/PCRG/ Connect

Before we even start, I want to strongly encourage you to hold on to your materials until CB.

New Connect System

Cygames added a new system to the game with the 8th Anniversary in February 2026, where you can invest new materials into each of your Characters to strengthen them. They gain some stat modifiers, as well as special effects that boost themselves and your whole team. Certain Characters also gain an upgrade to their UE, called UE1SP.

We'll be able to earn materials for this new system from various modes, including the new Elpis mode, CB, Abyss Hunt, Events, Event reruns, HARD (rare drop), a Season Pass, and the Master Shop. If you choose to buy out the Master Sphere, Astral Shards, and all the new Connect materials from the Master Shop, it will cost you 69,000 Master Coins per month.

You won't earn enough materials to go crazy for a good while, so hold on to them until we have a better idea how to spend them. You might consider having some alts invest in maxing out certain high-value Characters for borrows in the short term to save materials on your mains.

It's the tab the farthest to the right

Connect RANK

Connect RANK goes up to a maximum of 15, and interacting with it is a little funny. You have to go up 3 RANKs at a time, then uncap the next three, then go up another 3 RANKs, etc. It kind of reminds me of the clunky weapon upgrade system in the first Dark Souls.

There are two aspects to Connect RANK:

• Direct stat modifiers
• Special effects gained every 3 RANKs

The stat modifiers are fairly small, even at RANK 15. They cover your basic stats like HP, Physical/Magic Attack, Physical Defense, and Magic Defense. The 5th stat is either a Damage Boost, or Damage Cut, depending on whether Cygames considers a Character offensive or defensive. For the most part, what I saw made sense.

The likely bigger part of this is the special effects gained every 3 RANKs. They are geared towards providing bonuses to the entire party, so it doesn't really matter much which party member has them if you're limited on resources. The effects are as follows:

Your main targets are going to be RANK 6, 9, and 15. I don't think the Attribute Bonus is going to be that impactful, since it's only +10% at most with a full team of RANK 12+ Characters. UE1SP has it's own section below, but it can be pretty powerful, useless, or anything in between. Party Damage Boost is interesting, but I haven't seen any details on exactly what it does. For example, I don't know whether 2 Characters with Party Damage Boost Lv. 1 is better than 1 with Lv. 2. Let me know if you see anything.

If you're wondering about costs, I have big tables to satisfy your autism below. If that's not your cup of tea, just wait until CB and plan from there, depending on who gets used.

UE1SP

At the February 2026 8th Anniversary, Cygames also gave UE1SP for 30 Characters who were added to the game fairly early. From looking over the changes, it's an update to more than just S1. Think of UE1SP as a balance patch for older Characters to make them potentially useful again. As a side note, it also adds a slight amount of stats, but these are so small, they aren't worth mentioning.

in order to unlock UE1SP, your Characters need to meet 3 conditions:

• 5* Rarity
• UE370/UE MAX
• Connect RANK 6

Once you've met all 3, spend another 300 Memory Shards to upgrade UE370 to UE1SP.

I think we're done leveling these things for good now. My Heart Shard stockpile is finally ready for use.

Before you get too lost in the weeds, remember: everyone has Connect RANK, not just those with UE1SP. You may want to prioritize strong Characters without UE1SP at the start.

UE Costs

If you're an EN refugee, you are probably sitting on the Memory Shards for most of the Characters with UE1SP already. Heart Shards might be a different story, but at least you know how many you'll need to farm now. The tables below show where to farm Memory Shards and how many Nodes are available. You can also get Memory Shards for birthdays, reward boxes in Events, Start Dash, Dungeon random drops, Normal Gacha, Adventure, and the Divine Amulet Shop. Newcuties are going to be in trouble for a while.

If you need to use Divine Amulets, try to use them as efficiently as possible; they'll disappear quicker than you expect if you aren't careful.

• It costs 200 Divine Amulets for the first 80 Shards
  • This is a good deal for permas who are slower to farm
• Each Shard after that costs 5 Divine Amulets

Mana costs aren't that bad, but you'll see they get higher as you look at the costs for Connect RANK.

Who Do I Farm?

From Preliminary February CB teams, you should rush Maho, Hiyori, Suzuna, and S.Tamaki. I'll give my farming recommendation, but this is all very subject to change.

*May already be done from Start Dash Shards and first time clear Shards on Quests and Side Stories
**Suzume is higher priority if you don't have her at 6* yet
***Miyako, Shefi, Arisa, and the Master Shop Characters do not currently have any Side Story Nodes to farm

Costs to Raise UE1SP Characters to RANK 6

• Connect RANK 6 is one of the 3 requirements to unlock UE1SP
• This table only includes Characters with UE1SP
• The Characters who are the slowest to farm are at the bottom
• Mana costs still aren't that bad yet

Character	Connect Orb: Arts	Connect Orb: Soul	Connect Orb: Guard	Bronze Regalia	Silver Regalia	Gold Regalia	Copper Ore	Silver Ore	Astral Sphere	Memory Shard	Mana	Shard Location
-												-
Akari	90	9	48	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Dungeon Shop, Side Story (2 Nodes)
Karyl	90	9	48	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Dungeon Shop, Side Story (6 Nodes)
Maho	45	45	54	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Dungeon Shop, Side Story (8 Nodes)
Mitsuki	90	9	48	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Dungeon Shop, Side Story (4 Nodes)
Yukari	9	36	90	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Dungeon Shop, Side Story (6 Nodes)
Hiyori	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Battle Arena Shop, Side Story (2 Nodes)
Ayane	45	45	54	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Battle Arena Shop, Side Story (4 Nodes)
Misogi	45	45	54	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Battle Arena Shop, Side Story (2 Nodes)
Suzuna	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Princess Arena Shop, Side Story (3 Nodes)
Hatsune	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Princess Arena Shop, Side Story (6 Nodes)
Miyako	9	36	90	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Princess Arena Shop
Yori	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Clan Shop, Side Story (2 Nodes)
Akino	9	36	90	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (2 Nodes), Side Story (5 Nodes)
Illya	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (2 Nodes), Side Story (7 Nodes)
Kasumi	90	9	48	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (1 Node), Side Story (10 Nodes)
Kyouka	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (1 Node), Side Story (4 Nodes)
Kurumi	9	36	90	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (10 Nodes), Side Story (2 Nodes)
Kokkoro	9	36	90	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (9 Nodes), Side Story (3 Nodes)
Saren	45	45	54	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (3 Nodes), Side Story (8 Nodes)
Djeeta	45	45	54	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (2 Nodes), Side Story (2 Nodes)
Tomo	45	45	54	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (1 Node), Side Story (8 Nodes)
Pecorine	9	36	90	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (10 Nodes), Side Story (4 Nodes)
Mifuyu	45	45	54	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (11 Nodes), Side Story (4 Nodes)
Mimi	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (11 Nodes), Side Story (3 Nodes)
Shefi	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (1 Node)
Arisa	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	HARD (2 Nodes)
Summer Mifuyu	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Side Story (3 Nodes)
Muimi	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Master Shop
Summer Suzume	90	9	48	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Master Shop
Summer Tamaki	36	90	12	50	5	-	50	-	-	-	20,000,000	Master Shop
Total	1251	1656	1302	1500	150	-	1500	-	-	-	600,000,000	-

Costs to Raise UE1SP Characters to RANK 15

• This table only includes Characters with UE1SP
• The Characters who are the slowest to farm are at the bottom
• This is where Mana costs can get out of control
  • You are probably more gated by other materials (Gold Regalia most likely), so this may not be a concern
  • EN refugees and older are probably safe, I've got about 17 billion Mana in my Kokkoro wallet, which would cover ~120 Characters
  • Sorry to newcuties

Character	Connect Orb: Arts	Connect Orb: Soul	Connect Orb: Guard	Bronze Regalia	Silver Regalia	Gold Regalia	Copper Ore	Silver Ore	Astral Sphere	Memory Shard	Mana	Shard Location
-												-
Akari	270	54	156	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Dungeon Shop, Side Story (2 Nodes)
Karyl	270	54	156	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Dungeon Shop, Side Story (6 Nodes)
Maho	150	150	171	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Dungeon Shop, Side Story (8 Nodes)
Mitsuki	270	54	156	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Dungeon Shop, Side Story (4 Nodes)
Yukari	54	126	270	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Dungeon Shop, Side Story (6 Nodes)
Hiyori	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Battle Arena Shop, Side Story (2 Nodes)
Ayane	150	150	171	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Battle Arena Shop, Side Story (4 Nodes)
Misogi	150	150	171	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Battle Arena Shop, Side Story (2 Nodes)
Suzuna	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Princess Arena Shop, Side Story (3 Nodes)
Hatsune	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Princess Arena Shop, Side Story (6 Nodes)
Miyako	54	126	270	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Princess Arena Shop
Yori	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Clan Shop, Side Story (2 Nodes)
Akino	54	126	270	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (2 Nodes), Side Story (5 Nodes)
Illya	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (2 Nodes), Side Story (7 Nodes)
Kasumi	270	54	156	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (1 Node), Side Story (10 Nodes)
Kyouka	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (1 Node), Side Story (4 Nodes)
Kurumi	54	126	270	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (10 Nodes), Side Story (2 Nodes)
Kokkoro	54	126	270	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (9 Nodes), Side Story (3 Nodes)
Saren	150	150	171	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (3 Nodes), Side Story (8 Nodes)
Djeeta	150	150	171	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (2 Nodes), Side Story (2 Nodes)
Tomo	150	150	171	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (1 Node), Side Story (8 Nodes)
Pecorine	54	126	270	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (10 Nodes), Side Story (4 Nodes)
Mifuyu	150	150	171	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (11 Nodes), Side Story (4 Nodes)
Mimi	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (11 Nodes), Side Story (3 Nodes)
Shefi	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (1 Node)
Arisa	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	HARD (2 Nodes)
Summer Mifuyu	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Side Story (3 Nodes)
Muimi	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Master Shop
Summer Suzume	270	54	156	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Master Shop
Summer Tamaki	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000	Master Shop
Total	4236	5316	4389	4200	2400	600	3000	3000	18000	600	4,200,000,000	-

Generic Connect RANK Costs

• Costs are the same for all Characters with the same Role
• Costs in the table are for one Character of the given Role and are cumulative
• I'm not showing RANK 3 and 12, since those only provide a +1% Attribute Bonus, and I don't think that's very impactful

Role	RANK	Connect Orb: Arts	Connect Orb: Soul	Connect Orb: Guard	Bronze Regalia	Silver Regalia	Gold Regalia	Copper Ore	Silver Ore	Astral Sphere	Memory Shard	Mana
-	-
	RANK 6	36	90	12	50	5	-	-	-	-	-	20,000,000
	RANK 9	60	144	27	90	25	-	100	-	100	5	50,000,000
	RANK 15	126	270	66	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000
	RANK 6	90	9	48	50	5	-	-	-	-	-	20,000,000
	RANK 9	144	21	78	90	25	-	100	-	100	5	50,000,000
	RANK 15	270	54	156	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000
	RANK 6	45	45	54	50	5	-	-	-	-	-	20,000,000
	RANK 9	75	75	87	90	25	-	100	-	100	5	50,000,000
	RANK 15	150	150	171	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000
	RANK 6	9	36	90	50	5	-	-	-	-	-	20,000,000
	RANK 9	21	60	144	90	25	-	100	-	100	5	50,000,000
	RANK 15	54	126	270	140	80	20	100	100	600	20	140,000,000

Mini Impressions

I'm not going into detail on all the changes from UE1SP, but here is a quick overview of my thoughts on each one.

Fire

Akino

Stronger, tankier, and even more so if Saren is on the Field. Gives Continuous TP Recovery if Saren is on the Field. Seems hard to justify 2 slots on your team to Akino and Saren when the rest of Fire Physical is so broken and full of good TP supports already.

Saren

Becomes a much stronger support if Akino is on the Field and can give TP to all Fire Attribute Allies with Akino present. Same thoughts as Akino, 2 slots is a lot when the competition in Fire Physical is so high.

Hiyori

Mini Isla. Much more damage now.

Maho

Anemone's friend and slow TP battery for PvP (gains +1000 TP for her heal target on S1++). UB didn't get un-nerfed.

Misogi

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Muimi

Tankier, even more so if she is not in front. Big self TP generation if only 1 Enemy. SP1++ Damage scales with remaining TP. May see some use again, but I'm not sure, since Isla and Fubuki are still really good. Hiyori is also really good now from what I've seen.

Water

Kyouka

Two Damage Calculations on UB now, and it will hit all targets of a Multi-Target Enemy, but the Damage is split among all targets (like C.Ranfa's UB). S1++ gains a Freeze effect and also becomes Multi-Target and gains self TP Recovery when used against a Multi-Target Enemy. I guess she's going to be a bit better in PvP due to the extra Damage on UB.

Shefi

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

S.Suzume

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

S.Tamaki

More TP and more Damage. Might see some use, since a 4x Damage Calculation UB is one hell of a tool if Cygames isn't careful with her scaling.

Mifuyu

Should be able to chain her own stun into UB now. May see some PvP use, but I doubt it's anything groundbreaking.

S.Mifuyu

Should deal more Damage and charges her own TP. I neglected farming her along with everyone else other than former Wide Hips Danchou, so I have no mental model of what she does or how good she is.

Wind

Ayane

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Arisa

Gains stacks every time she uses S1 and has a new Loop where she uses S1 1/5 Actions (previously 1/8 Actions). Deals more Damage overall. Might be good now, but who knows.

Kurumi

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Kokkoro

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tomo

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mimi

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Light

Kasumi

It doesn't turn her into a Jammer...

Gains stacks and more Damage/the ability to always Crit after 5 stacks, but her own Damage still looks low. S1++ gains a unique (I think?) P.Atk & M.Atk dispel on Enemies after 5 stacks. I don't think she'll get used much and she still won't be restored to her former PvP glory. Might have some Deep Quest use in new worlds (10+).

Djeeta

More Damage and more TP for both herself and Allies. New stacking mechanic where she gains stacks as Allies use their UBs. Not sure if she'll see use, but there's a chance.

Suzuna

UB and S1++ have better scaling, always Crit on all hits, and do 3x Damage instead of just 2x on Crit. S1++ gains an extra bit of percent based Damage, up to 500,000.

Hatsune

More Damage and additional Multi-Target Damage as well. Some additional effects if all Enemies are Physical, including self TP on S1++.

Peco

More shred and bigger boosts. UB and S2 now deals additional percentage based Damage, up to 2,000,000, which scales with Peco's max HP. S1++ gains 500 self TP. Might be quite good, brings her more in line with Anime Peco.

She also gains a Barrier dispel on UB (note - she is not a Jammer).

Yukari

More alcohol.

Gains a stack each time she uses S1, up to 3 (you need S1++, otherwise S1+ only caps at 2 stack). S2 now gives 250 TP to an extra Ally near the target for each stack Yukari has. In longer fights, she'll give her big TP to the Ally with the lowest TP, and 250 TP to 3 Allies nearby. UB effects also scale with number of stacks. I'm not sure about her PvE use, but she will be better in longer PvP fights.

Dark

Akari

Gains some better effects on UB, including Physical and Magic Absorb Barriers (two separate Barriers, not a dual Barrier). HP Absorb replaces the one time heal from before. Has a Curse on S1++ now. Her Curse has some synergy with Illya (see below), but honestly she doesn't look that useful.

Illya

UB lets her nullify 1 Magic Attack, and gains immunity to Physical Attacks from any Enemy that is Cursed on S1++ (see Akari above). S1++ is percentage based now, so she can't kill herself anymore. S1++ gains a +55% Action Speed boost for all Dark Allies and big self TP Recovery. I think Illya appeared once or twice in modern CB, so maybe this breathes a small amount of life into her?

Karyl

UB and S1++ gain more Damage and shred. She already got used against Tier 3 in CB, so this will make her slightly better there.

Mitsuki

Her S2 Field now centers on the second Enemy, meaning it no longer hangs out in the back doing nothing. Might make her useful in Deep Quests and maybe more applicable in PvP, but probably not much.

S1++ gains shred and self TP Recovery. UB's HP Recovery no longer requires her to kill.

Miyako

UB gains shred; being turned into pudding isn't good for your health.

S1++ now has Curse or Hex if the nearest Enemy is already Cursed (see Illya). DoT effects have a tendency to backfire in PvP, since they usually just feed your opponent TP.

Yori

UB gains a second Damage Calculation, and a third if she has a Barrier. S1++ now Recovers 360 TP (up to 1080 TP based on the amount of self Damage dealt) for both Yori and her nearest Ally. May be a PvP threat again if you can turbo out Barriers (ex: Yukari + Ameth).