Disclaimer
Refraction Railway can be beaten with just one team, with any ID you want. It will take time but it is doable. However, getting below 120 will require specific ID, EGO and strategies. This guide will focus on those. Also it assumes all IDs and EGO are at Uptie 3.
This guide will also list only enemy weaknesses. Any resistance not mentioned, will either be endured (0.75x) or ineffective (0.5x). Always adjust your team to match enemy weakness if possible. 3 MVP will most likely never leave the team. There will be no turn by turn guide as due to the nature of the game, it is nearly impossible to make it.
MVP Identities
MVPs of Railway who you will be seeing in most likely every single team:
![[The One Who Grips] Faust](/static/0d3b9fa292c5cb6b1e0d1d254d2d87e6/25c3e/42_mid.webp)
![[R Corp. 4th Pack Rabbit] Heathcliff](/static/abe1b8064b4e7e638f6c4d4d98529d60/25c3e/4_mid.webp)
Those three will be in nearly every team and all the turn counts will assume Don and Heath are using full power Rip Space and Quick suppression on the enemy for maximum damage. Since we can reset fights for better RNG in terms of skill allocation, we can fish for “perfect start”.
- N Faust - All her EGO are amazing in the RR, especially Hex Nail, which has no use in dailies or mirror dungeons, in RR it can secure 1 turn kills on certain enemies or allow big bursts to cut turns during certain battles. There is also Gaze and its 20% damage buff to pierce and blunt. Pairs nicely with 000utis
- W Don - Rip through space and enemies. With Telepole, Don can nuke from turn 2, and even allows R Ishmael to help with bursting enemies. Unlike R Heathcliff, W Don never runs out of charges for Rip Space, making his dps over dragged fights consistent. Can also solo Floor 6 with Kqe-1j-23 boss in 6 to 7 turns.
- R Heathcliff - Despite being out of ammo by turn 6 at most, Quick Suppression is still quick suppressing enemies before 6 turns are hit. With his base EGO Bodysack, he can setup his own haste to enable additional coin power on Quick Suppression, making him ideal for turn 2 / turn 3 bursts.
Honourable mentions:
![[G Corp. Manager Corporal] Gregor](/static/22ab431c2c2fa44865a52f1ac6864350/25c3e/1_mid.webp)
![[R Corp. 4th Pack Reindeer] Ishmael](/static/988af9b60290f4e0d8f8812eca36e69c/25c3e/3_mid.webp)
- 000utis - You hate losing clashes. We all do. Outis fixes that on top of debuffing the enemy accordingly. Even her passives are great in case we want to use somebody else instead of her for a fight or two. With N Faust and potentially other ID and EGO to set up bursts, you can finish fights insanely quick. Pairs nicely with N Faust. Of course, if there is a clash she can’t for some reason with, remember, The Odyssey Had a Purpose…
- G Gregor - You’ve got Legerdemain, and you’ve got Legerdemain. EVERYBODY GETS A LEGERDEMAIN. Legerdemain spam is real and can make quick work of Floor 1, Floor 2, Floor 4 and Floor 9. Also Legerdemain can hit multiple parts of Headless Itchys to speedrun even that boss. Outside of his EGO, Gregor can still do decent damage with his skills but honestly, Legerdemain spam is way too addicting.
- Kurokumo and Tingtang Hong Lu - Both are excellent for certain stages. For example Kurokumo makes Wolf a joke while Tingtang makes Robot and Frog a joke. They are not in MVP tier cause you have to sadly pick only one and you may bench them for fights where they are not ideal. But when they are, the enemy will not know what mercy is.
- Seven Section 6 Yi Sang - We finally received a mode, where Pierce Fragility and Fragility, that are applied next turn, are finally useful. Yi Sang shines in stages where the boss is weak to pierce, allowing especially Heathcliff to reach stupidly high numbers that quickly suppress enemies. And if the enemy still stands, Yi Sang base EGO can buff all allies speed, making them faster than any enemy, enabling 5 one sided attacks to end the fight before the enemy can even act. With Sanity changes and odds of Heads landing, Yi Sang debuffs are reliable and he can actually clash decently. Won’t be used in every stage, mostly for speeding up pierce weak fights.
- Seven Section 6 Ryoshu, while serving the same purpose as Yi Sang but for slash, is not an mvp here as there are no enemies that will require slash fragility. And if the enemy is slash weak, they are not that tanky to begin with. Potentially in future Railway seasons Seven Section Ryoshu will shine.
- R Corp Ishmael - Mind Whip is finally not a meme. To a lesser extent. With changes to Sanity and how it affects odds of Heads and with Telepole EGO for Don existing, R Ishmael can Mind Whip more safely and reliably with decent clash potential. Quite a few enemies are weak to blunt, wrath, or both in Railway Line 1, so Ishmael can be quite helpful in bursting enemies. Her decent HP pull also can help with Floor 6 and 9. Robot boss in Floor 6 targets sinners with most HP with unclashable grab, so Ishmael will be a target of it… but unclashable doesn’t mean undodgeable, so she can use her evade and dodge it, skipping the gimmick of this fight. In floor 9, at last wave. Enemies have an attack that targets sinners with the most HP. And since Ishmael is resist to blunt and enemies damage rolls are very low, she can tank the hits while rest of the teams nukes the “Time Wasters” K Corp guards one by one safely.
- Shi Ishmael - Better Cloud Cutter and just sheer numbers makes Ishmael a great choice for RR… If you are fine with never swapping her out of the team, even if the enemy is resisting her damage and affinities as resting means HP heals. And we do not want that on this Ishmael. You won’t go wrong with Shi Ish if you can keep her HP and below 50% and if you can do it fast in first few stages so she can start doing her shenanigans earlier and faster.
What is my purpose? You are a passive hauler:
![[LCB Sinner] Rodion](/static/598ac488a3ee5c36ebcd2dc1c52a53d9/25c3e/33_mid.webp)
- LCB Rodya - With changes to how passives work, LCB Rodya provides Sinner with the Highest HP with quite significant 20% damage on Heads, that are now near guarantee at 45 sanity. And all you need is to own 5 Wrath. Similar passive has TingTiang Hong Lu but we might be using him so…
- Mariachi Sinclair - Despite enemies not having sanity, this passive still works in Railway. While not a 20% damage boost as Rodya mentioned above, a 10% damage bonus just by having 4 Gloom is still great.
MVP EGOs
![[Telepole] Don Quixote](/static/a2335e7705c906086ba15d3dd1f1d7d7/25c3e/ego_32_mid.webp)
![[Fluid Sac] Faust](/static/61e096f8e01828795011a739eadd3d2f/25c3e/ego_21_mid.webp)
![[Hex Nail] Faust](/static/1606e95d1b7fdea16598dff1ac15ddc0/25c3e/ego_3_mid.webp)
![[Bodysack] Heathcliff](/static/37256b670846de8ff106b8d40faea8a2/25c3e/ego_13_mid.webp)
![[Legerdemain] Gregor](/static/036c9ee527a46db7e2d7be22b2f361d4/25c3e/ego_30_mid.webp)
- Telepole Don - Enables Don and R Ishmael earlier. Both normal and overclock. Damage against pierce weak enemies is decent. Also cheap to use.
- Fluid Sac - HP and SP sustain for ID you will be rarely swapping. Will come in clutch in Floor 10.
- Hex Nail - Previously neglected and kinda forgotten EGO, makes its spotlight in Railway where debuffs are much more valuable and it enables both R Heath and W Don to Rip and Tear through enemies.
- Bodysack - “Not wasting bullets this turn” EGO. Cheap to use, nice damage. Sets up Quick Suppression next turn.
- Legerdemain - Spammable, dirt cheap EGO that can hit multiple abnormality parts if it has any. Also nice Paralyze can come in the clutch. Especially good in mob fights.