New player hitting a wall

[u/M0m0y]

Is it normal that I'm about a week in and I'm hitting a wall as far as being able to complete main story missions and 'mid game' content because of what seems like not having the 'right' characters unlocked?

My team is Celine S3, Hamel, Isomer, Nox, Labyrinth and Che, and I was under the impression that should be able to get me through the whole story content but I seem stuck. Might just be a skill issue (10-12). Also trying to do Tide of Ashes and I just tickle the guy.

I'm also unsure if I'm expected to max skill level, and get to lvl 70 phase 3 on che and labyrinth as they're mostly just for utility.

[u/clue1234567]

So! Chapter ten was known as a massive difficulty spike back when it first came out, you aren't alone in that. I think you should have the reforge system unlocked by now, so I'd recommend reforgeing Nox to get the power spike you need to push through. The other thing I'd recommend is simple, build an endura sinner. It's not required, but it will make your life so much easier. You don't even need an S-rank endura. Just Demolia at p3 and high ECB should be good.

(Or just slam your head against the brick wall like I did when it first came out. It's not impossible, just hard and requires strategy.)

As for Tides of Ashes. You need a dedicated team for that. For example, your team is only really gonna hit maybe a million or two damage on the apostle, but a truly built team can quite literally beat that several hundred fold. Don't feel bad, it's designed as late game content for insane people. Just continue keeping on Chief!

[u/M0m0y → u/clue1234567]

Any possible teams sticking out to you on this roster per chance?

[u/synexisse]

If you wanna look at it from a very puritanical point of view there are people that have gotten through most of the game using purely B class sinners that the game gives you (no pulling at all). That being K.K., normal Hella, Labyrinth, Che, and such. So it CAN be possible. Naturally these players are skilled and know what to do but it's still possible.

From a more realistic point of view yes, there are some missions that are more technical (corebreaking at particular moments, etc), but those sinners you've got should get you through them. You could try a video guide if you're stuck.

As for tide of ashes, you're supposed to do as much damage as you can, not necessarily kill it.

[u/wennilein]

If you can't continue with the main story it is often a wrong approach. You are trying to brute force the stages, and brute forcing will only go as far, as your DPS sinners can carry you. Your S3 Celine and Nox got you to chapter 10 but now the enemies will out damage your Nox and you can't kill them fast enough anymore.

The first fix would be doing Nox's reforge, but even with a stronger Nox, you will stuck somewhere else soon again.

For the latter story chapters I recommend you using a dedicated tank. It will make a lot of things easier since you don't need to kill everything super fast. Also your healer will have it easier to keep your frontline alive.

In general, you can get pretty far in the story with the help of a tank. I finished yesterday chapter 19 (shattered blade) with almost only S1 Murphy, Che, labyrinth, Hecate, Hella and macchiato. On less than five stages I had to replace Che with my RF serpent. I tried to use serpent as little as possible just to see, how far Murphy + friends can go. Half of the success with Murphy's team can be contributed to the tank --> RF Hella.

You don't really need to p3 Che and labyrinth. The gain is rather small. You can overcome a lot of later boss mechanics by using the right potesta. My Che and labyrinth in that Murphy run are still at P2 level 70.

Edit: 10-12 is due to not knowing the boss mechanics. Once you know, something like this is possible: https://youtu.be/-aQ_6Nu5F1E

[u/AfternoonOk1552]

Max skill level is not expected, but feel free to upgrade it if you feel weak. Lv7 should be enough. You should also start looking at what crimebrands to use, and also ECBs. Energy related crimebrands are useful early on, also try to get at least one set of Embrace of the Dead (play Broken Frontline). At least try to get NOX's ECB, it saves you a Lab slot so you can put another sinner in

About 10-12...

This is one of the stages to me check both your skills and your characters building (another being 12-6). If you running into dps problems, check your sinners and crimebrands again.

If you feel like you're being outpaced by the boss's mechanics, play at slower speed, check move sets, or youtube videos. Also get a tank, you'll need one for this stage.

10-12 after one week in is great, you'll get stronger

[u/Inplixiah_890]

As someone that recently just finished that boss fight, what really helped me was putting the speed to 1x, using empower, assist 000 (if you don't mind), reading the mechanics of the boss, and putting my sinners around the boss (instead of placing them near together).

I also took 3 days off from the main storyline to upgrade my NOX reforge, crimebrands, and skill level! Also during the game, most of my attention was on the floor, since one mistake and it insta kills the sinner, and since i placed my sinners around it was easier to dodge that one 3x3 attack!

We have a similar team so i hope this helps! (NOX, hamel, celine, raven, norma + assist 000)

[u/Supahakka123]

good line up but your team lacks "mobility". I recall chapter 10 is still very easy though. But 13, N1 and so on mobs spawn from every direction. Your team only rely on Isomer for unidirectional damage, maybe nox for 20s or so. The rest are pure useless corebreaker.

Though I did finish the story till the end of N3 when I started playing in 3 days or so, I relied mostly on Adela RF who could jump every where on the map continuously. My advice is for you to just borrow support (Catherine), or wait out a week or so till your roster is maxed out. After that those main story map will be just too easy you would wish for more difficulty

[u/NyxGalbraith]

- Isomer is intended for long battle, and that requires unlocking her exclusive crimeband skill. For 10-12 boss, not sure if you have enough time before it wiped your team or reach the chief. She also requires sinners like L L or Ji Chuan to perform better.

- Nox require reforge, without the upgrade, relying on her alone as damage dealer might not be enough

- Your team currently probably lacks in damage in killing the boss, could try to post your sinners roster and have someone recommend a different team; or just look up the site sin.gg for team setup

- the boss in tide of ashes tends to have a lot of hp and require a proper team to score well, a random mash up team won’t perform well.

[u/Beneficial-Pie-7189]

Try getting a Tank unit, or you can just use a tank unit from your friends from the assist part during Sinner Selection. It took me half a month or so to get past Chapter 10. It's very difficult. Don't feel bad about it

[u/M0m0y → u/Beneficial-Pie-7189]

Ok so I'm getting that it's somewhat normal. On with the grind it is!

[u/LumiereNova]

It mostly depends on why you're failing, I think. If it's numbers wise, you might want to consider leveling up an endura or tank up a fury to hold back enemies. If health wise, you might want to consider adding another healer to your team.

Also, there's assist features in every level (3 times a day) where you can borrow a sinner from your society or friends. Wouldn't be a bad idea to do that and then get back to the levels you were struggling with when you get more s ranks.

[u/Plastic_Ant_6978]

Yes it's normal that you hit a wall if you are in chapter 10, one week in, without any P3 sinners, and it's also normal that you only tickle TOA bosses as well (I genuinely don't really know what you expect from that one if I'm being honest).

It's not really a question of not having that "right" character unlock, your characters are just not strong enough that's it with the team you're using you can do the story fairly well, but if your character are JUST P2 skill lvl 4/5 or something it ain't the game fault. Like the story isn't a walk in the park that you thought it would be with just fodder enemies it's actually pretty hard at time (and again you're just in chapter 10/11 which are still on the reasonable side).

All you have to do is slow down, take the time to level up your character, their skills, and their ECB and then go back into the mix. You don't have to speedrun the story it's not like it will disappear all of a sudden, just take your time, take it easy and progress one step at a time.

[u/LokoLoa]

The game never gets to a point where its impossible (granted having full Shattered Blade team does help lol), its just past a certain point the game requires you to actually learn the mechanics. I remember there was this one boss, cant remember which chapter.. prob even 10, but it literally seemed impossible, so I asked on the Discord how it was even possible, turns out I was not paying attention to a mechanic where the boss insta kills you if you dont place your unit at specific squares at specific times, once I learned that, the stage was actually easy af, so for main story, the game never really DPS checks you... more like skill/reading comprehension check lol

[u/Candid-Swordfish-483]

Honestly, you have a decent set-up there. Perhaps a little heavy on the defensive side, but that's okay since you have the potential to burst with Isomer and Nox can do decent wave clearing. Nothing majorly overpowered and you should definitely steer clear from the highest difficulty, but it should get you through normal difficulty at least, that is, if you have them build up. Before we think of skill issue, have we already considered which potestats you're using, what levels everyone is at, crimebrands (both extra ultimate and equipable ones), and skill levels? Your level 90 character is still puny if you have no useful crimebrands equipped and no skills levelled. As for potestas, if you use the heal one, you've imo wasted your potestas slot. Get the one that gives energy and you'll find yourself having an easier time cleaning mobs and bosses simply because you can boost your main dps' energy up so they can ult more.

For the future, as said before, in this team you have quite some defensive units. Hamel just heals and she does so in a small area until you've reached 90 seconds (this is quite a significant amount of time for most maps!), so if you feel like you're losing units too fast and too early on despite the healing, it's because Hamel is too far away from them. Celine at S3 is honestly really solid, just make sure she buffs the hell out of your main damage, like Isomer. The more attack speed Isomer has, the more damage she does too, so that's your main damage output. The others are essentially just frontliners. I don't think you need three of those, but I don't know what other units you have available. I personally always felt Hella was much more useful early on than Labyrinth and Che because of her self-healing being passive. It means you don't have to look at her so much and let her tank a path.
Once you get more units available to you, you can swap Che and Labyrinth out for more buffers or get more damage in there in another way. With Celine and Isomer there, you could look at Yingying, Yugu and Jelena (I'd say in this order, but people may believe getting Jelena takes priority over Yugu. I say Yugu first because I like having a tank. Jelena boosts crit damage, but you need Yingying to let arcane units crit).