In a surprise mini patch, GungHo ninja released several new split evolutions for various Godfest Exclusive monsters. This article will help weigh the pros and cons when deciding which path to take.
The idea with a split evolution path is to provide players with more options for customization as well as trying to push them more into a “leader” or”sub” role. You should also be aware that some of these evolutions lose their sub attribute.
Video commentary
—video goes here—
Implications for split evolutions
Having a split evolution tree appears to be the norm/trend for Godfest Exclusive cards. For the most part, it is beneficial as you are able to better customize the card to your box needs, but it can also put pressure on players to roll more of what are already the most rare cards in Puzzle and Dragons. However, these new evolutions have breathed new life into the aging Odins while providing Baldin and Balboa more viability so these are positive overall.
Machine Athena Descended was released alongside of the Skill Up rotation in the previous maintenance. As with any new content that is released, I am always eager to play as it provides new challenges and mechanics to overcome. These can require either careful planning or pretty puzzling to overcome. Most of the Annihilation tier content is catered around coop and it is possible to clear solo. However, I have neither the proper cards nor latents to do so and multiplayer also helps bridge the shortfall of my non-optimal teams. In addition, I do enjoy playing with myself through my Mantastic and Fantastic accounts.
Video clear
I was successful in clearing Machine Athena on my third attempt with the final two being done on stream. Due to the nature of streaming and my attempts to interact with my viewers along with my over zealousness to stall, it is quite long, but worth watching to learn about the new darkness mechanic along with how to deal with the later floors. —
Team line up
Myr is capable of clearing Machine Athena solo; however, it requires cards that I do not own (such as a delay on Mantastic) along with numerous skill delay resists to minimize the risk from all the preemptives in the dungeon. You also require a shielding sub to survive Athena’s <50% attack.
Mantastic’s Team
Card
Inherit
Latents
Comments
Sylvie may not combo with anyone, but her active is very powerful
Protects against skill delays
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Recover bind helps remove binds from the team
Board changer and combos with Wedding Akechi .
Using Venus for superior stats
Best remaining light card. Can overwrite skyfall debuffs.
Gadius helps offer new utility and skill delay protection.
Can combo with other heart makers to produce damage
Green Odin was once heralded as a heroic leader in Puzzle and Dragons when dungeons had very few mechanics and his damage reduction leader skill reigned supreme. However, time has not been kind to our favourite set of abs as bosses started to have multi-hit mechanics along with requiring a damage multiplier to kill. However, the past few months have seen numerous buffs to Odin that granted him a damage multiplier on top of his reduction shield. Furthermore, both Odin and Odin Dragon have received a unique upgrade to their active that allows them to fulfill a new niche role.
Video Commentary
As a fair warning, the audio came out louder than usual.
Green Odin at a glance
Green Odin God / Balance
4,299 HP / 1,303 ATK / 548 RCV
873 Total
Active Skill: 50x ATK on single enemy and recover HP by 15%. 5 turn bind clear. 5 turn awoken skill bind clear. 9 turn CD
Leader Skill: Reduce damage by 80% if HP is full (only protects against the first hit in multi-hits). Scaling ATK with 4+ wood orbs matched. Max 3.5x at 8+
Pros:
High base stats
Active has a triple role function: heal, bind and awoken bind clear.
Bind Immune
2,000 Auto heal is helpful, especially on heart cross teams
Can pair with Awoken Liu Bei to form a 28x ATK team
Unique ability to clear awoken skill binds
Can be used as an assistant through Skill Inheritance
Abs
Cons:
No offensive awakenings
Limited uses outside of his active
No Lifeguard Odin in PAD Island
Odin Dragon at a glance
Odin Dragon God / Dragon
4,000 HP / 1,100 ATK / 900 RCV
920 Total
Active Skill: Recover 50% base HP. Full bind clear. Full awoken skill bind clear. 1 turn haste 9 turn CD
Leader Skill: 1.5x ATK / RCV Gods. Reduces damage by 80% if HP is full (only protects against the first hit in multi-hits).
Pros:
High base stats
Active has a four role function: heal, haste, bind and awoken bind clear.
Bind Immune
3,000 Auto heal is helpful, especially on heart cross teams
Unique ability to clear awoken skill binds
Most powerful bind clear active in the game
Abs
Cons:
No offensive awakenings
300,000 MP price tag
Limited uses outside of his active and as a sub
Cannot be used as an assistant for Skill Inheritance
How valuable is the new Awoken Skill bind clear?
It becomes apparent that both Odin and Odin Dragon are niche at best. Thankfully, with their new awoken skill bind clear, they now fulfill a unqiue, albeit powerful role. Off the top of my head, bosses that disable your awoken skills include, but not limited to: Lakshmi, Folklore, and Linthia. Lakshmi also binds your skills so you cannot do anything about it and Folklore ranges from annoying to semi dangerous in the various dungeons he appears in.
However, Linthia has widely been regarded as a very dangerous encounter who is very unforgiving and quickly able to kill even the most resilient of teams. You are able to delay her, but unless you are using a very long delay, your window of opportunity will be small as the awoken bind is for five turns. Thankfully, either Odin or Odin Dragon can fully remove all the remaining turns of the awakenings bind and would allow your team to deal their full damage immediately, no stalling or dancing required. This will perhaps be more valuable in the Special Descend Rush dungeon or Ultimate Descend Rush where Linthia appears under much more dangerous circumstances.
Furthermore, by being able to remove awoken skill binds may be a foreshadowing of more bosses who possess this dangerous ability. We cannot know what the next wave of mechanics has in store, but it is wise to be prepared ahead of time to try and stay as close to the meta when it arrives.
Conclusion
Green Odin and Odin Dragon have been given a new purpose with their latest buff. By being able to accomplish something on one else can do warrants your time and investment. There may very well be a new wave of monsters who can also achieve the same effect, but it never hurts to be prepared early. However, due to their current niche uses as subs, Green Odin may become a more favourable bind clear assistant or as a means to upgrade an existing active.
I will continue to update this page as I write the additional monster reviews and have been quite busy with all the newly released content and real life issues. I posted this well knowing I am missing some monsters as I want to give you some information now or at least the handy reference chart for what rolls out on each day. Your patience is appreciated!
Godfest basics
When making the decision to roll or save your magic stones, you need to determine if the featured pantheons can benefit or compliment 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. If you are wondering which Four Gentlemen 300k card you should purchase, please read my Comparison Post. Lastly, to find more information about a specific pantheon or monster, refer to my Master List to better refine your search.
Introduction
The 55 Million Downloads Godfest makes a special occasion for both GungHo and players. There are not many games that can claim to have as widespread of a following as Puzzle and Dragons and the players are being wonderfully rewarded with a NA first of 5x Godfest Exclusives. A typical Godfest has these hard to obtain cards at a 3x rate and these increased values should help players secure some of their favourite cards. In the distant past, we were fortunate enough to have 4x GFE that was paired alongside various pantheons; however, during the 55 Million Godfest, there will be no accompanying pantheon alongside and we will only have the Gala of Tides. It is uncertain how this will influence the roll rates and GungHo will never disclose this information so we are still at the mercy of RNGesus.
When deciding to roll for either day 1 or 2, you have to take a look at the featured GFE as there is some overlap and the decision ultimately lies in your unique box and situation. North America may never receive the 10-stone GFE REM and if you are like me, and have been hoarding stones for months, it may be time to shake the Golden Dragon’s arm as this will probably be the best opportunity to acquire Godfest Exclusives and Monster Points. Sitting on hundreds of Magic Stones can put a damper on your progression and there is a certain degree of opportunity cost and benefiting from cards before powercreep reduces their value. I will be rolling and recording my conquest with as few tears as possible in a subsequent posting.
Another thing to consider is every roll will come out with a +50 to a single stat. This is a wonderful collateral benefit and if you are having troubles deciding to sell or fuse, I encourage you to read my post HERE discussing the matter.
Gala of Tides
Day 1
Day 2
Overlap
Day 1:
Day 1 has the lovely Sonias who despite their best efforts, are starting to fall behind due to powercreep as leads. As subs, they are wonderful on their respective mono-colour teams or assistants for Skill Inheritance. The Odins are more luxury based or niche in comparison. Dark Kali is the big prize of the day and is a vital sub on Ra Dragon . Finally, the Metatrons are falling behind due to powercreep.
Keep in mind all of the following monsters qualify for Skill Inheritance so do not be too hasty in selling dupes.
The Odin are some of the oldest monsters in Puzzle and Dragons that have been receiving numerous small buffs to try and regain their viability. On the other hand, Ilm and Zuoh are two newer Godfest Exclusives who are powerful options for their respective teams due to their full board changers.
Odins, Ilm, & Zuoh
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Notes
Red Odin God / Attacker —- 50x Dark damage to all enemies. 10x ATK poison
15 turn CD
Red Odin (Rodin) is considered by many to be a staple sub on push button teams. However, with the introduction of skill inheritance, his dependency is slightly lowered if you are willing to invest in a high skill boost base monster. However, Red Odin performs the job so well and can make farming a breeze. Unfortunately, his uses beyond a farming sub are slim as his active will only be situationally useful to bypass high defence monsters via poison. You can also inherit his skill which does make him one of the few poison cards that can be used as an assistant.
In an effort to increase his viability, Red Odin has received various buffs to his leader skill and now provides 2x HP and 3.75x ATK. This is reasonable and can make as a pseudo tank team lead. Unfortunately, his active is relatively weak and would require an inheritance to have more viability.
Overall, Red Odin is a luxury card who will not see much use for the average player. Just remember, being able to farm an easy dungeon fast does not increase the drop rates, only the speed in which you can clear (and burn stones).
Blue Odin God / Physical —- 50x ATK damage & 15% heal. Enhance water & dark orbs
6 turn CD
Blue Odin (Blodin) has outrageously sculpted thighs that are threatening to burst through his skin-tight pants. Looks aside, the magical spear Odin posses an outstanding 894 weighed stats along with a wonderful mix of offensive awakenings to satisfy any mono water team. Granted you rarely wish to mix rows with TPA awakenings and thus he only has six valid awakenings. Unfortunately, he lacks any form of utility and skill bind resistance which could place constraints on team building to help achieve 100% immunity.
Blue Odin’s active has undergone numerous micro-buffs with a reduction to 6 turns with latest patch. Unfortunately, the dual enhancement for water and dark goes mostly to waste and only adds additional turns to the cooldown. However, at only 6 turns, you can use Odin as a base for skill inheritance as his awakenings and base stats are quite strong. Furthermore, you should not discredit the healing component tied to his active. At max level and +297, he will restore 13,395 health and has functioned as an emergency heal on my Blue Sonia team.
Blue Odin can have an appearance on any mono water team due to his God and Physical typing which includes, but not limited to Blue Sonia, Neptune Dragon , I&I / Ryune, Lakshmi , and Rukia . As stated above, you can use Blue Odin as your base for skill inheritance as he has a low base cooldown along with high stats and 3 skill boost awakenings.
Overall, Blue Odin is regaining favour as a 6-star GFE due to numerous active buffs and skill inheritance.
Green Odin God / Balance —- 50x ATK damage & 15% heal. 5 turns bind clear
9 turn CD
Like Blue Odin , Green Odin (Grodin) has been receiving numerous micro-buffs to his active and is finally blessed with a truly powerful bind clear. If full leveled and +297, he will restore just under 14k health along with removing 5 turns of binds. This is quite potent and although you will rarely need to remove 5 turns, it is a helpful option to have available for skill inheritance. The main reason Odin is not selected as a sub on most teams is his lack of offensive awakenings and no SBR or recover bind utility. Thus, his only purpose would be bind clearing which is becoming less important due to unbindable leads.
In addition to his active skill receiving improvements, Grodin’s leader skill has also been upgraded to grant up to 3.5x ATK when clearing 4-8 connected wood orbs and an 80% damage reduction shield on the first attack when HP is full. This is not game-breaking, but at least allows for modestly faster clears if tackling a descend with no multi-hit components. His favourite pairing would be Awoken Ama who also has an ATK multiplier in addition to large autohealing component to her leader skill.
Overall, Green Odin is still a lacklustre 5-star GFE as the dependency on bind clearing is at an all time low and will most likely be regulated to being an assistant through skill inheritance.
Ilm Devil / Attacker —- All 12 turn CD
Ilm is essentially a Light/Fire Sonia without an ultimate evolution. This automatically diminishes their value as they only have 6 awakenings (which is low for a 6-star GFE) and I was somewhat surprised to see them in the PCGF. However, it just shows how popular Saria / Thor and Machine Zeus teams are as Ilm can almost always produce 2+ rows through their active. You are of course running the risk of a horrible orb-trolled board which cannot correct via orb changers due to only light and fire orbs being generated. I would prefer to run a tri-colour board changer as you can combo with another sub to pretty much guarantee a burst heavy board. Regardless, you can still effectively utilise Ilm on your mono light row teams and the promise of a future ultimate evolution should address their lack of awakenings.
Ilm’s leadership potential is for the most part impractical as a 36x lead is not game breaking considering you have to match two different colours and have no HP or RCV multiplier. However, you can use Ilm as a fantastic Tsubaki sub (if you can find friends who use them) as you generate their two needed colours and can achieve a higher multiplier.
Overall, Ilm is a potent mono light sub and their active can be transferred to both fire and light teams.
Zuoh Devil / Physical —- All
8 turn CD
Zuoh has fantastic artwork that truly captures the demonic beast within. He has a relatively new ultimate evolution that gave him a significant boost to his damage output through an additional row and Dragon Killer awakening. The Dragon Killer is exceptionally valuable in Ultimate Arena when facing the Dark Kali as it helps you push her out of the >65% danger zone. In addition to his offensive capabilities, he has a healthy mix of defensive utility and is a boon to all dark row-based/devil teams. You can find Zuoh making an appearance on Lucifer , Pandora , and Dark Metatron as they all focus on dark rows and Zuoh can be beautifully combo-ed with Akechi , Hanzo , and Pandora to form a 2/3 dark board for explosive damage.
The main drawback of using Zuoh as a sub is his 0 base RCV that can place constraints on recovering when stalling. Awoken Pandora teams already have naturally low RCV due to their two leaders and Zuoh can further complicate the problem unless you have heavy plus egg investment.
Zuoh can also be used as a leader and form a “Meimei System” by using multiple Awoken Meimeis to continuously chain his leader skill activation. However, the team is fragile as there is no HP or RCV multiplier and you have no defensive utility.
Overall, Zuoh is a powerful dark row team sub and his offensive capabilities and his active allows for incredible burst damage when combo-ed with another orb changer.
![[Video] Machine Athena Descended VS Myr](https://mantasticpadblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/m-athena-f.png?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
Gala of Tides 
/ Ryune
, Green Odin (Grodin) has been receiving numerous micro-buffs to his active and is finally blessed with a truly powerful bind clear. If full leveled and +297, he will restore just under 14k health along with removing 5 turns of binds. This is quite potent and although you will rarely need to remove 5 turns, it is a helpful option to have available for skill inheritance. The main reason Odin is not selected as a sub on most teams is his lack of offensive awakenings and no SBR 
Mantastic Puzzle and Dragons 
