Introduction
The Draconic Orchestra will be making a triumphant return on December 23 and has become significantly stronger since the last time. This is because all of the top rarity cards have now gained Weapon Assists 
along with several powerful and unique cards being available.
While this is exciting, players have to remember that this is a 10-Stone event which does make it more costly to roll and trade. Furthermore, there are only four bottom rarity cards in this entire Egg Machine who lack Weapon Assists. This will make it harder to justify rolling heavily in as dupes will start appearing earlier and in much higher quantities.
With this in mind, I feel it is still worth to roll a few times as having new cards is always valuable along with the off chance you hit a Diamond egg.
This article will outline the pros and cons for each cards to help players make a more informed decision as to whether or not they should roll.
Video commentary
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Overview
Draconic Orchestra REM Pros & Cons – December 22, 2019 |
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
|
Draconic Orchestra REM |
|
| 7 Star base |        |
| 6 Star base |
|
| 5 Star base |     |
Draconic Orchestra REM – December 22, 2019 |
|
| S | |
| A |  |
| B |
|
| C |  |
| D | |
Order within each tier is random and not reflective of ranking.
Regardless of card’s ranking, you should 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 have 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. This is often done during lackluster events to avoid spending Stones on poor bottom rarity cards or to snipe a specific card if luck is not on your side.
Weapon Assists
Weapon Assists are a special evolution for select cards that will be used exclusively as inherits. This form retains the same base stats as the original form, but will also transfer over all awakenings on the Weapon Assist card and this occurs if the Awoken Assist is present.
My approach to Collab rolling
Rolling any Rare Egg Machine is a gamble and it becomes a matter of maximizing your rate of returns in an event.
This translates into rolling when the bottom rarity has high value as those will be the most common cards. Furthermore, I may utilize the Monster Exchange system to acquire the higher rarity cards if they will significantly advance my progress. As such, I tend to look most closely at the common cards to determine if it is worth rolling in.
This is just my own personal approach and everyone has different goals/motivations so take this section with a grain of salt.
7 Star base
Base Minaka (New) – S
Active: Change Wood orbs to Water orbs; Change Light orbs to Heal orbs; For 1 turn, reduce damage taken by 50% (14 -> 9 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 2x HP & ATK for Dragon type; Increase orb movement time by 5 seconds; 8x ATK when 8 or more combos up to 10x at 10 combos [4/400/1/]
Awakenings: 
Super Awakenings: 
Typing: Attacker / Dragon
Available Killers: 
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1199 (1379)
HP 2625 (3019) / ATK 3130 (3599) / RCV 932 (1072)
Weapon Assist: 
Pros |
Cons |
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|
Minaka is the first new card to be released within the Draconic Orchestra event and her Base form can function as a viable Healing solution due to the high RCV and up to three Enhanced Heal Orbs . Furthermore, she has the potential to favourably pair with her Evolved form.
Generally speaking, Evolved Minaka will be the most desirable form to pursue as she functions as an Enabler for many other powerful leader pairings. With that being said, players can keep Minaka in her Base form and pair with Evolved friends as this creates a 3/240/4 team with +5 seconds of Orb Movement time.
This combination does require 6 connected Water or Dark orbs along with 10 combos, but on a 7×6 board, it becomes much easier. Unfortunately, Base Minaka requires Dragons to optimally function which may place constraints on team building.
Minaka
Active: Change Wood orbs to Water orbs; Change Light orbs to Heal orbs; For 1 turn, reduce damage taken by 50% (14 -> 9 turn CD)
Leader Skill: [Board becomes 7×6] 3x ATK and 1.5x HP for Water Att.; 2x ATK & RCV when matching 4 or more connected Water or Dark orbs up to 4x at 6 orbs [2.25/144/16]
Awakenings: 
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Physical / Dragon
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1309 (1505)
HP 7452 (8570) / ATK 930 (1070) / RCV 1132 (1302)
Weapon Assist:
Pros |
Cons |
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|
There have been several “mistake” cards within Puzzle and Dragons that turned out far too strong for their relative rarity which has inevitably advanced Powercreep as GungHo tries to “catch up” by releasing newer things to surpass them.
One of the most prominent examples was the original Myr 
as she was farmable and could enable all players to have one of the best leaders at the time without rolling the Rare Egg Machine. On the other hand, Tifa 
comes from a 5-Stone machine and her lesser evolved form became incredibly popular due to the larger board, strong Light subs, huge RCV, and relative ease in acquiring.
As such, it has not surprised me that GungHo has reskinned Tifa into a more expensive machine as her kit/template is incredibly strong at this point in time. Thus, Minaka was released and she took the strong points of Tifa and pushed them higher due to much stronger weighted stats (with an amazing distribution) and a lower orb requirement for activation. In a vacuum (not considering any subs/inherits), Minaka is a stronger card but she lacks several key aspects Tifa enjoys: Light has numerous powerful subs who cannot be replicated (eg. 
) along with no Auto Follow Up Damage pairing (eg. Haohmaru 
).
While this may sound disheartening, Minaka is still a phenomenally powerful leader and may be better for your own Monster Box due to how random the Rare Egg Machine can be. Furthermore, Minaka has several unique asymmetrical pairings such as her Base form 
, Velkhana 
, Ukyo Tachibana 
, and the budget Blue Ranger 
.
With Velkhana and the 7×6 board, it becomes significantly easier to hit 10 combos for Velkhana’s massive 20x ATK along with the 100,000 healing and results in a [3/240/4/35%] which is pretty spectacular to say the least. Furthermore, Velkhana has tremendously high personal ATK and he can pseudo carry the team’s damage on his own. With Ukyo Tachibana, players will enjoy 1.5/180/4/50% multipliers along with +1 combo when matching 6 connected Water orbs and 8 combos.
On the other hand, a more budget pairing would be Blue Ranger to yield a [3/144/12] team that only needs 6 connected Water orbs. While this is going to greatly strain your damage output, it is possible to layer numerous amounts of passive damage from your leader’s 8 Rows and Orb Enhances 
.
In regards to Monster Exchanging for Minaka, I would say it is a worthwhile venture because it is unlikely she will be powercrept any time soon along with her asymmetrical pairings. Generally speaking, asymmetrical pairings have an Enabler (7×6 or Auto Follow Up Damage) and various leaders they can pair with. The leaders an Enabler can pair with tend to shift and change over time but the Enabler tends to be more stable as they have the current top tier mechanic.
As such, Minaka is the Enabler and trading for her now will position yourself favourably moving forward assuming you have a viable team to field for her.
Weapon Assist:
Active: Change Wood orbs to Water orbs; Change Light orbs to Heal orbs; For 1 turn, reduce damage taken by 50% (14 -> 9 turn CD)
Pros |
Cons |
|
|
Minaka’s Weapon Assist is able to provide a single Jammer and Poison Resist along with an L . With that being said, it feels quite lackluster, especially considering Fatalis 
provides 4 Resists and L. Of course, not everyone owns Fatalis, but it is mostly to show that this is an average Weapon Assist overall and somewhat weak for a 10-stone card.
On the bright side, it does lower the the need to own Minaka dupes as there will be less motivation to pursue this or her Base form.
Base Marcis (New) – A
Active: Heal 5x RCV for each Two-Pronged Attack awakening skill on the team; For 1 turn, increase ATK by 5% for each Two-Pronged Attack awakening skill on the team (12 -> 7 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 2x HP for Dragon type; 2x ATK when matching 2 or more colors; 8x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when 6 or more combos [4/256/1/43.75%]
Awakenings: 
Super Awakenings: 
Typing: Attacker / Dragon
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1199 (1379)
HP 3550 (4082) / ATK 3790 (4358) / RCV 258 (297)
Weapon Assist: 
Pros |
Cons |
|
|
Marcis is the second new 7-star card to be released within the Draconic Orchestra event and his Base form strongly utilizes TPA for both personal damage and his active skill. With 4,358 ATK before plus eggs, Base Marcis will be able to deal meaningful amounts of personal damage but the main crux is that TPA tends to be harder to fully take advantage of.
This is because TPAs require exactly 4 connected orbs which prevents usage during this Blob/Row meta along with it requiring numerous awakenings to deal meaningful amounts of damage. In addition to this, TPA does not proc from a 3×3 VDP 
but that has no application to Marcis since he lacks VDP.
Lacking VDP is not the end of the world but it does become more problematic on your offensive-oriented cards which Marcis is. As such, most of his awakenings will go to waste against Void spawns which is not ideal from both your leaders.
With that being said, Marcis can still lead a reasonably strong team on his own due to the solid multipliers. 4/256/1/43.75% is great overall and there are a reasonable number of Light Dragons available. Furthermore, it is incredibly easy to activate as any 2 colours and 6 combos will provide the full 256x ATK and Damage Reduction.
On the other hand players can opt to not use 1 or 2 Dragons as it will only lower your HP, not ATK. While HP is important, the already high Effective HP means you can potentially still survive all preemptives without using all Dragons.
While he does have potential as a leader, he will be overshadowed by other options and the fact that his main appeal is TPA through awakenings and active does somewhat hold him back.
Marcis
Active: Heal 5x RCV for each Two-Pronged Attack awakening skill on the team; For 1 turn, increase ATK by 5% for each Two-Pronged Attack awakening skill on the team (12 -> 7 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 7x ATK and increase combo by 2 when matching 4 or more connected Fire and Light orbs at once; 2x HP & ATK for Light Att. [4/196/1]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Physical / Dragon
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1302 (1497)
HP 6750 (7762) / ATK 2640 (3036) / RCV 297 (342)
Weapon Assist:
Pros |
Cons |
|
|
Marcis’s evolved form trades down his TPA damage to gain a VDP along with potentially 5 Skill Boosts . This can be meaningful for Fagan Rai 
teams as they hunger for Skill Boosts from Dragons. On the other hand, Marcis can lead his own team due to his interesting Leader Skill.
4x HP / 196x ATK is on the lower end for damage output but with the ability to layer passive damage, it should not be too big of an issue. Furthermore, players will gain +4 combos when matching 4+ connected Fire and Light orbs which means subs like Bradamante are much more likely to trigger their 10 Combo 
awakening despite being on a 6×5 board.
While this has the potential to be strong, the major hurdles I can foresee is Marcis himself. Most of his awakenings are focused on Skill Boosts and TPA along with his active skill not providing much value. Being able to instantly heal X amount is not that important along with the burst component being heavily dependent on how many TPA you bring. As such, it may end up being a “dead” active.
With this in mind, Marcis may be well suited to pairing with Tifa as the larger board will ensure consistent activation along with dropping a Marcis from the line up. While this is not an amazing pairing, it is possible it can be the best option for newer accounts and is worth mentioning.
Weapon Assist:
Active: Recover Heal 5x RCV for each Two-Pronged Attack awakening skill on the team; For 1 turn, increase ATK by 5% for each Two-Pronged Attack awakening skill on the team (12 -> 7 turn CD)
Pros |
Cons |
|
|
Marcis’s Weapon Assist is able to provide a single Skill Boost and TPA which is unique as no other card provides this specific combination. With that being said, there is a strong likelihood that this will be passed over for other options because of the shorter cooldown paired with an inefficient active along with TPA being less ideal.
This is because TPA tends to have low synergy with most teams and we are now starting to see Skill Boost options that bring Resists or other useful benefits.
Base Theor – A
Active: Reduce HP by 50%; Change all orbs to Fire, Water, Wood, Light, Dark, and Heal orbs (11 -> 6 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 4x ATK for Fire Att.; Increase orb movement time by 2 seconds; 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching Fire+Dark [1/256/1/43.75%]
Awakenings: 
Super Awakenings: 
Typing: Devil / Dragon
Available Killers: 
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1199 (1379)
HP 5698 (6449) / ATK 2555 (2938) / RCV 383 (449)
Weapon Assist: 
Pros |
Cons |
|
|
Base Theor still retains his niche as a Dragon Killing option who naturally comes with Cloud Resist . While this can be nice, he does face competition from Tsuabki 
who does out damage him in solo mode along with Theor’s Evolved form being the stronger option available.
Theor
Active: Reduce HP by 50%; Change all orbs to Fire, Water, Wood, Light, Dark, and Heal orbs (11 -> 6 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 2x HP & ATK for Fire Att.; Increase orb movement time by -2.5 seconds; 7.5x ATK when matching 4 or more colors up to 15x at 5 colors [4/900/1]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Devil / Dragon
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1299 (1494)
HP 6008 (6909) / ATK 2755 (3168) / RCV 443 (509)
Weapon Assist:
Pros |
Cons |
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Theor’s Evolved form is universally more powerful as primarily a sub but does have some merits as a leader.
As a sub, Theor has become more popular with the rise of <50% and cards such as Dark Omega 
and Ranger Slayer 
who are able to deal spectacular amounts of damage with relative ease. This is because they tend to come with excessive amounts of personal damage which can be further augmented passively via Rows or Orb Enhances.
Either way, Theor will always be welcomed due to this four Skill Boosts and fast charging active. While the Rainbow board is less ideal, the HP cut is beneficial and Theor can easily inherit an active of their choice over top.
As a leader, Theor is able to grant negative 2.5s orb movement time to offset his massive 2x HP and 30x ATK multipliers with a single leader. This is an interesting concept as dual Theor leaders will have huge multipliers but -5 seconds movement time. This makes it possible to go down to 0s and preventing the ability to do more than a single combo outside cascades/skyfalls.
With this in mind, players will need to find ways to have enough orb movement time along with the various hurdles Rainbow teams currently face (eg. Void Damage Void).
Weapon Assist:
Active: Reduce HP by 50%; Change all orbs to Fire, Water, Wood, Light, Dark, and Heal orbs (11 -> 6 turn CD)
Pros |
Cons |
|
|
Theor’s Weapon Assist provides the powerful <50% awakening which provides 2x personal damage for the owning card when below half health. This is the current highest universal damage boost to give to a card (not counting Killers) and is often prized on your hardest hitting card.
As such, it is important players have some form of collateral benefit and by bringing a Cloud Resist , it can free up other inheritance options. With that being said, the largest drawback to this Weapon Assist is the fact that it has a shorter cooldown which runs the risk of accidentally charging up.
Base Lutina – A
Active: For 1 turn, Water orbs are more likely to appear by 10% (6 -> 1 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when below 80% HP; 4.5x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 2+ Water combos [1/324/1/68.36%]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings: 
Typing: Healer / Dragon
Available Killers: 
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1300 (1495)
HP 4373 (5029) / ATK 1968 (2263) / RCV 1408 (1619)
Weapon Assist:
Pros |
Cons |
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|
Base Lutina’s main appeal will be offering a one-turn active that can create a permanent Water Skyfall buff. While this can solve issues with active skill dependent teams, she brings little else to the team outside of Movement Time.
As such, if looking for a stronger universal sub, her Evolved form will be pursued in the vast majority of situations.
On the other hand, Base Lutina requires two Water combos and being below 80% HP to truly shine as a leader. This is both orb hungry and dangerous as her Damage Reduction is tied to both metrics being active. This will lead to numerous dangerous situations with low/no Effective HP.
Lutina
Active: For 1 turn, Water orbs are more likely to appear by 10% (6 -> 1 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 3x ATK when 5 or more combos; 3x ATK on the turn a skill is used; 2.5x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 5 orbs in L shape [1/506.25/1/43.75%]
Awakenings: 
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Healer / Dragon
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1403 (1613)
HP 4873 (5604) / ATK 2068 (2378) / RCV 1508 (1734)
Weapon Assist:
Pros |
Cons |
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Lutina’s Evolved form is an upgrade from both an awakenings and Weighted stats point of view if being used as a sub. Having a 1-turn cooldown means she can either act as a key inheritance base or be used for active skill clause teams. Furthermore, her active, if used every turn, can provide a permanent 10% Water Skyfall buff which has strong synergy with Orb Enhances .
Evolved Lutina is able to provide a modest amount of damage through her double 7 Combo and VDP but will also be insufficient for your damage output needs.
This somewhat places her in an awkward middle zone: does not deal enough damage while also lacking Resist awakenings. This is not to say that all cards must have Resist awakenings, but at the same time, offensive cards need to be more heavily geared towards killing things. For example, Velkhana also has no Resists but he can deal significantly more damage due to higher ATK and a third 7 Combo awakening.
On the other hand, Fenrir Viz uses a 1 turn cooldown (which coincidentally has a relevant effect) but also brings Cloud Resist which inevitably opens up team building options. The point I am trying to make is that we are starting to become more and more choosy with who we bring into dungeons as we have a deeper pool of possible cards to use. This leads to min/maxing and I feel Lutina is somewhat lacking because of this middling ground.
With that being said, she is still a powerful sub and her amazing Weighted stats with a heavy emphasis on RCV is relevant for teams who rely on a healing solution to be truly effective.
As a leader, evolved Lutina has the potential for massive damage and she can use any L-match to trigger that component. Unfortunately, she must always have an L and an active skill used each turn along with 5 combos to deal meaningful damage. This is offset by her 1 turn active, but the forced L will make it harder to VDP and FUA . This combination of Damage Void and Resolve is becoming more common in harder content as it is a way for GungHo to make things more challenging.
Furthermore, the Effective Health is on the lower end and will most likely not meet the required HP-checks in current end game content.
Weapon Assist:
Active: For 1 turn, Water orbs are more likely to appear by 10% (6 -> 1 turn CD)
Pros |
Cons |
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Lutina’s Weapon Assist is the only one that provides two Enhanced Heal Orbs which translates into a massive spike in healing potential. This naturally has merits on cards who have naturally high RCV and are used on teams with high HP and no Recovery multiplier.
Unfortunately, the largest drawback for Lutina’s Weapon Assist is an exceptionally short 6-turn cooldown when unskilled. This will inevitably lead to numerous instances where it accidentally charges up. This is not as problematic for mono Water teams, but all others will not benefit from the active skill.
Base Eva – A
Active: Change far right column to Heal orbs; Unlock all orbs; Change all orbs to Fire, Water, Wood, Light, and Dark orbs (8 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 3x ATK & RCV for Wood Att.; Increase orb movement time by 2 seconds; 5x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 4 or more colors [1/225/9/43.75%]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Balance / Dragon
Available Killers: 
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1200 (1380)
HP 5483 (6305) / ATK 2260 (2599) / RCV 601 (691)
Weapon Assist: 
Pros |
Cons |
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|
Base Eva shares a leader skill similar to Rikuu 
in that she provides 225x ATK, 9x RCV, and 43.75% Damage Reduction when matching 4 colours along with bonus orb movement time.
A year ago this was an okay Leader Skill but today, it has significantly less merit due to how Powercreep has advanced. With that being said, Base Eva is still capable of functioning as a Rainbow sub due to their active skill.
Eva is able to generate a column of Hearts and then all 5 colours which will guarantee a FUA solve to overcome resolve spawns. Unfortunately, she may not provide as much value on 6×5 due to the inconsistency in hitting 10 combos on a regular sized board.
Eva
Active: Change far right column to Heal orbs; Unlock all orbs; Change all orbs to Fire, Water, Wood, Light, and Dark orbs (13 -> 8 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 6x ATK when matching 5 or more colors (4+heal); 3x ATK and reduce damage taken by 50% when matching 5 or more connected Heal orbs [1/324/1/75%]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Balance / Dragon
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1300 (1495)
HP 5583 (6420) / ATK 2560 (2944) / RCV 691 (795)
Weapon Assist:
Pros |
Cons |
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Eva’s evolved form is stronger overall in most cases as both a leader and sub. As a leader, she boasts strong multipliers through 324x ATK and 75% Damage Reduction but must match 5 connected Hearts. This is a significant improvement over Heart Cross leaders but the main caveat will be actually having sufficient Hearts present. Furthermore, being forced to have Hearts to trigger Damage/Damage Reduction also means stalling may be problematic.
One interesting aspect for Eva is her active as it will provide a column of Heart orbs (fulfills leader skill) and a full rainbow board. This is a huge step up from traditional Rainbow boards as they run the risk of not having enough Hearts for FUA .
Moving beyond her leadership potential, Evolved Eva has potent sub usage as a Killer stick along with her natural FUA. This can ease team building requirements as most Killer cards lack additional utility. Unfortunately, her average ATK along with numerous other Killer options makes me feel she is simply more luxurious.
Weapon Assist:
Active: Change far right column to Heal orbs; Unlock all orbs; Change all orbs to Fire, Water, Wood, Light, and Dark orbs (13 -> 8 turn CD)
Pros |
Cons |
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|
Eva’s Weapon Assist is able to provide 20% resistance against Jammers , Poison , and Blind mechanics while also providing a single Enhanced Heal Orb . This is valuable as players are often pursuing Resists and being able to layer in an additional layer of healing can make a difference.
For example, many high HP, low RCV teams already run a healing solution but being able to further augment their output will lower risks with stalling or recovering before large preemptives.
Unfortunately, Eva’s Weapon Assist has heavy overlap with the farmable Dorothy’s Shoes 
as the Shoes lose the Poison Resist for Team RCV 
while also having a significantly longer cooldown.
Base Mariel – A
Active: For 4 turns, recover 30% of max HP; Change all orbs to Fire, Water, Wood, and Light orbs (17 -> 12 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 1.5x all stats for Light Att.; Increase orb movement time by 2 seconds; 7x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when 6 or more combos [2.25/110.25/2.25/43.75%]
Awakenings: 
Super Awakenings:
Typing: God / Dragon
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1299 (1494)
HP 5005 (5756) / ATK 2643 (3039) / RCV 810 (931)
Weapon Assist: 
Pros |
Cons |
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Base Mariel features an wonderfully easy to use Leader Skill which will be a boon to newer accounts due to the bonus movement time and reasonably high Effective Health. Unfortunately, her ATK multiplier is terribly low along with Mariel only gaining some damage via TPA . As such, I view Base Mariel as an introduction/transitional leader to be to her Evolved form when possible as it is superior in almost every way.
Mariel
Active: For 4 turns, recover 30% of max HP; Change all orbs to Fire, Water, Wood, and Light orbs (17 -> 12 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 2x HP for Water, Light Att.; 4x ATK when 6 or more combos; 5x ATK when matching 5 or more connected non Light, or Water orbs [4/400/1]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: God / Dragon
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1399 (1609)
HP 5505 (6331) / ATK 2743 (3154) / RCV 900 (1035)
Weapon Assist:
Pros |
Cons |
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|
Evolved Mariel is a potent leader as she is able to provide 4x HP / 400x ATK team that has to match 6 combos and a 5-match of not Water or Light. This includes hazards and elements not present on your team. As such, there should be a reasonably high activation rate as a given board should almost always contain 5 non Light and Water orbs.
This ease of activation is important in today’s meta as stalling can become quite dangerous along with 400x being on the higher end. Furthermore, the 4x HP will help ensure players can survive any preemptive attack.
At this point in time, top tier teams are able to take advantage of 7×6 and/or Auto Follow Up Damage and this can be applied to Mariel as well. For example, Mariel can pair with Tifa which will lower your damage output but also means a match 5 of Fire will fully activate both leaders along with always benefiting from the larger 7×6 board. While pairing with Tifa is not mandatory, I feel it is advantageous as it means you do not have to run a Healing Solution sub along with having 1 less Mariel active. On the other hand, pairing with Haohmaru will be less ideal as you will need a row of Light and match 5 of something else which will drastically lower your combo count.
I am personally not a fan of Mariel’s active as it does not provide enough value to justify the longer cooldown. She is able to provide 40% maximum HP healing for four turns which is nice, but not efficient. This is because players are unable to loop/System their healing as two Mariels will not be sufficient (unlike two Kuroyuri 
) and the 4 element board changer does not even include Hearts. This means players will not be able to deal with Resolve spawns along with a strong possibility that there will be insufficient orbs for a VDP .
Moving beyond her leadership capabilities, Evolved Mariel can function as a potent VDP option with the only drawback being a two 7c / 2 VDP split which results in only 4x personal damage without the 3×3 Box. This is not the end of the world, but I personally prefer a triple 7 Combo with a single VDP as it provides 8x damage all the time.
Weapon Assist:
Active: For 4 turns, recover 30% of max HP; Change all orbs to Fire, Water, Wood, and Light orbs (17 -> 12 turn CD)
Pros |
Cons |
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|
Mariel’s Weapon Assist is able to provide both a Skill Boost and Full Bind Immunity which I feel are two semi-unrelated effects.
This is because Skill Boost Weapons tend to be used in Farming / Ranking Dungeons whereas Full Bind Immunity is often to protect a card like Diaochan or Halloween Cotton in end game content.
For either situation, you may want a different secondary effect but one place where I can foresee value is on Fagan Rai teams. This is because he craves for 22 Skill Boosts to transform himself into a powerful leader and being able to provide a Skill Boost and Bind Immunity for someone like Dolq 
may be beneficial.
Base Phenom – S
Active: Reduce unable to match orbs effect by 5 turns; Change bottom row to Dark orbs (11 -> 6 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 1.5x all stats for Dark Att.; Increase orb movement time by 2 seconds; 7x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 6 or more connected Dark orbs [2.25/110.25/2.25/43.75%]
Awakenings: 
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Attacker / Dragon
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1199 (1379)
HP 5525 (6354) / ATK 2763 (3177) / RCV 283 (325)
Weapon Assist: 
Pros |
Cons |
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Phenom is the final 7-star card within the Draconic Orchestra event and her base form reminds me of Base Mariel in the sense that she is a transitional leader who should be converted to her Evolved Form in order to take advantage of her significantly stronger Leader Skill.
Phenom
Active: Reduce unable to match orbs effect by 5 turns; Change bottom row to Dark orbs (11 -> 6 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 2x HP & ATK for Dark Att.; Increase combo by 1 when matching 3 or more colors; 4x ATK when matching 4 or more connected Dark orbs up to 8x at 8 orbs [4/256/1/]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Attacker / Dragon
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1299 (1494)
HP 5925 (6814) / ATK 3063 (3522) / RCV 283 (325)
Weapon Assist:
Pros |
Cons |
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Phenom is a phenomenal card who comes with a powerful kit in terms of awakenings, active skill, leader skill, and leader pairings.
Firstly, her active skill is able to cancel out mechanics that cause players to be unable to match specific orbs (eg. Evolved Gaia in 3P Arena 2). While these spawns are stallable, it gives players the ability to simply sweep the floor without further hassle. Furthermore, it will also produce a row of Dark orbs and comes on a short 6 turn cooldown.
Secondly, Phenom brings a useful twist on + combo Leader Skills. Each Phenom is able to add 1 combo when 3 or more colours are matched but this is not connected to her ATK multiplier. This is important as she still retains the ability to use bicolour boards for VDP /burst. This single combo helps offset the lost combo potential of matching 6 connected Dark orbs which should still lead to a total of 7 combos and triggering all 7 Combo awakenings.
I keep saying a single Phenom because her best leader pairing is with with Ina 
in order to tap into her Auto Follow Up Damage Leader Skill along with having a nearly identical activation requirements.
Phenom + Ina is able to almost fully activate from 6 connected Dark orbs which should be rearranged into a horizontal row. This will proc Ina’s Dark Row awakenings and a popular tactic is to layer Rows and Orb Enhances 
for lethal amounts of damage. While Phenom does require 8 Dark orbs for full activation, 6 is often sufficient for most spawns assuming you have the passive damage to back it up. Furthermore, both leaders will fully activate from a VDP .
In addition to this, having leaders/subs naturally come with Hazard Resists can greatly aid in achieving 100% Resistance as fewer Weapon Assists are needed. This opens up more options for inheritance as players can then address other mechanics or simply bring more passive damage. The Resists play a major part in Phenom’s durability as a single leader provides 20% Resist against Jammer , Poison , and Blind while also covering Tape or Cloud via Super Awakenings. Furthermore, achieving 100% Resistance against everything becomes quite feasible with Phenom and aids her into becoming an incredibly consistent leader.
Taking this into consideration along with being able to heavily stack high damage subs makes Phenom a Phenomenal leader as she has wonderful consistency and a fantastic pairing potential with Ina. With that being said, Ina is the key/Enabler for this team and if a stronger Dark leader does emerge, Phenom would be dropped over Ina. With this in mind, this does lower my overall temptation to Monster Exchange for her and would instead focus on Minaka 
provided you have a solid Water Box.
Weapon Assist:
Active: Reduce unable to match orbs effect by 5 turns; Change bottom row to Dark orbs (11 -> 6 turn CD)
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Phenom’s Weapon Assist is able to provide 40% Poison and 20% Blind Resistance along with a Combo Orb . As far as Resists go, I feel this distribution is stronger compared to other three Resist options that provide coverage against different metrics as Jammers tend to be the least important.
With that being said, this is still an expensive option to pursue as it comes at the cost of losing Phenom who is a tremendously powerful leader who can clear all content currently available in the game. Furthermore, I feel we cannot truly take advantage of the Combo Orb mechanic as it requires 10-12 orbs of the same colour which is not practical.
6 star base
Base Laurne (New) – B
Active: For 10 turns, no skyfall; For 10 turns, increase combo count by 1 (19 -> 14 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching Light+Dark; 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 5 orbs in L shape [1/225/1/68.64%]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Healer
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1000 (1150)
HP 3140 (3611) / ATK 2190 (2518) / RCV 745 (857)
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Base Laurne is the first new 6-star introduced within the Draconic Orchestra events and her main appeal will be as an Attacker Killer due to her three natural Killers and ability to use Attacker Killer latents.
This inevitably makes her the strongest solution for these spawns if Voids are not involved. For the most part, this will be used in Ranking Dungeon or Farming and while this may be niche, being the best at her respective niche is valuable.
With that being said, if this does not appeal to you or you already have a strong Attacker Killing solution, her Evolved form is more universally flexible and shares the same unique active and Leader Skill.
Laurne
Active: For 10 turns, no skyfall; For 10 turns, increase combo count by 1 (19 -> 14 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching Light+Dark; 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 5 orbs in L shape [1/256/1/68.64%]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Attacker
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1010 (1162)
HP 3540 (4071) / ATK 3240 (3726) / RCV 25 (29)
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Evolved Laurne shares the same unique active and Leader Skill while also having more generic usage compared to her Base form.
Both Laurne’s actives are interesting as it will impose a 10 turn No Skyfall “buff” but will add 1 combo for those same 10 turns. This is interesting obviously helps teams who naturally have No Skyfalls but at the same time, has a long cooldown of 14 turns. While it can almost be looped with a single Laurne, the actual effect is okay. No Skyfalls used to be coveted for their Damage Control potential, but that thinking is a thing of the past as we have solutions for this through actives and awakenings. As such, by preventing Skyfalls, players are essentially “capping” their damage potential. Furthermore, having two of these actives with dual leaders is redundant and wasteful.
Speaking as a leader, Laurne has a reasonably easy to activate Leader Skill but the main drawback is being reliant on two colours for activation and Damage Reduction along with a reliance on L’s.
Dual Laurne gains Effective HP via an L match and/or matching Light and Dark. These two components can stack for up to 68.84% Damage Reduction which can enable their team to survive a significant amount of damage. Of course, this will not always be the case as not all given boards contain Light and Dark. This means players will only have 43.75% Damage Reduction with no HP multiplier. This becomes significantly more dangerous as it your Effective Health may drop down too low along with having more restrictions in orb changers.
Furthermore, the need to match any L places strain on matching when FUA , VDP , and a higher combo is required.
Base Luo (New) – B
Active: For 6 turns, reduce damage taken by 30%; For 6 turns, Fire, Dark orbs are more likely to appear by 10% (12 -> 7 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 4x ATK and increase combo by 2 when matching 6 or more connected Fire and Dark orbs at once; 3x ATK and reduce damage taken by 35% when above 50% HP [1/144/1/57.75%]
Awakenings: 
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Devil
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1006 (1157)
HP 4253 (4891) / ATK 2133 (2453) / RCV 463 (532)
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Both forms of Luo share the same valuable active skill as he provides 6 turns of 30% Damage Reduction along with a 10% buff to Dark and Fire Skyfalls on a 7 turn cooldown. This enables a single Luo to provide a sizable amount of utility and the main crux is having his active skill tied up to this along with using him as a sub.
+30% Damage Reduction can be meaningful when you already have a higher amount of Effective Health and it can enable teams to continuously survive mechanics that may otherwise be lethal. Furthermore, having a passive influx of Fire and Dark orbs helps with activation requirements.
As such, it is important to look at how well Luo can function as a sub and in his Base form, he provides modest VDP potential when above 80% health. This is difficult to fully take advantage of to say the least due to the fact that there is a narrow window of opportunity for success and a 3×3 Box must be made.
As a leader, Luo suffers the same fate of any other leader who must remain above 50% HP to function as players may often get stuck in a loop of healing back above 50%, getting hit back under and never dealing enough damage without active skill intervention. Furthermore, he must match 6 Fire and Dark orbs which is difficult to say the least.
Luo
Active: For 6 turns, reduce damage taken by 30%; For 6 turns, Fire, Dark orbs are more likely to appear by 10% (12 -> 7 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 4x ATK and increase combo by 2 when matching 6 or more connected Fire and Dark orbs at once; 3x ATK and reduce damage taken by 35% when above 50% HP [1/144/1/57.75%]
Awakenings: 
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Balance
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1006 (1157)
HP 4453 (5121) / ATK 2333 (2683) / RCV 283 (325)
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Evolved Luo trades his VDP potential for numerous Rows for both Fire and Dark. This is unfortunate because if he came with only Fire or only Dark, it would be significantly more effective as the vast majority of teams do not require both colours in rows for activation.
This is frustrating as Luo can almost be seen as having three “dead” awakenings which hinders his chances of being selected as a sub to take advantage of his powerful active.
With that being said, inheriting Luo on to someone like Halloween Myne 
can be a viable work around as Myne has a 1-turn cooldown along with beneficial awakenings.
Base Arend – C
Active: For 1 turn, 2x ATK for Fire Att.; Change Heal orbs to Fire orbs (11 -> 6 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 3x ATK & RCV for Dragon type; 3x ATK when 4 or more combos up to 5x at 8 combos [1/225/9]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Balance
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1000 (1150)
HP 4258 (4897) / ATK 2103 (2418) / RCV 463 (532)
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Base Arend is able to provide modest damage against Gods and Devils while also augmenting your team’s HP. With that being said, the damage awakenings are not concentrated enough and the only utility brought is additional health.
As such, I feel it is better to pursue their Evolved form as it provides more consistent damage and utility.
Arend
Active: For 1 turn, 2x ATK for Fire Att.; Change Heal orbs to Fire orbs (11 -> 6 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 3x ATK & RCV for Dragon type; 3x ATK when 4 or more combos up to 5x at 8 combos [1/225/9]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Balance
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1000 (1150)
HP 4258 (4897) / ATK 2103 (2418) / RCV 463 (532)
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Arend’s Evolved form is able to provide Cloud Resist along with two <50% . This provides modest damage and some utility but at the same time, is lacking in damage unless 10 combos are achieved.
This is impractical on 6×5 boards and also has pseudo anti synergy with <50% teams as one major benefit is being able to deal massive amounts of damage with fewer combos.
As such, I feel Arend would most likely be a placeholder for stronger options as he just does not bring enough to the table. With that being said, his active may provide some value as it combines Burst and an orb changer on a 6 turn cooldown.
Base Tilly – A
Active: For 99 turns, Heal orbs are more likely to appear by 7%; For 1 turn, 2x RCV (16 -> 11 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 35% when above 50% HP; 3x ATK when matching 1 Heal combos, up to 4x at 2 Heal combos [1/256/1/57.75%]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Physical
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1001 (1151)
HP 6083 (6995) / ATK 1913 (2200) / RCV 33 (38)
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Base form Tilly is an exceptionally strong Ranking Dungeon solution due to her five >80% awakenings. This translates into 7.6x personal damage against any spawn and her lack of a sub attribute helps facilitate faster clears due to fewer pings.
For the most part, this will be her primary usage as few cards can compete with her efficiency but this is till a relatively narrow range of usage.
On the other hand, her active skill is interesting but ultimately not needed. Generally speaking, the vast majority of teams want to have a Skyfall buff of their primary colour and while Hearts are universally helpful, killing things before they can kill you is better.
As a leader, both Tillys share the same Leader Skill and rely on matching 2 Heart combos and being above 50% HP to be truly effective. This is difficult to say the least and will most likely be passed over for stronger options.
Tilly
Active: For 99 turns, Heal orbs are more likely to appear by 7%; For 1 turn, 2x RCV (16 -> 11 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 4x ATK and reduce damage taken by 35% when above 50% HP; 3x ATK when matching 1 Heal combos, up to 4x at 2 Heal combos [1/256/1/57.75%]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Physical
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1001 (1151)
HP 6083 (6995) / ATK 1913 (2200) / RCV 33 (38)
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Evolved Tilly has become significantly stronger this time around as she now boasts 5 (6) Killer awakenings with heavy overlap. As such, she can become a triple Attacker or Physical or elect to use Healer Killer Super Awakening and Healer Killer latents.
Essentially, Tilly has value against these three spawns and even more so when they overlap. This naturally has merits in Ranking Dungeon and Farming as she can easily sweep certain spawns.
While this is powerful, her Base form has more universal damage as it is all tied to >80% awakenings. Of course players must remain above 80%, but this should be doable as she will only be used for specific content.
For myself, I feel her Base form has more value but at the same time, players can easily switch between both forms based on the current dungeon they are playing through as they share the same active skill and Killer latent options.
Base Enola – B
Active: Create square of Wood orbs with center at 2nd row from top and 2nd column from left (18 -> 13 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 6x ATK when matching 5 or more connected Wood orbs up to 10x at 9 orbs; 2x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 4 or more colors [1/400/1/43.75%]
Awakenings: 
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Attacker
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1001 (1151)
HP 4175 (4801) / ATK 2555 (2938) / RCV 220 (253)
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Base Enola can be thought of as a Time Extend and SFUA solution for mono Wood teams which may be somewhat difficult for some teams. This is because constant Zela 
usage, while powerful, lacks movement time and SFUA is best gained via the rare Yoh Weapon 
. Furthermore, when forming a 3×3 Wood and Heart box, Enola will have meaningful personal damage.
As such, Enola can solve these two issues at once but this may or may not be needed. This is because players with deeper Monster Boxes can already address these issues along with her not providing passive damage or Resists.
This basically sums up our current meta of min/maxing teams which inevitably pushes out many other cards.
With that being said, Enola’s active is unique as it is able to instantaneously generate 9 Wood orbs in a 3×3 pattern. This immediate VDP has applications in Farming, Ranking Dungeons, or can be used to correct a poor board changer.
Enola
Active: Create square of Wood orbs with center at 2nd row from top and 2nd column from left (18 -> 13 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 6x ATK when matching 5 or more connected Wood orbs up to 10x at 9 orbs; 2x ATK and reduce damage taken by 25% when matching 4 or more colors [1/400/1/43.75%]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Attacker
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1001 (1151)
HP 4175 (4801) / ATK 2555 (2938) / RCV 220 (253)
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Evolved Enola is able to function as a modest Wood VDP option when above 80% HP. This results in 21.1x personal damage with the 3×3 Box with no hard combo count that has synergy with her instantaneous Wood Box active.
While this is an interesting concept, she lacks meaningful damage without the 3×3 Box. As such, it will be harder to justify using her as a sub when compared to other options outside of niche/specific cases.
Base Ruddy – B
Active: Change Heal orbs to Dark orbs; For 3 turns, recover 30% of max HP (12 -> 7 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 2x HP for Dragon type; 5x ATK when below 80% HP; 3.5x ATK when matching 4 or more colors [4/306.25/1]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Balance
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1001 (1151)
HP 2183 (4531) / ATK 2183 (2510) / RCV 513 (590)
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In either form, Ruddy can be almost seen as a potential Kuroyuri replacement as two Ruddys can loop their actives to grant 30% healing for three turns on a 7 turn cooldown. This naturally has the most merits on high HP, low RCV teams but there are a couple drawbacks to using Ruddy over Kuroyuri.
Ruddy only heals 30% instead of 40% which adds up when teams have 120,000+ health. Furthermore, Base Ruddy comes with little other utility as their awakenings are heavily dominated by L’s . This does lead to meaningful personal damage when matching an L, but this type of pattern is rarely pursued and most teams just have a single L somewhere to unlock orbs as needed.
Ruddy
Active: Change Heal orbs to Dark orbs; For 3 turns, recover 30% of max HP (12 -> 7 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 2x HP for Dragon type; 5x ATK when below 80% HP; 3.5x ATK when matching 4 or more colors [4/306.25/1]
Awakenings:
Super Awakenings:
Typing: Dragon / Balance
Available Killers:
Weighted Stats (Limit Break): 1001 (1151)
HP 2183 (4531) / ATK 2183 (2510) / RCV 513 (590)
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Ruddy’s Evolved form has significantly more value as their awakenings are more universally helpful as he ditched those countless L’s for more diverse options.
Firstly, 4 Skill Boosts is valuable as it will help ensure actives are ready right away along with having some personal damage via two 7 Combos . One other nice aspect to Ruddy’s active is the ability to generate Dark orbs while also being on a shorter cooldown. This will inevitably lead to a higher influx of Dark orbs but one must be aware that Hearts are removed.
As a whole, these type of healing alternatives can be powerful but players have to be mindful that they will have less actives available due to the fact that 2/6 slots are occupied. This may or may not be a problem and I personally prefer to use Enhanced Heal Orbs as it does not take up active skills and only requires a single sub.
5 star base
The 5-star cards are interesting due to the fact that their base forms have significantly more weighted stats but are compensated by fewer awakening. Neither forms have a viable Leader Skill but both forms share the same Active.
Base Cruz – C
Active: Unlock all orbs; Change Jammer, Poison, Mortal Poison, Bomb orbs to Fire orbs; Enhance all orbs (12 -> 7 turn CD)
Leader Skill: 2x HP & RCV for Fire Att.; Increase orb movement time by 2 seconds; 8x ATK for matched Att. when matching 5 Orbs with 1+ enhanced [4/64/4]