All characters start at max Level E1 (or however high they are on your account). Promoting them removes the E1 restriction, but they'll still only be as high as they are on your account. Promoting an operator that isn't at least E2 does absolutely nothing, which took me way too long to figure out when I first started. You found the "Monthly Squad" mode. This is what you want to be doing when starting out, because the rewards are ridiculous and there's around 30 of them available. Seriously, completing any of the monthly squad missions is 400-500 sanity worth of drops. Doing them all will give you about 15,000 sanity worth of mats. It's the fastest way to get an account going, and it's how most people get a bunch of E2s pretty quickly.
You dont even need to grind. You can beat it with borrowing a unit at the start, having at least one unit that's good at E2, having a vanguard and having your 3 stars leveled. Then you can beat all of IS.
It won't matter, because Clay will never do both anyways. I also glad he will try not to understand the game basic or do any grinding so we can watch him suffer for all our amusement.
0:15 Justice was infamously known for being one of the most difficult stages since you basically need multiple vanguarde (but you had Mountain who is actually pretty alright in that level) so it is SO ironic that you turned down the other level but called the more difficult one "more manageable" even though I know exactly the reason why you did (since I thought the same the first time I had to choose between those two, too)
0:10 Getting good at integrated strategies takes time, and its normal that you're having some trouble with it. Because it requires you to learn about each stage, its quirks and the best placements for your squad. Like for example, the one you choose to go with has significantly decreased dp regeneration speed, so if you were to choose the other level, I think you might've survived it, even if you lose some health. You need a nice dp generator for such stages. To be honest, I love the integrated strategies game mode, its so much fun. I finished is3 and is4, I'm around 105 levels in is3. Some people, including a friend of mine, just use wisadel to simply cheese the entire thing, becuase of the fact that she gains invisibility when a crystal's nearby. But I completely disagree with that, I think it takes all the fun out of integrated strategies. Its fine, you can use it if you want, especially in your current stage. I think its important to see each level and boss. But if you use her even after mastering one of the three integrated strategies, its just gonna feel like a chore. I like to use integrated strategies as a way of learning and using new operators that I take from support units and try to understand them. I might not win everytime, but I learn new things about other operators and forcing myself to use operators that I dont use normally is really fun. And since integrated strategies are random, you never get the same run twice, unless youre using Wisadel. Its also a good way to grind for materials while getting better at the game and its mechanics. Lastly, I wan't Warfarin so bad. She's only a five star medic but the buff she gives with her second skill is so nice. Also, you can get a free six star medic from the Stultifera Navis Intermezzo thing. Hes absolutely amazing with his third skill and spyglass module. His healing amount and range is incredible, and can give status resistance to operators so they don't get stunned, frozen and stuff. Absolutely amazing.
Mudrock S1 is... not good. Her S2 is her "bread and butter" and her S3 can be amazing, once you understand how it works Made a test Clay, put a single DPS unit in front of Warfarin and user her S2, you wont regret it xD
here's a tip: you don't need that many operators to beat IS, but you kinda need them to be E2. so don't just consume all the hope you get to recruit more 5stars and save some to promote the units you already have
nobody knows what they're doing whenever a new iteration of IS comes out, but give it like 10 to 15 runs and it should click also Monthly Squad is probably your best bet for IS2 for now as it just gives you 3 fully built operators at the start use your two weekly event unlocks
I suggest you do the training ground. To find it just go to the archive and you will see the training ground and it also gives you a 200 (orundoms?) per Map.
0:38 It's good that devs recently released tutorials for this stuff. 4:17 We learned by playing this mod. To do something well, you need to practice, gain experience, and then use that experience to succeed.
We learned by failing a lot in IS lol, only way to learn the stages. And yes the monthly squad is a sub mode within the mode, in IS3/4 we get a 2nd one called Deep Investigations that do even more then what you see monthlys.
You're totally right, it's impossible to know how every level plays out on a first run and you're gonna get caught with your pants down each time a new gimmick shows up. Each IS theme is hardest at the beginning when you have no permanent buffs, and it's especially rough for you as a new player because the lack of a developed roster limits your options with recruitment ingame. This is basically AK's endgame though, and you'll only get to experience each theme fresh once, so I'd just take your time with it and have fun.
Please take a moment to look at the operator's skills pleaaase seeing that S1 Mudrock and you saying mudrock is dying made me bury nearly a 100% of my brain cells 😭
"How we supposed to know what happens" Ok, i ll answer. Sometimes we think you know... uh, with our brains, it helps! But often we just being rickrolled and restarting...
Integrated Strategies is mostly a knowledge check. Don't feel bad if it's taking awhile to get the ball rolling on it. Each "floor" of the mode has its own pool of stages it pulls from so you'll start getting used to what the early stages will throw at you. Also, on the middle left part of the home screen for the funny castle land is something called "the preparation behind the scenes". This is your meta progression. You'll earn points by just playing to spend on giving everyone buffs for future runs. They start small but they definitely add up and will make it much easier.
For the record, IS#2 (the one you're doing rn) might take the longest to complete for rewards just because this is the only IS that gives the least score bonus per run. Even the hard mode will only give 1.2x more points, compared to the other 2 IS modes which can give up to 1.5x more, and even then the hard mode isn't worth doing because modifiers are random and unbalanced. Aside from free resources, there's really only 2-3 things worth grinding for here, which is Phantom's animated costume, the 6 star specialist potential upgrade tokens, and Shalem.
In this IS mode it's better if you choose a support operator since you get to choose a different operator to try and you get stronger by playing someone else's operator other than yours
4:17 "how do you guys play this mode!" I dont I could never get past the first boss of the first floor. Also Caly you might want to built half of your team or at least tow more busted units cause talula WILL tear you open a new asshole and fist it, after roasting your team well done
I always bring Leader for the 4 temporary lives, you start with less ops and deployments, but having 4 free temporary lives overtop your actual lives for every stage is super good because they come back, your actual lives will not, this allows you to make more mistakes that will not screw you over. Also, advice from a veteran Mudrock Simp, Run her Second Skill "Crag-Splitter" It's a skill she charges from getting hit, that smacks everything around her and stuns it, while also healing her for a portion of her max health. Mudrock S2 is basically her usual skill to run, and it's what makes her an exceptional lane holder despite the healing restriction, which you can bypass with any Bard archetype supporter, or with the 4 star operator Perfumer.
And this is why myrtle is eternal On stages where you don't know how to open, a low cost dp printer that can just be retreated whenever, because yo won't be relying on her to block anyway, myrtle lets you to only bring 1 vanguard and fill the roster with dps or onlyheals or whatever Don't forget her S1 mastery
Well, knowledge is your biggest power in any rouge like game so the more you play the further you'll get. I so hope that you get the ASPD collectable tho, it's such a fun one if you have a big amount of money and you get two of them, by far the funnest part of any IS imo
0:54 : civilians have an increased aggro stat unfortunately 2:44 : Bro took all ghe wrong skills lmao I have sunk hundreds of hours into all three IS modes I may make some guides soon for beginners like you
Freebie from a barely veteran player Integrated strategies have two point types you earn at the end of a run (win or failure doesn't matter but winning gives more) one is for the the respective IS reward path the other is for the section which allows you to buy small but stacking buffs (percentage based stat buffs like +1% HP or +1 initial ingots to the bigger section buffs which give multiple small bonuses) these buffs are permanent btw and only affect the respective integrated strategy
Clay, a tips: if your operator is about to die, just retreat them instead. That way you will have additional bit of DP for the next operator deployment.
Justice with no vanguard, a classic run ender. The chests in IS2 give little compared to future iterations of IS. It may be best for you to ignore them, especially if you don't know the map. 7:50 You have not raised Kroos to E2, so promoting her in IS would have done nothing. Raise Steward so you have a decent 0-hope option from the caster ticket. As always in this game, failure is part of the road to success. It's just as you said, you gotta learn the maps, collectibles, which operators to pick in function of those, etc. Also, it gets easier when you have more built operators, especially 6-stars. Btw, in regular mode (not monthly squad), when selecting your starting operators, after selecting a class, you can recruit one support by clicking on the orange "Select Support" button at the top-right of the screen.
Okay I think I see why IS is a mixed opinion stage. Definitely need to learn the mechanics to get anywhere in there but also some stages are just throwing lots at you. If this means lots of materials though without using stamina then I will learn it. I actually have a guide pulled up by kukkikaze which I hope helps me out. The new Path of Life event isn't too bad so far. No spoilers but let's just say I hate amoebas. Other than that not too bad so far. Also the free agent is pretty good. She's like Liskarm but somewhat situational. Her reach is good so I plan to level her up.
"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War
This explains why Clay leaks enemies so often.
I often appear weak when I am strong.
"The supreme art of bang is to subdue me with spanking."
- Snu Snu, The Art of Bang
I mean hey leaking is a strat for Crimson Solitaire specifically
I felt pain when you used Mudrock's skill 1
"How is mudrock dying" >.>
This man is beyond saving
He choose Mudrock S1
At least he redeem himself later in the vid
It takes a long time to get used to IS and to remember the stages and stuff
Just remember that Justice looks easy but is the worst stage. Also remember that several stages can simultaneously be The Worst Stage.
Accident is one of them
The E ops version
It takes some time, but it's my favourite game mode.
I love IS. But 4 > 3 > 2 for me
>he unironically used first skill on mudrock
against enemies with arts damage 😆🤣😆
just forgot to change it
I hope Clay meets the cute girl that needs help in IS.
The floor event every doktah need to experience.
She's cute tho
You mean mommy
Always YES SAVE HER.
All characters start at max Level E1 (or however high they are on your account). Promoting them removes the E1 restriction, but they'll still only be as high as they are on your account. Promoting an operator that isn't at least E2 does absolutely nothing, which took me way too long to figure out when I first started.
You found the "Monthly Squad" mode. This is what you want to be doing when starting out, because the rewards are ridiculous and there's around 30 of them available. Seriously, completing any of the monthly squad missions is 400-500 sanity worth of drops. Doing them all will give you about 15,000 sanity worth of mats. It's the fastest way to get an account going, and it's how most people get a bunch of E2s pretty quickly.
Bro was not about to promote E1 Kroos to E1 💀
Hurst, isn't it? :"D
How do we play IS without knowing 100% what we get into? Easily actually: 1. Understanding of games basics helps a lot and 2. Hours of grinding
You dont even need to grind. You can beat it with borrowing a unit at the start, having at least one unit that's good at E2, having a vanguard and having your 3 stars leveled. Then you can beat all of IS.
It won't matter, because Clay will never do both anyways. I also glad he will try not to understand the game basic or do any grinding so we can watch him suffer for all our amusement.
@@Marinetr I suffer more than he does when he complains about losing a stage while he has like 5 units ready to deploy and 5 units with skill ready.
2:56 bruh, a lot of people want the opposite, a Mudrock skin in full armor.
0:15 Justice was infamously known for being one of the most difficult stages since you basically need multiple vanguarde (but you had Mountain who is actually pretty alright in that level)
so it is SO ironic that you turned down the other level but called the more difficult one "more manageable" even though I know exactly the reason why you did (since I thought the same the first time I had to choose between those two, too)
0:10 Getting good at integrated strategies takes time, and its normal that you're having some trouble with it. Because it requires you to learn about each stage, its quirks and the best placements for your squad. Like for example, the one you choose to go with has significantly decreased dp regeneration speed, so if you were to choose the other level, I think you might've survived it, even if you lose some health. You need a nice dp generator for such stages. To be honest, I love the integrated strategies game mode, its so much fun. I finished is3 and is4, I'm around 105 levels in is3. Some people, including a friend of mine, just use wisadel to simply cheese the entire thing, becuase of the fact that she gains invisibility when a crystal's nearby. But I completely disagree with that, I think it takes all the fun out of integrated strategies. Its fine, you can use it if you want, especially in your current stage. I think its important to see each level and boss. But if you use her even after mastering one of the three integrated strategies, its just gonna feel like a chore. I like to use integrated strategies as a way of learning and using new operators that I take from support units and try to understand them. I might not win everytime, but I learn new things about other operators and forcing myself to use operators that I dont use normally is really fun. And since integrated strategies are random, you never get the same run twice, unless youre using Wisadel. Its also a good way to grind for materials while getting better at the game and its mechanics. Lastly, I wan't Warfarin so bad. She's only a five star medic but the buff she gives with her second skill is so nice. Also, you can get a free six star medic from the Stultifera Navis Intermezzo thing. Hes absolutely amazing with his third skill and spyglass module. His healing amount and range is incredible, and can give status resistance to operators so they don't get stunned, frozen and stuff. Absolutely amazing.
You can change Amiya's class exiting IS and head to your Operators page
She's flexible for early to mid IS content
It's funny that SU in star rail was inspired from IS in Arknights, but people still say that IS is like SU😂
yeah AK cn got roguelike mode during 2021, then after that everyother gacha has roguelike 😂
1:43 on the bright side, returning to stages you already encounter, you'll be able to see the enemies appearing
0:45 This is why he needs to do the training stages in the Archives, it explains why this is happening!
2:58 Mudrock's appeal for me is the giant juggernaut armor, we two are not the same
Mudrock S1 is... not good. Her S2 is her "bread and butter" and her S3 can be amazing, once you understand how it works
Made a test Clay, put a single DPS unit in front of Warfarin and user her S2, you wont regret it xD
Clay : We will go for justice it's more manageable
Me : Does he know? *clueless*
here's a tip: you don't need that many operators to beat IS, but you kinda need them to be E2.
so don't just consume all the hope you get to recruit more 5stars and save some to promote the units you already have
bro died to slugs
shhh, it's a fetish
How to be good at Is mode:
Checks Enemies info before entering your stage
nobody knows what they're doing whenever a new iteration of IS comes out, but give it like 10 to 15 runs and it should click
also Monthly Squad is probably your best bet for IS2 for now as it just gives you 3 fully built operators at the start
use your two weekly event unlocks
Spend sanity. Watch Clay videos while sanity recovers. Spend sanity. Watch Supah videos while sanity recovers. Spend sanity. The perfect cycle.
5:58 alright, that was pretty funny
Did I just hear what I think I heard?! Lmao! Oh, Filthy Frank 🤣
I suggest you do the training ground. To find it just go to the archive and you will see the training ground and it also gives you a 200 (orundoms?) per Map.
Ow, i've been sleeping on those orundums
@DisIngRaM nah you're good cause it only appear last update.
No worries, I too sucked in the beginning but it all comes down to practice.
Deadman Wonderland mentioned 🗣️ top tier series
4:21 By playing it over and over again, with a lot of fails.
That out of nowhere Filthy Frank quote 😂
0:38 It's good that devs recently released tutorials for this stuff.
4:17 We learned by playing this mod. To do something well, you need to practice, gain experience, and then use that experience to succeed.
in integrated strategy all 3 stars unit are like your ever reliable childhood friends
Trial and error. This is a strategy game, don't expect to just go in and instantly win everything.
You are like the guy that is able to steps on every mine in a mine field
Btw you can change Amiya back into a caster when playing IS.
Are you coming back for the Winter event in Nikke that starts in 8 hours?
We learned by failing a lot in IS lol, only way to learn the stages. And yes the monthly squad is a sub mode within the mode, in IS3/4 we get a 2nd one called Deep Investigations that do even more then what you see monthlys.
"She died of Vigma"
I think I’m going to enjoy every time Clay plays Integrated Strategies. So much surprises 😂
"I am a fooOOOOl 🐺" -Clay
You're totally right, it's impossible to know how every level plays out on a first run and you're gonna get caught with your pants down each time a new gimmick shows up. Each IS theme is hardest at the beginning when you have no permanent buffs, and it's especially rough for you as a new player because the lack of a developed roster limits your options with recruitment ingame. This is basically AK's endgame though, and you'll only get to experience each theme fresh once, so I'd just take your time with it and have fun.
Waiting for when he finds the new actual training stages
Please take a moment to look at the operator's skills pleaaase seeing that S1 Mudrock and you saying mudrock is dying made me bury nearly a 100% of my brain cells 😭
"How we supposed to know what happens"
Ok, i ll answer.
Sometimes we think you know... uh, with our brains, it helps!
But often we just being rickrolled and restarting...
IS2 has a lot of innuendos in it.
Integrated Strategies is mostly a knowledge check. Don't feel bad if it's taking awhile to get the ball rolling on it. Each "floor" of the mode has its own pool of stages it pulls from so you'll start getting used to what the early stages will throw at you.
Also, on the middle left part of the home screen for the funny castle land is something called "the preparation behind the scenes". This is your meta progression. You'll earn points by just playing to spend on giving everyone buffs for future runs. They start small but they definitely add up and will make it much easier.
Please make a longer video, I'm addicted, and I NEED to watch more
4:20 by playing it repeatedly like you're supposed to
4:22 that's the neat part, you don't.
For the record, IS#2 (the one you're doing rn) might take the longest to complete for rewards just because this is the only IS that gives the least score bonus per run. Even the hard mode will only give 1.2x more points, compared to the other 2 IS modes which can give up to 1.5x more, and even then the hard mode isn't worth doing because modifiers are random and unbalanced. Aside from free resources, there's really only 2-3 things worth grinding for here, which is Phantom's animated costume, the 6 star specialist potential upgrade tokens, and Shalem.
IS fun to play when you already know the basic
Murdock e2 has her out the armor
In this IS mode it's better if you choose a support operator since you get to choose a different operator to try and you get stronger by playing someone else's operator other than yours
I just woke up and I saw someone use Mudrock S1, I'm going back to sleep.
The ISs have a upgrade tree that gives your ops extra stats, don't forget to spend your points between runs.
4:17 "how do you guys play this mode!" I dont I could never get past the first boss of the first floor.
Also Caly you might want to built half of your team or at least tow more busted units cause talula WILL tear you open a new asshole and fist it, after roasting your team well done
iirc mudrock is on the next kernel headhunt
i actually played ak in 2 or 3 years and never touched IS, this is a good sneak peek!
Saying vanguards dont have dps is wild. Vigna, seige, ines, bagpipe, reed and others are angry
IS2 gold chest is a nuisances... not a reward
sorry but ive never seen any other arknights video that would trigger me this much within span of 8 mintues >.>
trully unique experience
I always bring Leader for the 4 temporary lives, you start with less ops and deployments, but having 4 free temporary lives overtop your actual lives for every stage is super good because they come back, your actual lives will not, this allows you to make more mistakes that will not screw you over. Also, advice from a veteran Mudrock Simp, Run her Second Skill "Crag-Splitter" It's a skill she charges from getting hit, that smacks everything around her and stuns it, while also healing her for a portion of her max health. Mudrock S2 is basically her usual skill to run, and it's what makes her an exceptional lane holder despite the healing restriction, which you can bypass with any Bard archetype supporter, or with the 4 star operator Perfumer.
And this is why myrtle is eternal
On stages where you don't know how to open, a low cost dp printer that can just be retreated whenever, because yo won't be relying on her to block anyway, myrtle lets you to only bring 1 vanguard and fill the roster with dps or onlyheals or whatever
Don't forget her S1 mastery
Well, knowledge is your biggest power in any rouge like game so the more you play the further you'll get.
I so hope that you get the ASPD collectable tho, it's such a fun one if you have a big amount of money and you get two of them, by far the funnest part of any IS imo
I swear I want this man to tank through this mode and try to fight a certain banshees' mom. xD
Remember when you want Challenge back then? Then you got, lol
0:54 : civilians have an increased aggro stat unfortunately
2:44 : Bro took all ghe wrong skills lmao
I have sunk hundreds of hours into all three IS modes I may make some guides soon for beginners like you
I'll love to see supah explain this to you
IS is always a pain in the ass
Freebie from a barely veteran player
Integrated strategies have two point types you earn at the end of a run (win or failure doesn't matter but winning gives more) one is for the the respective IS reward path the other is for the section which allows you to buy small but stacking buffs (percentage based stat buffs like +1% HP or +1 initial ingots to the bigger section buffs which give multiple small bonuses) these buffs are permanent btw and only affect the respective integrated strategy
IS is a lot of trial and error plus a healthy dose of RNG, you’ll get better
Its a good roguelike, you play again and again
You'll get used to it
IS is one of those gamemode where trial and error is a must. Especially on IS2 where there is more bullshit that anything agter that.
Clay, a tips: if your operator is about to die, just retreat them instead. That way you will have additional bit of DP for the next operator deployment.
Justice with no vanguard, a classic run ender.
The chests in IS2 give little compared to future iterations of IS. It may be best for you to ignore them, especially if you don't know the map.
7:50 You have not raised Kroos to E2, so promoting her in IS would have done nothing.
Raise Steward so you have a decent 0-hope option from the caster ticket.
As always in this game, failure is part of the road to success. It's just as you said, you gotta learn the maps, collectibles, which operators to pick in function of those, etc. Also, it gets easier when you have more built operators, especially 6-stars.
Btw, in regular mode (not monthly squad), when selecting your starting operators, after selecting a class, you can recruit one support by clicking on the orange "Select Support" button at the top-right of the screen.
You didnt have hope to get gummy supah now mad
As a fellow newbie AK player the cultural shock I’ve felt from AK roguelike compared to smth like hsr or wuwa is insane 😂
Btw Amiya Medic does art damage. You could have used her against armored units.
i assume it's too late already, but Vigna does the most damage in your squad
her S2 has huge scaling, and it also crits on top of that
Okay I think I see why IS is a mixed opinion stage. Definitely need to learn the mechanics to get anywhere in there but also some stages are just throwing lots at you. If this means lots of materials though without using stamina then I will learn it. I actually have a guide pulled up by kukkikaze which I hope helps me out.
The new Path of Life event isn't too bad so far. No spoilers but let's just say I hate amoebas. Other than that not too bad so far. Also the free agent is pretty good. She's like Liskarm but somewhat situational. Her reach is good so I plan to level her up.
We know bcuz we experience it in many try
IS is insanely difficult. I don't fault you at all for having trouble with it.
Why not read
Star Rail is for babies
be sure not to promote kroos in that mode because you don't have er at e2 in your game so she will not get any stronger if you promote her
🌲🦫🌲 🦫🌲🦫
Omg, its a coordinated attack on the christmas trees!