Talk:Fiend of Destruction - Azathoth/@comment-16894369-20180119154830

Despite Prologue of the Universe is not closed yet, many returning players and veterans may have spent the diamonds and unable to get Azathoth. This makes picking Azazoth as the 5-year draw a very appealing option.

More details about the 5-year draw can be seen here: User:Blueeighthnote/5YearDraw.

For some players who cannot choose between certain top-tier leaders (such as the dilemma between Ophiuchus, Azathoth), here is my analysis!

Overview
Azathoth, being the long-awaited Dragon leader, made a splash into the metagame. The public knowledge that "Dragons are slow and steady" is completely subverted by the team's ability to smash stages fast, a direct damage as a team skill, and forced drop of Enchanted dark runestones at the sides depending on how many combos are made.

The optimal setup for the dragons is the same as before, sans the Dark converters. Returning and veteran players can immediately make use of them if they have a dragon deck.

The active skill of Azathoth clears the board when the team is made of only dragons, effectively making locked, masked, electrified, frozen, weathered and weakened runestones not an issue. Virtually no turning is required after activation.

There are certain shortcomings when it needs to deal with Enchanted fusion shields, Overheal shields, or stalling, because of its low recovery. Having Novalis is required to build an optimal team (Ursula is also recommended to have), as, without it, the world-renowned hyper burst cannot be achieved as easily.

Azathoth is best used as a multi-attribute team focused on Dark, although a pure Dark team is still possible, and can be an interesting alternative to a traditional dark team if the player owns Masamune.

Summary
PROS:
 * Dual Leader multiplier - Max 40.96x Dragons (at least 1.71x of Copper Bullet)
 * HP multiplier - 1.69x Dragons
 * Able to drop enchanted dark runestones at the sides depending on how many combos are made
 * Launches a 500k direct damage upon dissolving 10 runestones first batch, and 1.5M direct damage while absorbing 1% of damage dealt upon dissolving 30 runestones first batch. Recovers 50% team HP when one enemy is defeated.
 * -3 Initial CD of Dark Dragons upon entering the stage.
 * Clears pure Dragon achievement - the metagame's top pick due to little competition
 * Decent Board-solving: The active skill clears board, negating certain board hazards such as electrified, weathered, locked, weakened runestones.
 * High HP: Being a high HP Dragon team, it can tank many hits from the enemy, or certain high-damage attacks.
 * Consistent Attack: The dropped Enchanted Dark runestones ensures that the team will not suffer lack of attacking runestones. The damage after activating Novalis is simply crushing, to say the least.
 * Using the old-time members: The team utilizes the same old Dragons that flourished in the past, plus a few newcomers (Ex: Colin)

CONS:
 * Bad Recovery: Recovery is half of most teams due to being pure dragon and no recovery boosts
 * Stalling is a tall order for Azathoth, requiring the user to strategize beforehand.
 * Unlike many traditional dragon teams before it, it cannot absorb HP from enemies like Ursula - it instead relies on members
 * Fears Neutralize EX: If there are not enough Dark dragons in the team, the presence of a stage cramming neutralizing skills everywhere will deter the use of this team.
 * Low combos during bursting if not careful: If there are too many Dark dragons in the team, or if they are not optimally spaced (Dark dragons need to interlace with Non-dark dragons), the resulting board from Azathoth's active skill might not allow good number of combos made.
 * Not a lot of variety: Because the team is centered around Novalis, other dragon setups are suboptimal and are discouraged.

My suggestion
If you own an expansive dragon deck and want a great Dragon for the metagame, especially if you own Novalis, Azathoth is an excellent pick.

Select the 5-year draw as "Dark Dragon" and you are guaranteed to get Azathoth, because there are very few Dark Dragons available for drawing.

Though, if you do not own Novalis, I will not suggest going for Azathoth, unless you somehow got Novalis while attempting to get a Black Diamond Card or something......


 * Dark Dragons:
 * Note that if you currently have Azathoth but no Novalis, I don't really suggest going for Novalis as the 5-year draw - there might be a leader out there that's more important!