Dynamite Blue's launch build rebuilt character growth. Each mode now pays one family of materials, every material is spent on one thing, and the amounts needed dropped across the board. This guide maps each material to where it comes from and where it goes, so you know which daily mode feeds which part of a character. Spend on the characters you plan to keep; stopgaps can wait.
The rework in short
Before 23 September most materials were spent a little at every level. Now licenses go only into promotion, Skill Cores only into skill levels 10, 20, 30 and 40, and Exodium only into equipment tier-ups. Progress made before the rework was kept: levels, equipment, skills and promotion stayed where they were, and materials already in the bag were not taken back.
Numbers were rescaled with it, so smaller figures are worth the same as the old larger ones: 50 Injectors today equal 500 before. Shop, pass and check-in quantities follow the same scale.
Build order on a new account
Start with Hyde. Hyde is free, XA grade and Electrical, an element on 5 of the 8 Guardian Stone lists (Signet chapters 1, 4, 6 and 7, plus Firewall), and Electrical has the edge on DJ Madu, Firewall's Network boss. Sweep EXP goes to all five deck members at once, so choose the other four for their elements before their grade. A Network unit and a Power unit next to Hyde break every stone in chapter 6 and two of the three in chapters 1, 2, 4 and 7. Add Bio and Chemical and the five cover chapters 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7 outright; chapters 2 and 4 then need one Plasma swap.
Bio is the hard gap. It sits on 4 lists and Rem is the only released XA Bio character, which makes Rem the XA Selector pick for most accounts (12,000 GAO at guild level 20, once per account, no limited characters). With Rem already on the roster, take Drax instead: Power is on 5 lists and has the edge on Siren in the Code Dungeon.
Skill Cores come slowest. Firewall drops them only by chance; beyond that, Signet's Normal and Extreme star rewards give 15 and 20, and the guild shop sells one for 190 GAO from level 10. Spend them where a level opens an effect. Drax's 40% damage cut for the whole team and the revive both wait for skill Lv. 30, which costs three Cores and needs character Lv. 60. Muro and Rem have no skill gates, so a Core on either only raises numbers and can wait. Skill Lv. 40 needs character Lv. 80, and that needs License level 2, because License 1 stops at Lv. 70.
Use Migration Cores without worrying. One refunds level, gear, License and skills in full, and only awakening stays. A stopgap built today for a missing element costs nothing permanent: reset it when the better unit arrives and spend the refund there. Cores come from the Archive Mall and the guild shop's level 10 shelf (400 GAO).
HydeElectrical SlaughterFree XA Electrical, 5 of 8 stone lists
RemBio RewinderOnly released XA Bio, no skill gates
DraxPower VanguardTeam damage cut and revive at skill Lv. 30
MuroNetwork JackerNo skill gates: Cores can wait
Material map
Every material has one main source. Shops, the Ground Pass, check-in, the guild and Jukebox Raid still hand out extras on top. Plan daily runs around the main source, and treat the extras as a bonus rather than a budget.
| Material | Spent on | Main source |
|---|---|---|
| EXP | Character level (max 225) | Sweep |
| Packet | Growth costs | Sweep, Net Mining |
| Injector | Equipment enhancement | Code Dungeon |
| Exodium | Equipment tier-up only | Net Mining |
| Common License | Promotion | Net Mining |
| Advanced License | Promotion | Code Dungeon |
| Basic / Intermediate / Advanced Skill Module | Skill levels | Firewall |
| Skill Core | Skill levels 10, 20, 30 and 40 only | Firewall (chance) |
Levels and EXP
The level cap is 225, alongside a separate Security Level cap on each character. EXP comes from Sweep, and it goes to all five members of the deck at once, so the deck you sweep with is the deck that levels. The EXP needed per level was cut in the rework and Sweep's EXP was raised.
License level sets the cap below that: Lv. 40 at License 0, then 70, 100, 130, 160 and 200 at License 5. Awakening adds 5 levels per star, 25 at 5 stars, which is the only way to 225. Each star costs the character's own shards (30, 50, 90, 110 and 220, so 500 in all) and adds base stats, 5% a star on lower grades and 3% on higher ones. A duplicate pull gives 50 shards at XA, 40 at X, 30 at S and 20 at A, so a 5-star XA takes ten duplicates.
| License level | Character level cap |
|---|---|
| 0 | 40 |
| 1 | 70 |
| 2 | 100 |
| 3 | 130 |
| 4 | 160 |
| 5 | 200 |
| 5 + awakening 5 stars | 225 |
Skills
Skill Modules pay for every skill level, and a Skill Core is added at levels 10, 20, 30 and 40. Both come from Firewall. The active skill's cap is half the character's level (character Lv. 20 allows skill Lv. 10, Lv. 80 allows 40, Lv. 100 allows 50), and the passive opens at character Lv. 20.
Most kits open extra effects at skill Lv. 10, 20, 30 and 40, and Hayden has one more at 50. Muro and Rem are the exceptions: their whole kit works from skill Lv. 1. Every number in a kit grows by half again between skill Lv. 1 and Lv. 100. Effect chances climb with it, but a chance past 100% still lands only 90% of the time, because every character resists 10% of harmful effects.
Modules convert between tiers when one runs short: three Basic make an Intermediate, two Intermediate make an Advanced, and two Advanced make an Intermediate. Skill Cores are the tight resource, so spend them on kits whose key effect opens at Lv. 20 or 30 before chasing Lv. 40.
Equipment
Equipment enhances with Injectors from Code Dungeon, and each grade has its own enhancement range. An item moves up a grade only at its grade's maximum enhancement, and grade-ups use Exodium. Going from Epic to Legendary now takes only Exodium and Packets, with no Oracle. Enhancing a Legendary item from +21 to +25 succeeds 5% or 2% of the time depending on the step, up from 1% and 0.1%. An Auto-Growth button handles repeated enhancing for you.
Promotion and licenses
Promotion uses Common Licenses from Net Mining and Advanced Licenses from Code Dungeon. Advanced Licenses used to come in Black, Blue and Prism, matched to a character's license colour; the launch build summed every colour you held into one Advanced License, one for one, and the old coloured versions can no longer be used. Promote the characters you will keep first; with one Advanced License for every colour, any spare can go anywhere.
Migration is gone; Migration Core stays
The old Migration system, which let slotted characters share a level, was removed. Slotted characters went back to their own level and gear, and the game refunded it: the Oracle spent on slots, 200 Battle Chips per slotted character up to 1,000, and one Migration Core per opened slot up to 10.
A Migration Core is a full growth reset for one character. Level, equipment enhancement and grade, license and skills go back to the start with everything refunded, while awakening is kept. It is sold in the Archive Mall and on the guild shop's level 10 shelf. The GFC Point Shop sells a Growth Reset Voucher as well. Use a Migration Core when a better unit replaces a levelled stopgap, rather than levelling the new one from scratch.
Costumes add stats
Owning a costume raises that character's Combat Power by 1% and adds 1% to one stat set by class, whether or not the costume is worn. A second costume for the same character adds nothing more. Costumes also change the character's profile art and skill cut-in. Buy a costume for its stats only on a character you will keep, and never a second one for the same character.
| Class | Costume bonus |
|---|---|
 Vanguard | CP +1%, HP +1% |
 Slaughter | CP +1%, ATK +1% |
 Jacker | CP +1%, ATK +1% |
 Rewinder | CP +1%, DEF +1% |
Net Mining
Net Mining is idle income: it fills with Packets, Battle Chips, Exodium and Common Licenses over time. Overclock now pays a full day of income at once, where it used to pay one hour, for the same price and number of uses. Each collection adds 2 guild Contribution. Use Overclock whenever it is available, since a full day of income for the same price is the better deal.