Assault Nodes

Assault Nodes are one of the key node types found while running Expedition Mode. Reaching one slows the payload dramatically compared to regular travel, and enemies swarm in from all directions along the linear path instead of from a single lane.

Players defend the payload by placing Units strategically across the available space and fighting until every attacking enemy is defeated. Because defeated enemies drop XP that can be picked up on death, Assault Nodes function as a steady source of payload leveling on top of clearing the encounter itself.

Clearing an Assault Node guarantees Player EXP and Payload EXP, plus a random roll of 3 to 5 units of a material drawn from a shared pool. That pool includes a map-specific resource such as Cursed Timber, Lush Dirt or Aqua Shard depending on which Story stage the Expedition is running on, alongside Equipment Scrap, Fuel Cell and Expedition Coin.

Because the exact material rolled depends on the current map, farming a specific resource often means running Expeditions on the Story stage tied to that material.

Since enemies approach from every direction rather than a single choke point, spreading Units to cover the full perimeter of the available placement area works better than clustering everything at one entry point.

Prioritizing Units with wide area coverage or fast attack speed helps clean up the spread-out waves before they overwhelm the payload's health, and picking up the XP dropped by defeated enemies as it appears keeps the payload leveling alongside the node clear.