Halpha Environmental Testing Zone Survey/Strategy
General information
While the quest has no fail condition, it will immediately end if your instance runs out of Life Points. If the quest ends this way, you will obtain all drop items you are eligible for.
Life Points are shared among all members of the instance, so if one single player is incapacitated eleven times, the quest will end if any other player is incapacitated again.
Life Points and time allowed to explore the 5x5 grid scale based on player count and lock in upon quest start.
| Player Count | Allowed Time | LP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10:00 | 5 |
| 2 | 8:00 | 6 |
| 3 | 7:40 | 7 |
| 4 | 7:20 | 8 |
| 5 | 7:00 | 9 |
| 6 | 6:40 | 10 |
| 7 | 6:20 | 11 |
| 8 | 6:00 | 12 |
If the quest starts with 8 players but one player disconnects, you will still have 12 LP and enemy HP will reduce to 7 player scaling, but your time remaining will remain whatever it was when the player disconnected.
This quest also has different scaling for enemies and bosses than other quests, which is notably higher.
However, this value was supposedly changed, and has not been re-investigated.
| Player Count | Normal Enemy HP | End Boss HP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1x | 1x |
| 2 | - | - |
| 3 | - | - |
| 4 | - | - |
| 5 | - | - |
| 6 | - | - |
| 7 | - | - |
| 8 | - | - |
In general in the first few minutes of the instance, strong players should travel on their own or try to focus on more difficult sectors while weaker players should travel together or focus on easier sectors, such as puzzles. In the last few minutes, priority should be given to any uncleared sectors that have core buffs behind them, such as an uncleared Star sector.
A "strong player" is somebody who has highly invested gear with at least 155% Potency up in their main damage stat, while a "weak player" would be someone still enhancing their main weapon, primarily using LC Augments.
Obtaining buff effects
Buff effects are gained by clearing the objective in the sector you're currently in. While the amount of each buff you can gain in the map is static, the sectors that buffs will appear in change with every run, so you will have to take a different route each time you play.
The objective of a sector can be one of three things:
- Defeat the enemies (List of sectors)
- Defeat all enemies in the current sector. Many sectors have a special gimmick in them, such as having a Plasma Trap in them.
- Destroy all Shared Containers (List of sectors)
- Sectors where you solve a puzzle. There are multiple types of puzzles that can appear, but the solution for a sector's puzzle will remain the same all day.
- Press 3 Pole Switches (List of sectors)
- Sectors where there are switches hidden through the area to find and activate. Two of them are hidden and can be found with your Mag Sonar, while one is in plain sight and locked behind a laser fence. Defeating the enemies that appear when you approach it will remove the laser.
Trapped Sectors
Certain sectors will be trapped, and you will be locked in them when entering. If you are a weaker player, you should avoid entering them if you can. You can tell if a sector is trapped by the map showing barriers around the sector.
Save trapped sectors for later into the exploration session if you can afford to. If you know you can clear the sector quickly on your own, go ahead, but do not act recklessly.
Trapped sectors can be broken into by destroying one of the Barriagle Cores that appears on each entrance. No matter how many players are present, these cores will have 8x their normal HP, so do not spend time trying to break them while inside outside of specific cases.
Destroying one core will take down all three walls, so do not spread damage across multiple cores.
For further information about trapped sectors, including a list of them, see the Trap Sector subpage.
Trials
After either half your allowed time has passed or after clearing a total of seven rooms, a Trial will spawn in an open sector. If the trial spawns before any sectors have been cleared, then it will spawn in the starting point.
Clearing the Trial will increase the level of the day's Star buff.
Current Trials are Thunderstorm Enemy Suppression and Giruva Diversion.
Thunderstorm Enemy Suppression
A Malevolent enemy will appear, and lightning will strike in the area around players regularly for three minutes. The trial ends in success upon defeating the Malevolent enemy, and fails if time expires.
The lightning lingers as a damaging area of effect. This effect can be guarded with weapon actions with good timing, or you can stand in it and repeatedly deal sidestep counterattacks.
While the lightning area of effect lingers on the ground, the actual bolt has an aerial hitbox.
The Malevolent boss has only 15% of its normal HP. If the boss appears in a sector with a bottomless pit and falls off, it will be instantly defeated.
While the trial itself will be Thunderstorm Enemy Suppression every time it occurs, the boss itself can be different from run to run.
Current known Malevolent bosses:
- Oruq
- Fortos Launcher
- Pangolan
- Dark Magilz
Giruva Diversion
A unique DOLLS-type enemy, the Giruva, appears on the map along with a number of Giruva Cores. The goal is to destroy all Giruva Cores and return to the starting sector to defeat it using the Repulsor Wedge, as no other attacks are able to deal damage to it.
While active, the Giruva will pursue a player through the map, attempting to catch them. If successful, they will trap the player in a stunned state and deal a high-power attack (Power Notation: 1450). Upon either attacking a player or being evaded for long enough, they will pause to look for a new target and repeat the cycle.
If you make contact with a Giruva while it is in pursuit of another player, you will be inflicted with the Freeze status.
Due to the high damage of this attack, it is recommended to get a few defensive boosts before the Trial begins, and try to avoid entering any locked sectors when the Trial is about to begin.
Giruva Cores will appear in sectors that have already been cleared, and are marked on the map, and all must be destroyed before you can use the Repulsor Wedge.
Damage dealt by the Giruva can be reduced through various means.
- Effects such as "Damage Resistance Up" buff effects
- Hunter's Hunter Physique
- Any weapon potential that grants a damage resistance bonus, such as Season Change Unit or Impervious Unit
- While not worth serious consideration, the Kouklophis series potential Instant Death Unit grants the secondary 5% resist
Weapon damage resistance is an effective strategy, as if you are grabbed you can swap to a resistance weapon before the attack lands, and swap back to your main weapon after surviving the attack. The Codeck series also has applications outside of surviving the Giruva, so it is recommended.