

Yes, I know that I could/should also be factoring in things like upcoming prizes.
For example, I expect to be getting a green Misty cover plus 100 or 125 shards once DPvMPQ ends. Additionally, I should be getting a yellow Misty and 850 shards for progression in the next PVE.
This means that I am somewhat looking at a Misty at 3/3/2 with 2640 or 2665 shards (six covers) at the end of the next PVE.
For her, then, unless unforeseen circumstances change things, I'm actually safe at this point applying my existing shards to make her 3/3/4.
The two covers alone will get her to 4/4/4, and the shards can finish her, plus I'll be going into the next PVE with her at 4/3/4 instead of 2/2/2, giving me that much more oomph on her node.
(For clarity, I'd be setting her to 3/3/4 now with my shards, then the DPvMPQ placement cover gets her to 4/3/4.)

For Antivenom I've got 160 shards and a black cover still to nab in the Simulator, plus 480 shards (maybe) if I hit 10K in the season. Not sure when I'll get around to that, though, so I'm going to skip the math there and put those into the "get 'em when I get 'em" category for now.

Does any/all of this make sense?

Do you folks level your supports as you get them, or are you like me and have leveled a few that you use and just kept the others unleveled?

I just figured out that I'm only 24K RISO shy of being able to take all of my supports to whatever max they can currently have.
I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and do that.

Aside from the stones (of which I have none, nor expect to ever see, barring something cool like everyone getting a random one in the anniversary), I am missing only 2 supports (BW's Batons and Kra-Van).

Like I said, everything I have is either up to its current max or at level 1. I don't have anything in the middle.

Here is what I am looking at. This is the number of unleveled supports at each star ranking and the amount of RISO to max it.

2x 1* (1/50) - 20822 x 2 = 41644
6x 2* (1/100) - 90017 x 6 = 540102
3x 3* (1/150) - 211442 x 3 = 634326
2x 4* (1/200) - 387301 x 2 = 774602
1x 5* (1/250) - 619206 x 1 = 619206

Total: 2,609,880 RISO to max everything.

I have 2,585,376 RISO on hand, so it is not quite enough to do everything.

That 5* is Vanessa, so she is just useless.

I'm sort of thinking that I might max up everything and just be done with it all. Well, everything but Vanessa that is.

Basically this gets almost everything maxed and leaves me with almost enough to take anything I would happen to pull up to a 5* max.
In reality, due to the fact that everything would be up to their max, the only ones I'd be unable to immediately take to 5* would be the two I don't have or the two 1*s.

The likelihood of it happening is super slim anyway.
And I certainly do not expect them to be release a bunch of new supports or somehow giving us the ability to try and build the ones we have.

I'm kinda seeing no reason not to do it. There is no particular reason to do it, either, of course, except who knows, I might see something that actually looks good once it has some levels behind it. I don't know. Who knows, maybe Hulking becomes awesome once he is 200/200.

Thoughts?

I encourage you to max out all of your supports because that would be when D3 decides to bring back support events and maybe even new supports.

speaking of which. I wouldn't mind if at the end of the season (cause it usually happens around that time) we get an alliance event and a support event and then back to business as usual.

As for your new 4* conundrum. I have not been playing as much but I attempt it this way. If I have at least 2 covers in two slots but 0 in one then I use shards to give me at least 1 cover, maybe more if it is a really useful power. Then I wait until the amount of shards can get me to 13 in the build I want. My difference is that I am not champing any 4*s yet while you would champ once you hit 13 covers to get the configuration you want.

Since you mentioned not having to get 10 covers, how are you and everyone else enjoying the fact that you don't have to chase down those 10 covers?

That is about the only nice change in recent memory.

As far as not going for the champing, yeah, I would probably follow your strategy. For me where I am, with a 4* character (especially in PVE) there will most likely be two 5* flanking him, ad they will be doing the heavy lifting. The result is that barring some outlier corner case, a 2/2/2 will be impacting that match as much as a 4/4/4 or so.

I'm definitely in love with Polaris in 4* runs. Just her and Medusa together is insanity. Already have 4 covers, which for a brand new toon is really weird for me.

Also actually FINISHED the SHIELD training with her. Only needed the Whales on the final 5*, because of the Medusa-Shadowcat-Polaris synergy.

Ooof you must have had some bad boards. I never had to use whales.

Weird how? Are you used to getting more or less covers? I am sure that by the end of the HAT PVE you should have 2 more covers.

I would like to try Polaris out with Gritty, Medusa, or others without any boosting. I am curious about how devastating she is. Once she can be favorited I think I will get her to 13 ASAP.

Normally when a 4* comes out I just don't even bother too much. Too many of them are just kinda... eh? But in this case (and I'm up to 5 covers on Polaris after all the PVE), I'm really liking her a lot. She just works so well with tile-based strategies. And well, the final 5* with unboosted chars (save Polaris) against level 550s?

If you don't need Whales on that, well, good on you I guess.

Darn straight good for me, I can save those Deadpool points for the next trianing.


Even though Polaris is boosted in PVE I thought I would try her out. At 4 covers 1/2/1 she seems pretty solid as long as you can keep on matching special tiles but having a few good attack tiles that have been consistently boosted by Kitty. I definitely appreciate Polaris's blue more than Grocket because it is cheaper and can stun someone. I always feel like Grocket's countdown tile ALWAYS gets matched away before it can do anything.

Most people would actually posit how they did it here, instead of just patting themselves on the back.

Same team, guys.

Buffs/Nerfs coming:
https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/8...er-2020#latest

Including: BISHOP