Best way to max out a fighter?

[Santz9]

Backstory- From playing Skullgirls for a few months, I have gotten a lot of different characters at many different ranges of strength (if that makes sense). To elaborate, I've always wondered if there was a proper way to max out a fighter, whether it be the fastest way or the most efficient long term. For example, awhile back I was beating Peacock's Origin Story and since I didn't have a Peacock that I could tank with, I brought along a level ome Inkling, and had my Big Band do the heavy lifting. Having extra skill points I managed to upgrade her skill tree significantly. She now sits at level 31 with an 80% completed skill tree. On the other hand, I did a similar thing with the Big Top Cerebella, who I used a bit more outside just her origin story and she now sits at level 37, but her skill tree is about 30-40% completed.

TL;DR- Is there a way to upgrade the character that's better than the other? Should I max out a skill tree then level up the character? Or should I level up the character and then worry about the skill tree later? Or a mix of both (been doing a mix of both ever since I've started playing)? And which of the options would be faster?

 

[Fel]

Backstory- From playing Skullgirls for a few months, I have gotten a lot of different characters at many different ranges of strength (if that makes sense). To elaborate, I've always wondered if there was a proper way to max out a fighter, whether it be the fastest way or the most efficient long term. For example, awhile back I was beating Peacock's Origin Story and since I didn't have a Peacock that I could tank with, I brought along a level ome Inkling, and had my Big Band do the heavy lifting. Having extra skill points I managed to upgrade her skill tree significantly. She now sits at level 31 with an 80% completed skill tree. On the other hand, I did a similar thing with the Big Top Cerebella, who I used a bit more outside just her origin story and she now sits at level 37, but her skill tree is about 30-40% completed.

TL;DR- Is there a way to upgrade the character that's better than the other? Should I max out a skill tree then level up the character? Or should I level up the character and then worry about the skill tree later? Or a mix of both (been doing a mix of both ever since I've started playing)? And which of the options would be faster?

Well, upgrading the skill tree doesn't make you level up that much slower, the only impact it would have on your EXP is reducing your Longshot bonuses. Once you have a few strong teams you generally level up silvers and bronzes by keeping them in the back of your team while you grind Prize Fights, so I end up not doing the skill trees until I actually use the character to fight.

If you're actively using the character to fight, I'd say it depends on what variant it is. Offensive variants enjoy the extra damage they get from their SAs which can speed up the fighting process quite a bit. On the other hand defensive variants may be better off getting the Attack tree upgraded first. I think its worthwhile to get the extended ground combo node on both styles though.
Some characters really benefit from their CA being unlocked too, a quick list would be: Big Band, Beowulf, Cerebella, Eliza and Squigly.

 

[Gamma Ray]

The most efficient way to level up is to find each character's "breaking point." This is the point in which a character can solo higher level opponents up to a certain streak number (I usually cap off at 30, but if they can beat them at 16-22, you're fine as well).

Usually it's the same from variant to variant with the exception of the S-tier characters since they can solo much sooner due to their SAs.

Once you get a grip of when they can solo, you inverse what Fel suggested and put your desired fighter in the front with two lower level ones.

HOWEVER, I find it also helps to throw the leveled up fighters at the event fights whenever possible. It's small exp, but it's better than tossing it to your max level fighters anyway. Not perfect but it adds up when using the prize fights and the accursed experiments.

Certain characters are better suited as support characters (i. e. Understudy, Sundae School, Sheltered) or defensive (That's All Folks, Armed Forces, Dead of Winter) and those characters will take a bit more time since their SAs are not really meant for soloing an opponent of higher strength.

Neither way is "faster" since I have done both leveling methods, but the key is to identify which characters can lift on their own and which ones will need support all the way to 50/40/30.