Announcement: This guide is very old; it was originally written in 2013. The general advice is still valid but some of the specifics are badly outdated. Since this keeps getting bumped up occasionally I am planning on updating it to reflect current Coliseum standards.
Updates
7/3 - Formatting is cool, kids.
7/1 - Expanded and revamped the section on party builds.
Introduction: What is the Coliseum?
Hello and welcome to the Basic Coliseum Build Guide! I'm sure you've seen it on the sidebar, the Coliseum, listed right underneath the Fairgrounds. So what is it, exactly? In short, it's a battle arena. Here you can organize your party, allocate stats and Battle Stones, engage in Monster Battles and even battle other players! It's a lot of fun and adds a ton of variety and playability to an already extensive game.
It sounds complicated, but it's not once you get the hang of it. This guide is intended for beginners looking to venture into the Coliseum for the first time, or perhaps you already gave it a try and find it too hard or confusing. Here you will find everything you need to get started and level all the way to 25, the current level cap.
More experienced players likely won't find much of use here, but please give it a read and let me know if there's anything I can improve on! I welcome all comments and suggestions. Please note that this guide is still very much in progress. At the top of the guide you'll see a list of the most current updates; at the end you'll see notes on what I'm working on now and plan to add in the immediate future.
The Basics of Battle
Before we get too far into the technical stuff, I'd like to talk about how battles work in Flight Rising.
The absolute first step is to organize your party, which is the first option on the main Coliseum battle menu. This is how you choose what dragons you want to battle with. Note that only adult, named dragons may fight in the Coliseum.
You'll have your three party spots on the left and on the right is a window with all of your eligible dragons. To pick a dragon, you simply drag and drop it into the spot you want it to be in. I have no data at all on whether this affects anything or not but I always put my tank in the middle spot. To switch out for another dragon, you simply drag the new one over and drop it on top of the old one and they'll switch automatically.
The max party size is three, but you can battle with only two, or even one dragon if you're daring. It's more difficult but not impossible, especially if you keep a stock of health potions. Check the section on battle items for more details.
Next you want to check your stats and abilities, the second option on the main battle menu. Once your dragons have leveled up, this is where you distribute your stat points. It's also where you equip Battle Stones; check the next section for more detail. If you've never battled before, you definitely want to take a look at your starting abilities so you know what you have.
Currently there are two types of starters: physical and magical. Guardians and Mirrors begin with the physical set and Fae and Tundra begin with the magical set. Non-starter breeds that have been changed with scrolls start with whatever set their original breed had. You can change it if you want, just note that this guide is operating on the assumption that you're using the original moveset and stat build of the starter breeds.
So once you've chosen your party and taken a look at your stats and abilities, it's time to battle! This guide does not cover PvP—if I come across a PvP guide I will be sure to link to it. In the meantime, let's do some Monster Battles! Select that option and another menu will come up with a list of areas and level ranges. As a general rule you want to pick the area of the level your dragons are currently at. When you've got some experience with battling you'll probably find you can fight enemies at a higher level, but for now we'll stick to the script.
How to Battle:
So you selected your area and your dragons have entered into battle for the very first time. Now what? Well, let's explain a few things. When the Coliseum is working I'll put up a screenshot. On the left are your dragons; on the right are the enemy monsters, often referred to as mobs, with their HP/Breath bars floating over their heads. On the bottom left half of the window are some big bars. The green ones are your dragons' HP; if you mouse over it'll tell you the total. The small blue bar underneath is your Breath meter; this shows you how much Breath you have to use your dragon's abilities.
On the bottom right are all of your command options. There isn't a traditional attack button like in many RPGs; instead, all attacks/spells/etc go through the Ability command. Next to that is the Item command, where you can use health potions to restore your HP. And finally next to that is the Flee button. If the enemy is too strong you can escape the battle instead of waiting for them to KO your party. There is a benefit to fleeing, as your dragons will lose only 2 energy each instead of 5 for a full KO. Don't be afraid to use it when you need to; sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.
To actually act in battle, first you must use your Breath-generating move. In physical dragons, it's Scratch. In magical dragons it's Meditate. If you're following this guide and have a tank, your tank should have Anticipate (more on that later). Anyways, your first turns will be spent using these moves. When using Scratch, target the same enemy every time; the faster you take an enemy out, the less damage it can do to you.
Once you've saved up enough Breath, you'll be able to use your abilities. In the beginning they're all offensive abilities, so just use them to keep attacking a single foe until it's killed, then pick a new target and repeat. Later on as you accumulate levels and abilities, you'll be doing quite a bit more than just attacking, but for the first few levels this is basically how every single battle will go.
Victory!
When you've killed all of the enemies, the battle ends and the victory screen pops up. Here you'll see your exp bar that shows you how much exp you earned and how much you need to get to the next level, which is cumulative. You'll also see what drops if any you received. Most of it will be materials, but you can occasionally get some rare items like apparel and even unhatched eggs.
At the bottom of the screen, you will see something called a Victory Chain. This is basically an exp bonus you earn for fighting multiple battles in a row. It starts at 5% and goes all the way up to a 20% bonus. Obviously when you're leveling up you want to keep your chain going as long as possible to get the most out of the bonus. It can be hard to chain in the beginning, but as your dragons grow and equip new Battle Stones, it gets easier even as the enemies get tougher. Don't worry too much if you can't chain consistently.
Finally, in the bottom right corner you'll see two more options: return to main menu or fight on. If your dragons are low on HP, you can go back to the main menu and reselect your battle area. You lose your chain but your dragons will be fully healed and ready to battle immediately. If they're in good shape you can fight on to increase your chain and continue getting boosted exp, but if they get KO'd they'll lose their chain and some energy. If their energy gets too low you'll be unable to battle until you feed them in your Lair.
Now that you know the basics of how to battle, let's take a look at how stats work, as once you start leveling up they are critical in defining your battle experience.
Stats, What Do They Do?
Anyone who's played an RPG knows basically what stats are and how they work, but if you've never played one before it may not make much sense. Here's a breakdown of what each stat actually does in combat.
Strength – STR: Increases your dragon's damage with physical attacks. Pretty straightforward. More STR = more damage when using abilities like Scratch, Shred, etc.
Agility – AGI: Increases your dragon's chance to perform a critical strike and to dodge incoming attacks. AGI is the single most misunderstood stat in this game. So much so in fact that at the end of this section I'm going to talk about AGI, what it actually does, and when you should and shouldn't be using it.
Vitality – VIT: Increases your dragon's maximum health. More VIT gives you more health points, or HP. The more HP you have, the more damage it can take before getting KO'd.
Quickness – QCK: Increases your dragon's turn frequency in battle. This one's kind of an odd duck, but it's essentially your dragon's speed. The faster it is, the more often it can take action. This is a turn-based game, so QCK is an important one to have, especially at higher levels.
Intellect – INT: Increases your dragon's damage and healing done with magical abilities. Again, straightforward. More INT = more spell damage and more HP recovered when using Aid.
Defense – DEF: Decreases your dragon's damage taken from physical attacks. Self-explanatory, usually paired with VIT to make some very tough dragons. More on that later!
Mind – MND: Decreases your dragon's damage taken from magical attacks. Also pretty self-explanatory, more MND means spells don't do as much damage when used against you.
We Need To Talk About Agility
Agility, or AGI. It increases your chance to critical strike your opponents and gives you a greater chance of dodging incoming attacks. Pretty awesome, right? Seems like the perfect stat, so let me just put a ton of points in—no, stop! Don't do it! This is the one biggest newbie mistake I've seen again and again. I cringe every time I see a dragon with ridiculously high AGI and nothing else.
AGI is a fantastic stat, but only when paired with other stats. It's what I would call a support stat, in that unless you're using it with something else, it will actually hurt you in the long run. Here's why. In every stat-based game like this, there's something called the point of diminishing returns. Basically, you pour so much into one stat that it maxes out in effectiveness for your level, but you keep adding to it while neglecting all of your other stats. This makes your dragon weaker, not stronger. Also, AGI increases your chances of crits/dodges. It does not mean you will ever get to the point where your dragon will dodge all or even most attacks or get a critical strike every time. The game mechanics simply won't allow it because of balance.
Whew! Glad I got that off my chest. So when is it a good time to use AGI? Read on my friend, the stat builds are coming!
What is a Stat Build and Why Do I Need One?
A stat build is a shorthand term referring to stat points being distributed in a particular way. In RPGs you find a lot of references to min-maxing, which is a method of building a character by minimizing unnecessary stats and maximizing others to achieve an optimal character. Stat builds are a less extreme form of min-maxing, basically, and are more flexible based on the needs of your party.
You might be asking yourself why it's necessary at all, why don't you just put the same amount of stat points in every ability? Well, mainly because doing so is not effective. The mechanics of game balance are designed around having teams, so no one dragon can be effective at everything at any one time. A dragon with all mediocre stats will never be as effective as one with an appropriate build.
Each stat build is designed around a particular role in a party. Each starter breed has slightly different base stats which gives them natural strengths and weaknesses compared to the others. This guide uses these base stats to create optimal stat builds and roles for each breed. It is not meant to be a definitive guide on all possible builds, as more advanced builds require experience and an investment in treasure that if you're just starting out, you probably won't have.
Builds
While you can build any dragon into any type of battler you want, if you're just starting out it can be overwhelming. Stats, abilities, augments, what? So here is a very basic guide on how to work with your dragon's starting stats to be effective in the Coliseum's Monster Battles. There are many, many other builds you can make, but these beginning builds will do what you need them to and give you the chance to explore how it all works.
Note: Any dragon can use any of the following stat builds, these are just what works best with each breed.
Starting stats:
STR 7
AGI 6
DEF 8
QCK 5
INT 5
VIT 8
MND 6
Guardians are big, heavy, slow dragons and this is reflected in their basic stat spread. Guardians are classed as natural tanks which means they can take a lot of damage. With the right abilities and stats they can easily hold the line against even the strongest physical attackers. Now, they are weaker against magic, but their high HP will still give them staying power as long as you aren't attacked with an element your dragon is weak to.
When distributing stat points, you want to focus primarily on DEF and VIT. VIT to give them lots of HP and DEF reduces the amount of damage they will take from physical attacks. You will also want to give them points in QCK, so they aren't overwhelmed by faster enemies in later levels.
Optional: If you started out with two Guardians like I did, you may want to allocate some points to STR on at least one Guardian so you have some attacking power, however keep in mind that you will probably need to use a Tincture of Dissolution later if you plan on making it into a full tank.
You can also throw a few points into AGI or MND if you feel you need to, I personally think it's better to focus on their other stats though.
INT is useless on a basic tank like this, so don't bother putting any points into it.
Starting stats:
STR 7
AGI 8
DEF 6
QCK 8
INT 5
VIT 6
MND 5
Mirrors, on the other hand, are strong, fast dragons whose primary battle role is to hit hard and fast, before the enemy can get their abilities off. They are called DPS or sweepers, a reference to their ability to take enemies out quickly. Unlike Guardians, their defense is low but their high agility will help them dodge enemy attacks. If they do get hit, expect them to take a lot of damage, but a few points in VIT/DEF will give them a little extra staying power, if required.
For stats, focus on STR, AGI and QCK so they can hit hard, hit fast and crit often.
Optional: If you don't have a Guardian or your Guardian is protecting a mage, consider adding a few points in DEF or VIT just so they don't get one-hit KO'd by an unlucky critical.
Starting stats:
STR 7
AGI 6
DEF 6
QCK 5
INT 7
VIT 7
MND 7
Tundra are an interesting breed, in terms of their stats. They don't excel at anything, but they aren't weak in anything either. They're what you'd call a jack of all trades, or all-rounder. You can build a Tundra into whatever you need it to be, which is nice.
Of course, that also means it's tough to recommend a stat build for them, as you can turn them into whatever you like. What I can say is look at the other members of your party and see what it is you need. Two Guardians? Make it a mage or a DPS. Two Fae? A tank, for sure. Just look at the builds for the other three breeds and use that as your base for stats and abilities.
In the future I may post a couple of Tundra builds, but as I've yet to build one up myself I'm not going to suggest any yet. But perhaps other players can!
Starting stats:
STR 5
AGI 8
DEF 5
QCK 6
INT 8
VIT 5
MND 8
Ah, Fae, the classic mage-build set. Fae are set up to be primarily magic users and you should capitalize on that as much as possible. As mages, there are two very basic builds: healer and nuker. For just starting out, consider going with a healer, though if you have a good tank you may not need one. They are invaluable at higher levels, though.
The stat spread on either build is going to be almost the same: INT, AGI, QCK, in more or less that order. You'll also want to give them some MND points so they can handle enemy casters for you. INT gives their spells power, QCK gives them the ability to take many turns, which you will need to generate your breath and heal/nuke rapidly once you've got it, and AGI for boosted spell crits. The first time you get a critical Aid that heals your dragon for twice the normal amount…oh, so glorious.
Optional: They will benefit from a few points in VIT, especially if you don't have a tank to watch over them.
Party Up!
As I mentioned while talking about stat builds, the game mechanics are designed around having teams, commonly referred to as parties. In Flight Rising, this can be from one to three dragons, although generally you will want to have three dragons in your party. Also optimally you want each dragon to have a different role, that is, their reason for being in your party. Variety is important in making sure you have more strengths and fewer weaknesses against enemy monster parties.
For example, say you have a party with three tanks using the builds from this guide. Your defensive power will make it nearly impossible for physical mobs to kill you, but you will get absolutely destroyed by mage type enemies. You will also have virtually no way to do enough damage to kill enemies in a timely fashion. The Coliseum is about speed; the faster you win, the more exp you gain or the more items you get when farming. Conversely, a party with three DPS dragons will do equally poorly because of their lack of defense. By the time you get them set up to start sweeping, they'll already be KO'd or at critical health from taking all that damage. Hence the need for a balanced party.
Role Play
What kind of roles can a dragon play in a battle party? I touched on this briefly in the stat build section. Here's a more in-depth look at exactly what each role does.
Tank
The tank is so named because they are highly defensive and able to take lots of damage, not unlike the armor plating of an actual tank. Their mission is to protect another dragon in the party, either a mage or a DPS. As a general rule your tank should always be protecting your healer if you have one. Your healer keeps your party alive and your tank keeps your healer alive. Balance.
The trade off is that pouring most of their stat points into defense means they do very little damage to enemies. Depending on how you build your tank it may also be weak against magic attacks, however its high HP will usually absorb the damage without too much trouble, unless it's a lucky critical or an element it's weak against.
DPS
The damage dealer of your party, your DPS dragon will generally have high STR, high AGI and high QCK at the expense of pretty much everything else. They have one goal in battle: hit hard, hit fast, hit often. Once they have enough Breath generated to start using abilities expect the battle to end quickly. This is also why they're often called sweepers; once they're set up they simply sweep the floor with their opponents.
Their weakness is their lack of defense. A DPS with no added points at all in their VIT/DEF/MND is sometimes called a glass cannon for their tendency to do a lot of damage but also for their inability to take any, thus shattering them. And while they do huge amounts of damage to most mobs, they may have a hard time getting through a tank's heavy defenses.
Mages
Flight Rising is kind of unusual in that all mage builds can perform the dual roles of nuker and healer, due to having a combined INT stat for both offensive and defensive magic. Usually the two are separate. But this is a good thing as it means any mage dragon can have a versatile party role. Mages will keep your party alive with their healing spells, but they can also do lots of damage with their offensive magics, the latter of which is known as nuking due to their potential to do devastating damage to opponents. They also have a third role called debuffing, which may be a little more advanced than the scope of this guide.
Their weakness is of course that most mages are squishy; they have low DEF and low VIT, much like a DPS, and thus can be killed easily. They are also much more sensitive to the elemental wheel than physical attackers and can be crippled fighting against certain elements.
Balanced
So as you can see, when you line up the strengths and weakness of these three most basic of roles you see that their strengths and weaknesses cover each other. Tanks cover defense, sweepers do physical damage, mages heal and do magical damage. This is why the most balanced party you can have is one of each type. You will never be overwhelmed by any given type of enemy with a balanced party, although in return you will also never overwhelm a given enemy party because your damage, like your defenses, is balanced.
Alternatives
Given that this guide is designed for those just starting out, I do recognize that not everyone is going to have a balanced party setup right from the beginning. I should know, I started out with two tanks. For now I've got a few alternate party builds; in time I will expand them to cover more.
Party Builds
Defensive
Tank, tank, mage/DPS
While this team won't be very fast, it will be very hard to kill. Watch out for mage enemies though, they can still sweep your Guardians if they have a type advantage. Better to have a mage to counter that and provided some extra damage/healing as needed, but DPS will work too.
Blitz
Mage/DPS x3
Oh, this can be fun, especially with mages. Dangerous, but fun. You'll take some damage until you get your breath up and then…nuke/sweep the crap out of everything. Once you get going enemies will be dying faster than they can attack you. This is a fragile team however, and a few crits can take you down if you're unlucky. But it's unrivaled for farming efficiency and the satisfaction of shredding entire enemy parties in no time.
Basic Coliseum FAQ
I see these questions popping up over and over again, so I'm collecting up said questions and answers to them for easy reference.
Q: My dragon isn't doing any damage! What gives?
A: The most common answer to this question is your dragon is equipped with the Meditate battle stone as its Breath-generating attack. Meditate is only for mage-type dragons, as it reduces your dragon's damage by 75% for three turns after using it. You need to replace it with Scratch for DPS and Anticipate for tanks.
Q: My dragon is an adult but I can't use it in the Coliseum. Help!
A: Only adult, named dragons can fight. If it's unnamed, you will have to name it first.
Q: Do offspring inherit stats?
A: No. Bred dragons will have the starting stats of their breed, with no bonuses or abilities from their parents.
Q: Does my dragon's breed affect anything?
A: Aside from its starting stats, no. There are no advantages or restrictions to using any one breed, although of course each breed has different natural strengths and weaknesses. This guide is simply a breakdown of the optimal stat build for each starting breed for beginners who are unfamiliar with how RPG battle systems work.
Q: The Coliseum isn't loading, how do I make it work?
A: Please read this thread for common causes and possible solutions. Unfortunately sometimes the game server crashes, rendering the Coliseum unusable until it can be restarted by the developers. When that happens you just have to sit tight and wait for it to come back up. Hopefully this won't be an issue in the future as things get sorted out.
Helpful Links
Here are some links to other helpful Coliseum (and some general) threads.
Battle Stones - A list of all Battle Stones, complete with current updates and an explanation of what stat works with which ability. Very useful!
Fayrin's Guide to Making Treasure - Handy guide all around, includes a section on Coliseum farming.
Closing
This guide is still in progress. I will be adding things like Battle Stones and augments as soon as I get around to it but for now, this is a very rough, very basic guide to get you started. Would love input to help improve it as well! I imagine I'll be tweaking some little things here and there between additions/revisions as I pretty much wrote this on the fly.
Things I will be adding: battle stones, augments, basic battle strategies, maybe elemental stuff. This guide is basic, after all. I figure someone's already hard at work making a definitive, awesome comprehensive guide that will totally trump this one lol, but in the meantime I see a lot of questions about stats and builds and such.
Coming soon: Battle Stones
Updates
7/3 - Formatting is cool, kids.
7/1 - Expanded and revamped the section on party builds.
Basic Coliseum Build Guide
Introduction: What is the Coliseum?
Hello and welcome to the Basic Coliseum Build Guide! I'm sure you've seen it on the sidebar, the Coliseum, listed right underneath the Fairgrounds. So what is it, exactly? In short, it's a battle arena. Here you can organize your party, allocate stats and Battle Stones, engage in Monster Battles and even battle other players! It's a lot of fun and adds a ton of variety and playability to an already extensive game.
It sounds complicated, but it's not once you get the hang of it. This guide is intended for beginners looking to venture into the Coliseum for the first time, or perhaps you already gave it a try and find it too hard or confusing. Here you will find everything you need to get started and level all the way to 25, the current level cap.
More experienced players likely won't find much of use here, but please give it a read and let me know if there's anything I can improve on! I welcome all comments and suggestions. Please note that this guide is still very much in progress. At the top of the guide you'll see a list of the most current updates; at the end you'll see notes on what I'm working on now and plan to add in the immediate future.
The Basics of Battle
Before we get too far into the technical stuff, I'd like to talk about how battles work in Flight Rising.
The absolute first step is to organize your party, which is the first option on the main Coliseum battle menu. This is how you choose what dragons you want to battle with. Note that only adult, named dragons may fight in the Coliseum.
You'll have your three party spots on the left and on the right is a window with all of your eligible dragons. To pick a dragon, you simply drag and drop it into the spot you want it to be in. I have no data at all on whether this affects anything or not but I always put my tank in the middle spot. To switch out for another dragon, you simply drag the new one over and drop it on top of the old one and they'll switch automatically.
The max party size is three, but you can battle with only two, or even one dragon if you're daring. It's more difficult but not impossible, especially if you keep a stock of health potions. Check the section on battle items for more details.
Next you want to check your stats and abilities, the second option on the main battle menu. Once your dragons have leveled up, this is where you distribute your stat points. It's also where you equip Battle Stones; check the next section for more detail. If you've never battled before, you definitely want to take a look at your starting abilities so you know what you have.
Currently there are two types of starters: physical and magical. Guardians and Mirrors begin with the physical set and Fae and Tundra begin with the magical set. Non-starter breeds that have been changed with scrolls start with whatever set their original breed had. You can change it if you want, just note that this guide is operating on the assumption that you're using the original moveset and stat build of the starter breeds.
So once you've chosen your party and taken a look at your stats and abilities, it's time to battle! This guide does not cover PvP—if I come across a PvP guide I will be sure to link to it. In the meantime, let's do some Monster Battles! Select that option and another menu will come up with a list of areas and level ranges. As a general rule you want to pick the area of the level your dragons are currently at. When you've got some experience with battling you'll probably find you can fight enemies at a higher level, but for now we'll stick to the script.
How to Battle:
So you selected your area and your dragons have entered into battle for the very first time. Now what? Well, let's explain a few things. When the Coliseum is working I'll put up a screenshot. On the left are your dragons; on the right are the enemy monsters, often referred to as mobs, with their HP/Breath bars floating over their heads. On the bottom left half of the window are some big bars. The green ones are your dragons' HP; if you mouse over it'll tell you the total. The small blue bar underneath is your Breath meter; this shows you how much Breath you have to use your dragon's abilities.
On the bottom right are all of your command options. There isn't a traditional attack button like in many RPGs; instead, all attacks/spells/etc go through the Ability command. Next to that is the Item command, where you can use health potions to restore your HP. And finally next to that is the Flee button. If the enemy is too strong you can escape the battle instead of waiting for them to KO your party. There is a benefit to fleeing, as your dragons will lose only 2 energy each instead of 5 for a full KO. Don't be afraid to use it when you need to; sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.
To actually act in battle, first you must use your Breath-generating move. In physical dragons, it's Scratch. In magical dragons it's Meditate. If you're following this guide and have a tank, your tank should have Anticipate (more on that later). Anyways, your first turns will be spent using these moves. When using Scratch, target the same enemy every time; the faster you take an enemy out, the less damage it can do to you.
Once you've saved up enough Breath, you'll be able to use your abilities. In the beginning they're all offensive abilities, so just use them to keep attacking a single foe until it's killed, then pick a new target and repeat. Later on as you accumulate levels and abilities, you'll be doing quite a bit more than just attacking, but for the first few levels this is basically how every single battle will go.
Victory!
When you've killed all of the enemies, the battle ends and the victory screen pops up. Here you'll see your exp bar that shows you how much exp you earned and how much you need to get to the next level, which is cumulative. You'll also see what drops if any you received. Most of it will be materials, but you can occasionally get some rare items like apparel and even unhatched eggs.
At the bottom of the screen, you will see something called a Victory Chain. This is basically an exp bonus you earn for fighting multiple battles in a row. It starts at 5% and goes all the way up to a 20% bonus. Obviously when you're leveling up you want to keep your chain going as long as possible to get the most out of the bonus. It can be hard to chain in the beginning, but as your dragons grow and equip new Battle Stones, it gets easier even as the enemies get tougher. Don't worry too much if you can't chain consistently.
Finally, in the bottom right corner you'll see two more options: return to main menu or fight on. If your dragons are low on HP, you can go back to the main menu and reselect your battle area. You lose your chain but your dragons will be fully healed and ready to battle immediately. If they're in good shape you can fight on to increase your chain and continue getting boosted exp, but if they get KO'd they'll lose their chain and some energy. If their energy gets too low you'll be unable to battle until you feed them in your Lair.
Now that you know the basics of how to battle, let's take a look at how stats work, as once you start leveling up they are critical in defining your battle experience.
Stats, What Do They Do?
Anyone who's played an RPG knows basically what stats are and how they work, but if you've never played one before it may not make much sense. Here's a breakdown of what each stat actually does in combat.
Strength – STR: Increases your dragon's damage with physical attacks. Pretty straightforward. More STR = more damage when using abilities like Scratch, Shred, etc.
Agility – AGI: Increases your dragon's chance to perform a critical strike and to dodge incoming attacks. AGI is the single most misunderstood stat in this game. So much so in fact that at the end of this section I'm going to talk about AGI, what it actually does, and when you should and shouldn't be using it.
Vitality – VIT: Increases your dragon's maximum health. More VIT gives you more health points, or HP. The more HP you have, the more damage it can take before getting KO'd.
Quickness – QCK: Increases your dragon's turn frequency in battle. This one's kind of an odd duck, but it's essentially your dragon's speed. The faster it is, the more often it can take action. This is a turn-based game, so QCK is an important one to have, especially at higher levels.
Intellect – INT: Increases your dragon's damage and healing done with magical abilities. Again, straightforward. More INT = more spell damage and more HP recovered when using Aid.
Defense – DEF: Decreases your dragon's damage taken from physical attacks. Self-explanatory, usually paired with VIT to make some very tough dragons. More on that later!
Mind – MND: Decreases your dragon's damage taken from magical attacks. Also pretty self-explanatory, more MND means spells don't do as much damage when used against you.
We Need To Talk About Agility
Agility, or AGI. It increases your chance to critical strike your opponents and gives you a greater chance of dodging incoming attacks. Pretty awesome, right? Seems like the perfect stat, so let me just put a ton of points in—no, stop! Don't do it! This is the one biggest newbie mistake I've seen again and again. I cringe every time I see a dragon with ridiculously high AGI and nothing else.
AGI is a fantastic stat, but only when paired with other stats. It's what I would call a support stat, in that unless you're using it with something else, it will actually hurt you in the long run. Here's why. In every stat-based game like this, there's something called the point of diminishing returns. Basically, you pour so much into one stat that it maxes out in effectiveness for your level, but you keep adding to it while neglecting all of your other stats. This makes your dragon weaker, not stronger. Also, AGI increases your chances of crits/dodges. It does not mean you will ever get to the point where your dragon will dodge all or even most attacks or get a critical strike every time. The game mechanics simply won't allow it because of balance.
Whew! Glad I got that off my chest. So when is it a good time to use AGI? Read on my friend, the stat builds are coming!
What is a Stat Build and Why Do I Need One?
A stat build is a shorthand term referring to stat points being distributed in a particular way. In RPGs you find a lot of references to min-maxing, which is a method of building a character by minimizing unnecessary stats and maximizing others to achieve an optimal character. Stat builds are a less extreme form of min-maxing, basically, and are more flexible based on the needs of your party.
You might be asking yourself why it's necessary at all, why don't you just put the same amount of stat points in every ability? Well, mainly because doing so is not effective. The mechanics of game balance are designed around having teams, so no one dragon can be effective at everything at any one time. A dragon with all mediocre stats will never be as effective as one with an appropriate build.
Each stat build is designed around a particular role in a party. Each starter breed has slightly different base stats which gives them natural strengths and weaknesses compared to the others. This guide uses these base stats to create optimal stat builds and roles for each breed. It is not meant to be a definitive guide on all possible builds, as more advanced builds require experience and an investment in treasure that if you're just starting out, you probably won't have.
Builds
While you can build any dragon into any type of battler you want, if you're just starting out it can be overwhelming. Stats, abilities, augments, what? So here is a very basic guide on how to work with your dragon's starting stats to be effective in the Coliseum's Monster Battles. There are many, many other builds you can make, but these beginning builds will do what you need them to and give you the chance to explore how it all works.
Note: Any dragon can use any of the following stat builds, these are just what works best with each breed.
Guardian
Starting stats:
STR 7
AGI 6
DEF 8
QCK 5
INT 5
VIT 8
MND 6
Guardians are big, heavy, slow dragons and this is reflected in their basic stat spread. Guardians are classed as natural tanks which means they can take a lot of damage. With the right abilities and stats they can easily hold the line against even the strongest physical attackers. Now, they are weaker against magic, but their high HP will still give them staying power as long as you aren't attacked with an element your dragon is weak to.
When distributing stat points, you want to focus primarily on DEF and VIT. VIT to give them lots of HP and DEF reduces the amount of damage they will take from physical attacks. You will also want to give them points in QCK, so they aren't overwhelmed by faster enemies in later levels.
Optional: If you started out with two Guardians like I did, you may want to allocate some points to STR on at least one Guardian so you have some attacking power, however keep in mind that you will probably need to use a Tincture of Dissolution later if you plan on making it into a full tank.
You can also throw a few points into AGI or MND if you feel you need to, I personally think it's better to focus on their other stats though.
INT is useless on a basic tank like this, so don't bother putting any points into it.
Mirror
Starting stats:
STR 7
AGI 8
DEF 6
QCK 8
INT 5
VIT 6
MND 5
Mirrors, on the other hand, are strong, fast dragons whose primary battle role is to hit hard and fast, before the enemy can get their abilities off. They are called DPS or sweepers, a reference to their ability to take enemies out quickly. Unlike Guardians, their defense is low but their high agility will help them dodge enemy attacks. If they do get hit, expect them to take a lot of damage, but a few points in VIT/DEF will give them a little extra staying power, if required.
For stats, focus on STR, AGI and QCK so they can hit hard, hit fast and crit often.
Optional: If you don't have a Guardian or your Guardian is protecting a mage, consider adding a few points in DEF or VIT just so they don't get one-hit KO'd by an unlucky critical.
Tundra
Starting stats:
STR 7
AGI 6
DEF 6
QCK 5
INT 7
VIT 7
MND 7
Tundra are an interesting breed, in terms of their stats. They don't excel at anything, but they aren't weak in anything either. They're what you'd call a jack of all trades, or all-rounder. You can build a Tundra into whatever you need it to be, which is nice.
Of course, that also means it's tough to recommend a stat build for them, as you can turn them into whatever you like. What I can say is look at the other members of your party and see what it is you need. Two Guardians? Make it a mage or a DPS. Two Fae? A tank, for sure. Just look at the builds for the other three breeds and use that as your base for stats and abilities.
In the future I may post a couple of Tundra builds, but as I've yet to build one up myself I'm not going to suggest any yet. But perhaps other players can!
Fae
Starting stats:
STR 5
AGI 8
DEF 5
QCK 6
INT 8
VIT 5
MND 8
Ah, Fae, the classic mage-build set. Fae are set up to be primarily magic users and you should capitalize on that as much as possible. As mages, there are two very basic builds: healer and nuker. For just starting out, consider going with a healer, though if you have a good tank you may not need one. They are invaluable at higher levels, though.
The stat spread on either build is going to be almost the same: INT, AGI, QCK, in more or less that order. You'll also want to give them some MND points so they can handle enemy casters for you. INT gives their spells power, QCK gives them the ability to take many turns, which you will need to generate your breath and heal/nuke rapidly once you've got it, and AGI for boosted spell crits. The first time you get a critical Aid that heals your dragon for twice the normal amount…oh, so glorious.
Optional: They will benefit from a few points in VIT, especially if you don't have a tank to watch over them.
Party Up!
As I mentioned while talking about stat builds, the game mechanics are designed around having teams, commonly referred to as parties. In Flight Rising, this can be from one to three dragons, although generally you will want to have three dragons in your party. Also optimally you want each dragon to have a different role, that is, their reason for being in your party. Variety is important in making sure you have more strengths and fewer weaknesses against enemy monster parties.
For example, say you have a party with three tanks using the builds from this guide. Your defensive power will make it nearly impossible for physical mobs to kill you, but you will get absolutely destroyed by mage type enemies. You will also have virtually no way to do enough damage to kill enemies in a timely fashion. The Coliseum is about speed; the faster you win, the more exp you gain or the more items you get when farming. Conversely, a party with three DPS dragons will do equally poorly because of their lack of defense. By the time you get them set up to start sweeping, they'll already be KO'd or at critical health from taking all that damage. Hence the need for a balanced party.
Role Play
What kind of roles can a dragon play in a battle party? I touched on this briefly in the stat build section. Here's a more in-depth look at exactly what each role does.
Tank
The tank is so named because they are highly defensive and able to take lots of damage, not unlike the armor plating of an actual tank. Their mission is to protect another dragon in the party, either a mage or a DPS. As a general rule your tank should always be protecting your healer if you have one. Your healer keeps your party alive and your tank keeps your healer alive. Balance.
The trade off is that pouring most of their stat points into defense means they do very little damage to enemies. Depending on how you build your tank it may also be weak against magic attacks, however its high HP will usually absorb the damage without too much trouble, unless it's a lucky critical or an element it's weak against.
DPS
The damage dealer of your party, your DPS dragon will generally have high STR, high AGI and high QCK at the expense of pretty much everything else. They have one goal in battle: hit hard, hit fast, hit often. Once they have enough Breath generated to start using abilities expect the battle to end quickly. This is also why they're often called sweepers; once they're set up they simply sweep the floor with their opponents.
Their weakness is their lack of defense. A DPS with no added points at all in their VIT/DEF/MND is sometimes called a glass cannon for their tendency to do a lot of damage but also for their inability to take any, thus shattering them. And while they do huge amounts of damage to most mobs, they may have a hard time getting through a tank's heavy defenses.
Mages
Flight Rising is kind of unusual in that all mage builds can perform the dual roles of nuker and healer, due to having a combined INT stat for both offensive and defensive magic. Usually the two are separate. But this is a good thing as it means any mage dragon can have a versatile party role. Mages will keep your party alive with their healing spells, but they can also do lots of damage with their offensive magics, the latter of which is known as nuking due to their potential to do devastating damage to opponents. They also have a third role called debuffing, which may be a little more advanced than the scope of this guide.
Their weakness is of course that most mages are squishy; they have low DEF and low VIT, much like a DPS, and thus can be killed easily. They are also much more sensitive to the elemental wheel than physical attackers and can be crippled fighting against certain elements.
Balanced
So as you can see, when you line up the strengths and weakness of these three most basic of roles you see that their strengths and weaknesses cover each other. Tanks cover defense, sweepers do physical damage, mages heal and do magical damage. This is why the most balanced party you can have is one of each type. You will never be overwhelmed by any given type of enemy with a balanced party, although in return you will also never overwhelm a given enemy party because your damage, like your defenses, is balanced.
Alternatives
Given that this guide is designed for those just starting out, I do recognize that not everyone is going to have a balanced party setup right from the beginning. I should know, I started out with two tanks. For now I've got a few alternate party builds; in time I will expand them to cover more.
Party Builds
Defensive
Tank, tank, mage/DPS
While this team won't be very fast, it will be very hard to kill. Watch out for mage enemies though, they can still sweep your Guardians if they have a type advantage. Better to have a mage to counter that and provided some extra damage/healing as needed, but DPS will work too.
Blitz
Mage/DPS x3
Oh, this can be fun, especially with mages. Dangerous, but fun. You'll take some damage until you get your breath up and then…nuke/sweep the crap out of everything. Once you get going enemies will be dying faster than they can attack you. This is a fragile team however, and a few crits can take you down if you're unlucky. But it's unrivaled for farming efficiency and the satisfaction of shredding entire enemy parties in no time.
Basic Coliseum FAQ
I see these questions popping up over and over again, so I'm collecting up said questions and answers to them for easy reference.
Q: My dragon isn't doing any damage! What gives?
A: The most common answer to this question is your dragon is equipped with the Meditate battle stone as its Breath-generating attack. Meditate is only for mage-type dragons, as it reduces your dragon's damage by 75% for three turns after using it. You need to replace it with Scratch for DPS and Anticipate for tanks.
Q: My dragon is an adult but I can't use it in the Coliseum. Help!
A: Only adult, named dragons can fight. If it's unnamed, you will have to name it first.
Q: Do offspring inherit stats?
A: No. Bred dragons will have the starting stats of their breed, with no bonuses or abilities from their parents.
Q: Does my dragon's breed affect anything?
A: Aside from its starting stats, no. There are no advantages or restrictions to using any one breed, although of course each breed has different natural strengths and weaknesses. This guide is simply a breakdown of the optimal stat build for each starting breed for beginners who are unfamiliar with how RPG battle systems work.
Q: The Coliseum isn't loading, how do I make it work?
A: Please read this thread for common causes and possible solutions. Unfortunately sometimes the game server crashes, rendering the Coliseum unusable until it can be restarted by the developers. When that happens you just have to sit tight and wait for it to come back up. Hopefully this won't be an issue in the future as things get sorted out.
Helpful Links
Here are some links to other helpful Coliseum (and some general) threads.
Battle Stones - A list of all Battle Stones, complete with current updates and an explanation of what stat works with which ability. Very useful!
Fayrin's Guide to Making Treasure - Handy guide all around, includes a section on Coliseum farming.
Closing
This guide is still in progress. I will be adding things like Battle Stones and augments as soon as I get around to it but for now, this is a very rough, very basic guide to get you started. Would love input to help improve it as well! I imagine I'll be tweaking some little things here and there between additions/revisions as I pretty much wrote this on the fly.
Things I will be adding: battle stones, augments, basic battle strategies, maybe elemental stuff. This guide is basic, after all. I figure someone's already hard at work making a definitive, awesome comprehensive guide that will totally trump this one lol, but in the meantime I see a lot of questions about stats and builds and such.
Coming soon: Battle Stones
