CARDES IS WAY EASIER WITH ZABOETH (+ Trial 004 Tips)

NOT GONNA LIE.

So, we all know that Cardes was released just a few days ago. In those three days that I was despairing after wasting God knows how much energy. And whaddaya know, I finally beat Cardes just earlier!

My first strategy was just using two teams. All units are at MAX evolution AND MAX level, with SBB unlocked, unless otherwise notified.

My two teams consisted of...

Team 1:

Lilly Matah (B) lead
Altri (O)
Oulu (L)
Rowgen (L)
Lucca (A)
Grah (L) friend

Team 2:

Grah (L) lead
Nalmika (B), level 82
Shera (A), level 78
Narza (B)
Ulkina (A)
Lario (A) friend

Worked out pretty well, until I started failing horribly at the 50% mark. Then I swapped the Lario with a Tridon after leveling up my units and fiddling around with my team.

Team:

Grah (L) lead
Narza (B)
Nalmika (B)
Ulkina (A)
Maxwell (L)
Tridon (L) friend

Same thing. 50% mark dead.

FINALLY I got Zaboeth and plugged 7 frogs to get his SBB.

I then also used the split strategy, so my teams then became...

Team 1:

Lilly Matah (B) lead
Shera (A)
Altri (O)
Rowgen (L)
Ultor (B), BB 4
Grah (L) friend

Team 2:

Grah (L)
Narza (B)
Zaboeth (A)
Ulkina (A)
Maxwell (L)
Cardes (L) friend

Zaboeth is really a better choice compared to Nalmika in this fight. Let's compare the two, shall we?

Zaboeth
+More survivability (Dark)
+BB is AOE
+Cost is lower than Nalmika, so you can add more higher-cost units to your teams
-Worse stats
-SBB does not inflict status effects

Nalmika
+Better stats
+STBB has high proc rate of status ailments
+SBB inflicts status ailments
-Need SBB for AOE status-effect inflicting
-SBB ailment proc rate is around the same as Zaboeth's BB (need confirmation, but it seems like this for me)
-Higher cost
-Less survivability (Earth, Luther can kill her easily if you're not careful)

The fact that Zaboeth's BB can inflict status ailments AND the fact that he's a dark unit and won't suffer from any weak element attacks in this fight is his main selling point. However, if you have Semira, I would suggest using her. So far, in Global, my choice of order for status ailment-inflicting units in this fight would be:

Semira > Zaboeth > Falma (Paralysis) > Nalmika = Luther or any other paralysis-inflicting units

As long as Luther is out of commission this fight would be easier compared to Maxwell. I was playing with no turn count (is there even one?) and won. There is really no use to try and curse Phee, but an injured Cardes is pretty much a godsend. His ATK and DEF buffs are RIDICULOUS.

Status ailments that can be inflicted include...

Zebra: Injury
Cardes: Weakness and Injury
Phee: Curse and Poison
Luther: Paralysis

Percentages to watch out for...

Zebra:

50%: Deadly End, 51000 damage on one unit. Guaranteed kill unless Tridon's shield and mitigator is up.

25%: Deadly End twice, 42000 damage on each unit. Guaranteed kill unless Tridon's shield and mitigator is up.

Sacrifice squad 1 here unless you're using Grah + Tridon combo lead.

Cardes (might need help for this):

70%: Foreign Light, heals 200000 HP. Deadly End twice, strong STBB

50%: Foreign Light, heals 200000 HP. Deadly End twice, strong STBB

20%: Endless, strong AOE BB

You need to kill Cardes, Luther, and Phee to officially finish this Trial.

And there you have it! Good luck fighting Cardes!

...I can't be the only one who has a weird anime crush on Cardes right? His unit design is AMAZING!