High Midgardsormr Guide: Standard & Expert

"Show that your courage is unbreakable!"



High Midgardsormr's Trial is a challenge quest centered on a boss battle with High Midgardsormr, unlocked upon the completion of Midgardsormr's Trial: Master.
 * Rewards from Standard difficulty include, which can be traded for the dragon  or the , and can be used to upgrade the Fafnir Statue facility.
 * Rewards from Expert additionally include, which alongside s can be used to craft Wind-attuned High Dragon weapons with High Mercury's Bane.
 * Additionally, weekly clears from Expert additionally include small amounts of s, which alongside s and s can be used towards enhancing Wind-attuned High Dragon weapons into tier 2, significantly increasing its power against enemies outside of High Mercury.

HP
HP isn't too much of a concern, as all adventurers should be able to withstand the unavoidable damage High Midgardsormr inflicts at the beginning of the fight if they have sufficiently strong equipment, and a healer was used, which is highly recommended if the entire team is on the weaker side (e.g. if all players are newer accounts with bare minimum equipment).

Weapons
Crafting Void Bane or Chimeratech weapons, or better, can improve your adventurer's performance (especially if it's Chimeratech) in the quest, though technically optional. Still, if possible, at least equip your adventurers with Void Bane weapons at minimum.
 * Generally speaking, if you're able to clear Volcanic Chimera Strike: Standard (and preferably, also its Expert difficulty), you should obtain materials from it to create a Chimeratech weapon, as it should be more powerful than void bane weapons, especially once other punisher modifiers are factored in - the eats into the punisher bracket that is also used by 's . It is also easier to build compared to the Void bane weapons, but if you already have them anyway, feel free to use them.

Dragons
Everyone should be ideally be equipped with a max-unbound dragon at a minimum, though it is possible to clear with worse equipment.

Wyrmprints
All adventurers should equip their standard wyrmprints.
 * A wyrmprint on the buffer and/or healer can help with making shapeshifting available earlier.

DPS/Hybrid DPS
These units will be doing the majority of the DPS, and provide buffs/debuffs if applicable.
 * Don't bring more than one Emma or one Halloween Mym (no duplicates; it's OK to have Emma and Halloween Mym together) in the whole composition.
 * Due to the low difficulty of the quest, almost every adventurer and composition will work for this quest. This lists only the more common adventurers for the quest, with short descriptions.

Healer
The healer provides defensive support and take care of any damage the adventurers may incur.

General Party Setup
The two real requirements for general compositions are as follows:
 * One of the adventurers in the composition must be able to heal the entire team if desired (to reactivate any HP-based abilities).
 * One of the adventurers should behave as the close range baiter. Usually, this job falls to either the DPS with the shortest reach, or the host (Player 1).
 * Having multiple adventurers with similar reach may cause baiting issues, though it can be worked around with careful play.

Calamitous Storm
This is the fight's initial "HP check" blast.
 * Any adventurer with, such as with , should use defensive skills such as  and  to reduce the damage taken, though it is entirely optional.
 * For Halloween Lowen and Grace, the order is important: use their second skills before their first skills, as the blast damage will clip the animation of the currently cast skill too early otherwise.
 * 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 and/or healing.
 * You can't iframe it, however if you are a melee character then you can hold down Force Strike to not get knocked back.
 * Sword-wielding adventurers can also attempt this sequence of actions: dodge roll towards High Midgardsormr, attack twice, force strike, then attack five times without using a force strike. Due to knockback immunity between the third and fifth attack on the second string of attacks, they will also not be knocked back, and this also improves SP gain.
 * For, dodge roll instead of force striking.
 * Lance-wielding adventurers can also attack immediately, but make sure that the attack string is ongoing (restart the string if it's about to end at the fifth attack) and do not use a force strike; lances have natural knockback immunity that is strong enough to prevent movement from the opening blast's knockback while within the string of attacks. Alternately, hold a force strike only after the fifth attack has landed.
 * Axe-wielding adventurers should just simply attack immediately without ever breaking the chain or force strike. Axes have natural knockback immunity that is strong enough to prevent movement from the opening blast's knockback.

Trident Tempest
High Midgardsormr faces the closest adventurer and spits out three gales, in a cone pattern. This attack is unavoidable within the marker, and deals strong damage if physical contact is made. The close-range baiter should bait this away from the rest of the DPSes.
 * Normally, adventurers should move away and avoid it, but with precise timing, some skills such as 's can let the adventurer physically dodge the hitboxes, if you have these skills ready, in later instances of Trident Tempest.

The close-range baiter should take position afterward to bait High Midgardsormr towards the middle of the arena, so that there's space for movement later on.

Dash + Spin Attack + Backdash
High Midgardsormr faces the closest adventurer, charges, performs a spin attack, and backdashes.
 * The charge and the spin attack has a chance to inflict.
 * Sometimes, High Midgardsormr will perform an uppercut instead of a spin attack.
 * If you dodge roll the spin attack for iframes, you may need to dodge roll twice in a row, as the roll's iframes are not quite long enough to cover the entire attack.

Spits x3
High Midgardsormr faces the closest adventurer (see a pattern here?), and spits towards them three times. The close-range baiter should skill or dodge them, making sure to bait them away from the rest of the DPSes.
 * These spits will linger on the battlefield for a while, causing damage to anyone caught in them. It is possible to safely move through these mini tornadoes with dodge rolls, if desired.
 * If High Midgardsormr was baited too close to a wall, it might get tricky to bait the spits without getting hurt.

Trident Tempest (8-Way)
This variant of Trident Tempest sweeps an entire circle and also deals much higher damage than the normal variant. Avoid lingering in the purple action markers.
 * High Midgardsormr will always call out this attack with "I shall rend you asunder!"

Tattered Sky + Storm Chaser
High Midgardsormr will spawn a red stack marker targeted on the closest adventurer.
 * If the adventurer has a dragon ready, they should shapeshift now and dragon tank the stack marker.
 * If the adventurer doesn't have a dragon ready, all adventurers should get together and split the damage. A defensive healer can help with this.
 * Healers with only healing skills ready should activate them now so that the healing can cover all adventurers for the next attack.

Afterwards, High Midgardsormr will then spawn purple chaser markers on all adventurers. Avoid overlapping other adventurers' with their markers to minimize damage taken.
 * A sufficiently large or  can block its damage entirely.

Dash + Spin Attack + Spits x3 + Backdash + Trident Tempest
Continue normal baiting, making sure to never bait High Midgardsormr too close to a wall.

Dash + Spin Attack + Spits x3 + Trident Tempest (8-way) + Dash + Spin Attack
Continue normal baiting, making sure to never bait High Midgardsormr too close to a wall. Avoid lingering within the purple action markers.

Summon Help
High Midgardsormr summons some golems to help him out. Defeat them ASAP, especially the big one - he is the source of the giant map-wide purple action marker, and if it fills up, it will deal damage strong enough to wipe out the entire team, using up a revive. High Midgardsormr will also try to keep you busy; see the following section for his attacks.


 * Most compositions with at least Chimeratech or HDT1 weapons as of writing should clear Expert difficulty by this point due to the general power levels of current adventurers.
 * Further moves will be listed for reference, though the later moves are unlikely to be seen in the average run now.

Spits x3 + Dash + Spin Attack + Backdash + Trident Tempest
The battlefield can get a bit confusing to read due to the additional enemies and red action markers, but the close range baiter should try their best to bait the attacks away from the rest of the group.

The golems should be defeated by the time High Midgardsormr finishes the above chain of attacks.

Dash + Spin Attack + Trident Tempest (8-way) + Spits x3 + Backdash
Continue normal baiting, making sure to never bait High Midgardsormr too close to a wall. Avoid lingering within the purple action markers.
 * The close-range baiter will have to quickly make it back to High Midgardsormr once the 8-way attack launches past them to bait the spits away.

After High Midgardsormr backdashes here, everyone should return to the center of the map in preparation of the next attack.

Gale Blast
High Midgardsormr will spawn four very large tornadoes across the top of the map. These tornadoes will move across the map, starting from the tornado with dust clouds underneath.

At Expert difficulty and lower, there are three methods of dealing with these tornadoes.
 * The old method is to go under the tornado with the dust clouds, and move upwards around the map as the tornadoes launch.
 * It is possible to dodge roll consecutively while passing through these tornadoes, taking advantage of the dodge roll's iframes.
 * This tactic is not possible in Master difficulty, so you may have to "unlearn" it in that fight once you plan to clear that difficulty.
 * If shapeshifting is available, it is also possible to dragon tank the tornadoes.
 * In Expert difficulty and lower, dragon tanking with a skill will not decrease dragon time, as it is not an unavoidable attack.

High Midgardsormr will also try to keep you busy while you avoid the tornadoes.

Dash + Spin Attack + Backdash + Spits x3 + Trident Tempest (8-way)
Continue normal baiting once all tornadoes have passed, making sure to never bait High Midgardsormr too close to a wall. Avoid lingering within the purple action markers.


 * Nearly all compositions with at least Void Bane weapons as of writing should clear Expert difficulty by this point due to the general power levels of current adventurers.
 * Further moves will be listed for reference, though the later moves are extremely unlikely to be seen in the average run now.

Tattered Sky + Storm Chaser + Trident Tempest
Identical to previous instance, but High Midgardsormr will immediately follow up with a Trident Tempest, so the close-range baiter must not be separated from him.

Dash + Spin Attack
Continue normal baiting. Be prepared for Gale Blast and Tattered Sky combo.

Gale Blast + Tattered Sky + Storm Chaser
Both Gale Blast's tornadoes and Tattered Sky's stack marker will appear at the same time.
 * This is a very good time for the targeted to dragon tank, move to someplace safe (not affecting other adventurers), and use a skill to tank it.

Spits x3 + Trident Tempest (8-way) + Dash + Spin Attack + Trident Tempest (8-way)
Continue normal baiting, making sure to never bait High Midgardsormr too close to a wall. Avoid lingering within the purple action markers.

Storm Chaser + Tattered Sky
High Midgardsormr reverses the attack order for this combo of attacks.

Dash + Spin Attack + Trident Tempest + Backdash + Spits x3
Continue normal baiting, making sure to never bait High Midgardsormr too close to a wall.

By this point, High Midgardsormr should be defeated in Expert difficulty if you had the minimum recommended equipment, even with poor DPS uptime.
 * The quest likely ends much earlier if your equipment was significantly better than the minimum requirement.
 * This was originally the point where your quest would be subject to a failure by the quest timer running out, and it was a real risk back when High Midgardsormr's Trial was first released.
 * This guide includes the entire moveset for the first five minutes of the quest as a reference.