Dragalia Lost Progression Guide

By
alext96
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Dragalia-Lost-Progression-Guide

I have returned with v2.0! As always, my goal with this guide is to provide an informative, concise run-down of how to effectively progress through the game. However, reddit formatting isn’t flexible enough to allow me to easily organize mass amounts of information, so here we are with an enormous google doc. I will admit that I spent far too much time on this (at this point can I even call it concise?), but hopefully it helps somebody figure out something about anything.

Happy Questing,

CB

P.S. I highly recommend using the table of contents–it’ll make navigating to different sections a lot easier. 

Welcome to Dragalia Lost

Contents

The Early Game

1. u/Eedat’s Ultimate New Player Guide

 

2. Should I Reroll?

  • There are many differing opinions, but the general consensus is that you don’t have to reroll if you don’t want to. Your progression will not be affected by whether or not you reroll; heck, u/Admo_ has completed almost all content in the game without ever summoning. However, if you came to Dragalia Lost seeking a specific character or dragon, it’s probably in your best interest to reroll for them now.
  • Additionally, do not stress over the rarity of your characters. Many 4* characters and dragons are excellent picks for Endgame content. 
  • Do not reroll for any reason after progressing beyond the Early Game. 

 

3. Main Objective: Complete the Story

    • Don’t worry about completing EX levels if you’re struggling.
    • You can do hard mode story later when there’s a half-stamina story event, unless you want the wyrmite now.
    • Elisanne (Best Girl)
      • Elisanne is freebie 4* water lance you’ll receive early on in the story. She is an excellent buffbot thanks to her first skill’s powerful str buff. Consider putting her on your team and investing in her because she’ll definitely be useful later on.
    • Wyrmprints
      • Reserve your eldwater for the Wyrmprint Shop rather than promoting.
      • Don’t unbind any 4* or 5* wyrmprints yet.
      • Purchase 1 copy of Resounding Rendition (RR) for each of your offensive units.
      • Once you unlock second wyrmprint slots, purchase a copy of Levin’s Champion (LC) for each of your offensive units.
      • Feel free to use Consecrated Water (Wyrmprint Exp Water) and 2* wyrmprints to level up RR and LC. However, don’t level all your copies of RR, just level one, because eventually you’ll be combining them.

 

  • Side Objectives

 

    • If you get tired of grinding the story and/or you have extra getherwings to burn, feel free to co-op farm some Avenue to Fortune, Elemental Ruins, Dragon Trials, and Imperial Onslaught.
    • Ongoing Events
      • Grind the event as much as you feel comfortable doing. For specifics, feel free to ask in the Daily Megathread to see what other players would recommend you to do. 
      • For facility events, try to get the facility to lvl 30 by farming Boss Battle. 
      • For raids, try to max your friendship with the welfare character and farm the raid for emblems and blazons. 
      • Regardless, don’t kill yourself trying to finish the event if you’re unable to.

 

4. Early Game Tips

    • Whenever you acquire Adventurer Exp Crystals, Mana, Weapon Exp Whetstones, excess basic weapons, 2* wps, or Testaments, feel free to use/spend them without hesitation. 
      • Reserve copies of the 2* wp Dragon Arcanum for possible future use. 

 

  • Don’t ever use wyrmite to replenish stamina or do additional daily item summons.
  • Consider purchasing more smithwyrms in the Halidom so you can level up all your facilities as fast as possible. (5 recommended)

 

 

5. Start Mercurial Gauntlet

  • The first few levels of MG have some pretty strong early game rewards. Start challenging Mercurial Gauntlet asap to see how far you can go, but don’t stress over getting stuck. 
  • Remember, this is a DPS check for your mono teams. If you can’t clear a level, don’t worry, keep building up your mono teams and come back to it later.
  • Bring a high level helper friend to deal massive dmg. 
  • Try reading through the Basics, Weapons, and Midgame sections to see if you can find additional useful strats/tips that will help you clear.

 

Once you finish the story, you’ll officially be done with the Early Game.

Basics

  • In this Basics section, I’m gonna give you guys tons of information to prepare you for the rest of the game, so take good notes–this information will be on your midterm. 

1. Super Helpful Resources

ABBREVIATIONS!

Brotel’s Dragalia Guides

  • Link
  • Brotel makes excellent Draglia content–highly recommend subbing to his channel.

PhoenixFieryn’s Dragalia Guides

  • Link
  • Austin has created and compiled incredibly useful resources–every DL player should have this website bookmarked.

Guide Database – GamePress

 

2. Always Do Dailies

Don’t Neglect Dailies

  • Daily Item Summon
  • Go to Alliance Page to Claim Daily Bonus
  • Purchase All Dragon Bond Gifts
  • Avenue to Power x1
  • Avenue to Fortune x1
  • Elemental Ruins x1 (Expert Difficulty)
  • Dragon Trials x2
  • Imperial Onslaught x2

 

3. Keep Upgrading Facilities

  • List of Facilities (ignore the event facilities on there)
  • Keep upgrading production facilities (rupie mines, dragontree), adventurer facilities (altars, dojos, slime statues), and dracoliths.
    • Acquire dojos through the treasure trade asap. 
  • Focus on leveling Smithy and Halidom in order to unlock higher tier weapons.
  • Keep smithwryms constantly busy.
  • PhoenixFieryn’s Halidom (Facility Material) Calculator

 

4. Summoning 

  • Summoning Background Info
  • The pity rate increases by 0.5% every 10 summons.
  • Therefore, the ideal summoning method is to use single summon tickets in multiples of ten to raise the pity rate by 0.5% before using tenfold vouchers and wyrmite to do tenfold summons. 
    • For example, you have 22 single summon tickets and 2400 wyrmite. You used 20 single summon tickets to raise your pity rate by 1% (2*0.5%). 
      • Scenario 1: You have not rolled a 5* yet. Keep doing tenfolds using your 2 tenfold tickets and 2400 wyrmite until you roll a 5*. 
      • Scenario 2: You rolled a 5* on your 2nd single summon ticket. Your pity rate has reset. You now have exactly 20 single summon tickets remaining. Use your remaining 20 single summon tickets to raise your pity rate by 1%. Then, keep doing tenfolds until you roll a 5*. 
      • Scenario 3: You rolled a 5* on your 17th single summon ticket. Your pity rate has reset. You now have exactly 5 single summon tickets remaining. That is not enough to raise your pity rate. Start doing tenfolds. 
  • Don’t trust tier lists. The DPS Sim and the current HDT meta (see the Endgame section below) are far better indicators of a unit’s utility. 
  • Personal advice for newer players, save some or most of your wyrmite for gala banners
    • Increased rates across the board for non-limited characters/dragons.
    • However, sometimes limited banners are worth summoning on (like the Fire Emblem Heroes Crossover and Eastern Emissaries).
  • Keep in mind that 5* characters and dragons are not vital. All content in the game can be regularly cleared with non-5* characters and 4* dragons except MG 40+.

 

5. Mono Teams

A. Purpose

  • After exiting the Early Game, you will begin forming mono teams, which are basically just teams of 4 characters of the same element. These teams will be used to complete events, which usually have an elemental theme to them. For example, if the currently running event is a wind raid, you’d want to bring a fire mono team. 
  • First, invest your resources into 1 unit per mono team for co-op content. You should now have 5 DPS units (1 in each element) to bring to co-op content. Then, start building the rest of your teams.
  • If there’s an event coming up, focus your resources on preparing that mono team in advance.

B. Team Comp

  • Alright, let’s divide all units up into 3 categories: DPS, buffbots, and healers. 
    • Buffbots are characters like Elisanne, Melody, and Sinoa who basically exist solely to spam s1 buffs. Their buffs can be extremely potent for boosting team DPS. But don’t confuse buffbots for support buffers (h!elly, gleo, s!telle, etc), who often fulfill DPS roles too. 
  • 1 DPS + 2 offensive units + 1 healer OR 1 DPS + 3 offensive units depending on whether or not you need a healer.  
    • Offensive units = any combination of support buffers, buffbots, and/or additional DPS units. 
  • Consider DPS potential when picking characters to build.
  • Avoid using off element characters bc type advantage is huge (think Pokemon!). 
    • Exceptions can be made for healers as long as they can survive, so you can equip a Hilde on your wind mono team until you acquire a wind healer. However, healers with type disadvantage are not going to be able to survive (don’t bring a flame healer to fight a water boss). 
    • Also, heals will restore more hp to on-element teammates. 
  • Eventually, you’ll want to have 2 teams per element based on affliction resistance. For example, two fire teams: one for stun res content and the other for sleep res content. This isn’t a major priority though, so don’t worry about affliction based mono teams until later on down the line.

 

C. Build Standards

 

  • Focus on getting everyone on your mono teams up to build standard. Obviously prioritize developing the characters you utilize the most (and your faves ofc). 
  • lvl 70 (lvl 80 for 5*s)
  • 40MC (45MC for 5*s)

 

    • No need to spend eldwater yet: promoting to 5* and/or unlocking co-ability nodes is unnecessary for now. 
    • However, promoting to 4* is pretty cheap. If you have some favorite 3* characters, feel free to promote them to 4*.
    • Don’t waste a Champion’s Testament on the Damascus Crystal node unless you’ve brought the character to 49MC. 
    • Upgrade Costs (outdated)

 

6. Wyrmprints

 

  • 0UB/2UB wps are fine until Endgame, don’t spend precious eldwater/keys on MUB copies yet. 

 

 

7. Dragons

A. Basics

    • Vocabulary – List of All Dragons
      • 4* str dragon = permanent -> 4* -> strength
      • 4* hp dragon = permanent -> seasonal -> 4* -> hp -> hp/str
        • 4* hp dragons include split hp/str dragons bc not all elements have dedicated 4* hp dragons like Phoenix and Stribog. For example, since water doesn’t have a dedicated 4* hp dragon, most water healers use Poliahu (split str/hp).
      • 5* str dragon = permanent -> Zodiac -> 5* -> strength 
      • 5* pure str dragon = Levi, Cerberus, Agni, Marishiten, Zephyr, Cupid
      • 5* skill dmg (sd) dragon = Konohana Sakuya, Siren, Shinobi
    • Daily Dragon Bond Gifts
      • Purchase all daily gifts. 
      • When purchasing the right-most dragon bond gift, make sure to give it to the correct dragon. You can also use the little music note right next to that specific gift to tell whether or not that gift is for that dragon. 
      • Save a copy of each dragon (even useless 3* ones) to eventually max bond for the sunlight shard.
    • Tip: focus your moonstones on acquiring 1 MUB 4* str dragon in each element (Ifrit, Vodyanoy, Roc, Juggernaut, Lindworm).

 

  • MUB 5* gacha dragons are not necessary for any content in the game except speedrunning and MG 40+.

 

    • However, they can be very helpful for advanced Endgame content, such as clearing high levels of MG and speedrunning High Dragon Trials. Therefore, don’t touch your sunlight shards and stones until you reach the Endgame.

B. Which to Equip

    • Never equip an HP dragon on a DPS unit for any reason. Your DPS unit doesn’t need more health for “tankiness” or whatever. You want to equip a str dragon to increase your str stat, which will increase your DPS output. Remember, more DPS = shorter runs = less time to mess up and die.

 

  • MUB 5* sd dragon > MUB 5* pure str dragon > 0UB to 3UB 5* sd dragon ≥ MUB 4* str dragon > 0UB to 3UB 5* pure str dragon > 0UB to 3UB 4* str dragon.

 

    • MUB 4* dragons are reasonably attainable as F2P, especially since the monthly void battles treasure trade allows you to obtain 2 moonlight stones per month. 
    • The following only holds true depending on the character: 0UB 5* sd dragon > MUB 4* str dragon. 
      • Whether or not a sd dragon beats out a 4* str dragon depends on how much of the character’s DPS comes from using dmg skills., which means it’s different for every character. Use your judgement or ask to determine if a 0UB 5* sd dragon will be more ideal than a MUB 4* str dragon. 
      • However, despite the DPS gain when replacing a MUB 4* str dragon with a 0UB – 3UB skill dmg dragon, your might will decrease dramatically. Therefore, for situations such as co-op content where might-bias unfortunately exists, a MUB 4* str dragon will likely be the better choice.
    • Raid welfare dragons are not mentioned because they’re almost always worse than 4* dragons. However, until you obtain lots of 4* dragons, raid welfare dragons can be a temporary alternative.
  • Since buffbots just need to focus on firing off s1 buffs, equipping a str dragon isn’t a high priority, but having a str dragon will obviously make your normal attacks slightly more impactful to overall DPS. 
    • Also, esp in co-op content, shapeshifting at break can do quite a bit of dmg, so perhaps consider equipping a dragon that does good dmg in dragon form.
  • HP dragons (including split str/hp dragons) should really only be used on healers. 
    • However, sometimes DPS is more important than healing (such as in HMC), so healers will sometimes equip str dragons to maximize DPS (even though staff basic attacks typically only contribute ~5% of the total dmg).

8. Combat Skills

 

9. Intro to High Dragon Trials

  • Dragalia Lost’s main Endgame content consists of the High Dragon Trials (HDTs). Basically, you and 3 other players team up to beat an advanced form of one of the story dragons in under 5 minutes. 
  • There are currently 4 HDTs: High Midgardsormr (HMS), High Brunhilda (HBH), High Mercury (HMC), and High Jupiter (HJP). High Zodiark (HZD) will be releasing sometime in the future. Players tend to start with HMS because it has the lowest entry requirements. 
  • In order to challenge them, you’ll have to do some prep work. First, you’ll have to figure out what character you want to bring to each HDT. Some High Dragons have strict metas, while others are very open in terms of character viability. 
    • Check out the Endgame HDT sections down below for more info on viable characters. 
    • Don’t worry if you don’t have a viable character yet! You’ll definitely summon new characters between now and when you acquire the necessary facility levels to even challenge that HDT. Also, new banners often expand each HDT’s meta. 
  • After you’ve selected a viable HDT candidate, you will need to do quite a bit of grinding before you’ll be ready, so don’t worry about HDTs until you’ve completed the Midgame.

 

10. General Tips

    • Save eldwater as much as possible: promoting to 5* and/or unlocking co-ability nodes and/or purchasing MUB wps (except really good limited wps) are unnecessary until you reach the Endgame.
    • Start challenging Mercurial Gauntlet asap to get in on the rewards. See how far you can go, but don’t stress yourself trying to push levels until you have well-developed mono teams.  
    • Once you equip your AtF team with 4 Gold Fafnir Dragons, start purchasing dragon fruit and consecrated water everyday from the Daily Upgrade Essentials shop (underneath the daily item summon). 
    • Don’t touch your Sunlight Shards/Stones or Damascus Crystals/Ingots until you reach the Endgame. 

 

  • MUB 5.3.4 weapons are not necessary for any content in the game.
  • MUB 5* gacha dragons are not necessary for any content in the game except MG 40-50.

 

 

 

 

11. Acknowledge the Gacha

Weapons

  • Was gonna put “Weapons” under Basics, but there’s honestly so much info that it needs its own section.

A. Standard Weapons

  • Moving into Midgame territory, players will now begin working towards either 4T3 weapons, 5T2 weapons, or void weapons using mats obtained from grinding Midgame content. You will have to decide on the best option depending on your future plans for that character. 
  • The mats for these weapons can be obtained through a reasonable amount of grinding, and these weapons will continue to be useful as solid equips for your “mono team only units” (non-HDT units) beyond the Midgame. 

1) 4T3 Weapons 

  • Ideal for the time being because they’re cheap and provide excellent value in terms of stats vs cost. You won’t be able to afford 5T3 weapons for a while, so 4.3.4s are actually the strongest weapons you can craft right now. 
  • Make sure the 4T3 has a relevant/useful weapon skill. 
  • Always/Only use steel bricks to MUB a 4.3.0 into a 4.3.4.

2) 5T2 Weapons 

  • If the 4T3 weapon has a useless weapon skill and the 5T2 has a more useful weapon skill (like the 4.3 light lance vs 5.2.0 light lance), then craft a 5T2 instead.
  • If you can’t afford to craft a bunch of 4T3s for several characters of the same weapon type across different mono teams. For example, say Karina, Sazanka, and Vanessa are on your mono teams for water, dark, and fire, respectively. If you can’t afford to craft a 4T3 for each of them yet, then craft a 5.2.0 axe and have them share it. 
  • If you plan on enhancing the 5T2 into a 5T3, then craft the 5T2 over the 4T3. 
      • No need to MUB a 5.2.0 into 5.2.4, the marginal stat gain isn’t worth the extra costs, unless you’re planning on enhancing the 5.2.4 into a 5.3.0.

3) Void Weapons 

    • Can be ideal depending on several factors: 
      1. The character’s kit.
      2. The void weapon’s abilities.
      3. What you plan to use the character for.
      4. How much the character would benefit from the void weapon’s abilities doing whatever you plan to use them for. 
    • For example, take Karina and the void water axe w/ slayer str (Maelstrom Crux). I usually use Karina in fire IO and in facility events, since her skills are solid for aoe crowd control and she’s tanky. Therefore, the Maelstrom Crux’s slayer str synergizes well with Karina’s kit and use case. 
    • Use your own judgement or ask in the Daily Megathread to determine if a void weapon may better suit your character than a traditional IO weapon.
  • Void Battles Weapons Chart (June Update)

 

B. Progression 

    • Weapon Progression Guide
    • 5T3 weapons are the strongest weapons in the game*, but they’re very expensive to craft because they require tons of grinding for rupies and Elemental Ruins/Imperial Onslaught drops. Therefore, they are considered Endgame weapons. 
      • Since they require lots of grinding, you will have to be selective in choosing which characters to prioritize crafting super strong 5T3 weapons for. Many players will focus their resources on crafting 5T3 weapons for their HDT candidates whose BiS weapon is a 5.3.0. 
      • Eventually, you’ll have the resources to deck out your mono teams with 5T3 weapons, but that won’t be for a while.
    • In terms of stats, 5.3.4 > 5.3.0 > 4.3.4 ≈ off-ele 5.3.4 > 5.2.4 ≈ 4.3.0 > 5.2.0 ≈ off-ele 4.3.4.

 

  • Even though off-ele 5.3.4 ≈ 4.3.4 in pure stats, remember that a 4.3.4 has a s3, while an off-ele 5.3.4 does not have a s3. Therefore, even though both weapons are fairly equivalent in stats, the 4.3.4 has a major advantage due to having a s3. Same concept applies with 5.2.0 ≈ off-ele 4.3.4. 

 

    • MUB 5.3.4 weapons are not necessary for any content in the game.
  • Until you can afford excess 5T3 weapons (Endgame territory), 4.3.4 weapons are the ideal standard weapon.
    • Feel free to invest in 4* weapons, they will not go to waste. Unbinding 4.3.0s into 4.3.4s with steel bricks and then dismantling the 4.3.4 later on when you don’t need it anymore is considered a viable strat to obtain silver insignias. 
  • Always take a weapon’s skill into consideration before crafting it: 

 

C. HDT Weapons

  • *Depending on the character and the HDT, a void weapon can outperform a 5T3 weapon (only when that character is challenging that specific HDT). 
  • For your HDT candidates, check out the Endgame High Dragon Trials sections down below or ask to figure out what the selected character’s BiS weapon is (usually either a 5.3.0 weapon or a 0UB void weapon).
  • Healers are usually encouraged to use whatever staff is most useful to them. 
    • For example, the flame and water 4.3.4 staves both have s3 heals which are obviously useful, and thus, they are usually the recommended staves for flame and water healers.
  • Focus your resources on preparing that character’s weapon. Since HMS has very low entry requirements, you could probably get away with a standard weapon for it. However, you will not be able to get away with a standard weapon for any of the other High Dragons.

 

D. Crafting Mats

 

E. Damascus Dismantling Strat

  • Warning! This strat costs a ton of rupies, I strongly advise waiting until you’re lvl 100+ and pushing into the endgame before even considering this strat.
  • Basically, you use Damascus Ingots to MUB a 5.3.0, then dismantle that into 5 x 5.2.4, then dismantle those into 25 x 5.1.4. Here are the costs and rewards.
  • Personal advice, don’t go through with this strat unless you have an exorbitant amount of rupies to spare (10m+), and you plan on recrafting some of the leftover 5.2.4s and/or 5.1.4s back into 5.3.0s. 
    • For example, say I were to dismantle a MUB 5.3.4 light lance (Thunder King’s Greatspear). Ideally, I would use 3 of the resulting 5 x 5.2.4s (Compass Needles) to craft 3 x 5.3.0 lances, one fire, light, and dark lance. Then, I would dismantle the remaining 2 x 5.2.4s (Compass Needle) into 10 x 5.1.4s (Pactspear), which I would then craft into 5.3.0 water and wind lances. Basically, I converted 1 x MUB 5.3.4 light lance into 5 x 0UB 5.3.0 lances, one in every element, for a significantly discounted rupie + mat cost than if I were to craft a 5.3.0 lance in each element from scratch.
    • Obviously, you don’t need to recraft every last leftover 5.1.4/5.2.4 back into a 5.3.0, but the more you recraft, the more value you get out of your rupies.
  • Additionally, consider the 1,000 gold insignias you’ll get out of this. What do plan on doing with the 1,000 gold insignias? Would you rather have 1,000 gold insignias in another color?
  • One more thing, I highly advise against using this strat solely for the crafting mats. Although it may seem like crafting mats are a bottleneck, sands and insignias (then eventually and especially dyrenell coins) are actually a far greater bottleneck in the long run. Basically, you’re gonna need to do thousands of IOs in order to get mats for your dojos, and by doing those, you’ll get tons of crafting mats anyways.
  • In the past, people would use this strat to acquire additional twinkling sands. However, with the introduction of Mercurial Gauntlet, the sand shortage has decreased to the point where the strat has become less worthwhile.
  • Bottom line: carefully consider all the variables before going through with this strat bc it’s an enormous resource commitment that could potentially hinder your progression, and if you do decide to do it, choose your elemental weapon wisely.

 

Now that you understand the Basics of Draglia Lost, you’re ready to begin the Midgame.

The Midgame

  • Imagine the Midgame as the classic “training montage” of your Dragalia journey. Everything you do from here on out, from upgrading characters to grinding events, will be in service of the ultimate goal: conquering High Dragon Trials (HDT).

 

1. Facilities

Expected Facility Levels

  • All elemental altars (2 per element) – lvl 30.
  • All weapon dojos (2 per weapon type) – lvl 16.
  • All slime statues (from void battles) – lvl 15.

But Why?

  • In order to challenge Endgame content, you’ll need sufficient facility levels, or else your characters will likely be too weak to meet the stat requirements.
  • Of course, there are other important facilities that you should be upgrading too, such as rupie mines, dragontree, dracoliths, etc.

 

2. Events

A. Raids

Main Objective: Max Friendship with the Featured Welfare Unit

  • Equip the welfare unit on your raid team to quickly max their friendship to make sure you’ll be able to keep them after the event ends. After their friendship is maxed, feel free to remove them from your team if you want. 

Main Objective: Farm the Raid

  • Raid Prep Guide (for a past raid, but still informative)
  • Complete All Emblems: 1000 bronze, 1000 silver, 5000 gold
    • Gold Emblems: Expert Raid Battle
      • Do EX Raids whenever they appear for the bonus gold emblems.
    • Silver Emblems: Standard Raid Battle
    • Bronze Emblems: Expert Boss Battle
  • Use Blazons to acquire a MUB copy of the welfare dragon.
  • Break all body parts on the raid boss when possible.

Side Objective: Nightmare Raids

  • Nightmare is just a big DPS check. If your raid mono team isn’t at least nearly complete, you may have to rely on well-developed players to soft-carry you through Nightmare. 
  • If it’s too much trouble finding players to help you cleart, then it’s probably more trouble than it’s worth. Don’t stress yourself trying to clear Nightmare with an underdeveloped team–the rewards aren’t gamebreaking.

B. Facility Events

Main Objective: Upgrade the Event Facility to lvl 30.

  • Farm the Boss Battle with wings to earn mats to upgrade your event facility. 
  • Tip, when farming Boss Battle in co-op, make sure you have the event wps equipped on your team (not the other players’ characters, but your actual team).

Main Objective: Event Rewards and Event Treasure Trade

  • Farm the Challenge Battle with stamina for:
    • Event currency to use in the event treasure trade.
    • Rare drops usually in the form of wyrmprints, golden keys, sands, etc. 
    • Event “Rewards,” which cap out at 1 million points.
  • If you finish the Event Rewards and just want to clear out the treasure trade, the most efficient method is to solo the Boss Battle for event facility mats. Then, convert those facility mats into other event items through the Event Treasure Trade.

Side Objective: Master Challenge Battle

  • Try clear it for the 500 wyrmite. A lvl 30 event facility will significantly help in clearing Master Challenge Battle.
  • A Guide to Preparing for Master Challenges
  • Expert vs Master Challenge Battle 
    • Master has higher rare drop rates, so you might be able to earn more wyrmprints, key frags, etc. If you can solo and/or auto Master comfortably, then do so. Otherwise, don’t worry about it. 

Maximizing Event Item Intake

  • Purchase the 5 copies of the event wp from the Event Treasure Trade using event items. 
    • Note, purchasing the featured wps in the Wyrmprint Shop with eldwater is not necessary to completing the event. 
  • Equip one copy of the event wp on each team member like this: 0UB, 0UB, 0UB, 0UB. With each additional event wp you earn, unbind one of the wps like this: 1UB, 0UB, 0UB, 0UB. Then, 2UB, 0UB, 0UB, 0UB.

 

3. The Big Three

  • Grind these three quests forever. Always farm the hardest difficulty. When there’s a half-stamina or double drops event, take advantage of it. 
  • Feel free to co-op the hardest difficulty until you can solo and/or auto it. Do not worry about being undergeared for these quests–might isn’t a big deal. 
  • You are not expected to be able to solo them until you have more developed mono teams. 

A. Elemental Ruins

  • Farm Expert Elemental Ruins for orbs and mats to upgrade mana circles, weapons, and altars. 
  • Spend a little more time in Light Ruins in order to upgrade your rupie mines. 
  • After getting your altars to lvl 30, keep upgrading them until they’re maxed.
  • Ruins Farming Chart

B. Dragon Trials

  • Farm Dragon Trials for scales and spheres to upgrade mana circles and dracoliths. The spheres are also useful for purchasing copies of the story dragons now and their High Dragon counterparts later on. 

C. Imperial Onslaught

 

4. Astral Raids and Augments

 

  • Main Objective: Farm Them for Augments

 

    • Gamepedia Astral Raids Guide
    • Gamepress Astral Raids Guide
    • During the weekdays, you can acquire astral pieces by simply running quests. Your astral pieces cap out at 300/300, but it’s pretty easy to get to 300 just by being consistent with dailies.
    • During the weekends, you can use your astral pieces to challenge that weekend’s Astral Raid boss at no stamina or wing cost. 
    • Do the hardest difficulty you can, but Master is similar to Nightmare in that it’s difficult enough where most players would rather run with well-developed teams. Luckily, Master isn’t a DPS race like Nightmare is, so underdeveloped teams can still participate if the other players are willing. 
  • Make sure to exchange your astral raid shards for augments in the Astral Treasure Trade every month.
  • It is highly recommended to reserve augments for meeting HDT stat requirements. 

 

  • Hypnos

 

 

  • Valfare

 

 

  • Phraeganoth

 

 

5. Mercurial Gauntlet

Main Objective: Just Keep Progressing

  • Start challenging Mercurial Gauntlet asap to get in on the monthly rewards. See how far you can go, but don’t stress yourself trying to push levels until you have well-developed mono teams. 
  • Remember, this is a DPS check for your mono teams. If you can’t clear a level, don’t worry, keep building up your mono teams and try again later.
  • Lvl 30+ is endgame territory. Do not kill yourself trying to clear endgame content until you have very well developed mono teams. You will likely require multiple 5.3.0 weapons, multiple MUB 4* str dragons, and multiple MUB wps. 
  • Keep in mind that the most lucrative rewards (sunstones, sunlight ore, damascus crystals, golden frags, etc) are endeavors, not monthly bonuses. You will not lose out on game-breaking resources if you aren’t able to complete the gauntlet in this cycle.

Notable Tips

  • Elisanne helper with buff time wp(s) = fat str buffs.
  • Use helper skill to do a teamwide i-frame of the claps.
  • All afflictions viable: bog, stun, freeze, etc.

Getting to Lvl 20

 

6. Void Battles

Main Objective: Farm Tier 3 Void Bosses

    • Zephyr, Agni, The Manticores, Poseidon, Jeanne

 

  • Recommended: close to 4k might

 

    • Until you reach the recommended might, start farming Tier 1 and 2 void bosses to prep weapons for the Tier 3 bosses.

 

  • These bosses have the highest void seed drop rate, and they drop mats that you can use to craft useful void weapons for mono teams and HDT.

 

Void Battle Progression

Main Objective: Void Treasure Trade

  • Void Treasure Trade allows you to acquire 2 Moonlight Stones per month, allowing you to unbind your 4* dragons. This is a powerful reward you don’t want to miss out on.
    • Focus your moonstones on acquiring 1 MUB 4* str dragon in each element (Ifrit, Vodyanoy, Roc, Juggernaut, Lindworm).
  • Spend Void Leaves on: 2x Moonlight Stones, 5x Damascus Ingots, 5x Steel Bricks, Both Testaments, Rupies, Honey, Ashes, Mana.
  • Spend Void Seeds on: Slime Statues, 4x MUB Gold Fafnir Dragons (+200% AtF Rupie Intake), Downtrade to 80 Leaves (only if you need to buy the essential monthlies before the reset).

A. Zephyr 

 

  • Melee DPS need dull res weapons.

 

  • Lances, bows, and wands should use dragon delay res weapons but don’t have to.
  • Every lobby should have 1 healer and at least 1 sword unit. Once Zephyr hits Overdrive (OD), swords spam c3-FS and you should be able to break before stack.
  • Sleep res is unnecessary. 
  • Void Zephyr – Naveed Guide
  • The Victim Void Zephyr Naveed Solo

B. Agni

 

  • Melee DPS need scorch res weapons.
  • Ranged DPS need skill penetrator weapons.

 

C. Dark Manticore

  • Recommended: bring at least one sword unit with a fury penetrator weapon to break Manticore so everybody can shapeshift at break.
  • Optional: bring one “stunner” (Annelie, Fritz, etc.) to keep Manticore stunned while the sword unit breaks him. 
  • Healers aren’t really necessary. 
  • Curse res is unnecessary.

D. Poseidon

  • Grab a skill penetrator weapon if you can, but otherwise just bring a DPS character and shapeshift at break. Poseidon is definitely easier than the other Tier 3 Bosses.
  • Brotel’s Void Poseidon Guide
  • Healers aren’t really necessary. 
  • Freeze res is unnecessary.

E. Water Manticore

  • Recommended: bring at least one sword unit with a fury penetrator weapon to break Manticore so everybody can shapeshift at break.
  • Optional: bring one “stunner” (Roc, Su Fang, Hawk, etc.) or “sleeper” (Lin You, w!Aoi, etc.) to keep Manticore stunned and/or asleep while the sword unit breaks him. 
  • Healers aren’t really necessary. 
  • Freeze and/or poison res is unnecessary.

F. Jeanne

  • Recommended: grab Fury Penetrator weapons to make runs faster. 
  • Healers aren’t really necessary. 
  • Blind res is unnecessary.
  • Void Jeanne Speed Run Guide

 

7. Practice HDT Preludes

  • Once you can comfortably clear all Tier 3 Void Bosses, you’re ready for Preludes.
    • Don’t worry about hp checks, stat reqs, wps, etc. bc all the attacks deal way less damage than the real thing. 
    • Preludes also have sweet weekly bonuses that I recommend taking advantage of sooner rather than later.
  • Practice Dodging Everything
    • In the real deal, getting hit once can jeopardize the entire run. 
  • Each High Dragon has unique mechanics that you need to be aware of. 
    • There’s tons of videos on youtube of people clearing HDT, so watch a few of them so you know what to practice in Prelude. 

 

Welcome to the Endgame.

The Endgame – High Dragon Trials

    • From this point on lies the fun co-op stuff, but you’ll have to do a bit of prep work to make sure you meet the stat reqs and understand the mechanics of the fight before going in. Otherwise, you’ll likely be letting down your teammates. 

 

  • This stat calculator is now your best friend. Enter in your facilities and equipment and click the “stats” slider. Make sure you pass the hp check 100% of the time or you’ll literally die at the start. 

 

  • Remember, when using void weapons with dragon bane +X%, multiply your character’s str by +X% to find your actual effective str against that High Dragon. For example, when your 2k str Orsem has a void HBH bane +20% water dagger, his actual effective str against HBH is 2.4k. 
  • For dedicated buffbots (such as Elisanne, Melody, and Sinoa), meeting str requirements is not important. You can improve your buffing capabilities by equipping a buff time wp to increase the duration of your buffs, and by equipping a skill haste wp to increase the speed at which you can fire off buffs. 

 

High Midgardsormr

 

Requirements
  • 100% stun res
    • units and wps with stun res
    • Running characters without 100% stun res will require you to play nearly flawlessly. Be ready to accept that challenge if you decide to play a non-stun res character. However, there is fairly minimal risk when running a non-stun res ranged character.
  • Viable Characters – Meta Unimportant
    • Pretty much any flame 3* or 4* or 5* unit can be used as long as you properly invest in them to meet the stat reqs. Maximizing DPS isn’t a big deal in HMS–as long as you hit the stat reqs, you’re good.
  • 45MC 
    • Maybe only 40MC if you have high enough facilities to meet the stat reqs anyways–double check the stat calc.
  • HMS wp (Glorious Tempest)
    • Might not be necessary to MUB it to survive the opening blast. Double check the stat calc.
DPS Units Healers
  • 2k str
  • Any 4* or 5* flame str dragon, but don’t use Phoenix on your DPS unit
  • Weapon doesn’t really matter, just hit 2k str.
    • Best options are 5.3.0, 4.3.4, or void HMS bane weapon.
  • 2.2k hp
  • Phoenix
  • 4.3.4 flame staff or void flame staff with skill prep

 

The Fight
Sword, Axe, and Dagger
  • You will most likely be the designated baiter of the lobby. That means you’ll be in charge of baiting Midgard’s spits, dashes, and 3-ways away from the other party members. A good baiter is instrumental to smooth runs, so I highly recommend soloing HMS Prelude until you can instinctively anticipate Midgard’s moveset in your dreams at night. 
  • Do not jump 3-ways or 8-ways in pubs.
  • u/Archahcra‘s wonderful sword guides: here, here, and here
  • Marth HMS True Solo 
  • Ezelith HMS Reference
  • Ezelith Guide to HMS
Blade and Lance
  • You usually will not be the designated baiter. In which case, your main goal is to avoid stealing bait. HMS always targets the closest player, so don’t be the closest player. However, there’s always a small chance you might have to bait, so be ready to do so.
  • HMS Mym Solo
Wand and Bow
  • Just make sure you dodge stuff and spam skills. Don’t worry about baiting.
  • Ranged units need higher stats to meet the hp check. Make sure you double check the stat calc before attempting the real deal.
Staff

 

High Brunhilda

 

Requirements
  • 100% burn res
    • units and wps with burn res
    • If you’re using a DPS character without 100% burn res, you’re not gonna be able to pub HBH unless you find a Thaniel that knows how to heal burnables, which aren’t easy to come by.
    • For characters such as Elisanne, Rex, and Celliera with partial burn res, 50% burn res wps can be equipped to achieve 100% burn res.
  • Viable Characters – Strict Meta
    • Orsem, The Cellieras, Fjorm, Elisanne, Xainfried, Lily, Thaniel, n!Aeleen
    • 99% of pubs are comprised of these characters. Running off-meta units will be more inconvenient, but still possible with friendly teammates.
    • Rex is also completely viable, but he’s not very common in HBH pubs even though an axe co-ability would be super helpful. 
  • High HP check
    • Double check the stat calc to make sure your character will survive the opening blast. You can insert 15% for the hp co-ability box because most lances have maxed their co-abilities to help people survive. 
  • 50MC 
    • Maybe only 45MC if your co-ability isn’t important. For example, other characters often rely on 50MC lances to pass the hp check.
  • MUB HBH wp (Volcanic Queen)
    • Necessary in almost all circumstances, except for off-meta builds and quad Fjorm speedruns. Double check the stat calc.
DPS Units Healers
  • 2.4k str
  • MUB Vodyanoy
  • Best options are 5.3.0 or void HBH bane weapon
  • 2.5k hp
  • MUB Poliahu or Peng Lai
  • 4.3.4 water staff recommended, void staff for n!Aeleen
      • Elisanne Build: 50MC; 0UB void HBH bane lance (Strohm Mare); Fireside Gathering (for 100% burn res) + Halidom Grooms; Vodyanoy. 
        • Elisanne massively boosts team DPS, and is highly recommended for teams with sub-par DPS output. 
      • n!Aeleen Build: 45+ MC; 0UB void water staff; Fireside Gathering + Beauty’s Secret (for 100% burn res); Peng Lai or Poliahu or HMC.
        • Link
        • *requires maxed lance unit in lobby
      • Rex Build: 50MC; 0UB void HBH bane axe; Beauty’s Secret + any DPS wp; Vodyanoy or HMC
        • *requires maxed lance unit in lobby
    • Off-Meta Special Builds 
      • Low DPS compared to meta units (due to lack of a skill dmg wp), but can be viable with proper investment. PUGs will occasionally be willing to play with you as long as you meet the stat reqs.
      • Off-Meta Melee
        • S!Julietta, Karina, Xander, D!Cleo, etc.
        • 50MC; 0UB void HBH bane weapon; Fireside Gathering + Beauty’s Secret (for 100% burn res); Vodyanoy or HMC
        • *requires maxed lance unit in lobby
  • Off-Meta Ranged
      • Very high requirements, not worthwhile in PUGs.
  • **When a 100% burn res wp comes out, we will likely have a more diverse HBH meta that will make off-meta units more popular.

 

The Fight
Orsem, The Cellieras, Rex
  • You will be the designated baiter of the lobby. Watch tons of clear videos to familiarize yourself with the moveset. 
  • HBH Baiting 101
Fjorm, Elisanne, Xainfried
Lily
  • Don’t steal dive bait from the healer. HBH dives (Crimson Infernos) target the farthest player, so don’t be the farthest player.
  • Advanced Lily HBH Guide
  • Levi Lily Guide
  • Optional: learn how to dive cancel because your healer will love you if you can take care of that for them. If you accept the responsibility of dive cancelling, notify the healer by spamming the “I’m On Defense” Ranzal sticker. Check out the healer section below if you want to learn how to dive cancel.
Thaniel, n!Aeleen
  • Thaniel HBH Guide
  • Thaniel In-Depth Guide to HBH
  • In pubs, dive cancelling is the norm. Learn and practice dive cancelling in Prelude or discord before pubbing HBH.
  • Dive Cancelling is the HBH strat where a player (usually the healer) runs to the opposite edge of the map from HBH’s location in order to “cancel” her Crimson Inferno move. 
  • For context, when HBH does Crimson Inferno (commonly referred to as “dive”), she targets the farthest player. However, when the farthest player is too far (opposite side of the map from HBH), then HBH will do a claw swipe instead of a dive. This technique relies on HBH being on the edge of the map, so that the dive canceller can go to the opposite edge. If HBH is not on the edge of the map, this technique will not work. 
  • Many consider this strat a method of maximizing dps, as such it is the default method used in HBH pubs. You will need to memorize when each Crimson Inferno occurs in the moveset in order to know when to start moving to the opposite edge to perform the dive cancel.
  • If a ranged DPS such as Lily spams the “I’m on Defense” Ranzal sticker, that means that they will dive cancel for you.
HBH Quad Fjorm Cheese

 

High Mercury

 

Requirements
  • Unnecessary: 100% bog res
  • Viable Characters – Loose Meta
    • Most Common Picks: Lin You, Maribelle, Addis, G!Ranzal, W!Elisanne, Melody, Lowen, w!Xania.
    • These characters are recommended but not necessary. Many pubs would be willing to run with uncommon characters so long as they meet the stat checks and know what they’re doing.
  • High DPS Check, low HP check
    • Unnecessary: HMC wp (Queen of the Blue Seas), instead bring BiS wps to maximize DPS
  • 45MC 
    • 50MC for characters with useful DPS co-abilities, such as blades, wands, daggers, bows.
DPS Units Healers
  • 2.6k str
    • 2.5k+ is close enough
  • MUB Roc
  • MUB Roc to maximize DPS
  • 100% skill prep 

 

The Fight
    • 1 healer (or designated main baiter)
    • at least 1 ranged DPS (secondary baiter)
    • at least 1 melee DPS (bait dashes)
Healers
Melee DPS
Ranged DPS

 

High Jupiter

The Endgame – Mercurial Gauntlet

  • Simply put, you’re gonna need hella decked mono teams. Start hoarding eldwater, consecrated water, sunlight stones, damascus ingots, wp keys, and 5* weapon mats (rupies, insigs, IO mats, tablets, sands) to prepare for the massive costs of challenging the MG Endgame. I want to emphasize that investing tons of resources into MG should occur after you’ve finished gearing up for HDT. 
  • MG Team Building

Wind

Flame

Water

 

Random Helpful Resources

 

Congratulations on reading through 48 pgs of content.

 

As always feel free to suggest revisions, tips, suggestions, resources, links, etc. in the reddit post. I’m always on the lookout for new additions to the guide. Thanks for being a wonderful community! 

 

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