Table of Contents
Introduction: Why is it difficult to choose which grade 3s to run?
Dimension Police, being a clan that heavily relies on grade 3s for its offense and defense, has a plethora of options for choosing which grade 3s to use. Unfortunately, because there is only so much that you can put in your grade 3 line-up, a player must be careful in choosing which grade 3s to choose and have a solid win condition in mind to know which units among the many competing ones to put in their line-up. Usually, a Dimension Police deck runs at least 10 grade 3s, but with the introduction of heal guardians and more cards that reward the player for revealing grade 3s during drive check, it becomes imperative to run more than that; 17 becomes the good new standard for running grade 3s in a Dimension Police deck without too much risk of bricking during the early game. With so many good units to choose from a plethora of options, it can be quite difficult to decide which units deserve a spot in the line-up.
What should I keep in mind: guard breaks, situational cards, and more
Before we start to decide which grade 3 units are going in your line-up, we must first ask ourselves: How many grade 3s are optimal for Dimension Police? As mentioned before, you’re looking at at least 10 grade 3 units, but that itself is quite problematic. First, you have to factor in the fact that some of the time, your grade 3s will go into your damage zone or be used as guardians from hand via Geomaglass’s effect. Thus, we can say that such grade 3s are more or less “passive” units, because they do not directly aid you in your offensive plays that serve to end the game. With that in mind, it would be better to run around 12-13 grade 3s, as it gives you a decent chance of not bricking and at the same time, you have more potential active units to work with after you have used your units to guard your opponent’s attacks.
With the introduction of heal guardians, this brings up the number to around 16-17, and it’s now possible to go lower because your heal guardians will still be treated as grade 3 units anyway, and reducing say at least two grade 3 units in your line up will not hurt you too much, as you still have 15-16 grade 3 units to work within your deck. Thus, for the purpose of this article, we would assume that a 16 is the optimal number for grade 3 units including heal guardians, leaving us with 12 possible grade 3 units to choose from in your line-up.
The next thing to consider is what your game plan should be. Typically, you would want units that can support your vanguard and make it more threatening, with having threatening rearguards as your second priority. The first priority of course, is your main vanguard who can benefit you both on your first ride and for the rest of the game. To decide which grade 3 units are worth running, I came up with some criteria that I refer to when deciding which grade 3 units would be worth running in my deck. These criteria are what, in my opinion, make certain grade 3 units worthy of being put in the deck because of how they will benefit me in the mid to late game.
Criteria: How should I decide?
- First Ride Potential – Because the offensive potential of Dimension Police starts during the turn they are able to ride to a grade 3, it is important to have a unit that your opponent will be forced to respect, especially when you are going first. This lead grade 3 primarily serves to force cards out of your opponent’s cards through a high-powered attack or help you survive your opponent’s stride turn by providing you with defensive options if you went second. The best outcome for this grade 3 is to force a perfect guard out of your opponent or to bring them to four damage, which allows you to push for a win next turn if all goes well.
- Late Game Utility – After your first grade 3 ride, you would want a unit that can reliably function as the heart card or as a backup plan in case you aren’t able to stride that turn. Such a unit may support you by being able to function outside of their offensive peak or give you plusses that help you weather out attacks. These units are usually best used for when the game goes on long or even close out games by either providing you with the last, powerful push you need or help force out cards from your opponent to end the game more smoothly on your next turn.
- Conditions and Cost – Dimension Police is a resource-heavy clan and thus must plan well to ensure that they do not get denied resources. In addition, certain units are better because of how easy it is to go through their conditions, even granting you some forms of offense or utility in specific situations. Units with low cost and easy conditions are really good because you would want to be able to make threatening attacks without committing too much of your resources.
- Versatility and Situationual-ity – Some units are strong throughout the game the entire game and thus sees more play in general situations, while some units are weaker, but shines in specific situations where versatility alone is not able to capitalize on. Either way, both are important aspects for cards as it allows your deck to function regardless of whatever it fights while having options to work with should it be placed under certain situations.
For the purpose of this article, I have decided to highlight only the units that are worth running, with some honorable mentions here and there that may deserve a spot in your line-up depending on your budget and playstyle in mind. With no further ado, here are the best of grade 3 units Dimension Police has to offer in the Premium format.
Dimension Police 3rd Grade Honor Roll: Who are the best grade 3 units?
- Super Dimensional Robo, Daiarm – Now some of you may be asking “How did you manage to let your opponent have more than 10 cards in hand while playing Dimension Police?”. Keep in mind that Dimension Police has nonexistent early game, so the chance of your opponent deciding to stockpile their cards and end you later on, or just clans with strong defensive options, in general, are always capable of drawing so many cards that they are bound to guard your attack during mid-game. Because you are looking into Geomaglass as your first stride, which has no power boost or a guard break, your opponent will snicker at your puny attempt to threaten them with a low-powered attack, and possibly drop multiple generations guards to stop you. Fortunately, Daiarm prevents this by giving your entire front row a +30k, which will inevitably force your opponent to guard your Geomaglass with a sentinel, all while pushing them to uncomfortable damage later on. Even the head of the DP users, Different Fight, recommends running this card. For this reason, you would be looking into running 2-3 copies of this card, to help you in situations where the opponent gets a little bit too comfortable stockpiling cards in their hand.
- Super Dimensional Robo, Daikaiser – Ah, the man, the myth, and the legend. Daikaiser makes a return after many years in a brand-new V form. He serves as an excellent first ride and mid-game unit because of how he can hit for two criticals the turn you ride him, without any cost (unlike Dailiner). In addition, he is able to generate a good amount of Force markers when you ride a unit on top of him and he goes to rearguard circle. The crowning part of his ability, however, is the effect damage that he does, which damages your opponent if they dare drop a perfect guard in your magnificent vanguard’s face. Keep in mind that he isn’t “four or less damage” restricted, so you are looking into a nearly guaranteed win if your opponent has four or five damage and you happen to have two copies of this guy in the front, which is quite easy to do. Thus, it becomes possible to close out games should your vanguard attack fail to go through just by using this guy’s ability. For this reason, you would want him as your lead grade 3 ride and have four copies of him in your deck. Anything less is just an insult to yourself.
- Super Dimensional Robo, Dailiner – Dailiner’s excellent capacity to function both as an offensive and defensive vanguard earns him a spot as your lead grade 3 unit, and potentially late game if you ever need to devote some resources to survive your opponent’s turn. This allows him to effectively function as a main grade 3 unit in your deck, as you would want this guy to be your vanguard if you want to survive against overly aggressive clans that force you to respect their offense. On your first ride, you are potentially looking into swinging for 33k with 2 criticals while giving you an additional card, which is something your opponent would definitely respect. While no longer put in Dimension Police decks with the introduction of Daikaiser and Geomaglass fulfilling the same role, I would put in 3-4 copies of this guy if you aren’t focused on the legion Dimensional Robo build.
- Super Dimensional Robo, Daizaurus – Daizaurus is perhaps one of the clan’s greatest support cards, because, in addition to powering up your vanguard, you are also giving them an extra drive, which increases the chance of you checking a grade 3 for your effect requirements. He also goes to the soul after he attacks, which gives you more soul blasts to work in case you want to activate effects such as Daimagnel’s extra power for when you cannot afford to discard a card. However, keep in mind that this guy costs a CB to use, so you should be wary when activating his skills or you might risk getting damage locked by your opponent. Thus, because of the support potential, this card is able to offer, I would recommend running 3-4 copies of this guy.
- Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha – Daikaiser’s bread and butter because of how well they work together. You either use this card to superior ride on Daikaiser for an additional attack and more potential of damaging your opponent via Daikaiser’s effect or use him as the legion mate for True Daikaiser, which Dimensional Robo-focused decks run. However, you will seldom use this card in favor of a stride especially with cards like Bravest Peak, Gallop doing the same thing but with more power. Unless you’re running a Dimensional Robo deck, I would actually not put this card in a premium deck. Otherwise, 2-3 copies are what players usually use.
- True Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daikaiser – The main reason I see for running True Daikaiser in the deck is to either return your grade 3s or triggers should the game drag on for too long. True Daikaiser is a legion unit that has inherent sentinel break on top of attacking 24k and two criticals on his own, which is threatening in itself because of how easily Dimension Police is able to reach absurd magic numbers. This is quite literally your game ender should you fail to end the game with Daikaiser Leon, as he always threatens a guard break with his ability, with Daizaurus and Daijet increasing the chances of doing so. On the flip side, his low 11k base power, gift-lessness and vanilla-ness during your opponent turns renders you vulnerable to rush by offensive clans, so you should plan when to stride this card. For this reason, when running a D-Robo deck, 2-3 copies of this card is recommended.
Honorable Mentions
- Masked Police Leader, Silbard – A great budget option that works extremely well with Dailiner and Geomaglass. Silbard is an 18k beater, two critical beat stick that your opponents will not like because of how oppressive he can be if you manage to set up your rearguards too. On a Daimax turn, you would be looking at a rearguard that can swing for a ridiculous amount while having three criticals, which helps greatly in thinning your opponent’s hand. However, there are better options than him, so most DP users won’t run this guy anymore but if you insist, I personally run two copies of this guy.
- Black-clad Top-tier Deity, Bradblack – Bradblack isn’t really used in premium, but he combos well with Daikaiser because of his restanding effect. Along with fetching an extra card in your deck, he lets you ride another unit on top of him after he attacks, which helps you in generating more force markers to use. I just wanted to give a mention to this guy as a good budget option, but otherwise you will not be seeing this card in Premium.
Conclusion: What do I do now?
Always keep in mind the 11-12 regular grade 3 line-up in your deck and you should be fine with running copies of this guy. Because you will be striding nearly every turn, it is best to focus on units that can function well on the rearguard circle or during your opponent’s turn so you aren’t stuck with mere guardians in your hand that won’t do much in preventing your opponent from collecting too many cards in hand. All in all, you should be focused on having units in your line-up that you are sure will frequently use during stride turns. At the end of the day though, your playstyle and build dictates what you should be building, so only you know for sure which cards are the "best" cards to run.
Thank you for reading my article and I wish you the happiest and thrilling of cardfights!