The Octopus Teacher is a Trial in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. The player faces Orthros and Typhon in three different difficulties.
Battle[]
There are three difficulties, ADV, PRO and ELT, and in ELT the player must beat two battles. In all of them a few of general rules apply:
- In all of them the enemy party will strike first.
- Orthros has high DEF but low SPR, Typhon has massive SPR but lower DEF.
- Orthros has thresholds, Typhon does not.
- Orthros can be inflicted with ATK/SPR Breaks, Typhon is immune.
- Orthros is weak to Fire and Lightning and resistant to Water, Typhon is weak to Ice and Water and resistant to Fire.
ADV and PRO aren't too difficult if the player has a handful of well leveled and equipped party of 6★ and take some preparations, like attackers, healers, tanks, buffers in the same party.
ELT however will bring in a whole new level of harassment to the player. For starters the player will have to go through two battles, first against Orthros alone and later against Ultros and Typhon with greatly increased difficulty. In the first battle Orthros has massive ATK and can pose a threat. However if attacked with Fire he will use Ink, inflicting damage and Blind to a single target and end his turn. This tactic will only last until 50% of his HP as after that he will use Haste which increases the number of attacks he can perform per turn, Protect, Shell and Magnitude which inflicts major Earth damage and reduces DEF by 20% and ATK by 50% to the entire party.
Orthros[]
In the second battle Orthros' ATK is lower but still strong and will spam more attacks per turn. Since they will also ambush the player on this battle, the player starts at turn 2. It is extremely important to keep track of the turns as the turn count has some tactics associated. Orthros ATK and SPR can be broken, but is immune to DEF and MAG breaks.
Orthros will every 3 turns use Acid Rain, which inflicts water damage, inflicts poison, and dispels the party's buffs/debuffs (in that order). He will also use Aqua Breath every 6 turns. Every 10 turns he will use Toxic Rain if Typhon is alive. If attacked with Fire, Ice or Lightning, he will counter with Acid Rain and Firaga, Blizzaga or Thundaga, respectively. Otherwise he will use Tentacle or normal attacks until his thresholds.
At 70% and 30% he will use Magnitude and end his turn. At 50% he will use Haste, Protect, Magnitude 8, end turn. Haste increases his number of attacks to 10 per turn in this battle. Since 50% onwards he can use Hailstone to inflict damage equal to 75% of HP to a target as well as inflict an AoE Tentacle a maximum of once per turn each. At 30% he also gains 10,000 Volts for major Lightning damage and a chance of paralysis to the whole party. If Typhon is felled, Orthros will use Acid Rain, Magnitude 8, if done so at a turn multiple of 3, it will trigger severe retaliation.
If one or more conditions are met, Orthros can spam all the respective attacks, which is why keeping track of the turns and HP is important to avoid a fatal counterattack.
Typhon[]
Typhon has only 1 attack per turn but a massive 2000 ATK stat, so even his normal attacks will likely kill whoever is hit with it, except for extremely resilient Tanks or a character with high evasion. Otherwise Typhon uses Fireball, an AoE Fire Magic attack, which deals moderate but non-lethal damage.
Every four turns, Typhon will use Typhon took a deep breath! The player must then inflict Wind damage on Typhon or he will use Snort removing one unit for the remainder of the battle, otherwise he will use Typhon's nose is itchy!, and Big Sneeze for AoE Wind Magic damage. Every 10 turns, if Orthros is still alive, it will use Toxic Rain for major Water and Wind damage and Disease to the whole party.
If Orthros is killed first Typhon will retaliate with several normal attacks and Snort, making it dangerous retaliation.
Strategy[]
Fortunately for the player the Missions are easy to accomplish and the 5-man reward, Toxic Rain is not as essential, so the player can tackle this Trial using a 6-man party and still gain the more important rewards. The player should be mindful that as a result of the ambush, they start at turn 2. This is relevant as in the next turn, Orthros will use Acid Rain and they should keep those details in mind while counting the turns, as killing Typhon in a turn divisible by 3 can lead to major counters from Orthros and every each 10 turns they will use major Water damage.
In order to face this battle the player will need some rather specific roles. A Tank with the ability to draw attacks to itself either with Provoke or other skills will be essential, in order to keep the attacks, specially Typhon's busy and away from the party, most notable from the healer. Cecil and Wilhelm are effective Tanks due to having damage mitigation. Cecil has the added benefit of Libra which is needed to fulfill one of the missions.
A buffer like Minfilia is helpful due to stat buffs and Elemental protection which greatly enhances the party's resistance. Guard Order should be used first, followed by Water Guard. Due to the turn count they have a very precise room to cast both buffs before Acid Rain (since this attack deals damage first and dispels later, buffing will still reduce the damage). Then reapply the buffs afterwards.
A Breaker to keep Orthros' ATK reduced is also helpful. Ling can be used as she can inflict a 45% break on his ATK while also being an utilitarian unit overall. Orlandeau also possesses a high break on Crush Weapon. Breaks should if possible be 40% or higher, and they should aim Orthros (in case of single target) since Typhon is immune to breaks.
Noctis can fulfill multiple roles at once although he's best used as a support unit due to Comeback and Cover. Y'shtola or a Refia with Dualcast, are both great options for healing. Y'shtola comes with Wind magic which will help with preventing Snort. If the player can use both with that setup, they will benefit greatly as they can also be equipped with the adequate Green Magic to protect themselves from Elemental damage and with Dualcast they can also cast defensive buffs without forsaking healing. Refia also has the added benefit of Full-Life and Embolden for attackers.
The battle although tough, can be made easy with some specific setup. A party with two Dual Wielding Fryevias can chain Frost Flower Blitz for a massive Elemental Chain and enormous damage that can end the battle quick, easily killing Orthros in the first phase, and the pair in the second (one at a time). Fryevia also comes an ATK break of her own. Two Orlandeaus can also beat this Trial much on the same manner. Orlandeau has Crush Weapon to mitigate Orthros' damage. However both are difficult to acquire and equip so this tactic is recommended to the rich, experienced or otherwise very lucky and prepared players.
Another, far more accessible tactic can be used but requires the necessity of Setzer. Since Setzer's Dice and Double Dice inflict fixed base damage, they can completely bypass the whole ordeal or Orthros and Typhon DEF/SPR. However this comes with a problem; both attacks are luck-reliant and the player has no control over which damage they get, which can be very high or very small. This is even more true during the second phase where the player needs to fell Typhon first and Double Dice damages all enemies, with Ultros having less HP being very likely brought to his thresholds faster, not to mention potentially provoking Typhon to use his fatal counters.
Regardless the player can use Dual Wield to multiply the effect (It should be noted that the damage the player pulls is repeated, for example if the player pulls for 5555 damage, they will get that same result for the second strike). Damage from Dice and Double Dice can also be enhanced through killers. Diabolos' Demon Killer is effective against Typhon, whereas Aquan Killer from the Orichalcum dagger is effective against Orthros.
During the first phase the player can use Double Dice without problem as they only face Orthros. During the second phase the player should target Typhon and use Dice a few times until Typhon is around 60% of his HP, at which point the player has a bigger safety room to use Double Dice. The hazard from this tactic is that Dice has a low chance of 20% to inflict significant damage on Typhon, whereas Double Dice has a chance of 40% to inflict solid damage on both. So while this tactic makes the battle fundamentally easy on tactics and offensive preparation, the player will still suffer the harassment of being locked in a gambling and resistance battle, so the player's party should be geared towards support, tanking and healing, while the Setzer (either owned or from companion) becomes the bulk of the offensive. If possible two Setzers can drastically reduce the luck strain.
As a reminder, this strategy is relatively cheap (the player should gear for HP, DEF, Evasion if possible, all of which is not too costly except for Trust Master Rewards) but will play a real gamble that can end quick or become a prolonged beating. Once more, tackling this with a 6-man party is a wise idea as Toxic Rain is not a reward the player should be majorly concerned at first. Also the player can use items so they should not be shy to use Elixirs, Mega Ethers, Phoenix Downs or any others since they are easily acquired in Arena.