Part 34: Pre-Update 28: Scylla pre-fight overview
Scylla pre-fight overview
Scylla
HP: 23700 (can be lowered to 14220), STR: 39, TEC: 38, VIT: 34, AGI: 31, LUC: 35
Skills:
Cry Soul: Uses the head. Deals 5-8 instances of 400% melee STR-based Cut damage to random targets. Can hit the same target multiple times. Has a 30% speed modifier and 1 base accuracy.
- Ice Shave: Uses the legs. Deals 180% ranged TEC-based Ice damage to one row. Has a 70% speed modifier and 130 base accuracy.
- Piercing Shell: Uses the legs. Deals 2 instances of 110% melee STR-based Stab damage to random targets. Can hit the same target multiple times. Has a 90% speed modifier and 99 base accuracy.
- Lullaby: Uses the head. Attempts to inflict Sleep on the entire party, with a 70% chance. Has a 70% speed modifier.
- Six Sins: Uses the legs. Attempts to inflict Blind, Paralysis, and Panic (in that order) on one party member, with a 25% chance. Has an 80% speed modifier.
- Call Ally: Summons 1-2 Ruin Creepers. Amount depends on when in Scylla's pattern she summons Ruin Creepers.
- Normal:
Ice Queen's Vine. 100% chance. Sells for 3000 en. 1 needed to make 
Snow White (+87 ATK, normal attacks become Stab+Ice).
"These strands steal heat with their touch. Its dark power turned countless invaders to ice."
- Conditional:
Lavish Bone (Kill Scylla while she's asleep). 100% chance. Sells for 6700 en. 1 needed to make 
Bindings (Dark Hunter ultimate armor; +93 DEF, +3 STR, +3 LUC).
"Bone resembling a lance. It breaks upon Scylla's death, unless she's put to sleep."
100% 
100% 
100% 
125% 
50% 
100%Disable resistances:
50% 
25% 
25% 
50% 
25% 
25%
0% 
0% 
10%
25% 
25% 
25%AI behavior:
- Turn 1: Cry Soul
- Turn 2: Ice Shave, summons 1 Ruin Creeper at end of turn
- Turn 3: Attack or Piercing Shell
- Turn 4: Ice Shave, summons 1 Ruin Creeper at end of turn
- Turn 5: Attack or Piercing Shell
- Turn 6: Cry Soul
- Turn 7: Ice Shave, summons 1 Ruin Creeper at end of turn
- Turn 8: Attack or Piercing Shell, summons 1 Ruin Creeper at end of turn
- Turn 9: Attack or Piercing Shell, summons 1 Ruin Creeper at end of turn
- Turn 10: Attack, Piercing Shell, or Ice Shave, summons 1 Ruin Creeper at end of turn
- Turn 11: Lullaby
- Turn 12: Cry Soul
- Turn 13: Ice Shave, summons 1 Ruin Creeper at end of turn
- Turn 14: Six Sins, summons 2 Ruin Creepers at end of turn
- Turn 15: Piercing Shell, summons 1 Ruin Creeper at end of turn
- Turn 16: Attack, Piercing Shell, or Ice Shave, summons 2 Ruin Creepers at end of turn
- Turn 17: Lullaby
- Turn 18: Cry Soul
- Turn 19 until death: Repeats turns 13-18 actions, except will always summon 2 Ruin Creepers instead of 1
A hauntingly beautiful monster of the Frozen Grounds. Its icy embrace can be alluring...
So, Scylla. Seems like a pain in the ass on her own? Too bad, you've got to deal with these things too:
Ruin Creeper
HP: 380, STR: 28, TEC: 24, VIT: 29, AGI: 28, LUC: 32
Skills:
- Tentacle Creep: Uses the legs. Used on turns where Scylla will use Cry Soul. Attempts to stun and bind the legs of every party member, with a 60% chance. Has no speed modifier.
100% 100% 100% 125% 50% 100%Disable resistances:
0% 100% 50% 
75% 0% 50% 75% 50% 50% 50% 0% 0% 75%A tentacle of Scylla that seeks to protect the body by impeding would-be assailants.
Barrier Creepers are the same as Ruin Creepers, just with FAR more HP (3980 vs. 380) and higher stats.
Scylla is an almost completely predictable fight, and even then, she manages to still be incredibly difficult. In fact, she's pretty universally considered a roadblock--where players and parties that have been getting by on the skin of their teeth meet their end.
Cry Soul might seem like a joke skill until you realize that sleep and leg binds (which she and the Ruin Creepers can inflict) disable evasion, at which point Cry Soul becomes an instant game over. In fact, that fact is actually entirely why Scylla is a very difficult fight--you need to have both a way to deal with Lullaby, either through Sleep resistance or head binds, and a way to kill all the Creepers in the battle before the Cry Soul turn.
Ice Shave is a joke if you have access to a level 5+ Ice Wall, and a really big problem if you don't. 180% TEC damage hurts, and even parties with Beasts will have issues dealing with it. Your best bet at that point is Ice Mists, which will drop the damage to 120%.
Piercing Shell can potentially kill someone, but otherwise it's non-notable.
Six Sins would be threatening if it targeted the entire party like it did in EO2, but it only targets one person here--as long as you have some way to treat ailments (Refresh, Therica Bs) or a way to stop it altogether (Prevent Order, Barrier), it's a free turn from Scylla herself.
So, the big question is: what party is best for Scylla? In not-really-short: a party that can mitigate Ice Shave and take care of the Creepers while still damaging Scylla herself. This does not necessarily mean an AOE-heavy party. The ideal party for Scylla is a mix of party members that excel at single-target damage and excel at AOE skills. Ideally, you'd also throw in a Protector to mitigate Ice Shave and a Troubadour to drastically increase the party's damage.
And now, the guild overview:
Damage dealers:
Zack: Zack's damage is mediocre right now. He can't really build for the Chasers right now, and while Falcon Slash can theoretically help with taking care of the Creepers, its damage is low enough that Zack will spend several turns trying to kill the Creepers while not doing much to Scylla herself.
Freyja: You've already seen a taste of what Freyja can do to bosses when she has Sophie in tow with the Flame Demon fight. It'll be even better against Scylla, since Freyja will have a higher level Ecstasy and potentially some damage-increasing passives. However, like always, Freyja essentially needs Sophie to function; she just can't put down enough binds timely enough for her to deal good damage. For optimal damage, Freyja should be accompanied by both Sophie and Milly--not only will she have easy setup for her skills, but Milly will amplify them to ludicrous levels.
Stardust: Scylla and the Ruin Creepers' Fire weakness means Stardust can deal nice damage, especially with Analysis but the issue is that she'll have to hold back on Compression if there's no other AOE-dealing party members, since leaving Ruin Creepers alive simply isn't an option.
Asriel: Asriel is a pretty decent option for single-target damage, and an okay option for multi-target damage with Flame Grater. His issue is that he's super-susceptible to just being gibbed if Phoebe or Ursa aren't in the party--then again, everyone is susceptible to being gibbed if Phoebe or Ursa aren't in the party.
Jackie: Jackie's a good option for single-target damage and a terrible option for multi-target damage. If there's enough Ruin Creepers that they're reaching into the back row, then I'm probably going to die to Tentacle Creep and Cry Soul before I can kill them.
Colette: I've said it before and I'll say it again: Colette can deal really nice damage if she has Nadia or Sophie backing her up, and is just kind of there without them. Fairy Robe can potentially be used as a panic button for the Cry Soul turn if there's any Creepers left alive.
Tyler: Tyler desperately needs elemental support from either Stardust, Jackie, or Ranger if he wants to meaningfully contribute to the Scylla fight. Delayed + Cross Charge is nice, but it's not enough for him to justify being taken without elemental support. His AOE is lacking, too.
Ranger: Ranger is a very, very, VERY good option for Scylla, ESPECIALLY if Milly's in the party. He can lop off large parts of Scylla's HP very quickly, especially with Accelerate. ...Of course, those statements come with the caveat that if the fight can't be ended quickly, Ranger's going to spend a large portion of the fight basically useless. He's also as fragile as Asriel, essentially.Defense:
Phoebe: You've already seen what Phoebe can do against a predictable boss pattern with the Esbat fight. She won't save us from a combination of Lullaby/Tentacle Creep, but then again, not much will.
Ursa: Ursa will need some way to buff up her Ice resistance, but otherwise she can do perform pretty acceptably for the Scylla fight. She's less ideal than Phoebe, obviously, but still a decent choice.Support:
Nadia: If I have the party eat the Apple Matcha Shaved Ice, Blind Arrow can make Scylla guaranteed miss any attacks against non-slept/non-leg-bound targets for a few turns. Summer Rain can also be used as a panic button in case there's any Ruin Creepers left alive before the Cry Soul turn. Like always, Nadia pairs well with Colette for ailment setup. Pairing her up with Sophie is a little inadvisable, but Sophie's most likely just going to focus on binding Scylla, especially if Freyja's in the party.
Realga: Realga's main use is keeping Ursa alive if she gets voted in. Otherwise, she's honestly kind of pointless.
Milly: Milly is a top-tier support due to the ridiculous buffs she can give our damage dealers. Stacking her with Rheine's sub-optimal, but Link Order at least gives Rheine something else to do.
Sophie: Sophie pairs well with a LOT of party members, and disables certainly help with taking a lot of the sting out Scylla's pattern, especially if Ursa is voted in over Phoebe.
Rheine: Link Order II will help Rheine contribute damage to both Scylla and any Ruin Creepers in the fight. Her damage buffs aren't as good as Milly's, obviously, but that's a given. Prevent Order is an option for stopping Lullaby, but it doesn't do much for Tentacle Creep.Same rules as Flame Demon: 4 votes per person, but each vote must be for one character from each category, plus one extra vote.