We all want to battle with our favorite partners, but between you and me, it’s nigh impossible to do it in Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. Not every monster is created equal, so here are the best ones to choose if you find yourself short of a good team.
Must have monsters in Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince
The best monsters in The Dark Prince, at least to me, can be defined by one of three things: Traits (exclusive to species), its Innate Talent (the stuff they can pass on), and growth potential (stars).
This is an ongoing guide.
Flutter Slime
If you already have access to the Circle of Indulgence (Middle Echelon), wait until it's Autumn and nab yourself a Saccharine Sacksquash. If you synthesize this with a Wing Slime, which I’m sure you’ve already seen or have at this point, you get Flutter Slime.
Flutter Slime’s innate talent is called Cure-All, and it’s THE only heal talent you’ll ever need. Ever. With an Omniheal, Zing (revive), and high Agility, you’ll never look at another healer monster again. Eventually, you can use Flutter Slime as material for synthesis.
King Cureslime
Once you have access to the Upper Echelon, grab a Creme Caraslime (Upper Indulgence) and a Cureslime (Upper Temper) to craft King Cure Slime. Similar to Flutter Slime, it has the innate Cure-All talent for your healing needs.
While it isn’t as fast as Flutter Slime, it does come with that huge HP/Defense buff, which helps keep it alive for longer. I sometimes like to use it as a sub-mage due to its high Wisdom.
Jester Slime
By now, you can probably tell I like Slimes… but only because they’re awesome. Jester Slime is a “Weaken Your Enemy” type of friend. It has the Major Downer Trait, which not only prolongs stat debuffs (like DEF and ATK down) but randomly adds one of these four nasty things to it: no breath attacks, no critical hits, silence, and bedazzle.
At level 20, it learns Ultra Crafty Deliberator, which makes it easier to land stat debuffs. With its naturally high Agility and Wisdom, it’s unstoppable. Jester Slime is a super accessible monster that can be crafted as early as middle echelon. All you need is a Flutter Slime and Putrefido.
Liquid Metal Slime
You can get Liquid Metal Slime for free once you have collected enough mini medals. It's immune to magic and to every status ailment except Sleep and Stun (which you can solve with an accessory or Stopper Talent).
Metal slimes, like Liquid Metal Slime, get the Metal Skin Trait by default, which reduces DMG by 1/3. It doubles its MP consumption, but if you can resynthesize it with a monster with MP Booster or even a Ward talent, which has the Castslasher skill, the problem will fix itself. Liquid Metal Slime’s MP growth rate is also pretty high!
I like Liquid Metal Slime as either my buffer or debuffer. Because of its insane Agility, it is all you will ever need to properly set up your turns.
Shogum
Did you know you can get a “B” rank monster as early as Middle Echelon? All you need is a Beshemoth Slime (Middle Indulgence), a Slime Knight (Fortitude), and the Metal Slime you hopefully haven’t used from the mini medal rewards. Slime Knight and Metal Slime can synthesize into Metal Slime Knight, and Metal Slime Knight and Beshemoth Slime turn into Shogum.
Shogum is an all-around damage dealer (high ATK, high Wisdom) with the Tactical Trooper trait. If you didn’t know, Tactical Trooper is the golden egg of damage dealers, as it allows it to sometimes perform two actions in a row.
Related: Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince Synthesis Guide [All Special Synthesis Combinations]
Killing Machine
Don’t be fooled by its “D” Rank because Killing Machine can probably stay as a permanent fixture of your party until you beat the main story. Similar to Shogum, it comes with the Tactical Trooper Trait, which allows it to move twice per turn. And while it doesn’t have high MP/Wisdom like Shogum, it does boast more Attack power (like more more).
I’ve been raising Shogum and Killing Machine together, and Shogum’s Attack stat is always below 2/3 of Killing Machine’s. Killing Machine can be crafted with Skeleton Swordsman (Upper Temper, Dragonspate) and Hunter Mech (which you must fuse with Restless Armor + Material Family Monster).
Gasbagon (L)
Near the inner warp point of the Sepulchre of Flame in the Circle of Temper (Middle Echelon), you can find a Gasbagon (L) wandering around after you’ve defeated the local big hitter. When used as a synthesis material, Gasbagon (L) can turn most small monsters into large ones. If you’re looking to ramp up your strategy with big monsters, this one’s all you need!
Great Sabercat
This one’s my personal bias (read: I like Dragon Quest 5), but if you need a quick but powerful monster in your team, you can put your bets on Great Sabercat. Great Sabercat has the “Little Menace” trait at level 40, which allows it to inflict more DMG against smaller monsters. Its innate talent, Manic, has some of the best offensive attacks you can get (Multislash, Multifist, and a Spittler move).
Great Sabercat can be synthesized with Luneyetic (they join you after you've become the big hitter in Middle Indulgence) and Axesaurus. Axesaurus is synthesized from a monster called Mandrake Major (Middle Caprice or Middle Fortitude) and any Material type monster.
What are Traits and Innate Talent in Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince?
As mentioned, monsters can be good because of one of three things: traits, innate talent, and star count. Star counts are self-explanatory, but let me talk more about the first two.
Traits are something unique to a species. For example, Great Sabercat has a trait called Little Menace, which naturally increases its damage against small monsters when unlocked. Each species gets three traits; these are fixed and CANNOT be passed.
Related: Best Talents in Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince
If you want to add a new trait, you need an accessory equipped. Here’s my “Cupcake Cane,” which adds extra EXP to the monster it is equipped with.
The second thing that makes a monster great is the talents it can pass on to its children. If you have a talent you want to pass on through synthesis, you need a monster that has it. Each monster has two talents when first scouted or hatched, but only one of these is “innate.” Innate talents are something all members of their species share.
If you want monsters to grow in level and stats, you need to keep using your synthesized monsters as synthesized materials. As per the Draqon Quest Monsters handbook: “Synthesized monsters will become much stronger than the monsters from which they are made.” You can keep the same species even after synthesizing if you’re a big fan of its traits!
For more help with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, take a look at All Local Monster Lists in Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince – All Areas, Weather Conditions, & More! here at Pro Game Guides.
