I normally do not provide much thoughts on future JP news as it does not apply to NA for usually 1-2 months. However, the most recent JP stream showcased numerous new evolutions, quality of life changes, and new game mechanics. I wish to take the time to review all of the new things coming to Puzzle and Dragons.
The Final Fantasy buffs will be covered in a separate post and the review will be updated accordingly. I will be reviewing Bleach whenever it is scheduled to come to NA.
Video commentary
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Skill Inheritance changes
Puzzle and Dragons is by nature a grind-oriented game. However, there is fun grinding and there is tedious grinding. GungHo is doing their best to cut down on the more boring aspects so you can focus your stamina playing fun content.
Skill Inheritance has been a well received mechanic and it has given viability for cards that had lackluster bodies and powerful actives. Unfortunately, the process is somewhat costly to perform as each transfer costs 2 million coins and requires 4 tans. The coins were usually not too much of an issue, but collecting the right colour tans is mostly a stamina sink/loss as the dungeon is not fun to play and is more of a chore than pleasure. Continue reading JP Stream Changes & New Evolutions Review→
When making the decision to roll or save your magic stones, you need to determine if the featured pantheons can benefit or compliment your teams. Chasing for one specific monster is unwise as you will most likely be disappointed and should ideally have Godfests that overlap with many target cards. Remember all monsters that come out of the REM will qualify for Skill Inheritance so do not be too hasty when selling dupes. For a more detailed team building help, please refer to my full list Popular Leader’s and their Full Sub List Post. Lastly, to find more information about a specific pantheon or monster, refer to my Master List to better refine your search. If you are considering to purchase a Four Gentlemen card, please read my Review and Comparison HERE.
Introduction
The Gracious Banquet Godfest comes as a bit of a surprise as we have been somewhat overwhelmed by Final Fantasy along with it falling on a Wednesday. However, to tempt players further, the new Wisdom Kings pantheon will be featured on both days alongside two powerful series. In addition, all monsters rolled during the Godfest will come out with +50 to a random stat.
If you are torn between rolling in Final Fantasy or this Godfest, you will have to determine what can benefit your box more? Furthermore, you have to take into consideration that the Final Fantasy Collab is a limited time event (may not return for 6+ months) whereas these featured pantheons will rotate back along with being available all the time.
Forest Gala
—- — — —
Day 1
Greco Roman 2
Wisdom Kings
GFE
— — — —
Day 2
Three Kingdoms
Wisdom Kings
GFE
Video commentary
—video goes here—
Day 1:
The Greco Roman 2 pantheon is one of the oldest, but still possesses their powerful double orb changer. Granted they have diminished value in a heart cross meta, they are still capable of acting as powerful mono colour subs for their respective teams. In addition, they are capable forming reasonable tank teams that are reliant on matching two different colours. Overall, they are a powerful pantheon and are well positioned for when the meta shifts to powerful Krishna-style teams.
On the other hand, the Wisdom Kings pantheon is the newest one to be released in North America and features monsters who have unique actives and leader skills. All of them offer something new that will add dimension and diversity to your monster box. You may not need them in every situation, but it is worthwhile having them at your disposal. All of the Wisdom Kings have respectable leader skills and come ready to use (no ultimate evolution/awakening/reincarnating required). In addition, Acala will become a formidable leader when her fire cross buff comes through.
The GFE featured on Day 1 is superior as you have both the Kalis and Kaede featured at increased rates.
Overall, Day 1 is a great way to acquire powerful cards and is worth rolling even if you already have some of the Greco Romans as they are powerful options as assistants through Skill Inheritance.
There has been plenty of hype and excitement with the Final Fantasy Collab returning to North America; however, players should also be excited about the introduction of a pure Fixed Team Challenge. This challenge provides players with 5 unique and powerful teams to tackle various descends. All of the teams come hypermaxed (+297 and max skill) so we have the opportunity to play and enjoy compositions we would normally not be able to create. This is also a fantastic opportunity for newer/lower rank accounts
I have compiled all of my clears across my two accounts in solo mode to showcase how these teams play and the general strategies used to overcome the various hurdles presented in the dungeons.
Hel vs Deus ex Machina
It was nice how they gave us a nearly 100% farmable team. How do I feel about the poison meta? Hel no.
DQXQ vs Hephaestus Descended
A strange hybrid of water and light subs. I tended to focus on light matches at the beginning and transition over to water rows for the boss
Acala vs Seraphis Descended
It was strange playing a colour cross leader. It was also amusing to see an Odin Dragon and his ridiculous autoheal awakenings. If you are playing this in coop, you can tank the Limit Break enrage hit from the boss and simply go for the one shot on the first turn.
Neptune Dragon vs Zeus & Hera Descended
It is somewhat sad how dated Neptune Dragon has become with powercreep as his multiplier is so low considering how many orbs you have to chain together. Hopefully his future evolution will grant him some relevance.
Tsubaki vs Agni Descended
Probably the only time you will ever see a hypermax Sphinx but it was valuable for executing the Tan on the first floor.
Conclusion
The fixed challenges gives players the opportunity to play leaders that would otherwise be unobtainable along with enjoying a fully invested team. I hope GungHo continues to provide more fixed team challenges as it is a lot of fun to experiment with new playstyles as well as granting lower rank players the opportunity to clear variuos dungeons.
Skill Delay Resist Tamadras (SDR) are now invading Special Descend Rush (SDR), from the coin dungeons, which makes for confusing abbreviations and a wonderful opportunity to acquire the strongest Latent Tamadra. Special Descend Rush features 6 Rogue Descend Bosses along with the leveling up mechanic to further hinder your progress. However, SDR has very predictable mechanics and is able to be cleared with a Glass Cannon team as there are no lethal preemptives. Many players are using Awoken Liu Bei to mindlessly farm, but not everyone is fortunate enough to have him nor the fully invested Dioses and niche inherits.
As such, I wish to illustrate how Sarasvati or any other glass cannon leader can quickly clear this dungeon provided you have already invested in that team.
Video clear
My older clear from when Sarasvati was first released and required 12 orbs for 100x
Teams used
I have used Sarasvati since her release when she was a more orb hungry leader that required 12 water orbs for 100x. This would cause additional pressure to use orb changers and slows down the overall process. Thankfully, in her current form, Sarasvati is able to achieve 100x without a connected 6 water. Team A starts the dungeon and does not bring a dark sub to avoid the preemptive bind.
Team A
Team B
There can be many variations to these teams and you mostly have to counter a few mechanics:
Floor 3 requires a Delay or Poison to kill Volsung
Floor 4 requires a Delay or Awakenings Bind clear (aka Green Odin )
Floor 6 requires either a bind clear or a buff to be dispelled
6 kill actives for all the floors
Using a delay instead of a Poison or Awakenings Bind clear allows for some stalling/setting up your board. This conserves actives along with letting your floor 1 and 2 abilities to possibly recharge in time.
Other than this, it is a pretty straight forward dungeon: kill before being killed. You have 6 floors and a total of 10 actives so you will have at least 1 to spare at the end. Keep this in mind when team building and remember to take advantage of Skill Inheritance.
Sarasvati strategy
Based on the skyfall luck and locked orb spawns, you may have to adjust on the fly; however, this is the general strategy used:
Floor 1 Awoken Hermes , kill (A)
Floor 2 B/L Hermes if required, only need 9 water orbs (B)
Floor 3 is done in 3 steps:
Awoken Sun Quan , Sarasvati , set up board (A)
Use 9+ water orbs, kill and trigger resolve (B)
Finish off Volusung as he is at 1 HP, Conserve heal orbs (A)
Floor 4 abuses Orochi’s delay to wait out the awakenings bind
Move heart orbs out of the left and rightmost columns (B)
Orochi and heal as much as possible (A)
Remove locked fire orbs, conserve water orbs, and heal (B)
Remove locked fire orbs, conserve water orbs, and heal (A)
Remove locked fire orbs, conserve water orbs, and heal (B)
Mori to remove poisons and sweep with 2 water rows and 100x (A)
Floor 5 Blue Sonia and sweep (B)
Floor 6 is the boss floor
Remove locked orbs and make sure Sarasvati’s active is rolling to bait out the status void instead of bind (A)
Ryune + Hermes (may have to pass turns) and sweep
If you get an invade, you can either delay it or burst through or stall. You have to use your judgement.
Conclusion
Now is the best time to farm for Skill Delay Resist Latent Tamadras. Special Descend Rush may be challenging, but is doable with an invested team and a solid strategy.
Let me know how you have been farming this dungeon and what was your set up.
The Wisdom Kings are the newest pantheon to be released in Puzzle and Dragons. None of these monsters have an ultimate evolution and to help compensate for the anticipated Powercreep, they have received additional awakenings along with a unique kit to keep them interesting (they should have new evolutions in the distant future). All of the Wisdom Kings provide something new and valuable that helps add dimension to your monster box.
As a forewarning, any defensive multiplier is lost if your leader is bound. Conversely, the multiplayer bonus provides 50% more stats to these cards which helps bring them more inline with Reincarnated/Awoken evolutions as their base stats are around 700.
All games and activities have a certain degree of lingo or abbreviations made by the fans to help streamline discussion or to convey complicated thoughts more easily. Puzzle and Dragons is no exception and for players who have been playing for several years, the lingo and abbreviations are not too difficult to keep up with. However, if you are just venturing out of Departure Tower (the starting dungeon), you may be overwhelmed with information and unable to understand what is being said on the various forums or Facebook groups. The purpose of this article is to provide a handy reference guide to all Puzzle and Dragons (PAD) terminology and if I miss any abbreviations, please let me know in the comments below.
Video commentary
Puzzle and Dragons abbreviations
In order to streamline your search and reading experience, I have tried my best to categorize the various terms.
Magic Stone related
Magic Stones are the premium currency in Puzzle and Dragons. These are used to expand our box space, friends list, continue a failed dungeon, as well as rolling the Rare Egg Machine (REM). These can be acquired via clearing a dungeon for the first time, logging in every day, or by purchasing with real life money.
Stones simply refers to Magic Stones. Sometimes used in the past tense (stoned) to imply you continued a failed dungeon
IAP or In App Purchases is a term used to convey spending real life money for additional magic stones
F2P / Non-IAP stands for someone who is Free to Play and does not purchase Magic Stones
Whale or any other aquatic animal is a term used to describe someone who purchases a lot of magic stones. The larger the animal (with Whale being the largest), the more they spend.
MP or Monster Points is a secondary currency that can be used to purchase various powerful monsters
Godfest related
GF is a Godfest where certain monters are featured at increased rates. Often confused with Girlfriend.
PCGF is the short form of Player’s Choice Godfest. This is a special Godfest in which the players vote for the featured monsters. I do not know when it will occur next
GFE are Godfest Exclusives that are only able to be rolled during Godfests
4x GFE indicates that certain GFE are featured at 4x rates. This number can change/vary
Pantheon is the featured non-GFE monsters
Troll Gold is a monster that comes out as a gold egg, but is really just an evolved silver
Krishna has finally received his new ultimate evolution and has been transformed into a top tier leader. While he may not be as overpowering as some of the heart cross leaders, Krishna has numerous advantages including the most flexible team building, ability to focus on rows or TPA, along with being able to fully utilize any given board. Krishna is capable of clearing end game content including Arena 3.
Video commentary
Krishna at a glance
Krishna God / Balance / Devil
3,735 HP / 1,767 ATK / 353 RCV
845 Total
Active Skill: +15% fire skyfalls for 3 turns
2
6 turn CD
Leader Skill:
1.5x HP/ATK/RCV to fire cards. 3x ATK with 2 fire combos. 4.5x ATK with 3 fire combos 2.25x HP / 45.56x ATK / 2.25x RCV
To shake things up on my Twitch Stream, I decided to use my new Awoken Umisachi Yamasachi in Arena 3. I usually farm Arena 3 with my Myraculous Myr , but was tempted by the prospect of the 400x glass cannon. I have probably cleared Arena 3 over 65 times now so I do know the dungeon inside and out. However, U&Y does need a certain degree of luck to succeed and is by no means a consistent leader.
Video clear
Team line up
I have not had much time to tinker around with my Awoken Umisachi Yamasachi team, but my current set up addresses most of the concerns in the dungeon and I got very lucky with the water orb skyfall (de)buff from the first floor. I plan to release my U&Y guide after Krishna so stay tuned for that and any changes I do make to my team.
Latent awakenings were either Time Extend or Rainbow Resist (1% of each colour).
Mantastic Team
Card
Inherit
Comments
–
Makes water and dark orbs
Kali has better awakenings
Sherias upgrades her active
–
Makes water and wood orbs
–
Luck-based board change
Best shield I own
Fantastic Team
Card
Inherit
Comments
–
Makes water and dark orbs
Makes water and wood orbs
–
Luck-based board change
–
Emergency delay
75% shield
Using water-based cards is great for when you are trying to kill with a 25x, 3 water combo match, but is largely not needed for most bosses as 144x does sweep. The numerous TPA can be helpful for piercing high defense bosses along with padding your damage on 144x. 400x kills everything, including Kali through her shield.
Reflecting on the run, I may want to try and find a recover bind sub to help deal with binds when my Isis reach their shielding stage. It would also be nice to have some sort of heart orb generation as my current set up has no way to heal and use actives for damage. I do not own any Dark Kali style actives to inherit so my choices are limited with Linthia or Gainaut being lesser choices.
Conclusion
Awoken Umisachi Yamasachi is certainly capable of clearing Arena 3, but has far less consistency compared to the other high tier leaders. Being able to deal (amazing) damage is not the only thing that makes a strong leader as all the best teams have some sort of defensive mechanic.
What do you think of Umisachi and Yamasachi as well as who do you run on your team?
In an attempt to showcase a wider variety of leaders and more solo content, here is my Arena 1 clear with Tsubaki . I have been lucky/unlucky with the REM in that I tend to pull numerous duplicate cards; however, this ends up working in my favour as Tsubaki is an amazing sub on her own team. She comes with the ideal awakenings along with a 7-turn active that provides haste. This allows me to form a system and I could use 1 Tsubaki active every turn while simultaneously charging up two other cards. There is going to be a split evolution for Tsubaki in the future that makes her a stronger leader and sub so that is something to look forward to.
Video clear
–
Team set up
Team building was quite simple for me as I simply used all 4 of my Tsubaki and a single Gadius . Tsubaki is essentially the best sub for himself as he provides an ideal active and awakenings. Gadius was chosen for his recover bind (and bind immunity), but was otherwise of little lesser value. However, this team would have been unsuccessful without Skill Inheritance and this is where the customization comes into play:
Tsubaki Team
Card
Inherit
Comments
–
Saria would be ideal
Synergy with Yamato
for emergencies
–
Emergency heart generation
Delay if needed
5.5x ATK boost
Strong points and hurdles
Presently, Tsubaki is a 76.56x ATK leader with no defensive multipliers (will gain 2.25x RCV in the future). This can prove challenging to use as you are vulnerable to large preemptives (I was gambling on no DQ Hera spawn) and even stalling can be a challenge with the low base recovery. Thankfully, the +25% RCV badge is a lifesaver along with having every heart orb come enhanced. Damage is also not an issue outside of the Kali stage or perhaps Hera-Is (Water Hera). Gaining 5.5x ATK from Silk is simply amazing (0.15*30 + 1) and was able to one shot Kali through her shield.
On the other hand, the team is risky to play as you are vulnerable to mechanics and I was somewhat fortunate to not encounter anything too dangerous towards the end. I had a small heart attack on the Tamadra floor as my leader got bound twice and Gadius failed to produce 6 heart orbs.
Conclusion
Tsubaki is a fun and fast paced leader to play when you are able to utilize numerous duplicates. This allows you to have countless enhanced orbs along with ample access to haste to keep the actives flowing. I look forward to her split evolution and future buffs in the upcoming months.
When making the decision to roll or save your magic stones, you need to determine if the featured pantheons can benefit or compliment your teams. Chasing for one specific monster is unwise as you will most likely be disappointed and should ideally have Godfests that overlap with many target cards. Remember all monsters that come out of the REM will qualify for Skill Inheritance so do not be too hasty when selling dupes. For a more detailed team building help, please refer to my full list Popular Leader’s and their Full Sub List Post. Lastly, to find more information about a specific pantheon or monster, refer to my Master List to better refine your search. If you are considering to purchase a Four Gentlemen card, please read my Review and Comparison HERE.
Introduction
The Early Harvest Godfest comes hard on the heels of the 10-Stone GFE REM . While Godfest Exclusives are tremendously powerful, you still need regular REM card support to excel and GungHo is presenting us with some of the stronger pantheons. In addition, many of these cards have received new ultimate evolutions in the past month that grant them even more viability.
Gala of Tides
—- — — —
Day 1
Chinese Celestials
Japanese 2
GFE
— — — —
Day 2
Indian 2
Mechanical 1
GFE
Video commentary
Day 1:
The Chinese Celestials are one of the oldest pantheons in Puzzle an Dragons and have begun to fall behind in the current meta. This is mostly due to the dominance of heart cross leaders require board changers that produce heart orbs. This leaves them in a somewhat awkward place as their board change will rarely be as strong as someone who produces 3 elements with one being hearts. However, if other leaders begin to follow similar patterns as Krishnia , they may begin to see more viability. One thing to keep in mind is their ability to be inherited onto other mono-colour teams who may be better able to combo with their actives.
On the other hand, the Japanese 2 pantheon is relatively new and is home to five new and powerful awoken cards. None of them follow any sense of pattern and instead provide unique playstyles as leaders while harbouring interesting active skills. Due to their relative unique-ness, they are fun leaders to play and are capable of clearing some endgame content.
Day 1 is reasonably strong is you are looking to play non-heart cross leaders as they offer some of the stronger mono-colour subs along with unique leaders.
Forest Gala 
![[Videos] Fixed Team Challenge Descends](https://mantasticpad.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/acala-kill-f-horz.png?w=672&h=369&crop=1)
DQXQ vs Hephaestus Descended
![[Video] Solo Arena 1 vs Tsubaki System](https://mantasticpad.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/tsubaki-damaga-f.png?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
Gala of Tides 
Mantastic Puzzle and Dragons 