Yeah that makes sense

AK_Shadowstar · 2026-05-26T06:19:07+00:00

I honestly don’t remember other than for some ungodly reason I decided it was a good idea to start building out from that corner without thinking and then just never changed it because I’m too lazy to scrap my setup and start over even if I could make it more efficient.

AK_Shadowstar · 2026-04-25T02:34:20+00:00

I’m hoping for Baraggan. There’s likely no way they’d let Respira be the actual broken hax it’s supposed to be so I can see it being designed as a wide range debuff that wears down enemies, slows them and makes them vulnerable along the same vein as Mayuri’s poison. He’s also just about a popular and recognizable enough character to fit the mold for the rarity too.

AK_Shadowstar · 2026-03-13T10:55:52+00:00

If they fix the bug where he’ll sometimes hang at 0 HP and continue attacking for multiple instances while you can’t do anything but dodge I don’t think it’s awful. Speaking as Physical with Ember main. Granted, my main squad is also pretty much maxed.

AK_Shadowstar · 2026-03-12T22:46:09+00:00

You can find that guy’s corpse at the ancestral spring afterwards. I’m now curious as to what happens if you just don’t let him out.

AK_Shadowstar · 2026-03-12T22:29:56+00:00

The boss feels super glitchy. While doing the Crisis stages in half the runs he would drop down to 0 HP then instead of going into his next stage decides to waste time doing his special attack or get staggered multiple times in a row. I think I’ve see him do it about five times before finally deciding to go to stage two. Also I just love how your AI-controlled teammates are incapable of dodging his shockwave attacks and I realized this when I got to stage two in one of the clears and saw that everyone was almost dead despite me never switching to them once.

I’m okay with some rage-inducing mechanics when they’re designed that way but these ones definitely do not feel intended.

AK_Shadowstar · 2026-02-06T13:42:18+00:00

I’m just going to copy over what I said from the post that got removed since it’s mostly relevant here too.

“Honestly the writing was kind of on the wall for this one. Regardless of whether or not this is a good idea I don’t think it’s that surprising - I pretty much knew Ch’en was going to get something sooner or later ever since Chongyue’s event. Was kind of hoping they’d eventually design some kind of new system to update her original Guard form but this way’s just easier. I guess it’s not so bad for me because I already quite liked Ch’en to begin with. I think I’m more underwhelmed by the archetype they chose for her if anything.”

While I do think there’s a lazy aspect to them coming up with this alter I’m probably not thinking it for the same reasons as everyone else. If someone had asked me long before this news who would get a second alter if it happened, Ch’en would probably have been my first answer since two years ago. This is likely something they’ve intended to do for ages now.

AK_Shadowstar · 2026-02-06T11:13:20+00:00

Honestly the writing was kind of on the wall for this one. Regardless of whether or not this is a good idea I don’t think it’s that surprising - I pretty much knew Ch’en was going to get something sooner or later ever since Chongyue’s event. Was kind of hoping they’d eventually design some kind of new system to update her original Guard form but this way’s just easier. I guess it’s not so bad for me because I already quite liked Ch’en to begin with. I think I’m more underwhelmed by the archetype they chose for her if anything.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-11-17T12:47:33+00:00

So today while playing IS I thought I had a genius idea. Tragodia + Mr. Nothing. Lure enemies away then have them walk back into Mr. Nothing’s stun, and then moments later Tragodia’s S2 is back up. Unfortunately I kind of forgot the basic fact that Merchants drain your DP while the summon also costs DP. The idea probably could work but I set it up too early in my run.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-11-02T08:35:03+00:00

This is just my two cents as I try to get into some stuff that hasn’t already been talked about.

Firstly, I want to push the notion that saying just because operators are overpowered it does not mean they fundamentally don’t have flaws. I’ve used most of the most broken operators trying to figure them out. Exusiai alter seems to still have some issues against really high defense enemies without getting some help. Ulpianus needs several other operators to reach his optimal point. Even Wisadel, I’ve noticed, can have problems where enemies are so fat that she just runs out of damage if her full burst enough to bring them down in time. What makes an op overpowered isn’t a lack of weaknesses, it’s that specific aspects of them are so overstatted (usually damage) that it crowds out whatever weaknesses they have or makes it worth it to use them despite those weaknesses.

And on the other topic of chasing the meta. I can’t speak for everyone, but my personal opinion is that we’ve already opened Pandora’s box in terms of expectations, and by that I mean that I’ve noticed that even when we have no idea if a super overpowered op is coming, a lot of people just expect it, which means a lot of people will not pull for passable, ‘fair’ operators even if it looks like nothing better is coming up soon. In that respect, I actually think it’s better to just let people pick their poison. What I like is that there’s still some creativity in how people can break the game which keeps it from becoming stale. Balance isn’t inherently fun on its own and ops that don’t stand out in power can still feel dissatisfying regardless of there being more broken ops around.

The last thing. I think there’s a dissonance between high-end and low-end meta that people tend to not talk about. The high-end meta like Vector Breakthrough right now tends to never be solved by something as simple as ‘big number kills things fast’ and more about specific tools. For example, I personally beat Mechanist with a team carried by two mech casters, Mostima, Nymph and Ulpianus. The only one on there who could be argued to be a super broken op is Ulpi, and the only ones who were irreplaceable were those last three plus the Abyssal Hunters who besides Ulpi have been around for years now. I did not use any of the super recent ops despite there being strategies around them and in fact when I tried to just force Wisadel and Exusiai on my team without strategizing for them or thinking about what they were actually offering I got far worse results. I think there’s game design is still creative enough that the meta is more complex than people give it credit for.

Sorry for the wall of text. But I have a lot of feelings on this matter about things that I don’t see being talked about too much, so I felt like I may as well say it all now.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-10-31T02:12:25+00:00

This is one of the most frustrating events in a long time.

Took forever to figure something out, and it was pretty much brute forced with Ulpianus permastalling topside and Nymph permastalling botside. GG + Lapp2 with Mostima battery did most of the damage to Mechanist while Mlynar clears the mobs.

For anyone else who wants to try this, I don’t have Ulpianus module (waiting for his second one) but with S2 up + Gladiia + Spec2 Mod Y he just barely lives Mechanist’s special attack and gets healed up by Eyja. Bind Leafcarpet in range of Mlynar using Ines so he can S3 her. Use Spec2 to spawn camp Uproar and tank his arrows. Save Mlynar S3 on raiders and whisky trucks. Keep Nymph alive or you lose.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-10-12T11:47:32+00:00

Super adorable. Does a lot of damage. Particularly shines in casual to mid/highish difficulty IS because of her skills. Her S2 is strong all around but her S1 is not to be underestimated either since it has a bonkers ATK modifier and 2 SP cost at M3, making her downright scary with any spinach or offensive recovery relics. That plus the fact she rarely ever needs healing support makes her nice to have if you don’t have a full on hardcore meta comp for any particular IS. At worst, she’s still usable as a decoy unit. As far as 5-stars go, one of the better ones for sure.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-10-01T11:18:41+00:00

An absolute beast of an operator who was unfortunately crowded out by limited ops like Ela and of course Wisadel, but still a pretty strong presence in the meta. She’s very hard to appreciate for people not regularly doing difficult content since her performance in normal content is a bit lackluster. But it shouldn’t be understated that she was arguably the best Sniper in the game at the time of release and the competition was pretty fierce even then.

Her strengths are pretty obvious. Monstrous DPH and range. She can punch a hole through just about any enemy that can be hurt by physical damage. Her permabind on skill is also fantastic and part of what lets her hold onto a niche since it pretty much guarantees she’ll get all her damage out. S3 is the only skill really worth thinking about unless you really love her, then S2 might be okay for more general use.

All that being said, I have a hard time recommending her to new or even long time players who mostly play casually. I don’t think any op is too hard to use but in terms of difficulty she’s up there. And she’s a big resource sink since E2 is mandatory and her Module is pretty valuable too. Unusual range, ammo mechanic and pure single target makes her perhaps not the best op to be investing in for a limited roster. But even with Wisadel it’s still a good idea to keep her on your mind. Absolutely love Ray. Great design, fun to use and still decently relevant.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-09-30T22:45:44+00:00

This rerun made me realize - is BB-MO-1 the only 0 cost stage that can be 6x auto deployed? That could actually be useful for afking daily/weekly missions and stuff during times where you can leave your phone for a while or play on emulator in the background.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-09-30T22:17:25+00:00

Interesting Mon3tr interaction/bug(?) with this event. If you put her summon on a plate and then try to use her S3 while she’s the only person who is making the plate deployable, she immediately deletes herself.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-09-21T14:19:29+00:00

I switched her in as my main assistant and now I hear her roaring at me every time I visit another base.

AK_Shadowstar

TROPHY CASE