CC#8: Daily Max Risks

Archive of a Comment made on my Max Risk CC#8 Daily Clears - Playlist|Link|Goes|Here
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DAY 1 & 2

THE SQUAD (and Possible Alternatives):

1) Rosa: E2 Lvl 70, S3 M3 – The MVP of this Clear. Her range coupled with S3’s good damage, uptime, and ability to stall multiple enemies make her integral for this strategy to work. Of course, you could replace her with Chalter, but you might as well use every other clear on YouTube if you are planning to us Chalter. If you are not using Ptilopsis, you might need to be more conservative with how often you use S3. I used it fairly often in this clear and I’m not sure how Ptilopsis’ talent plays into my skill timing. The big enemies you want to use it on are the Defenders and final wave of War Phantoms (5:04 in the video), so as long as you prioritize those enemies, you should be fine. You can also stall the Defenders with Gravel if you need a few seconds if your S3 is not ready to use.

2) Ch’en: E2 Lvl 70, S3 M3 (MODULE) – She has a couple jobs here. Outside of blocking the middle lane, her other job is to both bait the Arts Drones into attacking her and nuking the two War Phantoms that appear during wave 46/69 (4:13 in the video). You can easily replace her with Thorns and use Gravel to stall the top War Phantom, but that fact she can just nuke them herself is neat. Module MIGHT matter if you aren’t using Schwarz since the defense shred is probably overkill, but I haven’t tested her without the module.

3) Weedy: E2 Lvl 60, S2 M3 – Funny enough, you can replace Weedy with any of the pullers set to S1 since it interrupts the Crossbowman’s ability to call in Scrap Drones. Yes, even Rope works here! Anyways, this video sometimes feels more like evidence that could be used to help sway people into mastering Weedy’s S2 over S3 (I still haven’t mastered S3). The Pushback and Range of her S2 allows her to single handedly solo the top lane. The fact you can just drop Weedy and ignore the top lane makes this stage a lot easier to deal with. If you don’t have Ptilopsis and need some extra time for her skill to activate, try stalling with her water cannon. I haven’t tested it myself, but I imagine it should give you just enough time to get her skill up without one of the Crossbowman calling in a Scrap Drone. If that doesn’t work, nuking the first dude or two with Surtr or SilverAsh isn’t a bad call either. Just don’t place Tachanka early and you should have to deploy slot needed to set them up.

4) Amiya (Guard): E2 Lvl 70, S1 M3 – Most Arts Guards/Arts Fighters or any strong burst DPS Guards should do the trick here. I chose Amiya both for her talent and the fact Skill 1 does great damage and her skill cycles work well for the bottom lane. For those that don’t have Ptilopsis, you can always stall the Defenders with Gravel to give Amiya time to have her skill ready.

5) Gravel: E2 Lvl 70, S2 M3 (MODULE) – Any grounded Fast Redeploy should work here. The main reason she is here is to bait out Anti-Air Infantry Rockets and anyone can do that, possibly even Yato. This squad slot is extremely flexible. If you feel their redeploys are taking too long, you can try brining SilverAsh for his talent to lower your redeployment times. Module doesn’t matter.

6) Specter: E2 Lvl 70, S2 M3 (POT 6) – She is only here to stall two War Phantoms: the single one that spawns in at wave 29/69 (2:05 in the video) and stall the bottom War Phantom that spawns in shortly after wave 46/69 (3:52 in the video). You can probably replace her with any operator that might have cheat death mechanic. Skadi with Module and Surtr come to mind right away.

7) Schwarz: E2 Lvl 70, S2 M3 (POT 5) – While it looks like she might do a lot, the main reason she is her is to buff Rosa’s attack with her talent. Of course, being able both kill the Arts Drones and help finish off some enemies that might otherwise leak is a big plus. If you are using Thorns instead of Ch’en, you could get away with replacing her for Skalter with S2 to buff Thorns’ and Rosa’s attack. Otherwise, you could replace her with most DPS ranged operators. I tried it with Fartooth, Exusia, and Eyjafjalla just for fun and all of them worked out decently well.

8) Ptilopsis: E2 Lvl 40, S2 SL7 – She is mostly here for buffing SP Regen of the squad while keeping Ch’en and Amiya healthy. Most AoE Medic can replace her, but you will need to modify some skill timings for the clear to work. I wrote about what you might need to do for each operator where it matters.

9) Elysium: E2 Lvl 40, S1 M3 – He’s only here to print DP quickly. Making the two snipers cheaper is also nice. You can replace him with any Flagbearer of your choice or possibly Saga if you have her S3 mastered. If you aren’t using Ptilopsis, Saga’s S3 could help Amiya with her skill cooldowns as long as you position her right behind Amiya.

10) Tachanka: E2 Lvl 50, S1 SL7 – Literally any guard. He is only here to prevent a possible leak from happening during the last wave of enemies. The fact he can help finish off the first Defender and hit any Anvil drones that might spawn in is just a bonus (1:50 in the video). Ranged Guards/Lords and Instructor Guards work great for this role. If you want some style points and have her built, placing Ashlock a bit further back allows her to nuke the entire area around Amiya with her S2.

The 11th, 12th, and 13th squad spot can be used for anyone else you might need to help you clear this. Don’t feel bad about bringing more units than I did. A max risk clear is still a clear regardless how optimized the run is, so just play how you want and make whatever changes/alterations you see fit.

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Day 3

THE SQUAD (and Possible Alternatives):

1) Skadi (Guard): E2 Lvl 70, S2 M3 (MODULE, POT 5) – Honestly, most helidrop or bust DPS guards could work here. Ch’en S3 M3 with Module, Pallas S1 M3 with Module, Hellagur S3 M3, Nearl Alter S3 M3, and the list could go on. I mostly chose Skadi for a few reasons: First, her shorter redeployment time works great with SilverAsh’s talent. Second, her S2 lasts long enough to clear out the golems without too much of a problem. And third, her module does really well if she ever needs to block the high target enemies (Golems, Mudrock, Big Bob, ect) since it allows her to cheat death. If you only have her S3 built up, you could make it work if you give her enough time to charge it. If you are set on using S3, it’s probably better to have her replace Eunectes. The Module matters if you plan on having her tank more hits, but the high potential isn’t required for this clear.

2) SilverAsh: E2 Lvl 75, S3 M3 – He’s mostly here to meet DPS quotas with True Silver Slash and help fend off the first few enemies while I set everyone else up. His talent lowering redeployment times is also nice for this clear. You can replace him with most ranged guard/lords in the game. Thorns would be a great alternative with his S3 M3. If you use Thorns however, I would not recommend bringing Eunectes since she will have a much harder time charging her S3. I have a few good recommendations a bit further down.

3) Eunectes: E2 Lvl 80, S3 M3 – She’s only here to tank Mudrock and Big Bob with her S3. The only downside to using Eunectes on this map is her condition for building SP, which can be difficult to work around if the ranged guard you are using needs to stay on the field (looking at you Thorns). Thankfully, you can easily replace her with any defenders with good survivability such as Mudrock S3 M3 and Hoshiguma S3 M3 or a tanky guard like Skadi S3 M3 with Module and Blaze S2 M3.

4) Kal’tsit: E2 Lvl 70, S3 M3 – Kal’tsit is a great fit for this map for a lot of reasons. First, the deploy limit is greater than the squad size. This means that one of her biggest drawbacks, that is taking up two deploy slots to fully use, is a moot point. She is mainly here to keep everyone topped with her healing and doing True Damage with Monst3r. I also make great use of Monst3r’s faster redeploy a lot in this clear. You can probably replace her with any Single Target medic, but you’ll probably want to mess around with the team and switch around Eunectes and SilverAsh to help against Big Bob and Mudrock towards the end.

5) Schwarz – E2 Lvl 70, S2 M3 (POT 5) – She’s here for Defense Shred. It’s the main reason Mudrock and Big Bob are manageable. Without her, the two of them can be pretty annoying to take down. The only reason I picked her S2 over S3 is because she keeps her range. You can make S3 work, but if Big Bob and Mudrock are too low/too high, she can feel like she is just sitting there contributing nothing. If you want to replace her, most supportive units or good ranged DPS doesn’t hurt, but just like with Kal’tsit, I’d recommend switching around Eunectes and SilverAsh with other operators. The Potential doesn’t matter for this clear.

6) Rosa: E2 Lvl 70, S3 M3 – I’m using her for the same reasons I used her during the Day 1 and 2 Max Risk Clear. Her Range, Damage, Ability to Stall with S3, and the fact she works well with Schwarz’s talent allows her work really well on this map. Of course, you are more than welcome to replace with any DPS, regardless if they are ranged or grounded. I messed around with replacing Rosa with Phantom and replacing Kal’tsit with a stronger Single Target Medic for a bit and it seemed doable.

7) Suzuran – E2 Lvl 60, S3 M3 – I don’t really count her as “Arts DPS” due to her low damage, but if you do and want to go for a true “no arts damage” clear, good luck finding an alternative. Her S3 makes this clear a lot more manageable than it would be otherwise. Of course, you could experiment with Manticore S1 M3, Robin’s S1 M3, and Ethan’s RNG shenanigans, but I didn’t really have the time to experiment with that. Perhaps it’s something I can mess with next time this map comes back into rotation.
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Day 4

THE SQUAD (and Possible Alternatives):

1) Ashlock – E2 Lvl 70, S2 M3 (POT 4) – A corner stone of this clear and one of the main DPS for the top half. Since Ranged guards are pretty much a no go, Ashlock makes a surprisingly effective alternative to Thorns to damage the enemies that spawn walk through the top section. Her S2 increasing her attack intervals and great skill cycles means it’s a great answer to nuke the Ritualists and Infiltrators. The buff from Skalter’s S2 and Saileach’s S3 helps her damage a lot as well. Lastly, being able to activate your skill to allow the Brave Croc to leak is super clutch (Seen at TimeStamp). This is extremely handy since other operators would need to be removed and redeployed to make something similar happen. If you are looking to replace her, you could theatrically try Thorns, but good luck getting him out in and out of the field with that triple DP cost.

2) Ceobe – E2 Lvl 70, S2 M3 – The main reason I picked Ceobe over other high damage Single Target Casters was for S2. The outstanding attack speed counters the -40 ASPD Risk, the uptime-to-cooldown ratio is fantastic, and its ability to prioritize high defense targets means she will usually target the one or two enemies you want it to focus on. You can honestly replace her with Eyjafjalla S3 M3 and get similar results. I tried seeing if Goldenglow could do it, but it’s kind of rough to get her drones to cooperate. Maybe picking S2 M3 over S3 M3 would be okay, but you are losing out on a lot of damage early on. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot if Goldenglow is the best caster you have.

3) Saileach – E2 Lvl 60, S3 M3 – This was the missing link to get the clear to work properly for me. The debuff from S3 does wonders on this map. Not only does it play nice with the DPS on top, but like Ashlock, the fact her S3 allows the Brave Croc to pass makes her invaluable towards making this run work. I feel she’s kind of essential for this clear to work, which unfortunately means that replacing her isn’t an option here. At least she is fairly common to find as a support unit.

4) Schwarz – E2 Lvl 70, S3 M3 (POT 5) – Her only job in this clear is to take out the Brave Crocs that come in from the bottom. The defense shred and S3’s stupid damage makes her essential for this run to work. Buffing Fartooth is also a plus. I’m going to say that the potentials matter here since I was barely able to finish each Brave Croc off within Elysium’s S2 window and that’s with Skalter’s Seaborn buffing her. Just like Saileach, I don’t think you can get away with replacing her. The ONLY way I could theory craft this working is with Ifrit S3 M3. You’d need to place her on the tile where Fartooth hangs out and then have Ceobe S2 M3 where Schwarz was. This also means you’d need to have either Eyjafjalla or Goldenglow on top to deal with what Ceobe was doing originally. There is a lot that could go wrong with that approach since these operators cost way more DP to deploy then my current squad, but it’s something to consider.

5) Fartooth – E2 Lvl 70, S3 M3 (MODULE) – She’s mostly here to back up Schwarz and help clean up some of the enemies that come from the right side. The fact she ignores the evade on the always annoying Infiltrators is also a huge boon. That being said, you could probably replace her with most of the high DPS snipers like Ash or Rosa. I’m going to say that the module matters here since like Schwarz, she was barely securing kills during Elysium’s S2 duration despite being buffed by Skalter’s Seaborn.

6) Angelina – E2 Lvl 60, S3 M3 – Like Saileach, Angelina is a supportive link that helps makes this clear possible. Her S3 does just enough damage to help secure the kills on the bottom Brave Cros and her talent’s ability to increase the entire armies Attack Speed is much appreciated. Unlike Saileach, you can easily replace her with Gnosis S3 M3. If you don’t have either, Podenco could MAYBE work with S2 M3, but I haven’t experimented enough to see how she performs.

7) Nightingale – E2 Lvl 65, S3 M3 (MODULE, POT 4) – Other than healing, her high RES stat is a great answer to baiting the Ritualist’s attacks. Potentials, Module, and Levels MIGHT matter here since if her res is too low, the Ritualists will just outright kill her. Not really sure if you can replace her since other AoE medics just take way too much damage.

8) Skadi (Alter/Supporter) – E2 Lvl 65, S2 M3 – She buffs and does some passive healing. While not integral, it helps make the clear and DPS checks more manageable. Sora with S2 M3 could MAYBE replace her, but you’ll need good damage on the bottom half to make it work. If you don’t want to use either, another source of ranged DPS such as Rosemontis S3 M3 and W S3 M3 or Support such as Gnosis S3 M3 and Suzuran S2/S3 wouldn’t hurt.

9) Bagpipe – E2 Lvl 65, S3 M3 (MODULE, POT 5) – She’s mostly there to help with the early croc rush and clean up a few Infiltrators and Eradicators that might otherwise leak. You can probably replace her with any built DP-on-Kill/Charger Vanguard you have access to. Module might matter since the 2 DP on Kill is nice, but the potentials are just a luxury for this clear.

10) Elysium – E2 Lvl 40, S2 M3 – You cannot replace Elysium. A part of me feels like this Max Risk acts more like a check to see if you have Elysium’s S2 mastered or not. For whatever reason, I have yet to master his S2, so I had to use borrow one for this clear. Thankfully, he is insanely easy to find as a Support Unit, so you shouldn’t have any problems borrowing one for this clear. The level doesn’t matter so long as he has S2 is at M3. Forewarning though: the timing with his skill is super tight; if you can’t kill the Brave Crocs during S2’s duration, the croc will just kill him, and the run pretty much becomes a wash. An easy way to circumvent this is to activate everyone else’s skills first and place Skadi Alter’s Seaborn BEFORE activating his skill so you are maximizing the damage during the Elysium’s skill duration. Do that and you shouldn’t run into too many issues of him being defeated too early.

If you are looking to do this with NO LEAKS, you probably need a combination of Gnosis and Chalter to make it possible, the former I don’t have access to and the latter I simply refuse to use. I’m sure someone could figure out how to do it with this strategy, but I’m on a time crunch since I’m currently out on holiday for the weekend, so I’m just going to settle for one leak instead.
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Day 5

THE SQUAD (and Possible Alternatives):

1) Saileach – E2 Lvl 60, S3 M3 – Her main job is to slow the Ergates down so I can secure kills before and after Suzuran’s S3. You can MAYBE replace her with Manticore mess with Magallan’s S1, but it’s pretty tough to replace her otherwise.

2) Suzuran – E2 Lvl 60, S3 M3 – Her S3 does excellent against the Ergates. It’s up-time is also long enough to kill most of the Ergates and give Blaze time to get her S2 ready. Like Saileach, she pretty tough to replace. Gnosis is the only other operator I can think of who could do Suzuran’s job in this clear.

3) Blaze – E2 Lvl 60, S2 M3 – Any decent DPS guard can work here so long as they have at least two range. Nearl Alter S1 and Pallas S1 come to mind right away, but any Ranged Guard/Lord could also do wonders here.

4) Exusiai – E2 lvl 70, S3 M3 (POT 5) – The main DPS for the middle section. Ash S2 is a good replacement for her, although you’ll need to babysit her skill uptimes to make it work. She also won’t be able to buff Schwarz’ damage to make killing Pompeii early a bit easier. Outside of Ash, you could mess with Eyjafjalla S2, but you’ll need a bit more DP early on to make it work.

5) Schwarz – E2 Lvl 70, S3 M3 (POT 5) – Her only thing is killing Pompeii early. You can replace her with Ash S2 M3, but you’ll need to bring Skalters S3 M3 to secure the early kill. Since I don’t have a Skalter’s S3 built, I just stuck with Schwarz. The Potentials might matter here since the damage is pretty close, but if you have access to a Max level Schwarz, it’s probably unnecessary.

6) Bagpipe – E2 Lvl 65, S2 SL7 (POT 5) – She’s mainly here to help secure the early kill on Pompeii and the single Ergate Leader on the map. You can replace her with Surtr, but you’ll probably want to bring an extra vanguard for the early parts of the map. The potentials are unnecessary.

7) May – E2 Lvl 50, S1 M3 (MAX POT) – Any Sniper or Ranged DPS can be used here. She’s mainly here to suppert Exusiai in getting kills. Her S1 being a consistent source of slow is really nice for the couple of enemies with more HP.

8) Myrtle – E2 Lvl 40 – S1 M3 (MAX POT) – Elysium also works here. She is only here to build up DP at the start. Saga S3 M3 would also be a decent replacement.

The 9th-13th squad spot can be used for anyone else you might need to help you clear this. Don’t feel bad about bringing more units than I did. A max risk clear is still a clear regardless how optimized the run is, so just play how you want and make whatever changes/alterations you see fit.