Unlock Criteria¶

Event Phase¶

Introduction¶

Theater Mechanicus is a new Tower Defense game mode added with the Version 1.3 update and it’s only available during the Event: Lantern Rite. To start playing it, you’ll need to complete the Alatus Chapter (Xiao Story Quest). This will unlock the quest “The Origin of the Lanterns” which needs to be completed to unlock the rest of the events quests.

After you’ve completed the above quests, you’ll need to complete one more quest to get access to the game mode, this is “Liyue: Theater Mechanicus”. The cost to play Theater Mechanicus is one Xiao Lantern.

Liyue: Theater Mechanicus¶

Talk to Ruijin and she’ll ask you if you want to play Theater Mechanicus, agree by saying “I’ll try a round” and this’ll take you to the main screen of the game mode, hit start and it’ll take you to the party selection screen. Although you can’t deal direct damage to the enemies in this game mode, you can influence it with the right party setup.

For example: Jean can use her Elemental Skill to pick up and throw the smaller enemies into the chasm or push them back into your Mechanici, this will be explained in more detail on the Stage pages. Once you’ve chosen your party, you’ll be thrown into the tutorial stage.

Xiao Lantern¶

Xiao Lanterns are crafted at a Crafting Bench and requires three event only items:

• Lantern Fiber - Obtained by harvesting any plant or fruit.

• Wick Material - Obtained by defeating any Hilichurl or Fatui, these seem to drop from other sources too, like Boars.

• Plaustrite Shard - Obtained by mining any ore deposit.

The Basics¶

Underneath the mini-map you’ll notice the following:

• Wave 1/4 - 24 Enemies Left - This means that there will be four waves and that the first wave will have 24 enemies in it.

• No more than 0/25 escaped monsters - If any of the enemies reach your portal, the number on the left will rise, if it equals the number on the right, then you will fail the stage.

• A (Build) hammer Icon with 400 next to it - The 400 is the amount of resources you have to spend on your Mechanici - this resource is called “Veneficus” and it can also be used in the Theater Mechanicus Armory which will let you upgrade the Mechanici for a cost.

• Next is a Mechanici icon with the numbers 0/14 - This shows that you have zero Mechanici on the field out of the maximum which is fourteen. Each time one is placed, the number on the left will go up.

• Start Wave - Depending what system you’re playing on, the controls will change, but you can start the wave early if you are done preparing.

Preparation Phase¶

As soon as you enter the Stage, you’ll have just over one minute to place down the Mechanici, these are placed on the square boxes with circles inside all over the arena, you’re limited to how many Veneficus points you have, and these carry over between stages if you haven’t spent any upgrading the Mechanici in the Armory.

Stages¶

Each stage will have a different layout and each one will also have some type of gimmick for you to exploit, the tutorial stage for example has a big hole in the middle of the stage and the enemies will come down both lanes either side of it which makes a great place to put down your Mechanici as they are chokepoints which means it’s easier to control their path. Talking of path, you can see what paths the enemies will take by the blue and red lines which move throughout the stage.

Stage Features¶

Inside the main menu of Theater Mechanicus you can check out the “Stage Features”, inside here, it’ll show you all the stages available as well as a hint on how to approach it.

Portals¶

There are two types of portals, the blue one is your portal which you must stop the enemies getting into it, and the purple portals, which is where the enemies spawn from, there can be multiple of these in a stage.

Co-op¶

This game mode can be played with one other player via matchmaking. The Veneficus Mechanici limit is shared between the two players, although the currency isn’t shared and earned individually.

Mechanici¶

There are six available at the start with four more unlocking as the event goes on, these are statue type objects which are imbued with a different element or even some other type of a mechanic like a mine, these will periodically shoot at the enemy and deal damage to them. These can be upgraded up to level six and their properties will change as they go up in level, to upgrade them you need to spend Veneficus which is accumaleted by defeating the enemies in the stages, more can be earnt by them dieing in the Recovery Mechanici. More in-depth information about these can be found in the Armory page.

Armory¶

The Armory can be found after speaking to Ruijin and selecting the menu in the Theater Mechanicus main menu, this is where you’ll upgrade the Mechanici as well as get more information on what they can do.

Difficulty¶

There are eight difficulty levels and each one has a multiplier associated with it, the multiplier starts at 1.0 and can reach a whopping 3.0. There are only a few difficulties to choose from at the beginning with more unlocked as the event goes on.

Challenges¶

You’ll have 22 challenges each offering a different amount of Veneficus as a reward for completing them, these range defeating a t least 20 monsters to not letting any enemies escape. There are also Mystic Arts which appear after a wave has been completed, you can select one to either strengthen the Mechanici or choose one of the challenges to add for the next wave. More in-depth information can be found on the Challenges page.

Rewards¶

There are three sets of rewards with only one unlocked at the beginning and the other two unlocked as the Lantern Rite Event progresses, you’ll be rewarded Peace Talismans for completing certain objectives, these can be spent in the Xiao Market, which is the event shop, check out the Xiao Market page to see what you can obtain!

We’ve Only Just Begun rewards¶

Guests Flock From Afar rewards¶

Glow of a Thousand Lanterns rewards¶