Elite Nodes

Elite Nodes step up the difficulty from standard Defence Nodes by replacing regular enemy waves with 5 waves of Bosses pulled from the map's boss pool. Enemies at Elite Nodes can develop resistance to 2 random Elements, adding pressure on top of the raw difficulty jump.

Just like at Defence Nodes, players can reposition their Units mid-fight using a special button in the Unit's menu, and losing at an Elite Node fails the entire Expedition outright since enemies reach the payload directly at the end of the track.

Clearing an Elite Node guarantees Player EXP, Payload EXP and a Yen payout between 3,000 and 7,000, on top of a random roll of 10 to 15 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, alongside Equipment Scrap, Fuel Cell and Expedition Coin.

Elite Nodes pay out noticeably more than Assault or Defence Nodes thanks to the added Yen reward and higher material quantities, though they still fall short of the Equipment Lock, Equipment Reroll and Trait Tome rewards reserved for Boss Nodes.

Since every wave here is a Boss rather than a regular enemy, Units with strong single-target or burst damage tend to perform better than area-focused setups built for crowd waves.

Given the higher stakes of a full Expedition failure on a loss, it's worth clearing earlier Assault and Defence Nodes efficiently first so Units and the payload arrive at the Elite Node already leveled up.