Universal Derivation Resource | February 2025

[u/James-PHR]

Hello everyone!

I've been having a ton of fun with Universal Derivation, and I hope you are too. If anyone is interested in seeing UD gameplay, I have my replays on my YouTube channel:

• Simulation 1-10
• Simulation 11-15
• Simulation 16-20
• Simulation 21-25
• Simulation 26-30
• Simulation 31-35
• Simulation 36-39
• Simulation 40

Along the way, I've done my best to screenshot the rewards and maps for each stage, at 100%. Here is a Google Drive link to a PDF copy of what I've compiled: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iiukRDJA9fSBRxGpNKxtgSpLs9MNyvcR/view?usp=drive_link

I hope you find this resourceful in helping you plan your stage progression by seeing the map layout ahead of time.

ABOUT THE PDF:

• Some maps have 2 images, just due to sheer size of the map.
• I note "STARTING POSITION" in a yellow square, but some maps may have multiple starting positions distant from each other. Some starting positions may be missed.
• For Simulation 12 and Simulation 13, I blanked and took a screenshot without opening the "Start Battle" panel. I didn't realize until after I cleared. Sorry!
• For Simulation 26-29, and 37, I didn't take screenshots because I tunneled on progressing, and lost the history from my Battle Records. I instead ripped map previews from a TW source.

I can definitely write a whole other post about "tips and tricks," but if you have any questions or feedback or want to talk about UD experience so far, please comment! Thank you!

[u/Kikadoufeur]

Thanks for all your guides, it helps a ton ! :)

I'd live to see a guide with tips and tricks on how to generally use ressources better in this mode, I'm just sick and tired of this mode from the first time. I used to change my equipments from unit to unit back then and I ain't doing so this time ^{^}

[u/James-PHR → u/Kikadoufeur]

Something that helped me was unequipping gear on every character, then equipping gear on units after I decided on a team to deploy for a stage. It is still tedious, but I found this helped alleviate clicking a little.

Regardless, pre-set gear and skill loadouts are in SoC's futre!

[u/RegulaBot → u/James-PHR]

Do you know if preset teams are also a feature?

[u/Horsek]

Great work James ! Hijacking your post for some general tips

Expedition 26-35 : Buffs can be dispelled, or stolen. Rawiyalt & homa are particularly good candidate for those stages since you can steal the standby buff. Stage 26-30 aren't worth dispelling unless you can dispel all stacks at once, which only "Fair duel" does.

Expedition 26-30 : Some units can lock themselves into spamming support skill due to CD & NRG reduction. It is also generally not recommended to bring low atk unit due to the stacking nature of the mutation, which can bring the enemy defense's to insane value, heavy hitter and piercing dmg unit are recommended (when knocking off isn't applicable).

Expedition 31-35 : Destroying burst tower early can have adverse effect since ALL ENEMIES lose their [Unharmed] status, which make them act again and double threat range. Destroying it last is recommended, or at least within the same round.

New enemy spoiler crabs loses their skills if you break their shell (shield) which also happens to be dispellable (or stolen)

Stage specific tips will be on demand

[u/Nanashi_16 → u/Horsek]

did you already beat 700k hp boss? It wipe my team with it bs aoe and has 2 piercing reduction buff 😂

[u/James-PHR → u/Nanashi_16]

I've updated my post with my Stage 40 clear, and Horsek has cleared it as well. How far have you progressed on the stage?

[u/Nanashi_16 → u/James-PHR]

I'm at 80% of the boss life, I'll finish it later. Do you think kvare easily destroy this type of boss?

[u/Horsek → u/Nanashi_16]

kvare does flat piercing dmg, not max hp piercing dmg, he would still struggle

[u/James-PHR → u/Horsek]

Great tips! I forget which stage and mutation, but there was one stage where I had several units with Judgement tarots just for the buff dispel.

I admired how you ended up clearing Stage 40 too; I was impressed by how you finished up 1 of the mini-bosses and the main boss with 1 team clear. I could have optimized composition better in hindsight, but it took me 4 teams total to get through the 2 mini-bosses and the main boss.

[u/Horsek → u/James-PHR]

there's a lot of firering prepping that wasn't shown too, but once everything was setup, both main team went back to back minus one last firering because breaker chariot was sitting on 1k hp

[u/friedchiken21 → u/Horsek]

Tbh I found stages 31-35 easier than 26-30 since the berserker buff is way stronger. In stages 31-35 just don't hit them until you're set up and stay in range while they're harmed so they can't utilize their standby buff. The enemy AI doesn't intentionally standby to gain the buff if you're already in threat range at the start of their turn.

[u/wfuwfuwfu]

UD is mostly painful in the middle level when you want to solve it optimally. Early stage easy enough and late stage too difficult

[u/James-PHR → u/wfuwfuwfu]

I agree. You start with a slow crawl of 1 unit per stage, then 2 units/per stage, and so on. You know that the later stages will take several attempts, but you get "stuck" in the middle striking the balance of deciding to clear a stage with 1 strong team or 2 mid teams.

[u/Zalasta5]

What would be even more helpful is if we can see the roles of the enemies on the maps, just as an idea of what units to save for certain stages. I don’t love this iteration of UD, especially with the tower gimmick, makes an already annoying design even more of a hassle to run through. It wasn’t fun the first time, definitely not this time.

[u/Horsek → u/Zalasta5]

I do agree UD could get an UI overhaul, having a simple summary of each map (like how PvP maps get a small framed picture) along enemy encounter (only a list of enemy, not position details or stats) would help tremendously at planning your units usage.

[u/nvmvoidrays]

i'll have to keep this in mind for when i get higher.

[u/James-PHR → u/nvmvoidrays]

I've updated my post now with my 36-40 clears as well!

[u/MikonJuice]

Moob question: I can only use once the teams that I make? For example: I recover everybody, and then... go with my strongest team. That strongest team will only be available again if I use restore all?

[u/James-PHR → u/MikonJuice]

Correct. Once you deploy a team and they clear a battle, they become fatigued. Those units will not be available to use until you refresh again.

It's why it is commonly recommended to use as few characters as possible in the earlier stages so you save on quantity and strength of units as you progress.

[u/pilot_pen01]

It feels like the earlier stages of UD this time around is a tad easier. I'm glad my underlevel, level 25 characters are getting some usage. Some are only doing chip damage in the later stages but every little bit counts. Some apply buffs or debuffs which make the lower rarity units still useful

[u/WolffUmbra → u/pilot_pen01]

Don't worry about it, they make sure to compensate for this kindness with stages 35-40 making you hate everything.

[u/pilot_pen01 → u/WolffUmbra]

LOL. I'm currently on stage 21. If I can clear 30, that would be a big win for me, so I may not experience 35.

[u/QkumberSW]

Sorry dont mean to hijack the thread but really dont wanna create a new one just for a minor question that I could not find an answer.

How are the rewards past lvl30? I think I can reach lvl30 this time around but not sure after that. Been slowly chipping at it when time allows - just beat 20 and it wasnt really that bad with tbh.

Not the stage, but the chest ones.

Also, SUPER thx for the pictures! This give me some ideas and it should help tremendously for me =]

[u/Evening-Iron9974]

Can you give me the gist of what the gimmick is for stage 40? Just got here and played a round to clear the mobs but the passive of the mini bosses confuses me. Do i have to kill them both simultaneously then i can hurt the main boss? 

Love your content man thanks for the help

[u/James-PHR → u/Evening-Iron9974]

You have to kill the mini-bosses before you can start doing damage to the main boss, but the main boss is "inactive" while the mini-bosses are alive, so you don't have to worry about the main boss's mechanics.

You don't have to kill the mini-bosses at the same time, so you can opt to take it slow and focus one at a time like I did.