Foreword
Grim Pursuit is a mode where you have to kill a boss, well 10 different bosses. Furthermore, each boss stage is split into different difficulties and the difficulties change based on the boss, for example: Jacques has Basic and Hard difficulties available while NicoNana has Nightmare, Hell and Inferno difficulties.
The main reward from the mode are Shells that are equivalent of weapons in Etheria: Restart. Progressing through the various bosses - and their difficulties - will unlock higher rarity Shells that can drop. Different bosses drop different Shells, so you have to choose wisely which one do you want to farm. You will also get a single RGB Summon Ticket when you clear a stage for the first time.
Grim Pursuit - Early Bosses
In this guide, we will go over the first 4 bosses - Jacques, Shadowrunner, Apate and Kururu - that are unlocked early on. They are quite easy to beat with a lot of teams, so making dedicated guides to them isn't needed.
Use the tabs below to switch to a different boss.
Jacques Overview
- Boss Name: Jacques.
- Element: Reason.
- Challenge Type: Grim Pursuit.
- Difficulty Tiers: Normal → Hard.
- Key Threats: AoE and Single target attack.
Shell Drops
Abilities
Avian Torrent
Jacques gathers lightning at the spear tip, dealing 320% damage with a 100% chance to inflict a 2-turn [DEF-].
How to counter?
- Easiest is to Taunt him, however the damage is fairly low and shouldn’t be a threat to your team as long as your HP remains high.
Winged Doom
Jacques gathers lightning at the spear tip, dealing 550% damage to all enemies.
How to counter?
- Shields and DEF Up mitigate the damage the best, but a strong source of healing to recover after the blow can also be enough.
Vermilion Skyruler
After each action, follows up on a random enemy, dealing 400% damage; for every 2% HP the target loses, damage increases by 1% and permanently increases Jacques' SPD by 6%.
How to counter?
- Either take down Jacques fast enough that he cannot stack, or focus on a defensive playstyle to reduce damage taken and keep your HP high at all times, diminishing the potency of his self buff.
Team Compositions Tips
As the first Shell boss, Jacques is designed to be faced by a vast range of units, lacking both the punch and the resilience of later bosses:
- Healer/Support - The most efficient way to deal with Jacques is to stay at high HP, so Shields, DEF Up, Damage Reduction and Heals are generally more than enough to deal with all of his mechanics,
- Any Sustain works - even the SR ones.
- DPS - There isn’t a single DPS that cannot perform well against Jacques, so bring whoever you prefer. Simply keep in mind that Jacques is a Reason Affinity boss, so Hollow units suffer from greatly reduced Crit Rate and Damage Dealt Reduction,
- Odd Affinity Units get offensive advantages so favor them if you're struggling,
- Buffer/Debuffer - Early on, Crit Rate is low so any source of Crit Rate Up is extremely useful. Another option is to completely ignore the Crit stats and focus solely on ATK Up and DEF Down. Any source of Turn Meter generation is also more than welcome to mitigate the low SPD across your entire roster.
- Examples: Gray
![Gray]()
Chiaki [The Echo]![Chiaki [The Echo]]()
Freya![Freya]()
- Tank - While not necessary, extra protection for your fragile characters is always a plus,
![Chiaki [The Echo]](/static/86fddbe08e3b9d93a6ed6dcd10af8544/60b4d/chiaki_echo_sm.webp)
Team Examples
If you don't have some of the characters visible in the teams, you can replace them with another one that fulfills the same role (check the section above).
Jacques #1
Content: Grim Pursuit || Team type: F2P || Time: -
Jacques #2
Content: Grim Pursuit || Team type: F2P || Time: 1-2m
Comments
Lian can be replaced by any DPS or a Healer if you struggle to survive.
Shadowrunner Overview
- Boss Name: Shadowrunner.
- Element: Odd.
- Challenge Type: Grim Pursuit.
- Difficulty Tiers: Normal → Hard.
- Key Threats: DoTs.
Shell Drops
Abilities
Tide Vortex
Shadowrunner shoots water balls at a single enemy, dealing 3 hit(s) of 150% damage, with a 50% chance each to inflict 1 stack(s) of 5-turn [DoT].
How to counter?
- Heal over Time (HoT), recurring Shields and Purify/Immunity trivialize both mechanics,
Phantom Ferry
Shadowrunner summons a Phantom Ferry to strike all enemies, dealing 360% damage and decreasing Turn Meter by 30%; and there is also a 100% chance to inflict 1 stack(s) of 5-turn [DoT]. If the target has 4 or more stacks of DoT, ignores resistance and inflicts 1-turn [Stun].
How to counter?
- Chiaki [The Echo] [Ave Maria] can prevent Turn Meter Down, or any source of SPD Up/Down can give you enough time to deal serious damage to the boss before getting in range of his AoE Stun. Otherwise, look for any source of Purify to cleanse the DoTs.
![Chiaki [The Echo]]()
Team Compositions Tips
Much like Jacques, Shadowrunner is a simple, introductory boss. The mechanics are easy to counter or even ignore entirely depending on your roster:
- Healer/Support - Any source of constant Healing/Shielding works really well. To that, consider adding a Unit with sources of Purify, as the DoTs (and the Stun) can be cleansed:
- Sania and
![Sania]()
Dorothy [The Wisher] stand out among the SR for their Purify on top of their good healing, while![Dorothy [The Wisher]]()
Lingluo and![Lingluo]()
Freya are by far the best Healers here among the SSR, offering either Immunity or multiple stacks of Purify on top of massive HoT potential.![Freya]()
- DPS - Any DPS performs well against Shadowrunner, however Reason Units suffer from the disadvantages;
- Every DPS other than Reason Units can fully express themselves in this fight,
- Buffer/Debuffer - Early on, Crit Rate is low so any source of Crit Rate Up is extremely useful. Another option is to completely ignore the Crit stats and focus solely on ATK and DEF Down. Any source of Turn Meter generation is also more than welcome to mitigate the low SPD across your entire roster.
- Examples: Gray
![Gray]()
Chiaki [The Echo]![Chiaki [The Echo]]()
Freya![Freya]()
- Tank - While not necessary, extra protection for your fragile characters is always a plus,
![Dorothy [The Wisher]](/static/7bccd1a501cba448cb34ae6ea8d879af/60b4d/dorothy-wisher_sm.webp)
Team Examples
If you don't have some of the characters visible in the teams, you can replace them with another one that fulfills the same role (check the section above).
Shadowrunner #1
Content: Grim Pursuit || Team type: F2P || Time: 1-2m
Comments
Lian can be replaced by any DPS (or Tiamat if you have her).
Shadowrunner #2
Content: Grim Pursuit || Team type: F2P || Time: 1-2m
Apate Overview
- Boss Name: Apate.
- Element: Odd.
- Challenge Type: Grim Pursuit.
- Difficulty Tiers: Normal → Hard.
- Key Threats: Petrify and Max HP reduction.
Shell Drops
Abilities
Card Trick
Apate throws cards, dealing 600% damage to a single target with a 50% chance to inflict 1-turn [Petrify] and a 100% chance to inflict 3 stack(s) of [Joker's Mark].
- [Petrify]: Target cannot take action, and the CD will not automatically reset at the end of the unit's turn.
- [Joker's Mark]: Target cannot take action, and the CD will not automatically reset at the end of the unit's turn.
How to counter?
- Taunt, Immunity and/or Cleanse are your friends to counter both of Apate’s debuffs.
Mirage Magic
Apate throws multiple cards, dealing 450% damage to all targets with a 50% chance to dispel 1 buff(s) and a 20% chance to inflict 1 turn(s) of [Petrify], then resolves all [Joker's Mark]; every 1 stack(s) resolved permanently reduces the target's Max HP by 6%; afterward, guaranteed to inflict 4 stack(s) of [Joker's Mark].
How to counter?
- On top of the previously mentioned effects, try to focus more on beating the boss quickly rather than stalling and bring Debuffs rather than buffs preferably.
Team Compositions Tips
Apate should only trouble you if you entirely ignore any defensive utility, so make sure to bring some form of utility to greatly simplify the fight:
- Healer/Support - Favor high Single Target Healing if you bring a Taunter, otherwise focus on HoT/Shields
- DPS - Any DPS works once again, but avoid most Reason Units to avoid the disadvantage:
- Special mention to Fangus and
![Fangus]()
Helkid who bring more utility than just their damage even as Reason Units;![Helkid]()
- Buffer/Debuffer - Focus more on Turn Meter Buffers and Debuffers with DEF Down/ATK Down etc. Skill 2 can dispel your buffs so make sure not to rely too much on a single buff for your entire strategy, like a vital Crit Buff for example:
- Examples: Gray
![Gray]()
Chiaki [The Echo]![Chiaki [The Echo]]()
Kloss![Kloss]()
Rilmocha are all great Hollow Units who benefit from the advantage and provide either good Buffs/Debuffs or a mix of those + Damage on top,![Rilmocha]()
- Tank - While not necessary, extra protection for your fragile characters is always a plus,
Team Examples
If you don't have some of the characters visible in the teams, you can replace them with another one that fulfills the same role (check the section above).
Apate #1
Content: Grim Pursuit || Team type: F2P || Time: 1-2m
Comments
Lingluo and Freya are both excellent and perform better than Sania, allowing you to more easily bring non-Hollow Units. Instead of Tsutomu you can use any DPS.
Kururu Overview
- Boss Name: Kururu.
- Element: Hollow.
- Challenge Type: Grim Pursuit.
- Difficulty Tiers: Normal → Hard.
- Key Threats: AoE Nuke.
Shell Drops
Abilities
Venomous Spike
Fires energy spikes at the allied unit with the highest ATK, dealing 3 hit(s) of 140% damage, each with a 50% chance to inflict a 2-turn [ATK-].
How to counter?
- Cleanse and Immunity are still the best to counter Debuffs, while Taunt is also effective to protect your carry DPS;
Infinite Depths
Kururu emits an energy wave to impact all enemies, dealing 3 hit(s) of 120% damage.
How to counter?
- AoE Shields and Heals, as well as DEF Up can all deal with this attack quite effectively;
Furious Tsunami
Kururu summons a powerful tsunami, dealing 480% damage to all enemies; if there are jellyfish that exist, detonates all surviving jellyfish, with each dealing 600% damage to all enemies.
How to counter?
- AoE Damage to take out the jellyfish, otherwise this nuke is by far the hardest hitting attack you face in the early game;
Furious Tsunami
Kururu summons 4 jellyfish at the beginning of the turn, and he gains a permanent [Power Cache] while jellyfish are present.
- [Power Cache]: With his jellyfish companion alive, Kururu gains a permanent Immunity aura and takes 90% less damage. This effect cannot be dispelled.
How to counter?
- Same as Furious Tsunami, make use of your AoE Units to quickly dispatch the jellyfish then the boss is free.
Team Compositions Tips
Kururu’s an easier Boss than it looks, simply because all of his threatening abilities and effects are dependent on the jellyfish being alive. Kill them quickly and the fight suddenly doesn’t feel like a Boss encounter anymore:
- Healer/Support - Anyone that provides AoE Heals/Shields can perform well in this fight. With enough SPD, even Single Target Healers can do the trick;
- Special mention to Freya and
![Freya]()
Dorothy [The Wisher] as well as every other Supports with offensive utility;![Dorothy [The Wisher]]()
- DPS - Any AoE DPS can perform well here, and there is frankly no reason to recommend any other unit than Lian, the free SSR;
- Buffer/Debuffer - Any Offensive utility, but preferably Buffs, work here. Keep in mind that Kururu becomes Immune when jellyfish are present;
- Special mention to Dinah with her powerful AoE Debuff, and
![Dinah]()
Chiaki [The Echo] for her Turn Meter push;![Chiaki [The Echo]]()
- Tank - While not necessary, extra protection for your fragile characters is always a plus,
Team Examples
If you don't have some of the characters visible in the teams, you can replace them with another one that fulfills the same role (check the section above).
Kururu #1
Content: Grim Pursuit || Team type: F2P || Time: 1-2m
Kururu #2
Content: Grim Pursuit || Team type: Generic || Time: 1-2m
Other Grim Pursuit Boss Guides
Below you can check all Grim Pursuit Boss guides:
