Hmmm. In terms of Wasp's Nest, we have three allies, and four types of native opponents. Also, a possibility of UD interference, but the only thing we can do about it right now is to keep them in mind.
Our allies are:
1)
Magical Girl Primary Wiccan (Magic, Delusion, Story Maker) who is an
excellent broom flyer, and is capable of creating really good illusions.
2)
Magical GIrl Crimson Hood (Fear, Insanity, Myth) who has
really good reactions (HSC 2), but her main virtue is her
Host Of A Nightmare ability.
3) Nightmare of Crimson (Fear, Change) - another Greater Nightmare we're meeting, we've seen it in the latest update - and it respawns via the above-mentioned ability of Crimson Hood.
Overall, I imagine that if that group went to lure some monsters, the tactics would have been to have Nightmare of Crimson corral and lure the Spiders and the other Happy Fun Stuff then lead them on a merry chase straight into the Unified Darkness lines, while Primary Wiccan serves as a transportation for Crimson Hood and is keeping up her spell in such a way that neither Primary Wiccan nor Crimson Hood are actually registering on the Happy Fun Stuff's radar. Also helps that Nightmare of Crimson can split off smaller versions of itself.
Nightmare of Crimson is as immune to Spiders as Summit is, by virtue of being a Greater Nightmare. It is also expendable because it respawns. It is also a proud owner of 3333+d666 weapon, with 9 APT, and Armor Pierce/Vampire. So even if it's wounded, it can
usually recoup any damage promptly. Unfortunately, the only ones who CAN harm it in BoatShrieks - Balrogs, Titan Worms, and Ancient Wyrms - all have very good defenses, and (later on) effects that would negate its healing entirely. Quite simply, it loses. Without ever doing any meaningful damage, too. Which is where I believe Summit should come in - we aren't the bait. We're the literal troubleshooter - we're shooting dead the trouble if it comes knocking.
Moving on to possible Panoply configurations. Luckily, all the enemies have Huge Enemy, all the big nasties have Darkness affinity, and Triple attack damage kills small ones in one hit.
1) Heavy Caliber, DarkSlayer, Multi Shot, Ray - what I believe to be the best "general purpose" configuration. It will allow to kill enemies swiftly enough.
---Assuming Discovery, Protection and Implacable are
all morally neutral affinities, we deal 8600 damage per Ray Trigger to any big nasty (otherwise, it's 6020). I am also assuming
Avatar of Evil that Balrogs have is supposed to be an ability affecting Total Damage of the attack.
(DarkSlayer Panoply: 1400 Base Damage, +384 Dice, +200 Light of Discovery, +7000 DarkSlayer, +1400 Ray Trigger, +200 Light of Discovery, +7000 DarkSlayer = 17584 Total Damage
DarkSlayer Panoply: 1400 Base Damage, +384 Dice, +200 Light of Discovery, +7000 DarkSlayer, +1400 Ray Trigger, +200 Light of Discovery, +7000 DarkSlayer = 17584 Total Damage
DarkSlayer Panoply: 1400 Base Damage, +384 Dice, +200 Light of Discovery, +7000 DarkSlayer, +1400 Ray Trigger, +200 Light of Discovery, +7000 DarkSlayer = 17584 Total Damage
52752 Unified Damage)
This above is the sample of a 2-attack Ray. Not bad, but not quite enough for dedicated combat.
2) Heavy Caliber, Darkslayer, Multi Slash, Crush - what I believe to be the best "big nasty killer" configuration. Is a melee configuration, though.
(DarkSlayer Panoply: 1400 Base Damage, +93 Dice, +200 Light of Discovery, +7000 DarkSlayer, x3 CRUSH = 26079 Total Damage
DarkSlayer Panoply: 1400 Base Damage, +93 Dice, +200 Light of Discovery, +7000 DarkSlayer, x3 CRUSH = 26079 Total Damage
DarkSlayer Panoply: 1400 Base Damage, +93 Dice, +200 Light of Discovery, +7000 DarkSlayer, x3 CRUSH = 26079 Total Damage
78237 Unified Damage)
Now, let's see how the big nasties like it.
(Balrog: 4000 Base Resilience, +4653 Dice, -400 Weak to Discovery Effects = 8253 Damage Reduction
69984 Total End Damage
Huge Enemy negated by Heavy Caliber
Balrog: 45000 - 69984 = -24984 Health)
Yup. The Balrog dies in a single strike - had it been ranged, I'd have been overjoyed. For the record, I decided to make it take a 10% penalty to Base Resilience due to opposing Discovery.
(Titan Worm: 3000 Base Resilience, +2656 Dice, -300 Weak to Discovery Effects = 5356 Damage Reduction
72881 Total End Damage
Huge Enemy negated by Heavy Caliber
Titan Worm: 125000 - 72881 = 52119 Health)
This is also decent. Even highest Dice rolls (15000), will barely edge the Worm into "3 hits to die" territory, usually only 2 hits are necessary.
Now, Ancient Wyrm? Well, it sets all enemy magic modifiers to zero. Recalculated damage is 77400 Unified Damage.
(Ancient Wyrm: 10000 Base Resilience, +11564 Dice, -1000 Weak to Discovery Effects = 20564 Damage Reduction
56836 Total End Damage
Huge Enemy negated by Heavy Caliber
Ancient Wyrm: 450'000 - 56836 = 393164 Health)
The damage above is actually a
good hit. Here's a few more dice rolls: 40771, 19791, 27175, 23939
So. Each hit does 68400 Damage, minus the dice roll. For the five hits we've made, the damage is: 342'000-11564-40771-19791-27175-23939=218'760
That's less than half of Ancient Wyrm's health. His damage, on the other hand? 100+k raw damage against us, at the very least. 1HKO, considering he
halves the effectiveness of our defensive abilities.
Its survivability rating is 504k against a single damage string, too... So 25800*26=670800 (our full Ray damage per turn) can kill it, true... But it has 9 APT, and 1HKO. I fully expect us to need to make breaks to negate them.
On a lighter note:
All is well that ends well.
[X] Save some time by charging in.
You happen to be an expert on this topic, charge in and kill everything. The shadows won't be a problem if you attack on your own, and nothing you've seen can hope to touch you. They did say they were in a hurry… [Magical Girl Instincts approved!]
+25 EXP "I happen to be an expert on this subject"
"I happen to be an expert on this subject!" She shouts, "Oi! We need knockout runes for prisoners here!"
I think I see a catchphrase (or arc words) here. :lol
For those interested, the context is: "What to do in the scout run with Blue Bandit after detecting hidden demons", "Summit trains with Scarlet Empress' summoned soldiers", and "Insight meets another resurrect-ee".