Arknights: Integrated Strategies Explained!

Note: Information on the new Integrated Strategies 2 event can be found here:

Other related guides:

Additional Authors:pumpkin#5585 and Botzu

[Integrated Strategies] is a new rogue-like game mode that was introduced alongside the [Gavial, The Great Chief Returns] summer event.  For each run of this mode, the player builds up a team from scratch using recruit permits supplied by the mode.  The team is strengthened by Relics that are collected along the way, as the player chooses 1 of many possible paths consisting of 8 different types of nodes.  Whether successfully completed or miserably failed, the player starts over and plays again, with the random events and items changing the path and experience every time.There is no Sanity required to play, and each run typically takes around 20-30 minutes.

This event runs for 3 weeks.  At the start of the 3rd and final week, all relics, game modes, and starting team options will be unlocked for all players, regardless of progression.

Choose a Difficulty

There are 3 difficulties the player can (eventually) choose:

• “Happy Wandering” - Easy Mode - “Bad Guy” is at your service
  • Rewards are reduced by 50%.  Players will start with the following Relic:

• “Helping attendance” - Normal Mode - “Just a normal day for a Rhodes Island Operator
  •  This is the Normal Mode.  Teams, Relics, buffs, etc can only be unlocked in this mode.
• “The Road of Misery” - Hard Mode - Increased rewards by 20%, the adventure will become very difficult
  • This will unlock after completing the mode ending.  Enemies will be stronger and rewards received will be increased. Players will get a random normal Relic and one of the following:

Choose a Starting Buff

• Start by choosing a buff. 
• Only 1 is available to choose at the start.  Others can be unlocked by satisfying their unlock requirements (for example, completing a game ending with more than 10 life points remaining)
• Only 1 can be chosen for each run.
• The following buffs are available:
  • Effect: Player gains 4 temporary Life Points for each battle (temporary life points lost will not be deducted from the players event-run total). Unlock Condition: None.
  • Effect: Squad size and Deploy Limit increased by +2. Unlock Condition: Clear the third Area [Thousand Roads].
  • Effect: Starting Originium Ingots +20, Starting Hope +2.  Unlock Condition: Acquire a total of 150 Originium Ingots (across multiple runs).
  • Effect: Players initial Life Points are set to , the ATK and Max HP of all Operators increased by +15%. Unlock Condition: Finish a run with more than 10 Life Points remaining.
  • Effect: 4★ or higher Vanguard and Guard Operators are fully unlocked/promoted when they are initially recruited. Unlock Condition: Successfully complete a run with a total of at least 5 Vanguard or 5 Guard Operators recruited.
  • Effect: 4★ or higher Defender and Supporter Operators are fully unlocked/promoted when they are initially recruited. Unlock Condition: Successfully complete a run with a total of at least 5 Defender or 5 Supporter Operators recruited.
  • Effect: 4★ or higher Medic and Sniper Operators are fully unlocked/promoted when they are initially recruited. Unlock Condition: Successfully complete a run with a total of at least 5 Medic or 5 Sniper Operators recruited.
  • Effect: 4★ or higher Specialist and Caster Operators are fully unlocked/promoted when they are initially recruited. Unlock Condition: Successfully complete a run with a total of at least 5 Specialist or 5 Caster Operators recruited.

Operator Recruitment

• At the beginning of each run, 2 regular recruitment tickets and 1 Advance recruitment ticket will be provided, the classes chosen at random.
• Regular recruitment tickets can be used to recruit an operator of the class shown.
• The Advance recruitment ticket can be used to recruit an operator of the class shown. It will contain an e1 maxed level operator who is free to recruit, this operator will be 4* or above.

• Hope  is a mode-only currency used to recruit and promote your Operators.  Players start with 6 Hope, and more is gained from increasing player level (table1 below), and from certain Relics.
• Recruiting a 6* costs 6 Hope, 5* costs 4 Hope, 4* costs 2 Hope, 3* and below costs 0 Hope.
• Only Operators that are owned by the player, or the Integrated Strategies Operators can be recruited. The advance recruitment ticket can feature a free operator, and it can be one you do not own.
• There is a chance that an Operator may appear in Recruitment for free (0 Hope Cost).  This Operator can be one you do not own, and comes at max Skill Level, max Operator Level, and max Potential. It is marked with a blue tag, as seen in the image above.
• There are 8 Integrated Strategies Operators that are unique to this mode:

Touch - 5★ Medic. Talent restores SP to the target, Skill increases Range,  heals additional targets, and buffs Medics

Pith - 5★ Caster. Talent reduces target RES, Skill increases ASPD and buffs Casters

Stormeye - 5★ Sniper. Talent adds chance to crit, Skill increases targets and hit count.

Sharp - 5★ Guard. Talent increases ATK and adds Physical Dodge, Skill increases ATK and HP, but reduces DEF to 0.

The 4 nameless Operators above are 3 Star rarity and have no Talents or Skills.

Operator Promotion

The first time you recruit an Operator, it will be limited to Promotion Level Elite 1.  The second time you recruit an Operator, it will be fully promoted.  Operator levels match what you have in your own roster (except for those that you may get from the game as a “temporary recruitment”). Rosa is being promoted through a second recruitment in the image below.

Hope is required to promote Operators, and the promotion is half of the recruitment cost, so 3 for 6*, 2 for 5*, 1 for 4*.  Items can also be used to promote Operators:

Previous Action Reward

If the player passes Area 2 on their last adventure, they get to choose an extra starting buff from these options:

• Extra Supplies: Gain +3 Life Points
• Pep Talk: Gain +2 Hope
• Reserve Support: gain +5 Originium Ingots
• Random Relic: Expend all Ingots for one random Relic.
• Loot Reclamation: Obtain a random Relic and Maximum Hope Limit reduced by -1.
• Grab Something: Gain the following Relic:

Areas

The Player will progress through 5 Areas (there is a 6th “secret” Area).  Each Area has a set of pseudo-randomly chosen paths and Nodes. 

•  Area 1 - Honey Cake Cave - Honey cake aren’t a food, they are the truth to this land’s beauty and sweetness. You saw the entrance to reality.
•  Area 2 - The Mountains of Honey and Sweet Cakes - Sugar and sweet cakes stacked up infinitely, towering and steep. A drunken haze surrounds the peak.
•  Area 3 - Thousands of Roads - Under grey hills, countless paths snaked and spread, forming complicated, crossing folds.
•  Area 4 - The Cloud Labyrinth - In the hazy fog, you lost the ability to discern direction. These soft puffs of air surrounded you, and land is nowhere to be found.
•  Area 5 - The Fungus Temple - After layers and layers of thorns, grey mushrooms extended into the clouds. Sporocarp buildings surround you, the mycelium connecting with the lamella, like a magnificent temple.
• Area 6 (secret Area) - The Ancient Territory of the Empire of Consciousness - You stepped onto a familiar yet strange land. Consciousness and gorgeous beings combined and detached.

Each Area has a guaranteed Node of a specific type at the end (see node type section below):

• Area 1 - Rogue Trader 
• Area 2 - Boons
• Area 3 - Dreadful Foe
• Area 4 -  Boons
• Area 5 - The final boss
• Area 6 - The 3rd ending (see Endings section below)

Different paths can be taken through each Area.  Once a path is chosen, you cannot go back and change paths or complete skipped nodes.

Nodes

Different types of Nodes have different colors and icons.  Some are combat Operations, some have a random event, still others give supplies.  There are 8 different types of nodes. They are:

•  Combat Operations
•  Emergency Operations - Combat Operations with buffed enemies (higher HP, DEF, and ATK, stronger minibosses, etc).  Successful completion rewards a free Relic.
•  Dreadful Foe - A boss fight.  Killing the boss awards a free Super Rare Relic.
•  Encounter - A random event

•  Boons - Get an unlocked Relic that is not restricted to a particular obtain method
•  Safe House - Player can choose one of 3 random rewards.

•  Downtime Recreation - A special encounter, for example [Originium Slugs Race] and [Drinking Contest]. Allows repeatedly spending Originium Ingots to gain HP, Ingots, and Relics.

•  Rogue Trader - An Ingot shop that contains recruitment tickets and Relics for purchase.

Notes:

• Buffs and debuffs can be gained along the way depending on the paths you take and choices that you make.
• Some choices and items are only available after satisfying certain unlocking conditions.
• A list of the Events, dialogue, choices, and rewards can be found here:

Combat

Starts from the following nodes: Combat Operations, Emergency Operations, or Dreadful Foe

Only Operators that have been recruited can be chosen for the squad:

• Max squad size starts at 6 and can be increased to a maximum of 9.  Squad size is increased upon reaching certain levels on the run.  Max squad size is increased by 1 at levels 6, 9, and 10
• There are 32 possible combat maps, and they may appear randomly in an Area, but each will only appear in a single Area.

After completing each combat stage, the player 

• Loses Life Points for each Life Point lost from enemy leaks during the combat stage. (some enemies, for example bosses, can cost more than 1 Life Point if they leak).  The Command Unit starting buff provides the player with 4 temporary Life Points for each stage, which are not subtracted from players life point total at the end of combat (in other words, it gives each stage a 4 Life Point “buffer”).  The image below shows life being lost:

• Gains XP - In this mode, the player’s level is separate from the main game, and [Hope] (a mode-only currency used to recruit and promote Operators) and [Max Squad Size] increases depending on the player’s level, which is increased by accumulating experience (Exp). The amount of experience required each level and the amount of [Hope] and [Squad Size] gained from each level are listed in the table below. The maximum level is 10 as of the release of the initial event.

• You will also receive a random set of rewards, that could include
  • Originium Ingots - A mode-only currency used to buy Recruitment Tickets or Relics at Rogue Trader Nodes, or other random encounters.
  • Recruitment Tickets - Used to recruit or promote your Operators. Each Recruit Ticket has its own Class and Rarity restrictions.  
  • Relics - Provide many various effects that improve your chances in combat. Once relics are acquired, their effects will be applied for all subsequent battles.

The full list of Recruitment Tickets and Relics can be found here: 

Bosses and Special Enemies

Bosses and Special enemies will occasionally appear in appropriate node types or as choices in some Nodes.  Some of these can subtract multiple life-points if not stopped, and offer a Relic as a reward if they are killed.

Elites

•  enemy_2002_bearmi(高普尼克).  Name: Gopnik. See Gopnik in action.
•   enemy_2001_duckmi (鸭爵) Duck Baron

Bosses

•  enemy_2005_axetro (“遗弃者”) “Forsaken”
•  enemy_2004_balloon (喷气人) Jetpack Man
• enemy_2003_rockman (迷路的巨像) Lost Golem
•  enemy_2008_flking (“墓碑”) “Tombstone” (Walmart Skullshatterer)
•  enemy_2007_flwitch (“寒灾”) “Frigid Calamity” (Walmart FrostNova)
•  enemy_2006_flsnip (锈锤战士) Rusthammer Warrior (Walmart Faust)

There are three possible endings with one being the normal and the other two being secret endings:

• Normal Ending: Walmart Faust
• Ending 2:  "Frigid Calamity" (Walmart FrostNova) ending requires you to beat the game on normal or hard first, and achieve the first ending. Then in random encounters you need to meet 3 related events all in one run, and then survive until the end for the FrostNova ending level: 
  1. Non-Existent Fairy Tale I -  Choose: "He deserves a proper burial - Lose 5 Originium Ingots." 
  2. Non-Existent Fairy Tale II - Chose: "No point giving up now - Lose 1 Objective HP" then choose "Risk and reward go hand-in-hand - Lose 1 Objective HP" then choose "It’s not time to give up yet! - Lose 1 Objective HP." to get Psychedelic Treasure Map
  3. Non-Existent Fairy Tale III​​​​​​​ - choose "Search around everywhere - Gain a collectible." to get Bloodstained Flyer
• Ending 3: Tombstone" (Walmart Skullshatterer) ending requires the completion of the Walmart FrostNova ending on at least normal or hard, then 
  1. Get the After the Deathmatch event and choose " They don’t have any use for this box anymore - Gain a collectible." to get the Heavy Metal Chest.
  2. Defeat Area 3 Boss and choose the Pitch-Black Key.
  3. Get the Looming Disaster​​​​​​​ event and choose "Carefully stash this item - Gain a collectible." to get the  “Hand Gun”.
  4. After clearing Area 5 there will be an Area 6 with a shop, safe house, normal combat stage, then Tombstone boss stage. After that is the hidden ending.

For a video guide, you can check out Peacecow's video for Ending 2.

Completion Stats

After each complete run, summary pages will be shown. 

Page 1:

• Doctor name, date, time, and which ending you got
• A list of Relics gained
• The final team roster

Page 2:

1. 4 Areas cleared
2. 23 moves taken
3. 10 maps cleared
4. 0 emergency maps
5. 1 boss (lvl 3 one in this case)
6. 8 Relics
7. 14 recruited Operators
8. 1.00 difficulty multiplier

• 58 shrooms, which are currency used for unlocking and upgrading team buffs that apply to all runs.
• 585 Honey Biscuits, which gain rewards from the event milestone reward system.  Here is a summary of the Milestone rewards, and full milestone details can be found here:

Page 3 shows which Relics were unlocked to allow them to appear in future runs.  10 Mushrooms and Honey Biscuits are awarded for each relic unlocked:

For Next Time!

After each run, the player can buy buffs with shrooms to improve your chances on future runs!

• Level 1 - Cost: 10 Shrooms.  Effect: Starting Originium Ingots +1
• Level 2 - Cost: 25 Shrooms.  Effect: Starting Originium Ingots +2
• Level 3 - Cost: 40 Shrooms.  Effect: Starting Originium Ingots +3
• Level 4 - Cost: 80 Shrooms.  Effect: Starting Originium Ingots +4
• Level 5 - Cost: 150 Shrooms.  Effect: Starting Originium Ingots +5

• Level 1 - Cost: 40 Shrooms.  Effect: Starting Life Points +1
• Level 2 - Cost: 120 Shrooms.  Effect: Starting Life Points +2

• Level 1 - Cost: 10 Shrooms.  Effect: ATK of all Operators +1%
• Level 2 - Cost: 25 Shrooms.  Effect: ATK of all Operators +2%
• Level 3 - Cost: 40 Shrooms.  Effect: ATK of all Operators +3%
• Level 4 - Cost: 80 Shrooms.  Effect: ATK of all Operators +4%
• Level 5 - Cost: 150 Shrooms.  Effect: ATK of all Operators +5%

• Level 1 - Cost: 10 Shrooms.  Effect: DEF of all Operators +1%
• Level 2 - Cost: 25 Shrooms.  Effect: DEF of all Operators +2%
• Level 3 - Cost: 40 Shrooms.  Effect: DEF of all Operators +3%
• Level 4 - Cost: 80 Shrooms.  Effect: DEF of all Operators +4%
• Level 5 - Cost: 150 Shrooms.  Effect: DEF of all Operators +5%

• Level 1 - Cost: 10 Shrooms.  Effect: Max HP of all Operators +1%
• Level 2 - Cost: 25 Shrooms.  Effect: Max HP of all Operators +2%
• Level 3 - Cost: 40 Shrooms.  Effect: Max HP of all Operators +3%
• Level 4 - Cost: 80 Shrooms.  Effect: Max HP of all Operators +4%
• Level 5 - Cost: 150 Shrooms.  Effect: Max HP of all Operators +5%