All posts by Mantastic

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

Shaman King Collab Monster Exchange & Monster Point Card Reviews

17 Comments

Introduction

The Shaman King Collab is in full swing and alongside the potent REM are two cards that can be acquired via the Monster Exchange and two via Monster Point spending. Each card brings something to the table and may make them worth farming or purchasing.

This article will summarize their strengths and weaknesses to give you a better idea if they are worth pursuing.

A full Shaman King REM review can be found HERE.

Video commentary

–video coming soon–

Monster Exchange cards

Keep in tune with previous Collabs, The Shaman King event will feature two cards that can be acquired by farming in the respective event dungeon. This farming will yield Bronze, Silver, and Gold event tokens which can eventually exchanged for the Rainbow variety.

Upon acquiring 3 Rainbow Event tokens, players can one-time exchange for the featured card. Continue reading Shaman King Collab Monster Exchange & Monster Point Card Reviews →

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Collab REM Reviews

Shaman King Review And Analysis – May 2019

51 Comments

Introduction

The Shaman King Collab will be making their debut in North America this coming Monday and is an exciting time for NA players. This is because there was a certain degree of uncertainty of whether or not we would actually experience this event as it is home to several unique and powerful cards.

One notable feature is that all monsters feature a Weapon Assist evolution which enables them to provide additional awakenings when used as an inherit. As such, all cards have some degree of value and is reminiscent of the Monster Hunter Collab. With that being said, all Weapon Assists have a different active which may change their value for each player. Carefully inspect before committing to this evolution. With that being said, the Shaman King differs in that all cards have significantly lower weighted stats but is offset by the 6-Magic Stone per roll price tag.

On the bright side, essentially every card is good/has some value and it makes it hard to justify not rolling.

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

—Shaman King Hype?!—

Overview

Shaman King Collab Pros & Cons – May 23, 2019
Pros
Cons
  • All cards feature a Weapon Assist
  • Monster Exchange requires 6-star GFE
  • Value in essentially every card
  • Debut in NA
    • The first few rolls should not have dupes
  • Lower weighted stats
  • 5:1 Monster Exchange ratio
    • 6 Magic Stone cost
Shaman King Collab REM
 6 Star base
 5 Star base
Shaman King Collab REM Rankings – May 23, 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 Shaman King Review And Analysis – May 2019 →

Random Thoughts

Avoiding Burnout/Boredom

39 Comments

Introduction

May has been the slowest month of 2019 for Puzzle and Dragons and it is because of a lack of new content outside of SDR farming. As such, burnout or boredom may raise its ugly head and I want to share how I avoid these two pitfalls.

I have been playing Puzzle and Dragons for over 2,050 days which is a small marvel in itself. In fact, this is the longest time I have played any single game and this is due to the continuous learning curve or indefinite skill ceiling. With that being said, there have been some low points in terms of interest and this usually occurs around times when GungHo has not released new content as things can become stale. Continue reading Avoiding Burnout/Boredom →

Random Thoughts

PAD Academy Student Handbook is Valuable

10 Comments

Introduction

The PAD Academy REM is in full swing and while it is lackluster, the farmable Academy Student Handbook is valuable and worth farming for most players. The Handbook functions as a Weapon Assist that provides the following awakenings: Poison resist Blind Resist Imp HP Imp ATK RCV Latent along with +1s orb movement time for 9 turns on a 14 -> 9 cooldown.

The Student Handbook follows the trend of other Collab farmables i that players need to repeatedly play the dungeon to acquire Bronze-Gold drops and Monster Exchange them for the Rainbow variety. Unfortunately, current Collab events require significantly more farming as each tier requires 5 fodder (5 Bronze -> 1 Silver, 5 Silver -> 1 Gold, 5 Gold -> 1 Rainbow, 5 Rainbow = Handbook). Thus, 5 Rainbow tokens requires a total of 625 Bronze tokens.

Despite this large farming hurdle, the fact that the Handbook is farmable (with large amounts of stamina) makes it quite valuable compared to other Resist options as it does not require limited (Rainbow Event Medals) or Premium (Magic Stones) currencies to acquire.

Video commentary

–video coming soon–

Value of a Resist Weapon Assist

Weapon Assists have become invaluable when playing through harder content as they are able to provide additional awakenings to counter various mechanics. At this point in time, those that provide Resistance (Blind Resist Jammer Resist Poison resist ) tend to be the most valuable as they can trivialize certain spawns and mechanics. As such, striving for 100% Resistance against a particular mechanic is a reliable way to improve consistency. Continue reading PAD Academy Student Handbook is Valuable →

Collab REM Reviews

PAD Academy Review and Analysis – May 2019

22 Comments

Introduction

The PAD Academy event returns to North America and is simply an underwhelming event. This is often the case with older events as GungHo seldom buffs the bottom rarity cards and PAD Academy is a 5-stone event.

Despite the fact that some of your favourite cards are dressed up in school uniforms, it cannot truly justify the mediocrity of this event and i would strongly encourage players to not roll in this event.

Regardless, this article will outline the strengths and weaknesses of this event to give players an idea of what each card has to offer.

Video commentary

—You are beautiful—

Overview

PAD Academy Pros & Cons – May 10, 2019
Pros
Cons
  • School uniforms
  • No real top prize
  • One of the weaker events
    • Best to save your Magic Stones
PAD Academy REM
 8 Star base  
 7 Star base Summer Lucifer Summer Isis Summer Athena 
 6 Star base   
 5 Star base Summer Theurgia Summer Sasuke 
PAD Academy REM Rankings – May 10, 2019
S
A
B
C Summer Lucifer Summer Isis Summer Athena  
D Summer Theurgia Summer Sasuke

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 PAD Academy Review and Analysis – May 2019 →

Random Thoughts

Cotton Wins Monster Exchange Survey

53 Comments

Introduction

The Monster Exchange Survey has come to a close and Cotton has been crowned the winner for North America. For the most part, these types of surveys are problematic because only a single winner can be chosen and it would not surprise me if Cotton had 15% of the total votes as there were 39 different cards to choose from.

The Monster Exchange Survey is different compared to the previous event where the selected card was available for 1,000,000 Monster Points as Rainbow Event Medals :eventmedal: will be the primary currency used.

This article will summarize Cotton’s value along with my thoughts on why she was voted for the second time in a row.

Video commentary

–Just look at a mirror to see something beautiful–

Monster Survey format

Due to the fact that the Monster Survey can only have one winner and the voting pool consists of 39 different cards, it would not be surprising if Cotton had the majority of a minority.

With this in mind, no single card can please everyone and simply opens up the door to mass disappointment. As such, internet bashing those who wanted Cotton is quite juvenile and our voting process did align with the Korean server who has a similar lack of Collabs as we do. Continue reading Cotton Wins Monster Exchange Survey →

Skill Inheritance

Maximizing Skill Inheritance and Weapon Assists

9 Comments

Introduction

The landscape of Puzzle and Dragons has dramatically changed over the course of time and at this point, being able to intelligently use Skill Inheritance/Assists and Weapon Assists is key to success.

At its core, Skill Inheritance enables players to grant a different active skill to a card on their team, however, being able to optimally utilize this mechanic requires a bit more finesse. As such, this article will explain my logic/rationale for team building and utilizing Skill Inheritance to provide the maximum benefit possible when playing through challenging content.

Video commentary

–video coming soon–

Skill Inheritance/Manage Assists

In the past, the term used to express transferring new actives to a card was Skill Inheritance which in my head sounds much more pleasant compared to Manage Assists. Regardless, either term may be used in this article but both mean the same thing. Continue reading Maximizing Skill Inheritance and Weapon Assists →