As a part of its goal to provide a unique experience from the mainline Yo-kai Watch games, Yo-kai Watch Wibble Wobble introduces a new, powerful, exclusive Rank: SS-Rank. SS, or double-S Rank Yo-kai's Soultimate Moves are typically one Soultimate Level stronger than a typical S-Rank, making them equivalent in power to Legendary Yo-kai.
There are 16 total SS-Rank Yo-kai that we will receive in the near future. These Yo-kai can be split into two categories: Big Bosses, and Awoken Yo-kai. Each week that NHN feels like supporting, a Boss from Yo-kai Watch Busters is featured as that week's Score Attack Big Boss. This Yo-kai is given as a Score Attack reward to the top 250 competitors of that week. When used the following week, the Big Boss grants a 5% Score Bonus.
The second SS-Rank Yo-kai available each week is an Awoken Yo-kai. This is an SS-Rank version of an existing, fan-favorite Yo-kai from the mainline games that is distinguished by a bright aura. While they look similar to their original forms, their Soultimate Moves are typically completely different and always much more powerful. The Awoken Yo-kai for each week can be cranked from the Y-Money Crank-a-Kai and gives a 10% Score Bonus in that week's Score Attack. All Score Bonus-granting SS-Rank Yo-kai have Tribe Advantage during that week.
Score Attack Big Bosses, and therefore Awoken Yo-kai, appear in a static cycle. As of this article's creation, NHN has inexplicably decided to leave out some Big Bosses and Awoken Yo-kai, instead replacing them with undesirable ones. The reasons for this are unknown.
In the future, the cycle will be as follows:
The first set's Big Boss is Red J. He is a center popper with nearly the same power as Gilgaros. His Soultimate pops the same amount of Wib Wobs, but his Attack is 5 less. The trade off is that Red J's HP is 77 higher than Gilgaros. Red J makes a great offensive Yo-kai when paired with others in the powerful Charming Tribe such as Komajiro S, Swelterrier, and Blizzaria Awoken, who will be covered later.
Kyubi Awoken is crankable when Red J is the Big Boss. He is a Mysterious Random Popper with a Soultimate at the same level as Shogunyan's, but he is flat out better than Shogunyan with 9 more Attack and 72 more HP. He has Unity with strong Mysterious Yo-kai like Signiton, Miradox, Chymera, Kingmera, and Komashura, so fans of aggressive Score Attack methods will certainly like this.
Next up is Prison Breaker, one of the most powerful SS-Rank Yo-kai overall. He is an Attack Upper with a 107pt boost. His Soultimate is an entire Level stronger than Beelzebold, Komajiro S, and Gargaros, who are all currently tied at 100pts. He also heals for 250 HP and 685 HP of his own. When he releases, he will be a must-have for Y-Money making thanks to his top tier Soultimate and Unity with Sproink S. The fact that he fits on any team only makes that 5% Score Bonus he gives the following week even better.
Prison Breaker's Awoken counter Blizzaria Awoken. With 15 more HP, 28 more Attack, and one more Soultimate Level than regular Blizzaria, she is a force to be reckoned with. Charming is one of the most powerful Tribes, and Blizzaria Awoken is a key player in this fact.
The following week is a little more lackluster. Robonyan 28 is a Ball Popper with the same Soultimate Level as Darkyubi, but despite being one Rank higher, Robonyan 28 has 25 less HP and 95 less Attack. Ball Poppers take longer to use and deal much less damage than other Poppers. Tough lacks the Yo-kai required to form a solid, full-Unity team, and Robonyan 28 does not fix this issue.
Meanwhile, Arachnus Awoken is essentially a waste of Y-Money. He is an Eeriee Inflater at an impressive two Soultimate Levels higher than Miradox, Mimikin A, and Signiton, but Inflating two Wib Wob to Size 10-12 is nothing compared to Slurpent's immense power. As a result, Arachnus Awoken is ultimately a short term upgrade. His use with Sproink S in the trio Flooding method is not to be underestimated, but once Slurpent is eventually released, Arachnus Awoken will never be used competitively again. For this reason, whether he should be cranked 1 or 35 times is entirely up to the individual player.
Most players should be familiar with Whismellowman, who was featured in last year's Halloween Event. He is a Vanisher, causing his Wib Wob to not spawn for the next 28 Seconds. Due to Vanishers' lackluster damage and highly situational utility, they are generally considered to not be very useful. His Soultimate Move is only a single second longer than Beetall's, and he has 5 less HP and 25 less Attack. Additonally, Whismellowman is Slippery, which does not give him many Unity options: the Venoct, Shadow Venoct, Venoct Awoken, Mermadonna, and SV Snaggerjag S are the only good Yo-kai he has Unity with, and those five make a much better team than one with Whismellowman.
Despite Whismellowman lacking offensive firepower, his week's Awoken Yo-kai certainly is not. Toadal Dude Awoken is a Zone Popper like Kingmera with 4 more Attack, 19 more HP, and one more Soultimate Level. Score Attack record holder Lunix has found that Kingmera is one of the most powerful single targeting Attackers in the game, so Toadal Dude Awoken should be a strong choice as well when paired with Gargaros, Gilgaros, and Orcanos.
Mighty Dog, or Hardy Hound, is another Score Attack Big Boss that has already been released. His Soultimate is currently unique, creating four Bonus Balls on the board for 11 Soul Points. While his lack of damage and subpar utility compared to the instant gain of Inflaters makes him a poor choice for most teams, he has a single, important purpose: earning Stars. The instant creation of four Bonus Balls counts towards the Bonus Ball requirements for many tedious Stars. With Mighty Dog, all Bonus Ball Stars are trivial, so any players concerned with collecting Stars should try their your hardest to add Mighty Dog to their Medallium.
To create an overall stellar week, Venoct Awoken brings an impressive and SS-Rank exclusive Soultimate Move. He is a Single Attacker with 630 Attack, and he Stuns his target for 13 seconds. If his target is defeated, the Stun is instead automatically transferred to the next target. While the Stun makes him unviable in Score Attack since it prevents his Soultimate from being used again until the Stun is over, it also makes Venoct Awoken one of the most useful Yo-kai for clearing Stages. As Stages get much more difficult with the introduction of Old Springdale, later Circles of the Divine Paradise, and future Event Maps, Venoct Awoken or a Yo-kai with equally useful utility will be almost mandatory.
USApyon may not be in America yet, but the next week's Big Boss is his Big Boss form: Captain Thunder. He organizes all Wib Wobs on the board for only 9 Soul Points, making them easier to link up. He's one Soultimate Level stronger than Damona. His Soultimate takes far too long to use and utilize, and with Fever Time no longer stalling the Timer in Score Attack, Captain Thunder has little practical use when other, better Shady Yo-kai such as Beelzebold and Slimamander S exist; however, he can be useful for Stars that require entering multiple Fever Times, especially since he has Unity with Dracunyan, which gives the team a little extra bulk.
Contrasting the damage-lacking Captain Thunder is Happierre Awoken, a Single Attacker. His impressive 630 Attack brings a lot of damage to the table, especially when paired with Elder Bloom, Wiglin or Steppa, Kyryn, and eventually Unikirin as well. He gets even more utility in regular Stages thanks to a 250 HP heal. Overall, Happierre Awoken has everything: He is the best targeted attacker to use in Shady and Eerie Score Attack weeks once Slurpent releases, his heal and damage combo makes clearing Stages much easier, and his varied Unity options tie everything together. When Happierre Awoken enters the Crank-a-Kai, everyone should do their best to pull him no matter what their priorities in the game are.
The following Score Attack Big Boss, Bushiou, is desireable in an atypical way. Bushiou is a Brave Defense Upper with an incredible 801 HP. While his health is equal to to Untidy's, his Soultimate is 4 points stronger, and he gets a nice bonus of 30 extra attack. He may have no place in a Score Attack team, but Bushiou is nearly required on later Event Maps. Bosses deal so much damage that players will not even have time to enter Fever Time before they die. Either a Stunner, such as Venoct Awoken, or a Defense Upper such as Bushiou is a necessary addition to Event Map teams. Bushiou has no trouble fitting in on any offensive team thanks to his Brave typing; he pairs nicely with Illuminoct, Shogunyan, Camellia, Demuncher, and more. While he may not be all that useful at the moment, players looking toward the future should try to get Bushiou now instead of regretting missing out on him later.
Unfortunately, the Awoken Yo-kai that pairs with Bushiou is not nearly as useful as he is. Hidabat Awoken is a Horizontal Popper with 635 Attack and a 114pt Soultimate. While he is solid offensively, making him great for offensive Score Attack strategies during this week, there are many other Yo-kai that do his job just as well or better in other situations and aren't as difficult to MAX. Hidabat Awoken is not bad, but he is outclassed most of the time. He is good for an offensive playstyle against Bushiou, so cranking for him is not a bad choice; however, if anyone struggling for Y-Money should be saving up for the next week.
G-Babaan, the final Score Attack Big Boss in the rotation, is just Venoct Awoken with different stats. She has 338 more HP, but 172 less Attack. This is a huge decrease, making her far less useful than Venoct Awoken because she will not be able to one shot as many targets. She gets Unity with the huge selection of great Mysterious Yo-kai that Kyubi Awoken has access to as well, so she is not bad; however, players looking to tech in a Single Attacker and Stunner, on their non-Mysterious team should be using Venoct Awoken.
It was mentioned earlier that players should probably save up their Y-Money during Hidabat Awoken's week, and this is why. Blazion Awoken is simply a crankable Prison Breaker with 5 less Hp and 5 more Attack at first glance, but he has a huge advantage that Prison Breaker does not: his Tribe. Their are few good, offensive, Eerie Yo-kai, but the selection of Brave Yo-kai that Blazion Awoken synergizes with is varied and vast. From Demuncher to Illuminoct, Blazion Awoken provides the most powerful Attack Up in the game while also giving even more damage through Tribe Unity to some of the greatest damage dealers. Blazion Awoken is the best Awoken Yo-kai by far. If there is any Awoken Yo-kai players should be grinding, saving, or even buying Y-Money for, this is it. There is no one better than Blazion Awoken. Attack Uppers help with money making, score attack placement, and stage clearing all at once thanks to their damage increase, and as the most powerful Attack Upper in the most powerful Tribe, Blazion Awoken is not a Yo-kai that anyone should miss.
After G-Babaan's week, the cycle loops back to Red J and restarts from there, so if players miss an SS-Rank Yo-kai, they will need to wait two months until they have a chance at getting them again.