Forums → Games → Mystic Guardians FAQ

Note: This FAQ is EXACTLY the one from Kongregate, so I thought that AG doesn't have an FAQ as good as this, so... and it's not like there's a Copyright or anything.

Q. Isn't this game like Pokemon?
A. This is by far and away the most common comment. We know. We noticed it too. It's okay! I promise. If the devs aren't worried about it (and the game has been running since at least January 2012 on Facebook), then I'm not going to worry about it and you shouldn't either. In the meantime, yes, it's like Pokemon. We get it.

Q. Do Guardians evolve? How do I make them do that?
A. Yes, they do! All guardians evolve twice, and require a particular level and a group of items. The items required depend on the guardian, but they're mostly irrelevant. When a guardian is ready to evolve, it'll tell you and you can click the "Evolve" button. Add Kongregate friends and ask them for those evolution items--it's easy!

Below is a table of all the guardians and their evolution levels. If the evolution level is marked with ?? this means it likely evolves after the current level cap of 30, and we have yet to see it.
Firball -- lv. 12 --> Firslash -- lv. 31 --> Firstomp
Crabby -- lv. 12 --> Crabbicle -- lv. 31 --> Crusticon
Vinibble -- lv. 12 --> Vinibark -- lv. 31 --> Barkicus
Mooky -- lv. 13 --> Kowa -- lv. ?? --> Oxin
Feng -- lv. 14 --> Fengal -- lv. 30 --> Fenrir
Cubby -- lv. 20 --> Lyon -- lv. ?? --> Kingston
Fizard -- lv. 12 --> Fizzler -- lv. 31 --> Fizzilla
Orkkid -- lv. 12 --> Orkhan -- lv. 31 --> Orkillion
Squiddy -- lv. 12 --> Squiddle -- lv. 31 --> Squidzilla
Treedle -- lv. 17 --> Treedoo -- lv. ?? --> Treezer
Flicker -- lv. 20 --> Flame -- lv. ?? --> Inferno
Bhadington -- lv. 29 --> Bhadusa -- lv. ?? --> Bhagoda
Psilo -- lv. 30 --> Psiwren -- lv. ?? --> Psilock
Zaat -- lv. 21 --> Zaatango -- lv. ?? --> Zaatzilla
TskTsk -- lv. 28 --> Tukker -- lv. ?? --> Tusker
Plodder -- lv. 28 --> Strider -- lv. ?? --> Crusher
Rhocko -- lv. 26 --> Kryhorn -- lv. ?? --> Rockhing
Gebble -- lv. 27 --> Gembler -- lv. ?? --> Grounder
Heroic Feng -- lv. 14 --> Heroic Fengal -- lv. 30 --> Heroic Fenrir
Squilly -- lv. 18 --> Squail -- lv. ?? --> Squallard
Heroic Puffer -- lv. 18 --> Heroic Puffinscratch -- lv. ?? --> Heroic Bobbinkat
Wooter -- lv. 26 --> Clawbird -- lv. ?? --> Serpird
Whirly -- lv. 27 --> Whirlin -- lv. ?? --> Whirvish
Mozzy -- lv. 19 --> Zilly -- lv. ?? --> Firefox
Snippy -- lv. 20 --> Snapdragon -- lv. ?? --> Dragonthistle
Turtli -- lv. 18 --> Tortor -- lv. ?? --> Tortilla
Clayper -- lv. 17 --> Serpebble -- lv. ?? --> Boalder
Puffer -- lv. 18 --> Puffinscratch -- lv. ?? --> Bobbinkat
Lizzy -- lv. 20 --> Lizfu -- lv. ?? --> Lizilla
BunBun -- lv. 17 --> Rappid -- lv. ?? --> Rabbsputin

Q. How do I add friends?
A. Add them on Kong by clicking their name in chat. If they don't show up in your friends bar, try refreshing the page.

Q. What's the best starter?
A. At the moment, the best starter is Vinibble. This is due to some peculiarities in Guardian availability that mean the best Nature and Water-type guardians aren't available until much later in the game.

After defeating the Uberfeng, you'll receive the Guardian that YOUR guardian has a type advantage against. So:

Choose Firball and receive Vinibble, find Fizard in the early woods.
Choose Crabby and receive Firball, find Squiddy in the early woods.
Choose Vinibble and receive Crabby, find Orkkid in the early woods.

Q. Do I HAVE to catch the Feng/Mooky?
A. Yeah. Suck it up. Feng is a great normal type, and there really aren't any other alternative monsters until around level 17. Train Mooky as best you can, and then sell it later for some extra Trainer Tokens. Speaking of...

Q. How do I sell a Guardian?!
A. You'll need five Guardians, actually. The game requires you to have a full 4-guardian team at all times. Catch another Guardian, switch the one you want to sell into storage (My Team > Click the yellow refresh arrows) and then approach the man on the right in the Guardian Center.

Q. I can't train my low-level Guardians. ; ;
A. Don't panic! I know you probably trained your starter to level 5, and now your brand new Feng is just one-shotted off the face of the Earth. Just change your team around so that the Guardian you want to train is the first in your party. Then, as soon as a battle starts, switch to a more powerful Guardian and win the fight. Your two Guardians will share the experience. Ta-da!

Q. Can I catch the Uberfeng?!
A. No.

Q. Where do certain Guardians appear?
A. Before you defeat the first gym you only have access to Feng, Mooky, and either Fizard, Squiddy, or Orkkid depending on your starter.

At level 15...once you reach the Wooded Forest, you'll find Treedle, Zaat, and Flicker on an uncommon basis, as well as Fizard, Squiddy and Orkkid (with starter restrictions now lifted). Cubby, Mooky, and Feng will be common. Bhadington is behind a toll.

At level 19...if you've made it to Shady Vale, wander around in the mountains for Rhocko and Plodder, and find Gebble in the caves. TskTsk is behind a toll.

At level 25...after the second gym, head South of Vale and into the desert entrance. There you can find Whirly, Wooter, Snippy, Lizzy, and Mozzy, all around level 25.

At level 28...Past the Desert Toll, you'll find Clayper, Turtli, BunBun and Puffer in the wild. Psilo is behind a toll.

Q. Trainer Tokens?! Help meeeee.
A. Trainer tokens are Mystic Guardian's premium currency. You receive them in one of two ways (barring purchases):

1) Defeating a trainer for the first time.
2) Selling a Guardian that you've leveled up. You will receive one token for each level the guardian has gained under your care.
Uses for Tokens

Items (Not Recommended): You can purchase bombs, potions, and capture discs for tokens, all of which are available through collections or for gold, and none of which afford you a significant advantage.

Conveniences (Not Recommended): You can scan trainers to preview their Guardian types, teleport back to town, ward off wild guardians, reset the trainer timer, or heal out on the field. These are just time saving measures.

Stat Boosts (Buy cautiously): Certainly an effective usage of tokens, but note that if you sell a guardian you've invested tokens into, you will not receive those tokens back.

Abilities/Ability Upgrades (Unsure): You can upgrade the power/effectiveness of abilities at the Guardian Center. I have not experimented with this much, so I have no opinion yet. You can also unlock abilities--avoid this until you're sure that your guardian won't learn that ability on its own.

Guardian Tolls (Depends): There are several tolls throughout the game that bar access to rare guardians.

Bhadington is a thoroughly mediocre Fire type that is inferior to Flicker. However, one also gains access to the Charred Forest and its 21 trainers (and therefore 21 tokens) of experience.

TskTsk is a powerful water type. You won't find one on par with it until Turtli in the desert.

Psilo is a thoroughly mediocre Nature type. Not recommended.

The Desert Toll (Recommended): In order to progress in the game and fight the 3rd gym leader, one must pay 100 tokens to pass the Desert Toll, south of Vale. There is TONS of content here, including two epic bosses, the 3rd gym leader, and plenty of quests (and trainers!). I highly recommend saving for this one.

Q. A CHEST. I WANT IT, NOT OPENING.
A. Ask your friends! It functions the same way as asking for evolution items.

Q. What is this leaf/diamond/fruit/whatever for?
A. If it doesn't have an immediately obvious use, chances are it's part of a collection. Item collections can be turned in for useful battle items such as potions, bombs, or other things.

Q. Where is the Serpent Stone?
A. It's up and to the left. Also, just try exploring a bit on your own, would you? Yikes. o_o

Q. Type advantages are confusing. D:
A. While not technically a question, here's some information concerning type advantages. You have the first three elements which operate in a circle: Fire > Grass > Water > Fire, as you'd expect. Then there are three more elements: Normal, Rock, and Wind, which operate a bit differently.
Normal > Wind
Rock > Normal
Water > Rock

Yes, Wind doesn't have a type-advantage. But it turns out that Wind Guardians have super strong Special Attack--don't underestimate them. One more thing--anything that has an advantage against another type also takes reduced damage from that type.

Q. Where is PVP?
A. Head South of New Haven until you find a sign that says "PVP". Alternately, look for a similar sign in Vale.

Q. Rhocko or Plodder?
A. Some (cough Jick) have a love for Rhocko, but Plodder wins out for two reasons. First, and probably most importantly, Plodder is required to reach the 2nd gym. A man will ask you to show him a Plodder level 20 (don't worry! You get to keep it!) before you can continue in the storyline. For a statistical analysis on why Plodder is better, refer to tlo's analysis.

Q. I have no more questions.
A. Finally! If you are still curious just ask in chat. See you in game!

Advanced Analysis [Under Construction]

So, you're past at least the first gym, finally ditched your Mooky, and thinking about what you may want to build for later. This section is for you.

The Damage Formula

Wondering how damage is actually calculated? Here's the current best approximation of the damage formula, from the DJArts Forums: (2 * A - D) * P * E * [.85, 1.15] / 16

A = Your Guardian's Attack
D = Opposing Guardian's Defense
P = Attack's Power
E = Effectiveness Modifier (Ranges from .25 to 2.0)
[.85, 1.15] is the randomizer
16 is a normalizing constant.

From this we can immediate conclude several things. First, and most importantly, Attack is twice as valuable as Defense. If two otherwise identical guardians level up and one receives a point in attack while the other receives a point in defense, the attack guardian now does 1 point of extra damage.

This also allows us to calculate the effects of stat buffs and potions. I averaged data I had to create a typical Vinibark at level 30--it's a bit weaker than it should be, but it works for this example. I then calculated the damage one would do to the other with varying stat buffs and debuffs.

A normal attack would do a minimum of 67 damage and a maximum of 90 damage for an average hit of 79 damage.
After using Wild Growth, it would do a minimum of 74 damage and a maximum of 100 damage for an average hit of 87 damage.
If the opponent used Bark Skin, it would do a minimum of 64 damage and a maximum of 87 damage for an average hit of 75 damage.
If the opponent used Bop, it would do a minimum of 60 damage and a maximum of 81 damage for an average hit of 71 damage.
If you had used Wither, it would do a minimum of 71 damage and a maximum of 96 damage for an average hit of 83 damage.

Leveling Up

During your course of exploration you may have wandered over to the DJArts Mystic Guardians website, where they provide what appears to be stats bars for all the guardians in the game (except BunBun, for some reason. Not that I miss seeing that monstrosity...). However, these bars are misleading. They simply represent that guardian's stats if it were freshly caught at level 1. These base statistics do not give any indication as to how the guardian will level up.

Luckily we have a ton of statistics gathered from Kong players that Wallets and I have begun to parse. First, however, a quick explanation of how the leveling system works according to the devs:

"When a guardian levels usually 10pts are randomly distributed to the stats (pts put on health count as +3) using weights based on the level up type the Guardian has. There is a level up type that focuses on each stat, as well as a balanced level up type."