Hello Kitty Is Back!

Introduction

There comes a time in every PAD player’s life when they strike gold for the first time–or diamond, rather. It’s the first time they get a truly powerful card, generally the chase card of a collab. For me, that occurred two years ago when I received Zela Kitty as my free login roll during the 2019 run of the Sanrio Collab. Zela Kitty suddenly allowed me to clear content that was frighteningly intimidating at the time, especially for a newish player. Once I stacked my team with two more Zelas, I was off to the races. When the ability to level cards up to 120 hit North America, the first card I boosted was my beloved Zela Kitty in a slightly foolish (and expensive) act of nostalgia. I know I’m not alone in loving this card, and many of us look back wistfully on the shining–though brief–moment in which Zela Kitty was on top. 

In this article, I’ll be providing some thoughts regarding the 7 Star cards (Witch Kitties), as well as Charmmy Kitty and Gudetama (the orb skin bundle cards).

Summary: Overall, this is a collab that, while not earth-shattering in terms of shaking up the meta, does feature some interesting and unique cards, particularly in terms of farming. Coupling this with the fact that the tradable cards are relatively ‘cheap’ in terms of trade fodder, you may find it’s worth it to pick a few of these cuties up. The most noteworthy cards are Great Witch Hello Kitty, Reeche Kitty, Saline Kitty, and Veroah Kitty. Both of the orb skin cards, Charmmy Kitty and Gudetama, are useful and worth considering.

My personal recommendation is to do a few rolls if you’ve never rolled in the machine before, or if you really like the art/characters. However, for most players this is probably a collab where you should trade, if possible, for what you want; this is not a machine to go ham on, as the lower rarities cards are not impressive or terribly useful, which is unfortunate. Trade fodder for the five Witch Kitties can be found here.

You can check out the official announcement from Gung Ho here.

Collab Duration: 11/29 (Mon), 0:00 – 12/12 (Sun), 23:59 (PST)

Thank you Tsubaki Bot for the image card sources! Art and icons are owned by GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc.

Seven Stars–The “Witch Kitties”

Great Witch Zela Kitty [Evo]

• 

• 

The buffs to evo Zela Kitty are a bit disappointing. She goes from a flat 2X multiplier for Wood Att. to 2.8, 3 additional combos for matching 9 Wood orbs (now 4 total), and a flat + 5 seconds to orb move time. In terms of awakenings, she’s only been given a dungeon boost as an addition. The biggest change is that her active skill cooldown has been nearly cut in half–from 16 turns down to 9. The multipliers from her leaderskill aren’t completely atrocious, however they don’t feel noteworthy in a world of submarines and race cars. The addition of the dungeon boost is somewhat baffling–it seems she’s being pushed more in the direction of farming, however there are much better options out there. It’s hard to rationalize using Zela Kitty for farming when we all collectively lost our minds rolling for Gojo’s not too long ago, and this collaboration features both Saline Kitty and Veroah Kitty. This leaves Zela Kitty as a potential sub on Wood teams but, again, there are generally much better options out there both in terms of active skills and damage. If you don’t have Selica, Academy Valeria, Susano, or Avalon Drake, Zela Kitty could be a somewhat decent VDP-based damage card for Wood teams, however her active skill cooldown is longish by contemporary standards for an effect that is situational at best. Coupled with the fact that she is Wood/Wood, rather than having a different colored sub attribute, it makes her place on a team a tough sell particularly because there are many dungeons with all-attribute clauses. 

Cat Fact! Hello Kitty’s first appearance in the world was on a coin purse, originally sold in 1975.

Fire Great Witch Hello Kitty

• 

• 

Aha–a trend is emerging. Fire Kitty, a new addition to the REM, also boasts 3 dungeon boost awakenings, as well as 3 VDP and 2 SB. This card doesn’t feel as exciting as Great Witch Kitty, due to having less SB and a slightly longer active skill. Although she is doing a great job stirring her little cauldron, Fire Kitty doesn’t strike me as particularly noteworthy unless you are using a Fire-based swipe farming team and need VDP damage.

Great Witch, Madoo Kitty [evo]

• 

• 

Aside from having a kickass eye patch, Madoo Kitty is a TPA/10C damage stick. Her active skill, the same as Fire Kitty, provides a 2-turn 50% shield and a 2-turn delay on a 10-turn cooldown. Her active skill feels weaker in comparison to Halloween Inahime, who boasts a 3-turn delay, 3-turn 50% shield, and 3x attack boost, albeit with a longer cooldown at 14 turns. Madoo Kitty’s leader skill is mediocre at best. A low attack multiplier paired with the clause requirement of matching 5 or more connected orbs–despite the fact that Madoo Kitty is TPA based–feels a bit clunky. It mirrors the leader skills of both regular Madoo and Halloween Madoo, however neither of these cards have been noteworthy leaders for a while. If we end up with a cool Fire TPA based lead in the future, I could see the usefulness of this card as a sub, however as it stands, she doesn’t really fit into any teams. 

Cat Fact! Hello Kitty turned 47 this year!

Water Great Witch Hello Kitty

• 

• 

Water Kitty, as well as her evo, are two of the more interesting additions to the REM. Like the other two base forms I’ve mentioned, she too has 3 dungeon boosts, however her active skill and awakenings are geared toward rainbow teams. Wood Kitty still seems like a superior option for farming in comparison, as Water Kitty only has 2 SBs, unless the situation calls for either attribute or damage absorption nullification.

Great Witch, Reeche Kitty [evo]

• 

• 

Okay, now we’re talking–for rainbow enthusiasts, Reeche Kitty is a card worth looking into. To me, this is one of the more noteworthy cards in the REM. Her leader skill is more competitive compared to Zela Kitty and Madoo Kitty; she’s got a nice 65% shield, 3 million auto follow up attack, and a color activation-based 22X damage multiplier. Reeche Kitty also has a fixed time leader clause of 13 seconds, which is reasonable for both 6×5 and 7×6 boards. If you like cushier orb move time for rainbow teams, this might feel daunting, however not having to deal with time debuffs is appealing. In terms of top of the line rainbow leaders, Beach Mariel and Story Mode Sakuya are currently dominant. Although Reeche Kitty is neither Dragon nor Attacker type, meaning she would not benefit from Beach Mariel’s HP multiplier, she still looks to be a fun pairing. Sadly, I still think Story Mode Sakuya is a better pairing for Beach Mariel, as she provides more shield, more attack, and pumps out twice as much auto FUA damage, albeit with a slightly stricter damage activation clause; Reeche Kitty only requires four colors to be matched, while Story Mode Sakuya requires Fire, Water, Wood, and Light specifically. That being said, Reeche Kitty looks like a fun and useful sub for rainbow teams because of her active skill. Board unlock, five attribute + heart board change, and nullification of attribute and damage absorb for 1 turn on a 9-turn cool down seems handy, especially in dungeons where only one turn is needed like Alt Shura Realm 1. End game dungeons like Shura 3 and Mysterious Dimension 1 require multiple turns of absorb nullification, however, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re thinking of slotting Reeche Kitty into any of your end game dungeon builds–you may need to overwrite her skill by putting a Reeche Hat equip on your Reeche Kitty. She’ll be both powerful and fashionable!

Light Great Witch Hello Kitty

• 

• 

Light Kitty is an interesting card overall. This is a card purely designed for swipe farming in terms of awakenings, active skills, and leader skill. Her leader skill boosts both rank exp and coin accrual rates by 1.6, then provides a flat shield and 15x attack multiplier for matching two light combos. Oh, and would you look at that–her active skill provides two rows of light orbs, as well as a 1-turn haste. Thus, you could have an army of Light Kitties and loop active skills, swiping to your heart’s content (four Light Kitties on the team in total would allow you to loop active skills). You could use her as an initial lead for Alt Shura Realm 1 farming, though, if that’s something that you’re into. As a sub, this card looks great for light row swipe teams.

Great Witch, Saline Kitty [evo]

• 

• 

Saline Kitty is a premier card for light-based swipe farming. With a 17x attack multiplier and an additional 4 combos for matching two light combos, dual Saline Kitties means you can basically farm while asleep. If you wanted to drain your 401K to whale on this REM or decimate your stock of 6-star GFE trade fodder, you could have a team of Saline and Light Kitties and loop active skills while also benefiting from a base total of 14 dungeon boost awakenings. Because Saline Kitty has some hard hitting awakenings in the form of a 7C, a 10C, and two Light Takos (not even counting her SA options), she’s dealing considerable damage by swiping if you’re running a pair of them, as using her active skill and swiping provides 10 combos minimum. Where Saline Kitty shines, and where she has seen the most use on the JP server, is in Training Arena 3. With a double damage cap latent and the support of light row equips, Saline Kitty easily hits damage cap with basically zero effort. If you don’t currently have a TA3 farming team, Saline Kitty might be a worthy investment; however, keep in mind that most builds require at least 3 Saline Kitties total (like many popular Gojo TA3 farming builds require 3 of him), so you’d be investing either a lot of stones or a lot of trade fodder. Still, she is the superior TA3 farming option at the moment because of her dungeon boosts (netting you more exp per run). All in all, Saline Kitty is definitely one of the more useful and exciting cards in the collab, both in terms of farming capabilities and as a sub on more traditional teams.

Cat Fact! Canonically, Hello Kitty does not have a mouth. 0.o

Dark Great Witch Hello Kitty

• 

• 

Move over Veroah, there’s a new cat-shaped sheriff in town! Dark Witch Hello Kitty seems in many ways to be a direct upgrade to base Veroah, who has been a beloved button farming lead for years. Their leader skills are identical in the way that matters–a 1.3x boost to egg drop rates. However, where Dark Kitty pulls into the lead is in terms of both her awakenings and slightly lower active skill cooldown. Dark Kitty simply has more dungeon boost awakenings–3 with SA, compared to Veroah’s single one. For button farming teams, you are using base cards with dungeon boost awakenings and inheriting a ‘laser’ equipment on them; lasers are ‘true damage’, like Ra’s Necklace which inflicts 770K damage on enemies two times. While Veroah’s cooldown is only 5 turns, Dark Kitty’s is 3. This might make a difference, depending on your team composition. Additionally, Dark Kitty’s leader skill provides 500K true damage when matching one combo, so you could plow through INT-level floors with little more than a single match of three orbs. This is definitely a card that I am planning on picking up, specifically for farming tokens during collaborations and tickets during Gung Ho Collab. RIP, my beautiful Veroah; we had a good run, didn’t we?

Great Witch, Veroah Kitty [evo]

• 

• 

Veroah Kitty is in many ways similar to Saline Kitty. She deals significant damage, as her awakenings are the same except geared toward dark attribute. Unfortunately, Veroah Kitty’s active skill doesn’t make clean, neat rows; instead, she changes fire and light orbs to dark orbs. Thus, farming with Veroah Kitty requires 1 brain cell, as you’ll need to do some comboing unless you inherit an active skill which makes Dark rows, while Saline Kitty requires 0 brain cells. Veroah Kitty also does not provide a loop in active skills, which is a shame, however this does line up with the way in which each of the Kitties match the great witches they’re modeled after. Still, Veroah Kitty is a formidable farming leader and general team sub. She is capable of farming TA3 and has been featured as a sub on teams as a Dark damage stick. Her low active skill also easily allows you to either generate dark orbs or inherit another active. Overall, she’s a solid card, however if you’re looking for a premier farming card for TA3, I feel that Saline Kitty has the edge.

Cat Fact! Hello Kitty is a perpetual 3rd-grade student who lives outside of London.

The Orb Skin Cards

Charmmy Kitty

• 

• 

A new addition to the collab, Charmmy Kitty can be purchased as a bundle during the event; buying or rolling her will grant you the new Sanrio orb skin. Charmmy Kitty is not only adorable, but her evolutions are also modeled after the Key Heirs from the Sin Dragons and Key Heros REM machine (except for Miya, which is a grievous sin as far as I’m concerned). Base Charmmy kitty is geared toward rainbow teams and has relatively decent stats, as well as an inoffensive and mildly useful active skill in the form of a RCV buff and 2-turn delay. Charmmy Kitty does give full poison resistance, 4 SB with SA, and an additional two seconds of orb move time via her awakenings. There are certainly much worse cards you could use on a rainbow team.

Charmmy Kitty Evos

All four of Charmmy Kitty’s evolutions bring pretty big personal damage, useful awakenings, and powerful active skills on very low cooldowns. Their dual color typings and general strength make them all strong and flexible subs for a variety of teams. While I don’t think any of the evolutions are a must-have on end game teams, they are by no means terrible–I’m personally looking forward to using them in a variety of different team builds. Notably, Moon Heir Kitty is one of few cards with 5 < 50% awakenings.

The fact that Charmmy Kitty is the orb skin, and that you can switch between evolutions whenever you like, makes her a solid card to pick up particularly if your monster box is lacking in mid-game or end-game rated team subs.

Plus, the orb skin is fantastic and my lord, just look at the art for each of the Key Heir Kitties.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Cat Fact! Hello Kitty has a twin sister named Mimmy, who is featured wearing a yellow bow.

Gudetama

Gudetama was available to purchase or roll during the previous run of the Sanrio Collab. Notably, base Gudetama has been changed into an equip in this iteration of the collab. His awakenings and active skill scream Light Row farming. With a whopping 5 Light Row awakenings, Gudetama’s equip helps pack a seriously nasty punch for swipe teams. The only other equip that compares at the moment is Almighty Zeus Card from the Gung Ho Collab–this equip has four light rows, but also includes a skill boost as well. Other notable equips with 4 Light Row awakenings include Nanami’s Machete (Jujutsu Kaisen), Awoken Zeus Olympios (Duel Masters), Thunderbolt Lance Keraunós & Holy Adamant Sickle (Zeus Giga equip), and Emperor Thundersword (Monster Hunter).

If you’re planning to go all out for Saline Kitty farming, or you are lucky enough to roll multiples of her, this is an excellent equip for her (we see what you’re up to, Gung Ho). Keep in mind though that it might not be useful to stack multiple Gudetama equips on your team, as he has a pretty short cooldown and you may start running into the issue of overwriting your cards’ active skills.

• 

• 

Gudetama Evolutions

All of Gudetama’s evolutions share the same active skill, with the exception of Oden Gudetama (who has a cleric active). Bacon Gudetama is geared more toward Light rows, while the Omelette Rice, Pancake, and Rolled Omelette forms feature situational awakenings with overall decent personal damage awakenings (though lackluster attack stats) and full resists for Blind, Poison, and Jammer respectively. The Oden Gudetama form saw the most use in the previous run of this collab, and realistically that will hold true now as well, assuming you decide not to keep Gudetama in his equip form.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Honorable Mention

Princess Valkitty -CIEL-

• 

• 

Before wrapping up the article, I did want to mention one other card. Aside from her adorable staff, Valkitty is also a decent Daytona sub, especially if you are missing staple subs like Halloween Cotton or Dai. She is by no means a direct replacement for either of them–Cotton, for example, is unmatched in terms of damage, amount of TPAs, VDP void skill, and the full board change–however Valkitty could find a place as a sub on your team if you were lucky enough to roll Daytona.

And that’s a wrap! Good luck on your rolls, everyone!