Introduction

Puzzle and Dragons is a diverse and complex game with countless team composition possibilities. It can become quite overwhelming trying to plan out your team rosters along with adjusting for each specific dungeon. Furthermore, you will want to optimize your farming efficiency as well as making yourself more appealing to coop partners for guerrilla dungeons.

This article will discuss the types of teams I feel that every player should strive towards as well as providing suggestions as to where to invest your resources (plus eggs, latents, inherits).

Video commentary

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Why bother having more than one team?

Puzzle and Dragons is a game that has a lot of repetition as you are often required to continuously play the same dungeon over and over again. This is done for a variety of reasons and eventually, you will want to find the most efficient way possible to clear the dungeon.

There can sometimes be a certain degree of joy or excitement when finding a more optimal way to clear content or your motivation may be to simply reduce the brain power required when playing XYZ dungeon for the 100th time.

Finally, having a variety of teams to choose from can help alleviate boredom as it can inject a new playstyle into your routine; however, I want to focus on teams that will optimize your performance in Puzzle and Dragons.

Types of dungeons played in Puzzle and Dragons

There are countless different dungeons that can be played in Puzzle and Dragons; however, we can make generalizations in order to better categorize them.

End game content/hardest dungeon you can play

End game content could perhaps be better rephrased as the hardest dungeon you are capable of clearing. As such, this will hopefully vary as you continue to progress in PAD. Often times, these dungeons are only concerned with a one time clear such as the One-Shot Challenges or Challenge 10’s.

Arena 3

Arena 3 is end game content, but it differs from other challenging dungeons in that you are often required to repeatedly play it for the Radar Dragons, new Latent Tamadras, and largest rank experience in the game.

Arena 1

Arena 1 used to be the most challenging dungeon in the game. However, through Powercreep, it has now become the most lucrative way to farm Py  and can be cleared in very little time with a wide variety of teams. Granted this may be the hardest dungeon you can attempt, but that should change as you move forward. Eventually, you will begin to repeatedly play Arena 1 for massive rank experience and easy skill ups.

An extension of this is the easier Descend challenges in which you play through for the reward but do not always repeat.

No one plays Arena 2 aside for the purpose of unlocking Arena 3 or possibly for practice while prepping for Arena 3.

Rogue Descends/lucrative dungeons

Generally speaking, Rogue Descends (pink coloured dungeons that have your monsters start at level 1 such as Zaerog Infinity) are some of the most lucrative dungeons to play. They offer a large amount of rank experience, plus eggs, Monster Points, Kings/Evo mats, and potentially useful boss drop. As such, players will often find themselves repeatedly playing them over and over again to continuously reap the rewards. They may be challenging at first, but have become easier over time.

Guerrilla dungeons

Guerrilla dungeons are dungeons that are only available for an hour at a time which is based on your player ID and corresponding letter you were assigned. For the most part, these dungeons are simple to complete, but ideally want to find a way to clear in the shortest time possible to make the most of your 60 minutes.

The most popular ones tend to be Star Den, Tan Infestation, Tamadra Infestation, PreDRA Infestation, and Extreme King Metal Dragon. All of these have different set ups for maximum time optimization.

Recommended teams to pursue

It is not feasible to state that you must have the perfect Ra Dragon  team to be successful as most players do not have access to those cards nor the desire to play rainbow teams. Thus, the types of teams I will be outlining for certain categories you will have to adjust based on your situation.

End game team

Your end game team will vary from person to person and it is up to you to determine who it is. This team should be the one you prioritize to receive your latents, pluses, and inherits. You will be bringing this team into the hardest level content you are capable of challenging which will hopefully advance as you continue on your Puzzle and Dragons journey.

Generally speaking, many players will have Myr  as their end game team due to the fact that she is farmable along with having relatively gentle team building requirements. Of course, she is not for everyone and it is up to you to decide which team has the most potential.

In the interest of being redundant, you should invest in this team first. This means placing their needs above the needs of other cards as being able to clear more content will enable you to unlock more rewards, rank up more frequently, and enjoy the game more.

This is often the team that is used to repeatedly farm Arena 3, but is not always the case.

Rogue Descend team – aka Liu Bei variants

Rogue Descends will remain the best source of plus eggs, Monster Points, rank experience, and collateral drops for the foreseeable future. While it may not be THE most efficient place for just plus eggs or rank experience, the fact that it combines numerous elements is advantageous and will always be repeatedly played. In fact, I am going to make the presumption that these types of dungeons are going to be the most played for the average player and you will need to find the most optimal team possible.

It is well established that Awoken Liu Bei  is the king of coop farming for the average player and his team building requirements are quite gentle. In fact, for the most part, you can simply use 3 Zeus Dios  and a single Tengu  (with an intelligent inherit) to clear most content. Granted you can make adjustments as needed, but the point of the matter is that all the subs can be farmable.

With that being said, not everyone is capable of forming an Awoken Liu Bei team due to the fact that they do not own him. I was in this situation for several months after his release, but that did not stop me from jumping on the hype train by using an alternative leader and pairing with an Awoken Liu Bei friend. Australis , Green Odin , and Perseus  are all viable pairings that will produce enough damage for majority of the floors while most likely requiring a burst for the boss. While this does require an extra button (and thus small time loss), it is still far faster than manually matching.

The following video showcases how Australis can successfully clear Linthia Descended:
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I recommend this be the second team you invest your plus eggs solely because you are able to quickly reacquire them along reaping the other benefits of Rogue dungeons.

Now I understand that not everyone has access to the above listed Liu Bei alternatives and Machine Hera , Athena , or Zeus  can make viable farming alternatives. While they do require a bit more thinking, they can still efficiently farm content. The below video showcases Liu Bei vs Machine Hera farming in Nordis Descended:
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Arena 1 farming team

Once you have successfully cleared Arena 1 and are confident in the spawns, you will begin to invest in a team that can boast faster clear times. As mentioned earlier, once you are able to comfortably clear a dungeon, you will eventually want to find a way to play the dungeon faster and with less thinking overall.

Using the above example of Ra Dragon or Myr as your end game leader, neither is an ideal Arena 1 farming team. Both teams either require too much thinking or too orb hungry to quickly finish the 21 floors. As such, you should begin to invest resources in a different team if it proves to be faster. For myself, I prefer to use Lakshmi  due to the easy activation requirements and reasonably low orb requirements. Furthermore, she is able to easily deal with Sopdet and Parvati which greatly improve consistency and clear times.

Just because I use Lakshmi, it does not mean you have to too. There are countless different leaders and compositions that can quickly clear Arena 1 and what you choose to use is based on your own box and playstyle. The main points to look for are leaders with relatively unconditional multipliers that are not overtly orb hungry.

I would invest your pluses here after your end game team and rogue descend team is ready.

Guerrilla teams

Guerrilla teams are built around the notion that you plan to play in coop. This is to maximize your stamina usage along with being able to utilize button-oriented teams. For these set ups, there are two sides, the Skill Boost side and button side.

Skill boosts 

The Skill Boost side has no role in a button team outside of providing sufficient awakenings to ensure all actives are ready by turn 1. Their leader is largely irrelevant, but I like to leave my Zeus Dios  up for Star Den and to prevent the need to change all the time. The cards you bring simply have as many Skill Boosts as possible and can easily be Tengus  but can bring your prettiest cards as well.

Just make sure if you are the Skill Boost side to join your partner’s room as you will go second but actually have no role otherwise. It is wise to have this team ready made so you can quickly join someone’s room.

Tan, PreDRA, Tamadra Infestation

These three dungeons simply feature high defense monsters with trivial amounts of health. You can simply kill each floor with true damage and never actually have your turn pass over to your partner.

For PreDRAs, you should have a random active skill inherited on one of your cards to prevent the skill delay while Tamadra Infestation requires either one card to be bind immune or having access to 6 true damage actives (if playing the higher difficulty).

All of the above monsters are capable of dealing sufficient true damage to kill any of the floors that spawn in those three dungeons.

Star Den

Star Den is the most lucrative dungeon to acquire plus eggs as each run will yield 10 plus eggs with minimal effort. There are plenty of variations for farming Star Den, but I prefer using Zeus Dios as a leader due to the fact that he guarantees enough damage for the final floor with his 49x and coop boost. In addition, you should be investing in your Dioses for other content so this is not diverted resources. The following team utilizes farmable cards and you only need a single Arthur  for success as the second one simply provides an additional damage boost if your Dioses are not well invested. Devil Fish  can be extensively used for 3/4 slots.

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Conclusion

Puzzle and Dragons is a diverse game with countless team building options. However, by taking the time to invest in the above mentioned teams will streamline your gameplay as you will be better able to clear content in a more timely manner. While many of these teams are coop-oriented, it is simply the most efficient way to play the easier dungeons and having these teams ready made will help you find partner more easily.

Happy Puzzling!