Welcome to the Ensemble Stars event survival guide! I’m /u/dreamyproject AKA Dreamy ☆
If you have any questions, comments, or tips of your own, please feel free to let me know! As the game grows, so does this guide, so be sure to check back for more.
For beginners, go here for the step-by-step guide into the world of events.
Last updated: 6/11/17
This guide reads as follows. You can Ctrl+F to get to where you want.
Ranking
☆How to Free to Play
☆How to Rank 35,000k
☆How to Rank 11,000k
☆How to T1
Team Building
Gem Courses
Diamonds
Loose Leaf Tips
Ranking
☆How to “Free to Play”
Too many people will skip events thinking that they can`t win anything. There`s no such thing as walking away empty handed. You can get to 500-600k, and even more if you play even without spending diamonds. I advise, especially to new players, that it’s always worth it to play the current event as far as you can for the three star card rewards and free diamonds. Even if the current event doesn`t interest you, there’s always something to gain. If you`re feeling up to to it, aim for the four star mark to add a strong, new card to your team.
You have more room to choose since you may or may not be ranking. You can sleep during the night, and play during the day, or set alarms until you get your card of choice and then go back to sleep as normal. I would recommend for new players to set alarms if they have a goal, but are playing with a weak team. Players with stronger cards and can take out lv. 30 lives with 3 LP or less can sleep during the night freely.
What you need to do:
★Clear all of the event course missions, mini events, and the event story for free diamonds. Reading the gacha story gives diamonds too! You may have plenty of story keys laying around, so use them freely for free dia.
★Utilize the 3 stars acquired from the current event. One of the three 3 stars is always far stronger than the others, and is usually revealed to the public on twitter if you don`t wanna go through the trouble of finding it out yourself. When maxed out in copies, the cards can sometimes go upwards of 22k in their respective attribute.
What you don`t have to do:
★Buy diamonds (naturally)
Optional advice:
★Take on the third live challenger who unlocks halfway through the event.
★Set an alarm for every 2 hours and 20 minutes while you sleep. It’s more efficient than every 2 hours and 30 minutes in order to give you a head start, so your LP bar isn`t quite full and you don`t miss out on point maximization.
☆How to Rank 35,000k
35,000k rank offers a bit of comfort in more consistent numbers from each event to the next, unlike 11k. 35,000k may require a little diamond purchasing depending on team strength, but once you`re a seasoned player, you`ll be ranking here in your sleep.
What you need to do:
★Clear all of the event course missions, mini events, and the event story for free diamonds. Reading the gacha story gives diamonds too! You may have plenty of story keys laying around, so use them freely for free dia.
★Buy diamonds. Sometimes. For 35k, it can depend on your team strength. If you have a strong team, you might not need to buy diamonds at all. If you slack with your LP, maybe just a little. But with a weaker team, you`ll probably have to buy some. ★Set an alarm for every 2 hours and 20 minutes while you sleep. It’s more efficient than every 2 hours and 30 minutes in order to give you a head start, so your LP bar isn`t quite full and you don`t miss out on point maximization.
This step is not completely necessary if you have either a strong enough team or enough dia to get you to the desired point goal.
★The typical cutoff of 35k has been landing around just under 1.5 mil – that`s 1,500,000 points. If you like, you can plan accordingly with a day-by-day point goal to reach 1.5 by the end. Keep in mind, during high tier events, the border will be more difficult.
★Try to level up all live challengers to lv. 28-30. Clearing lv. 30 lives is ideal for point maximization, but don`t feel bad if your teams aren`t up to par just yet.
★Sometimes, you’ll want to focus on one challenger like the calculator will tell you to. That`s okay too! Do whatever strategy you think suits you best. This is good for those with weaker teams, or those wanting to save dia.
★On that note, use the calculator to help you figure out how much it will take to reach 1.1mil. Calculating things out helps you figure out a point goal per day to reach.
★Keep a careful eye on your rank, especially at the very last hour. The last hour (5AM-6AM PST) is usually the danger zone, and your rank can fall. 35k no longer has this issue very much if you have reached the proper buffer area, but during an active event where borders can be unstable, I advise you at least wake up an hour (half hour if you`re confident) before the event end.
Optional advice:
★Take on the third live challenger who unlocks halfway through the event.Some people prefer to stay with one or two challengers in order to avoid wasting time/dia on leveling them up. If you`d rather save dia, it`s fine to pass.
★Save the sports drinks, both the ones given to you each day starting after the halfway mark and from point rewards, for urgent lives only. This is a personal strategy of mine to avoid losing a good chunk of point rewards when you`re caught with 0 LP and 0 diamonds.
☆How to Rank 11,000k
It`s finally happened. The card you wanted is the ranking reward, and you just can`t live without it. It isn`t going to be easy, but it`s more possible than you think! Make sure to read to the end for HE’s new modification to five star ranking.
What you need to do:
★Clear all of the event course missions, mini events, and the event story for free diamonds. Reading the gacha story gives diamonds too!
★Buy diamonds. For 11k, the 360 pack is your best bet while ‘saving more money.’ It`s not a huge money saver, but there`s definitely more dia for your dollar. Buying dia is cheaper on android, so try to place your account on bluestacks or an android device if you can to save money.
★Set an alarm for every 2 hours and 20 minutes while you sleep. It’s more efficient than every 2 hours and 30 minutes in order to give you a head start, so your LP bar isn`t quite full and you don`t miss out on point maximization.
★Level up all live challengers to lv. 30 to maximize point rewards. Clearing lv. 30 lives is the ideal because you want to grab as many points as you can, but don`t feel bad if you keep waffling between 29 and 30.
★Sometimes, you’ll want to focus on one challenger like the calculator will tell you to. That`s okay too! Do whatever strategy you think suits you best.
★On that note, use the calculator to help you figure out your team status. I usually attempt to put a prediction of the final amount of points 11k will sit at in the event post, so you can use that (or any number you think it will be) to calculate. Calculating things out helps you figure out a point goal per day to reach.
★Accept every Urgent Live that comes your way. Save your LP consumable items for when you`re in a pinch. The Urgent Live maxes out at lv.15, so do your best to get level 15. See Gems and Team Building for more advice.
★Keep a careful eye on your rank, especially at the very last hour. The last hour (5AM-6AM PST) is the most important, and your rank can fall from anywhere to 1k to 2k ranks down in five minutes if you`re not careful. I speak from experience, do not sleep through it, do not stop playing, especially if you`re trying to stay above 11k.
Optional advice:
★Take on the third live challenger who unlocks halfway through the event. This is more of a ‘recommended’ step if you`re serious or want multiple copies of tier and point cards. Some people prefer to stay with one or two challengers in order to avoid wasting time/dia on leveling them up. Ultimately, it’s whatever strategy you prefer, as it`s completely doable to rank even with one challenger.
★With the second anniversary update, T1 gives four copies of the five star, and there is now a way to obtain at least one copy of the ranking card if you achieve 5,500,001 points. This is very beneficial if the event ranking is as difficult as events like Setsubun and StarFes where reaching the max points five star did not earn you even one ranking five star. For event that are more easy going, you will certainly end up in a tier higher than the base 11k and end up with multiple copies of the ranking five star, so it’s a win win! This is just to keep in mind as an option if the event isn’t tense/your tier goal isn’t within 5.5k.
☆How to T1 (Rank 1-1,200)
Just accept it here and now: you are going to die. Time to eat, sleep, and breathe Ensemble Stars for the next 10 days.
The steps in this section are parts of a personal strategy that I used when I T1ed, but you can take any of it with as many grains of salt as you like. Ultimately, it`s up to you, but remember this: you`re in it to win it. Stick to it, and you can do it!
How to stare death in the face T1:
★Buy diamonds. All of them. For reference, with 500k strength teams, I used over 2k diamonds.
★Start building your teams up in the space between event announcement and event start. Strengthen them with lots of leveling and jewel grinding to max their stats. You do not need the gacha 4 and/or 5 star point bonus in order to rank T1. It`s very possible to rank without utilizing the extra points given. If you feel like it, you can, but it is not necessary to use up dias that would probably go to better use on lives than being thrown at RNG.
★Plan ahead so that the first 24 hours of the event will be open. You`ll want to devote yourself to achieving 1.1mil before the first 24 hours, bare minimum. Hitting 1.1mil before the 24 hour mark is even better. If you`re extra focused on getting a secure spot, 1.1mil a day is a good goal.
★Accept every live challenger. That`s right. Every. Single. One. From 2 hour to Urgent, you`ll want to catch `em all. There are two options with this strategy: do it from the get-go, or do it the last few days/last day. If you`re ready to devote yourself to all-out point grabbing like no one`s business and are committed to throwing dia like your life depends on it, start from the beginning. It gives more opportunities for encores, as well as urgent lives. Every single point counts.
★Assistance. I know we all have important things to do, and sometimes real life gets in the way of idols. If you have friends who know how to play (or, you can always teach them!) ask them to play during your down time. With the latest security breaches happening to accounts, this step isn`t as recommended as much, but if there`s someone you trust with your life and money, give it a go.
★Meals and rest are important. This seems silly to throw in, but it`s easy to forget when you`re playing nonstop. It`s okay to sleep periodically if you want for the sake of LP, but try to take naps at the very least. If possible, ask a friend to play while you sleep. You can stock up on easy to make, quick prep foods in advance (you`ll especially need this during your day 1 marathon).
Team Building
Outside of live challenges, you have access to your units! After clicking on unit, click on the rightmost button on this screen.
Clicking the “おすすめ” (recommended) button is the way to instantly build the strongest team for you (by their raw numbers) but in order to activate a Unit/Character specific Skill you`ll have to switch around things yourself. For example, if you have Tomoya and Wataru on Team 2, and Hokuto in Team 3, you can switch Hokke from the third team up to the second team instead. Doing this will activate “Theatre Club.”
I press the recommended button to let it build a team for me, then switch my cards around as I wish to appoint a new leader and move around members to activate “Unit Skills.” Remember: Unit Skills activate only when one of the group leads the unit (リーダー).
Skills are when a team is comprised of specific people (be it Units, clubs, or specific friend groups) and will activate bonuses to dance, performance, or vocal.
If you want to find out skills with your cards, take a look at the Unit Skills Calculator!
A strong team will give roughly 500,000 audience members while on the live challenger screen when you hit the 3 LP spending button.
But remember, your boys have individual skills (and Unit Skills) of their own that will activate during the challenge, so you don`t have to be exact. For example, a team of around 480,000~ audience members will pass lv. 30.
Now keep in mind, this is the strong minimum. This is only the beginning – try to build your teams up to clearing lives with 2LP next!
Being able to clear lv 30 lives with 3 LP is a good start for a strong team. You can only get stronger and better from there. How do we get even stronger than this? Read on.
Gem Courses
To beef up your teams between playing event courses, play the gem courses while you`re waiting for LP recharges. One can never have too many jewels. This will also maximize the usage of your AP so it isn`t sitting there, wasting away while you aren`t playing event courses. It will also help you level up, as every gem course is worth 200 EXP (or 400 if you`re playing the one with “better luck,” but in the end, it`s all up to RNG. Play either one you wish!). Level ups are also nice natural LP refills every now and then, and Level ranks are fun boasting privileges.
What makes your cards stats stronger? Blossoming them into beautiful flowers, of course. Blooming an idol`s card gives them a stat boost, namely to the card`s type (dance, vocal, perf). The game has implemented a brand new feature where you can bloom a card and grab all of the bonuses, but restore the card appearance to the unbloomed appearance. Gone are the days where you have to decide between card art.
The blooming node is the magenta node at the end of every idol`s road, and has extensions even beyond it when you get extras of their card.
This is what a maxed out idol road looks like (…trailing off screen). Of course, sometimes it`s hard just to get an idol to bloom, because you may have plenty of one gem, but not another. And sometimes you just can`t get that pesky star gem (damnit Leo) and you cannot progress…but never fear!
This is where the branches come in.
There`s plenty of bonus points to a card`s main attribute to unlock by branching out too, and they build up over time. Just look at all those branching performance nodes! Clearing an idol`s idol road to 100% is a long and arduous task, but just take it little by little, and you`ll make progress in no time.
Every day, the gem course will change colours (except Sunday, which is “points” and double EXP) and you can build your team up of cards that increase the gem drop rate. I now have a guide that outlines how to read your cards to build a proper jewel grinding team over here! There’s also a strategy guide on how to grind with specific techniques.
Diamonds
Depending on where you want to rank, you will have to purchase diamonds. For example, to rank in 11k, the diamonds needed could vary from 360 to 720 depending on team density, to event intensity, and flash flooding.
Diamonds work in a funny way where you get a little more when you pay more.
You can pick whichever option works best for you.
Diamonds are always a little bit cheaper on Android. There is a guide for buying on Android right here.
Loose Leaf Tips
These are some general tips that didn`t fit in any specific area, but benefit to be known.
★The gacha cards that align with the current event will always give a boost to your team. This also applies to revivals. For example, the Ukiyo gacha will benefit both Monochrome and whatever revival you`re doing after, but the gacha that occurred in the past alongside whatever revival will not. According to a thread in our Dark Night Halloween event, the percentage of bonus is +4% to 5* and +2% to 4* (per copy, and it stacks). It is not, however, worth the math to roll in gacha solely to boost your event points. Rolling gacha is still something you should do only if you like and want gacha cards!
★Reading any of the stories at any time from the gacha/events past will still give you diamonds present. For example, at the initial time of writing this guide, it was UNDEAD/Ryuseitai, but I used my keys on the gacha stories featuring Kuro and Tetora for the Karate Club Gacha. I recieved diamonds for reading their stories.
★The point rewards will also give you diamonds, especially the before 100k, so rack up the points even in an event you don`t care about to get some sweet rewards.
