============================ Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria FAQ/Walkthrough v0.9 by tri-Ace Fanboy E-mail: rod_rasouza@hotmail.com ============================ This entire document is (C) 2006-2007 Rodrigo Alves de Souza (tri-Ace Fanboy). All trademarks are property of their respective owners. No section of this guide can be used without my permission. This includes, but is not limited to posting on your website, making links to my guide, including parts of my guide in your own, or making reference to any material contained within. All the sites mentioned below have permission to do the above. Please email me at rod_rasouza@hotmail.com to enquire about gaining permission to use this document. GameFAQs - http://www.gamefaqs.com/ Neoseeker - http://www.neoseeker.com/ Super Cheats - http://www.supercheats.com/ 1UP.com - http://www.1up.com/ Rpg Dreamers - http://www.rpgdreamers.com/ - Thanks to Michael Sarich for this Copyright notice - =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== 00 - Table of Contents [00000] Use your program's search function (usually accessed by pressing Ctrl+F) and search for the numbers in brackets to go straight for the section you want to check out. For example, searching for [02000] takes you to the version history section. 00 - Table of Contents.......................................[00000] 01 - About this FAQ..........................................[01000] 02 - Version History.........................................[02000] 03 - Frequently Asked Questions..............................[03000] 04 - Main Game Walkthrough...................................[04000] 04.1 - Chapter 1............................................[04100] 04.1.01 - Beginning of the journey.........................[04101] 04.2 - Chapter 2............................................[04200] 04.2.01 - Return of the princess...........................[04201] 04.2.02 - Getting ready for a long journey.................[04202] 04.2.03 - To the west......................................[04203] 04.3 - Chapter 3............................................[04300] 04.3.01 - The quest for the orb begins.....................[04301] 04.3.02 - Sidequests, Part I...............................[04302] 04.3.03 - Checklist I......................................[04303] 04.3.04 - Water and Fire...................................[04304] 04.3.05 - Sidequests, Part II..............................[04305] 04.3.06 - Back to orb-hunting..............................[04306] 04.3.07 - Checklist II.....................................[04307] 04.4 - Chapter 4............................................[04400] 04.4.01 - Moving On........................................[04401] 04.4.02 - Sidequests, Part III.............................[04402] 04.4.03 - Fighting the shadowy gods........................[04403] 04.5 - Chapter 5............................................[04500] 04.5.01 - Last place in Midgard............................[04501] 04.5.02 - Crossing the bridge..............................[04502] 04.5.03 - The other side...................................[04503] 04.6 - Chapter 6............................................[04600] 04.6.01 - The final dungeon................................[04601] 04.6.02 - The final battles................................[04602] 05 - Seraphic Gate *NOT INCLUDED YET*........................[05000] 06 - Secrets, Extras and Side-Quests.........................[06000] 06.1 - The Poems (tri-Emblem)...............................[06100] 06.2 - The kid asking for money in Kalstad..................[06200] 06.3 - Powerleveling Items *SPOILERS*.......................[06300] 06.4 - The 3 Secret Dungeons and the Sealpouches............[06400] 06.5 - Animal Rings.........................................[06500] 06.6 - Luck Smiles (7777 / 100% Drop Rate Trick)............[06600] 06.7 - Hard Mode............................................[06700] 07 - Gameplay................................................[07000] 07.1 - Characters: classes and stats........................[07100] 07.2 - Skill System and Equipment Links.....................[07200] 07.3 - Shops/Valued Customer System.........................[07300] 07.4 - Battle System........................................[07400] 07.4.01 - The Basics.......................................[07401] 07.4.02 - Blocking, Evading and Criticals..................[07402] 07.4.03 - Attacking, Dashing and AP........................[07403] 07.4.04 - Battle Menu......................................[07404] 07.4.05 - Party control and splitting......................[07405] 07.4.06 - Breaking, Collecting Items and Break Mode........[07406] 07.4.07 - Combos, gems, crystals and attack properties.....[07407] 07.4.08 - Special Attacks: Soul Crushes and Great Magic....[07408] 07.4.09 - Elements, Status Effects and Races...............[07409] 07.5 - Einherjar System.....................................[07500] 07.6 - Dungeons.............................................[07600] 07.6.01 - Map..............................................[07601] 07.6.02 - Treasure chests and traps........................[07602] 07.6.03 - Enemies and photons..............................[07603] 07.6.04 - Sealstone System.................................[07604] 08 - Game Mechanics..........................................[08000] 08.1 - Stat-Growth: Growth Styles, Level Ranges and Tables..[08100] 08.2 - Rules of Stacking....................................[08200] 08.2.01 - When do things stack?............................[08201] 08.2.02 - How do they stack?...............................[08202] 08.3 - Critical Ranks.......................................[08300] 08.4 - Calculating Attack Damage............................[08400] 08.4.01 - Full formula.....................................[08401] 08.4.02 - Sources of elemental damage and how they work....[08402] 08.5 - Calculating Spell Damage.............................[08500] 08.5.01 - Full formula.....................................[08501] 09 - Skill List..............................................[09000] 09.1 - Status Skills........................................[09100] 09.2 - Attack Skills........................................[09200] 09.3 - Defense Skills.......................................[09300] 09.4 - Critical Skills......................................[09400] 09.5 - Reaction Skills......................................[09500] *THE NEXT SECTIONS SPOIL CHARACTER AND LOCATION NAMES* 10 - Effects List............................................[10000] 11 - Sealstone List..........................................[11000] 12 - Shop List...............................................[12000] 13 - Item Creation List......................................[13000] 14 - Release Recommendations *NOT INCLUDED YET*..............[14000] 15 - Plot characters and Einherjar List......................[15000] 15.1 - Einherjar List.......................................[15100] 15.2 - Plot Characters......................................[15200] 16 - Attacks & Spells List...................................[16000] 16.1 - Light Warrior Einherjar Attacks......................[16100] 16.2 - Heavy Warrior Einherjar Attacks......................[16200] 16.3 - Archer Einherjar Attacks.............................[16300] 16.4 - Attack Spells........................................[16400] 16.5 - Menu Spells..........................................[16500] 16.6 - Plot Character Attacks...............................[16600] 17- Credits, Contact and Thanks..............................[17000] =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== 01 - About this FAQ [01000] Hello, this is my third FAQ and the first attempt at a walkthrough. Most of the "hidden" info in this guide (enemy stats, elements, etc.) is based on the Japanese Official Complete Guide, but everything you're reading here has been checked. Feel free to point out any mistakes you find. The FAQ was supposed to have simply everything on the game at first, but this just isn't practical. Good items are mentioned, but there's no full item list here. Gundam4Fun's Item Guide has all 738 items, so use that if you need more details on them. Everything about the gameplay is explained here though, so while there's no Bestiary or Item List, there's much more than just an walkthrough. Although that is the meat of the document and goes first, you really should check the next Sections for info on all gameplay aspects. I hope you enjoy this FAQ and that it's useful to you. If you want to leave feedback, or if you have any doubts about anything here, just check Section 17 and send me an e-mail. You could also post on the GameFAQs board. My username there is triAce_Fanboy. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== 02 - Version History [02000] --- v0.9 - 06/08/07 --- File size: 925kb Main game walkthrough finished! Ok, this would have been impressive 7 months ago. The FAQ is still far from over: I still need to do the bonus dungeon walkthrough, and then there's the other sections. Full list of changes: -Changed e-mail to rod_rasouza@hotmail.com. Please use this one from now on, I'm only using it for the FAQs so I shouldn't miss any anymore. Sorry for any unanswered mail, I'll answer everything from now on. -FAQ added to Rpg Dreamers! -Added some important guidelines to the beginning of the Walkthrough. Please read them before you use it. -Main game walkthrough finished. Updated some things on the old parts too. It's not perfect, but it is getting better. More fixes to come to the whole thing when I finish the bonus dungeon walkthrough. -Made improvements to the level up method in section 04.3.07. Removed some unnecessary things and added numbers to show how fast the method is under different circumstances. -Fixed some of the enemy races. -Einherjar recommendations fixed for what is hopefully the last time. -Added a new Frequently Asked Question. -Secrets section rewritten. -Shop and Item Creation sections complete. Sealstone section updated. -Updated Game Mechanics section. Still missing details on Soul Crush and Great Magic. -Added the Effects List section with equipment effects and detailed descriptions of their bonuses, not included in the game. -Added Release Recommendations section, with several setups for all parts of the game. This won't be included in the main walkthrough anymore, except for the 3 releases I recommend (Kraad, Richelle, Mithra). -Added Leone's stat growth, thanks to Gulcasa. -Rewrote most of the gameplay section. It's up to date with everything we know so far, I think. --- v0.8 - 02/02/07 --- File size: 684kb Huge update to the whole FAQ. Most of the important gameplay aspects have been figured out, so I'm focusing entirely on the Walkthrough now and will do my best to finish the main game in February. Full list of changes: -Walkthrough updated to the end of Chapter 4. Some parts are missing a few details, but this will be fixed in the next update. -Changed many things in old parts of the walkthrough. There might be some inconsistencies in it (like items being mentioned suddenly), but the next updates will take care of those. Anyway, it's better than it was before. -Added the enemies' race in the dungeon listing, to make using the right critical skills easier. Thanks to Marty81 for the idea. -Removed the Rune Locations list. That was a lot of work to do, and it's much better to just use Gundam4Fun's Items Guide instead. It's a great guide with more info than I could include here. Updated Section 01 (About this FAQ) because of this too. Please read it. -Added a Secrets and Side-Quests section, with all the optional things in the game. I plan to include a Missable/Limited Items list in this section later. This is named Section 06, and not 05, because 05 will be the Seraphic Gate Walkthrough. Thanks to Moppi for giving the idea for this section. -Game Mechanics section completely rewritten with lots of new information on several things. Thanks to MeepleLardicle, Niu, crate3333, Marty81, hpsolo, HeWhoYerfs, madsharkk and many others in the Damage Calculations topic for finding lots of stuff out. -Sealstone, Shop and Item Creation lists updated. -Character list updated with all plot characters and Einherjar, with full info on their stat-growth and their stat-ranges on different levels for most characters. There's no evaluation information for now, but I'll include an easy-to-read list with all the good and bad points of each character later. -Menu Spells list updated. They're all listed now, but might be missing some details, like the rest of Section 14. There should be a new update soon that will include one more dungeon and will polish things a bit. If anything looks weird now, please tell me and I'll try to fix it in the next update. I'll try my best to give quick updates without compromising the quality, but I'm not satisfied with how some things are now, so expect constant changes. As said above, the priority is the Walkthrough now. --- v0.7 - 12/03/06 --- File size: 421kb What the hell, I forgot to submit the previous update. Really sorry about that... anyway, lots of new stuff on this one. Full list of changes: -Two more areas included in the walkthrough. Only two more for Chapter 4. -Einherjar and release recommendations updated. Celes isn't recommended anymore. -Boss strategies written differently. Easier to check their attacks now. -New section: Sealstone list with all Sealstones in the walkthrough so far. Detailed description of their effect, price and uses. -New section: Shop list with all shops so far. There's only one shop left in the game anyway. -New section: Item creation list with most creatable items so far and the sooner you can get them, including where to get the materials. Missing one town currently in the walkthrough. -New section: Rune location list with some locations of all blue runes so far, and the skills they're needed for. Will include the missing runes/colors in the next update. Don't forget to read the update below too if you haven't seen it... sorry again for not submitting. --- v0.62 - 11/03/06 --- Update covering 3 more areas as promised. Organized information on important enemies/drops/skills and shopping differently. It should be easier to read and find what you want now. Check the beginning of the walkthrough for more details. Added more info on old places too, especially Kalstad. --- v0.6 - 10/31/06 --- It's been a while. Sorry for taking so long to update the walkthrough. It includes 3 more areas now. I know that isn't much after 1 month, but I'll update it in 3 days with 2 more, and then I'll keep it up until the end. To make updates faster and to keep my sanity, the walkthrough will be less detailed about item drops FOR NOW. There are 738 items in the game, and commenting on every single one will make this guide take FOREVER to complete. So I'll just mention the most important ones and the new runes for now. Later when I've finished the walkthrough I'll go back and include everything that's worth including. I'm sorry if this bothers anyone. Einherjar recommendations, dungeon guides and boss strategies are as detailed as before, item drops are the only difference. Added character section, still incomplete. This thing is getting HUGE for an incomplete guide. Fixed wording on parts of the gameplay section. Nothing critical, but it should be easier to read/understand. Also added more info on Break Mode chances. Thanks to Iheartkosmos, playboyskitch, Lord Treant and griffpad for some dropped item names. FAQ added to 1UP.com! --- v0.58 - 10/16/06 --- No update in the walkthrough this time, but added Attack List and lots of info on damage calculation. All incomplete, but there are many interesting things in those sections. This changes many strategies and character evaluations in the walkthrough (also the stat descriptions in the Gameplay section). Thanks to Zach Keene, Kismet87 and Rasshiu for the attack names! Also fixed Triple Edge's runes thanks to cloudbp. --- v0.55 - 10/07/06 --- Updated the walkthrough with some of Chapter 3. Some parts have been reworded, with the Battle System Section being more detailed about attacks, breaking and Special Attacks. Skill list completed (thanks for Xerain's list of name changes for skills and runes) and fixed Adversity's description thanks to Sephir0th56. More Frequently Asked Questions. --- v0.5 - 09/30/06 --- First version released to the public. Gameplay Section is complete, but everything else is still under development. Walkthrough done up to the beginning of Chapter 3. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== 03 - Frequently Asked Questions [03000] Q: Do I need to play the first Valkyrie Profile before playing this? A: Not really, but it helps. This game happens in the past, so you can play most of it even if you've never heard of Valkyrie Profile before. However you'll miss some neat references across the whole game, and many things from the first game will be spoiled as well. If you plan to play the first game, do it before playing Silmeria. If you don't, feel free to play Silmeria as you won't miss anything from the plot. Q: Is there a New Game +? What carries over? A: No. Finishing the game unlocks Hard Mode, which boosts the stats of all enemies. You also get the option of different music in battle. Beating the game again makes it even harder, up to 51 times. That's all you get though, nothing carries over to Hard Mode. Q: Do I get anything for collecting 100% treasure in a dungeon? A: No. The counter is just there to let you know if you missed something. Q: How do I learn spells? Do I need to teach them somehow? A: Just level up. Characters have their own spell list and learn different things at different levels. Most Archers and Light Warriors can learn some Menu Spells as well, but some don't. Heavy Warriors get no spells at all. Q: I missed [something], should I restart? A: Depends on how far you are into the game. If you just started Chapter 3 and missed the poem in Dipan, restarting isn't a bad idea. The only real critical things you can miss are the Sealstone pouches... I'd restart for those, but it really is up to you. Q: Can I turn the Divine Time Giver off? It's eating all my AP! A: Just don't button-mash. Proper use of combos and of the Divine Time Giver will give much better results than simply pressing everything mindlessly. It's much more fun, too! Q: Should I get the uber Chapter 3/4 weapons? Those are some really high level requirements for them... A: The weapons are strong, but not the best. You'll eventually find better stuff and simply won't use them anymore. If you think all that is a good thing, then do it. If not, don't. The game is balanced to be played WITHOUT the weapons. It doesn't take very long if you do it properly -- around 1 hour at most. They still won't save any time though. Q: Those Sealstones are way too expensive! How do I get 30,000 crystals? A: All overpriced Sealstones are ridiculously overpowered and will pretty much mean victory if you use them properly, regardless of enemy strength. So yeah, they're not something you're supposed to get without lots of effort. Direct Assaults against weak enemies are the best way to farm crystals. Q: Should I wait until I have the best equipment in the game to release the Einherjar? A: The more you wait, the better the results... but the least game left to make use of your increased strength. The enemies you need to beat for the best equipment are the strongest in the game anyway, so I recommend you just release Einherjar as you feel necessary throughout the game. The walkthrough has several recommendations. Q: Is it better to kill all enemies or just the leader? A: You'll get the same amount of experience either way. Killing other enemies can get you more items and crystals depending on your attacks and combos, but that's it. It's also safer to kill dangerous enemies than to ignore them. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== 04 - Walkthrough [04000] The Walkthrough contains no spoilers, unless you want to read about parts of the game you haven't reached yet. Just read as you go along and you won't be spoiled, as no plot details are ever mentioned other than character/location names when they show up. This walkthrough is full of recommendations on who to use, who to fight, what to collect and so on. Collecting items can be difficult, especially in the beginning, so don't feel forced to get them just because the guide recommends it. All recommended items and skills have their effects described, so please think if you need the item before trying to get it. Some good items may just not fit your playing style, so there's no reason to get something you won't use. Towns have an exploration part, pointing out items and other events, and a shopping part with shopping recommendations. Dungeons have enemy and item information separated from the exploration as well. Feel free to skip any part if it doesn't have the kind of information you're looking for. Bosses have a full, detailed strategy, with their stats and element/status vulnerabilities. The HP listed is the base one -- multiply it by 1.2 if you're playing for the first time, and by 2 if you're on Hard mode. This will give you the true HP value of the enemy. Sometimes mini-bosses have detailed strategies too, but not always. Finally, please enjoy the Walkthrough and the rest of the FAQ! =============================================================================== 04.1 - Chapter 1: Defiers of the Gods [04100] A short introductory chapter that teaches you the basics of gameplay. Let's make good use of it to strengthen the party for the next, more challenging chapters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.1.01 - Beginning of the journey [04101] --- Solde --- -Items: Burgundy Flask, Warrior's Arcanum -Points of interest: 1st Poem (Tri-Emblem sidequest) You'll begin the game in the streets of Solde. This isn't a very big town, but it might be a bit confusing if you're not used to the profile view in the game yet. Your party for now is Alicia (Light Warrior) and Rufus (Archer). Alicia is a very good Light Warrior with decent, unique attacks, but none of them are elemental and the early ones don't get many hits. You'll get Light Warrior Einherjar that are better than her at first (but not always later), so feel free to remove her from the party if you wish then, even though she's the main character. Still, she's great for now. Rufus is a very balanced character capable of both support and offense. He's very good for both elemental and non-elemental attacks, later focusing in Lighting attacks, an element no other Archer uses. It's good to keep him around most of the time, even more so once he starts getting menu spells. In case you don't know, elemental attacks in this game depend on both ATK and MAG, which makes them stronger than non-elemental attacks in many situations, even if the enemy doesn't have an elemental weakness. Elemental attacks are the best choices at several places. The best attacks to use for now are Three-way Attack - Absolute Wave for Rufus and Imperious Act - Mirage Pierce for Alicia. Imperious Act is weaker than Cutting Edge, but it launches. Mirage Pierce ignores the enemy's RDM, so you'll deal full damage even to tough enemies. Absolute Wave is VERY strong, strongest attack for a while outside of the Heavy Warrior stuff you don't have yet. Thunder Arrow will become a better choice than Three-way Attack once you get MAG-boosting equipment and some levels (or find an enemy weak to Lightning). You begin with just 500 OTH and a few items: 4 Warrior's Arcanum, a Union Plume and a Dwarf Tincture. That's not much, but you'll get better stuff soon. Let's just explore the town first. You start in front of the Waiting Area. Go back into it and check the right part of the screen for a Burgundy Flask. Go outside again. Explore the right part of the town if you want, but there's nothing important in there. Go left to the main street. The very first house you see has a treasure chest with a Warrior's Arcanum. Next house is the shop -- there's detailed info on what to buy/sell up ahead. Keep going left for a street. Go into it. You'll find a cat on the right here. There are 3 animals in the game you can feed to get accessories, but it's a complete waste of time. There's no reason to do it at all. If you do want to, check Section 06.5 for details. Feeding the animals won't be mentioned in the Walkthrough. On the left is a very important house: check it's left wall for the first Poem. This is part of a side-quest -- you have until half of Chapter 5 to read it. There's a chapel in this street as well, but nothing interesting on it. Back to the main street now. The next house to the left is the inn. You can sleep here for 150 OTH, but there's no point in doing so now. There's also a save point, but you will be able to save soon anyway. Continue left to leave the first town. After a cutscene you will be in the world map and the Lost Forest will show up. You can still open the menu here -- do so and save the game now. Enter the forest when you are ready. Shopping: Sell the Burgundy Flask here for 792 OTH to be able to buy stuff. The flask is a material for item creation here anyway, but you can't create it anytime soon. I recommend buying 2 Cloth Greaves (one for each character) and a Leather Mail (for Alicia). You'll still have some money left, but there's no need to buy anything else now. Important: do not sell Alicia's Robe. It's weak and worth a lot of money, but it's your only Red Body Rune for a while and it gives 30% protection from fire. With Alicia's Robe, Prancing Horse and Ruby-Eyed Bee you can learn the Regenerate Health skill, but you don't have money for these accessories yet. It's not a great skill anyway. We'll buy these later when the story takes us back to Solde. For more details on the shops and those items with question marks, check Section 07.3. --- Lost Forest --- -Items: 400 OTH, Skull Receptacle, Union Plume -Einherjar: Sorcerer [ Mithra (100%) ] -Enemies: Bullet Beetle (Insect), Dire Wolf (Beast), Skeleton (Unholy) -Overview: Very simple dungeon without any dangerous enemies. Don't bother hunting for items yet, the enemies will return in the next dungeon and it will be much easier to break stuff with more characters. -Dungeon walkthrough: You'll fight a forced battle in the first area. This works as a tutorial, but you can skip it and go straight to the battle if you want. I recommend checking it out, but you can always check Section 07.4 for info on battles. Fighting the tutorial will probably get you some items too when you enter Break Mode. After the battle you'll be able to use photons by pressing square. Hit an enemy with a photon to crystallize it. You can touch crystallized enemies without fighting them. Fire another photon and you will switch places with the crystal. Hold X while warping to jump when you materialize -- you can use this to jump twice in the air. Section 07.6.03 has more detailed information if you need. Anyway, just walk right. On the third area you'll need to step on an enemy to proceed. There's a chest here with 400 OTH. Go on and you'll get your first Einherjar, Mithra. I recommend checking Section 07.5 for details on the Einherjar system. Mithra is an Ice Sorcerer, but all this means for now is that he starts with a bad spell: Frigid Damsel. It often freezes the enemy, but the damage is low and it costs a lot of AP. It's slow too, so not good for combos. Still, Mithra is one of the best Sorcerers for good part of the game: he gets most of the spells really early and comes with the Break Up skill, which is very useful. You really shouldn't release him anytime soon. Try to use him for now, even though his damage is pretty bad. That's the last area of the dungeon, but you're still missing two treasures. Go to the left here and fire 2 Photons on the edge of the cliff above. You will switch places with a small pillar. The final treasures (Skull Receptacle and an Union Plume) are up there. The Skull Receptacle has a Blue Earth rune. Link that with the Blue Body rune to start learning the Fortify Physique skill! Again, check Section 07.2 for more on the Skill System. I'd teach Fortify Physique to Alicia first. Now save (important!) and proceed right for the next dungeon. --- Royal Underground Path --- -Items: 1800 OTH (total), Warrior's Arcanum x3, Gauntlet, Leather Boots, Elixir, Antique Pendant, Union Plume x2, Thunder Gem, Sallet, Dwarf Tincture, Shamshir -Einherjar: Light Warrior [ Richelle (25%), Sylphide (50%) or Jessica (25%) ] Heavy Warrior [ Kraad (50%) or Roland (50%) ] -Enemies: Bullet Beetle (Insect), Skeleton (Unholy), Skeleton Soldier (Unholy), Dire Wolf (Beast), Goblin (Demon) -Re-fightable Boss: Ballistic Rhino -Overview: This is a much bigger dungeon than Lost Forest. There are alternate paths, secret areas, hidden treasures and such in here. You will also need quite a bit of photon warping and air-jumping. Nothing compared to the next dungeons, of course, but good for practice. You'll also start finding Einherjar here. You can't choose who you get from the relic, so you may want to load the game in case you don't get the one you want. They're near the entrance, so that's not too much trouble. If you keep getting the same character after loading, fight a few battles before checking the relic again. Or just get whoever shows up if you don't care anyway. Everyone is good enough to be helpful. And, with random Einherjar showing up, you may want to release some of them. This is a bad idea for now, as you don't have good equipment yet. If you do want to anyway, don't equip them with anything. None of your equipment will give additional items at this point of the game, so you might as well not waste it. Once you get your additional party members you can start looking for items with enemies. Remember, you must break specific body parts for those. A good way to get some OTH is by breaking the Bullet Beetle's body for Ambers. Enemies to look out for: Breaking the Goblin's mace will make it use only a stronger attack: Spit Fire. Unless you're breaking their mace for items, attack from behind to avoid breaking it. They're also short, so some attacks can miss. Launch them first. Bullet Beetles can be killed immediately by breaking the stinger on their back. Attack from behind for that. Dire Wolfs should be attacked from the sides for quick kills, as the tail is the only non-vital part. Skeletons are so slow that they shouldn't hit you unless you forget to move or miss a dash. Good item drops: Warrior's Arcanum and Dwarf Tinctures: Healing items. You can just buy these, but since you don't have much OTH yet it's a good idea to try and get some from enemies. Break the Skeleton or Skeleton Soldier's chest for these. Skeletons will drop Warrior's Arcanum (300 HP to one character), Skeleton Soldiers drop Dwarf Tinctures (300 HP to party). Beetle Shell: Blue accessory, boosts RDM by 3% each. Break the Bullet Beetle's shell for these. Doesn't do much by itself, but can be very good with links. Amber: Just for selling, break the Bullet Beetle's body to get. Each of these is worth 1,200 OTH, making them the best way to get money for now. Runes and Skills: Blue Healing: Beetle Shells, listed above. This is necessary for 2 very good Defense Skills later, plus 2 other bad ones. Blue Weakness: Break the Bullet Beetle's stinger (attack from the back) for Insect Stingers. This is necessary for 3 good Critical Skills later, but you'll also get this by talking to a person in a village later, so you could just skip it for now if you're having trouble getting it. Blue Strengthening: Break the Goblin's body for Little Devil Hearts. This rune teaches 2 skills later, but only one is good. Not very important overall but it's easy to get. You can also get Blue Darkness and another Blue Earth here, but they aren't recommended. You already have Blue Earth and will find it for sale in the next shop anyway, and Blue Darkness will be available for sale as well later. You can't learn anything with it for now anyway. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Stun Check: Good runeless accessory that protects from fire and is very simple to create. You can create it in Solde or in the next town with 2 Broken Amulets (Direct Assault Skeletons), 2 Ambers and 2 Stagnant Water (Bullet Beetle's arms, or just Direct Assault it). Leather Cloak: Armor with decent RDM and 50% Lightning protection for Archers and Sorcerers. You can't create it yet, but it's recommended that you get enough materials for one here: 1 Beast Pelt (Dire Wolf's body) and 2 Bat Wings (Goblin's wings, just attack from behind). Sabertooth Saber: Great light sword. You can't create it yet either, but the materials are all here as well and you should get enough for one. You'll need 3 Beast Pelts (Dire Wolf's body) and 3 Iron Ores (Goblin's weapon, attack from the front). Not hard to get. Sacred Guarder: Red Arm armor with decent RDM, but you should get this for the 15% chance of blocking attacks. It doesn't sound like much, but it helps more than the RDM. Only one material available here though: 1 Bonemeal (break the Skeleton's arms). Don't bother collecting it, but don't sell any Black Crystals you happen to get. You'll need them for a very good light sword, but it takes a long time until you get there. -Dungeon walkthrough: Climb on the ledge of the first area for a bag with 400 OTH. Another smaller ledge right ahead has a Warrior's Arcanum. After this you'll need to step on the flying enemy or air-jump to proceed to the next area. Go left after the cutscene for a small room with a Warrior's Arcanum and a Gauntlet. The second chest is trapped with an arrow. Go back and proceed right. Here you'll find an orb telling you about Einherjar and, to the right, your first Einherjar relic: a Light Warrior. You'll get Richelle, Sylphide or Jessica. The choice here is all about opinion. Richelle starts with very good attacks (high damage and number of hits), but doesn't get much better. Jessica eventually catches up and surpasses her on damage, but not on hits. Unfortunately, Jessica's stat-growth is very random. She might end with the highest STR for a Light Warrior, or the lowest. Assuming she gets the average, she's just ok. Sylphide is frail, with low HP and STR, but very high MAG (highest for a Light Warrior) and she gets an elemental attack very soon. She also comes with the Free Item skill, which helps a lot for a while. She has few hits, though. For releases, Richelle is the best. For battle, it depends on what you want. Pick Richelle for a solid character for a while or combos, Jessica for non-elemental damage or Sylphide for elemental damage. I prefer Sylphide, but anyone is fine. Don't think about releasing Richelle now. For attacks, Jessica should use Sunset Luster - Sneaky Throw, Richelle Ascending Sword - Double Wind and Sylphide Double Wind - Sunset Luster. Anyway, now you've got a full party. Proceed down and right. Enter the first area down for the second Einherjar Relic. A Heavy Warrior this time. Roland has better STR, but worse attacks, so his damage will be lower. Kraad has more HP, CON, starts with the Fists of Iron skill (increases ATK) and with the best Heavy Warrior attack, plus his reward for releasing in Chapter 3 is a very power heavy sword. Pick Kraad here, he's the best choice for anything. Now you've got 5 characters, but 4 spots in the party. Mithra is the least useful character for now, so I'd remove him. For attacks, Roland uses Sideswiper - Smashing Swing, and Kraad Sideswiper - Sweep Dive. If you use Sweep Dive after launching an enemy (Ascending Sword or Imperious Act) you'll get a ground bounce, which restores 8 AP. This helps a lot. Go left for a room with Leather Boots and 800 OTH, then go right. There's a ledge with an Elixir here. To the right is more money: 600 OTH. Go back up now. Proceed right and then up for another cutscene. When it's over you'll have the Antique Pendant (Blue Healing rune) and a new plot character: Dylan, a Heavy Warrior. He has bad stats compared to the other Heavy Warriors, but starts with great attacks, so he's quite strong anyway. Still, the others can easily surpass him later because of the stat difference and similar attacks. Depending on his level during a certain part of the story way later in the game you'll get some extra items, but using him for that doesn't matter much. It's up to you. Dylan joins at level 1. Best attacks for now are Double Swing - Absolute Strike. The second ground bounces when hitting launched enemies too. Just one more thing about him: do not give Dylan any of your future stat-boosting items. Now, 6 characters. 2 have to stay out of the party. If you're thinking about damage then remove a Light Warrior and Mithra. For combos I'd prefer removing Alicia and Mithra. Now jump down the bridge, keeping yourself on the left side. You'll reach a treasure chest with an Union Plume. Fall again and go down. There's a ledge here with a Thunder Gem. Don't use this yet! Gems are strong elemental items and a good way to cause status changes. Save them for when you need them. You can continue to the right now. If you want to go back up there, just go left and then up to the next screen, then climb to the right. Follow the only path to the right now until you can go left or right again. To the right is a Sallet and a ledge, but you must use an enemy to go up there. Bring one of them from the left with photons. Up there is a room with another trapped chest (arrow again). Inside it you'll find a Dwarf Tincture. Go left and pick the Warrior's Arcanum before climbing the ledge. Proceed up. You're on the right side of the broken bridge now. Go left for a Union Plume, then keep going right and then up for a save point and a treasure chest with the Shamshir. It's a light sword with 3 attacks. That's 100% for treasure in this dungeon. The next room has the first boss. Although Frigid Damsel can freeze the boss I wouldn't recommend using Mithra, magic isn't very good yet. Heavy Warriors are, and Rufus can deal good damage with Absolute Wave (keep using Three-way Attack too). Don't forget to equip the Shamshir on your Light Warrior. Richelle if you have her, otherwise Alicia. If you have Sylphide she can help a bit with her Free Item skill if you mess up. Now save and go right for the boss. __Ballistic Rhino____________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 6 680 HP 5,000 exp 870 OTH | | 30 ATK 10 MAG 10 HIT 2 AVD | | Races: Giant, Beast | | Elements: Body has no resistance/vulnerability; | | All armor has Lightning -20%, Earth +20% | | Vulnerable to Curse (100%), Paralysis (20%), Silence (20%), Freeze (50%), | | Faint (100%) and Frailty (100%) | | Leader Item: Chainmail | | Recommended level: 2 | | | |Body Parts: | | -Horn: 68 HP, 7 RDM, 1 RST; Item: Ram's Horn (80%) | | -Head (vital): 170 HP, 6 RDM, 1 RST; Item: Pact Chain (80%) | | -Body (vital): 340 HP, 6 RDM, 1 RST; Item: Baraka (75%) | | -Legs (vital): 408 HP, 6 RDM, 1 RST; Item: Black Crystal (80%) | | -Tail: 136 HP, 4 RDM, 1 RST; Item: Iron ore (40%) | | -Body Armor (armor): 102 HP, 7 RDM, 1 RST; Item: Empty Shell (65%) | | -Arms (2, armor): 204 HP, 9 RDM, 1 RST; Item: Worn Shield (50%) | | -Arrowheads (2, armor): 34 HP, 7 RDM, 1 RST; Item: Spiral Arrowhead (80%) | | -Arm Armor (2, armor): 68 HP, 9 RDM, 1 RST; Item: Baraka (60%) | | | |Attacks: | | -(Shoot Arrowhead): Long range, used from far away. 1 hit on 1 character, | | average damage. Needs Arrowhead to be used, loses | | Arrowhead when used. | | -(Stomp): Small area, 1 hit of average damage on the party, usually 2 or 3 | | characters. | | -(Tail Attack): Small range, used from behind only. 1 hit of average damage | | on party, needs Tail to be used. | | -Charge: Average frontal range, average damage on the whole party. | | -Violent Purge: Targets self, explodes arm armor, dealing high damage on who| | is on the side. Used when below around 50% HP, needs arm | | armor to be used, loses both arm armor when used. | | -Sealed Missile: Large range on the front, does very high damage on the | | whole party, only used after losing both arm armor, needs | | arms to be used. Fire elemental. | | | |Strategy: | | The first boss is a big, slow and tough creature with lots of armor. He has | | a nice variety of attacks depending on your range and will probably begin by| | shooting the arrowheads. Dash past this and try to get behind him to get to | | the tail. No armor around here, so you can deal full damage. It's easy to | | break, and the tail attack is the least dangerous in the fight. Once it's | | gone the boss can't do anything from behind, so just stay there. Circle | | around the pillars to recover AP. If you've got Sylphide make sure she's the| | only one using items if you need any. | | | | That's all if you just want to kill him, but there are some good items to | | get here: Worn Shield and Baraka. The others are good too, but much easier | | to get with other enemies in the next areas. The Baraka and Worn Shield are | | simple to get, but risky. You may get attacked by Violent Purge, and that | | hurts a lot. Just attack from the sides for both. | | | | The Ram's Horn is another good item, but too risky to get. You'll have to | | take damage as you attack the Rhino from the front. If you do want to try, | | use an attack that puts the enemy down, like Imperious Act or Ascending | | Sword. Wait for it to fall on the ground and put it's head down, then attack| | with anything that hits on a straight line. Any of Rufus' attacks should | | work, as well as Mirage Pierce (Alicia's). | | | | The Ram's Horn (Blue Strengthening) boosts ATK by 3%. You'll find one in a | | dungeon later, and there are plenty of alternatives with the same or better | | effect. Don't forget to link it to boost the effects if you get it. | | | | The Worn Shield doesn't have a rune, but gives a good chance of blocking | | attacks. It's a great accessory for when you don't have anything else to | | equip. The Baraka (Red Strengthening) is even better: it boosts max HP by | | 3%. Of course, it goes higher than that with linking. | | | | Alicia can use Red Body + Strengthening + Slashing to learn the Heat Up | | skill already, but you don't really need it yet. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ You can fight the boss again if you want by checking the teleporter-like-thing it came from. You can do this to most bosses in the game, letting you get their items repeatedly. Don't forget this. The next room has another save point and the exit of this dungeon. Go on to finish Chapter 1. =============================================================================== 04.2 - Chapter 2: Darkness in Dipan [04200] Another short chapter, but heavier in plot development. Things will start getting complicated... and interesting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.2.01 - Return of the princess [04201] --- Dipan --- -Items: Union Plume -Points of interest: 2nd Poem (Tri-Emblem sidequest) The castle is to the right, but you can't enter yet. Go left for the town. First house is the Inn, which you probably need by now. Nothing interesting in the tavern. There's a path up to the left, but ignore it for now and enter the next house. It's the weapon shop and it has some good stuff, but do not sell materials here unless you have enough to create the items. You can't visit this shop later, so anything you sell will be lost. Again, check the Shopping section for more details on what to buy. Check the next house on the left. You'll find the 2nd Poem on the bookshelf on the right. It's VERY important that you get this now. You won't have another chance! Go to the back street now. The first house has an Union Plume, but that's all that's interesting here. Just go right until the next screen and listen to the guards talking. This will open the way to the castle to the right of the town's entrance, so go back there when you're ready. Don't forget to read the poem first! This is your last chance. Shopping: There's new equipment for everyone here. Don't bother buying a new light sword or bow because you'll find better or equal stuff in the next dungeon, but other than that you should buy the best for everyone. Still no good weapon for Sorcerers, but the Blue Apple accessory can make Mithra rather powerful. It's also great for Rufus' Thunder Arrow (remember, elemental physical attacks use MAG too), so buy one and link it. Don't bother buying more than one, you'll find a better MAG-boosting accessory soon. Buy a few Honeysuckle Dews too, to cure poison. The next boss can poison your characters easily if you mess up and that's the only way of healing that now. 5 dews should be enough. Stock on Warrior's Arcanum and Dwarf Tinctures as well. You can create Stun (recommended) and Poison Checks (not) here. Stun Checks give fire protection as mentioned before, and fire is the most dangerous element. Although the next boss can poison you, the Poison Checks still aren't worth the trouble. --- Dipan Castle --- -Items: Leather Boots, Dwarf Tincture, Union Plume, 1900 OTH (total), Crossbow, Double-check, Flare Gem, Crest Estoc, Hildr's Sword -Enemies: Skeleton Soldier (Unholy), Goblin (Demon), Warning Jewel (Magic), Living Armor (no race) -Re-fightable Boss: none -Overview: Much shorter than Royal Underground Path, but with some harder to get items. Enemies get more dangerous too, but the worst is the battlefield. It's way too narrow, making it hard to avoid attacks. Enemies to look out for: Living Armors depend on their spear to deal good damage. Break it and they're nearly harmless. Warning Jewels don't move, they just circle around in place casting Fire Storm. This is very strong and hard to dodge since the battlefield is so bad for dashing. If you have a Stun Check, equip that and Alicia's Robe on Alicia and use her as bait while the others attack from outside the attack range. Only do this if you know you can't avoid the attack. Good item drops: Blue Soul Flame: Blue accessory, gives 40% protection from Freeze. Just break the Warning Jewel's crystal to get it. Freeze is one of the most dangerous status effects, only because it's so frequent later. Remember, the effect goes up with links, so you can get immunity from this. Empty Shell: Runeless accessory. Gives 30% protection from Stone, and boosts both ATK (x1.2) and Critical Rank (+1) when the user is under the Silence status effect. Break the Living Armor's legs for this. One of the most useful items early on, but you can't get silenced yet. You'll find Living Armors more often later, but do try to collect this from any Armor you do fight here. Sharp Spearhead: Runeless accessory, also improves Critical Rank by +1. Break the Living Armor's weapon to get it. This actually stacks, so you can equip 4 on one character to boost his chances of doing critical hits a lot. Very reliable accessory, especially once you start using Critical Skills. The more you get the better. Old items from the Skeleton Soldier and Goblin can still be collected here as well. Check Royal Underground Path for these. Runes and Skills: Blue Fire: Blue Soul Flame, listed above. This teaches two GREAT skills, and you can actually get both already. Blue Body + Fire teaches Fists of Iron, a cheap and effective x1.2 boost to ATK. Blue Slashing + Weakness + Fire teaches Beast Bludgeon, your first Critical and Racial Skill. Racial skills give a x1.5 damage boost and +1 Critical Rank when you're fighting enemies of the right race. Better yet, any body part of these enemies hit by a critical hit will break INSTANTLY. That's a possible 1-hit, which you can make more likely with other Critical Rank boosts (Empty Shells and Sharp Spearheads so far). Unfortunately there aren't any beasts here, and only Heavy Warriors can learn this skill for now because of Blue Slashing. Make sure you start teaching this to your favorite Heavy Warriors already. Blue Holy: Break the Living Armor's arms for the Pact Chain. This teaches two skills you can already get as well. Blue Body + Healing + Holy teaches First Aid, a Defense Skill that gives a good chance of healing half of the damage you take when the attack is over. Anything that can kill you will still kill you, but a chance of halving damage for just 3 CP is great. Blue Slashing + Weakness + Holy teaches Unholy Purifier, another Critical and Racial Skill. This is the same as Beast Bludgeon, but for Unholy enemies, which the boss here just happens to be! Give priority to learning both of these skills. -Dungeon walkthrough: The first area doesn't have any enemies. Proceed left, then down and right up the stairs. Keep going right for Leather Boots and return to the left. Get past the save point and the path down. Go all the way to the left for a Dwarf Tincture and an Union Plume. Go back and save now, then take the path down. You'll fight a battle. Just Skeletons and Skeleton Soldiers, so nothing you're not used to already. The next areas will have enemies. Just go right and then down to the next room, then go left all the way. You'll find a strange machine you should remember if you've played VP1. Now go back to the right and then down. There's a seal on the door to the right here. Destroying the red pillar will break it, but let's check the left area first. Use a photon to switch places with the enemy on the upper left to reach 700 OTH hidden in the scenery. Now do the same with the enemy above you to get to the upper area. Go left and pick the Crossbow. That's why you shouldn't buy it in Dipan. Give it to Rufus. That's not all in this room though. Warp an enemy to the top of the treasure chest and jump on him. There's a Double-check on the top left and you can only reach it like this. This will double experience in one battle. Save it for later. Go back right to the area with the seal. Slash the red pillar to proceed. You'll reach another room with a seal and a red pillar to destroy, but it's on the top of the room. Warp up using enemies. There's 1200 OTH here, and going further up reveals the red pillar. Don't break it yet! Push it to the left and jump on top of it to reach a Flare Gem. Don't use it yet! Now you can break the pillar to remove the seal and proceed. If you did break the pillar, it's still possible to get the Flare Gem, it's just harder. You'll have to get an enemy way up there and use it as a stepping stone instead. Remember you can air-jump after warping. Now you'll find a Crest Estoc (last item in the dungeon) and an orb telling you about Soul Crushes. Yes, the Crest Estoc allows them, so equip it, even though it's weak. Alicia is the only one who can use it, but you'll get other weapons with SCs enabled soon. The Crest Estoc also gives 50% more Heat. This effect stacks with the Heat Up skill, so you shouldn't have any problems using Soul Crushes. There's a save point too. You know what that means: boss in the next room. You can't fight this one again, but there aren't any really good items in the fight and you can get everything later. For the boss, make sure you use Alicia with the Crest Estoc and that you have a combo capable of reaching 100 Heat. Equip the Heat Up skill if necessary, but that's unlikely. Heavy Warriors are also very useful in the battle because of the Unholy Purifier skill if you've got it already. This will give them a 50% damage boost on the boss, so use it over Fists of Iron or any other skill so far. It also make critical hits more frequent. Criticals ignore RDM and RST. The boss resists Lightning and has decent RST, so don't use Rufus' Thunder Arrow (and don't boost his MAG). Absolute Wave and Three-way Attack are very good if you want to use him. If you have Sylphide, use her with the Free Item skill again. Save and go right for the boss. __Primordial Ooze___________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 8 1,200 HP 9,000 exp 1,260 OTH | | 40 ATK 20 MAG 10 HIT 18 AVD | | Races: Giant, Plant, Unholy | | Elements: Fire -20%, Lightning and Earth +80%, Darkness +20% | | Vulnerable to Curse (100%), Paralysis (80%), Freeze (50%), Faint (50%) and | | Frailty (100%) | | Leader Item: Earth Gem | | Recommended level: 4 | | | |Body Parts: | | -Head: 480 HP, 5 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Eyeball (80%) | | -Body (vital): 840 HP, 5 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Heart Core (100%) | | -Upper Shoulders (2): 360 HP, 5 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Seafood (80%) | | -Upper Tentacles (2): 180 HP, 4 RDM, 8 RST; Item: Tentacles (60%) | | -Lower Shoulders (2): 360 HP, 5 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Thick Bone (80%) | | -Lower Tentacles (2): 180 HP, 4 RDM, 8 RST; Item: Bone Mace (60%) | | | |Attacks: | | -Stinking Missile: Long range only, 4 hits total on random targets for | | average damage. Needs at least 1 tentacle to use. Earth | | elemental. | | -(Tentacle Combo): Wide area in front, 4 hits on the party for high damage | | total. Needs at least 1 tentacle to use. | | -Evasive Maneuvers: Used automatically when it dodges an attack, will pull | | back and turn towards the party, getting ready to use | | the tentacle combo immediately after. | | -Regeneration: Targets self, used when any tentacle is broken, regenerates | | all tentacles and deals very high Lightning damage on a wide | | area around it. | | -Lock-On: Targets self, just a preparation for Washout. Used ALWAYS when | | under 50% HP. Needs shoulders to be used. | | -Washout: Used after Lock-On, deal heavy damage and poison the party | | ANYWHERE, regardless of where they are. Cannot be stopped. Earth | | elemental. | | | |Strategy: | | Strong attacks, but simple fight. Dash in to avoid Stinking Missile, and try| | to stay behind it to avoid the tentacle combo. If the boss dodges, stop | | attacking and reposition yourself. When attacking, just do a long combo to | | reach 100 Heat and be able to use Alicia's SC, which is a very good way of | | dealing damage here, since you don't risk breaking stuff with it (and it | | doesn't cost AP). | | | | If you do break something, stop the combo and dash away immediately. Wait | | for the boss to use Regeneration before getting close again. This is a good | | time to recover AP. If you're hit by Regeneration, then just have someone | | use a Dwarf Tincture. Remember, let Sylphide use items if you've got her. | | | | Once it's around half of it's HP it will start spamming Lock-On/Washout and | | nothing else. This is bad: it's an elemental attack, causes poison and you | | can't avoid it. Now you can stay the rest of the fight taking hits and | | getting poisoned... or you can just use the Flare Gem you've got in the | | dungeon to end the fight. If this is not possible, have the weakest | | character stay behind to use items. Repeating myself a lot here, but | | Sylphide is a very good choice. Dwarf Tinctures and Honeysuckle Dews will be| | needed. | | | | Breaking here is too risky and the items aren't really good, so you | | shouldn't bother, except for the body's Heart Core maybe. This one is easy | | to break and it gives 30% protection to Frailty and Poison, also boosting HP| | by 10%. You can get it later though. The Thick Bone and Bone Mace also | | protect from Frailty, but by the time you have to worry about that you'll | | have better protection to it. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Go right for a cutscene. Now you've got to leave the castle. Start going back and you'll get another cutscene near the exit of this underground area. After the scene make sure you pick up the sword on the floor to the right. It's Hildr's Sword, a weapon with 25 ATK, 5 HIT, 1 attack and Soul Crush enabled, not to mention the first weapon with an element: Holy. You'll want to give this one to your Light Warrior Einherjar with the attack that gives the most Heat. If you have Jessica give her the Heat Up skill as well. This way you'll be able to use 2 Soul Crushes. Use Nibelung Valesti first since Alicia's weapon is much weaker. If you're not using a Light Warrior Einherjar then give Hildr's Sword to Alicia and don't forget the Heat Up skill. ATK will be more important than MAG for now with the Hildr's Sword, so focus on that. Now just leave the castle and you'll get a cutscene near the entrance. Watch it first and only then keep reading this. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.2.02 - Getting ready for a long journey [04202] Ok, lots of new stuff now. First, you can't go back to Dipan, but can still go to the Royal Underground Path. Also, you've got Lezard, another Sorcerer. He's your best Sorcerer for 2 dungeons because of the Fire Storm spell, but after that he's the worst. He's the only Sorcerer to miss more than one spell and has really low HP. He also starts with Thunder Storm, the best menu spell because of instant-breaking with critical skills, but you don't have many of them now, and will have a better Sorcerer than him for that when you do. Like Dylan, you'll get some items depending on his level later in the game, but don't feel forced to use him because of that. Lezard joins at level 5. Don't give him any stat-boosting items either. So the question now is who to use. Lezard is better than Mithra for now and you'll need a Sorcerer, so use him. Alicia can deal nice damage with Hildr's Sword and Mirage Pierce (enemies start getting decent RDM now). Don't boost her MAG much though, focus on ATK. There's also Soul Crushes. I'd use Rufus as well since he's pretty overpowered at this point. Thunder Arrow might be better than Three-way Attack now if you link a Blue Apple. Final character should be Kraad. If that's not possible, use Dylan. Anyway, you'll end in Lost Forest, the area where you got Mithra. If you're crazy and have released him already he will be here and will give you an item when you talk to him, the Holy Water of Mithra. This will deal 10,000 damage to one enemy. Mithra is better than his item for now, so I wouldn't release him if I were you. This will be mentioned again later when releasing him is actually a good idea. There's nothing new here, but going back to the world map a new area, Kythena Plains, will show up. I suggest getting ready before setting off to the new area of the world map, but if you want to go already then skip to Section 04.2.03. Otherwise keep reading. Go back to Solde and you'll see the shop has some new stuff: the weapons from Dipan (except the Rapier, but with the Shamshir instead) and the Blue Apple (good for the Hildr's Sword user, Rufus and the Sorcerers). Now is a good time to buy the two red rune accessories for teaching Regenerate Health to Alicia if you want. I don't find the skill very useful though. Remember that you can create Stun Checks here too. Check the Royal Underground Path for the materials. You can go there anytime, but it's more practical now. So: Stun Check: 2 Broken Amulets (Skeleton's Leader Item) 2 Amber (Bullet Beetle's left and/or right part of the body) 2 Stagnant Water (Bullet Beetle's arms or Leader Item) Other items you can't create yet, but can get the materials: Sabertooth Saber: 1 Long Sword (buy in Solde) 3 Beast Pelts (Dire Wolf's body) 2 Iron Ores (Goblin's weapon) Leather Cloak: 1 Beast Pelt 2 Bat Wings (Goblin's wings) Sacred Guarder: 1 Bonemeal (Skeleton's arms and legs) After setting as much of this as you want you can move on to Kythena Plains. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.2.03 - To the west [04203] --- Kythena Plains --- -Enemies: Goblin (Demon), Flying Fish (Scaled), Living Armor (no race), Dire Wolf (Beast), Giant Bat (Beast), Warning Jewel (Magic) -Overview: Very straightforward area with two new enemies. Battles here are easy because the battlefield is very wide, so you can dodge attacks with simple dashes. Enemies to look out for: Giant Bats can poison you, but don't have much range. Break their wings and they won't be able to do anything anymore. Just hack away from the sides. They're beasts, and any Heavy Warrior with Beast Bludgeon will destroy them with ease. Flying Fishes have one good attack with decent range, but like the bats they can't do anything if you break their tails. Just attack from behind, or have someone launch them. They'll flip in the air and you can easily hit their tails this way. Good item drops: Tome of Godspeed: Lets you run from battle from anywhere in the battlefield with no chance of failure. Direct Assault Giant Bats for these. Good item to have for emergencies. Items from old enemies are still useful here, especially the ones from the Living Armor (Empty Shell, Sharp Spearheads). Runes and Skills: Blue Ice: Break the Flying Fish's body or Direct Assault it for Fish Scales. This is needed for two skills, and one can be learned now: Blue Body + Ice teaches Mental Boost, a cheap and effective x1.2 boost to MAG. Very good skill, as important as Fists of Iron. Make sure you start learning this. Don't forget to get more Blue Holy and Blue Fire runes here with the old enemies if you need them. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Elemental Edge: A heavy sword that boosts SC damage by 30%. It's a good weapon, but you should only get it if you're not planning to release Kraad, or if you like to use more than one Heavy Warrior. In that case you can get 2 Sharp Spearheads and 2 Iron Ores for this here. -Dungeon walkthrough: Nothing here, really. Just go left until you arrive at the Western Area of the world map. If you want to go back to the Northern Area now you'll have to through Kythena Plains again (that's why I told you to do everything you wanted to there already). Coriander will show up. Go there to end the Chapter. =============================================================================== 04.3 - Chapter 3: Ulterior Motives [04300] The largest Chapter in the game. The first two were more like introductions to the story and the battle system. Battles in this Chapter will be much more difficult and require well-planned tactics and setups to be won. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.3.01 - The quest for the orb begins [04301] --- Coriander --- -Items: Insect Stinger, Blue Soul Flame, Earth Gem Coriander is a very small village. It doesn't even have a shop, although there's a traveling merchant in town now. He's the first person you'll see, so talk to him to buy some new stuff. He leaves and returns depending on where you are in the game, but he always keeps his old inventory and stock of materials you sell him. Talk to the man next to the merchant and he gives you an Insect Stinger and a Blue Soul Flame. That lets you learn Beast Bludgeon for Heavy Warriors and Fists of Iron for everyone. You should have both already, but extra free runes are always nice. Go right for a house. Check the drawer on the right for an Earth Gem. You can gain them from enemies in the next dungeon so feel free to use them when necessary. There's a chest here, but you can't get it now. Leave and continue to the right. You'll see a girl with a dog. Talk to her and she tells you about the ruins in the mountains, the next dungeon we'll visit. The Inn is the next house to the right. Next you'll see a chicken. This is just like the cat in Solde, except it wants Bonemeals instead of Seafood. Again, don't bother feeding it. The house in front of the chicken is usually empty. This is where Richelle, Sylphide or Jessica will move to if you release them. Talking to Sylphide gives 50,000 OTH, while talking with Richelle gives the Expert's Experience. This item gives 300,000 experience to one character. That's enough to go from level 1 to level 17! Even so, I still don't recommend releasing. Jessica doesn't give you anything yet. If you do get the Expert's Experience now I'd recommend using it on Mithra. A level 17 Mithra has good attack spells (Lightning Bolt, Thunder Storm, Fire Storm) and Might Reinforce. Rufus is another good choice, or you could just save it for future characters . Heavy Warriors don't gain much from levels and although Light Warriors do, it's much less compared to Archers, who are much less compared to Sorcerers. The walkthrough assumes you didn't get this, even though it's highly recommended. So if you didn't get Richelle or don't want to release her you can keep following the strategies here, nothing changes. Anyway, that's all for Coriander. Keep going right for the world map. Serdberg Mountain Ruins will show up, so go there. Shopping: For regular equipment, the Blue Dolls have the Blue Darkness rune. There's also the Red Cherry with Red Activation. Getting these runes won't let you learn any new skills now, but get them anyway. About armor, the Metal Crown is good for Sorcerers, Archers and Light Warriors. It doesn't make any difference for Heavy Warriors. Suede Boots are expensive and not that much better than Cloth Greaves either. Lastly, do not buy the Long Bow. You'll find a better bow in the next dungeon again. The Striking Sword is a good purchase, but only get it if you plan to use more than one Heavy Warrior. Stock on healing items as always too. Poison is frequent, so keep a stock of 5 or more Honeysuckle Dews with you. Warrior's Arcanums, Dwarf Tinctures and Union Plumes are very necessary too. Now, creatable items. The merchant mentions creating the Falchion. You can get all materials for this with Living Armors (Kythena Plains), but you'll find at least 1 Falchion in the next dungeon anyway, so don't bother making it unless you want to use more than one Light Warrior. This is also a material for Runeslayers later. There's Leather Cloaks for Archers and Sorcerers, requiring only 1 Beast Pelt and 2 Bat Wings. It's stronger than the armor for sale and a REALLY good choice for Sorcerers: they don't get anything better for 4 dungeons. It halves Lightning damage too, so it's a good choice whenever you're facing an attack like that. Other available items here include Paralyze and Curse Checks, Foolproof Trinkets, Shadow Crystals and Prime Elixirs. None of these should be created. Icicle Plates are pretty good though, with high RDM for Heavy Warriors. They're not too hard to get, but you can't get them until much later. --- Serdberg Mountain Ruins --- -Items: Ram's Horn, 10900 OTH (total), Might Potion, Dwarf Tincture x3, Ice Gem, Prime Elixir, Gandeeva, Metal Buckler, Fireproof Trinket, Metal Greaves -Einherjar: Light Warrior [ Celes (30%) or Tyrith (70%) ] Sorcerer [ Woltar (50%) or Alm (50%) ] -Sealstones: Fog Wrath, Masochist Wrath, Black Anchor Wrath, Sword Blessing -Enemies: Thunder Hawk (Beast), Giant Hawk (Beast), Kobold Knight (Beast), Kobold (Beast), Owlbear (Beast, Giant), Ghost (Ghost, Unholy), Sack Mimic (Magic) -Mini-boss: Crust Golem (Giant) -Re-fightable Boss: Wyvern -Overview: This is pretty much the first real dungeon. Some enemies will hide behind the walls in the battlefield. They'll break the walls after a while, probably surrounding your party. Be careful not to be in their attack range when that happens. Dash a lot. It's very easy to identify the enemy you'll find before the battle. The walking spirits are Kobolds and Kobold Knights, the round flying spirits are Ghosts, the ones crawling on the floor are Owlbears and the flying bird-spirits are the hawks. Sack Mimics appear rarely with any enemy, but more frequently with Ghosts. Wait for them to come out of the walls. Most enemies here are Beasts, and they're all vulnerable to instant-breaking. Your Heavy Warriors can have Beast Bludgeon already, and the other classes will have access to it soon. Use that skill and any critical attack will break those enemies, which will kill them immediately if you hit a vital part. It also makes it much easier to get items. Any character with Beast Bludgeon should be equipped with 4 Sharp Spearheads to increase your critical chances further. If you're killing things in one hit anyway it doesn't matter how much damage you do, so just improve your critical chances. Other than that, Rufus probably has the Stony Decree attack by now or will learn it soon (level 6). The petrifying doesn't happen that often, but it's very useful when it does. Use it instead of Three-way Attack, even though it's weaker. Enemies to look out for: Kobolds and Kobold Knights are always together. They have a helmet protecting their heads and a weapon protecting their front. Try using attacks that hit them from below, like Thunder Storm from far away or Fire Storm in a combo, or you'll probably waste a few attacks hitting their helmets. If you break their weapon you can to stop their long range attacks as well. Kobold Knights can also use Sap Power to decrease your damage. This just makes the battles longer, but do your best to avoid it. Attack from behind and abuse of Fire Storm's launching. If you've got Beast Bludgeon a critical hit is all you need. Giant Hawks and Thunder Hawks are similar too. Careful with the Thunder ones, they can attack from far away for high lightning damage. They're flying enemies, so breaking their wings will stop all their movement and attacks. Easy prey to Beast Bludgeon as well. Ghosts are the first enemies you can't hit with non-elemental attacks. You'll find a good sword to use against them in this dungeon later. At first you'll just want to use magic: a single Fire Storm should be able to kill them. There's Hildr's Sword too. Owlbears deal very high damage, but all their body parts are vital. Focus your attacks on a single part until it breaks and it will die immediately. Beast Bludgeon rocks here too. Sack Mimics are rare. They are usually hiding behind the walls, but will get out after a while. They don't do much, but have high AVD. Attack from behind or use Fire Storm (they're immune to the other elements). Good item drops: Copper Coin: Blue accessory, boosts MAG by 5% each. Break the Kobold Knight's chest for these. 5% is a great boost for a colored accessory, so get as many as you can. Great to use with elemental attacks. Great Eagle Heart: Runeless accessory, ATK+15% Effect. Break the Giant Hawk's left body side, the Thunder Hawk's right body side or the Owlbear's front legs to get it. Very important accessory for a long time. Doesn't stack, so one for each character is the most you need. Earth Gem: Earth damage + Poison on one target. Just Direct Assault Ghosts to get it. This is the best way to cause Poison, but you can just buy this later. Flare Gem: Fire damage on one target. Break the Ghost's right arm. Not that great, but it's free damage with Free Item. Thunder Gem: Lightning damage + Paralysis on one target. Just kill Sack Mimics and you'll get it. Good item, but since Sack Mimics are rare you probably won't get many. Brilliant Peacemaker: Runeless accessory, Stats increase as HP decreases Effect. Break the Sack Mimic's body for a 15% chance to get this. So, it's a very rare item from a very rare enemy. Don't bother hunting Sack Mimics to collect this, as you'll find a better accessory with the same Effect later anyway, but do break the body of any Sack Mimics you find. If you get one, great. If not, no problem. Runes and Skills: Blue Training: Copper Coins, as listed above. Needed for just one skill, which you can already learn: Blue Body + Healing + Training teaches Survival, a Defense Skill that lets you survive with single-digit HP if you have over 10% of your HP when you're attacked. Yeah, it's pretty broken this early in the game. Blue Activation: Break the Giant Hawk's wings for Raptor's Talons wings, or the feather on the Owlbear's head for Indigo Plumes. This is only used for two skills, but they're good ones. You can learn one now: Blue Arm + Slashing + Activation + Strengthening teaches Break Up, which makes Break Mode easier to get. Heavy Warriors only for now, but you'll find Blue Slashing for everyone later in this dungeon. Blue Lightning: Break the left side of the Thunder Hawk's body for the Thundebreath Core. This is used for 4 skills, which you can already learn: Blue Body + Leg + Lightning teaches Reflex Movement, which is pretty much useless. Actually, it's currently unknown what exactly this does. Next is Blue Slashing + Lightning + Strengthening for Mighty Blow, another very useless skill. This just improves the chance of breaking guard, but... you can just attack from behind. Next is Blue Body + Lightning for Resist Magic, a x1.5 boost to RST. Still not a very good skill but better than the other lightning ones. Last and best is Blue Slashing + Weakness + Lightning for Descaling Might, your third Critical Racial Skill. There are many strong scaled enemies (including the next boss), so make sure you learn this one. Red Fire: Break the Ghost's left arm for the Cursed Soul, used for 4 skills. Two good, two bad, and you can learn the one of the good ones now: Red Piercing + Fire + Strengthening teaches True Seeing, a Critical Skill that boosts the Critical Rank of the user by 2. Very useful for instant-breaking, but only Archers can learn it for now because of Red Piercing. This changes later. You can also get Red Lightning here, but it isn't recommended. The drop rate is too low and you'll find it in easier places later. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Supreme Crossbow: The best or second-best bow for elemental attacks, and you can create it in the next town! You need 1 Koboldapult (Kobold's weapon tip) and 3 Feathers (Owlbear's chest or back legs, Thunder Hawk's wings, Giant Hawk's left body). The Koboldapult is pretty rare, with only a 15% drop rate, but it's worth the trouble and Kobolds are very simple to break. You won't get a better weapon for archers anytime soon. Elemental Edge: Get the final material, 1 Raptor's Talon, if you're going to create this. In case you forgot, the other materials are 2 Sharp Spearheads and 2 Iron Ores. Sacred Guarder: Final materials here, too. 2 Raptor's Talon and 1 Feather. Both with the same enemy, so not hard. If you forgot, the other material is 1 Bonemeal. The Kobold's helmet and chest drop Iron Ores as well, so you can get those here if you need them. They're used for Sabertooth Sabers and Elemental Edges. -Dungeon walkthrough: Notice how the mini-map is red. This means there's a sealstone affecting the area, and we'll get to it soon. For now, just go right and up to enter the ruins. There are two enemies here and a treasure chest in a platform in the middle of the room. To reach it, crystallize both enemies and warp them close to each other, near the platform. Now jump on one of them, stand on the edge of the crystal in the OPPOSITE direction of the other one and warp it. If you did it right, you've built a "ladder". Something like this: 222 222 222 111 111 111 1111 is one enemy/crystal, 2222 is the other. Anyway, stand on top of the higher enemy and jump towards the platform. Pick the Ram's Horn in it. Go right again. Three chests here: 2500 OTH, Might Potion and Dwarf Tincture. Beware of gas traps on the last two. The Might Potion is great, but don't use it yet. Go back left and down, then right again. Sealstones! Just read Section 07.6.04 for information on it, it's a pretty complicated system. Check the Dais: it's the Fog Wrath sealstone, which stops enemies from following you while in the Dais, and removes them from the mini-map if you carry it. It's kind of useless on both, but leave it here. Go back right. There will be an enemy, so use him to proceed right. Go right until you can go down. Now there are 3 platforms here, and a mark on the floor. Just ignore it for now and go right. There's a wall, but your mini-map shows something behind it. Slash it 3 times to open a path with 3400 OTH, an Ice Gem and a Prime Elixir (be careful with the explosive trap). Further right you'll find a Light Warrior Relic. You may want to ignore it for now, as there's a save point up in this room. Save first if you want to control who you get. Anyway, it's either Celes or Tyrith. They're kind of opposites. Celes has high number of hits and good stats, but low attack multipliers (so her damage is lower). Tyrith has few hits, bad stats and good multipliers. Celes gets Energy Steal (Darkness attack), Tyrith gets Holy Smite. They both get the Might Reinforce spell (one of the best), but Tyrith gets it sooner, at level 15. That's the best thing about her overall, especially if you don't like Sorcerers. However, Celes is EXCELLENT at combos. She gets to 12 hits total at level 7 -- that's the max for a Light Warrior. She also comes with the Dismantle skill, but that's honestly not very useful. The racial critical skills are just much better, and usually cheaper. She also has the Soul Pierce attack, with 10% chance of causing Doom. The chance is too low to be helpful, so while those two things do help her they're not really a reason to choose her. Pick her for her excellent combos, or choose Tyrith for higher damage and early Might Reinforce. Go back to the platforms. There is a globe on the top, and you have to take it down to the mark on the floor. If you drop it from too high up, it will break. In that case, leave the room and come back. Warp it down with photons, one platform at a time. It's faster than pushing. Once you put it in the mark on the floor it will open a path up. Go there and you'll find a save point, so save the game. If you haven't picked Celes or Tyrith yet, go back and do it now. Just remove the globe from the mark. Now go back up, save again and move on. You'll get a scene. Watch it, then keep reading. You've got two new characters: Leone (Light Warrior, level 8) and Arngrim (Heavy Warrior, level 7). Leone just feels like a generic character. She has no exclusive attacks at all and her Soul Crush is a prettier version of the Einherjar ones. Also very low HP. Yeah, she's pretty bad, although she does get better multipliers in some attacks... while others get lower. It kind of evens out in making her not noteworthy at all. Arngrim... well, you'll obviously compare him with Dylan. He has better stats all around, but his attacks are all pretty bad. Einherjar can get better stats and better attacks, but Arngrim's SC has the highest amount of hits and Heat of all the Heavy Warriors. That and his fourth attack, Wild Break, are the only good things about him: Wild Break isn't strong, but it causes Frailty. This helps a lot in some fights, especially some bosses and trolls. Use him just enough to get that if you want, he learns it on level 8. He also comes with the Survival skill (although everyone can get it already) and the Striking Sword. Leone's and Arngrim's levels will be important later in the game as well. Do not use stat-boosting items on Leone, but feel free to give them to Arngrim. Moving on, this area has a new Dais, which means it isn't under the effects of the previous one. It also has another globe. Notice that part of the mini-map shows a path below the floor. Use photon-warping to make the globe fall from high-up on top of this part of the floor. Both the globe and the floor will break, letting you access the area below, where you'll find a Falchion. This is good for any Light Warrior. You'll also find a Shell with the Masochist Wrath Sealstone. This makes the holder take damage when attacking, so you'll kill yourself with it. Put it in the Dais in this room to make the dungeon much easier, as the enemies will start killing themselves when they attack you. This is obviously very expensive to restore (3,000 crystals). Now this part of the dungeon will be affected by both sealstones so far. Do not restore the Masochist's Wrath yet. Proceed to the right. Another globe here, with a hidden area beneath the floor. Drop the globe from high-up over the floor again to open another path. This one leads to a huge enemy you can't crystallize. This is a mini-boss, the Crust Golem, who doesn't respawn until you leave the dungeon. You'll also notice it holds a sealstone: Black Anchor Wrath. This makes the enemies heavier, so it's harder to launch it. Anyway, despite being a mini-boss, the Crust Golem (and two Kobolds) isn't dangerous at all. He's weak to Lightning, so Rufus is the best choice for damage with Thunder Arrow. Watch out for Poison Blow, which is only used if you break the claws. Only two good items in the fight: break the two tails on the back for the Blade Claw, a Blue Slashing rune! If you don't get any, run from the fight and try again. It's faster than leaving the dungeon. Anyway, this rune let's every character get skills that were for Heavy Warriors only so far: Mighty Blow (useless), Break Up, Beast Bludgeon, Unholy Purifier and Descaling Might. Great stuff! The other item is gained automatically when you kill the crab, even if you don't break anything: the Karsnaut, a light sword with Holy element and innate Ghost Buster. Now you can deal full damage to ghosts and get Cursed Souls easily! Anyway, that's all for this fight. Behind the enemy is a Dwarf Tincture and the Gandeeva (careful with the arrow trap), a very good bow with 2 attacks and Soul Crush enabled! It also helps that Rufus' Soul Crush is very good, so things will get easier with it. You don't have 4 SCs available yet, but Rufus can fill the Heat gauge in the third position as well. You can go back up now (there's a lever to lift the floor), but pick up the sealstone first. It's not very good, but go to the previous Dais and put it there. You'll want to carry the Masochist's Wrath for the next Dais to use it against the boss. Just try not to get in battles until them, which isn't very hard with the Fog Wrath setup. If you get in a fight, run. Proceed up. There's a hidden chest to the right here: 5000 OTH. There's another item on a high platform in the middle of the room, but flying enemies make it easy to get. Just keep warping up and air jumping to go up until you can reach it. It's a Metal Buckler, with a red Arm rune. Continue to the next room: a Divinity Void. Sealstones and photons don't work here. This means you can't extend the effects of the previous Dais to the next room, which is why you're carrying a negative sealstone. Time your jumps to get past the enemies. Pass this room and go down. There's a Sorcerer Relic here: Alm or Woltar. Woltar is an Earth Sorcerer, but you'll get one of these for sure in the next storyline dungeon, making him just redundant then. Alm is a Lightning Sorcerer, which makes him excellent for breaking. He joins with Lightning Bolt, and learns Thunder Storm at level 8. Both spells give him +2 Critical Rank (chance of critical hits), so he can do them much more easily than other characters. The good thing about this is that, as long as you've got Thunder Storm, you don't need to worry about his level. Give him 4 Sharp Spearheads, a critical skill and that's all he needs. He also joins with the Sap Power spell, able to make all enemies weaker! Rufus learns it at level 10, but it's still good until them. So, easy choice here: pick Alm. Do not use his Overload skill unless you know what you're doing, or you're just going to get yourself killed. Anyway, go up the stairs. Avoid the enemies here! There's a sealstone affecting the area, not to mention the one you should be carrying. On the top of the stairs you'll find a Dais with the Sword Blessing sealstone. This one is very cheap and useful: it boosts ATK by 20%. It stacks with all other ATK-boosting things, like the Fists of Iron skill. Restore it already and leave the Masochist's Wrath in it's place. Proceed right. There's a spring here, where you can pick up all restored Sealstones. So pick up the Sword Blessing and keep holding it. Battles in this part of the dungeon will be really easy now. Save point on the right, meaning a boss nearby. Before that though, go right and shoot a photon up to the edge of the platform above. There's an orb you can warp there. More treasures: Fireproof Trinket and Metal Greaves. Go back down and continue right past the path up for a hidden chest with the final treasure in the dungeon: another Dwarf Tincture. Time to get ready for the boss. There are two enemies, and they're both Scaled, so Descaling Might will make the battle much easier. The more people with it the better. They're even vulnerable to sudden death and instant breaking! Ice is the best element for the fight, so Mithra is actually pretty good with some MAG boosting, and he needs the experience. Same for Rufus with Thunder Arrow. You might want Alm for Sap Power and the critical setup with lightning spells, but it's unlikely that you've got Descaling Might on him already so you can't really break the boss. The boss uses fire attacks, so use Stun Checks if you can. Alicia's Robe is good too. If you've got Celes then don't use her Mist Phantom attack. Alicia's Turnaround is pretty much useless as well. Save and go up to fight. __Wyvern (Upper Lizard & Lower Lizard)_______________________________________ | | |Upper Lizard (Leader): | | Lv 14 1,600 HP 10,000 exp 1,750 OTH | | 95 ATK 80 MAG 34 HIT 28 AVD | | Races: Giant, Scaled | | Elements: Fire +20%, Ice -20% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis (20%), Poison (20%), Doom (50%), Freeze (75%), | | Confusion (20%), Stone (20%) and Faint (50%) | | Leader Item: Metal Buckler | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head (vital): 1600 HP, 23 RDM, 5 RST; Item: Orientation Scales (80%) | | -Body (vital): 1600 HP, 23 RDM, 5 RST; Item: Dragon Gallstones (80%) | | -Wings (2): 1600 HP, 18 RDM, 5 RST; Item: Wyvern's Wingbone (60%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Wing Flapping: Wide large range, knocks the characters back a lot, | | possibly throwing them off the battlefield. Average damage.| | -Fire Breath: Wide medium range, fire damage on the party, high damage. | | -Spit Fire: Medium range, average damage on the party. Despite the name | | it's not elemental. | | -(Tail attack): Small range, 1 hit on some characters, usually 2 or 3. | | Average damage, needs to junctioned to Lower Lizard to use.| | -Slashing Tail: Just a stronger tail attack. Needs to junctioned to Lower | | Lizard to use. | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Lower Lizard: | | Lv 13 850 HP 6,800 exp 170 OTH | | 110 ATK 40 MAG 25 HIT 10 AVD | | Races: Scaled | | Elements: Everything -50% | | Vulnerable to Curse (100%), Paralysis (100%), Silence (100%), Poison (100%),| | Doom (50%), Freeze (100%), Confusion (50%), Stone (100%), | | Faint (50%) and Frailty (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 595 HP, 25 RDM, 5 RST; Item: Holy Gem (60%) | | -Tail: 255 HP, 25 RDM, 5 RST; Item: Red Dragon Bile (60%) | | -Front legs (2): 255 HP, 20 RDM, 5 RST; Item: Unladen Swallow Scales (40%) | | -Back legs: 340 HP, 20 RDM, 5 RST; Item: Dragon's Talons (40%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Heavy Press: Short range, average damage on party. | | -Scale Missile: Short range, shoots several missiles on one character, high| | fire elemental damage. Needs tail to be used. | | -Poison Tail: Short range, causes poison and average earth elemental damage| | on party. Needs tail to be used. | | | |Recommended level: 8 | | | |Strategy: | | Some important things here: first, you're actually fighting 2 enemies, but | | they're attached. After getting low on HP, the Wyvern will use Schism and | | split. The Lower Lizard's parts won't drop any items if you break them while| | they're still connected. Both are also immune to instant-breaking (but not | | sudden-death) until it splits. In short, you don't want to fight it that | | way. | | | | Second, the battlefield. It's possible to fall off (Transfer status) when | | using some attacks, like Celes' Mist Phantom. Worse yet, one of the Upper | | Lizard's attacks (Wing Flapping) will push you back A LOT, so do not stand | | close to the edge of the battlefield, even if it means you'll have to step | | into an attack range. The good thing about this? You can do the same to the | | boss! You won't get any experience and will miss the chance of breaking | | parts for items, but it's fun! | | | | Finally, it's impossible to break any of the Upper Lizard's parts by HP | | without killing it, so you'll want to use critical skills to collect the | | items. Descaling Might is the only practical way, unless you got Celes and | | she's over level 10. Then you can use Dismantle, but Descaling Might really | | is better. Neither will cause instant-breaking until it splits, though. | | Breaking one of Upper Lizard's wings will leave it laying on the floor, | | completely harmless. Hack away! | | | | When near death, the Wyvern will use Schism and split. Upper Lizard will | | miss the two tail attacks, and Lower Lizard can now attack. They will both | | become vulnerable to instant-breaking at this point. Nothing else changes in| | practice, as the Upper Lizard should be near death. You can safely ignore | | the Lower Lizard. If you want to fight it, break it's tail first. | | | | So this is a really simple battle except for Wing Flapping. There's really | | nothing more to it than dashing and attacking if you're protected from fire.| | | | As for items, there's nothing very interesting here. You can try to break | | the head for Orientation Scales, a Red Lightning rune with great drop rate | | (80%). If you want to try, break the wings first to make it easier to hit | | the head. Dragon Gallstones and Unladen Swallow Scales are needed for item | | creation, but you'll have better ways to get them soon. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Dungeon cleared. Time to leave, or fight the boss again if you want. You might be thinking of restoring sealstones, like the Masochist's Wrath. While it is a good sealstone, it's very expensive and depends on you getting hit to work. The next storyline dungeons have more important sealstones that cost even more crystals, so save them for that. All you really need from this dungeon is Sword Blessing. Villnore will appear on the map when you leave the dungeon. Go there to proceed with the story, or check Coriander out again for a side-quest and some items. It's your choice. Just skip the Coriander section below if you don't want to go there. --- Coriander --- -Items: Golden Egg, Royal Jelly -Points of interest: Unlock the Ancient Forest There's a chicken in front of the first house. "Talk" to it to get a Golden Egg! The Golden Egg increases STR, INT, DEX and AGL by a random number from 1 to 10 each. I suggest you save before using it and just keep trying until you get a good boost to STR and INT. The other stats don't really matter. Remember, don't give stat-boosting items to Lezard, Dylan or Leone. To the right of the house are 2 people talking. Talk to man to learn about a huge bird "in the forest". This unlocks the first optional dungeon, the Ancient Forest. Getting rid of this bird is a side-quest with good rewards, so you really should do it. Not now though, there's still some stuff to do before going there. In the next area, talk to the girl with the dog. She asks if you found any treasure in the ruins. Say no and she gives you a Royal Jelly. This is a material for Golden Eggs (in Solde) and Prime Elixirs (with the merchant). Neither can be created yet, and creating Prime Elixirs isn't good anyway. Once you go back to the map, the Ancient Forest will show up. Let's take a look at Villnore first, though. Shopping: The merchant's got a new accessory. The Beryl Bracelet raises ATK by 3% and has a Green Strengthening rune. You can't link it with anything yet, but it's an easy way to get a Green Rune. --- Villnore --- -Items: Earthproof Trinket, 2000 OTH -Points of interest: Unlock the Turgen Mine A big town. The Inn is right at the entrance. Right after it is a dog. This is the same as the cat and the chicken, but it wants Meat Chops. Still useless. There's a guy walking around this area. He starts near the merchant talking to a woman and then walks around. Talk to him and he'll tell you about a temple on the water, the next storyline dungeon. There's a house to the right with a treasure chest. Inside is an Earthproof Trinket. The next house doesn't have any items or quests, but checking the right wall will give you background info for Kraad and Circe, a possible future Einherjar. This is also where Celes and Tyrith will appear when/if you release them. Neither will give you anything yet though. This part of the town ends with a woman selling Tiny Flowers for only 10 OTH each. They're runeless accessories that boost HP by 10%, so you may want to get enough for everyone. They don't stack, so 4 is all you need. You certainly have 40 OTH so that's not a problem. Continue to the right. Enter the tavern and talk to the guys inside to learn about the monsters in the Turgen Mine, the second optional dungeon. Next up is the armory, full of good stuff! Check the shopping and releasing sections below. Anyway, next is another house. This is where Kraad/Roland will be after being released. Roland just gives you 50,000 OTH, but Kraad gives an amazing weapon: the Kraadicator. This is the most overpowered item so far, even more than Richelle's Expert Experience. The Kraadicator is a Heavy Sword with 130 ATK, 20 HIT and 10 RST. 2 attacks and no Special Attack, but it really doesn't need it. Even if you don't use a Heavy Warrior, this is a great weapon for releasing. Do give it to a Heavy Warrior though, it's really good. You can also get 2000 OTH in the drawer here. Details on the releasing section below. That's all for Villnore. Go right to return to the world map, and both the Turgen Mine and Audoula Temple on the Lake should show up. If you want to skip the optional dungeons, just go to Section 04.3.04. Below are shopping and releasing recommendations -- follow these whether or not you're doing the extra dungeons. Shopping: First, make sure you buy the Map of the West Lands. This lets you access the west area of the map without going through Kythena Plains. To use it, press circle on the world map and choose the area you want to go to. You'll need other maps to do this for the eastern and northern areas. The stuff you can just buy here is very good for releasing Einherjar, but for battle you'll want the creatable stuff. The Crystal Wand is good for Sorcerers, but you'll find it in the first optional dungeon. For heads and legs, the Iron Helm is great for Heavy Warriors and the Work Boots are good for everyone. The saber is good and very easy to make. 1 Long Sword (Solde), 3 Beast Pelts (Dire Wolfs) and 3 Iron Ores (Goblins, Kobolds, Kobold Knights). 30 ATK, 3 attacks, Special Attacks enabled and the Beast Bludgeon skill effect. Meaning, every beast you attack with it will take +50% damage and be broken immediately with critical attacks for no CP cost. Beasts are VERY frequent, so get this for any Light Warrior you want to use. Remember that you can switch weapons in battle too, so even if you have a stronger weapon you can just equip this one when you need to fight a beast. The Elemental Edge isn't quite as easy to make, but still not hard and also very useful. 1 Raptor's Talon (Giant Hawks), 2 Sharp Spearheads (Living Armors) and 2 Iron Ores. It's a very damaging weapon with Special Attacks, boosting their damage by 30%. If you got the Kraadicator than you can skip this one, unless you want to use more than one Heavy Warrior. The final weapon here is the Supreme Crossbow. 32 ATK, 10 HIT, 3 attacks and SCs enabled. That's all great for now, but what makes this weapon special for the whole game is the strong Holy elemental damage it does (0.5 -- most elemental weapons are 0.2). You can easily create a MAG-boosting setup and do lots of damage with this weapon. Sometimes this will be better than bows with 100, 200 ATK even. It all depends on who you're fighting, the party you're using and the setups you have available. It requires 1 Koboldapult (Kobolds) and 3 Feathers (Giant Hawks). They're not that easy to get, but the weapon is worth it. The Sacred Guarder is created here too. Very good RDM, holy protection and 15% chance of blocking attacks, but it decreases HIT a little. HIT isn't useful, but blocking is. This is for Light and Heavy Warriors. 1 Bonemeal (Skeletons), 2 Raptor's Talons and 1 Feather (both with Giant Hawks). It's the best glove for now. The Silver Cuirass isn't very hard to make: 1 Cuirass, 2 Iron Ores and 2 Silver Sallets. The best thing about it is the 50% earth protection, but you get -50% to lightning. Ignore it for now, and come back when you need earth protection, if you ever do. Buy the Crystal Chainmail instead: it offers high AVD and some RST for only 5 less RDM and no need to collect materials. Archers should get it too, while Sorcerers keep the Leather Cloak. You'll find a Crystal Chainmail in one of the optional dungeons and another in the next plot dungeon, so you could buy less here and save some money. That's all you need here for now. Future items of note here include the Moonfalx, Fairy Garb and Vein Greaves. The Checks and the Crystal Helm aren't worth it, and the Ring of Healing is too hard to make. You'll find another item with the same effect with an enemy. The Tiara of the Holy Empress is also too difficult to make, although it's a good item. Releasing: This is the point where releasing characters becomes a good idea. However, don't go overboard -- release just as much as you need to get your characters boosted by what you consider enough. Also make sure you always keep at least 3 Einherjar with you, or you'll have problems later. I recommend releasing Richelle and Kraad at this point, but not Mithra, Alm or Sylphide. Other characters are up to you. There are 2 possible setups for releasing Richelle (or any other Light Warrior). Both will have the Walloon Sword and Crystal Chainmail. This gives: 1 Fencer's Familiarity, 2 Archer's Aptitude, 3 Thief's Thoughts and 1 Warrior's Wits. Add Metal Greaves + Metal Buckler for 1 Ambrosia, but you lose 1 Archer's Aptitude with that. Up to you: +100 HP or +5 DEX? I'd take the HP at this point. Don't forget that you'll also get a gem boosting 2 stats by +20, probably Rose (STR and DEX). It's easier for Kraad/Heavy Warriors: Screp, Iron Helm, Crystal Chainmail and Work Boots for 1 Fencer's Familiarity, 2 Thief's Thoughts, 1 Ambrosia and 1 Warrior's Wits. You'll find a Screp in the first optional dungeon, but I'd just buy it here. Don't forget to get the Kraadicator and/or Expert's Experience if you've released Kraad and/or Richelle, and don't forget to only use the Expert's Experience on a Sorcerer or Archer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.3.02 - Sidequests, Part I [04302] Warning: The sidequests related to these dungeons must be completed in Chapter 3, or you'll lose the next sidequests. It's better to just do them now. --- Ancient Forest --- -Items: Dwarf Tincture, Screp, Flare Gem, Crystal Wand, 7200 OTH, Iron Helm -Einherjar: Archer [ Chrystie (10%) or Sha-Kon (90%) ] -Sealstones: Manacles Wrath, Poison Pin Blessing, Sheathed Power Wrath, Treasure Blessing -Enemies: Thunder Hawk (Beast), Kobold Knight (Beast), Owlbear (Beast, Giant), Sack Mimic (Magic), Goat Man (Beast, Demon), Troll (Giant), Toxic Flower (Plant, Insect) -Mini-boss: Cybersaur x4 (Scaled) -Re-fightable Boss: none -Overview: Short dungeon, but with some tricky battles. You'll need to mess with sealstones to guarantee victory. Some enemies from Serdberg appear here too, but are easier because the battlefield is much better. Beast Bludgeon is a great skill to use here too, and you should have more characters with it now. Don't forget the Sabertooth Saber for Light Warriors. Alm's greatness at breaking was already mentioned, so use him. His Thunder Storm can easily end most fights here with Beast Bludgeon and 4 Sharp Spearheads. Arngrim is great against one enemy with his Wild Break attack (learned at level 8). Add Mithra too if you've got room for him. You'll want him to reach level 12 as soon as possible to learn Might Reinforce. Enemies to look out for: Goat Men don't do anything special and don't even get much range, even though they're using bows. Just attack from the sides/behind, or break their bow. If you break their bow and horn they can't attack with anything. Lots of great items with them. Trolls are one of the hardest enemies in the game when fought without strategy, but they're simple to defeat when you know how to counter their strengths. They have the effects of the Regenerate Health skill and can reform limbs immediately when broken. There are three ways to handle them here: using Arngrim's Wild Break to cause Frailty (which stops the healing), poisoning them or using Dismantle with Celes. Poisoning is very easy with one of the Sealstones here. They can only attack from the front. Toxic Flowers can silence you with the Sound Wave attack. This is actually a good thing if it hits a character without spells, like Heavy Warriors. Equip an Empty Shell to increase your ATK and Critical Rank when affected by Silence. It will give a 20% boost to ATK, which is really good for an accessory that is so easy to get. Sack Mimics appear in larger groups here, but they're still rare. Good item drops: Lightningproof Trinkets: Protects one ally from lightning attacks temporarily. Just Direct Assault Goat Men. Not that special, but can help against the boss here. Tail Armor: Runeless accessory, boosts RDM by 15% and RST by 5%. Break the Goat Men's back for this. It's a rare item though (15% drop), and only really helps if you're making a tank. The RST boost stacks, but the RDM one doesn't. Still, you probably won't want/need to use more than one. Shell Shade: Runeless accessory, chance of negating magic damage. Break the Goat Men's waist for this. Obviously a great choice against magic casters, and not very hard to get (30% drop rate). Best item here. You can still get good, old items like the Great Eagle Heart here. Runes and Skills: Red Weakness: Break the Toxic Flower's body for the Poison Seed, or the Goat Man's right arm for the Piercing Imprint. This is used for SIX skills, and you can get 4 now. Red Leg + Strengthening + Weakness teaches Training, which lowers your stats but boosts experience received. I don't recommend this for regular battles, only if you need a character to catch up. Red Slashing + Weakness + Fire teaches Weed Whacker, and Red Slashing + Weakness + Activation teachs Magician Slayer. They're Critical Skills for plants and magic enemies, but for Light Warriors only for now. Remember, you can get Red Activation from the Red Cherry the traveling merchant sells. Last, Red Piercing + Weakness + Earth teaches Bug Swatter, Critical Skill for bugs. Archers only for now. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Piercing Imprints are used to make 2 recommended weapons later, and another good one much later (Chater 6). There's also another one, but it isn't worth creating. For now, you'll need 1 for the Runeslayer (light sword, innate Magician Slayer) and 2 for the Greenery Slayer (bow, innate Weed Whacker) at most. The Greenery Slayer also needs 2 Nightshades, which you get by breaking the Toxic Flower's flower. Since they're only created later anyway you can just come back for it later, although they shouldn't be hard to collect with instant-breaking now. -Dungeon walkthrough: The first area is under the effects of the Poison Pin Blessing Sealstone, which makes it so that any attack can poison the target. So try not to get hit until you find the Sealstone, or just equip Poison Checks if you have any. Just go up from the first area and then right for the Spring. Don't pick any Sealstones, though. Continue to the left, where you'll find a Dwarf Tincture behind an object. Warp it to open the chest and go back to the right, then go right again. There's a Shell here with the Manacles Wrath, which prevents guarding. Pretty good in a Dais, so go south for one. This is the one with the Poison Pin Blessing. It's cheap but I don't recommend restoring it, poisoning is much easier with Earth Gems and you'll be able to buy them in shops soon. Put the Manacles Wrath in the Dais and carry the Poison Pin. Lightning Bolt is a great way to poison the enemies since it hits so much. Go back up and up again. Check the flowers on the left. It's hard to see, but there's an Einherjar relic here: Sha-Kon or Chrystie. Chrystie has very random stat-growth and only two elemental attacks, learned very late into the game. She's just not the good choice for damage, but she's very good for combos. Chrystie does get healing spells though, so that's a plus. Sha-Kon has better stats and attacks, starting with the very good Poison Shot attack (earth, causes poison) and most likely Flare Blast too. Those make her very strong for now, but you'll get better characters for elemental damage. Overall, Chrystie is more unique while Sha-Kon is more balanced. Choice is up to you, but Chrystie is so rare that you'll probably settle for Sha-Kon. Sha-Kon also comes with the Strength Bow. There are only two of those in the game and you need at least one to create the Mage Slayer later. It's not a good weapon to create anyway though, so don't let this change your decision. They appear in Kythena Plains when released. Chrystie gives 50000 OTH and Sha-Kon gives a Prism Gem. Go right for a Screp, then go up. Save point to the right. You can go right for the boss, but there's some stuff to the left, so go there first. Keep going left in the next area and you'll find a mini-boss with a Shell behind it. Preparations: the mini-boss has very high RDM, but average RST, so you'll want Alicia with Mirage Pierce (ignores RDM, remember?), Sorcerers and Archers with the Supreme Crossbow for elemental attacks. Ice deals high damage to them, so consider using Mithra for an easier time. Alm helps a lot in breaking the armor and reducing damage with Sap Power. Your fighters should have the highest ATK possible, or at least multi-hit attacks to help with poisoning. Sudden-death and instant-breaks don't work. Regardless, everyone should have Descaling Might for added damage. Rufus and Sha-Kon can dominate the battle easily with decent MAG-boosting. __Cybersaurs (4)_____________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 17 2,000 HP 2,200 exp 520 OTH | | 260 ATK 140 MAG 70 HIT 50 AVD | | Races: Scaled | | Elements: Weapon and Shield have Lightning -50%, Earth +20%; | | Belt has Fire and Earth -50%, Lightning +20%; | | Body parts have Ice -50%, Earth -20% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis (20%), Poison (20%), Freeze (75%), Confusion (100%),| | Stone (20%) and Faint (20%) | | Leader Item: Flare Gem | | Drop Item: Flare Gem (80%) | | Recommended level: 9 | | | |Body Parts: | | -Head (vital): 1,000 HP, 48 RDM, 20 RST; Item: Red Dragon Bile (40%) | | -Body (vital): 1,200 HP, 48 RDM, 20 RST; Item: Alligator Skin (50%) | | -Legs (vital): 1,200 HP, 48 RDM, 20 RST; Item: Vermillion Scales (60%) | | -Tail: 300 HP, 48 RDM, 20 RST; Item: Alligator Skin (30%) | | -Weapon (armor): 400 HP, 72 RDM, 16 RST; Item: Broken Sword (50%) | | -Shield (armor): 800 HP, 96 RDM, 16 RST; Item: Worn Shield (75%) | | -Belt (armor): 200 HP, 38 RDM, 16 RST; Item: Flare Gem (75%) | | | |Attacks: | | -(Shield attack): Small range, hits 2 characters at most for high damage. | | Needs shield to be used. | | -(Sword attack): Small range, hits the party (or 3 characters at least) | | twice for very high damage. Used automatically after | | dodging. Very dangerous. | | | |Strategy: | | Like with the Crust Golem, run from battle to collect items if you want | | instead of leaving the dungeon completely. There's some good stuff here and | | it's easy to get. | | | | The lizardmen are a new enemy type, and a very annoying one when fought | | carelessly. Their shield and weapon protect really well from damage from the| | sides and they will usually block attacks from the front. Fortunately the | | Manacles Wrath takes care of the guarding, but breaking the shield can still| | take a while. Just attack from behind to avoid most of the problems. Well, | | except the high RDM, but that's what magic is for. | | | | The Cybersaur wouldn't be dangerous by itself. It has two attacks, and | | although they're very strong at this point, it's very easy to avoid by | | simply staying behind it. What makes it hard is that there are four of them,| | and they can surround you easily. Dash in to lure them, then dash out to | | have some follow you and take care of them one at a time. Party splitting is| | good for this, as you won't risk being completely surrounded if the dashing | | doesn't go well. Also, since they start the battle close to each other, Sap | | Power is just perfect to use right at the start. | | | | When you actually get to attack, begin the combo with magic to avoid the | | frequent counter-attacks. Poisoning also helps, and Lightning Bolt is very | | good for that. Without the poison this will take a while, but is never | | really hard unless you mess up often. You can dash in at the start of the | | fight when they're all together and use Thunder Storm for a chance to poison| | all of them at once. This can be good for breaking their armor from a | | distance, too. | | | | Items. The Alligator Skin is a material for the Vein Greaves in Villnore, so| | get some for that. For the (new) Red Resistance rune, break their legs (use | | Alicia's Turnaround) to get Vermillion Scales. This lets you get 1 skill for| | now and more later. Red Arm + Strengthening + Resistance teaches Guard | | Motion, which is pretty good for a tank setup and when you know the enemy | | won't use status effects. It's also good when you WANT to be hit by a status| | effect. Getting silenced by the Toxic Flowers, for example. Just equip Guard| | Motion and the first Sound Wave will be enough to cause it. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ The Shell has the Sheathed Power Wrath Sealstone, which decreases damage given to 1/4 (25%). Yeah, it divides ALL damage in the game by 4. 30,000 crystals, so don't dream of using it anywhere else without some serious farming. You'll obviously want this in a Dais, so go left and put it in the one you find there (leave the Poison Pin in the Shell for that). There's also a chest here with a Flare Gem (careful with the gas). Anyway, now everything in the dungeon will deal 1/4 damage and can't block anything, not to mention you're poisoning everyone with normal attacks. Aren't Sealstones great? Go back right, then down and right again. There's a Crystal Wand in a chest to the right (careful with the gas). Now you can go pick up Poison Pin Blessing in the Shell, but only if you DON'T have an Earth Gem. If you do, leave it there and pick Sword Blessing at the Spring instead. Go back to the save point after that. Now is the time to fight the boss, but some more preparations first: The boss has some resistance to lightning (and weakness to earth, so Sha-Kon is a great choice). Without the Earth Gem you'll want multi-hit attacks for poison, but not with Lightning Bolt. Rufus can help with Sap Power (level 10) and Stony Decree. Light Warriors are the best for the fight with the Sabertooth Saber for added damage on beasts (give Beast Bludgeon to other characters), but the sealstone setup really is the most important part of the fight. Include Mithra in the party if you have room for him. This battle cannot be fought again, so try to get the items that interest you. __Griffon____________________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 22 2,800 HP 47,000 exp 6,400 OTH | | 480 ATK 350 MAG 54 HIT 45 AVD | | Races: Giant, Beast | | Elements: Head has Lightning +50%, Earth -50%; | | Head Feather has Lightning +80%, Earth -100%; | | Other parts have Lightning +20%, Earth -20% | | Vulnerable to Curse (100%), Silence (10%), Poison (100%), Freeze (25%), | | Stone (25%), Faint (50%) and Frailty (100%) | | Leader Item: Charge Break | | Drop Item: Jade Sealpouch (100%) | | Recommended level: 10 | | | |Body Parts: | | -Head (vital): 1,120 HP, 26 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Garnet (45%) | | -Upper body (vital): 1,400 HP, 26 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Feather (45%) | | -Front legs (vital): 1,680 HP, 24 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Great Eagle Heart (45%)| | -Lower body (vital): 1,120 HP, 24 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Feather (60%) | | -Back legs (vital): 1,400 HP, 24 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Feather (45%) | | -Middle of back wings (2): 560 HP, 24 RDM, 15 RST; | | Item: Gargoyle's Arch (45%) | | -Front of back wings (2): 280 HP, 24 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Griffon Talon (45%) | | -Front wings (2): 560 HP, 24 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Wing Feather (60%) | | -Head feather (armor): 280 HP, 24 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Pure White Plume (45%) | | | |Attacks: | | -(Double Attack): Short range, 2-hit attack with high damage. | | -Call Lightning: Long, straight range. Very high Lightning damage on party. | | -Charge: Medium, straight range. Very high damage on party. | | -Sudden Descent: Short but very wide range, very high damage on the partyt, | | but won't get you if you're REALLY close. | | -Malicious Gust: Average damage on a medium range. Least dangerous attack in| | the fight. | | | |Strategy: | | Woah, that's a lot of experience. Don't use the Double-check yet though, the| | next optional boss gives even more. | | | | The Griffon's high ATK and MAG would be very problematic if you hadn't cut | | all damage in the dungeon by 75%. You can use Sap Power to decrease it even | | further. There's the choice of Lightning Trinkets for Call Lightning too, | | but that's easy to avoid so it's not really necessary. The attack list above| | says "high" and "very high", but that's without the damage reduction. It's | | an easy battle with it, really. It can't attack from behind, so stay there. | | | | Anyway, use the Earth Gem to cause Poison, or if you don't have that just | | attack and the poison will quick in sooner or later. Save some AP for | | dashing if you feel you'll need to, or just take the damage anyway. A Dwarf | | Tincture should take care of it. Poisoning him will really speed up the | | easy, almost uninteresting battle. | | | | The Pure White Plume is a great runeless accessory that boosts MAG when the | | character is poisoned. It also increases Critical rank. Try to get this. | | There's another item with the same effect later, so although this helps a | | lot you don't need to restart if you miss it. Use overhead attacks. If | | you've got Rufus to level 12 he can do it very easily with Aiming Wisp. | | | | The Wing Feather is a very good item, and it's easy to break the right body | | part by attacking from the side. It's a runeless accessory that boosts SC | | damage by 20%. You can get it later too. Everything else is quite hard to | | get as nearly everything is a vital part. | | | | The best thing about this fight is the drop item. Sealpouches let you carry | | additional Sealstones, so you can have 2 effects on you now! This means that| | you could have the Sword Blessing and Poison Pin Blessing at the same time | | now, getting additional ATK and poisoning everything. There's a limit to how| | many Sealstones can be out in a dungeon at a time, though. If you can't pick| | an additional one from the Spring, you'll have to restore one from the | | dungeon. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ There's a Shell on the right with the Treasure Blessing Sealstone, which slows the reduction of the bonus gauge (the yellow dots on the right in battle). It's decent for bosses for their Leader Items, so you may want to restore it. To the right are two chests with the final treasures in the dungeon: 7200 OTH and an Iron Helm... yeah, all chests in the dungeon suck. Anyway, the real point of this dungeon, other than enemy drops, is the Jade Sealpouch. Poison Pin Blessing is a good sealstone that you can restore easily, but it doesn't get much use once you can buy Earth Gems. It's just more practical to use those instead of wasting a sealstone slot. Remember the Sheathed Power Wrath for when you have 30,000 crystals... probably never unless you farm for a while. That's all for the dungeon, so go back to the world map. Now go back to Coriander and talk to the guy talking to the lady to finish the sidequest and gain a Might Potion. It's important to do this to unlock the next side-quest on the forest later. --- Turgen Mine --- -Items: Prism Gem, Crystal Chainmail, Key to the Mines, 20000 OTH (total), Honeysuckle Dew, Anointed Cloak, Dwarf Tincture, Overdrive, Prime Elixir -Einherjar: Archer [ Millidia (50%) or Lylia (50%) ] -Sealstones: Alarm Blessing, Fetters Wrath, Brimstone Law, Gold Grubber Law -Enemies: Lizard Lord (Scaled), Giant Snail (Giant), Wasp Nest (Ghost, Insect), Clay Man (Giant, Plant, Unholy) -Re-fightable Boss: none -Overview: Everything here is weak to fire, so use Lezard. Boost his MAG with Copper Coins and/or Blue Apples and he should kill everything easily with Fire Storm. The Wasp Nest, main enemy in the dungeon, is a ghost, so you'll want elemental attacks and weapons. Other than spells, a Light Warrior with the Karsnaut is the best choice here. Archers with the Supreme Crossbow and/or elemental attacks are good too, while Heavy Warriors are useless (they can't hit them at all yet). Have Honeysuckle Dews as well. Enemies to look out for: The Clay Man is like the Primordial Ooze boss back in Chapter 2, except he doesn't get Regeneration. Many of the items are the same too, but nothing really interesting. It's a rare foe: fight the crawling enemies to find it. It's the only enemy you should use critical skills on here. Use Unholy Purifier. The Giant Snail has a very big shell acting as armor. You can only really damage it from the front, or you could use menu spells from far away to break the shell. Also have Honeysuckle Dews ready, as they can poison you with all attacks. There's a long range one that throws poison at you and will hit one or two characters, and another circular, short range one that releases a gas around it. This one is more dangerous since it will most likely hit the whole party. Spawned by the crawling enemies, so avoid them if possible. The Wasp Nests are very troublesome if you're not prepared, but easy if you are. They're ghosts, so you need the Ghost Buster skill or elemental attacks to hit them. Spells will take care of them easily. Some of these are like mini-bosses in that they won't respawn until you leave the dungeon, but they show up with regular enemies too. They can multiply with Schism, so kill them fast... or wait until there's a lot of them to do that and get more experience. This is a very good place to level up if you want to. If you have trouble with them, consider using Sha-Kon's Poison Shot or Earth Gems (Direct Assault the Ghosts in Serdberg) to cause poison, then just run until they're near death. Cheap and boring, but it works. Lizard Lords are like the Cybersaurs in Ancient Forest, but weaker. They have mostly the same attacks, but can use Doctor's Arcanum when they get under half of their HP to heal completely. Make sure you kill them in a single combo to avoid that, or use Arngrim's Wild Break to cause Frailty and prevent the healing... or just break them with Descaling Might. Attack from behind to avoid their armor. Good item drops: Heart Core: Runeless accessory, boosts HP by 10% and gives +30% resistance to Poison and Frailty. Break the Clay Man's body for this. Pretty effective and easy to get. Runes and Skills: Blue Resistance: Break the Lizard Lord's tail or legs for the Monster Scales. This teaches 6 skills, but most aren't good. You can get most already though: Blue Head + Bludgeon + Ice + Resistance teaches Magic Mail. Sorcerers only for now, this makes it possible to dodge spells. Dodging doesn't happen that often though, so it's not that great. Blue Body + Earth + Healing + Resistance teaches Cure Condition, one of the worst skills. This just halves the duration of status effects, but they're all easy to prevent or cure without spending CP. Blue Body + Leg + Resistance teaches Force Field (100), a 100 HP shield that protects the character in all fight. It helps now, but it becomes useless very quickly. I don't really recommend learning this. Blue Head + Arm + Darkness + Resistance teaches Counter Attack. This lets you Count Attack when you dodge attacks, but dodging doesn't happen often enough to make this very useful. Last but not least, Blue Head + Arm + Activation + Resistance teaches Free Item, one of the best skills in the game. This removes the AP cost to use items in battle. Only one character in the party needs this, just make sure he's the one using items. Old rune, but you can break the Giant Snails' shell for Black Pearls (Red Strengthening) in case you didn't get the Baraka and don't want to go back to get it. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Vein Greaves: You can get Dragon Gallstones here with the Lizard Lord, just break their head. The other material is an Alligator Skin, from the Cybersaur's tail. This green Leg rune gives 15 RDM (best for a long time), +30% Poison and +10% Earth. Highly recommended. Create it in Villnore. If you want more Piercing Imprints, just break the Lizard Lord's weapon. -Dungeon walkthrough: Exploring is very straight-forward. The first room has the Spring, so pick Sword Blessing. Poison Pin is a good choice too if you have it, but Sword Blessing is better. There are levers to turn on the lights through the dungeon. This only helps in seeing the place better and has no effect in gameplay, but there's no harm in making the place brighter. Pull all the levers you see. Just go right to enter the mines. Fall down. There's an elevator here. Just check it when inside it to go up. Pick up the Prism Gem to the left. This hits a random body part of an enemy. Save this for hard-to-hit parts. Go down. There a conveyor belt here. Walk under it to the right for a bag with a Dwarf Tincture and a chest with an Elixir (careful with the gas). Further right there's another chest with gas. Inside it is a Crystal Chainmail. Equip it! Now go up the belt to the right for a lever. This room is really dark, so make sure you pull it. On the upper left is an enemy: the Wasp Nest. Remember to use elemental attacks, especially fire. Poisoning them will also help a lot. Behind them is the Key to the Mines. You'll need it to reach the boss. Go back to the elevator room and proceed right. There's another lever here. This one doesn't turn on the light, but rather puts down a bridge. Don't pull it, just fall to the right instead. There are two Wasp Nests and a Dais here. Also a lever to turn OFF the light. To the left (behind a wasp) is a chest with 5000 OTH. Go all the way right for an elevator. Go up. Walk a bit to the left. Hard to see, but there's a bag with a Honeysuckle Dew here. To it's left is a chest (trapped with an explosion) with the Anointed Cloak, a Red Body rune for Archers and Sorcerers! That's Regenerate Health, Heroism and Heat Up for them. Go left to fall. This is the other side of the bridge. Pull the lever here to put it down if you want to go back. Proceed up. This part of the dungeon is affected by the Alarm Blessing Sealstone. This means you'll begin all battles with 0 AP and probably surrounded. Worse yet, there's a Wasp Nest here. It's protecting a Shell with the Fetters Wrath Sealstone. This one stops dodges and counters. It's good, but not worth the 2000 crystals to restore until the bonus dungeon (then it's worth it, maybe). I recommend you hold it for now. Now go right. Another wasp on the upper right. You'll need to step on an enemy to reach it. It's protecting a bag with a Dwarf Tincture and, more importantly, the second Einherjar Archer relic. Lylia or Millidia. Millidia learns ALL menu spells, but she only does so late in the game (her first spell is on level 55, last is on 99), so you shouldn't get her just for that... and that's all she has. Her stats are the worst among Archers and she doesn't learn good attacks soon either. Lylia however is a very good character, starting with 2 Holy elemental attacks: Aiming Wisp and Rising Wisp. They're both strong and good with a MAG setup, not to mention Holy is a great element. She's also one of the 3 non-Sorcerers who gets Astral Maze, and she does so at a good level (44), not to mention Guard Reinforce on level 10. Easy choice. Go right. Another Shell here with the Brimstone Law Sealstone. These are tricky. A simplified version of what they do is making you use MAG instead of ATK to attack, and your attack gains the fire element. More details in Section 09.4.02. It also lets you absorb fire, but you'll get -100% weakness to Ice. Most of the time you'll deal LESS damage, even if the enemy is weak to the element you're using, if you're not using a good MAG setup. This and the 20000 crystals cost make this a sealstone you probably won't use much, except the whole "MAG instead of ATK, fire element on attacks" thing applies to enemies too, and you can easily get immunity to fire with Stun Checks and Alicia's Robe. You can use less than that and still take very little damage from everything. This means you can get near immortality against all enemies in the dungeon, so you may want to put it in the next Dais for that. Go right for a save point and a gate. Check the gate to use the key and it will open. There's a Dais to it's right (be careful not to enter the next room) with the Alarm Blessing Sealstone. Now you have many choices of different setups here. Earth is the only element in the fight. Two attacks total. Both easy to avoid, but one of them is dangerous. This means you can put Brimstone Law in the Dais and get fire protection (Stun Checks, Alicia's Robe) to have a tank taking very low damage from almost everything in the fight. This is a bad idea if you don't have fire protection, though. Don't forget the Silver Cuirass if you have it (+50% Earth protection). Don't use Guard Motion, there will be status effects in the fight. So, put Brimstone Law in the Dais if you have fire protection. If not, put Fetters Wrath. You might want to put Fetters Wrath in the first Dais anyway. Put Alarm Blessing in a Shell. That's fine for defense, but things are more complicated for attacking. The boss has very high RDM and RST, reducing your damage a lot. Sap Guard (Alm, level 12) and critical hits (Lightning spells... Alm again) help, but there's a much simpler solution: Alicia's Mirage Pierce. The easiest way to beat the fight is to attack a vital part with Mirage Pierce until it breaks. However, this will prevent breaking other parts, which means less items. There's nothing really important in the fight, but this is a con if you want to get anything there. So, increase Alicia's ATK as high as you can. If you Mithra at level 12 he can use Might Reinforce on her too. If you want to break the other parts, focus on elemental attacks. Lylia is great with Aiming Wisp and Rising Wisp, and Rufus might have Aiming Wisp too. If not, there's Thunder Arrow (and Stony Decree). Sha-Kon helps a lot with Poison Shot. Archers should also have Bug Swatter. You can have a Light Warrior with the Karsnaut too, but it won't help much. A Sorcerer (Lezard) should use Fire spells, unless you're putting Brimstone Law in the Dais. In that case, use Ice. Don't worry with ATK for those characters, just MAG. Make sure you save before entering the boss room. __Queen Wasp_________________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 20 4,400 HP 57,000 exp 5,950 OTH | | 198 ATK 163 MAG 47 HIT 36 AVD | | Races: Giant, Insect | | Elements: Fire and Earth -20% | | Vulnerable to Curse (100%), Paralysis (20%), Silence (70%), Freeze (70%), | | Stone (50%), Faint (20%) and Frailty (100%) | | Leader Item: Royal Jelly | | Drop Item: Olive Crown (100%) | | Recommended level: 12 | | | |Body Parts: | | -Head (vital): 1,320 HP, 42 RDM, 37 RST; Item: Big Bugeye (30%) | | -Chest (vital): 3,080 HP, 42 RDM, 37 RST; Item: Giant Amber (75%) | | -Belly (vital): 2,200 HP, 21 RDM, 19 RST; Item: Royal Jelly (100%) | | -Back (vital): 1,760 HP, 84 RDM, 56 RST; Item: Banshee Scales (60%) | | -Tail: 1,320 HP, 105 RDM, 74 RST; Item: Big Needle (75%) | | -Arms (3): 440 HP, 50 RDM, 44 RST; Item: Insect Claw (40%) | | -Upper Wings (2): 440 HP, 21 RDM, 37 RST; Item: Indigo Wing (30%) | | -Lower Wings (2): 440 HP, 21 RDM, 37 RST; Item: Tuning Wing (30%) | | | |Attacks: | | -(Double attack): Short range on front, 2 hits on all characters for heavy | | damage. Needs middle arms to use. | | -Imitation Eye: Long range on front, hits the party for average damage and | | causes Confusion (not dangerous). Needs wings to use. | | -Variation Alpha: Very short range, Earth elemental attack, causes high | | damage and poison on party. | | -(Charging): Targets self, just a preparation for Variation Omega. Used when| | low on health. | | -Variation Omega: Earth elemental. Reaches party anywhere, hits up to 8 | | times for extreme damage and causes poison. Can only be | | avoided by hiding behind walls. | | | |Strategy: | | This is a great place to use the Double-check! I really recommend doing it. | | | | The queen isn't alone: there are two Wasp Nests in the fight as well, and | | scattered through the battlefield are 7 Insect Eggs (300 HP each). If you | | kill a Wasp Nest, a new one will spawn from one of the eggs, and then the | | egg is gone. You can destroy the eggs before that happens, so it's up to you| | if you ignore the wasps, kill 9 of them (even more experience) or break the | | eggs. Beware that most of the eggs are in the back of the arena, past the | | Queen Wasp. | | | | And getting past the Queen isn't safe, or easy. Not only does it have decent| | attacks, it's RDM and RST are huge. It's slow though, and the two most | | dangerous attacks (the Variations) are easy to avoid. Alpha has really short| | range, and Omega is only used when it's under half health. Then it's pretty | | much like the Primordial Ooze's Washout: hits you anywhere, causes poison | | and does high damage. | | | | There are three ways to avoid Variation Omega. The first is to leave a tank | | close to the Queen, and the other characters away. The Variation will stop | | at the tank. This isn't really avoid the attack but it does reduce the | | damage the party takes. The second way is to hide behind a wall. The attack | | can't go through them, so you're completely safe. This may not be always | | possible though, and dashing will reduce the AP you have for attacking. | | | | So the easiest way to avoid it is to make sure the Queen can never use it. | | Just kill it before it gets to half health, which is easy if you only attack| | the back. It has huge RDM... but that's what Alicia's Mirage Pierce is for. | | Better yet, the Queen can't attack you if you're behind it. Sounds like the | | perfect plan, just attack the back and nothing else for a quick, painless | | fight. However, you can't get other items this way. There's nothing really | | important here, but just in case you like to get everything. | | | | The best items here are the Big Needle (break the tail), a Red Piercing | | rune, and the Insect Claw (break any arm), with the Red Slashing rune. | | Breaking the tail is extremely hard since it has the highest RDM (and it's | | really hard to reach, too), so I'll just assume you didn't get it. You can | | get BOTH of these runes in two dungeons from now, so don't worry too much if| | you don't get it. | | | | Anyway, this opens many skills for everyone. True Seeing (Piercing + Fire + | | Strengthening), Weed Whacker (Red Slashing + Weakness + Fire), Bug Swatter | | (Red Piercing + Weakness + Earth) and Magician Slayer (Red Slashing + | | Weakness + Activation). They're all good. | | | | Only two enemies in the game drop the Big Bugeye (break the head), and | | they're both bosses you can only fight once. This isn't an important item, | | only giving 50% from Faint and a low chance of causing Faint when attacking,| | so don't feel bad about missing it if you do. | | | | The drop item, Olive Crown, is a decent (8 MAG, 4 RDM) head armor that | | protects well from Curse. It's only good for the MAG boost. Breaking the | | wings don't give you anything good either. Don't bother. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ More chests here: Overdrive, Prime Elixir (careful with the gas) and 15000 OTH. Also a Shell with the main reason to visit this dungeon: the Gold Grubber Law. This one gives you triple OTH from battles, but 0 experience. Good for some farming, sure, but the best thing about it is learning skills. You can leave characters you don't like at a low level and then use them with this sealstone to speed up the skill learning progress for everyone. Remember, skill learning is faster the lower your average level is compared to the enemy leader. It's quite expensive though, at 1200 crystals. Don't restore it yet. Dungeon cleared. Feel free to leave it, however you've got a nice setup here: very low (maybe even null) damage with fire protection and 0 experience for item/skill farming without worrying about making things harder later (getting overleveled will slow down your skill learning in the future). I really recommend you take this opportunity to teach some important skills for your main party. Try to fight the Clay Man as he's the highest leveled enemy. Anything works, though. There's a full list of skills/runes so far right ahead, so check that to make sure you're getting what you need. If you do need levels then the wasps are really good for it too. Just use Fire Storm or Frigid Damsel (with Brimstone Law in a Dais) to finish the battle quickly with only a Sorcerer + the character you want to level in the party. Easy, quick way to get everyone to level 12 at least, where most of them learn good stuff. Don't forget to go back to Villnore and talk to the guy who wanted the wasp dead to get 10000 OTH, finishing this quest. This is necessary to get the next sidequest later. And with that we've finished the optional areas for now. Go to the Audoula Temple on the Lake to proceed with the story (section 04.3.04), or check the checklist below first for some of the good things you should have. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.3.03 - Checklist I [04303] This is just a short list of things you can have by now, including all runes, skills and the best equipment. You don't need to have everything here, this is just a quick list of recommended items. --- Blue Runes --- -Body, Arm, Leg and Head: buy in any shop -Slashing: Blade Claw (Crust Golem's back pincers) -Bludgeon: Sorcerers only for now -Activation: Raptor's Talon (Giant Hawk's wings) -Healing: Beetle Shell (Bullet Beetle's shell) -Strengthening: Little Devil Heart (Goblin's body) -Weakness: Insect Stinger (Bullet Beetle's stinger) -Resistance: Monster Scales (Lizard Lord's tail and legs) -Training: Copper Coin (Kobold Knight's legs) -Fire: Blue Soul Flame (Warning Jewel's crystal) -Ice: Fish Scales (Flying Fish's Leader Item) -Earth: Skull Receptacle (Skeleton's and Skeleton Soldier's head) -Lightning: Thunderbreath Core (Thunder Hawks' left body) -Holy: Pact Chain (Living Armor's arms) -Darkness: Blue Doll (buy in Coriander) Missing runes: -Creation for everyone -Bludgeon for non-Sorcerers --- Red Runes --- -Body: Alicia's Robe (Alicia's initial equipment), Anointed Cloak (Turgen Mine) -Arm: Metal Buckler (found in Serdberg Mountain Ruins, Celes' initial equip.) -Leg: buy in Villnore and Coriander -Slashing: Insect Claw (Queen Wasp's arms), you'll find some easier ones soon. -Piercing: Big Needle (Queen Wasp's tail), you'll find another soon -Activation: Red Cherry (bought in Coriander) -Healing: Ruby-Eyed Bee (buy in Solde) -Strengthening: Baraka (Ballistic Rhino's body or arm armor) -Weakness: Poison Seed (Toxic Flower's body) -Resistance: Vermillion Scales (Cybersaur's legs) -Fire: Cursed Soul (Ghost's left arm) -Earth: Prancing Horse (buy in Solde) -Lightning: Orientation Scales (Upper Lizard's head). You'll find some easier ones later. Missing runes: -Training, Head, Darkness, Holy, Ice and Creation for everyone -Easy Piercing and Slashing for everyone -Body for Light and Heavy Warriors --- Green Runes --- -Leg: Vein Greaves (Villnore) -Strengthening: Beryl Bracelet (buy in Coriander) Missing runes: -Everything else for everyone --- Good skills everyone should learn as soon as possible --- -Fists of Iron (Blue Body + Fire) -Mental Boost (Blue Body + Ice) -Break Up (Blue Arm + Slashing + Activation + Strengthening) -Survival (Blue Body + Healing + Training) -First Aid (Blue Body + Healing + Holy) -Free Item (Blue Head + Arm + Activation + Resistance) -Guard Motion (Red Arm + Strengthening + Resistance) -True Seeing (Red Piercing + Fire + Strengthening) -Beast Bludgeon (Blue Slashing + Weakness + Fire) -Weed Whacker (Red Slashing + Weakness + Fire) -Bug Swatter (Red Piercing + Weakness + Earth) -Magician Slayer (Red Slashing + Weakness + Activation) -Unholy Purifier (Blue Slashing + Weakness + Holy) -Descaling Might (Blue Slashing + Weakness + Lightning) --- Important Weapons/Armor/Accessories --- Weapons and armor in order of importance, accessories sorted alphabetically or by effect. Light Swords: -Sabertooth Saber (create in Villnore) -Karsnaut (dropped by the Crust Golem in Serdberg) Heavy Swords: -Kraadicator (release Kraad and talk to him in Villnore) -Elemental Edge (create in Villnore) Bows: -Supreme Crossbow (create in Villnore) Arm: -Sacred Guarder (create in Villnore) Leg: -Vein Greaves (create in Villnore) Blue Accessories: -Ram's Horn [ATK+3%] (treasure chest in Serdberg) -Copper Coin [MAG +5%] (Kobold Knight's body, Serdberg) -Beetle Shell [RDM+3%] (Bullet Beetle's shell) Gray Accessories: -Empty Shell (Living Armor's legs, Kythena Plains) [ATK and Critical Rank boost when under Silence status] -Great Eagle Heart (Owlbear's body, Serdberg and Ancient Forest) [Stat Boost: ATK +15%] -Sharp Spearhead (Living Armor's spear, Kythena Plains) [Critical Rank +1] -Shell Shade (Goat Man's back legs, Ancient Forest) [May nullify spells] -Stun Check (create in Solde) [Fire+30%, Faint+100%] -Tiny Flower (buy from the flower girl in Villnore) [HP +10%] -Worn Shield (Cybersaur's shield, Ancient Forest) [Extra guard chance] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.3.04 - Water and Fire [04304] Back to the plot! --- Audoula Temple on the Lake --- -Items: 10000 OTH, Evil Eyebrow Ring, Thunder Gem, Charge Break, Anointed Cloak, Elixir, Iceproof Talisman, Union Plume, Strength Bow, Dwarf Tincture, Crystal Chainmail, Thunder Crystal -Einherjar: Sorcerer [ Khanon (100%)] Archer [ Phyress (90%) or Ehrde (10%) ] -Sealstones: Ice Blessing, Chasm Wrath, Gold Blessing -Enemies: Lizard Man (Scaled), Lizard Lord (Scaled), Deep One (Scaled), Skull Fish (Scaled), Strobila (Plant), Giant Crab (Giant) -Re-fightable Boss: Kraken -Overview: The traveling merchant will leave Coriander and move to the next town when you clear this dungeon. Don't worry, he'll still sell the same items and keep all the materials you've given him. A hard dungeon. Everything but the lizards attacks with Ice and resists it. Freeze Checks will protect you from Ice and Freeze, but that's too much trouble. You could just settle for Blue Soul Flames for Freeze protection and forget about Ice, or just use characters who resist it (like Alicia). Two enemies (one is the boss) cause Paralysis too, but I wouldn't bother with a Paralyze Check either. You could just have Mithra or Sylphide around for Normalize, or buy some Pearl Grass. Thaw Waters are good, too. Instant breaking works on everything here, but you don't have skills for Giants yet. Descaling Might and Weed Whacker with True Seeing, Sharp Spearheads and Lightning spells do wonders here. Lightning and Fire are good elements to use, usually. I'd rather have Mithra than Lezard for a Sorcerer in this one because of Might Reinforce (he should be learning it soon). Sap Power is also very important, because the enemies are having most of their attacks boosted by the Ice Blessing Sealstone. You can't reach the Dais with it until you clear half of the dungeon, and it lets enemies do 50% more damage with Ice attacks. Fire attacks however are halved... but there's only one fire attack here. So everything has a big advantage until you reach the Dais. Beware. The battlefield is very complex too. Dashing is the best way of getting past attack zones here and most of the time the leader will be in a place that's hard to reach. Keep an eye on the map for a possible shortcut. Also be careful not to get transfered out of the battlefield by falling in the water. You can do it to the enemies too. Enemies to look out for: The Lizard Lord is back, and the Lizard Man is similar. Just attack from the back to avoid the armor. These are the only enemies that don't attack with Ice. Skull Fish is just like the Flying Fish. It can deal very good damage, but just break their tail and they can't move anymore. They can throw Lightning and Ice. Deep One is the most dangerous enemy because of the constant Frigid Damsel, Remember: if everyone is frozen, it's game over. RST doesn't do much against Ice spells AND they're boosted to 150%, so you'd better be good at dashing and hope for a critical hit. Strobila is a weird plant-like thing that can cause paralysis and poison. Just avoid it completely unless it's the leader. This happens when you fight the crawling enemies. Have Weed Whacker for those! They have so many parts that this is a great way to boost your Break Mode chances. Giant Crab is lke the Crust Golem. Careful with the Cold Eye attack, used when you break both arms. It deals high Ice damage. They show up with crawling enemies too. You can't instant-break them yet, but they're not very hard. Good item drops: Vegetable Seed: Runeless accessory, Poison heals instead of doing damage, but only in battle. Break Strobila's body for this. Great accessory for added survival. Karsnaut: Old weapon, but useful if you haven't been to Turgen Mine yet. Brek the Lizard Man's weapon for this. Stonecutting Pincers: Runeless accessory, SC damage increases as HP decreases. Break the Giant Crab's arms for this. Great accessory if you like using Soul Crushes. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): You can break Deep One's head (Stony Decree from the front with Descaling Might) for a Sabertooth, needed for a very strong light sword later, the Moonfalx. You can't create this until Chapter 4 though, so don't get it yet. -Dungeon walkthrough: Just go right for the next room. Spring here. You won't reach a Dais or a good Shell anytime soon, so pick up one of yours. You can pick two if you've got the Jade Sealpouch. Sword Blessing should be one of them, and the other can be whatever else you have. Treasure Blessing? Proceed right. Notice the shell above? Step on the nearby enemy or do an air jump after switching places with it to reach that. The Shell has the Chasm Wrath sealstone. This halves RDM and RST, but costs 4000 crystals. That's not too expensive later, but it's way too much for now. Don't pick it up yet and certainly don't restore it. You won't be reaching a Dais yet, and you'd better choose if you want to restore it or not later. Continue to the right. There are 2 streams of water flowing in the background. You'll have to block them to reach the boss later. Notice that the Dais is in the lower part of this room, but you can't reach it yet because of the water. Just keep going right for now. Annoying room. 2 platforms with items and only one flying enemy to reach it. It's tricky and you have to take a long path around to go back to the top if you fall (or just have very good warping skills). You'll need to do air jumps and use the enemy as a stepping stone. The platform on the left is easy to reach and has 10000 OTH, while the one on the right has an Evil Eyebrow Ring, but BE CAREFUL with the explosion. It can easily throw you off the platform. There's also a Thunder Gem in a chest in the middle. The ring gives you 50 HIT and lets you counterattack after dodging an attack (innate Counter-Attack skill). Dodging doesn't happen often, so I wouldn't bother. Anyway, you'll want to fall, even if you've got the items. I'll say how to get back up there soon, but first check the Einherjar relic to the right: a Sorcerer. Khanon is an evil guy hated by everyone he knew in life, but all you should care about is that he's an Earth Sorcerer who gets Guard Reinforce and Sap Power very early. In fact he'll probably join with those and Fire Storm, and doesn't take that long to get Lightning Bolt (level 16). He's a good character, but Mithra with Might Reinforce and Alm with Lightning spells (for breaking) are better choices. He's also the only one in the relic. Now take the left exit up and keep going left. There's another relic here on the platform, but it's behind the pseudo-mini-boss. It's just a regular battle, but you can't crystallize it. To reach the relic you'll need to fight (jump and slash the sword), or do a very tricky photon warping with the flying enemy behind the mini-boss. Don't bother, just fight. After the mini-boss is gone you can easily warp with the flying enemy and then reach the relic. Phyress or Ehrde. Phyress is the best choice for the main game, Ehrde is the best choice for the bonus dungeon (last 10% of the game). Phyress has great stats and joins with the 3 fire elemental attacks: Shrapnel Shatter (up to 8 hits, very high damage), Flare Blast (same damage as Poison Shot) and Flame Shot (really strong launcher). Shrapnel Shatter is the best if it gets all hits, so Flame Shot is the strongest, most reliable archer attack in most cases. Better yet, Phyress joins with the Psychosoma skill, which lets the attacker use both the ATK and MAG stats in all attacks. This can give a huge damage boost if you improve the character's MAG, and is one of the best skills. For simple, main-game ownage, Phyress wins. Ehrde however is the only male Einherjar Archer. He gets Flame shot and Poison Shot, but no Flare Blast or Shrapnel Shatter. However, once you reach the bonus dungeon you can find a very good accessory that doubles damage in certain conditions, but only men can use it. So, if you want an Archer with it, it's either him or Rufus. Phyress is clearly above Ehrde in the main game though, so it's up to you if you get a character for most of the game or the post-game. Releasing either of them will send them back to Solde's church. Ehrde will never give you anything, but Phyress gives a Golden Egg now. Now jump to the upper right for a chest with a Charge Break. It's trapped with an arrow. The left part of the platform has an Anointed Cloak (gas trap), and to the left on the ground is an Elixir. Now just return to the area where you got Khanon and take the right exit up. Just climb the stairs and keep going right. Take the path down to be back to the top of the room where you got Khanon if you didn't get the items. Just go right from the room with the stairs to continue. You'll see a cutscene. There's a rock to the left. Push it over one of the water streams to block it. You'll want to block the one on the left, but there's no problem if you push it to the right. Anyway, that's all here. Go back to the room where you got Khanon. You can reach the Dais now, but pick up the Chasm Wrath before doing it. If you blocked the right stream, you'll have to reach the Dais from the left of where you got Khanon. If you blocked the left stream, you can reach it from the right of the Shell with the Chasm Wrath, which is more practical. Anyway, you'll finally reach the Dais with the Ice Blessing. It's only 600 crystals and it's of GREAT use in the next dungeon from now. So just restore it and put the Chasm Wrath in the Dais. Once that's done, go back to left to the room with the Shell. Take the left path down (to the left of the Spring). Another complex room. There's another platform way up to the left, and it's very hard to reach it. There are two flying enemies in this room. Just kill them, it's easier to reach it without worrying about battles or the enemies moving. Basically you'll want an air ladder, like this: ====== 222 222 111 111 With 1 and 2 being the enemies, and == the platform. Make sure they're as high as possible. To make them like that, warp both close together and taking enemy 1 as high as possible, then aim at enemy 2, shoot the photon and jump towards the platform as fast as you can. You should be somewhat close when the photon warps you. Now step on enemy 1 (or warp it and air jump) and then warp enemy 2. Do the air jump towards the platform when you finish warping and you should reach it. In it are 3 chests: Iceproof Talisman (save it for the boss!), Union Plume and Strength Bow. Careful with the arrow on this one. There are only two Strength Bows in the game, and they're needed to create a weapon later. This is the second one, the first comes equipped in Sha-Kon if you've got her. For now this isn't better than the Supreme Crossbow, but a nice substitute if you don't have it. There's a fourth item on the ground: a Dwarf Tincture. After all that, just climb the stairs to the right and go to the next room. You'll find a lever here. This switches the gate on the water streams on the back. You'll want to block one stream with the rock and another with this lever. If you pushed the rock to the left there's no need to mess with the lever, as both streams are already blocked. If not, just pull it and you'll block the left one. Continue right. Gas-trapped chest here with a Crystal Chainmail, but nothing else... yet. Go back to the room with the Shell and Spring. Take the right path down for a small room. There's a chest on the left, kind of hidden. It has a Thunder Crystal, the last item in the dungeon. Proceed right. You'll be able to pass if you blocked both streams. There's a save point here, but relax. There's another room before the boss. Save anyway, the next room is complex as well. There's a Shell here with the Gold Blessing, which increases the OTH received by 50%. It's a decent sealstone and good to have for the boss. The problem, of course, is reaching it. Notice the enemy on the other side of the fence, on the upper left of the map? You'll want to warp it, wait for it to go towards you from the other side of the fence, warp it again when it's near the Shell and air jump to it. So you'll need accurate aiming with photons twice. If you mess up you'll be on the other side of the fence and will have to go all the way back. Or just load the game, it's much faster. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to reach it: 1- While on the lower floor, position yourself in a way that you see you can hit the enemy with photons. Jump and shoot only one. If it hits, great. If it doesn't, reposition yourself until it does. 2- Now that the enemy is crystallized, jump and shoot another photon, but move to the right as much as you can while doing it. If you got warped, great. If not, keep trying. 3- Now you're on the other side of the fence. Just wait until the enemy you warped breaks the crystal. 4- If you didn't jump right enough, the enemy will pass BELOW the platform and get stuck. To avoid this, kill the other enemy, crystallize it and step on it while the flying one goes towards you. You're higher up, so it takes a different path and may not get stuck. 5- Once the enemy is over the tip of the platform with the Shell, or nearby enough, quickly fire two photons to warp it. Air jump towards the Shell as good as you can. This can take a while. Anyway, pick up the Gold Blessing and leave your second sealstone here if you've got any. You should be carrying Gold and Sword Blessing. I don't recommend restoring it, even though it's cheap (500 crystals). You'll want to save some crystals for the next dungeon. And now the boss, weak to Fire and even more to Lightning. Phyress is the most useful character since she gets 3 fire attacks. Rufus is great too with Thunder Arrow, Absolute Wave and Aiming Wisp. Both with the Supreme Crossbow if possible (do give it to Phyress at least). Since you're adding Rufus, that's Sap Power already, so you can use Mithra for Might Reinforce and Lightning Bolt, or use Khanon for Guard Reinforce. I recommend Mithra, because Kraken can use two status effects (Freeze and Paralysis), and Normalize solves that problem. If you don't want to use Mithra for that, use Sylphide. Better than wasting accessory slots. For Light Warriors, Alicia is the best choice because of Mirage Pierce and her innate Ice resistance. If you've got Tyrith at level 15 she can be used for Might Reinforce too (instead of Mithra), but that's not very likely. For Heavy Warriors, choose Dylan or an Einherjar for a better SC chain than Arngrim. Let the Heavy Warrior go last. Focus on defensive skills, like First Aid, Survival and Fortify Physique. Don't forget Psychosoma for Phyress! For accessories, you'll want stat boosts. Copper Coins, Great Eagle Hearts, Ram's Horns, things like that. Go back to save, then keep going right to fight the boss. __Kraken_____________________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 19 5,000 HP 38,000 exp 4,200 OTH | | 155 ATK 130 MAG 42 HIT 32 AVD | | Races: Giant | | Elements: All parts have Fire -20%, Lightning -50%, Ice +20%; | | Left mouth tentacle also has Holy and Darkness -5% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis (75%) | | Leader Item: Overdrive | | Drop Item: Divine Time Giver (100%) | | Recommended level: 14 | | | |Body Parts: | | -Upper head: 1,000 HP, 36 RDM, 13 RST; Item: Seafood (30%) | | -Lower head (vital): 3,500 HP, 40 RDM, 15 RST; | Item: Vermillion Cartilage (50%) | | -Mouth tentacles (2): 1,000 HP, 48 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Bone Mace (80%) | | -Legs: 3000 HP, 40 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Tentacles (30%) | | -Right back tentacle: 500 HP, 40 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Stone Bullet (45%) | | -Left back tentacle: 500 HP, 40 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Stone Bullet (40%) | | -Front tentacles (2): 500 HP, 40 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Ammunition Shell (20%) | | -Mace tentacles (2): 1,000 HP, 60 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Mace Head (25%) | | | |Attacks: | | -Rumble: Small circle range. Around 3 hits on each character for decent | | damage and paralysis. Very dangerous, it's game over if everyone is| | paralysed. | | -Long Hand: Straight range, around 3 hits on each character. Average damage.| | -Double Knuckle: Straight range, around 5 hits on (usually) 3 characters. | | High damage, probably enough to kill anyone. | | -Water Lance: Ice elemental attack, 2 hits of low damage on the party. | | -Frigid Damsel: Ice spell, 3 hits of average damage on the party, causes | | freeze. Dangerous: if everyone is frozen, it's game over. | | -Tidal Wave (Great Magic): Average range. Ice magic, will always hit all | | characters. | | High damage, used frequently on low on HP. | | | |Strategy: | | Big guy, with lots of parts to break. Breaking all those tentacles is hard, | | but at least you can fight him again as much as you want. Then again, you | | don't really need to break anything here. | | | | Kraken begins the battle in a water pool. You can't enter the water, so he's| | hard to reach and you can't attack it from behind. Notice the 2 chains in | | the back of the battlefield, marked in green in the mini-map. Attack those | | (800 HP each) to drain the water. There's no reason to not do this, as it | | lets you reach Kraken more easily, attack from behind and avoid his attacks | | without dashing all the time. Do it and then enter the pool. You might want | | to leave a Sorcerer on the outside to heal and cast menu spells. He's safe | | there. | | | | You can also trap Kraken in the stairs. Just try to lure him to the stairs, | | then get behind him and attack. Kraken can't turn around while in the | | stairs, so it's defenseless until you run out of AP. It's a handy trick, but| | it's not always simple to get him there. | | | | Sap Power and Might Reinforce help a lot here. Once Kraken gets low on HP, | | use the Iceproof Talisman you got in this dungeon to protect from Tidal | | Wave. That's very dangerous, but easier to avoid than most Great Magic. | | Remember, Great Magic hits everyone, regardless of where they are. | | | | Phyress, Rufus and Alicia can deal very high damage, so have Mithra cast | | Might Reinforce on them. Heavy Warriors get it too if you've got one. If | | you're not using Mithra then consider a Might Potion on Phyress anyway. It's| | not hard to damage Kraken once you get rid of the water, especially with | | Mithra on the outside for support. | | | | Items. The lower head has the Vermillion Cartillage, a Red Ice rune. It's | | hard to break and you'll find another one in the next dungeon, but if you do| | get it now you can learn Ghost Buster (Red Slashing + Weakness + Ice + | | Resistance) and Precision Parry (Red Arm + Ice + Resistance). Only good item| | from breaking, too... I would just ignore it and get the next Red Ice rune. | | | | If you want, break the mace tentacles for the Mace Head. It has the Blue | | Bludgeon rune. You'll find it in the next dungeon anyway, and even get it in| | a town later, so feel free to skip this too. | | | | As for drop item, the Divine Time Giver lets your characters attack as long | | as you've got AP, but additional attacks cost double AP. There's no way to | | turn it off, but there's no reason to want that. It's a great improvement to| | the battle system and you can make good use of it with proper timing in | | attacks. Button-mashers will often find themselves without AP, so do try to | | master it's use. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Dungeon cleared and a background update for Rufus in the Status menu. Remember that you can fight the Kraken again. Now is a good time to decide if you want to restore the Chasm Wrath. I'd say don't do it yet. It's a good Seastone, but the next dungeon has a more useful one that's rather expensive too (2000 crystals), and you can always come back for this one later if you feel the need. Don't leave the dungeon without Ice Blessing though! Back to the world map. Kalstad will show up. Before going there though go back to Villnore and talk to the first guy in town, the one who told you about Audoula. Answer "Been there" to get a Prism Crystal. Great! Now you can go to Kalstad. --- Kalstad --- -Items: 5000 OTH, Burgundy Flask -Points of interest: Give money to the boy The traveling merchant is here now, and he's the only shop in the town, just like in Coriander. Look for him in the Inn, the first house from the entrance (ignore the path up). Lots of new stuff, so check the shopping hints below for an idea of what to buy. Talk to the adventurer in the Inn to learn about a volcano. This is your hint for the next dungeon. Leave the inn and go right for another house. Check the left side of it for 5000 OTH. Leave the house and take the path up next to it. To the left is a boy. Talk to him twice and he'll ask for money. You can only give 10 OTH, but can do it as much as you want. Depending on how much money total you give him before Chapter 6, you'll get a different item: From 100 to 290 OTH: Sun Shower (can be created in Solde, Chapter 4 onwards) 300 OTH or more: Claiomh Solais (1 can be gotten in the final dungeon) The Sun Shower is really weak for Chapter 6, not to mention you can create as many as you want in Solde anyway, so just talk to him 30 times to give 300 OTH for the Claiomh Solais. The house next to him has a Burgundy Flask on the right, and that's all in this small town. Just go right to leave. The Sahma Desert will show up, connecting to the eastern part of the world map, where your next destination lies. Shopping and new skills: The merchant still has the same items for creation, but the ones for regular sale received an update. Light Warriors get the Frostbane, a perfect weapon for the next dungeon, especially with the Ice Blessing sealstone you restored. Buy this one for any Light Warrior you plan to use in the next dungeon, even though it doesn't allow SCs. Sorcerers finally get a weapon with Great Magic enabled: the Infinity Rod. It's the best rod so far, so buy one for your mage. They're pretty good in the next dungeon. Mithra, Khanon and Woltar can fill the Heat gauge in the third position of a Soul Crush chain, just like Rufus. Heavy Warriors and Archers don't get a weapon upgrade here. The Claymore isn't better than the Elemental Edge, which is worse than the Kraadicator anyway. The Composite Crossbow is strong for a bow, but has no SC and lacks an element. The Supreme Crossbow is still much better, although Archers aren't that great in the next dungeon compared to the others. Feel free to ignore armor for them too. There are Red Body runes for everyone here, and Red Head for Light and Heavy Warriors. This opens many new, important skills, so buy everything. Full list: Body: Very simple. Light/Heavy Warriors get the Duel Armor (Lightning+20%), while Archers and Sorcerers get the Supreme Garb. They're quite expensive, so feel free to ignore the Supreme Garb if you don't have enough money, as you already have 2 Anointed Cloaks as Red Body for Archers and Sorcerers. Head: Archers and Sorcerers get the Olive Crown (you've already got one from the Queen Wasp), while Heavy Warriors get the Duel Helm. Light Warriors will benefit more from the crown, since it boosts MAG and they're using an elemental weapon, but you need the Duel Helm for the Red head rune for Psychosoma. Arm: Villnore's Sacred Guarder has better stats than the Duel Guarder, but both have 15% chance of blocking and the Duel Guarder can be just bought. So get one the Light/Heavy Warriors without the Sacred Guarder. Archers and Sorcerers still keep the old stuff (Metal Buckler). Leg: Archers and Sorcerers keep the Suede Boots, while Warriors keep the Vein Greaves. Finally, buy some Idun's Apples. The next boss might cause Frailty. As for skills, here's a list of what you can get now: Psychosoma: Red Head + Arm + Activation + Ice. GREAT skill for Light Warriors, especially with the Frostbane! Learn this immediately if you got Red Ice. If not, you'll get it in the next dungeon. Reduce Magic: Red Body + Head + Ice + Activation. Halves damage/healing from spells. This is pretty good, but CP cost is very high. Missile Protection: Red Head + Arm + Resistance. Good skill for a few fights, but high CP cost. Scramble Attack: Red Head + Leg + Slashing + Resistance. This lets you setup a 4th attack to use instead of the regular ones once per attack loop. This adds diversity to your combos, as you can avoid using expensive attacks depending on your AP and so on. The Scramble Attack can be used infinitely during Break Mode. It has many uses, but they depend on the player. Old skills everyone can get now: Heroism (unnecessary), Heat Up (decent) and Regenerate Health (unnecessary). --- Sahma Desert --- -Einherjar: Heavy Warrior [ Aaron (30%), Dyn (50%) or Zunde (20%) ] -Enemies: Sand Flower (Insect, Plant), Giant Scarab (Insect), Desert Beast (Giant, Beast) -Overview: Another small area connecting two parts of the world, similar to Kythena Plains. Only 3 enemies here, but you do get a new Einherjar. Bug Swatter is a good skill here. Enemies to look out for: Sand Flowers are the same as the Toxic Flowers from Ancient Forest, but instead of just silencing you they can also cause Paralysis with Paralyzing Mist. Remember, it's game over if everyone is paralyzed. Not a serious problem though, just split up the party, one character can kill it alone. Good opportunity to get Silence on characters with the Empty Shell. Giant Scarabs are similar to Bullet Beetles, but very dangerous: they have a Kamikaze attack when they get hurt that deals a ridiculous amount of damage (around 600). Split up your party to avoid having everyone dead if things go wrong. Attack from behind or from the sides to break a vital part before they have a chance to explode. Consider Bug Swatter. Desert Beasts are like the first boss, the Ballistic Rhino. Many body parts to break and the same attacks. Just attack from behind, it's too slow to do anything when you're there. They're beasts, so use Beast Bludgeon or equip the Sabertooth Saber to break and kill them easily. Good item drops: Prism Gem: Hits a random body part of one enemy. Just Direct Assault the Desert Beast. Good to break those hard to reach parts, but you can buy this later. Runes and Skills: Red Slashing: Break the Giant Scarab's pincers for the Insect Claw. This is the one the Queen Wasp dropped, but it's easier to get it here, of course. Now everyone can get those skills that were only for Light Warriors. Red Piercing: Break the Desert Beast's horn (Aiming Wisp is a good attack to use for that) for the Battering Ram's Horn. This isn't the same item you could get with the Queen Wasp, but the rune works anyway. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Magic Glove: Glove with high RDM and RST. Can be used by all 4 classes, but I'd keep using the Sacred Guarder for Light and Heavy Warriors. Anyway, you can get 1 Hot Plate here by breaking the Desert Beast's arm armor. You only need 2 Unladen Swallows Scales, which you can get back with the Lower Lizard in Serdberg or wait for the next dungeon to get it easily. Greenery Slayer: Last material here: Spiral Arrowhead, by breaking the Desert Beast's arrowheads (the tip of their arms). The other materials are 2 Piercing Imprints and 2 Nightshades (Toxic Flowers). Still not possible to create though, you'll have to wait for the next town. -Dungeon walkthrough: Just go right for 3 screens and that's it. You'll find an Einherjar relic near the exit. I recommend you get past this place first, save on the world map and then come back to check it. The choice here is important. A second Heavy Warrior: Zunde, Dyn or Aaron. Aaron has low HP and his other stats are just ok, but learns good attacks soon. Dyn has better stats, but doesn't get the good attacks until much later. Zunde is the best of both worlds with very good stats and very good attacks. He joins with the two strongest Heavy Warrior attacks (Dreaded Radius and Sweep Dive) and also a really good skill that affects most bosses: Giant Killer. He's the best choice here, period. Try your best to get him if you care, even though he is very rare. They'll appear back in Coriander when released. Aaron gives 50000 OTH, but the others don't give anything yet. Just keep going right and you'll reach the eastern part of the world map and the Surts Volcano Caverns will show up. You know what to do. --- Surts Volcano Caverns --- -Items: Dwarf Tincture, Union Plume, Pallasch, Overdrive, Ice Crystal, 15000 OTH, Spider Fighter, Royal Glove, Might Potion, Charm -Einherjar: Archer [ Arcana (50%) or Sophalla (50%) ] Sorcerer [ Psoron (40%) or Farant (60%) ] -Sealstones: Fire Blessing, Cotton Dust Wrath, Lifeforce Blessing, Barrier Blessing, Achromatic Law, Iceberg Law -Enemies: Giant Scarab (Insect), Red Lizard (Scaled), Red Jewel (Magic), Skeletal Soldier (no race), Fire Bat (Beast), Hellhound (Beast), Wild Lizard (Scaled) -Re-fightable Boss: Evolver (2nd form) -Overview: Elemental dungeons are good because you can just come up with a setup focused on the opposite element and kill everything with ease. It's even better when the previous town just happens to sell weapons of that element. Instant breaking is good too, but doesn't work on Skeletal Soldiers and the Red Jewel. So that's Bug Swatter, Descaling Might and Beast Bludgeon. Light Warriors are great here with the Frostbane and the Ice Blessing Sealstone, although the Shell isn't right at the entrance. You can also put the Ice Blessing in a Dais to reduce the damage of the enemies. I'd rather hold it, but keep that in mind if enemies are hurting you too much. Psychosoma, Fists of Iron and Mental Boost are great skills. Change their weapons to the Sabertooth Saber when fighting Fire Bats and Hellhounds. Sorcerers, or rather Mithra, are a good idea too. Mithra should have Glacial Blizzard at this point, letting he deal good damage from far away. And there's the Tidal Wave Great Magic too, which you can use third in the chain, letting you use 4 Soul Crushes. Also Might Reinforce, but you could use Tyrith (if you have her) for that since you need Light Warriors anyway. The only good Archers here are Rufus (high non-elemental damage) or Lylia (high Holy damage). The others can't compare because of the elements they use. Heavy Warriors can deal high damage as usual, especially Zunde with the Kraadicator. I'd recommend a party of Mithra, 2 Light Warriors (Tyrith, Alicia, Sylphide are good choices) and Zunde/Dylan. Accessories should include MAG boosting for Light Warriors and Mithra and ATK boosting for the Heavy Warriors. Light Warriors will benefit from ATK too, of course, especially a Great Eagle Heart. You can also use Stun Checks for Fire protection. Enemies to look out for: Remember the Warning Jewels in Dipan Castle and their deadly Fire Storm? Well, the Red Jewel is the same, but even more deadly. Save some AP for dashing when they're around and only attack from behind, as a single Fire Storm can destroy your party if you're attacked from behind. Again, you can use a character who resists fire as bait. Maybe give Reduce Magic to this character too. Fire Bats have a mid-range attack that causes Silence. Decent damage too. This is yet another opportunity to make good use of the Empty Shell. Other than that they don't have anything special. Just break the wings. Hellhounds are very deadly with their Firebreath, but breaking anything other than the tail will kill them. Attack from the sides and never stay in front of it, or get ready for high fire damage on everyone. The other enemies are new versions of old foes and aren't a real threat. The Skeletal Soldier is very easy to hit, just attack from the left to avoid his spear, or simply from the back when possible. Do not break the spear, or it will start using Poison Blow frequently. Good item drops: Flame Armor: Armor with decent RDM. Only notable because it has +50% Fire and +100% Freeze, but -50% Ice... not like Ice is dangerous without Freeze anyway. It's a rare item though: break the Skeletal Soldier's body for a 15% chance of getting this. Don't go out of your way to find it, just try to break the Soldiers you fight. If you get it, good. If not, no big deal. From now on you'll start finding colored accessories that give elemental damage, like weapons. However, their effect is just way too low -- you'd better use your accessory slots for MAG boosts if you want elemental damage. Those accessories won't be mentioned, since they're just not good in any situation I can think of. Runes and Skills: Green Fire: Break the Wild Lizard's body for the Pyrotechnic Ore. You can't learn anything with this yet, but it's used for a really good skill (Toughness, doubles HP), plus two others that only really help in specific situations. Blue Bludgeon: Break the Skeletal Soldier's Spear for the Busted Staff. You can get this by talking to a person in the next town though, so feel free to ignore it. Red Ice: Much easier to get here. Just break the Red Jewel's crystal for the Core Ruby. Make sure you get at least Psychosoma as soon as you can! Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Magic Glove: You can get Unladen Swallow Scales by breaking the Wild Lizard's front legs, which is easier than breaking the Lower Lizard in Serdberg. You need 1 Hot Plate (Desert Beast's arm armor) and 2 Unladen Swallows Scales to create this item. Highly recommended for Archers and Sorcerers. -Dungeon walkthrough: The first area is affected by two Sealstones: Fire Blessing and Cotton Dust Wrath. The first is the opposite of Ice Blessing, boosting Fire damage but reducing Ice. The second makes enemies lighter, so you can push and launch them easily in battle... which will probably mess up your combos, especially with the Fire Bats. Avoid launchers unless you know what you're doing. Go right until you see a Shell on the top right. Use the flying enemy to get there. It's the Lifeforce Blessing, one of the best in the game. This doubles ALL healing effects, be it items, spells, accessories or skills. This is particularly good with Ring of Healing, First Aid, Regenerate Health and Vegetable Seeds. All this for only 2000 crystals. You'll restore this for sure when you reach a Dais or Spring. For now, just pick it up. To the right of the Shell is a bag with a Dwarf Tincture and a chest with an Union Plume. Now get down and go south for the next room. There's a lot of magma to the right, stopping you from reaching the other side. No choice but to go left to the first Divinity Void. Just go left until you find the first Einherjar relic of this dungeon: an Archer. Arcana or Sophalla. Arcana learns Heal, Sophalla learns Normalize. Their stats are almost the same, but Sophalla has higher HP. On attacks, they're not really good. Arcana only gets 3 elemental attacks, and Sophalla gets 2. They're pretty much just release candidates. Feel free to take either one. They appear back in Kalstad when released, but neither will give you anything now. Go down now. No Dais in effect here, but there's an enemy holding a Sealstone: Barrier Blessing. This negates all damage under 50, which isn't as good as it sounds, but works well enough for this dungeon and the enemy holding it. Go right for a wall. Shoot photons down to the right to warp the enemy there. This is the one with the Sealstone, but before fighting it check the Spring to the right and pick the Ice Blessing. Restore the Lifeforce Blessing and pick up Sword Blessing too. There's a Dais here, but don't put anything there, or you'll connect this area to the next and add a beneficial effect to the next fight. Now you should be ready to fight it. Just jump to the left and slash it. You should be dealing over 50 damage with Ice attacks + Ice and Sword Blessing, so this isn't any different from a regular fight. Once it's dead you can pick up the Sealstone. It's not worth 1000 crystals, but carry it anyway (leave Sword Blessing back at the Spring). It can help a lot on the boss. You might want to put the Ice Blessing in the Dais to reduce the enemies damage, but I'd keep it for now. You need to kill enemies fast here, especially the Giant Scarab. Go right: this area is also affected by Fire Blessing and Cotton Dust Wrath. There's a magma pool here, but you can jump over it. You'll need to crystallize the enemy to jump over the third one (use it as a stepping stone or just warp yourself). Go right all the way, ignoring the path down. You'll find a pillar. Slash it's side to break part of the support and go back to the path down we've just ignored. Go left. Notice the enemy way up there: warp it with photons by jumping a bit and shooting photons on the left wall. They'll reflect and reach the enemy. Up there is a chest with a gas trap and a Pallasch inside. Bad weapon at this point. Now notice the other platform to the left (the one you shot photons at). Jump there for two more gas-trapped chests with an Overdrive and an Ice Crystal. If you miss the jump and fall down just step on the enemy. Anyway, go right all the way to the next room. This room has a bridge. If you jump while crossing it, it will break and you'll fall to the room below. If this happens, you'll have to take the path back to the bridge and try to cross it again. Just don't jump and you'll be fine -- fight or crystallize the enemies. However, falling here is the only way to get two items in the room below, so that's what we're going to do. Get past the first bridge without breaking it. On the second, pay attention to the mini-map. The bridge looks like this on the mini-map: ___ _ . _ _________ _________ _ _____ ___ X That X is where you want to be to jump and break it. This won't make sense if you're not looking at the game, but it isn't hard to understand when you do. The platform we want to reach below is very small, so make sure you've positioned yourself correctly. Once you fall to the next room, open the map (R2) and check the location of the platform you're trying to reach. Try to position yourself correctly based on the map if needed. If all goes right you'll be in a platform with 15000 OTH and the Spider Fighter, a strong Light Sword with innate Bug Swatter. You'll be dealing more damage with the Frostbane, but it saves 3 CP for your Light Warrior and it's great against the Giant Scarabs. You can get this weapon with enemies later, but it's hard. This is a material for a good weapon in Solde, so don't sell it anywhere else. This room is a Divinity Void. There's another item on the ground: a Royal Glove in a chest (careful with the explosion) to the right. Now go left and leave the room going down. Still in a Divinity Void. Go left again and up. You'll be back to the room before the bridge. Keep trying until you get it right. After you've got the Spider Fighter go right past the bridge. The dungeon is nearly over. Just go right and then up. Second Einherjar relic here, just to the right. A Sorcerer. Easy choice here: Psoron (Fire) or Farant (Lightning). Farant is worse than Alm, and Psoron is either the best or second best Sorcerer, depending on if you use a spell later or not. Make sure you get him. They will appear in Turgen Mine if released, and both will give you an Overdrive. That's all they'll give you. Go left now. You'll find a Dais with the Cotton Dust Wrath. Only 200 crystals, but don't restore it. Leave it in the Dais or just carry it to a shell. Go left and break the support on the pillar and it will fall. If it didn't it's because you forgot to break it on the other side, so you'll have to go all the way back. Anyway, jump on the pillar and go up. Save point! Go to the right first for a Shell with the Achromatic Law, which sets all elemental resistance (and weakness) to 0. This is only good when the enemy resists all elements, since it removes any weaknesses. This is probably the most useful sealstone to put in a Dais at the end of the game, but not necessary at all for now. Remember it for the final Chapter, when 4000 crystals won't be that much. Leave it in the Shell for now. There's a bag with a Might Potion to the right. Go left past the save point to another Dais, with the Fire Blessing! You certainly don't want this here, but will want to keep it for the next dungeons, so restore it for just 600 crystals if you can. It's a good idea to leave the Ice Blessing on this Dais for the boss fight. More details on the setup below. Go left. Big ice crystal here. Slash it to break it and remove the huge magma pool to the left. Crossing the dungeon is much easier now without this magma and that pillar. Anyway, you'll also find the final Sealstone of the dungeon in a Shell: Iceberg Law. This is like the Brimstone Law, but for Ice. It would be a good idea if it didn't make everything in the dungeon kill you in one attack. Yeah, just leave it in the Shell. The boss is in the path up that was covered by the magma, but first we need to create a good setup for it. First some info on the boss: The boss has two forms. The second doesn't leave any items from breaking, while the first has only 3. One of them is a new rune and you can get two copies of it. This new rune isn't worth the trouble however, as trying to get it makes the battle harder. You can only fight the first form once, but can refight the second one as much as you want, although there's no reason to because of the lack of items. Both forms are Giants, resist Earth and are weak to Ice. The first form is immune to fire, while the second absorbs it. The biggest problem in the fight is that it's hard to not get hit. Fortunately this dungeon also lets you create an immortality setup without spending crystals. The boss obviously attacks with fire, so the more Fire protection you have the better. Instead of using the Ice Blessing for boosting your damage like you've been doing through the whole dungeon, putting it in a Dais will cut the boss' damage by a lot. With things like Alicia's Robe, Stun Checks and Flame Armor you'll take very little fire damage... so little that you can probably nullify it completely with the Barrier Blessing! The boss is a joke with this setup and probably won't ever hurt you. You could add Lifeforce Blessing for double healing in case any attack manages to hit you, but personally I'd use the Sword Blessing instead. Good characters to use include Mithra (ice spells + Might Reinforce), Zunde (Giant Killer, great attacks) and Alicia (Alicia's Robe for fire protection, Mirage Pierce, Frostbane). The fourth member can be anyone, really. You could add Alm, Rufus or Khanon for Sap Power, making the boss even more hopeless than it already is. Sylphide can be very damaging too with Psychosoma. Once you finish your setup, go right to save, then go to the room. Just go right and jump over the lava. Heal immediately if you miss the jump. Keep going right for the boss. __Evolver____________________________________________________________________ | | |Evolver (first form): | | Lv 26 6,500 HP 72,000 exp 0 OTH | | 285 ATK 185 MAG 55 HIT 45 AVD | | Race: Giant | | Elements: All body parts have Fire +100%; Hands also have Ice -100%; | | Other parts have Ice -50%, Earth +50% | | | | Invulnerable to status | | Leader Item: Flare Crystal | | Drop Item: Flamberge (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head (vital): 6,500 HP, 50 RDM, 15 RST | | -Body (vital): 6,500 HP, 50 RDM, 15 RST | | -Legs (2, vital): 6,500 HP, 60 RDM, 15 RST | | -Right hand: 325 HP, 50 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Flare Ore (100%) | | -Left hand: 325 HP, 50 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Pyrotechnic Ore (100%) | | -Arms (2): 6,500 HP, 50 RDM, 15 RST | | -Lava hands (2): 1,300 HP, 25 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Phosphate Ore (50%) | | | | Attacks: | | -(Hug): Medium range, average damage on party. Damage becomes fire | | elemental when hands are broken. | | -Flame Lance: Long range, fires 4 fireballs in the air, each hitting 4 | | times for high fire elemental damage. The farther away you | | are from Evolver, the lower the accuracy. | | -Big Splash: Medium range, 5 hits of heavy fire elemental damage on party. | | Only used after any hand breaks. | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Evolver (second form): | | Lv 26 7,200 HP 72,000 exp 10,500 OTH | | 300 ATK 200 MAG 60 HIT 50 AVD | | Race: Giant | | Elements: Absorbs Fire, Ice -50%, Earth +50% | | Invulnerable to all status | | Leader Item: Flare Crystal | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head (vital): 7,200 HP, 45 RDM, 20 RST | | -Body (vital): 7,200 HP, 45 RDM, 20 RST | | -Legs (2, vital): 7,200 HP, 45 RDM, 20 RST | | -Right wrist: 7,200 HP, 45 RDM, 20 RST | | -Left wrist: 7,200 HP, 45 RDM, 20 RST | | -Arms (2): 7,200 HP, 135 RDM, 20 RST | | -Hands (2): 7,200 HP, 45 RDM, 20 RST | | | | Attacks: | | -Flame Lance and Big Splash, like the first form. | | -Firebreath: Short range, average damage on 3 or less characters. Causes | | Frailty. Dangerous. | | -Heatwave: Targets self, small fire damage on area around it and boosts ATK| | by 50%. | | -Flame Shower: Medium circular range, does several hits of varying fire | | damage on party. Total damage will be really high. The | | farther away you are from Evolver the lower the accuracy. | | | |Recommended level: 16 | | | |Strategy: | | These are actually two separate fights, but the second one is right after | | the first, so you'll have to use the same setup for both. Don't bother | | trying to get a Direct Assault. Breaking is mostly useless too. If you're | | using the recommended setup, you probably won't take any serious damage in | | this fight. All damage comments above are based on what it would be without | | the proper setup. | | | | About the first form's hands: they start the battle covered in dry magma, | | but once you break them (and that's really easy with only 325 HP), the hand | | will be pure magma. This increases the damage of the hug and allows him to | | use Big Splash, so the battle gets harder. The only purpose in breaking them| | is getting the Phosphate Ore (Green Healing) from the lava hands, but I | | really wouldn't try that. The boss already does high damage with them | | intact, you can get Green Healing 4 dungeons from now anyway and the rune | | doesn't give any great skills anytime soon. If you've got good fire | | protection then go ahead and try. The battle will be hard to lose anyway. | | | | The second form is pure magma from the start, so it can use anything. After | | it gets around 60% HP it starts using Heatwave and Flame Shower almost all | | the time when you're in range. This means you'll probably take damage when | | you finish your attack round, which is dangerous without preparation. | | Consider Sap Power at this point if you're having trouble. | | | | The other attacks are all frontal, so you can avoid damage by attacking from| | the sides or behind. Circle around the pillars to get behind it or to | | recover AP when needed. It's a really simple fight if you're smart with | | Sealstones. | | | | The Flamberge (drop item of the first form) is a strong Heavy Sword that | | causes Frailty and does Fire damage. Only one attack, but Soul Crush | | enabled. Good weapon, especially if you didn't get the Kraadicator. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Dungeon cleared, but there's still one thing to get here. Go right over the lava pit and check the Dais for a Charm. If you want to fight the boss again, just check a rock on the pit, to the left. Experience would be the only reason to do that since there are no items on the second fight. Now, Sealstones. Make sure you restore the Lifeforce Blessing if you didn't already. It's a great Sealstone to use when the boss doesn't require a specific setup. Fire Blessing is very helpful as well since Fire is the best element to use, and it's not expensive at all. Forget about Achromatic Law for now, but you might be coming back for it later. Barrier Blessing is not worth the price at all, so don't waste your time with it. Leave the dungeon when you're ready and Crell Monferaigne will show up in the map. Before you go there, go back to Kalstad and talk to the new adventurer right at the entrance and give him the Charm to get a Foolproof Talisman. If you want you can visit Crell Monferaigne first and buy the Map of the East Lands there to go back and forth without needing to cross the desert. --- Crell Monferaigne --- -Items: Busted Staff, Mace Head, Ice Crystal -Points of interest: 3rd Poem (Tri-Emblem sidequest) You might remember the town's layout if you've played VP1. The main street is mostly the same. First is the tavern, with nothing interesting. Just go right and take the stairs up. There's an exit to the right here. Before it is a house with 2 old people inside. Go to the left fast and talk to the woman before she moves to the back to get a Busted Staff and a Mace Head. They're Blue Bludgeon runes. Talk to the old man (Elder) to learn about the Crawsus Forest Ruins, the next storyline dungeon. Leave the house and go left for the Inn. Talk to the man here to learn about Chateau Obsession, the next optional dungeon. Go to the next house to the left and check the right, behind the flower vase, for a Poem. If you got the one in Solde and Dipan, this is the third. Only one left. It's important that you read this in Chapter 3. This is also where Lylia or Millidia appear when released. Millidia gives 50000 OTH, but Lylia doesn't give anything yet. Go back to the main street and continue to the right. There's a house here with a book about Brahms, lord of the undead. Next is the armory, so check the details on shopping below. There's some good stuff here. Go up the stairs on the right and check the first house for an Ice Crystal. More to the right you'll find another dog. You can feed Meat Chops to this one too, but you'll get a crystal and a healing item instead of materials, so it's just a waste of Meat Chops. Here are the items you get: 3 Meat Chops: Flare Crystal 10 Meat Chops: Goddess Tincture (full HP heal to the party) And that's all for Crell Monferaigne. Leave the town and two new dungeons will show up: Chateau Obsession (optional) and Crawsus Forest Ruins. Where you go is up to you, but I really recommend going to Chateau Obsession. If you want to skip it, just go to section 04.3.06. If not, keep reading to the next section. Below are shopping recommendations -- follow these whether or not you're doing the extra dungeon. Shopping: Begin by buying the Map of the East Lands. This lets you access the eastern part of the world map directly without going through Sahma Desert. There are new healing/battle items here too. The Apothecary's Arcanum heals 1500 HP, which is way too much for now but you'll want it soon. You can get Gems here too! They're very good for causing stats effects on the enemies, so buy some Earth (Poison) and Holy (Silence) ones at least. There are Prism Gems too, which are good for non-elemental damage and hitting a random body part of one enemy. This is good for breaking some hard-to-reach parts, so try to get some too. Don't go overboard though, as they're quite expensive: 4000 OTH. Now, weapons. Light Warriors gets the Sinclair Saber, a really expensive and useless weapon. The Lightning Edge is a lightning version (duh) of the Frostbane. The boss in the optional dungeon and some enemies in the next storyline dungeon are weak to Lightning, but don't buy it. Those are the only new weapons for regular sale. Armor. Anointed Crowns are great and can be used by anyone. Don't get any for Heavy Warriors, but everyone else should use it. The Silver Mail for Light and Heavy Warriors is great: 55 RDM, 10 RST and it's not even that expensive. It has some weakness to Lightning and protection from Earth (20% each). Leg. Archers, Light and Heavy Warriors have the Knight Greaves, with some RDM and AVD. This is inferior to the Vein Greaves, but Archers can't use that. Only new accessory is the Red Copper Mirror, with the Red Resistance rune. Not a new rune and it's not even a good accessory. Ignore it, unless you missed the rune before. Now, creatable stuff. The Runeslayer is a great Light Sword. Expensive, effective and easy to make. It has 90 ATK, 20 RST and innate Magician Slayer, but only 2 Attacks and no Soul Crush. Very worth it, and it only needs 1 Falchion (create in Kalstad), 1 Black Crystal (Living Armor) and 1 Piercing Imprint (Goat Man, Lizard Lord). Try to get at least one of these! Innate Magician Slayer is very important. The Greenery Slayer is a bow. It's even easier to make than the Runeslayer, and cheaper too. 110 ATK, -10 RST, 2 attacks, no Soul Crush, innate Weed Whacker. You only need 2 Piercing Imprints, 2 Nightshades (Toxic Flower) and 1 Spiral Arrowhead (Desert Beast). You'll be back here later for other items, but Mithril Wands, Frailty/Silence/ Stone Checks, Grand Sting and the Arondight aren't worth the trouble of creating. The Grand Sting and Arondight are good weapons, but you have better alternatives that are easier to get, and you can get both of these weapons later without creating them anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.3.05 - Sidequests, Part II [04305] Warning: The sidequest related to this dungeon must be completed in Chapter 3, but you won't miss any future sidequests if you don't do it. Still, there's no reason not to and you'd better do it now. --- Chateau Obsession --- -Items: Dwarf Tincture x2, Silver Scales, Silver Buckler, Double-check, Claymore, Golden Egg, Tome of Alchemy -Einherjar: Sorcerer [ Seluvia (100%) ] -Sealstones: Soul-Carver Wrath, Somber Light Wrath, Shield Blessing, Experience Pig Law -Enemies: Giant Skeleton (Unholy), Satyr (Beast, Demon), Troll Chief (Giant), Will-o'-the-Wisp (Ghost, Unholy), Trash Demon (Demon) -Mini-boss: Dragon (Giant, Scaled, Dragon) + Greater Demon (Demon, Scaled, Magic) -Re-fightable Boss: none -Overview: A short, simple dungeon without puzzles or tricky platforming, but interesting fights and sealstones. Instant-breaking works for everything again, but Zunde is the only way to get Giant Killer for now, and you don't have Demon Destroyer for the Trash Demon. Things here are very vulnerable to fire though, so you can just carry Fire Blessing and use things like Flame Shot (Phyress) and Fire Storm (Psoron). The enemy should die in one combo anyway, and it works on everything without any CP spent for specific enemies. A note about the battlefield: you can attack the gate (150 HP) on the north part of the map to open a shortcut. It's usually not necessary though as enemies tend to be on the lower part of the map. Enemies to look out for: Troll Chiefs heal and regenerate lost body parts like the Trolls back in Ancient Forest. They're still slow and can't attack from behind, so just dash to their backs and hack away. Instant-breaking (Zunde's Giant Killer), Poison (Earth Gems, Poison Shot) and Frailty (Flamberge, Arngrim's Wild Break) are good methods to handle their healing as usual. Will-o'-the-Wisps are ghosts, so you'll need elemental attacks or the Ghost Buster skill to hit them. I'd ignore Ghost Buster and just use elemental attacks. They deal high damage, but die easily. A Sorcerer casting Fire Storm should be enough. They're dangerous with Thunder Storm (can paralyze) and Sap Guard. Trash Demons, Satyrs and Giant Skeletons aren't a serious threat. Nothing you haven't faced before. Good item drops: Monster Canine Tooth: Runeless accessory, boosts MAG by 15%. Doesn't stack. Easy to get, just break the Trash Demon's head. This is good for everyone but Heavy Warriors. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Zweihander: Heavy Sword with 100 ATK, 10 HIT and 2 attacks, but no Soul Crush and -10 RDM. Almost a Kraadicator, but you can get several of these and they have a big advantage: innate Giant Killer. You'll need 2 Busted Greatswords (Giant Skeleton's weapon), 2 Troll Clay (Troll Chief's legs and arms, also the Troll in Ancient Forest) and 2 Rotted Bludgeon, also with the Troll Chief. Just break his weapon. creatable in Crell Monferaigne. Troll Clay is easy to get since the trolls regenerate the legs when they break, not to mention the constant healing, so you can get both in one fight. Icicle Plate: Now you can create this back with merchant in Kalstad if you want. It resists Ice by 50% and has 60 RM, but has 50% weakness to fire and can only be used by Heavy Warriors. Ice isn't a dangerous element, so only bother with this for the RDM, really. You'll need 2 Worn Shields (Ballistic Rhino or any lizard), 1 Hail Jewel (Skeletal Soldier) and 1 Garnet, which you can get by breaking the Troll Chief's body. Good armor and not that hard to get except for the Hail Jewel. Feel free to skip this if high RDM tanks aren't your style. -Dungeon walkthrough: Alm or Woltar will be here if they've been released. Alm gives you 50000 OTH, Woltar gives a Foolproof Talisman. Nothing important. The first room has a Spring and a Shell with the Soul-Carver Wrath. This is one of those Sealstones that sound good, but aren't worth restoring. This causes damage as time flows, so you could just run from enemies and they'll take damage. The damage goes down over time though. It's pretty decent in this dungeon for stopping the Troll Chief from healing, but not much else. Pick it up and avoid battles until you reach the Dais (next room). Pick up one from the Spring too. Fire Blessing is most likely the best choice, but Sword Blessing is decent as well. Go up to the next room. There's a Dais, so leave the Soul-Carver Wrath here. On the next room, go left all the way for a hidden chest behind the crates with a Dwarf Tincture. Now go right and you'll find a stone with red marks and a closed gate. Push/was the stone on top of the symbol on the floor to open the gate and continue to the right. If you want to go back, just warp the stone through the gate. Another Dais here. Ignore it for now and go up. Go down the stairs to the left and pick the Silver Scales in the chest (careful with the explosion). This is a very good armor for the next storyline boss. That's not the best thing in this room though. Jump up to the left to reach an Einherjar relic. Only one character here: Seluvia, a Lightning Sorcerer. He's a pretty good Sorcerer, especially if you missed (or released) Alm and will most likely join with Heal, Explosion and Fire Storm. He also comes with the God Destroyer skill, which will help a lot later in some boss fights. It's better to just use Psoron for now, as he gets better spells sooner. Releasing Seluvia sends him to Audoula, but he doesn't give you anything yet. There's still a Shell up to the left. Warp the enemy up to where you got Seluvia and then jump on it. The Shell has the Somber Light Wrath. It costs only 100 crystals, but... it's completely useless. It stops your photons from bouncing off walls, but why the hell would you want that? Do carry it anyway and put it in the Dais in the previous room. At least it spreads the Soul-Carver's effect to this area and doesn't do anything good to enemies. Next is another closed gate. There's no stone here, but an enemy. Before you warp one of them, warp the enemy next to the Dais down on the part with the symbol. With both enemies on the same height, warp one on top of the symbol to open the gate. Pass the gate, but don't go up. Warp the other one to where you are and jump up to the right while standing on it to reach another hidden chest with yet another explosion. This one has a Silver Buckler. Now go up to the next room. This is the most complicated room in the dungeon, but the hardest item to get here is completely useless. First warp the walking enemy on the right near the gate to the left, then warp the flying enemy on the other side of the gate. There's a Double-check behind the barrel here. Go back by warping the WALKING enemy. Bring the flying enemy to the right, near the gate. Get right near the gate, jump and warp the flying enemy. If you did this right the enemy will be in the right next to the gate. Stand back from the gate and warp the walking enemy now. Make sure he isn't below the flying enemy. Warp the walking enemy now. Open the chest here for a Dwarf Tincture, but there's still another treasure to get on this side. It's just a Claymore, so feel free to ignore it. If you do want it, wait for the flying enemy to come down, jump as high as you can to the right and fire a photon at the flying enemy. If you did this right, the flying enemy will be past the gate, up in the air. Now simply warp it again and do an air jump to the right to reach the chest, with a gas trap. Is the Claymore worth all this? No. Finally leave this room by going up. This room has another Dais, another Spring and a mini-boss to the right, which is the most interesting fight in the dungeon. You need to fight it to reach the Dais. Before we fight it though go to the next room by getting past the gate on the left. Save point here and path up to the boss room. Don't go in yet, of course. First go right, jump and fire 2 photons to the upper-right, next to the Shell, to warp a stone. This Shell has the Shield Blessing Sealstone, which boosts RDM by 20% and only costs 400 crystals to restore. I really recommend you restore this one through the Spring in the previous room. It's a good idea to save here. Now you can just go up and fight the boss, or go back to the previous room and fight the mini-boss. That's what I recommend: it's an easy, interesting fight with lots of good items. So, setup for the mini-boss: There are two enemies. One resists all elements by 20%, while the leader is weak to Holy, resists Darkness and is neutral to everything else. So Lylia is a good character here, but you can just stick with fire attacks anyway. Heavy Warrior with Flamberge (or Kraadicator, Zweihander), Archer with Flame Shot, Psoron with Fire Storm and the Fire Blessing Sealstone. What matters the most here however are skills. The leader is Scaled and Magic, while the other is Giant and Scaled. They have a third race too, but you can't abuse it yet. The focus here is on Scaled, since it affects both of them. So get Descaling Might. Zunde can help with Giant Killer too (as can any Heavy Warrior with the Zweihander), and any Light Warrior can use the Runeslayer for Magician Slayer. Your second Sealstone can be Lifeforce Blessing, or at least Shield Blessing. For accessories, add Fire protection (Stun Checks), but don't go overboard. You should be fine as long as you don't have a weakness to it. Do not equip Alicia's Robe, you'll need RDM more than Fire protection. Save before fighting anyway and go back to the previous room, then go right to fight... __Greater Demon & Dragon_____________________________________________________ | | |Greater Demon (Leader): | | Lv 25 7,500 HP 12,000 exp 2,100 OTH | | 220 ATK 240 MAG 60 HIT 32 AVD | | Races: Demon, Scaled, Magic | | Elements: Armor has Earth +20%; All body parts have Holy -50%, Darkness +50%| | Vulnerable to Freeze (50%) and Faint (50%) | | Leader Item: Flare Crystal | | | | Body Parts: | | -Horns (2): 750 HP, 60 RDM, 65 RST; Item: Demon Horn (60%) | | -Chest (vital): 4,500 HP, 50 RDM, 65 RST; Item: Dead Man's Gem (80%) | | -Waist (vital): 2,250 HP, 50 RDM, 65 RST; Item: Demon's Blaze (80%) | | -Feet (2): 3000 HP, 50 RDM, 65 RST; Item: Demon's Hoof (60%) | | -Right arm: 1875 HP, 50 RDM, 65 RST; Item: Scarlet Alloy (60%) | | -Left arm: 1875 HP, 50 RDM, 65 RST; Item: Cerulean Alloy (60%) | | -Weapon (armor): 1,500 HP, 40 RDM, 52 RST; Item: Lotus Wand (100%) | | -Frontal waist wing: 2,250 HP, 50 RDM, 65 RST; Item: Jet Black Wing (65%) | | -Back waist wing: 7,500 HP, 50 RDM, 65 RST | | | | Attacks: | | -Reclaim Soul: Targets self, boosts MAG by 50%. | | -Cleanse Evil: Long range, used from far away. Moderate damage on party. | | Either Holy or Lightning elemental. | | -Deathgrip: Medium range. 2 weak hits on one character, second hit causes | | Doom. Darkness element, quite dangerous. | | -Thunder Storm: Circular range. Lightning spell, chance of causing | | paralysis. | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Dragon: | | Lv 25 35,000 HP 30,000 exp 1,500 OTH | | 250 ATK 200 MAG 65 HIT 30 AVD | | Races: Giant, Dragon, Scaled | | Elements: Horn has Lightning -50%, other elements +20%; | All other parts have all elements +20% | | Vulnerable to Silence (50%), Freeze (80%), Faint (50%) and Frailty (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Horn: 1,750 HP, 96 RDM, 96 RST; Item: Dragon's Horn (80%) | | -Head (vital): 10,500 HP, 80 RDM, 120 RST; Item: Dragon's Fang (60%) | | -Body (vital): 17,500 HP, 80 RDM, 120 RST; Item: Dragon Sapphire (80%) | | -Waist (vital): 21,000 HP, 80 RDM, 120 RST; Item: Holybreath Core (80%) | | -Middle of the tail: 1,050 HP, 8 RDM, 12 RST; Item: Dragon Slayer (100%) | | -Tip of the tail: 350 HP, 8 RDM, 12 RST; Item: Dragon Scale (60%) | | -Wings (2): 2,800 HP, 80 RDM, 120 RST; Item: Spiked Claw (60%) | | -Arms (2): 10,500 HP, 80 RDM, 120 RST; Item: Dragon's Talon (60%) | | -Legs (2): 21,000 HP, 80 RDM, 120 RST; Item: Dragon Scale (80%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Photon Breath: Long, narrow range. Heavy damage and silence on a straight | | line. | | -Charge: Medium range. Heavy damage on a long straight line, will most | | likely hit everyone. | | -Claw Claw Bite: Short range, 3 hit combo, average damage on party. | | -Fire Storm: Fire spell, hits 2 or 3 characters at most for average damage.| | | |Recommended level: 17 | | | |Strategy: | | The first Dragon in the game is much weaker than the ones you'll have to | | fight later, but still a great foe. The Dragon is not the leader though, and| | although the Greater Demon is just average, he's still a decent threat. | | | | The Dragon attacks from the front, but it can turn around quickly, so you're| | not exactly safe behind it if you run out of AP. The high RDM and RST | | coupled with the ridiculous HP make this a long fight. Sap Power helps as | | usual, or at least Guard Reinforce on someone. | | | | While you're dealing with the Dragon, the demon approaches quickly (he's | | really fast), but his damage is kind of low for a mini-boss at this point of| | the game. It adds up quickly with the Dragon's great damage, though. | | | | So, there are two clear strategies here. The fastest and least dangerous is | | to just attack the demon. It's very frail and mostly harmless, and the | | chances of Thunder Storm paralyzing everyone are low. You can also cast Sap | | Guard (Psoron) to make things faster. | | | | But this way you miss the good items from the Dragon. If you do want to | | fight the huge lizard, begin by dashing behind it and attack the tail. It's | | very easy to break, and it always drops a great Heavy Sword: the Dragon | | Slayer, with the innate skill of the same name. Although it's weak (only 80 | | ATk, but 2 attacks and SC enabled), the extra skill lets your Heavy Warrior | | deal extreme damage, especially coupled with other racial skills. Make sure | | you equip it as soon as you get it. | | | | Once you get the Dragon Slayer, well-planned combos should be able to deal | | decent damage to it. Anyone with Descaling Might is getting a pretty huge | | boost too. Here's the best stuff you can get from the Dragon: | | | | Holybreath Core: Blue Holy. 40% resistance to Poison, Paralysis, Faint, | | Confusion, Silence, Freeze and Stone... yeah, it's | | linkable. Do your best to get this! | | Dragon Sapphire: Easy to get. Blue Training, boosts HP by 3%. | | Dragon Scales: Runeless. Boosts MAG and Critical when affected by Poison. | | VERY easy to get and very important. | | | | The Dragon Scales is a very important item, as much as the Empty Shell. Do | | get some! Remember you can break/kill it and run from battle to fight again | | for more. | | | | The Greater Demon doesn't drop anything really special, but has two runes: | | Dead Man Gem has Green Earth (no new skills with this yet) and Scarlet Alloy| | has Red Lighting. This is the easiest way to get this old rune. This is used| | for Adversity (Red Body + Fire + Ice + Earth + Lightning, not a good skill) | | and Spirit Control (Red Arm + Slashing + Lightning). This is a great one! It| | doubles the number of purple gems you get from combos, letting you do much | | longer combos or just save a lot of AP. | | | | The Scarlet Alloy is also a material for Fairy Garbs later. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Now you have access to the Dais. If you don't have any offensive sealstone to put, take the Soul-Carver Wrath from the first Dais and put it here instead. Do use any offensive sealstone you've got though, there's no need to put any specific one. Go back to the save point. The setup is mostly the same for the boss, just drop Descaling Might and use Unholy Purifier instead. Magician Slayer works too. It's a simple fight, and this dungeon doesn't leave much room to different setups. __Lady Cleo & Berserker______________________________________________________ | | |Lady Cleo (Leader): | | Lv 22 7,800 HP 44,000 exp 2,800 OTH | | 200 ATK 280 MAG 58 HIT 50 AVD | | Races: Unholy, Magic | | Elements: Spirit has Fire, Ice and Lightning -80%, Earth and Darkness -50% | | and Holy -100%; other parts have Lightning -50%, Earth +100% and | | Holy +50% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis (50%), Freeze (20%) and Confusion (50%) | | Leader Item: Supreme Garb | | Drop Item: Azure Sealpouch (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Spirit: 4,080 HP, 0 RDM and RST; Item: Blue Soul Flame (80%) | | -Projector (vital): 4,080 HP, 10 RDM, 50 RST; | | Item: Silverwork Orchid (100%) | | -Back mirrors (2): 2,040 HP, 10 RDM, 50 RST; Item: Silverwork Orchid (80%) | | -Side mirrors (2): 1,020 HP, 10 RDM, 50 RST; Item: Mirror Fragment (80%) | | -Front mirrors (2): 340 HP, 10 RDM, 50 RST; Item: Mirror Fragment (80%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Holy Ray: Long range. 3 hits of high Holy elemental damage on the party. | | -Light Reflector: Short range, 8 hits (!) of very high Holy elemental | | damage on the party. | | -Sap Power: Medium range. Reduces ATK of characters in range. | | -Gravity Control: Lifts all characters to the ceiling, no matter where they| | are. Damage depends on the part of the ceiling they | | touch. Used once when low on HP. | | -Prismatic Missile: Holy spell. High damage on party, small chance of | | causing several status effects. Used when low on HP. | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Berserker: | | Lv 26 7,800 HP 44,000 exp 2,800 OTH | | 300 ATK 50 MAG 65 HIT 45 AVD | | Races: Giant | | Elements: Body is neutral, each weapon has a different weakness | | Vulnerable to Curse, Paralysis (50%), Silence (40%), Poison (100%), Doom | | (40%), Freeze (50%), Stone (50%), Faint (20%), Frailty (100%) | | Drop Item: Harpe (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Right body (vital): 4680 HP, 35 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Harpe (100%) | | -Left body (vital): 4680 HP, 35 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Evil Eyebrow Ring (100%)| | -Upper right weapon (armor): 780 HP, 53 RDM, 12 RST; | Item: Polished Blue Ore (80%) | | -Upper left weapon (armor): 780 HP, 53 RDM, 12 RST; | Item: Indigo Quartz (80%) | | -Lower right weapon (armor): 780 HP, 53 RDM, 12 RST; | Item: Cerulean Alloy (80%) | | -Lower left weapon (armor): 780 HP, 53 RDM, 12 RST; Item: Teal Spinel (80%)| | -Upper arms (2): 1560 HP, 35 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Busted Greatsword (100%) | | -Lower arms (2): 1560 HP, 35 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Broken Sword (100%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Magic Cutter: Long range, 2 average hits on one character. | | -Magic Blade: Short range, 4 average hits on party. | | -(Sword Attack): Short range, 4 strong hits on party. | | | |Recommended level: 17 | | | |Strategy: | | There are 2 Trash Demons in the fight too, but they're not a threat. | | | | The easiest boss fight in the Chapter. Lady Cleo has no durability at all | | and all body parts have really low HP. The vital part here isn't the ghost | | though, but the reflector behind it. The little mirrors are responsible for | | the attacks. | | | | Despite dying so quickly, Lady Cleo has many powerful holy attacks. Watch | | out for Gravity Control when it gets under 50% HP. This will lift all | | characters to the ceiling, regardless of where they are. There's no way to | | avoid this. Damage depends on the part of the ceiling you hit. It can be | | high or really low, but it's hard to control that. Just get ready to heal. | | | | And then there's Berserker, who is also really frail, but not as much as | | Cleo. There's not much else to say about him... attack from behind and | | you're safe. | | | | Just make sure you kill Berserker to get some items. The Teal Spinel doesn't| | have new effects, but it cannot be gotten anywhere else. Finally there's the| | Harpe, a light sword with innate Descaling Might. You can't get it anywhere | | else. There's no real need to have two, but it's not hard to get it. | | | | Cleo's Mirror Fragments are great accessories, with a decent chance of | | reflecting offensive spells. The only other good thing from her is the drop | | item: another Sealpouch! Now you can carry three sealstones! | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ This room has two more treasures and a Shell. The Shell has the Experience Pig Law Sealstone. It doubles experience received, but you won't get any OTH. 1200 crystals isn't much for this, so feel free to restore it if you like the effect. The treasures are a Golden Egg and a Tome of Alchemy. Both are good. The Tome of Alchemy is a limited item in the main game and it's used to create a weapon later, so try to always have one in the inventory. If you don't have a negative sealstone (like Chasm Wrath or Masochist Wrath) restored, restore Somber Light Wrath. You'll need something that doesn't benefit enemies in the next dungeon, and Somber Light is very cheap (and harmless). And that's it for this dungeon. If you want to level up faster without spending 1200 crystals on a sealstone, just fight simple enemies like Satyrs or Will-o'- the-Wisps with the Experience Pig Law. And now to finish this, go back to Crell Monferaigne and talk to the guy in the who told you about the dungeon. Tell him it was a monster to get a Sage's Arcanum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.3.06 - Back to orb-hunting [04306] --- Crawsus Forest Ruins --- -Items: Apothecary's Arcanum x2, Silver Greaves, Foolproof Trinket, Lightningproof Trinket, Mirage Robe, Elixir, Earthproof Trinket, Silver Helm, Dwarf Tincture, Holy Gem, Union Plume -Einherjar: Light Warrior [ Fraudir (40%), Circe (40%) or Rasheeka (20%) ] Heavy Warrior [ Adonis (60%) or Falx (40%) ] -Sealstones: Lightning Blessing, Earth Blessing, Mudbank Law, Thundercloud Law -Enemies: Eletrical Chip (Ghost, Insect), Bolt Dragon (Giant, Scaled, Dragon), Vampire Bat (Beast), Disguisting Shell (Giant), Land Kraken (Giant), Unclean Glob (Giant, Plant, Unholy), Vampire (Unholy, Magic), Tear Soul (Ghost, Magic), Phantom Lurker (Unholy, Magic) -Mini-boss: Wild Troll (Giant) + Shaman Chief (Magic) -Re-fightable Boss: Hydra -Overview: Crawsus is yet another elemental dungeon, but with a difference: it has two elements and a puzzle that adds environmental hazards both inside and outside battle. This puzzle requires you to set sealstones everywhere, so you may end up making enemies even harder. It's pretty hard at first or when you don't know what you're doing. Lightning and Earth are the elements. Just focus on protecting from Earth and Poison, Lightning is less dangerous. Poison Checks help a little here if you happen to have them, or you can just stock on Honeysuckle Dews. Vegetable Seeds help a lot, too. For the Earth damage, just use any Silver armor. You can buy it in Crell Monferaigne. To attack, fire is the best choice at first, so you can copy the setup from Chateau Obsession: Psoron and Phyress + Fire Blessing Sealstone. Lifeforce Blessing helps a lot too, since enemies will deal very heavy damage at first. And, as you might have noticed, there are LOTS of enemies here. Most enemies here are vulnerable to instant-breaking, although many get some resistance to it and there are a lot of races. Light Warriors can cover Magic, Beast, Insect and Scaled with their weapons, Archers have the Greenery Slayer for Plant and Heavy Warriors the Zweihander for Giants. That covers everything. Just make sure the Light Warrior has Ghost Buster too for the Tear Soul (or just kill it with fire spells), and have the Archers use elemental attacks on the Eletrical Chip. The battlefield sucks too. It's full of water, which slows you down. Just dash past it, or wait for the enemies to get out of the water. Long range menu spells are another great option. Enemies to look out for: Eletrical Chips are ghosts who absorb Lightning, but are neutral to Fire. They appear frequently and can paralyze you, but die easily. Tear Souls are also ghosts, but without status effects. Weak to Fire. Bolt Dragons are the same as the Wyvern in Serdberg, but since there's no pit in the battlefield it's much less dangerous. Instant-breaking works. Do it to the wings and it can't do anything anymore. Vampire Bats are very frail and weak to all elements. A single combo should kill them, but if not, watch out for Frigid Damsel. If you see you're going to get attacked just split up the party and leave someone with Free Item behind. This is the first place where you'll fight vampires. They can be dangerous later but the only thing this first one really does is cast Glacial Blizzard and summon Vampire Bats. Kill it first when it shows up, you don't want more enemies popping up in the fight. Instant-breaking works. Disgusting Shells are pretty much the same as the Giant Snail in Turgen Mine. Long range poison attacks, shell protecting most of it. Instant-break it with the Zweihander, or just use Fire attacks. Phantom Lurker is like Lady Cleo: Holy attacks, low durability. One good combo can put an end to it, usually. Runeslayer is great against it too. Old bosses come back here: Primordial Ooze (Unclean Glob) and Kraken (Land Kraken). The first is easy and vulnerable to instant-breaking, the second is the hardest enemy in the dungeon. Just don't fight it. Fortunately both only have the same 2 spawn spots, and the Land Kraken only appears if you have Earth Blessing or Mudbank Law in a Dais. Good item drops: Alchemy Wand: Weapon for Sorcerers with 60 MAG, but no Great Magic. Break the Phantom Lurker's projector for this. The lack of GM hurts but this is a good weapon anyway and very easy to get. Mirror Fragments: Runeless accessory, chance of reflecting spells. Obviously useful, just break the Phantom Lurker's mirrors. Spider Fighter: Same weapon you found in the volcano and the only reason to ever fight a Land Kraken. Just break their head. Consider Prism Gems. Runes and Skills: Green Lightning: Break the Tear Soul arms for the Sprinter Cell, or the Bolt Dragon's body for the Boltbreath Core. This is used for learning Dragon Slayer later, but nothing else. You can ignore this if you want, since all dragons have other races. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Shiny Rupture: First material here: Ammunition Shell by breaking the sides of the Disgusting Shell's shell. This is a good bow you can only create much later. Wind Glove: The only Green Arm armor for Sorcerers in the main game. It's not really needed for anything other than that, and Green Arm is only used for Dismantle. Feel free to skip this, unless you want to get all skills for all classes. You'll need 2 Bat Wings (Goblins in Kythena Plains), 1 Bone Mace (Clay Man's lower tentacles in Turgen Mine, or the upper shoulders of the Unclean Glob here) and 1 Ghibli Scales (Bolt Dragon's wings). It's not very hard to create, there just isn't much of a reason to. -Dungeon walkthrough: Quick explanation of the dungeon and the puzzle: there are three Daises here. Each one must have a sealstone (any one) set to open the way to the boss. If the sealstone set is related to the Lightning element, there will be lightning in the area. Some rooms have small white pillars that work as lightning rods. The lightning deals damage if it hits you, but nothing else. If you set an earth sealstone though, the water in the area will be poisoned. Touching this water will poison the active party, unless you're IMMUNE to poison. This also affects the battlefield, where it can poison enemies too. Nothing will happen if the sealstone isn't related to lightning or earth. The first area is under the effects of the Lightning Blessing Sealstone. There's a Spring too: pick up Fire Blessing and a negative Sealstone. Any one works: Chasm Wrath is pretty good if you have it. If you don't have any negative Sealstone to pick up, consider using something that won't benefit enemies, like Gold Blessing, Somber Light Wrath or Fog Wrath. Go left after you decide. Make sure you don't attack the lightning rod. If you do you'll have to leave the dungeon for it to come back and you'll be struck by lighting while in this room. Step on the flying enemy (or air jump) to reach the Shell with the Earth Blessing. This is the least useful elemental blessing sealstone, but it helps to restore it. Pick it up. There's a chest next to it with an Apothecary's Arcanum. Go up and then all the way left for a chest with Silver Greaves, another Green Leg rune! This one can be used by Archers too. Go up again. First Dais here. Restore the Earth Blessing if you can: this will let you pick up another Sealstone at the Spring later. After that, put the negative/neutral Sealstone you picked up here. Just go left to the next room. There's a mini-boss here holding the Mudbank Law Sealstone. This has the Turn to Earth effect, so load your characters with Earth protection. You might want to ignore it now and get the armor in the next room, with 50% protection from Earth. The Silver Mail, Silver Scales and Silver Cuirass all work great, too. One of the enemies is a troll, so some form of causing Frailty helps a lot. That's a Heavy Warrior with the Flamberge, or Arngrim with Wild Break. Fire attacks are still preferred. Instant breaking won't work on the troll, but it works on the other enemies, the Shaman Chiefs. They're Magic, so get Magician Slayer on everyone (Light Warriors get the Runeslayer). The shamans can heal and resurrect, so Frailty is important on them as well, but it's much more important to cause Silence (Holy Gems). You can try to ignore the shamans and just kill the troll (it's the leader), but that can be difficult with the shamans blasting you with spells. Have someone with Free Item. __Wild Troll and Shaman Chiefs_______________________________________________ | | |Wild Troll (Leader): | | Lv 26 65,000 HP 15,000 exp 8,400 OTH | | 303 ATK 154 MAG 55 HIT 44 AVD | | Races: Giant | | Elements: Body has Lightning -100%, Holy -50%, Earth +100%, Darkness +50%; | Weapon also has Fire -100% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis (20%), Silence (10%), Freeze (20%), Stone (5%), | | Faint (20%) and Frailty (100%) | | Leader Item: Prime Elixir | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head (vital): 1,950 HP, 63 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Warped Teeth (75%) | | -Body (vital): 3,250 HP, 63 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Garnet (40%) | | -Waist (vital): 3,900 HP, 63 RDM, 10 RST; Item: ? (40%) | | -Legs: 1,950 HP, 63 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Elixir (20%) | | -Arms (2): 1,300 HP, 63 RDM, 10 RST; Item: Troll Clay (15%) | | -Weapon (armor): 1,300 HP, 50 RDM, 8 RST; Item: Polished Red Ore (40%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Regenerate: Targets self, remakes lost limbs. Used immediately when legs | | or arms are broken. | | -(Attack): Short range, 2 hits of average damage on party. | | -Earth Shake: Medium range, high damage on party. Needs weapon to use. | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Shaman Chief (x2): | | Lv 25 3,600 HP 10,000 exp 5,250 OTH | | 285 ATK 217 MAG 52 HIT 52 AVD | | Races: Magic | | Elements: Head and Body have Lightning +100%, Earth -100%; | | Mantles have Ice +10%, Lightning +70%, Earth +10%, Darkness +20%, | | Fire -10%, Holy -20%; | | Arms have Lightning +100%, Holy +50%, Earth -100%, Darkness -50% | | Vulnerable to Curse (50%), Silence (50%), Poison (100%), Doom (100%), | | Freeze (100%), Confusion (50%), Stone (100%), Faint (100%), | | Frailty (100%) and Transfer (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head (2, vital): 1,440 HP, 35 RDM, 65 RST; Item: Mask Fragment (30%) | | -Right body (vital): 2,520 HP, 35 RDM, 65 RST; Item: Thor's Rage (40%) | | -Left body (vital): 360 HP, 28 RDM, 52 RST; Item: Solar Jewel (40%) | | -Front mantle (2, armor): 360 HP, 28 RDM, 52 RST; Item: Scarlet Alloy (20%)| | -Back mantle (2, armor): 360 HP, 28 RDM, 52 RST; Item: Abyss Cloak (20%) | | -Side mantle (2, armor): 360 HP, 28 RDM, 52 RST; Item: Cerulean Alloy (20%)| | -Arms (2): 1,080 HP, 35 RDM, 65 RST; Item: Ray Force (30%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Regenerate: Targets self, remakes mantle. Only used after all mantle parts| | are broken. | | -Disintegrate: Medium range, 1 hit of average damage on party. | | -Terror Voice: Medium circular range, 1 hit of low damage on party. Causes | | Confusion. Not really dangerous, just annoying. | | -Explosion: Medium circular range, Fire spell on party. High damage. | | -Spiritual Thorn: Medium range. Causes Doom (instant death) on one ally. | | -Heal: Long range, heals 80% of one enemy's HP. Used more often when an | | enemy is low on health, but may even be used at full health. | | -Invoke Feather: Revives one enemy. Used pretty often whenever there's a | | dead ally. | | | |Recommended level: 20 | | | |Strategy: | | The troll isn't any different from the others. Just stay behind it and | | you're safe. It should go down quickly if the shamans don't interfere. | | | | The Shaman Chiefs are really the dangerous part of the fight, just look at | | their attacks and all that armor. They've only got one head, but it has a | | left and right part to hit. Breaking either kills it. | | | | What matters here is stopping their healing, at the very least. If you just | | want to kill the troll, then causing Frailty on it is enough. The shamans | | are stupid and will keep trying to heal it when it gets low on health, but | | they'll still attack, and things can get ugly with two of them. Killing them| | is tricky because of Invoke Feather, so either try to get critical hits on | | their vitals for instant-breaking or cause Silence somehow. Holy Gems are | | the best choice. If you've them silenced, either don't kill them or kill | | just one. | | | | As for breaking, only one good item here: Abyss Cloak, with a new rune: Red | | Darkness. You can learn Overload (Red Head + Ice + Darkness + Activation) | | now. Dangerous skill, don't use it unless you know what you're doing. | | | | The Mask Fragment does the same as the Shell Shade: chance of negating | | offensive spells. It's easier to get the Shell Shade back in Ancient Forest.| | | _____________________________________________________________________________ With the Polished Red Ore (the troll's weapon) you can now create Elfin Taffetas in Solde. 1 Polished Red Ore, 1 Orientation Scales (Bolt Dragon, break the head) and 2 Monster Scales (Lizard Lord's tail or legs in Turgen Mine and Audoula). This is a Green Body armor for Archers and Sorcerers with 55 RDM and protection from Ice and Lightning. Good stuff, but don't go out of your way for this. Just get it if you happen to collect the materials. Pick up the Mudbank Law and the Foolproof Trinket on the bag to the left, then go south. The crawling enemy here is either the Unclean Glob or the Land Kraken. This is the best place to fight them. You can't fight the Land Kraken yet because no earth-related Sealstone has been set, but keep this place in mind for when that happens if you want to fight it. Go right for a Lightningproof Trinket (gas trap). Go left and use the walking enemy in the water as a stepping stone to reach the Apothecary's Arcanum and Mirage Robe (explosion trap), the first Green Body rune! This one is for Sorcerers and Archers only and is VERY valuable. Never, ever sell this. It gives 50% protection from Earth and 100% from Transfer. Equip it immediately. Anyway, very important skills now: Archers can learn Toughness with Green Body + Leg + Fire. This skill doubles the character's HP in battle. It's probably the most useful skill in the game for general use, and it only costs 5 CP. They can also learn Observation with Green Body + Fire + Strengthening. This would be pretty good for boss battles if it didn't cost 5 CP. Finally, there's Victorious Vitality for Archers and Sorcerers with Green Body + Earth + Healing. This fully heals the character after battle and it's very expensive too. Don't bother. More to the left is the first Einherjar relic: a Light Warrior. Important choice here, so you may want to save before checking it. Rasheeka, Circe or Fraudir. Poor Rasheeka is just average, with low damage. Fraudir is pretty much a great Celes substitute, getting 12 hits early as well. Her damage isn't very special, though. Circe has the advantage of starting with great equipment and an elemental attack: Energy Steal (Darkness). She's also the only Light Warrior to get the two elemental attacks of the class, making her the best overall for elemental damage. She's well-rounded on everything else, except hits... Fraudir's specialty. So, pretty much pick Fraudir for combos if you got Tyrith (or if you want to use her with Celes for 24 easy hits), otherwise pick Circe. They appear back in Kalstad when released. Circe gives you the Kraadmail, a unique Green Body armor with good RDM, but I wouldn't release her for that. You'll get better stuff soon. Rasheeka gives a Sage's Arcanum and Fraudir doesn't give anything yet. Go south again. There's an Elixir on a bag to the right, and a Silver Mail on the left (gas trap). More Earth protection! The second Dais is here: put the Mudbank Law and the water will become poisonous. Equip those Vegetable Seeds! Since the third Dais already has the Lightning Blessing Sealstone, the puzzle is solved. This is one of the best setups to use here: everything is attacking with Earth, weak to Lightning, Earth attacks are halved and you've got lots of Earth protection. Great, the dungeon is really easy now. Go back to the Spring on the entrance and pick any benefetial Sealstone you want to. Lifeforce Blessing, Sword Blessing and so on. Whatever you prefer. Now go left twice for a cutscene. There's a save point here. Now you can go left for the boss, or down to explore the rest of the dungeon. Let's go down first. There's a chest in the water to the right with an Earthproof Trinket (and a gas trap). To the left are two paths. First go beneath the platform for a Silver Helm in the next room, then come back, climb on the enemy and jump on the platform. Go left. There's a bag near the wall on the right with a Dwarf Tincture. Go left past the water for the second Einherjar relic: A Heavy Warrior this time. Adonis or Falx. Hard choice. Adonis has great stats and will reach the max multipliers, but he only does so very late in the game (level 48, which should be in Chapter 6). Falx is better at first, but not a good character overall and keeps falling behind the further in the game you get. I'd recommend not getting either now and coming back in Chapter 6 to get Adonis. Then you've got a second Zunde. If you do get and release them though, Adonis will give a Warrior's Wit. Falx doesn't give anything yet. Both appear back in Villnore. Go back to the right and then go south. Last room of the dungeon! Third Dais is here, with the Lightning Blessing. Leave it here and go all the way right for a Holy Gem in a bag. There's another mini-boss to the right, holding the Thundercloud Law. This gives him the Turn to Lightning effect. Other than that the battle is the same, just don't use Lightning attacks/weapons. You don't even need to fight it, but feel free to if you want. There's a chest with an Union Plume behind it. Careful with the arrow trap. Go back to the save point. It's time to fight the boss. The boss has poison and Earth attacks, but only the poison can be dangerous since you're just so well-protected from Earth. For offense, Heavy Warriors with Giant Killer and Descaling Might can deal some serious damage. That's all, really. It's easier than the dungeon was at first. Don't forget to save. __Hydra______________________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 29 11,000 HP 160,000 exp 12,600 OTH | | 348 ATK 212 MAG 64 HIT 30 AVD | | Races: Giant, Scaled | | Elements: Absorbs Earth, Lightning +50%, Darkness +50%, Ice -50% | | Vulnerable to Freeze (50%) and Faint (20%) | | Leader Item: Fairy Tincture | | Recommended level: 20 | | | |Body Parts: | | -Middle head (vital): 55,000 HP, 60 RDM, 56 RST; Item: ? (75%) | | -Front right head: 550 HP, 48 RDM, 56 RST; Item: Blackbreath Core (60%) | | -Front left head: 550 HP, 48 RDM, 56 RST; Item: Poisonbreath Core (60%) | | -Back right head: 550 HP, 48 RDM, 56 RST; Item: ? (60%) | | -Back left head: 550 HP, 48 RDM, 56 RST; Item: Dragon Scales (60%) | | -Frontal body (vital): 7,700 HP, 60 RDM, 56 RST; Item: Verdigris Scales(80%)| | -Back body (vital): 6,600 HP, 60 RDM, 56 RST; Item: Dragon Sapphire (80%) | | -Tail: 3,300 HP, 48 RDM, 56 RST; Item: Metabolizer (70%) | | | |Attacks: | | -Renegerate: Targets self, restores one head. Only used if a head was | | broken. | | -Poison Breath: Very long and wide range, average damage and poison on pary.| | -Dark Breath: Long range, 1 hit of decent damage on party. Earth elemental. | | -Eternal Pain: Circular range, used when low on health. Average damage to | | party, causes Frailty. Very dangerous, but fight will be | | nearly over when this is used. Just attack, don't bother | | curing it. | | -(Head combo): Short range. Attacks party with all heads, damage depends on | | number of heads. | | | |Strategy: | | Absurd amount of experience! Use your Double-Check (found on Chateau | | Obsession) here. | | | | Anyway, tricky battlefield here. The water won't be poisoned and the Hydra | | can't leave it. Do not enter the water, you'll move very slowly. The dungeon| | setup will really decrease the Hydra's damage, so it shouldn't be too hard. | | The damage is only average, and you can dash to some corner where the Hydra | | can't reach you. Poison Breath is the only attack that's hard to dodge as | | long as you stay out of the water. | | | | One thing about the Hydra though: it's too heavy to be launched (and the | | water doesn't help either), so don't bother trying to get crystals or do | | ground-bounces. Ground combos for purple gems are fine, though. | | | | Useful items here: the Metabolizer from the tail is one of the most useful | | healing accessories. It heals half of the damage you take when you're | | attacked, kind of like First Aid. It's better though, because it activates | | per hit, not per attack, so you get healed during the attack and it's easier| | to survive it. If you use this with First Aid and the Lifeforce Blessing | | Sealstone it's very likely that you'll actually get healed when you get | | attacked. It's easier to get it with regular enemies in the next dungeon, | | but it's easy to break the tail too. Just attack from behind. | | | | Two new Green runes here, from breaking the back right head (Green Darkness)| | and the Verdigris Scales (Green Activation). The frontal body is a pain to | | break: it puts you in front of the boss and you'll take damage there, | | although the recommended setups can take care of that. Green Activation is | | needed for Dragon Slayer, and Green Darkness is needed for Dismantle. Only | | one rune left for that one. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Dungeon cleared. Consider restoring Lightning Blessing. If you can't now just keep it in mind for later. Lightning is an ok element most of the time but it's very useful at the end of the game. Go back to the world map and the next dungeon, Dragonscrypt, will show up. There's some new stuff to buy in Crell Monferaigne first though, so go back there. Light Warriors get another Ice elemental sword: the Icicle Sword. This one sucks though, and there's no reason to buy it. You'll do more damage with the Runeslayer. But Heavy Warriors do get a good weapon. The Hrunting has high ATK with 3 attacks, but no SC. It's not better than the Zweihander (and certainly not the Kraadicator), but a good substitute if you don't want to bother creating it. It's a material for the Sun Shower in Solde later as well. Re-stock on items too, you'll need them for the next 2 dungeons. --- Dragonscrypt --- -Items: Magic Bangle, Arbalest, Dwarf Tincture, 20000 OTH, Apothecary's Arcanum, Double-check -Einherjar: Archer [ Atrasia (50%) or Lydia (50%) ] -Enemies: Green Coral (Plant), Gun Fish (Scaled) -Overview: Really short dungeon. Other than a few items and a new character there's nothing really interesting here. Just use instant-breaking again, or fire elemental attacks. Be careful not to waste your items here. You'll need them for the next dungeon. Since dodging attacks here is easy, just dash to a corner and heal with spells when needed. Enemies to look out for: Gun Fish only attack by throwing lightning balls from the front and can't move/attack if you break their tail. In other words, just attack from behind. Green Coral has short frontal range too, so the same strategy works. Be careful of status effects (like Paralysis) though. Good item drops: Apothecary's Arcanum: Healing item, restores 1,500 HP to one character. Just Direct Assault the Greel Coral. Metabolizer: Runeless accessory, same as the one dropped by the Hydra. Break the Green Coral's stalk to get it (the little thing connecting the flower to the body). Just use overhead attacks and you should hit it after breaking the flower. It's a good idea to get enough Metabolizers for everyone, as they're easier to get than the Ring of Healing and have the same effect. You could always get it with the Hydra too, if you find it easier. -Dungeon walkthrough: Nothing on the first screen, so just go right to the next one. Some tricky jumps here. Look on the map and use the first flying enemy to get to the platforms in the air, to the left. The second one has a chest with a Magic Bangle! This boosts MAG by 30% and stacks with anything! Give it to an Archer, Sorcerer or Light Warrior, depending on your party setup. Now keep going right. Before the next room you'll see another flying enemy and a crawling one. Kill both to make things easier. Some complex warps here: -Crystallize the flying enemy near to the wall on the right. Not right next to it. -Crystallize the crawling enemy near the flying one. Step on it. -Jump towards the flying enemy. Warp it, air jump and, while still on the air, warp it again. Try to get it as close to the path on the upper right as possible and stand on it. -Jump from the flying enemy to the path to the right, with a chest. It has an Arbalest, decent bow with 2 attacks and no Soul Crush. You probably have a better one, but this is a unique item needed to create the Shiny Rupture. -You can stop here, the next item sucks. If you do want it though... -Warp the flying enemy to this path. Air jump to get back on it too. -Warp it on top of the treasure chest. Stand on the edge of this path, jump and warp it again in the air. Air jump on top of it and you should be able to reach the second chest, with... a Dwarf Tincture. Go to the next room. This one is simple too, just go right until you can climb up or fall down. Go down for an Einherjar relic: the last Archer. Atrasia or Lydia. Atrasia is great: she will probably join with Dampen Magic and learns Flame Shot pretty soon, at level 24 (Lydia does at 46). She joins with the other 2 fire attacks too. The only thing stopping her from being Phyress' rival is her low INT, but she's still a great archer and should be your choice here. Lydia has worse attacks and spells, so she doesn't really offer anything that Atrasia doesn't. They'll be back in Crell Monferaigne when released, but neither gives you anything yet. Now go back to where you can go up and down. Go all the way to the right for a chest with an explosion trap and 20000 OTH. Just climb up after this and go right for the final room. Keep going right. There's a bag hidden in a small part where the floor is lower, near where you have to jump. It has an Apothecary's Arcanum. Jump right and go on up. On the top there's a flying enemy - use it to reach the platform and open the final chest, with a gas trap and a Double-check. That's all for Dragonscrypt. Just go right and you'll go directly to the next dungeon. --- Palace of the Venerated Dragon --- -Items: Sunlight Stone, Eclipse Stone, Apothecary's Arcanum x2, Tome of Anarchy, Union Plume x3, Nectar Potion, Fairy Tincture x3, Charge Break, Dragonlore, Halo Stone, 70000 OTH (total), Spell Potion, Flare Baselard, Valor Greaves, Painted Cloud Stone, Valor Gauntlet, Might Potion, Tome of Alchemy, Crystal Garb x2, Guard Potion, Dark Moon Stone, Power Bangle, Crimson Flame Stone, Elixir, Soft Stone, Dragon Armor, Sun and Moon Stone, Golden Egg, Ouroboros Symbol, Expert's Experience x2 -Einherjar: Sorcerer [ Masato (10%) or Xehnon (90%) ] Heavy Warrior [ Ehlen (30%), Gerald (20%) or Guilm (50%) ] Light Warrior [ Crescent (60%) or Lwyn (40%) ] -Sealstones: Experience Friend Law, Wrath of Forcefulness, Wrath of Bread Alone, Stone Hurler Wrath, Powerless Cap Wrath -Enemies: Iron Golem (no race), Gigantic Claws (Giant), Necromancer (Magic), Dryad (Magic), Green Jewel (Magic), Phantom Guardian (Ghost, Unholy), Spectral Knight (no race), Dragon Bat (Giant, Scaled, Dragon) -Mini-boss: Muscular Stalker (Giant) -Re-fightable Boss: Dragon Zombie -Overview: This dungeon is huge and harder than anything so far. Enemies hit hard and, although you can hold Sealstones just fine, there's no easy way to use them on Daises. There's also lots of enemies and items here. The dungeon has two types of areas: day and night. Battles in the day areas are harder because the battlefield is really small and the enemies can be annoying. It's nothing you can't beat without preparation, though. Many of the enemies are immune to instant-breaking, but not all. A full critical-based setup isn't the best choice because of that, so focus on ATK or MAG. Best element is Fire. No enemy is actually weak to it but it's still the strongest element, and you'll get a really good fire weapon for Light Warriors here. Have a Sorcerer around with Lightning spells, and an Archer with the Supreme Crossbow. Enemies to look out for: First the new enemy types. Iron Golems are the worst here, with no race and a lot of parts to break. While this makes it harder to get to the vital part it's really good for getting Break Mode. Their beam attack has long frontal range, so attack from behind, or from the sides to break their shields. They'll most likely block from the front. Dryads absorb Holy and don't have any weakness, but they can be broken instantly. Silence (Holy Gems) works too, and it's a good idea to prevent their Prismatic Missile and Heal spells. Prismatic Missile is extremely dangerous and can end a battle instantly by dealing high damage and causing status changes. The Runeslayer kills them very easily. Dragon Bats, Gigantic Claws and Spectral Knights are like the old enemies they look like, so the same strategies apply. The only thing worth of noting is the Spectral Knight's armor (not the body, a plate covering their chest), with 100% protection to all elements. This makes Sorcerers completely useless against them and you must attack from the front to get rid of it. It would be better to just attack from the back and forget about it -- your other characters can still damage them anyway (Archers will have their damage reduced a lot too, though). Necromancers are a serious threat when in large groups, since they can resurrect and heal each other. Try to just go for the leader in those cases. They're vulnerable to breaking, so at least they're easy to kill. You could Silence them too. If you've got the battle under control you can make use of their resurrections to farm items as well, but watch out for their spells. Warning and Red Jewels attacked with fire, Green Jewels attack with Earth. Normally this would be less dangerous (fire is stronger), but if you're fighting them on the day areas, you probably won't have enough room to dodge their attacks. Fortunately Earth protection is easy to get. Just keep the ones who can't equip Silver armor away from the fight. Sorcerers can attack with menu spells, or use support ones. A Heavy Warrior under Might Reinforce is good enough to kill them. Consider Reduce Magic too if the damage is still too high, but that's unlikely. Phantom Guardians are Ghosts, can cause curse and use Darkness attacks. They're vulnerable to breaking, but you shouldn't need that with Holy attacks. Your Archer will probably kill them alone in one attack round without Ghost Buster if you're using the Supreme Crossbow. Good item drops: Red Boots: Decent boots for Sorcerers, just break the lower part of the Dryad's body. 8 RDM, 10 RST, 20 AVD, Red Leg rune. Serstine-lock-gun: Bow with 110 ATK, 2 attacks and SC enabled. Break the Gigantic Claws' head for this, but it has low drop rate (15%). It's a Greenery Slayer that trades the innate Weed Whacker for Soul Crushes, so just ignore it if you don't like SCs. Nectar Potions: Immunity to status effects for a long time. Just Direct Assault the Gigantic Claws. Very easy to get and a great item to have as well. You can buy this later though. Guard and Spell Potions: Battle items, cast Guard/Spell Reinforce. Direct Assault the Iron Golem for Guard and the Necromancer for Spell. You can buy these later too but they're great to collect now. Adamantite: Runeless accessory, boosts ATK by x1.5 when the user's HP is full. Just break the Iron Golem's shields to get it, but drop rate is low. Can be gotten from several enemies later as well. This is great for making battles quicker. Runes and Skills: Green Resistance: Break the Iron Golem's shields for the Damascus Ore. Just attack from the sides. This is used for Solitary Struggler (Green Body + Fire + Resistance), which increases the user's stats when the other characters are dead. Not my type of skill, but can be great for soloing. Green Piercing: Break the Spectral Knight's spear for the Busted Spear. Now you're one rune away from Dragon Slayer. This is also used for Triple Edge and God Destroyer later. Red Holy: Break the Spectral Knight's arms for a Copper Signet. Now you're one rune away from Giant Killer. That's all you need Red Holy for. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Sun Shower: Third material here: 2 Adamantite (Iron Golem's shields). Other materials are 1 Spider Fighter (found in the volcano, or Land Kraken's head in Crawsus) and 1 Hrunting (buyable in Crell Monferaigne). This is a very nice sword, but you might want to skip it if you don't have a second Spider Fighter. Fairy Garb: Very good armor for women. You can get 1 Flamebreath Core here from the Dragon Bat's body, and 1 Scarlet Alloy from the Necromancer's front mantle. Moonfalx: creatable soon. Second material is 1 Holy Crystal, by Direct Assaulting the Dragon Bat. The third material is here too, with the mini-boss. The first, if you forgot, is the Sabertooth back in Audoula, by breaking Deep One's head. -Dungeon walkthrough: Go right for two rooms, ignoring the path up. Pick the Sunlight Stone on the chest to the right of the third room. This is not a usable item or equipment, but part of the dungeon's puzzle. You'll get different stones and use them to warp around. Go back to the room you ignored to find a save point and a statue. Save, then check the statue to use the Sunlight Stone. You'll be warped and find a chest with the Eclipse Stone. This is the one you use to go back to the entrance/save point. Go down, then left for a Tome of Anarchy. Now go right to the next room. There's a chest on the right with another Apothecary's Arcanum and another in the platform in the middle with a gas trap and a Nectar Potion. This blocks status effects for a long time. You can get more by Direct Assaulting Gigantic Claws. Now warp the flying enemy to reach the top. On the right is a Dais with the first sealstone of the dungeon: Experience Friend Law. This is pretty good, letting inactive party members gain experience without fighting. They'll get 1/6 of the total, which is a lot considering active party members get 1/4. Still, not worth 4000 crystals. You'll probably want to carry it for now, but remember that having low level characters you don't use is good to learn skills faster. Cross over to the left. Step on a statue on the second "floor" to get to the third, where you'll find a chest with an explosion trap and an Union Plume. This is a puzzle room, where you must break statues from behind without another statue seeing you. If you fail, you'll be warped to a poisonous room. There's some good things in the poison room, so slash a statue from the front to go there and come back for the puzzle later. The poison room has treasure chests and an Einherjar relic. The chests, scattered through the room (nothing hidden), have: Fairy Tincture, Charge Break and Dragonlore. They're all trapped with gas. The Dragonlore is a very good rod with 80 MAG, 4 RDM and 10 RST, but no Great Magic. Use it anyway, extra MAG is good. The Einherjar relic is on the upper right: a Sorcerer. Important choice! Xehnon (Fire) or Masato (Earth). There's no reason at all to get Masato. Not that he's bad, it's just that Xehnon is either the best or second best Sorcerer and the only one who gets all spells. He's a lot like Psoron, but with less HP and the Chaotic Rune spell. If you like Chaotic Rune, Xehnon is better. If not, Psoron is. He also joins with a second Mirage Robe! Get him... which is very easy with a 90% chance. They appear in Sahma Desert when released. Masato gives a Prime Elixir, but Xehnon never gives you anything. To leave the poison room, check the statue in the first floor and use a stone. Use the Sunlight Stone to go back to the previous area and return to the puzzle room. The puzzle is simple. First go to the second floor and slash the leftmost statue from behind for a chest with the Halo Stone. Slash the next two to the right for bag with 30000 OTH and that's all. Go back to the statue and use the Halo Stone to get to a new area... with a Spring! Fire Blessing helps a lot here, as does Sword Blessing and Lifeforce Blessing. Go left. Another puzzle here. A blocked door telling you to master Sword-crush, Slingshot or Vampire. This is talking about the Sealstones in the dungeon. You'll find them soon and must put them in a Dais nearby to open this door. One is actually in this room, in a shell in the upper left. Use the flying enemy to get there. Wrath of Forcefulness is cheap (500 crystals) and TRIPLES ATK, but each attack has a 20% chance of breaking your weapon. A broken weapon is gone FOREVER. This Sealstone still has uses, but don't even think about carrying this in normal fights or setting it in a Dais. Just leave it here. Use the flying enemy to get to the two sets of broken stairs on the right. The upper one has a Spell Potion and Flare Baselard (gas trap). This is a VERY good Light Sword, with Fire element, 3 attacks, Soul Crush, 65 ATK and 50 MAG. With Psychosoma that's like 115 ATK... better actually, since you'll use MAG twice because it's an elemental attack. A great weapon indeed, equip this immediately even if you've got the Runeslayer (still use the Runeslayer against Magics though). The lower set of stairs has 25000 OTH and Valor Greaves, a Green Leg rune for Heavy and Light Warriors. Same RDM as the Vein Greaves without the Earth and Poison protection. Good only if you didn't get the Vein Greaves. Go left to the next room. Ignore the path down and keep going left. You'll find an enemy with a Sealstone: Wrath of Bread Alone. This lets the holder absorb HP when attacking, but the battle menu is disabled. This has no disadvantage to enemies and letting them heal can be quite annoying, but isn't that good to you. I'd just ignore this enemy. The Sealstone costs 1200 crystals... not worth it. Go more to the left for another Einherjar relic: the final Heavy Warrior. Ehlen, Guilm or Gerald. Gerald is the best choice here. He joins with the Dragon Slayer skill and learns Sweep Dive soon (level 24, might even have it already). Guilm has the highest HP in the game and joins with Toughness, making him a pretty good choice too. Ehlen is the weakest and actually a bad character, with low multipliers for the whole game. Guilm and Ehlen take a really long time to learn Sweep Dive, so their damage will be much lower than Gerald's. Guilm does join with a second Flamberge though, if you like the weapon for some reason. They will appear back in the Ancient Forest when released. Ehlen gives 50000 OTH, but the others don't give anything yet. Now go back to the path down you ignored. Another Sealstone in a Shell to the left here: Stone Hurler Wrath. This one is great: it doubles the damage of all projectile attacks (arrows, or anything that's thrown), but slows the holder down. A team of Archers is lethal with this and it's the only one that gives a disadvantage to enemies when set in a Dais. So you can either keep it or put it in a Dais (coming soon) to solve the puzzle and slow the enemies. It costs 2500 crystals, which is a fair price. Don't restore it yet though. Light Warriors are also incredibly lethal with this Sealstone when using the Energy Steal, Sneaky Throw, Shadow Snap or Magic Lock attacks. Energy Steal is particularly impressive since it heals the user. Give it a try with Circe if you've got her! Go right for the Dais. Leave Wrath of Bread Alone, Stone Hurler Wrath or Wrath of Forcefulness here to solve the puzzle and open the door. I recommend Stone Hurler Wrath or Wrath of Bread Alone. This looks like everything in the room, but there's actually a bag in the ceiling. Use both flying enemies to get there. Not hard, but kill them first to avoid ambushes if you make a mistake. The bag has 15000 OTH. Go back to the blocked door and the path will open. Go up for another save point. To the left is the mini-boss: the Muscular Stalker. There's always more than one (up to 3) and there might be other enemies in the fight as well. There's not much need for preparation here. The mini-bosses are Giants vulnerable to instant-breaking, so you can destroy them very easily. Remember the Zweihander for your Heavy Warriors, or use the skill itself with Zunde. Any element you use is fine, too. This fight is sort of random. There's always a Muscular Stalker, but the other enemies and the formation varies. Nothing special here though, it's the same as fighting the Berserker back in Chateau Obsession. All you'll want to do here is break it's left body side (just attack from the left, of course) for the Bloody Patch. This runeless accessory has a 40% drop rate and give a x1.5 damage boost in exchange for 5% HP every hit. This is great for making battles faster! Get at least one. Run from the battle if you need to. You don't really need more than one, so just settle for that. You may also want the Busted Sword to create the Moonfalx later. You'll need 2, and you need to break any of the upper arms to get it. After the fight pick up the Painted Cloud Stone in the chest. Now go back to the room with the save point and go right. You can't reach the top of this room, but can open the chests on the lower part: Fairy Tincture, Union Plume and Apothecary's Arcanum. Go back to the statue and use the Painted Cloud Stone to get to the new area. Go down. There's a statue here. If it touches you, you'll go to the poison room again. Just come back here if that happens. Begin by going right, where you'll find 3 chests and a Shell. The chests have another Fairy Tincture, a Valor Gauntlet (for non-Sorcerers, 25 RDM) and a Might Potion. Opening the second chest will make 2 enemies appear, but they're easy to avoid and the gauntlet is good. The Shell has the Powerless Cap Wrath sealstone. This lets you glide by jumping and holding up and will be necessary to get an item and an Einherjar here. However, you cannot get items from breaking or open chests/bags while holding it. Pretty huge drawback, so leave it in the Shell for now. Go back left two rooms (remember the walking statue). This one has two walking statues. Jump over them and go left for a chest with an explosion trap and a Tome of Alchemy. Go up (two more statues here) and then left for a chest in the next room. There's an arrow trap and a Crystal Garb here, a 50 RDM armor for Sorcerers and Archers. Now go all the way to the right for a Dais. There's not much point in leaving anything here since this area doesn't connect to any others and you've done everything here already. Anyway, get to the ceiling again (from the right this time) for another bag. This one has a Guard Potion. To the right is a chest with the Dark Moon Stone. Go back to the Shell with the Powerless Cap Wrath and pick it up, then use the Dark Moon Stone in the statue. Go left. You'll have to be quick here. Ignore the mini-boss for now and just crystallize the enemy. Jump on it and glide (hold up while jumping with Powerless Cap Wrath) all the way to the left. There's a chest, but you can't open it while holding the Sealstone. Stand close to the chest and warp the enemy. Now you have to go down, leave the Sealstone in the Dais and warp the enemy up there before it comes down after you. It's not hard, you just have to be quick. If you mess up you'll have to go on until you find a statue and come back. The chest up there has a Power Bangle (and gas trap). This boosts ATK by 30% and stacks with anything! Equip it on a Heavy or Light Warrior. The mini-boss (same as before) protects a chest with the Crimson Flame Stone. Now pick up the Powerless Cap Wrath again. Now go left for a Divinity Void. Keep going left to the next room, with 2 chests: Union Plume and Elixir. Eh, nothing important. Come back and go down, then left. Two chest. One has gas, the other spawns one enemy. They contain another Crystal Garb and a Soft Stone. This heals Frailty and can be used unlimited times. Very good to have. Now go right. This is the top of the one you couldn't get to before. Use the Powerless Cap Wrath to glide to the right and find the final Light Warrior Einherjar relic. Crescent or Lwyn. Easiest choice for a Light Warrior: Lwyn wins. Crescent has low multipliers, few hits, no elemental attacks and the same random stat-growth as Jessica. Lwyn isn't really special, also suffering from low multipliers, but she's just better than Crescent on everything. Her AGL is quite high, too. Only one Einherjar left! Now just go down and return to the statue. Use the Dark Moon Stone again to try to get the Power Bangle if you didn't manage to. Before you use the Crimson Flame Stone, pick up any negative Sealstones you'd like to use in the Spring. Lightning Blessing (boss uses earth attacks) and Chasm Wrath are good. Don't put Stone Hurler Wrath! There's not much else, unfortunately. Don't forget to leave the Powerless Cap Wrath somewhere first. The Shell where you got it is a good place to do so. Use the Crimson Flame Stone to get to a room with a Dais and a save point. Leave your negative Sealstone here (and pick up a good one in the Spring after that) and save the game. The boss is in the next room. Preparations: The boss here is weak to fire and holy, and attacks with Earth. Use Silver armor again, and avoid Darkness, Earth and Ice attacks. Archers dominate the fight: Phyress/Atrasia use the fire attacks and Lylia can use Holy and Fire. Light Warriors can help a lot with the Flare Baselard too, as can a Sorcerer (Xehnon or Psoron) with Fire Storm. For critical skills, the boss is a giant unholy dragon. Everyone has access to Unholy and Heavy Warriors have access to Giant and Dragon through weapons. As you can see, dealing damage will be easy. Don't forget Fire Blessing. Save and go left for the boss. __Dragon Zombie______________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 35 18,500 HP 220,000 exp 21,000 OTH | | 495 ATK 362 MAG 82 HIT 44 AVD | | Races: Giant, Dragon, Unholy | | Elements: Core has Fire and Holy -100%, Earth +50%, Ice and Darkness +100%; | | Rest has Fire and Holy -50%, Ice and Darkness +50%, Earth +100% | | Vulnerable to Silence (60%), Freeze (60%) and Stone (60%) | | Leader Item: Earth Crystal | | Recommended level: 25 | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head: 5,550 HP, 57 RDM, 39 RST; Item: Dragon Skull (40%) | | -Neck: 3,700 HP, 86 RDM, 31 RST; Item: Dragon Rib (60%) | | -Core (vital): 1,850 HP, 29 RDM, 20 RST; Item: ? (80%) | | -Body (vital): 14,800 HP, 57 RDM, 39 RST; Item: Rotted Scales (75%) | | -Tail: 9,250 HP, 57 RDM, 39 RST; Item: Rotted Scales (40%) | | -Front legs (2): 3,700 HP, 57 RDM, 39 RST; Item: Obsidian Claw (45%) | | -Back legs (2): 3,700 HP, 57 RDM, 39 RST; Item: ? (50%) | | -Wings (2): 5,550 HP, 57 RDM, 39 RST; Item: Spectral Wing (55%) | | | |Attacks: | | -Dark Displacement: Long range, Darkness attack, high damage. Causes Poison.| | -Disconfort: Wide, but short frontal range. Average damage. | | -Insanity Eye: Medium frontal range. High damage, causes Confusion. | | -Foul Stench: Medium circular range. Average Earth damage, causes Frailty. | | -Maleficent Harm (Great Magic): Huge circular range. High earth elemental | | magic damage on all characters. Used when | | below 50% HP. | | | |Strategy: | | First, about the dragon's body. To reach the core you must first break the | | neck, so don't think it's low HP means a short fight. If you want to focus | | on a vital part, focus on the body. | | | | Before you decide to attack the dragon, notice the symbol on the floor. It | | points to three spots on the wall, which you can target. Behind those walls | | are orbs powering up the dragon, increasing all of his stats. Each orb you | | destroy will weaken him a lot, making the fight easier. It is recommended | | you do not attack the dragon at all until you break the three orbs, or | | you'll have trouble dealing damage and will get hurt a lot. The walls have | | 500 HP, the orbs have 1000. The orb behind the Dragon Zombie is exposed (no | | wall hiding it). | | | | Once that's done just do the usual: get behind and attack. The boss can | | still attack when you're there and it turns around really fast, so if you | | need to charge AP try dashing away first and do so from as far away as you | | can. Watch out for Cloudy Harm when it gets low on HP. It's strong, but not | | really that dangerous with Lightning Blessing in the Dais. Still, you | | probably won't be able to avoid it, so keep your HP up. Remember, Great | | Magic hits all targets, even if they're not in range. | | | | There are only two items of interest here. First are the Rotted Scales, | | which gives 40% protection from Poison, Paralysis, Faint, Confusion, | | Silence, Freeze and Stone. That's all very good, but the best part is that | | it's the first Green Weakness rune. Breaking the tail is easy (and | | recommended), so there's a fair chance that you might get it. With this you | | can finally learn Dragon Slayer (Green Piercing + Weakness + Lightning + | | Activation). | | | | The second great item is the Dragon Rib. It's kind of like the Brilliant | | Peacemaker, increasing your stats in battle the lower your HP gets, but | | better because it also gives +10% ATK (this stacks). The high drop rate | | makes this easier to get than the Peacemaker too, but it might be too hard | | now. Keep it in mind for later. To break the neck, just attack from the | | front and break the head first. | | | | If you're getting the Dragon Rib you might as well try to get the Dragon | | Skull. This accessory doubles the damage of critical hits, but the user will| | take the damage as well if the attack doesn't kill the enemy. A very extreme| | accessory, it's not really that useful in practice but good for 1-hit kill | | setups. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Three chests here, with the Dragon Armor (Green Body for Light and Heavy Warriors. Toughness for them!), Sun and Moon Stone and a Golden Egg. Great stuff. Check the glowing orb on the left to fight the boss again if you want. Go back and save. Also, a warning: you'll need Powerless Cap Wrath to get an item in a later dungeon. That's all you'll need it for, but remember to restore it if you want to get all items. Stone Hurler Wrath and Wrath of Forcefulness are also great choices for restoring, but depend on your personal play style. Now you can go back to the statue and use the Sun and Moon Stone, but there are some things you might want to do before that. Check the next section (04.3.07) for that. If you just want to move on, keep reading this. Go left after using the stone and see the scene. Don't worry about any equipment on the two characters, they're still in your inventory, with some extras. Check the next section for details on that. Anyway, open the chests here to get the Ouroboros Symbol (Red Training!) and 2 Expert's Experience. Red Training lets you learn Double Edge (Red Slashing + Piercing + Arm + Training, very expensive, not really worth it), Giant Killer (Red Slashing + Holy + Weakness + Training -- get this!) and Demon Destroyer (Red Piercing + Weakness + Darkness + Training -- really good too). Now go back to the statue, use the Eclipse Stone and go back to the world map to end the Chapter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.3.07 - Checklist II [04307] Here's a list of things you'll want to check before finishing Chapter 3. Most of it is optional, but can have a great impact in the rest of the game. If you're going to hunt for items, check the end of this section for characters you might be interested in using for that. --- Optional Dungeons --- Did you do the Ancient Forest, Turgen Mine and Chateau Obsession quests? You must unlock these dungeons now, or they won't be available later. Remember to get their reward as well to unlock the next quests in Ancient Forest and Turgen Mine. In case you skipped it, go to section 04.3.02 for Ancient Forest and Turgen Mine, and section 04.3.05 for Chateau Obsession. --- Skills and Runes --- Please check section 04.3.03 for a list of runes and skills you could have by then. This list only includes the new runes and skills that appeared since then: -Blue Bludgeon: Mace Head (Green Coral's tentacles) -Red Body: sold in stores -Red Head: buy Anointed Crown in Crell Monferaigne, among others -Red Slashing: Insect Claw (Giant Scarab's pincers, Sahma Desert) -Red Piercing: Battering Ram's Horn (Desert Beast's horn, Sahma Desert) -Red Training: Ouroboros Symbol (Palace of the Venerated Dragon, last room; don't get it until you're sure you've done everything you want to in the Chapter) -Red Ice: Core Ruby (Red Jewel's crystal, Surt Volcano Caverns) -Red Holy: Copper Signet (Spectral Knight's arms, Palace of Ven. Dragon) -Red Darkness: Abyss Cloak (Shaman Chief's or Necromancer's back mantle; Crawsus Forest Ruins or Palace of the Venerated Dragon) -Green Body: Kraadmail (release Circe and talk to her in Kalstad), Dragon Armor (Palace of the Venerated Dragon), Mirage Robe (Crawsus, Xehnon's initial equipment), Crystal Garb (Palace of Ven. Dragon), Elfin Taffeta (creatable in Solde with 2 Polished Red Ores, 2 Monster Scales and 1 Orientation Scales) -Green Arm: Holy Gauntlet (Circe's initial equipment) -Green Leg: Vein Greaves (create in Villnore with 1 Alligator Skin and 1 Dragon Gallstones), Silver Greaves (found in Crawsus) or Valor Greaves (found in the Palace of Ven. Dragon). Not available for Sorcerers yet. -Green Piercing: Busted Spear (Spectral Knight's spear, Palace of Ven. Dragon) -Green Activation: Verdigris Scales (Hydra's body) -Green Resistance: Damascus Ore (Iron Golem's sheilds, Palace of Ven. Dragon) -Green Weakness: Rotted Scales (Dragon Zombie's tail, Palace of Ven. Dragon) -Green Fire: Pyrotechnic Ore (Wild Lizard's body, Surts Volcano Caverns) -Green Earth: Dead Man's Gem (Greater Demon's chest, Chateau Obsession) -Green Lightning: Sprinter Cell (Tear Soul's arms, Chateau Obsession) -Green Darkness: break the Hydra's back right head. Missing: -Green Head, Holy, Ice, Training, Bludgeon for everyone -Green Leg for Sorcerers -Blue, Red and Green Creation for everyone Skills that cannot be learned yet: -Toughness for Sorcerers (Green Body + Leg + Fire) -Force Field (1000) (Green Body + Head + Healing + Holy) -Mind Lock (Green Head + Ice + Holy) -God Destroyer (Green Piercing + Bludgeon + Weakness + Holy) -Dismantle (Green Arm + Darkness + Strengthening + Training) -Force Field (5000) (Blue Body + Healing + Resistance + Creation) -Desperate Measures (Red Arm + Darkness + Creation) -Triple Edge (Green Piercing + Bludgeon + Training + Creation) Skills you really should learn as soon as possible: Fists of Iron, Mental Boost, Psychosoma, Toughness, Spirit Control, Survival, Magic Mail, First Aid, Free Item, Guard Motion, all critical skills. --- Important Weapons/Armor/Accessories --- Please check section 04.3.03 for a list of equipment you could have by then. This list only includes the new good ones that appeared since then: Light Swords: -Flare Baselard (Palace of the Venerated Dragon) -Runeslayer (create in Crell Monferaigne) Heavy Swords: -Zweihander (create in Crell Monferaigne) Bows: -Greenery Slayer (create in Crell Monferaigne) Staff: -Dragonlore (Palace of the Venerated Dragon) Body: -Dragon Armor (Palace of the Venerated Dragon) -Silver Mail (buy in Crell Monferaigne) -Crystal Garb (Palace of Venerate Dragon) -Mirage Robe (Crawsus Forest Ruins, also Xehnon's initial equipment) Arm: -Magic Glove (create in Villnore) Gray Accessories: -Adamantite (Iron Golem's shields, Palace of the Venerated Dragon) [ATK boost when HP is full] -Bloody Patch (Muscular Stalker's left body, Crawsus Forest Ruins) [-Damage boost in exchange for HP] -Dragon Rib (Dragon Zombie's neck, Palace of the Venerated Dragon) [Performance: ATK+10%, Effect: Stats increase as HP decreases] -Dragon Scales (Dragon's legs, Chateau Obsession) [MAG and Critical Rank boost when under Poison status] -Magic Bangle (Dragonscrypt) [Performance: MAG+30%] -Metabolizer (Green Coral's stalk, Dragonscrypt) [May heal half of the damage taken] -Mirror Fragment (Phantom Lurker's mirror) [May reflect spells] -Monster Canine Tooth (Trash Demon's head, Chateau Obsession) [MAG +15%] -Power Bangle (Palace of the Venerated Dragon) [Performance: ATK+30%] -Stonecutting Pincers (Giant Crab's arms, Audoula Temple on the Lake) [Soul Crush and Great Magic damage increase as HP decreases] -Vegetable Seed (Strobila's body, Audoula Temple on the Lake) [Poison restores HP] --- Powerleveling for overpowered equipment --- When you first got Lezard, Leone, Dylan and Arngrim it was mentioned that their levels would be important later. Well, that time is now for Arngrim and Leone. Dylan's and Lezard's will be later, at the end of Chapter 4, but if you do decide to get the characters to a specific level then you might as well get their levels up now. Here's a quick explanation: you'll gain items according to Arngrim's and Leone's levels when you finish Chapter 3. These items appear automatically on your inventory, without warning, when the next Chapter starts. Here's the list of items for the 4 characters (remember, you won't get Lezard's and Dylan's now): -Leone: Level 1 to 19: Might Potion Level 20 to 24: Expert's Experience and Might Potion Level 25 to 27: Expert's Experience x2 Level 28 to 34: Expert's Experience x2 and Fencer's Familiarity Level 35 to 39: Slashing Sword "Farewell", Expert's Experience and Fencer's Familiarity Level 40 or higher: Slashing Sword "Farewell", Valkyrie Favor, Expert's Experience and Fencer's Familiarity -Arngrim: Level 1 to 19: Guard Potion Level 20 to 24: Expert's Experience and Guard Potion Level 25 to 27: Expert's Experience x2 Level 28 to 34: Expert's Experience x2 and Warrior's Wits Level 35 to 39: Improved Dragon Slayer, Expert's Experience and Warrior's Wits Level 40 or higher: Improved Dragon Slayer, Bahamut Tear, Expert's Experience and Warrior's Wits -Dylan: Level 1 to 24: Charge Break Level 25 to 29: Expert's Experience and Charge Break Level 30 to 32: Expert's Experience x2 Level 33 to 39: Expert's Experience x2 and Ambrosia Level 40 to 44: Undead Sword, Expert's Experience and Ambrosia Level 45 or higher: Undead Sword, Sword of the Meek, Expert's Experience and Ambrosia -Lezard: Level 1 to 24: Spell Potion Level 25 to 29: Expert's Experience and Spell Potion Level 30 to 32: Expert's Experience x2 Level 33 to 39: Expert's Experience x2 and Sorcerer's Savvy Level 40 to 44: Philosopher's Pebble, Expert's Experience and Sorcerer's Savvy Level 45 or higher: Philosopher's Pebble, Homunculus Seed, Expert's Experience and Sorcerer's Savvy A quick look at the list can show how useful it can be to boost some levels, at least for Expert's Experiences. Those and the stat-boosters are nice, but each character also has 2 unique items for getting to really high levels. The question is if it's worth it to get those items, considering how long it takes to level up. First let's see what those items do: -Slashing Sword "Farewell": Light sword, 210 ATK, 30 HIT, 3 attacks, SC enabled and SC damage +30%. -Valkyrie Favor: Light sword, 500 ATK, 50 HIT, ATK +5%, 3 attacks, SC enabled. -Improved Dragon Slayer: Heavy sword, 200 ATK, 3 attacks, SC enabled, innate Dragon Slayer. -Bahamut Tear: Heavy Sword, ATK 600, 3 attacks, SC enabled, innate Dragon Slayer. -Undead Sword: Heavy Sword, 260 ATK, 2 attacks, SC enabled, absorbs damage dealt as HP. -Sword of the Meek Heavy sword, ATK 850, 2 attacks, SC enabled. -Philosopher's Pebble Gray accessory. 100 MAG, causes Transfer when attacking. -Homunculus Seed Gray accessory. +20% resistance to all elements. The 3 weaker weapons are the strongest until Chapter 5, which really isn't that much. Their extra effects do add some further use to them, but not much. As you can see, they're not really the trouble of grinding. The 3 others are the strongest weapons of their class in the main-game, but will be obsolete in the bonus dungeon. They're very, very overpowered, and together with being 15 levels higher than you should they'll make the game easier. However, you don't need those weapons for the game to be easy. As the method used to get them will show, you can kill most enemies easily enough if you have the right items and skills, to the point that the weapons won't make much of a difference. A 1-hit kill is good, but is it that much better than a 3-hit kill? For random enemies you can also, in many cases, use critical skills to kill them instantly. Good accessories and skills will last you the whole game and don't take that long to get, while the weapons will become obsolete, and the fastest known method can take up to 40 minutes. It's up to you if that's good or not, but the time you save by using the weapons is LESS than the time you spend to get them. The Valkyrie Favor does have the added use of being good for releasing in post-game, though. The Philosopher's Pebble isn't really special. 100 MAG is good, but it's not enough to justify grinding so much, and random Transfer can be bad for experience. The Homunculus Seed, however, is the best item you can get from powerleveling. While the weapons will eventually become obsolete, the Shard will always be good. It's possible to have a character with around 80% resistance to all elements later by using it. This doesn't mean it's an item you MUST get, just that if you do want to invest the time in grinding, it's the best item you'll get. So you have many options here. One of them is to not care at all and just move on with the game. This is what I personally do and recommend, as all items are things you can live without and it's just quicker to move on. Still, the choice is yours. If you're close to the levels that give you an item that interests you (say, a level 17 Leone) then you might as well gain some to get that. Or maybe you just want to get everything, either because you like having everything in the game or you have fun fighting the same enemy for a long time. In this case there are several ways to get there a bit faster. The best plan is, of course, to use those 4 characters and fight an enemy that gives lots of experience and can be killed quickly. A good way to begin is getting the Experience Pig Law Sealstone in Chateau Obsession. If you don't have enough crystals to restore it, fight in Chateau Obsession using it until you do. Just Direct Assault Will-o'-the-Wisps, as they give great experience and are really easy to kill. Lezard's Fire Storm should be enough if you give him some MAG boosts. You can also take this time to collect any items you need from the lists above. If you want your whole party to level up, consider the Experience Friend Law from the Palace of the Venerated Dragon too. If you do this, try to have one or two characters dead so that you can use them to learn skills faster later. Once you've got the Experience Pig Law, move on to Crawsus Forest Ruins. This is the best place to gain enough experience to get Leone and Arngrim to level 40 and Dylan and Lezard to 45 (or whatever level you want), by fighting the Hydra. No, the Dragon Zombie isn't better. No matter how fast you can kill it, the Hydra is faster and much more straight-forward. Make sure you're using those characters and that they have the following weapons and skills: -Descaling Might -Zweihander (or any other strong weapon, but this is the best) -Fists of Iron (not for Lezard) -Mental Boost (Lezard only, maybe Leone too) -Training (only if you have spare CP!) Lezard and Leone use whatever the best weapon you have for them is. Probably the Dragonlore and the Flare Baselard, both from the Palace of the Venerated Dragon. You need level 20 to have CP for everything. Before that give priority to Descaling Might for everyone, or you could ignore it for Lezard and Leone and use Training instead, as Dylan and Arngrim should be strong enough to handle the Hydra alone anyway (but make sure they do have Descaling Might). For accessories, you could use the Empty Shell + Silence. Just Dylan is enough, but Dylan + Arngrim is better of course. This can be ignored if you've got everything else. Make sure both Heavy Warriors have Bloody Patches and Great Eagle Hearts too. Don't bother with giving these to Leone and Lezard. Dylan gets the Power Bangle and Arngrim anything else that can boost his ATK (Ram's Horn or something). The more of this you have the better. The only difficult parts can be the Zweihander and getting silenced. If either is taking too long, don't bother and just ignore it. There are damage examples below considering this. For attacks, just use the strongest you've got. From strongest to weakest, the best attacks are: -Dylan: Absolute Strike, Double Swing (joins with both, it's all he needs) -Arngrim: Hurricane Edge, Double Wind, Wild Break, High Wind -Leone: whatever gives the most Heat -Lezard: nothing Set any sealstone you want in the Daises, just don't put any beneficial one. I'd choose Chasm Wrath if you have it. Hold Experience Pig Law and Sword Blessing. You can use Experience Friend Law instead of Sword Blessing if you prefer. Go fight the Hydra. Your objective here is to do a strong combo that kills the Hydra with a Direct Assault. It's easier than it sounds -- just dash to it's back and have Arngrim and Dylan attack until you run out of AP, or until you get to 100 Heat. Use Leone to attack too if you need her help to build Heat. At first you'll need to use Soul Crushes, but eventually the Hydra will die before that. When using SCs, begin with Leone's, then Arngrim's, then Dylan's. This should kill the Hydra if you've got everything right. The first battles (assuming the characters are around level 15 -- underleveled) should take 40 seconds. Once you get to level 20, equip Leone and Lezard with Training if they don't have it yet. They most likely don't even need to attack anymore for you to win -- Dylan and Arngrim should be able to end the fight without Soul Crushes. Once that's happening constantly give Training for them too. It will come to a point where battles will take a little over 10 seconds, maybe less. Empty Shell + Bloody Patch + Zweihander + Descaling Might should be giving you nearly a 300% boost to damage, not including Sword Blessing and Fists of Iron. The only thing you have to watch out for is your HP because of the Bloody Patches. Since the Hydra's Leader Item is a Fairy Tincture, you can just use that to heal. You should need to do that every 4 fights or such, so you'll have enough. You can heal with Dwarf Tinctures at first, too. Once Leone gets to level 40, remove her from the party. Things will be faster with just 3 characters. When Arngrim gets to 40, you have a choice. Either keep doing it with the 3 characters until Dylan and Lezard reach level 45, or go to the Palace of the Venerated Dragon, enter the final room, get Leone's and Arngrim's special weapons and use just Lezard and Dylan against the Hydra again. Dylan will kill the Hydra in 1 attack with the Bahamut Tear! That's a 5 seconds fight. This can be slower than just keep fighting with Arngrim though, considering you have to enter and then leave the Palace. The whole process should take around 1 hour for a level 10 party to reach level 45 if everything goes well. It's certainly possible to be faster than that, as low as 45 minutes. If they are already at level 20 or something when you start than it should only take 40 minutes. Below are some numerical examples of the damage Arngrim and Dylan do at level 15 with WORST stat-growth. It's likely you'll do more than that. All Dylan examples consider him with Power Bangle, Great Eagle Heart, Bloody Patch, Sword Blessing, Descaling Might and Fists of Iron. Arngrim's consider all of that except the Power Bangle. For the examples without Zweihander, consider the Kraadicator for Dylan, and Hrunting for Arngrim. -Dylan No Empty Shell and no Zweihander: around 2000 with Absolute Strike With only Empty Shell or only Zweihander: around 2400 with Absolute Strike With both: around 3000 with Absolute Strike -Arngrim No Empty Shell and no Zweihander: around 660 with Wild Break With Empty Shell, no Zweihander: around 790 with Wild Break With Zweihander, no Empty Shell: around 1100 with Wild Break With both: around 1400 with Wild Break Those examples ignore many situations that can improve your damage. You should be always doing more damage than that. The Hydra dies with 13200 damage total or 9240 damage to it's body, whichever comes first. As you can see, it's not hard at all to get a Direct Assault. =============================================================================== 04.4 - Chapter 4: Wrath of the Gods [04400] Chapter 4 is the opposite of Chapter 3: simple, quick, intense and difficult. Get ready for the hardest fights in the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.4.01 - Moving on [04401] Now you've got to return to the northern part of the world map. You can do it through the new area that shows up when you return to the world map, Sukavia Gorge, or just go back through Kythena Plains. Sukavia Gorge has new enemies, runes, items and the final Einherjar, so it's better to go back through it. There are some new extras available now that you can do, but it's recommended you wait until you get back to Solde for them, as you'll find new, better equipment there to make things easier. For now, head to Crell Monferaigne if you need an inn or to restock on items. Leaving the town will give a short optional scene too. Once you're ready, head on to Sukavia Gorge. --- Sukavia Gorge --- -Enemies: Winter Wolf (Beast), Ice Devil (Demon), Ice Troll (Giant) -Einherjar: Sorcerer [ Aegis (100%) ] -Overview: Another short transition area with a few enemies and nothing else. Load on Ice protection here (or at least have someone with some resistance to Freeze). The Ice Devils are immune to Fire, so pick another element (like Lightning) or use non-elemental attacks. Anything here can be broken by critical skills. Watch out for the battlefield too. It's very easy to be pushed off the cliff by the enemies here (specially the Ice Troll), but you can always do the same as well. Winter Wolfs will frequently jump to their death if you let them attack you near the edge. Enemies to look out for: Nothing new here, just old enemies with Ice attacks. The Ice Devils can freeze you easily with Frigid Damsel, so try to stay out of their way. Also watch out for the Ice Troll, it may push you off the the cliff and result in a game over. Just stay behind it and it won't be able to do anything other than heal itself. Just break or poison it, or even use Frailty if you feel necessary (it shouldn't be). Good item drops: Drainwing: Runeless accessory, chance of absorbing damage dealt. Break the Ice Devil's Wings to get it. Very good to have on your tanks. Runes and Skills: Green Ice: Break the Ice Troll's waist for the Ymir's Tear. This is only used for Mind Lock later... not an important skill. Feel free to ignore it. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Sun Shower: This special Light Sword can be created now in Solde, with 1 Spider Fighter (from the volcano, or Land Kraken's head in Crawsus), 1 Hrunting (buy in Crell Monferaigne), 2 Adamantite (Iron Golem's shield, Palace of the Venerated Dragon) and 3 Scarlet Fangs (Winter Wolf's head, very simple to get). It has 130 ATK, 20 MAG and 2 attacks, but no Soul Crush. What makes this weapon special is that it doubles the amount of hits your attacks do, like the Double Edge skill, so the damage will be higher than a regular sword with similar stats and it boosts SC damage for everyone. It even stacks with Double and Triple Edge, so you can get lots of hits. However, the Spider Fighter is a good weapon too and it's hard to get another from the Kraken. Fairy Garb: Fourth material here. This armor actually needs 5 materials to be created. Anyway, just get 1 Ymir's Tear by breaking the Ice Troll's waist. Really easy. -Dungeon walkthrough: Khanon will be here when/if you release him, and he gives a Noble Elixir. That's all you'll ever get from him. Just go right all the way. Near the end you'll find the last Einherjar: Aegis, the other Ice Sorcerer. There are only two of those, so the question here is very clear: is he better than Mithra? Eventually. Mithra gets better spells sooner, but Aegis has much better INT and gets the same spells as Mithra. It doesn't matter much since Xehnon/Psoron are better than both of them, but Aegis is good -- he also gives you freedom to release Mithra without losing much, which is something you should do in the next town. Aegis will also join with the third (and last) Mirage Robe. Aegis appears in Solde when released, but doesn't give you anything yet. Just keep going right after that and you'll be back to the northern part of the map in no time. You have to go to Lost Forest, but going to Solde first is recommended. --- Solde --- -Points of interest: 4th Poem (Tri-Emblem sidequest) Go all the way to the port on the right for another optional scene. Also, take a look at the poem you've read before and it will have chaged if you've read the other 3. If it's still the same, you missed a poem somewhere. If it did change you'll just need to wait for Chapter 6 for your reward. The shop has been updated too with a new Light Sword. Not much, but check the details below. This is a good time to release one character. Once you're ready you can go to Lost Forest to move on with the story or go back to the western area of the world map for 2 sidequests. If you want to go to Lost Forest, skip to section 04.4.03. If you want to do the sidequests first (recommended), keep reading to section 04.4.04. Shopping: The Map of the North Lands is finally available here. Buy it and you'll never need to cross Sukavia Gorge or Kythena plains to get around anymore. The Lotus Slicer is a new Light Sword. It's not very strong, but it has innate Weed Whacker. Get one of these for emergencies -- you'll be fighting some plants soon. Also don't forget to create the Sun Shower if you want. Releasing: This is a good time to release Mithra: you've got a good substitute and he'll be in Lost Forest after the release, the next place you'll have to go to. This way you can get his item immediately without wasting any time. The best weapon for releasing now is the Dragonlore, but that's a unique item. If you're using Sorcerers, you'll be without a comparable weapon for a while, but it doesn't take that long to get a better weapon. The choice is yours. Dragonlore, Anointed Crown, Crystal Garb and Red Boots will give 90 MAG, 68 RDM, 35 RST and 20 AVD. That's a total of 9 Sorcerer's Savvy, 2 Ambrosia, 7 Warrior's Wits and 2 Thief's Thoughts. You can settle for this, or use the creatable Magic Glove for +1 Ambrosia and +4 Warrior's Wits, but lose the 2 Thief's Thoughts. You'll also gain a gem as usual. Another thing on releases: you have until the end of the Chapter to collect the first items from your Einherjar. Here's a full list of what you can get by talking to them: Mithra (Lost Forest): Holy Water of Mithra Richelle (Coriander): Expert's Experience Sylphide (Coriander): 50000 OTH Kraad (Villnore): Kraadicator Roland (Villnore): 50000 OTH Alm (Chateau Obsession): 50000 OTH Woltar (Chateau Obsession): Foolproof Talisman Chrystie (Kythena Plains): 50000 OTH Sha-Kon (Kythena Plains): Prism Gem Millidia (Crell Monferaigne): 50000 OTH Khanon (Sukavia Gorge): Noble Elixir Phyress (Solde): Golden Egg Aaron (Coriander): 50000 OTH Farant and Psoron (Turgen Mine): Overdrive Circe (Kalstad): Kraadmail Rasheeka (Kalstad): Sage's Arcanum Adonis (Villnore): Warrior's Wit Masato (Sahma Desert): Prime Elixir Ehlen (Ancient Forest): 50000 OTH ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.4.02 - Sidequests, Part III [04402] --- Coriander and Villnore --- Items (Coriander): Core Emerald The new sidequests are found in those old towns. Talk to the guy with the fishing pole in Coriander to learn about a new monster in the Ancient Forest. This will only be available if you defeated the Griffon and got the reward from him before. Also, while in Coriander, check the first house. Remember how there was a woman blocking a chest here? She's gone now, and you can pick up the Core Emerald, with the Green Healing rune. Now go to Villnore and look for the guy with the blue bandanna in the eastern part of the town. He'll tell you about a new monster in Turgen Mine. Like the new Ancient Forest quest, this one will only be available if you did the previous one (killing the Queen Wasp) and got the reward. However, that's not all. It is currently unknown why, but sometimes the man will not tell you about the new monster in Chapter 4, meaning you can't do this quest now. Don't worry though, it will be available in Chapter 5 for sure (if you did the first one). --- Ancient Forest --- Nothing different in the dungeon other than the boss. Fight the Cybersaurs again to pick up the Sheathed Power Wrath and put it in a Dais to weaken the boss. You'll really, really need it. The other Dais should have Ice Blessing. Earth is the best element to use, which is bad because you don't have many good Earth attacks other than Poison Blow. Fortunately the boss doesn't resist anything, so you can pick any other element and still deal high damage. Better yet, the boss is a beast, and everyone should have Beast Bludgeon by now. Make sure you use a Heavy Warrior with the Flamberge. The boss can heal, but is also completely vulnerable to Frailty. Just attack with the Flamberge until the Frailty kicks in, then switch to a stronger weapon. Have a Sorcerer around with Thunder Storm and a critical setup (True Seeing, Sharp Spearheads). __Kobold King & 6 Kobold Warriors____________________________________________ | | |Kobold King (Leader): | | Lv 40 16,000 HP 15,000 exp 8,000 OTH | | 3,200 ATK 2,400 MAG 85 HIT 75 AVD | | Races: Beast | | Elements: Body parts have Earth -20%; Helmet has Lighting -50%, Earth+20%; | | Weapon tip has Fire -50%, Earth +20% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis (5%), Poison (20%), Confusion (20%), Stone (20%) and| | Frailty (100%) | | Leader Item: Gold Coin | | Drop Item: Magician Hat (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Ear: 160 HP, 115 RDM, 30 RST; | | -Head (vital): 8,000 HP, 115 RDM, 30 RST; Item: Sacred Spinel (30%) | | -Body (vital): 9,600 HP, 115 RDM, 30 RST; Item: Crown (30%) | | -Legs (vital): 9,600 HP, 115 RDM, 30 RST; Item: Gold Coin (30%) | | -Tail: 3,200 HP, 92 RDM, 34 RST; Item: Lucky Tail (25%) | | -Helmet (armor): 4,000 HP, 173 RDM, 36 RST; Item: Eternal Silver (15%) | | -Weapon tip (armor): 4,000 HP, 138 RDM, 24 RST; Item: Busted Spear (15%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Howl: Targets self, boosts ATK. | | -Throw: Long thin range, does high damage to one character. | | -(Smack): Very small range, hits one character with weapon. Average damage. | | -Sap Power: Wide frontal range, reduces ATK of targets. | | -Fire Storm: Long wide range, fire spell. Very high damage on three, maybe | | all characters. Dangerous. | | -Heal: Targets self, heals 80% HP. Used when under 30% HP. | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Kobold Warrior: | | Lv 35 4,000 HP 8,200 exp 1,610 OTH | | 434 ATK 289 MAG 78 HIT 48 AVD | | Races: Beast | | Elements: Body parts have Earth -20%; Helmet has Lighting -50%, Earth+20%; | | Weapon tip has Fire -50%, Earth +20% | | Vulnerable to all status (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Ear: 40 HP, 72 RDM, 22 RST; | | -Head (vital): 2,000 HP, 72 RDM, 22 RST; Item: Beast Pelt (30%) | | -Body (vital): 2,400 HP, 72 RDM, 22 RST; Item: Beast Pelt (40%) | | -Legs (vital): 2,400 HP, 72 RDM, 22 RST; Item: Silver Coin (30%) | | -Tail: 800 HP, 58 RDM, 18 RST; Item: Lucky Tail (25%) | | -Helmet (armor): 800 HP, 108 RDM, 26 RST; Item: Adamantite (15%) | | -Weapon tip (armor): 800 HP, 86 RDM, 18 RST; Item: Koboldriver (15%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Howl: Targets self, boosts ATK. | | -Flee: Targets self. Runs from battle when low on HP. | | -(Smack): Very small range, hits one character with weapon. Average damage. | | | |Recommended level: 26 | | | |Strategy: | | Yes, there are six enemies in the fight. The Kobold Warriors are just | | stronger Kobolds and, while they can be dangerous in such a large group, are| | easy to kill. Just cast Thunder Storm with your critical Sorcerer and you | | should have over 70% chance of getting a critical, which will kill all the | | Warriors. Just keep trying until you get a critical and focus your attacks | | on the King while it doesn't happen. Or you could just try to stay away from| | them until only the King is left. | | | | The King's stats are very scary. Without Sheathed Power Wrath you'll need to| | heal after every attack, which is a really bad thing. The King can heal too,| | so you'll need to cause Frailty on him to prevent that, or the battle can | | last forever. Watch out for Fire Storm -- Ice Blessing and Sheathed Power | | make it less scary, but it's still a considerable threat. | | | | Items. Kobold Warriors will be regular enemies later, so don't worry too | | much about their stuff. Silver Coins have another Red Training rune, but | | aren't really special other than that. Koboldrivers have a new rune: Green | | Bludgeon. This is needed for Triple Edge and God Destroyer (important!) | | later. Their other items aren't new and the drop rates are low. | | | | The King's items are better, but hard to get since all most parts are | | vitals. The Crown has a Green Weakness rune, but you'd better get that with | | the Dragon Zombie. You'd better try to break the body for the Gold Coin and | | the Helmet for the Eternal Silver, both the with new Green Training rune. | | Try to Direct Assault for this if you can too, as that's more guaranteed to | | work than the 30% and 15% drop rates of the items. You can get this in the | | next Chapter too, so don't worry too much. | | | | If you did get Green Training, then you can learn Dismantle. Archers and | | Light Warriors will want this in the next Chapter, but other classes don't | | really have any use for it. The runes are Green Arm + Darkness + Training + | | Strengthening. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ After the fight go back and talk to the guy in Coriander for a Expert's Experience, and that's all. --- Turgen Mine --- Nothing different here either, just make sure you remove Alarm Blessing from the Dais. You'll want to hold the Brimstone Law this time -- one of the enemies in the boss fight uses fire attacks, so you'll get free healing. Carry Fire Blessing and use as many Fire attacks as you can. So that's a Light Warrior with the Flare Baselard, Archers and Sorcerers with Fire Storm. Remember that your ATK doesn't matter with Brimstone Law, so remove skills like Psychosoma and Fists of Iron, equipment like the Power Bangle and Great Eagle Heart and Sealstones like Sword Blessing. Use elemental weapons only. Critical skills are Bug Swatter and Giant Killer. Light Warriors can just use the Spider Fighter if you don't have the Flare Baselard. Get as much Earth protection as you can (maybe set Lightning Blessing in a Dais). The fight is similar to the first boss in the dungeon. __Gigantic Wasp & 2 Meteoric Swarms__________________________________________ | | |Gigantic Wasp (Leader): | | Lv 42 20,000 HP 72,000 exp 12,000 OTH | | 1,200 ATK 1,000 MAG 100 HIT 120 AVD | | Races: Insect, Giant | | Elements: Fire and Earth -20% | | Vulnerable to Freeze (25%), Stone (25%), Faint (25%) and Frailty (100%) | | Leader Item: Royal Jelly | | Drop Item: Rose Sealpouch (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head (vital): 6,000 HP, 132 RDM, 70 RST; Item: Big Bugeye (30%) | | -Chest (vital): 14,000 HP, 132 RDM, 70 RST; Item: Amber Core (50%) | | -Belly (vital): 10,000 HP, 66 RDM, 35 RST; Item: Royal Jelly (75%) | | -Back (vital): 8,000 HP, 264 RDM, 105 RST; Item: Banshee Scales (40%) | | -Tail: 6,000 HP, 330 RDM, 140 RST; Item: ? (50%) | | -Upper arm: 2,000 HP, 158 RDM, 84 RST; Item: Insect Blade (45%) | | -Lower arms (2): 2,000 HP, 158 RDM, 84 RST; Item: Insect Claw (30%) | | -Upper Wings (2): 2,000 HP, 66 RDM, 70 RST; Item: Indigo Wing (25%) | | -Lower Wings (2): 2,000 HP, 66 RDM, 70 RST; Item: Tuning Wing (25%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Imitation Eye: Long range on front, hits the party for average damage and | | causes Confusion (not dangerous). Needs wings to use. | | -Variation Alpha: Very short range, Earth elemental attack, causes high | | damage and paralysis on party. | | -(Charging): Targets self, just a preparation for Variation Omega. Used when| | low on health. | | -Variation Omega: Earth elemental. Reaches party anywhere, hits up to 8 | | times for extreme damage and causes paralysis. Can only be| | avoided by hiding behind walls. | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Meteoric Swarm: | | Lv 33 2,350 HP 8,500 exp 700 OTH | | 450 ATK 430 MAG 72 HIT 60 AVD | | Races: Insect, Ghost | | Elements: Absorbs Fire, Ice -50%, Holy and Darkness +50% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis, Poison, Doom, Frailty and Transfer (all 100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Inner swarm (vital): 1,645 HP, 0 RDM, 0 RST; Item: Legion (40%) | | -Outer swarm: 705 HP, 0 RDM, 0 RST; Item: ? (25%) | | | | Attacks: | | -(Sting): Short frontal range. Deals around 4 hits of fire elemental damage| | on 2 or 3 characters. | | -(Fire Blast): Short frontal range. One hit of average fire elemental | | damage. | | | |Recommended level: 26 | | | |Strategy: | | A very, very easy fight. If you remember the first boss fight in the mine, | | there were two Wasp Nests and 7 eggs. Killing a wasp spawned a new one from | | an egg, but you could destroy the eggs first to prevent that. Same deal | | here, except you don't want to destroy the eggs or kill the Meteoric Swarms.| | After all, they attack with Fire, and with Brimstone Law, you absorb that. | | | | So this is simple. Just bring the Swarms near the Gigantic Wasp and let them| | attack (heal) you. You'll even recover AP when being attacked, so you just | | need to stay there attacking and everything is fine. The Wasp's damage is | | high, but not enough to outdo the healing you're getting frequently. The | | Paralysis can be a problem, so be ready to heal anyone who's affected by it.| | | | There are no interesting items at all from breaking here, so just focus on | | killing the Wasp. The drop item however couldn't be better: the final | | sealpouch! | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Back to Villnore. Talk to the guy one last time for the Metabolizer and the optional dungeon quests are finally over! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.4.03 - Fighting the shadowy gods [04403] --- Lost Forest --- Nothing new here, except Mithra waiting for you on the way if you released him. Talk to him to get the Holy Water of Mithra now, an item that deals 10000 damage to any enemy. This can help a lot in some fights, like the next boss, but won't be that important later. Basically, use it when you get in trouble instead of saving it for much later. Move on to the Royal Underground Path. --- Royal Underground Path --- -Enemies: Meteoric Swarm (Ghost, Insect), Beast Fort (Giant, Beast), Gigantic Moth (Giant), Flying Killer (Scaled), Lizard Knight (Scaled) -Overview: The enemies changed and there are no Springs, Shells or Daises here, so you'll have to deal with them without Sealstones. This is not a serious problem as all of them are vulnerable to instant-breaking. Just get Giant Killer and Descaling Might, and everything but the Meteoric Swarm will break easily. Don't bother with Ghost Buster or Bug Swatter for the swarm -- just use Lightning attacks. They work just fine on everything here. Enemies to look out for: No new enemy types, and the ones here don't really do anything new. The Meteoric Swarm attacks with Fire, the Flying Killer with Lightning. The Gigantic Moth can poison in an area around him, like all snails. Nothing you haven't seen before. Runes and Skills: Green Activation: Break the Gigantic Moth's body for the Jet Ejector. It's easier than breaking the Hydra, but not good for anything other than teaching Dragon Slayer (which is pretty important anyway). Green Resistance: Break the Beast Fort's arms for the Damascus Ore. Again, not new but easy to get here. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Moonfalx: A very good Light Sword with 280 ATK, 2 attacks, SC enabled and Holy element. Really easy to create... but incredibly expensive. It is worth the 700000 OTH if you have it, but ignore it if you don't. Create it in Villnore with 2 Busted Swords, 1 Sabertooth, 1 Holy Crystal and finally 1 Giant Pearl, from the Gigantic Moth's upper shell. -Dungeon walkthrough: Only the enemies changed, so just go on to the save point. There's a new boss in the next room, and it's a hard fight. Huge preparations for this one. The lack of Sealstones will make things much more difficult than they've been so far. At least the boss is vulnerable to Fire and Holy, elements your Archers can use without trouble. Don't forget the Supreme Crossbow. Make sure you've got someone with the Free Item skill for emergency healing and some Holy and Earth Gems. Two fo each at most should be enough. Archers can take care of this by themselves, so you could use a Light Warrior with Spirit Control and maybe the Sun Shower for support and AP restoring. Descending Sword is great for that, especially after a Flame Shot launch. If you like Seluvia, give him the God Destroyer skill. Still not a very good choice for the fight, but the only one with that for now. Also do your best to have a tank. A Heavy Warrior is great for this, with the best RDM-focused equipment you can give him. Guard Motion, too. Someone capable of using Sap Power is also a great help. Don't worry about Guard Reinforce and just use Guard Potions instead if you've got any. Missile Protection is a great defensive skill for this fight and will help everyone a lot. However, it's also very expensive and prevents you from using other useful ones. If you have enough CP left for it, then use it, but don't remove another skill just for this one. Save, go to the next room, watch the cutscene and then keep reading. __Ull & Aesir (Defenders)____________________________________________________ | | |Ull (Leader): | | Lv 42 27,000 HP 280,000 exp 31,500 OTH | | 700 ATK 600 MAG 100 HIT 75 AVD | | Races: Divine | | Elements: Fire and Holy -50%, Ice +50% | | Vulnerable to Silence (100%), Poison (30%) and Faint (10%) | | Leader Item: Foolproof Talisman | | Drop Item: Doublecross (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 27,000 HP, 40 RDM, 25 RST | | -Bow (armor): 27,000 HP, 40 RDM, 25 RST | | | | Attacks: | | -Dual Tusks: Long range, two hits on one character for high damage. | | -Aiming Wisp: Long range, 3 hits of high holy damage on 2 or 3 characters. | | -Sunshine: Long range, 6 hits of average fire damage on party. Goes through | | walls. | | -Moon Burst: Long range, 1 hit of very high lightning damage on party. | | Goes through walls. | | -Heal: Targets self, restores 80% HP. Only used once when below 30% HP. | | -Feather Guard: Targets self, creates a barrier that acts as an armor with | | around 2000 HP. Ull cannot be damaged until the barrier is | | broken. | | -Desperate Horror (Soul Crush): Extremely long frontal area. Deals really | | high damage against one target. Used when | | under 30% HP. | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Aesir (Defenders): | | Lv 38 4,600 HP 90,000 exp 3,500 OTH | | 825 ATK 450 MAG 65 HIT 50 AVD | | Races: Divine | | Elements: Body has Holy +50%; Sword has Earth and Holy +50%, Lightning -50% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis (10%), Silence (15%), Poison (20%), Doom (5%), | | Freeze (30%), Confusion (50%), Stone (10%) and Faint (20%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 4,600 HP, 92 RDM, 15 RST; Item: Copper Signet (40%) | | -Sword: 920 HP, 138 RDM, 23 RST; Item: Busted Sword (30%) | | | | Attacks: | | -Mist-ery: Small frontal range, regular attack with the sword for average | | damage. | | -Waterfall Drill: Very small range, 3-hit combo on 3 characters. Average | | damage. | | | |Recommended level: 27 | | | |Strategy: | | An Aesir weak to Holy is strange, but good. As you can see from the attacks,| | Ull is a serious threat with very good range. Before you start worrying | | about him though you should get rid of the guard. He's not very strong, but | | any extra hit can mean the death of one character here. Do the usual: dash | | to the back and attack. A round of Soul Crushes will surely kill the guard | | and you'll only have Ull to worry about. | | | | Begin your assault on Ull by Silencing him with Holy Gems. It's easy to do | | and it prevents him from casting Heal later, which will heal him completely.| | He only does it once, but it's still annoying. You can poison him as well. | | The damage isn't large, but you might spend a lot of time running and | | recovering AP in this fight, so the poison will help a bit. Also make sure | | you do not attack his bow. It has incredible HP, so breaking it is a just a | | waste of time. Worse yet, he'll just remake it. | | | | Ull's damage is high and can reach you from far away, even through walls. | | One of the best ways to avoid his attack range and recover AP is to circle | | around the pillars near the teleporter, probably with him chasing you. This | | is an easy way to avoid him sometimes, but doesn't always work -- it depends| | on the character you're controlling as well, since they have different | | walking speeds. It does help a lot and is easy to try, though. | | | | Once Ull gets to around half of his health he will start using his Soul | | Crush, Desperate Horror. You'll need really high RDM to survive this, so use| | Sap Power on him when he's near half of his HP and a Guard Potion on your | | tank. Now split the party and have the tank stay alone in the SC's range | | when it shows up. This way you'll know for sure who will be targeted, and | | the tank can probably survive. If it's not possible, try to at least protect| your damage dealers from it by dashing away and leaving a weaker one behind. | | | | If things are getting too difficult and you can't keep healing as often as | | you need, then this can be a good time to use the Holy Water of Mithra. Make| | sure he has 10000 or less HP when you do. | | | | The Doublecross is a rather weak bow at this point, but it doubles hits just| | like the Sun Shower. Excellent for boosting Soul Crush damage, but not much | | else. No other interesting/important items here. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Don't forget to heal after the fight is over and continue right to Dipan. --- Dipan & Dipan Castle --- Items: Expert's Experience x3 You can't visit the town, so just go to the castle. Once inside, go left and talk to the soldier on the floor to get an Expert's Experience, then go south. Save point to the left here, but no boss yet. Keep going left for three rooms and you'll leave the castle. There's a Spring here now and you can pick 3 Sealstones (even if you have all 4 Sealpouches). Further left is the traveling merchant (yes, the one who was in Kalstad) and a save point. There's also a path up, where you'll fight a boss. So, time to prepare yourself. The merchant is selling some new items: -Holy Sword: Weak Light Sword with weak Holy element. Don't buy it. -Vainslayer: Decent Heavy Sword with 95 ATK, 3 attacks and Darkness element. Buy if you don't have a Zweihander or Kraadicator. -Valor Helm: 15 RDM, but -20% Darkness. For Light and Heavy Warriors. You'll need RDM for a boss that's coming soon. -Valor Armor: 65 RDM and +50% Confusion, for Light and Heavy Warriors again. Very good armor and it's a green rune. No excuse for not getting Toughness now. Buy what you need, including a few Holy Gems. You'll need to Silence the next boss. So, time for a setup. Get as much elemental protection as you can, and consider Reduce Magic. Fire is the choice for attacking again, so carry Fire Blessing and use Archers with Flame Shot and Light Warriors with the Flare Baselard. Sorcerers can be good, but won't help that much. Other Sealstones should be anything that increase ATK. Stone Hurler Wrath is great too if you're using Archers. The battlefield is small anyway, so moving slowly won't do much harm. And, of course, Lifeforce Blessing. For critical skills, get Magician Slayer. The most important thing in the fight is having a way of causing Silence. You can use Dampen Magic, Target Throat, Forbid Noise, Magic Lock... or just buy Holy Gems from the merchant and use them. Have someone with the Free Item skill to make things easier. Now you can completely remove one enemy from the fight without wasting any AP. Once you're ready, save and go up. Watch the cutscene, then keep reading. __Walther & Gyne_____________________________________________________________ | | |Walther: | | Lv 42 17,000 HP 250,000 exp 7,000 OTH | | 500 ATK 820 MAG 92 HIT 65 AVD | | Races: Magic | | Elements: Earth, Holy and Darkness +20% | | Vulnerable to Curse (50%), Paralysis (10%), Poison (70%), Freeze (30%), | | Faint (50%) and Frailty (100%) | | Drop Item: Deluge Scepter (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 17,000 HP, 50 RDM, 80 RST | | | | Attacks: | | -(Slap): Very short range, low damage on one character. | | -Chaotic Rune: Very large circular range. Decreases all status of party by | | 20% each. | | -Thunder Storm: Large circular range. 7 hits of high magical Lightning | | damage. Can cause Paralysis. | | -Dark Savior: Medium frontal range. 3 hits of average Darkness damage. | | -Fire Storm: Medium frontal range. High Fire damage. | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Gyne: | | Lv 40 15,000 HP 230,000 exp 31,500 OTH | | 550 ATK 780 MAG 82 HIT 55 AVD | | Races: Magic | | Elements: Fire, Ice and Lightning +50% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis (10%), Silence (100%), Poison (50%), Freeze (20%), | | Confusion (50%), Faint (30%) and Frailty (50%) | | Drop Item: Crystal Garb (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 15,000 HP, 40 RDM, 85 RST | | | | Attacks: | | -(Slap): Very short range, low damage on one character. | | -Spell Reinforce: Targets self, boosts MAG by 50%. | | -Heal: Targets self or Walther, heals HP by 80%. | | -Lightning Bolt: Medium cone-shaped range, 6 hits of high magical Lightning | | damage. Can cause Paralysis. | | -Poison Blow: Medium cone-shaped range, high magical Earth damage. Causes | | Poison. | | -Earth Grave: Medium circular range, high magical Earth damage. Causes | | Faint. | | -Animate Earth (Great Magic): Large circular range. High Fire elemental | | magic damage on all characters. Used when | | below 50% HP. | | | |Recommended level: 28 | | | |Strategy: | | The battlefield is really small, which makes dodging attacks difficult. The | | mages have a large range too, so get ready to be attacked often. There's no | | way you can block their damage with RST, so elemental resistances are all | | you've got. Also, no Leader here. You'll have to beat both of them. | | | | This battle can be extremely hard if you're not prepared, but basically a | | joke if you know what to do. Just use Holy Gems on Gyne until you Silence | | him -- should take two or three at most. Once Gyne is silenced, the battle | | is basically won. He'll keep trying to cast spells, but will fail and you'll| | recover AP anyway. This means you can just let one character sit in his | | attack range taking care of healing duties for the others, who are killing | | Walther with the free 60 AP they get whenever they stop attacking. | | | | One important thing here is to NOT attack Gyne until Walther is dead. Gyne | | will start using Animate Earth when low on HP, and that is not blocked by | | Silence. Since it's a Great Magic it will hit the whole party as well, so it| | can be dangerous. This will be much more manageable when Gyne is alone, so | | make sure you do not touch Gyne until them. I mean, he's actually helping | | you out trying to cast those spells. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Return to the save point. Now you just have to go right for another boss and the end of Chapter 4. However, like with the end of Chapter 3, you might want to check some things first. Please check section 04.3.07 for one of them, on the Powerleveling part, if you're interested. The merchant will also be gone for a while after the fight, so get anything you want from him now. For the next fight you'll need lots of RDM. Guard Motion is a great skill to use (Toughness too, of course) and Barrier Blessing a good Sealstone to carry. Make sure you have someone, probably Rufus, with Sap Power too. Also, don't use elemental attacks, or at least not fire. Critical skills won't help either. With all this, Heavy Warriors are the best choice for the fight. Light Warriors can help a lot too with the Moonfalx, or just the Sun Shower. Have someone with Free Item and buy a few Earth Gems, or just get a Poison attack. Save and keep going right until you reach the boss. Again, watch the scene first and then keep reading. __Hrist & Arngrim____________________________________________________________ | | |Hrist (Leader): | | Lv 45 20,000 HP 320,000 exp 17,500 OTH | | 850 ATK 600 MAG 92 HIT 75 AVD | | Races: Divine | | Elements: Holy +70%, Darkness +30%, everything else +50% | | Immune to all status | | Leader Item: Tome of Godspeed | | Drop Item: Empress Coronet (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 20,000 HP, 80 RDM, 50 RST | | | | Attacks: | | -Entrapment: Medium range, 2 hits of average damage on 2 or 3 characters. | | -Trial of Existence: Medium range, 3 hits of average damage on party. | | -Hurricane Bolt: Small range, one hit of high damage on 2 or 3 characters. | | -Furious Advance: Medium range, one hit of high damage on 2 or 3 characters.| | -Downward Split: Small range, 4 hits of high damage on party. | | -Nibelung Valesti (Soul Crush): Large circular range. High damage on one | | character. Used when low on HP (30%?). | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Arngrim: | | Lv 42 210,00 HP 270,000 exp 10,500 OTH | | 1,000 ATK 250 MAG 85 HIT 70 AVD | | Races: none | | Elements: Fire +50% | | Vulnerable to Curse (100%), Silence (100%), Poison (50%), Freeze (20%), | | Confusion (20%), Faint (20%) and Frailty (100%) | | Drop Item: Grand Sting (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 21,000 HP, 40 RDM, 25 RST | | | | Attacks: | | -Wreching Swing: Small range, one hit of high damage on one character. | | -Dead End: Small range, one hit of very high damage on the party. | | -Storm Edge: Small range, two hits of high damage on two, maybe three | | characters. | | -Final Blast (Soul Crush): Large circular range. Really high damage on one | | character. Used when low on HP (30%?). | | | |Recommended level: 30 | | | |Strategy: | | Wait, what happened to her sword, and where did she get that halberd? | | | | Tricky fight, but not extremely hard. The battlefield here is annoying -- | | Hrist starts in the back, which is very narrow. Do not go there, ever, or | | you won't be able to avoid the attack ranges. Don't worry, Hrist will leave | | there soon... VERY soon. Both bosses are extremely fast, faster than anyone | | in your party. | | | | You can try to ignore Arngrim, but his high damage will eventualy cause | | problems. Open the battle casting Sap Power on both and remember to do it | | again when you notice their damage is back to normal. | | | | Decide right on the beginning if you want to defeat both or just Hrist. If | | you're getting rid of Arngrim then attack him first until he's gone -- you | | don't want both of them using their Soul Crushes together. Use Earth Gems on| | Arngrim to Poison him, which will make things a bit faster since he'll still| | take some damage while attacking you or while you recover AP. Just try to | | run from Hrist until he's gone. | | | | With Hrist alone, just dash in to attack, dash out to avoid. She has very | | good AVD and can dodge/block very often from the front, so watch out. This | | battle is all about positioning. Party splitting is a huge help, and since | | their attack ranges are small (even though their weapons are pretty big) you| | can have two parties next to each other with one of them outside the attack | | range. | | | | Once they start using Soul Crushes, do the same you did on Ull -- leave a | | tank behind to take damage. It's easy to survive it with the right skills, | | but they're still a considerable threat. This is a long, hard battle that | | will test your knowledge of party control. Too bad there's no other battle | | like this for a long time. | | | | Watch the long scene after the fight before you continue reading. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== 04.5 - Chapter 5: The Invisible Hand [04500] A long Chapter again, full of changes. First are Alicia's lines: they're different now, both inside and outside battles. She got a new Profile too. Also, you lost two characters again, so you'll need to use Einherjar to have a full party. Fortunately the game kind of balances itself for two characters, so things won't be difficult if you've only got two characters... but get too easy if you have a full party. The characters who left were unequipped before leaving, so you didn't lose any items. You might have gained some actually, depending on their levels, just like with Arngrim and Leone. Last, you can't materialize Einherjar anymore for a while, so if you missed any relics you'll have to wait. The two final treasures in the area are two Expert's Experiences in this room. Pick them up and leave the castle. Get back to the world map and a new area will appear in the eastern area: the Forest of Spirits. Before going there you might want to return to Solde for some new items at the shop: Charge Breaks, Overdrive and Might/Guard/Spell/Nectar Potions! They're all very useful, so consider getting some. Remember that you can get Might/Guard/Spell/Nectar Potions by Direct Assaulting enemies in the Palace of the Venerated Dragon. Also, as mentioned above, the Einherjar you released might give you new items now. Here's a list: Jessica (Coriander): Ymir's Tear Tyrith (Villnore): Foolproof Trinket Lylia (Crell Monferaigne): Earth Gem Dyn (Coriander): Earth Gem Arcana (Kalstad): 50000 OTH Fraudir (Kalstad): 50000 OTH Guilm (Ancient Forest): Prism Gem Aegis (Solde): Tome of Alchemy So nothing useful, except maybe for the Tome of Alchemy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.5.01 - Last place in Midgard [04501] --- Forest of Spirits --- -Items: Elixir, Elvenbow, Fairy Tincture x2, Foolproof Talisman, Spell Potion, Prime Elixir, Double-check, Elfin Boots, Arondight -Sealstones: Hunter Blessing, Confuse Pin Blessing, Sleipnir Blessing -Enemies: Carnivorous Plant (Plant), Elven Hawk (Beast), Elven Wolf (Beast), Kobold Warrior (Beast), Kobold Lord (Beast), Lizard King (Scaled), Mimetic Flower (Plant, Insect), Sharp Scissors (Unholy), Sky Lizard (Giant, Scaled), Life Stealer (Demon) -Mini-boss: Prince of Hel x6 (Demon) -Re-fightable Boss: none -Overview: A very simple and boring dungeon. This is the first one in a while without good sealstones to aid you in battle, but everything here is vulnerable to instant- breaking. This is where Light Warriors shine the most, with weapons for most races in the dungeon: Beast (Sabertooth Saber), Scaled (Harpe), Plant (Lotus Slicer) and Insect (Spider Fighter). Remember, you can change weapons anytime in battle. Now just have someone with Unholy Purifier and Demon Destroyer and you can 1-hit kill everything in the dungeon. Actually, you don't even need Unholy Purifier until you beat the boss. Since damage doesn't matter here, just equip Sharp Spearheads and True Seeing for easier criticals. It's a really easy area, and a good chance to learn new skills or level up characters you don't use (for releases, or just for getting them a new spell/attack that makes them more useful). Enemies to look out for: No new enemy types here. Watch out for the Kobold Lord's Fire Storm. They cast Sap Power too, but since you're just breaking things here it doesn't matter much. Elven Hawks don't have anything special. Elven Wolves can summon more of their kind with their Call to Arms. This attack has no charge time or range, so if it decides to use it, it will. You can keep killing them for more experience, crystals and items, or you can just kill the leader to end the fight. Just make sure you've got the situation under control. Life Stealers cast Frigid Damsel, but that's pretty weak by now. Only problem with that is getting everyone frozen, so just remember to split the party, or get some protection from Freeze (Blue Soul Flames work just fine). Another dangerous attack is Soul Steal, a strong Darkness elemental attack with circular range that deals high damage and heals the enemy. This is used rather often when they're low on health, so instant-breaks really are the best choice here. The two plant enemies are somewhat dangerous. Mimetic Flowers can cause Paralysis (Sonic Wave) and Poison (Poison Breath, earth elemental), but die very easily even without breaking. Carnivorous Plants are much more dangerous with their Hellish Invitation attack, capable of causing Stone, Confusion, Poison, Paralysis and Silence. Ouch. At least this is a quick way to buff characters with Dragon Scales and Empty Shells. Another good thing about the Carnivorous Plants is that they don't show up in random battles. You'll see the plant itself on the dungeon instead of the regular purple enemies. They don't respawn until you leave the dungeon, somewhat like a mini-boss. Sharp Scissors are annoying like all vampires, but they don't show up until you beat the boss, so you don't have to worry about them while you explore the dungeon. They cause damage with Dark Savior and Silence with Dampen Magic, but also have an attack capable of causing Doom. Watch out for that, or just use Nectar Potions when the battle starts. Good item drops: Wing Feather: Runeless accessory, boosts SC damage by 20%. Break the Elven Hawk's wings for this. Doesn't stack, but a good accessory anyway. Colossal Canine Tooth: Green accessory, boosts ATK by 5%. Just break the Elven Wolf's head. Very effective and easy to get. Steelwing: Runeless accessory, attacks always heal 5% of the damage dealt. Break the Sharp Scissors' wings for this. Works great with the Bloody Patch! Adamantite: Old item, but easy to get here. Break the Kobold Warrior's helmet for this. Fatal Seeds: Runeless accessory, boosts damage by x1.5 and Critical Rank by 1 when user is under the Frailty status. Break the Mimetic Flower's flower for this. Very dangerous, but powerful. You'll find an improved version of this three dungeons from now, so don't worry too much. Just try to get it whenever you fight a Mimetic Flower. If you get it, great. If not, try the improved one later when you can. Runes and Skills: Green Darkness: Break the Sharp Scissors' chest for the Sharp Scissor Heart. Old rune, but easy to get here. Green Bludgeon: Break the Kobold Warrior's weapon for the Koboldriver. Again, not new but easy to get. Green Training: Break the Kobold Lord's chest for the Gold Coin. Another old item/rune that is easier to get here. Yup, not much new in this dungeon. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Shiny Rupture: creatable now in Crell Monferaigne. Bow with 3 attacks, SC enabled, 200 ATK, 80 MAG and strong Earth element (0.5). It's a better version of the Supreme Crossbow for now, so possibly the best bow in the game depending on your setup. Unfortunately you can only get one, as it requires the Arbalest (from Dragonscrypt). Other materials are Ammunition Shell (Disgusting Shell's side shells, Crawsus), 2 Wing Feathers (Elven Hawk's wings) and Toxic Seed (Mimetic Flower's body). Fairy Garb: Green armor for women with high RDM, elemental protection and immunity to Frailty. Needs Supreme Garb (Crell Monferaigne), Scarlet Alloy (Necromancer's mantle, Palace of Dragon), Flamebreath Core (Dragon Bat's body, Palace of Dragon), Ymir's Tear (Ice Troll's waist, Sukavia Gorge) and Toxic Seed (Mimetic Flower's body). Lots of materials, but at least it's just one of each and they're not too hard to get. The Frailty immunity is a good reason to get this. Conqueror's Armor: Strongest main game armor for Heavy Warriors that boosts all stats, but is weak against most elements. It has 80% resistance to Doom, Frailty and Transfer as well. You can't create it until the end of the Chapter, but you could get three materials by now. The first is the Silver Mail, sold in Crell Monferaigne. Second is the Firemouse Fur (break the Fire Bat's body in the volcano) and the third is the Windswept Tailfeather. Break the Elven Hawk's tail for this. Low drop rate, but it's an easy part to break. -Dungeon walkthrough: Crescent and Lwyn will appear here when released. Crescent gives a Noble Elixir, Lwyn a Goddess Tincture. The first area is under the effects of the Hunter Blessing Sealstone, which improves the hit rate. It's really not useful since you shouldn't have trouble hitting the enemies. It doesn't help the enemies much either. The Spring is right at the entrance. If you're using critical setups, just pick up defensive sealstones like Lifeforce Blessing, or support stuff like Experience Pig Law. There are elfs walking around in this dungeon. It's not an enemy, but you can crystallize it. If any elf touches Alicia, you'll be teleported back to the dungeon's entrance. Go left. There's a chest with an Elixir on the ground. Keep going left to the next screen, where there's a path left and down. Go down first and then right for a mini-boss. Nothing special on the fight, just have Demon Destroyer on everyone. No good items here. There's a pillar past where the mini-boss was, and to the left you'll find two plant structures. When you step on one, it goes down and the other one rises. Warp it to the plant on the left, step on it, jump to the plant on the right and then quickly jump on the tree branch higher up, where you'll find a chest with the Elvenbow (careful with the gas). It's a very good bow for archers who aren't using elemental attacks. The next branch has a Dais with the Hunter Blessing Sealstone. Feel free to pick it up or just ignore it, it won't make much of a difference. You could also restore it (400 crystals) to increase your Withdraw limit. Go back to the previous room. Going left takes you to a Divinity Void. This part of the map is a maze and the rooms aren't directly connected on the map. You can go right, left, up and down in all rooms. If you get lost just touch an elf to return to the entrance. To get to the other side just take the exit with the white flowers. So, begin by going down. There's a Carnivorous Plant on the right, but nothing else here. Just go right for the third room. Go right for another Carnivorous Plant and a trapped chest (gas) with a Fairy Tincture. You can't reach the high platform in the middle of the room yet. Go up this time for another Divinity Void. Go left now and you'll leave the maze. In short, go down, right (Fairy Tincture), up, left. This new area is under the effects of two Sealstones: Confuse Pin Blessing (holder causes confusion when attacking) and Slepnir's Blessing (improves evasion significantly). The first is annoying, but just attack from behind to avoid the other. There's also another Carnivorous Plant here. Further left you'll find a bag with a Foolproof Talisman. Go up. There's another plant that goes down when you step on it here, but no pillar this time. There are also two enemies in the room, with the second one (flying) more to the right. Bring it close to the branches high up, step on the first one, warp the second one and air jump towards the branch, with the Dais holding Confuse Pin Blessing. Not very good to hold, but not good in the Dais either. Either hold or restore it. The second branch doesn't have anything. Go right, picking up the chests with a Spell Potion (gas trap) and a Prime Elixir on the way. Go up to the next room. Elf here. Use him to reach the branches. The first one has another Fairy Tincture (and an explosion trap) and the third a Double-check (and a gas trap). Continue right. This room has more plants that go up/down. Four, this time. Counting them as 1, 2, 3 and 4 from left to right, put the enemy on 2 and stand on 1. This will rise both 3 and 4. Now switch places with the enemy, so that you're on 2 and it on 1. Leave 2 and jump from 3 to 4 quickly before they can go down. You should reach the branch with the final Dais (holding Sleipnir Blessing -- feel free to leave it here) and a chest holding Elfin Boots. These have high AVD and RDM and can be used by anyone, so Sorcerers can finally get Toughness! Go up for another spring and the save point. Boss up ahead. The battle starts easy, but can get tricky once the boss uses an attack that doesn't end -- you'll be taking small holy damage constantly, like the poison status or the Soul Carver Wrath sealstone. Worse yet, the attack causes Frailty. Since it never ends you'll be affected eventually, which can be very dangerous when you're taking frequent damage, even if it's small. There are different strategies that work here. You can prevent the Frailty with accessories, or simply use a Nectar Potion at the start of the fight. The small damage you take from the rain can be reduced by holy protection, or just use Regenerate Health and you should be fine (remember that you can still add Lifeforce Blessing for double healing). Another riskier strategy is making use of the Frailty by equipping a Fatal Seed. This will give a huge damage boost, but is dangerous since you can't heal. Worth it if you're good at offense, but a bad idea otherwise. Whatever you decide, your only defenses should be some holy protection and the Survival skill. Other than that just focus on offense, with Fire attacks (or any other element except Lightning), Weed Whacker and Giant Killer. For sealstones, carry Sword Blessing, Fire Blessing (or another elemental Blessing for what you're using) and Lifeforce Blessing if you can. The only thing that could help in a Dais is Earth Blessing. Lastly, avoid launcher attacks. You can't really launch the boss, so don't bother with setting up attacks to do that. Knockdown works and is recommended. Consider having someone with Spirit Control for longer combos. Save and go right for the boss. __Arectaris__________________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 47 25,000 HP 420,000 exp 54,600 OTH | | 489 ATK 440 MAG 80 HIT 15 AVD | | Races: Giant, Plant | | Elements: Lighting +50% | | Vulnerable to Confusion (20%) | | Leader Item: Prime Elixir | | Drop Item: Arectaris (100%) | | Recommended level: 32 | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head (vital): 7,500 HP, 80 RDM, 40 RST; Item: Crystal Mask (80%) | | -Body (vital): 20,000 HP, 100 RDM, 50 RST; Item: Noblewoman's Ball (60%) | | -Upper tentacles (2): 5,000 HP, 90 RDM, 45 RST; Item: Core Spinel (50%) | | -Middle tentacles (2): 7,500 HP, 90 RDM, 45 RST; | | Item: Noblewoman's Phospor (50%) | | -Lower tentacles(2): 5,000 HP, 90 RDM, 45 RST; Item:Noblewoman's Fire (50%)| | | |Attacks: | | -(Slam): Medium circular range, average non-elemental damage to everyone | | nearby. | | -Thunderball: Very long range. Average Lightning elemental damage to two | | characters at most. | | -Angel Rain: Targets self. Causes rain that won't stop until the battle is | | over. Rain causes low holy elemental damage and causes Frailty.| | Used after the crystals are gone. | | -Fire Storm: Frontal range, fire elemental spell. Very high damage to two or| | 3 characters. Needs Flame Jewel to be used. | | -Thunder Storm: Small circular range, lightning elemental spell. Seven hits | | of average damage to party, causes Paralysis. Needs Thunder | | Jewel to be used. | | -Poison Blow: Medium cone-shaped range, earth elemental spell. High damage | | to 2 or 3 characters. Needs Terra Jewel to be used. | | -Frigid Damsel: Frontal range, ice elemental spell. 3 hits of low damage to | | party, causes Freeze. Needs Frost Jewel to be used. | | -Gravity Blessing: Big frontal range. Lightning Great Magic, average damage | | to party. Used when low on HP. | | | |Strategy: | | Two things about this fight. First, Arectaris can't move. This would make | | him easy to kill from long range with menu spells if it wasn't for Angel | | Rain. Secondly, there are 4 crystals in the battlefield boosting his defense| | a lot and giving him access to four elemental spells: Flame Jewel (Fire | | Storm), Thunder Jewel (Thunder Storm), Terra Jewel (Poison Blow) and Frost | | Jewel (Frigid Damsel). Just break the crystals and he can't use the spells | | anymore. Each crystal has 1500 HP. The crystals will return after a while, | | but it should give you enough time to kill him. You can't really harm him | | without breaking the crystals, so you'll have to do it even if you can | | handle the spells. | | | | Without the crystals, Angel Rain is the only real problem. Start the battle | | with a Nectar Potion to prevent it if you can, and dash in to attack. | | Arectaris will probably just attack with Slam, but it's not really | | dangerous. Heal often to counter Angel Rain's low damage and dash away if | | things get out of control. Survival should take care of Gravity Blessing. | | It's not a very strong attack (and Arectaris' MAG is just average), so you | | should survive it even without Lightning protection. Holy protection from | | Angel Rain is much more important here. | | | | Items. The drop item, Arectaris, is a heavy sword with 220 ATK, 3 attacks | | and SC enabled. In other words, it's an incredible weapon. It's also the | | only good item in the fight. The Noblewoman's Phosphor unique, so this is | | your only chance to get it if you want, but all it does is give 5% Fire | | resistance. Don't bother. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Short cutscene after the battle. The elves who teleported you are replaced by regular enemies now. Some of these fights will have the Sharp Scissors enemies now, so be careful. You have to leave the dungeon now, but there will be another cutscene on the way. Once it's over you can leave the dungeon, but go back to that room in the maze where you couldn't reach a branch. The elf will be gone and replaced by a flying enemy, so use it to reach the branch with the final item in the dungeon: the Arondight sword (and an explosion trap). It has 170 ATK, 2 attacks and deals double damage to women, but you won't fight many female enemies. It's a decent sword, but nothing special. Go back to the world map now. You have to go all the way back to Dipan Castle, going through the Royal Underground Path... again. There's nothing new there, so let's just skip straight to Dipan Castle. --- Dipan Castle (again) --- -Enemies: Capricorn (Beast), Capricorn Leader (Beast), Holy Order (Divine), Gentleman (Magic) -Overview: Same old place. Other than the enemies there's nothing new here, and although they're not exactly threatening they can give some trouble. Only the Capricorn is vulnerable to instant-breaking, but even so it has 50% resistance to it. In other words, forget critical setups and just focus on ATK (or MAG). Still try to have Beast Bludgeon equipped for the extra damage. Fire attacks are the best here. Enemies to look out for: Nothing serious. Both Capricorns can poison you, but that's all. They're really easy to kill. Gentlemen cast Fire Storm and Holy Orders cast Poison Blow. Both should deal decent damage, so get some elemental protection if you can. Holy Orders start with immunity to all elements due to their armor, just like the Spectral Knights in the Palace of the Venerated Dragon. Without it they are vulnerable to lightning, have some resistance earth to and holy and are neutral to the other 3 elements. Gentleman can only be hit by fire. They absorb the other elements. The biggest problem with the Gentleman is actually finding it though, as it is a very rare enemy. They seem to appear more often with flying enemies, but are still rare. Good item drops: Accuracy Imprint: Runeless accessory, doubles the damage of critical hits but user will take damage if the attack doesn't kill the enemy. Break the right arm of the Capricorn of the left of the Capricorn Leader for this. Same deal as the Dragon Skull, it's cool to have for 1-hit kills but isn't that special in normal battles. Runes and Skills: Green Training: Break the Capricorn Leader's right arm for the Vortex Crest. Not new, but good if you missed the one from the Kobold King. Needed for Dismantle. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Miracle Guard: A Green Arm guard with only 1 RDM, but 80% chance of blocking attacks. The 3 materials for it are rare, though. First is the Brilliant Peacemaker, by breaking the Sack Mimic's body back in Ancient Forest (not mentioned before because it would be too hard to get), and second is the Trade Card here, by breaking the Gentleman's body. The problem is that all 3 materials come from rare enemies with only 15% drop rate, so it's a pain to collect. Feel free to ignore it because of that. -Dungeon walkthrough: Nothing new here, just move on to the end of the dungeon, past the room where you fought the Primordial Ooze all the way back in Chapter 2. Watch the cutscene (you'll get the Ghoul Powder) and then go all the way back to the Forest of Spirits. Really. Once you get to the Forest of Spirits there's no way back to the world map for a while, so it's a good idea to collect anything you need to get before going there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.5.02 - Crossing the bridge [04502] --- Forest of Spirits --- Nothing new here either. Just head on to the save point again. Save, then go right and press up at the wall to enter the Ravine Caverns... but you'll have to fight first. You'll fight 4 Aesir Patrols. They're not really bosses and you'll fight them in normal battles in the next dungeon. They resist Holy, but other elements work just fine and they only have 2 weak attacks. Try to kill all of them instead of just attacking the leader, as they drop Witch's Arcanums when killed. The Leader Item is just an Union Plume, so don't worry about a Direct Assault. Once the battle is over you'll be in the caverns. --- Ravine Caverns --- -Items: Fairy Tincture x3, Ambrosia, Nectar Potion, Archer's Aptitude, Thief's Thoughts, Sorcerer's Savvy, Fencer's Familiarity, Apothecary's Arcanum, Overdrive, Blue Gale, Warrior's Wits -Sealstones: Secluded Valley Law, Burst Light Blessing, Lawbreaker's Law, Chaos Law, Dark Night Law, Elusive Air Law, Silent Pin Blessing -Enemies: Life Stealer (Demon), Sharp Scissors (Unholy), Gentleman (Magic), Capricorn Leader (Beast), Persistent Pursuer (Giant, Divine), Aesir Archers (Divine), Aesir Patrol (Divine) -Mini-boss: Tyrannosaurus Rex (Giant, Scaled, Dragon) -Re-fightable Boss: none -Overview: This dungeon is timed. You have 8 minutes to get to the exit, or it's Game Over. The timer only runs on the field -- battles and the menu are safe. There are no save points in the dungeon, and you can't go back to the Forest of Spirits for a long time. You'll also find crystals in the battlefield here. If they break (500 HP), they release a gas that causes the Confusion status effect. Just avoid fighting near the crystals and you should be fine. Also, some of the enemies warp on the field, so be careful with ambushes. It's possible the enemy will simply appear in front of you. Enemies to look out for: Most enemies here are old, but most of the dungeon is under the effects of the Secluded Valley Law Sealstone. This means all the damage you deal will be divided by 4, so you really should depend on instant-breaking in the fights here, or just don't fight. Persistent Pursuers are of the same kind as the Berserker and the Muscular Stalker. Their damage is very high, but they're completely vulnerable to instant-breaking. Just use Giant Killer, or equip Zweihanders on your Heavy Warriors. -Dungeon walkthrough: There isn't enough time to explore everything. If you make it to the exit, leave the dungeon and return the timer will be back at 8 minutes, so you can make 2 trips through the dungeon to get everything. The timer disappears after an event later, so you can come back then too to explore everything without worrying about the time. There's a lot of good stuff here though. It's hard to give full detailed directions here since there's no way to know how long you'll take to get through the area, so first I'll list the quickest path to the exit, with no concern for items or anything else. Then there's a detailed path from the entrance to the exit with items/Sealstones locations and such. Once you get to the exit and reset the timer I'll list another path back through the dungeon where you collect everything you've missed. What you decide to follow is entirely up to you. -Fastest path to the exit (no items): Take the path up, then go right for one room and go up again. Go one more room to the right and take the path up again, then go right again. There's poisoned water here. Just heal with Honeysuckle Dews if you step on it and keep going right for a Divinity Void. Go up, then right for another room with poisoned water. Go right again, then go down. Keep going right. Take the upper path here and warp through the wall using the enemy on the other side. He warps, so it can be hard to hit him. Once you've done that continue right, then go down. Now just keep going right. You'll find more poisoned water on the way, but the exit is in the next room. You should finish it with over 5:30 left on the clock. -Longer path to the exit (items and Sealstones on the way): Go up to the second room, then go right for two rooms. You'll reach a room with a Spring. There's more here, but you can't access it from this side. Just pick up any sealstone you need, then go back to the previous room and go up. Go left all the way here for a chest with a Fairy Tincture (gas trap). Now go right for two rooms again and take the path down. Go left here and you'll be on the other side of the room with the Spring. There's an enemy high up that you can warp if you stand near the right exit of the room, jump and fire photons. Use him to reach the high platform on the middle of the room, where you'll find a chest. Open it and an enemy will spawn. Inside the chest is an Ambrosia. There's also a Shell in the higher ground next to the Spring. Go back right now -- DON'T GO BACK TO THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROOM. Go right once for a Divinity Void. Take the path down here, then go left for a bag with a Nectar Potion hidden behind a pillar. Go right to the next room, full of poisoned water below. Just heal with Honeysuckle Dews if you fall on it. There's a Dais here on the higher path with the Secluded Valley Law Sealstone, which divides all damage taken by 4, but you can't heal. Hold this one to make battles easier, or leave it here if you're instant-breaking anyway. It costs 20000 crystals, so even though it's good I don't recommend thinking about restoring it. Down on the water you'll find a chest with an Archer's Aptitude (careful with the explosion trap). Go right to the next room. Take the path up, then go left to the next room. Two blocked paths here with enemies on the other side. Go down for a chest with a gas trap and a Thief's Thoughts, then warp to the other side and go up for another chest with a gas trap. This one has a Sorcerer's Savvy. Go back to the right side and back right to the previous room. Use the flying enemy to reach the path up to the right here, then go right to the next room. Go all the way right here for a chest with a Fairy Tincture, then take the path up. Go left to the next room. There's another Spring here. Feel free to use it, but DON'T go to the left side of the room with the Dais. There's no way back. Use the flying enemy to reach the higher platform in the middle, with 3 chests: Fencer's Familiarity, Apotechary's Arcanum and an Overdrive. Go back to the right after getting these, into the previous room. And that's it. Now just go right all the way and you'll reach the exit. There's a save point and a healing spot after the exit -- check it to be completely healed. Now save, and either continue with just that or go back to explore what's left. -Coming back for the last items and Sealstones: This path is longer than the previous one. Try to hurry and use photon warps instead of running whenever you can. From the exit, go back left for two rooms, then take the path up. Pause now. To the right is a Shell with the Burst Light Blessing, a completely useless sealstone that costs 200 crystals to restore. This makes you fire photons in 3 directions at once, which just gives you less control. If you want it for whatever reason go pick it up, if not just ignore it to save time. Anyway, you'll want to go left to the next room in both cases. Use the enemy here to reach the path up, then warp to the other side using the enemy the same way as before. Follow the path down now and go right for a chest with the Blue Gale, a bow that always does critical hits. Now you can just equip the Dismantle skill and anything that can break will break whenever you attack. Very useful. It's probably the best bow overall in the game, even for elemental attacks, if you don't use stat-boosts from releases. Go left to the next room and take the path up, then go right for a chest (gas trap) with a Warrior's Wits. Go left for the next room, with poisoned water again. No items though, so just get past it to the next room. You should have around 5:30 left on the timer now, or more. Anything lower than that and you need to hurry. Go down here for a Divinity Void. Go left to the next room. This one is tricky. Poisoned water below, Shell with an important sealstone high up to the right. Warp the flying enemy to the middle platform in the water, with a walking enemy, then use both to reach the Shell. Shouldn't be complicated by now. The Shell has the Lawbreaker's Law Sealstone. This cancels all other sealstones of the holder, so putting it in a Dais will turn off all other connected Daises. This isn't good to have, but hold it anyway. You'll need it to fight the mini-boss here. The middle platform with the enemy also has a chest with a gas trap and a Fairy Tincture. You should have 4 minutes or more left. Go left to the next room, with a Dais. This one has the Chaos Law sealstone, which gives random effects to the holder. Random effects in this case are random status changes, but most of the time it doesn't seem to do anything. It's possible to just enter a fight and have all enemies transferred though. Anyway, leave it here or restore it and go down. Now just go right for two rooms. There's an enemy holding yet another Sealstone here: Dark Night Law, with the Turn to Dark effect. Ignore it and go right again. Divinity Void. Go right again here and you'll reach a Dais. Leave Lawbreaker's Law here and go back left. Now go up and left to the other Divinity Void, then up and left again. All the way to the left you'll find the mini-boss, holding the Elusive Air Law Sealstone. This one prevents battles, so you couldn't normally fight it, but placing Lawbreaker's Law in the Dais solved that problem. As you can see it's a Giant Scaled Dragon, so equip the necessary skills. Instant-breaking doesn't work and it resists all elements a little (20%). Other than casting Poison Blow instead of Fire Storm, the Tyrannosaurus Rex is the same as the Dragon back in Chateau Obsession. The Blue Gale can get past it's high RDM and RST easily. Try to break the head to get the Scarlet Exhalation, a Green Creation rune. This is used for Triple Edge (Green Piercing + Bludgeon + Training + Creation). Not a really great skill, but good to have when you need anyway. If you don't get this here, don't worry. You can try again easily in a Once the Tyrannosaurus is dead you can pick up the Elusive Air Law Sealstone. It costs 2500 crystals, and now you can touch enemies without fighting them. This is good for photon puzzles in case you mess up. Whether you restore it or not is up to you, but carry it for now. Oh, if you want to fight, just slash the enemy (X). Now go back right, then down. Go right for two rooms and you'll find yet another enemy holding yet another Sealstone. This one is rather useless though: Silent Pin Blessing lets you cause Silence while attacking. Just use Holy Gems if you want that. Go right for the next room, then warp through the wall the same way as before. You're near the exit now. Go right, then down, then right for the room with poisoned water. Just go right again and you'll reach the exit. You should have around 1 minute left now. After all this you'll finally reach Bifrost. --- Bifrost and Asgard --- Both places are really small, so I'm listing them together. They're not dungeons or towns, but you'll fight some forced battles in Bifrost. There's a healing spot right at the entrance of Bifrost. Check it to be completely healed, like an inn. This is the only one in the game. There's a save point next to it. Now you can proceed east to cross the bridge, but there are some forced fights in the way. You'll only fight them once. You don't have sealstones here but the fights aren't really hard. First up is a group of Aesirs. The Aesir (Rescuer) on the back is the leader. Don't break her bow, or she'll use nothing but heal. You should be more than capable of ending this fight in one combo by now. Direct Assault it for a Full Plate, a decent Red Body armor with 70 RDM for Heavy Warriors. Next up is the Dimension Beast, a Kraken clone. This is harder but there's no real point in listing full stats since it's pretty much the same fight with a better battlefield and higher numbers. No good items either, so just dash to it's back and attack. It's Drop and Leader Items are Full Plates too, so you'll have up to 3 after these fights. Next up is a real boss, so you'll need some special preparations, even though it isn't hard. Divine race, so other than Seluvia you can't abuse it yet. This saves a lot of CP for other skills, so you can have characters with high defense without sacrificing attack power. Better yet, no elemental attacks! So RDM is all you need. Guard Motion, Fortify Physique and Precision Parry (only one character needs this) help a lot. Have Heroism on your strongest character if you have CP for it, too. For offense just use the usual. Lightning is a good element for the boss' armor. Fire and Lightning work fine for the boss itself, but Holy doesn't. Ice is actually the best but it's such a weak element that it's better to stick to fire (like always). Keep going right for the easy boss when you're ready. Watch the cutscene first. __Heimdall___________________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 68 25,000 HP 600,000 exp 16,100 OTH | | 925 ATK 815 MAG 100 HIT 100 AVD | | Races: Divine | | Elements: Body has Fire, Lightning, Earth +30%, Darkness +50% and Holy +80%;| | Cards have Earth +50%, Lighting -50% | | Vulnerable to Curse (10%), Silence (20%), Poison (5%), Confusion (10%), | | Faint (15%) and Frailty (100%) | | Leader Item: Golden Egg | | Drop Item: Gjallarhorn (100%) | | Recommended level: 35 | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 25,000 HP, 100 RDM, 25 RST | | -Cards (armor, 2): 3,750 HP, 110 RDM, 28 RST | | | |Attacks: | | -Helical Rune: Thin range, one hit of low damage to party. | | -Stream Attack Rune: Wide frontal range, 6 hits of average damage to party. | | -Infinity Rune: Circular range, average damage to party. | | -Grim Malice (Soul Crush): Short, wide frontal range. Deals very high damage| | to one character. Used when under 30% HP. | | Resurrects cards. | | | |Strategy: | | There are also 2 Aesir (Defenders) in the fight. They're the same as the | | ones you've fought in the first battle here. They're harmless, so just | | ignore or kill them. Killing them can increase your damage with the Heroism | | skill. | | | | As said above, Heimdall only deals non-elemental damage. All you need to | | resist his attacks is high RDM, which is a good thing considering you don't | | have Sealstones at the moment. The bad thing is that, while his attack | | ranges aren't large, the attack themselves hit a large area, so he'll most | | likely hit the whole party whenever he attacks. | | | | Also, his cards cover most of the body, leaving only the front open, so | | you'll have to attack from the front if you want to hit him (and that's | | where most of his attack ranges are) or use low hitting attacks, like Energy| | Steal or Sneaky Throw. You can ignore this and just attack the cards from | | behind. The only possible problem with this is running out of AP, but it's | | the best tactic overall. Infinity Rune will be the only attack you have to | | worry about this way, and you can use an Overdrive together with knockdown | | combos to make your AP last longer. | | | | You can also split the party and keep a tank in front of him, taking damage | | from his attacks and restoring AP while the others attack from the back. | | Infinity Rune will still be the only problem, but you won't have to worry | | about AP at all. | | | | Grim Malice is really strong, but you should be capable of surviving it with| | high RDM. It also only hits one character, so as long as you keep everyone | | healed it won't be a problem. He only uses it when really low on HP too, so | | the battle is almost over. The cards come back after the attack, but that | | shouldn't be a big problem. | | | | Heimdall drops the Gjallarhorn, another heavy sword. It has higher ATK than | | Arectaris, but only one attack. Good for a second Heavy Warrior, but | | otherwise just keep using Arectaris. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Go right just a bit more for Asgard, where you'll find a save point and... the traveling merchant? Not the one from Midgard, but his father. He has some good stuff, listed in detail below in the shopping section, like in towns. Once you're finished shopping go up, right and then up again for Yggdrasil, your next destination. Shopping: Not many new items here, but they're good. The Durandal is a great Heavy Sword, stronger than the Arectaris by 20 ATK. 200,000 OTH shouldn't be too expensive now, but you could keep using the Arectaris if you want. If you're using more than one archer you can buy another Blue Gale here, too. It's cheaper than the Durandal, for whatever reason. For armor there's the Holy Gauntlet (Green), with 40 RDM and 5% block. This will be your first Green Arm rune if you didn't get Circe and the RDM is good, so chances are that you'll want to buy it. Magic Boots are less useful, as you should have Green Leg runes for everyone already. You can also re-stock on healing items and potions (Might/Spell/Guard) here, and even buy crystals. I'd only bother getting Flare Crystals as Explosion is a great spell. The accessories here aren't really any good. There's a lot for stuff for creation too. Oreichalkos Staff is the best staff in the main game, but not good to create as you can get a comparable weapon with much less effort. Thrud's Gauntlet is another item you shouldn't create (nothing special, too expensive), but the Miracle Guard is great as mentioned before. You can't get it now though. If you did the whole animal feeding thing you can get the Solomon's Ring for 900,000 OTH here, but not only is that an absurd price for a nearly useless item, you'll find a similar one with the same effect two dungeons from now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.5.03 - The other side [04503] --- Yggdrasil --- -Items: Prime Elixir x2, Valiant Greaves, Fairy Tincture x3, Charge Break, Witch's Arcanum, Flame Mist, Valiant Helm, Foolproof Talisman x3, Sword of Sylvans, Valiant Armor, Elixir, Power Bangle, Tome of Alchemy, Overdrive, Noble Elixir x2, Tome of Godspeed, Expert's Experience, Holy Gauntlet, 300000 OTH (total), Unicorn's Horn, Union Plume -Sealstones: Dancing Light Blessing, Magical Light Blessing, Paper Tiger Blessing, Great Shield Law, Sharp Sword Law, Darkness Blessing -Enemies: Wild Wolf (Beast), Hresvelgr (Divine, Beast), Aesir Security(Divine), Armor Beetle (Insect), Fatal Vermin (Plant, Insect), Roper (Plant), Gluttonous Bug (Giant, Insect), King Slug (Giant), Giant Troll (Giant), Idisi (Magic), Strayer (Magic), Black Jewel (Magic), Human Sacrifice (Ghost, Unholy) -Mini-bosses: Highlander (Giant) Invasive Arsonist (Giant) Abyss Dragon (Giant, Unholy, Dragon) -Re-fightable Boss: none -Overview: This dungeon has plenty of tricky platforming, for more than just items. No real puzzles though, but this is still the best dungeon in the Chapter -- maybe in the whole main game. Lots of enemies, too. The dungeon is separated in two areas. The first is outside Yggdrasil, where you'll fight weaker enemies, but the battlefield is worse and full of transfer spots. You can fall from practically anywhere and do the same to enemies. Watch out for what attacks you use, and don't stay close to the edges. Inside Yggdrasil the battlefield is quite plain, but only has one escape point and it's not always easy to reach. You'd better get into fights to win, not to run. Enemies will be harder too, but we'll worry about it when you get there. Fire is, as always, the best element. Instant-breaking isn't too effective here, but the guaranteed criticals from the Blue Gale are great for damage, so it's likely that you'll want an archer around. Light Warriors with the Moonfalx can deal great damage (focus on ATK), or use the Flare Baselard with the Energy Steal attack. Heavy Warriors are great as always, but Sorcerers start losing their use here. With no need for the Reinforces and not much instant-breaking, they can only contribute with damage, and that's not their specialty (although Fire Storm does deal high damage here). Debuff spells like Sap Power/Guard and maybe even Chaotic Rune can help a lot though if you need them. Enemies to look out for: There's nothing really new here. Wild Wolfs can summon more of their kind like the Elven Wolf, and Ropers also have Hellish Invitation. Watch out for those two enemies and target them first whenever you can. Gluttonous Bugs are like the Queen/Gigantic Wasp bosses back in Turgen Mine and can use Variation Omega (hits you anywhere) when low on health. Kill them faster by attacking only from behind. Fire attacks with Bug Swatter or Giant Killer destroy them very, very fast. Avoid the flying ghosts inside Yggdrasil. If you do get in a fight with them, use a Nectar Potion as soon as the battle starts, as the Black Jewel enemy can use Astral Maze. This causes transfer on a pretty large area, so it's possibly a 1-hit kill. You can also split the party, keep someone away and use an Aspect Stone to bring the others back, or equip the Mirage Robe to prevent the status. Just make sure you're ready to do something. If you mess up it's Game Over. Good item drops: Sage's Arcanum: Full HP recovery to one character. Direct Assault Idisis' to get this. Obviously a very good item. Bone Mask: Runeless accessory, boosts damage and Critical Rank when user is under Frailty. Also gives +10% MAG and RST (Performance). This is the improved version of the Fatal Seed mentioned before. Break either side of the Strayer's head for this. Chaos Force: Green accessory, boosts MAG by 5%. Just break the Strayer's left body for this. Excellent way to boost MAG when used in links. Runes and Skills: Green Holy: Break the Roper's body for the Emerald Heart Core. Now you can learn Force Field (1000) (Green Body + Head + Healing + Holy), Mind Lock (Green Head + Ice + Holy) and God Destroyer (Green Piercing + Bludgeon + Weakness + Holy). Only the last one is good. Try to learn it with all your main attackers, it's going to get a lot of use soon. -Dungeon walkthrough: You'll find lots of pillars (crystals) in this dungeon. The red and purple ones attack with fire and ice, while the yellow ones spawn a temporary enemy that can't be crystallized and the blue ones produce a gust of wind that makes you float. You can break them by attacking, but green pillars can restore them. Leaving the room also restores all pillars. You'll always want to break the red, purple and yellow ones, but you'll need blue to reach some items and rooms. The first area is under the effects of the Paper Tiger Blessing Sealstone, which gives a x1.2 boost to ATK and MAG when the user's HP is full. This can be useful for you when you reach it later, but doesn't do much for enemies since any of your attacks will remove their boost. Anyway, there's a Spring at the entrance, to the left. Make sure you leave room for two Sealstones, which is what you'll need for puzzles here later. Go right to the next room, then all the way right (careful with the red pillar's flame) to find a chest with a Prime Elixir. Start going up (another red pillar) through the land in the middle of the room, then go right for a flying enemy. Use it to reach the higher ground on the middle, where you'll find the Valiant Greaves, a pretty good armor for Light and Heavy Warriors. Go left for the next room and watch the cutscene. Keep going left and watch out for the purple pillar's ice. There's a chest in the same space as the enemy here, with a Fairy Tincture. That's all in this room, so go left. Red pillar here. Ignore the flying enemy and go down to the right, where there's another red pillar and a chest next to it. Inside is a Charge Break. Now go back to the flying enemy and go up, then take the exit on the upper left. Yellow pillar here. Break it before an enemy shows up. There's a Shell here with the Dancing Light Blessing, which makes your photons reflect 4 times more. So you'll have 7 (3+4) reflections total, which is necessary to get some things here. You'll want to hold it during most of the dungeon. It's only 150 crystals to restore, but you don't need this outside Yggdrasil. Use the enemy here to step on the yellow pillar and get the Witch's Arcanum in the chest next to it, then go back to the previous room. Take the path up in the top of the room now. You'll be inside Yggdrasil and in a Divinity Void. Go right for the first of this dungeon's many mini-bosses: a highlander. It's the same as the Berserker, Muscular Stalker, etc. You can get more Bloody Patches by breaking it's left body side, but more important is breaking it's upper left weapon for a Sage Quartz! This is a material for the Conqueror's Armor later. To it's right is a Shell with the Magical Light Blessing Sealstone. This sealstone makes your photons break pillars, which is the only way to break the blue (wind) ones. It's only useful in Yggdrasil, so there's no need to restore it. Pick it up, then go back to the external area of Yggdrasil (before the Divinity Void). There's a blue pillar to the right here. Break it with photons to be able to open the chest next to it, with the Flame Mist armor. This unique item gives -100% to all elements except Fire, but immunity to Freeze. There's another effect that it doesn't list: the wearer becomes a Ghost. Meaning, completely immune to non-elemental attacks. So if you're fighting an enemy without elemental attacks there's just no way to die. Only Archers and Sorcerers can use this. Go right now, and break the yellow pillar to the right. You'll notice an enemy below you. Stand right next to the pillar's left side, crouch and fire a photon to the left. It should bounce all the way back to the enemy. Do it again to warp and you'll find a chest with the Valiant Helm. Decent green helm for Light and Heavy Warriors. If you fall here you'll be back to the room below, with the purple pillar. Go down, then back up to the top of this room and go right. There's a chest with a Foolproof Talisman here. Go right to the next room. There's a Dais here with the Paper Tiger Blessing Sealstone. This is better than Sword Blessing if you're not using something like the Dragon Rib, so picking it up is a good idea. Finally a MAG boost through Sealstones! Or you could just leave it here since it isn't doing much for enemies anyway. It's only 800 crystals to restore. Now go down. There's a purple pillar here, and below it is a chest with a gas trap and the Sword of Sylvans light sword. Not a good weapon, but it can paralyze enemies. I never use this. Now use the enemy here to go back up through the gap in the left, or just fall down and come back to the room. Go to the top now (yellow pillar), then go left. Red and yellow pillars here. Jump on both to reach the chest on the upper left, with the Valiant Armor. Now go back, then go to the upper right exit. There's a blue pillar stopping you from going down here, so fire photons down while floating to break it and take the path up to the right. Inside Yggdrasil again, and another Divinity Void. There's a chest past the flying enemy to the left with a gas trap and an Elixir. Go down (two red pillars here) and then left for the next room, where you'll find another Spring and a save point. Save the game and go up. Now this room can be very frustrating. At the very top of this room you'll find a Power Bangle and a Dais with the Great Shield Law Sealstone. This sealstone is giving x2 RDM to most of the dungeon, but x0.75 ATK. There's another sealstone later also affecting this area that gives x1.5 ATK, 1/2 RDM so enemies are actually with normal RDM, and x1.12 ATK. Removing Great Shield Law will only make them stronger, although it does halve their RDM. You'll probably want to keep it there. The Power Bangle though is a great accessory. The problem here is that it's hard to make it to the top, and even harder to explain how to do it. Again there will be two explanations here. First for just getting past the room, the second for getting to the Dais and Power Bangle. -To just get past the room (no Dais/Power Bangle): Just use the flying enemy to reach the two platforms high up in the right of the room. There's a blue pillar here that will take you up. Don't break it! Now just move over to the next platform on the left. There's an enemy up to the right here -- fire photons up at the left wall and they should bounce up there and warp the enemy. Now just go right to the next room. -To get to the Dais and the Power Bangle: You'll need to take the flying enemy with you to reach the top of the room. First take it to the right corner, below the 2 platforms, like this: 1 |___ === A | A = Alicia ===2 e | e = Enemy 3_| _| ________| Now jump to point 1 and wait for the enemy to break the crystal. Just stay here and it should move to point 2. Still in point 1, crouch and fire a photon. It will bounce all the way to the enemy. Do it again to warp. Now the enemy is on point 1. Move Alicia to point 3, jump towards the enemy and fire a photon at it. Alicia should be at the A again when the enemy is warped. so it should end like this: 1 A |___ 2 === e | A = Alicia === | e = Enemy _| _| ________| Move to point 1 and fire a photon at the blue pillar in point 2, then warp the enemy with another photon. Air-jump after the warp and move towards the platform. You should both be on top now. Alicia's still at A, the enemy is at point 1. This was the hardest part. Now push the enemy to the left, over the edge of the pillar. It's a flying enemy, so it won't fall. Don't forget to re-crystallize it if it breaks free. Step on the enemy and jump to the platform on the left. Now warp the enemy once more, and air jump towards the platform again. Use the flying enemy to reach the next platform on the right, then jump and warp the enemy up there. Make sure you're up in the air when that happens, and air jump to the LEFT after the warp. It will end like this: __________________________ | | | |P_ | | A = Alicia _| | | e1 = Flying enemy _| | | e2 = Walking enemy | 3 | |_ D = Dais | 2 |_ P = Power Bangle | _ | |_D_________________| | 1 | ________________| == | ____| e1 _| | | | ____________e2_____| |_A_ | ______________ _| |_| |_________ Now just jump and warp the walking enemy to swap places with it. Take the flying enemy to point 1, which shouldn't be difficult to do. Break the other blue pillar at point 2, and then just take the enemy to point 3. That's it. The Dais is to your left, and the Power Bangle is way up there. This part shouldn't be difficult either as it's just warping a flying enemy up a narrow area. Warp it as high as you can, land on the ground, repeat with air jumps and you should make it. Now, finally, you can go to the next room. Simple room. Purple and blue pillars here. Break the purple, but not the blue. Ride the wind to reach the platform with a chest, then break the blue pillar to be able to open it. Inside is a Fairy Tincture. Take the path down to the next room. Pillar on both sides here, but nothing else. Just go right for the next room, once again with just pillars. Go up. Use the flying enemy to reach the high platform with a chest. Inside is a Tome of Alchemy. Go to the next room. Another room where you must go up, but no real tricks needed here. Just use the wind to go up, then the flying enemy. There's another flying enemy on the right high up. Warp to where he is to reach a chest with a Fairy Tincture. Just use the flying enemy again for the next blue pillar and go left for the next room. Now you'll find a bunch of platforms close together, acting like stairs. There's some room between them though. Climb the first step only, then crouch and try to fire a photon through the gap. The positioning can take a while but it's not difficult, just take one step back or forward and keep trying. The photon will bounce all the way down to an enemy. Fire another to warp down there. Be careful not to fall. Just move left and you'll reach a mini-boss. Giant race, immune to fire and weak to ice. Lightning and Holy are good choices as well. The enemy uses fire attacks and nothing else. Have your Archer/Sorcerer use the Flame Mist to nullify the ATK. Since it doesn't have weakness to fire there isn't any penalty to using it in this fight. __Invasive Arsonist__________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 49 17,000 HP 45,000 exp 5,400 OTH | | 1,600 ATK 1,000 MAG 120 HIT 80 AVD | | Races: Giant | | Elements: Earth +20%, Fire and Darkness +50%, Lighting and Holy +80% | | Immune to all status effects | | Leader Item: Fireproof Talisman | | Recommended level: 37 | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head: 5,100 HP, 100 RDM, 70 RST; Item: Solar Jewel (30%) | | -Body (vital): 11,900 HP, 120 RDM, 70 RST; Item: Chartreuse Spinel (50%) | | -Legs (2): 8,500 HP, 120 RDM, 70 RST; Adamantite (30%) | | -Right hand: 2,550 HP, 100 RDM, 70 RST; Item: Flare Ore (30%) | | -Left hand: 2,550, 100 RDM, 70 RST; Item: Pyrotechnic Ore (30%) | | -Arms (2): 17,000 HP, 100 RDM, 70 RST | | -Lava hands (2): 5,100 HP, 50 RDM, 70 RST; Item: Phosphate Ore (30%) | | | | Attacks: | | -(Hug): Medium range, average damage on party. Damage becomes fire | | elemental when hands are broken. | | -Flame Lance: Long range, fires 4 fireballs in the air, each hitting 4 | | times for high fire elemental damage. The farther away you | | are from Evolver, the lower the accuracy. | | -Big Splash: Medium range, 5 hits of heavy fire elemental damage on party. | | Only used after any hand breaks. | | -Explosion: Medium circular range, Fire spell on party. High damage. | | | | Strategy: | | Pretty much the same as Evolver's first form. That was a long time ago | | though. If you have someone with the Flame Mist just leave him as bait in | | the front as the other characters attack from the back. Explosion is the | | only really dangerous attack here, and used frequently if you try to stay | | away from it. No new items or anything here. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Beyond the mini-boss is an important Dais with the Sharp Sword Law Sealstone. This is the one giving x1.5 ATK, but 0.5 RDM/RST to enemies. Although RDM is important, this ATK bonus is just too large to be ignored, especially when you can stack it with others like Paper Tiger Blessing and Sword Blessing. Restore this sealstone if you can. If not, you should at least carry it. Now you can come back to the top of the room by shooting a photon at the enemy you used before, or just fall to go back a few rooms and return here. Once on top again, climb the steps (break the purple pillar on the top) and wait until an enemy appears out of nowhere. There's a yellow pillar in that area, so break it then jump on top of it. Now jump again and warp the enemy on the top right through the gap in the other stairs. 2 chests here. The first one has an Overdrive, the second a Noble Elixir. Now just go down and then right for the next room. Two red pillars and a gap here. Try not to fall. There's a Spring and a save point on the other side. The exit to the left takes you to a boss, but don't go there yet. It's better to explore the path down the gap in this room first. There's a Holy Gauntlet here, but you need to have restored the Powerless Cap Wrath sealstone back in the Palace of the Venerated Dragon to reach it. Since you can just buy this anyway you could just skip the item, but if you want to get all items in the dungeon, pick it up. Fall on the gap to the right, but hold up to float with the the Powerless Cap and move towards the platform on the right. You'll find a Shell and a treasure chest here. Leave Powerless Cap at the Shell and open the chest for the gauntlet. Regardless of whether or not you get the item, jump on the gap to reach the new room below. Be careful not to fall all the way down here yet, or you could end in the next room. Anyway, go do on the right and you'll find a green pillar. This one restores other pillars in the room, so break it. Jump to the platform directly below the pillar, then jump left and let the wind carry you up. Warp the flying enemy next to you and step on it to reach the path up left, where you'll find a chest with a Noble Elixir. Now warp jump down below the green pillar again and break the blue one. Use the flying enemy up there to step on the blue pillar and go left for a chest with 120000 OTH. Fall down to the next room now. No items here, just a purple pillar. There's an exit left, but fall down instead. This will send you back to one of the older rooms, where you can just make your path back to the top with the Spring and save point. Do so, we'll have to explore the rest of the path here after the boss. Time to get ready for the boss. There are two fights, but you can heal and change your party/setup after the first one. Both battles are the same, but you only need to win the second one -- the first will end after the boss uses an attack (as long as it doesn't kill your party). You can win the first fight, but it's pointless. Both fights are easy. Races are Magic and Divine. Magician Slayer is cheaper, so pick just that if you can't use both. The boss has high resistance to all elements except Ice, so Heavy Warriors are the best here for damage. Or, if you have Achromatic Law, you can put it in that Dais in the previous room and just use elements anyway. The boss will use lots of elemental attacks: Fire, Ice, Lighting and Holy. Holy is the strongest, Fire the weakest. The Holy, Ice and Fire attacks are projectiles, so you can try using Missile Protection. If that's not possible then get elemental protection. Guard Motion helps as well, but Precision Parry doesn't. Save and go left. Watch the cutscene first, then keep reading. __Odin_______________________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 56 30,000 HP 750,000 exp 840 OTH | | 1,600 ATK 1,400 MAG 130 HIT 100 AVD | | Races: Divine, Magic | | Elements: Earth +20%, Fire and Darkness +50%, Lighting and Holy +80% | | Vulnerable to Poison (20%), Freeze (50%), Faint (20%), Frailty (100%) | | Leader Item: Noble Elixir | | Recommended level: 38 | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 30,000 HP, 80 RDM, 80 RST | | | |Attacks: | | -Rebellious Trail: Thin range. Rush towards the party, hitting anyone on the| | way for average damage. | | -Spell Reinforce: Targets self, boosts MAG by 50%. | | -Absolute Reign: Small or long range. Fire elemental projectile attack. | | Hits a wide area (past the attack range) for low damage. | | -Freezing Spear: Long wide range. Ice elemental projectile attack that | | causes Freeze and average damage to one or two characters. | | -Capitol Punishment: Medium or long range. Holy elemental projectile attack,| | deals very high damage. | | -Thunder Storm: Circular range. Lightning spell, chance of causing | | paralysis. | | -Spiritual Lancer: Soul Crush. Huge circular range. Very high damage to one | | character. Used when under half HP. Ends the first fight,| | but is used in the second as well. | | | |Strategy: | | Everything except Rebellious Trail and Spiritual Lancer is elemental. Odin | | will use Spell Reinforce very soon in the battle, so you'll be taking high | | damage from pretty much all attacks without elemental resistance or Missile | | Protection. | | | | However, Odin is very, very slow. You can easily dash away from him and just| | walk in circles to recover AP, then dash in to attack and repeat. Watch out | | for his Absolute Reign and Capitol Punishment attacks -- Odin will warp next| | to you when he uses them from long range. | | | | Begin the battle with a Nectar Potion to block the freeze and paralysis from| | Freezing Spear and Thunder Storm, then use Might Potions or Might Reinforce | | to boost your ATK. Just walk around avoiding Odin while you do this, he | | shouldn't be able to reach you. After that dash in and unleash the best | | combo you can. Given how much power you have and Odin's pathetic defenses, | | you'll probably take half of his health away, or something very close to | | that. | | | | Once Odin gets to half of his health he'll use Spiritual Lancer. This will | | most likely kill one character, but it's alright. If there's any character | | alive after the attack, the battle ends. If you manage to kill Odin before | | that, nothing changes. The battles ends anyway and you won't get experience.| | There's no change in the story either. Watch the cutscene first, then keep | | reading. | | | | | | | | You'll get a "new" character, who will be at a high level and with very good| | equipment. He's the only one who can use this new equipment though, so it | | doesn't help much. Despite the new character's high MAG, Odin's high | | resistances will block most of his damage, so don't feel forced to use this | | character just because of his level. Take the time to heal and reorganize | | your party as you see fit. You don't need to use this new character if you | | don't want to. | | | | You'll fight Odin again. The battle is the same, except it doesn't end after| | Spiritual Lancer. The range is so huge that it's hard to avoid, even with | | Odin's slow movement. Keep everyone healed, but make sure you can use items | | when he starts using his SC and use an Union Plume on whoever was killed. | | If you have trouble healing often and he keeps using Spiritual Lancer, | | consider using the Holy Water of Mithra on him. | | | | You'll get experience for beating him this time, and there's another long | | scene after the fight. Watch it first. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Both Lezard and Rufus left the party. They were unequipped first, so you didn't lose any items. If you don't have Einherjar, Alicia will be your only character now. After the fight you can pick up a Tome of Godspeed and an Expert's Experiences in two chests to the left. Now you have to go down to the left, but it's better to go back and save first. Do so, then return here to go down. Simple room here. Fall from the platform you landed on to the left, then go right on this height, where you'll find a pillar and a chest with 100000 OTH in front of it. Now just fall all the way to the right, and you should reach the bottom of this room without getting to the next one. Just go left across the gap and you'll find a chest with another Foolproof Talisman. That's all here, fall down to the next room. You'll fall on a platform with a chest. Just open it to get a Prime Elixir, then go down for the next room. There's a blue pillar stopping you from going down here. Either break it with photons or warp the enemy on the other side to get past it, then go left for the next room. Now this is another hard room with a good item, the Unicorn's Horn (staff with 180 MAG, GM enabled). There's also an Union Plume and a Foolproof Talisman. Here's the full map, and how to get the 3 items. _________________ | | | | | | _| |_ A = Alicia | | E = Enemies | >>> P = Red Pillars |_ == A__| 1 = Foolproof Talisman | 4 |__ 2 = Unicorn's Horn | _== | 3 = Union Plume __| | _1_| | | | |___ __|2_ | ___| === 6 | | E == | <<< == E 3| |__ == 5 | | == _| |P___ _______P| | | For the Foolproof Talisman, just jump towards it from point 4. The Union Plume is also easy to reach. For the Unicorn's Horn,you'll want to move Alicia to point 5. Crystallize the enemy to the left, then move it close to the edge of it's platform and jump on it. Stay on it's LEFT, almost falling. Fire photons at the other enemy to warp it. They should end like this: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Climb the lower enemy and jump towards point 6. Stand on it's right, then warp one of the enemies up here. Now just jump from the other one up to point 6 again, step on the enemy up here and then to the chest. Just be careful with the explosion trap. When this is over, just go on to the room on the left, where you'll find a mini-boss (Abyss Dragon) holding the Darkness Blessing Sealstone. This is just a Dragon Zombie clone. You can kill him very easily by abusing his 3 races (Dragon, Giant, Unholy), plus Fire and Holy attacks. Only noteworthy thing here is that his Leader Item is a Double Check, and his drop item is the Golden Egg! Only 2% drop chance though, so it doesn't really mean anything. You'll have to leave the dungeon whenever you want to try for a 1 in 50 chance of getting one. Darkness Blessing is a great, great sealstone for the next dungeon, but really not much else as there are barely any Darkness attacks. It's also 1000 crystals to restore. Restore it if you want for the next dungeon, otherwise just leave it here. Go back to the previous room, then go down. You'll reach a save point. Save if you only have Alicia, otherwise you really don't need to. Just give your characters Giant Killer, Descaling Might or Dragon Slayer. Fire is the best way to attack again, but avoid Ice (boss absorbs it). Now just enter the room to fight the White Dragon. It's technically a boss, but it doesn't do anything new compared to the other wyverns, there are no new items and this is balanced to be fought by just Alicia. Even if she's alone, it can't attack from behind and she has Heal. This is a joke fight, much like the Aesirs in the Forest of Spirits. Watch the cutscene after the fight, then keep reading. Rufus is back, and both he and Alicia got new Soul Crushes. They're both stronger than the originals, and there's no way to use the old ones again. Anyway, that's all for this dungeon. Just open the final chest to the right of the gap here for 80000 OTH. Now fall down. You'll be back in a Divine Void near the entrance. Go down and you'll be outside Yggdrasil, so just go back to the exit to leave the dungeon. You can also make it all the way back to the top where you fought Odin for a short cutscene. --- Asgard --- You can return to Midgard if you want now. You'll go back directly to the world map if you leave Asgard instead of going to Bifrost. Asgard will also show up in the world map, so you can go back there without having to go through the Forest of Spirits, Ravine Caverns and Bifrost. You can still access the caverns and Bifrost, but you'll have to go through the Forest of Spirits. The timer on Ravine Caverns is also gone now, so you can explore it as much as you want if you didn't before. The only change in Midgard is that you can materialize Einherjar again, in case you didn't get a relic before. Just go right from the merchant in Asgard to reach Valhalla, the next dungeon. Don't forget to stock on items before going there. --- Hall of Valhalla --- -Items: Witch's Arcanum x3, Spirit Tincture x3, Noble Elixir x4, Iceproof Talisman, Overdrive, Mithril Gauntlet, Tome of Alchemy, 200000 OTH, Flare Crystal, Double-check x2, Fireproof Talisman, Earth Crystal, Guard Potion, Power Bangle, Union Plume x4, Golden Egg, Might Potion, Holy Crystal x2, Lightningproof Talisman, Ether Scepter, Magic Bangle, Foolproof Talisman x2, Shadow Crystal, Nectar Potion x2, Charge Break, Spell Potion, Sage's Arcanum, Earthproof Talisman, Misteltein, Expert's Experience, Silver Plate, Fencer's Familiarity, Archer's Aptitude, Sorcerer's Savvy, Thief's Thoughts, Ambrosia, Warrior's Wits -Sealstones: Gem Blessing, Holy Light Law, Ore Blessing, Law of Consistency, Strongman Blessing, Holy Blessing -Enemies: Sacred Sack (Divine, Magic), Magic Mirror (Magic), Deathdog (Beast), Red Dragon (Giant, Scaled, Dragon), Divine Slave (Divine, Giant), Aesir Commander (Divine), Aesir Guards (Divine), Guardian Diva (Divine) -Mini-boss: Silver Dragon (Giant, Scaled, Dragon) -Re-fightable Boss: none -Overview: Valhalla is a very simple dungeon in both design and battles. Just avoid Holy attacks and have God Destroyer. Fire is the best element against most enemies, but the Red Dragon absorbs it. Because of that it's better to settle for non-elemental attacks, or set Scramble Attack to avoid using Fire attacks on the dragon. The whole dungeon is initially under the Turn to Holy and Holy Blessing effects, which makes battles really easy as the ATK of all enemies is ignored and you can just wear any Holy protection to reduce the damage. You can also later replace Holy Blessing for Darkness Blessing to reduce their damage further, similar to what was done in Crawsus, way back in Chapter 3. Enemies to look out for: The Aesir (Guards) and Magic Mirror can cast Prismatic Missile. Not only is this a strong spell (though you can make it much weaker with Holy protection), it causes most status effects. Magic Mirror can also cast Thunder Storm. Split up the party when fighting these so that you know you'll have a character capable of healing the others if needed. You can also use a Nectar Potion if you see that you're going to be hit by those spells anyway. The Sacred Sacks use both Fire Storm and Explosion, but Fire is the only element they don't absorb. They're rare, like the other Sacks, but appear in large groups. Make sure you don't get into their attack ranges. Fighting a dragon in random battles sounds scary, but the Red Dragon is possibly the least dangerous of them since it's the only one vulnerable to instant-breaking. Giant Killer, Descaling Might, Dragon Slayer or just Dismantle together with the Blue Gale will get rid of them very fast. Other enemies are, again, nothing new. You should be more than used to them by now. Good item drops: Sacred O Part: Runeless accessory, boosts drop rate of items and Critical Rank when the user's HP has repeated digits. Break the body of the Sacred Sack for a 15% chance of getting this. It's the alternative to the Solomon's Ring that was mentioned before. While 15% drop rate from a rare enemy isn't good, it's much better than getting 45 items with 30% drop rate each, feeding them to stupid animals and spending 1,340,000 OTH for the same thing. Rune Crown: Green Head armor with 15 RDM, 20 MAG and +30% Silence, usable by all classes. Break the Aesir (Commander)'s hat for this. Low drop rate and creatable with the traveling merchant, but this really is the easiest place to get them. Just use overhead attacks. Phoenix Garb: Best main game armor for Sorcerers and Archers, with 80 RDM, +50% Fire, -20% Ice and innate Regenerate Health. Get it by breaking the body of either Aesir. Just kill them without Soul Crushes to do it. This skill is good, but too expensive to use, so getting it for free is great. Low drop rate, but you'll fight lots of Aesirs and will most likely get one. Mithril Plate: Incredible armor for Light and Heavy Warriors with 90 RDM, 40 RST, +20% Fire/Ice/Lightning/Earth and +50% Holy. One of the best overall in the main game, although you'll find others with higher RDM. Just break the Guardian Diva's body for a 40% drop rate. Ascalon: Light sword with 220 ATK, 1 attack and no SC... but 100% Critical rate. Quite useful, especially since the Moonfalx isn't a good weapon to use here due to the Holy element. Break the Red Dragon's tail for this. Materials for Item Creation (recommended items only): Miracle Guard: Final material here: Sacred O Part. A hard item to create, but a highly effective one. The 80% block makes your tanks much better, but you might want to ignore this if you like using the Precision Parry skill. Conqueror's Armor: Final material here as well, the Deep Doom. Just break the Divine Slave's upper right weapon for this. You can now create this in Crell Monferaigne, although it's very expensive. It's worth it though, since it boosts all stats considerably. Just keep your Heavy Warrior away from elements. If you forgot, the other materials are 1 Silver Mail (buy in Crell Monferaigne), 1 Firemouse Fur (Fire Bat's body in Surts Volcano Caverns), 1 Windswept Feather (Elven Hawk's tail, Forest of Spirits), 1 Sage Quartz (Highlander's upper left weapon in Yggdrasil) and the Deep Doom. Lots of materials, but not hard to get. -Dungeon walkthrough: Valhalla is a pretty boring dungeon in design. The first room has a save point. Just go right to the next one for the Spring. Pick Darkness Blessing if you have it to set it in a Dais later, then go right again. The path to the right here is blocked by 3 colored seals. You break those seals by putting 2 jars in a circle on the floor. There are two jars for each color, and the blue jars are right before this seal. Just jump on the one higher up and wait until it touches the ground. The jars move back to their initial positions if you stop touching them. Once both jars are on the ground the first blue seal will break. You can go up or down now. Either way you'll get a cutscene. Begin by going down. Watch it first, then keep reading. Arngrim is back (with a new Background). His level will be higher than before as well, but it's unknown how exactly it changes. He should be high-leveled enough to be comparable to your other characters... except he still sucks. He does come with some good equipment too, but nothing new anyway. Now you're in another straight corridor, but this one has some rooms on the sides. Go down for one of them, where you'll find 3 chest on the left. Two of them have Witch's Arcanums and the third has a Spirit Tincture. Now go all the way to the right, where you'll find another chest. This one has an arrow trap and a Noble Elixir. Now just leave the room and check the next one to the left, where there's a Shell and a chest. The chest spawns enemies when you check it, and has an Iceproof Talisman. The Shell holds the Gem Blessing Sealstone. This one isn't too good, it stops you from getting purple/shining gems but you may get some colored accessories instead. It's only old stuff that you should already have, so ignore it. Leave the room, go left for the next hall and then check the first room down here. There's a chest with an Witch's Arcanum on the left here, and another with an Overdrive on the right. Leave the room again. There's a path up here, but ignore it and take the next room down. This one has a chest with a gas trap and the Mithril Gauntlet, a pretty strong Red Arm armor. Leave the room. The red seal is to the left here. Same deal as before: step on the higher one to bring it down until it touches the floor. You'll need to use a flying enemy to reach it though. Two down, one to go. Take the path up now. You're back to the room with the Spring, but higher up. This path connects the 3 halls. Go up now for the third one. Go left for the yellow seal. This time you just need to push the first one you see to the circle ahead. With the third color gone, the seal on the main hall is gone, but check the rooms on the way. Begin going right and go up the first room you can. There's a Dais here, with no Sealstone. Leave Darkness Blessing here if you have it, and all of the enemies attacks will be reduced to 75% damage. There's also a chest on the right here, with an explosion trap and a Tome of Alchemy. Leave, check the next room to the right. There are two flying enemies here. Use either of them to reach the top of the bookcase on the left, where there's a bag with 200,000 OTH. Leave the room, go right then up again for another room when you can. Two chests here. One on the right, with an arrow trap and a Flare Crystal, and another on the left with a gas trap and a Noble Elixir. Leave this room as well, check the next one. Repetitive yet? This one just has a chest in the middle with a Double-check. Pick it up, leave, go down back to the main hall. With the seal gone, go right for the next room, where you'll find a Dais with the Holy Light Law Sealstone, which is giving Turn to Holy to the enemies. Leave it here, as it makes it much easier to protect from attacks. Now you'll begin finding rooms up AND down. Begin by going up when you can, where you'll find a chest with a Fireproof Talisman on the left. Leave, enter the room down. Again just a chest, on the left, with a gas trap and an Earth Crystal. Leave, go right for the new set of rooms. Go down. Gas trap and a Guard Potion on the chest on the right. Leave, go up. There's a chest that spawns enemies on the right with the third and last Power Bangle. To the left, behind the scenery, you'll find another chest with an Union Plume. Leave, go right for the next hall. There's a path way up in this room, but just go right without going up for now for another room with 2 rooms up, 2 rooms down. First room down has a bag with a Golden Egg on the right and two chests on the left. One has a Might Potion, the other has a Holy Crystal. First room up has two chests on the left, with an Union Plume and a Lightning Proof Talisman. Second room up has a chest on the left with an explosion trap and another Union Plume. There's another one on the right with yet another explosion trap and a Spirit Tincture. There's also a Shell here with the Ore Blessing Sealstone, which gives +1 purple gem per hit while the enemy is down. Good to carry, but too expensive to restore. Finally, the second room down has a chest with the Gram light sword on top of the bookcase on the left. The Gram is Darkness elemental, but so weak that it doesn't do much. 240 ATK and 3 attacks though, so it's a good weapon for Light Warriors anyway. And that's all in this hall. Go back to the previous room, with the exit up. You have to climb using the enemies here. Not difficult, as they just tend to move left and right. The path is to the upper right, but reach the upper left first for another Spring and an Ether Scepter (explosion trap). It's much stronger than the Unicorn's Horn, with 250 MAG, and the third best staff in the game. There's also another chest up on the top left of the room, with a Noble Elixir. Just use a flying enemy to reach it. It's hidden, but easy to get to. Now get to the right path for another hall with rooms up and down. First room down has a save point and a chest with another Spirit Tincture. First room up has a Shell with the Law of Consistency Sealstone. This one is pretty good on a Dais, but not worth 10,000 crystals. It prevents all status effects, buffs and debuffs. The boss here uses buffs, so it's good to set in a Dais. Carry it for now. Next to the Shell is a chest that spawns enemies with a second Magic Bangle. On the right is a chest with a gas trap and a Foolproof Talisman. Second room down has a chest (explosion trap) with a Shadow Crystal on the right. Second room up has 3 chests: Nectar Potion, Charge Break and Spell Potion. Leave the room, move on to the right. There's another blue circle on this room, but you can't reach the second jar yet. Ignore it for now and go right for the next room, where you'll find another seal. You can go up or down again, same as before. Go down first. There are only rooms down here. The first one has the second red seal. Both jars are in the air. Warp the enemy on top of the lower one, then jump on the other. Both will go down. The second room just has a Sage's Arcanum. Move on to the left. Mini-boss here, with the Strongman Blessing Sealstone, which makes it immune to critical hits. The Silver Dragon is pretty much the same as the Red Dragon, but immune to instant-breaking and doesn't absorb Fire. It does have 80% resistance to it though, and casts Poison Blow and Chaotic Rune. It's far from a dangerous enemy however since the battlefield is so huge. Chaotic Rune shouldn't affect you either if you're holding Law of Consistency. One important thing against the Silver Dragon: break it's head (lanch and wait for it to fall, then attack from the front) for the Scarlet Exhalation accessory, a Green Creation rune. This is the same one you could have gotten from the dragon in Ravine Caverns, but it's easier here. Green Creation is used for Triple Edge (Green Piercing + Bludgeon + Training + Creation). Anyway, the first room down has a bag with an Earthproof Talisman on the left and a chest with a Nectar Potion on the right. The second one has the Misteltein (explosion trap) on the right and a Dais with Holy Blessing on the left. Remove this and leave Law of Consistency here. Now you can't use status effects or debuffs on enemies, but the boss will be easier, and all attacks in the dungeon will be weaker as well. Holy Blessing is a good skill for the final boss and the post dungeon, but 1000 crystals for it might be too much now. Do restore it if you can though. The Misteltein is a decent bow with 250 ATK, 100 MAG and 2 attacks. Sounds good for elemental attacks, but the Shiny Rupture has almost the same MAG, 3 attacks and an element. Now leave the room and keep going left for a chest with a Noble Elixir, and that's all for the lower hall. Ignore the middle path up here, and instead go back to the right and go up to the middle hall from here, next to the seal. Go to the upper path. Again, just rooms up. The first one has the yellow seal. Both jars off the circle here. Push the lower one to the circle, then crystallize it. Crystallized jars won't move when you stop touching them. Now just step on the other one to make it go down and the yellow seal is gone. The second room has a chest that spawns enemies when opened on the left. Inside it is an Expert's Experience. Now go left for the next part of the hall, with another Silver Dragon. The first room up has 3 chests, all with gas traps. Inside you'll find a Holy Crystal, an Union Plume and a Silver Plate, a good armor for Light and Heavy Warriors, but not better than the Mithril Plate. The next and final room has a bag with a Double-check on top of the bookcase on the right. Leave the room and keep going left for a chest with an explosion trap and another Foolproof Talisman. Take the middle path down now. You'll be on top of the main hall, with a jar to the left. Jump on it, then wait until it touches the floor. Jump off, but crystallize it soon. Now quickly go right and push the other jar to the circle. If the first jar breaks the crystal, crystallize it again. Crystallize the one you're pushing too if you need to jump to crystallize the other. Just repeat this until both are in the circle. Now go right all the way until you reach a save point. Boss in the next room. Divine race only, no resistance or weakness to fire, but resists the other elements. All elements except fire and darkness are used, so the Mithril Plate is a very good armor. Having the Holy Light Law + Darkness Blessing + Law of Consistency setup will reduce the boss' damage a lot, too. The boss flies, so avoid attacks that hit the ground. Knockdown moves are great as they'll always result in ground bounces heres. It's an easy fight. Save and go right for the final room when you're ready. Watch the cutscene first. __Freya______________________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 65 36,000 HP | | 1,450 ATK 2,000 MAG 120 HIT 120 AVD | | Races: Divine | | Elements: Earth +20%, Fire and Darkness +50%, Lighting and Holy +80% | | Vulnerable to Faint (20%) and Frailty (100%) | | Recommended level: 42 | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 36,000 HP, 135 RDM, 150 RST | | | |Attacks: | | -Teleport: Targets self, warps to random place on the battlefield. | | -Victory Sword: Long thin range, 5 hits of high non-elemental damage to one | | character. | | -Thunder Sword: Medium wide range. Fires a bolt at the party for high | | damage. Holy and Lightning elemental. | | -Exact Emotion: Targets self. Boosts all stats by an unknown amount (50%?). | | Used once when under 70% HP. | | -Frigid Damsel: Ice spell, 3 hits of high damage to party, causes freeze. | | -Earth Grave: Earth spell, high damage on party. Causes Faint. | | -Prismatic Missile: Holy spell. Very high damage on party, small chance of | | causing several status effects. | | -Ether Strike: Soul Crush, hits one character 20 times for very high damage.| | Used when under 50% HP. Ends the battle if there are | | survivors. | | | |Strategy: | | This could be an epic fight, but unfortunately the plot doesn't expect you | | to win. The fight ends once Freya uses Ether Strike, similar to the Odin | | battle. The difference is that there isn't a real battle after this. Once | | again, you can win the fight but it doesn't matter. The story doesn't | | change and you don't get experience, OTH or items. | | | | As for the fight itself, Law of Consistency blocks Exact Emotion, and Holy | | Light Law blocks Freya's ATK stat. Darkness Blessing will also reduce the | | damage from most attacks, and the Mithril Plate helps with that as well. | | | | Just get behind Freya and attack. Knockdown moves will give an instant | | ground-bounce, so you can combo for a long time getting shining gems. It's | | sad, but there really isn't much else to this battle. Just make sure you | | have two characters alive when she gets near 50% HP, as you need someone to | | survive Ether Strike. | | | | There's a long sequence of cutscenes after the fight. Watch all of them | | before you continue reading. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== 04.6 - Chapter 6: The Twisted World Tree [04600] The final Chapter begins. You'll be in a new dungeon immediately after the cutscene, preventing you from taking the final items in Valhalla for now. You'll also have two new items: the Water Mirror and, finally, the Dragon Orb. Too bad they're both just plot items and don't do anything. But, more importantly, you also have two new party members! Brahms and Hrist have joined the party. They come with the skills Dylan and Leone (respectively) had when they left and some extras. There's a lot to say about both, but let's wait a little for it. You're in the dungeon, with a spring, a save point and the exit. Just make it to the next room for another cutscene. Watch it first before you keep reading. Another new character! Now, here's the quick analysis of each one: Brahms fights with claws, but can use any armor the Heavy Warriors can. This already makes him quite durable, but his weapons have an added special effect that are really the best thing about him: they have the same healing effect as the Drainwing accessory. Meaning, whenever he attacks there's a chance that he'll heal for the same amount of damage that he dealt. This, coupled with his high HP, make him the best tank in the game, to the point that if Brahms dies it means there's something wrong with your strategy. However, perhaps to balance this, his damage multipliers are low. He can also use the Sword of the Meek (although he keeps the fists in battle), but you'd better use that with a Heavy Warrior instead since their multipliers are way higher. Finally, his Soul Crush has the highest amount of hits (21). Overall, Brahms is the ultimate tank who can deal average damage and heal himself a lot. And just like Brahms feels like a Heavy Warrior, Hrist feel like a Light Warrior, just with a different weapon (halberds). She's full of combo potential. Pushing, pulling and bouncing are things she does with ease. Stat-wise she has the highest AGL. Doesn't matter much, but if someone is dodging attacks, that someone is her. Her damage output will be higher than a Light Warrior's if she gets a comparable weapon, but she's purely non-elemental. For now she's good for variety, but not much else. She gets much better later! And finally Lenneth, a pure Light Warrior. It's a shame, but she's really not special for now, despite her higher level. She comes with lots of support spells, but only two (unnecessary) skills and weak attacks. However, gaining a few levels will make a huge difference as she starts surpassing all Light Warriors (including Alicia) in damage, and gains even more support spells. She'll eventually become the best Light Warrior for non-elemental damage, but for now she's below many others. Her initial weapon is very good though! The Glance Reviver has 350 ATK, 3 attacks and Soul Crush enabled. It should be used by any Light Warrior in the party. They all join at high levels. Lenneth comes with Heroism and Force Field (1000). Brahms comes with Victorious Vitality, Mind Lock and God Destroyer. Hrist comes with Heat Up and Cure Condition. So their new skills don't really help much, but at least they've got anything you've taught to Dylan and Leone. Also, Hrist and Brahms join with weak weapons, but you can create or find better ones. Lenneth doesn't have a weapon problem since you have lots of light swords. Anyway, now you can continue to explore the dungeon, or go back to the world map to collect some new items. There are also some items you couldn't pick up in Valhalla (in the Water Mirror room)... so there's quite a bit of stuff to do before proceeding in the final dungeon, and it's a good opportunity to teach some skills to Lenneth and raise her level a bit if you want to use her. It's up to you. If you just want to explore the dungeon and end the game, skip to section 04.6.01. If you want to pick up the new things now, just keep reading. --- Collecting Items in old places --- -Poems (tri-Emblem) Go back to Solde if you've read the 3 poems (in Solde, Dipan and Crell Monferaigne) at the right time. Check the right corner of the house with the first poem to find the tri-Emblem, a runeless accessory that gives +50% RDM and +30% AVD and RST, plus +90% Fire! This is the best way to protect from fire attacks, which usually are the most dangerous ones. -Little boy in Kalstad You can go back to Kalstad and talk to the boy who asked for money in Chapter 3 to get a weapon depending on how much money you gave him. You'll get a Sun Shower for anything between 100 and 290 OTH, and the Claiomh Solaris for anything higher than that. The Claiomh Solaris is a heavy sword with 350 ATK, 2 attacks and SC enabled. This is the best heavy sword in the main game other than the ones you get from overlevelling. You'll also find a Claiomh Solaris in the final dungeon. -Hauteclaire Go all the way back to the execution site in Dipan and check the body of a dead soldier to get this weapon, a heavy sword with 250 ATK, 2 attacks, SC enabled, Lightning elemental and Soul Crush Damage +30%. It's a good weapon, but you have better options. Feel free to ignore this. -Last treasures in Valhalla: There are 6 chests in the Water Mirror room, which you couldn't pick up before because of cutscenes and the boss fight. Go all the way back there (doesn't take long at all, it's just a straight line) to pick up the following: -Fencer's Familiarity -Archer's Aptitude -Sorcerer's Savvy -Thief's Thoughts -Ambrosia -Warrior's Wits --- Spear "Basilisk" --- Both Brahms and Hrist join with pretty weak weapons. You'll find decent weapons for both in the final dungeon, but you can also choose to create their best weapons in the main game in shops instead. Brahms' Bloody Claw isn't that great to make, as it's only 20 ATK higher than the one you'll find in the final dungeon, plus you'll need a material from one enemy there. Hrist's Basilisk though is a great weapon. It has 340 ATK, 50 HIT, -10 RDM, 2 attacks, Soul Crush enabled and a chance to petrify enemies. It's also very easy to create: all you need to collect are 3 Piercing Imprints. You can get that from: -Goat Man's right arm, Ancient Forest -Lizard Lord's weapon, Turgen Mine and Audola Temple on the Lake -Red Lizard's weapon, Surts Volcano Caverns -Satyr's right arm, Chateau Obsession All very easy by now as you should break them with just one hit anyway. Now just sell the 3 imprints, the Saint's Halberd (Hrist's initial weapon) and a Tome of Alchemy to the traveling merchant, and get your Basilisk! --- Adonis --- Back in Crawsus, Chapter 3, the walkthrough recommended ignoring a Heavy Warrior Einherjar relic because both choices were bad at the time, but that one of them would be a very good character later. Well, that time might as well be now, as Adonis should join near level 48 with all the high level characters you got automatically at the beginning of this chapter. Once Adonis reaches level 48, he'll have the same attacks as Zunde and a slighty lower STR, but higher HP. The only thing stopping him from being better than Zunde is the lack of skills, but if you're planning on using Lenneth you'll have to teach her skills anyway. Adonis is a great contribution to the party once he gets the good attacks. A second Zunde can never be a bad thing. --- Achromatic Law --- Another thing that was recommended to be left for later, the Achromatic Law Sealstone is very important for the rest of the game if you plan on using elemental attacks. Of course, you can just ignore it if you don't. The sealstone costs 4000 crystals to restore. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.6.01 - The final dungeon [04601] --- Tower of Lezard Valeth --- -Items: Ether Shield, Bloody Nails, Supreme Crown, Sage's Arcanum, Lunar Bardiche, Robe of Bryttain, Double-check, Claiomh Solaris, Goddess Tincture, Magic Bangle, Reflect Armor, Foolproof Talisman, Noble Elixir, Elhanan's Fingertips -Sealstones: Desperate Soldier Law, Unprepared Castle Law, Six Elements Blessing -Enemies: Type 44 Demon (Demon, Unholy, Magic), Pyrohydra (Giant, Scaled), Elder Bat (Beast), Undead Master (Magic), Prism Jewel (Magic), EMETH (no race), Rotting Demon (Demon, Unholy), Nymph (Magic), Gigantic Dragon (Dragon, Scaled), Baphomet (Demon, Beast), Elder Vampire (Unholy, Magic), Paragriffon (Giant, Beast) -Mini-bosses: Slight Devil x4 (Demon), Gigantic Troll (Giant), Slop (Giant, Unholy, Plant), Lord Bat (Unholy, Beast) x3 + Vampire Lord (Unholy, Magic), Castle Fort x2 (Giant, Beast) -Re-fightable Boss: none -Overview: The final dungeon is actually quite simple, except for battles. Some battles here don't have a leader, so you'll have to kill all enemies to win. This can be problematic if there are too many enemies. Don't be afraid to run if things get out of control. There are 4 different battlefields here, and there are transfer spots in the first and third ones. Be very careful when exploring those areas. It's easy to make enemies fall off, but it's also easy to fall off yourself, either because of the attack's animation or the enemy pushing you. Remember, there's no way to gain protection from this kind of transfer. As for the battles themselves, instant-breaking still helps against many enemies, but elements don't. This is because of the Six Elements Blessing sealstone, affecting the whole dungeon with it's +20% resistance to all elements effect. You can't reach it until much later, but a good way to counter that is setting Achromatic Law in the first Dais you see. Enemies to look out for: More old enemies here. All elements are used in this dungeon, including Holy. Make sure your tank has the tri-Emblem equipped to make Fire harmless. Some enemies (Type 44 Demon, Undead Master) can cause Doom as well, which is pretty dangerous. Have a stock of Nectar Potions to fight them. The Rotting Demons often use Reflect Sorcery, which is a new attack for enemies and very dangerous for your Sorcerers. Watch out. The Pyrohydra (same type as the Hydra in Crawsus) has only one spawn point, near the end of the dungeon. It's not really dangerous and very easy to kill, but rare. Good item drops: Demon's Right Arm: Runeless accessory that gives a chance of causing Paralysis, Silence, Poison, Freeze, Confusion, Stone, Faint and/or Silence Stone when attacking. Pretty much the same as casting Prismatic Missile. Break the Rotting Demon's right arm to get it. Instant-breaking works. Rune Greaves: Greaves for Archers and Light/Heavy Warriors with 30 RDM. The best in the main game, break the Elder Vampire's legs to get it. You can also create it in Solde, but it's easier to get it here. Bone Mask: If you missed this back in Yggdrasil you can get it here. Just break either part of the Undead Master's head. Instant-breaking works and the chances are good (30%). Tathlum: Strong bow with 280 ATK, 3 attacks and innate Demon Slayer, but no Soul Crush. Break the Baphomet's bow for this. It's a good weapon, but Blue Gale + Demon Destroyer will take care of demons much more easily, not to mention it's a rare item (15% drop chance). Wild Chalice: Another bow. Easier to get, but less useful: 340 ATK, 1 attack, SO enabled and innate Unholy Purifier. Same comments apply. Get it by Direct Assaulting the Pyrohydra. Helgi's Sword: Light sword. Get it by breaking the Nymph's head, but the drop rate is very low (15%). This weapon has 380 ATK, 2 attacks and immunity to Confusion, but no Soul Crush. It also has a chance of confusing the enemy, which is actually pretty good. The Glance Reviver is better if the enemy resists Confusion though. Caduceous: Staff with 340 MAG, 10 RDM, 20 RST and GM enabled. Just break Type 44 Demon's staff to get it. Instant-breaking works, but the drop rate is only 15% again. This is only 20 MAG behind the best main game weapon for Sorcerers, so it's actually worth the trouble. Just stick to this one. -Dungeon walkthrough: The first area isn't too dangerous except for the transfer spots in the battlefield. The Spring is in the first room -- pick your favorite sealstones, as you should be used to making good setups now. The only difference here is that you shouldn't use elements. Go up to the second room. There's a Shell on the left, but it's empty. Just go right for the next room, then go down. You'll find a mini-boss protecting a Dais. It's the Slight Devil, a Demon that looks like the Living Armor enemy. It's immune to all elements until you break it's armor. Breaking it's spear causes it to cast Dark Savior. There are 4 of them in the fight, and no leader. No good items either. Keep going right now for the Dais, with the Desperate Soldier Law sealstone. This one gives a x1.5 ATK bonus, but prevents healing in battle. Same as the Frailty status. Personally I don't like this one, as no healing on everyone is a big deal, but it's a good sealstone. Carry it if you feel safe with it. If not, at least take it back to the Shell in the previous room. If you like elements, put Achromatic Law in this Dais. Now you can use elemental attacks freely here. Go back to the previous room. Go all the way to the right for a treasure chest with a gas trap and the Ether Shield. It's for Heavy Warriors only for now, with 75 RDM and 20% chance of blocking attacks. Great if you don't have the Miracle Guard. Go up to the next room, then left twice. You'll reach another mini-boss. The Gigantic Troll is the game's last troll. Still the same deal: Giant race, attack from behind to avoid all attacks, use Frailty if you need to stop it's healing. There are also 2 Giant Bats and 2 Rotting Devils in the fight. The troll is the leader though. Feel free to push it off the battlefield if the healing bothers you and you don't have a way to cause Frailty. Now ignore the path up and go left for two chests. Both with gas traps, and the Bloody Nails and Supreme Crown. The Bloody Nails is a great weapon for Brahms, only 20 points weaker than the Bloody Claw. The Supreme Crown can be used by anyone and has 20 RDM, 40 MAG. Good for elemental attackers. Now take the path up and you'll get past the first area in the "tower". There's no transfer spot in the battlefield of the second area. Begin by going right to the next room, then down. There's a chest on the left here with an arrow trap and a Sage's Arcanum. Go down again for another Dais blocked by another mini-boss, the Slop. Same deal as the Primordial Ooze way back in Chapter 2. Races are Giant, Plant and Unholy. Have protection from Earth and use a Nectar Potion at the start of th fight to prevent the Poison from Washout once it gets low on HP. The Dais has the Unprepared Castle Law Sealstone, which doubles RDM but prevents using the battle menu... which doesn't mean anything for the enemies but is a large penalty for you. So you'll want to deactivate this, and there's a Shell nearby. Just carry it for now. Now go back to the first room of this new area and go down through the exit on the left. There's a chest on the right (gas trap) with the Lunar Bardiche, a weapon for Hrist with 2 attacks, 350 ATK and 50 MAG. It's better than the Basilisk if you're using Psychosoma... but since it's not an elemental weapon it's not a very good reason to use the skill. So, use the Basilisk if you have it. To the left is a Dais. Leave Unprepared Castle Law here, then take the path down. Go all the way right here for a chest (and an arrow trap). Inside is the Robe of Bryttain, for Archers and Sorcerers. Highest RDM for them in the main game, plus 40 RST and +50% Holy, but -20% Darkness. The Phoenix Garb is better if you've got it though, due to the innate Regenerate Health and Fire protection. It's only 10 RDM behind the Robe of Bryttain anyway. Go up to the next room. Here you'll find a Spring, a save point and another mini-boss... the fourth already: 3 Lord Bats (Unholy, Beast) and a Vampire Lord (Unholy, Magic). Pick Unholy Purifier if you have to choose, as it will affect everything. Nothing really new with either enemy, just use a Nectar Potion to prevent Freeze with Glacial Blizard. Once the Vampire Lord gets low on HP it might use Metamorph, which makes the vampire transform in 3 Lord Bats. One of these is the Leader, but won't be marked as such. Save after the fight and go up to the third area of the dungeon. There are transfer spots in the battlefield here again. There's also an item on the top left of the room. Use the crawling enemy to reach it. It's a Double-check (careful with the explosion trap). Now take the path up. The final Dais and the final mini-boss. First go all the way to the right for a chest with an arrow trap and the Claiomh Solaris, a heavy sword. It's the same you could have gotten from the boy in Kalstad, but having 2 is nice. Now go left for the boss: 2 Castle Forts, the same enemy type as the Ballistic Rhino, the game's first boss. Races are Beast and Giant. No leader, so you have to kill both... or just transfer them. The final Dais has the Six Elements Blessing Sealstone, which is giving +20% resistance to all elements to all enemies. Hold or restore (2000 crystals) this one! It's a pretty good one, and will help against all remaining bosses. Now go left to the next room. No items here, so just take the path down. Now go right for one room, then all the way to the right. There's a chest here with an arrow trap and a Goddess Tincture. Going up here only takes you back to the entrance of this area, so go back left all the way. There's a path up with a light on the top, which is where you need to go, but there's a major boss there. Two actually, but it's a single fight. One of the bosses only uses Attacks (Holy and Lightning elemental), but is always fully healed after attacking or being attacked. This means you either have to kill the boss in one combo or prevent the healing. You could leave Desperate Soldier Law in a Dais, or cause Frailty (Arngrim's Wild Break), or... just transfer the boss out of the battlefield. This boss doesn't leave items, so you're only missing experience and OTH. Races are Unholy and Divine. The second boss only uses spells. Earth, Ice, Lightning and Darkness. Lots of status effects, so have a Nectar Potion ready. Six Elements Blessing takes care of the damage, and you can equip Mirror Fragments or Shell Shades and use Reflect Sorcery. Races are Unholy and Magic. Go up when you're ready. Watch the scene first, then keep reading. __Homunculus Silmeria & Homunculus Lezard____________________________________ | | |Homunculus Silmeria: | | Lv 59 36,000 HP 400,000 exp 3,500 OTH | | 2,800 ATK 1,800 MAG 120 HIT 40 AVD | | Races: Unholy, Divine | | Elements: Fire -20%, Earth +20%, other elements +50% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis (100%), Silence (100%), Poison (100%), Freeze(100%),| | Faint (50%) and Frailty (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 36,000 HP, 40 RDM, 120 RST | | | | Attacks: | | -(Stab): Short frontal range, 1 hit of high damage to 1 or 2 characters. | | -Disintegrate: Long frontal range, 1 hit of average Holy and Lightning | | elemental damage to 2 or 3 characters. | | -Terror Voice: Medium circular range, 1 hit of low Holy damage to party. | | -(Passive Healing): Full HP heal automatically after attacking or getting | | attacked. | | | | _______________________________________ | | | |Homunculus Lezard: | | Lv 62 72,000 HP 700,000 exp 17,500 OTH | | 1,900 ATK 1,700 MAG 100 HIT 100 AVD | | Races: Unholy, Magic | | Elements: Fire -20%, Ice, Lightning and Darkness +50%, Earth +80% | | Vulnerable to Paralysis (20%), Freeze (50%), Stone (20%) and Faint (50%) | | Drop Item: Rune Greaves (100%) | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 72,000 HP, 110 RDM, 250 RST | | | | Attacks: | | -Frigid Damsel: Frontal range, ice elemental spell. 3 hits of low damage to | | party, causes Freeze. | | -Glacial Blizzard: Frontal range, ice elemental spell. 5 hits of low damage | | to party, causes Freeze. | | -Poison Blow: Medium cone-shaped range, high magical Earth damage. Causes | | Poison. | | -Thunder Storm: Large circular range. 7 hits of high magical Lightning | | damage. Can cause Paralysis. | | -Lightning Bolt: Medium cone-shaped range, 6 hits of high magical Lightning | | damage. Can cause Paralysis. | | -Earth Grave: Medium circular range, high magical Earth damage. Causes | | Faint. | | -Dark Savior: Medium frontal range. 3 hits of average Darkness damage. | | -Dampen Magic: Wide frontal range, causes Silence on one character. | | | |Recommended level: 45 | | | |Strategy: | | This is a very simple fight for the final dungeon. Both bosses have low | | damage and take a long time to act, so the only possible difficulty here is | | Silmeria's healing. You can cause Frailty to prevent it, but you should be | | quite capable of killing her in a single combo at this point with Soul | | Crushes. | | | | Or you could transfer both bosses by pushing them off the battlefield. You | | won't get experience this way, but since you won't miss any important items | | it's not a big loss, and certainly a good choice if you have trouble getting| | past her healing. | | | | Watch the cutscene after the battle ends before you keep reading. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Silmeria will join now. Unfortunately she's not particularly good here, although she can be useful in the bonus dungeon. She's an Archer, and has the same attacks as the Einherjar -- Flame Shot, Aiming Wisp, etc. She joins with the Crescent Arrow, a unique and decent bow with 300 ATK and 10 RST, but only 2 attacks. SC enabled though. You'll find a better bow soon, but this is pretty good anyway. She also joins with the Fairy Garb! Now you're in the fourth and final area of the dungeon, with no transfer spots in the battlefield again. There's a save point here, so use it. Go up to the next room, then take the path up again to reach a long room that you can't climb yet. Just open the chest on the left now for the third and last Magic Bangle (careful with the arrow trap), then go back down to the previous room. Take the path down on the right now. Now just follow the only path until you reach a Spring and another save point. There's another boss up ahead, and it's a bit harder. This one only uses spells as well, but no Ice this time: Fire instead. Keep carrying Six Elements Blessing. That plus the tri-Emblem will make one character immune to Fire, and armor like the Mithril Plate, Fairy Garb and Pheonix Garb are good choices as well. Reflect Sorcery and Chaotic Rune are great spells to use. Mirror Fragments and Shell Shades can be used instead of Reflect Sorcery if you don't want to use a Sorcerer. Have a Nectar Potion as well. Go up and watch the cutscene. __Lezard Valeth______________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 62 72,000 HP 1,000,000 exp 17,500 OTH | | 1,900 ATK 1,750 MAG 100 HIT 100 AVD | | Races: Magic | | Elements: Holy +20%, other elements +80% | | Vulnerable to Freeze (50%) and Faint (50%) | | Leader Item: Tome of Alchemy | | Recommended level: 46 | | | | Body Parts: | | -Body (vital): 72,000 HP, 110 RDM, 250 RST | | | |Attacks: | | -Fire Storm: Frontal range, fire elemental spell. Very high damage to two or| | 3 characters. | | -Thunder Storm: Large circular range. 7 hits of high magical Lightning | | damage. Can cause Paralysis. | | -Poison Blow: Medium cone-shaped range, high magical Earth damage. Causes | | Poison. | | -Dark Savior: Medium frontal range. 3 hits of average Darkness damage. | | -Dampen Magic: Wide frontal range, causes Silence on one character. | | -Animate Earth (Great Magic): Very large circular range. High Fire elemental| | magic damage on all characters. Used when | | below 50% HP. | | | |Strategy: | | Lezard only uses spells and his damage isn't that high, but he moves and | | turns really fast. This can be a problem when you run out of AP. A good | | strategy here is to split up the party and leave the tri-Emblem user in | | front of Lezard. Use Chaotic Rune or Reflect Sorcery to reduce the damage | | done to this character. This way the characters on the back will only be hit| | by Thunder Storm and Animate Earth, and you should always have enough AP to | | attack. | | | | Don't forget to use a Nectar Potion to prevent the status effects. Silence | | shouldn't be a big problem, but Paralysis is dangerous. Once Lezard starts | | casting Animate Earth there's no simple way to avoid it, but everyone should| | have some nice protection from Fire anyway. | | | | This is an easy fight, since spells are all you have to worry about. Watch | | the cutscene after the battle before you continue reading. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ The sisters are gone, but left their equipment behind. You'll still have a full party anyway, with Alicia, Rufus, Brahms and Arngrim at the very least. The path back up is also gone, so you'll have to take an alternate route to the top of the tower. You've also been sent 2 screens back. Go back up for the save point and Spring if you can, then down when you're ready. Now go back to the room where you got the Magic Bangle. If you don't remember, it's the path up to the left side of the room, then up again. There are enemies here now, so you can use them to go up. The first walking enemy you see in this room is the only one that can spawn the Pyrohydra. Remember, it's a rare enemy. Just use the enemy here to reach the higher platforms. Don't use the flying one yet, then fall left to a ledge with the Reflect Armor (gas trap). The Mithril Plate is still better. Now go back up, past the two flying enemies. Go right and you'll find a chest with an explosion trap and a Foolproof Talisman on the way. Fall right from this chest and you'll reach another ledge with the final chests in the dungeon, with a Noble Elixir (arrow trap) and the Elhanan's Fingertips (explosion trap). This is a bow with 300 ATK, 3 attacks and SC enabled, plus innate Giant Killer. It's a great bow, but others (Blue Gale, Supreme Crossbow, Shiny Rupture) can be better for specific setups, like elemental attacks. Now just go back up to the top of the room and take the path up to find the game's final save point. Make sure you save here, then load your save. Doing this makes two things happen. First, and not very important, the Einherjar will stop giving their old rewards. You can get new items by talking to them now. Here's a full list: Mithra (Lost Forest): Holy Water of Mithra Celes (Villnore): 300,000 OTH Sha-Kon (Kythena Plains): Robe of Bryttain Phyress (Solde): 300,000 OTH Zunde (Coriander): Goddess Pendant Seluvia (Audoula Temple on the Lake): Tome of Alchemy Falx (Villnore): Expert's Experience Atrasia (Crell Monferaigne): Earth Gem Gerald (Ancient Forest): Goddess Tincture Crescent (Forest of Spirits): 10 OTH The Robe of Bryttain, Goddess Pendant, Tome of Alchemy and Expert's Experience are good items, although nothing in the list is overly special. The Holy Water of Mithra is barely useful now, since 10,000 damage isn't much to important enemies anymore. The second and most important result of loading a save from the final save point is unlocking the Seraphic Gate, the bonus dungeon. Just go back to the world map and it will appear in the western region. The Seraphic Gate is full of powerful items, sealstones, characters and enemies, but you're NOT supposed to go there before finishing the main story. The Seraphic Gate isn't part of the story, and spoils things you haven't seen yet, not to mention the game makes fun of itself often in there. It's highly recommended, by the game itself, that you finish the game first. Then you can just load your save and go to the Gate. Enemies and bosses in the Gate are harder, so there's no point in going there to make the final boss easier either. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.6.02 - The final battles [04602] Before you go fight the bosses, make sure you have a full stock of the necessary items: Nectar Potions, Might/Spell/Guard Potions, Overdrives, Charge Breaks, Witch's Arcanum, Spirit Tinctures, etc. Some characters with skills like Double/Triple Edge, Spirit Control and Heat Up are a great help as well. Also make sure Alicia has the basic skills like Fists of Iron, Mental Boost, Psychosoma and so on. Magician Slayer is also very important. Don't bother learning Toughness... or Observation and Mind Lock if you like those. And yes, do this even if you don't like/use Alicia. If you have any Expert's Experience left, don't use them now. Now you have to pick which Sealstones you're going to use. If you're planning to use elemental attacks, put Achromatic Law in a Dais and hold Holy Blessing. Do this even if you're not currently using any Holy attacks. Don't carry any other elemental Blessing. For non elemental attacks, ignore this and just focus on ATK. Make sure you're carrying Six Elements Blessing regardless of which attacks you want to use. What you set in Daises doesn't matter much other than Achromatic Law. All elements will be used, but Earth and Ice are less dangerous. You can set Earth or Ice Blessing in the Daises to reduce the Lightning and Fire attacks. If not, just put Chasm Wrath, Masochist Wrath... anything like that. There's only one projectile attack, so Stone Hurler Wrath is a good choice to make the boss slower as well. For armor, Mithril Plates and Fairy Garbs are still great. Elements and a few spells are used a lot. This isn't a good enough reason to use Mirror Fragments or Shell Shades this time though, as spells aren't the main danger in the fight. You'll also want a dedicated damage dealer. Make sure this character has everything you can give him to increase his damage and a knockdown move. Heavy Warriors with Sweep Dive are the best at this. Your other characters should be strong as well, but focus all you can on this character. Bloody Patch, Bone Mask, Dragon Rib, Power Bangles, Magician Slayer, anything you have. The other characters should keep more balanced setups, nothing out of the ordinary. Heal and save before you head up. Just follow the only path here until you reach the boss. __Transcendental Being_______________________________________________________ | | | Lv 63 90,000 HP | | 2,100 ATK 1,900 MAG 100 HIT 100 AVD | | Races: Magic | | Elements: Holy +20%, other elements +80% | | Immune to all status effects | | Recommended level: 47 | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head: 9,000 HP, 110 RDM, 280 RST | | -Cape: 13,500 HP, 110 RDM, 280 RST | | -Body (vital): 90,000 HP, 110 RDM, 280 RST | | -Arms (2): 4,500 HP, 110 RDM, 280 RST | | -Legs (2): 4,500 HP, 110 RDM, 280 RST | | | |Attacks: | | -Teleportation: Targets self, teleports to a random spot on the battlefield.| | Used as a counterattack. | | -(Book Attack): Short frontal range, 5 hits of average Holy damage on the | | party. | | -Gungnir: Long frontal range, throws Gugnir on party for two hits of average| | Holy and Lightning damage. | | -Rebellious Repent: Very long, narrow frontal range. Two hits of Holy damage| | on the party for high damage. Teleports to a random spot| | after the attack. Used when under 30% HP. | | -Indifferent Judgment: Huge circular range, covers most of the battlefield. | | Three hits of very high Holy damage on the party. | | Teleports to a random spot after the attack. Used | | when under 30% HP. | | -Powerful Name: Wide frontal range. Low damage on party, but causes Doom. | | Used when under 20% HP. | | -Fire Storm: Frontal range, fire elemental spell. Very high damage to two or| | 3 characters. | | -Frigid Damsel: Frontal range, ice elemental spell. 3 hits of low damage to | | party, causes Freeze. | | -Poison Blow: Medium cone-shaped range, high magical Earth damage. Causes | | Poison. | | -Lightning Bolt: Medium cone-shaped range, 6 hits of high magical Lightning | | damage. Can cause Paralysis. | | -Dark Savior: Medium frontal range. 3 hits of average Darkness damage. | | -Animate Earth (Great Magic): Large circular range. High Fire elemental | | magic damage on all characters. Used when | | below 50% HP. | | | |Strategy: | | Lezard is a monster. He's currently so powerful that your characters can | | barely hurt him -- all damage dealt to Lezard will be divided by 10. | | Fortunately you don't need to beat him now, only break the crystal in the | | middle of the room. If you do beat Lezard you'll get the same results. The | | story continues as if you had just broken the crystal. | | | | But breaking the crystal (50,000 HP) isn't easy either, as Lezard is keeping| | a barrier up protecting it from all attacks. Anything that hits the crystal | | will also deal only 1/10 damage as long as that barrier is up. To bring the | | barrier down you'll need to stun Lezard, and to do that you need to deal | | 1000 damage total to him. | | | | So you'll want to deal as close to 1,000 damage as possible on Lezard using | | very little AP. Make sure your strongest character has Might Reinforce cast | | on him (maybe with Sap Guard or Chaotic Rune on Lezard) and attack from | | behind. If you can't deal high damage with one character just attack with | | the whole party. Keep an eye on the damage you're dealing, and stop | | attacking once you're sure it's over 1,000. Lezard will be stunned | | temporarily, which should give you enough time to bash the crystal and deal | | some serious damage to it. If you don't have much AP left after stunning | | Lezard just use a Charge Break. It's very important that you have enough AP | | to bring the crystal's HP down as much as possible in one combo. | | | | But, of course, it's not that simple, as Lezard will be hitting you with his| | powerful attacks while you're trying to stun him. He still moves and turns | | fast, so getting out of his attack ranges is often hard. Powerful Name, | | Indifferent Judgment and Rebellious Repent are very dangerous attacks, but | | you shouldn't even see them in this battle as the crystal should be gone way| | before that. You should only face the book attack, Gungnir and the spells | | here. Gugnir is rather dangerous because of the long range, but the book | | shouldn't be a problem. Use a Nectar Potion as always to avoid the status | | effects. | | | | The crystal can also be hit by splash damage, so you can attack Lezard | | through it or make Lezard attack you through it and the crystal will be | | damaged. This isn't recommended though, as the damage is just too low. Focus| | on stunning Lezard and then attack the crystal -- this is all you need to do| | here. | | | | Again, watch the scenes first before you keep reading. | | | _____________________________________________________________________________ Alicia is gone... or rather, became a new character: Valkyrie. Don't worry, Valkyrie is a much better character, unless you gave too many stat-boosting items to Alicia. Valkyrie will be level 55, regardless of Alicia's level, and will always have the Toughness, Observation and Mind Lock skills, plus anything else Alicia knew. Her attacks are also the same, but her non-elemental damage is 10% lower. To compensate for that, Valkyrie has 0.3 Holy damage per hit in all attacks, making her a very strong elemental attacker. She also has +20% protection to all elements! Valkyrie is also the only character who can deal full damage to Lezard. Everyone else will still have their damage divided by 10, which means they'll have more of a supporting role in this battle. Skills like Double/Triple Edge and Heat Up will help a lot for Soul Crush chains. Since damage doesn't matter much you can add the Sun Shower and Doublecross weapons as well if you're using Light Warriors or Archers. Use multi-hit attacks as well, of course. Also make sure you release any Einherjar you're not going to use! This is the final battle, so there's no reason to hold back. Give them the best equipment you're not using, and then give all the stat-boosters to Valkyrie! As for Valkyrie herself, she comes with a bunch of great equipment. Just give her the Mithril Plate instead, and she'll have 60% protection to most elements. Either set her up as an elemental attacker or just boost her ATK. Use your Expert's Experiences on her to level her up, and she might get a new attack. Mirage Pierce is a better choice for the fight than Imperious Act. She's your ONLY attacker in the fight, so make sure she's up to the task. One last thing of note: if you do beat Lezard without Valkyrie in the party there will be a small change in one cutscene in the ending. This ISN'T a new ending, it ISN'T a better ending, it ISN'T a change in the story because Valkyrie didn't fight and it ISN'T recommended. This is meant to be a challenge, and will only be frustrating if you try it now. It's recommended that you finish the game now using Valkyrie, do the Seraphic Gate and then come back with stronger characters and equipment to beat Lezard without Valkyrie easily. There's no point in doing it before you see the "normal" cutscene anyway, since you won't even know what was the difference. Make sure you're ready before you leave the menu. Check Valkyrie's equipment, attacks and skills! __Anarchic Entity____________________________________________________________ | | | Lv 65 100,000 HP | | 2,200 ATK 2,000 MAG 132 HIT 122 AVD | | Races: Magic | | Elements: All elements +80% | | Immune to all status effects | | Recommended level: any | | | | Body Parts: | | -Head: 10,000 HP, 130 RDM, 200 RST | | -Cape: 15,000 HP, 130 RDM, 200 RST | | -Body (vital): 100,000 HP, 130 RDM, 200 RST | | -Arms (2): 5,000 HP, 130 RDM, 200 RST | | -Legs (2): 5,000 HP, 130 RDM, 200 RST | | | |Attacks: | | -Teleportation: Targets self, teleports to a random spot on the battlefield.| | -(Book Attack): Short frontal range, 5 hits of average Holy and Darkness | | damage on the party. | | -Gungnir: Long frontal range, throws Gugnir on party for two hits of average| | Holy, Darkness and Lightning damage. | | -Rebellious Repent: Very long, narrow frontal range. Two hits of Holy and | | Darkness damage on the party for high damage. Teleports | | to a random spot after the attack. Used when under 60% | | HP. | | -Indifferent Judgment: Huge circular range. Three hits of very high Holy and| | Darkness damage on the party. Teleports to a random | | spot after the attack. Used when under 40% HP. | | -Powerful Name: Wide frontal range. Low damage on party, but causes Doom. | | Used when under 60% HP. | | -Explosion: Medium circular range, Fire spell on party. High damage. | | -Glacial Blizzard: Frontal range, ice elemental spell. 5 hits of low damage | | to party, causes Freeze. | | -Earth Grave: Medium circular range, average magical Earth damage. Causes | | Faint. | | -Thunder Storm: Circular range. Lightning spell, average damage. Chance of | | causing Paralysis. | | -Dark Savior: Medium frontal range. 3 hits of average Darkness damage. | | -Meteor Swarm (Great Magic): Large circular range. Very high Fire elemental | | magic damage on all characters. Used when | | below 50% HP. | | | |Strategy: | | Even stronger than before, except now Lezard has an opponent who is more | | than a match to him. Other than gaining the Darkness element in all of his | | Attacks and trading attack spells for Menu Spells, Lezard also gained a new | | Great Magic and will now start using his unique and powerful attacks | | earlier. He's also faster. | | | | Powerful Name is a very dangerous attack with 100% chance of causing Doom. | | Make sure you use a Nectar Potion as soon as the battle starts to make this | | attack useless! Rebellious Repent isn't much stronger than Gugnir, but the | | range is much larger and Lezard teleports to a random spot on the | | battlefield after using it. He does the same on Indifferent Judgment, and | | it's even worse because not only is that attack stronger, the range is HUGE.| | Lezard can often enter a very cheesy loop where he uses only Indifferent | | Judgment or Rebellious Repent, warping far away from you afterwards. By the | | time you catch up to him he'll be ready to use it again and warp to the | | other side of the battlefield again. | | | | To make things worse, Lezard can also use Rebellious Repent or Indifferent | | Judgment as counterattacks, so not only will you miss, you'll also take | | high damage and have to cross the whole battlefield to reach him. Make sure | | you avoid this by always attacking him from behind, only, even if you have | | the chance to attack him from the front. | | | | Meteor Swarm though isn't a very dangerous attack, since it's entirely | | fire elemental and you have plenty of protection from that now. tri-Emblem, | | Six Elements Blessing, Ice Blessing, Mithril Plates, Fairy