Episode 1: Stage 1/Guide

General Tips

• Ask if your allies can spare a few recovery items if you are almost out. Sharing resources is necessary for this game mode.
• Similarly, do not take all items to yourself. Challenge mode uses Classic drop style, meaning that there is only 1 instance of any drop which must be shared among the party. It is mutually beneficial to spread out good weapons across the party if possible so that each player is powerful enough to handle their roles effectively.
• Other examples of how to effectively distribute items are:
  • Power Materials often go to Hunters first as they are the primary damage dealers, especially on stages featuring a boss fight. Sometimes they also need the ATP to meet high ATP requirements for more powerful weapons available in the stage. Exceptions for Power Material distribution priority can sometimes be made such as if an exceedingly powerful gun drops and the extra ATP can help a Ranger carry the rest of the stage using it.
  • Mind Materials and TP Materials should go to the Force(s) to increase their technique damage and maximum TP, as well as potentially help them meet high MST requirements for more powerful techniques and weapons.
  • Monofluids should go to the Force(s) whenever they have inventory space for them (some stages begin the Force with a full 10 Monofluids).
  • Any excess Scape Dolls can go to the Force(s) if needed, as they are the most fragile class archetype. Forces are the most likely to die to a single hit from powerful enemy attacks. If the Force has no Scape Dolls left, it is strongly advised for another player to drop a Scape Doll near them to regain some safety from the Force dying unexpectedly and causing the party to fail the stage.
  • Monogrinders, Digrinders, and Trigrinders are typically saved until late in the stage for the best 1-2 weapons for the boss fight if applicable. This is due to how the small ATP boosts add up over a long fight against a single high HP monster. However, grinders can be used early on if a very powerful weapon (with both high Hit and high attribute values) is found quickly in order to streamline the rest of the stage as well as help with the boss.
  • Any excess Antidote and Antiparalysis can go to the player carrying a Ranger's starting mag - or potentially a Hunter's starting mag. These can be fed to the mag to increase its DEX stat for small improvements to player ATA stat. Depending on the stage and player classes in play, a given class may need a Ranger mag with 1-2 additional DEX levels to reach a gun's ATA requirement. Sometimes 1-2 additional DEX levels on a Hunter's starting mag may reach a desired ATA requirement. ATA can be supplemented with certain units equipped into frame slots if available in the stage, but these are rare while the starting loadouts on every stage ensure at least 1 additional mag DEX level regardless of stage, class, and number of party members.

Note: beware that some stages have Poison or Paralysis hazards via monsters (primarily Poison Lily), traps, or poison blobs found in Ruins. While androids are immune to both of these status effects, try not avoid being with a cure to these in stages they are prevalent in whilst playing a non-android character.

• Keep track of your To Next Level experience value as it approaches zero. Try to fully utilize all of your traps on an android - or all of your TP on a Force - shortly before each levelup, as this fully restores your character's traps or TP. It is more risky - but similarly useful - to utilize a levelup for the full HP restore in order to conserve an HP recovery item. These tactics help to minimize the amount of restoratives needed to complete the stage, and traps can greatly contribute during encounters with large groups of standard enemies, or a few powerful and dangerous enemies.
• Practice safe melee combat:
  • Delay attacks in order to chain hitstuns on enemies.
  • Do not approach an enemy from the front if possible unless you are certain your attacks will land and your combo will complete safely without retaliation (either by positioning and no other nearby monsters, stopping after only two combo attacks, or by killing the monster).
  • Note that a third combo attack with a melee weapon often leaves you far more vulnerable to retaliation in most circumstances compared to stopping the combo after only two combo attacks. For third combo attacks with melee weapons, only Partisan-type heavy attack or male Saber-type heavy attack are universally safe against one standard enemy due to the speed of the player's recovery animation, the amount of forward player movement, the enemy hitstun animation, and the enemy pushback distance from a heavy attack. Beware that this does not translate to non-standard enemy types such as Hildebear, Grass Assassin, Sinow Beat, or Chaos Bringer. Combating these enemy types that do not take pushback from heavy attacks or have uninterruptible attack animations often require more careful melee tactics or the use of traps, techniques, or guns to defeat safely.
• Bait out and dodge an enemy attack in order to buy a moment of time for various reasons:
  • To reposition to the side or behind an enemy for safer melee attacks.
  • To gain enough distance to safely fire a gun or cast a technique.
  • To keep an enemy in a general area (in order to keep enemies within a friendly trap's range while waiting for the trap to detonate, to keep an enemy away from allies preoccupied fighting other enemies, etc.).
• If your ATA is too low to reliably land the first combo attack with a given melee weapon, consider starting your combo outside of melee range in order to advance into melee range with the second or third combo attack which has higher accuracy.
• With ranged weapons, utilize the accuracy glitch on distant enemies. This is far more effective for Rangers primarily due to the heavy accuracy penalty that Hunters and Forces incur without access to Smartlink at long ranges.
• (Advanced) Utilize melee weapons' forward movement during attack animations to avoid enemy attacks if an enemy is beginning an attack from your back or side.
• (Advanced / Time Attack) If the party is experienced enough to not struggle surviving the stage, consider intentionally dying to consume a Scape Doll for its restorative properties. This is most effective for fully restoring a Force's valuable and large TP pool, but will also fully restore an android's traps.

Stage Tips

• Damage traps are powerful against most monsters in Forest, but are particularly helpful for fighting Monest and Mothmants or other large packs of low EFR monsters due to the lack of mult-target attacks available to players in this stage.
• Confuse traps are effective against large packs of monsters.
• Freeze traps are effective against powerful monsters (Hildebear or multiple Gigobooma) or to buy some time to freely attack large packs of monsters.
• Use Monogrinders, Digrinders, and Trigrinders on the best Saber - or potentially Dagger - with high Native to use in the boss fight against Dragon.
• Non-android classes can learn Barta to use as a TP-cost-effective multi-target ranged technique for general combat and to damage a flying Dragon while directly below it.
• Zonde deals less damage to Dragon than Barta but has much longer horizontal range.
• Foie, which Forces begin the stage with, deals moderate single-target damage to most monsters except Hildebear, Gigobooma, or Dragon.

Starting Stats and Loadouts

These are the starting stats and loadout for each class.

Stats
Class	HUmr	HUnl	HUct	HUcl	RAmr	RAml	RAct	RAcl	FOmr	FOml	FOnm	FOnl
Level	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
HP	40	38	44	44	29	29	33	31	29	29	27	27
TP	29	40	-	-	20	20	-	-	79	79	90	87
ATP	45	40	45	45	23	23	30	25	16	16	16	13
DFP	17	22	18	18	13	13	18	23	10	10	7	13
MST	29	40	-	-	20	20	-	-	53	53	60	58
ATA	68	63	64	71	80	72	75	77	63	63	61	61
EVP	45	60	35	35	36	36	31	31	35	35	50	53

	Hunter				Ranger				Force
Weapon	Saber				Handgun				Cane
Frame	Frame				Frame				Frame
Barrier	-				-				-
Mag	Mag lv. 5 (5/0/0/0)				Mag lv. 5 (5/0/0/0)				Mag lv. 5 (5/0/0/0)
Items	Monomate x3 Scape Doll				Monomate x4 Monofluid x4 Scape Doll				Monomate x3 Scape Doll
Techniques	-				-				Foie Lv. 1

Note: Class stats listed above exclude the stats given by the starting loadout mag. Mag stat notation is (DEF/POW/DEX/MIND).

Available Items

Weapons

Weapon Name	Rarity	ATP	ATA	Grind	Total ATP	Special	Req.	Classes												Notes
								HUmr	HUnl	HUct	HUcl	RAmr	RAml	RAct	RAcl	FOmr	FOml	FOnm	FOnl
Saber	0★	40-55	30	35	110-125	Varies	30 ATP	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Dagger	1★	25-40	20	65	155-170	Varies	65 ATP	○	○	○	○	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×
Handgun	0★	20-30	26	75	170-180	Varies	68 ATA	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cane	0★	25-30	30	55	135-140	Varies	50 MST	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	○	○	○	○	+5 EVP

Note: Dagger begins dropping in Forest 2 (Area 02).

See Weapon attribute drop tables for details on weapon type distribution, specials, and attributes.

Frames

Frame Name	Rarity	DFP	EVP	Elemental Resists					Req.	Classes												Notes
				EFR	EIC	ETH	EDK	ELT		HUmr	HUnl	HUct	HUcl	RAmr	RAml	RAct	RAcl	FOmr	FOml	FOnm	FOnl
Frame	0★	5-7	5-7	5	0	0	5	0	None	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

Barriers

Frame Name	Rarity	DFP	EVP	Elemental Resists					Req.	Classes												Notes
				EFR	EIC	ETH	EDK	ELT		HUmr	HUnl	HUct	HUcl	RAmr	RAml	RAct	RAcl	FOmr	FOml	FOnm	FOnl
Barrier	0★	2-7	25-30	20	20	15	0	0	None	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

Units

Unit Name	Rarity	ATP	Classes
			HUmr	HUnl	HUct	HUcl	RAmr	RAml	RAct	RAcl	FOmr	FOml	FOnm	FOnl
Knight/Power	2★	5	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

Note: Power, Body, Mind, Arm, and Legs units can drop with an additional --, -, +, or ++ modifier that affects the stat gain.

Note: Frames, Barriers, and Units lists may be incomplete.

Tools

• Monomate
• Monofluid
• Sol Atomizer
• Monogrinder
• Digrinder
• Trigrinder
• Power Material
• Mind Material
• Evade Material
• HP Material
• TP Material
• Def Material
• Luck Material
• Technique Disk

See tools drop table for rates.

Technique Disks

Technique Disk	Tech Level	Tech Power	TP Cost	MST Prerequisite
Foie	1	110	5	40
Barta	1	50	4	44
Zonde	1	80	6	35
Resta	1	50	15	50

See technique disks drop table for rates.

Item boxes

The following tables list the quantity of item boxes found in the stage. Boxes are specified into three general types:

• Unset: These boxes may drop any available weapon, frame, barrier, unit, tool, or nothing. These are the most common general type of box.
• Set Type: These boxes always drop an item of the specified type.
  • Weapon: Any weapon available in the stage, excluding weapons only available in this stage via set item boxes or via a class starting loadout. These weapons drop with random attribute values and can potentially have a special attack.
  • Frame: Any frame available in the stage, excluding frames only available in this stage via set item boxes or via a class starting loadout. This includes both "frames" (equippable by all classes) as well as "armors" (not equippable by Forces). These frames drop with randomized variable DFP, EVP, and slot parameters.
  • Barrier: Any barrier available in the stage, excluding barriers only available in this stage via set item boxes or via a class starting loadout. This includes both "barriers" (equippable by all classes) as well as "shields" (not equippable by Forces). These barriers drop with randomized variable DFP and EVP parameters.
  • Unit: Any unit available in the stage. These units drop with randomized variable --, -, +, or ++ modifier parameters, if applicable.
  • Tool: Any tool available in the stage. These are the most common variant of set type boxes.
• Set Item: These boxes always drop a specific item with specified parameters.
  • Specified set weapon: No attributes, but may have a specified grind value.
  • Specified set frame: Minimum DFP and EVP values as well as a specified amount of slots.
  • Specified set barrier: Minimum DFP and EVP values.
  • Specified set unit: Default value (no --, -, +, or ++ modifier).
  • Specified technique disk: Specified technique level.

See item box drop table for item rates in unset boxes.

Room	Quantity	Type
Area 01
1	3	Unset
	3	Tool
2	4	Unset
3	7	Unset
4	7	Unset
5	4	Unset
	2	Tool
5b	6	Unset
6	3	Unset
7	3	Unset
	2	Tool
Subtotal	37	Unset
	7	Tool
Area 02
1	5	Unset
2	4	Unset
3-Optional 1	5	Unset
3-Optional 2	2	Unset
	2	Weapon
	2	Frame
3-Optional 3a	4	Tool
3-Optional 3b	4	Unset
4-Optional	2	Tool
5	5	Unset
6	4	Tool
Subtotal	25	Unset
	10	Tool
	2	Weapon
	2	Frame
Total	62	Unset
	17	Tool
	2	Weapon
	2	Frame

Equipment Requirement Breakpoints

Starting Level Stat Deficit

Class		HUmr	HUnl	HUct	HUcl	RAmr	RAml	RAct	RAcl	FOmr	FOml	FOnm	FOnl
ATP Weapons
Name	ATP Requirement	ATP Deficit
Saber	30	0	0	0	0	7	7	0	5	14	14	14	17
Dagger	65	20	25	20	20	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
ATA Weapons
Name	ATA Requirement	ATA Deficit
Handgun	68	0	5	4	0	0	0	0	0	5	5	7	7
MST Weapons
Name	MST Requirement	MST Deficit
Cane	50	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0	0	0	0

Note: Stat Deficit is at starting level without mag.

Expected Character Level Breakpoint

Red text denotes a level beyond the expected range for the stage.

Class		HUmr	HUnl	HUct	HUcl	RAmr	RAml	RAct	RAcl	FOmr	FOml	FOnm	FOnl
ATP Weapons
Name	ATP Requirement	Expected Level Requirement
Saber	30	1	1	1	1	3	3	2	3	5	7	8	10
Dagger	65	4	6	4	5	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
ATA Weapons
Name	ATA Requirement	Expected Level Requirement
Handgun	68	1	9	7	1	1	1	1	1	10	9	18	19
MST Weapons
Name	MST Requirement	Expected Level Requirement
Cane	50	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1	1	1	1

Fixed attack damage

Enemy	Attack	Damage
Forest
Hildebear	Drop	5
	Jump	24
Dragon	Charge (Underground)	40

Enemy	Attack	Element	Damage
Hildebear	Foie	Fire	22
Dragon	Lava (Dive spot)	Fire	17
	Fire Breath	Fire	30
	Fireball (Flying)	Fire	26

Walkthrough

Area 01 (1/3)

1. 3 boxes. Clear the enemies.

• Optional: Two players required. First player holds the button underneath the boxes to allow the second player access to 3 tool boxes.

2. 4 boxes. Clear the enemies.

3. 7 boxes. Ignore the enemies. Two players required. First player holds the button underneath the closest set of boxes to allow the second player access to step on a switch. Return to room 2 and use the warp.

• Time Attack: One or more players can wait at this door to advance immediately as another party member continues to rooms 4-5 to press the necessary button.

4. No warp back available. 7 boxes. Clear the enemies.

5. Ignore the enemies. 4 boxes and 2 tool boxes. Press the switch. Return to room 4 via one of the below methods:

• Optional / Time Attack: At least 'two players required'. First player holds the button underneath the right boxes to allow access to a quicker warp back to room 4 in order to advance. First player must either walk the long path back around the map to regroup, or another player must press the switch in room 6 to unlock the door between rooms 3 and 4.

5a. Return to Room 4 and proceed west.

• Optional: Press the laser switch in the hallway to allow access to a healing ring two rooms later.

5b. 6 boxes. Ignore enemies.

5c. Proceed through rooms 1-3 as before, and proceed northeast out of room 3.

6. 3 boxes.

• Optional / Time Attack: Press the switch to unlock the door between rooms 3 and 4 for the player in room 5 to skip steps 5a-5c.

7. 3 boxes and 2 tool boxes behind a laser fence. Ignore enemies. Press the switch to both unlock the laser gate in this room and the previous room, then return to room 6 and take the teleporter to Area 02.

Area 02 (2/3)

1. 5 boxes.

2. 4 boxes. Clear the enemies.

The healing ring is accessible later via an optional path in room 4.

3. Clear the enemies. Exit southeast.

• Optional 1: Enter the first room on the left (northeast exit) immediately when entering room 3 for 5 boxes and optional enemies.
• Optional 2: Exit west. 2 boxes, optional enemies, and (two players required) 2 weapon boxes and 2 frame boxes. First player holds the floor button to allow the second player to access the set boxes and a floor switch that allows them to leave without help.
• Optional 3a: Exit southwest. Clear the enemies.
• Optional 3b: Optional enemies. Spawns additional enemies in room 1. (Two players required) 4 boxes and a switch that allows access to 4 tool boxes in Optional 3a. First player holds the floor switch, allowing the second player access to the first boxes and switch.

4. Clear the enemies. (Two players required) First player steps on the floor button to allow access to a warp. The second player uses the warp, then uses the warp behind them, then presses the switch to allow the rest of the party to regroup. Everyone warps from here to room 5.

• Optional: After the first warp, use the warp ahead to access 2 tool boxes, a button to allow access to the healing ring in room 2, and a button that allows exiting this room back to room 3.

5. 5 boxes. Clear the enemies.

6. 4 tool boxes. Use the boss teleporter to Under the Dome.

Area 03 (3/3) - Under the Dome

• Use Sabers on the Dragon's feet, but be careful not to be too close in front or underneath it to avoid damage from footsteps or the dragon falling to the ground after enough damage has been dealt.
• Handguns should aim for the Dragon's head while it is walking around.
• When the Dragon performs its flying behavior, it will shoot fireballs then land shortly after. Handguns attacks often miss due to manual evasion. Techniques can reliably hit during this phase. Be careful to not be directly below the Dragon as it lands in order to avoid taking damage.
• The Dragon's max HP is 2500.
• When the Dragon has taken enough damage, it will fall and remain immobile for significant duration. Attack its head with your strongest weapon - typically a Saber with Native.
• When the Dragon's HP reaches 750, it will briefly become undamageable below this gated HP threshold until after a roar. Then its next flight will not include fireballs, but instead include a dive underground, leaving a lava pool at the entrance and becoming untargetable and undamageable, followed by a sequence of three underground charge attacks. The third charge has much greater tracking of player movement. The start of each attack has minimal player tracking until the Dragon reaches near the center of the arena. At the start of each charge attack, utilize the Item Pack > Area Map to locate the Dragon and try to position yourself near its starting position - but slightly offset - in order to avoid damage.