The latest ranking map in Girls' Frontline comes bundled with the Isomer story event, with exciting rewards like the Zodiac Fairy alongside the somewhat less exciting reward of MG4's special equipment. Want to get the limited time rewards but have no idea how to navigate the Reign of Chaos map? Wondering what to do to maximize your points? This guide series is for you.
This page is under construction - more will be added as EN players get some time to test out ranking strategies!
08/01 update: Added the Turn-by-Turn Guide by Ceia
07/21 update: Added the No Dupe 1.287m run by CosmicArcher.
07/18 update: Added Midgie's Opener Planning & Enemy Notes sheet and Ceia's 1.22m run.
07/14 update: Added a 2 Combat Echelon ~700k Isomer EN Ranking EX run VOD and Ceia's 1.15m run
07/13 update: Added a 1m Isomer EN Ranking EX VOD.
Should I do Normal or Hard?
If your units can't handle Hard (EX) difficulty ranking, you can instead try Normal difficulty - while the score ceiling is lower, it's still possible to earn a lot of points even on Normal - placing high enough for the Fairy/Special Equipment rewards should be easily manageable.
Isomer ranking lasts 9 turns (ends at the start of Turn 10).
I don't have time to read all of this!
No problem! Check out the step-by-step guide below.
Basic Map Layout
The ranking map might look big at first, but it's really split up into some fairly straightforward zones:
Credit to mis, Midgie, and Ceia from GFEN Discord.
Red/Paradeus Zone
You start off in this area with your command post and some heliports. You'll have to travel from this zone into the other zones, and the helipads in this area will spawn some enemies that you can farm for points. These enemies are probably the hardest - you'll need HOC support because enemy force shield scales up to 90% in EX difficulty, making them effectively impossible to kill without HOC shield break.
This area primarily spawns Paradeus enemies, and can also sometimes spawn infected zombies (ELIDs).
- Because the paths aren't one-way (like they were in Singularity), you can use a conga line of units to swap your echelons/HOC around to resupply/repair on allied Heliports!
This also lets you move your HOC around to bombard enemy structures for no AP cost. You can blow up the turrets in this area with HOCs for +10000 points each. It is recommended to spawn BGM-71 at start and swap her around to destroy structures - Isomer structures, unlike in CT, are fairly beefy and require a high Pierce HOC to kill economically.
Due to the deployment point mechanic of HOCs, you will need to capture one Heavy Heliport in this area to spawn all 3 HOCs (recommend AGS-30 and 2B14, unless you have AT4 at a higher rarity/skill level than those two for some reason). Capturing the southern heliport ASAP is recommended since it'll be part of your supply line anyway.
The Supply Nodes in this area are worth +10000 points each if you have control over them by the start of Turn 10 (when the ranking map ends). The HQ at the top right is also, interestingly, worth +10000 points if you capture it.
There are also 3 NPC echelons in this area; they will turn into hostages at predetermined turn counts, at which point you can rescue them for +10000 points per remaining bar of HP they have.
(Number in parentheses denotes starting position - please refer to the above annotated map)
- RO635/SOPMOD (P42) - Turn 3 - 4 bars of HP
- M4/AK12 (P10) - Turn 5 - 3 bars of HP
- AN94/AR14 (P26) - Turn 7 - 2 bars of HP
Altogether, they are worth +90000 points! While you can use them as conga line swap fodder to save AP, do remember to keep them out of harm's way so you don't lose points from enemies running into the hostage.
Blue/Supply Line Zone
The supply flag is located on the switch in this zone. Connect the supply point to your HQ by the start of Turn 4 and you'll earn points as long as your supply line is not broken:
- Turn 4: +5000 points
- Turn 5: +6250 points
- Turn 6: +7500 points
- Turn 7: +8750 points
- Turn 8: +10000 points
- Turn 9: +10000 points
- Turn 10: +10000 points
- Total: +57500 points possible
You can also blow up the turrets in this area with HOCs for another +10000 points each. (Note that these must be destroyed with HOC - you can't walk over them with an echelon to destroy the installations.)
While the bottom of this zone is connected to the contaminated (zombie) areas, the ELIDs won't walk in - you won't need to leave an echelon in this area to defend it.
Green/Contaminated Zone
Helipads in this area spawn ELIDs (zombies) only. You can send units here to farm ELIDs for points, but the contaminated tiles deal damage to your T-Dolls every turn!
Ideally, your units should be able to handle the ELIDs while at low dummy link count. The enemies here are easy but also don't give as many points compared to the Red/Yellow zone enemies, but there are two Supply Nodes that you can capture for +20000 points total, provided you have control over them by the start of Turn 10.
AR and SMG grenadiers perform very well here, since grenades (other than K11's) are fired from only 1 Dummy Link and will be potent regardless of your unit's damage taken. Pairing them with an SG tank like S.A.T.8 and shielding HGs like P22, HS2000, or Sei will give you the survivability needed to sustain fights in this area on low Dummy Link count.
The sanitation tower in the Blue Zone can be activated to temporarily clean the area. This has a 3-turn cooldown - so use it wisely!
Purple/SF Zone
This zone is blocked off by a boulder - you can either destroy it with an abandoned Goliath in 1 hit, or bombard it with BGM 15-20 times to kill it at the cost of a few thousand ammo and rations.
Once the obstacle is destroyed, enemy SF patrols will spawn; they will turn into a ringleader boss at the start of your turn. Points in this area come from farming the enemy spawns after they convert to bosses. There are 5 possible enemy bosses in total: Executioner, Intruder, Alchemist, Dreamer, and M16A1
Standing next to the spawning helipad can cause your echelon to engage the enemy patrol before they turn into a boss - you lose out on a few points if this happens, since the boss is worth more points than the patrol unit.
To do this zone properly, kill the first spawn (since that one does not turn into a boss) then move back 2 tiles so there's one space between your bossing echelon and the SF helipad. You can then farm the boss spawns from it.
Yellow/KCCO Zone
It is recommended to send 2 RFHG echelons in the area. Capture one heliport (for resupplying and repairing), and leave the rest so you can farm the KCCO heliport spawns for points. If AP permits, you can also capture the supply nodes in this area for up to another +20000 points.
This zone is connected to the main area by 3 bridges that can be blown up by Abandoned Goliaths for +10000 points each. You can do this along the way as you move units into the region.
The KCCO armored spawns have no Evasion, but the Cyclops units do - so be careful when engaging them. (An RFHG with Carcano M91/38 is recommended to take down the heavily armored Hydras that spawn here. If you don't have her, a high DPS RFHG with a good fairy will be needed to minimize damage taken.)
Teambuilding & Opener Examples
Worried about your score potential because you were unlucky with dupes? Check out this no-dupe, 1.287m (current top 5) Isomer ranking run from CosmicArcher!
This is a great showcase of the fact that you can stay competitive in GFL ranking without grinding multiples of the same T-Doll.
Here are some commentated attempts of EN's Isomer Ranking Map by Ceia!
1.15m Run
Lots of damage control in this run, mainly due to the horrible RNG. Good VOD to learn from, most of the turn by turn objectives are fulfilled.
1.3m Run
Here's an attempt of Isomer rankings I did off-stream with the latest strategy, a few minor mistakes in this attempt, which can be completely avoided.
- 1:23:30 - ramming a 90% shields Gundam node with only 2B support - don't be braindead and use BGM/AGS support.
- 2:08:50 - deploying the wrong echelon on the HQ, should've deployed the Fury fairy team up there instead of illumination
- 3:00:25 - Critical mistake that costed 2 movement points for turn 9, having your entire echelon caged by Nimogen = instant echelon retreat.
Not enough teams? Try something like this!
We'll have more detailed opener guides available here in the future.
You can also check out these sample runs from older servers for an idea of how to start your ranking attempt. Note that the anti-air installation bug (where blowing up an AA tower will allow you to paradrop to any helipad in its range, even if they are covered by other AA) is inconsistent on EN and you may or may not be able to copy these 1-to-1 depending on if the bug works for you or not.
Combat Basics & Dealing with Enemies
Want some detailed examples on what to do against specific enemies? Brekkie (the #1 player at the time of writing) has you covered with this comprehensive guide!
It's probably the most easy-to-understand Isomer guide out there, and it even showcases how to handle all the difficult fights with animated gifs. No dupes? No problem! You can easily make 10 serviceable echelons by following the tips in here.
Not sure what enemy spawned because so many variations exist? Want to plan your opener better? Check out this incredibly comprehensive Ranking Planner by Midgie! The amount of detail that went into this is absolutely incredible.
Teambuilding Minmax
Know the basics and want a concise spreadsheet-based overview of all your T-Doll options for efficient planning? Check out this sheet by Arcus! He also got #1 when ranking started but unfortunately lost his spot soon after.
Unit Micromanagement Examples
Need some more visual examples of the tough fights? Sleepy compiled this mega list of team comp video references to help with that!
Hydra 108k Node
Aegis / Cerynitis / Typhon Node
Cyclops / Cerynitis Node
SF Bosses
ELID Smasher
Doppelsoldner x2
Doppelsoldner x3
Silver Nyto / Mercurows
Gold Nyto / Nimogen
Uhlan + Doppelsoldner 259k Node
Uhlan 300k Node
Got some clips of Isomer ranking fights you'd like to share? Leave a comment below and we'll add it to the article!
M200 P22 Carcano m91/38 Showcase
These are three most hyped t-dolls for the Isomer ranking event. Was the hype warranted? Here we have put together some simulated battle for you to decide for yourself. Note:
- AGS used is max chipped and max iterated.
- BGM used is level 100 no iteration with around level 12 chips
- Fairy is 5 star Fury with Damage II
- All enemies are turn 9 enemies, and they are as strong as they come.
It's worth noting in this particular encounter, the presence of both an Uhlan and a Doppelsoldner make targeting with Carcano M91/38 difficult. Since Uhlan has more HP than the Doppelsoldner, Carcano M91/38 will skillshot the Uhlan and deal only 3x damage, instead of dealing 45x damage to the Doppelsoldner.
What dealt with the Doppelsoldner here instead is M200 taking 1 shot from her skill into the Doppelsoldner when the Uhlan rams forward. This followed by Carcano M91/38's auto attack and some luck, killed the Doppelsoldner before the grenade went off.
The 3x Doppelsoldner enemy node is easily dealt with. Here one trick that was pulled was to put Carcano M91/38 on manual. Wait for the second Doppelsoldner to take 1 hit from M200 before letting go of the skill shot.
M200 + WA2000
Since Carcano M91/38 is relatively rare, WA2000 or most strong self buffing rifles can also be used.
Note, the fight using M200/WA2000 with AGS was too difficult (for Sleepy) and BGM was used instead.
M200 and Uhlan/Doppelsoldner
From these videos, we can see that M200 can target Doppelsoldner and Uhlans with relatively high certainty. Uhlans and Doppelsoldners have slightly higher range than Streletes, thus M200 targeting the furthest unit naturally picks them up.
M200 also have incredibly high and reliable damage. With perfect accuracy during skill activation and ability to crit, she make quick work of her targets.
However, she's not perfect, and as we see, the first out of the 3 Doppelsoldner encounter, she starts with killing the 2nd Doppelsoldner before dealing with the first one. Careful management of kiting and line of sight is required here.
P22 damage absorption comparison / R93 M14 Showcase
In the above videos, we also see that P22's shield is heavily used, and that often the doll takes some, but not too heavy, beating from the enemy. Here's what the damage looks like in a comp without P22. Keep in mind these are last turn encounters and merely surviving is good enough. So don't feel the need to go out and farm 10 P22s.
While Strelets' damage are usually manageable, the Uhlans' missiles always take a huge chunk of the targeted T-Doll's HP away. It launches very quickly and is hard to kite, but due to the way shield works, P22 is able to greatly mitigate that missile damage. The difference, as we can see, is quite substantial.
