Dungeon drop and card crafting guide - "what is season ___?", "where do I farm ___?", etc

Nietono

Last updated 10th September 2017

Who am I?

I'm Nietono, aka OhGodShana (not to be confused with shananyan). I'm one of the more experienced players on fakeSG and I have a reputation for being a walking player guide. I also have a reputation for writing walls of text, but please at least try to read the guide before throwing up your hands and giving up. :sweat_smile:

What is this guide?

The intention of this guide is to answer some common questions, explain some terminology, and clarify some old text errors (that exist as of writing this). I will also try to explain how to work out where to find certain drops and where best to farm them.

The main questions answered are:

What does ___ mean?/what's the difference between ___?
Which episode/season is ___?
Dungeons change rewards?
Which dungeon drops ___?
Where do I farm ___?

What does _ mean?/what's the difference between _?

Ore:
The most common crafting material, used for virtually all cards that aren't crafted from other cards. Ore of random colours drops from the non-boss floors of most dungeons, with harder dungeons usually dropping more ore. Ore is generally tied to faction, with green used for Vita, red used for Academy, blue used for Crux, and black used for Darklore.

There's also White Ore which is treated as ore for transmuting but as a dungeon material for most other purposes.

Ore can be transmuted but does not have location text in its description.

Dungeon material:
A crafting material specific to a dungeon or group of related dungeons. A specific dungeon material will drop from all floors of the associated dungeon(s), with the boss(es) dropping large quantities of it. Most cards require the dungeon material from the episode they were released in, e.g. EP1 cards generally require Ruins Fragments, which drop from Frontier Dungeon (the EP1 dungeon).

Dungeon materials (except White Ore) cannot be transmuted but do have location text in their descriptions. However the location text of many of the older dungeon materials is out-of-date.

Accessory:
The bane of many players' farming attempts. Accessories drop from bosses, with the specific accessories dropped being fixed based on the specific boss and how many clears of that dungeon a given player has. Random season 2 accessories are also rewarded from PvP (even for the losing player). Cards generally require accessories from the season that card comes from.

Accessories are typically the hardest and most confusing material to obtain since the main source of them is bosses, many of which change rewards after a certain number of clears, and the location text is vague.

Accessories can be transmuted and do have location text in their descriptions, though the location text is not particularly helpful and generally slightly incorrect.

Double Rare/D.rare/DR:
The highest standardly craftable rarity. Each episode typically has one Double Rare for each of the main factions (Vita/Academy/Crux/Darklore) and these can be transmuted into another Double Rare from the same episode.

Episode and season:
Each card set is called an episode and each episode typically has a dungeon material associated with it, as well as one or more dungeons that drop that dungeon material. The various episodes form seasons, each of which has a set of accessories associated with it.

Season 2 dungeons tend to be harder than those of season 1, making season 2 accessories harder to get. Season 2 accessories are however available as PvP rewards (even for the losing player), so there is always a way to get them. As of writing this there are only two season 3 dungeons, the first of which is relatively easy but the second is roughly on par with some of the season 2 dungeons.

Xmute/transmute:
This option allows players to turn excess amounts of one ore or accessory into a different type. The exchange rate is 4:1 which makes this highly wasteful if used excessively. However this can be useful if a player is unable to obtain a certain accessory another way (particularly season 3 accessories). Accessories can be transmuted into accessories of a different season.

Double Rares can also be transmuted into other Double Rares from the same episode. This is 1:1 so there is no overall loss for doing this. This option can be helpful for changing to a different Double Rare for a new deck, or for crafting a Double Rare using ore a player has more of then turning it into the desired Double Rare.

Which episode/season is ___?

Season 1 accessories: (location text is incorrect - these currently do not drop from fight)
Sword/Glasses/Shoes/Socks/Ribbon/Cat Doll/Book

Season 1 episodes, dungeons, and dungeon materials:

EP0 (White Ore): Beginner Dungeon, Intermediate Dungeon, Advanced Dungeon.
EP1 (Ruins Fragment): Frontier Dungeon (formerly Frontier Ruins).
EP2 (Heart Stone): Witch's Tower, Shadowland (location text is incorrect - does not drop Heart Stone).
EP3 (Holy Water Tear): Crux Training Camp.
EX1 (Bamboo): Bamboo Garden (location text says Bamboo Scent).
EP4 (Lily): Linia's Mansion (location text says Linia's House).
EP5 (Blood Pack): Vampire Lands (location text says Land of Vampires), Goddess Tower (location text is incorrect - does not drop Blood Pack).
EP6 (Good Job Stamp): Vita Public School (location text says Vita High School).
EX2 (Spiral Fragment): Dream Island, Vivid World (location text says Picturesque World). Some cards use White Ore instead.

Season 2 accessories:
Dagger/Panda Doll/Trump/Gloves/Perfume/Lipstick/Pendant

Season 2 episodes, dungeons, and dungeon materials:

EP7 (Aletheian Brick): Catacombs.
EP8 (Pass): Ancient Sanctuary.
EP9 (Reciept): 2S Detective Agency (location text says SS Detective Agency).
UE1: no dungeon material nor dungeon, cards use white ore.
EX3 (Cat Paw Stamp): Catch That Cat! (location text says Cat Pursuit), Linia's World (does not drop Cat Paw Stamp).
EP10 (Library Card): Underground Library.
EP11 (Mystery Parchment): Underground Altar.
EP12 (Police I.D.): Royle City.
UE2: no dungeon material nor dungeon, cards use white ore.
EP13 (Replica Stick): Muzisitter Land.
EX4 (Commemorative Medal): Weekly the Legend.
EP14 (Dimensional Fragment): Dimensional Rift.
EP 15 (Kana's Fragment): Altar of Kana (카나의 제단, 15F dungeon).

Season 3 accessories: (location text is incorrect - these currently do not drop from fight and are season 3, not season 2)
Rapier/Rabbit Doll/Diary/Earring/Compact Powder

Season 3 episodes, dungeons, and dungeon materials:

EP16 (Mystery Flower): Attack on Royle (로일 습격사건, 7F dungeon).
EX5 (Tea Leaf): The Golden Cradle (황금의 요람, 10F dungeon).

Dungeons change rewards?

All dungeons (except Muspelheim) drop a character card on the 10th clear and have a special one-off bonus on the 100th clear. 2S Detective Agency has a special spell reward for the 1st clear. Other than that the following dungeons change rewards after a certain number of clears:

Beginner Dungeon, Intermediate Dungeon, and Advanced Dungeon have increased rewards for the first 9 clears. From the 11th clear onwards these dungeons give the same rewards but the numbers of them are more in line with other dungeons (considering the small number of floors).
2S Detective Agency and Muzisitter Land have increased and different rewards from the 11th clear onwards.
The Golden Cradle has increased rewards on clears 11-20 and rewards increase again and change (once the drops are fixed) from the 21st clear onwards.
Attack on Royle, Catacombs, Ancient Sanctuary, Catch That Cat!, Underground Library, Underground Altar, Royle City, Weekly the Legend, Shadowland, Goddess Tower, and Linia's World have increased and different rewards on clears 11-20 and rewards increase and change again from the 21st clear onwards.

Bamboo Garden, Dream Island, Frontier Dungeon, Witch's Tower, Crux Training Camp, Linia's Mansion, Vampire Lands, Vita Public School, Vivid World, Dimensional Rift, and Altar of Kana do not change rewards other than for the 10th and 100th clears.

Note that a clear refers to beating all floors up to and including the boss, not just beating a single floor.

Which dungeon drops ___?

As mentioned before ores drop from the non-boss floors of nearly all dungeons.

The location of dungeon materials is listed in their location text but refer to the "Which episode/season is ___?" section if you're unsure (especially with a lot of the location text being out-of-date).

Accessories are mainly obtained from bosses but can be also obtained from PvP (currently only for season 2) or by transmuting other accessories. The following link (credits to shananyan) contains a list of boss drops:
http://sg.nyansource.com/
That link does not account for the 3x drop rates of this version, nor does it include the EP15, EP16, or EX5 dungeons,. The drops for a dungeon that changes at 11+ and 21+ clears are listed as "1 clear" for the clear 1-9 drops, "11 clears" for the clear 11-20 drops, and "Default" for the clear 21+ drops.

Edit nyansource is currently having hosting issues, but here's my new boss drop list:
https://forum.swordgirls.net/topic/23/boss-drop-list

With the 3x drop rate Altar of Kana drops:

All clears except 10 and 100: Dagger x24, Panda Doll x24, Trump x24, Pendant x24, Kana's Fragment x105
10th clear: Guardian Novic (character)
100th clear: Dagger x105, Panda Doll x105, Trump x105, Perfume x105

With the 3x dop rate Attack on Royle drops:

Clears 1-9: Rabbit Doll x12, Diary x12, Mystery Flower x30
Clears 11-20: Diary x24, Earring x24, Mystery Flower x42
Clears 21-99 and 101+: Rapier x36, Rabbit Doll x36, Mystery Flower x60
10th clear: Gardening Maid (character)
100th clear: Rapier x60, Rabbit Doll x60, Diary x60, Earring x60

With the 3x drop rate The Golden Cradle drops:

Clears 1-9: Rabbit Doll x24, Diary x24, Earring x24, Tea Leaf x120
Clears 11-20: Rabbit Doll x36, Diary x36, Earring x35, Tea Leaf x135
Clears 21-99 and 101+ (once the drops are fixed): Diary x54, Earring x54, Compact Powder x54, Tea Leaf x150
10th clear: Child Celine (character)
100th clear (once the drops are fixed): Rabbit Doll x60, Diary x60, Earring x60, Compact Powder x60

Where do I farm ___?

Ore:
Players generally shouldn't need to specifically farm for ore (long-term most players will have excessive amounts of ore simply from farming for other things). However it is possible to farm floor 5 of Goddess Tower by beating that floor then forfeiting (by returing to lobby) on floor 6. Floor 5 of Goddess Tower drops (with the 3x drop rates) Blue Ore x3 and 18 ore of random colours. The floors of Shadowland drop additional Black Ore, those of Goddess Tower drop additional Blue Ore, and those of Linia's World drop additional Red Ore.

Dungeon materials:
Just farm whichever dungeon drops the required dungeon material (refer to the "Which episode/season is ___?" section). Dream Island is much easier than Vivid World. Even a fairly basic deck should stand some chance against floor 1 of most dungeons (Dimensional Rift being a major exception) so it should always be possible to obtain most dungeon materials.

Season 1 accessories:
First reach 9 clears of Beginner Dungeon, Intermediate Dungeon, and Advanced Dungeon. These three dungeons cover all season 1 accessories between them and can be cleared with a starter deck, so it should always be possible to farm season 1 accessories.

After this the best source of most season 1 accessories (Glasses/Shoes/Ribbon/Cat Doll/Book) is clearing Shadowland (at 21+ clears). For Sword/Socks farm Advanced Dungeon.

Season 2 accesories:
With an insufficient deck farming season 2 accessories from bosses may not be feasible, in which case PvP and transmuting may be the only options.

With a reasonably strong deck it's best to farm Muzisitter Land (at 11+ clears drops Gloves/Perfume/Lipstick/Pendant) and Weekly the Legend (at 21+ clears drops Dagger/Panda Doll/Trump/Lipstick). Conveniently those are both among the easier season 2 dungeons.

With a very strong deck farm Dimensional Rift (any number of clears) instead of Muzisitter Land. This is one of the hardest dungeons however.

Season 3 accessories
Your only non-transmute options are currently Attack on Royle (at 21+ clears drops Rapier/Rabbit Doll) and The Golden Cradle (at 21+ clears and once the drops are fixed drops Diary/Earring/Compact Powder).

"I don't care what accessories, I'm going to transmute them all anyway":
If you have fewer than 10 clears of both Attack on Royle and The Golden Cradle then farm Beginner Dungeon. It doesn't give many accessories but the floors are so quick to beat it's possible to get a lot of clears very quickly. If you have at least 10 clears of either Attack on Royle or The Golden Cradle then farm either of those, The Golden Cradle being better if you can manage it.

I hope this guide will help players (if the length of it hasn't driven them away already :sweat_smile: ).

Akihito

@Nietono
Very nice guide. Great tool for beginners.

On my own i would like to pick up topic of required deck strenght for particular dungeon. Dungeons vary with difficulty not only as season goes but also a lot inside of it. Quite often people tend to believe that dungeons vary with difficulty from left to right which isn't actually true. As a some kind of tip when to attack particular dung i would like to post there list of them with recommended deck strenght which is counted in so-called deck points (DP). Values are picked for general grinding deck - not particular dungeon deck or record runs -, but they are divided for 2 categories. First DP value is stated for grinding dungeons based on succesing myself with at least 3 diffrent decks with some consistency. Some means more than half wins but still far from 100% in overall (still some particular decks have almost 100% consistency). This is value hard to obtain but definitely doable so sould be aimed for and can be make for testing by comparison with your own deck. Second value is the "Safe" value where you should be able to clear dungeons in at least 90% (in some cases due to very rng based nature of boss value may be lower) of cases with multiple decks. Still this doesn't mean you can clear that dungeon with any deck which scores that DP value. Additionally i decided to pick up "99" and "299" values as a kind of middleroad for dungeons which can be made with those DP brackets with some ease but not yet consistent enough for second bracket. Still - those values don't mean after reaching particular DP you are destined to win, but that average good deck on that level should do the job.
List:
EASY:
Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced - Beginner deck
Bamboo Garden - Beginner deck / 99 DP
Dream Island - 99 DP / 150 DP
2s Agency - 99 DP / 100 DP
Muzisitter Land (2s) - 100 DP / 250 DP
NORMAL:
Frontier Dungeon - 99 DP / 100 DP
Witch Tower's - 100 DP / 300 DP
Crux Training Camp - 150 DP / 250 DP
Linia's Mansion - 100 DP / 250 DP
Vampire Lands - 200 DP / 299 DP
Vita Public School - 100 DP / 250 DP
Vivid World - 200 DP / 300 DP
Catacombs (s2) - 299 DP / 400 DP
Ancient Sanctuary (s2) - this one is tricky due to buggy nature of the boss: it may happen, although rare case, that boss will buff his deck faster as it is stated (mechanics aren't clear yet) so i give 2 values (please take note how high DP you need to have if you are unlucky!)
normal - 300 DP/ 550 DP
bugged - 700 DP / 900 DP - approximately - met 4 times out of 24 clears
Catch That Cat (s2) - 100 DP/ 900 DP - one of hardest - 100 DP was made by me lately so i corrected it. Don't expect though making it with 100 dp unless its extremely good.
Underground Library (s2) - 299 DP / 400 DP
Underground Altar (s2) - 600 DP / 900 DP - one of hardest
Royle City(s2) - 299 DP / 400 DP
Weekly The Legend(s2) - 100 DP / 299 DP - very easy as for season 2, recommended for grinding
Dimensional Rift(s2) - 300 DP / 700 DP - second main season 2 grinding dungeon
Altar of Kana (korean named) (s2) - 400 DP / 800 DP (difficulty of boss depends a lot on luck)
Attack on Royle (korean named) (s3) - 99 DP / 150 DP
HARD:
Shadowland - 100 DP / 250 DP - it's only hard from name :)
Goddess Tower - 299 DP / 550 DP
Linia's World - 600 DP / 1100 DP - hardest dungeon in the game besides Muspelheim

Besides that some characters obtain from dungeons are usefull and some are worthless. Dungeons stated below posses handy chars as a prize and those may be used for making good decks:
Intermediate, Frontier, Linia's Mansion, ~~Vampire Land~~ Royle City (only for grinding purposes), Ancient Sanctuary, Underground Library (same as Royle City), Weekly the Legend, Altar of Kana, Linia's World
Additionally two more dungeons gives handy characters but only for pvp purposes and very specific decks:
Muzisitter Land, Dream Island
At last, 2sAgency is giving a very good spell as reward for 1 clear.

Good luck young adventurers :)

Nietono

@Akihito I'd say those ranges are mostly accurate. There are a few dungeons I'd like to make additional comments about. I'll also point out any where making a specific counter for a given boss would drastically change the requirements.

I would also like to re-emphasise your point (for anyone reading this) that the listed values assume a well-built deck.

2S Agency: consistent clears at 100DP sounds plausible, but we're probably talking a 100DP deck using cards that'd be difficult to reasonably obtain without already having a higher DP deck. If anyone has an example of a 100DP deck that proves me wrong though please share it. This dungeon is fairly inconsistent in general and very slow even considering how many floors it has.
Witch's Tower: the boss is disproportionately difficult for a lot of decks compared to the rest of the dungeon and compared to most season 1 normal dungeons, but also really struggles against certain other decks. The DP required to consistently beat her would be substantially higher than 250 if you're not running a deck that just happens to be effective against her. On the other hand she can be consistently counterdecked at 100DP. The rest of the dungeon can reasonably be done at 100DP.
Vita Public School: the boss matchup varies a lot based on how dependent on skills the deck is. The given values seem accurate for a deck that is at least tweaked for the boss, even if not specifically built for it.
Vivid World: the non-boss floors are unusually difficult and the boss is rather inconsistent.
Catacombs: the difficulty of the boss can vary a lot depending on which followers her effect revives.
Catch That Cat!: the boss is much harder than the rest of the dungeon (which can be cleared at 100DP). The boss can be beaten with a 300DP field lock deck, though this obviously takes ages and is not the same deck you'd use for the previous floors. The boss is notoriously inconsistent even for very high DP decks.
Dimensional Rift: has very hard non-boss floors. The boss can be field locked at 300DP but a strong deck is needed to even reach the boss.
Linia's World: the difficultly of the non-boss floors is highly erratic but floors 31-39 are harder than most bosses. The boss can be field locked at 300DP but again a strong deck is needed to even reach the boss. The boss is inconsistent with any deck that isn't at least heavily tweaked for her (ignoring the possibility of someone coincidentally running something that's a good match for her already). Even if a player has a way to consistently clear all the floors this dungeon is very slow and is not worth farming for accessories - 10th clear reward and bragging rights/showing off only!

I'm curious as to what grinding deck you'd use Amrita (Underground Library boss card) for, since you marked her ~~and Anj Inyghem (Vampire Lands boss card)~~ as only for grinding purposes. Also I wouldn't even suggest Anj for grinding - with the nerf to the final part of Anj's skill (the formerly infamous 'Anjecute') Fugitive Iri Flina (Darklore starter deck character) is generally preferable.

ibankai

Very nice information, useful for me and other new player a lot ^^

Akihito

@Nietono said in Dungeon drop and card crafting guide - "what is season ___?", "where do I farm ___?", etc: