JayZ's badge crafting guide (INFORMATION OUTDATED)

JayZ

NOTE: This is an old version of the guide BEFORE the 3.9 update. The rules and recipes listed in this guide do NOT work any more. There are new patterns and rules that operate in a similar general fashion, but are NOT the same as before. Please visit magic's Discord server to learn and discuss the new rules.

Last updated: July 15, 2020
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Important disclaimers
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1. This guide is an expansion of my original badging guide. It contains additional information about the crafting process, including a summary of new patterns and cycles that you can access thanks to the fantastic research of @Grady and his team.
2. This information is up-to-date as of July 16, 2020. The upcoming 3.9 update involves changes to the badge crafting system, and Fluxxx has publicly confirmed that the cycle as it exists now WILL NOT BE THE SAME after the update.
3. I am posting this today in advance of the update so that people can take advantage of the information in this guide if they want to before the update.
4. I do NOT know how badge crafting will work after the update, and I do not know whether it is best to craft now or wait until after the update. Personally, I will use many of my components this weekend given the uncertainty of what the new badge system will look like. My logic is that I can always accumulate more components after the update, but I may not ever have the certainty of crafting a DR badge with Dodge/Retaliate again.
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Introduction
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Ever wondered how to create the exact badge that you want? Thanks to research and information compiled by many people, we now have a relatively good understanding of how the badge crafting system works. Credit to @Grady for leading the research efforts on this, @TJCart who helped me refine this badge guide, the many unnamed contributors who helped perform the research, and finally @magic and his Discord server for providing a place for people to research and discuss badge crafting. To engage in detailed discussions about badge crafting, join magic’s Discord server here: https://discord.gg/PvWYqaQ
The Discord server will be particularly lively after the update, and I’m sure they could use the community’s help in mapping out new badge recipes and patterns. I plan on updating my guide as soon as there is concrete information available.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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PART ONE – Introduction to badge cycles and badge crafting
PART TWO – Definition of terms
PART THREE – Identify your location on the badge cycles
PART FOUR – Transitioning to different badge cycles (jumps)
PART FIVE – Advice on jumps and the full badge cycle map

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JayZ

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PART ONE – Introduction to badge cycles and badge crafting
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When crafting a badge it is now possible to predict many of the exact characteristics of a badge. As a teaser, the chart below shows two badge “cycles.” The “A” cycle has previously been referred to as the 1-DR badge cycle, and the “B” cycle was previously called the 6-DR badge cycle.
Each cycle has a predictable set of badges that you can craft if you use a certain recipe. For example, if you use one of each component (Metal-Edible-Chemical-Cloth) and you craft badge B16 (a % Health badge with a bonus condition of Strong, Vigilant, or Defensive Stance), your next recipe using one of each component will be B17 (a Damage Reduction badge), and you can use your best components to try to craft a high level DR badge.
Interested? Keep reading for more details.

JayZ

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PART TWO – Definition of terms
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1. Badges crafted using specific component combinations, called “recipes,” will follow a specific pattern represented by the “map” above.
2. There are two types of recipes used to navigate the map.
- The “standard” recipe will help you move along the badge cycle. The simplest standard recipe is one of each component (Metal-Edible-Chemical-Cloth), but there are many recipes that have the same effect as using one of each component (Metal-Edible-Chemical-Cloth). Using ANY of these recipes will allow you to craft the same badges as those displayed in the chart above, and will not alter your cycle.

- The “special” recipe will help you jump to different cycles. More details on this later. Special recipes are as follows:

 
3. There are a number of terms used to discuss properties of badges. All of these terms are reflected in the map above.
 
3a. Badge Effect (Type): There are eight different badge effects. Keep in mind that flat value badges are different from % value badges. For high level players, % badges are almost always preferable.
- Damage Reduction % (DR%)
- Critical Chance % (CC%)
- Damage flat value (D#)
- Damage % value (D%)
- Health flat value (H#)
- Health % value (H%)
- Critical Damage flat value (CD#)
- Critical Damage % value (CD%)
 
3b. Badge Bonus Condition (Bonus): You may notice that certain badges can give a bonus for certain conditions. They are as follows.
- No bonus (-)
- Teammate bonus if you have a certain hero as a teammate (Hero)
- Teammate bonus if you have a Shooter, Bruiser, or Scout as a teammate (SBS)
- Teammate bonus if you have a Hunter, Warrior, or Assault as a teammate (HWA)
- Trait bonus if your survivor has Lucky, Marksman, or Sure Shot (LMS)
- Trait bonus if your survivor has Dodge, Retaliate, or Bullet Dodge (DRB)
- Trait bonus if your survivor has Strong, Vigilant, or Defensive Stance (SVD)
- Trait bonus if your survivor has Iron Skin, Power Strike, or Ruthless (IPR)
3c. Badge Position (Dir): There are six different directions your badge can point. In your survivor screen, the directions are numbered. Each badge you craft can be either Even (positions 2,4,6) or Odd (positions 1,3,5), but you cannot narrow it more beyond that.

3d: Badge Set: Badge sets cannot be determined at this time.

JayZ

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PART THREE – Identify your location on the badge cycles
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The most important part of badge crafting is knowing where you are on the badge cycles mapped in the chart below.

To determine your position, you need to track the badges that you have crafted, including the Badge Type, Bonus Condition, and Direction of the Badge. Craft about 3-5 badges using the standard recipe with 1-star components. Based on the pattern you have tracked, you should be able to locate your position on the map.
Once you have determined your location, every subsequent badge crafted using the standard recipe will go to the next badge listed on the cycle. If you see an upcoming badge with a combination of Type, Bonus, and Direction that you want, then use 5-star components to guarantee a 5-star badge.
A few notes:
1. Your current position on the map only changes when you craft a badge. Whether it has been a day or month, the next badge you craft will always be at the same point on the map.
2. If you have always used random recipes, it is possible that you could be on different cycles. In this case, you may need to craft 5 or more badges using the standard recipe to finally return to a cycle.

JayZ

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PART FOUR – Transitioning to different badge cycles (jumps)
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Do you feel like you’ve mastered the basics? Here’s where it gets fun. Above, you see that there are two cycles. You are not always tied to the cycle that you are currently on. In fact, you can transition to different cycles to craft the badges that will help you the most.
Here is a simplified example of how you can transition from the 1-DR badge cycle (“A”) to the 6-DR badge cycle (“B”). The map below has the “A” and “B” cycles that you saw earlier. You will see the chart below has two new columns: Step and Jump
- “Step” refers to the next badge that is crafted if you use the standard recipe. For example, if you are currently on badge A20 and you use the most basic standard recipe with one of each component (Metal-Edible-Chemical-Cloth), your next badge will be A21. Use that recipe again at A21, and you will craft A22, etc.
- “Jump” refers to the potential to jump to a different badge cycle if you use one of the special recipes. For example, if you are currently on badge A20 and you use a special recipe (such as Chemical-Chemical-Chemical-Edible), you can jump to the “H” cycle, which is a transition cycle. If you successfully jump, then H22 will be the next badge you craft.

Putting this into practice, here’s how you would switch from the 1-DR badge cycle to the 6-DR badge cycle:
1. When you get to badge A01 or A20, craft using a special recipe.
- You will notice that A01 and A20 have NO bonus condition. If your jump is successful, you will receive a bonus condition when crafting badge A01 and A20. Read on.
- If you crafted a badge with no bonus condition, that means your jump was not successful. You will have to craft more badges using the standard recipe and try again the next time you get to A01 or A20.
2. With a successful jump, your next badge will either be H03 (if you jumped at A01) or H22 (if you jumped at A20). Craft more badges using the standard recipe. Each badge you craft with the standard recipe will go to the next badge in the “Step” column.
3. Once you get to H11 or H30, you will notice the next badge does not go to H12 or H31. Instead, the next badge jumps to B12 or B31. Once you craft the next badge with the standard recipe, you will be on the “B” cycle with 6-DR badges!

JayZ

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PART FIVE – Advice on jumps and the full badge cycle map
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Mastering jumps is tricky, but can be quite advantageous if you figure out the mechanics. For example, H06 contains a DR badge with the potential for bonus DR if your class has Dodge, Retaliate, or Bullet Dodge. This badge is awesome for Bruisers and Assaults, given that both Dodge and Retaliate are must-have traits for those classes. When crafting H06, you have a 67% chance of getting a DR badge with an awesome bonus condition.
So, you think you’ve mastered badge crafting and jumps? Here is the full list of publicly released badge crafting cycles. The list shrinks in the forum, but if you open the image in a new tab, you should be able to see a larger version. Discussions welcome on magic’s Discord: https://discord.gg/PvWYqaQ

A few tips and common pitfalls when jumping:
1. Use low-level components when first practicing jumps. I’ve accidentally used all legendary components on what I thought was a DR badge, and ended up with CC.
2. Pay special attention to the “Step” and “Jump” values. For example, when you are at H02, your intuition is that the next badge using the standard recipe is H03. Nope. The next badge after H02 takes you to B03.
3. Plan ahead and keep track of where you are. It is really easy to get lost when you are jumping, so be sure to take good notes to make sure you’re on the right track.

JayZ

Hold

JayZ

Hold

xbamfx

Haha update rendered NULL AND VOID. skynet activated self defense protocol.——————-
—Activate: Terminator X-Bamf 
***target: NML update 3.9 

Reeconn

Great work @JayZ , thanks for sharing 

MudMoccasin

ATLAS-Z

Burning the midnight oil @JayZ ? You been busy.

Thanks man!

JayZ

Hah, had this in the works for a while @ATLAS-Z. But the news of the update kicked me into another gear to release sooner rather than later.

FYI everyone, the posts should all be updated with the proper diagrams. Took a bit to get everything together.

JayZ

Barely been a few hours, but @Grady publicly released some new charted paths (E path) which contains some highly desirable badges. The chart in Part Five has been updated.

Billbam

@Burmeliinis how about posting your flow chart here also.

Burmeliinis

Sure, here it is. This helps with the jumping to find the best badges.

Link to PDF file: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AgGQ_C83qUKqhqp8Ei1j6jwvO2o1BA?e=vYcZuA

GIF version:

ATLAS-Z

Dude that's crazy. I'm doing that tonight for sure.

Resistance

Yes me too, going to use it tomorrow.
Just started badge-crafting because finally my craft-building is lvl 2 (before that I only crafted greys).
I'm at B13 right now.

It feels like a shame they're changing the craft-system. Amazing how players figured this out.

Resistance

Why does it state in the flow-chart: if the jump fails. 
Is this possible or did one accidently used the wrong recipe. 

ghost_pepper

Jumps don't always succeed. There are 4 possible outcomes.

1. No bonus
2. Traits
3. Classes
4. Heroes

If you use recipes 10-13, you get one of those 4. It's random. Jumps succeed if you move from 1. No bonus to 2. or 3. or 4. And the reverse, from 2. or 3. or 4. into 1. No bonus to any bonus. Any bonus to no bonus. Those are successful jumps. Example, If you move from trait to class or hero then the jump fails.

Here's another jump flow chart. I just used mspaint. Get all your jumping in while you can. It's fun! And remember, try to stay off of A.

NerfZone187

Players crack the badge crafting Divinci code. NG responds with: The NOT TODAY update, rendering hours of combined effort useless post-update.....

Sounds about right to me. Good thing I still have frequent flyer miles saved for rainy days like these. 😬

NerfZone187

xbamfx said:

Haha update rendered NULL AND VOID. skynet activated self defense protocol.——————-
—Activate: Terminator X-Bamf 
***target: NML update 3.9 

💀💀💀

Resistance

ghost_pepper said:

Get all your jumping in while you can. It's fun! And remember, try to stay off of A.

Yes great fun. All my jumps fail! lol

So despite your advice I'm now running all of A. From the beginning to A30 now.

Got a couple good legendary batches though.  And at A17 very lucky: legendary D% while I used only grey.

RkJK

Does this new batch sequence works ? Tried a dozen and nothing seems to work. Any sharing would be appreciated. Tks

ghost_pepper

An update to the community guide will be released when it is ready. I suggest save up components for now.

xbamfx

@NerfZone187 Mavs Skynet protocol has been initiated....judgement day is coming 😂 these dudes live for badge matrix lol 

Spadinco

Saving my metal fragments for sure. Those are the most important in the game since the are used for damage,  crit damage and damage reduction.  Who's idea was that?

Versyse

Meh, the new badge crafting system is so awful, I can't manage to get anything good, and I use legendary components to craft... I guess playing without badges is going to stick with me for a way longer period than I expected since I'm not willing to wear any shitty badges..
As one leader trait states, Only The Best! And as for me, it's either the best, or nothing! So sadly I'm not going to see any part of "the best" anytime soon, until you guys change the crafting system again, because I don't think wasting any more materials than I already did is going to help me get the best badges there are out there..

Gothgul

New system is WAY better. You can still craft badges with exact bonus you want and odd/even position. New map is still being fleshed out, but massive progress has been made. Check out Magics discord link in Jayz guide.

ghost_pepper

Versyse said:

Meh, the new badge crafting system is so awful, I can't manage to get anything good, and I use legendary components to craft... I guess playing without badges is going to stick with me for a way longer period than I expected since I'm not willing to wear any shitty badges..
As one leader trait states, Only The Best! And as for me, it's either the best, or nothing! So sadly I'm not going to see any part of "the best" anytime soon, until you guys change the crafting system again, because I don't think wasting any more materials than I already did is going to help me get the best badges there are out there..

The system as it sits on its own is a giant dog turd. You have to follow the map to make it not horrible.

TransmuteJun

I am totally confused. Please help! I understood the old version and it worked beautifully! Now I can't figure out where I am on the charts.

I crafted badges using 1 of each component. I got:

H% HWA
H% SVD
CD% DRB
CC% SVD

I can't find anywhere on the charts that have these 4 in a row????  Clearly, I'm missing something, but I don't know what it is. It used to only take me 2 throwaway badges to figure out where I was in the cycle.