Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Beating Arenas/Ancients for Version 2.02
#1
Hi Everyone.  Im Uri.

Purpose: A definitive guide to beating arenas and capturing ancients.

For those that hate reading guides, but for some reason decided to click on this one: At the bottom of the post are links to the monsters I have been using.

Please note, this guide is meant to be comprehensive, so even though it contains information that might be "basic" to more experienced players, I felt that it was necessary to include it to create a more accessible guide to newer players.

And of course there are exceptions to almost every tip.



Tip #1: Your team should consist of Emissaries or above.
The truth is, the stats of superior monsters are often so low that they are not good long term investments in the game.  It's okay to have a few in the beginning (to capture stronger monsters), but if you are dealing with opposing ancient monsters, you will need some monsters that can ideally take at least 1 hit. 

If you look at the Monsterdex, there are four emissary monsters, that have Zenith/Legendary level stats.  Take note of those and the costs of leveling them up to their final level.  (i.e the one that requires that you never lose-won't help you in the beginning.  Later on when you have stronger monsters you can pull that off more easily.  Ones that inevitably cost money like Gonbraa through increasing its TP, are good because you will have lots of money to spend later.)  Also it's a lot easier to get good abilities and UV's from emissaries than zeniths, as they are more common, so keep an eye out for them.

[For a guide about UV's and TP see https://forum.monstermmorpg.com/Thread-UV-And-TP ]

[Another guide that could be helpful is the Building a Good PVP Monster Guide. Conceptually, the ideas carry over, about choosing abilities, natures,UV's, move pools, and base stats that complement one another, although the strategies that are effective against stat boosted ancients are more limited than in PVP. Some of the links may be outdated as move attacks have changed. https://forum.monstermmorpg.com/Thread-W...vP-monster]

Again, it doesn't and rarely is a perfect match.  Having good abilities with good UV's, a decent move pool and a decent nature that coordinates well with the other attributes  works quite well.

Tip #2: Movepool is Key

In the initial maps, an effective strategy is to increase Attack/Special Attack 5 stages, and then (hopefully) sweep the opposing team.  A lot of moves deal damage and increase the monster's attack.  So it's often a good idea when an opposing monster is weak, you then switch in to your stat booster and go for the kill, enabling a free stat boost without receiving damage (provided that it is faster than the opponent).

When dealing with monsters in the later maps (when they have absurd stat boosts), you will want to deal damage based on percentage of Hit Points.  So look for attacks that do that kind of damage.  Status effects like poisoning, burning and bleeding deal damage in a percentage based way.  Sleeping and freezing are also useful as they can help you set up your monster to increase its attack level 5 stages, etc.  

While Beta 2.0.2 decreased the power of evasion, increasing evasion is still a very effective strategy especially for the end maps.

Tip #3: Abilities are Key
Since abilities are randomized, that should be one of the first things you look at.  Since with version 2 you can see the monsters specific details before you catch it, you should look.  Some ability combinations are too good to pass up on (see my Pamash).  Naturally, it's still a good idea to check nature, UV's and stats of the monsters' further evolutions, etc., but don't get too carried away.

Some Good Abilities:


Radiation-it deals damage based on percentage of opponent's HP.(for later maps)
Evasion Master- self-explanatory.  If you can't get hit, then everything works out great.
Abilities that boost Attack, Special Attack, or power of types of attacks, etc. (for earlier maps)

Expert Regenerator-healing is usually a good thing :-)

(Expert Leader is good for training so having 1 monster have Expert Leader is a good idea)

Beware of abilities that decrease accuracy in exchange for an increased defense or attack.  It doesn't mean this ability is bad, but it could provide a lot of problems if your accuracy is so low that you cant hit your opponent.

Tip #4: Fly is the best, then Double Money, then Hyper Surf

This is important.  Fly lets you reheal your monsters in between battles by flying to a monster center.  You dont need Hyper Surf until Zone 4 so I encourage you save up for Double Money first.

*It's worth mentioning that if a monster has the Sp Attack Master but its nature hurts its Special Attack (or its base stats greatly favor its attack), then this is probably not a good investment.  

**Abilities that result in a monster having exceptionally strong Defense and Special Defense could be possible too, but I haven't really tried experimenting in that area so much.

Tip #5: Monster Bazaar 
This is the easiest way to acquire legendaries with your double money item.  Since monsters that existed before the new update receive default abilities (they are not random), this means certain Legendaries and Zeniths with good abilities can be easily acquired.
It turns out that Alaclipse is a good buy, not only for its default abilities
(Radiation, Sp Attack Master), but because there are so many of them at the moment, they go for a mere $300,000.

Tip #6: Held Items
Don't forget about these!  Especially if you are stuck.  Orbs work well with evasion sets and Poison weapons are good too as they deliver status effects to the opponent.


Tip #8: Facing an Ancient with Perfect Body and Expert Regenerator
Since abilities are randomized, when playing a NPC, you may find yourself playing against an Ancient with such abilities.  I have been able to defeat them but its often very very tricky.  Don't feel guilty about forfeiting the battle and fighting the NPC again.  Because odds are the monster wont have those abilities in your next fight.  

Naturally, some abilities can be bad for the NPC, such as an ability that reduces its accuracy.  Such monsters make it easy for you to set up a +5 Special Attack boost, or a +5 Evasion boost.

Important: As of now you need to reduce an Ancient to 25% health to capture it, even if you are using an Ultimate Box.
If you found a Perfect Body, Expert Regenerator Ancient, and it has an absurd HP boost, I recommend combating it with Equality and hopefully after enough tries with status effects, etc. you will be able to get it down to under 25% health.

The reason why this works is that sometimes HP boosts for Ancients are so absurd that using Equality even from a monster with a lot of HP will often reduce it to the 10% range, maybe lower.




Links to Some of My Sets:
Before introducing these sets, for many NPC's they start off using Emissaries (or Zeniths).   Since these are usually not so harmful, instead of knocking them out, use the time to make your monsters have +5 Evasion, +5 Sp Attack, etc.

Pamash (PandaNynja)

Theme #1: Equality, Evasion, Status Move Set
https://www.monstermmorpg.com/SeeUserMon...?ID=609722

Equality equalizes the opponents HP with yours and a status effect will often seal the deal and deliver the knock out.


Notice how my Pamash's abilities of Evasion Master and Expert Regenerator (with an evasion boost move) really help.
He also come with Body Charge and has been responsible for many of my arena victories.

Yeah Pamash is "only" an emissary, but it goes to show you-you should not get hung up over not having a Zenith or Legendary, especially in the beginning as long as you have strong emissaries to help you out.

It's worth noting that Radiation works very well with Equality, enabling OHKO's for monsters with absurd HP boosts.  Also beware, there are different variations for Equality for different types (Dragon, Grass,etc.), as Equality (normal move) will not work against a ghost type.


Wilitus
Theme 2: Radiation, Heal, (Attack Boost and a little Status)
https://www.monstermmorpg.com/SeeUserMon...?ID=606474
The idea is simple.  Heal yourself until the ancient dies from Radiation.

It's worth mentioning that Wilitus's UV's aren't stellar, but it's defense and special defense through its nature and strong move pool make this Heal-Radiation set passable, so it works :-).

Alaclipse
Theme 3: Special Attack Boost, Status Effect

https://www.monstermmorpg.com/SeeUserMon...?ID=408473



Notice how Alaclipse's base stat for Special Attack https://www.monstermmorpg.com/Alaclipse-Monster-Dex-779 (that it's attack base stat does not [greatly] outweigh its special attack base stat)
, his UV's in Special Attack, the Special Attack Master ability and his nature complement very well with each other.  Also note how his move set focuses on Special Attacks.


So those are the basic set ups.  You can naturally mix and match.

Like evasion boost+attack boost.  But the ideas are thematic.

Conclusion

If you plan on killing an ancient with a large HP boost, it's best to do damage based on percentages of HP's. 
Also, it's ideal that the monster can survive at least 1 hit.  If it's a bit on the frail side, you will probably need evasion boosters.
So natures that dramatically weaken the defensive side could be very problematic.
--------------------------
For a link to my profile to see the monsters that I am currently using here it is:
https://www.monstermmorpg.com/SeeUserPro...erId=19916

I hope that helps and all the best,
(Comments, questions, advice about the guide is always appreciated)

-Uri
[Image: thelegendssigf.png]
The Bloodbath Arena Leader for the Legends Guild.
My Monster Fanfiction story!
#2
Looks solid to me, I'd maybe add a bit about looking at base stats too in building up a monster team. Other than that, great job Uri. This is as near perfect as I can think of, but maybe should be followed on from a basic 'how to train a monster' guide; i.e. looking at uvs, tps. Much appreciated, I know I'll be using this :p
#3
Good points.  I was hoping there would be a 'how to train a monster guide', but I couldn't find any as of this moment.

Thanks for your support :-D

-Uri

Edit: I think I found links that address the issues you brought up. I felt that since the amount of information in the guide was already a lot, it would be better to give references instead. I also made some comments about this with regards to Wilitus and Alaclipse in the examples. Hope that helps.
#4
Since I have again updated the guide, any comments are appreciated.
[Image: thelegendssigf.png]
The Bloodbath Arena Leader for the Legends Guild.
My Monster Fanfiction story!
#5
Great guide you got there, its very detailed.

Forum Jump:

Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

Users browsed this thread: