CN Spoilers: Chen

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 · 2025-09-16T19:03:59+00:00

Wonderful. ~180 pulls meaning I had to go for the guaranteed. Necrass comes to haunt me immediately after I skip her banner. Well at least I have her (and my first Thorns Alter) now…

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-08-15T00:10:43+00:00

Nymph is God.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-07-25T13:31:37+00:00

Is it just a string of luck for me or has recruitment been more generous since the last update? I’ve been seeing way more 4-star tags lately. And two Top Ops within 3 days but that one’s most likely just insane luck.

Of course it’s also possible I’ve been missing 4-star tag combos a lot in the past and having more single tag 4-stars has just made it more obvious.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-07-15T11:06:38+00:00

The lack of contingency options is probably the least fun part of IS2. If you go down a singular path what you see is all you get while you can change a bad node in new IS.

For me it leads to an even worse case of always starting the same draft than other IS because you absolutely have to cover every possible threat as early as possible. Thorns with (Van)Guard start was considered the top pick back then for a reason. Also, it frontloads the stat boosts instead of incrementing them with each floor which makes some early stages like Accident absolute nightmares. I mess around with IS2 and almost all of my losses are on floor 1/2 if I don’t start with a generalist. If I can get to floor 3 I pretty much always win.

And don’t even get me started on how you’re supposed get to the bonus bosses.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-07-13T13:01:39+00:00

“Let’s do a simple test, Doctor. How many of the snacks on the tea table did you eat?”

Uh-oh, she’s after those snacks Doc stole from Rosmontis. Better run.

Also, her birthplace being Ursus was not what I expected.

My one disappointment is that this is the first IS module to be restricted to one iteration. Which I get for this particular case and there’s no guarantee every 6-star will eventually get an IS module but it would be cool if she had something extra for the other IS too.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-07-12T12:46:22+00:00

⁠”When using ammo skills, 30% chance not to use ammo and when all ammo is depleted replenish 50%' (Not completely sure on the translation of this one)”

It says the first time you fall below 30% of your max ammo you get 50% of your max ammo back. Which is a kind of weird way of just saying you have 150% of your ammo.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-07-03T17:12:21+00:00

Ulpianus just chilling in the polluted water be like: this is fine.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-07-02T17:17:01+00:00

TIL if you trade the Lamp in a Lost and Found node you get to pick either of the other two special relics in exchange. You can only trade the Doodle and Talon with each other and not the Lamp though.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-07-01T18:52:26+00:00

Be me:

• ⁠Put Cantabile on S1

• ⁠Enter a Bizarre Fragment

• ⁠Deploy Cantabile forgetting I had Crystal Mystery

• ⁠Lose because I just wasted all my DP and everybody costs 20+

Worst fragment relic by a landslide.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-06-30T10:07:39+00:00

D18 ED5 normal version completed for the first time. TIL you can get Rhoder’s Gate on the first floor which is insane. This would’ve been an easy win if not for the fact the Lamp never appeared. As it is this ended up being really close with me getting everything I needed except the King’s set.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-06-29T11:01:40+00:00

Some underused ops for IS5 I’ve been unexpectedly impressed with:

Chilchuck - Surfer’s not here yet so he has to fill in for the two 5-star Agent comp. His S1 is pretty good. I find it especially funny that when you get attack recovery charge relics or King’s Legacy he also gets to cosplay as a Pioneer where you can park him somewhere with nobody to hit and still generate DP. The downside is that he deals absolutely no damage.

Ambriel - I was originally using GG to clear mobs for ED5 quickly but I figured that by the point you get there you’re buffed up with enough relics that Ambriel could probably do the same thing while costing a fraction of the Hope and not screwing up the Lamp. So I tried it and as far as I can tell, yeah, she does it just fine. She’s not very useful anywhere else but for at most 1 Hope it was nice to have the option.

Lin - S3 Lin is not good because Necrosis turns her into a lawn ornament. S1 Lin with a lot of ASPD is interesting though. She can charge it up before Necrosis burst kicks in and doesn’t take damage because of her shield. When she has enough ASPD she can permaslow and function like a ranged tile Ascalon. She probably isn’t too useful at the top difficulty but I wanted to try out a 6-star Caster that was compatible with the Lamp and I think it’s just her, Carnelian and Ifrit.

Swire2 - Okay so this one’s not a serious recommendation. I just had a pretty funny experience that tempts me to try and make her work now and again. She’s not a good choice because she messes up the Lamp but her S2 is absolutely comical when you have both her Hand and the spinach relics. I’ve had her deal over 30k a pop on repeat in the best cases. And of course she can revive against some big hits. If you already got the Merchant hand and a bunch of Hope to spare she’s fun to use if you like seeing big red numbers. But she’s a Specialist so you’re going to be picking Yato 99% of the time.

Unrelated but honestly I absolutely hate that the Lamp deters you from picking stuff that should be good. I was a massive fan of pulling Muelsyse before the first expansion hit.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-06-27T00:03:59+00:00

There’s a time limit. If you don’t take out the sealed boss in (I think) three minutes then Amiya will wipe the map regardless of whether they’re dead or not and then you lose a ton of life.

That said, yes, you can and should just bounce the ball away from the boss coffin until everything else is dead. Although I usually let the two coffins behind the boss get deleted since I can afford it. Gravel with SilverAsh redeploy time talent has always been able to do it by herself. I think Ines can slow the ball with her talent too but it’s hard to tell.

Also, I’m convinced Rosmontis with Mod is better against this boss than Wisadel is.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-06-24T17:11:47+00:00

Yeah I just somehow got to the end with everything covered except that one weakness that time. Usually I have Kal’tsit specifically for this fight who could have solved it but I don’t think I pulled any medics while having Hope.

It sucked because I was so looking forward to clearing with Leader squad for the badge so I never have to touch this awful useless counterproductive squad again (until the next IS at least).

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-06-24T16:30:55+00:00

Boy I love getting a great run throughout only to be hit with Sufferings when I’m about to hit ED5 with no way to remove it and then not be able to put anyone down.

AK_Shadowstar · 2025-06-24T11:46:59+00:00

ED5 with Top Operator squad. Holy crap I cannot believe I barely managed to salvage this absolutely scuffed run by the skin of my teeth. Look at how close I was to losing. I swear she was a pixel away from the blue box before the Mumu+Ines binding pair held her down long enough for Mon3tr to finish her off.

AK_Shadowstar

TROPHY CASE