The Changing Mechanics of the Game
Ever since annoying enemies with annoying mechanics have been introduced into Puzzle & Dragons, it has evolved how we approach dungeons.
I used to have so much less to worry about in this game years ago. First I’d get lucky and roll Red Sonia. Then I would find a plethora of Red Sonia/Lu Bu/Beelzebub friends. I used low cooldown monsters like Vampire since my luck in REMs were bad besides Red Sonia. Then I coasted through the dungeon with basic rows. On the Boss I would use Red Sonia and Lu Bu (or King Baddie) and win.
This was a strategy I used over and over again and conquered every dungeon.
Until Skill binds became a thing.
Until Resolve became a thing
Until Damage absorbs became a thing.
Now with monsters like Sopdet and Parvati being in the game, we have to calculate our damage as precisely as possible.
There have been aspects introduced in our favor like skill bind resistance awakenings, Fujin and Uruka, and no skyfall leaders. However, it is more important to understand the basic mechanics of the game how it calculates damage. Leaders with no skyfalls have made it possible to get very precise with your damage. Based on what is on the board, you could theoretically see exactly how many combos you need based on the orb enhances, rows, tpas, or whatever is on your team.
My Damage Sheet I Use To Make Calculating Damage Easier
I am definitely not a math expert and rely on spreadsheets to do the math for me. However, it’s good to understand the basics so you know what to calculate. There are other mathematical cheat sheets out there such as this one on reddit. Honestly, my head starts to hurt just looking at a page like this because I am more visual. My spreadsheet helps me to better process the damage calculation, and I hope the idea behind it helps you too.
I have created an excel sheet that helps me to better understand the expected damage output based on your monster’s base attack, how many orb enhance awakenings you have, how many orbs are enhanced on the board, tpas, and more.
I am still working on finding a way to make it easier for other users to access and be able to put in your damage, but you can use this as your own reminder of how damage works. Below is a test of the damage only Reincarnated Kushinadahime would deal if you were to reach (10 combos, 2 orb enhances in the combo, 3 orb enhance awakenings). TPAs and 7C awakenings are excluded in the math of this example since they do not apply to Kushinadahime herself.
The math shows as (2281 * 324 * 3.25 * 1.10 * 1.15 = 3,038,394.65). I have to test this number of combos to see how far off it is. I will be uploading a video to follow up with more visuals.
Just as a word of cautious, after discussing with GL1TCH3D the theory of using a sheet such as this, it’s important to note that Gung-Ho rounds even at small combos. This means that calculating how to get Awoken Ceres down to exactly 1.1% is not possible. You can, however, use this information to get a rough idea of your damage.
For example, GL1TCH3D and I were testing out Rozuel as a leader on the stream yesterday and we want to see how we could possibly bypass Sopdet in Arena 1 without doing too much damage. Instead of testing it out via practice and jotting notes down, we did a few calculations based on the spreadsheet and saw what each of our teams would do based on our awakenings.
Because Rozuel has no skyfalls, we were able to be precise. My team was able to get 1 fire and 1 wood combo and it would do just under 200,000 damage.
For GL1TCH3D, he could not match a wood, so he predicted the combos and orbs that would keep his damage under 200,000.
How Damage is Calculated in Puzzle & Dragons
Here are the essentials when creating a spreadsheet such as this
The base damage includes each card after plusses and assists. Logic pro score editor. You can find this starting damage right on the card itself in the menu screen.
TPAs (1.5^Number of TPA Awakenings)
Orb Enhances = 1+ (.05* Number of orb enhance awakenings)
Orb Enhances on the board = 1 + (.06* Number of orb enhances in each combo)
Number of Combos = (1 + (0.25* Number of combos minus 1) (Because the first combo doesn’t count damage)
7 Combo Awakenings (2*Number of 7C awakenings)
Rows = 1 + (0.10 * Number of Rows)
Any time you are calculating damage you will want to make sure to calculate based on single cards, and then add up the damage. Enemies with damage voids and absorbs will only depend upon each single card. Sopdet absorbs damage over 200,000 so your entire team can do 1,199,999 damage as a whole and be okay. If any one card does 200,001 damage, she will absorb that exact damage (or double if it is her opposite attribute).
Always test your damage in endless to make sure your math adds up. This spreadsheet can help to keep damage
Video Wrap Up
To be added.
One simple tip for Puzzle and Dragons Free Magic Stones!
If you’ve played Puzzle and Dragons for more than a few minutes, you know that Magic Stones are an absolutely essential commodity. You probably already know that you get free Magic Stones each time you clear a dungeon, and Gung Ho also frequently gives out free Magic Stones as part of the special events and collaborations that they are often running. What do you do when those run out? Read on for details on how to get a ton of free Magic Stones, without cheating of any kind.
The initial windfall
In the early game when you are clearing dungeons pretty fast you’ll amass a small stockpile of Magic Stones, and you’ll probably spend some of them expanding your box and most of the others on REM (Rare Egg Machine) pulls. If you’ve read our beginner’s guide you’ll know that it’s better to wait for Godfests to do so. After those run out, you’ll find your will pitted against the relentless urge to buy Magic Stones. Some of the harder dungeons may often require you to spend one or two stones to get past rough spots as well, until your teams have matured.
Double the fun
Here’s the trick – in a recent Puzzle and Dragons update, GungHo added the “Challenge Mode: Team Challenge” ability. In this mode you can replay any dungeon on the Normal or Technical tabs. When playing in Challenge Mode: Team Challenge mode Leader Skills do not activate, but you get to assemble a team with multiple Leaders from your friends. Depending on how good your Friends list is, this can be a fun game mode in and of itself. Want to field 5 Odins? Unleash the wrath of Gungir! Need some autoheals? Five Sirens aught to do the trick. Team points are not a limiting factor, so feel free to amass the most overpowered Ultimate Evolved team you can get your hands on.
Notice In order to be eligible for Challenge Mode: Team Challenge you must complete the Technical Dungeon Castle of Satan in the Abyss (if you haven’t unlocked Technical Dungeons yet, you’ve got a ways to go :) ).
Pro Tip You don’t get Pal points in Team Challenge mode, but you can also use your friends Leaders as often as you want, regardless of how long it’s been since they’ve played. Keep this in mind as you consider booting inactive friends. If their leader is good enough, they may we worth keeping for a while.
Pro Tip Since you don’t have Leader Skills, Awakened Skills are often the next best thing. Many subs have damage boosts for orbs or matching rows. Autoheals are also common, and are very helpful. A few subs even have increased element resistance, or a chance at immunity to certain types of attacks.
Free Magic Stones!
As if playing with BS dream teams full of super leaders wasn’t cool enough, each replay of a dungeon earns you another Free Magic Stone. That’s right – even the lowly starter dungeons you blew through all those months ago. Since these dungeons often have low energy costs, they are a great way to spend your last few points at the end of a play session. Your overpowered teams will obliterate the lower levels, and before you know it you will have 20 or more free Magic Stones. Godfests, here you come!
Pro Tip Watch for the cyclical bonuses to the Normal and Technical Dungeons. Half stamina is an especially good time to clear the Team Challenge mode on the low level dungeons, as the energy cost is so low it’s almost free.
*Note: This article features images and possibly names from various FB groups. Note that you can find the groups here: USA, US/JP, USA HG, OA
3 player coop is among us and I have to say it’s a really fun way to play. If you enter a dungeon with 2 other players you get no advantage like you do with 2 player coop, but you do continue playing if/when your partners lose. I like to call it a meat shield when a partner bravely sacrifices themself just so you can live on.
It’s a truly amazing time to live in the PAD world.
Unfortunately this experience is ruined because of the internet and how brave people get when they don’t have to say something to someone’s face.
People Using Facebook Groups to Complain about Lower Skilled Players
I’ve only really looked to see bullying on Facebook and heard about it in discord. I don’t even want to imagine Reddit since I try not to go there often.
Countless Facebook groups and discord chat rooms have become subject to people making fun of players who don’t know any better. For the sake of anonymity, I am only choosing some snapshots of the teams to give an understanding of the topic.
For more experienced players, it is obvious if you’re looking at the leaderskill that Karin won’t mix with Mel. You can’t use Karin’s active and trigger Mel and there’s no guarantee to trigger the colors for Karin if you use Mel’s skill.
Team building is tough, which is why I put together this team building article. However, not everyone knows some of these basics and they just want to try out some of the new features in their favorite game. If I saw I was getting made fun of on other groups, I’d be pretty upset.
As someone who has taken it upon himself to help players who struggle, I am tired of seeing the bad team memes.
Where to Go for PAD Team Help
Sometimes people just need team advice and they’re unsure where to go. Even with so many resources such as my own website and YouTube, mantastic, glitched, yukizgames, and padx, it’s still hard for a ton of players to know where to look.
Some people who enter these 3P dungeons with incomplete teams should be directed to some of these resources. If they are open to getting help, any one of us will be happy to help if you’re willing to be helped.
While there are many players open to getting help, some players simply don’t listen to advice. It’s this group of players that frustrate me. I spend a lot of time, pretty much for free, and when I make teams for someone or give advice and they don’t acknowledge the advice or even attempt to listen, it’s frustrating.
This is the main reason I haven’t been doing box reviews. Of the hundreds I’ve done, I’ve only heard back from a handful of people. This is why I’ve moved box reviews over to my Patreon page unless you specifically reach out and I have time to help out.
Both of these groups exist in Puzzle & Dragons and it’s important not to immediately judge them and assume that they fall into a group of people who just want to ruin your day. No one will learn or want to improve if they are made fun of.
Try to Understand Where Players are Coming From
We’ve all been new to this game and in all honesty you have to start somewhere.
While I am extremely comfortable with Puzzle and dragons and understand everything to the best of my ability in this game, the same does not come naturally to everyone.
Think about the first time you played another game. Even after many attempts you may just not understand the game.
I have tried dragon ball Z’s mobile app game and in all honesty, I just don’t get it. To me it makes no sense how damage is calculated based on which color I tap.
To others this makes perfect sense and they pick it up quickly. To me, it’s not my thing and I never really understood it. Had I taken the time to, maybe I would have enjoyed it more. I view Puzzle & Dragons the same way and there are people out there who won’t understand the mechanics no matter how you break it down.
Some people don’t take Puzzle and Dragons as seriously as our top IAP players around, and to me that’s fine. I totally understand the annoyance when you join a dungeon and see someone match 1 combo or have a “memeable” team. I get it.
However, if you don’t want to have this happen to you or it seriously bothers you enough to rant about it online, follow these principles:
1. Everyone has the chance to review their teammate’s teams before entering a dungeon.
[UPDATE] It has been brought to my attention that I am only referring to the create a room or join a room feature of 3 player coop. When you try the auto search, you do not have the ability to review your team first (which is unfortunate)
Don’t act like you’re the victim of playing with someone who’s lower than you in skill level. You don’t have to play with these players if it will bother you. Before pushing “play” if you see a team like this, just try again.
2. Try linking up with people you know know how to play
You may not know that someone with the perfect Athena team can’t combo when you start, but if you manage who enters the room through Discord or another group, you’ll have a better chance of connecting with higher skilled players.
3. Stamina comes back. No need to react like this:
Seriously, why did you enter the dungeon if you saw that team?
4. Ranking up isn’t an issue to replace most stamina.
Dungeons give 4x experience all the time now and you can rank up pretty easily if you’re below rank 800. In addition, you can just wait. I like to play PAD in the morning and use my stamina and then when I’m home from work, most of my stamina is refilled. At least enough to be able to rank up if necessary.
5. Not everyone is part of the pad Facebook group to understand that combo skip should be turned off.
Publish all the posts you want saying “turn off combo skip” to the same places you frequent, but chances are you won’t reach people who don’t check these groups.
Puzzle And Dragon Reddit Games
6. Rank means nothing anymore.
At one point rank was the sign of someone who played a lot. Back in the days of 10 minute stamina you couldn’t play a lot when you got to a certain rank and you had to stone a lot. This meant a high ranked player was serious enough about the game to spend a ton on it and play a lot. It’s safe to assume someone who played a lot in the dark ages of pad was at least decent at the game.
Today, you can farm to rank 850 just with mostly farmable subs and a Ganesha. No skill involved.
This means rank is a seriously inflated value and means nothing below 900.
If you’re rank 900+ then there’s a good chance you’re pretty good at the game for the same reasons I listed above in the dark ages. A rank that high means experience and experience brings knowledge of the game.
7. Some people are trying to take on dungeons a little ahead of their abilities.
Unfortunately there is no barrier to enter a super tough annihilation dungeon if you have 99 stamina. This means players of any skill level can enter this dungeon with you. Because there’s no barrier of completion like the rest of the game has, annihilation brings internet rage.
Concluding Thoughts about 3P Bullying
With Puzzle & Dragons far exceeding 10 million downloads in North America and only 23,000 members represented in the largest Facebook PAD group, it’s easy to see that not everyone is able to see these posts or PSAs.
There’s a reason most of my 500,000 YouTube viewers are from organic search and not Facebook. Stereotypical Internet users are closet users and don’t want to talk to others and I believe that this is true for a lot of PAD players who aren’t involved in some sort of group online.
Many people don’t want to tell their loved ones or friends they play a game and spend hundreds of thousands because it’s embarrassing. I have played pad and for years was embarrassed to bring it up to any friends. Personally, I play video games so I don’t have to interact with other people and PAD is one of the first games I’ve been able to reach such a high audience with. Still, anyone who I meet in person I won’t go out of my way to tell them I play PAD because they won’t understand what I’m talking about. I have to revert to talking about the weather in small talk unfortunately. Boo.
I did a presentation the other day at work and prefaced my talk about reincarnated kushinadahime with “well I’m a nerd so…”. That’s simply unacceptable in this day and age. People should be allowed to play what they want without ridicule.
I get made fun of too. Everyone does. I’ll get made fun of for making this post, but it needs to be said. It’s important to help each other and that’s why I’ve always taken the stance I have.
“Git gud” is simply unacceptable.
And honestly, you never know what teams will work out in the end:
PS Gung-ho, it would make everyone much happier if 3P Coop in PAD had a way to continue watching after you died. I think players who are inexperienced would truly benefit from sticking around to watch the rest of the dungeon and see “how it’s done”
Thanks so much for reading!
Contains ads
Multiplayer Mode has arrived in Puzzle & Dragons, the go-to choice for the mobile Puzzle RPG experience. Team up with your friends and tackle all new enemies!
Puzzle & Dragons is both an addictive and FREE match-3 puzzle game with classic monster-collecting RPG fun!
- INTUITIVE AND ENGAGING
Assemble a team of monsters to embark in dungeons and challenge enemies! Combat is simple--just match 3 orbs of a particular attribute to make the monster with the same attribute on your team attack. If you can chain together multiple combos and attributes, you not only increase your damage, but can attack using other monsters from your team!
- DIVERSE MONSTERS WITH INCREDIBLE ABILITIES
With over 2000 unique monsters to collect, there’s virtually no limit to the number of different team combinations you can assemble. Monsters synergize with each other, enhancing each other's abilities and making teams more effective in battle. Build the team that suits your playstyle!
- RECIPES FOR EVOLUTION
Monsters can evolve into new and more-powerful forms. Choose between branching evolution paths to optimize your monster collection to your choosing.
- BRING YOUR FRIENDS INTO BATTLE
Exchange IDs with friends and acquaintances to bring their monsters onto your team! In-game messaging and social features will also help to keep you engaged and active in the Puzzle & Dragons community.
- MULTIPLAYER DUNGEONS!
Puzzle & Dragons becomes even more fun with Multiplayer Mode! Cooperate with a friend and challenge Multiplayer Dungeons once you reach a certain rank!
With a thriving, active community and regular social events/updates, the world of Puzzle & Dragons is constantly expanding. It’s also completely FREE to play, so there’s nothing to stop you from building an awe-inspiring (or cute) team of dragons today!
Note: Puzzle & Dragons is free to download and play. However, there are in-app purchases available to expand upon your gameplay experience. If you do not wish to use these features, you can disable in-app purchases in your device’s settings.
In-app purchases are available via the “Shop” icon within the app.
Please refer to In-App Purchases for the price tiers.
*A network connection is required to play.
Puzzle & Dragons is both an addictive and FREE match-3 puzzle game with classic monster-collecting RPG fun!
- INTUITIVE AND ENGAGING
Assemble a team of monsters to embark in dungeons and challenge enemies! Combat is simple--just match 3 orbs of a particular attribute to make the monster with the same attribute on your team attack. If you can chain together multiple combos and attributes, you not only increase your damage, but can attack using other monsters from your team!
- DIVERSE MONSTERS WITH INCREDIBLE ABILITIES
With over 2000 unique monsters to collect, there’s virtually no limit to the number of different team combinations you can assemble. Monsters synergize with each other, enhancing each other's abilities and making teams more effective in battle. Build the team that suits your playstyle!
- RECIPES FOR EVOLUTION
Monsters can evolve into new and more-powerful forms. Choose between branching evolution paths to optimize your monster collection to your choosing.
- BRING YOUR FRIENDS INTO BATTLE
Exchange IDs with friends and acquaintances to bring their monsters onto your team! In-game messaging and social features will also help to keep you engaged and active in the Puzzle & Dragons community.
- MULTIPLAYER DUNGEONS!
Puzzle & Dragons becomes even more fun with Multiplayer Mode! Cooperate with a friend and challenge Multiplayer Dungeons once you reach a certain rank!
With a thriving, active community and regular social events/updates, the world of Puzzle & Dragons is constantly expanding. It’s also completely FREE to play, so there’s nothing to stop you from building an awe-inspiring (or cute) team of dragons today!
Note: Puzzle & Dragons is free to download and play. However, there are in-app purchases available to expand upon your gameplay experience. If you do not wish to use these features, you can disable in-app purchases in your device’s settings.
In-app purchases are available via the “Shop” icon within the app.
Please refer to In-App Purchases for the price tiers.
*A network connection is required to play.
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126,464 total
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*Monsters who have performed an Assist Evolution may now be devolved.
*Select Awoken Skill effects have been upgraded.
*Bugs have been fixed.
*For details, see [Others > Links > Official Site] from within the app.
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25 June 2019
39M
5,000,000+
17.2.0
4.4 and up
Mild violence
Users interact, Digital purchases
GungHoOnlineEntertainment
東京都千代田区丸の内1丁目11番1号パシフィックセンチュリープレイス丸の内Pacific Century Place Marunouchi, 1-11-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
The commercial forPuzzle & Dragonsonly shows the basic idea of the game - move orbs around for a certain amount of time and try to get as many combos as possible. However, the commercial does not go into detail about other (and very important) aspects of the game, which as a result, might leave beginners clueless, or simply confused.
The following top 10 tips will allow beginners to know more about the mobile game, as well as the important details not mentioned in the commercial.
10. Enhance Monsters
All monsters need to be leveled up in order to evolve (some don't though). The process can be a bit tedious, especially when a monster is fully evolved, since its maximum level becomes 99.
To speed up the process, there are sprites known as Enhance Material. They give a big exp boost to any monster (more if that monster is the same element as the Enhance Material).
In the photo above, that is a King Gold Dragon. He will give a big boost to any element monster card, but even a larger boost (specifically, increase the exp by 1.5) to any monster that is light element, just like him! The same rule applies to other attributes.
Dungeons with Enhance material monsters appear at random times during the day. How do you know when? When you get access to your ID, look at the third number. That number corresponds to your group:
Group | 3rd Number |
---|---|
A | 0,5 |
B | 1,6 |
C | 2,7 |
D | 3,8 |
E | 4,9 |
Once you find out, use this website to find out your time slots (left chart).
UPDATE: As of version 9.6, the Dragons are now permanently there: Dark on Mondays, Ruby on Tuesdays, Sapphire on Wednesdays, Emerald on Thursdays, and Gold on Fridays.
Check out THIS link for more information.
9. Plus Eggs
In the image above, the little plus sign next to the striped egg signifies it's a Plus Egg. It gives bonus points to one of the three stats: Attack, HP, Recovery.
- For attack, it's +10 per point.
- For HP, +5 per point.
- And for recovery, it's +3 per point.
The more points the better. So for instance, if I get two points in attack, then it's a total of +20 (but only for attack).
A total of 99 points for each stat can be administered to a monster card, making it a maximum of 297 points (99 x 3 since there are three stats), no higher. In the end, this serves as a boost to your monster cards, because it greatly increases their stats, making them have more health, deal more damage, and recover more health when they lose it.
How to get them? Well.. this is a lengthy process. You can get them as monster drops in dungeons, but only specific ones. And they only come with one extra point per stat, but there's never a guarantee that the drop will be a Plus Egg. Luckily, there are dungeons that always guarantee Plus Egg drops like, Star Treasure Thieves' Den and Ruins of the Star Vault. From time to time, there are in-game events that increase the drop rate of Plus Eggs by 10 times in Special Dungeons.
8. TAMADRAS
Cute? Yes. Adorable? Sure! Elusive? Definitely Yes! The little sprite above is an extremely useful monster card because it unlocks Awoken Skills on another monster card. But, what is an Awoken Skill?
In the example above, the three little icons in the red outline are Awakenings (or, Awoken Skills). They are basically hidden abilities, that can be unlocked with two methods.
First, you must power up a monster that you want with the exact same copy of that monster. So, let's say I want to awaken one of Siren's abilities. I can do that by powering her up with the same exact card.
The second method is 'feeding' her a TAMADRA. Once fed, one awakening will be unlocked (they unlock in order, from top to bottom). The more awakenings a monster card has, the more TAMADRAS are needed. The maximum I've ever seen was nine.
There are different types of awakenings. In the above image, they are:
- Dark Resist - 20% chance that you will not be affected by a blind attack, an attack that turns all of your orbs black. Moving orbs, reveals what they are, but having this awakening gives you a chance of resisting.
- Enhanced Heal - increases recovery by 50. Yes, it's stack-able with Plus Eggs.
- Auto-Recover - instantly heal for 500 points every time you clear at least one orb combo.
Finally, how do you even get TAMADRAS? Gifts from game developers from time to time, rewards for clearing certain dungeons, TAMADRA Village, or as very rare drops in Castle of Satan.
There is also a variant of TAMADRAS called Latent TAMADRAS. Those can be purchased in the MP shop (Monster Point Shop) or farmed in PreDra Infestation and can be fed to any monster you wish. They share similar awakenings as normal awakenings, but are slightly weaker because they can be given to any monster. The maximum amount of Latent TAMADRAS given to a monster can be five (if more, the rightmost skill will be 'moved' to the right, thus disappearing and clearing the way for a new Latent Awakening).
7. Skills and Skill-ups
Each monster in the game has an Active Skill. An Active Skill can be used as many times as you want during battle. However, each has a cool-down, meaning once you use it, you must wait a certain amount of turns before using it again. It is however, possible to reduce the amount of turns needed to wait in order for the skill to recharge.
Let's say that I have a monster card, whose Active Skill changes all fire orbs into dark orbs. The skill will only be usable after 10 turns, but I want to reduce that to the lowest possible for that specific monster card, let's say five -- each monster card has a different amount of turns that you need to wait. I can do so by feeding a copy of that monster to the initial monster. If successful, the total amount of turns will go down by one, meaning that I'll now have to wait nine turns -- five being the minimum. This is called a skill-up. I'll have to keep feeding the copy of that monster until it reaches five turns.
However, there is a huge RNG factor in this. The chance of me getting that skill-up is only 10%. Sometimes during in-game events, the chances of a skill-up are increased to 25%, 30%, or 40%. But, more bad news, the rarer the monster, the more difficult it is to skill-up. Especially if it came from the gacha.
Thankfully, sprites known as a Py (one is pictured above) will always guarantee a skill-up. So, it is wise to save them up and only use them on the rarest of the rare monsters. The color of the Py corresponds to what element it is, and which monster it can skill up 100%. Going back to the Py above, this one is a dark element, so it can only skill up dark element monsters. Same rule applies to other Pys of different elements. Needless to say, they are not easy to obtain..
UPDATE: As of version 9.6, King Tans have made their debut. They too guarantee skill-ups.
Check out THIS link for a more detailed guide.
(Credit for the video above: SanchoPanda VTW)
6. Team Composition, Synergy, and Leader Skills
You cannot just put a bunch of monster cards on your team and expect to clear everything in the game. You will fail. That team will be absolutely awful!
In the video above (though somewhat outdated), this is just a very basic example of team synergy. There are more teams that are better in terms of synergy and working with one another. It is fair however, to point out that some of the best teams with excellent synergy can only be obtained from the gacha.
In the photo above, that is one of my best teams (the sixth card is a friend helper and not one of my cards). The basic idea of this team is to match as many different color combos as possible. The more combos you make, the more damage you'll do. The Leader Skill of the first monster triggers that effect -- a Leader Skill is on the very first monster in your team; it's the only Skill that is always active.
The active Leader Skill of my monster card converts all orbs on the current board into other element orbs. Very useful when you don't have enough to make a combo.
The second monster's active skill reduces damage by 75% for two turns.
The third card reduces enemy HP by 20%, and clears binds. When a monster is bound, it's unusable for a set number of turns. Think of it not being there at all.
The fourth monster multiplies the attack of all God type and Dragon type monsters on the current team by two (all of them are at least one of those types).
The fifth one reduces damage by 50% for three turns.
The sixth card (the friend helper), is exactly the same as the first card (including the Leader Skill).
In more simple terms, I can take less damage, reduce enemies HP, multiply my own attack, and deal colossal damage by matching all orb colors -- as you can see, all of my cards cover at least one of every orb element, except for heart orbs. Heart orbs simply heal you when you match three or more.
5. Monster Points (MP)
Monster Points (or MP) is a new currency, introduced to Puzzle & Dragons over a year ago. All monsters are now worth some MP. The rarer the monster, the more MP it's worth.
- Monsters that are very common, and that you can get in a dungeon as a regular drop, are worth 1 MP.
- Dungeon bosses are worth about 10, 15, or 20 MP (depending on the boss).
- Silver rarity monster cards from the gacha are worth 3,000 MP.
- Gold rarity monsters from the gacha can be worth 5,000 or 15,000 or 50,000 MP (depending on rarity as well).
What can MP get you? You can either purchase evolution material monsters (monsters needed to perform an evolution. Though, recommend you not do this, as they are pretty pricey, and you can get them once a week anyway).
Latent TAMADRAS, Tans, and very good monster cards like Shiva Dragon, Ra Dragon, Xiang Mei, and much more can only be obtained in the MP Shop.
4. Skill Transfer and Tans
Some time ago, GungHo Online Entertainment (the developers of the game) introduced the magic of Skill Transfer. You can transfer a skill from one monster to a completely different monster. Extremely useful, right? But of course, there are a few catches..
- The monster whose skill is being transferred must be from the gacha, and must be rarity five or higher (rarity is displayed by the stars next to the monster's name).
- It must be max level (level 99) and be fully awoken (not counting Latent Awakenings).
- Once the skill is transferred, that monster cannot be put on the same team as the monster who received its skill.
- The number of turns of the monster who received the skill and the monster whose skill was transferred are combined. For example, monster A has its own skill that requires 10 turns. Monster B whose skill is getting transferred requires 11 turns. After the skill is transferred to A, it still retains its own skill (10 turns), but the new transferred skill from B becomes 21 turns.
- Sprites known as Tans are required to transfer a skill from one monster to another.
UPDATE: As of version 9.6, skill transfers are faster and easier than ever. Monsters whose skills are being transferred no longer need to be max level, Tans are no longer required, and the cost has been reduced to one million coins (used to be two million)!
This Facebook post reveals a bit more information.
3. The Gacha and Godfests
So, you kept reading this word, 'gacha.' But you were probably asking yourself, 'what..?' Gacha is a fancy, or to be more specific, a Japanese term for Rare Egg Machine (or REM for short). It costs five stones per pull, but what do you get? Well.. you can get anything from this gacha because it's random. The good news is that you won't waste five stones and get something that you can get as a common dungeon drop. The bad news is that if you want something in particular, you may or may not get it. It's pure RNG.
The image above, is a Godfest (God Festivals). Godfests are in-game events that are held every few weeks. They increase the chance of a specific pantheon (Norse Gods, Greek Gods, Japanese Gods, Egyptian Gods, etc.) by three, meaning that monsters from that particular pantheon are three times more likely to appear for you. You can try and roll for a God outside of a Godfest, but that is not recommended at all!
Also, Godfests have the chance of giving you a Godfest exclusive monster card. Those are very desired, extremely rare, and incredibly useful monster cards that you can only get during a Godfest. Some examples are: Kanna, Tsubaki, Sherias Roots.
PRO TIP: Never roll outside of a Godfest! Always roll during one!
2. Friends and Pal Points
Having friends in Puzzle & Dragons is very important. Without friends, you'll have a hard time clearing dungeons -- you don't have to know them in reality.
Before you enter a dungeon, you'll be required to select a friend helper. A friend helper will be acting as your sixth monster card on your team.
If you don't have any friends, don't despair! You'll see the word 'user' next to another player. After you successfully clear a dungeon, you'll have the option of sending that user a friend request. If they accept, you become friends! And same thing might happen to you. If you get a friend request, that means someone used your monster to clear a dungeon. So, accept it!
Whenever you use a friend helper, you'll receive Pal Points. Pal Points can be used to roll the Pal Egg Machine. Every few days, the Pal Egg Machine changes its content. Sometimes, it'll be evolution material monsters. Sometimes, it'll be enhance material monsters, but you can always get pal points no matter what.
PRO TIP: Try to find friends who use the same leader skill monster as you. That way, the abilities that the leader skills give will be doubled for maximum effect!
1. Be Active and Keep Up!
There is a good reason why this is my number one tip. This game receives new content and updates on a monthly basis. New monsters, dungeons, mechanics, rewards, and more are always being added to this game.
If you don't keep up with the updates, or don't pay attention, then you will be left behind, and really struggle to keep up. Don't let this happen to you!
Thankfully, there are a good amount of sites that you can use to learn more about the game, keep up with the updates, and expose yourself to the community, and all the content this game has to offer.
- Facebook Page. This is where you'll find all the latest announcements like updates, in-game events, new releases (evolution and monster cards), and lots more.
- PADX. A website that is managed by fans (way better than the wiki). Here, you'll find all the details about specific dungeons, monsters, updates (as well as a sneak peek of future updates since Japan gets everything first).
- Forums. Pretty obvious why this is on the list, chatting is a good way to find new and better strategies.
- Mantasticpad. I'll put it this way. The man is a genius. He has incredibly good guides, analysis of key mechanics, suggestions for teams, etc. I highly recommend that you check out his blog!
Hopefully, these tips will be useful enough for beginners to grasp some of the key aspects of Puzzle & Dragons. If you want more help, or want a guide on something more specific, let me know in the comments below!
Published Oct. 25th 2016