#is2

[superchat]

[doctor-faint]

Strategic results!

[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

[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 🤌🧑‍🍳😘

[rubybunnies]

love eunectes

solos the stupid clown on a bicycle

[laegjarnisbestgirl]

I finally got around to beating the final boss of IS2. It was way easier than I thought it would be. I was so ready for that twink to have a second phase after how fast Specter killed him

[sokoe-chan]

Highmore emo fase defeated and I'm happy because this time didn't take me months to do it.

[doctor-faint]

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

[cerastes]

do you have any tips on beating mouthpiece and playwright with the leader squad? i had a lot of trouble fighting the big sad lock so some advice to help me prepare for the other two bosses would be very appreciated.

I'll make guides for them as well since I do get a significant amount of asks asking for help on those two. I can give you a more summarized rundown for now.

Leader Squad specifically is very good, those 5 shield lives allow you to get goofy with the rest of the run and take risks that would otherwise be unadvisable, whether it be with map selection, route selection, or in-map strategies. Make the most out of this to get as strong as possible through Emergencies. Leader Squad's weakness is the lack of otherwise any other tangible advantage: You have leeway, and that's it (though leeway is very strong, to be frank). Try to grab as many fights as possible at all times... Which is kind of a headache, because you DO want to get Encounters to actually get the Mouthpiece or Playwright routes.

The Troupe's Mouthpiece is the single most dynamic boss in the game, and the antithesis to Big Sad Lock, who is an extremely static boss. On your way to Mouthpiece, you ideally get Squad and Deployment size, at least one of the Berries, and at least one DP generator, but ideally at least two. These are the single most important aspects you can get for his fight, because you have to divide your team into two: Your static defense squad, and your attacker squad.

Red circles are your hold-down areas. Green squares are your DP gen tiles, so that way they don't get sniped by the Scarlet Singers (and so you don't have to waste deployments assassinating them, usually a net loss in time and overall DP). Blue squares are healers; Incoming damage in this map isn't big, but it's constant. A Berry, the Corrupting Heart, or an AoE Healer is enough per side. I recommend you deploy your Berry on the left, as that's where Mouthpiece goes to when he "enrages", so you can buy more time actually blocking him. Purple arrows are your lane hold-DPS. Again, incoming damage isn't high, so Guards, Dollkeepers, or offense-oriented Defenders (like Blemishine or Mudrock) are ideal. They are facing towards the statue tile so that they may attack it when they spawn there. Ideally this DPS Lane Holder has a permanent skill like Blaze S2 or Thorns S3, an steroid like Blemishine S3, or a burst option like Cutter S1 so they can actually deal damage to the statues. The ranged tile next to the DP tile and the Healer tile is for your Ranged DPS. Doesn't matter what type, they are there to help destroy the statues in your hold-down area, and deal damage to approaching units.

Now, here's where it gets fun! The other half of your squad is the attackers, here's where you want to have helidrop Operators, or the closest you can muster, in order to destroy the statues that will spawn across the map in their designated tiles. The statues, known as Mouthpiece's Helpers, deal constant True Damage to tiles around them, as well as halving the attack of the Operators in this selfsame area. For this reason, you want Operators that can quickly get in, deal lots of damage, and then get out. Skadi S2, Nearl the Radiant Knight S2, Lee S3, Jaye S2, Cutter S1, Ch'en S2, Phantom S2, Specter S2, Specter the Unchained S2 and S3, anything that you can drop, activate quickly, and then retreat is good. You'll be doing this a lot. There ARE ranged tiles you can also use but these are less advisable, as they are either in Mouthpiece range (he attacks two targets at once and deals significant Nervous Impairment + 1000 Arts Damage baseline per attack) or in Scarlet Singer range. If you must use these, then do assassinate the Singers.

Mouthpiece is a juggling game of managing your hold-down area while having the resources to keep deploying Operators to far away Helpers to destroy them. Once you lock down on your hold-down, the rest is making good judgment calls with your deployments. I would also advise keeping someone on hand for deployment to secure your hold-down every couple of minutes because the NI will keep building up on any side you don't have a Berry on (and having two Berries tends to be very rare).

I'll do a more complete guide on Mouthpiece later, same goes for Playwright. Very briefly, with Playwright, you want to deploy Operators diagonal to each other so Playwright's cross explosions don't gib your composition, otherwise have as much bulk and healing as you can, because unlike the other 3 final bosses of IS2, Playwright's map is very heavy on incoming damage, and you need to be able to either secure a firm line that won't explode to the immense Arts damage you'll be dealing with, or have enough means to deal with that otherwise, such as secondary deployments once your line explodes, fast-redeploys to hold the enemies that explode outside of range, etc etc. If you have her, Definitely Bring Nightingale. She significantly reduces the difficulty of the map thanks to her Arts mitigation (all relevant damage is Arts) and her Bait helps for emergencies with Playwright's global range. Also you need 1-2 units on the back to kill the Golems. Spawn camp the Golems. If you have Pozy, you can spawn camp and kill Playwright instantly, but that's an if. Nonetheless, if possible, you SHOULD spawncamp him to deal damage. Again, I'll make a proper guide but the important thing is, unless you are 100% sure you can kill him outright, DO NOT pop damage skills on Playwright Phase 1, because Phase 2 (50% HP) makes him VERY bulky (2000 Defense and 90 Resistance!), so save burst for Phase 2. And, it goes without saying, but ideally, you're using Physical damage if you don't have ways to placate his insane 90 RES.

[petterwass]

Breaking news: Local Extremely Angry Cuttlefish bullies theater kids!

Andreana is a bit fiddly to use but I quite like in IS and she and Firewatch got Lucian down to half hp. It was mostly Andreana. With a casual 4000 ATTACK.

And then he ran dick-first into the Caster squad and Supreme Judge Leizi got a restraining order on his ass

Fun fun run with the Squad that automatically upgrades Casters, got through most of the stages simply because not many things can survive the amount of raw electricity that Leizi and Pudding side-by-side can pump out.

Didn't pull a single Sniper until the last floor and didn't need to until then because well as said, Leizi/Pudding tag-teamed and powerbombed almost every stage for me.

Relevant relics where the +ASP/Ingot and +25% Attack for Casters. Otherwise it was mostly Life Points and Deployment Limits, the former which was sorely needed as I leaked 19(!) enemies in Traveler From Afar, the only time I really wished I had a Sniper.