Hey Guys! I'm AyaNatsume from S36 - Sasori and i've been preparing for this instance ever since news of it came out last week. Let me share with you on the lineup and also explain my thought process behind the choices that i've used to clear this instance. Also, SA instances are usually not very dependent on Battle Powers (BP). Sure it will definitely help by making the fight easier and faster, but it should not determine whether you pass or fail this instance by a huge margin as long as you totally understand the mechanics of the fight. Same goes for level, because SA instances scale according to our levels. So being at a higher level does not mean that this instance will be easier.
Disclaimer: This strategy does not guarantee you a high score in SA. It will aid in helping you clear this instance, but this is by no means the best way to get a high score using Azure Fang.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge8Y3Xi3uJw
Main: Azure Fang (Water Main)
Lineup: Kimimaro 4*, Kabuto 2*, Main 4*, and Tayuya 3* - All ninjas used in this lineup are completely available f2p.
Level: 75
BP: 23,936
Talents: 32233
Summon: Ninja Monkey
Reason for choosing these Ninjas and Talents: Like i've said, i've been preparing for this instance ever since news of it came out last week. So i've been researching and reading up on strategies posted by our Chinese pioneers on how can we clear this instance. Ideally we would want to have Choza Akimichi instead of Kimimaro but he's not f2p (and i don't have him either) so the best substitute we have is Kimimaro who's an equally awesome Ninja and definitely has more use in other situations compared to Choza, imo.
He is placed on the top left corner of our lineup because in this instance, no one should really be in the middle unless you can kill Hidan really really fast in the last wave or you can tank through Hidan's attack which the instance isn't designed for this to happen in the first place. This also makes sure that Kabuto's clones will be infront of Kimimaro when used, and his clones are used to soak up whatever damage that's coming our way including Hidan's attacks in the last wave. In situations where there are no clones to soak up the damage for Kimimaro, he's able to take a lot of beating even on his own and he becomes even stronger afterwards.
Kabuto is pretty much made for these instances. His passive provides the much needed healing, debuff clears and his clones are mainly used to soak up all the damage thrown at us, especially for Hidan's attack in the last wave. Using him in conjunction with Kimimaro and also Tayuya (which will be mentioned after this) will also make them stronger every single round by dealing a small amount of damage to everyone in the party using his passive "Human Experiment". Kimimaro's defense and resistance will increase everytime he's attacked (even when he dodges) and Tayuya's attack and ninjutsu will increase everytime she's attacked, thus his synergy with this team is superb. His position in this lineup is such that his clones will have 1 placed in the middle of the formation, and another in front of Kimimaro.
The clones position aren't going to matter much until the last wave where Hidan goes on a rampage with his attacks and hence, this is the ideal position to be for Kabuto using this lineup
Tayuya is almost the MVP of this instance. She interrupts (sleep), she hits 2 enemies at once and her attacks get stronger each time she's attacked that you'll find yourself dealing almost 5k+ white damage per hit, and a lot more if you land a critical towards the end of the fight. She is so vital in this instance because of her mystery that interrupts every 2 rounds which is extremely crucial especially if you do not have a chase that can interrupt both Sasori and Hidan. She's placed at the bottom right because we need to her to get damaged enough for her attacks to hit harder but at the same time not damaged so much till the point she's almost always close to dying (a bit of an oxymoron but.. whatever works). She's also right infront because we need her to be able to cast her Mystery fast to interrupt and that's where position really matters.
Main Talents & Combos: Double Heals are almost a staple in any instance nowadays and we need these heals to keep our Ninjas alive. No matter how good Kimimaro is, he's still gonna die if we just rely on Kabuto for heals. Also, it is extremely important to note that even though I do not take enough damage for me to use my main's big heal for most of the fight, I need this big heal to clear Animal Path's AOE Tag in the last wave. Shark Bomb Jutsu is used her to chain a combo with this lineup, and Healing Tips is used to improve the healing received by our team, but really, there isn't any other choice down here isn't it? We don't have enough Water type ninjas to make use of the 1st talent, and Neutoxin is not reliable without the use of Chakra Dissection Blade. Lastly, Soul Absorption is used so that everytime a clone dies, our main will recover some life and we will recover some Chakra too which helps to launch multiple mysteries within the same round if need be. Again, a clear choice here since the other talents won't have an impact during the end.
Unfortunately, Kimimaro is the only one who can start a combo in this lineup.
On to the fight mechanics: This instance consists of 4 Waves and unlike our previous Hanzo SA, Waves 3 & 4 are where most people fail this instance at. So what we do in Waves 3 & 4 will ultimately determine whether we pass or fail this instance. Perfect skills management and also how you manage Kabuto's clones will be key in determining your success rate in clearing this instance.
Wave 1: Nothing much here really, just a bunch of White Zetsus shooting arrows at us. I went full auto in my video because i'm so tired at this point i've already tried doing this instance countless of times just to know every bit about the fight in order to make sure that my future runs will be smooth. But you can opt to approach this wave in a more strategic manner (i.e. not letting Kimimaro use his mystery on a 1 HP white Zetsu) in order to improve your chances of getting a better score, or setting up your skills in a way that it will be beneficial for you in the next Waves to come.
You should be able to tank through Zetsu's AOE Skill without much trouble. But if you do have trouble tanking it through, you might want to power your Ninjas a bit more. There should technically be no reason why you can't tank this through if you're on the normal Level:BP ratio.
Wave 2: Again, nothing much. Just be sure to interrupt Sasori's Mystery every 2 rounds and you should be fine. Does not matter who you focus on first as long as you can take the beating. I may want to keep Deidara alive even longer to have a chance at boosting Tayuya's damage but that would mean I keep hearing his irritating voice. So i've decided to kill him first. If you can't take the damage in this round, always kill Deidara first and keep Sasori controlled every 2 rounds. Skill management here is important because you do not want to make a mistake of using Tayuya's Mystery when Sasori isn't casting his Mystery. Again, make an effort to save Kimimaro's mystery for Wave 3 to start your combo, Sasori can and will die just by normal attacks alone. That way you minimize the chance of anything going south in Wave 3. Other than these, Wave 2 is a pretty straight forward fight.
Wave 3: This is where everything matters especially towards the end. In this Wave, Hidan & Kakuzu MUST DIE IN THE SAME ROUND. It does not mean they have to die together, they just have to die in the same round. So there is no hard and fast rule on how to make this happen, it all depends on how well you understand your team. I chose to focus on Hidan first because Kakuzu is standing infront of him, and he gets all the normal attacks from my Ninjas including any clones that miraculously survives this will help to make sure Kakuzu's HP is not too far away from Hidan's HP even though all my combos are targetted at Hidan.
1st Round: Activate Kimimaro's Mystery on Hidan to initiate a combo and let the game do the rest. Nothing much going on here in the first round. If you have Tayuya's Mystery available here, SAVE IT. You will need to use it for the 2nd round because both Kakuzu and Hidan are going to use their mysteries.
2nd Round: Immediately use Tayuya's Mystery to interrupt both Kakuzu and Hidan (Yes, Tayuya is an absolute beast for this because she interrupts 2 with 1 mystery). For any reason you are not using Tayuya and you only have 1 interrupt, go for Hidan and tank through Kakuzu's Mystery. Again, if you are on the normal Level:BP ratio, you should not have any problems tanking this through and if HP gets a little dangerous, just pop the Main's big heal to top up your ninjas.
Activate Kabuto's clones too if his skill is available.
3rd Round: Rinse and repeat what happened in the 1st round and stand by for the 4th round.
This post was last edited by Psyence at 2016-10-5 13:09