Contingency Contract: A Strategy For Risk 18 No Defenders No Guards - Permanent Stage - Area 59 Ruins

This guide will step through a strategy for clearing Risk 18 on the Permanent Stage using the No Defender No Guards Contract.

This is NOT meant to be beginner or new player friendly.  Nor is it like my typical guides where I try to offer generic team composition.  I will explain what I did and why, in hopes that it may help you in succeeding with your own clear.

For information on other CC Stages see these pages:

Contracts Chosen

Contract choice discussion:

• I chose to not block the Militants or Avengers at all.  That allowed me to take the Risk 3 levels of enemy ATK, Militant Buff, and Avenger Buff.
• Going with full Arts Damage eliminated the effects of the enemy DEF up, and the DEF up on the Avenger Contract.  
• The RES buff on the Militant Contract can be mitigated by RES debuff abilities.
• Enemy HP increase 1 was as high as I could go, as there are HP buffs in the Militant and Avenger Contracts as well.
• Myrtle slays the DP Down Contract, and the "No Escapes" and increased Range were basically non-factors. 
• I was able to get by with limited Max Ops level 1, but no higher.
• the Limited Grids Contracts are no-gos because they forbid mostly Ranged grids.
• Since we are kiting and not blocking, increased Speed is left out too.
• The Ally HP Down Contract was a no-go since I was using a ranged Op and Medic to soak the Caster damage.

The specific challenges for the chosen contracts are as follows:

• Mainly it is having enough DPS and crowd control to bring down the Militants and Avengers before they exit.  This requires high damage Casters, RES deubffs, and Slowing.
• Taking out the Casters.  This can be done with a fast-redeploy specialist, though timing has to be done well.
• Since our AoE Caster have high DP costs, the DP generation down Contract is a limiting factor.  Using Myrtle and being smart about deploy order is essential.

Here are the Operators I used on the clear

• Myrtle - Support Vanguard - Skill 1 .  Invaluable DP generation.  Put her out of the way and let her do her job.  Probably not replaceable with any other Vanguard for this strategy, and I didn't try.
• Eyjafjalla - ST Caster - Skill 2.  Our main damage source, and a RES Debuff with her Skill.  Also increases the damage of our other Casters.
• Glaucus - Slower Supporter - Skill 2.  Our main Slower and crowd control.  Her S2 is amazing with Ifrit, as enemies can be bound within her range, giving them more time in the fire.  It might be possible to use Mostima in this role, but I found her DP cost to be prohibitive.
• Pramanix - Debuffer Suppoerter - Skill 2.  At E2 she attacks two targets at once, giving her surprisingly decent damage when more than enemy is in range.  Her S2 shreds RES, which is very important, and the increased damage multiplier of her Talent turns up the dial for Eyja and Ifrit when the high HP enemies on this map fall below the HP threshold.
• Angelina - Slower Supporter - S3. Another of our main damage sources.  Also increases everyone's ASPD, and her Skill is available often enough to use on almost every Militant and and Avenger, giving us more damage and more time.
• Ifrit - AoE Caster - S2.  Our 3rd main damage source.  Her range is a bit of a pain on this map, but she doesn't need a lot of time to do a lot of damage.  The slows and Glaucus S2 keeps the enemies burning in her range for longer than you might think.
• Mostima - AoE Caster - Mostima's role in this clear is mostly her Talent giving SP to our other Casters to increase their dps.  The damage, slowing, and Skill use she provides is helpful as well, but not particularly difference-making.
• Amiya - ST Caster - Just a Caster to put as much damage on the Avengers as we can get from the last Ranged grid.  She is likely replaceable with whatever you have.    If I had her E2, her S3 might be nice to take a chunk out of one of the Red Katana dudes if it can be available in time.
• Gravel - Fast Redeploy Specialist - S2.  She's going to block the enemy Casters so they can be taken out.
• Silence - ST Medic - S2.  We are going to soak the Caster damage with Ange, so we'll use a Medic to keep her up. Any ST medic will likely work here, though the Drone was useful in a few other cases, as can be seen in the video.

Here is the team I used:

Deployment Order: 

1. V1: Myrtle
2. Su1: Glaucus
3. Su2: Pramanix
4. C1: Eyjafjalla
5. Su3: Angelina
6. C2: Ifrit
7. M1: Silence - If we have been using Myrtle S1 on cooldown, we should just enough DP to deploy Silence before the first enemy Caster emerges from the bottom right.
8. At this point we'll start using Sp1: Gravel to block the enemy Casters.  I chose to block them at B6 so they could be taken out quickly so gravel could be retreated for later deployment.
9. When we have enough DP, we'll deploy C3: Amiya - ST Caster.  We will have to retreat Myrtle at this point.

Our deployment positions look like this:

• When the Caster emerges from the upper left entrance, we'll use Myrtle to help block as well as Gravel.
• Skill timings are incredibly important.  See the companion video for the details.
• If you have any suggestions or advice for other players, feel free to leave it in the comments below!

Enjoy your rewards!