Understanding no relics runs in Arknights Integrated Strategies. When did this start? Why do people do them? What do they accomplish? What are the criteria?

In this little article, I hope to answer those questions and give the community a clear definition for no relics that they can use on their own videos and descriptions.

What actually is “No Relics”?

First of all, we need to take a look at what a no relic run actually is. With regards to Integrated Strategies, no relics means clearing with the fewest relics possible.

So why would people do this? In all content in Arknights history, there are people that compete under various categories. You can just take a look at Nicheknights which is using only operators of specific classes, sources (welfare, starter, etc), rarities, races, and other. Multiple people may compete in the same niche and world records are obtained and tracked based on the difficulty self-imposed in the run. It’s not just enough to only use defenders for a clear, you then start looking at how few defenders were used.

In the same vein, no relics runs can be looked at as a way to measure skill, how minimally can Integrated Strategies be cleared?

On another front, myself personally, I started working on no relics as a way to show people consistent approaches to every single stage in Integrated Strategies. Meaning that if I could take the same team (within margin) and consistently clear without buffs, then the approach used would serve as a possible guideline for people struggling with the maps and bosses. Even if I were to run higher end operators, the gap could easily be closed with 1 or 2 relics which means RNG is less of the question, and more relating to how well the Doctor plays.

Since the beginning of IS2, no relics videos have been posted. I know of one player in particular that I’m fond of that was posting videos at around the same time called Bananalao (who I really recommend you check out as he has some absolutely amazing clears of all types of content). In his runs he collects relics as long as they don’t buff the squad he uses for the boss. I’ll call this “soft no relics” and you can see an example in his Mouthpiece run. Meanwhile I focused on strictly minimum relics.

Since I posted these videos starting around June/July 2022, I began receiving messages and comments of people doing their own runs as well as how I defined no relics so they could compete using the same templates.

At this point, with IS3 newly released and with myself working on new videos and content with this respect, I wanted to outline exactly the criteria (at least what I consider to be) No Relics.

First skipping relics is easy, for the most part… When a relic (collectible) is dropped from a stage (emergency, bosses, ducks and co, RNG) you can click the “Never mind, time to split” to refuse the relic (or anything else dropped for that matter). Almost every encounter gives you a choice between accepting and refusing relics.

This is how players will control most of their relics for the entire run. There’s a couple of random encounters that force a relic on you, as well as boons. Given we’re searching for the fewest possible relics, getting an encounter that forces a relic would simply be a reset for me. And since two boons are forced no matter what (end of floor 2 and 4), we have to take them. This becomes annoying as you’ll find out shortly as I outline the criteria. Note that the criteria I’ve outlined came more from approaching the problem in a way to make the runs replicable. As has always been the case, play how you like for your own enjoyment and achievement!

No Relics Criteria

1. No optional collectibles may be taken. This includes tools and posters (like in IS2).
2. Relics needed to reach an ending are permissible, but optional relics to make the fight easier are not. For example, Blank Suicide Note to cancel healing on Big Sad Lock is considered optional as you would only need the teddy bear itself to reach the ending.
3. Boons and other guaranteed relics (such as the hard mode start in IS2) must provide relics that replicate a safe house, level up, or not be used at all. Squad size +1 is fair as a start to IS2 Hard Mode, but deploy limit +1 is not fair if it is used. That is because there is no way you could replicate this without a relic as level ups and safe houses will never provide this. So using 8 deploys (6 when considering Sigil) is against my rule set.
4. The run must be cleared with the minimum number of relics possible.
5. No HP cheesing. Ideally everything is done without leaks or minimal leaks. IS2 had the 1 free shield for every stage so a tactical leak is fair game in my opinion. The spirit of it is to actually show a functioning strategy for clearing the stage, not for leaking the boss.
6. Floor buffs against final bosses are not allowed. I’ve found that it’s exceptionally rare in IS2 to get the aspd buff in floor 5/6. With how much of a difference the buff makes, I feel that fishing 100+ runs to get this is disingenuous and makes it not a
7. Anything obtained that falls outside of this means resetting the run. So yes, if you hit a boon for +35% physical damage and you’re using physical damage in your run, that’s a reset. If you’re not using physical then that’s fine.
8. Specific to IS3, using a commission to reset a negative debuff on a unit is fair.
9. Setting a limit of 2 keys and 4 manual dice (9 if using the dice squad). This represents what you’d get between initial stock from Cognitive Shaping, as well as potential start rewards. Given that there are more randomized options in IS3, along with different mechanics, it’s hard to control for this. The spirit of the rule would be interpreted as “it’s fine unless a specific high roll is required”.

“Soft” No Relics

This is a looser term. In general I’m considering this as a term to encompass runs that have optional relics that don’t impact the kill itself on the boss. That is to say, no buffs to the team / no debuffs to the enemies. However, you will see optional relics that may provide buffs for other stages in the run, or relics that help build the team required as certain strategies can be very strict. The reason I don’t consider this in the same category is relics to help build a team faster (more recruitment vouchers, more hope, etc) means that your path to get to the boss can be very different, and you may not have to consider your choices as much throughout the run. After all, to get to the boss and win, you have to fight through several other combats. Some ops strong against the final boss may not be as good against other stages, and, in my opinion, having to consider how you will reach the boss is part of no relics. That being said “soft” no relics improves the flexibility of what can be done against the boss without buffs.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article was an eye opener into one of the hidden niches in Arknights. I’ve personally had a lot of fun, even going into a several page theorycraft for my first No Relics Hard Mode clear of IS2. I’ve seen other impressive clears from the likes of Bananalao doing 3 op no buff clears of Normal Mode.

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