Mission Requirements:
Score 750k | Clear without any KOs | Clear within 100 turns | Take 20000 or less HP damage
Featured Characters: Ardyn, Maria, Lilisette
Many team ideas with and without boosted characters are available in this event’s Call to Arms!
These guides are only released at least one day after the event has launched, because they are based on first-hand experience from testing and beating the fight with different team comps and strategies. And that takes a good amount of time!
If you would like to help support the effort put into creating this content, please consider becoming a patron. 
Fight Overview & Team building
This fight is definitely on the easier side, as long as you don’t bring any 
attackers or Ifrit as your own summon! But if you need help beating it, remember that it will be possible to fight it in co-op mode for the first 14 days after the event began.
Recommended:
- A good damage dealer. Splash or Full group damage are great for the first wave, while single-target damage excels on the second.
- Turn Delayers work great against the single boss.
- A Healer to recover from the frequent HP attacks.
- Debuffers can make the fight much safer.
- Enchant/Imperil if you want to bring a magic attacker.
Avoid:
- Fire attackers.
-
Magic attackers, unless you bring a good enchanter/imperiler.
Summon tips:
- Save summon for wave 2. Any summon except Ifrit will be good, depending on your team comp.
Wave 1: Lightning Manikin, Noctis Manikin, Locke Manikin
| BRV Attack |    attack |
| HP Attack |  attack |
| Sparkstrike |  attack; grants  3T ATK Up to self; gains  3T Ravager (raises MAX BRV, ATK, SPD, cancels Commando);raises turn rate when inflicting Break or attacking Broken target |
| Flourish of Steel | + attack; grants  3T BRV Regen to self;gains 3T Commando (raises MAX BRV, ATK, cancels Ravager);raises turn rate when inflicting Break or attacking Broken target |
| BRV Attack | attack |
| HP Attack | attack |
| Warpstrike |  + attack; grants 5T ATK Up to self; becomes Warp Strike+ (moves own turn to just before the target’s next turn) when inflicting Break or attacking Broken target |
Conjure Armiger | Recast ability; gains 5T Armiger (raises MAX BRV);13-hit + attack; attack hit count to target increased by 1 while Armiger active |
| BRV Attack | attack Mug (with [Brigand’s Glove]): also randomly gains either 5T Genji Glove (raises ATK) or 5T Miracle Shoes (raises SPD; reduces BRV damage taken; restores BRV) |
| HP Attack | attack with [Genji Glove]: becomes + attack;with [Miracle Shoes]: becomes + attack; high turn rate; cancels [Miracle Shoes] |
| Sneak Slash | attack; gains 5T Brigand’s Glove (raises MAX BRV, ATK, SPD) |
| Phoenix Ray | grants party BRV; + attack;restores party’s HP based on HP damage dealt |
While Noctis has his EX attack as a Recast ability, these manikin are rather weak. Lightning has high turn rate and a BRV+HP attack, but no other tricks besides that. Locke has the only group BRV+HP attack with Phoenix Ray, but it is easy to predict (he has no other attacks) and not too dangerous.
All of these Manikins have multiple framed and non-framed buffs, so bear that in mind if you bring debuffers. You might find some of your non-framed debuffs displaced or be left with no room to apply new ones. As usual for their kind, manikins are very easy to launch after a few attacks.
Since this is a rather easy wave, you might want to take it slow and conserve skills for the main boss. The turn limit is generous enough that you can spend more than 30 turns with the manikins and still finish the fight with time to spare.
Wave 2: Ifrit
| BRV Attack | attack |
| Blazing Embers | increasing BRV if below INT BRV; attack; then increases BRV based on HP damage dealt |
| Conflagration | attack; |
| Flameclaw | attack; high turn rate if breaking or attacking broken target |
| Rush | attack; grants 4T ATK Up to self |
| Hellfire | Recast ability; Increases BRV when below INT BRV; attack + attack;applies Scorch to field (causes BRV damage every turn); grants  5T Scorching Inferno (raises BRV by a certain amount) to self |
At wave start: Chaos aura grants 50% increase to SPD
“The flames intensify”:(activates at 80% HP):
Aura changes to 30% increase to ATK, INT BRV, MAX BRV and 60% to SPD, lowers BRV damage taken by 30%
“The flames further intensify“: (activates at 50% HP):
Aura changes to 50% increase to ATK, INT BRV, MAX BRV and 70% to SPD, lowers BRV damage taken by 50%
Enrage: N/A
This Ifrit is very similar to the original Ultimate Summons: Ifrit fight, with a few key differences. This version is not weak to 
Ice, and is doubly resistant to Magic; but our characters have also evolved since then, and we have many good options to enchant/imperil Magic users to enable their use here. He is also missing some of the old framed buffs, especially that annoying DEF Up, but has gained BRV damage reduction instead.
His Blazing Embers is a big reason to bring a healer. It will deal HP damage (and a respectable amount, upwards of 5k) even if Ifrit is broken before the attack. Hellfire (the recast ability) has the same problem; it gives him BRV before the attack, and has the potential to deal a huge amount of damage to your entire team, killing off any character who was already low on health.
“Potential” is the important word here. You may notice his attacks start out pathetically weak, but after you hit the 80% HP and especially 50% HP thresholds, the increase in his main stats and BRV damage reduction will make his abilities hurt a lot more. For that reason, if you have any trouble dealing with this wave, you can make it easier by conserving skills while he is at high health and going all out with attacks/summon/friend unit in the latter half of the fight, after he drops below 50%.
DISCLAIMER:
Challenge quests are just a small bonus if you have already geared up the characters it asks for. If you haven’t, it is NOT worth pulling for a new character or spending ingots if you only intend to use them here. You can easily clear it with any team to get 400 gems and 3 tickets. The extra rewards for a Perfect complete with boosted characters are a measly 100 gems and 2% of a BT weapon. Not worth the hassle!
This Challenge Quest is one of the easiest so far.
Gear Check: All you need is a fully geared Ardyn (except for the BT, which is unnecessary) to carry Maria and Lilisette with base EX only – or not even that. Both of them can be carried without EX, even. It’s possible to carry both with only 35CP if you have Ardyn’s BT, as proven by mzpro2.
For a better idea of what team comps are able to complete this, check the Challenge Quest tab in the Call to Arms.
If you do try to go for a full complete (only boosted characters), here are some specific tips:
Ardyn: The main damage dealer for this fight. If you are trying to carry an undergeared Maria and/or Lilisette through the CQ, save most or all of his LD uses for the last wave. The first wave is much easier in comparison, and you don’t want to be surprised killed by an HP attack from Ifrit after the LD buff expires.
Maria: Proper Shot’s splash damage makes it her skill of choice for the first wave. She is the only source of healing for the CQ, so make sure you have some uses of Arrow Rain by the end of the fight in case you need to heal to complete the HP damage objective.
Lilisette: Sensual Dance is a great way to make the enemies in the first wave deal just pitiful damage… but save most of its uses for the second wave, because Ifrit is the real danger. Especially when his HP gets lower and the damage increases by a lot. Using Sensual Dance right before the recast is the safest way to avoid being broken by it.