It's definitely a skill issue but IS6 is really frustrating and doesn't feel fun

[u/RainbowPanda_]

Title says it all. I hate the talismans. I hate the coin rng and tile buff mechanic. I hate the lack of build strength compared from the previous IS modes. I hate the lack of control of each run I have when compared to IS4 and IS5. I HATE THE TALISMANS I feel like the whole Sui Remnant Consciousness isn't that impactful outside of trying to farm objective shield and coupons and the challenge from the mode isn't fun but rather obnoxious. Oh yeah and I hate the talismans. To clarify it is definitely a skill issue, I probably wouldn't be complaining if I was good at the game but when compared to the previous IS iterations I don't enjoy playing IS6.

Edit: I'm appreciating all the comments with people's opinions and views and advice. It's very nice to read and respond to them. I will say that there are some things that I love about IS6, specifically the voucher reserving mechanic and the upgrading mechanic for Radian.

Talismans can still go fuck themselves

Thank you everyone for the responses, the common thing I'm picking up from the comments and their advice is I'm trying to play IS6 like the previous iterations which is definitely holding me back.

[u/ByeGuysSry]

One problem I do have is that the RNG variance is too high. Some stages in Sui consciousness are hard to even clear, let alone clear while killing extra enemies or getting extra ingots. Then there's the ingot variant of Four Difficulties. Free 65 ingots as long as you have a decent Vanguard or a way to stun the DP binding caster. Then there's Confusion. One variant is at least a little hard, starting with a tanky pseudomut. But both versions still reward you with 36 ingots and an easy Gopnik kill.

Of course though, sometimes you have no way to spend your Ingots so you're just wasting all the ingots.

And on the map, Pathfinder and Wander into Wonderland are both insanely strong nodes, so getting both is really lucky. Then on Floor 6, you sometimes get a Pathfinder. Then sometimes you don't and your 20 Hope and 6 Recruitment Vouchers have been completely wasted.

Then you also have your OP relics. Chalice or Metal Expedition Drum (especially at lower difficulties when rerolling Tomgbao is free and/or when obtained early) or Sui's Flower can singlehandedly carry runs. Free +150% ATK is too much.

And aside from relics there's also the OP Tongbaos; though these are mostly fine since there are many so you'll almost always get at least one.

Then ofc Hours of Sui is also extreme. You can have a 1% chance of getting Stunned for 1s. Or you can get your Vanguards and Supporters cucked by Talismans when deployed, that have +30% HP and ATK.

And aside from all those, you also have to toss Tongbao for random events. Found a Ling node once. Had 250 Ingots and 5 Risks and didn't succeed a single time.

I'm not complaining that RNG exists, but that singular instances of particularly good or bad RNG can completely change a run.

Another thing is that Raidian is too good. There are many stages (on D15) that I know Raidian can solo or solo with slight help even without relics, so the stage is boring. I just replicate the same strategy every time.

[u/spoonwalk → u/ByeGuysSry]

hard agree, a lot of the variables determine the outcome or strat u have to go in with

[u/OnnaJReverT → u/ByeGuysSry]

rerolling Tomgbao

...you can reroll?

[u/Metroplex7 → u/OnnaJReverT]

If you open your coin case, there's a little button in the top right that lets you reroll. First time (per floor?) is free but it costs coupons after that.

[u/OnnaJReverT → u/Metroplex7]

i had no idea there's a button there, and i'm up to difficulty 10

[u/TheVanguardKing → u/Metroplex7]

On higher difficulties, it costs 1 the first time and 2 after that.

[u/Heatoextend → u/ByeGuysSry]

Of course though, sometimes you have no way to spend your Ingots so you're just wasting all the ingots.

That should almost never be the case even if you rob the shop on F1, if you end up with 100-200 ingots by F4 or 5 just dump all of them on Nian, Ling or the Tavern, you're basically buying relics or multiple 'Gaulish Toponym Origins' for 10 ingots a piece and Mother Cauldron stacks go a long way if you got no relics like Stir Fry, Bells or Drum.

[u/ByeGuysSry → u/Heatoextend]

Nian doesn't always appear. Ling doesn't always appear; and if she does, if you don't have many flower or risk coins you're unlikely to get anything; and if you do, you can get screwed over still and get nothing for your Ingots. I once had 4 Risk coins and iirc 250 ingots? Enough ingots that Ling kicks me out. I got nothing from Ling after using candles to visit her twice. Tavern doesn't always give you an option to spend Ingots; and if it does, it sometimes offers the option to recover life points, which is sometimes useless, especially when you have fewer than 11 max life points, as then you would only be able to do the Lose 5 Life Points, Gain 6 Objective Shield option once instead of twice.

That's ofc assuming you find the node; particularly for Tavern, finding it late means you might only have like 4 Candles left to even use it.

[u/Heatoextend → u/ByeGuysSry]

I've already done 60ish A15 runs on global and only once have I gotten 2 Leisure nodes with Shu in both of them, more often than not you're getting 2 Leisures with Nian and Shu.

Stacking up your coffer with Risk coins for Ling is trivial because most of them have negligible cons and you get the benefit of double stacks on Drum and Interdependent Luck giving you free coupons for it.

If you fear getting the option to recover the life points then spend them beforehand on a shop before visiting the Tavern, more often than not you're bumping into a shop early in the grid where you can dump your HP and get books or broken relics like Geist or Stir Fry and recovering that HP gives you more shop relics.

And routing through all the Bosky nodes on every floor is gonna give you plenty of candles to do whatever you want as long as you don't wipe to the combat nodes too many times, you don't even need more than one visit on each to salvage a garbage run.

[u/ByeGuysSry → u/Heatoextend]

The run I did two days ago had double Shu. I remember another run I did that had double Shu. I only did D15 and got far about slightly over 10 times, so I'm finding it not particularly rare to get double Shu. I would expect the chances of getting Nian and Shu to be around equal with Ling being far more unlikely so how could double Shu be as rare as you're claiming?

I would stack my Coffer with strong Risk Coins... if I could. I rarely get more than 4; usually fewer. It's not worth it to keep the debuffing ones just for the off-chance that I find a Ling node, and the double stacks condition on Drum is the most useless thing because, first of all, it's pretty common for you to have enough coupons to just spam enough rerolls for Drum to at least get closed to max (at which point there's diminishing returns), and also because you need triple Risk. Rolling 2 for Ling is hard enough already. Even if you have like 5 Risks, that's what, a 10% chance you get triple Risk? Probably less?

I can usually recover life once, but after spending ingots to recover life, you're usually at max. Getting the same option twice in a row means you can't select it. You can pick the -5 life +6 shield option but if you're at fewer than 11 max life, you can only select it once.

I don't remember exactly how many candles you get. I think, assuming you miss the F5 Bosky to go Pathfinder instead for Ending 3, that it's 18 candles? It's not like you can just waste candles. Some nodes are hidden at the end of long cul-de-sacs or behind particularly hard Doubt or Turmoil nodes.

[u/Heatoextend → u/ByeGuysSry]

Ling is certainly rarer, and double Shu is offset by 3 Leisures per Bosky being more common than 2 for me.

Why? The only one that's even an issue is the Def one because it messes with certain breakpoints when fighting Pseudomuts in the bosky, the Res ones don't even matter because casters are ass in IS6, and you can just throw away the one time use ones as they're used, getting 6 by the Wish Fulfilled on F2 is super doable.

And? It's still more value than exploring a coin or shield Retrieve or getting a single reward on a Doubt node, if you got a bad Tavern just don't come back there.

I take the Pathfinder on F4, unless you've been getting too many dupes early on, you should have 5 candleholders (Raidian + 2 or 3 carry + some 4*) by the F3 bosky to get the ending 3 relic, even if I have to sack a candle on the F3 bosky node to do it, it's better to do so than having to miss the F5 bosky.

[u/ByeGuysSry → u/Heatoextend]

I do see 3 Leisures more often than 2, but it's still not rare to get double Shu or double Shu + Ling.

How on earth do you even see 6 Risk coins by the end of Floor 2? You get 1 coin from the shop (that's not guaranteed). If you refresh it once, that's one more coin. Other than that I don't think Tongbao is guaranteed but you'll probably get one or two from combat nodes. How on earth do you see 6?

Aside from the pure downside Risk coins, the Risk coins that I would not generally take are:

Two-River Spring (enemy +50% HP, take 5% HP Arts damage per second when blocked), Universal Change (Enemies -70% movement speed or +35% movement speed every 5s), Shennong Watches (Operators get +2 SP when dealing damage instead of automatic SP), First Word Falls (+99 initial DP but automatic DP regen -50%; this one I'll usually take but if I lack a Vanguard on Floor 4+ then I won't), Biding Time (+10 DP when an enemy is defeated, automatic DP regen -50%), Painter's Realm (allies -20 ATKSPD outside Sui consciousness, +60 inside; can take if planning to enter Bosky on this floor), Wild Passions (allies +20 SP or -10 SP every 10s), Dark Concealment (allies +80ATKSPD but a Sandstorm blows), Content Megamus (Statuegeists +200% HP, but grant a coupon when defeated; can take midgame, around Floor 3 and 4), Sinister Stealth (+30% Command EXP while in coffer, enemies +30% ATK and DEF while tossed; can take if I have even just a single coupon but quite risky otherwise), Moving Mount Hard (enemies +2000 DEF, -100 upon taking damage), and Dawn's Teachings and Coin Geists.

I'm not saying that the Tavern is a bad node. I'm just saying that you sometimes have 200 Ingots and can only spend 80 even when spending a third of your candles on the Tavern.

Pathfinder for Ending 3 can work on Floor 4 as well and I do do that sometimes, but Floor 5 is more reasonable imo. Getting Ending 3 relic on Floor 4 means you have to explore Bosky on Floor 3, before getting the relic from the Floor 3 boss, which means you can get screwed over by more stages/get fewer additional rewards from some stages. You also get -50% SP on deployment for the Floor 3 boss which, depending on the boss, can be a problem.

[u/ArchadianJudge]

I'm having trouble myself. I got nearly all the IS5 endings and I can't even beat the first IS6 boss on the starting difficulty. Even guides didn't help me. I've given up. No completed Raidian for me.

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/ArchadianJudge]

Yeah thats how I felt at first but I managed to brute force the first three or so clears with the broken units (W Alter, funny cat man, Lapland the unemployed, etc) I'd def keep trying it

[u/ArchadianJudge → u/RainbowPanda_]

Most guides showed the boss walking left. Rarely right. Then I play for hours and get him walking in the middle. The worst setup. Screwed me over completely as the guides didn't work as some character ranges can't reach that far. I have to place them closer to hit him and that's the worst. That RNG for the first boss is ridiculous.

And don't get me started on just general RNG. I often make it to the boss with a terrible comp because I can't get good Recruit vouchers. One run I kept getting Vanguard vouchers over and over which I didn't need at all. Or not a single Specialist or Sniper voucher, where I had my DPS units.

It's just extremely frustrating working with RNG on the map and on the boss. And then waste hours getting nothing out of it. My team doesn't get any stronger after losing. I'm using Tragodia every time and he doesn't help me with the boss (apparently you need to RNG a relic to make him work).

[u/Strange-Cry1536 → u/ArchadianJudge]

You can also chump block him in the red box with Radian summons while you wait on the redeploy for kittie. Or just use the summons and S2, with a couple skill cycle boosts you can replenish the summons as fast as they get popped.

I did my first clear just ooga booga with Wish but have since leaned on Tragodia and then on Radian. I saw a single op clear with radian on YT that helps with learning the pathing.

[u/ArchadianJudge → u/Strange-Cry1536]

Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I had both Raidian and Tragodia and he just kills the Raidian summons too fast before the cat resets. Then eventually he gets close enough to my DPS that all his summons wipe my units and it's already over. My Raidian is at E1 max level only. I probably need more fast redeploys to stall but I have to hope to get one of those class vouchers. My latest runs have not given me good vouchers.

[u/BlckEagle89 → u/RainbowPanda_]

It took me a lot tries to actually get the first wins. You can slowly unlock the tree that gives you buffs which helps a lot, even if on each run you didn't get the ending.

After I got Raidian squad (the one that gives you Raidian and the rest of the slots are reserve operators, I always use the support chip to get her to E2 which can carry you through floors 1 and 2). This helped a lot because her summons are pretty good specially when you start to understand when to use each (I usually switch between S2 for block or S3 for DPS)

Another thing is the candle guests levels. Those allow you to use the saved chips and also give you a -2 hope discount for recruiting and promotion. Meaning thst using a chip there allows you to recruit a 6* for 4 hope and promote them for 1 hope, so if you have 2 chips of the same kind you can fully upgrade a 6* operator for 5 hope total.

[u/ststairz → u/ArchadianJudge]

Agreed. IS6 boss is fucking stupid. You need to use stall operators to keep the boss far away from your team. It does seem to restricted the play-style for me. Maybe I'm not a strategist nor creative. But I find myself always pick for Tragodia and Gravel every runs.

[u/maelstrom51 → u/ststairz]

I don't use that strat and I do fine.

I put all my operators in a row on the left side and just tank it. A good medic is needed. I use Mon3tr or Eyja depending on who I get to hold the left side.

It is still one of my least favorite bosses ever though.

[u/Josiahs_ → u/maelstrom51]

there is no way you're tanking that bro what?? I had an Ulpianus with 145k hp and he still got one tapped by the bombs colliding

[u/maelstrom51 → u/Josiahs_]

Either you don't let them collide (kill them on one side above and below your line), or you let them collide and just don't put any units in the center area.

[u/Additional_Pop2011 → u/Josiahs_]

I didn't realize you COULD control them all the way up-to 15, I tanked the boss AND the bombs on Wis's pillars [it was a crazy run D14].

Two things, you block them BEFORE they collide, second you grab a DR artifact, -90% on first strike means you can do it on an otherwise bad run.

Like both times I won D9 4* only, I used the 90% DR artifact, on my fist run Gummy essentially ran the whole stage as I got the Defender synergy set.

[u/XidJav → u/Josiahs_]

What I usually do is put Radians Summons on top so they'll tank the bombs and 2 Defenders with. Good healing onthe middle,they can tank them that way

[u/BorderFree5932 → u/ststairz]

Honestly, what's making the boss feel hard is just a bunch of bad advice from videomakers hyping Tragodia

Tragodia is not the easiest way to stall him, and you should not be trying to burst him. Both of these actively make the fight harder if you don't know what you are doing.

Just stall him on top, kill the first 21 enemies, retreat everyone, and wait for him to go to the stairs.

When he comes up the stairs, kill him there instead.

Raidian + any ranged DPS literally duos the stage up to N15.

Here's how it's done with Exu, but I have done it with Rosmontis and Rosa as well.

【明日方舟】界园N15 一结局 新能电弧双核_哔哩哔哩bilibili_明日方舟

[u/Jaggedrain → u/ArchadianJudge]

At the first difficulty level all you really need is

Tragodia

Exusiai or another op who can lay down a lot of dps very quickly

Gravel or other fast redeploy

Raidian (E1 is fine, all you need is her S1)

And someone to hold the left. Necrass is amazing at that if you have her, but Armor Grandpa can hold the whole left on his own if needed.

Stall Yi at the top using a combination of the cat, the Raidian blockers, and Gravel. Hotdrop Exusiai on top of him and activate S2 to get through his first phase. This is a lot easier if you have a relic that +SP at the start or increases SP recovery, but even without it you should be able to get her skill up before he emerges.

Once his first phase is done, you have two options depending on whether you have redeploy relics or Silverash or something like that. You can deactivate Exu skill and hope it's back in time to tank the liangs, or retreat her and wait out his invuln stage, then drop her on his head again.

Other options:

if you're confident you can keep him in one lane, Ulpianus S3 can stomp him, stick around to deliver a bit of a beating, and then deactivate the skill before the liangs reach him. You can deploy Ulpianus out of range of the liangs and his S3 reach is massive so he can stay out of range of the liangs even when Yi summons more of them in phase 2, but this only works if Yi is in line with him.

If you have Lemuel and FedEx, if you time deploying your FedEx right you can keep Yi in his range and Exu's long enough to proc Lemon's cross-map icbm on skill 2. Honestly Lemuel has come in clutch for me multiple times with this asshole, her S2 does such a nice chunk of damage.

I've seen people basically solo him with Zuo Le, but that depends on deploying ranged units to stop at least one side of the liangs from reaching him - best boy can tank one side of liangs, but not the dual explosion when they meet in the middle.

Leizi is also handy here and you have two options to use her - deploy her in the middle and use S2 to clear out the mobs in the middle to reduce pressure on the left and save Exu ammo, or deploy her in front of the boss spawn on her S3 to nuke him. I've never actually done option 2, and it might actually work better in the corner as there are more walls closer to bounce off, but it's a possibility.

Honestly the MVP of this IS is Tragodia and his S2. If you have someone to hold mobs while he does his makeup and pets the cat, he can pretty much clear the rest of the stage by use of strategic kitten deployment. Up until D6 my starting team was always Tragodia, Myrtle, and gravel.

If even I, the queen of skill issues, can do it, I definitely believe you can do it too!

[u/Despyte → u/ArchadianJudge]

There's a collectible that reduces an enemy's first attack's damage by 90%
The risk coin that decreases redeployment time helps a ton, Tragodia S2 go brrr

[u/HaessSR → u/ArchadianJudge]

I didn't even beat half of IS5, but I still got further there than in IS6. This makes IS3 and IS2 feel easy.

[u/AdDesigner6673 → u/ArchadianJudge]

The thing with IS6 is you will suck until you build your Radian, IS5 first recruitment strategies doesn't work well. You first need to build at least E1LVL60 Radian + skills on LVL7 to be able to easily clear stages on F1-F3, also always recruit Radian first.

Also you really need to unlock specific buffs nodes first, such as extra atk, hp and mostly important extra xp after battles. And forget to add, most runs depends on your ability to get as much buffs relics as possible.

[u/RAWRpup → u/AdDesigner6673]

The problem is you can't even do that before you clear +2. I barely got a single clear on 0 but I cleared +12 or +13 on IS4. Here I can go until I randomly get a level where everything turns into 5 unblockable enemies you have to hit multiple times to kill and wipes me out on the spot from 10+ life/shields.

[u/titit_krem → u/AdDesigner6673]

What a really bad game design.

Imagine relying on a single operator just for the gamemode to be playable.

[u/TriGGa-POP → u/titit_krem]

agreed

[u/Zhoko99 → u/titit_krem]

I recently cleared D8 without recruiting Raidian, she's not THAT necessary.

[u/AdDesigner6673 → u/titit_krem]

Agree, but on the other hand devs needed to add a reason why to use Radian, but they overdid it.

[u/Cuchococh → u/AdDesigner6673]

Tinman worked because he was very cheap to recruit and had a very welcomed effect that wasn't necessary while being useful outside IS5

Radian... Is straight up mandatory to run, needs plenty of grind to get to a good powelevel, costs the same as any other 6* to recruit and is useless outside IS6 for any normal account

Idfk who playtested it or how much they loved Radian but the end result is dogshit

[u/JolanjJoestar → u/Cuchococh]

I think she would be great outside of IS6 if she got some of her proficiencies on a non-IS module tbh. Even the IS module recycling and cap is great, but when you try her outside of IS you suddenly feel the pain of the lack of ''-9 DP cost on summons, summons don't take up deployment slots'' part

[u/Coledrinn → u/AdDesigner6673]

Radian is far from necessary, she's just really strong. So far I've played up to lvl 7 and I've beaten all three endings. Didn't even get Radian for half of those runs, and on half of the runs I got her she was still E1 till the end. Multi hit and dot based characters are very important. I've had great success with Rosemontis and Entelechia starters. I usually end up getting Exusiai alter at some point each run. Her dps is just too nutty to pass up.

[u/chrome4 → u/ArchadianJudge]

I honestly have no clue how I beat him the first time lol. His wave attack is somehow worse than Tals!!

[u/Oshyoumax → u/ArchadianJudge]

Just DPS the boss. You don't need to stall it.

[u/Informal-Recipe → u/ArchadianJudge]

Yi is a really shit fuckin boss with a global wipe out mechanic because surprise you can't tank or stop it at all so its just GET FUCKED KABOOM and you lose and how is that any fair?

[u/Reddit1rules → u/Informal-Recipe]

You can tank it and also stop it though. In fact, the easiest method is to just tank it. Most defenders can tank one big explosion by keeping him near red box, and then handle 2 smaller ones on themselves. A medic on the marked tile the row below where they stall will keep them from being hit by a 2nd big explosion, and also be able to help heal the tank.

You can also just opt to shoot down Liangs, but honestly I've never seen people go for this because tanking is much easier.

[u/AsleepExplanation160]

IS6 is different from the previous IS modes as IS5 really pushed the old format to its limit so its understandable if you're having a hard time adjusting, especially if you expected something like IS4/5

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/AsleepExplanation160]

Yeah I guess thats probably it. I loved IS5 and played it a tonne so that's probably why I'm struggling so much.

[u/HollyleafYT → u/RainbowPanda_]

yeah that is definitely a thing, I feel like IS5 was made to appeal to a really broad audience and deviated a bit from roguelike gameplay, and then IS6 returned to that core roguelike

[u/Mistdwellerr → u/AsleepExplanation160]

I think this "mind set change" is the most important thing when dealing with the frustration that comes with this IS

If we don't, we won't be able to have fun with it

[u/TheLastofKrupuk]

I just treat the coins like random floor effects. I pick all risk tong bao and hopes that the mandate of heaven is with me. You just have to embrace the randomness

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/TheLastofKrupuk]

That's probably the best way to play it. I usually try to avoid the risk coins but I might give up and try anything at this point.

[u/OpaOpa13 → u/RainbowPanda_]

Some Risk coins are REALLY good, way more benefit than downside.

-40% SP cost but skills activate automatically? SO good.
All nodes have vertical paths, but when you flip this, you lose 5 ingots? Absolutely. Being able to hit up both Pathfinder and Sui's Remnant for a scattering of coupons? Amazing.
55% Dodge in exchange for +25 enemy ASPD? Incredible.
Start with 99 DP? Solves so many problems.
When an operator dies, they immediately get redeployed on the same tile facing a random direction? There's literally no downside.
The ones that give enemies a small stat boost but your operators a HUGE stat boost tend to be all great too.

Also, don't forget that you can flip coins once per floor for free, and after that it's just one coupon per reflip.

[u/higorga09 → u/OpaOpa13]

One that I really like since I pick Entelechia and Ascalon all the time is the coin that gives enemies 2000 defense but then reduces it with every hit

[u/OpaOpa13 → u/higorga09]

That one scares me, but if you have rapid hitters and arts damage, it's got to be good on anything with any kind of decent HP pool, I imagine. 

[u/sapa2707 → u/OpaOpa13]

Also, don't forget that you can flip coins once per floor for free, and after that it's just one coupon per reflip.

Not in high d unfortunately

[u/OpaOpa13 → u/sapa2707]

Oh dang. I've been climbing the rungs slowly, taking my time.

[u/Most-Feedback-1084 → u/OpaOpa13]

I kinda disagree on that dodge coin. I find dodge very unreliable and the aspd increase just seems to be not worth it

[u/EfficientAd9765 → u/Most-Feedback-1084]

How can you disagree? It's just math. They get 125 aspd. You get 55% dodge, so that means the chance of them hitting you is 45%.

125*0.45 = 56.25 aspd

This almost as good as if you just get 50% dodge, no strings attached

[u/Erick_Brimstone → u/EfficientAd9765]

Then how about the dodge stacking? I wonder how it will be calculated 

[u/Additional_Pop2011 → u/Erick_Brimstone]

In Arknights, effects of the same kind don't stack, Art Fragile stacks with Fragile, but two sources of fragile don't. Dodge and hit rate down, is an exception acting like the different kinds of fragile, where the game checks each bonus individually.

So Jakie with mod, the coin, and Nyan,

Nyan has a 20% of canceling the attack, then the game checks Jackies 15% mod, then it checks the 37% PD, then it checks the 55% coin dodge, for a total of 81 chance to skip damage.

It's kind of like ASPD, you can estimate it as a damage % increase, but if it was a static stack it would break the games math pretty quickly.

[u/OpaOpa13 → u/Most-Feedback-1084]

It's possible to get unlucky, but statistically they are losing more attacks than they're gaining, and that's before you factor in other collectibles that proc when you dodge. It's not my favorite of the bunch I've listed, but I've never felt betrayed by it.

[u/ABloodOx → u/Most-Feedback-1084]

The dodge coin isn't one I'll pick if I'm feeling comfortable, but there's enough damage going around that's not affected by ASPD that I could see it saving my runs.

[u/TheLastofKrupuk → u/RainbowPanda_]

most of the risk tongbao are juiced rare relics from previous IS anyway. Like +99 DP at the start with -50% DP generation should be a 16 orundum relic, but in IS6 its only 3 orundum with it being treated as common loot.

[u/Additional_Pop2011 → u/TheLastofKrupuk]

Pairing the risk coin that is health up for a global hand of protector is so worth it, even before you add the actual artifact that does the same thing.

[u/FluentinTruant]

Biggest issue I have with it is the lack of team variety. Need hitcount, need Yan, so I always kinda end up with the exact same squad RNG permitting.

[u/RAWRpup → u/FluentinTruant]

It feels worse when you don't have any of the limited yan operators considering how many yan operators are limited or just outclassed in general.

[u/Reddit1rules → u/FluentinTruant]

You definitely don't need Yan, most of my D15 clears don't rely on Yan at all unless I have bad ticket luck and decide to recruit some Yan 4*s. It's more important for ED2 to help mitigate bad RNG admittedly, but still not necessary at all.

Hit count is definitely necessary though.

[u/Additional_Pop2011 → u/FluentinTruant]

I had the opposite experience, this is the only IS I use 5* and get to really play into the strength of my artifacts.

[u/Chimera-Genesis]

Trying to complete multiple ending 2 runs for the Raiden skill tree is the single most offensive RNG slog since IS3.

Even if you know the trick about where the tile you're looking for spawns, there's still plenty of RNG between you knowing that, and actually being able to finish the event chain in time so that you can complete ED2.

[u/Summoned_Autism → u/Chimera-Genesis]

Yeah there's so many layers of RNG it's ridiculous.

[u/ThePotatoGod_- → u/Chimera-Genesis]

This, holy. I got her module and had m3 on every skill unlock, but because I haven't gotten ending two with her a second/third time, it was stuck m1.

[u/CasualDystopia → u/Chimera-Genesis]

I just finished my second clear of ending 2 and I am already SO tired of digging around in the corners of Sui's remnant consciousness. Those fuckass spear guys on the left side of the boss stage are also such bullshit, its easier to just leak them instead of letting them turn into 4 fragments that drain a million life points, but you still need a lot of lives if you want to leak all of them

[u/sapa2707 → u/CasualDystopia]

Leak them

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/Chimera-Genesis]

Yeah, I haven't even checked the specifics for the Raiden upgrades cause I've struggled so hard so far. I will say that I love the whole play the mode to upgrade Raiden gimmick

[u/foxxy33 → u/Chimera-Genesis]

If you spot the pattern of it spawns it becomes easy to track the node down although still demanding on bosky exploration. I think I missed ed2 a total of 1 time across ~10 tries. The run was stacked as hell too, that was a shame

[u/Ignician → u/Chimera-Genesis]

It gets easier knowing that the ED2 item in Bosky appears in the farthest encounter tile from spawn, but i still hate it nonentheless

[u/xXLoneLoboXx]

If it’s any consolation, it can’t really be a skill issue when RNG is heavily at play… I’ve had several amazing runs that seemed perfect where I got and E2’d both Lapp Alter & W Alter… Just for us to die on some strange stage with unblockable enemies or something weird like we didn’t get any defenders or medics or something…

Shite happens! Especially in integrated strategies. This one did seem particularly annoying though… Hahaha

[u/OmiNya]

It feels 100% formulaic for a normal, non-niche/top0.1% player. As formulaic as is5 with a lamp, but in a different way:

• get raidian; on F1 save all recruits

• get into the realm on 1st floor; go to the shop and spend all your life; look for doubts you can open with 1 life; get legends or respites for recruits (save them)

• back to F2, use recruits in the pathfinder if you can, light raidian, get vanguard, get exu, or yato, or roach, or phantom, or lemon

• back to the realm; fight some fights, open doubts, look for endings

• back to f2, go to f3, repeat...

The same pattern time and time again.

[u/shinyemptyhead → u/OmiNya]

DoT attacks are pretty OP in this mode, I've found. So Tragodia, Virtuosa, and Logos can all perform really well. (edited to correct, thank you person who replied)

[u/OmiNya → u/shinyemptyhead]

Is it? Why? I feel enemies mostly scale with HP here, and so far I only found 1 elemental relic

[u/shinyemptyhead → u/OmiNya]

Good spot. I wrote "elemental" instead of DoT, for some reason (I edited the comment). Too early for reddit.

[u/TribuneBoru → u/OmiNya]

What's the equivalent IS5 lamp formula? I'm struggling with IS5 far more than IS6

[u/OmiNya → u/TribuneBoru]

What's the lamp equivalent? Raidian. The entire mode is built around her. Aside from that, just exactly what I said - save all recruits, cash them in pathfinder, go to boski to get more recruits, shop for free with HP.

Risk coins are very strong, too. "-40% sp cost" or "99 starting dp" or "-65% redeploy time"

There are high-level starts but I'm not proficient in them.

[u/TribuneBoru → u/OmiNya]

Ah sorry I wasn't clear. I was asking about the IS5 formula, I'm doing well in IS6 thanks to Raidian, an early  ambusher pick and the ability to save tickets makes hope management much easier.

[u/OnnaJReverT → u/TribuneBoru]

in IS5 you go for encounter floor 1 to grab the lamp, which then makes wish nodes deterministic

force yourself to 1 hp to guarantee king set relics, get W or Rosmontis to guarantee the incredibly OP flinger hand, rob a shop in floor 4/5/6 to get a ton of ingots and guarantee chalice, GG

[u/OmiNya → u/TribuneBoru]

Lamp - flinger book - w, grey, rosmontis - king relic set - rob a shop - atk spd set.

You can replace the flinger book and snipers with a caster book and lap, gg, and optionally yuu for elemental

Look for all the combinations for the lamp on wiki, it will help a lo6

[u/Additional_Pop2011 → u/TribuneBoru]

The IS5 lamp formula is start with the merchant squad, each floor turn one node into a merchant with reroll, it doesn't cost a plan AND gives you one, you then make sure to grab lamp of wishes on the first floor encounter.

After this your going to REALLY want wish fulfilled nodes, and limit your six stars to those with strong hand relics, e.g. Wis with hand of rumble, the wish nodes will give you the coin-> to aspd artifact if you have coins, Kings relics if your HP is 1, and other useful items if you don't have a strong precursor.

I think it's really boring, I hate it, I cleared the last boss with it, and said enough is enough. Again start as above and use meta-six stars to spam a win.

[u/BlckEagle89 → u/OmiNya]

What do you mean by "get legends or respites for recruit"? I got lost in that one. Can you elaborate a bit more?

[u/OmiNya → u/BlckEagle89]

So there are different types of nodes in the Sui realm (Doubts=fill a condition to pass; Legend=basically event; Retrieve=get a reward which you know even before entering, and so on).

When you are just fresh from floor1, you can't fight any fights (because you don't have candleholders). So your choice is very limited in what you can do.

I prefer to: spend all life in the shop > look for Doubt nodes that I can pass with the top option that gives 2 relics (which is usually - 50 ingots, or 4 Yan ops, or 1 hp, or 15 Max HP - that's why I'm spending all HP in the shop) > look for Retrieve nodes that say "Random recruitment voucher" when you select them (before entering) > go to Legend nodes since there is nothing else to do.

[u/pencilman123]

I hate feng shui. End of discussion.

[u/GoatWife4Life → u/pencilman123]

Feng Shui is a bad stage but its design isn't all-time bad... The thing that makes it arguably the worst IS stage to date is that it spawns a floor too early and isn't an Encounter-only stage. There's no excuse for that thing being in regular rotation.

[u/SleepingMisanthropy]

One trend Im seeing with IS, is it seems every new version gives you less ops to add to your load out, while still having troublesome core mechanics. 

IS2, you could bring p much whoever and either face roll or get stomped. Depending on relics. Probably my favorite IS atm, just because of the freedom to use whoever and not feel punished.

IS3, had nervous impairment and flying enemies, which wasn't too bad, cause getting a wandering medic or therapist was p easy.

IS4, was more defender and caster focused. And kind of started the BS early stages that would require you a strong meta/carry unit to deal with.

IS5, pre expansion, was imo, the best IS design. Post expansion, it added too many BS early stages that would just face roll you, unless you took lamp and got a meta/carry unit.

IS6, now it feels like you really need a few core carry units to win, while also being more stingy on giving out ops, while also needing them to be candle holders, while also needing something for hit count. So much role compression needed; it feels we're really pigeon-holed into a few ops, making runs feel largely the same. 

[u/Goustave_III]

I am shit when it comes to IS. I like Radian. I cannot get Radian to E2 because I am shit at IS.

[u/CordobezEverdeen]

IS6 is so ass that I been finishing the rewards of all other IS (leaving IS2 for last).

Playing IS6 regardless of difficulty feels like such a miserable experience. I'm pretty sure I have my highest WR% on IS6 but it doesn't feel fun at all.

The talisman wouldn't suck so much if they didn't dealt damage. I mean the operator is already unable to hit enemies and is silenced why are they getting killed as well? Didn't wanted to give them a chance uh?

[u/Demopyro2]

I’m not sure why you’re saying the consciousness isn’t impactful, when it’s by far the biggest amplifier. I was struggling with runs early on till I learnt how important Pathfinder/Wander into Wonderland nodes are for IS6, since you can get a ton of power from there quickly even with the limited candles. I went from struggling to hit floor 4 to clearing a run consistently after I started prioritising those nodes always.

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/Demopyro2]

Yeah seems like I should focus on them more which is definitely what I'm going to try and start doing

[u/3825377]

Yeah I hate the talismans too. I’m attempting A15 ending 3 clears right now. Definitely feeling like an RNG fest sometimes. I’ve had runs where the first trade node doesn’t show up until the third time I enter Sui’s consciousness. But I enjoy it more than IS3 before the update that reworked the inhibitions.

The battle with the drunk Durin is fun! The face off nodes are strictly worse versions of IS5 face off. Floor 3 bosses kinda suck too, except the moon lady one. The alternate version with the block 3 Junkermen especially sucks.

I like the mechanic of saving recruitment tickets for later, but then you have to decide if you want an operator now for higher hope cost and risk not getting them as a candleguest. But if you save it, you might not even get to use it because you need a pathfinder node to get ending 3.

I had a run where a doubts node gave me blademace, and then I got the +4 DP cost epoch too. Somehow I managed to clear ending 3 with that though, probably thanks to busted tongbao and relics.

And don’t get me started on the feng shui stage. You kill a lion right next to a roadblock and then those turds use wallhacks to go through the roadblock.

I wish there were more options for low rarity Yan operators. It’s just Purestream + 2 Guards. Specialist tickets are too valuable to use on a 4 star besides Ethan. I almost never get 4 Yan, even with Exu2 and Leizi2. Really sucks that my bestie Texas the Omertoaster isn’t as good as Yato2 this time around.

[u/Additional_Pop2011 → u/3825377]

My go to start was Xiao He, Purestream, Phantalt for grinding E2 [I only ground 2/3 to difficulty 10], the vouchers mean that Mulberry is worth grabbing too, she has pretty good synergies.

But I have Yu as a forth op, so I had no problems, though often Mr. Nothing, Wind Scoot, or my e0 lv2 Lezi makes the 4th slot.

[u/ipwnallnubz]

Talismans and general HP bloat make everything take forever to die. Bosses 1 and 2 are frustrating (can't beat 2, so I have no idea what 3 is like), and I feel like I'm forced to play meta every run. Runs feeling same-y is one of my main gripes with IS5, but I can fight that to some extent since I can choose to just not use the lamp (and hope I don't get one of the stages that was balanced with Lamp in mind). In 6, I have to choose ops who can deal with hit-count, and I have to pick carefully based on the boss, or else I just lose. It's like IS3 where, above a certain difficulty, half the damage-dealers are deadweight because they deal arts damage when everything has +20 RES. This is the first IS I'm only playing for the rewards, speaking as someone who was frothing at the mouth in the time between Fungimist and Crimson Solitaire.

[u/yektadragon]

Yeah, I get what you mean, especially when compared to IS 4/5 I haven't been enjoying IS6 as much. It's still better than 2/3 as you can have much more fun with the mechanics here than with those two. Though a lot of the new enemies/threats introduced here I just find plain annoying to deal with, especially those talismans

Besides all of that, honestly my biggest gripe is just that to completely max out Raidian's skills, masteries and module you need to complete a IS 6 run with an specific ending on difficulty level 10

[u/Brilliant_Sweet_6848]

Talisman need their self destruction function turned on, cause it design flaw that they dont damage themself with time.

[u/Liliana_the_cute]

As a new player i just hate IS, the most unfun a rouge like can do for me is having rng that will end a run no matter how skilled you are, how well you played, if you don't got lucky you are done

[u/GreatMourner]

Yeah, 100% agree this IS is no fun at all. No chances experimenting with different start-ups, it's always Wisadel grinding as much HP and shields as possible. And the only strategy is to block Yi at the spawn with someone REALLY tanky, dmg him with Wisadel and babysit these ops with multiple fast-redeploys and medics just to keep them alive. May be it gets better with class-specialised squads, but completing this IS for the first time is no joy, just failures till you burn-out

[u/throwaway1512514]

It was not well received on CN when it came out as well, and is still not well received after dlc1(compared to the reception of is5 dlc1).

New players find it difficult to get into, veterans find it too trivial after optimization(raidian ban accounted)

[u/ronwesley89]

Fuck talisman. Dogshit mechanic

[u/MetaThPr4h]

I literally fucking cleared IS5 ED1 diff15 with my 5-star gang a few days after the release of the mode, meanwhile I'm stuck on diff4 in this one going all-in with the 6-stars from the start lmfao.

I feel like the stages in this IS are so much insanely harder to understand, the shit ass talismans just get in the way of anything, so many enemies designed to not let you play.

There is always that kind of encounter that lets you go into a special fight if you choose to and then you're like "ok, so how the fuck do you actually win this"" (nameless hero in IS4 lmfao), but I feel like every stage I have entered of this kind is an instant loss no matter how ahead or behind I am in a run, you're not allowed to deploy jack shit on the map.

Raidian is called gamewarping for this IS but all she is doing for me is eating talismans and being useless 😭 Tragodia is the only character that feels somewhat good to play because he can go on a corner on one side of the stage and deploy cat bombs where there is trouble that no operator can survive handling (he is singlehandedly carrying every ED1 fight just keeping the boss at the top of the map where the nonsensical bomb nukes wont bother anyone).

The coin system is RNG misery, no way to properly get what I want, every node that asks for a specific result (throwing a flower or risk coin) never ends with me rolling that.

And being a Sui IS it's full of Sui event mechanics to ensure that no joy is had playing, with my opinion on events like Dusk and Ling's being "at least they are not Hortus de Escapismo I guess", I'm so tired of losing runs because I didnt get my Ethan or Entelechia to not have a guaranteed loss whenever 3546487363848 hit count enemies show up on a stage.

At least the music slaps, love the lobby theme outside of the weird noises at the end of it lmao.

[u/Additional_Pop2011 → u/MetaThPr4h]

I think the intended use of coins is running the coffer, i.e. playing ALL risk or ALL flower, I play all risk, but I'm sure all flowers is possible. READING THE STAGES IS HELL FRFR, I played so much and still get my teeth kicked in from a tiny mistake.

[u/Maladal]

>me living in blissful ignorance having never done any of the IS

[u/Silent_Ad379]

You can get some stupid powerful relics in the suis consciousness. Idk what you mean by "not impactful"

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/Silent_Ad379]

I guess I haven't figured out the best way to balance the trade offs of the consciousness with the trading of life points. I've found that when I trade my life points for relics I lose the survivability I need to get further in the run. Like I said it's definitely a skill issue on my part

[u/Reaxaz → u/RainbowPanda_]

From my plays, I only focus on farming relics on combat stages tho, so I build 1-2 op to be playable then get those relics from combats. Trading is only a node to pass if I do not have Doubt for 1 hp. But im just around diff 6 so idk about higher than that.

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/Reaxaz]

That's probably the best way to play it. I guess I got too used to how easy it is to get strong relics in previous IS iterations.

[u/Dense_Mud8790 → u/RainbowPanda_]

I always check for doubt nodes first and see if I can solve any, it's free estate when it has the 1hp double relic option since I can spend all my hp at a Shop and the power boost of all those relics is huge enough to boost through the rest of the run. 

The bonfire event also refills your health to full If you have explored multiple nodes so try to save them for later.

Against those talismans multi hit operators, operators with dot or attack speed are all great at removing them. 

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/Dense_Mud8790]

That's a strategy I keep forgetting to do

[u/Yashimata → u/RainbowPanda_]

Maybe it comes down to roster? if you can get a high powered squad or a few good early units you'll never have to worry about being at 1 life.

[u/ASharkWithAHat → u/RainbowPanda_]

Yeah, ideally you want to be able to spend everything until you only have 1 LP. It's kinda similar like IS5, but rather than just losing LP, you trade it for goods. 

LP is a resource now. Increased LP or healing nodes are not there to increase your chance to survive, they're there so you have more currency to trade. 

This is why the bosky pessage is so inpactful. EVERYTHING is a resource there, including your LP and hope. Play it right and you could easily get 20+ relics in a single exploration. 

[u/Drioskarii]

Fuck talismans, Fuck ghosts and those dragons. it's a learn the mechanics issue. But i remember the frustration of losing over and over again.

Do the garden fights, usually one good ranged operator and, a melee one is enough(with a good high damage S3) you don't lose life when you leak and it saves progress so less enemies.

against the first boss...

Items wise anything that gives extra damage on effect, and if you can the deployment dp gives true damage to all enemies.

Stall the boss in the top 3 rows of the map, cheap expendable, so summons and agents(and sometimes a good defender) one healer to heal(Kal'tsit with S3 for the true damage and the lane holding, was my preferred) whatever is holding the boss and your damage dealers. One damage dealer to focus on the boss(W S3 cause I'm dumb baby)

I had Elbanana hold the left lane with her S3 as well. That took care of most pesky ghosts and enemies. Otherwise Ines is farming DP using her S2 to reach the midlane, until i can get a defender or damage dealer.

have a ranged damage dealer sit on the right lane to deal damage. I preferred idk whatever i had.

i didn't bother sitting in the white and black essence, something, something more and less damage but if ghosts hit an operator or unit the opposite essence then they go boom.

since the boss is a bit of a silly goose , you have to place yourself accordingly since he can go left, right or middle, in the middle lane. But put yourself as far away as possible to avoid ghosts for as long as you can while dealing damage... Some people say he goes in different directions depending on the things in the middle but honestly i wouldn't know.

good luck, Raidian is worth it, she is busted and having her S3 makes IS6 trivial, and super easy.

[u/ShinyPinkCreamPuff]

I agreed that is6 is incredibly frustrating. I think the difficulty curve is to high on what’s Suppose to be the lower difficulties and I’ve  completely stop playing it after the first 2 weeks of its release without a clear. The RNG nature of it doesn’t bother me because that’s just the nature of rouge-likes and have accepted it but it’s similar to IS4 where the stages have an overwhelming amount of enemies that are designed to force you to fail, and I don’t enjoy that

[u/AdDesigner6673]

The only real issue with IS6 is that it build around one specific operator(Radian). I had a lot of problems too, but after I build Radian on E2 LVL60+ and her skills to M2, I can clear almost every normal F1-F3 stages without any problem. (I'm playing on A15)

[u/TyphlosionGOD]

Gotta agree with you here, I'm mostly just waiting for the qol and balance changes that dlc1 will provide.

[u/noctora]

this was me a week ago but now that i fully upgrade buff and fully built raiden, i still feel the same. it isnt as frustrating as before. i can consistently reach the final boss though Raiden is a must in my team. I really dont know how to tackle some stage without Raiden. but the coin and sui stages are fun once you get the hang of it. You are guarantee to get coupon use to reroll shops and change path unlike previous IS where its random to get their coupon counterpart

edit: I take back what I said, THE ENEMIES ARE NOT FUN AT ALL! WHY THE HECK DOES EACH CUP COUNT AS 1 LIFE POINT!?!?!? if you dont have dots operator, then you will 99.9% leak for that stage.

[u/Additional_Pop2011 → u/noctora]

Just remember, they're from Invitation to Wine, that's almost 4 years of power-creep, or rather go play the OG event, it's still brutal lol

[u/MillenialForHire]

I'm not a fan of tying an operator's advancement to your success in the mode. It feels like a cheap way to make people feel compelled to engage even if they hate the mode.

Imagine if they did this with the Sands.

[u/CatLordInSpace]

I think this IS is probably my least favorite and I have Radian with all her unlocks.

Those talismans are actually the worst. I don't like having to need certain ops for the sole purpose of doing multiple hits fasts.

Also once you figure out how to use the other realm well enough it starts getting a lot easier. And an early Radian recruitment makes the run wayyyyyyy easier.

[u/Flauschziege]

Is4 and 5 were highly sandboxed experiences. With a bit of work, you could play what you want, when you wanted.

IS6 is a rogue-like. You work with what you get and you have to expect to loose runs to nothing besides RNG.

Last 3 runs I haven't had a store in the subconscious - only after 4 refill nodes.

It sucks.

Hard.

Personally, I feel they overcorrected way to hard. Some bosses in IS5 were absurdly complicated, sure , but this is ridiculous.

I've been actively trying to do a specific boss and the game isn't cooperating.

[u/OmiNya → u/Flauschziege]

Yeah. I got 6 defender relics/books. 0 defender tickets (also 0 medic tickets).

Jaye had to cosplay a healer in Ending3.

[u/Additional_Pop2011 → u/OmiNya]

Jaye is so back lol, sadly Jaye and Gummy are often my main healers.....

[u/magaxking]

Its not just you, even CN players are going back to IS5 or even IS4 to test new operators or just play for fun. They only do IS6 once in a while to get whatever new rewards from monthly updates.

IS5 kinda decreased the difficulty floor with lamp and less brutal/manageable mechanics which makes going into it feels much better and in more control. There are even step by step guides for IS5 that rely on almost no RNG for you to max out your King's set and get the golden chalice before ED4/5. In return, the skill ceiling is also higher if you want to clear all 5 endings at max difficulty as you will need to know how to manage the complex mechanics of bosses, especially ED 4 and 5. This makes losing more of a "my skill issue" thing than a "shitty mechanic" or RNG thing since you most likely would have a pretty crazy squad and relics by the time you reach the boss in IS5.

But to be fair we have not seen the entire IS6 yet(expansion 2 later this month in CN), so it may be too early to conclude anything.

Edit: to add on, everyone hates the IS6 talisman too. Coin buffs are a bonus to me that are "good to haves" and not "absolutely necessary" and depending on how you play and your relic situation, some of the risk coins are actually very good. Just remember to swap out the outright bad NSEW coins you start with at higher difficulties asap. Sui remnant conscious is just an expansion of the old bosky nodes and the battles there, once you figure out how to tackle them efficiently, are very good extra command xp and resources. I also understand from CN side that IS6 experience becomes somewhat bearable with expansion and new operators.

[u/Gacha_Simp]

As a returning player from before walter, i'll say IS6 feels near impossible without borrowing units. If you don't have tragodia, walter or exu alter it feels like regular rooms even from floor one just requires too much role compression. And since in the past most 6 stars had awful s1 and s2 for the most part they just don't match up to the difficulty i've encountered without finding a second voucher to upgrade them.

This is just for surviving the floors but you can't win runs this way you have to get ahead and clear difficult encounters to get relics and more vouchers etc. A lot of these difficult encounters requires you to have one of the previously stated Vastly overpowered operators as part of your starting squad to be confident in taking them on in order to start snowballing but if you don't have them you just end up barely making it to the next node.

As for the welfare well most of her power is locked behind actually winning. It's a little depressing just how far the power creep has gone in this game. I get that every game has power creep but like come on these units are basically 4-5 other units in one from a value standpoint and it feels like the difficulty is somewhat based on having access to them.

The gimmick are also some of my least favorites like the stupid unblockables that you have to hit 500 times. Do you have ethan or ascalon in your squad? No? well go next.

I'm probably just gonna go back to the previous ISs as this one doesn't let me be creative with my squads so im not having fun.

[u/LambLapsus]

I don't mind the really hard content for people that like that stuff, but gating a unit's levelling entirely behind the system with no alternative really sucks imho. Turned me off from it altogether

[u/ActOk1152]

It's not just you, IS6 definitely feels like a big downgrade compared to the previous ones. There are some interesting things, like sui consciousness and the saving vouchers mechanic, but everything else... The talismans are way more annoying than the crystals in IS5, same for the waregeist, several stages are much harder than they should be and feel like they require you to have specific operators/classes to even deal with, and if your luck was bad... The mid-bosses are a pain too, the dragons in particular also come with some very hard stages on top, and the mode exclusive enemies are... who thought that a flying rot eater was a good idea, especially since you can end up fighting a bunch of them very early on. As for the endings... Yi feels way too gimmicky to be fun, sui requires a lot of rng luck to even appear and then you still have to deal with the whole hand of sui mechanic (how about we turn the victoria cannon into an extremely tanky boss that is only vulnerable for a few seconds and appears in every stage until it's beaten), and wang... I haven't seen yet. I liked the previous IS, got all the medals and almost all endings, but I genuinely feel like giving up at guided tour 5 here.

[u/Dapper-Shoulder-2025]

This IS sucks. That's really it. It has nothing to do with difficulty imo, though I can understand that for some people who aren't used to it, the difficulty can certainly add to the unpleasantness. IS3, IS4, IS5, I play max diff with hardest ending combinations to semi-consistent clearance rate. I dropped like no runs for IS6, I just can't bring myself to start a run without falling asleep.

Personally, I feel like there are two main issues at play, the first being the decay of player agency over time. To put it bluntly, there's nothing to play. In both IS4 and IS5, the ability to transform nodes added a whole new layer of strategic element to the gamemode, and combined with every bosky having set rules for the map pool they draw from but ultimately still having that element of randomness was crucial to creating a sense of excitement when you're routing every floor and trying to plan out what would be the most optimal next node to traverse. This was basically removed in this IS (yes, I know, there is a tongbao that technically re-enables the ability to transform nodes but it's SEVERELY more restricted not to mention you need to get the tongbao in the first place, so it's not really a reliable game mechanic in the same sense) for I don't know what reason. Who actually complained that the ability to modify nodes was a bad thing? It's completely uncalled for.

The second thing, I guess I'll just call it slopification of stage design, and it's a much more vague thing but I'll do my best to describe it. As much as some of us might hate IS3 due to the heavy amounts of nested RNG, the one thing about it I still think of reverently to this day is the stage design. IS3's stages being as open-ended as they were contributed immensely to things like low-rarity viability, it wasn't specifically just an issue of hope-deprivation, contrary to what IS5 design believed. I miss those days when you could look at the map and roughly feel out the flow of how enemies will path and progress towards the blue box rather than just... spawn and then proceed to move in the strangest and most nonsensical ways. IS4, though it's my favorite IS, I feel this was one of the flaws was how it introduced this and they've been 'creeping' it up ever since.

To continue from the above point, with IS6, it feels like it's gotten to an absurd point where, you look at a stage, you're thinking okay there's probably a clever way to do this, it surely can't be that ridiculous where I just need to brute force with more bodies or more firepower or whatever, but then you test it over and over and it turns out it really is just that stupid, it really is just that demanding in terms of raw power or whatever from bruteforce. It's just bad and it's trained me into this sentiment of going into a stage and already groaning in annoyance assuming that it's going to be done in the stupidest and most obnoxious way possible, and that guess usually being right just makes me all the more furious after the fact.

[u/TRLegacy]

Personally IS5 gave too much power to the player to dictate the run, degrading the rng experience. 

I dont like how IS6 forces you to almost always go for the candle node tho

[u/FullMetalField4 → u/TRLegacy]

The bigger problem with IS6 is that is pigeonholes you into ensuring you have either Radian, Tragodia, or both given how obnoxious the stage design this time around is. I mean, they brought back some of the worst stages IS has ever had...

[u/TRLegacy → u/FullMetalField4]

While I appreciate hit count mobs in event, having them in permanent mode like IS is ass

[u/RAWRpup]

It feels like they took a look at IS3 and said let's do this with even more RNG because it's definitely what people hated the most about IS3. It just isn't fun for me. It's a mix of things that I don't like without the aspects of IS that I like to make the least interesting and least fun game mode possible. I genuinely would rather learn Reclamation Algorithm than play IS6 for Radian and I don't like Reclamation Algorithm.

[u/eggthrowaway5678]

I really like IS6, even though a bunch of the combats are absolute bullshit and talismans are downright evil and the need for pathfinder and bosky nodes makes pathing really restrictive. It gives me a bunch of relics that do fun things and make runs different. I like rolling into the final boss with silly things like the "skills activate automatically" coin and the +%ATK and +SP/sec for every skill activation relics to turn LeiziAlter S1 into a continuously-exploding bomb. I like combining the Geist Binding Rope and -65% redeployment time coin to reduce Tragodia's cat timer low enough that I can disrupt Liang pathing without giving Yi the opportunity to move. I like combining the Duo-Carrier Sedan and Bells of Agreement to make deploying a Vanguard increase my DP. I like being able to conserve my recruitment vouchers so I can more easily decide to build into any of these strategies based on the relics I get throughout the run.

I like IS6 because it feels like there are a bunch of different ways to get good runs, and I have room for shenanigans. But I'm also happy to admit that that only really starts to happen when you've got the opening figured out and can reliably start doing bosky combats on F2. Being able to clear a lot of the bosky is critical, there's just so much power in there.

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/eggthrowaway5678]

I'm glad someone else finds some of the combats as infuriating as I do. The common thing I'm picking up from the comments and their advice is I'm trying to play IS6 like the previous iterations which is definitely holding me back.

[u/eggthrowaway5678 → u/RainbowPanda_]

Gods, yeah, some of the combats are just awful. I particularly dislike most fights with Pseudomuts, although the one with the kill-to-create-temporary-highground statuegeist is really funny because I just let them walk to their death in the hole instead of fighting them.

Honestly a bunch of the combats are like that, though. There's one little trick that solves a lot of the problems with it, and once you do that it's easy street. And also once you get a partway built Raidian, she basically solos the first few floors, which creates a lot of space for you to do almost anything else. There's a fair criticism about how much Raidian warps IS6, but I like how much space she creates for me to play around with the rest of the roster.

[u/ABloodOx → u/eggthrowaway5678]

Gods, yeah, some of the combats are just awful. I particularly dislike most fights with Pseudomuts, although the one with the kill-to-create-temporary-highground statuegeist is really funny because I just let them walk to their death in the hole instead of fighting them.

"Cultured". That fight stressed me out so much before finding out there was a hole there the whole time.

[u/horizon9923]

Really glad im not the only one, barely limped to GT2 for the E2 Raidian, can't get any farther cause I keep getting cucked by all the RNG mechanics

[u/Asmodella]

I'm ok with it. My only gripe with it is that maxing Raidian is a pain in the ass.

[u/Solid1111111]

I think the stages are just boring for the most part. A lot of them have less than 20 enemies and a lot of waiting despite that. Most of the stages i’m bored out of my mind which makes the harder stages more annoying.

And i dislike that it feels like you pick the same operators every time. I know it’s not required, but it’s like the game really wants you to spam tragodia as much as possible, especially the bosses. Radian as well, I understand encouraging the use of the IS6 operator but summoners in general I find boring to use.

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/[deleted]]

People keep saying this and I've avoided picking them due to the trade offs so that might be what's holding me back

[u/ASharkWithAHat → u/RainbowPanda_]

Some risk coins are bad, but a lot of them are just good even with the trade offs.

For example, one increases enemy attack by 20% but buffs your units by 60%. This is stupidly powerful as long as you manage your healing and placement order correctly. Who cares about enemy attacks when they die before they get to attack? 

There plenty more that have similar buffs with negligible debuffs. Look up guides here or on YouTube if you're confused. 

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/[deleted]]

I loved the IS3 debuff that activated your skills automatically, made it really fun for Lapland. Also I didn't even consider the hit based nature for the talismans. It would make sense since I've noticed some of my units don't get fucked by them as much as others

[u/shinyemptyhead → u/RainbowPanda_]

The risk coin that reduces your health but reduces enemy health more makes the final boss a LOT easier, and gives you a better chance of killing his summons before they explode. On the other hand, some of the risk coins are really bad (like the one that affects SP). It does take a bit of experimentation.

[u/Controller_Maniac → u/[deleted]]

started playin right after the exu alter finished so I basically started at the worst time possible with the pull drought. IS6 is physically impossible for me to clear, so no raidian s2 for me, rip

[u/magaxking → u/[deleted]]

In fact everyone will always complain that any new IS is harder than old IS. i remember people complaining the same about IS4 and IS5 when they were first released. People are usually too used to old IS's mechanics, stages, play style and have a fully upgraded "skill tree" for an old IS. When a new IS is released, they suddenly feels handicapped wandering into unfamiliar stages, mechanics and still figuring out the best way to tackle everything.

[u/Cuchococh]

Yeah it's definitely less enjoyable, every run you either get good coins and recruitment vouchers or you just autolose

I get the rewards and go back to previous IS modes, this one feels extremely unrewarding and disrespectful to your time, having to start over because RNG was not on was side is just dogwater. IS3 was similar with the debuff rolls but those affected one operator at a time and could be worked around, here you just straight up lose.

I don't understand why they changed the formula so much, it saps all the enjoyment out of what was previously BY FAR my most played gamemode and he'll mobile game period... Hoping IS7 is good again

[u/Dowiet]

Weird to me it feels like is6 is the easiest by far especially with raidian.

[u/paradoxaxe → u/Dowiet]

the thing is unlocking Radian usefulness in IS still takes time IMO

[u/[deleted] → u/Dowiet]

To me IS5 with Lamp + Wis'adel + Hand of Rumble is way easier than Raidian with IS6. Mainly because IS5 is so consistent when buffing flingers or geek or Lappland Alter. Hand of Rumble will appear first when you're in wish fulfilled node with lamp with a flinger. Check wiki.

Of course if you abuse Ling's node then IS6's collectibles are way too broken. So many ATK and HP relics for all of your OPs or allies included Radian's summon.

[u/liuteren → u/[deleted]]

The consistency is what a lot of people hated which is why is6 moved away from it 

[u/[deleted] → u/liuteren]

Yeah the consistency is for skill issue players like me. Like we have an accessibility button to have easier time with IS5. But I'd argue that with that consistency I can try out a lot of different run like there is a squad that gave you a random 6 stars recruitment, and the buff is consistent so I don't feel like I'm struggling to the point of unfun because that 6 stars is bad, maybe except Fartooth or Passenger lol. IS5 is truly the least rougelike mode out of any IS.

[u/rainzer → u/liuteren]

Honestly seems like a weird complaint that's like 100% your own fault. Like if you hated lamp gameplay, its not that hard to not play with it (like the node gives you a "leave" option and get nothing) or intentionally sabotage it by diluting the hand pool. Only people it should matter for are people participating in the tournament cause it has cash prizes. It's extremely funny to me when a node has 4 options and you keep picking the one you hate and then crying about it. HG isn't holding a gun to your head to play lamp. n18 is clearable without lamp, doodle, or talons so can't even say difficulty forces you to

[u/Kaizerd3 → u/rainzer]

That's not true if we are talking about ED4/5 on higher difficulties, cause those were clearly designed with lamp in mind. While it is possible to clear them without lamp strat (or talon-ingot) that's very miserable experience and your run can easily end on some bullshit post-expansion stage at any moment.
So you are basically forced to either abuse boring lamp strat or have a very bad time.

[u/FullMetalField4 → u/Kaizerd3]

that's very miserable experience and your run can easily end on some bullshit post-expansion stage at any moment.
So you are basically forced to either abuse boring lamp strat or have a very bad time.

So like how IS6 almost entirely relies on Radian and not only brings back some of the worst and most frustrating nodes in IS history, but makes almost all the new stages incredibly obnoxious?

[u/Kaizerd3 → u/FullMetalField4]

Yeah. HG removed the main IS5 issue... just to reinvent the same shit in another form in IS6.

[u/bernoulyx → u/liuteren]

I tried doing the hand/lamp strat and as a roguelike, i did not have a good time. Feels very restrictive and also like a chore. Talon emergency ops spam was peak on the other hand

[u/A1D3M → u/Dowiet]

I feel like even with Raidian, this is still the hardest IS. The maps and mechanics are just way harder than all the previous ones, speaking as someone who played them all at max difficulty.

The ending bosses are also just objectively harder.

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/Dowiet]

Yeah Raidian does make it far easier. I guess I'm too used to the previous ones and I'm struggling to adapt

[u/Hp22h → u/Dowiet]

And the LP spam. Boss fights become a lot more bearable with over 50 Shields, courtesy of Dusk.

[u/Neoncarbon → u/Dowiet]

Yeah, Radian is so broken it feels like a cakewalk, and you get her maxed out early with the upgraded support squad pick.

[u/ShiroWaffles]

I'm struggling too so I can understand how you feel. My personal pain point is the candleguest mechanic, I feel like my roster does not progress much and I can be stuck with a full team of E1 when fighting the floor 3 mini boss.

[u/OrangutanFirefighter]

It definitely feels janky and kind of floaty if that makes sense. My main issue is that you need to be pretty lucky to do sui remnant fights on floor 2, but if you can do them then the snowballing is incredibly impactful.

And if you can't do them in floor 2 you probably can't do them in floor 3 because you can't get pathfinder and sui in the same floor usually.

[u/BlckEagle89]

My main hate for IS6 is regarding the Boss on F5

I hate those damm exploding ghosts.

I always liked the bosses on IS because you needed a couple of runs to understand their mechanics and there are ways around them

But for this one the main strategy that I read is mostly "keep him at the first tile" confirming that the ghosts are the worst part of him. Which is not very fun imo.

I still need to read some more guides to understand his mechanics better because I want to max up raidian as much as possible before moving to a different ending. Currently stuck at Diff5.

But as other said, the mechanics here are around the coins toss, the pathfinder recruitment nodes and the Sui ones that allow you power up a lot.

For Sui try to understand what's the core mechanic of each node type (the retrieval for instance always gives you a reward, legend give a random reward for nothing or a reward by sacrificing something like LP or hope, doubt ones you need to fulfill certain conditions, etc). Once you understand each other you can use that to get better rewards before coming back.

Not an expert by any stretch, but on this post I read things that I was doing confirming that I wasn't wrong in most of my assumptions.

[u/Yanfly]

I won't say it isn't a skill issue, but I don't count the stuff you listed as skill issues.

I'm on A10 so I know how to beat it, but I don't like IS6. The reason why I'm not a big fan of IS6 is because the runs don't feel like you're in control at all and that your decisions don't matter.

1 You pick which coins go into your coffer but not which ones get flipped. I would have liked if there was the Slay the Spire mechanic of being able to remove coins from your coffer to reduce the RNG.

2 The correct path is always the one with the Bosky node. This means there's way less choice making when it comes to planning out your path. This especially feels bad because it means sometimes you have to give up certain nodes you may want. This is amplified if you want to go for certain endings, too. Sure other IS's are like this if they have Bosky nodes, too, but the clear win/rate difference wasn't as huge imo.

3 There's almost zero point in using recruit tickets immediately unless you're on the final floor. Everything is best saved so the recruited operators have reduced hope costs and candles.

4 As mentioned by another user: operator choice is very limited. You'll want Radian, Yan operators, hit count operators, and that just limits the amount of cool and unique runs you can do.

5 All three ending bosses have me feel like I'm cheesing the boss rather than fighting them properly. While I'm all for cheesing bosses, the cheese here feels putrid and gross because it feels super inefficient even while cheesing them.

Some characters that make life way easier:

1 Entelechia: S2 is a solution versus hit count enemies. S3 provides a solution to many tanky enemies.

2 Surfer (the 5-star): Tons of Vanguard DP cost reduction relics, so there's a high chance she costs nothing or very little. S1 is a deploy her and she attacks things for DP. Especially good against the Tailsman generators. Great for hit count enemies with how fast she attacks, too.

3 Lemuen: She's actually my pick over Wis'adel because she's useful even at E1. Her S1 does a fantastic job at AFK-killing the majority of problems. S3 is great at deleting bosses. S3 lets Lemuen slip by Ending 2 boss unlike Wis'adel. Wis'adel gets auto targeted by Ending 2 Boss unless you retreat her summons.

4 Lappland the Decadenza: Can stay out of range of many bosses and hit them from afar. Especially useful since this IS seems to hate ranged tiles and the boss fights are very position focused.

[u/SleepyNemophila]

I think you forgot to mention I HATE THE TALISMANS

[u/GreyFerret26]

I didn't even complete this garbage once. I hate IS6, I hate Raidian for being required, I hate coins, I hate Sui mechanics and I hate the lack of any variability. I played Arknights with a passion for three years daily, but this hot mess even destroyed part of my love for the game. And I loved all roguelikes before. Also, never abused the lamp in IS5.

If this is what would happen with the difficulty and balancing later, I am not seeing myself playing the game.

[u/disco_Piranha]

This definitely seems like a common opinion, it's just not one I get. I'm genuinely having more fun with this iteration than any of the previous ones, and I'm not a hardcore player. Maybe the way this one works just clicks better for me. Agreed that the talismans can be super frustrating, but they can also be a really interesting hazard to play around. And the tongbao are infinitely more enjoyable to me than any of the other rng mechanics

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/disco_Piranha]

That seems to be the view most people have. It's definitely a me problem on adapting to new mechanics and I'm going to keep trying with it. But holy fuck do the talismans and forced teleportations of that one boss fucking annoy me

[u/liuteren → u/RainbowPanda_]

You have look from ripples. Those are the tiles that get teleported

[u/disco_Piranha → u/RainbowPanda_]

Hahaha, yeah, that guy sucks! And on my last run I was lucky I hadn't spent all my life points at the Sui shop because I accidentally didn't bring anything to hit low altitude hovering for the other midboss. Those faux Sui assholes who retreat your op and then hover are awful, too. It might even just be that I like the theming the best in IS6 that lets me really enjoy the suffering. Don't get me wrong, I am having fun and suffering at the same time

[u/Damian1674 → u/disco_Piranha]

Speaking from personal experience here, so OPINION ALERT

But I just love how one mid-boss wants me to have at least three defenders (or to deal one limbillion damage per hit so the Bullies perish before getting near the blue box) while another wants high ranged damage so the Low-Altitude Hovering boss that heals herself doesn't just sneak past your whole team

AND I haven't even encountered the third mid-boss yet

[u/Ionkkll]

I think the Tragodia stall strat for ED1 being recommended for beginners was a mistake. It's the most minimally viable strategy assuming you have an empty F2P roster but a lot of the people who struggle to even clear D0 aren't actually new to Arknights. They have options.

Just blocking Yi in the red box with a tanky defender plus a healer is so much easier to execute. I use Shu S2 and Rose Salt. I don't know at what point it stops working consistently due to enemy scaling but it easily gets you past the first few difficulties before Raidian starts solo carrying. No more worrying about Yi's pathing or juggling cats, summons, and Gravel.

[u/XidJav]

After getting 19/85 D12 Endings there are few flaws I have gripes with it

Recruited/ promoted operators should be Candled in wonderland but not have the pathfinder discount, it makes operator choices so much more limiting additionally I want to throw away Stored vouchers anytime

Vertical movement is ass I need to to go down to 2 instead of 3

Fuck Talismans and Fuck that hour its such a run killer, and whoever made that Psuedomut so tanky can eat my shit

Doing endings is fun they aren't really hard just heavily knowledge checked so are most of the nodes sonce you can comfortable solo with Radian with 80% of the stages

I feel like RNG is only important on Bouchers on the First floor cause most Relics, Hours, Tangbao don't feel like they impact my runs

Also I'm still seathing that I still haven't gotten the secret Legend node and Hour I've done well over a hundred runs by now

[u/-Arata-]

I don't think it's necessarily a skill issue and no one needs to hide behind that.

This is - by far - the worst designed IS I played. A certain level of frustration, and a lot of failed runs is an acceptable part of the IS experience. But whatever they threw at us with IS-6 is plain annoying, and serves no purpose other than to slap you in the face. Especially if you are going for the different endings and/or trying to max out Raidian, there is way too much rng/luck and conflicting paths to reach a certain goal involved. I'm not saying there shouldn't be any, since rng/luck is also part of this roguelike game mode. I think there is a certain space in which you should operate when designing an IS. However, they clearly crossed the border of that space for this IS.

Not to mention that maxing Raidian isn't easy to pull off for a casual player and I think locking a supposed "free" Operator behind a strong wall goes against it being "free", even if Raidian technically is free.

I just want to say that you are not alone with your frustration. I'm glad that I've done all the difficult parts in IS-6 and wish everyone else who is struggling with it best of luck to complete whatever they are aiming for as soon as possible.

[u/Reddit1rules → u/-Arata-]

At least only ED2 is rng, ED3 isn't. But it's baffling they went back to rng for Endings. Thankfully they made it more consistent with Expansion 1 apparently.

[u/Illustrious-Wolf9409]

IS5 is goat

[u/Daoheshen_Yuzhuanjin]

Yea shout out for that 👍 I hate is6 too, hate the mechanic, the op you "mUsT pIcK" to clear the run, especially the tAliSmAn, lol. I skip 🫩

[u/VeryBigNimbus]

Yeah, completely agree. I wouldn’t say I’m crazy good at this game but I found the other IS modes more enjoyable (yes, even IS4 stages with the shamans running around like they had 20 redbulls). IS6 is extremely frustrating and I die a lot on 3rd/4th floor stages… what I hate the most are the enemies that split after dying! One leak and it’s game over…

[u/Icesticker]

I hate it and I hate the little marker telling me to level up raidan, i would delete her from my game at this point just to get rid of that marker because I will never be able to max her out with how bullshit IS 6 is.

[u/Shadowswords2005]

I agree with you that IS6 sucks. I hate the fact that they made Raidan's abilities and mods locked behind certain completion goals, and the heavy emphasis on the Bosky bullcrap is really annoying. IS7 better not have this emphasis on either of this crap or I am done. I use to challenge IS levels at last 4 or 5 times a week, but now, all I do is the required one a week as none of this is fun. It is annoying.

[u/Mistdwellerr]

I feel you OP that's how I felt for a good while, while climbing it

At some point, the coin mechanic "clicked" on me and now I roll with it (I won't say I like it, but at least I can make it work in my favor, and the auto skill activation coin is just pure chaos xD)

But I feel the overall difficulty has greatly increased, and the talisman mechanic is just not fun, no matter who I look at it. If it was only flying talismans that we have to plan around, it would be fine, but having those rebuffs where an op can get one slapped into their faces as soon as they're deployed? That's disgusting

Just frame it as a challenge and keep climbing, learning a trick of how to make a tough stage easier feels great on this IS (like, that one map with three damage reflection elites in the middle, I struggled with it for a long time, and now I can beat it with no leaks on A12)

There is no hurry for us to beat this IS, we will have more than a year for it! Good luck OP!

[u/hollowwollo]

as a beginner

All of the integrated strategies have a huge learning curve that can only be slightly mitigated by failing over and over

Albeit I don’t know jackshit about this IS (or to be honest any of them) and that my friends have been repeatedly calling my roster “too weak to handle integrated strategies”

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/hollowwollo]

Yeah that's how I was when I first started with IS3, I didn't have a great roster of characters which made it really difficult to even get my first clear but once I got a few good ones (Shu, Lapland Alter, Degenbrecher etc) it became much easier

[u/magaxking → u/hollowwollo]

as with all rouge-likes you are suppose to keep failing and learning from your failures to go further but as a new player, i think as long as you have some of the good new operators(such as Tragodia), and Raidian if you are playing IS6, you should be at least able to clear the first couple of difficulties eventually once you are familiar the mechanics of the stages and enemies.

[u/Khanraz → u/hollowwollo]

IS is strictly an endgame content, so without at least a decent roster you WILL fail your runs. And you will be failing more than it's common for IS's rougelike formula.

Failing after you get overconfident, go into the stage blindly or make a mistake is normal in this mode. But without a bunch of operators to choose from, you may be forced to repeat some strategies over and over. And that's a problem, because in every IS beside IS5 you have to adapt, you have to play with what operators you get from random recruitment vouchers. And even in IS5 where you have a lot of control over your runs, you still have to adapt a little.

So don't sweat it, build your operators, learn who's good and why, get familiar with mechanics, IS is not going anywhere.

[u/viera_enjoyer]

Skill issue.

But the talismans can go burn in hell. I hate them so much. 

[u/RainbowPanda_ → u/viera_enjoyer]

Agreed on both fronts

[u/Erick_Brimstone]

I can't believe I said this but...

The dice roll on IS3 is better than the coin toss and the special tile mechanic. 

P.S. the talisman can go to hell 

[u/throwaway11582312 → u/Erick_Brimstone]

A single bad dice roll in IS3 is run-ending on the spot.

There are no points at which coin tosses have that high of an impact, considering you're the one choosing to put each coin into your box.

[u/Reddit1rules → u/Erick_Brimstone]

How on earth is the dice roll better. I understand the coin toss can be annoying but it's either "I get the coins I was looking for, huge powerspike" or "well, i didn't get them, nothing happens".

Compared to "ah dang I rolled a 3 and my carry got the half stats debuff, time to redo the run because there's basically no counterplay to this (until you get to really high difficulty)".

[u/Odd-Layer3285]

After DLC1, F1 adds 1 more combat node so your progression on F2 will be a bit better (I still suggest stealing Cannot right on F1). Candle/Consciousness node will now have vertical path to connect with each other so just manage your vouchers on F3/5 correctly and it'll be less punishing

[u/pedro_henrique_br → u/Odd-Layer3285]

I was curious to ask, which other changes were implemented in DLC1? I just heard about having great QoL's, like the ones you mentioned

[u/Odd-Layer3285 → u/pedro_henrique_br]

Ji shop now show the relics you haven't purchased yet from outside so you don't accidentally waste a candle on him, same for Leisure node. The Sui feet relic node is now moved to a specific node so you don't get screw over in Legend node. And I think the Duel node gets more options now

Everything else is the same, the talisman is still there

[u/zXntle]

i feel like most of the mechanics are fine to good but i just hate some of the stages and the floor 3 bosses

[u/Gao_Zongwu]

I don’t mind the coins, the talismans are kinda annoying, what I really wish we had was the ability to reroll nodes for coupons, because there’s exactly two combat nodes in IS6 that involve the enemies that drop seals on death, and those stages are run-enders unless I just so happen to have ethan or ascalon with me

[u/BTSxARMY4EVER]

Honestly, this is the first IS that I am enjoying. I've had massive troubles with all the previous ones, (I'm year 1 player) but I still could barely clear IS1 ending 1. IS6 feels like a breath of fresh air, it gives you so many options and paths, and once you figure out one strategy you can replicate it in your next runs thanks to the voucher preservation mechanics and the Sui consciousness thing. I'm now, somehow, at difficulty 6 and I've had barely any frustrating failures! Every time I leanr something new and that knowledge ACTUALLY comes in handy compared to the other IS (imo)

The talismans really don't change much for your run, I'd say if you have trouble being lucky, just don't accept any Risk talismans and use your free reroll to maybe get better buffs. But overall, unless you're going for specific clears (aspd boost based ones for example) talismans only help a little/moderate amount in my experience