What is Core Trials? I like to coin it similar to ‘Arena’ in Hearthstone, where you draft units, even the ones you may not have, and build up a team to defeat the opponent. It resets on Mon and Thur, so be sure to complete them by Sun and Wed night!

ABOUT

Building your team: Each ‘draft’ will give you a choice of 4 units, you can only select 1. At the start you get free 4 choices, 1 of each type (Esper, Grappler, Duelist, Hi-Tech). If you already have that unit and you choose it again, it will “+1” that unit, hence upgrading it and making it stronger, to a max of +3. At +3, the unit is super strong and will also gain access to their ultra ultimates.

Your chances refresh over time, 1 chance per 2hrs, and still ticks when you’re not in the game. That’s why it’s important to build a team and clear stage 1 in the morning so the refresh timer starts, and you can come back later with a lot of chances.

All units are max stats and 5 stars, so naturally SSRs have higher base stats than the rest but I’ll talk about this later.

Type Bonus: If you look at the left you will also see a type bonus (click on it for details). Basically it’s one way to boost your team’s stats, but the extra unit types you choose will affect the last level bonus. For example, I usually go with 4 Duelists to get that +25% ultimate dmg. So take note of your unit count, and don’t draw the wrong unit type even though you may be excited because of a SSR, or LSSR even.

Personally, I would go for Duelist or Grappler final bonuses.

Weekly buffs/debuffs: There’s a weekly buffs and debuffs that may or may not change, but it’s worthwhile to check it out. If you can, try to build your team around it, but usually just going for a DoT build will win you the whole core trial (serious).

REWARDS

You’ll get resources need to upgrade your core in laboratory. Things like the core-specific items (chips, sigils, souls etc), and research results/perfection points.

You can also select a ‘Research Diagram’, which is basically choosing which core parts you would like, and completing the diagram (by completing core trial stages) will net you a box of those items randomly.

GUIDE

Some people feel core trial is hard to clear, especially the final stage, but with some insights and information, you can make the right decisions and clear it easily. Of course, depending on your luck during the drafting as well!

1. VACCINE MAN: Always always always always pick Vaccine Man if you can. Just do it. (Of course you need a DoT unit to go along, like Groribas, Konbu or MotS)
   
2. DOT LINEUP: DoT build (mainly Corrode) is overpowered like heck in core trials, and can easily win you every stage. Depending on what I get, I will always try to pick Konbu or Messenger of the Seafolk. Even better if you can get Groribas. Blue Fire’s burn also works pretty well since it transfers to another enemy after the unit dies once.
   
   If you can’t manage to get VM, Amai + BK is a worthy synergy too that can one-shot most backline bosses, but you may need to keep trying to get that 5 hit combo and crit.
   
3. PICK SRs INSTEAD OF SSRs. I know it’s tempting, but while SSRs may be slightly more powerful, their pick chance is also less frequent, which means you’re going to have a harder time to +3 an SSR, compared to a SR. The only exception is Vaccine Man. Also, try to move on to the higher stages before doing a mass pick at the lower levels because the higher you go, the better units will appear.
   
   On the other hand, if you can +3 certain SRs, you will almost be certainly guaranteed to win. Here are the top SRs to pick:
   Duelist: Golden Ball, maybeeeee Stinger if you keep drawing him
   Esper: Konbu, Hellish Blizzard, Sky King
   Grappler: Messenger, Amai Mask, Beast King, Bakuzan
   Hi–Tech: Blue Fire, Fukegao
   
4. CORE. In order of pick:
   1. ZBM
   2. CE
   3. Bakuzan
   Anything else is crap.
   
5. SPEED. Since all stats are maxed, SPD is determined by the unit position. It goes like this:

Hence it’s important to position your units correctly. For eg, you will want Konbu to ult first to maximise corrode DoT, so you will put her at 1. (And make sure you ult the middle guy to maximise corrode hit chance!)

6. POSITIONING IS IMPORTANT. Position not only affects speed, but you need to watch for enemy attacks or your own buffs too. If you have CE, he will berserk adjacent units, not the row, so place your AoE DPS beside him accordingly.

Also, on certain stages, some bosses will go first and tend to one-shot you (eg Ultra DSK, or Boros). If you know they can’t survive, put in a filler slot and sacrifice a unit that you don’t need (usually Bakuzan for me).

7. NEED HELP? If you’re still having trouble, you can check the ranking, which shows you the lineup that people have recently cleared it with, and you can have an idea of what works.

8. DO YOUR EXCHANGES. Don’t forget to exchange your points in the core trials shop under ‘Exchange’. Try to focus on upgrading one core first (I went for DSK4), and then slowly upgrade the rest later on to get a BP boost from the lab. It refreshes every ‘session’ (3 days), so grab what you need each time.

9. DO IT EARLY. Wake up the earliest time you can on Mon and Thurs to get a headstart for your refresh timer to start ticking, so you can get the maximum number of refresh chances throughout. You just need to recruit and clear the first stage to let the timer run, then you can come back whenever you have free time before it resets.

10. Should you refresh the supplies box and rewards? Nopeeeee. Unless you whale go ahead

11. Rewards – Claim or 1 free Refresh? Always claim the supplies, unless core trial is going to reset soon and your current team sucks and you’re desperate.

I hope this helps you, and I wish you all the best in your trials!

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