#such is the woe of being f2p

[lucaway]

Have some doodles while I get my ass kicked by life :)

[kodzukoi]

i am losing my mind because i really wanted to get neuvilette, clorinde, and worcestershire sauce (it's easier to spell the freaking sauce than remembering what his name is - wriothesley??) BUT I CAN'T BECAUSE I'M BROKE

i already accepted that i will never get anyone's signature weapon because if i have primos to spend, they're much more valuable to me on characters BUT STILL JUST THOSE 3

maybe also focalors if the lady fortuna smiles down on me but i know not to push my luck

[kdyism]

and guess whose gonna grind again and 10 pull until the end of nahida banner???

[just-a-hooman64]

Based on the time when I helped a Heavy not only get the "Running with Scissors" achievement, but also On the Rocks in the SAME 2FORT LOBBY

genuinely what are the odds of that,,, after such insane luck I just had to draw something in commemoration, plus a little bonus comic of the aftermath farewells ^^

the woes of being f2p and unable to speak,,,

(Apologies for the lowish quality it was like 3:50 am as I made the last few sketches lol)

[starmocha]

This is just a love letter to the devs, because they are not celebrated enough for their achievements and genuine love for the game and players.

With the recent announcement of the upcoming update and new love interest's debut, It's truly been amazing to see how far the game has come from their years in development to the official launch to now, six months later. The game has evolved in ways unimaginable with no true comparison to other otome games on the market. The strive to always improve, to implement new features, to take into consideration their audience's critique and criticism is truly admirable.

The thought, care, and planning of just not the main story, but also for each individual love interest is unlike any other otome games I have played in the past. They are truly wanting to create an immersive experience—actual memories—for their audience, and it is working. We have grown attached and fond of the characters from the main love interests to even the side characters.

Take into the fact that LADS is a global game, the coordination that went into making sure news and trailer releases are happening concurrently for players across different regions is mind-blowing.

As with any company, controversaries will happen. They could easily ignore any controversaries that come along, but instead they have chosen to be transparent with their players, which in this case was about Sylus' leak. They weren't obligated to address the issue, write letters to the players, or even share the first unscheduled preview, but clearly they have discussed within the company on how to handle the issue and have concluded that this was a decision they felt comfortable with and was necessary on their part.

For all of the jokes and jabs about personal financial woes, I am truly happy to see where my hard-earned money is going. I've played otome games for years, and have rarely ever been a F2P player, so from a spender's POV, I feel satisfied knowing my money is going to the hardworking people that have developed this game and being reinvested into the game for the future.

Elaborating further on the previous point: we have writers for the story, artists, programmers, video developers, voice actors, marketing team, musicians, etc. Truly, I can't wrap my head around just how many people are involved and feel sorry that I can't personally sing praises to them all.

With all of the new features we are getting in the upcoming update, that alone makes me feel happy to see that my money is not just going to a business to make a profit, but that it is being reinvested into the game.

With so much contents being developed behind the scene, I have no problem being patient when it comes to the main story. The next development looks to be a truly exciting one well worth the wait.

Even the planning of the livestream was a joy to witness. Using the kitties (giving them personalities and voices), creating a "news broadcast", the script for the livestream, and the personal letter at the end from the LADS team—everything about it felt so immersive and the letter was truly touching to read. We are being spoiled in so many ways and it's truly disappointing that there is even a small group that can't see this.

Now with such a big update around the corner, they will most likely release another survey for players to partake in. Please remember that surveys can be used to voice your thoughts on the game: constructive criticism and suggestions allow the devs to reevaluate what is working, what needs to change, and what can be explored in the future. Don't ever feel like your voice is not heard just because you don't see any immediate changes. Let the devs know what you like, what you don't, and what you hope to see in the future. It truly does make a difference.

If you made it this far in my post, then I also want to acknowledge fellow players: you have all made being a part of this community a truly wonderful and joyous experience.

Thank you to the artists for the beautiful artwork and comics shared.

Thank you to the writers for their stories, headcanons, theories, and other works.

The jokes, the memes, and the downright silliness of this fandom have brought many laughs. We're such clowns, but we are clowns together ❤️

Thank you to the people who help share the news, address questions and concerns, and offer game help to players. This has truly been a very welcoming fandom, and let's strive to keep it that way. 🥹

Thank you to everyone who has ever interacted, even if it's just a reblog, dropping a comment, gushing in the tags, etc. The genuine joy and love for the characters and game is one of the reasons why I personally am still invested. I am always happy to see people showing excitement during events, reacting to posts, etc. I am especially truly pleased by the respect the Tumblr community have for each other. Let's continue to make this a safe and welcoming place for current and future players! ❤️❤️❤️

Feel free to hijack my post. I encourage everyone to add their own thoughts. It's been a wonderful almost six months with all of you. I hope this continues. 🫶

[youreallyshouldtalkmore]

This Old Dragon

A.N: I think this might be an SAGAU of some kind? I dunno! Lantern Rite fed me well with new Zhongli content + Husbando/Reverse Harem feels+ Cute/Fluff = whatever this is.  

Genshin Impact MasterList  

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

Something tickled your cheek. 

The softest of caresses making you sigh. 

A distant chuckle faded into your ears as you hugged the pillow tighter. 

The soft, repeated motion over your cheek had your eyelids fluttering open. Amber eyes laughed at your, “Good morning, dear.” 

“Zhongli….” your voice was husky from sleep. 

He sat at the edge of your bed, his had cupping your cheek. He gave a lingering rub making you turn into it, with a small sigh. His hand drifted down, towards your upturned shoulder, pulling the covers up, even as his words convinced you to left the nest that was your bed, “Come dear, you should wake now. Too much sleep is not good.” 

You closed your eyes with a sigh, “I’m just tired today.” 

“Memories about your world?” 

“......I suppose.” 

His hand returned to your cheek, cupping it. You could feel the warmth of his hand and turned to it. Tears pricked behind your eyes. 

When was the last time you had felt this kind of warmth in your world?  

To you, it seemed cold beyond belief. 

There was no one there. 

No one except the characters in a game called Genshin Impact. 

You had spent so much time, playing in the world of Teyvat. Your favorite characters were mostly Husbando characters. Being completely F2P, you were ecstatic when you finally got your first 5 star character: Zhongli. 

How many times, did you turn on the game to run around with him in your party? 

How many times did you speak of your sorrows and woes? 

How many times did the character of Zhongli listen, heart tugged at the loneliness in your voice? 

What you didn’t know, that on the other side of the screen, the world of Teyvat, was a real world. 

“I wish I could be there.” you would murmur. The rotation of husbandos switched, but Zhongli was a constant. 

A rock. 

But who knew that someone was listening to your wish, that you ended up in the very world that you had longed to be in? 

A world, were your fictional husbandos, all knew about you and ushered you among them. 

“Come on, Y/N. I will give you 10 minutes.” Zhongli’s voice was gentle even with the warning. 

You gave an unintelligible answer that had Zhongli pausing. Should he really be giving you 10 minutes even? Sometimes he feared you slept too much. When you were in your world, shortly before you came to Teyvat, you had begun to open the game and leave it on, while you slept.

“So I can feel I’m not alone…”, you had stated to the screen once. 

You had only been in Teyvat for a few months. The pain of the life in your world, would not fade in mere months but they could be there. 

Quietly, he stood and walked out of your room, pulling the door quietly behind him. Due to your special case, you were granted a Serenitea Teapot, despite not being a vision bearer or fighter like the Traveler. 

__ __  __ __

You turned over on your back, throwing an arm over to shield your eyes. You really ought to get up. You were pretty sure you were close if not over the 10 minute mark. You knew it was past time when the door opened unceremoniously. 

You heard a bit of rattling around before the bed dipped again. 

“Come, I have your breakfast.” 

You lowered your arm from your eyes to see concerned amber ones. After moment, you slid your gaze away. It was difficult to look into his eyes for a long period of time. You had never seen such concern directed towards you lke that. 

It warmed you but you weren’t used to it. 

Zhongli turned away, “Come…” 

Zhongli helped you out of bed reaching for the comfy robe to wrap you end. His hands were slow as he tied up the sash, giving you time to gaze at him. He was a fair bit taller than you even though his head was dipped down focus on the sash of your robe.

Only when he was done did his eyes flicker to yours. 

Your slid away again. 

A soft chuckle followed as he reached a hand behind your head and kissed your forehead. 

“Ahh, you are still shy after all this time?”

He didn’t wait or expect a reply as his hand hovered over your back as you made your way to the small table in the room. It became set up especially for this, as there were days making it downstairs was a chore before breakfast. 

And you loathed eating in bed. 

You found it a disgusting habit and would never allow yourself to do that. The first time Zhongli brought your meal to you in bed, you made yourself go downstairs. 

Hence why a table had been moved to the bedroom. 

As you began munching on a piece of toast, Zhongli poured you a cup of tea, “This kind of tea will give you a bit of energy. Do not worry, it shouldn’t wire you up, only to take the edge of the lethargy.” 

Something you really needed. 

Even now, you found it hard to focus, “Ahh, thank you, Zhongli.” 

Zhongli gave a brillant smile, “Of course, my dear.” 

Once the last drop of tea hit the cup, he placed the teapot down as you reached for an apple slice. Venti had sent these batch of particular apples, claiming them to be the best to share with his Windblume. 

You felt more than saw Zhongli move but didn’t realize what he was doing until you looked over to him, and down at him. 

You almost spat out your tea. 

“Wh-what are you doing? Get up!!” you called out. 

Zhongli only smiled up at you, as he sat next to you on the floor, placing his arms on your lap. You froze. What the devil was he doing? 

“Allow this old dragon his pleasure……..Mistress.” 

His voice fairly purred as he turned his head, nuzzling his cheek into your leg. Without looking at you, his spoke, “Continue to eat your fill, my dear.” 

How could you concentrate on food when he was pulling….whatever stunt this was? You couldn’t tell if you were uncomfortable or warmed at this. 

Was it okay to feel both? 

You had to force yourself to return to your food, hyper aware of Zhongli’s presence. You reached for a slice of Zaytun Peach. Tighnari had cautioned to only eat a few raw slices every once in awhile. Despite being sweet, it did have medicinal properties allowing a calming effect on the mind. 

Your mind vaguely darted towards dinner. What would be served tonight? Unlike Zhongli, you loved seafood. Perhaps Curry Shrimp would be served? Equally, you loved mushrooms as well. Perhaps Mushroom Hodgepodge would be served? Or Mushroom Pizza? Tighnari was only too happy to start throwing together meals, often adding herbs for your health. 

You thought about this as you turned to your Miso Soup. 

Your eyes darted down to the top of Zhongli’s head. Your fingers twitched. 

“You can pet my head, if you wish.” 

You almost jumped. 

How the...?” 

Zhongli chuckled, without moving from his comfortable postion, cheek on your leg, facing forward. “In fact, Mistress, I would be quite honored if you would pet this old dragon’s head.” 

It took you a minute to accept the permission before you tentatively reached down and placed a hand on his head. Then you began to card your fingers through his long brown locks. 

This was soothing even for you. 

How odd was that? 

You felt Zhongli nuzzle his cheek into your knee, moving once to place a chaste kiss upon it before laying his cheek back down. 

Your eyes darted back and forth at this. His cheek had already warmed a spot on your leg but the chaste kiss made it more so. 

But not for the first time, curiousity rose within you. 

“.....Zhongli?”

“Hm?” 

“Can I ask you a question?” 

“Of course, you may.” 

“It’s about your time as Rex Lapis. I don’t want to upset you. You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.” 

Zhongli turned his head to look up at you, peaking at you from his arms on your leg, “I shall let you know if I do not wish to venture down that path but we will not know unless you ask. What is your question?” 

Now that you had his full attention, you grew hesistant, your eyes sliding away from his, “It’s just, this was a game for me in my world, as you know. There is only so much information that had been given to us at the time of my coming here.” 

“Hm.” 

“....so it was never quite clear. Even though....” you stopped yourself from talking about the fanfiction, you had read. Shaking your head you asked, “....do you still maintan the ability to have some of your dragon characteristics? I mean like the horns, tail, golden arms....?” 

Zhongli laughed once, “Ahh, that is your question? I never would have imagined. Please look at me.” 

You looked down at him. 

“Would you like to find out?” 

“Zhongli!” Your eyes slid away from him once more. 

Laughter once again filled the air, “Well, in a manner of speaking, I can, but I cannot maintain that form as I once did. I could even turn into a full bloodied dragon but that requires too much energy on my part now.” 

You looked down at him as he continued, your hand absently playing with his locks, “So it’s reduced to those characteristics but even they have a time limit. However, I still maintain the instinct of a dragon.” 

He paused dramatically, making you stare at him curiously. 

When he said nothing else, although his eyes twinkled, you rolled your own and asked, “For example?” 

“....For example....” Zhongli’s voice dipped once, “....the desire to care for one’s mate.” 

If you had tea in your mouth you would have spat it out, as such you choked on your own tongue.

Reaching out to take a bite of fruit, you did not want, you nibbled as you murmured, “Please don’t tease me, Zhongli.” 

Zhongli’s eyebrow’s raised, “When did I do that?” 

You glared down at him once. 

Comfortable silence drifted as you finished and began slowing down. Zhongli finally stood up, “Done?” 

You nodded. 

“Good, I will allow you to freshen up and then we’ll take a walk around. I think the fresh air will do you some good.” Zhongli stated piling everything onto the tray and walking out with narry a backwards glance. 

With some food in you, you felt strangely enegerized. After you freshened up and changed into clothes you walked downstairs. You could hear the gentle waves of Cool Isle of your SereniteaTeapot. 

Zhongli opened the door, allowing you to pass through first. Once outside you could’t help but to breathe deeply with a contented sigh. The ex-Geo archon offered his arm with a small smile as you took it, ducking your head to hide your own. 

The two of you walked languidly down the pathway towards to the shore. You saw the small tent area on the beach and looked up questioningly. 

“Come…” Zhongli smiled as he turned and lead you towards it. 

You couldn’t help the small squeal as you saw a multitude of pillows, making you almost dive into them. 

Zhongli laughed, “Comfy?” 

You nodded, looking at a pile of random junk sitting on a low table besides the tent.

“Alhaitham sent some of the books. Book are not for frivolous pleasure for him he says but he thought you would enjoy them. “ Zhongli began to explain, “The TCG box is from Cyno. Those grapes are from Diluc. And Kaeya wishes to know when he can come over. Apparently guarding you on your journey sounds far more entertaining than any of the usual Favonius stuff.” 

You head bobbed, “He should join the Traveler if he’s looking for adventure. I’m  sure my journey isn’t worth guarding.” 

Zhongli reached over and tilted your chin, “Per the contrary, although you are not fighting and traveling, you have your own journey that is worth every bit as much as the Traveler’s. Do not make the mistake to dismiss those who only have your good intentions at heart.” 

It took you a moment to process Zhongli’s words,“...I’m sorry. That was wasn’t my intention. If Kaeya wishes to come over, of course he can.” 

Zhongli reached out and kissed your cheek, his lips lingering, “Don’t forget, my dear. We are yours. We’ve been yours since you got us in the game. Naturally, we’ve all grown fond of you and wish to spend time with you. I believe since you were brought here to us, you will eventually thrive and find joy in life again.”

He pulled back, cupping both of your cheeks. This thumb ran over your cheekbone as tears glittered in your eyes at his words, “I swear it will be so. One day, you will look back and see how much progress you have made. And you won’t be alone. That will be reason enough to smile, no?” 

Your eyelashes fanned your cheek as you closed your eyes, “More than enough.”

Zhongli pulled back, allowing the emotional moment to relapse. Something you were grateful for, as it allowed you to gather yourself.  The grapes caught your eye and you reached over, to snatch one, popping it into your mouth. They were good. 

You perused the stack of books. Alhaitham always claimed the books were not just for frivolous pleasure and yet how many times did you find yourself in his embrace as he read whatever book you wanted to you?

You picked up a book. 

This looked liked a light novel from Yae Miko Publishing House. How would Althaitham think you would like this if he hadn’t at least checked it out for himself? 

You handed the book to Zhongli who had settled next to you. 

“That time I reincarnated into a Seelie. I had heard about this, that it was, how does the young ones say, ‘cute fluff overload?’. Perhaps this a perfect book for this afternoon. Shall we find out?” 

You nodded with a huge smile before Zhongli wrapped and arm around you, allowing you to lean into him as he cracked open the book. 

“When I woke up, I was floating high in the sky….” 

__ __  __ __

A.N: Because I originally wanted this to be some kind of Reverse Harem/Husbando story but that wasn’t working. The dragon wanted to drive this story, and everybody and I mean, EVERYBODY moves out the way in my house for my husbando Zhongli. 

As such, I really like whatever this Venti/You exchange was, so I’m posting it as a bonus: 

After Zhongli had gone out of your room….. 

You turned over on your back, throwing an arm over to shield your eyes. You really ought to get up. You were pretty sure you were close if not over the 10 minute mark. You knew it was past time when the door opened unceremoniously. 

“Ohh, Windblume….tis too fair a day to be sleeping in!” 

“I’m getting up! I’m getting up!!” you called out. 

You weren’t moving. 

You felt the bed shift as an arm snaked around your stomach, a soft voice whispering, “Does it hurt much?” 

You lowered your arm to see Venti’s green orbs gazing down at you.  He leaned down, resting his head on your shoulder, “Would you like me to accompany you today? We can just stay like this all day. Although, Zhongli will kill me.” He raised his head to grin at you, “He sent me to wake you up, not join you.” 

The produced at quirk of your lips followed by a small giggle. 

“Ahh, to see a fair maiden laugh so, is a muse to this humble bard.” 

You really laughed then, “I’m getting up!” 

You really moved then. 

[chiisana-lion]

Sup back with another question to get to know you my moot

Who do you produce in enstars I see u hardly mention playing the game and just curious I assumed ryusetaiP and FineP but didn’t want to jump to conclusions (for me I’m A Rabbit and EdenP and A tetoraP since despite being in neither group he tied with Nagisa as my fav character )

heya!! okay yeah i dont really. mention it and honestly i have been a bit behind on playing the game since grinding hermitage/the last valkyrie event on engstars 😭 but im mainly a valkyrieP and arashiP!! also yes a ryuseitaiP and a bit of a ra*bitsP in spirit, i do what i can in the game but i dont actively go for their scouts (or rather i dont even gacha at all if i can help it LOL i just like tapping away to the beatmaps. also f2p woes i refuse to spend a cent on anything (i cant anyways))

i do enjoy fine a lot though!! i do produce yuzuru and also tori a bit but dont rly go out of my way most of the time because i already am extremely attached to . a lot of characters. also souma i produce him as well and honestly, i'd be an akatsukiP if i didnt already have all of these guys under my belt 💔 wait i made a tierlist regarding charas i produce ill grab the first chunk

ryusei + rbits are just one tier below them. and actually i was fighting for my life circa october 2022 to avoid getting too attached to that fecking butler but you can see where that got me. heart

also i got four copies of hermitage mika!! was just a few thousand dias short of the 5th copy but its fine. its like whatever. like i didnt save up the entire two years for that event

[crystalelemental]

Sync Pair Retrospective - Lodge Pairs

I debated not doing this.  I thought about letting this go.  It’s nine sync pairs, man.  I shouldn’t need to do this to myself.  But, I’m going to.  Apparently.

Trainer Lodge!  The introduction of this mode happened one year ago today, bringing with it nine sync pairs of...mostly high popularity.  Let’s be honest, DeNA has not seemed interested in adding the truly low popularity pairs to Lodge.  It has been a popular kids only place since...ever.   With like one exception.  In any case, the introduction of this mode offered new sync pairs, that set the tempo for what to expect.  So, how did these pairs overall perform?

Blue Blue was an F2P pair outright, thanks to his base form taking Whitney’s place as the early game free pair.  Blue and Exeggutor is a support, that offers crit, attack, and defense buffing.  As well as speed when he’s hit, or on trainer move with grid.  Oh, and healing.  And a 60% flinch rate.  Yeah, lodge Blue does a lot.  He’s one of the more versatile sync pairs that’s come out of this mode.  That said, on introduction, he immediately faced competition from Hop.  And, more critically, Sonia.  You do not compete with Sonia.  Even among what’s generally available, Blue’s buffing kit was just awkward, decoupling crit and attack in exchange for a decent flinch rate.  But getting flinch meant not being able to shift to his buffing with reliability, lest the foe break out of the flinch lock.

Blue is solidly okay overall, and hasn’t really changed.  He’s the kind of support that tops off someone else’s buffing needs, and is mostly here as a sturdy flinch bot with plenty of healing and speed to offset the usual weaknesses of such a pair.  In that role, he does acceptably well.  I consider him good enough to be splashable, but never someone to hard rely on.  The only pair I can think of that really benefits from Blue’s kit is SC Zinnia, who admittedly handles the flinch just fine herself, and has better options.  But there are a plethora of pairs that get +4 Atk/+3 crit, like Oleana, who are good options for him to support.

Silver Silver walked into life outclassed.  He’s a Water tech that relies on defense debuffs, you really think a free pair is going to stand against Dojo Gloria?  On the plus side, he can benefit from her, but why use Silver’s sync at all if you invested in Gloria?  Silver, like Blue, existed more for utility.  Flinch and freeze, specifically.  But unlike Blue, his odds were 40%.  This is unacceptable in the era of 60% flinch rate.  Freeze is not good enough to matter either.  Odds lower than a coin flip are always bad.  To compound his woes, Lodge Rosa is right there, with better DPS and higher sync potential.  Guess what, she’s bad too.  But at least she made friends.  Silver continues to struggle due to his awkward 1MP trainer move.  +4 Atk/+1 crit is insufficient to matter in the grand scheme of things.  +2 crit would’ve at least permitted Team Sharp Entry, but needing +2 crit now demands a lot.  Silver’s just awkward.  Hard to set up for too little payoff.  There are partners, though.  Colress with AoE Screech was a godsend.  NC Calem’s buff profile complements Silver perfectly, and supplies Rain.  NC Bede exists, and also immediately solves Silver’s buffing needs.  Silver works decently well, I just find him kind of annoying.

May So it may surprise you to hear that Silver is still way better than May!  May is the last winner of Lodge.  Wailmer is a Water Striker pair, who has split damage on Surf.  At the time, EX didn’t even exist for her, so there was just no salvaging this.  Even more painful is that all of her focus is on-type.  Double Down, SEUN on trainer move, even Superduper Effective as a passive.  May does not step a toe out of her on-type realm, which is damning in the Gauntlet era.  Now we’re on to High Score, and guess what!  May has like no utility there!  I think maybe one person used her in the higher ranks.  Maybe someone knows stuff I don’t, but May seems to have no utility whatsoever, and it’s only gotten worse as even more ludicrous strikers like SS Lysandre and Eusine have migrated in.

Cynthia Okay, so this a free pair, but off a limited PokeFair.  Clearly we’re dealing with better utility?  ...you’re funny, you know that?  Cynthia comes in with Dire Hit All+, a trainer move that buffs special defense and accuracy for some reason, and...Rock Tomb.  She also has Earthquake, but like...come on.  Her grid really doesn’t offer a ton.  Bit of passive healing and Safety Tether.

In the before times, Cynthia was pretty bad.  Dire Hit All+ hasn’t been enough to salvage anything for a while, if Phoebe is any indication, and low starting stats with lopsided defensive profile is never great.  Accuracy holds some niche value, but not enough to matter.  And Lodge Elesa would soon show up and take the same buffing profile with a generally superior kit.  Cynthia’s main problem was her moves.  Rock Tomb without ripple effect doesn’t help anything.  Earthquake could’ve been Mud Slap for value.  Bulldoze in a pinch.  But she didn’t get that.  So instead, she comes in just...very awkward.  This is what you get for running Gastrodon, you know.  Stop acknowledging Diamond and Pearl, there is only Platinum.

Rosa Silver’s slightly better counterpart.  Rosa succeeds over Silver very slightly in damage, while forsaking any level of decent utility.  In most contexts, Rosa is worse off.  While Silver got the benefits of NC Calem and NC Bede being immediate caps, Rosa...still needs more than one turn with them.  In exchange, she gets H!Caitlin, who is...actually pretty ideal.  Dual Shields can protect Rosa through enemy sync, kicking off Emergency Sync 5 for greater firepower.

But it’s hard to say Rosa’s grown.  Nothing new has really salvaged her outside of Colress, which equally helped Silver.  I think Silver’s made better gains than Rosa, sad to say.

N I’m gonna keep this short: N is a sleep bot.  Yes, he can kinda deal damage, and his sync is mercifully not tied to sleep.  But N is a sleep bot.  I see very little utility outside of it.  A 50/50 debuff to special defense on Psychic is hardly life-changing.  His trainer move and Calm Mind are too slow acting to do much.  N just sort of...exists.  As a sleep bot.  Which is always in style, but is rarely worth writing home about.

Sycamore Sycamore is the odd one out.  I imagine they knew Serena was going to be added in December, and Diantha would’ve skewed too heavily toward female.  But this does imply they felt Sycamore was more popular than Calem.  That’s rough, buddy.  Anyway, Sycamore is a Grass Striker, with secondary Poison-type damage.  Neither is great.  Sycamore can be said to kinda keep up with Gardenia, when operating at max capacity.  Ie, max special defense and speed buffs.  Not exactly easy to do.  His sync multiplier is also Poison.  Which is very hard to set up when spread out.  Even with EX he’s not doing great.  Moreover, he’s kinda just...waiting for Gardenia to get EX to overshadow him.  His self-setup isn’t atrocious but it’s not better than hers.  He lived off BP Janine’s kind of buff spread.

That said, Sycamore has gained some tools.  SS Brendan is a nice buffing partner that gives exactly the buffs he likes to see.  SC Rosa with Roxanne solved for a lot as well, and operates as a decent dual strike comp.  H!Iris works as decent debuffing support for his Poison-based damage.  Oleana can instantly Toxic the opposing field, setting up his sync adequately.  And SS Leaf’s 5/5 expansion gave a better rate of Toxic, and free moves next potential.  But Sycamore hasn’t really...made it far.  He’s similar to Silver in that it’s a lot of setup for fairly limited payoff.

Lillie Maybe Lillie is the favorite child.  Anni alt comes out kinda mid, then boom, Ghost Zone and Renegade Cynthia.  Her Lodge alt follows suit.  On introduction, Lodge Lillie had little to her name.  Slow attack debuffer, inconsistent special attack debuffer, odd trap utility, sync only good on-type and even then missed critical values for OHKOs.  Odd Grass-type physical damage as a secondary option didn’t help much either.

So anyway, let’s go over the laundry list of buffs she received.

EX salvaged sync.  Now it’s far more consistent, if desired.  SS Acerola and SC Steven migrated into existence, and suddenly that odd Grass damage can wipe entire stages with ease.  Adjustments to Champion Stadium parameters brought Stall back in a big way, and Lillie provides Trap, offense debuffing, and Synchro Healing in one neat package.  She’s greatly appreciative of pairs like NC Bede too, who can solve all angles of buffing need.  And SS Mina was actually good for Lillie.  Boosted defenses with debuffed offense?  Fairy Zone?  Turn two capped special attack?  Lillie went from being a fairly niche Gauntlet support pair, to being...legitimately the best of the original run.  And we’re not even talking about Oleana, who is also super fast-acting attack debuffs, and even salvages the gauge problem Mina has thanks to Pep Rally on Move Gauge Boost.  Somehow, against all odds...Lillie won.

Marnie Marnie came in as a Poison tech, a much needed damage type at the time.  Unfortunately, she is plagued by DeNA’s eternal refusal to just make Poison types normal.  Marnie’s sync needed accuracy debuffing, which is just about the most impossible thing to do in CS.  Sludge Wave killed Plumeria, and by god it’ll kill her too.  Even when invested, Marnie seldom did much.  Which is sad because her buffing kit is similar to Lodge Rosa.  It has potential with Roxanne, who can provide a lot.  She just can’t get past the sync issue.  Colress is her best bet, having Ripple Effect on a 60% chance to debuff accuracy, but he can offer nothing else.  Screech is the wrong debuff, and his paralysis conflicts with her desired Poison.  H!Iris kinda helps, but only at 3/5, where she’s pulling more weight.  Marnie can’t even be that happy about Oleana, since the accuracy issue remains.SC Shauna was the closest she came to a lucky break, in a support that can debuff accuracy.  But Shauna only buffs crit with reliability, and Marnie needs everything but.  Marnie’s struggled, and it’s sad, because Koga’s always been right there, just...better than her for less.

General Impressions By and large, Lodge units age terribly, because they start terribly.  Very few of them had relevant niches to begin with, and new pairs have mostly made life harder in terms of direct competition.  Damage dealers can only aspire to be secondary DPS.  Tech nukes will always languish but might dredge up some utility.  Supports tend to have significant flaws that hold them back.  The biggest winner, somehow, was Lillie.  The meta giveth, and the meta taketh away, I suppose.

[kkotda]

the woes of being an f2p player… i am bidding neuvilette farewell :,)

[yuezhong]

It just occurred to me that my funds might not be enough for both haitham and c2 zhongli + vortex vanquisher...oh the woes of being f2p

[anemchy]

oh yeah in randomly putting wishes into the standard banner (IM SAVING FOR MIKO IN THE EVENT BANNER SHE’LL ARRIVE SOON I....IM DESPERATE) i finally got another sucrose to get her to c1 i got so happy- :’) woes of being f2p

[pianoperson]

Ikerev Army Boys Playing Twisted Wonderland

After reading @valnyte’s HC with Ikevamp, I wanted to do one with Ikerev too.

Alice introduces the boys to Twisted Wonderland and is shocked to get them all hooked into the game. Let’s say they all understand the game.

*just want to say, the strategies I typed in these HCs are actually legitimate strategies I’ve heard from people, and if you have the cards for it, I suggest you try them out

Black Army

Ray Blackwell

He’s in mainly for the story.

F for him, his fav character is Che’nya.

He claims Heartslabyul is his favorite episode because it has the best story out of the currently released episodes so far, but the Black Army isn’t falling for that.

He’s not wrong though, in my opinion. Heartslabyul, along with Octavinelle, has the best story.

He had to make it a rule that no one should spend the Black Army funds for gacha after the one time Seth spent 10k lin for gacha.

He does assemble his team but only bases his assembling on favs and a bit from Sirius’ advice.

He can’t help but smile fondly at Ace and Deuce’s shenanigans and dumbassery; they remind him of him and Fenrir.

Sirius Oswald

Oh he’s gonna have fun with the strategizing part of the game.

He will write down in a notebook all the card information he has attained and would ask from other soldiers for their cards if he doesn’t have a certain card so he can note down their stats at max level groovied, their magic skills, their typings, their buddies, and even how they perform in battle.

He’s the first and only one in the Black Army who scored SSS on tests. Everyone was floored.

Listen, he probably discusses these strategies at dinner especially because some people ask him how he scores ridiculously high in tests.

“Fairy Leona may be a defense card, but if with Kalim and Rook, who are his attack buddies, his attack stat will increase to 5k+. If you have SSR Kalim, who boosts your ally, his attack stat will increase further, and it’s even better that Kalim’s attack boost is magic 1 and he is Leona’s duo partner, therefore strengthening Leona’s duo magic. If limit broken at a certain level, he can deal 10k damage per hit with duo magic. The only other SSR who can inflict the same amount of damage is Riddle dorm and even then, you need to have Cater on your team with max buddy to even experience such a boost.”

He may not have superb gacha luck and he is an f2p, but whatever cards he possesses, he can somehow make them work in his favor.

He has a spiritual connection to Trey Clover.

Luka Clemence

Hello, may I introduce you to Luka “I have 7 SSRs only, it’s not that much” Clemence?

No, I’m not kidding. This guy has insane luck as an f2p.

He snagged 7 SSRs in two weeks and when Seth was crying about his gacha luck, that was the only time Luka realized 7 SSRs was a lot?

“I JUST WANT AN SSR SO BAD, I ONLY HAVE MY TUTORIAL PULL ONE”

“Huh?¿ How can you only have one?”

“BECAUSE I’M THAT UNLUCKYYYYY WHY HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE”

“I only have 7...”

Seth’s screams could be heard from Red Territory.

Ok but Seth has every right to freak out. Luka has ALL dorm leader SSRs, biggest tank of the game SSR Trey, and tweels.

Luka dislikes Riddle and Vil for the fact they both bear similarities with his brother. He has mixed feelings with the former, though, due to his backstory.

When it comes to rhythmics, he laments about how he’s a musician yet he can’t get the timing right. Poor fingers are slow.

Rip him in hard mode, especially for Octavinelle’s and prologue 14. They’re h e l l.

Seth Hyde

Rip Seth, he just wants an SSR

His initial SSR was Ruggie and he was crying when he learned from Sirius that he could have rerolled.

His favorite character is Vil and he wants him to come home, but only his Rs arrived.

It’s a wonder how 10k lin wouldn’t bring robe Vil and lab Vil home.

And he still has less SSRs than Luka LMAO

He’s cried at almost every OB backstory except Leona’s.

His favorite rhythmic is the paint the roses one.

Fenrir Godspeed

Luck in battle? Yes. Luck in gacha? Who’s that?

Fenrir spends money on the game but he uses his family’s wealth. Don’t worry, he knows how to manage his savings, but that’s mainly because he accidentally inputted the wrong birth year when he first put it in, so it listed him as a minor.

He loves Ace because he felt like he could relate to him so much.

His first SSR was Riddle, so he really wanted Azul’s SSR when his banner first came out. He hit pity pull and got duped by Floyd.

It’s ok Fenrir, I feel your pain, except I never hit pity.

He loves the rhythmics. Often, he’ll be singing the tunes out loud.

He’s gonna sing the Magift rhythmic songs when he’s training with other soldiers.

Red Army

Lancelot Kingsley

It took him weeks to figure out where alchemy classes are.

He has 4 SSRs who duo with each other, so that’s lit af.

He doesn’t know why he keeps losing in certain battles, though.

He also spent money on gacha oof

Riddle makes him chuckle. He has such a huge resemblance to Jonah, after all.

Trey makes him think of Sirius too often.

He ends up laughing at the thought of Sirius being Jonah’s helper.

I mean hey, they could have at least been friends if things played out differently back in school.

His favorite is Malleus, though, for the fact that he is powerful and lonely.

Jonah Clemence

He didn’t touch on the game at first because he thought it was ‘a waste of time’. It didn’t help that Edgar teased him for having the same voice as Riddle. It was only when he found out Lancelot plays the game and looks so happy with it that he decided to give it a try.

He was surprised at how similar he and Riddle are, and he liked the little queen even more for his birthday, being the same as Luka’s.

He will never admit he likes the game, though, but the soldiers catch him humming some of the songs sometimes.

Another thing he will never admit: he felt a lump in his throat when he read Riddle’s backstory, but when he got to Azul’s, he cried for an hour. He found himself most impressed with Azul’s voice acting prior to the overblot, but the story about Azul’s past had hit him hard. They experienced the exact same thing after all (being bullied) but it was interesting how differently they both turned out afterwards.

Jonah isn’t too big on the meta gameplay. Sure, he strategizes, but he mostly takes into consideration the stats of a card, not so much with the performance of it in battle. He won’t ever say it to Edgar, but he does take Edgar’s advice into consideration, even applying it if he has the cards for it.

Jonah scoffs at spending on gacha. Ultimately, they’re just JPEGs. Why spend on something that can’t be touched? Anyway, he has 5 SSRs and several good SRs such as robe Jade, robe Vil, and lab Trey. He can manage.

He loves the rhythmic section of the game. He may not be the best in the battles, but he’s talented in the rhythmics. Sure, some rhythmics were difficult, but he always scores SS on one or two tries regardless of difficulty. His favorite songs are the fairy gala songs and he’s caught humming them.

Edgar Bright

Just like Sirius, he has fun strategizing in battle. He will blab to Lancelot, Jonah, and Zero about the different strategies he’s come up with.

“Did you know you can make SSR Jade an attack SSR? His magic 1 raises his attack stat, and if you max it, hm will it exceed 5,000? I forget. And if you put Trey in the same team as Jade, he will further boost his attack, and if their buddy level has been maxed, hm perhaps you might reach 6k+ for Jade’s attack stat?”

“Did you know Azul’s attack stat can surpass even Floyd’s attack stat? If you max his buddy with Jade, he can be as strong as Riddle dorm at lvl80.”

“I’m sorry, but after testing out fairy Kalim, his SR cards are still better performance-wise.”

He’s the first and only one to have SSS and just like Jonah, he aces the rhythmic section.

He finds himself most amused with Jade for his shadiness and is probably the one who goes, “Jade, don’t you just want to go apeshit?”

Kyle Ash

He tends to miss lessons often either because he has a lot of patients or because he’s hungover, so he tends to complain about how weak his cards are.

He doesn’t care much about the meta gameplay and plays by favorites. Somehow, he manages to use the good cards and hits rank S.

He doesn’t join the events and doesn’t understand the woes of gacha since he always manages to get the cards he wants.

Luckiest guy honestly, and some of the soldiers jokingly beg for his luck.

Zero

He also strategizes but he mostly follows Edgar’s advice since he tends to get to it first before Zero.

Zero doesn’t play too often because of work, but the game is addicting enough to make him catch the restored AP every 2.5 hours. Anyway, even if he didn’t want to, Alice would have tried to get his workaholic butt off of work.

Poor baby has given up on prologue 14 hard mode rhythmic.

His favorite character is Jack for his good boy nature and he found himself liking the Octavinelle chapter for his presence and rationality. Beans Day event was also fun for him because of Jack.

[dourpeep]

I’m gonna expose myself because my stupidity will make me cry lmao

I got Thoma and Hu Tao (was nowhere near pity) on my first 10 and 20 pull respectively (I wanted Thoma and if Hu Tao came home that was a plus) but me being the greedy dumbfuck I am had to try and get some constellations and their weapons (I was pulling and chanting in my head “the weapon banner is not worth for f2p” but my finger kept pressing the mouse button). Now I’m 26.586 primogenless and I have no one to blame except myself. I am so sorry Albedo, I though I had more self restraint, I only wanted to do a 10 maybe 20 pull in this banner…

- a broke and regretful zuzu

ahhhh the woes of gacha nodnod

You really have to have a strong will and resist pulling more than your already planned budget nodnod I hope that Thoma + Hu Tao prove to be good additions for you though!!

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Lodge Adaman

Adaman is also the Lodge unit this month, signaling the beginning of Master Fairs as Lodge units.  Most Master Fairs are alts, but this does open the door for Leon.  And...him.  But I prefer not to think about that.  I prefer to think about cool shit, like Adaman having another Eeveelution as part of Lodge.  Unfortunately, it's a Support, and you know how free supports go

General Overview Bad.  They go bad.

Lodge Adaman is an odd case.  Statistically, he's about on par with anyone else in the F2P support bin.  Mid-200s defenses and low to mid 600s HP.  Decent, not exceptional.  For clarity, he's about at Lodge Dawn's bulk level, maybe a bit above.  He's also a buff bot, who has X Def All with the possibility of Pep Rally depending on grid, and a trainer move that gives +2 special attack to the team, and +2 special defense only to himself.  It also applies Gradual Healing under Rain.  And thus begins the Tragedy of Adaman.

Vaporeon has Rain utility, and this sounds like it could be neat, but is functionally nightmarish given his charge.  Among the Rain setters - Winona, May, Eevee Lyra - all of them need more than Adaman provides.  Specifically, they really needed crit rate.  Which he doesn't boost at all.  Instead, he's a defensive support, who's a little selfish about it given no team Gradual Healing or special defense buffing, and is still reliant on Rain in a way that means either double support, or taking the non-offensive Rain setters like eggmons on as allies.  Which is a dangerous proposition, because he is a free unit, and thus has shit for bulk.  Oh sure, Rain Gear 2, but that's not exactly saving you.

To compound Adaman's woes, he is flanked by three major competitors.  On the one side, we have Roxanne, who also buffs four stats, but buffs all of them for the team, and compressed Sp Atk/Speed into one, which is way more valuable.  On the other, we have BP Morty, whose bulk buffing is far more reliable, and backed by Potions, making him an obscenely sturdy wall that Adaman cannot measure up to.  And on the final side, we have Lodge competition itself with the F2P God-Queen, Lodge Dawn, who can quite literally do everything Adaman does, but better, for less.

Lodge Adaman is a sync pair without a cause.  Until May gets a grid expansion and hopefully eases her self-setup, Adaman exists in the bizarre space of potentially being a decent wall by virtue of slightly higher stats, damage reduction, and Gradual Healing.  But the Rain reliance for two of those things, combined with not having anything to support most Rain options, is really rough.  It doesn't help that we now have THREE Rain setting supports, and they're all special offense buffers.  At least Mina had Team Sharp Entry.  Oh god, that's why he doesn't.  Goddammit Mina.

EX and Move Level? It’s a Lodge support with very little it supports, so can’t really recommend EX.  Move Level only if you have the 4* support candy for it, but I wouldn’t prioritize him over Dawn or Morty.  Or like.  Any of them.

Team 1: Lodge Adaman, Winona, Siebold/Barry/Lodge May Adaman works with allies who can cap their own crit.  Given this, Barry and Siebold are the obvious solutions to his dilemma, with Winona as an optimal third.  Adaman is particularly nice for Barry in a Gauntlet context, since Barry's Cakewalk can be challenging to set up, and Adaman has access to On a Roll 4 Bubblebeam.

Team 2: Lodge Adaman, Archie, Tech Blastoise/MU Pikachu If you needed to partner Roxanne with someone else, and feel confident in Adaman’s ability to keep Archie alive, this is probably his best use.  Extended Rain does wonders for his otherwise terrible bulk and survival skills, and Archie does appreciate the special attack boosting, even if it’s not a Hoenn partner.  Tech Blastoise is a Rain setter for longer matches, and covers the All Water thing that might be relevant next month, while MU Pikachu offers two critically important Gauntlet traits: paralysis in Thundershock, and Potion for Adaman’s survival.

Team 3: Lodge Adaman, Koga, Janine An alternate approach, outside of Rain.  Janine helps set up Poison and debuffing for Adaman to survive, while Koga’s able to cap his own crit rate.  Really anyone who caps crit and needs special attack theoretically uses his skills okay.

Team 4: Lodge Adaman, Irida, Ghetsis/MU Pikachu This one’s for all the Adaman/Irida shippers out there.  Their base forms may be at odds, but his Lodge form works decently well with Irida, supplying the missing +2 special attack she needs, and even providing defensive buffs.  Irida also provides the Gradual Healing he would otherwise miss out on.  Irida...might legitimately be a better tank than him, even while offensive, by the way.  Just throwing it out there.  As needed, you can go dual striker with Irida and Ghetsis, or you can bring in someone with healing potential to keep Adaman (or Irida) going.  I couldn’t think of a great Potion user, so I went with MU Pikachu so I could argue that the paralysis makes this a Gauntlet team.

Team 5: Lodge Adaman, Caitlin/Ghetsis, SS May/Irida/P!Dawn As an alternate approach, Adaman can forego the need for special attack buffing entirely, and focus almost exclusively on X Defense All and the inclusion of Pep Rally.  Adaman provides decent gauge control and physical bulk in the same move, which is almost as good as Skyla.  Almost.  The ability to give one boost to special attack, however, means he can top off options like Caitlin and Ghetsis, who are typically just short of maximum.  In the case of Caitlin, SS May is ideal, since she can cap her own crit rate, and potentially even take over the X Sp Atk concerns.  Otherwise, Bianca is fine if you’re not worried about it, or aiming for the Gradual Healing Bianca has easier access to.  Irida supports Ghetsis perfectly, and gives Gradual Healing to the party as well to keep Adaman running.  In absence of a field effect support, P!Dawn can function as a good debuffer for damage in special attack, or to attack to keep Adaman alive.

Final Thoughts I really want to impress that the last team structure should not be used to fool you into thinking Adaman has a niche.  Replace him with Lodge Dawn, and you’ve got a better comp.  Adaman is just so wildly bad it’s kinda funny.  I would love to know what they were thinking on this one.  Maybe it’s the consolation prize so Master Fairs don’t feel like they have to be pulled for a good extra free unit?  Maybe they just really hate Vaporeon given SS Misty’s kinda bad?  Maybe Water types are the Lodge designers’ least favorite type?  No one knows.  But this is...pretty not great and it makes me sad.

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Ethan

I have never talked about Ethan before, but unlike a lot of options that have come up, I feel like this one can be considered justifiable.  But hey, grid expansion!  That has to count for something, right?

General Overview Ethan, pre-grid expansion, was considered one of those bottom of the barrel sync pairs.  No sync multipliers, limited self-setup, and split DPS really holds him back.  To make matters worse, he’s Fire type, meaning he’s constantly contending with the new limited Fire-type pair that snaps the meta in half.  Though even among his more accessible peers, he’s notably poor at his job.  Hilda has Potion, gauge control, and Inertia for sync, while Serena has great sync, DPS, and the ever-significant Go Viral Hypnosis.  Dude could not compete with that.

His grid expansion solves many of his woes.  Brainpower is the most significant adjustment, giving him an actual sync multiplier, and one that’s easily capped.  Critical Eye on X Sp Atk gives him a similar sort of buffing efficiency to Caitlin, where both his relevant offensive stat and his crit rate are boosted on the same button.  Recuperation and Damage Guard are unusual tools, but work to keep Eruption at full capacity, with the latter offering some very nice defensive utility in CS.  It’s worth noting, Ethan can get all of these tools, both sync damage nodes, and HP Advantage 5 for Eruption on the same grid.  If he needs MPR on X Sp Atk to cap offenses himself, dropping Damage Guard or Recuperation is an option, or you can ditch HP Advantage if preferred and seek out more survival tools like First Aid, Fleet Feet, or even MPR on his trainer move.

The problems remaining for Ethan are two-fold.  One is, nothing in a grid expansion solves for his split DPS.  Yes, Eruption is fantastic on a single target, but it often fails to take out sides.  Even at EX, you’re looking at a 3HKO under Sun.  This is, to put it mildly, bad.  It means his self-sufficiency is near-useless.  Sure, he can buff special attack/crit to cap, but if you’re taking three turns to get there, you’ve given up the potential for a denial, and it’s going to be hard to recoup that.  This is the main difference between him and Caitlin: that third turn and split DPS make all the difference in keeping pace with the flow of battle.  As a result, he is still support-dependent in a way that many self-sufficiency focused pairs are not.  But on the other, +4 special attack and +2 crit means there’s an F2P tool that fits him perfectly, and you’ll never guess whose stocks just went up again.

The other is his ongoing competition.  Ethan has stepped out of the shadows, and into the limelight of being about as good as another sync pair who hasn’t gotten her upgrade yet.  Hilda will grind him into the dirt the instant she gets anything.  But more than that, Silver.  Ethan’s emphasis on sync is fair, it’s what he needed to be relevant, but it’s miles behind the free Silver and Ho-oh we get.  And since Silver has comparable self-sufficiency, all Ethan has to his name is DPS.  That’s his niche, his exceptional role.  And it’s hard to keep up.  Right now, it can work because CS is still old-school.  Once we hit modern CS, and the AoE meta?  That damage guard isn’t being saved for opponent sync, and his low defenses may even compromise Eruption damage outright.

EX? This is an unusual one, but yes, definitely.  I feel that Ethan is not a sync pair that works well with an EX Support in CS, unless they’re SS Morty or SS Brendan.  Ethan’s goal is to perform a denial off of his sync, then obliterate center with Eruption DPS.  As such, EX is practically a necessity for him.  If you’re investing at all in Ethan, it’s all or nothing.

Team 1: Ethan, SS Morty, Lucian/Eevee Lucas By far the most effective team.  Morty’s defense buffing is tremendous for keeping the team alive, and permits Lucian or 3/5 Eevee Lucas as a third to debuff special defense.  With that and Sun, Ethan can toss around the big damage he’s always wanted.

Team 2: Ethan, SS Brendan, Blaine SS Brendan is his other big pal.  One of Ethan’s noted weaknesses is split damage taking time to perform a denial.  Brendan’s trainer move buffs just enough that both he and Ethan only need one use each for Ethan to start blasting.  Brendan himself also wears down special defense, while the third, probably Blaine, sets up Sun.

Team 3: Ethan, Lodge Dawn, Calem/Tech Persian/Anni Raihan Lodge Dawn, once again one of the best F2P partners for Gauntlet.  Team Sharp Entry and X Sp Atk All perfectly complements Ethan, while her main trainer move gives speed and both defenses.  This doesn’t get the evasion aspect she gets with Caitlin due to needing Team Sharp Entry, but this solves Ethan’s setup struggles perfectly.  Built-in Vigilance also means Mind Games, to debuff special defense for him.  Beyond that, it’s checking gimmicks the usual way.  I will note, MU eggmons are optimal thirds, just due to the Main Character theme skill, but Calem is a better choice for paralysis bot.

I also mention Anni Raihan here, because of three things.  One, Dawn’s Team Sharp Entry also tops off his crit needs.  Two, Raihan’s Sandstorm spam both sets up Moves Up Next, which Ethan loves, and Propulsion, which Dawn appreciates, since she doesn’t survive CS well.  Third, Raihan’s Max Flare is both a powerful burst of damage, and sets Sun for Ethan to use while blasting with Eruption.  They have surprisingly good synergy as a team.

Final Thoughts Ethan got a decent expansion.  It’s basically all the stuff he’s been wanting.  It just turns out, what he wanted wasn’t quite what he needed.  His improvements put him on par with other outclassed options, and the oversaturation of Fire-types across the board rendered this kind of improvement less than stellar.  Silver in particular just kinda laughs at him, which...I mean, fitting.  When Caitlin got similar, it at least resulted in her being highly distinct from Giovanni, her main point of contention among accessible Psychic types.  Ethan’s just puts him on par with Silver, who he at least has the advantage of not being completely reliant on Sun over.  But Sun is a low requirement.  Ethan just feels very built for Gauntlet now, while his CS niche feels destined to be completely eclipsed by Hilda.

[crystalelemental]

Legendary Gauntlet - Latios, Azelf, Cobalion

Oh man, Latios is back, we got an easy one now, lads!  What’s the guaranteed lucky cookie this time, gimme something good!  Healthy Healing?  Hey, I’ll take it, man.

Cobalion and Azelf were part of the first Gauntlet, and haven’t been back since.  Latios was also pretty far back, so it’s been a while since we’ve seen them.  As always, the goal is four generally F2P teams.  I’m going to be going off of past clears and make adjustments for other newly acquired options in the F2P bucket, but will not be talking about Lodge characters.  At present, we have no idea if it will be reasonable to expect even a single one of those units in our possession, let alone a specific one.  I’ll also not be using any of the Master BP Pairs, just in case, but will use Eggmons.

LATIOS Latios is a pushover in the strictest sense of the word.

It’s a 3v3 fight, with two allies that will buff their attack or special attack by 2 every action, while Latios starts the fight with +3 in both offenses.  The sides are immune to debuffs on their desired offensive stat, so your solution is to kill them quickly rather than attempt stalling out.  Latios doesn’t do a ton.  In phase 2, it gets the ability to debuff your team’s defenses, and buff its own offenses, and focuses on a good number of AoE attacks.  In phase 3, it gets +4 speed, and can use Stored Power as its scary attack.  Nothing too crazy, just buff offense/debuff defense.  Which sounds pretty scary if you can’t KO fast enough, right?

Latios is characterized by the weirdest sense of low damage I’ve seen.  Its base stats must be garbage, because it’s really not that scary at any phase.  It’s just so weird.  Like they were trying to control for how fast it could buff or debuff and didn’t want it being scary right out of the gate, but they over-corrected and now it’s just not a problem.  To compound Latios’ woes, it’s Dragon/Ice weak.  Which means there are exactly three gagillion answers to it in an F2P sense.  Latios just gets dunked on from every angle.  And those are just specific answers.  Any EX Striker is going to have a field day with this one.

Team 1: Cyrus, Drake, Cheryl Cheryl is so good.  Basically perfect, really.  She’ll get Cyrus up and running efficiently, while all Cyrus needs to do is work on getting that extra crit to start exploding the field.  Drake is chosen for defensive bonuses to the team that we desperately need, while Cheryl is a backup healer.  She probably doesn’t want to take point, I think Latios has physical moves, but healing Drake is helpful.

Team 2: Candice, Tech Kangaskhan, Maylene Candice is an exceptional tech nuker under Hail, and with Kangaskhan here to debuff defenses of the foe’s team, Candice can reliably sync nuke things out of the sky.  Maylene helps with offensive setup, and can keep herself healthy with Drain Punch as needed.  Kangaskhan can also flinch Latios when it’s on its own.

Team 3: Zinniquaza, Winona, Support Dragonair Zinniquaza, with mega evolution, hits like a truck.  Her EX also means she hits AoE.  With weather and flinch support from Winona, this is a pretty clear setup.  The only problem is F2P supports that buff crit and like non-existent, and I’m suddenly realizing hey, maybe there is more use for Lodge Cynthia.  But in absence of that, Support Dragonair.  If you want, the last point of crit can be obtained from Aerial Ace in Zinnia’s grid at the cost of some energy and power.  But she should be okay, it’s Latios.

Team 4: BP Candice, BP Janine, Koga With the new BP Candice, we have another great move damage user that can attempt to truck this fight.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is, no MPR on Hail, which is...concerning to me, slightly.  Still, the objective is fairly clear: BP Janine supplies all needed buffs to Candice and Koga both, with Koga debuffing special defense, and Candice using her power to blitz the sides.  Toxic damage will wear down Latios quickly, leading to what is hopefully an easy finish.

AZELF The general flow of battle is the first half of the HP bar has 80% physical damage reduction, while the second half has 80% special damage reduction. This reduction only applies to move damage, but does not apply to sync, so sync nukers are a good approach to clearing Azelf.  Azelf also packs a ton of nasty tools, including Mind Games and Defense Crush 4, which gets upgraded to their Team versions in bar 2, meaning everyone’s defenses drop fast and hard.  It also has On a Roll for debuffs on stuff like Energy Ball, and Hostile Environment for something like Flamethrower, which is…just fantastic.  It also switches between special and physical moves with the transition; it’s weak to what it uses. However, sync is always physical.  For…some reason.  I think just to bother people who bring in special defense buffs and then get blasted.

As noted, sync damage bypasses the reduction, and is a good approach.  Trainers with mixed offenses like Classic Blue or Lusamine are also particularly strong.  Azelf’s fairly weak to debuffs as well, with offense debuffing mitigating a lot of its potential damage, and defense debuffs really hurting its already limited bulk.  And of course, anyone who is immune to defensive debuffs is helpful, so the Stalwart/Unbending combo is incredibly nice on a tank.  Disruption like flinch and sleep do not last long, but it can be done for chaining purposes.

Last time Azelf came around, a big issue was lack of F2P bug types, and really bugs in general.  But now we’ve had the Teatime Train Bros, and the grid upgrades for Bugsy and Noland on our side.  Azelf is still scary, but is in a better position to beat than it once was.

Team 1: Giovanni, Roxanne, Agatha I had to look this up to make sure I knew what I was talking about, but yes, Azelf can be sleep chained.  Roxanne provides the offensive buffs Giovanni needs to beat down on Azelf, while Agatha’s naturally high speed and access to Hypnosis serves as the core of the lockdown.

Team 2: Ramos, Skyla, BP Sophocles Ramos can sleep, which means we can get a sleep chain going.  Skyla’s got defense boosting to kick off Sophocles’ multipliers, and speed buffs to make sure the sleep is always ready.  Potions can heal Sophocles’ recoil damage, and Sophocles can handle his own offensive buffing.

Team 3: Noland, BP Morty, Tech Magneton/Tech Bellsprout Noland has perfect self-setup, and is capable of tearing this fight apart via sync nuke.  Tech Magneton can debuff defense to get him set up, while Morty’s job is defensive support.  It takes some time to get Noland set up, but once he’s rolling, he’s rolling.  Alternatively, you can run Bellsprout for sleep chaining.

Team 4: Bugsy, Hop, Nanu Bugsy needs help with setup, but is a pretty strong option to bring along for sync damage.  Definitely want the defense debuffs for maximum damage potential, and Hop’s healing will keep Bugsy from dying early due to low bulk.  Ideally, Nanu with some crit rate backing him can stall out some turns to prevent Bugsy from just dropping.  Also, Nanu’s new grid means he’s not a bad backup damage dealer at all.

COBALION Cobalion has one clear gimmick in play: 80% damage reduction when it’s not under a status condition.  Easy enough.  Oh, except that it auto-heals status halfway through each bar, and by the second half of phase two can heal it on sync, and also each heal from status increases its resistance level by 2 until it’s fully immune.  Note that the life bar being depleted does not count for “healing status,” and does not improve resistance.  As such, when status is applied, if you can go from current state to dead in one sync, that’s huge and prevents immunity increasing.

So you need status, and not all status is created equally.  For instance, Cobalion gets enough Poison resistance that you get one application before immunity.  If it heals, you can no longer Poison it.  Despite being Fire-weak, burn is similarly hosed, starting at Lessen 7 and allowing two heals.  So by the second half of bar 2, it’s immune to burn, so good luck Silver.  Paralysis and Sleep are the best options.   Paralysis seems to start around 2, meaning it will always be able to be paralyzed (effectively), while Sleep doesn’t have any inherent resistance, but waking up naturally increases it.  So Sleep has to be applied judiciously.  For those wondering, Restrain does not count as status condition, it’s status change, so it is lumped in with confuse, trap, and flinch.  Which also don’t count.

Outside of this major gimmick, Cobalion is fairly straight-forward.  The second half of Bar 1 has it incorporate Poison Jab into its kit, so poison immunity is nice.  Bar 2 introduced Defense Crush, which can quickly tear through a frontline tank’s defensive capabilities.  Bar 3 opens with +3 attack, then introduces Beef Up 1, which seems to increase its attack by one stage when hit with an attack move some percentage of the time.  This means Cobalion gets substantially stronger over the course of the match, and the last bar gets incredibly scary. Sacred Sword can one-shot your tank if you lost too much defense.  Worse, Impervious and defense drop immunity aren’t super common, and many are weak to Fighting (Piers, Leaf).  So Cobalion gets really tricky.

Team 1: Marlon, Silver, Blaine Silver is able to burn Cobalion, and while this is not the ideal status for it, the grid expansion has given Silver so much power under Sun that he could explode an entire HP bar with Blaine’s sun support.  Marlon is the support, and while I question how well this plays out, he has notably important traits.  Defense buffing keeps the team alive, Endure is great due to Cobalion’s high rate of single-target moves, and he’s immune to defense crush/Rock Smash.

Team 2: BP Surge, Brawly, Kahili Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Cobalion has any resistance to defense debuffs.  Which means Brawly can debuff reliably, setting up for Kahili’s sync nuke.  Surge supplies the paralysis and added buffs for Kahili.

Team 3: MU Torchic, MU Solgaleo, Mina Solgaleo bypasses the damage reduction effect on Cobalion without the need for status, making it a solid choice against this fight.  What it needs is crit support, which can come from MU Torchic here.  Solgaleo gets Sharp Entry, which means this can cap its crit rate, allowing for the best damage.  Meanwhile, Mina can spam Charm to keep Cobalion’s damage low, and hopefully I’m not misremembering what type its sync nuke was, because I think it’s Fighting.  If not, I guess Tech Persian?

Team 4: Ghetsis, Marley, Support Weezing This is a fairly slow grind, but there’s a plan.  Ghetsis debuffs offenses, keeping Cobalion’s damage low, while Weezing supplies defense buffs to cap.  Marley keeps the team moving quickly and has some gradual healing, but most important, gives Team Sharp Entry, Hostile Environment for the burn, and can buff Ghetsis’ offense over time each Flamethrower use.  It scatters her grid, but it can be done.  And in a pinch, Weezing can inflict Poison, should Burn run out.

Final Thoughts This is a desperate and perhaps ill-fated attempt to craft a fully F2P approach to a Gauntlet.  I feel like we’re getting closer to this being easily managed, but we’re still missing some tools to actually make it work.  Crit buffers are still fairly rare, and we’re hurting for healing and special defense debuffs too.  But I’m sticking by this, for some reason.  I feel like it’s at least doable.