So you want to learn the secrets of using brands to their most effective ends. I don’t blame you. Use this knowledge well, and you might be able to take those other PvP teams in SMT: Liberation Dx2 to task.

Dx2 is one of the most entertaining and yet strategy-minded mobile games I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. While your demons are presented to you within the five archetypes: red, teal, orange, purple and common/gray, they are not really bound to their initial statuses at all. A 4* Zhong Kui is presented to you as a hard hitting physical single-target who is weak to force, but you could make him into a caster with no weaknesses if you’d like. It’s not recommended to ignore min/maxing but Dx2 is about making your team how you want to. Here’s mine below:

How to Use Your Brands To Their Highest Potential

At the heart of the pliability that is inherent in Dx2 demon-customization system is the brand system. The in-game tutorial likens brands to pieces of armor. One for each demon’s head, chest, legs, right and left arms. Each brand comes with a rarity, specialization, and unique stat distribution.

Rarity: Brands can be anywhere between 1-star and 6-star, with that largely affecting the quantities of stats and likelihood of better stat types of occurring (for instance +phys atk as primary stat is higher likelihood on a 6-star than 1-star)

Specialization: Each brand can be of the following types. Shield, guard, speed, ward, divine, spell, sick, war, and life. Those first four have two-set bonuses while the last five have three-set bonuses. Be sure to have a concurrent 2-set and 3-set bonus going for each of your demons.

Stat Distribution: Depending on the slot (chest, head, legs, etc), you can find different types of stats. Some brand slots like the leg slot only allow HP+ as the primary stat of a brand. The best brands have their primary stat as a percentage of what you’d like. For example, if you’re a melee hard-hitter, you’ll be looking for phys% increase to be the first stat listed on your brands.

What Kinds of Brands Should I Equip?

Every brand set-up is situational, so I’ll use my own demons as examples. My Teal Ose 6-star has the following set-up.

As you can see, I have huge bonuses to physical attack and health, with a minor focus on speed, ailment resistances and magic defense. Since Ose doesn’t take physical attacks, there’s absolutely no reason to have physical defense. Go all in on magic defense and physical attack, I say. His set bonuses boost both of those, so it’s important to be consistent.

Next up is Sandalphon:

+31% health coupled with +55% magic defense makes my Sandy as beefy as they come. Since he comes naturally with resist physical, it’s unimportant to invest too much in physical defense, as you’ll see I only have 3% extra. His set bonuses give him greater magical defense and spell damage for his Hamadyne and Zandyne.

My other two are Zhong Kui and Odin. I have Zhong set up with a purist melee set-up coupled with resist physical to make him a harder target to take down. For Odin, I made him more of a hybrid with equal parts physical attack and magical attack. His Gungir is nice, but not all that useful with null physical lurking around every corner, so it’s important to buff his Lightning Storm and Bufula.

Flat Bonus vs. Percentage Bonus

You’ll notice very early on that you can find brands with % increases as well as ones with flat + increases. If you’re looking to increase your health, you’ll have to look into how much you’ll gain from a flat increase versus percentage.

Flat bonuses with high-level enhanced brands help out low-level not-yet-fully-evolved demons more than they do max-level demons. A level one pixie with 6* brands with all flat increases will hit like a truck in your quests. That same pixie with percentage increases will only make her slightly better. Remember, every time you evolve your demon and increase its level cap by five, you’re increasing it by a level of magnitude. The higher your demon can go, the better those percentages will work for you. Think about the long-run. At level 50, you’ll be wanting as many high-percentage-based brands as you can find. Don’t ignore the tertiary stats either.

If You Want to Win: Master Your Brands

The end-game of Dx2 is PvP. You won’t get very far in PvP without brands. Think of it as running naked onto the battlefield. Take the time to study up on your different demons and how you could be itemizing them better. Remember, the top-most stat on each brand will be buffed to a higher extent while enhancing than any of the lower items. So, while farming Brands of Sin, keep an eye out of brands that have the desired stat in the pole position. You should have Sloth 7 and Deceit 7 on auto-farm in order to get 5-star brands. Any of the higher Brands of Sin modes will require an entirely specialized team to conquer. Also keep an eye out on the black market for that rare 6-star goody. As always, have a swell day. I look forward to seeing you again.