Hello everyone and welcome to my 91st analysis, this time featuring Hydratila the Riftmaker.
Overview: Riftmaker has a great stat distribution, with great Base Strength, and a Base Speed that is a very crucial benchmark, at 3476. His Base Life is also very nice, allowing him to take at least one unboosted attack most of the time. He also possesses a 0 CD Base 35 AOE attack that acts as a buff removal, which is crucial in today's metagame. On top of all this, Riftmaker (and all Hydratila forms) possesses ways to give their team Stamina no matter what (and I mean it when I say this, as you'll see in a moment), and in this age of Relics which make your monsters lose Stamina if you look at the enemy funny, those ways are invaluable. For these reasons, Riftmaker can succeed seperately as an attacker or a denier. However, with the changes to the metagame and the introduction of faster and stronger monsters, Riftmaker found it a bit difficult to stay relevant in the higher leagues, as monsters there come packing very powerful status effects Riftmaker couldn't keep up with. Despite this, with the proper support (or Speed diference), Riftmaker can put in great work.
Builds:
Monsters that have access to Group 4 skills will have a slightly different build path. I will list the most viable builds for each Rank since some moves in Group 4 are pivotal to some sets' success. The monster's role will likely remain the same, however, so this won't be exhaustingly long as I won't repeat the same things.
Rank0
Moves:
-Area Unblessed
-Thetys, Page 24
-Laurasia Cracker
-Kenorland Fracture/Unblessed/Unfillable Energy
Runes: 2 Strength 1 Speed
Mutant Rune options: Strength&Life, Speed&Life
Relics: Armors and Traps
Build Explanation:
After all that I've talked about Riftmaker's prowess as a denier, I present to you an attacker set? Blasphemy! Jokes aside, this is the best Riftmaker can do at this level because he doesn't have access to his main deny moves yet. Area Unblessed is a very flexible attack, possessing 35 Base Power and removing all buffs from the enemy team - doing damage and controlling buffs possibly every turn is a very powerful combo that not many monsters can claim to do. Thetys, Page 24 is a spammable attack in every sense; it is unresisted, it has 0 CD and 0 Stamina cost, it gives your team Freeze Immunity and more importantly, Stamina Regeneration (it honestly depends which one is more important, but generally speaking, Stamina Drain is way more common especially with Relics. Yeah, the game has come to a point where it's arguable whether Stamina Regeneration is more important than Freeze Immunity or not). Laurasia Cracker relies on a coin flip, but it's the best Riftmaker has at this point. The last slot depends on the enemy team: Kenorland Fracture is your only surefire deny move, but it's on just one enemy. Unblessed is useful against Area Dodgers who will dodge Area Unblessed, and Unfillable Energy is his strongest attack at this point in terms of Base Power.
2 Strength 1 Speed maximizes damage output. For the Mutant Runes, Life Mutations are the only viable ones.
Rank1: Riftmaker learns "Thetys, Page 32" at this level, a Base 65, unresisted, 0 CD, 0 Stamina Cost move that gives his team Stamina Regeneration.
Moves:
-Area Unblessed
-Thetys, Page 24
-Laurasia Cracker
-Thetys, Page 32
Runes and Mutant Runes are the same as given above.
Build Explanation:
Riftmaker gets his hardest hitting attack at this level, which he will be using after he gives his team Freeze Immunity after Thetys, Page 24 to dish out more damage and to give the target Stamina Leak. This attack is as spammable as said move, which makes it one of the most powerful offensive moves in the history of this game, despite me making it not seem that way. 0 CD is one thing, but 0 Stamina is extremely strong.
Rank2: Riftmaker learns "Freeze Manager" at this level, a Base 40 single target Water move that Freezes all enemies and gives your team Freeze Immunity.
(Attacker)
Moves:
-Freeze Manager
-Area Unblessed
-Thetys, Page 32
-Laurasia Cracker
Runes and Mutant Runes are the same as given above.
Build Explanation:
Freeze Manager replaces Thetys, Page 24 here since it gives Freeze Immunity as well. The move may not be strong, but an AOE deny effect is powerful even on an attacker, and also because he can find a slot for it in his moveset.
(Denier)
Moves:
-Freeze Manager
-Area Unblessed
-Laurasia Cracker
-Thetys, Page 24
Runes: 3 Speed
Mutant Rune options: Speed&Life
Build Explanation:
Almost identical to the Attacker set except Thetys, Page 24 is used over Thetys, Page 32 here, because we don't care about the damage output, and there may be times where you need to apply the Freeze Immunity but don't have the Stamina to do so. With Freeze Manager, Riftmaker can finally become a proper denier. He is also effective against things like Warmaster Elvira and Dunn Ra compared to other deniers since Area Unblessed can remove their game-changing buffs before other monsters move.
Rank3: Riftmaker learns "Pangea Breaker" at this level, a single target Base 65 Earth move that Stuns all enemies.
(Attacker)
Moves:
-Freeze Manager
-Area Unblessed
-Thetys, Page 32
-Pangea Breaker
Runes and Mutant Runes are the same as given above.
Build Explanation:
Pangea Breaker is perfect on this set since Riftmaker can capitalize on its damage output, nuking an enemy monster while denying the other enemies so they don't interfere - this is extremely uncommon among other monsters and is a godsend for an attacker.
(Denier)
Moves:
-Freeze Manager
-Area Unblessed
-Thetys, Page 24
-Pangea Breaker
Runes and Mutant Runes are the same as given above.
Build Explanation:
Again, almost identical to the atacker set with the same difference. Having two separate deny methods is very effective in today's metagame, and Riftmaker is one of the few monsters who can claim to have this.
Teammate Options: Extra turn spammers enjoy the Stamina Regen his Thetys moves provide. For Teammate options, check out this article.
Countering Hydratila the Riftmaker: For Counter options, check out this article.
