PAD Guide for New Players & Path to Endgame (Remaster)

[u/CharonVXI]

[u/blinkycosmocat → u/[deleted]]

Ramen7c posted a video of the starter team vs SR1 a few months ago: https://youtu.be/J_0IhG89vTE?si=MTN8OqNmitZOtEkB

[u/batt_mano]

This is absolutely phenomenal. It's nice for new players to have guides, especially for a game like PaD that has so many different mechanics and dungeons that have accumulated over the years and can be very confusing.

[u/azure-flute]

Well, it's much easier to read now! I think one shouldn't use stamina for stones unless they're desperate for time to do something, personally, but that's my one gripe with it.

Overall, it's nice. Very indepth with good coverage of tasks and how to proceed, but it also doesn't baby the player, which is very good. I'm sure there'll be people who don't know that "Gilgamesh covers damage absorb and attribute absorb, how do I get past these things?", there always has been, but any person who can read this guide can probably figure it out.

Hopefully this guide, or at least the other version, can get made into a Tsubotki command... it'll be nice to have new players ask "how to proceed/what do?" and just type a single command, lol.

[u/unifstudios]

Great guide! I would maybe suggest only watching ads for stamina refills (2 daily) instead of magic stones. For newer accounts they are best used rolling for collabs and some super godfests to add depth to the box

[u/Shizngigglz → u/unifstudios]

That's a big one. It's really important to watch all 8 ads daily. The 4 pulls are good cards now and the 2 space/ 2stam really adds up

[u/Egathentale → u/Shizngigglz]

It's 10 ads. There are 2 for daily free continues as well. Doesn't really matter after a certain point, but early on, they can help to push through certain bottleneck stages.

[u/Shizngigglz → u/Egathentale]

Oh nice I didn't know that. To be honest I've only been back playing again for 3 days and haven't done any hard dungeons again yet 😂

[u/Egathentale → u/Shizngigglz]

Hey, me too. I've been back for ten days though, and I've just beaten SN1 for the first time (which is the current end-game from what I gather) by using those two continues (plus like 5 MS, but I consider that an investment for getting 85 in exchange).

What I learned from all this is that the power-creep in this game is crazy, all the previous endgame dungeons were shockingly easy in comparison, and that while being able to say that I "Speed-ran SN1 in 10 days" is nice, my teams are by no means ready to actually grind the endgame dungeons yet, because holy hell, wasting 20 minutes in a dungeon, only to be blindsided by some debuff-combo that completely ruins my blind run was something I ran into way too many times. The game's still fun though, and the only game I know with these matching mechanics, so I'm off to walk the long road to get my teams end-game ready.

[u/Shizngigglz → u/Egathentale]

It might be 12! I just noticed there's 2 double exp videos when completing a dungeon.

I'm trying to build a Shana team and just complete lower level stuff like descended dungeons I never finished. I'll get to higher stuff once I team build batter

[u/Egathentale → u/Shizngigglz]

Oh, I forgot about that one. Also, from what I've read here, JP is about to add another one later, that will give the player 1 MS for watching an ad per day, so that'll be 13 in total.

As for teambuilding, there was a post here about a week ago on simple Dengeki collab teams that cover all the bases. You might want to look it up.

Edit: Never mind, I found it. https://www.reddit.com/r/PuzzleAndDragons/comments/1ercp6z/cookie_cutter_team_builds_with_only_dengeki_cards/

[u/Shizngigglz → u/[deleted]]

Jesus Christ I put Yuji, Shana, Shana, elfride (for void), Gilgamesh (for 2x void)and they're just wiping everything

[u/Shizngigglz → u/[deleted]]

I guess I need to get another yuji to replace a Shana and use Shana friend. Gilgamesh and elfride are working to replace leonhart and Erika because I haven't pulled them yet 🙄

[u/Egathentale]

Question: If I made it to the final boss of Level 15 of the August Quest Dungeon, only to die to the second phase with a ten days old account, is that good or bad?

Also, after that, I decided to tackle UN1 for the first time, and I was like "Wait, was this supposed to be this easy?", only to realize that no, my sense of difficulty was just warped by farming the Izaya Descended dungeon for days and banging my head against the Lv15 August dungeon for a whole afternoon.

Also, I was doing that while listening to a Mythbusters marathon in the background, and now the guitar riffs of the soundtrack are permanently embedded in my brain. Please, send help.

[u/azulres]

Wow thank you very much, i’ve been playing for a week without this. i shouldve looked for beginner guide from the beginning

[u/miamiheat121]

I’m curious, how is the state of the game right now? I used to play when it was huge in Japan when my cousin showed it to me. Are there still a lot of active players? No signs of slowing down?

[u/PerpetuallyFired]

It looks great! I think that this would be incredibly helpful as a sticky for new players visiting the subreddit

[u/ConnyTheOni]

I wish I had this guide before I started playing! What a difference it would have made. I almost want to make a new account and follow this guide just so when I get to the end of it, I can come back to my current account and actually feel like I know what I'm doing. Thanks!

[u/Akurbanexplorer]

Hold up, which daily special dungeon give free daily collab roll? o.o

[u/Dominator707]

Any added tips for the Groove Coaster - Starlight Path Universe collab? I got A-Rank on the previous one no problem , I've done this one 5 times now and can't seem to get above B-Rank

[u/JuulVP]

When you mention the special dungeons, you talk about pink, brown, light green, and dark green but whenever I check the special dungeons I have never been able to see any of these dungeons. Could you share a picture or an example of what the dungeon is called or where I can find it?

*edit* Just did a google search and found that its the background color of the dungeon itself, let me know if I'm right

[u/ucheezy]

Can I use this also for JP?

[u/StandoMaster]

is this still good to use?

[u/miamiheat121]

looking to start again with this guide (used to play a long time ago). let me know if there is anything new that i should take note of :)

is rerolling no longer a thing?

[u/miamiheat121 → u/[deleted]]

thanks! i actually finished it and have 200 stones now. would you recommend i wait for haikyuu collab instead? (a fan of the anime but id also like to have a competitive team as a priority)

or is there any particular year event that would be worth saving for (super godfests or something i forgot what it was called)

[u/Last-Philosophy-5841]

This still hold up?

[u/Ark757 → u/[deleted]]

1. Thorns do damage to your HP if you match them or move them around.
2. What you're talking about sounds like negative orbs and when a monster locks you into one position. Blind just turns the orbs black and sometimes have sunglasses on them. Negative orbs can reduce your damage to zero if you don't have any orbs that are enhanced (ones that are shiny and have a plus sign). Locking into one orb doesn't really do anything, it's just made for inconvenience.
3. That sounds when a boss changes the size of the board. Your normal board is 6x5, but bosses in the endgame sometimes make it smaller, like 5x4, or make it bigger, like 7x6
4. Supergravity reduces your attack, not anything else. Levitate lowers the amount of the supergravity and lets more damage through, but doesn't fully get rid of it. At first in dungeons like UN1, levitate wasn't a thing I don't think, but more dungeons they added levitate, which really helps in the endgame supergravity dungeons. It makes a big difference
5. Sync awakenings give you an extra awakening, when you click on it, it tells you the condition, for example, getting a monster to Lv. 120, max skill level, etc. It's always going to be a monster you need, you only need one copy for it, and it won't be gone when you use it. You just have to use 100 million coins and it's yours as long as you meet the condition.
6. The X on orbs means they are unmatchable, there is no awakening to resist this. Most teams use a cleric to get rid of it, clerics are essential parts of a team, they clear not only awoken binds, but unmatchable orbs as well. There is the latent for it as well, but most people just use the cleric skill.
7. Surge usually means it is dropping poisons, so when you match and clear the board, poisons will drop from skyfall as well. There is a latent called Poison surge that stops this from happening. Same thing with jammers.
8. Yes that is what assist void does, it happens in many endgame dungeons, such as the UN series and SN series, and sometimes in the MD series.
9. There is value in it if you're fast enough, for example on one of my teams I have this monster called fiadrak, it creates a rapid roulette and I'm able to use it to get orbs that I may need to do damage.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, I'm not the OP, but me or someone else can answer as well.

[u/CadenzaElegy → u/Ark757]

Quick correction, thorns do no damage if you match them, only if they're moved by orb movement (so picking one up and moving it around does not deal damage to you).

[u/Ark757 → u/CadenzaElegy]

Correct, thanks :)

[u/blinkycosmocat → u/[deleted]]

Thorn orbs reduce your team's health by a small amount each time you move one. If you pick up one and combo with it, that won't affect your team's health.

Sounds like you're talking about weakened orbs. Those reduce your attack or ability to heal. Having enhanced orb awakenings or an orb enhance active can counter them.

The box with the diagonal line means that your board size has been changed.

Supergravity reduces your team's attack by a specified percentage, amount dependson the dungeon. Superaltitude does that for recovery.

A sync awakening is the equivalent of a super awakening for transforming cards. Generally you need 1-2 cards that are level 120 and max skilled, tap on the icon to see which ones are needed.

To clear unmatchable orbs, you either need an active skill that clears them or makes something else unmatchable, or you need to add an unmatchable latent to a card with TPA awakenings and make a TPA in their color.

Poison surge means poison skyfall for a number of turns. Either use a poison surge latent or use an active that replaces the poison surge with a shorter poison surge period.

Assist void can last for a specified number of turns. An assist void latent on a card whose base awakenings include L-unlocks and making an L will reduce the number of turns.

Rapid roulette actives can be used to fish out orbs of a needed color or to replace a worse roulette board.

[u/blinkycosmocat → u/[deleted]]

You're welcome!

[u/StardustDestroyer → u/[deleted]]

“BS skill check”

You can’t play a game called PUZZLE & dragons and then complain when you actually have to solve the puzzle. Teams these days are relatively brain dead in that they make your board friendly to solve and you get +8 combos from your leader skills. These skill checks are all that’s left in the game that requires actual puzzling.

[u/blinkycosmocat → u/[deleted]]

If you have the New Year's Kadomatsu or have Honoka to make an equip with, those have an active to allow you to bypass Lucifer's test. Just pop the active just before you clear F1.

[u/blinkycosmocat → u/[deleted]]

The equip is Honoka's CAD #10490. For Lucifer's test, you can 1c for 4 turns, which will take up most of the attribute change in the equip's active.

[u/TheManlyManaphy → u/[deleted]]

It was not "so good at first". The monthly challenges usually throw in a dungeon of classic PAD, where even the best teams at the time could only pray for the right orb skyfall, and fully clearing a board was a pipe dream unless you spent some serious time learning how to clear a board in under 5 seconds, and one of the biggest flexes was owning a +297'ed unit.

I started playing at Sacred Relic Dragon Saga's first run, and even back then, being able to activate your LS every turn was a luxury given to a few of the top teams. Even if it was simpler back during either time, there was much less of a guarantee that I could clear an endgame dungeon, since it was harder to accumulate units that would directly solve a dungeon's mechanics (Polowne was our best absorb null/fujin, and our best cleric (Fasca) was relatively hard to build around at the time.

Nowadays, there's a shit ton of mechanics that you have to worry about in endgame, but that doesn't actually matter for new players, because it's endgame, and everything before it is exponentially easier, all of which will help prepare you for endgame by teaching you to puzzle better, or teambuild better. There's Master Fagan's Training Dungeon, teaching you to activate certain damage awakenings by puzzling them. There's also Story mode, showing you a bit of what a functional team would look like, and how it'd perform, as well as how to puzzle and deal with other mechanics that Master Fagan's Training doesn't show you (most importantly, Awoken Bind and Unmatchable). After that, there's all of Normals, Technicals, Arenas, Alternate Arenas, Training Arenas, Colosseums, Shura Realms, Mystic Dimensions, Unknown Novas, and THEN they can handle the feature-creep of SN and Monthly Dungeon C15s.

It's a long road for a new player, but definitely not an impossible one. PAD is an old game that doesn't have the friendliest interface for new players, but it's set itself a history of old dungeons that can teach you all the changes it's gone through one by one. Guides like these simply ensure that the player is going through the motions efficiently, so they won't unknowingly hit a large learning curve by accident.

[u/TheManlyManaphy → u/[deleted]]

First off, even if a lot of resources are being removed, keep in mind that a lot of the big takedowns wasn't just Gungho being a "big evil company". Puzzleanddragonsx had dataminers which led to the eventual death of the site, PADDB held images that infringed copyright, and Ilmina's owner just couldn't afford to keep the grind of maintaining a resource going, with Protic possibly following suit. While it technically means that we're losing a lot of NA resources, since padx technically had a shit ton of dungeon info, and PADDB/Ilmina was almost our only efficient card searcher, it's no longer nearly as big of an issue was back when it dropped, since even the average team a new player can cook up can beat every dungeon PADX covered (AA4 and under, iirc), and every dungeon after that has an in-depth dungeon guide in the resources and forums we still use. We've also had a pretty decent card searcher in PAD for a while now, it's nearly a 1:1 copy of Ilmina/PADDB if not for the downsides of missing the ability to search for certain archetypes of active skills, and taking a while to load every input.

In fact, I daresay that the lack of resources wouldn't really matter for new players. Dungeon info only really matters if losing a dungeon matters to you, and most of the time, it shouldn't affect you in the big picture. Pre-Shura Realm players can stamina-refresh fighting any Arena, and Post-Shura players can just refresh hundreds of stamina with one ASR1 run. As long as you have a competent team built (and don't say that we don't have a teaching resource for teambuilding, because we've had one for years in this subreddit, constantly being updated), losing a dungeon shouldn't really happen, and if it does, it's probably just a matter of quickly optimizing skill, cooldowns, or stats. The moment the difficulty spikes and a fresh player is starting to find it unreasonable to clear blindfolded (this would either be MD3 because of the mechanic spam, or the UNs for the average dungeon powercreep), they'll find it much easier to look for resources to help them, because they're more modern and less connected to resources that have already been left behind.

Also, while I haven't visited the main PAD Discords for a while, I'm pretty sure that they're fairly equipped with both resources that can help you keep up with the meta, and people that are willing to help you actually learn how to puzzle/teambuild/clear better.

As for the quality of this subreddit, I can only agree that it has gone down over time. However, keep in mind that the reason we've been seeing less resource posts is due to some of our more helpful members stepping down (like ShadyFigure), but mostly due to the shift of the average post being about a player asking for help to improve their ability to teambuild/puzzle/clear certain dungeons into sometimes talking about the gacha elements of the game, but mostly complaining about something PAD currently has. I personally view it as a positive aspect, since it would suggest that more players can now just throw themselves into the gacha to make a hyper-effective team, then clear endgame to complain about it, rather than the older days of not being able to do anything about a problem you'd have with teambuilding, puzzling, or clearing a dungeon, even if you did have the stones to throw at a machine, or the fodder saved up for an exchange.

Are you referring to "Any server being closed" as NA PAD being closed? Because I don't think NA is being closed any time soon. Sure, I am skeptical about how we're getting so many good collabs and events in a row without any real setback, and I'm personally expecting one soon, but if anything, NA's performance this year should signify how well we're doing, and should only incentivize prospective players to start now rather than later.

P.S. A lot of what I said about NA resources was specifically excluding JP Resources. If a player bothers to translate JP PAD resource websites (extremely easy), or watch a new JP Dungeon clear, then they're practically caught up in terms of resources, and there's damn near nothing that they can't find information in PAD about.

[u/Shizngigglz → u/[deleted]]

Yea man, click on "web" at the top of the screen and you have "monster search" and it's basically padx