Blue Archive guide – Chesed February 2023

Blue Archive has released their latest Total Assault for this month with Chesed (Field).

Here’s what you’ll need to know to break through his defenses and maybe manage to hit harder at higher rank fights:

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Core Mechanics

Chesed is a heavy armored boss with a unique mechanic. Rather than fight the boss directly, most of your time will spent clearing waves of adds.

First you’ll need to reach Chesed through two separate zones and he’ll continue to summon more adds when you finally approach him.

Killing adds will fill Chesed’s “Groggy Meter”, for most bosses stunning them is merely a bonus. For Chesed it’s mandatory.

When he’s “Groggy”, Chesed is surrounded by a layer of thick armor that mitigates your damage. When you fill the meter that’s your time to strike. Clearing Chesed requires ample wave clear, but also a dedicated single-target damage dealer to exploit those opportunities.

It might be tempting to use more single target Strikers, but when adds are left alone too long they will self-destruct and do massive damage to your team.

Our Team Suggestion

Strikers

Renkawa Cherino: Cherino is non-negotiable. Not only does one of her passives increase your EX Meter speed, but she has the best wave clear EX ability in the game, at max level it only costs 5 meter and does substantial damage to most of the field. If you have her, we suggest maxing her out quickly both for future Chesed fights, and also for her use in Activity Report Commissions.

Saiba Momoi: One of the gamer twins. Momoi has a 3 cost EX ability that does substantial damage in a cone. She can cover waves of enemy while saving your Cherino’s EX ability for a larger wave. You can also aim it at more powerful adds that threaten your backline.

Saiba Midori: The second gamer twin. Midori is less important than Momoi but should absolutely be run with Momoi when possible. Midori will provide some basic healing with one of her passives, and her EX ability to mop up the stronger adds that can survive Cherino’s EX. Her ability can also do moderate single target damage when there’s only one enemy on the field like when Chesed is Groggy. Most notably, Momoi and Midori receive a substantial buff when fielded with each other.

Shiromi Irori: Irori is inconsistent but her EX ability is a mixture of single target and AoE damage. Irori blasts three targets, doing massive damage to the unit she hits and as an AoE behind it. All three of these shots can hit Chesed in his Groggy state for massive damage.

Support

Kakudate Karin: Karin is a damage dealing Support whose EX ability does massive single target damage. This is invaluable for clearing large adds that can quickly kill your squishier Strikers, and also for doing respectable damage to a Groggy Chesed.

Amau Ako: Ako’s provides big heals to your team as part of a passive ability (so sadly you can’t control it), but her EX ability is crucial for dumping damage into a Groggy Chesed. Ako’s EX ability greatly increases the critical chance and critical damage of a single unit. Use this on Irori right before using her EX ability to multiply her damage.

Substitutions

Konuri Maki (Replaces Irori): Maki is a single target damage powerhouse. Her EX ability increases her own attack and then unloads a huge barrage of bullets into one enemy. Her single target damage could outperform Irori, but the AoE baked into Irori’s EX makers her the overall more desirable of the two.

Hinomiya Chinatsu (Hot Spring ver.) (Replaces Midori): Chinatsu (Hot Spring ver.) is ideal for stacking damage onto Maki, Irori, (or whoever your single target damage dealer is) by increasing their attack speed. Her self-shield allows her to soak damage if you can get her into position.

Otose Kotama (Replaces Ako): Kotama’s EX ability gives an AoE damage buff to all the Strikers you can get in position. This ability lasts longer and affects more targets, so it’s arguably more useful than Ako during the add waves. Ako is still more desirable when burning Chesed directly.

Izayoi Nonomi (Replaces Momoi or Cherino): Nonomi is a more difficult Momoi, with her EX ability costing 5 vs. Momoi’s 3 and possibly doing less damage depending on the position of the enemies. However her AoE is a bit wider and she can replace Cherino if you don’t have her, but you definitely won’t get as far as you would with her.

If you choose to beat Chesed with two teams instead of one, you can stick less than ideal students onto a team and make some headway.

A Second Team?

Total Assaults give you three tries to clear the boss with progress carrying over between attempts. The only caveat is that you can’t use the same unit more than once.

If you don’t think you’re strong enough to clear Chesed in a single try, split your teams into an AoE focused team and a single target damage team.

The first time will clear the adds to Chesed and start building up his Groggy Meter. Groggy Meter progress carries over between attempts.

The second team can focus more on single target damage, but will still require AoE in order to clear waves after his Groggy Meter resets.

If you don’t have enough good units leveled up, you might even need a third team! Just remember, clearing a harder difficulty with three teams rewards more points than clearing an easier difficulty with one.

Example Two Team Compositions

Team 1

Cherino

Midori

Momoi

Irori

Kotama

Karin

Team 2

Tsubaki

Maki

Nonomi

Chinatsu (Hot Spring ver.)

Ako

Hifumi (Swimsuit ver.)

If you’re not strong enough yet, make sure you’re taking advantage of the current Momoyodou Beach Shack Franchise Plan event to get some easy items. You can also always Mock Battle before committing your raid tickets to a fight.