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Magic stones serve as the premium in-game currency in GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons, and play an essential role in progression through the game. A moderate supply of magic stones is provided through the course of gameplay by completing dungeons, during special events (typically one stone per day, for around a week, every other week), and at certain increments of total days played. Magic stones can also be purchased with real-world currency.
To determine how magic stones should be used, first decide if you wish to spend money, and how much you would like to spend. A good approach, in doubt, is to begin without spending money and to change your approach later when more familiar with Puzzles & Dragons (not only to serve as a an introduction to the game, but also because experience informs better decisions when spending stones).
A player who does not spend money should regard magic stones as a precious resource to be used with great care, and a player who does spend money can get a great deal of value from a magic stone when spent wisely. Presented here are suggestions for using magic stones wisely, with advice for both the non-paying player and paying player alike. Paying players are advised to read the guide in its entirety.
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Starting With a Good Character (Rerolling) |
Upon completion of the tutorial you will have received five magic stones for one free roll from the rare egg machine. You can delete and re-install to repeat this process until you get a good starting character. It is highly recommended for non-paying players and light spenders alike to begin the game with a good god, and paying players as well can benefit greatly from this process.
General Advice for Non-Paying Players (Non-IAP)
Aim to begin the game with a very good character (see above). Magic stone use for non-paying players is fairly straightforward. Generally speaking, magic stones should be used on box space (a far more valuable investment than many players imagine) or on the rare egg machine only during a suitable ‘god fest’. Magic stones should not be used to speed progress through the game, or to evolve or level creatures, though there may be frugal but sensible exceptions in completing certain ‘descended’ dungeons.
General Advice for Paying Players (IAP Players)
It remains a good idea to begin with a good god (see above), but is less important depending on how much you wish to spend (see Rare Egg Machine below). Your first goal in terms of game progression is to increase your rank. Begin by climbing through normal dungeons until you reach Tower of Giants, where Dragons of the Tower can be completed almost to your heart’s content on weekends (1/2 stamina) as you climb toward rank 100. During weekdays, where suitable, continue progressing to Ocean of Heaven’s ‘Sea God of Heaven’. View the Normal Dungeons ‘E/S’ (Experience to Stamina) ratio for the best places to rank up as you continue, favoring dungeons which provide a bonus drop rate on creatures. Because you can spend stones on stamina refreshes your stamina total will be important, and ranking up increases it. Don’t miss important special dungeons (such as survey dungeons), but don’t fuss excessively over content like special dragons while you’re not yet prepared for descended dungeons. Once your rank balances with advice elsewhere in this guide, begin to focus on leveling your teams to clear Puzzle & Dragons’ more challenging content.
Increase box space as needed based on advice provided in this guide, and fill in your roster of characters when a worthy god fest comes along. Read, read, read. Puzzle & Dragons is an information-intensive game and knowing more about its characters and dungeons will help to avoid wasting stones and stamina on unrewarding goals.
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Non-Paying Players
A magic stone may be spent to permanently increase your capacity of creatures by five. This may not seem like an effective use of magic stones, but not only is it essential, it as also an excellent long-term investment for game progress. Additional box space allows you to retain ‘Evo Material’ (like Dragon Plants, Masks, and Lits) until they are needed down the road. This speeds progression by reducing the amount of stamina you must spend in daily dungeons replacing Evo Material you sold. Box space also allows you to store Pengdra while waiting for the proper Metal Dragon event, and to store creatures for skill leveling while waiting for the next event featuring ‘2x skill up’ odds. Also of note is that you should retain good creatures for all elements and teams even if you have no immediate use for them.
As a general rule, whenever you are inclined to clear out Evo Material you have a small supply of, metal dragons, Pengdra, Dragon Plants, or uncommon characters, it is better to add box space. Be proactive. Add box space whenever you feel like you are having trouble deciding what to sell or feed away, and think very carefully before getting rid of a creature which can only be obtained as a rare drop or from a dungeon or the Rare Egg Machine.
Consider maintaining at least your rank multiplied by two in box space. If you're playing thoughtfully, you will probably want more.
Paying Players
All the advice for non-paying players applies, but be more liberal with stones spent expanding box space. Spending money on the game, it makes more sense to take advantage of dungeons like Pengdra Village or to hoard Evo Material collected during events where increased drop rates are offered. Add space when you are struggling to store creatures.
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This is where you can obtain the game's best characters. In exchange for five magic stones you will receive one randomly determined character ranging from three to six stars. Many excellent supporting characters can be obtained in special dungeons, but this is where most of the game's best leader characters are found.
Avoid using the Rare Egg Machine outside a god fest (typically a 24-hour event as a feature of a special in-game event), even if characters you are interested in are advertised. This because odds of obtaining a good character during these normal periods are significantly lower, wasting your stones or money. You will know a god fest is taking place because 'God Fest Live' will be displayed on the Rare Egg Machine button in the game. God fests are also announced in advance on our home page.
Sometimes special event egg machines are available, such as one for the Batman collaboration, or one which dispenses a special group of healer characters. Whether these egg machines are worth spending stones on depends on the contents. When one comes along, study the characters it dispenses and discussions about it to learn more. Keep in mind that these special egg machines typically feature a couple exceptional creatures which are particularly difficult to obtain.
Non-Paying Players
The most difficult dungeons in Puzzle & Dragons are best tackled with an excellent high- damage gods which depend on combos to deal heavy damage. Examples include the Chinese gods; the second collection Japanese gods Umisachi & Yamasachi, Kushinada, and Okuninushi; the Egyptian gods Bastet, Horus, and Ra; and other select special characters. It is not essential to start with one of these characters (for example, Archangel Lucifer, though not a heavy damage combo leader, is an excellent starting character), but in absence of one, stones not spent on box space should be spent during a god fest that includes them in an effort to add some to your collection. Of particular value is a god fest that combines two useful pantehons, such as the Chinese and 2nd Japanese collections. Patience will serve you well; wait for the right opportunity.
If you have obtained a character or characters suitable for end-game content and have enough box space (know that this will take many months of gameplay) focus on any god fest that benefits your key team or teams or save stones for future introductions.
An important note which bears repeating: as a non-paying player, it is advised to begin the game with a good god-type character. Players call this process 'rerolling'. Starting out, it is recommended to take advantage of this process.
Paying Players
Aside from avoiding the Rare Egg Machine outside god fest, your approach here really depends on how much you want to spend on Puzzle & Dragons. The more you use the Rare Egg Machine, the more team options you will have, and the more you will feel compelled to spend money developing those teams (without spending money you cannot really focus on more than a few teams, and new characters encourage leveling, skill leveling, and potentially working on other characters to take advantage of them). Puzzle & Dragons will always provide you with new things to work on so decide on healthy limits before getting involved. If you have plenty of characters to work on, consider holding back for the time being to develop your teams. Introductions of new gods down the road regularly changes game dynamics.
Many paying players buy a full pack of stones (some more) each time a god fest interests them and spend it all on the Rare Egg Machine. To provide context, a full pack of stones—85 stones—might net you three featured characters from a god fest. Perhaps one if you're unlucky, perhaps five or more if fortunate. This becomes expensive quickly, and even spending this much, Puzzle & Dragons is very much not a “catch ’em all” type of game unless you plan to spend thousands of dollars. Pursuing a specific character can become particularly expensive and is generally not recommended even by heavier spenders. Fortunately, good leaders are functional with assorted team members, so while you might want certain characters, you will typically have multiple options for various dungeons after spending some money and developing a few teams. Keep in mind that the ‘perfect team’ as it exists today may not be the perfect team a month down the road, and that a good team gets the job done nicely.
One suggestion for paying players is to pay attention to the Japanese version, which is always ahead of the English version. What gods are available? What are new dungeons like? What changes have been made to game mechanics and characters? A character you are interested in today might be powerful enough that unreleased dungeons include counter-measures to hinder them, reducing their value. Zeus, Goemon, and Lucifer, all amazing leaders in their time, have been significantly hindered in newer content to compensate for their strength. A weaker character may be improved to become much more valuable. Bastet was promoted from being a disappointment to become one of the most sought after leaders with a single update and some new dungeons that take advantage of her ability. A yet-to-be-released god might be far more interesting than one you want today, and worth waiting for.
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Stones can be spent to add additional friends. Through the course of ranking up you can add up to 50 friends. Spending stones allows you to increase this limit to 200 at the rate of +5 maximum capacity per stone spent.
Non-Paying Players
It is not necessary to increase your friend capacity. If you remove inactive players and players who do not use leaders you need, and seek helpful friends using the friend finder, you should have the friends you need to complete dungeons. If you feel constrained some months down the road or simply want to befriend more members of a community, it doesn’t hurt to add some additional space.
Paying Players
Once you’ve capped at 50 it doesn’t hurt to increase the limit as you go along. If you maintain multiple teams you will want a wider assortment of friends to compliment them. More friends also means more Pal Points, especially if you’re helping players a short distance behind you in rank. Many paying players max their capacity by the end game.
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One magic stone can be spent to fully restore your stamina.
Non-Paying Players
It is not recommended for non-paying players to refresh stamina. Virtually every purpose for refreshing stamina is to speed progress in the game. Instead, spend stones on the more important goals of getting new characters and adding box space.
Paying Players
Stamina refreshes can play a big role in the paying player’s game, but it is suggested that any temptation to do so be set aside until higher ranks. When starting out, focus your efforts on ranking up (see general advice at the beginning of this article).
Generally you want at least 100 stamina before you start fussing too much with stamina refreshes (unless used to rank up prior to this point, which represents a decision suitable for heavier spenders). Consider the amount of stamina you have relative to how much money you want to spend, how patient you are, and what you want to spend it on. 80 can be a decent starting point for ruby, sapphire, and emerald dragons during a 2x king appearance rate (4 runs). 100 at least for super dragons (2 runs), though 150 is suggested—same for 50-stamina descended dungeons. 120 is probably a good starting point for farming Hera Descended for skill ups (3 runs), but you might want to wait for 160. And you typically wouldn’t refresh stamina for a dungeon unless you can clear the highest difficulty without spending stones. Try to weigh this decision against how relaxed you want your spending to be, and the value of what you’re thinking of spending it on. A max-skill special dragon is typically not helpful or valuable while a max-skill Echidna is one of the best characters to have in the game.
A second use for stones is to complete the daily dungeons. Again, this is something best saved for higher stamina totals, but it can be a good idea to store Rainbow Keepers, Dub-Mythlits, Mystic Masks, and Dragon Plants during events where those dungeons benefit from increased drop rates (they are far less worthwhile without the increased drop rate). At higher ranks you can replace these dungeons with drops from normal dungeons (for example, Mystic Masks can be obtained on the weekend from Ocean of Heaven).
Finally, leveling your creatures is another goal of stamina refreshes. One approach is to collect Dragon Plants on Thursday during an event, Pengdra on Monday for the increased drop rate, and metal dragons when the appropriate type comes along (perhaps with a lucky Tamadra). At higher ranks Super Metal Dragons become an extremely efficient means of leveling creatures for paying players. Until you have enough stamina to make this worthwhile (how much experience is worth $1?) focus on ranking up.
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Descended dungeons are typically much more challenging than other dungeons but offer special characters in reward for completing them. Some of the game’s most important characters are obtained from descended dungeons. It is a good idea to study a descended dungeon ahead of their appearance, and always wait for a ‘2x skill up rate’ to feed characters for increasing skill levels in cases where descended dungeons appear outside events.
Non-Paying Players
You are going to want to read up on descended dungeons ahead of time to prepare for them. If not prepared, you typically won’t be able to handle these dungeons without spending stones unless you have formed an excellent team over many months of playing. By preparing in advance you can ready a team to tackle them sooner than would otherwise be possible and without spending stones. The first descended dungeons to focus on are typically Heroes Descended and Hera Descended.
As a non-paying player you should aim to clear these dungeons without spending stones. Do not worry about ‘missing’ them; they will return soon enough. You might make small exceptions for a dungeon that provides a character that will be extremely valuable to your team. Are you using Seraphim of Dawn Lucifer? Your first Hera is worth a stone. Horus? Probably worth a stone or two to pick up Berserk, Highlander, and Hera-Is. But only use that stone if you are comfortable clearing the dungeon after its use, and rather than enter a dungeon planning to spend stones, consider additional preparation for a future appearance.
Paying Players
Advice scales with how much money you are spending, but generally it is best to avoid spending stones on descended dungeons. Because you are spending money your teams will progress quickly and, in many cases, some preparation will mean clearing the dungeon without spending stones (or in exchange for far fewer stones) on a future appearance. If you are interested in spending stones, consider whether the special character or characters is going to play an important role in your teams. It is not worth stones to obtain Zeus if you have no particularly meaningful use for Zeus. With sufficient stamina it may be preferable to accept a game over and refresh stamina for multiple additional attempts.
Another option for paying players is to refresh stamina to complete a dungeon multiple times in an effort to skill-level a character. Before this is done you should generally have enough stamina to complete the highest difficulty at least twice (preferably three times), consistently, and without spending stones. Find out if a character is worth skill leveling first (Satan’s ability is borderline useless while a max-skill Hera is extremely helpful) and generally avoid skill-leveling a character if there is a better approach (e.g. don’t spend stones skill leveling Highlander and Berserk through Heroes Descended—wait for Poring Tower).
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Special dungeons include everything from survey dungeons (dungeons designed to skill up an important character like Echidna, Drawn Joker, or a Mystic Knight) to two-week dungeons such as a dragon series (typically provide a new dragon and perhaps an opportunity to skill level a character), or a collaboration dungeon (useful for skill leveling multiple characters). Always wait for a ‘2x skill up’ event to feed characters for increasing skill levels.
Non-Paying Players
Generally speaking, never spend magic stones on these events. That means no magic stone to continue, no magic stones to refresh stamina. However, look at each of these dungeons as they arrive (or in advance if possible) to determine what special characters you want to obtain, or if there is a character or characters you want to skill level. If so, make that your priority while the dungeons are available.
As a non-paying player your choice will depend on priorities. Don’t focus all your stamina for two weeks skill leveling a special dragon that isn’t going to play an important role. You would be better served by spending that time developing your team to tackle higher difficulties of a dungeon you do care about. Do extend some priority to survey dungeons that feature a helpful character, or an opportunity to skill level an important god character. Naga’s survey dungeon, for example, should be a top priority every time it appears, until she is eventually max-skilled. Don’t let frustration wear you down. One skill level for a day’s effort is worthwhile. Because the value of these dungeons varies greatly from one to the next, and is relative to your teams. Is best to research and participate in a community for advice.
Paying Players
Much of the advice for non-paying players applies, but you can spend money for more wiggle room. As is the case with descended dungeons, you don’t want to spend any stones actually clearing dungeons. If you spend stones it will be on refreshing stamina, and this is typically the sort of thing you want to start considering at higher stamina levels. Base your decision on how valuable the corresponding skill up will be for your teams (is it really worth evolving food to skill level Kagutsuchi?) and read above under ‘Stamina Refreshes’ for more information. Also note that survey dungeons typically provide the desired creatures on an infrequent basis in exchange for much less stamina than would be spent in a descended dungeon, hence you would want enough stamina to complete the dungeon numerous times.
You can also be more relaxed about what is or is not worthwhile for your current teams. If you’re spending money on the Rare Egg Machine you will find that many good creatures which may not be helpful now will serve well down the road. If you have a good opportunity to skill level a potentially useful character consider doing so, but weigh the decision against usefulness and the probability of the skill leveling opportunity repeating itself.
Don’t forget future special dungeons. Puzzle & Dragons includes special condition dungeons, which are star or cost limited, and more are coming. It is good to think ahead for those dungeons as well, and if it fits within your plan for spending money, you can continue skill- leveling a potentially important fodder character after you’ve maxed the corresponding god. Some effective low-cost teams can be built around the fire and dark elements. Research upcoming special condition dungeons for ideas.
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| Magic Stone | Price (USD) | Cost per Stone |
| 1 | $0.99 | $0.99 |
| 6 | $4.99 | $0.83 |
| 12 | $9.99 | $0.83 |
| 30 | $22.99 | $0.77 |
| 60 | $43.99 | $0.73 |
| 85 | $59.99 | $0.71 |
* The price as of Jul 15, 2014
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