Mutant Troll (Black) Hunt Guide

The Hunt

Black Hunt is a niche hunt, only farmed by enthusiasts. 

• Immunity set applies the Immunity buff at the start of battle and is extremely important in PvP.

• Rage set offers the highest possible damage output, but is very hard to use outside of Hunts.

• Flanking set is not used.

Ever since the biweekly Event Shop started selling a 5* unit for event tokens, the value of Black Hunt has dropped significantly, as players can instead use the Rainbow Astrogen shop to buy their Immunity set pieces and instead farm more useful hunts like Red or Blue.

The Mechanism

• The Troll is immune to Crowd Control, Poison, Gauge Reduce, and debuff copy (HKD).

• At the start of Wave 2, as well as every 2 turns, the Troll will summon two minions.

• The Minions can self-heal, as well as apply DEF Down and Poison with an attack.

• ♦️ While the Minions are alive, all enemies take 80% less damage from single target attacks.

• ♦️ When the Troll attacks, and the target has 3 or more buffs, he follows up with Deathtrap, an AOE that strips all buffs and silences.

• ♦️ When the Troll is attacked, and he has 3 or more debuffs, he self-cleanses all debuffs.

• ♦️ When the Troll is attacked 4 times, he will gain Berserk, which greatly boosts his ATK, DEF, and SPD.

• ♦️ The Berserk buff never expires and gets stronger each time it is applied, but it can be stripped.

The Strategy

The most important part of Black Hunt is keeping these two rules in mind:

• Rule 1: Bring LOTS of AOE damage.

• Rule 2: Two buffs or less, and Two debuffs or less.

All enemies have no resistance against AOE, which makes AOE damage efficient. However, even if you have single-target damage, you must first kill the two Defender minions with AOE damage, which temporarily removes the single-target damage reduction from the Troll.

The Units

Black Hunt teams are usually built with 2~3 DPS units, with 1~2 healers to sustain the team.

The challenge is to keep the buff and debuff count low. Healers who apply buffs such as Shield can trigger Deathtrap. AOE buffing units should be used carefully.

It is recommended to include at least one DEF Breaker to increase your damage output, and at least one buff strip skill to remove Berserk from the Troll.

AOE DPS

• Erica: Even though she applies two buffs to the entire team, her incredible damage output makes Erica worth using. Also, ATK UP and SPD UP are the two best buffs you can have in PvE. Just be careful not to stack any additional buffs.

• Berrica: Applies DEF Up and Shield to allies, and inflicts DEF Down. Her AOE has a cooldown of four turns. Not the best option but she is free for everyone.

• Apathy: Technically the best DPS for Black hunt as long as S1 does enough damage to one-shot a Defender minion, due to her extra attack that triggers on kills. However, Apathy is rarely useful elsewhere, and investing skillmods into a niche unit like her for the rarely-farmed Black Hunt can be seen as wasteful.

• Celeste: AOE self-buffs ATK Up and SPD Up, and both S2 and S3 can strip buffs, perfect for removing Berserk from the Troll. Be mindful of her EHR Up buff which can cause her to exceed the buff limit.

Healers

Be VERY careful with using healers who Shield your allies. This can easily exceed the buff count.

• Joyce: One of the best options for Black Hunt. Short cooldown, great debuff management, minimal buff count. 

• Petra (3★): An often-overlooked budget healer with nearly unparalleled healing output, however, lacks debuff care.

• Dawn: Great debuff management, great healing amount, zero extraneous buffs. However, long cooldown.

Feel free to use other units not listed on this guide. Reusing existing units is the best way to save resources. Just be mindful of the rules (Lots of AOE, two buffs or less, two debuffs or less).