Stack to Ascension: How to Maximize Golden Core

All my disciples are Rank 1 Golden Core, this is what I do. (Skip to bottom for pictures of setup)
(also I’ve never made a guide before so sorry if this sucks but I saw people online having trouble)

Short summary: Pump up stats, increase spirit on tile, use multiple pills.

Pump up stats: Give them the best techniques to suit their highest out of affinity, sense, and constitution. If your character has trash sense and constitution, just give him vitality boosting techniques, that’s fine. Put on the highest stat equipment (except shoes, they don’t matter), and take stat-boosting pills. Use a teleportation array to move that special defense flag nearby, this adds +20 defense to cultivator as well.

How to increase spirit on the breakthrough tile: if you don’t have powerful arrays, certain herb fields put spirit in adjacent tiles, so I use earth essence blossom fields for +3 spirit from each for +9 more spirit added to my level 2 cave abode tile (1 Sealed Land flag, then 3 earth essence blossom fields to surround all 4 sides, but you can use any blossom). This is more than the +2 spirit from the early flags you can make and ends up with a full 30 spirit on the tile.

Make sure cultivator is at full health and spirit because current hp affects breakthrough. I use the teleportation array to move the special array that gives +20 defense to affect the abode tile (it can affect two tiles away), because you want atk, def, and hp as high as possible on the cultivator. Then I finally put cultivator on abode, (give 2 breakthrough chance up pills) stack all 5 condensing pills on him, hit breakthrough and check if it predicts 1st rank. You can also use some temporary attack, defense, or vitality boosting pills (needs to last long enough for breakthrough animation)

With everything perfect, it often only gets to second rank Golden Core, and while using all 5 pills typically doesn’t change the outcome much, often only a single rank, IF you are at that 2nd rank, using all 5 can boost you to 1st rank (If your character is op sometimes you can use less, try putting only 3-4 on then check prediction, take off another, check prediction, etc).

Also if breakthrough fails it only uses up 1 of the 5 pills so you just have to make 1 more, if successful then it uses all 5, animation occurs, and you have 1st rank.

You can see EaArSe on the level 2 cave abode, next to the sealed land flag and surrounded by 3 adjacent herb fields, this gives the tile 30 spirit. The Defense array is missing because I was using it elsewhere, but just use the teleporation array to move it near the abode as well (it effects two tiles away so it won’t disrupt your flag and herbs) this flag gives +20 defense to your cultivator.

With a great setup and decent stats, this guy still only hits 5th rank:

Now that I’ve put on my best gear from my other cultivators he will hit 2nd rank:

By stacking 3 pills, we can see he’s predicted to hit 1st rank, you will often need to use all 5 but the gear I put on him was obtained by my other golden core cultivators so it’s extra powerful and he only needs 3:

By maximizing stats through techniques, gear, and the accessible special arrays (can also possibly use temp stat boosting pills), increasing the spirit on your tile, and stacking multiple pills on your cultivator before breaking through, you can rank up that golden core to the heights of Mt. Tai.