Spiral of Destinies (SoD) is SoC's long-form PvE mode — a branching narrative campaign you play as a roguelike run. You take a small squad that starts from scratch, move through a chapter week by week, make story choices that fork the path, upgrade a town full of facilities, and try to reach an ending. It is one of the best sources of pulls, gear and roster breadth in the game, and the best place to actually learn team-building. This walkthrough is built from the mode's own systems and screens, reworded — route spoilers and creator route-planners are out of scope here.
The shape of a run
The story is split into chapters. Each chapter needs a Key of Destiny to start — you earn Keys from quests, battles and challenges, some are limited-time, and you can also exchange 100 Hope Luxites for one.
Inside a chapter you play week by week. Each week offers several quests but you can only take one, and they are time-limited, so a week is a real choice: a Battle for power and materials, or a Dispatch (send units away for a passive reward), plus whatever facility and map events are available.
Your squad starts from scratch — the units you bring in are reset to base level and ignore all their account progress. Units you recruit during the run are on the same footing, so a 'weak' account unit and a fresh recruit are equally usable inside SoD.
Runs are long. Treat a chapter as a project across many sessions, not one sitting. You can replay a chapter later to take a different branch, so no single choice is permanent.
The weekly loop
A normal week looks like: pick the week's quest, resolve any Battle it contains, then spend your town time — train units, take Field Research from Beryl, recruit at the Tavern, craft at the Forge, buy from a visiting merchant.
Watch the map icons. A chest icon is a visiting merchant that week (buy and sell). A three-dot icon is a side mission — these can pay out Legendary gear or a permanent town upgrade and are usually worth the detour.
Battles here are meant to be played manually. Piercing damage and debuffs clear the shielded enemies that auto-battle stalls on, and terrain and facing matter more than in farmable content.
The town facilities
Every facility upgrades over a run, and Astral Path nodes and side missions raise the ceiling further.
| Facility | What it does |
|---|---|
| Training Ground | Spend coins to level units, teach skills, or boost stats. Starts with one training slot; more unlock as you progress the run. |
| Haven | Units rest here to recover the power / HP they lost in battle. Rotate a tired unit out to the Haven rather than dragging it into the next fight. |
| Sanctuary | Grants temporary blessings / buffs to units for upcoming fights. |
| Beryl's Luxite Workshop | The talent hub. Clear Field Research tasks from Beryl to earn Luxite Extract, then spend it in Research Upgrades to unlock run-wide Talents. |
| Forge | Craft equipment and materials from blueprints you pick up during the run. |
| Tavern | Recruit heroes. The roster rotates every few weeks and is cheap; higher faction reputation unlocks that faction's heroes here. |
Luxite Extract and Talents
Beryl assigns Field Research tasks. Completing them pays Luxite Extract, which is the currency for the Research Upgrades tree in the Workshop.
Talents from that tree apply for the rest of the run — squad-wide stat boosts, economy perks, extra facility slots, combat modifiers. Prioritise the ones that compound: anything that gives more coins, more training slots, or more Luxite Extract pays for itself over a long chapter.
This system works differently in the Elysium variant of the mode — don't carry Elysium talent habits straight into a standard run.
Factions and reputation
A chapter has a few alliances you can support. Quests are marked with a faction, and completing them raises that faction's reputation / faction points.
Reaching an 'honoured' standing with a faction unlocks its heroes for recruitment in the Tavern — this is how you get access to specific units mid-run.
You usually can't max every faction in one run. Pick the one or two whose units you actually want and steer your weekly quest choices toward them.
Knowledge Points and run rewards
Progress through weeks and objectives earns Knowledge Points, which raise your Knowledge Level. Each Knowledge Level pays out account rewards — Hope Luxites (pull currency), enhancement materials, and Gear.
These rewards are the main reason to run SoD even after you've seen the story: the Knowledge track keeps paying, and completion / collection rewards drop for finishing routes and finding story content.
For a newer account, prioritise Spiral of Destinies above Tower of Adversity and PvP — the rewards compound faster and you come out understanding how your units combine.
The Astral Path (meta-progression)
Reaching an ending — and clearing stages generally — awards Astral Tears. You spend Astral Tears on the Astral Path, a permanent node tree that carries across every future run.
Astral Nodes unlock things that make the next run easier or deeper: extra backtrack attempts (rewind a bad decision on the Voyage Map), additional character slots so you can bring a bigger squad, and new features / quality-of-life options.
Because the Astral Path is permanent, early runs are partly an investment — even a run you don't 'win' still banks Astral Tears and Knowledge Levels. Grab character-slot and backtrack nodes first; they change how every later run plays.
The Voyage Map and multiple endings
Story choices unlock branches on the Voyage Map, and key decisions leave you a Beacon. Beacons let you jump back to that decision point and replay from there to reach the branches — and endings — you missed.
You do not need a route planner to clear the mode. If you're a completionist chasing every ending and collection entry, a community route map helps; if you just want the rewards, follow the choices that give units and permanent power early, then completion rewards later.
Early in an account, take the forks that hand you a unit or a lasting buff. Later, take the forks that give the specific materials or endings you still need.
Building a run team
Same role core as the rest of the game: a carry, a support (dispel and turn-control above all), a Defender to hold the front, an amp / debuffer, and a flex — see Best Teams.
Lean on what the run gives you. A recruited unit that's mediocre on your account can carry a run if the Talents and gear you found line up with it.
Bias toward piercing damage and debuffing for the hard chapter fights; keep one Seeker for objectives and back-line dives. Play the tough battles manually and use the terrain.