Punishing Gray Raven just released and if you are one of those players looking for a guide to get you up to speed, we got you covered.

This guide will focus on new players, especially free-to-play (F2P), and how they should ideally progress in Punishing Gray Raven. Even if you are a dolphin or whale (light or heavy spenders), a lot of the strategies here still applies to you.

Don’t use the S-Rank Construct Pick right away

Upon clearing the tutorial, all players can immediately obtain an S-Rank Construct of their choice. Note that even if newer S-Rank Constructs are added to the game, the S-Rank Construct Pick will only let you choose between:

• Kamui: Tenebrion
• Karenina: Ember
• Liv: Luminance
• Lee: Entropy
• Nanami: Pulse

However, it is highly recommended not to pull for them right away. This is to avoid the chance of getting duplicates from the Base Member Recruit banner. It is a lot safer to get your first S-Rank via this banner first, then use the S-Rank Construct Pick to get your second S-Rank.

Note that even if you don’t have an S-Rank Construct, you can use pretty much any character to clear most of the game’s content. For this guide, there is a specific construct that we strongly recommend you to main in Punishing Gray Raven.

Liv is better than you think

Liv: Eclipse, the B-Rank Construct which the game gives you, is hands down the best investment for free-to-play players. When you evolve her to SSS-Rank, she will give the active member of your team a 10% physical damage increase, making her the go-to healer of choice for a physical damage team.

Furthermore, despite being a healer, her burst damage is surprisingly high. She is the most offensive orientated out of all three Livs thanks to her powerful Core Skill (Any 3-ping + red orb), which fires a huge laser. She’s also very user-friendly, thanks to her being a ranged class and also having a convenient heal (and physical damage buff).

On top of all that, you are given her 5-star weapon, Guardian Mount on your 2nd day of logging in! As a F2P player, you will mostly be avoiding the weapon banners, so this is a godsend and will last you a long time.

Thanks to these reasons, she is the perfect Construct to main as for F2P players. Lucia: Lotus and Nanami: Storm will lose out to other Constructs of the same class, but Liv: Eclipse still remains very relevant in endgame Warzone. 

The same goes for all the other A-Rank Constructs currently available in the game. With the exception of Liv: Lux, Liv: Eclipse is more viable late game than all the other A-Rank Constructs. Of course, you should main as the character you like the best, but objectively speaking, Liv: Eclipse is the best investment for a new F2P player.

Priority number 1: Story Progression

Whether you follow the recommendation of this guide and main as Liv in Punishing Gray Raven or not, your number 1 priority is to progress in the story. Most of the game’s content, everything from the competitive modes to even the friends list, is locked behind a story mission or level restriction.

You should constantly focus on clearing story missions and unlocking new chapters. Avoid doing Resource missions if possible, since the only Resource missions worth farming are the fourth stages, which are locked behind the story. 

The only time you should consider doing Resource missions is when your Commandant level does not allow you to progress the story any further. If you already have Co-op unlocked, then Co-op is generally the better option, since there is a chance for you to get 5-star weapons.

Even if your BP is significantly lower than the game’s recommendation, story missions can still be cleared. However, do be careful if one of the tasks is to complete the mission within 150 seconds. As long as you quit or lose the mission, you would not waste any Energy, so feel free to keep trying until you can clear all tasks for a specific mission.

At the same time, be sure to clear the Daily Missions. All dailies, with the exception of the free 60 stamina, Warzone and Phantom Pain Cage missions give you experience for your Commandant Level. You should always complete all the dailies, except for the one which requires you to spend Black Cards to restore stamina, since that is not worth it.

The dangers of over-investing 

Early on, you want to avoid spending too many resources on Memories. Most of the game’s 5-star Memories or lower are outclassed in the late game, with the exception of a few. Voltaire, Richelieu, Samantha and Groda are the only currently available 5-star Memories that see some form of use in a few character builds. If you must upgrade 5-star Memories, you may consider investing a bit of materials on them. Otherwise, focus on upgrading the 6-star Memories that you obtain.

Also, when choosing which Memories to level up, it is recommended to focus on the Memories on the bottom row first (slots 4-6). These Memories influence your ATK stat and you will find ATK to be a lot more useful in clearing stages. Note that the Memories on the top row (slots 1-3) also give Crit, but physical damage-based constructs benefit a lot more from it.

Also, avoid levelling too many different characters at once. You practically only need one Construct for the story, and another one or two more for Phantom Pain Cage. Spreading your resources too thin will result in a lack of Cogs, which makes upgrading other stuff more difficult.

The climb towards late game

Eventually, you will need to focus on upgrading several different Constructs, focusing on the different elements and roles. This is mainly for Warzone, where various stages have different elemental bonuses and Phantom Pain Cage, where different bosses have different weaknesses.

Currently, Karenina: Ember and Kamui: Tenebrion are solid choices for fire and dark teams. Lee: Entropy is currently the best physical damage dealer available now, but will be outclassed by Lucia: Crimson Abyss (aka Alpha) once she releases. 

Also, once you unlocked AE-4 of Combat Supply, focus on farming 6-star Memories. Even if you don’t have the right S-Rank Constructs yet, you are still able to build many great sets for them. Best of all, many of the 6-star Memories like Hannah and Da Vinci are useful for most of the game’s constructs.

We hope that this guide will give you a clearer idea on how to progress in Punishing Gray Raven. Stay tuned for more guides from us on the game. In the meantime, you can check out our review of the game if you haven’t or find out the system requirements to run the game on your phone.

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Download

Punishing Gray Raven

Publisher: Kuro Game

Developer: Kuro Game

Release Date: 2021-07-16

Android, iOS

Punishing: Gray Raven is a fast-paced ultra-stylish Action-RPG. Mankind is almost extinct. Earth has been conquered by a robotic army—the Corrupted—twisted and warped by a biomechanical virus known as The Punishing. The last survivors have fled into orbit, aboard the space station Babylonia. After years of preparation, the Gray Raven special forces unit leads the mission to reclaim their lost homeworld. You are their leader. As commandant of the Gray Raven unit, you are tasked with assembling the greatest cyborg soldiers the world has known and lead them into battle. Unravel the dark truths behind the Punishing virus, push back the Corrupted and reclaim the Earth in this stylish Action-RPG.