Introduction

Last night, GungHo NA/EU did a surprise release of numerous new evolutions for existing cards that now present players who own the cards to make some tough decisions as to which path they pursue.

For the most part, these new evolutions follow a different path compared to the existing ones and you must choose either option A or B. For the most part, most of these paths are relatively balanced and it is up to you to decide whether or nor the new form is worth pursuing.

This article will examine the pros and cons of the new forms compared to the existing evolutions to better help you decide which route to pursue.

Video commentary

—video coming soon—

Foreword on evolutions

Puzzle and Dragons possesses one of the more complex evolution trees for video games as some monsters have convoluted paths.

Generally speaking, a Reincarnated evolution will be the strongest form a card can assume, but it must go through an Awoken evolution beforehand. Reincarnated and Awoken forms have different base skills compared to their starting evolution and is often stronger by comparison but may also have no natural skill up available. However, the Reincarnated form gains 1,000 weighted stats, a significantly more powerful leader skill, and triple typing.

However, Ultimate evolutions of an existing Ultimate evolutions retain the same base skill but can have unique typings or beneficial leader skill and are often on-par or superior to an Awoken form. These evolutions are often easier to fulfill due to gentler material requirements and have similar base stats to an Awoken form.

As such, a new Awoken form may not necessarily be the stronger option and you may find more merit in your existing Ultimate of an Ultimate evolution as many of these new cards do not have a Reincarnated form to pursue.

On the other hand, Split evolutions are akin to Ultimate evolutions and may or may not be stronger than the currently existing form, but the base skill does not change.

Regardless of what is recommended or said by me, you must exercise your own judgement when deciding which evolution to pursue as your individual box needs and resources available are unique to your own situation.

New evolutions

New evolutions for the following cards have been released:

• Reincarnated Isis 
• Reincarnated Karin 
• Split Famiel 
• Split Ariel 
• Split Hamals  
• Awoken Krishna 
• Awoken Sarasvati 
• Awoken Ganesha 
• Awoken Michael 

Listed Pros and Cons will often reflect the other evolution available to better help you decide which route to pursue.

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Reincarnated Isis
Pros	Cons
1,000 Weighted stats +0.5s movement time Stronger Leader Skill Better in every way unless used as Ra Dragon sub	No Wood sub typing Challenging to use on Ra Dragon teams

Reincarnated Isis is quite straightforward: if you do not own Ra Dragon, you should make her in almost every single scenario unless you desperately need the wood sub attribute from her Awoken  form.

While her Leader Skill is stronger, it is still quite challenging to actually use due to the relatively low multiplier and active skill clause.

Reincarnated Karin
Pros	Cons
1,000 Weighted stats 7 Combo  awakening Stronger Leader Skill Gains wood subtype Regains God typing	Loses Water subtype Had to wait a small eternity for her to be released Still hard to use efficiently

Reincarnated Karin is a direct upgrade and should be made unless lacking the resources to re-max level her. The additional weighted stats, 7 Combo  awakening, and wood sub typing help round out her kit. However, it should be noted that the loss of a water sub type can potentially lower her damage if playing a mono-water team.

Split Famiel
Pros	Cons
+86 weighted stats Better assist via SI 7 Combo  awakening Gains SBR  Stronger Leader Skill (but not relevant) Gains 2,100 HP	Loses sub attribute Loses 430 RCV Loses 3 TPA

Famiel is marginally stronger in this form because most players use her as an assist via Skill Inheritance. Furthermore, this form contributes an additional 2,100 HP which can help bolster your HP to achieve specific thresholds. However, the change is small and has no meaning on off-colour teams.

In regards to their potential as a sub, the acquisition of SBR helps provide 100% coverage, but losing 3 TPA (and some ATK) for a 7 Combo awakening can be seen as an overall damage loss.

Split Ariel
Pros	Cons
7 Combo  awakening Gains 2 SBR  Gains 1,100 HP Stronger Leader Skill (but not relevant) Dark Athena -style leader skill	Loses sub attribute Loses 240 RCV Loses 2 TPA  Leader Skill is not feasible

This Ariel evolution is more powerful compared to her previous form due to gaining 1,100 HP and 7 Combo at the expense of 240 RCV and 2 TPA. Generally speaking, 7 Combo equals to 2 TPA awakenings from a damage point of view, but it is easier to match 7 combos without any connected 4.

The acquisition of 2 SBR awakenings dramatically bolsters her solo gameplay prowess, but is somewhat redundant overall. Finally, trading 240 RCV for 1,100 HP can be seen as equally beneficial as it may allow you to survive specific health thresholds.

In regards to her leadership potential, it has a nice multiplier on paper and is akin to Dark Athena in that you must match Light and Fire to trigger damage and heal. Unfortunately, Ariel is restricted to Physical cards and that shuts down on her sub potential and healing capabilities.

Split Hamal (sub)
Pros	Cons
Gains 3 row  awakenings	Rows are losing relevance

When comparing the two Hamal evolutions

Split Hamal (leader)
Pros	Cons
Potent leader skill 144x ATK / 43.75% damage reduction Gains 1 Time Extend	Fewer awakenings Leader Skill is orb hungry

Despite the fact that the sub Hamal is geared to being more of a sub, the additional rows are not that meaningful as row teams are on the decline. This is because combos and 7×6 boards are reigning supreme and both are challenging to achieve when you need to connect a horizontal row of orbs.

Thus, it may simply be better to pursue the leader version as it at least offers a tankier glass cannon option that is akin to the non-Awoken Sarasvati . 144x ATK and 43.75% damage reduction are powerful but the main hurdle will be the orb hungry nature of their leader skill.

Awoken Krishna
Pros	Cons
Stronger active skill Higher maximum multiplier	Worse overall Loses 3 Enhanced Fire orb  awakening Leader Skill is orb hungry Leader Skill loses RCV Leader Skill restricts to Attacker/Devil Requires 4+ fire combos to deal more damage Cannot use TPA or Rows for maximum multiplier

Awoken Krishna is a disappointment. This is because the Krishna  we have come to love was an incredible leader due to his flexibility, durability, and potential to hit amazing burst damage as you could efficiently stack Row  awakenings.

Awoken Krishna has similar weighted stats but a far more restrictive leader skill that cannot use TPA or row awakenings. This is because you are trading your RCV and flexibility for a higher scaling multiplier, but you must achieve 4 or more fire combos to do so. Thus, when hitting 5 fire combos, you must match sets of 3 on a 6×5 board. Adding in Rows or TPA will have you gambling on Skyfalls and is counter intuitive to the TPA Krishna gained.

Overall, Awoken Krishna will be a stepping stone for a future Reincarnated form, but for now, I would strongly advise you to keep Krishna in his other form. With that being said, Awoken Krishna has a more powerful base active skill that can be a meaningful inherit.

Awoken Sarasvati
Pros	Cons
Stronger active skill Higher maximum multiplier Gains HP multiplier	Worse overall Loses her third Skill Boost Leader Skill is more orb hungry Far less damage with 3 water combos Leader Skill restricts to Dragon/Attacker Requires 4+ water combos to have higher multiplier (but less damage) Cannot use TPA or Rows for maximum multiplier Lower burst damage potential

Like Awoken Krishna, Awoken Sarasvati is disappointing and should really never be pursued under most situations.

Sarasvati’s claim to fame was her 3 Skill Boosts  and ability to form one of the strongest Glass Cannons in the game who could further augment her potency through water rows . However, this Awoken form takes away one of her Skill Boosts and makes her Leader Skill more orb hungry in order to achieve a higher HP/ATK multiplier when using Dragon/Attacker types.

Unfortunately, this cuts down on her viable sub pool, but the real problem is the dramatically lower multiplier at 3 water combos. The other Sarasvati  is able to achieve 100x damage compared to Awoken’s 45x. Furthermore, while Awoken can achieve a higher maximum multiplier at 5 combos, you cannot stack water rows which is a huge source of damage overall.

All in all, I strongly suggest you do not change your Sarasvati to Awoken unless a future Reincarnated form is viable.

Awoken Ganesha
Pros	Cons
Powerful active skill that unlocks orbs 7×6 board Reasonable Yog  Pairing	Loses bonus Gold/EXP Leader Skill Loses Bind immunity Loses 1 SBR  Orb Hungry Leader skill Low damage at 3 light combos Do not make if you only own 1 Ganesha

Ganesha  is the only card in the game that can boost the amount of Rank Experience you gain when completing a dungeon and is far too valuable to sacrifice for an average 7×6 leader. As such, I strongly, strongly, STRONGLY suggest you do not make Awoken Ganesha if he is the only Ganesha you own.

However, if this is a duplicate Ganesha, I would pursue the Awoken form as he does offer different benefits, most notably the ability to form a 7×6 board along with a different active skill.

Regular Ganesha enhances all orbs while providing 1 turn of damage immunity. While this is powerful, the enhance component is often times redundant on certain teams as you tend to overkill anyway. Granted it is beneficial for damage control/calculation, but being able to unlock orbs through Awoken may be meaningful. Being able to unlock orbs can save yourself along with providing the powerful 1 turn of damage immunity.

In regards to Awoken Ganesha’s leadership potential, he would be best when paired with Yog-Sothoth  as the larger board helps ensure you have sufficient light orbs present along with having more damage control through 2 light combos. Granted this is still inferior to traditional dual Yog pairings, but this is an option for those who were not lucky enough to acquire him. Just be aware that Ganesha is not bind immune and your damage output will be significantly lower.

Awoken Michael
Pros	Cons
% Max HP heal can be powerful 7 Combo  awakening Loses 3 auto-heals	Loses Healer typing Cannot use on R. Astaroth  Loses Attacker typing Cannot use on Ruel

Awoken Michael will be stronger than his other form just because you trade out 3 auto-heal awakenings for the highly desired 7 combo. This will enable him to deal wonderful amounts of damage and the only major drawback is the loss of Healer and Attacker typing for Astaroth and Ruel teams.

Conclusion

New evolutions are always exciting and help revitalize older cards. Which of these new evolutions are you most excited about and how do you plan to use them?

Happy Puzzling!

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On a side note, do you like the Pros and Cons tables when discussing new evolutions/cards?