Game Update (version 2.63)
You can see the update notes with this link.
This update is mostly some buffs to recently released monsters and taking away key skills from the second forms of monsters.
Here’s the usual list of notable changes that didn’t result in movements:
Broader changes
Tranquilising sleep 300s → 150s
I’m pretty sure this is meant to target Aello with a nerf but I think it sadly hurts Huskegon, Malwing and Sobeking harder. That’s the second nerf in a row for Aello but I think she still deserves S tier because the power of her as a set up for a monster via gale dance is crazy plus you can pullback her for extra disruption. Malwing and Sobeking are dropping down in the tier list and Huskegon I’m currently undecided on whether to drop it a tier but I’ll figure that out as I review all the positions soon (I have a bunch of movements planned).
Mythics
Yukihime
The sleep move is generally the better killing move because it makes the monster sit idly for 100s before dying but when you encounter sleep protection or are desperate to kill an insomnia/revenge monster it will make Yukihime a little less good. It’s honestly cleaner design and makes complete sense given the buffs she’s got over time, but she’s definitely still S+ all around.
Voidress
Not being able to ritual is really disappointing because it’s a core part of her design and seems completely unnecessary to me. That said, since the addition of man eater she tends to be used as a generic sweeper, so this only hurts certain builds of her. For that reason it’s a little hard to know whether to adjust her position in the tier list so I’ll leave her and review over time.
Legendaries
Garden Fairy Pieris
The slow effect increasing from 10% to 30% is great. These slow effects have basically proven over the years that they don’t matter as much as you’d think if the number is small, so this went from doing almost nothing to now actually mattering properly. Another very nice buff to garden fairy setups to make them more viable in the current year.
Other
Bulbieboom
Really glad to see a damage buff so it works against the much tankier monsters in the game (that didn’t exist when this first released). I absolutely loved this in the past so will have to give it a try again. I really want to see martyr effects trigger at 300s stunned but maybe this new move is a nice upgrade.
Bronzeshell
The piercing damage here is tiny, but it’s to stop specific lock strategies which have once again been revitalised with Majorie getting an unbreakable shield so turning her into a protector was brutal. It doesn’t really affect anything else much.
Moving up:
Mythics
Lilybybdia moves from D → S- in PvE, E → B in PvP, second form tier 2 → 3 and D → S in HP boost
An absolutely huge buff here. There’s a big wall of text in the update but basically she now accelerates your entering monsters and decelerates the enemies plus she makes herself impossible to target for 300s with engage+ so once you apply it then you’re guaranteed to reach the attacking move. I was very harsh on her positions before mainly because there was too much effort for not enough payoff that compared to alternative options she was simply lacklustre. Now, the sweeping payoff is almost guaranteed and there’s the constant payoff of accelerate/decelerate so this is well worth building around. Basically, it’s become a very viable and interesting monster.
I think what I said originally holds true. Targeting a protector is the easiest setup but you can also try to get more creative. Just always bear in mind that if either Lily or the intended target die before getting engaged then you don’t want to be stuck with the other having no backup plan. Due to the inherent risks in her play style I don’t think she’s ever going to be super high in PvP but in PvE you can pull things off far more guaranteed.
Daji moves from S- → S in PvE
Coming with 10% HP means each clone can clone without any healing support, which seems brilliant for PvE and makes her more of a standout in general content rather than just super buffed stuff. Infinite use seduce is basically just a convenience upgrade but matters more in PvE I think where you can more easily have a setup to heal her. I was honestly considering dropping her lower in PvP but with this buff I’ll keep her the same tier and just keep seeing what she feels like to play against. She’s surprisingly popular considering how easy she is to punish.
Legendaries
Garden Fairy Dandelion moves from F → D in PvE, E → D in PvP and D → B in HP boost
This buff is huge for improving the combo. +10s push back means she chains into something like the Baublebasher sacrifice → Whitetitan so the whole combo is effectively done at 88% speed. Also, the -50% TU after using the SS makes the kill move only 12TU and setup move only 85TU.
I was pretty excited after seeing this and thought I had a very good shot at making it work. The setup I used was Dandelion, Baublebasher, G.F. Jasmine and Lilybybdia so I did the crazy thing of engage+ on Dandelion then all entering enemies were slowed and Dandelion was impossible to target. Sounds nuts, but I found in practice the combo fell very flat. There are a few issues:
(-) The setup relies on multiple pieces and then also garden fairies
(-) Even though you can kill the first set of enemies very well, one of the strengths of sweeping quickly is leaving the enemy team with dead weight but Dandelion is bad at that because you need monsters to enter then place the counter on them then 85s later kill them. So as soon as you decide to leave dead weight you drastically slow your sweeping and those enemies still get turns so they kill your GFs and Dandelion becomes dead weight.
(-) There are a large number of popular PvP monsters that naturally counter it. If they can kill/remove any of your monsters before 88% speed then everything falls apart.
Maybe the problem was my specific setup or because I don’t own garden fairies like G.F. Rosa (who seems brilliant with Dandelion), but in practice I found against basically every top player it completely failed and sometimes even if the combo worked I would lose. The people it thrashed were the ones I’d normally win against with other teams.
Anyway, that was an in-depth ramble to basically say the potential here was increased dramatically but it’s a very risky combo to pull off in PvP and requires very specific to make work properly in the first place. So I do not think it’s competitive in any way or reasonable to expect people to piece together for PvE. However, I hope some people have great fun with it if this is their style of play.
Garden Fairy Lotus moves from C → B in PvE and C → A in PvP
Always getting the slow here and it being +100% with a water teammate is pretty cool. This monster is now looking like it should’ve been on release (in my opinion). Should be a very solid player in garden fairy teams and maybe people can find some other interesting uses of it.
Lurelily moves from E → B in PvP
The immediate use of the secret skill is super interesting and I think basically turns this into a combo monster where you have sleep immune teammates you intend to kill, giving you a fresh team of awake stuff while the enemies are all sleeping. Exactly how strong/reliable this will be is something I hope to find out over time. This looks a lot like a unique variant of OoO but on a low speed monster that’s where I have doubts.
Moving down:
All
Bastia moves from second form tier 2 → tier 3
Only half the chance to negate entrances makes this far less good than the awakened form. I imagine it’s unlikely to be worth running.
Malwing moves from S → S- in PvP
This has been nerfed over and over since its release and is a tiny shadow of its former self. Reckless timestrike is basically off the table and the control from the sleep is now minimal given that the monster itself is slow and many things are immune to sleep or otherwise have protection plus the stun itself can be countered. Tranquilising entrance simply isn’t strong enough to carry a monster any more. In PvE you can still dreamhunt then bloodcrave nicely and it’s much easier to get benefit from the stun and sleep.
Sobeking moves from S → S- in PvP
Much like Malwing, tranquilising entrance being nerfed lots has left this feeling much weaker because the moveset simply isn’t very good. The attack stat is way too low to make the damage high enough for mythics.