/dlg/ pastebin

/dlg/ - Duel Links General FAQ

"Should I choose to start with Yugi or Kaiba?"
There is no difference beyond who you unlock first, the other is unlocked by progressing through stages naturally so you lose out on nothing.

"How do I get cards?"
Cards can be obtained from character and stage level-ups, event rewards, pvp tickets, gate rewards and most notably boxes which the main currency gems are spent on for packs in the card shop.

"Are there any decks you can make that don't require box purchases?"
You can make them but generally they aren't as viable as decks you have to spend gems to make. Currently the best completely F2P decks are Cyberdarks from Zane's gate drop rewards and Aromages from the Card Trader, even though both are better with box cards they can serve as decent starting goals and ticket uses if you're new and unsure what to get from boxes.

"What should I spend gems on?"
For a new player you have a decent variety of options listed below. Always look at the potential gem investment for each deck you want to acquire before doing so in case you get the worst possible pulls. Additionally this info can change easily depending on when a new box or banlist comes out so double check before committing to a deck. Optimal reset points are included for each of these.
Pic related is a visualization of some of the recommended decks (along with recommended skills) below for ease of reference: https://i.imgur.com/07Of1aV.jpg
-Lunalights are a fusion based powerhouse deck that's one of the easiest to get in a box with lots to offer a new player. You can reset as soon as you get a copy of the SR Lunalight Yellow Marten, though it is recommended you get a copy of Charge of the Light Brigade before first resetting to have access to the Lightsworn engine alongside it. A copy of Keeper of Dragon Magic plus the Neos Fusion package from the Magician of Chaos and Neos EX respectively (1000 gems each) can be helpful for starting off but is not required.
-Soul of Resurrection features Shiranui, a Zombie Synchro archetype with versatile plays on the field and graveyard that is one of the most accessible and cheap decks even after getting hits on the banlist. Reset upon getting Shiranui Squire and Solitaire as everything outside of generic staples can be acquired from the minibox alone.
-The Dark Dimension box includes the incredibly powerful Invoked engine, which gives access to incredibly strong fusions that are splashable in many different decks. The flexibility of this engine is what it makes it noteworthy and its long lasting potential is why it is recommended. Make sure you get Aleister the Invoker at least before resetting this box. Potential other cards you might want to wait out on before resetting include Elementsaber Molehu, Thunder Dragonhawk and Necrovalley. The core fusion Invoked Purgatrio is in the Aerial Assault box as well and extremely recommended to grab if going for Invoked.
-Ritual Beasts in Spirit of the Beasts are a very cheap deck focused around contact fusion of monsters on the field and self-banishing themselves for advantage. This deck more than others takes a while to learn especially working against the timer in PvP but can be well worth it even after having been hit on the banlist. Reset upon getting both Spiritual Beast Cannahawk and Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda, and make sure to get at least 2 Ulti-Apelios.
-Aromages are available in both the card trader and the Fortress of Gears minibox, and are focused around life point gain and using their effects from that to disrupt the opponent or gain advantage. Get at least one copy of each of the main deck Aromas from the card trader and mini, with multiples of Jasmine and the synchro Rosemary being the highest priority. After that reset the mini when you get a copy of the SR Humid Winds, aim for at least two of them to complement your deck with copies of Aroma Garden/Gardening	, Blessed Winds and Solemn Scolding from generic SR tickets to fill out your spell/trap slots.
-The Blazing Rose main box has Subterrors, an archetype of flip monsters with strong backrow in Subterror Final Battle, along with several strong tech cards in Black Rose Dragon/Vermillion Dragon Mech for Synchros and World Legacy Clash. Reset at Subterror Final Battle and consider grabbing World Legacy Pawns from Judgement Force for this deck.
-Finally there are many other decks you can consider building and climbing to King of Games with that can find varying success depending on who and how you play. Dark Magician, Blue-Eyes, Cyber Dragons, Blackwings, Crystrons, Masked Heroes, Six Samurai and more are some of the many viable options you have. If none of the above decks interest you look at others in-game, on websites in the OP or ask in the thread for anything that might appeal to you.

"What else should I know about boxes?"
If you are a pure free to play player it is generally recommended to consider your gem spending before going into any box. Ideally go for boxes with high overall value that give many useful cards even outside of the ones you're going for such as Valiant Souls. If you have any specific questions on any decks or cards and how to build one feel free to ask in the thread. Ignore people telling you to buy obviously bad boxes if it's obvious they're shitposting. Keep in mind that many older boxes (i.e. anything pre-Abyss Encounters) are incredibly outdated in their card pool on average even if they have 1-2 potential staples and it is not advised to spend gems on them unless you have plenty to spare or really want certain cards.

"I see some structure decks on the store, should I buy one of those?"
Structure Decks are pre-built decks you can purchase one of with gems (except the Silent Magician EX) with further purchases requiring money. The best structure decks is currently the Ancient Gear Awakening EX which is a decent starter deck if you're willing to pay up for it along with being a KoG worthy deck in its own right. The Red-Eyes SD and Desperado EX are both also viable on their own for the most part if you pay for them or just as a basic new player PvE deck for the former. Other SDs are selectively useful such as the Neos EX for Neos Fusion as a pseudo Foolish Burial, Masters of Chaos for Keeper of Dragon Magic, Silent Magician EX for Spellbooks and the Destiny Hero SD for Masked Heroes.

"I need more gems, wtf do I do?"
Level up your characters to the max and get your PvE stages to 60/30(GX)/30(5Ds)/30(DSoD). At that point you will have depleted most of the gems you can get for free and all you can do now is to hope for Konami to give out gems during events or when a new box is released. There are few gem sources that don't dry up, such as ranking up, cumulative PvP victories and dueling against Legendary Duelists.
Like a true addict you're also able to sift through the trash: In the over world the fountain, the lanterns, the shop sign and the trashcan (toolbox in 5Ds world) are clickable and will occasionally give you 1, 3 or 5 gems. This is repeatable every few hours. There's also the duel review which gives you 5 gems a day and the loaner deck challenge which sometimes rewards you with 3.

"How should I do PvE content?"
If you want the guaranteed PvE gems easily it's a simple process that takes some time depending on how much you sink into it. Build a basic auto-duel deck first, an easy one to make right away is with a single copy of the Red-Eyes structure deck for 500 gems with three copies of Red-Eyes Insight from SR ticket rewards, or any deck featuring generic high attack 4 stars from newer boxes with decent backrow. All worlds standard duelist NPC decks are based on DM worlds stage level so if you want to complete the permanent PvE content with ease level up DM world to 10 at least for Mokuba's bingo challenge to be available (gets you an easy copy of Enemy Controller) and then you can move on to GX/5Ds/DSoD world for their stage and character gems. Further leveling DM world only gives the benefit of more standard duelists spawning at once with up to 10 at stage 45. Stage 27 in DM world provides the most notable difficulty spike in standard duelist decks with the introduction of ones like Circus Trick, so if you do continue to raise DMs level make sure to get past that to 33 which spawns comparatively easier decks.

"What characters should I level up first?"
You should focus on Mai and Odion since they give two decent free traps in their level-up rewards, Windstorm of Etaqua for Mai and Curse of Anubis for Odion, which will fill deck space early on before you optimize further. DSoD Kaiba is also a good and easy character to level once you unlock DSoD world for Counter Gate. Potential characters of note include regular Kaiba for Melody of Awakening Dragon, Mai for Amazoness Queen and Lumis and Umbra for Shadow/Light Imprisoning Mirror. Otherwise level up who you like and has rewards that interest you.

"What are skills?"
Skills are character abilities that affect duels. Some are passive, some you can activate, some have specific conditions before they can be activated and so on. There are a wide variety of skills with some being shared between characters and some being exclusive to certain characters. Some skills you acquire from simply leveling up the character but most are gotten from random duel rewards after fighting Legendary Duelists or in ranked PvP. Many decks rely on or are helped by certain skills so it is always a good idea to see what skills go best with which deck before playing it.

"Should I spend money on this game?"
Personally I would say no unless you're really desperate for a PvP deck at the start and fall for the EX deck bait. If you have to waste your money otherwise save for the $1 UR/SR deals which are the best investments of small purchases and certain bundle deals for staples such as Cosmic Cyclone.

"I have some other SR/UR tickets, what should I do with those?"
They stand for Super Rare/Ultra Rare tickets; you can exchange them by going to the PVP building and then pressing "Exchange Tickets". As for card choices: get one Enemy Controller if you don't want to farm Kaiba at the gate for one. The Mokuba unlock bingo grants one free Enemy Controller already and it is one of the most best cards you can get especially since it's free. Since it is currently semi-limited on the banlist you only need two.
As for UR choices, all of them are equally mediocre. The best options (if you're not interested in a specific card) are the alternate art Blue-Eyes/Dark Magician that will also bump the amount of your starting iconic monsters to 3. There is a list of cards that are available exclusively with tickets below.
A 'Dream UR/SR' ticket is a special ticket that has only been given during major anniversary events so far. Dream UR tickets are different from Ranked or Gift UR tickets in that you can get UR cards from most of the boxes in the shop. Dream SRs are the same but for SR rarity box cards.
Recommended staple cards to get with the Dream UR tickets include:
Cosmic Cyclone (THIS ONE IS ALMOST ALWAYS THE BEST TO GET)
Sphere Kuriboh
Floodgate Trap Hole
Paleozoic Canadia
Drowning Mirror Force

"What the fuck why are white cards in this game I thought this was old school Yu-Gi-Oh?"
5Ds is ten years old now and Synchros aren't even that relevant so you can ignore them right now.

"I just went into PVP and this guy special summoned a bunch of monsters in one turn and killed me right then! I remember this game differently!"
Aside from not having most of the recent card mechanics (XYZ, Pendulum, Link) yet, the card selection of Duel Links goes all the way through the years and many modern cards dominate the meta.

"Someone post an x deck!"
You can check http://duellinks.gamea.co/ for older decks and http://duellinksmeta.com/ for recent competitive decks.

"Who is this Vagabond guy?"
He is the protagonist of the Yu-Gi-Oh Tag Force game series; duel him every time he's available for huge amounts of experience. Losing only gives half the EXP he would normally give so be prepared when dueling him.
The Vagabond shows one card from his deck in a preview before dueling so you can build your deck around what he's using if you're unsure about your chances.
You can also purchase a black colored variant of the Vagabond called the Vagrant with real money which gives large amounts of EXP upon beating him, but the price is steep and not recommended just to level characters up faster unless you have too much cash to burn.

"I see a friend list. Does it matter?"
After dueling the Vagabond, he has 2 standard messages - one congratulating you and one where he asks you for a friend to duel against. The more active friends you have, the more Vagabonds you will receive and the faster you will level up your characters.
Feel free to post your ID in the thread so people can add you for more Vagabonds.

"What is this Card Trader thing?"
You can use the gold and stones you get from dueling to buy a crafted card selection from the trader or upgrade cards in the pool to glossy/prismatic. Nothing from the card shop is there. The Card Trader EX is a special card trader that only appears in some events that give EX Jewels. These are special jewels that can be obtained in duels during these events and can only be used for the Card Trader EX for cards in that events drop pool. They expire after a certain time.

"What is this "convert cards" thing?"
DON'T TOUCH THAT.
YET.
You can exchange any card you have for the equivalent in stones (1 rarity stone, 1 card type stone) and gold. However, the rewards are measly. Even if you think that SR/UR you just got as a gift/from opening packs is useless, don't convert it. Many people have regretted it later.
Be careful not to amass too many cards though. If you convert 10000 R cards at once, you will never be able to retrieve the R jewels from your gift box because the limit you can hold is 9999. (This also applies to other jewels)

"How do I get more custom sleeves/mats?"
Beyond event locked ones which are impossible to get barring reruns you unlock extra sleeves/mats by progressing through stages, playing as characters and summoning aces 100 times among other ways. For a full list of available ones including unlock details check here: http://duellinks.gamea.co/c/uinejxeh

"How do I get Japanese voices?"
If you aren't a based dubchad for whatever reason you can select Japanese voices on mobile from the settings. For the PC version Japanese voices are not available innately and need to be downloaded separately. Download this file first: https://mega.nz/#!KhYCWA4A!UhxL1NrzzaYIE1ljKXTa0PFkLeug-FDjpF6gc-TKpnQ (may be outdated)
Then browse your game's files on Steam and go to LocalData, you'll find a folder with a random name. Copy it's name, and optionally make a backup somewhere. Unzip the shit you downloaded and rename the folder with what you copied. Paste and replace. Next time you open the game you'll be prompted to update it, and if you look at the settings you'll see no audio selected, but it will have the Japanese voices if you go into any duel.

"What is the modded APK?"
Its been dead for a while now and no new version has been uploaded. If you want to do shit like auto-duel at the gate you need to find or make macros for it.