And you think Heidi's telepathic control that she has had for like, a few minutes? is going to be stronger than however hard Gabriel and smack the thing? If Gabriel could punt Heidi over the horizon, that thing is gone.
[x] Plan Sayonara
-[x] If Heidi thinks she has the opportunity, cast Connundrum, otherwise don't.
-[x] Keep with Aetheric Tide, try to find/create an opportunity to Voyage Gabriel away, most likely to that clearing.
-[x] Seal order: Reaper's will, Stardust Striker, Aetheric Tide.
[x] Crystalwatcher's Bulli Defiant Star
-[x] Just drop weapon attachments, we're going to need them intact for sealing.
--[x] Jedi the fuck out of the Handle. Throw it at Gabriel, then use Telepathy and Levitate to have it start beating the future AVATAR OF LIGHT over the head until she either leaves or we knock her out. Use any trick we can think of to build up momentum as necessary.
---[x] Also remember to use it to negate her attacks, keep focused on not letting her build up her blender because if that thing hits us as full tilt we're dead.
----[x] While everything above is going on, try to keep our distance so we don't learn what it feels like to be a rotisserie chicken. Slap the Handle with Arcane Slash where appropriate, but otherwise focus on firing Argent Star into the inevitable mess as a distraction. Use Voyage to dodge like a motherfucker if necessary.
-----[x] If at any point Gabriel gives us an opening, hit her with Voyage! Send her back to Milidia as of yesterday or something. Remove her from the fight completely. If we get sucked in with her, be a cheeky ass: wave at her as we're falling/as we land then Voyage our way back to the fight while leaving her behind. She'd Gabriel. She'll be fine.
[x] Plan Sayonara
-[x] If Heidi thinks she has the opportunity, cast Connundrum, otherwise don't.
-[x] Keep with Aetheric Tide, try to find/create an opportunity to Voyage Gabriel away, most likely to that clearing.
-[x] Seal order: Reaper's will, Stardust Striker, Aetheric Tide.
[X] Plan Friendly Beating
-[X] Don't kill Gabriel, but instead beat her into unconsciousness (for holding back against you).
-[X] Create an opening and hit her with the shaft of your Aetheric Tide until she drops (presumably Slash Hell still works). Don't overdo it. Then proclaim your victory for everyone to hear.
--[X] Since you're likely to get burned by Gabriel's Judgement, and hitting her with the shaft of Aetheric Tide might not drain her lifeforce to keep you hale and hearty, ask Lu for healing.
--[X] Seal Order: Reaper's Will, Stardust Striker.
-[X] Once you have everyone's attention, demand that the attackers leave in exchange for Gabriel's insensate body.
[] Crystalwatcher's Bulli Defiant Star
-[] Just drop weapon attachments, we're going to need them intact for sealing.
--[] Jedi the fuck out of the Handle. Throw it at Gabriel, then use Telepathy and Levitate to have it start beating the future AVATAR OF LIGHT over the head until she either leaves or we knock her out. Use any trick we can think of to build up momentum as necessary.
---[] Also remember to use it to negate her attacks, keep focused on not letting her build up her blender because if that thing hits us as full tilt we're dead.
----[] While everything above is going on, try to keep our distance so we don't learn what it feels like to be a rotisserie chicken. Slap the Handle with Arcane Slash where appropriate, but otherwise focus on firing Argent Star into the inevitable mess as a distraction. Use Voyage to dodge like a motherfucker if necessary.
-----[] If at any point Gabriel gives us an opening, hit her with Voyage! Send her back to Milidia as of yesterday or something. Remove her from the fight completely. If we get sucked in with her, be a cheeky ass: wave at her as we're falling/as we land then Voyage our way back to the fight while leaving her behind. She'd Gabriel. She'll be fine.
(MM adjusted and increased, is now 2,460)
Your power grows noticeably just like before, speed and mana both increasing in response to what you are about to do. Gabriel is powerful without doubt, but she is not invincible. And you are going to show that today!
Instead of allowing her to swing first, you push your right foot forward and throw back your arm, which immediately prompts a defensive reaction. Grinning, you let the speartip fade so only the Handle remains, then throw it with all your might... past her head.
Gabriel already begins to approach by the time it passes her, having seen the bad angle ahead of time. You flex your fingers for a moment while stepping back as she steps forward to keep your distance, preparing for the next part of the plan. Then Gabriel swings her blade for no reason... at first. No giant lightblade, no charge, but the flames covering her sing and detach from the blade, racing at you in a wave that turns the earth to ash where it passes.
Even with one foot in mid-air to step backward, you immediately rotate on the grounded one and push yourself off to the side. The flames pass by almost close enough to scorch your clothes further and you sail over the ground in a low arc. Gabriel already has her blade raised for a follow-up that will hit you, flames having grown back over the weapon from what was left, which is when your returning weapon whacks the back of her head!
(The Handle: +320 Base Damage, +1168 dice, +640 Ramming Speed, +1600 Defiant Against the Light, x8 Backstab (False) = 29,824 Total Damage
Archangel Gabriel: +3000 2790 Base Resilience, +373 dice, -2000 Blunt Force to Head = 1,163 Total Damage
28,661 Total End Damage Santuary (x2): 57,322 Final End Damage
Archangel Gabriel Health: 360,000 - 57,322 = 302,678
That's a fractured skull)
It slams home with an audible crack that pushes her forward a step, almost making her stumble and giving you an entire second. A second you use to land in a roll and get back to your feet, taking distance again while your Handle rotates under mental commands, ready to continue the assault. Gabriel blinks once before it whacks her head again
(The Handle: +320 Base Damage, +950 dice, -80 Less Momentum, +1600 Defiant Against the Light = 2,790 Total Damage
Archangel Gabriel: +3000 2790 Base Resilience, +130 dice, -500 Dazed = 2,420 Total Damage
370 Total End Damage Santuary (x2): 740 Final End Damage
Archangel Gabriel Health: 302,678 - 740 = 301,938)
The indestructible metal once again hammers against her head, but this time it is hardly more than a love tap. Gabriel regains her focus and goes on to swing her blade, this time not at you and just with a single hand. Divine steel, the flames, the growing blade of light, all of it impacts your weapon with the force of a freight train and breaks your hold; The Handle surges off like a rocket, far into the distance.
In the same motion, Gabriel begins to pick up speed again and starts throwing waves of flame at you in rapid succession; you quickly sidestep the first and second, pushing yourself off to avoid the third and bend over backward to let the fourth pass overhead
She already picked up so much momentum when you finally have the tiniest moment to breathe, think of a way to stop her again and maybe strike back.
Except that your weapon is still somewhere up high, hers already grew in size to hit you where you stand anyway, she is on fire, and- dodge!
You can feel the angle she is going to attack at, you need to jump. So you do and make to catch your weapon that finally made it back, only for Gabriel's follow up to make it careen away again, this time high into the sky
Her blade comes back long before your Handle could return and you are in mid-air, not a chance you will try to parry that with your hands. Only one thing you can do. Aim and "Voyage"!
(Reaper's Will sealed, ApT reset. MM increased to 3,690)
Everything fades away for an instant that you use to consume Reaper's Will, feeling your mana flow even stronger and your body grow faster still for a little bit of time. You come back out right behind the flaming Gabriel, but she turns before you can jump onto her back; this time you catch her blade and push it off with a finger, but can not prevent the flames from catching on.
(Judgement: +7500 Base Damage, +545 dice = 8,045 Total Damage Defiance: +100 Base Resilience, +1330 dice = 1,430 Total Damage Reduction Unstoppable
8,045 Total End Damage Sanctuary (50%): 4,023 Final End Damage
Defiance Health: 900 - 4,023 = -3,123 Rage Against Fate: Heidi is on borrowed time)
Pain rushes through your every fibre as the skin on your hands is burnt away and your entire body goes through shock for a heartbeat. Unstable life force fills you from within, keeping yourself stable, and you exchange a grim look with Gabriel.
Her strike goes into the earth before coming back out in a fluid motion that you lean below; instead of reversing her momentum, Gabriel pirouettes around with her wings' thrust for another flurry that you have trouble getting out of, but you manage with your superior speed. Each strike tears up the countryside and removes more of what Charon's Keep once was, tearing deep trenches and extinguishing fires with the shockwaves.
Then the Handle finally lands in your hands and you bring it around to redirect the next strike without having to touch the flames. And again. And seal your sword, and push three more aside.
(Stardust Striker sealed, ApT reset. MM increased to 4,920)
At this point her blade is long enough to rend the distant mountains, but you keep on. A quick idea and thought transform the Handle into Aetheric Tide to build up speed. Holy fire crackles but your instincts scream to not get hit by that blade. It is death and you do your best to avoid it once more while Gabriel's dance continues, long since having left you behind.
A strike goes past you into the ground and is deflected as it comes back up, then a sideway blow is sent into the ground and upearths the remaining spires while tearing a crater a hundred metres wide, when it comes back you are already there to poke Gabriel's hand and send it back into the ground, but she steps back before you can follow, arm moving up.
Speed continues to surge in your body, just one more and-
(Blade of Salvation: +524288000 Base Damage, +370 dice, +7500 Judgement, +380 dice, +1572864000 Unstoppable Blender = 2,097,160,250 Total Damage
Attack can not be negated.
Defiance: +100 Base Resilience, -3596 Smited, -50 holyshitwtf = 3,596 Extra Damage
2,097,163,846 Total End Damage Sanctuary (50%): 1,048,563,923 Final End Damage
Defiance Health: Ouch
Taking off at the speed of light!)
It happens so fast you do not even become aware of the feeling until a moment later. Titanic force presses past your attempted parry without care. It crushes into your thigh and then slides up to your crotch, tries to rent you apart but still fails against your protective power. But it still impacts, hammering into you like the fist of an angry god and sending you skyward with a comet trail. Your mana catches fire and burns from within, ever more powerful and more devastating upon yourself through your own actions.
You leave behind Gabriel, Charon's Keep, Lu, the First Host, the clouds, then the sky and the very air that the force long since pressed out of your lungs. The heat falls away and only cold remains, bitter, bitter cold.
Your chest constricts and begins to contort under the lack of external pressure, held inside merely by your magic. A surge of life force struggling to maintain your body.
You need to get back, need to finish the fight, need to save your friends. Your lips quiver and move, but no words come. Voyage. Voyage. Voyage. Voyage.
Nothing. There is no air to breathe.
But there is no dread, either. You look down at the planet turning below, so far up you can see it in its entirety. So much more green and brown than Earth, and blue and white sprinkled in. Then a single ray of sunlight breaks past from behind, your course still pushing you further away. You dropped the Handle somewhere on the way up, your body numb and broken and burned out. Fingers grasp feebly for nothing.
You should be scared. But you are not. Below you is such beauty. You never stopped to truly appreciate it.
Your eyelids freeze in place from the first tears, wide open so as to not miss a single moment. Maybe it is because you are so broken that you can only feel tranquil. All your limbs are there, but every bone in your body is mush, every organ pulped, you are bleeding everywhere.
It does not hurt. That's at least something, right?
. . .
Failure States: 1 -----> 2
Death via Gabriel
Resetting Scene . . .
You turn back to Gabriel with a grin while her sword reforms whole, your opponent just as pristine as you are. Except for her clothes; even the Avatar of Light can not pretend to be untouchable forever.
The gap is not insurmountable.
You can do this!
-------------
[] New Plan?
[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it
=====
Current Status:
-Gabriel: 360,000 / 360,000; Pristine, clothes tattered; Base Resilience reduced by 7%; spell limit reached for current turn; 6/7 ApT remaining for current turn
--Judgement's holy flame is active and spread over Gabriel's entire form; attacking her in melee combat incurs damage.
-Defiance: 900 / 900; strained ligaments in right arm (can be ignored), clothes scorched, angry; 9/9 ApT remaining for current turn
--Stygian Tempest is sealed; current MM is 2,460
Allied Forces:
Confirmed Enemies:
-Archangel Gabriel
Active Effects:
-Sanctuary (All allies; deal doubled damage and take halved damage)
Objectives:
-Defeat Archangel Gabriel
-Do NOT kill Archangel Gabriel
=====
+100xp First Human to Space
+25xp Died to Gabriel
EXP gained: 125 Total EXP: 221
=====
-New mechanic discovered
--The Skilled-line can be bypassed with significant enough damage. Higher tiers of Skill require more to be bypassed. Unmatched Skill as possessed by Defiance can negate attacks of up to 1.2 billion damage, but no more.
=====
The Avatar of Light Not at her full power yet, but hey.
(Unified Light / False Heaven) Archangel Gabriel
Commander of the First Host's Fourth Batallion
Stats
Health: 360,000
Base Damage: 4,000
Base Resilience: 3,000
Magic Modifier: 400
Blinding Light
Level 30
Base Damage: N/A
Magic Modifier: 3,000
Affinity: Light
Ability: Blind | Target by Modifier
Abilities
Flight
Level 41
-Archangel Gabriel is capable of flying at 400mph.
High Speed Combat (LVL 5)
-Archangel Gabriel is capable of tracking objects moving up to 450mph.
Flash of Light
-When Blinding Light is cast, reset Gabriel's health to max.
Titan Felling Blows
-Each consecutive strike against an enemy has twice as much base damage as the last attack.
Presence of Light
Level 30
-Heals all Allies for 3,000 Health per turn. Damage all Enemies for 3,000 per turn.
Supremacy of the Light All it takes to hold back the darkness, is a single spark of light...
-Spell-based damage heals Archangel Gabriel instead of damaging her. Any Class 3 or lesser demon that enters the same combat zone as Archangel Gabriel is automatically killed.
Depends on the soft mechanics involved. Some instances of Return teleport the weapon back, some move back at speed.
Heidi's is quite fast, but not light speed fast or something silly like that. And Gabriel has HSC 5. Think of it like baseball, with Gabriel being the batter and the weapon being the ball; that is basically what happened there.
[] Defiantly hugging Gabriel
-[] Attempt to dazzle her with conundrum.
--[] Remove her arms while she is dazzled.
--[] Try to get too close for Gabriel to easily swing her sword at you while Gabriel is dazzled.
---[] switch to reaper's will and remove her sword arm
---[] Grab her and voyage away from the battlefield while she is still recovering. what is the worst that can happen, surely Gabriel would never have teleported to a death world if she was still alive at the battle of hope?
-[] Then voyage back home
[x] Plan Sayonara
-[x] If Heidi thinks she has the opportunity, cast Connundrum, otherwise don't.
-[x] Keep with Aetheric Tide, try to find/create an opportunity to Voyage Gabriel away, most likely to that clearing.
-[x] Seal order: Reaper's will, Stardust Striker, Aetheric Tide.
[x] Plan Sayonara
-[x] If Heidi thinks she has the opportunity, cast Connundrum, otherwise don't.
-[x] Keep with Aetheric Tide, try to find/create an opportunity to Voyage Gabriel away, most likely to that clearing.
-[x] Seal order: Reaper's will, Stardust Striker, Aetheric Tide.
Alright, while Heidi dying repeatedly is very amusing to me, I'll still point out something for you lot: Voyage's portal does not start very far from Heidi herself. To voyage away Gabriel, Heidi would basically have to be hugging her. While Gabriel is on fire.
Alright, while Heidi dying repeatedly is very amusing to me, I'll still point out something for you lot: Voyage's portal does not start very far from Heidi herself. To voyage away Gabriel, Heidi would basically have to be hugging her. While Gabriel is on fire.
Alright, while Heidi dying repeatedly is very amusing to me, I'll still point out something for you lot: Voyage's portal does not start very far from Heidi herself. To voyage away Gabriel, Heidi would basically have to be hugging her. While Gabriel is on fire.
I'm...honestly not that worried about the fire? We just have to hit her...1-2 times with Aethyric Tide to heal? More with situational bonuses, maybe? With Riposte...It's certainly not impossible to fail, but I feel like Heidi would probably be fine.
I do feel we shouldn't bother with Conundrum. Judgement is Unstoppable and her sword hits way too hard. Is it just to try flash-blinding her, and would that even work, considering her own light/blinding powers/affinities?
I'm...honestly not that worried about the fire? We just have to hit her...1-2 times with Aethyric Tide to heal? More with situational bonuses, maybe? With Riposte...It's certainly not impossible to fail, but I feel like Heidi would probably be fine.
I do feel we shouldn't bother with Conundrum. Judgement is Unstoppable and her sword hits way too hard. Is it just to try flash-blinding her, and would that even work, considering her own light/blinding powers/affinities?
You need to get back, need to finish the fight, need to save your friends. Your lips quiver and move, but no words come. Voyage. Voyage. Voyage. Voyage.
I'm...honestly not that worried about the fire? We just have to hit her...1-2 times with Aethyric Tide to heal? More with situational bonuses, maybe? With Riposte...It's certainly not impossible to fail, but I feel like Heidi would probably be fine.
Since some questions may need clarifications, here's the gist of what I had learned from Discord (as in asked, and had it confirmed):
1) No, my action plan would not have meaningfully changed the outcome;
2) Gabriel has killed Heidi midway through her final APT, 6th if you count only actions made in this update, 7th if counting the spell she used at the tail end of previous update;
3) The sequence of Gabriel's APT use is approximately this (taking into account Slash Hell)
--- 0 - cast Blinding Light - at the end of the previous update, to heal herself
--- 1 - sent a wave of Judgement fire at Heidi, then had her head hit, stumbled, and lost the rest of her attacks
--- 2 - batted The Handle away, then sent 4x waves of fire at Heidi
--- 3 - forces Heidi to jump up, bats The Handle away again, then proceeds to launch an attack that makes Heidi use Voyage to escape it. Reaper's Will is sealed at this point.
--- 4 - makes Heidi skill-negate the attack with her finger and get burned with Judgement fire, then dodge the rest of her attacks.
--- 5 - Heidi gets The Handle back right in time to skill-negate Gabriel's next flurry of attacks, having to Seal Stardust Striker to have three of those attacks negated.
--- 6 - Gabriel cuts through the ground, makes a sideways blow, then hits Heidi with a strike on her thigh that finally damage-bypasses Unmatched Skill and launches her into orbit.
You may note that Heidi had to negate each damage string individually while using The Handle. Most clearly seen during APT 5, when she sealed Stardust Striker.
Sometime ago I've asked if Riposte-given attacks (soft-mechanically burst of speed after a negation) may be used in lieu of spending additional actions to negate individual attacks of Slash Hell or similar ability. I think the answer was along the lines of "It'll come up". I believe it has come up. The most recent exploit does something similar (individual negation of attack strings) but instead uses Riposte-given attacks for a combined counterattack while still requiring APT spent on each of those individual strings.
In conclusion - don't expect straight combat to work. Even assuming that 6 to 8 individual damage strings (4 from APT 1, 2 from APT 3, 1 each from APT 2 and APT 3 spent on The Handle instead of Heidi and so not counting for Titan Felling Blows) were not spent on Heidi, Gabriel's damage still grew enough to overcome Unmatched Skill.
You'd need to destroy either her weapon (by making her smash the central Keep again, for example), or cut off one or both of her hands (more bulli, do not approve) to prevent her from overcoming Heidi's Unmatched Skill.
P.S. I can't help but think that (in theory) Dodge line of abilities doesn't have this kind of damage-related limit. If you can discount splash damage AOE, which to be fair in this particular case should be viable.
P.S. I can't help but think that (in theory) Dodge line of abilities doesn't have this kind of damage-related limit. If you can discount splash damage AOE, which to be fair in this particular case should be viable.
That is correct. In turn however, the Dodge-line of Abilities runs into two different issues: for one, dodging is unable to protect allies (which Skill can). For two, as you already noted, if it has enough AoE, chances are you can not dodge the attack even at far less damage than where Skill fails.
