Final Boss (Origin Fragment): Cusack

Published July 29 2023

# Characters to use

### Best team for points

* Green Brunhild: Her Detonate skill is the most potent asset she has. There’s a mission to complete with the Detonate effect, but her Power Strike can also deal massive damage to the minions. Her Holy Relic is preferred but not entirely required.
* Green Halloween Gowther: His rank-ups are helpful, while his Unique increases the Attack-related stats from all your units. He can also provide further Ult control on the enemies. His Holy Relic is not required.
* Red Zeldris: His Commandment can help us remove debuffs from our units (especially the Freeze that will affect all your units on the first turn of Phase 2). Also, he’ll help by granting some degree of Ult Control on Cusack and his minions and by increasing the Basic Stats of all our units by each orb removed from or by Zeldris with his Holy Relic. It is required to have his Holy Relic, it’s possible without it, but if that’s the case there are better options.
* Red Elizabeth: She can heal from the backline, which will help us keep our units alive and net more points thanks to high health. Her Holy Relic might come in handy to increase the HP-related stats from our units and ensure their survivability.

#### Alternative Characters

* Green Valentine’s Melascula: Thanks to her Unique, she can increase the stats of your units based on her Lifesteal. You should equip her with Lifesteal gear in the middle pieces to maximize the increase in stats she provides to her teammates.
* Blue Fairy King Harlequin: In the absence of Red Zeldris’ Holy Relic, a different approach can be taken to beat Cusack. Harlequin’s shields can provide that extra damage needed and some grade of protection; although Cusack’s debuffs will eat through the shields quickly, this will stop being a problem as soon as we get rid of one of the minions. His Holy Relic is recommended but not necessary.

### Alternative team for points

* Green Excalibur Arthur: His Stance reduces by a considerable margin the damage dealt by Cusack. Also, he can remove debuffs from his allies and become entirely immune to debuffs himself once he sets it. Furthermore, he increases the max HP of his allies for each human ally he has.
* Green Brunhild: Like in the previous team, Brunhild can deal much damage thanks to her Detonate and Power Strike skills.
* LR Green Escanor: An alternative DPS in the team and a unit to make his allies deal more damage. Escanor can place a grey debuff which will increase the damage taken by Cusack and his minions while at the same time increasing his Attack-related stats over time. His Holy Relic is not mandatory but can be a welcome addition.
* Green Jillian: She can increase her teammates' HP and make them tanky, effectively increasing their survivability. Also, she’ll help to get the full effect from Escanor’s Unique since it requires all his teammates to be Human race. Her Holy Relic is not needed.

#### Alternative Characters

* Green New King Arthur: His Unique is a great help by increasing the damage dealt and reducing the damage taken by 23% for our allies. His Holy Relic is unnecessary since it won’t work against Cusack or his minions.
* Red Ragnarok Ban: His Unique is excellent for decreasing the offensive capabilities of the enemies while increasing our Attack-related stats. His Holy Relic is unnecessary since he won’t be present on the battlefield.

### Speedrun Strategy (Hell and below)

* Green Demon Lord Rimuru: He can deal massive damage with his Abyss Ultimate Move. Although, it is required to have it at high Ultimate Move levels (4/6 and higher) otherwise, it will last an extra turn in Phase 2 and cause Cusack to absorb one of the buffs. He can also restrict any kind of healing from his enemies.
* Red Kizuna: She can buff her allies and increase their Attack-related stats and Basic Stats.
* Blue Nanashi: Can provide some degree of Ult Control; with his Holy Relic, he can also increase the stats of Unknown Race allies. His Holy Relic is required.
* Green Merlin: We only need her for her Unique, which grants all allies an extra Ultimate Move Gauge orb at the start of the battle. Her Holy Relic will also increase the damage our units deal, so it’s preferred to have it.

#### Alternative Characters

* Green Ram: She can replace Merlin, but you would depend on RNG and spend an extra turn in each run. Out of that, she’s a great hero to make your units bulkier or in case you don’t have Nanashi’s Holy Relic; she can take his place to increase Basic Stats.

### Farm Strategy (Extreme and below)

* Green Last Philosopher Merlin: She can place debuffs on all the enemies on each attack and cause her allies to do the same, effectively setting it up for a Weak Point ability
* Green Echidna: With her Infect, she can restrict any healing from Cusack and his minions. She will also deal massive damage thanks to her buffs while at the same time increasing the stats of her allies.
* Green Filo: Her Weak Point skill can deal massive damage and end the run quickly. Also, she can clean any leftover unit with her single target.
* Red Ragnarok Ban: He will be there to increase the damage output of our characters.

#### Alternative characters

* Blue Gowther: If you don’t have Filo, Blue Gowther can be a good option since he also has an AOE Weak Point skill.
* Green Ram: She only serves as a backline by increasing her allies' Basic Stats.
* Blue Nanashi: He should have his Holy Relic to be considered a replacement for Green Ram, otherwise there are better options than him.

### General Strategy

Overall, there are some essential pointers for this Final Boss:

* Strength, Light and Dark attribute units receive extra damage and deal reduced damage to Cusack and both of his minions.
* Cusack and his minions are immune to several debuffs, which don’t include Ignite, Infect Dissolve or Merlin’s Element Effects.
* Killing the minions first (or at least one of them) will make the fight easier. The one at the right side of your screen is the most important in both phases since it increases Cusack’s Defense and HP by 100% each; you should kill that minion as soon as possible.
* On Challenge difficulty, all your units will get frozen on the first turn of Phase 2. This freeze doesn’t apply to lower difficulties.
* Cusack absorbs buffs from your units on every turn, and one of his minions has Over-rupture, so it’s preferable not to use any blue buffs in higher difficulties.
* In Phase 2, Cusack has a Stance, which grants him Immortality and more Defense. He will use it every other turn.

### Points Strategy

The most optimal team for a high score is:

* **Green Brunhild** (Attack/Crit Damage)
* **Green Halloween Gowther** (HP / Defense)
* **Red Zeldris** (HP / Defense with Red Tarmiel link)
* **Red Elizabeth** (HP / Defense)

This strategy focuses on accumulating stats by reducing the Ultimate Move Gauge orbs from Cusack and his minions with Zeldris’ Dissolve skill. Also, you must try to kill the right minion with Brunhild using the Power Strike cards as soon as possible. On your first turn, you should rank up Brunhild and use Gowther’s dissolve just to clear your hand a bit. Remember that Cusack will target Zeldris since he has an attribute advantage, so Red Tarmiel’s link is crucial. On your next turn, you should start attacking the right-side minion and gaining some stats; use Zeldris’ dissolve on Cusack and attack with Brunhild’s Power Strike on the minion; you can also use your Detonate but keep in mind that you should save at least ONE detonate for the upcoming turns to defeat Cusack. After defeating the minion, dealing damage on Cusack will be much easier. Also, your stats will keep increasing thanks to Zeldris’ Commandment and Dissolve skill, working in conjunction with his Holy Relic, which you should use to your advantage if you see too many debuffs on your units.
After defeating Cusack, you move on to Phase 2. Your units will get instantly frozen. You can unfreeze at least Brunhild to start dealing damage or Zeldris to gain more stats. This freeze (unlike the one used by the left minion) does no deal damage upon removal. Again your primary focus should be the right-side minion to reduce Cusack’s survivability, although, with enough Detonate cards, you can kill Cusack on the second turn. If that’s not the case, go for the minion and accumulate Detonate cards. Upon killing him, attack Cusack with everything you have and finish the run.

### Alternative Point Strategy

An alternative point team with a decent rate is:

* **Green Halloween Gowther** (HP/Defense)
* **Blue Fairy King Harlequin** (Attack/Crit Damage with Red Tarmiel link)
* **Green Brunhild** (Attack/Crit Damage)
* **Red Elizabeth** (HP / Defense)

With this strategy, you won’t accumulate stats, but you will use King’s shields to increase the damage you deal along with Brunhild’s same offensive frame as the previous strategy. During all your turns, you should keep up Harlequin’s shield. Due to attribute neutrality, Cusack will focus on him in this case, so Red Tarmiel’s link is also mandatory; otherwise, Harlequin will die in a couple of turns. In this strategy, you should also kill the minion on the right to hinder Cusack’s survivability. After killing him, you should begin attacking Cusack with all the cards you can have on Brunhild, keeping one or two Detonate cards for Phase 2.
On Phase 2, you will also get frozen, but this time you don’t have anything to remove it, so just move cards to net more points but make sure you don’t get your Ultimate Move Gauge full since you won’t be using any Ultimate Moves because of the Oath of Combat. Kill the enemy on the right again, and remember to use at least one Harlequin attack to make your allies hit stronger each turn. After killing the minion, attack Cusack with everything you have and end the run.

### Speedrun Strategy (Hell and below)

A good speedrun strategy can be:

* **Green Demon Lord Rimuru** (Attack/Defense)
* **Red Kizuna** (HP / Defense with Red Tarmiel link)
* **Blue Nanashi** (HP / Defense)
* **Green Merlin** (HP / Defense)

This strategy is only helpful to net points; it’s necessary to have a high level of Rimuru’s Ultimate Move (4/6 and above). You should use Ultimate Move Gauge food and begin your turn by moving cards on Rimuru and using Rimuru’s infect to have a space for your Ultimate Move. On your next turn, attack using Kizuna and her buff to increase Rimuru’s Basic Stats and Attack-related Stats, then use Rimuru’s Ultimate Move. It will kill Cusack and his minions instantly.
Then you will move on to Phase 2. You just need to use Rimuru’s single target on Cusack and then attack with any other skills you have that can deal any decent damage on him, end your turn, and Abyss will finish the run.

### Farm Strategy (Extreme and below)

An easily assembled team is

* **Green Echidna** (Attack / Crit Damage)
* **Green Last Philosopher Merlin** (Attack / Crit Damage)
* **Green Filo** (Attack / Crit Damage)
* **Green Ram** (HP / Defense)

You can use this team in Auto; due to the significant damage in this team, it will complete the run on average in 2 turns. With a bad draw, you’ll end in 3 turns.

Overall, Cusack is a complicated boss who doesn’t allow many options for team compositions, a true challenge for new and old players alike.