Dragon Share

There's a handful of guides that could help you if you need it! One of the older ones is this one by Culex that has the classic Eliminate/Farmer builds: https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gde/1040710/1#post_1040710
They also go into decent detail about how to tackle venues and what stats to prioritize when leveling your first farmers.
I haven't looked at prices for Eliminates recently, but they at least used to be pretty pricey, so EeveeDream came up with the Sedona build for Farmer setups without eliminates: https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gde/2217190#post_2217190
They also mention the Mire Flyer build which is a build specifically for leveling two fodder dragons in the Mire with a single trainer if you're interested in that!

EDIT: Glancing through, there are some things in the coli that have changed since Culex last updated their guide, so it may also be worth looking up a more recent one too~.
EDIT 2: After double checking, Eliminates are in fact very, very pricey lol.

I also agree with what @/Sabariel said in regards to Culex's guide.

With that said:

For Phys. Attackers: Replace all might stones/fragments with Berserker.
Save one slot for Eliminate. Use 2x Ambush stones.

While it thematically looks pretty, giving a phys. attacker a Bolt move or a special move (like Shock) will not benefit it at all, as the Bolts and Special Moves are INT based, not ATK based.

For Special Attackers:
Replace all Might Stones with Scholar.
2x Discipline is totally the way to go.

Give them the Bolts and Special moves, as they are INT based! Do not give them Slash, as that is attack based.

Do not use Ward - Reflect is a better Ward.
However, you also don't need Reflect unless you're trying it for fun.
It's much better to use Sap/Rally for phys attackers, and Aid for special attackers.

@OYL An additional link:

The Updated Dragon Leveling Guide, based on Culex's historical guide, but which includes non-Eliminate options and is more up to date on the current state of Coli and new venues.

Good luck!

Personally, I've never tried a mixed build as it seems like something rather difficult to make function under the current coli system. I would really suggest committing to deciding whether to make a dragon a physical attacker or a mage or maybe even a healer. Splitting stats will really cut their attacks so they'll still struggle to survive higher venues where even min/maxed dragons can have trouble. But Quickness I've come to find is one of the less negotiable stats to increase. An Ambush or two certainly doesn't hurt either. No matter what you choose to do attack-wise, at least 50 quickness should give you a decent amount of speed to get some action economy going to make attacks. Beyond that, if you're going with mixed builds, build INT and STR as high as you can get them while keeping them equal. Also note that the different Hybrid fragments increase different stats. With whatever's left over, I suppose you could throw into either VIT or DEF. The other stats... don't do a whole lot in my experience.

The problem is... You may not be able to build a dragon to assist.

Coli is built in a way that stats and stones matter - that is to say, Berserker and Ambush (+2 ATK turns before an enemy) are REQUIRED to boost stats to fight at all. Without the extra Quickness those all provide (+3 each per Berserker for a +12 total on top of the necessary 40 QCK, or 50 if no Ambush investment), you will not be able to make a single move before being knocked out in higher venues. If you can't get off a single attack, they won't be helping much. It will essentially be like training fodder.

This is the same for move stones. A physical attacker built with Berserker stones for the QCK and ATK bonuses, trying to use Shock will do 0-1 damage as Shock is INT based. Doing 0-1 damage to a 900+ HP enemy will also not be helpful.

This is a situation where you may have to decide aesthetic over any usability. Which is def okay! But it may genuinely be easier to level to 25 traditionally with the rec. stones, and then use a tincture to stone and stat how you please without expecting them to assist in future battles.

[quote name="OYL" date="2023-07-27 18:35:12" ] @Sabariel @Grune @mothscale While I appreciate the help and the links, I think I must not have been clear enough about what I'm asking for help with... See, the battlestones are non-negotiable. [b]The point isn't to build a great battler,[/b] it's all about aesthetics for these particular dragons. I've got coli grinders if I want to camp the coliseum, and I've even built those using the guides mentioned! My problem is that I have a hard time wrapping my head around [b]stat optimization[/b] and stuff like that, so figuring out where to distribute points so that they don't get 1-hit KO'd and [b]can assist in a battle[/b] is hard to wrap my head around. So really I should ask: where should I distribute stat points to with these battlestones in place? [/quote] these two things are fundamentally at odds. battlestones, and specifics sorts of stones, those are not negotiable if you want the dragon to actually be able to assist. otherwise you're better off just dumping all their points into VIT & DEF so that they can sponge hits while your trainer levels them up. if the goal is just to get them to 25, that'll do just fine. if you want them to actually be serviceable, that's another matter! i have [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/lair/22782]a whole set of elemental fighters[/url] myself, both a melee and mage of each. because i actually want to use them, i have had to compromise. there's typically room for 1 elemental stone in the spread. you can check any of them out for examples! some i didn't even bother with an element stone tho