Protocores basics

Recommended order

1. Starting point
2. Memories cards
3. Team building
4. Combat basics
5. Protocores basics ⇐ you are here

Introduction - Cores are the real gacha game!

Cores are essential for battles, but choosing the right cores for your team can be intimidating. First and foremost: always build cores according to the companion, not the card talent. When choosing cores, only level SSR cores (identifiable by the gold underline). Prioritize clearing Core Hunt 9 and 10 before seriously equipping your companion with cores.

Here are some core basics to understand before you start using our companion guides. Head to our Glossary if the terms are too confusing.

Stats definition

These stats are usually not the part of a card’s base stats and can be found only on cores:

• Expedited Energy Boost (EEB) - makes your energy regenerate faster. This is a crucial stat for a lot of companions who depend on their active and resonance skills to deal dmg.
• Oath Recovery Boost (ORB) - increases oath recharge rate. It is recommended to have at least 14% ORB to use oath twice in a 2-minute battle (most orbit stages). ORB can also be found in R1 pair bonuses.
• Oath Strength (OS) - increases the damage of ardent oath (effective both outside and inside weakness).

Differentiating between Flat and Bonus Substats Flat stats add directly to the card’s base stat while bonus stats add a multiple of the card’s base stat. For example, in the card below, the base ATK stat is 546. A 13.0% ATK bonus translates to 546 x 13% = 70. The total additional ATK that this gamma core grants is 170 (mainstat) + 86 (flat stat) + 70 (ATK%) = 326 (the yellow number).

TL;DR:

The higher your card’s base stat (5⭐, awakened or/and ranked), the more desirable stat bonus % is, and conversely, the lower your card’s base stat (4⭐ and 3⭐), the more desirable flat stat is. Having both is ideal in most cases.

Core Classifications

cores

Alpha 𝛂

Alpha 𝛂 - “Diamond” Equipped by Solar memories Mainstat: Flat HP only Alpha cores are selected based solely on their substats

Beta β

Beta β - “Cube” Equipped by Solar memories Possible Mainstat: ATK% HP% DEF% Expedited Energy Boost (EEB) Oath Recovery Boost (ORB) Oath Strength (OS) EEB and ORB are only available as a beta core mainstat. Please refer to companion guides on what to choose for beta mainstat.

Gamma ɣ

Gamma ɣ - “Spikey” Equipped by Lunar memories Mainstat: Flat ATK only Gamma cores are selected based solely on their substats

Delta δ

Delta δ - “Triangle” Equipped by Lunar memories Possible Mainstat: ATK% HP% DEF% Crit Rate (CR) Crit DMG (CD) Damage Boost to Weakened (D2W) Delta core mainstats should only ever be CR, CD, or D2W. They are chosen based on whether a crit build, a d2w build, or a hybrid build is required by the stage / team. Please refer to the brute force vs stella matched page.

Core substats

When choosing cores for your companion, good substats are just as important as a good mainstat because of how much they can increase a companion’s power. Mainstat choices are limited to only beta (cube) and delta (triangle) cores, while substat choices affect every single core on the team. 

Regardless of mainstat level or type, a core can have a minimum of TWO substats, or a maximum of FOUR. For every three levels that a mainstat is increased, an existing substat’s value will be increased or a new substat will be added, depending on RNG. For every substat that is increased above its base, a yellow circle with a number appears beside it. This number only reflects how many times a substat has already been increased, not how likely it is that it will be increased again.

Expert note:

Cores with 4 substats have an overall higher roll value and zero chance of adding an undesirable substat, compared to cores with 2 substats that have the risk of adding a dead stat. However, 2-liner cores have greater potential for a very high single substat value.

For example, the two cores below are both excellent for an atk-scaling companion. The pink one is overall very good, but it would be impossible to get 35.5% ATK bonus on it like the purple core.

Column

Note

Note

Substat values

For our senior hunters, this is a link to the table of the range of substat increase per roll. Protocore Substat Values by @nranola

Decomposing Cores

The ‘decompose’ function in the game is used to manage your core inventory, converting unwanted cores into “core exp” that is easier to store. Decomposing level +0 cores will not result in any exp loss, but decomposing leveled cores results in approximately 20% loss of exp and gold in the conversion. This does NOT mean you should not decompose cores. Using high level cores to directly level other cores results in the same 20% loss of exp and gold. In short, whether you decompose a core or use it to directly feed into another core makes no difference.

How to choose cores

The best start to identifying a good core is to identify when a core is bad. The following types of cores can be immediately marked for decomposition.

• Deltas should always have a mainstat of Crit DMG, Crit Rate, or D2W. Deltas with ATK%/HP%/DEF% as a mainstat can be immediately decomposed.
• Cores with a combination of both HP and DEF substats are bad. No playable companion uses both stats, therefore cores with both stats will always have one usable stat but also one dead stat. 
• Two or more flat stats on a single core is not great. Can be used temporarily if desperate while waiting for a better core. 
• Oath strength in MOST cases is not considered to be an ideal substat. While it seems like boosting the team’s ultimate attack should be highly beneficial, ardent oath can only be used a limited number of times in battle, while other stats increase overall team damage. There are some exceptions to this rule so please make sure you read the companion guides properly. 

The only exception to the above rules are EEB/ORB betas and CR/CD/D2W deltas due to how rare they are. These cores can be “allowed” to have less than ideal stats, to be used only until you can find better options. 

Choosing Delta Cores: Stella Matching vs Brute Force: Choosing between crit and d2w cores is based solely on the stage/enemy and whether the team is stella matched or not, regardless of companion. You should have both types of deltas to be able swap them depending on which build you need for the stage.

Types of builds

In general we have 3 types of builds for different kinds of stages: full d2w build, crit build, and hybrid build. Builds are named after the type of mainstat you should have on your team’s 4 delta / triangle cores and should be chosen based on how much time the enemy or enemies spend in a weakened state. 

Players with lots of cores to choose from can also try to match substats to the delta mainstat.

• A full d2w build usually consists of 1cr + 3d2w or 4d2w.
• Hybrid build consists of 2 crit rate (or 1 crit rate + 1 crit dmg) + 2 d2w.
• Crit build consists from only crit rate and crit dmg. You should follow recommended crit ratio for those builds to determine which main stats you need to pick for deltas. Usually they are 2 crit rate + 2 crit dmg.

Stella matched

• Mobs with shields: full d2w
• Mobs without shields: crit build, minimum 40 crit rate
• Mobs with mixed shields/no shields: hybrid build
• Bosses: full d2w or hybrid

Brute force

In general, always only crit build. Certain enemies may need a different build but they are exception.

Recommended crit ratios: 50/200, 60/220, 70/240, 80/260, 90/ 280, 100/300

Examples of builds

Example d2w build

The field stella is 4 purple and 2 yellow and this team matches it. If this is a shielded mob level, a full D2W build is recommended because enemies will spend the majority of the battle in a weakened state. All four triangle cores have a D2W mainstat.

Column

Note

Note

Example hybrid build

The field stella is 4 purple and 2 yellow and this team matches it. If this is a boss level, a hybrid build is recommended because enemies will spend about half the time in weakened state and half the time in a shielded state. This usually means 1 CR, 1CD and 2 D2W cores. Try to get a minimum of 40-50 CR even if this means sacrificing one of the CD or D2W cores. This is also a possible build for stella-matched stages with mixed shielded and unshielded mobs.

Column

Note

Note

Example crit build

The field stella is 4 purple and 2 yellow and this team does not match . If this is a boss level, a brute force / crit build is recommended. All four triangle cores have either CR or CD as a main stat, with the goal of achieving the recommended ratios. In cases where the stage cannot be stella matched, but includes only shielded mobs, a hybrid build can be considered.

Column

Note

Note

Strategy for building cores

1. Because teams are constantly changing based on stage needs, cores are also constantly being moved around between memories. Even within a single team line-up, you may need to adjust for more crit or for more D2W. This means that memories will never have a locked-in ideal core build and you will have to have a varied collection of cores, even for a single LI.
2. Use the companion guides to determine whether cores obtained in hunt zones are worth leveling or should be decomposed.
3. Enhance cores by tier and not just level. Every 3 mainstat levels (or “Tier”), a core increases or adds a substat. Levels in between each tier grant very little value, so it is most productive to always level cores by tier. If using the “Auto Add” function in the core enhancement page, choose “Next Tier” to make it easier than manually enhancing cores. Level cores only one tier at a time to avoid wasting core EXP in case the core enhances poorly - leveling cores to +3, +6 and +9 are usually pretty “safe” since it does not take a lot of resources. Leveling to +12 and +15 is very resource intensive so only do so if you believe the core to be worth it. 

Warning:

Do NOT enhance straight to “Max Level”, especially if the core has fewer than 4 substats. Level +9 and +12 cores can provide similar stats without the heavy price. Level +15 cores are only recommended for endgame combat (200+ stable open orbit stages, fluctuant open orbit stages, brute forcing SHC).

4. If enhancing a 2- or 3-liner core results in the addition of a dead/undesirable stat, you can decompose the core. It is often recommended to decompose the core instead of feeding directly to another as this may result in “over-leveling” the new core, and wasting EXP.
5. While cores should always be built for the companion, some general beginner rules about substats apply when looking for a “good” core.
   • Try to have both flat and bonus% of the scaling stat that the companion needs, but prioritize bonus%. The higher the level/rank of the memory, the more scaling stat you get from bonus%, while flat stats do not scale with levels/ranks. If you get a core that levels repeatedly into a flat stat, this does not mean the core is immediately bad - it can be very good for low level/rarity cards that you are using just to stella match a stage. A bonus% greater than 20% is usually considered very good.
   • Crit is generally good to have, especially if you are maining Sylus and Caleb because they have low stella coverage and will often need to brute force a stage.
   • D2W is also generally good to have, though is less ideal for Sylus and Caleb mains for the same reasons above
   • Oath strength is often considered mediocre. Unless using Caleb’s LR companion, oath can only be used once to 3* SHC stage 4, and only twice in most orbits, so strengthening it gives low overall damage increase. It’s not a dead stat, but doesn’t buff the team as well as the stats mentioned above, especially with low ranked companions.
   • In early game, prioritize leveling cubes with EEB and ORB regardless of their substats. Because EEB and ORB are so valuable for gameplay, but cannot be found in substats and are so rare as a mainstat, their substats are considered more of a luxury at the start of the game. Continue to look for EEB and ORB cubes with good substats over time.

Afterword

Thanks for reading all the way down here. As a reward, please enjoy a compilation of some very copium cores the writers of these guides keep and still use to this day out of desperation due to how awful the RNG in this game is. We hope it will also serve as a reminder that core hunting is painful for everyone and that you are not alone in getting bad cores.

---

^{v1.0 by @jayci. Proofreading by @kemrian @.kitty143 @anan1n @kiironeechan}