With the advent of Academy Tokugawa and Academy Ina, a new, powerful MD3 team has entered the fray. By taking advantage of non-transforming leaders, this team mitigates the danger of stalling to transform Atori or Raphine. Additionally, it takes advantage of high eHP and ease of stalling to make TF Yurisha and Seina manageable. While the team is relatively safe with copious amounts of movetime and high durability, it suffers from a tedious and slow playstyle that is highly contingent on cheesing Raphine’s spinner and matching precise boards for clean one shots. Though the sub slots are highly inflexible, most of these equips can be easily substituted. Whether you’re looking for safe MD3 clears or a simple one-and-done, this build will do the job.
Build Notes
Build assumes rainbow solves with dark bricks unless otherwise noted. Additional notes indicate extensions of rainbow solves except for F3 and F4. Lead with Baran for a 7×6 board. Stall for Tokugawa as needed. Stalling without a dark brick requires 10-11 connected dark orbs. System Raphine and HChakeol after F6 and F7 respectively. Certain floor sequences must be followed precisely to maintain systems for orb generation while countering debuffs.
HP Thresholds:
52,813 with awakenings
52,376 without awakenings
Potential Replacements:
Bonta-Kun: leader swap
Saitama: SB and long CD, preferably with team HP and/or RCV and poison resist
Orochi: cross, preferably with team HP and/or RCV and poison resist
Tsukuyomi: NY Tsukuyomi, Myr
Kiyosumi: delay, preferably with team HP and/or RCV and poison resist
Ultraseven: HInahime’s Club, Shusuke’s Article, HMadoo’s Hat
Floor Guide
Use Bonta-Kun and transform Raphine T1. Match a minimum of 10 connected dark orbs and 10 combos over 2T to kill.
Use Okuninushi to clear the potential awoken bind and avoid Saitama overcharge. Use Tsukuyomi to create a long term time buff. Kill over 2T.
Use Ultraseven to buy time for debuff clears. Match 2 red or dark crosses, a light or dark TPA, and a light or dark L. Kill over 3T, with the first turn spent clearing debuffs.
Stall 2T, matching 10-11 dark orbs without 10c. Use Kiyosumi and Tokugawa. Bring the Phoenix to super resolve in 1T. Transform Raphine. Stall 2T, then use Raphine again. Stall 1T, then kill all spawns.
Use Tokugawa and one shot with rainbow activation.
Use Raphine T1 to begin system and overwrite Horus’ debuff if he appears. Use Okuninushi if Ra appears. One shot with rainbow activation.
If Ruel spawns, use HChakeol to unlock. Stall 1T for Tokugawa. Use Tokugawa and kill by matching a light TPA or an additional dark combo.
If Rozuel spawns, use HChakeol and kill by matching a light TPA or an additional dark combo.
If Famiel spawns, use HChakeol, stall 1T for Tokugawa. Use Tokugawa and kill by matching an additional dark combo.
For all spawns, stall until Okuninushi is 2T away from charged and Raphine is 1T away from charged.
If Uriel spawns, use Tokugawa and kill by matching a light TPA and an additional dark combo.
If Gabriel spawns, use Tokugawa and kill by matching a light TPA, an additional dark combo, and either a water TPA or a wood TPA.
If Michael spawns, use Tokugawa and kill by matching a light TPA and an additional dark combo.
If Raphael spawns, use Raphine and kill by matching a light TPA, an additional dark combo, an additional light combo.
If Lucifer spawns, use Ultraseven to counter his full heart board and his 50% moveset. Spend T1 clearing the board, kill over the next 2T.
If Baal spawns, match an additional dark TPA to clear light unmatchable.
If Sarasvati spawns, use Okuninushi and kill by matching 2 light TPAs, and an additional dark combo. Either one light TPA or the additional dark combo must be substituted with an L of the corresponding color.
If Astaroth spawns, bring her to super resolve. Be cautious of bringing her to super resolve when you have 1T spinners as this will render her puzzle impossible. Clear her puzzle by spinning away the poisons in the two leftmost and two rightmost columns. Leave the connected poisons in place to match.
If Pandora spawns, stall 1T if needed for Tokugawa. Use Tokugawa and kill by matching a light TPA and either an additional light combo or an additional dark combo.
If Krishna spawns, use Baran or Kiyosumi to void her absorption shield and either Ina or Raphine to clear the time debuff.
If Vishnu spawns, use Okuninushi T1 to delay shield. Stall until his absorb shield lowers to ensure Okuninushi is ready by F14 T2.
If Belial spawns, use Ina or Raphine to clear the time debuff.
If Amon spawns, shield T1. Chip him T2 with minimal activation, then kill on T3.
If Seina spawns, ensure you heal to full while she is enraged. Use Tokugawa T1 to chip, then use Ina T2, Raphine T3, and Ina T4. She should be killable in one shot after her void shield lowers. Alternatively, one shot her T1 by matching 5 light TPAs, a fire combo, a water combo, a dark TPA, and a dark brick.
If Ryumei spawns, make either a light L or a dark L T1 to unlock and kill over 2T. Alternatively, one shot him by matching 5 light TPAs, a fire combo, a water combo, a dark TPA, and a dark brick.
If Mikage spawns, make either a red cross or a dark cross T1 and kill over 2T. Alternatively, one shot him by matching 3 light TPAs, 2 fire combos, 2 water combos, 2 dark combos, and a dark brick.
If Uvo Sara spawns, use Okuninushi to clear awoken bind and kill over 2T.
If BSara spawns, chip her T1, then use Tokugawa and kill T2.
If LSara spawns, use Okuninushi or Kiyosumi and kill her over the following 8T. Stalling the full 8T is not necessary.
Make either a red cross or a dark cross T1. Kill over 4T.
If TF Yurisha spawns, stall for Ultraseven by piercing her void sparingly. Use Ultraseven the turn you bring TF Yurisha to super resolve. Mind her 5% execute.
If GYurisha spawns, maximize damage by matching additional dark combos and light TPAs. Kill over 12T.
PAD Academy returns to Puzzle & Dragons for North America! This rerun introduces the new Academy Ina and Academy Tokugawa as well as color shift evolutions for Academy Valeria and Academy Kio! Dates: 05/09/22 – 05/22/22
Introduction
Two events reviewed in a row, shocking right? Welcome to the PAD Academy review, otherwise known as the, “Still making dark teams more overpowered somehow” seasonal event.
As per usual, I am only going to write about what I think are the cards most people should look out for. In this case there are only 3 new cards, 1 of which is an orb skin, and 1 of which is tradeable. Most of the older stuff is extremely unremarkable in this seasonal.
I always like to get this question out of the way fast, is this event worth rolling? NO, simple as that. Everything truly worth having in this event can either be traded for, or purchased as an orb skin. The mid rarity whale trap cards in this event are mediocre in comparison to some we have had in the recent past, and Academy Orochi sees very little use. Also unlike most other seasonals and GungHo original events where there are tons of orb skins, and most are worth owning multiples of, this event the skins are trash aside from the new one.
Nine Stars – Tradeable
Dark Dracoblader Freshman, Ina & Head of Student Guidance, Tokugawa Ieyasu
Going to break the rules of my reviews here, and just lump a seven star in with the nine stars. It truly is impossible for me to say anything about Ina without Tokugawa being part of it.
Academy Ina, and Tokugawa are truly the highlights of this machine now. I find myself saying this all too often as of recent, but while the team they comprise is very strong, it is going to be a bit of a stretch to build optimally for new or non-paying players.
Leading with Baran’s new evolution to give you a 7×6 board makes this team extremely capable, if not one of the fastestMD3teams, which as of yet doesn’t really have many reliable fast teams. Ina having a 2 turn cooldown active, while Tokugawa only has a 3 turn, means that no matter which one you have, you can easily choose to lead swap either of them with Baran. It is also an extremely effective pairing for tackling most of the Sanctuary of the Gods content.
Between the two of them they cover both Blind and Jammer, and have perfect leader synergy. Tokugawa brings the large (seven million) Auto Follow-up leader skill, and Ina brings the plus combo (two) leader skill. Both require ten or more dark orbs to be matched for activation, but that isn’t really an issue assuming you lead with baran for the 7×6 board. Ina unlocks your board and then after floor 4 makes you dark orbs, Tokugawa voids VDP and once again makes dark orbs. This means you have both 3 floors until floor 4, and then a 1 turn break in between both actives to find dark orbs. Fortunately basically every dark card these days seems to generate dark orbs on a tiny cooldown, so really just take your pick of which you like most for that dungeon.
[metaslider id=1111 cssclass=””]
I normally like to leave speculation out of my reviews, but I will just add a small note about Ina’s equips. The first is three jammers, with a skill boost and three turn haste active skill. This doesn’t seem like much, but really there have been very few haste actives over two turns that haven’t seen use at some point, and this one just appears very strong on the surface. However, this is speculation on my part because in my experience, research or discussions with other players, most can’t seem to find a good place for this to be used at the moment. That isn’t to say it won’t in the future.
Her other equip is a cross awakening, with four poison. Cards with this much utility in the awakenings normally do not go completely unused, as there always arises a scenario where that combination of utility is useful. Unfortunately the cooldown on this one is very short, and the active skill is very restricted to dark teams, and not all that useful to dark teams even then. So it may never see use.
[metaslider id=1116 cssclass=””]
Tokugawa has two equips, both of which are very odd, but again potentially useful. One is very simple, two Team-HP, and two Team-RCV, with a single turn of void damage, and some auto recovery over four turns, as the active. In this case, simple does not mean bad. The most simple equips done to the maximum of their simplicity are the ones that tend to live the longest.
The other is an unbindable, and below eighty percent, and a Combo-Orb. The active skill is the exact same as the base monster. This means you have a very low cooldown VDP active skill that generates dark orbs, that alone would be enough utility for this to see some amount of use, but add on that it makes them unbindable, and it is even stronger.
Academy Valeria
[metaslider id=1084 cssclass=””]
Strangely most older seasonals tend to fall out of use sometime before their machine comes back around again, but that has never been the case with Valeria. She remains useful for wood teams year round. It turns out that if you pack seven skill boosts, a full resist, and a ton of damage on a card with an active skill that is useful in many scenarios, it keeps them around for a while. Not much more I can say about Valeria’s original Wood/Light form aside from, it was good before, it is still good for the exact same things she was before.
If I say, Illusionary Artist, what is the first thing you think of? Atelie, right? That’s because she came out to a dungeon that was made for rainbow teams, and subs that were desperately starving for a lead to put them to work. What comes next? Kaishu. Fun Baran lead swaps, tons of great subs. You know who you likely don’t think of? Prim. Until now, we had no real reason to even consider her. The lead swap options for her we’re fairly mediocre, and she just felt like a lackluster version of Royal Oak, who himself is already on life support in the end game.
Well fear no more, Blue Valeria is here to save the day for Prim. Now you have your perfect 7×6 lead. Great awakenings, paired with a moderately useful active skill, and a low cooldown, means you finally have a way to put your Prim to work.
Her final use case is as a sub for SeaWolfteams, she offers him the Blind Resist that most of his best subs don’t carry, freeing up team space elsewhere, as well as huge VDP damage.
Soccer Club’s Striker, Kio
[metaslider id=1090 cssclass=””]
Unfortunately for Kio, his last run around the block saw him kneecapped due to our lack of Marvel collab, as he sorely needed Captain Marvel for his viability. Nowadays however, we have moved past Captain Marvel meta, and moved on to bigger and better things for Kio. The addition of another seven combo awakening, and VDP on his active skill has made him an extremely viable Daytona sub candidate. As with Baran from Dai recently, he is your makeshift second Halloween Cotton. Sadly for Kio, I think his days as a viable lead have long passed, but that isn’t to say it can’t be done.
His dark form at first glance seems like it would be fairly interesting. It has a fairly unique set of awakenings, and an active skill that sees use on many other cards similar to him. Sadly however, for Dark Kio is that he just doesn’t quite cut it for almost any team. One turn of a Fujin active and a VDP on an eight turn cooldown is just not short enough in most late game scenarios.
His equip retaining that same active skill, and also gaining some somewhat interesting resistances and movetime, means it will have a very niche, but still real use case on a very small number of teams.
Seven Stars – The Seasonal Whale Trap Rarity
[metaslider id=1097 cssclass=””]
This card is nothing new, or that we haven’t seen before. It does what so many other rainbow leads do, granted only requiring 3 colors not the full 5 to activate. That doesn’t make it any more exciting though. This active skill seems almost fully tailored to clear MD2. A three turn cooldown that clears unmatchable, in a dungeon that spams you with unmatchable status, is what we all want.
Qilin pairs quite well with the likes of the new evolution of Dai, and Alexander. He is fairly restricted to leads that don’t need full rainbow for activation, and dungeons that require his specific brand of active skill.
The tragedy for Qilin however, is that she is the new card added to this seasonal that you can’t trade for, or buy as an orb skin. So if you want her it is going to likely require a great deal of whaling, which if you aren’t a heavy spender, you absolutely should not be doing. This card is fun, and strong, but not worth the money it would require you to obtain. At best just lead pair with one owned by the whales on your friend list.
Honorable Mentions
I will briefly just touch on two of the eight stars, as I think almost all of them are basically un-needed to anyone’s box. Firstly is Academy Orochi, this should be fairly obvious by now. A card that is a four turn delay with a skill boost and some resists should scream, “Trade for me!” to anyone that sees it. Second, and last for this review, is Yog-Sothoth equip. It has a decent bit of utility for teams that fall in to the colors the active skill creates. If this seems like something you might want in your box, pick one up, the trade fodder for these eight stars is very lenient.
Well that’s two reviews in a row, what if I shoot for three? See ya round, folks.
MD4 is the fourth entry into the Mysterious Dimension series in the Technical Dungeon section of Puzzle and Dragons. It was released on May 6th, 2022 and is associated with the Zeroth Title Challenge. Credits to Toes T. Toes and ShadowInfinity99 for the Floor Description.
HP Thresholds: Soft check: 10% gravity+850,010 DMG, Hard check: 1,275,015 DMG
R: Fire, B: Water, G: Wood, L: Light, D: Dark, H: Heart, J: Jammer, P: Poison Rows: Counted from top to bottom, Columns: Counted from left to right TE: Movement Time, RCV: Recovery, Gen: generation, NoSF: No Skyfall
DFagan, VAstraea, and GValeria are flexible equips that provide 1 SB, 60% blind, 100% jammer, and enough HP to achieve the threshold of 85,001 HP (Sakuya > Kanna). Alternative equips include Minerva, BYog, and other combinations. Jammer resist is optimal but optional.
F1: Super Enhance Dragons
Transform both Raphines
Use Feygoran and Gojo
Single target and kill the Super Gold Dragon within 2T
Chip the remaining Super Enhance Dragons, spending 5-6T on F1
F2: Super Ogres
Transform Melty
Single target and kill the Super Wood Samurai Ogre
Transform one Raphine
Kill the Super Blazing Ice Ogre
F3: Super Fighters
Transform Raphine
Dark mass attack
F4: Super Shieldras
Use NY Reeche and Feygoran
Dark mass attack
F5: Super Slimes and Super Volcano Dragon
Single target the Super Volcano Dragon and bring to super resolve
Dark mass attack
F6: Chinese Celestials RBG
All spawns are killed by activating
F7: Mega Awoken Sonia
All spawns are killed by activating
F8: Japanese Pantheon 1 and Indian Pantheon 1
Use Gojo to counter each preemptive
Full combo Hino’s board
Full combo Orochi’s board, then full combo his second board
Activate off Indra’s board
Make two dark crosses on Vritra’s board, then activate on T2
F9: Dragonbounds
Kill Ryune with a 1R/1B/2G/2L/1D/1H solve
Kill Sylvie with a 1R/1B/1G/2L/1D/1H solve
Kill Typhon by activating
F10: Divinities 1
Aten
Use Raphine
Bring to super resolve
Use DFagan and Amaj, stall 1T
Kill by activating
Lucifer
Kill by activating
Eschamali
Kill by activating
F11: Chinese Celestials LD
Sakuya
Use Raphine and NY Reeche
Heal to full to survive Sakuya > Kanna interaction
Haku
Use NY Reeche, make 1 R/D cross
F12: Divinities 2
Dantalion
Make 1 R/D cross
Scheat
Use DAten
Kanna
Use DAten
F13: Divinities 3
Kamimusubi
Use Feygoran
Kill in 2 shots
Macha
Kill by activating
Morrigu
Kill by activating
Yog Sothoth
Kill Yog with a 2R/1B/3G/1L/1D/1H solve
F14: One Born From Chaos
Make 4 R/D crosses over 3T
Kill by T4
F15: One That Writhes In the Void
Kill within 6T, match extra B/G/L to increase damage
F16: Zeroth Dimension Creator, Big Bang
Heal to full before 50%
Have Feygoran/NY Reeche/VAstraea/Gojo ready for the full dark board
note: if raffine is mentioned its for fixing a time debuff otherwise system her
f1: belial > raffine > 2T stall > 5dra > 2T stall > Atelies f2: amaj f3: raffine f4: blalbrecht > stall if needed > akine f5: atelie f6(Karin): atelie f7: no comment f8(hino): atelie f8(orochi): atelie f8(vritra): atelie/akine > 2 B/L crosses > BCecilia if needed f9(ryune): stall if needed > atelie f9(sylvie): keep in mind spinner spam f10(aten): atelie > break SR > amakozumi > 10dra > atelie f10(lucifer): atelie/akine f10(NOTE): CHECK AKINE COOLDOWN and burn if it overcharges next floor f11(sakuya): rafine > atelie > 1 B/D L-unlock (not optional) f11(haku): akine > kill with one B/L cross f12(dantalion): 1 B/L cross f12(scheat): atelie f12(kanna): atelie/akine f13(yog sothoth): bcecilia > atelie f14: 4 B/L crosses > kill on final countdown turn f15: burn down within 6 turns f16: T1 unlock, use Amaj before knocking to 50%. Keep in mind spinner troll chance during >50% phase and guaranteed spinners for 50%.
Build assumes 9TPA boards Pre-xform HP threshold: 45,627 Post-xform HP threshold: 65,626
Thanks to mopad for providing this and the floor breakdown translation. View the original Twitter post here: JPN Antares MD4 System
How to System: Avan > Antares
Can also cycle Tsukamoto
Assume 10c total for each match unless specified
Match1: Brick Red
Match2: Brick Red + Box Light
Match3: Brick Red + Brick Light
Stall: Antares: min combo (or combo to gather orbs), 5to11-match Red May need to cycle Tsukamoto during stall or just cycle all the time Stall as necessary to return to system or gather the correct orbs Can cover tape with Bride Trailokya equip instead of Metatron
F8: HinoKagutsuchi? Match2 Orochi? Match2 then Match1 Indra? 2 turns of Antares: Swipe (Have Tsukamoto’s shield up before swiping the 1st full board) Vritra? Have Tsukamoto’s shield up before swiping the full board Match2
F9: Ryune? Match2 then Match1 Sylvie? Match2 Typhon? 2 turns of Antares: Swipe then Match1 (Have Tsukamoto’s shield up before swiping the 2nd full board)
F10: Aten? Match2 then Match1 then Match1 Lucifer? Match1 then Game then Match1? Eschamali? Match1 then Match2
F11: Match2 for both spawns
F12: Have Tsukamoto’s shield up before killing the floor Dantalion? Match2 Scheat? Match1 then Match2 Kanna? Match1 then stall 1 turn then Match2
F13: Cycle Tsukamoto on this floor to survive Macha? Match2 then Match2 Changed to Blue on the supposed kill turn? Stall then Match2 Else? Match2 then Match2
F14: Match2 then Match1 then Match1 then stall 1turn then Match3 The killing match helps produce combo orbs for next floor
F15: The following chart shows how much damage you do on each turn with Match1 or Match2. Any combination of those matches that add to 100% should kill. Assumes only the minimum combos necessary to pass the combo shields Shield | 95% | 90% | 85% | 80% | 75% | Match1 | 4.0% 8.1% (12.1%|16.0%|19.8%|| Match2 | 8.3%|16.5%(24.6%|32.5%|40.3%| Have Tsukamoto’s shield up after the 85% shield turn
F16: Match1 does 5.0% of HP and Match2 does 12.1% of HP Cycle Tsukamoto
Team Hyperion – HyperionPAD (Our Hyperion written articles/dungeon guides)
PAD Communities:
PAD – Team HYPERION – https://discord.gg/hyperionpad (Our Twitch Team’s main community Discord Server, where we host many events and you can find PAD Twitch Streams going on every day.)
Puzzle & Dragons Community Server – Puzzle & Dragons Community Server (I wouldn’t recommend this as a choice to find actual comprehensive PAD help, as there’s toxicity and there are better options)
PAD Global – Puzzle & Dragons Global (US/JP) | Facebook (Largest PAD Facebook Group, where you’ll get help if needed because most of us Hyperion peeps are there too lol. Requires signup and confirmation to get in)
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!
The Adventure of Dai returns to Puzzle and Dragons for North America! Dates: 4/25/22-5/1/22
Introduction
Hey folks, long time no review. Couldn’t let this collab go by unreviewed, as it has too much hype, and such amazing art.
Normally, I skip out on talking about the cards I find useless, but most of the mid and top rarities of this machine are pretty heavily pushed in power level. Just a preface however, I am going to talk about zero of the low rarity cards in this collab, and only mention the mid rarity ones I feel are worth talking about. Just due to none of them receiving any meaningful buffs, so they are the exact same as last time or are not worth anyone’s time to care about. Also they will be reviewed in order of rarity, even though I think the most exceptional cards from this collab fall in the middle rarity: 7-star.
I will also answer the question everyone asks me after I write one of these articles, “should I roll this collab?”. My answer is going to depend heavily on your spending habits. If you’re a monster whale then my answer doesn’t really matter because you will buy anyways, and this collab is made for you. If you are a light spender you are going to need some luck to get what you really need from this. If you are Free-to-Play, then Godspeed friend, you are going to need the best luck of your life, or have 100s of stones stocked up.
Thank you Tsubaki Bot for the image card sources! Art and icons are owned by GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc.
Eight Stars – Tradeable
Dragon Knight, Dai
Kicking it off with the collab’s namesake himself, Dai. I will bow out on reviewing his original three forms, as they are basically as good or slightly better at the same things they were prior to this re-run. His new evo however, warrants some discussion.
Dragon Knight, Dai is an all around very versatile card both as a lead and a sub for a large number of rainbow teams. Similar to Raffine , who can pair with Geed to create a smooth clear for MD4, Dai is going to do almost that same thing for you. He relies far less heavily on spinners, that’s not to say his teams can’t also use Raffine.
His use case is very similar to something like Dark Athena’s new evo (8448) giving you your rainbow team RCV buff active, just with less utility in the earlier parts of a dungeon. The main differentiator between Dai and Raffine is that Dai is a low cool-down, non-transforming rainbow leader. Meaning that unlike Raffine who requires the use of Todo, or some insane stalling tactics in the early dungeon, he is lead swappable right from the start of a dungeon, no stalling required or Todo required.
Avan
[metaslider id=1017 cssclass=””]
Next up we have Avan, who has received some interesting buffs to his base form. I will say before I start talking about him, this is a card I think everyone should have 1 of in their box if only to use his equip. A Skill boost, L and 2 RCV equip with a 2 turn haste active is extremely strong. While it most likely won’t see use on all your teams, you will be extremely thankful to have it in those instances you find yourself needing it, as there are few other cards that fill this role.
His base form on the surface looks like nothing significant in the way of a buff, however it is more interesting when you consider the recently buffed (In Japan only for a short while longer) Ryumei from Mystics & Specters. Where Avan got a slight buff to his damage and a smaller buff to his HP, those buffs meant a great deal. Ryumei who has now received the ability to use Rows rather than Ls (similar to how most folks use Royal Oak), has unlocked the ability to have a pair that can potentially lead to an unbelievably tanky lead pairing, with very consistent orb generation. Infinite orb unlocks, with very close to boards consisting of only Fire, Light and Hearts every turn. The largest shortcoming is that having teams of so many transforms leads to fairly stunted damage, but you can tank your way to clears. This is very forgiving for newer or less experienced players who may not have an easy way to use a double transform boat lead, or rainbow 7×6, and are looking for a much safer alternative.
Baran
[metaslider id=1024 cssclass=””]
Baran, who I think received the most noteworthy buffs of any eight star in this collab. To briefly touch upon his equip before I move on to the base form and new evolution. His equip is good for what it was prior to this re-run, that is to say slapping it on your lead in dungeons that haste your leader skills, so you can safely survive the overcharge with the shield. As well it gives 2 SBR which is very important to dark teams that tend to need them desperately.
As with Avan, the buffs to his base form don’t seem like they would have any impact on his use, however these new buffs are absolutely massive. His pre-transform adding another skill boost meaning he now gives a huge 4 skill boosts to any dark team is unreal. His post-transform leader skill, while it does make him more of a glass cannon than he already was, adds insane fire power to his damage, and makes him an even better pair option for the new Mystvearn evolution, or Black Bird.
His active skill is still core to many dark team’s ability to clear content. While in the interim between the last run and this run there have been some cards that compete for this with him, he is still among the strongest options there are. Currently this active skill makes him an extremely viable option for many dark teams that are lightning fast at clearing their designated content such as Mystvearn in MD2 or almost any dark team in ASR2.
Dragon Master General, Baran
Unlike his base form which is core as a lead for his own teams, or is a staple sub on many dark teams, this form is your new go to Dark 7×6 lead swap option. This can include Kaishu, or almost any dark lead that would need to be swapped. He also has massive viability on Daytona teams as a sub for those who don’t have multiple Halloween Cotton.
Seven Stars – Whaling has its rewards
Dark Commander, Mystvearn
Lets start it off with truly the only reason I wanted to write this review in the first place, Mystvearn. Bare in mind again, none of these from here on are tradeable, so this is where it gets somewhat unfortunate for lower spending players. I am going to disregard his equip, and say it is identical to what it was before, so take that how you will. His old evo received only very minor buffs, but is part of a fast MD2 clearing 2–playerteam
Where to start with this new evolution, there is just so much good that comes from this card. For starters multiple copies of him, four to be exact, and you have yourself a swipeable clear for MD4 and MD2. That’s not even touching on the fact that he can swipe clear TA3 with 2 free slots for levels. For a card with so much utility packed into him you would think he would lack somewhere, but in reality he lacks in almost no department. His damage awakenings mean he will almost always be double capping on his main and sub attribute, meaning you vaporize dungeons at breakneck speeds.
I stated before that he was able to clear content with just multiple copies of himself, but that isn’t to say you can’t just pair him with Black bird as a single copy lead, and just use your everyday run of the mill dark team to turn huge spawns into paper, these teams just aren’t entirely swipeable. Many end game teams can be created using just cards from this collab because of Mystvearn, which is largely unheard of.
Killvearn
[metaslider id=1035 cssclass=””]
Killvearn is next, and he exists to compliment Mystvearn, Baran, King Vearn and Black bird. He is however, arguably the least attainable card for the average player, that most players would also want. He was not in the last run of this collab like all the other strong cards on this list, and unlike King Vearn, he is not an orb skin so you can’t just buy him for 20 dollars.
Quick discussion about his equip before we go on to his base form. This is a 3 turn delay with tons of team HP and a combo orb, that makes a bi-color board on activation. I shouldn’t need to tell anyone that this is obviously strong.
His pre-transform offers three Skill boosts and a 3 turn haste, which makes him an effective six skill boost card at the start of the dungeon, which is a huge boon to almost any black bird team. Post transform he breaks the enemies defense by 100% for a turn, removes locks and makes you 6 dark orbs. This is hugely useful in dungeons like MD4, where all the spawns have very high defense, making a lot of teams unable to effectively punch through them. He also has triple 10c, which in my opinion is hilarious, due to him being a transform card. He will damage cap no matter what you do, but it largely goes to waste as he can’t be Double Damage Capped. He also has a SBR in pre and post transform, which as I stated before is something dark teams sorely lack.
Dark King Vearn
[metaslider id=1041 cssclass=””]
Lastly for the dark cards that were added is King Vearn (GungHo sure loves playing favorites with this attribute). Fortunately for any light spender out there, this is your new orb skin. So twenty dollars puts this in your box at very least. His equip is hot garbage for the most part, so let’s skip it.
King Vearn has leader skill scaling similar to the recent Artist cards. That is to say, they scale infinitely for as many of their conditions that you meet, in the case of King Vearn, it’s Dark and Fire rows. Paired with himself he generates a dark row and a fire row’s worth of orbs every turn, so you can hit 10 combos with absolutely no effort. This makes him extremely effective for farming some of the more recent end game content, or just general farming use, especially MD2 and MD1. He makes an effective lead for a couple of the Alt MD1s as well.
Disciple of Love, Maam
Next up is Disciple of Love, Maam, who I will only be discussing in her new evolution form. Her new evolution is core to a swiping team that is used in both MD4 and Colo4. Her 4 turn active voids attribute absorption and spikes herself and fire attribute cards for 2 turns. This means that if we bring a system of cards that haste like Reincarnated Antares, we end up reducing that to 2 turns, so it’s an infinite loop of voids and spikes. Which means the now famous 4 Antares, Artorius team can use her to clear content where attribute absorb is their only roadblock.
Grand Sorcerer, Matoriv
The final card I will be talking about, and also the last new card added to the machine in this collab, Grand Sorcerer, Matoriv. Her base evolution and equip require little discussion in my opinion.
Unlike most other cards where I talk about how it has tons of utility in many scenarios, this card really only has one real use, a lead swap 7×6 lead for rainbow teams, mainly Atelie. She offers a great active, and some respectable damage for a 7×6 lead, as well as full poison resist.
Honorable Mentions
Popp, didn’t receive a new evolution that I deem exciting, however he did receive a small buff to the shield on his old form, so he is still a card most people should look to pick up. Finally we have Leona, who had 1 turn shaved off her active, which makes her an even more viable light cleric than she was before.
Also shoutouts to the absolute train-load of goofy farmables added to this run, there is a real reason to farm this content now.
Puzzle and Dragons is a constantly evolving and changing game that has gone through numerous ups and downs. Presently speaking, PAD is in a great place due to the high volume of new content being released on a regular basis. Furthermore, we have a steady stream of free Magic Stones along with a wider variety of content to actually play.
With that being said I want to take a look at the current state of the game for April 2022 by providing my thoughts and commentary on this highly addictive game.
Due to continuous wrist problems, this article will have the meat of the content done via video but my commentary notes are all here.
Video commentary
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii cool people
Magic Stone Economy
Free vs Paid stones
5 vs 10 MS REMs
IAP shifting more towards Bundles
Mitigates higher rolling cost by directly giving valuable card
Truly a unique card, in that it provides 6 effective skill boosts, with it’s massive 5 turn haste, amazing for triple transform teams such as Rosalyn, it literally cuts the second transform phase in half! It provides many powerful awakenings such as 2x 7c, VDP, and Team HP awakes, covers SBR, one finger, and is Unbindable. It also has an amazing active after transform, giving a 2 turn 4x ATK buff to fire, a 75% shield, and a 4x ATK buff to itself, on a four turn cooldown!
These reasons make it an excellent sub slot on Rosalyn, Seawolf, or Prim teams, if you’re not tackling the highest endgame and have an empty sub slot, as it almost completely skips Seawolf’s second phase and halves Rosalyn’s. However, there’s a catch. A very negative, run-ending cost. Using it at the wrong time or just bad luck can kill you and end your run.
What is a Skill Bind Active?
Upon release, HSuou introduced the “Skill Bind” active mechanic, which binds your OWN team’s skills, and SBR doesn’t work on it. Soon, there were more iconic actives with Skill Bind as a mechanic, such as the JP only Thanos. It had a whopping 50% true gravity, but as a result it had 1 turn of Skill Bind, which meant after using the gravity, you couldn’t use more gravities. Next up was Monogatari’s Suruga equip, which was popular since it had SB, L unlock, and an 8 turn damage void piercer active with a 1 turn Skill Bind, which was to prevent speed gravity strats. 1 turn Skill Bind actives were not that much of a hindrance, as people very quickly figured out: “Hey wait a minute, I can just use the Skill Bind active last!”
HSuou Upon Release:
At the time last year when Halloween was rolling out, the hardest dungeon at the time was Shura 2, Hell’s Halls, and this was before Mystics & Spectres, so the best option at the time was Gileon, the Flame Key Hero. HSuou was seen as a great pairing for Gileon, as it provided a bigger shield, and fixed the RCV issue that Gileon x Gileon teams were having without SRevo Amaterasu.
However, HSuou having 2 turns of Skill Bind made it fall off the meta very quickly as it completely ruined systems, and Seina’s overwhelming strength made it completely irrelevant. Now that it has been returned and buffed, let’s discuss how to work around the devastating 2 turn Skill Bind.
I will provide 3 methods to work around the 2 turn Skill Bind, or the main problem being the one turn afterwards where you cannot use any skills.
Method 1 – Use it on the last hit.
Yes, you’ve most likely have realized this or told this already, but just in case you haven’t, people have said: “Only use HSuou when you’re on the last floor and you’re going for the kill shot.” This is so that the 2nd turn of Skill Bind doesn’t affect you, cause, well you’re done with the dungeon, can’t bind skills if you don’t need em! Very obvious, and still works since it has a very strong finishing ATK buff.
Method 2 – Inherit a low CD Equip
This method may also be obvious, but should be mentioned, and I’ll provide some examples. Since HSuou’s active is only 4 CD, you can neglect the hell out of it and just inherit a fast charging equip that works with your team. You’d most likely want to go for some Fire Att. Unbindable equip, since you’d be running a fire team.
Examples:
Leilan Earring – Provides SB, OEs, TE active, and a board with +3c. Does not make hearts though so bad if you’re using HSuou as lead.
Akanthor Exterminator – No explanation needed, this card is OP. Even the not normally used active is great here.
Bride Trailo Headdress – Covers TE, RCV, and unmatchable on a 7 turn CD.
RCotton Necklace – Provides 2 OEs, FUA, and a decently short shield & board active.
Wild Demon’s Seal – Provides 2 OEs, 40% Blind res, TE & RCV & Unlock active, with a nice tricolor board.
Hibiscus Keepsake – STRONK. Provides cloud, 2x Team HPs, and the active is omega stronk with a free VDP cube, TE, RCV, and ATK buff for 2 turns for fire attribute. Amazing.
SRevo Trailo Equip – Covers OEs & Recover Bind, as well as a 15% gravity and tricolor board. Does not makes hearts though so same as Leilan
Elgenubi Necklace – Awww yeah, OEs, baby.
Madoo Hat – Awww yeah, Rows, baby.
Method #3(The BEST method): Use it in 3 Player Mode!
This is absolutely the best and most efficient way to handle the 2nd turn of Skill Bind.
Using it in 3 Player mode effectively turns it into a 1 turn Skill Bind instead. Treat it like Suruga or Thanos!
Instead of being unable to use your own active skills on the next turn, therefore killing you, the NEXT PLAYER GETS THE SKILL BIND!
For example: Use it on Seawolf in 3P Gathering Of Talents 3! Suou hastes your second form phase by 5 turns, and then you can safely use the system to your advantage while having a 4 turn omega stronk active that covers shield & massive damage.
You can’t die in 3 Player mode when a teammate does!
If they die, LOL NOOB, it’s their fault, you’re still alive and well, and you’re gonna clear the dungeon with the overpowered 4 turn no consequential 2 turn Skill Bind.
The best part is, it isn’t single use!
If your teammate in 3P dies because you skill bind cucked him, you still have a SECOND MEAT SHIELD!!!
Now go play more 3P, my precious meat shields, Shinzou Sasageyo!
Written by AzaCui新 , from Team Hyperion. Hope this guide helped you out, and remember not to report anyone in 3P if they HSuou skill bind cuck you, it means you’re just bad.
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!
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:
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:
Patreon
Mantastic Puzzle and Dragons 