Formation Guide

Hey there everybody. This thread is an attempt to collect all the information available on these forums regarding viable formations. Full credit goes to the community and the individual players who have tried and tested the various formations, and given us feedback on what works, what doesn't, and why.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction - This post
   
2. Sin(Impulse) Rank A/+ formations
   
3. Tyranny(Psycho) Rank A/+ formations
   
4. Rancor(Covert) Rank A/+ formations
   
5. Sin(Impulse) Rank AA/+ formations
   
6. Tyranny(Psycho) Rank AA/+ formations
   
7. Rancor(Covert) Rank AA/+ formations
   
8. Other notable formations
   

Introduction
Ever wonder which monsters you should run in your formation? Does the variety available in Dark Summoner confuse you? Well look no further, the kind community has done all the work for you and now I have organized it in one easy to find place.

At the present, Dark Summoner is ruled by Agility monsters and Rank AA and AA+ teams. Here I will attempt to show you the pros and cons of the various teams available to players of every guild. A few things need to be mentioned first, before we can get into the swing of things. First, it is that, unless you're running an AA+ team, you need agility. This is because, when it comes to rank A or A+ monsters, most have their stats heavily leaning toward attack, not defense or health. As such, you want your monsters to attack first, and attack hard, defeating the enemy monsters before they can defeat yours.

Secondly, since we want to "strike first, strike hard," we also need Decrease Enemy Defense and Increase Party Attack skills. These two skills, in combination, help to increase the amount of damage that our monsters will deal on the enemy monsters. When you throw agility and these two skills together, you have mastered "the way of the fist."

In the posts to follow, I will list the various formations that use agility, and give as much detail as I can about why one monster and not another, and what are acceptable substitutes for each. It should be noted, that there is no agility available in a rank AA or AA+ monster, not that the latter really needs it; to have a chance to defeat a rank AA+ monster, you need to have some agility in your team or the rank AA+ monster will strike first.


Special note: I use references to the movie The Karate Kid, only because they serve to describe combat in Dark Summoner so very well.

If the cost of these formations seems astronomical, larry378 and JessicaMD have come up with a guide to budget formations, here. The formations described in that guide are not as strong as the formations described here, but they can be readily upgraded to formations found in this guide and they're much less expensive.

There are three viable Rank A/+ impulse formations that are fairly common. They are Demons, Beasts, and Wyrms, in order of strongest to weakest, although the thing that gives Beasts the edge is Mad Flame Vanargandr, with its Hell's Blaze. I will list them below, in order of strongest to weakest. Do note that this is time consuming work, so I will not add them all at once. Also, the formations listed here will be with original skills only; there will be no skill changes.

Impulse Demons:

Hundred Flame Demon+ (IMP DOWN)
Cannonfire Demon+ (DEA)
Flame Kagutsuchi+ (DED)
Hellfield Devil Asura+ (IPA)
Child of Pit+ (AGI)

Pros:

• very high stats
  
• unusually high defense for a sin demon form
  
• high bp cost = valuable in terms of ep AND a good deterrent against random attacks
  

Cons:

• expensive
  
• high bp cost means fewer attacks per bp
  
• most of the monsters are event limited and therefore hard to find
  

Here's all you really need to know about impulse demons: Best sin team at A+ level, it is really hard to not want it. Sure, there's demon down out there, but in the A+ metagame, it's pretty much a non-factor. When you're running an A+ team, you will mostly not care for fighting AA/+ teams, which is where demon down is most sought after. With 59803 atk, 54701 def, and 39649 health, it's a team worth having. With a bp cost of 130, don't expect to make too many attacks without investing into bp.

In the event that you cannot afford some of these monsters, there are possible substitutes, except for Pit; Pit is the only impulse demon with agi. The list of substitutes is as follows:

• Hundred Flame Demon+ --> Balrog of Rage+ or Paimon+ or Silver Black Demon+
  
• Cannonfire Demon+ --> Spite Devil Mage+
  
• Flame Kagutsuchi+ --> Devil of Endless Night+
  
• Hellfield Devil Asura+ --> Haddu+ or Devil Ripper+ or Devil of the Abyss+ or Firebrand Demon+
  

quick note: while this guide does not deal with skill changes, there IS a seriously overpowered skill changed variant, which consists of:

Cannonfire Demon+ (DEA)
Child of Pit+ (AGI)
Flame Kagutsuchi+ (DED)
Balrog of Rage+ (COV DOWN)
Hundred Flame Demon+ (IPA)*

with Hundred flame Skill changed to ipa, we can pull out 61k atk at only 132 bp, quite the bargain. however, don't rush to skill change it, they may yet release an update to asura yet that makes this unnecessary.


Impulse Beasts:

Mad Flame Vanargandr+ (HELL'S BLAZE)
Released Fenrisulfr+ (DODGE)
Kyuuki+ (REVIVE)
Giant Hell Chameleon+ (IPD)
Marbas+ (AGI)

Pros:

• Solid atk
  
• good def and health
  
• hell's blaze skill

Cons:

• expensive. seriously expensive. only full AA+ teams and victoria demon teams can hope to compete with it for expensiveness
  
• difficult to find skills
  
• no ipa or ded

Where to begin...I suppose repeating that it is expensive won't hurt. It. Is. Expensive. Mad Flame+ is one of the most expensive A+ monsters, costing more than many AA+ monsters even. It's no wonder, his skill, Hell's Blaze, can one hit even maxed AA+ monsters. It is THAT powerful. If you somehow acquired one, well...congratulations. That skill alone places this team as the second strongest team for sin. Then again, it still has agi, so it can strike first and use that incredible Hell's Blaze on an enemy pretty much right off the bat. It's decent health and defense, especially with IPD from Deep Sea Destruct+, more than make up for the lack of IPA and DED. A very solid choice of a team, but not easy to get your hands on one due to the extreme cost of Mad Flame+.

Impulse Wyrms:

Magic Light Dragon+ (IPD)
Nether World Dragon+ (CRIT)
Ring Dragon+ (DEA)
Demon Dragon, Kanna+ (DEMON DOWN)
Nidhogg+ (AGI)

Pros:

• Moderately high atk
  
• Very high def
  
• Very good at taking punishment, especially from Demons
  
• Cheaper than demons or beasts

Cons:

• No IPA or DED
  
• High BP cost = fewer attacks
  
• a few of the skills are hard to level very far

Not much to say about this team, this is the impulse tanking team and still has a very good atk. The only reason why Beasts are rated higher on here than this team is that they have Mad Flame+, whose skill is so very overpowered, and that's just at skill level 1. This team can be further customized as an anti-demon or an anti-brute team, depending on player's preference, pretty much shutting down one of tyranny's two most popular teams or the other.

There are three viable Rank A/+ psycho formations that are fairly common. They are Demons, Creations, and Brutes, in order of strongest to weakest. I will list them below, in order of strongest to weakest. Do note that this is time consuming work, so I will not add them all at once. Also, the formations listed here will be with original skills only; there will be no skill changes.

Psycho Demons:

Blood Quencher Sekhmet+ (IPA)
Death Call Covenant+ (AGI)
Shadow Domain Demon+ (PRE)
Lethargic Belphegor+ (DED)
Blue Steel Devil+ (no skill)[can replace with one of a variety of monsters, namely Hatred Pledge Victoria+, Lewd Twist Lologi+, or Dawn Lilin+(despite repeat skill with Lethargic Belphegor)]

Pros:

• very high stats
  
• very good at defending

Cons:

• expensive, perhaps more so than Impulse Demons

Where to begin describing this formation and the debate on what the best demon formation is for psycho players... Well, I suppose we can start from the top of the list, and the first monster we come to is Blood Quencher Sekhmet, which has IPA skill. The biggest debate about BQS is whether to run her, with her higher attack, or whether to run the much more expensive Moonlight Selene, which has a higher innate agility. Personally, I'm of the opinion that the highest attack monster should be used for any given skill, that fits the formation. In the case of IPA for Psycho Demons, that is Blood Quencher Sekhmet, so I would be running her, and saving the ep. There isn't much of a discussion about Death Call Covenant, that one would be in regardless, simply because it gives agi. Up next, we have Shadow Domain Demon. Many people advocate changing her skill, calling Preemptive Strike weak and useless, but I personally disagree; Preemptive Strike is actually quite useful, when a monster with SDD's attack has it. After SDD, we have Lethargic Belphegor, which is packing the 3rd of the required skills. The only other monster with this skill is Dawn Lilin+, which at present is still more expensive than Leth, despite having lower stats in every single way. Going by my earlier rule about Sekh, Leth wins easily, and saves me some ep too. Finally, we come to Blue Steel Devil+. Despite his lack of skills, I feel it is right to include him, simply due to his INSANE attack(over 9000!). Of course, if you have the ep to spend, you can replace him with a Hatred Pledge Victoria+, whose Arctic Tempest skill is rivaled only by Mad Flame Vanargandr's Hell's Blaze or a maxed Venomous Breath. Or you can go for a Lewd Twist Lologi+, and get an extra Preemptive strike to help you win fights when you're defending. There is no right and wrong when it comes to this formation, so please use the information in this lengthy paragraph to make your choice of demons.

Psycho Creations:

Grand Demon Warrior+ (CRIT)
Sky Savior Colossus+ (DED)
Time Void Golem+ (IPA)
Seeker Quadriga+ (AGI)
Rampage Gargoyle+ (COVERT DOWN)

pros:

• very cheap
  
• moderate attack (52k)
  
• medium bp usage (102)
  
• fair amount of alternatives to choose from.
  
• 5 AA psycho creations to choose from when you decide to upgrade.

cons:

• not as strong as psycho demons.

TheFury wrote:I personally find this formation to be fantastic for someone starting out. Every monster save for Rampage Gargoyle is cheap (Rampage's cost is moderate, but not high). And there are other fairly viable psycho creations that can replace Rampage when you start out. Ancient Huge Statue is included here because it has the second highest attack which I prefer in agility up teams (ignoring White Winged Colossus, since it has Heal - horrible skill, avoid it!). However, if having no skill bothers you, Vicissitude Colossus is a great alternative. The new White Brawn Golem may also replace Ancient Huge Statue, but it's stats are not released as of now. Because creations are a staple monster species for Tyranny, one might expect more of them to be released in the future, which is good for the long-term viability of this team.
In short, this team is cheap, easy, and powerful enough to defeat any A+ team I have seen so long as it hits first.

and some possible alternatives, as provided by TheFury:

Vicissitude Colossus+ (Increase Dodge Rate)
Lightning Core+ (Preemptive)
Unbound Colossus+ (Preemptive)
White Brawn Golem+ (Creation Down)

Note: I struck out the comments by TheFury regarding Ancient Huge Statue since that has been replaced with Grand Demon Warrior which has an easy to level skill and is pretty much the creation version of Flame Kagutsuchi+ stat wise, except for skill. Full credit to Slinger1 for suggesting the monster, which helps to slightly improve psycho creations, bringing them more up to date with other teams.

Psycho Winged Brutes:

White Winged Sky Pirate+ (IPD)
White Wings Of Hope+ (IMP DOWN)
Divinity Bow Clarissa (PSY DOWN)
Silvery Goddess Queen+ (IPA)
White Winged Elite+ (AGI)

pros:

• cheap
  
• low bp usage
  
• winged bonus boosts attack

cons:

• low stats

Not much to say about this formation, it is the psycho variant of covert crawlers. There are variations that will substitute a Midnight Valkyrie for WWOH or Clarissa or, in rare situations, SGQ. These work fairly well, but there are issues, such as getting creamed by demon teams with equal skills. Still, this is a good introductory formation for psycho players, and is quite popular, for all that it has low stats.

***Alternate Psycho Brutes***

White Winged Elite+ (AGI)
Divinity Bow Clarissa+ (PSYCHO DOWN)
Silver Armor Giant+ (NO SKILL)
Deceit Witch+ (MYSTIC DOWN)
Headhunter Exorcist+ (UNDEAD DOWN)

Pros:

• Higher stats than winged brutes(52k atk vs 49k atk)

Cons:

• High bp cost(114)
  
• Bad skill synergy(no IPA/DED)
  
• Hard to level skills
  
• Down skills target very unpopular formations
  
• Rare cards needed means that this formation is comparatively expensive
  
• Pretty much requires skill changes to make it competitive, adding to its cost

Well, by popular demand, here is a non-winged psycho brute team. It completely busts the rule that winged forms have higher atk than their non-winged variations. Despite not getting the winged bonus, this team achieves a higher atk than the very popular psycho winged brutes. However, this team requires more points to be spent in bp to use, and lacks certain necessary skills, such as IPA, IPD, or DED. Not only that, but Psycho, Mystic, and Undead Down skills are pretty much Begging to be replaced. And then there is the Silver Armor Giant+, which has no skill. The no skill on SAG+ isn't as big of an issue, but to make it more viable some skill changes are in order, though I will not go into that here. The team could be improved a bit by replacing Clarissa with a Barrier Artist, Iris+, which at least has IPA, but that will reduce the atk to being only slightly better than the winged form's atk so, if you're doing that, you might as well stick with the winged brutes.

There are three viable Rank A/+ covert formations that are fairly common. They are Wyrms, Beasts, and Crawlers, in order of strongest to weakest. I will list them below, in order of strongest to weakest. Do note that this is time consuming work, so I will not add them all at once. Also, the formations listed here will be with original skills only; there will be no skill changes.

Covert Winged Wyrms:

Quetzalcoatl+ (IMP DOWN)
Sky Dragon+ (IPA)
Lindwurm+ (AGI)
Dragon of Jupiter+ (DEMON DOWN)
Mesh Dragon+ (DEA)

pros:

• very high stats
  
• the anti-demon team of choice

cons:

• lower stats than covert beasts

Like Psycho Brutes, not much to say about this team, Lindwurm, Sky Dragon, and Dragon of Jupiter are pretty much required, and Quetz and Mesh Dragon are high attack monsters that keep the winged combo going, with decent skills to increase an already large advantage even more. I added that entry under Cons simply because I had to put SOMETHING there, but couldn't think of anything else.

Covert Beasts:

Mysterious Sentinel+ (NO SKILL)
Scorch Behemoth+ (NO SKILL)
Beast Soul Knight+ (DED)
Cetus+ (IPA)
Bayard the Steel Horse+ (AGI)

Pros:

• very high stats
  
• moderately priced

Cons:

• high bp cost means fewer attacks
  
• Some skills are somewhat expensive to level

Not much to say about this team. Higher atk than wyrms and crawlers, it is on a par with even winged demons and has significantly more def and health, and still packs the three essential skills. Gusion's health up skill really helps, although it is much more expensive to level due to a lack of health up monsters that are suitable as sacrifices. Overall a solid choice, especially since there is no health down skills. I have put in Mysterious Sentinel+ and Scorch Behemoth+ in there because despite having no skill, they each have over 9000 atk, bringing the team's atk to 64k, def to 48k, and health to 50k, which are quite respectable. I have put wyrms as stronger because despite having lower atk, they have skills that pretty much stop all demon teams in their tracks. There are various variations of this team out there, particularly among the top ranked rancor players, but the basis remains the same. One important note is that at the present, most users of this team are not yet using Cetus+ for ipa, despite him having stats that are higher than fire wing roc+'s, although his former prog status and higher bp cost may play a role in that.

Covert Crawlers:

Lightning Bug/+ (DODGE)
Parasitic Centipede/+ (IPA)
Dashing Mantis/+ (Mystic Down)
Hell Scythe Mantis/+ (DED)
Demon Bait Insect/+ (AGI)

pros:

• cheap
  
• has all required skills
  

cons:

• low stats
  
• unpopular
  
• hard to level skills

Parasitic Centipede, Hell Scythe Mantis, and Demon Bait Insect are, of course, a must, since they have the bare minimum skills that all A/+ formations should have to be fully effective; other skills used in these formations are at the player's discretion. I have chosen Lightning Bug and Blood-Suck Rampage Fly Dashing Mantis(recommended by kheimon) because after the required monsters are accounted for, these two have the highest attack, and are therefore the best suited. If you can max Lightning Bug's skill, it will also help allow you to survive quite long, and get more chances to defeat enemy monsters with its relatively high attack(for a crawler). Defensively, this should help prevent pushing you to the point of defeat, therefore helping you win more defensive fights. Given this team's low stats, you're probably better off with a wyrm or beast team. One last note, Dashing Mantis's skill makes me apprehensive, since Mystic Down is not very useful at the present(no mystic agility monster means that mystic teams are very rare indeed).

At the present, there are no established, fairly affordable, Impulse AA/+ teams that are standard. There are a lot of variations, each with it's strengths and weaknesses. I will update this post later, when there are more established teams that are affordable, for a rank AA/+ team. I should note that there are THREE full species teams for impulse rank AA/+, the impulse brutes, demons, and wyrms.

Impulse Brutes AA/+:

Vlad the Executioner+
Blood Sword, Tengen+
Dark Evangelion, Luka+
Devil's Claw, Evan+
Sei Black Knight, Arin+

alternate: Ritual Dark Elf+

Impulse Demons AA/+:

Anna Thorn Maiden+
Dhrtarastra+
Judge Minos+
Terror Misery, Cthulhu+
Sacrilege Lord, Grizel+

alternate: Mark of Death, Gess+

Impulse Wyrms AA/+:

Moon Sea Dragon+
Banished Dragon+
Dragon of Venus+
Omni Dragon, Kanna+
Ash Bahamut+

However, since many of the AA/+ monsters in these teams are event limited, these teams are extremely expensive, costing in the ballpark of 5000 EP(energy potions), and therefore not easily obtainable.

New! After months of not really touching this, I'm ready to update the Impulse AA/+ forms. There are now established, affordable formations of rank AA/+ that do work. These teams are capable of defeating any A/+ team, even teams running such highly expensive monsters as Hatred Pledge Victoria+m and Mad Flame, Vanargandr+m.

As a means of introduction certain skills are paramount to AA/+. AA/+ teams being more defensively oriented than A/+ teams, the most important skills, in order of importance, are Health Up, Increase Party Defense, and Decrease Enemy Attack. Beyond those, you're free to choose what other skills to run. Common choices include Increase Party Attack, Decrease Enemy Defense, and Critical Rate Up. Keeping those things in mind, the absolute cheapest Impulse AA/+ team is:

Red Flash, Soruluna (DEA)
Aura Fist, Gulph+ (DED)
Lotus Spirit Doll+ (IPD)
Scorching Flame, Sned+ (HEALTH)
Demon of Ruin+ (CRIT)

This team has all three of the basic skills, tops out at 83 bp usage, has clear upgrade paths, and is as strong as any A+ formation, though Soruluna and Gulph ARE weak for AAs. Also, Demon of Ruin is a bit on the expensive side for a low bp AA, so you will have to hunt around for a while if you want to get a good value. The next upgrade of this team, while still remaining inexpensive, is:

Fire Lord, Suzaku+ (DEA)
Vlad The Executioner+ (DED)
Flaming Fists of Fury+ (IPD)
Slaughter Doll Adan+ (HEALTH)
Crimson Emissary, Liz+ (CRIT)

Yes, it costs more bp, but it is significantly stronger, now capable of holding its own against other AA/+ teams, so long as you stick to similar bp battles. After you reach this point, there are many possible Specialized Upgrade Paths, but none of them are cheap, and require you to have some idea of how you really want to play the game so, unfortunately, you're on your own from here.

At the present, there are no established, fairly affordable, Psycho AA/+ teams that are standard. There are a lot of variations, each with it's strengths and weaknesses. I will update this post later, when there are more established teams that are affordable, for a rank AA/+ team. I should note that there are THREE full species teams for psycho rank AA/+, the psycho brutes, creations, and demons.

Psycho Brutes AA/+:

Crimson Dragonoid+
Galateia of Torment+
Divine Charisma, Daji+
Blood Seeker, Braize+
Purgation Agent, Tlon+

alternate: Hermit Elf+, War Love Mary+

Psycho Creations AA/+:

Formless Nyar+
Corporeal Devoid+
Fate Colossus, Urth+
Hallucination Cast+
Dark Terror Chimera+

Psycho Demons AA/+:

Taroth+
Fate Puppeteer+
Kotone, Sorrow Maker+
Virupaksa+
Vaisravana+

However, since many of the AA/+ monsters in these teams are event limited, these teams are extremely expensive, and therefore not easily obtainable.

New! After months of not really touching this, I'm ready to update the Psycho AA/+ forms. There are now established, affordable formations of rank AA/+ that do work. These teams are capable of defeating any A/+ team, even teams running such highly expensive monsters as Hatred Pledge Victoria+m and Mad Flame, Vanargandr+m.

As a means of introduction certain skills are paramount to AA/+. AA/+ teams being more defensively oriented than A/+ teams, the most important skills, in order of importance, are Health Up, Increase Party Defense, and Decrease Enemy Attack. Beyond those, you're free to choose what other skills to run. Common choices include Increase Party Attack, Decrease Enemy Defense, and Critical Rate Up. Keeping those things in mind, the absolute cheapest Psycho AA/+ team is:

Purple Flash, Soruluna (DEA)
Truthseeker Liqu+ (DED)
Harrier Mushi+ (IPD)
Blistering Rienda+ (HEALTH)
Hurricane Demon+ (CRIT)

This team has all three of the basic skills, tops out at 83 bp usage, has clear upgrade paths, and is as strong as any A+ formation, though Soruluna and Liqu ARE weak for AAs. Also, Hurricane Demon is a bit on the expensive side for a low bp AA, so you will have to hunt around for a while if you want to get a good value. The next upgrade of this team, while still remaining inexpensive, is:

Taroth+ (DEA)
Gold Gorger Dragon+ (DED)
Indignant Racio+ (IPD)
Blistering Rienda+ (HEALTH)
Pirouette Demon+ (CRIT)

Yes, it costs more bp, but it is significantly stronger, now capable of holding its own against other AA/+ teams, so long as you stick to similar bp battles. After you reach this point, there are many possible Specialized Upgrade Paths, but none of them are cheap, and require you to have some idea of how you really want to play the game so, unfortunately, you're on your own from here.

At the present, there are no established, fairly affordable, Covert AA/+ teams that are standard. There are a lot of variations, each with it's strengths and weaknesses. I will update this post later, when there are more established teams that are affordable, for a rank AA/+ team. I should note that there are TWO full species teams for covert rank AA/+, the covert beasts and demons.

Covert Beasts AA/+:

Beast King Gebres+
Earth Lord, Baihu+
Centaur of Divinity+
Omni Wolf, Seta+
Abyss Guard, Cereberus+

alternate: Beast Herder, Inshipit+

Covert Demons AA/+:

Odin, Courage Preacher+
Virudhaka+
Grand Schemer, Taksaka+
Ten Incarnations, Dezm+
Chained Horror, Essa+

However, since many of the AA/+ monsters in these teams are event limited, these teams are extremely expensive, and therefore not easily obtainable.

New! After months of not really touching this, I'm ready to update the Covert AA/+ forms. There are now established, affordable formations of rank AA/+ that do work. These teams are capable of defeating any A/+ team, even teams running such highly expensive monsters as Hatred Pledge Victoria+m and Mad Flame, Vanargandr+m.

As a means of introduction certain skills are paramount to AA/+. AA/+ teams being more defensively oriented than A/+ teams, the most important skills, in order of importance, are Health Up, Increase Party Defense, and Decrease Enemy Attack. Beyond those, you're free to choose what other skills to run. Common choices include Increase Party Attack, Decrease Enemy Defense, and Critical Rate Up. Keeping those things in mind, the absolute cheapest Covert AA/+ team is:

Green Flash, Soruluna (DEA)
Gale Centaur, Siva+ (DED)
Sweltering Chimera+ (IPD)
Vacuum Winds, Turvain+ (HEALTH)
Demolition Dragon+ (CRIT)

This team has all three of the basic skills, tops out at 83 bp usage, has clear upgrade paths, and is as strong as any A+ formation, though Soruluna and Siva ARE weak for AAs. Also, Demolition Dragon is a bit on the expensive side for a low bp AA, so you will have to hunt around for a while if you want to get a good value. The next upgrade of this team, while still remaining inexpensive, is:

Death Blade Epetamu+ (DEA)
Wingarm Dragon+ (DED)
Crimson Rupture+ (IPD)
Vacuum Winds, Turvain+ (HEALTH)
Wrath of Poseidon+ (CRIT)

Yes, it costs more bp, but it is significantly stronger, now capable of holding its own against other AA/+ teams, so long as you stick to similar bp battles. After you reach this point, there are many possible Specialized Upgrade Paths, but none of them are cheap, and require you to have some idea of how you really want to play the game so, unfortunately, you're on your own from here.

In this section, I will list notable formations that do not fit in the other sections. At the present, I am not aware of many deserving to be included, but there is one group that deserves special mention. It is the 3 combo 16 bp AA+ formation. There are two variants, creation and wyrm variants. I will list them below, with my own personal take on which are better and why.

3 combo 16 bp AA+ formation, wyrm variant:

Dragon of Venus+
Dragon of Terra+
Dragon of Neptune+
Any two Casts(Rot, Hallucination, or Assassination)

In this variant, I would personally choose Rot Cast+ and Hallucination Cast+, for their higher defense. Since in all the 16 bp AA series the attack remains the same across the guilds, Rot Cast's 9000 defense and Hallucination Cast's 10800 defense are more useful than Assassination Cast's 7200 defense and 10800 health, in my opinion.

3 combo 16 bp AA+ formation, creation variant:

Rot Cast+
Assassination Cast+
Hallucination Cast+
Any two Dragons(Venus, Terra, or Neptune)

In this variant, I would personally choose Dragon of Venus+ and Dragon of Neptune+, for similar reasons to my choices for the wyrm variant. Venus has 9900 defense and health, Terra has 8100 defense and 11700 health, and Neptune has 11700 defense and 8100 health. In both Variants, I am firmly of the opinion that higher defense than health is the way to ensure that the team can win, due to lack of skills. Between the two variants, I would personally recommend the wyrm variant, as the wyrms have higher defense and health than the creations.


Psycho Brutes:

Purple Flame Weaver+ (DEA)
White Wing Sky Pirate+ (IPD)
Grin Cloak, Inos+ (DED)
Barrier Artist, Iris+ (IPA)
White Winged Elite+ (AGI)

pros:

• has all the required skills
  
• fairly balanced stats
  
• certain monsters have quite high atk

cons:

• Lower Stats than winged brutes
  
• higher bp cost than winged brutes

Let me amend what I said about psycho winged brutes earlier: they are not, in fact, the psycho equivalent of covert crawlers; this team is. Its stats fail to impress by a very large margin; frankly, covert crawlers have more stats. With 46466 atk, 49382 def, and 36653 health, this team fails to impress especially given the 100 bp cost. Its skills help to alleviate this somewhat, but demons, beasts, wyrms, and even psycho creations and covert crawlers easily reach and pass the same stats, and most of them even have the core skills same as this team on top of better stats. In the case of demons(especially impulse), the increase in bp cost compared to this team is marginal, while the extra atk is of a significant amount. The best thing to be said about this team's stats is that they're balanced. Personally, I'd just stick with winged brutes which have higher stats and a lower bp cost.

Looks good armitaage


To help, here is the psycho brute A/+ team:
Midnight Valkyrie
White Wings of Hope
Divinity Bow Clarissa
White Winged Sky Pirate
White Winged Elite (I'm pretty sure)


And the covert crawler A/+ team (I'm not sure if this is the best covert team, needs confirmation) :
Berserker Mite
Parasitic Centipede
Blood-Suck Rampage Fly
Hell Hammer Spider
Demon Bait Insect or Jade Rhinoceros Beetle...?


Good luck!

.:::Yoshi:::. wrote:Looks good armitaage


To help, here is the psycho brute A/+ team:
Midnight Valkyrie
White Wings of Hope
Divinity Bow Clarissa
White Winged Sky Pirate
White Winged Elite (I'm pretty sure)


And the covert crawler A/+ team (I'm not sure if this is the best covert team, needs confirmation) :
Berserker Mite
Parasitic Centipede
Blood-Suck Rampage Fly
Hell Hammer Spider
Demon Bait Insect or Jade Rhinoceros Beetle...?


Good luck!

Usually Silvery goddess queen is better than Clarrisa because of it's skill IPA. Cause most Tyranny brute users are tyranny meaning they won't encounter as many tyranny teams.

As for The covert team that's the "best" A+ it's either Beasts or Wryms probably not crawler. They now both have Demon down in the form of Seta A+ and Juniper A+ and have their respective agility's Bayard and Lind.

A good tyranny demon A+ team is:

Sehk(IPA)
DCC(AGI)
SDD(PRE)
Leth(DED)
New Blue Steel (35 bp no skills)

Other Add ons:
You could also throw in Selene but shes just for looks maybe for wings combo now? Vic overpriced and not too good (With the ep u spend on her u could just get Kotone+ and Taroth+). Typhon with a high Imp down skill is very good at dispatching Impulse teams. Lewd is just the cheap SDD.

Hope this helps.

Karma wrote:

.:::Yoshi:::. wrote:Looks good armitaage


To help, here is the psycho brute A/+ team:
Midnight Valkyrie
White Wings of Hope
Divinity Bow Clarissa
White Winged Sky Pirate
White Winged Elite (I'm pretty sure)


And the covert crawler A/+ team (I'm not sure if this is the best covert team, needs confirmation) :
Berserker Mite
Parasitic Centipede
Blood-Suck Rampage Fly
Hell Hammer Spider
Demon Bait Insect or Jade Rhinoceros Beetle...?


Good luck!

Usually Silvery goddess queen is better than Clarrisa because of it's skill IPA. Cause most Tyranny brute users are tyranny meaning they won't encounter as many tyranny teams.

As for The covert team that's the "best" A+ it's either Beasts or Wryms probably not crawler. They now both have Demon down in the form of Seta A+ and Juniper A+ and have their respective agility's Bayard and Lind.

A good tyranny demon A+ team is:

Sehk(IPA)
DCC(AGI)
SDD(PRE)
Leth(DED)
New Blue Steel (35 bp no skills)

Other Add ons:
You could also throw in Selene but shes just for looks maybe for wings combo now? Vic overpriced and not too good (With the ep u spend on her u could just get Kotone+ and Taroth+). Typhon with a high Imp down skill is very good at dispatching Impulse teams. Lewd is just the cheap SDD.

Hope this helps.

Ahh that's what I was forgetting thanks! I know crawler isn't the best, but its a formation right? lol

I'm copying and pasting things I said in some other threads about A+ psycho formations

BRUTES

The best possible winged psycho brute team is...

(with minimal skill swapping)
leader: WWSP
WWOH
Clarissa
Valk(skill-switch to IPA)
WWE

5x combo with IPD, Imp/Psy Down, IPA, Agi

or, without the skill switching;
leader: WWSP
WWOH
Clarissa
SGQ
WWE

5x combo with IPD, Imp/Psy Down, IPA, Agi (but SGQ is weaker than valk stat-wise)

I guess if you wanted to go absolutely wild with skill swapping, the best would be something like

WWSP(DEA)(DEA does 'more' than IPD because this is not a high defense
formation, and most formations are build around high attack, so
decreasing either by a set % works better against a higher base number!)
Clarissa (DED)
WWOH(reg)(since impulse down is more commonly used than any other 'downs')
Valk(IPA)
WWE(reg)

DEMONS


'hardcore' psycho demon form
Leader: Virup (switched to IPA)
Taroth (DEA)
Fate (DED)
Kotone (switched to IPD)
DCC (agi)

As far as A-rank 'hardcore demons'
Leader: Blue Steel (IPA)
Leth (DED)
Victoria (DEA) (artctic blast or whatever is sooooooooo overrated, it's practically a 'post-emptive' strike, a high damage one, but what good is that if it hits a monster with 10% health left, or Vic goes down in the first round?)
SDD (P-Strike)
DCC (Agi)

And the 'realistic' psycho demon team that a large number of people actually have;
Leader: Leth/Blue Steel (If Blue Steel is used as leader, put Leth in Lewd's Spot)
Sekhmet
Typhon
Lewd/Leth (If Blue Steel is used as leader, put Leth here!)
DCC

and a little breakdown on individual psycho demons

DCC (mandatory, agi)
Sekh/Selene (IPA); sekh preferred, superior stats, significantly cheaper (*)
Leth/Dawn(DED); leth preferred, superior stats, significantly cheaper [but not for long!] (*)
Typhon(Impulse Down); great because you run into more impulse players than any other guild, I'd say this guy is almost mandatory
Lewd/SDD/Blue Steel(*)/Vic; Pstrike or really good stats in general or Vic; any of these would be a fine final member, with SDD being obviously better than Lewd, and Vic reg > Blue Steel, and Blue Steel (skill added)>Vic

(*); these monsters; Selene, Dawn, Blue Steel, with evilmoth in addition make 4 winged psycho demons with a half decent skillset! (IPA, DED, Health Up, and Blue Steel with great stats), all you need to wait for is the release of a winged psycho agility demon, and there's a 5x combo.



Armitaage, this thread is a great idea! I hope some of that info helps

thanks for the help guys. a lot of the A/+ formations are not filled out before you noticed the thread only cuz i started this late at night, and had to log off early, so as not to disturb the others in the house. and since noon i've been helping to prepare for sandy, so this is the first chance i've had to sit down and write up those posts.

Stop making suggestions that require skill swaps. Unless A Team starts making them more readily available again, you'd be better off spending the EPs on AAs

Pretty sure with the addition of this event AA, Psycho Creations get their rarity and level combos.

Urth
Devoid
Hall Cast
Nyar
Chimera

Karma wrote:

.:::Yoshi:::. wrote:Looks good armitaage


To help, here is the psycho brute A/+ team:
Midnight Valkyrie
White Wings of Hope
Divinity Bow Clarissa
White Winged Sky Pirate
White Winged Elite (I'm pretty sure)


And the covert crawler A/+ team (I'm not sure if this is the best covert team, needs confirmation) :
Berserker Mite
Parasitic Centipede
Blood-Suck Rampage Fly
Hell Hammer Spider
Demon Bait Insect or Jade Rhinoceros Beetle...?


Good luck!

Usually Silvery goddess queen is better than Clarrisa because of it's skill IPA. Cause most Tyranny brute users are tyranny meaning they won't encounter as many tyranny teams.

As for The covert team that's the "best" A+ it's either Beasts or Wryms probably not crawler. They now both have Demon down in the form of Seta A+ and Juniper A+ and have their respective agility's Bayard and Lind.

A good tyranny demon A+ team is:

Sehk(IPA)
DCC(AGI)
SDD(PRE)
Leth(DED)
New Blue Steel (35 bp no skills)

Other Add ons:
You could also throw in Selene but shes just for looks maybe for wings combo now? Vic overpriced and not too good (With the ep u spend on her u could just get Kotone+ and Taroth+). Typhon with a high Imp down skill is very good at dispatching Impulse teams. Lewd is just the cheap SDD.

Hope this helps.

selene is also useful for a higher innate agility than sekhmet, allowing her to strike out of turn, almost like a rank AA+. and lewd is not just a cheaper version of SDD; many players have made successful defensive teams running SDD, Lewd, and selene, which are able to knock out three of the attacker's monsters before they can even move on the first turn, thus ensuring victory.

Psycho Winged Creation:

Primary Team:
Sky Savior Colossus+ (DED)
Time Void Golem+ (IPA)
Seeker Quadriga+ (AGI)
Rampage Gargoyle+ (Covert Down)
Ancient Huge Statue+ (no skill)


Main Alternatives:
Vicissitude Colossus+ (Increase Dodge Rate)
Lightning Core+ (Preemptive)
Unbound Colossus+ (Preemptive)
White Brawn Golem+ (Creation Down)

pros:
very cheap, moderate attack (51k)
comes with IPA and DED native
medium bp usage (93)
fair amount of alternatives to choose from.
5 AA psycho creations to choose from when you decide to upgrade.


cons:
not as strong as psycho demons.


I personally find this formation to be fantastic for someone starting out. Every monster save for Rampage Gargoyle is cheap (Rampage's cost is moderate, but not high). And there are other fairly viable psycho creations that can replace Rampage when you start out. Ancient Huge Statue is included here because it has the second highest attack which I prefer in agility up teams (ignoring White Winged Colossus, since it has Heal - horrible skill, avoid it!). However, if having no skill bothers you, Vicissitude Colossus is a great alternative. The new White Brawn Golem may also replace Ancient Huge Statue, but it's stats are not released as of now. Because creations are a staple monster species for Tyranny, one might expect more of them to be released in the future, which is good for the long-term viability of this team.
In short, this team is cheap, easy, and powerful enough to defeat any A+ team I have seen so long as it hits first.

Im just curious why the Crimson Knight Beetle+ wasn't included in the Covert Crawlers formation?
CBK+ has same skill as Hell Scythe Mantis. Mantis does have like 400 more ATT than the Beetle, but the Beetle has 2400 more DEF and 1350 more HP, that should more than make up for the slight loss of ATT, right?

looking at the monster you recommended, i'm not convinced that the more def and hp make it worthwhile. just about any of the top teams will easily beat covert crawlers either way. the addition of crimson beetle knight+ will make it harder for the team to deal any damage, especially against demons, which now have defenses high enough that a measly 43k attack just won't breach them, even with ded.

TheFury wrote:Psycho Winged Creation:

Primary Team:
Sky Savior Colossus+ (DED)
Time Void Golem+ (IPA)
Seeker Quadriga+ (AGI)
Rampage Gargoyle+ (Covert Down)
Ancient Huge Statue+ (no skill)


Main Alternatives:
Vicissitude Colossus+ (Increase Dodge Rate)
Lightning Core+ (Preemptive)
Unbound Colossus+ (Preemptive)
White Brawn Golem+ (Creation Down)

pros:
very cheap, moderate attack (51k)
comes with IPA and DED native
medium bp usage (93)
fair amount of alternatives to choose from.
5 AA psycho creations to choose from when you decide to upgrade.


cons:
not as strong as psycho demons.


I personally find this formation to be fantastic for someone starting out. Every monster save for Rampage Gargoyle is cheap (Rampage's cost is moderate, but not high). And there are other fairly viable psycho creations that can replace Rampage when you start out. Ancient Huge Statue is included here because it has the second highest attack which I prefer in agility up teams (ignoring White Winged Colossus, since it has Heal - horrible skill, avoid it!). However, if having no skill bothers you, Vicissitude Colossus is a great alternative. The new White Brawn Golem may also replace Ancient Huge Statue, but it's stats are not released as of now. Because creations are a staple monster species for Tyranny, one might expect more of them to be released in the future, which is good for the long-term viability of this team.
In short, this team is cheap, easy, and powerful enough to defeat any A+ team I have seen so long as it hits first.

thanks for the helpful post. one thing i want to point out, though, is that this is NOT a winged team, only Rampage Gargoyle has wings, the others don't. for a team to be considered winged, it has to trigger the winged monster combo, which this team will not do. also, with the exception of winged brutes, no other winged team has ever failed to reach at least 58k atk. I am including this team, and of course, full credit goes to you and your sources, but i will list it as simply psycho creations, not psycho winged creations, lol.

Armitaage wrote:

thanks for the helpful post. one thing i want to point out, though, is that this is NOT a winged team, only Rampage Gargoyle has wings, the others don't. for a team to be considered winged, it has to trigger the winged monster combo, which this team will not do. also, with the exception of winged brutes, no other winged team has ever failed to reach at least 58k atk. I am including this team, and of course, full credit goes to you and your sources, but i will list it as simply psycho creations, not psycho winged creations, lol.

Haha, how in the world did it get there? I must have copied your post for Winged Brutes and not thought about the winged part. Oops!

There are, for what it's worth, three winged psycho creations. Four if you could AAs. Maybe there is a winged team on the horizon here - but yeah, sorry for the mistake : P.

Nice post Armitaage. Should be sticky if you can find a mod. A few things to consider.

In the sin demon part, you left out beelzebub. By itself its relatively low attack but at max skill, venom hits for over 10k and never missed. As venom is relatively cheap to level, its a viable alternative for fairly cheap.

As someone already mentioned. The rancor section is missing the beast team. Its one of the best A+ team in game and competitive against any A+ team. Its really flexible with skills and members and tops out at 58-60k attack. I made a thread comparing it to the winged wyrm and its comparable in very way.

For rancor crawler, personally I'll opt for Mite over Mantis. Crawler suffers from lack of attack and Mite will be more useful than mantis. If you going to level ded than you might as well choose a better team than crawler. The advantage of crawler is cheap so skill leveling a crawler team seems counterproductive.

The AA+ section only suggest 4x comboes. I'm not sure that's the way to go. It leaves you very vunerable to species down/guild down. Just species down hurts alot already. I ran into a brute down/imp down and my luka+ hits for almost nothing. Most people opt to run a 3x combo and forgo either guild or species. That could be an affordability issue but at least some of those players have the resources to run any team and chose to run those. The 4x combo team also tend to have issues with skills ether requiring a skill change which we'll leave out of this thread or have really suboptimal skill combinations.

I'll also suggested moving this to tactics. It fits there better and is more likely to stay around for longer than in the Q&A thread.

Kyan
Kyan's Store

Couple of points:
1 I'm aware that teams are still missing. Due to the effects of sandy, I am unable to edit those posts atm.
2 in each of the AA/+ sections I disclaim that at the present there are no standard guild specific teams. I refrain from discussing the teams I list because while it is theoretically possible to build them, in practice almost no one can.
3 perhaps it should be in tactics, but idk. It currently is in general discussions, though, not q&a.

Hey all, very informative thread! Subscribed! So I was wondering about my formation because...I've been playing this game for a month maybe and lv50...I just realized I built a team for the wrong guild!! I totally forgot I was Tyranny and I built a Sin team "facepalm"

My current formation is: Asura+ lv70 IPA 3, Abyss+ lv70 IPA 1, Pit+ lv70 Agi 2, Beelzebub+ lv10 Ven 1, Silver Black Demon lv30 skill 1

So it seems like I need to make the switch over to Tyranny and was wondering what kind of formation should I swap into if I sell my current formation. On the list, I only have a WWE+ and the others are pretty much useless...

Thanks,

Well, the popular psycho team are demon and winged brute. Psycho creation is also viable but not as powerful. The valuable card in your team is asura+, they rest aren't that expensive but they are maxed level. I would say you could exchange them either for a creation team or a winged brute without valk/wwoh.

Kyan