SANITY SURPLUS: ENDGAME RESOURCE STRATEGY

TL;DR - Key Points

• Protohedrons are the neverending sink — you’ll never have enough, farm them on auto
• Build horizontal, not vertical — Level 80 + M3 on a broad roster beats hyper-investing 3 teams
• Stockpile for uncertainty — future content spikes will humble even prepared accounts
• T-credits are the silent bottleneck — don’t neglect Valley farming
• Use surplus to prepare — new operators and difficulty spikes always loom

A New Kind of Problem in the Factory Fortress

If you told a Week 1 Endfield player that they’d eventually have too much sanity, they would have laughed in your face. Those early days were brutal—scraping together enough stamina to level a single operator, agonizing over every material drop, and watching your carefully hoarded sanity boosters vanish into the void of protohedron farming.

But here we are. The landscape has shifted dramatically.

Active players today find themselves in an unexpected position: multiple fully functional teams, stockpiled resources, and a daily sanity allowance that keeps coming whether they need it or not. The conversation has moved from “how do I get more?” to “what do I even do with all this?”

The Three Stages of Endgame Resource Management

Stage 1: The “Fully Built” Debate

Before we dive into solutions, we need to address the elephant in the room—what does “fully built” actually mean?

The community has split into two distinct camps on this one. Traditionalists argue that a character isn’t truly built until they’re Level 90 with all masteries unlocked, a maxed gold essence, and properly artificed gear across every slot. The pragmatists counter that sinking resources into a support’s basic attack or chasing perfect substats on a character who never sees field time is resource terrorism.

The reality? Content difficulty hasn’t caught up to maximum investment yet. Most endgame stages can be trimmed with characters sitting at Level 80, skill level 9, and masteries only on the abilities that actually matter for their role.

But here’s the catch—that won’t last forever.

Stage 2: The Horizontal Investment Strategy

Smart players are looking at Arknights’ Contingency Contract history and taking notes. The moment a niche mechanic becomes mandatory for high-difficulty clears, the player who only built three hyper-invested teams suddenly has a problem.

The winning strategy appears to be spreading resources across a wider roster rather than pouring everything into making your main DPS hit 5% harder. Level 80 with skill level 9 on a broad selection of operators gives you options. Options win endgame modes.

Stage 3: The Resource Sink Reality

Even with a horizontal approach, you’ll eventually reach a point where every operator you own is sitting at a functional baseline. This is where the true endgame begins—and where sanity starts feeling more like a chore than a privilege.

Where Your Sanity Should Actually Go Right Now

Protohedrons: The Neverending Story

If you’ve spent any time in endgame discussions, you’ve heard the cries. “Free me from protohedrons.” These materials are the great equalizer—everyone needs them, nobody has enough, and the farming is soul-crushingly repetitive.

Yet they’re non-negotiable for masteries. Set up a rotation, put it on auto, and accept that this is your life now.

Essence Farming for Future-Proofing

Weapons eat essences at an alarming rate. Smart players are farming these aggressively (use the essence farming tool to pick the best stage per target), not necessarily for current needs but for future operators. When the next Limited banner drops and you pull the new hotness, you don’t want to spend two weeks catching up on basic materials.

T-Credits: The Silent Bottleneck

Here’s something nobody talks about enough—T-credits disappear fast. Leveling weapons, ascending operators, upgrading facilities. It all adds up. Players who’ve been mindlessly farming Valley IV for energy alluvium are finding themselves with full warehouses and empty wallets.

The Sanity Management Tier List

S-Tier (Always Worth It):

• Protohedrons (you will never have enough, accept this)
• Weekly boss mats (future operators will need these)

A-Tier (Highly Recommended):

• Essence farming for weapons you actually use
• T-credit stages when your balance drops below 2 million

B-Tier (Situational):

• XP materials (if you’re still building characters)
• Skill books for operators you plan to raise

C-Tier (Diminishing Returns):

• Maxing every single mastery on every character
• Perfect artificing on slot 3 supports

The “I Have Nothing to Do” Emergency Protocol

For those rare players who have genuinely hit the ceiling—every operator at 80+, all relevant masteries done, weapons leveled, essences stockpiled—here’s your reality check:

You’re either lying about how “complete” your account actually is, or you’ve spent significantly more money than the average player.

For everyone else, there’s always something to farm. The game just doesn’t force you to see it. Combat is fun on its own merits. Run stages because you enjoy the pew pew, not because you’re chasing a dopamine drop.

Looking Ahead: Why You’ll Thank Yourself Later

The players complaining about sanity surplus today will be the ones panic-farming when the next difficulty spike hits. Hypergryph has a track record of releasing content that humbles even the most prepared accounts.

Those “wasted” sanity boosters you’re burning through now? That’s insurance. Every protohedron you farm today is one less thing standing between you and a trimmed medal when Agony UM+ drops.

The meta will shift. New operators will demand resources you didn’t know you needed. And the player who treated sanity like a renewable resource rather than a chore will be laughing all the way to the clear screen.

The Bottom Line

Stop overthinking it. If you’re bored with farming, mix up your auto-run teams. Try meme comps. Challenge yourself with underleveled operators. The resources will come regardless—Endfield is generous with sanity in a way its predecessor never was.

Use the surplus to prepare for uncertainty. Build wide. Stockpile intelligently. And maybe stop worrying about whether M3ing your support’s basic attack is “optimal.” It’s not. Go farm protohedrons instead.

What are you spending your sanity surplus on? The resource management conversation is just getting started.