The Deacon
This guy is probably the most difficult boss I’ve found in the game so far, high above The Surgeon in difficulty. His kit revolves around focusing a single Daughter down until all your Daughter’s die. Thankfully, with some really careful planning, he can be beat without losing a Daughter.
Phases!
He has two different phases, one above 50% HP (I call it Focused) and one below 50% HP (Rampage).
>50% HP (Focused)
In this phase, he mostly uses his Confession ability. This roots and delays all Daughters except the furthest one from the boss, who becomes the ‘Penitent.’
Do not get too close, he does have 2 AOE attacks, an Instant (Curse), which damages and delays all Daughters caught in it, and Delayed (Mass) Attack, which can one-shot KO your entire team.
Big tip for this: You want to have the Shieldbearer become the Penitent. With her armor and the Blacksmith’s Grace ability, the boss is unable to do seriously crippling damage. Any other Daughter will take damage that will limit their ability to continue fighting.
The Deacon’s main strength is Crowd Control. He is able to disable almost all of your team, but there are abilities that can bring your Daughters back into the Fight!
-Blademaster has the Sidestep ability, which overrides his Root, and allows this Daughter to continue fighting and damaging The Deacon even when rooted.
-Soulslinger can still use her Interrupting Round and Shadow Round abilities. I am unsure whether or not the Wrathful Rain ability is possible to use while rooted (Not confirmed yet), but these two are still extremely useful and pertinent to this fight.
-Shieldbearer, if you happen to get them rooted (or bring 2 like I did), you can still use their Saving Grace ability to Interrupt attacks, so be sure to stay close to them if you have no other option to protect the Penitent Daughter.
Try to keep everyone out of Burst. Bursting here could actually cost more than not Bursting, since the boss is capable of reducing his Initiative, and thus could actually take more turns than your Daughters if their Initiatives get too high. Shieldbearer Slams can help, but he has an extremely high resistance to Initiative Pushes, so you’ll need several (even with buffs) to actually make a difference.
<50% HP (Rampage)
In this stage, he gains two abilities we care about:
Liturgy (AOE everywhere except around him) and Holy Cross (Reaction attack in a + shaped area)
The first is manageable with some careful AP management. The Second is avoidable with careful positioning. In this case he will still use Confession, but otherwise he isn’t too different. Tactics from Phase 1 still apply.
Preferred Team Comp(s) (LVL 7)
Team 1:
Blademaster:
Lightning Strike
Sidestep
Soulslinger:
Shadow Round
Spirit Boost
2 Shieldbearers:
Blacksmith’s Grace
Saving Grace
Team 2:
Blademaster:
Lightning Strike
Sidestep
2 Soulslingers:
Shadow Round
Spirit Boost
Shieldbearer:
Blacksmith’s Grace
Saving Grace
Of course, you’re welcome to try out anything else. These are recommendations
Plan of Action:
Above 50% HP, make sure a Shieldbearer is the farthest unit from the boss. This is to minimize the damage he deals. Use the Soulslinger(s) to Interrupt and deal damage from afar, and the Blademaster’s Sidestep to close distances and deal large amounts of damage.
Below 50% HP, ensure that you stay out of the AOE’s and position to dodge the Holy Cross Reaction ability. There are other abilities that he may use, but they are unimportant and minimal in their strengths. As long as you pay attention to what those abilities are, there shouldn’t be any issues with this fight.
The Maid
This is a boss which will have you reading every single one of the abilities she uses to ensure that you don’t stupidly kill your own Daughters by hitting her with the Wrong kind of attack. IMPORTANT: DO NOT BE LAZY, USE YOUR EYES! READ THE TIMELINE REACTIONS, YOU WILL K/O YOUR OWN TEAM IF YOU DON’T.
Sorry, I have to mention the above because I fought this boss at Night when I was sleepy, and only realized that I messed up when my Soulslinger was dead in her second action.
Now, onto the important bit:
This boss has three Phases, Pre-Transformation, First Transformation, and Second Transformation.
SPOILERS AHEAD, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, DON’T COME COMPLAINING BECAUSE YOU SKIPPED AHEAD TO THE TACTICS PORTION.
Pre-Transformation:She has her special abilities, called Vows. Her First Vow, Vow of Chastity, boosts her Initiative (and I believe adds 20 armor permanently) whenever she gets attacked. Keep this in mind when deciding to attack her.
She has a basic Instant Attack which strikes the three tiles she aims at. Do not line up your Daughters unless you really want to feel some pain.
Then there are her Reactions, which are important. These are her main damage dealers, and are mainly what will K/O your team. These are prompted by specific actions, so make sure which one is active before using ANY ability.
In this Phase, the main one active is Sisterly Love, which will interrupt Melee Attacks and deal ~1200 damage. There are ways around this, like Imbued Blade from a tile away.
She also has a delayed AOE, so make sure your Daughter’s have AP, or an Interrupt to stop it.
Once she’s down to 80% HP, her First Transformation happens.
First Transformation:
The First Transformation adds new reactions and new AOE attacks, but thankfully, as long as your eyes are functioning, you can figure these out.
Her new Vow, Vow of Poverty, heals her for ~100 HP for every time you move. This isn’t so bad, but make sure to conserve moves so that your damage isn’t minimized.
Her new Reaction, Forbidden Love, Interrupts Ranged Attacks and deals ~1200 damage. See the theme of this boss yet?
Her new AOE, however, is actually tricky. Deception is an AOE that deals damage in straight lines all around the Maid, but when it goes off, she teleports to a random tile and does it again. This could cause some damage, but it shouldn’t cripple you entirely. AP management, as always, should be your main priority.
Down to 50%, and this is where:
SPOILERS BEGIN. I SUGGEST YOU PLAY FROM HERE WITHOUT THE GUIDE. AS LONG AS YOU UNDERSTAND THE BOSS, THE REST SHOULD COME NATURALLY.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Second Transformation:
Now that you have your unexpected but not unwelcome 5th member and 4th Class of Othercide, the Scythedancer, this is where you want to really just focus down and kill the boss quickly.
Her new Vow, Vow of Obedience, gives her an initiative boost on any action. This is not entirely terrible, since you can use your larger AP actions without too much fear, since a load of small attacks will set you back more.
Her new Reaction, Lost Love, Interrupts any Buff/Boost. This will interrupt Shieldbearer Blacksmith Grace and Slinger’s Spirit Boost, which means you mainly want to attack her with all your Daughters, since you won’t be able to do much Timeline chicanery.
Here, mainly focus her down. She has an ability (Vow of Chastity) which gives her permanent armor. Shred or steal this with the Scythedancer to maximize damage from all other Daughters. Keep an eye on what Reaction and Interrupt she’s using at any time, and this fight should be over like a breeze.
In this fight, there’s only really one build to go. You’ll need, I mean need, two Soulslingers to drop her HP fast in the Pre-Transformation Phase. Blademaster’s Imbued blade is a Delayed action, so it won’t be possible to use every time perfectly, and Shieldbearer’s have no range to deal damage in this phase.
Read the abilities and Interrupts, and you should finish this no problem!
