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.
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<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.
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