Puzzle and Dragons 11: Romancing the Stone

[Academia]

Welcome to the Playground's TENTH(!) ELEVENTH(!!) iteration thread for the popular mobile app game, Puzzle & Dragons!
(Previous thread is here.)

Here we gather to discuss, praise, complain about, and generally just natter on for this fun and addictive app game.

The first step is to point all new players to one of the beginners' guides.

• The Beginner's Guide on the padWiki is one; I operate there, so give me a heads up if you're finding errors! It can lag behind the news at times, however.
• A probably more-current one is the very comprehensive Padherder New Player Guide]

We also have a linked guide to using row enhancement awoken skills!

What is Puzzle & Dragons?

A Free-to-Play match-three game with surprising depth! The puzzle occupies the lower half of the screen, and the combinations you form power your team on the upper half of the screen in battle. Part pokemon, part bejeweled, part M:tG, all crack, this game is easy to learn, difficult to master and very well put together. Unlike many games of this kind, it defies genre by going for both depth and complexity while maintaining ease of pick up.

What, seriously?

Yup! While at it's surface, the game is basically any other puzzle game ever, the math behind damage output, the dungeon design, the team composition component and metagame, and the uniquely free-wheeling capacity of the puzzle make Puzzle and Dragons a stand-out despite it's terrible app graphic. It has surprisingly deep and fulfilling long-term play (at the moment, I've been playing for over 600 days), and new content comes out regularly.

So what do I need to know to get started?

• First, the game itself! PAD, P&D or puzzle and dragons should all be sufficient searches to download it. It operates on Android and iOS devices, with mixed results on running it elsewhere.
• Second, the beginner's guides will help a lot. You start out with one fast freebie pull on the game's real lure, the Rare Egg Machine, and a good pull here can save you a lot of frustration and also make the game much more fun. It's suggested that after you run the game a bit and get comfortable playing it, you "reroll" by uninstalling and reinstalling the application. Then you run through the tutorial again and do the free pull again, repeating until you snag a keeper. This is not half as bad as it sounds; it's pretty brainless, and goes by pretty quickly. If you can time your re-rolling to line up with a biweekly Godfest, you can save yourself even more frustration!
• Third, friends. Good friends with compatible Leader skills are critical. When you enter a dungeon, you can bring a friend's leader with you as a member of your team; their leader skill operates alongside your own. We have a lot of great, experienced players here, with a lot of solid leaders. We can carry you when your own leader can't. Managing your leader and picking the right friend's leader is a critical part of the metagame. The GitP list is at the bottom of this thread; feel free to send any of us requests. If you have something like "@GitP" in your username, we'll know you're from this forum, and will accept your friend requests more readily!
• Fourth, be stingy with stones! Magic stones are the in-app-purchase (IAP) resource, and while you get them for free pretty quickly early on, and even more on a regular basis, you'll regret being too free with their use early on. The four rules of magic stones are (1) Never pull the gold dragon Rare Egg Machine outside of a godfest; (2) You should have two monster boxes for every rank you have, and spending stones to Increase Capacity is almost never a bad idea; (3) It's generally not worth a stone to continue in a dungeon or refill your stamina until you have at least 100 stamina, and (4) No, really, don't pull the REM outside of a godfest, seriously.

As a closing note, Puzzle & Dragons is an immensely popular game, and there are a ton of fan-run sites for information. Most of them stay fairly up-to-date, so just go with what you prefer.

• The PAD Wikia is volunteer-run, and can get out-of-date, but I think it has the friendliest format for finding information. It also has a ton of great guides and advice.
• PuzzleDragonX is generally the best-updated site out there, with the most current news and most complete data. It's the community's go-to resource for data, but doesn't have much in the way of advice.
• PADHerder is a tool to track and manage your monster box, with some neat automated ways to update. It also has some good information pages.
• PADGuide (Android / iPhone) is an awesome app which keeps very current with all data and can even alert you to Urgent! dungeons. (HIGHLY recommended; I can't live without it.)
• The Puzzle and Dragons Forum is dedicated to PAD and has some pretty good (and some very old) guides.
• The PAD Global Facebook group is for talking about PAD stuff on ... well, Facebook. It's a solid way to get more compatible friends, too, but it's not always nice to newbies.

Spoiler: Puzzle and Dragons GitP Friend List!

Show

User	In-Game ID	Descended! Leads	Farming Leads
Obryn	dwarfSA@PG 357,549,260
Diego Havoc	Diego@GitP 376,879,256
Starwulf	Starwulf 319,762,282
SiuiS	SiuiS@GitP 307,676,270
Jasmine	Jasmine 301,790,222
Academia	Aca@GitP 350,076,269
Aramul	Aram@GitP 314,795,270
Leviticus	Levi@GitP 367,459,299
Erloas	ErloasGitP 325,699,229 LoraesGitP 395,991,230
Kauai	Kauai@gitp 364,995,253
Tyckspoon	Tyck@GitP 305,397,237
Blade7	Blade@GitP 387,372,268
Klaatu B. Nikto	KBN@GitP 336,576,284
137ben	Snes4@GitP 336,616,397
Otravyat	Otra@GitP 329,820,344
Fax Celestis	Fax@GitP 372,092,294
Soepvork	Soepv@GitP 333,581,245
Sallera	Sallera 307,636,315 Kiminosei 373,137,360
Quietus	Quietus 392,538,393
Baka Nikujaga	Baka 346,216,306

thanks to SiuiS, whose OP I totally ripped off.

I ripped off the previous 10 threads! =P

[Jasmine]

If you want to be updated/added, post your leads (up to two each) that you use for descends and for farming. A PadHerder can be included as well.

Spoiler: Puzzle and Dragons GitP Friend List!

Show

User	In-Game ID	Descended! Leads	Farming Leads
Obryn	dwarfSA@PG 357,549,260
Diego Havoc	Diego@GitP 376,879,256
Starwulf	Starwulf 319,762,282
SiuiS	SiuiS@GitP 307,676,270
Jasmine	Jasmine 301,790,222
Academia	Aca@GitP 350,076,269
Aramul	Aram@GitP 314,795,270
Leviticus	Levi@GitP 367,459,299
Erloas	ErloasGitP 325,699,229 LoraesGitP 395,991,230
Kauai	Kauai@gitp 364,995,253
Tyckspoon	Tyck@GitP 305,397,237
Blade7	Blade@GitP 387,372,268
Klaatu B. Nikto	KBN@GitP 336,576,284
137ben	Snes4@GitP 336,616,397
Otravyat	Otra@GitP 329,820,344
Fax Celestis	Fax@GitP 372,092,294
Soepvork	Soepv@GitP 333,581,245
Sallera	Sallera 307,636,315 Kiminosei 373,137,360
Quietus	Quietus 392,538,393
Baka Nikujaga	Baka 346,216,306
Flare'90	Flare@Gitp 325,249,325
Anarion	Anar@gitp 365,764,335
firedaemon33	Firedaemon 380,663,332
Meta	iNuzzle@/r 388,412,339

[Academia]

LMAO that's a bit Athena Jasmine! I can probably do it by uploading em all onto tinypic... or something.

[SiuiS]

You can't. The source file needs to be modified. That's why our avatars exploded back when.

[Quietus]

I would just like to say that I apparently had some good luck with Winron today. I've spent about four stones doing the 40-stamina level of wind dragon dungeon, got one drop from their floor every time (treant sometimes, but still) and have given Liu Bei his last four skill ups. Now I need to decide whether to give Draggie my Woodpy, or GZL.

[Levictus]

Oy. "Double" posting because I'm a noob.

Also 5x techs again. Look like I'm gonna have a happy tunabowl. Or maybe I should max Hades or wonder woman. Or athena or verche. Hm.

I'm curious, what are you running on mondays for the +'s? Blazing fire with an echidna team? Coin Dungeons?
I'm looking to get back into the Plus farming, but playing so casually for so long, I'm unsure where the best rates are anymore.

[Quietus]

Oy. "Double" posting because I'm a noob.



I'm curious, what are you running on mondays for the +'s? Blazing fire with an echidna team? Coin Dungeons?
I'm looking to get back into the Plus farming, but playing so casually for so long, I'm unsure where the best rates are anymore.

Personally, I have been doing mechdragon runs. I've been working on skilling up Canopus, and it's not unheard of to get multiple + per run. King of the gods is best if you can do it, though, particularly on weekends.

[Otravyat]

Oy. "Double" posting because I'm a noob.



I'm curious, what are you running on mondays for the +'s? Blazing fire with an echidna team? Coin Dungeons?
I'm looking to get back into the Plus farming, but playing so casually for so long, I'm unsure where the best rates are anymore.

My bet would be Forbidden Tower on challenge mode. Just a guess though.

Jasmine -- I just max skilled my Kirin, going 5/8 on skill ups total. I apologize. 13 attack + eggs and I will have her hypermaxed.

[Jasmine]

I'm curious, what are you running on mondays for the +'s? Blazing fire with an echidna team? Coin Dungeons?
I'm looking to get back into the Plus farming, but playing so casually for so long, I'm unsure where the best rates are anymore.

If you are under rank 300, KoG/KoG+ is the best for effective stamina (aka taking into account rankups). KoG+ meaning the coin dungeons which have similar or higher rank/stam - they are harder but give pees.
After that, in terms of +/stam, Forbidden Tower Door of LS>Tier 3 Techs> Blazing Fire>Mechs.
Assuming you can sweep every floor without thinking time, +/time spent playing is exactly the reverse. Mechs>Blazing>TT3>FT4>KoG.

I farm FT4 because I have the second fastest team in the game for clearing it. Also I don't have to look at the screen for 45 out of the 50 seconds I need per run.

Otra you're taking up everyone's luck. Especially mine.

[Otravyat]

Otra you're taking up everyone's luck. Especially mine.

Hence the apology.

[Sallera]

I like the new list. Kiminosei should be U&Y descend, DQXQ farming, though.

Edit: Huh. If PADX is right, no archangels quite yet after all. Pity, but at least I have more time to 'save up.'

[Academia]

If you want to be updated/added, post your leads (up to two each) that you use for descends and for farming. A PadHerder can be included as well.

Spoiler: Puzzle and Dragons GitP Friend List!

Show

User	In-Game ID	Descended! Leads	Farming Leads
Obryn	dwarfSA@PG 357,549,260
Diego Havoc	Diego@GitP 376,879,256
Starwulf	Starwulf 319,762,282
SiuiS	SiuiS@GitP 307,676,270
Jasmine	Jasmine 301,790,222
Academia	Aca@GitP 350,076,269
Aramul	Aram@GitP 314,795,270
Leviticus	Levi@GitP 367,459,299
Erloas	ErloasGitP 325,699,229 LoraesGitP 395,991,230
Kauai	Kauai@gitp 364,995,253
Tyckspoon	Tyck@GitP 305,397,237
Blade7	Blade@GitP 387,372,268
Klaatu B. Nikto	KBN@GitP 336,576,284
137ben	Snes4@GitP 336,616,397
Otravyat	Otra@GitP 329,820,344
Fax Celestis	Fax@GitP 372,092,294
Soepvork	Soepv@GitP 333,581,245
Sallera	Sallera 307,636,315 Kiminosei 373,137,360
Quietus	Quietus 392,538,393
Baka Nikujaga	Baka 346,216,306

You are to F-ing OP Jasmine <3. Take a bow.

Geezes the list of gods per godfest just keep on getting bigger....

I give you guys all much luck if you are pulling! Jasmine pulling?

Finally got both of my SunQuan to UEVO and max skilled. One of them is almost hyper maxed (My very first!).

I freaking need Light EXP!!!! Arg. Kalis and Anubis team waiting .... I have 13 stones so far to use on getting exp....

LKali x2
Indra x1
Apocalypse x1
-----------------
Roughly 15 mil worth of light exp since one kali is already at lv74. I wonder if I'll make it if I just do off coloring feeds....

Also need 4 mil of dark exp for Anubis.

None essentials is 9 mil exp for DMeta and Hanzo.

----------------

Not even gonna think about my fire exp needed x.x.....

[Starwulf]

Just marking the new thread so I don't forget about it. Horrifically sick at the moment, vomiting and the other stuff and intense stomach aches. Not sure if it's the flu or if it's food poisoning. Leaning towards Food poisoning because don't have a fever >< Alright, that's all the energy I have, hope everyone is doing well!

[Fax Celestis]

Time stamp: today is day 392. Maybe I'll hit day 400 for godfest.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Ultimate Goemon art

Spoiler

Show

Hot damn.

Just marking the new thread so I don't forget about it. Horrifically sick at the moment, vomiting and the other stuff and intense stomach aches. Not sure if it's the flu or if it's food poisoning. Leaning towards Food poisoning because don't have a fever >< Alright, that's all the energy I have, hope everyone is doing well!

Hope you feel better soon!

[Levictus]

Just marking the new thread so I don't forget about it. Horrifically sick at the moment, vomiting and the other stuff and intense stomach aches. Not sure if it's the flu or if it's food poisoning. Leaning towards Food poisoning because don't have a fever >< Alright, that's all the energy I have, hope everyone is doing well!

Yeah if you don't have a fever I wouldn't suspect the Flu. Make sure you're keeping a close eye on it though, if you develop any flu-like symptoms (fever and muscle aches being the big two), take some Tamiflu (or another similar OTC antiviral). If you take it proactively enough, it should help curb the course of the virus.

Hope you feel better!

[Fax Celestis]

Godfest announced, starts tomorrow, runs through Sunday. Japanese 1, Japanese 2, Heroes.

I'll YOLOpull because there's some stuff in there I could use, but I'm not dying for any of it really. Too bad it's not Egypt 2

[Erloas]

I'm thinking Goemon is going to be sub-dragon. Which will still not give me any better idea if I want to level and ultimate him or Yomato more. Although maybe I'll just accept that I have to make a red dragon team.

We're getting a light/dark noel egg in a couple days.

No idea what orb I want from the gift, I might just take the first thing because I'm not even sure what monsters I even want to look at next.

[Fax Celestis]

I'm thinking Goemon is going to be sub-dragon. Which will still not give me any better idea if I want to level and ultimate him or Yomato more. Although maybe I'll just accept that I have to make a red dragon team.

I'm hoping he ends up R/L Physical/Dragon.

[Soepvork]

I guess you can add a (soon to be UVOd?) Lu Bu for me as a farming lead...

Similarly, I will UVO my DQXQ as well as soon as those are released, (probably into DQ).

[Sallera]

Yeah, with the change to XQ's LS, I just don't see much benefit in going with her over DQ. I tried putting together a light-heavy healer team that maintained colour coverage, and it seemed like it'd probably be a downgrade. Losing water coverage (and water sub, for U&Y) is about the only problem, but I think the bind clear and skill lock resist make up for it, especially since L/L means she won't get hit by the water binds that'd be most problematic.

No rolls for me this weekend. Phone account's done rolling for a long time, probably (spending all my stones on Awoken Ceres and preparing for Awoken Parvati), and tablet account's saving for new angels.

[obryn]

So I've charged through Challenge Dungeons 1-8, as usual. I am waiting for someone with another Awoken Hades to come online to try out Challenge 9. Not sure it'll work ... but eh, it's worth a shot.

I love getting most Piis, but my Blue monsters are so pitiful I now have a max skill Aquaman. Don't get me wrong - it makes my Kirin team happy - but after this we're down to skilling up ... uhm ... uh ... you know I actually have no idea...

[SiuiS]

Ultimate Goemon art

Spoiler

Show

Hot damn.

Hope you feel better soon!

Yeah, that looks like a buff, Japanese Raz Fox XD

I'm thinking Goemon is going to be sub-dragon. Which will still not give me any better idea if I want to level and ultimate him or Yomato more. Although maybe I'll just accept that I have to make a red dragon team.

We're getting a light/dark noel egg in a couple days.

No idea what orb I want from the gift, I might just take the first thing because I'm not even sure what monsters I even want to look at next.

He may be going divine. That would be a pants-kick, wouldn't it?

The official Facebook announcement actually said that anyone who already used their snow globe before the XP upgrade will get a replacement. If we're lucky, we all get one. But it may be targeted compensation.

I personally grabbed Seiryuu. Not on purpose; Genbu was a choice as well (because I need three of them for Parvati ) but I got Seiryuu before Genbu so *shrug*.

Now all I need is another extreme-LY large metal dragon so I can evolve Reine because my dumb ass fed him to chaos dragon knight in hopes of rocking Gaia's world.

Turns out me and her are more alike than I thought and I need to bring athletic chicks and flowing skirts to turn her head <_<"

Obryn: I've decided Piis are like TAMadra. We are going to get a lot of them over time, so screw it. Instead of saving them for exotic, difficult to skil up monsters, I'm going to use them on monsters I don't want to wait or hassle with. Yinping got my flampy. Light Piis are going to sandalphon because **** that dungeon. Etc.

Have you maxed out Orochi yet? He's blue.

[obryn]

Obryn: I've decided Piis are like TAMadra. We are going to get a lot of them over time, so screw it. Instead of saving them for exotic, difficult to skil up monsters, I'm going to use them on monsters I don't want to wait or hassle with. Yinping got my flampy. Light Piis are going to sandalphon because **** that dungeon. Etc.

Have you maxed out Orochi yet? He's blue.

Oh yeah, Orochi is maxed out. That Mask dungeon was so easy I didn't want to bother at all, and I just got him skilled up the old fashioned way.

But yes, I use them for whatever's important. Leilan got a few of my Flampys (until I started skilling up Awoken Hino) and Ceres #2 (G/D) has been getting my greenpys. Badpys were going to Batman but are now going to Awoken Hades. (Shynypys went to Hello Kitty because I actually use her and lol.) The problem is, Aquaman was the only blue-main monster who sees regular use on any of my teams. Karin may be next; I dunno yet. She's as good a candidate as any, I suppose!

e: This also means that my 2nd Venus - candidate for Awoken Venus - will probably get my Noel Bleu. I don't really want to feed him to Starling, you know?

[Jasmine]

Hence the apology.

Interesting to note that even if we add our rates together, we'd end up with 10/77, which is still significantly under average...

I like the new list. Kiminosei should be U&Y descend, DQXQ farming, though.

Do you want me to put up 1 for each account, or just your main accounts leads? 3 farming leads makes the table look funny :P

You are to F-ing OP Jasmine <3. Take a bow.

I give you guys all much luck if you are pulling! Jasmine pulling?

Finally got both of my SunQuan to UEVO and max skilled. One of them is almost hyper maxed (My very first!).

I freaking need Light EXP!!!! Arg. Kalis and Anubis team waiting .... I have 13 stones so far to use on getting exp....

Thanks haha. Just finished a final, so slacked off for a day.

Jap1, Jap2, Heroes...Would be happy with: Orochi, Susano, Ama, Yomi. Kushi, Iza. Perseus, Wukong, Pandora.
Eh: Hino, Ame, Oku, Yamato.
Dupes: U&Y, U&Y, Andromeda.
Bonus: Water Gala = Muse.

I'm actually really tempted to pull, but I'm low on stones after the 50 stone Muse fiasco. I'd like to go roll till not gold, but I'll probably have to stick with just one try

Grats on almost hyper :)

Is this a bad time to say I have 2/2/1/2/3 snowglobes?

Time stamp: today is day 392. Maybe I'll hit day 400 for godfest.

Cool trivia - you started on the day tamas started being given out like candy. Which is exactly 50 days after I started. I know this because the first Tama is still in my mailbox, unopened.

Yeah, with the change to XQ's LS, I just don't see much benefit in going with her over DQ. I tried putting together a light-heavy healer team that maintained colour coverage, and it seemed like it'd probably be a downgrade. Losing water coverage (and water sub, for U&Y) is about the only problem, but I think the bind clear and skill lock resist make up for it, especially since L/L means she won't get hit by the water binds that'd be most problematic.

What's your DQ team? If you have valk/echi on there, that's 4/6 healers already...

So I've charged through Challenge Dungeons 1-8, as usual. I am waiting for someone with another Awoken Hades to come online to try out Challenge 9. Not sure it'll work ... but eh, it's worth a shot.

I love getting most Piis, but my Blue monsters are so pitiful I now have a max skill Aquaman. Don't get me wrong - it makes my Kirin team happy - but after this we're down to skilling up ... uhm ... uh ... you know I actually have no idea...

I put up my max level/awoken/skill AHades for you. No plus though.

Spoiler: Speaking of max skilled DC heroes...

Show

[flare'90]

Academia, can you add me as well on the friend list?

Spoiler: Game Data

Show

User: Flare'90
In-game Handle: Flare@Gitp
Descend! Lead:Extant Red Dragon Caller, Sonia
Farming Lead: Extant Red Dragon Caller, Sonia

[obryn]

I put up my max level/awoken/skill AHades for you. No plus though.

Mine doesn't have many either. Thanks!

[Sallera]

Do you want me to put up 1 for each account, or just your main accounts leads? 3 farming leads makes the table look funny :P

Oh, didn't realize there were three (was looking at it on a phone screen ). You can just take Athena off entirely, I'm not finished that team yet anyway.

What's your DQ team? If you have valk/echi on there, that's 4/6 healers already...

Well, it's currently U&Y/GZL/Apollo/Echidna, but I was working toward Apollo/Athena/Thoth/[something] to try and get more damage. Granted, DQ would mean I'd need water to fill the hole, which with my currently available subs would be Sandy (not skilled or leveled at all, but gets the light row), mini-SQ or U&Y... seems less useful the more I look at it.

I mean, I guess I could just stop trying to build the light focus. Leave light to Athena, go XQ//U&Y/mini-SQ/Dill/Echi or something. But neither team looks likely to end up as anything special, so it might be best to just decide based on which makes a better U&Y sub, and I think DQ's extra awakenings win out over XQ's base damage.

[Jasmine]

Academia, can you add me as well on the friend list?

Spoiler: Game Data

Show

User: Flare'90
In-game Handle: Flare@Gitp
Descend! Lead:Extant Red Dragon Caller, Sonia
Farming Lead: Extant Red Dragon Caller, Sonia

I got you.

Mine doesn't have many either. Thanks!

If you had asked 12 hours earlier I would have put the +218 from Wonder Woman on Hades. I couldn't pick between the two and Tunabowl anyways :P


PS: Funniest Anoobis video I've watched.

[Fax Celestis]

Cool trivia - you started on the day tamas started being given out like candy. Which is exactly 50 days after I started. I know this because the first Tama is still in my mailbox, unopened.

Haha, really? That would explain why I had one on my team for a bit.

I actually fed off a few Tamas back at the beginning just for their XP. I now regret it, but back then it was worth it.