Grythion the Celestial Griffin: how Sky Bond works and how to beat it

Grythion the Celestial Griffin is a boss in the Doom Tower, Proving Grounds and Cursed City. The whole fight is a race: the longer it lasts, the more dangerous he becomes. Here is how the mechanics work and how to build a team around them.

The Sky Bond clock

Grythion gains one Sky Bond stack at the start of each turn, and another whenever one of your champions drops below 50% HP. Each stack adds 5% ATK, 3% C.RATE, 5% C.DMG and 2.5 SPD, up to 20 stacks. Once he reaches 10 stacks, his attacks ignore Shield, Block Damage and Unkillable.

Dropping below 50% HP also costs you twice. Divine Strike makes him attack that champion immediately and apply 100% Heal Reduction for 2 turns. Keeping everyone healthy is therefore part of your damage plan, not only your survival plan.

His skills

• Shockwave: a single-target hit with Fear for 1 turn.
• Rock Smash: moves every debuff on him onto your whole team, then hits everyone. He fills his Turn Meter by 5% for each debuff moved.
• Death Gust: removes all buffs, which cannot be resisted, then hits the team. It deals 10% more damage for every buff removed.
• Fair Wind: if his Turn Meter is decreased, yours drops by the same amount, and anyone left at zero is stunned for 1 turn. If a champion's Turn Meter is filled, he gains the same amount.

He is also immune to control effects, HP exchange, HP balancing and cooldown increasing effects. Enemy MAX HP attacks are capped at 10% of his MAX HP per hit, and Turn Meter reduction against him is halved.

Turn order

He opens with Death Gust, so avoid unnecessary buffs at the start and apply the important ones afterwards. Next comes Rock Smash. Have Block Debuffs active beforehand if you can, because cleansing afterwards still lets him gain Turn Meter for each debuff he moved. Between those skills you get your damage window, so use it fully, and let buffs expire naturally before Death Gust returns.

Do not pile on debuffs for the sake of it. Decrease DEF, Weaken and Decrease ATK are the ones worth keeping.

What to bring

• Block Debuffs: timed before Rock Smash.
• Damage: strong single-target hitters and Enemy MAX HP champions.
• Healing and cleansing: to keep people above 50% HP and remove Heal Reduction.
• Increase SPD: a safer way to outpace him than Turn Meter fills.
• Decrease ATK and HP Burn: Ninja can trigger HP Burn without needing a heap of debuffs that Rock Smash would send back.
• Ally Attack: burst damage without extra buffs.

Avoid champions that lean heavily on Turn Meter fills or reductions, thanks to Fair Wind.

Example champions

The example team uses Padraig, Lydia, Whisper, Minaya and Rotos. Whisper is the main damage: she deals 20% more damage to bosses, and her A2 can ignore 100% DEF when the target is under Weaken. Minaya brings a 40% heal and Block Debuffs for all allies, plus Shields for anyone fully healed. Lydia supplies Decrease DEF, Weaken and Increase SPD. Padraig re-applies buffs after Death Gust and enables Ally Attacks. Rotos was a flexible damage slot, so swap in healing or protection if you need it.

Before you go in

You must clear the waves first, so use AI Presets to keep key cooldowns ready for the boss. Check the stage requirements for each wave, and bring enough damage to finish before the stacks pile up.