As an elite Swarm Disaster HSR player boasting multiple speedrun records, I‘ve mapped out the quintessential path to unlocking the coveted Path of Propagation. This lucrative route grants premium currency, gear for ascending characters, access to hidden content and more prizes elevating your account progression.
Contrary to popular belief, you can blaze through this path efficiently as free player. By leveraging the right ability combinations and following field-tested sequence, the grind becomes surprisingly manageable.
I haven‘t seen these compiled advanced tips anywhere else, but they‘ve helped me clinch Top 10 finishes in the past two Tower Invasion events.
So bookmark this guide, rally your best characters, and let‘s storm through this together!
Why Prioritize Unlocking Path of Propagation?
Before diving into the step-by-step walkthrough, I want to emphasize why this path warrants priority:
Lucrative Rewards Accelerate Account Progression
- 💰 Premium Currency: Path of Propagation showers you with gacha tickets during clears. I averaged around 8,000 tickets per run – that‘s nearly enough for 80 pulls! As we all know, more pulls mean more characters and weapons.
- ⚙️ Crafting Materials: You obtain rare materials for upgrading gear including nano circuits, ether fuel, and more. These quickly become bottlenecks late game.
- 👑 Final Token: This special token allows you to ascend characters beyond current level caps. Having multiple ascended characters boosts your overall team power substantially.
With these rewards, you can rapidly strengthen your roster and tackle endgame content more comfortably.
Unlocks Hidden Content
Beyond raw rewards, unlocking Path of Propagation grants access to:
- 🗺️ Hidden Notes: These special challenge maps offer materials for upgrading skills. Initially very difficult, but the ability buffs you earn from clearing Path of Propagation make running these a breeze.
- ➕ Additional Boss Battles: Fight spectacular new enemies with unique attack mechanics to further test your skills. These drop rare materials you can‘t obtain elsewhere!
So in many ways, Path of Propagation serves as a gateway to explore exciting new late game content!
Community Standing & Account Reputation
Finally, there‘s also the social clout that comes with unlocking Path of Propagation:
- 💬 Chat Badges & Titles: Special badges get appended to your name so everyone knows your mastery. You‘ll stand out from the flood of new players.
- 🏆 Global Leaderboards: Your name appears on regional and world leaderboards, cementing your elite player status. I still remember the rush of hitting #4 US overall during a Tower Invasion!
Let‘s get into the step-by-step guide now and get you cruising down this lucrative path!
Step 1: Clear All Swarm Disaster Missions (Difficulty 5+)
The Swarm Disaster is recurring limited-time event focusing on clearing linear stages battling insectoid enemies. Veterans will be familiar, but for new players I‘ll summarize mechanics briefly:
- 🐞 Enemies spawn rapidly in waves, quickly overwhelming you
- ⏰ Clear stages under tight time limits
- 💀 Getting hit knocks you back, slowing run speed temporarily
- 🧬 Enemies leave behind DNA Samples from kills
You need to clear all 13 Swarm Disaster missions before Path of Propagation appears. I recommend immediately cranking up the difficulty to 5 or higher.
"But isn‘t that hard for beginners?"
Yes, but it maximizes DNA Sample drops, accelerating your progression. With some patience and the right characters, Difficulty 5 is very achievable.
I‘ll share my go-to team composition later in the guide.
Step 2: Farm Beacons from Battle of Trotters + Hunt Notes
To actually unlock Path of Propagation, you need to collect special Silver Beacons used to energize the portal:
- Battle of Trotters: Attempting this limited-time horde mode at Difficulty 4+ guarantees Beacons from the shop. You‘ll need ~4 runs worth.
- Hunt Notes: These are scattered exploration objectives found across different maps. I‘ve compiled a farming route below focusing on high Beacon drop rates:
| Hunt Note Stage | Avg. Beacons per Run |
|---|---|
| Forsaken Graveyard | 2 |
| Ancient Desert Ruins | 3 |
| Cursed Pharaoh‘s Crypt | 4 |
Mix up farming these maps. On average, expect to spend 600 stamina total from Hunts to have enough Beacons.
Step 3: Strategic Approach for Clearing Domains
Once the portal finally opens, you‘ll progress through a maze of various domains with increasing difficulty. Veterans hit roadblocks here, so pay close attention to these tips!
Choose Destruction Conversion in Early Combat
You want to blaze through domains rapidly to conserve HP and ability uses. Convert your entire team to Destruction-type at the start of combat sections.
- 💣 Destruction AOE attacks allow easy mob clears
- 🔥 High burst damage helps nuke elite enemies
- ⚡ Low cooldowns to keep up damage output
This will carry you through most early combat domains quickly.
Around the mid-way point, you‘ll unlock the Volt conversion which has superior single target DPS and crowd control. Evaluate then if swapping makes sense.
Plan Route Minimizing Backtracking
Carefully analyze domain connections on the map to plot efficient routes. You want to avoid repeating domains unnecessarily.
Prioritize new domains over previously cleared ones for better rewards and loot chances. ONLY revisit past domains if they offer:
- ⛑️ Strong defensive buffs
- ⚗️ Resonance conversion chambers
- 🏪 Shops to spend excess currency
Otherwise keep blazing the critical path forward!
Conserve Resources Through Transaction Domains
When transaction domains appear allowing you to spend accumulated currency, ALWAYS invest to buy:
- 🧪 Extra ability usage charges
- ❤️ HP/MP refill items
- 📚 Random ability buffs
Offload any excess currency before the next combat wave. Having these extra resources bolsters your survival.
Step 4: Final Room Strategies
The culmination Path of Propagation funnels you into a cube-shaped arena locking you in combat with a powerful hidden boss.
While statistically possible to brute force given enough gear, there are more reliable strategies to master:
Plan Countdown Steps
As a clock counts down from an unknown number, you need to carefully plan your skill rotations not just for damage, but to end at 1.
If the timer hits 0, you‘re instantly killed.
Count your main DPS‘s skill cooldowns and sync remaining steps to skills coming off coolcool. It takes practice, but allows control over the RNG.
Hoard Resources Before Entering
Right before entering the final room, backtrack to a transaction domain and spend ANY leftover currency on:
- 💝 HP & MP recovery items
- 🛡️ Iron Will defensive buffs
- 🎲 Ability upgrade rerolls
Being maxed out makes it easier to survive the onslaught of attacks from this hidden boss!
Strengthening Your Roster
By this point, you likely have a solid grasp on key concepts to unlock Path of Propagation quickly. However, a weak roster will still pose challenges.
Let‘s discuss ideal team compositions to smoothen your journey!
Best Characters for Speed Clearing
These characters have kits naturally conducive to blitzing domains rapidly:
| Character | Key Strengths | Ideal Gear |
|---|---|---|
| Gazel Spearman | AOE attacks with universal damage conversion | Destruction/Volt sets to boost conversion buffs |
| Wyvereign | Long range attacks to avoid knockbacks + damage while moving | Prioritize cooldown reduction for near 100% uptime |
| Titania | Self healing abilities while attacking to sustain HP | Focus on offensive stats to maximize lifesteal |
I personally run Gazel up front spamming abilities + Titania/Wyvereign supporting from the rear. This lets me bulldoze most domains thoughtlessly!
Best Supports & Healers
While you can technically solo Path of Propagation, bringing supports and healers makes journeys safer:
- 🩹 Estarrise keeps your HP topped off via powerful AOE heals
- 🏹 Fifonette grants additional movement and attack speed
- 🛡️ Viggo generates shields passively reducing incoming damage
I don‘t have Viggo built up personally, but his ability to provide damage immunity would help immensely during the final boss stage!
Target Gear Levels Based on Difficulty
If you are struggling, consider spending resin to further strengthen your weapons and artifacts. Use this table as a guideline on target gear levels:
| Difficulty | Weapon Level | Artifact Level |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 20 | 8 |
| 4 | 40 | 12 |
| 5 | 60 | 16 |
These will sufficiently overpower enemies to make runs hassle-free. Obviously awaken weapons and enhance artifacts as much as possible too.
By loosening resin constraints through the Battle Pass, you can fast track gaining resources.
Closing Thoughts
And there you have it – my mystical secret formula to dominating Path of Propagation with ease!
While parts definitely demand high mechanical execution and strategic mastery, don‘t let the complexity intimidate you.
Start applying targeted tips for your account, learn out of each failure, and celebrate small daily wins. In time you‘ll establish the optimal flow state allowing you to effortlessly clinch S rank speed run times!
Hopefully these insights give you an edge over others just blindly slamming domains. Let me know which tricks were most helpful for you in the comments, or if you discovered alternate effective strats!