BanG Dream! Girls Band Party F2P Survival Guide

2 Million Score in Multi-Room? T100 Song Title? T10 Event Title? Is it even possible with F2P status?! You could be the next IMBA player!

1.0 Introduction

"I can't wait to be IMBA!"

"But there are so many things I want to tell you about technicals of being an IMBA player."

"Nooo! Will I be super confused at the end of the day?!"

Not so serious LOL! I will try to break down into two major parts so you can understand things better.
- How To Be Ultra Whale in Lives
- How To Win Difficult Songs

I'm writing this guide using my 2 years experience to guide you and everyone else to be better at this game, so hi dear whales, you're still welcome to read this Guide. At the end of the Guide, you will be 150% better than where you're at right now! How many stars do you need to spend in-game? Zero!

2.0 How To Be Ultra Whale in Lives

So you are here to know how to be a hyper whale in Bandori without breaking your own bank? You have played for a long period. You have also Full Comboed a lot of songs, and you wondered why are your teams scoring less than 1,500,000 points. Or maybe less than 1,000,000 points. Several factors will affect your scoring system. One is Personal Team Building, another will be Your Teammates in Multi Lives.

Let's go down one-by-one, we're starting the point where official tutorials don't teach you that stuffs.

2.1 Personal Team Building

Recently, I checked my old screenshots and this is where I realised how horrible my scores were 2 years ago. And that happens to almost every fresh players that started the game. In case if you don't know yet, skill procs varied in both free lives and multi lives!

"So, did you mean that I played it wrong all the time? OMG!"

Now let's go to the real question. Which members should I fill in for lives? The members you're taking will be used for skill procs for a live show. There are 6 yellow notes, those are skill procs. When you tap a skill proc, one of your random members will activate their own skill power based on the card's skill types.

Let's take Unite! From A To Z by Pastel＊Palettes, the shortest song I could fit here for visibility. This is a simple Easy chart (Level 8).

Skill notes are marked with hash symbols in the chart. Every skill proc activated have their own skill window. That means, the more notes tapped during a skill activation, the more total points you will earn! In the Free Live, the first 5 skill procs will be activated by any of your five members. The sixth and the final skill proc note, the leader always activates her own skill.

This means the probability of getting a max score is 1/120. With 5P5=120, you will get 120 different possibilities for the best skill proc ordering.

2.1.1 Team Formation

Let's start with a simple team for a Free Live. How do these members doing skill procs?

Member Skills

1. 3＊ Rinko (300HP + 20% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
2. 2＊ Himari (Perfect Lock + 10% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
3. 4＊ Rimi (100% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
4. 1＊ Kasumi (10% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
5. 2＊ Tae (Perfect Lock + 10% Score Up)[bandori.party]

Leader Skill

• 4＊ Rimi (100% Score Up)[bandori.party]

The skills will be:-

• Rinko→Himari→Rimi→Kasumi→Tae→Rimi (1→2→3→4→5→3)
  
• Rimi→Himari→Rinko→Tae→Kasumi→Rimi (3→2→1→5→4→3)
  
• Tae→Kasumi→Rinko→Himari→Rimi→Rimi (5→4→1→2→3→3)

And there goes another 117 pairs.

Question 1: What is the best skill proc order for this team in Free Live?
Answer: Since 3 cards activate 10% Score Up, the first three will be Kasumi, Tae, and Himari, followed by 20% Score Up of Rinko, and Rimi needs to 100% Score Up for the final 2 skill notes. And this chance will be super slim to get the highest score. (2/4/5→2/4/5→2/4/5→3→3)

Question 2: Who will proc during Multi Live?
Answer: Only Leader will activate the skill. In this case, 4＊ Rimi (100% Score Up) will be your skill proc for Multi Live! If you're the highest scorer during the Multi Live, Rimi will proc again on the final skill note!

Question 3: What about the Area Items?
Answer: In this case, the only highest BP is Powerful Rimi. The most members will be Poppin' Party, so you should upgrade Powerful Items and Poppin' Party equipments!

Few months passed, and you got a better team!

Here's the second team formation. Ta-da!

Members Skill

1. 3＊ Rinko (60% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
2. 2＊ Saaya (Perfect Lock + 40% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
3. 3＊ Maya (60% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
4. 3＊ Aya (Perfect Lock + 20% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
5. 3＊ Ran (60% Score Up)[bandori.party]

Leader Skill

• 3＊ Maya (60% Score Up)[bandori.party]

Question 1: What is the best skill proc order for this team in Free Live?
Answer: Aya→Saaya→Maya/Rinko/Ran→Maya/Rinko/Ran→Maya/Rinko/Ran→Maya/Rinko/Ran (4→2→1/3/5→1/3/5→1/3/5→1/3/5). It's easier to achieve the highest score since the majority is 60% Scorers! If your Skill Levels (I will write about SL later on) are imbalanced, the ordering will be going from the lowest SL to the highest member.

Question 2: Who will proc during Multi Live?
Answer: Depends on your SL of all 60% Scorers, whoever has the highest SL then pick that one girl. Or, if all of them are SL5, then you are free to pick your best girl! Because remember that only leader will proc in Multi Live! In this case, I'm picking Maya!

Question 3: What about the Area Items?
Answer: 4 Pure members and 2 Pastel＊Palettes. Set Auto to Pure Items and Pastel＊Palettes!

2.1.2 Team Formation (Part 2)

So now you're getting to understand why everyone's picking Rimi during the server launch? That is because it's the only 100% Scorer in the server, the Choco Coronet. It's either "Pick Rimi 4＊ or no SS Multi Rank Rewards!" That's why veteran players like us panicked so much when someone brought a Healer or Perfect Lock as their leader. Those cards usually score 60%, 40% for 4＊ card. Even worse a 20% Score Up for a 3＊ card.

This is an example of a happy Public Grand Room team.

Member Skills

1. 4＊ Mashiro (90% Score Up, 110% Score Up for 900HP and above)[bandori.party]
   
2. 4＊ Tsukushi (100% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
3. 4＊ Aya (100% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
4. 4＊ Tsukushi (100% Score Up)[bandori.party]
   
5. 4＊ Hagumi (120% Perfects Score Up)[bandori.party]

When everyone's using 100% Score Up or higher, the value of the notes doubles and fold up even higher during Fever Mode. There are times when people asked, should I take Dreamfest card since they proc 120% (In EN the value is still at 115% until v4.0 update) than a usual 100% and 110%?

Let's run a simple calculation by taking two different Tsugumi Happy Cards.

• 4＊ Tsugumi (120% Perfects Score Up)[bandori.party]
  
• 4＊ Tsugumi (90% Score Up for Greats, 110% Score Up for Perfects)[bandori.party]
  
  Scenario 1
  2 AP Gods battle each other. Assume the following value:
  Base Score per note:1,000
  Perfects: 1.0x
  Greats:0.8x
  Total Notes tapped during skill proc: 50
  

  Tsugumi	120% Perfects Score Up	90/110% Score Up
  Perfects	50 Notes x 2,200 Score x 1.0 = 110,000	50 Notes x 2,100 Score x 1.0 = 105,000
  Greats	0 Notes x 1,000 Score x 0.8 = 0	0 Notes x 1,900 Score x 0.8 = 0
  Total	110,000 Score	105,000 Score

  
  AP God with 120% Perfects wins!
  
  Scenario 2
  2 Veteran Players battle each other. Assume the following value:
  Base Score per note:1000
  Perfects: 1.0x
  Greats:0.8x
  Total Notes tapped during skill proc: 50
  

  Tsugumi	120% Perfects Score Up	90/110% Score Up
  Perfects	35 Notes x 2,200 Score x 1.0 = 77,000	45 Notes x 2,100 Score x 1.0 = 94,500
  Greats	15 Notes x 1000 Score x 0.8 = 12,000	5 Notes x 1900 Score x 0.8 = 7,600
  Total	89,000 Score	102,100 Score

  
  Veteran Player with 90/100 Score Up wins! The Perfects Score Up is dangerous because either you get 120% Score Boost or none if without perfects. It's better not to take the Dreamfest 120% Perfects Score Up if you're not confident to get a lot of Perfects on your last skill proc (obviously you're placing 120% Perfects Score Up as the leader to activate the skill twice.)
  
  
  Imagine if Nanami is using Dreamfest card... welp.

2.1.3 Skill Ups (Tickets, Tickets, Tickets!)

Getting Skill Tickets are really rare resources for F2P. The only way to get Skill Ticket (Premium) is by tiering in events. Yes, tiering a certain rank to get those tickets and keep saving until the time comes right to use them (not immediately!!!).


The goal to get those Skill Tickets (Premium) is reaching at least Rank 2,500 in EN server and Rank 10,000 in JP server. Let's check the table for Skill Tickets values to feed a 4＊Scorer Card!

Skill Tickets	Value	Total Tickets Required
Skill Ticket (Single)	1	3000
Skill Ticket (Double)	5	600
Skill Ticket (Triple)	30	100
Skill Ticket (Premium)	200	15
Skill Ticket (Same Character)	180	16.667
Duplicate Card Member (Matched)	750	4
Duplicate Card Member	5/45/250	600/66.667/12

Every SL Up will give you an extra 0.5 seconds to continue its Score Up, you will get a maximum of 7.0 seconds upon reaching SL5. Always bring a 4＊Scorer Card to a Multi Live. If you don't own one, bring a 3＊Scorer Card with 60% Score Up or higher.

Aside from Skill Tickets (Premium), you can still get the small Skill Tickets through daily and special logins (birthday/anniversary/festivals/collaboration/etc), VS Live Exchange Tokens, missions, and special gachas.

2.1.4 Area Items (Which One To Buy First?)

Shopping with limited resources is one of the hardest decision to make. Before purchasing any upgrades, wait for the event to start in JP. Since EN's content is a year behind, you can already make your own plans by checking in Bandori Party[bandori.party] or Bestdori![bestdori.com]website for details.

You can only get Monakas in tiering events. Reaching Rank 2,500 in EN server and Rank 10,000 in JP server gives you a maximum of 7 Michelle Monakas! Also, play more in Regular Rooms, they drop more Miracle Crystals there too!

2.1.5 Gacha!!!

Everyone loves gacha, right? As a F2P player, you need to figure out which members fit your team. If the next featured Dreamfest members do not fit either of your team nor attributes, don't gacha. If the Limited members fit your team, do it! Usually, those Dreamfest and Limited members are great scorers and huge BP value. If you want the highest BP value, try to get all of your dream cards. Healers and Perfect Locks BP cards are higher than Scorers cards.

Limited gachas will return every year. If you missed it, try to them catch again next year! Dreamfest boxes have 6% rateup and Limited boxes have 3% rateup to get a 4＊. Hope you'll be super lucksack, getting your dream cards by spending a few stars will be the best hope to gacha more limited members in the future!!!

You can always browse in Bandori Party for the latest card list.[bandori.party] P/S: But I'm there to get wallpapers UwU!

Scorers for Dreamfest cards.

Scorers for Limited cards.

3.0 How To Win Difficult Songs

I played JP for the first time on 1st January 2018. Took a photo of the first-ever Live Try (Live Goals in EN) Event held there. It's their first time to create this new event. I couldn't complete this because Level 28 was so impossible to win for me.

The reason why we miss a lot of notes is that our reaction is slow. If you're mentioning that the note speed is too fast, you're right. The number of notes dropping too suddenly that I couldn't react on time.

One day, I visited a YouTube channel by つなまよ and I was so mind-blown that he could even play with low speed and half-screen covered. And then, I covered my 5-inch phone with some books and playing with index fingers. Soon, I was able to FC some difficult Level 26 songs but I'm still far away from completion.

Bought my first budget iPad, and the game was so butter-smooth that you cannot even imagine. Got my first EX title after 8 months of playing. Other than playing half-screen, here are the two tricks that you may or might not know.

Trick 1: Simple Cheese Notes

Tap in-between of the two lines and hold the notes.

Here's how I cheese the notes for God Knows EX.

Trick 2: Advanced Cheese Notes

95% of you might never know this. Even us veteran players felt so surprised that this is absolutely a magic trick. On the 3-lanes, first, tap the front connector and then hold to the middle lane until you reach the end, then connect the note back at the end. You can check a random Twitter video here.[video.twimg.com]

4.0 External Links

Here's what I love to use:

1. Bestdori.[bestdori.com]
   
   If you feel difficult to decide what team to form in the next event, try Team Builder.[bestdori.com]
   
   Input your Cards[bestdori.com] as in-game and your Area Items[bestdori.com].
   
   Then go to the Team Builder page to auto-calculate your team!
   
   You can calculate the current's team formation, or even your highest BP and maximum Free Live Score for your whole card collection!
   
   To save your card details, go to Manager[bestdori.com] and Export your data out. Save the codes somewhere in your Notepad.
   
   
2. Bandori Party.[bandori.party]
   
   I was a frequent user for School Idol Tomodachi, coincidentally they made this site when EN Server launch. Check out Events[bandori.party] and Cards List![bandori.party]The site is super eye-candy and I love it!
   
   
3. BanG Dream譜面保管所.[www.sdvx.in]
   
   We used this before Bestdori existed. And they're still updating new charts, although there are no customisations in this site.
   
   
   
4. BangDreaming Tumblr.[bangdreaming.tumblr.com]
   
   The site is abandoned due to no one maintaining the site and their busy life schedules. But hey, the tips are more than what I wrote here hahaha, so you might have a look at those glory tips there.

5.0 Beginner Tips

1. Always play more Regular Rooms during free time! They drop Miracle Crystals.
   
2. Want more Miracle Crystals? Play more of 200CP in Challenge Lives! Regardless of how many CP spent, the outcome of the reward is the same.
   
3. Remember to select Coins Room every Saturdays!
   
4. For new players, use 1x flame for 5x rewards. Playing 3 times of 1x flame will gain you 15x reward items! Avoid picking 3x flames because 7x rewards are not efficient for item grinding. If you have everything maxed, then go for 3x flames!
   
5. Play more during VS Live. You can get more flame cans for free in Reward Exchange session!
   
6. For Malaysia/Singapore region (GMT+8), claim your free Ad Flames during 8:00AM-11:59PM. If you claim flames after 12:00AM, you will not be entitled to claim more flames after 8:00AM.
   
7. Always have 2 different Teams for Challenge Lives and Multi Lives during Challenge Live Event.
8. Bring all scorers for Free/Challenge Lives, highest BP for normal Multi Lives. Don't forget to SL5 your 4＊ scorers!
   
9. If you are planning to reinstall Bandori EN, claim all the ad-flames before uninstalling. You can get another 5 more flames after reinstalling (cos I just knew it!).
   
10. Android's song offset is almost never to be 0 value, except iOS devices. To change and tweak the sound adjustment, head to Settings and you will see it on the first page. Calibrate the appropriate adjustment, and then go to Free Live to test your new sound offset. Try songs with loud drumbeats, such as Roselia songs. Keep adjusting until getting less than 10 greats every lives!

6.0 Tiering Checklist

Tiering a Dream Title is a challenge. When you gain the best member from a gacha, do your best when the event comes. But don't stress out if you are unable to make it! Here are roughly my thoughts of tiering difference in both servers.

T1-3 in JP = Almost 24-hour tiering
T10 in JP = T1-3 in EN
T100 in JP = T10 in EN
T1,000 in JP = T100 in EN
T2,000 in JP = T1,000 in EN
T5,000 in JP = T2,500 in EN
T10,000 in JP = T5,000 in EN

Last medal reward = T100,000 in JP / T10,000 in EN
Last items reward = T1,000,000 in JP / T200,000 in EN

Recommended tiering
T10,000 in JP or T2,500 in EN for 7 Michelle Monakas 2 Skill Tickets (Premium).
T2,000 in JP or T1,000 in EN, if you want extra 250 stars, plus the above rewards!

P/S: You can T10 in EN if you have XX,000 stars and X,000 of cans. LOL! It's possible tbh. Keep saving! (but I won't do it :P)

Please check in the Song Meta[bestdori.com] page to know which songs score the highest. Jumpin', Unite! From A To Z, Initial, Fuwa Fuwa Time, and B.O.F are usually picked during events. The shorter the songs, the more notes able to fit in the skill window, hence the larger the overall high score! Here are the sample charts, non-fever chart on the left and fever chart on the right.

7.0 Personal Achievements

EN Achievements
Currently earned 7x Top 100 Song Titles and 1x Top 100 for Dance, FULL BLOOMING! Planning to spend my thousands of flames for the next Pastel＊Palettes event![bandori.party]

JP Achievements
1x Top 1000 for 夢に一途にまっすぐに... tiering is too hard in JP ahahahaha

Contact Me!
Discord: ChemMixer#5017
Twitter: @ChemMixer
Steam: Add me LOL!

The guide will be updated more over time. Hope you get something at the end of this guide! Time to be ULTRA WHALE!!!

Comments, feedback, critics for this guide are welcome!

[NEPTUNE ⁧⁧💜]

I got a T10 event title>.<

[Jamal Uhz]

This guide gets a pogU