Draco from Discord here again with another Dtide writeup. I tried to explain my thought process behind my teambuilding for some of the clears, please let me know if it's helpful! As always, E3 borrows were taken to replace any OE's I used in my initial leaderboard clears. I did use a borrow it just was not a whale borrow and was an E2 24 with E1 sig. As always feel free to ask me any questions! I did not go into this intending to use Turn Rewind but man W3 Tawil Rngslop broke me.

Stream Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeO-vDQ7qwE&list=PLU1ELnGtsTDo&pp=0gcJCQ4DOCosWNinsAgC

Total Time Taken: 21 hours (but keep in mind I had to reclear 3 waves with E3 borrows)

W1 [Dimensional Rendclaw]

https://preview.redd.it/2h4yq5kjhyth1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=2b8481f6eb08ebc9c1ee2104350e6f1630e27cf9

Replay Code: caf3a86a-470a-31d3-abc8-e736c5a4b291#E#a

This is a straight to boss comp where you go down, hit the ?, and then the shop and mob in the bottom right corner then the bones and then the boss.

My original comp ran Mouchette in place of Aigis because the backmost mob will not attack for a multihit if you can crit hit though and Mouchette could help clear mobs without too many gazes but I decided to try Aigis instead for stunning the boss and mobs for 1 less turn to need to worry about surviving. Lotan OE had to kill the mobs solo thus I had many, many, many symptoms. 25 mm magic was pretty nice since the back mob went to multihit after I had to take 2 drs in the first mob fight which raised my crit rate level high enough for Lotan to crit it. Ultimately took 3 drs in the mob fight, 1 on turn 1 due to not having weak and then 2 another turn.

Sadly my initial draw hand into the mobs had no weak so I had to take a DR on turn 1. I also did not go into boss with Lotan OE charged so I missed a turn of OE'ing. I think this should be doable with 5 DR instead of 7 with this comp especially if you have more hp. Tulu wheel went to Aigis to have her exalt charged ASAP and Lotan got my best aliemus charging wheels. Gdoll served as a battery role primarily and Faint was there to charge my DR up and give some additional weak. The hat relic was very good for getting the Hive Predations from the mobs out of hand as well as Symptoms. Wriggling cord can also be very nice too.

Ideally you kill the boss before it hits you with the second multihit.

W2 [Petrifying Eyes (Aigis)]

https://preview.redd.it/2z7mtlzaiyth1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=3386b3236d464fff9309d41902e3ed107e745e14

Replay: 2ab70b6b-0ac1-322e-9d5b-e128598fe73d#E#a

Pretty typical Gurpy team, I stalled out phase 1 of the boss and then burst all in 1 turn to clear the first hp bar and make the 2nd bar die to sacrifice. It's not quite E3 Gurpy but it's definitely not OE Gurpy either. I was able to sell hp at shops since Miryam dropped sacraments in my hand every turn and got pretty luck with the realm mastery, strength, and healing. I also got super lucky with a upgraded weak orison on my Waltz. Rewinding Time is super important for E3 Gurpy to be able to return Waltz and Abyss Hymns. Tulu 3 and 4 cost were able to take care of a lot of the mobbing.

https://preview.redd.it/rx2ifuwtiyth1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=be2d7e49f79bcad26c4ff04259c6bcc59097caaa

Replay: 218421ad-61ed-372f-be51-ae76425584bb#E#a

I originally intended to run this team into Madness which is why I had Cbeast saved for this comp but it was super rough and not enjoyable/didn't feel possible without spending excessive amounts of time so I ran this into SSS. The elite is so nasty this wave and I had to just kill it turn 1 or die. Outside of that nothing special. I like to run Salv wheel on units that need their exalts charged because it gives 5 extra Aliemus at turn end and a shield/furnace based on how much damage you have taken.

W3 [Bizzare Flesh (Saya's Meatblob)]

https://preview.redd.it/d1eii5ujjyth1.png?width=1917&format=png&auto=webp&s=bffcd1d2e04845313d571c1b1db710e75a43d9db

https://preview.redd.it/p0azattalyth1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=e54b8062e3dc495a9567b8768d1a330f032a7682

Replay: c4473372-eb40-3a41-ba40-4f90df954c55#E#a

I decided to run double 24 this tide which meant that only 1 team was able to have 24 posse and with Tiny Wish already used it meant I had to try to decide what posse to use instead. W3's boss requires you to be able to heal and shield pretty well and with Gdoll already used in W1 and me trying to avoid using limited OE's anyway (E3 Gdoll would be pretty mid in this comp especially with how Arith hungry E3 Tawil is) I came up with this comp.

Gramona was a must on whatever comp did not have 24 posse because of her ability to change your next posse trigger every time she exalts so I was able to sometimes have 24 posse and also use it for my double posse after a depressed 24 exalt as well as set the posse to Arachne posse for damage amp or Warden Injection when needed. Since Gram was going to be on whatever comp didn't get 24 posse and W3 had a strong need for healing I pair Gram and Tawil since Tawil can create several healing cards and then Gramona can exalt and place the last 3 cards played back in your hand meaning that once you find the cards you are looking for with Tawil exalt you can grab them back again and again. This is incredibly rough with E3 Tawil who only discovers 5 cards instead of 10 and does not give you any additional arith, this also made finding weakness or vulnerables rough since Tawil was the only unit capable of finding any of the above cards. Getting Dolls 3 cost early and Gdolls 3 cost early are very neccesary to start looping them before exalts get too expensive to do every turn.

Lily was ran as another sutain because Ogier was to be used in wave 4 and she was able to heal. I ended up protoing her to E3 to try to make the run smoother after failing to offrate her E2 > E3 to Haml E3, 24 E3+1, and Ryker E3. I didn't realize Falling Upwards was an exhaust card and ran it thinking I could apply Corrosion a few times to speed up the fight but at least it had a rm mainstat. Tawil is a on a full support build with Cursed Rabbit and Data is Flesh to increase her shield and healing and Gram is running Happy Magic Show since I knew my hand would often be full and having Gram's exalt up was key for posse replacement and looping heals.

I also ran Aigis wheel on Gram because the boss will not attack if it has a debuff on it after its first multihit in its attack cycle and instead transfer it to you. I had no way of getting Tawil's exalt up on turn 1 to hope for either a weak or vuln card or appying 2 turns of debuffs with just 24's cards so just used Aigis wheel to apply 2 turns of Vuln at battle start so that I didn't eat a 1k+ attack on turn 2 after eating a 1.4k attack on turn 1. Since it doesn't attack on the 2nd turn if it has a debuff entering that turn it's fine that the vuln gets transfered to me for a turn.

Sunfall + 24 Sig was ran on 24 not because it is the strongest combo but because I had wanted to free Cbeast for Ghelot and Sunfall + 24 sig only underperformed it by a little bit. I did reset until I found an acceptable starting relic too. Forsaken Blood was one of the best I could have gotten.

This fight broke me, there is so much to keep track of between ensuring the boss is debuffed for enough turns to not attack but also not inflict you with weak or vuln for turns after it's non-attack intent, hunger stacks, what your last 3 cards played were for the sake of Gram and not accidentally playing the cards you wanted to loop too early, and Tawil roulette for even finding what you want so I ended up buying Rewind for this fight. Bottomless scar was also super painful for this fight too and I tried to prioritize shielding when possible.

W4 [Snow White the Fairy (Caraboo)]

https://preview.redd.it/e786r8cnjyth1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=f38d20945b7697f8301eb8318972ff74235989b8

https://preview.redd.it/c3c6zbv8lyth1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=11892a93fe276bf00c11263cf0c06754eb8ea6fd

Replay: 52472cd5-ae09-3583-a76b-ff58b1e388bd#E#a

This was my second 24 team and where I decided to use Ogier since he is a very strong shielder. The 2nd elite mobs will Scathe you and Caraboo hits for 900 x 3 so Ogier and Nautilla were ran together since Nautilla's OE allows your shield to be higher than your hp which is not normally allowed by the game. Notably Nautilla OE is BUGGED and should give +100% of current shield but only gives 50% of current shield. My max hp in boss was ~1.7k. I like to run Memory Spiral for 20% more shield on Ogier + Rabbit + Birth for 10% more shield and some supplimentary healing from Ogiers Strikes and more shield from his defends + they both are realm mastery which is great. I ran Doll for weak and I just gave her a rm wheel for more healing and a whatever rm wheel for her SR since I didn't run Caraboo this tide and wanted more rm since for every 20 rm, you get 1 more aliemus when you release a posse in mono-chaos. Nautilla got Ichigo for more keyflare and Erica's wheel since you would get temp alert when playing defends from Naut and I thought it may be worth it since I love to use Ogier's X cost for shield which is also why I took Mute Jukebox for Ogier x cost, Doll 2 cost, and 24 2 cost.

I try to not re-use wheels when I do e3 reclears but I hope the 24 being E2 with an E1 sig andn not full leveled up skills makes up for it. I did not want to redo my Ghelot clear to free up Cbeast for W3 24 so this 24 could get the sig without re-using any wheels. (This 24 needed it more since the Steppenwolf crit rate was only 15% and I knew this fight would go on for a LONG time.) This team got 24 posse since as stated above this fight was a long one and I was relying on Ogier and Nautilla OE to shield the 3 x 900 hit and the rm scaling is needed to keep up with the insanely high aliemus costs that you end up with by turn 30. I don't know if this would have been doable without Rabbit Foot since this teams keyflare gen was rather weak and the first elite is incredibly brutal and where I ended up taking the DR at. Stalling the first elite is not really an option from how hard it scales and how much it hits when you have no resources.

I got very lucky with 24 Portrait which helped a lot with the crit rate though it still took till turn 21 for me to have 100% crit rate due to the wheel being e1 (my 24 is built to have 100% crit rate by turn 9 without portrait). Overall my relics were very good for this run and Boo has a nice 3 turn loop of 3 x 900, (if you give her what she requests a non attack intent where she gives you a blessing), 1.2k strike and then repeat. My deck did start to get super clogged with blessings and symptoms though. Funnily enough I never ended up using my Light Cone.

W5 [Key to the Gate (Tawil)]

https://preview.redd.it/clgy81kdqyth1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=89b5065350cc3f04db7163c85df34cdbdfddc1fc

Replay: 9b0511d7-0aaa-39d8-9c3c-1df1dbaa0f3e#E#a

Pretty standard Vortice Saya comp where you use your pursuits and corrosion to chip the boss to death, it was also nice to have a powerful starting realm mastery relic. Tawil hates teams that want to play cards and this team does a pretty good job at doing consistent damage without needing to play many cards. The mobs were rough imo and I went straight to boss skipping the Elite. Salv was nice for an emergency barrier though can be switched with Celeste. I did end up OE'ing my own Vortice for this clear because it just was not viable at E3 for W5 because of how hard Tawil hits and the fact she eats your deck + not getting gazed 27 times by the mobs. E3 70 Vort can definitely do W3 SSS, I originally tried W3 with my E3 Vort and was able to kill the first 10m hp bar of the boss. I like to run Elevated Focus on Murphy since it gives 15 aliemus when you posse so it helps keep her exalt ready whenever it is needed.

I definitely feel like at this point the low investment Madness meta has settled into Vortice Saya into w5 (I'm not as sure how non-whaled Vort fairs outside of Aequor ring tbh), 24 as a flex, and % max hp into whatever wave only has 1 hp bar and few mob fights, and Arachne (somewhat, usually for Nightmare/SSS clears not Madness at E3) almost any other low invest comp is reliant on being able to cheese ie Gurpy Salv max hp vs a 1 mob fight to boss wave with a boss that reduces your max hp to 1, Cassiah Cheese on Ultra Ring vs a nonscaling multihit boss, Caecus Goliath counter against a boss that only scales strength and nothing else so Goliath can steal it on a W3 with only 6m hp and I still had 3 or 4 drs, and 3 Celeste revives (would not have been possible if W3 had the 23m hp it does this tide).

I think I'll go for 500 on Caro ring so I can say I got No Limited OE or Low Limited OE 500's on all rings but after that I think I may drop down to SSS or SS clears. The Madness meta is so restrictive if you are not a whale with +12's and I miss being able to play a lot of silly comps.

Seems LuffyOMG beat me to the punch of posting this rotation but still thought I might as well post my own clears with Madness dropping later tonight. It feels sad to say goodbye to the A5 no limited OE challenge but here we are. No streams this time since I initially intended to just run a quick 400 and then on a whim went for the no limited OE 425 and had to reset a bunch of runs to make it happen. Tried to avoid needing to borrow more than 1 replacement of an OE unit so Kath, Gdoll, and Clem were benched this tide. Def feeling a bit frusturated with a lot of Biavs recent choices thus the shorter post length. If yall have any specific questions or want anything elaborated on feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer but I'm just tired man so kinda lazy post on my end.

d47e19a0-c926-3f69-ac17-ad2499921d5d#E#a

Caro ring is always nice for pickman Dore esp against a boss that does 1 big hit that you can tank the DR through or use Salvadors rouse to tank and then multhits that Pickman can reduce to very little damage.

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This is Faros poison so it revolves around Faros 1 cost and then picking another unit that can multihit to apply the most poison therefore Aurita is also my keyflare bot haha because her job wasn't to do damage but just to hit the enemies. I had to go straight to boss because this team could not survive mobs and just tank the single big hit DRs and burst on the multihit turns to reduce the damage down to managable levels.

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This is a relic run from my original braindead 400 speedrun, you can tell I was not trying to play very well and was just mindlessly playing by the 1 dr and 7 turns while running an incredibly OP team 😂

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Getting through the first few mobs here was rough I must say and trying to not get gazed too.

0144cddb-47e0-3f3a-ac34-94e4d99ee83f#E#a

Very typical Mouchette + 3 shitter comp, Alva to apply vuln. I almost got the entire bar in 1 burst but just barely missed it :(.

ac8cc295-6e74-3c59-a665-94239d432b2c#E#a

Decided I'd rather run E3 Gmurphy into W3 rather than W4, I was able to pull a E3 80 Gurpy into W4 when coaching someone else but it was pretty miserable so for my own account just ran it into W3. Clem boss sucks man,

740eca0d-50b4-3ac7-b2c5-6e211f6a0c7f#E#a

Pretty typical 24 clear, ended up saving Birth for this team instead for that extra shielding and healing. In retrospect after doing lots of testing I think Steppenwolf would have been a much better choice on 24. I thought 24 could be a good choice since 24 doesn't really care about if their cards get burnt and the team doesn't retain cards.

d8c61eca-a4f3-3725-9acb-6c45b77f67f9#E#a

e0185c86-9364-32c6-972b-34c3daba1ea7#E#a

Ran Vortice here to try to deal with the fact the boss kept burning my cards but the boss still burnt a lot of my cards since there is a lot of retain in this team :(.

c35b4c93-5a54-3246-8781-01806d60799e#E#a

Ghelot bonk. I am so used to my Ghelot doing sad damage because I starve her team so it was a very welcome sight to see her hit for like 2 million damage with 5 flails and just merc the boss. Arachne is such a great unit for this team.

https://preview.redd.it/c2qf6k8rmjmh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c59e9172bbbdf7dbf14b91f224e8e1efa4c9b3b

I did use a whale borrow this tide because I was originally going for 400. I would have used and built my own Gotan, however I lost all my scrips to hitting buy all on the shop out of habbit and have been poor and broke in scrips ever since. Maybe I will just borrow a weaker Gotan but unsure. It's already been shown a weaker Gotan can work just look at u/luffyomg post and his clear.

https://preview.redd.it/6dd5rwb5njmh1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=da0435bf83b8328592c1911894da3d699ef570a1

In the future, I'm hoping to be able to clear 3 madness with 24 into W3, Twins into W2, and Mouchette or Ghelot with Arachne into W3. I might need to actually OE units for this though so this may be the end of no limited OE's clearing the highest dificulty level.

This post is late but still wanted to share! Writing this at 4 am so let me know if there's any oddities or errors! Since I finished my 425 No Limited OE and No Whale Borrow Challenge on all rings I decided to try a new challenge. This was performed on u/angbak94's A1 guide account so it had story done but almost no events or anything because the account was purely used for Alert 1 Guides. Angbak literally only had 1 lowest dificulty of 1 singular Arcane Dominion done and most of the units were level 1 when I first logged on. It was very nice of Angbak to let me use his account to try to force a 400 on an account that was never built for 400, I've thought about started a new ftp account before but I hate doing story enough that even on my main I don't have story done 😆.

https://preview.redd.it/de9kbnq7zvjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=e7fbc0f2195cd8beebf0e884220af688d6df15c5

Replay: 98c913b4-4e88-3265-ba60-16eb7e95e69b#E#a

Stall Vortex. The main damage for this team was just Vortice pursuits, the most I ever got her exalt to do was 200k damage ;-;. I originally tried to run this into W2 A5 thinking Vortex would be good against the Fortress but Agrippa's shield is rough for Vortex and I got stuck in an optional mob fight I couldn't win after having a very good run which made me just decide to run it W1. I don't think it could have done W2. The cards the boss added to your hand which damaged you at turn end were so nasty.

The wheel Falling Upwards was also really nice for this team since it gave some corrosion for the Pursuit DPS Vortice to hit extra damage on and let me charge her/could reduce cards cost on other units. Vortice exalt existed purely to scale RM for bigger white stance shields and I mostly Vortice exalted as rapidly as I could regardless of crit rate. I didn't even realize the crit rate from strike/defend was an enlighten ;-;. Ran realm mastery wheels on everyone else. Tawil existed as my skey bot since I needed to posse every turn and for a barrier from 6 wings + a 15% boss hp damage.

Tawil Pinion not giving an insight, her exalt cards not reducing in cost at all and also being e0 varients of whatever card they mirrored were so miserable. It was very sad seeing an Ominious Semaphore not giving weak. Celeste was originally E0 but I ended up protoing her to E3 to be able to refresh her revive and also gain Aliemus from when the revive triggers because that is incredibly important for charging units in mob fights for the next fight. It was also rough with Murphy's 3 cost weak/vuln/remove sacrifice not retaining 😭

https://preview.redd.it/1pozq9a83wjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=0afd250ef307a69584151643f031c69ef818b531

Replay Code: 21d88a47-7b02-383c-9fbb-076794f27fad#E#a

STARVING GHELOT HOLY SHIT THIS WAS ROUGH. I could not for the life of me get the game to let me hit my drs on turns that would proc 2 drs in the same turn so had to just gamble on a tripple hit tripple dr. Ghelots levels were. So sad. Flails were also so expensive even Thais duped. Did not rouse Thais during the boss due to lack of enough keyflare to do it and be able to get more flails which I desperately needed. I ran the Haml aliemus regen wheel on Aigis because I was very worried about her exalt not being charged for mob fights when I needed it and did not have Tulu wheel. If my turn ordering looks a bit weird with Thais exalting after Ghelot exalt or Flailing first it was due to trying to make the most out of Vision Corrector.

My goal was to stall as long as possible so I Ghelot's base damage would scale from her rouse. April was nice for helping push it to threshold on Phase 2 and mobs though I'm not sure if Crimson Pulse would have been better in this situation.

https://preview.redd.it/dhgu81xazvjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=e6375392bbfab9e710f1bdb25147e6ffad67615b

Replay: 991c8c92-adb6-3226-9d4e-2220fd4c1fd4#E#a

This team could have A5'd especially if Pollux was leveled a bit more but since Ghelot could not run the A5 and needed A4, this team also ended up as an A4 because I think seeing if a poor Ghelot can even A4 is more interesting. Also didn't want to do deal with pray draw rng.

https://preview.redd.it/p5w8w81lzvjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=bd7c34d6927e3036b9390b3aab7f5e0555486d4f

Replay Code: badee7a1-a831-31db-846b-2ae9e64b0609#E#a

Very standard Mouchette clear that is definitely way overinvested in the wheels. Definitely could have taken away all the wheels except Mouchette's and maybe Dusk and Dawn and been fine. I wish Angbak invested the 6 extra copies of Mouchette onto other units since this was incredibly overkill. Most important parts of this comp are just Mouchette existing, Helot for doubling strike damage, and Alva for applying vulnerable on exalt which was charged by dying and Burial Grounds.

https://preview.redd.it/jjdartgyzvjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=0c9a46fddb2308629ec7ff38e5880de29f8f438b

Replay: e97f893a-e3ad-31ca-ad23-16aa4106382c#E#a

Caecus counter with Pontos to help with str down on large multihit turns and Arachne for her pursuit and amp for more counter. Castor for corrosion and also just general help staying alive since the teams main issue was survavability. The boss would eventually die if I just lived long enough so that was my goal. I got pretty lucky with my relics and this team was my only team above 1.5k hp. Not having E2 Castor does hurt quite a bit for charging him but at least his weak isn't tied to E2 unlike Corposant. I ran Dreams on him for more consistent weak. Thankfully Angbak actually had Castor's wheel or this would have been so cooked.

Perhaps Arachne should have been keyflare bot instead of Pontos.

https://preview.redd.it/oqwd2xk10wjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=764b9da9a33ea11502bb972c769a8641cbdca7f4

Replay: 27bf1a2b-d0c1-3752-aa48-6bd26a11d2b3#E#a

This was my first time playing Glotan and I do think if Angbak had a Ryker this could have been an E0 Gotan Clear and the whale borrow could have been freed for an easy second W3 A5 using Mouchette. Ramona and Cassiah are there to help force draw the Shortblade or Longblade and I had ultra turn charged for boss for extra stall time. I didn't quite know how to play the comp at first so ended up with a DR. In retrospect, I should have ran the wheel that gives aliemus when you posse on Ramona to guarentee her exalt would be ready always from the tripple posse's. Cassiah's poofs were very nice and also the fact telekenis counted as a strike and multihit was really great against Pandia since the goal of the team was to make Pandia hit you as hard as possible by smacking her and then Glotan exalting.

I think this account is a pretty good representation of a not minmaxed for dtide account especially since Angbak has a +6 Mouchette but no Gmuprhy E0 (W3 A5)

Clear done by Melwyn

or 24 E0 (W1 A5)

Clear done by Angbak

Which would have let me push this tide easily to a 410 or maybe even 415 if I had Ryker for a second Gotan run into W5 A5 or E0 Gotan into W5 A5 and whale borrow elsewhere. Dtide, in its current state rewards wide investment instead of vertical and this account is very vertically invested into Mouchette which only needs to be E3 realistically (Though Angbak did do some E0 Mouchette clears into W3 A5 with purely standard teamates this tide somehow).

The account highscore shows 395 because I finished one of the waves after the tide ended since I procrastinated one of the runs until 1 hour before tide reset.

https://preview.redd.it/u3l4yhllyvjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=6bde3767a5a5d2a39b62c96669f018432b10047b

This is what the box looked like after my runs.

https://preview.redd.it/tmquty7byvjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=a9f342ab78ec68ae7d6915959866e5b7d262d21f

https://preview.redd.it/9af4u7ncyvjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=4e28c8c0feb2b71248abcaddc626e9aca69ce5cb

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https://preview.redd.it/y73fl0qfyvjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=c1f7321e5127e5f367eddab388bb781abe37f412

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https://preview.redd.it/z22k9ao14wjh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f6c84f101605fe141b93bd52574a447ca6f97d7

This was too funny to not share: https://www.youtube.com/live/Mc-PAjKxudE?is=tH4qT\_MAcW9m5irW

Highlight from my Dtide stream. I managed to accidentally delete the rest of the stream instead of just extract the clip in Youtube Studio ;-; but at least I had it downloaded so will have to re-upload the full video. Would have been so sad if I didn't manage to download the original video in time.

https://preview.redd.it/rbhlxp8592hh1.png?width=2340&format=png&auto=webp&s=a493f689fb03fc74dda1dee2b330f23c82601a06

(I TRIED MY BEST TO GET THIS OUT BEFORE TIDE RESET I AM SORRY IT IS LATE)

Hello, Draco from Discord here again with the final ring in my Dtide No Limited OE No Whale Borrow saga. I missed posting for my Caro Ring though I did stream it. I may decide to retroactively make a writeup for it if there is enough interest. I tried my best this time to do something a bit special and try to avoid the need to use more than 1 E3 borrow to replace a unit that I have at the OE level which was used to replace Kath for W5 A5. As always thanks to everyone who has been cheering me on during these clears I've met so many super cool and nice people through my time playing and found nothing but kindness from so many players who have been willing to lend me their time and expertise. I would not be where I am in the game without all of the lovely people who have helped me along the way. Special thanks to Lens, Monchi, Frosthief, and Spooky!

I know my playing is not the best, but I know sometimes seeing how to get through mobs and the choices on relics can be helpful too. I tend to believe if you can get to the boss, you can beat the boss as long as it isn't hard countering you. I also tend to stall mobfights as long as I can without taking significant damage to build up exalts/keyflare for the next fight. I hope this post helps show some of the thought process that goes into 425 clears and that you do not need to play perfectly to beat A5 content. Please don't take these teams as the most meta best in slot teams to play generally, 425 is about spreading limited resources where they are needed, so starving strong teams in order to feed weaker teams. I get capped at 20 images, so I put the damage breakdown screen in for clears that I thought were interesting to look at.

Stream Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc-PAjKxudE&list=PLYLZVbWy6uYY&pp=sAgC

Total Clear Time: 14 hours (this was caused by me originally intending to just replace OE varients of my units with E3 borrows then later deciding to just remove them from the clears at all causing me to have to reset already complete clears and redo 4 clears to move units around such as this E3 Gurpy clear of W2 which was reset. Unless you have Rewinding Time, I think this team generally prefers Gurpy's signature Posse Wayward Ship for consistent access to Waltz. I am also becoming a Tulu believer slowly.)

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https://preview.redd.it/a6fklzk5a2hh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=bd0c71761c65c237193179681f2954b07373fb06

Companion Post [Aqeuor Ring]: https://www.reddit.com/r/morimenstactics/s/adPMLqyPan

Companion Post [Ultra Ring]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Morimens/comments/1t9hlz5/no_limited_oe_and_no_whale_borrow_425_dtide_ultra/

Link to doc with clears [Caro Ring]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YEe821qKxurwu6ub7hSbQj8jKNaawXDGpI6qXrRaxms/edit?usp=sharing

W1 [Find the Answers Within]

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I tend to run Ghelot into higher waves than W1, but I wanted to free up Aigis for Wave 5 because I was nervous about Thais since she counters a lot of teams due to the damage reduction she has when her summons are out. In my opinion, Ghelot is actually a pretty flexible unit that has 2 teammates she really likes, either Aigis or Thais, where she would prefer you run both but can get away with running one or the other, and then the rest of her teammates can be flexes between Faint, Leigh, Clem, Horla, Daff, Winkle, Celeste, Lily, or Arachne, Jenkins, Helot. Most of these supports help Ghelot survive the first 3 turns since Ghelot's Crimson Shackles damage you significantly when you are at high hp.

Black Candle was a very good relic for Ghelot since base damage is very good on her due to strong single hit as well as the fact that base damage sources from relics, wheels, and rouses are multiplicative instead of additive with one another. Thais and Faint also both could generate Counter so Putney was able to be triggered a lot. I also like Salvadors SR event wheel Man in the Mirror a lot since it gives shield based on damage taken the previous turn and gives the unit 5 additional Aliemus at the end of turn and Ghelot comps are not known for their ability to shield.

I chose Daff and Faint as my Ghelot support units, Faint because I wasn't sure how many times I would be DR'ing in mob fights or the boss (I ended up not DR'ing at all funnily enough so I didn't need Faint). I chose Daff for the Ultra mechanic, her ability to apply weak, vuln, give you an insight, or arith on her exalt, and her ability to allow a 1 turn faster ultra turn through her exalt too. She also increases the chance of discounted relics. I think I may have been too nervous about this clear and gave Thais way stronger keyflare wheels than I needed but I very rarely run Ghelot without both Aigis and Thais and wanted to play it safe. With Ghelot I tend to always sell my hp at shops though without Aigis I would only do that if I had ultra turn charged immediately in the next fight or know the attack would be a low damage or non attack intent.

In mobs I would rouse Thais sometimes and then in boss I roused Ghelot first and then Thais since Ghelot's rouse causes her to scale every turn.

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I finally got to run Pickman Dore into a wave which I'm pretty happy about after not being successful with that endeavor during Caro ring last tide into W1 due to the boss being a hater of playing non-innate cards. I did need to reset the first fight to get weakness on turn 1 from Pickman, often in Dtide you do want to reset the first fight for weak on turn 1 or 2 since the first fight tends to be the hardest fight since you are at your weakest during the first fight. Pickman got the Incalc because of how frequently he can exalt, and Leigh got 2 keyflare wheels since Caro's interaction with Life Drain hurts your keyflare generation in exchange for Embryo Gen and I really wanted to be able to Rouse Dore and Pickman and Posse every time with Voracious Resolve since it counts as discovering as far as Pickman is concerned.

Leigh was ran to help gain shield based on damage I took from her 3 cost Pain and Pleasure and heal me up when I was low since this comp is not likely to be able to burst mobs on turn 1. Pickman was the primary carry during mobs and was used to stack temp strength for Dore during the boss for Dore Exalt. Dreams is ran on Pickman in almost every comp he is played in since you want to be able to make the most value out of his Chromophages during mob fights and discover as much as you can to reduce them to 0 cost with Pickman Exalt, Voracious Resolve, and his 2 cost Lifelike Rendition. Arache existed primarily to buff the general damage of everyone's cards as well as for S Ultra mechanic. She also was able to apply a sizeable amount of Final Verdict onto the boss too. It is nice to be able to pull cards out of the first slot of Ultra turn such as Lifelike Rendition for weak or reducing Chromophages cost during a burst turn, or Chromophage depending on the need and to continue your burst turn into S Ultra.

The boss also loses strength when you exalt and this team, especially Pickman, exalts a lot so combined with Chromophage, the multihit turns were able to become non-threats. I roused Pickman in mobs and then in boss roused Pickman and then Dore.

W2 [Chainbreaker (Helot)]

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Helot is very much a boss that will punish you for dragging the fight out too long so I ran Castor Pollux instead of stall Castor with somewhat dumpy teammates. Erica was there to provide Vulnerable during burst turns and stack temp alert on the side while Agrippa could stack perm alert and help generate more embryos to feed units. I did not play the comp optimally (I am a terrible Pollux player as I mostly play stall Castor) and forgot to rouse Castor during the boss I'm pretty sure but hey the power of the twins. Spatial Deflector is one of the best relics in ultra and I got pretty lucky on the other relics. I like running Dreams and Chains Unbound on Castor for more chances to have his 2 cost Stygian Wings which applies weak and also more opportunities to trigger his Quasar effect for more Onyx Plumes and shield. E3 Pollux is about stacking to 100 sin marks with a bunch of 3/3 Sacred Hearts in hand as well as his 2 cost Soulsearing Light so that the 3/3 Sacred Heart always fetches his Cleansing Judgement when played but I whiffed and had no Sacreds by the time I hit 100 Sin Marks. In mobs I would rouse Castor only though in boss Pollux and then Castor should be roused.

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Vortex pretty much can beat almost any wave she is put into, though I was unsure how she would fair against Thais, and I definitely gave her way too many good supports for only needing to clear W2 but I didn't end up needing Celeste, Murphy, or Tawil anywhere else and even was able to give Tawil her sig for keyflare gen instead of giving it to Ramona for a 24 comp which is typically where I put it. I was able to save on keyflare wheels and only give 1 keyflare wheel to this team because of that which was nice since one of the biggest hurdles for 425 clears is generating enough keyflare to rouse units in a timely manner. Celeste is generally a unit that you use when you think you will DR in every fight and she applies weak/gives healing and arith, and Murphy just reduces damage by 50% when she exalts and also can apply weak and vuln. Tawil is ran because she can exalt a lot for pursuits and also create cards that can weak enemies, charge your own units, or even create Reloads for Vortex. This team is very arith heavy so seeing Vitality Injector is always great.

In mobs, I roused Tawil first for her exalt and more keyflare generation since generally you are killing them with Vortex Pursuits or if you do use your exalt you don't need to to scale from her rouse. In the Elite and bossfight, you rouse Vortex first and Tawil second so her exalt damage scales from Vortex pursuits.

I could have killed the boss much earlier and without a DR, but I really wanted to see how much damage Vortex's exalt would do if I could steal Helot's 2k strength. I could have went 1 more turn since my DR was still over 100% but I gave up since Tawil was nowhere near charged. 1.2 million damage was still pretty good damage considering I was unable to steal the bosses strength with a Tawil created Law of the Strong :((((((.

W3 [Silver Integration]

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https://preview.redd.it/9udnc4ihh1hh1.png?width=1917&format=png&auto=webp&s=6b94eef2aef256e0bb747422dd2b7881eff91cb5

This clear was pretty hard especially since my team was pretty under-invested and I had no idea how to play Glotan. Ultimately I used Glotan purely for the new Chaos Realm mechanics. Nymph was the primary poison applicator and I prioritized rousing her turn 1 and exalting as much as I could. This team struggles since the boss splits into 4 new mobs that will have 0 poison or spellbound applied to them and it is much harder to charge Xu quickly since the new Chaos Realm does not give you Embryo Fusion whenever you exalt with a Chaos unit unlike normal Caro Chaos mix.

Song of the Bound was nice on Glotan for letting me draw into the deck further and I ran dreams on Nymph for more weak and poison cards + her rouse gives her aliemus whenever she plays a card. Lily definitely did not need Amidst the Downpour but I didn't end up using it anywhere else so it got thrown on her. I originally tried to run Gdoll's sig and Incalc on Nymph but it did not work as well. Notably, I did not kill the mob on turn 6 so the boss would not summon a new one on turn 7 and just killed the mob on turn 6/end of turn 7 to avoid the hit that the mob would have given. I was unsure if I should run a Keyflare bot on this team due to how keyflare gen works in the new Chaos Realm and just settled on 3 Burials since I knew I would be DR'ing a decent amount and wanted as many guaranteed as I could. Not being able to remove the 3 turn vulnerable was really brutal.

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Mouchette Mouchette'd all over all the enemies. Helot was ran to increase the damage of strikes with her exalt and draw strikes, Alva was ran to apply vul with her exalt and Burial was ran on both to charge them whenever a DR was triggered. Dusk and Dawn was ran as the keyflare generating wheel instead of an actual keyflare mainstat to conserve keyflare wheels for other teams though since the stage relic was Relic of The Past this team could have not used Dusk and Dawn and been fine. I don't normally rouse Hameln since usually a lot of units want to be roused but was able to rouse him turn 1 here instead of Mouchette and gain a decent bit of value from his cards that reduce cost or replay your cards + they could be used to clear handspace without contributing to Arithmetica Harmony for when I posse since that draws 2 cards from the posse itself and 1 Mouchette card from her SR wheel. He 100% was not necessary though as Mouchette can beat this wave with literal level 10 teammates as shown by Angbak's clear. I prefer to run Dreams on Mouchette for draw consistency but April also works. I did not run any weak applicators on this team because the main challenge of this fight is just getting the boss to kill you in a timely manner so Mouchette can go brrrr.

Angbak's clear

W4 [Aphoom-Zhah]

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24 had a very easy time this was from Chaos ring. This comp really boils down to rouse 24 so she scales from when you posse and then posse as much as you can. Cbeast is ran to increase the base damage of her exalt and Crimson Pulse for crit rate and crit damage when you posse. Ramona is there to generate keyflare and fetch the Ichigo Ichi card created by Sakura Reveries with her exalt. Ramona's overexalt also causes the next posse to trigger twice and applies weak and vuln which is very nice for scaling 24.

Ogier's X cost Unstable Barrier is nice for applying shields especially since this team is not super based around using arithmetica to play cards. It also can be fetched intentionally by several posses such as Mountain's Resolve, Aurita's Treasure, Gateway of Retrospection, Reunions Wish, or indirectly with Voracious Resolve. His 2 cost Piercing Strike (which unrelatedly, does not count as a strike as far as Mouchette or her Posse is concerned) applies 2 turns of vulnerable which is also nice because 24 is exalting every turn for damage and so you want constant Vuln on the boss. His exalt also gives a lot of shield and strength and he can charge it quite fast in Chaos Ring.

Doll is nice for healing, batterying the other unit's exalts, and also discarding your entire hand in this fight specifically since if you have 0 cards in hand then you also have 0 frozen cards in hand for Aphoom~zhah to scale off of. I also chose to run 24 into this wave since they would be able to spam exalts and easily unfreeze cards.

I also wanted to showcase one of Vermy's (Vermilion IGN) and LuffyOMG's clears into this wave with much less invested 24's. Both of them have cleared tide with no limited OE with whale borrow and this is Luffy's 6th 425 (notably he has 1 OE now and it is Miryam which like... is never the difference between clearing an A5 or not clearing an A5 so it's still effectively 0 imo) and Vermy's first so I think they are both great players to look at for inspiration for what to run into 425 Dtide.

Vermy's Clear

Luffy's Clear

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I'm not so sure if this was an optimal build for Caecus Counter into this wave, I had a pretty rough time clearing this but I like Dreams on Caecus with Festival of Tides so I can play 2 of Caecus 3 cost, Protective Scales, in 1 turn. Protective Scales Retains so it is very do-able with Festival. Wanda was ran for her str down and exalt which can double the amount of hits an enemy does to you if you have 10 stacks of Dreamlure. My Dreamlure generation was a bit sad though since she is E0. I ran Winkle for weakness application and to battery up Caecus' OE. She got Eternal Requiem as her wheel to give me an extra posse during the first elite fight which was a very hard fight. Pontus was also ran for Strength down, I had never played him before so I think I could have definitely done a lot better. I did not get enough Gaunts to make any Conjoined Gaunts. Rousing Caecus was the priority and then Pontus.

W5 [Breath of Fertility (Thais)]

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https://preview.redd.it/7kkz43p2a2hh1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=627ec755950491e7db35ca8b7a10561a26f0bf00

Thank you to Kinbote for helping me with this comp since I wasn't super sure how to play it. I was very surprised it was able to clear with only a level 70 Sanga. This is the team I saved Aigis for since it was the only team going into W5 that actually had Caro and I was also uncertain about it's ability to clear mobs and the boss since Sanga exalt was the main damage and that takes time to charge. Aigis allows the team 1 more time to gain keyflare and aliemus which really helped a lot and in general I think Aigis is one of the strongest supports due to her ability to stun alone. She also helped with consistent vulnerable application and her OE increased the final damage by 25% that turn.

This team revolves around Sanga exalting and OE'ing to scale her exalt more. I'm not sure if my wheels were the best choices but I ran Poetic Verse to increase Sanga's aliemus generation from her cards and charge her faster as well as give her more shield from her cards. Sanga also appreciates the DR Mainstat since she scales from it 0.03 aliemus and 0.15 crit rate and crit damage per 1% DR. I also used Annhilated Rebirth on her (usually a wheel that does not see much play due to it having Aliemus Regen as a mainstat) since it increases shield generation and exalt base damage every time she exalts. Potentially something like Analysis of Death would have done more good since W5 was such a long wave and she could kill a lot of mobs. Her exalt crit rate is quite high too so she would be able to benefit from the crit damage.

Salv was there since he could create a lot of shield with a full furnace to help Sanga do more exalt damage with End of Suffering and he also was the team's weak generator. His rouse could also be used in emergency to block a single big hit. Saya's corrosion application was doubled since the enemies were Caro and Dreams was ran to have 2 copies of her Viscera Blossom. I sold Saya's cards at shop so that Mountain's resolve would be more consistent in drawing Viscera Blossom only. In mob fights I would rouse Saya first and then use furnace to Perception Warp all my cards and that was how I charged Sanga exalt primarily.

Easter Moment is one of my favorite relics in all comps since who doesn't benefit from 20 Aliemus a turn. Vision Corrector was also good too since it increased the damage of Sanga's exalt. I was not sure what cov to run of Sanga and just left it as a Burial Ground with 116% DR which equated to 3.48 extra aliemus from Strike and Defend and 17.4 extra crit rate and crit damage. Cocoon of the Maiden may be better but I did not have a set built.

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I ran Kath into W5 since I feel like she has no problem bursting with her exalt and Hyperflare every turn to clear Thais' mobs. I enjoy running tank kath with Will and Land of Nonexistance for extra defends and more cards that give her Aliemus to charge her exalt every time though there are definitely also aggressive Kath builds too. It can be a bit hard to draw into Kath's Hyperflare with as many cards in deck as this build puts at times but Kath becomes an unkillable god. Horla was ran for Grief and Anger stance to either increase my shields or damage based on what I needed as well as apply weak and vulnerable. Tinct was ran to clear the weak Thais applies off me and for her 3 cost which gives 45% crit rate and crit damage the next turn if leaped which was really helpful since tank Kath's crit rate is usually in the ~30% range. On top of that Tinct and Horla's exalts also give crit rate and crit damage. Ryker's relics also increase crit rate and give dice that grant strength and vuln (weak as well if upgraded). They also count as a card with exhaust which synergized with the stage relic. Weeping Pipe was a very good relic pull for this team and I always roused Kath ASAP.

If you have made it this far, thank you so much for reading this and I hope that it was insightful. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have. Now that I have completed this challenge I'm not sure what to aim for next haha. I was tempted to replace all level 80 units with level 70's on top of the existing restrictions. May Tide be fruitful for everyone!

When I log in it prompts me that the Dragon Rescue has started and you need fireworks to pop the balloons and I can get fireworks as rewards, but the balloons and event do not actually show up for me?

Draco from discord here again. Finally managed to get both no limited OE and no whale borrow this time, last time Aequor ring came along I was only able to manage no limited OE. Just have Caro and Chaos ring left to complete with no limited OE and no whale... after that I'm not sure what kind of Dtide challenge runs to do. As always I have to use the borrow to replace my OE units because Biav won't let us un-overexalt units :(. Thank you to Spooky, Juno, and Arisu for letting me use their units as borrows. Additional thanks to Frost, Monchi, and Al for cheering me on during this journey,

Stream Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmqLue0Jp8I&list=PLYDfb-zae9w8&pp=sAgC

(I swear I played so poorly this tide oml. I just started my internship which is a 2 hour daily commute and I was on 3 hours of sleep when I was dtiding.)

Approximate time for 425 with OEs (since I need to borrrow 3-4 units to replace my OEs and therefore can't hit leaderboard 425 unless I run OE teams first) and then no limited OE clears with borrows: 9 hours and 20 minutes

The first mob fight is almost always the hardest part of an A5 just because you have no resources or tools at your disposal and I'm almost always looking for a weakness in my opening hand. I usually say if you can beat the first mob fight with like an amount of keyflare that should be enough for a rouse on turn 1/2 of the next fight and exalts more charged than you started with, that you can likely beat the boss unless it is a bad matchup for the team.

W1 [Endless Hunger]

https://preview.redd.it/d0i8gdi3xpah1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=90f879d5b0d0d68103228a713dcb5df64b35f164

Replay Code; 77b3d7d4-a096-38cc-a7ed-e8ed7f6a6dab#E#a

Pretty typical Vortex comp, This easily could have been a 0 dr fight but I had 200% DR so I took the DR for extra arith and a silver key the next turn. DRs are just another tool in the toolbox. Celeste and Murphy were overkill in the sustain department this time but usually needed in higher waves. Vortex Pursuits + Ancient embers are always a great combination for damage and very nice for knocking out the bosses 10 DRs.

https://preview.redd.it/fvsrr6170qah1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=83bf9ca43d56effefa8d580fa0172887dc0ef108

Replay Code: 6af76545-7f40-3aa5-b27b-f10078bd227e#E#a

Stall Kath comp my beloved. I'm not sure if this comp needed Horla or not. I usually starve my Kath teams and use Doll/Winkle for consistent weak instead of Horla. This was one of my last clears and I had no teams running Ultra left so Horla got thrown into this comp. I tried to speedrun stacking strength to be able to knock out the bosses death resistance hp bars with things that were not Hyperflare. I think I really like Tinct keyflare bot with Murphy's wheel because Tinct's defense gives 2 instances of shield and her 3 cost which I play frequently to make up for stall Kath's sad crit rate, also gives shield so it helps charge keyflare. The stage relic was also really nice for keyflare regeneration so I was able to run a shitter keyflare wheel for Tinct's second wheel instead of something better like Gateway of Truth since Kath really really wants to posse every turn.

https://preview.redd.it/uv49sxp41qah1.png?width=531&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e5b94fd5a5691c2fa964231a4f01b6588cf8a94

W2 [Skull Huntress (Daffodil)]

https://preview.redd.it/xj02yt1cxpah1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ed501084b99040eb3b275a465d3c7ecda4b52a4

Replay Code: b85dcb3e-71a1-3514-880b-3b4a63d335b5#E#a

Honestly I was so suprised this team worked especially with how poorly I navigated the map. I forgot what the map layout was and accidentally got stuck going into the Elite at 100 hp instead of grabbing the existing heal point. Somehow I still ended up going hp positive to 900 hp courtesy of Clem's 2 cost by the end of the elite fight and then I accidentally went into the next mob fight without checking the shop. This was meant to be Xu-less Faros Aurita poison because Xu was needed on another team more but oh my goodness it was rough without Xu to poison trigger my sad amounts of poison and was mostly Aurita killing the mobs and elites. On the boss I managed to hit a lot of poison... the turn before it died (it was sitting at like 20k poison before turn 7 or 8) so I'm unsure how helpful Faros was compared to Tulu for pure Aurita DPS. If only Aurita teams felt this nice to play outside of blue ring. Agate was definitely a god tier pull for Aurita dps and the stage relic was pretty nice too since this comp discards and redraws a lot.

https://preview.redd.it/13blwx344qah1.png?width=1915&format=png&auto=webp&s=f3250914c73a6c4634f95f94dc96e0ecb50c0d77

Replay Code: d5460f2f-c322-3d9f-843f-5ee1239127fb#E#a

For the past few tides, wave 3 has not been very friendly to poison comps and finding a home for poison has been a bit rough. This clear was incredibly janky. Caro's keyflare generation with the Lifedrain Covenant sucks since instead of regenerating 200% of the wielders Keyflare regeneration at turn end, you get extra embryo fusion. I could not find a Gdoll to borrow for the life of me that was equiped with wheels I had not yet used and also was not OE that had Dreams meaning my poison application and consistency of weakness was very suboptimal and I had to take Lifedrain off of Nymph since there was no point in running 2 sets of it and I desperately needed to hit DRs. The boss has a few multihit turns so Xu's devour and posse were really nice here. Please if someone has a somewhat built E3 Gdoll hit me up.

W3 [Luminary]

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Replay Code: 86345b3c-c727-398b-9b03-6b7f111c2c0d#E#a

I don't think wave 3 was the hardest wave, but it definitely was the most restrictive wave as only a few comps actually worked into it. Vortex, Gmurphy, Castor Pollux, and Pontus comps worked mostly due to their ability to generate enough shield to block the bosses first hit turn 1 and prevent it from spawning in mobs to give it DR and poisoning you. And Mouchette can kill anything as long as you hit enough DRs. Saya Sanga was the other comp that actually worked via corrosion + Sanga Exalt being nice damage but man it was rough. Especially because the boss couldn't take over a certain amount of damage until its hp dropped below 50%. Routing around this wave was challenging since all the comps that actually worked into this wave were some of the strongest comps in the game that other waves really wanted. I definitely needed Faint + Salvador to keep me alive at this investment. Notably this comp should also run well into W5 since Saya applies double the corrosion against Caro enemies. I ran tide before Pontus came out but just didn't finish the writeup until now.

https://preview.redd.it/hughwq6wxpah1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=f0faab0de52ce9fd6c5ae8d47705840cbabf625c

Replay Code: 9b4e07f4-b9e9-39b2-b36d-fd1b3b8c85af#E#a

I decided to not run keyflare wheels on this team to save them for other teams since I could just DR with Dusk and Dawn for all the keyflare I theoretically would need. Pandia was ran to remove the bosses counter so I didn't end up killing myself from hitting it when I was bursting. I normally would run Ramona but she was ran on my 24 team so Hameln was ran as filler to doubleplay a card.

W4 [Swordsmanship Instructor]

https://preview.redd.it/b4tvpfazxpah1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=168cbc395691042d49f5aa9750697aca59d346dd

Replay Code: fc0d4d10-5748-3013-9126-83894d21417f#E#a

This was my first time playing Chaos 24 and I was pleasently suprised by how nicely it ran with wellfare unit teamates, Doll and Ogier do a good job of keeping vuln and weak up. I didn't really utilize Sakura Reveries as much as I could have because it was not needed. I used Tawil wheel here to be able to hold up to 3k keyflare since this team generates a boatload of keyflare and you want to double posse every turn to scale 24 up. The stage relic was pretty nice for 24 since she benefits pretty nicely from base damage.

https://preview.redd.it/1tuolb52ypah1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=36410488ee753c4fed314eaa7630fff495653531

Aigis normally lives on my Ghelot team since usually I'm dying on turn 2 from taking a hit on turn 1 and Crimson Shackling but I decided to try for Aigisless Ghelot because I felt another team needed her a lot more. I like Daff because her exalt can create 0 cost cards that apply weak/vuln, draw 1, give the team aliemus, or give 1 arith while also adding a copy to Ultra turn which lets you enter ultra turn faster which was very useful to build more flails, regenerate keyflare, and giving me breathing room. Daff's soulforge also increases the rate you can find discounted relics which is nice too especially on maps with multiple shops. Leigh's exalt came in cluth a few times to stop me from dying too since she heals more the lower your hp is. The stage relic was also amazing for Ghelot since I'm pretty sure the base damage from the relic is multaplicative instead of addative with the base damage Ghelot gains from her rouse.

Replay Code: 8ae8a11f-dbd7-3610-ad8c-aa4608074096#E#a

W5 [The Painter (Pickman)]
Note for cards that Pickman paints, that they will show up in your hand in the order that they show up in your skill screen. Ie strikes and defenses will always be the leftmost cards and skills the rightmost when you have multiple painted cards in hand.

https://preview.redd.it/cfm8i8lqdqah1.png?width=1326&format=png&auto=webp&s=6ce74f71f5054f2fd35046cba2b66f455a4f4450

https://preview.redd.it/tb64qle4ypah1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=c524b4be12bd1cb05695a9336df6a78eb3c0bfa7

Replay Code: 065c07a7-5e1b-39aa-9dd2-8d337c61361d#E#a

The first mob fight in this wave is actually hot garbage oh my god. I hate the stupid cats and they were unironically harder than the boss. Getting strength downed twice, and then punished for hitting the mobs at all is no bueno. I pushed my birds to level 80 this wave and then ended up taking 0 DRs so I do think it would have been possible at a lower level. I saved a lot of my wheel power budget for this wave since I was expecting it to be awful and because of how nasty the first mob fight was. I ran Aigis here because I needed to stun the mobs and I wanted to leave the option open to stun Pickman during his big hit while you are vuln to avoid a DR since I was not sure how fast I would be killing the boss. Rewinding time is on Aigis for a chance of bringing her 3 cost back to hand in order to draw Sacred Hearts though she is not really the best user of it, it's just that the units that could utilize it better didn't need it.

https://preview.redd.it/m01wic6k5qah1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=507e363a3eb6a57e3f7374e4e555a457204fa31e

Replay Code: 8acb37e1-d410-36d0-aace-6eb458416772#E#a

Pretty standard Lemurian comp though I typically run Faros in this comp for consistent draw and self vuln removal instead of Tulu. I mobbed for this clear but I've definitely seen some straigh to boss clears with E3 Gmuprhy on this wave since her portrait is so busted.

As always, I hope this writeup was helpful for showing people that A5 Dtide does not have to be super scary and also gives yall some ideas. Thank you so much for if you have read this far and feel free to ask questions or give feedback. Please do not take my teams as reference for what the 'strongest team' is as they are usually the most starving version of a team comp that still is able to function rather than the best team since 425 Dtide is about managing your limited resources.

Just was wondering with the addition of AA's shaking up the gameplay if people have discovered new favorites and what they find fun about the specific unit. Spooky keeps making me tempted to +12 Clem.

Not my clear but just wanted to share this for all the Saya fans who want her to be broken and be able to enjoy their blorbo. This is a stupid crazy amount of corrosion, whaled teamates but E3+4 level 70 Saya with E3 wheel. Ik Saya has double corrosion against Caro enemies but that is still an absurd amount of corrosion on turn 1 and it's also insane that a Clem exalt was able to hit for 1.5 million damage via corrosion while the boss was immune to damage.

https://youtu.be/\_6BYBF9zThc?si=bxsdPjrn\_5S7353h

Its hard for me to judge how Gmurphy feels at the E3 breakpoint due to having her OE and I tend to cut her team out of my no limited OE 425 clears so I was wondering if anyone had some experience and thoughts on how Gmurphy feels to run into A5 content at E3 when it is not Aequor Ring and not Wave 3 as that wave tends to be the easiest.

Does she find a place as a support or is she still able to carry as the main DPS? Spooky and Al are both players that have cleared non Aequor Ring and non W3 contents with an E3 and E2 Gmurphy as the main carry respectively but both of them are insane and are willing to spend as long as it takes to force a clear. Al spent 50+ hours on his 425 so I would like to hear how the general playerbase finds E3 Gmurphy.

Here to spotlight one of my friends Al and some of the most impressive clears he did on his journey to 425 as well as one of Blecnes! Poor Al spent 50 hours going for this after returning from taking a break on the game since Doresain and chapter 2 dropped. Feel free to share some of your own cursed clears this Dtide! I won't be tiding next rotation due to being on vacation so thought I'd share some cool clears to give people inspiration.

fa818fd8-e8b5-3f10-bdad-347f88dd931c#E#a

Not only is this Salvador clear into blesser, it is 23 turn Salvador clear into Blesser ending off at 600+ stacks of poison. I don't know how bro lived this long.

Replay: fa818fd8-e8b5-3f10-bdad-347f88dd931c#E#a

cbaca642-402e-39b2-a953-17bb1da771d7#E#a

Poison Faros Aurita. Need I say more.

cd6413ca-a19c-3786-ad33-ae57831555a3#E#a

1ab8bb20-3aa2-35c4-9f6f-bed32673fc79#E#a

Double Gurpy runs with an E2 level 60 and then non-lemurian whale Gurpy. He had to play fish for perfect relics for the whaled Gurpy.

https://preview.redd.it/3ag69k1rzz2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=45c2fc4cd8cff44c32494a34a6f569746f733eb4

E3 level 70 Kath with Ryker who when you posse adds a dice to hand against a boss that deletes your handspace. On top of this against mobs that sabotage your cards! Every Kath card got sabotaged during his run and it was really impressive!

30f90195-98c6-3601-94cb-decfd936e8ff#E#a

Blecnes tentacle DPS clear... somehow this worked I don't know how or why.

Some of these clears only work in blue ring but I still think are cool!

THIS IS AEQUOR RING I MESSED UP THE TITLE I BLAME 3 AM BRAIN.

Draco from Discord here again with this Dtides no limited OE clears. I unfortunately had to use a whale borrow though as I ran out of teams but everyone can use a whale borrow so hopefully it still counts. I did not believe in E1 level 60 Doresain's ability to clear any of these waves this time 😞. As always I made sure to not reuse wheels with my E3 varients of borrows that were used to replace my OE Kath, Gmurphy, and Gdoll. Thank you to Al for helping with my Caecus W5 comp and Monchi for providing support!

Additional thanks to Spooky, Arisu, Bagels, and Ellie for lending borrows with the requested wheels. ALL CLEARS WERE DONE BEFORE THE BUFFS CAME THROUGH EXCEPT FOR THE KATH CLEAR. The person I needed to borrow from was not awake before update reset hit.

Total time for normal 425 sweep and then no limited OE reclears: 13 hours and 30 minutes, it definitely could have been sub 10 hours since I had to move some clears around to different waves from my original 425.

Stream links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaFconowhEE&list=PLhUZU9Mqb1YX819imrys0Gk8B6V1MWZb4&pp=sAgC

W1 [Blesser]

Stage relic was really good against blesser since it was shield when rousing which helps block the initial poison hit before you can ramp shields.

https://preview.redd.it/bnswjefeff2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=ee64055edd7672596eb7a8ce619202f779bdc9ee

Stall kath is a pretty good matchup for Blesser since she can usually shield the hit and reduce the damage and poison application to near 0 while Tinct can remove the vulnerable debuff. Unfortunately I could not kill the mobs that reduce your crit rate the first rotation so my Kath had like 0 crit rate 😭 but at least Tinct's 3 cost could rememdy that a bit. Doll was ran to weak blessor and Ryker for his crit rate relics, sigil yield bonus, and vulnerable from his dice. I kept ultra rounds for emergency when I couldn't block the big hits. This team got decent keyflare wheels since I needed to posse every turn.

https://preview.redd.it/ibabgxpcff2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=6b40d55555082629626017363cc01c44d9252475

Defensive oriented Castor Pollux with Erica for vulnerable and temporary alert to shield and Agrippa for permanent alert and Caro mechanic for healing and embryos. I took the poison relic to tick down a bit of corrosion on the boss when I couldn't hit it due to mobs in front though I am not sure how useful it was. I put aliemus battery wheels on Agrippa to try to charge her exalt faster for permanent alert scaling. As always Castor has Chains Unbound for more chance for his weakness card to show up and trigger his Quasar.

W2 [Wax Couple]

Stage relic really good for multihitters and especially Mouchette since she benefits most from strength out of damage amp, strength, and base damage.

https://preview.redd.it/fhph0uehff2h1.png?width=1918&format=png&auto=webp&s=3176da4fc4851a89ef1a7c82ca89296297c0109b

Pretty typical Mouchette with Salvador to apply weak and vuln. Not the best Mouchette team but good enough to get the job done. I had pretty good relic rolls with Plague Record (one of the best caro relics), Highest Honor, Mythag Insignia, and Crimson Brooch + portrait.

https://preview.redd.it/s5smqddiff2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=576bd8dd2ea5f0ec4036981fc23ee18983593e57

Whalechette borrow, ez clear only had to take 1 DR. I tried with an E3 level 70 but without Helot it was not going to happen even though I got to boss and I spent 2 hours during my stream attempting it and failing 😞. I took the posse for my weak vuln application so gave the team good keyflare but it may have been a bit overinvested.

W3 [Devouring Howl]

Strength downers were really good for staying within the relic threshold of below 50% and 25% hp without dying.

https://preview.redd.it/2gytl89lff2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=1380ff6a8480869adefda225cafd87bf7e83c72a

Pretty typical Xu Nymph Carry. Very effective against the dog since it is multihit so one of the rare times you actually devour with Xu's exalt. The multihits are a bit scary since it is several DRs you're likely to take. I decided to use Corpo wheel on this team to restore a bit of hp after DR since I thought I may take a lot. This team had kind of sad keyflare which is a bit bad for poison teams since they like rouses and the posse is very important this wave but I ultimately decided to sacrifice keyflare during this wave since I dont mind resetting to hit death resistances as much in a straight to boss compared to mobs.

https://preview.redd.it/vdcwkt2qkf2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9d5b9e7577474f7fc62197412cd42cc324e1b35

Starving 24 comp. 24's wheels were kind of just whatever I had lying around due to 24's signature being used on W1 to Agrippa. Celestial Beast and Bloody Feast both boost exalt damage but definitely could have used less invested wheels. I normally run Tulu filler for my 24 team and for tentacle damage boosts during 24 manic exalt but he got used in a later wave as Aequor fill. I usually try to save Celeste for waves with mobs where I think taking a Celeste DR is unavoidable or will help with saving resources that would be spent trying to avoid the death resistance/going hp positive when current hp is lower than what Celeste will revive you with. but no wave ended up needing her so I dumped her here. I definitely do not think Sanga or Celeste overexalts were neccesary.

I do not like the SR Keyflare wheel Slumber Beneath the Glacier as it gives sacrifice when you posse but this team was the one I suspected I would not be posseing much for since I needed to rouse units so I chose to run it here. Gdoll ended up with Till the Snow Melts because the person I was borrowing from did not have Gdoll's event SR or Man in the Mirror and I wanted Aliemus generation for Gdoll.

W4 [Primordial Devoteee (Faros)]

Posse refund relics is great for almost every team especially ones that rely on posse every turn like Ghelot. On Gurpy it allowed double posse due to the already strong keyflare generation.

https://preview.redd.it/zu870dopff2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=483af4d1da856c3858544f4559eeba619eb9e98b

I was suprised how easily Gmurphy E3 could clear this wave but I guess it was indeed blue ring so everyone got charged super fast. The elites were almost scarier than the actual Faros fight. I took the counter relic Truth Unbound for the realm mastery and Severed Head Worm for tentacle scaling.

https://preview.redd.it/hw0fnj6rff2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=adccda2863f1e06915fa2430d1246af88af6a83c

Typical Ghelot comp with Daff ran as an ultra round accelerator and weak/vuln/arith generator. Not the best comp but a good enough one to do this wave. Strength relics are great for Ghelot and I'm always a fan of aliemus charging relics. Easter moment is prefered and I only take Proto battery if it is upgraded typically. Faros is very much a burst by turn 6 or 7 boss or die and the elites were really nasty so I gave Aigis Tulu's wheel to charge her exalt bar faster and Thais Spring to charge her ult fast.

W5 [Tela Perpetua (Arachne)]

https://preview.redd.it/9glkzpksff2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=b018241ad7fdd5f6149b733c45d2e8ae5b46e81b

Slightly starved Vortex team, as stated earlier, I thought a diferent team would potentially need Celeste more since it was blue ring and Vortex should have a super easy time during blue ring. I used Tulu since he can boost tentacle damage for Vortice's exalt and also his E3 makes him gain 5 aliemus at the turn end which is great for Vortice who likes to spam exalts. Murphy's E3 does similar. Tawil is another exalt spammer and her exalt can fetch things like Chosen, Reload, Waltz, Abyss Hymns, sustain and other weak/vulnerable cards. Tawil is like a toolbox that allows Vortex teams versatility. Keyflare was really important to remove cards from Arachne's ultra space.

https://preview.redd.it/aur80zctff2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=28d4df4a8a07aff363cebc00df30aa5b9d4063e4

AA Caecus counter with Arachne who boosts damage amp and can double play any card in ultra space when anhilated and roused. Corpo was run for weak and shields while Horla was ran for additional weak/vuln and grief stance which boosts shield and hp. Caecus' portrait makes him heal for the amount of shield generated which synergizes nicely with grief stance. This team got good keyflare wheels since posseing ever turn to remove cards from Arachne's ultra turn is very important and Festival of Tides was used since Caecus' cards are quite expensive and I wanted to be able to play multiple of his 3 cost Protective Scales which causes his counter to trigger an additional time per hit. I used dreams for more copies of his counter cards and to ensure Ultra Space was likely to be filled with them.

Thank you so much for reading if you have gotten this far. Feel free to ask questions and let me know if this is too in depth, not in depth enough, or just right. Also here is a pure stall Castor I ran into W1 just for funsies. This is what a very well fed team looks like. Rabbit on Agrippa isn't great but I just didn't think I would dr at all so I ran it over the typical Burial Grounds.

https://preview.redd.it/xm0dkjb4vf2h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=ef878f3e095b65eba614b024d59f26f1791b4dd3

Replay Code: 8cb99fbd-88ec-389d-bb30-0d5cf5589114#E#a

I think there has been a definite shift in design philosophy recently in Morimens and wanted to take a moment to open a discussion about what I feel are two major shifts as well as the root cause. I would love to see what other players think as well!

Realm Mechanics

With Propagation Caro being confirmed that makes for a 3rd realm rework further homogenizing us with the JP version. The last 2 Aequor units have been divine Aequor and I'm not sure if we are likely to see a return to our original realm mechanics in any future releases. For now it is easy to keep the old realm mechanics if they are prefered, but as more units get added especially good supports it will become harder to see our original realms shine through which I feel a bit sad about. Propagation Caro is significantly weaker than normal Caro imo and I miss the flexibility of the original Ultra. Being only able to interact with realm mechanics once every 3 turns feels a bit sad. The realm changes are essentially what the JP version has for its base realms now.

Weak and Vuln

I'll provide a list of every arc 2 awakener in their order of release and their ability to provide weak/vuln first before discussing.

Gdoll [Chorus]: Weak and Vuln (E1) Card

Clementine [Chorus]: None

Corposant [Warden]: Weak (E2) Card and Vuln (E3) Exalt

Castor [Warden]: Weak (E0) Card

Doresain [Assault]: Vuln (E0) Card

Kathigu-Ra [Assault]: None

Pickman [Chorus]: (E0) A chance of pulling weak or vuln from relics from a card

Pollux [Assault]: None in base kit, his portrait can allow vulnerable application from the 3rd play of a Sacred Heart.

Gmurphy [Chorus]: None

Mouchette [Assault]: None

Xu [Chorus]: None

Vortex [Assault]: None

Arachne [Chorus]: None

Saya [Chorus/Warden]: None

The last 6 awakeners released have completely lacked any way to apply weak and vulnerable which is notable since only 5/15 (33%) of the Arc 1 Awakeners (Tulu, Lily, Sorrel, Wanda, and Ghelot) lacked any means of applying Weak, Vuln, or both and every Chorus unit had some method of applpying weak and vulnerable even if it was inconsistent such as Hamelns random debuff or Tawil randomly fetching a weak/vulnerable card. A total of 8/13 (61%) of the Arc 2 Awakeners lack any source of either and I believe this shift is intentional design.

The JP version of Morimens has greatly reduced the amount of units that can apply weak or vuln as well as their efficiency. Instead of being a flat 50% damage increase or 25% damage decrease. 1 stack of vuln is 10% increased damage at a max of 5 stacks being counted while weakness is 5% damage reduction per stack at a max of 5 stacks counted.

In addition to that, units such as 24, Horla, and Salvador which can both apply weak and vuln in the english version apply neither in the JP version while Thais only can apply 1 stack or weak or vuln regardless of enlighten.

Why I think this is this happening

Light, one of the producers of the game has made various statements in the past about wanting to shift the game to be more like the JP version. I believe this is in part to reduce the cost and manpower of developing things for what is essentially 2 different games since JP Morimens is vastly diferent from the global version. Ryker is a genuine DPS in JP for example and many units have seen complete kit changes. Aigis also has lost her stun and vuln which is one of the strongest parts of her kit.

https://preview.redd.it/53avoq2lrb1h1.png?width=1470&format=png&auto=webp&s=fda0fe467f624a5655b91e7cd4ae796cdfa55a57

https://preview.redd.it/8d0ta53myb1h1.png?width=607&format=png&auto=webp&s=eea0b423f1b3925f835d0c7441a048f84363f959

Why I see this as a problem
I feel that the decision to reduce the charecters which can apply weak and vuln reduces the ability of units to see usage once their main function has been powercrept out of the meta as units like Salv, 24, and even Alva can still see play even to this day in part due to their abilities to apply these crucial debuffs. Daff support still works quite well as she can be a source of consistent vuln and semiweak too while accelerating ultra round. This also makes teambuilding much rougher since you generally want to be able to apply both weak and vuln and with the last 2 chorus units not applying either, it forces one or two teamslots to be devoted to both depending on if you have a unit capable of applying both which reduces team flexibility.

Ultimately, I don't think trying to homogenize the global version with the JP version is a good idea since they are completely balanced diferently. The global version of Morimens very much is balanced around units being able to apply debuffs such as weak and vuln with the first mobs on A5 hitting for a net total of 2500-4500 damage on average in the span of the first 3 turns. Even if future content were to be rebalanced, the already existing content was not designed with the rebalance in mind.

Propagation Caro severely hurts the survivability of Caro teams too and Singularity Ultra removes a lot of the flexibility that comes with Ultra turn such as additional posse or exalts and being able to save it as an emergency panic button/setup turn. Divine Aequor is okay but base Aequor was already pretty weak into before Gmurphy came and so any change would have likely felt like an improvement. I don't think I would mind as much if every new unit did not have the new realm mechanics but it seems very likely that the design intent is to replace the old realms unless there is sufficient feedback indicating otherwise. I think if we could pick what realm mechanic we would like it would be really cool instead of just 1 awakener of the new realm mechanics forcing the realm change and would help add flexibility back in.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Making this poll to see where most players are aiming for in the long term. No shame in just not enjoying Dtide. Feel free to elaborate in the comments as to reasonings! Polls do not let you have more than 6 options but I would have put a 375, 350, and 325 option if I could have!

View Poll

0 limited OE and no whale borrow Dtide 425 has been a long time goal of mine and I am so happy to have gotten it before some of the AA buffs got moved to the base unit kits. Clem, Kath, Gmurphy, and Gdoll are OE so I do have to use a borrow to grab the E3 varient of the unit if I want to use them though I wanted to try to be a bit more creative than just replacing my OE unit with an E3 borrow this time thus W3 A5 is a Xu Faros team and Gmurphy ended up benched entirely. I think I could also have managed replacing all of my standard unit OEs with E3 varients too except for Caecus but standard units are much lower impact than limited units so did not see it as worth the effort.

https://preview.redd.it/6kj9mawiad0h1.png?width=1902&format=png&auto=webp&s=748a52d2fd197995cbe3be4d1b1d8cf443f3ef73

https://preview.redd.it/dhdbe2ggad0h1.png?width=410&format=png&auto=webp&s=a8fa63b909565676c95e9a5cf6a6f1b1da05d745

I try to do these clears to help show that Dtide A5 or even 425 is more possible than it seems. I remember when I first started, I used to think A4 was impossible because of how hard the mobs were hitting but as I have grown my account, Dtide has become by far my favorite game mode even if I make some silly mistakes at times.

Special thanks to Monchi, Frost, Lens, Angbak, and Spooky and to everyone else who has cheered me on during this journey.

Stream playlist link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASu9uUl3Y3M&list=PLhUZU9Mqb1YXMg1vb7j6Ed-7y_E4zy1su&pp=sAgC

(Apologies, I did not get recordings for W3 A5s or W2 A5 with Kath for the no limited OE varient, was trying to get it done before reset and I play faster and a little bit better offstream). Approximate total time for these clears is 10-15ish hours.

Companion post of my semi-speedrun 425 clears: https://www.reddit.com/r/Morimens/comments/1t8b93q/sub_6_hour_425_ultra_ring/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_but

I hope this post helps show the different team building choices and decisions for how to allocate resources change depending on investment level compared to my semi-speedrun. Low investment 425 is not about making the strongest team that is the best but more so looking at how many resources you need to spend on the team and how much you can spare/saving the best resources for the weakest teams while starving the stronger teams.

W1 [Apostle of the Sea (Miryam)]

https://preview.redd.it/k73c4c3nzc0h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=6b70bea4849082a9935b53e07df18eb649286ee8

Replay: 824ee3e8-1b05-32c6-8668-4cbb30e6712a#E#a

This run took me the longest lowkey, not because it was hard but because the way to win was unintuitive to me. Waiting until turn 4 when it summons its mob in to burst at all feels strange since I am more of a burst when you can kind of player, but once I got that it went well. I think it is funny I ran Faint despite not taking any DR. Another wave would have appreciated Faint much more.

https://preview.redd.it/68hzsv1tzc0h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d920a01a327386b7cf6cc55dd0f9fe876489632

Replay: 4c05f975-dd8e-36e5-8ef1-23d0534e12ff#E#a

Castor Pollux were 100% overkill into this wave. For this specific tide, E3 Castor Pollux can clear W5 A5 and I debated between swapping this to W5 A5 and Vortex to W2 A5 and running a dumpster team into W1.

W2 [Major]

https://preview.redd.it/ht3okogyzc0h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=3238c6da1e0f4a02f5b6130aae6fcf74f06a891b

Replay: 6639fd6a-4da4-3aa8-b383-1be0cd02386a#E#a

Begrudginly after suffering trying to run a level 70 Mouchette into this boss and kill it in 2 or 3 turns and failing I pushed her to level 80. I do think she can do it at level 70 in 3 turns, but requires incredibly optimal relic luck. The main problem is the mobs to be honest. This was very much a reset if you did not get Salvador's weak turn 1 or turn 2 in mob fights. The last mob fight before boss flickers between -2000 strength down every other turn which means you either need to be able to kill it turn 1 or survive getting smacked at least 2 turns without taking a dr. You can technically rouse Salvador to negate one of the big hits from the mob but it does not feel good to rouse Salvador in a mob fight. The elite was also nasty since it was a multihit on turn 3 after your hp is likely to be low.

https://preview.redd.it/uuijdii10d0h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=d47f46ee128f0959473dbce4cf8d1b2e57085aae

Replay: 02b5f723-959d-3dac-a977-d844975157a7#E#a

Thank you to Aurora for setting his E3 Kath as a support with the wheels I needed to ensure no dupes. Apparently the play here is to stay as high hp as you can, with my own OE Kath I intentionally used the blue pool to go low and the fight was much more of a struggle. You do not do much damage in the start of the fight since Kath is a ramping awakener who gets stronger over time so the boss having a lot of fortress isn't too bad at the begining. I took an intentional DR later on to lower my health once I was ready to do damage. Winkle is a must for this wave as she can clense the barrier on the mobs and boss. I was so sad my Ryker had 495/500 sigils needed to upgrade a relic. E3, Feast, Land of Nonexistance, and Will Unyielding Kath is such a beast and I should have never doubted her ability to do this wave. Tinct is really good for helping fix a tankier Kath's poor crit rate and when roused can apply weak/vuln. Ryker was ran for a similar reason as his relics are great and his 1 cost can fetch winkles barrier removal card.

W3 [Corrupted Brain (Gdoll)] 

https://preview.redd.it/wes1ycg50d0h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=92d72ad0af46777cc20fcfd9c30439ac9530a9df

Replay: 932fddfe-3924-3a4d-82f7-f7d463c2a918#E#a

Let me just say I hate W3, there is so much RNG from the mob spawns! I chose to reset until my opening hand offered me a xu card that I had enough Arith to resonance on turn 1. I wish I had Faint on this team since a praying on a 60% DR or less if you get unlucky with mobs is scary. This was a fun run though, Miryam and Xu are both great poison triggers and Aurita with her rouse is able to cause a lot of tentacle hits which works off of Faros 1 cost that applies poison per every hit during that turn. Dreams is ran on Faros so you can have 2 and the posse draws 2 of Faros cards so if you fill your hand with Faros other cards with her exalt the posse is guarenteed to draw her 1 cost for a total of 4 of her 1 costs played in 1 turn with all of Aurita's multihit. Xu can poison trigger and immediately kill phase 2 and then phase 3's hp is low enough to die once the poison ticks down. The mobs were the real scary part.

https://preview.redd.it/ccoyx8e67d0h1.png?width=1917&format=png&auto=webp&s=3fead9dc7c99c9d1ed10da290af202f693ab65a8

Replay: 42c4ea4e-398c-3c51-a775-baa0a07b2896#E#a

Arachne is able to dumpster Gdoll pretty easily since Gdoll has a very low max hp and her final phase is only 40k hp which is essentially 1 pursuits. The posse is ran to give Arachne a strike and defense which can trigger her pursuits when she has her portrait. This is very much an ultra ring only team. Lily, Ogier, and 24 were all there to boost survivabillity with weak/shield/healing.

W4 [Wick Attendant]

https://preview.redd.it/ffg25qwc0d0h1.png?width=1918&format=png&auto=webp&s=0aae87b4dc08e669e1c6dfadc8a8dd09d0dd68cc

Replay: 90a21ddd-f451-3a40-ac3b-3bb0880b53d6#E#a

I was hoping to do this without any standard unit AA's too and I definitely know it is possible with just an OE Caecus for W4 A5 but I was short on time since finals season and I had a lot of other waves left too so begrudingly pushed him to AA.

https://preview.redd.it/zda8o6ef0d0h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=6daf1621158601f880cd6df720e05944656ef6eb

Replay: e16c82cd-a9d3-3bc6-9c39-720262cbb392#E#a
This run took forever, I had pretty bad relics for what I was trying to do. Definitely a relic that allows you to scale counter would have allowed this to go much faster but it did work ultimately! Angbak helped a lot with ideas for this run.

W5 [The Great Magician Houdini]

https://preview.redd.it/e62kpmak0d0h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=729b116c189b6b2dac3303ea782b77823c16068a

Replay: e6afa267-7237-34ee-96e2-6c9af9fe5173#E#a

Typical Ghelot doing Ghelot things. I was a doubter of how Ghelot would do since she heals % missing hp while having little to no shielding capability and this boss is constantly reducing your hp while hitting decently hard, but it worked out perfectly fine esp since Ghelot makes and plays a lot of cards. Daff can be a nice support unit since she lets you accelerate Ultra turn and her 0 cost can give weak/vuln/arith which is nice.

https://preview.redd.it/u987mt1m0d0h1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=e310a102639add70ecb3cc0664f997d4986e51f1

Replay: 5a9c5d13-9731-3cf9-a2f6-1d7bed4d6ed6#E#a

This is my first time running Ultra Vortex, ty for Frost for helping me figure out who to put in it. Clem was such a nice healer at 100 hp x 4 when roused per each soulsalve. My Clem is only level 62, however the level 80 Clem was the only E3 Clem on my friends list and I do not think level 80 vs 60 would have mattered in the long run especially considering there was 0 DR. (Level 60 is 74 x 4). Clem can dumpster the elite by removing its madness stacks too.

If you have gotten this far thank you so much for reading! Feel free to ask questions.