June 2018 Dragon of the Month review and breeding guide: the Furnace Dragon

Hello Dragon Ladies and Lords! It's been a while since my latest post. But I have very good news for you! Upcoming Dragon of the Month for June will be a brand-new, beautiful and powerful Furnace Dragon. Since I already have done some research about this home- and heart-warming being I am so, so much excited about it coming to my Dragonlandia and I hope so will be you after reading my review. So, let's start!

How to breed the Furnace Dragon?

To have a chance of breeding the Furnace Dragon, you must breed dragons that have fire, wind, plant and metal elements. If the parents have more elements than needed (i. e. when you breed the Agave Dragon with the Tornado Dragon), or some elements duplicated (i. e when you breed the Beetle Dragon with the Tornado Dragon), you still have a chance to obtain the Dragon of the Month, but it's lower due to the higher number of possible outcomes. So, I will only list the combinations that have precisely the given element set, nothing more and nothing less. 

1. Beetle + Wind

Breed the Beetle Dragon (or the Chef Dragon) with the Wind Dragon. 

Possible outcomes are:

Dragon	Elements	Rarity	Breeding time	Hatching time
Smoke Dragon			0 h 30 min (0 h 24 min)	0 h 45 min (0 h 36 min)
Bee Dragon			0 h 45 min (0 h 36 min)	1 h 20 min (1 h 04 min)
Tornado Dragon			6 h 00 min (4 h 48 min)	8 h 30 min (6 h 48 min)
Seed Dragon			6 h 00 min (4 h 48 min)	8 h 30 min (6 h 48 min)
Razor Dragon			8 h 00 min (6 h 48 min)	11 h 20 min (9 h 04 min)
Leaf Dragon			8 h 00 min (6 h 48 min)	11 h 20 min (9 h 04 min)
Furnace Dragon			48 h 00 min (38 h 24 min)	57 h 40 min (46 h 08 min)

2. Bloom + Metal

Breed the Bloom Dragon (or the Kangaroo Dragon, or the Ash Dragon) with the Metal Dragon.

Possible outcomes are:

Dragon	Elements	Rarity	Breeding time	Hatching time
War Dragon			6 h 00 min (4 h 48 min)	8 h 30 min (6 h 48 min)
Tornado Dragon			6 h 00 min (4 h 48 min)	8 h 30 min (6 h 48 min)
Razor Dragon			8 h 00 min (6 h 48 min)	11 h 20 min (9 h 04 min)
Venom Dragon			8 h 00 min (6 h 48 min)	11 h 20 min (9 h 04 min)
Cyborg Dragon			10 h 00 min (8 h 00 min)	12 h 00 min (9 h 36 min)
Furnace Dragon			48 h 00 min (38 h 24 min)	57 h 40 min (46 h 08 min)

3. Ceremony + Tornado

Breed the Ceremony Dragon (or one of the: Sunflower Dragon, Amber Dragon, Ladybug Dragon, Golden Green Dragon) with the Tornado Dragon (or the Razor Dragon).

Possible outcomes are:

Dragon	Elements	Rarity	Breeding time	Hatching time
Smoke Dragon			0 h 30 min (0 h 24 min)	0 h 45 min (0 h 36 min)
Bee Dragon			0 h 45 min (0 h 36 min)	1 h 20 min (1 h 04 min)
War Dragon			6 h 00 min (4 h 48 min)	8 h 30 min (6 h 48 min)
Seed Dragon			6 h 00 min (4 h 48 min)	8 h 30 min (6 h 48 min)
Leaf Dragon			8 h 00 min (6 h 48 min)	11 h 20 min (9 h 04 min)
Venom Dragon			8 h 00 min (6 h 48 min)	11 h 20 min (9 h 04 min)
Cyborg Dragon			10 h 00 min (8 h 00 min)	12 h 00 min (9 h 36 min)
Furnace Dragon			48 h 00 min (38 h 24 min)	57 h 40 min (46 h 08 min)

4. War + Seed

Breed the War Dragon (or the Golden Dragon) with the Seed Dragon (or the Leaf Dragon, or the Li'l Chick Dragon).

Possible outcomes are:

Dragon	Elements	Rarity	Breeding time	Hatching time
Smoke Dragon			0 h 30 min (0 h 24 min)	0 h 45 min (0 h 36 min)
Bee Dragon			0 h 45 min (0 h 36 min)	1 h 20 min (1 h 04 min)
Tornado Dragon			6 h 00 min (4 h 48 min)	8 h 30 min (6 h 48 min)
Venom Dragon			8 h 00 min (6 h 48 min)	11 h 20 min (9 h 04 min)
Razor Dragon			8 h 00 min (6 h 48 min)	11 h 20 min (9 h 04 min)
Cyborg Dragon			10 h 00 min (8 h 00 min)	12 h 00 min (9 h 36 min)
Sunflower Dragon			12 h 00 min (9 h 36 min)	16 h 50 min (13 h 30 min)
Furnace Dragon			22 h 00 min (17 h 36 min)	28 h 40 min (22 h 56 min)

5. Smoke + Venom

Breed the Smoke Dragon (or the Bee Dragon, or the Fireball Dragon) with the Venom Dragon (or the Cyborg Dragon)

Possible outcomes are:

Dragon	Elements	Rarity	Breeding time	Hatching time
War Dragon			6 h 00 min (4 h 48 min)	8 h 30 min (6 h 48 min)
Seed Dragon			6 h 00 min (4 h 48 min)	8 h 30 min (6 h 48 min)
Tornado Dragon			6 h 00 min (4 h 48 min)	8 h 30 min (6 h 48 min)
Leaf Dragon			8 h 00 min (6 h 48 min)	11 h 20 min (9 h 04 min)
Razor Dragon			8 h 00 min (6 h 48 min)	11 h 20 min (9 h 04 min)
Sunflower Dragon			12 h 00 min (9 h 36 min)	16 h 50 min (13 h 30 min)
Furnace Dragon			48 h 00 min (38 h 24 min)	57 h 40 min (46 h 08 min)

Which combination to use?

This time the combination for the Dragon of the Month is pretty hard. Neither a wind-plant metal hybrid, nor a fire-wind-metal hybrid exists. Furthermore, there are none of fire-plant-metal and fire-wind-plant are normally-breedable. For this reason, many players will be forced to be using a pair of two-elementals. Which combination will be the best for you, as usually, depends on which other possible outcomes you'd like to get and when you will be able to rebreed your dragons. As there isn't any epic dragon in any of the tables above, for most of the players the Sunflower Dragon is the only wanted possible missbreed when trying for the Furnace Dragon. 

For players, who want to breed the Sunflower Dragon, combinations No. 4 i No. 5 are recommended, as they have chances to result in the Sunflower Dragon or in the Furnace Dragon. The combination No. 5 has less possible outcomes, thus higher chance to get a wanted dragon. However, two possible outcomes from the combination No. 4 have very low breeding times (30 minutes for the Smoke Dragon and 45 minutes for the Bee Dragon). So, if getting one of those dragons means another try for you (i. e. when choosing dragons to breed you know that you will be playing in an hour or two), choose the combination No. 4. Otherwise (i. e. when you are going to sleep or to be at work for the next 8 hours), choose the combination No. 5. 

If you already have got the Sunflower Dragon, combinations No. 1 and No. 2 are preferred for you. If you are lucky to have needed dragons for both of those combinations and have the luxury of choosing between those combinations, the reasoning is the same as above: the combination No. 1 have more possible outcomes, that have lower breeding times, so if you are going to be able to rebreed your dragons in few hours, choose the combination No. 1, and if you aren't going to be able to play for the next 6 hours or longer, choose the combination No. 2.

It is possible that you aren't able to use No. 1 or No. 2 combination. Both Ash and Chef Dragons are limited-time and we haven't been given a chance to obtain any of them this year. The Kangaroo Dragon is an epic card dragon, so it's very unlikely for any new player to have it. Both Bloom and Beetle Dragons are only available through enchanted breeding. The Bloom Dragon requires the breeding den upgraded at least to level 2 and enchanted Agave and Cloud Dragons as parents. Furthermore, the Beetle Dragon requires the breeding den upgraded at least to level 4, the Venom Dragon enchanted to level 3 or higher and the Orange Dragon enchanted to level 2 or higher as parents. So, in my opinion, obtaining dragons required for the preferred combination can be even as hard as obtaining the Furnace Dragon itself. Thus, if you don't have needed dragons, it may be better idea to try another combination than to rush obtaining Bloom or Beetle.

So, if you are going to choose between combinations No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5, once again you need to know when you are going to rebreed your dragons. The choice isn't obvious this time, because exact chances of obtaining a dragon of a given rarity aren't publicly known (all public breeding calculators are fan-made and chances shown them are just players' guessing) and the differences between tables are small. Of those three, the combination No. 5 has the lowest number of possible outcomes, but it's also more likely to result in longer missbreed. The combinations No. 3 and No. 4 have the same number of possible outcomes, however, outcomes of the No. 4 have higher rarity, so it seems that the combination No. 4 gives higher chances of getting the Furnace. But, it also have higher chances of longer breeding! So, the optimal algorithm of breeding must be quite sophisticated and it is, in my opinion:

1. If you aren't going to play for the next 6 hours or more, choose the No. 5
2. If you are going to play for the next 45 minutes or more, but after 6 hour from now you will not be playing for quite a long (i. e. you are going to go to sleep in 3 hours and sleep for 8 hours), choose the No. 4
3. Otherwise, choose the No. 3

Remember that parents' level matters! So, if you are going to choose between two combinations that seems to give similar chances of the Furnace Dragon's egg, you have parents for one of them on much higher level than the other, ignore the algorithm and simply pick the combination with higher level. However, if the difference is just a few levels, follow above instructions. It has been officially confirmed by Gameloft that parent's rarity doesn't matter, so if you are choosing between two dragons from the same combination (i. e. you are going to try No. 5, and you need to choose between Venom and Cyborg), always pick the one with higher level!

Dragon review

As you can see, breeding the Furnace Dragon is quite a challenge! If you try to get it, you will probably get your breeding den blocked for a long time, getting no new dragons meanwhile. Is this dragon worth it? In my opinion, totally yes! Let me convince you.

As a battle dragon

There is no legendary dragon that has got higher attack damage than the fully awoken Furnace Dragon, and only a few divines: Zeus (82), Taiyi Zhenren (83) and Chang'e (85).  I don't need to remind you that skills' power scales with the base attack damage, so it's more important statistics than the base health points, do I? And Furnace's base attack damage is actually in top 7 dragons in the game available ever! (Besides 3 mentioned above divines, there are also 3 legendaries with exactly the same attack damage). 228 base health isn't so great and considering health points, the Furnace Dragon looses to many epics, and even a rare Rust Dragon can reach 240 health (having humble 56 base attack damage). Out of all the legendary and divine dragons, only the Pixel Dragon has got lower health points. But, the great damage of Furnace Dragon offsets by a huge margin his low health. Especially that with its elements, it has a potential of dealing 150% attacks to half (!) of the existing elements: wind, fire, water, plant, light and shadow. The combination of fire and shadow skills provides you with both damage over time and area damage and assures you you'll have good solution for almost any battle situation. In Enchantment Arena, the Furnace Dragon is able to benefit from a common , a rare  and an epic  Damage Boost potions. It isn't a perfect choice, since a triple damage provided by uncommon potions is often optimal, but it's still good enough for a great battle dragon. Especially that about the half of existing dragons would take strong attacks from the Furnace Dragon, and a  common Damage Boost combined with strong attack is enough to one-shot a dragon on the same level. 

Now, let's compare the Furnace Dragon to similar legendaries. First comes (available through enchanted breeding) the Plushie Dragon, that has the same elements (and stats). The difference isn't big. Getting the Furnace is much, much easier than getting the Plushie (you need two epics enchanted to level 2 or higher, one enchanted to level 3 or higher and one rare enchanted to level 4 to breed Plushie's parents, that both have to be enchanted to level 4, not to mention that the breeding table for Plushie is

much bigger than any of the above tables!). On the other hand, the Plushie Dragon is listed in Codex'es Bewitching Dragons collection, so if you want to complete your Dragons' Codex, you'll have to breed Plushie one day. Plushie's 2nd and 3rd element have different order than Furnace's, which means that Plushie will be able to benefit from shadow element's triple strengths in interlude between unlocking 2nd and 3rd element, and Furnace will not, but this is marginal advantage. What's more important,

Plushie will need more shadow enchantment elements while Furnace will need more fire enchantment elements. What is better for you depends on what other dragons do you have in your team. I should also mention here, that exactly the same elements as Plushie has got the Wraith Dragon, who is limited-time and we haven't been given an opportunity to obtain it yet. Next comes the Sumo Dragon, who is, in my opinion, even better battle dragon than the

Furnace Dragon! It has the same attack damage, much higher health points, and extra two element strengths (earth and energy) from light element. The only disadvantage of Sumo (compared to Furnace) is that it is unable to use any common Damage Boost potion, which is really small drawback. However, being the prize for reaching the highest Enchantment League, Sumo is out of reach for many players. Next dragon on my list is May's Dragon of the Month: the Pixie Dot Dragon. She has the same area damage - damage over time skills pair in reversed version: area damage is provided by light element and benefit from triple element strengths, while the  damage over time is provided by plant element and does 150% damage only to void dragons, but have more damage from mastery skill. Pixie Dot has got lower attack damage, much higher health point and an advantage of being able to use uncommon Plant Damage Boost potion. Having a plant element is in my opinion more useful than having a fire element also for the reason that void element isn't vulnerable neither to light nor to shadow attacks, so

when you are maximizing the number of dragons that would take strong attacks from your team (thus you heavily use light and shadow element for their triple strengths), plant (as well as energy) element will fill the niche. So, all of those facts in my opinion make Pixie Dot almost equally good as Furnace. By the way, Pixie Dot and Furnace seem to be able to work greatly together in one team! The last dragon to be mentioned here is the Berry Dragon that was the Dragon of the Month in May 2015, May 2016 and May 2017. It 

has the same base attack damage as Pixie Dot, lower health, no triple-strength and in my opinion, looses greatly to all of above dragons. A pair of Sumo and Berry Dragons could be used in one team for the damage over time - area damage skills pair and element balance, but though Sumo is really great dragon, in my opinion Pixie Dot - Furnace pair would be much better!

If you are balancing your team for the case of the castle events, and you miss fire and shadow elements, Furnace, being great battle dragon overall is also probably the best choice for you. Most reasonable epic replacement would be the Rocker Dragon, the Blazebird Dragon or the Echo Dragon. However, the Furnace Dragon has greater variety of skill types than Blazebird and more element strengths than Rocker. Echo could provide you with some defensive with the great skill of Storm's A-Brewin' if you are lucky to have him, but on the other hand, choice of wind-element dragons is really big. So even if you are composing your team mostly from epics and plan only to use one or two legendaries (which is better strategy for beginner and casual players) in it, I still do recommend the Furnace Dragon to be one of them!

Other usages

As I always say when I describe a legendary dragon, it is unlikely for you to ever use the Furnace Dragon as a parent. However, this time it is actually possible. It's been 4 months since the last divine event, and there was 5 months between 1st and 2nd divine events, so it's not so much unlikely for another divine event to take place in June. There hasn't been any announcement yet, so I'd rather bet that a divine event would take place in July, however there are still chances it will be by the end of June, and since in two previous divine events there was a divine dragon as Dragon of the Week requiring the current Dragon of the Month as one of parents, it's better to be prepared and breed the Furnace Dragon (and July's DotM) as quickly as possible. 

When it comes to leveling up temples, there isn't anything special about the Furnace Dragon, since there are many legendary dragons, many fire-element dragons, and even some legendary dragons with fire as 2nd element (like i. e. Siren, Verdant, Ironfire).

As a gold generator, a legendary dragon is never the best choice, since legendary dragons have poor gold capacity, and even divine habitats (that we can only build in a limited number) aren't really great. However, thanks to the shadow element, Furnace's base gold/hour is pretty high compared to other legendaries.

According to the Dragons' Codex: "The Furnace Dragon has a wild look about it, but it's actually quite a homebody. It enjoys settling in the basements of houses and warming the structures from the bottom up. Cozy, indeed!". So, I really wished I had the Furnace Dragon in winter, but I'm not sure if breeding it is the best idea during such a warm summer (the temperature in Poland exceeds 30 deg C!) like now...

Conclusion

I guess I should write something here, but with such a great dragon, there isn't much to conclude. To be honest, I am really surprised if you are still reading this crazily long text instead of trying to breed your own Furnace just after its release. But, if you are still here, I am so happy and grateful! Please tell me in comments what do you think about this heartwarming dragon, and whether the weather in your country is so inappropriate to breeding a Furnace!

Have a wonderful day at your Dragonlandia! I keep my fingers crossed for you to breed your own Furnace Dragon soon (and not to suffer too much from sweltering heat) ;)