Operation guide: Glory of Humanity

Operation

Guide

One of the two possible Dreadful Foes in the 6th floor of Mizuki & Caerula Arbor, added in its Expansion II and requires the player to have either "Determination", "Vigil", or "Hesitation" prior to entering it, Glory of Humanity pits the player against the Caerula Arbor, who has been reborn through Mizuki's assimilation with Him under a cnidarian form and the name Izumik, Source of Ecology, as the final boss. At first Izumik is in the "Learning" form where He has some missing HP and does not attack (but cannot be attacked either), but the main problem is that He will constantly spawn His Offsprings at ever-increasing numbers that boast ridiculously high stats, especially HP and defenses for a normal enemy, and worst of all, turn into a random problematic enemy ranging from Infused Glacial Originium Slugs to Sarkaz Casters and Imperial Strikers in the event they are blocked! Even if the player ignores the Offsprings, be wary that should any of them reach Izumik, He will recover some HP and have His ATK buffed along with releasing a devastating Arts wave to hit all friendlies on the map! If Izumik's HP is fully restored or after He spawns some Offsprings by Himself, He will enter the "Interpretation" form where He stops spawning Offsprings and can be attacked, but uses a very damaging ranged attack dealing both Physical and Arts damage, and boasts sheer HP and defenses, in addition to releasing a wave at fixed intervals or when losing enough health which Stuns all friendly units for a short time and causes them to take heavy Arts damage over time! As usual, Izumik will deduct no less than 30 Life Points if He ever managed to enter a Protection Objective, resulting in an instant failure if the player have less than 31 LP at the moment.

As explained above, expect that Glory of Humanity will be a gruelingly difficult Operation, more so than literally any other Dreadful Foes in Caerula Arbor and made worse by I.S.' roguelike nature. A solid team, a good set of Collectibles, and a significant amount of luck when building the player's squad is required to stand a chance against Izumik, with the preparations starting from the beginning of the Caerula Arbor run, as it is imperative to build up a solid defensive lineup and coherent strategy over the course of the entire run before taking on Glory of Humanity, notably as the player needs to clear Curse of Cognition or Fate's Favored Child first before they can enter the 6th floor in addition to be left with little to no Light due to the condition to enter it in the first place!

General strategies

• From the moment that the Caerula Memory is obtained, the player must prioritize regaining as much Light as possible to obtain Determination from the "Sublimation" Encounter. The defensive buffs conferred by Determination will provide a tremendous advantage against Izumik, and on even moderate Surging Waves levels, the encounter may prove impossible without it.
  • The most reliable way to achieve this is to look for Encounter nodes and obtain the Caerula Arbor from the "Caerula Ritual" encounter, which will grant 15 Light after every battle at the cost of raising enemy ASPD by 15, then taking as many combat nodes as possible to quickly raise the Light level. Other but less consistent methods include using Safe Houses to restore light or obtaining other Collectibles that instantly or gradually replenish Light.
• In the battle, absolute priority must be given to prevent Izumik from absorbing Offsprings, as they will massively buff His already towering offensive and defensive power in the second phase, as well as causing mapwide Arts AoEs which can one-shot many Operators. If Izumik is allowed to absorb enough Offspring to reach full HP, His basic attacks and mapwide AoE in the second phase will both be very likely to defeat Operators in a single use.
  • Due to their massive defensive stats, it is generally more reliable to block the Offspring and have them transform into other enemies, depriving Izumik from absorbing them. Laneholders with enough healing or self-sustain can block off the paths from which they spawn, but beware that Izumik can also manually summon groups of Offsprings in the center of the map.
  • Executor Specialists are excellent at quickly blocking Offspring about to reach Izumik, although they may not be able to handle the enemy that spawns from said Offspring for too long.
  • Despite their titanic stats and otherwise immunity to debuffs, Izumik's Offspring have a weight of 0, making them highly vulnerable to shift effects; they can even be pushed into the holes at the top of the map to instantly kill them. In addition to Push Strokers/Hookmasters, other excellent choices are Lee's Honored Guest which can indefinitely keep an area clear of Offspring, Mostima's Key of Chronology which also inflicts a massive wide-range slowdown, and Phantom's Night Raid which provides two on-demand pushes from anywhere on the map.
• Come prepared with a large stock of Life Points or Objective Shield to spare, as there are so many Offspring that leaks will often be inevitable.
• Although their flavor text says they transform into random enemies, the enemies spawned from Izumik's Offspring are deterministic. Knowing which enemies spawn where and when can give the player an edge.
  • Offspring from the bottom left path will primarily be Bone Sea Drifters, Arts Guard Leaders, Elite Brawlers, and later Tidal Leaders. Note that Elite Brawlers have significantly increased ATK in this stage, which combined with the Tidal Leaders' heavy Corrosion allows them to swiftly overpower blockers without significant DEF.
  • Offspring from the middle left path will be similar to the bottom lane with Elite Brawlers switched out for Dual Swordsman Leaders and the Tidal Leaders for Sarkaz Casters/Sarkaz Guerrilla Caster Leaders; Sarkaz Casters are particularly dangerous as they can immobilize nearby friendlies.
  • Offspring from the top left Incursion Point (which alternately move right then down, or into the tunnels at the bottom) will initially be relatively harmless Roar Knightclub Trainees, although they will later become Sarkaz Casters, Rockbreaker Leaders, and Guerrilla Mortars.
  • The Offspring from the top right path will transform into Infused Glacial Originium Slugs, then Sarkaz Greatswordsmen and Demolitionists. The Demolitionists and Slugs are particularly dangerous due to their splash damage, making it a high priority lane.
  • Offspring directly summoned by Izumik in the middle will transform into Sarkaz Guerrilla Caster Leaders, Imperial Strikers and Dublinn Heavy Defenders.
• An alternative is to simply allow Izumik to absorb 15 Offsprings and immediately enter his Interpretation phase, then defeat him as fast as possible since he becomes vulnerable sooner. Note that this is an extremely risky strategy due to a fully buffed Izumik's staggering bulk and offensive power, as well as allowing him to use his stun wave more often, making it ill-advised unless one has an extremely powerful setup of operators and Collectibles.
  • If a powerful shifter as Weedy is available alongside shift force amplifications (e.g. Rusted Blade - Overwhelm and/or weight reductions such as Weightless or Angelina's Inspiration), it is possible to push Izumik into the hole at the top of the map to defeat Him instantly when he moves to the top right corner.
• Prepare for Izumik to start attacking the moment He enters his Interpretation phase, as He can easily one or two shot the nearest operator right after the transition. His attacks deal equal parts Physical and Arts damage, so a mix of HP, DEF, and RES is the best choice for counteracting them.
• In the Interpretation phase, Izumik will gain an extremely powerful AoE attack used with every 25% of lost HP or every 30 seconds, which stuns all friendlies and deals continuous Arts damage to them, potentially causing a team wipe if your units don't have enough HP or RES to survive 8 seconds without healing. Collectibles and operators that can augment HP and RES are just as important as damage-buffing ones, as even with extreme damage output, Izumik will be guaranteed to use this move at least once or twice, which will neuter all damage for the duration and potentially wipe out all squishier damage dealers.
  • Fincatcher's Shawl will make all ranged units immune to Izumik's attacks and His stunning wave, making it an extreme boon to have against Izumik. However, note that it will not block the AoE he uses upon consuming Offspring in the first phase.
  • Nightingale's Sanctuary can provide significant protection against the AoE, making her a fine choice if available.
  • As the damage over time scales off Izumik's ATK, lowering His ATK with Collectibles or other abilities will mitigate its severity.