Lord of Mysteries Marionette System Guide

What Is a Marionette?

In the original novel, the marionette is the Beyonder power of Sequence 5 of the Fool Pathway, the Marionettist. In the game, Mr. Fool grants the Sealed Artifact Utopia Theatre (乌托邦剧院), which gives every Beyonder the ability to control marionettes.

On day one of Open Beta, the Marionette system unlocks automatically once you clear the solo or duo dungeon Utopia Theatre on any difficulty, or once you reach level 35.

How to Obtain Marionettes

Open the Menu (菜单) and select Marionette (秘偶). The default hotkey is F7.

In the lower left, choose Obtain Marionettes (获取秘偶) to enter the draw screen.

Each refresh puts three marionettes on the theatre stage. The refresh rules are:

• You get one free refresh per day, reset at 08:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8).
• The stage also auto-refreshes once at 08:00 — but not if a gold-quality or higher marionette is still on stage.
• After a draw, if only purple-quality marionettes remain on stage, the stage refreshes automatically.
• After a draw, if a gold-quality or higher marionette is still on stage, you can hit forfeit to force a refresh.
• The daily draw cap is 100 draws; one press of the draw button counts as one draw.

① Golden Thread cost

Drawing costs Golden Thread (金纺线). Pressing the yellow draw button gives you one random marionette from those left on stage. After each stage refresh, the draw rounds cost 3, 6, and 12 Golden Thread respectively.

Golden Thread comes from various currency shops, activity rewards, the battle pass, and the exchange (auction house).

② Luck points and the pity system

Every 1 Golden Thread spent adds 1 luck point. Once luck reaches 80 points, the next refresh is guaranteed to produce an orange-quality marionette. Excess luck is not lost: any points beyond the 80-point threshold carry straight over into the next pity cycle.

③ Wishing

You can use Wish to nominate the marionette you want. After wishing, when the stage rolls an orange-quality marionette there is an 80% chance it is your wished marionette. If it is not, the next orange is guaranteed to be the one you wished for. You can change your wish at any time, with no limit.

There are currently 28 marionettes: 16 orange, 8 gold, and 4 purple quality.

④ Duplicates

Overflow duplicates convert into Marionette Clockwork (人偶发条), which can be exchanged for Golden Thread.

Stable Progression Draw Strategy

• Three purples on stage: use the free refresh first. If it is already used, draw once so the stage auto-refreshes.
• Gold or higher on stage: keep drawing until they are all gone, letting the system auto-refresh.
• Later on, if the stage shows a gold marionette you have already maxed, consider forfeiting.

Good luck or bad, this approach reliably nets you more gold-and-above marionettes, which means steady stat gains.

Luck-Based Draw Strategy

• Three purples on stage: use the free refresh first; otherwise draw once so the stage auto-refreshes.
• One gold and two purples: draw once. If you do not hit the gold, forfeit and let it refresh.
• Two golds and one purple: draw once; if two golds are still on stage, draw once more, then forfeit and refresh.
• Orange on stage: keep drawing until you have taken every orange.

Actual value here depends on your refresh luck. Because you refresh far more often, the chance of rolling an orange for the same Golden Thread spend is slightly higher than the stable route — but if you keep falling through to pity, your total return ends up worse than the stable route.

Recommendation. Because excess luck is never wasted, most players should use the stable progression route; good or bad luck makes little difference to steady marionette stat growth. Players who are extremely confident in their own luck can try the luck-based route: on a hot streak it reaches orange marionettes faster for the same Golden Thread spend, though you will still be short on gold quality. If you try it and keep hitting pity, go back to the stable route.

What Marionettes Do

Character Stat Bonuses

You can deploy two marionettes from your collection, and their stats apply to your character at 100%. Marionettes that are not deployed still contribute 35% of their stats. Every marionette has different stats: orange and gold quality carry two stat lines, purple quality carries one.

Marionette Skills

Your character has a dedicated marionette skill slot (default hotkey G) which only accepts marionette skills. Every marionette has its own unique skill.

Expedition Rewards

Expedition (游历) is the idle-reward system built into the Marionette interface. It provides Bound Soli, world adventure chest progress, and potion materials. Dispatching marionettes raises expedition income; higher marionette quality and level give bigger increases.

Castle Workshop Bonuses

Once your castle reaches level 3 (achievable on day one), the workshop module opens. The workshop has four buildings; a level 3 castle can build the Brewery (精酿酒舍). Marionettes can shorten both construction time and production time.

Transformation Into Other Players

Every marionette in the Worm of Star (星之虫) line can transform into another player. Send a transformation request to a friend, club member, or nearby player; once accepted, the Worm of Star copies their appearance and can follow you around. You can also dress it in cosmetics you own, or buy it a driving licence so it rides along with you on vehicles.

Marionette Progression

When you draw a marionette you also receive shards for it, used for later upgrades.

• Purple quality: 0 shards on first acquisition, 15 shards per duplicate.
• Gold quality: 15 shards on first acquisition, 30 shards per duplicate.
• Orange quality: 45 shards on first acquisition, 60 shards per duplicate.

Spending the matching shards levels a marionette up. Every level raises its stats, certain nodes raise its talent (which speeds up workshop and expedition efficiency), and every 10 levels raises the marionette's skill rank, adding extra effects to its skill.

The maximum marionette level and skill rank have not been established yet and need further observation.

Because levelling a marionette raises a lot of stats and ordinary players have limited Golden Thread income, the recommendation for the early game is to wish for and focus your draws on 2–3 marionettes that give you the biggest gains, and push the ones you use most to a high level for the largest short-term return.

Marionette Collection and Role Recommendations

The table above is the author's own reference sheet of known marionette data at the current progress point. Based on second-test information, the Marionette system opens a second deployment slot within the following days, so pure-stat picks for slot 2 are included as well. On stat choices: Monster Damage Bonus and Monster Damage Reduction only work against monsters, while Pathway Damage Bonus and Pathway Damage Reduction only work against players.

Tank PvE Recommendations

First pick: Worm of Star · Secrecy (星之虫·守秘). At equal level it has the highest PvE damage per second. Since Warriors can swap out of tanking into damage, this single marionette covers both playstyles.

Second pick: Dancing Baboon (舞王狒哥). A team-support option that supplies quality random buffs to the group.

Slot 2: Worm of Star · Stasis / Clown / Worm of Star · Art / Worm of Star · Chant. All carry Monster Damage Reduction, and Clown additionally raises maximum health, which fits the tank role.

Damage Dealer PvE Recommendations

First pick: Worm of Star · Secrecy (星之虫·守秘). Its skill is currently the highest DPS available and also pulls monsters together, which works well in both solo and group dungeons. Its stats are double offence-oriented, matching damage dealers closely — prioritise levelling it.

Second pick: Worm of Star · Stasis / Clown. Second-tier skill DPS with one stat line suited to damage dealers; worth levelling once you have spare resources, for the personal stat gain.

Slot 2: Worm of Star · Stasis / Clown / Worm of Star · Art / Worm of Star · Chant. Take whichever currently gives you the larger stat increase.

Damage Dealer PvP Recommendations

First pick: Worm of Star · Cornerstone (星之虫·基石). Single-hit damage with high burst, which suits the pace of PvP, and both of its stats improve PvP performance.

Second pick: Alpha Wolf (头狼). Its skill reliably staggers for control, and its stats include Pathway Damage Reduction.

Slot 2: Face Peeler / Carl Edgar / Ironwall Knight. Face Peeler is the only orange-quality marionette with Pathway Damage Bonus; the two gold-quality options both carry stats that fit PvP.

Healer PvE Recommendations

First pick: Dancing Baboon (舞王狒哥). The Spectator's own healing output is sufficient, so unless healing pressure is unusually high, a full-team buff support marionette beats a healing-skill marionette — hence the baboon as first pick.

Second pick: Worm of Star · Mind (星之虫·心灵). The only healing skill among orange quality, though its stats are mediocre.

Slot 2: Worm of Star · Mind / Worm of Star · Stasis / Worm of Star · Art. Because the healing form of the Spectator converts most offensive stats into healing amplification, look across your whole collection and take whichever converts into the most healing amplification.

Healer PvP Recommendations

First pick: Ancestral Armour (先祖铠甲). The PvP counterpart to the baboon: it provides a large-area Pathway Damage Bonus buff, which suits raising your teammates' burst damage in PvP team fights.

Second pick: Drill (钻头). Extra Super Armor, plus Pathway Damage Reduction on its stats, so it can also be used purely as a stat pick.

Slot 2: Drill / Carl Edgar / Ironwall Knight. These carry PvP defensive stats such as Pathway Damage Reduction and Control Block, which fits the fact that healers are focus-fire targets in PvP.