Nero Fest 2019 - Exhibition III: Stellar Rainfall (Arash)

• Act III of Nero Fest 2019 is somewhat of a breather between the more complex fights preceding and following it. The star of Act III is Arash, everyone’s favorite highly explosive Archer, and it’s a relatively straightforward fight with minor gimmicks at most.

• The first wave is simple, with three Archer Sea Demons of varying (but low) HP totals. Depending on your choice of team composition, either quickly wipe them out or use them to build up NP gauge before heading to the real showdown.

• The first thing you might notice about Arash is that his HP is ridiculous. At a whopping 5.3 million HP, he is an absolute unit, and unlikely to die via normal means anytime soon. Thankfully, we don’t need to kill him. We just need to survive him killing himself.

• That’s right - this Super Arash still suffers from the normal death-on-use drawback of Stella, the Lone Meteor. Between the 3 stacks of Guts he begins the fight with, and the 1 surprise Guts/NP combo he uses after the earlier Guts stacks wear off, you win the fight if you can survive 5 uses of Stella.

• Note that if both sides die at the same time (i.e. you die to his final Stella) it will count as a lost fight.

• Arash has an unremovable Pierce Invincibility buff that only applies to his NP. You can still avoid his basic attacks via Evasion/Invincibility.

• Do not underestimate his basic attacks, on that note - if not healed up or protected, any Servants revived by Guts skills can easily die to his basic attacks with their low HP totals.

• Make sure to have a plan in place for his 3rd Stella, which will exhaust his beginning Guts stacks and immediately be followed by another surprise 4th Stella on the next turn, whether that means having more Guts for your team in place, stacking DEF buffs, or just being ready to sacrifice your frontline. 

• Arash is susceptible to all debuffs, except Stuns. However, he does have some Magic Resistance.

• There are two main ways to get around Arash’s nuclear hell Stellas: either using Guts buffs to survive the impact, or stacking 100% DEF/Attack Down so that it lands but does 0 damage. Rerun Update: With Altria Caster available, her Anti-Enforcement Defense buff from her NP also avoids damage from Stella.

• Evasion and Invincibility skills are not an option due to Arash’s permanent unremovable Pierce Invincibility buff on NP, and reducing his NP Damage via NP Damage reduction is not an option either given his own NP Damage buff (which cancels that out).

Stacking Defenses/Attack Down

• The method with the most freedom in Servant selection and also the method used to solo this encounter. As long as the sum total of all Attack Down, Defense Up buffs and Craft Essence effects is higher or equal to 100%, Arash does no damage. 

• Mash is the strongest Servant for stacking Defense, with access to multiple Defense buffs, with her NP providing 30% that scales with Overcharge. In fact, it's this eggplant-like creature that can solo this encounter with the help of The Holy Shroud of Magdalene CE.

• But more options are available, with Servants like Zhuge Liang, Asterios, Hans, and Boudica synergizing especially well. However, Servants such as Edison, Cu Chulainn (Alter) and Altria (Archer) also carry powerful teamwide Defense Up/Attack Down. 

• However, even those Servants may not be quite enough, as Masters should further boost their defenses with (MLB) copies of the 4* CEs Iron-Willed Training or Holy Shroud of Magdalene (Arash is male). Melty Sweetheart is also a good addition as it can tank 3 full (Stella) Attacks.

• Lastly, to stack consistently high defenses, Masters need to spam NPs and make full use of Overcharge to add further Defense Up/Attack Down. As such, Arts Chains, NP Charging, Cooldown Reduction (Tamamo), and yes, Overcharge boosting, are all highly recommended.

Guts Method

• A second tactic, yet one that is instead has to manage Arash's basic Attacks as well, is to rely on (team) Guts to survive multiple Arash NPs.

• The standout Servant for this strategy is Irisviel (Holy Grail), whose NP was seemingly tailor-made for these situations, providing a party-wide Guts effect. As long as Irisviel can charge her NP inbetween each Stella, the party will survive with low HP. Arash's turn will end if the whole party triggers guts from Stella after all.

• The key here is to provide Irisviel with enough survivability to survive until the next Arash NP, but also enough NP Charging support to have her NP ready each time. As such, NP Charging and Healing/Defenses are key. Prisma Cosmos is also a stellar CE choice here for Irisiviel.

• In addition, it is very likely that Arash's surprise 4th Stella might take out the party if Irisviel doesn't have an NP ready to go immediately, so having a backline with Guts Servants (any will do, such as Cu Chulainn, Heracles or Georgios) will also help. Or a Master can Order Change Irisviel to safety.

• For recuperating from a Stella, Servants like Merlin, Tamamo, Hans, Mash, Medea (Lily) will serve very well. Ideally, Arts Servants are preferred for charging Irisviel's NP given how troublesome her NP Gain is. 

• Taunt Servants can also redirect Arash's basic attacks after Stella. 

Final Teambuilding Remarks

• Guts CEs are great picks for the backline if the planned strategy goes horribly wrong. CEs like Chaldea Lifesavers and the Event CE Divine Three-Legged Race are excellent, and may last a Servant even 2 Stella's given Arash does not pierce Evasion/Invincibility with his basic attacks.

• A (Support) Bond 10 Heracles or Nero Claudius (Saber) with her third skill unlocked are also decent ways to stall out the final section.

• Mystic Code-wise, all options are option. Anniversary Blonde may buy enough time for a final Stella. The Atlas Academy Uniform meanwhile syncs great with any skill-based Defense stacking, while the Mage Association Uniform can help give you that final bit of NP Gauge and chip in with some healing/re-draw potential.

• Don’t forget - in a pinch, Command Seals are an option! You can get Irisviel’s NP gauge back to full with a single Command Seal even though the 3 Command Seal full party revive is disabled.

Certainly! In fact, our very own kouhai will be doing the soloing.

• When soloing, Masters field lvl 1+ Servants with a Taunt (Georgios and Leonidas) to draw fire for 2 turns (one at a time) and then leave the borrowed maxed Servant on their own. 
• The key here is to stack Mash's defenses to 100% for every Stella. Arash's basic attacks are practically irrelevant given they do scratch damage to her. 
• The Holy Shroud of Magdalene CE (MLB ideally) is essential here as without it, she will not hit the required defense target. 
• Make sure to have her NP ready on the second turn of Arash's appearance. 
• Success hinges on using her skills to prepare enough NPs in time - the Atlas Academy Mystic Code also helps via its cooldown reduction. See the linked videos for examples. 

Note that these videos are not affiliated with GamePress, but showcase some lineups that are effective in clearing the final challenge. These can serve as a good reference for how to rotate skills during this quest or simply to have a look at the encounter before diving in.

• (Edit - less RNG) - Mash Solo (lvl 80, NP3, 10/10/10) with Atlas Academy Uniform)
• (Defense Stacking) - Mash Solo (lvl 80, NP3, 10/10/10) with Atlas Academy Uniform
• (Back-up)(Defense Stacking) - Mash Solo (lvl 80, NP3, 10/10/10) with Atlas Academy Uniform
• (Defense Stacking) - Asterios/Mash/Merlin composition
• (Defense Stacking) - Edison/Mash/Tamamo composition
• (Defense Stacking) - Boudica/Mash/Tamamo composition
• (Guts Stacking) - Irisviel/Mash/Merlin composition
• (Guts Stacking) - Irisviel/Medea Lily/Tamamo composition