Operation guide: 7-18
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The final operation of Episode 07, 7-18 pits the player against Patriot himself for the first and only time in the Main Theme, hence its fitting title "Death of a Patriot". It is also the fifth and last operation which awards Amiya when cleared for the first time.
7-18 used to be widely considered as one of the hardest operations in Arknights, mainly due to the presence of Patriot, this is no longer true due to harder and harder operations being released. That said, there are a few reliable ways to take him down.
Strategy
Marching Stance
During Marching Stance, Patriot's Defense and Resistance are buffed to 2100 and 90% respectively, meaning any attack that isn't Pure Damage will deal next to no damage against him. Patriot's Attack is also buffed and during this phase, he will attack anyone who tries to block him 4 times in quick succession, which will K.O. anyone without some sort of invulnerability. Thankfully, the other enemies that come during this phase are relatively weak, with the biggest threats being Sarkaz Guerrilla Fighters who attack through the top lane (E2->B2) and deal Arts damage. These enemies can be taken care of relatively easily with a defensive formation near the B1 Protection Objective, usually of 2-3 Melee Operators, 1 Medic and 1 Caster.
Ruination Stance
During Ruination Stance, and after the first waves of enemies have been wiped out, swarms of Guerrilla Siegebreakers will drop in, including 2 Leaders near the top Protection Objective. Furthermore, a Mortar will spawn at F11 and start pounding your defenses unless you deploy someone there to block him. While Patriot has significantly lower defenses to the point where most of the cast can actually hurt him, he starts attacking anyone near him, which includes ranged operators, and he will also throw his halberd at the furthest ranged unit every 20 seconds, dealing over 2500 damage which is enough to oneshot almost all ranged Operators bar some Phalanx Casters. It's best to burst him down quickly, both because he poses a threat with his powerful attacks and because it removes the buffs affecting all the other enemies.
Amiya/Kal'tsit
The most simple way to take down Patriot is to bring Elite 2 Amiya with Chimera equipped. Since Chimera deals Pure Damage and also increases Amiya's attack, she can take Patriot down by herself without too much trouble. Variants exist, but Amiya is generally deployed on D5 or C5 with a Medic backing her up, facing right, in order to charge up Chimera. Place a mine on either E8 or D8 and when Patriot enters Amiya's range, activate Chimera. With the help of a mine, Patriot should go down rather quickly. Retreat Amiya as soon as Patriot goes down as to have her ready as soon as possible later. When Patriot enters Ruination Stance, Amiya can be deployed further back to act as DPS against the other enemies to charge Chimera back up. If the player doesn't have Amiya at Elite 2, an Elite 2 Kal'tsit with Command: Meltdown equipped will work just as well, though be wary of Patriot's extremely high attack damage in phase 1 which can easily knock out Mon3tr in a single hit.
Interference Mines
It is possible to take out Patriot's first phase with Interference Mine and just Interference Mine only. However, this means letting Patriot cross almost the entire map, and forces you to take out his second phase with very little room to work with. This usually means an extremely high level Defender (Cuora, Hoshiguma or Nian) blocking Patriot near the exit while 2 (or more) extremely high level Medics (Sussurro, Silence, Shining etc.) keep the defender alive. Consult This Video for advice regarding this strategy.
Arts Spamming
Without Amiya or the Mines supplying large amounts of Pure Damage, the next best thing for nuking Patriot down is Arts damage. Lots of Arts damage. Seeing how we have to attack through Patriot's ridiculous 90 RES, the specifications for operators are extremely high, Elite 2 Skill Level 7 at minimum. Bring at least 2 of the following operators: Eyjafjalla, Ifrit, Surtr (All 3rd Skill), Ceobe (2nd Skill) and prepare for a difficult fight. Ifrit is nearly mandatory owing to her RES debuffs increasing DPS by 5.2x, and barring that, an alternative source of RES reduction (see the Generic Supports section) is required, as even a 20% RES reduction increases damage by 2.8x due to his extremely high RES. The idea is to hit Patriot with a mine and follow up as much Arts damage as possible when he moves from B6 to E6 with mines on C6 and D6. Ifrit goes on F6 facing down, Surtr on E6 also facing down, Eyjafjalla/Ceobe on D5 or C5 facing right. When Patriot trips the mine, activate all Arts nukes. Retreat when he goes down to minimize redeployment problems. While his second phase only requires one of the above operators + a mine, be extremely careful with the deployment order lest Patriot one-shot a ranged operator (though Surtr's huge HP injection from Twilight allows her to be deployed very aggressively to both block and kill Patriot, while Remnant Ash guarantees she can block Patriot for at least 8 seconds even in Marching Stance).
High per-hit Physical
Despite Patriot's DEF being a staggering 2100 in phase 1, it is possible to punch through it with a combination of DEF debuffs and operators that deal high damage per hit (e.g. Schwarz with her skill 3). As with the Arts spam strategy, the specifications for operators are extremely high, Elite 2 Skill Level 7 at minimum. Typhon with her 3rd skill can singlehandedly wipe out a huge chunk of Patriot's HP thanks to the combination of her talent's DEF ignore and a very high damage per hit- at higher levels and mastery levels she can kill both phases of Patriot on her own without any other operators! Schwarz and Pozëmka (both with 3rd Skill) are also prime candidates for DPS units as they both dish out extremely high per-hit damage and debuffs Patriot's DEF, with Elysium with 2nd Skill also coming in extremely handy for both buffing the aforementioned snipers, slowing Patriot to keep him in range, and debuffing his DEF. Other high damage units such as SilverAsh, Młynar and Ch'en the Holungday (all with 3rd Skill) may also be used, though keep in mind Patriot's extremely high damage when using melee units.
Generic Supports
While not fitting in any specific strategy, there are some operators that can make killing Patriot quite a bit easier (mainly focusing on Marching Stance, as Ruination Stance is generally easier); ATK buffers such as Warfarin with her 2nd Skill, Stainless with his 1st Skill and Skadi the Corrupting Heart with her 2nd/3rd Skill can increase a unit's DPS drastically. Units that debuff his DEF and/or RES can also help other operators break past his extremely high defenses; Pramanix's 2nd Skill applies both, Shamare's 2nd Skill, Elysium's 2nd Skill and Meteor's 1st Skill are some examples that can apply DEF debuffs, while Leonhardt's 2nd Skill, Chiave's 2nd Skill, and Haze's talent all apply RES debuffs. Finally, special mention to Specter (the Unchained) and Silence the Paradigmatic. Specter (and her alter)'s 2nd Skill prevents her HP from dropping below 1, effectively making her impossible to knock out and allowing her to block Marching Stance Patriot in place for an extended period of time, something that almost no other Operators are capable of doing; Silence the Paradigmatic's 3rd Skill can grant this "undying" effect to other Operators, allowing any melee Operator to block Patriot for a decent period (though still a shorter period than Specter).