Introduction

Yog-Sothoth  is one of the most highly anticipated Godfest Exclusives to be released as they are without a doubt overpowering. They easily push the envelope of Powercreep as they have an incredibly easy to activate leader skill along with somewhat outrageous damage output.

While leaders like Anubis  and Kushinadahime  have the potential to achieve amazing damage output, they are somewhat gatekeeped behind significant player skill and having ideal boards. As such, they are sometimes out of reach for the average player whereas Yog-Sothoth will be simple to play by comparison.

This article will examine his strengths and weaknesses along with his uses/applications and some team building guidelines.

Video commentary

—video coming soon–

Yog-Sothoth at a glance

6,258 HP / 1,985 ATK / 233 RCV
1,100 Total
      

Active Skill:
All orbs   
Recover 40% Maximum HP
4 turn bind recovery
13 turn cooldown

Leader Skill:
All cards 6x ATK when HP is greater than 80%. 2.5x when HP is less than 80%. 3x ATK and 25% damage reduction when matching two Light combos
324x ATK / 43.75% Damage reduction

Yog-Sothoth  Rank: S
Pros	Cons
Bind Immune with bind clear 324x ATK for a mono colour team 2 combo Yogs will be a thing 43.75% damage reduction Low skill cap/easy to use Flexible team building Incredible base active skill Possibly best value in the game 1,100 weighted stats compounded by coop boost  awakening	6-star GFE Lack of damage control HP-conditional multiplier Can’t really stall RCV somewhat low

Elaboration of Pros and Cons

Pros

Yog-Sothoth is simply an amazing card to own because of his incredible base kit. His main focus will be as a leader as his potential for explosive damage is rivaled by almost none while simultaneously being easy to play.

Older Glass Cannons such as Sarasvati  are able to produce amazing damage with 3 water combos, but can only achieve 100x with no defensive multipliers. By comparison, Yog has 324x with 2 light combos and gains a 43.75% damage reduction shield. Granted there is an >80% HP clause, but that is of less concern when your base HP will be amazingly high along with a built-in self healing active skill and damage mitigation component leader skill. Furthermore, there is still meaningful damage when under 80% as it can achieve 56.25x ATK and will still trigger your damage mitigation component. Thus, you could heal and potentially stay above 80% afterwards.

You also have to remember that the damage reduction shield will carry forward on a sweep and help protect you from large preemptives and help you stay in your >80% HP zone.

Due to the fact that Yog only requires 2 light combos to activate incredible damage, your team building options are somewhat limitless as you can essentially populate your team with your choice of cards. This means you can even use non-Light cards if they provide crucial awakenings/base active skills as you should in theory overkill everything with two light matches. Furthermore, Yog’s base stats are amazingly high that are further multiplied by 50% due to the coop boost  awakening. This will help you achieve higher total HP to help you stay above your 80% sweet spot.

Finally, Yog’s base active skill is perhaps the strongest in the game from a pure value point of view. Bi-colour board changers have historically had a 12-turn cooldown and would never produce heart orbs (Sonias, Ilm, etc.), but Yog shatters this by creating both light and heart orbs on a 13 turn cooldown. This alone would have still been an amazing active, but GungHo pushes it even further by adding a +40% max HP heal and 4 turns of bind clear. As such, nothing else can really compete from a pure value point of view while also having perfect synergy with their leader skill.

Cons

No card in Puzzle and Dragons is perfect and Yog is no exception; however, his drawbacks comprise a short list that have manageable workarounds.

Perhaps the largest hurdle to overcome is the lack of damage control. At full health and 0-1 light combos, you will be dealing an impressive 36x ATK. However, once you match a second light combo, your damage skyrockets to 324x ATK with the only in between available is 56.25x ATK when under 80%. This will wreck havoc on any chance of feasible damage control and can be a major liability in Arena 3. However, with Fujin-style  and future damage void nulls, none of this will really matter and you can simply blow every floor up without hesitation. Of course, the main challenge will be having these active ready in time, but that is more manageable through cards like Whaledor .

Another major drawback of using Yog is a relative inability to stall on challenging floors. This is because your damage mitigation component is tied to your full multiplier and matching two sets of light orbs. As such, you will be obliterating the floor in question. However, if you really must stall for prolonged periods of time, the naturally low base RCV will become a liability along with potentially having to burn your Yog’s base active skill to heal and sweep the floor when below 80% HP.

With all that being said, these are pretty minor drawbacks and Yog will remain one of the strongest leaders available for endgame farming.

Where to use Yog-Sothoth

Yog is a premier leader who excels at delivering outrageous amounts of damage with minimal combos while still retaining the opportunity to fully optimize a board. However, unlike older glass cannon leaders, he has the capability to clear end game content due to both the gentle activation requirement and damage mitigation component.

Yog’s leader skill enables him to be used as an efficient Cosmic Trinity contender as he can survive incoming preemptives while having explosive damage. Furthermore, he has simple ways to handle the Water and Wood boss along with having the ability to handle Azathoth when the box-void awakening comes to NA. Because 6 light orbs will crush all previous encounters, it becomes a manner of having relevant actives and Follow-Up Attack  awakening.

For other content, Yog will still be amazing outside of heavy preemptive dungeons where you may not be able to maintain >80% HP. When playing through Arena 3, the only major hurdle you will face is damage control which places a heavy emphasis on running Fujin  – style actives. Otherwise, two light combos will sweep all floors.

Long story short, check to see if you need damage control or if a dungeon has massive and repeated preemptives.

Team building Yog-Sothoth

Yog-Sothoth is a mono colour leader, but unlike those teams of the past, he does not need to be build in the same way. This is because he has one of the lowest activation requirements along with more than enough damage to sweep most floors.

This can enable you to utilize some non-light cards, but also exempts you from having to use TPA , row , or orb enhance  subs. As such, what you need to do is plan out what key actives you need for a dungeon and how much stalling/charging up can you do.

For example, Cosmic Trinity can potentially have you arriving at the boss after only 2 turns (2 turns from each player -> floor 7). Thus, your priority would be finding enough Skill Boosts  to have actives ready in time while also using normal inherits as subs to avoid extra stalling. As such, light cards such as Wukong  and Orpharion  may be vital as they each possess three. Furthermore, Orpharion’s low base cooldown and bind immunity may make him an outstanding choice overall.

While I want to highly stress that the team composition you bring is dungeon dependent, subs such as Ilm  or Ilmina  are amazing for their base stats, active, and awakenings. However, you can probably do no harm in just bringing your favourite light cards while being mindful of your Skill Boosts.

If all else fails, Whaledor  is an amazing choice once we gain his guerrilla dungeon for dupes and skill ups.

Conclusion

Yog-Sothoth is an incredible card that pushes the envelope of Powercreep in Puzzle and Dragons. He possesses one of the easiest activation requirements for somewhat unrivaled damage while also being amazingly easy to use. However, one must be conscious of your health and be careful of staying above 80% HP to unleash 324x ATK. However, that is a simple price to pay for Yog’s potential and you always have his base active as a safety net.

Let me know what you think about Yog-Sothoth and will you be rolling hard to acquire him.

Happy Puzzling! Also, my Photoshop skills are helping me become Memetastic

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