In EDF 5, unless you cheat, you'll need to play all or almost missions in the campaign up to the last one, mission 110, in hard to unlock Hardest and Inferno.
Inferno is the most fun and interesting difficulty to play and that's where you can earn and improve weapons over level 76, which almost overwhelmingly is where the juicy and interesting stuff is. To be crystal clear, yes there are many weapons under level 76 that are awesome and very viable in inferno.
EDF 5 is not as bad as EDF 6 but still sadly focus on dropping inordinate amounts of armor crates, a few health ones, and a miserable amount of weapon ones. Smaller enemies almost don't drop crates, let alone weapon ones. Dreadful option... Thank you Sandlot!
I do suggest you read this first if you're new to the game:
https://cris3fgametipsandgrumbles.blogspot.com/2023/12/edf-weapons-farming-basics.html
Remember if playing offline solo you can play missions split screen with 2 classes by leaving one idle and EDF 5 will divide the lion share of weapon crates between these 2, with the second class usually even getting a few more.
However, it must be said that you'll miss a lot of detail and fun in the game by playing in split screen mode, and it's harder due to the reduced area of vision. There's no difference in enemy strength and attack power.
One of the most stupid things I see in Inferno weapon farming advice is that overwhelmingly they show how to farm Inferno missions using high end Inferno weapons. Duh!!!!!!! People who want to farm Inferno missions for weapons most likely don't have Inferno class weapons or even good ones, do they...
Oh boy...
Although several missions can be made with HARD class weapons, missions 62 Sweeping Monster Balls and 87 Approaching Monster Balls are exceedingly easy with them. Weapons range from those missions are pretty good and you can get a really nice bunch of INFERNO weapons in a few runs, which will then help in tackling other missions I mention. All classes can cheese both missions (AR not really on 87, but he can do the mission easily with hard class weapons anyway), as they only have pillbugs and there are places to hide where they can't reach you. Although Mission 66 Falling Monster Balls only has pillbugs as enemies it has 3 moving transports and you don't need the hassle of handling them, it's not an interesting option (and too close to 62 anyway to provide very different drops).
Once you have really good and upgraded Inferno weapons you're not going to play basic missions with few weapon crate drops, because you can go successfully for much more interesting ones. So the basic easy ones become what they usually are, crap.
This is very important if you want to get full stars on many weapons, as this can take a LONG time. If you don't aim for efficient missions that will provide lots of crates within a reasonable time frame this will take forever.
Be aware that in all missions there's a simultaneous 128 crates limit, so no more than this number can be present at the same time on the map. This includes the armor, health and weapon crates. When this number is reached enemies no longer drop crates until you collect some. There are quite a few missions where this threshold will be passed and in some quite a few times.
The overall mission also has a 1024 crate limit, all crates beyond this value will be invalid. Because of this, you can't farm missions forever, and you must stop and redo the mission again to continue farming if it's one where you can do it for some time with an enemy spawner.
Unlike in previous games, EDF 2025 and 4.1, on EDF 5 there are DLC weapons that only can be obtained in DLC inferno missions. Many of these weapons are very interesting, and the majority of the missions in both DLCs are very interesting too (unlike most of the ones in previous games). I highly recommend that you buy the DLCs, particularly if you find them on sale.
The only missions that can provide the highest level weapons are missions from 2-7 onwards. From these, the only ones that can be done with some ease and are productive and so interesting for farming are 2-8 and 2-11, so eventually you'll have to head to these 2 for the last few weapons and their enhancements.
The highest-level weapons in the game are the Lysander ZF for the Ranger (but the weapon that everyone wants for him, the level 108 Blazer, he can only farm on 2-11 too), the Raijin Limit Custom and the awesome Mighty Core for the Wing Diver, the Absolute Bunker DZ and the very good Nyx Assault for the Air Raider and the Super Heavy Crushing Mortar for the Fencer, but the Fencer's one is a level 111 unlike all the others which are 112. The previous interesting mission, 2-2 only goes up to level 107 weapons.
It's also important to note that there are guided weapons that only work reliably and are interesting to use if they're very to fully upgraded in stars for various traits. Affected weapons are:
- Ranger: Emeralds, MLRAs
- Wing Diver: Mirage, Ghost Chaser, Geist, Fenrir
- Fencer: Arm Hound, FG High Altitude Missiles, Arcanes (aka the NPC killers, I hate these ones)
The traits you'll want to maximize are lock-on time and rate of fire, reload will also help for missiles. Lock-on time and energy consumption, charge will also help for WD's guided weapons. All other traits will help too but are less important to make guided weapons viable. The differences you'll see once the traits are optimized can be staggering, turning weapons from trash into mission solvers.
I don't do voice-overs on my videos so I put all relevant information in the video description. If you belong to the TL:DR people, well... tough luck.
I do think it's advisable to read the descriptions in my videos, you might learn something. At least in the japanese versions videos it is useful to see what weapons I used if you can't figure that out.
Once you unlock Inferno you can play all missions in that difficulty. The best missions to play to get inferno weapons are in this order (difficulty / efficiency / number of crates):
Mission 62 - ALL Classes, Hard Class Weapons can do it easily, online solo possible too
Weapons range 55-82
This is a very easy mission for all classes. Just hide inside the parking near your start area, and pillbugs can't hit you. No explosives, or at least be careful with them and DON'T destroy the parking structure. You'll need a long-range weapon to hit a group of pillbugs far from the start position in the first wave. In the other 2 waves, all pillbugs are in attack mode. Very few weapon crates sadly.
Sorry for the delay in uploading a video, Ranger with HARD level gear, is the same idea for other classes, read the video details for weapons suggestions for each class.
Mission 87 - ALL Classes, Hard Class Weapons can do it easily, online solo possible too
Weapons range 65-91
This is another very easy mission for all classes. The idea is to hide in a rock area to the right end of the river where pillbugs will have a hard time hitting you. YOU CAN'T USE EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS. Ranger can use an assault rifle or shotgun, Wing Diver a rapier, Fencer dual Jack Hammer. Air Raider isn't good for hiding in the rocks, but can do the mission easily with hard class weapons and no need to hide. However the rocks exploit is not foolproof, and you can still be hit or projected outside during the 2nd and 3rd waves which are the zaniest, with Fencer having the least issues by always being able to have a hitting weapon.
Online solo will be harder for AR with hard level gear for obvious reasons.
Very few weapon crates sadly, but really high level.
Air Raider, normal run with HARD class gear WITHOUT using rocks exploit:
Fencer is the easiest and surest class to use the rocks exploit:
Wing Diver rocks exploit run, Ranger the same with a shotgun and Probe to make pickups easier:
Mission 88 - ALL Classes, Air Raider excels even with Hard Class weapons, others can do it but will take time
Weapons range 66-92
This is an easy mission for all classes. Air Raider excels here.
Few weapon crates sadly, but really high level but too similar to the previous one. Just good for variety.
Air Raider, run with HARD class gear:
Crappy Ranger run with hard level gear:
Mission 101 - ALL Classes, Air Raider and Wing Diver excel
Weapons range 71-95
This is a easy mission for all classes, with waves of termites. Air Raider excels here again, once you can get a flamer Nyx like Red Guard it's really easy. Wing Diver also is good with a rapier, but termites that shoot acid can be troublesome. Ranger and Fencer can do it but be easily overwhelmed.
NPCs are very useful, but difficult to keep alive with some classes.
Miserable number of weapon crates sadly, but really high level. Just good for variety.
Beyond these 4 missions, you'll need reasonable inferno weapons to farm other missions. These previous 4 missions share the same issues: miserable numbers of weapon crates per run and of course no weapons beyond 100. They're easy, but limited and very unproductive.
Some DLC missions in EDF 5 are exceptional for farming, and DLC gives access to exclusive and really good weapons. Many weapons most people want like the Ranger's Blazer, Lysander ZF and Hybrid Protector XE, Wing Diver's Raijin Limit and Mighty Core, Air Raider's ZE Blaster, Absolute Bunker DZ, Nyx Assault and Strike Barga (😋😂🤣), are only available from drops in DLC 2-4 and beyond, so eventually you'll have to farm those missions.
A few of the following missions are pretty easy, but that usually is only possible with one of the classes, and most times, using specific weapons.
There are a few really good missions to farm weapons depending on which class you can use and what you should aim to be more efficient:
- achieving cosmos deaths by headshots which provide twice the loot, 18 crates instead of 9 for heavy cosmos for instance
- missions where you can farm a spawner that generates enemies that provide good loot
- missions where you can leave the game in auto farming without the need for a rubber band (Air Raider only sadly, Ranger can do it but it's a lot harder)
- missions that can be done without too much fuss and provide large quantities of weapon crates, which will be your final main targets
Missions for Achieving Cosmos Headshots
There are a few missions where you can farm cosmos headshots for TWICE the loot. Obviously, the best ones are heavies which will provide 18 instead of 9 crates per kill.
By far the best weapon to achieve headshots is the Air Raider's Bulge Laser. Precise, powerful and time reloaded, nothing compares to it for this objective.
The next best weapon to get headshots to me is Ranger's Blazer. Sadly it's a level 108 weapon, and it's unlikely you'll have it early and with good stats to use.
Derived from the environment, Wing Diver's Phalanx is also exceptional for headshots on DLC mission 2-2. The reason is that there are some buildings where you can hide and be at a level where you can easily and mostly safely kill heavies with headshots. It will not be easy on other missions.
Although frogs and normal cosmos will also yield twice the loot, they're more difficult to get headshots because they're faster, although Bulge will also work very well on them. But they yield a lot less crates so it's much less interesting to bother with them.
Derived from the likely large number of crates that these mission will provide you'll have to pick crates at some point, because once the map limit of 128 is reached no more will drop.
Mission 67 - Air Raider, Ranger can do it easily with a specific weapon
Weapons range 55-82
This is an easy mission for Air Raider, with a large number of heavy cosmos. Just bring a shield, 2 Bulges and a fast-moving Nyx. Bulge excels in achieving and assuring headshots. You'll have to pick crates halfway or the 128 map limit will be reached and you'll lose crates as enemies will no longer drop them.
Ranger can do it but sadly his only efficient weapon to achieve headshots is the level 108 Blazer, which you probably won't have for a long time.
Lots of weapon crates.
Air Raider / Ranger split screen run with AR doing all headshots work
Ranger with Blazer
DLC Mission 2-2 - Air Raider and Wing Diver easy, Fencer not hard, Ranger more difficult
Weapons range 82-107
This is an easy mission for Air Raider, with a large number of heavy cosmos. Just bring a shield, 2 Bulges and a Nyx or Tank to pick crates. Bulge excels in achieving headshots. You'll have to pick crates halfway or the level limit will be reached and you'll lose crates as enemies will no longer drop them.
Wing Diver and Fencer can cheese the mission by staying on top of a few buildings and hit heavy cosmos. It's not foolproof but works reliably. Wing Diver can use a Rapier or preferably a Phalanx, Fencer can use the shoulder-mounted Galleon Rapid Fire Cannon M2 which is a non-explosive high mount shooting weapon. Ranger is more difficult to get headshots, although not impossible, his crate collection abilities are very useful though.
Lots of weapon crates.
Fencer and Wing Diver can farm easily 2-8 which will provide even more weapon crates, so it's a better option for both (read below).
For Air Raider this is an exceptionl mission for farming.
Wing Diver cheesing:
Air Raider with Bulges:
Ranger with Slaughter EZ:
Missions for Auto Farming without rubber band
There are 2 missions where Air Raider can farm endlessly without a rubber band. This works by assuring that most, or even better all, NPCs will be alive at the end of the mission and that they don't destroy one of the spawners, a transport. Then you just leave a Nyx under the last transport and NPCs will kill all dropping enemies and the wide range of the Nyx will pick them up. A Nyx is necessary because in both missions that this is possible NPC Fencers will likely be present and they move smaller vehicles like tanks.
Theoretically Ranger can do the same with level 81 HU04 Brute SA9, but neither mission is that easy for him, and Brute isn't stellar on either of them neither. Epsilon is moved by Fencer NPCs so not an option.
Mission 40 - Air Raider
Weapons range 43-70
This is a hardish mission for Air Raider, but can be considerably easy with higher end weapons. Capture the initial Ranger NPCs which have respawn trait. More importantly capture both Fencer squads that appear later on the right side. At the end don't destroy one of the transports dropping ants. Ranger NPCs will likely die, but once there are no active enemies in the map they will respawn. Station Nyx just under transport. NPCs will kill them, and the Nyx will pick the vast majority of them, feeding NPCs too. Go do something else and return 1 or 2 hours later.
Lots of weapons and armor crates. Little effort later.
Air Raider with weapon limits on, it can be a LOT easier with better weapons:
Mission 107 - Air Raider
Weapons range 74-95
This is a hardish mission for Air Raider. You can also aim for killing heavy cosmos with headshots, use a Bulge for that, gunship attacks can also work but less guarantees of achieving them. Capture the initial 3 NPCs squads. Rangers have respawn trait. Another squad of Rangers will appear when there's just one transport to destroy. Don't destroy the right transport dropping bees, it's the only one high enough that NPCs can't reach and destroy. Station Nyx precisely under transport. NPCs will kill the enemies, and the Nyx will pick the vast majority of the crates, feeding NPCs too. Go do something else and return 1 or 2 hours later.
Lots of weapons and armor crates, particularly if you aim for heavy headshots. Little effort later.
Air Raider with no headshots optimization:
Missions with farmable Spawner
There are missions where you can farm at the end an enemy spawner. Although this is usual, most of them only spawn lower level enemies that are unlikely to drop many weapon crates. There are a few that do provide enemies that drop a lot of weapon crates.
Mission 80 Reclaiming Base 228: Stage 2 - All classes
Weapons range 62-88
This is a slightly hard mission for all classes but can be done without much fuss. Focus on destroying the 2 pylons that drop gold ants ASAP, the right one that drops silver spiders and don't aggro all cosmos and frogs at once. NPCs are a pretty good bunch and they'll help a lot. At the end leave the front left (from the start) pylon just outside the base that drops silver spiders, and farm them (the leftmost one outside the base drops pillbugs, not interesting for farming).
DLC Mission 1-4 Reclaim Base 236 - All classes
Weapons range 77-103
This is a slightly hard mission for all classes but can be done without much fuss. Destroy initial enemies, then down 2 of the transports dropping red bees. Try to capture NPCs, they help a lot by distracting bees. Red bees are troublesome and can wipeout you or NPCs in a snap, so downing one of the transports ASAP helps a lot. Once only one transport is still alive it's easy to farm red bees by killing them as they drop. Ranger works well with Slaughter EZ, Wing diver with a Rapier, Fencer with Jack Hammer, Air Raider with Nyx Red Guard. Playing split screen with AR and WD, you can rubber band WD with a rapier under transport and pick items with AR.
NPCs can down the transport, so if necessary kill them.
Ranger with Slaughter EZ:
Split screen Air Raider and Wing Diver with rubber band for WD:
Missions with lots of weapon crates
Some missions do provide a lot of crates, and the more crates you get from a mission, the bigger chances you get better and new upgrades so this is important. None of them is easy but once you have decent gear many can be done without much trouble. Some of the previous missions I advised already can provide a lot of crates (obviously not the basic ones 62, 87, 88, 101).
Mission 94 Bloody Battle - All classes
Weapons range 68-95
One of the best missions in the game that seems daunting but it's not. After the initial cosmos and frogs onslaught, if you handle or avoid that the ants spawn destroy most tanks and NPC Nyxes, and later destroy the 2 remaining laser cosmos that are not hit by artillery, and the biggest troubles are over. At this point capture all NPC squads (2 Fencers, 1 WDs, 1 Ranger with Sergeant, 1 Ranger with rockets) and keep feeding them with health they will destroy all enemies. When the pylons drop, destroy ASAP the left one that will spawn spiders.
For pick-ups Ranger is good with Epsilon, Air Raider with a Blacker A or Red Guard, Wing Diver and Fencer have their own movement. The Fencer NPCs squads are particularly long lasting, and WDs will be your bodyguard.
Tons of crates in a concentrated range, and you'll even miss a lot due to map limits being reached several times.
Quick, violent but very rewarding.
Wing Diver:
Fencer:
Ranger:
Air Raider:
Mission 98 Coastal Defense Line - All classes
A mission with a lot of Heavy Cosmos, and consequently many crates. Drones are always a lucky prone enemy, and the 2 Imperial ones can be nasty. Air Raider can have an easy life, Fencer too. The others can do it too. Tons of NPCs.
Mission 108 Scorched Earth - Air Raider
Weapons range 74-95
One of the best missions in the game where Air Raider is king. You do need some good weaponry but no DLC ones, however, once you have the resources the mission is pretty easy to do and you can farm infinitely the giant pylon that drops in tandem a Queen Ant and a King Spider, which regularly provide weapon crates. NPCs will handle small stuff.
Tons of crates and over a small range, so easy to pick. A must for high-end campaign farming.
Air Raider giant pylon farming, no DLC weapons:
DLC Mission 1-9 Engage Aggressors 3 - All classes
Weapons range 82-106
A mission with a lot of non aggroed silver spiders and a Silver King Spider, so tons of crates. All classes can do it, some with ease, some with a lot of patience. Even possible online solo.
Air Raider:
Ranger:
Wing Diver:
DLC Mission 1-11 Underground 1 - Air Raider and Fencer
Weapons range 84-106
A cave mission where you can bottleneck enemies and with a lot of silver spiders, so tons of crates. Fencer can totally cheese the mission even online solo, AR can do it without many issues, even on online solo too. Ranger and Wing Diver need beefy weapons.
Fencer online solo:
Air Raider:
Air Raider online solo with a similar but better strategy:
Ranger:
DLC Mission 2-8 Engage Aggressors 5 - Wing Diver and Fencer
Weapons range 88-112
Stupidly, I was never a fan of farming this mission because I always start with AR for that, and he mostly sucks here to pick crates as the terrain isn't favorable. The problem with this mission is that the class needs to be both damage and pick-up crates efficient at the same time and neither Ranger or Air Raider are. Wing Diver and Fencer can do the mission without many problems and have an efficient pickup rate. Fencer just needs some more armor than usual due to the run being very risky.
For weapons 108 and above it's the only game in town besides 2-11.
It's VERY much advisable to farm Ranger and Ari Raider split screen with any of the other 2 classes or head to 2-11 with them.
Tons of crates of very high grade.
Wing Diver with ease / pickup efficiency:
Fencer with ease / pickup efficiency:
Sadly, very inefficient Air Raider runs:
DLC Mission 2-11 Engage Mysterious Monster - All classes but high-end weapons needed for some
Weapons range 91-112
The highest-end mission that can be farmed with some ease. In reality, it does not provide a huge number of weapon crates, but for weapons 108 and above it's the only game in town besides 2-8. Air Raider is the best here, Wing Diver rocks but needs high-end Phalanx ZAT (level 107 weapon, which you can get and improve on any mission from DLC 2, ZT worse but can still do it) and Ranger rocks too but sadly needs high-end Buster Shot (level 103 weapon, which you can get and improve on any mission from DLC 1-4 onwards).
Wing Diver's Phalanx has damage falloff, so you need to be really close for the weapon to be effective. It's risky but necessary.
For Ranger, Buster Shot has some range and no damage falloff, so still needs some risk. Buster Shot is way, way more powerful than Blazer and ideal on this mission.
Fencer can do it but he can't do as much sustained damage as the other 3, unless you're very good with Blast Twin Spears.
You need to get the mission finished before all NPCs die, or it's a mess.
Can be done online solo by Ranger and Wing Diver, but you need close to maxed-out Buster shot and Phalanx ZAT. You need to take a lot more risks and be very efficient to kill all but one of the big guys before all NPCs are dead, or it's end game.
Although they're worse for your NPCs and you, leaving an Arkelus for last is useful because it's easier to pick their loot than the Erginus one. Arkelus usually falls back when dying and loot will be in front of him. On Erginus, loot is usually under him, and his body takes forever to disappear.
Air Raider Tempests run:
Air Raider Gunships run:
Ranger with Buster Shot:
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