Welcome to the MBCC, Chief!

If you’re here, you might have heard one of your friends screaming over a picture of a beautiful woman and telling you to play Path to Nowhere.

We are S1N.gg, a fanmade wiki for this amazing game. As part of our efforts to support fellow PTN players, we have put together a little guide for new Chiefs to support them on their journey.

Why should I play Path to Nowhere?

• Beautiful character designs

A picture speaks a thousand words.

Thirst traps and overwhelming women aside, PTN has stunning art and many interesting character designs. For a spoiler-free exploration, take a gander at the Attires page here! (https://s1n.gg/attires)

Just look at them!

• Studio AISNO puts a lot of effort and love into the game

Path to Nowhere x Shanghai Animation Film Studio Collaboration. Players had to manually craft then try to mix up the correct paint colours. This entire interface (and more) was created just for this three-week event. This author sometimes wonders if AISNO is even making money with the amount of new assets they put out.

AISNO also implements useful, well-received quality of life features such as the favourite Sinners displaying first for easy selection, presets and most popular for Crimebrands (equips), and “Next Sinner” buttons on Supervision to make clearing up your tasks smoother.

• All new S-Ranks have their own themed event

Each new S-Rank Sinner gets their own event with unique themed user interfaces, fun new maps and minigames, and their own devoted storyline that all serve to showcase the personality and story of the new Sinner. The game’s event trailers are not false advertising; the in-game interfaces really look that good, and have smooth, snappy animations. For example, take the legendary Insatiable Fiesta, the event for the S-Rank Cabernet:

Trailer: Path to Nowhere | Insatiable Fiesta | Official Trailer 

In-game screenshots:

• Fast dailies

At the endgame, you can finish your dailies in under 3 minutes (literally). Dailies are listed as tappable notifications on the home screen’s “Assist Mode”, so you can open that menu and tap through everything in a flash.

Isn’t Chameleon beautiful?

• Farming stages is instantaneous

Once cleared without using assists, you are allowed to instantly reclear stages as much as you want to farm materials. You don’t have to wait around for the entire stage to replay or do it manually. This will count towards farming Compliance (Friendship/Affection) with the Sinners you used on the stage too, so there’s no downside.

• Story skip button for gameplay enjoyers

Although the story is amazing, AISNO knows that some people just want to play the battle stages or look at their waifus and respect this freedom to play however you wish. Thus, there is a skip button from the very start of the game.

• Story mode for lore lovers

On the flipside, the main story also has a story mode that makes the stages much easier for lore-driven players who want to quickly see the entire thing without being gated too much by being a new Chief!

• Majority of S-Ranks are not limited

After their featured event is over, new Sinners (with the exception of a few Anniversary Sinners) immediately enter the general pool of possible pull. This means even if you miss an S-Rank you really like during their event, there’s always a chance they can spook you in the future. This makes losing the 50/50 way less painful compared to most gachas, as you can still get highly rated and/or recently released Sinners when you lose. This also makes it very possible to get one copy of every S-Rank while being completely F2P. Moreover, limited Sinners actually do rerun during future Anniversaries as well.

That being said, new Sinners are not necessarily always the most powercreep; many of the early Sinners, including A and B-Ranks, are still extremely strong and often even the best choice (hello, NOX and Labyrinth). PTN’s Sinners generally have their own niches even if there is overlap, which makes this possible.

• You do not have to pull multiple copies of characters/weapons.

The vast majority of Sinners are “complete” with just a single copy. Unlike some other popular gachas which basically force you to pull multiple copies to make a character “good”, PTN does not require this. There are Sinners where dupes/copies (called “Shackles”) do change a character significantly or unlock a new niche for them, but you will be able to complete the endgame with a team of single-copy (S0) Sinners, making PTN very F2P-friendly. Plus, with the fairly generous soft pity, it’s very common for longtime F2P players to have many Sinners they like at S1 for some of the stronger bonuses.

There is also no cash gacha for weapons or equipment. Equips are called Crimebrands, and most of the strongest ones are unlocked through regular events, or redeemed using in-game points earned from dailies. You do not need to pull multiple copies of the same Crimebrand to level it up and moreover, you DO NOT have to reroll for stats on Crimebrands! You simply obtain them as is, no further RNG wasting your time and draining your mental sanity.

OK, I’m convinced. What’s PTN’s general gameplay like?

Path to Nowhere’s gameplay is active, and a strong understanding of the game’s rules will allow you to do some very cool plays. While levels and upgrades will certainly help, PTN does not gatekeep players solely on “how much money have you spent on the newest character?”, but strongly rewards skill and knowledge of the game.

The tutorial is pretty good, so follow along and you should be able to deal with most of the story. Here’s a basic rundown:

You have to defeat enemies as they spawn on the map, often slowly walking towards the player character, known as Chief. Each time an enemy reaches Chief, you will lose some SAN (Sanity), Chief’s HP. If Chief’s HP reaches 0 or all Sinners are defeated, you will lose the battle. Achieve the goal of the stage (usually defeat all enemies), and you win.



If you have heard that “Path to Nowhere is just a (insert popular tower defense game here) ripoff”, ignore that. It is quite literally the reverse; yes, you have to prevent enemies from reaching a goal, but you do it by moving your units a lot. It is a fun twist on the tower-defense genre, and makes room for interesting tactics.

To that end, you are given a certain amount of “moves” per stage, and you have to complete the stage with that amount or fewer moves. This is quite generous for most stages, so don’t worry too much about it.

The central mechanic of PTN is enemies with cores. When certain Elite enemies have their core active, they tend to take less damage, deal way more damage, or use very powerful skills; however, if you break their core, they will be stunned and placed in the “breaking” state for some time as below:

Left: Enemy in Breaking state. Right: Enemy with core still active, unbroken.

When in a Breaking state, enemies usually cannot move or attack, take bonus damage, and their strong abilities or spells may get cancelled. This makes them significantly easier to deal with.

Certain Sinners are able to “break” cores; this will be mentioned in their skill descriptions, and they come marked with a red gradient on their icons. You will need at least one unit capable of corebreaking in almost all stages (fortunately, the game gives us several great options for free!).

Now, some basics to better explain each Sinner’s strengths and playstyle for you later on.

• When you tap on a Sinner, game time slows down and 1-2 circles appear next to them.
• The top one is their Ultimate, the bottom is their ECB (if they have one that’s casted; not all Sinners have a castable ECB). They are basically just skills you can use.
• You can tap the magnifying glass to the left of the Sinner to read the Ult’s description. Pressing “switch” will change it to the other Ult’s description if there’s one.

Sinner Tendencies

Sinner Tendencies loosely categorise them into “roles”, though there is some overlap.

Endura Sinners are tanks and can usually block multiple units, have more defensive stats, and may not deal as much damage. Some can provide incredible buffs, go invulnerable to all damage, or allow for interesting strategies.

Fury Sinners tend to be fairly beefy, fistfighting front-line damage dealers. Some can even be pseudo-tanks for many stages, making them versatile units to add to your lineup.

Umbra Sinners are more fragile assassin/rogue-type units, capable of dealing massive amounts of damage while being mobile; however, they often suffer from low defensive stats, and should be played more cautiously.

Reticle Sinners are the gun-wielders, long-range shooters of PTN. Often fragile but solid damage-dealers meant for the backline, from where they will wipe out enemy waves.

Arcane Sinners are the magician/sorcerer-types. They all deal magic-type damage, and cast spells with various effects ranging from crowd control to huge explosions to delete the enemy from existence.

Catalyst Sinners tend to be supports, with many being healers or buffers for the main damage dealer. Note that supports are crucial to teambuilding in PTN; Catalysts often have interesting niches or skills that can unlock new strategies to clear stages, and many are considered the best units in the game.

Which gender should I choose for the protagonist?

The protagonist you play as is the Chief of the MBCC. At the start of the game, you get to pick either male or female Chief. You can swap your Chief’s gender with the Origin Reshaper in the shop later on, for 300 Hypercubes.

There are some minor differences in character voice lines and flavour text depending on Chief’s gender, but has no impact on the general plot of the game, so choose whichever you like. Chiefs do get different Attires (skins) depending on gender, if that may sway your decision you can check them out here: https://s1n.gg/attires 

When do I unlock the [insert name here] feature?

Upon completion, these are when you will unlock things in PTN:

Prologue: The gacha banners become accessible. However, you probably won’t have enough currency to pull yet. You will get one free pull, and this will always be the Sinner Wendy.

1-1: Operation Summary opens, This is basically a mission completion list where you can claim rewards.

(Sd-101): This is the 3rd stage.You will obtain the Sinner KK, and be able to open your Sinner list to view and upgrade the units you have.

(Sd-102): This is the 5th stage. You will obtain the Sinner EMP.

1-4: Events and the Supply Office (Shop) become accessible. The A-Rank selector also becomes available here. You can enter the Events and claim all the bonus rewards that were from the Pre-registration event back when the game started. You get 800 Hypercubes, 13 Arrest Warrants, and a good amount of materials.

1-5: Inauguration Resource, the Beginner’s Daily Login. Day 1: 300 Hypercubes. Day 2: 10 Arrest Warrants. Day 3: A-Rank Sinner Luvia Ray. Day 4: 50k Mania Essence. Day 5: 500 Hypercubes. Day 6: 50k DisCoins. Day 7: EMP - Backstreet Overlord skin.

1-6: Surveillance Order.

Sd-103: This is the 10th stage. You will obtain the Sinner Labyrinth.

1-9: Interrogation.
Re1-9: Potestas. You will obtain Dark Sound, Empower, and Heal. You will also unlock the rest of the current ongoing Events.

2-3: Friend list.

2-5: Achievements.

2-6: Parma Ruins. This is where you farm materials. You have to reach higher Chief Levels to unlock the better stages.

2-9: Factory and Supervision. You slowly accumulate bonus materials here, and some fun little flavour text events happen with Sinners you have arrested.

Re2-12: Oblivion Pit and Eternal Nightmare.

3-3: Secret Society.

3-5: Ignite Potestas.

3-11: Dispatch.

3-12: Last Stand Potestas.

4-8: Nest of Pollution. For farming Skill Modules.

4-12: Link Potestas.

5-4: Mirage.

5-6: Shield Potestas.

8-9: Sinner Reforge and Pelagic Wonder Room rewards

Promoting a Sinner to Phase 2: Stormy Memories. This is where you farm for regular crimebrands; you get three runs a day.

Reaching Chief Level 24: Broken Frontlines. See the main page for more info on this mode.

What is Pelagic Wonder Room?

This is a permanent set of missions about clearing Chapters 15-17, and gives materials for unlocking the late-game Reforge system. Don’t worry about it for now as a new player.

If you’re playing those Chapters now though, basically clearing them grants some extra materials for the RF system, and you can pay to get extra rewards + Pylgia’s [Shackled Dream in Aqua] attire. It’s quite worth it if you want more materials.

How do I reroll on the Beginner Banner?

Fast reroll (~15 mins): Play until stage 1-5, skipping all the story. Collect the Beginner’s login and Pre-registration mail. You can also share your Chief profile or an Attire once, clear 1-5’s special missions, and click through all the unlocked sinners in Archive. You will have 1900 Hypercubes and 23 Arrest tickets, for 33 pulls in total. This will allow you to pull on either the featured banner, or the beginner banner which has a discount. You do not have to level any Sinners up to this point to clear fairly easily.

If you do not get an S-Rank Sinner that you want, log out of the game, then try again with a new account. We recommend using the Gmail option, as that’s the fastest way to make a new account.

Beginner Banner:

S-Ranks: Langley, Zoya, Cabernet, Etti, Serpent, and Hamel

A and B-Ranks: Countess Chelsea, Cinnabar, Ninety-Nine, Wendy, Pacassi, Dolly, Horo, Iron, Tetra , Sumire, Pricilla, Roulecca, Wolverine, Victoria, Ignis, Luvia Ray, Oliver, Ariel, Chameleon, Anne, Mr. Fox. B Ranks KK, Demolia, Peggy, Hella, Che, Pepper, Labyrinth, Gekkabijin, EMP, Flora, Kelvin, Joan, Macchiato, Lisa, Kawa-Kawa, Mess, McQueen, Dudu, Lynn, Levy, Corso, Uni, Letta, Lamia, Garofano.

Reroll targets, loosely from highest to lower strength/more niche:

• Beginner Banner: Hamel, Langley, Serpent

Hamel is the strongest pure healer in Path to Nowhere, and at later stages you can switch her healing into damage and damage taken by enemies. She also cannot be targeted by enemies, making some niche but useful strats available, and players far into the game often complain about not having her as she’s just very comfy.

Langley is strong in basically all modes other than BFL (though that is admittedly a big dent in her resume), and has hard-carried many a new Chief through story with her long range, strong attack, and mobbing ability. A very strong comfort pick to reroll for if you want to enjoy the story and don’t mind the endgame/speedrun meta.

Serpent will do alright for most of the story, and at the endgame you can Reforge (RF) her, a further upgrade system, to increase her damage up to current meta levels, and is a safe investment.

• General S-Ranks: L.L., Du Ruo, Jelena, Shin, Moore, Mantis, Necresta
  

If Anniversary/Limited Sinner banners are currently active, you can generally assume it’s best to reroll for the Limited Sinner.

If you want to go hard on rerolling for off-rate S-Ranks on the regular banner, here are some good options that either work solo, or are utility options that massively change the game.

L.L. comes with the niche of restoring Energy to allied Sinners. This is unbelievably broken; the entire gameplay system of PTN relies on Sinners building up Energy to use their Ults, so just that alone would make her a game-changer. However, she even brings a small ATK buff and up to 30% Skill Damage buff by simply using her Ult on an ally. This means Sinners who rely on their Ults to deal damage (which is many of them) will benefit from her presence greatly. Absolutely keep an account that gets an early L.L. spook.

Du Ruo is a harmacist; a healer who also deals damage. Her healing output is high and she can heal any target on the map with her Ult, and is a great unit to both keep your frontline alive while helping clear up enemies there. Her ECB has the unique mechanic of resurrecting a fallen ally, which no other Sinner or regular Chief Skill can do, and it can come in clutch during high-stakes moments. She needs a little more thought than Hamel, but not much.

Jelena is a meta-defining CRIT-centric amper. Should you get her as an early S-Rank, you may (like with getting OwO first) suffer early due to some lack of direct damage, but it cannot be understated how much damage Jelena can cause your teammates to do once you get a proper team comp going. This is an extremely lucky spook/early S-Rank pull.

Shin is Hamel on buffing steroids; an excellent large-range healer and even better amper. As of PTN’s 3.0 Anniversary era (late 2025) she is one of the best buffers in terms of pure numbers.

Moore is one of the best Enduras currently available, as she can provide a huge range of utility; from CC-immunising her allies, to stacking 4 core breaks rapidly, to shielding, to providing Physical Damage amp. She can even heal at S1, and a lot at that.

Mantis is a strong CRIT-based damage dealer. She needs to build up her “Corruption” form over some time, but once in it she can deal up to 4 AoE Corebreaks rapid-fire, and chunk the life out of enemies. Especially valuable for new players who cannot access the Limited Sinner 000, also a Physical Damage corebreaking Sinner.

A bit spoilery so I haven’t written the full name out, but Necresta (name) is a great DPS with consistent output that can fit into a lot of different teams and works with many different supports. Definitely a great spook to get, it’s a bit surprising that she’s a regular character, but more power for everyone!

• General A-Ranks: Lamia, Jane, Shrooma.

Three A-Ranks in particular are worth mentioning to invest in early on (that is how strong they are).

Note: You can now obtain Lamia from Memory Revival, as her event [Insatiable Fiesta] is now permanently available there. She will remain listed here to emphasise her strength, but do not feel that you have to reroll specifically for her. Lamia has finally received the recognition she was due; upon joining the game, she was overlooked due to how strong her accompanying S-Rank was at the time. However, she is now widely regarded as one of the best damage-dealing units in the game. Having her as a new Chief is unironically on the level of having NOX (as this writer has tested to make this bold claim). Her basic attack “tags” the enemy hit with poison, and it will continuously deal damage over time… forever, until either Lamia or the enemy dies. This means you can move her around to hit each enemy once, and they will suffer damage continuously while Lamia continues to hit other units. Moreover, her Ascension is extremely strong and makes her viable as a true Magic Carry.

Jane is in a similar position of strong waveclear and damage output, with an automatic Ult. She’s something like an auto-turret; set her down and just let her go off. Great for new Chiefs to not worry about micro or panic-toggling Ults.

The old suggestion here was McQueen, but Shrooma now arguably outclasses her. Shrooma is a true Main Carry unit, dealing insane amounts of damage with an Ult that can also corebreak safely from a distance. Moreover, while you could use McQueen’s Ult as a free tank, you can use Shrooma’s Popshrooms as three free tanks.

So, do I reroll or not?

For new players, we recommend just rolling on the Beginner banner as you are guaranteed to get at least one S-Rank out of 20 rolls, unlike the other banners available.

Unlike other gachas, PTN’s characters mostly have their own strengths and can all get you through the story. There are plenty of A-Rank only or off-meta clears in what is considered the endgame, BFL Dark Zone. It’s not particularly important to reroll in this game.

If you are willing to try, you can attempt to reroll on whatever featured banner is currently active and pray for good luck. (Speculation: Based on stated in-game rates, several people have tried coding pull sims and believe that the average S-Rank is obtained around 35 pulls, making rerolls not a terrible option if you really really want, say, the current Event Sinner; this is not confirmed officially, so take it with a grain of salt.)

What is the A-Rank Selector?

The A-Rank Selector is a special promotion for new players; spending any amount of real money in the shop for the first time will grant you this selector, and allows you to choose one of the following A-Ranks:  Ariel, Ninety-Nine, Countess Chelsea, Lynn, Lamia.

On the A-Rank selector, we strongly recommend picking Ariel if you did not get a strong healer in your early pulls. She is a strong healer who can bring you all the way through to the end of the main story and other game modes. However, it is possible to get by with other healers such as Letta, Anne, or Macchiato if you have obtained them through pulls

Now that Insatiable Fiesta is available permanently through Memory Revival, one Lamia can be guaranteed for free to all players. This makes Lamia no longer a priority to get from this selector (but definitely get Lamia from Memory Revival).

Quality of Life things to do or note:

• Click on your Chief Level/Name on the main screen to open the settings menu.

• Set a birthdate. On your birthday, you will receive a cute bonus item. It grants stamina if you eat it, but then is lost forever so most Chiefs choose to keep it as a memento.
• Change Sinner action settings to “Tile” instead of “Mixed”. This will save you a lot of malding from misclicking units standing next to each other.

• After Chapter 1 starts, you can click on the 1x button in the top right to toggle the battle speed. Play at your own preferred speed.
• Leaving a Secret Society will put you on a 24-hour cooldown before you can rejoin another one (though this is waived for the first time).
• Add people as friends. Random people are fine; you want to send (and receive) Friendship points and use Friend’s assists for your beginner/daily quests.

What’s the Factory-looking thing?

The Production Buildings are where your game passively farms resources. Do level things up as soon as you can; the Multiplex Alloy resource is only used here and not needed anywhere else. This is a free source of materials and Hypercubes, make sure to collect it once a day with the orange “Collect All” button as part of your dailies.

At max level, the resources cap at 48 hours. You get the following every 24 hours:

• 60 Stamina
• 24000 Mania Crystals
• 24000 DisCoins
• 24 Hypercubes

What’s the New Chief Assessment mission thing?

DO NOT IGNORE THIS. It is only active from the day you make your account, for 14 days. Not only do you get resources and 7 free Arrest Warrants from it, most importantly if completed, the game gives you the Sinner NOX for free. She is so strong, this author is partially convinced the main story is balanced around the idea that you own NOX, and many F2P guides to clear late-game content use her. It is HIGHLY recommended that you complete enough of these missions to unlock NOX.

More missions unlock with each day you login for the first week. Here is a list (credits to Hazelnot in the S1N Discord!):

Day 1:

Arrest 10 times
Chief reaches LV. 10
Upgrade 1 Sinner’s Shackles to Lv. 1
Three Sinners reach LV. 10

1 Sinner reaches 10% Compliance

Send message in World Chat x1

Any 1 Chief skills reaches LV. 2 (Potestas)

Deploy 1 friend as Assistance in Battle

Have 5 friends

Complete any interrogation

Day 2:
Give friends 5 Friendship Points

Buy an item from any Shop 1 time

Change your signature 1 time

Challenge Oblivion Pit 1 time

Get Daily Stamina 2 times

Automate 2 Production Building

Chief reaches LV. 20

3 Sinners reach Phase 1

Win a battle with an Assisting Sinner from a friend x1

Dispatch successfully 1 time (Unlocked after Chapter 3-11)

Day 3:
Chief reaches LV. 25

Any 2 Chief skills reach LV. 2

6 Sinners reach LV. 30

1 Sinner reaches 20% Compliance

Arrest 20 times

Challenge Broken Frontline x1

Create/Join a Secret Society

Reach Surveillance Order LV. 3

Purchase Stamina 1 time

Complete any 2 interrogations

Day 4:
Chief reaches LV. 30

Wear 1 Crimebrand

Donate to Secret Society 3 times

6 Sinners reach LV. 40

Buy an item from any Shop 5 times

Participate in Oblivion Pit 3 times

Win a battle with an Assisting Sinner from a friend x2

Consume 4,000 Stamina in total

Dispatch 1 time successfully in Syndicate (iirc post Chapter 4)

Successfully clear 1 Sinner's Mirage

Day 5:
Chief reaches LV. 38

Any 3 Chief skills reach LV 2.

Complete 10 the Rust Challenge

1 Sinner reaches 30% Compliance

1 Sinner reaches Phase 2

Participate in Broken Frontline 3 times

Deal with Supervision Incident 10 times

Reach Surveillance Order LV. 5

Upgrade 1 piece of Crimebrand to LV. 5

Complete any 3 Interrogations

Day 6:
Chief reaches LV. 40

2 Sinners reach Phase 2

Complete 3 Secret Society Check-ins

Buy an item from any Shop 10 times

Oblivion Pit 02- Challenge Death by Sand 1 time

Dispatch successfully 5 times

Spend 500k Discoins

Consume 5k Stamina in total

Upgrade 3 pieces of Crimebrand to LV. 5

Any 4 skills of Sinners reach LV. 2

Day 7:

Chief reaches LV. 42

Any 4 Chief skills reach LV. 2

Any 4 skills of Sinners reach LV. 3

Three Sinners reach Phase 2

Consume 1mil Mania Essence

Activate 3 stages of 1 Sinner's Shackles

Participate in Broken Frontline 5 times

Management Center reaches LV. 4

Surveillance Order reaches LV. 10

Complete any 4 interrogations

Which Sinners should I focus on leveling?

• This can be tough to answer, as everyone will have a different roster to start off with.
• You don’t really have to level anyone for Chapter 1. We suggest leveling up Sinners to around level 10 for Chapter 2.
• Aside from healers and Enduras, we will focus here on options that are easier to access for new players. Refer to EKG’s Comfy Tierlist for more details. https://s1n.gg/tierlist/comfy
• Feel free to join the S1N Discord for personalised advice, or read on for general thoughts!

        Healer Options:
You will need at least one healer at some point (around Chapter 3-4 onwards for new players). Most healers in PTN work fine, but our priority recommendation is Shin>Du Ruo > Hamel > Ariel >Letta>Coquelic>Anne.

Shin: S3 makes her truly meta-defining, but even S0 and S1 are excellent. She functions like Hamel mixed with buffs, and her healing does not need a wind-up time like Hamel does. Very easy to use (put her down somewhere near your team at S0, or put her literally anywhere at S1 and she will heal everyone else).

Du Ruo: Du Ruo does Ariel amounts of AoE burst healing (which is to say, a lot), and her healing waves can deal a decent amount of damage to enemies. Moreover, her ECB allows her to revive a dead ally instantly. She is currently the only Sinner who can do this. Her biggest drawback is that she isn’t on the Beginner banner, so the odds of a new Chief pulling her is low.

Hamel: She is the strongest pure healer in PTN, and available on the Beginner banner. Hamel does require a few levels in her skills to really shine, so don’t worry if she might feel a little lacklustre/hard to use early on, we promise she scales up hard for the mid-late game.

Ariel: The go-to recommendation for new Chiefs. You can select her from the A-Rank selector, and her healing is very straightforward: use Ult, everyone inside gets a big chunk of healing. She also doesn’t need as much investment as Hamel to be strong, but on the other hand she doesn’t scale up as hard. However, once you are able to Ascend her in the Ascension (Upgrade) system, she gets even better and is the best general A-Rank healer.

Letta: Another AoE pure healer, she’s like a mini Hamel. Letta does decent healing around her, and her Ult shields her allies. She requires slightly more planning compared to Ariel, but she holds her own and can cover your healing needs.

Coquelic: The OG Harmacist before Du Ruo. Coquelic is able to deal True Damage with her basic attacks, heal allies with each of her own attacks, and re-cast her Ult for burst healing. Moreover, should you choose to later invest heavily into her, she is actually the hypercarry core of the ATK Speed team. Her main issue is that she does have to be in melee range to heal, which can be harder for new Chiefs to manage safely. She does also want her S1, making it a bit of a tough choice for new Chiefs low on resources and pulls.

Anne: She is able to heal allies one-by-one, based on whichever ally in range has the lowest % of health. Anne needs some investment in her skill levels to get going, but does have a neat ECB which can be an emergency “oh no don’t die!” button. She’s especially strong if your tank is holding down everything, as her healing increases based on her target’s missing health. However, her healing isn’t super consistent, so she’s lower priority than the previous Sinners listed. That being said, anyone outright trashing her as “the worst healer” is untrue, probably has no idea what they are talking about, and never actually tested her, so ignore their PTN advice.

Macchiato: If you are considering her, you were probably unlucky enough to not get any other healers in your pulls. Within certain niche situations she’s actually considered very strong. However, as a significant amount of her healing requires allied Sinners to hit the same target as she is, it can prove challenging for new players to run her as a solo healer in many story stages. The previous recommendations are all more beginner-friendly, with Du Ruo, Hamel, (and to a lesser extent) Ariel scaling well into the endgame.

If using Macchiato, you can try moving her around often, to be behind (the left side tile) of the Sinner you are trying to heal, and it will be quite likely she will target the same enemy. Her Ult also does a good chunk of healing on a targeted Sinner.

        Endura Options:
You will need an Endura at some point, though given NOX being free, that can be quite late (many players report not using an Endura up til Chapter 9 or even 10 at times).

• Demolia

• She’s a B-Rank, making her very easy to obtain. Her Ult is simple: it heals her. Decent stats, cheaper upgrade cost than S-Ranks, and does the job. A great option that can take you far. I still use my P2 Lv70 Demolia all the time in the endgame for funsies.

• OwO

• One of the best generic buffers in the game and a meta unit, she also comes with good tanking abilities, an extra summon that can help block enemies in emergencies, and to top it off she can also corebreak.

• Moore

• Great tank that grants good survivability through her shields, her S1 also heals everyone inside the range of her Ult2. Super strong amp for Physical Damage sinners, but unfortunately can’t buff Magic sinners at all.

• Vanilla

• Able to corebreak and some very decent damage of her own. She plays almost like a Fury more than an Endura.

• Golan

• Golan can be purchased from the Sample store (though you want to save as much of your sample points as possible for Soul Marks). She works decently as a tank alone, but is the natural synergy to Bianca as the Weakspot team. Thus, if you happen to obtain Bianca, you can consider purchasing Golan off the store.

General Sinner Options:

• NOX

• She comes free with the New Chief Assessment (Beginner Missions) which is only active for 14 days. Do not ignore this. NOX is Tier 0/Tier GOD all the way to the endgame for her still-insane wave clearing capacity; in some stages, she can waveclear harder than one of the strongest Anniversary Sinners, Shalom. You can clear the game without NOX, of course, but it is hard to overstate how much easier she will make your life. This is even more true once she gets her Ascension; she just remains very evergreen and useful for the whole game.
• Wendy is something like a worse NOX, but you can consider leveling both together if you have no other damage options.

• EMP and Hecate

• They come free with the story and are unironically not bad. We suggest leveling them alongside the story.
• You can drop EMP if you obtain S-Rank Reticles/ranged Sinners, such as Lady Pearl, Langley, Necresta, etc and level the S-Rank instead.
• Hecate is useful throughout, not actually for damage, but because at later levels her Ult gets upgraded to break 2 cores. There’s no need to invest much into her skill levels, so she’s a good cheap option. If you obtain Raven, Rise, McQueen (consistent corebreak units) you can consider dropping her.
  

• Labyrinth

• Robot maid is Godlike Tier all the way to the endgame as the number 1 corebreaker of PTN; this is because when you upgrade her to Phase 2, when you use her Ult to put an enemy into Breaking state, she will regain a charge of her Ult. This means if chained right, she can go spinning across the entire map without ever losing her Ult charges.

• Lamia

• You can get her from the A-Rank selector. Very strong across a variety of game modes such as story, Mania Training, and EX Stages. Again, she pretty much breaks the early game. There is a dedicated guide for her here: https://s1n.gg/articles/lamia-guide

• Jane

• She is currently available for free from the Eternal Nightmare game mode as a reward on the mission list; she is a strong mob-killer, able to clear out bunches of weak enemies in just one or two hits. Very good in story and the side mode RoTD (Remnants of the Depths), worth investing in, just unfortunate that she cannot corebreak.

• Shrooma

• The third member of the “A-Ranks that should be S-Ranks” alongside Lamia and Jane. Crazy high damage multipliers, and her kit makes her able to deal damage in multiple locations at the same time. There is a dedicated guide for her here: https://s1n.gg/articles/shrooma-guide 

Limited Sinners

• Yao, Shalom, 000, Yingying

• If you have access to a Limited Sinner (not Deren), absolutely level them. They are completely unbalanced for the main story, and will swiftly carry you out of the clutches of mobs and bosses alike. They are also worth borrowing from the Assist function if you have friends that own them, or get lucky with the random assist choices from strangers.

Utility and ampers

These Sinners may not deal much damage by themselves, but can buff their allies or have strong gameplay-altering functions.

• L.L.

• One of the best units in the game. There are two ways of playing PTN: with L.L., and without L.L.. A more detailed explanation can be found either on S1N.gg itself, or in my L.L. guide doc: L.L. Guide by EKG for S1N.gg . Basically, she breaks the balance of the game and also gives strong skill damage buffs. Celebrate and cheer if you lose the 50/50 to her because that is not losing whatsoever!

• Jelena

• Another game-breaking unit, though with a few more requirements than L.L.. I wrote a deep-dive into her character; but basically, another Sinner you can feel very happy to “lose” 50/50 to. https://s1n.gg/articles/jelena-guide 

• Che

• An easily obtained B-Rank. He can shred enemy Defense, which can help a lot in taking down tanky bosses. Not only that, his Ult is a large AoE 2 corebreak that can reach far-away enemies.

• Mr. Fox

• His Ultimate reduces damage taken by allies, which can protect them from death in clutch moments. He also extends the Breaking duration of enemies, making their vulnerability window longer. Mr. Fox’s ECB can also grant bonus ATK to allies if they break enemy cores. A very very underrated Sinner.

• McQueen

• Somewhat powercrept by Shrooma (who is just blatantly OP), but still a good option to help with long-distance AoE corebreaks. The detonation of her Ult does good damage, and she was a top-rated unit for a long time.

Team comps

If you see people referencing these terms, these teams are what they’re talking about.

• Arcane CRIT (Yingying, Yugu, Jelena)

• This is an endgame team comp playing around CRIT; you can read more here CRIT Guide by EKG for S1N.gg, but while it’s currently highly encouraged to obtain these Sinners when you can, it’s massively overkill for anything that isn’t endgame (BFL Dark Zone, Peak Test Path, Tides of Ashes etc.)  so don’t worry about rushing to grab it all.

• Weakspot (Bianca, Shawn, Golan)

• A strong all-rounder physical damage team, it is highly recommended to level Bianca if you have Shawn as well. Do note that Shawn is necessary for Bianca’s damage potential to shine while Golan is very nice to have, but optional.
  

• ATK Speed (Coquelic, Lady Pearl, etc.)

• Flex options: Chameleon, Pricilla, Summer, etc… any units with high ATK Speed. Coquelic is the heart of this team, as her ECB deals bonus damage for every attack her allies do while it’s active.
  

• Burn (Yao, Thistle, Yanyan, Hestia)

• It’s possible to run Burn without Yao, with Yanyan as the main DPS. She does a shocking amount of damage on her own, and Hestia can help clean up mobs quickly.
• Ignis is not considered part of the Burn team as her damage is too low.
  

• Bleed (Dreya, Jasmine, Levy, Sumire, Pepper)

• Has been powercrept by Weakspot, but is way more accessible if you have Dreya as the rest of the team can be exchanged for in the Oblivion Pit store. A comprehensive guide can be found here: https://s1n.gg/articles/bleed-guide 

• 3E/Fear (Eleven, Eve, Enfer)

• This is considered an advanced and expensive team comp to play, but worth mentioning as one of the few non-Limited options in magic damage that can compete in the endgame. A comprehensive guide can be found here: https://s1n.gg/articles/3e-guide 

• Shield Stack (Demon, L.L./Eirene)

• This is an endgame whale team comp and not used in standard play; don’t worry about it. Including this here just for completion’s sake.

What do I do about Crimebrands?

Crimebrands are PTN’s equipment, which you put on your characters for bonuses. These only unlock after a Sinner is level 40, and their Phase 2 is unlocked, so you don’t have to worry about them for the first few story chapters.

The nice thing is that you can eventually get all Crimebrands in the game completely free (though some will take more time to save up for F2P players, and by that I mean the Surveillance Order ones), and you don’t have to do any re-rolling for stats bullshit, or pull them off a Weapon banner.

Once you unlock Crimebrands, you can check out the recommended Crimebrands on each individual Sinner page we have, or for a more in-depth guide, have a look at the full Crimebrand guide here: https://s1n.gg/articles/crimebrand-guide