Writing a Boss Guide! Please help!

[Commander Raze]

Kaiser said the only thing I would have had to add on Legion, you can block the fire as Charlotte. xD

I have nothing to add on Legion otherwise, I have next to no experience fighting him, shit drops.

As for Beelzebub, you nailed the best way to dodge him, and for the Richter hitbox bug, its true for him and skeletons. What it is is basically, when the flies fly under the platform in one of the patterns, you might get hit anyway because your hitbox glitches over the platform or something. That's why you see skeletons randomly dying on that platform.

Only other thing to add is that some characters can use other dodging options, such as the magnes points, or you can jumpkick off of the flies as they come.

Something else Jacinda Green told me about the fight is she saw this Japanese guy jumpkicking off of Beelzebub's pelvis while blending him. He was shifting the part he was jumpkicking off of to his head and other areas when flies came. The way she described it, that seemed to be a reliable way to dodge it, I wasn't there.

[Kaiser98821]

Raze, you just reminded me of an Alucard player I saw jump kicking on the flies to avoid them (usually when they all travel in one group). I gave mad props to him, and also wondered in retrospect why I hadn't thought to do that before.

I goofed on the laser beams, but you can stand at the same place and still be safe.

[Chaos]

I'm pretty sure I've seen the lasers get fired counter clockwise. I guess this is one detail that's only gonna get clarified if I get in there and get down to it instead of doing it all on memory.

That pelvis kicking thing...I'd have to see that to believe it let alone put it in the guide.

And I have no idea how I forgot jump kicking off the flies as that's how I used to do it before the platform.

EDIT: Whoops! I forgot to add Chapter 10!

CHAPTER 10
BOSS: R. THE COUNT
SPECIAL NOTES: Like Beelzebub I'd recommend zooming out to the second biggest default camera setting. I'd like to especially stress it to you to top your health of before this battle. The elevator in the rooms leading to the R. The Count will bring you right down to an inventory book. The Count is a two phase battle. I'll be refering to him as Dracula for the sake of simplicity.
WEAKNESSES: Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark

ATTACKS - PHASE ONE:
Teleport: Dracula's mobility option of choice is, as always, teleporting.

Retro Hellfire: Dracula opens his cape and launches fire balls that start low and hook upwards. For the sake of simplifying the transition from normal to hard mode, make it a habit of standing back at a distance of about about two backdashes and hopping over instead of just jumping. Whip users, you can stay at a whip's length away to do this.

Back Slide: Unlike Chapter 6, Dracula won't stand for it if you're behind him as he teleports in. He'll slide backwards until he hits a wall and after a brief moment of invincibility transition into Retro Hellfire.

STRATEGY - PHASE ONE:
This is pretty easy stuff. Hop over Retro Hellfire at the distance I said to above, and don't get behind him. If you have the camera zoomed out where I said to you should never have any problem finding Dracula and getting in position. Just hit him in the head until his head pops of to signal the beginning of Phase Two.

HARD MODE - PHASE ONE: Remember when I told you to learn to just hop over Retro Hellfire at about two backdash's length away? Well the reason for that is on hard mode Retro Hellfire also fires one wave of fireballs diagonally upward and to the front and one wave to his back. If you outright jump the first wave of fireballs as opposed to hopping, the wave that goes diagonally will catch you in the face. I can't remember any other differences between normal and hard other than this.

ATTACKS - PHASE TWO:
Jump: Just like his second form in Chapter 6, Dracula moves around primarily by jumping in this phase. Just avoid it.

Retro Fireball Spiral: Dracula pauses before he begins to fire three spinning streams of fireballs. Get some distance and if the camera is zoomed out where I said to have it then you should have little problem predicting if you should be jumping through a gap or ducking.

Charge: Dracula hops back, flaps his wings rapidly and charges forward. This attack curves upward at the very end. Be ready to jump.

STRATEGY - PHASE TWO: What looks easy on paper is actually just another one of those battles you need to practice on. Dracula moves in a way you should be able to avoid. Just make sure you avoid Charge and to get distance so you can slip between the streams of Retro Fireball Spiral. Knowing the attacks is only half the battle. Execution is key here.

HARD MODE - PHASE TWO: I can't remember any other differences between normal and hard other than the usual stuff.

[Commander Raze]

A small detail on the count, in his second form the amount of fireballs in the spiral increases with the amount of players in the game. With 6 players, it has potential to be nasty.

[Kaiser98821]

I don't think this can be stressed enough: in multiplayer, STICK TOGETHER. If everyone is all over the room, it becomes impossible to predict what The Count will do, and not everyone has lightning fast reflexes to discern what he's doing and react accordingly.

I'm also glad you advocate hopping instead of jump kicking; the latter always seemed unnecessary, and doesn't work well in multiplayer. Yeah, I think you've got this section wrapped up nicely.

[Chaos]

Amended on the Master.

Only one task left...the crazy ass fight that is Ryukotsuki.

Then I can make a proper topic with the bosses all on the front page instead of scattered about through suggestions, reminders, and things of that sort.

[Chaos]

And here we are folks. Ryukotsuki.

CHAPTER 11
BOSS: RYUKOTSUKI
SPECIAL NOTES: Ryukotsuki is a three phase fight. You cannot access him until the stage's three mini-bosses have been slain.
WEAKNESSES: Strike, Fire, Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark

ATTACKS - PHASE ONE:

Leap: Ryukotsuki leaps in a large arc through the air without warning. Only dangerous if you're close.

Energy Blast: Ryukotsuki launches a few energy blasts. Dispelled by attacks. Jump or attack the energy to avoid.

Teleport: Surprise, surprise. A multi-phase fight with a teleport. Behaves just like the teleport of R. The Count excepts Ryukotsuki doesn't pause for a moment after the teleport is done and will get right back into the fray.

STRATEGY - PHASE ONE: Ryukotsuki is actually a real pushover this round. He's not terribly hard to dodge and his attacks are pitiful. Put down the hurt until he explodes and transforms for round two.

HARD MODE - PHASE ONE: Handle it just like you did on Normal.


ATTACKS - PHASE TWO:

Poison Knives: The only attack in Ryukotsuki's arsenal of phase two but if you let yourself get hit you're going to feeling it for awhile as it inflicts a poison that felt unusually long to me. Clarification would be desired here if you have any. Anyway, he always throws these in pairs. If he throws the first one high he'll throw the second low and vice versa. Its really easy to tell when he's going to throw these.

Shield: Not an attack but worthy mentioning as it actually isn't there for show. Ryukotsuki actually DOES block many projectiles which will completely shut down many subweapon strategies. I dunno if it blocks the spells of Charlotte or Yoko. Clarification would be nice.

STRATEGY - PHASE TWO: Like phase one, Ryukotsuki isn't very tough in phase two. The difference being that if you screw up on it the poison he inflicts will probably last well into phase three. Its complicated by the fact taht his shield blocks most subweapons and you're going to be stuck fighting him toe-to-toe where there's little time to react to his knives. On a positive note, his back is still wide open. Multiplayer is complicated by the fact that he targets players at random for Poison Knives. So you may be safe one second and at risk the next. Either way, just keep at it, don't get poisoned, and soon enough you'll hit phase three.

HARD MODE - PHASE TWO: Handle it just like you did on Normal.


ATTACKS - PHASE THREE:

Triple Energy Blast: Ryukotsuki fires three blasts of energy. One goes almost directly at the ground, one goes somewhat in front of the first, and the last one goes high. They rebound around making them hard to avoid. They can be dispelled after they're done flashing. If I recall correctly they petrify on Hard Mode.

Arm Swipe: Ryukotsuki swipes his arm down at you a couple of times. This is the only time his weak point is vulnerable to attack. The range is quite pitiful.

Summon Chimyriad: Remember that big grey snake thing from earlier in the stage? Cause Ryukotsuki summons its ghost to use its fully powered attack. In case you didn't fight Chimyriad at full power basically it launches fireballs that split in two and slide along the floor on impact. Not terribly hard to avoid, but but its made complicated by Triple Energy Blast.

Summon Decapiclops: Remember the big red samurai head from earlier? Yep, you guessed it. Ryukotsuki summons its fully powered ghost to launch two fireballs at you that explode into four small ones and a pillar of fire on contact with the ground. Just move out of the blast zone and you'll be fine.

Summon Oxocutioner: This summon is unlike the other two as you don't get to see Oxocutioner's ghost as a warning. If you fought Oxocutioner at full power you'll have dealt with the attack where swords rain down from the sky. Ryukotsuki will do the same, they're just barely obscured by the top of the screen is the issue, so you have to keep your eyes peeled for the tips of the swords as they spin otherwise you're going to be rudely interupted. Probably while you're dodging another attack. This will probably be the end of players who don't pay attention.

STRATEGY - PHASE THREE: This is it. Chapter 11 final form. Beat this guy and you've beaten them all. Unforunately its not gonna be easy.

Ryukotsuki is only vulnerable at the red orb on its chest. The issue is that its invulnerable unless he's using Arm Swipe. So not only does he have a lot of health, but he's only open to attack for about three to six seconds at a time depending on how many times he decides to use Arm Swipe. Not to mention if you're even in a position to attack when he'd open. Besides that there are fireballs going around everywhere, attack mix ups, and swords coming down to impale you. Five attacks don't sound like much on paper, but it turns into complete and utter madness once the actual battle begins. Its one of those fights where words can't prepare you. Its just something you have to experience. But there's one big problem with this fight. Care to guess what it is?

Multiplayer. Like Chapters 6 and 10 this fight is sheer insanity with more than two or three people. Summon Decapiclops targets random players for starters. The big issue though is the fact that everyone will be moving around so much it is near impossible to keep track of yourself let alone all the attacks going out. Then consider for a moment that more people means Ryukotsuki has more health and he's only vulnerable for three to six seconds at a time. That means that everyone has to be attacking (and doing decent damage) to get him down in a timely manner. Add on to that if someone dies and you're out of Water of Life they're stuck as a skeleton in a room where attacks almost never stop coming and that there's no way to get the skeleton out of the room outside of not entering in the first place.

The point of all this? In multiplayer Ryukotsuki's third form is an completely unforgiving fight and your team is truly only as strong as the weakest link here. If someone dies, pray that your new skeleton friend only got hit off a fluke because bad players are nothing but a massive burden here even if you have Water of Life. They will die. They will continue to die. You WILL run out of time.

And unfamiliar players? Never ever ever EVER make your first time in Chapter 11 be in a team. You have to, and I mean HAVE to, learn this fight solo first. There is no healing through these attacks.

HARD MODE - PHASE THREE: What, you think after that three paragraph rant about how insane this fight is I'm gonna have something to say about hard mode? Well you're right. I do.

...Good luck...

[Commander Raze]

The only thing I can say here is for the second form, if Charlotte's spell is fragile(R. Fireball, Fireball, Deathscythe), it can be destroyed by the shield, persistent attacks(R. Summon Skeleton, Dark Inferno) don't get blocked though. Good job! Also, I don't think the poison is different at all.

[Chaos]

Well. I think that about wraps it up. I'm scanning the guide for typos and stuff like that now. I'll be getting the first complete submission into GameFAQs soon and putting all the boss info in a new complete topic with everything posted on the front page. At least there I can edit stuff and discuss mistakes without all the clutter in between. I guess the mods can nuke this topic if they see fit. I'm probably not going to do much more with it.

[Kaiser98821]

One little thing about Ryukotsuki. If you get hit by the Arm Swipe, it can curse you. Other than that, good job. Sorry I posted this AFTER you posted the clean version.