Soul Upgrading

 

 

Soul Growth

 

In Onmyoji, all players want to save resources to upgrade G6 Souls.  However, it takes a long time to get good G6s.  Before that, I would suggest upgrading and be using G3/G4s to make a strong team tackle hard contents.  The reason is clearly shown on Soul Stats where G3/G4/G5s are actually not that different.

 

Consider the % bonus attributes, which are based on fundamental stats.  At max, G3, G4, and G5 are 2% apart, which do not make a whole lot of difference.   It is from G5 to G6 that there is a big jump from 38% to 55%.  The only exception is Critical Damage %.  Refer to the tables below for details.

 

For the fixed attributes, let’s take a maxed Ubume for example.  At max, Ubume’s attack is 3082.  For her, switching from a maxed G3 Attack Primary to a maxed G4 Attack Primary is an increase of 106 ATK (around 3.4%).  Switching from a G4 to G5 is 3% and likewise from G5 to G6.  I would say that 3% increase is not significant and that overall effect of 3, 4, and 5 Grade Souls does not make too much of a difference.

 

 

Which to Upgrade

 

Naturally, one would assume that upgrading G3s should be more worthwhile because it’s less costly.  However, the pitfall is that G3s usually start with only one or two secondary attributes.  Therefore there is less potential for secondary attributes when upgrading G3s.  Secondly, G3 Souls’ stats increase at a lower rate than 4s and 5s.  Therefore, we’ll overlook G3s and just use them as fodders.

 

There are always exceptions.  If you found a G3 that has the right attributes, then upgrade and use it until you get a good G6.  If you are tight on resources, feel free to use G3s in the transition, they are still very usable until G6.

 

G5s cost more to upgrade but are not much different from G4s so it is not worth investing in them.

 

That leaves us with G4s.  They are more cost-effective to upgrade than G5s and have more potential than G3s.  I recommend focusing on G4s (with a mix of G3s) before you get good G6s.

 

 

Secondary Attributes

 

Much of the discussion so far has been surrounding the Primary Attributes of a Soul.  Secondary Attributes actually plays an important role too and they are even more frustrating.  Primary Attributes have a set growth pattern whereas Secondary Attributes are more random.  At level 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15, the Soul either (1) adds 1 Attribute to a max of 4 or (2) gets 1 more level to an existing one.  Not to mention the stats of the Secondary Attributes appears somewhat random because the numbers shown on screen are actually rounded.  In reality, Secondary Attributes have decimals.

 

Note that there is actually no harm in upgrading Souls to level 3 and see what Secondary Attributes pop up.  The analysis below shows that you don’t lose coins or experience by doing so.  The decision we are making here is whether to upgrade beyond level 3.

 

 

Analysis on Fodder Exp and Cost

 

Now that we have established that we are only upgrading G3s/G4s and G6s Souls.  Let’s take a look at some numbers to help us decide how to upgrade.

 

First of all, this is how much 1 Soul gives as Exp and the amount of coins it would cost.

 

Soul at level 0 Fodder Exp Coin Cost Exp/coin
1-star 500 1000 0.5
2-star 750 1500 0.5
3-star 1000 2000 0.5
4-star 1250 2500 0.5
5-star 1500 3000 0.5
6-star 1750 3500 0.5

 

Note that Coin cost does not change when Souls level up, but Fodder Exp does.  This brings us to the next table.

 

 

Upgrading Requirement

 

Soul Upgrade Exp required
Level 1-Grade 2-Grade 3-Grade 4-Grade 5-Grade 6-Grade
0                   –                     –                     –                     –                     –                     –
1            1,000              1,500              2,000              2,500              3,000              3,500
2            1,500              2,250              3,000              3,750              4,500              5,250
3            2,000              3,000              4,000              5,000              6,000              7,000
4            2,500              3,750              5,000              6,250              7,500              8,750
5            3,000              4,500              6,000              7,500              9,000            10,500
6            3,500              5,250              7,000              8,750            10,500            12,250
7            4,000              6,000              8,000            10,000            12,000            14,000
8            4,500              6,750              9,000            11,250            13,500            15,750
9            5,000              7,500            10,000            12,500            15,000            17,500
10            5,500              8,250            11,000            13,750            16,500            19,250
11            6,000              9,000            12,000            15,000            18,000            21,000
12            6,500              9,750            13,000            16,250            19,500            22,750
13            7,000            10,500            14,000            17,500            21,000            24,500
14            7,500            11,250            15,000            18,750            22,500            26,250
15            8,000            12,000            16,000            20,000            24,000            28,000
Sum          67,500          101,250          135,000          168,750          202,500          236,250

 

Notice that the Exp required to level up is always half of the Exp required to level up from 0 to 1.  However, while higher level Souls give more Exp when used as fodder, the growth pattern is not that simple.  The table below shows the amount of Fodder Exp for the Souls.

 

 

Soul Fodder Exp

 

Soul Fodder Exp
Level G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6
0                500                  750              1,000              1,250              1,500              1,750
1            1,500              2,250              3,000              3,750              4,500              5,250
2            2,500              3,750              5,000              6,250              7,500              8,750
3            4,500              6,750              9,000            11,250            13,500            15,750
4            6,500              9,750            13,000            16,250            19,500            22,750
5            8,500            12,750            17,000            21,250            25,500            29,750
6          11,500            17,250            23,000            28,750            34,500            40,250
7          14,500            21,750            29,000            36,250            43,500            50,750
8          18,500            27,750            37,000            46,250            55,500            64,750
9          22,500            33,750            45,000            56,250            67,500            78,750
10          26,500            39,750            53,000            66,250            79,500            92,750
11          30,500            45,750            61,000            76,250            91,500          106,750
12          36,500            54,750            73,000            91,250          109,500          127,750
13          42,500            63,750            85,000          106,250          127,500          148,750
14          48,500            72,750            97,000          121,250          145,500          169,750
15          54,500            81,750          109,000          136,250          163,500          190,750

 

A simple calculation would show that upgrading Souls before using it as fodder would yield different Exp.  Take a G1 as a simple example.  At level 1, that G1 would give 1500 Exp when using as fodder.  To get to level 1, it takes 1000 Exp.  Therefore, the efficiency is 150% because it is 50% better to upgrade to level 1 before feeding it off.  Of course, Coin cost is a consideration and we will do that later.  To summarize, the table below shows the efficiency of Soul Fodder Exp at different levels.

 

 

Soul Fodder Efficiency

 

Soul Fodder Efficiency
Level G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6
0 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
1 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
2 83% 83% 83% 83% 83% 83%
3 90% 90% 90% 90% 90% 90%
4 87% 87% 87% 87% 87% 87%
5 81% 81% 81% 81% 81% 81%
6 82% 82% 82% 82% 82% 82%
7 81% 81% 81% 81% 81% 81%
8 82% 82% 82% 82% 82% 82%
9 82% 82% 82% 82% 82% 82%
10 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% 80%
11 78% 78% 78% 78% 78% 78%
12 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% 80%
13 81% 81% 81% 81% 81% 81%
14 81% 81% 81% 81% 81% 81%
15 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% 80%

 

 

To correct a previous version error, Level 3 is not a breakpoint of fodder efficiency (credits to Jinzo for pointing that out).  The reasoning is as follows:

At level 0, the soul would be 100% efficient as fodder.  At level 1, efficiency is still 100% taking into account the soul being upgraded itself (e.g. G1 soul at level 1 provides 1500 exp as fodder, and it takes two level 0 G1 to make a level 1 G1.  In reality, there are three level 0 G1 together to make a level 1 G1.  Three level 0 G1s is also 1500 exp and therefore efficiency is 100%).  Starting level 2, we are seeing a decrease in efficiency.

I still think it’s a good idea to upgrade Souls to level 3 to see if there is a new good secondary attribute.  If there is, keep leveling up.  Otherwise, feel free to use as fodder since there is no loss in efficiency.

To put things in better perspective, take a look at the scenario below using the example of a G4 as suggested above.

 

Getting a G4 Soul to level 3
Fodders Exp required Exp per fodder # of fodders Exp total Coins per fodder Total coins
G1 lvl 0 11250 500 23 11500 1000 23000
G2 lvl 0 11250 750 15 11250 1500 22500
G3 lvl 0 11250 1000 12 12000 2000 24000
G4 lvl 0 11250 1250 9 11250 2500 22500
G5 lvl 0 11250 1500 8 12000 3000 24000
G6 lvl 0 11250 1750 7 12250 3500 24500

 

The key columns would be the Exp required, Exp consumed, and Coin consumed.  We want to see if the Exp and Coins consumed would lose efficiency.  As we can see, when upgrading a G4 to level 3, using G2 or G4 as fodder is most efficient.  This is because using other Grades would overshoot “Exp required”.

 

To recap:

(1) we have decided to level up 4-stars to level 3 using 2-stars.

(2) We will keep leveling the ones with good secondary attributes.

 

 

Road to G6

 

Now we need to decide what to do with the ones that we don’t use.  Naturally, those would be fodders for G6 Souls.

For that, we consider the following calculations.

 

To make level up a 6-Grade to 15, we need the following:

 

Getting a G6 Soul to level 15
Fodders Exp required Exp per fodder # of fodders Exp total Coins per fodder total coins
G1 lvl 0 236,250 500 473 236,500 1,000 473,000
G2 lvl 0 236,250 750 315 236,250 1,500 472,500
G3 lvl 0 236,250 1000 237 237,000 2,000 474,000
G4 lvl 0 236,250 1250 189 236,250 2,500 472,500
G5 lvl 0 236,250 1500 158 237,000 3,000 474,000
G6 lvl 0 236,250 1750 135 236,250 3,500 472,500

 

Here we are comparing our strategy with using G2 as fodder for G4 and otherwise.

Clearly, optimizing fodder feeding would save coins in the long run.  The saving is minimal though, so I would not worry about that too much.

After all these calculations, the conclusion really is to encourage players to level up Souls to level 3 and see what secondary attributes they get.  At level 3, there really is no loss in terms of Exp and Coins.

 

 

Acquiring Souls

 

Grade 4

Starting in Soul Stage 7 onwards you should see a steady supply of 4-stars.  The key to farm Stage 7 is to have one or two high-level DPS, a fast Yamausagi, and a G4 Zashiki (with decent level Souls).  Before Stage 7, the players should have a mix of G3/G4 Souls.  A sample team would be a 5-star Ubume with high-level Seductress, a Yamausagi at Speed 165, and a decent Zashiki with Azure Basan.  The other two team slots can be a healer or additional DPS if you want to auto the fight.

Kraken is another good spot to farm G4 Souls.  However, 30 AP for Kraken is quite costly (but the Exp is awesome) compare to farming Soul Stages.  Plus, you can’t really fight Kraken all the time.

Another way is to farm Hard Explorations.  The good thing is that you can choose which ones to farm for and able to bring fodder along.  The bad thing is that the drop quality is low.

 

Grade 6

The main source of 6-Grade Soul is, of course, Soul Stage 10.  In fact, Stage 9 will drop some but Stage 10 has slightly better drop rates.

You could also buy 6-stars from shops.  I don’t recommend this because it depends greatly on luck and costs too much coin.  If you are a whale then forget about what I said.

Other sources such as Kraken, Kirin Hunting, etc. are not stable supplies of Soul 6-Grade.  However, Kraken could serve as a very good source of G6 Souls in the beginning.  Many players just use Frozen Time to pass Soul 10 once to unlock the equivalent drops for Kraken.  Then just run Kraken as often as they could to get good enough souls to farm Soul 10 effectively.

To run Soul 10 effectively, the team should have 3 good DPSs (talking maxed out Ubume and Ootengu etc) besides fast Yamausagi and sturdy Zashiki.

I highly recommend forming enough Bonds with Whales so you could borrow their DPS in the fight.

 

 

Choosing Attributes

 

This is a list is meant to give players some ideas regarding Souls’ attributes.  Some Shikigamis synergize better with different attributes.  I have some examples in each of the Shikigami’s page.  The best way is test it out in the game yourself.

 

In Onmyoji, DPS is more demanding for good Souls than the rest (at least at the early/mid game).  In the order of priority:

DPS Souls: Seductress, Shadow, Scarlet

  • Primary attribute focus in Positions 1, 2 and 4 should be Attacks, Attack % or Crit %. Position 6 should be either Attack %, Crit dmg, or Crit %.  Positions 3 and 5 Souls can be left at level 9 until you have more resources.

 

Offensive/Defensive Support Souls: Fortune Cat, Jizo Statue, Azure Basan;

  • Primary/Secondary Attribute focus in all positions should be HP in most cases. Primaries in position 2/4/6 can be Speed/Status Resist/HP % depending on Shikigami.  Position 1 and 3 Souls can be left at level 9 until you have more resources.

 

Crowd Control Souls: Dawn Fairy, Mimic

  • Primary/Secondary Attribute focus should be Effect HIT in all Positions. Some Controls have specific requirements such as Hououga needing Crit %, etc.

 

Healer: Jizo Statue, Mirror Lady, Tree Spirit

  • They are very much the same as Supports. Focusing on HP would increase their survivability and healing.  However, as mentioned, certain Shikigamis need to be treated differently.  For example, Glowing Grass would need Attacks for her healing powers.

 

 

To Summarize

 

With all the numbers in this article, I know not everybody would read through it.  If there are some takeaways from this, they would be:

  • This game is more about Souls than Shikigamis
  • Only level up on Grade 4 and Grade 6 Souls (Grade 3s are ok if attributes fit)
  • Level up and use G4s until G6s are available
  • Choose G4 Souls with suitable primary and secondary attributes
  • Level up to 3 to see if an additional good secondary attribute appears
  • Level up the suitable Grade 4s and leave the rest as fodders
  • Repeat for G6

 

Extra Tips: Level up 6-star Soul 3 levels at a time for the Secondary Attribute level ups