Mining Base Defense: Intrusion - Strategy notes

[TaigaUC]

Quick list of strategy notes for the new Mining Base Defense: Intrusion.
Thought it'd be good to have a new thread for quick reference.
I'll revise the list as time goes on. I haven't gone through the JP swiki for information yet.

Class-based Strategic Positioning Image: (from MMOLoda)

Spoiler!

2-3 Gu, Br on the left and on the right:
Stay in these areas and kill everything in sight, tag enemies to protect wall

3-5 Fo, Te, Ra in the center:
Support the left and right. If there are too many Br or Gu, they can be part of this group and adapt to the situation as necessary.

1 Hu, Fi at each tower behind the wall, and 1 waiting at the jump pad in front of green:
Protect from mantises, infections and the bomb, collect crystals, etc.

Key Points for Victory:

Spoiler!

- Walls must not break. All enemies should be immediately tagged (and killed) to prevent them from attacking the walls.
- Pay attention to what other people are doing, ie. don't all jump south and leave north undefended, don't all run left and leave right undefended, etc (thanks Chdata)
- Bosses must be killed or incapacitated immediately. Tag with War Cry or big damage on spawn for best results (thx Unlucky, adios, and everyone else who uses War Cry).
- Mantises must not teleport, and if they do, they need to be killed immediately.
- Infections must be destroyed ASAP.
- If Biblas manages to get a bomb out, either kill him quickly, have someone waiting at green, or immediately use the side teleporters to get to green and destroy it.
- If you have only one WBer, make an effort to resurrect them if they die. Don't wait until the wave is over.
- If you have aggro, turn/move bosses away from walls and towers.
- Don't all run over to the other side or jump to towers if there are no spawns nearby, always make sure at least 2 people remain on standby.

General Notes:

Spoiler!

- Middle jump pads move north, side jump pads move south.
- Start with defending up north. Fall back to the towers as walls are lost.
- When walls break, enemies can spawn from the sides. For this reason, preventing walls from breaking is top priority (thanks Chdata for emphasis).
- Enemies may sometimes spawn behind walls in later waves (thanks Rien) but personally I have yet to see this.
- Make sure someone attacks the infections on the towers (don't waste burst barrier on it, unless you're absolutely sure you won't lose any walls).
- It may be best to wait by the wall instead of at enemy spawn points.
- Infections on towers only spawn at wave 3 and onward.
- Having 1 or 2 Weak Bullet users and 1 War Cry user can help a lot.
- Wall health can be roughly determined by how damaged they visually appear. A good group shouldn't see any dents until much later waves.
- Wall damage will still show red numbers. You can also use this to see mantises damaging towers before they appear.
- Even a single unchecked Goldrada pounding on a wall can quickly make dents.

Crystals:

Spoiler!

- 2000 points are required for the barrier; 3000 crystals required for heal (thanks doomdragon83).
- Turret cost: 1st at 500?, 2nd at 1000, cannons unlocked at 5000 and 8000.
- Only one barrier and one heal per player, per run (thanks doomdragon83 for confirmation).
- At every opportunity, pick up crystals. During breaks, pick up crystals.
- Having a dedicated person picking up crystals in the lower parts of the map helps a lot.
- Crystals spawn all around the border and center of the north area, and around the edges and center of the base areas surrounding the towers.
- If you have WBers and War Cry, as well as a very competent and powerful group (Gunners and Bravers, mantises and infections in check) you can likely ignore crystals entirely.

Regular Enemies:

Spoiler!

- Most enemies seem to go straight for walls, some will go for towers.
- Tagging Goldradas, Mantises, etc seems to prevent them from going for walls/towers.
- Mantises (Dicarda, Predicarda) can teleport behind walls, straight to the nearest tower (possibly further?). You must stop them before they go into the teleport animation.
- Mantises that spawn on the right can teleport to the left tower (they will travel diagonally, indicating their target).
- The new darker enemy "Vidluda" (looks like a beetle) will do a spinning jump that stuns, and also throws red scythe projectiles that stun.
- For those who don't know, cyclops Darkers can be stunned/blinded by destroying their crotch or their eye.
- Note that when walls are down, enemies sometimes seem to be able to run down the center portion of the map.
- Enemies may run diagonally from their spawn points if one side of a wall is down.
- When walls are down, enemies seem to pick random targets (ie. they can run from mid-left to lower-right).
- Zondeel, Chaos Riser, etc are good for collecting enemies (thanks various people that I'm too lazy to look up because I'm sick of PUGs sucking at this TD)
- Unlike the first TD having only one pack after Biblas, around 3 or 4 packs will spawn AFTER Biblas dies (even if you clear all spawns before he dies).
- Goldradas may be able to leap over walls (unconfirmed, doesn't seem to be actually be possible).

Enemy Spawn Points: (thanks Rien, revised by me)

Spoiler!

- All walls up: enemies spawn at top left or top right of map, sometimes center? Beware that they won't always spawn right at the top, but sometimes a little further down.
- First wall(s) down: enemies will spawn at both the top and to the side of the northern-most towers (left/right depends on whether that wall is intact).
- Second wall(s) down: enemies will spawn north and also to the sides of all towers. Very difficult to control.
- If only one side of a wall is destroyed: Goldradas can spawn right on top of tower of that lane and the line before the next wall (thanks Rehal).
- If only one side of a wall is destroyed, bosses randomly spawn at either row of "current" wall (ie. may spawn at top-north, or mid-north, depending on walls being up or down)
- Enemies can sometimes spawn in mid-center (or on players?).
- Bosses will randomly spawn either furthest north or near the last jump pad that leads north.

Bosses:
Zeshirayda (wave 3):

Spoiler!

- With all walls up, only spawns at top north center. Not sure of otherwise.
- Usually spawns after the first wave 3 regular enemies spawn, but sometimes spawns immediately (only if it's the rare version, Rigshirayda?)
- War Cry may be effective in keeping him away from towers.
- Zeshirayda should be flipped as soon as possible (ie. break his leg, or watch for his head poking out, and then attack it).
- Once he's flipped, focus on the head or exposed chest weak point (preferably the chest, but be warned that you must manually WB above the weak point, not lock onto it).
- Keep Zeshirayda away from the wall if possible, as he can damage it in various ways.
- If you have aggro, turn the boss away from walls and towers.
- The person with aggro should stay close to Zeshirayda to prevent him from charging (thanks Atmius).

Two Wolgardas (wave 4):

Spoiler!

- Both Wolgardas can spawn either on the same side of wall or one per side. Spawn position doesn't always seem to be the same place, but is roughly around mid-section in front of a wall.
- If a wall is down, they may spawn near the north towers (unsure).
- Wolgardas sometimes spawn about 10 seconds into a wave, and sometimes they spawn immediately. Sometimes they won't spawn for a whole minute.
- Wolgarda poses briefly when he spawns. If possible, kill him during that (easy for Gunners with Messiah Time or Heel Stab, just aim for his face).
- Wolgarda enrages when he is low on health, this also makes him easy to kill.
- A skilled Satellite Cannon user can kill Wolgarda in a few seconds.
- If you have aggro, turn the boss away from walls and towers.

Dark Ragne (wave 5):

Spoiler!

- If all walls are up, Ragne will always spawn at top center north. If a wall is down, Ragne may spawn either top center north, or near the north-most middle jump pad, in front of the center elevated structure.
- Sometimes spawns after a short delay, sometimes immediately.
- Ragne can break walls with the initial jump (hits for 900 damage twice?)
- War Cry stops Ragne from jumping.
- Smacking Ragne with fat damage before the jump animation starts (ie. immediately after spawn) also prevents Ragne from jumping. (thanks Unlucky and adios for the info)
- Focus on one leg, then the core.
- A skilled Satellite Cannon user can kill Ragne in a few seconds.
- If you have aggro, turn the boss away from walls and towers.

Dark Biblas (final wave):

Spoiler!

- If all walls are up, Biblas will always spawn at top center north. If a wall is down, Biblas may spawn either top center north, or near the north-most middle jump pad, in front of the center elevated structure.
- War Cry on Biblas and holding him up north is bad if walls are down (takes a while to run back) unless people stay on defense.
- Biblas always throws the bomb at green (bottom-most tower), UNLESS green is already destroyed, in which case he will throw at another, possibly orange (thanks Unlucky)
- Biblas can throw two bombs, although it's very rare and may require the first to have been successful (thanks Unlucky)
- As before, focus on a leg to stun him, and then attack his upper red butt.
- Refer to my Biblas bomb guide for details on Biblas' bomb.
- Again, unlike the first TD having only one pack, around 3 or 4 packs will spawn AFTER Biblas dies.
- If you have aggro, turn the boss away from walls and towers.

Rank:

Spoiler!

- 86% is still an S. I'm assuming the cut-off point is either 80% or 85%.
- 76% is an A (477/500)
- 61% is an A (381/500)

Drops:

Spoiler!

- The same clone weapons as before.
- The same Falz 11 stars as before can drop (Elysion, Nasuyoteri, etc).
- New selection of 10 stars, including Heretically, Amaterasu, Acro Cane, Cannon/Launcher Legacy, Lambda Kougongin, etc.
- New selection of 7, 8 and 9 stars including some previously hard-to-get drops (eg. Kyastiron katana)
- New 11 star spear, katana, launcher and staff

Strategies:
Rien's Cookie-Cutter Survival Strategy:

Spoiler!

Waves 1-3: 1 person at every tower, remaining 7 players clean out the north.
Wave 4: Begin to fall back. Frontmost towers should have 2 players each with 1-2 in the gap between. 3-4 still in front.
Wave 5: Everyone falls back. 1 person at every tower minimum again (because they love to put infections on the back towers)

TaigaUC's Theoretically-Sound Strategy:

Spoiler!

- 1 dedicated player gathering crystals in the bottom-most area. Same player should also watch for Biblas' bomb.
- 2 players watching the towers behind walls, for teleporting mantises and infections (one player on the left, the other on the right).
- Everyone else stays north.
- Protecting the wall is top priority, so always tag all enemies if possible.
- Kill or stun bosses ASAP.
- In between waves, all northern players gather crystals in the top and middle areas.
- If walls are lost, reassign 2 players to guard each vulnerable tower (ie. vulnerable to nearby enemy spawns).

Super Steamroller Strategy: (not created by me, I've just seen people doing it)

Spoiler!

- Requires a powerful and competent group.
- Ignore crystals.
- At least 1 WBer, if 2 then have one on each side of the wall.
- A few players at the spawn points, a few at the walls.
- Tag all enemies as they appear, then destroy them. If all goes well, mantises won't get to teleport.
- Have a few people destroying infections as they spawn (wave 3 onwards).
- War Cry on Zeshirayda?, Ragne and Biblas as they appear.
- Incapacitate all bosses immediately and then destroy them via weak points.

FireswordRus' tips:

Spoiler!

- If all walls not destroyed on the final wave, assign 1 player to green tower (Biblas bomb).
- Tank Fi/Hu War cry>Massive Hunter>Chaos Riser>Illusion Rave>Chaos Riser
Chaos Riser works fine, to move mobs from wall (with full gear, radius and power doubled) it's a little Zondeel
- Tank Ra/Hu War Cry>massive Hunter>Stun Grenade>spam Satellite Cannon> this works good too
- Need 2-3 players with War Cry 1 in the center, 2 players on each side, if walls are destroyed, 2 players go to south

Chdata' tips:

Spoiler!

- Pay attention to what other people are doing.
- Don't jump back to handle infections, when 5 other people already are. If you're one of the first, then you're probably fine. Hopefully other people won't follow you.
- If you see everyone run to the left side of the map, while it's still expected for stuff to spawn on the right after those die, be the one guy who stays on the right and spawn kills everything there while everyone else is running back to that side (which would usually allow mobs to get some hits on the wall).

Aine's tips on aiming for 4 runs in a private MPA:

Spoiler!

- If you're on pace for 4 runs, you will simply not reach 2000 points before the end of quest, so don't bother picking up crystals. Don't let them distract you.

- One party takes care of each side. The third party takes care of spawns in the center (early waves) and bosses. Once the bosses are dead the center party can retreat and take care of infections.

- Zesh dies on the spot from Hatou to the shin and Shunka to the core. Wolgas die to Shunka to the face. Ragne can be stopped, but it may be better to let him jump since he always lands in the same place, you can prepare for it and take him out together with the mobs. The center party should be able to handle these bosses by themselves, while the outer parties take care of mobs.

- Biblas can be killed on the spot the same way as in TD1 (Hatou to the leg, Hatou to the abdomen), but unlike TD1 where you can gather everyone to kill Biblas and get back to the towers in time for the mobs, you'll need to have about two people on either side to take care of the spawns. Even with only eight people you should still be able to kill Biblas in one down, if you have enough Bravers.

- Memorizing spawns is the key to faster times. There's no way about this one, in TD1 you could still get 4 runs spawn camping even if you didn't have every single pattern memorized. Even though TD2 is simpler, you are more pressed for time so there's no leeway for mistakes. You need to be there when the mobs spawn and pull aggro instantly with Kanran. If you ever need to use War Cry, that means you (or someone else on your side) fucked up.

- We've tried Br11Ra1 and Br9Fo2Ra1, both were about the same. Force is there to pull aggro instantly from spawns with Gi Foie, rather than Zondeel.

Class-specific Tips: (more to come later, if I can be bothered)
Hunter:

Spoiler!

- War Cry is useful on bosses.
- ?

Fighter:

Spoiler!

- The new Double Saber PA is good for keeping enemies away from towers.
- ?

Ranger:

Spoiler!

- Always keep WB (Weak Bullet) pre-loaded (ie. always refresh it when it's available)
- If you are a WB user, check the list of names and classes for other Rangers that may be using WB, and guard the opposite side from them (so that WBs don't overlap).
- When there are no bosses, put WB up on as many Goldradas as possible. If there are large mantises, or boosted mantises, WB them as well.
- Tag large groups with Satellite Cannon (uncharged).
- Put WB on Wolgarda's center, and then fully charged Satellite Cannon that center point (lock-on probably helps). You should do around 250k damage and hopefully kill it.
- It may be viable to WB Zeshirayda's head and then Satellite Cannon his head, but I think he's likely to shell-up or charge away (untested, need confirmation).
- Preferably WB Zeshirayda's leg to flip him, so as to prevent movement. Can use Satellite Cannon to tag Zeshirayda, but must stay close or he will charge away (thanks Atmius).
- When WBing Zeshirayda's exposed belly core, you need to manually aim slightly above it (it has a strange hitbox) or your WB will magically appear on its back.
- You can prevent Ragne from the spawn leap: position yourself to the side of Ragne's spawn point (either the north mound or the vertical line in front of the the elevated center) and fire when you see Ragne's spawn effect. If it works and you aim correctly, you should hit around the core area for 10-20k multiple times, and Ragne will either jump towards you or not jump at all.
- Ra/Hu can possibly solo Ragne. Requires rank 16 Diffusion Shell and Impact Slider.
- To solo Ragne: Pick a leg to WB Ragne (make sure you're on the side that's likely to face you when Ragne is stunned, or if not, simply break another leg that IS facing you). WB the leg, lock onto it and then use Impact Slider or Diffusion Shell (SatCan takes too long). Once the leg's outer shell breaks, repeat to stun Ragne.
- When Ragne is stunned, manually aim and shoot slightly above the core. Time the WB into a SatCan, making sure you get Just Attack and Standing Snipe bonus, and then fully-charged SatCan Ragne's core by manually aiming at the floor in front of you, near the core, or above the core (it's a little iffy sometimes). If you are successful, you should hit Ragne's core for 100k x 5 damage, killing Ragne instantly.
- For Biblas, position at spawn point and unleash a fully-charged SatCan when Biblas' cutscene ends, preferably so that it hits a leg. Immediately WB that leg, and Biblas will likely be stunned.
- When Biblas is down, place WB on the top red portion of its butt. Immediately try to get a fully-charged SatCan in (timing is tight). It's easier if someone else is doing the WB.
- Whenever Biblas stands up, WB a leg and then Impact Slider or Diffuse Shell it to stun (requires rank 16 for both). Repeat the above.

Gunner:

Spoiler!

- Shift Period is not as effective here, because enemies are all over the place.
- Heel Stab, Infinity Fire, etc are good for tagging enemies and doing damage.

Force/Techer:

Spoiler!

- Il Grants seems to be good for tagging enemies and/or panicking them.
- FREEZE IS EVERYBODY'S FRIEND (thanks everyone who has a brain)
- Il Foie may be useful for tagging enemies.
- Use Zondeel (preferably with Territory Burst, and perhaps in conjunction with freeze) to keep enemies away from towers.
- Casters have more range than others, so they can stand in center map and cover both sides.
- Wand Gear/Lovers isn't useful unless all walls are down.
- Keep everyone buffed with Shifta.

Braver:

Spoiler!

- Shunka Shunka Shunka Shunran.
- A well-aimed and well-timed Hatou Rindou can tag Ragne on spawn.