Imaginary Scramble - Challenge Guide: Saint-Summoning Aria (Gilles Caster)

Requirements: The Main Quest line for the Event, 290,000 Exploration Points, and Singularity: Solomon must be completed before this quest can be attempted.

• The Imaginary Scramble's Challenge Quest features Gilles Caster, accompanied by a swarm of Jeanne-faces. This high-endurance challenging quest will take a minimum of 6 turns due to the sheer number of enemies as well as the Damage Resist Gilles has.
• This encounter comes in two waves:
• Wave 1:
  • A relatively straight forward wave of only Caster / Archer enemies. Gilles can continually summon more Archers to the field so he should be defeated first, although otherwise this is a relatively normal wave.
• Wave 2:
  • Gilles reappears again, this time accompanied by Jeanne-faces. With every break bar, Gilles will summon more Jeannes, with the final set of Jeannes each having 2 HP bars instead of 1.
  • This Wave also is the main part of the challenge quest, where most of the effects and gimmicks take place.
• Wave 2 Gilles has a permanent, unremovable passive that makes him take 0 damage so long as an ally Jeanne-face is on the field. This means that all Jeannes must first be defeated before a real dent can be put in his HP to break each HP bar. This resets every break since he summons more Jeannes to the field each time.
• At the start of Wave 2, Jalter Berserker and Jeanne Archer are on the field with Gilles Caster.
  • Jalter Berserker can buff Gilles's ATK by 30% for 10 turns on death.
  • Jeanne Archer will debuff the party's NP Gain by 50% for 3 turns on death.
• On first break, Gilles summons Jalter Santa Lily, who then summons Lakshmi Bai (honorary bad luck Jeanne) to the field.
  • Jalter Santa Lily debuffs party ATK by 50% for 3 turns on death.
  • Lakshmi Bai debuffs party Star Drop Rate and Crit Damage for 3 turns on death.
• On second break, Gilles summons Jalter, who then summons OG Jeanne. Both of them have break bars and large pools of HP (Jalter has 264k and 582k; Jeanne has 326k and 742k!), making this section the most difficult part of the battle.
  • Jalter will immediately target focus Gilles for 2 turns, which makes it all but impossible to deal ST damage for 2 turns (since Gilles will have his damage resist active while Jeannes are on the field).
    • On break, Jalter gains Ignore Invincible permanently, while also buffing her own Buster damage by 100% for 3 turns. This can still be overcome using Altria Caster's anti-enforcement defense.
    • On death, Jalter inflicts 3 stacks of Curse on all party members (removable), while providing a helpful effect of reducing skill cooldowns by 2 turns.
  • Jeanne immediately drains the party's NP Gauge by 50%, so make sure to save NP charge skills if just about to HP-break Gilles a second time.
    • On break, Jeanne grants 1-hit Invincibility to all allies, while also buffing Crit Rate for allies by 50% for 3 turns.
    • On death, Jeanne will charge an ally's NP Gauge to max. Most likely, Gilles will be the one alive on the field, so the party should be prepared for an AoE NP the turn after defeating Jeanne. If Jalter is still alive, however, it's possible she can receive this NP gauge charge instead, and her NP is Single-Target.

• Avengers are excellent choices as damage dealers, since they have Class advantage against Rulers, and the enemy with the highest HP sum is Jeanne (Ruler). It can be worthwhile to put an Avenger in the backline as well to make sure that they'll still be around by the time Jeanne appears, since she's in the last set of enemies. Other options also work, such as Berserkers or other Extra classes.
• Bring the Event Damage CE(s) for damage dealers. Like a Bird provides the highest bonus available, although The Imaginary Element can also be a good option since it provides up to 75% (MLB) starting NP Gauge.
• Altria Caster is a particularly helpful support Servant to bring, since she can help deal with Jalter's permanent Ignore Invincibility via Anti-Enforcement Defense. She also can clear the occasional Stun demerit that Gilles can inflict using the Terror debuff.
• NP Gauge Support is helpful as usual, enabling the damage dealer to fire off their NP and take out enemies as quickly as possible.
• AoE Evade/Invincibility will also come in handy to keep the party alive, since it will be likely for most teams that Gilles can fire off his AoE NP at least once.
• Healing Support such as Merlin or Tamamo can keep the party alive since the fight easily can become drawn out due to the high number of enemies.
• Remember that Backup Support (Costs Exploration Resources) is an option! Various powerful options are available, although be careful that if an attempt is failed, the Exploration Resources used will not be refunded. If having trouble, using these extra buffs can give the party an extra boost.

• 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.
  • Musashi Berserker w/ 2x Castoria + Rider Da Vinci, using Nemo Event Support (8 turns)
  • Space Ishtar w/ 2x Castoria + Tamamo + Arash (14 turns)
  • 2x Van Gogh + Merlin (no backline) setup (19 turns)
  • Jalter + Merlin + Castoria, Lv1 Georgios Meatshield + Avicebron backline (24 turns)
  • Silver Rarity with Support Merlin setup ft. Darius III, Mash, Georgios, Leonidas, Mandricardo (40 turns)
  • Himiko / Merlin / Castoria stall comp, unused backline (41 turns)