tl;dr map above. // Much thanks to the admin of https://gf.underseaworld.net for the maps. You're awesome!
Welcome to AW 2-1 !
AW 2-1 is the first night stage seen in Arctic Warfare.
Don't be fooled with the layout, they actually have no turn limit for you to clear the lengthy AW night stages so you have all the time.
Total of two combat squads are used for this guide, each being night AR and night RF.
Squad 1 is a level 70+ night AR for killing unarmored enemies.
For the entirety of chapter 2 guides I've restricted my dolls equipped 90% with blue equipment and 10% with green equipment (for example I couldn't for my life find myself blue HP ammo while test clearing and taking screenshots).
MAKE SURE YOUR AR DOLLS HAVE PEQS EQUIPPED!
This is a night battle and they won't hit anything without night time laser sights.
Squad 2 is also a level 70+ night RF for killing armored enemies, 2RF 2HG 1SMG.
You don't strictly need a 3rd handgun to make this work, as handguns are too squishy when under level 80.
Using a SMG as a main tank work very well when under-leveled.
Start turn 0 by summoning squad 1 and moving them one tile up North on turn 1.
Ah, darkness, my old friend.
Ambush nodes are still prevalent even in night AW stages.
Stop squad 1 right after moving one tile and summon squad 2 on the helipad.
You can't summon squads on HQ/helipad without being able to see them.
Once you've brought in squad 2, move squad 1 one tile West and have squad 2 follow them.
And then have squad 1 & 2 swap positions as there's an unarmored mob giving you a funny face.
On turn 2, send squad 1 Northwest three tiles and have squad 2 follow.
If you somehow run into an armored mob, stop squad 1 and send squad 2 first.
On turn 3, you'll begin to run into armored mobs in the area ahead.
Send squad 2 up to that supply crate node.
Don't forget to kite whenever possible to minimize damage.
Armored walking cannons are very slow lumbering beasts and they're easy to kite off one volley of attack.
Push your tank forward one tile ASAP when the battle begins and then immediately retreat one tile back when you see them kneel to take aim.
This will waste their time spent aiming at you and they'll have to walk forward, stop, and aim before firing again.
Drag when they kneel.
Once you reach the supply crate node you'll be faced with three options.
Any of the white star marked nodes can contain an empty node or if you're super unlucky, an extremely weak Jupiter node marked with yellow CE rating.
Resupply your night AR team and then roam around to see which of the three are not blocked by red CE Jupiters.
For this guide I got the shortest straw and had to head to the farthest node.
Moving up...
Turn 4, still moving up...
On turn 5, It's finally time for me to head to enemy HQ.
Carefully move Northeast and watch out for armored minions.
Bring both squads 1 and 2 together and swap positions for appropriate enemies.
You may see a shield + sniper minion gang on your way to HQ.
This is a typical trap card comp wherein the enemy squad setup is designed to wither down your night AR teams.
You may have better combat results by fighting them with night RF team instead as both shields and snipers have extremely low dodge, enough for RFs without PEQs to shoot and hit them.
Night ARs can't reach those enemy snipers until all the front shields are dead...
But night RFs can kill snipers first. Shield enemies don't really do that much damage.
Now this, this is a DPS race. This squad of 10 ARs and 10 RFs are sitting on HQ. Fight them with night ARs.
This is your first taste of AW night stage RNG in finding viable routes.
Expect to see more of this repeating on other night stages with similar ideas.
Next: AW 2-2 Walkthrough
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