Volk's Wrath Guide: Expert

"Behold the blade of purgation!"



Volk's Wrath: Expert 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 28,000.
 * Rewards from Expert difficulty include and, which can be used to craft  flame 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 or unbind of flame Agito weapon.
 * Weekly bonuses from clearing the Expert difficulty also provide a small amount of, which can be used for enhancing a flame 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 most adventurers should be able to withstand the unavoidable damage Volk inflicts throughout the fight if they came prepared with sufficiently strong equipment.

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.
 * Support adventurers such as standard healers (non-Overdamage),  and  can get by with a Chimeratech without issue.
 * For DPS adventurers, while it is possible to clear with a Chimeratech, it is highly suggested to use a stronger weapon, such as an Agito weapon instead, or less preferably, a highly-upgraded High Dragon weapon (at least 6 unbinds).
 * It's easier to start with the 0UB Agito weapon, and unbind it instead. If you already crafted one from Standard first clear rewards, use it!
 * High Dragon weapons can become very expensive to unbind for its later unbinds, and its power is inferior to Chimeratech weapons before 6 unbinds. If you already have it, though, use it.
 * as well as any possible substitutes should use a 4UB+ Agito weapon for speedclearing.

Dragons
Everyone should ideally be equipped with a max-unbound Flame-attuned dragon for Expert.
 * 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 in standard compositions should equip their standard wyrmprints.

If planning to speedclear in a 4 setup (or with 1 substitute), use the following wyrmprint setup for participating DPS adventurers.
 * If is the substitute, she should use her standard speedclear wyrmprint setup, but with one of the  wyrmprints replaced with.

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

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. At least 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, '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.

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.

Attacks and Patterns (Standard)
For speedclearing with Gala Mym compositions, see Attack and Patterns (Quad Gala Mym) for direct instructions.

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 human Volk, plague will set his resistance to 25% and wear off after 15 seconds.
 * 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 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.

Pestilent Wind
Unavoidable opening blast that deals low damage, but inflicts plague on entire team. The entire team should roll towards Volk here, after using any skills that may benefit them later (e.g. Agito buff skills), if they have.

Volk will disappear temporarily after this attack.

Spin Attack
At this point, everyone should be in the middle of the arena. All DPS units should spread out, preferably all in different directions.

Volk will reappear soon, and will look as if he's about to attack. The healer should stay put in the middle, and use their healing skill (preferably, a burst heal) just before he performs a spin attack. All other DPS units should try to prevent their plague rings from overlapping other units as the healer cleans it off.
 * Lances and ranged units will have enough reach to attack Volk with standard attacks without getting into harm's way.
 * If it fails to clean off plague, do not panic, and use other available healing skills once other DPSes aren't overlapping again. 's shared skill,, helps a lot with this by granting a healer another burst heal. In a pinch, even regen skills will work, though they take a bit longer.

Underdog's Scheme and Ravenous Claws
In solo mode, Volk will spawn four affliction bombs that do not deal damage in a cross pattern.

In co-op mode, Volk will spawn six affliction bombs that do not deal damage in a hexagonal pattern.

In either case, Volk will then move to the center of the arena, then spawn 8 shurikens in an octagonal 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.


 * Red bombs with stars inflict, and hence a Stun Res unit should walk into them to detonate them.
 * Green bombs with bubbles inflict, and hence a Sleep Res unit should walk into them to detonate them.
 * As and  are dual-res units, they can detonate any bomb.
 * If you have shapeshift ready by this point (usually happens with speedrun compositions with ), dragon form may be used to safely detonate all bombs regardless of affliction resistances.
 * Be mindful of spacing; as the bombs alternate afflictions, getting too close to someone else's bombs may cause you or the other unit to get afflicted by the off-resistance.
 * 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.

Purple lines signifying shurikens' path, centering on one of the closest units to Volk, will appear after the octagonal burst has fired; be mindful of their paths, and don't get hit by them. These shurikens will inflict Sleep on units that do not resist Sleep.

Imminent Illness
Four unavoidable purple chaser attacks appear on every unit. Avoid overlapping each other.


 * If anyone is still plagued at this point, the healer should cleanse it off ASAP, as if this attack hits plagued units, it will inflict poison which will cause HP to drain to 1 HP, as well as disabling shapeshifting, making survivability very poor.
 * The previous attack will also show up for one last time, so be careful not to get clipped by someone else's chaser and the shurikens.
 * A HP co-ability makes overlap between two melee units survivable.

Drill Attacks
Volk will pick the two closest units and drill towards them. Check the minimap - if Volk's pointing at your general direction, roll perpendicularly! Using skills or dodgetanking are acceptable, too.


 * On high-speed runs, 's and 's first shapeshift opportunity is just before Volk starts his first drill attack. Feel free to go ham on Volk if it happens.
 * If playing as, get damaged by Volk as soon as possible, so you're able to gain Dragon Gauge again.
 * The attack's hitbox lingers on, and can likely prove fatal if you're hit early on and Volk doesn't push you aside.

Pestilent Wind
Volk will inflict plague on all units again. All units should spread out to 4 corners, right to the edge of the arena; there's more than enough time to do so. Heal the plague off, once everyone is apart.

All 4 units should then roll inwards, towards the center, once. Units with directional movement force strikes, such as swords, blades, daggers, and lances, should start charging their force strikes towards the center of the arena.
 * Make sure adventurers are facing towards the center of the arena, as the next attack will have Volk appear behind the adventurer, dependent on the adventurer's facing.


 * On medium-speed runs, 's and 's first shapeshift opportunity is around here.
 * If Volk's shadow appears, or Volk himself drops down from the top, you can use your distance to him as a gauge on who he'll attack first. He attacks in distance order, starting from the closest adventurer to him.

Spin Attack x4
Volk will teleport behind adventurers and attempt a spin attack, which is unavoidable within the marker.
 * On high-speed runs, 's second shapeshift opportunity is around here.
 * If the unit has a directional movement force strike, they should unleash their force strike, then dodge roll towards the center.
 * Otherwise, just dodge roll towards the center.
 * s may wish to intentionally get hit by the spin attack if they're at full HP, since it should be safe for them to proc.
 * If there's multiple Marths, do it only for one Marth, as any additional procs are wasted, due to full skill gauges the DPSes already have. Usually, the last Marth to get targeted by Volk is the one to attempt this.

Volk will reappear at the center of the arena and promptly dispel any afflictions on him. Use any skills you have, preferably starting with a skill that inflicts, or a skill that boosts the Dragon Gauge now.


 * Volk will buff his strength by 10%. ling it is optional, but it will improve survivability later on.

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.

The designated baiter (usually the healer) should be at the upper-right corner, right at the edge of the fog.


 * Most adventurers should have gained enough Dragon Gauge to be able to shapeshift. users that aren't  or  may want to hold onto their shapeshift, but for the others, they may use it at their own discretion. This is a good time for non-Arctos users to shapeshift, as an unavoidable attack is incoming.  may also wish to shapeshift now to access the dragon form.

Imminent Illness
Deal with this as the previous instance of Imminent Illness, but keep in mind that there are now also red markers representing wolves that charge, that track the ranged baiter, usually a healer that strike them. The baiter should make sure that they aren't caught between two attacks at the same time.


 * On medium-speed runs, 's second shapeshift opportunity is around here.

Red Wolf Charges & Purple Shurikens
Volk will keep attacking the ranged baiter with shurikens and wolves. For red markers, the baiter may dodge roll them, but for purple markers, they should make sure that they are not overlapping any purple markers, then dodge or skill the red markers, if they're on them. Other DPSes should continue DPSing.
 * On high-speed runs, 's third shapeshift opportunity is around here.
 * On medium-speed runs, 's second shapeshift opportunity is around here.
 * Ranged DPSes should stay close to Volk. If they get too far away, they could accidentally steal bait, placing the entire DPS group in danger, or cause a DPS loss from taking avoidance actions.

Volk should have his HP empty out by this point, if not much earlier. Phase 2 will begin once this happens.
 * Units at low HP should shapeshift before the phase changes if healing is not received, as the phase change inflicts damage, which may prove fatal to units at low HP.
 * If DPS is very low, the Resentment phase will end, and Volk will start spawning status bombs again, then inflict Pestilent Wind. Anything after this is a repeat of all previous moves, albeit potentially in a different order, so pay attention to the moves, and react accordingly. The 10-minute timer is fairly generous for the combined fight, so don't panic, and keep on fighting!
 * If dragon form is available, it is safe to use dragon form to detonate any bombs, as they cannot be afflicted in any way.

Phase 2
''Note: This is based on a slower run that can last about 5:30. Any moves that may be frequently skipped in a faster run (4:00 or faster, and 3:00 or faster) will be specially marked.''

Claw Swipes
Volk 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.

Charge
This move tends to be skipped in fast runs.

Volk will charge towards a ranged unit, usually the designated healer. The healer 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
This move tends to be skipped in very fast runs.

Volk will move towards the center of the arena and then summon two purple chasers that track units.
 * 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.
 * If the black fog from the previous Resentment is still there, the targeted players should bait the squalls towards the fog wherever possible.
 * Note that as it's not possible to see your unit or markers in the black fog, caution is advised, and avoid overlapping or outpacing the other unit too much.

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 optional, but may help with survivability and DPS checks if Steal Vitality occurs.

Claw Swipes
This move tends to be skipped in very fast runs.

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.

The healer should be at the upper-right corner, right at the edge of the fog. This is similar to Resentment in Phase 1.


 * 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
Volk will keep attacking the closest unit with claw swipes and wolves. 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.

Aim to break Volk before the fog disappears; Steal Vitality will happen soon after the fog disappears, which might make things hectic if Volk is still above 50% HP at that point.


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

If Volk breaks here...
If Volk enters break state here, users should shapeshift now. Even if Volk ends up ned, the massive damage done by Arctos' skill is more than worth it; he can't outheal the massive break damage. Similarly, all other adventurers should unleash all skills and also shapeshift where appropriate. Aim to have Volk's HP reduced to below half of his entire HP bar.

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 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.

If Volk hasn't broken here at this point and he has more than 50% HP remaining, the following move will appear.

Snapping Squalls x4
This move tends to show up only on very slow 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.

Summon Wolves
Volk is likely to be defeated by this point in very fast runs.

Charge
This move tends to be skipped in very fast runs.


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

Claw Swipes
Save up skills and dragon form for the upcoming attack.


 * This is a good time for healers with to shapeshift, and start activating buffs, if Volk did not charge. Shapeshift as soon as the swipe marker appears.

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.
 * it or it. Inflict plague on Volk, then use  to attempt to stun the Blood Moon or use 's level 4  Shared Skill to try and freeze it. If successful, the Blood Moon is instantly destroyed, and Volk is stunned/frozen. Even if not successful, it will still deal massive damage to the Blood Moon (though in the case of using Lily's Glacial Blossom, the user will incur significant endlag).
 * An adventurer may intentionally get hit by a wolf to receive plague, which will spread to Volk once the Blood Moon starts absorbing HP.

Volk is likely to be defeated by this point in fast runs.

Snapping Squalls x2
This move tends to be skipped in very fast runs.

Charge
This move tends to be skipped in fast runs.

Resentment

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

Lunatic Judgement & Red Wolf Charges
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.

Snapping Squalls x4
''Volk is likely to be defeated by this point in slow 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.''

Attacks and Patterns (Quad Gala Mym)
These instructions should also work for, and are also adaptable for other substitutes.

If the team have Strength Doublebuff equipment and you have a defense buff shared skill: If the team does not have Strength Doublebuff equipment, or if you don't have a defense buff shared skill:
 * On the Pestilent Wind opening blast, use the defensive buff shared skill (e.g. )
 * On the Pestilent Wind opening blast, immediately roll forward and use . ( for The Prince; future substitute instances won't be called out.)


 * After getting hit by Pestilent Wind, wait until Volk appears again.
 * Use ( for The Prince).
 * Use, if you didn't use it initially.

If you have : If you don't have :
 * Use shared skill to immediately refill Dragon Claw.
 * Use again ASAP.
 * Use any desired shared skill.


 * Shapeshift.
 * Attack Volk with basic attacks until his HP bottoms out, and then detonate bombs while he is in the phase transition animation (you should be still in dragon form when Volk phase changes.) - don't use the dragon skill or continue attacking Volk before he enters overdrive (he needs to have more than 90% HP to not start using Snapping Squalls, which costs a lot of time and delays OD.)
 * Use dragon skills once OD has started.
 * Continue DPS as a normal run; Volk should fall within a minute, usually within 40 seconds with optimal equipment.