Halloween Rising 2023 - Challenge Guide: Trial From The Warrior Queen (Zenobia)

Requirements: The Main Quest line for the Event and Singularity: Solomon must be completed before this quest can be attempted.

• Zenobia tests the Master's combat prowess in the Halloween 2023 Challenge Quest! She is alone, as an Archer with three HP bars (357k, 406k, 794k).
• She starts with two passives that make her immune to sleep, and gain Evade and an extra NP charge each turn (unremovable) when inflicted with an immobilizing debuff, such as Stun/Charm/etc. Although the Evade effect is unremovable, Sure Hit and Ignore Invincible effects still go through it.
• Each HP bar is a different 'phase' of battle against her, where she has different gimmicks present.
• During the First HP Bar:
  • Her normal attacks remove defensive buffs, which include DEF Up, Damage Cut, Evade/Invincible/Anti-Enforcement Defense. Avoid using defensive buffs during her first HP bar as a result, since if attacked, all of them will be removed.
  • Every turn, she also rotates between three skills in order; note these buffs are removable:
    • An Arts and Mental Debuff Immunity buff
    • Quick and Crit Rate buffs
    • Buster and Ignore Invincible (4 turn) buffs.
  • Ideally, burst down her first HP bar quickly. This should be feasible as she does not have many damage mitigation effects, and with Event CEs becomes much easier.
• During the Second HP Bar:
  • Starts with 100% Damage Resist, which progressively get removed by using Quick, Arts, Buster, Extra, Crits, or NP attacks. Each effect can only apply a single 8% Damage Resist debuff each turn, which means it is better to use a variety of different Card types each turn to get as many debuffs as possible. The debuffs are thankfully permanent, carrying to the next HP bar.
  • Every turn, she rotates between a different set of three skills:
    • Defense Debuff immunity and random target focus on a party mbmer.
    • Self Crit Rate and Crit Damage buffs.
    • ATK buff and a 10k HP heal.
  • Since the Damage Resist Buffs/Debuffs last to the next break bar, it's worth stacking as many debuffs as possible before break. Debuffs will max out at 10 stacks.
• During the Final HP Bar:
  • She can no longer have her Damage Resist lowered, although the Damage Resist buffs + debuffs from the previous HP bar will stay.
  • Gains unremovable 1-time Guts (100k HP revival) and 50% ATK buff.
  • A field effect does fixed 1,000 HP damage to the party each turn.
  • Every turn, she rotates between a final set of three skills:
    • NP Damage and Ignore DEF buffs.
    • A 1-hit 50% DEF buff and debuff clear.
    • Random Quick/Arts/Buster debuff on the party.

• Strong single target Lancer damage dealers are an excellent pick for this quest. Brynhild's Lancer version additionally has bonus trait damage against the boss, making her a great pick if she's in the roster.
• Other trait-bonus single target Servants that also have class advantage include Mysterious Heroine X (Alter) and Sei Shounagon (Berserker), although these options are a fair bit more fragile due to Berserker classing.
• Avoid using Stun effects without Sure Hit / Ignore Invincibility available for the damage dealer. Zenobia instantly gains Evade if she ever gets immobilized. Some high-damage ST Lancers have Stun effects tied to their NP, such as Scathach or Medusa (Lancer). Although these can still be used, it requires extra consideration in team setup to account for the auto-Evade effect Zenobia gains when stunned.
• Damage / NP Gauge Support helps the damage dealer quickly burst down Zenobia, ideally before having to deal with her AoE NP. Depending on the damage dealer's Card type of choice, Altria Caster/Tamamo, Skadi, Koyanskaya/Oberon/Merlin, and Waver/Reines all make for excellent choices.
• Event Damage CE - Make sure to equip an MLB copy of one of the three Event Spawn Bonus CEs for a +200% Damage boost! These help even lower rarity damage dealers hit high enough numbers to put a sizable dent in the boss's HP.

• Note that these videos are not affiliated with GamePress, but showcase some lineups that are effective in clearing the final challenge. These can serve as a good reference for how to rotate skills during this quest or simply to have a look at the encounter before diving in.
  • Melusine 3-turn with 2x Castoria and backline Koyanskaya (3 turns)
  • Yu Mei-ren 3-turn with 2x Skadi, Alexander & Mata Hari (Taunt CE), and Waver (3 turns)
  • Morgan NP2 3-turn with 2x Koyanskaya and backline Oberon (3 turns)
  • Nagao Kagetora clear with 2x Castoria, empty backline (8 turns)
  • Enkidu NP4 solo w/ meatshield Leonidas / Chen Gong (10 turns)
  • Low Rarity with Support Castoria ft. Diarmuid, Leonidas, Georgios, Cu Chulainn, and Cu Prototype (17 turns)