Iron Beast

Overview

Painting Iron Beast (画间沉铁兽) is a Normal/Fighting dual-type spirit and one of the most feared physical attackers in Roco Kingdom: World's competitive scene. With a monstrous 160 Physical Attack stat and a trait that scales damage against buffed opponents, Iron Beast has earned a reputation as the single biggest nightmare for any team that relies on stacking stat boosts.

Iron Beast is rated T0 as a mechanical-system power attacker (机械系强攻手) and serves as one of four core spirits in the canonical Master-rank PVP team. Its unique ability to punish buff-stacking strategies makes it a near-mandatory inclusion in any serious competitive roster.

Profile

Evolution Chain

The Iron Beast line starts as the unassuming Painting Sprite and evolves through a standard level-based evolution before requiring a special battle condition for the final form.

The final evolution has a unique requirement: in addition to reaching level 36, Painting Guardian must defeat 3 Illusion-type spirits in battle. This condition rewards players who actively seek out specific encounters rather than passively grinding. Once the condition is met, evolution triggers immediately after the third qualifying victory.

Stats

Iron Beast's stat distribution is heavily skewed toward Physical Attack, with solid Speed and respectable Physical Defense to support its aggressive playstyle.

The 160 Physical Attack is among the highest in the entire game for any spirit. Combined with 105 Speed, Iron Beast reliably moves before many opponents and delivers devastating physical blows. The low Magic Attack is irrelevant since its entire kit relies on physical damage. Magic Defense at 76 is the main vulnerability, making Iron Beast susceptible to strong special attackers.

Trait: Adaptive Artwork (变形活画)

Iron Beast's signature trait is Adaptive Artwork (变形活画). When Iron Beast attacks an opponent, for each buff layer the opponent currently has, the move's power increases by 10%. This means if an opponent has stacked 5 layers of various buffs (attack up, defense up, speed up, etc.), Iron Beast's attacks deal 50% additional damage.

This trait is a direct hard counter to buff-stacking strategies, which are otherwise among the strongest approaches in competitive play. Teams built around spirits like Swan (Emerald-Crown Lady branch) that rely on accumulating and transferring stat buffs become extremely vulnerable when Iron Beast is on the opposing team. The more the enemy buffs, the harder Iron Beast hits them. This creates a lose-lose situation for buff teams: either they skip their buffs and play suboptimally, or they buff and hand Iron Beast a massive damage bonus.

Key Skills

Learnable Skills

PVP Strategy

Iron Beast's competitive role is straightforward: it exists to punish any team that buffs. The standard PVP approach is:

1. Scout the enemy team. If the opponent has buff-reliant spirits (especially support types like Emerald-Crown Lady), Iron Beast becomes the centerpiece of your strategy.

2. Wait for buffs. Let the opponent invest turns stacking their buffs. Each buff layer they apply increases your damage output by 10%.

3. Switch in Iron Beast. Once the enemy has committed to their buff strategy, bring in Iron Beast to capitalize. With Adaptive Artwork active, even a single attack can deal catastrophic damage to a heavily buffed target.

4. Use First Strike to clean up. First Strike's priority effect ensures Iron Beast moves before the opponent can react, making it excellent for finishing off weakened spirits or preventing emergency switches.

Master-Rank PVP Team

Iron Beast is one of four core spirits in the canonical high-winrate Master-rank team:

• Swan (support or disruptor)

• Sound Speed Dog (Fire Dog, physical burst)

• Demon Wolf (Dark-type aggression)

• Iron Beast (buff counter, raw physical power)

In this composition, Iron Beast acts as the anti-buff insurance policy. If the opponent tries to match Swan's buff strategy with their own buffs, Iron Beast punishes them for it. If they do not buff, Iron Beast still hits extremely hard thanks to its base 160 Physical Attack. This makes the team difficult to counter regardless of the opponent's approach.

How to Find

Iron Beast is a hidden spirit located at the Magic Academy. To encounter it, explore the academy until you find a painting that appears to contain a living spirit. Interacting with this painting triggers a battle against a wild Painting Sprite. Capture it during this encounter. There is no other way to obtain this spirit; it does not appear in the wild outside of this specific interaction.

Tips

• Iron Beast's Adaptive Artwork trait makes it the single best counter to buff-heavy teams in the game. If you are struggling against opponents who stack buffs, Iron Beast is the answer.

• The final evolution requires defeating 3 Illusion-type spirits. Seek these out early so you are ready to evolve as soon as you reach Lv36.

• Iron Beast's low Magic Defense is its primary weakness. Pair it with a teammate that can handle special attackers, or switch Iron Beast out when facing magic-heavy threats.

• First Strike is invaluable for securing knockouts on low-HP targets that might otherwise switch out or use a healing move. Prioritize learning it.