Hardest Challenger Ever: Baenwurath
At last, I have now gotten to the final research notes challenger! This particular challenger, known as Baenwurath, is the most difficult of all time and can give even capped pets using god weapons difficulty. You can unlock this challenger by using the Medieval Research Notes, which were sold in the Cash Shop in August 2013 for 250 CSC.
Amazing challenger art, isn't it? In fact, if you look closely, the castle even appears to be at least semi-sentient. Anyway, this challenger is categorized under the "impossible" difficulty and is recommended for pets who are at least high tier 12 (I will recommend having at least 21K combined core stats before fighting it, with at least 7K of those stats being in health, at least 5K in attack, and at least 4K in defense). High health and attack builds (around 7.5K and 6K respectively) seem to be most effective against this challenger, though I will try to cover strategies for as many builds as possible for this guide. The only feature disabled against this challenger is stealing, although it does have a blessing that prevents you from freezing it (will always activate). The stats of this challenger are listed below.
Health: 75,000
Attack: 5,000
Defense: 4,000
Speed: 5,500 (formerly 4,000)
EXP: 25,000
That 75K health is NOT a typo. With health that high, you know this is going to be a long battle (the battle that got me my 5th win took over 20 minutes). Although the attack and defense do not appear to be very high, do note that this challenger has many weapons that can boost its stats, which will almost always cause it to have over double its initial attack/defense by the last turn (over triple can also be quite common). The EXP it drops is fantastic, so you might even want to beat it before you cap (you should at least be able to get the first win or two without capping).
Before I start listing Baenwurath's weapons, I would like to say that the weapons Baenwurath will tend to use in the beginning of the fight will likely not be the same ones it uses at the end of the fight. This is because its initial weapon lineup contains several weaker OPB/breakable weapons and it also has several stronger weapons that only appear in its arsenal after being generated by another weapon. It is important to observe which weapons it uses in order to be prepared for the later phases of the battle.
Note that all attacks activate the Will of the Walls blessing (blocks 5 dark; 100% freeze protection; indeterminate duration).
Brave Knights: 20 light, 20-25 physical, 25-30 earth
Blocks 10 light, 10 earth
OPB (has at least 11 of them)
Spirited Spearmen: 25-35 light, 25-30 physical
OPB (has at least 11 of them)
Catapult Launch: 10-25 earth, 10-20 wind, 15-20 light
Generates Flaming Catapult Launch
Breakable (has approximately 3 of them)
Arrow Assault: 10-25 earth, 10-25 wind, 15-25 physical
Generates Flaming Arrow Assault
Breakable (has approximately 3 of them)
Cannon Fire: 15 physical, 15 fire, 15 light, 15 magma
Wizened Wizard: 10 earth, 10 wind, 10 fire, 10 light
Low-Moderate chance of activating Massive Thunderstorm curse (50 icons; 1 round)
Generates Invigorating Incantation
Rally Call of the King: 30 or 40 or 50 light
Boosts attack and defense by 400 each
Heals 1000
Loyal Guard Dragon: 20 fire, 20 dark, 20 light, 20 earth
Blocks all physical
Boosts attack by 250
Ballista Dart: 35 physical, 20 fire, 25-30 earth, 10-15 wind
Hot Oil Spill: 25 or 35 fire, 15 or 25 dark, 20 or 40 magma
Flaming Catapult Launch: 15-30 magma, 20-30 wind, 20-30 fire
Boosts attack and defense by 25 each
Generates Diseased Catapult
Breakable
Diseased Catapult: 10-20 physical, 25-35 dark, 10 water, 20-25 earth
Boosts attack and defense by 100 each
Moderate chance of activating Subonic Plague curse (10 icons; 10? rounds)
Flaming Arrow Assault: 20-25 physical, 25-35 fire, 20-25 wind
Boosts attack by 150 and defense by 50
Invigorating Incantation: Heals 5000
OPB
Stone Cold Wall Scroll: Blocks 3 of everything except dark
Note: I have observed a consistent favoring of this scroll over Deep Moat Scroll, leading me to believe it may have multiple copies of this scroll.
Deep Moat Scroll: 10-30 water
Blocks all ice/magma/fire/water
Low chance of freezing
Medieval weaponry is quite fascinating, though also scary (to think they actually had bioweapons back then with those diseased catapults). Purge and Cranberry must have really done some research on the Middle Ages in the process of designing this challenger (aside from the wizard and dragon, those were all actually used IRL). Anyway, with fourteen unique weapons (in addition to two scrolls), Baenwurath has the second biggest arsenal of any challenger (number one is Hustler with a whopping 65 weapons). With Baenwurath having nearly every feature possible in its weaponry, there can be all sorts of tricks you face against.
At the beginning of the fight, while the castle still has some disposable weapons to use, you will be facing up against mostly light, physical, and earth icons. In addition, it will be pretty common for it to block out a significant portion of your earth and light icons thanks to those Brave Knights. For the most part, the attacks at this point are pretty easy to take. The use of Arrow Assaults and Catapult Launches are something to watch out for as they signal a reason for you to switch up on your tactics.
When it comes to the permanent weaponry, no matter what two weapon combination you are using, Baenwurath will have something that can get around your defenses. Hot Oil Spill and Ballista Dart have potential to be among its most threatening weapons, depending on what you are using against it. While Rally Call of the King doesn't have a very strong attack on it, frequent use of it can make the battle much harder to win due to its heal and massive attack/defense boosts. Wizened Wizard also has a lot of potential to screw you over. Though it is more likely for the curse to not activate than to activate, 50 unblockable icons still hurts a lot, especially late in the battle. The 5000 HP heals the Invigorating Incantations make also contributes to the hindrance factor of the wizards. Loyal Guard Dragon make it harder to score physical damage, especially mid or late battle. They also do 80 icons across four icon types, but the good news is that you will probably be able to at least score a partial block on them. Cannon Fire is easily the least threat of the permanent starting weapons.
The weapons generated from both Arrow Assault and Catapult Launch do fire and wind icons, so when you compare them to the permanent starting weaponry, having a fire block on you is highly advantageous. Flaming Catapult Launch is also breakable, but the fact that it has a chance of not breaking is quite troublesome when it shares no icon types in common with the Diseased Catapult Launches it generates. The Diseased Catapult Launch is something you will want to be prepared for as you will probably be seeing them used quite often later in the fight. Although the earth and physical icons dealt by these primitive bioweapons are already enough to merit the use of a block, the main thing to note is that they are strongest in dark icons. Between the diseased catapults, the guard dragons, and the hot oil spills, dark becomes a good icon type to defend against late battle.
Between the two scrolls, Stone Cold Wall is definitely the easier of the two to manage. When combined with the blessing, it does block a bit of every icon type. However, it shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as your icon types have at least some stacking. The Deep Moat Scroll, however, is quite a pain to deal with. Since Baenwurath's weaponry doesn't do enough water icons to merit defense against, the added 10-30 water icons from the scroll will probably get all the way through to you. What is worse is that it full blocks four icon types, and ones that are on most weapons useful against it at that too. Although it uses Stone Cold Wall Scroll a lot more often than it uses Deep Moat, this thing can really ruin a battle once the RNG decides to screw you over (this is probably a big part of the reason for why you may end up taking dozens of losses in the process of scoring a win).
Now that I have discussed its weaponry, let's talk about strategy now. Since there is a lot to talk about, I have decided to try to break down my explanation of strategy into several categories.
To first cover the weapons I believe are most essential for defeating Baenwurath, I will say that you will want three of your OPB weapons to be Phoenix Quill, Reviver of the Lion, and Volatile Energized Mecha (you should have won more than 100 impossible tokens by the time you are ready to take on this beast of a challenger). These will be essential to surviving the long course of the battle. Although I hate to recommend god weapons to beat challengers, this is an exception. You will want to use at least two god/demigod weapons that can give you coverage for defending against its icon types. I find that fire and earth blocks are the two most effective blocks (I used Natasha + Ornamented Hook Swords as my main weapons when getting my 5th win), though the earth block can be substituted for another god/demigod weapon if you lack such an option. Ether, Blessed Trident of the Banished One, Maniacal Essence/Shinwas Sacred Bow, Malerias Staff of Destruction/Dark Goddess Rod, and Cronus Blade are all possible substitutes. Possessed Bow can work in place of Natasha, although it does have a weaker attack, a lesser heal, and not-as-ideal icon types. For mods, I would recommend using a mixture of parched and singed baguettes. You will want a single critical strike tear on the god/demigod weapon you believe you will be using most often throughout the fight to optimize damage.
For what remaining slots you have left, there are several options you can go for. One is to add in an extra god/demigod weapon or two to allow you to have greater coverage of the castle's different phases (or to optimize use of your clutch scrolls/potions). Another is to use Amulet of Drakkonis to add an extra 50% clutch heal. One thing that you will really want to use would be weapons to set up a long term strategy. Listed in the next section are several ways you can pull off long term setups (if you can fit it into your set, combinations of setups can work as well).
For scrolls, this is yet another challenger where an infinite use healing scroll being your main scroll is recommended. Actually, if you have any god/demigod scrolls, equip it before facing against this challenger. For your backup scrolls, you will want to have exactly one Psycho Smasher or Shriek of Despair scroll (since this challenger can only be frozen first round, any more is unnecessary). You will also want to have Cobalt Eternal/Sancturia Exodin/Spacial Abyss scrolls for when the battle gets hectic. If you have at least two god weapons that don't block fire or dark in your set, then Fatal Fire scrolls can also help. Gift of the Forj scroll may be able to help with its 1500 HP heal in case you are having trouble dealing with those wizards' curses. Even Lucky scroll could help in that it gives you a dark block to cover 3 icon types while healing 500 HP and dealing a powerful 50 light icons to Baenwurath. The Void Scroll is also a viable option, but you want to be able to make the most of your pet's AP, so I would only recommend that if you have a LOT of AP to burn (I'd say at least 200+). Having a full set of mage shards, throwing vials, and pylonics in your potion set is highly recommended as they can buy you a few much needed turns later on.
On the first turn, you will want to use one of your god weapons alongside Volatile Energized Mecha and your Psycho Smasher/Shriek of Despair scroll. On the turn in which Baenwurath is frozen, you will want to deploy your setup weapons. A few ways you can make set ups are listed below.
The use of blasting via Soma Tablets and/or Recycle Blaster can help give you a few breather turns. However, this challenger does have a large amount of weaponry that can make this a little risky. Blasting a Spirited Spearman or a Brave Knight will not help you out much. However, blasting any of the infinite use weapons can help. Rally Call of the King and Wizened Wizard are especially good blasts due to the long term dangers those two weapons present. Catapult Launch or Arrow Assault also prove to be some good blasts as that will slow down the castle's weapon generation, thus slowing down Baenwurath's power increases.
Since Baenwurath only gets harder as the fight drags on, killing it off as quickly as you can may prove to be helpful. The curses from Item Hunters Bomb/Acorn Bomb or Rapier of Error can help speed up the battle a bit. Of the two options, Rapier of Error has the better potential for damage (10 icon curse vs 3 icon curse), although one of the two bombs is the safer option (the Scorched Skin curse lasts for 100 turns as opposed to 5).
Pets with high health may be able to use Shinwas Lightning to eventually outspeed the castle. Cronus Blade is not only a god weapon, but also pumps your attack/defense/speed by 25 each use. Using either one (especially Cronus) may help make the late phases of the battle easier to manage. The closer you get to Baenwurath in speed, the less likely it is to critical hit you. Outspeeding the castle will make it so that only you have the potential to score critical hits.
Although Baenwurath is nightmarishly powerful later on in the fight, it is relatively weak for a tier 12 challenger at the start. This helps give you time to set up or to do as much damage as possible in the fight. You will want to pay attention to the weapons it uses and take note of any changes in its weapon trends. A few ways you can utilize this are listed below.
Frequent use of Cronus Blade can be quite helpful early on in the battle. Not only is Cronus Blade the hardest hitting god weapon (constant 44 icons unmodded vs 34-45 icons unmodded for the others), but it also makes your attacks become stronger with each use. You may even be able to completely tank some of the castle's attacks when paired with another god weapon, even when it doesn't do magma icons. However, once the castle being able to net damage on you becomes a thing, you may want to swap it out for something else.
Although Acorn Bomb/Item Hunters Bomb is just a simple single use on the frozen turn to set things up, Rapier of Error is different. Since the curse is 5 rounds, you will want to use the rapier every 5 turns to renew the curse. However, do note that you will still want to preserve your health throughout the battle, so you will want to have a weapon that can help protect you against the early battle weapons when using the rapier. Once the castle starts to consistently net damage on you even when you are using double god/demigod weapons, you will want to discontinue the strategy. Using good blasts may be able to help prolong the amount of time you can use this strategy.
If you have decided to boost speed with Shinwas Lightning, then a good weapon to pair it with during the main turns would be Cronus Blade. Put together, they will increase your speed by 75 and you may be able to outspeed the castle before it starts to pull out some major critical hits. Although Baenwurath can still be difficult when you outspeed it, the lack of crits will make its attacks far easier to survive (so you won't be seeing 8K damage hits or anything). You will need to keep an eye on your health though, as Shinwas Lightning can only heal via its blessing (which, even then, is only 200 HP). You may want to keep track of how much your speed is being boosted to know when you outsped it. Remember that Baenwurath has 5,500 speed and that the Volatile Energized Mecha you should be using regardless of your strategy contains a 250 speed boost.
First of all, I would like to say that if you do not have most of your backup scrolls, clutch healers, and potions by the time Baenwurath drops below 20K health, you are probably not going to win this fight. At this point, Baenwurath's icon types will be all over the place and successfully blocking any one attack can be a guessing game. With this, you will want to use which ever god/demigod weapons give the widest coverage against its attacks (which is why I like fire+earth so much). Although not completely reliable, the blessing for Blessed Trident of the Banished One does make survival a lot easier, so that could work if Ornamented Hook Swords/Tainted Keeper Skull Staff/Oracles Staff of Enlightenment is not an option for you (the latter most likely isn't).
At this point in the battle, do not be afraid to use your backup scrolls. Since the castle still has potential to do quite a bit of damage to you through these scrolls, you will want to cover the icon types they do not block as best as you can with your weapons. The use of mage shards or Reverberating Pylonic (for a small light block) can help if needed. You will probably also want to use a defensive backup scroll when using Phoenix Quill/Reviver of the Lion/Amulet of Drakkonis to not leave yourself open while healing yourself. When using mage shards, be sure to use them in ways that give you as much defensive coverage as possible (ex: if you are using Ornamented Hook Swords/Natasha/Cronus Blade like I did, use an earth shard with Natasha+Cronus). Although Negating Pylonic is ideally best used at what you predict will be the final turn, use it if you feel you really need an uninterrupted heal with your two god/demigod weapons and main scroll.
Do not be afraid to use all of your potions and scrolls. In fact, you should remember that you will likely take many losses (sometimes as many as 100) in the process of a single scoring a win on Baenwurath. With that, having a large stash of all of the potions you use to replace the ones burned up is a good idea. You can never be overequipped for this challenger.
Upon defeat, Baenwurath will drop a large sum of sP (up to 150,000 sP) but no items, except for on the 5th win. Your well-deserved special loot is as follows:
Castle Helm
Barbican
Ballista
The Castle Helm is a wearable on the hat layer that somewhat resembles a castle. Barbican is a minion that looks like a domesticated version of the dragon seen occupying the left tower on Baenwurath's challenger art. Ballista is an infinite use tier 12 weapon. Its stats are as follows:
Attack 1 (80% chance): 4-8 physical, 7-9 earth, 3-8 light
Attack 2 (20% chance): 55-80 physical, 27-33 earth, 24-38 light
Heal: 10% (heals 750 at 7501+ health)
Mod Slots: 4
Despite being tier 12, this weapon is not practical in battle. Most of the time, it will do a weak attack and it lacks any defense, leaving you susceptible to damage. However, its second attack is the strongest of any infinite use weapon and is great for challenging yourself to see how much damage you can do. Plus, it doesn't even have a limit 1 restriction, so you can equip two of these if you want to!
I hope you were able to comprehend all of that. At 3,437 words (excluding this final section), this is by far my longest guide yet. Heck, even my Hustler guide and my guides for all three stages of Meatslab and Forj Matriarch were all under 2,000 words. Although the weapon loot for this challenger isn't that good, it is at least fun to use. For what it is worth, it is common for super bosses in video games to not drop very impressive loot (probably because you don't have anyone stronger to use them against). You might still feel satisfaction in getting this far and with you being able to beat Baenwurath, you can beat any future challengers that come your way.
With the guides for every challenger being finished now, I may start doing other guides for now. What kinds of guides would you like to see? If you have an idea, let me know.
