Introduction
The general gist of Question Time posts are for players to ask various PAD-related questions that do not have a simple/Google-able answer or related article on my website. I do play other games and have often found myself having specific/unique questions about it but have no where to go and can imagine this may hold true for some of my readers.
With that being said, there will be some restrictions on the types of questions I will be answering.
If planning on commenting on a regular basis, it is advantageous to create a WordPress account to both receive notifications as well as giving me a point of reference as to who I am responding to.
Do’s and Don’t
For the most part, almost any question will be answered, even some non-invasive Off-Topic ones; however, it is best to ask questions that require explanation/why/my personal opinion. The following examples are Fantastic types of questions to ask:
- Of these options, what is the best Yusuke team I can make for Arena 3?
- What direction do you think GungHo will take with the 4x HP leads?
- Can Heart Cross teams be revived and if so, how?
The following types of questions will not be answered by me either because it has a simple Google-able answer or shows a lack of effort on the reader’s part:
- Anything that Google/Padx can answer
- A link to your entire Monster Box and saying “make me a team”
Conclusion
I hope my readers use this opportunity to ask questions that will hopefully improve their overall game play and progression.
Happy Puzzling!
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Mantastic Puzzle and Dragons 
I am sure this is a newbie question but I dont know the answer. Lets say I have a red team and fighting a damage absorb monster like Sopdet. Will the whole red team need to have the awakening skill VDP or can I just have 1 red with VDP?
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VDP is for Void Damage over X amount. Damage absorb is convert damage to heals over X amount. For damage absorb you would need a fujin-like active:
https://ilmina.com/#/ADVANCED_SEARCH/%7B%22activeSkillConditions%22%3A%7B%220%22%3A%7B%22type%22%3A31%2C%22negate%22%3Afalse%2C%22templateVm%22%3A%7B%22type%22%3A%22absorbVoid%22%7D%7D%2C%221%22%3A%7B%22type%22%3A0%2C%22negate%22%3Afalse%2C%22templateVm%22%3A%7B%7D%7D%7D%7D
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The card who owns VDP will be able to pierce through Damage Void mechanics (everyone else will be voided)
With that being said, Sopdet is a Damage Absorb so VDP will have no effect
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It doesn’t matter because vdp only bypass damage void not damage absorb you need to have a monster like fujin to bypass that
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Hello Mantastic, What do you think about Traiding for Blue athena in the Monster exchange shop.
Is she worth it? I have a lot of other good leaders and some good subs. What subs do you think are the best for her?
Thx for the apply
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I am not a fan of Blue Athena, especially for her cost
She can clear things but does not surpass current options. MP is better spend on Odin Dragon, Amen, and maybe Ragnarok Dragon
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For mega awoken skulds leader skill I think I understand how a sub attribute makes the whole cards HP count as 2x. For example Tardis who is G/b. But how does the ATK get calculated? Does skulds ATK multiplier only apply to the green damage Tardis does or does it apply to all Blue/Green attack coming out of Tardis?
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Her leader skill states 5x atk to water attribute and 3x atk and damage reduce when 5 connected in L shape OF ANY TYPE OF ORBS. This means that tardis would get the full multiplier as he his water att (sub color counts ). You can do a 5 L shape of jammer orbs and a 3 green combo to deals full damage. Sub color is 30% of atk of the card. Also, to get the atk and hp you can be green main and blue sub and both apply. Hope this answered. Mystbrujah
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For leader skills, it applies to the entire attack of the card as long as it has that attribute. So yes, it would apply to all blue/green damage from Tardis.
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Tardis will fully benefit from the LS multipliers
Just be aware that the full multiplier tied to an L only helps that colour. Thus, players will need to match Blue L’s for meaningful damage
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Hey Mantastic,
Do you think magic stones will eventually be obtainable with monster points or some other trade mechanism?
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I highly doubt it because it would probably end up being abused and it is their only source of IAP income
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One thing I really hope they implement soon are 7c inherits and cross leader versatility such as dark does damage light heals something along those lines
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Correction, light provides shield lol
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7c inherits will incredibly strong and will probably come with a -ATK awakening and be tied to a 8*+ collab/seasonal card
The idea of non-heart orbs healing does sound interesting
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Hey Mantastic, started 3 weeks ago (newbie) and I was blessed by the REM gods with Mariel, who is my current lead, and I also pulled Xmas Ilmina and Heroine Ilmina. Where do you recommend I roll for an FUA? My team is Pure Mariel lead, L/F Ilmina, Xmas Ilmina, Lively Lotta Lotta, Halloween Sonia Gran, and usually friend’s Dark Karin or Pure Mariel. I lack an RCV multiplier/something like Mel, and FUA. Do you recommend I roll in Final Fantasy, as it has very good light drops (Cloud, Yuna, Aerith, Lightning), or the upcoming 7 stone SGF? The only notable blue subs I have are Lutina, Ryune, and Blue Sonia. So I guess I should be asking… how do I optimize my Mariel team as a beginner?
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Also, as a side note… what super awakenings should I put on Mariel and Xmas Ilmina? Currently I have Bind Resist on Xmas and VDP on Mariel for super awakenings.
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Both those Super Awakenings are solid choices
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I would roll a little bit in final fantasy, but not a lot. Of the cards you mentioned, only Lightning and Aerith would provide you with an unbindable FUA. Aerith has middling awakenings in base form and lightning has a rainbow active, which is sub-optimal for Mariel. Yuna would be unbindable or a FUA, but not both. Y’Shtola is actually also a solid FUA for a double Mariel team, but her stats aren’t great. Nothing game-changing for you here.
On your Mariel team, Lutina is a great card. Her awakenings are incredible and her fast active means you can add whatever active you want to her as an assist. I wouldn’t worry about her not having a light attribute because Mariel hits so hard anyway. And Lutina’s RCV combined with the heal from both Mariels’ actives will go a long way toward compensating for the lack of an RCV stick. Lutina isn’t compatible with DKarin, but DKarin’s leader skill addresses your healing problem. For now, I would run UEVO Ryune when you need a FUA. Her active isn’t ideal (no light) and she’s bindable, but she’ll get the job done.
One option is to wait for a strong super godfest like the 7 stone one you mentioned. Another is to gamble on Monster Hunter when it briefly comes back (it came back in JP, so it’s most likely returning here). Monster Hunter has 3 cards that can act as unbindable FUAs for a Mariel team-> Amatsu (easily one of the strongest FUAs in the game), Mitsuzune (super high RCV, fua, unbindable via SA), and Seregios (unbindable, fua via SA). Only Amatsu is top notch, but the other two are serviceable and Seregios actually deals with your FUA problem if you lead with him because of the orb elimination component of his leader skill. Besides that, Monster Hunter offers A LOT of utility. Some of the low rarity cards have equip evos that will give you resistance to darkness, jammers, and poison, Zinogre is by far the strongest light option for dealing with the damage absorb mechanic and has really solid awakenings, and Gore Magala has a fantastic active for dealing with binds that you can add as an assist to a card like Lutina. Mantastic has a great MH review here: https://mantasticpad.com/2019/04/21/monster-hunter-collab-review-and-analysis-april-2019/
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Thanks for the reply! What should I replace for Lutina? Sonia Gran? And once again, what are the ideal super awakenings for L/F Ilmina, Xmas Ilmina, and Mariel? I’ve heard from Reddit that it is quite the gamble to save for Monster Hunter, as it isn’t certain to come back, and also that Myr can serve as an FUA via Super Awakening. What monsters from GFE provide solid FUA for Mariel?
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You should keep an eye out for Sherias Roots, Shelling Ford, Cotton (any color since you can devolve her and change her), Scheat, and Yog. Cotton, Yog, and Scheat are particularly FUA friendly when it comes to their actives, while Cotton and Shelling Ford have especially strong awakenings. Paimon and Aten can also bring a FUA, but both are bindable. A great way to figure out who has a FUA is to look here: https://ilmina.com/#/AWAKENING/45
You could also pick up Sonia Elle (https://ilmina.com/#/CARD/3910) from the monster point shop if you have enough monster points. She can be an unbindable FUA with an SA and she has a fantastic active. The catch is that there are arguably better ways to use your mp, especially if you don’t have Odin dragon (https://ilmina.com/#/CARD/3264) yet. But, if Sonia Elle allows you to clear a lot of content, a solid case can be made for picking her up. Note: mp has less value than it used to because Gungho gives a lot away and recent high value trades required rainbow medals rather than monster points.
The players on Reddit are right, it’s a gamble. But the return of MH coincided with a Diablos buff, which we’ll be getting, and our events tend to mirror theirs pretty closely when there aren’t licensing issues. Worst case scenario, you can always use your stones in other godfests. You can also just take a gamble on FF. It’s solid for a 5 stone machine.
Yeah, I’d drop Sonia Gran unless you depend on her for time extends or as a damage enhancement. Your next weakest link is L/F Ilmina (not the Christmas version).
Optimal SAs really depend on team composition and the dungeons you’re tackling. I like your choices. I don’t like running unbindable cards when I can avoid it and having 3 VDPs on Mariel is awesome (I have the same thing on my accounts). For Mariel, a case can be made for tape resist if you’re struggling with it, but it’s pretty situational. I favor VDP over 7c because it plays to Mariel’s strengths and she gets plenty of damage from her leader skill.
And yes, Myr would also be a reasonable option because she’s farmable, unbindable, and has FUA. But her active and awakenings aren’t great.
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Myr is a good farmable option, provided you can either defeat Keela or are willing to exchange medals. However, bear in mind that superawakenings do not count for multiplayer, so you would still something when doing multi. Mega Sherias Roots if you can roll him on a SGF would be a decent FUA option for you
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Another consideration in favor of godfests is the dupe issue. High rarity dupes from Final Fantasy will not be tradeable outside of Final Fantasy. But, if you get unlucky and roll lots of dupes in SGF you can trade those GFEs toward something really specific you would like whether it’s an amazing lead or the perfect sub for your box. Note: most people trade for overpowered leads, e.g. Zela Kitty and probably Barbara and Julie for the UEVO when beach REM comes back.
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Generally speaking, newer accounts/less developed boxes benefit most from Godfests as they provide baseline cards who can cover many of your issues whereas Collabs/seasonals are more niche/specific cards
With that being said, your needs are quite specific as you are hunting for a Water or Light FUA. Cotton is a nice all around choice and Final Fantasy does not offer much in the way of FUA from the top cards outside Yuna SA. FF still has great cards and all the 6* have value along with high rolling rates. You can dabble a bit in FF but 7-stone SGF are probably better overall
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In general, how do you feel about the buffs (or as I like to call it, overhaul) to Lightning for the FF 5th rerun?
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You can read about it in the upcoming review!
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Thoughts on Reiwa? Is she viable as a leader?
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Semi-viable on a 7×6 I would say. Depending on 16 specific orbs every turn is hard and potential to get orb-trolled is super high. Seems serviceable as a sub though, she has plenty of awakenings. Jack of all trades…
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She has nice multipliers but requires awkward matching which will lower her combo count
I can see it being fun but a high investment overall
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what’s your best guess for when Gungho collab returns? I’m saving my stones for that. Those 3 S ranked cards are worth the wait IMO.
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I have no idea but FF is coming soon and has many strong cards
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I have a dmeta team with my subs as
Eir, Awoken Nepthys,Reincarnated Haku, and Reincarnated Seraph Luci
Everything is maxed and they all have a +297 and max level weapon but I still feel as if I deal minimal damage and have a hard time against annihilation dungeons
Is there anything that you suggest or think is the problem because I see others use the same leads yet seem to have a much easier time in these same dungeons
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You need more damaging subs, or subs with lots of enchanced combos awakenings, my meta team is pretty similar to yours, dmeta/akuma/eir/izanagi/Rlucifer. Izanagi doubles the entire team’s atk every 3 turns and allow lucifer to activate his <50 hp awakenings, and akuma can have up to 3 7c awakenings, you just need izanagi I guess, but with dmeta’s new super awakening you shouldnt feel as minimal damage as before
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You should have more than enough damage, especially when below 50% HP
Are you constantly hitting 7 combos and being under 80% Also, do you own an Izanagi?
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I feel like im below the 80% hp threshold and have enough movetime to constantly hit the 7 combos usually saving Dmetas active for the final floor to ensure i am but i feel during those dungeons even when under those conditions i would only do 25-50% of the boss spawn’s HP
and sadly i dont own Izanagi
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Not sure why that is the case as you have 225x ATK and several hard hitting cards
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also do you think i should go for super reincarnated Haku?
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Haku is nice but I feel she is not worth the resources
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Is it worth it to buy a second Odin Dragon?
I already have the Light Lance Form but I also feel like my Yoh team could benefit from the Storming Form with the Auto-Recover awakenings.
I definitely have generally better leaders that I can fit with better teams (DMeta, B&J, Fatalis, Madoo, Valkryie Ciel) it’s just that I occasionally need Yoh for niche dungeons where I can’t manage my other leaders’ play-styles very well.
In terms of MP, I’m sitting on about 1, 600, 000 MP, and have never purchased any other MP shop monster.
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If you have excess MP and feel it can help, go for it. it is a relatively small cost and you still have 1.3m after
With that being said, why are the autoheals so appealing to you?
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Thanks for all the great info! When a card is being used as an assist does it make sense to equip them with latent awakenings and/or SA’s?
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Those do not influence the amount of stats transferred over.
What you can do is +297 them and max level the assists for maximum transfer
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With the soon to come influx of medals from 3rd and 4th REMdra events, do you predict there will soon be a monster survey (like cotton after the 1st and 2nd REMdra) or some other trade for medals?
Im worried that was ther reason they released blue athena as im not really interested in her or dark RaDra but I have over a dozen medals already taking up space and more on the way my box space is getting tight.
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Even if you don’t use them now, is coloring up to black medals a safe use for rainbow medals? Seems a good way to free up box space without losing medal value.
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While trading rainbow medals for black medals is space efficient, keeping them as rainbow medals is technically safer. If you ever need black medals, you can change your rainbow medals into them. But you can’t go in the reverse direction. And box space is always a good investment because you’ll need it sooner or later if you keep rolling. So the space you create for rainbow medals will eventually be useful when you finally something worthy of a trade. If you do decide to save space by converting away all your rainbow medals, you might want to consider saving a few in case you need it as an evo mat, e.g. for one of the super revo cards.
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This may or may not be the best since this cannot be reversed and many things cost Rainbow, not Black medals
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I would not be surprised if they did another survey in the future as we lack ideal places to spend our medals and those events create a certain amount of hype
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My team is mainly based around my maxed BZela right now, and I’ve been hoarding my stones. Best synergies I’ve gotten so far are from orb changers containing light, or multipliers involving light (Eg. Minerva and Gan Ning). Also looking for some good equips for my team. Also fairly new, so I’m a fan of the 7×6 leaders to increase combo counts.
My plan was to roll heavily in FF Collab (fan of the franchise, and hear good things), but now I’m wondering if a 7 stone SGF might benefit me more. Also planning to use some newly acquired Rainbow Medals to get a Trojan Horse or two. Thoughts?
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If you’re new, you’ll almost always get more value from a strong godfest than a collab. Final fantasy is no exception to that. The old pantheon cards (non-gfes) will be better than the low rarity final fantasy cards and godfest exclusives are more likely to be buffed and available for future exchanges (*don’t use the monster exchange to trade godfest exclusives until you have a lot more cards including duplicates of the cards you’re trading). If your goal is to get the best teams you can as fast as you can, your best bet for now is to stick to godfests.
Keeping that in mind, if you play long enough, the benefits of rolling in a godfest vs final fantasy now won’t make that much of a difference in the long-run. If your priority is to fast-track your account toward stronger teams and to clear more dungeons sooner, then you should save most of your stones for a godfest. But given that Final Fantasy is an unusually strong collab and that you’re a fan of the franchise, rolling more in Final Fantasy instead is a valid decision.
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Trojan Horse is always a solid equip and I own 3 on each account
As for FF vs 7SGF, if you own Bzela, you have a modest chance of picking up a Light leader who can use her but at the same time, if you are quite new, Godfests tend to have the most merit
I would suggest doing some FF rolls for diversity but save the majority for SGF
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I am currently rank 425 and on 1200+ days, I have 700+ slots. I am very good with manual combos, but grasp of card powers is tenuous. With that being said, Is there an “order of powers” to consider before all others? What is the first thing to consider when building a new team? I am trying to develope some sort of intuitive feeling in team building, I seem to miss it. I do use padx for evolve pathing and such.
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You should specify what you mean by “cards powers.” Are you asking about leader skills (what you need to do for a particular lead to do damage), active skills (what happens when you click on a card in a dungeon, e.g. changing hearts to dark orbs), awakenings (unbindable or 7c), or attributes (fire, wood, water, light, dark)? Or are you just using it to refer more generally to how good or bad cards are?
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Having strong defensive multipliers is important as you will need to take hits in harder content
Another thing to look at is sub pool and how easy you can fit in FUA, VDP, offensive awakenings
One last thing is how easy is it to VDP + FUA in harder content as many things have Void and Resolve
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What do you think is the most ideal team you can build for skuld with her new update? with vdp, fua while still mitigating hazards
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hazards are done via Weapon Assists but strong cards that come to mind are Blue Saber, Beach Fujin, Lutina, and Yshtola
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Sephiroth got a nice buff recently: large damage and damage reduction w/ 4+ color attacks but makes it difficult to VDP + FUA. Can you suggest any subs that can help with this? Maybe saving dark orbs + Nergigante but no guarantees of 4 color match. Maybe a different leader than dual Sephiroths? Any thoughts on using him for end-game. Note: I have plenty of leaders that can clear end game content (Zela Kitty, Dark Zeta, Dark Karin, DMeta, etc), but have a special place in my heart for Sephiroth.
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Note: to be clear I am not implying that Negrigante provides vdp but does active provide FUA and 5/9 darks for VDP.
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Rainbow + VDP is always an issue ubt what you can do is do Rainbow board + a single orb changer to dark. Its still a gamble but chance it can occur
I personally feel he is the weakest of the FF 6-stars as he is both rainbow and typing restricted
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Hi Mantastic,
I see a lot of JP Leader Tier Lists and guides (although I don’t really care about tiers), but I never see any for NA. I understand that there isn’t much of a difference between the two, but who do you think are the best leads in NA at the moment?
I’m sitting pretty on my DMeta but I feel like my team is lacking, even though I have a lot of good subs (although I’m missing a useable absorb void). I enjoy playing DMeta but she’s my only good lead for harder stuff, so I’m getting some feelers out to see what’s good in order to know what to roll/farm/spend on.
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I would say Zela Kitty and Dark Zeta are the best atm but both require luxurious teams. For myself, I have been enjoying Dark Karin for A5 farming
Also note that any tier list assumes perfect subs/inherits which means they are often hard to do (eg Dark Zeta requires many dupes of himself)
The main issue with Dark Metatron is the difficulty in doing VDP + FUA AND 7 combos which is an issue in A5 / AA2
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I generally use Planar for that purpose. Her active is perfect, in that it creates (usually) enough orbs for a 3×3, enough for a FUA AND adds combos to reach 7c.
Problem is you can get orb trolled by that from time to time.
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yeah orb troll is a real risk and while Planar does solve the combo issue, Dark Metatron will face issues whenever planar isnt up which is her main crux
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Should I be keeping the boss drops from the red dungeons or are they not of value to keep?
are there ones you suggest farming or having duplicates of and if so why, what would their uses be?
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Some boss drops are valuable such as Eir and are worth investing in
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I’m the noob with Mariel who was in the above comments and wanted to provide an update and ask some more questions. I dabbled a little bit in FF and received Lightning and Aerith. Should I evo Lightning to uevo or no? I feel like evo Lightning can make a decent team with my current box. I plan on making evo Aerith replace Lutina as a sub for RCV and then giving Lightning Super Awakening FUA. What do you think would be my best possible Lightning team as well as best Mariel team? Currently running Mariel Leader, L/F Ilmina, Xmas Ilmina, Evo Lightning, Evo Aerith. idk what the plan is for my Lightning team. So this time I am asking team building advice and how to optimize stuff for Mariel and Lightning. I also have Thancred, revo Venus, Lovely Lutina, Lively Lotta Lotta. I probably plan to also ask reddit, as people there also have crazy team building skills.
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Also another question (sorry), is Evo Lightning a better leader than uevo Lightning, I read something on reddit about how Evo Lightning was the best rainbow leader in town.
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Plan on making Savior Lightning, now just questions on team building, sorry for so much spam and unnecessary writing.
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Both leaders are able to make strong teams and it should come down to which play style you prefer at this point in time as both should be able to clear all early/mid content
If interested in Lightning, Ilmina will not be ideal due to the active and you must try and have each colour represented (through main or sub attribute)
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NVM on the question about Lightning, I misread the post, Evo Lightning was referring to Savior, Lightning. Still would like to know optimal Lightning team and Mariel. Thanks!
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Hey Mantastic! I’m thinking of possibly trading for Aerith or Yuna, but I have a limited amount of trade fodder. I am thinking about sacrificing my unduped Dantalion and unduped Eschamali. To be frank, I see both of these cards as poor leads and mediocre subs for their respective colors, and I don’t use either card in my current teams. However, I don’t want to mistakenly trade away a card that could have nontrivial utility. If you could describe the situations and niches in which Dantalion and Eschamali excel, that would greatly help me decide whether I want to trade them away or not. Thanks for everything you do for the PAD community and have a spectacular rest of your day!
(P.S. Awesome rolls on FF btw, congratz :D)
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My rolls were great!
Before I started talking about Escha/Dantalion, tell me why you want Yuna or Aerith and how you plan to use them. I believe exchanging should only be done if it will improve your box significantly
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I’m interested in Aerith because her crystal form provides me with sorely needed blind resists. I don’t have a team for Evolved Yuna as either a sub or a lead, but I still consider her a really good investment because she is flexible as either sub or lead, and the probability that I will find great use for her in the future is very high imo.
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Exchanging for yuna as the possibility for the future isnt a good enough reason imo as it is best you have a use for her here and now
As for Aerith, do you have other Blind Resist cards?
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A couple of fortunate events have occurred since I asked the question. First, I tried rolling a few more times and I got Yuna! Looks like I don’t need or want to trade for her anymore. In addition, I rolled a Naginata from the S rank assist machine, which has double blind resist. I’m really grateful to you for your help and advice, but I’m no longer interested in trading for either Aerith or Yuna (I got most of what I wanted from this collab and I decided to save my stones/trade fodder for future events) Thanks anyways!
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Congrats on your good fortune!
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What do you think about a latent awakening trade machine? Trade 3 in for a chance at something else? I feel like the rcv, autoheal, atk, and damage reduction ( apart from the cheese teams that use them) latents lost their utility. What do we do with them?
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Having that option would be nice for sure but at least we have may more way to get latents so they are not as scarce
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Will you do a write up on phenom team. I feel she is a game changer but her team seems so flexible. I don’t know where to begin. I have planar ryu and Akuma so not sure what to build around.
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not sure if I will but maybe in time if I enjoy using her
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Since I’ve already rolled in the next few events and FF had some really interesting cards I rolled heavy here. Fortunately I was blessed with a good number of rainbows, unfortunately half of those are dups. I was thinking of trading my extra Tifa, 2 of my 3 clouds, and either my spare Ilm or Aten for Aerith or Sephiroth. I’d rather have Lightning or Yuna but then I’d have to trade Noctis or Cecil which I’d rather not. Are Lightning or Yuna worth the trade? If not, would you go with Aerith or Sephiroth? Am I being to greedy and keep the clouds and Tifa though I don’t have a use for them at the moment?
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