Introduction
In NIKKE, there is a considerable gap among new players, veterans, and tryhards. The amount of advanced tech employed by these various groups differs. The more competitive a player is, the more likely they are to employ advanced tech. Note that advanced mechanics may be subtle, and to the eyes of those yet eloquent, they may be invisible. Mastering these strategies as a beginner is key to gaining competitive advantage, allowing you to push Campaign further and accruing more resources per hour.
We have compiled some of the most important tech for you to learn in this guide! It may not be comprehensive, but it will 100% help you improve!
There are still lots of advanced tech not yet covered here. We will update this guide continually to spread the effort. If you have any suggestions on what to add here, let us know!
i-Framing (Invincible Framing)
In this game, there is a technique called i-framing—used to dodge enemy attacks. It's not really i-frame in the sense that you become invincible. In fact, it's an incorrect term to lousily describe dodging in NIKKE. In short, enemy attacks are NOT actually directed toward a Nikke. They are directed toward the Nikke's snapshot position at the time of launch (cued by the blinking red circle). Abusing this allows you to deliberately "redirect" an enemy's attack to a Nikke's in-cover or out-of-cover coordinate and evade it by switching to the other position just before it lands. For demonstration, check out this video by Retro:
If an enemy's projectile comes for a NIKKE's out-of-cover position, take cover to dodge it. This one often works unless the projectile is large enough to still hit a NIKKE. Not all projectiles can be i-framed this way, but most can. To "encourage" this to happen, you can try to maintain the shooting position just before the projectiles are launched. Sometimes, shields can prevent this from happening—beware!
If an enemy's projectile goes toward a NIKKE's in-cover position, peek to dodge it. However, if the cover is alive, it will also be damaged. This is less ideal than the first variant, but sometimes you will have to employ this tech, especially against Alteisen or Mother Whale and in some mob stages. Cover is not essential all the time anyway, so having it destroyed doesn't do any harm. Note that some projectiles cannot be dodged this way and require the first variant.