Firewall is the one place Skill Modules and Skill Cores come from in quantity, so every skill level on your team runs through it. The 23 September rework rebuilt its unlocks around star ratings, raised enemy levels and added Sweep. This guide covers what each difficulty asks of a squad and what it pays back. Give Firewall priority over the other ticket modes, since no other mode supplies Skill Cores in quantity.
What Firewall pays
Firewall drops Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Skill Modules, plus a chance at a Skill Core. Modules are spent on every skill level. Skill Cores are needed only at four points, skill levels 10, 20, 30 and 40, so a Core is a milestone material rather than a steady cost. Easy now includes 10 Intermediate Skill Modules in its reward.
Spare modules convert between tiers: three Basic make one Intermediate, two Intermediate make one Advanced, and two Advanced break back down into one Intermediate. Every Firewall clear also adds 6 guild Contribution, the second-highest amount of any activity.
Unlocking each difficulty
Only Easy is gated by story progress: it opens once you clear Signet Game Easy 3-5. Each higher difficulty needs a 3-star clear of the one below, and a plain clear is not enough. Three stars means completing two of the stage's three missions. Once a difficulty is open it stays open every day of the week.
The recommended Combat Power on each tier is a guideline, not an entry lock. It jumped with the rework because enemy levels were raised to match the Signet stage that gates each tier, and every fight must now end within 10 rounds. Squads that used to clear Hard and Extreme on auto can now run out of rounds.
| Difficulty | Opens with | Recommended CP | Round mission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | Signet Game Easy 3-5 | 200,000 | Clear within 5 rounds |
| Normal | Firewall Easy, 3 stars | 456,000 | Clear within 5 rounds |
| Hard | Firewall Normal, 3 stars | 832,000 | Clear within 6 rounds |
| Extreme | Firewall Hard, 3 stars | 2,033,000 | Clear within 6 rounds |
The three missions
Every difficulty grades a clear on the same three missions: nobody on your team dies, the fight ends inside the round limit in the table above, and the boss's Guardian Stones are all broken within 8 rounds. Any two of them earn three stars. Stars show on the result screen and are kept once earned.
The mission list decides what a Firewall squad needs. A team that can break stones and keep everyone alive can take longer than the round mission allows; a team without the right elements has to win the other two missions instead, a full clear inside five or six rounds with no losses.
DJ Madu's four stones
The boss is DJ Madu, fought with adds: three enemies on Easy and five on every higher tier. DJ Madu's Guardian Stones are Power, Plasma, Bio and Electrical, four elements against five deck slots, so covering every stone leaves one slot free. Chemical and Network characters break nothing here. Baeksa's passive, which breaks a random stone of any element, is the one way around the matching rule.
DJ Madu is Network, so Electrical characters hit the boss for advantage, and Network hits them just as hard back. Build the deck around the four stone elements first, and give the fifth slot to the Electrical hitter who carries the damage.
BaeksaPlasma RewinderBreaks a random stone of any element
| Element | Characters who break it |
|---|---|
 Power | Drax, Iron, Ironclad, Lin Qiang, Reyna, Tsuki, Yasha |
 Plasma | AG Grand Pontiff, Baeksa, Junpei, Lain, Mother, Navii Commander, Navii Elite Soldier, Navii Security Team, Persa, Ru, Sol, Terry |
 Bio | AG Helper, AG Priest, Rem, Verdorman, Zero-P |
 Electrical | Amatech Rookie Soldier, Calis, Hugo, Hyde, Kirill, Mou, Nataliya, Navii Soldier |
A team for three stars
Drax and Rem in front, Hyde, Hugo and Persa behind, in the Offensive formation. That line breaks all four stones (Drax Power, Persa Plasma, Rem Bio, Hyde and Hugo Electrical) and carries two Electrical hitters into a Network boss. Hyde's Paralyze from skill Lv. 20 and Persa's Burn from Lv. 10 give Hugo's +100% damage (Lv. 40) something to work with.
Aim at the stone mission and the no-deaths mission. The round mission asks for a full clear in five rounds (six on Hard and up), and short cooldowns of 2 to 3 turns help, but a team that breaks every stone by round 8 and keeps Rem's 30% heal going only needs those two. Hyde and Hugo are the frailest pair, with the Slaughter HP line; if one falls, the no-deaths mission goes with it.
Substitutes: Tsuki for Hugo keeps the damage but loses the Electrical edge, and Lain or Sol cover Persa's Plasma stone. Push each tier to three stars before sweeping it, then sweep the highest tier you hold, since a swept run pays what a clear of that tier pays.
DraxPower VanguardPower stone, team damage cut
RemBio RewinderBio stone, the no-deaths mission
HydeElectrical SlaughterElectrical, Paralyze at skill Lv. 20
HugoElectrical SlaughterElectrical, +100% at skill Lv. 40
PersaPlasma SlaughterPlasma stone, Burn at skill Lv. 10
The daily license deck
Firewall keeps one old rule: each day, the deck has to include characters of that day's license colour, and the requirement applies to Sweep as well. The table shows which classes each license colour can field. Bio stones are the tight spot, since only five characters are Bio. Keep a spare levelled character in each license colour, so the day's rule never blocks a Sweep.
- HugoElectrical Slaughter
- HydeElectrical Slaughter
LainPlasma Slaughter
MGPD Special OfficerChemical Slaughter
Navii CommanderPlasma Slaughter
| License | Class | Characters |
|---|---|---|
| Blue |  Slaughter | 8: Hugo, Hyde, Lain, MGPD Special Officer, Navii Commander, Navii Security Team, Vlacky, Vlacky Boss |
| Blue |  Jacker | 5: Amatech Soldier, Calis, Lilly, MGPD Inspector, Tsuki |
| Blue |  Vanguard | 4: Ari, Marcus, Terry, Verdorman |
| Blue |  Rewinder | 1: Junpei |
| Black | Slaughter | 5: Andrew, Coo&Beak Sous Chef, Hayden, Navii Elite Soldier, Sol |
| Black | Jacker | 4: AG Priest, Coo&Beak Head Chef, Muro, Yasha |
| Black | Vanguard | 4: Drax, Iron, Lin Qiang, Mighty |
| Black | Rewinder | 2: Mother, Nataliya |
| Prism | Slaughter | 4: Ironclad, Kirill, Persa, Tyra |
| Prism | Jacker | 3: Amatech Rookie Soldier, Hyki, Reyna |
| Prism | Vanguard | 3: AG Helper, Navii Soldier, Zero-P |
| Prism | Rewinder | 5: AG Grand Pontiff, Baeksa, Mou, Rem, Ru |
Sweep and tickets
A difficulty you have cleared with three stars can be swept. One ticket buys one run, up to six at once depending on the tickets you hold, and a swept run pays exactly what a clear pays, Skill Core chance and event bonuses included. Sweeps count toward daily and weekly Firewall missions but never change a stage's stars.
Firewall uses the shared entry rule: three free entries a day and two more you can buy, with a bought entry paying the same as a free one. The day resets at 05:00 KST.
