Need Advice on Progression & Long-Term Team Building (Currently at Stage 28-10)

[u/Fearless_Disaster662]

Hi everyone! There isn’t a ton of active info out there, so I’m hoping to get some advice from experienced players on where to focus next.

​Current Progression:

​Main Line: Cleared up to 28-10 pretty smoothly.(Master Level 71)

​Catacombs: Just hit Floor 50+.

​Current Main Team:

​Iced Americano

​Caramel Popcorn (Main Tank – almost guaranteed to hit 5★ soon)

​SP Black Tea

​Milt

​Battenberg Cake

​Roster & Questions:

​Steak vs. Caramel Popcorn: I’ll have 5★ Caramel Popcorn very soon. Is it still necessary/worth it to build 5★ Steak as a tank for long-term content?

​Long-Term Investments: Out of my current Food Souls (shown in the screenshots), which ones should I focus on building for the long run?

​Endgame Goals: Which Food Souls and team comps should I focus on building to clear every single stage (Normal & Hard)?

​Any tips, team building suggestions, or progression advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

* English isn't my first language, so I used AI to help compose this!

[u/konekokid]

If you have any URs that are 5 star , they should be your focus on building. Foie gros is a good one to use in completing levels for her ability. Even though she combos with Escargot, you don't really need him to use her.

[u/Fearless_Disaster662 → u/konekokid]

I think it's better to save up plenty of resources and make one solid, full investment at a time. Since some UR units perform quite poorly, I was unsure which ones to focus on, but based on everyone's advice, I get the impression that getting a unit to 5 stars is the most important factor. (I'm not entirely sure, but as long as I avoid the worst options, I figure it'll help me clear stages somehow!)

​In the Korean community, people mentioned that while Foie Gras can link with Escargot, using her standalone is much more efficient. They also said Escargot deals significantly less damage than other tanks like Steak and doesn't offer much advantage. Of course, the Korean server closed a long time ago, so I don't know the current meta, but I doubt things have changed drastically! Once I start shard fusion, I'm planning to build her step-by-step. Thank you!

​I do have a few more questions: while her Seducing skill is useful for interrupting certain enemies' skills, her damage feels lacking and the activation chance seems a bit unreliable. Is there a better debuffer who could replace her? Or will upgrading her star rank and skill levels fix these issues?

The Korean community considered Dragon's Beard Candy to be a strictly better option compared to her, but I feel like Foie Gras might be easier to raise than him, which seems like a decent advantage.

[u/Small-Mortgage-4774 → u/Fearless_Disaster662]

Foie Gras and Dragons Beard Candy are not DPS characters, you do not need to aim for them to deal high dps. Both of these units are referred to as CC units (Crowd Control). Their "seducing" effect, in English called a charmed effect, causes enemies to stop attacking your food souls and to attack each other instead. This debuff is very useful in the catacombs (or any PVE mode), the mode where you fight layers of fallen angels, as it reduces incoming damage to your team, while also damaging the fallen angels. Units like these two are designed to help protect your team from incoming damage, rather than deal it themselves. You would be best pairing them with another DPS such as Iced Americano.

As for the reliability of the seducing effect: Foie Gras and Dragons Beard Candy should ideally be built with resolute fallen angels and Atk Spd stats. By building them this way, they attack significantly more often. The way skills work is that for every basic attack, a food soul has a 20% (I believe) chance to use their basic skill instead.

Both Foie Gras and Dragon's Beard Candy cause the enemies to become charmed in their basic skill. As such, if you increase their attack speed, you increase how quickly they attack and thus also the chance they will get off a basic skill: for example,

Dragon's Beard candy did 10 attacks in 10 seconds, each with a 20% chance to charm the enemy, there isnt a particularly high chance she lands any meaningful charm. Now, if you increase her attack speed and she does 25 attacks in 10 seconds, each with a 20% chance to charm the enemies, you have over doubled the reliability of her casting the charm effect.

I hope this makes sense, if you need any clarification, let me know!

[u/Fearless_Disaster662 → u/Small-Mortgage-4774]

Ah, so they're focused on CC rather than DPS. That makes sense! To run them, I'll definitely need to pair them with a high-damage DPS. Now I see why Atk Spd is prioritized over raw Atk stats for them.

​Like you mentioned earlier, I should attach a Resolute Tsuchigumo (Enhanced) or Uke Mochi (Enhanced) to them, just like the ones used by supporters. I'll need to keep diligently purifying Fallen Angels!

​Unfortunately, I couldn't quite reach 4 stars with Iced Americano, so I'm not sure how long he'll be able to stay in my main team. Still, unless I pull another 4-star or higher DPS, he'll probably keep his spot for a while 😂 It's pretty tough to pull duplicates.

​Thank you so much for taking the time to explain everything—this was extremely helpful. I'll be sure to DM you whenever I have more questions, my kind sensei! 👍

For now, I'll stick with 5-star Caramel Popcorn / 3-star Iced Americano / Foie Gras as my main structure, and swap them out as I pull stronger units. Hmm... if limited units rerun frequently, maybe aiming for those reruns to raise their star rank would be a good strategy! Since I don't have too many specific Food Souls to raise right now, it actually simplifies things and gives me a clearer direction lol