Digimon Heroes is a surprisingly strong free mobile game that combines cards, Digimon, and match-3 gameplay that works similar to the ultra-popular Puzzle & Dragons. By collecting a solid team of various Digimon, you can conquer multiple trials that have you reconnecting File Island together which has been split by evil. Of course!
Much of the match-3 gameplay of Digimon Heroes runs automatically. The only real choice you have boils down to which three cards you select at the start of your turn, and then the AI takes over by chaining combos together for you. So it's important that you make sure that you do as much as can, when you can, because everything else is really based on the luck of the draw. Here are several tips to get you started in the right direction.
1. Form a Color-Balanced Team of Digimon
Similar to Puzzles & Dragons, you'll want a balanced combination of monsters on your team no matter which course you enter. Ideally, you'll have one of each colored element—fire, water, plant, holy, and dark—so that you'll have the ability to attack no matter which three cards you pair together on the board (apart from brown recovery cards).
On a related note, you'll want to match three cards of different colors instead of the same ones anyway. Clearing three red cards and then another three red cards doesn't double the attack damage as you might think, whereas clearing three red cards then another three cards of a different color might deal a lot more damage since it triggers another Digimon's attack.
If you're lucky with your Digimon egg pulls, there are a few cards that actually feature two colors at once, like “Devimon vs. Patamon” which counts as both a light and a dark Digimon. These cards give you extra leeway in case you want to swap out one of your Digimon on your regular team on a course that only has enemies of one elemental type.
2. Always Draw the Next Two Cards Before Resolving Your Turn
A central part of the overall strategy is choosing two cards and waiting to pick the third. Every time you choose a card in the attack field, another card is drawn automatically from the top of the deck. Choose two cards and you'll see both the color and the number of the next two upcoming cards (plus the first card on the deck). This is important when forming critical hits by creating a run (e.g. 4-5-6) or triplet (e.g. 3-3-3) of the same color.
Now, the card that remains on the top of the deck is also noteworthy since the AI will use that card in future chains. So if the top card is a blue card and you have two blue cards left over in your attack pile, the AI will automatically combine these three cards together in creating a chain. In fact, the AI will continuously use the top card on the deck in chains (even if it isn't the best strategy). At any rate, you can determine whether your chain will be cut short or last quite long depending on what cards you leave alone in your selection.
On a more advanced level, you can slightly control Digimon skills that alter future card draws. Some Digimon have skills that change the color of upcoming cards, but sometimes the first two cards may be important like wildcards. If so, you can draw those two cards first, then activate the Digimon skill that changes the future cards, and still have that wildcard to use. Oh, the strategery.
3. Use Wild Cards for Critical Hits and Elemental Weaknesses
Wild cards drop randomly from the deck, which is right because when you have them on hand, they're extremely powerful. If you have the luck to draw three wild cards in your attack field, you'll initiate a Wild Attack that counts as you matching three of every color at the same time, so you can expect that you'll clear out any enemies, even bosses, that are on the board.
But most of the time, you'll only have one or two wild cards in your attack field if you get one. In this case, the best strategy is to use them to fill the missing sequence of a run or triplet for a critical hit. However, if you have the option of either, the triplet actually packs more damage than the run. That's why there are some Digimon that have a skill which increases the number of all your cards or makes all of them a 9. Combining three 9s together of the same color is the best attack you have apart from the Wild Attack.
4. Select an Enemy Before Making an Attack
This tip is rather obvious. It may not sound important at first because the earlier courses tend to have enemies of one elemental type, so it doesn't really matter in which order you attack enemies, apart from clearing enemies that might strike you in a fewer number of turns. Even then, it doesn't make too much of a difference.
It's not until the more difficult stages at around the end of the fifth File Island trial that selecting a target becomes essential. If you select a fire elemental Digimon as the target, you'll want to make sure you start your turn off with a blue water attack (which deals double damage in this case) instead of a green one (which deals half). And you will want to make it your first attack, because any chains that the AI performs afterward will continue to multiply that damage.
5. Always Save Five Digimon of the Right Color Type Before Digifusing
Powering up your team of Digimon requires Digifusing, taking other cards and a handful of Digibits that you collect by defeating enemies and completing quests, and fusing them all together to level up each of your strongest Digimon. It's fairly easy to increase the level of a Digimon when they're at low levels, especially Level 1, but the price for Digifusing quickly becomes steep since you need 100 Digibits per level to Digifuse anything for a particular Digimon.
So to save your precious Digibits, it's important to gather the right Digimon for the Digifuse. If you wanted to, say, level up Leomon (a fire Dragon type), then you'll want to make sure that all of the Digimon you use to Digifuse with him are also a Dragon type. And you'll want to use five of them at once instead of Digifusing them one at a time for cost-efficiency. This includes Data Disks, which come in bronze, silver, and gold varieties, that bestow heaps of experience points in one go.
6. If You Purchase Microtransactions, Purchase the Smaller Units
You don't really need to pay for any of the game's microtransactions which generally give you Digimoney that can be spent on the premium Digieggs. But if you do decide to purchase anything, I recommend purchasing about five of the lowest units of microtransactions, namely the Steel Digimoney Pack for $1.99. At the time of this writing, that will give you 1,000 Digimoney, 5 Green SP tickets, and 5 Energy Batteries that will refill all your energy. That's an awesome bundle that will give you the hard drives and extra Digimon at your disposal.
The higher Digimoney packs, on the other hand, don't really give much apart for a paltry amount of extra Digimoney and some EXP Floppy disks which you can gain rather easily if you complete some Daily Missions and log-in to the game over the month for Daily Rewards. You're really only purchasing for expedience here with the larger bundle deals, but you'll get a lot more just by playing the game consistently over time.
7. Don't Forget About Using Digimoney for Hard Drives
As the premium currency, Digimoney is primarily used to purchase random drops of the best Digieggs around that go from 5-star to 10-star rarity. With each egg costing 300 Digimoney, though, it's fairly pricey; if you go down this route, I suggest accumulating 1500 Digimoney first so that you can take advantage of the “buy 5, get 1 free” deal for all Digieggs.
Apart from these premium Digieggs, Digimoney is important in purchasing hard drives that increase the total capacity of Digimon you can hold. If you wish to Digifuse efficiently and have the storage to keep the Digimon you win from battles, you'll need to purchase at least a handful of them. 50-60 slots is all you really need (each hard drive increases your capacity by 5), but you can up that amount if you see the need.
8. Sell or DigiFuse Low-Rarity Digimon to Free Space
That said, space is just as important as the Digimon you collect. Once you find yourself at peak capacity, I recommend simply selling off any low-level Digimon that are 1- or 2-star rarity since they don't confer a lot of experience through Digifusing and they aren't very useful as components for Digivolving. 3-star Digimon tend to have a max level of 30 which is good for meeting the level requirements for digivolving.
You should also pay attention to your main party the most. You may want to keep around a few other high-level Digimon as a backup but conservatively you won't need more than eight other Digimon for backup really.
Another strategy is to simply Digifuse low-level Digimon that are at Level 1. Digifusing five Digimon for another one will only cost a measly 500 Digibits. It doesn't really hurt since higher-level Digimon bestow more experience in case you want to use them to Digifuse into your main party later down the road.
9. The Best Leader Skills Are Straight-Up Attack and Defense
Each Digimon comes with a skill that can be activated over time. The best ones tend to be those that deal straightforward damage to an opponent, not only because they can deal a good amount of fixed damage to a boss, but also to clear some of the daily challenges that ask you deal the finishing to a boss using a Digimon's attack skill. In fact, I would try to assemble a team of Digimon that have a lot of attack skills and saving them all until the final boss.
The other important skill, which is a bit rarer to find, is a Digimon that can halve incoming damage. This becomes important on the later stages, particularly the last boss in daily events who can pretty much end your run with a single hit. Halving that damage can usually give you a few more turns to finish the boss off.
10. Join Forces With Players Who Have High-Level, High-Powered Digimon
Having a full friends list is quite pivotal to your success since your ally's main Digimon can be taken into your party with both the Digimon's main skill and leader skill at your disposal. Of course, it's good to combine forces with folks who have high-level, high-powered Digimon, but it's just as important to pick the right Digimon for the level. Remember that you can click the “Drop Info” button before you start a level to preview the kind of Digimon you'll see, and then pick an ally Digimon that will take advantage of the elemental weaknesses of the enemies in that level.
After you finish a level with a partner, you'll be able to add that friend to your list so long as that person doesn't have a full friends list. As you level up your profile, you'll earn more slots for friends, though every once in a while you should go through your list and get rid of a few “friends” who have weaker Digimon. Either way, you'll earn plenty of friend points (much more if you have a Facebook friend) that will net you some minor Digieggs.
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