Introduction

Awoken DQXQ  was released yesterday in North America and it has felt like Christmas ever since. I initially started playing difficult content with Sakuya  in all her various forms but was forced to make a soft transition to mono colour teams that were row oriented (Lucifer  and Blue Sonia ). These teams offered more survivability, burst damage potential, and consistency. Thus, with the release of Awoken DQXQ, I was overjoyed to combine the two elements of rainbow and rows into two pretty girls. The purpose of this post is to showcase how I have been clearing Arena (10+ times as of this posting) in coop with my two accounts, Mom’s account, and a friend. Being able to tackle Arena via multiplayer alleviates some of the weaknesses DQXQ faces, but she is still capable of soloing with the right set up. If you have not already, I strongly encourage you to read my Awoken DQXQ Analysis and Team Building Guide to gain a better understanding of how to compose and utilise your team.

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.

Outside of poor comboing towards the end, the video should give you a relatively good idea of the playstyle and where I choose to stall and use actives. I always prioritise using my DQXQ’s actives first as they recharge twice as fast in coop.

Awoken DQXQ Overview

Awoken DQXQ is a hybrid rainbow/row leader that requires any 4/6 elements to trigger her base 16x multiplier. However, you are able to match multiple connected Light OR Water orbs to bolster your damage further.

# connected  or  orbs	3-4	5	6	7+
Multiplier	16x	36x	64x	100x

I cannot stress how important it is to remember that connected water orbs are able to trigger your 100x multiplier as you can match a Light TPA and will most likely sweep any floor. Your connected orbs can be in any shape/pattern and to achieve 100x, you require some funky manipulations as it is not a tidy horizontal 6-row match.

When matching water, you should simply go for the easiest pattern possible. On the other hand, if you are connecting your light orbs, you should prioritise a horizontal row to trigger your numerous   awakenings. To achieve 100x via Light, you should strive to create a pattern similar to these to optimise spacing where x is the light orbs:

xxxxxx
xxxooo

xooooo
xooooo
xxxxxx

I asked a math savvy friend to do some calculations to determine if a 64x Light row out damages a 100x 7-orb Light cluster. It turns out, with 6+ row awakenings, the 64x row wins out and the gap is only widened with more awakenings. Furthermore, it is much easier to match a horizontal row compared to a random shape cluster along with other combos.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Fast clears
• Relatively easy 100x activation
• HP is boosted in coop to allow you to tank all preemptives
• Activation through water allows for orb conservation and easier sweeping of less challenging floors
• Team building flexibility
• DQXQ active removes jammers and poison orbs

Cons

• No RCV multiplier
• Stalling is very dangerous due to accidental 16x and chipping a boss into a danger zone
• Dependant on a bind clearing sub

Team Compositions

I am basing my recommendations around the fact that you are doing coop and will have an augmented health pool. If you are playing solo, you need some reliable way to survive DQ Hera on floor 19.

     
with
     
or
     

---

     
+
  

All of these compositions have cleared Arena at least once and I have a total of 10+ clears thus far since the introduction of coop (1.5 days). Now, not everyone can make those exact teams, but the key components for your team include:

• 1 Bind clear
• 1 Damage enhancement for the Kali
• 1 Delay – this is your panic button and easy way to deal with resolve (aka Hino). Use on floor 19 if available still
• Variety of orb changers

Role
Offensive orb changers:
Full board changers:
Damage Enhance:
Bind clearing:
Damage mitigation:
Delay:
Gravity:

None of my teams had any Skill Inheritance as it was not needed nor was every single member +297.

Do I need a dark sub?

After playing with DQXQ almost exclusively these past 2 days, I will have to say it is not mandatory and should not go out of your way to accommodate a dark sub if they do not bring value to the party. The dark attribute can aid in clearing easier floors when not using actives; however, you will be more prone to activating your 16x by accident when stalling which can be disastrous. Please refer to my previous posting on DQXQ for a full list of viable dark subs HERE.

 Hurdles in Arena

Arena will always have an element of RNG/luck involved when dealing with the various floor spawns. You need to do your research and always prepare for the worst scenario (as it will happen more often than you want). My few failed runs consisted of some bad RNG where I was not prepared for a few lethal floor spawn combos, human error, and accidental activation of 16x when trying to stall.

The accidental activation of 16x is the scariest scenario and sometimes it is unavoidable. This is also my main concern when running DQXQ as I will need to stall every once in a while on sometimes less than ideal floors. This is also a time when having no dark sub can be beneficial as you can match more combos and have a lower chance of triggering 16x. Things you can do to help minimise the risk:

• Combo the same colours (as you need 4 unique elements)
• Never match TPA of any kind
• Stop stalling if the boss is nearing a danger zone as you can expect to deal 15-20% of their HP by accident

Notable Floors

Ironically, the Tamadras on floor 6 are very scary and you must save your bind clear and ability to sweep on the first turn to prevent further binds. Try to have the person with the bind clear have their turn on the Tamadras. immediately after is Zhou Yu on floor 7 as he has 4.2 million health and a 50% damage shield along with resolve plus a preemptive dark attack. My preferred strategy is bursting him down on turn 1 as his first ability is a status shield and 18,635 attack. This avoids his 1% enrage ability. Conversely you can also poison or delay him on the first turn only. I like to try and stall on Floor 9 & 10 for actives as they are relatively easy. Floor 9 is the gentlest and the the correct absorption colours give you an easier time dragging the turns out. However, just be aware of accidental 16x on floor 10 and causing the Chinese Celestial to enrage.

Damage absorption shields are frustrating mechanics and if you have the misfortune of encountering Sopdet on floor 13, you must try to match maximum 6 combos on 16x while she is in the Light attribute. While dark, 5 combos on 16x is all you can afford. I would aim to match only 4 combos and try to minimise cascades to prevent surprise skyfalls. Refer to my Sopdet 101 post for more information. If you encounter Parvati on floor 15, follow what I did in the video to conserve heart orbs and stall as long as needed for all your actives. When trying to kill, you will require 3 activation of 16x to kill her. Just be aware of her Himalayan Anger and always remain at full health to survive (if doing coop). Meimei on floor 15 has 322k HP and 1,555,556 defence on top of a 30% light damage reduction. You MUST burst her down on the first turn before she changes your board to wood, light, and dark. Aim for 100x light rows and use orb changers.

Also on floor 15 is Hino who must be delayed to bypass his resolve ability. If you do not bring a delay (or poison), you run the very high risk of pushing him too low and being completely bound. You can unbind yourself, but you may simply 1 shot and have all your actives reset to their maximum cooldown. Grisar on floor 16 has 10 million health and will generate lots of mortal poison orbs with a 99% preemptive cut on his first turn. I try to burst him down before the 99% preemptive as your team has issues healing and as insurance against Zeus Dios on floor 17 who has a 22,601 preemptive.

Combo shield bosses are always problematic for row based teams. Thankfully, you only need to have a single light row to deal with Defoud on floor 18 and the required combos and elemental activation. Lifive on floor 18 has a 24,375 preemptive and must be killed within 2 turns or you lose. You must return to full health in preparation for Divine Queen Hera on floor 19 hits who hits for 38,910 as a preemptive. Be prepared. Also on floor 19 is Beelzebub who will preemptively transform your board into poison orbs. DQXQ will convert them all into water and I would suggest you delay him as well.

Kali on floor 20 requires you to burst her below 65% (and above 5%) to avoid her enrage kill ability. This is where you need your big burst (and gravitates if applicable) to survive.

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 re-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).

Conclusion

Awoken DQXQ is a Fantastic lead who is capable of clearing high end content. Her ability to sweep floors quickly and deal lethal damage without actives his a breath of fresh air compared to the mono-colour tank teams we have been exposed to lately. DQXQ still suffers from fragility and danger of pushing bosses into enrage zones with accidental 16x. You can help compensate the low HP via coop and recovery via enhanced heart  awakenings and healer cards. Let me know how you plan to tackle Arena with DQXQ.

Happy Puzzling!