Board Thread:Event Official Threads/@comment-26091666-20160419110325/@comment-26715360-20160505173154

Hard Mode

A-C-E-H-I-G-J

Composition used for the totality of the gauge (including last dance) :

Both support expeditions were used (2BB 2DD 2CV).

The initial purpose of this composition was to rely heavily on preemptive power (support expeditions, Ryuujou equiped with only bombers, Abukuma equiped with Kouhyouteki) in order to easily reach the boss and chip away at the gauge before last dance without any regard to air superiority, but I ended up using it for last dance because it proved to be surprisingly effective against the boss. My ships were usually only barely scratched when reaching the boss node, and the boss support, combined with Abukuma's opening torpedo (which can only target the PT Imp Packs since the Artillery Imps and the boss are installation types) and the opening air strike were usually enough to wipe out the PT Imp Packs (or at least kill two of them), leaving only the boss and the Artillery Imps to be dealt with during day battle. I didn't have any Wurfgerät 42, so I had to rely on my two tanks instead, which meant giving up Abukuma's night double attack in order to keep the Kouhyouteki (although it was worth it in my opinion). On my last sortie, I was able to kill one artillery imp during the day and leave the other one and the boss moderately damaged, and they ultimately both died during night battle (Sanshiki on Suzuya was mandatory to finish the boss).

It took me around 20 runs (4 for last dance), including some pre-boss retreats because of node I (usually some lucky hits from a heavy cruiser that managed to get past the opening strikes) and some test runs to fine-tune my composition, and I spent around 40 buckets.