Boss: Demon God Phenex (Ruler) Encounter 2, Ch16-5 (Agartha)

Phenex's infinite Guts expires after 10 turns! Due to how Phenex’s Guts works, there are a few approaches to defeating him.

The easiest way to take him out is to stall him out until Turn 10 at which point Guts expires. Masters can deal damage but refrain from killing him to avoid triggering Guts until this turn, and then finish him off immediately.

A good trick is to layer buffs upon the main DPS on turn 1, then swap him/her into the backline with Chaldea Combat Uniform until turn 10. As an alternative, Masters can also save the main DPS in the backline and only bring him/her out after the Guts is gone.

Otherwise, killing Phenex during the first 10 turns will trigger his Guts. This will reduce his maximum HP, making successive kills easier. However, this effect can only occur once per turn (triggering Guts twice in a turn does not cause the Max HP Down debuff to occur twice in that turn).

Phenex’s normal attacks will hit everyone, thus it can stack up quickly without damage mitigation such as Defense buffs or class advantage. This also makes bringing Taunters incredibly ineffective.

Applying debuffs on Phenex will trigger him into using his cleanse skill that also increases his own NP gauge by 1. His Noble Phantasm is quite hard-hitting especially without class advantage, so try to time debuffs effectively to avoid a team wipe.

Party-wide Evasion or Invincibility works well to avoid Phenex’s Noble Phantasm, or to buy a turn when team’s HP is low.

The Burn damage from Phenex’s Noble Phantasm can stack and build up over the long term. Masters that prefer more stalling-centric tactics should take this into account for a prolonged battle. High debuff resistance can also stop the burn from being applied or Masters can absorb or cleanse the debuff.

Be mindful of one of Phenex’s skills that can cause a Servant to lose 2000 HP on the next turn regardless of protections, especially on Servants with low HP revival on their Guts.

Due to Phenex’s class change to a Ruler, Avengers are the best option for the main DPS role. Other classes that are not affected by Ruler resistance such as Alter Ego, Ruler, or Shielder can also be used, though without class advantage their damage is far less optimal.

Berserker can also be considered if Masters can provide sufficient protection, as they will be hit every turn by Phenex's teamwide attacks. However, as this fight will drag on longer than Chapter 16-4, it might be better to save a Berserker in the backline.

Ideally, a set-up would be Main DPS / Support / Support. For this fight, DPS with strong sustain is preferred. Supports that also can provide party-wide defensive options are also valuable to keep the party alive until 10 turns have passed and Phenex’s Guts is removed.

The last man Servant is a decent backup in case things go awry. The notable last man options should have plenty of Guts / Survivability tools to last several turns on their own.

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