#is2

[superchat]

[doctor-faint]

Strategic results!

[meeblo]

Why do people hate IS3 compared to IS2?

I've seen a decent amount of people who dislike IS3 and prefer IS2, or even find IS3 to be a regression or a push away from what made IS2 good. This isn't me trying to refute those claims necessarily, just understand them

Here's two of the most common things I seem to see people say, and why I don't really understand them:

IS3 has more RNG run-killing bullshit This complaint probably comes from things like rejections and a few bad emergency ops (territorial tendencies, water and fire union, etc). While those things can be a pain, I personally find IS3 to have far less RNG compared to IS2. Wish Fulfilled nodes offering a choice of collectible rather than just a random one is far better for shaping the kind of synergies you want to get rolling, and the odds of losing out on a good collectible you really want are slim as you can reroll a 1. Fortuitous Opportunities likewise give you a chance to turn otherwise worthless collectibles into something that contributes to your overall strategy. Whereas in IS2 targeting an ending like Mouthpiece or Playwright is a hellish RNG farm to get maybe 10% of runs through the required random encounters to trigger it, in IS3 a solid majority of my runs see the encounter necessary for Last Knight, Ishar'mla, or both. Additional shop options such as rerolling or fighting Cannot also help to let you see more collectible choices throughout the run and give you more agency in shaping your synergies. Overall, I find that IS3's tough run ending stages are more than balanced out by the far greater agency IS3 gives you compared to IS2 in developing your collectible synergies. (and besides, those tough run ender stages aren't so bad when you get a feel for them. Unless you're going for Ishar'mla, rejections are also largely a nonissue so long as you avoid leaks or only burn objective shield. Even on high waves where you start at 70 light, I rarely end up getting a run killed by a rejection. If it's someone important hit, I reroll it, or utilize the emergency dispatch node. There's other nodes as well that can cure rejections. Always grab random reserve ops and never skip recruitments, they'll soak up rejections. Most rejections are barely an issue anyway, it's just the stat halving one that sucks).

IS3 is too hard, minimizing the freedom IS2 had to let you use non-meta characters Frankly I don't really understand this one. IS2 is far more strict with stages that require certain operators. Wandering medics are far more important to IS2 than IS3, as Nervous Impairment is generally a much more strategy-disrupting status effect than Corrosion. Stages like Justice are functionally an instant run ender without investing in a fast-starting DP generating strategy (cough, flagpipe). Drone heavy stages are more common in earlier floors, and IS2 has poison mist stages where IS3 doesn't have any, both serving as squad checks more than skill checks in the majority of circumstances. Difficulty wise, yes, IS3 does generally have harder enemies. But the mere presence of enemies with more stats, more mechanics, or both, does not require you to break out the meta operators. Texas alter is great for stunning drifting sea skimmers, but you know who else is? May, a 4 star. Kroos alter, given out for free. Regular Texas, free from pinboard missions. Aak with his talent. Ambriel, Beeswax, Click, Cliffheart who came free with your fucking xbox, Flametail, Mostima, Skyfire. The list goes on. Can't keep up with a retching broodmother killing your melee units and wasting your block? Have them attack a defensive recovery operator, they charge defensive skills real fast. Take them out with ranged units before you place melee units down, works great for maps like Omen. And as mentioned above, it's way easier to reliably get a good collectible setup without rng farming in IS3 than it is in IS2 due to having more agency in what collectibles you get.

Other Those are the main arguments I remember seeing, but I'm sure to have missed or forgotten others. Also, what perspective are people approaching this from relative to the rest of the game? Are the people complaining about Sanguinarch's Legacy in the same breath as Territorial Tendencies just people who haven't gotten to ep10 yet?

Feel free to correct me, clarify, or dispute anything said here.

[cerastes]

Aight so I recently got into an internet argument about Lumen vs The Berries in IS2, with the other side advocating that Poor Boy Jordi does literally every single thing they can do but better, so I'm curious of your verdict as The IS2 Man

I can see where they are coming from.

Now, Jordi is an amazing unit, and thanks to his S3 and the Resistance he can grant through his Talent, he can pick up units that have been stunned due to NI instantly. Assuming the unit can survive the burst of the NI, and assuming Jordi's S3 is active, he'll just patch them right up, back to their feet. Even outside of this, Jordi is just a very convenient healer, since his S3 works on ammo that is only spent when actually undoing an effect, it's basically a very long buff to this healing, functionally infinite most of the time. NI doesn't come in huge waves in IS2, either, the only time it becomes truly abundant and loathsome is during Lucian's map, and even then, that can be dealt with by applying enough DPS to the carousel, which you should be doing anyways. So, in practice, I can see what the other person meant, they are not wrong, to be honest.

Now, of course, Jordi is a 6*. You're getting him for his anti-Stuns and his fat heals... But do you need that? In general, IS2 doesn't have a lot of incoming damage. Some maps are exceptional in this regard -- any map with Sarkaz Lancers, Ursus Desire, Playwright's map -- but for the most part, you're not dealing with tons of damage at once, so Lumen's high cost of 6 (+3 if you want S3, though Charged S2 also removes effects) Hope and overhealing is a bit overkill when you can just grab a Berry for 3 (+2 very optional, they don't need E2) Hope and have enough healing and NI utility to do anything, really. There's also the matter of not needing to deal with stuns in the first place if you just don't get stunned at all, as the Berries just cure away the NI before it can be a problem. There's also their differences in range, which gives them different specific tactical applications, depending on the map.

**This is a bit more niche, but in Calamity, NI burst damage outright kills a lot of units that don't die to it in Normal, so it's doubly important to prevent NI through Berries in Calamity, but I'm adding this as a sidenote since there's as many IS2 Calamity players as there are Bionicle fans (we're like seven people worldwide).**

So, overall, they kiiinda have a point but in the same way E2ing Surtr to deal with, say, Skullshatterer 1 is a point: Technically correct, but completely unnecessary. 6 (+3) Hope is a lot of Hope that could be going into other units when 3 (+2) gets the job done with flying colors anyways. If you really want that safety and big fat heals and don't mind the price tag, though, yeah, Jordi does in fact cover the Berries' role in his own way, in a way that's practically feasible in IS2.

You could just get a Berry for half the price and the same practical effect, though.

[oltammefru]

Was just reminded of the fact that IS2 had that one collectible named "Ball Juice." Who names this shit????

[senespera4]

Guess which IS2 map I just died on

[seijatachiis]

mudrock casual 9k bonk in IS2 what a queen

[000yul]

WELCOME DOROTHY

[themakura]

Just beat my first IS2, got carried by Lin S3, Fia S3, Yato S3 and the temporary Irene S3, actual blessed characters.

[superheavyloadermech]

Using Noir Corne S1 to counter Sarkaz lancers 🤌🧑‍🍳😘

[ynsryr]

finally beat is2 for the first time. I don’t play much is but this was a welcome surprise right before 3 comes out. never underestimate how much work a e2 m3 robin can do!

[doctor-faint]

My castle notes are level 94! You know what that means...

[petterwass]

The monthly squad this time feels really solid. Doing well with them so far.

Just Hellagur casually 1v1'ing the Sami Abomination and kicking her arse

Also funny setup: Hoshi collects all the enemies on her, Hellagur goes Full Moon and everyone dies.

Glorious

[cerastes]

hi dreamer, i have need of your expert integrated strategies skills. i have most of my 4* units juiced up and i'm running low on 6* units i still need to promote, so i'm curious as to what 5* units you recommend for IS2 specifically so i can focus on leveling those. i already have at e2: elysium, texas, red, silence, mulberry, lappland, andreana, bloopy and specter

Off rip I can tell you that, from those you have at E2, Elysium, Texas, Mulberry, BP, and Specter are solid, in particular Texas, Mulberry, and BP. Elysium is usually a second pick after Myrtle, if you need that much DP (Mouthpiece, for example), Texas is an all around great unit with 2 block, DP gen and crowd control to open up maps, Blue Poison is a Marksman Sniper, an archetype that thrives in IS2 (and she has S1 Spinach), Mulberry is a hard counter against Lucian and IS2 in general, and Specter is very strong but you don't really do stall much in IS2, so sometimes it's better to just pocket that Hope and save until you have 6 instead. All units your listed are definitely useable, and I say this to spare myself the additions of "Red/Andreana/Lapp are also useful because xxxyyyzzz" yes we know. I'll make a special mention to Lapp, however, in that she's godlike for Gopnik 2, since her Silence prevents the Infected Hounds from becoming extra smaller enemies.

Alright, so going to my recommendations outside of what you have there:

Platinum: Platinum doesn't have Spinach synergy, she instead has the superior range and attack granted by her S2, which is very useful, as it allows her to do significant damage to Audience Members and Scarlet Singers without needing to rely on items and synergies. This is specially important in Calamity, where she fares very well against the stat heft of Calamity enemies. Depending on where you place her, Platinum S2 can cover 3 statues in the Mouthpiece fight, giving her special utility in that one as well. Maps in IS2 tend to be compact and simple in composition, making Plat's extended range very powerful.

Kazemaru: Cheap, sturdy "Guard" that can let you weather unfortunate situations, such as early game Survivalist with little healing, with FAR more lenience. With a more complete roster, you can use her as a dedicated forward holder or assassin to get rid of or weaken key enemies, such as Scarlet Singers or the horde of Audience Members in Def Down tiles in that one Sarkaz Lancer map. S1 has Spinach synergy.

La Pluma: Very powerful, true AoE on her skills, self-sustain, and her range of three tiles in front of her (horizontal) allows her to cover weird angles and corners by herself. S1 has Spinach synergy.

Shamare: Being able to weaken enemy ATK and DEF (most importantly, ATK, a rare debuff) is pretty damn good, and Supporter items are great in IS2, especially the -35% cooldown one, which allows Shamare access to very, very good S2 upkeep. Reducing the attack of Lucian, Big Sad Lock, Sarkaz Lancers, Audience Members, Singers, Artillery Drones, etc, allows for some really funky deployments and strategies. She also Fragiles enemies in range under a certain HP threshold, always useful, but she's here mainly for the S2.

Robin & Frost: Due to the simplicity of the maps in IS2, their traps absolutely rock enemies. Plenty of powerful synergies as well.

Kroos the Keen Glint: Marksman Sniper, which is an innate advantage in IS2. You build bnuuy with ASPD, because enough ASPD makes her crowd control the shit out of whatever she's attacking (and if you have extreme ASPD, you can even stunlock).

Warfarin: Just a very very solid unit in general, has her instant S1 heals (Spinach skill) as well as her signature ATK buff. Can never go wrong with Warf.

Amiya: Amiya is available from both Caster and Guard tickets, and you can change her class freely, giving her very good versatility. Also benefits from pre-promoted squad bonuses for Caster and Guard regardless of her class. Besides the unique versatility she brings, Amiya is a generally solid unit and has access to True Damage, making her a good Rat King killer (among everything else you may want to use True Damage for, cough cough Civilight Eterna cough hack wink).

Ptilopsis: Another all-around useful Medic. AoE Medics tend to enjoy very useful tiles in IS2. As per usual, she brings her SP acceleration passive and her superheal S2.

Blacknight: Without getting into synergies with other units, Blacknight afford you blocking, ranged hits, Arts damage and DP Gen all in one unit, she's very versatile and a great opener for maps.

Shalem & Asbestos: Shalami Pastrami enjoys increased stats in IS2 and also can be used as either an Arts damage dealer or a straight up tank. His machine gun S1 is very good. Asbestos is good for similar reasons, and her S2 is particularly good in that it hits air enemies (Shalem's does as well, but his S2 is, well, not too good).

To those recs, I'd also add some Casters, especially Kjera (generally useful unit) and Beeswax (maps are simple, there's tons of Beeswax tiles in IS2, plus her increased def is great for more flexible deploying orders, depending on your comp), and I'd say that's a comprehensive list of my recs. Some others like Nearl also apply, but I do use Radiant Knight a lot which means I don't really want to have Defender Nearl on me, but if you don't have Radiant Knight, Nearl is definitely also a recommendation.