kinekinekine’s super basic new player progression guide (pull s0 jichuan -> s0 yao -> s0 shin -> ask in discord)
(version in calibri here if you prefer that)
I. Leveling
for reference:
p is shorthand for phase
lv is shorthand for level
sinner is the game’s term for character/unit/etc. these are all interchangeable.
leveling looks something like this:
lv1 -> lv20 -> p1 -> lv40 -> p2 -> lv70 -> p3 -> lv90
the important points are: p1, p2, p3. at p1 you unlock your 3rd skill. at p2 you unlock your 4th skill, crimebrands, and mania intensify. at p3 you unlock your exclusive crimebrand. going to 90 is a waste of resources for a new player, because you only get stats and those are a lot less impactful than unlocking new skills.
the units you should look to p3 are ones that either:
are your main dps units, or
have good exclusive crimebrands
units that fall into neither of these categories will not benefit from unlocking their exclusive crimebrand much, so their kit will remain mostly unchanged from p2 40, nor will they benefit much from the increased stats.
there is one big exception: level 55.
there is a mode called Oblivion Pit. to enter the final difficulty you need 6 sinners at level 55. after you clear it, though, you don’t need to level anyone else to 55 and they should be leveled to the appropriate breakpoints (p2, p3 mainly) instead.
that is why your progression should look something like this:
all six sinners to p1 -> all six sinners (except wendy, you want to swap her to nox as soon as you can and p2 is expensive, leveling her to p1 lv40 is ok) to p2 lv40 -> all six sinners to p2 lv55
then
nox -> p3 lv70, then lamia -> p3 lv70 then luvia -> p3 lv70
if possible, use your Inauguration Resource on nox and lamia.
half anni patch note:
jichuan > flex, yao > luvia
II. Sinners
teambuilding theory:
there are three main gamemodes to consider in Path to Nowhere: Story Mode, Broken Frontline, and Remnants of the Depth. story mode is the main gamemode you will be doing at the start of the game, broken frontline is the main endgame mode, because it is how you get hypercubes (which you use to pull sinners). your goal is to build a team that can clear high risk, because once you reach dark zone you can get close to max rewards (and more rewards than you could in high risk) by pressing restart on each map 4 times
(if you are a new player and somebody recommends you build someone for ‘ToA,’ run the other direction.)
to serve this purpose, ideally you want to build a team of 6 sinners that are useful in both broken frontline and story, so that you don’t waste resources leveling up sinners you can’t use in both.
if you have to pick between the two, keep in mind that you can use assist sinners in story (although it means you can’t raid the stage) but not in broken frontline. you also only need to clear story once, while broken frontline is a weekly thing. this is not to say that clearing story isn’t important (it is, it is how you get materials), just that it is ‘easier’ than broken frontline. if you can, it is better to build units that are better in broken frontline (that are still decent in story) than vice-versa
remnants of the depth asks for three teams of sinners, all level 70 or above, and as such (while it is what you should build towards after clearing high risk) requires too much investment to focus on as a new player.
your standard team of 6 should look something like this:
- wendy (guaranteed tutorial pull) until you get nox (free from beginner 14 day quest). if you have lamia you can use hella here instead.
why: nox ultimate makes her deal a lot of aoe damage for a long period of time. most story levels can be beaten with a simple strategy of [corebreak enemies] -> [empower (chief skill that grants energy) nox] -> [ult nox for as close to 100% uptime as you can].
wendy fulfills a similar role to nox in that she does aoe damage and can tank for you during story, she is just usually outclassed.
(the reasoning for hella is that she is free to level up to level 40 phase 2 because of operation summary quests, and lamia is so good at fulfilling all aoe requirements by herself that you can afford a much cheaper but less useful sinner in this slot)
it is hard to overstate just how good nox is for story. please please please make sure to complete the quests within 14 days 😀it will make your life a lot easier.
- healer (if you do not get one from gacha, you can eventually buy macchiato from the sample shop (supply office -> exchange -> sample) or get a free letta from the “the phantom of the mists” memory revival (discity -> special operations -> the phantom of the mist))
as far as I know, the list of healers is:
shin > hamel > du ruo > ariel > letta > anne >= macchiato. any other healer is unviable. (coquelic is only good at s1+)
why: healer good. yes, story is probably clearable without one but it will be so much harder that it will still likely be less efficient
- labyrinth (free from story)
why: at phase 2, labyrinth unlocks her mania intensify which refunds her energy when she breaks a core with her ultimate. corebreaking is the main mechanic in this game. this makes her extremely efficient. labyrinth’s mania intensify is the best in the game. please build labyrinth, she is your second most important unit behind nox at the start of the game.
- che (b rank, you will most likely pull him fast)
why: corebreaking, again. che has a low ult cd, breaks 2 (with mania intensify) cores in a wide aoe. his personal damage being low doesn’t matter too much because 70% of your damage in story stages will come from nox and lamia.
- luvia ray (free from login reward on 3rd day) (just use hella until you unlock her. if you are using hella already, just use whoever. i like level 20 lisa)
why: luvia is mostly for the future of your account. at some point in time you will be trying to beat broken frontline. it has a boss that has very high physical defense and very low magic defense, and another with the opposite. while you have nox and labyrinth for the low-physical defense boss, you do not have magic equivalents. luvia is very good at killing bosses, and does magic damage. (this is not to say that she is worthless in story, just that that is not her main purpose. it is nice to have a ranged character in story because some stages have layouts where it is impossible to block enemies, making melee sinners a lot worse on them.)
please note that luvia’s dps in broken frontline is reliant on animation canceling—link to a video guide is at the very bottom.
note: if you pull a good magic dps s rank from gacha, use them instead of luvia
note: if you have a different sinner you really want to use, use them in this slot. luvia is really only a broken frontline character.
- lamia (read my lamia propaganda) (free from the “insatiable fiesta” event memory revival (discity -> special operations -> insatiable fiesta)
discounting limited sinners, lamia is maybe a top 3 story sinner in the game. she is also greatly beneficial to luvia in clearing broken frontline.
even if you don’t use them, it is WORTH IT to level up Hecate and Hella in line with the operation summary quests. The rewards from the missions make leveling them up not just free but also profitable!
notable S ranks not previously mentioned: (if you pull these, you can consider fitting them onto your starting team over luvia)
owo, eve, eleven, bianca only if you have margaret, ll, moore, vautour bleu, jelena, milly, necresta hella, rust,
notable A and B ranks that are good in story: (if you are having trouble in story you can look into building these)
lisa, kelvin, demolia, shrooma, jane, cassian, siglinde
notable S ranks that are good later but not when you are brand new: (keep these in the back of your mind)
summer, serpent, enfer, raven, cabernet, adela, dreya/jasmine only if you have both of them, yugu, margaret
a note about endura:
most of the game falls under the philosophy of ‘no need to block enemies if they are dead.’ there are two notable exceptions: stormy memories difficulty 4 and chapter 12, stage 6. this isn’t really within the scope of this doc, but basically endura don’t do damage and most recommendations are to ignore them. if you are having trouble on stormy memories 4/5 building an endura (demolia is probably the best option) to level 40 is fine. don’t worry about 12-6 for now.
tl;dr: if you ask ‘should I build an endura,’ the answer is generally no unless you have a specific reason for wanting one (which as a new player you probably don't
III. How Should I Spend My Stamina?
story. progress story as far as you can. if you are stuck, use assist (the best sinners are generally going to be either augustus or specifically shackle 5 necresta hella). if you are still stuck, go to youtube and watch a video of the stage. if you are still stuck, farm resources. if you can, try to avoid having to raid story stages for materials until you can raid chapter 7+ (7 and 8 are slightly less efficient than 9+, but not by much) (don’t be afraid to use your resource boxes, resources are made to be spent).
stamina regenerates every 6 minutes and soft caps at anywhere from 200-240 depending on chief level, so if you are planning to log off for the day it is most efficient to raid it all away first. if you are unsure what resource you need, story stages are more efficient than rust stages as well as giving you more chief xp/stamina to get closer to unlocking things like rust 05 stages (most efficient farm for mania or discoins) and fusion of higher level materials.
faq: the best stage to farm resources at is the highest chapter one you can.
faq: story order goes ch1-13 before n1-8 stages
IV. Dailies
- spend stamina
- oblivion pit
- stormy memories
- broken frontline - this is actually a weekly thing, but it is one of the few recurring source of hypercubes (pull currency) in the game
everything is raidable except for broken frontline
V. Skill Levels
ignore skill levels until u reach p2, then leveling important skills up to 3 is cheap and effective (not as effective as unlocking parts of your kit, which is why prioritizing p2 is recommended). to see which skill levels are important, please refer to rabbit's spreadsheet or s1n.gg
VI. Crimebrands
crimebrands are like equipment, you mainly unlock them from the Stormy Memory stages in The Rust. they are very rng to obtain, so you want to clear them each day. exclusive crimebrands are like bonus skills (they don’t take the spot of actual crimebrands) that you need materials you purchase with oblivion pit rewards to buy. these are heavily timegated, which is why you want to clear oblivion pit as soon as possible too.
Memory Anomaly 4 | Lv 40 Sinners | Noob Friendly Team - YouTube
Memory Anomaly 5 | Lv40 Sinners, No S Ranks
noob crimebrand recommendation is just put tuning: zero and providence on everybody.
❤️ 😀 ❤️
footnote: if people tell you to ecb hecate, please run !
Resources:
hi please look at these they have a bunch of useful info and are very cool ❤️ this is not meant to be a guide that is the only thing you should look at, just an auxiliary guide because these questions get asked enough and aren’t really covered in the main guides ⬇️
wiki for a ton of info (sinner kits, crimebrand info, a bunch of miscellaneous guides)
another animation cancel guide