Shiyu Defense Mastery: The Complete Zenless Zone Zero Guide for S-Rank Clears

Shiyu Defense is Zenless Zone Zero's ultimate combat challenge - demanding mastery of team synergy, precise rotations, and deep mechanical knowledge. With rotating Critical Nodes and permanent Disputed stages, it's where your builds and strategies are truly tested. This guide breaks down every node, team composition, and advanced mechanic to help you secure S-ranks and claim the 4,500 Polychrome jackpot.

Shiyu Defense Overview & Core Mechanics

What is Shiyu Defense?

If you've ever tackled Genshin Impact's Spiral Abyss, you already know the drill. Shiyu Defense is Zenless Zone Zero's premier end-game combat gauntlet, and it's where your team building and mechanical skill get put to the test. You're fighting against the clock to clear rooms of enemies, and the content rotates regularly to keep things spicy. There's leaderboards too if you're the competitive type.

The mode isn't just about raw damage - you'll need to master Defensive Assists, Chain Attack timing, and attribute synergization if you want those S-ranks. It's basically the game's final exam for combat mastery.

Node Types & Structure

Each Shiyu Defense 'Frontier' breaks down into three distinct node types, and knowing the difference is crucial for planning your runs.

Stable Nodes are permanent, one-time-clear stages that become available progressively (8 total). They're your baseline challenges that never go away. Once you S-rank all of them, Disputed Nodes appear - these are also permanent with 8 stages each, but they remove the time limit and grade you on agent survival instead of speed.

The real meat of the mode lives in Critical Nodes. These rotate every other Friday (on the 1st and 16th of each month) as a 5-stage gauntlet, and Stage 5 forces you to split your squad across three rooms. No more one-team stacking. Each Frontier contains 10 nodes total: three Stable, three Disputed, and four Critical Nodes. You'll need Inter-Knot Level 20 just to get your foot in the door.

Current Version 2.5 Buffs & Meta Impact

The January 2026 Critical Node is cooking with some serious buffs that completely warp the meta. Here's what's on the table until January 9th:

• +30% Agent ATK
• +15% CRIT DMG
• +20% Enemy Stun DMG Multiplier

That CRIT DMG boost is multiplicative with your Drive Disc rolls, which means if you're sitting at 250% sheet CRIT DMG, you're actually hitting around 303% during node activation. That's not a typo - it's that strong.

The stun multiplier is the real game-changer though. It makes Defensive Assists and dedicated stun agents like Lycaon or Anby ridiculously valuable for creating damage windows. Combined with the ATK buff, the meta heavily favors burst-oriented teams that can rapidly deplete Daze and capitalize on precise Chain Attack timing. If you've been sleeping on your stun units, now's the time to wake them up.

Shiyu Defense: Permanent Node Team Compositions (Stable & Disputed)

Frontiers 1-3: Early Game Teams

The early Frontiers are pretty forgiving, so you can get away with the starter trio you already know. Anby, Billy, and Anton will carry you through the first three nodes without touching the gacha, which means you can save your Polychromes for later.

For Frontier 1, you want to lean on Anby for stuns while Billy pumps Physical DPS and Anton covers Electric shields. It is straightforward - just let Anby build stun, then swap to Billy for damage windows.

Frontier 2 is where you will see the Berserk mechanic for the first time. Once the elite hits 40% HP, it goes nuts, so you need to kill it fast. The rotation here is tight: you will open with Anby's EX into her Ultimate for an instant stun, immediately QTE Billy to unload his entire magazine, then swap to Anton while the target is still dazed. Anton's Drill Dash plus his Ultimate during the stun window will blow through that Berserk phase before it becomes a problem.

Things get tricky in Frontier 3 because the Vagrant Hunter boss has 70% Physical RES in Phase 2. That is a hard stop for Billy. Luckily, it has -20% Electric RES, so you will want to bench Billy once Phase 2 starts and just let Anton go ham with his Electric skills and Ultimate. Anby still handles stuns and defense down, but Anton becomes your only damage source.

Frontiers 4-6: Mid-Game Optimization

Once you hit Frontier 4, the training wheels come off. The Thracian Golem has 3.2M HP and high Fire resistance, which means running a pure Fire team will hurt your clear time. Instead, you will want Koleda (Fire DPS), Grace (Ether DEF-shred), and Soldier 11 (Stun/CRIT burst). The rotation is specific: Grace uses her Skill first to apply Ether field, Koleda applies burn, then you swap to Soldier 11 during the +15% CRIT DMG window before Koleda breaks the stun.

Frontier 5 throws six mini-bosses at you, and each one gets a Riot Shield that cuts damage by 50% until you stun them. Soldier 11's aerial combo gets a +30% ATK buff that one-shields most units, so you will lean on her. Grace stays off-field the whole time just maintaining her Ether field for RES shred, while Koleda cleans up with EX burn when shields drop.

The real test is Frontier 6 at Stable Node Lv 50. The boss has Pillar Overload, which gives it +100% ATK after 60 seconds, but you can interrupt this with stun. The core trio of Soldier 11, Grace, and Koleda still works, but you will want Soukaku in the fourth slot for ATK aura and healing. Your goal is a stun loop: Grace Skill > 11 aerial > Koleda Burst > repeat to interrupt the Overload cast before it finishes.

You will need to invest in gear here. Soldier 11 wants CRIT Rate and ATK%, Grace needs Ether Mastery and DEF Pierce, Koleda focuses on Fire DMG and Impact, and Soukaku (for Frontier 6) should stack ATK% and Energy Regen.

Frontiers 7-10: Endgame Two-Team Requirements

Here is where Shiyu Defense becomes a squad management game. Starting at Frontier 7, you must field two separate teams, and you can not reuse characters between them. Each Frontier has recommended attributes, and you will need to build both squads to handle shield mechanics.

Frontier 7 wants Ice & Ether. Send Team A (Burst) with Soldier 11, Ben, and Soukaku, while Team B (Sustain) runs Ellen, Anby, and Nicole. The key mechanic: attacking shielded enemies with the correct attribute deals 100% more damage, and Anomaly units apply flat shield damage. Preview the boss, then send in the squad with more correct-attribute hits first to crack the shield.

Frontier 8 demands Electric & Ether. Team A goes mono-Electric with Anton, Grace, and Rina to delete shields instantly. Team B is your backup: Nekomata, Soukaku, and Nicole if you mess up cooldowns or need to tag out.

Frontier 9 returns to Ice & Ether. Team A (Ice) is Ellen, Soukaku, and Lycaon - his charged dash applies rapid Ice hits to break 'white' shields so Ellen can one-cycle the boss. Team B (Ether) runs Qingyi, Nicole, and Zhu Yuan.

Frontier 10 is the dual-DPS floor requiring Fire & Electric. Both teams need to contribute because shield HP is massive. Team A has Soldier 11, Ben, and Anby, while Team B runs Anton, Grace, and Rina. Do not wait on this one: burst your ultimates immediately when the shield appears, or you will hit a soft enrage.

The general two-team rotation goes like this: first, preview the boss and pick the squad with better attribute matchups to open. Your supports apply buffs and debuffs first, then you snapshot those buffs onto your DPS for the shield break. Once the shield cracks, you get a +40% Stun multiplier for 8 seconds - unleash everything here. If your first squad gets low, tag out; the second squad inherits shield progress and finishes the kill.

Shiyu Defense Strategy Guide: Best Team Compositions & S-Rank Clear Guide (January 2026 Rotation)

Stage 12: Ether Overload Strategy

The Ether Overload debuff is the real boss here. After 60 seconds in combat, it starts shredding 5% of your squad's max HP and halves your Energy generation. That's not a suggestion to hurry - it's a hard timer that'll end your run if you don't respect it.

Stage 12 throws an Ether-resistant drone at you in the early nodes, but the final fight is a mini-boss that demands pure burst DPS. You cannot afford to drag this out.

Team A is your bread-and-butter comp: Ellen as main DPS, Lycaon for Stun, and Soukaku bringing ATK buffs plus crowd control. You'll want 4-piece Pioneer Diver on Ellen to help offset that Energy loss, while your supports run 4-piece Swing Jazz to keep the buffs flowing. The synergy here is clean - Lycaon's Stun opens the window, Ellen's damage slams it shut.

Team B is the Fire alternative: Soldier 11 for DPS, Ben for shields, and Anby on Stun duty. This team is tankier but slightly slower, so your Bangboo choice matters more. Bring Mercury for Fire elemental chain attacks to keep the stagger pressure up.

The rotation is simple but timing-critical. Open with Lycaon's EX for the Stun, immediately chain into Ellen's Ultimate, then swap to Soukaku to refresh buffs. You need this entire sequence to finish before that 60-second tick hits. If you're practicing, use a timer - seriously. One extra second can cost you the S-Rank.

Stage 13: Armor Grenadier Counter Teams

The Armor Grenadier is an Elite evolution of the Grenadier Jaeger, and it's a pain. This guy wields a ballistic shield, boasts 3,200 Stability Bar points, and laughs at Physical damage. Don't even try to brute-force it.

Here's the breakdown: Pierce deals 150% bar damage, Ether and Fire deal 100%, while everything else gets reduced to 75%. That means you either go full Pierce or exploit the elemental weaknesses.

Electric Stunlock is the safe play: Grace applies Shock for sustained Anomaly build-up, Rina provides off-field Electric DMG and PEN buffs, and Anton is your Pierce DPS who actually breaks the shield. The flow is smooth - Grace sets the table, Rina keeps the pressure on, and Anton cleans up.

Ether Shred is the faster but riskier option: Koleda for Fire/Stun, Piper as main Physical DPS (yes, I know, but she's for the shield break), and Lucy handing out ATK buffs. This team uses Fire/Physical to stagger the boss, but you'll need to dodge more.

S-Rank timing is brutal: under 1:10. That means you need to use Nicole's EX to group the adds instantly, apply Ether for Anomaly build-up, and save Harumasa's Ultimate specifically for the boss's Overcharge Artillery phase. If you panic and burn it early, you'll miss the window.

Stage 14: Critical Spear One-Cycle Tactics

Stage 14 hits you with a two-frontier boss set: the Spear boss (humanoid, pole-arm) and a Shield boss. The Spear boss has 80% CRIT RES, which basically means your crits barely tickle it - unless you play around the mechanics.

The January affixes give you a lifeline. Fleeting Glory grants +25% ATK, +20% CRIT DMG, and ignores 10% Physical RES. Piercing Blade Abyss adds Ice/Physical +15% DMG and DEF shred on Anomaly. These aren't just nice bonuses; they're mandatory for the one-cycle.

One-Cycle Team: Harumasa (Electric DPS), Soukaku (ATK buff), Nicole (Ether anomaly for Disorder). Your Bangboo is Rocketboo for follow-up Electric damage. The rotation is tight: Soukaku EX → Chain Attack → swap to Nicole for EX grouping → swap to Harumasa for turret mode + Dash-Attack spam. You save Harumasa's Chain Attack for the CRIT window, which gives you that crucial +15% CRIT DMG buff. Miss the window, and you'll need a second cycle - good luck with that.

Backup Team: Nekomata/Miyabi/Koleda. Nekomata and Miyabi split Physical/Ice DPS while Koleda provides Stun. This is your insurance policy if the Spear boss enrages or if you need to handle the Shield boss separately. Don't feel bad swapping - better a clean two-cycle than a messy one-cycle wipe.

Stage 15: Endurance Rush Three-Wave Clear

Endurance Rush is a three-wave nightmare: Armor → Aerial → Berserk. No healing, a stacking corruption debuff that eats your ATK and DEF, and a score threshold of 1.55M points for the Dominance Diamond Badge. This is a DPS check, a survival check, and a mechanics check all rolled into one.

You have two viable approaches.

Sustained Blender Team: Qingyi/Lycaon/Zhu Yuan. This is the wave-specialist comp. Qingyi demolishes wave 1 (Armor), Lycaon dominates wave 2 (Aerial), and Zhu Yuan obliterates wave 3 (Berserk). Run 4-piece Thunder Metal on Qingyi for maximum uptime. The downside? If one character dies, your whole wave plan collapses.

Burst Team: Ellen/Miyabi/Soukaku. Ellen and Miyabi split Ice DPS while Soukaku keeps the ATK buffs rolling. Ellen's dash i-frames are clutch for avoiding wave 2's shockwaves, and Miyabi's Ultimate should be saved for the wave 3 spawn to cleave everything immediately.

Wave timing is everything. Wave 1 runs from 0–35s, Wave 2 from 35–70s, and Wave 3 from 70–90s. You need >55s remaining when Wave 3 starts to secure S-Rank - that means if Wave 1 takes longer than 40 seconds, you reset. No questions asked.

Pro tip: Bring a second Stun Bangboo for that extra 10% Stun rate resonance, and manually time your Ultimates to dodge the wave 3 blast. That keeps your combo retention alive, which is where most of your score comes from.

F2P & Budget Team Compositions

Alright, let's talk about actually clearing Shiyu Defense without emptying your wallet. These teams won't just scrape by - they'll S-rank nodes consistently when built right.

Budget Thunder Core (Anton/Anby/Nicole)

This trio is completely free-to-play and can hit sub-90-second S-rank clears on Critical Node 7, no 5-star units required. What makes it work is how perfectly it exploits this cycle's buffs: that hardcoded +15% Ice & Ether DMG boost turns Nicole's mines and Anby's dash-attack ice procs into legitimate damage sources.

The secret sauce is Defensive Assist, which gives Anby a massive +100% Daze boost. Time it right and she'll near-instantly fill the stun bar. That matters because Anton's Core Passive 'Spark' grants 20% extra CRIT Rate against stunned enemies - so every Anby stun becomes a guaranteed burst window for Anton. It's a feedback loop that feels way better than any free team has a right to.

Gear Setup

Agent	W-Engine	Drive Discs (4pc/2pc)	Main Stats Priority
Anton	[Reverb] Mark II	Shockstar / Freedom	ATK% > CRIT% > PEN%
Anby	[Reverb] Mark I	Woodpecker / Swing Jazz	ATK% > CRIT% > PEN%
Nicole	The Restrained	Chaos Jazz / Swing Jazz	ATK% > CRIT% > PEN%

The Rotation

Here's how it flows: start with Nicole's EX to plant mines, then swap to Anby for her dash-attack ice procs. When you see an attack coming, trigger Perfect Assist - that'll slam the stun bar to about 70% full. Immediately pop a Chain Attack with Anton entering first (he gives the team a 15% ATK buff), then unload his full combo: Basic 4-hit into EX into a 3-hit jump-cancel. While Anton's recovering, swap to Nicole for a Dodge-Counter to regain energy, then repeat the Anby loop.

Baseline S-rank is 90 seconds, but with optimized gear and tight rotations you can average 00:52. Yeah, 52 seconds with a team that costs zero Polychrome.

Ether Overdrive Mid-Spend Option

If you've pulled Grace or Rina and want something punchier, the Grace/Soukaku/Rina Ether team is the mid-investment sweet spot. This comp lives and dies by how fast you can stack Ether anomalies, and the answer is: very.

Grace dumps shrapnel everywhere to build the meter, Rina's summons keep anomalies ticking while she's off-field, and Soukaku groups mobs while shredding Ether resistance. But the real star is Soukaku's EX-skill - it grants a flat ATK buff that scales with the number of active Ether anomalies, so you're constantly rewarded for staying aggressive.

Pre-Stage Checklist

• Grace: Shockstar Disco set, main stats ATK%/Ether%/CRIT%
• Soukaku: Swing Jazz set, main stats Energy Regen/ATK%/ATK%
• Rina: Shockstar Disco set, main stats Ether%/PEN/ATK%

Advanced Micro-Tip

Try 'leap-frogging' your anomalies. Delay Grace's final grenade hit just long enough for Rina's summon ticks to push the Ether meter over 90% - this frees Grace to start building the next meter immediately instead of waiting for the current one to detonate. It’s a tiny timing trick that shaves off precious seconds.

Oh, and don't forget Soukaku's dash-cancel: you can cancel her EX animation with a dash then swap out, keeping the resistance-shred aura while saving roughly 0.8 seconds of field time. Those small optimizations add up fast.

Character Substitutions & Alternatives

Missing a key 5-star? Don't sweat it - tuned 4-stars can cover 70-80% of the job when your Drive Disc sub-stats (Pen Ratio, Impact, Anomaly Proficiency) are optimized.

If you don't have Ellen (Ice DPS): Soukaku steps in with a 25-30% ATK buff and a 20% Ice Res DOWN field, essentially 'borrowing' Ellen's damage amplification window for your team.

If you don't have Soldier 11 (Physical DPS): Anby works as a stun battery, and her EX-Special inflicts a 15% DEF-down shock that lets you tag in a hard-hitting Physical unit like Piper or even Anton.

If you don't have Rina (AoE/Ranged DPS): Anton covers the entire lane with Drill Mode special and builds Electric anomaly surprisingly fast. You lose some off-field coverage but gain a higher Daze rate.

If you don't have Lycaon (Defense Shred): Pela drops a 20% universal DEF debuff on her EX-Special, and when you stack that with Pen Ratio Drive sets you're looking at roughly 35% effective shred - pretty damn close.

Budget S-Rank Core Example: Soukaku (Ice buffer) + Anby (DEF break, Daze) + Anton (Electric AoE, anomaly build). Run 4pc Penetrator on Anby, 4pc Polar Metal on Soukaku, and 4pc Thunder Metal on Anton. It's not fancy, but it'll clear.

Advanced S-Rank Strategies & Mechanics

Perfect Dodge & Counter Optimization

Nailing the perfect dodge in Shiyu Defense isn’t just about survival - it’s a massive damage spike if you chain it right. You have roughly 0.35 seconds (about 10-11 frames at 30 FPS) to hit that dodge button when you see an attack coming, which grants you 8-9 frames of pure invincibility. If you time it right, you can immediately press Basic Attack within the next 0.7 seconds to convert it into a Dodge Counter, and here’s where it gets juicy: that counter has a hidden 0.2-second startup that’s also fully invulnerable, stretching your total i-frame window to around half a second of untouchable damage.

In Shiyu’s Critical Nodes, this matters even more because Dodge Counters get a special +15% CRIT DMG bonus that stacks on top of everything else. That’s separate from the Stun Multiplier, so you’re basically getting a free crit steroid just for playing clean. The visual clutter in later nodes can make it nearly impossible to react to telegraphs, which means you should really be listening for that universal audio cue instead - it’s far more reliable than trying to parse whatever particle explosion is covering the enemy’s windup.

Stun Management & Chain Attack Windows

The Critical Nodes in version 2.5 hand you a +20% Stun DMG Multiplier, plus +30% ATK and +15% CRIT DMG, but that timer is relentless and these buffs reset on January 9, 2026. You absolutely must capitalize on every stagger, because stun duration is fixed at 7 seconds - unless you trigger a Chain Attack within the first 0.5 seconds of the stun landing, which tacks on an extra 1.5 seconds of helplessness. That tiny window is the difference between a clean phase and a messy scramble.

The stun bar itself has three segments, and the final third melts 40% faster if the enemy is afflicted with two or more anomalies, so building for that 'frail state' pays off. But watch out: stun decay starts kicking in just 2.5 seconds after your last Impact hit, and at nodes 12-15 you’re losing roughly 420 points per second. If you waste a Chain Attack on a non-stunned elite, you’re not just losing damage - it deals 40% less and the Shiyu timer keeps ticking, which will tank your rank. For the final challenge, Node 15’s shield strips 25% of its value per full stun cycle, so two perfect stuns will shave off half the shield entirely and let you skip straight to pure DPS.

Energy Regen & Skill Rotation Optimization

Your supports need to be batteries first and buffers second. For agents like Nicole and Soukaku, you want 150% Energy Regen or higher so they can feed the whole squad. Their EX skills already refund 40% of the cost on hit, but that’s not enough to sustain the spam you need. Chain Attacks are your biggest burst here - they dump 20 flat energy into every participant instantly, which is more than any single skill in the game.

Gear makes a huge difference, too. The F2P 4-star 'Energy Hub' W-Engine at R5 gives you 0.5 energy per second passively, while the 6-star 'Starlight Engine' can push that to 0.9 energy/s. If you’re running the 'Swing Jazz' Drive-Disc 2-piece, you get a free +10% energy bump every 12 seconds just for switching characters - essentially a free basic string worth of energy. And don’t sleep on dodge-assist swaps: they cost zero time and grant 3 energy each, so weaving two per rotation adds roughly 6 extra energy per run. Basic attacks generate about 1.2 energy per hit, while EX specials give you ~3 energy on dodge/assist and ~5 on a basic string, so your rotation should prioritize staying aggressive while letting your supports catch their breath.

Gear & Build Optimization

W-Engine Priority & Recommendations

If you're hitting a wall in Shiyu Defense, your W-Engine is usually the culprit. The mode's single-target DPS checks get brutal after Floor 8, which means your main carry needs every stat they can get. Steel Cushion sits at the top for a reason - it gives you 24% ATK with an unconditional 36% damage bonus against elite enemies, no strings attached. It's the universal best-in-slot that just works.

Now, The Brutalist can technically beat it, but only if you've already stacked 140%+ CRIT value from your Drive Discs. That's a huge 'if' and it means you're gambling on crit-rate sub-stats to make it functional. For most players, it's not worth the headache when Steel Cushion is so reliable.

If you don't have a 5-star yet, don't panic. The craftable [Reverb] Mark III gets you 90% of the way there at S5, serving up 20% ATK and 24% damage amp that's only about 3% behind Steel Cushion on pure bosses. For stun-rotation teams, the Starlight Engine (from events) is sneaky good at S5 - 18% ATK plus 30% damage against stunned enemies lines up perfectly with your rotation windows.

Stun units have their own priorities. Soda Can is basically cheating for fast Daze cycles, pumping out 24% Impact and 30% extra Daze on basic attacks. Nothing else comes close for breaking posture. If you're stuck with 4-star options, the Hunt Pass Six-Shooter at S5 hands you 22% Impact and refunds 8% energy every 12 seconds, making it the most efficient free-to-play stun stick you can get.

Supports live and die by buffing power. Weeping Gemini is the undisputed king with its team-wide 20% damage buff and 12% ATK aura, but Devil's Draft is shockingly close at zero gacha cost - 12% ATK aura plus 8% damage to the on-field agent delivers roughly 90% of Gemini's value. For later floors where survival matters, Precious Fossilized Core (4-star) spawns a 250% DEF shield every 20 seconds, and that's often the difference between a one-shot and a clear.

Drive Disc Sets & Main Stats

Here's where most builds go wrong: chasing ATK% when you should be chasing crit. Woodpecker Electro 4-piece gives you +10% CRIT rate and +32% CRIT DMG after three combos, but it only outperforms raw ATK sets once you hit 55% CRIT rate naturally. That number isn't random - it's the break-even point where Woodpecker's average damage pulls ahead of Sailor 4-piece by roughly 8%, and the gap widens to 15% at 200% CRIT DMG.

So what does this mean for your chest piece? If you're below 55% CRIT rate, ATK% chest is fine. Once you cross that threshold, CRIT DMG chest becomes strictly better because each 1% of CRIT rate translates to about 1.7% final damage, while 1% ATK only gives ~0.65%. After you hit 55%, every 10% ATK roll is worth about 6.5% damage, but that same roll into CRIT DMG is worth ~9%.

Your sub-stat priority is simple: get CRIT rate to that 55% hard cap first, then stack CRIT DMG, then ATK%, then Penetration (8-12% is the sweet spot), and only consider Anomaly Proficiency if you're running burn or shock teams. For farming, grind Woodpecker Electro in the Critical Node until you have a 4-piece with CRIT rate on at least three pieces, then slap on a 2-piece Sailor set for the free 10% ATK.

Bangboo Selection & Faction Resonance

Bangboo buffs are the most misunderstood mechanic in Shiyu, and mastering them is worth more than pulling another 5-star agent. The key is snapshotting - your Bangboo's auto-skill buffs lock in the moment the gate closes and stay active for the entire fight. This means you can pre-load your agents' cooldowns and energy in the lobby, tag your Bangboo during the 3-2-1 countdown, then hold dodge to force the gate closed early and capture an inflated ATK value.

Faction Resonance makes this even spicier. When all three agents share a faction, everyone including the Bangboo gets a free 20% ATK boost. Since Bangboo skills snapshot, that 20% gets locked in too. The result? You can start fights with nearly 70% bonus ATK before your first combo lands.

Each faction has its star:

• Rocketboo (Cunning Hares) hands out 15% ATK and a handy IMPRECISION debuff on a 12-second cooldown that syncs perfectly with 18-second burst windows.
• Amillion (Belobog Heavy Industries) grants 20% PEN aura for 10 seconds - cast it right before the gate closes to snapshot that value.
• Resonaboo (Victoria Housekeeping) spams a 12% ATK + 200 flat ATK aura every 0.5 seconds, so it's guaranteed to be captured.
• Electroboo (Criminal faction) gives 12% anomaly mastery and 10% shock damage, letting shock teams double-dip on both the mastery snapshot and the +20% ATK resonance.

If your faction alignment is a mess, Safety is your worst-case fallback - 10% ATK and 150 flat DEF is still better than nothing, and the buff will snapshot.

Here's a real F2P example for Node 12: run Anby, Nicole, and Billy with Rocketboo. Use Nicole's EX skill, trigger Rocketboo's skill, close the gate, then snap into Anby's QTE and Billy chain. That sequence snapshots a 70% ATK bonus that carries your entire run. Once you get the timing down, you'll wonder how you ever cleared without it.

Complete Reward Breakdown

Let's cut straight to the chase: you're walking away with 4,500 Polychromes from a perfect clear. That's the real jackpot here, and every Frontier stage drops 300 Polychromes on your first three-star completion. You'll have fifteen chances across five Frontiers and three difficulty tiers, so missing even one stings.

But Polychrome isn't the only currency that matters. Here's what each node type feeds you:

Node Type	What You're Getting	Why It Matters
Stable Nodes	20k–70k Dennies per run	Most battery-efficient credit farm in the game
Critical Nodes	1 gold W-Engine chip (weekly, 3rd/4th Frontier)	Guaranteed top-tier upgrades
Full Weekly Sweep	18 purple chips, 300k Dennies, Drive Disc EXP for two maxed platters	Complete resource package

The Drive Disc EXP alone is enough to max out two entire platters each week, which means your main DPS can stay topped off without burning through your battery on other farms.

Resource Investment Priority

Now that you know what you're earning, here's where to actually spend it. The priority is Weapon levels first, Drive Disc levels second, and Skill levels dead last. This isn't intuitive, but the math is brutal.

Weapon levels give you roughly 2.3% damage per level, while character levels only add about 0.8%. That's nearly triple the efficiency, and here's the spicy part - weapon ATK gets multiplied by all your percentage buffs, so it double-dips on Shiyu Defense's built-in +30% buff. Your base damage goes up, then the buff kicks in and scales it even higher.

For Drive Discs, stop at +9 on four key pieces (Plume, Badge, and your two %ATK slots). That gets you 60% of the final stat value for only 25% of the total cost, and that's a no-brainer efficiency win. If you've got calibrators burning a hole in your pocket, hit the Substat Tuner to flip flat stats into CRIT DMG or RES PEN for about 12 calibrators each. That's the cheapest DPS spike you'll find anywhere.

One last thing - your supports and Bangboo don't need love. They only need enough HP to survive one combo, which is roughly 10k HP at Frontier 20. Leveling them beyond that gives you less than 1% timer improvement per 10 levels, so save those resources for your actual damage dealers.

Reset Schedule & Planning

The reset timer waits for no one. Shiyu Defense flips every two weeks on Friday at 04:00 server time, and your next deadline is January 9, 2026. But this isn't a normal reset - version 2.6 lands that same day, and it's shaking up the format.

Here's what that means for you: Critical Nodes are getting cut from seven Frontiers down to four, plus a brand-new fifth Frontier is dropping. Any nodes you haven't finished when the clock hits 4 AM will auto-complete, and you'll get zero rewards for them. That's Polychrome and chips vanishing into thin air.

To avoid getting robbed, you need to do two things. First, claim every Shiyu Defense token in the exchange shop before reset because that currency doesn't roll over. Second, cram in floors 12–15 on any uncompleted Frontier to snag that first-clear Polychrome before it disappears. Mark January 9th on your calendar and don't leave free resources on the table.

Troubleshooting & Common Mistakes

Timing Issues & DPS Checks

Here’s what’s actually wiping your runs: hidden sub-timers. Nodes 13 through 15 don’t care if you clear the wave - you’ve got 35 seconds on node 13, 30 on 14, and a brutal 25 seconds on 15 before the next wave spawns anyway. This means you get overwhelmed not because your DPS is low, but because you’re fighting two waves at once, which destroys your damage output. To hit Phase 4, you need the node 15 elite dead by 1:35 and the final boss at 0:05 or higher, so every second you save on swaps matters.

The good news? You can erase dead time. Your swap cooldown is 1.1 seconds, but invulnerability fades at 0.7 seconds, so buffer your next tag during the last 0.2 seconds of your current agent’s EX animation and you’ll shave off 0.4 seconds of vulnerability. Quick-Assist animations are 12 frames shorter than normal tags, which saves another 0.2 seconds per rotation. Those fractions add up. Version 2.5’s Critical Node also hands you a +20% Stun DMG Multiplier that lasts 5 seconds and refreshes every 15 seconds after the first stun, so hold your Ultimates for that window - it converts stuns into around 35% true HP damage.

If you’re failing checks with meta teams, you might be over-channeling. Releasing your EX skill the instant the lightning ring appears saves roughly 1.2% DPS per 0.1 seconds you’d otherwise waste. On nodes 14-15, archers spawn at 10 and 2 o’clock; dash to 10 first and you can cleave both with one elliptical basic string, cutting 2-3 seconds per cycle. For F2P players, the Electric-Stun Rush (Anton/Grace/Rina) with 0★ weapons and Skill level 9 pushes a consistent 18,000 DPS on node 15, while the Ice-Burst Variant (Ellen/Soukaku/Lycaon) peaks at 20.3k DPS if you nail Ellen’s dash-cancel spam frame-perfect during Soukaku’s ATK buff.

Survival & Healing Strategies

Disputed Nodes flip the script entirely - there’s no timer, but each Agent defeat docks points. You get two Ether Dewdrops that auto-revive a fallen teammate, but once they’re gone, the next KO is permanent. This means your default DPS race mentality will tank your score; you need to slow down and survive. Perfect dodges are your best friend here because they trigger a Quick Assist that slows enemy Daze, refunds stamina, and swaps in a fresh Agent with full invulnerability frames, letting passive healing tick safely. You can even chain a Defensive Assist after a perfect dodge without burning your normal Assist cooldown, so you can rotate straight to your healer or tank instantly.

Repeated perfect dodges also build Anomaly Proficiency faster, which lets you chain stuns so the enemy never attacks in the first place. If you’re struggling, the 'White Cross' F2P sustain core (Rina/Soukaku/Piper) offers off-field regen, party-wide lifesteal, and long perfect-dodge windows that out-heal most boss normals. For a more aggressive tank option, 'Crimson Wall' (Lucy/Nicole/Nekomata) uses Lucy’s taunt + shield to face-tank, swaps to Nekomata for Daze spikes, retreats to Nicole for energy, and consistently finishes with zero defeats.

Gear matters too. The 4-piece 'Hormone Punk' set gives you a 10% larger perfect-dodge window and energy on dodge, which is tailor-made for Disputed Nodes. 2-piece 'Chaotic Metal' grants 8% damage reduction below 50% HP, stacking with Lucy’s shields to survive one-shot mechanics. If you have it, the W-Engine 'Steam Oath' restores 8% HP to the whole squad every 5 seconds on perfect dodge, effectively acting as a third Ether Dewdrop.

Team Composition Pitfalls

The biggest mistake I see is ignoring Frontier Effects. Version 2.5 grants +30% ATK, +15% CRIT DMG, and +20% Stun DMG Multiplier, but only when your on-field agent matches one of the stage’s two Recommended Attributes. If your top DPS doesn’t match - say, Physical Lycaon on an Ice & Ether node - you lose roughly one third of your raw damage because the buff stays off entirely. The buff also disappears if you swap to an off-attribute support, so you need at least one matching-attribute character in the off-field slot to maintain uptime.

Faction synergy can bait you into bad comps. Ellen + Soukaku + Lycaon feels smooth and meta, but it completely fails if the node wants Fire & Electric. Always check the node panel: grey icons show Enemy Resistances, and a node might Recommend Ice & Ether but resist Physical, which wastes 50% innate damage reduction. That +20% Stun DMG Multiplier inside the Frontier buff is useless if you neglect Impact stats, so slot at least one high-Impact, correct-attribute character to break stun gauges faster.

Here’s the painful truth: enemy line-ups and recommended attributes swap every fortnight, so copying last rotation’s teams without checking the new icons is a guaranteed failure point. Hyper-investing in a single 5-star off-element carry underperforms two level 60 on-element agents with decent discs, because the team-wide buff is lost during swaps. And don’t dump an unleveled anomaly applicator in the off-field support slot - they still contribute chain attacks and Ult energy, so you lose faction and attribute resonance if they’re dead weight.

Mastering Shiyu Defense requires understanding its core mechanics, from stun windows and gear optimization to team-building around Frontier Effects. By applying these strategies - prioritizing correct attributes, optimizing rotations, and managing resources - you can consistently clear even the toughest nodes. Mark your calendar for the January 9th reset, and use this knowledge to dominate the leaderboards.