We hear a lot of conversation about just how hard it is to get to Thronebreaker. Perhaps more-so in the past when there were less sources to get T5CC, but still a good amount considering the current climate of the game. I'm one of the, let's say louder, proponents of the idea that getting TB is actually quite easy nowadays. As there are two sources of 25% selectors readily available in Act 7.1 and 2, all you need to do is save those for last and get to 50% in one class of T5CC. There are 7 sources of 25% crystals (Act 6.1, Act 6 Completion, Variant 5,6 and 7 and 7.1 and 7.2 completion) that guarantees you with 50% in at least one class. So the theory is there. But how hard is this in practicality?
I have already taken a second account to Thronebreaker, it now has 6 rank 3 champions and I run it in the same alliance as my main account, so it's developed enough for Map 7 epic mods and T3/2 war. But this was very much a pick up and play for a month, then drop it, on and off kinda deal. I don't know how long or hard it was to get Thronebreaker. Plus, I ran an abyss path to get my T5CC, and a point we see a lot is that "I don't want to do Abyss". Regardless of the reality of the situation, and how relevant that point is, I am quite interested to see how hard it would be without an Abyss run.
Inspired by Brian Grants recent FTP 7 day challenge, I wanted to see how far I got too, though I don't have enough time to dedicate 11 hours a day to the account. This past week I have started a new account. Yesterday, my 7 day XP boost expired marking a week of progress. I have decided to momentarily retire my second account, and set myself a challenge for the coming months. How long does it take for a FTP to get to TB?
I will write and update this post every week or two weeks, depending on content cleared and how much there is to update.
Week 1Overview of the weekFirst hard choice of the challenge, the name. After a brief tantrum that "SteelyMcSteelface" went over the character limit, I went with Mini-Steel.
I began by clearing act 1 and 2, largely led by the 3* Shang Chi given to new accounts. I ranked him, the torch given to us by the Up Up Down Down challenge and a Mr fantastic I pulled as my main 3. After act 2 I continued to act 3, and Shang gave Thanos the beating of his life.
I looked to the Up Up Down Down challenge and assembled a team, ranked up a Howard the duck 3* to deal with iceman and went in. 15 minutes and a very sketchy 3% health finish on iceman later, I had my first 2000 4* shards. This felt like a huge moment, who was the first 4* going to be?
Yup, it was drax.
But no matter! I now looked at the Shang-Chi Challenge, which even in the early quests has some really, really relevant rewards for newer accounts. I mean, the first chapter exploration was a 5*! Not to mention 2 4*s, 500 shards, a generic awakening gem for a 4*, T4b etc. Having auto-fought the first chapter I had no idea what the level of difficulty would be for a new account.
It turned out to be very easy in the early quests, and I had a 4* full my formed crystal and the rest of the the shards to form another before I even broke a mild sweat. Nervous to pull another drax level champion, I just hoped for a usable champion, someone with damage to get me through Act 4. Anyone usable... and as it slowed down and landed on Archangel, I definitely felt like it was usable.
I opened my next crystal and pulled sentry, which after a brief disappointment, I realised synergised with the tech/science power sting Mr fantastic synergy. I then ploughed on with the Shang chi challenge and explored up to quest 3, giving me a 4* Nexus. With a choice between Killmonger, Mysterio and someone else forgettable, I chose Killmonger for an evade counter. It was a tough choice, but I felt Killmonger brought more to my account to deal with tricky evades. Luckily, my next two 4* crystals gave me Hit Monkey and Professor X (who I awakened later as well), both evade counters - So I guess the RNG gods really wanted me to have no issue with Evades...
I used the generic gem from Shang Challenge to awaken Archangel, I started completing Act 4, ending up with 2 chapters done. Then I looked back to quest 4 from Shang Chi Challenge. Exploring that would give me my first full 5* when I'm still on 350 shards. This could be huge. I did it one path in the quest at a time, and luckily, new accounts get a lot of units quickly so I felt good about using revives for a 5*. Overall, I think I used 5 or 6? My team was Archangel now rank 4, Professor X rank 4, Killmonger rank 2, Shang Chi maxed 3* and Torch rank 3 3*.
Shang took She hulk, archangel took sunspot, prof X took hit monkey, killmonger took Mr negative and torch took tigra. Archangel then crushed the Shang Chi boss. Taking it one path at a time was very important to keep item use down.
To close out this first week, I opened the first 5* of the challenge. By the time I get to act 6 I won't have too many 5*, so this is one of the few leaders of the charge into act 6 I will be able to use early on. In any case, here was the pull.
It just rolled over YJ, who I would have been over the moon with, so much utility. But hawkeye is decent, his power control is so reliable and I was lacking in that. I'm not disappointed, not blown away.
Notable Pulls4* Professor X
4* Professor X awakening
4* Archangel
4* Killmonger
4* Hit Monkey
5* Hawkeye
Notable Rank upsArchangel to rank 4
Professor X to rank 4
Killmonger to rank 2
ShangChi 3* to rank 4
Human Torch 3* to rank 3
Howard the duck 3* to rank 4
Content CompletedAct 1 Ch1-4
Act 2 Ch1-4
Act 3 Ch1-4
Act 4 Ch1-2
Shang Chi Challenge Chapter 1 100%
Up Up Down Down challenge Heroic and Epic difficulty
Heroic EQ completion
Master EQ completion
Plan for next WeekI want to complete Act 4, giving me another 4* and 1k 5* shards. I am considering Master EQ exploration, giving me 2750 5* shards and 4500 4* shards, which is a very sizeable amount. In terms of rank ups, I want to rank 2 Hawkeye and rank 4 my human torch 3* but apart from that I will likely save for future pulls.
At the end of week 1, here’s the roster
