Theater Combat Guide

Enemies

For details on specific enemies and what they do, see the Enemy Index.

Stage Themes

As mentioned in the overhaul guide, stages in Theater come in four distinct themes, each with their own unique gimmicks (except for one).

Normal Stages

Classic theater combat. A series of waves where damage persists. Most similar to Defense Drill in combat design, though at least in Theater you’re allowed to retreat your Dolls mid-combat.

Assassination Stages

These stages will have a boss in every wave, with some random escorts. Usually, one of the objectives within these stages will be to kill the boss under a certain time limit. These time limits may prove challenging to newcomers or those unable to meet the DPS requirements.

Defense Stages

These stages feature huge waves of enemies relative to the rest of the stages. Here, the objective is to survive until the timer runs out for each wave. If every enemy in a wave is killed before the time limit expires, the wave repeats until the timer ends. Damage taken carries over on these stages like normal, so don’t get hit too much.

Electronic Stages

These stages have stronger enemies, though fortunately we get something nice in return. Damage doesn’t actually carry over between waves on these stages, meaning the player’s team gets healed to full HP after every fight. Every stronghold stage is also an Electronic stage, so there’s no need to worry about kiting perfectly to reduce damage taken to zero. (And looking at the enemy compositions on these stages, good luck doing that anyway).

Stronghold Stages and CE Stacking

Previously mentioned in the overhaul guide, Stronghold stages are a different type of Electronic stage where the goal is to stack up a high amount of Boss CE to maximize points out of a boss fight cutscene at the end. There are a total of ten Stronghold stages across Theater, and while some of the bosses repeat, they aren’t always weak to the same types of Dolls.

For optimal CE stacking, use GFAlarm and get your automatic list of units.

Stages with night bosses will also be entirely night battles, and as many PEQs as possible should be used as possible to maximize CE against these bosses.

If SF HOCs have higher CE than regular HOCs, choosing to use them may cause these stages to become more difficult compared to stages where blasting everything to bits using G&K HOCs. Note that in Advanced 6 and Core 8, any SF unit used as an HOC will need the Night Vision chip equipped (the one that removes the night accuracy penalty, not the one that allows for +1 node vision) and be placed in a NON-THEATER echelon to get the correct bonus CE. Since only one Night Vision chip can be in use at any time, only one SF HOC can effectively take the place of a G&K HOC.

When selecting your fairy, note that only level and rarity affect the amount of CE it provides. All other stats (Aura effects, skill level, FC cost) do not affect this. For example, this means that a Prototype Fairy will provide the same CE bonus as a maxed out Artillery fairy.

With GFAlarm (see installation guide here), you can quickly find an optimized list of CE stacks for each boss stage tailored to your account. Simply turn on the “Save Theater Optimize Team” option under File Save in GFAlarm’s settings menu, and log in to GFL. Once you’ve done that, open your file with GFAlarm in it, and open the “info” folder. You should find two files:

A file with import strings formatted as (player name)_(UID)_theater_optimize_preset. This can be used with the new Import feature with some minor workarounds, allowing swift importing of Dolls for Theater.

A spreadsheet formatted as (player name)_(UID)_theater_optimize_team, which has a list of optimal stacks based on the current state of your armory.

A second alternative is using the Theater Score-Helper website.

Video Examples of how to do this:

GFL | How to use GFAlarm Optimize Team example

GFL | How to use GFAlarm Optimize Team Theater Score-Helper website

Importing Echelons into Theater

With client v3.04, importing Echelons now exists as a possibility, and GFAlarm has a new file to help with using this for Theater. 

This file is formatted as (player name)_(UID)_theater_optimize_team.

GFAlarm conveniently compiles 5 Dolls at the time into an import link, allowing you to swiftly fill out your Theater loadout.

Of course, this being Mica, the import feature is not perfect, and while it tries to grab the correct equipment it does not optimize perfectly. Any Doll currently in Logistics or Expedition (or in a Vehicle) cannot be imported into an Echelon as they're busy elsewhere, so cancelling Logistics for a few minutes while doing this is required (if any of the Dolls are in Logistics).

It also does not look at calibration or enhancement too strictly, so going over the equipment afterwards is highly recommended. Using the "remove all equipment" option in your Armory beforehand will also improve results.

GFL | Importing Echelons into Theater

Stages List

All the enemies you will be fighting for any specific stage can be viewed in game for the current day (click the arrows next to the Group number), or you can preview all the fights that will be showing up on pengu's map tool:

EN Theater 11 is foreign Theater 9/10, click here to view.

Additionally, all stage effects and objectives can be viewed here.

If there are differences between in-game and the sheet, it's because Mica is drunk and cannot write things sensibly to save their life.

Elementary Zone

This zone is pretty simple, even for newcomers. The enemies here are different from the stuff most new players are used to fighting, but their levels are so low that it hardly matters anyway. Elementary zone only has one objective (clear the wave), so that part will be skipped for this zone. No HOCs can be used in Elementary stages.

Intermediate Zone

Things start to get tougher towards the end here. Stages will have two objectives and two added effects. 1 HOC can be used in Intermediate stages.

Advanced Zone

Things really kick off here. Juggling the three objectives, added effects, and the fights will prove difficult to a lot of players. 3 HOCs can be used in Advanced stages.

Advanced 6

Most of this is just easy peasy (provided you have well raised Dolls), and shouldn’t be much of an issue. If you absolutely can’t handle it, go back to Intermediate 8.

Advanced 8

Advanced 8 is often the hardest node in the entire Theater, though it differs from Theater to Theater. Expect some resistance from enemy teams here.

Core Zone

Core stages start out easy, but quickly become extremely difficult. Stages will have three objectives and added effects, just like Advanced. 3 HOCs can be used in Core Stages.