Snowbreak Containment Zone Guide - Tips for mastering combat, objectives and team selection

With the recent release of Snowbreak Containment Zone, you might be tempted to give it a go, which would be an excellent move. It is a fun game and quite intuitive, but everyone could use a hand starting out, so cast your eye over these helpful beginner tips. Before we get into this, the first tip has to be to take a moment to listen to the whole theme song. It is simply exquisite.

Tweak the gameplay settings to your preferences

This one is basic, but easy to overlook since there are a surprising amount of options. Playing through the tutorial will introduce you to a few of these, but it’s worth a deeper look. Auto Fire is the main one, causing your gun to shoot as soon as your crosshairs hit a target, but this can also be toggled for each weapon type, so your Assault Rifles can go nuts, but your Sniper will stay manual. It should also be noted that in order to enhance the experience for mobile players, a casual shooting mode [Smart Aim] has been added in the latest version update. This lighter shooting mode offers a wide range of shooting correction. To enable this feature, players need to manually turn on Smart Aim in Settings.

There are even three distinct control layouts depending on where you want to swipe to turn, or if you want a more precise aiming method. Each of these can then be customised further, with the ability to overhaul the placement of everything in the UI. Make sure you spend a bit of time setting up your options for whatever makes you comfortable; there are no wrong answers and a huge range of options.

Master the basics of combat

There is more to this game than shooting at anyone who moves, although that is fun. Your character will sport a Standard and Ultimate skill. The former generally pumps out heavy damage whilst all you need to do is aim and click, so make sure you read the prompts. These recover passively and fairly quickly. Ultimate skills require a bit more effort, through dealing damage or picking up energy items, and they are game changers. You will definitely need to choose the optimal point to throw these out, so don’t be afraid to hold onto them.

Bear in mind it isn’t all offence. Do not neglect the cover system and dodging. As you dodge, you will gain a period of invulnerability, so make sure you use it when a strong attack comes flying at your face. The cover system does what it does best, plonks you safely behind a barrier so you can calculate who to fire at and when. It is easy to neglect the basics and just charge around thinking you are invincible, that's a good way to lose character.

Learn all your characters

As you progress through the story, you will start to recruit a decent number of characters from the already deep and diverse roster. Since the starter character, Lyfe, is pretty powerful and has a good suite of skills, you might be tempted to only give any new characters a cursory glance, which would be a mistake.

You can bring three characters into battle with you that you can swap between, and even if you plan to main one of them, you should still put some thought into the backups. This is because every character's ultimate can still be used even if they aren't on the battlefield, and everyone has a unique support skill specifically used when they are warming the bench. This brings us nicely to our next tip

Have a diverse team

When putting together your team, it can be tempting to pick your favourite characters, or load up on power, which will definitely serve you well in the early content, but in the harder modes, it will fall apart. Putting together a well-balanced team is vital for success. No matter what character preference you have, you will need to change it up at times.

It won’t matter how strong your sub-machine gun-wielding star or their weapon is, when confronted with a shielded foe, you will be sitting around for a while trying to whittle it down, taking unnecessary damage. In that situation, having a bruiser with a shotgun who specialises in stripping armour will save you time, and will keep your favourite fighter in the fray longer.

To ensure you can keep pushing through the content, it is advisable that you balance your team. Take one strong Damage Dealer of your choice, whoever you prefer and whose standard skills you like the best. Then, pair them with a tank buster such as Fenny or Acacia who you will recruit for free, and who can knock out that pesky armour. Finally, consider bringing a support along. A character like Chenxing is perfect for that. She may never fire a bullet, but her support skill Psychic will offer you a constant source of health.

Pay attention to the mission objectives

Every mission has three sub-goals to complete. These are usually along the lines of equipping a Sniper Rifle, completing the stage in x amount of time, or don’t let a character perish, also known as remember to dodge. For the most part, you will be completing these as you play normally, but they are worth thinking about.

Each chapter has rewards for how many of these objectives you complete, and they give loot such as weapon and character upgrade materials, regular currency, and currency for summoning new units and stronger guns. These are invaluable resources throughout the game, especially when starting out, so make sure you complete them.

If you are interested in Snowbreak, now is the perfect time to play with the recent launch of the Mingdeng Ritual event. The story follows the Heimdall Force as they seek to uncover a sinister threat threatening the festivities. Even new players can get involved, with the storyline providing you characters to play as, culminating in a battle against the fearsome Fiend, with you in the shoes of the new 5 Star character; Chenxing Etheral Cloud.

Throughout this event you will be able to test your team's defences in the Tower Skirmish, as wave after wave of enemies try to overwhelm you, as you try not to be distracted by the beautiful oriental scenery. In the next week, the new chessboard-style mini-game Lighting the Way will also launch, giving you a nice chance to unwind after your intense battles. With Snowbreak: Containment Zones' first big update underway, you shouldn't wait another second to download Snowbreak: Containment Zone right now.

New players that join the game can currently take advantage of the following in-game redemption code: xhjmg9u74b. Redeeming this code will give you DigCashx50, SilverBuckzx50,000, Rare Augmentation Kit 3x5. Note that the code is limited in number and will be valid until 21st August 2023 (15:00 UTC+8).