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If you’re wondering about getting into Alchemy Stars, here’s some general tips to help you go through the game at a steady pace.
GENERAL PROGRESSION
Focus on clearing story stages first. You can still auto complete stages without 3-stars.
Some of the important main story chapters are as follows:
- 3-7 unlocks Secret Territory
- 4-14 unlocks Spire, four mono-elemental towers of increasing difficulty
- 7-14 unlocks Old Seal, where you can begin the time-gated grind for an Ascension 3, 6-star unit of your choice
- 8-14 gets you the last Central Plugin to upgrade the Colossus Bridge to Level 5 (current max)
If you need a little more gacha currency, do the Extra Stories. They cost no Prisms so you can continuously reset for a 3-star clear.
TEAM BUILDING
Finish building a mono elemental team first. You can check our guide for recommended characters to raise here. Due to the random nature of tiles, you could probably live on three, or even four, Converters to a team, and one Healer, depending on what characters you have. It’s not recommended by any means, but it would be possible.
Once you raise a character to Ascension 3, you can probably hold off giving them more Jaspers due to how prohibitively expensive it gets.
Your core team can also benefit from Equipment upgrades, for the additional stats and improved skills where relevant. Last but not least, don’t forget to grab gifts from the Shop / Secret Store now and again, for that incremental Affinity stat boost.
4-star units don’t unlock a Secondary element at Ascension 3, so it’s at your discretion to fully Ascend a 4-star unit. 3-star units are capped at Ascension 2. 5-star units that double up on Secondary elements get 140% on-element damage, to 120% / 80% for dual-elemental units.
COLOSSUS
The Bridge will definitely be the most important to raise to the current max Level 5, so that your other facilities can be upgraded. From there, work on:
- Prism Pillar
- Resource Station
- Workshop
The Prism Pillar is a no brainer, to get more Prism refills for stages. At Level 5, you can have 3 units to the room for up to at least 60% (!) increased recovery rate.
The Resource Station is mostly to unlock the max tier Resource stages for the various grinds for Equipment, Experience, Nightium and Colossus Building materials.
Workshop can arguably be left at Level 4 as that’s where you will first get access to Ascension 3 materials.
The Dispatch Office and Exploration rooms should be next. Dispatch Missions can eke out bonus Lumamber, occasionally special Furniture and books for the Cafe. The Exploration room will be for more MS that later convert into Text Fragments.
More Heartstones from the Starlight Chamber could be useful, but Breakthroughs often require Solamber from duplicate units which aren’t guaranteed. The tooltip does say you get Star Gems from it, but as the store only refreshes monthly, you have time to spare.
Upgrade the Lumina Grid as needed.
Last but not least, as the Colossus Mood Points caps at 10,000, you might want to use Text Fragments to buy out the furniture in the Secret Shop to max it. The higher the Mood, the more likely you can get Lumamber gifts and / or friend visits. The Nightium gifts will also increase in amount.
GACHA
While the pity rate does carry over across banners, it’s recommended to save up for 10-pulls due to several gacha-related Achievements from 10x draws.
Special Star Flare banners are one pity rate.
Rotating Recommended Recruitment banners are one pity rate.
Mainstay Recruitment has a separate pity rate from the Rotating Recommended banners even though they both use regular Star Flares.
In this case, it would be better to wait for Rotation recruitments for specific rate ups.
MISCELLANY
Should you use Lumamber to recharge Prisms? Maybe. Daily missions give out 50 Lumamber, while your first refresh will cost 30 Lumamber. Prices gradually increase:
- #2: 40
- #3, 4: 60
- #5, 6: 100
- #7, 8: 150
- #9, 10: 200
It can get prohibitively expensive for F2Ps, so peruse at your own discretion.
The Star Store offers a monthly refresh of two select 5-stars and their Solamber. You can opt to wait to obtain a specific 5-star at 50 SS Star Gems, obtained from duplicate 5-star and 6-star Aurorians. Duplicate Solambers can be recycled in the Workshop, but they will only be available after you max Breakthrough a character.
Star Crests are used to Breakthrough the Silent Hunters you obtain from Old Seal.
Secret Territory and the Secret Store resets weekly, so don’t forget to grab those Recharger Packs and Star Flares at the very least!
Keep an eye out for the Jane’s Notes quizzes from the official channels for some bonus goodies. They may not be much, but why not?
That’s pretty much the basic tips you should focus on in Alchemy Stars. Good luck, Navigator!
