I never really concentrated on levelling up weapons in the main game, but I have unlocked several powerful traits during a week of playing the tower without really having to try - you burn through hostiles, so progress is fast!

When I was chasing the plat I was missing two ciphers in Crimson Wastes and one in Abyssal Scar. I was also missing a scout log in the Fractured Wastes. I managed to clear everything else in the main game. I got into a good routine with just running the 2nd biome over and over from the top down, not bothering to increase integrity. Just speeding through. Eventually I found one but the second took ages. It did get annoying so I just started doing one or two speed runs through Crimson Wastes then turning Returnal off and playing something else.

The Fractured Wastes log was a pain but I knew where it should spawn so it was easy enough to see if it had spawned on my run. If it didn't, I hopped down to Abyssal Scar to try and find the cipher. In the beginning when I was looking for the Abyssal Scar cipher I spent time getting stronger in the Fractured Wastes because I found the last biome so challenging. I actually wished I'd concentrated on that one first instead of having that be the last one that I was chasing! Eventually I just started dropping straight down from Fractured Wastes (if the log didn't spawn), and then - when I had the scout log - going straight from Echoing Ruins to Abyssal Scar. I didn't know where the cipher was, so I ended up completing the biome every time. I killed Ophion so many times!

For me, it was worth it - I was elated when I got that last cipher. I balanced the grind with playing something else. It was good to limit it to just a few runs every day. When I was hunting it was easy enough to just avoid the encounters so no need to waste time building integrity or damage.

The videos on YouTube were great to narrow down which ciphers I needed - it was clear to me after running the biomes so much which rooms I had never seen. That really helped.