* Crystal (Crystalia Amaquelin) *

Vhailorx · March 2022

DAZ0273 said:

Happy to have Crystal in the game and her powers look really interesting and fun. She seems the best 5 of the recent lot to me.

I dunno, I think sersi has a better "complicated-support-character" kit and big wheel has a better "one-trick-pony" kit where all he does is boardshake-for-damage, but he does it pretty well.

Crystal strikes me more as a jack of all trades character where her kit is diverse, but also has a lower ceiling (presumably to avoid busting whatever power budget system the use to design character). And over many long years of experience with mpq, I have learned to value high ceilings (i.e., as between three very versatile characters that can provide a little bit of whatever you might need, or 3 one-trick-pony characters that have really good tricks, the latter will almost always do better. Especially if you pick good synergies.)

DAZ0273 · March 2022

Vhailorx said:

show previous quotes

DAZ0273 said:

Happy to have Crystal in the game and her powers look really interesting and fun. She seems the best 5 of the recent lot to me.

I dunno, I think sersi has a better "complicated-support-character" kit and big wheel has a better "one-trick-pony" kit where all he does is boardshake-for-damage, but he does it pretty well.
Crystal strikes me more as a jack of all trades character where her kit is diverse, but also has a lower ceiling (presumably to avoid busting whatever power budget system the use to design character). And over many long years of experience with mpq, I have learned to value high ceilings (i.e., as between three very versatile characters that can provide a little bit of whatever you might need, or 3 one-trick-pony characters that have really good tricks, the latter will almost always do better. Especially if you pick good synergies.)

I probably should have been more specific and said I was talking about 2022 releases.

tonypq · March 2022

Anyone seeing any teams that would work well Crystal and Elektra ?

Elektras cheap yellow reducing damage, dealing some damage and generating some AP, combined with Crystal's yellow healing team and chipping in an AP also. That's a lot of defense and decent healing every now and then, especially if Crystal chooses blue to heal up even more if tanking anything. I feel like these two together should be able to create a pretty good team but could also have quite a bit of punch depending who the 3rd partner is.

Colossus would add the match damage reduction and a black nuke which would help this team. Can imagine would be annoying trying to take down Colossus with the defense and healing here.

Shang-Chi would do what he always does plus benefit from damage reduction and healing, as well as Crystal/Elektra chipping in some AP here and there from their yellows. Between Elektras traps reducing damage, Crystal's healing and Shangs red regenerating health, could make this a somewhat tough team to deal with.

5Scarlet could be annoying. Use her purple to get more green on board. Crystal would have extra greens available to buff her tiles and any Elektra might steal. Plus Crystal's green being so cheap you'd build up AP quickly to rattle off a bunch of team damage. Scarlets green passive adding more defense and her blue reducing enemies ability levels, could be a nasty team.

Ultron could add tiles and big buffage to one of them along with Crystal, his black stun and AP destruction could be annoying in prolonged battles.

Knull could be a pain with his high health being tough to take down with the traps reducing damage and team healing. Crystal's red outting tiles out will help knulls purple passive start up much faster. He'd also chip in special tiles.

Just spitballing here to see other 5* team combos you might come up with. Haven't gotten around to any 4s that will make good partners yet.

bbigler · March 2022

Hmmm…….

Crystal + Wanda: on PVP defense would be really annoying, probably worse than Colossus & Wanda. Combine all 3 for Simulator and you’re getting skipped. On offense, Wanda can choose red and Crystal can choose Fire. Then just collect green and red. Red AP builds up, which increases Crystal’s passive Fire dmg and Wanda passive repeater dmg, and the 6 Green AOE hits harder too. Then use Crystal’s red hit to end the battle.

Daniel2121 · March 2022

Kinda bummed that out of the other Inhumans, she seems to have decent synergy with Black Bolt and that's it.
Maybe Lockjaw (another charged tile specialist) but I'm not sure on that. Then again BB is the only other 5* Inhuman yet.

bbigler · March 2022

Daniel2121 said:

Kinda bummed that out of the other Inhumans, she seems to have decent synergy with Black Bolt and that's it.
Maybe Lockjaw (another charged tile specialist) but I'm not sure on that. Then again BB is the only other 5* Inhuman yet.

As for Inhumans synergy…..

Crystal does team health bursts just like Medusa and Kamala, that’s interesting. And they both can produce extra green, which is Crystal’s best active power.

As you said, Black Bolt & Lockjaw use charged tiles, so Crystal could help there. Karnak & Quake could give Crystal a blue outlet if she chooses Water.

Black Bolt & Medusa have passive dmg like Crystal’s Fire element.

Warbringa · March 2022

bbigler said:
I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that Shang is easy on defense; so if you climb with him, you’re a PVP target. But if you combine Shang with Crystal (who has a very defensive passive), then your team is less of a target. My mistake there, I did misread your thought there.

I also think you misunderstand Crystal: I do understand her, I just don't value her much.

- she’s not meant to deal high match damage, so it’s pointless to compare her to Shang; her match dmg increase is to make her tank most colors in case you want to play her defensively by making frequent blue matches to heal her 4K each time. Agreed, I only compared her to SC because that is perhaps the best character in the game, certainly top 3 right now. I could compare her to every character that I believe is better in 5* than her, and it would easily be 10+ characters without even thinking for a minute. I probably should have used 5Thor as a better comparison I admit.

I have never found small, non-permanent incremental healing to ever be any good in this game, especially when it is conditional like hers. They have used it in several characters and I never once have had it be a significant factor in a match. Permanent healing on a large scale (or damage prevention) is what is important (ie Shang Chi, Okoye, Colossus, etc). Otherwise burst healing is nearly useless.

- she’s not meant to be a great AP generator, so it’s pointless to make those comparisons. Her yellow passive is meant to be a big defensive deterrent, which sometimes helps on offense. AP generation drives victory in this game and passive healing is not a defensive deterrent.

- her tile buffing can be exponential under the right conditions. A single special can be nearly doubled in strength with each green match. Yes conditionally it can be good, hence why I feel she is ok as a buffer but not as good as some other tile buffing characters.
- her green AOE actually has very good damage output, being 3,315 per AP. Average on par with 5Thor, who I consider is average as an AoE dealer in today's environment (it is better than his slightly since it is cheaper in AP cost overall).
- her extra dmg on red matches is just simply good Yes it is, no argument there but not a primary reason to use her.

- her red power is not meant to be a nuke, but a decent hit that allows her to start tanking or having specials to buff

Too many times people judge a character by what they want them to be instead of what they are I meant to be.

I responded in italics and aren't these forums made for judging characters, hence discussion? I admit I could be wrong and she is awesome, but I have seen many characters like her that try to do a bit of everything and they have generally, always not be useful to me, nor considered meta.

I think she is good, not meta, and can do a lot of things, just none of them great. My play preference is to have a character that does something great, even if it is limited. That is what defines really good characters in this game vs. just good characters.

bbigler · March 2022

BlackBoltRocks said:

Looking at her in-game text, her Green passive defaults to Fire. This is really nice, and makes her great with characters like Apocalypse and Shang right from the get-go.

You’re right! I see that too. Very awesome for Shang, Okoye or Apoc or if you want to do an Echo+MODOK winfinite. This also means that it will work on defense too. That’s 2 strong passives to deal with.

bbigler · March 2022

Warbringa said:

show previous quotes

bbigler said:
I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that Shang is easy on defense; so if you climb with him, you’re a PVP target. But if you combine Shang with Crystal (who has a very defensive passive), then your team is less of a target. My mistake there, I did misread your thought there.

I also think you misunderstand Crystal: I do understand her, I just don't value her much.

- she’s not meant to deal high match damage, so it’s pointless to compare her to Shang; her match dmg increase is to make her tank most colors in case you want to play her defensively by making frequent blue matches to heal her 4K each time. Agreed, I only compared her to SC because that is perhaps the best character in the game, certainly top 3 right now. I could compare her to every character that I believe is better in 5* than her, and it would easily be 10+ characters without even thinking for a minute. I probably should have used 5Thor as a better comparison I admit.

I have never found small, non-permanent incremental healing to ever be any good in this game, especially when it is conditional like hers. They have used it in several characters and I never once have had it be a significant factor in a match. Permanent healing on a large scale (or damage prevention) is what is important (ie Shang Chi, Okoye, Colossus, etc). Otherwise burst healing is nearly useless.

- she’s not meant to be a great AP generator, so it’s pointless to make those comparisons. Her yellow passive is meant to be a big defensive deterrent, which sometimes helps on offense. AP generation drives victory in this game and passive healing is not a defensive deterrent.

- her tile buffing can be exponential under the right conditions. A single special can be nearly doubled in strength with each green match. Yes conditionally it can be good, hence why I feel she is ok as a buffer but not as good as some other tile buffing characters.
- her green AOE actually has very good damage output, being 3,315 per AP. Average on par with 5Thor, who I consider is average as an AoE dealer in today's environment (it is better than his slightly since it is cheaper in AP cost overall).
- her extra dmg on red matches is just simply good Yes it is, no argument there but not a primary reason to use her.

- her red power is not meant to be a nuke, but a decent hit that allows her to start tanking or having specials to buff

Too many times people judge a character by what they want them to be instead of what they are I meant to be.

I responded in italics and aren't these forums made for judging characters, hence discussion? I admit I could be wrong and she is awesome, but I have seen many characters like her that try to do a bit of everything and they have generally, always not be useful to me, nor considered meta.

I think she is good, not meta, and can do a lot of things, just none of them great. My play preference is to have a character that does something great, even if it is limited. That is what defines really good characters in this game vs. just good characters.

Haven’t you played against Medusa before where she would constantly burst heal the team making it impossible to down anyone? I’ve lost matches that way. Add in Mr Fantastic and it gets really bad.

Let’s say you hit someone for 10K and then get a cascade match. That simple cascade could trigger Crystal’s burst team healing 3 times, undoing the damage you just did, plus damage done previously to others. So, don’t underestimate the power of burst healing on defense (she is like Medusa in 5* land).

Daniel2121 · March 2022

bbigler said:

show previous quotes

BlackBoltRocks said:

Looking at her in-game text, her Green passive defaults to Fire. This is really nice, and makes her great with characters like Apocalypse and Shang right from the get-go.

You’re right! I see that too. Very awesome for Shang, Okoye or Apoc or if you want to do an Echo+MODOK winfinite. This also means that it will work on defense too. That’s 2 strong passives to deal with.

There's a winfinite with Echo and MODOK? Mindblowing

HoundofShadow · March 2022

Hypothetically speaking, from defensive play point of view, Crystal/Mr Sinister/Elektra would be better than Elektra/Colossus/Crystal.

The weakness with Colossus is that they do not have adequate defense against powers. Elektra can help mitigate some of them, but she can mitigate only 1 AoE. If Elektra fails, all else fails. However, they are good against match damage meta team.

Mr Sinister, on other hand, serve as a layered protection against power and big match damage like critical match-3. With 2 black aps he can reduce up to x damage, depending on his level. On top of that, he can create trap tiles that steal or destroy aps whenever enemy fires a power. Crystal's yellow ability, in a way, serves as a counter to match damage because she heals back ~3k damage everytime requirements are met.

Fortunately, both teams are rainbow team with powers in six colours that use aps, and there is only one colour overlap in red. So, this will keep ap low for the AI.

Anyway, it will be in mid May before I can fully test out the defensive capability of these teams.

tonypq · March 2022

bbigler said:

show previous quotes

Warbringa said:

bbigler said:
I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that Shang is easy on defense; so if you climb with him, you’re a PVP target. But if you combine Shang with Crystal (who has a very defensive passive), then your team is less of a target. My mistake there, I did misread your thought there.

I also think you misunderstand Crystal: I do understand her, I just don't value her much.

- she’s not meant to deal high match damage, so it’s pointless to compare her to Shang; her match dmg increase is to make her tank most colors in case you want to play her defensively by making frequent blue matches to heal her 4K each time. Agreed, I only compared her to SC because that is perhaps the best character in the game, certainly top 3 right now. I could compare her to every character that I believe is better in 5* than her, and it would easily be 10+ characters without even thinking for a minute. I probably should have used 5Thor as a better comparison I admit.

I have never found small, non-permanent incremental healing to ever be any good in this game, especially when it is conditional like hers. They have used it in several characters and I never once have had it be a significant factor in a match. Permanent healing on a large scale (or damage prevention) is what is important (ie Shang Chi, Okoye, Colossus, etc). Otherwise burst healing is nearly useless.

- she’s not meant to be a great AP generator, so it’s pointless to make those comparisons. Her yellow passive is meant to be a big defensive deterrent, which sometimes helps on offense. AP generation drives victory in this game and passive healing is not a defensive deterrent.

- her tile buffing can be exponential under the right conditions. A single special can be nearly doubled in strength with each green match. Yes conditionally it can be good, hence why I feel she is ok as a buffer but not as good as some other tile buffing characters.
- her green AOE actually has very good damage output, being 3,315 per AP. Average on par with 5Thor, who I consider is average as an AoE dealer in today's environment (it is better than his slightly since it is cheaper in AP cost overall).
- her extra dmg on red matches is just simply good Yes it is, no argument there but not a primary reason to use her.

- her red power is not meant to be a nuke, but a decent hit that allows her to start tanking or having specials to buff

Too many times people judge a character by what they want them to be instead of what they are I meant to be.

I responded in italics and aren't these forums made for judging characters, hence discussion? I admit I could be wrong and she is awesome, but I have seen many characters like her that try to do a bit of everything and they have generally, always not be useful to me, nor considered meta.

I think she is good, not meta, and can do a lot of things, just none of them great. My play preference is to have a character that does something great, even if it is limited. That is what defines really good characters in this game vs. just good characters.

Haven’t you played against Medusa before where she would constantly burst heal the team making it impossible to down anyone? I’ve lost matches that way. Add in Mr Fantastic and it gets really bad.

Let’s say you hit someone for 10K and then get a cascade match. That simple cascade could trigger Crystal’s burst team healing 3 times, undoing the damage you just did, plus damage done previously to others. So, don’t underestimate the power of burst healing on defense (she is like Medusa in 5* land).

Imagine a SCL10 challenge node with Crystal and Medusa boosted together yikes. Doesn't even matter much who the 3rd character with them would be, will still be a nightmare either way.

I really hope the next 5* is a very good one. I wouldn't mind pulling to get Crystal/Elektra, it would be nice to have another really good 5 in LLs with them as opposed to some dud.

Bad · March 2022

From my pov the best defensive team would be crystal abigail SW.
I have a feeling that abigail won't be really popular and perhaps that team won't see much the light.
However devs are trying to make a healing meta and that team could be really annoying: the first hit you can make without damage reduction possibly will be totally healed in few turns.
If another character was released sharing collective healing and protection like SW they will be a pain (if we are not considering odin).
And a partial counter to this healing meta should be crystal itself thanks to her permanent red passive(which boosted would damage big a healing team), or knull.

DAZ0273 · March 2022

Hmm...just seen Crystal's store has Iceman who I am one cover away from champing. I was maybe going to try and re-build my CP but now it looks like not as I could also use Storm covers too.

HoundofShadow · March 2022

It can only be found in-game: last three words of the first page of her green ability. It's not stated in the thread.

Warbringa · March 2022

bbigler said:

show previous quotes

Warbringa said:

bbigler said:
I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that Shang is easy on defense; so if you climb with him, you’re a PVP target. But if you combine Shang with Crystal (who has a very defensive passive), then your team is less of a target. My mistake there, I did misread your thought there.

I also think you misunderstand Crystal: I do understand her, I just don't value her much.

- she’s not meant to deal high match damage, so it’s pointless to compare her to Shang; her match dmg increase is to make her tank most colors in case you want to play her defensively by making frequent blue matches to heal her 4K each time. Agreed, I only compared her to SC because that is perhaps the best character in the game, certainly top 3 right now. I could compare her to every character that I believe is better in 5* than her, and it would easily be 10+ characters without even thinking for a minute. I probably should have used 5Thor as a better comparison I admit.

I have never found small, non-permanent incremental healing to ever be any good in this game, especially when it is conditional like hers. They have used it in several characters and I never once have had it be a significant factor in a match. Permanent healing on a large scale (or damage prevention) is what is important (ie Shang Chi, Okoye, Colossus, etc). Otherwise burst healing is nearly useless.

- she’s not meant to be a great AP generator, so it’s pointless to make those comparisons. Her yellow passive is meant to be a big defensive deterrent, which sometimes helps on offense. AP generation drives victory in this game and passive healing is not a defensive deterrent.

- her tile buffing can be exponential under the right conditions. A single special can be nearly doubled in strength with each green match. Yes conditionally it can be good, hence why I feel she is ok as a buffer but not as good as some other tile buffing characters.
- her green AOE actually has very good damage output, being 3,315 per AP. Average on par with 5Thor, who I consider is average as an AoE dealer in today's environment (it is better than his slightly since it is cheaper in AP cost overall).
- her extra dmg on red matches is just simply good Yes it is, no argument there but not a primary reason to use her.

- her red power is not meant to be a nuke, but a decent hit that allows her to start tanking or having specials to buff

Too many times people judge a character by what they want them to be instead of what they are I meant to be.

I responded in italics and aren't these forums made for judging characters, hence discussion? I admit I could be wrong and she is awesome, but I have seen many characters like her that try to do a bit of everything and they have generally, always not be useful to me, nor considered meta.

I think she is good, not meta, and can do a lot of things, just none of them great. My play preference is to have a character that does something great, even if it is limited. That is what defines really good characters in this game vs. just good characters.

Haven’t you played against Medusa before where she would constantly burst heal the team making it impossible to down anyone? I’ve lost matches that way. Add in Mr Fantastic and it gets really bad.

Let’s say you hit someone for 10K and then get a cascade match. That simple cascade could trigger Crystal’s burst team healing 3 times, undoing the damage you just did, plus damage done previously to others. So, don’t underestimate the power of burst healing on defense (she is like Medusa in 5* land).

No I have not although, I have been a 5* player for quite some time. I do know incremental healing abilities are annoying but when I fight a 5* scaled Medusa in PvE (Inhumans SCL 10 node for example), I target her second because of her tile damage not her healing. I hit BB first due to his passive damage and leave Lockjaw until last. Perhaps that does change our reference points though as I have not looked at it from 4* perspective. Perhaps I am wrong and in 4* incremental healing can change a battle due to the fact that 4* damage does not out scale 4* incremental healing. In 5* play, large damage nukes are easy to come by and incremental healing cannot outpace this (5* Wolverine, Daredevil, Doom, Rescue, Odin are some incremental healers in 5* that come to mind)? Only Odin is a risk for healing because he does have other features that protect your teammates better, which are the more important parts of his kit.

HoundofShadow · March 2022

As a reference, when boosted to 569, her aoe healing is ~8290 per match that meets the requirement.

I think the reason why you can't feel the frustration of Medusa's healing is because she isn't teamed up with Polaris + BRB or R4G in CN.

Does anyone remember one of the special pvp with Carbage/Medusa/Polaris?

tonypq · March 2022

Does Okoye or Apoc boost healing done by Medusa ?

I never experimented with that before to find out, but was curious if they boost Medusas healing if Crystal's would get boosted as well. If Crystal got boosted green AOE damage and yellow healing she could a pain in the behind to deal with.

mdreyer93 · March 2022

tonypq said:

Does Okoye or Apoc boost healing done by Medusa ?

I never experimented with that before to find out, but was curious if they boost Medusas healing if Crystal's would get boosted as well. If Crystal got boosted green AOE damage and yellow healing she could a pain in the behind to deal with.

Okoye does not boost Medusa's healing.

Vhailorx · March 2022

tonypq said:

Does Okoye or Apoc boost healing done by Medusa ?

I never experimented with that before to find out, but was curious if they boost Medusas healing if Crystal's would get boosted as well. If Crystal got boosted green AOE damage and yellow healing she could a pain in the behind to deal with.

Pretty sure they only boost damage. I think karolina is the only character that boosts healing, but maybe I am am forgetting someone else.

* Crystal (Crystalia Amaquelin) *

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***** Crystal (Crystalia Amaquelin) *****

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* Crystal (Crystalia Amaquelin) *