Beginner’s Guide#

The Opening Flow#

The game walks you through the prologue, unlocks basic features, introduces the Agents who join early, and teaches three-person squad combat and Hollow exploration. Opening advice:

• Follow the main line: the story pays out Inter-Knot XP and unlocks Signal Search (gacha), the training room, and Hollow exploration — don’t park on side content for long stretches.
• Don’t skip combat tutorials: perfect dodges, Assist attacks, and Chain Attacks are the survival toolkit for every boss that follows — mechanics on the Combat System page.
• Learn one team structure first: three-agent squads usually cover “damage + stun + support (or defense)”. Drill the rotation with whoever you have before pulling to expand.

Attributes and Specialties at a Glance#

Agents divide along two axes — the first step of team building:

• Attributes: 7 total — Physical, Fire, Ice, Electric, Ether, plus the later additions Frost (Miyabi is the face) and Auric Ink (Yixuan). Attributes set enemy weaknesses and how Anomaly effects manifest; covering several helps against varied resistances.
• Specialties: 6 total — Attack, Stun, Anomaly, Support, Defense, and Rupture. Specialty defines the agent’s job in the squad: Attack and Anomaly deal damage, Stun builds Daze, Support and Defense sustain the rotation, and Rupture blends damage and stun roles.
• Scale: as of version 3.2 (September 2026), 60 agents are playable. Don’t chase the full codex — train one three-agent team first, then expand by pull results.

Anomaly specifics and per-specialty mechanics are on the Agents and Combat System pages.

Inter-Knot Level#

Inter-Knot Level is the account’s core progress bar, capped at 60. Levels 20, 30, 40, and 50 each require completing the corresponding promotion trial before you can level further — the most common beginner wall. Main XP sources:

• Main and side commissions;
• Hollow exploration and story chapters;
• Daily missions for steady XP.

The level gates commission, Hollow region, and feature unlocks. Specific “level X unlocks Y” milestone lists circulating online haven’t been verified one by one, so we don’t reprint them — in-game feature tips are the authority.

The Battery System#

Battery Charge (not “stamina”) is the resource for farming modes. Verified rules:

Reserve Charge means overflow isn’t fully wasted anymore — time at full charge slowly banks reserve points. But reserve regen is three times slower than normal (18 min vs 6 min per point), so never sitting at full remains the first rule.

Spend Charge on: character ascension materials, skill materials, Drive Disc farming, and Notorious Hunts (the weekly — 3 free runs weekly once unlocked; the Charge-consuming deeper hunt variant pays better rewards).

Signal Search and Beginner Pity#

Signal Search is the gacha for agents, W-Engines, and Bangboo, split into the Exclusive channel, Exclusive rerun, Standard channel, W-Engine channel, W-Engine rerun, and Bangboo channel. The beginner-critical rules live inside the Standard channel:

• First 5 ten-pulls at 20% off: each ten-pull costs 8 Master Tapes instead of 10.
• Your first standard S-rank is always an agent: never a W-Engine.
• An S-rank agent within the first 50 pulls: afterwards it becomes the standard 90-pull shared pool.
• 300 cumulative Standard pulls: unlock a free selector for one launch-era standard S-rank agent (Nekomata, Koleda, Soldier 11, Lycaon, Grace, or Rina — pick one).

Exclusive channel pity: 90-pull hard pity, 50/50 on the featured unit, guaranteed featured on loss, worst case 180; since 3.1 you can pre-select a 6-agent target pool for the guarantee. W-Engine channel: 80-pull hard pity, 75/25 split. Bangboo channel: unlocks at Inter-Knot 20, a chosen Bangboo guaranteed within 80 pulls, Bangboo vouchers only.

Probability notes: S-rank agents have a 0.6% base rate, 1.6% consolidated with pity; S-rank W-Engines sit at 1%. Every channel carries the shared “1 A-rank or better per 10 pulls” floor, counted independently of the S-rank pity. Pricing: 160 Polychrome per pull, 1600 per ten-pull; the W-Engine channel’s worst case is 160 pulls for an S-rank.

Beginner pull doctrine: save Polychrome for Exclusive-channel targets; let the Standard pool run on beginner rules and free Master Tapes; Bangboo wait for level 20 and voucher trickle.

Daily and Weekly Loops#

Daily: clear daily commissions → spend the day’s Battery Charge on materials → collect activity rewards → check limited events. Never letting Charge cap out beats everything.

Weekly: once Notorious Hunts unlock, spend all 3 free weekly attempts (core skill upgrade materials); run Shiyu Defense and other challenge modes on their own cycles; empty event quests before the version ends.

Daily bonus: one overlooked free source — the coffee shop’s daily coffee restores 60 Charge (80 for the special blend, plus a material drop bonus). Order one every day. Longer-term resource planning beyond Charge is on the Useful Resources page.

Weekly bonus: Notorious Hunts unlock at Inter-Knot 30 after pushing into the Chapter 2 interlude (talk to the NPC to start). Beyond the 3 free weekly attempts, 60 Charge buys into the deeper hunt variant for better rewards. The weekly boss roster grows each version — by October 2026 it includes the reborn Deadly End Butcher, Nineveh, the Corrupted Overlord Pompey, and more; see the Boss Compendium.

How Hollow Exploration Changed#

Many older guides describe Hollow exploration around the “TV grid.” Version differences matter:

• Since 1.2, the main story no longer uses the grid mode (TV-channel pathing);
• 1.4 rebuilt the old chapters into a maze-style mode;
• Since 2.0, most Hollow content is full 3D exploration, with only some content keeping the grid form.

So if a guide’s traversal doesn’t match what you see, it’s probably a version mismatch. Current exploration forms and Hollow Zero zone notes are on the Hollow Exploration page.

Platforms#

The game runs on PC, iOS, Android, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S; it hit Steam in June 2026 (Linux/SteamOS compatible), with PC previously served by the official launcher and Epic Games Store. Cross-platform account data is shared.

Launch cadence: July 4, 2024 — simultaneous open beta on PC, iOS, Android, and PS5; June 6, 2025 — Xbox Series X|S (same day as version 2.0); June 2026 — Steam. The game is free to download and play; monetization concentrates in gacha.

Common Beginner Mistakes#

FAQ#

Further Reading#

• Walkthrough: the full route from day one to endgame
• Useful Resources: long-term Polychrome, Dennies, and tape planning
• Agents: attributes, specialties, and banner sources
• Version Updates: the roughly 42-day patch rhythm
• Hollow Exploration: current exploration forms and Hollow Zero zones