Community Roundup: Leveling, Factory & Lore | Endfield Blog

TL;DR - Key Points

Ardashir confirmed as Phidiaa snake — not a Lich Sarkaz, former lord in Sargon 150+ years ago, drains life energy from others, implied past work for the Endmin
Level 90 for main DPS, nuanced for supports — supports at level 90 with level 90 weapon and no etched essences, save M3 masteries for DPS carries
Read team comp, not tier lists — Perlica benefits from Stanza of Memorials or Oblivion in non-electric teams, Rossi runs Detonation for heat damage or Wild Wanderer for balanced physical
Support weapons need no essences initially — max-level weapon, base gold gear, farm perfect essences but hold etching until main operator is sorted
Gourd production requires 5-6 per minute — convert heavy Xiranite lines for Wuling outpost event, use second line with item control port to burn excess stockpile
Cuprium Solution clogs at 30 units/min per reactor — use one reactorer per powder line, send excess sewage to purifier, expanded crucibles are janky with sewage management
Multi-character banner favors pulling now — 25/75 split for laser-focused pulls, spark at 120, Gil may not return for a long time
Off-banner limiteds are intentional — losing 50/50 can drop standard 5-star or last two limited banner characters, not a bug

Related read: Endfield Mastery: Drills, Operators, Teams & Factory goes deeper on factory.

The Ardashir Conversation: Lore Cbreadcrumbs

If there was one moment that unified the community recently, it was collective confusion over Ardashir. The Phidiaa snake lord delivered a masterclass in saying everything and nothing simultaneously. Here is what we actually learned:

Ardashir is not a Lich Sarkaz as many theorized
He is a Phidiaa snake, specifically a former lord in Sargon (Terra’s Middle Eastern equivalent)
He operated over 150 years ago and remains active by draining life energy from others
He implied past work for the Endmin, though the nature of that relationship remains unclear

The community consensus: we are all in the waiting room together, analyzing vibes rather than hard facts. One sharp-eyed commenter noted that lore investigation has become its own form of endgame activity. No, there is still no perfect YouTube video recommendation for deep Ardashir lore, but at least the confusion is shared.

See also: Megathread Q&A: Gear, Rotations & Factory for more on community.

Leveling Priorities: Who Gets the Materials?

The eternal question: how high should we level characters? The answer, as always, depends on role.

Main DPS Operators

Priority	Investment	Details
Character Level	90	Non-negotiable for main damage dealers
Weapon Level	90	Required for stat scaling
Skill Mastery	M3	Highest resource cost, biggest DPS impact
Essences	Full etching	Focus on perfect stat alignment
Artificing	Max passive	Zero sanity cost, prioritize early

Support Operators

Priority	Investment	Details
Character Level	90	Still the target for viability
Weapon Level	90	Base weapon stats matter
Skill Rank	9	No mastery investment needed
Essences	None initially	Base gold gear is sufficient
Artificing	Passive only	Same as DPS, no extra cost

The resource reality check: M3 masteries consume a massive amount of materials and offer a smaller relative boost compared to good essences and gear. Front-load your investment on the main operator, then trickle down.

Weapon Selection: Team Over Tier Lists

The weapon discussion revealed a consistent theme — context matters more than rankings.

Perlica (Non-Electric Teams)

Weapon	Purpose	Notes
Stanza of Memorials	Team ATK amp on ult	Synergizes with burst DPS like Endmin, Rossi
Oblivion	Team ATK amp on ult	Similar to Memorials, viable alternative
Detonation Unit	Legendary fallback	Better suited for arts users like Antal

Rossi (Main Damage Dealer)

Weapon	Purpose	Notes
Detonation Unit	Heat DMG buff on ult	Best if running pure heat damage
Wild Wanderer	Balanced physical	Better for mixed physical/elemental teams

The Perlica 17-second cooldown window demands team members who can burst within that frame. Wild Wanderer’s cooldown matching makes it a hard requirement for sustained Electric DPS rotations with Zhuang Fangyi.

Support Etching Etiquette

The community reached a clear consensus on support weapon investment:

Max-level weapon — always do this
No essences initially — base gold gear carries supports fine
Farm perfect essences passively — do not etch until main is sorted
Etch when main is complete — transition supports to optimized essences

This approach prevents resource fragmentation across too many operators too early.

Factory Fiascos: Gourds, Xiranite, and Clogged Pipes

Xiranite Gourd Production

The new Wuling outpost event requires selling Xiranite Gourds, which disrupted established production lines. The math:

Metric	Value	Recommendation
Required rate	5-6 gourds/min	Sufficient for weekly clearance
Overkill rate	12+/min	Only with massive Xiranite stockpile
Conversion method	Heavy Xiranite line	Use spare Xiranite previously routed to batteries

One clever solution involved a second gourd line with an item control port to burn through excess Xiranite when storage hit capacity. For players sitting on large stockpiles, this provides an automatic dump valve.

The Xircon Effluent Problem

Purifiers introduced in 1.2 allowed reusing inert effluent for heavy Xiranite production, but cutting that line for the event created a new waste stream:

Void it — painful but cleanest solution
Bottle manually — tedious, requires active play
Supplement Xircon production — risky, can clog system if not monitored

Cuprium Solution Clogging

A significant troubleshooting thread centered on Cuprium Solution moving at a drip. Key findings:

30 units per minute is normal per reactor
Feeding four powder lines into one reactor creates a bottleneck
Expanded crucibles have janky sewage management — full sewage output causes system seizure
The fix: one reactorer per powder line, send excess sewage to purifier

The community-bookmarked solution: 6 reactors feeding 3 purifiers as a sewage overflow management pattern.

Pro Tip: Use endfieldtools.dev

The in-game “view chain” feature is useful for basic understanding, but endfieldtools.dev does the raw math for recipe chains, including throughput calculations and material requirements. Bookmark it.

Critical warning: do not loop purification acid back into reactors unless you know exactly what you are doing. Dump it back into the pool.

Gacha Deep Dive: Sparking, 50/50s, and Strategy

The upcoming multi-character banner sparked extensive number-crunching:

Solo reruns are unlikely for the foreseeable future — the game is young
Multi-character banners with 120-pull spark may become the standard
25/75 split if laser-focused on one character
25% per featured limited if you want multiple rate-ups

For Gil specifically: pull now if you want her. As a support, she will only improve when the nature hyper carry drops, and there is no guarantee on banner return timing.

Limited Character Pool Mechanics

When you lose a 50/50, the drop pool includes:

Standard 5-star operators
The last two limited banner characters

This explains surprise off-banner limiteds like receiving Yvonne on Surtr’s banner during 1.0 — she was a future limited character, not a bug. On Fangyi’s banner, Tangtang or Rossi could appear as off-rate limiteds because they were the previous two.

Unlike most Hoyoverse titles where refining 5-star weapons is discouraged for F2P, Endfield’s signature weapons are often specialized enough that refinement is acceptable:

Specialized signatures — refine without hesitation, low competition for same weapon
Generic weapons (Wedge, Thermite Cutter) — keep two copies if running multiple teams
Weapon pulls are generous — additional copies typically arrive over time

Quick-Fire Wisdom: The Little Things

Question	Answer
Fruits of Altruism for weekly?	Part of the new event, wait for it to go live
Redeemer Gloves location?	Wuling Stockbill Exchange
Mystery box cooldown showing 2 days?	Intended behavior, not a bug
PS friend requests glitching?	Known issue since launch, “max requests” with empty list
Where to stash items from backpack?	Look for the big pole at your HUB base (the AIC)
Depth of field blur in cutscenes?	Graphics setting, nothing is broken
Avy’s premium team composition?	Avy, Fangyi, Arclight, Perlica — electric DPS + nuke playstyle
Gourd production before 1.2 update?	Start now, needs approximately three belts of Xiranite

Final Thoughts: The Factory Is the True Endgame

What began as a plea for lore clarity turned into a sprawling compendium of Endfield know-how. The community is deep in the weeds, optimizing every conveyor belt and skill priority, yet still just as lost as anyone when a snake lord monologues. That is the charm.

Walking away from this thread with a cleaner factory, a more targeted upgrade plan, and a reluctant acceptance that sparking Gil on a 25/75 might be inevitable. But at least now the expanded crucible does not clog.

For anyone feeling overwhelmed: dive into the questions, tinker with your setup, and remember — theoretical data is just that, theoretical. Actual yield improves when you stop looping acid into the wrong pipe.

Thanks to every helpful soul in the megathread. Confusion became a strategy bible. Now, back to draining Xircon effluent.

COMMUNITY ROUNDUP: LEVELING, FACTORY & LORE | ENDFIELD BLOG