User:Pi/SaD Guide

Top This is a guide made in hopes to help players clear floors in the Tower of Steam and Darkness (or SaD for short) technical maps. Some players regard these stages as some of the hardest quests in the game, so I hope that this guide can help make these stages easier.

This is very much a WIP so keep that in mind, and current videos were recorded before v10.0.0 was released.

Useful Cards for All Floors

See Teambuilding Guide (WIP)

Single Main Color Challenge

Restrictions

- All cards must have the same main color as the enemy color's weakness

Rebecca requires all cards to have main blue color

Grace requires all cards to have main green color

Wynn requires all cards to have main red color

Alex requires all cards to have main yellow color

Chiquita requires all cards to have main purple color

Main Bosses

Boss
Lv. 1
Lv. 2

Enemy Lineup

(Color of cards in series change depending on which color challenge you enter [Ex.: When challenging blue, Grace will take the place of Rebecca, Claude takes the place of Julia, etc.])

Lv. 1

Rebecca

Grace

Wynn

Alex

Chiquita

Lv. 2

Rebecca

Grace

Wynn

Alex

Chiquita

Strategies

This stage is a little tricky to come up with strategies for, since pre-emptive attacks on both Lv. 1 and Lv. 2 reduce your team's Recovery by a lot and sets your board up with a lot of garbage/hard garbage puyo, but it's still entirely possible. These are the more well-known and more effective strategies for these floors.
To view a card's skills, click on their card icon and it will take you to their page.

Fodder Front

This strategy employs the use of a front row of fodder cards that will take the attack that inflicts Recover Down so that the cards that you will actually be using don't suffer from low Recovery. An example of this strategy would look like this:


	AS+

Momo, the Cosmorisu, Hilda, and Ringo all are killed to the initial attack, leaving only Love Hunter Rafisol with the Recover Down, with the rest of the team coming from the back without having any debuffs to their Recovery. A few things to note if you are doing this strategy are:

Notes

The fodder in the front has to have minimal HP, but if you just leave the fodder cards at level 1 you should be fine.
The fodder lead must not have any HP buffs/have very minimal HP buffs from LS, so be careful with who you choose. Very common options for fodder leads on this floor include:
- Fruits Girls Series because of their Puyo to Skill (PTS) decrease at quest departure (★6 preferable, though ★4~5 also work to a lesser extent - ★7 will not work)
- Magical Cat Girls Series because of their pre-emptive Fisher LS that is put into effect just before they are killed off, which speeds up skill charging and helps clear out garbage puyo (★5~6 is preferable, though ★7 can work). Other notable cards that fill the spot of a Magical Cat Girl include:
  - Conan Edogawa (★4~6 will work, ★7 will not)
  - Sonic (★4~6 is preferable, though ★7 can work)
  - Banana Djinni Ayn (only at ★5 at level 1 with no additional stat buffs)
It is recommended that some of your fodder cards should give a [[:Category:PPQ: Combination|]]Combination Bonus with your future lead to reduce total damage taken by them. In the example, if the fodder cards did not yield a Combination Bonus with Love Hunter Rafisol, then she would take more total damage from the pre-emptive attack, making it harder for her to recover from it and leaving her more susceptible to dying.
This is specific to using Popping Amitie, Arle & Carbuncle, Dazzling Satan, Concoctive Witch, Luminous Ally, or other auto recover LSes as leader, but note that the HP recovered from their LS will not be nearly as effective as normal when they are inflicted with Recover Down, as their HP recovery is dependent on their own Recovery stat.
With Miyabi, use her AS as soon as it is ready, as it will help speed up the skill charge of your other allies. This holds true for any card with a fisher AS with low PTS on any team.

Dream Courier Lead

This strategy is as simple as just using a card in the Dream Courier Series (must be at ★7) or Kotaro Katsura from the Gintama collaboration held in January 2021 (★7 preferred, but ★6 can work) as lead and hoping their turn plus takes effect. The massive Recovery boost from their LS is enough to almost negate the Recovery Down inflicted at the start of the stage, plus their turn plus gives you more turns to clear out the ; or you could just not clear it out at all! You're able to attack the enemies just a few turns before the Boss!? Series character inflicts a garbage penalty that would otherwise kill everyone on your team if you left even just a single or on the board. An example of this strategy would look like:

Floré is placed in the back row in case any cards in the front were to die, just as a precautionary measure. Other cards in the back row don't really matter, but it's good to put them there just in case or as emotional support.

Guide

To view how to tackle these floors, I have provided links to videos showing all 5 of the Lv. 2 stages being cleared by me

Rebecca

Explanation

WIP

Grace

Explanation

WIP

Wynn

Explanation

WIP

Alex

Explanation

WIP

Chiquita

Explanation

WIP

Teams I Used

To view a card's skills, click on their card icon and it will take you to their page.

Rebecca

57,300
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	9	3760
Damage Dealt	2,520,213,234	5000
Max Chain	9	2700
Floor Bonus	400%	45840

Grace

52,800
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	9	3760
Damage Dealt	909,733,292	5000
Max Chain	6	1800
Floor Bonus	400%	42240

Wynn

54,300
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	9	3760
Damage Dealt	8,468,468,001	5000
Max Chain	7	2100
Floor Bonus	400%	43440

Alex

65,100
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	8	3820
Damage Dealt	681,279,541	5000
Max Chain	14	4200
Floor Bonus	400%	52080

Chiquita

68,700
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	6	3940
Damage Dealt	7,756,726,315	5000
Max Chain	20	4800
Floor Bonus	400%	54960

Under 3 Colors Challenge

Restrictions

- Teams are restricted to being consisted of 3 or less colors total
- All cards must have the same color as the enemy color's weakness

Dini requires all cards to have blue color

Istio requires all cards to have green color

Korallia requires all cards to have red color

Kyma requires all cards to have yellow color

Rothion requires all cards to have purple color

Note that this does not require all cards to have their main color fit this rule

Main Bosses

Boss
Lv. 1
Lv. 2

Enemy Lineup

(Color of cards in series change depending on which color challenge you enter [Ex.: When challenging blue, Aldera will take the place of Zara, Istio takes the place of Dini, etc. The Accursed Knight is determined by their side color {their side color is the same as the other main colors of the rest of the enemies - Eldur would show up on red, Wacht would show up on blue, etc.}])

Lv. 1

Dini

Stage 1

Stage 2

Istio

Stage 1

Stage 2

Korallia

Stage 1

Stage 2

Kyma

Stage 1

Stage 2

Rothion

Stage 1

Stage 2

Lv. 2

Dini

Stage 1

Stage 2

Istio

Stage 1

Stage 2

Korallia

Stage 1

Stage 2

Kyma

Stage 1

Stage 2

Rothion

Stage 1

Stage 2

Strategies

Because of what the Accursed Knight Series card does, the known strategies for these stages are just as limited as the Single Main Color Challenge floors, but are still very much doable.

Undertake

This strategy uses a status effect known as Undertake to tank the mass attack from the Accursed Knight on stage 2 and the most common strategy to use if you just want to clear the stage. Example:

		AS+

Before the Accursed Knight (in this case Mappela) deals a mass attack inflicting Attack Down, Gensan's AS is used, and he takes all of the attacks of it, leaving the rest of the team with no debuffs to their Attack, allowing you to use the skills on the other cards and take out the rest of the enemies in one cycle before Korallia puts up 3 again. Alternatively, you can let Mappela kill Gensan, giving you the chance to do more damage with another AS you now have access to, at the cost of taking more turns.

The most common cards with Undertake are the Heavy Infantry Series and the Scorched Desert Journey Series, but a full list can be found here.

With Dream Courier Lead

This strategy becomes more powerful if you have access to a ★7 Dream Courier Series card or if you got Kotaro Katsura from the Gintama collaboration in January 2021. The turn plus from their LS allows you to kill the bosses significantly quicker if you're able to charge skills incredibly quickly. Example:

In this deck, Kotaro Katsura's turn plus will kick in at the beginning of the stage after the enemies' pre-emptive attacks; later on, Gyura will die from the strong mass attack of the Accursed Knight (in this case Friede), and Tee & O will come out from the back row. You then have 2 turns to pop 35-40 (depending on Tee & O's Skill Level) before you have a chance to use all of your cards' skills at once before Rothion puts 3 back up. It is very hard to do successfully, but is very rewarding.

Consecution

An alternative to the undertake strategy is the consecution strategy, where you brute-force and kill the Accursed Knight with a different color than their weakness and entirely skip over their Attack Down mass attack and strong mass attack, making the stage much easier to deal with when performed correctly. There are 2 forms of this strategy; off-color and on-color. Off-color uses a consecution card that shares a side color with the intended color, and on-color uses a consecution card with a side color; the side color being the main part of the strategy.

Off-color

Off-color consecution uses a consecution card that shares a side color with the intended color of the cards you need to bring. Example:

Samurai Lyude's main green color lets him bypass Korallia's , allowing him to easily kill Mappela by himself; and his side red color allows the team with him to be accepted into the quest. Use his AS along with Khan's AS in order to deal with Mappela easily.

Note that Samurai Lyude's AS only inflicts consecution on himself.

On-color

On-color consecution uses a consecution card with a side color in order to help take down the Accursed Knight. Example:

Genius Knight Klug's skill combined with his side color as well as the presence of Attack Source Expansion (ASE) from Sultana's AS allows the team to easily defeat Friede before he deals his Attack Down mass attack, allowing the team to use their other skills immediately and kill the rest of the enemies when Rothion's go down.

Note that Genius Knight Klug's AS only inflicts consecution on himself.

Great Paprisu Mars

For red teams, you don't need a consecution card for either off-color or on-color as long as you have Great Paprisu Mars. His active skill is insanely powerful for a free event card whose event was held October 2019:
This card deals mass attack at 10× Attack for normal attacks for 3 turns (3)
This is strong enough to kill Mappela by itself with no consecution required, and is much easier to do than the consecution strats. If you have Great Paprisu Mars, prioritize using this strat first against Korallia. Example:

	AS+

Use Great Paprisu Mars's and Love Hunter Rafisol's ASes before Mappela does her Attack Down mass attack and she should go down fairly easily because of Great Paprisu Mars's green side color going right around the . After that it should be a piece of cake - after Korallia's goes down, use the rest of the ASes and kill the rest of the enemies.

Note that when using the Hunter Series cards with consecution/massification cards, be sure to use the Hunter Series card's AS first and then the consecution/massification card's AS, else the Hunter Series card's Toughness Penetration will overwrite the consecution/massification, as Attack Mode Modifiers are not stackable.

Guide

To view how to tackle these floors, I have provided links to videos showing all 5 of the Lv. 2 stages being cleared by me

Dini

Explanation

WIP

Istio

Alt: Full Red Side Color Green Team

Explanation

WIP

Korallia

Explanation

WIP

Kyma

Explanation

WIP

Rothion

Explanation

WIP

Teams I Used

To view a card's skills, click on their card icon and it will take you to their page.

Dini

54,000
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	7	4000
Damage Dealt	2,117,915,058	5000
Max Chain	6	1800
Floor Bonus	400%	43200

Istio

55,500
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	7	4000
Damage Dealt	1,886,281,650	5000
Max Chain	7	2100
Floor Bonus	400%	44400

alt. (bad idea do not do this)

65,500
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	9	4000
Damage Dealt	357,603,457	4910
Max Chain	14	4200
Floor Bonus	400%	52440

Korallia

69,000
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	8	4000
Damage Dealt	14,371,271,569	5000
Max Chain	17	4800
Floor Bonus	400%	55200

Kyma

64,500
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	7	4000
Damage Dealt	1,861,772,405	5000
Max Chain	13	3900
Floor Bonus	400%	51600

Rothion

69,000
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	7	4000
Damage Dealt	6,450,014,524	5000
Max Chain	16	4800
Floor Bonus	400%	55200

5 Main Color Challenge

Restrictions

- Teams must have main colors of red, blue, green, yellow, and purple in front
- While not explicitly stated by the game or SEGA, team leaders must have same main color as the boss, else the boss will throw out devastating attacks that render the stage impossible to beat

Dusklight Doppelganger Arle requires leader to have main red color

Valkyrie Dark Arle requires leader to have main blue color

Dazzling Satan requires leader to have main green color

Yellow Strange Klug requires leader to have main yellow color

Rafisol requires leader to have main purple color

Main Bosses

Boss
Lv. 1
Lv. 2

Enemy Lineup

Every stage on these floors has the main boss as the only enemy, with an exception for Valkyrie Dark Arle, whose stage features Caballoons.

Lv. 1

Dusklight Doppelganger Arle

Valkyrie Dark Arle

Dazzling Satan

Yellow Strange Klug

Rafisol

Lv. 2

Dusklight Doppelganger Arle

Valkyrie Dark Arle

Dazzling Satan

Yellow Strange Klug

Rafisol

Strategies

For all of these stages, your goal is just to hit the boss extremely hard, so there's very little strategies for these bosses that work well. The only main strategies are either going in with a rainbow team and winning with that or by sneaking in a mono team with rainbow fodder in the front. These, in my opinion, are the hardest stages in all of SaD as a whole, so don't feel discouraged if you're unable to beat them.

Rainbow

The hardest of the strats to do because of the sheer amount of cards you need with universal/rainbow LSes and ASes; but when pulled off correctly, it works really well, almost as if this is what Sega intended you to do. Examples (you can be a lot more loose about what cards you use here as long as their ASes affect everyone on the team if they don't inflict to self only):

Dusklight Doppelganger Arle

Valkyrie Dark Arle

Dazzling Satan

Yellow Strange Klug

Rafisol

Since all of the main bosses have massive amounts of HP, all of these teams are completely focused on doing as much damage as possible, with none of the cards' skills going towards helping with with skill charge - only towards damage output.

Mono

The easier of the strats to pull off but sometimes takes a bit of effort and luck to get up and running fully, you can place rainbow fodder in the front row with your main team in the back row. Example for Valkyrie Dark Arle:

When the Caballoons explode, the Ecolo ver. Enma Daio cards (or whatever fodder cards you use over them) will die, leaving just Ayn and the rest of the back row alive, letting you clear the stage with a blue team.

Guide

To view how to tackle these floors, I have provided links to videos showing all 5 of the Lv. 2 stages being cleared by me

Dusklight Doppelganger Arle

Explanation

WIP

Valkyrie Dark Arle

Explanation

WIP

Dazzling Satan

Explanation

WIP

Yellow Strange Klug

Explanation

WIP

Rafisol

Explanation

WIP

Teams I Used

To view a card's skills, click on their card icon and it will take you to their page.

Dusklight Doppelganger Arle

68,400
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	7	3880
Damage Dealt	3,646,572,117	5000
Max Chain	18	4800
Floor Bonus	400%	54720

Valkyrie Dark Arle

68,400
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	7	3880
Damage Dealt	1,163,753,619	5000
Max Chain	17	4800
Floor Bonus	400%	54720

alt. (Mono Team)

55,500
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	10	3700
Damage Dealt	1,105,626,357	5000
Max Chain	8	2400
Floor Bonus	400%	44400

Dazzling Satan

67,500
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	10	3700
Damage Dealt	6,867,065,432	5000
Max Chain	16	4800
Floor Bonus	400%	54000

Yellow Strange Klug

68,100
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	8	3820
Damage Dealt	8,942,444,518	5000
Max Chain	16	4800
Floor Bonus	400%	54480

Rafisol

67,500
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	10	3700
Damage Dealt	531,259,865	5000
Max Chain	21	4800
Floor Bonus	400%	54000

Single Type Challenge

Restrictions

- Teams must consist completely of Attack Type cards, Recover Type cards, HP Type cards, or Balance Type cards

Charmy Draco requires all Recover Type cards

Shizunagi requires all HP Type cards

Gallant Lidelle requires all cards to be of any 1 type, with 3 or less colors total on team

Legamünt requires all Balance Type cards

Street Maguro requires all Attack Type cards

Main Bosses

Boss
Lv. 1
Lv. 2

Enemy Lineup

Lv. 1

Charmy Draco

Shizunagi

Gallant Lidelle

Legamünt

Street Maguro

Lv. 2

Charmy Draco

Shizunagi

Gallant Lidelle

Legamünt

Street Maguro

Strategies

WIP

Guide

To view how to tackle these floors, I have provided links to videos showing all 5 of the Lv. 2 stages being cleared by me

Charmy Draco

Explanation

WIP

Shizunagi

Explanation

WIP

Gallant Lidelle

Explanation

WIP

Legamünt

Explanation

WIP

Street Maguro

Explanation

WIP

Teams I Used

To view a card's skills, click on their card icon and it will take you to their page.

Charmy Draco

61,200
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	11	3640
Damage Dealt	898,478,258	5000
Max Chain	12	3600
Floor Bonus	400%	48960

Shizunagi

63,000
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	10	3700
Damage Dealt	5,378,438,201	5000
Max Chain	13	3900
Floor Bonus	400%	50400

Gallant Lidelle

69,000
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	5	4000
Damage Dealt	2,966,320,607	5000
Max Chain	18	4800
Floor Bonus	400%	55200

Legamünt

69,000
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	4	4000
Damage Dealt	1,804,071,586	5000
Max Chain	22	4800
Floor Bonus	400%	55200

Street Maguro

63,900
Score Tally
Condition	Achieved	Score
Clear Turns	7	3880
Damage Dealt	1,430,188,971	5000
Max Chain	13	3900
Floor Bonus	400%	51120

Other Pages

SaD Enemy Profiles (WIP)
Playlist of all SaD 52k/54k Clear Teams (YouTube)
Tower of Outland and Trials Guide (WIP)


Single Main Color Challenge	Under 3 Colors Challenge	5 Main Color Challenge	Single Type Challenge
Restrictions	Restrictions	Restrictions	Restrictions
Main Bosses	Main Bosses	Main Bosses	Main Bosses
Enemy Lineup	Enemy Lineup	Enemy Lineup	Enemy Lineup
Strategies	Strategies	Strategies	Strategies
Guide	Guide	Guide	Guide
Teams I Used	Teams I Used	Teams I Used	Teams I Used

User:Pi/SaD Guide

Table of Contents

Useful Cards for All Floors

Single Main Color Challenge

Restrictions

Main Bosses

Enemy Lineup

Lv. 1

Rebecca

Grace

Wynn

Alex

Chiquita

Lv. 2

Rebecca

Grace

Wynn

Alex

Chiquita

Strategies

Fodder Front

Notes

Dream Courier Lead

Guide

Rebecca

Explanation

Grace

Explanation

Wynn

Explanation

Alex

Explanation

Chiquita

Explanation

Teams I Used

Rebecca

Grace

Wynn

Alex

Chiquita

Under 3 Colors Challenge

Restrictions

Main Bosses

Enemy Lineup

Lv. 1

Dini

Istio

Korallia

Kyma

Rothion

Lv. 2

Dini

Istio

Korallia

Kyma

Rothion

Strategies

Undertake

With Dream Courier Lead

Consecution

Off-color

On-color

Great Paprisu Mars

Guide

Dini

Explanation

Istio

Explanation

Korallia

Explanation

Kyma

Explanation

Rothion

Explanation

Teams I Used

Dini

Istio

Korallia

Kyma

Rothion