The Starving Wicked Beast

The Starving Wicked Beast is a Trial and the 5th challenge for the Chamber of Arms in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Players face the Boss of the Leo constellation, Aldhafera to earn Sasuke's Katana. It has a difficulty of roughly 10★.
==Battle==
Aldhafera has 4,200,000 HP although in truth the battle will make it be 6,300,000. Aldhafera has two major phases and will use different attacks and behaviour accordingly. Aldhafera acts 10 times per turn. In both phases Aldhafera has no innate elemental weaknesses or resistances, is vulnerable to all stat breaks and is susceptible to Disease (which it casts on itself regularly).
=== Phase 1 (100% - 50%) ===
During this Phase Aldhafera will use these attacks: Spirits have entered into Aldhafera! (HP damage (3%) and Inflict disease (100%) to self.) Wolf's Claw(1) (Physical damage (4x) and decrease DEF (70%) for 3 turns to one unit). Wolf's Claw(2) (Physical damage (5x) and decrease DEF (70%) for 3 turns to one unit), Wolf's Claw(3) (Physical damage (7x) and decrease DEF (70%) for 3 turns to one unit), Wolf Claw Combo(1) (Physical damage (4x) to one unit), Wolf Claw Combo(2) (Physical damage (5x) to one unit), Wolf Claw Combo(3) (Physical damage (7x) to one unit), Wicked Claw Flash(2) (Physical damage (12x) to all units), Wicked Claw Flash(3) (Physical damage (13x) to all units), Wicked Claw Flash(4) (Physical damage (15x) to all units), Howl (Increase ATK/MAG (50%) for 3 turns to self and decrease ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR (15%) for 3 turns to all units), Snap (Physical damage (100x) to one unit. This attack cannot be evaded).
Aldhafera will gain a preemptive strike where it will use Spirits have entered into Aldhafera! followed by Snap and then Howl and end its turn.
Aldhafera's behaviour during this phase will remain more or less consistent, using Spirits have entered into Aldhafera! once every turn (will keep doing this until reaching 60% HP), followed by its physical attacks and normal attacks which will grow in power the less HP Aldhafera has. Furthermore Aldhafera uses certain abilities upon crossing HP thresholds. Given Aldhafera injures itself on a regular basis, the player needs to be aware of both the threshold retaliation and the change in behaviour and Aldhafera's current HP in order to prepare accordingly for its attacks.
For all of Phase 1 after using 8 attacks that are not threshold triggered, it will use Howl and end its turn, meaning it will remain buffed frequently.
For 100% - 90% Aldhafera will mostly use Normal Attacks that have a chance to be Wolf's Claw(1). If crossing the 90% HP threshold but above 80%, Aldhafera will use Wicked Claw Flash(2), Howl and end its turn.
For 89% - 80% Aldhafera will use Wolf's Claw(1) twice per turn and target the unit with the highest SPR, remaining actions are normal attacks. If crossing the 80% threshold but above 70% it will use Wicked Claw Flash(3), Snap twice, Howl and end its turn.
For 79% - 70% Aldhafera will use Wolf's Claw(2) twice per turn and target the unit with the highest SPR, followed by Wolf Claw Combo(1) and the rest of its actions being normal attacks. During this sub-phase it will use Snap on turns divisible by 3. However, due to Aldhafera's preemptive strike its turn counter is different than the player's as such the player needs to add 1 to the turn counter displayed and it will give them Aldhafera's turn counter, simply put, Snap will happen on turns 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, etc. If crossing the 70% threshold but above 50%, Aldhafera will use Wicked Claw Flash (4), Snap twice, Howl and end its turn.
For 69% - 50% its behaviour will be similar to the previous phase, except it will use Wolf's Claw(3) thrice on the unit with the highest SPR, Wolf Claw Combo (2) and Snap on turns divisible by 6 (as a reminder, in this case it would be on turns 5, 11, 17, etc.) remaining actions are normal attacks. As a reminder Aldhafera will stop injuring itself at 60%, so the player needs to push the phase change at 50% themselves.
=== Phase 2 (100% - 0%) ===
Aldhafera will change form and behaviour and will use the following attacks: Spirits have wrapped Aldhafera! (Heal HP (100%) to self and decrease wind and earth resistance (100%) for 999 turns to self), Fire Claw of Death (Fire magic damage (7x) and decrease fire resistance (70%) for 3 turns to one unit), Ice Claw of Death (Ice magic damage (7x) and decrease ice resistance (70%) for 3 turns to one unit), Water Claw of Death (Water magic damage (7x) and decrease water resistance (70%) for 3 turns to one unit), Wind Claw of Death (Wind magic damage (7x) and decrease wind resistance (70%) for 3 turns to one unit), Lightning Claw of Death (Lightning magic damage (6x) and decrease lightning resistance (70%) for 3 turns to all units), Earth Claw of Death (Earth magic damage (6x) and decrease earth resistance (70%) for 3 turns to all units), World of Rot (Magic damage (14x) to all units), The beast's true nature has awakened! (Increase ATK/MAG (100%) for 999 turns to self). Wicked Claw Flash(1) (Physical damage (7x) to all units). 
Aldhafera will begin the battle with Spirits have wrapped Aldhafera! restoring itself to full health, thus in essence making the Boss' total HP to be higher. During this phase Aldhafera will use Claw attacks in a 2-turn rotation set like this:
* Lightning Claw of Death, Fire Claw of Death, Ice Claw of Death.
* Earth Claw of Death, Water Claw of Death, Wind Claw of Death.
It will use the claw attacks during the phase transition with following actions being normal attacks and then Howl, however it will stop casting Howl regularly during Phase 2 and use it mostly on thresholds.
It has HP thresholds of 80%/60%/40% where it will use Snap (in unit with highest SPR), World of Rot, Howl and end its turn. World of Rot hits several times which may kill weaker Magic Tanks even with Reraise. Crossing 50% HP it will use The beast's true nature has awakened! greatly buffing itself, additional past this point it will use a random 4th Claw attack (chances being Fire Claw of Death (20%), Ice Claw of Death (16%), Water Claw of Death (19.2%), Wind Claw of Death (44.8%)), furthermore using Wicked Claw Flash(1) on turns divisible by 3 (once more 2, 5, 8, 11 on turn counter due to Aldhafera's ambush) and a chance to use Howl as a final action.
== Strategy ==
Aldhafera requires less of a luck factor than Tegmine, but is a rather tricky foe nonetheless. Due to injuring itself frequently along with changing its behavior and using threshold retaliation. Furthermore due to imperiling itself on Phase 2, a rather common approach to face Aldhafera is to be on the defensive for Phase 1, and One-Turn-Kill it on Phase 2.
To do this the player will need a Physical Cover Tank for Phase 1. Evasion can be used to some extent but it is useless against Snap as it cannot be avoided. However, using abilities that negate physical damage (like Mirage) can bypass Snap. Sara's Command Retreat or Illusionist Nichol's Illusion - Doppelganger are both good examples. The former is usually the more used because it is casted on the whole party.
Buffers to solidify stats and damage reduction also work for defense (and offense too). Maritime Strategist Nichol and Zargabaath are good at this, otherwise the player can use the likes of Soleil for buffs and Crowe for damage mitigation.
Aldhafera also has high offensive stats, plus casting Howl consistently will likely require the player to constantly dispel and/or debuff Aldhafera. 45% or higher debuffs should be used, preferently 50% and above, so 9S, Kryla, enhanced Meliadoul, Ramza, Delita or Heavenly Technician Lid are the top choices. For Phase 1 the player only needs to concern themselves with ATK, for Phase 2 (at least for the transition) they need to focus on both ATK and MAG.
The player should bring a summoner as well, due to missions requiring two summon an Esper twice or more, while a proper Bahamut chain capping being very helpful to beat Phase 2 in a single turn. Garnet enhanced is the best choice offensively speaking, while being a useful healer. Eiko can also work due to removing debuffs.
Due to the Wind and Earth imperil that Aldhafera casts on itself on Phase 2, a popular approach is to chain Tornado and then cap with a strong attack. Tornado chainers include, Shantotto, Lexa, Barbarricia and Pure Summoner Rydia (as a reminder duplicates cannot be used so the player needs to have 2 different units at least). To cap the tornado chain, one can use Bahamut with a summoner but it may not be enough so another capper is also recommended for good measure. The Dragonlord's Kafrizzle is very effective especially if coupled with Ifrit 3★ Beast Killer+ and Elnath's Man-Eater+ it can deal massive damage. If the player lacks a single powerful finisher like this another alternative is to use physical chainers with wind equipment along with a double Tornado+Aeroja combo with the Aerojas serving as the finishers. Otherwise they may try to exploit the Earth resistance debuff although this is a largerlly unexplored method.
If attempting to One Turn Kill Phase 2, it is recommended that the player uses Phase 1 as preparation, that is to build stacks (like Aeroja) to its maximum, set the strongest buffs possible on each offensive character and putting as many of them as possible on reserve (so that the buffs are preserved), build the Esper gauge (Garnet and Eiko can increase it with abilities of their own), thus leaving all the preparations for the OTK in place. Due to Howl and the fact Aldhafera won't reach 50% HP on its own, it is recommended for the Phase transition that the player dispels Aldhafera, debuffs as many stats as possible as strongly as can be achieved and then damage Aldhafera to push for the phase transition while making sure the debuffs remain for Phase 2 in order to OTK.
Regardless of whether the player is planning to OTK or not, it is recommended they use a Magic Tank at the very least for the phase change or for Phase 2 as required. Mystea, Shylt, Chow and eventually Awakened Rain will all work, but will need heavy elemental resistance to deal with the claw attacks and the imperils inflicted.
If planning to OTK then the player should as stated above bring all their main offensive units and attempt to beat Aldhafera (if they are buffed to their maximum and Aldhafera is debuffed they should be successful). If for whatever reason the player cannot OTK Aldhafera, then they need to stick with two Tanks as Aldhafera will still employ physical attacks especially below 50% HP (to avoid the hassle a OTK can be attempted from slightly above 50%). It should be noted however that the World of Rot attack is not only very strong but has a high hit count so weaker Magic Tanks like Mystea or Shylt may end up killed even with Reraise.
As such it is widely encouraged that the player be capable to OTK Aldhafera in Phase 2.
Category:Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Trials