Table of Contents
Starting GODDESS OF VICTORY: NIKKE can feel deceptively simple. You clear a few story stages, your roster grows fast, and the game showers you with early rewards. Then a wall shows up, Combat Power turns red, enemies start deleting your squad, and you wonder what you “missed.”
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This guide focuses on the first steps that actually matter: how to push Campaign efficiently, build a functional team, and set up your account so every login session moves you forward.
Push Campaign First
In the early game, Campaign progress is your engine. Clearing stages hands you core leveling materials and raises your Outpost Defense level, which becomes a major source of passive income later. If you ever feel underpowered, your first question should be: “Can I push a few more Campaign stages today?” because the answer often fixes the resource problem on its own.
When you reach Chapter 2, the Outpost enters the picture. That is not just a hub area, it is where your account starts generating value while you are offline. Treat Chapter 2 as your first milestone, since it unlocks systems that keep paying you back.
Combat Power Explained
Combat Power is a rough measurement of squad strength, and the game uses it to recommend whether you are “ready.” If you fight below the recommended CP, your squad’s stats get penalized, which is why stages can suddenly feel impossible. The key is that “below CP” does not always mean “unbeatable.” It often means you need cleaner play and better burst flow, not a week of farming.
Attempt the stage a couple of times with intent. If you can survive long enough to see where the run collapses, you can usually fix it with targeting, burst timing, or swapping one unit to cover a weakness. If you instantly melt every attempt, that is your sign to step back and upgrade.
Team Building and Manual Control
Your squad is five Nikkes, and early success is mostly about burst structure. You want a Burst I, a Burst II, and one or more Burst III options so you can cycle Full Burst reliably. When beginners struggle, it is often because their team has awkward burst coverage or a Burst III that does not contribute enough damage. You do not need a perfect meta roster on day one, but you do want a team that bursts cleanly and has one reliable damage dealer to carry waves.
Manual control is how you beat stages you “shouldn’t” beat. Manual play helps you generate burst faster and focus fire key threats at the right moment. The simplest habit to learn is target priority: when a dangerous enemy is about to flood your screen, you delete it first. Another simple habit is treating burst as a tool, not a button you press on cooldown. Sometimes you hold it for the wave that matters, sometimes you pop it immediately to prevent a snowball.
The Synchro Device
Early on, you will be tempted to level everyone you like. Don’t. The game is designed around concentrating resources into a core group, then spreading power through systems. The Synchro Device lets you synchronize other Nikkes to your team’s level so you do not have to pay leveling costs twice. It automatically looks at your five highest-level Nikkes and uses the lowest of those five as the Synchro level. When you raise that lowest one, all synced characters rise with it.
This is why the classic advice is to level only five Nikkes early, and let everyone else borrow levels through synchro slots. Build one strong spine, then rotate whoever you want to play around it.
Passive Growth Systems
Once you have the Outpost, your account starts improving even when you are not actively playing. Outpost Defense is an offline system where your Nikkes guard the base and accumulate rewards like Credits, Battle Data Sets, Core Dust, and equipment. As you clear more Campaign stages, your Outpost Defense level goes up, which increases what you earn over time. There is also Wipeout, which gives rewards equivalent to a chunk of real-time defending, with a free attempt each day.
Bond is not flashy, but it stacks. Advising is the primary method of increasing a Nikke’s Bond level, which boosts stats and unlocks character story content. Each Nikke has a daily advice limit, so it rewards consistent habits more than marathon sessions. If you are trying to break a stubborn stage, a handful of small upgrades often add up: a few levels, better gear, a couple skill bumps, and some bonds.
Final Thoughts
Your first steps in NIKKE are not about having the perfect pulls. They are about building a team that bursts properly, learning enough manual play to beat “red CP” stages when it counts, and setting up your long-term growth through the Outpost and Synchro Device. Push Campaign to unlock systems, invest resources into a focused core, and let the game’s passive engines do their work. When you do that, progress stops feeling random and starts feeling inevitable.
