Introduction

The Dragonbound & Dragon Caller (DBDC) Rare Egg Machine returns to North America on Monday, March 18 and comes with sizable buffs to the top rarity cards along with Limit Break/Super Awakenings on every card. With that being said, there are no new cards available this time around along with no changes made to the older cards.

With this in mind, it makes it challenging to justify rolling in this event provided you have most of the bottom rarity cards. This is because this event has come around several times and with each repeat (assuming one did roll before), the chances of getting something new diminish. For example, I rolled heavily during the first event and was blessed with an outrageous amounts of Shazels but also picked up all of the 5-star cards. As such, the motivation to roll in subsequent events has drastically gone down as duplicates beyond the second tend to be wasteful.

Regardless, the DBDC REM is arguably the highest value collab/seasonal machine in the game despite the 10-stone cost due to the incredible value at the bottom rarity (only other major contender is Monster Hunter which is coming soon). This is important as nearly every roll will have value to a given player assuming it is their first/second time acquiring that card.

Generally speaking, the DBDC cards are highly specialized and are able to fulfill their respective role wonderfully well. While this means one may not be using them all the time, they are sometimes vital to own for specific content/mechanics as it is hard to replace them otherwise.

For the most part, I would encourage all players to roll in this event assuming they do not own many/most of the bottom rarity cards as they are unique and can help one progress through new content. With that being said, for players who have rolled in the past 3 events, the chances of rolling something new are quite low and may be better skipping as a whole.

This article will summarize each card’s strengths and weaknesses to give you a better understanding of what is in store within this event.

Overview

DBDC Pros & Cons – March 15, 2019
Pros	Cons
Virtually every card is valuable Most 5-stars are worth pursuing Triple Killers Significant buffs to top rarity cards High weighted stats all around Cards tend to be highly specialized Great at their niche	No buffs to older/lower rarity cards Duplicates beyond 2 are seldom needed Large rolling pool Hard to snipe a specific card Monster Hunter Buffs have not been revealed Monster Exchanging is costly

Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM
7 Star base
6 Star base
5 Star base

DBDC REM  Rankings – March 15, 2018
S
A
B
C
D

All 7-star cards are available for trade within the Monster Exchange but have incredibly high costs

Order within each tier is random and not reflective of ranking.

Regardless of card’s ranking, you should almost always keep it if it is your very first time acquiring them.

Limit Breaking

Limit Breaking is the process of leveling a card beyond level 99. This will unlock more weighted stats along with the potential to receive Super Awakenings. These additional awakenings can add significant power but only function in solo mode.

Any card that can qualify for Limit Breaking will having their level displayed in blue and feeding a Super Snow Globe will push them beyond the level 99 cap.

You can read more about Super Awakenings HERE.

Monster Exchange

The Monster Exchange System has mostly eliminated the need to roll in most events as players can simply trade in for a card of their choice (think of Yusuke  in the YYH Collab). With that being said, the DBDC event does have a Monster Exchange option, but will be far too costly for the average player.

This is because all of the 7-star cards will require 5 trade fodder (instead of 4) and each sacrificed card has to be either a 7-star GFE or a rare seasonal/collab card. Thus, it would technically cost 20 6-star GFE to acquire one DBDC card assuming the player utilized the Monster Exchange system in a previous event.

7 Star base

All 7-star base cards can be acquired via the Monster Exchange System with each trade costing five 7-star GFE or top rarity seasonal/collab cards.

Ideal – S

Active: Delay 2 turns to all enemies. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Wood & Light & Dark & Heart orbs (13 turn cooldown)

Leader Skill: 5x ATK when matching 3 or more colors (2+heal) up to 17x at 5 colors+heal; Increase orb movement time by 3 seconds [1/289/1]

Awakenings:         
Super Awakenings:   
Typing: Dragon/Healer
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1292 (1486)
HP 4206 (4837) / ATK 1852 (2130) / RCV 1503 (1728)

Ideal

Active: Delay 2 turns to all enemies. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Wood & Light & Dark & Heart orbs (13 turn cooldown)

Leader Skill: 5x ATK when 2 or more combos up to 20x at 12 combos; Increase orb movement time by 3 seconds [1/400/1]

Awakenings:         
Super Awakenings:   
Typing: Dragon/Devil
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1294 (1488)
HP 4512 (5189) / ATK 3500 (4025) / RCV 431 (496)

Pros	Cons
Ideal Puns Triple 7 Combo  Two distinct forms Light better sub/overall 1,728 RCV 1,486 weighted stats Dark better leader Guard Break  Team HP	Difficult to roll Expensive to trade for Newer cards are starting to catch up Base active is 13 turn CD

Light Ideal is arguably one of the best subs in the game due to her incredible damage output, team HP , ability to use Dragon Killer Latents , bind immunity, 1,503 RCV, useful active, and her light typing. All of these factors make it hard to justify making Dark Ideal as you lose out on the 7 Combos  for what amounts to a reasonably strong (not stellar) leader. With that being said, if you have no Ideal teams to use Light Ideal or have lackluster leaders overall, it may be worthwhile to make Dark Ideal in the mean time. This is because the evolution is reversible so you can always convert back into Light if you gain a better leader in the future.

Light Ideal can fit well on many top tier teams and being able to boost total team HP by 10% (15% in solo with Super Awakening) is quite meaningful while also having incredible weighted stats. This bonus HP can greatly boost the effective HP of high health teams and can enable teams to survive large premeptives.

She naturally functions best on Combo teams as you can easily tap into her personal 8x damage (from three 7c awakenings) and enables her to potentially spike high enough to pierce through high DEF spawns. Furthermore, the Dark sub attribute can help trigger rainbow clause Leader Skills or awakenings.

If planning on using Dark Ideal as a leader, her main strength will be the relatively forgiving activation clause, Guard Break , and augmented stats via Team HP  and RCV . While these awakenings do not provide enough stats to compete against HP/RCV multipliers, they do help patch up her modest fragility. Unfortunately, Dark Ideal will not be heavily used overall due to the fact that her leader skill is not as powerful compared to other options and Light Ideal being such an incredible sub. As such, Dark Ideal may act as a transitional leader for newer accounts that is eventually converted over to her Light form when stronger options are available. While the 400x may look appealing, one has to remember that it is tied to making 12 combos which is not possible without skyfalls.

Overall, Ideal is an incredible card to own and her main drawback is her rarity and difficulty while also being essentially out of range for most players in the Monster Exchange system.

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Lajoa – A

Active: Change all orbs to Dark & Heart orbs. Recover 40% of max HP. Bind recovery for 4 turns (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: 5x ATK and 2x HP for Dragon, Devil type; 1.5x ATK when matching 5 or more connected Dark orbs up to 4x at 10 orbs [4/400/1]

Awakenings:         
Super Awakenings:   
Typing: Dragon/Devil
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1100 (1485)
HP 5805 (7837) / ATK 2510 (3388) / RCV 55 (74)

Lajoa

Active: Change all orbs to Dark & Heart orbs. Recover 40% of max HP. Bind recovery for 4 turns (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: 4x ATK when matching 4 or more connected Dark orbs up to 30x at 30 orbs; Reduce damage taken by 50% when above 80% HP; Increase orb movement time by 3 seconds [1/900/1/75%]

Awakenings:         
Super Awakenings:   
Typing: Dragon/Devil
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1099  (1484)
HP 6505 (8782) / ATK 1970 (2660) / RCV 165 (223)

Pros	Cons
Two distinct evolutions Can gain either VDP  or FUA  VDP Super Awakening Has leadership potential 4x HP Able to heal via Eir  High potential damage Can abuse Kuroyuri  system Powerful board change active Colour swapped Yog	Low base RCV Healing is possible, just needs planning Slow play style Rows are orb hungry

In my opinion, Lajoa is the weakest of the 7-star cards in the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller event as he offers less unique value overall.

Upon his initial release, Lajoa struggled to find an ideal home but has gained various buffs over time but still does not change the fact that he is an orb hungry leader. Despite his improved Leader Skills in either form, he still feels like a generic 4x HP leader in his base form.

Lajoa is able to solve any RCV issues with Eir or a Kuroyuri system along with his 40% healing active. Sadly, his damage only starts to become meaningful at 6 Dark orbs (100x) as he is able to tap into his Row awakenings. With this in mind, Lajoa is able to clear end game content, albeit more slowly due to his orb hungriness.

Lajoa’s active skill is akin to Yog  in that he produces a heart + dark (instead of Light) board along with 40% heal and 4 turn bind clear. This is incredible valuable as it combines three useful elements and what is arguably the strongest board changer possible (1 colour + hearts).

While the Dark/Fire form has merits as a leader, his Dark/Dark form has an impractical Leader Skill is impractical to use in traditional content. He gains 1x ATK for each connected Dark orb which does cap at 30x for a full board of 30. This can be achieved via Revo Satan, but at that point, is that amount of damage truly needed considering it require 20 Skill Boosts to use. Furthermore, more efficient farming leaders exist.

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Suou – S

Active: Removes lock status on orbs. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Heart orbs. +1 combo count for 1 turn (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: 1.5x all stats for Fire, Water Att.; Increase orb movement time by 2 seconds; 7x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching Water+Fire [2.25/110.25/2.25/43.75%]

Awakenings:    
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon/Healer
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1206 (1387)
HP 4020 (4623) / ATK 1955 (2248) / RCV 1240 (1426)

Suou

Active: Removes lock status on orbs. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Heart orbs. +1 combo count for 1 turn (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: 4.5x ATK for Fire, Water Att. and reduce damage taken by 35% when above 50% HP; 2x ATK when matching Fire+Water; 2x ATK when 6 or more combos [1/324/1/57.75%]

Awakenings:        
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon/Balance
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1300 (1495)
HP 5933 (6823) / ATK 2460 (2829) / RCV 645 (742)

Pros	Cons
Two distinct evolutions Four 7 Combos  3 VDP  + 3 SB  Strong leadership potential Useful active skill Balance typing in VDP form Arguably the best VDP card	4 7 Combo form has minimal awakenings Sacrificing everything for damage No SBR  in both forms

Suou is one of the newer cards within the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller Rare Egg Machine and has gained significant improvements due to his Limit Break and Super Awakenings.

This pushes his weighted stats to 1,495 in his superior VDP  form while also providing an additional layer of utility via Super Awakenings.

As a whole, Suou’s evolved/VDP  form is superior in virtually every scenario as he is arguably the best VDP card available. This is because he features high ATK, three VDP, and Balance typing which allows him to wield any Killer latent. This translates into 15.6x ATK when forming a 3×3 box.

Suou’s ability to delete any Void spawn make him a commonly seen sub on various teams and his 3 Skill Boosts helps ensure actives are ready in time.

Thankfully, the fun does not stop here as Suou has gained significant improvements to his Leader Skill as he is now able to form a 1/324/1/57.75% team. This activation combines several different elements with each one being reasonably easy to achieve. Firstly, Suou must use Fire or Water cards along with matching those two colours along with remaining above 50% HP. This 50% clause is helped by his passive 57.75% Damage Reduction when above half health (like Edward ).

Despite the fact that Suou boasts a hefty 324x ATK multiplier, the effective damage will be lower due to the fact that all his personal damage is tied to VDP. This means 1/3 of your team will be contributing significantly less damage.

On the flip side, Suou’s base form boasts four 7 Combos  awakenings which translates into 16x personal damage. While this may look appealing, one has to remember that he comes with hardly any other awakenings and just having raw damage is not truly needed. This is because teams often have more than enough damage to sweep a floor and these 7 Combos do nothing against Void spawns. As such, it makes it hard to justify using this form over his stellar VDP evolution.

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Roche – S

Active: Ignores enemy attribute damage absorb effects for 1 turn ( does not include combo shield, damage absorb shield, and damage void ). Change Fire & Jammer orbs to Wood orbs. Change Water, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Dark orbs (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching Wood, Dark at once; 4x ATK and 2x RCV when matching 2+ Wood combos [1/256/4/43.75%]

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:  
Typing: Dragon/Attacker
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1198 (1378)
HP 5155 (5928) / ATK 3303 (3798) / RCV 68 (78)

Roche

Active: Ignores enemy attribute damage absorb effects for 1 turn ( does not include combo shield, damage absorb shield, and damage void ). Change Fire & Jammer orbs to Wood orbs. Change Water, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Dark orbs (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Wood & Dark attribute cards ATK x4. Increases time limit of orb movement by 2 seconds. All attribute cards ATK x4, 50% all damage reduction when reaching 8 combos [1/256/1/75%]

Awakenings:        
Super Awakenings:  
Typing: Dragon/Devil
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1298 (1493)
HP 4355 (5008) / ATK 3603 (4143) / RCV 428 (492)

Pros	Cons
Dark form is superior Powerful Leader Skill Free movement time 50% Damage Reduction with 1 Leader 7×6 pairing results in easy activation Double orb changer that removes hazards Strong team building options	Colour absorb is niche Personal damage is tied to being below 50% HP 8 Combos is not always doable on 6×5 Can lose damage reduction shield No SBR  TPA form has less applications

Roche is a creepy looking girl who has the potential to be a powerful leader in her Dark form. This is because she is able to achieve 16x ATK, 50% Damage Reduction, and +2 seconds of orb movement time when hitting 8 or more combos. This is quite amazing and in theory, dual Roche are able to form a highly durable team (4x effective HP with 75% reduction); however, hitting 8 combos on a 6×5 board is not always doable.

Being unable to hit 8 combos leaves her vulnerable to damage and she will only be able to deal 16x ATK with dual leaders. Thus, it may often be ideal to pair with a Diablos  to capitalize on the bigger board and his respectable multipliers along with solving any SBR  issues.

On a 7×6 board, it should be quite easy to hit 8 or more combos to tap into 136x ATK along with a 62.5% damage reduction shield. This will enable your team to naturally tank most attacks without the need of using an additional active. Unfortunately, the main drawback of Roche is her own personal 8x damage is tied to being under 50% HP which may be difficult to achieve all the time.

In regards to her Super Awakenings, Roche gains the ability to use another <50% which pushes her own output to 16x. This will result in fantastic damage with the only major drawback having to juggle low health.

Furthermore, Roche is able to use a wide variety of subs which gives her flexibility when team building as she can even utilize sub attributes to fulfill the Wood or Dark clause.

One thing to keep in mind with Roche is that she will most likely gain additional leadership potential when Monster Hunter returns and Diablos is buffed.

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Valeria  – S

Active: All attribute cards RCV x2 for 3 turns. Reshuffle all orbs. (8 turn CD)

Leader Skill:5x ATK for Fire, Light Att.; Increase orb movement time by 2 seconds; 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 4 or more colors [1/400/1/43.75%]

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:   
Typing: Dragon/Balance
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1200 (1380)
HP 5201 (5981) / ATK 2402 (2762) / RCV 600 (690)

Valeria

Active: All attribute cards RCV x2 for 3 turns. Reshuffle all orbs. (8 turn CD)

Leader Skill: 7.5x ATK when matching 4 or more colors; 3x ATK & RCV when 7 or more combos; Increase orb movement time by 2 seconds [1/506.25/9]

Awakenings:        
Super Awakenings:   
Typing: Dragon/Attacker
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1300 (1495)
HP 6130 (7049) / ATK 3002 (3452) / RCV 260 (299)

Pros	Cons
6 Skill Boosts  Highest in the game Potent leader in F/L form 22.5x ATK Rainbow Potentially high HP via  3x RCV Gains FUA via SA	Skill Boost form is for farming Less merit for many players Mostly a luxury Rainbow leaders can have activation issues Both forms lack any damage awakenings Active skill has niche uses

Valeria is the final new 7-star card in the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM and also features two unique split evolutions. Her first form features an amazing 6 Skill Boosts  which is invaluable for luxury farming teams as they are better able to modify their compositions; however, having 6 Skill Boosts is only 1 better compared to the farmable Whaledor . With this in mind, base Valeria is a highly luxurious card that may not be fully taken advantage of by the average player. As such, she may have more merit in her evolved form for her potent rainbow Leader Skill.

With that being said, I want to stress how significant an additional Skill Boost can be. Having even just one more means players can potentially have key actives up right away and can then modify their team accordingly. This opens up new team building options but another key point is that Skill Boost Valeria has meaningful weighted stats and a FUA if used in solo mode. Having 5,981 HP before pluses provides a significant amount of bulk (over 700 more weighted stats compared to Whaledor) and can enable teams to survive larger attacks or heal accordingly. This has the most applications for leader-swapping difficult content like Arena 5.

On the other hand, Evolved Valeria features a massive 22.5x ATK / 3x RCV which matching 4/5 colours and 7 or more combos. Both of these are reasonably doable on a given board and while there is no HP multiplier, the 4 Team HP  (8 with dual leaders) awakenings add significant bulk and can enable them to survive reasonably large amounts of punishment. Furthermore, since the HP is tied to awakenings, it can be preserved during Leader swaps but also means Valeria teams become significantly more vulnerable during Awoken Skill Binds.

Unfortunately, both Valerias do not have any personal damage awakenings which means one will have to rely on the rest of the team to deal meaningful amounts of damage.

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6 star base

Weld – A

Active: Delay 1 turn to all enemies. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Heart orbs (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Can no longer clear 3 connected orbs. All attribute cards ATK x3, RCV x3. All attribute cards ATK x3.5, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Water and Fire combos at the same time

Awakenings:       
 Weapon Assist Awakenings:    

Pros	Cons
Useful active skill Delay + board change Assist evolution grants TPA  & Fire Resist  Provides a huge boost to Scheat Active skill produces valuable BJ , Suou , and, Scheat boards	Mediocre base form Really for Weapon Assist No Limit Break

Weld’s main purpose is to be converted into his Weapon Assist form as he is able to transfer over a TPA  and Fire Resist  awakenings. The TPA component can help cards that already have a few TPAs achieve higher levels of damage while the Fire Resist awakening has amazing value for cheese teams. Most notably is Mega Awoken Scheat as her playstyle revolves around matching 4 Water orbs and allowing her massive ATK stat and 4 (5 with Weld) TPAs to deal damage. Another point to consider the TPA can help provide additional Style Points during specific Ranking Dungeons.

In regards to his Fire Resist, Kiri is cheesy leader from the DBDC event and relies on changing the enemy’s attribute to Fire and heavily reducing their damage through her Leader Skill. As such, a Weld inherit can ease some team building options along with providing a valuable board changer and potentially lifesaving delay.

Unlike most other Weapon Assists, Weld comes with a valuable active skill that has synergy on numerous Fire and Water teams with Scheat , BJ , and Suou leading the way.

Despite the fact that Weld received full bind immunity in his base for, it may be hard to justify not converting him to a Weapon Assist. This is because he lacks Limit Break/Super Awakenings along with only finding real merit on Scheat teams due to his TPA.

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Nees – A

Active: Recover 50% of max HP. Awoken Bind recovery for 5 turns. Change Fire orbs to Dark orbs, Water orbs to Wood orbs (10  turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x4, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Dark and Wood combos at the same time. ATK x2 for clearing each Wood, Light or Dark orbs in a cross formation.

Awakenings:    
Super Awakenings:   
Typing: Dragon/Physical
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1404 (1615)
HP 9200 (10580) / ATK 2098 (2413) / RCV 196 (225)

Pros	Cons
Giant HP Stick Look how big it is Helps tank large preemptives 1,615 weighted stats Gains 7 Combo  or Team HP  via SA Awoken bind clear options Valuable to Akuma and Roche	4 awakenings No SA in coop All awakenings are valuable Low RCV No additional buffs

Nees is an older card from the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM and still has merit in today’s meta due to her massive amount of HP along with beneficial active skill. Being able to provide such a large amount of HP is meaningful as it can enable teams to naturally survive large preemptives that would not be possible otherwise. For the most part, these giant preemptives only exist in end game content, but being able to naturally survive them without an active should be a priority.

With that being said, sticking Nees onto any team will grant an amazing amount of health, but her massive weighted stats are offset by the fact that she only has 4 awakenings. Granted they are valuable ones, it is sometimes hard to compete against other options. Thankfully, her Super Awakenings enables her to gain a second 7 Combo  awakening which propels her personal damage to 4x but is often passed over for an additional Team HP . This leads to even more HP and helps justify her sub spot despite having 5 awakenings.

While Nees’s active may look unusual at first, it is actually quite powerful in end game content where awoken binds are quite common. Thus, one may not actually need to run Odin Dragon provided your leaders are bind immune. Furthermore, she can be inherited to provide additional utility or team building options.

Furthermore, Nees can be used as a fantastic inherit as she will transfer over a hefty amount of HP along with powerful active skill. Being able to instantly heal 50% HP can be invaluable for high HP teams as they can clear Awoken Binds and restore a large amount of health.

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Tardis – A

Active: Increases time limit of orb movement by 1 second for 1 turn (1 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Wood attribute cards ATK x4. Water attribute cards HP x2. All attribute cards ATK x2.5 on the turn a skill is used. (Multiple skills will not stack)

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:   
Typing: Dragon/Physical
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1000 (1150)
HP 6021 (6924) / ATK 1842 (2118) / RCV 91 (105)

Pros	Cons
Naturally high HP 1 turn base CD Procs Active Skill clauses Can carry Kuroyuri Grants +1s orb movement time Boosts team RCV Gains Void Damage Penetration  Reasonable Leader Skill Doctor Who references	No Skill Boost  Few Killer latent options Not a pretty girl Halloween Myne  is an option Stronger in this current meta

Tardis is still one of the best options for teams that rely on active skill clauses and his main competition is Halloween Myne . Halloween Myne is a a farmable option who also shares a 1 turn cooldown but the main downside is that she could only be farmed during the specific events along with requiring 30 Skill Ups. So while she is a viable option, Tardis is easier to invest in. Sadly, Halloween is a stronger overall option due to the current meta favouring high HP teams.

Tardis is able to provide Team RCV whereas Myne grants Team HP . As a result, Myne can significantly bolster the HP of high health teams (as one will be using two for a Kuroyuri system) while the Coop Boost from Myne adds additional bulk.

Regardless, Tardis can function as a base for a Kuroyuri system as the additional 1 turn will not break the healing loop. This is important as sometimes Myne or Kuroyuri is unable to be used due to colour/typing compared to Tardis. Furthermore, Tardis can also be used to provide an active skill every turn to satisfy certain Leader Skills while his +1 second to orb movement time is always helpful while also being able to overwrite Time debuffs.

Aside from his sub potential, Tardis acts as a reasonable leader as dual Tardis form a 100x ATK team when an active skill is triggered. This works wonderfully well due to his natural 1 turn base cooldown along with his TPA  awakenings. Granted TPA has lower merit in most traditional teams, one would not be using Tardis for those kinds of content and instead can easily sweep through easier floors with a single combo. Furthermore, one can use Tardis in lieu of Liu Bei  or Pixel Brachy  for general farming purposes.

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Li – A

Active: Switch places with leader card. Use again to switch back. Dragon type cards ATK x3 for 1 turn (22 turn CD)

Leader Skill:  Fire, Water, Wood, Light & Dark attribute cards ATK x10 when HP is less than 20%. While your HP is 50% or above, a single hit that normally kills you will instead leave you with 1 HP. For the consecutive hits, this skill will only affect the first hit

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Leader Swap active Enables 7×6 or Ganesha  / Saline  7×6 makes most leaders better Cuter than Macha  Easier to roll than Macha	Macha has a better secondary effect Macha has -1 turn CD Super Awakenings are somewhat wasted Mostly used as an inherit Mostly a luxury leader swap for farming

Li is one of two cards in NA that have an inheritable Leader Swap active skill. It is important to differentiate the fact that Li is inheritable as it enables you to actually use two leaders you want to play with as opposed to one that has a less ideal Leader Skill.

With this in mind, Li has two distinct uses: creating 7×6 boards or abusing Ganesha  and Saline’s  bonus rank EXP multiplier.

For 7×6 usage, Li will enable players to enter a dungeon with a 7×6 leader and then swap into their desired leader. For example, you can use Diaochan  as your leader (creates 7×6 board) while paired with an Anubis  friend. However, you will be also bringing your Anubis with Li inherited as a sub. After stalling for a period of time, you will be able to use the Li inherit to swap your sub Anubis into the leader slot and this results in dual Anubis on 7×6.

This dramatically improves Anubis’s consistency but forming a 7×6 board is generally best for colour cross leaders. This is because colour cross leaders tend to run into both spacing issues along with a lack of desired orbs on a regular 6×5 board. Furthermore, with the additional 12 orbs from 7×6, players will be able to more consistently proc more colour crosses along with a higher combo count. Finally, one can achieve more than 3 colour crosses and this results in borderline ridiculous damage.

At this point in time, we do not have any leader that truly needs a 7×6 board for Li/Matcha swapping and will mostly be used by players who wish to maximize their Rank farming through Ganesha and Saline swaps.

This swapping for Rank farming should mostly be used by players at a higher rank as they are unable to effectively chain rank ups. This swapping can be used to across a wide variety of dungeons with even A5 being Saline-able. Unfortunately, any set up for a higher difficulty dungeon will require specific/rare cards as Skill Boosts may be in short supply.

For the most part, Macha will be the better option simply because she features one less turn on her cooldown which can alleviate team building constraints along with having a stronger secondary effect.

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Enra – B

Active: Change Water & Dark orbs to Fire orbs. Change Jammer, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Heart orbs (9 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x6 when HP is greater than 80%. ATK x2, RCV x2 when HP is less than 80%. All attribute cards ATK x2, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Fire and Fire combos at the same time

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:   

Typing: Dragon/Devil
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1000 (1150)
HP 5711 (6568) / ATK 1603 (1843) / RCV 325 (374)

Pros	Cons
Three 7c  awakenings Naturally occurs, not via SA Modest leadership potential Can remove hazard orbs	Super Awakenings are mediocre Active overflows board with fire Harder to 7 combo Longer cooldown Leader Skill has HP clause with no self heal A weaker Yog  More triple 7c cards now exist

Enra used to be one of the few triple 7 Combo  awakenings cards available which means she has a personal 8x damage when hitting 7 or more combos. This is valuable on any combo-based team as she helps ensure you deal lethal damage without active skills. Unfortunately or fortunately, more and more cards now exist with triple 7 Combo which means Enra has lost some of her unique edge.

This means one may not always be relying on Enra to clear content as other options do exist and she is not without faults. Most notably is her base active skill overflowing the board with Fire orbs which can prevent heavy comboing but at least she leaves heart orbs. Sadly, her 9 turn base cooldown may make it somewhat challenging to inherit something of value over top so be mindful of what kind of utility you want Enra to bring and whether or not it will be up in time. In addition to her awkward active skill, Enra has underwhelming Super Awakenings so she did not gain as much value compared to the other DBDC cards. Both Cloud Resist and L awakenings have situational value, both can be corrected via Weapon Assists. As a result, Enra mostly bring raw damage to the team and lower amounts of utility.

As a leader, Enra functions like a Fire Yog  in that you need to match 2 sets of Fire combos while maintaining >80% HP. Unfortunately, Enra’s base active does not provide a self heal along with having a lower 144x ATK multiplier. Granted the damage can be somewhat offset by her offensive awakenings, it will most likely be less efficient overall.

Overall, Enra is still an reasonable card to own as she provides high  damage output but is now less unique as more and more cards gain a third 7 Combo awakening.

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Distel – C

Active: 75% damage reduction for 3 turns. Dragon & Devil type cards ATK x2 for 3 turns (20 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x4, 25% all damage reduction when reaching 7 combos. ATK x3 when simultaneously clearing 5 connected Water orbs

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Three SB  Double L  awakenings Powerful 2-part active 75% damage reudction 2x damage boost Small leadership potential	Base active has a long cooldown No SBR  Less ideal offensive awakenings Few scenarios where we need it 20 turn cooldown

Distel can potentially be a powerful inherit, but the current meta has greatly shifted away from actually needing high amounts of Damage Reduction. This is because most teams now have enough Effective HP to survive lethal mechanics and do not require additional protection.

This places Distel in an awkward position as his 20 turn cooldown makes it challenging to have ready in time (think of AA2’s floor 2 preemptive) and his sub value is low at best.

In regards to his active, Ditel provides 75% damage reduction that last three turns along with a small 2x ATK for Dragon and Devil types. This is an interesting twist on an Indra style shield but the additional 5 turns on the cooldown may make it somewhat impractical to use all the time. However, the added damage boost may have merit if playing through challenging content where you need to both sweep a floor and tank an incoming preemptive. For myself, the last time I used Distel was a few months ago as an inherit for Rikuu during a No Awakenings challenge dungeon.

By being able to combine two valuable components into a single active can save space on your team along with being able to provide stats to Blue type cards. This is also important as most shields tend to be Light-based so having the ability to donate stats to cards that would have normally not received any is meaningful.

When used as a leader, Distel relies on matching 5 connected Water orbs but his damage reduction component that should always be achievable. The dual activation clause helps with damage control as well as surviving incoming damage/stalling. Unfortunately, the damage output is still on the low side along with better options already existing.

Distel’s Dragon typing and double L awakenings can enable him to function on Blue Sonia  teams, but 7 Combo  is a more desirable awakening overall.

In summary, Distel may have merit as a sub and leader, but his main appeal will be his powerful active skill when used as an inherit.

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Alpha – C

Active: Change all orbs to Fire, Wood & Heart orbs. +1 combo count for 2 turns. (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Fire attribute cards ATK x4. Wood attribute cards HP x2. All attribute cards ATK x3 when reaching Fire & Wood combos.

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:

Pros	Cons
5 L  awakenings Huge personal damage potential Modest Madoo  sub	Most teams do not use L’s Active has a long cooldown Verdandi  has same board but 9 turn CD +1 Combo count for 2 turns is not that amazing Super Awakenings do not improve him

Alpha has finally received his Limit Break + Super Awakenings but neither of these actually make him useful.

This is because he would primarily act as a damage stick (think base Suou) with minimal utility but his L awakenings are significantly harder to take advantage of. By comparison, needing to match 5 connected orbs is significantly harder compared to a natural 7 combo outside of perhaps Madoo teams.

In regards to Alpha’s active, it shares the same board changer as Verdandi but also adds +1 combo count for 2 turns. This comes at the expense of 4 more turn cooldown which can be problematic as +1 combo is not that amazing. Generally speaking, when a player wants to boost their combo count, it is for VDP  solves as it can help ensure sufficient combos are met. As such, one usually uses a 2 turn buff as it would have to be a pretty horrible board to not hit 7 Combos. As such, Alpha’s +1 may or may not be the best choice along with the actual colours produced not always ensuring 9 are present.

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Omega – A

Active: ATK x1 + (0.3x for every Enhanced Combo (7c ) on the team) for 2 turns. (14 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Wood attribute cards ATK x4. Fire attribute cards RCV x2. All attribute cards ATK x3 when reaching 6 combos or above

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:  

Pros	Cons
Gemstone-style active Scales with 7 Combo  3 Coop Boost  Huge stats in coop Potential button base 1,310 RCV	Low base ATK Less potential as a Button base Super Awakenings are a meme

Omega is an incredibly powerful card in the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller Rare Egg Machine as he functions as either a stellar inherit or a powerful Coop card.

Omega’s active skill functions like a Gemstone Princess in that the bonus ATK multiplier scales with the number of awakenings on the team. In the case of Omega, it counts the number of 7 Combos which are usually plentiful on traditional teams. Thus, the calculation for the total multiplier is as follows:

1 + 0.3x
x = number of 7c 

Thus, having eight 7 Combos would results in 1 + (0.3*8) = 3.4x ATK. Depending on the type of team composition, this may be the best type of burst to use.

If Omega had stopped there, he would have still been a powerful card; however, GungHo was feeling extra generous as he also comes with three Coop Boost  awakenings. This grants him 3.375x stats in Coop which can make him function as a potent Button base or even a huge RCV stat stick. With this in mind, he will primarily be used in coop and his newfound Super Awakenings are essentially wasted.

Despite the fact that GungHo is trying to push non-combo leaders, I doubt the combo meta will be replaced any time soon as it is just so easy to use and has the best chance to counter most mechanics.

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Lieto – D

Active: Awoken Bind recovery for 3 turns. Change Fire, Jammer, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Dark orbs. Removes lock status on orbs (8 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x3, 35% all damage reduction when HP is greater than 80%. All attribute cards ATK x4 when attacking with 2 of following orb types: Light, Dark & Heart.

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:  

Pros	Cons
Active is unique No one else has that exact composition	Does not really do anything Enhanced Heal Orb  > Team RCV  Still horrible after LB/SA

Lieto is the final 6-star card in the DBDC event and they are still a train wreck. They do not really do much of anything and the four Team RCV  is less powerful compared to Enhanced Heal Orb  along with their active being average at best. On the bright side, their active skill is unique in that no one has that specific ability but it has still yet to find a use.

Taking all of this into consideration makes it hard to justify using them as either a Leader or Sub.

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5 star base

Rathios – C

Active: 35% damage reduction for 3 turns. Change left-most column into Light orbs and the right-most column into Fire orbs (12 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Fixed  orb movement time at 4 seconds. ATK x2.5, RCV x2.5 to Dragon type cards. All attribute cards ATK x4 when reaching Light & Fire combos

Awakenings:       
 Weapon Assist Evolution:   

Pros	Cons
Weapon Assist evolution Shield & orb generation active Provides 2 Light rows  Helps provide some added damage Provides 2 Fire rows Provides Time Extend  Providing 2 colours of rows helps for Ranking Dungeons	The need for Rathios is situational Farmable alternatives exist for Rows

Rathios does not have any Super Awakenings as her primary usage is as a Weapon Assist; however, she is now able to also provide 2 additional Fire rows . This may seem strange at first as it will be challenging for teams to fully take advantage of both colours but a new niche for Rathios may be found in Ranking Dungeons.

Ranking Dungeons now feature Style Points which award players for matching specific patterns provided their teams have those respective awakenings. Furthermore, rows are often augmented to provide significantly more points and becomes the dominant strategy for several tournaments. Thus, being able to provide two different colours may open up team building compositions as players will not need to run subs with those awakenings along with having more active skill slots available.

With that being said, Rathios is still a niche card that will find seldom use overall.

Finally, like any Weapon Assist you plan on using for the awakenings, it is best to leave Rathios unskilled to grant a larger window for using the ideal base active.

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No.6 – A

Active: No skyfall combos for 1 turn. Randomly spawn 7 Fire orbs from non Fire orbs (5 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Fire attribute cards ATK x5. Water attribute cards HP x1.5

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Three God Killers  Double SBR  Super Awakenings grant L  or Tape  No Skyfall active Damage control Shorter cooldown	Only effective against Gods No Skill Boost  More God Killing cards exist Less unique

No.6 fulfills a niche role in Puzzle and Dragons: being able to obliterate any God spawn. This is all thanks to his three God Killers which provide him with a personal 27x ATK to God type spawns.

While one will not be using No.6 in all scenarios, it is well worth having him on hand as he can help trivialize various encounters.

Beyond his God Killing potential, No.6 has a reasonable active skill. Firstly, he is able to produce Fire orbs for himself, but the No skyfall clause aids in both damage control as well as lowering the cooldown.

Normally, the phrase damage control and No.6 do not go hand in hand, but with no Skyfalls, you can cap your output along with avoiding any chance of an unwanted colour from being matched. This is valuable against colour absorption spawns or against non-Gods. Furthermore, the No Skyfalls cuts off turns on the total cooldown so it is possible to use him more often in a single dungeon.

Unfortunately, No.6 lacks a Skill Boost  which may make it challenging for other actives to be ready in time along with more viable God Killing options existing. While having more options has not actually decreased No.6’s power, he is just less unique and may not always be the best choice for that specific scenario. With that being said, No.6 is one of the stronger colours as Fire Row farming is quite popular due to the farmable Machine Goemon .

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Kiri  – A

Active: Change all enemies attributes to Fire. (Ignores status shield) Reduces cooldown of other skills by 1 turn (16 turn CD)

Leader Skill: ATK x 3 when simultaneously clearing 6 connected Water orbs. ATK x1 for each additional orb, up to ATK x5 at 8 connected orb. 75% Fire damage reduction

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Three Dragon Killers Able to form a powerful cheese team Active skill synergy Super Awakening grants an additional Fire Resist	Vulnerable to binds Active has little value outside of cheesing

Kiri is another Dragonbound & Dragon Caller card that comes with three of the same Killer awakenings. This results in a personal 27x ATK against Dragon spawns and helps ensure players are able to easily mow through difficult content. Fortunately, Kiri stands taller compared to No.6  and Shazel  due to her ability to form a Resistance Cheese team.

Cheese teams are those that rely on passive damage reduction from a specific element along with Gravities to slowly grind down encounters. While it may not be flashy nor speedy, Cheese teams can enable players with a less developed box to clear content that would normally be out of reach. Unfortunately, these types of teams heavily rely on an active skill that changes the attribute of the opposing monsters.

Historically speaking, the Puppeteers    were used for Cheese teams, but their 250,000 MP price tag made them inaccessible for the average player. Thankfully, Kiri comes with a built in elemental changer which essentially completes her team along with possibly saving an active skill slot. With that being said, Kiri’s elemental changer can be a pseudo damage boost for water based teams as you gain elemental advantage for 2x damage.

Despite the fact that Kiri is wonderful, her main drawback is a vulnerability to binds it can be overcome through the unbindable solo mode badge which is often the default choice when using Kiri as a leader.

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Kulia – C

Active: Increases time limit of orb movement by 1 second for 2 turns. Change left-most column into Water orbs and the right-most column into Dark orbs. (8 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x4, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Dark and Water combos at the same time. Increases time limit of orb movement by 3 seconds

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Julia with a K Gains some relevancy via 7c  Super Awakening Guaranteed orb spawn & time buff active	Only viable in solo mode Better double 7c cards exist

Julia with a K has not aged will since the last inception of DBDC as numerous strong cards now exist.

The second 7 Combo  via Super Awakenings does give Kulia some offensive capabilities, but it is an expensive investment sink resources into. This is further compounded by the ease of availability from Super Godfests where useful cards already come out fully developed and do not require additional resources to shine.

Looking at her active skill, the double column can be situationally helpful for match-5 teams as it can provide two turns of damage.

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Shazel – A

Active: Change Dark, Jammer, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Wood orbs. Reduces cooldown of other skills by 1 turn (7 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Change the board to 7×6 size. All attribute cards ATK x3, RCV x3 when reaching Wood & Light combos

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Three Devil Killers  2 Skill Boosts  Active removes hazards and reasonably short CD Forms 7×6 board Can use Dragon Killer  latents Is a pretty boy L  adds some damage	Cannot use Devil Killer Latents Competes with Mito  Super Awakenings are mediocre

Shazel is another powerful triple Killer card that deals 27x ATK to all Devil spawns. This is vital for dealing with what are oftentimes dangerous spawns and lowers the need to use additional active skills. Unfortunately, Shazel is in close competition with Mito  and actually falls behind in Devil damage if Mito wields three Devil Killer latents. To make up for this, Shazel can use different Killers which can propel his damage higher if the spawn is dual typing.

Thankfully, Shazel gains an edge over Mito due to his double Skill Boost  awakenings which help charge up actives faster along with his base cooldown being relatively short.

The main drawback for Shazel is his Super Awakenings are middling overall but the L  can add some damage along with providing some utility if locked orbs exist.

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Pralinae – A

Active: Change Water orbs to Light orbs, Dark orbs to Heart orbs. All attribute cards RCV x1.5 for 4 turns (9 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Healer & Dragon type cards ATK x3. ATK x2, reduce damage taken by 35% after matching Heal orbs in a cross formation

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
5 Killer awakenings Active makes Light & Heart orbs RCV buff can be sometimes useful	Less specialized than No.6  & Shazel  in coop Cannot use Devil or God Killer Latents One Skill Boost

Pralinae has some of the best Super Awakenings in the entire Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM as she is able to gain either a third God  or Devil Killer . This enables her to deal 27x ATK to that specific spawn and then an outrageous 243x ATK if it is a God and Devil type. This is quite excessive but does give Praline a unique edge when playing in solo mode. Unfortunately, Super Awakenings do not work in coop which means she may be sidelined for No.6  or Shazel , On the other hand, she has the ability to cover more spawns as well as gaining incredible damage against God & Devil spawns (personal 81x) in coop.

With this in mind, Pralinae will still be a niche sub, but her active skill has merits on various teams. Being able to produce Light and Heart orbs can help concentrate your damage and the RCV buff can help bolster your healing potential as well as overriding debuffs.

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Vigo – C

Active: Reduce enemies’ defense to 0 for 1 turn. Effects carry forward on sweep. Change Heart, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Water orbs (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Dragon type cards ATK x3. All attribute cards ATK x2.5 when attacking with 4 of following orb types: Fire, Water, Wood, Light & Dark.

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:  

Pros	Cons
Gains a third Killer via SA Hazard removal 100% DEF Break	2 Killers of not the same type Harder to justify using over other options Killers are different

Vigo was quite disappointing upon his initial debut last time around but has actually improved due to his Super Awakenings. In essence, he received the same treatment as Pralinae as he is now able to gain an additional Killer awakening. Unfortunately, he will still max out at 3 Killers, but he is now able to at least have 9x ATK against mono-type spawns.

For the most part, Vigo will still be a niche card as his conditional damage is lower compared to other Killer options along with Physical and Healer being more rare overall. With that being said, he may have some applications in Ranking Dungeons on Zeus Verse teams.

Conclusion

The Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM is one of the most exciting events in Puzzle and Dragons because there is incredible value at all rarities which helps justify heavily rolling if missing most of the cards.

While the 7-stars are always going to be appealing, one should be rolling with the hope of acquiring each of the powerful Killer 5-stars and accept any higher rarity card as a bonus.

Taking all of this into consideration, I would strongly encourage players to roll in this event if they have not in the past. With that being said, this event may be a pass for players who have already acquired most of the cards as no new cards were added this time around.

Let me know what you think about the DBDC REM in the comments below.

Happy Puzzling!

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