Headless Rider / Iron Cavalry Assault Complete Guide: Blue-Flame Motorcycle Raging Flames Arc, 00:00-04:00 Trigger, Psyche-Element Tactics

Key Answer: The Headless Rider / Iron Cavalry Assault (Ride Assault) is the Anomaly-warrant Boss on the Coastal Highway in the Interbridge District, and the first clear guarantees the Raging Flames Arc (the only blue-flame motorcycle cosmetic Arc in the whole game). Three trigger conditions: 00:00-04:00 (set 02:00) + drive a four-wheeled car + accept the warrant first. Weakness Psyche (note the Boss weakness Psyche ≠ the Arc’s Plasma element). A three-phase fight: Tire Crush is the parry signal, and in Phase 2 only hit the real body. Recommended Psyche team: Aurelia + Esper Zero + Haniel + Sakiri.

ℹ Note on conflicting data: For the trigger time, the Chinese sources agree on 00:00-04:00 (some English sites list 20:00 / after 12 AM, possibly an early-version difference; the in-game value is authoritative, and this site uses 00:00-04:00); the highway number is Z42 (most sources) vs Z49 (some Chinese sources), and the Boss level is Lv 3235+ depending on the site — defer to the in-game map.

A blue-flaming, headless, scythe-wielding ghost-fire motorcycle cruising the Coastal Highway at high speed deep in the night — the Headless Rider is NTE’s most cinematic Boss fight, and it drops the only Arc in the whole game that changes your vehicle’s appearance, “Raging Flames.” This article rounds up the trigger conditions, moveset, parry signals, and Psyche team all in one place.

1. What Is the Headless Rider

Item	Details
Chinese name	無首鐵馭
English name	Headless Rider (some English sites: Headless Iron Rider / Headless Biker)
Anomaly warrant name	Iron Cavalry Assault / Ride Assault
Anomaly class	Class IV (permanent warrant)

Background: Drawn from the classic “Headless Horseman” urban legend (the Western Headless Horseman / the Japanese Dullahan). In NTE it is realized as a blue-flaming, headless, scythe-wielding ghost-fire motorcycle that cruises the Coastal Highway at high speed deep in the night. The player “runs into” this urban legend while driving, and after following it is pulled into an Anomaly space to fight.

2. Unlock / Trigger Conditions (the most common sticking point)

⚠️ Three hard requirements must all be met at once

Condition	Details
1. Time	In-game 00:00-04:00 (set manually from the time system on the phone / avatar; 02:00 is the most reliable). It absolutely will not trigger in daytime / outside that window.
2. Vehicle	You must drive a four-wheeled car — motorcycle / on foot / small scooter all fail (the second-biggest reason people get stuck).
3. Warrant	You must first accept and track the “Iron Cavalry Assault” Anomaly warrant (it will not trigger if the quest is not accepted).

Location (defer to the in-game map)

• Region: Unheard-of Shore / Interbridge District, south of Wertheimer Tower
• Road: Coastal Highway, near the Foxwindow Street / Half-Form Street junction
• Number conflict: Z42 (most sources) vs Z49 (some Chinese sources) — defer to the in-game map

Trigger steps (step by step)

1. Accept/track "Iron Cavalry Assault" → fast-travel to Wertheimer Tower
2. Leave the tower heading south → turn right on the road → up the stairs past the basketball court → vault the wall and glide down to the road ahead
3. Summon a four-wheeled car, drive from east to west
4. A blue-flaming ghost-fire motorcycle appears ahead = trigger succeeded
5. Keep a medium follow distance (not too close, not too far) → the system prompts "Target Locked" → enter the Anomaly space

Level requirement: recommended Lv 35+ (Chinese sources; English sites list the Boss at Lv 32, defer to in-game).

3. Element and Weakness

• Weakness element: Psyche — agreed across all sources; Psyche-element attacks break the stagger gauge faster
• Resistance: no clear resistance is listed, so treat it as having no special damage reduction and just hit the weakness

⚠️ Important clarification: the Boss’s weakness is “Psyche”; the “Raging Flames” Arc it drops is itself a “Plasma” signature weapon (for Hathor / Nanally). These are two different concepts, do not confuse them — bring a Psyche-weakness team to fight the Boss, not Plasma characters.

4. Moveset (three phases)

The move multipliers are unpublished on all sites; defer to in-game.

Phase 1 (100%-60%) — High-Speed Pursuit and Scythe

Move	Description	Counter
Triple Scythe Sweep	Three consecutive scythe sweeps on the spot	Dodge (keep your distance and deal ranged damage)
Charge Slash	Rides in and makes a wide scythe swing	On the warning dodge backward → follow with a counter
Flame Drift	Drifts, leaving a fire trail on the ground → U-turns and charges/slashes again	Dodge laterally, avoid the fire trail
Turning Window	About a 1.5-second opening while the bike turns	Seize the damage window

Phase 2 (60%-30%) — Clones and Taking Flight

Move	Description	Counter
Aerial Charge / Dive	Takes flight, then dives in to attack	Dodge only
Area Shockwave	Lands and creates a red ring of area shock	Move away from the red ring
Clone Charge	Circles the arena spawning multiple clones that charge in sequence along predicted lines; the real body has a thicker HP bar for identification	Watch the predicted lines, dodge each one, and focus fire the real body

Phase 3 (< 30%) — Enrage

• Move speed and damage rise sharply; finish it off by breaking the stagger gauge → bursting with focused fire

Parryable vs Dodge-Only

• Parryable: the final hit of a combo, especially Tire Crush — it always appears as the second hit of the combo and is the parry signal; when the red warning flashes, time your parry to stagger it
• Dodge only: the aerial charge, the triple scythe sweep, the clone charges, the area shockwave

5. Drop Rewards

The first clear always drops the S-rank Arc “Raging Flames” (the core selling point).

Reward	Description
Raging Flames S-rank Arc	Guaranteed on first clear; the Arc itself only drops the first time
Charged Cavalry Spark Plug × 4	Upgrade material
Hunter EXP 300, Beetle Coins 6,000-7,500	Fixed
Fang, Crystals, Silver Vine, U-00NE, Arcanum Thread, Anomaly material selection box	Fixed

⭐ Blue-Flame Motorcycle Cosmetic Bonus (the exclusive selling point)

Once “Raging Flames” is equipped, riding a motorcycle in the open world automatically unlocks the “blue ghost-flame” exclusive dynamic effect (the whole bike is wrapped in blue flame plus a blue-flame trail). It is the only Arc in the entire game (so far) that changes a vehicle’s appearance.

Repeat Rewards

After the first clear, repeat runs no longer drop the signature Arc itself, only upgrade materials (Charged Cavalry Spark Plugs). We recommend re-clearing weekly as your material needs require once you have the Arc.

For full Arc details, see the Hathor Complete Build Guide.

6. Recommended Teams (Psyche Weakness)

Core idea: stack a Psyche-element Main DPS + elemental reactions + healing / res-shred.

Psyche Main DPS Team (hits the weakness) ⭐

Aurelia (Psyche, burst Main DPS) + Esper Zero (Cosmos, triggers reactions) + Haniel (Psyche, off-field / mob grouping) + Sakiri (Incantation, mob grouping + buff)

Psyche-element characters break the stagger gauge faster and deal the most effective weakness damage. If survival is tight, swap Sakiri for Adler (shield + res-shred). If you did not pull Haniel, you can substitute Fadia (also Psyche).

Hathor Pairing Team (built around Raging Flames)

Hathor (Plasma, motorcycle burst Sub-DPS) + Esper Zero + Aurelia (Psyche, weakness Main DPS) + Fadia (support / survival)

Hathor’s Ultimate “Rider Express” enters and triggers the 5-second Emergency Delivery burst, and Raging Flames’ “enhanced Cyclone Strike after the Ultimate” syncs perfectly with that rhythm; Aurelia fills in the Psyche weakness damage.

7. Combat Tips

Three Steps to Reliably Trigger It

1. Accept and track “Iron Cavalry Assault” first
2. Set the time to 02:00 (the safest point in the 00:00-04:00 window)
3. Summon a four-wheeled car, drive east to west south of Wertheimer Tower, and after spotting the blue-flame motorcycle keep a medium follow distance until “Target Locked”

Boss-Fight Tactics

• Phase 1: Watch the end of combos (especially the red flash on Tire Crush) for the parry to stagger it → focus fire; dodge the scythe sweeps and fire trails laterally; use the ~1.5-second turning window to deal damage
• Phase 2: The Boss takes flight and dives, casts the area shockwave (leave the red ring), and sends out clone charges — only the real body counts (its HP bar is thicker); dodge the clones one by one along the predicted lines and do not get baited by the fakes
• Phase 3 (< 30%): It enrages and speeds up; break the stagger gauge to burst it down in one window, and keep a healer alive

Driving Tips

Follow at not too close, not too far — too close and you crash and break off early, too far and you lose the lock; just hold a steady throttle and follow in a straight line to the tunnel.

8. Common Beginner Mistakes

1. Wrong time — not just any night works; it must be 00:00-04:00 (02:00 is the most reliable)
2. Riding a motorcycle there — it does not work! Motorcycle / scooter / on foot all fail, you must use a four-wheeled car (the most frequent mistake)
3. Not accepting / tracking the warrant first — go without accepting “Iron Cavalry Assault” and the ghost-fire motorcycle will not appear
4. Wrong follow distance — too close and you crash and break off, too far and you lose the lock
5. Wrong direction — you must drive east to west along the Coastal Highway
6. Confusing the elements — bring a Psyche weakness team to fight the Boss; Plasma is the Arc’s element, not the Boss weakness
7. Flailing in the clone fight — in Phase 2 only hit the real body (thick HP bar)

9. Related Guides

• Anomaly Boss Complete Bestiary — overview of all 18 Bosses
• Serenetti Complete Guide / Mammon Complete Guide — other popular Bosses
• Hathor Complete Build Guide — the owner of Raging Flames
• Vehicles Complete Guide — motorcycles and the blue-flame effect
• Signature Weapon (Signature Arc) Complete Guide — full Raging Flames comparison
• Elemental Reaction System — Genesis / Overwrite reactions

FAQ

Headless Rider data is compiled from public sources including Game8, GameWith, Entertainment Taxi, Bahamut, 4Gamers, HN PlayNews, Loot Buddy, and others. The trigger time (00:00-04:00 vs ~20:00), highway number (Z42 vs Z49), Boss level (32 vs 35+), and reward values differ slightly across sites — defer to in-game; the move multipliers are officially unpublished.