War Zone

### Overview

**War Zone** is a competitive game mode where players battle endless hordes of Corrupted for ranked scoring and War Zone Influence.

In War Zone, Commandants deploy teams of their choice in two of five available elementally-themed regions. Each region possesses three stages for the user to clear; clearing these stages will earn the user a score. Stage entry in this mode is unlimited and costs no serum.

Users in this mode will be grouped together in teams of three with two other Commandants. The team's collective score will contribute to their placement on a ranked leaderboard.

War Zone operates on a biweekly cycle. Each cycle is separated into three phases: **Recruitment**, **Battle**, and **Results**.

* **Recruitment**: During this phase, players may form teams with other Commandants of their choosing. If no action is taken during this phase, the user will be placed in a team at random. For Global Server, recruitment begins every Sunday and Wednesday (20:30 UTC).
* **Battle**: This is the main phase. Users may enter any of the available battle stages during this time. For Global Server, the Battle phase begins every Monday and Thursday (07:00 UTC).
* **Results**: All War Zone stages will lock and the system tallies scores. During this time, no action is required from the player. For Global Server, this begins every Sunday and Wednesday at 20:00 UTC.

### Stage Environment

There are five War Zone regions in total. During each cycle, two regions will randomly become available for the user to challenge. By default, both of these regions will be locked; one region can be unlocked per day.

Each of the five regions has different elemental properties. Constructs or Transcendants deployed in these regions will deal 30% more of the corresponding elemental damage type. Note that this bonus has no effect on Constructs or Transcendants that do not deal the corresponding damage type (e.g. Karenina - Ember will deal 30% more Fire damage in the *Cycle of Fire* stages, while Kamui - Tenebrion will gain no effect in the same weather).

* **Machine Factory:** Increase Physical DMG by 30%
* **Cycle of Fire:** Increase Fire DMG by 30%
* **Laser Alloy:** Increase Lightning DMG by 30%
* **Shadow Forest:** Increase Dark DMG by 30%
* **Crimson:** Increase Ice DMG by 30%

### Stage Areas

Each region has three stages for the user to challenge.
* **Area 1**: The maximum score in this stage is 10,000. Clearing the stage will allow the player to auto-clear.
* **Area 2**: The maximum score in this stage is 20,000. Clearing the stage will allow the player to auto-clear. (Note: this stage inflicts damage over time to deployed Constructs or Transcendants that bypasses protective skills.)
* **Area 3**: This stage does not have a maximum score. Players have two minutes to defeat as many waves of Corrupted as possible. Each wave has a small number of weak Corrupted and one medium-strength Corrupted. At Wave 8 and later, the user will encounter a single, randomized boss enemy.

## War Zone Influence

**War Zone Influence** is a currency used to purchase Memories from the War Shop. It is rewarded based on the user's individual score (**not** the team score!) at the end of the Battle phase.

Both 5☆ and 6☆ Memories can be purchased for 160 WZI and 500 WZI respectively. Randomized selections of Memories in different grid placements will appear here; this selection rotates at the beginning of every new War Zone Cycle.

6☆ Memory Resonance Material Pick is also sold in the War Zone Shop. These cost 800/1200/2000/ WZI, with the cost increasing with each purchase until the end of the month, when the cost reverts to 800. It is highly recommended to save War Zone Influence for the 6☆ Memory Resonance Material Pick, as they are difficult to obtain otherwise.

## Team Building

(Global: Updated for the current patch Evernight Beat.)

Below are suggested War Zone teams for the game's current meta state. Note that these are simply suggestions; all characters and teams have viability, and player skill can easily supplement meta.

### Physical Team

If crowd control is needed, Karenina: Blast can replace Liv: Eclipse.

Liv: Eclipse at SSS-Rank is Physical teams' best support until Liv: Luminance's buff in a future version.

Liv: Eclipse can be upgraded to SSS-Rank for free by farming Interlude shards.

### NieR:Automata Team

The NieR:Automata collaboration is a limited-time Physical Damage team. These three synergize extremely well with each other, and thus it is **strongly** recommended to pair them together. This team deals consistent damage, has strong survivability, and strong crowd-control abilities.

#### The Future of NieR:Automata Team

The NieR:Automata units are limited edition and cannot be obtained after a one-time rerun. This rerun occurs in Evernight Beat.

[Meta analysis TBA]

### Ice Team

Wanshi: Hypnos can be upgraded to SSS-Rank for free by farming Interlude shards.

#### The Future of Ice Team

Ayla: Kaleido will be given for free in a future version of the game.

### Lightning Team

 Alternative 2
 Alternative 3

#### The Future of Lightning Team

When Construct/Transcendant mixed teams are added, SSS-Rank Selena: Tempest slightly outperforms Bianca: Veritas.

### Dark Team

 Alternative 2
 Alternative 3

#### The Future of Dark Team

Vera: Rozen can be upgraded to SSS-Rank for free by farming Interlude shards.

### Fire Team

With the current state of the Global version of the game, Fire Team is the weakest team, with off-element teams performing much better in Fire War Zones.

## Tips

If you find yourself needing to clear all War Zone-related Weekly Missions as soon as possible (eg. needing the Black Card rewards), the below strategy may be utilized.

* **Make sure the very first War Zone Area (Area 1) is uncleared.**
* Form a party that contains only your single weakest character.
* Start Area 1's battle and let the enemies defeat you. **DO NOT** defeat ANY enemies! Defeating enemies earns the user a score, but as this strategy will only work if the user does not earn a score, it is necessary that the user ensures that all of them remain alive.
* Repeat this 9 times.
* Afterwards, clear all three Areas as you normally would with your more powerful team(s).