Battle Arena/Anna Strategies

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To do: Flesh out Anna's wave-specific strategies

Anna has one of the most potent status builds available for a solo challenge; not only can she equip the Red Dress, the Blue Elephant, and the Alchemist's Bow for maximum infliction chance, she has an array of reliable status-inflicting skills in her natural move set on top of being able to learn Shredder and The Reaper. Since her multi-target elemental arrow attacks have reduced status chances and aren't guaranteed to hit every foe, she may want to equip the Pocket Watch and play defensively until it gives her Haste - and with it, the opportunity to drop two statuses in a row. Another option is to replace the Alchemist's Bow with the Thor's Hammer; even with the loss of a status boost, it'll give Arrow Rain a very good Stun chance without the random-targeting nature of Spark Shower.

Anna's best option for a Limit Break is probably Absolute Zero; unless the foes are completely Freeze-proof, a full status build can leave the whole wave immobilized for five turns, giving her plenty of time to set up and start picking them off one by one. Art Attack is an option for buffing purposes, particularly against status-resistant foes; consider pairing it with a buff build and/or high-Evade equipment to maximize the benefit Anna receives. She also has Heavenly Shield to keep her defenses up, and a combination of Revive and Refresh further improves her survival.

"Weather Remix" will make Anna's status spamming strategies a lot harder, courtesy of Breezy weather for every fight. Since there's a chance of Breezy activating at the very start of the battle, it may be a good idea to flee and try again immediately afterwards if a particularly problematic foe gets Blessed right out of the gate.

Battle 1: Big Slimes, Little Problems(?)

A Big Chocolate Slime and a Big Sand Slime make an interesting pair...but they won't live long if Anna drops Shredder with (or even without) a full status build.

Alt Battle 1: Freezeflame Dog and Magic Show

This Foe Remix wave has shades of one of Lance's normal solo challenges; three Dogs (Tanuki, Wolf, and Mage,) and two Sprites (Fire and Ice). They're not even slightly Death-resistant, so a status build can take them out with a Shredder or two.

Battle 2: Coral, Ice, and Mice

A pair of Slime Mice and Icicle Creeps back up a Coral Boulder for this round. The Creeps and Boulder are 50% Death-resistant, so it might take a few tries for Shredder to kill them all; fortunately, the former are weak to Earth and the latter is weak to Ice, giving Anna some good options for taking them in a straight fight.

Alt Battle 2: Turtle Creeps

Foe Remix apes Matt's normal solo challenge this time by pitting Anna against a Green Creep, a Red Creep, and a Blue Creep. Despite Anna being unable to learn Giga Drill, the same strategies are largely applicable; use a status build to get around their Stun and Death resistances, exploit their shared Earth weakness with Anna's natural skills, take out the Red Creep to stop it from healing its allies, and try to finish off the Blue Creep in one strong attack once it approaches the threshold for its self-destruction attack. Weather Remix can actually help Anna if she goes for conventional offense, as Bless can protect her from the Creeps' status effects.

Battle 3: Killer Papercraft

Two each of the Origami Wraith and the Master Wraith are here to make life difficult for Anna, especially since they're completely Death-immune. On the other hand, they're all weak to Wind, so Anna can use Hurricane or Whirlwind to make them Light before going for the kill with Tempest; this works especially well on the Origami Wraiths, since they're very vulnerable to Light.

Using Arrow Rain with Heaven's Voice is an option to seal away the Wraiths' magic via Syphon, but it won't do any damage to the Origami Wraiths, thanks to their Holy absorption. Another option is to equip the Pope Hat; it'll make all four Wraiths go Berserk and spam an effect-less physical attack instead of their annoying spells. Make sure to keep Anna's Defence high in order to better survive the assault.

Alt Battle 3: Kill You to Death (Possibly Repeatedly)

Here's another Foe Remix wave that echoes one of Lance's normal trials; a Wooly Mammoth backed up by a Slime Bunny. You can take advantage of the latter's healing abilities while you set up buffs, but be ready to kill it (either The Reaper or Shredder will work) before you start working on the Mammoth, lest it support the beast with Heal and Cleanse.

This fight is a lot less annoying for Anna than Lance; she can use Revive on herself to ensure that the Mammoth can't keep her down, Heavenly Shield and Refresh will make her harder to kill in the first place, and she's well-equipped to both hit the beast's extreme Bio weakness and prevent it from reviving itself on death. A full status build with Gaia Blossom and the Crossbone Pin will let Anna stack as much Weaken, Tired, and Curse as she wishes; alternatively, the Tentacle can apply Virus to let her keep damaging the Mammoth while she reapplies Auto-Revive to herself or inflicts other ailments. As a bonus, the Alchemist's Bow also renders Anna immune to the Mammoth's attempts to Disable her skills, and the Blue Elephant will occasionally bolster her Defence with its auto-summon.

Even Weather Remix isn't as much of a pain for Anna as it was for Lance; while Breezy can stall her status infliction, it can't remove the Mammoth's existing ailments or restore its HP. If Sharpen is available, Anna can use it to further prolong the effects she inflicts on the Mammoth; if Weather Remix is active, it may be best to save it as a means to maintain the effects if the Mammoth receives an untimely Bless.

Battle 4: Bats and a...Lasagna Seahorse? (a.k.a. Bats and a Dragon mk.2)

This battle is similar to one of Matt's Arena Challenge waves; two Bats backing up a Dragon. However, Anna has to deal with Snow Bats instead of Blood Bats, and a Sea Dragon replaces the Earth Dragon. A full status build can pick off the Bats with Shredder before stun-locking the Sea Dragon with Spark Shower; the triple status boost should be enough to let Anna circumvent its 70% Stun resistance and keep it immobilized until death. If you want some extra insurance, Firecrackers and the Hoop Earrings can get luck on Anna's side.

Alt Battle 4: Booming Business

At this point, the player might be wondering if any of Anna's Foe Remix Arena battles will be purely original, because this quartet of Bombs (Earthquake, Acid, Shockwave, and Nuclear) is taken straight from Lance's solo challenge. As with Lance, Anna can either try to cripple the Bombs with her status build or tailor her equipment to negate their explosions entirely.

If Anna has fully upgraded all of her equipment, Earth's Whisper, the Flame Badge, the Angel Pin, and any combination of hat and armor with 50% resistance to Fire and Wind will let her nullify everything but the Earthquake Bomb's initial impact (including its follow-up explosion), and that can be safely endured by Defending with The Tr*force or just casting Revive on Anna before the Bombs launch. She can also use Bubble Ring to try and Syphon the Earthquake Bomb before it launches; conveniently, the Red Dress gives her a status boost and enough Fire resistance to negate the Nuclear Bomb's explosion, so she only needs a Wind-resistant hat to maintain her immunity to the rest of the Bombs' attacks. Alternatively, she can Stun-lock the Earthquake Bomb to death with a single-target Spark Shower; even without a status boost, it should keep the foe immobilized as the other three Bombs futilely explode in Anna's face to absolutely no effect.

Battle 5: Bats N' Bears

The unique foes of Anna's Arena Challenge are a pair of Black Bears, with two Blood Bats for backup. They're all weak to Ice, but mind how hard you hit the Bears, lest they go Berserk in response. Fortunately, a full status build can overcome the Bears' status resistances to hit them with Stun, Freeze, or Death; they also lack many other status resistances, so debuffing them with Weaken, Tired, and Curse is another option. Make sure to act fast if there's Breezy weather, however.

Alt Battle 5: Bats N' Bears mk.2

The Foe Remix equivalent of this wave has a similar composition, but with Bone Bats and Grolar Bears. There's no weakness overlap this time, but Anna still has plenty of skills to hit her foes for massive damage; Blessed Barrage and Hurricane will take care of the Bats (assuming she doesn't just wipe them out with Shredder) and her various Bio options will do serious damage to the Bears. The rest of the strategy remains the same, but remember to use Aqua Volley over Frost Flurry if you need to calm down the Grolar Bears; they absorb Ice, but only strongly resist Water.

Battle 6: Zen Garden Gone Wrong

Four Bushes (two each of the Red and Sandy variants) and an Ancient Monolith would've made a nice outdoors display...but they had to go and try to kill Anna instead. Although the status build works great to wipe out the Bushes with Shredder, Anna may want to switch to something else against the Monolith - it's immune to most of the debilitating effects, so she'll probably have to beat it down the hard way. Maximizing her Thunder resistance is the obvious route, but the risk of Falling Star may necessitate focusing on Magic Defence backed by positive status effects. Alternatively, Anna can use Bubble Ring to Syphon the Monolith; a high-Defence build is recommended to deal with the Slam it'll resort to on higher difficulty levels.

Alt Battle 6: Space Invader

The good news is that Foe Remix only put one foe in this wave; the bad news is that it's a Cosmic Monolith. Fortunately, maintaining Revive on Anna will make it functionally impossible to lose; using the Narutomaki and the Companion C*be will greatly improve her bulk upon revival, hopefully opening up some turns in between Auto-Revive applications.

Building resistance to all of the Cosmic Monolith's elements (Dark, Wind, and Bomb) may be easier said than done, but try to prioritize Dark; Shockwave and Energy Barrage are only notable for Stagger and a high critical hit rate, respectively. The Pope Dress and Pope Hat will maximize Anna's Magic Defence for general tanking; the former also offers Dark resistance and occasional Auto-Revive support. For a more offensive approach, Anna can try the Ninja Chopsticks and/or the Ninja Skirt, which offer Wind immunity, Dark resistance, an excellent boost to Anna's high base Evade, and great Accuracy to make hitting the Monolith easier. The Robot Ears can be substituted for even more Accuracy, some Bomb resistance, and extra bulk, although they also lack Wind resistance and Evade.

The Cosmic Monolith has many resistances and few weaknesses, but Anna can easily exploit the latter by setting up a Wet combo with Aqua Volley and Spark Shower. The Eagle Eye will be her most consistent bow against the Monolith's notoriously high Evade, but Thor's Hammer isn't a bad alternative; it's less accurate, but it has great Thunder damage output, a Piercing Shot counter attack, and some extra Wind resistance if Anna's other gear doesn't cover that. The Aquamarine is much less effective in comparison; it has slightly better Attack and easily hits the Monolith's other weakness, but it has no Accuracy boosts and irrelevant resistances.

Battle 7: Metal and a Monolith

As if the Ancient Monolith wasn't bad enough, now there's a Viking Monolith to contend with, backed by two Steel Wraiths. Instant Death won't do a thing to these foes, but the Wraiths' lack of Stun and Freeze resistance gives Anna some options to keep them quiet while she deals with the Monolith. Frost Flurry is an option to either Freeze the Wraiths or hit the Monolith's Ice weakness, depending on who the arrows hit; alternatively, Absolute Zero can reliably Freeze the Wraiths for several turns while taking a good chunk of the Monolith's HP.

In terms of equipment, Anna can use the Pope Hat to both dampen the Viking Monolith's powerful magic attacks and force the Steel Wraiths to spam a Berserk-boosted Triple Shot attack. Since Triple Shot is 100% Bomb-based, Anna can tailor the rest of her gear to maximize her Bomb resistance and get some free healing while she works on the Monolith - consider adding some Chill/Freeze resistance for its laser attack. Since the Wraiths are essentially neutralized, Anna can and should maintain Revive on herself, giving her extra insurance against the Monolith's attacks.

EXAMPLE: Combining the Pope Hat with the Chieftain's Horns, the Camo Skirt, the Iron Cross, the Dog Tags, and the Frost Badge gives Anna 180% Bomb resistance to exploit the Berserk Wraiths, 50% Ice resistance, complete Freeze/Chill immunity, two healing auto-skills, a boost to her Bomb skills to hit the Monolith's worst weakness, and a free buff to her offenses if she triggers Auto-Revive. Alternatively, she can use the Mecha Suit for the potential Cat Bomber support, the Iron Tusk for more offensive output, or the Regal Turtle for even more defense. If you don't mind dropping some Bomb resistance, the Fur Dress can be substituted for Ice immunity, Water resistance, and a small chance of Haste from its auto-summon.

Alt Battle 7: Hitting the Books (Again)

No, you're not experiencing deja vu; this is the exact same formation of Book Worms and an Origami Dragon that Natalie faced in her Foe Remix solo challenge (and that NoLegs fought in his non-Custom Game solo challenge). As usual, the Worms are barely a threat compared to the Dragon, but Anna should take them out before they have a chance to make her Enchanted; this also lets her face the Dragon one-on-one, making Revive stalling a viable tactic. Remember to have Dispel immunity to stop the Dragon from removing the status, however.

The Origami Dragon's most exploitable weakness is Water, but Anna can also use her Wind magic to both hit a weakness and amplify subsequent attacks via Light and Magic Defence debuffs. She can use the Aquamarine to boost the former and the Emerald Cyclone to boost the latter; both also offer some protection against one of the Dragon's magic attacks, but pure bulk will be more important to survive its powerful physical moves.

Battle 8: Ninja House of Mirrors

This wave has a pair of Cat Ninjas, two Wise Mirrors, and a Demon Mirror. The Mirrors look intimidating, since they all reflect physical damage, but their complete lack of Death resistance makes them and their feline pals easy pickings for Anna's status build. Shredder should destroy all five foes at once, also breaking the Mirrors and preventing them from reflecting the damage on Anna in turn. If you have to take them on the hard way, try to raise Anna's resistance to your offensive element of choice; this reduces the effectiveness of the Mirrors' Reflection ability and potentially lets Anna heal herself slightly.

Alt Battle 8: Bad to the Bone (Monsters)

Foe Remix brings plenty of skeletal targets to this round: three Skeleton Cats and two Skeleton Hands. They're all weak to Holy, and the Hands also have a serious Earth weakness, but inflicting status effects is a bit more difficult; they're all immune to Instant Death and the Cats are immune to Stun. On the other hand, none of them resist Freeze, so Absolute Zero is an effective means to get some breathing room and Frost Flurry off of a status build can immobilize at least one foe every turn.

Battle 9: Fury of the Fallen

Five fearsome undead warriors are out for Anna's blood: two Burned Fallen, two Drowned Fallen, and a Beheaded Fallen. They're immune to Instant Death, but not Freeze or Stun, so Anna has plenty of options to shut them down before exploiting their shared Holy weakness; the Thor's Hammer status build is especially useful in this regard. If she wants to pick them off individually, Aqua Arrow and Frost Arrow will do more damage to the Burned and Drowned Fallen, respectively. Reflex is also useful, especially against the Beheaded Fallen's inaccurate axe attacks, but focus on keeping Anna's Defence high to reduce the general damage the Fallen will inflict (especially in Weather Remix, where Stun-locking becomes much less consistent).

Alt Battle 9: Reflect Upon the Dead

If you're playing Foe Remix, this wave has two Crucified Fallen, two Lost Fallen, and an Angel Mirror to deal with. The same general strategies apply, but remember that the Mirror isn't Death-resistant; picking it off with The Reaper is an option to quickly dispose of it in between using Thor's Hammer to fire off Arrow Rain.

Battle 10: Dolls amid the Bushes

Three Bushes (Green, Red, and Dark) assist a pair of Dolls for this wave. The Natalie Doll can be attacked without fear - since Natalie's not part of the party right now - but the Anna Doll should be dealt with carefully, lest Anna kill herself in the process. Heaven's Voice works well for both exploiting the Dolls' Holy weakness and afflicting them with Syphon to negate their Sympathy ability (along with most of their skills); they'll go Berserk in response, but that's still quite preferable to their annoying disruptive skills. If you want to focus down the Anna Doll, Bubble Ring has an even better Syphon chance; in any case, the Thor's Hammer status build can effectively immobilize the entire wave if things get hairy. Finally, if you can get Auto-Revive on Anna, you can effortlessly rout the enemy party with Shredder and use the Auto-Revive to protect yourself from the Anna Doll's reflection damage.

Alt Battle 10: Wrath of the Forest

The Foe Remix version of this battle has Anna face off with a pair of Leafy Chompers and a lone Brown Bear. They're certainly more fearsome than Bushes and Dolls, but their 50% Stun resistance won't protect them from a full Thor's Hammer status build, giving Anna some breathing room to work with. She doesn't have many options to exploit their shared Fire weakness, but their other weaknesses are a different story; use Frost Flurry, Lumber, and Hurricane/Tempest on the Chompers and Vines or Razor Leaf on the Bear. If the latter goes Berserk, Snow Cats is an option to calm it down while getting a decent hit on the other two foes.