GIRLS' FRONTLINE 2: EXILIUM

GIRLS' FRONTLINE 2: EXILIUM

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The Phase Debuff/Strike Helper's Guide
By Scout
Understand everything about Phase Element debuffs to take full advantage of them
   
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Intro
Now, why should this matter to you? Well, one of the most powerful weapon attachment sets is Phase Strike, which increases damage dealt against enemies with a Phase Element Debuff by 15%. This is possibly the easiest and most consistent form of extra damage you can get from a set outside of the elemental sets themselves. On top of that, knowing exactly how these debuffs work can be very important depending on the doll and their kit; some dolls rely heavily on having the proper debuffs to do extra damage like Makiatto. You also just need to know what dolls even have them in the first place.




Also, just to be clear, I will ONLY be including and talking about content/characters that is currently in the Global version of the game, and will not consider what the CN server is doing. I will update this guide regularly as more characters get added.
Regarding Physical Damage
I figured this is worth mentioning right off the bat, but the game does NOT regard physical damage as an "element", and therefore don't really have any type of synergy with element debuffs. Any doll that deals ONLY physical damage such as Vepley, Daiyan and Littara are better off getting the Ballistic Boost set which increase physical damage by 20%, and will have 100% uptime since they don't have a mixture of physical and elemental damage like most other dolls.
Reminder Of Certain Terminology
The game does a rather poor job explaining some of the more basic terms, so I figured I'd put down the ones I feel are most importantant and worth remember to know exactly how debuff applications work.




  • Phase Weakness: The ammo type and Phase Element that characters are weak against; seen on enemies as icons above their head. A phase weakness being exploited can be either the ammo type or element. Dolls also have their own unique Phase Weaknesses.

  • Active Attack/Active Healing: Damage dealt or healing done from a character's Basic Attack, Skills, or Ultimate

  • Active Skills: A character's Skills and Ultimate (Basic Attacks don't count as Active Skills)

  • Targeted Damage: Any attack that is only capable of targeting and damaging a single enemy. An AoE attack hitting only one enemy does NOT count as targeted damage

  • Area/AoE Damage: Any attack that has the capability of dealing damage to multiple enemies at once. This does NOT have to actually hit multiple enemies to be classified as such. However, some doll's abilities are classified as AoE damage despite hitting only one target to have consistency in their kit, such as Lotta's Wise Supports and Peritya's Action Supports

  • Confectance Boost: This will boost the damage dealt of any Active Skill that requires the consumption of Confectance Index to be used (i.e Active Skills that are not cooldown-based)

  • "Out-of-Turn" Actions (Action Support, Wise Support, Interception, Counterattack): All of the aforementioned abilities are classified as Out-of-Turn actions, the running theme being attacks not stemming from direct damage dealt by Active Attacks. Out-of-Turn Actions almost always have a limit as to how many times they can be triggered in a single turn. There may be fringe cases where other attacks qualify as Out-of-Turn and aren't one of these 4 abilities

  • Support Attack: For the dolls, these are either Action Supports or Wise Supports. Interception attacks and Counterattacks do not count as Support Attacks

  • Action Support: Character performs a Support Attack on the enemy if they're within firing range of said enemy. This is triggered by their fellow teammates targeting/damaging the enemy in some way; dolls CANNOT trigger their own Action Supports from their own Active Attacks. Action Supports can either be executed before or after their teammate's attack depending on the doll

  • Wise Support: Character performs a Support Attack on the enemy if they're within firing range of said enemy. This is triggered by some sort of condition needing to be met before the attack can be executed; dolls can trigger their own Wise Supports alongside teammates as long as the condition is met

  • Interception Attack: The character will perform an attack on an enemy about to perform an action if they're within firing range. Interception attacks always occur BEFORE the enemy gets to act. Interception attacks can also happen when it's the Player Turn and the enemy performs a counter of some kind when they get hit.

  • Counterattack: The character will perform an attack on the enemy that damaged either them or their teammates if they're within firing range. Counterattacks always occur AFTER the enemy acts, and the enemy needs to have dealt damage in some way. Counterattacks can also happen when it's the Player Turn and the enemy performs a counter of some kind when they get hit.
List of all Phase Element Debuffs
Freeze:

- Avalanche: When Freeze debuffs are continuously pelted on a character, they get more Avalanche stacks. Upon reaching 5 stacks, the enemy loses 8 stability.

- Cold Snap: Character takes 10% of the applier's ATK as damage before moving

- Frozen: Movement is decreased by 1 tile. Can stack twice, but does not reduce movement any further on second stack

- Frigid: Renders character completely unable to move; they also cannot be displaced (i.e moved) by enemy attacks. Can be inflicted If character has 2 stacks of Frozen on them at the end of their action




Burn:

- Flammable: When hit with Burn damage from the attacker, character additionally loses 2 extra stability on top of the amount from the incoming attack. At the same time, the attacker will also recover 2 of their own stability

- Overburn: When the turn is over, character takes 10% of the applier's ATK as damage as well as any ally characters adjacent to them

- Overheat: Active skills cannot be used

- Overheat Combustion: Character and any adjacent ally units will take 20% of the applier's ATK as fixed damage upon getting this debuff AND at the start of their action

- Conflagration - Character takes 20% more Burn damage

- Smolder - When taking Burn damage, Incineration tiles appear beneath the character in a 3x3 area

- Burning II (Enemies only for now) - At the end of character's action, take 20% of the applier's ATK as damage. Can stack up to 3 times.

- Burning III (Enemies only for now) - At the end of character's action, take 30% of the applier's ATK as damage alongside any adjacent allies. Can stack.

- Burning Sensation (Enemies only for now) - If a basic attack or skill is used while this debuff is applied, character takes 40% of their max HP as damage




Hydro:

- Damp: Healing received is reduced by 40%. Can stack twice, but does not reduce healing any fruther

- Congestion: Cannot be healed. Can be inflicted if character has 2 or more stacks of Damp at the end of their action




Corrosion:

- Acid Corrosion II: Reduces DEF by 30%

- Toxic Inundation: Character takes 25% more Corrosion damage

- Corrosive Infusion: At the end of character's action, take 12% of the applier's ATK as damage, can stack. If damaged by Klukai's active attacks or damaged by Corrosion damage while having this debuff, gain an additional stack, up to 10. Each stack increases the damage multiplier by an additional 12% of the applier's ATK, up to 120%.

- Toxic Infiltration - At the end of character's action, become inflicted with 1 stack of Corrosive Infusion. If the character dies while inflicted with Toxic Infiltration, inflicts any ally unit within 3 tiles with Toxic Infiltration as well, and said allies take 60% of the applier's ATK as damage.

- Low Energy (Enemies only for now) - Reduces ATK by 50%

- Monoprotic Acid (Enemies only for now) - At the end of character's action, take 10% of the applier's ATK as damage. Any ally within 4 tiles at the end of character's action will also be inflicted with Monoprotic Acid if they don't have it already. Can stack up to 3 times.




Electric:

- Conductivity: Character is inflicted with Paralysis if they take damage while having this debuff

- Paralysis: Cannot use Active Attacks

- Electric Shock (Enemies only for now) - For each tile moved, take 5% of the applier's ATK as damage per tile after moving (i.e If someone moved 4 tiles, take 20% of enemy's ATK after moving).

- Electric Shock A (Enemies only for now) - When character takes electric damage, additionally take 50% of the applier's ATK as damage




As an addendum to that list, I also want to mention that any doll that's capable of generating elemental tiles, such as Suomi and Sabrina, are capable of applying debuffs by proxy of these tiles. Enemies that are standing in doll-made elemental tiles will get certain elemental debuffs, and will have a weakness to the appropriate element as long as they're standing in it. The inverse is also true for dolls standing on enemy-generated tiles.

Corrosion and Electric are exemptions, however. Swamp (AKA Corrosion) tiles generated do not inflict a debuff, and Electric has no such tiles to my knowledge.


  • Frost tiles inflict Frozen
  • Lava tiles inflict Burning II
  • Tideway tiles inflict Damp
  • Swamp tiles are Corrosion-related, but DON'T inflict a debuff. Instead enemies take damage based off the creator's ATK.
List of All Dolls That Have Phase Element Debuffs
Freeze:


Suomi -

  • Passive: When Suomi's allies attack enemies with Active Attacks, Suomi inflicts 1 stack of Avalanche on a random enemy within 6 tiles of her
  • Ultimate: Generates Frost tiles upon use; Frost tiles inflict Frozen. Also inflicts 2 stacks of Avalanche on enemies hit by this skill; if Suomi is at Fortification 1, instead inflicts 3 stacks of Avalanche

Lotta -

  • Key: If using the Fixed Key "Trembling Aim" and Lotta deals Freeze damage, inflict Frozen on each enemy hit
  • Skill 1: Inflicts Cold Snap on enemies hit by this skill
  • Ultimate (REQUIRES FORTIFICATION 1): Inflicts Cold Snap on enemies if Lotta exploits a Phase Weakness

Makiatto -

  • Ultimate: When Makiatto is in "Alert" status and triggers her Interception attack, she inflicts Frozen on the enemies she hits

Dushevnaya -

  • Skill 2: Generates Frost tiles upon use; Frost tiles inflict Frozen. If Confectance Index was full before this skill was used, it can immediately be used again, and will inflict Frigid on hit enemies
  • Ultimate: Gives all allies within range including herself the "Arctic Benediction" buff. A doll with Arctic Benediciton will inflict Frozen on the enemy(ies) they target BEFORE attacking.





Burn:


Qiongjiu -

  • Passive (REQUIRES FORTIFICATION 3): Inflicts Overburn on enemies hit by Qiongjiu's Action Supports
  • Skill 2: Inflicts Overburn on enemies hit by this skill


Sharkry -

  • Skill 1: Inflicts Overburn on the enemy hit by this skill
  • Skill 2: If the enemy Sharkry targets is already inflicted with Overburn, Inflicts Flammable on that enemy BEFORE attacking when using this skill


Vector -

  • Passive: If the enemy is inflicted with Overburn, Vector inflicts Overheat Combustion on them BEFORE attacking and when dealing Burn damage
  • Skill 1: If the enemy has at least 1 Burn debuff, Vector inflicts Overburn on them when using this skill. If Vector is at Fortification 3, this skill also inflicts Overheat Combustion
  • Skill 2: Inflicts Smolder on the enemy hit by this skill; Smolder generates Incineration tiles; Incineration tiles inflict Overburn and Conflagration. If Vector is at Fortification 4, this skill also inflicts Overheat
  • Ultimate: Generates Incineration tiles upon use; Incineration tiles inflict Overburn and Conflagration


Krolik -

  • Passive: At the end of Krolik's action, inflicts Overburn on the two enemies closest to her within 7 tiles of herself
  • Skill 2: Inflicts Overburn on the enemy hit by this skill


Cheeta -

  • Skill 2: If this skill hits only one enemy, inflicts Overheat; This is impossible to do if using the Fixed Key "Genius Support Plan" as that makes her Skill 2 heal allies instead.


Ksenia -

  • Skill 1: Inflicts Flammable on the enemy hit by this skill; If Ksenia is at Fortification 1, also inflicts Overburn


Centaureissi -

  • Passive: If Centaureissi has the "Heat Recovery" buff on herself at the end of her action, and damages enemies with her Basic, Skill 1, or Skill 2, inflicts Overburn on each enemy hit




Hydro:


Tololo -

  • Skill 1 + Required Key: If using the Fixed Key "Principles of Observational Astronomy", Tololo's Skill 1 Inflicts Congestion on the enemy hit


Sabrina -

  • Skill 1: Generates Tideway tiles upon use; Tideway tiles inflict Damp
  • Skill 2: Generates Tideway tiles upon use; Tideway tiles inflict Damp




Corrosion:


Nagant -

  • Skill 1: If the targeted enemy is Stability Broken during this skill's use (including ally's Action Supports), inflicts Acid Corrosion II
  • Skill 2: If there are no enemy units within 4 tiles of the enemy Nagant is targeting with this skill, inflicts Acid Corrosion II; if Nagant is at Fortification 3, the range requirement is reduced to 3 tiles


Mechty -

  • Key: If using the fixed key "Rest Thee Well" and Mechty exploits a phase weakness on any enemy hit, inflicts Toxic Inundation on those enemies

  • Skill 1 + Required Key: If using the fixed key "Horror Movie Night" and Mechty uses this skill against a Large-sized enemy, inflicts Acid Corrosion II BEFORE attacking

    (Large targets are often units that take up more than 1 tile, like the many mechanical bosses like Deichgraf, or the major Boojums like Tumorhynchus)

  • Ultimate: Inflicts the closest enemy to Mechty (after moving) with Toxic Inundation upon use


Klukai -

  • Passive: If Klukai damages enemies with her Active Attacks, inflicts 1 stack of Corrosive Infusion on each enemy hit.

  • Key: If using the Fixed Key "Deadly Entwine" and there's only one enemy on the field at the beginning of a Player Turn, inflicts 1 stack of Corrosive Infusion on that enemy

    (NOTE: The following debuff applications from her active skills listed below are independent applications in addition to the 1 guaranteed Corrosive Infusion stack from her passive.)

  • Skill 1: If no enemies die after this skill's use, inflict 1 stack of Corrosive Infusion on enemies hit by this skill
  • Skill 2: Inflicts Toxic Infiltration on enemies hit by this skill
  • Ultimate (REQUIRES FORTIFICATION 3): Inflicts Toxic Infiltration on enemies hit by this skill BEFORE attacking




Electric:

Mosin-Nagant -

  • Skill 1 + Optional Key: Inflicts Conductivity on the enemy hit by this skill

    If using the Fixed Key "Prepared Defenses" AND Mosin-Nagant used Skill 2 right before this attack, her Skill 1 will inflict Paralysis instead of Conductivity
  • Skill 2: Every 3 times Mosin-Nagant uses this skill, she'll get the "Shock" buff which will inflict Paralysis on the next enemy she hits with any other Active Attack BEFORE attacking; If she's at Fortification 5, the usage requirement to get Shock is reduced to 2 times
  • Ultimate: Inflicts Paralysis if Mosin-Nagant exploits the enemy's Phase Weakness using this skill
8 Comments
Cozy 9 May @ 6:53pm 
Needs pretty pictures.
ninja tang 2 May @ 6:25am 
Very useful thankyou :steamthumbsup::rwslugcat:
TOTTO 29 Apr @ 1:48pm 
thank you very much for the info
Scout  [author] 29 Apr @ 10:13am 
I meant to say at least 1 phase element debuff*
Scout  [author] 29 Apr @ 10:09am 
No, it's a flat 15% damage boost. The enemy simply needs to have at least 1 phase weakness to have that apply, and anything more than one doesn't affect it further.
TOTTO 29 Apr @ 8:10am 
do phase strike buff damage stock? like 1 element debuff 15% 2 element debuff 30% etc...
Scout  [author] 24 Apr @ 5:00pm 
That depends. If you have Mechty for example. she turns AoE support attacks into Corrosion damage, so Peritya would want Corrosion Boost if you're not going the Phase Strike route. I also believe I heard Qiongjiu is getting a mod key in the near future that changes her Action Supports to Burn damage. I still would say Phase Strike is a safer bet for most dolls that don't always exploit a weakness, especially when not all enemies will have the appropriate weakness.
Tufcat 21 Apr @ 2:00pm 
The way I see it is if a doll can't consistently exploit an elemental weakness she gets ballistic boost. Especially those that provide frequent off-turn support attacks like Peritya