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Kiena - All right. I've done some testing, and I have a new 2-trainer build recommendation for the Mire if you want to be able to kill the bosses while training fodder.
Note, this is simply an alternate configuration, I have tested 126 STR / 58 QCK dragons from Kelp Beds and they have roughly the same times with different advantages (longevity and consistency with a slot for elemental slashes vs. more STR for Sap and bosses while not having to get different lv.25s). I'll try to test if there's an "ideal STR" for boss killing with specialty Mire dragons later that pushes you over the threshold vs. 117, while still leaving enough points that there's a justification for that build vs. recycling Kelp trainers (besides optimizing elemental alignment for offensive slashes vs. the bosses, which is a big deal to me but not to everyone).
Pros
- Allows you to train fodder in the Mire and safely kill bosses
- Does not require any resetting, unlike the solo Mire build
- Very similar times to the Kelp Beds build, on average, for training level 4 and 5 dragons (no resets for starting packs and killing bosses in both venues)
Cons
- Slower than the solo Mire build, on average
- Slightly slower than the Kelp Beds build, on average, at level 6 and above (no resets for starting packs and killing bosses in both venues)
- Not good for farming past Arena
Time comparisons
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Mire, 1 trainer (115 STR/72 QCK/27 VIT/10 AGI Arcane)
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Mire, 2 trainers (117 STR/60 QCK/41 VIT/10 AGI Lightning/Water)
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Kelp Beds, 2 trainers (126 STR/58 QCK/11 VIT Plague/Plague)
Build
Elements: First dragon
Water, Second dragon
Lightning
Stats: Both dragons
117 STR / 60 QCK / 41 VIT / 10 AGI (rest in VIT / leftover in AGI if not Tinctured)
Battle Stones: Both dragons
2x Ambush, 3x Berserker, Scratch, Sap, Eliminate, Rally, Elemental Slash (Thunder and Wave)
Strategy: You can kill anything except bosses with Scratch x4 or Scratch + Eliminate (unless you get Contused, which lowers your damage). Prioritize targeting the physical monsters (especially faster ones), and the casters with dangerous debuffs or super effective elements if they have enough Breath to attack you. Rally has a slow animation and you shouldn't need to bother with it on non-boss packs; you can tank quite a few hits.
Rally the Lightning dragon with the Water dragon and use Thunder Slash against the Water boss; Rally the Water dragon with the Lightning dragon and use Wave Slash against the Fire boss; Scratch the boss on extra turns to build Breath, using an Eliminate *if and only if* it will KO the boss on that final hit.
Sap if you have extra Breath and missing health, but try not to do this unless you've got 70+ Breath (preferably closer to 85). You can tank a few hits and you want to be able to build up breath quickly and have a lot stored for extra Eliminates if you miss. Having extra Breath is also very good for bosses. Remember that if you have 85+ Breath, using Eliminate will bring you down to 85 Breath anyway.
Why 117 STR? - You only need 115 STR to Scratch + Eliminate every monster (except bosses) in the Mire. However, 117 STR allows you to kill the Brilliant Psywurm and Mossy Cerdae in 4 Scratches instead of 5, which makes killing starting packs involving these monsters faster and gives you more Breath padding options.
Why 60 QCK? - This allows you to outspeed every monster in the Mire for at least the first and second turns. The Psywurm has 62 QCK, but you will only witness its double turns after your dragons get the second turn. Therefore, you can safely kill even the 3x Psywurm pack before they get to move.
Why Lightning and Water? - Having a mixed team of Lightning and Water allows you to have one dragon with increased offense against each boss using Thunder or Wave Slash. (Lightning is good against the Water boss, and Water is good against the Fire boss.) In addition, neither of these dragons takes increased damage from either boss's elemental skills, which makes them superior to going for something like an Earth and Plague combo, which would take increased damage against the opposite bosses.
It is okay that the Lightning and Water dragons have some elemental weaknesses against normal packs. They are very unlikely to take damage from normal packs, and if they do, it's not difficult to shrug off. The most damage they will take is from the bosses.
Why Water in the first slot? - This may change, but preliminary data shows that the Molten Wartoad (Fire) is slightly less common than the Wartoad (Water). Putting the dragon with increased offense against the more common boss in the second slot allows you to squeeze in a slight advantage by making sure that it doesn't get its first Ambush turn eaten. In this case, the more common boss seems to be the Wartoad (Water), which takes additional damage from Lightning attacks.
Why those Battle Stones? -
Eliminate is a needed stone on all physical builds due to its ability to not cost Breath if it KOs an enemy.
Rally is unnecessary on most of the packs because it costs a ton of animation time and this build is very tanky, making it all right to accept some physical damage. However, it is great against bosses, especially when coupled with relevant elemental slashes.
Elemental Slashes are very good against bosses IF you have an element that deals increased damage against the boss. Even super effective elemental slashes do slightly less damage than Eliminate, but against bosses, they cost far less Breath, allowing you to use them more. Coupled with Rally, you can really knock out the bosses fast enough that you'll barely lose time spent per exp.
Sap is useful on such a tanky build because you are likely to have excess Breath and will have plenty of time to weave in Sap to heal your health up after boss fights.
Why no DEF or MND? - With two dragons, you should rarely ever take any sort of magic damage, rendering MND a waste of points. You would hope that DEF would be useful for tanking physical attacks, especially from bosses, but unfortunately with the current monster and stat setups, you will never get enough DEF to make it better against bosses, as opposed to having pure VIT. Having a ton of health allows you to survive the entire time without resets. You actually get 4 leftover points after a Tincture, so you can dump these into AGI if you have any to spare (but VIT takes priority if you don't Tincture). Having AGI can sometimes be helpful with additional dodges and occasional crits, which is not something to count on but is better than having stats that do nothing.
