You’ve been grinding for weeks. Your diamonds are gone. You finally see that rainbow flash on your screen and boom—your first SSR card Tokyo Debunker unit finally lands. But then you take it into the arena and it gets absolutely shredded by a team with lower power levels. Honestly, it's enough to make you want to throw your phone across the room.
Why does this happen? Because Tokyo Debunker is a bit of a liar. The "Total Power" number on your profile is mostly fluff. If you want to actually win cases or climb the ranks in the Coliseum, you have to look past the shiny SSR border and understand the actual math happening under the hood.
Why One SSR Card Tokyo Debunker Pull Changes Everything
In most gacha games, SR cards are viable for a long time. In Tokyo Debunker? Not really. The jump between an SR and an SSR is massive—we're talking about a baseline stat difference that makes a level 100 SR look like a wet paper bag compared to a level 100 SSR.
I’ve seen players with 7 million power beat teams with 9 million just because they had one or two "awakened" SSR cards in the right slots. If you're F2P, you've probably noticed that the pity system is brutal. 500 pulls for a guaranteed SSR? That is legitimately insane for a mobile game. But that’s exactly why you can’t afford to waste resources.
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The Myth of the "Standard" SSR
Most people think any SSR is a win. Kinda. But if you pull a character like Jin Kamurai (Icebound Tyrant) or Alan Mido (Dark Horizon), you’re playing a different game than someone who pulled a random support-heavy card. Some SSRs are simply "hard carries." They have high Speed stats—and in this game, Speed is king. If your SSR has a speed of 200 or less, they are basically a turtle. If they are 300+, they’re a god.
The Warding Card Trap
Here is where the game gets really sneaky. You finally get your SSR character, but you don't have their "matching" Warding Card.
You might think, "Eh, I’ll just slap this other high-stat card on them." Big mistake. The Link Bonus you get from pairing a character with their specific Warding Card is often better than using a higher-rarity but mismatched card. This bonus often targets specific "Battle Stats" like HP and ATK rather than just "Attributes" like VIT or TEN.
Basically, a character with their matching card "links" and gains a hidden efficiency that the raw power number doesn't always show. If you’re pulling on a limited banner, honestly, you should be praying for the character and the card. One without the other is like having a Ferrari with no tires.
Stop Ignoring Gems
If you've got an SSR, you need to be dumping your gems into them. But don't just auto-equip. Look at the card type:
- P. Attackers: You want Strength (STR), Physical Attack (PATK), and Vitality (VIT).
- S. Attackers: Focus on Intelligence (INT), Special Attack (SATK), and Tenacity (TEN).
If you put an INT gem on a Physical Attacker, you are literally throwing stats into a void. I see people do this in Case battles all the time. It’s painful to watch.
Is the "Beginner Only" SSR Summon Worth It?
When you start a new account, you get 30 days to buy the 1980 Paid Diamond pack for a guaranteed SSR. For some, it’s a hard pass because it requires real cash. But if you’re serious about the game, this is actually the only time you get a 100% guarantee for a specific House’s pool.
Frostheim and Vagastrom are usually the favorites here. Jin (Frostheim) has multiple SSR variants like Winter Melts and Sovereign Swagger, making him one of the most consistent carries in the early game. If you’re going to spend money once and never again, this is where you do it.
The Brutal Reality of Awakening
Let’s talk about duplicates. In most games, a dupe is a nice-to-have. In Tokyo Debunker, a dupe (Awakening) is a 50% stat jump.
Fifty percent.
That is the difference between an SSR that dies in the first round and one that solo-clears the enemy team. This is why whales are so dominant—they aren't just getting more characters; they’re getting the same character five times to hit that +250% stat cap. For a normal player, focus on one "main" SSR and pour every Limit Break Fruit and EXP Fruit into them. Spreading your resources across four different SSRs will leave you with a team of "mid" units that can't pass Case 60.
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The "Untrain" Trick
If you accidentally dumped all your Moonlight Ink or Potential Drinks into an SR card before you got your first SSR, don't panic. You can "untrain" cards to get resources back. However, be careful—you don't get everything back. You lose things like Moonlight Ink used past level 40. It’s a "break glass in case of emergency" button, not a strategy.
Actionable Steps for your SSR Strategy
To actually see progress with your SSR card Tokyo Debunker units, stop playing like a collector and start playing like a strategist.
- Audit your Speed: Check the Encyclopedia in-game (the little stamp icon). If your SSR is naturally slow, you need to compensate with specific Equipment or Guardian Spirits.
- Focus on One: Pick your best SSR—usually a high-DPS character like Jin or Romeo—and make them your "Hypercarry." They should be 20 levels higher than the rest of your team.
- Gem Matching: Open the "Skills" tab on your card. Read if they deal Physical or Special damage. If they deal Physical, sell your Special Attack gems to buy Physical ones.
- The Wishing Well: Never, ever spend diamonds until you have at least 3,000 (and eventually 30,000) for the Wishing Well event. This is the only way F2P players can reliably get enough diamonds to hit the 500-pull pity on a limited banner.
- Check the Rates: Not all banners are equal. Rerun banners sometimes have slightly higher rates (around 0.714%) compared to brand new banners (0.7%). Tap that little "%" button before you commit.
Don't get distracted by the flashy Live2D or the "Total Power" ego-boost. This game is a resource management puzzle. If you feed the right SSR the right gems and the right matching warding card, you'll start punching way above your weight class in no time.