Is it just me being dumb or boss stages, even on story mode, is really hard?

[Kyupiin]

Hello, I'm a returning player and the last event I played was Revival Uluru Games. I got back into the game recently and went through the entire story stages in a breeze, except for the boss stage. Suddenly, even with balance mode, I can't even win. I tried all possible team comps with what I currently have, which I have Jessica, Sotheby, Bkornblume, I even tried burn team, Spatodhea & Ulu, out of desperation (which I know is probably not good for the boss) and still hasn't been able to clear the stage.

I don't see a lot of people complaining about stage difficulty so is there something I'm missing? Is it just powercreep happening over the last 10 months or so? Or maybe I'm just dumb and can't git gud? Thanks.

[Hoxton]

FWIW Balanced Mode isn’t actually meant to be easier. The boss is usually much stronger in Balanced Mode than when not. 2.1’s event boss was a notorious example as a lot of people struggled with it.

Theoretically Balanced Mode is meant to let you experiment with team composition since your underleveled units are brought up to an equal playing field. You could still just disregard mechanics and punch through with your favorites but that usually requires being way overleveled with a good 6* to carry.

Which boss stage are you struggling with?

[Kyupiin]

I see. I thought balanced mode was supposed to be a feature to make sure people have what it takes to clear the boss stage, especially new players.
it's London Dawning stage 19.

[Overeagerdragon]

Originally posted by Kyupiin:

I see. I thought balanced mode was supposed to be a feature to make sure people have what it takes to clear the boss stage, especially new players.
it's London Dawning stage 19.

ooph yeah he's a pita in balanced mode.... bring someone who can either clear status effects (I think Marcus can do that, Toothfairy can with her ult if it crits) so the accumulation of pollution doesn't just kill you by attrition OR bring someone who can outpace the accumulation of damage on the wolf. Seeing as you get a decent willow in that mission you might be tempted to bring a poison team so you can make the most of Willow's inherit strengths. Tuesday can really shine here...

It's a battle of attrition in the end... even a single break in the amount of status effects the boss can inflict upon you via the fog-mechanic can SERIOUSLY increase your chances of survival....

Alternatively.... you can try to turn the battle of attrition bck upon the wolf itself... bring TWO healers and just outlast the boss.

Keep in mind that bosses are immune to control effects; EVEN if it's not outright listed in their stats or battle-effects... so a character like Anjo or Sonetto is useless if you bring them for their CC abils (though Anjo ofc still will do decent damage due to her followup attacks)

[Kyupiin]

wow I do not have any of those characters. And I also don't have tooth fairy. I stopped after Revival Uluru, so no Marcus or Tuesday. The best I can do to clear status is with Sotheby's ult. I did try Willow, Jessica, Sotheby, and Baloon Party, but in the end it's not enough dps because the boss keeps stunning my DPS in phase 2 and suddenly it's turn 20.
But anyway, thanks for the reply and help. I'll see what I can do with what I have. worst case, I'll just not gonna be able to finish the story this time.
I did get Flutterpage and I have 37. With Fatutu in the future, my team would look pretty solid.

[Hoxton]

This fight really rubs it in our noses how there’s still no budget cleanser except freaking John Titor. Honestly a major flaw in the game is its lack of budget options.

However that team comp can clear if you overlevel for it… I tried it myself with exactly those 4 at Insight 3 level 60, except Willow who was the assist, and I was able to clear. it’s not super smooth and I imagine with worse RNG you’d need to reset… but it’s doable. You could probably get away with insight 3 level 30-45

Sotheby is a Cure bot. Do not be afraid of back to back Cures because her Insight 3 makes all existing Cure stacks proc when they get overwritten, meaning using it twice in a row can be a big heal, or overwrite one stack to keep people sustained. But on the other hand be very careful about using her ult especially in phase 2. It doesn’t purify, it procs all poison and cures at once, meaning it will genuinely just kill you if you use it when the boss has ramped up enough poison. It might be smart to only use her ult as a finishing move.

Willow sets up for Jessica while doing her own damage

Jessica is for taking swings at the boss. “White Blankie” is almost always at full strength in this fight and ult-level damage on a single skill is quite nice.

Balloon Party does nothing but stand there and combine her heals into their 2 or 3 star forms, and only heals when the party is getting weak, her heal gets stronger the less HP you have so you want to play yo-yo with her healing. She can save you from certain death if you keep a 2 or 3 star heal in your back pocket

[Kyupiin]

lol interesting
I still don't have insight 3 Sotheby, and the other characters aren't even close to level 30 yet.
let's just hope I have enough time to level them up before the event ends

[Hoxton]

Unfortunately the game does expect insight 3 for event boss content these days which is partly why balanced mode exists. The other part is to make it as strong in game as it is strong in the story. Otherwise the day1 players who have all insight3level60 would kill it by sneezing on it like we do when farming it in Arduous.

If you want to try leveling up your guys you could farm LD-11 for currency to clear out the shop. The materials in there are better deal per energy than farming the actual dust/sharpo resource stages.

Otherwise I’d say keep at it. The fact you can last 20 rounds with it means you know how to survive his BS, that’s half the fight. The other is figuring out the comp that can kill him fast enough.

[Hoxton]

Sotheby with Euphoria will let you give 0 ♥♥♥♥♥ about this boss, I’d say if you want to grind to clear, focus on her.

[Kyupiin]

yeah, I expected that it would be a challenge in higher difficulty which is made for old players. I didn't expect the story mode to be this hard when all I want to do is know how the story of this event ends.
Which I think is pretty odd when they won't let me read the entirety of the story without having to pull my hair out trying to clear a single stage.
I just wanna know the ending and clear the story stages man..

[Overeagerdragon]

Originally posted by Kyupiin:

yeah, I expected that it would be a challenge in higher difficulty which is made for old players. I didn't expect the story mode to be this hard when all I want to do is know how the story of this event ends.
Which I think is pretty odd when they won't let me read the entirety of the story without having to pull my hair out trying to clear a single stage.
I just wanna know the ending and clear the story stages man..

Ironically he's MUCH easier on higher difficulty modes because Balanced mode doesn't cap you out AND you're not forced to take Willow... so you can simply build a team to burn him down.

[Kyupiin]

great news, I've finally beaten the boss
it was a really roundabout grind. In order to beat the boss, I need euphoria on Sotheby, and to unlock Euphoria, I needed to beat Chp 5 boss. I quickly found out that I don't have enough firepower to beat that boss either. SO, I needed to grind my 37 and Flutterpage. Only then, I can grind Euphoria for my Sotheby.
It's crazy how the recommended level for the stage is like Insight II lv 20 or something and good god who can even beat the boss at such level?

[Hoxton]

Originally posted by Kyupiin:

great news, I've finally beaten the boss
it was a really roundabout grind. In order to beat the boss, I need euphoria on Sotheby, and to unlock Euphoria, I needed to beat Chp 5 boss. I quickly found out that I don't have enough firepower to beat that boss either. SO, I needed to grind my 37 and Flutterpage. Only then, I can grind Euphoria for my Sotheby.
It's crazy how the recommended level for the stage is like Insight II lv 20 or something and good god who can even beat the boss at such level?

Congratulations!

FWIW Insight2 Level20 is the boss’ level with balanced mode turned off, with balanced mode on the recommended level is Insight 3 Level 20 - the same level your units get balanced to. Which is what overeagerdragon meant by how he becomes much easier after you beat him the first time.

[Heapirthyyy]

Yes. That's why you should either clear that stage in the easier difficulty or build your characters first.

[Hellfire]

Originally posted by Kyupiin:

great news, I've finally beaten the boss
it was a really roundabout grind. In order to beat the boss, I need euphoria on Sotheby, and to unlock Euphoria, I needed to beat Chp 5 boss. I quickly found out that I don't have enough firepower to beat that boss either. SO, I needed to grind my 37 and Flutterpage. Only then, I can grind Euphoria for my Sotheby.
It's crazy how the recommended level for the stage is like Insight II lv 20 or something and good god who can even beat the boss at such level?

I've heard about some guy who beat all the content in the game without ever pulling. I'm too afraid to check and discover the unfathomable depths of human autism.

[Applestack-K4nK4n]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3447992421
I defeated it (even on Arduous difficulty) using Jessica, 6, Barbara & Avgust. It's all about using the right characters & the right cards at the right times.