I’ve already talked at length about my first twenty hours with Princess Connect! Re:Dive over on Anime News Network. However, while that article might let you understand how the game generally works, it doesn’t really give you much strategic knowledge if you choose to try the game out for yourself. So here’s some advice gained from my struggles in the game so far.
1) Roll the 10-pull character gatcha three times minimum.
In your first few days with the game, you’re going to get an absolutely insane amount of gems from clearing the main quests, daily missions, and the battle arena that can be spent on the gatcha. If you are F2P like myself, you’re going to be tempted to horde them. However, as things get harder, you’re going to need a solid spread of characters–hopefully with at least one 3 star character.
2) The best group composition for main quests is two frontline tanks and either 3 DPS or two DPS and a healer.
At the start of the game, you can get away with picking only damage dealers and just smashing your way to victory. However, as time goes on and the enemies’ HP pool gets larger, battles become more drawn out and survivability becomes key. Having two tank characters in the front row–especially ones that automatically heal themselves like Pecorine or Miyako–becomes more and more necessary. Eventually, even that may not be enough and you’ll need to add a healer to the mix to keep the tanks alive.
It’s also important to note that there are two kinds of damage in the game, magical and physical. Both your party and the individual enemies tend to be weak to one or the other. So if you’re ever stuck, it could just be you’re doing the wrong type of damage.
3) Don’t pay attention to tier rankings–those are for the end game.
When you’re building your team, you might be tempted to look online and see which of the characters you have are “good.” This is a double-edged sword. A core group of English speakers have been playing the game since its Japanese release and so there are tier lists and party composition opinions all over the place.
The problem is that the vast majority of these are geared toward the endgame–i.e., when the characters hit their level cap–and not when someone is just starting out. Some of the characters that serve you best while you level may be garbage in the end game–but you have to get to the end game for that to matter.
4) Do everything you can to get to Rank 4 asap.
By giving a character a full set of gear, you are able to have them “rank up.” Do this three times to any given character and everything changes. At Rank 4, characters gain the use of their second skill. Unlike unison attacks which depend on your blue bar filling up, skills happen regularly over the course of a battle. The addition of these second skills doubles the utility of many characters and allows you to plan more intricate team combinations.
5) Watch your bond cutscenes.
While it’s easy to be so caught up in the grind that the story seems like a waste of time, be sure to watch your character bond cutscenes at the very least. After the first one of these, each subsequent one massively boosts one of the related characters’ stats. It’s a solid powerup you should not miss out on.
6) Don’t be afraid to level up different characters–even if it proves fruitless
If you find yourself stuck after leveling up your characters, getting them the best gear you can, and leveling up their skills, you probably need to change your party composition. Tanks dying to quickly? Add a healer to the mix. Monsters not dying quickly enough? Swap in a person or two who does the opposite kind of attack (i.e., magical or physical). Not sure which character would fit the party best? Level them both up and test them out.
One of the best things about Re:Dive is that it expects you to level up many more characters than your main party of five so it gives you enough resources to do just that. So don’t be afraid to try characters out, even if it doesn’t work out like you hoped. After all, dungeons allow you to utilize more than one party so leveling them up is never really a waste. Oh, and speaking of dungeons…
7) Be sure to reset the dungeon once a day.
At the time you unlock your first dungeon, you’ll have no chance at clearing it (the final boss is level 44). However, you will be able to do three or four battles before you lose–and you absolutely should for all the rare loot you get. But be sure not to forget to “leave” the dungeon when you are done. This resets the dungeon and lets you do those battles and get the loot again the following day.
8) For the battle arena, pick characters with the highest attack stats.
The battle arena sets your team of five against another team of five. You may be tempted to use your main questing team. However, this would be a mistake. Especially in the early going, battle arena fights will end long before either side gets even a single unison attack off. Thus, it’s better to pick a team that has high damage without those unison attacks. Eventually, you may want to add in a tank or two but even at midgame, healing is largely useless.
9) Use your tickets when farming for item fragments.
At first gathering gear is rather simple: you get the drop, then equip it. Then, multiple items need to be combined into one. But where it gets tough is when you start to need item fragments–often having to gather five of them to make the object you want. This is where tickets will save your soul.
A ticket allows you to complete a level instantly–saving you from a largely pointless two minutes of battle. Moreover, you can use more than one ticket at once to do five or even ten battles in a heartbeat. When you have to gather fragments, that is the time to use your tickets. And don’t worry, you’ll always get more.
10) Maximise your stamina usage.
The sad thing about this game is how little you’re allowed to play it as a F2P player as things go on. So it’s important to maximize your stamina usage. A good plan of attack is to empty your stamina before you go to bed. Then, when you play next, spend your stamina to complete as many daily missions as you can (except maybe the mana exchange quest which spends some of your hard-earned gems) without accepting the rewards. Daily missions award both stamina and character xp–which subsequently gives you a full bar of stamina when you level up.
If you have time to continue playing, then accept the rewards and continue on. If not, leave the rewards where they are so your stamina can fill up naturally while you’re not playing.
There is also one other source of stamina. In your guildhouse is a small table of food that produces some stamina every few hours. You can level it up to increase that amount every 10 levels. Don’t forget about it!
Princess Connect! Re:Dive was released in English globally on January 19, 2021 for iOS and Android.
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