spread the dirt to the populace
Josh here!
Great to see you putting this much effort into this, Wally! You've got some interesting ideas, too. For now, here is my route through this run. Note that I am doing a single-segment, which means I need to minimize luck.
- In the first dungeon, I grab Fire Lance (for Jelanda) and Element Scepter (for Tome of Alchemy). Use the same strategy on the boss and keep both artifacts.
- In Ch.1, visit Solde for Avoid -> Guts. Currently I am testing whether Attack Pow is worth the time or not. Given my strategies, probably not, but it's possible!
- Skip Ch.2 and 3.
- In Ch.4, I visit Brahms Castle (grab Beast Slayer while I'm there) and Weeping Lily Meadow; you actually do not need to visit Gerabellum to get the A ending. Then it's Dark Tower of Xervah for Auto Item - in a single-segment run, you'll need this for Loki!
Then Tower of Lezard, of course; BTW, that is always the last Spiritual Concentration in this chapter. Anyway, you can actually avoid the first Dragon Zombie here: Shoot a couple crystals below you to make a platform. This doesn't work with the Manticores, however, which is why I need Beast Slayer. The fight with 2 Dragon Zombies is one of the more frustrating parts of the run: I combo spell + Grimrist to kill one, then hope the other one doesn't block Grimrist. I make sure to get a few Guts levels for everybody here just in case.
Following that, I visit the hidden room to grab the Ether Scepter, which I give to Lorenta. Then it's Lezard...first turn, I use lucid potions to keep a couple people alive. Second turn, I combo Lorenta's Mystic Cross with the Beast Slayer to fill up the meter, then use Celestial Star for an instant win.
- For Ch.5, I send one of the artifacts up to avoid C ending, then recruit Mystina and Lucian.
- In Ch.6, I max out Lucian's hero value via event exp, send the other artifact for the same reason as the first one, then transfer him.
- In Ch.7 I use event exp to max out Lorenta's hero value, then send her away to, you guessed it, dodge the C ending. I'm sure you understand the need for characters with high hero value, and those are the only two mandatory ones who qualify. Also, I'll earn a couple more Ether Scepters through sending them, ending up with 3 total. And yes, this makes my final party Lenneth/Arngrim/Jelanda/Mystina. Jelanda's lack of a good starting spell is exactly why I grabbed that Fire Lance back at the start of the game.
- In Ch.8 I go to Arianrod Labyrinth and pick up the Wand of Apocalypse and Cromrea sword. This takes less than a minute, and both of these weapons are great. Apocalypse's durability is a must, since this is single-segment and I only have 3 Ethers, and Cromrea has high atk and boosts PWS damage by 50%. As you'll see in just a bit, PWS combos are critical to all of my boss fights...
- Proceed with Weeping Lily Meadow and all the plot material therein.
- Asgard Hill! OK then, to start, I turn that one Element Scepter into a Tome of Alchemy. I use it in a fight with 4 Vanir to level up quickly. This gives me enough CP to max out Guts for everyone and level Auto Item up to 3; the only thing I need Auto Item for is Union Plume, and level 3 allows me to set that at 100%. Additionally, there is a great chance that the Vanir will drop a chest with Guard Reinforce, which I turn into Spell Reinforce. This spell helps out with Bloodbane & Fenrir.
Then it's equipment time! I get the Valkyrie-Favor for Lenneth, and give Cromrea to Arngrim. Lorenta has the Apocalypse, since she has the better attack spell, so Jelanda gets an Ether. I give everyone the best available armor, just in case a boss gets the first attack on us. Then I create a bunch of Halberds and turn them all into Poison Crystals, repeating this process a couple times. Finally, the accessories. For Bloodbane, everyone gets a Power/Magic Bangle and an Angel Curio. If I end up obtaining Spell Reinforce, one of the mages will use a Fairy Ring instead.
- Bloodbane fight next. The aim is to use a Lucid Potion on everybody ASAP, then spam Poison Crystals on him. Since he has insanely high physical defense, and the Lucid Potions make him incapable of attacking you, this is the fastest strategy. Once I remove over half his life, I will cast Sap Guard or Spell Reinforce at the end of one turn, then use a full PWS combo on the next turn to finish him off. The purpose here is to end the fight before he casts Gravity Blessing, since that spell wastes a lot of time. The PWS order here is Lenneth -> Arngrim -> Lorenta -> Jelanda, BTW. You want the mages to get the damage bonuses because of his defense.
- Following this, I give the Levantine sword to Lenneth and the Cromrea to Arngrim. Jelanda and Lorenta will switch wands, since Jelanda's spell will be stronger for the next fight. Finally, I will make Freeze Checks for my front-row characters, in case he gets first attack.
- The Fenrir fight uses almost the exact same strategy as Bloodbane. The reason is that both of these bosses will never use multi-target attacks until their HP drops below a certain point. As such, I use Lucid Potions and lots of Poison Crystals. After enough of this, I cast Sap Guard/Spell Reinforce and finish him off with one last combo. His Frost Bait attack at low life does huge damage to the whole party, so naturally I aim to avoid it altogether. The PWS order here goes Arngrim -> Lenneth -> Mystina -> Jelanda.
- Unfortunately, the Levantine will go unused for the final battle since Arngrim can't equip it, so he keeps Cromrea. One last time, the two mages will switch their wands, and everyone will have an Angel Curio as the second accessory. Once you get this settled, sit through lots o' plot. And for first Loki fight, just keep ending the turn obviously.
- Final battle time! I start by casting Sap Guard on him; Arngrim cannot hurt him at all without it, and it gives a major boost to Lenneth's ridiculous new PWS. Next turn I'll aim for a full PWS combo. After that the curios will likely start breaking, so you're going to need some luck with Guts to get a combo in. Toss some Poison Crystals at him if you get the chance, and go for a 3-person PWS combo (w/ Lenneth) at the first opportunity. He shouldn't have much life left after that, so just finish him with crystals.
And that about sums things up! If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them, as this run is my next SDA project! =)
-Josh
Great to see you putting this much effort into this, Wally! You've got some interesting ideas, too. For now, here is my route through this run. Note that I am doing a single-segment, which means I need to minimize luck.
- In the first dungeon, I grab Fire Lance (for Jelanda) and Element Scepter (for Tome of Alchemy). Use the same strategy on the boss and keep both artifacts.
- In Ch.1, visit Solde for Avoid -> Guts. Currently I am testing whether Attack Pow is worth the time or not. Given my strategies, probably not, but it's possible!
- Skip Ch.2 and 3.
- In Ch.4, I visit Brahms Castle (grab Beast Slayer while I'm there) and Weeping Lily Meadow; you actually do not need to visit Gerabellum to get the A ending. Then it's Dark Tower of Xervah for Auto Item - in a single-segment run, you'll need this for Loki!
Then Tower of Lezard, of course; BTW, that is always the last Spiritual Concentration in this chapter. Anyway, you can actually avoid the first Dragon Zombie here: Shoot a couple crystals below you to make a platform. This doesn't work with the Manticores, however, which is why I need Beast Slayer. The fight with 2 Dragon Zombies is one of the more frustrating parts of the run: I combo spell + Grimrist to kill one, then hope the other one doesn't block Grimrist. I make sure to get a few Guts levels for everybody here just in case.
Following that, I visit the hidden room to grab the Ether Scepter, which I give to Lorenta. Then it's Lezard...first turn, I use lucid potions to keep a couple people alive. Second turn, I combo Lorenta's Mystic Cross with the Beast Slayer to fill up the meter, then use Celestial Star for an instant win.
- For Ch.5, I send one of the artifacts up to avoid C ending, then recruit Mystina and Lucian.
- In Ch.6, I max out Lucian's hero value via event exp, send the other artifact for the same reason as the first one, then transfer him.
- In Ch.7 I use event exp to max out Lorenta's hero value, then send her away to, you guessed it, dodge the C ending. I'm sure you understand the need for characters with high hero value, and those are the only two mandatory ones who qualify. Also, I'll earn a couple more Ether Scepters through sending them, ending up with 3 total. And yes, this makes my final party Lenneth/Arngrim/Jelanda/Mystina. Jelanda's lack of a good starting spell is exactly why I grabbed that Fire Lance back at the start of the game.
- In Ch.8 I go to Arianrod Labyrinth and pick up the Wand of Apocalypse and Cromrea sword. This takes less than a minute, and both of these weapons are great. Apocalypse's durability is a must, since this is single-segment and I only have 3 Ethers, and Cromrea has high atk and boosts PWS damage by 50%. As you'll see in just a bit, PWS combos are critical to all of my boss fights...
- Proceed with Weeping Lily Meadow and all the plot material therein.
- Asgard Hill! OK then, to start, I turn that one Element Scepter into a Tome of Alchemy. I use it in a fight with 4 Vanir to level up quickly. This gives me enough CP to max out Guts for everyone and level Auto Item up to 3; the only thing I need Auto Item for is Union Plume, and level 3 allows me to set that at 100%. Additionally, there is a great chance that the Vanir will drop a chest with Guard Reinforce, which I turn into Spell Reinforce. This spell helps out with Bloodbane & Fenrir.
Then it's equipment time! I get the Valkyrie-Favor for Lenneth, and give Cromrea to Arngrim. Lorenta has the Apocalypse, since she has the better attack spell, so Jelanda gets an Ether. I give everyone the best available armor, just in case a boss gets the first attack on us. Then I create a bunch of Halberds and turn them all into Poison Crystals, repeating this process a couple times. Finally, the accessories. For Bloodbane, everyone gets a Power/Magic Bangle and an Angel Curio. If I end up obtaining Spell Reinforce, one of the mages will use a Fairy Ring instead.
- Bloodbane fight next. The aim is to use a Lucid Potion on everybody ASAP, then spam Poison Crystals on him. Since he has insanely high physical defense, and the Lucid Potions make him incapable of attacking you, this is the fastest strategy. Once I remove over half his life, I will cast Sap Guard or Spell Reinforce at the end of one turn, then use a full PWS combo on the next turn to finish him off. The purpose here is to end the fight before he casts Gravity Blessing, since that spell wastes a lot of time. The PWS order here is Lenneth -> Arngrim -> Lorenta -> Jelanda, BTW. You want the mages to get the damage bonuses because of his defense.
- Following this, I give the Levantine sword to Lenneth and the Cromrea to Arngrim. Jelanda and Lorenta will switch wands, since Jelanda's spell will be stronger for the next fight. Finally, I will make Freeze Checks for my front-row characters, in case he gets first attack.
- The Fenrir fight uses almost the exact same strategy as Bloodbane. The reason is that both of these bosses will never use multi-target attacks until their HP drops below a certain point. As such, I use Lucid Potions and lots of Poison Crystals. After enough of this, I cast Sap Guard/Spell Reinforce and finish him off with one last combo. His Frost Bait attack at low life does huge damage to the whole party, so naturally I aim to avoid it altogether. The PWS order here goes Arngrim -> Lenneth -> Mystina -> Jelanda.
- Unfortunately, the Levantine will go unused for the final battle since Arngrim can't equip it, so he keeps Cromrea. One last time, the two mages will switch their wands, and everyone will have an Angel Curio as the second accessory. Once you get this settled, sit through lots o' plot. And for first Loki fight, just keep ending the turn obviously.
- Final battle time! I start by casting Sap Guard on him; Arngrim cannot hurt him at all without it, and it gives a major boost to Lenneth's ridiculous new PWS. Next turn I'll aim for a full PWS combo. After that the curios will likely start breaking, so you're going to need some luck with Guts to get a combo in. Toss some Poison Crystals at him if you get the chance, and go for a 3-person PWS combo (w/ Lenneth) at the first opportunity. He shouldn't have much life left after that, so just finish him with crystals.
And that about sums things up! If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them, as this run is my next SDA project! =)
-Josh
