If there's an upper limit to the appetite for mobile games based on popular manga and anime properties, we haven't hit it yet. The latest example is The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, Netmarble's RPG that takes the story of a group of notorious and treasonous knights and quickly turns it on its head. The game doesn't subvert expectations quite as much in terms of its mechanics, but it's fair to say that there are just enough interesting facets to combat that it isn't a completely paint-by-numbers gacha-based mobile RPG — and the fact that it's visually gorgeous doesn't hurt either.
It's also free to play, meaning there's no reason not to download The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross and give it a try. And if you need some help getting your bearings once you do, you're in luck: This very article contains the best tips and tricks to get started and make sure the Holy Knights regret the day they ever crossed your path.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross — Getting started
Know your characters
While you don't have to be an expert on The Seven Deadly Sins to enjoy Grand Cross (and the story of the game is served up to you as you play anyway), it does help to know one thing: The Holy Knights are not what they seem. Your job is to help the princess Elizabeth and Meliodas, the captain of the titular Seven Deadly Sins, find the rest of the group and free Liones from the Holy Knights.
By playing through the game's tutorial, you'll acquire versions of several of the main characters and be able to form a team of three to tackle the many battles that await. Of course, as with most games of this type, there are many other characters to unlock along the way, including some who are villains or antagonists in the manga.
Take advantage of all the Tavern has to offer
When he's not out surprising people with his power and fighting prowess, Meliodas is the proprietor of the Boar Hat, a mobile tavern that travels on the back of a giant green pig (because anime!). You can return to the Boar Hat at any time by tapping the 'Tavern' icon on the navigation menu at the bottom of many game screens. And you should, because it's more than just a lively pub — inside the Tavern, you can talk to other characters, cook food (not well, though, if you're Meliodas), serve drinks to customers, and more.
You can move around the Tavern simply by tapping where you want to walk or dragging Meliodas in any direction. Once you get close enough to other characters, you'll see speech bubbles over their heads to signify the options you have for interaction. An exclamation point indicates someone with a quest to give, while simply talking with some characters and choosing the best responses can increase your Affection score with them. Incidentally, the same controls are in effect when you're walking around villages as well, so taking some time to learn your way around the Boar Hat is highly recommended.
Tackle the Quests that interest you most
The main story of The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross is going to be the draw for most players, but there is a lot more going on than just the chapters that advance the overall narrative. To get a handle on it all, tap on the 'Quests' icon. There you'll see a menu that neatly organizes and simplifies the game's content. Follow the Main Story if you just want to stick to the unfolding saga with quests that keep it moving. You can also tackle available Side Story quests or Village Story quests as you come across them. For any of them, tapping the 'Go Now' button will take you right to where you need to go.
The same holds true for the smaller Quest menu you'll find in the upper-right corner of most other game screens. Just tap on the quest you want to play and you'll have the option of jumping directly to it. Every quest you enter uses up some of your Stamina total, which you'll find right under your name at the top of the screen. If you'd prefer to navigate things on your own, tap the 'World' button and you'll be taken to the world map. Hawk Mama, away!
Master the basics of combat
The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross offers turn-based combat with just the tiniest sprinkling of card game mechanics. In each battle, you'll have a team of three characters and face off against one or more waves of enemies. Each character you control has two different skills, which appear randomly as a series of cards at the bottom of the screen.
When it's your turn, you can tap three skills in the order you'd like them to resolve. It doesn't matter which character the skills belong to; one hero can attack three times in one turn if that's what you want to do and they have three skills in your "hand." You can also drag one card next to an identical one to combine them and form a stronger version of that skill, though that uses up one of your three actions for the turn. After all of your skills resolve, the enemies take their turn.
Under the health bar for each character are five dots that fill up during combat. When they're all lit, you'll have access to that character's Ultimate skill, which are generally super powerful attacks that target one or more enemies. Ultimates resolve with flashy, full-screen animations and thus are fun as well as effective.
There are a few other intricacies to combat as well, including a rock-paper-scissors relationship between red, blue and green attributes for each skill, but mastering the basics will successfully get you through fights for quite some time.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross Tips and Tricks
How to get SSR characters
Like most gacha-style games, Grand Cross has a wide range of heroes to add to your collection across four rarity levels: R, SR, SSR, and UR. Some characters can be obtained as quest rewards, but mostly, you'll be headed to the 'Draw' tab to use either special tickets or Diamonds, the game's premium currency, and leaving your fate to the oft fickle whims of the gacha spirits.
To maximize your chances of grabbing SSR heroes, the best rarity found in draws, you'll want to save up until you have at least 30 Diamonds. That's because spending 30 gets you 11 draws, or one for free considering a single draw costs you three Diamonds. On top of that, spending Diamonds fills the Draw Bonus gauge at the top of the Draw screen; once full, your next 11x Diamond Draw will guarantee you at least one SSR character — and that's what you're aiming for, after all.
How to get free Diamonds
There's nothing saying you can't buy Diamonds if you want, but it's a lot more fun to get them from free. How can you do that? Several different ways, it turns out.
- Log in daily - Being the nice princess that she is, Elizabeth will bring you a reward of some sort the first time you log in each day, occasionally including Diamonds.
- Complete Daily Tasks - Found in the 'Tasks' tab of the Quests menu, Daily Tasks are relatively easy ways to earn some useful items along with Diamonds.
- Keep an eye on your Achievements - Achievements are cumulative goals that you can knock out while you're completing quests. The rewards vary but often feature a Diamond or three.
- Don't overlook Village Quests - It might not seem very glamorous to help out the residents of a village, but not only is there extra story waiting for you, there are also free Diamonds to be had. Even better, if you knock out 100 percent of a set of VIllage Quests, you'll get 30 Diamonds, or one free 11x draw.
How to make your heroes more powerful
Your characters will level up automatically simply by using them in battle, but you can speed up the process by a factor of ... well, a lot. Tap on the 'Heroes' icon and any character in your collection, then tap 'Enhance.' Here, you'll find any materials you currently own that can be used to level up heroes. Select the ones you want, pay the required amount of gold, and boom, instant leveling.
There are several other ways to increase the overall power level of your heroes:
- Evolve - This is how you bump a hero from one rarity to the next, including boosting them to UR rank. To do so, you'll need to have your character at max level and have special items called Evolution Pendants and Grimoires, which you can find in the SP Dungeon at Fort Solgres.
- Awaken - This process helps boost three of a character's stats at a time, again with the help of specific items and quite a bit of gold.
- Ultimate Move - Every character's Ultimate skill can be leveled up if you acquire their Hero Coins (specific to each hero) and spend some gold.
- Equipment - Characters have six equipment slots that can be filled with a wide variety of gear that boosts stats and occasionally offers bonus effects of some sort as well. Equipment can be boosted as well using Enhance Stones and, you guessed it, gold.
Have more tips for The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross?
We're certainly not opposed to crowdsourcing some more advice from fellow players. If you've found a great tip or trick to help new players, feel free to drop it in the comment section below. That's the kind of positive gamer karma that will probably come back around and help you at some point.
