MR2 Combining Short Info

The first chosen monster in combining is the "seed", or more important of the two. Technique inheritance and % generation chance are reliant on the first chosen monster.

Things that can be inherited/altered by combining:
- Techniques are inherited at a 2/3 truncated rate from the first parent if the main-breed doesn't change (10 non-basic/special techs
  will become 6 non-basic/special techs on the resulting monster). If the main breed changes, the result will instead inherit up to 4
  techs, if the first chosen has one of each type (Heavy, Hit, Withering, Sharp).
- Number of technique uses are inherited from the first parent for the purpose of tech chains (Special Technique uses are not
  inherited).
- Base Nature of the monster is affected by the parents, with two best monsters raising the base nature, and vice-versa for Worst.
- Battle Specials can be inherited at 10-100~% rate for each particular special depending on if both parents have the special (Real and Unity cannot be inherited). The first chosen parent gives higher weight to passing on battle specials, with 25% at the lowest for Fury.
- Initial form will tend up or down if the parents are Plump or Skinny, respectively.

Things that don't change:
- Stat gains of the offspring
- Guts rate
- Lifespan of the offspring (without combining item)

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* DETAILED INFO:
Compatibility is determined by how many stats align on the two combined monsters, but this doesn't necessarily mean their "listed" stats. Dadge says the following for each compatibility level:

No stats match/monsters are identical breed: "This one's all up to you."
One stat matches: "The prospect is unsure."
Two stats match: "This combination doesn't look so good, I can't recommend it."
Three stats match: "The prospect is fine... It will probably work out."
Four stats match: "The prospect of this combination is good. You can look forward to it."
All six stats match: "The prospect of this combination is great. It can't go wrong unless something weird happens."
If you combine two of the same monster (Zuum/Zuum with Zuum/Zuum), the compatibility will always be the worst possible. Differing in Main or Sub-breed will avoid this.

Compatibility relies on the stat ordering of both parents. Dadge's compatibility is determined this way:
Growth Level 0 (E) = Stat * 0
Growth Level 1 (D) = Stat * 0.5
Growth Level 2 (C) = Stat * 1
Growth Level 3 (B) = Stat * 1.5
Growth Level 4 (A) = Stat * 2

You can ignore the usual 999 stat limit when getting correction values. This will then order the stats based on their after-correction values to give them an order, and then compares them. However, this is "Dadge's Compatibility", and not necessarily the true compatibility. It's a great pointer and if you've done everything right, he will say it's a great combo, but it's not entirely the extent of things.

Ex: Let's say I have a Vesuvius (Durahan/Dragon) with stats of 899/950/450/999/800/700 (LIF/POW/INT/SKI/SPD/DEF). This monster has stat growths of 2/3/3/2/0/3 [C/B/B/C/E/B] with base stats of 100/130/150/110/70/140. After correction I arrive at this:

| LIF * 1 = 899 | POW * 1.5 = 1425 | INT * 1.5 = 675 | SKI * 1 = 999 | SPD * 0 = 0 | DEF * 1.5 = 1050 | [899/1425/675/999/0/1050]
Using these values, I can list this monster's stat order: POW->DEF->SKI->LIF->INT->SPD

Order is determined by the stat's value after-correction. If they have the same growth, after-correction value, and actual value, the base stat value is the tiebreaker. Despite the monster itself having higher Speed than both Int and Defense, it comes in last solely due to its growth level of 0. Ideally, you will want a combining partner with the exact same stat order after correction to get the highest compatibility.

(For a few subs, like Blue Terror, it can tie in everything including base stats. If so, it's evaluated in order going from DEF to LIF)

Due to the very negative correction of growth level 0, you may wish to avoid monsters with them if going for an easier optimal combination. Although, even if a stat has a post-correction value of 0, its actual value does still help the resulting monster's stats.

But there's more. Lining up the stat orders and compatibility itself does not ensure high base stats (Though it is important). For maximal base stats ("True compatibility"), the stat order must also line up with the resulting offspring's base stats. For simplicity, I'm going to be combining the above Vesuvius to create another Vesuvius. So for Vesuvius's base stats above of 100/130/150/110/70/140, the order is INT->DEF->POW->SKI->LIF->SPD. You may note this is somewhat different from our order above. Unfortunately, even if Dadge tells you the compatibility is nothing short of divine, the base stats will not reach their maximum potential unless the Parent's stat order also lines up with the offspring's base stat order. HOWEVER, and this is important, correction does apply to base stats. For most monsters, the base stat order before correction is the same as the order after correction, but this is not true for all monsters.

So to be totally certain, I'll apply correction to Vesuvius's base stats:
100/130/150/110/70/140, with the growths 2/3/3/2/0/3.
| LIF * 1 = 100 | POW * 1.5 = 195 | INT * 1.5 = 225 | SKI * 1 = 110 | SPD * 0 = 0 | DEF * 1.5 = 210 |
This gives the order INT->DEF->POW->SKI->LIF-SPD, which as mentioned, is what we're looking for.

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* STAT MANIPULATION:
It can take some stat gain manipulation to get the desired result, but the above can result in an extremely impressive resulting Vesuvius with many techs, and base stats as high as the low 700s (mid 400/500s are more expected) if both parents follow suit on this (Speed will never reach this for this Durahan due to its correction of 0, however). In this case, this order can be attained by really cranking that Durahan's INT and DEF to surpass its POW and attain a spread of [899/950/952/999/800/951], but the partner is just as important whereas the stats are concerned.

In this case, I could use another Durahan, if I really wanted to, but instead I'll demonstrate using a Dragon/Dragon partner. With their growths of 2/4/4/2/1/2 [C/A/A/C/D/C], and base stats of 100/170/160/120/90/110, the stats would have to be managed carefully to get the desired result. POW is the odd one out here, since I want it to be third in the stat order, behind INT and DEF, but it has a correction of 2x. Since Speed on the offspring is dead-last too, The Dragon wouldn't have to worry about that too much. By manipulating the Dragon's stats to be 900/490/500+/950/800/999, we can get this on Dadge's compatibility:

| LIF * 1 = 900 | POW * 2 = 980 | INT * 2 = 999+ | SKI * 1 = 950 | SPD * 0.5 = 400 | DEF * 1 = 999 |

Following how the lab judges monsters, the Dragon's stat order after correction is INT->DEF->POW->SKI->LIF->SPD  As both these parents have fairly high stats, the same stat order, and an identical stat order to the desired resulting Vesuvius, extremely high base stats can be expected on the offspring. Though this could be better- by finding a partner that does not have to stop with such a low POW in retain the stat order. Bigger growths doesn't always mean more valuable combination fodder after all.

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* IMAGES:
Combining Vesuvius and the Dragon for another Vesuvius (True compatibility): https://i.imgur.com/qJsn8K1.png
Combining Vesuvius and the Dragon for a different Stat-Order result: https://i.imgur.com/aPDeF5r.png

As you can see, the difference is quite notable if the true compatibility is not there.

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* ADDITIONAL INFO:
This is some obscure information about combining- but is useful to know regardless.

# "Blood" Strength
A measure of how high a breed/sub-breed type is expected to manifest percentage-wise during combining. Higher tier blood types have higher chance of being generated- and vis-à-vis for low tier blood types. That said, there is a hidden advantage to lower tier blood which I'll cover afterwards.
S  Tier: Pixie, Golem
A+ Tier: Zuum
A  Tier: Dragon
B+ Tier: Jell, Naga, Monol, Gali, Hare, Worm, Hopper, Tiger, Plant, Suezo
B  Tier: Durahan, Wracky
C+ Tier: Mocchi, Centaur, Beaclon, Henger, Niton, Baku
C  Tier: Arrowhead, Joker, Jill
D  Tier: Kato, Zilla, Ape, Mew, Gaboo
E  Tier: Phoenix, Ducken, Bajarl, Colorpandora, Undine, Ghost, Mock, Metalner
The monster which is chosen first in the combination will be given higher weighting on their blood-type.
Some are peculiarly placed- such as Hopper which does not manifest even once as a sub-type.

# Disc Chips
Aside from their regular benefits, Disc Chips also give additional combining weight to the breed they correspond to. This can lead to some fairly weak blood type monsters being given very low odds if used properly.

# The Low % Clause
As mentioned, having a weak blood-type is not necessarily a disadvantage, and indeed might even be a good thing. There's an obscure rule in combining that, for the lower chance there was at producing the monster in combining, the higher its base stats will be as result (assuming the other rules for combining above were already adhered to). This becomes extremely noticeable around 4% chance to generate, increasing the further down you go towards 1%. Where I mentioned before that "mid 400-500s are more expected", that's only for a high generation odds monster. If you're aiming for slim odds, you can create some truly monstrous offspring. For an example, I'll take a 999 ALL Ghost, and a 999/998/998/998/999/997 Pixie/Zuum (Mew/Tiger is a more optimal partner normally, but Pixie and Zuum have much stronger blood) and combine them. My target will be another Ghost/Ghost. The secret to getting these low blood monsters to get even lower (aside from Metalner, Mock, and Ducken which are pretty easy) is to whip out the disc chips. However, for many of the weak blood-type monsters, it can be very difficult to get their weighting down to single digits. The absolute best I can get with a Ghost is 8% using Pixie Chips, but other weak blood monsters can get as low as 1% or 2% with base stats in the 700 range.

24% Result Ghost: https://imgur.com/dBzvjFH
8%  Result Ghost: https://imgur.com/KFkGJPp
Bonus - 3% Result Metalner: https://imgur.com/hTF6cdi
(Another anecdote, but Metalner blood is extremely weak in my experience. Getting it to sub 5% is very easy)

To get low % results, you may suffer in the tech department due to having the desired monster weighted lowly, but some monsters with few techs (Like the Ghost), are perfectly happy to make the trade. Also, this is just anecdotal, but I've never hit a 1% monster (perhaps it is rounding up to 1%?), so maybe 2% is a better thing to shoot for.

If you've got all that, here's a handy combination calculator made by Tsmuji:
https://jwcooper.net/combination-calculator
You still have to know the main ideas behind combining, but this does the math for you.

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- Alchius