• Emphasis for this core is on Specialized Guard. Basically like multiple health bars in the form of Protection, denoted by the number of “stars” at the HP bar
• We’re back to requiring every class slot for the core to work, so less options for line-ups
• Battles still take very long, as both sides battle it out through each other’s guard.
• Revive meta is powerful but usually only accessible to whales (Melz+ / PXM+)
• Geryu+ era had a lot of ‘minions’, and it looks like we’re steering away from that theme in DK+ era.
• Groribas will be the main DPS for awhile (until MK and Alloy comes in), he destroys everything when he debuts. A must have, especially for PVE.
• TTV (tank-top vegan) is a surprisingly great SR unit to have here because he buffs the S.Guard of the team
• Flashy+ is still very much useful and annoying, so for PVPers don’t worry, still very good. There is another speedster ZBM+ but I don’t find him as annoying because he doesn’t seal my energy
• Gyoro+ is also still annoying because you can’t do much if your whole team is only using basic attacks. Very niche cool unit that hasn’t seen any real counters till this day, and still the only unit able to lock ultimates
• As MK+ and Alloy+ comes, DoT meta slowly drops off due to immunity. DSK will also fall off because MK+ disables the combo follow-up
• Alloy+ is just the most broken unit in this meta and is also a must get.
• We have the debut of UR units in this core, with UR Tatsu being the first. Great AOE unit, but the upcoming UR units are even more crazy!

• Emphasis for this core is on Enhanced unyielding, and Breakthrough, and a lot of minions support as usual
• Each SSR+ just changes the meta more and more each time, so expect a lot of moves
• For example, CK+ is a god when he debuts, but becomes crap the moment AS+ releases. And AS+ becomes somewhat crap when Garou releases. etc
• MB+ becomes quite useless here due to him always hitting the lowest HP units – who are basically immune to damage when under Enhanced Unyielding
• You are encouraged to have a speedster (KING+ if whale, SonicV2 if not). At the early-mid game, usually which CK+ or AS+ that goes first wins the match
• GW is still very viable because MB+ won’t be used a lot, until Garou+ comes (he passively removes stun)
• Boros+ is great, both for DPS and support (share dmg), so he is a strong addition to the line-up even late-game.
• The bad thing about this core is the battle takes damn long, so say hello to 5min long live clash matches
• Try to rush for Geryu Core 4 ASAP as it adds one more revive.
• PXM+ and KING+ are whale units (at least for SEA) where they only appear in Awaken Wheel Event so I guess you can ignore them if you’re F2P
• SSR+ Silverfang is your next AOE powerhouse, so he’s great for both PVE and PVP AOE if you intend to get him.

Before SSR+

• Bomb is a game changer, and it’s very hard to go against it with ZBM or Gyoro. It was originally made to counter the Genos OTK era
• For Bomb core era, you’ll want to increase your shield HP (with synergizing units, or Undying Shield Emblem), as well as pierce enemy’s Bomb shields with either DoT or Charge DMG
• Bomb gives Agility to surrounding allies (cross-shaped), and does not stack with non-crit dmg free (like RMG, ATT etc) so position Bomb wisely
• The PVE content also starts to have harder hitting mobs, and they also have their own Bomb core, so if you are using ZBM/Gyoro core you will start to struggle and get bottlenecked in PVE
• The meta before SSR+ will mainly be ATT as the main DPS, with some sub dps (DK, Suiryu, AVM, Sonic etc), and some utility like speedsters (Amai/Sonic), and definitely shield generators to help increase the shield HP (TTM, Hellfire, Sonic, etc)
• ATT with KS will be the King, or should I say Queen of DPS for quite a while, both in PVE and PVP, and also Live Clash
• Genos and RMG starts to see a fall-off in use, since they can’t really 1-hit-kill anymore, and RMG can’t leech life due to Bomb’s shields, so she dies rather quickly now
• New Charge damage is introduced, which also ignores Bomb’s shields – units like DK, Sonic V2, Suiryu.
• For bossing, Bomb core is a very core for content in which you’re struggling to survive, such as Elder Centipede, or Resist Invasion. With his core you can easily survive all the rounds, and hence helping you rack up your overall damage done. If survival is not an issue, Gyoro4 core is still solid.
• Gyoro core is still the best core for Monster side, so don’t immediately reset him/her/whatever.
• Bomb core4 has 50% DoT rate which can be useful depending on the content, trying to do a 1 turn kill with DoT setup (Genus, SK, VM, etc). But more often than not he’s usually just used for the shields as Bomb core 1.

After SSR+

• Whale line-up will mostly be SSR+CE, SSR+Boros, Bomb, Sonic (for speed), Gale Wind (for stun/follow-up), X. where X is swappable, can be RMG, or WDM, or Lightning Genji for buff, etc.
• ATT starts to fall off with SSR+CE, can die easily to a strong SSR+ Boros burst so her heals won’t help much
• RMG becomes more viable again with Follow-up line-up, such as CE+ and GW
• Speed becomes very important now, usually the team with the faster P5 Sonic will enable their GW/CE+/Boros+ to go first, which usually will mean the end for your team. If you don’t have Sonic v2, then SSR+ King is your next speedster.
• Bomb P5 starts to really shine with Agility to all allies, but probably for F2Ps you are nowhere near this if you have been diligently training Sonic
• With the debut of SSR+CK, he is definitely the strongest unit so far. KS is a must to get, and AWK2 if you’re a whale. Basically the fastest and most HP CK will win the fight, so remember to boost him with Sonic. AOE DPS (eg ATT, CE+) falls down the line, with more emphasis on Single Target DPS follow-up by CK which usually one-shots. You can stack him with WDM for more HP but only if ur WDM is P5.

• Gyoro is super strong and versatile hence right at the top. Core is great for general use, and Core4 is great for PVE bossing
• If you’re still using other cores like ZBM/CE, you will find yourself struggling a lot in PVP, but PVE you’ll still be fine
• Meta will be mainly Espers, you will need RMG for sure, and after counting Gyoro you just need 1 more, which can be anything mostly, from PXM to Boros to King, to Melz, to Sky King even for a lowbie F2P, depending on your content (PVE/PVP)
• SSR Genos is the strongest AoE for a while, due to his HP% dmg, which surprisingly does very well in PVE too. Synergizes with Gyoro HP boost, as well as WDM
• ATT will be great but mostly used only when Bomb is out, in terms of PVP. She’s still super strong in PVE when paired with VM
• Alloy/TTM went slightly up because they are used to protect your Genos/RMG, and/or against opponent’s Genos/RMG
• DoT (Corrode) as usual is falling further off, however still very strong in live clash
• ZBM-era strong units like Garou and FF will start to fall off. Gouketsu can still be used as a support/tank for his passive
• PVE content will vary based on what you’re doing, but basically for bosses it’s RMG/Boros/Gyoro, preferably with a shatter (G4/Sonic) and injury (ZBM/AM/BK). For AoE, it’s ATT and VM.