Introduction
Awoken DQXQ 
has been announced and released in NA (finally) to great fanfare and excitement. But why such hype and eagerness for her to go live? It cannot simply be the fact the two sisters are finally reunited (it broke my heart when GungHo decided to split them up) or that they promise to double your fun. As such, I wish to explore her new found power and viability.
Stats at a glance
Awoken Da Qiao & Xiao Qiao
God / Dragon
Active Skill:
8 turn CD
Leader Skill:
4x ATK when matching 4 elements. 1.5x ATK for matching 5 connected light or water orbs. Up to 2.5x ATK when matching 7+
| # connected / orbs |
3-4 | 5 | 6 | 7+ |
| Multiplier | 16x | 36x | 64x | 100x |
DQXQ’s new leader skill requirements, brings a fresh new playstyle as it combines both rows and rainbow elements which sounds right up my alley with my extensive Sakuya 
and Lucifer 
experience. The below video is a clear of Arena 2, but I mostly wanted to include it to showcase the new playstyle of Awoken DQXQ.
Pros:
- One of the easier 100x multiplier leads
- Can control damage which is critical for newer dungeon bosses who have specific absorption shields
- Leader skill combines elements of rainbow teams and rows which is unique and refreshing
- Team building is very flexible as you have enough Light row awakenings from your two leaders
- Active skill is powerful and synergistic for your leader skill
- Chance at orb troll is low for 16x, but may require actives to reach full 100x multiplier
- Poison and jammer removal lowers dependancy on full board changers
- Can match 7 connected water orbs to trigger 100x if you wish to save light orbs
- 2 gorgeous girls and rivals I&I
for prettiest duo
Cons:
- No bind immunity and forces you to bring a bind clearing sub if the dungeon has preemptive leader binds
- No HP / RCV multiplier. This makes your team quite fragile in an era where tanky teams reign supreme
- Stalling can be challenging due to activating 16x as you are required to combo multiple orbs to heal enough
How many light rows is enough?
Many people have asked what is the ideal number of light row awakenings to have and it comes down to a bit of math:
- Each awakening adds 10% damage
- Every matched combo adds 25% more damage
- However, a connected 6 match deals 1.75x your base attack value while 2 separate combos is 2x base attack
- Thus you need 4.2 to “break even” (instead of matching 2 unique sets of 3 light orbs)
However, your two leaders have a total of 6 awakenings and any sub you bring can be seen as an added bonus.
Do I need to bring a dark sub?
This is an interesting question as your leader skill can be triggered by any four elements (5 colours + hearts). However, DQXQ’s active removes dark orbs and this is when you will be dealing your largest burst damage. Therefore, any dark (and fire sub) will not be contributing damage. Furthermore, many light orb changers remove dark orbs (such as Apollo 
, Wukong 
, Elia 
, and Verche 
). This further diminishes your dark sub’s value/potential. Lastly, when attempting to stall/heal, you do not wish to deal damage and by having dark omitted, it becomes safer to combo and heal as you may not trigger your multiplier. Therefore, you can opt for not bringing a dark sub as it is not mandatory for success. In addition, I would not go out of your way to accommodate a dark sub if they do not bring any value to your team.
However, there will be many players who wish to bring a dark sub and that is perfectly acceptable as it allows you to trigger your leader skill on any 4/6 match. Just do not bring a dark sub for the sake of having a dark sub as you want each member to contribute as much value as possible.
Viable dark subs:
Baal is probably the best dark sub available as he provides 3 light row awakenings along with bind immunity. The bind immunity allows you to utilise him as a base for Skill Inheritance as a means to clear binds by inheriting a bind clear active. His only drawback is skilling him up 10 times to have any form of viability (18 -> 8 turns).
Dark Izanami is a Fantastic farmable monster and provides a massive amount of health for a team that has natrually squishy leaders. Furthermore, the 35% damage reduction shield should ensure you survive any preemptive and may be crucial to your success. Dark Izanami’s main drawbacks are lackluster awakenings and no 
awakening.
Izanagi is a reasonably strong dark option as he provides a 2x burst to God types. Granted the need for this kind of damage is unnecessary for most content, but is worth while to mention for Ch10’s and Arena level dungeons. However, Awoken Thor 
is the best option for burst damage as he provides 3 row enhances and 2 turns of double damage.
Loki may not have light as his primary attribute; however, his active enhances your damage by 2x for two turns with a single turn of haste. The main perk of two turns of enhancement is the ability to conserve actives on the second to last floor while still retaining the boost for the final boss. In addition, Loki provides 2 SBR awakenings to help alleviate team building constraints.
Oku deserves mentioning as he provides a valuable single turn of delay. This is crucial for handling bosses with resolve that do not have a status shield.
Arthur is anothe light primary/dark sub colour card who provides a net effect of hearts to light orbs on a 7 turn cooldown. This is not the best value as most single orb changers are 5 turns. However, you may benefit from the chance to proc off any 4/6 matches.
NY Hanzo is a rare card from the New Year REM and is a Fantastic option for your Awoken DQXQ team as he provides a 5-turn fire to light orb changer along with favourable awakenings.
Dark Kali is one of the most favoured cards in the game and her utility can help your team cover the dark attribute along with the pseudo bind clear via her recover bind 
awakening. In addition, you can combo Dark Kali’s active with DQXQ to produce a favourable board.
Team building options
Awoken DQXQ employs many of the same subs Awoken Sakuya and Light Kali 
use. However, your team building is significantly broader due to the ability to trigger your leader skill from any 4 elements. You want to prioritise light attribute subs and have some light orb generation while striking a balance between offensive capabilities and defensive utility. The following list may have some cards missing, but should at least illustrate the sheer depth of your sub pool.
| Role | |
|---|---|
| Offensive orb changers: |
              |
| Full board changers: |
        |
| Damage Enhance: |
         |
| Bind clearing: |        |
| Damage mitigation: |
         |
| Delay: |        |
| Gravity: |      |
Optimal subs & teams
Even with the flexibility offered by Awoken DQXQ, certain subs and team compositions will be stronger. Granted the specific team you bring will vary based on the dungeon mechanics and electing to bring damage mitigation or bind clearing will vary accordingly. One thing to keep in mind with DQXQ is your lack of HP/RCV multiplier. You can help offset the health through coop, but need to prioritise high RCV subs to actually heal after hits. The following monsters are not an exhaustive list and will mostly be used as a starting point for your own team building.
- Awoken Apollo covers the annoying green sub colour along with providing a massive burst potential through his double orb change active by converting both dark and hearts into light. You can also use his row based L/B evolution
if you can live without a SBR and no wood coverage. - Pollux is probably your best Light / Fire option as her diverse awakenings bring valuable utility to your DQXQ team. The enhanced light orb
awakenings add considerable damage, especially if you are able to bring Awoken Apollo as well. Furthermore, once you achieve 10 light rows, orb enhances begin to add more damage. Lastly, the two enhanced heart 
awakenings help your team recover as you lack an RCV multiplier (can also be converted into enhanced light orbs via Pollux’s active). - Wedding Izanami is perhaps the strongest 4-star Collab roll to date and is arguably one of the strongest fire subs available (especially when Pollux receives her L/D evolution). Having access to a 3-turn, 35% damage reduction shield every 6 turns is invaluable along with the passive damage from the 5 enhanced light orb awakenings. I go into greater detail of why I feel she is Fantastic in my subsequent post HERE. The other wedding cards in Gadius
, Eschamali 
, Satsuki 
, and Akechi 
are all strong in their own right and I go into more detail on the Wedding Collab Analysis Post. - Baal is probably the best dark sub available as he provides 3 light row awakenings along with bind immunity. The bind immunity allows you to utilise him as a base for Skill Inheritance as a means to clear binds by inheriting a bind clear active. His only drawback is skilling him up 10 times to have any form of viability (18 -> 8 turns).
- Wukong deserves special mentioning because his active works like DQXQ, but changes different base colours into light and heal orbs. This is ideal because you will not experience orb fatigue and his recover bind awakening can act as a pseudo bind clearer with his heart orb generation. Only downside is a lack of a sub colour so you will have to be careful when team building.
- Light Kali does not offer rows and even with the reduced dependency on board changers, makes a fantastic sub due to covering the fire attribute and guaranteeing a perfect board when used in conjunction with DQXQ. In addition, many players have heavily invested into their Light Kali and will give you a great starting point with which to work with.
- Awoken Venus provides 3 row awakenings along with a powerful active that enhances your light orbs and grants bonus movement time. However, Venus is mostly a stat stick/modest damage enhancer and would probably be the sub you drop first if you need extra utility.
- Awoken Thor is the best choice for burst damage and also comes with synergistic awakenings. By having the damage carry over for a second turn means you can conserve other orb changers to deal lethal damage. Just keep in mind that 100x damage with rows should be sufficient to crush most of the content and will only be needed with exceptionally hard CH10s or Arena level content.
- Dark Izanami is a fantastic farmable option for damage mitigation for your DQXQ team as she also provides a large chunk of health to help offset a lack of an HP multiplier
- Raphael deserves special acknowledgement because many people will see his 5 light rows and immediately think Amazing! However, you need to keep in mind that the passive damage is wonderful, but bringing a sub purely for his awakenings is unwise. His active is wonderful in that it prevents 2 turns of damage, but you cannot activate your leader skill without another orb changer. This places constraints on his usage as you would need a full board changer to deal damage.
My current tentative teams I plan to run when DQXQ goes live are as follows:
Arena 1 Coop (that I can make)
Mantastic teams
Fast orb change team
Fantastic teams
Teams I would like to make
Tips and tricks
Whenever you are planning to use your DQXQ’s active, you must check to make sure you have at least 3 water and 3 wood orbs. If you do not, you will be unable to trigger your base multiplier. However, you can expand upon this by checking to see if you have 3 fire orbs. If you do, you are able to use a heart breaker before DQXQ for even more light orbs.
When stalling on floors, it is best to remove dark, fire, and heal orbs as best you can (of course, do not remove hearts if you are needing to heal). This is because you need to retain your water and wood orbs if you wish to use DQXQ’s active the following turn. Also try to position either your light or water orbs near the bottom to make it easier to form a row for 64x damage. For almost all content, a 64x light row will sweep most things (as you can see from a double light row, 64x pictured above) and going for a 100x through 7 light can be tricky and cumbersome.
Lastly, I want to emphasise you can utilise water orbs to trigger her full leader skill multiplier. You are able to match a set of 7 water orbs (in any pattern) for 100x damage if you wish to conserve your light orbs and need to deal more damage. 100x is a crazy high multiplier and a light TPA will most likely kill the floor provided you run a double TPA sub. Building upon that, you could make a water row based team (light is obviously favoured, but options are nice).
Skill Inheritance
It is nearly impossible to make specific Skill Inheritance recommendations for Awoken DQXQ teams because everyone has different requirements. Your leaders already have an amazing active as it allows you to set up your board with greater ease. The best I can do for you is refer you to my Skill Inheritance: Advanced Strategies page to help give you more inspiration.
Latent setup
As with Skill Inheritance, specific latent recommendations are challenging to give as latents are a means to add small improvements to your team. However, your DQXQ can greatly benefit from RCV 
latents as it will add 160 recovery. This may not seem amazing, but keep in mind that your team has no defensive multipliers and dual leaders will grant 320 more healing per heart orb match. This translates into 640 from a 5 combo match. With coop, you are able to augment your HP pool, but have no way to improve your ability to heal. In addition, it is wise to have a monster with a full rainbow resist (1% of each colour). After that, you can add latents as you please, but dark resist 
is always favourable due to most of the scariest bosses are dark. You should read my Latent Tamadra 101 page for more detail.
Arena 1 Coop Video
The following video was a relatively straightforward clear of Arena 1 with only some problematic floors and minor errors. Good job me and me.
Feel free to check out my subsequent posting where I go into more detail on my Arena set up and strategies HERE.
Conclusion
One thing I am excited for is the opportunity to coop with myself and begin farming Grisar 
skill ups from Ultimate Devil Rush with minimal stress as I will finally have a light based lead both accounts can use. In addition, I am excited for another powerful rainbow lead as Awoken Sakuya is losing viability due to unreliable damage output. The main advantage DQXQ has over Sakuya is an easier activation, more controllable damage, and higher burst potential.
What do you plan to do with your newly reunited Da Qiao Xiao Qiao?
Happy Puzzling!
Mantastic Puzzle and Dragons 
I long to try out Awoken DQXQ but I have no replacement for DQ on my Awoken Amaterasu team 😦 Until I roll a dupe DQ, a Baal, Apollo, or Wukong, I will have to sit out on the Awoken DQXQ hype train…
Otherwise I would consider:
DQXQ / Awoken Amaterasu / Pollux / Kali / Izanagi/meh/stuff / DQXQ
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But how much content is your Awoken Ama clearing compared to the potential clears of Awoken DQXQ? Is Awoken Ama your top level team for hard content? I know it can be tough to break up a team, but if it allows you to achieve a higher level of play may be worthwhile.
Your team sounds quite formidable as you cover all the bases of orb generation, board refresh -> wombo combo, damage enhancement, and bind clearing.
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She farms EVERYTHING. Unless it’s Kanetsugu, she is my go-to for clearing Challenge Dungeons up to level 6 or 7, she farms all of the Descended Challenges aside from a select few difficult ones that Thor x Saria can handle, and when I need brainless farming she is my go-to girl.
What I like about Amaterasu is that she has a clearly defined spot in the metagame. She is not meant for late endgame content, nor will she ever try to achieve such a milestone, unlike Ra Dragon and Awoken Lucifer and friends. But she sits comfortably where she is, and everything she can do, she can do 100% so long as you match combos to autoheal. As a result she is my most stable leader for anything not named ” Rush” or “Challenge Dungeon Lv8+”. I don’t use her for the late endgame content that makes jaws drop when you share the screenshot of your kill but she is a true muscle behind the scenes.
Oh and sprinkle all of that with some nostalgia as for the first basically ten months of my PAD life I mained exclusively LMeta because my box was the epitome of “the REM hates me” and the standard farmable LMeta team archetype was all I had.
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I am glad you have a different team for higher level content, that was my main concern in my previous reply.
I agree that Ama is an amazing no-brainer team who can quickly clear plenty of content. I was quite attached to my Athena and LMeta teams for a long time (still have her +297, but mostly sitting pretty in my box) until I started branching off into other leads. One advantage Ama has is a significantly higher multiplier so you can still clear content quickly with less matching (and it is safer with the autoheal)
I hope (like the rest of the PAD community) that LMeta gets a buff….its been how long?
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Your mid-level farming team doesn’t need to be optimized, but your end-game highest-level team should be.
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I don’t have an Apollo, so my team will be:
A.DQXQ / A.DQXQ/ L.Kali/ A.Venus/ L.Valk or A.Amaterasu (for binds)
Other subs I have:
– 3rd DQXQ (lol)
– 2nd L.Kali
– Wukong
– Pollux
– Baal
– Izanagi
– Loki
That will be 12 rows with a decent amount of orb changes. Hopefully, we’ll get the update soon!
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It may be beneficial to have Wukong instead of the second awoken DQXQ. Reason being is that you are less likely to experience orb fatigue as he changes different colours and may help ensure a steady supply of light orbs. Furthermore, he still retains the bind recover awakening to pseudo clear binds
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hmm A.DQXQ reminds me a bit what Linka could be their Leader Skill are a bit equal Linka is 5+ Combos 3xATK and 5 Orbs with 1Enhanced one at ATK2x that caps at 36x xD
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DQXQ is far superior with better damage and awakenings along with damage control. Linka still remains as a novelty farming lead. Also, DQXQ is prettier which is ofc the most important point XD
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yeah well she just reminds me of a cheaper DQXQ cuz they playstyle is alike just thinking if putting Linka as sub on DQXQ will it work or not cuz linka randomly creates 6 light orbs and extend time for 1,5x with her 6 OE and 1 TE
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My main hesitation of using Linka as a sub is the chance (albeit low) to remove your activation colours. It is risky and yes the enhanced orbs will add significant damage for orbs on the board. Unfortunately, the majority of your damage will come from using orb changers who will create non-enhanced light orbs (thus rendering the awakenings mute).
It is up to you and if you can build around her lack of other awakenings you can experiment and see how it goes =)
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i will try it
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I have this DQXQ sitting in my box for the longest time. I have all the EvoMat ready and I am building up the team right now. Saving all my stones for the FF collab. If I can pull Lightning, perfect sub. Will be running a DQXQ and D.Meta teams as main.
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That’s great! One good thing about having a delay between announcement and release is the ability to preemptively prepare.
What’s your team going go look like with or without lightning?
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Right now, I am thinking of:
L/B Apollo
L/G Athena
Shedar
Dark Izanami (to cover Dark/Fire and defense/HP).
I am limited on what I have…if I get Lightning, I would replace with Apollo or Athena
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Also have L.Valk as an option
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I would suggest not using Athena because she does not offer too much and you have enough damage. For wood coverage Awoken Apollo or even L.Valk is stronger
I like Diza usage but not as strong of a fan of Shedar as he does have a chance (albeit small) to override your colour activation with his horizontal row of light orbs.
Apollo should be kept always
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Thanks for the advice. I wanted to keep L/B Apollo for the rows (i dont think Awoken has any). The reason for Shedar is it has bind clearing ability that fits this party. I will try different combinations…
Hopefully, I can pull Lightning
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You are very welcome =)
I hope you pull Lightning too! I may be hard, but let me know how your team works when she goes live
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Just to let you know, I wasn’t able to pull Lightning but got all other 6-star in FF. So, I can’t complain. I pulled PCGF hoping to get D.Kali…but not. I did get INdra on the last pull. I can use for defense and he will get Awoken form. Also got Isis, Sakuya and a second Pandora. Still would like a full board changer. My only option is Fat Chocobo from FF
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Well dqxq is not as dependant on full board changers as you can use her active to convert into water. You can’t activate your multiplier if it was a full board, but you survive and can use damage mitigation as well. Thus, I would not use fat chocobo for dqxq
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True, I will work with what I have. Hopefully, we get them in a few days and I will challenge Ultimate Arena (after a little practice).
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If at all possible, you should make some stabs at Arena while half stamina. There is no event going on so there may be nothing better to play. I also wish DQXQ came out sooner =(
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Your thoughts on using Saria as a sub?
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Saria only produces 3 elements so you cannot activate DQXQ’s leader skill so it would be a poor choice. Same reason why Superman cannot work
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cant wait for her i have DQXQ, L Kali, Wukong (aka. Son Goku),A.Apollo and A.Venus ;D
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Sounds like a fantastic team! Now we wait (im)patiently XD
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yup need just to evolve some but well when she comes out all will be at max lvl and rdy to crush descends
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I created an alt account for to multiplayer with this past PCGF (no better time, right?) and ended up getting very lucky and rolling a DQXQ. My main account has one ready to Awaken (as soon as the option is available) but i’m trying to figure out an optimal “starting” team to carry my alt with (mostly because I’ve got a limited number of 297s stockpiled and ready to go). This post has been really helpful – I at least have some ideas of where to start now haha. (The upside and the downside of being heavy IAP – paralysis of choice!)
One card I didn’t see mentioned on this page and was wondering your thoughts on: Lightning. She seems to me like she’d be an awesome fit and would cover both board change and true damage. What do you think?
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That’s great you made a second account to better play with yourself. Soon you will be having conversations within your head and wondering who’s turn it is as you spaced out for a minute =P
It depends on what level of content you are carrying your alt through and catering your team accordingly. You would be achieving 40x ATK with an Awoken + non Awoken pairing which should be sufficient in most cases. What you can aim for is farming z8 with yourself. Z8 is quite easy and is very carry-able as you only need a few floors with damage and your alt can bring the poison/delays as needed (I have done it a lot with my newer friends with Sakuya, Kali, Shiva, etc). If you do manage to get to that point, you will both be ranking up non stop and a smax z8 one day. You just need to bring a damage enhance for the final floor (extra light orb makers help) and a bind clearing card, but otherwise quite flexible and more delays the better (aka echidna on alt). For perspective, I played my friends rank 220 account and cleared solo with shiva by bringing those requirements as only the final floor is dangerous.
In regards to Lightning, yes she is powerful, but its mostly her true damage component you want, the board refresh is not as badly needed. I also plan to revamp this article in the near future when her release is actually going to happen
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This is great feedback – thank you! I hadn’t actually thought too much about what to have on my alt’s team but carrying my alt to a Lilith and an Echidna is a great idea. I’ve boosted my alt account through some of the easier multiplayer content already trying to get ranks which has gone very very well so I don’t think that should be a problem.
I’ll look forward to the updated guide once our favourite light twins get their highly anticipated awoken 🙂
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Yeah, I will start work on it shortly as it should be released (maybe even with the Wed maintenance)
With an echidna and lilith, you can clear z8 Mythical provided your main account can burst. Echidna can delay various floors and you have enough hp to survive all non boss hits so is something you can work towards! Also the 25 stamina for 60k+ rank exp is very exciting =P
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Thoughts on Ars Nova as a sub for ADQXQ? She brings 4 light OE to the table where rows are already aplenty, along with a six turn 5 light orb spawn and enhance. I think she could even compete with LKali for the L/R spot! (LKali’s active skill seems to me arguably useless in many cases, and I would only put her on for TPA damage and her time extend.)
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The awakenings are a nice splash of diversity; however, my main concern is the chance (albeit small for DQXQ) of overriding your colour activation.
Light Kali is more for the defensive utility and ability to combo her board refresh with DQXQ for an proc-able board with an emphasis on light orbs
You can play with both and see which is more effective for you =)
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Would the following team be decent?
A-DQXQ
D-Kali
A-Venus
A-Susano
A-Apollo
A-DQXQ
(I would put L-Kali instead of her dark form but I don’t have her)
Other subs I have:
Bankai Baal
Alcyone
Raphael
Ariel
Indra
Sakuya
Chocobo
Sun Wukong
Any recommendations are appreciated
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Team looks solid as a healthy mix of utility and damage. However, you do not need a dkali and may be better served by a Wukong for more damage and ideal active. Susano covers fire and the shield is more helpful than the board change. I would only drop Venus for Sakuya to deal with binds as needed. Raphael is nice, but impractical in most cases.
Thus, Wukong, Susano, Venus, Apollo is a great team =)
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Thank you for the help. Also, would it be a good idea to inherit Ariel (spawn 4 light orbs, 4 turn cooldown) onto Venus?
PS sorry for constantly plaguing you with comments and questions all the time I really appreciate all the help you’ve given
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I love comments and I encourage you to ask meaningful questions =)
Venus’s active is much stronger than Ariel and I dislike hers as it can override colour activation. If anything, inherit Loki or Thor onto Venus for damage enhancement
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When i need a bind clear who do u think i can switch safely from them
A.DQXQ,L.Kali,Wukong,A.Apollo,A.Venus
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Venus should be the first sub to be cut from the team if you need bind clearing =)
Wukong provides more value and Kali and Apollo cover fire and wood
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Looking forward to using ADQXQ.
The team i was thinking of using would be
ADQXQ/LKali/LValk/AVenus/Diza
The other monsters i have that i was thinking of maybe using would be
Pollux, A-Sakuya, Raphael, A-Amaterasu, Creator God Izanagi
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Do Pollux over Kali as the enhanced heart and light orbs make a sizeable difference
Drop Valk or Venus for your bind clear (Sakuya and Ama are equally effective so choose who compliments the dungeon better) as needed. Venus is mostly just a quick damage enhancer and 3 row stat booster along with nice RCV and 1k auto heal
Change out Diza for Raph if needing a stronger damage reduction
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sweet. makes sense. thanks bud
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You are very welcome =)
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This isn’t a post about A.DQXQ as a lead, but as a sub. What do you think of this team?
2950. Scampering Newlywed, Gadius
A.DQXQ
A.DQXQ
2954. Deeply in Love Newlywed, Akechi Mitsuhide (Ideally would be replaced with 2969 Miru for that disgusting active, better awakenings, and dragon typing)
Holy Thunderdragon Indra
2950. Scampering Newlywed, Gadius
You have unbindable cleric leaders, 11 rows, 6 light enhance,100% sbr, and close to 50,000 health when hypermaxed. Anything you would change here? Besides my expectations at pulling an 8 star REM? I should probably have waited for your post on the June Bride series, but I got excited.
I really enjoy your website, the content is top notch and it has taught me a lot about how to succeed in this addictive game we play!
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Sorry to reply to myself, I forgot I had an apocalypse, poor guy has been rotting away. Would totally run him over this Akechi I also don’t have yet! Theory crafting is always fun. Plus if I got a Miru I’d probably just use it as the leader over Gadius, and while she is a pretty girl, she isn’t dragging a pretty girl around with her (Saria’s face in this art is too great).
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There is nothing wrong with being too excited =P We may get the June Bride dungeon soon according to PADX and I need to get to work!
As for your hard to pull Gadius team, it does look solid. However, running too many board changers require you to combo with in case of orb troll (which can happen). Ofc thats what your DQXQ do, but trading in the Akechi spot diminishes that. Alternatives could be Wukong and is Indra really needed? I would only use him as required and reserve that spot as a flex slot to counter various dungeon mechanics.
Also, Miru is far superior in almost every way because of the near perma 75% reduction shield and 49x ATK. 75% reduction = 4x HP / 4x RCV. One thing that confuses me is how Miru gets younger with every evolution….
Lastly, thank you for the encouragement and I hope to continue fuelling your PAD addiction =P
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Thanks for your reply! It’s entirely possible I’m putting too much emphasis on Gadius’ HP boost to dragon type cards. The reason Indra is in there is because Gadius doesn’t have SBR and Indra has two (and is a dragon), though depending on the dungeon that might not matter. Wukong’s typing is the only reason I wasn’t running him (he is fantastic to be sure) and why I was so quick to drop Akechi for Apocalypse. It’s very possible that the surety of Akechi’s or Wukong’s actives (curse you orb troll. Curse you.) make up for the ~2,000 hp loss. After all, the team would still have enough HP to face tank Arena 2 Hera preemptive, so how much more do you need?
As far as Miru goes, I think it’s a cruel irony on Gungho’s part. She grows younger as a five years older version of yourself finally assembles her evo materials. She is DEFINITELY better than Gadius, though I am super unconfident in my ability to form rows with her cross heart (and two rows? forget about it). She does give you a free 4 seconds of orb movement though, and her active makes it quite easy for when you need the second row, so maybe I’m being dramatic.
Looking forward to your June bride beauty pageant analysis!
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Gadius would be more of a luxury/collectors item than practicality imo. He does make a great sub on Miru or even Awoken DQXQ provided you have a dark sub present.
I am certainn with +4 seconds to move orbs, you will be utterly spoilt and promptly proceed to fail all over teams after XD
I plan to get to work on the June Bride REM this weekend!
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I would be curious to hear what you think the optimal team is with the following sub pool:
Wukong, L.Kali, Raphael, L.Valk, A.Apollo, A.Thor, Fuma Kotaro, Pollux, Izanagi, Sonia Gran
I think, in the end, I’m just trying to decide whether it’s worth putting a dark monster on the team (via either Izanagi or Sonia Gran).
This team will probably mostly be used for farming easier descends and dungeons as I run a Thor/Saria team for more difficult content. I also have a lot of friends with DQXQ so I’ll probably do a lot of co-op with this team.
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Unless you need the L/D Izanagi boost, I would not prioritise a dark card. I ran Arena coop with one of my teams without dark and it was fine
I would say, Pollux, A Apollo, Wukong, flex (either damage enhance, orb changers, or bind clear as needed) would be a fantastic team.
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I evo’d her today and so far am running with her, Sun Wukong, A. Amaterasu, Susano and Arthur. I do like running with a dark sub for full coverage. If I could get a Pollux I would like to eventually use Pollux/Indra over Susano/Amaterasu for most content. Just not a lot of great red options. I am going to pick up a light Izanami as well and might try her instead of Susano but not sure if I’m willing to lose any fingers. Anyway been pretty fun and since this guide was made Arthur did drop from 7 to 6. He’s got pretty good stats and great awakenings. He’s been easily the highest damage on the team and synergizes well with the leaders active.
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Using a dark sub comes down to personal preference and what your team roster looks like, Fantasitc’s team has 4 cards that remove dark and no good option to roll with. I cleared Arena twice so far with the teams I listed and I hardly needed the dark coverage for the most part on Mantastic.
I do agree that fire coverage is hard to come, but if you do own Pollux, she is a great asset. However, Susano is still a great option and you can use him as he does have a wonderful defensive array of awakenings and you can abuse his double TPA with a water 100x to kill things. I may have dark TPA with Loki on a 100x water to sweep a lower HP floor at some point
Arthur is valuable, but I prefer my Wukong due to the heart generation as stalling is still a hard aspect, but cater to your needs as you need to customise based on the dungeon needs
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Yeah Arthur doesn’t work well with Sun Wukong. Arthur does work very well with Da Qiao as they can make a very heavy light board for massive damage. But if you are running Elia on top of Wukong I can see too many conflicts. But with just Wukong and Arthur I just use them on different turns.
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Well Fantastic has Apollo and Wukong so no real space for Arthur and Apollo already makes a light heavy board on his own. All depends on what you have to work with =)
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Yeah I got Alcyone during the PCGF but despite having a similar active her sub color is not optimal for this team. I might run her after skilling her for speed runs but the team is already constrained enough on sub colors without duping my leaders colors. I would really like a Pollux but I’d take an Apollo too.
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Yeah, in your case it will be hard to accommodate unless you do coop to help cover your other utility. What have you tried running/clearing thus far?
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I decided to give ADQXQ a whirl in Extreme Endless and paired up a friend’s hypered ADQXQ with my on regular DQ. Even with my damage being gimped by my own lead capping off at 4x damage and my TERRIBLE color skills (my color-lead playing skills are utterly absymal because I’m not used to it) I failed on floor 23 (Beelzebub) and that was because I failed to match all the colors on the board (a.k.a dumb mistake) and my team only had like 20,000 HP.
I’m running Ama / Pollux / NY Hanzo / Kali as subs and it seems to work well, Hanzo is definitely a star, quick orb change from Fire so he’s up very frequently, and both DQs are their own orb changers as well. Kali + Hanzo or Kali + DQ works well too. I’m wondering if ASusano might have a place on the team due to the team’s fragility.
But first I have to gather up DQ’s materials and wonder if it’s really time to kiss my Ama team goodbye </3 Her raw power without needing Anubis-level skills is very readily apparent, I just suck at playing color leads, but we'll see.
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You team has a nice mix of utility, offensive orb changers, and defensive bind clearing. Susano can be subbed in as needed (you do not always need a shield)
I hope you do gather all her materials as she is very fun to use and is my new favourite lead to play!
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Sadly I have neither Apollo nor Wukong. The current team I’m currently running is AVenus/LKali/AThor/AAmaterasu/ADQXQ. I also have another Venus, LValk, Izanagi, Indra, Arthur, and Susano. Do you think I should make any changes or just wait till I get Wukong or Apollo? Thanks man!
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That team is solid. However, you can drop out Thor or Venus as you deem fit to squeeze in more utility or orb changers. They both fulfil the damage enhance role and doubling up like that is somewhat unneeded. You may find more value from Arthur or Valkyrie in place of one of those
Hope this helps =)
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Sorry if this comments a bit irrelevant, but I’m putting it here because I was thinking of taking on Arena in the semi-near future with Awoken DQXQ. I’m currently rank 292. Am I getting way ahead of myself to be even thinking about Arena? And also is it like the base requirement that everything in your team is hypermaxed for arena?
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Rank in theory does not bar you from Arena. It is more so your team that does. I just wrote a detailed Arena strategy guide if you want to take a look: https://mantasticpad.com/2016/06/23/awoken-dqxq-vs-arena/
The more hypermaxed your team, the better
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Awesome, that helps a ton. Thanks for the ever-helpful guides
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You are very welcome and hopefully you are successful soon!
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I’m getting there, I just will need some gold dragons & tamadras, then I think it will become my main team
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i am still using her for nearly everything as I simply love the playstyle (and damage). At least with Coop you can do things twice as fast, or double the disappointment for half the stamina =P
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Hi mantastic! A friend of mine and I crafted together this extremely based light row team for A DQXQ 2 super ult rowphaels, baal , and Shedar. Though I’m having some trouble getting all 4 elements since I practically need Fire water light dark and heart to activate A DQXQ’s leader skill. I do have wukong, chibi valk rose, a pentamaxed A. ISIS and a pollux in my box. Should I swap out that second rowphaael and Shedar? I do lose about 8 rows and and a second unbindable bind clear.
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You can easily get away with only the light rows on your two leaders (as per my numerous Arena clears https://mantasticpad.com/2016/06/23/awoken-dqxq-vs-arena/) and I would not sacrifice utility for more rows. If you watch that video, you can see that a 64x Light row will sweep most floors.
I would run Baal, Pollux, Chibi Valk, flex (Wukong is ideal). You flex can be either a shield or bind clear as needed. That team has 9 rows and will still hit incredibly hard.
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Hello Mantastic,
I find it hard to achieve consistent results with AQDQ team.. my current subs for her are :
– Raphael
– Wu Kong
– Baal
– still missing an ideal green sub (currently filled by A. Yomi for dark and green coverage and extra time)
– do you think it is wise to spend Shynpy to AQDQ active skill ?
– also, for latent skill, is it worth to give her all the extend time (2.5 sec addition) ?
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Always wise to invest in Shynpy for your DQXQ as her active is incredible for activating her leader skill. Being able to heal AND deal lethal damage helps secure your position vs preemptives on the next floor. It also encourages people to take your DQXQ as it is more “complete”
Your team looks solid as you have a nice mixture of utility and amazing burst potential with your numerous orb changers
If you are having a tough time activating due to insufficient time, go ahead and latent your team. There is no rule against it and if it helps you perform better, it is the best option =)
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Hey Mantastic – love the updates to the guide. My main account ADQXQ team is coming along nicely 🙂
As a person who spends probably way more than she should shaking hands with the dragon, I’m curious as to your thoughts on the June Bride specials in conjunction with ADQXQ. It seems like Bride Eschamali would add a lot of OOMPH with all those lovely sparkles but do you have any thoughts for whether any of them would make great fits for the team?
Currently my team looks like:
ADQXQ
– Awoken Apollo
– Sun Wukong (who has languished for a long time in my primarily dark/red box and now has some growing up and catching up to do! haha)
– LKali (though considering replacing with Pollux)
– Flex (which can be any of: A. Venus, A. Orochi, A. Loki, A. Susano, or a host of other options)
L. Eschamali (should I be so very very lucky!) feels like she’d be a great fit to replace LKali/Pollux. Do you agree? And what are your thoughts around any of the others?
Thank you, again and as always!, for your help and suggestions.
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I just wrote about the June Bride REM (https://mantasticpad.com/2016/06/25/june-bride-rem-analysis-and-review/) so you can take a look for a more detailed break down of each card
In terms of your team, Light Kali/Pollux are needed to cover fire (eschamali does not) and who you choose to use depends on your personal preference and dungeon mechanics. I have a Pollux on Fantastic and Kali on Mantastic so I have exp with both and each are pretty fantastic for what they do. Drawback of Kali is you usually need to combo with DQXQ or Apollo to work and Pollux needs to have sufficient fire/water/wood/dark orbs present to proc. Choose who you feel works best for the dungeon
Your flex cards should be used as needed (aka bind clear/shield) and you may have more value from running both Kali and Pollux
Hope this helps =)
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I’m currently running A.DQXQ/Wukong/A.Apollo/A.Venus/L.Kali but I will probably sub out A.Venus for Baal and L.Kali for Pollux once I’m managed to evo and awaken them (I only pulled Pollux about a month ago and I haven’t touched Baal yet). Does that seem like a solid team or should I put different subs in? I also have A.Ama, A.Sakuya, Raphael, Okuni, D.Kali, Susano, Orochi, D.Izanami, and others.
I also heard the new evo coming out for Hera Sowilo will be good for this team?
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I’m currently running A.DQXQ/Wukong/A.Apollo/A.Venus/L.Kali but I will probably sub out A.Venus for Baal and L.Kali for Pollux once I’m managed to evo and awaken them (I only pulled Pollux about a month ago and I haven’t touched Baal yet). Does that seem like a solid team or should I put different subs in? I also have A.Ama, A.Sakuya, Raphael, Okuni, D.Kali, Susano, Orochi, D.Izanami, and others.
I also heard the new evo coming out for Hera Sowilo will be good for this team?
Thanks for the guide!
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Of your currently listed team, Venus is the first to be replaced. Baal is worthwhile once he has investment for his skill ups and Pollux is generally superior to Light Kali based on my experience thus far (I run a Pollux on Fantastic and Kali on Mantastic) although there are situations where Kali’s active is superior. You need to choose the better option for the current dungeon.
Thus your team would be Apollo, Pollux, Baal, Wukong. Of those, I would replace either Wukong or Baal for the extra utility as needed (aka shields, bind clears, etc.)
I prefer Sakuya over Ama for solo as the Ama heal is not too great along with the gravity being a nice collateral benefit. If doing coop where your HP is very large, the Ama heal can become more significant.
Hera Sowilo would be okay, but the orb enhance is largely unneeded and she would be similar to Venus
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I’m glad I finally have or actually so close to getting an end game tier team. Rank 300 and I still struggle with weekday mythicals, and descend legends. I have always loved DQXQ as a color lead because it is the easiest to activate aside from any of the 3 orb colors needed leads. After reading this blog on DQXQ I am glad I have the near perfect team for it. I rolled a Baal some months ago and max skilled through the shinrabansho collab that came around twice in a year. I do feel somewhat bad that I only have one Baal max skilled and so many of those darn cats that I proceeded to max skill Leonhart (cat) and a physical Light ninja while everybody is dying for a max skilled Baal.
I have two Apollo and I rolled the second one a few days ago so its at base. I planned on evolving it to light/fire simply for the art because I already had Light/Blue and no use for awoken version. But since I’m close to having a DQXQ team I think I’ll evolve to either another Light/Blue or Awoken version??? not sure which one to go for.
For light/fire the only subs I have for it is Saria and Ilm so I can do those or I can begin to utilize OE after the ten rows and hopefully roll a wedding DIza from rem as it comes with a shield.
For Light/ green the only thing I have is Athena, a Valkyrie and chibi valkyrie. so maybe if awoken apollo trump any of those subs for green sub then I can do awoken apollo otherwise I would most likely go with Chibi valk. for the SBR and prongs.
The dream team hahaha too bad the only thing I’m missing is a awoken DQXQ :(…….. closest thing I have to a DQXQ is 3 chibi DQXQ two of which is max skilled and don’t have wukong but I have a max skilled chibi wukong 😦
I will defintely attempt to roll for a DQXQ when it comes around as it will be an upgrade from my Athena team. That’s the only thing I have as a light team since I have no Saria subs.
Thank you again for this analysis for DQXQ as it made me want to roll for DQXQ as she will be that one leader that will pull me out of my mid game crisis stump of a point where I don’t know what else to do to beat the harder batch of descends since my best team is Urd and we all know she isn’t exaclty end game material.
Thank you again and keep up the great work.
P.S. Sory about making this so long but I couldn’t hold my excitement 😀
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First off, I am excited for your excitement!
In regards to your Apollo question, Awoken is largely superior compared to the other forms and also covers the wood attribute. THe enhanced light and heart orbs easily outweigh the Chibi Valk as you are rarely using TPA to kill things. Also, the double orb change practically ensures a kill
Also, congrats on your max skilled Baal, I know many people would be envious!
I do hope you pull a DQXQ as you have quite a Fantastic team waiting for her =)
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Thank you
Now that 3K kingdoms godfest has been announced to be here in next two days. Got my info from padx. I’m thinking whether I should continue in the wedding collab to get an Izanami for ADQXQ (saw your blog about her on AQXQ team) or should I hope I roll for AQXQ in godfest. I’m non iap but I am leaning towards the Izanami simply because there is more of a chance that I get her than DQXQ. THat and I don’t know when she will come back. DQXQ rotates every now and then.
I can probably farm team challenge enough for maybe like 3 rolls including free stones handed out but I doubt I can get Izanami and DQXQ this week
What do you think I should attempt to roll for with maybe like 3 rolls?
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I would attempt to roll for Izanami because she may not appear until NEXT June. I do hope you acquire her quickly and maybe even have enough stones to attempt for a DQXQ roll or two =)
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Hi,
I will like to use A.DQXQ but i not sure what team i should be using. i have those cards that you had menstion in the post as follows:
Valkyrie Rose, Pollux, Wukong, Baal, Chocobo, Thor, Loki, Venus, Izanagi, AYomi, Lmeta, Isis, Raphael, Ganesha, Orochi, Sakuya.and also bride Eschamali
Thanks
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I would suggest you run:
Pollux (BiS Fire)
Baal (only if max skilled)
Orochi/Isis (best wood coverage listed)
and either Eschamali, Wukong, Sakuya (binds), Thor
Your core will be Pollux, Baal, Orochi/Isis and a flex sub as you deem fit. I feel Orochi/Isis is better than Valkyrie as you have enough orb makers (and Pollux already breaks hearts)
Hope this helps =)
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Hi, thanks for the reply. i am thinking if my team can be like this in future:
Pollux (Future ult dark)
Wukong
Eschamali
Raphael
Isis/Orochi
Will it work? or A.Indra or L/G Thor will be better for green sub?
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That team will work wonders as you cover all your colours along with plenty of rows to compensate for the one non-light primary.
Indra is more situational and Isis provides better utility and a better base for SI (and thus more flexibility)
L/G Thor is not worthwhile
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I see. Thanks for your help!! Now i know what to do for this team now.
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Glad to be of help and hope this team provides as much fun as your Xiang Mei!
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I’ve really enjoyed this blog, as this is my first comment. I’ll keep it short and sweet. JP seems to have Pollux u.evos – any comments on L/D vs L/R, and how they fit into team building?
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Glad you took the plunge and made an account Grumparoo =D
As for Pollux’s new evolutions, they are some of the best options for their respective sub colour. You just need to be careful of switching your L/R into L/D if you do not have an approrpriate sub to cover fire. However, you can get away without using Fire IF you do not run Apollo or other orb changers who are not reliant on fire orbs being present (as DQXQ removes fire with her active). If you can cover fire, switch to L/D asap as those extra awakenings and new dark coverage are amazing
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How’s it going Mantastic?
I was just wondering how a Sherias Roots would fit on a DQXQ team? The 2 time extends and the excellent active would be a welcome sight on the team. Not to mention the god killer bonus.
For reference my team would look as such:
Awoken DQXQ
Awoken Apollo
Awoken Sakuya
Super Ult Raphael
Sherias Roots
Thanks for any feedback man!
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Sherias roots does fit well; however, just be aware you will probably need to use DQXQ after his active to ensure enough for a row
Otherwise, your team looks solid (swap out Sakuya if no binds) and I personally do not like Raphael. What other fire cards do you have?
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Yeah I have the same thoughts on Raphael but I don’t think I really have a better fire sub. Some of them are:
Tsubaki
Gadius
Ariel
Ares
Ame no Uzume
Horus
Ariel
Echidna
So not too much to choose from lol
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Yeah you are right, not much lol. Guessing no kali, pollux, weddings izanami?
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Nope lol but I’m praying for a Pollux someday.
I also have a hypermaxed Awoken Thor, is that who I should switch out for Sakuya for non bind dungeons?
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Thoughts on the new pollux ult evolutions for this team? The light/dark pollux looks really great!
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L/D is incredibly powerful and best option for dark if solo. In coop, is similar to Baal but less investment required
Doing a write up shortly =)
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Hi, looking for the best ADQXQ team(s) given the following subs:
Right now with her I run
L Kali
D Kali
L Valk
Baal
Other subs I have are:
Awoken Sakuya
L Meta
Fuu
Verche
Isis
3 Thors
Pollux and Apollo have eluded me so far. 😦
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Sakuya only when you need bind clears, otherwise: Light Kali, Baal, Valkyrie, flex (could be Dkali/Thor/Sakuya etc)
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Ready to rumble with ADQXQ, my temptative team would be sometging like this: ADQXQ, L/D Pollux, Sun Wukong, L Kali, ASusano
I’ve got some viable subs: L/G Valk, Wedding Akechi, L/D Izanagi, LMetatron, GrOdin, Raphael, Okuninushi, Muse, Holy Night Genie and Hator
Other cards I’ve got: Alcyone, Shining Dragon Knight (SI for Bindi clearing?), unevolved (second) Izanagi, Baal and Indra, plus L/R Amaterasu and L/G Thor (time to unevolve them?)
Well, I’m a bit overhelmed, any suggestion?
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How is it going Mantastic?
I am currently trying to make a A. DQXQ team, but have some questions.
Currently I have:
– A. DQXQ
– A. Sakuya
– L/D Pollux
– L. Kali
– Valkyrie
… on the team with the available sub of:
– A. Venus
– Sun Wukong
– Elia
– Baal
Should I switch out the Pollux with Baal, or change Pollux into L/F and sub it out with Kali? Please let me know, and have a good day!
P.S: I’m enjoying all the reviews and guides that you put up! Please keep up the amazing work 🙂
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Is your Baal max skilled? If not, he has less value
You do not need to bring Sakuya for every dungeon and can easily swap in Wukong when there are no binds. I like inheriting Venus with Light Kali, but that does not solve your fire issue.
If yo go L/R Pollux, you can have Venus (kali inherit), Pollux, Baal, Valkyrie
That way you do have a stronger base for Kali and all your colours =)
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Thank you for your reply! I am really enjoying the DQXQ team, and it really helped to have your opinion to make it better!
I also have another question, now that PAD X Ana is here: Is it worth having the ult evoed form of Ana+Valk, or should i just stick with Valk? I have the Valk max skilled, and Ana+Valk has no other skill-up way except shynpy, so i’m debating 😛
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NVM I saw your PAD X analysis and there was the answer i was looking for 😀
Thanks again for all your effort, and I’ll make sure to have my friends who are starting the game take a look at the guides and tips!
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Hi Mantastic, I’m going for your “would like to make” team, but would like your opinion on my current team. Does flat light damage do more than 3 colored triple TPA? Does a Raphael + Ana board of enhanced light orbs do damage comparable to a 100x combo? Great website, love your posts.
Team:
—————
Raphael
A. Sun Quan
Kaede
Lumiel
Other subs:
—————
Baal
Lightning
Valkyrie (possibly Ana)
D. Izanami
Hysferzen
A. Isis
Susano
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