There’s a new arena season, and as always, there are brand new meta teams to look out for. The arrival of Caramel Arrow Cookie has changed the current meta comps in the arena, and she’s been really useful in battling double-tank and Tea Knight comps. Let’s take a look at the best teams in the arena for Dark Cacao Season 1 at the moment in the Cookie Run: Kingdom.
Best meta Cookie Teams in Arena for Dark Cacao Season 1
1. Speed Team (with Caramel Arrow)
Cookies for this team are usually made up of:
- Dark Cacao Cookie or Madeleine Cookie
- Caramel Arrow Cookie
- Pomegranate Cookie
- Eclair Cookie (Frost Queen Cookie can be used as a substitute for either Pomegranate or Eclair)
- Herb Cookie (alternative: Parfait Cookie)
While it might be strange to see a speed comp without Lilac, Pastry, and Mint Choco Cookie, this team is one of the best meta teams right now since it deals a lot of damage in a short amount of time. What’s more, unlike Scam comps, it doesn’t rely on a single burst attack (Gingerscam is known to be a do-or-die team; after all the cookies use their skill, they’re generally defenseless afterward since they don’t have any healers) and has great durability as well., since it has two healers, namely Herb Cookie and Pomegranate Cookie.
Caramel Arrow is an important part of this team, especially since her attack is great for decimating tanks (her skill specifically attacks the three cookies with the highest max HP, meaning it will target tanks first). It’s important that you use Librarian’s Enchanted Robes on her, and make sure that she has one of the two highest ATK speed stats for this team, since she has a long skill duration, and the extra ATK speed boost from the treasure will help her shorten her skill duration, and use her skill more often.
Next, this team needs a second tank, since Caramel Arrow is fragile, and usually jumps to the back of the team formation anyway, so she’s unreliable to have as a solo front. Dark Cacao Cookie is a good option since he’s one of the best cookies right now and most arena teams try to use him when possible. He applies multiple debuffs to the enemy team.
Alternatively, if you don’t have Dark Cacao, go for Madeleine Cookie instead, since he’s one of the best tanks for a speed comp team due to his particularly offensive skill. Make sure he has one of the two highest ATK speed substats, and that both Caramel Arrow and Madeleine Cookie are boosted by Librarian’s Enchanted Robes. Dark Cacao, Madeleine, and Caramel Arrow all use Whole Almond toppings, but you can add a Swift Chocolate topping or two to Madeleine Cookie for a 3-second start in the arena.
Pomegranate Cookie has been buffed recently, and now provides a 30% ATK boost instead of a 20% ATK boost, as well as having some of her basic stats increased. Using her is basically like having an extra Old Pilgrim’s Scroll treasure on your team! Another thing to consider is that a higher ATK would mean your healers (Pomegranate and Herb) would heal more than usual, so your team would be tough to defeat due to your team’s constant healing.
Herb Cookie has been popular in the current Arena meta recently. His skill applies a debuff cleanse, as well as great healing too. (He’s a lot better in Arena than in PVE since his skill works better when your cookies stay in one place; in PVE your cookies would move around a lot since they’re trying to defeat waves of enemies.) More and more cookies have been applying debuffs, for example, Dark Cacao and Caramel Arrow, so using him as a great defensive counter.
He cleanses Dark Cacao’s ATK and DEF decrease debuff, Frost Queen’s Freezing Damage debuff (her “Freezing Damage” is the part of her special skill that provides the most damage. If you counter it, you won’t get frozen and you won’t get any damage from the skill.) and Caramel Arrow’s skill that reduces a percentage of your cookie’s HP. Removing Caramel Arrow’s debuff makes her harmless since the other part of her skill doesn’t do a lot of damage.
If you don’t have Herb Cookie, a good alternative is Parfait Cookie (she provides 40% Debuff Resist) or Cotton Cookie (while she doesn’t do anything against debuffs, she’s still a good healer). Treasures for this compare Librarian’s Enchanted Robes, Old Pilgrim’s Scroll, and Grim-looking Scythe. This provides a very offensive setup, but you can use Swan’s Shining Feather or Insignia if your team lacks durability.
2. Double Healer Team (Cotton and Herb)
Cookies for this team are usually made up of:
- Dark Cacao Cookie
- Eclair Cookie, Sea Fairy Cookie, Frost Queen Cookie (Pick two from these options. Note that Eclair Cookie and Frost Queen Cookie can be countered by Herb Cookie, and Sea Fairy cookies stun doesn’t work on a team that uses Cocoa, so the best scenario is to have these three cookies built and switch them up depending on the team you’re fighting.)
- Cotton Cookie
- Herb Cookie (alternative: Parfait Cookie)
This team is a little weaker than the first team, but it’s still one of the best teams to use in the arena since it’s more of a general team that can counter multiple other teams. It’s a lot more accessible to players too since most players don’t have Pomegranate Cookie properly built.
They weren’t popular in the previous Arena seasons, and people opted for Cotton, Parfait, or Cream Puff instead; additionally, Pomegranate uses Support Skill Powders to level up and players are constantly running out of this resource due to how many useful Support Cookies are available.) The recommended toppings for the cookies in this team are:
Dark Cacao Cookie: All Swift Chocolate if you can get 27.1% CD total (with the set effect bonus) so you can get a 3-second start; otherwise, you can use Whole Almonds for a stronger tank, or Searing Raspberry so he can deal the most damage (he has an AOE attack, and can even rival Sea Fairy or Frost Queen’s damage)
Eclair Cookie: Only use Swift Chocolate if you can get 27.1% CD (he has the same cooldown as Dark Cacao), otherwise Whole Almonds and Searing Raspberry are the better options.
For a 4-second start, you’ll want to get 6.3% CD from substats alone, meaning you won’t use a single Swift Chocolate topping. If you’re using Searing Raspberry, try to get at least 20% DMG Resist in substats since Eclair is a really fragile cookie, and having him on a full Raspberry build (which boosts ATK) might make him the target of an enemy Eclair Cookie (Eclair targets the three cookies with the highest ATK stat).
This makes him easy to get defeated, and you want him to be alive for as long as possible since he’s most useful when his Weakness Debuff can stack multiple times. If you want him to have a high ATK but you can’t get good substats, you can opt for a 3 Searing Raspberry and 2 Whole Almond mixed topping set instead.
Sea Fairy Cookie: She is one of the best AOE dealers in the game, so it’s logical to try to give her all Searing Raspberry toppings. However, depending on your team set-up, you might want to use an extra Swift Chocolate topping or two for 11.8% CD, since this gives her a 4-second start. Note that if your Eclair Cookie is on a 4-second start too, you should just use full Searing Raspberry on Sea Fairy anyway since the game will always prioritize starting Eclair’s skill first instead of Sea Fairy’s.
Frost Queen Cookie: Similarly to Sea Fairy, she has a high ATK so it’s best to give her a full Searing Raspberry set. If you want to use a 4-second start on Frost Queen, then you need a minimum of 16.7% CD. If this is hard for you to obtain on a mixed topping (For example, 3 Swift Chocolate and 2 Searing Raspberry) then you can opt for a full Swift Chocolate set instead, and this way she freezes the enemy team more frequently, giving her a more support-oriented role in your team.
Cotton Cookie: Cotton Cookie usually uses full Swift Chocolate with high DMG Resist substats, and if it’s not possible with your current toppings then you can use a mixed set with Whole Almonds. She’s easy to build for Arena since she doesn’t really have a CD requirement. Just try to give her at least 15% DMG Resist and you’re good to go.
Herb Cookie or Parfait Cookie = Similar to Cotton, they also use Swift Chocolate toppings so they can heal your team more often, as well as help you cleanse debuffs.
If you have the cookies for this team properly built, then you can use this and defeat the majority of teams in your Arena list. You can get to Master 5 with this team. Additionally, this is a flexible team and you can even use it for Story Mode, unlike the Speed Comp which only shines in Arena. Treasures for this comp are: Old Pilgrim’s Scroll, Squishy Jelly Watch, and Swan’s Shining Feather.
What are your thoughts on our Cookie Run Kingdom arena guide on Dark Cacao Season 1 Meta? Let us know your opinions in the comments below!
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