Ciella's Wrath Guide: Expert

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Accept despair!

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Ciella's Wrath: Expert is a challenge quest centered on a boss battle with Ciella, unlocked upon the completion of Chapter 10 and any Advanced Dragon Trial at standard difficulty, and meeting the minimum might requirement of 28,000.

• Rewards from Expert difficulty include and , which can be used to craft 6 wind Agito tier 1 weapons, and can be used to upgrade the facility.
• Additionally, clearing Expert difficulty for the first time rewards the player with sufficient amount of materials to obtain a copy of 6 wind Agito tier 1 weapon.

Stat and Equipment Requirements

HP

HP isn't too much of a concern, as most adventurers should be able to withstand the unavoidable damage Ciella inflicts throughout the fight if they came prepared with sufficiently strong equipment and some form of strong healing is carried by someone.

Weapons

For Expert, at a minimum, adventurers should be equipped with at least a max-unbound (MUB) 5 Chimeratech tier 2 (CT2) weapon; these weapons are in fact required before you're able to craft Agito weapons in the first place.

• Support adventurers such as and can get by with a MUB CT2 without issue.
• For DPS adventurers, while it is possible to clear with a CT2, it is highly suggested to use a MUB 5 High Dragon tier 2 (HD2) instead.
• The 6 0UB Agito weapon you may have crafted from first clear rewards after clearing the Standard difficulty, is in a similar boat to the CT2. AT 0UB, the 6 is only a marginal improvement to the MUB CT2, and it only surpasses the HD2 when the 6 itself is MUB. Therefore, DPS will still heavily prefer the MUB High Dragon Tier 2, until their 6 is MUB.
• As is Shadow-attuned instead of Wind, she wants Shadow weaponry over Wind weaponry.
• If planning to clear in auto-battle mode, CT2 weaponry are completely unacceptable on DPS adventurers, as are non-MUB Agito weaponry; only MUB Agito and HDT2 weapons should be used on them.

Weapon Category	Sword	Blade	Dagger	Axe	Lance	Bow	Wand	Staff	Grace
Max-Unbound Chimeratech Tier 2 (Support recommended, DPS NOT recommended)
Max-Unbound High Dragon Tier 2 (DPS recommended)
Agito Tier 1 (recommended only if MUB)

Dragons

Everyone should ideally be equipped with a max-unbound 5 Wind-attuned dragon for Expert. This includes even healers and supportive adventurers, due to the higher difficulty of the quest compared to Volk's Wrath: Expert and Kai Yan's Wrath: Expert.

• As is Shadow-attuned instead of Wind, she wants Shadow dragons over Wind dragons.

Adventurers	Dragons
Standard DPS - Most DPS adventurers use these standard DPS dragons. Hawk signficantly prefers Vayu due to his exceedingly high skill damage totals, and most other adventurers prefer Vayu anyway under most circumstances. Ariel can assist with skill uptime or make certain strategies easier to execute, and is practically equivalent to Vayu for Gala Leif, though otherwise she technically is a bit inferior than Vayu for most DPS adventurers. AC-011 Garland can provide extremely high strength as long as the adventurer does not take any damage that disables the shield; a large s combined with high amounts of (to mitigate the 's effect) and buffs (to increase the HP value of shields) may help with meeting this in the face of unavoidable damage, especially with the Agito weapon's defense buff, though it may require the life shield to be extremely large like those belonging to , or have an extremely high DPS to skip the Vulnerability Blasts. Summer Konohana Sakuya initially grants only a 40% increase in strength, but as time goes in in the quest, and with each shapeshift, additional, significant buff effects (most notably a 50% increase in skill damage, but also various defensive buffs) can be obtained. An adventurer with Summer Konohana Sakuya equipped may have a slow start, but eventually will become extremely strong offensively and defensively.
Big Crits Kung Fu Master - Lin You can reach a critical rate high enough for Long Long to pull ahead of most other dragons, and hence Long Long becomes a highly suitable choice for Lin You. Other DPS dragons will still function just as well as they do on other adventurers, though.
Hybrid DPS - These hybrid DPS adventurers want to have as much uptime on their buff/debuff/poison skills as possible, so Ariel is a perfect fit, though other DPS dragons will also work.
Support - These support adventurers have low personal DPS, so prefers having abilities. Freyja grants higher amounts of skill haste, and carries a potent skill that also instantly grants 5 stacks of , instantly energizing all teammates. She is ideal for Tobias, and is required for 4DPS runs anyway. Ariel increases damage output especially when in dragon form, and is ideal for Melody, Noelle, and Dragonyule Xainfried if someone else can heal significantly.
Healers - Healers will prefer to increase their healing output and buff uptime under most circumstances. Note that despite her wielding an axe, Summer Amane is a healer. Freyja provides the highest amount of , a ability, and carries a strong regen heal with her dragon skill, and is usually the best pick for healers. Garuda provides a higher amount of HP boost compared to Freyja, but provides no skill haste. She is ideal if you need a big heal over faster heals. Ariel provides slightly less skill haste, but grants instead of HP Up. She may be used in place of Freyja if you prefer having slightly more DPS without going off-element, or are playing in public co-op and need to meet might requirements, though your healing output burst/ticks will be lower than Freyja or Garuda. Also has a pretty good dragon form damage should you opt to use it. Pop-Star Siren's and buffs can be extremely strong if timed correctly, though your healing will also be at the weakest.
Auto Enabler Hope - Templar Hope is not a good choice for normal solo or co-op use (unless your other three teammates are all Louises), but he is required should you opt for clearing the quest in auto battle mode. Freyja provides the highest amount of and a ability, ensuring that Templar Hope can fire off defensive buffs as quickly as possible. Garuda provides a higher amount of HP boost compared to Freyja, but provides no skill haste. Templar Hope also benefits from her by becoming significantly tankier. Summer Konohana Sakuya grants more DPS than any other choice here, and due to the long duration of the quest in auto-battle mode, performs extremely well by providing Templar Hope offensive and defensive abilities. Summer Konohana Sakuya is also suitable for other adventurers in such a composition, though you trade initial DPS for later safety.
Off-element Grace - If using Grace for life shields, she really wants HP dragons above all else, so her choices are much more limited than standard healers.

Wyrmprints

Most adventurers should equip their standard wyrmprints.

Templar Hope in an auto battle composition requires a different set of wyrmprints.

• DPS adventurers in this composition will benefit from running over their standard skill damage wyrmprints, due to the very high frequency of defense buffs.

Adventurer	Wyrmprint 1	Wyrmprint 2
Keeping Hope Alive - A Dog's Day provides and , while Study Rabbits provide and , letting Templar Hope fire off defensive buffs faster, have them last longer, and also improve his own tankiness, as the auto battle composition hinges on Hope surviving; indeed, without Hope, auto battle runs will quickly fall apart.

Party Roles

DPS/Hybrid DPS

These units will be doing the majority of the DPS, and provide buffs/debuffs if applicable.

Adventurer	Notes
	Extremely high constant damage output, Poison, minor and .
	Shreds the mode gauge while Ciella is in overdrive state, provides debuff zones, and receptive to buffs.
	Extremely high damage output due to matched in Phase 2, Poison.
	Extremely high burst damage output, as well as providing stacks, and can provide access to Poison (though harms him in the process of doing so).
	High damage output, Poison, provides a small , can provide , very frequent .
	Very high constant damage output, can inflict Sleep, very high critical rates, self-sustain.
	Very high constant damage output, Poison, large (in both magnitude and area) zone.
	High damage output, Poison, , significant buff effects especially with guaranteed , occasional total affliction relief.
	Very high constant damage output if paired with a Poisoner, and occasionally buffs teamwide strength.
	Extremely high burst damage output, Poison.
	Very high burst damage output, Poison, signficantly buffs teamwide critical rates and damage, as well as providing stacks.
	Very high constant damage output, Poison, and receptive to buffs.

Support

These units spend most of the time buffing other adventurers.

• Don't use Templar Hope in general compositions.
• Don't bring more than two pure support adventurers in the whole composition.

Adventurer	Notes
	buffer with relatively high personal DPS compared to other options. Also provides access to Poison.
	Ranged buffer. Easier to use than all other choices here.
	buffer. Works best when paired with a Strength buffer. Shapeshifts more frequently than other options, and can take advantage of it with a DPS dragon if desired.
	buffer with access to Poison. More awkward to use than all other choices if wishing to use his poisoning skill, but technically buffs the strongest standalone.
	buffer. Only useful for auto battle and triple Louise compositions.

Healer

The healer keeps the team alive and provides support.

Adventurer	Notes
	Lowen has low personal DPS, but has high healing output, can , provides Bog relief, and grants some defensive support with both and buffs.
	Grace provides a very large which can protect adventurers from being afflicted and blocks knockback while the shield is not completely destroyed. Her buff is much higher, at 100%, but also lasts significantly shorter than Lowen's, making it more suitable for mitigating severe damage. Also s.
	If Lowen is a defensive support healer, then Akasha is an offensive support healer. Although she is not an offensive healer in the sense of that is a disguised DPS, she instead has access to Vital GateLv. 1: , which can significantly speed up skill cooldowns on other teammates when used strategically. She will appreciate having access to high amounts of , and pairs especially well with for even more effective SP gain. Cannot dispel innately.
	Summer Amane is a strange healing unit - despite wielding an axe, she is primarily healing-focused, and also buffs teamwide critical rates, and both of her skills have extremely low SP costs. She cannot provide affliction relief by herself, but she has innate freeze resistance, and hence will never be disabled in Ciella's Wrath. Cannot dispel innately.
	Wedding Xania is somewhat similar to Lowen, but instead of bog cleanse, she provides Freeze relief, and doesn't have access to buffs. Her SP costs are also markedly inferior to Lowen's or Akasha's (healing wise), though at least she has innate freeze resistance, and hence will never be disabled in Ciella's Wrath. Cannot dispel innately.

General Party Setup

There are two general variations of compositions in Ciella's Wrath: Expert. There are also two specialty compositions that have unusual requirements and not compatible with normal co-op.

• If a 4DPS composition is used in a general composition, someone must carry to have access to reliable, strong healing to recover from unavoidable damage.

General Composition
A sample standard 4DPS composition. Note that there may be two supportive adventurers, or none of them; all variants are equally valid.
A sample standard 3DPS composition. Note that there may also be no supportive adventurers; all variants are equally valid.

Specialty Composition
Defense doublebuff spam composition.
Auto battle composition. Templar Hope must be the leader. and may replace Louise safely. and can substitute Louise but reduces reliability, as they are ranged adventurers without Bog resistance, and hence may easily die if they were struck twice in a row without significant healing or bog cleanse by Flood of Despairs in Phase 2. can replace Lowen.

Attacks and Patterns

On Vulnerability

is a special effect that reduces defense by 15% for 90 seconds. This effect can be stacked up to 3 times at once.

Hence, it is crucial to mitigate the significant amounts of Vulnerability that Ciella inflicts upon adventurers by raising defenses where possible, and try to avoid getting hit unnecessarily.

On Freeze and Graphic Settings

Main article: Performance Guide#Graphic Settings

Some of Ciella's attacks inflict Freeze. On the Basic graphics setting, the ice block on frozen adventurers will not appear. Players using Basic graphics should pay attention to other teammates and/or the combat log and be prepared to attack seemingly stuck or unresponsive adventurers.

On Auto-Battling

If auto-battle is being used, you can skip reading the next two sections; the AI should be able to clear most of the time if all DPS adventurers were equipped with HDT2 or MUB Agito weaponry.

Phase 1

Note: Ciella may skip moves, or parts of them, depending on the overall DPS levels. This guide assumes a 3DPS run that takes around 5 minutes, suitable as a ballpark for inexperienced players and a not-quite-optimal setup.

Also, if you have played High Brunhilda's Trial or Ayaha & Otoha's Wrath, some of Ciella's attacks may seem familiar to you. They're also mechanically similar, so many things you may have learned from these fights will also apply here.

Vulnerability Blast

Unavoidable mapwide blast that inflicts damage and a

stack.

• should use his Winds, Protect Us!Lv. 1: before this hits to reduce the damage and cancel out the effect Vulnerability carries, and if possible, an additional shared skill if one is available.
• should roll towards Ciella once, use her Vital GateLv. 1: to create a buff zone for the other teammates, and if possible, an additional shared skill if one is available.
• Either way, heal off the damage afterwards if a healer is used.
• You'll have to live with some damage in a 4DPS run if no one has a healing shared skill, before becomes available.

Bolts from Above

Multiple fast-firing arrows (red action markers) attack adventurers from the above, that also tracks them. Skill (if the skill has a long animation), dodge, or move away from the area.

Rebounding Arrows

Ciella fires 4 arrows in a cone pattern targeted at the furthest adventurer, which bounces off the map's outer walls.

• The targeted adventurer should try to stay put, and other ranged DPSes should be at the same position as the targeted adventurer.
• Melee DPSes should go behind Ciella, and try to avoid getting hit by the arrows.
• The arrows can be iframed with skills or dodge rolls.

Charge

Ciella charges towards the furthest adventurer. All adventurers should roll towards Ciella's destination if they're out of skills.

Summon Crystal Arrow

Crystal Arrows spawn on adventurers' positions. Leave the area (they deal severe damage when they hit), and destroy them all before the next attack to make it easier to dodge attacks.

• If possible, try to stack them all on the same position near Ciella (preferred), or place them in a line (less preferred), and never spread them too far apart, so that they can be destroyed easier with damaging skills.
  • 's Savage HawkLv. 1: will make quick work of them if these arrows are either stacked or in a line.
• These Crystal Arrows, once spawned, inflict Bog on contact without dealing damage, so adventurers will have to avoid making contact with them, which might be tricky with due to his lance range and Woodland SpearLv. 1: 's comparatively poor reach versus the arrows' oversized hit boxes.

Rebounding Arrows

carriers should be able to shapeshift around this point, or on the next attack, if they carried sufficient amounts of Dragon Haste co-abilities and/or chain co-abilities and a

ability. They should shapeshift now and use her

Breath of LifeLv. 1:

to restore everyone's HP to full, as well as grant 5

stacks to all teammates.

Frigid Beam

Ciella shoots a wide beam that inflicts Freeze on contact. It starts out pointing downward, and rotates clockwise.

• The hitbox is wider than it looks.
• Ideally, stay behind Ciella; you should be able to retain some attack uptime, useful for SP gain, and especially if you have any abilities that rely on keeping a combo.
• If any Crystal Arrows were hit by the Frigid Beam, they will spawn icebergs that spread outwards, and are also unavoidable within their markers. Pay attention to the map's attack markers if they do spawn.

Vulnerability Blast x2

You may need some form of strong healing to get past this.

• may need to preload Akashic ReposeLv. 1: during the previous attack, and then cast it again now, or use some form of (e.g. from ) to create two stacks of healing for the other teammates if not running or . Additional healing shared skills will help with the healing check.

Ice Blast

Ciella shoots a wide beam towards the furthest adventurer, dealing severe damage if it hits. Skill, dodge, or move away.

• Ciella may use this move twice in a row if DPS is low.

Mist Veil

Ciella will cloak and become nearly invisible, removing all afflictions and debuffs, and move around in the arena, then attack a large area of the map. There's nothing you can do other than to move to the top of the arena; here, Ciella will always attack either the left or right portion of the arena, but the top of the arena will always be safe.

• Simply be behind Ciella once she stops moving.
• may wish to use her Vital GateLv. 1: here to provide SP gain on other adventurers during this downtime, though this is up to the player's discretion.

Spin Attack

Ciella attacks a small area around herself. Skill, dodge, or leave the area if you're a melee adventurer.

Ice Blast

You should be able to enter Phase 2 around here.

As the phase transition has a long animation compared to Volk's Wrath: Expert and Kai Yan's Wrath: Expert, if one wishes to use

's

Vital GateLv. 1:

,

healing, or dragon form to activate any abilities only available with it (such as

's

buff on his

Purusha PranaLv. 1:

), do it now.

• Use Vayu's skill only once the Overdrive indicator starts - that's when Ciella is vulnerable again.

Phase 2

Karmic Shield

Ciella buffs her defense by 8%.

• ling it is optional, but may help with DPS.

Rebounding Arrows

The Phase 2 variant spawns 6 arrows.

Starting from this attack,

s should resist using their

Typhoon FistLv. 1:

skill for a while - see the next section for the reasoning.

On Lin You's Typhoon Fist

Once the Cryogenic Meteor attack first appears, if Ciella has not been inflicted with Sleep yet in Phase 2, do not use 's Typhoon FistLv. 1: until the second Flood of Despair has started to show up!

If Lin You inflicts Sleep during this period, these Cryogenic Meteors will despawn before the second Flood of Despair hits, or if slept before these meteors even land, there won't be any Cryogenic Meteors.

This will cause the entire team to take severe damage, up to twice in a row, and as they inflict Bog, likely will spell doom for without extremely strong healing and bog cleanse.

Cryogenic Meteor

Four Cryogenic Meteors will spawn on adventurers' current positions. Avoid getting hit by them - they inflict severe damage and Freeze on hit.

• You'll need them to block the damage from the next attack.

Flood of Despair x2

Ciella will flood the arena twice, and the arrows on the map indicate the direction. Adventurers should move so that they're behind a Cryogenic Meteor to be guarded from all damage. This is similar to High Brunhilda's Trial's Hellfire attack.

• After the second Flood of Despair text shows up, it is now safe for s to use Typhoon FistLv. 1: .

Bolts from Above

The Phase 2 version is a purple action marker attack, and hence cannot be iframed using adventurer skills. Use a dragon's skill to tank it, or leave the area entirely.

Ice Blast

The Phase 2 version has a wider area of effect.

Spin Attack

Three red action markers covering a large area that spin clockwise quickly will appear, and inflicts severe damage that also Bogs. Skill or dodge.

After this point, Ciella's moveset will be somewhat randomized - she'll pick one of the following randomization points (A and B) to start, and then follow up with the other point afterwards.

Phase 2 Randomization Point: A

Frigid Beam

The Phase 2 version starts out covering both the left and right sides. You will have to be careful moving around it; dragon form may help with it due to their much faster movement.

• Very strong healing will help a lot with surviving the impact if the attack connects.
  • 's Breath of LifeLv. 1: can easily restore an adventurer's HP to full with each tick.
  • 's Winds, Protect Us!Lv. 1: or 's Akashic ReposeLv. 1: also work when paired in conjunction with 's Woodland SpearLv. 1: 's debuff and Inspiriting ScentLv. 1: 's defensive buffs.

Phase 2 Randomization Point: B

Mist Veil

Ciella will now randomize her final destination - she'll either be at the left or the right of the arena. Track her, and be behind Ciella once she stops (you should be closer to the map's edge).

Cryogenic Meteor

See the previous warning if Ciella hasn't been inflicted with sleep yet in this phase.

Ice Blast

Ciella is likely to be defeated by this point in most runs as the second randomized phase ends.