Apate Boss Guide

Apate is the third boss you will face in Etheria: Restart’s Grim Pursuit, a content area specifically focused on farming Shells to enhance your Animus Builds.

Apate’s Element is ODD, meaning you will want to avoid bringing weak elements (Reason) to this encounter to increase your chances of success.

You can fight Apate on Basic and Hard difficulty with the reward quality increasing for the higher difficulty.

A mysterious magician who loves card magic but has no ambition, always thinking of living a comfortable life. However, never try to ruin her magic, or terrible things will happen.

In this guide, we will break down Apate’s Skills, how to face this encounter, as suggesting an accessible progression team for defeating Apate.

Apate is one of the earliest and simplest bosses in the Grim Pursuit lineup, and while her mechanics aren’t especially dangerous, they can disrupt unprepared teams through Strike Prep control and a stacking max HP reduction debuff called Joker’s Mark. Her Skill 1, Card Trick, is a single-target attack that reduces the target’s Strike Prep by 50%—which, if it hits your healer or key DPS, can delay your entire rotation. This can be mitigated by bringing your own Strike Prep boosters like Chiaki the Echo or Lily, or simply by keeping your key units fast and well-tuned.

Her Skill 2, Mirage Magic, is an AoE that hits all enemies and applies two random debuffs from a pool of [ATK Down], [DEF Down], [SPD Down], and [Block]. While not fatal, this can slow down your run or compromise your damage output, especially if you get hit with [Block] right before a critical buff. To deal with this, you can bring immunity supports like Cachi the Guard or Helkid, or cleanse with units like Dorothy the Wisher or DokiDoki. Since the debuffs are random, immunity is generally the cleaner and more efficient answer.

The only unique mechanic to manage here is Joker’s Mark, a stacking debuff that permanently reduces a unit’s max HP over time. Thankfully, the stacks can be reduced by taking turns—or more specifically, they auto-remove if the unit is not under a control effect at the end of their turn. Since Apate doesn’t apply control debuffs beyond the ones listed, this isn’t much of a concern unless the fight drags out. Bringing Speed buffs and Strike Prep ensures your team gets enough turns to remove the stacks before they build up.

Overall, Apate is a very manageable fight. The best approach is a classic formula: DEF Down from someone like RC-77 or Gray, followed by strong AoE or single-target nukes, and a support unit for immunity or cleansing. If you want more safety, a taunt tank like Rin can keep Apate’s Skill 1 focused and manageable, but most teams can skip that and simply overpower her with raw damage. Hollow-type heroes have a natural advantage here, so use them when possible and avoid Reason types unless they’re heavily invested.