Most of the basic information have been covered in this video. There are still things such as the Running Duck and Gopnik Bear, other endings, special encounters that I didn't touch on, but I think you will figure it out as you play the game mode. Is there something you really want to know that I didn't talk about in this video? Let me know in the comments, because I still have MANY Integrated Strategies videos to come!
A how to get different endings video i think is a good video to do next. Although there are alrdy videos out there on how to get them, i believe you can explain it better for us en players. The different endings are pretty complicated to get as you need rng and make the correct choices along the way and missing on one of the choices will rob you from that ending
A small nitpick: the node isn't called Book, it's Boon which means something beneficial. Also, FEater = Fe (chemical symbol for iron) + Eater. Basically meaning it's Iron Eater. "Iron-eating beast" is something the Chinese used to call the panda which is what FEater is based off.
It doesn't also help if the option to invest will not show up even tho i visited shop 2-3 during run or it will block me from investing after 3-4 Ingots.....
IS2 is legitimately such a fun game mode. It's honestly a breath of fresh air, and really changes up the way you experience the game. Having to really adapt on the fly and work with the tools you've been given (rather than taking every 6* you have and trying to brute-force a stage with them) really opens up the doors to play with units you might not have even considered, getting to explore their various strengths and weaknesses-- taking what you learn from each run and applying it to the next. It's rather addicting, in a way. Plus, it's really nice for when you've burnt through your daily sanity reserves from grinding, or need something to do during downtime. Glad this game mode is back! I really loved Fungimist, so it's great to see the devs taking such a beloved game mode and making it permanent for everyone to enjoy for the foreseeable future!
The only downside I see with this mode is, that it takes thelevels of your ops to use... Since I am a new player that focused on a few good units to level up. I only have a small variety of units I can use. Most of them are underleveled 4-5 stars
@@lelapplefrog1538 Yea, IS is geared more towards long term payoff, where your overall built account gets to shine, but that means it will take new players some time to diversify. There are some good things it does for newer players like allowing you to borrow support from friends where you can then get anyone maxed, costing no sanity, being permanent so there is no rush for the content, having an easy difficulty option, having a monthly squad with free ops to try out, and of course temporary recruitment where you can try out an operator and see if you like them before you pull/build them for your account. All this to say, while initially it may seem bad for newer players in some aspects, it's not as bad as it seems and is their best attempt at striking a balance between satisfying players who invested lots of time and resources over their time in ak and those who are towards the beginning of that journey.
From my experience, the mode can still benefit from further balancing in my opinion. There are some stages where it's ludicrously hard or designed for 1 or 2 specific 6-star characters to shine Random FPS drops in certain stages (ESPECIALLY those enemies from the R6S event). This I found to be the most annoying. In its current state, I do believe most mid to end-game players would find this mode extremely enjoying, because it is mostly catered for them. I think the mode would benefit greatly if the devs can somehow make it more "new player friendly" too. At least for the first few floors. I am aware that there is the "difficulty selector" option, but I am talking about the enemies and stage map layouts to be specific.
@@lukmaanpratomo6866 btw the stage effects (fog) are 4k HD gif/images that are spread at the whole map So yea, might experience some lags because it renders the whole thing
A few things i noticed: You can get tactical props in missions, but you can only have one at a time. The hard counter against the bosses at floor 3 are stun and freeze. They are not immune to any status conditions. Bring someone to cure elemental damage. The invest system shows up randomly in shop. The highest invest I could put in at a time was 5, but it can break earlier. 4*/5* are king. If you have to recruit a 3*, consinder them useless after floor 3 outside dire circumstances. 6* are usually useless without promotion, but that does mean that you should go for them if you happen to have a safe house on route. La Pluma really shines here as many stages just pile lots of trash mobs on you and her range enables some nice placements. Podenco and Jaye are also really great. Also try to have at least two Fast redeploys, as one stage is basiclly a game over without them or strong ranged dmg dealers
All good points! Adapting is key like mentioned but an overall good game plan will definitely involve considering all known stages/bosses that you could encounter and building your squad based off of that and what luck brings you with recruiting and collectibles. You can really turn things around by making what seems like one small choice.
@@eis6570 artifacts change everything but even then, a higher star variant would scale way better. 2,5k is not low, but other ios can reach that without artifacts
I cannot stress enough how Fang is such a key 3* Operator for an entire IS run. I just managed to beat the giant bear while having Fang as my only Vanguard, and this is without any starting DP or Vanguard buffs collectible! She generated enough DP for me to create a stall and heal tactic before placing my bear killers(chalter and Kal'tsit). I Strongly recommend to max Fang for any IS runs.
Since the release, i've been playing Arknights for about 3 to 4 hours a day now (Rather than my usual 1-2 hours) The game mode is pretty fun. Though let me tell you, sometimes you'll rely on luck (and that is getting the vouchers, collectibles, and the enemies you face) I failed a good amount of times from the lack of luck. Anyways, good luck grinding for those resources. Revs, out
Ive been playing arknights for two years, casually and I lost my first run to a bunch of enemies ive never seen before, let alone have a team to deal with them.
I have one suggestion!! When it comes to the encounter with the person locked in the coffin, always choose to help them. It's linked to the well-dressed Sarkaz man encounter, and he will give you 20 iron ingots if you have saved his friend earlier. There's a very high chance of encountering both, and it's well worth the initial loss for the 20 ingots down the road to spend on collectibles.
6:28 I didn't realize this until just now, but the flavor text for the 'Enraged' Hallucination says "rip and tear." I have no idea whether that's intentional, but I love the Doom reference.
Watching this since I want your take on your event. Went in pretty blind and enyoyed every part of it. To be using every kind of operator and not just the ones you are used to is a treat.
You can only have 1 prop and 1 poster at the time, trying to get another will overwrite the previous. Safehouse can also give elite recruitement tickets and elite promotion tickets
omg thank you for going through this. theres a lot of nuances that i didnt know about. like the 0 hope feature. gosh. no wonder ive never been able to progress.
I honestly appretiate these videos SO much, I started playing AK about a week or two ago and there's so much to try and understand and navigate. Videos like this are a blessing and I hope to see more of them! This mode is also hella fun, I'm not to a point where I can do the normal difficulty / go far in it but it's nice to just take my time ... and also there's no sanity cost lol
Seeing your explainations I got a lot further in my first run than I really should've lol. It's been really fun though I'm always looking forward to being done with dailies so I can do a run. Makes all the fun I had raising up low lvl ops feel really worth it too.
Damn, I had a lot of problems with these spiders but this is really elegant way of dealing with them. And pretty great guide, I look forward to it - even if my main goal is to get mats and that's it, since I wasn't fan of it for the first time... and it really didn't changed here.
Honestly facing sniper back but you still need a melee unit capable of sustain and killing enemies alone, the farm mission on Emergency is crazy with all red spiders and even normal enemy stats are really high. Most maps just need melee tile blockers and put in good places. Replacing units as needed, almost like this mode is made for a specific specialist face deploy.
I really needed this ty, cause even after making my BEST POSSIBLE TEAM of scene and deepcolor and getting blessed by rng and STILL losing to phantom.....
Two of the worst operators for that battle. You are basically handicapping yourself with Deepcolor. Drop her and use Pudding. Her chain lightning with slow makes a huge difference when the rush begins. It also helps stall Phantom. Passenger would probably work there too.
This is the best mode ever released in a Mobile Game. So much playability and allows you to utilize your whole roster. I never even look at 3-4 stars most of the time in the regular game so it's cool to have a mode that pushes me to use them more.
Pudding S2 with Hand of Diffusion will give you a brief glimpse at a fraction of the power of Passenger spamming S3 using that relic. Not for nothing is it also called the Godhand.
Pudding has become one of my favorites after this event. She is so good for slowing and hammering Phantom. I tried replacing her with Leizi one run and I found Pudding is actually better.
@@Razor4884 Indigo is amazing period. I E2'd her a while back. That bind ability is fking amazing against bosses and high def enemies. She was integral in helping me drop Phantom. She is 100% worth the investment. She is also the best non 6* starting caster for IS in my opinion.
Great video. I'd figured out most of the stuff myself already, but still managed to learn something (rewards for using the monthly squad, which I haven't touched yet and that you can see what boss you're up against). I've been having a lot of fun with this game mode so far
IS2 is a pretty fun mode, alot of things to collect, unlock and do some strats that are impossible to do in the normal stages aside from buffing ops with it being addicting.
was just about to look around for what the hallucination thin is I needed for one of the mission thingy and then this video popped up in my notifs, thanks Kukki
Haven't gotten around to trying this yet cause I've still been messing around with Who Is Real. Honestly kinda scared to start because it seems so complicated... Hopefully this video can take away some of that anxiety :)
The game mode is permanent so focus on what you want to focus on first - who is real is limited so do whatever you need/want to there first before tackling IS. I went into it with anxiety first as well but I've just been slowly chipping away at it. Enjoy it whenever you're ready
1 of the medals requires you to reach stage 5 with the preset monthly squad 3 times, that means it'll take you 3 months total to get it. Try to get started on that first and play casually with the team to get familiar with the game mode.
@@inactive6715 there are no time gated stuff, so you can play casually. For me, it's just really addictive to try to fulfil the different conditions to unlock the collectables and collect them all. I'm not doing it to win if I don't have to, I just want my collectable shelf to be full and shiny lol
Honestly IS2 is only fun in castle sightseeing mode. Atleast for me. In formal Investigation i never made it past floor 2. To many enemies to kill and operators dont deal enough damage
I liked Pudding desing because she is so cute an adorable but I see that she was a good caster and I was in need of more arts. Then in Near Ligth the first thing I do was get Pudding full pot from the shop and instantly E2 her an also unlocked her module Edit: Suzuran and Pudding works nice cuz Suzuran talent
Question with the unlockable collectables/squads (say for example, complete an adventure with 4 6*s) do I need to beat the final boss to unlock it or can I fail and still unlock it?
Thanks so much for this "Complete Idiot Dokutah's Guide to the Integrated Strategies System", Kukkikaze! It's much appreciated for the smooth brains like myself who never played Fungimist before and had no clue what was happening in Crimson Solitaire. I'd still love a guide to some of the most common action stages and which operators are the best to select for each recruitment type in your opinion, but I have more than enough to be getting on with now.
Due to the way how IS2 is so randomized I think it can be hard to recommend some operators, especially if some players may not have access to them, but I've found some branches or operators quite useful. 1. A wandering medic such as Honeyberry or Mulberry. A wandering medic can recover Elemental Damage such as Nervous Impairment. Some of the enemies in IS2 are doing that, and for example when Nervous Impairment reaches 1000, the affected unit takes 1k true damage and is stunned for 10s. If you can heal Elemental Damage then you can avoid a lot of damage and additional effects. 2. A fast redeploy specialist such as Projekt Red or Jaye. These are really versatile to use: they can get rid of difficult enemies, use them as baits and do a lot of other things depending on the stage and the enemies. 3. A sniper (or two) from marksman branch. I personally prefer Blue Poison with S1 for multi targeting but even Kroos is fine. Not only there are several drone stages but a sniper can deal with early enemies such as slugs or dogs, support vanguards, reach places where melee operators cannot be deployed and so on. 4. Any arts damage dealer. Can be a caster, arts guard, or even a strong decel binder supporter. Having no arts damage at all and encountering high defense enemies could be a problem after all. 5. A 3 blocker to prevent leaks. This can even bee Spot. In fact Spot is probably my the most used defender in IS2 so far. Just keep in mind that these are only thoughts of one person and nothing more than ideas or suggestions. There have been plenty of runs where I haven't been able to get the operators or classes I want, or got a chance but had 0 hope at recruitment. All you need to do is to find a way to work around all kinds of limitations regardless of what the game throws at you. I'm quite sure in one run I was in floor 4 and Spot was my best (or more like the only one) healer I had. I've also had good runs going with Vigna as my only vanguard, and even without a vanguard at all. IS2 makes various 3, 4 and 5 stars quite useful thanks to their lower hope cost. If you are planning to use a 6 star then I recommend it being a DPS operator either for burst damage such as Surtr or SilverAsh or more steady damage output such as Thorns or Ch'alter. I'm not sure if this answer was satisfying for you but I hope you got something out of it. If someone disagrees with me then that's absolutely fine because these are my own opinions based on my own experiences with IS2 so far. Someone else may have had different experiences and different opinions.
Boss Reward Ticket might give you a full E2 Character instant buy.... So far i managed to get that ticket 5 times and every time all of the selectable Operators that got the instant E2 Tag were ones i haven't build at all xD Nice to know that it was just bad luck as i already started to believe that it is intentional to get to to level up those operators to make use of the ticket.
It would be absolutely worthwhile to play IS2 if there is any meaning full drop after a 30minute to 1 hour of runtime. Since the update I've been playing AK from more than 3 hours rather than the usual 10mins burn. However I feel after a good whiff I won't be bothered to play IS2 that much.
Try using amiya caster S3. Phantom cannot dodge true damage. Mon3tr works aswell. You could try putting amiya on the top left corner facing up. And activate s3 when he is in range. Though, you need a wandering medic to heal the elemental damage.
Can relate to that. IS didn't give me vanguards then I got thrown to a fight that basically say "you better have a vanguard class or two to generate DP here" lol.
When you don't know enough Japanese but you play on the JP servers and can't fully understand game rules, you have to rely on these guides to double confirm some stuff (basically, me). Thanks for the video ^^
Ive had to restart this video like 4 times because I just REALLY dont care. I REALLY dont like this game mode at all. Its seems antithetical to everything about arknights to me. Trying to watch this so I can get my rewards faster and be done with it quicker and Im struggling so hard to pay attention. Why did I spend the last 2 years collecting and raising ops to have them all taken away and be so extremely limited in what is given back to me? I cant practice a stage and figure out what enemies are coming from where and how many and how fast and ANYTHING because I only get 1 try with my handicap squad. Each node is more RNG about what ops or items I get or enemies I face or map its on, I have no control of anything. Horrible game mode. I know im the minority here by a huge margin but I play Arknights for the collecting and the Growth. I want that full Pokedex and I want as many E2s and M3s as I can. Taking away everything Ive done to prepare my account for any event and stage before me and making me struggle through RNG stages with RNG ops and RNG items instead is awful.
How many times have you bothered to play this mode? I think reviewing it with only several runs is only closing up your thoughts to how this is. The fact that you built so many operators puts you far ahead of many players in this game mode where you get to experience bigger power ups on your operators thanks to what you have built. If you struggle, it's not the RNG, it's the fact that you haven't grown to appreciate the strengths of your operators. The point of this game mode is to train you to strategise better, the struggle is meant for you to grow in your skills in the game. If you can't like it, then I suppose you'd just have to drop out of this game mode. But if not, I strongly suggest to spend longer time to see what this game mode has to offer.
one QOL update i want from yostar is to bbe able to see enemies hp bar when u place an operator on their tile like in 28:00 cuz sometimes u want dmg control instead of outright eliminating enemies and its annoying to have to guess how much hp the enemy has left
hmmm so right off the gate, we cannot go max level 5 for the "Preparations behind the scenes" buffs huh? Guess I'll wait for next month then and just do my ingot farming now Edit - IS2 runs are counted towards the daily and weekly mission numbers for "Clear X stages" and "Defeat a total of X enemies"
I love this game mode. It is very much reliant on luck of the draw though. I've had runs with awful starting operators that ended up carrying me through to the end because I drew great collectibles. At one point I had like four stacked that had my ranged units doing triple damage at like ten times the regular speed of their attacks.
That's exactly me lol. Though occasionally I got lucky and managed to reach the fifth floor, even the boss fight (of course winning it is still beyond the realm of possibility).
The only thing I disappoint in this is that the battle not really that random for each map encounter. I remember all enemy pattern by just see the map and enemy in all maps in just about 2 full win run(This is the same as fugimist too), hope there more maps or more randomness of enemy. And I hate that bear
Get good sniper like Exu facing right, then focus boss killing at top left. You can use surtr to clear right side but you need 1 bait so she doesnt get stunned. Thorny boi can also do it but need wandering medic.
Well, I play since only a one or two month and only have Lappy and Ptilopsis e2... so, I think, I just don't have enough dps to kill the boss with the couple of unit given by the game in the way to the boss
@@sokchanpkay916 I just managed to defeat Phantom just now, with Thorns too :p But thanks for the advice anyway ;) I had 21 lives, and let a lot of enemy get away, but not the boss and finished the level :p
What's your advice for the puppet boss? Seems like it is the most cancerous of the t1 bosses, with it's passive arts damage map-wide, A-rank arts damage melee and no defensive weaknesses (plus a mildly difficult map)
If it's the one on the bike, I usually pop a healing defender (or tanky normal defender) and medic down in the upper left corner (or Kaltsit if I have her), sometimes i pair them with a sniper, then focus on clearing the rest of the map. Once I have the other stuff done, I refocus on killing the boss! Not super efficient, but it works in a pinch
Alwasy try to adapt .... it's hard to do when boss enemies just drain my operator HP from a far. plus my screen is too small to read all the text. Maybe sometime in the future i will pass 3rd floor
There is a technique on farming Investment ingot by playing Mountain only then go to rogue shop to invest After investing, quit the run and start over with the same process Kinda boring if you really want to speedrun it
Is IS2 going to always focus on Phantom & Crimson Solitaire as a theme for the music, stage appearance, settings and story? Or are future seasons going to focus on different operators in different settings Like Ceobe's Fungimist to tell a different story?
@@Raphanial Ok, and any idea if Phantom theme will remain playable if and when this new themed season begins? The IS menu seems to suggest so which is why i'm asking...
Is it normal that you don't get any more Caliginous Insights after reaching Lv50 in Castle Notes? atleast in my last 4 runs after reaching 50 i haven't gotten a single CI but still have 8 more perks to unlock. Or do you only get those if you unlock something new during the run? (still haven't beaten phantom boss so i don't have any complete runs)
What emulator do you use? Last one I tried I am pretty sure led to someone trying to get into my account. Fortunately I had a 2 stage verification set up. Country given to me was from the Philippines I think.
I was looking forward to this, but after several hours I just cant see the fun anywhere despite its addictive nature. Its so frustratingly inbalanced. I am not new to rouge likes but the better ones at least give you a shot at victory. In this you can get a stage that you would have hard beating with a full team of your best operators never mind some random scrap squad, where most of your units are capped at E0/E1. The concept soundedlike fun, but the execution really isnt. Hell I cant even get through the first boss. Already got 3 different ones. One of them was plain unfair (the bike puppet doing nonstop damage to all your units), another one I almost had but the low rarity of my ops is what killed me (coz not enough HP). People say to use low rarity ops, but that seems even worse and makes everything even harder. Am I missing something crucial here ? How do you even progress through this thing ? I want to like this, but I am just a filthy casual, not galaxy brain AK Ytuber who clears boss stages with just few 4* operators haha :D
@@einsof4896 yea, this is what I did as well. Still, what the OP says does have some truth to it. It often comes down to luck of having the right operators for the particular mission. I got a mission early on that had drones, but I had no snipers or casters to deploy or even in the pool if recruits I had by that time. So while it can be fun, it is also somewhat slow.
If it's of any consolation, I've been playing for 2 years, I felt the same in IS1 and I still feel the same in IS2. I do feel like they missed an opportunity really balance it a lot more. Feels like you HAVE to have all your low rarity ops and then ALSO get lucky.
If you're having trouble getting ideas for how to progress through content, I recommend watching how others do it. There are multitudes of ways to clear every stage. Seeing how others do it will give you ideas for what kinds of tricks and strategies can be done. We may not be galaxy brained, ourselves, but we can at least emulate those who are. As long as you take the time to understand why they come to make the decisions they do, you'll find yourself growing as a player.
Most of the basic information have been covered in this video. There are still things such as the Running Duck and Gopnik Bear, other endings, special encounters that I didn't touch on, but I think you will figure it out as you play the game mode. Is there something you really want to know that I didn't talk about in this video? Let me know in the comments, because I still have MANY Integrated Strategies videos to come!
How about make a content on how to get all the endings? I've been playing for days now but the only ending that I've got so far was the normal ending.
@@macsenpai7006 this!!
A how to get different endings video i think is a good video to do next. Although there are alrdy videos out there on how to get them, i believe you can explain it better for us en players. The different endings are pretty complicated to get as you need rng and make the correct choices along the way and missing on one of the choices will rob you from that ending
Please Doctor. Make a guide on how to kill Phantom
ruclips.net/video/fJ0rdr3M03k/видео.html
A small nitpick: the node isn't called Book, it's Boon which means something beneficial.
Also, FEater = Fe (chemical symbol for iron) + Eater. Basically meaning it's Iron Eater. "Iron-eating beast" is something the Chinese used to call the panda which is what FEater is based off.
Saving up for ingots takes a long time, especially when you lost with having about 40+ ingots that you could've put into the investment system.
It doesn't also help if the option to invest will not show up even tho i visited shop 2-3 during run or it will block me from investing after 3-4 Ingots.....
Wdym? I literally grinded like 6 hour and got me at 120 investment point? Just always pick the support squad
The fact that a 45 min video is a basics and not hyperbole is incredible but also frightening
I did Fungimist so I’m used to it all but still
IS2 is legitimately such a fun game mode. It's honestly a breath of fresh air, and really changes up the way you experience the game. Having to really adapt on the fly and work with the tools you've been given (rather than taking every 6* you have and trying to brute-force a stage with them) really opens up the doors to play with units you might not have even considered, getting to explore their various strengths and weaknesses-- taking what you learn from each run and applying it to the next. It's rather addicting, in a way.
Plus, it's really nice for when you've burnt through your daily sanity reserves from grinding, or need something to do during downtime. Glad this game mode is back! I really loved Fungimist, so it's great to see the devs taking such a beloved game mode and making it permanent for everyone to enjoy for the foreseeable future!
The only downside I see with this mode is, that it takes thelevels of your ops to use... Since I am a new player that focused on a few good units to level up. I only have a small variety of units I can use. Most of them are underleveled 4-5 stars
@@lelapplefrog1538 me too. i wish your enemies would average out their difficulty/strength of the enemies to your ops top 😭
@@lelapplefrog1538 Yea, IS is geared more towards long term payoff, where your overall built account gets to shine, but that means it will take new players some time to diversify. There are some good things it does for newer players like allowing you to borrow support from friends where you can then get anyone maxed, costing no sanity, being permanent so there is no rush for the content, having an easy difficulty option, having a monthly squad with free ops to try out, and of course temporary recruitment where you can try out an operator and see if you like them before you pull/build them for your account. All this to say, while initially it may seem bad for newer players in some aspects, it's not as bad as it seems and is their best attempt at striking a balance between satisfying players who invested lots of time and resources over their time in ak and those who are towards the beginning of that journey.
From my experience, the mode can still benefit from further balancing in my opinion.
There are some stages where it's ludicrously hard or designed for 1 or 2 specific 6-star characters to shine
Random FPS drops in certain stages (ESPECIALLY those enemies from the R6S event). This I found to be the most annoying.
In its current state, I do believe most mid to end-game players would find this mode extremely enjoying, because it is mostly catered for them.
I think the mode would benefit greatly if the devs can somehow make it more "new player friendly" too. At least for the first few floors.
I am aware that there is the "difficulty selector" option, but I am talking about the enemies and stage map layouts to be specific.
@@lukmaanpratomo6866 btw the stage effects (fog) are 4k HD gif/images that are spread at the whole map
So yea, might experience some lags because it renders the whole thing
A few things i noticed:
You can get tactical props in missions, but you can only have one at a time.
The hard counter against the bosses at floor 3 are stun and freeze. They are not immune to any status conditions.
Bring someone to cure elemental damage.
The invest system shows up randomly in shop. The highest invest I could put in at a time was 5, but it can break earlier.
4*/5* are king. If you have to recruit a 3*, consinder them useless after floor 3 outside dire circumstances. 6* are usually useless without promotion, but that does mean that you should go for them if you happen to have a safe house on route. La Pluma really shines here as many stages just pile lots of trash mobs on you and her range enables some nice placements. Podenco and Jaye are also really great.
Also try to have at least two Fast redeploys, as one stage is basiclly a game over without them or strong ranged dmg dealers
All good points! Adapting is key like mentioned but an overall good game plan will definitely involve considering all known stages/bosses that you could encounter and building your squad based off of that and what luck brings you with recruiting and collectibles. You can really turn things around by making what seems like one small choice.
Meanwhile my kroos having 2.5k atk because she got the buff lol
@@eis6570 artifacts change everything but even then, a higher star variant would scale way better. 2,5k is not low, but other ios can reach that without artifacts
@@inkognitonoori9486 true, but 3 star is still good as a substitute when you reach the final floor without a good 5-6star
yea this is the one thing that my m6 la pluma is acutely useful lol
I cannot stress enough how Fang is such a key 3* Operator for an entire IS run. I just managed to beat the giant bear while having Fang as my only Vanguard, and this is without any starting DP or Vanguard buffs collectible! She generated enough DP for me to create a stall and heal tactic before placing my bear killers(chalter and Kal'tsit). I Strongly recommend to max Fang for any IS runs.
Since the release, i've been playing Arknights for about 3 to 4 hours a day now (Rather than my usual 1-2 hours)
The game mode is pretty fun. Though let me tell you, sometimes you'll rely on luck (and that is getting the vouchers, collectibles, and the enemies you face)
I failed a good amount of times from the lack of luck.
Anyways, good luck grinding for those resources.
Revs, out
It's definitely the game mode that turns Arknights from a simple waifu tower defense to an ever-changing roguelike obsession, haha.
that factor also the reason why IS so fun! Sometime you luck, sometime not, and no sanity makes everything perfect!
Ive been playing arknights for two years, casually and I lost my first run to a bunch of enemies ive never seen before, let alone have a team to deal with them.
@Laframyr 003 feel that 😔
I have one suggestion!! When it comes to the encounter with the person locked in the coffin, always choose to help them. It's linked to the well-dressed Sarkaz man encounter, and he will give you 20 iron ingots if you have saved his friend earlier. There's a very high chance of encountering both, and it's well worth the initial loss for the 20 ingots down the road to spend on collectibles.
Just managed to get my first clear today, felt euphoric haha
now to dive into it later and try out different artifacts
6:28 I didn't realize this until just now, but the flavor text for the 'Enraged' Hallucination says "rip and tear."
I have no idea whether that's intentional, but I love the Doom reference.
Watching this since I want your take on your event. Went in pretty blind and enyoyed every part of it. To be using every kind of operator and not just the ones you are used to is a treat.
You can only have 1 prop and 1 poster at the time, trying to get another will overwrite the previous.
Safehouse can also give elite recruitement tickets and elite promotion tickets
omg thank you for going through this. theres a lot of nuances that i didnt know about. like the 0 hope feature. gosh. no wonder ive never been able to progress.
I was even more excited to watch this video than I was for the release of the game mode
I honestly appretiate these videos SO much, I started playing AK about a week or two ago and there's so much to try and understand and navigate. Videos like this are a blessing and I hope to see more of them! This mode is also hella fun, I'm not to a point where I can do the normal difficulty / go far in it but it's nice to just take my time ... and also there's no sanity cost lol
Seeing your explainations I got a lot further in my first run than I really should've lol. It's been really fun though I'm always looking forward to being done with dailies so I can do a run. Makes all the fun I had raising up low lvl ops feel really worth it too.
Damn, I had a lot of problems with these spiders but this is really elegant way of dealing with them.
And pretty great guide, I look forward to it - even if my main goal is to get mats and that's it, since I wasn't fan of it for the first time... and it really didn't changed here.
If you have operators that can silence, they can definitely shut them down. But its not necessary, since silence is a niche in this game mode.
Honestly facing sniper back but you still need a melee unit capable of sustain and killing enemies alone, the farm mission on Emergency is crazy with all red spiders and even normal enemy stats are really high.
Most maps just need melee tile blockers and put in good places. Replacing units as needed, almost like this mode is made for a specific specialist face deploy.
I really needed this ty, cause even after making my BEST POSSIBLE TEAM of scene and deepcolor and getting blessed by rng and STILL losing to phantom.....
Two of the worst operators for that battle. You are basically handicapping yourself with Deepcolor. Drop her and use Pudding. Her chain lightning with slow makes a huge difference when the rush begins. It also helps stall Phantom. Passenger would probably work there too.
Thanks for this kukki. I'm a returnee and I really enjoy this mode but it was so overwhelming. Now, I understand it better. You are such a huge help.
I promoted all my Operators to E1 just for this game mode. It's so much fun. ^^
This is the best mode ever released in a Mobile Game. So much playability and allows you to utilize your whole roster. I never even look at 3-4 stars most of the time in the regular game so it's cool to have a mode that pushes me to use them more.
Pudding S2 with Hand of Diffusion will give you a brief glimpse at a fraction of the power of Passenger spamming S3 using that relic. Not for nothing is it also called the Godhand.
Pudding has become one of my favorites after this event. She is so good for slowing and hammering Phantom. I tried replacing her with Leizi one run and I found Pudding is actually better.
On that note, I've actually had a fair bit of fun with Indigo. Especially when you get the relics that deal damage when enemies are immobilized.
@@Razor4884 Indigo is amazing period. I E2'd her a while back. That bind ability is fking amazing against bosses and high def enemies. She was integral in helping me drop Phantom. She is 100% worth the investment. She is also the best non 6* starting caster for IS in my opinion.
Great video. I'd figured out most of the stuff myself already, but still managed to learn something (rewards for using the monthly squad, which I haven't touched yet and that you can see what boss you're up against). I've been having a lot of fun with this game mode so far
Extremely happy that IS2 came back and become a permanent event. Thanks for the guide Kukki!
reading the stage info before going into a battle helps a lot since context clues will help you identify what enemies you're dealing with
IS2 is a pretty fun mode, alot of things to collect, unlock and do some strats that are impossible to do in the normal stages aside from buffing ops with it being addicting.
was just about to look around for what the hallucination thin is I needed for one of the mission thingy and then this video popped up in my notifs, thanks Kukki
Thank you for making this guide! I wasn’t around when the first Is came around so it was really helpful seeing this!!!
Excellent guide! Thank you. I didnt even realize you can recruit friend's and 3 of them!
Coming back after awhile and i am soo happy they made fungimist its own game mode i loved it so much!! Even made it better
Thanks for this guide
Was waiting for it since the update
"And Pudding will explode."
_This sounds soo unsettling to me. Why would a cute seal explode?_
Haven't gotten around to trying this yet cause I've still been messing around with Who Is Real. Honestly kinda scared to start because it seems so complicated... Hopefully this video can take away some of that anxiety :)
The game mode is permanent so focus on what you want to focus on first - who is real is limited so do whatever you need/want to there first before tackling IS. I went into it with anxiety first as well but I've just been slowly chipping away at it. Enjoy it whenever you're ready
thanks!
Are there no missions or rewards in IS that are time limited?
1 of the medals requires you to reach stage 5 with the preset monthly squad 3 times, that means it'll take you 3 months total to get it. Try to get started on that first and play casually with the team to get familiar with the game mode.
Gotcha, thanks
@@inactive6715 there are no time gated stuff, so you can play casually. For me, it's just really addictive to try to fulfil the different conditions to unlock the collectables and collect them all. I'm not doing it to win if I don't have to, I just want my collectable shelf to be full and shiny lol
Thanks for this video. It helped me confirm things I knew as well as clarify somethings I did not.
Reached the final map 4 times, and it just gives me big sad.
Thank you for making the video kukki 😊 I enjoyed watching it 😊
Honestly IS2 is only fun in castle sightseeing mode. Atleast for me. In formal Investigation i never made it past floor 2. To many enemies to kill and operators dont deal enough damage
No matter how nice my rng is, I always fail at phantom. Last IS I had no problem, so I wonder why current IS is so hard for me
Guy refused to use april on that boss😭
I liked Pudding desing because she is so cute an adorable but I see that she was a good caster and I was in need of more arts.
Then in Near Ligth the first thing I do was get Pudding full pot from the shop and instantly E2 her an also unlocked her module
Edit: Suzuran and Pudding works nice cuz Suzuran talent
Question with the unlockable collectables/squads (say for example, complete an adventure with 4 6*s) do I need to beat the final boss to unlock it or can I fail and still unlock it?
Thanks so much for this "Complete Idiot Dokutah's Guide to the Integrated Strategies System", Kukkikaze! It's much appreciated for the smooth brains like myself who never played Fungimist before and had no clue what was happening in Crimson Solitaire.
I'd still love a guide to some of the most common action stages and which operators are the best to select for each recruitment type in your opinion, but I have more than enough to be getting on with now.
Due to the way how IS2 is so randomized I think it can be hard to recommend some operators, especially if some players may not have access to them, but I've found some branches or operators quite useful.
1. A wandering medic such as Honeyberry or Mulberry. A wandering medic can recover Elemental Damage such as Nervous Impairment. Some of the enemies in IS2 are doing that, and for example when Nervous Impairment reaches 1000, the affected unit takes 1k true damage and is stunned for 10s. If you can heal Elemental Damage then you can avoid a lot of damage and additional effects.
2. A fast redeploy specialist such as Projekt Red or Jaye. These are really versatile to use: they can get rid of difficult enemies, use them as baits and do a lot of other things depending on the stage and the enemies.
3. A sniper (or two) from marksman branch. I personally prefer Blue Poison with S1 for multi targeting but even Kroos is fine. Not only there are several drone stages but a sniper can deal with early enemies such as slugs or dogs, support vanguards, reach places where melee operators cannot be deployed and so on.
4. Any arts damage dealer. Can be a caster, arts guard, or even a strong decel binder supporter. Having no arts damage at all and encountering high defense enemies could be a problem after all.
5. A 3 blocker to prevent leaks. This can even bee Spot. In fact Spot is probably my the most used defender in IS2 so far.
Just keep in mind that these are only thoughts of one person and nothing more than ideas or suggestions. There have been plenty of runs where I haven't been able to get the operators or classes I want, or got a chance but had 0 hope at recruitment. All you need to do is to find a way to work around all kinds of limitations regardless of what the game throws at you. I'm quite sure in one run I was in floor 4 and Spot was my best (or more like the only one) healer I had. I've also had good runs going with Vigna as my only vanguard, and even without a vanguard at all. IS2 makes various 3, 4 and 5 stars quite useful thanks to their lower hope cost. If you are planning to use a 6 star then I recommend it being a DPS operator either for burst damage such as Surtr or SilverAsh or more steady damage output such as Thorns or Ch'alter.
I'm not sure if this answer was satisfying for you but I hope you got something out of it. If someone disagrees with me then that's absolutely fine because these are my own opinions based on my own experiences with IS2 so far. Someone else may have had different experiences and different opinions.
When you watched the video 9 months ago but didn stay till the end and just now find out about the Calig buffs smh
Boss Reward Ticket might give you a full E2 Character instant buy.... So far i managed to get that ticket 5 times and every time all of the selectable Operators that got the instant E2 Tag were ones i haven't build at all xD Nice to know that it was just bad luck as i already started to believe that it is intentional to get to to level up those operators to make use of the ticket.
It would be absolutely worthwhile to play IS2 if there is any meaning full drop after a 30minute to 1 hour of runtime. Since the update I've been playing AK from more than 3 hours rather than the usual 10mins burn. However I feel after a good whiff I won't be bothered to play IS2 that much.
Me sitting on my ass letting flying enemies goes through because I got cucked and didn't get any caster, sniper or support voucher
Holy Crap! 45 Minutes?! Time to get my tea
Honestly all of these features are easy to understand. But trying to get all the endings is the harder part.
I've beaten phantom five times now. Didn't even know there were multiple endings.
Forget playing. How in the hell do you win? The final bosses are all ridiculously op and can decimate anything you cook up in seconds
Try using amiya caster S3.
Phantom cannot dodge true damage. Mon3tr works aswell.
You could try putting amiya on the top left corner facing up. And activate s3 when he is in range.
Though, you need a wandering medic to heal the elemental damage.
Is2 basically u need luck rng will screw ur run example need guard but rng say no here defender
Can relate to that. IS didn't give me vanguards then I got thrown to a fight that basically say "you better have a vanguard class or two to generate DP here" lol.
Same. Guard and medic is the rarest thing in every of my runs
When you don't know enough Japanese but you play on the JP servers and can't fully understand game rules, you have to rely on these guides to double confirm some stuff (basically, me). Thanks for the video ^^
This reminds me a lot of Darkest Dungeon. Not complaining though, one of my favorite games ever
IS allows me to play the game I love even on 0 sanity. Thank god its permanent
Ive had to restart this video like 4 times because I just REALLY dont care. I REALLY dont like this game mode at all. Its seems antithetical to everything about arknights to me. Trying to watch this so I can get my rewards faster and be done with it quicker and Im struggling so hard to pay attention.
Why did I spend the last 2 years collecting and raising ops to have them all taken away and be so extremely limited in what is given back to me? I cant practice a stage and figure out what enemies are coming from where and how many and how fast and ANYTHING because I only get 1 try with my handicap squad. Each node is more RNG about what ops or items I get or enemies I face or map its on, I have no control of anything. Horrible game mode. I know im the minority here by a huge margin but I play Arknights for the collecting and the Growth. I want that full Pokedex and I want as many E2s and M3s as I can. Taking away everything Ive done to prepare my account for any event and stage before me and making me struggle through RNG stages with RNG ops and RNG items instead is awful.
How many times have you bothered to play this mode? I think reviewing it with only several runs is only closing up your thoughts to how this is. The fact that you built so many operators puts you far ahead of many players in this game mode where you get to experience bigger power ups on your operators thanks to what you have built. If you struggle, it's not the RNG, it's the fact that you haven't grown to appreciate the strengths of your operators. The point of this game mode is to train you to strategise better, the struggle is meant for you to grow in your skills in the game. If you can't like it, then I suppose you'd just have to drop out of this game mode. But if not, I strongly suggest to spend longer time to see what this game mode has to offer.
Not the only one the mode is god awful random crap.
one QOL update i want from yostar is to bbe able to see enemies hp bar when u place an operator on their tile like in 28:00 cuz sometimes u want dmg control instead of outright eliminating enemies and its annoying to have to guess how much hp the enemy has left
hmmm so right off the gate, we cannot go max level 5 for the "Preparations behind the scenes" buffs huh?
Guess I'll wait for next month then and just do my ingot farming now
Edit - IS2 runs are counted towards the daily and weekly mission numbers for "Clear X stages" and "Defeat a total of X enemies"
Safe houses also can promote one of your ops without hope
Thank for the video kukkikaze ☺️
finally someone makes a guide
I love this game mode. It is very much reliant on luck of the draw though. I've had runs with awful starting operators that ended up carrying me through to the end because I drew great collectibles. At one point I had like four stacked that had my ranged units doing triple damage at like ten times the regular speed of their attacks.
Got to the boss, and fucking died, how fun
Thank u Kukki for the explanation!🙏
I've been playing casually for two years now and i was absolutely confused by this.......feature.
Kukki u can also tactical props thru collectibles and not just only shop~
New player get wrecked in this event, me does even just sightseeing ehehe
That's exactly me lol. Though occasionally I got lucky and managed to reach the fifth floor, even the boss fight (of course winning it is still beyond the realm of possibility).
@@dindapriska hehe i've done it, with a little bit of patient and Chen Alter as support unit ehehe
This gamemode is the gacha itself
Ive had a tactical prop drop in a combat op when i already had one dont remember if it was an emergency op though
Thanks for info , helps alot
The only thing I disappoint in this is that the battle not really that random for each map encounter. I remember all enemy pattern by just see the map and enemy in all maps in just about 2 full win run(This is the same as fugimist too), hope there more maps or more randomness of enemy. And I hate that bear
can't beat the Phantom boss, It's hard as fu*k Oo
Get good sniper like Exu facing right, then focus boss killing at top left. You can use surtr to clear right side but you need 1 bait so she doesnt get stunned. Thorny boi can also do it but need wandering medic.
Don't worry. As you play more you will get hang of it.
Well, I play since only a one or two month and only have Lappy and Ptilopsis e2... so, I think, I just don't have enough dps to kill the boss with the couple of unit given by the game in the way to the boss
@@Aureels i can't at first too but after i borrow Thorn it's become easy than without him
@@sokchanpkay916 I just managed to defeat Phantom just now, with Thorns too :p
But thanks for the advice anyway ;)
I had 21 lives, and let a lot of enemy get away, but not the boss and finished the level :p
What's your advice for the puppet boss? Seems like it is the most cancerous of the t1 bosses, with it's passive arts damage map-wide, A-rank arts damage melee and no defensive weaknesses (plus a mildly difficult map)
Mudrock
If it's the one on the bike, I usually pop a healing defender (or tanky normal defender) and medic down in the upper left corner (or Kaltsit if I have her), sometimes i pair them with a sniper, then focus on clearing the rest of the map. Once I have the other stuff done, I refocus on killing the boss! Not super efficient, but it works in a pinch
As myself who played labyrinth of Chaos in MGQ Paradox IS is similar to this mode and the RNG will ruin your day sooner or later
Question for anyone reading, what do I need to do to unlock IS2? It looks super fun and I really want to play it but don't know where to find it :(
Alwasy try to adapt .... it's hard to do when boss enemies just drain my operator HP from a far.
plus my screen is too small to read all the text. Maybe sometime in the future i will pass 3rd floor
The game mode is fun but hard. Last run I had all my DPS ready for Sad Lock but I did not find a single medic ticket.
I have played like a lot of runs and I still haven't got the investment system in the shop, it says locked, am I just so unlucky?
knowledge is power in ak style td games :)
Do you need to play this? Or are all the rewards just for this game mode?
There is a technique on farming Investment ingot by playing Mountain only then go to rogue shop to invest
After investing, quit the run and start over with the same process
Kinda boring if you really want to speedrun it
"Let's spend my life again"
Somebody stop Uncle Kukki from gambling his own life /lh
Is IS2 going to always focus on Phantom & Crimson Solitaire as a theme for the music, stage appearance, settings and story?
Or are future seasons going to focus on different operators in different settings Like Ceobe's Fungimist to tell a different story?
its gonna change, there is a sneakpeek of Mizuki as IS next theme on last AK CN livestream
@@Raphanial Ok, and any idea if Phantom theme will remain playable if and when this new themed season begins? The IS menu seems to suggest so which is why i'm asking...
@@MiseryRG I have no clue tbh
Question, does the medal requirements only count when you play on normal or hard mode?
Integrated Strategies is basically our Exam, guys...
Hello Kukki and Chat cheers
man i hate that purple rock, he kept hitting my dps despite me already putting a bait (non stunned) in front of him
I did not have an investment system appear in the shop yet, am I doing something wrong?
Lvl 36 right now and getting the right operators that I have built on this event is kinda hard lmao since I dont have that much well built operators
That's why doing IS early for newbie is not recommended, since IS really benefits from having more raised operators.
I get tactical props from beating a mission sometimes.
I'm already at castle lvl 40 or so and never saw a hallucination ...
Is it normal that you don't get any more Caliginous Insights after reaching Lv50 in Castle Notes? atleast in my last 4 runs after reaching 50 i haven't gotten a single CI but still have 8 more perks to unlock. Or do you only get those if you unlock something new during the run? (still haven't beaten phantom boss so i don't have any complete runs)
It's normal, you'll get more next month
@@kukkikaze thx for the quick answere
Idk what I'm doing at the event
All I know is that I must kill
Thanks for the explanation
Please Doctor. Make a guide on how to kill Phantom
Idk why, I've tried many times but can't unlock new squad for other classes except van/guard one. Someone's pls help me 🥲
Play normal mode.
Easy is really worthless with its counter disable mechanic.
What emulator do you use? Last one I tried I am pretty sure led to someone trying to get into my account. Fortunately I had a 2 stage verification set up. Country given to me was from the Philippines I think.
It's in my video description
My squad selection kinda bug, it not registered any progress😌
why the monthly already not available?
the lvl 1 to 50 rewards. when ere new pages come in. will the rewards go missing? like will i miss it when the next month comes in
They won't
I was looking forward to this, but after several hours I just cant see the fun anywhere despite its addictive nature. Its so frustratingly inbalanced. I am not new to rouge likes but the better ones at least give you a shot at victory. In this you can get a stage that you would have hard beating with a full team of your best operators never mind some random scrap squad, where most of your units are capped at E0/E1. The concept soundedlike fun, but the execution really isnt. Hell I cant even get through the first boss. Already got 3 different ones. One of them was plain unfair (the bike puppet doing nonstop damage to all your units), another one I almost had but the low rarity of my ops is what killed me (coz not enough HP). People say to use low rarity ops, but that seems even worse and makes everything even harder. Am I missing something crucial here ? How do you even progress through this thing ? I want to like this, but I am just a filthy casual, not galaxy brain AK Ytuber who clears boss stages with just few 4* operators haha :D
Use mudrock or jaye for the bike puppet boss
@@einsof4896 yea, this is what I did as well. Still, what the OP says does have some truth to it. It often comes down to luck of having the right operators for the particular mission. I got a mission early on that had drones, but I had no snipers or casters to deploy or even in the pool if recruits I had by that time. So while it can be fun, it is also somewhat slow.
If it's of any consolation, I've been playing for 2 years, I felt the same in IS1 and I still feel the same in IS2. I do feel like they missed an opportunity really balance it a lot more. Feels like you HAVE to have all your low rarity ops and then ALSO get lucky.
If you're having trouble getting ideas for how to progress through content, I recommend watching how others do it. There are multitudes of ways to clear every stage. Seeing how others do it will give you ideas for what kinds of tricks and strategies can be done. We may not be galaxy brained, ourselves, but we can at least emulate those who are. As long as you take the time to understand why they come to make the decisions they do, you'll find yourself growing as a player.
This mode is so damm fun