Ok, so, it's widely (and finally) agreed and seen that degrades are generally stronger than boosts. However, I think it's important to keep in mind that this is true by degrees. Since the only practical degrades are general ones, they start off at a lower percentage than the most common alignment devoted boosts. So, if you compare a sk.1 to a sk.1 boost to a degrade, the boost is stronger. It's that simple. Whether we're comparing UR+ cards, or L+ cards, this is true, so it's important to remember that degrade cards really shine when you skill them up. While this may be true generally and obviously of any and all cards, it's especially true of the degrades. At low percentages, a degrade will only be stronger than a boost of the same percentage, but as you get higher percentages, the margin for what that degrade will outshine becomes greater and greater.
I've used simple math just to get this general guideline down, and while specific deck composition might make some minute differences, I think that the overall idea will still translate regardless.
So, here we go...all I'll be doing is listing out what percentage degrade will basically "beat" or "out damage" a boost of a given percentage, so that way you'll know exactly at what skill a degrade card will be a better choice than a boost card of a certain percentage.
| Degrade Wins | Vs. Boost |
|---|---|
| 1-9% | 1-9% |
| 10-13% | 11%-14% |
| 14-15% | 16-17% |
| 16-18% | 19-21% |
| 19-20% | 23-24% |
| 20% | Ties 25% |
| 21% | 26% |
| 22-23% | 28-29% |
| 24% | 31% |
| 25% | 33% |
So basically, degrades are pretty incredible. If you take a Legendary card with an Extreme general degrade you only need to skill it up to 8 for it to "out damage" a sk.10 Legendary with an Extreme alignment boost. Furthermore, a sk.10 degrade will actually let you "out damage" a sk.10 faction boost. Couple this with the ability to mix and match any alignment if you make an entire degrade deck, and you're talking about some serious flexibility as more degrade cards are released.
I think this is most interesting really when we take a look at the Special Combo page though. What this essentially means is that in terms of our bottom end combos, a generic all Male Super Hero deck is never going to grant you the best Special Combo, with only a 3% boost. An all villain deck will have the better combo with a 3% degrade, and (assuming our numbers are all truly accurate on this one) an all female deck will be even better with a 4% degrade, especially with its higher probability of going off. Similarly, an all villain defense is going to have a better combo than an all hero defense.
This of course only applies to the plain combos, and not many of the more specific ones which, at those levels typically mean that for the most part you can just go by whatever has the highest overall percentage to determine which will work best for you...but still this is kind of telling. It seems as though in general, male super heroes are the way to NOT go if you want the best combo at all. But of course, a lot of people don't care much about combos still to begin with, so maybe it won't make a difference.
Anyway, that's about it. Degrades are awesome. Get yours today. :)
Update: 06/20/2014
Due to a wall post by our dear wiki friend PackGrad and some other discussion in a research room of The Doctor's, I've decided to update this with some scenarios I'd ran some time ago when thinking about transitioning into a full degrade deck. I decided against it, primarily because of the horrifying (yet perhaps, balancing) lack of good possible combos.
For purposes of this I'll be using one attack deck comprised of: Sapiens Superior Magneto, Mistress Death, X-Treme Psylocke, Thunderbolts Hawkeye, and The Master Doctor Doom on attack.
The first defense it will face is something basic, though still strong: A wall of All Too Human Vision. The math will be simplified, and all I mean by that is that rather than do the math properly to every card, I'm just going off the base totals of each deck, cutting out positions. Also, I only chose these cards because I actually own most of them lol.
| Attack | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
| 77,788 | 77,040 | |
| Adapters | 83,234 | 82,433 |
| A1 - Degrade | 83,234 | 61,825 |
| A2 - Degrade | 83,234 | 46,368 |
| A3 - Degrade | 83,234 | 34,776 |
| D1 - Boost | 83,234 | 44,862 |
| D2 - Boost | 83,234 | 57,872 |
| D3 - Boost | 83,234 | 74,655 |
| Combo | 87,396 | 76,895 |
| Margin | +10,501 |
| Attack | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
| 77,788 | 77,040 | |
| Adapters | 83,234 | 82,433 |
| A1 - Degrade | 83,234 | 61,824 |
| A2 - Degrade | 83,234 | 46,368 |
| A3 - Boost | 107,372 | 46,368 |
| D1 - Boost | 107,372 | 59,815 |
| D2 - Boost | 107,372 | 77,162 |
| D3 - Boost | 107,372 | 99,539 |
| Combo | 112,741 | 102,526 |
| Margin | +10,215 |