Introduction

Alt. Arena 3 is considered the second hardest dungeon in the game at this point in time and is still a wonderful dungeon to play from a rewards perspective.

Over time we have acquire numerous different leaders who can tackle this dungeon and while it is possible to secure a clear with a wide variety of teams, being able to consistently farm said Alt Arena 3 is valuable overall.

For myself, I have used a wide variety of teams and have found that Base Minaka  x Minaka to be a reasonably strong option assuming you have Gamayla as Dragon VDP are relatively scarce.

While this team lacks Auto Follow Up Damage, having a massive RCV multiplier and a 7×6 board facilitates easier stalling along with innately countering combo shields and the orb hungriness of requiring 4-6 of Water/Dark orbs.

With this in mind, I wish to explore how I built my own team along with addressing the major hurdles that can be found in Alt. Arena 3.

Video clear

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Notable Alt. Arena 3 mechanics

Alt. Arena 3 is currently the second hardest dungeon available in North America and may push many teams to their limits. As such, it is important to understand the key mechanics that must be addressed.

The following is a brief summary of the notable mechanics in the dungeon. This may not be an exhaustive list for every team but is the checklist I use when team building for this dungeon.

• Damage Absorb Void (Fujin -style)
  • 2 turns is ideal
• Jammer skyfall buff (eg.  )
• Skill Delay Resists  for the above
• VDP
• FUA (maybe )
• 100% Blind Resist
• 100% Poison Resist
• Cloud Resist
• Effective HP > 100,375 (largest preemptive)
• One Awoken Bind clear or orb changer that removes Poison
• 1 Dark Resist or built in Damage Reduction
• Not reliant on Light for Damage Reduction/activation
  • If reliant, bring shield or active that counters unable to match mechanics
• Self RCV buff/debuff or exceptionally high RCV

Being able to address each of these options will ensure a much higher clear rate overall.

Base Minaka x Minaka overview

Base 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: 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)

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)

Pros	Cons
7×6 board High RCV Can potentially ignore -75% RCV debuff Can proc RCV from Water or Dark Can take advantage of passive damage awakenings High ATK multiplier with 10 combos Copious amounts of movement time	No natural Damage Reduction Restricted to Dragon types Semi reliant on Gamayla for VDP Leaders have low personal damage Must rely on subs No built in Follow Up Damage

Base Minaka paired with Evolved Minaka results in a 7×6 board along with 3/240/4 team which translates into enough Effective Health to tank all non-executes/preemptives along with having a solid 4x RCV multiplier. While this would probably not be enough for most teams if hit by the -75% RCV debuff, both Minaka’s stats are heavily skewed towards HP and RCV along with her Base form owning 3 Enhanced Heart Orb awakenings. This translates into a massive amount of healing and I find no issues restoring my health, even after a -75% debuff. Unfortunately, lacks any Damage Reduction which means players must have at least one Dark Damage Resist to counter Dark Agni’s 100% Gravity preemptive.

Defensive components aside, the Minakas are able to provide a solid 240x ATK when hitting 10 combos which should be quite doable on a 7×6 board. Of course, players will still have to match 4-6 Water or Dark orbs but this will often result in a row of Water to tap into their Row awakenings. This ability to layer in passive damage helps push their damage output to sizable levels and when combined with their copious movement time, should not be too difficult.

With all that being said, the hardest part for Minaka teams is being restricted to Dragon types. For myself, I found the hardest part was incorporating a solid VDP solution until I rolled Gamayla (full list of options HERE).

Team building

The following is the Base Minaka x Minaka team I was able to make from my Monster Box. It is able to address all of the above mechanics while having sufficient health to survive any preemptive at full HP:

Solo Alt. Arena 3 – Base Minaka x Evo Minaka HP Badge
Card
SA
Inherit	(4982)	(5625)	(5591)	(4713)	(5417)	(5600)
Latent	x6	x5	x2		x6	x6

Looking at my team, the first thing that jumps out is it being comprised heavily of high rarity Event/Collab cards which is a result of the Dragon-type clause. For a while, I was using double Dark Zeta as my VDP solution but after rolling Gamayla , my life became significantly easier as she solves this type of damage at any health value while also providing Cloud Resist . Due to the fact that she is my only VDP card, it have to ensure she does sufficient damage which is why I gave her Helen Weapon Assist for both the Orb Enhances and >80% . Generally speaking, >80% is the least reliable offensive awakening as it has a small window for success, but with Minakas, it is much easier to maintain a higher amount of health due to the sizable RCV multipliers.

For my Damage Absorption solution, I decided to use Uruka as she has wonderful weighted stats and if Machine Athena/Durga does not spawn, her full board changer can be a counter to Hamal’s poison board.

Amatsu and Cotton are both short-cooldown cards who can generate Water and Hearts which helps with both VDP and FUA . Also having a skew towards HP is favourable as it widens your margin for error or when stalling. In regards to Cotton’s Weapon Assist , I have begun to appreciate both the awakenings it provides but also the Colour Absorb Void. This is because floor 4 contains three different Odins with two of them absorbing Fire/Dark or Water/Dark for 5 turns. This has the potential to turn lethal as you may have to wait for 5 turns or accidentally hit into execute.

Conclusion

Base Minaka paired with her Evolved form is able to create a powerful 7×6 team that has copious amounts of movement time along with solid damage multipliers. Unfortunately, their main drawback is their reliance on using Dragon subs which can be quite restrictive for many players.

With that being said, if you are able to build a comparable team to mine, I feel they can clear difficult content relatively well as you can stall through most encounters due to the your high HP and strong healing potential.

Let me know what you think about Base Minaka x Minaka along with the teams you have built with these two leaders.

Happy Puzzling!

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Health update

My pain flare up that started on January 1st is still lingering and is keeping me from standing as much as I would like as the pain will shoot down through my buttocks and down my legs along with wrapping around my groin.

On the bright side, I have incredibly kind neighbors who drove me to Costco on Saturday and was the first time I had left the condo building since January 1. I enjoyed the change of scenery and was able to pick up various items Pancaaake and I need anyway.

After returning home, I was unable to truly stand without support and this is somewhat the norm now despite constant stretching, heat, and movement I am capable of.

Regardless, it is a bit easier to sit and focus and I do have some interesting article topics floating around in my head as I have been thinking of various talking points whilst unable to function.