Trench Horror Cezal guide: skills, build and team roles
Overview
Trench Horror Cezal is a Legendary Water Melee Attacker from the Freeborn Faction in Invokers: Titan Legacy. He weakens an enemy's defenses and strips away what protects it, while a loop of cooldown cuts keeps his Skills coming. Waveripper casts RES Down and DEF Down, Deepwater Stab and Ocean Terror remove and shorten buffs, and Cresting Blade brings his Skills back quickly.
His damage scales from ATK. Fully Awakened and before Gear, Cezal has 1,171 ATK, 735 DEF and 9,202 HP, with 60 Accuracy. His ATK is one of a handful of the highest in the game.
Buff removal is scarce: only seven Invokers purge buffs and only seven shorten their duration. If your team faces enemies or Bosses that protect themselves with buffs, he's a good candidate. RES Down also helps your teammates' debuffs land.
His loop depends on his Skills hitting, and on critical hits. A critical hit from Cresting Blade doubles its cooldown cut. He has no healing, Shields or crowd control, so he needs a team that keeps him alive.
Skills To Prioritize
Waveripper hits one enemy twice, casting RES Down on the first hit and DEF Down on the second. At Level 1 they are 35% and 30% for ten seconds. At Level 10 they are 55% RES Down and 42% DEF Down for 14 seconds, and Max Level raises DEF Down to 45%. The cooldown falls from 26 seconds to 22 at Level 10 and 21 at Max Level. It needs Accuracy.
Cresting Blade hits one enemy and reduces the cooldown of a random Active Skill on him: by eight seconds at Level 1, and 13 seconds at Level 10 and Max Level. If the hit is critical, it reduces another random Skill's cooldown by the same amount. The cooldown falls from 28 seconds to 24 at Level 10 and 23 at Max Level. His fifth Combo Attack shortens Cresting Blade's cooldown by 1.9 seconds at Level 10.
Ocean Terror, his Ultimate, hits one enemy four times and shortens the duration of random buffs on it each time. At Level 1 that's up to two buffs by four seconds, at Level 10 it's up to three buffs by seven seconds, and at Max Level it's up to four buffs by eight seconds. He also gains Ultimate Mana on each hit if the target has no buffs, 5% at Level 1 and 10% from Level 10. The cost falls from 900 Mana to 850 at Level 8 and 800 at Max Level. It needs Accuracy.
Deepwater Stab is a plain hit until Level 8, when it starts removing a random buff from the target. It needs Accuracy for that, and it has a ten-second cooldown.
If you want Cezal to weaken a single target for the team, upgrade Waveripper first, as Level 10 takes RES Down to 55% and holds both debuffs for 14 seconds. If you want him to keep casting, upgrade Cresting Blade first, as Level 10 cuts 13 seconds from a Skill's cooldown. If you want him to strip a Boss's buffs, upgrade Ocean Terror first, as Level 10 shortens three buffs by seven seconds and Max Level shortens four.
Build And Team Support
Build Crit Rate to around 75–80%, then as much Crit DMG as the build allows. Cresting Blade's second cooldown cut only happens on a critical hit, so Crit Rate does more for him than raw ATK. He casts debuffs and removes buffs, so put Accuracy on your Chestplate and Flask and keep stacking it. Skill RECOV on another piece helps Cresting Blade, which carries his rotation, and Mana Gen on your Talisman helps him reach Ocean Terror.
For Relic Sets, Crit Rate Relics make his critical hits more reliable, and Crit Damage Relics and Predator make them hit harder. Accuracy Relics help his debuffs and buff removal land, Fury Relics bring back Cresting Blade and Waveripper sooner, and Mana Relics help him reach his Ultimate. His native Atrophy and Crush Tolerances already match Astral Omnissi's Corruptions, so you don't need Tolerance sets there.
Pair him with a Tank and a healer to keep him alive, and with damage dealers who benefit from the DEF Down and RES Down he casts.
Arena, Bosses And Spires
In Arena, Waveripper can lower a team's RES and DEF, Deepwater Stab and Ocean Terror can strip its buffs, and Cresting Blade keeps his Skills coming back. Be wary of enemy Invokers with Immunity or debuff cleansing, as they can block his debuffs.
Against Astral Omnissi, Cezal is an excellent pick. His native Atrophy and Crush Tolerances match both of her Corruptions, and her buffs are what Ocean Terror removes. Against Earth Omnissi, who needs Invokers that block or purge her buffs, Cezal does exactly that. Against Sorgott, he removes his buffs, and his native Crush Tolerance matches one of Sorgott's Corruptions. Against Galvos, who takes 5% more damage from attacks for each debuff on him, Waveripper casts two at once, and his native Atrophy Tolerance matches one of Galvos's Corruptions.
Against Sedula, Waveripper casts RES Down (55%) and DEF Down (45% at Max Level), which helps your team land its debuffs against her high RES and raises its damage. Cresting Blade's cooldown cuts keep his Skills coming through her 60-second window. Sedula changes Element every day, and Cezal has Elemental Advantage on the days she is Fire.
In the Water Spire, Waveripper and Cresting Blade focus down tough targets. Pair him with Invokers of a similar Rarity: Kyoze the Testament, a Legendary Water Tank, casts Taunt and heals, Tassia the Lost, a Legendary Water Support, heals and revives, and Fulrik the Animator, an Epic Water Support, casts ATK Up and Skill Recovery Up.
Awaken
Awakening boosts an Invoker's stats significantly. Bonuses from Relics, Accessories, the Trophy Room, Tactics and Titan leader bonuses apply to base stats and Awakening stats alike, so unlocking the Awakening nodes is critical to maximise Cezal's potential.
Unlocking each Titan node at Star 2, 4 and 6 adds a second to Titan Invokation, taking the total from 12 seconds to 15.
Review the Awakening guide for more detail.
