Debt Collector + Zankou Full Guide: 1.0 Story Finale Twin Bosses, Cosmos/Incantation Weaknesses, Zankou 4-Clone Critical Riposte

Key answer: Debt Collector + Zankou are the twin bosses of the 1.0 story finale (Miguel District, Dolores Mansion). Debt Collector: Cosmos weakness, locked party (Nanally / Esper Zero / Daffodill), stay close and dodge + parry every spinning attack. Zankou (the 1.0 final boss, Scarlet Letter): Incantation weakness, bring your own party, parry-reflect the charge wave in Phase 1, Phase 2 summons 4 phantom clones at half HP — clear each with one Critical Riposte. Neither drops Arcs; the reward comes from completing the main commission.

ℹ Chapter note: The English servers file Zankou + Debt Collector under the same “Debt Collector Episode”; GameWith separately labels it “Chapter 4: Scarlet Letter.” Chinese sources commonly say “Chapter 3 Debt Collector / Chapter 4 Scarlet Letter (Zankou)” — the chapter numbers and the interleaved order of the two bosses are whatever the game shows in-game. This article focuses on combat; for the story see the Story & Hidden Side-Quest Deep Dive.

The endpoint of the 1.0 main story — Debt Collector + Zankou — waits for you at Dolores Mansion beneath the twisted cherry-blossom tree. This article focuses on the combat for the two finale bosses (no story repetition), teaching you how to clear the 1.0 endgame gauntlet.

1. Unlock / Prerequisites

• Debt Collector is the final main commission (the 5th main quest) of the 1.0 main story, and the story endpoint at 1.0 launch
• Prerequisites: complete the previous main quest “Deal? Deal!” + reach Hunter Level 24
• Main-story order: Prologue → Prologue II → A Love That Began With a Lie → Deal? Deal! → Debt Collector
• ⚠️ This Episode contains several back-to-back boss fights: it is actually an interleaved structure of “Debt Collector (first encounter) → story → Zankou → Debt Collector (empowered rematch)” (exact order is whatever the game shows in-game)

2. Debt Collector — In Depth

Basic Info

Item	Details
Location	The hidden Anomaly realm Dolores Mansion in the northeast of Miguel District; the landmark is a huge, twisted, slanted cherry-blossom tree
Weakness	Cosmos
Locked characters	Both encounters force a fixed party: Nanally, Esper Zero, Daffodill (no custom party — execution matters more than team-building)
Traits	Highly mobile, wide sweeps; low HP in the first fight, fully heals and is greatly empowered in the rematch

Move List + Parry / Dodge Timing

First Encounter (Fight 1)

Move	Description	Counter
Long combo sweep	Long windup, wide slash range, telegraphed by a red flash before the swing	Critical Dodge (time it off the red flash)
Spinning slash	Anchors itself with a grappling hook, then whirls and slashes around you continuously	All parryable — strike back with a normal attack when overlapping the block ring to negate damage + stagger it

Second Encounter (Fight 2, clearly harder)

Move	Description	Counter
Disc / spinning-blade projectile	Flies up high and fires disc-shaped projectiles at you	Dodge to the side; it usually follows with a close-range lunge, so dodge again
Giant ground-marking sweep	Wide sweep with an enlarged weapon, leaving energy blast marks on the ground	Stay close, dodge behind it, and avoid the ground blast residue

Tactical Points

• ⭐ Core principle: stay close, dodge + parry, do not back off. It is highly mobile and will fly away — backing off just feeds it projectiles; staying close makes it easier to read the parry ring and the red flash
• All long-windup moves can be perfectly dodged — be patient, wait for the red flash, don’t rush in
• All surrounding moves (the spinning slash) can be parried — a successful parry stuns it, refills your elemental-reaction value, and auto-chains into a Critical Dodge: a huge stagger-window damage opportunity

3. Zankou — In Depth — the 1.0 Main-Story Final Boss

Basic Info

Item	Details
Location	Also inside the Dolores Mansion Anomaly realm; you must complete the “Debt Collector” Episode to encounter him, and he cannot be refought elsewhere
Level	Around Lv 48
Weakness	Incantation
Identity	A core member / public face of the Scarlet Letter crime organization; his power can create auditory and visual hallucinations and manipulate a target’s perception of reality
Style	Slower and heavier than the Debt Collector; mainly close-to-mid range, with clear move windups and a readable rhythm — winning via Parry / Dodge is the most efficient

Move List

Phase 1 (opening, slow and heavy)

Move	Description	Counter
Slow heavy strikes + short combos	Greatsword swings, high single-hit damage but short combos and long gaps between moves	Dodge by the rhythm; once you learn the cadence you can dodge cleanly
Raise sword to guard → charge-wave counter	Guards against your attack with a raised sword → backs off and fires an energy / fire wave	⭐ This wave can be parried and reflected back at Zankou — the key Phase 1 counter point

Phase 2 (triggers around 50% HP)

Stage	Mechanic	Counter
Entry	Leaps away and fires a series of fire bursts from different directions	Watch for multi-directional incoming attacks, dodge them one by one
⭐ Phantom clones	Summons 4 phantom clones of himself (red afterimages) that charge in one after another	Each clone needs only “1 Critical Riposte” to destroy — a timing check, not a DPS race

How to trigger a Critical Riposte: a normal attack immediately after a perfect dodge (Critical Dodge) = a Critical Riposte, which comes with auto lock-on / teleport to the enemy you just dodged — perfect for catching up to the charging clones.

Tactical Points

• ⭐ Stamina management is the key: save stamina before Phase 2 summons the clones. If you spend all your stamina attacking before the summon, you won’t be able to cleanly Riposte the clones and will get chain-hit
• In Phase 1, catch the “raised-sword charge wave” for a parry reflect — negating damage while dealing your own
• The whole fight is slow-paced and readable, so steady dodge / parry > trading blows

Recommended Teams (Zankou allows a custom party, built around the Incantation weakness)

Hexed Team ⭐

Nanally (Main DPS) + Sakiri (buffer/grouping) + Adler (shields/resistance shred) + Mint (Sub-DPS, second Hexed trigger)

Discord Team (fast stagger)

Baicang (Main DPS) + Daffodill (Sub-DPS) + Sakiri + Fadia

Discord shreds a large amount of the stagger gauge, ideal for quickly interrupting Zankou

4. Comparing the Two Bosses

Comparison	Debt Collector	Zankou
Elemental weakness	Cosmos	Incantation
Combat style	Highly mobile, wide sweeps, flies away to fire projectiles	Slow heavy strikes, readable moves, summons clones in phase two
Party	Locked party (Nanally / Esper Zero / Daffodill), all on execution	Custom party allowed, built around the Incantation weakness
Main counters	Stay close; dodge all long windups, parry all surrounding attacks	Dodge by rhythm; parry-reflect the charge wave; clear clones with Critical Riposte
Difficulty	Medium first time, clearly harder in the rematch	The hardest of the 1.0 endgame; the Phase 2 clones are a timing check

5. Drops / Rewards / Repeatability

• ⚠️ Neither main-story boss drops any items, materials, or Arcs — main-story bosses usually drop no Arcs and exist only to advance the plot (only the repeatable Anomaly-commission bosses give Arcs)
• The real reward comes from “completing the main commission”: roughly 1000 Hunter EXP, ~120 Crystals, 10 Expansion Cores, 80,000 Fonse, 100,000 Beetle Coins (exact values per in-game)
• Repeatability: as main-story bosses, Zankou and Debt Collector cannot be refought outside the main story
• Note: the 1.1 update added an Anomaly commission also called “Debt Collector” (repeatable), but that is no longer the 1.0 main-story boss fight and is a different kind of fight

6. Combat Tips + Common Beginner Mistakes

Debt Collector

• ❌ Getting spooked by its mobility and constantly backing off → you walk right into the disc projectiles; you also can’t catch it when it flies away
• ✅ Stay close, watch for the red flash to perfectly dodge the long-windup sweeps; parry the spinning slash the whole time with normal attacks (a success stuns it, refills the elemental-reaction value, and auto-chains a dodge)
• ✅ In the rematch, dodge the disc / spinning blade to the side, and remember the close-range lunge that follows — dodge again

Zankou

• ❌ Burning all your stamina in Phase 1 → when the Phase 2 clones arrive you can’t Riposte and get chain-hit by all four
• ✅ Deliberately conserve stamina before entering Phase 2 (half HP); the clones come one after another — for each, do a perfect dodge → normal attack (Critical Riposte) to clear them one shot apiece
• ✅ In Phase 1, catch the “post-raised-sword charge / fire wave” for a parry reflect — safe and offensive at once
• ✅ Bring Incantation units to hit the weakness; pair with Hex (Anima + Incantation reaction) or Discord reactions to amplify damage / stagger

For the full combat mechanics (parry / Critical Dodge / Critical Riposte / stagger), see the Complete Combat System Guide.

7. Related Guides

• Complete Combat System Guide — parry / Critical Riposte / stagger mechanics
• Story & Hidden Side-Quest Deep Dive — Scarlet Letter / Chapter 4 story (incl. epilogue)
• Complete Anomaly Boss Bestiary — overview of all 18 bosses
• Elemental Reaction System — Hexed / Discord reactions
• Nanally / Baicang / Daffodill — finale carry characters

FAQ

Finale boss data compiled from public sources including Game8, GameWith, PowerPyx, ZeroLuck, AllThings.How, Game Rant, Bahamut, 4Gamers, LDPlayer, and Yule Taxi. Chapter numbering, the interleaved order of the two bosses, Zankou’s level, and reward values are all per in-game. For story details see the dedicated story-deep-dive article; this one focuses on combat.