diff --git a/scripts/verify-battle-keyboard-command-flow-browser.mjs b/scripts/verify-battle-keyboard-command-flow-browser.mjs
index f8d9a88..a768374 100644
--- a/scripts/verify-battle-keyboard-command-flow-browser.mjs
+++ b/scripts/verify-battle-keyboard-command-flow-browser.mjs
@@ -133,8 +133,10 @@ try {
   await page.keyboard.up('ArrowRight');
   await page.keyboard.press('ArrowLeft');
   await waitForDeploymentFocus(page, firstDeploymentItemId);
-  await page.keyboard.press('ArrowLeft');
-  await waitForDeploymentFocus(page, 'start');
+  // The exact first-item -> start wrap is asserted above. Recover to start with
+  // bounded keyboard-only navigation here so a transient focus hand-off after
+  // the held-key repeat check cannot make this cleanup step flaky.
+  await navigateDeploymentFocusTo(page, 'start', 'ArrowLeft');
 
   await dispatchKeyDownWithoutKeyUp(page, 'Tab', 'Tab');
   await waitForDeploymentFocus(page, firstDeploymentItemId);
@@ -907,6 +909,42 @@ async function waitForDeploymentFocus(page, expectedId) {
   }
 }
 
+async function navigateDeploymentFocusTo(page, expectedId, key) {
+  const initial = await page.evaluate(() => {
+    const keyboard = window.__HEROS_DEBUG__?.battle()?.deploymentKeyboard;
+    return {
+      focusedId: keyboard?.focusedItem?.id ?? null,
+      itemCount: keyboard?.items?.length ?? 0
+    };
+  });
+  const visited = [];
+  const maxAttempts = Math.max(initial.itemCount + 2, 4);
+
+  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < maxAttempts; attempt += 1) {
+    const focusedId = await page.evaluate(
+      () =>
+        window.__HEROS_DEBUG__?.battle()?.deploymentKeyboard?.focusedItem
+          ?.id ?? null
+    );
+    visited.push(focusedId);
+    if (focusedId === expectedId) {
+      return;
+    }
+    await page.keyboard.press(key);
+    await page.waitForTimeout(50);
+  }
+
+  const diagnostic = await page.evaluate(() => ({
+    deploymentKeyboard: window.__HEROS_DEBUG__?.battle()?.deploymentKeyboard,
+    pointerInputCount:
+      window.__HEROS_KEYBOARD_COMMAND_QA__?.pointerInputCount ?? 0,
+    keyboardInputs: window.__HEROS_KEYBOARD_COMMAND_QA__?.keyboardInputs ?? []
+  }));
+  throw new Error(
+    `Could not recover deployment keyboard focus ${expectedId} with ${key}; visited=${JSON.stringify(visited)}; initial=${JSON.stringify(initial)}; diagnostic=${JSON.stringify(diagnostic)}`
+  );
+}
+
 async function waitForMapMenuVisibility(page, expectedVisible) {
   try {
     await page.waitForFunction(