(TL;DR) I was wondering if there's a more better-er way to reliably get these crucial materials besides the energy shop. RNG I can work with, and if it does boil down to that, I will gladly farm for them, but if that's the case, then I'd like some rough estimates on the drops. Please and thank you!
Basically, I haven't played this game for some odd years, but I remember a painful sort of realization I had back when I was a kid; I'll never have enough Alchemy orbs. I love to craft and prepare sets for maximum efficiency, having weapons and armor for nearly every situation, but given I've only gotten Alchemy orbs once via a drop, I thought maybe it would be better to just buy stuff instead of make it. Now I'm broke on crowns. I'm only 2-star at the moment, but I was wondering if there's a more better-er way to reliably get these crucial materials besides the energy shop. RNG I can work with, and if it does boil down to that, I will gladly farm for them, but if that's the case, then I'd like some rough estimates on the drops. Please and thank you!
Yes, farming crowns and purchasing orbs off of the supply depot is the most reliable method to get orbs of alchemy. However, I and much of the community don't recommend purchasing eternal orbs of alchemy, as the most popular farming spots (Firestorm Citadel and Dreams & Nightmares) both drop eternal orbs. As such, after the initial need for eternals for your first 5* set of gear goes by, you will most likely accumulate more eternals than you will have uses for. So, if you are looking for eternals, or if you just don't feel like farming crowns 24/7, then farming orbs isn't a terrible option -- it's just a little bit slower.
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Credit to Solanacae
Projected box drop distribution on Elite mode, assuming that these chances don't depend on depth. No data on Golden Slime Coins for now.
Note that several boxes have altered pools, such as 16 red boxes in every danger mission (they only drop crowns, never rarities) and D25-27 boxes in Dreams and Nightmares (only crowns + heat, also never rarities)
GREEN
Mutually exclusive drops:
- 1% chance of a spark token
- 3% chance of a material
- 30% chance of crowns
- 30% chance of heat
- 36% chance of a pickup (including Vitapods)
Additionally, drops rarities 20% of the time:
- 0.5% chance of dropping a spark of life
- 0.5% chance of dropping an orb of alchemy
- 19% chance of dropping fire crystals
RED
Mutually exclusive drops:
- 15% chance of a spark token
- 42.5% chance of crowns
- 42.5% chance of heat
Additionally, drops rarities 30% of the time:
- 1% chance of dropping a spark of life
- 1% chance of dropping an orb of alchemy
- 28% chance of dropping fire crystals
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Credit to Spiralka-Chan
A chart of which orbs drop at which depths.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/311195183482142720/46700583883007...
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Essentially, you want to farm the levels with the most treasure boxes. Missions are typically the fastest way, and you can easily find guides outlining the best missions. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=268682827 is one example. If/when you get tired of missions, look for the arcade gates that have the best depths such as arenas. It's worth noting that arenas in missions don't give out as many treasure boxes as arenas in the arcade.