Thread:Aramiya/@comment-30054866-20180407235511/@comment-30054866-20180412131214

Aramiya wrote: yep i got her. i wouldve gotten cardes too, but i didnt realise he actually did damage so i got wiped out... got any suggestions? Maxwell's and Cardes' respective Strategy Zones were definitely made to be much, much harder than Zevalhua's or Afla's, and each have their own gimmicks. I'll focus on Cardes first, since he's comparatively easier to deal with.

On paper, Cardes seems easy - two rounds, each last one phase each, with three enemies per round. Doesn't sound too bad, right? But the problem lies in just how much damage they can produce as well as how tanky Cardes can be.

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Round 1: Cardes, Luther, and Phee

In all honesty the damage in this round isn't that bad s'long as you have decent mitigation - preferably 50% mitigation paired with some other form of damage reduction (e.g. Alan's LS) and decent HC management. What makes it a problem though is Luther. As long as he's on the field, he'll do a single target buff cleanse once per turn. The only way to deal with this is to inflict ailments onto him, which is easier said than done thanks to Phee ailment cleansing and negating every four turns. Your best bet is to deal with Luther first then follow up with Phee afterwards.

Additionally, Round 1 has a UBB punishment. If you use a UBB, Luther'll do his buff cleanse attack on three random units. Combined with Cardes' damage output, this makes Round 1 a fair bit harder. If you want to use a UBB, do it on the turn you defeat Luther so as to buy you time to deal with Cardes and Phee.

Regarding Cardes' thresholds: at 70% and 50% HP, Cardes will heal himself by a fair amount. If you don't do enough damage, Cardes may heal himself above the threshold; so make sure to deal enough damage so as to make sure not to trigger the thresholds again. Keep note that the 50% threshold has a 150% HP single target nuke, so it's advisable to get one unit to cross the threshold and guard the rest. At 20%, Cardes casts Endless - UBB mitigation or guard all recommended.

Essentially, for the first round, keep your wits with you.

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Round 2: Cardes, Tora, and Zebra

Here's where the real fight begins.

The main gimmick with this fight is dealing with Cardes' Void moves. Everytime Cardes is dealt a certain amount of elemental damage, he will be immune to damage from that type and will do more damage against that type for three turns. By far, his most deadly are his Void Deluge (Water EWD; halves BC efficacy), Void Terra (Earth EWD; reflects 50% of damage), and Void Shadowlight (Light + Dark EWD; hitcount boost).

Another gimmick of this fight happen at Cardes' 60% and 30% thresholds. At this point, Cardes will give himeself 50% mitigation and will idle. The following turn, he will do a massive AoE nuke that buff cleanses and negates leader skills - leaving you screwed. The only way to cancel this nuke is to reduce Cardes' HP to under 57% and under 27% at 60% and 30% respectively. This becomes challenging when you consider that this happens in tandem with Void moves. Note that Cardes has an additional 15% threshold which is an uncancellable nuke with no idle - use a UBB for mitigation.

Usually, the gut instict to deal with this is to switch out units who deal a specific element which is blocked by Cardes' Void moves, but this is problematic because of Zebra. Zebra will inflict a 90% BC efficacy reduction and BC drain the moment a unit gets switched out. Problems arise because Zebra does a massive single target nuke every two turns, followed by a BC efficacy reduction and drain.

This round in particular is incredibly challenging - but do note that there's an easier way to deal with the whole thing. This method utilizes the UBB hitcount strategy employed in Zevalhua's and Afla's Strategy Zones, but is made harder because of the UBB punishment. Here's how to do it.

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The Normal Attack Nuke Strategy

Buffs necessary for this strategy: Hitcount boosts (BB/SBB as well as UBB); OD fillrate (OD at turn's end); tristat and attack conversion boosts.

Optional: Bring Ceulfan leads and a Ravea. Do note this strategy can be done without either.

1. Deal with round one normally, farming OD along the way. Ensure that all units have full BC gauges and that your OD gauge is filled before moving on.

2. At the start of the first turn, activate buffs which are needed - OD fillrate, BB/SBB hitcount buffs, so on and so forth. Keep going until 91% or higher.

3. Activate your UBB hitcount booster. The goal is to nuke Cardes from 91% to 60% or lower. This will bypass Tora's and Zebra's summoning and will go straight to Cardes' idle.

4. Continue normal attacking to cancel Cardes' nuke, and get him down to hopefully 30% or lower but above 15%. By the point your UBB hitcount buff ends, your OD gauge should be filled. If possible, reactivate your hitcount buff on BB/SBB.

5. When Cardes idles for the final time, Overdrive and UBB your hitcount buffer and normal attack for the rest. Cardes should be finished by then.

If you're going to bring Ravea, you can use an Overdrive crystal by Cardes' 60% threshold and use her UBB. Her extra action buff essentially makes it so that you can have 12 attacks in one turn. That should be enough to deal with Cardes.

I hope this helped! (^^)/

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