Tag Archives: Sarasvati

60 Million Downloads Godfest Review and Analysis with GFE Tier List

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. 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 any of the Monster Point cards, please refer to my updated Tier List for help and advice.


Introduction

To mark  the special 60 million worldwide downloads, GungHo has blessed us with a rather exciting Godfest that not only features desirable pantheons, but also 5x GFE and +20 to all stats (60 pluses in total). This is probably one of the best Godfests in recent memory and will be very tempting to roll for the majority of players. However, many people are speculating the release of Fujin 3414 and Raijin 3416 who both posses gamebreaking new active skills. Unfortunately, both of these cards are 6* GFE so the chances of you rolling them will remain low. Furthermore, GungHo has a tendency to release new cards alongside poor Godfests and it may be a long time before we are fortunate enough to this desirable of a roster again.

With this post, I am going to once again tinker with my formatting in order to streamline the information delivered as my previous tier lists/checkmark reference tables proved successful. As such, I will rank all the cards featured with an explanation/justification for each placement. This will yield a faster posting for me and more condensed information as people tend to enjoy a quick reference table.

2918 Gala of Tides Carat
—-



Day 1
Japanese 1 Indian 1
3271 3386 3387 Amate Awoken Yomi 3241 3242 3243 3449 3450
GFE
Metatron dtron Red Sonia Blue Sonia Green Sonia Urd Skuld ult evo Verd
Ult Tsubaki Ult Sumire Ult Kaede 3233 Baby Satsuki 3268 Ult Zuoh 3235
Gadius Typhon Ryune Saria Sylvie Sherias Roots Sherias 3372
3370




Day 2
Three Kingdoms Indian 2
A Cao Cao A Sun Quan A Liu Bei Awoken DQXQ A Lu Bu 3068 3069 3070 3071 3072
GFE
Kali Dark Kali Sherias Roots Sherias 3370 3372 Ronove 2991
2993 2997 Gremory rodin Blodin Green Odin 3268 Eschamali
Scheat Australis Fenrir Viz Fenrir Ult Tsubaki Ult Sumire Ult Kaede 3233
Baby Satsuki

Video commentary

—video goes here—-

Ranking the cards – Pantheons & GFE

As part of my new format for Godfest posts, I will try my best to tier the featured pantheon cards along with GFE and then combine the two to showcase how strong of a day it is to roll. These opinions are my own and take into consideration the card’s value as a leader, sub, inherit, and possibly any niche role they fulfill. In order to rank in the highest tier, the card has to excel in their respective role and cannot feasibly be replaced by anyone else. This can also be thought of as a Best in Slot card and tends to have applications on the top tier teams.

Despite my best to remain neural, there is always the potential for bias and you need to be able to examine a card and determine if it can benefit your unique Monster Box. Continue reading 60 Million Downloads Godfest Review and Analysis with GFE Tier List

Farming for Skill Delay Resist Tamadras in Special Descend Rush without Awoken Liu Bei

Introduction

Skill Delay Resist Tamadras Skill delay resist (SDR) are now invading Special Descend Rush (SDR), from the coin dungeons, which makes for confusing abbreviations and a wonderful opportunity to acquire the strongest Latent Tamadra. Special Descend Rush features 6 Rogue Descend Bosses along with the leveling up mechanic to further hinder your progress. However, SDR has very predictable mechanics and is able to be cleared with a Glass Cannon team as there are no lethal preemptives. Many players are using Awoken Liu Bei A Liu Bei to mindlessly farm, but not everyone is fortunate enough to have him nor the fully invested Dioses Ult Zeus Dios and niche inherits.

As such, I wish to illustrate how Sarasvati 3069 or any other glass cannon leader can quickly clear this dungeon provided you have already invested in that team.

Video clear


My older clear from when Sarasvati was first released and required 12 orbs for 100x

Teams used

I have used Sarasvati since her release when she was a more orb hungry leader that required 12 water orbs for 100x. This would cause additional pressure to use orb changers and slows down the overall process. Thankfully, in her current form, Sarasvati is able to achieve 100x without a connected 6 water. Team A starts the dungeon and does not bring a dark sub to avoid the preemptive bind.

Team A 3069 A Hermes A Sun Quan Awoken Oorochi 3103

Team B 3069 Blue Sonia Ryune Gabriel BL Hermes

There can be many variations to these teams and you mostly have to counter a few mechanics:

  • Floor 3 requires a Delay or Poison to kill Volsung
  • Floor 4 requires a Delay or Awakenings Bind clear (aka Green Odin Green Odin)
  • Floor 6 requires either a bind clear or a buff to be dispelled
  • 6 kill actives for all the floors

Using a delay instead of a Poison or Awakenings Bind clear allows for some stalling/setting up your board. This conserves actives along with letting your floor 1 and 2 abilities to possibly recharge in time.

Other than this, it is a pretty straight forward dungeon: kill before being killed. You have 6 floors and a total of 10 actives so you will have at least 1 to spare at the end. Keep this in mind when team building and remember to take advantage of Skill Inheritance.

Sarasvati strategy

Based on the skyfall luck and locked orb spawns, you may have to adjust on the fly; however, this is the general strategy used:

  • Floor 1 Awoken Hermes A Hermes, kill (A)
  • Floor 2 B/L Hermes BL Hermes if required, only need 9 water orbs (B)
  • Floor 3 is done in 3 steps:
    • Awoken Sun Quan A Sun Quan, Sarasvati 3069, set up board (A)
    • Use 9+ water orbs, kill and trigger resolve (B)
    • Finish off Volusung as he is at 1 HP, Conserve heal orbs (A)
  • Floor 4 abuses Orochi’s delay to wait out the awakenings bind
    • Move heart orbs out of the left and rightmost columns (B)
    • Orochi Awoken Oorochi and heal as much as possible (A)
    • Remove locked fire orbs, conserve water orbs, and heal (B)
    • Remove locked fire orbs, conserve water orbs, and heal (A)
    • Remove locked fire orbs, conserve water orbs,  and heal (B)
    • Mori 3103 to remove poisons and sweep with 2 water rows and 100x (A)
  • Floor 5 Blue Sonia Blue Sonia and sweep (B)
  • Floor 6 is the boss floor
    • Remove locked orbs and make sure Sarasvati’s active is rolling to bait out the status void instead of bind (A)
    • Ryune Ryune + Hermes (may have to pass turns) and sweep

If you get an invade, you can either delay it or burst through or stall. You have to use your judgement.

Conclusion

Now is the best time to farm for Skill Delay Resist Skill delay resist Latent Tamadras. Special Descend Rush may be challenging, but is doable with an invested team and a solid strategy.

Let me know how you have been farming this dungeon and what was your set up.

Happy Puzzling!

Early Harvest Godfest: Chinese Celestials, Japanese 2, Indian 2, and Mechanical 1 Review and Analysis

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. 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 Early Harvest Godfest comes hard on the heels of the 10-Stone GFE REM . While Godfest Exclusives are tremendously powerful, you still need regular REM card support to excel and GungHo is presenting us with some of the stronger pantheons. In addition, many of these cards have received new ultimate evolutions in the past month that grant them even more viability.

Water Gala of Tides Carat
—-



Day 1
Chinese Celestials Japanese 2
Awoken Leilan Awoken Karin MeiMei Sakuya Haku 2981 2982 2983 Awoken Izanagi 2985
GFE
rodin Blodin Green Odin Urd Skuld ult evo Verd Kali Dark Kali
Metatron dtron Fenrir Viz Fenrir Gremory Ronove 2991 Ryune
Saria Sylvie 2993 2997 Sherias Roots Sherias Balboa Baldin
Gadius Typhon




Day 2
Indian 2 Mechanical 1
3068 3069 3070 3071 3072 3054 3056 3058 3060 3062
GFE
Kali Dark Kali Ult Tsubaki Ult Sumire Ult Kaede Ryune Saria Sylvie
Kanna Baby Satsuki Ult Zuoh Ilm Sherias Roots Sherias Baldin Balboa
Sherias Roots Sherias Red Sonia Blue Sonia Green Sonia Eschamali Scheat Australis
Gadius Typhon

Video commentary

Day 1:

The Chinese Celestials are one of the oldest pantheons in Puzzle an Dragons and have begun to fall behind in the current meta. This is mostly due to the dominance of heart cross leaders require board changers that produce heart orbs. This leaves them in a somewhat awkward place as their board change will rarely be as strong as someone who produces 3 elements with one being hearts. However, if other leaders begin to follow similar patterns as Krishnia 3068, they may begin to see more viability. One thing to keep in mind is their ability to be inherited onto other mono-colour teams who may be better able to combo with their actives.

On the other hand, the Japanese 2 pantheon is relatively new and is home to five new and powerful awoken cards. None of them follow any sense of pattern and instead provide unique playstyles as leaders while harbouring interesting active skills. Due to their relative unique-ness, they are fun leaders to play and are capable of clearing some endgame content.

Day 1 is reasonably strong is you are looking to play non-heart cross leaders as they offer some of the stronger mono-colour subs along with unique leaders.

Continue reading Early Harvest Godfest: Chinese Celestials, Japanese 2, Indian 2, and Mechanical 1 Review and Analysis

Spook-Tacular Celebration Godfest: Archangel, Indian 2, Angel 2, & Sengoku Review and Analysis

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. 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

I am not sure what is scarier: The title of the Godfest or the featured pantheons.

Light Heaven’s Gala Facet
—-



Day 1
Indian 2 Archangel
3068 3069 3070 3071 3072 Uriel Gabriel Michael Raphael Lucifer
GFE
rodin Blodin Green Odin Urd Skuld ult evo Verd Ult Tsubaki Ult Sumire
Ult Kaede Baby Satsuki Kanna Red Sonia Blue Sonia Green Sonia Metatron dtron
Eschamali Scheat Australis Fenrir Viz Fenrir Gremory Ronove 2991
2993 2997




Day 2
Angel 2 Sengoku
Rozuel Famiel Ruel Ariel Lumiel 3101 3103 3105 3107 d-d-akechi
GFE
Metatron dtron Kali Dark Kali Ult Tsubaki Ult Sumire Ult Kaede Kanna
Baby Satsuki Ult Zuoh Ilm Sherias Roots Sherias Baldin Balboa Gremory
Ronove 2991 2993 2997 Gadius Typhon Ryune Saria
Sylvie Sherias Roots Sherias

Video commentary

Day 1:

The Indian 2 pantheon has undergone numerous changes due to the release/announcement of their new evolutions. Prior to this, they were mediocre at best with few uses at the time. However, their new forms breathe life into their viability as leaders. North American players already have had a taste of the power of Sarasvati 3069 and her fire and water cousins also bring a fresh spin on the mono-combo leader skill to help add diversification to your boxes. In addition, Ganesha 3071 has become one of the most desired cards in the game due to the additional rank experience awarded after clearing a dungeon. Overall, they are quite powerful and now worth rolling for if you are missing them.

On the other hand, the Archangel pantheon is aging badly as their viability is being pushed out by stronger options. Uriel, Gabriel, and Michael have for the most part stronger counterparts from the Hero Gods while Lucifer has not been relevant for a long time. The main appeal is Raphael who possesses one of the most unique actives in the game that allows you to cheese your way through what would otherwise be lethal floors.

Overall, Day 1 could have been so much stronger if they had paired Indian 2 with something better. Both days feature Kaede and the newer Godfest Exclusives so it is harder to make generalizations for which day has better GFEs.

Continue reading Spook-Tacular Celebration Godfest: Archangel, Indian 2, Angel 2, & Sengoku Review and Analysis

Sarasvati VS Super-Ultimate Dragon Rush Annihilation

Introduction

Sarasvati 3069 has historically been an orb-hungry glass cannon leader who was capable of delivering spectacular amounts of damage. Unfortunately, this came at the cost of low damage control and difficulty stalling due to no HP/RCV multiplier. However, over the course of the last maintenance, she was buffed to an easier to activate 100x leader who can now use a wider variety of subs along with stronger awakenings. I decided to take her for a spin in Super Ultimate Dragon Rush – Annihilation to showcase how her new leader skill functions as well as playing through end game content. You can read more about Sarasvati in my team building guide HERE.

Video clear

The key to success is properly managing your skyfall buff as it will get you killed on floor 3 and causes Ilsix to become more problematic as you have to carefully chip him down to under 30%.

Damage output is of less concern as essentially every floor dies when you match a row plus two water combos for 100x. Thus, the priority becomes survival and active management along with adequate heart orb generation.

Team used

3069 Blue Sonia BL Hermes Ryune Bankai Andro 3069
BL Hermes 3103 summer urd Blue Sonia

I chose to run B/L Hermes instead of Awoken due to the extra health provided along with not wanting to have the skyfall buff. I regularly interchange which Hermes I bring to a dungeon and will do a subsequent post soon explaining my thought process in more detail.

Conclusion

The leader skill changes made to Sarasvati greatly eases her activation requirements as you are no longer restricted to only 12+ water orbs for damage. Furthermore, by having the ability to sweep various floors with only 3 water combos opens up potential for a wider variety of subs along with being able to easily overcome combo shield mechanics. Hopefully this video was informative and helps highlight how to effectively use Sarasvati.

Happy Puzzling!

October 26th New Content Overview

Introduction

The recently concluded maintenance came with a few new evolutions, active/leader skill changes, and buffs to various cards. You should always read the full patch notes for a full breakdown of the changes as this post will be used to share my thoughts on how the new changes will impact players.

Video commentary

New evolutions

3072 Durga

Durga 3072 has been somewhat forgotten with amidst the crazy pace of powercreep as she was at one point a respectable 25x leader. However, the other rainbow counterparts all began receiving new evolutions and buffs which left Durga behind as she had a measly 4 awakenings and the same 25x ATK. However, with her new evolution, Durga has now achieved 9 awakenings along with a 56.25x ATK / 2.25x RCV leader skill for devil types. This is reasonable, but  you still have to bear in mind that this is a rainbow team which means your damage will be somewhat diluted due to matching other colours and your inability to effectively stack offensive awakenings outside of TPA or enhanced orbs. This buff was needed about a year ago and would have given Durga relevance, but she is still behind compared to easier to activate leaders who deal more damage.

However, with all that being said, Durga has gained more relevance as a sub (and assistant) due to the 9 awakenings and active skill buff. The dual TPA combined with high base attack makes her more appealing and the double SBR Skill Lock Resist will make her a somewhat dream Sephiroth Sephiroth sub.

Durga’s active skill now grants 2.5x ATK to Gods and Devils for 2 turns and can somewhat function like a Norse God with a lower cooldown. Just keep in mind the health reset. Continue reading October 26th New Content Overview

Solo Challenge 10 with Sarasvati (7×6 Board)

Introduction

Challenge Dungeons 29 is another opportunity for players to test their puzzling skills along with creativity to overcome a new set of obstacles for valuable rewards. For this Challenge 10, I decided to clear it solo to showcase how a glass-cannon leader with the proper planning and skyfall luck can succeed.

Video clear

Dungeon commentary

I do not have a fully skilled up Amon Amon and was part of the reason I entered Coop as it would allow me to have sufficient skill boosts along with saving 50 stamina. If he had been skilled up, there would have been no need to enter via coop. If you disconnect from multiplayer, you do not receive the Quest Badge bonus (which is somewhat irrelevant as you would be choosing the +5% attack).

The reason I bring Amon is to utilize his counterattack mechanic to bypass Zeus/Hera’s resolve ability as they will strike you with a 90% health cut which is immediately counterattacked to kill them. This produces a safer run as you no longer have to worry about that floor.

Aside from the counterattack ability, my subs were mostly chosen for their orb changing capabilities to ensure I have enough Water-power (not firepower) to drown each floor. It is also beneficial to use a water team as the Blue Puppeteer will produce water orbs for free.

Finally, I used Andromeda to ensure my sub attributes do not heal the various encounters due to their colour absorptions.

Conclusion

This Challenge 10 is easily manageable with a non-light or dark glass cannon team as all the floors have high health values along with low mechanics.

What did you use to clear Challenge 10?

Happy Puzzling!

[Video] Special Descend Rush – Annihilation vs Sarasvati

Introduction

Version 9.4.2 has been released and one of the wonderful additions was Descend Challenges/Quests. Completing these will allow you to access various rushes via multiplayer on a permanent basis. These can be cleared again for an additional stone along with having easy access to these lucrative dungeons. I decided to take my Sarasvati 3069 team for a spin in Special Descend Rush – Annihilation due to the easy access to delay cards, ability to override skyfalls, ability to avoid the final floor binds, and being able to deal spectacular damage with a single active.

Video clear

Team I used

I did not use any inherits and latents are largely irrelevant for Sarasvati in this setting. Everyone is max skill and +297.

3069 Bankai Andro BL Hermes Ryune Blue Sonia 3069
Blue Sonia Mori Motanari Awoken Oorochi A Sun Quan

One nice benefit of using Sarasvati is the lower team cost on herself and the non-GFE subs as they are able to level up significantly faster which can greatly aid in the later floors, especially Linthia. I also forgot how to dual-colour combo solve for some strange reason.

In all honesty, that run could have been significantly smoother and I am confident I could min-max it better to reduce the level of risk as there are no surprises as each floor is a fixed spawn (unlike Arena).

Conclusion

Special Descend Rush – Annihilation is an exciting, albeit challenging dungeon to clear. It is not feasible to run on a regular basis as the drop rate is depressingly low; however, some people may wish to repeatedly play for the massive rank experience it rewards upon completion.

14508573_10153939330960814_1389416548_n

I dearly hope I can hold all of these drops with the 80 additional box space 😉

Happy Puzzling!

[Videos] Clearing Challenge 8, 9, & 10 with a variety of teams

Introduction

I managed to stream for a brief period today and was able to successfully clear Challenge 8, 9, and 10 with a variety of teams. I tend to blink a lot and may not be able to see the orbs with the same clarity as I usually do, but hopefully my Mantastic skills pull through in the end!

Challenge 10 vs Sarasvati

Definitely not overkill on Kali….

Challenge 9 vs Blue Sonia

Another Splashing success!

 

Challenge 8 vs Dark Metatron

Hit me harder

Conclusion

Playing with one eye is a lot harder than it looks. Eye hope eye am back to normal shortly.

Happy Puzzling!

[Video] Liberty Geist Snow Globe Challenge featuring Sarasvati

Introduction

GungHo has been spoiling us with unique challenges these past few days with the currently active +297 Zeus Dungeon (my strategy and post can be found HERE) and now the Liberty Geist Snowglobe Challenge. In order to complete this challenge, you must use the Snowglobe Rouge you received in the mail (do not fuse away) and have him be a sub on your team (cannot be leader). Full rules are stated below:

Liberty quest

TLDR: Do not fuse that Snow Globe, use him on your team as a sub, complete in solo mode with no continues on either difficulty.

Video clear


My team looks very unusual, but at least showcases ways to overcome the various mechanics. Outside of a flubbed combo on the boss, the run went relatively well.

Team roster

I used the exact same team for both Mantastic and Fantastic and only forgot to inherit an active onto Fantastic’s Snow Globe.

3069 Blue Sonia BL Hermes Hera-Is 520 3069

Continue reading [Video] Liberty Geist Snow Globe Challenge featuring Sarasvati