Grinding SSRB fan letter is miserable

[North Boring]

I spent 2 hours on the 4:10 wave on stage 2 hard, and then switched to stage 3 hard for another 2 and a half hours to finally get it. Not to mention the hours before to get other fan letters.

It's the worst thing to do in the game if you try to do it efficiently. Grinding in stage 1/2 hard endless is a no go - with max halu marketing you might get 10 SSRB/min, so let's say you have 70 SSRB since the 23 min mark, plus ~30 SSRB pre 20 min, that's a measly 3 SSRB/min for 30 minutes. It's a very rough estimate but even with the result tripled it's still very small.

What I did was with AZKI, leveling main weapon to max, and getting inhale type Asacoco for resetting by offing myself. Special would pull in about 2 screen worth of SSRB. There are ~6 rows x 5 columns of SSRB per screen, so ~60 SSRB per run. After timing myself, a run was about 2:10 real time. With the drop rate being 1/4500 iirc, It indeed would take around 2 and a half hours. I guess I was a bit unlucky if I include previous grinding.

It's so Fing BORING.

Even with everything else maxxed out, it's still just hours for repeating the same motions that requires attention and no way to automate it easily.

If anyone wants to counter point with "why not get it by playing it normally", I've played enough stage 1/2/3 hard to not get excited by them and only wanted to do stage 5 or 4 hard runs. Also, the odds is pretty low for a normal luck person like me. Less than 0.5% chance to get it per run is not good enough for the completionist in me.

Last note, I was pretty sure about self destructing enemies not dropping exp, so I took my time to make sure I defeat the SSRBs. I tried to make AZKI's special stronger with items but it never oneshots, which adds to my frustration.

[Elmo3000]

I tried a few dozen times switching between AZKi and Mumei and got it with Mumei. I think the drop rate is actually closer to 1/4800. It's definitely one of the worst fan letters in the game to collect. Presumably it will get easier to collect when Botan is playable, or when/if fan letters in general are patched to be a little less annoying, or maybe a recipe is added that increases their spawn rate.

[shoe]

Azki does not have to move at any point in time to farm stage 3 SSRBs, so I just farmed Holocure on the side while I was already doing other stuff (playing other games, watching videos etc)

Level weapon x6 + special at 1:20 + quit and start new run.

The various 18:00 minibosses and stage 2 Staff are also a pain, but SSRBs were definitely the worst.

[North Boring]

I would hope that when gen 5 comes out, SSRB would spawn more regularly/have non self destructing variants on stage 6. I was also hoping for a cooking recipe, I hate it when game updates forget about previously introduced mechanics.

Good to know that Mumei works tho, the wording on the special lead me to believe that It possibly prevents enemies from dropping rewards. She's definitely easier to automate.

[AnonTwo]

Given there's no achievement for it, and it should be easier when Botan comes out, I don't think it was designed to be grinded out like that honestly.

[76561199095756167]

Apparently I am super lucky and got it in one of my early runs. It is all luck-based, I guess

[Shin-ou]

Why are people so lucky getting SSRB fan letters in 2 hours. It's been nearly a week of daily play for me without seeing it

[Mudo]

Originally posted by Shin-ou:

Why are people so lucky getting SSRB fan letters in 2 hours. It's been nearly a week of daily play for me without seeing it

Originally posted by shoe:

Azki does not have to move at any point in time to farm stage 3 SSRBs, so I just farmed Holocure on the side while I was already doing other stuff (playing other games, watching videos etc)

Level weapon x6 + special at 1:20 + quit and start new run.

I did this, maybe I got lucky but it didn't take long. Drop the special and get at distance so they don't self explode.

[Shin-ou]

Originally posted by Mudo:

I did this, maybe I got lucky but it didn't take long. Drop the special and get at distance so they don't self explode.

Been killing them without it self exploding the entire time. At this point imma more inclined to believe it just doesn't drop due to some bug

[AnonTwo]

It will get easier when SSRB's idol (Botan) gets released. For now 100% fan letter isn't required for any achivements.

[Карапага SSRB]

I got SSRB letter with Pekoras special just now. Two more and i'll get them all

[Aqua_Regia]

Originally posted by Shin-ou:

Originally posted by Mudo:

I did this, maybe I got lucky but it didn't take long. Drop the special and get at distance so they don't self explode.

Been killing them without it self exploding the entire time. At this point imma more inclined to believe it just doesn't drop due to some bug

Based on datamining by other people, the base drop rate for SSRB (even the miniboss) is 1/6000 and given the very limited spawn + potential kill difficulty, its not unexpected for you to go dry on the drop
(I am also at 83/84, only missing out on SSRB letter, hoping for some patch that adjust the drop rate before I restart the grind for it)

[Juno Brier]

Originally posted by Aqua_Regia:

Originally posted by Shin-ou:

Been killing them without it self exploding the entire time. At this point imma more inclined to believe it just doesn't drop due to some bug

Based on datamining by other people, the base drop rate for SSRB (even the miniboss) is 1/6000 and given the very limited spawn + potential kill difficulty, its not unexpected for you to go dry on the drop
(I am also at 83/84, only missing out on SSRB letter, hoping for some patch that adjust the drop rate before I restart the grind for it)

I'm sure that patch will be the one that adds Botan and the gen5/6 stage.

[HeraldOfOpera]

Originally posted by Juno Brier:

Originally posted by Aqua_Regia:

Based on datamining by other people, the base drop rate for SSRB (even the miniboss) is 1/6000 and given the very limited spawn + potential kill difficulty, its not unexpected for you to go dry on the drop
(I am also at 83/84, only missing out on SSRB letter, hoping for some patch that adjust the drop rate before I restart the grind for it)

I'm sure that patch will be the one that adds Botan and the gen5/6 stage.

That's the absolute worst-case scenario, but still acceptable by anyone sane.

[Shin-ou]

Originally posted by Aqua_Regia:

Based on datamining by other people, the base drop rate for SSRB (even the miniboss) is 1/6000 and given the very limited spawn + potential kill difficulty, its not unexpected for you to go dry on the drop
(I am also at 83/84, only missing out on SSRB letter, hoping for some patch that adjust the drop rate before I restart the grind for it)

It's been over 100hours without the drop.....
Honestly if the devs don't come back after the break and give like a high drop rate for beating a SSRB and Miteiru miniboss I'm not sure I'm looking forward to any update to this game due to how miserable this was...

[HEAVY METAL HAZARD]

well like everyone's been saying, once botan is added, you'll see a lot more of this enemy. it's just a matter of patience. there's nothing in the game that absolutely hinges on any of the fan letters, they only apply to standard runs, the increments they're measured in are negligible, they are a bonus. just continue playing the game as you normally would, literally all we have to do is wait