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The entire system in Aetherium Wars, the latest event inHonkai: Star Rail, is not much different from the game itself. And yet, the simplified combat, the gleeful 8-bit music, and the silly (and bold) pop culture references make the event worth experiencing. The Victory Zones and its puzzles are rather fun to challenge.
The Cloudford Victory Zone is the second of the four zones the event has to offer. Clearing this zone will give you some great rewards, and you will also gain access to some really cool Aether Spirits that will spice up your roster and give you the opportunity to try novel combinations to become stronger. You’re moving on and moving up, Aether Player!
How To Begin Onward! Cloudford!
Before you begin be sure toassemble a team composed of mainly Humanoids, as the Cloudford Victory Zone is full of ingenium Aether Spirits are of the Mechanical type, which have an advantage over Aberrants.
This quest and the Victory Zone by the same name, will beaccessible once you completeEmbark! Corridor of Fading Echoes!
The quest itself startsin the Lobby of the Goethe Hotel, after a short chat with March 7th.
Teleport to Starskiff Haventhrough any of the Space Anchors andhead to the Docks. A quest marker will guide you to the area.
Speak to March 7th again, and she will explain you need to take a Starskiff to the Victory Zone in Cloudford, thoughyou will actually access it from your Player Terminal, which will open as you finish the dialogue in this short preamble.
Select the Victory Zone and enter it. You willsee Mr. Giovanni from a distanceas soon as you walk into Cloudford, and you will beexpected to converse with him.
Next,you willmeet Guinaifenfor the first time ever here, and she willexplain the mechanisms in the Cloudford Victory Zone.
How To Solve The Victory Marking Trials
This Victory Zone’s mechanism consists ofimages that are split, called Victory Marking fragments.
To complete the puzzles, you will need tofind the right anglewith your camera that will let yousnap a photo of the full Victory Marking.
Some Victory Marking fragments areon containers that will need to be movedto make a complete picture.
You will geta chance to try the puzzle mechanic with a simple tutorialbefore you continue forth to the real action.
Don’t forget toclimb the staircase on your leftto collect a Basic Treasure on top of the container!
Victory Marking Trial One
Continue forwardpast the Space Anchor to find a challenger. His team is composed of aSilvermaine Canoneer, two Illumination Dragonfish, and an Obedient Dracolion.
Defeating him will grant youAether Spirit Upgrade Dataand a newExpansion Chip.
Continuenorth in a straight line,and you will find anIllumination Dragonfishyou candefeat to collect that Roaming Dataand add that Aether Spirit to your team.
Then, continuefor just another few steps, and you willarrive at the first Victory Marking Trial.
This is an area with a lot of open space. There will be anIllumination Dragonfish Aether Spirit and another challengerwaiting for you here.
Defeat the Aether Spirit first, and you cancollect a Basic Treasurethat is on aplatformto the right. Then, approach and defeat the challenger, whose team is composed offour Illumination Dragonfish.
Defeating him willgrant you access to the controllerthat will let you move the container line to the right, effectively allowing you tocomplete the Victory Markingso you cansnap a pictureof it and gainaccess to the next area,to the east.
Completing the Victory Marking Trial willautomatically unlock the doorfor you to move forward.
Victory Marking Trial Two
An Obedient Dracolion Aether Spiritwill be the first thing you encounter in this areaafter descending the stairs. Defeating it will, as usual, let you recruit it.
Head further east down another set of stairsand then turn south to find a challenger. Defeat him to get through, thenhead further south until you find another Obedient Dracolionseemingly guarding a set of stairs.
you’re able to defeat this one togain access to another Basic Treasure. Then, head back up the stairs andhead west to arrive at the Victory Marking trial area.
The easiest way toproceed hassle-freeis togo around the area and defeat the Ingenium Aether Spirts and the challengerall the way west; though this challenger isnot a part of the puzzle itself, he is blocking a Precious Chestthat you can only access by using the same container in the trial’s puzzle.
This challenger istough as he has an Aurumaton Gatekeeper Aether Spirit. Proceed with caution.
How To Collect The Precious Treasure
The challenger wasblocking your access to a controller behind his Aether Spirit;defeating him will take care of that problem.
Interact with the controllertomove the containersto the leftand get through to that area you couldn’t access before.
Then,walk around the containers and take the first left; you will arrive at a small opening withyet another controller in it.
Use it tomove the container from the trial puzzle right by two spaces. That way, you canuse it as a bridgeto cross over to claim your Precious Treasure.
It is simpler if you get this out of the waybefore completing the second trial puzzleif you want to avoid going back.
After you’ve claimed your treasure, you cansimply move the container back to its starting positionby moving it left by two spaces.
As for the second trial itself, it isslightly more complex than the first one, as it will require that youmove a few containers until the picture matches.
Start by standing by the Space Anchor andheading left, then down the stairs in front of you. You will find a controller there. Use it to move the containerleft by one space.
Now walk across to the other side, in the open space from the container. Climbup that set of stairs to reach the second controller.
Use this tomove the containers to the right, and you will finally be able to complete the Victory Marking. Now, all you need to do isclimb back down and snap a pictureof it.
Duel Master Gongshu
The Championship Contender for this Victory Zoneis none other thanMaster Gongshu, whom you might remember from the Xianzhou Luofu’s main quest line.
He is the mastermind behind the Victory Zone’s challenges, and you may onlyobtain the Mastery Mark after defeating him.
His team is composed ofthree Mechanical Aether Spirits and an Aberrant. To defeat him, you will have to duel against anIlluminated Dragonfish, an Obedient Dracolion, an Aurumaton Gatekeeper, and a Sprite Wooden Lupus.
The Aurumaton Gatekeeper and Sprite Wooden Lupusboth have abilities that let them summon more entities into battle, just as their real counterparts do.
To defeat Master Gongshu you will needa strong team of mostly Humanoid Aether Spirits, as has been the case for most combat challenges in the Cloudford Victory Zone:
Equipping the Silvermane Lieutenant with both Deep Clean and Shield Systemserves as a great strategy to minimize the DMG the entire team receives.
Additionally, as it isattacked more often, its follow-up will procmore times.
Master Gongshu willhand you the Mastery Mark after the battle, which concludes the Victory Zone challenge.
However, you will need to doa few more things to call it completed. Namely,heading over to the Blocked Off Areatodefeat and recruit the Aurumaton Gatekeeper.But not beforefighting the IPC goons once again.
