With Update 344 (week of July 20th), we will be releasing our first batch of 1-3 Star character rebalances. We will continue to release a new batch along with each update until we’ve got through the work that needs doing.

We started out with a handful of characters who appear quite early in the game for buffs, with the vast majority of changes to bring the characters concerned up to a modern power level and (hopefully) make them more relevant to the game. We’ve provided summaries of the changes to this group of characters below.

Please note, there may be minor changes to these numbers in the coming days, and 2-Star Captain America will be getting his proper details shortly.

This batch also includes changes to two infamous heroes that many, many players have been requesting we review because they are far too toxic and dominant to the current metagame. 

We hope what we’re doing here will relax them back to a more sensible place in the meta game and let some other heroes have a turn:

  • 3-Star Aunt May (Iron May) is having her power brought down generally, and has been rebalanced so it makes sense to Ascend her above 4-Star

  • 1-Star Hawkeye (Classic) was like Mentos being dropped in a cola bottle when Ascension was introduced. He has been rebalanced to take the current Ascension structure into account and back to a more sensible level

The full details of the changes to Aunt May and Hawkeye are provided below.

We will have a blog coming soon with more about our design thought process and where we’re ultimately trying to get to with the game, but for now-

Thank you, everyone!

1→3 Star Boosts

Championed Stats

Lv 50-166

 
1-Star
1-Star
1-Star
1-Star
1-Star
2-Star
3-Star
3-Star
 
Black Widow
Iron Man
Spider-Man 
Venom
Yelena
Captain America
Luke Cage
Deadpool

Max Health

1890

2700

2754

3240

1890

5586

9690

8670

2586

2955

2955

3288

2217

5967

11863

9304

Yellow Damage

24

27

8

7

7

55

79

13

39

44

9

8

8

90

146

19

Red Damage

7

31

31

8

7

49

70

61

9

50

50

10

9

80

129

213

Blue Damage

27

24

27

7

24

43

11

11

44

39

44

9

36

70

18

17

Green Damage

7

7

7

31

8

10

13

11

8

10

10

50

9

14

16

21

Purple Damage

31

8

24

24

31

9

11

79

50

8

39

39

47

13

15

186

Black Damage

8

7

7

27

27

11

61

70

10

9

8

44

42

11

113

163

Team-Up

17

17

17

17

17

29

41

41

27

27

27

27

25

46

73

103

Crit

4.0

3.5

3.5

3.5

4.0

3.0

3.0

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.5

3.5

4.0

3.0

3.0

4.5

Lv 266 (3-Star+ only)

 
1-Star
1-Star
1-Star
1-Star
1-Star
2-Star
3-Star
3-Star
 
Black Widow
Iron Man
Spider-Man 
Venom
Yelena
Captain America
Luke Cage
Deadpool

Max Health

      

15402

13781
      

18856

14789

Yellow Damage

      

85

13
      

213

19

Red Damage

      

74

65
      

186

213

Blue Damage

      

11

11
      

21

17

Green Damage

      

13

11
      

19

21

Purple Damage

      

11

85
      

17

186

Black Damage

      

65

74
      

163

163

Team-Up

      

43

43
      

103

103

Crit

      

3.0

4.5
      

3.0

4.5

Powers Change Summary

1-Star Black Widow

Just a general numbers rebalance to make them more in line with what a modern 1-Star should be.
Bit of a challenge to balance abilities like Aggressive Recon, where the fundamental balance system (AP cost) changes as it levels. It’s a neat idea but very tricky to get right

Aggressive Recon

  • Lowered initial cost from 10 to 8, reduced final cost from 16 to 14, reduced amount of overall AP stolen

Widows Sting

  • Lowered cost from 9 to 8 
  • Reduced overall amount of stuns.

Sabotage

  • General Damage buff

1-Star Iron Man

Just needed a general numbers rebalance to align more closely to what Marvel Puzzle Quest plays like after 13 years.
  

Repulsor Blast

  • Lowered cost from 10 to 7 
  • Raised damage

Armored Assault

  • Raised strength of protect tiles and damage

Ultra-Freon Beam

  • Lowered cost from 19 to 10
  • Raised damage

1-Star Spider-Man

 

Web Swing

  • Increased Damage

All Tied Up

  • Raised cost from 6 to 7
  • Increased damage

Spectacular Strategy

  • Raised cost from 6 to 8
  • Increased Damage

1-Star Venom

Overall, just needed the cost of their biggest attack lowered and its damage in general brought up a bit; it's too expensive for what it does

Devour

  • Reduced cost from 12 to 8
  • Reduced damage

Symbiote Snare

  • No change

Symbiotic Rush

  • Increased damage

1-Star Yelena

Just a general numbers boost and bringing down of costs 
  

Lethal Recon

  • Reduced cost from 13 to 10
  • Removed scaling AP cost for ability
  • Reduced damage to match ascended versions of character

Payback Mission

  • Reduced cost from 13 to 7
  • Increased damage 

Stealth Explosion

  • Increased damage dealt by traps

 

2-Star Captain America

Details coming soon.

Sentinel of Liberty

TBC

Star-Spangled Avenger

TBC

Peacemaker

TBC

Other

 

 

3-Star Luke Cage

Just a general numbers boost and bringing down of costs 

Righteous Uppercut

  • Reduced cost from 13 to 9
  • Increased damage

Unbreakable

  • Increased protect tile strength

Jab, Jab, Cross

  • Increased cost from 6 to 7
  • Increased damage

3-Star Deadpool

General numbers rebalance to bring his abilities more in line with current expectations. Overall, his kit is pretty well liked and fun to mess around with, just very low so were wanting to bring it up.  

A Little Off the top

  • General damage boost.

WHALES! WHALES! WHALES!

  • Reducing the cost from 14 while still reflecting some of the potency that his Deadpool points allow for 

Life of the Party

  • Making the 1 turn Countdown tiles feel a bit more impactful.

3-Star Aunt May & 1-Star Hawkeye Rebalance

Every end game player has undoubtedly seen these characters' destructive power. The recognition of how pushed these characters comes up often in feedback and on the forums, with many new releases and rebalances often being compared to them. That in itself provides an issue within the game since their existence at their power level pushes out so many other characters and their viability. It is for this reason that we’ve decided to take these characters down a peg. We’re hoping that by doing so, other teams become viable, and characters that should have a bigger impact on the meta come to be used. This is absolutely intended as a meta shake up and we hope that you see it as an exciting time where you can redefine what the meta looks like. 

We also recognise that these aren’t the only major balance perpetrators and based on how these changes go, we also plan to have a look at other problematic heroes in the future that are definitely overtuned; with the aim to bring the relative power level to a point where a much larger amount of the roster can be viably used. 

3-Star Aunt May (Iron May)

Having a 3-star that gets ascended to 4-star, getting a crazy high match and ability damage boost, and then it coming down again when it gets to 5-star, leaving players stuck with a 4-star at the top of the roster pick is not something we're particularly thrilled about having in the game. We also want to promote more interesting rosters being made that aren't just about pure numbers scaling.

To give some perspective on just how big of a problem little Aunt May is in the meta-game, she is used more than Hawkeye, Juggernaut, and Omega Red (Pestilence) combined, and over 50% more than the next most-used character (Polaris).

With that, we are bringing their buff power down to a reality where they're not always the top pick. Their match and ability damage boosts to their team pretty much make them required, and their 4-star ascended values make it not worthwhile for players to ascend further. 

Now there's a smaller gain in match and ability damage as you ascend them to make it worthwhile going for the full upgrade.
 

Summary

Iron Wisdom

Reduced overall Match and Damage boosts applied; they're still high but not breaking into the 100%+ match damage 

Enduring Ordnance

Damage values revised with modern damage scaling

Still Spry

Damage values revised with modern damage scaling

Other

 

3-Star Iron May Champion Levels

LEVELS

40

166

266

Max Health

2273

8670

13781

3109

11863

18856

Yellow Damage

25

79

85

42

146

213

Red Damage

22

70

74

37

130

186

Blue Damage

19

61

65

32

113

163

Green Damage

7

11

11

9

18

21

Purple Damage

7

13

13

8

16

19

Black Damage

6

11

11

7

15

18

Team-Up

14

41

43

22

73

103

Crit

4.0x

4.0x

4.0x

4.0x

4.0x

4.0x

Iron Wisdom

(PASSIVE) Aunt May draws upon a lifetime of experience and wisdom to guide her team. Aunt May grants her team 40% increased match damage, 45% increased ability damage, and 5% increased maximum health. If Aunt May is below 40% health, the match and ability damage bonuses are increased by 15%.
 

Match Damage Increase

Ability Damage Increase

Health Increase

Health Gate

Match and Ability Bonus

1

40 

45

5

40

15

2

45

50

5  → 7 

45 

20 

3

50

55

9

50

25

4

60

65

15

55

30 

5

80→ 65 

100 → 70 

25 

60 → 55

40 → 35
      

MAXED

Match Damage Increase

Ability Damage Increase

Health Increase

Health Gate

Match and Ability Bonus

1

40

45

5

40

15

2

45

50

5 → 7 

45

20

3

50

55

9 

50 

25

4

60

65

15

55

30

5

80→ 65 

100 → 70 

25

60 → 55

40 → 35

Enduring Ordnance

6 RED AP

Aunt May employs the full potential of her Stark weaponry. Deal 848 damage to the target, then create 13-turn Ordnance Countdown tile(s). When an Ordnance tile expires, Aunt May deals 191 damage to a random target.
 

Base Damage

Countdown tiles created

Countdown turns

Random Damage

1

334 → 848

1 

3

111 → 191

2

361 → 877 

1 → 2

3

111 → 191

3

391 → 1001 

2

3 

139→ 306

4

417 → 1048

3

3 

167 → 382

5

558 → 1096

3

3 

277 → 430
     

MAXED

Base Damage

Countdown tiles created

Countdown turns

Random Damage

1

1258 → 3192

1

3

419 → 717

2

1359 → 3301

1 → 2

3

419 → 717

3

1472 → 3767

2 

3

524 → 1147

4

1573 → 3945

3

3

629 → 1434

5

1573 → 4124

3

3

1047 → 1613

Still Spry

8 BLUE  AP

Deal 191 damage to the target. Then, reduce the timer of 2 random friendly Countdown tiles by 1. If this causes any friendly Countdown tiles to expire, also stun the target for 1 turn(s).
 

Damage

Countdowns effected

Tiles reduced

Stuns

1

51 → 191

2 

1

1 

2

278 → 624 

2

1 

1

3

325 → 707 

2

1

2

4

325 → 790 

2

1

3 → 2

5

358 → 874 

2 → 3

1

3 → 2
     

MAXED

Damage

Countdowns effected

Tiles reduced

Stuns

1

210 → 717 

2

1

1

2

315 → 1434 

2

1

1

3

420 → 1613

2 

1 

2 

4

735 → 1972 

2

1 

3 → 2

5

840 → 2151 

2 → 3

1

3 → 2

1-Star Hawkeye (Classic)

Being able to ascend Hawkeye really let the cat out of the bag with what his kit can do. To help curb some of the winfinite insanity that is this character, we've raised some of his ability costs while also nerfing the AP he gets back from his passive.

By applying these nerfs were hoping to create a healthier space where Hawkeye can still feel useful, but not be a turn-1 all-star pick every time.
  

Take Aim

  • Raised cost from 5 to 7

Arrow Stab

  • Raised cost from 9 to 10 so at higher levels it still costs more

Smart Shot

  • Reduced overall AP gain at max level, specifically targeting Purple AP gain to curb getting his winfinite going as easily.

1-Star Hawkeye Champion Levels

LEVELS

50

Max Health

1620

2217

Yellow Damage

24

39

Red Damage

27

44

Blue Damage

7

9

Green Damage

7

8

Purple Damage

31

50

Black Damage

8

10

Team-Up

17

27

Crit

4.5x

4.5x

Take Aim

5 PURPLE AP → 7 PURPLE AP

Hawkeye prepares to place the perfect shot, turning a selected basic tile or Protect tile into a Critical tile.
 

Tiles effected

1

Purple Tile 

2

Purple or Red Tile 

3

Purple, Yellow, or Red Tile 

4

Purple, Yellow, Blue, Green, or Red Tile 

5

Purple, Yellow, Blue, Green, Black, Red, or Protect Tile

 

 

MAXED

Tiles effected

1

Purple Tile

2

Purple or Red Tile 

3

Purple, Yellow, or Red Tile 

4

Purple, Yellow, Blue, Green, or Red Tile 

5

Purple, Yellow, Blue, Green, Black, Red, or Protect Tile 

Arrow Stab

 9 RED AP → 10 RED AP

No bow, no problem. Clint lunges forward, arrow in hand, clearing a selected row and dealing damage (but not generating AP).
 

AP cost

1

Cost 1 AP less 

2

Cost 1 AP less 

3

Cost 1 AP less 

4

Cost 1 AP less 

5

Cost 1 AP less 

 

 

MAXED

AP cost

1

Cost 1 AP less

2

Cost 1 AP less 

3

Cost 1 AP less

4

Cost 1 AP less

5

Cost 1 AP less

Smart Shot

0 YELLOW

(PASSIVE) Hawkeye is a master at reusing and repurposing his spent arrows. Whenever Hawkeye fires a Red ability, gain 1 Red AP. Whenever Hawkeye fires a Purple ability, gain 1 Purple AP.
 

Red AP gained 

Purple AP gained 

1

1

1

2

2

2 → 1 

3

2

2 → 1

4

2 

3 → 2

5

2 → 3 

3 → 2
   

MAXED

Red AP gained 

Purple AP gained 

1

1

1 → 1

2

2

2 → 1 

3

2

2 → 1

4

2

3 → 2

5

2 → 3 

3 → 2