This is something I've been putting together since I started my Controller grind. It's mostly centered around Issue 9 content, and even after Issue 10's release, I'm probably going to stick with that - Issue 10's content isn't as repetition-friendly, in my mind. Since the two areas are almost completely separate, Issue 10 content would go at the tail end anyway.
I make no claims that this is THE most efficient route or the best way of doing things, but what I found to be the best for me with what information I had available. This is more to present a solid plan for initial use as well as open the table for discussions, commentary, and improvements.
Happy grinding for those 1.9 controllers!
/Kalinai
------
New Player & General Information
Tokyo Access
To access Tokyo (Kaidan) you need to
(Plagiarized word-for-word from Ribara, thanks Ribara!)
Preparations
My biggest recommendation to prepare for Tokyo is to go to the Marketplace and buy 1-4 QL-0 "AE Capacitor" items. Doesn't matter too much what % value they have, the key is to HAVE THEM. AEGIS damage is dealt as a percentage of the damage you deal. That percentage is determined by the Version of your Aegis Controller (1.0 - 1.9), the mods from your AE Capacitors, and the Damage section of the AEGIS Skill.
Initially, without capacitors or skills and a 1.0 controller, you will be dealing 5% of your overall damage. Meaning, to take down a 200-point AEGIS shield, you'll have to deal 4000 damage. This makes Tokyo mobs very difficult on the outset. With four QL0 2.0% Capacitors, you're up to 13% (the equivalent of a 1.9 Controller) - that same 200pt shield will only require 1,540 damage to knock off. The difference is PALPABLE.
Also check marketplace for three specific Modules: Weakening, Penetrating, and Critical. Penetrating is probably the top dog, and is both the rarest and the most expensive on the Marketplace (most Tokyo veterans have it, and modules are unique, meaning they cannot pickup and sell any extras that drop). Critical shows up rarely and is good for crit-centric builds. Weakening is underestimated - it only deals 30 AEGIS damage, but it does it every time you apply weakened. With a Blade survival build, that's every. hit. There plenty of other modules, but these three stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Finally, recommend being in at least QL10 blues, preferably NM gear. Tokyo is hardest when you first arrive, due to low AEGIS stuff. This makes tackling it in low gear a daunting notion.
Build
For Tokyo, you're going to need to change your build. I STRONGLY recommend using a melee build with two PBAOE Builders. Due to how Aegis works, you'll want to have spammable attacks for each weapon to break AEGIS shields, and having a second builder makes this so much easier.
Leech builds aren't as effective in Tokyo due to Leech healing not working so long as any AEGIS shields are up. Note that this will also affect Thirst Signet procs and Leeching Frenzy, making those more difficult to rely on.
I also personally favor using Blade/Hammer due to both starting at 5 resources for each fight - having two big finishers at the start of the fight makes those fights much faster. Also, as always, AOE is generally more important than ST for soloing, since you're far moreoften fighting more than 1 opponent. This is especially true in Tokyo, where the enemy density is high and there are few routes devoid of enemies.
Especially early on, you'll probably want to focus more on survivability and outlasting enemies than on bursting them down, due to how much damage you have to deal to knock AEGIS shields off: many boss-type enemies have over 2,000 points of AEGIS to chew through. Remember the AEGIS damage conversion stuff above? That means that, when you're first starting, many bosses will require you to deal 15,000 - 40,000 damage extra damage before you can reach their health, and some of that will likely regenerate in combat.
My personal build is:
Arrival: AEGIS Explained
Once you arrive in Tokyo through the story mission and play through the introduction mission, you'll find yourself with three new AEGIS Controllers and access to the AEGIS Skill lines (Speed, Damage, possibly Shield). My recommendation is to start putting points into Speed until at least 5 or 6, then switching to Damage. Without Speed, switching AEGIS controllers in combat is an expensive operation. At 5 or 6, Speed suffers heavy diminishing returns and is no longer very important. Damage gives +1% per point, which is great (especially early). Ignore Shield entirely for now, it's not relevant until Issue 10 content.
Play through the storyline missions. Also consider doing both Tower Defense and Right Round missions once you have a set of 4 AE Capacitors (QL doesn't really matter too much). These two missions grant new AEGIS Controllers from a set of 3 - the original trio is based around delaying shields from going back up (or taking Demonic shields down faster), while the mission Controllers give small heals when dealing AEGIS damage. It's best to have all 6 so you can make an informed decision about which controllers to level up first. Also, once you've acquired all 3 AEGIS controllers from these missions, their containers instead provide a very large sum of research points. Right Round in particular, between the looted points and the two(!) containers it provides, is worth upwards of 22,000+ research points.
As the tutorials in the game mention, there are three types of AEGIS shields: Demonic, Cybernetic, and Psychic. Demonic shields are generally the largest, but once they're off, they stay off. Enemies with Psychic shields can cast "Psychic Renewal" to regenerate a portion of their Psychic shields. Cybernetic shields will automatically regenerate after a set time (and, on Issue 10 opponents, will also auto-regenerate while they're still up). I personally recommend leveling the Original versions of the Psychic and Cybernetic controllers (which delay shield renewal), and your choice for Demonic controllers. The innate effects of the controllers do NOT scale with Version, though they may scale when upgrading the Controllers to Blue quality in later Issues.
You level your AEGIS controllers by looting the remains of AEGIS enemies with those Controllers equipped. AEGIS enemies drop filth samples that provide Research Points towards your currently equipped AEGIS Controllers. Most missions also reward various types of Biohazard Containers, which drop Modules, Capacitors, and hefty sums of Research Points. Note that only the CURRENTLY EQUIPPED Controllers get the points - not ones in the "cycle slots." Controllers can currently only be leveled to 1.9.
The XP tables for leveling AEGIS Controllers is roughly as follows (give or take a few thousand for each tier):
When a Controller reaches 100% Research, it can be upgraded with a Memory Upgrade Kit. These are available from the Orochi merchant by the Ginpachi Park Agartha entrance. There are two types of kits: Mark 1 and Mark 2. Mark 1 kits are used to upgrade controllers up to 1.4, Mark 2 are for versions 1.5 - 1.9. Mark 1 kits cost 5 Sequins of Sunrise, Mark 2 kits cost 20 Sequins of Sunrise. It costs a total of 120 Sequins to level a controller to 1.9 (this is down from 270 from Issue 9).
The highest QL of your controllers equipped (including in the "cycle slots") determines what QL Capacitors you can equip. There are 3 types of Capacitors. AE Capacitors increase the % damage dealt to AEGIS shields (and are your mainstay for soloing Tokyo missions), Convalescence Capacitors increase healing done to player AEGIS shields, and S-Something AE Capacitors increase AEGIS shield capacity. The latter two are pretty much irrelevant for Issue 10 content, but are expected to be necessary for tanks and healers in the Issue 11 dungeon/raid.
It is generally considered the optimal route to powerlevel one controller up to 1.9 as fast as possible, because that allows the usage of stronger Capacitors early on (and capacitors provide the lion's share of your AEGIS effectiveness). With the new kit pricings, you can probably afford to level two at once, but budget your sequins ahead of time to hit 1.9 ASAP on a single Controller.
You earn Sequins of Sunrise through completion of Tokyo missions (10 for initial completions of story missions, 3 for repeats of story missions and regular missions, 1 for item missions). These will be your primary limiting factor when leveling your AEGIS controllers, and optimizing the mission route to obtain sequins is the purpose of the lion's share of this guide.
When you reach Issue 10 Content (beyond the Quarantine Wall), the enemies you encounter change. First, their AEGIS shields roughly quintuple in size, and second, they begin dealing a lot more damage, some of which is AEGIS Typed. One of Jack Hama's missions, "One for the AEGIS" will grant AEGIS Shield Controllers (equipped on head). Those will absorb AEGIS damage of the appropriate type until depleted, and are leveled identically to the other AEGIS Controllers (same kits, same XP chart).
First Playthrough
Play the story missions. No, seriously, just play the story missions. Take your time. The grind can wait a bit. The story missions are tuned for low-level controllers, provide a ton of information on the whole "What the fuck just happened" question, and are worth giving your complete attention. They provide 10 sequins of sunrise each, and supposedly will grant some capacitors and modules now as well (Issue 10 change). I recommend you stop at "Follow the White Rabbit" until you're at at least +25% AEGIS Damage, as the enemies beyond the wall are MUCH harder than the ones inside.
Once you've finished the storyline entirely, go back around and do the other missions for the first time. Again, just enjoy the story, dialogue, and challenges they provide. Again, stay within the Quarantine Wall.
Important Note: For missions (e.g. Love and Origami) that say "Go find X", mark X on your map. You'll want to be able to quickly reference those locations until you've gotten used to 'em.
Important Note 2: The next section assumes you completed all Investigation missions, through massive brainpower or blatant cheatery (I'm guilty of the latter). The Investigation Missions are the best ones to repeat later on in terms of time:reward, so do complete them.
Important Note 3: I'm assuming you have Issue 9 AND the Tokyo Side Stories DLC in this guide. The sidestories DLC is worth the price, both in terms of quality content and in terms of grind shortening.
I make no claims that this is THE most efficient route or the best way of doing things, but what I found to be the best for me with what information I had available. This is more to present a solid plan for initial use as well as open the table for discussions, commentary, and improvements.
Happy grinding for those 1.9 controllers!
/Kalinai
------
New Player & General Information
Tokyo Access
To access Tokyo (Kaidan) you need to
- Have finished the story mission up to and including Transylvania.
- Do the story mission guiding you to Venice Sunken Library. (After running back to your faction HQ for Transylvania debriefing and stuff you should eventually get a phone call when you run around in Agartha. You do not need to buy any issues to get this phone call.)
- Acquire the (fake) Council Seal:
- Either by getting 80 Aureus of Initiation (oreos/blueberries) by doing scenarios. Hotel scenario is accessible to all without having to buy any issues.
- Or get access to the fake seal (costs 1 million pax) by doing the Immersion investigation mission from the Sidestories DLC pack (costs 960 Funcom points before any discount).
(Plagiarized word-for-word from Ribara, thanks Ribara!)
Preparations
My biggest recommendation to prepare for Tokyo is to go to the Marketplace and buy 1-4 QL-0 "AE Capacitor" items. Doesn't matter too much what % value they have, the key is to HAVE THEM. AEGIS damage is dealt as a percentage of the damage you deal. That percentage is determined by the Version of your Aegis Controller (1.0 - 1.9), the mods from your AE Capacitors, and the Damage section of the AEGIS Skill.
Initially, without capacitors or skills and a 1.0 controller, you will be dealing 5% of your overall damage. Meaning, to take down a 200-point AEGIS shield, you'll have to deal 4000 damage. This makes Tokyo mobs very difficult on the outset. With four QL0 2.0% Capacitors, you're up to 13% (the equivalent of a 1.9 Controller) - that same 200pt shield will only require 1,540 damage to knock off. The difference is PALPABLE.
Also check marketplace for three specific Modules: Weakening, Penetrating, and Critical. Penetrating is probably the top dog, and is both the rarest and the most expensive on the Marketplace (most Tokyo veterans have it, and modules are unique, meaning they cannot pickup and sell any extras that drop). Critical shows up rarely and is good for crit-centric builds. Weakening is underestimated - it only deals 30 AEGIS damage, but it does it every time you apply weakened. With a Blade survival build, that's every. hit. There plenty of other modules, but these three stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Finally, recommend being in at least QL10 blues, preferably NM gear. Tokyo is hardest when you first arrive, due to low AEGIS stuff. This makes tackling it in low gear a daunting notion.
Build
For Tokyo, you're going to need to change your build. I STRONGLY recommend using a melee build with two PBAOE Builders. Due to how Aegis works, you'll want to have spammable attacks for each weapon to break AEGIS shields, and having a second builder makes this so much easier.
Leech builds aren't as effective in Tokyo due to Leech healing not working so long as any AEGIS shields are up. Note that this will also affect Thirst Signet procs and Leeching Frenzy, making those more difficult to rely on.
I also personally favor using Blade/Hammer due to both starting at 5 resources for each fight - having two big finishers at the start of the fight makes those fights much faster. Also, as always, AOE is generally more important than ST for soloing, since you're far moreoften fighting more than 1 opponent. This is especially true in Tokyo, where the enemy density is high and there are few routes devoid of enemies.
Especially early on, you'll probably want to focus more on survivability and outlasting enemies than on bursting them down, due to how much damage you have to deal to knock AEGIS shields off: many boss-type enemies have over 2,000 points of AEGIS to chew through. Remember the AEGIS damage conversion stuff above? That means that, when you're first starting, many bosses will require you to deal 15,000 - 40,000 damage extra damage before you can reach their health, and some of that will likely regenerate in combat.
My personal build is:
Code:
WEAPONS: blade/hammer (1351 AP)
ACTIVES
1. Sling Blade (Blade->Sharpening the Senses, 34 AP)
2. No Mercy (Hammer->Excessive Damage, 16 AP)
3. Blade Torrent (Blade->Technique, 1 AP)
4. Clearing the Path (Blade->Crossing River's Edge, 27 AP)
5. Ground Pound (Hammer->Excessive Damage, 9 AP)
6. Turn the Tables (Green->Survivalism, 16 AP)
7. The Art of War (Elite, Blade->The Cutting Artist, 50 AP)
8. Crack! (Auxiliary->Whip, 50 AP)
PASSIVES
1. Sudden Return (Blade->Crossing River's Edge, 12 AP)
2. Gross Anatomy (Elite, Blood->Transmission, 50 AP)
3. Bloodsport (Fist->The Outback, 16 AP)
4. Breakdown (Chaos->The Value of x, 9 AP)
5. Leeching Frenzy (Assault Rifle->Ground Control, 34 AP)
6. Iron Maiden (Blood->Malediction, 12 AP)
7. Arterial Pulse (Blood->Venamancy, 12 AP)
8. Whiplash (Auxiliary->Whip, 50 AP)
LINK/VDM
http://www.tsw-builder.com/#12v165242111144240g02176a00p141436332530975421471a05
VDM%-%7080588%-%6861201%-%5779785%-%7080580%-%6838810%-%7494903%-%7080595%-%8102554%-%7080605%-%6943095%-%6942580%-%7094290%-%6852644%-%6943080%-%6956323%-%8102604
I'm using that with 10.4/10.4 gear, a purple Cruel Delight on the Blade, no signet of note in Hammer, a Brooklyn Bracer w/ Block on it, a Healing minor tali, and a purple Signet of Thirst. I also have a Karma Curio, without which I'd be wearing more HP.
For more survivability, drop Gross Anatomy for Cool Calm & Collected or Fluid Defense, and be open to wearing more HP and/or heal rating.
The reason I use Gross Anatomy because it deals its damage before the primary strike of the weapon - this means that, often, my initial Clearing the Path will damage HP after GA proc clears off any remaining AEGIS.
Sling Blade provides a strong single target attack as well as a nice ranged strike to use when you have to get out of AOEs, which is extremely common against Tokyo mobs.
My augments suck, but I do have a level 3 Penetrating aug on my Blade Torrent to get more Sudden Return & Arterial Pulse procs out of it.Arrival: AEGIS Explained
Once you arrive in Tokyo through the story mission and play through the introduction mission, you'll find yourself with three new AEGIS Controllers and access to the AEGIS Skill lines (Speed, Damage, possibly Shield). My recommendation is to start putting points into Speed until at least 5 or 6, then switching to Damage. Without Speed, switching AEGIS controllers in combat is an expensive operation. At 5 or 6, Speed suffers heavy diminishing returns and is no longer very important. Damage gives +1% per point, which is great (especially early). Ignore Shield entirely for now, it's not relevant until Issue 10 content.
Play through the storyline missions. Also consider doing both Tower Defense and Right Round missions once you have a set of 4 AE Capacitors (QL doesn't really matter too much). These two missions grant new AEGIS Controllers from a set of 3 - the original trio is based around delaying shields from going back up (or taking Demonic shields down faster), while the mission Controllers give small heals when dealing AEGIS damage. It's best to have all 6 so you can make an informed decision about which controllers to level up first. Also, once you've acquired all 3 AEGIS controllers from these missions, their containers instead provide a very large sum of research points. Right Round in particular, between the looted points and the two(!) containers it provides, is worth upwards of 22,000+ research points.
As the tutorials in the game mention, there are three types of AEGIS shields: Demonic, Cybernetic, and Psychic. Demonic shields are generally the largest, but once they're off, they stay off. Enemies with Psychic shields can cast "Psychic Renewal" to regenerate a portion of their Psychic shields. Cybernetic shields will automatically regenerate after a set time (and, on Issue 10 opponents, will also auto-regenerate while they're still up). I personally recommend leveling the Original versions of the Psychic and Cybernetic controllers (which delay shield renewal), and your choice for Demonic controllers. The innate effects of the controllers do NOT scale with Version, though they may scale when upgrading the Controllers to Blue quality in later Issues.
You level your AEGIS controllers by looting the remains of AEGIS enemies with those Controllers equipped. AEGIS enemies drop filth samples that provide Research Points towards your currently equipped AEGIS Controllers. Most missions also reward various types of Biohazard Containers, which drop Modules, Capacitors, and hefty sums of Research Points. Note that only the CURRENTLY EQUIPPED Controllers get the points - not ones in the "cycle slots." Controllers can currently only be leveled to 1.9.
The XP tables for leveling AEGIS Controllers is roughly as follows (give or take a few thousand for each tier):
Code:
1.0 -> 1.1: 42,000 RP
1.1 -> 1.2: 48,000 RP
1.2 -> 1.3: 55,000 RP
1.3 -> 1.4: 63,000 RP
1.4 -> 1.5: 72,000 RP
1.5 -> 1.6: 82,000 RP
1.6 -> 1.7: 94,000 RP
1.7 -> 1.8: 108,000 RP
1.8 -> 1.9: 124,000 RP
1.9 -> 2.0?: 140,000 RPWhen a Controller reaches 100% Research, it can be upgraded with a Memory Upgrade Kit. These are available from the Orochi merchant by the Ginpachi Park Agartha entrance. There are two types of kits: Mark 1 and Mark 2. Mark 1 kits are used to upgrade controllers up to 1.4, Mark 2 are for versions 1.5 - 1.9. Mark 1 kits cost 5 Sequins of Sunrise, Mark 2 kits cost 20 Sequins of Sunrise. It costs a total of 120 Sequins to level a controller to 1.9 (this is down from 270 from Issue 9).
The highest QL of your controllers equipped (including in the "cycle slots") determines what QL Capacitors you can equip. There are 3 types of Capacitors. AE Capacitors increase the % damage dealt to AEGIS shields (and are your mainstay for soloing Tokyo missions), Convalescence Capacitors increase healing done to player AEGIS shields, and S-Something AE Capacitors increase AEGIS shield capacity. The latter two are pretty much irrelevant for Issue 10 content, but are expected to be necessary for tanks and healers in the Issue 11 dungeon/raid.
It is generally considered the optimal route to powerlevel one controller up to 1.9 as fast as possible, because that allows the usage of stronger Capacitors early on (and capacitors provide the lion's share of your AEGIS effectiveness). With the new kit pricings, you can probably afford to level two at once, but budget your sequins ahead of time to hit 1.9 ASAP on a single Controller.
You earn Sequins of Sunrise through completion of Tokyo missions (10 for initial completions of story missions, 3 for repeats of story missions and regular missions, 1 for item missions). These will be your primary limiting factor when leveling your AEGIS controllers, and optimizing the mission route to obtain sequins is the purpose of the lion's share of this guide.
When you reach Issue 10 Content (beyond the Quarantine Wall), the enemies you encounter change. First, their AEGIS shields roughly quintuple in size, and second, they begin dealing a lot more damage, some of which is AEGIS Typed. One of Jack Hama's missions, "One for the AEGIS" will grant AEGIS Shield Controllers (equipped on head). Those will absorb AEGIS damage of the appropriate type until depleted, and are leveled identically to the other AEGIS Controllers (same kits, same XP chart).
First Playthrough
Play the story missions. No, seriously, just play the story missions. Take your time. The grind can wait a bit. The story missions are tuned for low-level controllers, provide a ton of information on the whole "What the fuck just happened" question, and are worth giving your complete attention. They provide 10 sequins of sunrise each, and supposedly will grant some capacitors and modules now as well (Issue 10 change). I recommend you stop at "Follow the White Rabbit" until you're at at least +25% AEGIS Damage, as the enemies beyond the wall are MUCH harder than the ones inside.
Once you've finished the storyline entirely, go back around and do the other missions for the first time. Again, just enjoy the story, dialogue, and challenges they provide. Again, stay within the Quarantine Wall.
Important Note: For missions (e.g. Love and Origami) that say "Go find X", mark X on your map. You'll want to be able to quickly reference those locations until you've gotten used to 'em.
Important Note 2: The next section assumes you completed all Investigation missions, through massive brainpower or blatant cheatery (I'm guilty of the latter). The Investigation Missions are the best ones to repeat later on in terms of time:reward, so do complete them.
Important Note 3: I'm assuming you have Issue 9 AND the Tokyo Side Stories DLC in this guide. The sidestories DLC is worth the price, both in terms of quality content and in terms of grind shortening.
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