All posts by Mantastic

I am Mantastic and Fantastic. I often play with myself, write guides, and make bad puns. Happy Puzzling!
Ranking Dungeons

3rd REMDra Fever – No Dark Event Strategies

8 Comments

Introduction

The REMDra Fever “Ranking” Dungeon returns to North America and diverts from the traditional Ranking Dungeon format as rewards are achieved via a cumulative score. As such, players can grind for a Crown by simply hitting the cap of 999,999 points. With that being said, it will take numerous runs to achieve but there are ways to bolster your score to save time, stamina, and mental sanity.

With that being said, the dungeon is quite lucrative to run over and over again as it only costs 30 stamina and offers valuable drops. Furthermore, any number of players can achieve a Crown and is not only given to the first X number of players to hit 999,999. Furthermore, no Dark orbs will be present which will inflate our combo count and hasten our journey to 999,999 points.

This article will explain how the new rules for REMDra Fever and how to maximize your score potential.

3rd REMDra Fever Event: 7/22 (Mon) 12pm ~ 7/25 (Thu) 11:59pm (UTC-8)

4th REMDra Fever Event: 7/26 (Fri) 12am ~ 7/28 (Sun) 11:59pm (UTC-8)

Video commentary/clear

–video coming soon–

New scoring system

The REMDra Fever Ranking Tournament values players in significantly different ways and we must alter our play style accordingly. Continue reading 3rd REMDra Fever – No Dark Event Strategies →

Advertisements
Collab REM Reviews

Draconic Orchestra REM Review and Analysis – July 2019

56 Comments

Introduction

This Monday will see the North American Debut of the Draconic Orchestra REM. This is a special 10-Stone machine that will have a special roster of cards who all share a musical theme.

Generally speaking, the very first time you acquire a card, it tends to have the most value. As such rolling in debut events can somewhat lower the chances of getting dupes as every card will be new. Unfortunately, the Draconic Orchestra REM is not designed well as the four 5-star cards will comprise 62% of all rolls. As such, players will be swimming in these cards who have niche value overall and excessive dupes are not ideal.

With this in mind, I am not inclined to roll in this event outside of maybe 1 or 2 attempts as the chance of a niche dupe are just too high. Furthermore, not many of the cards truly stand out and motivate me to roll. If players are truly interested, they could utilize the Monster Exchange system but this will be a high cost venture.

Video commentary

—video coming soon—

Overview

Draconic Orchestra REM Pros & Cons – July 4, 2019
Pros
Cons
  • Music theme
  • GungHo-made
    • Should have high chance of returning regularly
  • Debut event
    • All cards are new
  • All cards have 2 unique evolutions
  • 10 Magic Stones per pull
    • Steeper Monster Exchange rates
  • No Assist Evolutions
  • Lower rarity cards are niche
  • Four 5-star cards
    • Compromises 62% of the rolls
    • Don’t really want dupes of them
Draconic Orchestra REM
 7 Star base  
 6 Star base
 5 Star base
Draconic Orchestra REM – July 4, 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.

Continue reading Draconic Orchestra REM Review and Analysis – July 2019 →

Random Thoughts

Question Time with Mantastic – July 2019

74 Comments

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

download 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?

x 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!

Mantastic Icon Mantastic Social Media Mantastic Icon
FB icon Facebook twitter Twitter YT YouTube
Twitch Twitch discord Discord download Patreon

If you enjoy my content, please consider turning off AdBlocker for this website =)

Collab REM Reviews

June Bride REM Review and Analysis – June 2019

40 Comments

Introduction

The June Bride REM will be coming to North America in June this year which comes as a big surprise as it has historically come in August. This is a good indication that GungHo NA is pushing content out faster (look at the Ideal Ranking Tournament with Refresh Nerf) which hopefully sets a solid precedence moving forward.

Sadly, despite the fact that this event is home to one of the most popular chase cards, it is a lackluster affair overall. This is because it features abysmal rolling rates along with a 1% chance at the first ever 9-star Seasonal/Collab card, Bride Zela . Bride Zela is  powerful and waifu material but will probably cost as much as some small weddings to acquire.

This article will summarize each card’s strengths and weaknesses to provide a better picture of what to expect in this event.

Video commentary

––video coming soon—

Overview

June Bride REM Pros & Cons – June 21, 2019
Pros
Cons
  • Actually comes in June
  • Bride Zela
  • Bride Panera
    • 2 turn Fujin active
  • Bride Rushana buffed
  • Scheat has massive TPA
  • 5-Stone REM
  • Wedding outfits
  • Abysmal rolling rates
    • Rolling will mostly result in sadness
    • 85% chance Silver/Gold/6*
    • Some 7/8* are poor value
  • Orb skin is not that pretty
  • Bride Zela is 1.0% chance
June Bride REM
 9 Star base
 8 Star base    
 7 Star base W Satsilo 
 6 Star base W Ra W Bastet
 5 Star base W Akechi W Ruka W Kano F
 4 Star base W Sopdet W Iza
June Bride REM Rankings – June 21, 2019
S
A  
B  
C W Satsilo  W Ra W Akechi
D W Bastet W Ruka W Kano F W Sopdet W Iza

All 8-star and 9-star cards are available for trade within the Monster Exchange.

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.

Continue reading June Bride REM Review and Analysis – June 2019 →

Random Thoughts

What Makes a Good Leader in Puzzle and Dragons? June 2019

13 Comments

Introduction

One of the most popular questions I see floating around the PAD community is “what makes a good leader?” or “is this a strong leader?” Now both of these questions are heavily loaded as the answer generally depends on your subs. A leader, no matter how powerful, is heavily reliant on your team composition, inherits, and individual monster investment. Furthermore, what qualifies as a strong leader will change over time as new content is released.

There are many tier lists available that rank leaders based on various criteria, but they always assume the perfect team (regardless of how rare or hard to pull those monsters are). They also look at how consistent a leader performs in a variety of end game content instead of a single dungeon.

As such, tier lists should be taken with a grain of salt and be used as a starting base to determine if a leader has potential. You should then look up team building guides to see if you have ideal subs in order to successfully run that team.

The purpose of this article will be to further explore what merits a strong leader, what to look for in your monster box, and why consistency is invaluable when playing through harder content.

Being told something good is one thing, but understanding why is more important. You can read this article while thinking of your favourite leader to better understand why they are effective or ineffective.

I wrote a similar article to this in January 2017 but feel the meta has changed/shifted sufficiently to revisit this topic. The main reason is because of how much easier it is to FUA /SFUA and VDP at the same time as this is invaluable for end game content.

Video commentary

—video goes here—

Factors that make a leader strong

Forewarning

The tier lists tend to not take player skill into consideration; however, you need to assess your own skill level as you need to be able to actually activate your leader skill on a consistent basis. A prime example of this was when Anubis was floating around on some lists. In theory, this works as his multiplier was at the time the highest available. Unfortunately, very few people could actually activate him on a consistent basis and was misleading to say the least.

In addition to ignoring player skill, tier lists assume the perfect team as that is the most fair way to compare various leaders. However, many of these teams require exotic subs (and inherits) that most players do not own and this will inevitably lead to a less than stellar performance. Continue reading What Makes a Good Leader in Puzzle and Dragons? June 2019 →

Ranking Dungeons

Ideal Ranking Tournament Strategies

28 Comments

Introduction

Ranking Dungeons will return to North America this Monday with the Fixed Leaders, Ideal Tournament. This tournament will force players to use Light Ideal as a leader but can bring any sub.

This gives the illusion of a Fixed Team, but heavily favours those who have deep Monster Boxes as it places a heavy emphasis on Skill Boosts to have Fujin ready in time.

To compensate for this, the dungeon is only 5 floors long which means Combos are heavily rewarded which means a lucky Skyfall will result in a significantly higher score.

On the bright side, the cutoff for a Crown is 7%.

Just be aware that the Forced Colour Skyfall + Orb Refresh Strategy no longer works for this Ranking. Due to this, our cutoff will be lower compared to JP to the point where it may be challenging to predict the final value.

Video commentary

–video coming soon–

155,552 Clear with no FUA

—

Score breakdown

In Ranking Dungeons, players are scored based on the following:

  • Each Combo is worth 5,000 points
  • Each second remaining is worth 500 points
  • Hitting 40 Million damage is 10,000 points
  • Each active used to kill a floor (no combo made) is -5,000 points

Continue reading Ideal Ranking Tournament Strategies →

Collab REM Reviews

Hello Kitty Collab REM Review & Analysis – June 2019

60 Comments

Introduction

The Hello Kitty Collab is one of the oldest events in Puzzle and Dragons and few players actually saw it the first time around. This seems a little strange as it is a popular franchise but has been absent for several years.

This time around, the cards have been buffed to try and keep abreast with the 2019 meta but the main attraction is the new 7-star, Zela Kitty . Zela Kitty is able to lead an amazingly powerful team as she is able to fully utilize Zela and SFUA (more about SFUA can be read HERE). As such, many players may find the most merit simply trading for Zela Kitty and ignoring the other cute cards.

Regardless, this article will outline the strengths and weaknesses of this event to give players an idea of what each card has to offer and whether or not it is worth their Magic Stones.

Video commentary

—Hello Kitty Video—

Overview

Hello Kitty Collab Pros & Cons – June 6, 2019
Pros
Cons
  • Zela Kitty
    • Five 6* GFE as trade fodder
  • Overwhelming cuteness
  • 5* cards have very low value
    • Rolling will mostly result in sadness
  • Zela Kitty is 1.5% chance
Hello Kitty Collab REM
 7 Star base
 6 Star base
 5 Star base
Hello Kitty REM Rankings – June 6, 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.

Continue reading Hello Kitty Collab REM Review & Analysis – June 2019 →