Intimidating Stance Teams

Written by Reika

Overview

Intimidating Stance Teams are built around the powerful Intimidating Stance passive, which reduces the enemy's Press Turns if going second. These teams aim to out-slow the enemy, denying their Press Turns and unleashing powerful attacks on the counter-swing.

Concept

• Intimidating Stance removes a Press Turn from the opponent if going second. This ability may not stack more than twice.
  • As such, there are two flavors of Intimidating Stance Teams: Single Stance and Double Stance
• Going second also gives your team additional MP. This allows you to fire off stronger attacks without using Divine Brands.
• These teams typically run slow but bulky demons, with the aim of going second, surviving the initial turn and countering hard on their next turn.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Going second gives you access to more MP and in turn stronger attacks.
• Flexible team composition, can easily adjust battle speed depending on team members. Useful for revenging.
• Can safely ignore the speedwar as the team aims to go second anyway.
• Low barrier of entry: The team can be built using fuseable demons.
• High damage ceiling, depending on how much you invest into the team.
• Highly resistant to Meta shifts: These teams have been around since game launch and will continue to remain relevant for a long time.

Cons:

• Best options are Gacha and Banner exclusives.
• Will be at a disadvantage is out-slowed. This makes them prime targets for revenging.

Team

Now lets go in-depth as to how to build this Team.

Guidelines

Outside of the constrain of using Intimidating Stance demons, the team building is flexible.

Intimidating Stance inherently provides a defensive cover against offensive Turn 1 teams. Having two of them increases your defense against them. However high Tier offensive teams are well adapted to Intimidating Stance meaning you may be forced to add other defensive demons.

The need or/and difficulty you have facing off against either offensive T1 teams or more grindy teams drive the proportion of (Utility) Supporting Demons vs (Attacker) Supporting Demon.

• Get more Supporting Demons (Utility) with large bulk, revival abilities and/or defensive passives if you wish to strenghten yourself against very offensive T1 teams.
  • These teams are often full offense but low defense and as such can be destroyed if you survive and can land a hit.
• Get more Supporting Demons (Utility) with buff/debuff active skills to face off against teams with strong to very strong defenses that can force you into a grindy game.
• Get more Supporting Demons (Attacker) for fight against teams with strong defenses that could however be broken by the offensive capability you can afford.
• When determining your need of (Attacker) or (Utility), keep in mind that Core Demons (Intimidating Stance user) also fit into either (Attacker) or (Utility) with defensive skills or (Utility) with active buff/debuff.
• Many Demons classified as (Attackers) below have (Utility) characteristics and vice versa. Please take it into account when balancing the Team.

The Supporting Demons proposed here are simply the most noteworthy options. Many other may exist.

Core Demons

There are five demons in the game with the Intimidating Stance passive. As this effect does not stack more than twice (using more than 2 will cause the third to not remove any PTs), you should pick at most two demons from the list below for your party. Note that even though Masakado's passive is not named Intimidating Stance, it still has the same stack restrictions.

Arioch

Arioch

• The ultimate Fast Team Nightmare, Arioch is a physical meathead of a nuking tank who is one of the most powerful slow tanks in the game.
• His unique passive King of Vengeance gives him a bunch of things. Not only does it give him Phys Pierce, not only provides him Auto-Charge and Auto-[[Rebellion], not only does it give him a 3000 hp Bulwark barrier at the start of enemy turn to increase his bulk to absurd levels, it also deals fractional damage before the Auto-Charge and Rebellion right after the enemy turn.
• Lionfall is a powerful, high-critical AOE Physical skill that breaks endures, meaning that aside from tanking the damage, it can't be survived.
• Innate Epitome of Endurance gives him HP increase as well as lowers his battle speed.
• Panel 2 reduces the damage recieved when the Bulwark barrier is up, making him synergize with other demons that also provide team wide damage reduction.
• Every single arch is useful depending on the team you're running:
  • Purple gives him Intimidating Stance, making him the ideal tank for a slow team.
  • Teal gives him Drain Phys, making him a good partner for Rama's Drain Pierce and Demiurge's Supreme Creator.
  • Red gives him Boar Rush, allowing him to get around Drain/Repel Phys teams by being able to absolutely destroy any demon he attacks after the Auto-Charge and Auto-Rebellion from King of Vengence
  • Yellow gives him Lunar Downfall for some buff control in case your team already has 2 Intimidating Stance's.
• Arioch is the perfect slow team unit. He has absurd bulk, absurd damage, absurd survivability

Skills and Brands:

• Phys Boost and Phys Amp are good options to boost his damage.
• Because his Ag stat is so low, transfer Great Aim and Epitome of Aggression to make up for his horrible accuracy.
  • No, seriously. Arioch's agility is one of the lowest in the game which means that he misses so much. Transfering accuracy boosters is easy but getting cracked up brands with AC as well as HP% isnt but it is mandatory. The last thing you want is him missing 1 or 2 targets, losing 2 of your press turns and therefore, wasting his Auto-Charge and Auto-Rebellion, the one thing that makes him even remotely good for damage.
• Null Bind in case someone Binds him before his King of Vengeance activates after the enemy turn.
• Life and Guard/Ward/Shield brands with HP% and AC to increase his bulk and ailment vulnerability.

Beelzebub (Human)

Beelzebub (Human)

• A very bulky Anti-Almighty Phys unit, Beelzebub (Human) is a Dark magic attacker that can also provide excellent team wide survivability.
• Lord of the Dead provides very unique, hard to get benefits. Each time it is start of the enemy turn, it casts a Repel Phys barrier that also repels Almighty-Phys spells like Third Eye, Slaughter All, Blade of the Absolute and other Almighty-Phys spells on top of casting Rakukaja.
• Great Chaos is a good piercing Dark single target spell that mutes and, if the attack is successful, it chains into a piercing Elec AOE attack that also binds. Paired with his high luck, innate Insanity and high innate ailment infliction from the spell, hes gonna be muting and binding very often
• Panel 1 and 2 are what truly gives you what his kit has to offer. Panel 1 is a barrier break if the enemy attacks first and Panel 2 provides team wide 30% damage resistance if his Repel Phys barrier is pierced, essentially giving your team +30% of phys damage resistance. If you're insane enough, you can pair him with Titan to give you even 30% more team wide damage resistance.
• In terms of archs:
  • Purple gives him Intimidating Stance, making him the ideal tank for a slow team.
  • Yellow gives him Lunar Downfall for some buff control in case your team already has 2 Intimidating Stance's.

Skills and Brands:

• Human Beelz can be ran in 2 ways. He can either be a Dark tanky mage or just a support tank. If you're gonna run him as a Dark tanky mage:
  • Dark Amp and Dark Survivor are good options to boost his damage.
  • Epitome of Fortitude and Epitome of Endurance to increase his already high bulk.
  • Null Bind so that his Lord of the Dead cant be stopped.
  • Life and Ward/Shield brands with MATK% and HP%. Guards brands if you dont have his panel 2
• If you're gonna run him as a tanky support:
  • Epitome of Fortitude and Epitome of Endurance to increase his already high bulk.
  • Wild Instinct, Wild Guess and 6th Sense Survivor to increase crit resistance.
  • Null Bind so that his Lord of the Dead cant be stopped.
  • Life and Ward/Shield brands with HP% and PDEF and MDEF as secondaries. Guards brands if you dont have his panel 2

Masakado

Masakado

• The OG PVP Nightmare, Masakado is a physical powerhouse who is still one of the most powerful demons in the game.
• His unique passive Warlord's Wrath not only provides him two Intimidating Stance's, it also gives him Phys Pierce and a 100% very powerful counter on receiving Physical damage.
• His signature Occult Flash is a high-damage, high-critical single target Physical skill that inflicts Mortal (instant Death).
• Innate Vorpal Blade gives him a powerful AOE against teams without Physical Anti-Pierce.
• Both Purple and Teal can be used depending on team composition:
  • Purple gives him Phys Amp, greatly amplifying his damage.
  • Teal gives him Drain Phys, making him a good partner for Rama's Drain Pierce (allows Drain resistances to invalidate Pierce effects).
• Masakado is one of the best Stance demons period. Use him if you have him.

Skills and Brands:

• Phys Boost and Epitome of Carnage are good options to boost his damage.
• Great Aim and Epitome of Aggression can be used to patch up his shaky accuracy.
• Auto skills allow him to further support his team. Players who run this build typically use him purely for inflicting Mortal via Occult Flash.
• Usually runs Life brands to compensate for his rather low HP. Aim brands are the recommended sub-set.

Atavaka

Atavaka

• Has Intimidating Stance in purple.
• His unique active Enemy Annihilation fully debuffs the enemy before firing off a powerful Piercing AOE Physical attack.
• His other unique, War Aid, increases his accuracy and acts as Anti-Pierce: While he is alive, Repel Resistances will negate Pierce effects.
• High STR, decent HP with low AGI makes him the perfect Stance demon.
• This combination of abilities make him a highly flexible unit.
• Atavaka is the only Stance demon with an Anti-Pierce (excluding Masakado) and also the only one with a debuff skill.

Skills and Brands:

• Phys Amp is a good option to boost his damage.
• Auto skills allow him to further support his team.
• Epitome of Fortitude increases his HP and provides Critical Resistance.
• Wild Instinct provides him even more Critical Resistance, consider this if you constantly face Crit-pass teams like Hero Masakado T1.
• As Enemy Annihilation has a high MP cost, most players choose to run Divine Brands. Life brands can also be used to increase his HP. Aim brands are the recommended sub-set.

Surt

Surt

• Has Intimidating Stance in Clear.
• Tetra Shift synergizes well with Stance, and is great to catch teams running leads without Phys Pierce / cheap attacks.
• Ragnarok is a single-target Nuke that hits extremely hard despite his low MAG.
  • It does not Pierce though, keep that in mind when selecting targets!
• On the downside, his AI is notoriously bad for defense if not running Divine Brands with maxed Ragnarok.

Skills and Brands:

• Surt can be run as either a Nuker or a Support.
• If run as a Nuker:
  • Fire Amp and Fire Boost are good options to boost his damage.
  • Divine Brands are recommended on Defense, as the AI will default to Berserker God after the first maxed Ragnarok without it.
  • Spell Brands can be used for Offense, or if you are confident of winning after a single Ragnarok on Defense.
• If run as a Support:
  • Auto skills allow him to further support his team.
• Mind Break can be a nice tech in Offense PVP; it may be useful if you are not confident to always go second as it brings "protection" for a turn.
• Epitome of Fortitude increases his HP and provides Critical Resistance.
• Wild Instinct provides him even more Critical Resistance, consider this if you constantly face Crit-pass teams like Hero Masakado T1.
  • Life Brands are useful for increasing bulk.

Zhong Kui

Zhong Kui

• Has Intimidating Stance in Purple.
• High STR and LUK lets him hit hard and crit for Press Turns.
• Innate Auto-Taruka increases your team's damage.
• On the downside, he does not have Pierce and his accuracy is shaky at best.
• Being a 4 Star, Zhong Kui is a very accessible source of Intimidating Stance. He can also be deliberately capped at Level 1 to forcibly lower your own Battle Speed.

Skills and Brands:

• Phys Pierce (weak) prevents him from being walled by Phys NDR and Tetra Shift.
• Auto skills allow him to further support his team.
• Evade and Dodge can be used to run an Evasion build, considering his high LUK.
• Due to his high luck, he can also run Ailment skills like Mahashibabooon.
  • Consider running Sick Brands with Ailment Infliction % stats if running him as such.
• Life brands can be used to increase HP. Aim or Dodge brands are both acceptable sub-sets depending on role.

Baihu

Baihu

• Has Intimidating Stance in Purple.
• The earliest fuseable Stance demon. As he doesn't do much, he is typically run as a support and capped at Level 1 to reduce Battle Speed.
• Cheapest Stance demon, though you should really consider fusing a Zhong Kui or Surt to replace him

Skills and Brands:

• Endure and Enduring Soul increases his survivability (important for sustaining Press Turns).
• Dodge and Evade can be useful to bait the AI into auto-attacking him.
• Auto skills allow him to further support his team.
• Life brands can be used to increase HP. Dodge brands are the recommended sub-set.

Supporting Demons (Attackers)

Supporting demons that go well in Intimidating Stance teams tend to be slow, bulky and have high-MP cost attacks (for attackers). The section below lists some of the more popular options, though it is by no means a comprehensive list (feel free to explore other demons that tickle your fancy!)

Beelzebub☆

Beelzebub☆

• A very bulky Almighty insta killer with excellent stats, Beelzebub☆ is an Almighty magic attacker that can also provide excellent team survivability.
• Although good for either a fast or slow team Beelzebub☆'s kit is mostly for defense rather than offense. For starters, King of Hell provides a lot of different things. Not only is it an 800 hp Endure, if attacking first, King of Hell gives him Auto-Offensive Cry as well as a 3 mp regain on himself at the start of the battle. If you attack second, it gives you Intimidating Stance as well as Auto-Defensive Cry, making him a very flexible unit.
• Panel 1 makes him one hard bug to squash. If his hp is 80% or below, at the end of the enemy turn he will heal 25% of his hp as well as 3 mp. Unless you can deal with his heals, you're gonna have a hard time to kill him.
• Panel 2 grants him Null Bind, Null Charm and Null Mute. Transfer Prayer and he can become the team's cleric.
• Death Flyers is an AOE almighty magic spell that not only has integrated Debilitate but it also has 3 boost levels. First boost level it is 110 power, second boost level increases to 130 power and finally, the third and final boost level adds a 100% Mortal effect, making it a devastating 100% AOE almighty Mortal spell, shutting down most units and team comps that cant kill him on time or dont have a way to spam revives.
• In terms of archs:
  • Purple gives him Null Mortal, making him even harder to kill.
  • Teal gives him Drain Phys in case you need a Drain demon to shut down Phys AOEs.

Skills and Brands:

• Beelz only has one optimal way to build:
  • Almighty Survivor, Almighty Boost, Almighty Slowda and Serial Killer are good options to boost his damage and lower battle speed.
  • Epitome of Fortitude and Epitome of Endurance to increase his already high bulk and also lower his battle speed, which is also important cause his agility is pretty high for a slow team.
  • Life and Shield/Guard brands with MATK% and HP%.

Mother Harlot

Mother Harlot

• Mother Harlot is a slow Mage who excels in Almighty damage, while having a Charm ailment focus.
• Death Lust automatically charms her opponent at the start of her first turn, while increasing her damage versus charmed enemies. This is particularly potent with her Panel 1 automatically applying Barrier Break if going second.
• Babylon Goblet deals heavy AOE damage and drains 1 MP all enemies.
  • The MP drain allows her to spam the attack repeatedly, provided the opponent hasn't run out of MP.
  • Panel 2 will randomly charm enemies after casting Babylon Goblet. Considering how spammable this skill is, it is not uncommon to see entire teams charmed by the end of your turn.
• Extremely strong when paired with a high crit rate demon like Masakado as she is likely to have enough MP to cast Babylon Goblet again on her second rotation of the turn resulting in a 2 MP drain and massive Almighty damage.
• Teal is the recommended color as it provides Drain Phys to increase her survivability on Drain Teams.
• Panel 4 gives her a weaker version of Babylon Goblet as a chain effect at the start of the enemy turn, making her Babylon Goblet even more spammable despite costing 7 MP and shutting down a lot of fast teams if paired with the right teammates.
• One of the best options for consistent Magic damage. She is not an explosive sweeper, preferring to slowly grind down her enemies via MP drains.

Skills and Brands:

• Butcher, Almighty Boost, Almighty Survivor, Serial Killer and Almighty Slowda can be used to increase her damage.
• Epitome of Fortitude and Epitome of Endurance to increase her bulk.
• Life and Ward/Guard/Shield brands are recommended to increase her overall longevity. This gives her more chances to spam Babylon Goblet.

Cthulhu

Cthulhu

• Cthulhu is just pure insanity. He has so much to offer for a slow team.
• Innate Almighty Survivor and excellent Ma, Vi and Lu stats that benefit his kit perfectly.
• Where to begin...his unique passive Call of R'lyeh gives him TWO Intimidating Stance's, Null Mortal, a unique uncleansable status ailment called Gloom, fractional damage that reduces the enemy team's mp if attacking first and a 30% damage increase against Gloomed enemies.
• The flexibility of Call of R'lyeh means that he could be used for a fast team but you wont get the most out of his kit if you do.
• What is Gloom? Gloom is an uncleasable status ailment that reduces AC and EV, ailment infliction, critical hit rate and increases ailment and critical hit susceptibility. Basically a permanent debuff that can only be cured by overriting it with another effect called Zenith.
• His unique Almighty magic spell, Lost Sanity, is basically a 6 MP Megidolaon with a stronger version of Mahashibabooon and Mahamarin Karinon and ALSO reduces 2 MP on hit enemies. If maxed out, it costs only 5 MP. This makes him one of the most annoying units to fight against because in binds, charms and makes you unable to attack if you can't deal with the MP reduction.
• Having FOUR elemental Drains makes him the perfect unit for Drain Teams.
• He has two good archs:
  • Yellow gives him a passive unique to him, Suk Flexi. Its Auto-Sukuka if you attack first and Auto-Sukunda if the enemy attacks first. Perfect if you're gonna pair him with dodgy or phys units.
  • Purple gives him Epitome of Fortitude which makes him even tankier.
• He is pure cancer to deal with. If you have him, use him and have fun.

Skills and Brands:

• Butcher, Serial Killer, Almighty Debuff, Almighty Boost, Almighty Slowda can be used to increase his damage, improve his ailment infliction and lower battle speed.
• Epitome of Endurance increases his HP and lowers battle speed, something that's required due to his high agility.
• Wild Instinct provides him even more Critical Resistance, consider this if you constantly face Crit-pass teams like Hero Masakado T1.
• Life Brands are usually used to make him even tankier, though Divine can be used if you want to spam Lost Sanity and be annoying. Shield or Guard brands are the recommended sub-set for increased bulk.

Vairocana

Vairocana

• Vairocana is an Almighty Mage who excels going second.
• Radiant Mantra wipes out all buffs on the enemy side and debuffs on your side at the start of their turn, essentially negating all their Auto skills.
• Path of Prominence deals respectable Almighty damage while giving your team full buffs, letting him attack and support at the same time.
• Purple gives him Butcher to further enhance his damage.
• As he naturally repels Fire and Light, this makes him an ideal partner for Atavaka. This combination in particular counters Archangels, as he is immune to two of their AOE elements.
  • You can also run Teal for yet another Repel resistance in Repel Dark.
• His AGI is quite high for this team: avoid putting another "high" AGI demon if you want Vairocana in the team.
• An Almighty Mage that really shines with Atavaka, consider running him if Atavaka is your Stance carrier.

Skills and Brands:

• Serial Killer and Berserker can be used to increase his damage.
• Auto skills allow him to further support his team.
• Epitome of Fortitude increases his HP and provides Critical Resistance.
• Wild Instinct provides him even more Critical Resistance, consider this if you constantly face Crit-pass teams like Hero Masakado T1.
• Divine Brands are recommended as Path of Prominence has a steep cost.

Lucifer

Lucifer

• Lucifer's unique Morning Star does colossal Almighty damage in exchange for having a huge MP cost. As such, he is perfect for Intimidating Stance teams.
• Purple is the recommended color for Butcher, which further increases his damage.
• Good Brands and Panels are necessary for Lucifer to do his job in Intimidating Stance Teams.
• Has a too "high" AGI stat making Lucifer quite tricky to slot him in a slow team.
• Fast Debilitate and the +30 points in Ma and Vi not only maintains the enemy debuffed at no cost but it fixes his mediocre Ma and okay-ish Vi stats.
  • Indeed, sometimes losing matches because your team outsped the opponent's is less of a problem in Defense than in Random PVP Offense.
• He wont be able to shoot Morning Star as much because of the high mp cost. Since it has a 3 use limit, you need to make those 3 uses count. Being debuffed while the enemy is buffed might not be the best time to attack.
• One of the best Fuseable attackers for this Team. He requires expensive investment in Panels and Brands but has a high ceiling.

Skills and Brands:

• Serial Killer, Almighty Boost, Almighty Slowda can be used to increase his damage and lower battle speed to get around his high agility.
• With strong Brands and Panel 3, he can also afford to get defensive skills:
  • Epitome of Fortitude or Wild Instinct to fend off the Phys Metagame.
  • Enduring Soul can be clutch against mage. In Defense, it can surprise human opponents.
  • Resist Light is a cheap defensive skill. Useful if you have a hard time against Archangel (i.e. you don't use a tanky Paneled Asherah).
• Divine Brands are a must to get around his very high mp costs. Life Brands if you already have a way to deal with his high MP costs. The rest could be either Ward, Guard or Shield Brands to improve his defensive capabilities.

Cu Chulainn

Cu Chulainn

• Cu Chulainn is a cheap demon to fuse for Intimidating Stance teams.
• Low AGI helps ensure your team goes second.
• Purple for Force Pierce is essential, allowing Cu Chulainn to use Mazandyne more freely.
• Panel 1, panel 4 and innate Savage Glee allows him to also be run as a pure physical attacker. It boosts his AOE damage, gives him sky high 100% phys AC (140% if you're attacking with maxed out Gae Bolg) and makes AOE spells 1 MP cheaper.
• Since Gae Bolg is a random hitting phys spell, it might not the best option for pvp. Although, because of the MP reduction of AOE spells he has built in his panels, you can transfer whatever strong phys AOE spell and take advantage of that 100% AC, MP reduction and AOE damage increase from his panels. Transfer a phys booster on the remaining slot and Cu Chulainn will be one of the best fusable phys attackers.
• He is hard-countered by Drain Teams whose popularity soars as you climb the ladder.
• His low durability is also a large issue as you climb higher. While his St stat is good, his Ma stat is low, causing a low damage output.
• The cheapest (Attacker) but also with a low ceiling for this Team.

Skills and Brands

• Force Amp and Force Boost
• Phys Amp, Phys Boost, Epitome of Carnage, Butcher, Serial Killer, Force Amp and/or Force Boost are great transferables depending on if you're gonna run him as a Force mage or a Phys attacker.
• Mazan L is a low MP skill you can use after spending your MP on Mazandyne a first time.
• If you're gonna run him as a phys attacker, Titanomachia, Vorpal Blade, or even Herculean Strike or Herculean Strike L if you want a cheap, very much spammable AOE phys spell.
• Life Brands can be used to cover his low durability. Alternatively, go Spell/War Brands if you need more firepower.

Vishnu

Vishnu

• Almighty caster with built-in durability but lackluster damage output.
• Vishnu has a low AGI. It will help for going second.
• High MAG stat can conpensate for the lack of unique skills that can boost his damage.
• Red is the recommended color, giving him Megidolaon for 7 MP, 5 MP if his panel 3 is unlocked.
• His unique skill Avatar is a slightly improved Enduring Soul. This goes well with Intimidating Stance as you want to survive 1 Turn.
• Has a weakness to Fire which can be a problem in face of the increasingly popular Elohim and Adramelech, especially in higher ranks.
• He is in an awkward position in terms of resources expended: much more expensive to fuse than units like Cu Chulainn but without the ceiling of Lucifer. He can be useful if you get him from a lucky gacha pull, but is probably not worth the Magnetite it takes to fuse him from scratch.

Skills and Brands

• Butcher, Serial Killer, Almighty Boost, Almighty Slowda to increase his low damage output.
• Since he already has Avatar you can think about increasing his durability even further with Epitome of Fortitude or Wild Instinct.
  • Enduring Soul is a cheap alternative.
  • Resist Fire is another defensive option if you have issue against Fire mages like Quetzalcoatl A, Mahakala and Uriel.
• You can also go all-in by transferring Epitome of Fortitude/Wild Instinct + Enduring Soul.
  • Going for Enduring Soul and Endure in another cheap alternative for a defensive all-in: effective against non-Fire mages but can be suboptimal if you meet more Fire mages or/and high Crit Physical attackers like Masakado, Guan Yu, Asura Lord etc.
• Spell Brands to take advantage to his high MAG or Life Brands to further his durability kit.

Surt A

Surt A

• A very powerful Fire attacker that has some interesting things to offer.
• Innate Fire Amp and incredible Ma stat means he will hit hard.
• His unique passibe, Twilight Inferno, on top of giving him Fire Pierce, it activates a stronger version of Maragidyne whenever he dies. Although it only activates once per battle, its enough to give fast glass canon teams a very bad time if they're not prepared to deal with the damage
• His panel 2 fixes his main issue. It makes it so that his regular attack is basically a free Agi instead of the regular physical attack. This is perfect in the case where he runs out of MP or you encounter a Drain Fire inside Drain Teams.
• Eruption is a very powerful and cheap AOE fire spell that activates a weaker version of Fire Breath that always hits 4 times as a chain effect if the attack is successful.
• Low agility, no accuracy issues if panel 2 is unlocked, this makes him the perfect slow magic attacker
• Although beware of the lack of Null Mortal. Yes, you want him to die for his passive to activate but you also want him to stay alive and provide for the team.
• Also, beware of his Ice weakness. Ice mages are becoming more popular in the current meta.
• In terms of archs:
  • Purple gives him Intimidating Stance, making him even better for a slow team.

Skills and Brands:

• Fire Survivor, Fire Boost, Butcher and Fire Slowda are good options to boost his damage and lower battle speed.
• Epitome of Fortitude and Epitome of Endurance to increase his bulk and also lower his battle speed.
• Life and Shield/Guard brands with MATK% and HP%.

Adramelech

Adramelech

• An absurd single target Fire nuker that can 1-shot even very bulky tanks if built propertly. Amazing Ma stat and tons of Fire increase in his kit means that he will hit really hard, even without transferables.
• Sun God's Majesty is, as expected from modern units, a very loaded passive. It gives this very beaufiful and fashionable donkey a 20% HP increase if leveled, Auto-Luster Candy, Fire Pierce, Fire Amp and a punish for demons that give their team MP. Whenever the enemy gains MP though a spell or a passive, Sun God's Majesty removes 1 MP from the entire enemy team, deals fractional damage and give Adramelech's team a barrier against ailments, making Adramelech the perfect counter agaisnt Angra Mainyu
• Sacrificial Inferno is one of the most powerful single target spells in the game at a base power of 240, ignores endures and has a cost of just 5 MP if maxed out. If the attack is successful (meaning if you're smart enough to not hit a Drain Fire in Drain Teams), it will cast Tarukaja, increasing the team's damage even further.
• Because he has innate Fire Survivor and 25% Fire damage increase in Sun God's Majesty, he already has 40% fire damage increase WITHOUT transferables. If you have him in purple, he gets even more damage increase, increasing the overall damage output to 60%. This is one hard hitting donkey!
• Panel 2 gives him Auto-Debilitate, increasing his usefulness.
• Although he can work for a fast team, his meat and potatoes lies within slow teams. But keep in mind that his agility is quite high, therefore he will drag up your battle speed.
• About his archs:
  • Purple is the way to go to make further enhance his damage output through Master Assassin.

Skills and Brands:

• Fire Amp, Fire Slowda, Fire Enhancement and Fire Boost will make him hit absurdly hard.
• Epitome of Fortitude and Epitome of Endurance help increase his bulk and lower his battle speed.
• Life Brands and Guard/Shield Brands to give him more survivability.

Alice A

Alice A

• A very annoying little ghost girl that shuts down a lot of fast teams and completely redefined the meta at release. She was the demon that normalized Null Mortal on bulky units and her kit makes her more of a support tank rather than an offensive tank.
• Give me Jewels inflicts fractional damage as well as stealing MP from each enemy at the start of their turn, shutting down a lot of fast teams that dont have a way to deal with her MP steal. Her paired with other MP stealing/removing units like Adramelech and panel 4 Mother Harlot will make a devastating combo that will shut down almost every fast team out there.
• Do Me A Favor is a very loaded spell. How funny huh? instead of having a loaded passive, she has a loaded spell. This spell has two states, the state of the spell depends on the situation, one called Play With Me? and the other Be My Friend. Play With Me? inflicts fractional damage and has a chance to curse. Once there's at least 1 cursed enemy, this skill will turn into Be My Friend. Be My Friend is a 100% Mortal skill that insta kills every cursed enemy. Yeah, she was the first demon with an AOE 100% Mortal skill that has no use limit. We all thought this was broken at release, oh how innocent we were!
• Really high Vi stat and very low Ag stat means shes perfect for slow teams.

Skills and Brands:

• Insanity, Evade, Enduring Soul, Epitome of Madness and Enduring Soul + will make her a very annoying little dodgy tank.
• Epitome of Fortitude, Epitome of Endurance and whatever Endure-like passive will help increase her bulk and lower his battle speed if you just want to focus on survibability.
• Life Brands, Shield/Guard Brands and/or Dodge Brands with Ailment Infliction and/or EV% to give her more survivability or evasion depending on what you want.

Mada

Mada

• A T1 team's nightmare. A great option against teams with tons of physical attackers since he's extremely tanky + has Bulwark.
• Very high Ma and Vi stats as well as innate Fire Amp means he will have amazing bulk and fire damage.
• Scarlet Inferno is a single target Fire magic spell that has random hitting Fire damage as a chain effect if the attack is successful with a chance to charm.
• Drunken Giant gives him a 20% HP increase if leveled, Fire Pierce, 30% damage resistance against Phys and Fire, an 800 hp Bulwark barrier to the entire team at the start of a battle if he goes second and whenever an enemy gets charmed. This gives your team a lot of survivability and bulk.
• With panel 1, it greatly reduces damage he receives from Phys nukes like Astaroth. P2 punishes Physical attackers by charming them, potentially making the enemies to wipe their own team.

Skills and Brands:

• He has two main ways to optimally build him: support tank or dps tank. If you want a support tank as a bulwark battery:
  • Insanity, Epitome of Madness and and whatever Endure-like passive to keep him from dying.
  • Epitome of Fortitude, Epitome of Endurance and/or Life Surge to further increase his already high bulk.
  • Life Brands, Shield/Guard Brands with Ailment Infliction and HP% to give him more survivability and to make sure he charms.
• If you want a dps tank:
  • Fire Amp, Fire Slowda, Fire Enhancement, Fire Boost or whatever other passiveto increase his Fire damage.
  • Enduring Soul, Enduring Soul + and other endure passives to keep him alive. Fire Survivor to also increase his fire damage further.
  • Epitome of Fortitude, Epitome of Endurance and/or Life Surge to further increase his already high bulk.
  • Life Brands, Shield/Guard Brands with MATK% and HP% to give him more survivability and damage. Ailment Infliction to make sure he charms if possible too.

Supporting Demons (Supports)

Asherah

Asherah

• Asherah possesses the best Resurrection spell in the game, Mother's Creation. It is a full HP revive that also generates a Press Turn, allowing your revive target to immediately act in the same turn.
• Naturally bulky, she can also double as a Pseudo-Cleric with Silent Prayer in Yellow but needs specific skills to be transfered for Pseudo-Cleric (see below)
• Or she can act as an Ice Anti-Pierce in Teal when paired with Atavaka.
• Pairs well with Orcus as she has two open weaknesses.
• Unfortunately, her AI is easily exploitable as she has two high MP spells (Maragion and Mediarama) she will gladly waste MP on if no allies are dead.
• One of the best support demons in the game, you can't go wrong running her.

Skills and Brands:

• Epitome of Fortitude increases her HP and provides Critical Resistance.
• Wild Instinct provides her even more Critical Resistance, consider this if you constantly face Crit-pass teams like Hero Masakado T1.
• Auto skills allow her to further support her team.
• Suggestions for Pseudo-Cleric Asherah only (yellow Asherah):
  • Null Charm and Null Bind make her immune to the two most common Ailments. But makes you vulnerable to Mute spells which are popular in Ailment Team.
  • Epic Recovery leaves your ailment recovery to luck but allows you to face all ailments and leave a skill slot free.
  • Infernal Mask operates similarly to Epic Recovery.
• Life Brands are usually used to make her even tankier, though Divine can be used if you constantly run into MP issues. Shield or Guard brands are the recommended sub-set for increased bulk.

Ananta

Ananta

• Ananta is the only demon in the game who possesses all Auto-buffs and Auto-debuffs in a single passive.
• He is typically used as a hard support, and as such can be capped at Lv 1 for speed control.
• Run him if yoou are looking for an Auto-buff mule. And run him at Lv 1 if you want to drop extremely sharply your battle speed.

Skills and Brands:

• Auto-debuffs to counter Auto-buffs from fast teams and to make sure they remain debuffed with Endless One when they start attacking you.
• War Cry, Acid Breath and Fog Breath allow him to act as an active debuffer.
• Most players tend to ignore Ananta as he doesn't do damage. Recarmdra can help to turn the tables in such scenarios.
• Evade and Dodge can be used to run an Evasion build.
• Epitome of Fortitude increases his HP and provides Critical Resistance.
• Wild Instinct provides him even more Critical Resistance, consider this if you constantly face Crit-pass teams like Hero Masakado T1.
• Life Brands are usually used to make him tankier. Dodge brands are the recommended sub-set.

Orcus

Orcus

• Orcus is a slow, bulky support demon that can also double as a buff control unit.
• His first unique passive, Law of Hell prevents the enemy from gaining Press Turns when hitting Weakness. This directly feeds his second passive, Hell's Gate which provides your entire team AOE reduction depending on how many weaknesses are open.
• Innate War Cry and Nocturne in Yellow give him powerful buff control.
• Consider him if you need a support that can also exert buff control for your team.

Skills and Brands:

• Samrecarm lets him revive a fallen teammate.
• Auto skills allow him to further support his team.
• Epitome of Fortitude increases his HP and provides Critical Resistance.
• Wild Instinct provides him even more Critical Resistance, consider this if you constantly face Crit-pass teams like Hero Masakado T1.
• As he is very MP hungry, Divine Brands are recommended. Shield brands can shore up his magic resistance, making him even tankier.

Hecatoncheires

Hecatoncheires

• Hecatoncheires is a slow, tanky support mainly used for his unique passive, Guards of Tartarus which reduces all AOE damage your team receives by 15%.
  • This is especially good to soften up damage from Archangels and V☆ teams.
• One of the demons with the lowest AGI, increasing your probablity of going second.
• Due to his high HP, he is usually left for last. As such, Recarmdra is a great skill for him as it will revive all his fallen teammates in exchange for his life.
  • The AI is also smart enough to save MP for it. This makes him one of the better demons for Defense teams.
• Unfortunately, he is weak to two very common attacking elements, Light and Force. Consider covering at least one of them.
• Consider him if you prefer a more defensive approach to PVP and/or need to drop sharply your battle speed.

Skills and Brands:

• Enduring Soul can provide him a layer of insurance, helping to ensure he gets to cast Recarmdra. It will also prevent Recarmdra's feedback damage from killing him.
• Auto skills allow him to further support his team.
• Epitome of Fortitude increases his HP and provides Critical Resistance.
• Wild Instinct provides him even more Critical Resistance, consider this if you constantly face Crit-pass teams like Hero Masakado T1.
• Life Brands are recommended to boost his bulk further. Shield brands can shore up his magic resistance, making him even tankier.

Gogmagog

Gogmagog

• Gogmagog is a slow demon typically run as a support due to his excellent Panels.
• His panels provide the entire team Physical reduction (-15%, cannot be pierced) and Crit Resistance (30%), useful against Hero Masakado T1 Teams.
  • He is also an easy demon to fuse, making P3 a reasonable goal to strive toward.
• One of the demons with the lowest AGI in the game making you more likely to go second.
• He gains Repel Phys in Teal. When paired with Atavaka, this lets him act as a Phys Anti-Pierce unit.
• His three weaknesses make him an ideal partner for Orcus to give your team massive AOE reduction.
• Consider him if you need a Repel Phys support to pair with Atavaka. At P3, even without Atavaka, he is an upgrade compared to Hecatoncheires.

Skills and Brands:

• His huge bulk and Repel Phys means he is usually left for last, making him a suitable Recarmdra carrier.
• Auto skills allow him to further support his team.
• Epitome of Fortitude increases his HP and provides Critical Resistance.
• Wild Instinct provides him even more Critical Resistance, consider this if you constantly face Crit-pass teams like Hero Masakado T1.
• Life Brands are recommended to boost his bulk further. Shield brands can shore up his magic resistance, making him even tankier.

Hybridization

Intimidating Stance can be combined with other type of Teams, creating a hybrid Team.

Rama

Rama

• Because Masakado has Drain Phys in addition to his Intimidating Stance effect, you can combine the Drain Teams strategy and the Intimidating Stance strategy in a single team.
• Given Rama "high" AGI, he will increase your Battle Speed and potentially compromising your plan to go second.
• Rama's kit is such that instead of using an excessively slow Demon (lvl 1 Ananta, Hecatoncheires in addition to Surt/Atavaka) to compensate for the Battle Speed increase, it may be smarter to plan your team build so that going first is not a penalty.
• Thus the team should play more like a (Midrange) Drain Teams than a go-second Intimidating Stance Team. Intimidating Stance would only be an engine, not the core.
• See the Drain Teams article for more information.

Demiurge

Demiurge

• Has Null Mortal in purple making him the only Anti-pierce demon immune to mortal.
• Supreme Creator makes him function as an MP battery whenever you drain an attack.
• False God acts as a free Megidolaon whenever you repel an enemy attack, this includes repel barriers like Lord of the Dead, Five Elements, Hawk of Light, etc.
• Perfect for not only anti pierce but for a full almighty magic team if his panel 2 is unlocked.
• His stats, panels and arch skills make him a very flexible unit, allowing him to be ran as a pure support with Invasion
• Has an excellent Ma stat and almighty boosters in his kit. This plus the mp cost reduction of every spell from panel 2 and Supreme Creator allows him to use Megidolaon quite often.

Skills and Brands:

• Demiurge can be either a pure support tank, dodgy tank, dodgy magic attacker or just a tanky magic attacker.
• If run as a support tank:
  • Epitome of Fortitude, 6th Sense Survivor, Epitome of Endurance to also lower battle speed and Wild Instinct are good options to boost his survivability.
  • Life and Guard/Shield Brands with HP% as the primary target to increase survivability.
  • Null Bind to avoid getting his passives and evasiveness shut down.
  • If you dont have another unit that can keep reviving him when insta killed like Maria, Null Mortal in purple is the most important part and consider transfering Auto-Buffs/Debuffs and active support spells like Samrecarm, Recarmdra or any buff/debuffing spell. If you do have Maria or another reviver, Invasion in yellow is an exellent buff/debuff spell as it combines Luster Candy and Debilitate in a single spell.
• If run as a dodgy tank:
  • Evade, Epitome of Madness, Dragon Sense and Dodge to increase his evasion.
  • Again, Null Mortal to avoid getting insta killed with Mortal magic or Invasion if you have another way of keeping him alive if fighting anyone with Mortal skills.
  • Epitome of Fortitude and Epitome of Endurance increases his HP. High HP is also important in a dodgy tank to also survive magic.
  • Null Bind to avoid getting his passives and evasiveness shut down.
  • Life and Dodge Brands with HP% and EV%.
• If run as a dodgy magic attacker:
  • This is the hardest way to build him optimally as you want to be able to dish out damage and also have high evasion. As previously mentioned, any passives that boost his evasion like Evade, Epitome of Madness, Dragon Sense and Dodge are transfers to consider as well as Butcher, Almighty Survivor, Almighty Slowda to boost damage and decrease battle speed, Almighty Boost and Serial Killer to boost his almighty damage and healing from Supreme Creator.
  • Again, Null Mortal to avoid getting insta killed with Mortal magic.
  • Epitome of Fortitude increases his HP. High HP is also important in a dodgy tank to also survive magic.
  • Null Bind to avoid getting his passives and evasiveness shut down.
  • Life and Dodge Brands with MATK% and HP% with EV% as secondaries.
• If run as a tanky magic attacker:
  • This is the easiest way to build him optimally as this is the way you can get the most out of his kit. Any passives that boost his damage like Butcher, Almighty Survivor, Almighty Slowda to boost damage and decrease battle speed, Almighty Boost and Serial Killer to boost his almighty damage and healing from Supreme Creator.
  • Since this focuses on magic damage and survivability, Null Mortal in purple is the only useful arch.
  • Epitome of Fortitude and Epitome of Endurance increases his HP while Epitome of Hardiness also increases his healing effectiveness.
  • Null Bind to avoid getting his passives shut down.
  • Life and Guard/Shield/Ward Brands with MATK% and HP% as secondaries.
  • See the Drain Teams article for more information.

Finalized Team

To recap, your finalized team should typically look something like this:

High-end Intimidating Stance Team

Guan Yu Skills Phys Amp Epitome of Carnage Brands Life, Aim

Masakado Skills Auto-Taruka Epitome of Carnage Brands Life, Aim

Atavaka Skills Auto-Rakuka Auto-Sukuka Brands Divine, Aim

Asherah Skills Auto-Rakuka Epitome of Fortitude Brands Life, Shield

A typical Double Intimidating Stance team running two sweepers and two supports. Two instances of Auto-Rakuka are run in order to ensure the buff sticks for survivability.

Non-Gacha Intimidating Stance Team

Lucifer Skills Serial Killer Berserker Brands Spell

Ananta Skills War Cry Auto-Tarunda Brands Life, Dodge

Zhong Kui Skills Samrecarm Auto-Rakunda Brands Life, Dodge

Surt Skills Fire Amp Fire Boost Brands Divine

A sample Intimidating Stance team without Gacha exclusive units. Lucifer and Surt are your main damage dealers, with Zhong Kui and Ananta as supports.

Checks and Counters

Outslow

Orcus Gogmagog Hecatoncheires

• Mainly for revenging or targeted attacks.
• Going slower prevents them from activating Intimidating Stance, while denying them the MP needed to use their skills.

Parvati / Ganesha

Parvati Ganesha

• Parvati's unique Joy Song and Ganesha's Faith in Wealth provide your entire team 1 MP when Intimidating Stance activates.
• This gives your team a burst of MP, allowing them to fire off skills normally not possible T1.
• Heavy sweepers like Shiva A and Rama work well with this team.

Masakado A

Masakado A

• Masakado A's Guardian of the East passive generates an extra Press Turn if going first. This helps to offset the turn lost to Intimidating Stance.
• Hero Masakado T1 teams are crafted around this passive, with some even designed with double Intimidating Stance in mind.

See also

• Tier List
• Skill List
• Brands
• PVP Team Guide for more Team guides