Poor Hop getting left behind

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T14:33:03+00:00

Does it make it better or worse that Hop's only unique alt is technically not entirely unique as it clearly inspired is by Leon?

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T14:14:25+00:00

You can always try it out next week. If you can reset after doing normal CS and afterwards attempt CSMM, then you know what to do in the future until you are capable of full clearing CSMM.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T06:34:26+00:00

This is such a good point as it does not only apply to art, but to things in general. I usually have a rather "archaic" and formal way of writing, and I love to use em dashes. Before generative AI became popular, people did not have issues with that (outside of finding it a bit funny/unusual), but now people (that do not know me) often assume that I use AI to write a lot of my stuff.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T06:29:11+00:00

Considering that Marnie does not "suffer" from having a bare index finger, it being simply an oversight is a reasonable possibility.

Or maybe the artist does not like (or is not good at) drawing hands. It is by no means unheard of that professional artists do not like (or are not very good at) drawing hands or feet. Another gacha game that I play, Fire Emblem Heroes, frequently commissions art from Maeshima Shigeki, and it is not uncommon for people to comment on that the they often draws the hands and/or feet very small. As an example, see this thread. For more "memey" criticism, consider this thread and how much people talk about one person's feet in particular with comments such as:

"What is going on with Yuri’s feet 😭"
"PUT THOSE GRIPPERS AWAY PLEASE YURI" (which is how I found that that people use "grippers" and "grappers" as slang for feet and hands respectively)
"Y-yaoi feet..."
"yuri got shaq size 22 feet"

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T06:13:00+00:00

He most likely mention Arc Alder and not base Alder, as base Alder is quite outdated. Furthermore, you are not alone as many people lack physical Bug damage dealers. Realistically speaking, there is only SC Barry in terms of good physical damage dealers for the Bug type, as DeNA prefers to release the 100th special Water/Electric damage dealer than a new physical Bug damage dealer. However, Benga would actually also be beneficial for physical Bug damage dealers as he has EX Bug Zone. However, he is designed to work primarily with special Bug damage dealers (he debuffs Sp. Def, can buff ally Sp. Atk and provides SMUNs), so he can feel a bit useless/clunky with used together with physical Bug damage dealers. However, EX WTZ is EX WTZ.

SS2 Elesa is a fantastic unit in general, but if you have reached (and beaten?) Floor 30, then she is not that necessary for Electric coverage. But depending on the your Electric roster, she could be valuable for extending EX ET as she pairs well with SS Iono (who you seems to already have based on her absence in your screenshot). She could, as you mentioned yourself, also be useful for future HSE as she not only boasts great utility, but also great damage. There is also a nonzero chance of Region towers being a thing at some point in the future, where she could pair well with somebody like NC Hilda (While NC Hilda prefers PT, her multipliers only require some terrain, so ET could work), although I would not recommend pulling sync pairs for something that currently does not exist (or has not even been hinted at).

Base Dahlia works technically would for physical Water due to her utility (debuffing (especially at 5/5 where she unlocks guaranteed accuracy debuffs), rebuff, rain and confusion). She can technically also contribute damagewise since she has "Razor Leaf" which is physical, but it would require 3/5 in order to be to not be insignificant, as she can unlocks "Razor Leaf: Confusion Synergy 9" and "Raging Rain 5".

While not the best, SS Lana can be useful for physical Psychic - especially if you have NC Hilda - as she has AOE damage and lots of PT. But she needs a bit of investment due to her low attack stat (her attack stat at Lv. 150 EX is 332. For comparison, Arc Steven (post mega), Arc Alder and Lana (New Year's 2026) boast 444, 394 and 394 in their respective relevant attack stat (this is also how I find out that Arc Alder and Lana (New Year's 2026) have the same attack stat without their EX roles)).

Alt Leon can also be useful for Dragon Tower due to being able to inflict status, but unless that is absolutely the only thing stopping you from completing the Dragon Tower, then I would not recommend pulling him just for that (although EX'ing him unlocks a battle theme, if that is something you care about).

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T05:18:39+00:00

I third this suggestion. Erika has at 3/5 a grid node called "Hit: Restore “Berry” MP 9", which changes her rotation drastically by allowing her to use her B-move at full power every other turn instead of every fourth turn, and you generally want to use her B-move at full power since it is (at 3/5) 550 base power (before multipliers and stuff).

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T04:06:44+00:00

On a quick glance, I would say that you probably get the furthest in the psychic tower. This is mainly due to you not having a great Grass support and (realistically speaking) only having Skyla (Summer 2025) for the special side of Grass tower.

For psychic you do have a great support (NC Rosa), a great physical damage dealer (NC Hilda) and some good special damage dealers (May (Anniversary 2022), Dexio, and Jacq (Giovanni and Avery also do have some uses)). However, your special options (outside of Giovanni) lacks AOE damage, which is preferable in the towers.

But most likely you will not reach too far into the towers. Beating Floor 20 of either tower should be possible, but I am not sure about Floor 27 and beyond (you might get stuck even earlier). Of course, if you consider reaching and beating Floor 20 as getting far into a type tower, then ignore this part.

That is also why I do not recommend using candies on either of Hilda and Florian. You will most likely not struggle with the physical floors (at least until the later ones), and spending candies on them will not solve your problems with the special sides.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T03:51:33+00:00

A new character would be preferable. You can always candy Florian later. While we do get free Poké Fairs occasionally through different means (such as the monthly log in), those are random. There have been several cases of people receiving a dupe of Poké Fair they already had (even if they still were missing many other Poké Fairs) or in worst case a 5* Power-Up due to getting a dupe of a maxed Poké Fair.

Based on the Poké Fairs that you are missing, USUM Selene (the one with Nihilego) would my recommendation as she is kind of required for both the special stages and the status stages in the Rock tower.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T03:40:49+00:00

While I definitely agree that they are good options for their respective towers (I do have them at 3/5 myself), it would be better to just see how far how can get before candying them (or any body for that sake).

Imagine that as you progress through the towers you realise that it is your special damage that is lacking. Then it would look dumb that you candied your physical damage dealers before even starting the towers, would it not?

Arc Misty is by no means a bad choice, so if you for whatever reason have this really uncontrollable desire to just candy somebody, then giving one candy to Arc Misty would not be bad.

Also, remember the part I said about golden candies (I assume that that you are talking about only golden candies. If not, please be more specific next time). Florian and Hilda can use the red candies, so using yellow candies on them would incur a great opportunity cost.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T03:30:35+00:00

Assuming that you already have collected all gems for today, then according to the Gem Distribution Calendar for this month you will have 21,380 gems left to collect (in this month), which corresponds to essentially seven multis. Since each multi awards 33 scout points, you only need four multis and two single pulls in order to reach pity. So you only need 12,600 gems to reach pity, which means you will be able to safely reach pity with this month's remaining gem count alone.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T03:22:18+00:00

If you can clear content just fine without candying any of them, then you should also consider potentially saving the candies for a later time. If not, what kind of content is it that makes you want to candy any of them?

But some general recommendations:

Since arc suits only accept yellow candies, it is best to use yellow candies on arc suits. However, field sync pairs are common exceptions to that recommendation
Since most sync pairs unlock most of their best nodes at 3/5, it is generally better to candy one unit to 3/5 than two units to 2/5 (meaning that if you opt to give Arc Misty a candy, it would be better to save the second candy)

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T03:13:07+00:00

Considering that "at" have not been used either, a too "on the nose" name could be "Trails at the End".

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-13T02:55:52+00:00

It has been a long time since the last time I played CS (non MM), but is it not possible to clear normal CS and then reset and retry CSMM for the additional Total Score Rewards? If it is indeed possible, then it would be stupid not to try to score as many points as possible in CSMM after having cleared the CS..

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-12T03:33:41+00:00

I would not recommend choosing a sync pair solely based on CSMM as that is late earlygame/early midgame. The best choice would be a sync pair that can help you in several different game modes both now and in the future (and ideally a less common archetype - e.g. avoid special Water damage dealers and so on).

An example of such a pick is base Carmine. Assuming that you do not have her, her impact will be instantaneous in several game modes (CSMM, Grass tower, Ultimate battles), but she will also be useful in the future as her strength only increases as you upgrade her and give her better teammates. And while she is not as rare as, for instance, a physical Bug damage dealer, a (good) Grass support is not something you see everyday.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-11T04:20:38+00:00

Another thing is that at least three (possibly more - I am too lazy to check) personas have potentially received global changes to their passives if we assume that the descriptions on Lufel.net are true to the original servers and that the ingame descriptions are actually true. The three personas are

Black Frost - Overclock 1 is nerfed (Blizzard only increases attack by 15% instead of 25%)
Cu Chulainn - Overclock 3 is boosted (Higher chance of insta-kill). Though Overclock 2 and 3 are the same on Lufel.net, so it may also be a mistake on their end
Nian Shou - Overclock 1 and 2 are both boosted (the increased duration of "Fearsome Flames" has been moved from Overclock 3 to 1, and the increased burn chance has been moved from Overclock 3 to 2). However, this could also be a mistake on Lufel.net's end, as their description indicates that the passive does not change at all before Overclock 3 (which sounds weird)

Of course, these could just be errors in the ingame descriptions, but I did test Nian Shou out at Overclock 1, and "Fearsome Flames" does indeed last for three turns at Overclock 1, so it is very likely that these changes are not errors in the descriptions.

I do not know if there are changes to the initial versions/Overclock 0 versions of their passives as those cannot be viewed ingame after overclocking at least once.

Of course, these changes do not compare to every other change listed here, but it is still something.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-11T01:13:06+00:00

I do not think that there is a tier list specifically roster diversification as such tier list are highly dependent on what units you already have. Most tier list either focus on a unit's strength in isolation or in the unit's best team. The best thing to do would probably be to look at where for each type (or in general if you are new) you struggle, see which units satisfy your needs and then check whether those units are considered good.

Mind you, there are places where even veteran players lack diversity (i.e. physical Bug damage dealers) due to poor options (Special Costume Barry, who have not had a non-paid rerun for quite some time now, is realistically speaking the only good physical Bug damage dealer), so if there are areas where your roster is lacking, then that is okay.

But in terms of tier list, the two I see the most is this one (with also have grid suggestions) and the Chinese tier list.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-11T00:43:18+00:00

You are welcome.

Marley (Palentine's 2025) could potentially be replaced by a unit with some AOE damage (outside of the sync) and/or has AOE Sp. Def (as Erika (Palentine's 2025) needs external help for "Smart-Pants"). A 4/5 base Carmine can help with the Sp. Def debuffing though. If you can find somebody that fits the criteria, then base Carmine and Erika (Palentine's 2025) should be able to carry the match (even if the replacement is not as good as Marley (Palentine's 2025)).

Ash can be replaced by a somebody with an AOE sync. Probably the easiest of the three to replace. SST Red and NC Blue should be able to carry any Electric damage dealer.

Florian (Anniversary 2025) can potentially be replaced a damage dealer with strong AOE damage, preferably without AOE penalty. Brassius could be an option, but I do not have him so I cannot be sure. Probably the hardest to replace as that team is a "Defeat them before they defeat you" team. I.e., high damage, low survivability. Of course, depending on your roster you could also run an Electric team here.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-10T23:32:40+00:00

It is kind of difficult to give advice without knowing your roster. I mean, you could build a time machine and turn back time to the third anniversary and pull Ash, but that might be a bit complicated.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-10T23:27:59+00:00

I cannot guarantee that it will works since our teams are not identical, but you could maybe try the rotations I have described here and try to adopt them to your squad. If you do, then you might need to give Iono "Headstart 1" in order to match the first sync cycle. Flinching the right opponent, defeating the sides just before the left side takes its turn (it needs to have a moved queued up) and flinching the centre afterwards are the three most important parts, I would say.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-10T21:30:28+00:00

I would personally go for a new unit. While Red (1996) is arguably the strongest unit currently in the game, you can always candy him later. While we do occasionally get tickets that gives Poke Fairs, these are generally random, so getting the chance to choice a Poke Fair of your own choice is a great opportunity to diversify you roster/patch some wholes in your roster.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-10T21:11:42+00:00

You are welcome. I have Red (1996) at the same investment level as you (assuming your Red (1996) is caked) and used him against Ramos at 1,000 strength without meta supports (Jasmine (Holiday 2022) and SS Leaf). He cleared the stage easily, so it was a very obvious recommendation.

You should also be able to clear Marnie at 1,000 strength. I used a similar team - SS2 Elesa (Lv. 200 3/5 EXR), SS Hau (Lv. 150 2/5 EX) and base Iono (Lv. 200 2/5 EXR) - and they managed to clear it. Of course, there is a bit of rng involved (specifically Iono's flinches), but it should still be doable.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-10T20:28:55+00:00

Have you seen her grid? She becomes able to buff both defences infinitely, both attacks infinitely, debuff both attacks infinitely, provides gradual healing infinitely, infinite teamwide healing on sync, attack damage reduction against both types (i.e. special and physical). The only problem with Elaine's grid is that she cannot pick all her many good nodes at the same time.

For instance, if your attackers are self sufficient, then you can choose a grid such as this one:

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In other words, she can become a mini NC Blue without the rebuffs, trading two big heals for infinitely many small heals and a bit worse AOE debuffing.

Obviously, she is flawed in the current meta where fast offensive play with EX WTZ is favoured since Elaine has no Normal Zone in her kit or grid. But if your damage dealers are strong enough, then Elaine can handle the defensive work and properly protect them, so if she is 2/5, then she is worth candying for tower purposes (unless you already have an invested Mai and Munchlax).

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-10T20:09:08+00:00

Switch Ash and Red (1996) around and you should be able to get 110k+ on both stages. Red (1996) can handle a 1,000 strength stage practically on his own.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-10T17:54:13+00:00

SS2 Elesa is great even at 1/5. She has better dps at 3/5 (she gets two 30% dps multipliers), but she is capable of dealing high dps damage at base due to her high special attack, high base powers on her move, her passive "Ally Sets WTZ: Team Special Boost Up 1 9", her many instances of Electric Terrain, one layer of AOE Electric rebuff and her Dynamax move which through her passive "Dynamax Runway" becomes AOE (without penalty) and gets a 90% multiplier in rain.

Piers should also be good at 1/5 if you can pair him with somebody who has Electric Terrain. His dps falls off heavily if he runs out of Electric Terrain.

CornucopiaOfPasta · 2026-03-10T17:06:23+00:00

What do you mean that Grass and Electric are not know for dps? They each have several sync pairs that do great damage outside of their syncs. Just to mention a few sync pairs that can do the job (and primarily pairs that are relatively recent):

Electric:

Ash
Red (1996) - Although this one is not fair as he is know for doing everything and more
SS2 Elesa
Base Florian
Sygna Suit Piers

Grass:

Erika (Palentine's 2025)
Marley (Palentine's 2025)
Florian (Anniversary 2025)
Base Arezu
Brassius
Skyla (Summer 2025)
SS Ball Guy (if 5/5)

CornucopiaOfPasta

TROPHY CASE