[Coldsaturn]

Oh wow you're so close to where I got stuck with Xav because I wasn't upgrading his cards anymore (lvl 70)!
The crit/crit dmg build is very good and useful but always remember that it depends on if you're stella matching and if you're up against enemies with shields. If you're getting enemies in weakened state (all shields down) then you're not going to do any crit damage no matter how high you get the stat, making dmg boost to weakened the most important stat together with whatever your companion is scaling on (atk, def, or hp).
If you're constantly brute forcing teams then yeah, you need to push for a good 70% crit or higher, with about 240% crit dmg.

But you can use every battle to test how well it's going and if you need more of one stat rather than another. What I often do is look up a youtube/tiktok/reddit/X video showing the build someone used to clear that specific orbit and then compare it to mine. Sometimes I can clear it with lower stats, other times I need to get very close to matching it. Either way you'll get a point of reference for the stats that seems to work (in case you decide to follow this method, never forget that the rank of the cards and their levels, together with a bit of companion affinity can skew the results and explain why you can't clear a certain orbit despite matching the stats).

[ChicletPrime]

its all a dance of numbers, ain't it? you were NOT kidding when you talked about how hard it was to get a card ranked to 80, especially if it was a 5*. you gotta (as the kids say) 'lock in' if you're gonna commit to it. very good idea to find vids with numbers for specific orbit fights as comparison, that really might be something to start a thread on and grab screenshots for reference. i will add that to the pile of things i am currently not doing because i am schlepping through my game responsibilities at the moment.

crit vs dbtw - i remember! sometimes hard to incorporate when i'm picking my way through cores to build a fight team but little gains are still gains and i can already feel my knowledge base stretching and creaking.

imma take a break on core hunts for the nonce though because while i deal with numbers and spreadsheets all day long and i'm pretty darn fast at data input, sometimes your eyes just cross, yanno?

i'm going to work on getting Rafayel's purple cards for Abysswalker up into their 70s and tentatively push for 80 and then we'll go again on the cores!

i have a plan, laoshi, please be proud of me (i am so proud of me, you have no idea. the deeper i get into this, the more i both understand and the more i have to come back and re-read this thread to slot that knowledge into its proper place).

[Coldsaturn]

A little misunderstanding because I was ambiguous in my wording, I meant to say that I'm stuck at orbit 70 for Xavier, but it's also absolutely true that it takes SO LONG to get from lvl 70 to lvl 80. I left Xav at 60 not ascended for a bunch of his cards, and I don't think I'll return to him unless I suddenly get a promotion and decide to whale my way through this game.

I am absolutely proud of you, you've come such a long way! You'll see the results of all your hard work and it will be amazing <3
You'll feel so many conflicted emotions once you'll finally be able to ascend a 5* card. So much pain for two golden bands framing the card lol

[ChicletPrime]

okay, plan interruption. core hunts are double down for first 10 attempts each day, so i'll be back on my spreadsheet bullshit for a bit. please keep me in your thoughts. a votive candle would not go amiss.

[Coldsaturn]

Oh damn, I still can't see that. I'll try logging in later in the night.

[ChicletPrime]

i was FOOLED.

my game updated so I was immediately running at 4x speed thinking oh my god oh my god its here its here its here so i spent my update time reading the update notes and yes, double down core hunts are coming BUT they're not here yet because the update happened but the new stuff isn't, you know, unlocked yet.

i am so disappointed. i had to go sulk in No Man's Sky for awhile to feel better about life.

[Coldsaturn]

Speaking of being fooled, I haven't been waiting for a new trailer for 4 days now, absolutely not. That must be someone else, more gullible than me.

[ChicletPrime]

okay! best showing yet! i jumped from 16/36 as my best showing before to this.

Abysm Sovereign was only level 50, unascended and he still went 3.5 around with his section of the fights. i didn't even die on round four, i just ran out of time.

he is going to SLAY when he gets ranked.

[Coldsaturn]

Oh yeah ranked AS is a beast, but even r0 he is rightfully called a king. Remember to push his HP above 100k with protocores to fully unleash the dragon