Dragonarms

Dragonarms. Weapons for dragons.

Bushiroad...

As an archetype, Dragonarms aren't exactly standalone. Instead, they are meant to support Neodragons and used as extra soul for the bosses of that archetype. This is why most Dragonarms are Size 1 or smaller, and the Size of the Dragonarms actually helps balance and weight how powerful the effect is. Being able to fuse with another dragon and combine the two powers is the idea behind Crossnize.

Pfft. Crossnize sounds so lame.

Tank up!

We'll talk briefly about Crossnize. First of all, since Crossnize is a keyword, there is no way to respond to the act of Crossnizing with a counter timing. There's actually no Play Timing involved with Crossnize; it just happens. This is unlike an awfully similar ability, Armorknight Cerberus's Full Fire, which can be responded to and get absolutely bodied. Apparently, Bushiroad ruled that Crossnize is behaves just like an Act, and I'll accept this for now. Secondly, Crossnize activates on the field, meaning that both monsters (the Dragonarm and the target) must be on the field and have Size add up to 3 (or 4 with Dragon Ein). With these two important facts in mind, we can see that Crossnize is a strong but largely fair ability (unlike Ride/Transform, which is largely unfair). Every Dragonarm is simultaneously a monster and an extra copy of a better boss monster you want to keep around, and they also have synergistic effects. It's a healthy combo effect that requires multiple cards but also grants powerful results in tandem.

Instead of going over each Dragonarm, it's much better to list them out like so, with their effects:

Size 0

• Artiliger (null battling Size 2 or less monster's abilities)
• Garbel Anchor (-1 gauge -1 life drop this from soul spell negate)
• Edge Shooter (on-attack deal 1 damage)

Size 1

• Cavalier (Penetrate)
• Vogel (Move)
• Divisigator (+2000 defense)
• Winchisker (on-damage destroy 1 item)
• Talnada (+1 gauge)
• Nanobreak (2 gauge kill any monster)
• Radiant Alma (less than 6 life, -1 gauge Double Attack)
• Charger (-1 gauge draw)
• Transportal (on-attack destroy 1 soul)
• Reconnaissance (on-damage +1 gauge OR +1 life)

Size 2

• Elgar Cannon (+2000 power/+1 crit)

Size 3

• Sonic Blast (on-attack -1 gauge destroy 1 card)
• the Main Force (-1 gauge protect from destruction)

Broadside!

Note that Cavalier, Vogel, and Divisigator are all found in the Trial Deck and are all Size 1 monsters.

You can see that the effects range from +0.5 (Vogel) to whopping +1 (Elgar Cannon) and perhaps even higher (Cavalier). It all depends on who you Crossnize and in what situation you do so.

Elgar Cannon is a Size 2 which would normally hinder any Size 2 Neodragon to get it in their soul. But both Jack and Marshal can grab an Elgar Cannon from the drop zone, so make sure you can get Elgar Cannon there as a priority.

On the other side of the spectrum, Artiliger is a Size 0 Dragonarms (and thus has a more situational and weaker effect). This means that you can call him even if you have a Size 3 out (or Size 2 and Size 1) and essentially trade him in for another soul for your Size 3 boss. This makes the card better to be kept in hand and saved for those situations.

More cards!

The card that ties Dragonarms together as a solid archetype is Dragonarms Factory. The premier draw spell of Star Dragon World, Dragonarms Factory trades itself and a Dragonarms from your hand for two new cards. This not only cycles extremely efficiently but also gets target Dragonarms like Elgar Cannon into your drop zone where they can be grabbed with Neodragon effects.

Alongside Factory we get Arms Reboot, an amazing card that allows you to salvage any Dragonarms 1-for-1. It's useful for getting back a Dragonarms for Crossnizing.

Space Building, Bulge is that Set spell that apparently every other world is getting. Gain gauge when you play a Dragonarms, when you die sack this and mill the top card of your deck in hopes of hitting a spell and living. In Star Dragon World, your decklist tends to lean towards lots of monsters so you're going to have an even lower chance of getting a hit with that card than compared to other worlds.

A helping hand

Last but not least, Buddy Allstars introduced a Dragonarms-centric item. Star Hand, Arms Controller's most attractive virtue is probably the free equip. The Act effect is useful to convert dead draws to useful Crossnize soul but it doesn't gain advantage, only potentially ups the quality of a single card. So it's not something you want to be doing every turn for fun. It does let you recycle more potent Dragonarms like Elgar Cannon which can be very useful.

Sonic Blast is the first Dragonarm with Size 3, meaning from-field Crossnizing is highly impractical (especially considering that 2-gauge call cost). So you more or less have to get it from your drop zone or a lucky topdeck. The effect is very powerful, but it's more likely to be a dead card in hand, making cards like Dragonarms Factory all the more important for getting rid of it (of course, you should always charge it if you can).

And finally, our first Dragonarms-related Impact. Radiant Stream! Allows you to restand your weapon and one monster for another attack phase that can't be Countered, all for the small price of 3 gauge. You need to return 5 Dragonarms from your drop zone to your deck, which is more of a time-restriction (you can't rush this Impact). I think it's very powerful with the right combination of weapon-monster, since it doesn't specify size or anything. And it has a very cute synergy with Mobius, allowing him to ditch 3 soul to help pay for the cost of Radiant Stream (you can do it in any order you want).

- updated to H-BT04, CP01, H-EB04, H-TD02, H-PP01 -

All images were used obtained from the official Bushiroad website and used here solely for reference purposes. Future Card Buddyfight!, logos, and respective content belong to Bushiroad. Large images belong to the Buddyfight! Wikia.