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Gem spending guide

Duel Links how to use Gems, the best packs to buy, cards you should get by spending gems, duel links meta decks.
update 23/04/2018

Gem guide & Easily Accessible decks

Currently there are 10 main boxes (200 packs/box), 10 mini boxes (80 packs/box) and 5 structure decks available in the game, which could seem pretty overwhelming when you first start out. If you feel kind of lost this guide might help you get a sense of direction on what to go for first.

The most important question you first have to ask yourself is what do you want to play. In the end it’s just a game and you should try to get the most enjoyment out of it. If you enjoy being competitive then you should focus on making one of the meta deck first. If you enjoy the nostalgia this game has to offer and just want to play with your favorite cards like Dark Magician of Chaos there is nothing wrong with that. Just look through ea ch of the boxes for the cards that you loved when playing with friends or in the TCG and go for them.

If you’ve never played Yu-Gi-Oh! before or don’t have any preference for certain cards or decks, but want to enjoy the PvP aspect this game has to offer you should first check out what decks are relevant in the meta.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links is in a great state right now because there are countless decks that are relevant in the META and able to hit KoG (King of Games, the highest rank on the PvP ladder).

Not only are there a lot of decks viable right now, but a lot of the core of these decks can be made by just buying packs from one box instead of having to dig through multiple decks.

If you just started playing you might first want to check out our guide on what packs a new player should buy; http://duellinks.gamea.co/c/f3w62204?tpage=2 . This guide will get you started when you acquire your first gems without the need to farm for cards or get ranked rewards.

In this guide we’ll advise you what decks to invest in when you receive more gems through events and levelling up characters, and when you start picking up cards from the Card Trader and Ranked Rewards.

Current meta decks

DeckCostTier

Cyber Angel
Expensive1

Sylvan
Budget - Expensive1

Masked HERO
Expensive1

Geargia
Budget-Expensive1

Spellbook
Expensive1

Amazoness
Budget1

Alien
Budget2

Archfiend Emperor
Expensive2

Sea Stealth Attack
Expensive2

red eyes zombie
Expensive2

Golden Flying Fish
F2P - Budget2

Gaia Plate
Budget - Expensive2

Hazy Flame
Budget2

Sea Stealth Attack, Aliens and Abyssal Encounters

If you followed our guide when first starting out, you might have invested in the main box Abyssal Encounters to make an Alien deck. This deck is without a doubt the strongest F2P friendly deck right now because the core cards are Normals or Rares , on average the core of this deck can be assembled after buying just 100 packs.

EXAMPLE DECK - CORE

The remaining slots are best filled with Powerful Rebirth and Wall of Disruption, or other defensive cards.

Alien OverlordAlien TelepathAlien TelepathAlien TelepathAlien WarriorAlien Warrior
Alien WarriorAlien Grey"A" Cell Recomposition Device"A" Cell Recomposition Device"A" Cell Recomposition DeviceEnemy Controller
Enemy ControllerEnemy ControllerBrainwashing BeamBrainwashing Beam

Since you already bought packs from this main box, you could continue to invest to create a very powerful water deck revolving around arguably the strongest card in Duel Links “Sea Stealth Attack”.

Below we will show you an example deck if you bought out this box just once , and also an optimal build which requires you to reset that box.

EXAMPLE DECK

Citadel WhaleCitadel WhaleThe Legendary Fisherman IIAbyss SoldierGishki ChainHammer Shark
Hammer SharkHammer SharkFishborg PlanterFishborg PlanterFishborg PlanterOyster Meister
Beautunaful PrincessWarrior of AtlantisWarrior of AtlantisA Legendary OceanEnemy ControllerEnemy Controller
Sea Stealth AttackSea Stealth Attack
[Skill] descriptionUser
Mythic Depths
Begins Duel with the Field Spell "Umi" activated.
Mako Tsunami
Mako Tsunami

EXAMPLE DECK - OPTIMAL BUILD

Citadel WhaleCitadel WhaleCitadel WhaleAbyss SoldierAbyss SoldierAbyss Soldier
Gishki ChainGishki ChainHammer SharkHammer SharkHammer SharkFishborg Planter
Fishborg PlanterFishborg PlanterOyster MeisterBeautunaful PrincessEnemy ControllerEnemy Controller
Enemy ControllerSea Stealth Attack
[Skill] descriptionUser
Mythic Depths
Begins Duel with the Field Spell "Umi" activated.
Mako Tsunami
Mako Tsunami

When you bought packs from Abyssal Encounters, you’ll also pick up the monster card Golden Flying Fish, which a whole deck can be made around of as well, but to run that deck you’ll need to pick up some spells/traps from other boxes like Powerful Rebirth. A guide on this deck can be found here: http://duellinks.gamea.co/c/47cwi97h .

Sylvans and Rampage of the Forest

Another new powerful deck that can be made by just investing in the mini box Rampage of The Forest is a Sylvan deck. You will need to pick up Rose Lover from the Card Trader but beside that, most cards (which are monster cards) can be obtained from this mini box. You’ll need to reset this box though because you’ll want at least 2 copies of Sylvan Komushroomo (optimally 3).

Example Deck

Sylvan KomushroomoSylvan KomushroomoSylvan KomushroomoSylvan MarshalleafSylvan MarshalleafSylvan Marshalleaf
Sylvan HermitreeSylvan HermitreeSylvan HermitreeSylvan FlowerknightSylvan FlowerknightSylvan Flowerknight
Sylvan GuardioakRose LoverRose LoverRose LoverWorld Carrotweight ChampionEnemy Controller
Hey, Trunade!Dark Core
[Skill] descriptionUser
Restart
Can be used only once after starting hands are dealt. Reveal and redraw your starting hand.
Yugi Muto
Yugi Muto

Gladiator Beasts & Cosmic Origins

If you invest in the main box Cosmic Origins you’ll pick up the core monsters needed for a Gladiator Beast deck, which although has lost some momentum, is still a very powerful deck in the right hands. Below we’ll show the core of the deck if you would buy out this main box just once without resetting.

Example Deck Core

But just like some other decks you’ll have to fill up those remaining slots with strong defensive cards from other boxes, most notable wall of disruption.

Gladiator Beast LaquariGladiator Beast LaquariGladiator Beast BestiariGladiator Beast BestiariGladiator Beast MurmilloGladiator Beast Murmillo
Gladiator Beast DimacariImpenetrable AttackImpenetrable AttackEnemy ControllerEnemy ControllerEnemy Controller
------
--

Aromages

Some archetypes are locked behind the Card Trader or Farm Events and not packs.
One of those archetypes, Aromages, can be made almost entirely by obtaining cards from the Card Trader and ranked rewards, which require no gem investment.

Example Deck Core

this build leaves room for 6 cards, those slots can be filled with cards such as The Spell Absorbing Life, which is a Rare card from Ultimate Rising. But if you don’t want to invest in that box you could just use good spell/traps you picked up while going through other boxes, like Wall of Disruption, Super Rush Headlong, Floodgate Trap Hole, … Or even Inverse Universe, a card that dropped during the Syrus event, which has proven itself to have great synergy with this deck.

Aromage JasmineAromage JasmineAromage JasmineAromage RosemaryAromage RosemaryAromage Rosemary
Aromage BergamotAromage BergamotRose LoverRose LoverRose ArcherAroma Garden
Aroma GardenAroma Garden----
--

Dinos

Another archetype that has proven itself to be very resilient are dinosaurs. Although you will need to pick up some good spells/traps to support your high attack dinosaurs (thanks to the field spell with Rex Raptor), the core of this deck can be acquired by exchanging tickets and levelling up Bastion. If you missed out on Evilswarm Salamandra you’ll unfortunately have to wait until he becomes available again.

Example Deck Core

Some good cards to fill up the remaining slots are; Super Rush Headlong, Mirror Wall, Wall of Disruption, Fire Formation - Gyokkou, Xing Zheng Hu, Cosmic Cyclone, Powerful Rebirth. As you can see there are a lot of options so as soon as you start investing in some boxes for other decks, you will automatically pick up good cards for this deck as well.

Evilswarm SalamandraEvilswarm SalamandraEvilswarm SalamandraBlack BrachiosBlack BrachiosBlack Brachios
HydrogeddonHydrogeddonHydrogeddonEnemy ControllerEnemy ControllerEnemy Controller
------
--
[Skill] descriptionUser
Dinosaur Kingdom (skill)
Begin duel with the field spell "Jurassic World" activated.
Rex Raptor
Rex Raptor

Boxes not worth investing in

Currently these are the boxes we would NOT advise you to spend gems on if you want to focus on being competitive first;

Age of Discovery, Wonders of the Sky, Chaotic Compliance, Land of the Titans, Echoes of Silence, Resonance of Contrast

Although these boxes have cards that might see use again in the future they currently don’t hold many (or any) UR/SRs that are viable in this meta or hold an archetype around which a META deck can be made.

Valkyrie’s Rage isn’t a great box ether currently, it holds some good cards like Soul Exchange and Nobleman of Extermination, but no cards that are actually needed right now in meta decks. So for now you might want to skip it and maybe buy from it in the future when the cards in that box become more relevant.

We also do not recommend buying any of the structure decks as they simply are not good, except for the latest structure deck, Destiny Rulers which does hold a lot of potential however you’ll have to buy it multiple times, which isn’t possible which just gems.

Cards to consider getting before resetting

If you are very new to the game, you might not know this but every card you see on the summary screen of a box with a number written on top of it, is the amount of times that card is in that box, meaning if you buy every last pack from a box you will get every card that you saw, this is a great system because it means that you will get the cards you want at some point, yes there is still a bit of luck involved, but you won’t be that unlucky that you never would get the card (which is the case for other games). Because of this system you can actually decide when to reset a box and put in all the cards again to try and get multiple copies.

If you are going to go multiple times through a box (for example Neo-Impact to build a Cyber angels deck) I’ll provide a list of cards for each box that you maybe should consider going for in case you are already deep into the box. If you are only 20 packs into a box and got the card you want you should of course reset, but if there are only 50 cards remaining in a box after you have gotten the card you want, you should carefully consider if it’s worth it to continue for a card you might need in the future. I’ll only include URs for the main boxes as you’ll probably get every SR 3 times when going through a box more than once. However since mini boxes only contain the SRs once I’ll also include those in the list.

Additional Notes

As you can see there are a lot of cards spread out that have a lot of potential, but like I said, focus on one deck first, don’t try to get everything all at once.

Just remember, a new player can currently unlock 25 playable characters, and each character alone gives about 2300 gems just by getting to max level. That’s a total of 1150 packs just by leveling up everyone to lvl 40. If you don’t care for current cards available through level up, focus on getting all characters to lvl 30 first to get the most gems in the shortest amount of time.

If you first buy a box (when all the packs are still in the box) don’t immediately buy 10 at a time, buy them one at a time, that way if you open a good card in the first few packs it might already be worth it to reset the box.

At the bottom of the screen when looking at a box, there is an option called “bulk settings” , it is best not to tinker with this too much if you don’t buy 30 packs at a time, only use it when buying in bulk like it says.

When a new event is added to the game, people will always try and “farm” that character. When doing such a farm, people try to acquire the most points (Duel Assessment) at the end of the duel to get as much rewards as possible (8 being the maximum). To do so people build special decks that counter the cards used by that NPC and stall until the very last card before doing a combo. These decks often use cards that normally don’t see any competitive play and require you to buy packs for them. However, because the droprate of cards from NPCs seems to have been increased, and Konami has added special missions during these events to gain these cards anyway, I do not think it is worth it to spend thousands of gems just to be able to farm one event. GameA will always try and provide the most optimal farm decks and also cheap farm decks, however if you are not able to make such a deck, just try and aim for a duel assessment of 3-4k and in the end you will get the cards as well , but it’ll take a bit more duels than the average player.

Comments

Hot New Top
not KoG
I suggest holding out your gems as Harpy decks are the new Shiranui.
<< Anonymous(not KoG)
Anonymous Reply
That's what blue eyes will become.

Mark this comment: once BE gets nerfed they are gonna start running >8 backrow to compensate
<< Anonymous
anonymous Reply
BE wont get nerf. it just simple deck full of vanilla. easy to understood each effect. not like other archetype that have long statement but final result is 1 (Crystron) destroy!! (Onomatoplay) XYZ!! Etc...

BE is simple. i set a card i end my turn. i activate consonance i end my turn, white stone effect, no battle phases. your turn Cosmic Cyclone karma cut. 🔥 Blue eyes see simple
<< Anonymous(anonymous)
Anonymous Reply
Yea? Darklord is very simple too. Just summon FA Hang on Mach and level aug. But I bet we all still want it to be nerfed.
<< Anonymous
Anonymous Reply
Imo both level augmentation and level duplication will be nerfed to last until the end of main phase.
Anonymous
I got a bit over 10,000 gems saved and I already have a Mask Heroes deck. Should I invest in a Spellbook deck or wait to see how good Fur Hire is?
<< Anonymous
Anonymous Reply
Fur hire is now nerfed,it's not META or even good anymore.
<< Anonymous
Anonymous Reply
Lol, not good my ass, KC Cup has a ton of SSA Fur Hire users on higher ranks.
<< Anonymous
Anonymous Reply
I know the above is an old post, but....

SSA what
<< Anonymous
Anonymous Reply
Well, Fur Hire does have a high level WATER monster, but....yeah, SSA is a waste on that deck, since there's only like, 1 monster it supports.
Candend
Currently the boxes that worth investing are Blazing Rose (Metaphys, Vermillion Dragon Mech), Dark Dimension (Invoked & Gravekeeper, Quintet Magician), Future Horizon (Cyber Dragon, Dark Magical Circle), Judgment Force (Lunalight, Blue-Eyes Synchro), Guardians of Rock (Electromagnet, Eatos, Magician Navigation), Soul of Ressurection (Shiranui)
<< Anonymous(Candend)
Cannotdstart Reply
Agreed. Pretty accurate
<< Anonymous(Cannotdstart)
Anonymous Reply
Nothing F2P here if no box older than 2 years cannot guarantee by itself alone a tournament winning deck.
<< Anonymous
Anonymous Reply
^
Your logic is terrible, you're basically saying that Konami should never sell new cards to get profit. No one would bother buying new stuff if the 2 years old stuff still works, and without profit the game is dead.
<< Anonymous
Anonymous Reply
Konami already did well balancing the F2P needs while also selling new stuffs, anyway.
Anonymous
update this shi t.you can go the fun way then restart from a new account if you dont have enough gems
<< Anonymous
Anonymous Reply
to be competetive
Anonymous
>>>limits max gems at 9999 and the surplus must be used in a month
>>>> gives energy from time to time to duel SD to get xp and gems for level ups
Tell me that limiting at 9999 is not a cash grab attempt.Why give energy to motivate u playing if limit at 9999? i tell u why u motivate to get gems but to spend them asap too so you will run out and have to pay cash
if you decide to not play you lose the SD duels energy.masterfully planned but it can be seen through.
limit max gems at 99999
Anonymous
How do I get a total of 3 cards like Vision Hero Vyon, when they are only found in structure deck destiny?
<< Anonymous
Anonymous Reply
Buy the structure deck 3 times.

....Why would you want 3 Vyon though, considering it is getting Limited very soon.....

Unless you just use it as an example.
Anonymous
So outdated lol
<< Anonymous
WhaNOLRdius Reply
Yes, sadly it is.

<< Anonymous(WhaNOLRdius)
Corey Reply
What would you recommend then if not furies since it’s outdated whanolrdius
<< Anonymous(Corey )
Anonymous Reply
Vampires are pretty easy to build 2 reset from the box plus some samurai skulls and Gozuki's.
Corey
I have over 4K gems and decided to build a fur hires deck should I buy one pack or am I able to complete the deck faster by buying 10 packs ? I am going to be using this deck to get me higher on the pvp ladder and farther in campaign
Corey
What’s the best cheap gem deck for either campaign or competitive like what packs should I open I’m on stage 9 3000 gems don’t wanna pay only want to use gems ?
<< Anonymous(Corey )
Anonymous Reply
you could wait for synchros or spend some gems getting servant of kings packs. Servant of kings has staples like wall of d, forbidden chalice, and draining shield which are pretty heavily used. Alternatively you could buy furries which are still meta for now.
Archknight
The newest meta deck that is pretty easy to obtain is the Fur Hire deck. Check it out if you want to be instantly competitive.
<< Anonymous(Archknight)
WhaNOLRdius Reply
See, your wrong, people should always go the path if the Daedalus SSA.
It will murder that deck
<< Anonymous(Archknight)
cvmz Reply
Yes I recommend people buy clash of wings for a fur hire deck
Kyoshiru
What happens if you don't receive the gems in your gift box before the date on the description? Will you lose those gems?
<< Anonymous(Kyoshiru)
Anonymous Reply
Yeah, they're disappear
<< Anonymous
Xenon Reply
That's one of the methods to waste gems and receiving nothing in return. :D
Syfodias
I would recommend spending your first gems on the mini box; Blades of Spirits. It has all the cards to get a nice starting deck including backrow. It can be used for PVP aswell to get you far. Then after you save up gems from lvl up and events you can get more 6 samurai from the latest box or get a completely deifferent deck. A nice starting deck I used is:

Great Shogun Shien X1
Zanji X2
Yaichi X2
Irou X2
Hand of the 6 samurai X2
Kamon X2

Powerful Rebirth X1
Swiftstrike armor X1
Shien castle of Mist X1
Copy Knight X1

Paralel Twister X1

From the card trader you can get:

Riryoku/ Lucky Iron axe but basicly something to get a little more Attack for the monsters.

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