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| Boss Rush Mode Boss Strategies (Soma) |
There are now two available strategies. The strategies only differ on some bosses (Manticore, Great Armor and Big Golem). The Blocking Mail strategy is faster (by about one second) but it will work only about once every ten tries (if it misses you'll die on the Great Armor and have to try again). The Regular strategy is a bit slower but has no real random factor. If you can complete the regular strategy almost once every two or three tries then you can consider going for the Blocking Mail one... If not I recommend you stay with the Regular one
Before you start
Start the game that you will use for the Boss Rush (the game where you have all the required equipment and souls). In the save room, equip the Claim Solais, the Chaos Ring and the Demon's Mail. Activate the Red Minotaur, Black Panther and Iron Golem souls.
Now save your game, return to the main menu. From now on, this will be your starting equipment every time you start the Boss Rush.
1) Creeking Skull
HP 240/ MP 259
As soon as you enter the room, dash to the right with the Black Panther (from now on dashing will always mean with the Black Panther). Jump in front of the Skeleton and hit it once while in the air while still moving to the right at max speed. You'll go through it and take damage but won't be knocked back thanks to the Iron Golem soul. As soon as you are behind it, switch to the Lubicant soul and drink the Spoiled Milk (items). You'll have 1 HP and the Lubicant will almost double your STR. While still dashing, jump and in the air use the RM soul on the Creaking Skull (that should now be behind you). One swing will kill it. Dash to the exit.
2) Manticore
HP 440/ MP 1500
(Blocking Mail strategy)
When entering the room, double jump over the Manticore (while dashing) and when you're past it cast a RM. If the RM hits both the head and the tail it will die in one swing (be careful because once you're past it the Manticore will turn to face right). Hitting both targets is quite hard but possible. Dash to the exit.
(Regular strategy)
When entering the room, switch back to the Iron Golem soul, eat the Tasty Meat to regain some HP and equip the Ascalon sword for a couple of STR points (which will make all the difference). Now dash through the Manticore and when you're past it, jump and use the RM (like on the Creaking Skull). It will die in one swing. Keep dashing to the next boss.
3) Great Armor
HP 650/ MP 999
(Blocking Mail strategy)
You'll enter the room with 1HP. Switch to Lightning Doll and equip the Blocking Mail. Dash jump through the Great Armor while casting a Lightning Doll. If you're lucky, the Blocking Mail will absorb the damage and you'll pass through the Great Armor. If you're not, you'll die... When on the other side switch to Red Minotaur. Jump and cast a RM in the air (so that it doesn't slow you down). The first swing should kill the Armor, keep dashing to the exit.
(Regular strategy)
Upon entering the room, equip the Claim Solais back. Dash-jump through the Armor while hitting it once with the CS. However, if you swing your RM now, it won't die... So as soon as you're past it, go to the menu and activate the Lubicant and Great Armor souls (isn't that just ironic to use its soul against it :)). Unpause the game and press L to use the Great Armor soul, use the RM. You don't need the Great Armor soul for both swings of the RM, so as soon as the first hits, switch back to the Black Panther soul and start dashing to the exit while the second swing kills the Armor.
4) Man Eater
HP 666/ HP 666
The Man Eater isn't even a real boss of the game, and here, it's a real joke. Simply run through it (it can't hurt you while the worms aren't out) and wait for the appropriate time to use the RM. One swing will kill all the worms so make sure you use it at the right time because if you use it too early you might miss the leftmost worm.
5) Big Golem
HP 1200/ MP 1200
(Blocking Mail strategy)
You'll start with 1HP. Eat the Tasty Meat (you'll have 291HP) and un-equip all armors (to lower your DEF). Switch to Lightning Doll and Iron Golem. Now jump through the Golem while casting the Lightning Doll. It'll deal 105 dmg. When on the other side, switch to Great Armor, Red Minotaur, equip the Demon's Mail and eat the Rotten Meat (to have 1HP again). Cast a Red Minotaur. During the first swing, activate the Great Armor soul, then switch to the Black Panther and dash to the exit while the second swing kills the Golem.
(Regular strategy)
The Big Golem is an interesting boss because I have tried a lot of different strategies for him. The main problem is that he has a lot of HP, so we'll want to be as strong as possible to kill him is very few hits. When you enter the room, activate the Iron Golem soul and dash-jump through him while hitting once with the CS like you did for the Great Armor. When on the other side, quickly switch to the Lubicant and Great Armor souls, and eat the Rotten Meat in your items (normally you should now have 1 HP). As soon as you unpause the game, cast a RM and activate the Great Armor soul by pressing L. After the first swing connects (when the Great Armor is activated) you can switch back to the Black Panther and start dashing to the exit. The second swing will kill the Golem.
6) Head Hunter
HP 700/ HP 800 x3
The Head Hunter isn't much of a challenge (but things become really harder after him). When you enter, dash to his right and wait for the heads to stick to the body. Use the RM at the right moment so that the head dies as soon as it becomes vulnerable (there's a right timing to get, but nothing really hard). One swing of the axe will kill each of the three heads. In the American version of the game, sometimes the third head (the lizard) will be stuck in the air for a few seconds (I think it can even be stuck forever). I don't know what causes this glitch, but obviously it's very bad for your time if it happens... I haven't seen this in the European version of the game. Anyway, after you kill the third head, start dashing to the exit. The door takes some time to open, so don't jump immediately, wait for the heads in the shelf to disappear before you jump to the door.
7) Death
HP 4444/ MP 4444
Death used to be really hard with the previous techniques I had. However, when I discovered the Sky Fish soul it made things considerably easier... When you enter the room, immediately switch to the Great Armor soul, activate it, turn back and cast a RM. Death's first form should die on the second swing. Now, while the new double-bladed scythe appears quickly move to its right, switch to the Sky Fish soul and start praying. As soon as the transformation is over use the RM soul and hopefully the two swings will connect and kill Death (I know, it sounds stupid...). As soon as you see it is dead, switch back to the Black Panther and run to the door. Normally, this technique should work no matter what attack Death starts doing when the transformation is over (which is way better than the previous strategy where I died every time it didn't do the right attack...).
8) Legion
HP 5000/ MP 9999
There are a few technical details that you have to keep in mind when fighting Legion. With the Lubicant and Great Armor, Legion can die after 4 swings of the axe hit the core and three CS hits. What you want to do is connect these 4 swings in only 2 summons. However, for some reason, it seems that two consecutive RM swings can't hit Legion if you don't wait a certain ammount of time. And this time happens to be longer than the time it takes to cast a second RM after the first one. For this reason, you should wait a little time after casting a RM so that the next one can hit the core with both swings (if you cast the second RM too soon, the first swing will hit later than it should and the second swing will miss). While the axe is swinging, do your best to hit the core with the CS. My strategy is as follows:
Upon entering the room, dash to Legion (while staying left of him), switch to the Great Armor soul, turn left and cast your first RM. The two swings should hit the core. While the axe is out, jump and hit with the CS. When you land, hit a second time. The RM should have ended before you regain control. After this, you might consider waiting a fraction of second (it's hard to say how long... watch the videos, and experiment for yourself) before you cast the second RM to make sure both swings connect. While the axe is out, hit once or twice with the CS (to hit twice, do a small jump, hit while in the air and hit again when you land). Legion should die when the RM hits for the second time.
Note that the CS must hit the core for this strategy to work (I think 3 CS hits are enough, so since you can get 4, one can miss). When Legion is killed, the core rotates in the air until it's lined vertically (check it and you'll understand what I mean). If you are quick enough, you migh kill it while it's very close to the center of the room, and it should be almost lined when you kill it. This should make him die faster and the door will open sooner. Some people have already seen the door open almost immediately after the last hit (like on every other boss). However, I don't know what triggers these "quick doors" (I haven't had any myself).
9) Balore
HP 4000/ MP 4000
Like Death, Balore was a real pain when I didn't know how to kill him before he can really start his attacks. Now it's a little better but things can still go wrong... In this fight, you should have the Great Armor activated every time you hit him. If so, he'll die after 4 RM swings connect and 2 CS hit. The strategy is:
When entering dash right and jump over the left hand (I know it's *his* right hand but since it's on the left of the screen I prefer to call it left hand). When you're close to the eye (still in the air) switch to the Great Armor soul and hit once with the CS. When you hit the ground, turn around and cast a RM. While the axe is swinging, turn back, jump and hit him once with the CS (while you do so, both RM swings will hit). If your timing was good (good here will mean that it was the same as the timing I usually have), his hands will go up (it's all about when you are jumping to hit his eye, so that his hands move towards you at this moment). Wait until they are moving back, turn around and cast a second RM. The very tricky part is that often the right hand will "protect" the eye so the first RM swing won't hit... You have to wait long enough so that you're sure that both RM swings connect (and again, don't forget the Great Armor soul!). Just in case, I like to jump and hit with the CS but I'm pretty sure that the second RM should be enough. When he dies, switch to the Black Panther and dash to the final showdown.
10) Graham
HP 5000/ MP 9999
Graham isn't that bad. He has three forms. In his first form he'll teleport to somewhere in the room and shoot projectiles at you (he has 3 possible attacks). In his second form he'll move to the center of the room and have rotating balls protect him. The last form is the great ugly thing with the hands and the death ray from the ceiling. Each form can be defeated wih two swings of RM and one CS hit if you know how to do it.
For the first two forms what's important to know is that if you start your RM too soon only one swing will connect. When Graham appears, he's not vulnerable while he's still white. If you try to hit him at this moment your first swing will hit too late and the second one will miss. Check the videos if you can't kill him in one RM and a CS hit. Both first forms work the same way. As for the third one, the secret is to pray with the Sky Fish soul while he's transforming and he'll die very quickly.
The detailed strategy is as follows:
Upon entering the room, switch to the Great Armor soul. Wait until you see where he will appear, go in RM-range and face away from him. Wait until he is vulnerable and cast the RM. While the axe is swinging jump towards him and hit him once with the CS (Great Armor soul activated all the time of course). You have to react correctly to the attack he's doing to hit him with the CS without being hit. If yout RM timing was good, he'll quickly teleport to the center of the room. Same strategy here, wait until he becomes vulnerable and cast a RM while facing away. While the axe swings jump to him and hit him with the CS (the rotating balls shouldn't be a problem since they'll barely appear).
Immediately when he starts transforming go to a safe position (meaning, not where the hands will be) in the middle and face away from the center (so that a RM can hit the center of the room). Do this as quickly as possible and when you're done switch to the Sky Fish soul. Pray for as long as you can, and when the transformation is over, cast a last RM and hit once with the CS. If done correctly, the second RM swing will kill Graham's last form, thus stopping the timer.
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