Fate/Grand Order players have been busy playing through the Battle in New York 2020 event that started last week. But while the current celebration offers many chances for new and veteran players to farm to their hearts' content, there are also several exhibition quests for the strongest to challenge and complete.
Like the past 3 Nerofests, Gilfest continues a tradition of optional but very hard fights intended as endgame content for players. Unlike previous sets, however, this year's challenges drastically the difficulty while retaining the same restrictions of no duplicate servants and being unable to revive the party using command seals or Saint Quartz. It may take a few tries, but each quest has certain mechanics that make the fight easier once understood.
Quest 1: Rice Ball Franchise Shop
Tawara Touta - 1,559,207 HP/3,080,500 HP
Touta will switch between 3 different buffs at the start of his turn. When he hits one of the player's Fate/Grand Order servants with a barrel of rice it will apply a card seal, defense down, and increase max HP for 3 turns. The card seal cycles between Buster, Quick, and Arts but also gives an attack up, NP strength up, or card damage buff once it falls off. Attacking Touta with any card will also decrease the debuff durations by 1 turn. When a servant reaches critically low HP, all debuffs will be consumed to grant full NP charge without their normal effects.
Because Touta is an Archer, players should bring a Lancer-class servant equipped with the Grudge Match event CE. Recommended Lancers to use or borrow include Tamamo-no-Mae (Summer), Enkidu, or Cu Chulainn. Whittle down Touta's first life with whatever cards aren't sealed to build up buffs especially on the main damage dealer. After breaking Touta's first HP bar, he will gain attack debuff immunity and increased damage on his barrel-throwing attacks. Frontline supports will inevitably get one-shot so keep backup servants that can delay or help the frontline survive his AOE NP. The main servant should be able to do some damage despite the card seals, but once they get to low health and trigger full charge it's time to end the fight with a buffed up NP.
Quest 2: Flame Gate
Leonidas - 220,038 HP/732,460 HP
The player will fight Leonidas and 299 Spartans but only Leonidas himself has to be defeated to end the battle. However, Leonidas takes massively reduced damage but killing Spartans will remove a small percentage of the buff. Every turn a Spartan will gain an attack, critical damage, or increased critical hit buff. Leonidas will also use his skill and NP to taunt the player's frontline and prevent them from hitting Spartans with normal attacks or single target NPs. Once Leonidas' first HP bar breaks, he will charge the NP of all enemies by 1 and some Spartans will apply a debuff to their killer.
Because Leonidas will take nearly no damage at the start, the player must find a way to kill enough Spartans despite Leonidas' taunts. Note that the Spartans are all bronze enemies, meaning that AOE NPs insta-kill effect like Saber Shiki and Nitocris work very well here. Since the fight will drag on, it's important to bring stall and sustain servants such as Mash Kyrielight, Hans Christian Andersen, or even Merlin. Players should only need to defeat 10 to 20 Spartans to weaken Leonidas enough that a Grudge Match equipped Saber should be able to deal with him.
Quest 3: Skyscraper Monster
Okada Izo - 350,048 HP/1,203,290 HP
Izo gains massive damage reduction to the last card type used against him for 2 turns. A specific effect will also be applied when his turn begins: Buster - stun on a random servant, Arts - decrease critical stars, Quick - increase Izo's critical hit damage. After Izo's first HP bar breaks he will gain increased damage against humanoids each turn, but a servant's death will remove all current stacks.
Since Izo is an Assassin, Caster and Alter Ego-class servants are preferred carries with the Grudge Match CE. In particular, Xuanzang is a great servant to bring because of her mismatched Arts card deck and Buster NP, party-wide debuff immunity, and taunt that forces Izo to focus her. Most players will want to hit Izo with an Arts card last since the best servants against him have Buster or Quick type NPs. Use Caster-class supports since Izo is unlikely to kill them early on due to class disadvantage. Once Izo gets his damage increasing stacks, having backup servants ready to delay Izo or taunt for the main servant to burst him down.
Quest 4: Welcome to Jaguar Country
Oda Nobunaga (Summer) - 205,035 HP/365,561 HP
Jeanne d'Arc (Summer) - 244,016 HP/292,089 HP
Jaguar Warrior - 225,454 HP/309,712 HP
Nobunaga resists Buster cards, Jeanne d'Arc resists Arts cards, and Jaguar Warrior resists Quick cards. Hitting Nobunaga last will turn the field into Burning, Jeanne d'Arc will turn the field into Waterside, and Jaguar Warrior will turn the field into Forest. While in their field, each enemy will gain damage resistance, attack up, and NP damage up but otherwise get a massive NP damage down while out of it. Breaking the first HP bar of a specific enemy will cause the field to have multiple types at once if hit last: Nobunaga causes Burning and Forest, Jeanne d'Arc causes Waterside and Burning, Jaguar Warrior causes Forest and Waterside. Note Jaguar Warrior turns the field to Forest when the fight starts.
This fight is perhaps the hardest challenge to come from this year's set and leaves very little margin for error. Players will need a Quick AOE servant that can NP loop with Skadi such as Parvati or Edmond Dantes to kill Jeanne and Nobunaga in the first few turns. From then on, break Jaguar Warrior's first HP bar and whittle her down as much as possible before bringing in a non-Quick Saber class servant to finish her off. Because of the strict requirements, it will take many tries and resets to get the right luck since a bad hand or stray one-shot on support servants will end the attempt.
Fate/Grand Order is available on Android and iOS.
Source: Fate/Grand Order