The Trials, Travails, and Triumphs of Tek, a sometimes average $79.60 total IAP PAD player

Greetings, all!

I'm an average non-IAP player with a full-time job, a family (a wife and two young children), and online responsibilities (leading two gaming communities). I've been playing PAD since March 2014 and struggling to play in moderation since gaining momentum with my LMeta team.

I decided to start a PAD blog thread to post short updates on my progress that wouldn't warrant their own thread.

As of early February 2015, my greatest accomplishment is clearing Holy Goddess - Mythical with a GZL team and earning the Valkyrie I'd been chasing for so long.

I intend this as an intro post only, so I'll save my descend clear list for a future post.

My current goals include building low cost teams for Gaia and Tengu (and maybe Draggie), clearing Legend difficulty descends when I have the appropriate teams, farming Poring Tower for Valk, Cu Chu, and Sieg skill-ups when it returns, clearing Endless Corridors with a Kirin team (maybe), and occasionally farming +eggs for LMeta.

You can find my PADherder profile at https://www.padherder.com/user/Tek7/

 

Progress up to 9/15/19

Normal - COMPLETE
Cleared Sky Dragons' Domain
Cleared Legendary Dragons' Footprints
Cleared Divine Queen's Sleepless Castle
Cleared The Heroes' Hideout
Cleared Starlight Sanctuary
Cleared Legendary Seaway - No RCV 10/18/15
Cleared Legendary Earth

Technical
Cleared Tower of Blazing Fire - Only / No Fr
Cleared Mechdragons' Massive Fortress
Cleared Ancient Dragons' Mystic Realm
Cleared Mythic Stone Dragon Cave
Cleared The God-King's Floating Garden 2/3/15
Cleared Kouryu of the Celestial Pole 3/1/16
Cleared Soaring Star Dragon 3/15/16
Cleared Iron Dragon of the Dawn 5/3/16
Cleared Legendary Snowy Valley 6/25/16
Cleared Bipolar Goddess 1 9/6/16

Special
Cleared Corpse Wyrm - Master 12/15/14
Cleared Holy Night Festival - Blessed 12/17/14
Cleared Demonic Fire Queen - Legend 12/25/14
Cleared Queen of Absolute Zero - Legend 12/26/14
Cleared Holy Goddess - Mythical 12/27/14
Cleared Arboreal Queen - Legend 1/12/15
Cleared Chivalrous Thief - Legend 1/18/15
Cleared The Lady General - Master 1/21/15
Cleared Shining Death Queen - Legend 1/22/15
Cleared Gods of Starry Wisdom - Legend 1/29/15
Cleared Sword Combat - Legend 2/4/15
Cleared Fiend Prince - Mythical 2/9/15
Cleared God of Brawn - Legend 2/9/15
Cleared Cocoon Insect Dragon - Mythical 2/11/15
Cleared Shining Goddess - Mythical 2/16/15
Cleared Mighty General - Legend 2/20/15
Cleared Honorable Dragon - Legend 2/20/15
Cleared Demon Prince - Legend 2/24/15
Cleared Black Skydragon - Z 3/7/15
Cleared Creator Goddess - Master 3/8/15
Cleared Meditating Music God - Mythical 3/12/15
Cleared Sorceress - Legend 3/21/15
Cleared Zouni Dragon - Mythical 3/23/15
Cleared Honey Insect Dragon - Mythical 3/24/15
Cleared Lord of Hell - Mythical 3/29/15
Cleared Yomi Goddess - Legend 3/31/15
Cleared Underworld Guardian - Legend 4/18/15
Cleared Beef Bowl Dragon - Mythical 4/??/15
Cleared Fried Cutlet Dragon - Mythical 5/6/15
Cleared Ark Deity - Legend 6/9/15
Cleared Dream Labyrinth - Kingdom 6/??/15
Cleared Kamameshi Dragon - Mythical 6/??/15
Cleared Dark Knight - Master 6/21/15
Cleared Armored Blade Dragon - Legend 6/24/15
Cleared Moonlight Princess - Legend 6/26/15
Cleared Ocean God - Legend 6/28/15
Cleared General Yan - Master 7/4/15
Cleared Entrance Ceremony - Mythical 7/5/15
Cleared Scarlet Stone Blade Dragon - Legend 7/5/15
Cleared Oni Enraged - Mythical 7/8/15
Cleared Chaotic Darkness - Mythical 7/9/15
Cleared Leonine King - Legend 7/10/15
Cleared Hedonistic Demon - Legend 8/1/15
Cleared Soul Reaper - Mythical 8/5/15
Cleared Blue Cat Dragon - Mythical 8/5/15
Cleared Cave of Dreaming - Mythical 8/13/15
Cleared Mei Zhou Lang - Legend 8/28/15
Cleared Heavenly Mystics - Legend 9/12/15
Cleared Sky Prison - Mythical 9/25/15
Cleared Earth God - Legend 10/10/15
Cleared Frozen Hell Demon - Legend 11/20/15
Cleared Endless Corridors 12/5/15
Cleared Welcoming Sea God - Legend ( 7x6 Board ) 12/5/15
Cleared Century's End - Conquerer 12/5/15
Cleared Final Flame Wielder - Legend 12/19/15
Cleared Holy Night Saint - Blessed 12/26/15
Cleared Father of Gods - Mythical 12/26/15
Cleared Black Skydragon - Z 1/9/16
Cleared Sword Combat - Mythical 1/12/16
Cleared Honorable Dragon - Mythical 1/12/16
Cleared Yomi Goddess - Mythical 1/12/16
Cleared Final Flame Wielder - Mythical 1/13/16
Cleared Dark Knight - Legend 1/13/16
Cleared Mechanical God - Legend 1/14/16
Cleared Princess of Darkness - Legend 1/15/16
Cleared Iron Strength Plaza - Legend 1/15/16
Cleared Keeper of the Gold - Mythical 1/19/16
Cleared Room of the Sacred Mask - Legend 1/20/16
Cleared White Guardian Deity - Legend 1/30/16
Cleared Demonic Fire Queen - Mythical 2/5/16
Cleared Chivalrous Thief - Mythical 2/13/16
Cleared Forest Protecting God - Legend 2/13/16
Cleared Queen of Absolute Zero - Mythical 2/13/16
Cleared Lightning Fist God - Legend 2/26/16
Cleared Gods of Starry Wisdom - Mythical 2/29/16
Cleared Hall of the Divine King - Legend 3/2/16
Cleared Ark Deity - Mythical 3/5/16
Cleared God of Brawn - Mythical 3/5/16
Cleared Arboreal Queen - Mythical 3/5/16
Cleared God of Judgement - Mythical 3/9/16
Cleared God of the Seaways - Mythical 3/10/16
Cleared Underworld Guardian - Mythical 3/11/16
Cleared Hedonistic Demon - Mythical 3/12/16
Cleared Mei Zhou Lang - Mythical 3/12/16
Cleared Challenge Dungeons! 22 - Lv7 - No RCV 3/12/16
Cleared Sorceress - Mythical 3/13/16
Cleared Demon Prince - Mythical 3/14/16
Cleared Phantom Dragon King - Legend Plus 3/15/16
Cleared Leonine King - Mythical 3/18/16
Cleared Armored Blade Dragon - Mythical 3/21/16
Cleared Mighty General - Mythical 3/27/16
Cleared Challenge Dungeons! 23 - Lv7 - No RCV ( 7x6 Board ) 3/30/16
Cleared Xuanzang's Party - Mythical 4/6/16
Cleared Beautiful Evolution? 4/7/16
Cleared Welcoming Sea God - Mythical ( 7x6 Board ) 4/12/16
Cleared Divine Realm - Legend Plus 4/16/16
Cleared Earth God - Mythical 4/18/16
Cleared White Guardian Deity - Mythical 4/19/16
Cleared Princess of Darkness - Mythical 4/19/16
Cleared Eternal Dragon - Mythical 4/21/16
Cleared Frozen Hell Demon - Mythical ( 7x6 Board ) 4/21/16
Cleared Inverted Eternal Dragon - Mythical 4/24/16
Cleared Holy Night Saint - SuperBlessed 4/25/16
Cleared Devils' Domain - Legend Plus 4/27/16
Cleared True Dragon Realm - Legend Plus 5/9/16
Cleared Smithing God - Mythical 5/17/16
Cleared Challenge Dungeons! 25 - Lv8 - Healer & God Enchanced 5/29/16
Cleared Heavenly Winged Machine - Legend 6/3/16
Cleared Hall of the Divine King - Mythical 6/7/16
Cleared Sake's Demon - Mythical ( 7x6 Board ) 6/18/16
Cleared Mechanical God - Mythical 6/21/16
Cleared White Monkey Retainer* - Mythical 6/24/16
Cleared Dragon Queen of the Wind - Mythical Plus* 7/22/16
Cleared Phantom Dragon King - Mythical Plus* 7/24/16
Cleared Hell Demon - Mythical Plus* 7/26/16
Cleared Heavenly Winged Machine - Mythical* 7/27/16
Cleared Time Boundaries Dragon - Mythical Plus* 7/29/16
Cleared Knight Dragon King - Mythical Plus* 7/31/16
Cleared Lightning Fist God - Mythical* 8/2/16
Cleared Moonlight Princess - Mythical 8/6/16
Cleared Ocean God - Mythical* 8/8/16
Cleared True Endless Corridors 8/9/16
Cleared Stubborn Dragon King - Legend Plus 8/22/16
Cleared Sea Dragon King - Legend Plus 8/30/16
Cleared War Machine King - Mythical 9/2/16
Cleared Extreme Endless Corridors 9/15/16
Cleared Challenge Dungeons! 28 - Lv10* 9/20/16
...
Cleared Challenge Dungeons! 29 - Lv9 - No Dupes 10/19/16

* = Co-op clear

THEN A LOT OF THINGS HAPPENED

Cleared Ultimate Arena 2 - 7/30/17 - Details

Cleared One-Shot Challenge 14 - 8/9/17 - Details

Cleared Heavenly Palace of Heretics F5 - 9/4/17 - Details

Cleared Mecha Goemon - 9/12/17 - Details

Cleared Herme Descended - 9/18/17 - Details

Cleared September C10 - 9/25/17 - Details

Cleared Legendary Skyrealm - 10/1/17 - Details

Cleared Super Ultimate Survey Rush - 10/9/17 - Details

Cleared One-Shot Challenge 16 - 10/19/17 - Details

Cleared Cloud City's Scarlet Blaze F5 - 10/24/17 - Details

Cleared Ultimate Arena 3 - 10/24/17 - Details

Cleared October C10 - 10/25/17 - Details

Cleared November C10 - 11/5/17 - Details

Cleared Rushana Descended - 11/10/17 - Details

Completed assembling Odin Dragon - 11/19/17 - Details

Cleared The Queen's Temple of Dance F2 - 11/23/17 - Details

Cleared Machine Zeus Descended - 11/26/17 - Details

Cleared Machine Hera Descended - 11/26/17 - Details

Completed assembling Orpharion - 12/4/17 - Details

Cleared December C10 - 12/15/17 - Details

Cleared Super Snow Globe Challenge [1] - 12/17/17 - Details

Cleared Machine Athena Descended - 12/18/17 - Details

Completed assembling Ragnarok Dragon - 12/19/17 - Details

Completed assembling Zeus Verse - 12/27/17 - Details

Cleared Sphinx 1/2/3-sub challenges - 12/29/17 - Details

Cleared Super-Ultimate Norse Rush - c. 1/28/18

Cleared Super-Ultimate Machine Rush - c. 1/28/18

Cleared Super-Ultimate Chinese Rush - 1/29/18 - Details

Cleared Rikuu Descended - 1/29/18 - Details

Cleared Ultimate Endless Corridors - Awoken Skills Invalid - 2/4/18 - Details

Cleared February C10 - 2/6/18 - Details

Cleared Legendary Sea of Trees in Challenge Mode - 2/7/18 - Details

Cleared Cosmo Crusader 1/2/3-sub Challenges - 2/24/18 - Details

Cleared Agni 1/2/3-sub Challenges - 2/25/18 - Details

Cleared Gilles Legato Descended - 2/25/18 - Details

Cleared March C10 - 3/13/18 - Details

Cleared April C10 - 4/6/18 - Details

Cleared Hexazeon Descended - 5/4/18 - Details

DAY 1500 - 5/12/18 - Details

Cleared Takeminakata +297 - 5/12/18 - Details

Cleared Hera-Is +297 - 5/13/18

Cleared May C10 - 5/14/18 - Details

Cleared Zeus-Dios +297 - 5/19/18

Cleared Beelzebub +297 - 5/20/18

Cleared Eternal Jail of the Devil King - 5/25/18 - Details

Cleared Heracles +297 - 5/26/18

Cleared Wadatsumi +297 - 5/27/18

Cleared Star Treasure of the Night Sky (alt account) - 5/28/18 - Details

Cleared Valkyrie +297 - 5/31/18 - Details

Cleared Manticore Descended - 6/5/18 - Details

Cleared Legendary Skyrealm (solo on main account) - 6/5/18 - Details

Cleared June C10 - 6/18/18 - Details

Cleared Borma - 6/29/18 - Details

Cleared One-shot Challenge 20 - 7/3/18 - Details

Cleared July C10 - 7/28/18 - Details

Cleared Keela Descended - 7/30/18 - Details

Cleared 3P Panera Descended - 8/3/18 - Details

Cleared August C10 - 8/24/18 - Details

Cleared Byuto Descended - 9/5/18 - Details

Cleared Sol & Mani Descended - 9/19/18 - Details

Cleared Mowa Descended 9/20/18 - Details

Cleared September C10 - 9/24/18 - Details

Cleared Kurogane Maru Descended - 9/25/18 - Details

Cleared Diara Descended - 10/6/18 - Details

Cleared Grato Descended - 10/7/18 - Details

Cleared Catastrophic Endless Corridors - 10/11/18 - Details

Cleared Nidhogg Descended - 10/16/18 - Details

Cleared Ultimate Arena 2 (alt, solo) - 10/16/18 - Details

Cleared Myne Descended - 10/29/18 - Details

Cleared DBDC OSC - 11/22/18 - Details

Cleared October C10 - 10/26/18 - Details

Cleared November C10 - 11/28/18 - Details

Cleared December C10 - 12/1/18 - Details

Cleared Ultimate Survey Rush - 12/20/18 - Details

Cleared 6th Quest Anniversary 40 - 1/4/19 - Details

Cleared Quetzalcoatl Descended - 1/14/19 - Details

Cleared New Year Quest 25 - 1/22/19 - Details

Cleared Alt. Ultimate Arena - 1/24/19 - Details

Cleared January C10 - 1/31/19 - Details

Cleared Three Hands of Fate (Arena 4) - 2/6/19 - Details

Cleared Zahhak Descended - 2/20/19 - Details

Cleared 13 mil Quest 28 - 2/27/19 - Details

Cleared February C10 - 2/28/19 - Details

Cleared Libertas Descended - 3/22/19 - Details

Cleared Cloud City's Scarlet Blaze 4/17/19 - Details

Cleared Qilin Descended - 4/19/19 - Details

Cleared Gleaming Sky's Contest - 5/29/19 - Details

Cleared Ultimate Arena - Grotesque Being (Arena 5) - 6/9/19 - Details

Cleared Scheherazade Descended - 6/12/19 - Details

Cleared Alt. Three Hands of Fate (Alt Arena 2) - 6/15/19 - Details

Cleared Machine Noah Descended - 6/16/19 - Details

Cleared The Queen's Temple of Dance - 7/6/19 - Details

Cleared July C10 - 7/15/19 - Details

Cleared Fixed Leader Challenge 2 - 7/19/19 - Details

Cleared Extreme Challenge Arena - 8/26/19 - Details

Cleared Whippe, Unma, Sebun, Rokks, and Kunpoo Descended - 9/1/19 - Details

Cleared September C10 - 9/8/19 - Details

Cleared Ultimate Arena - Bipolar Goddess 3 with a rainbow lead - 9/12/19 - Details

Cleared Ultimate Arena - Grotesque Being (Arena 5) with a rainbow lead - 9/15/19 - Details

 

Cleared Gods of Starry Wisdom - Legend 2/10/15 (Second Sopdet, but still no Thoth )
Cleared Cocoon Insect Dragon - Mythical 2/11/15

I decided to evolve Dark Insect Dragon, Mutecocoon into Vibrant Butterfly Dragon, Swallowtail for the sole purpose of showing to my 3-year old daughter.

Well, that, and for the stones I'll earn while collecting all 5 flower dragons.

 

3/5 Flower Dragons acquired!

Hoping to land Orange and Purple tomorrow and Saturday.

I'm planning on attempting the following dungeons:

Sandalphon 2/15
Athena 2/16
Cauchemar (Legend) 2/18
Kanetsugu (Legend) 2/20
Yinping (Master) 2/22

None besides Yinping are pressing, so I'll probably take one shot at each then either try again if the whim strikes me or farm other dungeons with the remainder of that day's stamina.

I'm not expecting to be able to clear Sandalphon or Athena, but I'll probably attempt them both anyway.

I'm skipping Tengu this time around because my low cost team isn't ready yet.

 

I decided to skip Sandalphon because I didn't think my LMeta team could clear the dungeon and attempting the descend would have left me lacking the stamina to run 4 Supers (2 Emerald, 2 Metal) in one day.

I managed to clear Athena today, though I spent 3 (or 4, I can't remember) stones in the process. At least one was spent recovering from a stupid mistake. Not my finest moment, but 3-4 stones for Athena when I recently rolled Fairlio and Vampire Lord from the REM doesn't seem so terrible. I think I could clear the descend using 1 or 0 stones by the next time it comes around.

I have all the mats I need to take Athena from her current level to UEvo (and still have the jewels to make my super-duper Valk!). Now I just need truckloads of light XP...

After clearing Athena, I admit I regret not attempting Sandalphon, but his descend will likely come back around within a month and I can try again then.

TL;DR: Yay, I have Athena now!

Oh, and I collected the last Flower Dragon, so I can evolve Swallowtail for my daughter tonight.

 

After reading all the hype about her UEvo form, I'm hoping I can assemble an Athena team that can do more than farm quickly, though I'm sure that will be helpful, too.

It will take some time to level her up, so I don't need to rush into theorycrafting just yet (though it is fun to dabble just a bit). But I am excited about the possibilities of a 2.25/9/1 team (with an UEvo Athena friend lead) even with the subs I have right now.

EDIT: Oh, and Athena looks like she'll make a great sub for my GZL and Liu Bei teams.

 

Thanks! And thanks!

So I played Cauchemar's descend on Legend with "free" stamina (124 EXP to next rank and a full stamina pool) and made it as far as Amon. Unfortunately, I still had a few turns of skill lock left over from fighting Lilith (which was annoying since I took her down to ~2-3% health instead of finishing her off before she skill-locked me). Low on health, skills locked (and my friend's +297 LMeta's active would have been available otherwise), and 2 hearts on the board, there was nothing I could do.

Oh well.

I started the same descend again before heading to bed last night and picked it back up this morning, only to underestimate the damage from the red devil and the light shieldra...things.

Oh well.

I don't have Astaroth and I don't have much need for a wood-type devil, so...meh. Was fun to try something new, but I'm not crushed that I lost both times.

Copy/paste time!

And another, "Oh well, I'll try again next time."

In other news, I evolved my Athena and she's up to level 40 in her new form. I'm still debating whether I want to invest 2 jewels (one light, one wood) in to her UEvo, so I might post a call for Athena friends and assemble a WIP team to try a few dungeons and see how she plays.

I was a bit bummed when I realized that the new Liu Bei UEvo with 3 TPAs gives up god type for dragon type and therefore isn't much use on an Athena team. Still, triple TPA is hard to resist when I already have GZL. The main reason I hesitate is losing 0.5x of the attack multiplier for the leader skill and spending 2 red dragon fruits when I can't clear Thursday Mythical yet.

Oh well.

EDIT: Oh! Forgot to add: I showed my daughter the 5 flower dragons and then evolved Swallowtail. She wasn't as impressed with the rainbow butterfly dragon as I'd expected, but she still liked it. And hey, it was fun collecting the dragons.

 

Cleared Mighty General - Legend 2/20/15
Cleared Honorable Dragon - Legend 2/20/15

It took me a stone, but I landed Zhao Yun. Now I should probably figure out how to use him. I have GZL and Liu Bei and the evo mats to evolve Liu Bei to either UEvo. Decisions, decisions...

After clearing the Kanetsugu descend, I realized that I don't have any immediate use for Kanetsugu of which I'm aware. I think I did it more to prove to myself that my rainbow healer team is as awesome as I think it is. (I really like that team, even if it's not at all practical for most descends.)

I rolled Apocalypse during a recent godfest, though. Maybe Apocalypse and Kanetsugu would work well together?

Incoming bad PAD joke: Every time I see Kanetsugu now, I start singing, "On the wings of love~"

...

Please don't downvote me.

 

Oops, I misread her UEvo LS. Make that a 1.5625/9/1 team.

Still impressive!

 

Huzzah!

I snagged a second Yinping for low cost dungeons yesterday!

EDIT: And now I NEVER HAVE TO RUN YINPING'S DESCEND AGAIN! YAY~!

And I snagged a second Valk to have an extra for if/when I evolve my W/R Valk into super-duper Valk!

And there was much rejoicing!

As a side note, I cleared KoG (the one with Zeus, not the one with the golden mecha) without using gravity on the last floor (because I was one turn short of having it available). I was running Ronia/Hera-Ur/Hera/Baddie/Baddie/Ronia friend and Ronia+Hera-Ur+Baddie was enough to one-shot Zeus. Feels good, man!

 

Cleared Demon Prince - Legend 2/24/15

I confess to rage-stoning (twice) on floor 2, but I was able to clear the rest of the dungeon without using any more stones.

The boss fight was rather frustrating, too. It probably took me ~50 turns to finally get everything lined up where I could clear all jammers from the board, get over 50% health, and pop Angelion+Valk+Shynee on the same turn AND get a combo of 5 matches or more. I don't want to play an "Absorbs all attacks with combos of less than x matches" boss for a long, long while.

Just glad I got the drop for all my hassle!

I doubt Cauchemar will earn a slot on my GZL team, but I've been playing descends more to test how far I can take my current teams lately than to collect specific monsters (with the exception of Athena and Yinping).

 

Asgard has a better shield (50% damage reduction for 3 turns versus 30% damage reduction for 1 turn) and more HP, but Cauchemar has better ATK and, perhaps more importantly, converts the whole board to wood, fire, and dark.

So it depends on what you're looking to accomplish (and if you have Asgard).

I don't know if Cauchemar will find a place on my GZL team in any configuration, though. I cleared the descend more to prove to myself that I could than for the drop. Nevertheless, I'm very pleased I got the drop from Legend difficulty. (I didn't even attempt Mythical.)

 

PORING TOWER IN TWO DAYS.

SO HYPED.

VALK AND CU CHU AND SIEG, LET'S GO!

 

Rolled the Square-Enix REM 5 times on my JP account (which I haven't played in months).

No Juggler.

Oh well.

Speaking of stuff Japan gets before we do, I watched part of a video of PAD Super Mario Bros Edition last night. Very excited about what I saw! Looking forward to May 15...

 

I cleared Extreme King Metal Dragon last night, though it took me a few tries (and, sadly, 3 stones total, one of which I recovered after clearing the dungeon).

My team consisted of: Ronia/Hera-Ur/Lilith/Dark Golem/Baddie/friend Ronia

I think if I had cleared more orbs against the sapphire Super on floor 4, I wouldn't have had to use a stone to finish the job. I expect that I'll be able to 0-stone the dungeon with the same team next time it rolls around. I'll probably level my Golem a bit before then.

 

Copy/paste from elsewhere:

 

Running my LMeta team didn't fare any better.

On my first run, I flubbed the first turn and, boom, 50 stamina down the drain.

On the second run, I managed to clear the first floor, but after a few Bind Whips, I still couldn't get enough light orbs on the board and I got crushed by a Dragon Plant.

I...think I'm done with this dungeon for a while. Possibly until I need a specific dragon fruit for an evo or UEvo (which will likely be a while).