Primarily, materials are used to exchange for useful things at the shop; namely weapons, presents, and plug-ins. The latest additions of these items will always be available first via exchange, and won't be available for purchase with Kins (money) initially until later on (this varies by item, but they typically become available within the next phase or three). On top of that, you don't earn a whole lot of Kins in general unless you grind a lot more than you need to, and they're better off being spent on healing items which are important for tough fights, especially on harder difficulties.

Also, it's worth noting, each new variation of a character's weapon will require the previous tier of that weapon type as a material. For example, if you want Yuito's 2nd sword, you gotta have his 1st sword on hand to exchange for it. Older tiers of weapons will be available to buy with Kins in the shop, so if you need one, then buy those first, then exchange from there.

By the way; new weapons, presents, and plug-ins will always be available during a new standby phase, so check the shop every time you finish a phase.






Now, why earn these things as fast as possible?

- Weapons are pretty self-explanatory. More damage, easier time fighting. Don't forget that a new weapon will only raise your attack stat (melee attacks), and not your power stat (psychokinesis attacks). Yuito relies more on his weapon than psychokinesis, and vice versa for Kasane. Prioritize weapons if you're playing as Yuito. Of course, don't forget to upgrade your party member's weapons as well.




- Presents are for raising your bond level with your party members. Even if you don't care about the story or characters themselves, raising their bond level gives huge advantages in battle that give you so many more aces up your sleeve compared to having none of it. At the very least, try to get combo visions for each character (bond level 3) as they drastically increase your damage output and ability to quickly deplete the crush gauge for easier brain crushes. Certain party members also have critically helpful passives as their bond level raises when you use their SAS, such as Tsugumi's clairvoyance giving you the ability to instantly destroy enemy armor shells when you do a perfect dodge attack.

Basically, bond level abilities can completely trivialize some enemies or make tough battles far easier.

Also, presents can sometimes be found when you're out and about in the world, usually in more hidden areas. Always search for those green marks whenever you can.




- Plug-ins are probably the least prioritized of the three, but they can still be immensely helpful as you shape your playstyle later on in the game. For Yuito/Kasane, I encourage you to give them the more specialized plug-ins that start showing up around Phase 5 or 6. I'll give my personal plug-in recommendations in a later section.

Each material type has varying rarities. The more rare they are, the less likely they are to appear obviously.

To make your life easier, always remember to look at the enemy library to know where specific enemy types are and what they drop. Go to "Library" in the pause menu, then "Enemies". it will automatically update as you progress. Also, keep in mind that Yuito and Kasane sometimes have different enemies in different areas from each other's stories.






Let's go over the general categories of materials and their rarities first.

Rarities are simple. The order of rarity color from least to most rare is: Gray, Blue, Purple, Yellow/Gold. The names vary depending on the type.



Category 1: Battle Record and Other Ecology: These will likely be the most common materials you'll be picking up. These are dropped from practically any of the "Other" enemies you're able to kill. Because of how common they are, you will be needing a lot of these to exchange for weapons and presents. Never neglect them.

The rarity rank of these are: C (Gray), B (Blue), A (Purple), and S (Yellow)





Category 2: Suppression and Analysis: Much like the Battle Records and Ecologies, these also drop from most "Other" enemies. However, these are more specific. Most "Other" enemy types will have their own version of a Suppression and Analysis depending on the family it's from. For example, any "Paws"-type enemy will drop a Paws-type suppression. Most individual enemies will also have their own Analysis, which is specific to that individual enemy, such as the Vase Paws dropping the "Vase Paws Analysis".

The rarity rank of these are: Suppression (Blue), Suppression+ (Purple), Analysis (Yellow)


Now, it is worth noting cause this is important: NOT every member of a family will drop a Suppression, Suppression+, and/or Analysis. Some only drop one of the three, Some drop all, etc etc. Some enemies don't even drop these at all. Please do refer to the in-game enemy library for specifics on what enemy drops what type. It automatically updates whenever you encounter and kill a new enemy.




Category 3: Environment Data: Most areas in the game (excluding hub areas and certain story locations) have their own environment data to obtain. You'll see them as glowing bits of light, and are in fixed locations every time you re-visit the area, albeit they are slightly randomized. The first time you pick up a bit of data at that location, you'll see it on your mini-map as this icon:

Rarity rank of these is: C (Gray), B (Blue), A (Purple), S (Yellow)











So to sum it up, here's every material type:

- Battle Record C to S
- Other Ecology C to S
- Environment Data C to S
- Pool-type Suppression and Suppression+
- Rummy-type Suppression and Suppression+
- Pendu-type Suppression and Suppression+
- Paws-type Suppression and Suppression+
- Yawn-type Suppression and Suppression+
- Pound-type Suppression and Suppression+
- Rut-type Suppression and Suppression+
- Santa-type Suppression and Suppression+
- Sabbat-type Suppression and Suppression+
- Chinery-type Suppression and Suppression+
- Analysis (Most unique enemies has their own analysis drops. For example, Vase Paws Analysis)

Enemies that drop no Records or Ecologies:

- Doppel Pool
- Grin and Spawn Yawn
- Session Pound
- All Santa types
- Booger Sabbat
- All Chinery types
- All non-Other enemies
- All bosses






Enemies that drop every type of Record and Ecology:

- Scummy, Fuel, and Bile Pool
- Buddy and Rainy Rummy
- Scummy and Plateau Pendu
- Vase Paws
- Rat Rut

(Given the enemy types that drop every Record/Ecology, your best area to grind lots of these might be the Abandoned Subway or Mizuhagawa areas since plenty of Rummy and Pool-type enemies are there along with Rat Ruts in both Yuito's and Kasane's story (moreso Kasane's).





Battle Record C:

- Scummy, Fuel, and Bile Pool
- Buddy, Kitchen, and Rainy Rummy
- Scummy and Plataeu Pendu
- Vase Paws
- Cushion Pound
- Rat Rut
- Cut Rut



Battle Record B:

- Scummy, Fuel, and Bile Pool
- All Rummy types
- Scummy and Plataeu Pendu
- Vase Paws
- Cushion Pound
- Rat and Cut Rut



Battle Record A:

- Scummy, Fuel, and Bile Pool
- All Rummy types
- All Pendu types
- Vase and Base Paws
- Missin and Cushion Pound
- Rat and Cut Rut
- Auger Sabbat



Battle Record S:

- Scummy, Fuel, and Bile Pool
- Buddy, Kitchen, and Rainy Rummy
- Scummy and Plataeu Pendu
- Vase and Saws Paws
- Brawn Yawn
- Cushion Pound
- Rat Rut





Other Ecology C:

- Scummy, Fuel, and Bile Pool
- All Rummy types
- Scummy and Plateau Pendu
- Vase Paws
- Rat and Cut Rut


Other Ecology B:

- Scummy, Fuel, and Bile Pool
- All Rummy types
- Scummy and Plateau Pendu
- Vase Paws
- Cushion Pound
- Rat and Cut Rut


Other Ecology A:

- Scummy, Fuel, and Bile Pool
- All Rummy types
- All Pendu types
- Vase and Base Paws
- Missin and Cushion Pound
- Rat and Cut Rut
- Wither and Auger Sabbat


Other Ecology S:

- Scummy, Fuel, and Bile Pool
- Scummy, Buddy, and Rainy Rummy
- Scummy and Plateau Pendu
- Vase and Saws Paws
- Brawn Yawn
- Cushion Pound
- Rat and Cut Rut
- Wither and Auger Sabbat

There's not many, but some specific BM skills or plug-ins can help lessen the grind, even if only a little. Keep in mind Yuito and Kasane's brain maps are structured a bit differently, so these skills may not be in the exact same spot as the other if you choose to play both stories.



Brain Map:


- Item Attraction: Automatically draws in enemy drops near you. It has a very generous collection field so you'll never accidentally leave behind a drop from a hectic battle. This doesn't work for Environment Data Points or Green Item data points.


- Brain Crush Money Bonus: Get more Kins for killing an enemy with Brain Crush. If you're able to buy something you need with Kins, then maybe you don't even need to waste your precious materials in the first place. The more money the better.


- Additional Plug-In Slot 1 & 2: Gain an additional plug-in slot for Yuito/Kasane (up to 3). Trust me, you'll want these beyond just grinding for mats. Try to get them as soon as you're comfortable getting them.





Plug-Ins:


- Special Mission Pay Bonus: +5% Kins gained from killing enemies. Combine this with Brain Crush Money Bonus and you can rack up Kins just a bit easier if you're in dire need of them.










Now, in addition to these things, I would strongly encourage you to focus on increasing your crush effect. Enemies are guaranteed to drop an item if you kill them using Brain Crush. Not only that, it is the fastest way to kill enemies if you're able to perform your actions just right. So, this isn't only for grinding, but just a great general gameplay tip. You could kill enemies in half the time it would normally take with Brain Crush. This is every Brain Map skill and Plug-in that increases your crush effect in some way, shape or form:



Brain Map:


- Psychokinesis Crush Effect Up: Crush Effect +5% with Psychokinetic attacks

- Psychokinesis Crush Effect Up 2 (Kasane only): Additional +5% Crush Effect

- Weapon Crush Effect Up: +5% Crush Effect with your weapon

- Weapon Crush Effect Up 2 (Yuito only): Additional +5% Crush Effect

- Power Up 1: +5% to Power stat

- Power Up 2 (Kasane Only): Additional +5% Power

- Attack Up 1: +5% to Attack stat

- Attack Up 2 (Yuito Only): Additional +5% Attack

- Concurrent SAS Activation 1 & 2: Use up to 4 SAS effects at once. If you play your cards just right you can wipe out the crush gauge with ease combining SAS. Recommended crush combos will be shown later.

- Brain Crush SAS Restore: Restores some of the gauge of the current SAS effect(s) being used. Multiple Brain Crushes in quick succession can lead you to prolong most SAS effects for a very long time, leading to easier brain crushes. This also works with "Concurrent SAS Activation", it will restore the gauge of every currently active SAS effect if you do a Brain Crush.

- Brain Drive Status Up: +10% to Attack, Power, and Defense while Brain Drive is active.

- Brain Drive Restore Brain Drive 1 & 2: While Brain Drive is active, restore some of the BD gauge whenever you perform a Brain Crush. Staying in BD for as long as possible helps dramatically with easier Brain Crushes since you're much more powerful using BD. Of course, this isn't terribly useful for major bosses since they're 1-on-1s and you can only perform 2-3 brain crushes at most, but anywhere else, especially against multiple waves of mobs it's very helpful.

- BD Consecutive Assault Vision: Use multiple Assault Visions in quick succession if one is activated during Brain Drive. This does absolutely massive damage, and most assault visions will annihilate the enemy's crush gauge by a significant amount. This is more for late game, though; around Phase 9 when you have more party members and most are at bond level 4 to perform Assault Visions.

- Max Psy. Gauge Boost 1 & 2: Increase the Psy Gauge. This is more for Kasane since her psychokinesis is much more powerful than Yuito's, but any Psychokinetic attack on an enemy's weak point (especially if paired with Shiden's Electrokinesis or Hanabi's Pyrokinesis) can drain the crush gauge by a huge amount.

- Slam Attack: Perform a powerful downward strike from mid-air. More useful with Yuito given his focus is on his weapon, but this works well with Kasane too. It might not sound like much, but it's quite powerful and can drain the crush gauge by a significant amount. Doubly so with, again, Electrokinesis or Pyrokinesis.






Plug-Ins:


I encourage you to use Enhance/Specialize Crush, which Increase Crush Effect by 5% and 10% respectively, at the cost of -5% or -10% Attack. The downside is pretty miniscule considering how much you can deplete the crush gauge before that damage reduction even matters. Heck, you even can use the "System Double Edge Sword" plug-in that increases your damage done by 20% but damage taken is also increased by 20%. If you're confident in your abilities, I recommend using that with Specialize Crush because this will negate the damage penalty. You can use both Enhance and Specialize crush if you wish, but I feel it's more efficient to use the "Power Enhance" plug-ins for Kasane and the "Weapon Attack Specialization" for Yuito.



For reference, here's the plug-ins I use for Kasane. For Yuito, replace Power Enhance with Weapon Attack Specialization.