First Deck Upgrade

[dragtom]

Important is how much an upgrade is worth.
upping a bone dragon gives it only +1|+0, while upping a flesh spider gives it +3|+0.
and don't forget that some upgrades can change the use of a card. (rage pot, nova, accel).

for example, upgrading a lobo would be my 1st pick in this deck.
While it has no direct effect, if you need it more than once you get the biggest quanta advantage.

another point is shields- while having them cost 1 less is nice,
but you can get the same advantage by upgrading a pillar.
However, the quanta boost from towers can also be spend elsewhere.

remember to consider the QI at all times.
If you start upgrading pillars/pends, you may be better of with -1 or -2  pillars at some point.
However, if you then start up dragons/immortals, you may need that quanta again.

Finally, remember to also split-upgrade pillars and pends, as EQ protection.

[Tantoney]

As for upgrading; definitely go for pillars/pends first. They are the best upgrades for this deck, and they also come handy in a lot of other decks too. However, you shouldn't fully upgrade this deck at the start. Mono Aether fully upgraded beats AI4 reliably and can take on False Gods, but it is slow and therefore inefficient compared to top level grinders. Instead, you're better off upgrading 6 Photons into Rays of Light and using RoL/Hope against False Gods (and RoL/Hope is one of the decks which benefits from upgraded aether pillars/pends). For now though, you should grind AI4 as you slowly build up your electrum ^^.

Aside from Ray of Lights, Hopes and all my upgraded pillars and pendulums, are there any additional bits and bobs in order to make the RoL/Hope deck very effective?

[Zawadx]

RoL/Hope can be built with just six upgrades like this:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

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5la 5la 5la 5lk 5lk 5lk 5lk 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61u 61u 61u 622 622 622 622 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 63a 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 7jp 8pu

You can also try -1 Dragon +1 Fractal.
Next step is to upgrade the pillars/pends, and reduce them to 5 each. After that, upgrading lobotomizers is a good idea (though this might leave you with fewer unupped lobotomizers than you want for tourneys). You could also upgrade Dragons for better damage. You can also use Archangels (upgraded Guardian Angels) instead of dragons, as they provide you with faster games (but are weaker to miracle/shields/healing). It's all up to choice really (I personally use 2 Archangels 1 Dragon).
Fractals don't really need upgrading, though upping them helps speed quite a bit. Hope is a debatable upgrade; the extra cost might cost you and extra damage reduction might save you. With the AI giving RoLs top target priority, it might be worth it to get the extra DR. But leaving Hope unupped is fine too.