Byakko Haku: Which Waifu is Best for You?

April 19, 2016 Mantastic 21 Comments

Keeping with the theme of analysing monsters with numerous viable evolution paths, Haku is the next card to be put under the microscope. With the advent of the awakenings buff, all 3 of her final forms can now be used to great success on various teams and I wish to examine who fits best and where.

At a glance


Type	God / Healer	God / Devil	God / Dragon
Stats	810 Total 3193/1441/609	737 Total 3293/1741/179	736 Total 3353/1491/309
Active	All + haste 9 turn CD	All 9 turn CD	All 9 turn CD
Leader Skill	12.25x, match 3 of RBDH. 51% dmg reduction vs RBD	12.25x, match 3 of RBD	12.25x, match 3 of RBDH
Awakenings
Fits on which teams?	Yomi D Castor A Yomi A Luci	A Pandora A Luci Sonia	A Luci
Orb troll on boss floor?	Without a doubt	For sure	10/10 will make 3 dark orbs

Awoken Haku

Continue reading Byakko Haku: Which Waifu is Best for You? →

Collab REM Reviews, Monster Analysis

Batman V Superman Collab REM Review and Analysis

April 17, 2016 Mantastic 34 Comments

Introduction

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Oh wait, it actually IS Superman! And what is that? What is that sound? Na Na Na Na Na Na BatREM! BatREM! Well maybe it is more of a DC-REM / BvS REM, but BatREM has a nicer ring to it when introducing the second main character. Regardless, all the monsters from this Collab machine qualify for Skill Inheritance and are sure to awaken nostalgia in many of their fans. As a fair warning, all the monsters have different rates of being rolled so it may be challenging to roll some of the golden 5-star monsters. With that being said, Superman and Batman are powerful cards to own and can be incorporated into many teams with ease. Furthermore, with the buff to Batman’s leader skill and popularity of heart cross teams, he has gained significant value.

BvS Collab REM Rolls
jjjjjjjjj5-star base formjjjjjjjjj	4-star base form

Video Commentary

—-video goes here—-
Continue reading Batman V Superman Collab REM Review and Analysis →

Godfest, Monster Analysis

PAX East Godfest Analysis and Pantheon Breakdown

April 15, 2016 Mantastic 12 Comments

My breakdown and analysis of all the featured pantheons for the PAX East godfest. For a more detailed team building help, please refer to my full list HERE.

Heaven’s Gala
jjj Day 1	Greco-Roman 2	Three Kingdoms
jjj Day 1
jjj Day 2	Greco-Roman 1	Hero
jjj Day 2

Day 1:

Day 1 features some of the most powerful subs in Puzzle and Dragons who bring a mixture of utility and sheer power in their actives and awakenings. The Greco-Roman 2 all have amazing double orb changer that convert 2 other orbs into their primary colour. Furthermore, their entire pantheon is in the process of receiving Awoken Evolutions which push their base stats and actives into new territory by granting them an enhanced skyfall mechanic for 2 turns. Furthermore, all of the Greco-Roman 2 monsters have 2+ viable evolution paths so their flexibility is unsurpassed. The Three Kingdoms have more diversified actives that fulfil many roles and with the new awakenings buff, some have 2 viable evolutions. In addition, DQ will be reunited with her sister to form a newly announced Awoken evolution that caps at 100x damage. Overall a great day to roll if you are looking to bolster your mono colour teams.

Greco-Roman 2
jjjjjjjjMonsterjjjjjjjjj	Notes
Ares God / Physical — 8 turn CD	Ares is one hot fire team sub and was once crowned the title of highest ATK base stats in the game. However, time has seen his place shifted around to his current form of a fire row powerhouse. Furthermore, with his god typing, he makes an incredible Shiva Dragon sub. Unfortunately, Ares is unable to be as well utilized on other top fire teams such as Awoken Shiva or Gadius as he will either create too many fire orbs and prevent sufficient combos or remove heart orbs. On the bright side for Awoken Shiva teams, Ares just had an Awoken Evolution announced (no icon yet). This will grant him Devil / Attacker typing and causing him to become TPA oriented with massive base attack and an enhanced fire skyfall active in conjunction with double orb change. This is also great news for teams as the double orb change helps flood the board with fire orbs. Unfortunately, this will remove his presence on Shiva Dragon teams so exercise caution before committing. I will also do his own special post comparing his evolutions at a later date.
Hermes God / Attacker —- God / Physical 8 turn CD —- Awoken Hermes Devil / Attacker —- + 2 turn water skyfall 8 turn CD	Hermes is one of the few monsters that has 3 unique and powerful options for evolution trees (which I will be covering in a more extensive post). The decision of which evolution boils down to the type of leader you are using. B/D is best on Neptune Dragon teams B/L is a physical Blue Sonia sub (or Neptune Dragon ) Awoken for every other water team except for Neptune Dragon and Blue Sonia Regardless of which evolution path you choose, all the Hermi (Hermeses?) are outstanding mono water team subs on row based teams as his active overflows the board with your desired water orbs and can be combo-ed with nearly every full board changer to generate a 2/3 water board.
Awoken Artemis Attacker/ Devil —- + 2 turn wood skyfall 8 turn CD —- God / Attacker —- 8 turn CD	Artemis is still in an awkward position even with her branched evolution tree. Her double orb changer is similar to Australis and Liu Bei , but she cannot as easily be placed on any team as both those counterparts do their job better. Australis has 5 awakenings and a more powerful active as her skyfall buff lasts for 4 turns. Liu Bei has 3 TPA awakenings and by default hits harder (maybe the skyfall mechanic negates this). Regardless, playing Artemis on a TPA oriented combo team such as Awoken Bastet is problematic due to overflowing the board with too many wood orbs and potentially causing you to be unable to form 7+ combos required for full leader skill activation. You can arguably use Awoken Artemis as a leader on her own to form a 4x HP / 16x ATK team but must work around awkwardly matching water and wood orbs. However, one thing Awoken Artemis shines at is being an Awoken Astaroth sub as her team is normally quite restrictive in their sub choices. For further reading as to which Artemis evolution is best for you, please read my full analysis HERE.
Apollo God / Attacker —- 8 turn CD —- Awoken Apollo Healer / Attacker —- + 2 turn light skyfall 8 turn CD	L/B Apollo is a fantastic light row sub for Saria / Thor teams as his active floods the board with numerous light orbs and almost always ensures you can manufacture 2 unique rows. Furthermore, his dual orb changing capabilities allow him to combo with most full board changers. Unfortunately, a lack of SBR or time extend diminish his utility value. On the other hand, Awoken Apollo is quite the horny and majestic unicorn (seriously, his art is just mind-boggling) and appears to have less synergy with most teams as he lost his row enhances. The strange part of the entire Greco-Roman pantheon’s active favours row formation due to flooding the board with their respective colour. Regardless, gains the healer typing and opens options to be used on Awoken Ama , Light Metatron , and Light Zhuge Liang teams. In addition, the new wood typing means Awoken Sakuya teams do not need to bring a wood sub and may ease team building. Of course, the overflow of light orbs may make it problematic to adequately combo, but can be used after Light Kali ‘s active to ensure a more combo friendly board. Furthermore, the enhanced skyfall mechanic may add lethal amounts of additional damage.
Persephone God / Healer —- God / Devil —- 8 turn CD —-	Persephone was far prettier in her dark/fire form and is only evolved to dark/wood because of the additional awakenings and most notably 2 . In addition, the 2 awakenings add significant increase to healing that should not be overlooked. Furthermore, the enhanced heal orbs will be converted into enhanced dark orbs. Row based teams love actives that can flood the board with dark orbs and is an amazing candidate. Main drawback are a lack of awakening and may place constraints on team building along with no devil typing. This changes with the evolution at the cost of 2 and . However, Awoken Persephone (no icon at the moment) was just announced in JP and brings yet another tough decision to make in terms of viable evolution paths. I will be making a special follow up post at a future date with her pros and cons, but I will just leave you with her becoming Attacker / Devil typing and being orb enhance and TPA reliant.

Continue reading PAX East Godfest Analysis and Pantheon Breakdown →

Descends, Videos

[Video] U&Y vs Scarlet Descended Multiplayer with Mantastic and Fantastic

April 14, 2016 Mantastic 13 Comments

I decided to take my video making skills through another descend and ended up with what I hope is an entertaining and informative video of how I am farming for my Scarlet System. Audio is okay to listen to and the narration should be helpful. I also want to say that I am my own worst enemy and blame Mantastic for a near death experience at the end. Dungeon for reference.

Mantastic:

Fantastic:

Continue reading [Video] U&Y vs Scarlet Descended Multiplayer with Mantastic and Fantastic →

Monster Analysis

Awoken Pandora or Bankai Pandora, a Comparison

April 13, 2016 Mantastic 34 Comments

With the very fast release of Awoken Pandora and finally the release of Bankai Pandora in NA, players now have a tough decision to make: which evolution do I do? This is perhaps the first time we actually need to weigh the pros and cons of an evolution tree as most have been quite straight forward as one was always the outright winner. However, each Pandora has their own pros and cons and I wish to analyse their roles as to better help you decide which evolution is right for you. If you are fortunate enough to have 2 Pandora, you should make one of each evolution as to benefit from the best of both worlds.

	Awoken Pandora	Bankai Pandora
Type	Devil / Physical	God / Devil / Healer
Stats	802.60 Total 4148/1474/279	839.27 Total 3248/1474/659
Active	+ 1 turn haste 9 turn CD	8 turn CD
Leader Skill	1.56x HP & RCV / 25x ATK for connected 8 dark orbs	25x ATK for matching 10 connected dark orbs
Yomi D sub?	No	Yes
Awakenings
Fits on which teams?	Awoken Lucifer Dark Metatron Herself	Yomi Dragon Awoken Yomi Castor Awoken Haku as a sub

Continue reading Awoken Pandora or Bankai Pandora, a Comparison →

Monster Analysis, New Evolutions

Ultimate Gadius: Worthy of the GFE Title? An Analysis

April 12, 2016 Mantastic 6 Comments

Gadius is receiving his new ultimate evolution and will be putting the Dragons back into Puzzle and Dragons with two menacing heads and abs so chiselled you would cut your hand rubbing along its surface. GungHo has been hit or miss with some Godfest Exclusives (GFE) and Light Metatron being the unfortunate poster girl for underwhelming 5-star GFE. Hopefully they turn things around for our newest beefcake member.

Gadius
Dragon & Healer
3063 / 1204 / 753

New:

AS: All       + haste
10 turn CD

LS: 6.5x ATK with 2+ Heal combos
42.25x ATK ( and heart orb reliant)

Typing and Awakenings

At first, the healer typing had no relevance to the current meta (aside from a fire monster having high RCV) and still has no practical purpose. However, with the introduction of a new set of MP Dragons, Gadius becomes an irreplaceable sub on Xiang Mei teams due to the lack of fire / healer type cards. From an awakenings perspective, is fantastic as he now has bind immunity to go along with his bind recovery awakening and heart generating active. However, he is still missing a Skill Bind Resist awakening which is a massive downside in today’s meta. Granted we do have access to more monsters who have 2x , but if you plan to use Gadius as a lead, you would be hard pressed to achieve 100% immunity. Not having 100% immunity can be managed with tankier teams that have augmented health pools and recovery values, but Gadius has neither. Finally, the new Devil Killer awakening provides 3x damage versus devil type bosses and will greatly aide in burst damage. Continue reading Ultimate Gadius: Worthy of the GFE Title? An Analysis →

Monster Analysis, New Evolutions

Awoken Artemis vs G/D Artemis: A Comparison and Analysis

April 11, 2016 Mantastic 17 Comments

GungHo is slowly releasing monsters with multiple evolution paths that fulfil different roles and purposes. This is also making it harder to choose the best fit for your team and is somewhat encouraging you to keep duplicate monsters. With the release of Awoken Artemis , we are once again presented with two viable evolution paths and I wish to weigh the pros and cons of each to help you choose which Artemis is best for you.

	AWOKEN Artemis	G/D Artemis
Type	Attacker / Devil	God / Attacker
Stats	814.00 Total 2540/1965/501	735.33 Total 3040/1705/271
Active	+ wood skyfall for 2 turns 8 turn CD	8 turn CD
Leader Skill	2x HP & ATK for Wood Att. 2x ATK when matching WT & WD	2x HP & ATK for Wood monsters
Confusing artwork?	Yes	No
Awakenings
Fits on which teams?	+ Freyja Astaroth Spica Awoken Bastet Verdandi Awoken MeiMei	+ Sylvie Perseus

At a quick glance, it would seem that Awoken Artemis is superior in most aspects. This is true for the most part as she comes with a superior active, base stats, leader skill, and artwork (although I still struggle to tell what exactly is happening). However, the skyfall buff does compete with Australis’s active (and Vishnu ) as the two will override each other and thus diminishing their potency. You may also feel hesitant to use any of their actives as you would have not fully benefited from the entire skyfall duration. Continue reading Awoken Artemis vs G/D Artemis: A Comparison and Analysis →

+ Eggs

Efficient Plus Egg Feeding Strategies

April 7, 2016 Mantastic 22 Comments

10x plus eggs in Descends is in full swing and with the advent of 1.5x drop rate Tengu-30 stamina from the coin dungeon, players of all skill levels should be rolling in the pluses. However, you may find yourself running short on in game gold as plus egg feeding can become a costly affair. As such, I wish to show you my method for minimizing the coin cost as you are already overburdened by the cost of entering coin dungeons.

Sort your plus eggs

Firstly, you need to organize your plus eggs and thankfully, GungHo has implemented a means to sort your pluses by HP, ATK, and RCV. You have to go into Chng Ordr-> Special -> choose:

Form +6’s of the same type

From here, you can see all of your pluses sorted by HP, ATK, and RCV Continue reading Efficient Plus Egg Feeding Strategies →

Ranking Dungeons

My Crowning Achievement?

April 5, 2016 Mantastic 4 Comments

So I said I was going to wait till the weekend before retrying the ranking dungeon in my previous results POST, but patience is a virtue I may or may not posses. I spent some time theory crafting my run and where was the optimal place to use my actives. I also realized I could utilize dark TPA on every floor except Neptune (8) and Athena (10) as a means to conserve dark orbs. Of course I had to move VERY fast while avoiding heart matches except for the first floor and once between floor 2-6.

Durga on floor 1 and 10
Claire on floor 3 and 8
Lilith on floor 4 for the PreDRAs
Persephone on floor 10 for guaranteed 2 rows to hit damage cap

For the first blind attack, I revealed 2/3 of the board and made a TPA match, then revealed the remaining portion on the next floor. Floor 9 I revealed the entire board so I could see where my 5 combos and 2 rows could be placed.

I am quite happy with this result as there are most likely very few non-Shiva Dragon teams in the top 1%. This should safely secure a top 1% placement as the cut off for 1% was ~98.5k (at time of posting) which is over 4,000 points lower than my score.

Hopefully this ranking dungeon allows you to hit a new personal best.

Happy Puzzling!

Ranking Dungeons

Athena Ranking Tournament Top 10% Scores

April 5, 2016 Mantastic 3 Comments

GungHo has kicked things into overdrive by overlapping Athena Tournament, Bleach Collab, and 10x Plus Eggs in Descends. Even with 480 natural stamina every day, it may feel overwhelming as there is so much to play! With that being said, I only spent a few runs in Athena Tournament to ensure my top 10% placement. Perhaps there will be some movement as more people participate, but I am confident my place will be secured. For full reading of my initial strategies in a previous posting, please click HERE.

Due to no restrictions for Athena, I decided to mirror my success I had in the Izanami Tournament by using Dark Metatron for Mantastic. It only took a few attempts to safely secure my top 10% and I am on the verge of 1%.

Continue reading Athena Ranking Tournament Top 10% Scores →

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Mantastic Puzzle and Dragons

Byakko Haku: Which Waifu is Best for You?

At a glance

Awoken Haku

Batman V Superman Collab REM Review and Analysis

Introduction

Video Commentary

PAX East Godfest Analysis and Pantheon Breakdown

Day 1:

[Video] U&Y vs Scarlet Descended Multiplayer with Mantastic and Fantastic

Awoken Pandora or Bankai Pandora, a Comparison

Ultimate Gadius: Worthy of the GFE Title? An Analysis

Typing and Awakenings

Awoken Artemis vs G/D Artemis: A Comparison and Analysis

Efficient Plus Egg Feeding Strategies

Sort your plus eggs

Form +6’s of the same type

My Crowning Achievement?

Athena Ranking Tournament Top 10% Scores

Puzzling those Dragons