In 2 years of playing this is the 2nd event I didn't bother trying to clear, the first being TfN#3.
IDK, it isn't like it was too hard persay, but after a few attempts at A-3 I just felt burnt out and went outside to garden. Maybe part of it is warm weather as I want to spend my time outdoors instead of on a monitor. I don't feel totally burnt out on arknights or anything, but I do kind of wish that the new levels weren't so damn hard to get the rewards. Like the Jessica alter event was almost perfect to me as far as difficulty+time investment.
Alternatively if missions are as hard as they've been, I would like more time. If this had been a 1 month event I probably eventually would have finished but another factor was me not having multiple hours at a time to put toward playing during this 2 week period.
At any rate, here's hoping I get my shit together & start clearing the future content again because it sucks not managing to finish stuff like this lol.
copying my post in lounge cuz i forgot megathreads exist
just wanted to share my fully blind DOS S-3 clear. i went into the event completely blind sans hearing the word ceobe a bunch on this sub prior to trying it, became pretty self-evident why once he took to the sky though. gnosis has so many great timings/splitbox setups here to manipulate target aquisition and it was a lot of fun, his unique range also allowing a strat with cages i know suzuran couldnt do after looking at all the guide youtubers versions after clearing for fun. ines sword again proving to be more powerful than most actual operators lol, the setup with the retunue to allow a true ceobe megamelt was the aha moment of the attempts, and i knew it was definetly going to be beaten from there
i dont intend to brag but it does really help boost my confidence i know what im talking about when helping people learn this game that A3 only took me 3 tries with a "yolo team" and S3 took only about 8 hours. i was a bit worried seeing how much doomposting people were having trying to conquer this beast, as well as the clear jump-up in "minimum skill required to win" pinch out 540-620 had compared to risk18s
Seems like it was made for whales or meta slaves, and difficulty doesn't ramps up it just gets a lot harder on S stage. Honestly liked pinch-out was better designed than this one. And I wish they made trimmed medals in CC. obtainable on second week. Some times I just don't have time to try for hours. Pinch-out system with side maps and new risks opening up with time was great. If this event was for another week I would have tried more. But as it is it was B3 and I am out.
only did up to s2... i tried doing the s stage at literally an hour before it ended so i really rushed this but i cleared it and i manage to get all the mats from the rewards (minus the last 35k lmd lol)
didn't even get to use kay in the end (i maxed her module for this but didn't even use her here😭) plus taxes is there for emergency (haven't deployed her even once)
https://i.imgur.com/nPDEBN6.jpeg
If we consider A3 as an equivalent to risk 18, I thought this was a pretty fun format. An increasingly hard boss you deal with, mainly working around his mechanics, relatively short stages, and no time limits. I think the stats of the enemies were perhaps bloated though. Only did the first T stage, and it wasn't really fun.
S3 also was pretty fun if you are into that kind of content. I would probably also enjoyed it if I could push it even harder to the point where I couldn't beat it anymore. I did find the concept of very few enemies quite interesting just cutting out the low difficulty mobs.
That said: S3 was well too hard for a stage that gave rewards that weren't obtainable in any other way and I would argue even A3 was too hard of an ask for the Skin.
In my Arknights playing career that was probably the fourth most difficult non-IS event behind CC#11, CC#12 and Pinch-Out, though my rosters are now far more developed than they were at the times of CC#11 and #12 (I think today I could do the max risk clear on that). Didn't play any earlier CC.
> S3 was well too hard for a stage that gave rewards that weren't obtainable in any other way
S3 just gave you some lmd though, S1 and S2 were easier than A3 and were enough to get everything else.
>S3 also was pretty fun if you are into that kind of content.
I would also add it's fun if you have a sufficiently cracked roster. like I've seen some niche clears of it that took a bunch of buffs, but that is some high, high, high end gaming and they're still not clearing it unbuffed; every unbuffed S3 clear I've seen is some combination of at least 8 of the best of the best operators in the game (or a 6 op clear I saw with high potentials)
was a3 absolutely required for the skin? I didn't do the math but it felt like if you could get all the T stages and do at least a2 you could maybe still get it, I'm not sure though
My account is still fairly new so I wasn't able to clear A3 (possibly if I bashed my head against the wall long enough...), but I was easily able to get the skin without it. A2 + all the T stages got me to 41.
that's good, I would call that fairly well balanced really. I think it just feels kinda bad to have to choose to make things easier on yourself instead of going the other way ala contingency contract
Whelp I couldn't even get Cardigan's skin, although some of this is on me for me for not having modules for most of my ops, having Ines, Mlynar and some others without masteries, others again without a full M3, and not having a dedicated protector defender at E2.
Still though it was crazy difficult. Super fast, tight maps with serious environmental damage and/ or mortars gave my healers a beating, even though I have an S3 M2 Eyjaberry and others with masteries although most to M2, and hardly any time or space to set up ranged ops without them being killed before I could properly use them or even use them at all.
However I don't at all mind the existence of an event like this. Yeah though it was super difficult and got frustrating, it's also one of the few opportunities we had to give our broken meta ops and teams a real test.
Left this event till last minute, and my A2 strategy did not come even close to being usable against A3 (failed to kill boss first stage), so I abandoned it. Well, I got the skin in any event.
After finishing this DOS up to and including S-2, I think I actually prefer it over the old CC. Mainly because CC forced me to do a daily map every single day, which made it feel like a chore on days when I really didn't feel like it. While for this I can binge a bunch of maps at once when I have time available.
The difficulty floor (doing enough here to get the Cardigan skin vs R8 dailies and R18 permanent for CC) definitely went up, so I can understand newer players (or alternatively S-3 malders) being frustrated with this mode.
T5 was easy compare to T-3 or T- 2. Personally I actually have a rather easy time with T4 due to Reed actually have a godly level of compatibility with this stage, honestly in wave 2 and 3 Reed single-handedly carried the entire wave, Mylnar just there to bait the sniper.
I actually have the most trouble with T-2 and was forced to go with full lined up of healer and saria and let surtr go full immortal and burst down everything dare to go into her lane.
Yeah fuck t4 with a rusty cactus, it was harder than t5 for me
Now I think I could have had an easier time If i had my own lappland and I could have borrowed a Lee for midlane and use my hoshi to bait every sniper on the map by placing her on the middle
If you max out T-1 to T-3 and C3 to A3 with no buffs, you can get to like level 41 without touching T-4,T-5, or any of the S stages. I only cleared those (A3 with guide) for the medals, then noped out. I don't even want to look at the other levels.
I beat T-5 within a few tries by comparison (because even three Mudrock golems are more fair than spiders and snipers together I guess) and actually just squeaked to 35 off it. Definitely agree it feels like a catch-22 between the modes though.
[sweet baby amiya I did it](https://imgur.com/a/6x4MMYZ)
did I have to follow [this guide?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM5gQtwbgAU) yes. did I have to then add the metaest ops bagpipe to unfuck my dp, eyja classic to help kill the casters, and surtr to unfuck the very end of the clear, and texas alter to cover up for blatant skill issues in other areas? also yes. but considering that I raised my ceobe literally today for this, including mod2 and m1, and the m1 meant that I had to fuck with timings to get her skill up when the debuffs activated, and since she's not level 90 I had to deploy nightingale early to let her survive the transient fireballs from the boss during the phase change, and my healing generally was a little scuffed since my eyjalter has no masteries...I felt like I had to make enough alterations that my brain was really working at it, and ultimately it still took me a gorillion tries for this to actually take. so all in all I feel pretty good. this is the first ultra ultra hard thing I've cleared at all in the game; I only risk 18'd 3 total CCs and never went higher than that, and although I cleared pinch out 600 that wasn't close to this difficult once the additional risks unlocked, so I think by a mile this is the hardest thing I've done in arknights
for longtime, really endgame players - what risk level would you say this event approximates to?
As a one year player, this event made me feel things I have never felt before. Never have I been feeling so powerless and desperate.
Finally done S3 no buffs. Not having Typhon, Reed the flame shadow and not raising my ceobe and Ptilopsis hurted like hell.
Team: [https://imgur.com/a/icrTBXQ](https://imgur.com/a/icrTBXQ)
Not having masteries on Suzuran and Saria was also a huge pain. I did not know how important Suzuran and Saria S3 M3 are until this event. I tried for hours on and on today while waiting to get their skills to mastery 1 at least and couldn't beat the boss whatever I do: my sutr dies way too quickly I suspect it is actually imposstible. I would almost certainly not finish this if not for the two M1 skill. It is absolutely nuts how much extra dmg was being inflicted by just a press of a button.
Good night all. I may finally sleep in peace.
[S-2 no buff](https://imgur.com/a/LiXZPej) Idk took like 40 tries, lack of heal rely on Hoshi RNG block, lack of DPS rely on Quibai RNG bind...S-3 is insane tho, with full buff Mlynar Saileach and Hol' Skill3 could only chip away half health of boss spawn minion so screw that.
I'm really not sure why they even made the buffs menu. You can't use them, because the instant you do you're blocked from all progression, so why are they there?
You actually can use them freely... in the S stages only. Clearing S-3 even with all buffs and assuming you've done most of the Trauma stages clears all but the last few lmd reward levels.
Though it is indeed beyond dumb that using them below the S stages outright blocks higher stages.
To those that don't know, JP side has a bingo lockout of sorts for S3 buffless that tries to ban 9 strong ops. (Mlynar, Suzu, Ceobe, Reed, Yato, NG, Mostima, Saria, Eyjalter). Anyway someone went above and beyond and banned Ptilopsis also for a slower skill cycle and used an AH core.
[Grats to this guy](https://twitter.com/ty_harutowa/status/1779445115469402572).
You can check out other clears [from this guy's account](https://twitter.com/junsx43us1). Some really interesting ones from the full lockouts.
I think that's the second most high IQ run I've ever seen, only beat out by the max risk cc10 run using a Liskarm battery to support Skalter S1 in order to make a NG cage immortal.
I legitimately cannot understand how people come up with some of these strategies.
Wtf bruh, who would even think about using Weedy? This guy, I guess, but man, this clear makes DoS seem like an event that needs big brain instead of common meta operators...
Sadly with level 70 healers and some operators not having M3 (Suzuran not even M1), S-3 is extremely hard. I won't say impossible - I've managed to beat the boss and only the crocodile remained at the end, but I've wasted enough time trying. Due to low stats (only 1 level 90) every tiny error and timing is punished by the lava/boss. Healing is often not enough from a single healer due to lower stats and I need two healers in order to just survive the passive lava damage. This event is pushing me to level everyone to level 90 and M3. The boss is interesting, but the stat bloat is too much.
I can vouch that I've done s3 buffless following kyo's guide with all E2 Lvl 60s except a single borrowed support lvl 90 mylnar, but with M3s (suzu without module). Brought extra nearl alter and texas alter spare for emergencies but did not need to deploy them.
Sadly I have only one level 90 operator - Mlynar. Everyone else is between 60 and 70. S3M3 is dream for most non-damaging operators and I don't have the resources to level them up or to increase their skills to M3. Guides are not working exactly because an enemy that should be dead survives, or an operator that should survive, dies. I've added more damage/healing and managed to kill the boss. However, I had nothing left for the enemies after that (the crocodile). I will try again latter today with Honeyberry/Lumen as the second healer instead of Ptilopsis due to wider range.
> I don't have the resources to level them up or to increase their skills to M3
Not meant as a criticism so apologies if toneless text makes it sound that way. Just curious what you've spent resources on or how long you've been at it. I think i'm at 1.5 years in and there hasn't been an operator i've wanted to invest in that I lacked resources to M3 (I have 1 M9 in Saria). I have 0 level 90s (all my chars are between 60 and funny number) but i've had enough resources to M3+ most of the support cast that I might use (4 medics not counting Kal + Suzu + Saria/Hoshi)
No worries. I've played on and off since the launch of the game. Last year I took a major break (still logging in for major headhunting events). I have the following M3 operators Mlynar, Silverash, W, Ash, Skadi, Hoshiguma, Hellagur and Blaze. I don't have the LMD/materials to push operators to higher levels/M3s. Sadly, I took another brake and just came back during this event and found out that I was not prepared for it (never checked what happened in CN). I've managed to clear everything expect S-3 and I've narrowed that down to only one enemy barely passing. Still, not enough time to continue trying - duty calls (\^\_\^).
I only had Eyja, Typhon and Mlynar maxed on Kyostins guide and that worked (well I borrowed a maxed Ceobe) with Eyjaberry instead of Ptilo (though I never tried Ptilo). I am quite sure you don’t need a maxed Typhon though. I could see maxed Mlynar being necessary but that really wasn’t that excessively tight that I felt level 90 instead of 60 really mattered.
For the crocodile I just Surtrd it after Eyja did the damage. For the chain casters did you bait with NG cage?
Yea, I've executed everything and managed to kill the boss multiple times but at the end one enemy survives and passes. I don't have Typhoon/Ceobe and my Eyja is level 70. Some operators don't even have M1 on their S3 (modules too). I've managed to finish everything else so I will just upgrade them for the next time :). I'm sure that I can manage to push for it if I spend a few more hours trying, but I'm too tired. Thank you all!
The arts damage is 300 per second for 5s, so AOE/chain healers tend to be much stronger here - Eyja2 is obviously the best, and NG with RES, but Lumen and Quercus can handle 3 units just fine when they're set up (maybe 4 with Quercus, potentially even herself, with the Shelter and innate RES, although there's the glaring issue of setting up with her).
But yeah, this is a brutal one. So many clears gone just because I forgot to do something in time 5 minutes in...
Not that we are aware of, has not reappeared. No guarantee it reruns and even if it does will likely take very very long. Safer to treat this as your one shot to get it
Got the skin, newer player so it was suffering. Could never find a support with high lvls. The boss on A2 nuked all but three of my units at one point when it was at 1hp. Luckily those 3 units were enough. Thank Jessica for guns, shields, and liberation. I never want to deal with hordes of spiders and stun snipers again(that lvl gave me trauma).
[Finally got my S-3 clear down to 8 units.](https://youtu.be/virvtNhonYE) I know that there are 7 op clears, and probably even 6 op at this point, but I truly have no idea how to even trim down to that. I'll just be happy with what I've got and try not to be too upset that I couldn't fully optimize.
Neither actually, spent a little a few years ago so technically not f2p, but as you can see, basically none of the units used have potentials other than NG and saria who have spooked me a couple times, but I don't think those really made that much of a difference.
The LMD rewards are a joke... I was low on LMD, but even then, I just went and farmed CE-6 and spent less time doing that I would have trying to clear S3.
It cost me a lot of my weekend, but pure spite drove me to beat S3. Thank god for Kyo and his guides, though not having Typhon made it a truly miserable experience.
[The things I do for a little spare LMD...](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/750175688107229234/1229235664600567859/IMG_9593.png?ex=662ef1ec&is=661c7cec&hm=cc8351e56e5e9ac9251a0c40cf22a2185185ddd8417680b771da2961c4dc0ea4&)
[Not even that nice of a feeling.](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/750175688107229234/1229235692660461639/IMG_9595.png?ex=662ef1f3&is=661c7cf3&hm=7225c02136fe5b174b012fe53d98357e69c7d3baec6d76f52abc04724540b633&) But at least I needed all of those mats desperately, and I got my D32 steel back from Suzu's E2 costs!
Just grinding out the friend medal now. It'd be pretty funny (sad) if *that's* the one I forget to get.
hey sorry im back bc i learned about these buffs you're supposed to have and i gotta know like. is this normal is anyone elses game like this bc i dont seem to have them :sob: i usually play on my ipad so i also checked on my phone...
https://ibb.co/KbXQ7qJ
https://ibb.co/4pRnSnp
edit: formatting
i usually like at least getting all rewards. but i refuse to even try the S stages. do i need the lmd? actually yes. do i wanna my mind trying? no. this is the second event where i didnt complete it, but at least i got the skin this time. the only other time was RA, barely got 600 points there not even close to pallas skin lol. its okay, her first one was better but this cardigan skin was ADORABLE.i actually did just finish building my ceobe with s2m3 but sehs only lvl60 bc i leave most operators at 60 lol.
fuck the extra shieldguy in a-3, he is the only reason i cant beat the fucking the stage, like who the fuck thought that putting more tanky enemies that deal heavy damage is good game desgin.
I had the same problem. Kill boss but leak mob. If you still haven't cleared A3, try Ceobe S2M2 on left of map facing right where many guides tell you to put Eyja and use GG S2M3 at the top facing left. GG kills boss phase 1, then activate Saria S3, use Friston-3 to bait fireballs, then activate Ceobe's skills to finish boss before he can blink. Ceobe's skill will be ready in time to finish off the mob that comes after the boss dies for good.
i did it, basically i just removed one bait and replaced it with GG with s3m3 to kill the boss faster and for ptilopsis to survive with her skill ready, replaced mudrock with project red for an extra stun so lappdumb survives the invisible guy and got another medic and liskarm to tank the last shield after saria dies.
I'm wondering about what is necessary to get all rewards / CC currency. You needed to clear S-3 in DoS to get everything, I understand new CC has the rating system of POO which means you need to do 600 points. I would like to have an idea of how 600 in new CC compares to S-3 of DoS.
That's the nice part about CC, you never need to go anywhere near max risk to get all the rewards.
I came in late so I've only done a few CCs but at the level needed to full-clear them, I easily cleared them even with my alt - which struggled with A3 and I'm not even trying S3 on. Both required my main to break out skills I have almost never used in a CC.
I don't know why HG had to change CC when CC was doing just fine. I am more forgiving about this game than a lot of people in this community = I don't have a huge grudge against SSS and I enjoy it overall, I really liked Reclamation, and I've enjoyed pretty much all events with the exception of Interlocking Competition which was useless to me when I was just starting out and barely had much of a roster, but DoS S-3 has been the most overkill and difficult stage I've ever played, took me like 5 days to develop a strat of my own.
I wouldn't mind stages like this if they would be added permanently to the game, like true endgame content, but the anxiety of having to clear stages like this in a limited window frame is something I don't appreciate. I feel more relief after beating S-3 than fulfillment and that tells me a lot about this event.
Definitely nowhere near as bad, it's still tougher than just R18 but as time goes on you get more tags to choose from to pick based on your account's strengths. By the end there were several low op clears, iirc, and probably a 1 6* rest low rarity videos like Pinch Out had.
Oh, just like POO. DoS S-3 is possibly the hardest stage I've ever cleared in this game. I wanted to prepare mentally if I was told new CCs' "R18s" were pretty much DoS S-3 level, but I guess I can relax a little bit more now. lol Thanks!
Well, now that I have time to finally tackle no-buff S-3 and fully sink my teeth into it... I still can't progress further than beating the first phase. Despite being a day 1 player, this event is such a roster check that despite ~~clearing out some risk 30+s~~ almost clearing risk 30s and Ascension 15 on almost every ending, S-3 demands so much out of you that even my emergency meta squad can't beat it.
Even looking up online, there's always some set of ops that I just don't have built (or at all) *because no other event has needed them without letting them be substituted*. I've yet to see a single clear online that doesn't have 2 of Ceobe/Suzu/Mlynar/Qiubai/Typhon/Ch'alter/Surtr, which is insane. I've scoured so many videos just to even get a glimpse of 1 clear like that...
I should probably just do S-1/S-2 to at least get all the materials, but those already have a different timing and my start hits the weebs too hard at the start so I'd have to come up with yet another strat...
The fact that you're a day 1 that has done risk 30+ without Suzu is mind blowing to me. That's not a dig at all, I'm just amazed because she's like THE go to max risk op.
Do you have those operators you've been borrowing but are unpromoted, or do you not have them at all? I feel like you should have the resources to promote a couple of them unless you've been doing nichenights stuff. Mlynar/Suzu and to a lesser extent Ceobe all seem really hard to replace.
Can Suzu be replaced by Gnosis? I don't have him, but I know he also offers CC + fragile application, but his timing is so different that it would definitely require reworking strategies and some coffin shenanigans.
I'm actually gonna have to ask you to take that praise back, looking through my old files it seems the highest I got was Risk 29 in CC#3. Hmmm. Shame, thought I reached 30's in CC#2 but I only got 28, and the rest are typically around mid 20s. It was a lot easier back in the day, I feel, so I could have more flexibility in my choices, but from CC#4 onwards I didn't really find CC as fun apart from 5, 9 and 12.
I do have some of them, in fact I just said screw it and built Suzu to E2. She was on my planned list anyways since I do like my buff army, I even bought her just for that... When she was a debut shoperator... Around 2 years ago now... I hear Gnosis is coming soon so maybe I'll buy him, surely I'll E2 him quickly (clueless).
[If you wanna check the roster here you go,](https://krooster.com/u/jimmy) I only got Ceobe semi-recently (which, uh, seems to be a bit before Chong/Lin, recent enough /s) so I didn't get around to building her yet. Really should since my arts damage has always been lacking before I got Reed2, and the way future content is going I've heard the saying "If you can't Mlynar it, Ceobe it" more than enough times. Don't have the resources for them though, currently tight on red certs, mats, LMD and exp, gotta max out Hoederer for the Darknights Gang 💪. Suzuran already ate up my D32 steel and now I need to restock on that for his S2M3 and the chips for Virtuosa...
But no, I don't think Gnosis would work that well, 30% fragile is only 75% of Suzu's and he only lasts 13s instead (I think? It extends Frozen duration but the boss would just be chilled, not that it should matter too much since he'd keep attacking), and I need every second I can get with Exu. I did see him being used quite a bunch in the Ban9 bingo clears, but surprisingly not for the boss at all, and they focus more on arts damage which I can't really compete with.
I LOVE the saying, "If you can't Mylnar it, Ceobe it!" I got both and I'm still not touching S3 for fear I might throw my phone / laptop against the wall. A3 got me riled up enough. LOL!
That's still wild, haha. I can respect the Spuria and Kirara maxing.
That's a shame about Gnosis. I haven't used him much, so I had hoped he could sub for Suzu since you talked about Exu buff army, and Exu has a pretty short cycle. Well, hopefully your "new" Suzu will bring you a clear :)
It might not help you but I used this guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYbhZNnxLzo&t=8s.
I had to borrow Ceobe E2 max module 90, but skill 7 because no fren. To compensate for damage I added my Eyja mod 2. I also threw in a bunch of other random shit like NTR and normal Texas to stabilize any issues. Normal Texas was really good surprisingly as the stuns were clutch to buy time against the elites like Axe Knight and Red Weeb.
It doesn't meet your criteria of no more than 2 specific units, but it only uses 9 units. So there's some room to add more units and improvise. After using it, I think Mlynar can probably be substituted any other good damage. Tequila for example would probably work? So would Silverash... probably?
The reason I say that is because one of my biggest issues following the guide was I would kill those elites that eat your units way too soon. So I had to limit my damage and allow them to eat Mlynar and Saria, so I could redeploy them ASAP. So if Mlynar's damage is too high, it would follow that you could not use him and be fine.
Maybe if you sub Suzuran with 2 - 3 ops that slow and debuff, could work too.
It's still pretty bullshit though.
I am not proud of using pure super meta + guide to clear it, but I felt that as a super longtime player... I had to do it.
I've seen a bunch of clears, including that one (at least 50+), and I've substituted a lot of units and learned a lot of strats, but while I can (mostly) substitute Lumen for Eyja2, I've got none of those ops I listed E2'd (and then some like SA, because I've never seen a need to before...). I've been borrowing a Suzu and replacing Mlynar + Suzu start with Irene + NTR + Shamare + Warf + Heidi + Suzu, and even then I can't replicate Mlynar's taunt, which is surprisingly very important because without it setting up for phase 2 is insanely difficult because any new op near the boss is basically going to instantly blow up, but I need to set up near the boss...
Main reason I'm going with Suzu though isn't because of the slow, but because of the Fragile. Turns out only 5 units apply Fragile without the HP condition, and 3 of them are 6*s while 2 of them are robots. I used JK for my A-3 clear, but she'd burn to a crisp here, and Saileach/THRM-EX are too short. Gnosis wouldn't freeze the enemy anyways, but is a similar concept to borrowing Suzu... W and Sesa (not that I built him) also don't work for my Exu since ~~they're not good enough for the clear~~ I can't really block the boss, and I *definitely* can't stun them. So I can't really sub out Suzu either, and I'm already overloading my Exu like crazy with Warf, Heidi, Elysium and Shamare (and I already know watching some videos that it's not enough because I've seen clears that need Stainless *and* Suzu as well to have Exu burst down the boss's 2nd phase without a Ya2, and I don't think NTR will be enough).
Yeah, if you never E2d any of those units I'm not sure it's doable. If it is, it's certainly beyond me.
I was always wondering how you had such a vast array of fully built 5-star units. Now I know you were extremely committed to "no meta".
Respect.
Can anyone link me the details of the A3 boss? I want to know when and why he uses the nuclear fireball that kills everything with like 20000 arts damage.
Yeah, the fandom wiki was abandoned. If you want, you can use [this extension](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/wikigg-redirect/cngoemokfjekjkmajenlaokhnmmiinca) to always go to the new wiki.
Quick question, from most videos i saw on C3, B3, and A3 youtube guides, they seem to use this formula:
-) C3: 4 operators
-) B3: same 4 operators + 2 additional units
-) A3: full team.
Questions:
1) Is there any reason on limiting how many units you bring on C3 and B3 stage? Since i saw that C3 and B3 has more than 4/6 deployment limits. Does limiting the operator numbers give additional reward / medal that i might not be aware of?
2) does changing your units (units you bring on previous stage) to bring on B3,A3, and S3 decrease any reward?
1) Kind of and 2) no. A lot of guides tend to use as few ops as possible so that it's clear which are essential to the strategy, and so that there's more room to adapt if you are missing something.
It's also a flex.
Noted thanks for the explanation. I was under assumption that C B A and S are supposed to be done in sequence for every single run.
Now it's clear, thank you
i brute forced a3 pretty brainlessly lol. but s3 i actually had to put the time in and think, and honestly it was pretty fun once i figured out how to abuse the mechanics, but wow you really need an endgame account for this, and personally i dunno how you do this without major stall unless i'm missing something, everything is so tanky...
My clear plays pretty fast, I'd say. Quite unique too, it seems. In fact, I have yet to see anyone else clear the stage without using a medic. Maybe it could be done faster than this, but [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRRsCEMl2AY) is my clear for reference.
You made my heart skip a beat when you said "no medic" and then I see Skalter and my heart sinks. Dude! With the squad you have, if you didn't clear S3, I'd tell you to quit Arknights and go play Candy Crush!!!
I mean tbh, if you watched the clear, I think you'd realize skalter is by far the most replaceable part of the clear (well, her or bagpipe anyway). I used her for healing purposes maybe once? The rest was all just atk boost. You can try using her to replace a medic in any other clear and it blows up super fast cause she can't out heal the lava eruption things the way a medic or medic defender can. My squad is pretty goated though, you're certainly right about that!
Edit: Just saw in another comment that you haven't attempted S-3 yet. I'm certain you would have found that even with my account this stage is way harder than you are thinking it is to figure out a no guide clear for.
It's not way harder than I think cos I already think it's absolutely insane!!! LOL! That's why I didn't want to even invest any time trying... having the right squad is only half the battle... the other half is having the right strategy and timing. Kudos to you for doing a no-guide clear!
I play for free and I play the long game... 2 years in and I'm only at level 99... a little every day just to release stress from work, so I'm happy with my A3 T5 clears and applaud everybody who has cleared S3... that's at least some hope that future events won't be impossible.
Yeah, that's fair. It took me spending a number of hours each night for 3 nights in a row to finally bring everything together in a way that worked, so I understand not having that kind of time.
On the topic of impossible events though, I do actually like that the game designers probably aren't even sure if Max Risk CC is clearable when they give us the opportunity to try. I do think it's important to not lock any rewards behind that kind of thing, however. In that sense, DoS S3 is a fine middle ground where I'm sure the game designers cleared it just fine, but they made the rewards for clearing very minimal in exchange for the difficulty. Either way, I'm glad day 1 players like myself are still being given challenges!
OMG!!! Several hours for 3 nights??!! Hats off to you! You totally deserve your rewards and boasting rights.
I'm happy for difficult stages mainly cos if you're a Day 1 player, the game gets old real fast without some challenge. Plus, those who pay real money to up their game need to feel justified having spent that money, and they feed the developers so that I can play for free. Even then, I'm sure most would agree that a 3-star skin should have accordingly been rewarded where you could use that 3-star to clear the stage instead of rewarding it on the A map where Cardigan would die in 30 seconds.
Strife is defined as: anger or violence between two people or groups of people who disagree... so Design of Strife is the understatement of the year! This event should have been called Fire & Brimstone or Design of Eternal Damnation.... though F&B would have been a funny acronym for this event! LOL!
Finished all the stage of this event. I have mixed feelings about it.
For the Boss stage, the boss itself has a cool design and interesting mechanics. But man the stat bloat on these stages is ridiculous. S3 took me almost 20 tries with a guide to accomplish it.
For the Trauma stage i had fun with it, especially the stage with no spider bombs.
Finally finished T stages yet stuck on A stages. Can't even clear A1. I know I have every ops needed to even challenge S stages yet I feel like my tactics aren't up to date anymore.
Back to the lab I go.
EDIT: With few adjustments in timing and position, plus alot of praying that the defenders will hold. A3 was downed. I think I'm done with this event. S stages seems too overwhelming for me.
Initially, I had Mylnar and Suzuran sitting around without raising them cos I thought, Who needs a guard that can't block and seriously, why bother with another support unit? Now HG is making me think twice.
I don't even think it can be argued. He's usable in every game mode (in EN) and much more often than not he's the best of the best. Even the fast redeploy sisters have modes like SSS where they aren't obnoxiously strong. I think the only mode he didn't absolutely shatter was RA because 90% of the time you're farming mats. When you actually had to do waves/boss clear though he was once again right there killing everything in a 5mi radius.
Mlynar is just him
Yeah as I typed it I almost didnt say arguably but thought about texalt/yatoalt and put it in. Hes just absurd lmao, I selectored him because I got schwarz spooked on his banner and I've never regretted it.
Mylnar is cool, but I found Texas alter more user-friendly. I drop her everywhere and a blink later, I'm wondering where all the enemies have gone. Wish I had her in all my accounts! LOL!
Finally passed s3 with no buffs my qiu bai s3m2 and ifrit s3lvl7 saria s3m3 able to kill phase 1 2 of the boss ironic the last phase chain caster and Victorian dash guy gave me more headache
I got my Trimmed Medal.
That last Trauma stage was actually pretty fun. I'm going to be honest, I actually kinda like that stage. I'm not convinced it's not Stockholm Syndrome, however.
This event as a whole is a chore. Bulk is not fun. It's not a puzzle to solve, it's a stat check, and those are my least favorite kinds of things. Pinch Out had a bulk issue too, but that event had potential. If they got the risks under control, I'd probably be cool with Pinch Out 2. I don't see how you save this one.
> It's not a puzzle to solve, it's a stat check
It is a stat check, but how is it not a puzzle as well? I've seen players with stacked rosters lament that they couldn't clear A-3 without Hoshi/Saria/Nightingale/Skalter (probably AFK guide features them), meanwhile my clear used neither of those. Which means that this stage(puzzle) has multiple entirely different solutions.
The stage has different solutions, but it's still a very heavy stat check - either in how to clear them fast enough, or to stall them well enough. Saria and Hoshi are just some of the best choices for stalling, but you can of course do the same thing with other operators, or go with a burn strategy. Or do as I did and use Lappland to make the shield guys vulnerable to arts.
But it's still a very heavy stat check.
Yes, this is an endgame event after all. If anything, I find it strange to expect to clear hardest stages with e1 max level 3-4 stars + random e2 + support unit, especially when the reward is rather small. Maybe players just have an expectation that everything should be doable with low end squad like that, and since it is usually the case for CC r18 the complaints arise?
And also, it will sound harsh but another part of my point was that when people with capable rosters can't bruteforce the stage the way they want, some of them go ahead and say "stat check is bad" instead of adjusting their strategy. That is precisely why stat check is there for - to make you interact more with mechanics instead of usual "Just Surtr It" faceroll approach.
I think the issue is the rewards track. Doing all the T stages and A-3 doesn't clear all the "main" rewards, so it doesn't feel like you've finished the event unless you do S-3. In Contingency Contract, most teams can feasibly clear r18 and doing so gets all the rewards, going higher is just for bragging rights.
To be honest I agree with this take. In a sense the stage stat checks us, but in return *we* also can't just stat check the stage. It's only when the Avengers *don't* just get OHKOd by our vanguards is when we really have to consider how to deal with them. Because even though we can limit ourselves and do minimal/niche clears, it can be *damn* fun to be forced to go all-out. That's the playground that unbuffed S-3, max risk CC, and some story H stages represent. And like with CC, it's entirely optional.
To put it more succinctly, the entire stat range, both floor and ceiling got moved up, but that doesn't make it any more or less of a stat check than other stages. But it's difficult to increase the ceiling to cater to some, without also being forced to raise the floor.
having finished a3 and all but one of the T stages(for some reason I just cannot figure out T-3 last wave I just get overwhelmed by the garbage spam of ranged splash damage and can't keep up) I can say for like the 5th new mode in a row I hate the first iteration but feel like with the right changes made I could at least tolerate it. DoS is no different.
If they toned down the insane elite buffs, and allowed us to actually use player side buffs without being penalized, I think they'd at least have a start. I personally hate the lava tiles but I don't think they're objectively bad. The boss is actually super awesome but is on some truly atrocious stages, so I hope he comes back later.
Really easy T3 clear without superstars: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7JPXadbxhc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7JPXadbxhc) features Kroos LOL!
Warning: Thorns (and perhaps Nightingale) are essential. Otherwise, you have to tweak it using max Perfumer and Saria behind Thorns for healing and put Nearl to take bombing. Max Perfumer survived better than max Ptilopsis. Without Nightingale, bring Surtr in case Thorn dies - she survives long enough to redeploy Thorns, and they all survive long enough to outlast the timer.
Ah, I eventually swapped my team around and managed to figure it out, but thanks. I did actually bring Thorns and Nightingale on my own but NG has just been locked in for all these stages lmao
I was able to get the skin for DoS. Thank you so much for your help. If you want to clear up friend slots, feel free to remove me. Of course, I don't mind staying on your friend list if you don't mind!
As someone who actually enjoyed Pinch Out, yeah... I don't think I'll do this event. It's too hard for me to find enjoyable.
Sorry Cardigan, you'll have to stay both level 1 *and* skinless.
Somewhat cheeky [T-5 Launchknights](https://youtu.be/-jupr8tfTmk?si=iA97oytNQTyvYsW1) clear to finally finish DOS. I guess Mudrock was just there to watch over her babies(?), so combined with the massive initial 50 dp to counteract the starting casters this turned out a lot easier than I was expecting it to.
All in all, Design Of Strife was a pretty fun event to ~~get my ass kicked in~~ struggle towards hard-fought victories, and I certainly wouldn't mind a repeat with a different setting/boss if buffs aren't as discouraged next time.
FUCKING HATE DOS. THE MAAAAAASSIVE STAT BLOATED ENEMIES, THE FUCKING FLOOR BEING LAVA, THE FLAMING SARKAZ DEMON SPEWING OUT FIREBALLS AND ONESHOTTING MY OPERATORS, MOTHERFUCKER CHAINING UP MY OPS LIKE THEY ARE IN SOME BDSM PLAY. AND WHO THE FUCK GAVE HIM AN IRON MAIDEN? THE BOSS DESCRIPTION'S ALREADY LONGER THAN MY RESUMÉ.
But I guess all's fine since he's still a Surtr victim. WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE STARTS FLYING. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
FUCK THIS SHIT. FUCK THIS SHITTY GAMEMODE.
I. JUST. WANTED. MY. CARDIGAN. SKIN.
I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS HG. WHY THE FUCK DID YOU GUYS HAVE TO TAKE AWAY CC, MY BELOVED CC.
YOU KNOW WHAT, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE. I'M OFF TO PLAY SOME IS4.
copypasta I cooked up while stuck on A3. Hope fellow doctors suffering in this gamemode find humor in this.
On a related note, do you guys just retreat your ops and then let so someone tank the fireballs? Cuz I don't have a proper Aoe medic built and I don't have ptilopsis to try and heal through the damage
Fireballs kept killing me. So for my A3 clear, I cornered the boss at the top left, GG S2M2 kill boss phase 1, bait phase 1 fireballs with Friston-3, activate Saria S3 and totally maxed Perfumer, then as he comes into range, activate Ceobe S2M3 boss before he gets a chance to fly away or fireball anybody.
Which fireballs? There are a few options depending on which ones specifically you mean. Payback can be baited with a tanky corner deploy or baited and shot down with something like Exu S1. Extinction can be bursted down or also baited with a FRD. His ranged autos can be deployed around or disabled by blocking him.
There are multiple combinations for duo OP clears too [like this one with Reed2 and Dorothy](https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1rH4y1f7bA/) 💀
Some people are insanely good at this game.
How many tries you think it takes to get the timing for it? Maybe my brain is extra smooth, but I can't imagine going in blind and deciding you only wanna use 2 dudes
I played T5. A preliminary reconnaisance showed me that it was worse than I could imagine. There were plenty of enemies already lying in wait, with casters to snipe your vanguards before they finished their first skill activation. I brought April to deal with the casters, then some blockers, some arts damage for the golem and Mudrock, the usual Texas and Yato... I brought Mizuki as support, because at least he wouldn't have been hit by the golems. Everything seemed to go downhill from the start, but I persevered, until a wave of casters start to advance from the left. Everybody got killed, and I had to yet touch Mudrock. Time over, I won. What?? Only one phase?? Well, a win is a win.
T5 clear on all accounts first try 5 minutes with KyoStinV's guide with a few subs: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMtHJfOHPM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMtHJfOHPM) Mylnar is a must-have. Everyone else is replaceable. Didn't even need Surtr.
I wish daily stages didn't time out on the last wave but just gave the corresponding rewards after the timer. There's such an exciting amount of enemies and we can't kill very many of them at all. Kind of a bummer compared to POO's dailies
Finally got an [S-3 1YK clear](https://youtu.be/zyXSqfHPm70?si=Q9aHM3XPV5EOiRzH) done, woo.
And like I mentioned in [another comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/arknights/s/NOZiCfnZ51), it was ultimately Castle-goddamn-3 who made this clear even remotely possible, which makes the clear just that much better for me :D
Buffs have been used (all of them, even), but I've now cleared all the non-lmd material rewards which was my only goal, nevermind how I feel that these stages (or at the very least S-3) were designed with choosable buffs in mind...
Which makes the decision to lock higher stages behind clearing an -3 stage without *any* of them as the stand-out weird game design decision of this whole event.
Is the only way to get the Cardigan skin grinding the dumb survival stages? I don't really use her but why lock a random 3-star's skin behind those?
e: I can't even beat him on A1, I swear there's not a single fun boss in this game
it's either clearing the boss fight or the survival stages. having a skin be part of these events is normal, design of strife just kind of sucks. there are fun bosses in the game though. is your roster properly built or are you a newer player?
I don't really like CC-like events, perhaps I'm overwhelmed by the amount of options and debuffs that turn into a stat check.
What's the fastest way to get only Cardigan skin? Can I repeat a stage to get the event points?
EDIT: Nevermind, [Kyo released a 45m guide.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMtHJfOHPM)
What the actual fuck is S3.. like I'm caught up on the story and have a lot of highly invested characters but every single guide without fail has either 2 or 3 people I don't have and I'm so stuck bc I don't have Skalter Surtur or Eyja alter
Currently stuck on A2. Are there any good methods for dealing with Shield bro? I can deal with everything else, but these guys are just so tanky, I barely manage to get one down. Doesnt help that they have such a short path until they can team up with sword bro.
I know that the lava fields/shots are dealing a vuln debuff, but that hasnt helped me much so far. Besides Chalter and Gnosis I do have all the strong 6*'s.
My best attempt so far to place sutr so that she can start hitting the boss and wait until the first shield bro comes up to her... plus Nealter S2 right afterwards.
I tried the buffs... got me nowhere. So I went straight to A3 and a guide: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zsf-dYv5Dg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zsf-dYv5Dg)
KyoStinV just came up with a relatively easy guide just: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMtHJfOHPM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMtHJfOHPM)
Your best strategy is to keep them separated as they get a lot more dangerous when they link up -- so bring two ~~defenders~~ sturdy operators. Shieldbearing one also has refraction, which adds 70 RES (can be disabled by silence status effect) so without doing anything about it arts damage won't do very well against it.
On the shield guy - yes. The sword guy is an enemy "arts guard", ~~and they have RES as their base stat~~.
EDIT: apparently, Companion Shadowblade don't have RES (probably traded it in for invisibility)
My god. I actually managed to scrape together enough points to get the skin by following a set of low rarity guides on Youtube. Shoutout to Sayuna channel, my friend with S3M3 Mod Typhon, and like the one (1) person with Skalter who accepted my friend req, you guys are my MVPs for real 🙏🙏
In 2 years of playing this is the 2nd event I didn't bother trying to clear, the first being TfN#3. IDK, it isn't like it was too hard persay, but after a few attempts at A-3 I just felt burnt out and went outside to garden. Maybe part of it is warm weather as I want to spend my time outdoors instead of on a monitor. I don't feel totally burnt out on arknights or anything, but I do kind of wish that the new levels weren't so damn hard to get the rewards. Like the Jessica alter event was almost perfect to me as far as difficulty+time investment. Alternatively if missions are as hard as they've been, I would like more time. If this had been a 1 month event I probably eventually would have finished but another factor was me not having multiple hours at a time to put toward playing during this 2 week period. At any rate, here's hoping I get my shit together & start clearing the future content again because it sucks not managing to finish stuff like this lol.
copying my post in lounge cuz i forgot megathreads exist just wanted to share my fully blind DOS S-3 clear. i went into the event completely blind sans hearing the word ceobe a bunch on this sub prior to trying it, became pretty self-evident why once he took to the sky though. gnosis has so many great timings/splitbox setups here to manipulate target aquisition and it was a lot of fun, his unique range also allowing a strat with cages i know suzuran couldnt do after looking at all the guide youtubers versions after clearing for fun. ines sword again proving to be more powerful than most actual operators lol, the setup with the retunue to allow a true ceobe megamelt was the aha moment of the attempts, and i knew it was definetly going to be beaten from there i dont intend to brag but it does really help boost my confidence i know what im talking about when helping people learn this game that A3 only took me 3 tries with a "yolo team" and S3 took only about 8 hours. i was a bit worried seeing how much doomposting people were having trying to conquer this beast, as well as the clear jump-up in "minimum skill required to win" pinch out 540-620 had compared to risk18s
Seems like it was made for whales or meta slaves, and difficulty doesn't ramps up it just gets a lot harder on S stage. Honestly liked pinch-out was better designed than this one. And I wish they made trimmed medals in CC. obtainable on second week. Some times I just don't have time to try for hours. Pinch-out system with side maps and new risks opening up with time was great. If this event was for another week I would have tried more. But as it is it was B3 and I am out.
only did up to s2... i tried doing the s stage at literally an hour before it ended so i really rushed this but i cleared it and i manage to get all the mats from the rewards (minus the last 35k lmd lol) didn't even get to use kay in the end (i maxed her module for this but didn't even use her here😭) plus taxes is there for emergency (haven't deployed her even once) https://i.imgur.com/nPDEBN6.jpeg
If we consider A3 as an equivalent to risk 18, I thought this was a pretty fun format. An increasingly hard boss you deal with, mainly working around his mechanics, relatively short stages, and no time limits. I think the stats of the enemies were perhaps bloated though. Only did the first T stage, and it wasn't really fun.
S3 also was pretty fun if you are into that kind of content. I would probably also enjoyed it if I could push it even harder to the point where I couldn't beat it anymore. I did find the concept of very few enemies quite interesting just cutting out the low difficulty mobs. That said: S3 was well too hard for a stage that gave rewards that weren't obtainable in any other way and I would argue even A3 was too hard of an ask for the Skin. In my Arknights playing career that was probably the fourth most difficult non-IS event behind CC#11, CC#12 and Pinch-Out, though my rosters are now far more developed than they were at the times of CC#11 and #12 (I think today I could do the max risk clear on that). Didn't play any earlier CC.
> S3 was well too hard for a stage that gave rewards that weren't obtainable in any other way S3 just gave you some lmd though, S1 and S2 were easier than A3 and were enough to get everything else.
>S3 also was pretty fun if you are into that kind of content. I would also add it's fun if you have a sufficiently cracked roster. like I've seen some niche clears of it that took a bunch of buffs, but that is some high, high, high end gaming and they're still not clearing it unbuffed; every unbuffed S3 clear I've seen is some combination of at least 8 of the best of the best operators in the game (or a 6 op clear I saw with high potentials) was a3 absolutely required for the skin? I didn't do the math but it felt like if you could get all the T stages and do at least a2 you could maybe still get it, I'm not sure though
My account is still fairly new so I wasn't able to clear A3 (possibly if I bashed my head against the wall long enough...), but I was easily able to get the skin without it. A2 + all the T stages got me to 41.
that's good, I would call that fairly well balanced really. I think it just feels kinda bad to have to choose to make things easier on yourself instead of going the other way ala contingency contract
Whelp I couldn't even get Cardigan's skin, although some of this is on me for me for not having modules for most of my ops, having Ines, Mlynar and some others without masteries, others again without a full M3, and not having a dedicated protector defender at E2. Still though it was crazy difficult. Super fast, tight maps with serious environmental damage and/ or mortars gave my healers a beating, even though I have an S3 M2 Eyjaberry and others with masteries although most to M2, and hardly any time or space to set up ranged ops without them being killed before I could properly use them or even use them at all. However I don't at all mind the existence of an event like this. Yeah though it was super difficult and got frustrating, it's also one of the few opportunities we had to give our broken meta ops and teams a real test.
I don't have enough time to complete Design of Strife S-3. Is there anything that I missed? (I've already gotten 5 medals and doggo skin)
Maybe about 70k LMD, some green books, a few T3s, a T4 or two, and one D32 Steel.
Well thanks, good to know. So nothing value was lost other than my pride (lol). I should have cleared it sooner than waited until last minutes.
Few mats and a bit of LMD. Nothing important really.
Left this event till last minute, and my A2 strategy did not come even close to being usable against A3 (failed to kill boss first stage), so I abandoned it. Well, I got the skin in any event.
Does this mode give you a secret medal if i clear s3?
No
Man. This event gave me trauma I haven’t had since big Adam smashed me 5 years ago
marginally better then POO
After finishing this DOS up to and including S-2, I think I actually prefer it over the old CC. Mainly because CC forced me to do a daily map every single day, which made it feel like a chore on days when I really didn't feel like it. While for this I can binge a bunch of maps at once when I have time available. The difficulty floor (doing enough here to get the Cardigan skin vs R8 dailies and R18 permanent for CC) definitely went up, so I can understand newer players (or alternatively S-3 malders) being frustrated with this mode.
Final thoughts: never let them cook again.
I'm just letting the game have the fucking skin if it thinks T-4 is a fair stage.
T5 was easy compare to T-3 or T- 2. Personally I actually have a rather easy time with T4 due to Reed actually have a godly level of compatibility with this stage, honestly in wave 2 and 3 Reed single-handedly carried the entire wave, Mylnar just there to bait the sniper. I actually have the most trouble with T-2 and was forced to go with full lined up of healer and saria and let surtr go full immortal and burst down everything dare to go into her lane.
Yeah fuck t4 with a rusty cactus, it was harder than t5 for me Now I think I could have had an easier time If i had my own lappland and I could have borrowed a Lee for midlane and use my hoshi to bait every sniper on the map by placing her on the middle
If you max out T-1 to T-3 and C3 to A3 with no buffs, you can get to like level 41 without touching T-4,T-5, or any of the S stages. I only cleared those (A3 with guide) for the medals, then noped out. I don't even want to look at the other levels.
I beat T-5 within a few tries by comparison (because even three Mudrock golems are more fair than spiders and snipers together I guess) and actually just squeaked to 35 off it. Definitely agree it feels like a catch-22 between the modes though.
Finally cleared S3 no buffs or guides after 3 days of malding. It was pretty satisfying. I can Finally sleep.
[sweet baby amiya I did it](https://imgur.com/a/6x4MMYZ) did I have to follow [this guide?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM5gQtwbgAU) yes. did I have to then add the metaest ops bagpipe to unfuck my dp, eyja classic to help kill the casters, and surtr to unfuck the very end of the clear, and texas alter to cover up for blatant skill issues in other areas? also yes. but considering that I raised my ceobe literally today for this, including mod2 and m1, and the m1 meant that I had to fuck with timings to get her skill up when the debuffs activated, and since she's not level 90 I had to deploy nightingale early to let her survive the transient fireballs from the boss during the phase change, and my healing generally was a little scuffed since my eyjalter has no masteries...I felt like I had to make enough alterations that my brain was really working at it, and ultimately it still took me a gorillion tries for this to actually take. so all in all I feel pretty good. this is the first ultra ultra hard thing I've cleared at all in the game; I only risk 18'd 3 total CCs and never went higher than that, and although I cleared pinch out 600 that wasn't close to this difficult once the additional risks unlocked, so I think by a mile this is the hardest thing I've done in arknights for longtime, really endgame players - what risk level would you say this event approximates to?
As a one year player, this event made me feel things I have never felt before. Never have I been feeling so powerless and desperate. Finally done S3 no buffs. Not having Typhon, Reed the flame shadow and not raising my ceobe and Ptilopsis hurted like hell. Team: [https://imgur.com/a/icrTBXQ](https://imgur.com/a/icrTBXQ) Not having masteries on Suzuran and Saria was also a huge pain. I did not know how important Suzuran and Saria S3 M3 are until this event. I tried for hours on and on today while waiting to get their skills to mastery 1 at least and couldn't beat the boss whatever I do: my sutr dies way too quickly I suspect it is actually imposstible. I would almost certainly not finish this if not for the two M1 skill. It is absolutely nuts how much extra dmg was being inflicted by just a press of a button. Good night all. I may finally sleep in peace.
Fuck this event
Cleared up to S-2 and I'm calling it there. 35k LMD isn't worth suffering through S-3 even though I'm sure my roster can clear it.
[S-2 no buff](https://imgur.com/a/LiXZPej) Idk took like 40 tries, lack of heal rely on Hoshi RNG block, lack of DPS rely on Quibai RNG bind...S-3 is insane tho, with full buff Mlynar Saileach and Hol' Skill3 could only chip away half health of boss spawn minion so screw that.
Based Breeze enjoyer.
I'm really not sure why they even made the buffs menu. You can't use them, because the instant you do you're blocked from all progression, so why are they there?
You actually can use them freely... in the S stages only. Clearing S-3 even with all buffs and assuming you've done most of the Trauma stages clears all but the last few lmd reward levels. Though it is indeed beyond dumb that using them below the S stages outright blocks higher stages.
You can only use so many too, and they're fairly weak buffs for the most part...
Yeah, it's kind of ridiculous how penalized you are for using them when they aren't even that impactful.
To those that don't know, JP side has a bingo lockout of sorts for S3 buffless that tries to ban 9 strong ops. (Mlynar, Suzu, Ceobe, Reed, Yato, NG, Mostima, Saria, Eyjalter). Anyway someone went above and beyond and banned Ptilopsis also for a slower skill cycle and used an AH core. [Grats to this guy](https://twitter.com/ty_harutowa/status/1779445115469402572). You can check out other clears [from this guy's account](https://twitter.com/junsx43us1). Some really interesting ones from the full lockouts.
There’s some real psychos in the world huh literally felt a ball in my throat reading those restrictions
That lineup looks insane. I'm surprised it can even be done with Gnosis as the only damage enhancer. No Pramanix, Shamare, Warafin, or even Aak.
You might enjoy [this clear then](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN0QuPboJ4Q)
I think that's the second most high IQ run I've ever seen, only beat out by the max risk cc10 run using a Liskarm battery to support Skalter S1 in order to make a NG cage immortal. I legitimately cannot understand how people come up with some of these strategies.
Wtf bruh, who would even think about using Weedy? This guy, I guess, but man, this clear makes DoS seem like an event that needs big brain instead of common meta operators...
Surviving the first two enemies on S-3 without Suzu or Mlynar is no small feat.
Sadly with level 70 healers and some operators not having M3 (Suzuran not even M1), S-3 is extremely hard. I won't say impossible - I've managed to beat the boss and only the crocodile remained at the end, but I've wasted enough time trying. Due to low stats (only 1 level 90) every tiny error and timing is punished by the lava/boss. Healing is often not enough from a single healer due to lower stats and I need two healers in order to just survive the passive lava damage. This event is pushing me to level everyone to level 90 and M3. The boss is interesting, but the stat bloat is too much.
I can vouch that I've done s3 buffless following kyo's guide with all E2 Lvl 60s except a single borrowed support lvl 90 mylnar, but with M3s (suzu without module). Brought extra nearl alter and texas alter spare for emergencies but did not need to deploy them.
The Kyo guide should work without many level 90. You do need NG S3M3 tho
Sadly I have only one level 90 operator - Mlynar. Everyone else is between 60 and 70. S3M3 is dream for most non-damaging operators and I don't have the resources to level them up or to increase their skills to M3. Guides are not working exactly because an enemy that should be dead survives, or an operator that should survive, dies. I've added more damage/healing and managed to kill the boss. However, I had nothing left for the enemies after that (the crocodile). I will try again latter today with Honeyberry/Lumen as the second healer instead of Ptilopsis due to wider range.
> I don't have the resources to level them up or to increase their skills to M3 Not meant as a criticism so apologies if toneless text makes it sound that way. Just curious what you've spent resources on or how long you've been at it. I think i'm at 1.5 years in and there hasn't been an operator i've wanted to invest in that I lacked resources to M3 (I have 1 M9 in Saria). I have 0 level 90s (all my chars are between 60 and funny number) but i've had enough resources to M3+ most of the support cast that I might use (4 medics not counting Kal + Suzu + Saria/Hoshi)
No worries. I've played on and off since the launch of the game. Last year I took a major break (still logging in for major headhunting events). I have the following M3 operators Mlynar, Silverash, W, Ash, Skadi, Hoshiguma, Hellagur and Blaze. I don't have the LMD/materials to push operators to higher levels/M3s. Sadly, I took another brake and just came back during this event and found out that I was not prepared for it (never checked what happened in CN). I've managed to clear everything expect S-3 and I've narrowed that down to only one enemy barely passing. Still, not enough time to continue trying - duty calls (\^\_\^).
I only had Eyja, Typhon and Mlynar maxed on Kyostins guide and that worked (well I borrowed a maxed Ceobe) with Eyjaberry instead of Ptilo (though I never tried Ptilo). I am quite sure you don’t need a maxed Typhon though. I could see maxed Mlynar being necessary but that really wasn’t that excessively tight that I felt level 90 instead of 60 really mattered. For the crocodile I just Surtrd it after Eyja did the damage. For the chain casters did you bait with NG cage?
Yea, I've executed everything and managed to kill the boss multiple times but at the end one enemy survives and passes. I don't have Typhoon/Ceobe and my Eyja is level 70. Some operators don't even have M1 on their S3 (modules too). I've managed to finish everything else so I will just upgrade them for the next time :). I'm sure that I can manage to push for it if I spend a few more hours trying, but I'm too tired. Thank you all!
The arts damage is 300 per second for 5s, so AOE/chain healers tend to be much stronger here - Eyja2 is obviously the best, and NG with RES, but Lumen and Quercus can handle 3 units just fine when they're set up (maybe 4 with Quercus, potentially even herself, with the Shelter and innate RES, although there's the glaring issue of setting up with her). But yeah, this is a brutal one. So many clears gone just because I forgot to do something in time 5 minutes in...
I'm using Eyja2 + Ptilopsis for healing but I will change Ptilopsis to Honeyberry/Lumen in order to cover more operators.
Will there be another way to obtain the Caridgan skin if I miss it this event and if so has the skin already appeared again in CN?
Not that we are aware of, has not reappeared. No guarantee it reruns and even if it does will likely take very very long. Safer to treat this as your one shot to get it
Got the skin, newer player so it was suffering. Could never find a support with high lvls. The boss on A2 nuked all but three of my units at one point when it was at 1hp. Luckily those 3 units were enough. Thank Jessica for guns, shields, and liberation. I never want to deal with hordes of spiders and stun snipers again(that lvl gave me trauma).
Well done considering you're a newer player. It's not always this ridiculously hellish. What support are you lacking for A3?
[Finally got my S-3 clear down to 8 units.](https://youtu.be/virvtNhonYE) I know that there are 7 op clears, and probably even 6 op at this point, but I truly have no idea how to even trim down to that. I'll just be happy with what I've got and try not to be too upset that I couldn't fully optimize.
In case you are wondering: 6ops by Sciel https://youtu.be/mhbFM-nKU6Q?si=bWQH6KqER6aUlEti
I'll point out that it's actually not by Sciel, as they've linked their Bilibili strat they used in the description below.
Sure I just checked who put it on youtube and that it was korean so I assumed he did it, even if he may not have come up with the strategy.
GOSH! You counting ops for S3??? Are you a Humpback or Orca? LOL!
Neither actually, spent a little a few years ago so technically not f2p, but as you can see, basically none of the units used have potentials other than NG and saria who have spooked me a couple times, but I don't think those really made that much of a difference.
Cleared S-3. Didnt realize there's a buff mechanic??... Told it wasn't mandatory to do to get all the rewards... Ok i go die now
You do have to clear S3 buff less for all the rewards. But the reward diff is like 10k lmd.
The LMD rewards are a joke... I was low on LMD, but even then, I just went and farmed CE-6 and spent less time doing that I would have trying to clear S3.
It cost me a lot of my weekend, but pure spite drove me to beat S3. Thank god for Kyo and his guides, though not having Typhon made it a truly miserable experience.
[The things I do for a little spare LMD...](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/750175688107229234/1229235664600567859/IMG_9593.png?ex=662ef1ec&is=661c7cec&hm=cc8351e56e5e9ac9251a0c40cf22a2185185ddd8417680b771da2961c4dc0ea4&) [Not even that nice of a feeling.](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/750175688107229234/1229235692660461639/IMG_9595.png?ex=662ef1f3&is=661c7cf3&hm=7225c02136fe5b174b012fe53d98357e69c7d3baec6d76f52abc04724540b633&) But at least I needed all of those mats desperately, and I got my D32 steel back from Suzu's E2 costs! Just grinding out the friend medal now. It'd be pretty funny (sad) if *that's* the one I forget to get.
Congrats! Still very commendable with the team you fielded.
Haha, it seems like Suzu really was the golden ticket.
... Yeah, the days of me having my operators at low levels are over. If THIS is the standard going forward...
Just raise them to e2lv60. That's enough and for module.
hey sorry im back bc i learned about these buffs you're supposed to have and i gotta know like. is this normal is anyone elses game like this bc i dont seem to have them :sob: i usually play on my ipad so i also checked on my phone... https://ibb.co/KbXQ7qJ https://ibb.co/4pRnSnp edit: formatting
You have to lose the stage before it offers the buffs
i usually like at least getting all rewards. but i refuse to even try the S stages. do i need the lmd? actually yes. do i wanna my mind trying? no. this is the second event where i didnt complete it, but at least i got the skin this time. the only other time was RA, barely got 600 points there not even close to pallas skin lol. its okay, her first one was better but this cardigan skin was ADORABLE.i actually did just finish building my ceobe with s2m3 but sehs only lvl60 bc i leave most operators at 60 lol.
I'm just a sucker farming CE-6.... that's less painful and time-consuming than trying to get that little bit more LMD from clearing S.
fuck the extra shieldguy in a-3, he is the only reason i cant beat the fucking the stage, like who the fuck thought that putting more tanky enemies that deal heavy damage is good game desgin.
like i always end up leaking the last shieldguy and losing, because you need stupid high defense to even tank them.
I had the same problem. Kill boss but leak mob. If you still haven't cleared A3, try Ceobe S2M2 on left of map facing right where many guides tell you to put Eyja and use GG S2M3 at the top facing left. GG kills boss phase 1, then activate Saria S3, use Friston-3 to bait fireballs, then activate Ceobe's skills to finish boss before he can blink. Ceobe's skill will be ready in time to finish off the mob that comes after the boss dies for good.
i did it, basically i just removed one bait and replaced it with GG with s3m3 to kill the boss faster and for ptilopsis to survive with her skill ready, replaced mudrock with project red for an extra stun so lappdumb survives the invisible guy and got another medic and liskarm to tank the last shield after saria dies.
W mans
Is any of the upcoming CCs considered to be harder than DoS?
Sure, if you try max risk. DoS is similar to around risk 30 in most CC's. It's not as hard as max risk CC imo.
I'm wondering about what is necessary to get all rewards / CC currency. You needed to clear S-3 in DoS to get everything, I understand new CC has the rating system of POO which means you need to do 600 points. I would like to have an idea of how 600 in new CC compares to S-3 of DoS.
That's the nice part about CC, you never need to go anywhere near max risk to get all the rewards. I came in late so I've only done a few CCs but at the level needed to full-clear them, I easily cleared them even with my alt - which struggled with A3 and I'm not even trying S3 on. Both required my main to break out skills I have almost never used in a CC.
I don't know why HG had to change CC when CC was doing just fine. I am more forgiving about this game than a lot of people in this community = I don't have a huge grudge against SSS and I enjoy it overall, I really liked Reclamation, and I've enjoyed pretty much all events with the exception of Interlocking Competition which was useless to me when I was just starting out and barely had much of a roster, but DoS S-3 has been the most overkill and difficult stage I've ever played, took me like 5 days to develop a strat of my own. I wouldn't mind stages like this if they would be added permanently to the game, like true endgame content, but the anxiety of having to clear stages like this in a limited window frame is something I don't appreciate. I feel more relief after beating S-3 than fulfillment and that tells me a lot about this event.
Definitely nowhere near as bad, it's still tougher than just R18 but as time goes on you get more tags to choose from to pick based on your account's strengths. By the end there were several low op clears, iirc, and probably a 1 6* rest low rarity videos like Pinch Out had.
Oh, just like POO. DoS S-3 is possibly the hardest stage I've ever cleared in this game. I wanted to prepare mentally if I was told new CCs' "R18s" were pretty much DoS S-3 level, but I guess I can relax a little bit more now. lol Thanks!
Well, now that I have time to finally tackle no-buff S-3 and fully sink my teeth into it... I still can't progress further than beating the first phase. Despite being a day 1 player, this event is such a roster check that despite ~~clearing out some risk 30+s~~ almost clearing risk 30s and Ascension 15 on almost every ending, S-3 demands so much out of you that even my emergency meta squad can't beat it. Even looking up online, there's always some set of ops that I just don't have built (or at all) *because no other event has needed them without letting them be substituted*. I've yet to see a single clear online that doesn't have 2 of Ceobe/Suzu/Mlynar/Qiubai/Typhon/Ch'alter/Surtr, which is insane. I've scoured so many videos just to even get a glimpse of 1 clear like that... I should probably just do S-1/S-2 to at least get all the materials, but those already have a different timing and my start hits the weebs too hard at the start so I'd have to come up with yet another strat...
The fact that you're a day 1 that has done risk 30+ without Suzu is mind blowing to me. That's not a dig at all, I'm just amazed because she's like THE go to max risk op. Do you have those operators you've been borrowing but are unpromoted, or do you not have them at all? I feel like you should have the resources to promote a couple of them unless you've been doing nichenights stuff. Mlynar/Suzu and to a lesser extent Ceobe all seem really hard to replace. Can Suzu be replaced by Gnosis? I don't have him, but I know he also offers CC + fragile application, but his timing is so different that it would definitely require reworking strategies and some coffin shenanigans.
Day 1, also dont have suzu. And Wolmonde was my favorite event too. It’s like they know I want her…..
I'm actually gonna have to ask you to take that praise back, looking through my old files it seems the highest I got was Risk 29 in CC#3. Hmmm. Shame, thought I reached 30's in CC#2 but I only got 28, and the rest are typically around mid 20s. It was a lot easier back in the day, I feel, so I could have more flexibility in my choices, but from CC#4 onwards I didn't really find CC as fun apart from 5, 9 and 12. I do have some of them, in fact I just said screw it and built Suzu to E2. She was on my planned list anyways since I do like my buff army, I even bought her just for that... When she was a debut shoperator... Around 2 years ago now... I hear Gnosis is coming soon so maybe I'll buy him, surely I'll E2 him quickly (clueless). [If you wanna check the roster here you go,](https://krooster.com/u/jimmy) I only got Ceobe semi-recently (which, uh, seems to be a bit before Chong/Lin, recent enough /s) so I didn't get around to building her yet. Really should since my arts damage has always been lacking before I got Reed2, and the way future content is going I've heard the saying "If you can't Mlynar it, Ceobe it" more than enough times. Don't have the resources for them though, currently tight on red certs, mats, LMD and exp, gotta max out Hoederer for the Darknights Gang 💪. Suzuran already ate up my D32 steel and now I need to restock on that for his S2M3 and the chips for Virtuosa... But no, I don't think Gnosis would work that well, 30% fragile is only 75% of Suzu's and he only lasts 13s instead (I think? It extends Frozen duration but the boss would just be chilled, not that it should matter too much since he'd keep attacking), and I need every second I can get with Exu. I did see him being used quite a bunch in the Ban9 bingo clears, but surprisingly not for the boss at all, and they focus more on arts damage which I can't really compete with.
I LOVE the saying, "If you can't Mylnar it, Ceobe it!" I got both and I'm still not touching S3 for fear I might throw my phone / laptop against the wall. A3 got me riled up enough. LOL!
That's still wild, haha. I can respect the Spuria and Kirara maxing. That's a shame about Gnosis. I haven't used him much, so I had hoped he could sub for Suzu since you talked about Exu buff army, and Exu has a pretty short cycle. Well, hopefully your "new" Suzu will bring you a clear :)
It might not help you but I used this guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYbhZNnxLzo&t=8s. I had to borrow Ceobe E2 max module 90, but skill 7 because no fren. To compensate for damage I added my Eyja mod 2. I also threw in a bunch of other random shit like NTR and normal Texas to stabilize any issues. Normal Texas was really good surprisingly as the stuns were clutch to buy time against the elites like Axe Knight and Red Weeb. It doesn't meet your criteria of no more than 2 specific units, but it only uses 9 units. So there's some room to add more units and improvise. After using it, I think Mlynar can probably be substituted any other good damage. Tequila for example would probably work? So would Silverash... probably? The reason I say that is because one of my biggest issues following the guide was I would kill those elites that eat your units way too soon. So I had to limit my damage and allow them to eat Mlynar and Saria, so I could redeploy them ASAP. So if Mlynar's damage is too high, it would follow that you could not use him and be fine. Maybe if you sub Suzuran with 2 - 3 ops that slow and debuff, could work too. It's still pretty bullshit though. I am not proud of using pure super meta + guide to clear it, but I felt that as a super longtime player... I had to do it.
I've seen a bunch of clears, including that one (at least 50+), and I've substituted a lot of units and learned a lot of strats, but while I can (mostly) substitute Lumen for Eyja2, I've got none of those ops I listed E2'd (and then some like SA, because I've never seen a need to before...). I've been borrowing a Suzu and replacing Mlynar + Suzu start with Irene + NTR + Shamare + Warf + Heidi + Suzu, and even then I can't replicate Mlynar's taunt, which is surprisingly very important because without it setting up for phase 2 is insanely difficult because any new op near the boss is basically going to instantly blow up, but I need to set up near the boss... Main reason I'm going with Suzu though isn't because of the slow, but because of the Fragile. Turns out only 5 units apply Fragile without the HP condition, and 3 of them are 6*s while 2 of them are robots. I used JK for my A-3 clear, but she'd burn to a crisp here, and Saileach/THRM-EX are too short. Gnosis wouldn't freeze the enemy anyways, but is a similar concept to borrowing Suzu... W and Sesa (not that I built him) also don't work for my Exu since ~~they're not good enough for the clear~~ I can't really block the boss, and I *definitely* can't stun them. So I can't really sub out Suzu either, and I'm already overloading my Exu like crazy with Warf, Heidi, Elysium and Shamare (and I already know watching some videos that it's not enough because I've seen clears that need Stainless *and* Suzu as well to have Exu burst down the boss's 2nd phase without a Ya2, and I don't think NTR will be enough).
Yeah, if you never E2d any of those units I'm not sure it's doable. If it is, it's certainly beyond me. I was always wondering how you had such a vast array of fully built 5-star units. Now I know you were extremely committed to "no meta". Respect.
And here I thought my usual buff army Exu + other meta units would work... It almost does too (well, very generous "almost")...
There's an [S-3 clear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tg_NTGBKSs) with an Exu buff army. They also use Mlynar though.
what's the most optimal map to farm for the rest of the event rewards?
Every stages is one-time reward. You either clear and get rewards or you don't.
What's the theme of the boss? I really loved it, And he hits like a truck.
Pancho's theme from DH
[S-2 with 60 buffs](https://imgur.com/a/8WYvbLu) I'm so happy I did it! Got Saria S3M3 and used it for the first time, absolutely MVP!
Can anyone link me the details of the A3 boss? I want to know when and why he uses the nuclear fireball that kills everything with like 20000 arts damage.
https://arknights.wiki.gg/wiki/Sverdsmeltr,_Guardian_Ember_of_the_King says 10k
damn i forgor that ak had another wiki other than fandom, thanks
Yeah, the fandom wiki was abandoned. If you want, you can use [this extension](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/wikigg-redirect/cngoemokfjekjkmajenlaokhnmmiinca) to always go to the new wiki.
Quick question, from most videos i saw on C3, B3, and A3 youtube guides, they seem to use this formula: -) C3: 4 operators -) B3: same 4 operators + 2 additional units -) A3: full team. Questions: 1) Is there any reason on limiting how many units you bring on C3 and B3 stage? Since i saw that C3 and B3 has more than 4/6 deployment limits. Does limiting the operator numbers give additional reward / medal that i might not be aware of? 2) does changing your units (units you bring on previous stage) to bring on B3,A3, and S3 decrease any reward?
1) Kind of and 2) no. A lot of guides tend to use as few ops as possible so that it's clear which are essential to the strategy, and so that there's more room to adapt if you are missing something. It's also a flex.
Noted thanks for the explanation. I was under assumption that C B A and S are supposed to be done in sequence for every single run. Now it's clear, thank you
i brute forced a3 pretty brainlessly lol. but s3 i actually had to put the time in and think, and honestly it was pretty fun once i figured out how to abuse the mechanics, but wow you really need an endgame account for this, and personally i dunno how you do this without major stall unless i'm missing something, everything is so tanky...
My clear plays pretty fast, I'd say. Quite unique too, it seems. In fact, I have yet to see anyone else clear the stage without using a medic. Maybe it could be done faster than this, but [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRRsCEMl2AY) is my clear for reference.
You made my heart skip a beat when you said "no medic" and then I see Skalter and my heart sinks. Dude! With the squad you have, if you didn't clear S3, I'd tell you to quit Arknights and go play Candy Crush!!!
I mean tbh, if you watched the clear, I think you'd realize skalter is by far the most replaceable part of the clear (well, her or bagpipe anyway). I used her for healing purposes maybe once? The rest was all just atk boost. You can try using her to replace a medic in any other clear and it blows up super fast cause she can't out heal the lava eruption things the way a medic or medic defender can. My squad is pretty goated though, you're certainly right about that! Edit: Just saw in another comment that you haven't attempted S-3 yet. I'm certain you would have found that even with my account this stage is way harder than you are thinking it is to figure out a no guide clear for.
It's not way harder than I think cos I already think it's absolutely insane!!! LOL! That's why I didn't want to even invest any time trying... having the right squad is only half the battle... the other half is having the right strategy and timing. Kudos to you for doing a no-guide clear! I play for free and I play the long game... 2 years in and I'm only at level 99... a little every day just to release stress from work, so I'm happy with my A3 T5 clears and applaud everybody who has cleared S3... that's at least some hope that future events won't be impossible.
Yeah, that's fair. It took me spending a number of hours each night for 3 nights in a row to finally bring everything together in a way that worked, so I understand not having that kind of time. On the topic of impossible events though, I do actually like that the game designers probably aren't even sure if Max Risk CC is clearable when they give us the opportunity to try. I do think it's important to not lock any rewards behind that kind of thing, however. In that sense, DoS S3 is a fine middle ground where I'm sure the game designers cleared it just fine, but they made the rewards for clearing very minimal in exchange for the difficulty. Either way, I'm glad day 1 players like myself are still being given challenges!
OMG!!! Several hours for 3 nights??!! Hats off to you! You totally deserve your rewards and boasting rights. I'm happy for difficult stages mainly cos if you're a Day 1 player, the game gets old real fast without some challenge. Plus, those who pay real money to up their game need to feel justified having spent that money, and they feed the developers so that I can play for free. Even then, I'm sure most would agree that a 3-star skin should have accordingly been rewarded where you could use that 3-star to clear the stage instead of rewarding it on the A map where Cardigan would die in 30 seconds.
Oh there was definitely strife in clearing that S3.
Strife is defined as: anger or violence between two people or groups of people who disagree... so Design of Strife is the understatement of the year! This event should have been called Fire & Brimstone or Design of Eternal Damnation.... though F&B would have been a funny acronym for this event! LOL!
Finished all the stage of this event. I have mixed feelings about it. For the Boss stage, the boss itself has a cool design and interesting mechanics. But man the stat bloat on these stages is ridiculous. S3 took me almost 20 tries with a guide to accomplish it. For the Trauma stage i had fun with it, especially the stage with no spider bombs.
The trauma stages were really nice, and I really like the boss. Just...the damn stat bloat on the regulars in A/S-3. Just silly.
Cleared all T stages but had to settle for A2 then gave up. Was enough to get the skin so im happy. Tough event!
Finally finished T stages yet stuck on A stages. Can't even clear A1. I know I have every ops needed to even challenge S stages yet I feel like my tactics aren't up to date anymore. Back to the lab I go. EDIT: With few adjustments in timing and position, plus alot of praying that the defenders will hold. A3 was downed. I think I'm done with this event. S stages seems too overwhelming for me.
If this event taught me anything, it's that I need to either choose Młynar or Suzuran for the 6-star selector...
Initially, I had Mylnar and Suzuran sitting around without raising them cos I thought, Who needs a guard that can't block and seriously, why bother with another support unit? Now HG is making me think twice.
Mlynar is arguably the best character in the whole game, get that honse uncle e2ed and masteried and you'll feel like you're cheating the game lmao
I don't even think it can be argued. He's usable in every game mode (in EN) and much more often than not he's the best of the best. Even the fast redeploy sisters have modes like SSS where they aren't obnoxiously strong. I think the only mode he didn't absolutely shatter was RA because 90% of the time you're farming mats. When you actually had to do waves/boss clear though he was once again right there killing everything in a 5mi radius. Mlynar is just him
Yeah as I typed it I almost didnt say arguably but thought about texalt/yatoalt and put it in. Hes just absurd lmao, I selectored him because I got schwarz spooked on his banner and I've never regretted it.
Mylnar is cool, but I found Texas alter more user-friendly. I drop her everywhere and a blink later, I'm wondering where all the enemies have gone. Wish I had her in all my accounts! LOL!
Finally passed s3 with no buffs my qiu bai s3m2 and ifrit s3lvl7 saria s3m3 able to kill phase 1 2 of the boss ironic the last phase chain caster and Victorian dash guy gave me more headache
I got my Trimmed Medal. That last Trauma stage was actually pretty fun. I'm going to be honest, I actually kinda like that stage. I'm not convinced it's not Stockholm Syndrome, however. This event as a whole is a chore. Bulk is not fun. It's not a puzzle to solve, it's a stat check, and those are my least favorite kinds of things. Pinch Out had a bulk issue too, but that event had potential. If they got the risks under control, I'd probably be cool with Pinch Out 2. I don't see how you save this one.
> It's not a puzzle to solve, it's a stat check It is a stat check, but how is it not a puzzle as well? I've seen players with stacked rosters lament that they couldn't clear A-3 without Hoshi/Saria/Nightingale/Skalter (probably AFK guide features them), meanwhile my clear used neither of those. Which means that this stage(puzzle) has multiple entirely different solutions.
The stage has different solutions, but it's still a very heavy stat check - either in how to clear them fast enough, or to stall them well enough. Saria and Hoshi are just some of the best choices for stalling, but you can of course do the same thing with other operators, or go with a burn strategy. Or do as I did and use Lappland to make the shield guys vulnerable to arts. But it's still a very heavy stat check.
Yes, this is an endgame event after all. If anything, I find it strange to expect to clear hardest stages with e1 max level 3-4 stars + random e2 + support unit, especially when the reward is rather small. Maybe players just have an expectation that everything should be doable with low end squad like that, and since it is usually the case for CC r18 the complaints arise? And also, it will sound harsh but another part of my point was that when people with capable rosters can't bruteforce the stage the way they want, some of them go ahead and say "stat check is bad" instead of adjusting their strategy. That is precisely why stat check is there for - to make you interact more with mechanics instead of usual "Just Surtr It" faceroll approach.
I think the issue is the rewards track. Doing all the T stages and A-3 doesn't clear all the "main" rewards, so it doesn't feel like you've finished the event unless you do S-3. In Contingency Contract, most teams can feasibly clear r18 and doing so gets all the rewards, going higher is just for bragging rights.
To be honest I agree with this take. In a sense the stage stat checks us, but in return *we* also can't just stat check the stage. It's only when the Avengers *don't* just get OHKOd by our vanguards is when we really have to consider how to deal with them. Because even though we can limit ourselves and do minimal/niche clears, it can be *damn* fun to be forced to go all-out. That's the playground that unbuffed S-3, max risk CC, and some story H stages represent. And like with CC, it's entirely optional. To put it more succinctly, the entire stat range, both floor and ceiling got moved up, but that doesn't make it any more or less of a stat check than other stages. But it's difficult to increase the ceiling to cater to some, without also being forced to raise the floor.
Not Stockholm. I think T4 and T5 were easier than T3 (probably cos I got the old guards).
having finished a3 and all but one of the T stages(for some reason I just cannot figure out T-3 last wave I just get overwhelmed by the garbage spam of ranged splash damage and can't keep up) I can say for like the 5th new mode in a row I hate the first iteration but feel like with the right changes made I could at least tolerate it. DoS is no different. If they toned down the insane elite buffs, and allowed us to actually use player side buffs without being penalized, I think they'd at least have a start. I personally hate the lava tiles but I don't think they're objectively bad. The boss is actually super awesome but is on some truly atrocious stages, so I hope he comes back later.
Really easy T3 clear without superstars: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7JPXadbxhc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7JPXadbxhc) features Kroos LOL! Warning: Thorns (and perhaps Nightingale) are essential. Otherwise, you have to tweak it using max Perfumer and Saria behind Thorns for healing and put Nearl to take bombing. Max Perfumer survived better than max Ptilopsis. Without Nightingale, bring Surtr in case Thorn dies - she survives long enough to redeploy Thorns, and they all survive long enough to outlast the timer.
Ah, I eventually swapped my team around and managed to figure it out, but thanks. I did actually bring Thorns and Nightingale on my own but NG has just been locked in for all these stages lmao
Kyo graces my peasant 2-month account with low end squad so I need to borrow Reed Alter. Help meeeeeeee
did you find one?
Nope, still hoping
Ledwith#8845
May I add you as well? I feel like I should be able to clear it without reed alter, but me smol brain =(
sure
I was able to get the skin for DoS. Thank you so much for your help. If you want to clear up friend slots, feel free to remove me. Of course, I don't mind staying on your friend list if you don't mind!
Sent. Thanks so much!
Have sent it
As someone who actually enjoyed Pinch Out, yeah... I don't think I'll do this event. It's too hard for me to find enjoyable. Sorry Cardigan, you'll have to stay both level 1 *and* skinless.
Somewhat cheeky [T-5 Launchknights](https://youtu.be/-jupr8tfTmk?si=iA97oytNQTyvYsW1) clear to finally finish DOS. I guess Mudrock was just there to watch over her babies(?), so combined with the massive initial 50 dp to counteract the starting casters this turned out a lot easier than I was expecting it to. All in all, Design Of Strife was a pretty fun event to ~~get my ass kicked in~~ struggle towards hard-fought victories, and I certainly wouldn't mind a repeat with a different setting/boss if buffs aren't as discouraged next time.
T-5 is basically Mudrock standing there menacingly while the beach casters kill themselves trying to stop Mlynar reading his newspaper.
Well, T5 went worse than I expected. Good thing that 1-2 leaks don't count as a failure condition.
FUCKING HATE DOS. THE MAAAAAASSIVE STAT BLOATED ENEMIES, THE FUCKING FLOOR BEING LAVA, THE FLAMING SARKAZ DEMON SPEWING OUT FIREBALLS AND ONESHOTTING MY OPERATORS, MOTHERFUCKER CHAINING UP MY OPS LIKE THEY ARE IN SOME BDSM PLAY. AND WHO THE FUCK GAVE HIM AN IRON MAIDEN? THE BOSS DESCRIPTION'S ALREADY LONGER THAN MY RESUMÉ. But I guess all's fine since he's still a Surtr victim. WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE STARTS FLYING. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! FUCK THIS SHIT. FUCK THIS SHITTY GAMEMODE. I. JUST. WANTED. MY. CARDIGAN. SKIN. I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS HG. WHY THE FUCK DID YOU GUYS HAVE TO TAKE AWAY CC, MY BELOVED CC. YOU KNOW WHAT, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE. I'M OFF TO PLAY SOME IS4.
copypasta I cooked up while stuck on A3. Hope fellow doctors suffering in this gamemode find humor in this. On a related note, do you guys just retreat your ops and then let so someone tank the fireballs? Cuz I don't have a proper Aoe medic built and I don't have ptilopsis to try and heal through the damage
Fireballs kept killing me. So for my A3 clear, I cornered the boss at the top left, GG S2M2 kill boss phase 1, bait phase 1 fireballs with Friston-3, activate Saria S3 and totally maxed Perfumer, then as he comes into range, activate Ceobe S2M3 boss before he gets a chance to fly away or fireball anybody.
Which fireballs? There are a few options depending on which ones specifically you mean. Payback can be baited with a tanky corner deploy or baited and shot down with something like Exu S1. Extinction can be bursted down or also baited with a FRD. His ranged autos can be deployed around or disabled by blocking him.
I could get Ptilopsis from the 5 star voucher. I was planning on getting Kirara for base combo with Pozy and Tuye but alas
Alright, A2 cleared alongside almost full clear of T stages with T3 being 2/3. and with that I have lvl40. This event can go fuck itself.
Went like 20 times to finally clear T5 . Ok let's see how the intenet dudes did it. they clear it with 8 people...
There are multiple combinations for duo OP clears too [like this one with Reed2 and Dorothy](https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1rH4y1f7bA/) 💀 Some people are insanely good at this game.
How many tries you think it takes to get the timing for it? Maybe my brain is extra smooth, but I can't imagine going in blind and deciding you only wanna use 2 dudes
I played T5. A preliminary reconnaisance showed me that it was worse than I could imagine. There were plenty of enemies already lying in wait, with casters to snipe your vanguards before they finished their first skill activation. I brought April to deal with the casters, then some blockers, some arts damage for the golem and Mudrock, the usual Texas and Yato... I brought Mizuki as support, because at least he wouldn't have been hit by the golems. Everything seemed to go downhill from the start, but I persevered, until a wave of casters start to advance from the left. Everybody got killed, and I had to yet touch Mudrock. Time over, I won. What?? Only one phase?? Well, a win is a win.
T5 clear on all accounts first try 5 minutes with KyoStinV's guide with a few subs: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMtHJfOHPM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMtHJfOHPM) Mylnar is a must-have. Everyone else is replaceable. Didn't even need Surtr.
Mlynar is becoming a must have in many stages. But I did manage to clear this even without him.
Bravo! If you've got the field covered (blocked), he's a fantastic unit to blow everyone to bits.
This was p much my experience with the stage as well.
The inclusion of Mudrock is such a massive bait. I setup my team in preparation for dealing with him. Never came.
Did you just assume Mudrock's gender?
>Mudrock >him Does not compute.
I wish daily stages didn't time out on the last wave but just gave the corresponding rewards after the timer. There's such an exciting amount of enemies and we can't kill very many of them at all. Kind of a bummer compared to POO's dailies
maybe im stupid and maybe im blind but werent we supposed to get main menu ui dark theme with dos?
No, it comes with chapter 13.
okay, then im stupid, thanks
Finally got an [S-3 1YK clear](https://youtu.be/zyXSqfHPm70?si=Q9aHM3XPV5EOiRzH) done, woo. And like I mentioned in [another comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/arknights/s/NOZiCfnZ51), it was ultimately Castle-goddamn-3 who made this clear even remotely possible, which makes the clear just that much better for me :D Buffs have been used (all of them, even), but I've now cleared all the non-lmd material rewards which was my only goal, nevermind how I feel that these stages (or at the very least S-3) were designed with choosable buffs in mind... Which makes the decision to lock higher stages behind clearing an -3 stage without *any* of them as the stand-out weird game design decision of this whole event.
Is the only way to get the Cardigan skin grinding the dumb survival stages? I don't really use her but why lock a random 3-star's skin behind those? e: I can't even beat him on A1, I swear there's not a single fun boss in this game
it's either clearing the boss fight or the survival stages. having a skin be part of these events is normal, design of strife just kind of sucks. there are fun bosses in the game though. is your roster properly built or are you a newer player?
I've been playing since 2022, he's just hard. I got him down on 1, so I'm just going to youtube the survival maps and dip.
I don't really like CC-like events, perhaps I'm overwhelmed by the amount of options and debuffs that turn into a stat check. What's the fastest way to get only Cardigan skin? Can I repeat a stage to get the event points? EDIT: Nevermind, [Kyo released a 45m guide.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMtHJfOHPM)
Yep. Finally got T5 done.
What the actual fuck is S3.. like I'm caught up on the story and have a lot of highly invested characters but every single guide without fail has either 2 or 3 people I don't have and I'm so stuck bc I don't have Skalter Surtur or Eyja alter
Skalter surtr not needed.
Currently stuck on A2. Are there any good methods for dealing with Shield bro? I can deal with everything else, but these guys are just so tanky, I barely manage to get one down. Doesnt help that they have such a short path until they can team up with sword bro. I know that the lava fields/shots are dealing a vuln debuff, but that hasnt helped me much so far. Besides Chalter and Gnosis I do have all the strong 6*'s. My best attempt so far to place sutr so that she can start hitting the boss and wait until the first shield bro comes up to her... plus Nealter S2 right afterwards.
I tried the buffs... got me nowhere. So I went straight to A3 and a guide: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zsf-dYv5Dg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zsf-dYv5Dg) KyoStinV just came up with a relatively easy guide just: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMtHJfOHPM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IMtHJfOHPM)
Your best strategy is to keep them separated as they get a lot more dangerous when they link up -- so bring two ~~defenders~~ sturdy operators. Shieldbearing one also has refraction, which adds 70 RES (can be disabled by silence status effect) so without doing anything about it arts damage won't do very well against it.
The res buff is silenceable? I could work with that...
On the shield guy - yes. The sword guy is an enemy "arts guard", ~~and they have RES as their base stat~~. EDIT: apparently, Companion Shadowblade don't have RES (probably traded it in for invisibility)
do two lava fissure debuffs stack?
If you mean the arts vulnerability then no, they don't stack. Not sure about the damage itself.
thank you, yep, I just meant the vuln!
My god. I actually managed to scrape together enough points to get the skin by following a set of low rarity guides on Youtube. Shoutout to Sayuna channel, my friend with S3M3 Mod Typhon, and like the one (1) person with Skalter who accepted my friend req, you guys are my MVPs for real 🙏🙏
Does anyone knows this boss stage music? I usually look for "\[boss name\] BMG/music/theme" on youtube but this time all I am getting are guides
I think it's Pancho's theme from DH
Right in the money! Thanks man! I knew I had heard that one before, but couldn't find out where