Nero Fest 2019 - Exhibition IV: The Brothers of Black and White (Karna & Arjuna)

"Karnaaaaaaaa!” -Arjuna (..) 

• A duo boss fight against the heroes of the Mahabharata. After Arash’s puzzle encounter, this encounter is once again a little more straightforward, where the main consideration comes down to who to take out first. 

• Yet, this fight is not very difficult to clear, mainly because both Karna and Arjuna (provided Arjuna’s first HP bar isn’t broken) just don’t have that much HP. It is entirely possible to damage rush this encounter - as can be seen from the (numerous) solo videos linked below.

• For a hard mode version, try killing Arjuna first!

Boss Analysis

• Wave 1 consists of 3 low HP Lancer Homunculus, and it is highly recommended to use them to charge NP Gauges for the battle with Karna and Arjuna.

• Wave 2 presents Karna and Arjuna as the stage’s bosses, with the central theme that Breaking/killing one of them will power up the other in some way. The full details of these gimmicks are listed in the table above or repeated in the accordion below.

• Naturally, fielding a Divine Servant is extra dangerous given their passive bonuses. In addition, Arjuna is completely immune to debuffs, therefore trying to land an Enuma Elish or a Gandr is a lost cause. 

• The recommended kill order is to defeat Karna first as breaking Arjuna’s first HP Bar would give him a damage resistance buff, increased damage, as well as an extra NP charge per turn. The damage resistance buff is very substantial and makes him extremely durable for his final HP bar. 

• Yet, Breaking Karna first causes Arjuna to fully charge his NP Gauge and increase his odds for Instant Death (especially on Divine). His Instant Death is pretty paltry, yet be aware that it may cause a Servant to die. 

• Of course GamePress does not condone the use of using a time-alter and quickly closing the application and use a (defensive) skill to alter the enemy’s turn when that happens. To do so would definitely be cheap, yes.

• A Karna first run turns the encounter into a damage race, because as soon as Karna perishes, Arjuna will wipe all NP Bars, and reduce the NP Gauge gained from NP Charging by 90% (this does not affect normal NP Gain). After his own Break bar is broken, he will buff his own Attack even further (on top of any Critical buffs he may have) and gain an additional NP Charge per turn.

• Overall, it is generally best to get Arjuna’s first HP bar low enough so that it can be easily depleted, then focus down Karna, and Break Arjuna on the same turn as Karna’s defeat. 

• Then, Arjuna should be bursted down by Lancers especially in combination with Critical Hits. 

• Proper care should be taken, however, that during this strategy Karna doesn’t get to use his NP, or to force him to use it on the same turn as Arjuna, so as to not waste the team’s defensive resources.

Gameplay Tips

• Try to bring some hard (team) survival skills to weather the AoE NPs. Whatever route is taken, it is nearly inevitable one of them launch one NP, if not multiple.

• Note that Arjuna's NP Drain does not affect the backline.

• Key Observation: All On Break/On Death buffs take up 1 action and cannot be used if incapacitated. 

• As such, Arjuna cannot NP on the same turn as Karna’s HP Bar is broken as he can act only once while Karna is alive.

• That is, unless Arjuna's NP bar is already fully at the time, in which case he will NP first, presumably.

• Note: The following might not work on NA - some reports are coming in of different behaviour where Karna buffs himself while stunned. The key distinction here is to avoid breaking both Karna and Arjuna on the same turn - this might be what causes Karna to buff himself anyway.

• Karna can be stunned and charmed, however, and this can be abused to delay his special skill activation (might behave differently on NA - it worked here). A Master can break Arjuna’s Break Bar while he is stunned/charmed and then kill him before he can activate his special defense buff. 

• In fact, doing so really scrambles the AI, causing it to go a bit haywire in activating their special buffs, sometimes skipping older ones it needs to activate. A Master could stun Karna, Break Arjuna, and then Kill Arjuna and Break his HP bar on the same turn. 

• Doing so will cause him to use the last special buff first (i.e. his effect when he is broken alone) and may cause him to skip casting his special defense buff entirely.

• Given their low HP Bars, using non-class advantaged DPS (With the Divine Three-Legged Race CE) to take out Karna is highly recommended. A powered up Arjuna can be handled by a Lancer very well.

• Abusing Arjuna’s and Karna’s shared traits is ideal, especially to take out karna without class advantage. Karna and Arjuna are both: Divine, Male and Sky-traited. 

• Lancer Servants are the ideal Servants for this job, especially given many of them have desirable trait advantages (Enkidu, Scathach, and Tamamo no Mae (Lancer). Even Brynhild works fairly well, even though only Karna is beloved.

• Of course other ST Lancer Servants such as Cu Chulainn, Raikou (Lancer) or Kiyohime (Lancer) are fine as well given their low HP, but may need a little more support.

• Berserker Servants are great too, with Oda Nobunaga (Berserker) really putting her anti-Divine NP to good use. Cu Chulainn (Alter), Heracles, Ibaraki, really any strong ST Berserker will substitute well provided one can keep them alive.

• AoE Servants do work fine, but in this case, try to stun Karna (or not break Arjuna) so that he cannot cast his Special Defense buff. Karna himself and Raikou are excellent picks for those with their trait-advantage. (NB: it seems on NA he sometimes casts his Special Defense buff anyway - this mainly occurs if both are broken at the same time!)

• Lastly, a Saber Servant followed with a (Backline) Lancer with both of them having the Event CE is a perfectly viable strategy as well. Any powerful ST Saber here will do.

• Of course, make sure to bring the appropriate offensive support as well to take it easier to deal enough damage to rush the fight before their gimmicks really come into play. High value damage/ NP Charge supports such as Merlin, Waver (except if the NP Gauge reduction activates), Raikou (Lancer), and Shakespeare.

• Lastly, if Arjuna's final HP Bar is proving problematic, Instant Critical Stars via Mozart or Golden Captures the Carp will make bursting him down with a good draw a cinch.

Hard Survival

• The chance for an incoming AoE NP (or 2) even with a high damage composition, is exceedingly likely. As such, Masters must bring hard survival to weather their AoE NPs.
• Naturally, Merlin, Jeanne, David, and Tristan are some great picks to tank one of the (Arjuna) NPs. Keep in mind that the Evasion/Invincibility will not save one from an Instant Death proc. 
• Otherwise, Servants with Evasion/Invincibility in their kit (especially hit-based) have a premium here. Cu Chulainn, Enkidu, Scathach, Oda Nobunaga (Berserker) and Raikou are extra useful in this regard. 
• Taunts as per usual are really great at helping Berserker and Saber Servants survive, especially as their survival skills may need to be saved for the enemy's AoE NPs.
• Guts really helps in the final stretch against Arjuna or against any Instant Death procs. His damage will be insane, but any last man standing will be able to tank him long enough to finish him off. Luckily, the Event CE will handle this part.

Certainly! In fact, the amount of different Servants that can do it are numerous. 

• 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.
• Do note that All runs are rather RNG-heavy. This is unavoidable and a result of the design of the encounter. 
• Arjuna has a chance to inflict Instant Death on NP (for which only guts works, consider not using Evasion/Invincibility for the NP and use a Guts charge instead, or roll the dice.)
• In addition, critical hits are often needed and Karna may randomly inflict a bad debuff combination (or they may not attack, thus not having an NP charged).
• That said, both Enkidu and Scathach are very safe options, and each try is pretty quick. 
• There are a ton of links down below, mainly for amusement, but some of the later ones are pretty sketchy or aren't done at NP/non-grailed. 
• The safest option is to kill Karna first, and to combine a Karna kill with an Arjuna 1st Break (using an NP to target switch). Softening Arjuna is sometimes required. 

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.

• Enkidu Solo (lvl 90, NP1, 9/6/6) with Atlas Academy Uniform
• Scathach Solo (lvl 90, NP1, 10/10/10) with Atlas Academy Uniform
• A fantastic look at what happens if one dares to Break Arjuna's HP Bar with Karna alive
• A standard composition (Hans/Saberlot(NP1)/d'Eon into Mash/Raikou(NP2) and Enkidu (NP5)
• (DAISHOURI) Hijikata Solo (lvl 90, NP1, 8/6/10) with Anniversary Blonde (RNG-heavy, yet stylish)
• Oda Nobunaga (Berserker) Solo (lvl 80, NP1, 10/6/6) with Atlas Academy Uniform
• Cu Chulainn (Alter) Solo (lvl 90, NP2, 8/10/6) with Atlas Academy Uniform
• Cu Chulainn Solo (lvl 70, NP5, 10/10/10) with Atlas Academy Uniform
• Heracles Solo (lvl 80, NP2, 6/6/6) with Atlas Academy Uniform
• Enkidu Solo (lvl 90, NP2, 6/6/6) with Atlas Academy Uniform
• (Merciless) Jeanne d'Arc (Santa Alter Lily) Solo (lvl 80, NP5, 6/10/6) with Chaldea Mystic Code (RNG-heavy)
• Full Bronze clear (albeit using some expensive CEs)
• Tamamo no Mae (Lancer) Solo (lvl 100, NP4, 10/10/10) with Atlas Academy Uniform
• Elisabeth Bathory Solo (lvl 100, NP5) with Atlas Academy Uniform (Super lucky finish)