Pre-Patch 1.1 Preparation Guide: Resources, Milestones, and Double-Drop Windows

Overview

The period before a major update is the best time to lock in your account's foundation. Version 1.1 brings new banners, a skin gacha, double-drop events, and a shop restock — and the players who get the most out of launch day are the ones who prepared. This guide covers each priority in order: clearing the endgame mode for shop access, optimizing how you level modules, timing your stamina hoards around upcoming events, and keeping your Annuliths safe for the characters that matter.

Clear Beyond the Rails

Beyond the Rails is NTE's core endgame challenge and the main source of Annuliths and salvage materials needed to keep your roster competitive. Completing both trains for the maximum reward payout is the baseline requirement for everything else in this pre-patch checklist.

Reach Hunter Level 40

Hunter Level (HL) 40 unlocks Character Level 60, which is the practical baseline for clearing both trains in Beyond the Rails. Attempts below Level 60 characters face a steep drop-off in consistency, so if you haven't reached HL 40 yet, pushing account EXP to cross that threshold is your single most important task right now.

Module Leveling: Always Dismantle

When replacing or upgrading modules, dismantle the old one rather than feeding it directly into another. Feeding a module directly causes significant XP loss, while dismantling recovers 100% of the embedded XP alongside rewind materials — the only trade-off is a 20% reduction in Beetle Coin refunds. Over any meaningful volume of modules, the XP preservation vastly outweighs the minor liquidity cost, keeping your module power ceiling high with fewer resources spent.

Otherworld Salvage Station Priority

After clearing Beyond the Rails, spend your accumulated medals at the Otherworld Salvage Station in this order:

Fons — build up the largest stockpile you can before 1.1 launches; they're the primary currency for the incoming skin gacha
Leveling materials — buy only what's needed to hit immediate character or Arc milestones

The shop resets monthly, so clear the high-priority stock before the cycle rolls over to avoid leaving premium value on the table.

Hunter Exchange and Monthly Resets

The Hunter Exchange restocks on June 2, the day before V1.1 launches. To unlock the full shop inventory, you need City Tycoon Level 30 — prioritize Fons investment in City Tycoon milestones if you're not there yet, since the Level 30 inventory is where the highest-value items appear.

What to Buy

The Hunter Exchange separates Limited items (once per patch) from standard stock (fully restocked on reset). Follow this priority order every cycle:

Tier 1 — Buy immediately: Arc Keys and Annuliths. These carry the highest value-to-cost ratio in the shop, and Limited items are gone until next patch if you miss them.
Tier 2 — Buy as needed: Beetle Coins and Arc EXP. Purchasing more than your immediate requirements here ties up currency you may need for Tier 1 items after the reset.

Monthly Checklist

Battle Pass (Level 70): If you're on the premium track, reaching Level 70 is mandatory — the upper reward tiers include Annuliths and materials that pay back your initial investment. With seven days remaining on the current cycle, there's still time to claim all remaining rewards before the reset.

Fishing Shop: The Fishing Shop offers Beetle Coins but requires Fishing Level 10 to access. The time investment to reach Level 10 produces poor returns compared to other available activities, making it worthwhile only after you've cleared all higher-priority tasks and have surplus time.

Hoard Your Refreshes

Two upcoming events in 1.1 directly reward players who save their stamina refreshes instead of spending them day-to-day. Both windows have hard dates, giving you a clear target for when to start burning your saved stock.

City Stamina: Upcoming 2x Fons Event

A 2x Fons event is coming with 1.1, and the critical detail is that there's expected to be no daily cap on participation during the event window. Every City Stamina refresh you've saved converts into double the Fons it would normally yield, and without a cap, stacking multiple refreshes in a single session can generate millions of Fons in one go. Hold all free City Stamina refreshes from now until the event goes live.

Character Pixels: June 26 Double-Drop Window

Starting June 26, a 2x drop event begins for level-up materials and console pieces. The target to hit before that date is Hunter Level 45.

At HL 45, standard Character Pixel runs drop four gold cartridges instead of two. During the 2x event window, that scales to eight gold cartridges per 80-Pixel run — a 400% efficiency gain over the baseline two-cartridge rate at lower Hunter Levels. Characters and Arcs that would normally take weeks to max can be completed in a fraction of the time for players who hit HL 45 and save their Character Pixel refreshes for June 26 and beyond.

The Skin Economy: Fons vs. Annuliths

Version 1.1 introduces a gacha system for the Porsche and Main Character skins. Fons can be used in this system, giving prepared players a meaningful advantage without having to spend premium currency on cosmetics.

The split to follow: allocate accumulated Fons to the skin gacha for cosmetics, and keep all Annuliths reserved for character banners. Lacrimosa is the new Limited S-class character arriving with V1.1, and the Annuliths you'd spend on a skin now are the same ones you'll need to guarantee her later. One honest note: players with average luck may find that Fons reserves alone fall short for a guaranteed skin, which is why building the largest possible stockpile before 1.1 launches is the only reliable way to reduce that risk.