The concept of timing and positioning may be a big mechanic to VGC tournaments Pokémon Triple Battles, and a new Pokémon spinoff that originally was released in Japan last year, combined those two gameplay elements with a fictional tale of becoming the Pokémon Figure Games Champion. Instead of starting as young kid or teenager in the province like in the Pokémon Main Series, you are a young adult who belongs to the 1% of very rich class of families collecting all the Pokemon figures to become the best, either as a battler or as a collector.
Upon entering a match, there will be a square table that spins to determine who goes first and second. Once that is settled, you will see a table with a 7x5 measurement indicated by the circle dots you see on the outer square and an even 3x3 inner square, with the corners of both the outer and inner squares connecting. One thing one has to always keep in mind is that the four edges of the outer square act as entry points for you and the enemy team. The bottom two edges are your Pokemon figure spawn points, called a bench, with the upper two edges being your enemy's bench.
Below the square is a yellow bar that measures the amount of time you have left when playing ranked battles. Under the square is your deck of six Pokemon figures, with the two extra circles acting as your Pokémon Centers, where knocked-out Pokemon get to heal and get back into the battlefield. Under those are your "Plates" (the black colored cards that contain six at maximum or three at minimum; more on those later). If your Pokemon gets knocked out, they get placed into one of the Pokemon Center Corner circles. It can hold up to two knocked-out Pokemon. Once you have a third Pokemon that gets knocked out, the Pokemon figure on the Pokémon Center closest to the summoning bench returns to the board ready to be used after a one-turn waiting delay (more on statuses below).
Finally, under the deck of your Pokemon figures are the AI Button, the Forfeit Button on the left (self explanatory), and the Activate Ability Button. The AI button lets the AI do the moves for you in three turns but can only be obtained after making some progress in the Quests Mode's Story. As for the Activate Ability Button, if you tap a pokemon with an ability meant to be used manually, you will be able to use it for that turn. Remember that it only applies to certain Pokemon figures with certain abilities that are meant to be used manually.
Reach the Goal Above Everything Else!
All Pokémon figures have a number of Movement Points (MP), which tells how many circle dots they can move around the board, ranging from one to three. Most Pokémon figures that are characterized to be heavyweight, slow, or large in size have 1 MP. Pokémon with 3 MP have characteristics that make them lightweight or fast or have a small to medium size. Finally, the rest may have a base movement of 2 MP, which is the average for most Pokémon. As mentioned at the topic above, before every match, a square wheel spins to dictate who goes first and who goes second. Be warned that being the first is not always good, for all of your Pokémon figures have their MP reduced by 1 point just for the first turn only. In the case of Pokémon with 1 MP, they can't leave the bench. In really rare cases, few Pokemon cannot enter the board until certain conditions are met or they are positioned through the use of any Plate.
The goal of every duel in Pokémon Duel is to breach the center point with one of your Pokémon figures while preventing the enemy from reaching yours. The interesting aspect of this game is the approaches one can take to reach the goal. There are ways secure the goal besides beating the opposing team's Pokémon figures like in regular Pokémon battles. You either play the swift game or the long game depending on the scenario.
Spawn Point Blocking
Since the only way for your Pokémon or your opponent's Pokémon to move through the board is by passing through the entry points of the square, having one of your Pokémon step on the enemy portal means that they cannot call their figures on that one side of the battle, save for a few exceptions. With only one exit to go through, you force your enemy to regroup on that one exit for a defensive formation on their goal and force them to attack towards your goal or remove the Pokémon blocking their other exit point.
However, be careful if your defenses are either empty or minimal. When you constrict the movement of your opponent to only one side, be sure to have either one strong defensive Pokemon figure to stand on top of your goal point. Otherwise, make it two defensive Pokemon where the enemy will have a hard time to call their reinforcements. If you get the opportunity to put in serious pressure, block both of the enemy's spawn points. In that kind of scenario, the enemy will have to fight out the rest of the fight with their Pokemon figures on the board until your Pokemon blocking their spawn point moves away from it. Another advantage of this is that you can not just guarantee your opponent being pressured to be precise with their attacks but also keep them outnumbered if you get to beat their Pokemon figures. However, Pokemon figures such as Prinplup and Empoleon bend through these rules with their abilities to enter the field without relying on entry points, which will be talked about later.
Concept of Surrounding Tactics
Just like in the Pokémon main series games, you have the ability to instantly KO Pokemon except if said Pokemon has the Sturdy Ability. In Pokémon Duel, even if there is a Plate that makes your Pokemon have Sturdy for one turn, you can do the same thing without ever engaging it in battle by surrounding the enemy Pokemon figure using multiple of your Pokemon figures. In most instances, you need at least two to surround a Pokemon. But other instances require three depending on the enemy Pokemon's position on the board. Simply, surrounding a Pokemon means that it cannot move around even in a single step offensively or that it gets instantly knocked out. Even in defensive plays, should you have two Pokemon on the left and right spot of your goal, with your goal unoccupied, you create a psychological trap for the enemy team to just slip through it if they have a Pokemon that ignores the board terrain when moving (like most ghost type pokemon) or Pokemon that can slip away from attackers when being engaged in battle (such as Sandshrew). Simply, if you want to defend your goal from Pokemon that can go in between gaps to your goal, just put two Pokemon next to the sides of your goal but not on top of the goal.
Fodder Tactics and Timeout Tactics
Though this may be a completely different way of winning battles, there are some Pokemon that are in-built "Cannon Fodder" to distract your enemies. Using Pokemon with weak attacks but with an asterisk on them means that if you attack it and you beat it, it ends up crippling your attacking Pokemon until something else either knocks it out or removed from the board (more about it below). In all tiers, especially the Common and Ultra Common Tier of figures (more on those in part 2), there are Pokemon figures that have attacks with secondary effects. So if you use a Pokemon with an asterisked attack, it loses to the enemy's figure, and gets knocked out, then the enemy Pokemon figure is crippled with debuffs. With a crippled enemy Pokemon figure, you can now use one of your better Pokemon figures to finish off the crippled enemy figure. At times, it is considered a neat and effective way of removing a threatening Pokemon figure from the enemy team.
Battling AI may be one thing, but human players are much more unpredictable and very vulnerable to a psychological attack many gamers call "tilting." Tilting is another way of making your enemy human player lose time and proper positioning and forcing them to go for reckless moves. Breaking your enemy's psyche means increasing their time on making a decision after you make them lose a crucial advantage on the board or making them unable to utilize the Plate properly. In a game where each player has five minutes to win the game, draining your opponent's 5 minutes to zero as they fail to capture your goal before you time out secures your "Waitwin victory" without ever capturing their goal. Due to how fast paced this game is, most games have a total game time average of 3-6 minutes for the common player, with 7-10 minutes or more for the highly skilled duelists or players that play more defensively. In part 2 of this game review, you will get to know an infamous deck strategy that creates timeout victories without a sweat while being able to just simply be aggressive.
Attack Bars (White)
Attack Bars on every Pokemon's wheel of attacks act as your cookie cutter for removing other Pokemon figures from the enemy team. If your wheel has a higher number vs the other wheel, you win. If both wheels land on either an "Attack Bar" or a "Piercing Bar" (which will be talked about below) with the same damage number, it ends with a draw, and both Pokemon figures get to stay in the board in their current position. For a few white bars, if the wheel lands a white bar with an asterisk and said Pokemon loses, the side effects of said asterisked attack bar triggers and inflicts the attacker with a status affliction. If some moves tie in damage yet one of them has an effect and the other does not, the effect triggers. But if the enemy's move is weaker, lands on a Defensive Bar (Blue, will be talked about below), or lands on a Status Bar (Purple, this will be talked about below along with the various kinds of status moves), the attack and status do not land.
Piercing Bars (Gold)
For some Pokemon, these gold-colored attacking bars act as a Pokemon figure's quickest move. However, for other figures, these kinds of gold bars function as defensive moves against Status Bars. In most instances, Piercing Bars act just like Attack Bars. But if you want a Pokemon figure from the enemy team out of the way because it spreads so much status, you must use a Pokemon with Piercing Bars, for it is the only offensive way to break though status-inflicting Pokemon.
Status Bars (Purple)
Struggling to beat a Pokemon that deals high damage? Do you not want Pokemon to keep on dodging your attacks? Or Pokemon that has this ridiculously powerful but small size Attack Bar? Then you are going to need Pokemon with Status Bars. Unlike the other colored bars, Status Bars can be sometimes categorized as something one always must be prepared for and has to master. Status Bars have a hierarchy as to which Status Bar Beats other Status Bars. These purple bars always have a number of stars etched on them ranging from one to six stars. So, if both wheels land on a Status Bar, the higher number of stars always wins. But if both status bars are of equal value, it ends in a draw with both Pokemon unaffected.
Defensive Bars (Blue)
In a nutshell, these kinds of bars can protect you from all kinds of Attack, Status, and Piercing Bars. Most of them would "Block" the attack or let you simply "Dodge" the attack, and still enable you to attack the next turn. But there are a few Defensive Bars that can let you do other things besides protecting yourself, such as returning to the bench when attacked, moving forward, or moving a few steps back. Note that some Defensive Bars (like Withdraw from Squirtle) will give your Pokemon figure a "Wait" Status should the move be successful. A few Defensive Bars give a Pokemon figure various kinds of buffs or mobility options. But for the most part, they protect your Pokemon figure from every kind of attack.
Miss Bars (Red)
Pokémon Duel made sure that most of the Pokemon have to have a "Miss Bar" of at least 1%. If your wheel lands the "Miss Bar" on the middle pointer, then you know it is about to give you a disadvantage. This means that every attack or status bar will hit you unless the enemy's wheel lands on either a Miss Bar or a Defensive Bar.
Pokémon Duel lets you use Plates to move and buff up your team around the board for a turn or the whole match. To use a Plate, you have to select your deck of Plates first and then select the Pokemon you wish to use the Plate on. Keep in mind that you cannot use Plates after you moved a Pokemon figure. Be wary that some Plates have abilities that can end your turn after using them.
The only catch is that you can set three up to six Plates with a total of eight energy bars. Most Plates have one energy bar, which allows you to have a deck of six, but some Plates have two energy bars, which limits the number of Plates you can use in the given deck. Another limit that Plates offer is that you can only use them once per battle. So be sure not to waste them at the wrong time. Just to give you a general idea, here are some of the Plates one gets to use in the game one has to watch out for.
Materials and Currencies of the Game
Coins - Coins are the most common and easy kind of currency to understand, as they give you the ability to perform fusions (the level-up mechanic of Pokémon Duel) or analyze the winrate of your Pokemon deck to the enemy AI's deck in the Story Quest Mode. Even though its functions are small, doing fusions is expensive as heck, for a big upgrade is like buying a 50000 Pokedollar TM in the main series games. To get more Coins, you cannot use real money, but you can sell Pokemon figures that you don't intend to use at the Exchange Coins button or sell Ingots (golden block figures) in the Shop button. A quick warning, though: the more committed you get to becoming competitive in this game or the more you just want to have your favorite figures' levels be maxed out, the poorer you'll eventually become in coins, especially when you level up many of your EX figures to their maximum level.
Gems - Being common yet tedious to get, gems will be the most common type and most important kind of currency, letting you buy Booster Packs, upgrade and expand your deck list, buy more Plates, and save your streak record during Cup Battles. If there is one thing that this free-to-play game encourages you to do, it would be saving up gems to open up the biggest booster packs (Quadruple and, in the case of anniversary events, Sextuple or Tentuple packs). One word of caution to those that are not yet aware of "Gacha-Based" games: always be mindful on how much real money you want to spend if you want instant rewards.
Material - Of all the kinds of currencies in the game, this is one of the most difficult to get, for you can only obtain these by opening Booster Packs. The use of this kind of currency gives you the ability to buy Pokemon figures at the Material Exchange Shop. While it is fun to buy something immediately with this currency, it is oftentimes better to save up either 1800 or 4000 Material in order to get the really good figures from the Rare or EX ranking figures, respectively.
Rare Materials and Ingots - Rare Materials function as your free experience square-shaped Pokebeans for Pokemon figures to level up your Pokemon figures. Ingots are only meant to be sold at the Exchange Coins Corner in the shop for coins in order for you to do fusion level-ups.
Booster Tickets - If you get a Booster Ticket, use it immediately from the Booster Shop, for it guarantees a free Pokemon figure and 50 pieces of Material. In most cases, you get these things at the end of each month, depending on the ranking you get from playing League Matches. The higher the ranking, the more Booster tickets you receive. The best time to use these is when new figures get announced to have a higher chance of getting a newly introduced figure.
AI Tickets - After finishing some early stages in the Story Mode, you will have the ability to use your Super AI Button and let it do the dueling for you in multiplayer for three turns using just one card. Sometimes, having a game only run purely by AI can net you some surprise wins. However, don't always count on these to bring you up to the highest ranking.
Carmonite - Installed on Version 4.0.0, these mysterious pink diamond shaped stones are currently known to give your Pokemon figures an extra level past level 5 until your figures reach level 10. However, it will only be usable once your figures reach level 5. This kind of currency has the biggest impact for those looking to play this games seriously just by reaching the ranking of 2400. Depending on the rarity of the figure, collect as many of those as possible to increase its levels for it also expands the wheel size of your figure's moves.
To level up your figures, you can train your Pokemon by doing the Story Quest Mode or fusing selected Pokemon figures of your choice with either Rare Materials or other Pokemon figures. Just remember, do not use Ingots in fusions, because they only give 1 exp. Ingots are meant to be sold for coins, nothing else. Once you reach the Ultra League in League Matches, collect as many Carmonites as you can. Then, choose the Pokemon figures you want to level up to level 10 once your chosen figures reach level 5.
The Pokemon you collect cannot evolve by level up. So don't expect your Metapod figure to evolve to a Butterfree figure by maxing out Metapod's level. Pokémon Duel borrowed a particular game mechanic from Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, where you can evolve any of your Pokemon figures in the middle of battle by beating another Pokemon figure. Once you beat that Pokemon, you get the option to either evolve it now or not. However, if you choose no, you have to make your Pokemon figure beat another doe to evolve.
So, how do you evolve a pre-evolved Pokemon in the middle of battle? Starting from the Home User Interface, select the Decks button, and then select Edit Figures. Choose any pre-evolution Pokemon and place it on the bench list above your collection of figures. If you see a small bar below the Pokemon figure with either one or two dulled dots, tap that button. You will then enter a new menu list that usually contains the evolution of said Pokemon figure below and an empty box or two empty boxes on the right. All you need is to tap that evolved Pokemon and you will see the upper box above get filled up with the corresponding evolution. If you are done with that, just click the back button again to continue assembling your roster of six Pokemon figures.
If you see a green bar on the right of the Pokemon's level bar whenever you analyze it in the Fusion Menu, that is the Chain Level (CLvl) of your Pokemon, which tells how much more powerful your Pokemon is than another Pokemon figure of the same type when facing it. Say I have a Mew figure with the move Hyper Sonic facing another Mew Figure with the same move. If both have the same CLvl and both wheels land on the same move, it ends in a draw. However, if my enemy Mew's CP has even 1 point of CLvl versus my 0 CLvl Mew, my Mew loses. This concept can apply to similar situations with two different Pokemon with moves with similar power. Say Salamence (70 power Dragonbreath) vs Lugia (70 power Aeroblast). Should either have 1 more CL on those moves respectively, when both sides of the wheel land on those moves, the one with one more CL automatically wins. To increase it, simply fuse another Pokemon of the same kind to the one you want to level up in the Fusion Menu or collect green colored squared figures called "Cubes" and use them to your desired Pokemon of choice. The maximum CLvl all Pokemon have is level 10. Now, are you a Wailord spender? If yes, then be ready to spend real money and grind wins in every released Gym event, which will be covered on part 2 of this review.
Booster Packs and What to Get
If you explore the Booster Shop, in most cases you get four choices to spend your gems on the following Boosters: Single Booster Pack (50 Gems or Booster Tickets), Double Booster Pack (100 Gems), Quadruple Booster Pack (200 Gems with 1 Guaranteed Rare or EX ranking figure), or in certain weeks and events, a Sextuple Booster Pack (like the quad, you have a high guarantee of either 1 or 2 EX ranking figures costing 300 Gems) and the recently released "Tentuple Box Event" (500 Gems with 1 guaranteed EX alongside the 10 Pokemon figures, material, and Plates).
As a friendly advice to casual players: please save up every gem that you have and only spend gems on opening either the Quadruple Booster Packs or Sextuple Booster Packs, as the former two are not a wise spend. If the only figures you really seek are EX figures, then wait it out until a Sextuple Pack event or Tentuple Pack arrives. In the case of Single Booster Packs, get them only if you obtained Booster Tickets, which you can get from doing various quests, login bonuses, or doing a few tricks in the Quests Story Mode.
Board Map 101
Upon entering a match, there will be a square table that spins to determine who goes first and second. Once that is settled, you will see a table with a 7x5 measurement indicated by the circle dots you see on the outer square and an even 3x3 inner square, with the corners of both the outer and inner squares connecting. One thing one has to always keep in mind is that the four edges of the outer square act as entry points for you and the enemy team. The bottom two edges are your Pokemon figure spawn points, called a bench, with the upper two edges being your enemy's bench.
Below the square is a yellow bar that measures the amount of time you have left when playing ranked battles. Under the square is your deck of six Pokemon figures, with the two extra circles acting as your Pokémon Centers, where knocked-out Pokemon get to heal and get back into the battlefield. Under those are your "Plates" (the black colored cards that contain six at maximum or three at minimum; more on those later). If your Pokemon gets knocked out, they get placed into one of the Pokemon Center Corner circles. It can hold up to two knocked-out Pokemon. Once you have a third Pokemon that gets knocked out, the Pokemon figure on the Pokémon Center closest to the summoning bench returns to the board ready to be used after a one-turn waiting delay (more on statuses below).
Finally, under the deck of your Pokemon figures are the AI Button, the Forfeit Button on the left (self explanatory), and the Activate Ability Button. The AI button lets the AI do the moves for you in three turns but can only be obtained after making some progress in the Quests Mode's Story. As for the Activate Ability Button, if you tap a pokemon with an ability meant to be used manually, you will be able to use it for that turn. Remember that it only applies to certain Pokemon figures with certain abilities that are meant to be used manually.
Board Tactics
Reach the Goal Above Everything Else!
All Pokémon figures have a number of Movement Points (MP), which tells how many circle dots they can move around the board, ranging from one to three. Most Pokémon figures that are characterized to be heavyweight, slow, or large in size have 1 MP. Pokémon with 3 MP have characteristics that make them lightweight or fast or have a small to medium size. Finally, the rest may have a base movement of 2 MP, which is the average for most Pokémon. As mentioned at the topic above, before every match, a square wheel spins to dictate who goes first and who goes second. Be warned that being the first is not always good, for all of your Pokémon figures have their MP reduced by 1 point just for the first turn only. In the case of Pokémon with 1 MP, they can't leave the bench. In really rare cases, few Pokemon cannot enter the board until certain conditions are met or they are positioned through the use of any Plate.
The goal of every duel in Pokémon Duel is to breach the center point with one of your Pokémon figures while preventing the enemy from reaching yours. The interesting aspect of this game is the approaches one can take to reach the goal. There are ways secure the goal besides beating the opposing team's Pokémon figures like in regular Pokémon battles. You either play the swift game or the long game depending on the scenario.
Spawn Point Blocking
Since the only way for your Pokémon or your opponent's Pokémon to move through the board is by passing through the entry points of the square, having one of your Pokémon step on the enemy portal means that they cannot call their figures on that one side of the battle, save for a few exceptions. With only one exit to go through, you force your enemy to regroup on that one exit for a defensive formation on their goal and force them to attack towards your goal or remove the Pokémon blocking their other exit point.
However, be careful if your defenses are either empty or minimal. When you constrict the movement of your opponent to only one side, be sure to have either one strong defensive Pokemon figure to stand on top of your goal point. Otherwise, make it two defensive Pokemon where the enemy will have a hard time to call their reinforcements. If you get the opportunity to put in serious pressure, block both of the enemy's spawn points. In that kind of scenario, the enemy will have to fight out the rest of the fight with their Pokemon figures on the board until your Pokemon blocking their spawn point moves away from it. Another advantage of this is that you can not just guarantee your opponent being pressured to be precise with their attacks but also keep them outnumbered if you get to beat their Pokemon figures. However, Pokemon figures such as Prinplup and Empoleon bend through these rules with their abilities to enter the field without relying on entry points, which will be talked about later.
Concept of Surrounding Tactics
Just like in the Pokémon main series games, you have the ability to instantly KO Pokemon except if said Pokemon has the Sturdy Ability. In Pokémon Duel, even if there is a Plate that makes your Pokemon have Sturdy for one turn, you can do the same thing without ever engaging it in battle by surrounding the enemy Pokemon figure using multiple of your Pokemon figures. In most instances, you need at least two to surround a Pokemon. But other instances require three depending on the enemy Pokemon's position on the board. Simply, surrounding a Pokemon means that it cannot move around even in a single step offensively or that it gets instantly knocked out. Even in defensive plays, should you have two Pokemon on the left and right spot of your goal, with your goal unoccupied, you create a psychological trap for the enemy team to just slip through it if they have a Pokemon that ignores the board terrain when moving (like most ghost type pokemon) or Pokemon that can slip away from attackers when being engaged in battle (such as Sandshrew). Simply, if you want to defend your goal from Pokemon that can go in between gaps to your goal, just put two Pokemon next to the sides of your goal but not on top of the goal.
Fodder Tactics and Timeout Tactics
Though this may be a completely different way of winning battles, there are some Pokemon that are in-built "Cannon Fodder" to distract your enemies. Using Pokemon with weak attacks but with an asterisk on them means that if you attack it and you beat it, it ends up crippling your attacking Pokemon until something else either knocks it out or removed from the board (more about it below). In all tiers, especially the Common and Ultra Common Tier of figures (more on those in part 2), there are Pokemon figures that have attacks with secondary effects. So if you use a Pokemon with an asterisked attack, it loses to the enemy's figure, and gets knocked out, then the enemy Pokemon figure is crippled with debuffs. With a crippled enemy Pokemon figure, you can now use one of your better Pokemon figures to finish off the crippled enemy figure. At times, it is considered a neat and effective way of removing a threatening Pokemon figure from the enemy team.
Battling AI may be one thing, but human players are much more unpredictable and very vulnerable to a psychological attack many gamers call "tilting." Tilting is another way of making your enemy human player lose time and proper positioning and forcing them to go for reckless moves. Breaking your enemy's psyche means increasing their time on making a decision after you make them lose a crucial advantage on the board or making them unable to utilize the Plate properly. In a game where each player has five minutes to win the game, draining your opponent's 5 minutes to zero as they fail to capture your goal before you time out secures your "Waitwin victory" without ever capturing their goal. Due to how fast paced this game is, most games have a total game time average of 3-6 minutes for the common player, with 7-10 minutes or more for the highly skilled duelists or players that play more defensively. In part 2 of this game review, you will get to know an infamous deck strategy that creates timeout victories without a sweat while being able to just simply be aggressive.
What the Color on Each Part of the Wheel Means?
Attack Bars (White)
Attack Bars on every Pokemon's wheel of attacks act as your cookie cutter for removing other Pokemon figures from the enemy team. If your wheel has a higher number vs the other wheel, you win. If both wheels land on either an "Attack Bar" or a "Piercing Bar" (which will be talked about below) with the same damage number, it ends with a draw, and both Pokemon figures get to stay in the board in their current position. For a few white bars, if the wheel lands a white bar with an asterisk and said Pokemon loses, the side effects of said asterisked attack bar triggers and inflicts the attacker with a status affliction. If some moves tie in damage yet one of them has an effect and the other does not, the effect triggers. But if the enemy's move is weaker, lands on a Defensive Bar (Blue, will be talked about below), or lands on a Status Bar (Purple, this will be talked about below along with the various kinds of status moves), the attack and status do not land.
Piercing Bars (Gold)
For some Pokemon, these gold-colored attacking bars act as a Pokemon figure's quickest move. However, for other figures, these kinds of gold bars function as defensive moves against Status Bars. In most instances, Piercing Bars act just like Attack Bars. But if you want a Pokemon figure from the enemy team out of the way because it spreads so much status, you must use a Pokemon with Piercing Bars, for it is the only offensive way to break though status-inflicting Pokemon.
Status Bars (Purple)
Struggling to beat a Pokemon that deals high damage? Do you not want Pokemon to keep on dodging your attacks? Or Pokemon that has this ridiculously powerful but small size Attack Bar? Then you are going to need Pokemon with Status Bars. Unlike the other colored bars, Status Bars can be sometimes categorized as something one always must be prepared for and has to master. Status Bars have a hierarchy as to which Status Bar Beats other Status Bars. These purple bars always have a number of stars etched on them ranging from one to six stars. So, if both wheels land on a Status Bar, the higher number of stars always wins. But if both status bars are of equal value, it ends in a draw with both Pokemon unaffected.
- Confusion: Your Pokémon's wheel gets rotated away one move from where it lands in combat. If that one extra wheel bar is a Miss Bar, you will get wrecked. In this game, it is one of the most dangerous for the aforementioned reason, especially for figures with more than one Miss Bar.
- Poison and Noxious: Two of the most basic status afflictions, they reduce the damage of moves by 20 and 40, respectively.
- Paralysis: At the start of each combat round, the smallest of the Pokémon's White, Blue, Purple, or Gold move turns into a Miss.
- Sleep: The Pokémon cannot move or attack. Sometimes, it can give you the ability to lock the opponent from backup support when you position it correctly. However, a sleeping Pokemon can be awakened by either the enemy attacking the sleeping Pokemon, setting an ally Pokemon figure next to it and tapping the sleeping Pokemon, or using an Awakening Plate.
- Frozen: The Pokémon cannot do anything, all of their attacks miss, and they can't move. Freeze is cleared when an ally taps on the Pokemon, it is healed by a Plate, or the enemy somehow fails to attack it.
- Burn: The Pokémon's smallest White, Blue, Purple, or Gold move turns into a miss. Damage inflicted is reduced by 10. This status is possibly the weakest kind of status, in exchange for being one of the more versatile ones, being a fusion of poison and paralysis.
- Wait: The Pokémon is unable to make any actions or moves. This is more or less a delaying status where the Pokemon cannot do anything for the given turn, and it is inflicted by landing at Defensive Bars that protect the user, afflicted by Status Bars that inflict Wait, or other causes that vary by the move that Pokemon use.
- Curse: When the Pokémon is defeated, it is removed from the duel. If you think being frozen is bad enough, a Curse status is not just one of the most powerful debuffs. Some could argue that this may well be the most dangerous of all status. Being removed from the board is worse than being sent to the Pokémon Center Corner. This kind of status is one where you can turn an even 4 vs 4 match in to a permanent 4 vs 3 situation in the middle of a mid- or late-game situation. In the bigger picture, a 6 vs 6 battle will become a 6 vs 5 match.
Defensive Bars (Blue)
In a nutshell, these kinds of bars can protect you from all kinds of Attack, Status, and Piercing Bars. Most of them would "Block" the attack or let you simply "Dodge" the attack, and still enable you to attack the next turn. But there are a few Defensive Bars that can let you do other things besides protecting yourself, such as returning to the bench when attacked, moving forward, or moving a few steps back. Note that some Defensive Bars (like Withdraw from Squirtle) will give your Pokemon figure a "Wait" Status should the move be successful. A few Defensive Bars give a Pokemon figure various kinds of buffs or mobility options. But for the most part, they protect your Pokemon figure from every kind of attack.
Miss Bars (Red)
Pokémon Duel made sure that most of the Pokemon have to have a "Miss Bar" of at least 1%. If your wheel lands the "Miss Bar" on the middle pointer, then you know it is about to give you a disadvantage. This means that every attack or status bar will hit you unless the enemy's wheel lands on either a Miss Bar or a Defensive Bar.
The Best Plates
Pokémon Duel lets you use Plates to move and buff up your team around the board for a turn or the whole match. To use a Plate, you have to select your deck of Plates first and then select the Pokemon you wish to use the Plate on. Keep in mind that you cannot use Plates after you moved a Pokemon figure. Be wary that some Plates have abilities that can end your turn after using them.
The only catch is that you can set three up to six Plates with a total of eight energy bars. Most Plates have one energy bar, which allows you to have a deck of six, but some Plates have two energy bars, which limits the number of Plates you can use in the given deck. Another limit that Plates offer is that you can only use them once per battle. So be sure not to waste them at the wrong time. Just to give you a general idea, here are some of the Plates one gets to use in the game one has to watch out for.
- Double Chance and Bright Powder - These two Plates give you the ability to, respectively, spin your wheel or your opponent's wheel once again when attacking the enemy Pokemon figure. These two are some of the recommended Plates to have duplicates of, or even just one for top-tier players, as it could change the current wheel bar that is locked on the middle pointer. It is important when you have an attack that is stronger than your opponent's current attack. Sometimes, you use these Plates to hopefully get the type of move you want to deal damage to your opponent through debuffs or beating debuffs with Piercing Bars. With either of these two Plates, you can turn around the outcome of one battle. In the case of certain figures, Double Chance Plates become a must-have to bring every time to make those certain figures work.
- Max Revive - For a two point plate, this instantly revives any of the two fainted Pokemon that you may have on the PMC corner. Once you revive a Pokemon, you have to place it on the board immediately. Oftentimes this can be used as last-ditch effort to defend your goal point or push an offensive advantage forward to outnumber your opponent's Pokemon figures protecting the goal point and spawn points.
- Pokémon Switch - This Plate simply switches the positions of two Pokemon from the board or replace a Pokemon that is on the board with one of your Pokemon figures on the bench (except for those on the PMC corner). This is oftentimes a Plate used for tactics that use their high-mobility Pokemon figures forward to bring slow and very hard-hitting Pokemon immediately to the front-lines. Some say that this is one of the most versatile Plates in this game for its many uses in a lot of situations.
- Goal Block - Sometimes, when your defensive lines get broken and most of your Pokemon are not close enough to the goal, if you have an enemy that is about to step on top of your goal, Goal Block becomes your emergency button. This can be a powerful Plate to have in your deck that you always have to bring. However, this Plate will not save you from being surrounded around your goal. In one phrase, the "Fail-safe Plate."
- Hurdle Jump - Oftentimes a card used by the higher tier players, this card lets one of your Pokemon on the field move over another Pokémon. While this may be like the Invisibility Cape Plate, the way this one functions is making your Pokemon move and position next to either your Pokemon or your enemy's Pokemon. In fact, this Plate has been a handy tool for runners to instantly capture the goal point if it either does not have a figure on top of it or is surrounded by two Pokemon figures. Another handy factor is that Hurdle Jump can be your Plate of choice to save your Pokemon from being surrounded as well. Oftentimes, many will bring at least one of this plate no matter the deck structure save for certain circumstances when said deck has plenty of mobile figures.
Materials and Currencies of the Game
Coins - Coins are the most common and easy kind of currency to understand, as they give you the ability to perform fusions (the level-up mechanic of Pokémon Duel) or analyze the winrate of your Pokemon deck to the enemy AI's deck in the Story Quest Mode. Even though its functions are small, doing fusions is expensive as heck, for a big upgrade is like buying a 50000 Pokedollar TM in the main series games. To get more Coins, you cannot use real money, but you can sell Pokemon figures that you don't intend to use at the Exchange Coins button or sell Ingots (golden block figures) in the Shop button. A quick warning, though: the more committed you get to becoming competitive in this game or the more you just want to have your favorite figures' levels be maxed out, the poorer you'll eventually become in coins, especially when you level up many of your EX figures to their maximum level.
Gems - Being common yet tedious to get, gems will be the most common type and most important kind of currency, letting you buy Booster Packs, upgrade and expand your deck list, buy more Plates, and save your streak record during Cup Battles. If there is one thing that this free-to-play game encourages you to do, it would be saving up gems to open up the biggest booster packs (Quadruple and, in the case of anniversary events, Sextuple or Tentuple packs). One word of caution to those that are not yet aware of "Gacha-Based" games: always be mindful on how much real money you want to spend if you want instant rewards.
Material - Of all the kinds of currencies in the game, this is one of the most difficult to get, for you can only obtain these by opening Booster Packs. The use of this kind of currency gives you the ability to buy Pokemon figures at the Material Exchange Shop. While it is fun to buy something immediately with this currency, it is oftentimes better to save up either 1800 or 4000 Material in order to get the really good figures from the Rare or EX ranking figures, respectively.
Rare Materials and Ingots - Rare Materials function as your free experience square-shaped Pokebeans for Pokemon figures to level up your Pokemon figures. Ingots are only meant to be sold at the Exchange Coins Corner in the shop for coins in order for you to do fusion level-ups.
Booster Tickets - If you get a Booster Ticket, use it immediately from the Booster Shop, for it guarantees a free Pokemon figure and 50 pieces of Material. In most cases, you get these things at the end of each month, depending on the ranking you get from playing League Matches. The higher the ranking, the more Booster tickets you receive. The best time to use these is when new figures get announced to have a higher chance of getting a newly introduced figure.
AI Tickets - After finishing some early stages in the Story Mode, you will have the ability to use your Super AI Button and let it do the dueling for you in multiplayer for three turns using just one card. Sometimes, having a game only run purely by AI can net you some surprise wins. However, don't always count on these to bring you up to the highest ranking.
Carmonite - Installed on Version 4.0.0, these mysterious pink diamond shaped stones are currently known to give your Pokemon figures an extra level past level 5 until your figures reach level 10. However, it will only be usable once your figures reach level 5. This kind of currency has the biggest impact for those looking to play this games seriously just by reaching the ranking of 2400. Depending on the rarity of the figure, collect as many of those as possible to increase its levels for it also expands the wheel size of your figure's moves.
- 10*5= 50 Carmonite for Common (C) Ranking Figures
- 20*5= 200 Carmonite for Uncommon(UC) Ranking Figures
- 50*5= 250 Carmonite for Rare (R) Ranking Figures
- 100*5= 500 Carmonite for Extreme (EX) Ranking Figures
To level up your figures, you can train your Pokemon by doing the Story Quest Mode or fusing selected Pokemon figures of your choice with either Rare Materials or other Pokemon figures. Just remember, do not use Ingots in fusions, because they only give 1 exp. Ingots are meant to be sold for coins, nothing else. Once you reach the Ultra League in League Matches, collect as many Carmonites as you can. Then, choose the Pokemon figures you want to level up to level 10 once your chosen figures reach level 5.
Specialized Evolution Mechanics
The Pokemon you collect cannot evolve by level up. So don't expect your Metapod figure to evolve to a Butterfree figure by maxing out Metapod's level. Pokémon Duel borrowed a particular game mechanic from Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, where you can evolve any of your Pokemon figures in the middle of battle by beating another Pokemon figure. Once you beat that Pokemon, you get the option to either evolve it now or not. However, if you choose no, you have to make your Pokemon figure beat another doe to evolve.
So, how do you evolve a pre-evolved Pokemon in the middle of battle? Starting from the Home User Interface, select the Decks button, and then select Edit Figures. Choose any pre-evolution Pokemon and place it on the bench list above your collection of figures. If you see a small bar below the Pokemon figure with either one or two dulled dots, tap that button. You will then enter a new menu list that usually contains the evolution of said Pokemon figure below and an empty box or two empty boxes on the right. All you need is to tap that evolved Pokemon and you will see the upper box above get filled up with the corresponding evolution. If you are done with that, just click the back button again to continue assembling your roster of six Pokemon figures.
Fuse similar Pokémon for Chain Levels
If you see a green bar on the right of the Pokemon's level bar whenever you analyze it in the Fusion Menu, that is the Chain Level (CLvl) of your Pokemon, which tells how much more powerful your Pokemon is than another Pokemon figure of the same type when facing it. Say I have a Mew figure with the move Hyper Sonic facing another Mew Figure with the same move. If both have the same CLvl and both wheels land on the same move, it ends in a draw. However, if my enemy Mew's CP has even 1 point of CLvl versus my 0 CLvl Mew, my Mew loses. This concept can apply to similar situations with two different Pokemon with moves with similar power. Say Salamence (70 power Dragonbreath) vs Lugia (70 power Aeroblast). Should either have 1 more CL on those moves respectively, when both sides of the wheel land on those moves, the one with one more CL automatically wins. To increase it, simply fuse another Pokemon of the same kind to the one you want to level up in the Fusion Menu or collect green colored squared figures called "Cubes" and use them to your desired Pokemon of choice. The maximum CLvl all Pokemon have is level 10. Now, are you a Wailord spender? If yes, then be ready to spend real money and grind wins in every released Gym event, which will be covered on part 2 of this review.
Booster Packs and What to Get
If you explore the Booster Shop, in most cases you get four choices to spend your gems on the following Boosters: Single Booster Pack (50 Gems or Booster Tickets), Double Booster Pack (100 Gems), Quadruple Booster Pack (200 Gems with 1 Guaranteed Rare or EX ranking figure), or in certain weeks and events, a Sextuple Booster Pack (like the quad, you have a high guarantee of either 1 or 2 EX ranking figures costing 300 Gems) and the recently released "Tentuple Box Event" (500 Gems with 1 guaranteed EX alongside the 10 Pokemon figures, material, and Plates).
As a friendly advice to casual players: please save up every gem that you have and only spend gems on opening either the Quadruple Booster Packs or Sextuple Booster Packs, as the former two are not a wise spend. If the only figures you really seek are EX figures, then wait it out until a Sextuple Pack event or Tentuple Pack arrives. In the case of Single Booster Packs, get them only if you obtained Booster Tickets, which you can get from doing various quests, login bonuses, or doing a few tricks in the Quests Story Mode.
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