Volk's Wrath Guide: Master

"This is no game! I will kill you here and now!"



Volk's Wrath: Master is a challenge quest centered on a boss battle with Volk, unlocked upon the completion of Chapter 10 and any Advanced Dragon Trial at standard difficulty, and meeting the minimum might requirement of 34,000.
 * Rewards from Master difficulty include and small amounts of, which can be used to upgrade  flame Agito weapons past the fourth unbind level, as well as allowing for refinement, granting additional strength, new abilities, and might.
 * Additionally, clearing Master difficulty for the first time rewards the player with sufficient amount of to fully upgrade an Agito weapon.
 * Weekly bonuses from clearing the Master difficulty also provide a large amount of.

HP
HP isn't too much of a concern if adventurers are properly built with ideal equipment and maxed-out augments, a dispel is available, and a healer is used, which is highly recommended.
 * It's strongly suggested to upgrade your to at least level 25 before attempting this quest.

Weapons
For Master, at a minimum, adventurers should be equipped with at least a Agito weapon that's unbound 4 times. This includes even supportive role adventurers as the quest difficulty is extremely high.
 * Standard (non-Overdamage) healers can get by with a Chimeratech without issue as they do not provide significant personal DPS, but the reduced might may cause issues for them joining public co-op.

Dragons
Everyone should ideally be equipped with a max-unbound Flame-attuned dragon for Master.
 * Standard healers such as and support adventurers such as  and  may carry weaker dragons, and in the case of healers, offelement dragons which brings better utility, as their personal DPS is usually not too relevant (aside from during break state, in the case of Halloween Mym).
 * Overdamage healers such as and  should still try to utilize a strong on-element dragon wherever possible.

Note that due to general viability of adventurers in this quest, only a select few adventurers are shown in this section.

Wyrmprints
All adventurers should equip their standard wyrmprints.

DPS
These units will be doing the majority of the DPS, and sometimes provide support and/or additional utility.
 * Don't run more than 1 Halloween Mym in the entire team.
 * Don't run more than 1 Emma in the entire team.
 * Don't run more than 2 ranged adventurers in the entire team (bows, wands, staves, and manacasters).

Healer
The healer will be spending the majority of the match far away from Volk, keeping the wolves busy and providing healing and support where needed.
 * Select a healer depending on needs and team compositions; all are viable with different strengths and weaknesses.

General Party Setup
The general setup includes 3 DPSes, and a healer. The two requirements are as follows:
 * In co-op mode, and in slower solo runs, one of the adventurers should have a differing resistance to the others, so that all affliction bombs may be detonated safely.
 * For example, a team with 3 adventurers should have the remaining adventurer be.
 * For another example, a team with 3 adventurers should have the remaining adventurer be.
 * 's and 's dual-resist abilities lets them detonate any bomb, as they cover both Stun and Sleep afflictions.
 * and should be considered as pure  adventurers, as the -equivalent abilities are not relevant for this quest. However, if they are shapeshifted (which they will be doing so frequently) they can detonate any bomb as dragons are immune to status aliments.
 * Note that if teamwide DPS is high enough, it is possible to not use any adventurers in solo mode, due to the lack of unavoidable Sleep bombs to the point the quest usually clears.
 * At least one adventurer should be able to dispel in any way, as if Volk's buffed Strength gets high enough, unavoidable damage may become lethal. 's level 4 is an easy fix if nobody brought a form of dispel.

Co-op compositions should ideally have at most 2 ranged adventurers (bows, wands, staves, and manacasters).
 * Having more than 2 ranged adventurers is inadvisable due to the way some attacks target two of the ranged adventurers first before melee units.
 * If there are 3 or more ranged adventurers, it becomes possible for the healer to not get targeted by such attacks, significantly reducing DPS during that phase.

On Plague
is a special effect that will reduce an adventurer or Volk's resistance to afflictions.
 * On adventurers, plague will set the adventurer's resistance to all afflictions to -100%. This means that attacks with a 0% chance to inflict an affliction will have a 100% success rate (this describes several of Volk's attacks). When plague's effects wear off, it will spread to surrounding adventurers. Plague will wear off after 90 seconds on its own, or it can be removed more quickly if the adventurer receives any form of healing.
 * Plague can spread from an adventurer onto Volk himself if he hits them with an attack that has a component.
 * On Volk, resistance to all afflictions will be set to a fixed value for the duration of Plague, and the enemy cannot receive any form of healing (via Life Drain, for example). If the enemy gets afflicted while they are plagued, the fixed resistance value will not change, but their "true" resistance value will increment in the background accordingly. Once plague's effect ends, the enemy's true resistance value will be restored.
 * On therion Volk, plague will set his resistance to 50% and wear off after 10 seconds.
 * For example: if therion Volk had 75% resistance to burn, and then got plagued, his resistance to burn would be fixed at 50% for the duration of plague. Let's say he was burned once during plague, which would increase resistance by 5%. He will still be at 50% during plague, but after plague ends he will have his true res value, 80% (75% + 5%).

On Life Drain
in Master difficulty is much stronger; Volk will heal significant chunks of his health if he successfully hits a non-plagued adventurer.

Mitigate as much of his life drain as possible by avoiding damage, taking advantage of Plague, dragon form, and defensive buffs, and also dispel his Strength Up buffs ASAP.

On Automatic Bracing
Bracing (air recovery) grants iframes, but these iframes end as soon as you land. Not bracing will cause your adventurer to fall to the ground if they were hit by Snapping Squalls, which grant extended iframes that last until a few moments after they pick themselves back up.

Automatic Bracing is an option that can be configured in the Game Settings tab of the game's Option menu. Make sure that this option is turned off if you are playing a adventurer, as if automatic bracing is turned on, it's very likely that the unit will take damage twice - once from the initial hit, and another from getting hit again after landing from the same Snapping Squall. This usually ends poorly for the unit, as it is unlikely for most units to survive getting hit twice in a row without defensive buffs.

Opening Blast
Depending on DPS levels, you may see more or less moves than what's listed here.

This is the fight's initial "HP check" blast.
 * Any adventurer with, such as with , should use defensive skills such as  to reduce the damage taken.
 * Afterwards, if possible, heal it back up ASAP to restore HP conditional abilities. You won't trick me! will provide healing, but one may opt to run other skills to make it go a bit faster.
 * Shared skills can help with further mitigation (if using ) and/or healing.

Summon Wolves
Volk will summon wolves that charge at adventurers, as well as buffing his own strength by 15%.

If the wolves were all defeated, Volk will respawn them automatically at certain points in the fight.


 * ling the buff is strongly recommended for non-speedrun compositions.

Claw Swipes
Volk will perform three (sometimes two) claw swipes, targeted at the closest unit. Skill, dodge, or get to the blind zone.
 * The blind zone varies with each swipe.
 * The third swipe is indicated by a "!!" on his head and the lack of an attack marker. If DPS is very high, this final swipe may be skipped.
 * The blind zone in this case is the front area of him.

Summon Wolves
This move tends to be skipped in faster runs.

Claw Swipes
This move tends to be skipped in faster runs.

Cross Tornadoes + Underdog's Scheme
Volk will move to the center of the arena, spawn four affliction bombs that do not deal damage in a diagonal pattern as well as 4 tornadoes in a cross pattern.

These bombs can be safely detonated if you're not plagued (your healer should have cleaned it off by now) and you match resistance with the bomb's type.

The bomb positions are different depending on the mode.


 * Red bombs with stars inflict, and hence a Stun Res unit should walk into them to detonate them.
 * In solo mode, these bombs are at the upper left and lower left corners of the map.
 * In co-op mode, these bombs are at the upper right and lower left corners of the map.
 * Green bombs with bubbles inflict, and hence a Sleep Res unit should walk into them to detonate them.
 * In solo mode, these bombs are at the upper right and lower right corners of the map.
 * In co-op mode, these bombs are at the upper left and lower right corners of the map.
 * As and  are dual-res units, they can detonate any bomb.
 * It is likely that, , and/or have their shapeshifts ready by this point; in this case, dragon form may be used to detonate the bombs regardless of the resistance or plague.
 * Blade units may attempt to detonate bombs by clipping the edges of them with a force strike, even if they're off-resist. This is risky, though, since slipping up means a locked unit.

In solo mode, detonate a column of affliction bombs that correspond to your adventurer's resistance, and ignore the other half; there will be more than enough room for everyone to be safe on the cleared side.

In co-op mode, adventurers should stand on top of the spawning bombs (they do not ever rotate between quest runs) that match their resistances.
 * In case of uneven resistances, the minority resistance adventurer should go across the map to detonate the remaining affliction bombs.
 * Lances and ranged units will have enough reach to attack Volk with standard attacks without getting into harm's way.

Charge
This move tends to be skipped in faster runs.

Volk will charge towards the furthest adventurer. The targeted adventurer should get out of harm's way in any way, and DPS units that don't have any skills should roll towards Volk's destination.

Snapping Squalls x2
Volk will move towards the center of the arena and then summon two purple chasers that track units.
 * In solo mode, only the controlled adventurer will receive the chaser, though it may still damage AI adventurers caught in the attack.
 * Volk will prioritize ranged units before selecting melee units.
 * If there are 2 ranged units, the two ranged units should simply go away, preferably at an equal split, and move clockwise on the outer edge of the arena.
 * If the only ranged unit is the healer, the melee units should pay attention and avoid using skills with long durations. Whoever that gets the purple chaser should then go away from Volk and move clockwise.
 * Having more than 2 ranged units introduces a chance that the healer doesn't get the chaser, causing a severe DPS loss for this phase.

Overwhelming Hunger


Map-wide avoidable attack that deals little damage, and inflicts Plague, or HP to 1 if the target is already plagued.

The action hence varies depending on the adventurer is plagued or not.
 * Adventurers that are not plagued should intentionally get hit, and avoid using skills or dodge rolling.
 * Adventurers that are plagued should iframe or dodge roll the attack.
 * An alternative is to shapeshift; dragons do not take HP damage, and hence never heals Volk on the next attack.
 * Healers should avoid using healing skills to prevent the plague from being cleansed inadvertently
 * If HP regen healing is present, all four adventurers should stay close together so that plague reinflicts on themselves when the timer expires.

Steal Vitality


Volk will cause massive unavoidable damage and heals based on the amount of damage dealt.
 * There are ways to mitigate this HP recovery.
 * Volk cannot recover HP from a plagued unit.
 * Volk cannot recover HP from dragons, as they do not take HP damage.
 * Volk cannot recover HP if Volk himself is plagued.
 * It is also possible to inflict or  on a plagued Volk, even if he has been stunned before.
 * Use a combination of the above strategies to prevent Volk from undoing too much of your work done.

Snapping Squalls x4
This move tends to show up on slower runs.

Volk will move towards the center of the arena and then summon four purple chasers that track units. All four units should fan out to the edge of the arena, and then rotate in a clockwise direction.
 * In solo mode, this attack is identical to the previous instance, as it can only target the controlled adventurer.
 * If Volk is plagued, adventurers may attempt to or  Volk as he starts to move toward the center of the arena. This will cancel the entire attack if it is successful.
 * Use or 's level 4  shared skill to attempt to stun or freeze Volk.
 * Note that if the attack text shows up before the affliction lands, the attack cannot be cancelled.

Resentment
Volk will create a black fog that covers a significant area of the arena, and walk towards the bottom-left corner. This black fog inflicts plague on anyone caught in it.


 * This is a good time for healers with to shapeshift, and start activating buffs. Shapeshift as soon as the purple marker appears.

Red Wolf Charges + Claw Swipes + Underdog's Scheme
Volk will keep attacking the closest unit with claw swipes, and wolves will charge in a parallel formation every so often. All markers are red here, so dodge or skill as you see fit.
 * If possible, try to bait claw swipes away from the healer, though there is a safe ring between the swipe area and the black fog.

In addition, Volk will spawn affliction bombs three times, each consisting of three bombs, at the bottom of the map.

These bombs vary depending on the mode.

In solo mode, this set of bombs will be all bombs.

In co-op mode:
 * The first set will be 3 bombs.
 * The second set will be 3 bombs.
 * The third set will be 2 bombs sandwiching 1  bomb (the Stun bomb is in the middle).

Hence, adventurers should pay attention to the bottom of the map and detonate any bombs there.
 * Dragon form may help with detonating them safely and quickly.

Players should pay attention to the overdrive gauge. Save up skills for a big damage burst when Volk is broken.

Steal Vitality will happen soon after the fog disappears, and this is usually soon after the third set of bombs appear.

Claw Swipes
DPS adventurers may want to save their skills and shapeshift in preparation for the next attack.

Lunatic Judgement
Volk will summon a Blood Moon enemy that constantly deals small amounts of damage. This damage then is converted into HP for the Blood Moon enemy. If this Blood Moon is not destroyed quickly, it will fall and instantly defeat all adventurers regardless of whether they're in dragon form or not, resulting in instant quest failure.
 * There are ways to mitigate this HP recovery.
 * The Blood Moon cannot recover HP from a plagued unit.
 * The Blood Moon cannot recover HP from dragons, as they do not take HP damage.
 * The Blood Moon cannot recover HP if Volk himself is plagued.

There are two ways of destroying the Blood Moon:
 * Sheer firepower. Unleash all your skills on the Blood Moon, shapeshift, and it should go down readily. Normal attacks won't be enough; the massive burst from attack skills and dragon form's normal attacks will do it, though.
 * Don't shapeshift as or  except as a last-ditch effort to push a final skill, due to their comparatively poor dragon forms and skill.
 * or  it. Inflict plague on Volk, then use  or 's level 4  shared skill to attempt to stun or freeze the Blood Moon. If successful, which is always the case if Volk is plagued, the Blood Moon is instantly destroyed, and Volk is stunned or frozen. Even if not successful, in case of Arctos's skill, it will still deal massive damage to the Blood Moon.
 * An adventurer may intentionally get hit by a wolf to receive plague, which will spread to Volk once the Blood Moon starts absorbing HP.

Overwhelming Hunger + Steal Vitality
See previous warning if DPS is very high.

Resentment
DPS adventurers may want to save their skills and shapeshift in preparation for the next attack.
 * This is a good time for healers with to shapeshift, and start activating buffs. Shapeshift as soon as the purple marker appears.

Red Wolf Charges + Underdog's Scheme + Lunatic Judgement
An adventurer may intentionally touch the black fog to get plagued here, to transfer it to Volk. This may make this phase easier, but be careful not to get hit by actual attacks.
 * It might be a good idea to shapeshift immediately only after Volk is plagued.

''Volk is likely to be defeated by this point in most runs. If Volk still has significant amounts of HP left and your equipment are at least meeting the requirements, it's likely your DPS uptime is low, or there was excessive amounts of life drain, so practice more and try to get more attacks in.''