JWA: Nasutoceratops Advantage Tournament Guide

Huge shout out to our Discord member Prominence who wrote this article! 

Hello explorers! Today we have a special article for you. We’re taking a look at this weekend’s upcoming advantage tournament. This tournament is special for two reasons, first and most importantly: it’s our first double alliance point tournament. This weekend every gain you make in the tournament will count for double the alliance points towards this month's Testacornibus alliance championship! Secondly, this tournament has a special reward in the exclusive Nasutoceratops DNA. Placing in the top 500 gives 3000 Nasuto DNA, which is 15 fuses of Carboceratops to put towards the new unique super-hybrid Testacornibus! That’s also equivalent to about 60 FIPs of Nasuto, so the DNA reward this tournament is nothing to sneeze at either.

Advantage tournaments are difficult to write guides for because everyone has different access to resources in their locales and in terms of boosts. Our goal with this guide is to target one very specific group of tournament players, and to do that let me first break down advantage tournament players into tiers:

This guide is going to be specifically targeted at Apex tier tournament players. People who want to spend a little extra on their ingredient dinos in order to place above the alpha tier players, but who don’t have the resources to max out these dinos. Since we want to place above the Alpha tier players, let's take a look at what they’re going to be primarily using.

I’m going to focus this guide on dinos that are used for Unique hybrids since there are plenty of them at level 20 to make a mixture of teams.

Level 20 Rares

• Tuojiangosaurus

  • Health: 3357, Damage: 820, Speed: 112
  • Swap in slow, thagomizer, and superiority strike make Tuojiang a master of slows. Her decent health pool and minor counter allow her to deal with non-immune speedsters fairly well. We will want to bring creatures immune to slow and distraction who can take care of Tuojiango without eating too many of her counters.

• Erlikosaurus Gen 2

  • Health: 2350, Damage: 955, Speed: 129
  • The master of distractions, Erlikosaurus 2 packs enough damage in her rampage to make short work of creatures susceptible to her debilitating distraction. Thankfully unlike her hybrid Erlikospyx, Erlik 2 is not immune to slows. Superiority Strike will be our best friend to cleanse the distraction and keep her slower than our creatures.

• Dimetrodon

  • Health: 3134, Damage: 955, speed 113
  • A totally immune chomper rocking both critical impact and defense shattering impact, dimetrodon can deal 4,000 damage in two turns. Fortunately, her speed is low enough that many creatures are faster than her and she has no way of slowing us down herself. Look for creatures who can dodge her damage and finish her in two turns while being faster than 113 to minimize her threat.

• Meiolania

  • Health: 2731, Damage: 671, Speed: 104
  • Carbonemys’ little sister, Meiolania has the 50% armor and superior vulnerability/devastation combo to make short work of non-immune speedsters. Even immune speedsters like Ornithomimus will have a tough time breaking through her armor. Chompers will be our best bet to take out Meiolania quickly, hopefully dealing enough damage for her regeneration ability to be relatively useless.

• Spinosaurus

  • Health: 2910, Damage: 634, Speed: 122
  • The newly level 20 spinosaurs get a turn to shine in advantage tourneys with their new hybrid Spinoconstrictor. 122 speed allows her to go first the majority of the time, and a combination of Exploit Wound and Gashing Wound can have her dealing damage long after she’s fallen. Bring creatures immune to bleed to take advantage of her low damage stat.

• Tenontosaurus

  • Health: 3581, Damage: 843, Speed: 109
  • This park exclusive hadrosaur relies on status effects to maximize her time on the field. Superiority Strike cleanses distraction and slows, Greater Stunning Strike can cause us to miss a turn, and Distracting Strike stretches her 3500 health to the max. Swap in Stun can also be a pain to deal with if we aren’t immune. Bring immune creatures like Ornithomimus to deal with Tenonto.

• Dracorex

  • Health: 2238, damage: 895, speed: 124
  • Dracorex will be this tournament’s version of Dracoceratops or Dracorex gen 2. Swap in Definite strike will deal almost 900 damage to your dodging Ornithomimus or armored Meiolania. Fortunately for us, 900 definite damage is about all we have to worry about with her low health stat and being stuck with a strike on her first turn in combat. Being able to deal 2200 damage quickly should limit us to taking 1800 damage at most.

Level 20 Epics:

• Brachiosaurus

  • Health 4365, Damage 746, speed 111
  • Superiority Strike and Bellow allow it to maintain speed control over non-immunes, and a 1500 damage rampage can hurt. 10% armor makes its health effectively 4850 against non-armor piercers. We’ll want a big chomper who doesn’t care about speed, or creatures immune to deceleration to handle this one

• Erlikosaurus

  • Health 2305, Damage 1096, speed 129
  • A strong speedster, 129 speed doesn’t leave much room for unboosted dinos to outspeed it, so let's focus on high armor values to tank its rampage, or creatures with deceleration to keep Erlik under control

• Diplodocus

  • Health 4477, Damage 970, speed 104
  • Always a strong creature in non-hybrid epic tourneys, this massive sauropod rocks Defense Shattering Shield Advantage, and a Decelerating Rampage to handle any speedster that even looks at her funny. Chompers will be the best bet against diplodocus, but creatures that can dish out some damage while staying faster or dodging most of her damage will handle themselves decently well.

• Gryposuchus

  • Health 3022, damage 925, speed 116
  • Impressive speed and 20% armor on this crocodilian allows her to dish out almost 2800 damage in two turns using her Ferocious Strike, possibly nearly 4200 if she lasts for three turns. Luckily, she can’t hit through dodge and is susceptible to status effects, so we’ll focus on those to take her down. Unfortunately having No Escape means we will likely need to lose a bad matchup before we can bring in a good matchup.

• Woolly Rhino

  • Health 3290, damage 746, speed 108
  • Rhino has loads of health to make up for its lackluster speed and damage. However Lethal Wound and Definite Rampage while being immune to damage over time make her a threat to be cautious of. Dodge and armor will do nothing for us against this hairy girl, so let's bring creatures immune to bleed who can hit through her 15% armor to make short work of her.

• Darwinopterus

  • Health: 2238, Damage: 723, Speed: 129
  • This speedy little pterosaur doesn’t have much bulk or armor to extend her lifespan. She will likely be relying on Swap in Wound and Swoop to deal damage over time while swapping in and out like a mosquito. Her defense shattering impact deals 1,085 damage that can’t be ignored. Fortunately, unlike her hybrid pterovexus, Darwin is not immune and can be slowed, stunned, or even bled herself. Being unlikely to outspeed her without boosts means we’ll be relying on creatures immune to bleed who can drag her down with their own status effects.

• Carbonemys

  • Health: 2641, Damage 671, speed 104
  • This devastating turtle is a flagship of every epic non-hybrid tournament, even since the nerf to health and superior vulnerability. 60% armor and the powerful devastation attack means we need to tiptoe around her, and can’t even use Damage Over Time or our own vulnerability to shorten the match. Chompers will make short work of her armor, and all the better if they can cleanse the vulnerability and slow of superior vulnerability.

• Eucladocerous

  • Health: 3044, Damage: 895, Speed: 128
  • A new face to epic tournaments, Eucladocerous has the speed, the decelerating attacks, and the immunity to deceleration to stay faster than almost anyone. After Dig In, her speed rises to 141 which is faster than any unboosted creature we can bring. Our best bet will be to bring huge defense shattering chompers to pierce through armor and shields faster than she can whittle away our health

• Tyrannosaurus Rex

  • Health: 3245, Damage: 1417, speed: 102
  • Our beloved flagship creature of every Jurassic Park movie (except 3 but we don’t talk about 3) boasts the highest damage value in the game. 1417 base damage allows Rexy to deal almost 5,000 damage in two turns, shattering any defense between her and us. Bring some emergency flares, because this monstrous chomper is especially prone to distraction, or we can test our luck with dodging. Either way, we want to minimize her damage output while taking care of her 3245 health as fast as possible.

Now that we’ve gone over the level 20 threats we expect to be facing this tournament, lets take a look at what resources we have plenty of. Being stuck inside with Giga Scents limits us to global spawns and whatever creatures are native to our locale. Lets go over them by region and break down what will be most useful to us.

Global Spawns:

Rare: Meiolania, Nodosaurus, Utahraptor, Amargasaurus, Ornithomimus, Kelenken, Titanoboa gen 2, kaprosuchus

Epic: Baryonyx, Koolasuchus, Sinoceratops, Spinosaurus G2, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Erlikosaurus, Smilodon, Eucladocerous, kentrosaurus

Ornithomimus is the queen of global spawns for this tournament. We are probably all drowning in ornithomimus DNA, and being completely immune with 131 speed, high damage, dodge, AND distraction makes Ornithomimus a high priority to put resources into for this tournament. Level her as high as you can and even sink some boosts and you won’t be disappointed.

Kaprosuchus can also be incredibly useful in this format. Having a Swap In Definite Strike, Ferocious Strike, cleansing impact, and defense shattering strike allows Kapro to increase her damage to hit through Carbonemys and Meiolania’s armor while having the cleansing impact to clear their vulnerability and slow before they unleash a powerful Devastation if they survive that long. Cleansing impact also allows Kaprosuchus to handle Tuojiangosaurus, Erlikosaurus gen 2, Spinosaurus, Tenontosaurus, brachiosaurus, and Eucladocerous well.

Other honorable mentions include Kelenken who is immune to deceleration and can hit through dodge; Smilodon who has speed, precise pounce, and evasive strike to help counter Ornithomimus and chompers like T Rex; Sinoceratops with swap in Stunning strike as well as Instant charge for stun control and swap in damage; and Amargasaurus with her two decelerating moves.

Global spawns include Meiolania, Erlikosaurus, Eucladocerous, and Tyrannosaurus Rex from our list of level 20 ingredients above. One thing to consider is that a level 20 ingredient is almost always beaten by a level 21 of the same creature. It's understandable if you would rather keep these hybrids at level 20 for use in their hybrids, but a powerful T Rex will make short work of many of the creatures we’re targeting, specifically the turtles. The local's offer us a couple of alternatives, but if you live in L1 without an amazing chomper, you may want to consider leveling your T Rex.

Locale 1 Spawns:

Rare: Giraffatitan, Tuojiangosaurus, Megalosaurus, Postosuchus, Echo

Epic: Ankylosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Concavenator

Local 1 offers us a veritable feast of speed control. Giraffatitan and Tuojiangosaurus both have the powerful Swap in Slow and decelerating attacks to maintain their speed advantage. Speedsters like the Erlikosaurus pair will be handled easily with them. Megalosaurus recently received the buff of Decelerating Counter, which allows her to maintain speed control while boosting her damage with ferocious strike and protecting herself with short defense. Brachiosaurus is valuable DNA used in the Ardentismaxima superhybrid, but superiority strike, armour, and a high critical rate would allow an overleveled brachi to deal with speedsters and distractors alike.

Postosuchus is also worth mentioning, having massive turn 1 damage with ferocious impact. Even at her ingredient level (10), posto is able to dish out 1500 damage on turn 1, and a speed of 126 isn’t beaten by much. If you’re able to level posto to level 20, her damage output is high enough to one shot level 20 Erlikosaurs, Darwinopterus, and dracorex. Two speed boosts will even let her do it before taking a hit from any of them. At level 24, ferocious impact is able to one shot Spinosaurus as well.

Possible Team:

Ornithomimus, Kaprosuchus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Giraffatitan, Tuojiangosaurus, Megalosaurus, Sinoceratops, Smilodon

T Rex and Kaprosuchus make up your chompers unless you want to overlevel Concavenator. Concavenator doesn’t have the bulk or damage to be a great chomper, but defense shattering impact and counter may be able to do the job if you’re hesitant to overlevel Rexy.

Sinoceratops is included for clutch swap-in damage and stunning abilities. She should come in handy against creatures that aren’t directly countered by the rest of the team when you need just a little extra damage to get the win.

Locale 2 Spawns:

Rare: Dracorex, Gorgosaurus, Erlikosaurus gen 2, Quetzalcoatlus, Charlie

Epic: Darwinopterus, Pyroraptor, Rajasaurus

Local 2 offers us the opportunity to over level speedsters Erlikosaurus 2 and Charlie, Chomper Gorgosaurus, and annoying swap-in damage Dracorex. Erlikosaurus 2 has the powerful Debilitating Distraction, Charlie at level 20 has a two-turn damage output of 4,306 damage and the speed of 129 to back it up. Gorgosaurus is a great alternative to over leveling T Rex. It can deal 1,902 damage on turn 1 with Ferocious Strike, and 2,853 damage the following turn with Defense Shattering Impact. If you’re able to get Gorgosaurus to level 28, Defense Shattering Impact will one-shot both Carbonemys and Meiolania at level 20.

Dracorex offers us the opportunity to be extremely annoying and decrease our opponent's morale with higher swap-in damage than even Monostegotops. This is sure to really aggravate our opponents and make them make some potentially unwise decisions in anger. If we’re able to survive the two turns of swap prevention using instant charge then we can do it all again later.

Possible Team

Dracorex, Gorgosaurus, T Rex, Erlikosaurus gen 2, Charlie, Ornithomimus, Eucladocerous, Meiolania

Eucladocerous is new and difficult to find, but speed control will be important in this tournament. If you have yours at level 20 then she should perform decently well in this role at ingredient-level to round out the team.

Meiolania is included for her armor stat, readily available DNA, and using Superior Vulnerability to set up a Dracorex swap-in. If you’re like me then you’re dry on mammoth DNA but have a bajillion meiolania DNA even if she’s already level 20, so maybe an extra level or two wouldn’t hurt.

Locale 3 spawns:

Rare: Dimetrodon, Edmontosaurus, Argentinosaurus, Dilophosaurus, Delta

Epic: Maiasaura, Monolophosaurus, Secodontosaurus

Edmontosaurus is the surprise all-star of the rares in local 3. A high base health stat, superiority strike, and greater stunning impact allow her to deal with speedsters like the Erlikosaurus sisters. Swap-in Stun also offers some versatility against non-immunes, but anyone using Phorusaura in the arena knows not to rely on it to win.

Dimetrodon is also worth taking a look at. An ingredient in the powerful magnapyritor and tryostronix hybrids, its no surprise if people residing in locale 3 want to hoard dimetrodon for her hybrids or making coin on alliance requests. However, being completely immune and having critical impact and defense shattering impact allows dimetrodon to do 3.375x her base damage in two turns, with no stun, slow, or distraction to hold her back. At level 20 that's 3224 damage. Even one level higher (level 21) you can beat out things like T Rex and Tuojiangosaurus while guaranteeing a speed advantage against a level 20 dimetrodon.

The epics in local 3 are as powerful alone as they are hard to justify over leveling. Phorusaura, Monostegotops, Pterovexus, and Ardentismaxima are all very powerful creatures in the arena. However, Maiasaura’s Instant Rampage and Superiority Strike, as well as Secodontosaurus’ total immunity and massive two-turn damage output with critical impact and defense shattering rampage would make them valuable assets in this tournament if you can afford the DNA investment.

Possible Team

Edmontosaurus, Maiasaura, Secodontosaurus, T Rex, Ornithomimus, Erlikosaurus, Sinoceratops, Dimetrodon

If you don’t want to overlevel Maiasaura you may be able to substitute Dilophosaurus. 124 base speed is faster than most of the threats in this tourney, and two impacts including a distraction should be able to do some damage before falling. Its also less valuable DNA since Diloracheirus isn’t as strong as she used to be.

Edmontosaurus, Maiasaura, and Sinoceratops are useful on swap-in, as well as the hadrosaurs having Superiority Strike to cleanse distraction and maintain speed advantage. Running all three of these creatures will make your opponent rage as you stun them repeatedly.

Locale 4 spawns:

Rare: Carnotaurus, Spinosaurus, Diplocaulus gen 2, Koolasuchus gen 2, Scaphognathus

Epic: Gryposuchus, Ouranosaurus, Wooly Rhino

Locale 4 offers us an interesting mix and some unexpected gems. Carnotaurus has the powerful greater rending counter, which pairs nicely with short defense and cleansing impact. Its lackluster 104 base speed can make this a challenge, but maybe with a couple of speed boosts…

Scaphognathus has the same Swap-in Wound and Swoop pairing of Darwinopterus, while having less valuable hybrids and the ability to regenerate. Overleveling Scaphognathus would give you a bleeder with decent survivability.

The epics in local 4 are especially valuable. Grypohsuchus and Wooly Rhino are both on the list of level 20 ingredients above, and can be powerful even at their ingredient levels. Ouranosaurus has some serious bulk to it, paired with a recently devalued superhybrid of diloracheirus, and her superiority strike, stunning rampage, and impact and run. Overleveling Ouranosaurus shouldn’t be too painful to your arena teams, while providing some power to your tournament team.

Possible Team

Carnotaurus, Scaphognathus, Ouranosaurus, Gryposuchus, Wooly Rhino, Ornithomimus, T Rex, Kaprosuchus.

Ornithomimus, T Rex, and Kaprosuchus are global spawns that round out this team. Ornithomimus will be the only dedicated speedster, and T Rex and Kaprosuchus will be closer to dedicated chompers than Gryposuchus.

This weekend is going to be an interesting tournament for all of us. Alliances vying for Testacornibus championship DNA will be looking to maximize their point output this weekend, and people looking to create Testacornibus will be looking to gain the Nasutoceratops DNA. Its likely going to be a scramble, but we know the bottom ¾ of the leaderboard will be explorers who don’t want to over level their ingredient dinos. As long as we’re able to stay ahead of them, we should all come out with some decent Nasu DNA and alliance points.

I look forward to battling many of you this weekend. Don’t take it too seriously, don’t rage too hard, this is a game and we come here to have fun. Work together with your alliance to get the most out of it that you can.

Good luck, and have fun.

-Prominence