Welcome to our Brutal Pherus Guide! This guide seeks to comprehensively cover the mechanics of the Fire-element Expedition Boss!

Please check out our Gigantes (Dark), Lich (Earth) Expedition and Symaqus (Ice) Expedition guides as well~

If you have any feedback, I’d love to hear it! Find me at the discord below:

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Expeditions can be accessed through the Hunt menu, or Garo in the Lobby whenever your friends or guildmates have begun an Expedition.

One of the 3 Expedition bosses, defeating the Brutal Pherus will grant Expedition Depot Reward Points, which will accumulate over each period. 2,100 points are required for all rewards, averaging around 40 clears.

The goal of each Expedition entry should be to maximize the number of points gained, as while each member in the party is given 3 entries, they cost energy and do not provide additional rewards. Ideally, each member should be able to contribute ~1/6th of the damage, so that only 1 run is needed per player.

Brutal Pherus Mechanics

Brutal Pherus has 3 different levels, which scale its stats and mechanics. Each level is more difficult, with Level 1 oriented around newer players, Level 2 suitable for midgame players, and Level 3 currently being difficult for even endgame players.

Brutal Pherus’ damage is relatively high and so strong healing and tanks are required. Aside from simple requirements though, Brutal Pherus is relatively straightforward.

Periodically, Brutal Pherus will enter Offensive Posture, where it will Silence your team and increase his damage output greatly. To end Offensive Posture, Brutal Pherus needs to be hit 6 times in one turn. Fortunately, a CR increase mechanic is granted to your team that will allow you to easily return him to a normal state.

Brutal Pherus Stats

Level 1:

  • Health: 900,000
  • Speed: 165
  • Effect Resistance: 70%

Level 2:

  • Health: 1,650,000 (1.65 million)
  • Speed: 180
  • Effect Resistance: 100%

Level 3:

  • Health: 2,300,000 (2.3 million)
  • Speed: 210
  • Effect Resistance: 130%

Effect Resistance scales with levels, starting at 70% (Level 1), 100% (Level 2), 130% (Level 3). As such you’ll need 55% (Level 1), 85% (Level 2), 115% (Level 3) Effectiveness to maximize your chances of debuffing.

Brutal Pherus is immune against the typical CCs and like other Expedition bosses immune to %HP based damage.

At the end of its 11th turn, Brutal Pherus will enrage and on it’s following turn, wipe your team and inflict Extinction, preventing Revive. 

The Elemental Advantage passive is extremely strong, starting at 60% (+10% per Level) increased damage vs non-Ice Heroes, and taking 50% increased damage from Ice Heroes. As such, Ice Heroes are heavily incentivized.

On Brutal Pherus’ first turn, and whenever off cooldown, it will use Shred, dealing AoE damage, alongside a dispel and applying an uncleansable Silence debuff.

Afterward, Brutal Pherus will enter Offensive Posture granting him additional damage and reducing defense.

During Offensive Posture, your Heroes will increase their CR manipulation effects by 300%, allowing units with CR increase on S1 such as Lena, Cerise, or Lorina to cycle quickly and end the phase.

When Brutal Pherus is hit 6 times in Offensive Posture, it will end Offensive Posture and remove the Silence debuff from your team. 

Brutal Pherus’ normal attack focuses the front row first and deals increased damage unless the target is a Knight. With 60% Defense Penetration, non-Knight tanks will quickly be defeated, While not in Offensive Posture, Ambush attacks twice. 

Brutal Pherus’ S2 is an AoE attack with a 1 turn buff duration reduction, and will transfer debuffs if Brutal Pherus is debuffed with 3 or more debuffs. This leaves space for crucial debuffs such as Defense Break, but extraneous debuffs such as Bleed/Burn should be avoided if possible.

At Level 3, Gust will also inflict a 2 turn Speed Down.

General Strategy

This fight is pretty simple, with the only major mechanic being Brutal Pherus’ Offensive Posture mechanic. As it’s damage is extremely high during Offensive Posture, care should be taken to end it as quickly as possible. With the use of CR manipulating units such as Lena or Lorina, this phase can be made trivial. The rest of the fight is then keeping up Defense Break and healing, outputting maximum damage for a high score.

Like other expeditions, Brutal Pherus highly favours mono-Ice teams due to its elemental advantage passive. Team compositions are limited to mostly Ice heroes for higher levels, but there are some non-Ice viable alternatives as well.

Tanks:

Rose, Crozet, Krau, Tywin

The primary tank should be an Ice Knight, to keep the damage taken to a minimum. Non-Knights are not viable here, as they can easily be one-shot.

Rose: A strong and accessible option, Rose brings decent offensive capabilities through her CR push and Attack buff, while having her Barrier to help sustain. 

Crozet: A purely defensive option, Crozet is the tankiest choice, and is more suitable for lower geared runs.

Krau: A slightly less tankier option than Crozet, but can contribute some damage through his S3, and has Defense buff on S2.

Tywin: A offensive tank, bringing Defense Break, and a powerful CR push, Critical Chance Buff, and Attack Buff on his S2.

Aside from these, other options for those lacking these units Bask, Taranor Royal Guard, and Chaos Inquisitor.

Chaos Inquisitor: As he can only take 35% of his maximum health per attack, he can be a useful option here for a functionally immortal front line with a fast cycling healer.

DPS:
SS. Bellona, Luna, Alexa, Lena, Karin, Luluca, Yuna
 
There are a variety of strong DPS Ice Heroes, with the typical Wyvern DPS favourites also excelling here. Notably, DPS without debuffs are stronger, as overloading Brutal Pherus with debuffs will trigger it’s Debuff transfer mechanic.
 
SS. Bellona: A strong DPS option, the multitude of AoEs and the double attack of Brutal Pherus can quickly proc her S2. 
 
Luna: Another strong DPS option, her built-in Defense Break and powerful S1 makes her a strong damage dealer.
 
Alexa: While her strongest advantage in Daydream Joker does not work here, her multiple hits help out during Offensive Posture and can do respectable damage still.
 
Karin: With her fast turn cycling, she can help keep up Defense Break while doing respectable DPS.
 
Luluca: A solid DPS who brings her own Defense Breaks, along with a Barrier and Defense Buff on her S2.
 
Yuna: A decent DPS and her S1 CR increase can help during Offensive Posture.
 
Other viable options for DPS include any water DPS such as Sez or Kise, but caution should be taken to avoid heavy debuffers such as Dizzy.
 
Offensive Posture Cycler:
C.Lorina, Lena, Yuna, Schuri, Cerise, F. Kluri, Taranor Guard
 
Lena: Lena is the strongest pick here, as she is a strong DPS overall, and can quickly cycle with her S1 20% CR increase.
 
C.Lorina: While not Ice, Lorina’s 25% CR increase on her S1 allows her to cycle 6 times in a row to clear Offensive Posture instantly, without the other members of your team taking a turn. However, her non-Ice typing makes her a weaker pick than Lena.
 
Yuna: Has a much lower CR increase at 6% self and 2% ally, but can still help in cycling your team during Offensive Posture.
 
Schuri: Has a reliable CR increase on crit, guaranteeing the rest of your team a turn. 
 
Cerise/F.Kluri: These options are only viable for clearing Offensive Posture and are not particularly recommended, especially since better options are readily available.
 
Taranor Guard: A bit more RNG reliant, as his CR increase comes from his S2 proc on a Dual Attack. However, when he does Dual Attack, he can instantly push your entire team.
Healers:
A. Montmorancy, Angelica, Diene
 
A.Monomorancy: The best option, as her fast turn cycling, low cooldown heals, and cleanses keep your team safe overall. 
 

Angelica: While her turn cycling is not as fast as A. Montmorancy’s, she still brings very respectable heals and Immunity buff.

Diene: Diene has no healing of her own, but paired with Rod of Amaryllis, her fast turn cycling, Barrier and Attack Buff helps a lot with damage. However, her healing may not be sufficient for solo sustain.

NOT Daydream Joker: The % Health Damage of Daydream Joker does not work on Expedition bosses.

Victorious Flag/Uberius Tooth/Kal’adra/Portrait of the Saviors/Ancient Sheath: These artifacts are easy ways to scale damage as an alternative to Daydream Joker.

Sword of Ezera: The strongest damage mitigation artifact, and is a very strong choice for Level 2/3.

Celestine: While Silenced, Celestine can be a usable option for Healing.

Team Compositions

Requirements:
  • Ice Knight Frontline Tank
  • Offensive Posture Cycler

All teams need an Ice Knight tank, and a way to reliably clear Offensive Posture, either through the use of a dedicated unit, or multi-hit DPS.

Recommendations:

  • Attack Buff
  • Defense Break

Attack Buff and Defense Break are recommended for dealing additional damage, as the short time-window makes DPS important for clearing efficiently.

Choose a team composition that best fits your Hero roster. Below are some examples of viable teams.

Example Teams

Krau/SS. Bellona/Lena/A. Mont

Crozet/Karin/C. Lorina/Angelica

Acknowledgements

Thank you for reading! Thank you to my proofreaders and guildmates who have helped me collect information~!