Why use Spiral of Destiny characters?

[silversoul255]

Hi, I'm new to the game! So I was wondering if there's a good reason to train the versions of the characters you get in the Spiral of Destiny as opposed to just using the Elysium versions. For example, my Maitha in Elysium is level 9 while the Spiral of Destiny one is much lower level. Is there a good reason to train them up? Thanks!

[Meowish]

Each Spiral of Destiny of runs ends around Lv65+ contents depending on the difficulty you've chosen throughout the run. Due to only the SoD rosters are able to gain EXP in the run and uses the training facilities, So, if your Elysium rosters isn't up to that power rank you will ended up stuck if you only uses the Elysium roster and never train your SoD roster which is too weak by the time you hit the level gap. It's more a mechanism for the end game players to speed run SoD to unlock the nodes and rewards. Due to they already owns powerful enough characters, so they can skip the training and level up part in SoD as well as gear crafting, Elysium characters also don't count against the fatigue mechanism, so we can reuse them over and over again in battles.

P/S: if you meant the "import" characters (you can import up to 5 depending on the nodes you unlocked), those doesn't matter at all (the only difference is the star rank, the imported ones retained their stars and skills during import). But if you meant your real Elysium roster (which you can switch to during deployment), they are just there to help you cheat the game, but only recommended for players at end game who's over Lv55+.

P-P/S: By the way, SoD are short runs. You do not get to keep the SoD characters you trained after a run ended (including the one you imported). Everything is reset on your new run (with some extra benefits depending on the nodes you unlocked). If you're asking whether or not it's worth training your Elysium (gacha) characters, the answer is yes, and the reasons are already written above, you get to use them to cheat SoD later.

[Sneeto]

If you are in no rush, SoD is fun because you get to use bronze/silver/gold units you may not have prior. Its more challenging and gives you a more personal touch to your runs.

[Kheilus]

Using the reset Spiral units also closer mimics a standalone game, as opposed to buying a level up DLC and using overpowered units.
If you are into the gameplay that is.

[Meowish]

Just to be clear here... SoD rosters are not weak, if you play it right and with good RNG luck, you will ended up having some god-like units way way more powerful than any of the Elysium rosters. Mainly due to the special training skills that gives the SoD rosters the extra edge (balance breaker) + the church buffs. These are something the Elysium rosters do not get (unless you're playing in events with such power ups). Extra cheat-like playstyle like +6 range, +3~ mov, multiple retaliate, multiple alert, also mixing alert skill with +range makes the alert skill go wild and able to attack near field-wide enemies, for tank style players, there's also the super high hp, super shield buffs, and if you paired these with retaliate and the invincible commander skill, you'll be playing god in that run. Same goes with mages or archers with +6 range, the enemies wouldn't even know what hit them before they go kaput...
The downside is, you're at the mercy of RNGoddess[i.redd.it] and a certain reroll(rerun) might be needed to get the correct training combinations + you don't get to keep the units you trained nor any of the stuffs you invested your time in after each run. It can be quite tiresome trying to get the right combinations again and again.

What the Elysium rosters have in advantages, is they do not require Level up, they do not count in the fatigue, and they do not require weapon crafting, and most importantly they started with high level at the start of the run which gives them the insta-kill edge all the way near the end until the SoD enemies caught up with your Elysium rosters' level then the (slightly harder) challenging part begins, but with full trained Elysium rosters, they can easily handle Lv65+ contents without needing those cheat training in SoD, that's why it's only recommended for end game players to use them to speed run SoD when your Elysium rosters are up on the right power range.

SoD turned out real boring and repetitive after you've finished the stories anyway, but sadly the upgrade nodes require more than just a few runs to complete, so the speed runs option is there to help speed up this process. At least you are not at the mercy of RNG when you're using Elysium rosters.