FYI: Zeffo Unlock Problems

The Zeffo unlock mission has received an unannounced and probably unintended change. Summoned IPDs are hitting for huge damage. 

For most guilds this will come too late, but until CG fixes whatever is going on (or in the unlikely event they announce this is intended and is the new normal) I want folks to have the best possible chance going forward. 

This thread is intended primarily for theory ideas on how to beat it reliably. At the moment, I only see one, but I welcome others. Secondarily, feel free to groan and complain about this problem: most of us here are human, after all, and that is one of the most important function of Internet forums for humans. 

In any case, I strongly recommend that your JKCK get the Whirlwind Slam omicron and that you mod for POTENCY + SPEED rather than survivability. Then there's a simple strategy for victory. 

The Slam omi:

This Omi does quite a bit. In addition to boosting your self-heal, it also converts your single-target stun into an AoE stun while in Territory Battles. That's here: 

The Modding.

Mod for POTENCY. Other strategies place a premium on survivability. I don't do that. I run Pot-heavy, speed-strong, and then survivability as a third priority. My JKCK ends up slower with his TB mods on but is nonetheless more effective. With this image you can see my typical stats and how they change when I mod for the Cere/Cal mission: 

105% potency isn't necessary, but the higher the better until the enemy reaches the minimum chance to resist, which is 15%. Not sure where that point would be. If someone has datafarmed the enemies' stats on this mission, the exact number is the best enemy Tenacity - 15. After that point, more potency doesn't help. But not knowing what that number is and given the extreme difficulty of the mission right now, I'd recommend really pushing for 95%. If you can get 100%, do it.

Note that I created this mod set before the change to IPD in the mission. If I were creating it fresh, my health would be even lower as I would trade health for Defense to protect as much as possible against the IPD's ability to turn your health into damage. 

Speed 300+ if you can manage it. If your JKCK isn't going first, you're not fast enough. 

The strategy.

This part's easy. As always you want to alterenate between Whirlwind Slam and Windmill Defense. However! With the current problems in the mission, you want to start with Slam, not Defense. The most common strategy used to be to spend as much time as possible in the Defensive stance. And while enemy damage was high but reasonable, that made some sense. But now even a single hit is a nightmare. So instead of starting with Defense, we start with slam. Given our Omicron and Potency, we will most often get 2 stuns. If no enemy takes a turn, they will not even summon the IPD - delaying the danger. And after the IPD comes out, the IPD will also be subject to your AoE stun. 

This strategy doesn't depend on having high health or defense because your stuns prevent enemy attacks in the first place. You don't have to try to survive an explosion that never happens. 

So!

The ability order is Slam => Defense => Slam => Impetuous Assault => Slam => ???.

Use this on both waves. The only exception is wave 1, at the end. Do not kill the last enemy with Slam. This takes judgement, but do your best. If you think that next Slam is going to kill the 2nd Purge Trooper, you can use Impetuous Assault or Defense (which also calls Cere to assist) instead.

After you insta-kill the first Purge Trooper with Impetuous Assault, however, you can repeatedly Slam to keep the enemy stun locked. You don't need to alternate anymore, since there's no need to build up stacks. But you do want to end on something other than a Slam so that on your first turn in Wave 2 you can gain +10 stacks of Impetuous instead of +5, allowing you to use Impetuous Assault earlier. 

This one's rough, folks, but good luck. 

I know I recommended the Omi, but it's a recommended Omi anyway. It's a very good one and Cal is important in TB. 

Any questions are welcome. I wrote this up quickly to get it done before the next phase, so I may have mistyped something. If you see an error, call it out. I'll be grateful.