Mono Deck Tier Discussion

[Boop]

Quite some time ago I wrote a quick article on shell teams, which can be found here. In the spirit of teaching I would like to continue some of this since the recent update has turned some points on its head.

As the game progresses, cards are introduced, levels and challenges become harder, and naturally team discussion becomes different. There are already multiple threads regarding Horsemen so we’ll be ignoring that topic as it is largely common knowledge.

What I would like to concentrate on today is Mono teams, and how the different colours interact differently.

The following is purely my own opinion, so no need to defend certain colours or just argue. I do not have the time to respond to such things. I have placed the colours in order of my personal preference.

Tier Discussions:

The first point to tackle before looking for internal synergy is what cards are truly useful to us, and what do we just use to ‘fill gaps’. Essential card abilities in no particular order would be a mixture of – Poison, Threaten, Damage, Survival and Healing. These abilities are the foundation of our game play at multiple levels. Essential leader abilities (to a mono deck) to maximise efficiency in no particular order would be – Health increase, Damage increase, Recovery increase.

With this in mind, let us consider what cards are truly useful in the context of a Mono deck which also display colour differences. Initial notes to consider which will be left out of the comparisons:

All colours have a x2 HP/ATK leader.
All colours have Panzer dragons and 8* dragons.
All colours (will) have Horsemen (or equivalents if the names are different).
Guild War Cards have been left out.

White

War Goddess Athena (Leader) has amazing stats, doubles attacks and doubles the white healer’s capabilities, making it push out 7000hp/turn.
Priestess of Light (Leader) is arguably the best CP to Worth leader. 7* x2 HP/ATK for 20CP with great statistics is hard to come by. It trumps Warrior Queen due to no elemental weakness.
Holy Priestess is arguably the best 6* healer.
Succubus Queen is one of the 3 6* shooters.
Snake Spirit Immortal combines both HP and Poison to create one of the best utility cards.
Commander of Dragon Paladin is one of two reduction cards to be listed. It has a tiny CP cost (20) for amazing statistics and a full heal.


Black

Dark Goddess Hecate (Leader) is the single card responsible for allowing Mono Black to exist long term. Doubling the healing of Demon Overlord allows you to field an extremely offensive Mono Black.
Demon Overlord (Leader) is the only 8* healer in the game. It has a higher HP count than other healers, and a considerably higher attack. Although it heals less, it definitely fits the role of a black deck well.
Pandora (Potential Leader) came into the game recently and surprised everyone. Zeus style activate and a Lilith style leader ability. Potential leader, but due to Dark having low HP to begin with you’d be pushing your luck.
Vampire Princess is one of the 3 6* shooters.
Queen of the Undead is without question the best poison unit in the game. With that amount of health and only 20CP why would you not?

Red

Echidna is arguably the best HP card in the game.
Zeus is a high HP and Damage count with a critical activate. If Red had a ‘proper healer’, Zeus would probably turn Red into the most powerful colour in the game.
Flesh Lotus Queen is a great poison card, even if it is not quite Necromancer it still needs a mention.

Blue

Sea Goddess Thetis (Leader) is without question Blue's best leader. She gives a damage ramp which is hard to compete with resulting in large burst. The combined recovery multiplier with the Blue healer also results in 7000 healing. Thetis would push Blue into a highly competitive colour if there was just one or two more cards to offer.
Lilith of the Night (Leader) is placed here as a tentative booking. She certainly has her merits in low end dungeons, but harder to field if you’re getting punched in the face too often.
Andromeda (Leader) has a great activate like Zeus, and decent stats. A very similar leader skill to Lilith, and your choice between them would depend on the level.
Medusa the Jealous is the last of the 3 6* shooters.
Saintess of the Ocean is the other 6* healer known to push out effective healing rates.

Green

Warrior Queen (Leader) is the second 7* HP/ATK leader in the game.

Honourable Mentions

Cyclops King (Leader) is yesteryears hero. No-one can deny how amazing it used to be. Unfortunantly it doesn’t quite fit with the criteria of what really makes a strong Mono leader.
Epic Hero Achilles is another great mention from green. It’s activate and stats are phenomenal, but I’m not quite sure about Mono deck use.
Hell Marionette (Leader) is another card that people must consider, but again does not quite fit the context of a Mono deck.

Findings:

It would appear that some colours are more capable than others to field better (or worse) Mono Deck teams. In reverse from the top.

5th) Green has a fantastic leader, but the HP card it uses does nothing, and has little else to offer which is unique to its colour spectrum. Lacking poison certainly hurts. It’s healer is also mediocre at best.

4th) Blue certainly has tools available to it, however its unique leaders are questionable. Again, lacking poison is a huge negative and I’m not sure if the healing capabilities are able to outweigh that.

3rd) Red would have been considered as my ‘second place’ until CP was increased and we have to consider long term. Red lacks a 7* Leader, and it also lacks a dedicated healer, which really prevents it from being top 2. To further what hurts red is that it has elemental weakness (blue). However, Red has Threaten, which is also its HP card making Echidna a monster. It has Zeus which I still think outweighs Pandora/Androm because of its higher HP count. Flesh Lotus Queen can still put in work when required. These three cards place Red in a much better position than Green or Blue.

2nd) Black is sitting in second place due to the potential Hecate/Demon Overlord Combo when CP allows you to field a huge team. (Hecate, Panzer, Undead Queen, 8* Horseman, Pandora, Demon Overlord) What separates this from other teams of equal build is that Hecate can use her damage activate on all other colours, whereas Blue/Green/White versions are counter colour specific, not to mention that Demon Overlord can clear a stage/level too. The potential for this team to stomp is high, but still uncertain as we are not there yet.

1st) White is still, and has always been my top spot. Reason for this is unlimited utility (except threaten), highest HP counts, highest healing, and minimal damage decrease. Dragon Era is a game of survival (usually) and white often hands that out.

Conclusion and Disclaimer:

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading a quick analysis of different colours and what they have to offer as individual entities. Most of this is common knowledge to long term players, or those who enjoy doing their homework, however this was not written for you. I hope those who are still learning to build teams got something out of this.

None of this was written as a whinge/complain, it is simply writing what is out there and stating my thoughts.

Thank you to the Dragon Era Wiki team for the images, Howrus I know you (and others) put in some work there.

[mee]

gold star for your work. This handy work will most likely end up, as a perm thread much like lickzys called a sticky?...kudos to you if it happens.

[Boop]

Mee,

Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately this kind of topic can not become a permanent thread because teams will constantly change with updates. But I appreciate the sentiment.

[Durst]

Props, Boop. Great analysis, and easy to read. Learned some new stuff. I picked the right day to snag a Hecate from the shop.

[Boop]

Durst,

Thank you, glad you got something out of it.

Edit: I totally forgot to include Thetis for Blue Leader. How on earth I did that I'm not sure. And yes, I have left Gaea out of it because nothing could make Floral Maiden pretend to be a healer, even with a multiplier.

[HernHunter]

Great guide & a lot of help for new players. Worth to stick if PM reads it.
I have only few notes:
1) Zeus, Andromeda, Pandora -if choice would take Zeus 30% ( agree with you in it), then Andromeda & Pandora 35%. Zeus CD is 30, while Andromeda/Pandora CD is 35. Also you are right that Pandora has lack of hp (8* on lvl 60 it has 1994 hp, with 2454 of Zeus, Andromeda HP is better than Pandora).
2) Do not forget that sometime it is worth to resign from 7* 2x ATT/HP bonus & use 6* 2,5x HP bonus. 2,5 x HP bonus cards available in every colour.
3) Floral Saintess active skill is Heal II, so it is easy to max skill & we can use it as in team healer (we use 4*, 5*, 6* green & 5* light healers). We get that way 404x5 heal every 6 rounds. That way we may use her with Gaea (or reaper but it would be not mono team) to max profit.

This is what i get from fast reading, if more notes will post later.

Edited:
ad. 1) I forgot to write that Andromeda/Pandora needs more CP than Zeus. Andromeda/Pandora 7* =30, 8*=35, while Zeus uses 7*=25, 8*=30. Those CP differences count when you try to make team with strong cards.
4) One more thing about mono decks is that sometimes you need to sacrifice passive healer as leader to increase HP or HP/ATT or ATT/REC (did not find any HP/REC muptily), in moments like this you may need active healer cards that completely restore HP: Dryad/Sylph (green), Mermaid Princess/Queen (blue), Phoenix/Phoenix Reborn (red), Unicorn/Unicorn King (light), Homunculus/Homunculus Awakened (dark)

[mee]

Can always use a 2x att/hp, and a 2x att/rec team...4x att, 2x hp, 2x rec.

[Boop]

Whilst I definately agree with the above, the point of this was to highlight cards which are both useful, and not available to all colours. x2.5 6* and x2 6* are standard installations to all colours.