A Look At The Top Clans In Princess Connect! Re:Dive

Princess Connect! Re: Dive is one of the most versatile gacha games on the market right now. The game has options for players who enjoy playing solo, against others, and with friends. Currently, Clan Battle is the most popular way to enjoy Princess Connect with others. Clan Battle is a monthly mode where a clans of up to 30 players race to take down as many boss monsters as they can within just a few days. Players in clans can share their units and attack up to three times a day, chipping away at the health of bosses. This mode can be as casual as competitive as players like, but there are plenty of incentives for fighting towards the top.

What Is At Stake?

Players that rank in top few tiers will be rewarded handsomely with a lumps of character shards, clan coins, and of course, jewels that can be used for summoning. Getting between 11th and 25th place gives enough jewels for over 50 pulls (8,000 jewels), and top 10 gives enough for over 60 (10,000 jewels). The rewards at the top are too good to ignore, so what does it take to make it to the top?

To start, organization is key. Most clans that have all 30 members consistently doing their three strikes a day will fit comfortably in the top 1000. If all of the players are near the level cap, most clans with full participation will fit in the top 300. There are many clans in the Top 300 that stay there due to players will solid units and full participation. There are specific units that are almost 100% necessary to succeed in clan battle though, so not having them severely hurts a clan’s chances of success. Fortunately, players can each share up to 2 units each, so careful coordination can help make up for one’s own roster shortcomings. To make into the top 150 though, it’s usually going to take more than just participation.

How The Top Coordinates

These clans typically coordinate their attacks in ways to get the most out of every player. The higher up the ladder you go, the more intense it gets. Andy, who goes by Phoenix, is one of the leaders of のです Void, the #1 clan in Princess Connect. Andy says that he knows it takes more than just participation and coordination to make it to the top, so Void has to be especially picky when taking in new members. “We have a daily plan of who hits what,” Phoenix says. “While we don’t put a timer on every boss it’s usually handy for members to know roughly when their boss is up and to prepare to learn the timelines beforehand.” Phoenix did note that this timeline is usually subject to change in case it isn’t followed exactly.

Void also sometimes “syncs” attacks by having multiple players attack at about the same time to override certain boss attacks entirely. “For example, the final boss of Clan battle for each lap has this ‘enrage’ mechanic that they will enter at 50% HP or below, so sometimes to avoid this we will have members do a sync hit whenever the boss is pre-enraged to kill him before he can enter his enraged form,” says Phoenix.

Phoenix doesn’t do all of the coordinating by himself. The clan has designated members that research and set up timelines. Players who research team compositions for bosses and make “timelines” on how to hit those bosses are known as timeliners. People who optimize the 90 or so clashes per day are allocators. There are also Clashers in Void, who are known for being successful with their own hits and can master complex timelines quickly.

Phoenix isn’t the only one who runs Void. Phoenix handles recruiting and management while another leader, Meld, is their primary allocator and coordinator. “Without him, Void would not perform as well as it does,” says Phoenix. “He is essentially my comrade in arms.”

Void isn’t the only guild that works this way either. Lswarm from Fuwafuwa, the 7th ranked clan, says that the leaders in his clan work in a similar way. Fuwafuwa has allocators that set up timelines with some flexibility in case things go wrong. They also have specific timelines due to geography. “Most of the members live in the SEA time zone, so we are mostly active doing clan battle around 12 hours after daily reset,” he says. “So each day, we only do Clan Battle for half of the day, and the other half is used for resting and planning.”

Research, Research, Research

Many factors need to be considered when a clan wants to be a top clan. As mentioned before, having the right players and great timetables go a long way. For the very best clans though, it takes a little extra work. メガ MILKERS (Mega Milkers), the 2nd place clan (And Void’s sister clan) uses the whole village to succeed. A lot of research is necessary before a Clan Battle to ensure that the timeliners and allocators and make the most of their time. What units are best against each boss? How many units does each player need? What combination of units are optimal?

“We throw every willing body into the research mines. That should tell you how much time we spend researching,” says Ding Doung, co-leader of Milkers. “Some people think that being at the top is all about translating BiliBili (A Chinese video streaming site with tons of Princess Connect content) or Korean videos, but that’s no longer the case since CrunchyRoll has been deviating from other servers. These days, we do a little theory crafting, and our timelines trend home made,” he says.

Baeck, the other leader of Milkers gives a better idea of how much time goes into the research. “Our clan researches team comps around 2 weeks before the next Clan Battle. Which involves mostly experiences from different servers (China, Japan, Korea). Since they are closely related clans, Void and Milkers also share a lot of their research with each other. This close relationship could be a big reason why the two clans are at the top, giving them an advantage on the research front. “While both guilds act as separate entities during clan battle, the researchers from each guild collaborate with each other to figure out the team compositions needed,” says Phoenix from Void.

How To Get Into A Top 10 Clan?

FuwaFuwa, Void, and Milkers all require for prospective members to apply to join. Every clan at the top is thorough when deciding who fits in their clans. “First, members usually have to pass a box check because I need to make sure that their roster is conducive for a t10 guild,” says Phoenix. Phoenix made it clear that players don’t have to spend tons of money to be in Void. “Free to Play folks can easily pass the box check provided that they have smart resource management and are willing to spend some time to acquire more gems within the game.”

Just having good units isn’t necessarily enough to get into clans like Void. “The next thing that I look for is a player’s availability during clan battle,” says Phoenix. “Different guilds are ‘on’ at different times and I need to make sure that an applicant will fit the times that we are usually on.” Unfortunately for some members, they may pass the eye-test, but their schedules just don’t fit.”

Milkers has a similar philosophy, and encourages flexibility. “We have players from all over the world, and this can lead to difficulties in scheduling., says Ding Doung. “I would prefer if our players all have compatible schedules, and obviously the more time they can spare for Clan Battle, the better.” Baeck has more to add. “Someone who is only available for 4 hours a day sadly cant compete on the highest level.”

“We do not currently require Five-star Djeeta or Arisa (Two newer and essential DPS units) as their nodes were released recently, but this will be tightened over time,” says Ding Doung. “Since we’re aiming for the top, we do mandate units that might otherwise be ‘nice-to-have’, such as Tomo.” Tomo is the newest unit added to Princess Connect, and not considered to be essential by most players who don’t spend money on Princess Connect. “I’m strict about the unit box because efficiency dictates that we don’t bend over backwards to accommodate members that can’t meet our requirements,” says Ding Doung. He added that accepting members that can’t meet their requirements will put extra work on the allocators that shouldn’t be necessary.

Just having access to great units and being available still isn’t to be in a top 10 clan. “The next factor is their skill as a player; our members need to be able to execute difficult timelines, says Ding Doung from Milkers.” There is no such thing as full auto in top 15.” Not operating on full auto does take some skill on the players’ end. The timing of skills is essential, and being just one second off can throw off an entire timeline. To get players comfortable with using skills appropriately, it is necessary for them to do trial runs, something that players don’t necessarily have to do below rank 150. “For easy ‘timelines’ members only need to do three trials,” says Phoenix from Void. “For the tougher ones, it can take about 20-30 minutes of trialing before one gets all the mechanics down.”

Finally, to get into a Top 10 clan, you need to have a compatible personality. “I try to take a look at personality and motivation and see if I can detect any red flags,” says Phoenix. “I want to build Void to be a community of nice folks who want to help other while trying their best in clan battle and thus I need to be wary of applicants who deter from that philosophy.”

Unsurprisingly, Milkers strives for a clan with chemistry as well. “The recruit must be active on Discord. We do this not only because we value communication during CB, but also to foster clan relations and make friends outside CB. The different cultures and people mingling together create interesting tales that we can one day tell,” says Ding Doung. “Just be yourself and be chill. Enjoy the ride, we will ‘tryhard’ 5 days every month so let’s not butt heads.”

The Trials Of The Top Clans

With how much work it takes to stay at the top, it’s not surprising that it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for clans like FuwaFuwa, Void, and Milkers. Every clan has its highs and lows, and the lows usually result in some changes. Milkers was formed as a result of two clans merging. “After Clan Battle 6, 5 of the main leads quit Bracers (A former clan) for various reasons,” says Ding Doung. “However, one of my lieutenants \/ mentioned that Baeck, the leader of Megamilk (A former clan), was interested in a merge. I did a li’l diplomacy and the rest is history.”

“Burnout can easily happen in top clans. We spend hours doing research for a mobile game, playing for long periods of time, and other questionable practices. When core members quit a clan, it spells doom if no one can fill the gap,” says Ding Doung. “I was fortunate enough to find a clan willing to merge to save us from splitting apart, but I’m well aware that not everyone is as lucky.”

When poor performance in a Clan Battle is the only real low for a clan, the only changes made are probably in personnel. Phoenix says that Void can remove up to 9 members in a month that was a “Complete Catastrophe. “Baeck says that Milkers usually removes 4 or 5 members a month, but has removed up to 10 before.

The Good Life

When things aren’t bad for these clans though, they are really good. At the top two spots, Void and Milkers have carved themselves as the teams to beat. FuwaFuwa has climbed a significant amount, going from 32nd in the first Clan Battle to 7th in the most recent one. In the first Clan Battle, Void started in the 150 tier and has climbed to #1. It’s impressive to see Milkers in 2nd at all when you consider that they are two clans merged together after massive personnel changes. Outside of competent players and tons of planning, how do these guilds continue to consistently perform?

“I really emphasize the method and the process of how Void plays clan battle with a balance of emphasizing both player and leader happiness at the forefront,” says Phoenix. “That’s why whenever someone joins Void they never want to leave unless they quit the game or I kick them. Our organization is also fairly top notch, so while I expect a lot from members, they can expect that we will have all the resources ready for them to perform at their best.”

High morale is something that you will find in Milkers as well. “My underlying goal is for everyone in the clan to have a fun environment to chill and clash,” says Ding Doung. “It wouldn’t be any fun making it to the top without friends to share the hardships along the way; it just makes our success even sweeter. And if you are not enjoying the ride, why would you even play, right?”

It certainly seems like the members of Milkers do have fun. “Our environment is one that is very welcoming. We make sure we are the most rambunctious bunch that you’ll ever meet, having fun in voice chat and text channels [Of discord]” says \/ from Milkers. “Common members can enjoy the frustration and agony of the co-leads, while actual leaders relax on their holidays away. This makes for a clan experience unlike any other, where the game of dodge-lead-responsibility-potato is in full effect every day. We think this separation from any other clan makes us an interesting and viable alternative from the sweaty t10 clans that promise to have no burdens on their members.”

In the end, \/ was sure to add “No offense to those clans, as I enjoy the friendly rivalries we have and the friends I am competing against.”