Clear the next normal route first, then replay the difficulty that serves your current material or equipment goal.
Guide overview
Story Mode: unlock breadth before replaying depth
The earlier Story guide describes Normal, Hard, Insane, and Extreme in sequence. Its actionable advice is to clear Normal across the available chapter line first, then return to higher difficulty once you know whether you need gems, evolution materials, unit food, or equipment drops.
Early chapters are for placement and currency habits. Mid chapters reward mixed coverage instead of a single-element approach, while later stages require more area coverage and boss planning. Confirm live resistance and difficulty panels rather than relying on earlier chapter numbers.
Expedition runs: protect the payload first
The detailed Expedition earlier separates the run into grid reading, payload defense, a coherent Anvil plan, and banking the result into permanent building or guide progress. Do not route toward a reward node when it makes the payload path unsafe.
The earlier names Economy, Payload, Power, and Progression as progression branches. Use the branch that fixes the failure you can identify: slow upgrades, payload leaks, insufficient enemy damage, or a reliable clear that now needs account progress.
Avoid false permanence
The earlier guide reports temporary Anvil bonuses reset after the run, while buildings and guide represent persistent progression. Read the live tooltip before spending a rare material because quantities, options, and prerequisites can change.
For a failed party run, label the cause first: a leak, boss damage, weak economy, or a route decision. Change one condition on the next attempt rather than treating all losses as a reason to copy a new team.