Hero's Journey:
Week 1, Day 1

In this page...

• Set up your first team

• Mercenary Quests basics

• Story Mode basics

• Using Friend Units

Welcome to Day One

...And welcome to Ark Recode! I hope you enjoy your time playing.

The only available content for you right now is Story Mode. Read the story if you want - it's not bad, and there's a free sex scene every chapter. Things will be pretty chill until Day 3, so take it easy and enjoy the game.

Set Up your first team

Your first team should be:

• Joyce (Position 1)

• Celeste

• Ith

• ANY 5* or 4* unit you happen to have, or Rubi

Both Ith and the fourth unit are just here for the ride temporarily, they will be replaced soon.

Joyce is your healer, she will sustain the team, manage debuffs, and tank a few hits by being at the front position.
(Since healers build high HP, they also function like tanks.)

Celeste has high damage, can inflict DEF down, has an AOE attack, and can remove buffs. She has an incredible amount of utility.

Get started with Mercenary Quests

In the main menu, click "Mercenary Path" on the right to bring up the Quests menu. Your goal is to complete all Mercenary Quests. We will explore how to best tackle this challenge in the coming days.

Story Mode Basics

Each story mode chapter has 10 main story stages, and 1 or more side story branches ("S" stages). 

Side story branches feature a side storyline related to the main story that it branches from. For both the reading experience and the difficulty slope, play the side story stages immediately as you unlock them. 

Stages with a red background are "boss stages." They are usually a little harder than average.

Each stage has 3 waves. Waves 1 and 2 are usually very easy, as they only have minions. Wave 3 is the boss wave. When the boss unit dies, all remaining units (both minions and units) die.

You can get up to 3 stars for completing each stage. The first time you gain a star, you get 5 gems. Added up, each new story stage gives you 15 gems when completed fully. To 3 star complete a stage, no more than 1 unit must die.

Each story chapter has 2 chapter rewards: "Mission" menu on the right which gives rewards for completing all main story stages of the chapter, and the star rewards at the bottom for collecting all stars of the chapter. You should aim to collect all stars of every chapter by 3-star completing all stages.

Borrowing Friend Units

You can borrow a support unit for every story stage. The support unit can either be an NPC unit on certain stages, or a different player's unit.

If you have friends added, their support units will show up first. Using a friend's support unit gives 10 friendship coins to both you and them.

You can only use a friend in one session per day. This means that you can only use each friend on one stage per day, unless you do Repeat Battle, in which case they will be repeatedly used during that Repeat Battle session.

If you use up all your friends, or if you don't have enough friends, the game will recommend you random players' support units. Using a random players' support unit only gives 5 friendship coins.

You can change which unit to borrow by pressing the unit class buttons on the top.

Assigning Friend Units

You can let other people borrow your units by assigning units in your profile. Even right now, beginners like you are playing Story Mode, and your profile can randomly be recommended to them. To make your profile more appealing, you should assign good friend units.

Go to the main menu, click your profile picture, and press "Change Support Member."

Assign your Celeste as your Member Leader, Joyce as your Medic, and feel free to leave the other slots empty for now.

You can still use units assigned as support members, there's no cost or downside to assigning your units.