Okay. So having hit the new Labyrinth Dungeons pretty hard, I can say this: They're good. They're a level of content somewhere between low-tier Magicites, which I can basically auto, and 6-star, which I can't touch. In other words, by approaching carefully I can handle a lot of, but not all, of the LDs.

The game mechanic is pretty fun, honestly. You assemble three parties to enter the dungeon. Keep in mind that abilities and gear are non-duplicative - if one party has it, another cannot. Every combat action you take raises that party's fatigue level by 2, every time that party does not engage in combat lowers fatigue by 1. When fatigue hits 7, you take penalties, so you have to cycle between parties. Each dungeon consists of a series of floors. Each floor consists of an array of paintings. You can choose one of three at a time, each with different effects. Choosing the blue Portal Painting takes you to the next floor, and you have to defeat the purple Master Painting to clear the dungeon. Other paintings include:
  • Combatant Paintings: These come in green, gold, and red. I'm not 100% certain of the difference between green and gold, but red is boss-difficulty and does not come with a preview. Keep in mind that you can cancel out of a Combatant Painting once you've looked at the preview, but if you flee from an actual fight your dungeon ends completely.
  • Shrine Paintings: These reduce your fatigue to its default level (in later dungeons, that's 3).
  • Assault Paintings: Despite the name and appearance, these are good - they give you a bonus in the next combat encounter.
  • Treasure Paintings: You see three treasure chests. You can open one for free, a second for 1 key, and a third for 2 keys. If you open the one with a hero artifact in it, don't bother with the other two.
  • Exploration Paintings: These have a random effect. A lot of things can happen, including:
    • You are attacked. No preview.
    • All fatigue is reduced to 0. Not default (i.e. 3), 0.
    • All fatigue is increased by 2.
    • You find an item.
    • You find a sealed door, which you can choose to open. In my experience, there is always an enemy behind these doors. You still get points even if you don't open the door.
    • Nothing happens.

So, yeah. It's actually a fun exploration mechanic where you have to manage your parties' fatigue to overcome enemies. Fighting more often nets you more labyrinth points - and there are mission rewards tied to those - and gives you better drops, but you also risk fatigue. Oh, and while everyone in your party is restored to starting state after every combat, if anyone dies, their fatigue goes way up, so try not to let that happen.

The rewards are also really good. Hero artifacts are special relics usable only by one character, and consist of sets - a weapon, an armor, and an accessory. The weapon and armor not only upgrade, but they are inheritable - in addition to the base stats, each has an inherent bonus that never changes, and an extra bonus selected from a set, and every time you break level cap you can choose to inherit the better extra bonus. The stats are solid, and the set bonuses are really useful.

So, yeah, I'm really stoked about this new content. Know what I'm not stoked about?

Consider this your PSA. The Labyrinth missions include realm/element tickets as rewards. The problem? They don't actually give you the tickets when you complete the missions. People on the subreddit have been pretty annoyed by this and are currently firing support emails, so expect some apology mythril soon. In the meantime, clear those missions, but don't expect your tickets just yet.