Disclaimer

As for most of the decks I try to craft, the main goal is to have a comfy and fun deck that can reliably execute its planned combo while having decent sustain. It is by no means optimized to deal the most damage / one shot bosses.

Most equipments and refinements are suggestions. Some explanations and alternatives can be found in the "Details" section of this guide.

Abc -> Combattant

Abc -> Card

Abc -> Mechanic

Abc / Abc / Abc -> Equipment

[Abc] -> Memory fragment set

Justice

Haru

Striker·FRONT

Passion

Owen

Striker·FRONT

Void

Adelheid

Vanguard·FRONT

Introduction

I recently saw this awesome deck by wolf0 with the brilliant idea of using Forbidden: Gesture of Freedom to permanently reduce Haru's Anchor Shot to 0-cost at the very start of battle.

This is also possible using Narja, but that version is less consistent as it requires you to reduce the cost of all 3 Anchor Shots every turn (it also opens up a Persona cycling tech, but I'm not a fan of that). Plus I want to use Narja in another team.

I wanted to try my own take on this deck, but without Hugo. For one, he's busy supporting Heidemarie, but I also feel like the Hunt stack management can get a bit complex (plus it needs 2 draw equipments which can make the deck harder to obtain). I tried to find a good replacement and, surprisingly, Owen fits! Which is also great because I couldn't find a team for him since the launch of the game.

Deck guide

Setup / first turn

The setup is pretty much identical to the original deck. Your starting hand will always consist of 3 Once Upon A Time and 2 Forbidden: Gesture of Freedom.

Play the first Once Upon A Time to target Haru's Anchor Shot, then play both Forbidden: Gesture of Freedoms to reduce its cost to 0 permanently (including the copies it will create).

1

Once Upon A Time

Upgrade

[ Unique ]

When a card is created, apply Blessing (5 times per turn)

0

Forbidden: Gesture of Freedom

Skill

[ Exhaust / Initiation ]

Decrease Cost of 1 random card in hand by 1

Next, use a second Once Upon A Time to get Anchor Pointer (one with a divine draw) that you can then play.

0

Anchor Pointer

Skill

Move Anchor Shot from Draw Pile or Graveyard to hand, then +25% Critical Chance to that card for 1 turn until activated

In a perfect world, you would draw into Protect Us directly. If not, you'll have to 'waste' the last Once Upon A Time to get Protect Us manually (you can also try your luck on another draw card like Charge Energy or Wind Charge if you don't mind restarting the fight multiple times until you hit the right card). Play Protect Us to immediately draw a card and get some extra draw on the next two Blessing cards you play.

1

Protect Us

Skill

Draw 2 Blessing card(s) of this unit

Increase Damage and Shield Gain Amount of those cards by 60% for 1 turn

Now we start copying the Anchors. Play the first Anchor Shot which will come back to hand (with Retrieve) and draw a card (with Blessing).

2

Anchor Shot

Attack

[ Shield Destruct ]

350% Damage

+100% Damage Amount for each activation of this card (max 10)

On Critical Hit, move to hand (1 time per turn)

The rest will depend on the cards you draw and mostly follows the normal turn guide: play Owen and Adelheid's cards as soon as you get them, play the Anchor Shots if they have Retrieve or Anchor Pointer if they don't.

Combo / normal turn

Start by using any of Owen or Adelheid's draw cards as well as Charge Energy to get all the pieces you need (prioritizing Adlelheid's Protect Us to get additional draw from Blessing cards). You can also play one Anchor Pointer with a draw divine epiphany for extra draw.

1

Protect Us

Skill

Draw 2 Blessing card(s) of this unit

Increase Damage and Shield Gain Amount of those cards by 60% for 1 turn

1

Wind Charge

Skill

Add 3 Hit(s) to the next Attack Card of this unit activated

Decrease Damage Amount by 50%

0

Charge Energy

Upgrade

[ Unique ]

Increases Damage Amount of Attacks Cards of this unit by 40%

Once all Wind Charges have been played, you can use Break Armor to apply Vulnerable. This will 'waste' a double hit, but having Vulnerable for all your Anchors is more valuable.

1

Break Armor

Attack

210% Damage

2 Vulnerable

If the target has Shield, increase Damage Amount by 30%

Next is the core of the combo, with the objective of playing Anchor Shot 15 times. To achieve this, there are only three simple steps to follow:

• Play one Anchor Pointer if none of the Anchor Shots have Retrieve
• Play all three Anchor Shots once and get them back in hand
• Repeat step 1&2 three times and finish by playing the Anchor Shots one last time

Details

Haru

Haru

Equipment & refinements

Swamp of Judgement or Burning Life are the prefered Chaos to farm Haru's equipment.

There is no required weapon for this build to work.

Criticism of Discord (Senectus drop) is usually the bis but considering there are other great unique equipments in other slots (Mask of Flames, Verdant Shackles), you can use the easier to find Dagger That Tricked the Shadow or even simply RFS-17 (since all Anchors will be 0-cost).

There is no required armor for this build to work.

Fairy King's Crown is the simplest option for some extra Critical Chance. Mask of Flames is also perfect as it synergizes with the Vulnerable divine epiphany on the Anchor.

There is no required accessory for this build to work.

If you are lucky enough to find it in the Arena, Rage Potion is a decent option (though it will only boost 1 out of 5 Anchors). If you don't have another unique equipment, Verdant Shackles is also fantastic.

• When Attack Cards of this unit are Drawn through an ability, increase Damage Amount of those cards by 50% for 1 turn -> Probably the highest damage increase possible, though it will only work if the Anchors are not in your starting hand each turn.
• When an Attack Card is activated on a target in a Vulnerable state, +15% Critical Chance -> With the Vulnerable divine epiphany on the Anchor, this is a free Critical Chance boost.
• Increase Damage Amount of Attack Cards by 20% -> Generic but decent boost

Cards & epiphanies

2

Anchor Shot

Attack

[ Shield Destruct ]

380% Damage

+100% Damage Amount for each activation of this card (max10)

Create this card in Draw Pile (2 time(s) per battle)

This version of Anchor Shot is needed to enable the "15 per turn" strategy. The Vulnerable divine epiphany is also highly recommended as it enables some equipments and refinements in addition to boosting the damage.

0

Anchor Pointer

Skill

Apply Retrieve to all Anchor Shots

Similarly, this version of Anchor Pointer is the only one that will apply to all Anchor Shots in the deck. You can try other types of draw divine epiphanies if needed (e.g: "Draw a card of this unit") but the generic one is the easiest to use.

0

Charge Energy

Upgrade

[ Unique ]

Increases Damage Amount of Attacks Cards of this unit by 40%

0

Charge Energy

Upgrade

[ Unique ]

Increases Damage Amount of Attacks Cards of this unit by 40%

0

Charge Energy

Upgrade

[ Unique ]

Increases Damage Amount of Attacks Cards of this unit by 40%

This version of Charge Energy is used for its inherent draw, but if you can consistently get all the cards you need, you can consider using the "+20% Critical Chance" version. On the contrary, if draw is an issue you can try the upgrade version to reduce the amount of cards.

Memory fragments

• [Executioner's Tool] 2 piece -> Generic Critical Damage boost
• [Black Wing] 2 piece -> Generic Attack boost
• [Cursed Corpse] 2 piece -> Alternative if there is a source of Agony in the team

Partners

Asteria

Even with the cost reduction on the Anchors, Asteria can still work as she targets cards with a "base" cost of 2 or higher. As Haru's signature partner, she is the best for personal damage.

Scarlet

Scarlet can be a good alternative if you have her, as you will often be spamming Haru's cards one after the other.

Lillian

Lillian is the best F2P option although her passive isn't that incredible (+80% Damage Amount at max copies). Her not being available in the shop also makes it harder to obtain her.

Owen

Owen

Equipment & refinements

Owen does not need specific equipment. He is just here for support and it makes him happy. Just make sure you run the Forbidden Catalyst modifier.

There is no required weapon for this build to work.

Tentacles of a Ruined Age (Senectus drop) is the best weapon for supports. If you don't luck into it, you can go with Crimson Sword to open specific effects via Agony or a simple Flashbang.

There is no required armor for this build to work.

Because Adelheid's shield cap from Blessing scales with max HP, Regenerative Ribcage is the best you can get for utility. Contaminated Helmet is also good if you are running City of Mist but only appears in a specific encounter.

There is no required accessory for this build to work.

Any supportive accessory will do. Source of the Forbidden is a good option to try and get some extra Vulnerable stacks while Sphere of Randomness or Dice of Derangement can increase the max HP even further (with the sphere you'll have to adapt your setup turn depending on the extra draw).

Cards & epiphanies

1

Wind Charge

Skill

Add 3 Hit(s) to the next Attack Card of this unit activated

Decrease Damage Amount by 50%

This is basically a 50% final damage boost on Haru's Anchors, as you will go from a single hit at 100% to two hits at 75%. It also serves as additional sustain thanks to Wind Riding.

1

Break Armor

Attack

210% Damage

2 Vulnerable

If the target has Shield, increase Damage Amount by 30%

Since we can't delete all of Owen's cards, we're keeping this one as it is a 0-cost. The Vulnerable divine epiphany makes it much easier to manage stacks, but if you have trouble with draw, you can go for "Draw 1 card of this unit" instead.

1

Wind Riding

Skill

220% Shield

If Wind Charge is activated this turn, gain additional 220% Shield

This card being an upgrade means it only has to be played once. The extra shield can also be helpful if Adelheid's wasn't enough. If you somehow manage to get a deck without this card (by exiting the Chaos early), you should absolutely do so.

0

Forbidden: Gesture of Freedom

Skill

[ Exhaust / Initiation ]

Decrease Cost of 1 random card in hand by 1

This is one of the key pieces for the combo to work as it will permanently discount a card.

Memory fragments

• [Tetra's Authority] 2 piece -> Generic Defense boost
• [Healer's Journey] 2 piece -> Generic HP boost

Partners

Yuri

Since Owen is not expected to do any damage here, the best option is to give him a partner that can provide some extra draw to get you out of an occasional bricked hand. Yuri fits perfectly and everyone should have at least 10 copies of her, locked and ready to use.

Adelheid

Adelheid

Equipment & refinements

Since Adelheid is mostly here for support (obviously, who would send her to the frontlines??), we can focus on giving her purely supportive gear. Laboratory 0 is recommended, but any Chaos with the Forbidden Catalyst can work.

There is no required weapon for this build to work.

Tentacles of a Ruined Age (Senectus drop) is the best weapon to support the team damage. If you don't manage to get it, give Adelheid whatever she asks for. She deserves it.

There is no required armor for this build to work.

Regenerative Ribcage is the best armor you can get in order to increase Adelheid's shield cap. Contaminated Helmet also works well if you are running City of Mist and happen to find it.

There is no required accessory for this build to work.

Source of the Forbidden can bring some utility when enemies try ti chip at your massive shield. Administrator ID Badge can also help in the event the enemy somehow breaks your shield.

Cards & epiphanies

1

Once Upon A Time

Upgrade

[ Unique ]

When a card is created, apply Blessing (5 times per turn)

The second key piece of our combo which guarantees the starting hand, allows us to pick any card we want and gives it Blessing. You should have enough Faint Memory to add an AP divine epiphany on one of these cards to make the setup turn easier.

1

Protect Us

Skill

Draw 2 Blessing card(s) of this unit

Increase Damage and Shield Gain Amount of those cards by 60% for 1 turn

This is the main draw engine for the deck. Since all Anchors (and most other cards) will have the Blessing tag, this card alone pretty much guarantees 3 draw when played.

0

Garden of Secrets

Upgrade

[ Unique ]

300% Shield

25% Shield Retention

1

Truth Behind A Story

Attack

[ No Count ]

300% Defense-Based Damage

Increase Action Count by 4

Garden of Secrets brings extra sustain and being an upgarde card it won't impact your draw after being played. If you really want to maximize damage, you can opt for Truth Behind A Story instead (though it will make it harder to manage draw and Vulnerable stacks). You could also keep both if you want.

0

Forbidden: Gesture of Freedom

Skill

[ Exhaust / Initiation ]

Decrease Cost of 1 random card in hand by 1

The forbidden cards are split on two combattants to have more leeway on their respective save data and also to avoid having to use a core to duplicate the card (there is one single encounter in Laboratory 0 that can also do this, but it's too RNG for my taste).

Memory fragments

• [Glory's Reign] 4 piece -> Adelheid will enable the full boost during the first turn with Once Upon A Time
• [Tetra's Authority] 2 piece -> Generic Defense boost

Partners

Clara

Clara is Adelheid's signature partner, and more importantly her friend. She brings a bit of healing (in case the shield isn't enough), some team-wide buffs and some extra draw with her EGO skill.

Rachel

As the F2P option, Rachel still brings some draw with her EGO skill and can allow Adelheid to gain some stacks of Counterattack (though RNG) for extra damage.

Showcase & thoughts

Full Scale Offensive: Coming soon?

Spiral Tower of Screams: Watch on Google Drive

Deck obtention: 2 -> With two combattants needing a specific Forbidden card, the deck building process can be a bit annoying if you aren't lucky. Getting good arena reinforcements for Haru's equipments is also very RNG.

Ease of use: 4 -> The deck itself is extremely easy to use and can mostly be played with your brain turned off after the setup is done. There is however a big gap in damage between playing whatever comes into hand and properly managing Vulnerability and Wind Charge stacks, hence the lower score.

Power: 5 -> I am honestly surprised at how much damage this deck can dish out. Reaching 200k each turn mostly depends on critical hits and Vulnerability management, but even with a few optimizations missing I still managed to reach the big number a few times. Seing an Anchor deal 10k damage twice is honestly very funny.

Sustain: 4 -> This deck (especially if you keep Adelheid's shield retain card) can survive quite easily, with Owen helping a bit. This is something that I felt was a bit lacking in the Narja version, which is why this one feels more comfortable to me. The shield cap from Blessing can however be an issue when enemies hit harder than the cap (which happens in Tower of Screams).

Total: 15/20