Intro
Neural Cloud does a fantastic job at holding the playerâs hand and making sure you know exactly how things work. The tutorials are brief and intelligently placed just before players encounter a new mechanic or feature for the first time. Read them.
This guide will double as both a beginner guide and an efficient progression guide!First-Clear Bonus
Neural Cloud has a wonderful system that rewards players extra items upon clearing any content for the first time. This is eloquently called âFirst-clear bonusâ. Now itâs important to note that this system is best taken advantage of when running one of each class as your first time. This is because the Advancement Materials needed to break the level cap of Dolls are all separated by class, meaning each class can receive the First-clear Bonus.
Donât Farm Early Resource Stages
See this? Every resource stage is like this. There are 8 different maps to farm resources and obviously the 8th is the best one. Outside of First-clear bonuses, the goal is to not have to farm any of them until weâve unlocked Stage 08.
As such, this guide will focus on promoting alternative ways to earn plenty of resources so that new players can focus on pushing the main story ASAP and therefore unlock all available content ASAP.
Do the main story!!!Rikoâs Shop
The shop is not only for spenders and there are some free goodies Professors can obtain in it at the start of the game and at consistent Daily, Weekly, and Monthly intervals.
These packs reset each day/week/month and should be picked up whenever possible. Scrolling down in this same menu, Professors will find three starter packs available for purchase with Quartz Sand (freemium currency).
These three packs offer valuable items such as EXP, Diggcoins, Advancement Materials, and more. Donât forget to grab them!
Friend Shop
Setting support Dolls and loaning them out earns Reputation Points which can be used to buy 1 additional Advanced Search Ticket (Gacha roll) and 3 gold Skill Pivots per week. Reputation can be claimed every 24 hours by clicking the button in the top right corner.
During the early game, the EXP and Diggcoin can potentially be valuable too, but make sure to buy the ticket and Skill Pivots first!
Persicariaâs Questline & Cognition Fund
This menu can be accessed by clicking the big orange âTutorialâ button on the main home screen.
Within you will find both Persicariaâs questline and the Cognition Fund. Persicariaâs questline not only rewards additional resources, but will also guarantee that she can be upgraded to 5â by the end. Most of these quests will be completed simply by progressing through the main story and First-clearing any newly unlocked stages.
An additional note is that Persicaria will need to be friendship level 6 to unlock all of her Fragment Stages (required for the quests), so be sure to pump any early gifts obtained into her to raise it ASAP.
The Cognition Improvement Fund rewards a scant amount of extra resources based on Professor Level. This is mainly for spenders to gain extra Quartz Sand, but donât forget to claim the resources even if it isnât purchased.
Main Story
It really canât be stressed enough how important it is to progress the main story. Every stage or piece of content is locked behind specific story stages (both Normal/Hard), so it should be a top priority.
Here is just a brief sample of what I mean:
Upon completion of 2-2, Professors will notice they now have the ability to choose whether or not to spend keys on certain resources at the Battle Results screen.
Early Game Key Usage
Post-battle drops are discounted by 10% per item, so it's recommended to always grab everything if you can afford the keys your first time through stages. It may mean slower progression (because keys are finite), but building up resources like this will aid in the development of additional Dolls. EXP in particular scales with the latest EXP farming stage unlocked, so the higher values from stage drops will always be worth, but the lesser values (100/200/etc) will diminish in value.
The goal and point is to not be forced to farm resource stages unless absolutely required. Take advantage of the daily rotating 2x Bonus Drop on particular advancement material stages by only using one bonus per newly unlocked stage. (Example: First bonus used on newly unlocked Stage 04, now go unlock Stage 05 before using the second bonus).
Mid-Late Game Key Usage
Once all Stage 08s of farming stages are unlocked, it is extremely efficient to only run farming stages on days when it has a 2x Bonus Drop available. (Use a friend support to accomplish this if you're having difficulty, there is no limit and as long as 'Retry' is click, the same support can be used back to back.)
2x Bonus days allows players to build up a steady stock of resources for later use AND have plenty of keys to instead dump into Algorithm farming stages which are absolutely vital! Algorithm stages are where the vast majority of Keys will be spent.
Whenever new content drops, claiming everything is still efficient, but again the key cost is usually large so its up to the player. More efficient key usage, or faster stage clears (because clearing a stage technically only costs 1 key if no rewards are bought).
DO NOT FARM ALGORITHMS ON WEEKENDS
The loot pool is saturated with everything and is therefore not worth it. These are the only two days where excess keys should be put toward other resource stages instead.
Some additional goodies main story stages gives can be seen pictured below:
Deep Diagnosis Area
This is a special node that allows the deletion of a Boss' Root Protocol (particular buff or mechanic) that may be troublesome to deal with.
Examples
- Faith's 200% HP steal
- Raven's 10 additional shield stacks
- Messenger's 40% Dodge chance
The option to claim a large batch of cache coins or upgrade a Function Card are also available and it is up to you to decide which is the more valuable option.
Advanced Conflict Zone
This purple conflict zone is unique in that it provides three very meaningful benefits. The tradeoff is that the node is typically harder because the enemies have higher stats, but that isn't always the case.
The difficulty of this node largely depends on the enemy type within it, which varies widely, but is always the same throughout the stage. Sometimes these nodes are even easier than basic (white) conflict zones. A purple node on floor 1 will have the same comp as one on floor 3 and therefore can be adequately planned around dealing with. Don't be scared off by this zone's increase combat power.
The first boon is obtaining an Active Function (Ultimate Skill) of a random Doll upon completion. This Ult can even be the same one of a Doll within your current party. Sometimes the ult is extremely useful, other times not. Regardless they are often a free and disposable source of extra damage or CC if needed.
The second is the Function Card rewards gained have increased quality. Two purple quality cards are always guaranteed with a chance for a Gold.
The third and final benefit of this zone is the choice of selection between various powerful effects.
The positive green Protocols can range from damage reflects, bonus boss damage, additional healing, skill resets on kill, and even increased Cache Coin gain. In most cases, it is a good idea to pick up the positive protocol over everything else. However, there are some cases where the 30% heal to all units may be more beneficial and selection depends on the current state of the party and subsequent nodes to come. (10% boss damage is useless if you cannot even get to it, after all.)
The exchange function option is essentially never used because it replaces all of your current cards with random cards.
Neutral Protocols
This buff type, as the name states is neutral. They are signified not only by their yellow color, but their effects as well, which always provide a benefit and a demerit.
While the tradeoff may seem harsh, the benefit these protocols provide are often very large and meant to steer the party's damage or effectiveness in one direction or the other and are the cornerstones of many effective builds and team compositions. These can be bought from the Shop within stages for 50 Cache Coins each (sometimes cheaper if associated buff is active), and should always be considered.
However, like any double-edged sword, players need to be careful. While a 50% stat boost in exchange for 30% HP is certainly strong, it can lead to defeat if both effects of the protocol aren't carefully considered. It's probably not a good idea to pick a Protocol with -HP% if you are just barely making it through stages with slivers of remaining HP.
Oasis Infrastructure
Upgrading the Oasis is an important part of early-game progression as it can considerably boost your periodic Diggcoin gain.
To upgrade Oasis buildings you need Prefab Units or Diggcoins, sometimes both at the same time.
Therefore it is advised to upgrade Engineering Bureaus and DGC Banks ASAP.
The general priority of buildings is as follows:
Engineering = DGC Bank > Headquarters > Warehouse > Factory > Search Terminal > Trading Post
Once Engineering buildings are level 7, focus on getting the HQ and DGC Banks to level 10, then go back and finish Engineering Bureaus.
Take the first level of the Factory building once it's built. It's cheap and effective!
More space and the ability to build more of the same building unlock as you progress through the main story, just like everything else. Do the main story!!!
Lastly, the Trading Post is a low priority because the items in Rikoâs shop cost Diggcoins which are needed much more for upgrading more valuable buildings, upgrading your Dolls and upgrading perks in Procedural Efficiency (which are very expensive, hence the focus on Banks).
Search Terminal
Basic Search is a âfreeâ gacha pool that consists of resources, character fragments, and even entire Dolls. To roll this gacha you need Basic Search Tickets, which come from the Search Terminal within the Oasis.
Upgrading this building will not only make these tickets generate faster, but also add new Dolls into the loot pool at certain upgrade levels. There is a limit of 40 tickets that can be held at a time, and no new tickets can be obtained from the Search Terminal until there is space. It is possible to exceed the ticket limit, however, if tickets are obtained through login events or quest rewards.
Feel free to roll these whenever the max limit is reached. It is an additional, albeit small, source of resources and possibly Neural Kits if luck is on your side and Dolls are rolled.
At the max level of 5, Banxsy and Gin are both added to the loot pool as the only 3â available in it.
Vulnerability Check
Vulnerability is daily content unlocked after clearing 2-7, awarding Glitter Chips that can be used in its own shop.
Doll Neural Fragments, Advancement Materials, and Diggcoins can be bought within this shop and it is advised to buy all 5 of Croqueâs available Fragments whenever possible.
It is not advised to ever buy Advancement Materials or Diggcoins from this shop unless every Doll with available fragments is already 5â .
As a side note, it is also a good idea to clear the main story as far as possible during the first day to potentially earn more Glitter Chips by doing the hardest stage available ASAP.
Exception Protocol (NOT AVAILABLE ON EN LAUNCH WILL UPDATE)
Exception Protocol awards both its own currency for use in a shop and more importantly, a large chunk of Quartz Sand that can be earned up to a limit every two weeks.
This content unlocks after clearing 3-4 and should be done ASAP. It doesnât matter how strong your current team is because Exception Protocol provides a set roster of pre-leveled Dolls to choose from each rotation. It operates on a point system and the more points earned during a run, the more currency and more Quartz Sand earned.
The reason why we want to get this done ASAP once it is unlocked is because it is a fantastic early source of extra purple and gold Advancement Materials which can slingshot your first teamâs progression quite a bit and save a nice chunk of Keys.
(This section will be updated with appropriate pics at a later time as it was not available during CBT.)Endless Exploration
Unlocking after the completion of 1-12, Endless Exploration is not exactly true to its name. Itâs more like a tower mode that has Professors descend to greater depths rather than ascending.
The limit of this depth is 400m for every sector and can be completed in increments of 50m.
It is not required to beat every 10m individually!If you are strong enough to clear 50m depth, then upon completion you will gain its rewards and every reward that is offered from depths 10m - 40m too!
Each Sectorâs Endless Exploration is unlocked following the completion of its respective Sectorâs normal mode.
The kinds of rewards are EXP, Diggcoins, Advancement Materials, Advanced Search Tickets(Gacha rolls), Friendship Gifts, and Strategic Blueprints (which are needed to upgrade Procedural Efficiency nodes in Strategic Overview)
Because of the many useful items and resources awarded, it is recommended to push progression in this game mode whenever you feel stuck and need some extra items to give yourself a boost.
Full completion of Endless Exploration in every Sector rewards a hefty and generous amount of Advanced Search Tickets (Gacha rolls), so don't sleep on it.
Fragment Search
Daily stages available to farm character fragments in order to upgrade their rarity. There are 10 attempts available per day and it is important to remember to do this each day.
For the first day, since Persicariaâs quest requires her to be friendship lvl 6 and clear each of her Fragment stages once, six of the first dayâs attempts should go toward Persicara. After this, you wonât need to do Persicariaâs Fragment stages anymore in order to get her maxed.
Following the first day, it is advised to pick one DPS Doll to focus on, doing 6 runs of their stages each day (if possible since friendship is required to unlock), and using the remaining 4 on Croque (who should be getting Fragments from Vulnerability too).
Stick to this and it shouldnât be long until your first team is set up with 5â Persicaria, 5â Croque, and a 5â DPS.
Factory
Unlocks after the completion of 3-6 and is a valuable source of passive resources like Friendship Gifts, Algorithm Boosters, and even Prefab Units. Each workstation or block is able to produce different resources and can be set to passively craft individually.
Initially only the Extraction Mine and Supplies Workshop is available, but the Gift Workshop and Data Encapsulation Center will unlock once more progress within the story is made. Additionally, recipes within each station require a specific story stage to be completed before being unlocked.
As you can see, the recipe for Purple EXP requires purple Poly Square Data, but the recipe to create that within the Extraction Mine is not available until the completion of 3-10, therefore purple EXP cannot be passively crafted until then.
Items that can be crafted can be queued to craft for up to 24 hours, and even if the materials arenât currently in your storage, those items can be crafted at the same time simply by pressing the Max button (or plus sign). The game will automatically craft the materials and the desired resource up to the time limit.
The most important item to craft early in the game is Prefab Units in the Extraction Mine as this item is needed to upgrade Oasis buildings and the only other source of it is being passively generated by Engineering Bureaus in the Oasis itself, unlike Diggcoins which have their own farming stage.
It is highly recommended to use Energizers to Quick Order 500 of these every day until your Oasis is fully upgraded! You will always need Prefab Units, so basically the Extraction Mine should always be passively crafting this item without exception.
Energizes are a currency the Factory generates over time when not capped and is used to immediately produce items within the factory. The cap is 500 and it can be refilled with Quartz Sand 2 times per day.
The first refill is 20 Quartz Sand and the second refill is 50 Quartz Sand for a total of 70. Two Refills per day means up to 500 extra Prefab Units can be crafted.
Algorithms
This is the âEquipmentâ of PNC. Algorithms come in three rarities: blue, purple, and gold. The only rarity to care about is gold with blue and purple only serving as filler.
Note: Single block Algorithms can never reroll their Sub-stat regardless of rarity.
Algorithms possess a Main stat and Sub-stats (up to 2). The sub-stats of Gold Algorithms can be rerolled into different stats and also to potentially upgrade their rarity. Sub-stats which have their rarity upgraded can never lose it! Once a Sub-stat goes gold, it will always be gold regardless of how many times it is rerolled.
This makes obtaining ideal Algorithm pieces much simpler in practice. The general Algorithm loop looks something like this:
Obtain Set piece with desired main stat > reroll Sub-stats until both stats are GOLD > reroll the gold Sub-stats into desired statsWhat's important in the above is that the Sub-stats do not matter until you have rerolled them into gold rarity. The goal is golden rarity first, desired stats second.
In order to reroll an Algorithm a Reconfiguration Generator is needed, or an identical (dupe) Algorithm. These Generators can be obtained through Factory crafting and sometimes in Event shops.
The early stages for Algorithms will be completely random, but once better stages are unlocked, players will have the option of targeting specific set pieces.
The sets available to farm rotate each day:
Check out Takeshi#1405's full Algorithm reference sheet HERE
When the feature is first unlocked along with the first farming stages, itâs advisable to run it a few times in order to fill out the available slots of your party. The stats arenât important so long as your Dolls are receiving something beneficial, even if it's just extra HP. Remember: blue and purple Algorithms are simply filler stat sticks meant to get you closer to end-game and farming gold Algorithms.
Each Dollâs board has slots available determined by their respective class and unlocked by increasing their rarity further.
For example, a Specialist possesses 5 Offense slots, 4 Stability, 6 Special, allowing for a 3-set effect in Special, 2 in Stability, and 2 in Offense with one additional block.
Set effects are only available on Gold rarity Algorithms and thus arenât an early-game concern. Regardless, the Algorithm farming stages will be where the majority of your keys are spent.
Algorithm Efficiency
This boosts the effectiveness of the main stat of any Algorithm by 10% per level, up to +100%.
Algorithm Boosters of various rarity are needed to increase Efficiency level, or unused Algorithms can also be used as fodder to lesser effect. Each Dollâs Efficiency must be upgraded separately therefore making this a long term goal. The booster can be passively crafted in the Factory once their recipe is unlocked too.
DO NOT FARM ALGORITHMS ON WEEKENDS
The loot pool is saturated with everything and is therefore not worth it. These are the only two days where excess keys should be put toward other resource stages instead.
Skill Levels
The ability to increase the skill levels of Dolls unlocks after 4-4 and will be one of the main resource stages that needs to be farmed alongside Algorithms.
The first 4 levels are very cheap and should be taken asap for everyone and eventually getting everything to level 7. Skill levels 8-10 use Skill Pivots which aren't the easiest the come by in a quick manner early in the game, so they should be reserved for Dolls with the highest priority on your team.
It is recommended to prioritize Persicariaâs Active Skill as the number of times her heal can bounce increases from 1 to 2 at level 5 and again at level 9 for a total of 3 bounces. This increases her healing ability significantly and should not be overlooked.
If Angela is part of your team, her Active Skill is also a high priority, but don't neglect the rest of your team either.
Final Note
If it isnât clear already: DO THE MAIN STORY TO UNLOCK EVERYTHING!!!
Also raising a Dollâs Friendship unlocks entries in their Profile which award some of their character Fragments, so donât forget to claim them!
Reaching level milestones on each Doll awards Skill Data (for leveling skills), some Quartz Sand and Advancement Materials of the same class which become useful for building up more Dolls following your first team. Donât forget to claim them!
