Tag Archives: Puzzle and Dragons

Rank 700 Box Tour and Future PAD Goals

January 6, 2017 Mantastic 18 Comments

Introduction

I hit rank 600 around July 22nd and it only took me around five and half months to acquire about 121 million more rank experience to unlock my thirteenth team slot. Rank 700 is around 286.5 million lifetime experience and even with the enhanced mediums to rank up, it still take a very long time. In fact, it took me just under 1,200 days to achieve.

I have never been a player who solely pursed rank as it does not achieve much outside of some personal satisfaction. In fact, the bulk of my rank experience has come from Arena 3 as I was around rank 612 when I achieved my first clear. This has led to an excessive amount of Pys (and a lower dependency on playing Tan Infestation); however, it has left my Maniac Quest log relatively incomplete as I lack the required pluses or Tamadras for additional badges.

This post will take your through a tour of my beloved Monster Box, highlights of notable moments, and my thoughts and goals moving forward.

Rank 700 Box tour

—box tour goes here—

How much playing is rank 700?

Rank experience has less prestige than it used to due to Ganesha, Monday Dungeon, and now the experience boost to Arena. However, it is still a massive amount of play time and here are a few ways to visualize my lifetime experience. Rank 700 is about 286.5 million experience which is equivalent to either:

4,659 Monday Dungeons
2,070 Dual Ganesha Monday Dungeons
2,367 Special Descend Rushes
1,701 Super Ultimate Dragon Rushes
191,000 Tower of Giants – Dragons of the Tower

Notable moments

My Puzzle and Dragons life from rank 600-700 has been exciting as it gave me my first taste of Arena 3 along with a few new cards in my Monster Box. Granted my REM luck is usually on the lower end of the normal distribution curve, I still have some functioning teams for our current content.

Arena 3

My first Arena 3 clear was done with a less than ideal Myr team as I was running two heart breakers along with being unsure as to the ideal set up along with how to actually solve heart cross boards. Despite all that, the sheer potency of her leader skill and gentle team building requirements have enabled me to repeatedly farm Arena 3. Continue reading Rank 700 Box Tour and Future PAD Goals →

Meta Snapshots, Monster Analysis

Best Farmable Monsters to Obtain – January 2017

January 3, 2017 Mantastic 38 Comments

Introduction

With 2017 in full swing, you should make it your New Years Resolution to acquire all the beneficial farmable monsters in Puzzle and Dragons. What will be most helpful will vary from box to box, but you should at least pursue most/all of the listed cards because they are always available and have varying degrees of value.If you feel I have missed anything out, please let me know in the comments below.

Video commentary

—video goes here—

Overview

These are who I consider to be the most vital farmable monsters moving forward into 2017 for Puzzle and Dragons in no particular order:

Rogue descends bosses

Rogue Descends are the purple/pink dungeons that have a leveling up mechanic. This means your monsters start at level 1 and gain experience as you progress through the dungeon based on their team cost. These tend to be challenging dungeons with the bosses having difficult evolution paths and a lengthy skill up process; however, they have varying degrees of usage and have become easier to acquire due to stronger teams/leaders.

Gainaut

Gainut has the beneficial coop boost

along with a full board changer that creates fire, water, wood, light, dark, hearts, and Jammer orbs. This has many applications on rainbow teams, but has the most value on Ronove

teams. Gainut covers two awkward colours along with an active that creates a wood heavy and heart crossable board when used in conjunction Ronove’s short cooldown active.

Scarlet

Scarlet once made powerful system team due to her fire generating active and haste component. Presently, she is able to act as a stand-in sub on virtually any mono-fire team as she provides beneficial awakenings along with the same helpful active that can help correct a poor board changer or cycle through other abilities.

Continue reading Best Farmable Monsters to Obtain – January 2017 →

Godfest

Brighter Futures Godfest Review and Analysis

December 29, 2016 Mantastic 130 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

The Brighter Futures Godfest features the rarely seen 5x GFE rates. Furthermore, this Godfest has been broken up into 3 days to space out the featured GFE along with a different set of pantheon monsters.

All cards rolled from the REM will receive a +50 to a random stat. Furthermore, non-featured GFE will not be available from their respective days. This means you can completely avoid the less ideal Godfest Exclusives.

The new GFE, Aten, will also be making his debut and you can read my analysis of him HERE.

Video commentary

—video goes here—

Featured cards overview

Brighter Futures Godfest Lineup
Day 1	Greco Roman

	GFE
	— No Sonias, Metatrons, Demons, & Norns
Day 2	Japanese 1

	GFE
	— No Odins, Dragonbounds, Fenrirs, & Norns
Day 3	Wisdom Kings

	GFE
	— No Odins, Kalis, Sonias, & JP Callers

Absence of non-featured GFE

Continue reading Brighter Futures Godfest Review and Analysis →

Monster Analysis

Aten – New GFE Review and Analysis

December 29, 2016 Mantastic 25 Comments

Introduction

Aten is the newest six-star Godfest Exclusive to be released and comes with an overwhelming 8 killer awakenings. Aten is not a viable leader and his main role will be as a situational sub that can deal amazing burst damage against virtually any boss.

Video commentary

—video goes here—

Overview

Aten

God
5,015 HP / 605 / 373
745 Total
Continue reading Aten – New GFE Review and Analysis →

Challenge Dungeons

Challenge 8 – Fixed Team Guide

December 28, 2016 Mantastic 6 Comments

Introduction

This round of Challenge 8 has a throwback Horus team that has us playing without awakenings through Satan Descended. This dungeon has a no RCV condition and our only source of healing can come from Parvati.

Due to the low 16x ATK for the team, you will need to either combo spectacularly well or find intelligent places to stall.

It is advisable to enter in coop and then disconnect on floor 1 to save stamina.

Video clear

—video goes here—

Floor-by-floor strategy

Horus relies on matching any 4 colours to proc his 16x damage and in a no RCV dungeon, this should not be too difficult. You are able to heal via Parvati’s water to heal active and should do so in emergencies.

The goal of this dungeon is to stall enough for your Zeus’s active to come up in order to do as much Gravity damage as possible on Satan.

Floor 1: Stall as long as possible and kill at 1 turn. Mass attacks can make it easier. Conversely, you can stall on 1 Kraken if it is at least 3 turn timer as you can use Parvati and hoard heal orbs
Floor 2: Kill on last turn possible
Floor 3: Can survive 2 hits if full health. Stall as much as possible
Floor 4: Always target and kill the lowest turn vampire. Can survive 2 hits if full HP. Can also stall on a single Vampire provided it is above 20% HP
Floor 5: Chip away at Hades every single turn, but try to kill on the last turn. Use Parvati to heal to full HP during this time. You must have more than 6,005 HP to survive Satan’s preemptive
Floor 6: Echidna to delay and use all Gravities available on turn 1. It then becomes a matter of killing before he kills you. Satan’s turn order is status shield, small hit, small hit, execution.

Conclusion

I enjoy fixed team challenges, but prefer those that give us current and exciting teams. This Horus team felt cumbersome, but is manageable with good luck on the turn timers.

Happy Puzzling!

Ch10 – Reincarnated Lakshmi

Somewhat off-topic, but I did record my Challenge 10 clear with Lakshmi.
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Random Thoughts

Reincarnated Ra Farming Machine Zeus Guide

December 26, 2016 Mantastic 13 Comments

Introduction

The concept of farming/cheesing Machine Zeus Descended with Awoken Ra is nothing new or original. However, with the release of Reincarnated Ra and being fortunate enough to finally pull a Ra on Mantastic, I have begun exploring ways to easily clear this normally challenging dungeon. Reincarnated Ra dramatically upgrades your damage potential as you are now able to achieve 225x ATK when using an active skill and matching all 5 colours. This greatly diminishes the burden of one player having perfect subs/inherits as you have more wiggle room for error as the dungeon has a no RCV clause. As such, you are able to easily farm Machine Zeus barring human error or extremely bad luck in terms of board distribution.

The original Dacho Machine Zeus team was where most of the team building inspiration came from; however, you are able to utilize a wider variety of cards through Reincarnated Ra and if both players have somewhat developed boxes, there is even less burden on the “carry” side.

Mantastic video clear/guide

–video goes here—

Original Dacho carry video/guide

—

Why does this team work?

Machine Zeus is a very challenging dungeon as it has no heart orbs, numerous preemptives, a resolve, skill delays, and a combo shield that requires 8 or more combos to overcome. All of these can be daunting; however, Ra’s kit is well suited to a no RCV dungeon along with almost all the floors being vulnerable to delays.

Thus, the weaker side is able to utilize three Nagas to delay various floors in order to both set up the board and conserve pass turns. Conversely, the carry side is heavily reliant on the correct inherits and Machine Killer awakening to deal sufficient damage. Continue reading Reincarnated Ra Farming Machine Zeus Guide →

Random Thoughts

Puzzle and Dragons Christmas Songs

December 24, 2016 Mantastic 4 Comments

Introduction

To get everyone into the festive spirit, I have composed several ballads based on popular Christmas songs and gave them a Puzzle and Dragons twist. I do not use autotune and am patiently waiting for my Grammy nomination.

Dashing through the dungeon

—dashing video—-

Dashing through the dungeon
In a Snowglobe open sleigh
Over the bosses we go
Pew Pew-ing all the way

TPA matches ding
Making damage high
Oh what fun it is to combo in
a PAD wonderland

Hey jingle bells
Shiva smells
Chiyome laid an egg
Yamato lost his sword
and Hino learnt ballet

Oh magic stones
Players moan
with their 3 star eggs
Oh what fun it is to roll
In every godfest now!

A turn or two ago
I thought I’d try to stall
but no hearts did appear
on my little board

The bosses were so mean
And multi hit very hard
but luckily I combo big
and hearts skyfalled in place

Hey magic stones
Red Kali
is so rare to roll
IAP all day now
Just to get Gung-trolled

Hey magic stones
in game gold
doesn’t have much use
sell away your silver eggs
just for monster points!

12 days of Godfest

—-12 day video—-

On the first day of Godfest, GungHo gave to me:

A 3-star Mystic Knight
Two pretty girls
Three plus eggs
Four Sarias
Five Magic stones
Six team slots
Seven Sea Serpents
Eight Best friends
Nine turns of skill bind
Ten-thousand Pal Points
Eleven Gaia Dragons
Twelve latent Tamadras

Conclusion

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with joy and Gold Eggs!

Happy Puzzling!

Collab REM Reviews

Bleach Collab REM Review and Analysis – Winter 2016

December 23, 2016 Mantastic 72 Comments

Introduction

The Bleach Collab is returning to North America this Boxing Day and comes with numerous improvements to existing cards along with new additions. Due to the timing of the release, all of the newer/improved cards are well positioned for Powercreep and we actually received this Collab quite quickly after Japan.

All of the rolls from the Bleach REM qualify as assistants for Skill Inheritance so do not be too hasty when selling.

Furthermore, all players above rank 50 will receive 1 free pull on the Bleach Collab Rare Egg Machine.

Video commentary

—video goes here—–video goes here—-

Rolls overview

Bleach Collab Rare Egg Machine Overview
6 star rolls
5 star rolls
4 star rolls

6 star rolls

Ichigo has two viable evolution paths and both are worth considering. The choice of which path to take should be made based upon your monster box and available cards. Continue reading Bleach Collab REM Review and Analysis – Winter 2016 →

Arena

Teams I Have Used to Clear Arena 3

December 21, 2016 Mantastic 17 Comments

Introduction

Arena 3 is now half stamina (and double rank EXP) courtesy of the latest maintenance update. This will allow more players the opportunity to play as it is less punishing from a stamina point of view. At the time of this posting, I have what I guess is 100 clears (and 29 Radar Dragons) and will begin to diversify the teams I have use and plan to play other interesting leaders due to the reduced stamina cost.

This post will be used to keep track of all the teams I have used to successfully clear Arena 3 and will be edited as changes are made or as new teams clear the dungeon. I will be revamping/re-releasing a comprehensive Arena 3 guide in the near future as I wish to keep these two thoughts separate for easier reference.

Just keep in mind that many teams are capable of clearing Arena 3, but will require varying degrees of luck and favourable Radar Dragon encounters to succeed. Remember, strange teams may only be able to clear one of the five Radar Dragons and would also need easy spawns leading up to them etc.

As a final note, I am missing most of the end game leaders/subs and will probably never be able to play them, but that does not mean they are incapable of clearing Arena 3. Thus, this post will only show what I have at my disposal.

I highly recommend you watch my Twitch Stream from time to time as I regularily clear Arena 3 there.

Video commentary

—video goes here—

General team building guidelines

Arena 3 is a grueling 24 floor dungeon that features some of the hardest encounters in the game. Furthermore, each floor is chosen randomly form a fixed pool of spawns that can further hinder team building decisions, but here are a few guidelines to keep in mind (I will go into further detail in my Arena 3 guide): Continue reading Teams I Have Used to Clear Arena 3 →

Videos

Legendary Remains Clear: Team, Strategy, and Video

December 21, 2016 Mantastic 9 Comments

Introduction

The new Technical Dungeon, Legendary Remains, was released yesterday as part of the previous maintenance. Legendary Remains features numerous new and dangerous mechanics that requires careful planning to succeed. I managed to clear this dungeon on my first try on my Twitch Stream despite a few surprising skyfalls that forced me to go through the dungeon faster than I intended.

Video clear

Team used

I used what is essentially my standard Myr team, except I brought along Pierdra Badtz-Maru in order to remove the locked orbs and Zeus & Hera for their gravity to bypass the final floor’s resolve. Continue reading Legendary Remains Clear: Team, Strategy, and Video →

	Anonymous on Indigo Cleared
	Anonymous on Indigo Cleared
	Anonymous on Indigo Cleared
	Anonymous on Indigo Cleared
	Anonymous on Alt. SR1 Speed Run Archives

Introduction

Rank 700 Box tour

How much playing is rank 700?

Notable moments

Arena 3

Introduction

Video commentary

Overview

Rogue descends bosses

Gainaut

Scarlet

Godfest basics

Introduction

Video commentary

Featured cards overview

Brighter Futures Godfest Lineup

Absence of non-featured GFE

Introduction

Video commentary

Overview

Introduction

Video clear

Floor-by-floor strategy

Conclusion

Ch10 – Reincarnated Lakshmi

Introduction

Mantastic video clear/guide

Original Dacho carry video/guide

Why does this team work?

Introduction

Dashing through the dungeon

12 days of Godfest

Conclusion

Introduction

Video commentary

Rolls overview

Bleach Collab Rare Egg Machine Overview

6 star rolls

Introduction

Video commentary

General team building guidelines

Introduction

Video clear

Team used

Puzzling those Dragons