Monthly Archives: July 2016

Coop/Multiplayer

The Pressures of Coop/Multiplayer

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Introduction

Coop/multiplayer everything patch: doubling the disappointment for half the stamina. Perhaps that is not the best slogan (albeit accurate) for the shifting meta towards a more cooperative gameplay in Puzzle and Dragons. However, GungHo has been pushing the coop/multiplayer feature for the past several updates as a means to make it more appealing and enjoyable way to play PAD. Upon it’s debut in North America, there was a certain degree of skepticism as we were the unfortunate victim of a poorly timed release of no more solo-play and a challenge dungeon series that had to be played via multiplayer. Thankfully, this issue has been permanently corrected and we are now essentially in the glory days of multiplayer with only a few new updates to come to enhance our quality of life.

Currently, all descends, rushes, Arena, daily dungeons, and limited time hourly dungeons are available to play in coop for half the stamina. The hourly dungeons are of particular importance as only the hosting player has to have the correct time to play and anyone can join their room. Finally, our teams are bolstered with 4 more subs/actives along with an increased health pool to make our runs easier and faster to clear.

However, amongst all of these amazing benefits, many players are starting to feel the pressure to play coop (to min-max your stamina) and the actual pressure associated with matching under a time limit or with another person watching. As such, I wish to pen down my thoughts to help alleviate some of the newfound stresses in Puzzle and Dragons Continue reading The Pressures of Coop/Multiplayer →

Ranking Dungeons

No You Yu? No Problem, Kind Of…

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Introduction

So I have been tirelessly trying to reach my second crown on Mantastic and first on Fantastic through the Satan Ranking Tournament. In my previous POST, I go over all the possible top tier team compositions as well as my tentative strategies for the dungeon as a whole. I was even able to post a 125k+ score with the water-based DQXQ Awoken DQXQ and a helpful video as reference. However, this proved to be insufficient due to the surge of You Yu You Yu who are better able to hit the damage cap and go faster.

Ups and downs with a touch of heartbreak

I continued to throw stamina and stones at Satan to improve upon my water DQXQ team’s score and I was successful on both my accounts:

126.9k
Was 0.6 on Wednesday night

Fantastic High Score

And these are pretty Fantastic scores and I feel that I hit the relative cap for DQXQ with Mantastic as I it will be incredibly challenging to improve upon that score. Unfortunately, neither of these scores are sitting in the top 1% due to the You Yu nation pushing the cut off above 127,500.

A change of plan

Continue reading No You Yu? No Problem, Kind Of… →

Monster Analysis, Monster Point Dragons

You Yu vs Sarasvati: A Comparison and Analysis

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*Sarasvati’s full guide can be found HERE*

Introduction

You Yu You Yu has been released in North America, but his debut was somewhat marred by the announcement of Uuevo Sarasvati 3069.  Both leads focus around matching numerous water combos along with either a 5o1e or row to trigger their full multiplier. Both are capable of achieving spectacular levels of damage but suffer from fragilty and a certain degree of orb-hungriness. The purpose of this article is to compare and contrast the two leaders while highlighting their weaknesses and strengths.

Overview

You Yu and Sarasvati can be best categorized as glass-cannons. This means that they are able to deal a amazing amount of damage at the cost of no HP/RCV multiplier. Thus, they are at the mercy of dungeon mechanics when they are unable to sweep the floor/activate. The lack of HP can be compensated through coop and that does help address that weakness. However, you will still need to find a way to heal up after an attack or bring some sort of sub dedicated to utility to compensate.

 You Yu You Yu
Sarasvati 3069
  • 156x ATK scaling multiplier
  • blue + orb & TPA oriented
  • Can clear easy floors with 5 orbs
  • Can clear endgame content
  • Armpits
  • 100x ATK scaling multiplier
  • Water Row & blue + orb oriented
  • 100% uptime skyfall buff
  • Can clear endgame content
  • No SBR Skill Lock Resist

Continue reading You Yu vs Sarasvati: A Comparison and Analysis →

Ranking Dungeons, Videos

[Video] Satan Ranking Tournament 125,302 Score

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Introduction

So I stayed up late last night playing the Satan Ranking Tournament using the strategies theory crafted in my Previous Post. If you have not read that already, I strongly encourage you to go through it as it will contain more details and other viable team options.

This is my current high score and I will be updating with a new video if I should surpass it.

125,302 score video


I am in love with the new overlay and let me know what you think of it!

125k high score

Ways to improve your score

Time

It may seem like commonsense, but your time remaining is incredibly important as each second counts for 500 points. If I was able to remove those few brief pauses of hesitation, I could be 2 seconds faster and have 1,000 more points. The main drawback of using DQXQ Awoken DQXQ is the acrobatics and extra time required to form a row with 3 other elemental matches. On the bright side, the preemptives give us additional time to plan our movements due to the extra animations.

Hit damage cap

The damage cap for an additional 10,000 points is a total of 40 million. You must try your best to hit that because there will be players who make the same number of average combos and time remaining. Thus, to guarantee your position, you must hit over 40 million. Thankfully, with the skyfall buff and single fire floor, you should be able to easily achieve that.

131M dmg
A bit excessive damage…
Bring orb changers, not board changer/random orb generators

This is perhaps a little nitty-gritty, but when trying to min max your score, you need to save as much time as possible. You ideally want to use as few actives as possible as it only adds extra time. However, if you must use an orb changer, it is better to bring an orb changer instead of a board changer or someone who randomly creates X number of orbs. This is because there will be an element of planning between each floor and you can plan your move when you know exactly where the orbs will be post-active. As such, board changers and random orb generators will ruin your planning as the end result cannot be predicted.

Conclusion

Hopefully this video and subsequent post provides some fresh inspiration for your ranking dungeon endeavors. I strongly encourage each and everyone of you to clear the dungeon for the magic stone and participation rewards. I only ask you do not exceed my score as I am so close to hitting the top 1% and my second crown.

Satan 1.1

Happy Puzzling!

Ranking Dungeons

Satan Ranking Tournament Strategies and Planning

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Introduction

Satan Tournament is the next installment in the ranking dungeon series and offers players a chance to acqurie 10,000 Monster Points and various coloured Py. The goal of these tournaments is to “test” our skill by imposing a scoring system to determine your percentile ranking.

In these ranking dungeons, we are scored based on 3 criteria:

  1. Average combos made: 5,000 points per combo
  2. Time Remaining: 500 points per second remaining
  3. Maximum damage: up to 10,000 points if you hit 40 million.

Dungeon overview

 Floor  Monster HP Comments
 1  823 1,877,083 -1s move time for 3 turns
 2 1227 4,250,417 +25% water skyfall for 5 turns
 3 772 972,645 3,140 preemptive
 4 1958 3,005,336 8,032 preemptive
 5 650 2,138,454 7,549 preemptive
 6 977 2,478,751 6,572 preemptive
 7 646 6,666,667 6,005  preemptive

Total preemptive damage: 31,298
Water skyfall (de)buff ends on floor 7

Dungeon summary

  • 7 floors that favour a combination of speed and average combos made
  • All floors have a significant amount of health (cannot button)
  • The water skyfall allows for combo-based leaders to shine
  • Water skyfall also favours water-based teams
  • Skyfall buff ends on Satan (floor 7)
  • Wood teams have it “easiest” while fire will struggle in terms of type advantages
  • No Predras Fire PreDRA
  • 5 turn actives can be used more than once
  • Total preemptive damage: 31,298. Please make sure you heal
  • Auto heal awakenings Auto heal can help alleviate the stress of healing as the damage comes over the course of several floors.

Continue reading Satan Ranking Tournament Strategies and Planning →

Monster Analysis, Monster Point Dragons

You Yu – 300k MP Monster Review and Analysis

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Introduction

You Yu, or Bamboo, is the third released card of the Four Gentlemen series (300,000 MP monster) and pushes the boundaries on the next level of powercreep in terms of damage output. Capping out at 156.25x ATK on a mono colour team allows you to deal spectacular damage with the ability to control your output through a scaling multiplier. You will need to use Skill Inheritance to help address fragility and somewhat orb hungry nature, but that is the price to pay for explosive damage. Thankfully, you do not have to use numerous You Yu’s to form an effective team which is a nice change of pace from Xiang Mei Xiang Mei. However, the real question is: do you really need to purchase You Yu?

You Yu at a glance

You Yu
You Yu
Attacker
3,655 HP / 2,606 ATK / 325 RCV
995 Total
Skill Boost Skill Boost Time Extend blue + orb blue + orb blue + orb Skill Lock Resist Balance killer

Active Skill:
3 Question Orb  Arrow Water
1.5x ATK Attacker types
7 turn CD

Leader Skill:
1.5x ATK when matching 2 water combos. Max 2.5x (4 combos). 5x ATK when matching 5 connected orbs with 1 enhanced.
156.25x ATK

You Yu Scaling Leader Skill
 # water combos 1 2 3 4
Multiplier –  2.25x 4x 6.25x
Multiplier w/ 5o1e 25x 56.25x 100x 156.25x

Sample gameplay

You Yu lacks dual typing and does not have a sub attribute. This seems bizarre for a 300k MP Monster; however, his leadership power brings fourth the next wave of powercreep in terms of damage output. Below is a sample video of a solo Mech Hera run to give you an idea of his capabilities:

Continue reading You Yu – 300k MP Monster Review and Analysis →