Hero Masakado T1

Written by Reika

Overview

Hero Masakado Turn 1 teams are built to abuse Masakado A's Guardian of the East passive that generates an extra Press Turn if going first. These teams typically have high battle speed and abuse Critical mechanics to decimate their enemies in the very first turn.

Due to matches against them being generally one-sided, they are sometimes affectionately referred as "T1 Cancer".

Concept

• Masakado A's Guardian of the East passive generates an additional Press Turn if going first.
  • Since the passive will only trigger if you go first, high battle speeds are recommended.
• Criticals are used to extend press turns, giving your demons more actions to clean up the opponent.
• Pierce and Almighty attacks are used to ignore NDR. Some form of AOE is preferred to quickly sweep the opponent.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Very effective (and oppressive) if built right
• Extremely high damage output, can even overwhelm certain bulky teams.
• Flexible team composition, can easily adjust battle speed depending on team members. Useful for revenging.
• As most fights end very quickly, it allows you to climb the PVP ladder faster if doing last minute pot rushes.

Cons:

• Very high entry cost - Masakado A is a Banner exclusive, and most recommended demons are also Banner exclusives and/or require panels.
• Frail, will easily roll over if outsped.
• Has trouble with bulky teams. Asherah is a particularly troublesome matchup.

Team

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

Guidelines

Two different philosophies exist for building the team: either a Very Fast team or an Anti-Midrange team.

For the Very Fast version, Kartikeya is close to mandatory. You would also want to max on Speedster and Speed Brands on everyone. Indeed, this team has no defensive capability and would lose if outspeeded. The Very Fast team has a wider range of application than the anti-midrange one: Offense PVP and Defense PVP.

• For Random Battle Offense PVP, it can be a powerful team but also a very risky one as you would lose your winning streak whenever you meet a faster team.
• For Defense PVP, the team can not only catch players doing Random Battle PVP with fast teams if you outspeed them but also has a chance against slow defensive teams. Though, against the later teams, Anti-Midrange has higher winrate.

The Anti-Midrange version relies a lot less on Battle Speed boosting demons, skills or brands. It is designed for Defense PVP. While the philosophy for using a Very Fast version for Defense PVP is "I want to get a chance to win against all kind of teams", the philosophy of Anti-Midrange is about targetting solely Random Battle PVP players using midrange or more defensive teams.

• Depending of the playerbase within your PVP Rank, it can the better philosophy.
• Midrange and defensive teams are usually popular for Random Battle PVP in most ranks.

Regardless of the version built, something very important for this team is Turn Order: you want to be able to Crit whenever you have a Full Turn Press in order to generate half a Turn Press. Passing is suboptimal in Offense PVP and impossible in Defense PVP (the AI never passes turn).

Core Demons

The only core demon is Masakado A, of whom the team is named after.

Masakado A

Masakado A

• One of the best support demons in the game.
• Guardian of the East provides an additional Press Turn going first. His other unique skill Kuyo Flash deals moderate Almighty AOE damage and applies Tarukaja, Rakunda, Sukukaja and Sukunda all in one go.
  • This essentially swings offensive buffs entirely in your favor, allowing you to go easy on Auto-skills.
• Has innate Physical Pierce to avoid being walled by Phys NDR when out of MP.
• Panel 2 provides his entire team Null Mortal for a Turn. This protects against Ixtab defenses and can act as a safety net if you fail to end the opponent on the first turn.

Skills and Brands

• Speedster and Epitome of Swiftness can be used to raise battle speed. Going first is vital for the team.
• Auto-Taruka and Auto-Rakunda help to negate enemy autos, ensuring your Kuyo Flash will debuff them.
• Savage Glee's increase Crit rate is useful for scenarios where he needs to Auto-Attack.
• Herculean Strike L and Deathbound gives him a cheap AOE to clean up remaining demons. 4MP means it can be cast after Kuyo Flash with Divine Brands. Herculean Strike does more damage overall, but Deathbound is more useful versus single enemies and for clearing Endures.
• Divine Brands are required to cast Kuyo Flash Turn 1 if not P3. Speed brands are the recommended sub-set for Battle Speed.

Supporting Demons

When picking Supporting Demons, always consider your team's Turn Order. Ideally you will want to lead with a high Crit demon so that you can cast Kuyo Flash on the half turn. Avoid having Masakado A in the number 1 spot, as he will waste the entire Press Turn casting Kuyo Flash.

Kartikeya

Kartikeya

• One of the fastest demons in the game, Kartikeya is used to accelerate your battle speed.
• His unique aura Skanda raises your whole party's Crit rate and Accuracy, both important stats for the team. Combine this with innate Mortal Jihad (a high base crit rate skill) and high base LUK, he can reliably crit for Press Turns.
• Comes with innate Speedster in Clear.
• Unless you have a specific Metagame strat, Kartikeya is the safe pick for the Very Fast version of the Team, providing everything your team needs.

Skills and Brands:

• Phys Pierce (weak) is mandatory to avoid being walled by Tetra Shift.
• Epitome of Swiftness can be used to raise battle speed. It's a very rare transfer skill though.
• Savage Glee brings his already impressive Crit rate to near-guaranteed levels.
• Auto-Taruka and Auto-Rakunda can be used to increase your team's damage right off the bat.
• Double speed brands are recommended to further bump up battle speed. Focus on speed Primary for the Legs, Crit rate for the Arms and Speed Tertiaries for everything else.
  • With P1, you can run double speed and still T1 Mortal Jihad. Unfortunately, Kartikeya is notoriously difficult to fuse, costing upwards of 8 million Mag from scratch.

Shiva A

Shiva A

• Shiva A is a powerful Almighty Sweeper.
• Ishvara gives him a guaranteed Crit on his first attack to get the Crit Ball rolling.
• Third Eye is a fully unblockable Almighty attack that can also Crit for massive damage.
• Panel 2 is mandatory for him, as he is walled by Tetra Shift otherwise.
• It is recommended to make him the lead demon, as Ishvara guarantees he will crit pass for Masakado A. This will also allow him to gather enough MP to cast Third Eye in the same turn, even if he is running Spell Brands.
  • You will need to do some creative branding if you plan to run him with Kartikeya. He needs to have a minimum of +3 AGI Mitama to speed tie Masakado A, with both him and Masakado A running Lead Brands in order to go before Kartikeya.
• Purple is the recommended color. Savage Glee increases the odds of Third Eye landing a crit.
• Shiva A is the luxury option, but usable both in the Very Fast and Anti-Midrange, pick him if you managed to Panel him.

Skills and Brands:

• Butcher is used to increase Third Eye's damage.
• Death Blow increases his critical damage.
• Speedster and Epitome of Swiftness can be used to raise battle speed.
• Great Aim can be used to patch up his accuracy if required.
• Spell Brands are recommended to increase his damage. Aim and Speed brands are acceptable sub-sets depending on preference.

Asura Lord

Asura Lord

• Asura Lord is a single-target Nuker that carries a valuable aura.
• His unique aura Endless War buffs the critical rate and damage of all your teammates.
  • It also stacks with Kartikeya's Skanda, giving your whole team a whopping +40% to crit!
• Slaughter All is a fully unblockable Almighty Single Target attack that deal ridiculous damage, has above average Crit rate, bypasses Endures and can be casted T1, either through Divine Brands or Panels.
  • Did I mention ridiculous damage? Not taking into account any transfer skills, Slaughter All has 210 BP, plus 12% from levels, 20% from Master Assassin and 10% from his Aura, with 40% base crit rate fired off a Titanic 242 STR (4th highest in the whole game).
• Purple is recommended to boost his damage further through Master Assassin.
• He is best run in the 3rd position, abusing Slaughter All's high crit rate to generate a Press Turn for your 4th attacker. This also lets him take full advantage of Kuyo Flash's buff swing to assassinate a key opponent even through Endures.
• Asura Lord is a very solid Nuker with a very helpful Aura, pick him if you have him.

Skills and Brands:

• Speedster and Epitome of Swiftness can be used to raise battle speed.
• Great Aim can be used to patch up his accuracy if required.
• Death Blow increases his critical damage.
• Assassin and Berserker can be used to buff Slaughter All's damage.
• Savage Glee lets him reliably Crit for press turns, while indirectly buffing Slaughter All's damage.
• Divine is required to cast Slaughter All turn 1 without Panels. If you have Panel 2, War Brands are also acceptable to increase his damage.
• Aim and Speed brands are acceptable sub-sets depending on preference.

Susano-o A

Susano-o A

• Susano-o A is a Physical Nuker that excels in defense teams, as his unique passive Heavenly Valor deals piercing AOE damage whenever the enemy passes.
• Violent Slash is a hard-hitting single target Physical attack that grows in power the more it is cast. The skill has 150 Base Power initially and can be cast T1 even without Divine Brands, making him a great candidate for the team.
  • Purple is recommended for Master Assassin, which raises Violent Slash's damage.
• Innate Epitome of Carnage means he will naturally crit a lot, especially if paired with Kartikeya and Asura Lord auras.
• He is best run in the 3rd position, abusing his high crit rate to generate a Press Turn for your 4th attacker. This also lets him take full advantage of Kuyo Flash's buff swing to assassinate a key opponent.
• A very good candidate for Defense Teams. If you plan to run this team on Defense, definitely try to slot him in!

Skills and Brands:

• Phys Amp and Phys Boost can be used to increase his damage.
• Great Aim and Epitome of Aggression can be used to patch up his shaky accuracy.
• Speedster and Epitome of Swiftness can be used to raise battle speed.
• War Brands are usually used to maximize his damage potential. Aim brands are the recommended sub-set.

Cu Chulainn A

Cu Chulainn A

• Cu Chulainn A is a dual-element physical sweeper.
• Barbed Spear is a piercing Force-element Physical attack that deals multiple hits on all enemies.
  • This gives him increased chances to crit for a half turn. On the other hand, it is also possible to lose turns from missing. As such, he is typically run in the 3rd or 4th position, depending on your risk aversion.
  • Beware teams running Rama + Susano-o A, as the combo walls him.
• Cu Chulainn A is a high risk high return pick. Against teams without Force Anti-Pierce, he can deal massive amounts of damage while generating Press Turns from crits. Inversely, teams that do run Force Anti-Pierce will completely invalidate him.

Skills and Brands:

• Force Amp can be used to increase his damage.
• As Accuracy is very important for him (Barbed Spear has 12 chances to miss and lose Press Turns), Great Aim is recommended.
• Due to Barbed Spear's low MP cost, he can run War Brands for increased damage. Aim or Speed brands are acceptable sub-sets.

V☆

V☆

• V☆ is an Almighty Mage that excels at dealing spread damage.
• Whenever someone on your team does an auto-attack, V will follow up with Griffon-Bolt, dealing light Almighty damage to 4 random enemies.
  • This is an incredible follow up to Kartikeya and/or Shiva A's initial attack, and Masakado A's own auto-attack after running out of MP.
  • It also allows him to clean up any Endures remaining, and balance up the team by providing Magic damage.
• Shadow-Shock essentially guarantees he will never have MP issues, as it gives him a free Almighty ST attack that also triggers his own Griffon-Bolt.
• He is best run in the 4th slot, as his auto-attack is not able to crit for Press Turns.
• V☆ is the safer option compared to Cu Chulainn A. While less explosive, he does not have to worry about NDR and Accuracy.

Skills and Brands:

• Butcher and Serial Killer can used to increase Griffon-Bolt's damage.
• Speedster and Epitome of Swiftness can be used to raise battle speed.
• Spell Brands are used to increase his damage. Speed brands are the preferred sub-set.

P3 Zaou-Gongen

Zaou-Gongen

• A utility demon, Zaou-Gongen's Panel 3 gives your whole party Rebellion whenever he lands a Critical Hit.
• As the Rebellion also applies to him, this allows your whole team to Crit indefinitely, as long as he can land a first Crit.
  • Transferring Auto-Rebellion essentially guarantees a first Crit.
  • The main purpose of this Rebellion mania is to ignore Crit Resistance, allowing your team to circumvent Wild Instinct which has become a popular counter to Hero Masakado T1.
• Kongo Zaou provides him Phys Pierce while Rebellion is active.
• Has innate God's Hand for ST coverage, and discounted AOE Herculean Strike in Red.
  • Beware Drain Teams that run Rama + triple Drain, as the combo will force him to attack Rama which has a chance to miss.
• Zaou-Gongen is quite slow and probably cannot be used outside of a Defense Team designed to hit Midrange Offense Teams used for Random Battles.
• Zaou-Gongen is a powerful tech for your Defense Team. He is the one of the best demon for Anti-Midrange versions as he punishes Midrange Teams that abuse Wild Instinct. Against teams without Phys Anti-Pierce, he allows the team to burst down even the tankiest comps through multiple guaranteed Crits.

Skills and Brands:

• Auto-Rebellion guarantees he will Crit to start the Rebellion loop.
• If you do not have Auto-Rebellion, then Savage Glee and/or Epitome of Carnage combined with Brands with %Crit terts and primary may be required.
• Great Aim is recommended to ensure he does not miss. It also helps against the Rama + Triple Drain matchup.
• Due to Herculean Strike's low MP cost, he can run War Brands for increased damage or double Aim / Speed brands.
• His low AGI means you must be careful with Turn Order if you want to unleash a Crit Festival. Depending on the number of demons with Auto-Rebellion that have higher AGI, you may want to give him Lead brands or even double Lead.

Finalized Team

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

• 1st demon should have high Crit rate to start the crit chain.
• 2nd demon should be Masakado A.
• 3rd demon should have high Crit rate to generate another press turn.
• 4th demon is flexible, though an AOE is appreciated at this point.

High Speed Hero Masakado

Kartikeya Skills Phys Pierce (weak) Savage Glee Brands Speed, Speed Requirements 40% speed

Masakado A Skills Herculean Strike L Speedster Brands Divine, Speed Requirements 15% speed

Susano-o A Skills Phys Amp Speedster Brands War, Aim Requirements 15% speed

Cu Chulainn A Skills Force Amp Speedster Brands War, Aim Requirements 15% speed

Assuming maxed AGI Mitama on everyone, the above team can reach 40k Battle Speed, enough to outspeed the majority of the metagame. Both Susano-o A and Cu Chulainn A are capable of unleashing their unique skills Turn 1, and Masakado A can mop up any remaining demons with Herculean Strike L.

Anti-Midrange Hero Masakado

Shiva A Skills Butcher Great Aim Brands Spell, Aim Requirements 15% speed, P2 unlocked

Masakado A Skills Epitome of Swiftness Speedster Brands Divine, Speed Requirements 40% speed

Asura Lord Skills Assassin Savage Glee Brands Divine, Aim Requirements 15% speed

V☆ Skills Butcher Serial Killer Brands Spell, Speed Requirements 15% speed

Unlike the high speed version above, this variant sacrifices speed in order to improve the matchup versus Intimidating Stance Teams and Drain Teams. Assuming maxed AGI Mitama on everyone, the team can still reach ~27k Battle Speed (enough to outspeed Midrange Teams) while still running offensive passives and brands on the main attackers. All of the attacks are Almighty element, allowing the team to counter Drain Teams.

A typical battle versus double Intimidating Stance Teams (5 initial Press Turns reduced to 3) will look something like this:

• Press Turn 1: Shiva A crits from Ishvara --> Griffon-Bolt follow-up.
  • Half Turn 1: Masakado A casts Kuyo Flash.
• Press Turn 2: Asura Lord casts Slaughter All, deleting a demon and scoring a crit.
  • Half Turn 2: V☆ auto-attacks (turns into Shadow-Shock) --> Griffon-Bolt follow-up.
• Press Turn 3: Shiva A casts Third Eye, scoring a crit. By this point the enemy team should be mostly annihilated.
  • Half Turn 3: Masakado A auto-attacks --> Griffon-Bolt follow-up to clean up any remaining demons.

Checks and Counters

While very oppressive, Hero Masakado teams are by no means unstoppable. There are several ways to counter them on both offense and defense.

Outspeed

Uriel Nekomata A Garuda A

• Hero Masakado teams are glass cannons, being outsped is usually a death sentence.
• Speedy teams like Archangels can outspeed and decimate them T1.
• This is especially true versus the Anti-Midrange variant that sacrifices speed for power.

Crit Resistance

Wild Instinct Passive -75% to Critical hit rate of damage received.
Epitome of Fortitude Passive +20% to max HP, -50% to Critical hit rate of damage received.

• As Hero Masakado teams rely on crits to generate press turns and have highly optimized turn orders, missing a single crit can be game-losing.
• Crit Resistance swings this in your favor, especially versus Hero Masakado defense teams as the AI will always try to attacking low LUK demons for Press Turns.
  • Bulky Demons like Asherah who have low LUK are the best carriers of the skill, as the AI will likely target her and fail to crit.
  • She also appreciates the extra HP granted from Epitome of Fortitude.
• This does not work against teams that have adapted P3 Zaou-Gongen with Auto-Rebellion transferred.

Bulky Teams and AOE Resistance

Orcus Asherah Nidhoggr Gogmagog

• Orcus helps to soften the damage from Third Eye, Kuyo Flash and Griffon-Bolt.
• Asherah is bulky and Mother's Creation allows her to revive a sweeper with an extra press turn for the counter-sweep.
• Nidhoggr is naturally bulky and has innate Enduring Soul plus Wild Instinct (in purple).
  • His unique skill Nastrond heals a large portion of his HP whenever a teammate is killed. This greatly increases his chances of surviving the Turn 1 onslaught (provided he is not killed through Endure by Slaughter All) and turning the tables through Recarmdra.
• Gogmagog bears special mention. When fully paneled, he will provide your entire team 30% Crit Resistance, as well as reduce the damage taken from Physical attacks.

Quetzalcoatl A

Quetzalcoatl A

• Quetzalcoatl A is a deadly Fire mage that is capable of dealing high amounts of damage, thanks to having innate Fire Amp and Butcher.
  • His unique passive Ce Acatl automatically revives him if he is dead at the start of your turn, and refunds a Press Turn icon.
  • Paired with Nidhoggr (who is almost guaranteed to survive) or another tank like Orcus or Asherah, Ce Acatl will automatically bring him back to life the next turn, letting him sweep with two Aztec Pulses (pass on the tank).

Intimidating Stance

Masakado Atavaka

• Less press turns = Less turns for Hero Masakado teams to deal damage.
• Asherah is a very good teammate, as Mother's Creation allows her to revive your sweeper with an extra press turn for the counter-sweep.
• Beware the AntiMidrange variants though, which are crafted specifically to counter these teams.

See also

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