GamePress

Grand Hero Battle - Julius

Event History

Start End

Map

  • Normal
  • Infernal
Julius
Grand Hero Battle - Julius

Julius: Scion of Darkness

Playtime is over! Descending from his lofty throne for this Grand Hero Battle is Julius, accompanied by his 12 loyal Deadlords in the form of generic reinforcements. Like most Infernal maps, there’s a sadistically diverse offering of foes, with most of them carrying skills that simply are here to make your life difficult. It’s best not to relax, even when victory is close at hand -- only a vigilant eye and careful strategizing (or highly merged units!) will get you through this Grand Hero Battle in one piece.

That’s not to say you have nothing in your corner, though. You’re given plenty of room to maneuver from your starting position, none of the enemy healers carry Wrathful or Dazzling staff, and (aside from a single bow user) you don’t have to deal with any effective weaponry on this map. Any well-composed team can get you through this Grand Hero Battle, and you can easily use class-specific buffs to your advantage.

Before you begin teambuilding, it’s completely possible you already possess everything you need to beat this map. Created by Gamepress staff member RedFerrari1998, the video guide below uses only F2P units, two inherited skills, and seals -- see the description for more details. If it doesn’t work for you, though, then read on!

Who to Choose

As is generally true of Grand Hero Battles, the individual units used is very important as they will primarily inform a strategy. There are a few routes one can take depending on what units are personally available, and, of course, adjustment based on the units one possesses is always a possibility.

Baiters

Although this map will start moving regardless of whether you strike and retreat or bait, it does become much easier if some foes are KO’d within the first turn. While it is possible to bait from directly below the starting positions, the fact that your unit will have to withstand at least 3 foes makes starting within the range of only Julius and the healer a better choice.

Since Julius will have his Special fully charged, you’ll likely want to go blue here. Armors such as Fallen Hardin and Distant Counter Berkut's Lance Effie are able to hit hard very upon counterattacking, especially if they’re making use of Quick Riposte or Vengeful Fighter. Camus performs particularly well with buffs. Nowi, Female Corrin, and Male Kana all boast decent mixed defenses, especially if they tote skills such as Triangle Adept to grant them more polarizing matchups with reds. Legendary Robin is also a potential choice, but may struggle due to her lack of color advantage. An amazing F2P option is Fjorm, who is able to tank the mages with her high Resistance and her exclusive Special, Ice Mirror.

Strikers

Archers are powerful strikers that can either finish off foes on their own or provide an assist. In particular, however, Brave Bow users can be incredibly potent on this map due to their ability to overpower and finish off any foes your tanks may otherwise struggle with. New Year Corrin, Brave Lyn, WF Hinoka, Bridal Cordelia, Klein, and Setsuna are potential strikers you may want to use, with a special mention going to New Year Corrin and Brave Lyn given their F2P status.

Alternatively, melee Brave users are able to hit foes twice without retaliation, and may even quad hit if they outspeed an enemy. Cherche, Cordelia, Hinoka, Elincia, and WT Reinhardt are all great Brave users who can make excellent use of class-specific buffs. Finn is a great F2P unit who would work particularly well in a cavalry team.

Brave and Blade tome wielders can also serve to be useful if your team composition provides them with the appropriate buffs, though speedy mages can also be effective strikers. Tharja, Reinhardt, Tailtiu, Linde, Ishtar, Nino, and WT Olwen are potential options here, especially if they are equipped with a Breaker skill to add to their coverage and are accompanied by a buffbot like Eirika or Ephraim.

Daggers are also an option on this map due to their ability to provide wide-ranged debuffs and/or wield effective weaponry. Kagero, Halloween Sakura, Kaze, and Felicia are all able to battle mages with their mid-to-high Resistance and chip away at other foes.

Felicia Screenshot
While she has low Attack, Felicia’s high Speed and Resistance makes her a good choice for fighting mages. Moreover, her exclusive weapon allows her to target the lower of a foe’s Defense or Resistance, making her much more effective at dealing damage than she may first appear to be.

Refreshers

Dancers and Singers help provide support, may even have a decent offensive presence themselves, and can usually tank a hit or two, if need be. Lene, Olivia, Performing Olivia, Performing Inigo, Performing Shigure, Performing Azura, Azura, New Year Azura, and Ninian all give the refreshment that high-firepower units need while also possessing the ability to provide an assist to KO an enemy.

Azura Screenshot
Refreshers can be particularly useful when equipped with a gem weapon or Triangle Adept (allowing them to completely check units of the opposite color) and Wings of Mercy.

Healers

While not generally a great choice over units who can deal heavy damage or refreshers, Healers can be incredibly useful in this Grand Hero Battle due to their ability to provide valuable healing to your tanks. Genny, Priscilla, Elise, Nanna, Wrys, and Lissa are potential additions to a team that may serve you well on this map.

Strategy

Strategizing for this Grand Hero Battle may be challenging due to the presence of reinforcements. While it can be difficult to exactly predict what will happen due to IV / Merge variance, here’s some general tips to get you started.

Pulsing Panic

When regarding this map initially, it might not seem so bad. Sure, the enemy’s forces will rush you after the first turn, but aside from that, Julius has one cooldown and he’s slow as molasses. So taking care of him and the healer with your chosen blue shouldn’t be too difficult… right?

Well, you couldn’t be blamed for thinking that, but unfortunately, the situation is a bit more complicated than that. Since the infantry sword carries Infantry Pulse, Julius will be proccing a rather hefty Draconic Aura on whomever he has the chance to attack -- and the rest of his entourage will have lowered cooldowns as well. Because of this, you’ll need to plan your first move accordingly -- nobody wants to lose, after all, before they even start.

Infantry Pulse Swordie screenshot
This sword possessing Infantry Pulse is something you’ll definitely want to account for.

Opening Overture

Because this map is made much simpler without the presence of Julius and the healer, you may want to focus your efforts on KOing them on the first turn. The best way to do this is with one of the blue baiters mentioned above -- Quick Riposte or Vengeful Fighter work wonders by granting guaranteed follow-ups. If your chosen unit can’t KO the healer outright (and therefore is not attacked by Julius), try boosting their damage output with the Attack +3 seal. Drive Attack is another option, though it will have to be placed on an ally. Since Julius’ Draconic Aura proc will cause hefty damage, even to a blue, you may want to consider skills like Triangle Adept to reduce the damage he deals.

Nowi Baits Healer and Julius Screenshot
Baiting these two foes will make your life much easier as you move forward with this map. If you can’t KO the healer, try some seal shuffling -- Nowi needed 4 more points of damage here, which was fixed with Attack +2.

Brazen Battle

Be careful while engaging the axe infantry -- they carry Brazen Atk/Spd and Wrath, meaning that they will become significantly more dangerous if they’re not KO’d outright. Even high Speed units will struggle to double this foe after the Brazen boost is in effect, so if you don’t KO them on your first strike, you’re likely in for a world of pain. Luckily, the solution to this problem is simple; use ranged units, Brave weapons, or a charged Special to solve the issue. You don’t have to fret about counterattacks if you attack at-range, don’t have to worry about doubling if you always double, or don’t have to concern yourself with taking damage if the foe is already KO’d.

Brazen Axe Fighter Screenshot
Even though this foe’s Speed is only at base 34, the hefty +7 boost Brazen Atk/Spd provides can make them hard to KO. Try using a ranged unit, a Brave weapon wielding unit, or a charged Special to damage them initially and/or finish them off.

Wonderful Wings

There’s a reason almost every refresher you encounter in the Arena uses Wings of Mercy as their B-slot skill, and Infernal maps are a constant reminder of how useful the combination is. Whether you purposely let one of your strikers take damage, take advantage of chip damage from Fury, or piggyback off an injured baiter, Wings of Mercy allows your dancer or singer to quickly move to where they’re needed the most. Escape Route is another option, allowing your refresher to teleport to any of their allies once they’ve taken enough damage, but be warned -- hitting those damage thresholds safely can be tricky.

Wings of Mercy Azura Teleports To Hinoka Screenshot
Wings of Mercy allows Azura to teleport to Nowi’s side, but that doesn’t mean she has to dance for her dragon friend. Instead, Azura can refresh WF Hinoka, allowing her to move away from the range of the enemy and avoiding a sticky situation.

Desperation Despot

Another powerful skill that can potentially patch up a unit’s weaknesses is Desperation, which allows them to attack consecutively when they’re under a certain HP threshold and double a foe. This essentially grants them a pseudo-Brave effect, and can be quite potent when is low on HP and initiates combat. If your chosen unit has lower Speed, consider using the Brash Assault seal in conjunction with Desperation -- this will allow them to have guaranteed consecutive follow-ups on foes who can counter.

Felicia #rekts This Archer Screenshot
Even though Felicia couldn’t possibly withstand a hit from this archer, her use of Desperation allows her to attack consecutively. This -- along with a well-timed Special activation -- is thankfully enough to KO this foe.

Bravely Bold

So once you only have two foes left, you’ll likely figure you’re in the clear. How hard can KOing one healer and one slow lance armor be? Don’t be fooled -- you’re not in the clear yet. Not only does this healer carry Pain and Savage Blow, allowing her to chip away at your units, this lance armor is toting both a Brave Lance and Bold Fighter, meaning that they can attack your poor units a whopping four times when they initiate combat. Isn’t this game fun?

There is some good news, though! Since this foe doesn’t have an offensive Special, you don’t have to worry about a hefty amount of damage suddenly coming from nowhere. If you can KO the armor by using a ranged unit with or without dancer support, great -- the healer isn’t a particularly threatening offensive presence once she’s on her own. If you can’t, then focus on KOing the healer before the lance armor, as that will make any chip damage you deal actually work towards your victory.

Brave + Bold Fighter Armor Lancer Screenshot
Bold Fighter and Brave Weapons are a particularly powerful combination, though they are certainly much worse (for you) when paired with an offensive Special. If you can KO this lance armor in one turn, you can do so and worry about the healer afterwards. If you can’t, don’t sweat it -- take care of the healer first, and then focus on dealing chip damage with a ranged unit. There’s no penalty for taking your time, after all.

If At First You Don’t Succeed

Don’t be fooled by video walkthroughs of any Grand Hero Battle that you watch -- it’s very rare for anyone to beat high-difficulty content (or record a video of themselves doing so!) on their first try.  Additionally, the potential variance in unit builds that Skill Inheritance brought along with the random nature of summoning has resulted in pretty much every single summoner having different “building blocks” to work with. This, when combined with the high difficulty level of Infernal, may prove frustrating while someone is trying to find the right combination of units and moves. The key thing to keep in mind is that it may take some light Skill Inheritance and Seal shuffling as well as multiple tries of the map to find a strategy that works for you. Every single turn you complete gets you one step closer to completing the puzzle. Finally, reading about or watching videos of successful strategies may also help you break through a particularly difficult turn that you can’t complete, or may give you ideas of a new unit to use.

Map Enemies

  • Hard
  • Lunatic
  • Infernal
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
39 41 20 11 30
Weapon Loptous A
Support B Guard 3
Special Draconic Aura C Atk Ploy 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
42 36 22 23 16
Weapon Silver Sword A HP/Atk 2
Support B Quick Riposte 2
Special Bonfire C Infantry Pulse 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
38 34 22 23 16
Weapon Silver Axe A Brazen Atk/Spd 2
Support B Wrath 3
Special Glimmer C Spur Atk 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
33 32 24 14 20
Weapon Thoron A Swift Sparrow 2
Support B Desperation 2
Special Blazing Thunder C Res Ploy 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
30 28 21 18 27
Weapon Panic A Spd Def 1
Support Physic B Live to Serve 3
Special Heavenly Light C Drive Def 1
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
53 49 27 16 38
Weapon Loptous A
Support B Guard 3
Special Draconic Aura C Atk Ploy 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
56 48 31 30 22
Weapon Silver Sword+ A HP/Atk 2
Support B Quick Riposte 3
Special Bonfire C Infantry Pulse 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
52 46 31 30 22
Weapon Silver Axe+ A Brazen Atk/Spd 3
Support B Wrath 3
Special Glimmer C Spur Atk 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
44 44 32 20 28
Weapon Thoron+ A Swift Sparrow 2
Support B Desperation 3
Special Blazing Thunder C Res Ploy 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
40 39 30 25 35
Weapon Panic+ A Spd Def 2
Support Physic+ B Live to Serve 3
Special Heavenly Light C Drive Def 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
61 52 30 17 41
Weapon Loptous A
Support B Guard 3
Special Draconic Aura C Atk Ploy 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
65 51 34 33 24
Weapon Silver Sword+ A HP/Atk 2
Support B Quick Riposte 3
Special Bonfire C Infantry Pulse 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
61 49 34 33 24
Weapon Silver Axe+ A Brazen Atk/Spd 3
Support B Wrath 3
Special Glimmer C Spur Atk 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
52 47 35 22 31
Weapon Thoron+ A Swift Sparrow 2
Support B Desperation 3
Special Blazing Thunder C Res Ploy 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
46 42 33 27 38
Weapon Panic+ A Spd Def 2
Support Physic+ B Live to Serve 3
Special Heavenly Light C Drive Def 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
50 43 42 15 35
Weapon Barb Shuriken A Death Blow 3
Support B Desperation 3
Special Moonbow C Savage Blow 3

User Submitted Teams

Infernal Clear
11-10
Submitted by GamingFS
Show Explanation

The team I used to clear Infernal.

Blazing Storm
07-23
Submitted by Lunar
Show Explanation

https://youtu.be/Jbp2z7Q_Jlw

Campfire Song
05-18
Submitted by JadeCoffee
Show Explanation

One Dancer is good enough, just make sure they are always by the tree at start point and move them when necessary, to avoid getting attacked by AI
Use Quad Reinhart build and Miracle Sigurd. Have B!Lyn OHKO cleric, and or, piggyback off any weak enemies.

Ryoma, Nino combo
05-18
Submitted by Peter1
Show Explanation

All around good team

Savage Blow 6 cheese
05-17
Submitted by BerlinDef
Show Explanation

Any 3 dancers work, but one should be low lvl for manipulating the AI.
This works with any ranged damage dealer who can take care of the enemy units within 1-2 initiations (aside from the armor). Fast Firesweep units might also work, but I havent tested any.
The damage dealer should have Reposition on Support as well as Savage Blow 3 on C Slot and Sacred Seal.
Position the low level dancer on the upper left side to bait the enemy units towards the left side of the castle. There they will clump up and be easy targets to spread Savage Blow damage.
If you're using a Brave Bow archer make sure they reach around 47 atk on initiation so they don't get hit back by the mages and archers. Use Reposition and dance as necessary.

It might take a couple of tries to get the positioning right if you're not used to this strategy.