High Brunhilda Guide: Standard & Expert

“

Let's have a little fight, you and I—one with my full power unleashed.

„

High Brunhilda's Trial is a challenge quest centered on a boss battle with High Brunhilda, unlocked upon the completion of Brunhilda's Trial: Master.

• Rewards from Standard difficulty include , which can be traded for the 5 dragon or the , and can be used to upgrade the Fafnir Statue facility.
• Rewards from Expert additionally include , which alongside s can be used to craft Flame-attuned High Dragon weapons with High Midgardsormr's Bane.
  • Additionally, weekly clears from Expert additionally include small amounts of s, which alongside s and s can be used towards enhancing Flame-attuned High Dragon weapons into tier 2, significantly increasing its power against enemies outside of High Midgardsormr, and can be used as an entry point towards Volk's Wrath: Expert.

Stat and Equipment Requirements

HP

Standard

HP isn't too much of a concern for Standard difficulty, as all adventurers should be able to withstand the unavoidable damage High Brunhilda inflicts at the beginning of the fight if they have sufficiently strong equipment, and a healer was used, which is highly recommended.

Expert

See the following table for HP requirements depending on co-abilities available.

• The wyrmprint reduces the HP requirement, as well as further damage throughout the fight, though will reduce your DPS.
• Additional defensive chain co-abilities, or defense buffs from a healer or buffer, may further improve your HP or defensive capabilities, not shown here.

Type	No co-abilities	or	and
Melee	2442	2124	1847
Melee ( MUB)	1740	1514	1316
Ranged	3052	2655	2308
Ranged ( MUB)	2175	1892	1645

Weapons

Standard

Crafting Void Bane or Chimeratech weapons, or better, can improve your adventurer's performance (especially if it's Chimeratech) in the quest, though technically optional. Still, if possible, at least equip your adventurers with Void Bane weapons at minimum.

• Generally speaking, if you're able to clear Tidal Chimera Strike: Standard (and preferably, also its Expert difficulty), you should obtain materials from it to create a Chimeratech weapon, as it should be more powerful than void bane weapons, especially once other punisher modifiers are factored in - the eats into the punisher bracket that is also used by 's . It is also easier to build compared to the Void bane weapons, but if you already have them anyway, feel free to use them.

Expert

High Brunhilda's Trial: Expert can still be challenging even in the face of powercreep.

A Void Bane weapon is the bare minimum possible to clear the quest, but it's strongly suggested to at least craft a Chimeratech weapon, or better yet, craft a HDT1 weapon with materials obtained from High Mercury's Trial: Expert.

Weapon Table

Weapon Category	Sword	Blade	Dagger	Axe	Lance	Bow	Wand	Staff
Void Bane (Standard: OK, Expert: Not recommended)
Chimeratech Tier 2 (Standard: Good, Expert: OK)
High Dragon Tier 1 (Standard: Better+, Expert: Better)
High Dragon Tier 2 (Standard: Overkill, Expert: Best)
Agito Tier 1 (0UB - Standard: Better, Expert: Good) (MUB - Standard: Overkill, Expert: Best)

Dragons

Everyone should be ideally be equipped with a max-unbound 4 dragon at a minimum for Standard, and a max-unbound 5 dragon at a minimum for Expert.

Adventurers	Dragons
Standard DPS - Most DPS adventurers use these standard DPS dragons. Gaibhne & Creidhne significantly improves skill cooldowns, increasing adventurer damage, and their buff zone also significantly helps other teammates. Leviathan has an extremely powerful dragon form, useful for increasing damage during break state. Siren increases skill damage, though her dragon form is lackluster. Nimis can become devastatingly strong if there are reliable sources of abilities, co-abilities, chain co-abilities, buffs, or . Dragonyule Jeanne significantly increases the critical rate of adventurers and can make running abilities worthwhile.
Low Skill Damage DPS - These DPS adventurers have little or no innate skill damage, so Siren won't work on them very well.
Buffer Elisannes - Elisannes don't have much skill damage, and spends most of the time buffing the entire team. Both versions of Elisanne will prefer having their skills ready earlier with either Gaibhne & Creidhne's or Halloween Maritimus' , but most non-Skill Damage dragons work well.
Ha! You better have BURN HEAL! - Healers are able to run any non-Skill Damage dragon. Use whichever is preferred. Halloween Maritimus and Simurgh both pack an emergency heal. Halloween Maritimus and Gaibhne & Creidhne can buff teammates with either or buff zones respectively.

Wyrmprints

Most adventurers should equip their standard wyrmprints.

• If surviving the opening blast or unavoidable damage is an issue, equip for permanent damage reduction.

(not

) and unspiraled

(not

) have specific requirements due to their partial resist

, that has to be patched up.

Adventurer	Wyrmprint 1	Wyrmprint 2
I don't need burn healing! - Choose a primary wyrmprint depending on if she survives the opening blast normally. Either secondary wyrmprint will burn-proof Elisanne.
I don't need burn healing either! - Choose a primary wyrmprint depending on if she survives the opening blast normally. Either secondary wyrmprint will burn-proof Celliera.

If desired,

(not

),

, and/or

can make use of as their secondary wyrmprint to significantly reduce the opening blast's damage for everyone in the team. These adventurers should then use their defensive buff skills before the opening blast hits.

A sample build for Pipple is provided below, if one opts to use his defensive buff before the opening blast hits.

Adventurer	Wyrmprint 1	Wyrmprint 2
Defense buffs, defense buffs everywhere! - Pipple runs The Chocolatiers in his first slot so that his defense buff will help everyone survive the opening blast. For quad Pipple setups (or quad Odd Sparrow setups, really), Odd Sparrows is especially useful since everyone can grant strength and healing to everyone else, negating the need for any other party roles as Pipple is both the DPS and the healer. If a dedicated healer is used, Brothers in Arms should provide higher DPS.

Party Roles

Baiter/Support

The Elisannes will be performing close-range baiting for the majority of the fight, as well as buffing the rest of the team, and in case of Gala Elisanne, provide some defensive support.

• Only bring one of either Elisanne to the fight in the composition.

Adventurer	Notes
	The story version of Elisanne wields a lance, which has very high amounts of SP gain, and has an easier time attacking High Brunhilda while managing her attacks. However, her burn resistance only goes to 50% at its best naturally, so a wyrmprint is strongly recommended to address this shortcoming.
	Gala Elisanne has less frequent, but stronger buffs, due to her significantly slower SP gain caused by her wielding an axe. However, she comes with full burn resistance, allowing her to slot two wyrmprints safely. Her Celestial AscentLv. 1: skill can significantly reduce damage caused by the opening blast and unavoidable damage throughout the fight, and can also provide safety for teammates accidentally taking damage from avoidable damage - this skill's can easily take a hit from being a OHKO to 2HKO, and protects adventurers from chip damage and knockback caused by them.

DPS

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

Adventurer	Notes
	High damage output, provides offensive and defensive support, and shreds the mode gauge while High Brunhilda is in overdrive state.
	Very high constant damage output, provides access to frostbite, and grants access to various kinds of offensive and defensive buffs dependent on the stance in use.
	High damage output, and provides access to frostbite, but requires a mana spiral to patch up her resistances.
	Extremely high burst damage output, provides access to frostbite, and grants access to guaranteed criticals to the entire team with .
	Very high damage output, provides access to frostbite, and transforms into the Divine Dragon form, suitable for players that prefer a different style of "super" mode.
	Acceptable damage output with a crit-focused kit.
	Very high damage output with offensive support, and provides access to frostbite.
	Hybrid DPS with a focus on shapeshifting frequently and gaining power from it, and also buffs teammates' strength, though at a lower frequency than Elisanne. Also provides access to frostbite.
	DPS with the potential for extremely high damage output if counter is used appropriately against unavoidable damage, and also provides access to frostbite.
	Very high damage output and shreds the mode gauge while High Brunhilda is in overdrive state.
	Very high damage output with the ability for burst damage with two damaging skills, and also provides access to frostbite.
	Very high damage output with the ability for burst damage with two damaging skills, and is a dragondrive unit, suitable for players that prefer a different style of "super" mode.
	High damage output courtesy of very high damage from his standard attacks, and provides defensive and support with his skills.

Healer

The healer provides defensive support and take care of any damage the adventurers may incur.

Adventurer	Notes
	Defensive support healer with Burn relief. Can bail out burning teammates, has a higher healing output than Thaniel, and allows more equipment flexibility due to .
	Similar to Jiang Ziya, and being a 4 , is easier to obtain, but does not provide on his defensive buff unlike Jiang Ziya, making healing much tighter, and also does not have any innate skill prep, limiting his wyrmprint choices.

General Party Setup

The three real requirements for general compositions are as follows:

• One of the adventurers in the composition must be able to heal the entire team in a significant manner, or run on the entire team if multiple adventurers can activate defense buffs frequently, if the teamwide DPS is not expected to be extremely high (i.e. not at least an entire team of HDT2s/MUB Agitos)
• One of the adventurers should behave as the close range baiter. Usually, this job falls to either the DPS with the shortest reach, either of the Elisannes, or the host (Player 1).
  • Having multiple adventurers with similar reach may cause baiting issues, though it can be worked around with careful play.
• One of the adventurers should behave as the long range baiter. Usually, this jobs falls to the healer.

General Composition
Example 1: in this 3DPS composition, Orsem has the shortest reach, so he should ideally host and perform close-range baiting. Thaniel will take care of the long-range baiting.
Example 2: in this 3DPS composition, as Gala Elisanne is the buffer and also has the shortest reach, she should ideally perform close-range baiting. Jiang Ziya will take care of the long-range baiting.
Example 3: in this 3DPS composition, as no one is a melee adventurer, whoever is hosting should perform close-range baiting. Jiang Ziya will take care of the long-range baiting. If Hunter Sarisse was the host, she should ideally perform close-range baiting.
Example 4: in this 4DPS composition, as no one is a melee adventurer, whoever is hosting should perform close-range baiting, and the weakest personal DPS adventurer should take care of the long-range baiting as the need arises. As the lowest personal DPS adventurer in this case is Pipple, Pipple will take care of the long-range baiting.
Example 5: in this 4DPS composition, as no one is a melee adventurer, and all adventurers are identical, whoever is hosting should perform close-range baiting, and any one of the remaining adventurers should take care of the long-range baiting as the need arises.

Attacks and Patterns

On Burn

High Brunhilda inflicts burn which always inflict HP to 1 damage, and lasts a very long time before it wears off.

It is strongly recommended for newcomers to the fight to use only adventurers with

(including these that can reach this with one

wyrmprint, but not these that require two wyrmprints), especially in teams without burn relief healing, as High Brunhilda has unavoidable attacks that burn and also be followed up be another unavoidable attack, which can spell doom for partial- and off-resist adventurers.

Scorching Blast

This is the fight's initial "HP check" blast.

• Any adventurer with , such as , should use defensive skills such as Provident ProtectionLv. 1: to reduce the damage taken.
  • Afterwards, if possible, heal it back up ASAP to restore HP conditional abilities. Provident Protection will provide healing, but one may opt to run other skills to make it go a bit faster.
    • This is especially important if there are adventurers without in the team; use a burn relief healing skill ASAP to prevent their HP from bottoming out.
    • Shared skills can help with further mitigation and/or healing.
• You can't iframe it, however if you are a melee character then you can hold down Force Strike to not get knocked back.
  • Sword-wielding adventurers can also attempt this sequence of actions: dodge roll towards High Brunhilda, attack twice, force strike, then attack five times without using a force strike. Due to knockback immunity between the third and fifth attack on the second string of attacks, they will also not be knocked back, and this also improves SP gain.
  • Lance-wielding adventurers can also attack immediately, but make sure that the attack string is ongoing (restart the string if it's about to end at the fifth attack) and do not use a force strike; lances have natural knockback immunity that is strong enough to prevent movement from the opening blast's knockback while within the string of attacks. Alternately, hold a force strike only after the fifth attack has landed.
  • Axe-wielding adventurers should just simply attack immediately without ever breaking the chain or force strike. Axes have natural knockback immunity that is strong enough to prevent movement from the opening blast's knockback.

Backdash + Fire Breath

High Brunhilda faces the closest adventurer and breathes fire in a 180-degree area, clockwise, starting from her left side. Skill or dodge.

• If evasion is desired, either dodge towards the opposite direction of the breath's sweep, or go behind High Brunhilda, and you may have to dodge roll several times in a row to be completely safe.

The close-range baiter should take position afterward to bait High Brunhilda towards the top of the arena in preparation for "dive cancelling", described later.

Dash + Claw Swipe

High Brunhilda faces the closest adventurer, charges, and performs a claw swipe.

• The long-range baiter should start going to the other edge of the arena, opposite of where High Brunhilda is right now (if you baited her to the top, the long-range baiter should now go to the bottom), if they wish to attempt "dive cancelling", described in the next section.

Crimson Inferno

High Brunhilda targets the furthest adventurer, and divebombs them. This attack is unavoidable within the explosion area, and deals severe (likely fatal without strong defensive buffs) damage.

Dive Cancelling

Crimson Inferno in Expert difficulty and below have a maximum range. If the distance is too far apart between the target and High Brunhilda, High Brunhilda will instead just turn around and perform a claw swipe.

If the long-range baiter moves away to maximize distance between themselves and High Brunhilda, it is possible to perform the cancel intentionally, and it can improve DPS as High Brunhilda will not move a large distance.

• All future instances of Crimson Infernos can also be "cancelled" in this way.

Volcanic Blitz

High Brunhilda summons four volcanoes - they'll appear on the adventurers' positions one by one, and also inflict burn on hit.

• As they deal very little damage, it is possible for a to completely block their damage.
• If a non- adventurer gets burned from one of the volcanoes, they cannot be burned again from the same chain of volcanoes. They can take advantage of this fact by intentionally overlapping the first volcano that can damage them, even if it doesn't belong to them, so that they get burned at the earliest opportunity, letting the burn relief healer fix it earlier than normal.
• If the first volcano doesn't end up on the long-range baiter, try to trap High Brunhilda with strategically positioned volcanoes and baiting, though don't overlap them too much to prevent her from teleporting out due to collision issues.
  • If High Brunhilda appears to be vibrating rapidly, the volcanoes are too close to her, and she might teleport when she performs moves.
• Remember the order the volcanoes spawn, so that you don't get caught by a volcano disappearing on you later on.

High Brunhilda will try to keep you busy while the above attack is ongoing.

Crimson Inferno

Keep in mind that Crimson Inferno's range is cut short by any volcanoes in the path, if you decide not to perform "dive cancelling".

• If the close-range baiter receives the second volcano marker, someone else should bait the next attack.

Fire Breath

The close-range baiter or the substitute baiter should bait this attack towards the edge of the arena. Failing that, skill or dodge the attack.

Hellfire

Unavoidable, severe mapwide damage that can only be blocked by having one of the volcanoes be in the path of the attack between the adventurer and High Brunhilda. Get behind a volcano and avoid excessive movement.

• This will happen three more times; volcanoes will slowly disintegrate.

Dash + Hellfire + Dash + Hellfire + Backdash + Hellfire

The close-range baiter should try to keep High Brunhilda within the general area of the volcanoes, and preferably trap her.

Flame Chaser + Searing Pillar

High Brunhilda will spawn purple chaser markers on all adventurers; these markers are significantly larger than those in other Advanced Dragon Trials or Volk's Wrath. All adventurers should spread out as far as possible (usually to their four corners, either diagonally or top/right/bottom/left), and avoid overlapping other adventurers' with their markers to minimize damage taken.

• Activate defensive buffs such as 's Provident ProtectionLv. 1: before this attack lands.

Afterwards, High Brunhilda will then spawn a red stack marker targeted on the closest adventurer.

• If the adventurer has a dragon ready, they should shapeshift now and dragon tank the stack marker.
• If the adventurer doesn't have a dragon ready, all adventurers should get together and split the damage. A defensive healer can help with this.

Backdash + Fire Breath

Continue normal baiting (preferably towards a wall in preparation for the next attack).

Mini Meteors

High Brunhilda targets the closest adventurer, and spawns small meteors that hit them after a small windup that deals severe (likely fatal) damage. The close-range baiter should start moving all the way to the opposite edge of the arena to perform a "dive cancel" if desired.

• Note that in this instance, the long-range baiter does not perform the "dive cancel".

Crimson Inferno

See previous instance for more information on "dive cancelling".

Grand Muspelheim

High Brunhilda flies off the map, and burns a significant portion of the map with lava, which causes severe (likely fatal) damage to anyone that gets caught in it.

• If you are caught in it and end up losing all HP, once you're revived, leave the area ASAP! The revive action will grant you temporary true invincibility.
• It is possible to cancel the entire attack by breaking High Brunhilda before she flies off the map, once the attack's text show up.

All adventurers should immediately go to the lower-right side of the map, which will become a safe zone.

• There's also a safe zone at the upper-left side of the map, but generally it isn't used in Expert difficulty and lower.

Once High Brunhilda finishes painting the map with lava, the adventurer with shapeshifting ready should try to get as close as possible to High Brunhilda, while the other adventurers stay as far as possible, so that the former baits the stack attack.

• Some attacks that appear to have the adventurer not move actually move the adventurer slightly (e.g. the HDT wand and staff's weapon skills), which might send the adventurers to their doom should they use these skills too close to the edge of the lava. Backstep once before using them.

Searing Pillar + Flame Chaser

High Brunhilda reverses the order of attacks for this instance. After Searing Pillar hits, all adventurers should immediately spread out to their corners for the chasers.

Dash + Claw Swipe + Mini Meteors

Continue normal baiting (preferably towards a wall in preparation for the next attack).

Crimson Inferno

See first instance for more information on "dive cancelling".

• The long-distance baiter should bait the next close-range attack.

Fire Breath + Backdash + Fire Breath

Continue normal baiting after Fire Breath.

Volcanic Blitz

Similar to previous instance, but the moves High Brunhilda uses will be slightly different, so pay attention to the volcanoes and their spawn order.

Dash + Claw Swipe + Hellfire + Backdash + Hellfire + Dash + Hellfire + Dash + Hellfire

Continue normal baiting, remembering to hide behind a volcano for the four Hellfires.

Flame Chaser + Searing Pillar

Identical to first instance.

Backdash + Fire Breath

Continue normal baiting.

Grand X-Muspelheim + Flame Chaser

High Brunhilda flies off the map, and burns nearly all of the map with lava, which causes severe (likely fatal) damage to anyone that gets caught in it. There are four safe zones, in each corner of the map; each player should make sure to indicate which corner "belongs" to them, whether by discussing in a pre-made room or by using the arrow stickers.

• If you are caught in it and end up losing all HP, once you're revived, leave the area and head to an unoccupied safe zone ASAP! The revive action will grant you temporary true invincibility.

Four Flame Chasers will then spawn - this is why splitting up was important earlier. Use healing skills to cover any accidental damage beforehand, and defensive buffs to reduce the damage taken.

Searing Pillar

• If the entire team is in bad shape and no shapeshifting was ready on anyone, the weakest DPS adventurer (usually a healer) should bait this attack and sacrifice themselves.