Arknights |OT| Somebody call a doctor, I think tower defense is still alive!

[Draggyrider]

Finished EX-8 CM and got the trimmed medal. Fun maps, there were a ton of Fartooth lanes to play with.

MVP: Lin. Not that important vs the boss, but being able to drop her in dangerous areas and have her take out all the mobs (esp grenadiers) solo was amazing to free up space to work on other areas. EX-8 saw her in the top right near the stairs, and her + Dorothy mines basically kept the whole path pretty much clear.

Bossing MVPs: Silence Alter with S3. Lumen's healing kinda sucked, so Silence with the additional Shelter and invul made sure the tank could survive phase 2 long enough to nuke the boss.



Also, Sona (Flametail) just made her debut in gold cert shop.

 

[katsu044]

i need to look into this director hes makes for some pretty PVs it's the same one that did the FGO memorial movie 2023 was wondering why it looked as pretty as that

i bet once again they are in skin jail but i wanna be wrong

 

[Richardi]

the Kalsit skin needs to be real.

 

[Xils]

My bank account getting suspended when I was going through this event story definitely adds to the immersion lol.
Got flagged with "suspicious activity" or something. Had to take time off from work to deal with this because they said I had to be interviewed by their HQ during their operating hour and I need to be there in person.

 

[Draggyrider]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8Lix5j9C9A

JP April Fools Video subbed.

I liked the event, having multiple endings is kinda cool.

Spoiler: Quick guide

There are 3 params.
Every stage has 1 param that their photos will modify heavily, either up or down. You get an ending when one param is either maxed or empty.
From the starting point, 2 photos with double + or double -, is enough for you to get an ending.
The hidden 7th ending occurs if you make it through 8 photos without hitting any of the other 6, ie balanced run.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xf0b67ASrU

Cries in skin limbo X_X. At least the skits are going to be amazing with the themes

Apparently CN got an extended version with the skins. L2D SilverAsh, Non-L2D Ho'ol, Swire Alter

 

[Xils]

They show the skins on the concert's site if anyone wants to check.
You can also download the gorgeous artworks there.

Also, what's the point of the new event? Just tried the third stage and feels like it's just a regular stage.

 

[Draggyrider]

Also, what's the point of the new event? Just tried the third stage and feels like it's just a regular stage.

Click to shrink...

Its a new format for high difficulty stuff they were testing out when CC ended. Didn't hear much apart from that.

I tried Trauma Intervention T-1 and got totally hammered in the last wave, was not expecting so many spiders...

 

[Mupod]

This game is rapidly losing me. Who is this crap for? These maps seem impossible and I have no idea what all the shit on the screen even means. Putting your explanations in unbearably slow text that you can't speed up, only skip, is a problem this game has had since it came out and it's never been fixed.

 

[Draggyrider]

Thoughts on DoS halfway through the event (T1-T4 completed. Main map cleared B-3 no buffs)

T-Maps: Very fun assuming you can deal with exploding spiders. If not, I can see how its terrible haha. AK Map design has generally moved away from sending hordes of enemies at you, so something like this is a nice change. And you only have to stall till the timer, not kill them, which is even better (you really don't want those spiders to explode) Difficulty-wise, I'll say Wave 2 is probably CC Daily Risk 8 and Wave 3 is probably CC Daily Max Risk. It does test a very different set of skills than most maps.

Main Map: So far so good, but I haven't done any of the harder maps yet. Same boss with increased mechanics let you slowly learn the fight which is nice.

I do think the skin should be lower down on the reward list to make it more accessible for players.

This game is rapidly losing me. Who is this crap for? These maps seem impossible and I have no idea what all the shit on the screen even means. Putting your explanations in unbearably slow text that you can't speed up, only skip, is a problem this game has had since it came out and it's never been fixed.

Click to shrink...

Was it that bad? Isn't it just clear map -> get rewards? Its certainly not as long-winded as Reclamation Algo or IS.

 

[Aly]

Done all the T maps so far, but I keep failing A3. Honestly not fun and why did they put the skin at 35????

 

[Richardi]

A3 ain't that hard, now S3 is fucking bullshit.

 

[Apollo]

Every time I get a little further into S3 (which is not often lmao), it immediately finds a way to bring me back down to earth and off of my phone.

 

[Draggyrider]

Buff-less A-3 done! Took me about a day, but I did bring out a lot of the big guns. I think maybe CC R24 in terms of difficulty? Except that you can't tweak risks to suit your roster, which is my main complaint for this.

Thoughts on the map:

• Starting pressure is really high. You got the lava vents, the boss with his disables, and most importantly the Dublinn Guard with Refraction and Taunt (which sometimes stops you from clearing the disable). I found it pretty hard to get set up in time.
• Dublinn Guard is really tanky and hits very hard. Silence + Arts is the best solution, but outside of Lappy, there just isn't that many good sources of Silence. The last one going the other way is a pain. I got the hang of the boss after a while, but planning the redeployments to catch that last guy took quite a lot of tries.
• Boss was not easy, but at least the mechanics are obvious and can be worked around (mostly don't have ops around when you kill the first phase, and give yourself room to take out the fireballs.

Also T1-T4 + Buff-less A3 gave me 43 levels. so maybe there was more room to work with to get the skin than I thought. Maybe full buff A3 is enough?

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

So apparently with the latest CN event they dropped some heavy lore.

 

[PointlessEndeavor]

Finally got around to finishing up A-3. Absolutely just wound up brute forcing it, especially once I realized it was better to just obliterate the boss in phase 2 with full firepower and debuffs before he could use the super fireball rather than try to figure out how to deal with it.

Mylnar+Typhon+Suzu blow him up in no time with Mlynar pulling that first phase chain bait duty as well. Reed Alter and Eyja Alter were able to keep Hoshi and Saria up, Reed Alter also carrying most of the DPS on the guard with some Lapp help.

Will give some swings at S-3 over the weekend, though it's got no medal or real rewards behind it.

 

[Draggyrider]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyXSqfHPm70

Much respect for this S-3 clear. Personally, I've gotten the medals on my own, so I don't feel too bad about checking out guides just for a bit of extra resources.

EDIT: For people having difficulty with A-3, Ho'ol is not a bad choice since she offers Silence, CC in levitate & Arts damage in one package.

 

[Richardi]

Nobody is talking about the 5th anniversary leak?

Spoiler: Anni

Amiya new class? Walter, Logos, and Theresa

 

[Draggyrider]

I don't dare to click on the spoiler since I don't want to know the story till Global gets it.

S-3 clear (with guide help)!

Ceobe is a monster since she scales so well with enemy stats, definitely MVP for regular maps.
Defensively, Nightingale helps so much with survivability vs the vents.

S-3 is just not a very dynamic map because its so straightforward, especially after it cuts off so many deployable tiles. Its kind of weird, since after we got a bunch of really good DPS ops (like Mlynar, Typhon), killzone strats dropped off since one or two of them provided more than enough DPS to kill off pretty much everything. But now its back to the old overlap all your buffs/debuffs and nuke. Suzuran S3, Saria S3, Shamare S2 all making a comeback. I actually kind of like this since I think it makes the gameplay more fun if slow and debuffs are an option instead of pure DPS.

Ways to improve DOS

• More fine-tuning between the levels. Maybe 4 waves instead of 3 since the jump in difficulty from 2 -> 3 is pretty high.
• Lower the reward threshold. Yeah its farmable stuff at the end, but just compress the reward track to end at current A-3 + dailies map wave 2. Merry skin should be more of a token of appreciation for playing. We get the welfare unit at Event Story stage 4-5, not after defeating the story boss or EX-8-CM
• Let us pick some buffs/debuffs and still get full rewards, people will still do buff-less clears for bragging rights. 50 points for full rewards, 100 for less than full rewards, etc. Just like CC has tailored enemy buffs (e.g spiders cannot be silenced), let DoS have tailored enemy debuffs if we want to keep the facing off against juggernauts feels. A-3 would be a ton easier if people can pick Shield Dublinn no longer have refraction for 30 points for example, since you can then stack up on Arts damage vs the mobs. The current buffs are mostly pretty boring stat buffs. Stuff like Fireballs move slower or don't damage operators it passes through will open up a ton more options.

EDIT:

Saw this Caster-only clear. Maybe I just need a bigger brain


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWYRvlye0xU

 

[Aquila]

Nobody is talking about the 5th anniversary leak?

Spoiler: Anni

Amiya new class? Walter, Logos, and Theresa

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Anni

More excited for finally hopefully maybe getting out of Victoria. This whole story arc would have been just fine with just the Dukes' civil war and Dublinn.

I need more yellow rocks for all of these cool, lore relevant, power creeping characters coming out over these next six months.

 

[PointlessEndeavor]

Squeezed out that S-3 clear last second. Yeah, good luck on that without a super strong roster. I have doubts we'll see a reprise on that without heavy revisions, because as far as I've read, it was deeply panned by both CN and Global, more so than even Pinch-Out. To be fair, if it weren't for the fact there were rewards beyond bragging rights beyond the 0 buff clear, I don't think it'd be nearly as maligned.

 

[Draggyrider]

I feel its mainly the early rush that is the most problematic part of DoS main maps. The elites show up really early, and paired with the boss's bind, means you are really pressed to setup in time. Very few maps in the game has that kind of early rush outside of CC, and for normal CC (Risk 18) its usually a conscious choice to opt into early rush pressure with DP down risks.

And this type of difficulty is pretty arbitrary. Either you find a good opener (which for me usually meant, Flagpipe + Ines) to get enough of your good units out to survive the first wave, or you failed the map. For me close to 70% of the difficulty was the opening, after which was the rest was pretty doable if you work with boss mechanics. Still not easy, but much closer to the usual difficulty.

And yeah, just making it easier to get rewards and medals would make everyone more chill. Especially because that Merry skin has such nice art.

 

[Aly]

I went and did A2 at the last moment to get the skin. I'll give the event this, the tutorial wasn't garbage like Pinch out.

 

[PointlessEndeavor]

50 pulls for Hoederer (and an extra 10 because it was being stingy with Vendala and I'm not gonna sit there missing 1 op.) Pretty average. Haven't really gotten to sink my teeth into the new chapter yet though.

 

[Richardi]

50 pulls here too for our favorite vtuber simp, new 5*, and 4* too, now to wait for the virtuosa banner.

 

[Aly]

30 pulls. Really like both his EN and JP VA.

 

[Dealan]

Did 60 pulls which is about as much as I'm willing to go for this one and got Ebenholtz instead. Didn't have him so it's not the worst but sad to not reunite the sarkaz trio yet.

Annoyingly I didn't even pull the 5* but have a full potential Kafka now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Xils]

Got Hoederer in 20 pulls but ended up doing like 60 more for the 5*.

 

[Apollo]

90 pulls to get Hoederer (and an Eben dupe). I was just pulling for a copy of Vendela at first, but then I made the terrible mistake of listening to Hoederer's EN voice. It's literally perfect, you bastards at HG

 

[Draggyrider]

Skipping Hoederer, Don't particularly care for his design and kit. I did get Dorothy skin though.

 

[Aly]

Alright I see Bagpipe in the shop. I have no pots for her, but if I understand c correctly, she's like the one operator where its worth getting?

 

[Draggyrider]

Chapter 13 mechanic is fun. Kind of a pain though with story relevant chars (W, Ines, Amiya, etc + Victorians). Kal's been carrying with the True damage. Main issue is the lack of AOE for the mobs.

Alright I see Bagpipe in the shop. I have no pots for her, but if I understand c correctly, she's like the one operator where its worth getting?

Click to shrink...

Bagpipe or Bagpipe pots? Bagpipe is a pretty amazing operator, since she boosts Vanguard starting SP, so you print DP faster (hence Flagpipe). She's no slouch in combat either, helidropping her with S3 does pretty good damage.

Potswise, yeah possibly the most obviously useful one in AK. Pot 5 increases the starting Vanguard SP boost, so it allows for turbo-fast openings. But its Pot 5, and only really needed in super high level CC, so you can probably borrow one in that case.

I wouldn't roll / use gold certs for pots unless you are swimming in currency, but I would definitely toss Top Operator tags her way if you don't have any new ones to get. If you don't have her though, her utility is probably worth 180 gold certs, but we do have Kal & Gnosis coming up.

Her EN VA (which we just got this patch) is amazing


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q51KMEhg1_w

 

[Aly]

Chapter 13 mechanic is fun. Kind of a pain though with story relevant chars (W, Ines, Amiya, etc + Victorians). Kal's been carrying with the True damage. Main issue is the lack of AOE for the mobs.


Bagpipe or Bagpipe pots? Bagpipe is a pretty amazing operator, since she boosts Vanguard starting SP, so you print DP faster (hence Flagpipe). She's no slouch in combat either, helidropping her with S3 does pretty good damage.

Potswise, yeah possibly the most obviously useful one in AK. Pot 5 increases the starting Vanguard SP boost, so it allows for turbo-fast openings. But its Pot 5, and only really needed in super high level CC, so you can probably borrow one in that case.

I wouldn't roll / use gold certs for pots unless you are swimming in currency, but I would definitely toss Top Operator tags her way if you don't have any new ones to get. If you don't have her though, her utility is probably worth 180 gold certs, but we do have Kal & Gnosis coming up.

Her EN VA (which we just got this patch) is amazing


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q51KMEhg1_w

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the info! Yeah I already have her. I agree with you, not gonna waste all those certs. My guy Gnosis gonna show up at any moment now.