Post by Chaos on May 3, 2011 14:09:01 GMT -5
Hey there! Well its finally done so I'm putting this up in a neat, tidy easy to access area where everyone's reminders, thoughts, and my thoughts aren't clogging things up between strategies! So let's get right to it shall we?
Updated May 5th
CHAPTER 1
BOSS: GERGOTH
WEAKNESSES: Slash, Stab, Ice
RESISTANCES: None
SPECIAL NOTES: Gergoth begins his attack fairly early on in the stage. When he gets a proper angle, he'll use his mouth beam to fire through the stage at a fairly regular pace (Every 15 to 20 seconds). Avoiding this shouldn't be hard as the ray is fired at about a 35-45 degree angle.
ATTACKS:
Mouth Beam: An attack with a long start up, Gergoth charges up his mouth beam absorbing energy, and finally firing down at about a 45 degree angle. Easily avoided by ducking next to Gergoth's ankles. Also leaves his ankles open to attack. There's also a horizontal version of this attack easily dodged by ducking.
Belly Slide: Gergoth jumps back and slides forward on his belly. Easily avoided by jump kicking off his back. I haven't found a way to avoid this as Charlotte or Yoko that doesn't involve Winged Boots and well timed jumps. If anyone knows a way to dodge this with basic gear, feel free to contact me as I don't think I'll be playing either of them extensively any time soon. I'd greatly appreciate it.
Entrail Attack: Gergoth squats down for a few seconds before he rears back and fires his entrails out starting low and progressing higher. The best way to avoid it is to jump kick off of his back while he's getting ready again. Charlotte and Yoko's best bet is to duck in the corner and wait it out. You might also be able to wait until the entrails are done sweeping the bottom before sliding into the dead space by the ankles.
Inhale: The start up for this looks a lot like Mouth Beam except he starts inhaling little bits of debris. The attack ends when he leans down and bites at the ground in front of him. This attack has a vacuum effect which draws you in towards it the closer it gets to the actual bite. If you're crouching at his ankles you should be safe. If you're in front you'll need to run away from him and don't stop.
Floor Shatter: Once enough damage is taken, Gergoth leaps back charges forward to the opposite side of the room, leaps back into the middle, and shatters the floor. If you clear out the rooms below the boss chamber then this attack has little threat once the floor is actually out. Duck in the corner or jump kick off of him to avoid it.
STRATEGY: The fight with Gergoth can be made significantly easier by opening up the gate that leads to the series of rooms below his chamber and clearing out the monsters. The reason is that after he takes enough damage, Gergoth will charge you, leap in reverse, and shatter the floor, causing he and all players present to plummet down to the bottom of the tower, taking whatever enemies are still alive with him. This includes Minotaurs, Axe Armors, Fleamen, and a few other monsters. When just starting out all of these monsters can be disastrous for new players so its advised to approach the room from below.
Gergoth himself is not a terribly massive threat. He's a large target and his attacks are heavily telegraphed. There are two points at which you can attack him. Damaging the main body deals a steady flow a damage while attacking the ankles deals less damage and is riskier as it puts you in a position where contact damage is very very likely. However once enough damage is done to the ankles Gergoth's braces shatter and damage done to his ankles is increased by an absurd amount. This damage easily shadows damage done to the main body making them a much more favorable target if you're feeling daring and don't mind a little extra work for some big numbers.
Once the floor shatters you can get some free damage in on the way down with your basic attack. If you didn't kill the monsters below the boss room then killing the monsters should be top priority while Gergoth is lodged in the ground, otherwise just keep up your attack. At this point its a rinse and repeat process.
HARD MODE:
Based on my memory, besides the obvious traits of hitting harder and having more health I can't remember any real difference between easy and hard mode Gergoth.
CHAPTER 2
BOSS: PUPPET MASTER
WEAKNESSES: Strike, Fire, Holy
RESISTANCES: None
SPECIAL NOTES: Like Gergoth, the battle with the Puppet Master begins before the boss battle itself. The catch is you don't have much of a choice about it. There are a few iron maidens dotted around the stage like the ones in the boss room and some of them have boxes in front of them. You have to get to these iron maidens and push the boxes in front of them or you're doomed to fail. I'll explain in the attack section. Also keep the bone pillars near the boss room alive. There's a good chance you'll need them as a stepping stone once the actual fight begins.
ATTACKS:
Cursed Dolls: Puppet Master opens his mouth and releases several dolls that curse on contact. This is an annoyance to most, but to casters like Charlotte and Yoko this is quite devastating. Overhead attacks are great for taking care of these things.
Iron Maiden: This is THE attack to avoid. If you get hit with it, you're going to die. Puppet Master summons a doll into his hand near one of the two iron maidens in the room. The moment he does this, focus all attacks on the doll. If you don't he'll put the doll inside and you will switch places with it. Maybe its because I haven't played Chapter 2 very much, but I have never seen this attack not be fatal.
Given the nature of the attack I feel its worthy to note the hard mode variation here as opposed to below. The doll itself is on a hit threshold, not health. This threshold rises to several more hits in hard mode and if you're playing solo you will NEED something rapid fire to destroy it. Valmanway, maxed out daggers, something. If you can backdash cancel an attack, this is the one to do it on. I cannot stress enough the importance of destroying that doll
Move: Extremely dangerous if you didn't block the iron maidens like I told you too. Puppet Master will begin to drag himself to one of the Iron Maidens across the stage. He goes through walls, floors, you name it. If they're plugged up with crates he won't travel to it so if you blocked the ones you can block you should be okay. Once blocked the iron maidens in the direct area are the only ones he should travel to and you can keep up with little issue.
As he moves around he'll be releasing more cursed dolls at a slow but steady pace. Once he arrives at his destination he'll transition into an Iron Maiden attack almost immediately.
STRATEGY:
Despite the annoyances of being cursed and the dangers of the Iron Maiden attack, Puppet Master's strategy is surprisingly simple. He doesn't try to do actual damage on his own relying on third parties for his attacks. Just plug the Iron Maidens in advance, destroy the Iron Maiden dolls, and kill the cursed puppets. If you're playing as a whip user you can face away from Puppet Master and hit him with the whip's wind up, allowing you to continue damage on the boss while you destroy the dolls for the Iron Maiden attack.
HARD MODE:
The simplicity of the strategy persists in Hard Mode. The catch is that the dolls take more hits to down and with basic attacks or under leveled sub-weapons chances are you're not going to pull it off unless you're Soma or Alucard and using a pair of the infamous blender weapons. At which point I'd wonder why the hell you were doing chapter 2. Anyway, something multi-hit or rapid fire is extremely recommended.
CHAPTER 3
BOSS: MENACE
WEAKNESSES: None
RESISTANCES: Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: You probably noticed the big skeletal hammer hanging near the top of the stage. There's a switch up there that sends it swinging down. That'll come in handy in a bit. There's a switch on the left side of the stage you're going to want to flip to move the mechanical ceiling out into the main chamber so you can reach Menace's face.
ATTACKS:
Walking: Menace is so damn big that his contact damage validates even walking being an attack. Its not terribly hard to avoid, Just make sure you keep moving because he takes bigger strides than you may initially think.
Jump: Menace squats down and jumps forward. Despite his size, he doesn't really jump forward that far. Your best bet is to either have a good deal or distance in front or behind him or you're going to have to start sliding under him as he jumps and pray for the best.
Punch: Only used when you're on the golden platform I told you to extend in Special Notes earlier, Menace draws back his hand/claw and and punches over the platform. Easiest way to dodge this is to duck in the middle of hte platform and it'll go sailing over your head. Just make sure you keep ducking as he puts his arm back to his side. Also beware of his Demon Mouths attack. If you have a few closing in and this attack starts, they may knock you out of your duck and into some nasty contact damage.
Kick: Menace leans back and prepares to kick at the platform. You'll have to double jump this attack. The actual kick comes almost immediately after the foot reaches a 90 degree angle.
Demon Mouths: I can't think of anything else to call these that doesn't involve the phrase "Om nom nom" so roll with it. These little bastards are arguably Menace's most annoying attack. They never stop, track you wherever you go, and once they get close they're fast. To make matters worse unless you have the camera zoomed out you won't know they're coming until they're right on top of you. They're basically little floating mouths that once close, spaz out and zoom at you at an odd angle that makes it difficult for characters with precision weapons to hit them. They'll plague you quite a bit through the stage, but seem to spawn more if you're out of Menace's actual attack range, which is likely if you follow my strategy with the hammer.
STRATEGY: Menace only has three points vulnerable to attack. They're the faces in his mouth, on his chest, and on his knee. Attacking anything else will deal damage at the rate of stabbing a steel beam with a butter knife, by which I mean one damage. The catch is that after you deal enough damage to one of these points, it burns up and cauterizes itself. At that point it is no longer a weak point and you'll have to move on. Attacking the knee is tricky business as Menace is constantly moving and you need a rather high reaching attack, a double jump, and a risk of taking contact damage just to hit the damn thing. The solution? Head to the top of the stage and find the switch near the hammer. When Menace is standing and relatively close, flip the switch and it'll smash Menace in the face. This'll inflict a good hunk of damage and put him on his back, ultimately leaving his knee open to damage. Jump kick directly down so you get more time to attack the knee. Don't worry about your magic. You're looking to do as much damage to it as you can before he gets up.
If this is multiplayer, another player can be up top winding the hammer back up for another swing, but often it takes too long unless you've got someone with a rapid fire or multi hit weapon. It might help but usually you're better off both attacking the knee.
Now for the good news. If you managed to damage the knee to the point it cauterizes and becomes invulnerable then you won't have to worry about another weak point doing so. Once Menace gets back up head back to the left side of the stage and start climbing up to that gold platform you extended and start attacking the face. If the knee cauterized or was even close to it, he'll be dead before the face does the same if you're attacks are decently leveled.
If in the event you didn't do enough damage to the knee and the face cauterizes before he's dead, don't panic because you've at least gotten him close. Your best option at this point is to wait for him to use his kick attack, as that leaves the head on his chest open to attack from long range weapons like the dagger or fireball. It will take longer but not as long as winding the hammer back up just to knock him over again and its less risky than jumping down to attack the knee which just risks more contact damage.
HARD MODE: Besides more damage and health, Menace has no differences in hard mode.
CHAPTER 4
BOSS: BRAUNER
WEAKNESSES: Slash, Stab, Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: Hey guess what? I got nothing here. There's no pre-boss attacks, no special setup, nothing. Brauner is a straight forward boss. Yay!
ATTACKS:
Blood Art Technique: Brauner, being the massive ham he his, calls out all his attacks. When you hear this, watch the pattern he paints. Trails of blood will appear on the stage in a much larger scale, causing contact damage. There are three versions of this attack. Two horizontal lines, an X, and a V that's been turned on its side. Note that the blood appears in a place relative to your position, not a set place. In layman's terms the blood always appears around you and standing away from Brauner will not help you avoid this attack, though it will let you manipulate where the blood appears. Dodge the pattern and erase it with your attacks. Whip users do not just twirl your whip around as it does not effectively erase it. Stay on your toes because as you're erasing that he'll probably be casting...
Painting of the Soul: Again, Brauner hams it up to warn this attack is coming. Stay away while he casts it, as the blood droplets damage you. There are three versions of this attack too. Two gray statue looking things, two massive green cog-like monsters, and finally a series of black cyclops heads. The gray demons inflict curse on contact and spawn on the top and bottom of the rooms. The bottom will charge first, the second one will follow. Jump between the gap they leave. The green cog monsters will poison on contact. One goes left and one goes right. Move your way underneath and between the arms to avoid it. The black cyclops heads will petrify you. You have to damage these to destroy them and make room for you to dodge.
This...IS ART: Oh boy, more ham, just what we need! Brauner jumps into a painting and floats around the room. Its not terribly hard to dodge, but it is fast. Brauner is also still vulnerable to damage so have at it. Just be careful as he will stop and deliberately swoop down at you once during this attack. He'll laugh when he does it so you'll know he's done.
STRATEGY: Truth be told, Brauner is a fight you have to actually experience and practice at to get the hang of. All I can really do is arm you with knowledge of his attacks beforehand and a basic strategy. For that I am sorry. He can be a real wake up call if you're not careful. His attacks are back to back, can easily trap you, and to top it off the curse and poison status effects can make this fight suck real fast. Consider this training for hard mode when you'll have to rely on dodging more than healing through attacks, because Brauner is the first boss where you basically have to dodge no matter what. The strategy itself is fairly simple. Erase his Blood Art Technique, dodge Painting of the Soul, be ready for This...IS ART.
HARD MODE: More damage, more health, and his Painting of the Soul attacks move faster so you'll have to be even more accurate than you were before dodging them. It doesn't make the heads much more dangerous but the cogs and demons are the ones with poison and curse so dodging these are top priority.
CHAPTER 5
BOSS: DEATH
WEAKNESSES: Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: One minute after the start of the stage, you'll hear Death laugh. This means he's come out of the boss room to make your life miserable. He'll actively track you and start throwing little scythes at you. There are three ways you can deal with him. Ignore him and use basic attacks to erase the little scythes until you reach the boss room, damage him enough to send him running back to the boss room for the remainder of the stage, or take the two spotlights on the map, cross them, then bait Death into the point at which they cross to instantly deal enough damage to send him away. Be aware that only the little scythes will hurt you when he's outside the boss room. Touching Death himself will not cause contact damage. If you do damage him to get him back into his boss chamber, do know that the damage you just did does nothing to his actual health when the real battle starts.
ATTACKS:
Passive Deathscythe: If you've played any Castlevania game and reached Death before you're familiar with this attack. He just passively summons little scythes that move relative to your position throughout the entire battle. You can move out of the way and must will just lazily float by or you can hit them with attacks and erase them. Death may or may not start to summon more and more as the battle goes on. I'm always too focused on fighting him to notice.
Crescent Scythes: Death stops, turns to face your screen, and summons six cresent blades. If you're right below him they'll be on your left and right. two will be even with the ground, two will be in the air, and two more will he higher in the air than the first two. The scythes move in toward each other in order to try to slice you up. Slide under the the first pair before the attack begins, watch your head on the second pair, and jump over the last pair.
Dark Spiral: This attack has the same start up as Crescent Scythes, except he'll summon three blots of darkness in a triangle pattern around him. These will begin to spiral around him and slowly make their way outward. Basically this is like one of the whip users using three of the Bible subweapon. Dodging this is simply a matter of staying away from Death. The farther you are, the bigger the gaps in the blots of darkness get.
Charging Sweep: Finally an attack where Death gets down and dirty with some melee attacks. He'll float down to ground level, lower his scythe along the ground, and charge you. As you might have already guessed, once he gets close, he's going to swing at you. This is piss easy to dodge in single player. Double jump away is what I find works best. The catch? This attack is probably one of his most dangerous in multiplayer. See he targets a specific player with this attack and won't swing the scythe until he reaches that player. Naturally this means there's boatloads of potential for contact damage on this attack in multiplayer. The more you have, the more this attack sucks.
My suggestion? Make like a World of Warcraft player in a raid and stack on top of one another. This way you don't need to know who exactly Death is targeting because all you'll need to know is that he's going to attack one of the people standing right there with you.
Deathscythe Sweep: Death flies over head leaving a trail of passive scythes. He always does this twice and does at an angle so that you'll have to deal with this attack. Your best bet is to attack the little scythes and erase them before they really get moving. Whip users will love their whip flail here. The catch is that Death isn't going to just wait for you to erase everything. This attack actually has potential to trap you/keep you preoccupied as Death moves into another attack.
Overhead Slash: Death makes his way above you very quickly. Best get moving because once he's there he's going to bring down the hammer...scythe...whatever, you get it. Its an overhead swing and it goes off once he's above you. He seems to have a habit of using this right after Deathscythe Sweep. I can't help but wonder if there's a relation between the two attacks I'm just not noticing?
Deathscythe Storm: Remember when Death would throw scythes at you as you were advancing through the stage? This is the exact same deal here. Attack the scythes to erase them or get behind him for some free hits. Piece of cake.
STRATEGY: This is the fight that's going to separate the kiddies from the vampire hunters for Dracula. Death has a wide variety of attacks and most of them hurt like hell if you get hit by them. This is one fight there's no shame in waiting for good openings to strike. Death moves moderately fast around the room and most of the time he doesn't leave himself open. The two attacks he's only really open to attacks on are if you get past Dark Spiral early on during the attack, and if you can get behind him during Deathscythe Storm. If you really want to get daring, the start up for Crescent Scythes might be a good opening to get some hits in so long as you remember to dodge when the time comes.
The times where it is truly a bad idea to attack him is when anytime during and immediately after Charging Sweep, any time during or immediately after Overhead Slash, and Passive Scythe Sweep. You can't be sure what direction he's going to fly after Charging Sweep and Overhead Slash, and during Passive Scythe Sweep you should be staying away from him as best you can to erase the scythes and getting ready for whatever attack comes next. Especially if he moves into Charging Sweep or Overhead Slash.
Like Brauner, Death is a fight you really have to experience and practice at to really understand. There are just too many way different attacks to give a consistent and reliable strategy because there just is no consistent and reliable strategy for Death.
HARD MODE: As always, Death ups the damage he dishes out and he has more health. The Passive Deathscythe might be greater in frequency and faster than normal. I feel its really worthy of mention that Charging Sweep and Overhead Slash REALLY hurt here.
CHAPTER 6
BOSS: DRACULA
WEAKNESSES: Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: Dracula has three forms, and enough attacks to decimate a small army between the three of them. Not to mention some of them change or have little quirks to them on hard mode. I'll be breaking this up into attack and strategy by phases as opposed to trying to get them all at once.
ATTACKS - PHASE ONE:
Teleport: Being Dracula, it should come as no shock that he teleports around. He's done it since day one and he'll keep doing it till 1999 rolls around
Hellfire: The classic Dracula attack. Dracula draws his cape backwards for this attack before launching anywhere from three to five fireballs ar you. Attack them, jump over them, get behind Dracula before they launch. Anything you need to do in order to dodge this.
Dark Inferno: The other half to the classic Dracula coin. Dracula launches a series of dark meteors at you alternating in high and low patterns. Its just a matter of hopping and ducking. As he gets low on health he may or may not fill the room with fire pillars so you'll have to reposition yourself before you stop hopping and ducking otherwise you're likely to eat a ton of damage here. This is probably Dracula's most dangerous attack in phase one under the circumstances. Again, you can also get behind Dracula for this.
Fire Pillars: The oddball attack. Dracula calls two pillars of fire from the floor initially, then one more based on your position shortly after. If the pillars have a lot of space between them, just adjust as needed for the third pillar.
STRATEGY - PHASE ONE:
"This long slumber has given me strength..."
"Come, my son. Let us embrace..."
This is it. This is the big fight. Dracula tosses his wine glass, rises from his throne, and teleports into the room. This phase is cake. Just whack Dracula in the head over and over and dodge the attacks. Getting behind him leaves him wide open. Even if you don't get behind him, these attacks aren't terribly hard to dodge.
HARD MODE - PHASE ONE: I can't think of anything besides the normal additional health and damage except for the fact that when he uses Dark Inferno, he'll launch more meteors.
ATTACKS - PHASE TWO:
Jump: Dracula's main way of moving around in this phase is jumping. Simple. Just don't touch him.
Destruction Ray: Remember the green ray attack from Order of Ecclesia? That's this. Dracula will jump a good long distance and fire three sets of three rays directly underneath him. Hitting the rays will poison you and its not something you can afford regardless of difficulty. He only seems to do this two ways. One if he's far away and wants to jump close, or if he's really close and wants to jump away. There's a slight pause before he does it to get away in whatever direction you need to. If he's getting ready to jump and he's fairly close to one side of the arena, be ready for this attack and get away.
Ghost Chaser: Same cursing attack as Dullahan (The big suit of armor who's head floats around if you don't know the enemy). The difference being that Dracula rapid fires it multiple times. It behaves the same way as Dullahan's Ghost Chaser though, so if you move after it fires it'll land where you were, not where you are. He's probably going to be facing you when he does this so its best to walk the same direction he's facing in a series of quick steps. This attack still does curse you. Charlotte and Yoko players need to avoid this at just about any cost that isn't going to get you killed.
Fire Wave: Dracula shoots a fireball at the ground which explodes into a fire wave exactly like the fire wave the Final Guards would cast as you made your way up to the throne room. Double jump over it or do whatever it is you did to avoid it so long as it isn't doesn't make you give Dracula a hug...even if he probably does need a hug after all the crap he's dealt with.
Gergoth Soul: I call it Gergoth soul since its not as corny as calling it death ray. Dracula faces one side of the room, charges the laser up like Gergoth, and fires down at you. The strategy for avoiding the attack itself is the same in single and multiplayer. If he's facing you head against the wall and double jump just as he fires. You'll end up with a safe patch to stand on when you land. In multiplayer you'll have to avoid Dracula as the force of the attack kicks him back. I've never actually seen him push up against the wall far enough to cause contact damage, so that's probably your best bet.
STRATEGY - PHASE TWO:
"Play time is over! GIVE. ME. POWER!!!"
Dracula transforms into the monster he changed into in Rondo of Blood and the prologue of Symphony of the Night. Dracula's bag of tricks is much bigger in this phase and it pretty much boils down to dodging. The only attack in this phase that will really catch you off guard is Destruction Ray. In phase two its best to just give your self a little distance as you attack. Whip users will want to use their subweapons and tip of the whip, casters can keep their range with typical spells but should try to melee when they can to conserve MP for the third phase. Dracula's second form is ultimately trial and error. Just reading this guide won't earn you a free ticket through. You just have to experience it and learn it.
HARD MODE - PHASE TWO: I can't honestly remember anything different about Dracula's second form in hard mode that's different. More health, more damage, that's it.
ATTACKS - PHASE THREE:
Swipe: Dracula moves to the side swiping with his claws. If you don't pay attention you won't see this attack coming. Watch for the hands to glow red. If the hand on your right glows red he'll swipe left, and vise versa.
Fire Pillar Chase: Far as I can tell this is telegraphed when Dracula draws his hands together and a red circle appears. Dracula targets a player and begins to call pillars under said target a series of times. Just keep sliding so you don't end up hitting Dracula's hands or something. This is just annoying solo, but in multiplayer you're going to have to watch for who has it and move with them if they're heading your way.
Aura Blast: Signified by a blue circle when he draws his hands together. Anyway, lines appear across the entire room and shortly after energy surges down them starting low then rising on each side simultaneously. There's a dead spot right under Dracula where you can survive this. If you weren't underneath him to begin with you probably won't have enough time to get down under him. That being said ducking directly in the corner is a sure fire way to get hit, but ducking a little bit way from the corner will save you. Most of the time at least. You might have luck sliding to the left just before the line above you goes off.
Fire Wave: Dracula shoots a fireball straight into the ground and it turns into two waves of fire that act like the ones used by the Final Guards. If you're in the middle when this goes off there's a good chance you're going to get hit. This is a Normal Mode only attack. If this is hard mode then instead of this he casts...
Fire Storm: Pillars of fire start brewing across the floor. Get between two of them and duck because he's about to box you in with lighting bolts everywhere. This attack does major damage but as said before its only cast on hard mode.
Triangle Rays: This is one of the party killers. Dracula's three heads move and a rainbow colored triangle appears. It actually starts in two default positions. Up high with the tip pointing down, or down low with the flat part close the floor. The latter of the two is almost assured damage if you're still under him. Anyway, get to the far side of the room. Dracula then fires a series of these triangles at you. When going solo wait for the first three to fire before you move and double jump over them just in time for the fourth ray to fire high. This should give you room to work under and over the last of them. In multiplayer you're going to be stuck watching where they come from because they'll be fired at random players. Your best bet is to try to get your team split evenly on each side.
Seduction: Oh ladies! This one is especially for you! By which I mean if the boss room is a sausage fest then Dracula won't cast this. If Charlotte, Shanoa, Yoko, or Maria are present though, this attack will be cast and is probably the second biggest group killer. However that really depends on if any of the girls get hit by it and just how big the seduced/not seduced ratio is. Signified by a blue circle like Aura Blast, a circle of hearts appears and each fire straight outward. If guys get hit, they just take a boat load of damage. If the ladies get hit, they take damage before their hearts go all a flutter, they get funny feelings, and promptly maim their teammates all for Dracula's affections.
I'm told there are two patterns for this attack. One can dodge by ducking close to a corner, and one where instead of ducking at the corner you'll need to do a little hop. If you have an evading technique, spell, or martial art, this might be the place to use it if you don't end up hugging Dracula.
The worst case scenario happened you say? The ladies thinking funny thoughts you say? Gentlemen you have two options here. One is to avoid Dracula AND the girls until the come to their senses, or kick chivalry to the curb and beat the tar out of them. If this is multiplayer and you've only got one person seduced, chances are you can deal with it if you know the fight well enough. If you have two or more ladies thinking about what they want Dracula to do to them, then you're better off putting them out of their misery and using Water of Life to bring them back. If this is single player...well, enjoy taking contact damage and pray to god he doesn't cast Triangle Rays. Or even worse. He might just go ahead and cast...
Demonic Megiddo: This is it. This is THAT attack. That one attack that will end your party in the blink of an eye. When Dracula draws his hands in and the circle that appears is white, black, red, yellow, and all sorts of other fiery colors, get your ass to the far wall because Demonic Megiddo is coming and touching it is probably going to get you killed. On hard mode Dracula wises up and blocks off the far walls of the room with fire pillars until right before he uses it so timing is everything with this attack.
STRATEGY - PHASE THREE:
"This is not the end. This is just the beginning! GAZE UPON MY DARK FORM!"
Dracula transforms into his final boss form from Symphony of the Night. In this form, Dracula will sit on the throne in the center of the creature. The massive hands guard against all damage leaving only the central body vulnerable. Unfortunately the only place to attack from is right next to this point and it is easily the most horrible spot to be in this form as this leaves you wide open to Swipe, Seduction, Demonic Megiddo, and Triangle Ray as there's little time to slide back around the hands to get away. The most dangerous attack start up here is Triangle Ray as there will be almost no time at all to dodge.
Whip users might be able to take advantage of their length by jumping, and whip as they fall just near the hands and hit Dracula's main body from the outside. Everyone else is basically stuck in the middle. Whenever Dracula draws his hands in for an attack, almost the entire main body is vulnerable hands and all. Dracula's third form is almost completely trial and error. Even masters of this fight can be ended by badly timed Demonic Megiddos. The only real trick to phase three is to not get hit during phases one and two to maximize your margin of error. Good luck. You're going to need it.
HARD MODE - PHASE THREE: As I said before, Dracula protects the walls with fire during the start up of Demonic Megiddo. The fire only vanishes about one second before the attack, at which point you'd best be moving because I have NEVER seen anyone survive Demonic Megiddo on Hard. There are only four Waters of Life on this stage, so there's no room for mistakes before or during Dracula.
CHAPTER 7
BOSS: ASTARTE
WEAKNESSES: Strike, Holy
RESISTANCES: Slash, Stab, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: Yeah yeah, I know the compendium lists her as 'Ashtarte' but I think that looks stupid so deal with it.
Okay. Soma and Alucard players? Take a look at that resistance list and accept the fact your blender weapons are useless here. Put your Valmanways away for once because they aren't going to do jack against a boss. In fact the only way to really get some real damage done is holy strike damage. Whip users, this is your time to shine in this Valmanway filled spam-fest. That means if you're Alucard or Soma you'll have to rely on things like fist weapons and maces. Magic users shouldn't be too bothered by this given the diversity of their spells they should have at least one Holy spell.
ATTACKS:
Temptation: Ladies and Gentlemen that play ladies! You want revenge for your team mates beating the snot out of you after Seduction in Chapter 6? Well this might be your chance. If you hear "Come hither" its time to get ready to dodge. The guys are a bit better off here because several of them have ways that'll avoid this quite nicely. The two that come to mind is Alucard's Form of Mist and Julius' Omnia Vanitas. I believe I've seen Soma players hold themselves in midair directly over Astarte with the Medusa Head soul. The pattern itself is different, but behavior is exactly like Dracula's Seduction. The difference is this affects the men, not the women.
This attack has two waves to it. They go left and right. Rather than try to fill you in on how they move, let's just cut to how to dodge them. One of my oh-so-helpful sources tells me that when you're in front of her you need to back up from her a backdash's length away and wait for her to cast the inner wave. When that happens you then jump over her head to avoid the ensuing upward wave. It should work consistently as long as you're close enough to jump over her, but not so close as to run into the other wave.
When behind her you back up about the same distance, then when the inner wave appears, you have the option of sliding towards her to dodge the wave that comes down. You can still jump the downwards wave. You simply have to jump sooner than normal. Its still easier to slide though.
If you get stuck at a distance remember to use a evading move if you're capable of one. If push comes to shove remember that as with all attacks that spread out, you got the advantage of having bigger gaps to slip through at a distance. Positioning and wave curving makes this a rather inconsistent way to dodge and will likely get your group killed if you get yourself charmed.
Slide: Astarte draws her shawl back and slides forward, stabbing with it. Pathetic range. Easily avoided.
Hurricane: This attack is Astarte's second most dangerous attack. She pulls her wand back and swings it forward casting a hurricane forward. This travels parallel to the ground. The wand itself will also damage you so just make sure you're giving Astarte a little room in front. There's a dead spot for the entire attack if you duck in front of her but that runs the risk of her walking into you. Double jumping over the hurricane is probably your best bet. This attack is easy to dodge but it hurts like hell.
Lightning Triangle: Astarte jumps up and back leaving green triangles of lightning behind her that grow in size slightly. If you're behind her you're going to have to run back behind her again before she lands and if you're in front just make sure you get back a little.
Strategy: If the attack list sounded like a joke its because...well quite frankly it is. Astarte is not a very difficult boss. Her attacks are predictable, she's easy to bait into vulnerable positions, and quite frankly the only thing that's tough is that she's open to certain types of damage. The only real risk comes in if you're stuck using a fist weapon or you get hit by Temptation. The trick to Astarte is that when she's walking forward, that's the direction her next attack is going to come from, so if you get behind her you can just beat her senseless. Just remember that if you're stuck attacking from the front to give her a little space so you can avoid her attacks. Come to think of it there's no good reason to attack unless you're behind her since her attacks hurt so much if they do land.
Hard Mode: More health, more damage, and Temptation's heart count is higher, making it harder to dodge.
CHAPTER 8
BOSS: LEGION
WEAKNESSES: Strike, Lightning, Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: I'm going to go right ahead and consider Legion a two phase boss due to how dramatically the boss fight changes once the shell is off.
ATTACKS - PHASE ONE:
"The one who is many..."
Body Drop: Legion passively drops zombies on the ground who walk around slowly and deal contact damage, a simple hit of any kind will kill them. Legion does this for the entirety of phase one, but can only drop them from parts of the shell of bodies that are still intact.
Flamethrower/Laser Beam: If you've destroyed part of the shell and are standing in alignment with the exposed tendril it will either occassionally blow fire in a sweeping motion at you for a second or two, or fire off a laser That persists for about a second. The easiest solution is just don't stand near a section where the shell has been destroyed.
STRATEGY - PHASE ONE:
Phase one of the Legion fight is straight forward and rather easily dealt with if you know what you're doing. The shell has six sections sorted out like so.
XXX
XOX
XXX
Basically there's the 8 outer pieces and the one protecting the core itself. There are two ways to go about dealing with the shell. One is to destroy the entire thing manually and this is probably the safest for the most part. Just whack the shell till it comes off in one section, move on to the next. I recommend taking care of an entire side from top to bottom to avoid bodies falling on you.
The second way to deal with the shell is to destroy one of the side pieces, use long ranged attacks to expose the core, and proceed to damage the core. Unlike the shell, the core is the part of Legion with the monster's true health. Once it takes enough damage it decides enough is enough and sheds whatever the shell is left.
Either way once the shell is off, phase two begins.
Hard Mode: Right, a big ball of barely mobile bodies is going to do anything other than get more health, deal more damage with its exposed tendrils, and remain barely mobile.
These increasingly snarky comments about hard mode doing anything for you?
ATTACKS - PHASE TWO:
"Nice job pissing it off, hero."
Flamethrower Spin: The four tendrils pointing diagonally will ignite with use Flamethrower all at once and hold it as Legion begins to rotate, sweeping the entire room before stopping and going back the way it came. If dodged correctly, everyone in the room will end up back where they started once the attack is over. The best way to read this attack is to watch closely as Legion rotates. It'll scoot a little, pause briefly, then scoot again. At the second pause the process repeats except he rotates back the other way. Easy enough to dodge with some practice. The catch? Like all easy to dodge attacks, its going to hurt like hell if you mess up. Charlotte can use use that lovely shield of hers to block this.
Laser Blast: There are two variants of this attack. There's one where Legion simply fires one laser, and another where after the first tentacle fires one it resumes firing from each tendril in either a clockwise or counter clockwise pattern until it gets past the first tendril. This is harder to dodge than Flamethrower Spin and hurts just as bad if not more. Your best bet is to move adjacent to the tendril that just finished firing and that will assure your safety. Soma's Persephone soul also works if there is no Charlotte.
STRATEGY - PHASE TWO: Truth be told the strategy is simply dodge the attacks. There's no real trick to it. You just need to practice playing what is basically "Simon Says".
HARD MODE: Truth be told, besides the standard more health/damage thing, I'm not entirely sure if there's anything different about Legion on hard mode. Faster rotations maybe? Either way, just do what you did to deal with Normal Mode.
CHAPTER 9
BOSS: BEELZEBUB
SPECIAL NOTES: Laziest. Boss. Ever.
WEAKNESSES: Slash, Stab, Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark
ATTACKS:
Nothing: Literally. This guy just hangs there and dicks around the entire fight. Its his flies that suck.
STRATEGY:
For this battle, assuming your camera is set to the default, please take your camera out to the second largest setting. This lets you see the flies as they arrive as opposed to the last second.
Yeah, that's right, you read the attack section properly. Beelzebub himself has no attacks. His real threat and this entire strategy revolve around the flies. These little bastards are a pain. They can be destroyed but regenerate when called. One of their favorite things to do is to float around Beelzebub and prevent you from getting close. There's only two real tricks to dodging them. When they're circling him, get in the corner. When they converge together and start flying at you, start sliding towards Beelzebub.
Now how about when they're flying around like crazy? That's the second way to dodge them. I could go on and on and on all day about all the different patterns they fly in but by the time I was done I'd have carpal tunnel so I'm gonna make it nice and simple. See the bottom platform on the right side of the arena? Stand on that. You'll only ever have to do two things.
1.) Reposition yourself if they start circling Beelzebub.
2.) If they use the attack pattern where they come in three groups from the left side of the screen you'll either have to duck then jump, or jump then duck depending on if the middle group will reach you first or if the bottom group reaches you first. Other than that, you got all the time in the world. HOWEVER. Richter and any Skeletons present have a little bug where sometimes they'll still get hit, even on the platform. It has to do with their sprite kind of clipping into the platform.
If you're feeling daring? You can also jump kick off the flies if you have good timing.
Do note that as you damage Beelzebub body parts fall off and you'll often have to reposition yourself a lot during this fight. Just keep to that platform and you'll be okay.
HARD MODE: Don't get hit by the flies. Seriously. My Julius has Simon's Bandana, Plate, and Cloak, the Winged Boots, and two Artemisian/Apollonian Rings depending on the time of day and the contact damage will eat all 390 health in two or three hits.
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 referring 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:
"Oh, now why did you have to go and knock my head off? Jerks."
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. This attack actually changes behavior based on the number of players present instead of actual difficulty setting. The more people, the more fireballs in the spiral. You should without a shadow of a doubt consider only taking three or four people along for this chapter. You'll always have to avoid the spiral twice per cast.
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. First and foremost. If this is multiplayer: Stay together. Do not spread out. If you must spread out, make it into two groups, one in front and one in back. If you don't then predicting which way Dracula will go becomes hell. Dracula moves and attacks in a way that shouldn't be hard to handle if you just stay together. Just make sure you avoid Charge and to get distance so you can slip between the streams of Retro Fireball Spiral. Feeling daring? After dodging the first wave of the attack, throw a long ranged weapon or cast a spell to get some damage in. Whip users if you can, as you retreat for the start of Retro Fireball Spiral throw some crosses in there. The more holy damage the better. Knowing the attacks is only half the battle. Execution is key here.
HARD MODE - PHASE TWO: Handle it just like you did on Normal. Yeah, that's right I'm done being snarky.
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 subweapons and spells. To be safe just consider everything that is dispelled on contact (Charlotte's R. Fireball or Deathscythe for example) something that's not going to go through the shield.
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 that 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. It does however have curse potential, which I'm pretty sure is Hard Mode only. I haven't run normal in awhile. Either way, even as a caster you have no good reason to not be attacking from a distance so the curse shouldn't bother you none.
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. Unfortunately 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...
Well there you have it. Since this is all on the front page now go ahead and leave stuff like feedback, little bits you think I might find important and stuff like that!
Special thanks to Commander Raze and Kaiser98821. As far as I'm concerned you guys put just as much into this as I did.
Updated May 5th
CHAPTER 1
BOSS: GERGOTH
WEAKNESSES: Slash, Stab, Ice
RESISTANCES: None
SPECIAL NOTES: Gergoth begins his attack fairly early on in the stage. When he gets a proper angle, he'll use his mouth beam to fire through the stage at a fairly regular pace (Every 15 to 20 seconds). Avoiding this shouldn't be hard as the ray is fired at about a 35-45 degree angle.
ATTACKS:
Mouth Beam: An attack with a long start up, Gergoth charges up his mouth beam absorbing energy, and finally firing down at about a 45 degree angle. Easily avoided by ducking next to Gergoth's ankles. Also leaves his ankles open to attack. There's also a horizontal version of this attack easily dodged by ducking.
Belly Slide: Gergoth jumps back and slides forward on his belly. Easily avoided by jump kicking off his back. I haven't found a way to avoid this as Charlotte or Yoko that doesn't involve Winged Boots and well timed jumps. If anyone knows a way to dodge this with basic gear, feel free to contact me as I don't think I'll be playing either of them extensively any time soon. I'd greatly appreciate it.
Entrail Attack: Gergoth squats down for a few seconds before he rears back and fires his entrails out starting low and progressing higher. The best way to avoid it is to jump kick off of his back while he's getting ready again. Charlotte and Yoko's best bet is to duck in the corner and wait it out. You might also be able to wait until the entrails are done sweeping the bottom before sliding into the dead space by the ankles.
Inhale: The start up for this looks a lot like Mouth Beam except he starts inhaling little bits of debris. The attack ends when he leans down and bites at the ground in front of him. This attack has a vacuum effect which draws you in towards it the closer it gets to the actual bite. If you're crouching at his ankles you should be safe. If you're in front you'll need to run away from him and don't stop.
Floor Shatter: Once enough damage is taken, Gergoth leaps back charges forward to the opposite side of the room, leaps back into the middle, and shatters the floor. If you clear out the rooms below the boss chamber then this attack has little threat once the floor is actually out. Duck in the corner or jump kick off of him to avoid it.
STRATEGY: The fight with Gergoth can be made significantly easier by opening up the gate that leads to the series of rooms below his chamber and clearing out the monsters. The reason is that after he takes enough damage, Gergoth will charge you, leap in reverse, and shatter the floor, causing he and all players present to plummet down to the bottom of the tower, taking whatever enemies are still alive with him. This includes Minotaurs, Axe Armors, Fleamen, and a few other monsters. When just starting out all of these monsters can be disastrous for new players so its advised to approach the room from below.
Gergoth himself is not a terribly massive threat. He's a large target and his attacks are heavily telegraphed. There are two points at which you can attack him. Damaging the main body deals a steady flow a damage while attacking the ankles deals less damage and is riskier as it puts you in a position where contact damage is very very likely. However once enough damage is done to the ankles Gergoth's braces shatter and damage done to his ankles is increased by an absurd amount. This damage easily shadows damage done to the main body making them a much more favorable target if you're feeling daring and don't mind a little extra work for some big numbers.
Once the floor shatters you can get some free damage in on the way down with your basic attack. If you didn't kill the monsters below the boss room then killing the monsters should be top priority while Gergoth is lodged in the ground, otherwise just keep up your attack. At this point its a rinse and repeat process.
HARD MODE:
Based on my memory, besides the obvious traits of hitting harder and having more health I can't remember any real difference between easy and hard mode Gergoth.
CHAPTER 2
BOSS: PUPPET MASTER
WEAKNESSES: Strike, Fire, Holy
RESISTANCES: None
SPECIAL NOTES: Like Gergoth, the battle with the Puppet Master begins before the boss battle itself. The catch is you don't have much of a choice about it. There are a few iron maidens dotted around the stage like the ones in the boss room and some of them have boxes in front of them. You have to get to these iron maidens and push the boxes in front of them or you're doomed to fail. I'll explain in the attack section. Also keep the bone pillars near the boss room alive. There's a good chance you'll need them as a stepping stone once the actual fight begins.
ATTACKS:
Cursed Dolls: Puppet Master opens his mouth and releases several dolls that curse on contact. This is an annoyance to most, but to casters like Charlotte and Yoko this is quite devastating. Overhead attacks are great for taking care of these things.
Iron Maiden: This is THE attack to avoid. If you get hit with it, you're going to die. Puppet Master summons a doll into his hand near one of the two iron maidens in the room. The moment he does this, focus all attacks on the doll. If you don't he'll put the doll inside and you will switch places with it. Maybe its because I haven't played Chapter 2 very much, but I have never seen this attack not be fatal.
Given the nature of the attack I feel its worthy to note the hard mode variation here as opposed to below. The doll itself is on a hit threshold, not health. This threshold rises to several more hits in hard mode and if you're playing solo you will NEED something rapid fire to destroy it. Valmanway, maxed out daggers, something. If you can backdash cancel an attack, this is the one to do it on. I cannot stress enough the importance of destroying that doll
Move: Extremely dangerous if you didn't block the iron maidens like I told you too. Puppet Master will begin to drag himself to one of the Iron Maidens across the stage. He goes through walls, floors, you name it. If they're plugged up with crates he won't travel to it so if you blocked the ones you can block you should be okay. Once blocked the iron maidens in the direct area are the only ones he should travel to and you can keep up with little issue.
As he moves around he'll be releasing more cursed dolls at a slow but steady pace. Once he arrives at his destination he'll transition into an Iron Maiden attack almost immediately.
STRATEGY:
Despite the annoyances of being cursed and the dangers of the Iron Maiden attack, Puppet Master's strategy is surprisingly simple. He doesn't try to do actual damage on his own relying on third parties for his attacks. Just plug the Iron Maidens in advance, destroy the Iron Maiden dolls, and kill the cursed puppets. If you're playing as a whip user you can face away from Puppet Master and hit him with the whip's wind up, allowing you to continue damage on the boss while you destroy the dolls for the Iron Maiden attack.
HARD MODE:
The simplicity of the strategy persists in Hard Mode. The catch is that the dolls take more hits to down and with basic attacks or under leveled sub-weapons chances are you're not going to pull it off unless you're Soma or Alucard and using a pair of the infamous blender weapons. At which point I'd wonder why the hell you were doing chapter 2. Anyway, something multi-hit or rapid fire is extremely recommended.
CHAPTER 3
BOSS: MENACE
WEAKNESSES: None
RESISTANCES: Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: You probably noticed the big skeletal hammer hanging near the top of the stage. There's a switch up there that sends it swinging down. That'll come in handy in a bit. There's a switch on the left side of the stage you're going to want to flip to move the mechanical ceiling out into the main chamber so you can reach Menace's face.
ATTACKS:
Walking: Menace is so damn big that his contact damage validates even walking being an attack. Its not terribly hard to avoid, Just make sure you keep moving because he takes bigger strides than you may initially think.
Jump: Menace squats down and jumps forward. Despite his size, he doesn't really jump forward that far. Your best bet is to either have a good deal or distance in front or behind him or you're going to have to start sliding under him as he jumps and pray for the best.
Punch: Only used when you're on the golden platform I told you to extend in Special Notes earlier, Menace draws back his hand/claw and and punches over the platform. Easiest way to dodge this is to duck in the middle of hte platform and it'll go sailing over your head. Just make sure you keep ducking as he puts his arm back to his side. Also beware of his Demon Mouths attack. If you have a few closing in and this attack starts, they may knock you out of your duck and into some nasty contact damage.
Kick: Menace leans back and prepares to kick at the platform. You'll have to double jump this attack. The actual kick comes almost immediately after the foot reaches a 90 degree angle.
Demon Mouths: I can't think of anything else to call these that doesn't involve the phrase "Om nom nom" so roll with it. These little bastards are arguably Menace's most annoying attack. They never stop, track you wherever you go, and once they get close they're fast. To make matters worse unless you have the camera zoomed out you won't know they're coming until they're right on top of you. They're basically little floating mouths that once close, spaz out and zoom at you at an odd angle that makes it difficult for characters with precision weapons to hit them. They'll plague you quite a bit through the stage, but seem to spawn more if you're out of Menace's actual attack range, which is likely if you follow my strategy with the hammer.
STRATEGY: Menace only has three points vulnerable to attack. They're the faces in his mouth, on his chest, and on his knee. Attacking anything else will deal damage at the rate of stabbing a steel beam with a butter knife, by which I mean one damage. The catch is that after you deal enough damage to one of these points, it burns up and cauterizes itself. At that point it is no longer a weak point and you'll have to move on. Attacking the knee is tricky business as Menace is constantly moving and you need a rather high reaching attack, a double jump, and a risk of taking contact damage just to hit the damn thing. The solution? Head to the top of the stage and find the switch near the hammer. When Menace is standing and relatively close, flip the switch and it'll smash Menace in the face. This'll inflict a good hunk of damage and put him on his back, ultimately leaving his knee open to damage. Jump kick directly down so you get more time to attack the knee. Don't worry about your magic. You're looking to do as much damage to it as you can before he gets up.
If this is multiplayer, another player can be up top winding the hammer back up for another swing, but often it takes too long unless you've got someone with a rapid fire or multi hit weapon. It might help but usually you're better off both attacking the knee.
Now for the good news. If you managed to damage the knee to the point it cauterizes and becomes invulnerable then you won't have to worry about another weak point doing so. Once Menace gets back up head back to the left side of the stage and start climbing up to that gold platform you extended and start attacking the face. If the knee cauterized or was even close to it, he'll be dead before the face does the same if you're attacks are decently leveled.
If in the event you didn't do enough damage to the knee and the face cauterizes before he's dead, don't panic because you've at least gotten him close. Your best option at this point is to wait for him to use his kick attack, as that leaves the head on his chest open to attack from long range weapons like the dagger or fireball. It will take longer but not as long as winding the hammer back up just to knock him over again and its less risky than jumping down to attack the knee which just risks more contact damage.
HARD MODE: Besides more damage and health, Menace has no differences in hard mode.
CHAPTER 4
BOSS: BRAUNER
WEAKNESSES: Slash, Stab, Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: Hey guess what? I got nothing here. There's no pre-boss attacks, no special setup, nothing. Brauner is a straight forward boss. Yay!
ATTACKS:
Blood Art Technique: Brauner, being the massive ham he his, calls out all his attacks. When you hear this, watch the pattern he paints. Trails of blood will appear on the stage in a much larger scale, causing contact damage. There are three versions of this attack. Two horizontal lines, an X, and a V that's been turned on its side. Note that the blood appears in a place relative to your position, not a set place. In layman's terms the blood always appears around you and standing away from Brauner will not help you avoid this attack, though it will let you manipulate where the blood appears. Dodge the pattern and erase it with your attacks. Whip users do not just twirl your whip around as it does not effectively erase it. Stay on your toes because as you're erasing that he'll probably be casting...
Painting of the Soul: Again, Brauner hams it up to warn this attack is coming. Stay away while he casts it, as the blood droplets damage you. There are three versions of this attack too. Two gray statue looking things, two massive green cog-like monsters, and finally a series of black cyclops heads. The gray demons inflict curse on contact and spawn on the top and bottom of the rooms. The bottom will charge first, the second one will follow. Jump between the gap they leave. The green cog monsters will poison on contact. One goes left and one goes right. Move your way underneath and between the arms to avoid it. The black cyclops heads will petrify you. You have to damage these to destroy them and make room for you to dodge.
This...IS ART: Oh boy, more ham, just what we need! Brauner jumps into a painting and floats around the room. Its not terribly hard to dodge, but it is fast. Brauner is also still vulnerable to damage so have at it. Just be careful as he will stop and deliberately swoop down at you once during this attack. He'll laugh when he does it so you'll know he's done.
STRATEGY: Truth be told, Brauner is a fight you have to actually experience and practice at to get the hang of. All I can really do is arm you with knowledge of his attacks beforehand and a basic strategy. For that I am sorry. He can be a real wake up call if you're not careful. His attacks are back to back, can easily trap you, and to top it off the curse and poison status effects can make this fight suck real fast. Consider this training for hard mode when you'll have to rely on dodging more than healing through attacks, because Brauner is the first boss where you basically have to dodge no matter what. The strategy itself is fairly simple. Erase his Blood Art Technique, dodge Painting of the Soul, be ready for This...IS ART.
HARD MODE: More damage, more health, and his Painting of the Soul attacks move faster so you'll have to be even more accurate than you were before dodging them. It doesn't make the heads much more dangerous but the cogs and demons are the ones with poison and curse so dodging these are top priority.
CHAPTER 5
BOSS: DEATH
WEAKNESSES: Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: One minute after the start of the stage, you'll hear Death laugh. This means he's come out of the boss room to make your life miserable. He'll actively track you and start throwing little scythes at you. There are three ways you can deal with him. Ignore him and use basic attacks to erase the little scythes until you reach the boss room, damage him enough to send him running back to the boss room for the remainder of the stage, or take the two spotlights on the map, cross them, then bait Death into the point at which they cross to instantly deal enough damage to send him away. Be aware that only the little scythes will hurt you when he's outside the boss room. Touching Death himself will not cause contact damage. If you do damage him to get him back into his boss chamber, do know that the damage you just did does nothing to his actual health when the real battle starts.
ATTACKS:
Passive Deathscythe: If you've played any Castlevania game and reached Death before you're familiar with this attack. He just passively summons little scythes that move relative to your position throughout the entire battle. You can move out of the way and must will just lazily float by or you can hit them with attacks and erase them. Death may or may not start to summon more and more as the battle goes on. I'm always too focused on fighting him to notice.
Crescent Scythes: Death stops, turns to face your screen, and summons six cresent blades. If you're right below him they'll be on your left and right. two will be even with the ground, two will be in the air, and two more will he higher in the air than the first two. The scythes move in toward each other in order to try to slice you up. Slide under the the first pair before the attack begins, watch your head on the second pair, and jump over the last pair.
Dark Spiral: This attack has the same start up as Crescent Scythes, except he'll summon three blots of darkness in a triangle pattern around him. These will begin to spiral around him and slowly make their way outward. Basically this is like one of the whip users using three of the Bible subweapon. Dodging this is simply a matter of staying away from Death. The farther you are, the bigger the gaps in the blots of darkness get.
Charging Sweep: Finally an attack where Death gets down and dirty with some melee attacks. He'll float down to ground level, lower his scythe along the ground, and charge you. As you might have already guessed, once he gets close, he's going to swing at you. This is piss easy to dodge in single player. Double jump away is what I find works best. The catch? This attack is probably one of his most dangerous in multiplayer. See he targets a specific player with this attack and won't swing the scythe until he reaches that player. Naturally this means there's boatloads of potential for contact damage on this attack in multiplayer. The more you have, the more this attack sucks.
My suggestion? Make like a World of Warcraft player in a raid and stack on top of one another. This way you don't need to know who exactly Death is targeting because all you'll need to know is that he's going to attack one of the people standing right there with you.
Deathscythe Sweep: Death flies over head leaving a trail of passive scythes. He always does this twice and does at an angle so that you'll have to deal with this attack. Your best bet is to attack the little scythes and erase them before they really get moving. Whip users will love their whip flail here. The catch is that Death isn't going to just wait for you to erase everything. This attack actually has potential to trap you/keep you preoccupied as Death moves into another attack.
Overhead Slash: Death makes his way above you very quickly. Best get moving because once he's there he's going to bring down the hammer...scythe...whatever, you get it. Its an overhead swing and it goes off once he's above you. He seems to have a habit of using this right after Deathscythe Sweep. I can't help but wonder if there's a relation between the two attacks I'm just not noticing?
Deathscythe Storm: Remember when Death would throw scythes at you as you were advancing through the stage? This is the exact same deal here. Attack the scythes to erase them or get behind him for some free hits. Piece of cake.
STRATEGY: This is the fight that's going to separate the kiddies from the vampire hunters for Dracula. Death has a wide variety of attacks and most of them hurt like hell if you get hit by them. This is one fight there's no shame in waiting for good openings to strike. Death moves moderately fast around the room and most of the time he doesn't leave himself open. The two attacks he's only really open to attacks on are if you get past Dark Spiral early on during the attack, and if you can get behind him during Deathscythe Storm. If you really want to get daring, the start up for Crescent Scythes might be a good opening to get some hits in so long as you remember to dodge when the time comes.
The times where it is truly a bad idea to attack him is when anytime during and immediately after Charging Sweep, any time during or immediately after Overhead Slash, and Passive Scythe Sweep. You can't be sure what direction he's going to fly after Charging Sweep and Overhead Slash, and during Passive Scythe Sweep you should be staying away from him as best you can to erase the scythes and getting ready for whatever attack comes next. Especially if he moves into Charging Sweep or Overhead Slash.
Like Brauner, Death is a fight you really have to experience and practice at to really understand. There are just too many way different attacks to give a consistent and reliable strategy because there just is no consistent and reliable strategy for Death.
HARD MODE: As always, Death ups the damage he dishes out and he has more health. The Passive Deathscythe might be greater in frequency and faster than normal. I feel its really worthy of mention that Charging Sweep and Overhead Slash REALLY hurt here.
CHAPTER 6
BOSS: DRACULA
WEAKNESSES: Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: Dracula has three forms, and enough attacks to decimate a small army between the three of them. Not to mention some of them change or have little quirks to them on hard mode. I'll be breaking this up into attack and strategy by phases as opposed to trying to get them all at once.
ATTACKS - PHASE ONE:
Teleport: Being Dracula, it should come as no shock that he teleports around. He's done it since day one and he'll keep doing it till 1999 rolls around
Hellfire: The classic Dracula attack. Dracula draws his cape backwards for this attack before launching anywhere from three to five fireballs ar you. Attack them, jump over them, get behind Dracula before they launch. Anything you need to do in order to dodge this.
Dark Inferno: The other half to the classic Dracula coin. Dracula launches a series of dark meteors at you alternating in high and low patterns. Its just a matter of hopping and ducking. As he gets low on health he may or may not fill the room with fire pillars so you'll have to reposition yourself before you stop hopping and ducking otherwise you're likely to eat a ton of damage here. This is probably Dracula's most dangerous attack in phase one under the circumstances. Again, you can also get behind Dracula for this.
Fire Pillars: The oddball attack. Dracula calls two pillars of fire from the floor initially, then one more based on your position shortly after. If the pillars have a lot of space between them, just adjust as needed for the third pillar.
STRATEGY - PHASE ONE:
"This long slumber has given me strength..."
"Come, my son. Let us embrace..."
This is it. This is the big fight. Dracula tosses his wine glass, rises from his throne, and teleports into the room. This phase is cake. Just whack Dracula in the head over and over and dodge the attacks. Getting behind him leaves him wide open. Even if you don't get behind him, these attacks aren't terribly hard to dodge.
HARD MODE - PHASE ONE: I can't think of anything besides the normal additional health and damage except for the fact that when he uses Dark Inferno, he'll launch more meteors.
ATTACKS - PHASE TWO:
Jump: Dracula's main way of moving around in this phase is jumping. Simple. Just don't touch him.
Destruction Ray: Remember the green ray attack from Order of Ecclesia? That's this. Dracula will jump a good long distance and fire three sets of three rays directly underneath him. Hitting the rays will poison you and its not something you can afford regardless of difficulty. He only seems to do this two ways. One if he's far away and wants to jump close, or if he's really close and wants to jump away. There's a slight pause before he does it to get away in whatever direction you need to. If he's getting ready to jump and he's fairly close to one side of the arena, be ready for this attack and get away.
Ghost Chaser: Same cursing attack as Dullahan (The big suit of armor who's head floats around if you don't know the enemy). The difference being that Dracula rapid fires it multiple times. It behaves the same way as Dullahan's Ghost Chaser though, so if you move after it fires it'll land where you were, not where you are. He's probably going to be facing you when he does this so its best to walk the same direction he's facing in a series of quick steps. This attack still does curse you. Charlotte and Yoko players need to avoid this at just about any cost that isn't going to get you killed.
Fire Wave: Dracula shoots a fireball at the ground which explodes into a fire wave exactly like the fire wave the Final Guards would cast as you made your way up to the throne room. Double jump over it or do whatever it is you did to avoid it so long as it isn't doesn't make you give Dracula a hug...even if he probably does need a hug after all the crap he's dealt with.
Gergoth Soul: I call it Gergoth soul since its not as corny as calling it death ray. Dracula faces one side of the room, charges the laser up like Gergoth, and fires down at you. The strategy for avoiding the attack itself is the same in single and multiplayer. If he's facing you head against the wall and double jump just as he fires. You'll end up with a safe patch to stand on when you land. In multiplayer you'll have to avoid Dracula as the force of the attack kicks him back. I've never actually seen him push up against the wall far enough to cause contact damage, so that's probably your best bet.
STRATEGY - PHASE TWO:
"Play time is over! GIVE. ME. POWER!!!"
Dracula transforms into the monster he changed into in Rondo of Blood and the prologue of Symphony of the Night. Dracula's bag of tricks is much bigger in this phase and it pretty much boils down to dodging. The only attack in this phase that will really catch you off guard is Destruction Ray. In phase two its best to just give your self a little distance as you attack. Whip users will want to use their subweapons and tip of the whip, casters can keep their range with typical spells but should try to melee when they can to conserve MP for the third phase. Dracula's second form is ultimately trial and error. Just reading this guide won't earn you a free ticket through. You just have to experience it and learn it.
HARD MODE - PHASE TWO: I can't honestly remember anything different about Dracula's second form in hard mode that's different. More health, more damage, that's it.
ATTACKS - PHASE THREE:
Swipe: Dracula moves to the side swiping with his claws. If you don't pay attention you won't see this attack coming. Watch for the hands to glow red. If the hand on your right glows red he'll swipe left, and vise versa.
Fire Pillar Chase: Far as I can tell this is telegraphed when Dracula draws his hands together and a red circle appears. Dracula targets a player and begins to call pillars under said target a series of times. Just keep sliding so you don't end up hitting Dracula's hands or something. This is just annoying solo, but in multiplayer you're going to have to watch for who has it and move with them if they're heading your way.
Aura Blast: Signified by a blue circle when he draws his hands together. Anyway, lines appear across the entire room and shortly after energy surges down them starting low then rising on each side simultaneously. There's a dead spot right under Dracula where you can survive this. If you weren't underneath him to begin with you probably won't have enough time to get down under him. That being said ducking directly in the corner is a sure fire way to get hit, but ducking a little bit way from the corner will save you. Most of the time at least. You might have luck sliding to the left just before the line above you goes off.
Fire Wave: Dracula shoots a fireball straight into the ground and it turns into two waves of fire that act like the ones used by the Final Guards. If you're in the middle when this goes off there's a good chance you're going to get hit. This is a Normal Mode only attack. If this is hard mode then instead of this he casts...
Fire Storm: Pillars of fire start brewing across the floor. Get between two of them and duck because he's about to box you in with lighting bolts everywhere. This attack does major damage but as said before its only cast on hard mode.
Triangle Rays: This is one of the party killers. Dracula's three heads move and a rainbow colored triangle appears. It actually starts in two default positions. Up high with the tip pointing down, or down low with the flat part close the floor. The latter of the two is almost assured damage if you're still under him. Anyway, get to the far side of the room. Dracula then fires a series of these triangles at you. When going solo wait for the first three to fire before you move and double jump over them just in time for the fourth ray to fire high. This should give you room to work under and over the last of them. In multiplayer you're going to be stuck watching where they come from because they'll be fired at random players. Your best bet is to try to get your team split evenly on each side.
Seduction: Oh ladies! This one is especially for you! By which I mean if the boss room is a sausage fest then Dracula won't cast this. If Charlotte, Shanoa, Yoko, or Maria are present though, this attack will be cast and is probably the second biggest group killer. However that really depends on if any of the girls get hit by it and just how big the seduced/not seduced ratio is. Signified by a blue circle like Aura Blast, a circle of hearts appears and each fire straight outward. If guys get hit, they just take a boat load of damage. If the ladies get hit, they take damage before their hearts go all a flutter, they get funny feelings, and promptly maim their teammates all for Dracula's affections.
I'm told there are two patterns for this attack. One can dodge by ducking close to a corner, and one where instead of ducking at the corner you'll need to do a little hop. If you have an evading technique, spell, or martial art, this might be the place to use it if you don't end up hugging Dracula.
The worst case scenario happened you say? The ladies thinking funny thoughts you say? Gentlemen you have two options here. One is to avoid Dracula AND the girls until the come to their senses, or kick chivalry to the curb and beat the tar out of them. If this is multiplayer and you've only got one person seduced, chances are you can deal with it if you know the fight well enough. If you have two or more ladies thinking about what they want Dracula to do to them, then you're better off putting them out of their misery and using Water of Life to bring them back. If this is single player...well, enjoy taking contact damage and pray to god he doesn't cast Triangle Rays. Or even worse. He might just go ahead and cast...
Demonic Megiddo: This is it. This is THAT attack. That one attack that will end your party in the blink of an eye. When Dracula draws his hands in and the circle that appears is white, black, red, yellow, and all sorts of other fiery colors, get your ass to the far wall because Demonic Megiddo is coming and touching it is probably going to get you killed. On hard mode Dracula wises up and blocks off the far walls of the room with fire pillars until right before he uses it so timing is everything with this attack.
STRATEGY - PHASE THREE:
"This is not the end. This is just the beginning! GAZE UPON MY DARK FORM!"
Dracula transforms into his final boss form from Symphony of the Night. In this form, Dracula will sit on the throne in the center of the creature. The massive hands guard against all damage leaving only the central body vulnerable. Unfortunately the only place to attack from is right next to this point and it is easily the most horrible spot to be in this form as this leaves you wide open to Swipe, Seduction, Demonic Megiddo, and Triangle Ray as there's little time to slide back around the hands to get away. The most dangerous attack start up here is Triangle Ray as there will be almost no time at all to dodge.
Whip users might be able to take advantage of their length by jumping, and whip as they fall just near the hands and hit Dracula's main body from the outside. Everyone else is basically stuck in the middle. Whenever Dracula draws his hands in for an attack, almost the entire main body is vulnerable hands and all. Dracula's third form is almost completely trial and error. Even masters of this fight can be ended by badly timed Demonic Megiddos. The only real trick to phase three is to not get hit during phases one and two to maximize your margin of error. Good luck. You're going to need it.
HARD MODE - PHASE THREE: As I said before, Dracula protects the walls with fire during the start up of Demonic Megiddo. The fire only vanishes about one second before the attack, at which point you'd best be moving because I have NEVER seen anyone survive Demonic Megiddo on Hard. There are only four Waters of Life on this stage, so there's no room for mistakes before or during Dracula.
CHAPTER 7
BOSS: ASTARTE
WEAKNESSES: Strike, Holy
RESISTANCES: Slash, Stab, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: Yeah yeah, I know the compendium lists her as 'Ashtarte' but I think that looks stupid so deal with it.
Okay. Soma and Alucard players? Take a look at that resistance list and accept the fact your blender weapons are useless here. Put your Valmanways away for once because they aren't going to do jack against a boss. In fact the only way to really get some real damage done is holy strike damage. Whip users, this is your time to shine in this Valmanway filled spam-fest. That means if you're Alucard or Soma you'll have to rely on things like fist weapons and maces. Magic users shouldn't be too bothered by this given the diversity of their spells they should have at least one Holy spell.
ATTACKS:
Temptation: Ladies and Gentlemen that play ladies! You want revenge for your team mates beating the snot out of you after Seduction in Chapter 6? Well this might be your chance. If you hear "Come hither" its time to get ready to dodge. The guys are a bit better off here because several of them have ways that'll avoid this quite nicely. The two that come to mind is Alucard's Form of Mist and Julius' Omnia Vanitas. I believe I've seen Soma players hold themselves in midair directly over Astarte with the Medusa Head soul. The pattern itself is different, but behavior is exactly like Dracula's Seduction. The difference is this affects the men, not the women.
This attack has two waves to it. They go left and right. Rather than try to fill you in on how they move, let's just cut to how to dodge them. One of my oh-so-helpful sources tells me that when you're in front of her you need to back up from her a backdash's length away and wait for her to cast the inner wave. When that happens you then jump over her head to avoid the ensuing upward wave. It should work consistently as long as you're close enough to jump over her, but not so close as to run into the other wave.
When behind her you back up about the same distance, then when the inner wave appears, you have the option of sliding towards her to dodge the wave that comes down. You can still jump the downwards wave. You simply have to jump sooner than normal. Its still easier to slide though.
If you get stuck at a distance remember to use a evading move if you're capable of one. If push comes to shove remember that as with all attacks that spread out, you got the advantage of having bigger gaps to slip through at a distance. Positioning and wave curving makes this a rather inconsistent way to dodge and will likely get your group killed if you get yourself charmed.
Slide: Astarte draws her shawl back and slides forward, stabbing with it. Pathetic range. Easily avoided.
Hurricane: This attack is Astarte's second most dangerous attack. She pulls her wand back and swings it forward casting a hurricane forward. This travels parallel to the ground. The wand itself will also damage you so just make sure you're giving Astarte a little room in front. There's a dead spot for the entire attack if you duck in front of her but that runs the risk of her walking into you. Double jumping over the hurricane is probably your best bet. This attack is easy to dodge but it hurts like hell.
Lightning Triangle: Astarte jumps up and back leaving green triangles of lightning behind her that grow in size slightly. If you're behind her you're going to have to run back behind her again before she lands and if you're in front just make sure you get back a little.
Strategy: If the attack list sounded like a joke its because...well quite frankly it is. Astarte is not a very difficult boss. Her attacks are predictable, she's easy to bait into vulnerable positions, and quite frankly the only thing that's tough is that she's open to certain types of damage. The only real risk comes in if you're stuck using a fist weapon or you get hit by Temptation. The trick to Astarte is that when she's walking forward, that's the direction her next attack is going to come from, so if you get behind her you can just beat her senseless. Just remember that if you're stuck attacking from the front to give her a little space so you can avoid her attacks. Come to think of it there's no good reason to attack unless you're behind her since her attacks hurt so much if they do land.
Hard Mode: More health, more damage, and Temptation's heart count is higher, making it harder to dodge.
CHAPTER 8
BOSS: LEGION
WEAKNESSES: Strike, Lightning, Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark
SPECIAL NOTES: I'm going to go right ahead and consider Legion a two phase boss due to how dramatically the boss fight changes once the shell is off.
ATTACKS - PHASE ONE:
"The one who is many..."
Body Drop: Legion passively drops zombies on the ground who walk around slowly and deal contact damage, a simple hit of any kind will kill them. Legion does this for the entirety of phase one, but can only drop them from parts of the shell of bodies that are still intact.
Flamethrower/Laser Beam: If you've destroyed part of the shell and are standing in alignment with the exposed tendril it will either occassionally blow fire in a sweeping motion at you for a second or two, or fire off a laser That persists for about a second. The easiest solution is just don't stand near a section where the shell has been destroyed.
STRATEGY - PHASE ONE:
Phase one of the Legion fight is straight forward and rather easily dealt with if you know what you're doing. The shell has six sections sorted out like so.
XXX
XOX
XXX
Basically there's the 8 outer pieces and the one protecting the core itself. There are two ways to go about dealing with the shell. One is to destroy the entire thing manually and this is probably the safest for the most part. Just whack the shell till it comes off in one section, move on to the next. I recommend taking care of an entire side from top to bottom to avoid bodies falling on you.
The second way to deal with the shell is to destroy one of the side pieces, use long ranged attacks to expose the core, and proceed to damage the core. Unlike the shell, the core is the part of Legion with the monster's true health. Once it takes enough damage it decides enough is enough and sheds whatever the shell is left.
Either way once the shell is off, phase two begins.
Hard Mode: Right, a big ball of barely mobile bodies is going to do anything other than get more health, deal more damage with its exposed tendrils, and remain barely mobile.
These increasingly snarky comments about hard mode doing anything for you?
ATTACKS - PHASE TWO:
"Nice job pissing it off, hero."
Flamethrower Spin: The four tendrils pointing diagonally will ignite with use Flamethrower all at once and hold it as Legion begins to rotate, sweeping the entire room before stopping and going back the way it came. If dodged correctly, everyone in the room will end up back where they started once the attack is over. The best way to read this attack is to watch closely as Legion rotates. It'll scoot a little, pause briefly, then scoot again. At the second pause the process repeats except he rotates back the other way. Easy enough to dodge with some practice. The catch? Like all easy to dodge attacks, its going to hurt like hell if you mess up. Charlotte can use use that lovely shield of hers to block this.
Laser Blast: There are two variants of this attack. There's one where Legion simply fires one laser, and another where after the first tentacle fires one it resumes firing from each tendril in either a clockwise or counter clockwise pattern until it gets past the first tendril. This is harder to dodge than Flamethrower Spin and hurts just as bad if not more. Your best bet is to move adjacent to the tendril that just finished firing and that will assure your safety. Soma's Persephone soul also works if there is no Charlotte.
STRATEGY - PHASE TWO: Truth be told the strategy is simply dodge the attacks. There's no real trick to it. You just need to practice playing what is basically "Simon Says".
HARD MODE: Truth be told, besides the standard more health/damage thing, I'm not entirely sure if there's anything different about Legion on hard mode. Faster rotations maybe? Either way, just do what you did to deal with Normal Mode.
CHAPTER 9
BOSS: BEELZEBUB
SPECIAL NOTES: Laziest. Boss. Ever.
WEAKNESSES: Slash, Stab, Holy
RESISTANCES: Dark
ATTACKS:
Nothing: Literally. This guy just hangs there and dicks around the entire fight. Its his flies that suck.
STRATEGY:
For this battle, assuming your camera is set to the default, please take your camera out to the second largest setting. This lets you see the flies as they arrive as opposed to the last second.
Yeah, that's right, you read the attack section properly. Beelzebub himself has no attacks. His real threat and this entire strategy revolve around the flies. These little bastards are a pain. They can be destroyed but regenerate when called. One of their favorite things to do is to float around Beelzebub and prevent you from getting close. There's only two real tricks to dodging them. When they're circling him, get in the corner. When they converge together and start flying at you, start sliding towards Beelzebub.
Now how about when they're flying around like crazy? That's the second way to dodge them. I could go on and on and on all day about all the different patterns they fly in but by the time I was done I'd have carpal tunnel so I'm gonna make it nice and simple. See the bottom platform on the right side of the arena? Stand on that. You'll only ever have to do two things.
1.) Reposition yourself if they start circling Beelzebub.
2.) If they use the attack pattern where they come in three groups from the left side of the screen you'll either have to duck then jump, or jump then duck depending on if the middle group will reach you first or if the bottom group reaches you first. Other than that, you got all the time in the world. HOWEVER. Richter and any Skeletons present have a little bug where sometimes they'll still get hit, even on the platform. It has to do with their sprite kind of clipping into the platform.
If you're feeling daring? You can also jump kick off the flies if you have good timing.
Do note that as you damage Beelzebub body parts fall off and you'll often have to reposition yourself a lot during this fight. Just keep to that platform and you'll be okay.
HARD MODE: Don't get hit by the flies. Seriously. My Julius has Simon's Bandana, Plate, and Cloak, the Winged Boots, and two Artemisian/Apollonian Rings depending on the time of day and the contact damage will eat all 390 health in two or three hits.
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 referring 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:
"Oh, now why did you have to go and knock my head off? Jerks."
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. This attack actually changes behavior based on the number of players present instead of actual difficulty setting. The more people, the more fireballs in the spiral. You should without a shadow of a doubt consider only taking three or four people along for this chapter. You'll always have to avoid the spiral twice per cast.
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. First and foremost. If this is multiplayer: Stay together. Do not spread out. If you must spread out, make it into two groups, one in front and one in back. If you don't then predicting which way Dracula will go becomes hell. Dracula moves and attacks in a way that shouldn't be hard to handle if you just stay together. Just make sure you avoid Charge and to get distance so you can slip between the streams of Retro Fireball Spiral. Feeling daring? After dodging the first wave of the attack, throw a long ranged weapon or cast a spell to get some damage in. Whip users if you can, as you retreat for the start of Retro Fireball Spiral throw some crosses in there. The more holy damage the better. Knowing the attacks is only half the battle. Execution is key here.
HARD MODE - PHASE TWO: Handle it just like you did on Normal. Yeah, that's right I'm done being snarky.
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 subweapons and spells. To be safe just consider everything that is dispelled on contact (Charlotte's R. Fireball or Deathscythe for example) something that's not going to go through the shield.
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 that 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. It does however have curse potential, which I'm pretty sure is Hard Mode only. I haven't run normal in awhile. Either way, even as a caster you have no good reason to not be attacking from a distance so the curse shouldn't bother you none.
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. Unfortunately 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...
Well there you have it. Since this is all on the front page now go ahead and leave stuff like feedback, little bits you think I might find important and stuff like that!
Special thanks to Commander Raze and Kaiser98821. As far as I'm concerned you guys put just as much into this as I did.
