Thread:KKytes/@comment-35334311-20180508154436/@comment-30054866-20180510082953

Hi there! Thanks for coming on over on my Message Wall; always nice to have visitors, haha.

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Cardes' Strategy Zone is quite the difficulty jump, after dealing with Zevalhua's and Afla Dilith's respective battles. For starters, it's the first Strategy Zone, alongside Maxwell's, which takes place in two battles instead of in phases, meaning that buffs don't carry over. This forces you to save your items for the last phase.

Secondly, both battles have different gimmicks. The first battle is problematic because of Cardes' threshold nukes (which can repeat if he gets healed over the threshold), Luther's buffwipes (which are only cancelled if he gets inflicted with an ailment), and Phee's heals and ailment negations. What's worse is that you can't use UBBs in this battle, because if you do, you'll proc Luther's buffwipe three times straight. This phase is comparatively easier to deal with - bring an ailment inflictor, get rid of Phee or Luther before Cardes, and just keep note of Cardes' thresholds.

The problems arise from battle 2. In this battle, the main problem arises from Cardes' Void moves. Basically, if enough elemental damage is dealt against Cardes, he not only gains total mitigation against damage of that type and adds that specific element's weakness to his attacks, but he gets additional buffs as well - the most dangerous being Void Shadowlight, Void Terra, and Void Flame, which grants a hitcount boost, a damage reflect, and a crit + attack boost respectively.

The natural response to that is to switch out units who are of that certain element, but you can't do that either thanks to Zebra. Zebra's skillset revolves around reducing BC Efficacy. Should you swap a new unit in, Zebra will drain your BC gauges completely, as well as reduce your squad's BC Efficacy by around 90%.

The final problem arises from Cardes' thresholds which occur at 60%, 30%, and 15%. For the 60% and 30% thresholds, Cardes will idle and give himself 50% mitigation. You have one turn to bring down his HP to 57% and 27% respectively, or else Cardes will OHKO your entire party. For the 15% threshold, Cardes will cast the nuke instantly, meaning you're forced to use UBB mitigation. This would be easy to deal with, but the entire battle has a UBB punishment, meaning you can only cast UBBs during the thresholds.

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Now, because of the absurd difficulty of Cardes' Strategy Zone, people have, naturally, tried to find ways to finish the battle in the quickest time possible. The best way people have come up with is to utilize a UBB granting a hitcount boost. The prerequisites for this battle are as follows:

1). A unit who grants a UBB hitcount boost (e.g. Savia, Ceulfan, Ciardha)

2). Hero Crystals & Fujins

3). Hitcount boosting Leader Skills & Spheres (Optional)

4). An Extra Action unit (e.g. Ravea) (Optional)

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Nuking Strategy

1). Deal with Battle 1 normally - inflict ailments on Luther, take out Phee and Luther, beware of thresholds, and guard if need be. Try not to use any items here yet. Alternatively, if you think your squad has good enough OD fill, buff up and use a nuking UBB before hitting 85%. If you're gonna use the latter method, try to nuke Cardes down completely - if you can't manage that just follow the battle's rules and you'll be fine.

2). When you reach Battle 2, buff up as much as you can - particularly, OD fill buffs, tristat boosts, and a BB/SBB hitcount boost if possible. Get your OD gauge filled before 90%.

3). Before you hit 90%, use the hitcount UBB and normal attack with everyone else. If you have an Extra Action unit, use their SBB. Get Cardes down below 60% if possible.

4). Keep using your normal attack and nuke Cardes down to 30%. If you have an Extra Action unit, use your Hero Crystal and fujin them; normal attack everyone else. You get 11 normal attacks and 1 UBB that way.

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Here's the problem - I looked at your units and, in theory, you SHOULD be able to do it, but you'll be forced to either use a mono-Light or mono-Dark squad, alongside a Ceulfan lead and Ciardha lead respectively. You don't have any other UBB hitcount users after all. I gave you a squad to deal with the Cardes' first phase, so I'll just give you a mono-Light and mono-Dark squad. Just use Ceulfan or Ciardha as friend leads, I guess. This'll be a squad with no Extra Action unit.

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Light Squad

Alan (Lead)

Kira

Krantz

Gabriela OR Lauda

Zellha

Ceulfan (Friend)

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Dark Squad

Grahdens (Lead)

Nyami

Shion

Lancelot

Ragina

Ciardha (Friend)

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If you can't beat the battle, try to find more Light or Dark units, or bring Attack-up pots. Do note that the normal attack nuke is not a 100% confirmed strategy. It's pretty much trial-and-error seeing if you can deal enough damage.

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If you have any other questions, go right ahead and ask. Sorry for not answering ASAP.

I hope this helped! (^^)/