Debuffs

"Debuffs" are an event mechanic that consists of weakening the final Boss of a given map. Debuffs are some form of damage bonuses against the Boss and sometimes its fleet, and are unlocked after completing several gimmicks, depending on the map and the difficulty.

Overview

When a debuff phase is available on a map, it can only be unlocked after reaching the Last Dance of the Final Boss of the said map.

• To unlock a debuff, the player must complete several gimmicks that vary across maps and difficulties.
• Once the debuff is unlocked, the effectiveness of the debuff is visually indicated by the "Final Boss CG" being changed from its "Last Dance" form to its "Debuffed" form.

The bonus provided by a debuff is varied:

• It is almost always a damage bonus, being either:
  • A raw damage buff, where certain ships or ship types have their post-cap damages multiplied,
  • An "armor reduction", where the Armor stat of the enemy is reduced, inducing damages being more easily dealt (see here for more details).
• It can also be sometimes an Accuracy and Evasion buff for certain ships or ship types.

The bonus most often applies to the Boss Node only, but can also be effective across the whole map depending on the event.

• The bonus can be heterogeneous, depending on the ship or ship type, often following the other historicial bonuses.

Doing the debuff never is mandatory to clear the map.

• In almost every case, doing the debuff is highly encouraged, at least in harder difficulties.

Given how many variations there are in debuffs, please refer to the latest events page for information.

Example with the New Light Cruiser Princess:

History

Debuffs were first introduced during the Summer 2015 Event, and most event since then has had debuff mechanics on one or more maps.

Summer 2015 Event - E-7

Fufu...you came...? Hee... you came...
The Air Defense Princess, the first boss to be introduced to the Armor Reduction Mechanic

The Summer 2015 Event introduced players to the gimmick for the first time. When the event originally started, the later stages of the event were not released till a day later in order to make sure the gimmick was working as intended. When the later portion of the events was introduced, players would be greeted with a surprise which would present a greater challenge for them once they reached E-7 Operation FS.

Operation FS introduced the Air Defense Princess, an abyssal air defense destroyer boss, which while was tough in general, was only made harder to defeat due to her incredibly high defense. The Devs tweeted later in that day that there was a system that players need to figure out to destroy the 'enemy's main defense" which would involve "destroying the enemy's supply line"

Players who managed to dig around would eventually find that key to weakening the Air Defense Princess would involve the following conditions to be met:

• S ranking Node X which had the Harbor Princess
• S ranking Node Y which had the Isolated Island Demon
• Taking out a large amount of enemy Transport Ship Wa-Class

If some of these conditions were met, this would result in the Air Defense Princess's defenses dropping enough to allow for your fleet to do significant damage to her. The effect was gradual and her defense would drop as the conditions were further met.

However, all armor reduction bonuses would be removed each day at 5:00 AM JST and players would have to repeat the process to weaken her once again.

Fall 2015 Event - E-4 & E-5

E-4

Submarine Princess after debuff takes full effect.

The Fall 2015 Event would be the second time in which the armor reduction mechanic would be used in the game. Unlike beforehand where the effects would happen on a gradual basis, the mechanic would only activate when all conditions were met.

Players would have to fight against the Submarine Princess who was also given a high armor buff but could be weakened under the following conditions:

• Defeating the Harbor Princess at Node J
• Defeating the Anchorage Princess at Node M

Meeting these conditions would drastically reduce the Submarine Princess armor drastically and would result in a change in her dialogue and image. The image was however only available to those that used a mobile task force which players were encouraged to use since it would grant a higher accuracy bonus against fighting submarines.

Like beforehand, the mechanic would reset after each day, but this time the time of reset was set for Midnight JST.

E-5

Destroyer Water Demon after debuff takes full effect.

Within the same Fall 2015 Event, players who made it to E-5 would fight against the Destroyer Water Demon who was given an armor buff of her own. Her requirements were different as she required the following conditions:

• Defeat a total of 15 PT Imp Groups during the attack phase of the operation.

As usual, when these conditions were met, a drastic change to her image and dialogue would take place. The most notable change was that she would lose her helmet when the debuffing process was completed.

Like beforehand, the mechanic would reset after each day, but this time the time of reset was set for Midnight JST.

Spring 2016 Event - E-6

When all the requirements are met, it was quite possible to single-handedly kill off the Central Princess in a single blow during the opening battles before the main fight began.

Unlike the previous events, Spring 2016 Event in E-6 introduced a complex but simple mechanic that was confirmed to be a multi-stage process debuff. On top of that, admirals were required to go through several stages in order to actually perform the armor reduction mechanic against the Central Princess.

In order to make the Central Princess vulnerable, admirals were required to do the following steps:

• Survive an air attack from node I on E-5 without taking any damage
• Score an S rank on Node A in E-6
• Score an S rank on Node G in E-6
• Score an S rank on Node L in E-6

Upon completing 2 out of the 4 steps, the Central Princess would experience a reduction to her armor, but the full effect would not take place until you had completed all 4 steps which would also result in a small change to the Central Princess's lines. In addition, the debuff was triggered only by attacks done by dive bombers and possibly Seaplane Bombers during the Aerial Phase and the Carrier Support Expedition in battle. As in most cases, players were able to take out the Central Princess in a single blow before the battle even started.

Once you completed each debuff step, the effect was permanent and did not revert back for the remainder of the event.

Summer 2016 Event - E-3 & E-4

E-3

The Second Battle of Malaya features an armor reduction mechanics that was different in that this one incorporated being able to successfully intercept the Air Raid attack against your base twice, and also scoring an S rank in Nodes A and D. If done successfully, a ding sound would be heard upon returning to base.

Unlike previous events, the armor reduction contributed to weakening the Summer Battleship Princesses instead of the boss of the map. Making them more vulnerable to attacks from torpedo bombers.

E-4

The Final event map of the Summer 2016 Event featured a large series of steps required to trigger the armor reduction for the Summer Heavy Cruiser Princess all of which required for the fleet to successfully score an S rank on four of the five following nodes:

• Nodes C, D, H, I, & K

By completing 4 of the 5 nodes using a combination of Surface and Carrier Task Force you would receive a ding when you return to your homeport base indicating that you have met the requirements.

This resulted in the Summer Heavy Cruiser Princess armor being reduced allowing for your fleet to have a stronger chance of defeating her.

Later events

• Fall 2016 Event - E-3
• Fall 2016 Event - E-5
• Winter 2017 Event - E-3
• Spring 2017 Event - E-5
• Summer 2017 Event - E-6 & E-7
• Winter 2018 Event - E-7
• Early Fall 2018 Event - E-5
• Spring 2019 Event - E-4 & E-5
• Summer 2019 Event - E-3
• Fall 2019 Event - E-4 & E-6
• Summer 2020 Event - E-3, E-4, E-6, & E-7
• Fall 2020 Event - E-3 & E-4
• Spring 2021 Event - E-3, E-4, & E-5
• Summer 2021 Event - E-2 & E-3
• Fall 2021 Event - E-3
• Winter 2022 Event - E-3, E-4, & E-5
• Spring 2022 Event - E-2, E-3, E-4, & E-5
• Summer 2022 Event - E-3, E-5, & E-6