Given the sheer amount of content in this game, Artery Gear: Fusion’s overall gameplay can be a tad challenging to grasp. This is why I created this guide — complete with everything you need to know as a beginner, along with a few extra tips & some advice on what to do (and what not to do) in the game.
Starting Out (Rerolling)
Upon finishing the introductory tutorial, you will be allowed to pull for units in the Recruit section of the game. In the Recruit Section, the banners you need to pay attention to are the Infinite Reroll Banner that’ll allow you to keep on pulling indefinitely, and any of the other banners with decent units in them. The best units to reroll for are as follows: TIP: Rerolling for 4★ Alice is highly recommended because of her Skill 2 which makes most of the content a cakewalk. Simply put, she’s a fantastic AG who’ll do wonders for your account. For the Infinite Reroll Banner, keep in mind that you can only get one 5★ AG. You can, however, get multiple 4★ AGs, although I advise getting the 3★ AGs listed above instead. Having a few 4★ Artery Gears besides Alice can be very useful, but arguably not as great as having numerous 3★ Artery Gears who excel just as great — if not even more at fulfilling certain combat roles.
Basic Combat Guide
The combat system in this game is based on the formulaic yet effective 4v4 turn-based gameplay, where the turn order is decided by the characters’ Speed. To know which character will go first, simply refer to the Turn Order Meter located at the bottom of the screen. You can then execute up to three Skills by choosing an active one in the lower-right part of the screen. And you can boost either your damage output or survivability through Support AGs by tapping on the circular icon at the bottom-left part of the screen. You can only use this function once the blue action gauge is full. If you’re strapped for time and cannot play the game manually, remember that you can also activate Auto Mode and 2x Speed at the upper-right part of the screen. TIP: For Boss Waves, you don’t have to kill every single enemy. If you can, simply focus all of your attacks on the Boss and the stage will automatically be cleared once you kill them. Keep in mind that you can set the order in which your units’ skills are released in Auto Mode, as well as which Support AG will be used automatically every time the blue action gauge is full.
All Game Modes
Almost every modern gacha game comes out with a lot of playable game modes right off the bat, and Artery Gear: Fusion is no exception. Here are all of them listed with a brief explanation for the sake of clarity:
1. Main Story
The Main Story, hence the name, will show you the main storyline of the game. It will also give you lots of resources to start with, and that includes a huge bulk of the F2P Forging Element Crystals you can get in the game. TIP: You can only unlock certain game modes by progressing in the Main Story, so be sure to clear as much of it as you can as soon as you begin playing the game.
2. Daily Battle
Daily Battle is where you can farm all sorts of resources from Forging Element Crystals to Combat Gear. To know which resources can be farmed from which stage, simply refer to the table below: TIP: Try to clear as many of the Main Story stages as you can before going too deep into any of these game modes. Once you do get to the point where you cannot progress in the story anymore, remember to farm only the highest Daily Battle Stages that you can clear for maximum returns.
3. Resource Collection
Resource Collection is where you can farm the more common, yet still very important resources — Funds and EXP Cat Orbs. You are incentivized to clear these stages at least once a day through the Extra Rewards System which significantly multiplies the number of resources you get once every day. TIP: If you can only clear the low-difficulty levels of this game mode, farming them might not be worth it without the extra rewards. Generally, it’s advisable to wait for the daily refresh of the extra rewards instead of wasting Energy on farming the normal drops.
4. Suppression Dark Zone
Suppression Dark Zone is among the last game modes you’ll be able to unlock after playing through the Main Story stages. This game mode features dangerous and hard-to-kill Bosses and is reserved for advanced players with decently-geared units. If you do manage to clear it, however, you’ll be able to earn highly valuable resources like Forging Element Crystals, Skill Chips, and Recruit Tickets.
5. Time-limited Events
The last among the PVE game modes are Time-limited Events, which feature tons of farmable and giveaway rewards — just like in most other gachas. You can also see exclusive storylines by playing Time-limited Events, so I recommend not missing them if you’re planning to play the game long-term.
6. Arena
And finally, we have Arena. This is comprised of Live-fire Mode for competitive play and Training Mode for more casual battles. Here, you can climb the rankings by setting good Defense and Offense teams and winning as many battles against other players’ team comps. You can also farm Military Exercise Badges here, which you can exchange for a variety of valuable resources in the Shop.
Artery Gear Types & Attributes
Both the type and attribute of an Artery Gear are highly important when it comes to determining whether or not they’ll be effective in certain combat scenarios. Here are all the types and attributes of Artery Gears, and a brief description for each of them: TIP: Keeping an eye on your units’ and enemies’ attributes is very important if you want to maximize your damage output and survivability in battle. After all, matching up against an enemy with a disadvantageous attribute will increase the chances that your unit’s attack will be Deflected by 50%. Deflected attacks only deal 75% of the total damage and will disable all of the attack’s additional effects. Therefore, be sure to consider the attribute of your enemies before you attack!
Powering Up Characters
There are several ways that you can increase your Artery Gears’ overall effectiveness in combat. They are as follows:
Method 1: Upgrade
Using AG Upgrade will allow you to level up Artery Gears through the use of EXP Cat Orbs or other Artery Gears. You can also increase an Artery Gear’s ★ level and Awakening Level through the use of either duplicates or Alphas.
Method 2: Skills
You can upgrade your Artery Gear’s skills and make them more effective in combat through the use of Skill Chips. Do note that you can only do this once you’ve unlocked Phase 3 an Artery Gear’s Technology node.
Method 3: Technology
On the Technology page, you can unlock various nodes that will boost your Artery Gear’s overall stats and unlock various additional skill effects. You can only unlock these nodes by either farming or crafting the required Resource Keys with varying rarity.
Method 4: Gears
Gears are the most important power-boosters for your Artery Gears. They can significantly increase your unit’s performance in battles just by further bolstering their stats. There are a few kinds of gear sets that’ll give your units additional boosts. TIP: It is integral to your account’s progress that you farm as much gear as possible after only a few days of playing. The harder the level that you can clear in Target Elimination, the better loot you’re gonna get. You should only try to farm Target Elimination Stages that give you 4★ & 5★ Gear consistently.
Hangar Guide
The Hangar is where most of the AFK quality of life features in the game are found. Here, you can farm invaluable resources such as Funds and EXP Cat Orbs completely hassle-free!
Mothership
Your Mothership is where you can house your Artery Gears and improve your relationship with them. You can also build a lot of other facilities here like Bathrooms, Dorms, and Cafeterias for the sake of aesthetics and bonuses.
Armament Ship
Your Armament Ship will produce EXP Cat Orbs passively for you. This ship should be among the prioritized ships due for upgrades once you get your hands on Ship Upgrade Permits.
Supply Ship
Your Supply Ship will produce Funds passively for you. This ship should also be prioritized — especially if you’re more of a casual player who’d like to claim AFK rewards often.
Science Vessel
The Science Vessel is where you can Craft and Forge Gear. Using this ship, you can do various things like transfer stats to and from Gears or create a new Gear piece altogether!
Expedition Ship
And lastly, we have the Expedition Ship – where you can send your Artery Gears out on missions. After a set amount of time, they’ll come back with all sorts of rewards — mainly Funds — and they’ll be ready to go on another expedition once again.
Energy System Guide
The Energy System in Artery Gear: Fusion is fairly simplistic, and resembles your run-off-the-mill Stamina System typically found in gacha games. You can either replenish your Energy by using either Forging Element Crystals or Backup Energy. TIP: Make sure to take advantage of the numerous Backup Energy given to you as a beginner. Also, try not to spend too many Forging Element Crystals on Energy — especially if you’re completely F2P.
Artery Gear: Fusion General Tips
Here are some of the more general and all-encompassing tips that all beginners can follow to get through the game with ease.
1. Always Participate in Time-Limited Events
Participating in Time-limited Events regularly will allow you to farm all kinds of valuable resources that’ll help you in the long run. You can even get event-exclusive rewards here, not to mention you’ll also be able to read through additional lore just by playing through the event stages! In short, there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t play Time-Limited Events, since it’ll also keep your interest in the game alive if you’re planning on sticking with it.
2. Do Your Dailies & Weeklies Regularly
Speaking of sticking with the game, you should also consider clearing Daily Missions and Weekly Missions consistently. Doing so will allow you to farm tons of resources over time. Of course, let’s not forget that you can also get Forging Element Crystals from these missions, so clearing them is a very important part of your daily routine in this game.
3. Buy Additional AG & Warehouse Spots Accordingly
As time goes on and you’re able to get more Gears and Artery Gears than you can handle, don’t hesitate to buy a few extra slots of storage. Doing this will prevent you from having a headache in the future caused by going back and forth in the menu while trying to figure out how to get rid of your excess AGs or Gears.
4. Recruit Responsibly
If you’re a whale, then feel free to disregard this tip. If you’re a F2P player like the majority of the playerbase, you might want to hold off on spending too much Forging Element Crystals in recruiting units. Remember, the Pity is set to 200 Recruits, which amounts to a grand total of 36,000 Forging Element Crystals! Unless you’re willing to invest copious amounts of your IRL moolah into the game, then you will have to make sacrifices and skip on a few recruit banners that’ll come and go. No matter how painful…
Task List (Do’s & Don’ts)
To summarize the most important points in this guide + to share some extra info that we haven’t mentioned yet, we’ve listed a bunch of things you should and should not do as a beginner in Artery Gear: Fusion. Do’s:
Do keep core attributes in mind during battle Do try to go for 4★ Alice when rerolling Do try to clear as many Main Story stages as you can at the start of the game Do farm Resource Collections whenever you can get Extra Rewards Do your Dailies and Weeklies consistently Do participate in all current and upcoming events
Don’ts:
Don’t think twice about buying extra slots when necessary Don’t recruit too often on limited banners Don’t invest too many Forging Element Crystals on Energy Don’t leave your Energy beyond max capacity Don’t forget to farm Gear regularly in Hunt Elimination Don’t forget to upgrade your Supply and Armament Ships as soon as possible
