Have you ever wanted to build an large chain in Puyo Puyo, but don't know how?
Then you are going to like the strategies in this guide.
Specifically, you will learn:
Ready? Lets dive right in!
A Puyo chain is a set of Puyos grouped together so that when the first group of Puyos pop, they cause another group to pop. This continues until there are no more groups left.
When there are no more groups of Puyos left over, then the chain is finished or resolved.
Here are some examples:
In each of the above examples, visualize how each chain would finish itself.
Despite the many types of ways a Puyo chain can be constructed, many beginner users get confused on how to build more than a two chain. That is why I why I suggest...
The Blocking Method is a way for you to get used to building chains in Puyo Puyo.
Here are the steps:
In a Puyo game, you might notice that there is a preview window showing the next two pairs called our Next Queue.
You might be asking:
Why is that useful?
Well, before the match starts, you can gather information that you can use to make your chain.
Using the next queue, you should be able to identify the most common color in those two pairs.
For example, lets say the first two pieces are:
Then red is the most common color.
Sometimes the first two starting pieces will have a equal distribution of two colors:
Now that you have the most common color of the first two pieces, you have enough info to create your first group of three Puyos.
Place the pieces in a way so that the most common color connect to each other. For example, the two pairs from the first step can be placed like this:
You might be asking why the most common colors are placed next to the wall.
Well, the answer is simple:
To maximize space and minimize risk.
Starting a chain in the middle of the board usually is a bad idea because it can restrict what you can do on the sides of the board. This can reduce the total chain length.
This is a mistake that many beginners make, and it causes them to "never get the piece they need".
Now that we place the first two pairs of three Puyos down, lets look at the Next Queue again:
Since we have an another blue-red pair coming up, we can place the next pair like this:
You can also group the Puyos off in two sets of two Puyos.
For example:
If I placed the blue-red pair like this...
...the red Puyos could be grouped like this...
...and the chain could be set off like this.
Now that we have the first group of Puyos, we can "block," or cover, it off with another set of Puyos.
This would create our trigger, or our group of Puyos that would set off the chain if popped.
Lets look back at our example board.
We see that we have a yellow-blue in the next queue. Lets put the blues next to each other like this:
Now that we have two groups of Puyos, lets block the two groups off. We want to make the chain so that when the blues Puyos pop, the red Puyos pop afterward. Since we have a green-red pair, lets place the piece on top of the blue-red group like this:
Now our second group of Puyos are created. Nice.
Now that we have a 2-chain on the board, lets extend our chain even more.
You might be wondering: how much we should extend the chain?
If you are just starting out, try to aim for at least a 5 chain. An 5 chain will send just enough garbage to make your opponent lose.
5 chain = 71 garbage
Here are some additional tips to help build your chain:
When building your Puyo chain, you will always want to keep your trigger accessible so that your chain can be extended.
One way to keep your trigger accessible is to understand the concept of Balanced Mansions, which was created by a Japanese player named Tom.
Tom explains that a Puyo board can be split into two halves, creating left and right 'mansions'.
Left Right
If one of the 'mansions' are built too high, then it becomes more difficult to extend off the other 'mansion'.
In other words, keep both sides of the board near the same height, or else this will happen:
How do I extend???
In our current chain (below), our left mansion is a little too high.
We can raise our right mansion a little bit by placing the double yellow pair like so:
This raises the left mansion so that we can then place the next two pairs like this:
Using both next queues is a useful way to help 'peek' into the future of your board structure.
For example, by looking at the next queue, we see we have a green-blue pair followed up by an double green pair.
By looking at the three greens, we can see that we can use the lone blue to prop the greens up like so:
In competitive Puyo Puyo matches, your opponents will send you garbage to disrupt your chain. This can range from one small piece to thousands of trashy blobs.
At this level, you might struggle with dealing with a single line of garbage.
If you are hit with a single line of garbage, then one thing that you can do is to build a chain on top of the garbage.
This is so that when that chain is popped, it clears a way for the next group of Puyos to pop.
When you are placing Puyos on your board, make sure that they connect when they pop.
This is a common mistake that many players make, and they can placed in one of two categories:
Incorrectly guessing the height
Mistaking garbage for a solid Puyo
The solution for this is simple — prop your trigger Puyo with another Puyo.
Prop with another color...
...or with the same color.
Now that we have a chain of a decent length, lets set it off!
All you have to do here is set off the trigger (yellow), and watch the chain pop!
Your first chain might be a little messy, but that's okay. As you get better, you will learn techniques to be more efficient in Puyo Puyo.
There are two video guides that can help you with your journey through Puyo Puyo.
I hope this guide showed you how to chain in Puyo Puyo.
Learning how to chain is important, as it is the base for almost everything else in Puyo Puyo.
Once you get the hang of making chains in Puyo Puyo, you can move on to making other forms such as stairs.
