Arknights: Guide to 3 Star GT-HX-2

GT-HX-2 is the second Operation of the HX series.  Also known as Big Adam’s Melee Death March, in this article we present a strategy for turning the Death March into a Death Nap. This particular strategy is brought to you by Eckogen and uses only 3 Star and below units and Amiya.  His video showing this exact plan in action can be found here and via the Youtube link at the bottom of this article.  More videos can be found on his Youtube Page.

The information should be sufficient to give you a good idea how to emerge victorious, though we will likely be making improvements and adding detail during the week as time allows.

If you are looking for the guide to the Challenge version of this Operation, you can find it here:

There is one main map component we need to be aware of.

1. Corrosive Ground - Operators deployed on these tiles will have their Defense halved. On this map it only appears on melee tiles.  This makes Big Adam un-tankable. He must be dpsed down on his way to the doctor.

• 1 Vanguard, V1.  V1 must be a Skill-DP-Recovery Vanguard.

• 1 Medic, M1. 

• 5 Casters, C1 - C5.  We want to be able to use as many Single Target Casters as we can while still having enough DPS to kill everything other than Big Adam.  If in doubt, use 2 AoE Casters. We will place the AoE Casters at C2 and C3. If you don’t have this many Casters at your disposal, you can use whatever ranged DPS you have, preferably anything with Arts, high Attack, or Defense down (aka ShiraYuki Skill2, Meteorite Skill 2, Platinum Skill 2).  The best positions to place non Casters would be at C3 or C4. Another possibility is to use Arts or Def ignore melee to supplement Big Adam damage (eg Mousse, Lappland, Franka). We will mention how they can be placed below.

• 2 Melee. Me1 and Me2.  For meat shield delay purposes.  Even Defenders won’t be able to take more than 1 hit here.  Any Operator with an Evade chance is worth using. Specter is amazing here, just place her early enough to have her Skill 2 of undeath ready.

•  1 Support. Su1.  A slow type to stall the boss.  If no Slow support is available, replace with any ranged Arts damage or option listed in the Caster discussion above.

• 2 Snipers.  S1 will be Single Target, S2 will be AoE.

Here is an example of a team that can work:

The concept is simple:  Kill everything, leave no survivors, blocking is for the weak.  Placement should be done as shown in the image below. The following placement order should be done exactly as presented to ensure the proper units get attacked, and each Operator can be placed as soon as there is sufficient DP.

Placement Order: 

V1 > S1 > S2 > C1 > C2 > C3 > M1 > C4
 

Once this formation is in place, enjoy the slaughter and wait for Adam to show up in the upper-right hand corner.  His arrival is our cue to make our next changes. We retreat our S2 and replace it with Su1. Then we retreat M1 and replace it with C5.  Our main Big Adam assassination squad is now in place. It should look like the image below. As per the Caster discussion in Team Recommendation above, if you are trying to use an Arts/Def ignore melee Operator, we have marked their possible locations below with G1 and a green box.  These locations will allow them to hit Big Adam while he is paused for a time, though they will die when he starts moving again.

Again we wait while Big Adam begins his death march towards our poor sacrificial Melee Altar. We will save our C3, C5, and C4 Caster cooldowns until Big Adam gets in Range of our Su1.  Melee blood may be spilled depending on the strength of our ranged DPS, though it will not be in vain. Big Adam will take out our V1 with 1 Big swing. When our V1 bites the dust, we quickly replace it with one of our Melee sacrifices (Me1 or Me2).  After the first replacement it should look like this:

Replace the Me1 position in the image above with as many sacrificial Melee Operators as it takes.  Apologize to them later. The sweet clear rewards will ease the pain…..