im satisfied just maxing the EX Special and Chain trees first. it works well for staying safe. i use a Sony DualSense Wireless Controller White for better parry timing.

^ This. Also, dont ignore Soukakus core skill tree since that attack buff is basically mandatory for later stages. Since youre level 40, youll need better precision than a phone screen. I use a Logitech G502 HERO High Performance Wired Gaming Mouse and it really helps with the tight parry windows.

• Max out Soukakus core passives first
• Focus on energy regen stats
• Practice the swap-parry timing Youll get those rewards, just takes a bit of practice.

Like someone mentioned, Soukaku is basically mandatory for the buffs, but honestly, I found her a bit clunky at first. I actually wasted a ton of mats on her basic attack tree before realizing it does basically nothing for her support role. It was super frustrating and felt like a total waste of resources. If you're struggling with the timing on a phone or a cheap mouse, you might want to look into better gear. I tried using a generic office mouse and it was a nightmare for parrying. I switched to a Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse and the responsiveness made a huge difference for my clear times. Heres what I learned after failing that same challenge like twenty times:

• Lycaon Stun Build: Focus everything on his Impact stats. Hes there to break the bar, not kill. I usually check the tier lists on Prydwen to make sure my disk drive stats arent trash.
• Soukaku Buffing: Max her core passive first. Unfortunately, the game makes it look like her basic skills matter, but its all about that fly the flag buff pass. Everything else is secondary.
• Assist Swaps: Stop dodging manually so much. The swap-parry has a way more generous window and keeps your energy up. I also ended up getting a 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller with Charging Dock because my hands were cramping on the keyboard. It feels way more reliable than the cheap stuff I was using before tho.

Ugh honestly im right there with you... hit level 40 last week and suddenly my team feels like they are hitting with wet noodles. I actually tried playing on the Razer Kishi V2 for Android thinking the mobile experience would be better but unfortunately the buttons felt way too cramped. It was not as good as expected for this kind of high-speed combat and I kept missing the parry window. A couple quick things to check:

• Look at your disc drive set bonuses instead of just raw stats.
• If you want better responsiveness, the GameSir G7 SE Wired Controller is a solid alternative to the pricier stuff. Sucks that the difficulty curve is so vertical though, im still failing that event too...

Quickly typing this out before I head to work. In my experience, once you hit the level 40 wall, you gotta look at the daze multipliers. I used to just spam basic attacks until I realized the technical math behind Lycaons kit. You really need to prioritize his Core Skill and the Special Attack for the impact stats. Soukaku is basically there for the fly the flag buff, so her skill tree should focus on the Chain Attack and Special to maximize the attack transfer. I spent a week testing different rotations on the training dummy and noticed a massive DPS drop if the stun isnt optimized. I learned the hard way that ignoring the passives on the tree makes the challenge modes nearly impossible because the enemy HP pools scale so aggressively at that tier. Stick to maxing the stun efficiency first or you wont clear it in time.