Question time with Mantastic

February 10, 2017 Mantastic 72 Comments

Introduction

This is an idea that has been floating around in my head for a long time: a post dedicated to answering the various PAD and Off-Topic questions my readers may have. My hope for this and subsequent posts in this format is to encourage my readers to ask questions they may have. My hope for this is to answer these questions in a subsequent post along with a complimenting video. However, there will be some restrictions and I may not be able to answer every question.

This is also a good way to help compensate for my Suggestion Box always emailing things to the wrong place.

Video commentary

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How this works

The idea with this and the subsequent answer post is to allow people to ask questions that are not covered by other articles. You In order to ask a question, you simply need to leave a comment and I will potentially answer it in the subsequent posting. I have opened up my website to accept comments from anyone, including those without a WordPress account. However, I request you leave some sort of signature/name at the end of your question if you choose to do this or if you would rather have a different name than your WordPress account. Continue reading Question time with Mantastic →

+ Eggs

GungHo Collab Pal Egg Machine and +9 Eggs per Roll

February 9, 2017 Mantastic 36 Comments

Reposting this as the +9 PEM is returning. In addition to the other rolls, we will also have access to Colouring Book Sakuya

Introduction

Beginning on Friday, February 10th, North American PAD players will be able to farm plus eggs from the Pal Egg Machine (PEM). Each roll will produce a +9 monster (+3 HP, +3 ATK, +3 RCV) and becomes the most efficient way to acquire plus eggs provided you have numerous Best Friends. In addition the wonderful plus eggs, we also have the opportunity to acquire the special Colouring Book Kali , Colouring Book Sakuya , and Arthur .

From my own personal experience, Colouring Book Kali had about a 1% roll rate so be prepared to roll numerous times before acquiring her. I presume Sakuya will also be around the same.

If you wish to read more about Pal Points and Best Friends, please refer to my other article HERE.

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I will be posting a rolling video of several hundred PEM rolls in the very near future to help give a better idea of the chances of acquiring the three coveted cards.

Plus egg farming

Star Den is the most efficient dungeon and place to farm plus eggs as it provides a guaranteed 10 per run at the cost of 25 stamina in coop. There are numerous button teams available that allows you to quickly breeze through the dungeon and many players are able to easily acquire 297 pluses within their hourly time frame.

However, with the introduction of the +9 PEM, we now have an even more efficient medium for farming plus eggs provided you have numerous Best Friends. Every time you use a Best Friend, you will receive 100 Pal Points and each spin costs 500. This means you can enter the 2 stamina dungeons (in the Normal dungeon section) and simply quit to save time. This results in a 10 stamina cost to acquire 9 plus eggs. Granted you lose out on the small rank experience from Star Den, but it was insignificant to begin with. The entering and quitting process does take up more time than a Star Den button team, but it is significantly more stamina efficient.

The following table compares the two mediums and assumes the most efficient stamina usage possible when completing 1 Star Den run or 1 pull of the +9 PEM. Continue reading GungHo Collab Pal Egg Machine and +9 Eggs per Roll →

Arena

Arena 3 Guide and Radar Dragons Strategies

February 9, 2017 Mantastic 6 Comments

Introduction

I have played an excessive amount of Arena 3 and, I have over 130 clears along with 43 Radar Dragons at the time of this posting. Arena 3 is by no means an easy dungeon, but with more end game teams available and half stamina cost, more players are able to start their journey.

This post will cover the general strategies when approaching Arena 3, but will not cover specific teams. If you wish to view all the teams I have used to clear Arena 3 and their respective inherits and latents, feels free to check out my previous guide HERE.

When entering Arena 3, you will have to accept the fact that you will not have a 100% chance to win as any number of deadly spawn combinations along with certain Radar Dragons will counter various teams. You can do your best to mitigate the risk through fully invest cards, research, experience, and coop.

Video commentary

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Background on Arena 1 & 2

Ultimate Arena (Bipolar Goddess) is designed to be the final test of a player’s skill. The first incarnation, Arena 1, was a hellish 21 floor dungeon that featured a 30 million HP boss at the end along with each floor drawing from a pool of random spawns to cause even more heartache and randomness. It is the randomness that keeps Arena exciting as you will always have a different path leading into the final floors and makes it harder to counter every single mechanic that could appear. Over time, Arena 1 became significantly easier with the advent of Powercreep, Coop, and Skill Inheritance. As such, many players (including myself) have began to use it as a fun way to dump stamina and acquire Py along with using more niche leaders to up the excitement factor. Continue reading Arena 3 Guide and Radar Dragons Strategies →

Videos

37 Rolls Heroine REM Video

February 7, 2017 Mantastic 11 Comments

For those who missed last night’s Twitch Stream:

Happy Puzzling!

Game Meta

Teams everyone should have in Puzzle and Dragons

February 6, 2017 Mantastic 24 Comments

Introduction

Puzzle and Dragons is a diverse and complex game with countless team composition possibilities. It can become quite overwhelming trying to plan out your team rosters along with adjusting for each specific dungeon. Furthermore, you will want to optimize your farming efficiency as well as making yourself more appealing to coop partners for guerrilla dungeons.

This article will discuss the types of teams I feel that every player should strive towards as well as providing suggestions as to where to invest your resources (plus eggs, latents, inherits).

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Why bother having more than one team?

Puzzle and Dragons is a game that has a lot of repetition as you are often required to continuously play the same dungeon over and over again. This is done for a variety of reasons and eventually, you will want to find the most efficient way possible to clear the dungeon.

There can sometimes be a certain degree of joy or excitement when finding a more optimal way to clear content or your motivation may be to simply reduce the brain power required when playing XYZ dungeon for the 100th time.

Finally, having a variety of teams to choose from can help alleviate boredom as it can inject a new playstyle into your routine; however, I want to focus on teams that will optimize your performance in Puzzle and Dragons. Continue reading Teams everyone should have in Puzzle and Dragons →

Monster Analysis

[PSA] Please Farm a Psychopomp Princess of Oblivion, Grida

February 5, 2017 Mantastic 97 Comments

You must play Mythical or Pyromaniac difficulty and the invade rate is around 2% so be prepared for a long ride (I around 100 clears for my first invade)

Introduction

Wit the Heroine REM coming on February 6th, most of the attention will be on collected all the pretty girls (you can read more about my review HERE). However, I want to direct your attention to the Heroine version of Grisar who is a rare invade from the event dungeon and is one of the strongest farmable cards you can acquire.

Due to the time sensitive nature of the event dungeon, I strongly encourage you to acquire her right away as it is uncertain how long it will be before she returns. it is better to have her now (and skill up at your leisure), then regretting a Grida-less box a month or two later.

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Devil Rush vs Blue Sonia & Australis/ALB
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Who is the Grida?

Psychopomp Princess of Oblivion, Grida

Devil
3,560 HP / 2,144 ATK / 67 RCV
807 Total

Continue reading [PSA] Please Farm a Psychopomp Princess of Oblivion, Grida →

Collab REM Reviews

Heroine Egg Machine Review and Analysis

February 3, 2017 Mantastic 124 Comments

Introduction

The Heroine Rare Egg Machine is one of the most highly anticipated events to come to Puzzle and Dragons. These monsters feature popular Godfest Exclusives, but are a seperate card that is only available through this exclusive machine for a limited time.

Unlike a regular Rare Egg Machine, each pull will cost 10 Magic stones. However, do not let the amplified price discourage you as the featured cards are all brand new (thus chances of dupes are lower) along with featuring powerful and unique abilities. Furthermore, all cards are worth at least 15,000 Monster Points and there are no silver eggs.

I highly encourage you to liberally use your Magic Stones in this event as well as trying your best to acquire as many for the duration of this event. This is because the cards featured here bring skill sets that cannot be replicated by other REM cards and being unique is incredibly valuable when tackling new content as many provide unique Killer combos along with 7×6 boards. In addition, most are pretty girls.

All players above rank 50 will receive 1 free pull on the Heroine Rare Egg Machine.

Video commentary

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Rolls overview

Heroine Egg Machine Overview
7 star rolls
6 star rolls
5 star rolls

7 star rolls

Ilmina

Devil / Attacker
4,185 HP / 2,205 ATK / 124 RCV
901 Total

Active Skill:
100,000 true damage to all enemies
All
13 turn Cooldown

Leader Skill:
All attribute 3x ATK / 2x RCV when maching Fire & Light. Changes to 7×6 board
9x ATK / 4x RCV

Pros	Cons
7×6 board True damage and board change 4 Skill Boosts 3 Killers Various leader pairings: Ilm Kenshin Tsubaki Minerva Easy activation 75,000 MP Value Please don’t sell Makes me want to read books	No SBR Killers hurt damage control RCV tied to dealing damage Harder to stall

Impressions

Ilmina is the only 7-star roll from the Heroine Rare Egg Machine and will be one of the most desired monsters. Her active skill is unique in that she is able to fulfill two role simultaneously through her true damage component and full board changer. This enables you to execute high defense monsters and then sweep the next floor with the generated board from a single active. This saves you an active skill slot when playing through challenging content or can even help with preserving time in Ranking dungeons or mass farming. Continue reading Heroine Egg Machine Review and Analysis →

Random Thoughts

Mantastic is on Discord!

February 2, 2017 Mantastic 7 Comments

Introduction

Discord is Skype meets chatroom/forum for gaming. It is a medium in which you can connect with other players along with finding help with team building and coordinating coop adventures. In order to successfully use Discord, you will have to download the app/client along with creating a profile and finding beneficial servers. I am in the process of updating my community corner post, but in the mean time, I want to advertise my own Discord server.

Mantastic Social Media
Facebook	Twitter	YouTube	Twitch	Discord

Discord invite link

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Why use Discord?

Community

Discord is another free resource players can take advantage of as there are many servers that provide a wealth of information. This can range from written guides to one-on-one help from more knowledgeable players along with joining a helpful community.

Within my own Discord, I have a Fantastic Chat section that is always “bumpin” with helpful and friendly users. These people range from beginners to experts who have cleared all the content in the game and are always happy to answer your questions or to simply talk about Puzzle and Waifus. Even if you do not have any burning questions, it is always beneficial to even discuss the latest changes in PAD along with tips and tricks for current and upcoming content.

In addition, my staff/moderation team are also an amazing group of individuals who help keep everything running smoothly and are always willing to help.

Finally, I also try my best to regularly interact with my Discord server through the Fantastic Chat as well as random coops and occasionally playing other game such as Diablo 3, Hearthstone, and League of Legends.

Finding coop partners

It is now widely accepted that farming the guerrilla dungeons (the hourly dungeons) in coop is vastly superior due to the stamina savings as well as ability to button farm. Furthermore, if you are having trouble finding synergistic partners, Discord is a great way to find friends who will gladly coop through your Tan Infestation.

Furthermore, you will also have the opportunity to find like-minded individuals who can help you tackle challenging content as well as providing an additional level of insight/strategies.

Fun emotes and helpful commands

We play Puzzle and Dragons for fun and Discord should be too. Not only do we have a wide array of amazing cute/funny emotes, but helpful commands. Written chat is great, but everyone loves a sprinkling of my face in the strangest shapes as well as Pancaaake drawings.

Furthermore, we also have helpful commands that range from optimal board set ups to some meme-worthy screenshots of my Twitch Stream:

Conclusion

Discord is both a fun and helpful way to connect with your fellow Puzzle and Dragoners. I highly recommend you do check out my Discord server as well as staying tuned for my soon to be updated community post to help you find other meaningful resources.

Happy Puzzling!

New Evolutions

Thoughts on JP Stream – Odin Dragon & New Evolutions

February 1, 2017 Mantastic 26 Comments

Introduction

Due to the popularity of my previous Japan Stream review, I thought I should continue this trend and pen down my thoughts on up and coming content. I enjoy writing these types of posts as it gives me a chance to condense my thoughts along with not being overly time consuming.

There was other content released (such as a modest buff to Ryune) along with small quality of life changes, but this article will focus on the new evolutions.

JP has always received content in a timely manner while NA has historically had inconsistent release dates. Thus, I cannot predict when these will be released, but a good guideline is 1-2 months. You can view this in a positive manner as we are able to prep/observe how the new changes will impact the meta.

You can read more about the JP Stream through puzzledragonx.

Video commentary

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New evolutions

Split Ultimate Odin Dragon

Odin Dragon has historically been somewhat of a joke in the PAD community upon his initial release due to how underwhelming he was. Granted he does make for essentially the strongest bind clear for wood teams, the 300,000 Monster Point price tag was hard to swallow and now with Reincarnated evolutions catching up in base stats, there was no real need to purchase him.

As such, “Offensive” Odin Dragon was born. Offensive may refer to his hideous artwork, but is better used to describe his now attack-oriented leader skill.

Continue reading Thoughts on JP Stream – Odin Dragon & New Evolutions →

Godfest

Lunar New Year Godfest Review and Analysis

January 30, 2017 Mantastic 65 Comments

Godfest basics

When making the decision to roll or save your magic stones, you need to determine if the featured pantheons can benefit or complement your teams. Chasing for one specific monster is unwise as you will most likely be disappointed and should ideally have Godfests that overlap with many target cards. Remember all monsters that come out of the REM will qualify for Skill Inheritance so do not be too hasty when selling dupes. For a more detailed team building help, please refer to my full list Popular Leader’s and their Full Sub List Post. Lastly, to find more information about a specific pantheon or monster, refer to my Master List to better refine your search. If you are considering to purchase a Four Gentlemen card, please read my Review and Comparison HERE.

Introduction

Happy Lunar New Year! Hopefully you have been spending time with your family and loved ones along with feasting upon copious amounts of food. In order to mark the year of the Rooster, the Lunar New Year Godfest will feature the newly Reincarnated Egyptian 1’s along with (surprise surprise) Chinese Celestial pantheons. To sweeten the deal further, we will also be benefiting from 5x GFE along with +20 to a random stat.

For the most part, the Egyptian 1 pantheon is capable of forming powerful and fun teams. Even with the diminished value of leader skill restrictions due to an active skill clause, they can still clear plenty of content while Isis and now Horus being powerful subs.

On the flip side, the Chinese Celestials have not aged as well due to a lack of new evolutions and buffs for quite some time now. In addition, they somewhat struggle in a heart cross meta due to their board changers only producing three colours. However, there has been a gradual shift back towards colour board changers so there may be a shift back towards the Celestials in the future.

Where to spend your Red Pocket Money will be up to you, but this is a modest Godfest for the most part.

As a side note, I changed the format for the analyzed cards and would like to know what you think.