Neo Twewy - No Damaging Phase 1 of Phoenix Cantus
2Trying to no damage Phoenix Cantus, but there's so much that can go wrong in this fight that realistically attempting a no damage would make one insane. That being said, there are ways to minimize your chances of taking damage.
This is done using the Black Cat Ensemble, with the setup designed to still be able to generate enough Groove to get a Killer Remix during the first phase of the fight. The build is meant to get through the fight as quickly as possible since there's too many ways for your teammates to dodge the wrong way and randomly take damage. Black Cat Blades (R2) is your safest way of inflicting damage since it doesn't automatically force you closer to your target when you use it, but Black Cat Cards, Black Cat Burn, and Black Cat Burst are also decent options that can let you attack at a somewhat safe distance if used correctly. Black Cat Crush and Comet should be used sparingly because of how they position you closer to the enemy when using them, which makes you vulnerable to damage.
Before you begin this fight, build up as much Groove as you can in other battles - the max you can start with is 230%. This is important because the Black Cat set is incredibly difficult to build Groove with how quickly you can kill off enemies. On top of that, several of its pins can't meet their Beatdrop requirements on Phoenix Cantus, so you have to rely on Black Cat Cards (Square) and Black Cat Blades (R2) to generate a Beatdrop.
In the first phase, focus on building up Groove. This means using the combo finisher for the Black Cat Cards and following up with another pin (I generally like to follow up with Black Cat Burn (L2) using Shoka for a chance to generate more Groove). Also try to land a Beatdrop from Black Cat Blades if it manages to freeze the tails - be sure to equip the character using this pin with a Frozen Foes III thread to increase the chances.
Once you get rid of all the tails, you'll be facing the head. You have two ways to approach this - either use your Killer Remix immediately or dodge the breath that he'll always use after getting blown back. If you do the latter, try to move in a direction that's mostly forward, but with a slight tilt to the left or right so your teammates don't get caught up in the breath. This is b/c Phoenix Cantus will target you. Damage him a bit using the Black Cat Cards and Blades. If you use the Black Cat Cards immediately when he's in target range, you'll be above the ground while using it and will avoid his fireball attack. Try to end the fight by using the Killer Remix before he starts summoning his tails.
If you use your Killer Remix immediately though, you won't damage him enough to kill him off. Instead, you'll transition to him summoning his tails. This is the more dangerous part, but there's a neat trick. For some reason, if you use a Killer Remix during this part of the battle, you'll actually be able to target him before he blows you back and after. Unload Black Cat Blades, Cards, and Burn as soon as you regain control from the cutscene, then unload the rest of your blades and look for an opening to use the Black Cat Cards after getting blown back. This is the safer option.
In the video however, I do a mixture of the two - I generally recommend just sticking to one, but if you dodge his breath method first and fail to kill him with the Killer Remix, you can still target him before he blows you back, so unload your attacks before you get blown back.
As for Phase 2, that's for another day. The tails in Phase 2 though have lower health than Phase 1, so you can kill them off much faster. The problem is that the Phoenix's head can attack you at the same time, and him using either the breath or fire ball attack can easily mean your teammates will take damage. Additionally, it's hard to see what he's doing when targeting the rest of the tails, so it's easy to get hit.
Some things I'm thinking of is simplying just using Black Cat Blades to deal damage unless he's focusing on me using the laser attack (this is the safest one to deal with). I may also need to test on how to best position my team to avoid damage, and if he uses certain attacks depending on distance to his head. Another thing is equipping shoes with the Uninterruptible ability to possibly lower my chances of getting hit.
I've included the whole fight, but I may just go for a star ranking at lv 1 instead given how ridiculous Phase 2 is to no damage.