Kai Yan's Wrath Guide: Expert

"I will be your extinction!"



Kai Yan's Wrath: Expert is a challenge quest centered on a boss battle with Kai Yan, unlocked upon the completion of Chapter 10 and any Advanced Dragon Trial at standard difficulty, and meeting the minimum might requirement of 28,000.
 * Rewards from Expert difficulty include and, which can be used to craft  shadow Agito weapons, and can be used to upgrade the  facility.
 * Additionally, clearing Expert difficulty for the first time rewards the player with sufficient amount of materials to obtain a copy of shadow Agito weapon.
 * Weekly bonuses from clearing the Expert difficulty also provide a small amount of, which can be used for enhancing a shadow Agito weapon past 4 unbinds, as well as allowing for refinement, granting additional strength, new abilities, and might.

HP
HP isn't too much of a concern, as DPS should be high enough to prevent severe unavoidable damage from ever happening under most circumstances, and even if it does, most adventurers will survive these attacks anyway if they were at full HP.

Weapons
For Expert, at a minimum, adventurers should be equipped with at least a Chimeratech weapon; these weapons are in fact required before you're able to craft Agito weapons in the first place. Expert Kai Yan is significantly easier than the other Agito fights, so a Chimeratech is completely acceptable as a starting point - max-unbinding it is not necessary, though it would help.

The 0UB Agito weapon, which you may have crafted from first clear rewards after clearing the Standard difficulty, is an excellent starting point. This weapon beats out a max-unbound High Dragon weapon, even if the is at 0 unbinds.

Using an upgraded High Dragon weapon is acceptable as well, though requires quite a bit of sidetracking into High Dragon Trials to get a hold of one, and it is quite costly to reach 6UB - the point where it becomes superior to the Chimeratech. If you already have it then great, use it. But if you don't have one, then you don't really need to bother getting one - a Chimeratech will do fine.

Dragons
Everyone should ideally be equipped with a max-unbound Shadow-attuned dragon for Expert, though a  dragon will work with 4DPS compositions.
 * Healers such as, , and may carry weaker dragons, and outside of Grace, off-element dragons which may bring better utility.
 * This does not apply to as he does a significant amount of damage despite being a staff-wielding adventurer.

Wyrmprints
All adventurers should equip their standard wyrmprints.

In compositions with (or her shared skill),, and/or , adventurers may see benefit from running Strength Doublebuff wyrmprints such as  or  for offense, and Healing Doublebuff wyrmprints such as  or  for survivability, due to the very high frequency of defense buffs.

DPS
These units will be doing the majority of the DPS. They can fill all 4 team slots, or fill 3 and leave the last slot for a healer.
 * Don't bring more than two Patias in the whole composition, or more than two adventurers that inflict (preferably only 1 non-Patia bleeder, or two Patias at most).
 * Due to the low difficulty of the quest, almost every adventurer, including off-element adventurers, will work for this quest. This lists only the more notable adventurers for the quest, known for their very high damage output or extremely strong supportive effects, with short descriptions.

Healer
The healer keeps the team alive, provides support, and in some cases, deal damage themselves.

General Party Setup
There are four general variations of compositions in Kai Yan's Wrath: Expert.

On Adamantine Shield
is a buff that renders Kai Yan immune to afflictions, creates a barrier around him, and will regenerate the barrier if it is destroyed, provided the buff is still active.


 * Since this is a buff, it can be removed by a effect. Doing so will also instantly remove the barrier if it is up.
 * If the barrier is hit by an adventurer, Kai Yan will take no damage, but the adventurer will receive a fixed 50 HP of damage.
 * The barrier can withstand 30 hits before breaking in Kai Yan's human form, or 60 hits in his transformed state.

Hence, at least one adventurer should be able to dispel. Innate dispels are preferred, but any adventurer can borrow 's if it's at level 4; it provides a skill-based dispel that works anywhere on anyone, with a very low skill cost of 3 points.

On Battleground
is a special effect that creates a field around the enemy. Enemies in this zone will take 2x damage, while adventurers will take 1.5x damage.

Slam
Large unavoidable attack targeted on the furthest adventurer (3rd slot). Immediately get out of there - preferably, walk towards Kai Yan.


 * Adventurers whose DPS increase at low HP may want to deliberately tank this hit in order to lower their HP. If using Shadow Agito weapons, proc at the last second.

Spin Attack
Kai Yan swings his mace, tracking the closest adventurer. Bait him where you see fit, keeping in mind that dodge rolling works for iframes, though can be a bit finicky. If in doubt, stay out of the Battleground area entirely.

Unbreakable Satellites
Kai Yan will spawn a red ring outside the Battleground area, creating 4 Unbreakable Satellites which inflict on contact.

Fight for Survival
This attack does not exist in solo mode.

Kai Yan will spawn two purple rings tracking two closest adventurers. These rings inflict on contact, and will knock back adventurers that touch them, trapping them within the rings.

There are four methods for dealing with this, and what's preferred depends on the DPS, and if you're willing to lose some HP, in case of forcing it.
 * If DPS is high, don't bother lining up these rings and try to continue DPSing as normal. If done right, no unavoidable damage will occur anyway, as you will have skipped the next attack and reach Phase 2.
 * If DPS is not high, the targeted adventurers should line up the rings, and avoid excessive movement. An adventurer that is trapped between these two rings will take rapid damage and it likely will become fatal without shapeshifting.
 * s and dragon form provide knockback immunity, and can be used to simply "walk out" of the rings after they land, if desired.
 * It is also possible to force your way out of these rings with dodge roll spamming if you're a adventurer - you'll take damage, but after four or five rolls, you'll leave the rings as the dodge roll's movements end up outpacing the rings' knockback.

In a speedrun composition, this should be the last mechanic before phase 2. Adventurers should shapeshift now in order to escape the rings and dragon tank the phase change blast that is to follow.

Every Man For Themselves
Kai Yan will spawn a red stack marker targeted on the closest adventurer.
 * This attack deals signficantly lower amounts of damage in solo mode, and having two healthy adventurers in the stack is usually enough to survive this attack.
 * In co-op mode, deal with it depending on the DPS level.
 * If DPS is high, keep on DPSing and try to push for Phase 2 before the attack hits.
 * If DPS is not high, all adventurers should get together and split the damage. A defensive healer and the Agito skill's defense buff effect can help with this.

If possible, in either situation, dragon tank here; you'll either tank the stack hit, or the Phase 2 transformation blast, depending on the outcome.

Faster runs should initiate phase 2 at this point; you should be in dragon form to mitigate the damage from the transformation blast.
 * In 's case, tanking in dragon form unfortunately isn't an option, due to Dragondrive. However, Dragondrive does increase her defense by a beefy 75%, and she can also use the Agito skill's defense buff to further mitigate the damage taken.
 * Generally speaking, if Bellina is at 30% of her max HP, she usually will survive the transformation blast with little HP remaining if she has dragondrive enabled and had used the Agito weapon's defense buff. This will also help her DPS output, as she will be very close to 1 HP.

Cone Attack x2
Kai Yan attacks a cone-shaped area in front targeted at the farthest adventurer, with the center portion a red marker attack, and the two side portions a purple marker attack. Skill, dodge, or get out of the danger zone. Iframes do not function in purple zone, so make sure you don't accidentally enter the purple zone if you opt for dodge rolling.

Medium speed runs (some slower 3DPS runs) should enter Phase 2 here.

If your composition has low DPS, you will see the following attacks.

Quick Spin Attack
Kai Yan swings his mace in-place, and for a shorter duration. Skill, dodge, or leave the Battleground.

Unbreakable Satellites & Adamantine Shield
The unbreakable satellites will be more plentiful than the previous instance, and an Adamantine Shield will also spawn. it ASAP.
 * es will have to wait for the buff icon to show up before attempting to dispel. Other dispellers may preload their dispels.

Natural Selection
Unavoidable map-wide attack. If shapeshift is available and you are not using, shapeshift now and dragon tank the attack. Otherwise, leave the Battleground area, and if possible, use defense buffs to reduce the oncoming damage.
 * Make sure to not accidentally hit an Unbreakable Satellite; move along their path! There should be two gaps where you can move safely in.

Spin Attack
Slow runs will enter Phase 2 around here.

Phase 2
''Note: This is based on a run that can last about 2:00-3:00. Some moves may be skipped in extremely high DPS runs. Conversely, lower DPS teams may see certain additional moves; these moves that show up on low DPS runs will be specially marked.''

Adamantine Shield
''This move is sometimes skipped or delayed if the DPS is high enough. If either happens, Kai Yan will not enter overdrive state.''

Kai Yan will spawn a red ring-shaped marker. This marker inflicts blindness if it hits, and an Adamantine Shield will spawn. it ASAP.
 * es will have to wait for the buff icon to show up before attempting to dispel. Other dispellers may preload their dispels.

Claw Swipes
This instance only shows up in slow runs.

Kai Yan will perform two or three claw swipes, targeted at the closest unit. Skill, dodge, or get to the blind zone.
 * The blind zone varies with each swipe.
 * Normally, he will claw swipe twice. However, if DPS is very low, he will perform a third swipe, indicated by a "!!" on his head and the lack of an attack marker.
 * The blind zone in this case is the front area of him.

Crushing Cataclysm
Kai Yan will grab the farthest adventurer and trap them. If the purple marker fills up, everyone caught up in the area will take fatal (unless a exists) damage, as it deals 100% of your maximum HP damage. In speedrun compositions with sufficiently high DPS, this mechanic can be skipped entirely.
 * The weakest DPS adventurer (usually a healer,, or ) should try to bait this.
 * If the attack is about to land and the prison is nowhere near being destroyed, the remaining adventurers should abandon the trapped adventurer; losing 1 adventurer is much more preferable to wiping here.

Supreme Spheres
Kai Yan will spawn three Supreme Spheres that slowly move towards Kai Yan. If they make contact towards Kai Yan, they grant Kai Yan buffs, and also give him Adamantine Shield. Destroy them all before Kai Yan starts charging later.
 * Initially, these spheres will be invulnerable. Don't waste skills on them when they initially spawn. Stand near the spheres and use some basic attacks until the HP starts to go down, before you use skills.
 * 's and 's  (while in Dragondrive as Renegade Dragonfall) can make quick work of these spheres.
 * In speedrun compositions with high DPS, there may be no need to go after the spheres at all as players can continue to focus down Kai Yan and break him before the spheres get near him.

Charge
Kai Yan will charge towards the unit at the farthest distance. All units should roll towards Kai Yan's destination, taking care not to hit any of the Unbreakable Satellites.
 * If any Supreme Spheres still exist, make sure to not bait Kai Yan towards them.
 * If in doubt, group bait - all adventurers should position themselves in the same position to guarantee that Kai Yan is baited towards the same destination. This is useful in case of possible network issues.

Claw Swipes
Speedrun compositions should not see this mechanic at all, as Kai Yan should be dead by this point.

Universal Annihilation
Unavoidable map-wide attack, similar to Natural Selection. If shapeshift is available and you are not using, shapeshift now and dragon tank the attack. Otherwise, leave the Battleground area, and if possible, use defense buffs to reduce the oncoming damage.

Mini Universal Annihilation
Purple marker attack covering the Battleground. If shapeshift is available and you are not using, shapeshift now and dragon tank the attack. Otherwise, leave the Battleground area.

Throw Adventurer
Kai Yan picks up the furthest adventurer and throws them away, causing unavoidable damage to the adventurer, and also avoidable damage to anyone caught in the path. There's nothing the targeted adventurer can do, but others should try to avoid being hit.

''A fast and medium speed run should clear around here. If your DPS is on the lower side, the run will extend past this point.''

Supreme Spheres
This time, there will be six Supreme Spheres. Make sure to destroy at least one Supreme Sphere, and everyone should bait Kai Yan towards the empty space before the next attack!

Charge x3
It is highly recommended to group bait Kai Yan's charge attack towards an empty area this time around, and keep doing that for the next 2 successive charges.

Unbreakable Satellites
The unbreakable satellites will be more plentiful than the previous instance.

Mini Universal Annihilation
''Kai Yan is likely to be defeated by this point in slow runs. If Kai Yan still has significant amounts of HP left and your equipment are at least meeting the requirements, it's likely your DPS uptime is low, so practice more and try to get more attacks in.''