Intimidating Stance Teams
Written by Reika
Contents
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
- 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 Vengance gives him a bunch of things. 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 **insanity** 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 Vengance
- 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 Vengance activates after the enemy turn.
- Life and Guard/Ward/Shield brands to increase his bulk and ailment vulnerability
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 Intimidating Stance, it also gives him Phys Pierce and a 100% 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 the best Stance demon 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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!)
Guan Yu
- Guan Yu is a bulky physical sweeper that has low AGI.
- His signature Dragon Blade does heavy damage to a single target, and chains into an AOE physical sweep.
- His unique passive Loyal God of War heals him and refunds MP upon killing an enemy.
- Paired with his excellent STR, HP and VIT stats, he can quickly snowball off kills and extra Press Turns generated from crits. Not only does Loyal God of War keep him healthy through healing, it allows him to repeatedly spam Dragon Blade from the MP refund.
- Both Purple and Teal can be used depending on team composition:
- Purple gives him the incredible Null Mortal passive, making him immune to instakills such as Alice's Die for Me! and Masakado's Occult Flash.
- Teal gives him Drain Phys, making him a good partner for Rama's Drain Pierce (allows Drain resistances to invalidate Pierce effects).
- Guan Yu is one of the best demons for Intimidating Stance Teams. There is little reason not to use him if you have him.
Skills and Brands:
- Phys Amp and Epitome of Carnage can be used to increase his damage.
- Great Aim and Epitome of Aggression can be used to patch up his shaky accuracy.
- Life Brands are usually used to make him tankier. Higher HP also improves Loyal God of War's heal efficiency, as the base heal amount depends on your max HP. Aim brands are the recommended sub-set.
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 2MP drain and massive Almighty damage.
- Purple is the recommended color as it provides Deadly Charm to increase her damage towards Charmed enemies.
- 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 can be used to increase her damage.
- It is recommended to cover up her weakness with Resist Force, as Force is a popular attacking element.
- Life Brands are recommended to increase her overall longevity. This gives her more chances to spam Babylon Goblet.
Mot
- Mot is a bulky Mage who thrives in extended fights.
- His unique Harmonious Death gives him an extra Press Turn and damage boost every second turn (stacks up to three times for 60% increase).
- He has two powerful AOEs, Megidolaon for every day use and Mamudodyne to hit Archangels for Weakness.
- Having two innate repels makes him a very good partner for Atavaka. Force Repel stops Baal and Cu Chulainn A from sweeping, while Dark Repel prevents him from being targeted by Alice (very useful if you don't have Panel 2).
- He has three colors can be used depending on preference:
- Red gives him access to discounted Deathtouch, providing him extra sustain. This is especially potent with Panel 1 unlocked as it will reduce its cost to a meager 4MP.
- Yellow has discounted Judgement, letting you deal damage while providing Tarukaja. Panel 1 helps to reduce the skill cost.
- Purple's Life Surge makes him tankier.
- A great AOE sweeper that grows stronger as the fight drags on.
Skills and Brands:
- Butcher can be used to increase his damage.
- Epitome of Fortitude increases his HP and provides Critical Resistance. This also stacks with Life Surge if you chose Purple.
- 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 constantly run into MP issues. Shield or Guard brands are the recommended sub-set for increased bulk.
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'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 a few Panels are necessary for Lucifer to do his job in Intimidating Stance Teams. But he becomes extremely strong with them.
- Has a too "high" AGI stat making Lucifer better in Defense PVP Team than in an Offense Team.
- Indeed, sometimes losing matches because your team outsped the opponent's is less of a problem in Defense than in Random PVP Offense.
- He will likely only be able to shoot Morning Star once in a match: against AOE reduction opponents like Orcus or Hecatoncheires, you may want to pass Lucifer's first press turn in order to buff/debuff and/or eliminate the AOE reduction so that Lucifer's single shot is as powerful as possible.
- 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 and Berserker can be used to increase his damage.
- 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).
- Spell Brands to put even more emphasis on his large damage output. Or Life Brands if you have already reached a satisfying damage threshold.
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.
- He is hard-countered by Rama + Susano-o A pair (see Drain Teams) whose popularity soars as you climb the ladder.
- His low durability is also a large issue as you climb higher. His MAG is low too, 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 increase Mazandyne damage.
- Mazan L is a low MP skill you can use after spending your MP on Mazandyne a first time
- Concentrate pairs well with his Mazandyne if you use Divine Brands: assuming you go second, Cu Chulainn will have enough MP to use Concentrate then Mazandyne on your turn.
- This strategy is much less effective against Enduring Soul users and is destroyed by Susano-o A.
- Life Brands can be used to cover his low durability. Alternatively, go Spell Brands if you need more firepower.
- Divine Brands are mandatory if you use the Concentrate strategy.
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.
- 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 Quetzalcoatl A, especially in higher rank.
- He is in an awkward position in terms of resources expended: much more expensive to fuse than 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 or/and Serial Killer 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.
Supporting Demons (Supports)
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 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 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 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 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
- Because Masakado has Drain Phys in addition to his Intimidating Stance effect, you can combine the Drain Team 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
- 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
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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
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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
- 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'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'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