Marsh Creation
Everything you need to know about the Marsh Creation Raid!
Last updated: 19/08/2024
Introduction
This lady we call “Marsh Creation” (from here on out, just “Marsh”) and it’s the second boss of the 1.4 Mane’s Bulletin. You may remember this lovely lady from one of the story chapters. Its Afflatus is Beast, so the standard is to run Mineral oriented teams around, and Kaalaa Baunaa is considered the best Carry in this fight.
Unlike Darkness of the Abyss, Marsh doesn’t have any mechanics that are as specific, and it generally stays true to its fight in Chapter 2 (with some added spice).
- In this fight, Mineral and Beast characters gain +20% to their stats.
- [Shield] effects in this fight also reduce damage taken by a certain amount, making shield based supports quite a bit stronger.
- Every 2 rounds Marsh will enter a [Counter] state. Trying to attack it while in this state will inflict [Corrosion] on the attacker, a hard hitting DoT effect. This is especially dangerous in Endless runs where the damage this deals can scale pretty dramatically. If Marsh isn’t in the [Counter] state, it takes +40% DMG.
- At the end of the round, Marsh also applies 2 random buffs from a set of buffs on itself. While attacking, for each [Stats Up], [Status Pos] or [Counter] it carries, it will deal +10% damage. This makes characters who can consistently dispel these things extremely valuable.
- The buffs can be dispelled by using a rank 2 or 3 Health/Counter/Buff card.
- With one of its skills Marsh grants itself extra Reality DEF and, if it already has this buff, it increases its Mental DEF instead. The lower Marsh goes on its HP bars, the higher these buffs become, so dispelling is an important part of the fight.
- In Endless Mode, when Marsh attacks characters that aren’t in the [Shield] or [Counter] state, it deals +20% damage. This makes having characters that can routinely apply both of these statuses extremely valuable to mitigate the already high outgoing damage.
Teambuilding
The teams are a bit more restricted in this fight, as the Mineral Afflatus doesn’t have many solidly offensive units under its belt at the time of this release. Luckily, Kaalaa Bauna has been added to the roster by this point, and thus she serves as the standard Carry for this fight.
Kaalaa Baunaa TEAM
Carry
Carry / Support
Sustain
Any other healer.
Sustain
TEAM EXPLANATION
This team focused around Kaalaa Baunaa. Unsurprisingly, the addition of an extra AP greatly helps to mitigate most if not all issues KB has in terms of cycling abilities and getting enough actions to charge her Ultimate. In addition, the extra team slot allows for some wildly varied and powerful team compositions.
- Kaalaa Baunaa proves extremely potent when given more lenient circumstances in the form of +1 AP, allowing her to easily stack her [Planet]s and Ultimate in quick succession. In combination with a load of [Saturn] layers, KB can output some terrifying numbers.
- Pickles is here to provide extra turns for KB to cycle her Ultimate and provide that potent +DMG Dealt buff to the team. Additionally, Pickles is one the few characters capable of dispelling [Counter] effects, which can be of great help in a pinch if you don’t happen to have access to a rank 2/3 Health or Counter spell. Additionally, Pickles’ single-target damage is surprisingly high with “Thus Spoke Pickles” and “Nihilism Abuse” under the effect of [Clarified Topic].
- Med Poc’s single-target +DMG Taken debuff synergizes greatly with KB’s single-target damage plus they have access to that quick on-demand [Sturdiness] that really helps in the Endless stages past S rank.
- Balloon Party makes an appearance here as a healer with access to rank 2/3 Counter spells. In addition, as the fight enters its later stages, Lost HP-based healing becomes more potent as attacks from the boss start hitting harder and harder.
For other options:
- Sonetto - An old reliable, Sonetto serves as a potent buff Support that you can always fall back on. Her +DMG Dealt and -DMG Taken buffs provide offensive and defensive coverage at the same time, giving an extra protective edge over someone like Pickles at the cost of his dispel.
- 6 - While not available until the second phase of the patch, 6 on his own is a staple Support especially for Mane’s Bulletin. He can be used in pretty much every team due to the versatility of his buffs, debuffs and access to semi-on-demand [Incantation Empowerment] for your Carry. This especially helps KB, as the amount of [Planet]s she stacks depends on the rank of the spell used.
- Necrologist (P1-5) - A might surprising option for Pickles’ slot, Necrologist provides the biggest +DMG Dealt buff in the game at Portray 1 (40%) and 5 (50%) and with the extra AP in 4-man content, she doesn’t impede much on KB’s rotation. Note that she cannot dispel [Counter], so you’ll have to rely on other ways to remove that mechanic.
- Tooth Fairy - Surprisingly not used over Med Poc in this team, but not by much of an edge. The idea is that, with how hard Marsh tends to hit, more value is put on Med Poc’s [Sturdiness] compared to Tooth Fairy’s healing output; mitigating the incoming damage *> trying to heal it up.
- Healers - As a rule of thumb, very few healers are restricted to particular teams, as their main role is to keep the team alive. It is also not uncommon for Endless teams to feature 2 healers, one occupying a Support slot.
MELANIA/KAALAA TEAM
Carry
Carry
Sustain
Any other healer.
Sustain
TEAM EXPLANATION
This team focused around both Melania and Kaalaa Baunaa, and is, as you might guess by looking at the composition, focused on taking highly aggressive actions utilizing two ramping single-target Carries to quickly and consistently raise the score.
- Melania is the queen of Mane’s Bulletin, with a kit that perfectly synergizes with the game mode’s extended single-target fights with high amounts of HP. She can quickly ramp her [Fixed Plan], stacking up to turn her Ultimate into a fast-charging nuke. She semi-synergizes with KB in this regard, who cannot generate her own Moxie as easily and requires more actions.
- Joining in the ramping game is Kaalaa Baunaa, who utilizes the extra AP to rapidly cycle her own Ultimate through her actions, quickly stacking up [Full Moon] to provide herself with even more damage and even a way to upgrade her own cards with [Incantation Empowerment II].
- Due to using 2 Carries, there is less space for the conventional Support. As such, Tooth Fairy is picked here to provide some offensive Crit-based debuffing with [Confusion], -Crit DEF and -Crit Resist. Additionally, with the lack of potential defensive Supports, her incredibly high healing output helps keep the team alive
- Medicine Pocket’s single-target +DMG Taken debuff synergizes greatly with both Melania and KB’s single-target damage plus they have access to that quick on-demand [Sturdiness] that really helps in the Endless stages past S rank. Especially when no defensive buffer is available, the [Sturdiness] carries the defensive coverage of this team even harder.
- This is a risky team, and you’ll often have to save your Health cards to time them with Marsh’s [Counter] state for dispelling purposes, which in turn results in a fragile but highly potent composition.
For other options:
- 6 (P1-5) - While not available until the second phase of the patch, 6 is a staple pick for Mane’s Bulletin. In this instance, he isn’t utilized as a Support as much as he is a Carry; the ludicrous damage modifier on it, that only gets increased by available debuffs and [Eureka] stacks, can work quite well the more Portrays you have him on.
- Ms NewBabel - Is a potential pick if you do not have access to much else in the way of sustain. Generally, mitigating damage is considered better than healing in Mane’s Bulletin the later you run in the Endless mode, and pairing NewBabel together with Med Poc provides powerful defensive coverage.
- Healers - As a rule of thumb, very few healers are restricted to particular teams, as their main role is to keep the team alive. It is also not uncommon for Endless teams to feature 2 healers, one occupying a Support slot.