King in Check is the final stage of Anomaly Arbitration, and its 4.6 V2 configuration is built around a boss that punishes damage dealers who depend on staying in a single enhanced state. Phainon is exactly that kind of character, which is why the fight has been treated as a stress test for him rather than a routine clear. He still finishes it in zero cycles at E2, and the run comes down to a small number of hard requirements.
Quick answer: Run E2 Phainon with Robin, Cerydra, and Cyrene at 16 cost, fire Phainon’s ultimate as soon as it is available, and keep him inside that state through both boss phases. The clear lands at 0 cycles without needing Robin’s true damage window.
King in Check stage traits: Hemovore and Scales
Two enemy traits shape every attempt at this stage. Hemovore drains health from your side on a timer you cannot avoid, and Scales gives enemies a damage reduction buffer that only comes off through repeated hits. Both matter more for slow, multi-cycle teams than for a burst run, but the health drain is what finishes off weakened characters after a bad turn.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Hemovore | Allies lose 500 HP at the start of their turn. This loss can kill. |
| Scales | Enemies start with 20 stacks; each stack cuts damage taken by 2%. One stack is removed per attack, and stacks reset when the boss changes phase. |
| Cycle objectives | Win within 6, 4, and 2 cycles. |
| Recommended types | Quantum, Lightning, Ice. |
Because Scales resets on phase transitions, every phase starts with the boss at maximum damage reduction. Multi-hit and blast attacks strip those stacks faster than single big hits, which is part of why a Phainon rotation that fires repeatedly inside one turn window pulls ahead.
The 16-cost Phainon, Robin, Cerydra, and Cyrene team
The baseline 0-cycle team is Phainon on Destruction, Robin and Cyrene on Remembrance, and Cerydra on Harmony. The first half of the stage puts you against Lighthouse and Astropolis Sentinel enemies, which act as the setup wave. Clear them while building toward Phainon’s ultimate rather than trying to squeeze extra damage out of the wave itself.
Phainon’s ultimate turns the field into a chessboard and starts the burst that carries the rest of the run. From that point on, the goal is simple. He never leaves the state, so the fight becomes a single long damage window instead of a series of turns the boss can interrupt.
One consequence is worth calling out. With this team, Robin’s birds never get a turn at all, because they only act if Phainon is pulled out of his ultimate state or dies while in it. The 16-cost 0-cycle therefore lands without using Robin’s true damage, which means the clear does not depend on that damage source arriving on time.
When the boss reaches Phase II, its Scales stacks reset and it becomes tougher for a moment. Phainon’s burst continues straight through it, so no repositioning or rebuild of the rotation is required.
Sparkle variant: replacing Cyrene in the 0-cycle team
Sparkle can take Cyrene’s slot and still produce a 0-cycle, but the run changes character. With Sparkle in the team, Robin’s birds do get to attack, which adds damage that the Cyrene version never uses. That extra damage means the cost can be dropped to around 13 and still finish in zero cycles, though keeping it at 16 makes the run more consistent.
The trade-off arrives during Phainon’s ultimate downtime. In that window the run depends on RNG, because the boss and its minions can land two hits on the same character. Anyone who takes two hits is likely to die outright, and Hemovore’s health drain will usually finish off whatever survives.
Note: If you want a repeatable clear rather than the lowest possible cost, the Cyrene version is the safer pick, since it removes that downtime window entirely.
Team builds used for the 0-cycle run
All five characters are at level 80. The stat lines below are what the two 0-cycle teams were running, and they set a rough floor for what the clear needs.
| Character | Light Cone | Key stats |
|---|---|---|
| Phainon | Thus Burns the Dawn | 3201 ATK, 118.8 SPD, 88.2% CRIT Rate, 188.3% CRIT DMG |
| Robin | Rise and Sing | 1843 ATK, 158.4 SPD |
| Cerydra | Epoch Etched in Golden Blood | 5134 ATK, 141.3 SPD |
| Cyrene | This Love, Forever | 1275 ATK, 194.8 SPD |
| Sparkle | Earthly Escapade | 1405 ATK, 165.0 SPD, 238.8% CRIT DMG |
On relics, Phainon runs As Navigator Isee Sees It with Arcadia of Woven Dreams. Robin pairs World-Making Deliverer with Sprightly Vonwacq, Cerydra uses Sacerdos’ Relived Ordeal, and Sparkle runs Eagle of Twilight Line.
Boss mechanics that can break a Phainon run
The 4.6 boss can force Phainon out of his ultimate state, and that mechanic has drawn most of the complaints. In practice it rarely triggers, because the stacks that would push him out are reduced every time he attacks. As long as he keeps acting between the boss’s attacks, the ejection almost never lands.
The larger obstacle is the 80% damage reduction shield. That is what actually slows a Phainon clear down and forces higher cost budgets. For reference on the scale involved, a 27-cost clear of the Plight stage has been managed with E6S5 Phainon, E6S1 Cyrene, E2S1 Cerydra, and E2 Robin, while a 48-cost Phainon sits close to a 0-cycle rather than merely surviving.
In the Version 4.5 arrangement of King in Check, the Manipulated Logos and Imprisoned Mythos summons were the priority target. They delay your actions, drain Skill Points, and let the boss apply Action Lock, which stops a character acting and cannot be cleansed normally. Killing them restores party Energy and advances everyone forward, which also clears Action Lock. Cyrene’s support on the action bar removes the state directly and charges the affected character’s ultimate.
How to confirm the 0-cycle clear
The run is only a 0-cycle if the Battle Over screen appears before the cycle counter ticks past its starting value. Check the counter on the stage results, not the fight length, since a long single-turn burst can still register as zero. If the counter has advanced, the most likely cause is either a lost Phainon ultimate window or a death during the Sparkle team’s downtime turn.
For accounts below E2 Phainon, the same team shape still works, but the cost budget has to rise and the ultimate downtime becomes harder to cover. The mechanics do not change, only the margin you have to work with.
