`For feedback/suggestions to improve this document, please contact the writers on Discord.

Shattered Connexion Date is on the 24th November 2020.

Shattered Connexion Ranking Guide v1.1

Disclaimer: Do not take everything mentioned here as a bible, do some research yourself if you’re uncertain.

Credits: Writers

Ceia

Diggus

Nairie

Seres (GOD OF F2P)

Brekkie (not gay)

Credits: Proofreading & Fact-checking

Dabina

Shattered Connexion Ranking

Map

For a clearer map (Credits to Mis) | Clean Map | With Allied Spawns |

(magenta lines delineate the collapse fluid contamination spread)

Refer to https://hometehomete.com/en/maps/ -> Shattered Connexion -> 1-49 for Normal, 1-72 for EX, for enemy CEs and compositions. (This link will only show pre-spawned enemies.)

Use https://gflinfo.github.io/ranking/2020/09/01/sc-enemy-comps.html to see all known enemy compositions.

Difficulty Selection

There is a difficulty selection for ranking mode. Both Normal and EX Difficulties will share the same leaderboard, but the score potential in Normal mode is lower due to lower enemy CE values. You will still be able to achieve the score milestone for the Fairy in Normal mode.

Mechanics

Shattered Connexion ranking ends after turn 9. Camp your echelons beside the Helipads on turn 9 as there will be a final wave of enemies to catch before the ranking run ends.

There is an echelon limit of 10, and an HOC deployment limit of 3+2. (3 HOCs can initially be deployed, with a 4th and 5th becoming available once you capture additional Heavy Helipads)

Advantaged Dolls -

SSG3000, Desert Eagle, ACR, M1895 CB, UMP45, UMP9, 416, G11, M4A1, AR15,

SOPMOD, RO635, Kord

Advantaged Dolls will receive +20% FP (for DPS), and +20% Evasion (for Tanks).

Deagle is a special case which receives both 20% FP and Evasion in this map.

Map Mechanics

Detonator and Boulders

There is a detonator on Z9. Upon activating it, boulders will appear in these certain nodes which damage any Echelons, HOCs, or NPCs for a considerable amount (Higher damage when the said units are in the building itself): Z1, Z3, Z4, Z6, Z7, Z10, Z11, Z12 and P4.

These boulders can then be blown up for 10k points each. This is usually done on the first turn, and the boulders are destroyed selectively (for example, Z4, Z6, Z7, Z10, P4) to funnel the zombies and paradeus to the helipad.

Enemy Artilleries

There are a total of 14 artilleries on the map that can be blown up for 10k points each. These artilleries can NOT be destroyed by walking on to them. They can also be captured by standing on them at the end of turn. Capturing them is not desirable since, once captured, they cannot be destroyed unless it gets recaptured by the enemy.

Contamination Area

Contamination area spreads on the start of turns 2, 3, and 5. Contamination area deals 34% of your Max HP as damage at the START of your turn. Meaning if it spreads on a node you're currently standing on at the next turn, that team still takes damage despite not being in the contamination area last turn.

With this, if you’re sure your team can handle 1 more fight before repairing, make sure to do so since you take damage again at the start of your turn.

Enemy Railgun HOC

There’s an enemy railgun HOC that sits on K6 and does not move. It will support KCCO units within 2 to 4 nodes range. I.e. it does not support the immediate surrounding nodes.

The HOC on K6 also doubles as a boss enemy. For an example of the fight, please see https://youtu.be/2laTivNEn8o?t=6327

Friendly Railgun HOC

To make things even, we also get a friendly railgun HOC that will support our fights. This rail gun is stationed on B2 and also supports a range of 1 to 2 nodes.

Supply Route

One end of the supply route is on B1, and the location does not change. The supply route is usually established on turn 1 and maintained until the end.

Rescuing M4 Ally

Do NOT kill this Abandoned Isomer node, else M4 Ally will not spawn.

It also has an aggro mechanic which engages your echelons if you stand 1 node (P14 or P19) beside her.

The Abandoned Isomer will transform into M4 Ally when 154k Isomer boss is killed.

Rescuing / Keeping M4 Ally alive will grant you 15,000 points

Isomer Bosses

Nyto and Smasher Spawn Conditions.

*Nyto Spawn Condition (P11 and P14)

- 96k Nyto = 15 Total Kills

- 154k Nyto = 30 Total Kills

*Smasher Spawn Condition (Z1, Z5, Z7 and Z8)

- 1st 83k Smasher = 30 Total Kills

- 2nd 80k Smasher = 50 Total Kills

- 3rd 83k Smasher = 70 Kills

*REMINDER: Nyto and Smasher CANNOT SPAWN at the SAME turn.

*REMINDER: There is a bug that doesn’t count KCCO kills until you reset the client.

Once 154k Boss is killed, the Abandoned Isomer as shown above will transform into M4 Ally.

Score Mechanics

Defeating an enemy - Enemy CE / 10
Destruction of enemy installation - +10,000
Maintaining Supply Route

turn 2: +5,000
turn 3: +6,250
turn 4: +7,500
turn 5: +8,750
turn 6-9: +10,000

Ally Echelons - 15k points each when the mission ends for a total of 15,000*6 = 90,000 points. (NPC Gustav is apparently considered an ally as well)
They stay as support echelons, make sure they are not defeated to be awarded points at the end of the run.

Isomer Score System

Points for controlling points at the end of the run

Command Post: +10,000

Normal node/Radar node: +500

Normal Heliport: +2,000

Supply Point: +10,000

Supply Flag: +10,000

Heavy Heliport: +2,500

CN Video References

1.02m 4 para 1 illu

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1T4411z781/

1.09m 4 para 2 illu

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1A4411q7Qs/

1.01m 3 para 1 illu

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1f4411z7GF?from=search&seid=11057048061241473862

1.09m 2 para 2 illu (3* fairies)

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1u441117Ks/

1.08m 2 para 1 illu

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV194411q7bK/

1.06m 1 para 1 illu

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1c4411R7Ew/

1.02m 1 para 1 illu (3* fairies)

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1h4411m7AY/

940k 6 combat echelons 2 dummy ex difficulty (no para no illu)

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1T4411r7Xx/?p=2

840k 3 combat echelon 7 dummy ex difficulty (no para 1 illu)

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1c4411o7ro/

700k 4 combat echelons 6 dummy normal difficulty (1* fairies and hoc)

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV124411975P/

EN Video References

500k+ score silver medal strategy, Normal difficulty, 2 combat echelons 4 dummy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTbqZWOr21U

788k 2 combat echelons 4 dummy, EX difficulty (no para, no illu)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37jHFIx76SU

862k 3 combat echelons 4 dummy, EX difficulty (no para, no illu)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drJMCLZv6PE

900k 4 combat echelons, 4 dummy, EX difficulty (no para, no illu)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdEVsdnJ_rg

1.01m, 3 para, 1 illu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKG1E_KsL3E

1.09m, 6 para, 1 illu (No dupe dolls)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erfu85Qp6_E

Echelon Formation Recommendations (EX Difficulty)

0-1 MG-HG/MG-SG echelons will be required to kill Gustav for this ranking

Due to a bug fix, Gustav has become a huge priority thus taking it out as soon as possible is highly recommended to prevent being lasered every KCCO fight.

Using a Parachute fairy for this team is highly recommended.
A para debuffed team would use 3 MG 2 HG / 2 MG 3 HG
Using a SG (must have at least 45 armour) is acceptable without debuff.
MGs with strong initial volley or have map advantage are highly recommended.
HGs with tiles that buff FP and crit are highly recommended.
A higher rarity Parachute can compensate with MGs who have weaker initial volley (such as Negev and Lewis) and/or weaker HG buffs.
Example team - M1895 CB, PKP, Nagant Revolver MOD2+, Python, Jill for a debuffed team.
If you’re planning to use Nagant Revolver, make sure she is MOD2+ for both the DMG down and her FP buff skill 2.
Best MGs to use are M1895 CB, M1918 BAR MOD2+, PKP, Kord

4 or 5 AR-SMG echelons will be your work horses for this ranking

1-3 Camper AR-SMG echelons need to be able to deal with KCCO’s Doggo-Archer combos.

Recommend multihit or RoF based ARs to deplete the shields of the Doggos
Defensive SMGs/HGs are recommended to outlast the Archers. (eg. Force Shields, P90, P22, HS2000)
Campers at B1 and K4 do not need vision which can allow a 3rd AR in there.
Using Twin Fairy in one of the camper echelons is highly beneficial and can steamroll most KCCO unarmored fights.
Optimal setup is 2 Campers (B1 and K4) and a 3rd one (K11) that replaces Gustav team on turn 4 after Gustav is dead.

1 AR-SMG boss team needs to be able to deal with Nyto as well as handle KCCO.

A popular echelon used here - AR-15 MOD 2+, AS VAL MOD 2+, Python, UMP45, P22.

1 Zombie roaming team needed to be able to deal with Smashers

Unlike Isomer ranking, this team will be fighting at full links.
You may use self-buffing ARs to handle this.
A shotgun to tank zombie fire will be useful especially when this team runs out of ammo and requires HOC dragging.
This can also be a M4 or RFHG team, in order to fight Paradeus spawns from P4

1-3 HG-RF Roamers echelons for Paradeus

Shown is one of the Roamer echelons commonly used by foreign players when SC was running -

The Roamer echelon - P22, HS2000, Mk23, M200, Grape Cano (3* and above Taunt Fairy)

This team can easily kill all combos of Paradeus troops with the aid of AGS
M200 can be replaced by SSG3000 (due to SSG being buffed in this ranking, she should have similar combat capabilities as M200, in fact its DPS is 95-98% that of M200)
Taunt fairy can be replaced by twin fairy, however be noted using twin meant that it would be a lot more troublesome when dealing with striders.
Players had started using a high damage grenadier (HK416 MOD2+, SOP MOD 2+ to replace HS2000, in order to take out Gunners easily. (You can opt to replace HS2000 for a grenadier during your run after turn 4 when redeploying since that is when Gunners start to spawn) The downside in using high damage grenadiers is the AR is usually useless until unarmored enemies become more common.

0-2 HG-RF echelons for 1 KCCO node and Paradeus backup.

Most people have an echelon with Grape to camp K14 Helipad via K12. However, it is possible to simply use self-buffers for KCCO armored instead. Just keep in mind to repair every turn after getting hit by the vape zone to avoid problems against minotaur spawns.
A 2nd HG-RF echelon to backup your roamer echelon(s) if needed.

0-1 Double Jupiter echelon “Burst Glass Cannon” team
M4A1 Exodia is the alternative to the Double Jupiter composition.

Double Jupiter team (M4 MOD + Hanyang MOD 2 / IWS-2000 + 3 HGs) to laugh at most things that run into them.

For example, M4 MOD 3 + Hanyang MOD 2 + SAA MOD 2 + Calico + CLEAR

Keep in mind that this team is a “1 Skill Cycle Burst Glass Cannon”, do not throw this team at longer fights.
This team is used to handle zombies at the lower half of the zombie zone, and the top areas of the Paradeus zone outside of the Collapse Fluid zone. In addition, if your fairy is strong enough (Max rarity), you may opt to change one of the HGs to an SG.

HOCs are especially important here, both to destroy installations (only can be destroyed by HOC fire), as well as killing Paradeus with up to 80% Force Shield.

Raise all 3 basic HOCs (BGM, AGS and 2B) up to at least level 60
Have AT4 or M2 decently raised to be your 4th/5th HOC.
It is recommended to have chipped 5* HOCs for EX mode

Fairies

There are 0 to 4 Parachute openings available above though keep in mind foreign side had their Gustav were bugged
At least 1 SL10 Illumination Fairy to see further for opening (where you use HOCs to bomb far away Installations)

The SL10 Illumination fairy is especially important to destroy the south-east Paradeus artilleries (P20 and P21 in particular) with HOCs, as well as parachute to important positions with minimal movement point usage.
Make sure your Illumination(s) are only on your Paradeus roamers since this fairy has the highest value here to keep track of their movements

Use Taunt Fairy for staying power for your roamer echelon(s) in the map, have it at SL10.
In terms of Parachute priority on certain teams:
Gustav Team >>> ELID roamer > Double Jupiter ≥ Backup Paradeus ≈ KCCO RFHG ≈ B1 Camper
KCCO RFHG, Backup Paradeus and Double Jupiter can use stat sticks
KCCO ARSMG campers can have stat sticks or fairies with skills that can help with survivability (Warrior, Shield, Twin, etc.)

Killing Gustav

There are 2 ways to tackle the gustav with 1 parachute:

Set an echelon with illumination fairy to either P7, but ideally P17 in turn 2 to give vision to K11. The reason for P17 is to block KCCO Armored and Paradeus to fight and lose on spawns.
It is important for this to happen at Turn 2 due to KCCO spawns capping K11 and blocking K8 in turn 3 and 4 onwards respectively.
After that, you have 2 Choices:

1: Kill it with debuff (Turn 2 Gustav Kill)

Get a gunboat which you know you can kill with parachute debuff. MGSG does not work because SG cannot tank under debuff. Retarget MGs until they start killing the Argo-Vela (the ones who shoot bullets). Kill Gustav, retreat MG team, then go back to KCCO with campers later.

2: Wait out the debuff then kill it (Turn 4 Gustav Kill)

MG-SG works here or a Gustav KCCO Camper with someone like HS2000. This doesn’t need you to fight Gustav with para debuff. Parachute the Gustav team to K11 then move up. At turn 3, one enemy comes up from K15 to K11. Bring an escort team to protect the Gustav team down to K11. This also caps K11, which opens up on Turn 4. At turn 4, resupply, repair if necessary, then kill the Gustav. Gustav team either stays there or gets redeployed to a camper.

SC General Ranking Guidelines

TURN 1 OBJECTIVES:
- Camp B1 for supply line

- Cap B15, B16, Z7

- Deploy as much stuff as possible

- Detonate buildings and specifically destroy rubble to get a formation that specifically controls ELID.

- If you have extra Para, cap K3

- Destroy artilleries in reach

TURN 2 OBJECTIVES:

- Deploy the rest of your echelons and HOCs.

- Destroy the artilleries in reach

- Get a camper to K4 (declogging K5 is optional, depending if you save AP or if your

team can handle the fight under gustav)

- Set an echelon with illumination fairy to either P7, but ideally P17 in turn 2 to give vision

to K11. The reason for P17 is to block KCCO Armored and Paradeus to fight and lose on spawns.

- It is important for this to happen at Turn 2 due to KCCO spawns capping K11 and

blocking K8 in turn 3 and 4 onwards respectively.

- After that, you have 2 Choices: (Yes we typed it twice so you can see it again)

1: Kill it with debuff (Turn 2 Gustav Kill)

Get a gunboat which you know you can kill with parachute debuff. MGSG does not work because SG cannot tank under debuff. Retarget MGs until they start killing the Argo-Vela (the ones who shoot bullets). Kill Gustav, retreat MG team, then go back to KCCO with campers later.

2: Wait out the debuff then kill it (Turn 4 Gustav Kill)

MGSG works here or a Gustav KCCO Camper with someone like Hs2k. This doesn’t need you to fight Gustav with para debuff. Parachute the Gustav team to K11 then move up. At turn 3, one enemy comes up from K15 to K11. Bring an escort team to protect the Gustav team down to K11. This also caps K11, which opens up on Turn 4. At turn 4, resupply, repair if necessary, then kill the gustav. Gustav team either stays there or gets redeployed to a camper.

- Get AGS to a position where she can reach the artilleries being viewed by the

Illumination team in P17. Notably, P18 and P19.

- If you have extra AP, aim to unclog P4 and P14 (RNG based) as these helipads are

easiest to unclog this turn

- At this turn, you have 2 Choices whether to give away B16 or not.To be blunt, IT IS

POSSIBLE TO REACH 1M WITHOUT GIVING B16 AND B15! Giving away B16 Turn 2

and potentially B15 in future turns is high 1M and potentially 1.1M strat which if you are

not interested in, should be ignored. Otherwise, if you plan to give away B16, the most

common strategy is to parachute the Gustav team from B16 to K11.

In addition, one of the teams might also defend the node B18 from a prespawn Doggo Archer comp since this is another location where KCCO and Paradeus can fight

TURN 3 OBJECTIVES:

Attempt to build a chain from P18 to any helipad you have capped, it may be P1 or B16 depending on how you tackle the map. With this chain, ideally you would either redeploy Illumination fairy or use a 2nd illumination fairy to see the rest of the artilleries then blow them up with AGS in the chain. This ensures no risk on artillery fights in future turns.
If you did not cap P1, you may proceed to:
1: Direct Cap P1
This is the safest step, next to capping P1 on turn 2. This lets you occupy

P1 turn 4 which enables you to settle between KCCO and Paradeus area at the cost of losing a Turn 1-3 Paradeus spawn (80% Doppel, Striders, 3 Roarer)

2: Surround Cap P1

This is a riskier plan since in order to do this reliably, you need 4 combat teams that are able to take Turn 1-3 Paradeus spawn (80% Doppel, Striders, 3 Roarer). In addition, one of the teams here may fight a KCCO spawn at P7 under Gustav fire. If you cannot bring 4 teams to surround cap, you may choose to gamble with RNG and try to surround cap if you capped an adjacent node last turn (most likely B18)… just don't blame us for it~

Deploy any echelons and HOCs not yet deployed if you can.
If you are going for Gustav Turn 4 Kill, have a team capable of KCCO Unarmored fights to protect the Gustav killer in K8 by going to K11, killing the spawn from K16. This team can either come through the K7, P7 or P18 path to KCCO. (K7 is easier while the other 2 paths are much more difficult)
WARNING: At this point, you should have reached 15 Total Kills. This means 96k Nyto can spawn in P11 and P14. MAKE SURE IT IS DECLOGGED!! If your teams near the area cannot take on 96k Nyto, make sure to move away from the said helipads.
Rest of the AP is potentially declogging other helis located at south-east Paradeus.

TURN 4 TO 7 OBJECTIVES:

If you haven’t built a chain from P18 to any helipad and used AGS to destroy artillery, do it this turn.
If B16 and P1 are capped, you can deploy a 5th HOC
If you haven’t killed Gustav, do it this turn.
At this point onwards, destroy rubbles as you see fit.
At this point onwards, unclog helipads as you see fit.

WARNING: At this point, you should have reached 30 Total Kills. If you properly clogged ELID, the 154k Nyto can spawn in P11 and P14. MAKE SURE IT IS DECLOGGED!! If your teams near the area cannot take 154k Nyto, make sure to move away from said helipads.

Rest of the turns are made to unclog, kill, unclog, kill the rest of the enemies.
Make sure NPCs and HOCs are safe at all times, including M4 after killing 154k.
Reaching 50 and 70 kills, make sure to unclog ELID helipads at all times to get Smasher to spawn for extra points.

TURN 8 TO 9 OBJECTIVES:

At this point, you should be beginning to cap adjacent nodes to the crate to be capped during turn 9 or the crate itself so you can cap the helipads beside it.
Continue to kill stuff duh.
Prioritize capping of crates and KCCO HQ at turn 9.
That’s basically it.

Note to why everyone says to get Beach Fairy

Beach Fairy is used in Polarized Light’s Ranking Map to deal with death stacks, which give a lot of points when killed, and there are a lot of death stacks in PL. There are replacements for that ranking (5 star Artillery/Command with Damage II talent) but it's much less effective and requires a lot more save loads in an already save load heavy map.

Other than the cancer that is PL, Beach fairy has great stats (slightly weaker than Command 5*), has great utility to delay enemy engagement, causes debuff to all units on the field (combos with KSVK MOD to great effect), easier to raise, and will see many uses in the future.

New enemies in Shattered Connexion

Enemy Information Sheet by Brekkie - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14jg3YeS5hSPxNcq_1ZmghpILNStIBhbmrJWOwsqe2gU/edit#gid=0

Enemy explanation site with GIFs

https://gflinfo.github.io/farming/2020/07/25/sc-ranking-info-translation-1-enemies.html

Centaurus / “Archers”
These fire arrows that will target one of the frontmost squares you have a unit on
There will literally be a big flashing orange square telling you exactly where the fire arrow is going to go, you can’t miss it

Good thing you can just move your dolls but be careful of moving diagonally

Orthos / “Dogs” / “Doggos”

They walk up to you, bite, and deploy a shield that lasts for 6 seconds. They don’t damage you while their shield is up, but the other enemies they spawn with will still be hitting you. The shields only have 150 HP at most, however, your attacks will do 1 damage per hit to the shield. Breaking the shield inflicts a large amount of damage to the Orthos (however, this damage will not happen if Orthos is stunned when the shield breaks)
To handle this, either bring high RoF ARs (such as RoF buff skills, like Type 97, AUG skills, like Angelica, or # of hits per attack increase skills, like G11

Or you can kill them while they’re running at you before they get to deploy their shield

Or you can just use RFs to shoot the stuff behind it that is actually attacking you

Minotaurs / “Tesla Troopers”

They run up to you, shield, stab you, then they drop bombs on you. After that they just repeat the shield and stab cycle until dead

Just shoot them

Not an elite mob but immune to stun

Their shield reduces damage taken by 80%

On the SC map, the Minotaurs will typically be handled by RFs with grape, supported by either HP shields, Taunt active, or Twin active

Recce Centers

Ice cream comes out of it

I’m kidding, shoot it

It has armor, and it has evasion too somehow, so you can see “can’t hit the broad side of a barn” in action ft. you

It does actually spawn Pathfinders, which are the little ball robots / “watermelons” you saw in the summer event

This is the beach hut

There is only one in the map

Gunner/ “Strelet+”

It’s a Strelet, but much harder

This one uses a MIB gun, the blue lasers will debuff your dolls ACC and EVA by 20%, stacking up to 3 layers for a total of 48.8%

This debuff to your EVA hurts

Also these guys don’t have Stormtrooper aim so you can’t walk out of the blue lasers

Do not underestimate them or you will regret it

Roarers / Abandoned Gladiators / EN will probably just say “Gladiators”

These guys have a shield also they watched Bleach so they Rasengan you

If you get hit it’ll slow down your MS and RoF

Good thing you can just walk out of it

It’s not an elite mob, but flashbangs don’t work on them 4Head

HG/RF or a DJ team can handle them

Patroller / “Thunders” / “Abandoned Investigators” / “Striders”

These things have shields so what you do is your take your big dick DPS and you turn off auto skill at the beginning of the battle

Then you wait for their shields to go down and BOOM you turn auto skill back on to yeet on him

After their shields go down they’ll jump and get an EVA buff so make sure your big dick DPS has big dick ACC too eg. M200 (takes a long legged to kill a long legged)

Abandoned Isomers

These don’t actually attack you but what they do do is they move towards the left side of the screen and you know what happens when enemies get to the left side of the screen, your girls run away

Also when they get to where your dolls are they stun you haha

You can stun them too

So anyway you just need to kill these Abandoned Isomers before they do that, bring DPS

Rewards

As with other rankings, a reward of 50 gems is given out for participation (any score above 0), with higher gem and resource rewards being handed out depending on your score bracket

At 500,000 points, you are awarded 1 free “Beach Fairy”

Additional copies of Beach Fairy are each given out at the Top 30% and Top 10% brackets

Players who score in the Top 50% - Top 100 brackets are awarded Lee Enfield’s Special Equipment (No.32 MKI) [Scope] Stats -

+0 (+24% Critical Rate, +2 Rate of Fire),

+10 (+48% Critical Rate, +4 Rate of Fire),

(Full Picture - https://gf.txwy.tw/archives/4920.html)

Players are advised to reach at least 500,000 points as Beach fairy is really good and will be crucial for later ranking maps.

smol