Ninja Gaiden Black Eternal Legend FAQ
by Yebyosh ( yebyosh_at_hotmail_._com )
Version 1.0 ( 23 March 2006 )
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( Please view with courier fonts )
History
-------
v1.0 23 Mar 2006 Created this document
v1.1 29 Mar 2006 Corrected mistakes, added tips for karma
v1.2 04 Jul 2006 Admended contents of chests, Masakado's karma.
Added benchmark scores, and various karma tips.
Contents
--------
1. What is Eternal Legend?
2. Scoring System
3. Muramasa
4. The Arena
5. Recommended Equipment
6. Rundown
a. Phase 1
b. Phase 2
c. Phase 3
d. Phase 4
e. Phase 5
7. Benchmarks
8. Credits
1. What is Eternal Legend?
--------------------------
Eternal Legend is the last set of missions in Ninja Gaiden Black's Mission
Mode. It is unlocked after clearing 40 different missions in Mission Mode.
Eternal Legend is actually Ninja Gaiden Black's version of the Second Hurricane
Pack of the original Ninja Gaiden series. It was only available through X-Box
Live ( XBL ). The series creator, Tomunobu Itagaki, himself has said that he
wishes to share it with the 90% of Ninja Gaiden players who lack access to XBL,
so here it is in Ninja Gaiden Black.
Like all missions in Mission Mode, you can unlock 3 increasing difficulties
upon completion of the easier levels. Increasing difficulty has the effect of
increasing the aggression and defensiveness of the enemy AI, as well as their
'response' times. The damage levels are also tweaked so that you take greater
damage and deal out lesser damage in the higher difficulties.
Nevertheless, the foes and the time limits remain the same throughout the
difficulties ( unlike Story Mode ).
2. Scoring System
-----------------
Eternal Legend has its own scoring system. It is a modified version of Story
Mode's in-game scoring system. How fast you clear a round of foes, how many
you killed, and how many essence techniques you have executed, factor into the
score. The timer is a countdown version like Story Mode, rather than Mission
Mode. Unlike the other Mission Mode missions, ninpo, health, essence, and
items are excluded from the scoring system.
Essence techniques reward you points if you damage the enemies with them. Here
we term ETs ( Essence Technique's ) for the basic first level essence technique
where you absorb 1 yellow essence or charge up to the first blue flash. UTs (
Ultimate Technique's ) use 2 or more yellow essences, or 1 red or blue essence,
or charging up to the second red / yellow flash. Unlike Story Mode, the points
for essence techniques are still counted after the time has expired. You still
are limited to scoring for a maximum of 50 essence techniques per encounter.
For each encounter, you are awarded certain number of points as below.
ETs = 2,000
UTs = 5,000
Combo = 10 per hit ( only for 2-hits or more )
Essence techniques and combo bonuses are tallied and added to your karma during
the encounter.
Time Bonus = 50,000
Kill Bonus = 5,000 per kill
Boss Bonus = 100,000 per boss
If you killed every foe within the time limit, besides getting the time bonus,
you will gain the :
Total Kill Bonus = [ 5000 * (Regular kills) + 100000 * (Boss Kills) ]
* [ 1 + (Time Remaining) / (Encounter Time) ]
If you fail to clear it within the time limit, besides losing the time bonus,
you only get :
Total Kill Bonus = [ 5000 * (Regular kills) + 100000 * (Boss Kills) ]
Note : Only the minions which have already been killed are factored into the
total kill bonus. Minions which die due to a boss' death are excluded.
Note : Masakado, Nicchae and Ishtaros are considered as regular kills instead
of bosses.
The time bonus and total kill bonus are only added to your karma after the
encounter is completed. After you have killed the final boss, Ishtaros, your
score is then multiplied by the mission difficulty to derive your final score.
Difficulty Multiplier
---------- ----------
Normal x1.0
Hard x1.5
Very Hard x2.0
Master Ninja x2.5
That is all there is to the final score. No end of chapter bonuses ( like in
Story Mode ), nor any bonuses from health, elixirs remaining, ninpo remaining,
and essence acquired ( like in other Mission Mode missions ).
If you are going for karma ( scoring ), it is advisable to do so on Master
Ninja difficulty, as it has the highest score multiplier. Trying a karma run
on any easier difficulty is simply inefficient.
3. Muramasa
-----------
Muramasa is here in Eternal Legend as well. At the end of each phase, a save
statue and a Muramasa statue are available to you to save and shop. Muramasa
sells a larger variety of goods here.
Elixir of Spiritual Life 1500
Elixir of the Devil Way 1500
Great Spirit Elixir 5000
Life of the Thousand Gods 5000
Spirit of the Devil 2000
Jewel of the Demon Seal 2000
Smoke Bomb 2000
Guillotine Throw 2000
The Art of the Inferno 3000
The Art of the Ice Storm 3000
The Art of the Inazuma 3000
Armlet of the Sun 2000
Armlet of the Moon 2000
Armlet of Benediction 2000
Armlet of Fortune 2000
Armlet of Celerity 2000
Armlet of Potency 2000
All weapon upgrades 5000
The shop only has 2 Life of the Thousand Gods and 4 Spirits of the Devil for
the entire mission. There are 6 Jewels of the Demon Seal, enough to upgrade
every ninpo to their maximum level.
Since all projectiles are unlimited, there is only 1 Smoke Bomb in stock.
Buying it gives you unlimited smoke bombs to use.
4. The Arena
------------
In Phase 1, you fight up from the 1st room of the Core ( refer to chapter 15
Story Mode ) to the top of it. The rooms are circular with a central column.
Two doors on opposite sides form the entrance and exit. Stairs circle around
the outside, connecting the levels. At the top is a portal.
From the boss fight of Phase 1 onwards, you will fight in the nether realms (
refer to any fights involving Nicchae or Ishtaros, Path of the Master Ninja 4,
or Military Destruction 5 ). The arena here is oval in shape. Force barriers
surround it. You can wall run on the barriers and can get up quite high.
5. Recommended Equipment
------------------------
I recommend only upgrading the Dabilahro. It fits this mission well - very
damaging wall attacks and flaming whirlwind, fast and deadly Ashura Slash. You
will get the True Dragon Sword and Dark Dragon Blade for free later, and they
will form your mainstay weaponry then. As such, the rundown is in terms of the
Dabilahro.
If you wish to get an Armlet, then it depends on your playing style.
Karma - Celerity. You need fast charge up if you want to get in quick ETs at
the start of each encounter, or to charge up to UT status just from one
essence. Definitely buy this at the end of phase 1.
Casual - Sun. Helps you to kill foes in one stroke less most of the time.
If you have the cash, you might want to purchase the following.
Benediction - Benediction only increases essence which are collected normally.
If you like to use essences for essence technique, this armlet gives no benefit
in any way and is a waste of cash. However if you can finish end bosses off
with UTs, this armlet can pay itself back quickly. If you want to buy it, buy
it at the end of phase 2.
Fortune - The number of times a red essence spawns can be counted on your
fingers. You mind as well buy the lottery if you want to play a game of
chance. However, the hydracubus has a good chance of spawning red essence, so
if you have the cash, you might want to buy this and several Spirits of the
Devil at the end of phase 2.
Definitely avoid :
Moon - The basis of defense in Ninja Gaiden is to avoid getting hit at all, so
this armlet is an antithesis of the game's theme. The damage reduction is
negligible.
Potency - Unless you are a Vigoorian Flails fanatic, it would be a waste.
Either get Inazuma or Inferno if you wish to buy a Ninpo. I recommend Inazuma
since its radius is up to 3/4 of the length of the arena ( thus you will hit
everything if you are near the center of the arena ). Its power at level 1 is
enough to kill most early minions, so you can save on needing to buy Jewels of
the Demon Seal till later stages.
Your inventory limits for consumables are :
Elixir of Spiritual Life x4
Great Spirit Elixir x2
Elixir of the Devil Way x3
6. Rundown
----------
Symbology
# per wave : Maximum number of foes at one time
- : Foes
* : Items found on the ground
= : Contents of chests
@ : Encounters giving no points
a. Phase 1
I call this the feudal phase since it is just ninjas, magi and samurais. A
pretty simple phase which can be completed with just the Dabilahro. You can
practically heal up after every encounter ( except the last ) by killing the
ravens on the staircases.
Encounter 1
Time : 40 seconds
# per wave : 3
- 6 White Ninjas (2)
- 2 Black Ninjas (1)
You will be fighting a bunch of ninjas here. It should be simple to get
rid of them by any method.
For the karma :-
Straight away equip the Dabilahro and charge up. Chain UTs all the
way here. Note that unless he hits the wall after getting UTed, the
black ninjas are able to survive one Dabilahro UT.
If you are aiming for 400k and above, you need to get 124k+ for this
fight. The pattern should be UT 2 ninjas, kill a third with Flaming
Hell Slash, then use the first two's essence to UT another, Flaming
Hell Slash kill another, and so forth. If you finish with 14+ seconds
to spare, you will get 123k+ for this fight.
= Incendiary Shuriken
At the entrance before the second level, there is a chest containing
Incendiary Shurikens.
You can kill the ravens on the staircase with shurikens to allow for an UT
at the beginning of the next encounter. Just stand on the lower stairs and
align yourself with the raven via manipulating the camera, jump straight up
and toss the shurikens just as you drop from the apex of your jump. Quickly
hold block and roll jump to the next encounter if successful. If you are
unsuccessful and the ravens fly away, just enter and exit the first level
again.
Encounter 2
Time : 35 seconds
# per wave : 3
- 3 Purple Ninjas
* Windmill Shuriken
The purple ninjas in Eternal Legend are much tougher than in the rest of
Ninja Gaiden Black. Expect them to stand up to a Dabilahro UT. After
an UT, you can try to finish each off with an Izuna Drop with the Dragon
Sword. Upon finishing this encounter, the Windmill Shuriken becomes
available on the floor near the exit.
For the karma :-
After hitting an UT on one of these guys, immediately Izuna Drop him
to kill him off. Use his essence to ET/UT another one and finish him
off with Izuna Drop again. ET/UT the last one, but this time do a
-> + Y to lift him up and on-landing charge up to ET him.
= Talisman of Rebirth
You can get a Talisman of Rebirth near the entrance of the third level. Go
to the right side of the door, do a Wind-path ( X + Y ), throw shurikens,
then press Y ( you have to press the buttons quickly ). You may also have
to experiment a bit to find the position to start your Wind-path. You
should jump up to the level where the Story Mode's 50th scarab is. There
you will find a chest containing the talisman. Alternatively, you can drop
here from the platform outside the entrance of the fourth level. This is of
course much simpler.
@ 10 Bats
Again you can kill the ravens before this floor for blue essences to UT, or
you can just come straight in and charge up with Lunar or your favourite
weapon. Collect all essences and charge up with Lunar to UT again. Ignore
the surviving bats' bites during charging up, they are just stings and
you can heal up with the ravens again.
= The Art of the Fire Wheels
A chest is near the entrance of the fourth level. It contains the basic
defensive ninpo.
Encounter 3
Time : 40 seconds
# per wave : 3
- 3 Black Ninjas (1)
- 2 Purple Ninjas (1)
- 2 Magi (1)
Just remember that if the mage is off camera before he starts casting, he
will never throw his fireballs until he gets on camera. Use this to your
advantage ( or use the central column to block ).
= Strongbow
= Elixir of Spiritual Life
There are 2 chests on the top of the Core. The chest near the portal
contains the Strongbow, the other contains an Elixir of Spiritual Life.
= Bats
A chest is up next to the entrance to the Holy Vigoor Emeperor ( in Story
Mode ). It contains 5 waves of 6 bats. You can kill a raven before hand to
unleash UTs on these bats if you wish. Otherwise just charge up to UT state
and unleash. Collect all the resulting essences, then charge up ( ignore
the bat bites ) and UT the next wave.
Heal up using the strongbow on the ravens on the staircase. Remember you
can respawn the ravens by going in and out of the earlier level.
Entering the portal will bring you into the final encounter - the Boss. So
steel yourselves.
Encounter 4
Time : 60 seconds
# per wave : 2
- 1 Horse Archer
- Masakado
* Warhammer
* Life of the Thousand Gods
Rachel's Warhammer is lying on the ground. You can pick it up any time.
Knocking off the archer from his horse will generally spawn a blue
essence from his steed. Use it to UT Masakado. Killing the grounded
samurai will generally spawn a blue essence as well. Use it to UT
Masakado again. As Masakado is riding off after ramming you, shoot him
in the back with an arrow to knock him off his steed. Change to the
Dragon Sword, wind run-stun him and Izuna Drop to finish him off. A Life
of the Thousand Gods will appear on the ground after you have killed him.
Karma Tips :-
Shoot twice at the mounted archer, block Masakado's strike, then
continue shooting at the archer. If you are accurate, 6 shots will
knock him off. Change to Lunar and UT with the horse's essence on the
samurai and Masakado. You can then use the samurai's essence to speed
up charging with the Dabilahro to UT Masakado.
Continue to charge ETs to hit Masakado ( and knock him off his horse )
after blocking each of his charge. Once you knock him off his horse,
switch to Lunar and charge up. You have enough time to charge up to
UT him if he was knocked off at the other end, otherwise ET.
If you have more than 20 seconds left, jump away to the other end of
the arena and charge up to ET him. Once the timer falls below 13
seconds, change to Dragon Sword, wind-run-stun him, and Izuna Drop to
kill him.
After picking up the Life of the Thousand Gods, the save statue and Muramasa
will appear. A button in the center of the arena will rise up as well.
Knocking that button will activate Phase 2, so do your saving then shopping
before going on.
b. Phase 2
The military phase. This can be quite an irritating phase since they have a
combination of shooters and in-your-face fistfighters, plus those deadly
accurate shoot-as-you-land rocket launchers...
Encounter 1
Time : 45 seconds
# per wave : 4
- 6 White SATs (3)
- 1 Purple SAT (1)
- 1 Black SAT (1)
You can start off by charging up to an ET on the nearest SAT here. The
most dangerous foe however would be the purple SAT who will spam grenades
at you. Try to get him as quick as possible to minimise the hurt. Use
the essences to start chaining UT throughout this phase.
For the karma :-
First charge up and unleash an ET. Roll jump towards the grenadier and
wall attack. Once you kill two, kill another, and immediately roll
jump away and on-landing UT. Wall-jump kill another, and roll jump,
on-landing UT.
Encounter 2
Time : 30 seconds
# per wave : 4
- 5 Vigoorian Infantry (3)
- 2 Vigoorian Heavy Infantry (2)
Watch out, there is a Vigoorian Heavy Infantry in the first wave.
Killing one foe will drop in the next Vigoorian Heavy Infantry. So it is
wise to take out the first Vigoorian Heavy Infantry immediately or you
will have much hassle on your hands.
For the karma :-
Unleash the UT you should have been charging up since the first
encounter. If the Heavy Infantry lives, roll and jump attack him, then
Flaming Whirlwind to finish him off. Immediately roll-jump and on-
landing ET/UT with the first casualties' essence. Since the Heavy
Infantry tends to spawn blue essence, you can immediately roll jump,
on-landing UT another, and so forth.
Encounter 3
Time : 20 seconds
# per wave : 4
- 4 Vigoorian Heavy Infantry
First off, make sure you are at one of the ends of the length of the
arena. If there are unabsorbed essences at the end of the last
encounter, then you can use them for UT here. If there was one yellow
essence, you can charge up to UT with Armlet of Celerity. Dabilahro UTs
make this encounter easier since its Ashura Slash can get rid of 2 or 3
of the Heavy Infantry at one go ( if you are standing at the other end of
the arena ). If the survivors shoot together, roll jump and onlanding UT
them.
Encounter 4
Time : 45 seconds
# per wave : 4
- 2 Blue MSATs (1)
- 2 Black MSATs (1)
- 3 Mechanised Vigoorian Infantry (1)
- 3 Mechanised Vigoorian Heavy Infantry (1)
Handle this encounter like you would with the second encounter. Go for
the rocket launchers first. Since only one of each type of soldier
is around at a time, you can cut down the number of foes in the arena by
eliminating all of one type. You can wind-run, stun and on-landing
charge to UT the last remaining type if you have Armlet of Celerity. You
have to use the Guillotine throw to do the same for the rocker launchers
though.
Encounter 5
Time : 20 seconds
# per wave : 4
- 4 Mechanised Vigoorian Heavy Infantry
This encounter is practically the same as the 3rd encounter. Follow the
same principles. Be glad that healing is the next thing to appear after
this.
= Great Spirit Elixir, 6 Blue Essences
The chest will contain a Great Spirit Elixir if you still have space in your
inventory for it. Otherwise, it will contain 6 blue essences. Pretty nifty
for healing and to start off with an UT the next round eh? The chest will
disappear a short while after you had opened it.
Encounter 6
Time : 60 seconds
# per wave : 3
- 8 White SATs (2)
- Dynamo
You can catch Dynamo with ET/UTs if they hit at the instant he executes
an attack. He will block them otherwise. The advice is to ET/UT his
minions if you wish. Anyway, wall attacks are easy to do, and can hurt
him and his minions. Alternatively, you can try to Flaming Whirlwind him
after rolling away from a melee attack, but I feel this is more riskier.
For the karma :-
You need a bit of luck here, hoping that Dynamo refrains from
shooting. Lure him to do his melee attack. Block the first and roll
jump onto the wall, wall-attacking him. Watch out for his grab. If
grabbed, you will waste at least 8 seconds. Getting hit by his blasts
will waste at least 6 seconds. You need a total kill bonus of at
least 200k to go beyond 1,200,000 by this phase. Needless to say,
this means you have to hope each wall attack also gets rid of his
minions.
= APDSDS Cores
= Explosive Arrows
Unlimited Explosive arrows are nice. You can interrupt gallas and black
imps from their attacks. The save statue and Muramasa appear after you have
opened these two chests.
c. Phase 3
The weaker fiend phase. This is like a precursor to phase 4. It is
relatively easy. The only danger would be an error of misjudgement in the
last boss fight and killed by only Yotunfrau's 2 swipes.
Encounter 1
Time : 50 seconds
# per wave : 3
- 3 Gallas
You can charge up right at the start to unleash an ET/UT. Jumping away
and charging up can land you UTs but it is likely you will miss the time
limit this way unless you catch 2 or 3 of them per UT. Flaming Hell
Slashes and Flaming Whirlwinds do fine here.
Encounter 2
Time : 75 seconds
# per wave : 5
- 9 Brown Imps (3)
- 3 Monk Fiends (1)
- 1 Galla
Mobility is absolutely needed as you face the Monk Fiends' spells, imps
who get in your face, as well as the gallas who would like to have you
for lunch. Keep moving around as you fight, aiming for the monk fiends
whenever possible. Of course if you are constantly jumping around and
chaining Dabilahro UTs, this fight becomes simple.
Encounter 3
Time : 45 seconds
# per wave : 8
- 30 Pill Bugs (8)
Seriously this is dead simple. If there are essences from the last
encounter, you can simply chain UTs all the way through without breaking
a sweat. Just avoid standing in the midst of them doing nothing.
Karma tip : It is better to kill as fast as possible this encounter than
to try maximising UTs.
Encounter 4
Time : 75 seconds
# per wave : 3
- 10 Brown Imps (2)
- Hydracubus
* Life of the Thousand Gods
For the karma :-
Wall jump-attack or Lunar/Warhammer UT to get rid of the brown imps.
Dabilahro counter attacks followed up with a Flaming Whirlwind or wall
jump-attack also work well provided the hydracubus stays waving its
tentacles around ( or you are able to avoid them ).
Irregardless, avoid hitting the hydracubus since damaging it means
less UTs you can inflict on it ( plus the hydracubus starts spewing
out its fireballs once damaged ). Definitely avoid hitting it when
both its tentacles are gone. You want to farm the UT points off the
tentacles.
Change to the Dragon Sword and Armlet of Celerity. You can be
adventurous and try to charge UTs while he has both tentacles, or play
safe and take out one tentacle first with a combo of Flying Swallow,
Shurikens and Helmet Splitter, then stand at the head of the
hydracubus and charge UTs against that one tentacle left.
When to charge up ( assuming only left tentacle, vice versa for right
tentacle ):
1 - When the hydracubus swings its left tentacle towards its rear, and
swings it back towards its front right, hitting you, roll and
charge up.
2 - When the hydracubus swings its left tentacle straight towards its
front right, and it goes through you without hitting, charge up
immediately.
3 - When the hydracubus lifts up its left tentacle and smashes it down
in front of it ( you will hear the *splat* ), charge up. You are
able to unleash the UT on the tentacle if you had started charging
up when it was lifting its tentacle. Otherwise you have to wait
to unleash it on the next attack.
4 - You must take care here if the hydracubus starts swinging its left
tentacle from the front right to its rear left ( which will miss
you ), then back to the front right ( which will hit you ). You
must roll and dodge the return swing cleanly, and if you end up
aligned with the center of the hydracubus, then you can start
charging up with Armlet of Celerity. Otherwise you will get hit
the second time it executes this attack.
5 - When the hydracubus starts waving its tentacle, immediately charge
up.
With your level 2 Dragon Sword, you should be able to get at least 40
UTs on the hydracubus.
Note that the hydracubus' left tentacle tends to do patterns 1, 3 and
5. Its right tentacle tends to do patterns 3, 4 and 5. Pattern 2 is
rarely executed in EL.
For the others :-
Do the same except keep hitting the Hydracubus when its tentacles are
gone.
= Kitetsu
Only for the aficionados of this weapon, I think. You are going to get the
True Dragon Sword soon, so...
Encounter 5
Time : 45 seconds
# per wave : 5
- 2 Archer Ghul (1)
- 2 Axe Ghuls (2)
- 2 Mace Ghuls (2)
Just make getting rid of the archers your priority. Since they are near
the walls, you can perform wall attacks. The Flaming Hell Slash also
does well. If you are using Vigoorian Flail, equip Potency and do
Ripping Thunders.
Super quick finisher :-
You need essence to start this off ( best if you had killed the
hydracubus with its tentacles on, so you can have red/blue essence
available here ). Immediately after you had opened the chest with
Kitetsu, roll to the length's end of the arena and charge up with
Dabilahro. Once the ghuls start popping in, unleash the UT. You
should be able to kill every one of them. Immediately start charging
up, unleash as soon as the second archer ghul pops up. Voila, 10
seconds finish. This will earn a total bonus of 10,000 + 23,330 +
30,000 + 50,000 = 113,330 karma.
Even more karma ( but longer and more tedious ) :-
Lure the melee ghuls to one end, then run over to the other end with
the archer ghul. With the Dragon Sword and Armlet of Celerity, X,
hold Y, the archer ( keep holding the Y down ). You should be able to
charge an UT on the archer. Collect the essence with Armlet of
Benediction if you have it. Lure the melee ghuls to your end, then
run over to the other end to do the same to the other archer ghul.
Change to Lunar. Lure the melee ghuls again to one end, and again run
to the other. This time, start charging and unleash the UT when the
front melee ghuls' feet touches the button in the middle of the arena.
This should land an one- or two-hit UT on the ghul. Lure them to your
end, then go to the other end and repeat.
This method will only be more worthwhile than the super quick finisher
if you land at least 16 UTs on the 4 melee ghuls. If you are a bad
judge of landing 1-, 2-hit UTs on them, you are going to lose out
instead. Since a melee ghul can take up to at least 8 1-hit Lunar
UTs, this method has the potential of 34 UTs + kill bonus ( 200,000 ).
Of course, realistically, 1-hit Lunar UTs on a single ghul out of a
mass of 4 is easier said than done.
Encounter 6
Time : 60 seconds
# per wave : 6
- 12 Wasp Fiends (3)
- 6 Pink Imps (2)
- 1 Archer Ghul (1)
- 1 Mace Ghul (1)
You want to avoid staying in the same spot for too long. Those wasp
fiends will stick their stingers in you real quick if you do so. So
avoid long combos. Chaining UTs is the safest ( Dabilahro UTs are 1-hit
kills on the foes here ). Just make sure you kill 2 or more per UT. On
higher difficulties, you would want to get rid of the archer ghul first.
= Great Spirit Elixir or 6 Blue Essences
They allow you to heal up before the boss encounter. Super, right?
Encounter 7
Time : 90 seconds
# per wave : 3
- 10 Pink Imps (2)
- Yotunfrau
Yotunfrau's moves are very damaging but they are also very obvious. When
he starts drawing back his arms, you know it is time to get out of there.
Note that if he draws back one arm, you would want to go the other way.
The arena is too small to allow for safe farming of Yotunfrau (though you
can charge up for UTs as he pauses after his attacks ), so go for the
quick kill. Wall attack to kill the imps and use their essences to UT
Yotunfrau. If you are going for karma, 2.72 million is a target you
should go for here.
= True Dragon Sword
A great weapon to have for the last boss.
= Ghost fish
= Great Spirit Elixir, 6 Blue Essences, or 5 Yellow Essences each worth 1k
Two chest appear and you have a choice. One will contain ghost fish, the
other a Great Spirit Elixir or 6 blue essences ( if you have maximum Great
Spirit Elixirs ). It is unlikely you can open both since they disappear
quite quickly once one of them has been opened. So it is up to your luck.
This lucky pick will occur quite a few times later.
d. Phase 4
This is likely the toughest phase of the whole mission. Besides having
highly mobile and damaging fiends as your opponents, they throw in some
tough to kill heavy hitters, and two bosses who inflict great damage. Oh,
there are those nice laser firing imps as well...
Encounter 1
Time : 65 seconds
# per wave : 4
- 9 SAT Fiends (3)
- 1 Soldier Ghul
Avoid charging up and instead go straight into the attack. Those soldier
fiends have a nasty habit of coming straight at you for a grab. If you
have smoke bombs, now is a great time to use it. Pop one off right at
the start, and you are guaranteed a certain hit on a SAT fiend. This
can allow you to kill one quickly with the Dabilahro's Flaming Hell
Slash ( XXXXY ). Wall attacks can also get rid of them.
As long as you stay far from the Soldier Ghul, you can ignore him. Chain
UTs all the way throughout this battle. Likely at the end of this
encounter, it will be down to you and the Soldier Ghul. Go far away and
charge up to UT him away.
Karma Tip :
Get rid of the SAT fiends with as much UTs as you can without touching
the Soldier Ghul. This can can be done with the Warhammer's UT. You
just have to do as above to get essence for your UT chain. With smoke
bombs, you can pop one off and charge up for an UT with one yellow
essence. Once you get rid of the 9 SAT Fiends, equip Lunar and Armlet
of Celerity.
When the ghul comes at you and is halfway between you at the end, and
the center's button, and his left foot is forward, wind-run stun him,
and move towards the other end, and start charging up. After he
turns around, watch for his second step. His second step should be
his right foot coming down near or on the button. Once that foot has
crossed the edge of the button, unleash your UT. You should hit him
only with the last stroke.
Now move back to your end, and watch him come at you. His third step
which should be with his left foot will bring him again to the midway
between you and the button. Wind-run stun him, go to the other end,
and repeat. The soldier ghul itself can take 44 1-hit Level 2 Lunar
UTs ( compared to only 35 1-hit Level 3 Lunar UTs ). Therefore if you
have smoke bombs to use for the SAT Fiends, you can get 49 or all 50
UTs from this battle with a level 2 Lunar.
For the last hit, change to Dabilahro and kill the soldier ghul from
your end, then immediately roll back to your end, and charge up. You
can charge up to UT status this way, while sparing his essence for a
later ET/UT.
Encounter 2
Time : 60 seconds
# per wave : 4
- 6 Armoured Imps (2)
- 6 Bast Fiends (2)
This will be a deadly fight. Unleash Inazuma if you feel things are
getting too hot. Both types of fiends can withstand an Ashura Slash as
well. Get the UT chain going, and mix in wall attacks.
Karma Tip :
The armoured imps can withstand a Dabilahro UT. If you lack essence
for the UT chain, cast Inazuma ( the uninjured imps can withstand a
level 2 Inazuma though ).
Encounter 3
Time : 60 seconds
# per wave : 3
- 6 Armoured Imps (2)
- 2 Black Imps (1)
Hopefully you bought some Elixirs of the Devil Way or encountered some
red essences, so you can cast Inazuma to get out of tight spots. Black
Imps can withstand 2 Ashura Slashes. If they are the only ones on the
field at the moment, you can interrupt them with explosive arrows.
Encounter 4
Time : 90 seconds
# per wave : 5
- 12 Pill Bugs (3)
- 4 Ogres (2)
As long as you are delivering UTs from the end of the lengths of the
arena, you will likely catch the bugs in them. If you miss, a wall
attack should kill them ( better than staying on the ground and getting
crunched by them ). As long as one ogre is in between you and the other,
the latter will usually avoid coming closer, leaving you to a solo face
off with the former.
= Great Spirit Elixir or 6 Blue Essences
Mighty decent of them to let you heal up after that last bruiser of a round.
They could have put in that lucky dip here instead, you know...
Encounter 5
Time : 100 seconds
# per wave : 3
- 8 Purple Ninjas (2)
- Doku
= Dark Dragon Blade
Go for the quick kill. It is more worth it this way ( health-wise and
karma-wise ). Wall attacks with Dabilahro can get rid of the ninjas and
damage Doku ( however the purple ninjas here will need more than 1 wall
attack to get rid of. They can even survive a level 2 Inazuma ). If
Doku throws his sword just as you land and prepare an on-landing essence
technique, you can land ET/UTs on him. What is nice is that you get the
Dark Dragon Blade in the chest after this encounter.
= Ghost Fish
= Great Spirit Elixir, 6 Blue Essences, or 5 Yellow Essences each worth 1k
Fish which can nibble you to death or healing, your choice...
Encounter 6
Time : 180 seconds
# per wave : 4
- 111 Bast Fiends (3)
- Marbus
* Life of the Thousand Gods
Depending on what you want,
1) Quick Kill
Inazuma immediately, getting rid of the Basts. Keep Marbus from
summoning more Basts by luring him into attack ( stand under him ), or
interrupt his casting ( by attacking then ). If Marbus is going to
stomp, roll away, then Gleam of Heaven and Earth ( X, hold-Y ) him.
If he is going to dive bomb, roll away, then Flaming Whirlwind, Gleam
of Heaven and Earth him. Remember to roll away after you have
attacked.
2) Karma Karma Karma
You want him to summon the Basts... all of them. Avoid hitting him as
much as possible until he summoned them all. However since you have
to land the UTs within 999 seconds, you mind as well land some on him
if the opportunity presents itself ( Lunar lvl 2 UTs do fairly little
damage to him if it hits only 3 times or less ). Kill the Basts by
whatever means you have. UT them for the bulk of the 50 UTs you need.
If you have yet to max out your 50 UTs by the time you kill off 111
Basts, farm Marbus for the remainder ( when he dive bombs, roll away
and charge up with Celerity, lure him to stomp you, then roll back and
jump forward, on-landing charge up, etc ).
Your aim is to get at least 4.5 million at the end of this phase, as
this will be a good benchmark to allow you to get the coveted 12
million points mark ( 4.8 mil ) for EL once you complete phase 5.
You earn your final Life of the Thousand Gods once you defeat Marbus.
= Ghost Fish
= Great Spirit Elixir, 6 Blue Essences, or 10 Yellow Essences each worth 500
Russian roulette again.
e. Phase 5
There is less to worry over here in this long dead fiends phase. For one
thing, money concerns are gone, this is the last stage. It should be easy
compared to what you have gone through in Phases 3 and 4 ( provided you are
familiar with the creatures involved ). Buy up as much elixirs as you can
before entering this phase.
Encounter 1
Time : 110 seconds
# per wave : 1.5
- 4 Vigoorian Beserkers (1.5)
Once you are used to handling Berserkers with Vigoorian Flails and
Potency, Dark Dragon Blade, Dabilahro, or True Dragon Sword, this becomes
an easy encounter. However I would recommend the Dark Dragon Blade since
if you take too long in killing one Berserker, you would have to handle 2
( which means playing around with the camera quite often ) in a small
arena. Use their essences to UT the next berserker since if you have
maximum Great Spirit Elixirs, the chest would contain blue essences.
Edge AoM's karma tips :
Equip Dabilahro/Smoke bomb/Armlet of Celerity
1. Run to edge of arena.
2. Windpath berserker when he attacks you.
3. Pop smoke bomb and jump away from him. Onlanding charge.
4. When berserker gets close, release UT.
You might have time to do this twice before Berserker #2 shows up.
When he does, DDB and --> + Y on the first berserker until he's dead.
Use essence for a Dabi UT on Berserker #2 and then repeat the smoke
bomb method. It's difficult to keep it moving but you can get quite a
few UTs ( about 9 ) on the berserkers and still make the time limit.
I would say use the DDB for the second UT for each berserker. It makes
it easier and faster to finish him off to handle the next.
= Great Spirit Elixir or 6 Blue Essences
If the chest has the essences, leave one to start off the next round with an
UT.
Encounter 2
Time : 120 seconds
# per wave : 3
- 8 Armoured Imps (2)
- Nicchae
You can wall attack with the Dark Dragon Blade to get rid of the Imps (
or just Inazuma, use the ninpos! ). Just watch out for Nicchae's charge.
It is simpler once she is alone. If she charges, block her and roll-jump
into a wall attack, or you can use the True Dragon Sword to roll away
from her charge, Haze Slash her down, then Gleaming Blade or Blade of
Nirrti her. Flying Swallow is risky and has a low hit probability as the
difficulty increases, so learn to do without it.
@ 16 Bats
Keep jumping around and throwing shurikens, that is all to it.
Encounter 3
Time : 90 seconds
# per wave : 1
- Ishtaros
It is only Ishtaros and she is alone. Too simple, really. Change to
True Dragon Sword and keep avoiding her attacks. Dragon Tear her when
you avoid her twirl and kick move, or her stomp and whip grab. If you
still have ki, cast The Art of the Firewheels. If she jumps off to swing
round the arena, start charging up Gleaming Blade and unleash immediately
when you hear her yelp.
Farming Ishtaros for karma :-
You need to be able to land more than 11 UTs on her to make this
worthwhile. This involves you constantly dodging her attacks without
retaliating ( which is difficult when considering her whip flurry
inflicts guard damage ). You will be equipping the Lunar and Armlet
of Celerity. The only time you will be attacking, is when she jumps
off to swing round the arena. At this point, roll once towards the
edge and start charging up. Unleash the Raven's Veil just as you hear
her yelp. The UT should only partially connect with her.
---The End---
7. Benchmarks
-------------
Here are some benchmark scores to help you gauge your progress towards a 12+
million score on Master Ninja if you choose to do so.
Platinum's run
End of Phase 1 - 400,910
End of Phase 2 - 1,244,290
End of Phase 3 - 2,789,120
End of Phase 4 - 4,515,190 ( 111 basts )
End of Phase 5 - 4,802,270
Overall Score - 12,005,675
BIO Culke's run
End of Phase 1 - 400,920
End of Phase 2 - 1,221,780
End of Phase 3 - 2,708,170
End of Phase 4 - 4,483,130 ( 111 basts )
End of Phase 5 - 4,807,770 ( Farmed Ishtaros )
Overall Score - 12,019,425
Yebyosh's run
End of Phase 1 - 401,090 ( 14,658 essence )
End of Phase 2 - 1,210,520 ( 17,318 essence )
End of Phase 3 - 2,790,410 ( 38,952 essence )
End of Phase 4 - 4,541,360 ( 86 basts, 57,019 essence )
End of Phase 5 - 4,815,300
Overall Score - 12,038,250
Captain Tuttle's run
End of Phase 1 - 410,xxx
End of Phase 2 - 1,232,xxx
End of Phase 3 - 2,855,xxx
End of Phase 4 - 4,709,xxx ( 111 basts )
End of Phase 5 - 5,000,550
Overall Score - 12,501,375
8. Credits
----------
- Thank you Team Ninja for making this great game, and letting the non-XBLers
play EL.
- Thank you, Kip and Sneh for making great videos of your EL run.
- Thank you, Captain Tuttle for the inspirational videos of your 5mil HP2 run.
- Thank you, Sneh and Weibull760 for the corrections and information.
- Thank you, IberianWarrior for hosting many great videos of many great
players, as well as the forum for discussion (
http://iberiansninjagaiden.com
).
- Thank you, Edge AoM, Fatman67, and fellow forumers of the above forum for
various ideas.
- Thank you, GameFAQs for hosting this FAQ.
If you find any mistakes or wish to clarify some data, please contact me over
email. Thank you.
