**Mastery Loadouts**
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
My Guide for AWD
ZzyzxGuy
Posts: 1,292 ★★★
I'm open to critiques.
-WORK IN PROGRESS-
*At this time (3-5-18) synergies are not working in AWD. There is no advantage to placing poor defenders for synergies unless diversity is being sought.*
###DISCLAIMER###
1) These are my personal opinions about war and my take on champs. Surely, opinions will vary.
2) Since the implementation of the newest scoring system, it has caused me to reevaluate the status quo in war. The lower tiers (~6 and down) rely on the strongest defense. Most of the time, defenses are able to thwart an offense. The upper tiers (5 to 3) rely on a balanced mix of strong defense and relatively high diversity. The top tiers (2 and 1) rely on max diversity and the strongest defense diversity will allow.
3) With the new changes, AWD placement HAS to be looked at differently. Having a stacked champ on a stacked node may net 10 kills; however, 7 of those kills are worthless. Remember, bonus points are only garnered for the attacker if he kills the defender in 3 or less tries. Any death after that is irrelevant.
4) I have the approach of seeing defense as a whole; not as individual champs. For example, let's say a 5* r4 duped Medusa is placed as well as a maxed out 4* Magik. Common logic says to place the Medusa as the debuff immune mini. This would usually be the case, but as we looked at our other defenders, we see that we have no one that would be a good candidate for power shield. My approached would be to place Magik as the debuff immune mini and the Medusa on the power shield as their combined placement may not net as many kills overall, but it will surely net more points taken away from the attackers.
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CHAMPION TIERS
<S Tier> these champs can be effective on most any node
NC (duped or unduped) - most people like to place him on stun immune or debuff immune; however, there are other champs on par with NC on stun immune or debuff immune. NC is most effective on a node that awards ____ on hit. Such as: martial mastery, resonance cascade or stun on hit. The evade mechanic allows him a greater chance at being able to proc these effects. I also cannot stress resonance cascade enough for evade champs. Other good nodes are increased abilities, bleed immune, poison immune or double immune.
Spider-Man Classic (duped) - everything said about NC is exactly the same for Spidey. Spidey is a more versitile and is more effective as a defender than NC because his evade mechanic cannot be switched off. Other than the aforementioned nodes in accordance with NC, another prime node for SMC is unblockable sp1.
Dormammu (duped or unduped) - while Dorm can pretty much be placed anywhere and be effective, his prime nodes are kinetic reactor, power gain, buffet, arc overload and especially unblockable sp2.
MODOK (duped or unduped) - the same premise for evade champs works for MODOK. He should be placed on the same nodes that are mentioned for NC and SMC. A favorite place for him is the debuff immune mini or as the boss.
*************
<A Tier> these champs are great defenders, but have some sort of weakness. If placed on the right node, they have the ability to be S Tier.
Magik (duped) - as powerful and popular as Magik is as a defender, she is horribly under utilized by most alliances. The favorite places for most alliances are power gain, kinetic reactor, strike back and +healing. With the advent of AA and the overpopularization of Blade and his Trinity, Magik has become significantly less effective. This is why I suggest putting her on immune nodes. Debuff immune, double immune, bleed immune, poison immune... in that order.
Iceman (duped or unduped) - he can be used in a variety of places and is an all around solid defender. Prime nodes for him are unblockable sp1, optimist/pessimist/outlast, stun immune or power shield. Stun immune is great because it prevents an attacker from removing ice armor with a parry.
Mordo (duped or unduped) - he is one of the most annoying defenders, bar none. Unfortunately, people have learned how to fight him, so his defender status took a hit. Even with that, he's still a terror on kinetic reactor, power gain, buffet, optimist/pessimist/outlast, cornered or any other node that causes the attacker to take damage because of _____ or inflicts a debuff because of _____.
Hyperion (duped or unduped) - everything that was said about Mordo can be directly applied to Hyperion as well. In addition, Hyperion can be placed on all or nothing or a bleed immune node.
Mephisto (duped or unduped) - Mephisto is another defender that took a hit because of Blade. One of the most popular places for him is buffet or +healing, but like Magik, I advocate placing him on a bleed immune to counter Blade.
Void (duped) - he is great on buffet or unblockable sp1 or nodes that punish the attacker with debuffs like cornered, spite, brute force, etc. Another spot for him would be an immune or double immune to counter AA or Blade.
Agent Venom (duped or unduped) - he has the ability to be super annoying. Some like to place him on a limber or stun immune node, but those are best left for other champs as his tenacity makes attackers wary of counters. The prime node for him is unblockable sp1 or any node that punishes the attacker with debuffs.
Killmonger (duped or unduped) - he is great on almost any node. Prime nodes are unblockable sp1 with an sp1 bias or a punish node.
Yondu (duped or unduped) - he has a very specific niche to fill, but he can be useful on plenty of nodes. Prime nodes for him are enhanced bleed, bloodletting, unblockable sp1 or sp2.
Ultron/Ultron Prime (duped or unduped) - the best placement for him is still stun immune. Other great nodes for him are +healing, buffet and arc reactor.
Black Panther Civil War (duped or unduped)- any node with +Armor can make him a terror. This makes his reflect stun to always be active. One of the best nodes for him is arc reactor.
Medusa (duped or unduped) - she falls under the same premise as MODOK. She isn't an S Tier defender due to the fact fury has to be active for auto block. Her best nodes are debuff immune and power shield.
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<B Tier>
Symbiote Spider-Man (duped) - he is the lesser version of SMC and on par with Miles. He should be a last alternative to resonance cascade and ____ on hit nodes. Another node that he can be placed on is unblockable sp2.
Miles Morales (duped or unduped) - the exact same as Symby albeit unblockable sp2.
King Groot (duped or unduped) - any node that increases his armor and health are good. If he's duped, he should go on a +healing. Another alternative is to place him on poison immune.
Cable (duped or unduped) - he took a major hit with the advent of the Trinity; however, he is still a viable defender. Power gain, kinetic reactor or +healing are some of his prime nodes. Any punish node or poison immune is good as well.
Juggernaut (duped) - Juggs can be a dangerous defender, but he is no where near as effective as he used to be with the advent of Blade and AA. He is still effective on an unstunnable node, but I suggest putting him on a bleed immune. Power gain and kinentic reactor are viable as well.
Unstoppable Colossus (duped) - he is pretty much like Juggs except more versitile. Unstunnable is a good node as well as poison immune, armor up, fury, power gain or kinetic reactor.
Quake (duped or unduped) - She can be effective on several normal nodes, but the best place for her is a +stun duration node.
Doctor Octopus (duped or unduped) - he is the "jack-of-all-trades" champ and can be placed anywhere and be somewhat effective. I suggest using him as a filler if you have a node that needs to be filled.
Punisher 2099 (duped) - he is severely under utilized. He should be placed on a power gain node, kinetic reactor or unblockable sp1 or sp2. His power gain can play havoc on an attacker.
###CONTINUED IN NEXT POST###
-WORK IN PROGRESS-
*At this time (3-5-18) synergies are not working in AWD. There is no advantage to placing poor defenders for synergies unless diversity is being sought.*
###DISCLAIMER###
1) These are my personal opinions about war and my take on champs. Surely, opinions will vary.
2) Since the implementation of the newest scoring system, it has caused me to reevaluate the status quo in war. The lower tiers (~6 and down) rely on the strongest defense. Most of the time, defenses are able to thwart an offense. The upper tiers (5 to 3) rely on a balanced mix of strong defense and relatively high diversity. The top tiers (2 and 1) rely on max diversity and the strongest defense diversity will allow.
3) With the new changes, AWD placement HAS to be looked at differently. Having a stacked champ on a stacked node may net 10 kills; however, 7 of those kills are worthless. Remember, bonus points are only garnered for the attacker if he kills the defender in 3 or less tries. Any death after that is irrelevant.
4) I have the approach of seeing defense as a whole; not as individual champs. For example, let's say a 5* r4 duped Medusa is placed as well as a maxed out 4* Magik. Common logic says to place the Medusa as the debuff immune mini. This would usually be the case, but as we looked at our other defenders, we see that we have no one that would be a good candidate for power shield. My approached would be to place Magik as the debuff immune mini and the Medusa on the power shield as their combined placement may not net as many kills overall, but it will surely net more points taken away from the attackers.
###########
CHAMPION TIERS
<S Tier> these champs can be effective on most any node
NC (duped or unduped) - most people like to place him on stun immune or debuff immune; however, there are other champs on par with NC on stun immune or debuff immune. NC is most effective on a node that awards ____ on hit. Such as: martial mastery, resonance cascade or stun on hit. The evade mechanic allows him a greater chance at being able to proc these effects. I also cannot stress resonance cascade enough for evade champs. Other good nodes are increased abilities, bleed immune, poison immune or double immune.
Spider-Man Classic (duped) - everything said about NC is exactly the same for Spidey. Spidey is a more versitile and is more effective as a defender than NC because his evade mechanic cannot be switched off. Other than the aforementioned nodes in accordance with NC, another prime node for SMC is unblockable sp1.
Dormammu (duped or unduped) - while Dorm can pretty much be placed anywhere and be effective, his prime nodes are kinetic reactor, power gain, buffet, arc overload and especially unblockable sp2.
MODOK (duped or unduped) - the same premise for evade champs works for MODOK. He should be placed on the same nodes that are mentioned for NC and SMC. A favorite place for him is the debuff immune mini or as the boss.
*************
<A Tier> these champs are great defenders, but have some sort of weakness. If placed on the right node, they have the ability to be S Tier.
Magik (duped) - as powerful and popular as Magik is as a defender, she is horribly under utilized by most alliances. The favorite places for most alliances are power gain, kinetic reactor, strike back and +healing. With the advent of AA and the overpopularization of Blade and his Trinity, Magik has become significantly less effective. This is why I suggest putting her on immune nodes. Debuff immune, double immune, bleed immune, poison immune... in that order.
Iceman (duped or unduped) - he can be used in a variety of places and is an all around solid defender. Prime nodes for him are unblockable sp1, optimist/pessimist/outlast, stun immune or power shield. Stun immune is great because it prevents an attacker from removing ice armor with a parry.
Mordo (duped or unduped) - he is one of the most annoying defenders, bar none. Unfortunately, people have learned how to fight him, so his defender status took a hit. Even with that, he's still a terror on kinetic reactor, power gain, buffet, optimist/pessimist/outlast, cornered or any other node that causes the attacker to take damage because of _____ or inflicts a debuff because of _____.
Hyperion (duped or unduped) - everything that was said about Mordo can be directly applied to Hyperion as well. In addition, Hyperion can be placed on all or nothing or a bleed immune node.
Mephisto (duped or unduped) - Mephisto is another defender that took a hit because of Blade. One of the most popular places for him is buffet or +healing, but like Magik, I advocate placing him on a bleed immune to counter Blade.
Void (duped) - he is great on buffet or unblockable sp1 or nodes that punish the attacker with debuffs like cornered, spite, brute force, etc. Another spot for him would be an immune or double immune to counter AA or Blade.
Agent Venom (duped or unduped) - he has the ability to be super annoying. Some like to place him on a limber or stun immune node, but those are best left for other champs as his tenacity makes attackers wary of counters. The prime node for him is unblockable sp1 or any node that punishes the attacker with debuffs.
Killmonger (duped or unduped) - he is great on almost any node. Prime nodes are unblockable sp1 with an sp1 bias or a punish node.
Yondu (duped or unduped) - he has a very specific niche to fill, but he can be useful on plenty of nodes. Prime nodes for him are enhanced bleed, bloodletting, unblockable sp1 or sp2.
Ultron/Ultron Prime (duped or unduped) - the best placement for him is still stun immune. Other great nodes for him are +healing, buffet and arc reactor.
Black Panther Civil War (duped or unduped)- any node with +Armor can make him a terror. This makes his reflect stun to always be active. One of the best nodes for him is arc reactor.
Medusa (duped or unduped) - she falls under the same premise as MODOK. She isn't an S Tier defender due to the fact fury has to be active for auto block. Her best nodes are debuff immune and power shield.
**********
<B Tier>
Symbiote Spider-Man (duped) - he is the lesser version of SMC and on par with Miles. He should be a last alternative to resonance cascade and ____ on hit nodes. Another node that he can be placed on is unblockable sp2.
Miles Morales (duped or unduped) - the exact same as Symby albeit unblockable sp2.
King Groot (duped or unduped) - any node that increases his armor and health are good. If he's duped, he should go on a +healing. Another alternative is to place him on poison immune.
Cable (duped or unduped) - he took a major hit with the advent of the Trinity; however, he is still a viable defender. Power gain, kinetic reactor or +healing are some of his prime nodes. Any punish node or poison immune is good as well.
Juggernaut (duped) - Juggs can be a dangerous defender, but he is no where near as effective as he used to be with the advent of Blade and AA. He is still effective on an unstunnable node, but I suggest putting him on a bleed immune. Power gain and kinentic reactor are viable as well.
Unstoppable Colossus (duped) - he is pretty much like Juggs except more versitile. Unstunnable is a good node as well as poison immune, armor up, fury, power gain or kinetic reactor.
Quake (duped or unduped) - She can be effective on several normal nodes, but the best place for her is a +stun duration node.
Doctor Octopus (duped or unduped) - he is the "jack-of-all-trades" champ and can be placed anywhere and be somewhat effective. I suggest using him as a filler if you have a node that needs to be filled.
Punisher 2099 (duped) - he is severely under utilized. He should be placed on a power gain node, kinetic reactor or unblockable sp1 or sp2. His power gain can play havoc on an attacker.
###CONTINUED IN NEXT POST###
6
Comments
Angela (duped or unduped) - she can be tricky, but her versatility makes her effective. She can do well on a fury, + armor or +healing.
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<C Tier>
Civil Warrior (duped or unduped) - CW isn't hard to fight, but he can be annoying and possibly time out an attacker. Prime nodes for him are Armor up or bleed immune or anything else that can slow attackers down like +Armor or +health.
Kingpin (duped) - he can be effective on enhanced abilities or unblockable sp2, but there are other champs better suited for those nodes.
Crossbones (duped) - I personally don't like him as a defender, but I've seen him be successful. He is useful on fury or enhanced abilities. I say only place a duped CB due to the fact that he won't be getting many hits or fury procs if he can't convert debuffs.
Red Hulk (duped on unduped) - with his new changes, he has become an ok defender. Good nodes for him are enhanced energy damage, cornered, sp1 bias, optimist/pessimist/outlast and bleed immune.
Hulk (duped) - I really don't like him as a defender, but he can be placed on fury, bleed immune or optimist/pessimist/outlast
Luke Cage (duped) - he's about like Red Hulk or Hulk in terms of a defender. He'll do all right in a pinch. Good nodes for him are poison immune, cornered or optimist/pessimist/outlast.
Antman (duped) - pretty much the exact same as Luke Cage except add bleed immune and all or nothing.
*********
<X Tier> these champs excel at a certain node. While they may be useful defenders, having them anywhere else besides a specific node (or two) is a wasted placement.
Spider-Man Stark Enhanced (duped or unduped) - due to his ability to evade specials, he can be used solely for power shield. Even so, Medusa is a better option as Starky's AI can be turned off.
War Machine (duped or unduped) - unblockable sp1 can net a lot of kills for WM.
Hulkbuster (duped) - his only viable option is all or nothing with the combination of heavy handed. He is not the best option for this node since he is very susceptible to power control.
Thor Ragnarok (duped) - his sole purpose on defense is all or nothing. He has guaranteed power gain and can be difficult to power control since he gains power so quickly.
Punisher (duped or unduped) - unblockable sp1 is about all he's good for.
Yellow Jacket (duped or unduped) - besides SMC, he is the king of unblockable sp1. This is pretty much the only place he is effective.
Rhino (duped) - when he is placed on a double immune node, he becomes a major threat. You cannot intercept him and parrying him becomes a liability due to his unblockable mechanic. Without being able to bleed or poison him, an attacker has to kill him with direct damage which is difficult.
Electro (duped or unduped) - While Electro can be placed on nodes that improve his survivability such as optimist/pessimist/outlast, the node that he is most viable on is enhance energy damage. His passive "thorns" effect increases from 38% to 53.2%. This is guaranteed damage which should always be maximized.
Morningstar (duped or unduped) - she isn't a bad defender, she just isn't a good one either. However, she becomes a monster when she's placed on unblockable sp2; preferably as the mini. Be wary to not place her on power shield just because of unblockable sp2 as she will most likely net very few kills if any.
The Hood (duped or unduped) - he is exactly the same as Morningstar. Unblockable sp2. I would choose MS over him if the issue arose, though.
Dr. Strange (duped or unduped) - likewise, the same as MS and Hood. Unblockable sp2, no power shield. He would be my third choice behind MS and Hood.
Cyclops Blue/Red (duped or unduped) - the only thing Cyke is good for is unblockable sp1. Other than that, he is comfortably in F Tier.
Vision OG (duped) - power gain or all or nothing. Like Thor Ragnarok, he gains power so quickly it can be hard to power control. If he is on a power gain node, he can sp3 with a single synthesis and there is no counter for it except power lock.
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<F Tier> anyone not mentioned should not be placed on defense unless it is for diversity.
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<TBD Tier> these champs I haven't fully tested or haven't been released, so I don't have enough info to place them in a tier.
Hulk Ragnarok
Taskmaster
Hela
Bishop
Sentinel
Sabretooth
Unduped Dormammu? Lol. It's not like people have been getting practice fighting against that in AQ for the last ???? months.
Punisher is much better suited for unblockable S2. His s1 is a 2 part movement. He takes a swing at you and then fires of a few shots. All you need to do is evade the first part and you can block the shots...although it's not hard to evade those either. But his S2 seems more unavoidable unless you have duped OG DD.
Also, not emphasising that Magik (and most mystics in general) should also have a high level of MD is downright criminal.
Like Symbiote spidey good on unblockable sp2? lol
Also interesting that you don’t mention Morningstars bleed when hit with 1 soul, for anyone that realised its Morningstar, not an issue but if you forget it’s gonna be painful.
Also hood and punisher L2 are near identical so don’t know how you can say punisher is good for L1 only and Hood is good for L2 only
Easy to Evade, but if you catch one, it does some real Damage.
No offense but if u eat a spiderman sp2 ur a huge noob
NC unduped is significantly harder than NC duped. Crossbones and Iceman can get him to switch to swashbuckling mode no problem, but if he’s unduped they have to finish a 5-hit combo to get the timer to finish. They also don’t need to get him to switch modes to solo him, they counter his evade completely when played with enough skill.
Medusa, Mephisto, and Void are top tier defenders. Certain champs shut them down, but they are generally effective on many nodes and are very tough on boss nodes. Same goes for MODOK but he’s easier to take out now that his auto-parry bug is gone.
Classic Spidey is usually a top tier defender, but he’s easier than most to predict in terms of placement, and his sp1 is easy to evade with enough practice.
Dormammu needs to be duped to be a top tier defender. I place a 4/55 Dorm and run max MD and max limber, he’s lucky to get 1-3 kills.
Overall not a bad list of advice at mid to lower AW tiers. AW gets a lot more intense at tiers 1-3, watch YouTube videos of tier 1 and you’ll see players use multiple boosts for every fight, and that’s with 99% of players using the trinity. What works at lower tiers tends to lose its effectiveness as you get closer to the top.