NEO: The World Ends With You niche guide: How to get Shibuya Scramble rewards when you're 40 levels too powerful
Wow, I haven't used this thing in ages! Considering I spent well over....too many hours... trying to get through the scramble AGAIN after having already almost beaten the game, I felt an overwhelming urge to write SOMETHING that someone else may use to alleviate their pain. and I also wanted to relay my experience somehow. call me a narcissist.
Here's how to maximize your Shibuya Scramble earnings when you can kill every Noises wave in 3 seconds:
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: This guide requires that you are FINISHED with week 3 day 4 (i.e. have started week 3 day 5 at least). It also requires that you have the chain extender, multi-pin equip, and noise magnet friendship perks purchased (at this point why WOULDN'T you, if you can't afford them then you should consider backtracking and doing some side quests instead. or spending lots of money at ConyxCony. or both.) Having as many extra Uber pin equips as you can is always a bonus but not necessarily required here.
THE BASICS Let's go over some important Shibuya Scramble facts, shall we? Who knows, just knowing these may give you the edge you didn't know you were missing.
-CHAIN CHAIN CHAIN! You can ONLY get SP if your current fight is linked with at least one orange noise or area boss. However, if your chain IS linked with only one of these, EVERY SINGLE REDUCTION will net you SP. meaning that in some areas, you can grind your way through a 16 chain and get SP for every encounter, rather than just for one. This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT and pretty much the only way you're gonna get even the bottom rewards.
-Drop the Beat. SP are granted based on your current number of Beatdrop combos. It takes exactly 10 combos in a single battle to get the maximum amount of SP for that fight, which can be hard to do if you go in guns blazing at level 70, like I tried to do on my first re-attempt. You HAVE to reach this 5.0x combo in almost every reduction for maximum efficiency, but its a lot easier than it sounds with this strategy.
-Addendum: Drop the Drop Rates (derogatory). Contrary to what you may think (and what I definitely thought), SP are IN NO WAY affected by your current drop rate. having a 10.0x drop rate will net you the same SP as a 570.0x drop rate (which I have achieved. silly me.) so don.t focus too hard on grabbing that Rare Noise, min-maxing your threads, or anything like that. SP is for quantity of battles, not quality.
-The Bonus enemy comes LAST. Every reduction (if done correctly) will have a random Noise assigned "BONUS 3.0x" above its head. Now, I admit I am no expert, but typically if you kill this enemy dead last you can net up to 2000 points in one hit, depending on the enemy. Really helpful considering you need 400,000 of em.
-Chained too early? No shame in running! Unlike the first installment of the series, your party members will NOT (heavily) berate you for abandoning a battle. If you end up chaining multiple noise without an orange noise or encounter, just spare yourself some time and run from the battle: all the noise you chained will go back to their original positions and you can try again.
-Leave the area and the Noise shall return. This one's also extremely important, but if you've done the first Shibuya Scramble to completion, or if you just were really in the mood for grinding all the Noise in one area, you know this by now. If you so happen to chain all Noise that regularly appear in an area, you can simply walk in and out and they'll all be back. A handy trick for netting SP!
THE STRATEGY With those tidbits out of the way, lets get into what I used for this daunting task. Keep in mind you MUST be past my specified day because Things Happen that allow such a setup. This strategy got me the 400k points before I even finished wiping the Purehearts and before I even touched the Variabeauties.
-The Pins: --Time is Relative* (ZR Beatdrop creator, low damage) --Clawed Guardian* (Reckless healing) --Firestorm --Glacial Getaway (airborne) --Nighty-Night Beam --What A Wicked Game (Y Beatdrop creator, mid/high damage) *uber pins
(all of these are likely interchangeable with a similar psych or power level, don't worry if you didnt buy that cavallero pin because it was too expensive)
My never-fail strat with these pins is simply to button mash. Hold all the triggers (except L if thats your heal trigger) forever, only letting go of Glacial Getaway when its fully charged, and then mash Y even if both pins are drained. You'll get a good amount of Beatdrop combos in the first 10 seconds of battle, and the enemy likely will not have died since these pins are so weak. This is actually how I've gotten through 98% of the game, so there may be a better way, but I don't care. That's basically it, just use this setup and follow the basics and you'll guaranteed reach 400,000 eventually. However, DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, PRESS A. Using your killer remix will not do you any favors, as it does not create any Beatdrop combos and will absolutely clean house. Unless you can perfectly time getting a 100% or 200% no-affinity remix, just refrain from it altogether.
THE NOTES I've compiled some of my personal experiences into some helpful tidbits if you want that extra edge. These aren't necessarily game changers, but I think they're useful and this is MY fake IGN walkthrough so I'll do what I want.
-YOU WILL NOT DIE. If you're as far as I've specified, and if you're anything like me, you are WAY overprepared for this task. There is no way anything could possibly kill you unless you stood stone still, and even then, that's what the heal pin is for (btw those regenerate every reduction, very handy). Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!
-Addendum: Sacrifice your friends. So you won't die. It's almost impossible. Previously, when you COULD die to the wolves or the birds or the bears, the UG was a lot more dangerous. But now you won't. My point is, if Fret or Rindo gets manhandled by an enemy you really don't wanna deal with right now (i.e. the bonus enemy), just leave them to their own devices and target another enemy. They'll get out eventually, or you'll kill everything else while they lay there writhing under the claws of 1, no, 2, wolves that you just let slip by. Fret and Rindo will understand. They would do the same.
-Accidentally killed the Bonus early? It's ok, I forgive you. A lot of the enemies on this specific day are paired with the weaker week 1 versions of them, which at this point can be easily muted even with the basest of pins. If your bonus happens to be the beginner level enemy and it happens to die via splash damage from your other pins, that's okay. This strategy when played out has a LOT of wiggle room, so don't get worried about it.
-Pufferfish are your friend. Yes, they explode, and yes they are a hassle. But in Shibuya Scramble they are a veritable FARM for SP, since SP is given out based on Beatdrops and attacks rather than actual damage dealt. There's a window between actually getting the pufferfish's health to 0 and it exploding, so exploit that by just whaling on it for easy SP.
-Recognize the combo potential of each enemy. The weak enemies aren't especially good for building combo, but they're easy to dispatch when the time is right. Tankier enemies are great combo builders, but many of them can immobilize your team or straight up ignore the Airborne effect if they're mid-attack (or if they're penguins and just don't feel like it, I guess). Knowing how best to go about getting that 5.0 and eliminating the bonus last is key to maximizing SP. (btw pro tip, on this day the tanky enemies are yellow while the wimpy enemies are grayish)
-Oh, jellyfish are also your friend. Stuck at a frustrating 4.2 while the bonus enemy is there taunting you? Wait around for a jellyfish Noise to duplicate itself! These duplicates have significantly less health, but they can withstand the 2 or 3 Beatdrops you may need before fighting the spawner. Easy picking's.
-Keep your goal in mind. Every Shibuya Scramble has a different point requirement, and by this point you've already done at least 3 separate ones, and maybe repeated a couple for this same reason. remember, you need 400,000 points for the maximum prize. You'll get there!
-Most importantly, TAKE BREAKS! I cannot stress this enough. This took me HOURS to do, even when I had the strat down (at the time of writing this its 5am: I started at 5pm, took a 4 hour break at 7pm, then resumed until I beat it at this point). Your fingers WILL cramp, you WILL get hungry AND bored, and at that point just put the controller down for a little while and do something else. Remember, The World Ends With You, not Without: the game will still be there waiting for when you come back. :)
