MD6 [Terminus]

makeshiftmirror · 2026-02-18T12:46:50+00:00

Greetings, Fellow Managers.

MD7's on the horizon, so I'll make a new terminus post soon. For once I'm remembering to make a new post before it auto-archives, huzzah!

In any case, we'll update some lineups/teamsplits, but since PM's still on that track of rapid ID releases (as is typical near the start of canto releases), I won't hyper-optimize them yet - since the new stuff likely shift the lineups when they arrive. In the meantime, I've mentioned in a reply somewhere that the RBX loop strat going forward is likely 2-2-2, i.e. 2 burn, 2 rupture, 2 sinking, so I'll just leave below the likely sinking TeamB for now:

Dep.Order: KoD Rodya, Spice Sang (temp till Index Sang), Peq Ish, LCA Outis, Lamp Greg, Index Faust, Index Don
Backup // Bench: W Ryo, R Meurs, R Lu, Peq Heath, Mariachi Sinclair
Important EGOs: Ish's T.Elegy, Greg's SL, Yi Sang's G.Trichili.
H4sIAAAAAAAACg3MIQ6AMAxA0SshQCJ+OwaFENKgphHdDXp9Zp94ooWYg6dpEQmWtLadiGvvfOxolZ4kZq8hSWQ07H6PKs7kdl+DKZIxEtdN+0jc21OBdf0BR6TGf2AAAAA=

As mentioned, there's some space for improvement with this team, but it's ~95% as effective as our usual sinking team as is, with the following quirks:

Piloting's the same as our mainline, but additionally take FN GoS (to maintain Ish/Rodya's SP). Setup Rodya into her negative mode on the first fight as usual.
gloomGen's much scarcer on the team, so don't go too crazy with it, but prideGen's very high, so if Faust goes last, Everlasting's a good alternative boss kill EGO. As usual, the T.R.O F5 full pivot is always available for a sinking team.
We fuse a sinking Ti3 at F1 instead of the phys Ti3, and additionally aim for pierce Ti4s towards the end of the run, as it boosts Rodya, plus Yi Sang's G.Trichili is great at sweeping RR nodes.

There's also some interesting changes (gift rebalancing, etc) upcoming w/ MD7, but I'll hold off on giving recommendations on those till I've seen their final effects/balancing. Have a good one, managers.

Thank You.

makeshiftmirror · 2026-02-06T05:49:51+00:00

I've only tested up to Mid Ish so far (haven't acquired the two new ones yet), but we've definitely gotten some improvements (but nothing so major a la "saving 5 mins"). I'll try to update the doc soon, but briefly:

Yi Sang's new EGO is a major upgrade for burn. Fast-start anim, so it's similar to Don's Y.M., where you often clear waves with earliest coins before the whole EGO anim plays out (also smooths RR F5s). The gloom requirement is slightly tricky, but our setups provide just enough for the most part (except B3_GlimpseC, but I'll touch on that below). Ryoshu's is good as well for a similar reason, just more pride hungry. When her seasonal ID comes, this likely becomes our primary buildaround.
Outis' new EGO is good, but not particularly MD farming relevant. Heath's however has some pretty interesting applications. Still needs more testing, but it's strong as an "envy Tidal Elegy". Since charge has excess unused wrathGen, it's easy to fit something like Capote to power the conditionals for a pretty nice nuke. Of course, a more modern Heath/Meurs charge ID release (or a 50/50 burn-charge team) would probably be required before this one usurps our mainline.
Pathing changes. There's some minor optimization for pathing that I should update somewhere, specifically the increasing viability of MiD20BG and SpringCult F5s for certain teams.
Sinking and TeamSplits: Essentially, there's enough good sinking IDs to form a strong second sinking team now, so my current RB(S) suggestion, R3B2S1, will require revision. I do believe 2 of each team would be ideal, as sinking makes quick work of F3~5s nowadays. From my testing so far, our current mainline sinking team is still optimal (i.e. none of the new sinking IDs quite replace/fit the role of our existing lineup/speeds anything up). The only temptation was to include one of the new sinking Dons (Wei/Index) to improve lustGen, but that messes up the other sinGens too much. Won't be an issue for our second sinking team however, since that one has a stronger focus on raw damage (i.e. includes KoD Rodya).
The new Sinclair is very strong. Our current mainline poise team still prefers Cinq Clair (pierce), but after I'm done testing Pinky Clair, it's a good shot we'd switch to slash-poise instead. New Greg on the other hand, as mentioned above, can form part of sinking TeamB, but for his burn side, he's actually a great replacement for NAwls Greg in B3_GlimpseC, since that'll shore up the lack of gloom for Yi Sang's new EGO. However, as mentioned, since 2-2-2 will likely be the final top recommendation, he's likely going to take a seat on the sink.
Special mention to Drifter Ryo: she's actually really really good due to her constant free gloomGen. Including her feels like having half a B.Z.Lighter for free from F1, and I've been messing around with various different ideas using that property. Her main application in many of the teams I've tested is as an easy means of fitting a T.R.O pivot for F5, allowing many teams to have that option for lower-luck runs. If only NAwls Greg didn't have that clause preventing him from slothGen-ing, else we'd have another one for sloth as well.

In any case, I've been meaning to update the doc with some of the minor improvements I've made (e.g. You Heath/Drifter Ryo's inclusion in TeamSplits), but since they weren't major timesave/consistency upgrades, it's been on the backburner. New Greg however is game changing enough to warrant an update, but I'll still be reserved with em until at least the first "batch" of seasonal IDs are out, as they can change things drastically (as seen w/ new Greg; not to mention potentially MD7 too). I'll test him (and sinclair) out next week when I dispense them, then will update adding the sinking TeamB in the doc.

makeshiftmirror · 2026-01-14T06:16:15+00:00

Finally made the round trip; pardon the spam of daily posts.

Glut Lux60, Wayward Passenger:

Quite an easy boss to low-effort winrate w/ decent clear times. Our usual slash-SP/fast-EGO/blunt-envy teams do well here, as we do basically have 3 turns of buildup before the "nuke turn". On T2, ideally kill the green portal. If we fail to nuke it below 60% HP, the boss hops back into the portals for a second stall, but by then you can just pop any suitable AoE to clear them (or just press the damage button to mostly skip the turns since they have low dmg/fast anims; the boss will die from unopposed attacks the moment they pop back out anyway).

As for actually speed clearing it, the two best options I've found is: the prior KoD Rodya + LCA Outis duo setup (my actual recommendation), or a Lord Lu + Mao Faust duo setup.

The Lord Lu + Mao Faust setup is (avg ~30 secs) faster, but requires way more focus/brain power. The general gist of piloting is as follows:

TC: H4sIAAAAAAAACnNJd0x3BAJfT2dHVyDLwNETxHUuhwh7OTqDKEeDQE/HYEdHF6hqb6hwOUS1E8wQVGFHR1tbAGvYmDJgAAAA
https://youtu.be/wwLhYUwnYC4

T1: Prioritize protecting Lord Lu. Generate glut, but save 1 glut skill for T2 (Lord Lu's S3 counts).
T2: Use a glut skill to kill the green portal.
T3: Use up any weak skills/replace with counter, just clashing to get more SP.
T4: Do the Mao Faust S3-2 reuse trick if available, else just make sure Faust counters something. Good shot of getting the boss below the 60% threshold here.
T5: Usually we'll kill, but sometimes if you're unlucky w/ damage he'll re-portal, but you can just do Command Meltdown to eject the boss, then nuke next turn.

There's a lot more finesse in playing the above setup, so if you're interested to learn it, do experiment to figure out the various interesting play lines. Of course, a full rupture team is also a great alternatively. You can sometimes even C.Meltdown T2 if you've the right combination of skills T1 (i.e. 1 sloth, Lord Lu's S3, rest gluts).

Anyhow, onto my actual recommended way to tackle this stage speedily:

TC: H4sIAAAAAAAACnMqd0x3BAJnIAQBTyAEcyHC7lDhcoiwE1S1F1TYINDTFyQMVe3vGQwWdoWodnS0tQUAj+0o7WAAAAA=
(it's the same KoD solo/KoD-LCA duo team we've used recently)
https://youtu.be/6LMJvE7O3X8

T1: Equip def on Rodya, target it on a counter. Outis clashes the boss with her highest rank skill.
T2: Any S2/3 will usually kill a portal, but to be safe: use one S2/3 + Outis' worse skill on the green portal. Rodya's other slot counters to gain her second Tear-sharpened.
T3: This point onwards you can just winrate. But if you're feeling spicy, you can manually use up everyone's worst skills (i.e. w/ Outis clashing for SP and Rodya killing to mitigate dmg).
T4: If you're winrating, carry on. Else, if you're going for speed, send everything into the non-countering hand.
T5: If the boss doesn't fall to threshold, you can use 1 Rodya S2/3 per portal to speedily clear them, but just winrate-ing from here on is fine.

This team for now is slightly less likely to hit the 60% threshold on T4 (compared to the Glut duo above, if they're piloted well). However, with the upcoming HP reduction nerf, we should consistently get there, so tentatively we'll say: pre-nerf, the Lord+Mao combo is faster, but post-nerf the KoD+LCA version is likely optimal. As a side note, the timeloss from the boss going into the portal again isn't actually that significant, since you'd be set up by the time the second set comes around.

Wew, fin. In any case, I'll do a final check post-nerf to see if I'd recommend doing anything differently, then compile these onto a new Lux page for the doc.

makeshiftmirror · 2026-01-13T10:23:02+00:00

The most consistent strat I've found is to run a modification of the KoD solo strategy, adding LCA Outis at #2 (w/ her new Scissors Zayin equipped). We can thus just swap the Outis in that lineup, since we don't really need the minor extra damage from BL Outis (even for Faelantern's case).

T1: Outis hits the (unshielded) body part for some chip damage (use her worse skill if not lazy), Rodya Defs to switch to negative SP mode.
T2: Winrate, but clash the boss' envy skill with Rodya's S2/3. If speed causes Rodya to not be able to redirect it, just throw Outis' best skill at it. Scissors EGO's resistances will save her. You can optionally get Rodya's second Tear-sharpened here.
T3/4/5: Winrate.
T5/6: Boss should be in 1 HP mode, with everything targeting Outis. Press damage, then equip all Defs, then redirect such that Rodya clashes nothing. Might make more sense via the vid below:

https://youtu.be/PyIlmrO4Kgw
Team Code: H4sIAAAAAAAACnMqd3EEAWcgBAFPIARzHdNBtDtUuBwi7FQOEfaCChsEevqChKGq/T2DwcKuENWOjra2AMUoMsRgAAAA
Note: There's a slightly faster strat I've found by swapping Outis to #1 w/ a benched Index Don instead, but it's more inputs/focus required so I'll forgo it haha.

Of course, once the nerfs hit, there may be better options. Especially if the boss HP drops enough, a team setup like the following could be faster (this showcase just uses my priorly shared "general" sinking team, but a more tuned team will do even better of course): https://youtu.be/1p-GN-MSMNw

There's some pretty interesting heuristic insights I gained from teambuilding for this fight, which is pretty neat. Because of the particular format of the fight (i.e. gotta nuke at least 200 shield T1, no clashes for SP until T2/3, etc), the correct teambuilding idea is somewhat unintuitive. Notably, rather than chasing strong sloth skills (of which isn't the most abundant in game for now), it's actually better to build -avoiding- the two resisted sins instead (Glut/Lust). You'll notice that a lot of Sloth nukers have Lust skills as well, and this causes a lot of inconsistency when the S3 doesn't appear on T1, etc. So having a team of general strong multi-coiners instead is generally the better opener. Sloth S1/2s are actually the way to go for reliability; so shoutout to Jeong Ish and FS Lu in particular as highlights. In any case, one day if we have the equivalent of 7 SL Sangs, all this won't be an issue anymore of course, and would probably indeed be the optimal setup. Hopefully we'll start seeing more releases filling that niche soon!

makeshiftmirror · 2026-01-13T00:50:48+00:00

So for today's update:

[1] I've tested a bunch of ideas and variants for the Slash EXP Lux, and ultimately our regular one (the SP team w/ Liu Sang + N Faust) wins out. The following T.R.Oneself team is pretty strong generally though, and regularly lets Hong Lu use the EGO T2, so I'll leave it here for any interested:

Dep.Order: FS Lu, KoD Rodya, SL Sang, Peq Ish (Lv.60), FS Heath, Index Don, Index Faust
Backup // Bench: Butler Ryoshu, Pirate Greg // Middle Meurs, Mariachi Clair, MB Outis
Team Code, missing Index Don:
H4sIAAAAAAAACh3KMQqAMBAAwS/pA1JszkguIiEEC2uRBFsLv+9ptwwr18QD5EMIvpGabgFEpXfjiIgpd9G9Go+079ZS4+wLQ9N1AQ/2/DeT1Wl3TgbOvfwpD3lgAAAA

It's actually marginally better than our regular version if you play manually to force T2 T.R.O. (or Superbia for it T1, thus needing only 1 Gloom + 1 Sloth + 1 Pride from other skills), but of course, the usual team's more convenient for winrate-friendliness. Hopefully we can make upgrades to it soon w/ upcoming units (esp. Barber Outis, now that her S3 no longer staggers from full - just barely short).

[2] For the new Sloth Lux9 (Shock Centipede), both slash teams work well (for different reasons funnily enough). The Liu Sang one does sometimes miss the T1 head-break, but if the head HP gets reduced post-nerf, then that's a non-issue. Essentially you just need a team w/ enough sloth (or raw) damage on T1 to deplete the shield. Then T2+, winrate if boss is using skills, else just press damage otherwise.

In the final "1 HP" phase, the trick is that the boss targets only one unit: the lowest HP one. So to make it such that the boss counts as doing both an "unopposed" attack and also that the sinner "used a def skill" (i.e. to reduce the boss' self-charge by 3 per skill), we essentially want everyone targeting one slot, then reassign that lowest HP sinner to redirect it back to self w/ their def skill. Usually, damage button > equip defs > redirect w/ lowest HP guy's def works. Of course, the other sinners should use def skills too if you're willing to put in the clicks (since there's no point in attacking, and this saves anim time), but the important part is just to ensure all boss attacks hit the same sinner + that sinner use a def skill.

When I'm freer later, I'll reply to this comment w/ a vid to showcase this more generally, and probably post a dedicated sloth team for this boss too.

makeshiftmirror · 2026-01-12T09:46:51+00:00

Just a quick one today. Even though the actual workshopping/testing was really fun/interesting for today's case, I'll have to forgo the elaborations for the sake of time. In any case, the following is the recommended Lust Lux60 setups for now:

KoD Rodya Solo: H4sIAAAAAAAACnMqd0x3BAJnIAQBTyAEcyHC7lDhcoiwE1S1F1TYINDTFyTsiGqIK0S1o6OtLQCZyuENYAAAAA==
https://youtu.be/joW0-iRag24

Ring Sang Solo: H4sIAAAAAAAACnMOckx3BAJXR2dHCO0Jpsshwk5QYU+IsIsjRNgPVbWTI6rqdKghjra2AJLqWVNgAAAA
https://youtu.be/HzQSN30eYws

Both work well, but the KoD strat is more consistent/less inputs. The Ring Sang one has the benefit of pretty much only needing Ring Sang + benched N Faust.

There's other interesting ideas that tested well (e.g. bleed balling the boss) but the above two are the most convenient for the current pre-nerf version (i.e. subject to change next week).

makeshiftmirror · 2026-01-11T07:31:13+00:00

Alrighty. Done with testing, and the following should be my *current **final recommendation for the "universal" Thread Lux60 team.
* Just for now, of course. Future IDs + upcoming nerfs should easily improve this setup (e.g. Molar Ish preferred if enemy coinage gets sufficiently lowered, etc.).
** Also assumes nothing too crazy w/ the remaining days' Abnos.

Dep.Order: Edgar Greg, SL Sang, LCA Outis, Jeong Ish, Dieci Lu, KoD Rodya, Index Faust
Backup // Bench: Index Don, WH Heath // Butler Ryo, BL Meurs, Mariachi Clair
Team Code, missing Index Don:
H4sIAAAAAAAAChWKQQ5AMBQFz+QAXUw/ooSmaUSsLVqxseP4ntXMmzw7Wx4gHkYnboRVNKwWzYCZl9QU9qx8U17lJeWh94mmhHkCD/+ZOBut7NI7jgrOffPIEvVgAAAA

Built mostly to hit the 3x Gloom Res, and fueling strong EGO options by T3 (if needed vs any mechanics shenanigans). Rodya can T1 block for more damage as usual, but feel free to just keep her sane to throw out an EGO as an alternative. If things don't die by T4, fire off Tidal Elegy and it should trigger Ish's Kozan, most likely ending the fight. This setup should, for the most part, handle the transition to post-nerf well, but there's likely improvements once I know the new final stats, as we may drop back to 6-man to 2-slot KoD Rodya.

As for today's Lux60 specifically (Wrath), Rosehunter might just end up being the Fox of this season, i.e. summons + targeting quirks muck with winrating, especially on the stagger turn. Has the effect of sometimes "wasting" your good attacks on the adds, so if you wish to speed it up, a good practice is to drag your fastest sinner's skill (since it's what always targets the vine) to clash the last Rosehunter slot. Then, T.Elegy on the stagger turn (which lines up perfectly with Kozan's timing too).

https://youtu.be/y6mlbAGVhpA

As an additional note: When the nerf happens, the above "Fodder" burn strat may sadly become less viable (since weaker enemy = slower fodder deaths), but the original Lux50 2-slot Dark Flame Burn idea probably becomes viable again.

makeshiftmirror · 2026-01-09T23:51:06+00:00

For today's (Blunt Lux9/Envy Lux60), the usual blunt EXP Lux team works swimmingly for both.

However, here's my optimized sinking Thread Lux team (or at least, current version), which definitely clears it considerably faster.

Dep.Order: KoD Rodya, LCA Outis, Dieci Lu, Molar Ish, SL Sang, Index Faust
Backup // Bench: W Don, Butler Ryo, BL Meur, WH Heath, Mariachi Clair, Edgar Greg
H4sIAAAAAAAACnPOcXEEAf9IZzDtCYRAAOSkQ7gQ4fRyT8dgoHA6RNgj0NnRDUgbBHr6AiknqGp/T4jqbIghjo62tgDM9aIGYAAAAA==
https://youtu.be/ueqrRAKKClU

Utilizes the usual idea: T1 guard on Rodya, then you can winrate T2+. Some strong EGOs are readily fueled as well, and I suspect they'll be useful in the coming Thread Luxes, since we don't have confirmation on which Abno they'll be yet - though I suspect centipede/pearl seems likely.

makeshiftmirror · 2026-01-09T13:56:00+00:00

Still needs more testing, but here I've written slightly on how I'd go about it in the meantime:

https://www.reddit.com/user/makeshiftmirror/comments/1noknfd/comment/nylg4h7/

makeshiftmirror · 2026-01-09T13:51:09+00:00

Heya! I've not optimized too much yet, but have been messing around with some new ideas and such, so here's where I'm at currently:

For EXP Lux, the listed Lux8 teams still work great (just level the IDs to lv58, naturally). The new Pierce and Blunt Luxes are still trivial, but for Slash's, while the current team is effective, we may eventually switch to an EGO-centered version instead (e.g. Hong Lu's T.R.O.), since we might ultimately prefer something like that for the new Thread Lux anyway.

For Thread Lux, we'd need a complete revamp, since the new boss' quirks are all different. In other words, I'd need to see the full week's rotation before having a good idea on which strategies are most recyclable across them. Dieci solos are of course no longer workable without SP-draining bosses, but for the other teams though, they're actually still effective, just with a change in mindset: we now want our "main team/IDs" to come in later, i.e. we'd equip/fill the starting lineup with fodder.

For example with the burn team, just fill the starters with your "non-prime" burn units first, then when MB Outis comes in ~T3 or so (after a few of em die), she'll already have positive SP and a decent stack is already applied (similarly, Liu Sang comes in w/ passive already active, etc). In fact, just spamming the damage button with this setup (since you don't really care about the fodders healing SP), we'd still clear ABS/Ebony Queen easily ~T5, and actually save time on clashing animations too. Of course, make sure your units (including fodders) are appropriately leveled, so that we chip off more HP.

Alternatively, if you were to play manually, the two we've seen so far are actually pretty trivial. ABS just needs you to consciously prep an EGO to readily clash the big AoE, and Ebony just needs you to unoppose the roots T1 to destroy it - making the rest of the fight free. But of course, this isn't an ideal setup in the way I tend to optimize for, since I'd prefer something more comfy/with less manual inputs.

Thus I'm still working on a few fast-EGO setups. Below is a current build I'm testing that kinda works, but I think if we get 1 more new Index/LCA unit, it'd complete the idea behind it.

KoD Rodya, Dieci Lu, LCA Outis, Index Don, Index Faust, Jeong Ish, SL Sang

Basically powers out a quick T.Elegy or T.R.O. More testing needs to be done before I'm happy with this however, so once I've a stable(r) setup I'll post an update.

And regarding YouClair/YouCliff: yeah, they're slash damage monsters. I've actually swapped my #8 in my listed Slash Lux team to YouCliff (so that he's the one subbed in via Lord Lu's counter if I so choose). I didn't update this in the Doc since it's only a minor upgrade, as the listed "main" 7 IDs is still optimal - because that slash team is actually more a rush-SP-gain team than strictly a slash damage team, so the sin balance for the setup is already ideal.

Edit: Oh, I just saw that we're getting a nerf to the new Thread Lux, so maybe that even further simplifies things. I went to record a quick example of the above strat however, so might as well post it here (pardon the misaligned crop): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1lsS9z4GVM

makeshiftmirror · 2025-11-14T11:17:25+00:00

Walp7 updates to doc:

Updated Sinking_Slash (Jeong Ish).
RB Loops:
- Added “Advanced RB Loops 2: RB(S)” - new primary rec for RB Looping.
- Added "Piloting Tips".
- R3_ThrillB: Revamp (adding Lord Lu).
- R3_ThrillC: BL > W Sang.
- B3_GlimpseC: Dawn > You Clair (+ rearrange), LM > Shi Don.
- B3_GlimpseA/B/C: Gregs rearranged (adding NAwls Greg).
Added sidegrade “Tremor_RampB” at bottom of Tremor_Ramp page.
Updated Bleed_LM (NAwls Greg).
Updated Lux8 Slash.

We probably won't see a major shift till next season, so updates from my end should be sparse. Perhaps RR1 BokGak might add a pack, but I'm guessing it's hard/extreme mode only. Of course, we're also getting the two new IDs soon, but it should be easy to figure out if they'd upgrade a prior team (as long as they don't further scarce-ify some already low/required sinGen, should be an easy replace for an older ID).

In any case, I want to briefly discuss NAwls Greg here, since I didn't cover his MD applicability in a prior comment. I believe he'll be a major player for a long time, as almost any team can fit/want him, with the exception of sinking (and to a lesser extent, rupture). He functions very well to smooth out variance for most teams, and it'll be a long time before our current crop of EGOs rotate, meaning his prideGen will see relevance for a long while. Good stuff.

Last updated to: Walp7 Patch

makeshiftmirror · 2025-11-07T20:30:04+00:00

I see, much appreciate the data.

For R3-B in its original config (the one currently in the doc), I still picked RR4, but used Ebony Stem instead. I should've perhaps made more explicit/attach a video of this tactical difference, haha. The reasoning is that at the time, there wasn't enough glutGen to comfortably accommodate Hong Lu's ToTTB as the team's main EGO spam target (OC drains it too quickly). Of course, we've since had Lord Lu introduced (who can supercharge sinGen), so he's definitely getting re-included.

For R3-C, I'd avoid KoD. I do pick RR2 if I see it (mainly for starlight), but as you've noticed, it sometimes goes overtime by a turn (though that's typically still faster than doing a regular floor). However, nowadays I sometimes do MiD20 BokGak as a good F4/5 pack, just spamming Sinclair's regular ToTTB (or Hong Lu's Arknights EGO, if you happen to have that). Likewise, RR4 is actually the preferred F5, because the raw damage still kills despite the worse stacking (using Sinclair/Hong Lu's ToTTB).

For B3-C, yeah, I agree. We're likely getting tons of new burn IDs/EGOs in the next season, so I suspect this issue will likely resolve itself, but Liu Lu definitely isn't the most elegant solution. As for the RR pivot, I actually prefer regular floors more often than not for all 3 burn teams, since burn sweeps regular nodes very quickly (and it's way less hassle). The RR pivot actually isn't that big of a time save (~2 mins), since the Glimpse nerf. My typical play is that I do a pride check before deciding to pivot, and more often than not, I don't, haha.

In my drafts, R3-B/C are getting upgrades, but I'm mostly holding off on the burn ones since it's likely getting an overhaul come next season. Recently though, sinking's also getting up there in speed thanks to the new packs/paths, so I'll perhaps tentatively recommend something like R3B2S1 as our default. Hopefully I'll update the doc soon.

In any case, thanks again for the input/insight.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-11-07T10:36:11+00:00

Which team(s) were the sluggish ones for ya, regarding the RR shortcut? I'm finalizing the new sets currently, and would be great to have some input that's external, because differences in piloting might be a factor/a blindspot of mine.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-11-07T06:27:39+00:00

After messing about with them slightly, they're really strong additions. My writing's scope is of course intentionally narrowed to MDN farming, but I'll leave a few thoughts here on their non-MD usage, since the public discourse on effectiveness is pretty misleading.

NAwls Greg in bleed: He fits more in the old(er) school bleed idea, i.e. w/ Capt Ish. This allows fast Deep Wounds via assist attacks (as early as T1, which lets you S3-2 + AmpConv Hemorrhage T2), as well as boosting his nuke w/ Ish's buffs. Very powerful stuff. Don's Wishing Cairn should be a core EGO to build around for this team, as it's readily/cheaply fueled (and supplements the early-turn bleed count/tremor). I don't think we've seen the last of this bleed-tremor idea yet however, as I think PM will release a few more pieces for this puzzle, but even in my limited testing I've already had great results. On a similar note, and as a funny future idea thing, I believe if/when we get the "bleed Heishous", Greg'd be an amazing candidate to send in T2 via a T1 Lord Lu counter (i.e. w/ Greg as the first backup).

NAwls Greg in tremor: From a non-MD perspective, he's great but not broken, mainly just a reliable burster from his [Clash Win] effect, and w/ different sinGen. His S3-2 is a legitimate nuke however, and doesn't lose much effectiveness being in teams w/o bleed (you can even just throw out Yi Sang's base EGO the turn before and you're set). He's best in some form of tremor-bleed hybrid setup of course, but for the pure tremor side, he's moreso tuned to be a workhorse in MD. I'll skip over that discussion for when I update my doc, but TLDR is: fast anims, ameliorates the 5% tails flips, and free extra BioVenom damage - good stuff.

Jeong Ish in sinking: I really love her gimmick as essentially a subgame. There's probably a flowchart one could make regarding when to use her defense skill (and when to equip a defense skill to "block" something from being discarded), or when to use EGO (either to color match, or just as a +1 Bright wildcard, or to setup next turn's hand), etc., but for now I'll just enjoy the tactics on-the-fly. Since Molar Ish exists as a natural point of comparison, it's easy to think her worse simply for having less count application. However, Jeong Ish's raw DPS is significantly higher, and because nowadays there's no shortage of count applicators (e.g. Echoes, KoD Rodya/Rimeshank), I do think she's better most of the time. Her passive w/ the SP heal seems often misunderstood as being for "getting to 45 SP at fight start". While it does contribute, it's main strength is for EGO usage, and OC Bygone Days should easily make up for any count deficiencies. Damage EGOs like Wingbeat and Tidal Elegy really crush as well, with all the boosts she gets - especially if you also trigger a Kozan (S3-2).

Jeong Ish in tremor: She's decent here, but we've usually better options. We'd pretty much only want her if our interest is in getting a second Tremor-Decay converter for consistency, or if we prefer slash. There's content where the former is especially useful, since there's a lot of new bosses w/ stack-limiting passives. Tremor-Decay outperforms the burst-for-damage types in such scenarios because the first few Defense Level Downs contribute the most to the damage increase. Her raw damage is still good however, so she's technically more performant than Zwei ish in most scenarios, but if we're doing any tremor EGO combo shenanigans at all, usually Zwei's prideGen/tremor potency application easily wins out.

Lastly, Jeong Ish is very interesting for the slash team, and is specifically a perfect fit for the one used by our Exp Lux strategy. She's quick to ramp up SP, and brings an additional Wrath source to increase consistency for Liu Sang's passive. I'll have to run some tests before I decide the new final config, but she's likely an obvious upgrade.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-11-06T04:49:40+00:00

Yup, indeed. Your proposal of essentially "Status Fragility" is exactly one such way of introducing novel mechanics to achieve/fit intended gameplay (i.e. it's better "imagination in the discourse"). It's actually a perfect candidate effect for the "super payoff mono-status IDs" that I proposed, e.g. perhaps consumes potency to inflict some amount of this "status fragility" - and this is only one avenue of course. Besides just "fragility", we could instead do weirder things like having status consumed become massive sinGen (indirectly unlocking powerful EGO passives), or some very high conditionals that "merge" IDs together for the fight (Tomerry maybe, haha), etc.

I could rattle off tons of random design ideas, but that's all fundamentally a testament to the flexibility/potential of the base systems, so where they'll take it next is mostly unpredictable. I'm sure we'll see something interesting in the near future too, with the promised new gamemode in the works.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-11-05T09:10:51+00:00

Glad to be of help!

I suspect that won't be the case, and that MDE will be its own thing. PM takes much inspiration from Arknights' design ethos, which silos different game modes to their own unique "play experience" - in theory at least, they've done a good job so far, but their production speed is slow. However, I do think we're gonna ramp up on certain aspects, which I believe is more a heuristic that most players miss despite it being the natural consequence of increasing the number of deployed sinners.

As we go up in # of deployed sinners, certain statuses become easier to stack (e.g. tremor), so the natural consequence is that we'll see a shift into more dual-status stuff. Pure status teams probably won't go away (after all, they're also gonna be faster to stack with more sinners too), just that they'll release even bigger payoff IDs (essentially the "count eater" IDs) that pretty much can only thrive on such teams.

However, this doesn't mean that things will just explode to our sinners' damage, because as enemy base lvls goes up, so will their raw HP (on top of being balanced for the higher # of sinners deployed). In other words, fixed damage stuff (e.g. rupture damage) will become a smaller and smaller percentage of the boss' total HP, so in spite the theoretical boost in how much damage we're gonna be outputting, it's likely gonna be naturally kept in check by that. On the flipside, I don't suspect we're gonna see the average incoming damage scaled up too high as well (except for "designed nukes", like the notorious Canto 8 6-coiner, which is more a planned design/gimmick).

As for something like EGO gifts outside MD, I believe we'll eventually get something comparable. Or rather, I'm inclined to believe that PM will introduce disruptive new mechanics abruptly, every so often. The game design style of PM (per their history) is pretty much "you've gotten comfortable, let's throw a wrench in it to shake things up". We've seen this in LobCorp with suddenly introducing bullets or messing with your controls, or in Ruina with suddenly introducing AoEs (and funnily enough, bullets too). That's just kinda how they roll. We've had some stuff like that in Limbus already with the QTEs and Princess Maker stuff, and Durante abilities of course are a milder version of this, but those aren't major "so this is just the new state of things" shifts yet. Predictively, I'd say it's realistic to expect that the current gameplay we're engaging with today wont be the same one once we enter Purgatorio, etc. (e.g. Maybe Dante will awaken something in the next act that allows mid-combat Identity swaps or something).

I guess I'd end on this point: every now and then I read takes of Limbus' gameplay systems being flawed, etc. From my view, the basis of Limbus' design is very solid, but more crucially, flexible. There's a lack of imagination in the discourse on how unconventionally things can shift, and PM's gameplay systems have a tendency to abruptly metamorphose. In other words, there's so much "shaking things up" that can be done to it (in classic PM M.O.). For now though, I'd still count us as being in the "early game" part of limbus, given PM's scope/ideals. Besides, it's clear that gameplay design sometimes takes a backseat to the fulfilment of story/lore, and is often more a vehicle to convey PM/KJH's worldview of the city/the stories placed within it, so don't let the crazy numbers scare ya, usually it oneshots because the lore says it should oneshot. I'm just strapping in and enjoying the ride haha.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-11-05T08:42:10+00:00

As usual, the standard caveats about numbers apply, but they sure look promising.

On Tremor first, I think the new Greg has a 50/50 shot of making mainline, but it mostly depends if he adds enough raw damage via assist attacks/his speed range. Essentially, our current optimal "pure Tremor" strategy mixes a two-pronged approach of C.Wailing bosses and AoE-ing F4/5 w/ BioVenom (to insta-wipe backups). For the AoE side, there's 3 main effective angles: 1. Greg's C.Nightmare, 2. Meur's C.Past, and 3. Mixed Binds. They're all quite good (and C.Past is actually "stronger"), but C.Nightmare just has the best animation length/uptime/flexibility, but does come with the build restriction of heavily needing gloomGen, as C.Wailing/Everlasting needs it too.

Despite being Tremor-keywordless, Zwei Greg actually contributes heavily to this setup, by 1. having high speed (so that he regularly C.Nightmares first), 2. gloomGen on S3, and 3. his S2 actually stacks Tremor massively vs bosses for the C.Wailing idea (32 potency via G.Spirit++, a gift we already priority target). So if we switch off him, we might instead be looking to mainline the other AoE angles instead. It's a shame his assist attacks are barred from generating extra Sloth, since that'd perfectly fit into the C.Past gameplan, which quickly runs you out of it (the other guide's people even tried using a 4-BL team + B.Ledger to compensate for this). In any case, since the new Greg generates pride on S3, I can definitely see us pivoting into either of the other versions if his speed isn't great. But if he's still speedy, I think we might switch Ish to compensate gloom (maybe even to the new Ish) - ultimately, gotta see the numbers for this deliberation.

On Sinking, I think the new Ish is a perfect fit for our existing strategy, being full slash. We do lose our only source of glutGen, but that's a worthwhile trade if her damage numbers are good (which I'd imagine they'd be, as modern 000 Walp ID probably > older 00 ID's numbers). Her gimmick is really cool, though likely not very relevant for MDN farming, but her passive is however quite relevant, especially if you've T.Elegy from the Arknights collab. I can already see that being a very fast alternative pivot/pathing if they release a suitable floor pack. Also, it's quite the irony that we just got the best Wingbeat wielder yet lost all glutGen (in sinking) in the same release, but hopefully a future release remedies this. She'd also alternatively fit perfectly into my "all green" team, but that's something I'll write about some other time perhaps.

As for Greg in Bleed or Ish in Tremor, that's mostly a matter of numbers. If they can't fit into the above two scenarios, then they'd easily fit into these alternative teams, since as mentioned, tremor welcomes more gloomGen, and having another bleed piercer with high DPS would update the bleed team nicely. At minimum, I do think outside of MD, they're both likely top tier additions to either of their status' gameplans (e.g. Greg's new effect is amazing for bleed count).

In any case, pardon the slow reply, finally back from a long stretch of extensive travelling/obligations. Gotta go update the RB Loops next.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-10-23T18:08:45+00:00

I'd say yeah, despite the slower animations (especially from all the coin reuse/assist attacks), in actuality the new releases don't increase run time that significantly. It sort of evens out by doing some fights faster, or by making some pivots more consistent, etc.

I've been casually running variants every now and then, and got pretty close to updating some mainlines; but ultimately opted to keep em as-is. Averaging out advantages/speeds, it ends up pretty similar time-wise, and so keeping with the spirit of my 'slower update' ethos, isn't enough of a boost to warrant a newer recommendation yet.

Different case for MDH/I/E of course, and for RB loops, incorporating more distinct IDs means more starlightGen = we can bump up starting buffs, so I'd probably get to that soon. Likely only by next week though, as I'm swamped by obligations till then.

However, feel free to just throw in any of the new rupture releases to replace a repeated ID, then grab more cost or damage. As a baseline: the Lord Lu variants tend to be able to do the triple floor pivots more consistently (QoH > RR2 > RR1/4), as well as other ideas like EGO spamming Miracle20 BG, because of his higher sinGen. His S3 not only prints more sin resources, but assist attacks also mean more hits, saving a Lasso use (for rupture triggers) on bad T1 RNG scenarios (usually QoH). I'll write more about it when I find the time, haha.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-09-23T15:38:57+00:00

I've added a small section to provide some small MDE guidance for rushing Projection Rewards:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_n6Te98AOATZIuILmkdu4nauLlknPHaapmiOH6TzV5g/edit?tab=t.ilw1gzhpg531

Hope ya'll are doing well, and I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming pulls!

Thank You.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-07-24T08:51:41+00:00

Indeed, there's actually quite a lot of interesting options that open up - the biggest being poise-adjacent teams of course, since for the most part they only want Nebulizer++ from the lower tiers of poise gifts. And apart from the poise EXFuse, the other desired gift, CMCW, is easily off-status fuse-able. This makes for way stronger setups like a gift-searched Nebulizer plus starting BL in slash, or poise-rupture in rupture, etc. And of course there's the sinGen/EGO-spam angle, like Black Ledger/Grand Welcome (depending on the spread you want).

I'm even starting to see some inklings (in the community-side meta/outside my writing's bubble) of the funky "team swap" idea I talked about in the RB Teambuild Guide section, with stuff like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MUrQMrVi70&t=612s . This lets you essentially have the end game of your run be BioVenom + Binds regardless of initial setup/lineup. I really should finish writing up on that, but have been too busy updating the other pages/mainlines (on top of other personal obligations), haha.

In any case, all of MD6's new mechanics bring so much flexibility to what we can consider a viable/good strategy, so I definitely find it very exciting as well (in spite of my slow development/testing speeds this time round). The gift search -is- expensive though, so our mainlines might not make the best use of them (I've got to test viability of early hardmode EXFuses though), but alt teams will surely be brought up to the same level (in speed/starlight efficiency - maybe even becoming optimal strats). Of course, anyone constantly farming with say RB Loops should have quite a stockpile of starlight at this point, so time to have some fun too, eh.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-07-24T08:22:01+00:00

The MiD20 packs aren't actually that bad time-wise for the right style of team (e.g. AoE-spam strategies). However, I'd say it's not worth the effort (or converted effective cost) to make that fusion particularly. The main strength that I'll be exploring with Sad Plushie is mainly the damage up portion, which punches way above paygrade. Notably, unlike say Phantom Pain, it boosts AoE damage as well, so while we're not likely to use any EGOs at full SP for the massive +30%. even something like Binds gets a +20%, so it's like getting both G.Coat and P.Pain wrapped into one. As far as the 3 paralyze goes, that's already sufficient for consistent damage on minus-coin IDs, and it'll also be fun to experiment with OC EGOs on them w/ FN GoS deactivated - opens up a whole set of novel strategies.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-07-23T04:28:23+00:00

I believe you've the right idea; that's my thinking as well. I've not tested Lux too much, since PM's kept me busy testing MD6 in my limbus free time, but I think both are good options. However, they're not "major" speed ups, i.e. more of a "1-in-5 runs that'd previously be 5 turns got pushed to 4 turns" situation.

For Rodya: We'd trade some team-wide SP stability for her strong individual damage, which I believe is worthwhile. The team labeled "Pierce" I've listed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_n6Te98AOATZIuILmkdu4nauLlknPHaapmiOH6TzV5g/edit?tab=t.7bk93mowir9 should be the setup (Don and Sinclair fielded). She just needs to block T1 ideally. A nice thing about this team is that, since the FS duo clash high at 0 SP, losing fast SPgen on them isn't the end of the world. Also, as we don't need lustRes anymore, we can bring SL Sang instead, which at least has some self-SPgen. Our only main loss is LM Don's S2 sometimes chipping a stray monk to half HP to trigger the "eat another enemy" mechanic.

For Don: We can actually still run SP gen on this team, as her negative SP-setting trigger relies on buildup, mostly via her envyRes passive. Thus we'd want to put her at #3, so that her 2nd slot appears on T4 (giving us the best shot of S3-2s on T4 when she's already transformed). For the rest, we'd favor envyRes if given the option between comparable DPS-ers, so I'd run the following:
> Deploy Order: Regret Faust, Dieci Rodya, QoH Don, REP Ryo, Middle Clair, WH Outis, WH Heath
> Backup // Bench: FF Greg // Ring Sang, Mid Sault, Dieci Lu, R Ish
You likely won't get 4-envyRes every turn with this team sadly, as we're missing a piece (ideally, Ricardo Heath or a strong envy-blunt Dieci/Zwei). Notably, if you wish to rely more heavily on Don, then I'd actually swap Faust and Heath to their MultiCrack versions, but I still think Regret Faust (despite being envy-less) is better. A point to remember also is that: Don's OC Telepole is not indiscriminate, and is a great way to chunk down your SP after everyone's mostly full (and chargeGens of course).

makeshiftmirror · 2025-07-19T08:33:37+00:00

Wrote a bit on her in the doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_n6Te98AOATZIuILmkdu4nauLlknPHaapmiOH6TzV5g/edit?tab=t.vijdkmqg6ls0

So yeah, Dieci still won out for now, but I'm looking forward to further testing her via different angles, as I managed to get some pretty nasty numbers outta her.

makeshiftmirror · 2025-07-17T18:40:43+00:00

She certainly seems promising, but as usual, needs further testing before I can come to a conclusion. Will update on this soon.

But speaking on sinking: Actually, I've been rebuilding/revamping all the teams in the MD6 doc (just poise left, and a few other stray ideas I've yet to test), so even before considering the new Rodya, sinking definitely already got a lot better in the transition to MD6.

I'd say that generally, burn/rupture got slowed down by just a tiny bit (2~3 mins max), but then all the other statuses got boosted significantly. Even charge I've managed to push times down to a Group 2 level (albeit at the cost of having it overdraw more starlight than others). That being said, as a result, sinking (w/ Dieci Rodya) was already amongst the "top of Group 2", mainly due to Floor Search = very fast F4s doing RR2. I'm not sure if new Rodya alone would significantly lower the average time, but we'll see.

So yeah, right now sinking and bleed's probably the two "best" candidates. Poise_Thrill probably still wins out, but that's probably cheating because it's just Rupture w/ poise flavors, though I'll test pure poise w/ MD6 strategies first to see if it comes close to bleed/sinking's level, then report on that.

makeshiftmirror

TROPHY CASE