One of the best aspects of PAD is having older cards receive new evolutions or meaningful buffs to help them stay abreast with newer options.
While it is impossible to have everything be truly viable along with the innate power disparity compared to Pantheons versus top rarity Collab cards, many of the cards featured in this latest update can bring additional depth and options to a given Monster Box.
This article will high light the strengths and weaknesses for the new Evolutions found within this update.
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. 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
To mark the 11 million downloads in North America, GungHo is throwing a modestly more special Godfest to mark this occasion. We have been experiencing 4x GFE for quite some time now and with only a smattering of 5x to try and entice us. However, these increased rates do not appear to be any more special than Godfests of old due to the significantly larger REM pool. It is my understanding (I could be wrong) that with each new pantheon (or GFE) added, the rates to roll a particular card go down. Thus, the increased rates are merely there to keep abreast with this “inflation.”
Regardless, this Godfest features a reasonable line up along with +33 to each roll (+11 to each stat).
6 Star Godfest Exclusive Player’s Choice Godfest results have been officially announced and will take place this Friday starting at 12am PST. All rolls will feature +44 to a random stat and only the voted GFE will be featured (which means no Sonias/Metatrons etc.). This post will cover my thoughts and opinions of the voted cards along with who I felt should have made it in, but failed to make an appearance.
Video commentary
—video goes here—
The results
Unlike previous Player’s Choice Godfests, GungHo did not have a running tally of the leader board and many votes probably went to waste on the top winners.
Player’s Choice Godfest December 2016
1-5
6-10
11-15
16-20
21-25
For the most part, the voting makes sense with the featured cards as the majority of them have a place in the current (or near future) meta. However, what is most shocking is the fact that 11 six-star Godfest Exclusives were voted in.
Implications of 11 six-star GFE
From the data collected by me in the previous December PCGF, you have a disparagingly low chance to roll a six-star GFE.
Player’s Choice Godfests should be used to acquire the best pantheon cards available and by having 44% of the featured monsters being nearly unobtainable, we have essentially defeated the purpose of a PCGF. Six-star GFE are best acquired during a 5x GFE event or the special 10-stone REM (if it returns). I understand that those events do run the risk of other GFE appearing, but if we want 11 six stars, you are quite likely to roll them anyway. Six-star GFE will greatly lower the chances of rolling a featured monster and will most certainly add to the disappointment of higher silver egg rolls.
Voting in 11 six-stars is an unhealthy indication for the state of Puzzle and Dragons. Too many teams desperately require these elusive cards to function and without duplicates of the same six-star, their team is significantly weaker. It is not a bad thing to have six-star GFE as a top tier leader, but when you require nearly a full team to be optimal, then we have a problem. However, GungHo appears to be continuing down the path of six-star supremacy as the new evolutions for the 5 MP Dragons does not advance the current rate of Powercreep for leaders, only brings Ra Dragon on-par or marginally better than the best heart-cross leaders. In addition, the best Ra Dragon team consists of 3/4 six-stars. Continue reading Thoughts on Player’s Choice Godfest Results→
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. Lastly, to find more information about a specific pantheon or monster, refer to my Master List to better refine your search.
The Cosmic Getaway Godfest introduces the new Godfest Exclusive cards Sherias and Baldin . These two formidable dragons bring both stunning art and new utility for a variety of teams. I will be creating a separate posting detailing their uses so stay tuned/check back over the weekend. Outside of the two new cards, the featured gods and select GFE will appear at a 3x rate. It is a shame GungHo is featuring the newly Awoken Greco-Roman 2 gods with the lacklustre Mechanical 2 series. However, day 2 is more promising as the Mechanical 1 is gaining more viability on mono colour teams and the Hero pantheon are still the heros that their name implies.
Gala of the Tides
jjj Day 1
Greco-Roman 2
Mechanical 2
jjj Day 2
Hero
Mechanical 1
Day 1:
The Greco-Roman 2 are renown for their double orb changer active that converts two different elements into their primary colour. This is fantastic for teams who wish to flood the board with their desired colour and generally is best on row based teams. With the introduction of their awoken evolutions, players now have a tough decision to make as each evolution offers different benefits.
On the other hand, the Mechanical 2 series are one of the newer pantheons and feature monsters who have a hard time fitting in due to a lack of synergy. Only Hamal can be effectively used at the moment and it would be best to avoid rolling for this pantheon until more cards are released or the jammer meta is more solidified. Lastly, none of the Mechanical 2 Gods have an ultimate evolution and may not for some time. Continue reading Cosmic Getaway Godfest: Greco-Roman 2, Mechanical 1 & 2, and Hero Gods Review and Analysis→
Player’s Choice Godfest is one of the most anticipated times of the year for all Puzzle and Dragoners. It is a time where the community collectively votes for the most popular gods and is a great way to help populate your monster box with numerous strong cards. In my previous post, I compared PCGF and 4x Godfest Exclusive (GFE) events and came to the conclusion that it is better to roll PCGF for newer accounts/players missing numerous key cards.
Which Godfest to roll?
PCGF
4x GFE
Frequency
2 times per year
Random
Benefits
who?
New accounts/less developed boxes
Great way to fill in the numerous gaps in your monster box
Those who are not chasing MP or 6* GFE
Veteran players
Focus is MP and 6* GFE
Those with very developed monster boxes
However, with the promise of 4x rates for all the featured monsters, my approach needs some tweaking. Due to not knowing the true rates of any godfest, we cannot do any mathematical comparisons; however, the 4x rates should imply the featured GFE (and most importantly 6* GFE) are at a similar hit rate. You may still get less MP per stone spent as numerous non-GFE are also featured, but if you are chasing the featured 6-stars AND the other featured gods, this may be the best time to roll. Furthermore, each monster comes out with a +50 to a random stat and this will help you achieve +297 faster. However, take these predictions with a grain of salt as I do not know the rates and can only guess.
In addition, all of these monsters qualify for Skill Inheritance so please do not hastily sell or feed them off without taking a moment to think if they can benefit your various teams. I also strongly encourage you to read my Advanced Strategies post on Skill Inheritance to gain a better understanding on how to make the most of your active skills.
Lastly, if you wish to read about virtually any other REM monster not listed below, please refer to my Master List which will direct you to the appropriate page.
Overview of featured Gods
The voting for North America was done rather well as we managed to include nearly all the top tier cards while having some forethought into voting in cards that will become relevant with the release of the 4 Gentlemen 300k MP cards and new Awoken evolutions.
Keep in mind all of the following monsters qualify for Skill Inheritance so do not be too hasty in selling dupes.
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 . 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.
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, Awoken Apollo 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 D/G 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 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.
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 2
Greco-Roman 1
Hero
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.
Eschamali
Gala of the Tides 
Mantastic Puzzle and Dragons 