NNNN NNNN IIIIIIII NNNN NNNN JJJJJJJJ AAAA
NNNN NNNN IIIIIIII NNNN NNNN JJJJJJJJ AAAAAA
NNNNN NNNN IIII NNNNN NNNN JJJJ AAA AAA
NNNNNN NNNN IIII NNNNNN NNNN JJJJ AAA AAA
NNNN NN NNNN IIII NNNN NN NNNN JJJJ AAA AAA
NNNN NN NNNN IIII NNNN NN NNNN JJJJ AAAAAAAAAA
NNNN NNNNNN IIII NNNN NNNNNN JJJJ AAA AAA
NNNN NNNNN IIII NNNN NNNNN JJJJ JJJJ AAA AAA
NNNN NNNN IIIIIIII NNNN NNNN JJJJ JJJJ AAA AAA
NNNN NNNN IIIIIIII NNNN NNNN JJJJJJJJ AAA AAA
GGGG AAAA IIIIIIII DDDDDDD EEEEEEEEEE NNNN NNNN
GGGGGGGG AAAAAA IIIIIIII DDD DDD EEEEEEEEEE NNNN NNNN
GGGG GGGG AAA AAA IIII DDD DDD EEEE NNNNN NNNN
GGG AAA AAA IIII DDD DDD EEEE NNNNNN NNNN
GGG GGGGG AAA AAA IIII DDD DDD EEEEEEEE NNNN NN NNNN
GGG GGGGG AAAAAAAAAA IIII DDD DDD EEEEEEEE NNNN NN NNNN
GGG GGG AAA AAA IIII DDD DDD EEEE NNNN NNNNNN
GGGG GGGG AAA AAA IIII DDD DDD EEEE NNNN NNNNN
GGGGGGGG AAA AAA IIIIIIII DDD DDD EEEEEEEEEE NNNN NNNN
GGGG AAA AAA IIIIIIII DDDDDDD EEEEEEEEEE NNNN NNNN
BBBBBBBBBB LLLL AAAAA CCCC KKKK KKKK
BBBB BBBB LLLL AAAAAAA CCCCCCCC KKKK KKKK
BBBB BBBB LLLL AAA AAA CCCC CCCC KKKK KKKK
BBBB BBBB LLLL AAA AAA CCC KKKK KKKK
BBBBBBBBBB LLLL AAA AAA CCC KKKKKK
BBBBBBBBBB LLLL AAAAAAAAAAA CCC KKKKKK
BBBB BBBB LLLL AAA AAA CCC KKKK KKKK
BBBB BBBB LLLL AAA AAA CCCC CCCC KKKK KKKK
BBBB BBBB LLLLLLLLLL AAA AAA CCCCCCCC KKKK KKKK
BBBBBBBBBB LLLLLLLLLL AAA AAA CCCC KKKK KKKK
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Mode Guide
By: Alex "Megla Zero" Van Meter
E-mail:
[email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 Alex Van Meter
This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances, other than for your
own personal use. It may not be placed on any website that is not listed below
for use, without first asking permission. Use of this guide on any other
website is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
Websites Allowed:
www.gamefaqs.com
www.iberiansninjagaiden.com
http://weibull760.dyndns.org:8989
www.ninjafortress.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version History:
0.05 -(10/27/05)- Started the Guide and finished the first 5 missions for
"survival"
0.10 -(11/06/05)- Finished up all of the Nightmarish Phantasm missions, and
added in some info found by Weibull760
0.15 -(11/07/05)- Started and finished Abysmal Lair missions
0.20 -(11/09/05)- Few minor tweaks to weapons/ninpo/armlets and Mission Mode
Basics. Finished Military Destruction. Tweaked PotMN Phase 4
a little. Added extra strategy to PotMN Phase 2.
0.25 -(11/27/05)- Finished up DotF finally, and wow... 1 month since I started
this :D Ooh... just found a new thing for PotMN Phase 2 >.>
0.30 -(11/28/05)- Finished up CG in 1 night! Woo, thanks to Edge AOM's written
section, I just had to find the enemies and do the weapons :D
Thanks Edge *gives cookie*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contribution:
I am in no way, shape, or form a "master" at this game. I can most likely put
the most efficient ways of beating the missions, but I will need a lot of help
to figure out different ways for beating the missions with different weapons,
or with more karma. If anyone contributes to this guide, they will receive full
credit for any help they give. You just have to e-mail me whatever suggestions,
strategies, opinions, or comments you have and I will make sure that they are
included in the next version of the guide. Thank you in advance for any help
that you give.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
I. Introduction......................................... 1.00
1. Mission Mode Basics...............................1.10
A. Terms..........................................1.11
B. Important Techniques...........................1.12
2. Weapons and Items.................................1.20
A. Melee Weapons..................................1.21
B. Projectile Weapons.............................1.22
C. Armlets........................................1.23
D. Ninpo..........................................1.24
E. Items..........................................1.25
3. Mission Mode Scoring..............................1.30
A. Information....................................1.31
II. Mission Walkthrough (survival).......................2.00
1. Path of the Master Ninja..........................2.10
A. Phase 1........................................2.11
B. Phase 2........................................2.12
C. Phase 3........................................2.13
D. Phase 4........................................2.14
E. Phase 5........................................2.15
2. Nightmarish Phantasms.............................2.20
A. Phase 1........................................2.21
B. Phase 2........................................2.22
C. Phase 3........................................2.23
D. Phase 4........................................2.24
E. Phase 5........................................2.25
3. Abysmal Lair......................................2.30
A. Phase 1........................................2.31
B. Phase 2........................................2.32
C. Phase 3........................................2.33
D. Phase 4........................................2.34
E. Phase 5........................................2.35
4. Military Destruction..............................2.40
A. Phase 1........................................2.41
B. Phase 2........................................2.42
C. Phase 3........................................2.43
D. Phase 4........................................2.44
E. Phase 5........................................2.45
5. Descent of the Fiends.............................2.50
A. Phase 1........................................2.51
B. Phase 2........................................2.52
C. Phase 3........................................2.53
D. Phase 4........................................2.54
E. Phase 5........................................2.55
6. Captivating Godesses..............................2.60
A. Phase 1........................................2.61
B. Phase 2........................................2.62
C. Phase 3........................................2.63
D. Phase 4........................................2.64
E. Phase 5........................................2.65
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Introduction (1.00)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This guide is being created by me, for the sole purpose of helping people along
in the Mission Mode. I have seen many topics among the NGB (Ninja Gaiden Black)
boards on GameFAQs and I decided to take on the task of creating this. In this
guide, I will be listing the best ways just to get through all of the missions
on Normal difficulty surviving, and the way to maximize your karma on Master
Ninja difficulty. Hopefully this guide will be able to help at least some of
you in your path to become "Master Ninjas".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Mission Mode Basics (1.10)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission Mode is an unlockable feature in NGB, which you can get by beating the
game on any difficulty. Once you do this, on the main menu you will see a
choice named "Missions" just below the "Load Game" selection and above the
"Ranking" selection. When you first unlock Mission Mode, the first 10 missions
will be unlocked. After that, every 5 missions you beat will unlock another 5,
until you have unlocked all 46 of them (the last mission is 5 phases in 1). So
in reality, to unlock the final mission you only have to beat 40 of them. You
can even unlock a costume by completing the very last mission in Mission Mode,
Eternal Legend, which is a clone of Hurricane Pack 2 from the original Ninja
Gaiden, only without Intercept. The costume you get by completing this is the
DOA costume.
Mission Mode is split up into 10 sections of 5 different "phases" each. Each
phase is a different mission, and each of the "karma" (points) that you score
for each phase will be stored in memory, but only if it is the highest amount
of karma you have scored on that phase before. To view your highest karma total
on a certain mission, you just have to highlight it and look at the very bottom
and it will show your karma for that mission, and your total karma for all of
the missions combined. Some of the missions are relatively short (9 minions, or
a mission with mostly ghost fish), but then you have some of the more insane
and longer missions (5 tough encounters in a row, 100 enemies, Eternal
Legends). Either way, they have missions set up to keep you occupied no matter
how long the amount of time you can spend on it. If you only have 15-30 minutes
to spare, you can go through and play some of the shorter missions if you feel
like it. If you have 2+ hours though, then you can go through on some of the
harder and longer missions, trying to beat your karma score or just beat it at
all.
Mission Mode's karma works in a strange way compared to the story mode of the
game. Instead of having a time limit that counts down, you have a timer that
starts from 0 and counts up. Every second you waste loses you 100 points, which
isn't too bad in case a boss feels like being picky and either won't give you a
chance to attack, or if you get knocked down while attacking. You still make
2000 points for a level 1 UT (1 yellow essence or charging it for only one
explosion), and 5000 points for a level 2 UT (2 yellow, 1 red, 1 blue, or
charging up for 2 explosions). Using UTs is the way to make the most karma in
Mission Mode (MM) since on the higher difficulties, your karma is multiplied,
so 5000 points can become more like 20000 just because of the difficulty. You
still get a kill count, which I believe is still 1000 for regular minions and
10000 for bosses, but I will have to double check that on a mission that I play
on normal, just because I don't think I get a multiplier on it.
Each mission also gives you a selection of items to start with including: ninpo
slots, elixirs, melee items, projectile weapons, armlets, and ninpo. I will
make a list of the individual items they give you, along with their levels and
quantity before each phase. I will also be placing how many enemies appear in
each phase, as well as which type of enemy. This may help you come up with your
own strategy before you even unlock or get to the mission. Hopefully you
understand the basics of MM now, as we will be getting into the individual
phases now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Terms (1.11)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the course of this guide, I will abbreviate many of the names of
attacks, enemies, and weapons. Hopefully this section should avoid much
confusion when you see the abbreviations.
OHKO - One Hit Knock Out
UT - Ultimate Technique (2 Yellow, 1 Red, 1 Blue charge-up)
ET - Essence Technique (1 Yellow charge-up)
DDB - Dark Dragon Blade
ID - Izuna Drop (XYXXXY)
BoN - Blade of Nirrti (XYXXXX)
VF - Vigoorian Flail
FW - Flame Worm
TW - Thunderbolt Worm
DS - Dragon Sword
OL - On-Landing (special state right after you land)
GB - Gleaming Blade (360+Y with DS lvl 3 or 4)
UF - Unlabored Flawlessness
Dabi - Dabilahro
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Important Techniques (1.12)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the course of mission mode, there are a few techniques that you will end
up using a lot. I will try to put these here, although I will also list them
during the missions to help ease confusion.
Izuna Drop - XYXXXY; can also be done just XXXY (if you and an enemy are in
the air) or ->YXXXY [Weapons: Lunar (->YYXY), Kitetsu, (T)DS]
Blade of Nirrti - XYXXXX; can also be done just XXXX (if you and an enemy are
in the air) or ->YXXXX [Weapons: Kitetsu, (T)DS]
Flaming Whirlwind - ->Y [Weapons: UF, DDB, Dabi (lvl2), War Hammer(lvl2)]
Ripping Thunder - ->YYY [Weapons: VF]
Dead Soul Bind - XX->XXXXXXXXX; can also be started with ->XX; can finish off
the combo with three Y's at the end to make Soul Eraser.
[Weapons: Kitetsu]
Flying Swallow - Y when jumping towards an enemy; Flail's equivalent of this
is the Red-Hot Iron Brand [Weapons: VF, (T)DS, Kitetsu]
Lunar Explosion - ->YYY; note, you can switch in XY at the end instead of just
Y to pull off the Izuna Drop easiest with this weapon
(->YYXY) [Weapons: Lunar]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Weapons and Items (1.20)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are many various weapons and items available throughout the Ninja Gaiden
world, and you will encounter most of them during some time when you are
playing Mission Mode. I am going to make a very basic list of all the various
"items" (including weapons) that will hopefully show off some of their
strengths and weaknesses and may help you decide whether or not to use any of
them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Melee Weapons (1.21)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Melee Weapons in this game, are the attention grabbers. They are usually
the most flashy looking, do most of the killing, and one can even heal you. No
matter what you do in this game, you cannot go without having a Melee Weapon
equipped. It is a necessity to have it, since you would not be able to block,
kill enemies (for the most part), and do any of the other cool things certain
Melee Weapons allow you to do.
1. Dragon Sword - 3 Levels
--------------------------
"A Japanese sword handed down in the Hayabusa Ninja Clan. It is carved out of
the fang of a dragon."
The Dragon Sword is the basic sword that you get in the beginning of the game.
It is also available in most of the missions, and can be used to complete
almostany mission that it is in. It has 3 levels, with each level gaining more
moves and the most noticable level is 2, since that is when it gains the
"powerful" Flying Swallow move*. This weapon is a very capable "rounded"
weapon, as it is able to perform ground and air combos very fluidly, and is
one of the most "free-form" friendly weapons available.
* this move has been toned down considerably in Black, so if you are/were used
to spamming it from the original NG.... that strategy most likley won't work
now.
2. True Dragon Sword/Plasma Saber MKII
--------------------------------------
"The legendary ultimate form of the Dragon Sword, achieved by fitting the
Dragon's Eye into it."
The final form of the Dragon Sword (PSMK is just a different skin), which
unlocks about 5 new abilities. This sword can be gotten in Chapter 13 of Story
Mode, and is only in a few Missions. The True Dragon Sword has this purple glow
around it, most likely caused by the purple Dragon's Eye that has to be placed
in the hole in the handle to transform it. The TDS is also much more powerful
than its predecessor, the DS, and allows you to perform a few new more powerful
combos. Most noticably is the new UT, and the Blade of Twin Dragons
(->[holdY]YY).
3. Kitetsu - 3 Levels
---------------------
"The weapon used by Doku. It is a cursed Japanese sword that feeds on the souls
of those it slays."
At first glance, the Kitetsu may look like a clone of the Dragon Sword, but
realistically, it is much more capable in terms of abilities. The Kitetsu is
the only melee weapon (apart from the spear gun, which shouldn't even be melee)
to have a projectile attack, and it also has a few other unique moves in its
arsenal. The Kitetsu can be obtained at the end of Chapter 11, beginning of
Chapter 12 after you defeat Doku in the stadium. It will be lying on the floor
just waiting for you to pick it up. It is also available in only a few
missions, but wherever it is, it is usually a good idea to use it. The kitetsu
has 3 levels, and at the third level it can learn one of my favorite moves
which is otherwise exclusive to the TDS. The Blade of Twin Dragons. It is a
powerful combo, which I probably use to excess.... but it works very well on
bosses and blocking enemies, since the second strike will guard break, and the
third strike will decapitate, and put the enemies on the ground... giving you
time to run over and Fiend Sealer them.
4. Wooden Sword - 7 Levels
--------------------------
"A sword made from wood. It is used mainly to practice sword fighting and is
incapable of cutting attacks."
When you first buy this stupid piece of wood... you'll probably wonder if
you're insane, especially after looking and seeing that it has 7 levels to
upgrade. However, this is especially worth it (even for the 108,500 essence it
costs) because when you finish upgrading it, it will transform into a super
killing machine, which you can read about farther down....
5. War Hammer - 2 Levels
------------------------
"Rachel's War Hammer. A Fiend Hunter's weapon, it is suitable for taking the
heads off of fiends."
This is one of the "weakest" heavy weapons in the game, but it is still a very
powerful weapon. The main things it lacks, is damage (compared to the other
heavy weapons) and the ability to combo. It's longest "combo" is only 2 hits
long, which kinda makes it a poor choice compared to the DDB or Dabi. However,
its two redeeming qualities are Steel Severer (->X) and Six Paths Spin (360+Y).
Steel Severer is the fastest attack of any heavy weapon, and although it
doesn't do too much damage.... it instantly knocks the enemy down, making them
completely open to almost all of your attacks. The other redeeming quality, Six
Paths Spin, uses the same animation as the rest of the heavy weapons, but it is
more of a throw than an attack. Ryu will impale the body on the spike of the
War Hammer, and then spin around with them on the end (which can still damage
other enemies), and then slam them onto the ground. This weapon should
generally not be used in MM, unless it is the only heavy weapon you have
available and have to take down Berserkers or some other large enemy.
6. Dabilahro - 3 Levels
-----------------------
"A two-handed sword used by ancient Vigoorian Berserkers. Due to its 100-pound
heft it is very powerful."
This is my personal favorite out of the heavy weapons. It is possible to obtain
this weapon in Chapter 8 of every difficulty except Hard (I believe... it may
be 8 in Hard too), and from there it just gets stronger. Once you fully upgrade
this weapon to level 3, it becomes an insanely powerful weapon, with a combo
that can rival some of the faster weapons. It's Flaming Hell Slash (XXXXXY) is
6 hits combined into a very speedy combo.... once you get it started. Like
every heavy weapon, it is handicapped by the slow attack speed, but once you
get the combo started it is one of the fastest attacks in the game. The
Dabilahro's UT is also arguably one of the most useful. It will shoot out 3
lines, 2 of which go diagonaly opposite and the last one will go straight out
ahead, which you can kind of think of as: \l/, only more narrow. It does a
remarkable amount of damage, and can kill most medium size enemies in 1 shot on
VH. Although it is handicapped by not having any aerial attacks, it is still
one of the most formidable ground weapons available. Unfortunately, in MM, most
of the times you have this weapon, it is stuck at Level 1 which makes it a very
poor choice compared to some of the other weapons you have.
7. Unlabored Flawlessness
-------------------------
Remember that little piece of wood, the Wooden Sword? Well, this is it after it
hits puberty and shoots up. The UF is the unstoppable killing machine that I
told you about earlier, and it only gets stronger as enemies kill you. When you
hit 10% health, or 5%, you activate this "trick" which actually increases the
amount of damage you do. This comes in very handy for some of the harder
difficulties when you need to get through enemies with lots of health. The UF
is also favored by many because of it's ability to perform midair combos. This
is the only heavy weapon that is capable of doing that, and it comes in very
handy with the 5/10% trick. Also, the UF is capable of performing its Blade of
Nirrti clone without even having an enemy around, which is something DS
requires. This can come in handy against certain bosses like Marbus, and the UF
is the only weapon capable of killing Doku in under 10 seconds. It does take
some practice to weild the UF efficiently, but once you do you will be plowing
through everyone that gets in your way.
8. Dark Dragon Blade
--------------------
"An evil blade that has been sealed away by the Hayabusa Ninja Clan. Chaos
brings out its hellish power."
Ah, the weapon that Ryu even has this game for. Unfortunately, this isn't the
awakened version that Evil Murai has, so you are unable of performing any
combos over 3, but it has the strongest attacks of any other weapon in the game
(except for the UF at 5/10% health). This weapon can be a very efficient damage
dealer if you know how to use it, but in unexperienced hands it can mean almost
instant death. It can seem unbearably slow at times, which is why you have to
be able to predict what your opponent is going to do before you attempt to use
it. The UT for this weapon is easily argued to be the best autocombo UT out
there. It hits more enemies than the other autocombo UTs, and the dash length
is supposedly longer too. This is the best weapon for just annihilating
enemies, since you can kill most enemies in 1 wall attack with this, no matter
what difficulty... if you get into a tight jam that is ;)
9. Nunchaku
-----------
"A weapon made by joining two sticks together with a chain. It is very suited
to free-form combo attacks."
Oohhh.... this is like, the older brother of the Wooden Sword.... except it
doesn't grow up to be a huge piece of wood. The Nunchaku are relatively weak,
and of not much use in story mode other than VH and MN. They cannot decapitate,
although they do have a UT which is better than the Wooden Sword. The Nunchaku
are in almost every mission, which is kind of odd since its almost an
invitation from the developers to encourage us to spam UTs. It would take
around 60 or so UTs from the Nunchaku to kill most of the bosses in this game,
and since the UT limit is 50, thats a pretty darn good invitation for me. The
only real benefit to using the Nunchaku, is you can pull out a Napoleon
Dynamite line and say how you have "numchuk skills" to impress a girl.
(warning: that most likely will not impress anyone.... especially girls)
10. Vigoorian Flail - 2 Levels
------------------------------
"A weapon used by Midieval Vigoorians; it can be swung like the Nunchaku in
combat."
The Vigoorian Flail has become my light 2 handed weapon of choice, especially
with the addition of the Armlet of Potency in Black. Although I do admit, I
probably spam Ripping Thunder a bit too much, with the Armlet of Potency it is
a way to do heavy weapon damage without a heavy weapon. If I remember
correctly, Weibull760 even did the 120 Berserker challenge in the stadium only
using the Flails and Ripping Thunder. It also has a Flying Swallow-like
substitute named the Red-Hot Iron Brand, which you can obtain at level 2. It is
almost better than the Flying Swallow too, since afterards it gives you in air
status so you can throw shurikens, or slash, or do a downwards kick, or
anything else that you could normally do while in the air. The Flails also give
you 'Cremator' (XXX->XXXXX) which is a very powerful combo and can be ended at
any time before the 5th X with a Y, to clear out all of the enemies surrounding
you. Another useful feature on Cremator is that it will deflect any projectile
that come at you, so all of those annoying Red/Black Ninja with their
Incendiary Shurikens can be effectively neutralized, just by using one combo.
Overall I feel that this is the best light weapon, although many people could
argue that it is the next weapon.
11. Lunar - 3 Levels
--------------------
"A staff that is said to harbor the mysterious power of the moon. Crafted from
the strong branch of a willow tree."
The Lunar is an amazing addition from the Hurricane Packs. Even in the middle
of your combos, you still have coverage on almost all sides of you. One of the
Lunar's most impressive features, actually comes from its most basic combo
XXXY. This combo has a guard break in the middle of it, so unless you're
fighting against the clone, those green/white military guys, or Berserkers,
you're almost guaranteed to hit them at least once with this combo. The Lunar
is also the only light weapon that is capable of performing the Izuna Drop, and
it can also break walls, properties that are only found on the one handed
weapons, and heavy weapons respectively. The Lunar UT is also very unique,
since it is the only UT that starts instantly and can be controlled like an
autocombo. You don't have to connect with the first hit to start it off like
all of the autocombos (Flails, DS, DDB) and yet, you can still move it around
as freely as if you were using one of those and connected.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Projectile Weapons (1.22)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Projectile weapons are "secondary" weapons that can be used to your advantage.
Some of the time though, these weapons are more or less ignored because you are
so busy utilizing the Melee weapons. However, the Projectile weapons can be
very powerful when used correcly, and can compliment a Melee weapon very
nicely.
1. Shuriken
-----------
"A simple cross-shaped throwing star."
The Shuriken is the basic projectile weapon that you start with. They are
incapable of doing much damage, and are mostly used for interrupting enemy
attacks, or canceling your own. You can throw 4 at the most while running,
rolling, standing still, or jumping... but during a bird flip you can throw 6.
2. Incendiary Shuriken
----------------------
"A shuriken with a small timer-detonated explosive at the tip."
The Incendiary Shuriken are just simple daggers with explosives on them. They
can do a lot of damage, and the blast can affect multiple enemies. They are
also good for starting combos, since it can get the enemy up in the air
(depending on where it hits on their body).
3. Windmill Shuriken
--------------------
"A giant shuriken with four folding blades. When thrown, it returns to the
thrower like a boomerang."
The Windmill Shuriken is a very large 4 pronged throwing device. When not in
use, it folds up to make it be one line, and sits on Ryu's left arm. This item
is one of the more offensive projectiles, since you can use it midair, while
running, and in the middle of a combo to inflict some serious extra damage.
This device is also capable of decapitations, which can come in handy in some
scenarios. When thrown, the Windmill Shuriken will come back to whoever threw
it, so you only need one.
4. Bow
------
"A typical bow. As a projectile weapon that makes no sound, it has advantages
over firearms."
The Bow is a useful weapon, but only for longer range attacks. Getting up into
the face of an enemy and attempting to shoot them with the Bow would not be
very smart, and will most likely result in Ryu getting smacked around a bit. If
you hold down the B button and move the L stick, you can even look around in
first person mode and zoom in by hitting the R trigger. This can help you aim,
but be careful... the bow has an arc because it is a bow, so you have to aim a
little higher when shooting farther.
5. Strongbow
------------
"A composite bow made in Vigoor in medieval times. It cannot be pulled by
people of average strength."
The Strongbow is almost exactly the same as the Bow, except it inflicts more
damage when it connects, and when shooting longer distances there is litle to
no arc, so you can shooot almost directly at what you want to hit and it will
connect.
6. APFSDS Cores
---------------
"The core section of tank shells. Made from a heavy tungsten material, they
have superb penetration capability."
These are a special type of arrow designed to be used with the Strongbow. It is
made with parts of the shells from a tank cannon, and is capable of going
through humans/fiends and of piercing armor. This arrow type is best used
against enemies who are charging you in a straight line, or who block a lot.
7. Explosive Arrows
-------------------
"Arrows with explosive tips. Very destructive."
Another special type of arrow designed for use with the Strongbow. These arrows
have an explosive charge on the tip of them, so when they connect with
something they explode on contact. They give off a pretty large blast radius,
and you can easily catch 2-3 fiends in with it. Good for close packed crowds.
8. Smoke Bombs
--------------
"When used, this item explodes, temporarily blinding all enemies in the
immediate area."
A new "projectile" put into Black, that wasn't anywhere to be found in the
original NG. When you drop these, they create a loud flash and a puff of smoke
(think flashbang FPS people) which is supposed to confuse enemies, but I have
never really noticed a difference.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Armlets (1.23)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The armlets have very useful effects, but some people can argue that they don't
do much. You can only wear one armlet at a time, and you will probably switch
armlets quite a few times while you are playing, depending on what is happening
to you during the battle.
1. The Armlet of the Sun
------------------------
"An armlet engraved with a picture of the sun. When equipped, Ryu's attack
power will increase."
The Armlet of the Sun is an orange colored armlet, engraved with a picture of
the sun. When you put this armlet on, it will increase your attack by 20%. I
usually keep this armlet on for most of the game, other than when the situation
calls for the other ones.
2. The Armlet of the Moon
-------------------------
"An armlet engraved with a picture of the moon. When equipped, Ryu's defensive
power will increase."
The Armlet of the Moon is a silver colored armlet, engraved with a picture of
the moon. When you put this armlet on, it will reduce the amount of damage you
take by 20%. This armlet usually goes to waste in my arsenal, but it can be
useful if you are afraid of dying or if you want to lower your attack.
3. The Armlet of Benediction
----------------------------
"An armlet emblazoned with the figure of a goddess. When equipped, it increases
Yellow Essence absorption."
The Armlet of Benediction is a yellow colored armlet, engraved with the picture
of a goddess. When you put this armlet on, it will increase the # of yellow
essence you absorb by 20%. So if an orb was worth 100, it will now be worth
120. This armlet kind of goes to waste during Mission Mode, since you cannot
buy anything (other than in Eternal Legend) so for the most part, you wont use
this armlet.
4. The Armlet of Fortune
------------------------
"An armlet emblazoned with the figures of two elephants. When equipped, it
increases Ki power build-up."
The Armlet of Fortune is a red colored armlet, engraved with the figures of two
elephants. When you put this armlet on, it "increases Ki power build-up." What
this means is, when you have this armlet on and an enemy drops a red orb, when
you pick it up it will replenish two ninpo slots instead of just one. This can
come in very handy during mission mode if you want to get the ninpo bonus at
the end, but need to use ninpo sometime during the mission.
5. The Armlet of Tranquility
----------------------------
"An armlet engraved with the picture of an angel. When equipped, it gradually
replenishes Ryu's health."
The Armlet of Tranquility is a light blue colored armlet, engraved with the
picture of an angel. This armlet is only available in mission mode (or the
original NG) and when you put it on, it will slowly heal you. This armlet is
not available in many missions, but whichever missions it is in, you may want
to consider putting it on when you get below 50% health, since it will bring
you back and make the mission easier.
6. The Armlet of Celerity
-------------------------
"An armlet engraved with the figure of a dragon. It decreases the time needed
to charge Ultimate Techniques."
The Armlet of Celerity is a light green colored armlet, engraved with the
figure of a dragon. This armlet will decrease the time needed to charge
Ultimate Techniques when you hold down Y. Some people have tested this, and
found that it only lowers it by 1/2 a second at most, but that can be all the
difference in Mission Mode sometimes. I recommend using this armlet whenever
going for karma, but otherwise it's not that important.
7. The Armlet of Potency
------------------------
"An armlet emblazoned with the picture of a horse. It increases the damage done
by kick and throw techniques."
The Armlet of Potency is a gray colored armlet, engraved with the picture of a
horse. This armlet increases the damage done by any kick and throw techniques.
This armlet's best friend is the Vigoorian Flail. Ripping Thunder is the best
technique to use along with it, since you kick once, slash twice, and then kick
again and it can kill a Ghul Archer in 1 use (other than on MN). It also
increases the damage of the XYY attack, and Runaway Lightning. This armlet also
increases the already overpowered Izuna Drop, which should make it kill every
single enemy in one use, unless you can't Izuna Drop them already.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Ninpo (1.23)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ninpo is your "magic" in this game. The number of times you can use any ninpo
is shown just below your life bar, either while you're fighting or in the Item
menu. Those little flames are your "ninpo slots" and everytime you use ninpo,
one of the flames goes out. The only way to replenish the flame is to either
pick up a red orb from an enemy, or use a ninpo elixir (Elixir of the Devil
Way, Great Devil Elixir). Unfortunately, you never get a ninpo elixir in
mission mode at any time, so if you use ninpo, the only way you can restore it
is by absorbing a red orb from an enemy.
1. The Art of the Fire Wheels
-----------------------------
"Allows Ryu to control the spiritual waveforms around him and create fire
wheels that encircle him."
The Art of the Fire Wheels is the first ninpo you pick up in the game, and is
in most of the missions. This ninpo is the only ninpo that allows you to move
during its animation. However, this ninpo also grants you only limited
invulnerability when you first cast it, unlike most ninpo. When you use this
ninpo, 4 flame balls will circle around you and burn and knock over any small
or medium enemies. The balls last for about 10 seconds, and can be very useful
for getting through a tough section of enemies if you don't want to fight them.
It is also very useful if you have a tough time with Ghost Fish, since they
will just get killed by the balls and not get to latch onto you. You have a
very small amount of invulnerability at the very start of the animation, when
you first make the 4 balls appear, but after that you are only protected and
can still get damaged by projectiles and large enemies.
2. The Art of the Inferno - 3 Levels
------------------------------------
"Allows Ryu to control fire at will, first enveloping him in a flame and then
shooting a fireball in front of him."
The Art of the Inferno is the second ninpo that you pick up throughout the game
(usually), and is in most of the missions along with Fire Wheels. This ninpo is
most effective on single enemies (bosses, large enemies) or tight groups of
multiple enemies. This ninpo starts up with Ryu standing there moving his hands
around, while a red aura is around him. After a little bit of this (time
increases with levels), Ryu will then shoot out this ball of fire, which will
deal out significant damage to whichever enemy it connects with, as well as
provide a large amount of splash damage to the enemies near them. During the
startup animation, when Ryu is moving his hands around, you are also completely
invulnerable. Sometimes this is the best way to avoid taking damage, especially
if you are stuck after an attack that has a long recovery. This is arguably the
most damaging ninpo, but most "pros" use Inazuma for other reasons.
3. The Art of the Ice Storm - 3 Levels
--------------------------------------
"Allows Ryu to quickly change the atmosphere around him, creating a whirlwind
containing shards of ice."
The Art of the Ice Storm can be picked up in Chapter 7 of story mode, and is
given to you in about half of the missions. This is one of the least damaging
ninpo (along with Fire Wheels) and isn't used by many people. One advantage for
using this ninpo though, is that the startup animation is the entire animation.
When using this ninpo, you create these swirling blue lines around you, which
will suck up enemies and knock them in the air a few times and then throw them
on the ground. This is very useful if you want to continue a combo you had
going, or if you don't have any other ninpo and are going to be vulnerable.
Once again you star invulnerable during the entire duration of the startup
animation, which in this case is the entire animation.
4. The Art of the Inazuma - 3 Levels
------------------------------------
"Allows Ryu to amplify his internal bioelectric current and blast it out to the
surrounding area."
The Art of the Inazuma is one of the most useful ninpos available to you and
Ryu. He has the usually startup animation where he moves his hands around, only
this time there will be a bluish-green aura around him instead of red or blue.
After doing the startup animation, Ryu will float up into the air and then
launch out lightning bolts which will home in on the enemies closest to him.
This is THE most effective ninpo for fighting bosses on the harder
difficulties, since almost all of the bosses have minions and this will get rid
of them. Just make sure that you have a few Great Devil Elixers handy for when
you use it (or just suck up red orbs during Mission Mode). You are still
invulnerable during the startup animation, like the other three, and the time
of that animation increases as the level increases.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Items (1.23)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are many different types of items in Ninja Gaiden, and I will be listing
those that you can actually use (i.e. not quest items) in this section. I will
also put if they are available for Mission Mode or not, since some of the items
will not exist anywhere but Mission Mode, and others will never exist in
Mission Mode. I will also put the maximum amount of each allowed in each
mission (this number never changes)
1. Elixir of Spiritual Life - Max 4
-----------------------------------
"A spiritual elixir that heals Ryu's wounds slightly."
This is the most basic healing item you will encounter. It can be found in just
about every mission that has items, and will heal your life bar part way. You
can hold a maximum of 4 of these at a time, and they will be used 2 at a time
(in most cases). The best time to use these is when you are almost dead, and
don't wanna take a chance of losing a mission, but you don't wanna waste a
Great Spirit Elixir, or multiple of these to lose the points.
2. Great Spirit Elixir - Max 2
------------------------------
"A spiritual elixir that completely heals Ryu's wounds."
As the description above says, this elixir will completely heal your life bar.
The best time to use these, is when you have almost no life bar left, because
otherwise it's effects will be wasted. You can only hold 2 of these in the
missions, so you should really try to hold out until the last possible moment
to use them.
3. Ayane's Rations - Max ?
--------------------------
"A rice ball, flavored with sweet red beans. Heals Ryu's wounds slightly."
This is an extra healing item given to you in Ninja Dog and Master Ninja
difficulties of story mode. I am not sure if these even show up in the missions
(if they do, they would be in Descent of the Fiends Phase 5), but regardless,
they do the same thing as an Elixir of Spiritual Life.
4. Ayane's Ration Bundle - Max ?
--------------------------------
"A bundle of rice balls. Partially heals Ryu's wounds."
This is another extra healing item given to you by Ayane in Ninja Dog and
Master Ninja difficulties. I know this item can be found in Mission Mode, but
only in Descent of the Fiends Phase 5. They give you two of them in that
mission, but I am not sure if that is the maximum amount since I had to use the
first one before I got the second one. This item acts like Ayane's Rations or
an Elixir of Spiritual Life, except it gives you almost twice as much healing
power as those two do.
5. Elixir of the Devil Way - Max 3
----------------------------------
"A spiritual elixir that replenishes Ryu's Ki power slightly."
This is the most basic form of ninpo regeneration. Whenever you use ninpo, one
of your "flames" just below the life bar will go out. You can use this item to
replenish one of the flames, allowing you to perform a ninpo again. This item
can only be found in Eternal Legend, and you are allowed a maximum of three of
these, although you have to buy them all.
6. Great Devil Elixir - Max ?
-----------------------------
"A spiritual elixir that replenishes Ryu's Ki power greatly."
This item is one of the most overly used items during story mode. When you have
used up all of your ninpo, you can just use one of these and it will completely
replenish all of your ninpo slots. With 3 of these, and all 5 ninpo slots, you
can fire off 20 ninpo in a row without stopping. Unfortunately, I believe that
they are not included in any missions, as the only mission that would include
them is Eternal Legend, but there is no space in the shop for them. So you just
have to get by with your Armlet of Fortune and whatever orbs the enemies give
you, to replenish your slots in Mission Mode.
7. Fragrance of Dayflower - Max ?
---------------------------------
"Ayane's handmade incense. When used, it replenishes Ryu's Ki power slightly."
One of the 4 items that Ayane gives to you throughout story mode in Ninja Dog,
or Master Ninja difficulties. This acts exactly like an Elixir of the Devil
Way, only it is in a different slot so you can have and use more of them, which
is extremely helpful in Master Ninja difficulty. These are not given to you in
any mission, so you can forget about how helpful they are right now.
8. Fragrance of Hydrangea - Max ?
---------------------------------
"Ayane's handmade incense. When used, it partially replenishes Ryu's Ki power."
The last of the items that Ayane gives to you in story mode for Ninja Dog and
Master Ninja difficulties. This item acts like an Elixir of the Devil Way or
Fragrance of Dayflower... only on steroids. When you use this item, it will
replenish three of your ninpo slots, which can come in very handy if you are
starting to run low but don't want to use a Great Devil Elixir. This item is
not given to you in any mission, just like the other Fragrance, so you'll just
have to get by with the orbs enemies drop.
9. Talisman of Rebirth - Max 1
-------------------------------
"A talisman that protects its owner. When Ryu's health is fully depleted, it
will automatically revive him."
Ok, so technically... the max isn't 1, but that is the most you will ever get
in Mission Mode. You can only get it in Eternal Legend and in the first
section. After you have beaten the third level (with the bats) and climb the
stairs, you will see this strange opening near the door. Just jump off of that
and run over to open the chest. Inside is a Talisman of Rebirth and it is the
only one you will find in all of Mission Mode, so treasure it while it lasts.
Talismans are very useful, especially when fighting against bosses, because
sometimes... they'll just grab you out of nowhere and take off 1/2+ of your
health, and theres nothing you can do about it. Luckily though, a Talisman of
Rebirth will bring you back to full health and make you completely immune while
it is still restoring your health. Another cool feature with Talismans, is that
it will fully replenish your ninpo slots as well. So if you're almost dead, and
still have full ninpo, you may as well just use up all the ones you have, since
you will be able to get a full charge when you die, instead of using a Great
Devil Elixir (which doesn't even exist in MM), and a Great Spirit Elixir.
10. Jewel of the Demon Seal - Max 6
-----------------------------------
"A jewel that shines dark purple. It can be used to increase the potency of
certain Ninpo techniques."
Ok, so like the description says, it can be used to "increase the potency" of
your ninpo, but what does that mean? When you first get any of your ninpo (when
you would get this anyway), they would be Level 1. If you decide to use this
jewel on one of those ninpo, it will upgrade to Level 2. Upgrading your ninpo
does 2 things to it: it will increase the startup time to the actual technique,
and it will increase the damage of it. The only missions where you can get this
item is Eternal Legend and on Fateful Confrontation Phase 5.
11. Spirit of the Devils - Max 4
--------------------------------
"A jewel that shines bright crimson. It increases Ryu's Ki limit."
This jewel is used to increase your number of ninpo slots available. This item,
like many others, is only found in Eternal Legend, and can be bought in between
the phases. The maximum number allowed is 4 because Muramasa won't let you buy
any more than that. I usually do not buy these, since he does not sell Great
Devil Elixers, so you're better off keeping 1 slot and just using the Elixirs
of the Devil Way instead. There is no other mission where you can get these,
since the other missions start you off with all of your ninpo available.
12. Life of the Gods - Max ?
----------------------------
"A jewel that shines bright blue. Ryu's health limit can be increased by using
nine of these jewels."
Fun little jewels to collect, and you require nine of them to get any effect
out of it. When you pick one up, you can use it right away if you want or wait
to get all nine, but either way the effect will be the same. When you use one
of them, a kanji letter will appear in red on the screen, and then go up to
where its plase is up top. You do this for the first eight jewels, and then on
the ninth jewel, the letters will come out to the middle of the screen, make a
circle, and then go up to your health and increase it slightly. These cannot be
found anywhere in Mission Mode, so we really don't have to worry about them
that much.
13. Lives of the Thousand Gods - Max ?
--------------------------------------
"Nine shining jewels bound together. It raises Ryu's maximum health limit
instantly."
This item is just 9 Life of the Gods bound together to make one item. These can
only be found during Eternal Legend and can be bought in between phases. You
are allowed to buy 2 from Muramasa, and you can get a few more, but those must
be obtained during the phases. There is no other mission where you can get
these, since the other missions start you off with all of your life available.
14. Jewel of the Spirit Smith - Max 1
-------------------------------------
"A jewel that shines bright green. It can be used to strengthen Ryu's weapons."
This jewel is exclusive to mission mode, and can only be found in Path of the
Master Ninja Phase 5. I have given directions on how to find it at that
mission, and if you don't feel like looking down there just search for 2.15.
Once you have this jewel, you can use it much in the same way as you use the
Jewel of the Demon Seal, except you upgrade a weapon instead of a ninpo. This
can come in very handy, especially if the weapon you like to use isn't upgraded
on that mission.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Mission Mode Scoring (1.30)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well... deep_blu3 has finally cracked the MM Scoring system... for the most
part. He (and many other people) are trying to figure out if essence is counted
into the equation, but for right now that is an unknown variable. Many people
have been speculating that it is included, becaues otherwise there wouldn't be
any real reason to have the Armlet of Benediction in every mission, but I guess
we'll have to wait and see.
Also, I would like to give many thanks to Dregon, Weibull, myself (yeah I know
what you're all thinking, but I tried :P), Sneh, and any of the other guinea
pigs or mathematical geniuses we had working on this. Luckily though, someone
managed to figure out (most of it) so for now we should have a better idea of
how everything works.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Information (1.31)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is basically just copied and pasted from the topic that deep_blue3 made on
the GameFAQs message board, and I requested permission to post it. I have
slightly altered it, to make it a little bit easier to read and less post-like,
but all the information that is there was discovered by him and I take no
credit in finding it out:
"I'm reasonably certain that I've figured out how MM scoring works. In the
mission I've been experimenting with (Fateful Confrontation #5), I'm able to
account for every single karma point, every single time I finish the mission.
First off- I know this has been mentioned several times, but the MN score is
equal to 2.5x the "normal" score. I assume that VH is 2.0x, and Hard is 1.5x,
but I haven't tested either of those theories (and probably won't, because
nobody cares about those difficulties).
Once I was sure that 2.5x was the multiplier in all situations, I switched to
"normal" mode for the rest of my testing. After beating the mission at least 50
times, I've concluded that the final score is a sum of the following parts
(calculated at the end of the mission):
Time elapsed (1000 seconds): 100,000 maximum.
Kills: 3,000 per kill, maximum varies by mission.
Health: 7,200 maximum (10 karma per hit point?).
Ninpo: 20,000 per unused ninpo, maximum varies by mission.
Small Elixers: 10,000 per unused elixer, maximum varies per mission.
Great Elixers: 40,000 per unused elixer, maximum varies per mission.
In-mission karma: varies * (see below).
* I'm not sure if the in-mission karma is multiplied or not. I kept it as close
to 0 as possible during testing, simply because that's easier to repeat. I have
no reason to believe that it doesn't get multiplied, though.
As you can see, a mission where you have 4 available ninpo slots will produce a
larger bonus for not using ninpo than a mission where you only get 2 ninpo
slots. The same goes for elixers- if you start with more, your bonus will be
higher for not using them. This explains why very similar missions (like the
Fateful Confrontations & Overcome Yourself w/ UF) have very different scoring.
There are 8 extra kills + UTs galore in the UF mission, yet my score was always
*much* lower than any of the FC missions. That's because you don't *any*
elixers in the UF mission! That's 350,000 karma "lost" before you even start
(technically it's not lost; it's just never gained).
So if you need to use 1 small elixer (25K lost on MN difficulty), the price is
not very high. The real penalty comes when you use a greater elixer (100K lost
on MN difficulty). I haven't had the time to prove/disprove this, but I would
guess that picking up small elixers (and not using them) in missions where
they're available would give you an extra 25K per elixer on MN difficulty
(note: I did try finishing the FC#5 mission with the JotDS from the broken pot,
but I didn't get any extra karma).
Here are example totals from FC#5:
Time: 97,610 (20 seconds)
Kills: 3,000 (1)
Health: 7,200 (100% - perfect)
Ninpo: 60,000 (3 out of 3 left)
Small Elixers: 40,000 (4 out of 4 left)
Greater Elixers: 40,000 (1 out of 1 left)
In-mission karma: 0 (1-hit combos give 0 points)
Total: 247,810 * 2.5 = 619,525 (which was *precisely* my score on MN
difficulty).
I'm going to test this as best I can on other missions, but it's tough to get
the math exactly right unless you finish at 100% health. Worst case, the margin
of error could be 18,000 karma, so I still think it willl be easy to tell if
this is correct or not."
He also posted later, and said that his scores were coming in the same general
area, so his numbers must be correct, with the changes from UT's, Essence
(possibly), and combos making up the difference.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. Mission Walkthrough (survival) (2.00)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section will be comprised of the best way to just make it through the
mission, using whatever means necessary just to clear it. This is helpful when
you are just trying to unlock all of the missions so then you can go back later
and play them on the higher difficulties. One note I would like to make, is
that you can clear almost every mission on Normal difficulty, just by spamming
wall attacks. However.... this is a very poor way of doing it, and your karma
will be incredibly low. I will try to give ways to get past it by fighting on
the ground against enemies, but if need be you can resort to wall attacks if it
is getting frustrating. Just remember that this will not work on Very Hard and
Master Ninja difficulties most of the time.
In the titles of the phases and groups of phases I will be putting what I
think the difficulty of these missions is in brackets ([]) so you can easily
see what the mission is like. I have also added asterisks (*) next to the Melee
Weapon, Projectile Weapon, Armlet, and Ninpo that you start equipped with.
These may or may not be the best weapons to use for that particular mission,
but it is the weapon that they start you with. I will also be naming any of the
fiends (and some of the military guys) using the Enemy Guide written by Aaxe,
which can be found under the NGB FAQs & Guides section on GameFAQs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Path of the Master Ninja [1.5/10 Normal, 3-4/10 MN] (2.10)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Path of the Master Ninja (PotMN) is the first grouping of 5 missions (#1-5) and
is comprised mostly of the Ninja and Samurai that can be found in the first 2
chapters of the game. These missions are fairly easy in difficulty and
shouldn't give you too much trouble, other than a few exceptions (Phase 2 comes
to mind...).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Phase 1 [1/10 Normal, 3/10 MN] (2.11)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Nunchaku : : Brown Ninja.....................05:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) * : : White Ninja.....................05:
: War Hammer (lvl1) : : Mages...........................07:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Red Ninja.......................07:
: Kitetsu (lvl 3) : : Total Enemies...................24:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: :-----------------------------------:
: Shuriken :
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : This is a pretty fun and easy mission
: Windmill Shuriken * : which has a couple of different ways
: Smoke Bomb (x15) : to go about beating it. The 2 most
:---------------Armlets-----------------: obvious choices are either the Flails
: The Armlet of the Sun * : or the Kitetsu, just because they are
: The Armlet of the Moon : both at their highest level, and have
: The Armlet of Celerity : the most power. The level takes place
: The Armlet of Potency : in the room right before the room
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: with the save in chapter one, the
: The Art of the Fire Wheels * : same room that has that annoying trap
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl1) : door that has caught all of us at
:----------------Items------------------: least once. You start off standing on
: None : top of the trap door, which during
:---------------------------------------: this mission will not open at all.
In front of you, you should have a White Ninja, a Brown Ninja, and a Mage. Once
you kill one of those 3, a Red Ninja should pop out of the wall, and then the
Ninjas will alternate the colors to come out. I believe the order is Brown,
White, Red, but I could be mistaken. Just make sure that you watch out for the
Red Ninja's exploding shurikens whenever they are out, and try to dodge the
Mage's attacks or kill them before they can attack you. Those are the most
annoying parts of this mission, the Mages attacking you and the Red Ninjas and
their shurikens. After you are up to 21 kills in the Mission, it will seem like
it is over, but it isn't over yet. Three Red Ninja will drop from the ceiling
and attack you all at once. Just block and be evasive with your rolls and
these 3 are a piece of cake. Once you kill those 3, the mission is over and the
game will display your karma score for the mission. Congratulations! You just
beat your first mission! Hopefully it will be the first of many to come.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Phase 2 [3/10 Normal, 5/10 MN] (2.12)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Nunchaku : : Red Ninja.......................08:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Gallas..........................04:
: Dabilahro (lvl2) : : Thorn Gallas....................04:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Cyclops Wasps...................10:
: Lunar (lvl3) * : : Total Enemies...................26:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: :-----------------------------------:
: Smoke Bomb (x15) :
:---------------Armlets-----------------: This mission will begin to test your
: The Armlet of the Sun * : sanity for attempting to clear out
: The Armlet of the Moon : Mission Mode. You start off in the
: The Armlet of Benediction : room that you have to wall run to in
: The Armlet of Potency : Chapter 12 (The Caverns) in the lava
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: section, on the way to pick up the
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) * : Cog of Vigoor. When you start off, a
:----------------Items------------------: Gallas and Thorn Gallas will pop
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x2) : up out of the ground, and 2 Red Ninja
: Great Spirit Elixir (x1) : will drop out of thin air and start
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: attacking you. I would definitely
: Guillotine Throw : recommend switching to the Flails to
: Izuna Drop : take the 2 Red Ninja out, but if
:---------------------------------------: you're insane you can attempt to do
it with the Lunar. To start off the mission, I just hold block and deflect any
Incendiary Shurikens the Red Ninja might throw at me, and wait for them to come
to me. Then I either do a regular combo, or pull out a Cremator (XXX->XXXXX)
and make sure that I end it with a Y before the X's end it. Cremator will help
a lot, because every hit can decapitate the Red Ninja, and it will also deflect
most of the shurikens that they throw at you. Once you have killed one of the
Red Ninja, another Gallas, so you will only have 1 Red Ninja attacking you.
However, after you kill that one, another Red Ninja should pop up, and after
you kill that Red Ninja, a Thorn Gallas should pop up. So at this point, you
should have 2 Gallas, and 2 Thorn Gallas sitting in the middle waiting to
attack you. You can either try taking them out with Ripping Thunder (->YYY) on
the Flails, or you can take the safe way (and karma friendly way) and escape up
top. The opening where you would normally Wall Run in, is now closed off by
this weird purply-pink stuff, which is preventing you from escaping. However,
you can wall run up and stand on the ledge there. Once you're up there, you can
just spam the Dabi's UT's until one of the 4 Fiends die. Once whichever Fiend
dies, a Red Ninja will take his place. I would recommend killing him first,
because once he dies he will be replaced by a Gallas. Once you get the room
back to all Fiends, you can just climb up there again and spam the Dabi's UT
some more. Then, when you kill another Fiend, just repeat like last time and
continue on with this chain until the Fiends and Ninja stop spawning (16
kills). As soon as the last Fiend/Ninja dies, you might wanna start charging up
a UT, because you will have to deal with 10 Cyclops Wasps (the things in the
ritual room) in that small area. You can either climb on top of the ledge where
you were spamming UTs from earlier to kill the Thorn Gallas, or you can just
stay on the ground and hope that none of them interrupt your UTs. Either way,
once you have killed one, you should be able to just rolljump around and pull
off some OL UTs to kill off the remaining Wasps. If you are not comfortable
with chaining UTs while the Wasps are trying to sting you, you can also just
chain together Dabi counters, since they will not be able to break your block.
As soon as the 10th one is dead (26 kills) you're mission is over, and you have
just completed Mission 2!
**Note**
There is a hidden Elixir of Spiritual Life on the alcove where you would
normally go through to leave in Story Mode, handy for getting extra karma or if
you're about to die and have no elixirs left
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Phase 3 [1/10 Normal, 2/10 MN] (2.13)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Dragon Sword (lvl2) * : : Archer Horseman.................08:
: Nunchaku : : Pike Horseman...................08:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Masakado........................01:
: War Hammer (lvl1) : : Total Enemies...................17:
: Dabilahro (lvl1) : :-----------------------------------:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) :
: Kitetsu (lvl2) : This mission is one of the easiest
: Lunar (lvl2) : missions if you are just attempting
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: to get through it. The fastest and
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) * : safest way, is to right off the bat
: Windmill Shuriken : equip the Art of the Ice Storm as
: Smoke Bomb : your ninpo. You should see Masakado
: Strong Bow (x0) : (Red Samurai on the horse) jump over
: APFSDS Cores (x5) : the embers, followed by a Pike
: Explosive Arrows (x5) : Horseman and an Archer Horseman. Just
:---------------Armlets-----------------: wait until Masakado is about to run
: The Armlet of the Sun * : into you, and then activate your Ice
: The Armlet of the Moon : Storm. This should knock him off the
: The Armlet of Benediction : horse so long as he runs into it, and
: The Armlet of Celerity : you may get lucky and knock the Pike
: The Armlet of Potency : Horseman down with him too. Once
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: Masakado is on the ground, you just
: The Art of the Fire Wheels * : have to get him into the air and use
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl1) : an Izuna Drop on him. This will
:----------------Items------------------: instantly kill him, and although you
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x2) : lose the ninpo karma bonus, you make
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: up for it in time. If you do this
: Guillotine Throw : strategy right, you can even do it
: Izuna Drop : without getting pegged by the Archer
:---------------------------------------: Horseman, which can be a huge pain in
the ass as the battle drags on. After Masakado dies, the battle is over and you
have just finished Mission 3!
**Note** I was unable to figure out just how many Horseman minions Masakado has
in this mission... I knocked him off of his horse by accident, just trying to
count the minions, so I started running around Flying Swalowing the other
horseman to get them off. I was up to 8 of each type until I killed him, since
you have to hit him to get more horseman to show up.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Phase 4 [3/10 Normal, 6/10 MN] (2.14)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: True Dragon Sword * : : Brown Ninja.....................12:
: Nunchaku : : White Ninja.....................12:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Black Ninja.....................14:
: Dark Dragon Blade : : Red Ninja.......................14:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: : Samurai.........................24:
: Shuriken * : : Mages...........................14:
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : : Purple Ninja....................10:
: Windmill Shuriken : : Total Enemies..................100:
: Smoke Bomb (x15) : :----------Individual Waves---------:
: Strongbow (x15) : :*4 waves in this battle* :
: APFSDS Cores (x15) : :*Same enemies per wave* :
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : :*Intermissions between waves* :
:---------------Armlets-----------------: : Brown Ninja.....................03:
: The Armlet of the Sun * : : White Ninja.....................03:
: The Armlet of the Moon : : Black Ninja.....................02:
: The Armlet of Benediction : : Red Ninja.......................02:
: The Armlet of Tranquility : : Samurai.........................06:
: The Armlet of Celerity : : Mages...........................02:
: The Armlet of Potency : : Purple Ninja....................01:
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: : Total Enemies...................19:
: The Art of the Fire Wheels * : :-----------Intermissions-----------:
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) : :*1st Intermission* :
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) : : Mages...........................06:
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl3) : :*2nd Intermission* :
:----------------Items------------------: : Black Ninja.....................06:
: None : :*3rd Intermission* :
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: : Purple Ninja....................06:
: Counter Attacks : :*4th Intermission* :
: Guillotine Throw : : Red Ninja.......................06:
: Izuna Drop : :-----------------------------------:
:---------------------------------------: Ok, this is the longest and one of
the most difficult missions we have encountered so far. When the mission starts
off, you are in the middle of a "shadow realm" platform. 6 enemies will fall
around you (1 of each: Brown Ninja, White Ninja, Black Ninja, Red Ninja,
Samurai, and Mage) and you're instantly forced to fight or die. Your best bet
right off the bat is to leave all of your equipment the same at the beginning,
and use an instant launch (->Y) with the Dragon Sword, into an Izuna Drop.
Hopefully, you will catch one or two enemies in the splash damage from the ID
and get a Red/Blue or 2 Yellow essence from them. Either way, as soon as you
land switch over to the Dark Dragon Blade, and rolljump around to an open
location and OL UT with it. You should be able to easily hit 2-4 enemies and
get enough essence to do it again. You should be able to just link together UTs
until you have killed 19 enemies. After this, 6 Mages will appear and you just
have to kill them. If you accidentally absorbed all the essence after the 19
enemies, you might want to switch to your Dragon Sword. Otherwise you can stick
with the DDB and just link together the UTs on the Mages. Another strategy is
to allow the Mages to use their melee combo, and just use the counter attack
with the DDB, which will instantly kill them. By this point, if your health is
starting to get near half-way, you may want to think about switching your
Armlet to Tranquility, just to get the gradual restoration effects since there
are no potions. After these 6 Mages, you will again have to fight 19 enemies.
The same 6 will drop at the beginning, so you can basically use the same
strategy as the first part. After those 19 enemies, then you will have to fight
6 Black Ninja. You can just spam the DDB UT here if you saved the essence, and
if not... either DDB counter or DS combos will work. After those, the same 19
enemies again... and then 6 Purple Ninja. Once you've killed those Purple
Ninja, you just have to kill 19 enemies yet again, and then face off against 6
Red Ninja. Same technique applies here... DDB UT, DDB Counter, or DS Combos.
All three will work equally as well.
**Note**
I figured out the spawn order of all of the enemies in the 19 enemy waves. It
does not matter which enemy you kill first, as they will always spawn in this
order.
Purple Ninja, Samurai, Brown Ninja, White Ninja, Samurai, Black Ninja, Mage,
Red Ninja, Samurai, Samurai, Brown Ninja, White Ninja, and finally Samurai.
I'm not exactly sure how this would help anyone, but it may come in handy since
you could know exactly which enemy would be coming at you next.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Phase 5 [2/10 Normal, 5/10 MN] (2.15)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Dragon Sword (lvl2) * : : Brown Ninja.....................02:
: Nunchaku : : White Ninja.....................02:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl1) : : Mages...........................02:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Black Ninja.....................02:
: Dabilahro (lvl1) : : Purple Ninja....................02:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Red Ninja.......................02:
: Kitetsu (lvl2) : : Murai...........................01:
: Lunar (lvl2) : : Total Enemies...................13:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: :-----------------------------------:
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) :
: Windmill Shuriken : One thing I want to point out about
: Smoke Bomb (x15) * : this battle, before I even start
:---------------Armlets-----------------: giving any advice or tips, is that it
: The Armlet of the Sun * : contains a unique item which is not
: The Armlet of the Moon : found anywhere else in this game.
: The Armlet of Benediction : This item is called the "Jewel of the
: The Armlet of Fortune : Spirit Smith" and it can be used to
: The Armlet of Tranquility : increase the level of any melee
: The Armlet of Celerity : weapon by one. It can be found in the
: The Armlet of Potency : pot, at the back of the room. First
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: you have to break the pot by hitting
: The Art of the Fire Wheels * : it with any weapon, then it will give
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl1) : you the "Interact X" thing at the
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl2) : bottom right hand of the screen.
:----------------Items------------------: Once you pick it up, you just have to
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x1) : go over to your items section and use
: Jewel of the Spirit Smith (x1) : it on any of the items you feel like
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: using. I always upgrade the Kitetsu
: Guillotine Throw : for this battle, because it gains the
: Izuna Drop : best abilities (IMO) at level 3,
:---------------------------------------: compared to any of the other weapons
at their highest levels. At the start of this level, a Brown and White Ninja
should drop out of nowhere, and a Mage should appear. Your best bet is to wall
run on either side to get past Murai and the two other ninja, and hope to nail
the Mage with a Flying Swallow to take him out fast. Even if you miss though,
you just got past most of the obstacles in between you and the Jewel of the
Spirit Smith. Your first objective should be to obtain that Jewel, since it
will make your time so much easier while fighting all of the Ninja and Murai
ahead of you. Once you grab the Jewel, you can choose to upgrade whichever
melee weapon you have to its next level. I always choose to upgrade the
Kitetsu, but that's just me. I will be writing out this section of the guide as
though you did upgrade the Kitetsu, but most strategies can and will apply to
the other weapons.
The best way to beat this mission once you have upgraded your Kitetsu, is to
put as much space in between you and Murai as you can. Hopefully, his minions
will follow you while he stays far enough away that he wont attack. If this is
the case, whenever one gets near you just Izuna Drop or Blade of Nirrti him to
kill him almost instantly. Once you have killed all 3 of his minions, then you
can start going after Murai. The 2 best times to hit him, is either right after
he does his dash attack, since he will be vulnerable for 1-2 seconds
afterwards, and if you have good timing... right after he rolls.
Moonlight^Knight has a very good video showing when and how to hit him after he
rolls on www.IberiansNinjaGaiden.com but instead of using multiple slashes, I
just use the start of Blade of the Twin Dragons (->[holdY]). After hitting him
a few times with this, 3 more minions will drop out of nowhere. They will again
be the Brown Ninja, White Ninja, and Mage, so you can just dispose of them the
same way as you did last time. After those minions are dead, you can keep
chipping away at Murai's health like normal. Once his health gets down to about
50%, 3 more minions will spawn out of nowhere. This time, however, they will be
a Purple Ninja, Black Ninja, and Red Ninja. Two of those (Black and Red) will
throw Incendiary Shurikens at you, and the Purple will throw a Windmill
Shuriken at you to break your block, which will open you up to get pegged by an
Incendiary Shuriken. Your best bet for taking out these guys, is to put a lot
of space in between you and Murai, and try to take them out one at a time. Once
you have killed those 3, then you just have to chip Murai down to about 25%
health, and 3 more of the same Ninja will arise and you just have to kill them.
Once you've killed Murai, the mission is over, and you're finally finished with
the Path of the Master Ninja section. Good job! Now onto Nightmarish Phantasms.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Nightmarish Phantasms [5/10 Normal, 7/10 MN] (2.20)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nightmarish Phantasms section is made up of five boss battles, and every
boss in here has minions. The reason this is rated so high for normal, is
because if you haven't started or completed hard mode yet, this will be one of
the first times you have attempted to fight bosses that have minions. It will
take some geting used to, having to focus on the boss and the minions at the
same time, but with a lot of patience and some practice it will all come
together.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Phase 1 [3/10 Normal, 6/10 MN] (2.21)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Nunchaku : : Cyclops Wasps...................24:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Bone Dragon.....................01:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Total Enemies...................25:
: Dabilahro (lvl1) : :-----------------------------------:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) :
: Kitetsu (lvl3) * : This mission is relatively easy, but
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: then again thats just me. You start
: Shuriken * : off with the Kitetsu in hand, and the
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : Bone Dragon in front of you, just
: Windmill Shuriken : like when you fight him in Story
:---------------Armlets-----------------: Mode. However, there will also be six
: The Armlet of the Sun * : Cyclops Wasps that spawn with him.
: The Armlet of the Moon : Right off the bat, you can either run
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: up to the Bone Dragon and just start
: The Art of the Fire Wheels * : smacking him with the flails, or you
:----------------Items------------------: can take out the Cyclops Wasps so
: None : you're not getting pegged while you
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: are trying to concentrate on the
: None : Dragon. If you decide to go after the
:---------------------------------------: Wasps, then keep on reading, but if
you are just going to go after the Draon, then just look on farther down for my
strategy. To take out the Cyclops Wasps the easiest, your best bet is to either
keep the Kitetsu out and try to Flying Swallow them, or pull out your Flails
and try to Red-Hot Iron Brand them, followed by the Y in midair. Once you kill
off the first 6, no more will spawn until you knock the Bone Dragon down to 75%
health, which is approximately one broken hand. The best and most efficient way
I have found to take down the Bone Dragons health, is to either use the Ripping
Thunder (->YYY) with the Flails, or to use the Flaming Whirlwind (->Y) with the
War Hammer. Both of these moves should take off significants amount of damage,
but just make sure that you watch out for the bone spikes that he shoots at
you. Those are your greatest fear, since he will be shooting them constantly.
He can also slam his foot on you (rear feet only), swing his fist at you (left
front hand only), and swing his tail at you (rear feet only). To dodge his
hand, you just have to roll through it or out of the way of it, then hit him
when he puts it back down. When you see him lift his back foot up into the air,
just roll away and then roll back after he puts his foot down, and lay the
smack down. When he swings his tail, you just have to roll backwards (towards
the camera) and jump over it. If you are using the Flails, you can also press X
while midair to stay up a little bit longer to dodge it. After you knock his
health down to approximately 75%, he should summon up 6 more minions. Just deal
with those the same way as you did originally, and continue attacking him when
they are done. He will summon 6 minions each at 50% and 25% of his health, and
then you are free to deal with him as you wish. Once you deal the final blow on
him, the karma score will pop up, indicating you are done with this mission!
Hooray! Onto the next mission we go!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Phase 2 [2/10 Normal, 5/10 MN] (2.22)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Dragon Sword (lvl2) * : : Lesser Imps.....................04:
: Nunchaku : : Imps............................02:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Shadow Imps.....................02:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Hydracubus......................01:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Total Enemies...................09:
: Lunar (lvl2) : :-----------------------------------:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------:
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : This mission should be a cake walk
: Windmill Shuriken * : for anyone that has played Story Mode
: APFSDS Cores (x7) : at least a couple times. This is the
: Explosive Arrows (x7) : same boring Hydracubus that you fight
:---------------Armlets-----------------: as the "boss" of Chapter 5. The only
: The Armlet of the Sun * : major difference, is that he has
: The Armlet of Benediction : minions, and you have more of an
: The Armlet of Fortune : arsenal to use against them. To start
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: off the battle, Hydracubus will be
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : right in front of you, with 2 Lesser
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl1) * : Imps spawning randomly somehwere in
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl1) : the arena. You're best bet, is to
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl1) : equip the flails right off the bat.
:----------------Items------------------: You can take out the Lesser Imps
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x2) : pretty easily, which should leave you
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: some essence to try and UT the other
: Counter Attacks : Lesser Imp, or hit one of the
: Guillotine Throw : tentacles. Then you can just Red-Hot
: Izuna Drop : Iron Brand and Dragon Emperor Kick
:---------------------------------------: (flying swallow and midair Y) the
Tentacles. After you do that twice, one tentacle should fall off, and twice to
the other tentacle should result in the same thing. After you hit the ground,
hold Y to charge up a UT using the essence from one of the tentacles, and
unleash it on the body. After you're finished with the first one, if you didn't
absorb the first essence from the tentacle, then unleash another UT on the
body. If you did absorb the first essence, then just unleash a small combo
(XXY, XXXY, XYY) on the body. If this knocks his health below 75%, another 2
Lesser Imps will spawn. You should be able to take care of these the same way,
and then repeat with the tentacles and UTs. If you can get him below 50%
health, he will now spawn two Imps. Same as before, and then if you're UTs
knock him below 25% health, he'll summon 2 Shadow Imps. These are going to be
one of your greatest problems, since you have to worry about Hydracubus'
tentacles smacking you at the same time, but once you kill them, the rest of
the battle should be easy. Just finish up with the Red-Hot Iron Brands and
Dragon Emperor Kicks, and UT him to death. Pretty easy battle overall, and then
you're up to Mission 3! Yay!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Phase 3 [6/10 Normal, 8/10 MN] (2.23)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Nunchaku : : Samurai.........................03:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Mages...........................03:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Berserker.......................01:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Doku............................01:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) * : : Total Enemies...................08:
: Lunar (lvl3) : :-----------------------------------:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------:
: Shuriken * : This is easily one of the hardest
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : missions out of this series. The
: Windmill Shuriken : battle starts off with Doku in front
: Smoke Bomb (x15) : of you, and 2 Samurai spawning
: Strongbow (x15) : somewhere randomly in the arena.
: APFSDS Cores (x15) : You're best bet is to start off with
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : the Kitetsu, and Azure Dragon (->Y)
:---------------Armlets-----------------: the first Samurai. If you get him
: The Armlet of the Sun * : into the air, then you can Izuna Drop
: The Armlet of the Moon : (XXXY midair) him into the ground for
: The Armlet of Benediction : a quick kill. If he doesn't get into
: The Armlet of Celerity : the air though, then you can Helmet
: The Armlet of Potency : Splitter (Y) to get him on the ground
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: and get rid of him any way you want.
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : If you wait for the first Samurai to
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : disappear, then you can use the
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) : essence to ET/UT the other Samurai.
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl3) : After this, Doku should be a sitting
:----------------Items------------------: duck for a while. Your safest bet, is
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x4) : to just whip out the War Hammer, and
: Great Spirit Elixir (x1) : wait for him to do one of his
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: "vulnerable" attacks (dash, 5 hit
: Counter Attacks : combo) and roll out of the way. Then
: Guillotine Throw : do a quick strike back with Flaming
: Izuna Drop : Whirlwind (->Y). This should do a
:---------------------------------------: decent amount of damage to him, and
within 2 or 3 shots, he should summon up his next wave of enemies. This time,
you have to try and kill 2 Mages at the same time... while dodging all of
Doku's attacks. The best way to do this, is to guess where both of the Mages
are, and land in between them. Then unleash an Inazuma ninpo, and hope that you
manage to kill both of them, and that one drops a red orb (if you're going for
karma or need it for the next wave). After that, just keep attacking Doku while
he is wide open, and when he gets down to about 50% health he will summon up
his next wave. This time, you only have to deal with one Samurai and one Mage,
which might sound easy.... but sometimes it can be very hard to break the
Samurai's block while you are getting pegged with the Mage's projectiles and
dodging Doku's attacks. If one of the Mage's dropped a red orb from the last
wave, this would be the perfect time to use your Inazuma again, since it is a
guaranteed kill on both enemies so long as you are within range of them. If you
have to fight with your weapons though, then attempt to Izuna Drop the Samurai
like you did in the first wave, and then attempt to either Flying Swallow the
Mage, stick him with 2 Incendiary Shurikens, or just peg him with an Explosive
Arrow. Any of those 3 will kill him, and leave Doku alone again. A couple more
solid hits will bring him down into the 25% range, and bring up the hardest
challenge of this phase. You will actually have to fight Doku... and a
Berserker at the same time. This is a very tricky part, since if you are too
close to Doku he will just throw his sword and either kill the Berserker so it
respawns, or kill you. If you are too far away though, he will just keep using
his shockwave move which doesn't hurt the Berserker, but it does hurt you. The
best way I have found to do this, is to just stay as far away from Doku as you
can so he will repeatedly use his shockwave. Try to block and roll away from
the Berserker, by letting him guard break you, and then roll away from him when
he attacks the second time. Then, when you see Doku getting ready to use his
shockwave, roll away from the Berserker, then jump at him and try to time it so
you Wind Path on his head right as the shockwave goes by. After that, the
Berserker will try to spin around and hit you, but because you Wind Pathed over
him, he will be unable to hit you, so you can just Flaming Whirlwind him
without worrying about getting hit. Then just repeat this technique until the
Berserker is dead, and 2-3 more Flaming Whirlwinds will bring Doku down. Then,
you only have two more battles and you get to move onto Abysmal Lair!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Phase 4 [4/10 Normal, 6/10 MN] (2.24)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Dragon Sword (lvl3) * : : Bast............................08:
: Nunchaku : : Greater Bast....................08:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Yotunfrou.......................01:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Total Enemies...................17:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : :-----------------------------------:
: Lunar (lvl3) :
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: This battle starts off just like any
: Shuriken * : of the other Nightmarish Phantasms
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : battles so far. The boss will be
: APFSDS Cores (x7) : directly in front of you, and the
: Explosive Arrows (x7) : minions will spawn somewhere in the
:---------------Armlets-----------------: room. In this battle, every spawn
: The Armlet of the Sun * : will contain 2 Bast Fiends (blue),
: The Armlet of the Moon : and 2 Greater Bast Fiends (black). It
: The Armlet of Benediction : can be hard to tell the difference
: The Armlet of Potency : between them, except for the Greater
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: Basts are generally more aggressive
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : and more deadly. There are two ways
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : you can go about completing this
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl1) : mission, the fast way and the easier
:----------------Items------------------: way. The fast way, is to just run up
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x2) : to Yotunfrou, and start pounding on
: Great Spirit Elixir (x1) : him with the DS/Kitetsu's Blade of
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: Nirrti (XYXXXX), or the Lunar's Lunar
: Counter Attacks : Explosion (->YYY). I prefer to use
: Guillotine Throw : the Lunar to do this, but if you are
: Izuna Drop : more comfortable with the DS/Kitetsu,
:---------------------------------------: then feel free to do it that way.
This way is generally faster, since you don't waste any time going after the
(Greater) Bast Fiends, but it is also a lot riskier, since you will constantly
have to be worrying about (Greater) Bast Fiends as well as Yotunfrou's attacks.
This battle shouldn't last more than a minute if you do it this way, so even if
you screw up and get killed, you can restart and attempt to do it again.
The other way to go about this battle, is to make sure that you kill all of the
(Greater) Bast Fiends that protect Yotunfrou. The best and safest attack I have
found to use against them, is the Dragon Sword's Gleaming Blade, Roaring Gleam,
and Annihilating Gleam (variations of 360+Y depending on essence). Most of the
time, so long as the Bast hasn't decided to flying swallow you while you are
midair, you can pull one of these off and have one or many of them jump into
it. If you manage to knock all four of them over, then you can have the
opportunity to Izuna Drop one of them, and hope to catch the rest of them in it
to kill them. While you are focusing on those four, just be careful of
Yotunfrou, since he can sneak up on you if you aren't paying attention, and his
attacks hurt, especially combined with Bast Fiends. Once you are done killing
those four, then you can just go about your merry business, trying to kill
Yotunfrou as usual. He will summon up 4 more Bast/Greater Bast Fiends when he
hits 75%, 50%, and 25% health as usual. Just repeat killing them using the
Gleaming Blade variants, and heal when necessary. This battle will take longer,
but it is generally a lot safer so long as you are careful.
Once you finish the final blow on Yotunfrou, it is time to move onto the final
battle of Nightmarish Phantasms!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Phase 5 [2/10 Normal, 9/10 MN] (2.25)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Dragon Sword (lvl3) * : : Ghul Archers....................16:
: Nunchaku : : Smaugan.........................01:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Total Enemies...................17:
: Dabilahro (lvl1) : :-----------------------------------:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) :
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : Ok, this can be one of the easiest,
: Lunar (lvl3) : or one of the hardest missions in
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: this series, depending on the
: Shuriken * : difficulty, and how you go about
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : doing it. On Normal, you can end this
: Windmill Shuriken : battle in about 30-45 seconds,
: Strongbow (x5) : depending on how willing Smaugan is
: APFSDS Cores (x5) : to cooperate with you. The way to do
: Explosive Arrows (x5) : this, is to equip the Lunar as soon
:---------------Armlets-----------------: as you can get into the menu, and
: The Armlet of the Sun * : immediately start spamming Lunar
: The Armlet of the Moon : Explosions (->YYY). These are more
: The Armlet of Benediction : reliable than the Blade of Nirrti
: The Armlet of Celerity : with the Dragon Sword or Kitetsu,
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: since it will perform no matter what.
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : If you can do it right, and get a
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl2) * : little lucky with how it connects
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl2) : on Smaugan's head, you can take him
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl2) : down more than halfway before he even
:----------------Items------------------: takes his head away to start
: None : attacking. Even once he has started
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: his attacks though, you can still
: None : stand in the center and just wait for
:---------------------------------------: him to lower his head for any reason,
and start wailing on him again. If he yells and makes the platforms go up, this
is your best opportunity to start pelting him with APFSDS Cores, since the
Explosive Arrows don't explode on him for some reason. With a little luck from
his positioning, and the ability to use Lunar Explosion correctly, you can end
this battle within a minute easily.
**Note: I took the basic idea of this strategy from Weibull760 and adapted it
slightly**
The other, almost safer way, is to attempt to take out the Ghul Archers that
are protecting Smaugan. The easiest way to do this, is to equip the Vigoorian
Flails right at the start, and run over to try and Red-Hot Iron Brand (VF
Flying Swallow) one of the lower Archers. Whether or not it connects, when you
land use a Ripping Thunder (->YYY) and you should kill it in 1 or 2 uses
(depending on whether you connected with the RHIB or not). After that, make
sure you pick up the elixir on the floor (one in each corner, upper and lower)
and run over to the other bottom Archer, and kill that with either an On
landing UT, or 2 Ripping Thunders. Then head up top via the elevator, and kill
that Archer with the same technique. Then either drop down and run over to take
the elevator, or just wall run along the openings to get to the last Archer.
Kill him however you please, and then set yourself up in the top right (right
side), or top left (left side) slots (the ones farthest from the middle). You
will be completely immune to Smaugan's bite now, which will come in handy. The
only attacks that can hurt you are Smaugan's Wing Attack, which he will give
you warning about, and his Flame Breath, which he will move his head near you.
You can just roll away from the fire, and then jump over it and put yourself
back in the corner, or roll through the Wing Attack. If you can't get the
timing down on the Wing Attack, then just let it hit your block and roll
yourself in to the corner again. The move that you are looking for to be your
primary attack, is when he sticks his tongue out. As soon as you see him do
that, roll to the middle and start pulling off your Ripping Thunder at him.
This is the only time that he will be completely vulnerable, and if you are
quick enough, then you can manage to connect with 2 full Ripping Thunders
before he pulls his head back. Once you knock his health below 75% (or when you
think its near there) you should either expect an Archer to pop up next to you,
or drop down so you don't get shot when you try to drop down after they appear.
Then you just repeat the process 3 more times, and deal the final blow to
Smaugan. This will be a long battle, but it isn't as bad as getting killed in a
more humiliating way. Once you finish him off, you are free to move onto
Abysmal Lair!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Abysmal Lair [5/10 Normal, 7/10 MN] (2.30)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This series of missions is relatively easy, compared to some of the Nightmarish
Phantasms one, and most of the ones you are going to face. This does not mean
that they will be complete cake walks though, and you will still require some
skills to beat them. Hopefully my strategies will give you ideas on how to beat
them, or allow you to get through them alive. The only reason I rated the
normal on this series as high as I did, is because you are introduced to Ogres
in this series, if you haven't met them in the Story Mode yet, and they can be
quite a handful the first time you see them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Phase 1 [2/10 Normal, 5/10 MN] (2.31)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Dragon Sword (lvl3) : : Bats..............................:
: Nunchaku : : Pill Bugs.......................13:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) * : : Cyclops Wasps...................14:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Ghost Fish......................60:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) : : Total Enemies...................87:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : :-----------------------------------:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) :
: Lunar (lvl3) : This is one of the easiest missions
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: since the very first one. You start
: Shuriken * : off down in the little room where you
: Smoke Bomb (x15) : first have to fight Pill Bugs in
:---------------Armlets-----------------: Story Mode, and have 6 Bats, Pill
: The Armlet of the Sun * : Bugs, and Cyclops Wasps appear in
: The Armlet of the Moon : front of you. Your best bet, is to
: The Armlet of Benediction : jump up right away and slash, since
: The Armlet of Celerity : a Pill Bug will almost always jump at
: The Armlet of Potency : you in the beginning, and you can
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: take down a few bats to get some easy
: The Art of the Fire Wheels * : essence. After that, just rolljump up
:----------------Items------------------: to where the chests were in Story
: None : Mode, whip out the Dabi and start
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: spamming your UTs. You should be able
: None : to clear out all the enemies in a
:---------------------------------------: relatively short amount of time, and
still have some essence left over. If you are feeling daring, you can pull out
the War Hammer here, and stand in the middle and charge a UT. If you can time
it right, you can hit 5-7 of the Ghost Fish right away and get the 5k UT bonus.
After that, you can just keep chaining UTs by just charging it up with the
essence left behind from the previous Ghost Fish. Whatever you do, though, do
NOT attempt to pull off On-Landing UTs, since the ghost fish will override the
On-Landing state, and bite you immediately. Trust me, I have tried this... and
it doesn't work. If you aren't feeling daring though, you can pull out the
Vigoorian Flails and just jump X, then XXX and jump X again. You can even cast
Fire Wheels if you feel you aren't up to taking down the ghost fish with just
the Flails. Once you're finished with the onslaught of Ghost Fish, on to Phase
2.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Phase 2 [2/10 Normal, 5/10 MN] (2.32)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Dragon Sword (lvl2) * : : Cyclops Wasps...................16:
: Nunchaku : : Pill Bugs.......................08:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Thunderbolt Worm................01:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : :-----------------------------------:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) :
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: This battle should be relatively easy
: Windmill Shuriken * : for anyone that has completed Story
:---------------Armlets-----------------: Mode on just about any difficulty.
: The Armlet of the Sun * : This battle is just the lone
: The Armlet of the Moon : Thunderbolt Worm (Electric Worm) with
: The Armlet of Benediction : a few minions. The battle always
: The Armlet of Celerity : starts with the Worm shooting
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: electric balls at you, so be prepared
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl1) * : to roll at the beginning. Your best
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl1) : bet to make it through this mission
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl1) : the easiest, is to equip the War
:----------------Items------------------: Hammer or the Vigoorian Flail. At
: None : first, just spam wall attacks with
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: either weapon to kill one or two of
: None : the minions, and then try to chain
:---------------------------------------: together your UTs until the first 6
(4 Cyclops Wasps, 2 Pill Bugs) are dead. After that, equip the War Hammer and
the Armlet of Celerity, and move up to the top right corner right near the
water. What you need to do now, is just wait for him to suck up electricity,
swipe at your, or dash to the middle. After he does any one of those 3 attacks,
make sure that you start charging your UT up. If he spits electricity balls at
you though, just roll through them to avoid taking damage. You also have to
make sure that you roll through his swipe, otherwise it could knock you into
the water. You should be able to easily charge up a UT so long as you start the
UT as soon as the attack is finished. Then you just wait for him to do his next
attack, and unleash it to cause some major damage. Two UTs will drop him below
75%, then one more will drop him below 50%. Just remember, that his minions
will spawn at both of those %'s, so you have to deal with 12 more enemies. Then
just repeat the same process in the corner until he drops below 25%, and kill
the last 6 minions. Spam one or two more UTs and the Thunderbolt Worm should
fall to your might. That wasn't so hard, now was it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Phase 3 [4/10 Normal, 7/10 MN] (2.33)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Nunchaku : : Lesser Imps.....................XX:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Imps............................04:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Shadow Imps.....................04:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Ogres...........................05:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) * : : Total Enemies..................13+:
: Lunar (lvl3) : :-----------------------------------:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------:
: Shuriken : If you haven't completed Hard
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : difficulty of Story Mode yet, or
: Windmill Shuriken : skipped this mission and gone ahead,
: Smoke Bomb (x15) * : this will be a very tough mission for
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : you. This is the first time that you
:---------------Armlets-----------------: will encounter Ogres in Mission Mode,
: The Armlet of the Sun * : so if you are not prepared for their
: The Armlet of the Moon : attacks, you will most likely get
: The Armlet of Benediction : slaughtered because of the small
: The Armlet of Fortune : movement space. However, if you would
: The Armlet of Celerity : like to try this mission without any
: The Armlet of Potency : knowledge of Ogres, then I will try
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: to guide you through it as best as I
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl2) * : can. The battle starts off with two
:----------------Items------------------: Imps and one Shadow Imp spawning
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x2) : relatively near you, with an Ogre
: Great Spirit Elixir (x1) : spawning farther down the tunnel. For
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: now, the Ogre should leave you alone,
: Counter Attacks : so you can concentrate on attacking
: Guillotine Throw : the two varieties of Imps. Once you
: Izuna Drop : have killed two of the (Shadow) Imps,
:---------------------------------------: another Ogre will spawn closer to
where you spawned, so now you might have some trouble. Your best bet for
dealing with Ogres, is to block constantly (kind of a given), and learn their
attacks as best as you can. Once you know what the different animations for
their attacks are, you can work on taking them down. You can easily do this
with any weapon, but the War Hammer's Flaming Whirlwind (->Y) is the easiest
way if you have never encountered them before. Just make sure that you block or
roll through their attacks, and then pull of that move. They should drop in
about 7-8 of those, which isn't too bad. However, at the same time that you
have two Ogres in the area... you will also have two varieties of Imps, just to
make your life more troublesome. The easiest way I have found to deal with the
Imps, without getting creamed by the Ogres, is to repeatedly run to the ends of
the tunnel, from one side to the other, and the Ogres will usually leave you
alone, but the Imps will chase you. Once you have killed off all 8 of the Imp
varieties, then you can work on taking down one or both ogres.
Once you have killed off both of those Ogres, your kill count should be at 10,
and you get a sort of "intermission". Five Lesser Imps will spawn in the middle
of the tunnel, kind of near the door. You have 30 seconds to kill as many of
these as you can, and after those 30 seconds they will all go into the ground.
There is an infinite number of these, so you can just wail on them as much as
you would like, or run away from them for a while if you do not feel like
putting up with the hassle. If you do decide to kill them, make sure you leave
a couple essence at the end, since you are going to need it.
After you are finished with that little "intermission", your kill count can be
very varied. The most I have ever gotten is 14 Lesser Imps killed, for a 24
kill count, although Shinobier has gotten 21 of them killed, for a 31 count. No
matter how many or how few you manage to kill though, the battle will only have
three more enemies. Unfortunately, those three enemies are all Ogres, and they
spawn inside the tunnel at the same time. Use some essence from your previous
encounter, and try to UT one of them at the start. If you didn't save any
essence though, then just take care of them with the Flaming Whirlwind, and try
to keep an eye on the other two to make sure they don't sneak up on you. Once
you have killed one of them, if you are feeling lucky, you can run back and
forth and charge up UTs with the Armlet of Celerity for some quick points, and
to inflict some nice damage. Once the third one falls, you get to move on to
the last two battles of this series.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Phase 4 [4/10 Normal, 7/10 MN] (2.34)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Nunchaku : : Pill Bugs.......................08:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Cyclops Wasps...................08:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Thunderbolt Worm................01:
: Dabilahro (lvl2) * : : Flame Worm......................01:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Total Enemies...................18:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : :-----------------------------------:
: Lunar (lvl3) :
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: If you had trouble with the Twin
: Shuriken : Worms in Story Mode, then you are
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : most likely going to hate this
: Windmill Shuriken * : mission. The battle starts off with
:---------------Armlets-----------------: a Thunderbolt Worm in the left hole,
: The Armlet of the Sun * : and he will most likely shoot at you
: The Armlet of the Moon : at the start, and a Flame Worm in the
: The Armlet of Benediction : right hole, but he won't do anything
: The Armlet of Celerity : at the start. At the very beginning,
: The Armlet of Potency : you should make sure that you roll
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=3)-------------: away to avoid the electricity ball he
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : will shoot at you, and then you can
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl2) * : get to work on the minions. You will
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl2) : have to deal with two Cyclops Wasps,
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl2) : and two Pill Bugs while avoiding both
:----------------Items------------------: of the worms attacks. The easiest way
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x3) : to do this, is to Flaming Whirlwind
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: (->Y) one or two of the minions with
: None : the Dabilahro, and then use their
:---------------------------------------: essence to UT the remaining minions,
and hopefully hit the worms once or twice. After that, just switch over to the
Armlet of Celerity, and move yourself into a corner right near the water. From
this position, you should be able to charge up UTs to unleash onto the worms.
Just make sure to watch the worms' movements, and try to roll through their
attacks and then charge up the UTs. After a few hits on each worm (its hard to
tell since there is two of them), you should get their collective health down
to 75% and four more minions will show up. You should have a UT charged up by
the time they get there, so just unleash it at them, and then try to chain UTs
from there. After that, back into the corner for more UT punishment. At their
collective 50% health, four more minions should show up, and then at their
collective 25% health too. This can be kind of hard to judge during the heat of
battle, but sometimes you can guess when it is going to happen. After you
finish off the last worm, on to another worm mission!
**Alternate explanation sent in by Ninjilla**
I use this strategy for the worms, and I rarely get hit, if at all ;) Ok,
first of all, go to the left most side of the cavern, equip the Armlet of
Clerity, Auto charge, and UT the closest worm. If one starts to shoot, try
and UT before it hits you. If you cant UT a worm when it starts to do a
slide attack, roll to the leftmost side, and XXXXXY it's ass. Do this for
all the other worms.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Phase 5 [5/10 Normal, 8/10 MN] (2.35)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Dragon Sword (lvl2) : : Pill Bugs.......................04:
: Nunchaku : : Cyclops Wasps...................04:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Thunderbolt Worms...............02:
: Dabilahro (lvl2) * : : Flame Worm......................01:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Total Enemies...................11:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : :-----------------------------------:
: Lunar (lvl3) :
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: This mission can either be really
: Shuriken : hard, or very easy, depending on how
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : good you are at dealing with worms,
: Windmill Shuriken * : and a little bit of luck. This time,
: Explosive Arrows (x5) : you will have to deal with two
:---------------Armlets-----------------: Thunderbolt Worms, one on the left
: The Armlet of the Sun * : and one on the right, and a Flame
: The Armlet of the Moon : Worm directly in the middle. The left
: The Armlet of Benediction : TW will decide to start shooting its
: The Armlet of Celerity : electric balls at you, and sometimes
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: the FW will join in. When this
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : happens, you either need a lot of
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : luck on your side, or an insane
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) : amount of skills to dodge both of the
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl3) : attacks at once. Unfortunately, I
:----------------Items------------------: have neither of these, so when they
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x3) : both start attacking at once, I'm as
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: good as dead. However, most of the
: None : time, the FW will try to smack you
:---------------------------------------: while the TW is launching its
electric balls at you. Once you get past the first volley of attacks, you can
either use the same method that I put above for the two worms, or you can whip
out the Flails and attempt to kill them that way. The best attack to use with
the Flails on them, is the Ripping Thunder (->YYY) after they have tried to
smack into you. The best way to open them up for an attack with Ripping
Thunder, is to roll through their swipe, and then instantly go into it. Another
useful feature about Ripping Thunder, is that you are completely invulnerable
for a few frames of the second attack in it. Sometimes this can save you from
one of the TW's electric balls, if you get lucky or time it right. Once you
have killed off two of the worms, four minions will appear, two Pill Bugs, and
two Cyclops Wasps. You can kill any of those with one Flaming Whirlwind (->Y)
with a heavy weapon, and then return to the Flails for the worm. He should
summon up those minions twice, so you have to kill four of each kind. Overall,
this battle is just about being mobile and recognizing all of the worms
attacks. Just make sure that you watch out for the Worms' grab attack since
sometimes they can sneak up on you while you are watching a different Worm. One
important thing to remember for this battle, is that the FW takes more damage
from any attack, so he will most likely be the first one to die, but he also
does the most damage to you. After this, you get to move onto the fun that is
Military Destruction!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Military Destruction [5/10 Normal, 7/10 MN] (2.40)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Military Destruction is filled with some of the most annoying, migraine
causing, hair-ripping missions in the entire mode itself. Three of the five
missions require you to have very good aim with the strongbow, and if you
don't.... here are a few tips I found on the GameFAQs NGB board.
Matt_Cox44:
"Equip your normal arrows, and shoot the wall three times. Make a tiny little
mark on your television screen. This is like a redicule for the arrows and
helps so much for me and may help you."
Weibull760:
"I've used it (use a dry erase marker, not a permanent one ;) before and it
helped immensely during the helicopter boss and the radio tower."
towlie7:
"if you dont want to put dots on your screen put tape and then dots on the
tape"
Also, this can already be found on Vampire Horde's guide on GameFAQs, and was
originally found by Saryah.
Vampire Horde's Guide:
"MISCELLANEOUS TIPS:
--When you begin chapter 9 with the Strongbow, shoot any available wall full of
normal Arrows without changing where you're aiming. They should cluster. Draw a
dot over the cluster with a piece of chalk or crayon on your monitor. Ta Dah!
Never miss a bowshot again!
"
For the rest of the missions, you should be able to get by with the strategies
I give you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Phase 1 [3/10 Normal, 6/10 MN] (2.41)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Plasma Saber MK.II * : : SAT Soldier.....................02:
: Nunchaku : : SAT Riot Guard..................02:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : MSAT Soldier....................02:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : MSAT Riot Guard.................02:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) : : Dynamo..........................01:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Total Enemies...................09:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : :-----------------------------------:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------:
: Shuriken * : This mission is the start of a very
: Windmill Shuriken : tough and frustrating set. This
: APFSDS Cores (x15) : mission can be done with your start
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : equipment, but depending on what you
:---------------Armlets-----------------: are most comfortable with you can
: The Armlet of the Moon * : change however you see fit. If you
: The Armlet of Benediction : are going to stay with your base
: The Armlet of Celerity : equips, then you are definitely
: The Armlet of Potency : going to have to take out the minions
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: first, unless you have a better
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : strategy than using Violent Gale
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl1) * : (WR XX). The easiest way to take out
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl1) : the first wave of minions, the SAT
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl1) : Soldiers, is to just basically hit
:----------------Items------------------: them with any combo and because of it
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x1) : being the equivalent of the TDS in
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: damage, they will die easily. For the
: Guillotine Throw : next wave of enemies though, you will
: Izuna Drop : need to get a bit more creative and
:---------------------------------------: try to guard break them to get them
into a combo, seeing as how they are SAT Riot Guards and will block just about
all of your attacks. You can use the same idea for the MSAT Soldiers and Riot
Guards, except they have more life... so expect that.
After you have killed each wave of minions, your best bet is to run around
Dynamo at about medium distance, so he will try to shoot you. Then when you see
him charging up his gun, angle in and just tap X twice to perform the Violent
Gale. As soon as that attack is finished, roll back out to medium distance so
he doesn't smack you and repeat. This battle can be relatively easy, or
relatively hard depending on how much you like or hate Military guys and
Dynamo. Hopefully it shouldn't cause you too much trouble with this method, but
if you are more of a heavy weapons kind of guy and a lot more of a risk taker,
then look below.
Ok, so you've decided to not use the MK.II and go with my other strategy. This
one can be a lot riskier, since you do almost the entire fight up close, but it
can be completed a lot easier and safer if you try to do it this way. Right off
the bat, you can either decide to get rid of the two minions either using the
MK.II or the Dabi's midair attack or Flaming Whirlwind (->Y). Either one of
those attacks should be sufficient to take out the first and third waves of
enemies in one attack, and the second and fourth waves in two attacks. Once you
have killed off the minions at that time, then just get right up next to Dynamo
and block; right now you are just waiting for him to attack. When he decides to
start attacking you, you have to make sure to be careful what he is going to
do. If he decides to do an overhead attack, where he just smashes the gun
straight down, this is a good opportunity to attack, since he will very rarely
follow that up with an attack. If he decides to do a horizontal attack, where
he spins around with his gun, make sure that it breaks your block and do NOT
attempt to attack now. 9/10 times he will follow this attack up with a grab,
which can be very devastating, so try to time when he will do this and roll
away from him. After his spin and grab combo though, he will never follow it up
with anything and you should be able to hit him with 1-2 of the Dabi's Flaming
Whirlwinds. You can just repeat this process, but be sure to watch out for when
he jumps. He will put up this force field of energy which will knock you
backwards for a significant amount of damage, so if you see him jump in the air
rolljump out of range and start to circle him so you hopefully won't get shot.
One of those two methods should have (hopefully) helped you out, and now you
are ready to move onto Phase 2 of Military Destruction (and my personal least
favorite).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Phase 2 [5/10 Normal, 8/10 MN] (2.42)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Plasma Saber MK.II * : : Vigoorian Infantry..............04:
: Nunchaku : : Mech. Vigoorian Infantry........04:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Tanks...........................02:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) : : Total Enemies...................10:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : :-----------------------------------:
: Unlabored Flawlessness :
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: This mission is easily one of the
: Shuriken : more frustrating ones out of this
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : set. The battle starts off with one
: Windmill Shuriken : tank and two Vigoorian Infantry near
: Strongbow (x15) : you. Unfortunately, for this mission
: APFSDS Cores (x5) : the camera doesn't stay on the tank,
: Explosive Arrows (x5) : so most of the time you will have to
:---------------Armlets-----------------: either get lucky or have a lot of
: The Armlet of the Sun * : skill to find the tanks easily. The
: The Armlet of the Moon : safest way to take down the Vigoorian
: The Armlet of Benediction : Infantry near you, is first of all to
: The Armlet of Celerity : find them, and then to wind run off
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: of their heads and manage to Izuna
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : Drop them. If you can do this quickly
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl2) : it will allow you to adjust your
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl1) : camera midair and hopefully find the
:----------------Items------------------: tank and the other VI on the map.
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x2) : Once you finish off the first one,
: Great Spirit Elixir (x1) : you can decide to either Izuna Drop
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: the second one, or try to Flying
: Counter Attacks : Swallow them which is much more risky
: Guillotine Throw : due to the recovery time after the
: Izuna Drop : attack. Once you take down both of
:---------------------------------------: the VI, then you can begin to
concentrate on the tank itself. The tank will definitely have a gunner at this
point, so you will want to switch over to your Explosive Arrows and shoot one
of them at it (in 3rd person mode, definitely do not go into first) to make the
gunner go back down. After this, you can decide if you want to attempt to go
the Explosive Arrows only route, or the APFSDS Cores + Explosive Arrows. The
dual route is definitely the fastest, but can also get very confusing very
fast, and you can get stuck with a gunner up there while you have the Cores
out. It is up to you, although on the higher difficulties you may want to use
the Explosive Arrows exclusively. Either way, make sure that you camp at the
arrow box that you will use the most. If you are going the dual route, then
camp at the APFSDS Cores box, and Explosive Arrows is obviously Explosive
Arrows box. Once you have knocked that tanks health down to about 50%, you can
expect two more Vigoorian Infantry to show up and try to cause more problems.
Luckily, one Explosive Arrow will also take them out, so if you have good aim
and are fast you can switch to 1st person mode and take out both of the minions
without getting shot. After that though, get ready to either roll or fire
another Explosive Arrow at the tank to knock the gunner down and deal out more
damage. After you kill the first tank, another one will come out that has Mech.
Vigoorian Infantry as its minions. You can use almost the exact same strategy
on these guys as you did on the Vigoorian Infantry, except do NOT try to Flying
Swallow them. These guys come with a Flying Swallow counter which can do a lot
of damage very quickly, so try to not do it. I believe two Explosive Arrows
should be able to take them down, so you can try to shoot them if you don't
feel like slashing them, and then continue on with whichever strategy you had
chosen; Explosive Arrows only, or APFSDS Cores + Explosive Arrows. Another set
of two minions will spawn when this tank gets down to 50% health, and after
that you just have to kill the tank. Once you get through this grueling match,
then its on to Phase 3!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Phase 3 [2/10 Normal, 5/10 MN] (2.43)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Dragon Sword (lvl3) : : Ogres...........................02:
: Nunchaku : : Imps............................03:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) * : : Bast............................03:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Berserkers......................02:
: Lunar (lvl3) : : Mech. Vigoorian Heavy Infantry..03:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: : Ghul Archers....................09:
: Shuriken : : Total Enemies...................22:
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : :-----------------------------------:
: Windmill Shuriken :
: Smoke Bomb (x7) : This mission can feel like a kick in
: Explosive Arrows (x15) * : the teeth if you are not prepared for
:---------------Armlets-----------------: it. The mission starts you off in the
: The Armlet of the Sun * : radio tower area, where you have to
: The Armlet of the Moon : shoot all the circles like in story
: The Armlet of Benediction : mode. However, this time you start
: The Armlet of Fortune : with two Ogres directly in front of
: The Armlet of Celerity : you and three Mech. Vigoorian Heavy
: The Armlet of Potency : Infantry in the tower shooting at you
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: (and the Ogres). The easiest way to
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : do this mission, is to roll forward
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : so the Ogre is in between you and the
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) : radio tower, since the Ogre can get
:----------------Items------------------: hurt by the missiles and will act
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x4) : like a huge shield to you. Once the
: Great Spirit Elixir (x1) : first Ogre dies, try to do the same
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: thing with the second on until that
: Counter Attacks : one is dead too. After that, try to
: Guillotine Throw : shoot down the three MVHI in the
: Izuna Drop : radio tower by switching to 1st
:---------------------------------------: person view with the bow, and shoot
at them. One shot should take down each one, but incase it doesn't then one
more definitely will. The way enemies spawn in this mission though, is
partially like a boss battle. If you managed to kill all three MVHI without
breaking a single one of the circles, then no enemies will spawn. Once you
break two of the circles though, the next set of enemies will spawn.
This wave has three Imps spawn, along with three Ghul Archers up in the radio
tower. The good thing about the Ghul Archers, is that (at least on normal)
their accuracy is seriously reduced, and they will very rarely hit you while
you are concentrating on the other enemies. Just take out the three imps using
a UT from the essence of the MVHI or just with counters, and then shoot down
the Ghul Archers with your Explosive Arrows. It takes two shots to take down
the Ghul Archers, so just make sure that you follow up and have the second one
hit. Once the three Ghul Archers are down, shoot two more circles to summon up
the Bast fiends and three more Ghul Archers. Use the same strategy as before,
either Dabi UT or just take them down with counter or a combo and focus on the
Ghul Archers afterwards. Shoot the two little circles, and then immediately
start charging up a UT. Two berserkers will come crashing down, and you will
want to wait for them to get close enough to you (don't look at them, otherwise
you're screwed) to unleash it. You should be able to tell when they are close
enough to you when the camera decides to pan out to show that there is an enemy
there. Unleash your UT on them, and then get ready to either block and roll or
wind run over them Either technique will work on them, but I prefer to wind run
over them, since you will have the Ghul Archers trying to shoot you at the same
time, and it can get ugly very fast if you try the block and roll method.
Either way, if you hit the berserker with a full UT from the Dabi, one more hit
will make him transform, then two more hits will kill him. You should be able
to sneak in a hit during his transformation (roll away and then hit him) so
essentially you only have to worry about hitting him twice to kill him. Then
just wind run over the other ones head until the essence appears and OL UT him
with that essence and repeat the other technique. After those two monsters are
dead, just shoot down the remaining three Ghul Archers and then shoot the last
three circles and you're all done. Nice job on beating this, especially if you
aren't good at fighting Ogres, Berserkers, or Bast yet, and onto Phase 4 we go!
Alternate Strategy:
You can also perform a "speed run" on this mission, but it can be very tough.
Basically you just pull out your bow and shoot 1-2 of the circles right away,
then roll jump around until you get the Ogre to perform an attack, dodge it and
shoot another circle. Repeat this until all 9 circles are shot. This is easier
if you keep getting killed by the Berserkers, since you will never have to
worry about having more than 6 enemies on the screen (2 Ogres, 3 MVHI, 1 Imp).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Phase 4 [5/10 Normal, 8/10 MN] (2.44)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Plasma Saber MK.II * : : Vigoorian Infantry..............04:
: Nunchaku : : Mech. Vigoorian Infantry........04:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Helicopter......................01:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) : : Total Enemies...................05:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : :-----------------------------------:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------:
: Shuriken : This mission can get very far out of
: Windmill Shuriken : control, very fast if you lose sight
: Strongbow (x15) : of where the chopper is. You have to
: APFSDS Cores (x5) * : manually control the camera to follow
: Explosive Arrows (x5) : the chopper, so try to make sure in
:---------------Armlets-----------------: your mind exactly where it is. When
: The Armlet of the Sun * : the mission starts off, the copter
: The Armlet of the Moon : will be in front of you, and two
: The Armlet of Benediction : Vigoorian Infantry will drop down
: The Armlet of Celerity : somewhere on the little platform you
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: start on. Personally, I always
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl1) * : rolljump over to the Explosive Arrows
:----------------Items------------------: immediately to use those to take out
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x1) : the enemies, but if you prefer to
: Great Spirit Elixir (x1) : take them out with your sword, then
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: go to the APFSDS Cores box (on your
: Counter Attacks : right) and set up camp. You can try
: Guillotine Throw : to take out one or both of the VI on
: Izuna Drop : your way there, but make sure that
:---------------------------------------: you be careful of where the copter is
going to move to. If it manages to get behind you and you lose focus of it,
then you can die very quickly. Once those two VI are dead, then you can focus
your attention onto the chopper itself. So long as you stay in front of the
APFSDS Cores box, you should be safe from the front or the back. In the back,
the helicopter will shoot this sign with his missiles and machine gun, so you
will be completely safe to just shoot at it (Thanks for that tip Psychosis, I
never noticed it before). You can get off about 6-7 arrows if you are quick and
a good shot, before it decides to move. This mission is basically about timing
when the missiles are about to hit, and rolling just as the first one should
hit you and then jumping past the next three, then repeating for the two that
follow those four up. After you knock the chopper down to about 75% health, two
more VI will spawn, and then at 50% and 25%, 2 MVI will spawn at each time.
Just remember that you CANNOT Flying Swallow those guys, at least not without
the risk of getting countered for some serious damage.
Here is a really badly drawn ASCII map of what the layout is...
Chopper
===============================================================================
I Explosive APFSDS I
I Ryu I
I I
===============================================================================
S I G N
Hopefully these decent strategies of mine will help you to get through this
mission, and onto the final one of this set, Phase 5!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Phase 5 [3/10 Normal, 6/10 MN] (2.45)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: True Dragon Sword * : : SAT Soldier.....................09:
: Nunchaku : : MSAT Soldier....................09:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : SAT Riot Guard..................09:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : MSAT Riot Guard.................09:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) : : SAT Grenadier...................09:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : MSAT Grenadier..................09:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : : Vigoorian Infantry..............06:
: Dark Dragon Blade : : Mech. Vigoorian Infantry........06:
: Lunar (lvl3) : : Vigoorian Heavy Infantry........11:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: : Mech. Vigoorian Heavy Infantry..11:
: Shuriken * : : Sentries........................12:
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : : Total Enemies..................100:
: Windmill Shuriken : :----------Individual Waves---------:
: Smoke Bomb (x15) : :*3 waves in this battle* :
: Strongbow (x15) : :*Same enemies per wave* :
: APFSDS Cores (x15) : :*Intermissions between waves* :
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : : SAT Soldier.....................03:
:---------------Armlets-----------------: : MSAT Soldier....................03:
: The Armlet of the Sun * : : SAT Riot Guard..................03:
: The Armlet of the Moon : : MSAT Riot Guard.................03:
: The Armlet of Benediction : : SAT Grenadier...................03:
: The Armlet of Tranquility : : MSAT Grenadier..................03:
: The Armlet of Celerity : : Vigoorian Infantry..............02:
: The Armlet of Potency : : Mech. Vigoorian Infantry........02:
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: : Vigoorian Heavy Infantry........02:
: The Art of the Fire Wheels * : : Mech. Vigoorian Heavy Infantry..02:
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) : : Sentries........................02:
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) : : Total Enemies...................28:
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl3) : :-----------Intermissions-----------:
:----------------Items------------------: :*1st Intermission* :
: None : : Vigoorian Heavy Infantry........05:
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: :*2nd Intermission* :
: Counter Attacks : : Sentries........................06:
: Guillotine Throw : :*3rd Intermission* :
:---------------------------------------: : Mech. Vigoorian Heavy Infantry..05:
SAT/MSAT Soldier, SAT/MSAT Grenadier, and :-----------------------------------:
SAT Riot Guard spawn at the beginning of this mission, randomly placed around
you. Your best bet, is to immediately try to Blade of Nirrti (XYXXXX) one of
them to get the essence out of them, and after that attempt to chain together
ET/UT with the Dabi. The order of the enemies that spawn, is shown down below
where the "**Note**" is, and no matter which enemy you kill they will always
spawn in that order. This mission, is basically just chaining together UTs in
order to stay alive, but there are a few tricks. During the 1st and 3rd
intermissions, when you have to face the Vigoorian Heavy Infantry, and the
Mech. Vigoorian Heavy Infantry, your best move is actually wall runs into a
wall attack. So long as you are using any heavy weapon, you can wall run and
tap X or Y during it and immediately go into a wall attack, as though you had
been running up the wall. This is exceptionally handy during those parts of
this mission, since the VHI and MVHI will spawn around the outer parts of the
"arena", so you can just wall run around and hit all of them without even
getting touched. One note about that, is to make sure that you hold block
during the wall attack, just incase you get shot with a rocket. Holding block
will prevent you from going flying and it will lessen the damage you take,
since you somehow manage to block the rocket. For the Sentries, you should try
to hit as many of them as you can with a fully charged Dabi UT when they first
appear, and then after that try to dodge their laser beams or get hit with them
while blocking (so you don't get launched) and then shoot them with any of your
arrows since you have all three varieties. Other than that, try to not get
grabbed while you are rolljumping around and spam off as many of the Dabi UTs
as you possibly can. Once you beat this mission, you're finally done with a
(very) annoying set of missions, and you can go on! Congratulations!
**Note**
Just as with PotMN Phase 4, I figured out the spawn order of all of the enemies
in the 28 enemy waves. It does not matter which enemy you kill first, as they
will always spawn in this order.
MSAT Riot Guard, Vigoorian Infantry, Vigoorian Heavy Infantry, Mech. Vigoorian
Infantry, Mech. Vigoorian Heavy Infantry, (sentry spawn) SAT Soldier, SAT
Grenadier, SAT Riot Guard, MSAT Soldier, MSAT Grenadier, MSAT Riot Guard,
Vigoorian Infantry, Vigoorian Heavy Infantry, Mech. Vigoorian Infantry, Mech.
Vigoorian Heavy Infantry, (sentry spawn) SAT Soldier, SAT Grenadier, SAT Riot
Guard, MSAT Soldier, MSAT Grenadier, MSAT Riot Guard
*acronyms for people who prefer it*
MSAT RG, VI, VHI, MVI, MVHI, (sentry spawn) SAT S, SAT G, SAT RG, MSAT S, MSAT
G, MSAT RG, VI, VHI, MVI, MVHI, (sentry spawn) SAT S, SAT G, SAT RG, MSAT S,
MSAT G, MSAT RG
I'm not exactly sure how this would help anyone, but it may come in handy since
you could know exactly which enemy would be coming at you next.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Descent of the Fiends [6/10 Normal, 9/10 MN] (2.50)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I know that I gave this a very high rating for difficulty overall, but for the
most part these missions are pretty simple on Normal, The last two missions
(for me) are two of the worst ones in the entire mode, so thats why I rated
this as hard as I did. Also, if you haven't gotten used to them yet, this
section is filled with the different enemies from the HP's (1 and 2).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Phase 1 [3/10 Normal, 5/10 MN] (2.51)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Nunchaku : : Bast............................05:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) * : : Greater Bast....................05:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Ogres...........................04:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : : Total Enemies...................14:
: Lunar (lvl3) : :-----------------------------------:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------:
: Shuriken : This mission is fairly easy, so long
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : as you are decent at fighting with
: Windmill Shuriken : Ogres and Bast. The battle starts off
: Smoke Bomb (x15)* : with a Greater Bast and two Ogres in
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : the area somewhere. Your best bet, is
:---------------Armlets-----------------: to try and take out the Greater Bast
: The Armlet of the Sun * : first and try to ignore the Ogres.
: The Armlet of the Moon : Your best bet for this, is to either
: The Armlet of Benediction : use the Lunar or Kitetsu and just
: The Armlet of Potency : wail away on them, or if you feel
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: like putting more finesse into it,
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : you can attempt to hit them with the
:----------------Items------------------: Dabi's Flaming Whirlwind for a OHKO.
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x3) : After you kill the Greater Bast, a
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: Bast will appear in its place, and
: Counter Attacks : after that Greater and Regular Bast
: Guillotine Throw : will just switch places. Once you
: Izuna Drop : have killed off all ten of the Bast
:---------------------------------------: and Greater Bast, then you can begin
to concentrate on the Ogres. The easiest way to take care of these bad boys, is
to stay close to them, but attempt to keep them seperated. So long as one of
the ogres is concentrating on you, the other one will stay back and not attack.
However, if you manage to still have the one attacking you, and get close to
the other one, then both of them will attack you, so you want to avoid doing
that at all costs. The Ogres start off green, and significantly easier, but if
you manage to break their masks, then they will "transform" and become red and
a whole lot scarier. Ogres have four basic attacks before they transform, and
one of those attacks becomes longer after they transform. Their attacks are: an
uppercut (which they follow up with a swipe if you get hit by it), an overhead
swing, jumping (if they land on you, they'll either throw you or just knock you
away for a lot of damage), and a horizontal swing. All of the Ogre's attacks
will break your guard, but the two that you really have to watch out for are
the overhead swing and the jump, since both of those will still give you damage
even if you are blocking. You can, however, roll through the overhead swing and
leave the Ogre standing there looking stupid, since after that attack he has an
ENORMOUS recovery time. During the other attacks though, you can also smack
him, and if he jumps.... just roll towards where he started and you should be
completely safe. After the jump though, if you rolled towards where he started,
you should be able to pull off a ful Flaming Hell Slash (XXXXXY) on his butt to
avoid his mask breaking. If the mask does break on them, then you have to be
more careful around them since they do more damage with all their attacks, and
their overhead smack can be elongated. It takes a little practice to see when
it is coming, but their club shakes a little when they are going to attack.
When you see this happen, be careful since they will follow up the overhead
attack with two more horizontal swipes. You can block and then roll through the
last two swipes, since they do not cause any extra damage to you. Once you take
down all four Ogres, you can feel a sense of accomplishment for a few minutes
and then move onto the next mission!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Phase 2 [3/10 Normal, 6/10 MN] (2.52)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: True Dragon Sword * : : Ogres...........................02:
: Nunchaku : : Gallas..........................02:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) : : Thorn Gallas....................02:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Berserkers......................03:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : : Total Enemies...................09:
: Lunar (lvl3) : :-----------------------------------:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------:
: Shuriken * : The very easiest way to beat this
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : mission, is to just plant yourself up
: Windmill Shuriken : against the wall made by the draw
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : bridge and just spam wall attacks all
:---------------Armlets-----------------: day long. However, I think that would
: The Armlet of the Sun * : make writing this section too easy so
: The Armlet of the Moon : I'm going to try and give better
: The Armlet of Benediction : strategies. As soon as the battle
: The Armlet of Celerity : starts, pause your game and switch to
: The Armlet of Potency : the Armlet of Celerity and the Dabi.
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: When you unpause, start charging up a
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : UT and switch the camera to 3rd
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl2) * : person movement, and angle it away
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) : from the Berserker so he doesn't
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl2) : launch his fireballs at you. You
:----------------Items------------------: should be able to get a UT fully
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x4) : charged up by the time the Ogre gets
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: close to you, but if you haven't then
: None : just release an ET into him. If you
:---------------------------------------: got an UT into him, then he should
have his mask broken and be left wide open to be hit by a Flaming Whirlwind
(->Y). After that, you just have to dodge his attacks and nail him with a
Flaming Whirlwind every time. If you hit him with the UT at the beginning,
three more Flaming Whirlwinds should take him down after that. Once you kill
the Ogre, a Gallas should show up in his place. After that, you can decide
which one of the enemies you want to take out, preferably the Gallas or Thorn
Gallas, but whichever one you kill... another Berserker will come crashing down
from the sky. This is when it can start to get tricky, since there are two
Berserkers down there, along with the Gallas/Thorn Gallas running around. If
the Gallas/Thorn Gallas commits to you and starts attacking, then a Berserker
won't so you should be relatively safe for now, but as soon as you kill another
enemy, an Ogre will rise up from the ground. Then the spawn points after that
are Thorn Gallas, Gallas, Berserker, and Ogre. If you keep the Armlet of
Celerity on the whole battle, you can actually manage to charge up a few extra
UT/ETs by placing yourself far enough away from the enemies. This comes in
handy to get a better score and dispose of the enemies fast. However, you can
also switch over to the Armlet of the Sun if you would prefer to use Flaming
Whirlwinds mostly. Once you manage to kill all of those enemies, by UTs or
Flaming Whirlwinds, the battle is over, and you are free to move on!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Phase 3 [2/10 Normal, 4/10 MN] (2.53)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Dragon Sword (lvl3) : : Fiend Soldiers..................08:
: Nunchaku : : Tank............................01:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Total Enemies...................09:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) * : :-----------------------------------:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) :
: Unlabored Flawlessness : So long as you do this battle using
: Lunar (lvl3) : my very foolproof plan, you should be
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: able to do it without taking any
: Shuriken * : damage from the tank, and only have
: APFSDS Cores (x0) : to worry about the Fiend Soldiers. As
: Explosive Arrows (x0) : soon as the battle starts,
:---------------Armlets-----------------: immediately turn around and center
: The Armlet of the Sun * : the camera so you can see where you
: The Armlet of the Moon : are going. Then rolljump over to the
: The Armlet of Benediction : APFSDS Cores box (the only one you
: The Armlet of Celerity : can see) and pick them up. Then, you
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: take a left and rolljump down that
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : corridor. Once you get near the door,
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) : make sure that you put yourself
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) : against the left side of the wall
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl3) * : *IMPORTANT*. If you do not put Ryu up
:----------------Items------------------: against the left side, then the tank
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x1) : will just move forward and continue
: Great Spirit Elixir (x1) : shooting at you, but since you are
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: on the left side, the tank will not
: Counter Attacks : follow you. So, once you're here, you
: Guillotine Throw : can just take out the Fiend Soldiers
: Izuna Drop : that come at you in groups of 2 with
:---------------------------------------: the UF, Dabi, or whatever else you
feel like using. Then you can just edge yourself out a little ways, and shoot
the tank with your APFSDS Cores until it gets down to about 75% health. After
that, two more Fiend Soldiers will appear, and if you time it right (with the
Armlet of Celerity) you can actually charge up a UT and kill both of the
soldiers with a single UT. After that, you can just go back to shooting the
tank. Two more soldiers will appear when you get it down to 50% health, and
again at 25% health... but after that the tank is yours. This strategy is also
valid for Master Ninja difficulty, and I believe that I was the first one to
come up with this strategy, but I am not 100% sure. Either way, I discovered
this strategy on my own, so if there is anyone else to give credit too, then
I'm sorry...
**BAD ASCII MAP WARNING!**
I-------I
I I
I----I I
D I
o /
o / I-----I
r I I I
\ I I I I--Door--I
\ I I--Door--I I I I I
I I I I I I I I
I I I I I I I I
I I I I I I Muramasa's / I
I \ / I I I Shop--> / E I
I -- I I I / A I
I I---------------I I----------/ /
I AP FS /
I FS<---------------Ryu Tank /
I DS * FS /
I \ I--------------------------------------------------------/
I \ \
I \ I
I \ I <-- That is where you want to be
I--Door--I
[Key]
AP
FS = APFSDS Cores box
DS
E = Explosive Arrows box
A
FS = Fiend Soldier
The lines you can see in the middle of the map are what you should make Ryu do.
* = Where the tank will get stuck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Phase 4 [4/10 Normal, 7/10 MN] (2.54)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Nunchaku : : Lesser Imps.....................02:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Imp.............................01:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Ogres...........................02:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Bast............................02:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : : Greater Bast....................01:
: Lunar (lvl3) * : : Paz Zuu.........................01:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: : Total Enemies...................09:
: Shuriken : :-----------------------------------:
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) :
: Windmill Shuriken * : This mission is one of the toughest
: Explosive Arrows (x7) : "boss" series of fights, where you
:---------------Armlets-----------------: just have to kill a single boss, for
: The Armlet of the Sun * : me. I'm not exactly sure why, seeing
: The Armlet of the Moon : as how he is relatively simple to
: The Armlet of Benediction : kill in story mode, but I can't even
: The Armlet of Fortune : beat this mission on MN. In any case,
: The Armlet of Celerity : this mission starts off with Paz Zuu
: The Armlet of Potency : and two Lesser Imps in the arena.
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: You should probably equip the Kitetsu
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : for almost the entire fight, as Dead
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : Soul Bind (XX->XXcont.) will keep you
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl2) : and the enemy you're attacking safe.
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl1) : This is VERY important, seeing as how
:----------------Items------------------: if Paz Zuu's laser kills any enemy
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x4) : except for the Ogres, they will
: Great Spirit Elixir (x1) : respawn immediately, causing more of
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: a hassle for you. The easiest way to
: Counter Attacks : do this mission, is to kill quick and
: Guillotine Throw : make sure that you and his minions
: Izuna Drop : don't get caught up in his lasers.
:---------------------------------------: Once you have taken down the first
wave of Lesser Imps, you want to start focusing on taking down Paz Zuu's life
bar. The easiest way to do this, is to get behind him and start using Blade of
Nirrti on his back. However, the only time that it is possible to get behind
him, is if he is on the side of the arena that you would enter from if you were
doing story mode. The easiest way of getting him to go on the side that you
want, is to just dodge his lasers until he goes up top on that little ledge.
Once he does that, make sure that when you are looking at him, you are to the
right of him. So long as you are, he will always go to the left, which is the
side that you want him to be on. Once he starts heading over there, you can
rolljump your way over there too, and either go around him or just roll
straight through his legs. Either option is valid, but going around him can
sometimes be more dangerous, since he will use his wind attack and do some
annoying damage to you (it's a guard crush, so even if you block you take
damage). Once you are behind him though, then it is fairly easy. Stand up
against the door, and wait for him to jump. So long as you are up against the
door, he will not be able to hit you, and you can wait for your opportunity. As
soon as he lands, immediately start a Blade of Nirrti (XYXXXX) and all of your
hits should connect. After you land, he should already be in the air, but you
don't have to roll to avoid taking damage. For some reason, so long as you
Blade of Nirrti him, you will be completely safe because of where you land.
After a while of smacking him anywhere, Paz Zuu will decide to randomly
"collapse" and put his head on the ground. This is the point when you can pull
off a lot of damage. You can either stick with the Kitetsu and Blade of Nirrti
him, or you can switch over to the Lunar and Lunar Explosion (->YYY) him to do
some massive damage. I prefer to use the Lunar, since all of the attacks will
come out regardless of whether you hit an enemy or not. Once he stands back up,
you can go around back and continue using Blade of Nirrti on him. You can
continue this for a while until he either decides to switch sides, or he
summons up the next wave of enemies (you knocked him to 75% health). Once
either of those happens, you can try and use the above strategies.... either
take out the enemies quickly if he summoned them, or make him go back to that
side if he switched. If you knocked him down to 75% health, making him summon
up an Ogre and an Imp, then you should probably concentrate on the Imp first,
since they are the most mobile and can screw you up while you are trying to
dodge the laser fire. Also, the Ogres have a very helpful/annoying feature with
them on this mission that may save you. If Paz Zuu manages to finish off an
Ogre before you get a chance to, they will die and stay dead, but you will NOT
get the kill count for it. This is a very bad thing if you are going for max
karma, but if you are just trying to beat it, then you can actually lure Paz
Zuu into attacking the Ogre so you don't have to.
Once you/Paz Zuu have killed both of the minions, then you just have to lure
him into going back to the other side, which can be easier said than done.
Sometimes he can be stubborn, and just continually fire lasers at you. If he
starts doing that, then you can either try to move in on his left/right and
attempt to Flying Swallow (jump forwards + Y) him, but wait until he fires a
laser otherwise you could get caught in a close range attack. After a few times
of that he should either change his attack pattern, or keep going. If he keeps
going, then go in under his feet (watch out for the stomp and bite attack...
you can roll through both) and smack him a few times from down there.
Eventually he will decide to either move up top, in which case just stay on
that side and he will go to the side you want, or he will just dash across to
the other side. Either way, you can use this as a prime opportunity to get
behind him and being using Blade of Nirrti on him again. Once you knock him
down to about 50% health though, he will summon up two more fiends; Bast this
time. Take both of them out quickly again, either using Dead Soul Bind, Blade
of Nirrti, Izuna Drop, or any other attack you decide to use. Then just force
him to go back to the side where you can get behind him and repeat. At about
25% health, he will summon up an Ogre and a Greater Bast fiend, which can be a
MAJOR pain in your rearend if you can't kill the Greater Bast quickly. That
should be your primary goal as soon as they spawn, since the Ogre dying isn't
that big of a concern, but the Greater Bast can be a pain if it keeps
respawning on you. Once both of them are dead though, you can continue killing
Paz Zuu from behind, and once he is dead you can move onto (arguably) one of
the toughest missions, and easily the toughest one out of this set.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Phase 5 [3/10 Normal, 6/10 MN] (2.55)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Note **
For this mission, after each wave you get a treasure chest; if you see the "#"
symbol next to a weapon or item, that represents when you get it... so two #'s
means you get it after the second wave of enemies.
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: True Dragon Sword * : : Purple Ninja....................08:
: Nunchaku : : Bast........................min.03:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Berserkers......................03:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Shadow Imps.....................08:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) : : Doku............................01:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Marbus..........................01:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : : Nicchae.........................01:
: Dark Dragon Blade ## : : Ishtaros........................01:
: Lunar (lvl3) : : Total Enemies...............min.26:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: :--------------Wave 1---------------:
: Shuriken * : : Purple Ninja....................08:
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : : Doku............................01:
: Windmill Shuriken : : Total Enemies...................09:
: Smoke Bomb (x15) : :--------------Wave 2---------------:
: Strongbow (x15) : : Bast........................min.03:
: APFSDS Cores (x15) : : Marbus..........................01:
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : : Total Enemies...............min.04:
:---------------Armlets-----------------: :--------------Wave 3---------------:
: The Armlet of the Sun * : : Berserkers......................03:
: The Armlet of the Moon : : Total Enemies...................03:
: The Armlet of Benediction : :--------------Wave 4---------------:
: The Armlet of Fortune : : Shadow Imps.....................08:
: The Armlet of Celerity : : Nicchae.........................01:
: The Armlet of Potency : : Total Enemies...................09:
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=3)-------------: :--------------Wave 5---------------:
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : : Ishtaros........................01:
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : : Total Enemies...................01:
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) : :-----------------------------------:
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl3) :
:----------------Items------------------: Okay, so this is easily one of the
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x4) : hardest missions in the entire game,
: Great Spirit Elixir (x2) : due to the random boss AI.. but if it
: Ayane's Ration Bundle (x2) ###, #### : wasn't hard, you wouldn't be having
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: fun. You can see above the different
: Counter Attacks : enemies in the waves above, but I
: Guillotine Throw : will try to give a much better
: Izuna Drop # : description of how to beat them down
:---------------------------------------: below.
====================================WAVE 1=====================================
This section is relatively simple, and pretty similar to Nightmarish Phantasms
3. The wave starts off with Doku spawning in front of you, and then two Purple
Ninja dropping in randomly into the arena. Your best bet for this mission, is
to stick with the TDS at the beginning to take down the Ninja. You can either
FS them (instant kill), wall attack them (instant kill), or just use any combo,
since they are pretty weak, to kill them. Once those two are down, I personally
pull out the Dabi, and attempt to ET/UT him with the essence left behind by the
Ninja. However, you can pretty much use any weapon out of your arsenal to do
this. Once you have run out of essence to attempt to hit him with, then its
back to the basics. Roll away/through his attacks and then hit him with a small
combo. If you are using a heavy weapon, use Flaming Whirlwind (->Y), the TDS
Kitetsu, use Blade of the Twin Dragons (->[holdY]YY), Flail, Ripping Thunder
(->YYY), well I think you get the idea. The two best times to attempt these
attacks, are after his autocombo attack, and after his dash attack. Both of
those leave him with a significant recovery time, and should allow you to get
in most of the attacks. Also, you can attack after he throws his sword (if you
roll through it) but the only time I would suggest this, is if you are using a
heavy weapon since he can block multiple strikes after this relatively easy.
You can try using the Blade of Twin Dragons and Ripping Thunder, however, if
you are using the Blade of the Twin Dragons, and he blocks the first and second
attack... do NOT initiate the third one, as there is a very large chance you
will get grabbed or at least smacked around.
Once you have managed to get Doku down to 75% health, two more Purple Ninja
will drop in randomly around the arena, and you have to try to take them out.
The reason I say try, is because Doku is very likely to kill them if you don't
do it fast enough. They will respawn however, but it can eat a lot of time away
from your clock (if you're going for the time bonus). Only 2 or 3 of Doku's
attacks are not a guaranteed instant kill for them, but the rest of them are.
His Flame Breath, and Forward Dash will always kill the enemies, but the rest
of them might not. When he throws his sword or uses his shockwave, it is only
an instant kill if the enemy goes into the wall (since they take wall damage).
If he uses his autocombo attack, and that hits an enemy... it is not a
guaranteed instant kill, but more than likely he will kill the ninja so you can
expect that to happen when the Ninja gets caught up in it. Also, any of his
regular sword swings will not kill a Ninja, but if you are attempting to kill
them before Doku then you will probably not be close enough to him to prompt a
sword swing.
After you get him down to 50% life, two more Ninja will drop in, and again at
25% health. You should be able to do this battle without using a Great Spirit
Elixir, although if you need to use it you can still get by. I would suggest
using the Elixir of Spiritual Life after you have killed him to replenish your
life, since Marbus can be a pain sometimes. Then equip the TDS and open up the
chest which contains the Izuna Drop scroll, and press down the switch when you
are ready to continue.
====================================WAVE 2=====================================
If you have noticed above, I said that this wave contains a minimum of three
Bast fiends. Thats because the wave starts off with three Bast fiends spawned
by Marbus, and after that the only person who can spawn more is Marbus. He will
do this whacky animation with his hands when he is about to spawn them, and you
can actually interrupt it by jumping into him and then attacking him. This will
not always work however, and it is partially dependent on when you hit him if
it will stop him or not.
Anywho, when the battle starts off, the easiest way to take care of the Bast
fiends is to roll jump forward and pull off a OL GB (360+Y). Most of the time,
the Bast will just jump into your swirling blade of death and you can get 1-2
of them relatively easy. After that, you can either take down the remaining
Bast with an Izuna Drop (XYXXXY), Blade of Nirrti, or any other way you feel
like. Now that the last Bast is down, now you can begin to concentrate on
Marbus.
Marbus has five main skills, and most of them are pretty telegraphed and easy
to recognize when they're coming. His six main skills are his dive bomb, stomp,
dash, fireballs, and summon minion. There are tell tale signs for almost all of
his attacks though, so as long as you keep an eye on him this should be a
relatively simple fight.
Dive Bomb: This attack has Marbus go up into the air and start spinning around.
He will let out this unique yell right as he is about to come crashing down to
you, so about that time start getting ready to roll and watch him. When he is
almost on top of you (this will take a little practice) you just have to roll
out of the way and he will lay there completely stunned for about 5 seconds.
This is one of your prime opportunities to attack him, and one of the best
attacks is the Gleaming Blade (360+Y). You can get in even more damage if you
have extra essence lying around, and you should be able to get two of these in
per stun. Just make sure that you watch his right hand, since he will move that
back a little just before he attempts to grab you while he's stunned. This
attack does a lot of damage (the throw), but if you are in the middle of a GB
you are completely protected from it, so just make sure you use those.
Stomp: This only really happens when you get underneath him. I spend a lot of
my time dodging this attack, since I stay close to him to avoid being hit by
any of his other attacks, and I can interrupt his skills if I have to.
Basically, you will see him move directly over you and he will make a different
yell from the Dive Bomb attack, then he will slam down on the ground in an
attempt to hit you. Once you realize he is about to do this, you can either run
or rolljump away to avoid it, since one he has given you the signs he won't
change where it is going. After he does this attack, he will be stuck there for
a couple seconds, regardless of whether or not he hits you, but he will go back
up in the air after 2 hits. Your best attack to use on him after this, is XYXBY
with the Windmill Shuriken, since you will definitely hit with the XY and the
Windmill Shuriken will hit him too. This is the way to get in the most damage,
since the second X and Y will not always hit him, but the Shuriken definitely
will. Either that, or you can try to GB him but he will get up too fast to
charge it up so unless you have essence around, I don't recommend this.
Dash: This attack is almost exactly like Alma's Dash attack, so it should be
pretty easy to see it coming. He basically just flies across the arena at you,
and you can block it but it Guard Breaks you so be careful if there are any
other enemies around you. You can either Flying Swallow him to dish out some
damage, or just roll out of the way and be prepared for whatever he throws at
you next.
Fireballs: This attack changes depending on the difficulty you are playing on,
but it is generally the same thing. He will throw a bunch of fireballs at the
ground, and they will explode below you upwards. If you are in the middle of a
BoN or ID, these fireballs will not hit you, but otherwise you are kind of in
trouble. You can rolljump around them, but on the higher difficulties he will
throw an extra one after a small delay so watch out for that. There is no real
good way to hit him during this attack, but if you are bad at dodging it you
can get in close and hit him with an Air Destruction Slash (foward jump X)
which will interrupt the attack to help you.
Summon Minions: This is his only skill that isn't an attack. He will move his
arms around a bit, then throw them forward and a minion will rise out of the
ground. On this mission, he will summon up one Bast at a time, so you may want
to interrupt him right away before he can summon it, unless you are going for a
high karma score (more kills = more karma). If you can time it right, you can
also hit him with a BoN because once he has started summoning the Bast (about a
second after the animation of this starts) he will be completely immovable when
you hit him, so you can also use this to inflict more damage on him.
Once you knock his health down, recover if you need to, open the chest to grab
the DDB, equip that and get ready for some fun.
====================================WAVE 3=====================================
This section starts off exactly like Phase 5 of Eternal Legend or Hurricane
Pack 2 if you have played either. It shows that whacky camera angle from behind
and below Ryu, then a Berserker comes crashing down in his meteor. There are
many different ways to deal with Berserkers, and I will put the fastest way
down (if you know how to do it right), but I will also list a few of the
alternate methods to dealing with them incase you cannot get it down.
Fastest Way: (my personal way)
As soon as the battle begins, Wind Path (I have it set to the White Button so
no screw ups) then Wind Run over the Berserkers head. This will put you far
enough away so that when the Berserker turns around and tries to hit you, he is
unable to, but it also puts you close enough to smack him. He is almost
completely vulnerable during his turn and smack animation, so as soon as you
land, jam the control stick in his general direction and pull off a Flaming
Whirlwind. After that, make sure that you hold block since he is very likely to
hit you afterwards, and roll away but then Wind Path and Run over his head
again, and repeat that. It should take you about 5 attacks of Flaming Whirlwind
to kill the first Berserker, so long as you don't miss one. If you do this
correctly, then you should be able to kill off the first Berserker just as the
second one falls down. If the second one gets over to you fast enough, you may
have enough time to Flaming Whirlwind him before you UT him, but just to be
safe Wind Path and Run over him twice (while holding block) so you won't absorb
the essence, and on the second time OL UT with the DDB. You should get 5-7 hits
on him with that, and if you get 6-7 he will automatically transform (not sure
about 5). After that, two Flaming Whirlwinds will be sufficient to take him
down. You should even have enough time to have the next UT fully charged before
the third Berserker comes down. When he does, just repeat the UT, then 2
Flaming Whirlwind chain and he is down.
Alternative Way #1: (first used by Saryah in HP2, modified by Weibull for NGB)
Instead of using Wind Path and Run together to create an opening on the
Berserker, you can use a Roll Cancel to get out of the Guard Broken state that
a Berserkers attack will put you in. What that basically means in english, is
that you let the Berserker hit you once, and then you roll away from him when
he does the second attack. This will leave him (generally) open to an attack
from you, and then you just swing the control stick towards him and Flaming
Whirlwind him. Five shots of that, and he goes down. Then just UT the second
guy, and two more Flaming Whirlwinds and he goes down. Same with the third guy.
Relatively simple, but it can be tricky to get down the timing and aiming of
the control stick to hit the Berserker.
Alternative Way #2: (first used by Saryah in HP2, modified by Weibull for NGB)
For this strategy, you just need to switch off the DDB for the Flails, and use
the Ripping Thunder (->YYY) to dish out all of your damage. You will also want
to switch over to the Armlet of Potency, as that adds more damage to Ripping
Thunder than the Armlet of the Sun would. Instead of using Wind Path and Run
together to create an opening on the Berserker, you can use a Roll Cancel to
get out of the Guard Broken state that a Berserkers attack will put you in.
What that basically means in english, is that you let the Berserker hit you
once, and then you roll away from him when he does the second attack. This will
leave him (generally) open to an attack from you, and then you just swing the
control stick towards him and Ripping Thunder him. After about 9 hits (on MN EL
Phase 5) he will transform, then another 11 hits and he goes down. Then just UT
the second guy, and a few more shots of Ripping Thunder and he goes down. Same
with the third guy. Relatively simple, but it can be tricky to get down the
timing and aiming of the control stick to hit the Berserker.
Alternative Way #3: (saw on GameFAQs a long time ago, don't recall author)
This way should only be used if you just cannot get the timing and aim of
Flaming Whirlwind or Ripping Thunder down. Basically, all you do for this
strategy, is equip the Lunar and use Infinite Fury (XYY) on them. This attack
will do moderate (at best) damage to them, and it doesn't require any aiming,
making it easier to hit them if you are having trouble. However, using this
method will make you get hit a lot, unless you get good at dodging them (which
I haven't bothered to do, since I use my technique). This technique takes far
too long (IMO) to even use, but if you are having enough trouble with the other
ones and cannot seem to get them down, then this method is a last resort for
any and all players.
**Note**
There is a 'Berserker Guide' up at www.iberiansninjagaiden.com/ngbfaqs.htm
which is a compilation of advice from myself and some others that took place on
the BB at that site. This is a very helpful looksie if you are having trouble
with the different methods, or if you do not understand my explanations.
====================================WAVE 4=====================================
Nicchae is the predominant Fiend in this mission, and you just have to beat her
to clear out this wave. However she also has eight Shadow Imps as her backup
and they can get pretty annoying if you don't take care of them right away.
The easiest way to get rid of some of the Shadow Imps around her, and even
damage her at the very start, is to rolljump towards her and then OL GB her. If
you get lucky, both of the Shadow Imps will run towards you, and you can kill
most of them. If you are REALLY lucky, your GB will damage Nicchae and knock
her on her butt, allowing you to run over and BoN her after your attack is
done. Assuming that you did not have to use up any of your Ninpo slots in the
earlier encounters, you may want to use them up during this one, to save
yourself a lot of hassle with the next three waves of Shadow Imps.
Luckily for you, Nicchae is basically an Alma clone, and you can use the same
types of attacks as you would normally use on Alma. Just be careful though,
because Nicchae's fireballs come at you faster, and her attacks do more damage.
Other than that though, this is a relatively familiar fight, and shouldn't be
too annoying (unless you already have trouble with Alma). To dodge the majority
of her attacks, you can just rolljump away, but for some of them you will need
timing. For her skull throw, you just have to wait until the first one is about
to hit you, and then just continually rolljump through that. For her fireballs
attack however, you have to try and time it right so that you will not get hit.
She throws her fireballs in intervals of 2, 2, then 4 so you can hopefully get
the timing down relatively easy. There is about a 1/2 second pause in between
her intervals, so hopefully that will help you to get the timing down even
easier. For her throw attack, you just have to rolljump away when you see it
coming and hope she doesn't grab you... that one is all luck for me.
There really is no "best" time to hit Nicchae, but your best chances of doing
that, is to Flying Swallow her when you find an opening, and maybe you'll get
lucky. That is basically all of what fighting Nicchae and Alma is, finding an
open spot and hoping to get lucky when you FS them. Although, there is one
better than average opening, which is right after she has dived at you. You can
roll out of the way, and then charge up a Haze Straight Slash (hold Y 1/2 sec)
and 7/10 times this will knock her down. However, you may or may not have
better luck than that, such as the way NGB gods go, and you could knock her
down 10 times straight, or miss all 10 times, so it is just a matter of trying
it and hoping. Once you finish off Nicchae, it is time to move onto one of my
favorite one on one fights, but one of the hardest to get used to.
====================================WAVE 5=====================================
Ishtars is arguably one of the most annoying bosses the first time you ever
face her, so be prepared to lose a few times before you actually get the hang
of her. You may want to attempt to face her in Captivating Goddesses or Eternal
Legend first, seeing as how you won't have to go through four other difficult
waves to get to her. Although, Captivating Goddesses may get on your nerves
too, due to the fact that she has minions there, but more on that later.
Ishtaros has eight main attacks that you really have to look out for, and I
will try to give detailed explanations on them. Those eight attacks, are her
whip throw, whip combo, double kick, foot throw, spin, laser, and dash.
Unfortunately, she is very good at blocking, evading, and interrupting most of
your combos, so the longest one that we have been able to find (by Saryah
originally) is to use the Dragon Tear (XXXY) with the TDS during her very few
openings.
Whip Throw: I'm not exactly sure how the "throw" part of this attack is
activated, since I have never really been thrown by it unless I was in midair
attempting to OL UT or wall attack an enemy, but she basically just grabs you
with her whip, pulls you close, throws you up in the air and smacks you back
down on the floor. If you block or roll through this attack (it just is a
straight whip move) I would suggest only hitting X once, to interrupt her and
maybe land a hit every so often, but it is not likely.
Whip Combo: Three-hit combo Ishtaros does pretty often, since its one of her
main melee attacks. She swings the whip down, then to her left, then to her
right to smack Ryu around. There isn't a sure-fire way that has been discovered
to hit her after this attack yet, but I like to let her break my guard on the
first one, and roll through the second and sometimes third whips. If I get
through the third one, I will hit X to interrupt her attack and very
occassionally land an attack on her.
Double Kick: Simple two hit combo performed by Ishtaros at close range. She
will quickly lash out and knee/shin you and then spin around and kick you
again. This is supposed to be one of the best times to hit her, although I have
trouble with it. You can roll away through the spin move and quickly Dragon
Tear her to dish out some decent damage. Just make sure that you don't get
caught not blocking, otherwise this could hurt since it launches you away
pretty far.
Foot Throw: This is one of my personal favorite times to hit her with a Dragon
Tear. She will dash forward with a different kick than the Double Kick attack
(you'll be able to tell the difference after a little bit) which will break
your guard. After that, she will attempt to bring her foot down on your head
pinning you to the ground, and then whip you off to the side. However, the
difference is that you can roll through her foot coming down, and begin a
Dragon Tear on her. I prefer to roll forward, directly into her, since it will
put me closest to her and allow me to connect with all four hits of Dragon
Tear, but if you are not comfortable being that close to her you can roll to
either side, or even backwards and then attempt to hit her with your attack.
Spin: This is more of a "crowd clear" move than the rest of her attacks. She
will go up on her toes, and spin around 2-3 times bringing her whip with her.
She will connect twice very quickly with this attack, and both attacks will
guard break you, so you have to roll away as soon as you get hit with the first
one or you will get thrown away by the second attack. There is no real way to
attack her after this, since it has a minimal recovery time for her and the
area it covers is very large.
Swing: This is the very best opening for you to inflict some major pain on
Ishtaros. She will decide to just randomly leave the arena and start swinging
around on her whip like Tarzan. She will either swing around once or twice, and
it is pretty easy to tell how many times judging on how the camera angle goes.
Anyway, once she starts swinging, that is your cue to get near a wall and start
charging up a GB UT. You should be able to make it to an ET if she only swings
once, and a UT if she swings twice. When she is about to come crashing down,
she should make a strange noise and the camera should shift a tad. Wait a half
of a second (or if you are risky, a full second) after that and then release
your attack. She should come flying down into you and be caught in the entire
thing, dealing about 1/4+ her health on Normal. If you are very unlucky, and
Ishtaros kicks you while she is spinning and you are charging your GB, just
wall run and attempt to time your wall attack so you will be immune to her
attack. This is the best way to save yourself if she screwed you over during
your charge for the better attack. (first found by Saryah in HP2)
Laser: This is one of Ishtaros more annoying attacks. She will create this blue
circle in front of her, and from that 8 (or so) lasers will come shooting out
in a direct line to hit you. You can roll out of the way at the last second to
dodge this (no tips on that, sorry... just gotta time it which I can't) or, my
preferred way, just Wind Path towards her and then Flying Swallow her. This
will VERY rarely hit her, but it will always interrupt the laser beams if you
did it before she could pull it off, which will save your behind in many cases.
Dash: This is another very good opportunity to hit Ishtaros. She will create
this white flash around her, and then go dashing across the arena on the floor
directly at you. You just have to roll out of the way (not that hard, it
doesn't home well) and then instantly Dragon Tear her and she is basically
helpless. On the higher difficulties, she is known to break out of this attack
instantly into a Whip Combo, but I have seen it happen on the lower
difficulties too, so just be careful as it will not always work out like you
planned ahead of time.
Once you kill off Ishtaros, the karma screen pops up, and you are finally
finished with one of the more grueling missions in this mode. Now its time to
move onto Captivating Godesses!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Captivating Godesses [4/10 Normal, 7/10 MN] (2.60)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section is filled up with different forms of Alma, Nicchae, Ishtaros, and
even one fight where you have to save Rachel. The Rachel fight is pretty fun,
but the rest of them can be a pain in the butt on higher difficulties.
Hopefully the strategies Edge AOM has written up for you guys will help out :D
since they're probably better than anything you could get from me (I hate CG).
"Disclaimer:
I, Edge AoM (Arc'engal) do hearby give Megla Zero permission to use my material
for his mission mode guide.
That should sort out any legal stuff XD"
Oh, also... any **Note**'s you see added into this section are little tidbits I
added to what Edge already typed up. Mostly alternate strategies I use
different from him, but his strategies work well too. Different views are
always good in guides ^.^
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Phase 1 [5/10 Normal, 6/10 MN] (2.61)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: True Dragon Sword * : : Lesser Imp......................01:
: Nunchaku : : Imp.............................01:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Bast............................01:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Greater Bast....................01:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) : : Shadow Imp......................02:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Greater Imp.....................02:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : : Awakened Alma...................01:
: Lunar (lvl3) : : Total Enemies...................09:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: :-----------------------------------:
: Shuriken * :
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : Recommended: TDS, (any projectile),
: Windmill Shuriken : Armlet of Fortune, Art of the Inazuma
: Smoke Bomb (x15) :
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : The first phase of Captivating
:---------------Armlets-----------------: Goddesses is arguably the hardest.
: The Armlet of the Sun * : Since the original NINJA GAIDEN, Alma
: The Armlet of the Moon : II has had several tweaks done to
: The Armlet of Benediction : her, making this fight possibly the
: The Armlet of Fortune : hardest boss in the whole game.
: The Armlet of Celerity : Combine that with Bast, Shadow Imp
: The Armlet of Potency : and Greater Imp, and youÕve got a
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=2)-------------: real fight on your hands.
: The Art of the Fire Wheels :
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : At the start, youÕll see a Lesser Imp
: The Art of the Ice Story (lvl3) : materialising right beside you. As
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl3) : soon as you have control, Izuna Drop
:----------------Items------------------: him (XYXXXY). This will probably land
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x4) : you both on top of the Imp, doing a
: Great Spirit Elixir (x2) : little extra damage. Ignore the Imp
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: for now, however, as Alma is there to
: Counter Attacks : give you a headache.
: Guillotine Throw :
: Izuna Drop : Alma has 4 main attacks. The most
:---------------------------------------: commonly used one of this is her big
pink fireball attack, which is insanely fast and does big damage to you if it
hits. The only real way to avoid this is a last minute Reverse Wind (or roll).
Any sooner and the fireball homes in on you, hitting you anyway. The
disadvantage of this attack, from AlmaÕs point of view, is it makes her
vulnerable, and this is when you can go on the attack, but more on that later.
AlmaÕs other attacks are the pillar throw, the smaller fireballs and her grab.
The pillar throw you can roll-jump away from, like you did with AlmaÕs first
form. The fireballs are a little trickier than Alma I though. To avoid them,
roll-jump like Alma I, but you need to do a roll as the first fireball of each
set comes at you. Like, if youÕre playing on VH, Alma throws 8 fireballs: roll
jump the first two as normal, but just run normally until the next set of three
are coming at you, then start roll-jumping just before the first fireball of
that set hits you. Run again, then roll-jump as the final set come at you. ItÕs
tricky, but practice it, and it will become second nature.
The last attack is the grab, and can only really be avoided with good reflexes.
When Alma is close, she might go for the grab. Watch her lower body, as it
moves back a little bit before the grab attempt. ThatÕs your prompt to roll to
the side and avoid the attack.
Now, how to attack. When Alma does her big fireball, roll out of the way as
normal, then immediately do a Wind Run followed by a flying Swallow (X+A, then
Y when in the air). YouÕve got roughly a 30% chance of knocking her down. If
you bounce off, go for a second one as soon as you land, but if you do the
spinny sword move by accident, then hold back until the next opportunity.
Another time you can go for the flying swallow is when Alma is on the ground
and charging towards you. During this ÒjoustÓ sequence, Flying Swallow her each
time sheÕs charging. Timing is everything; if you press Y too early, youÕll
just slash uselessly in front of you and get knocked down, and if youÕre too
late, youÕll just have jumped into a living locomotive. Again, youÕve only got
about one-third chance of knocking her down, but as long as you play it safe,
you should get plenty of chances in.
Once Alma is down, get to her SIDE and do a Gleaming Blade (360 spin + (hold Y,
release)). This does maximum damage. When she gets up, get ready for her next
attack. Repeat.
Once youÕve mastered the attacking strategy, this mission is just endurance. At
75% of AlmaÕs health, one Bast and one Greater Bast will appear. Kill them
within 15 seconds. If you donÕt, then theyÕll make life absolute hell for you
and youÕll probably die. DonÕt use Ninpo on cat fiends; you need both ninpo
slots for the last two spawnings: Shadow Imps and Greater Imps. When these guys
show up, Inazuma them instantly. This will affect your karma score, but if you
are lucky, one of them will drop red essence, which combined with the Armlet of
Fortune will totally refill your ninpo slots.
Repeat the attacking strategy to defeat this horrible mission. Now itÕs onto
Phase 2.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Phase 2 [4/10 Normal, 6/10 MN] (2.62)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Nunchaku : : Lesser Imp......................02:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Imp.............................02:
: Dabilahro (lvl2) : : Bast............................02:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Shadow Imp......................02:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) * : : Alma............................01:
: Lunar (lvl3) : : Total Enemies...................09:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: :-----------------------------------:
: Shuriken * :
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : Recommended: Kitetsu, shuriken, any
: Windmill Shuriken : armlet, Inferno
: Smoke Bombs (x15) :
: APFSDS Cores (x5) : Hooray, Alma again. This time, youÕre
: Explosive Arrows (x5) : fighting her in the monastry arena,
:---------------Armlets-----------------: same place as you did during story
: The Armlet of the Sun * : mode. This fight is pretty much the
: The Armlet of the Moon : same as story mode, with the
: The Armlet of Benediction : exception of the different minions
: The Armlet of Celerity : (Lesser Imps, Imps, Basts, and Shadow
: The Armlet of Potency : Imps), and the fact that you donÕt
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: have the Dragon Sword. Therefore,
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : your best bet is the Kitetsu.
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl1) * :
:----------------Items------------------: Dodge any projectiles by rolljumping.
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x1) : When Alma swoops at you, roll to the
: Great Spirit Elixir (x1) : side and IMMEDIATELY go for a Haze
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: Extinction Slash (hold Y, release).
: Counter Attacks : This will hit her roughly 60% of the
: Guillotine Throw : time, making it much more reliable
: Izuna Drop : than Flying Swallow.
:---------------------------------------:
When Alma does her drop kick, run the heck away. Do NOT try a Haze Slash there
and then; that works on the original NINJA GAIDEN and normal mode of NGB, but
not anything higher. Alma will just ignore it, and do that insanely annoying
leg throw. Instead, get distance between you and her, then try a flying
swallow. Then run when she dodges it, or attack with Blade of Nirrti (XYXXXX)
if you hit with it.
Quick damage can be obtained immediately after Alma has done her Òbeam me upÓ
attack. If you do a Wind-Path Flying Swallow at the end of the move, youÕll hit
her and do damage, but you wonÕt knock her down. It all adds up, however.
Finally, if youÕre still having trouble dodging the pillar attack (possibly due
to a slightly bad camera angle), just run up the nearest wall, bird flip off
and do a Divine Cicada Slash. That should last long enough to stop the pillars
from hitting you. And also, NEVER attack Alma during the build up to her pillar
throw; you know that sheÕs going to do this when she stops, then lifts herself
slightly higher up. The second she does that, the first pillar has been
summoned, and any attacks you make will only result in a stone column to the
back of the head.
Once Alma is down again, we move onto Phase 3.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Phase 3 [3/10 Normal, 5/10 MN] (2.63)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: Nunchaku : : Ghost Fish......................10:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) * : : Ghul Archers....................08:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Ogres...........................02:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Vigoorian Heavy Infantry........06:
: Lunar (lvl3) : : Total Enemies...................26:
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: :-----------------------------------:
: Shuriken * :
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : Recommended: Vigoorian Flail,
: Windmill Shuriken : Shuriken, Armlet of Potency, any
: APFSDS Cores (x15) : Ninpo
:---------------Armlets-----------------:
: The Armlet of the Sun * : Your objective for this mission is to
: The Armlet of Benediction : defeat all 26 enemies before RachelÕs
: The Armlet of Potency : health bar runs out. Compared to the
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: previous two missions, this is a
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : piece of cake. This is set in the
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl1) * : ground outside the Zarkhan pyramid.
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl1) :
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl1) : The first ten enemies, as youÕll
:----------------Items------------------: notice, are ghost fish. If you hated
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x2) : them before, youÕll hate them even
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: more now. Stand still and use the
: Counter Attacks : Dragon and Phoenix combo (just press
: Guillotine Throw : X a few times) to defeat them.
: Izuna Drop : Restart the combo after the fourth
:---------------------------------------: press of X; that will make you immune
to the ghost fish bites.
**Note**
Alternate strategy: hit X 2-3 times, jump then x, repeat
Once youÕve defeated 10 fish, youÕd better get on with saving Rachel. She might
have taken a couple of hits already, so use the essence from the Ghost Fish to
UT a Ghul Archer. When run towards the next Ghul Archer and use the previous
archerÕs essence for an ET, followed by Ripping Thunder (->YYY) if necessary.
Repeat until all the Ghuls are dead. As for those two Ogres, ignore them for\
now and dodge their attacks, keeping them off-screen if at all possible.
**Note**
Alternate strategy: take out the Ogres right away, it makes it less of a hassle
to switch between the different VHI and Ghul Archers
Once the Ghul Archers are all defeated, VHI show up and start shooting at
Rachel. Their shots do the same damage if they hit, but they fire more often,
and have better accuracy. Use any essence that is lying around to ET/UT the
soldiers, or failing that do a combo of your choice to defeat them; they canÕt
block.
If your kill counter says 24, Rachel is now safe. Your last task is defeat
those two ogres. If you canÕt do that, then how the hell did you get this far!?
Just defeat them in your preferred method, and weÕll move onto Phase 4.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Phase 4 [6/10 Normal, 8/10 MN] (2.64)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: True Dragon Sword * : : Lesser Imp......................03:
: Nunchaku : : Imp.............................03:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Bast............................03:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : : Shadow Imp......................03:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) : : Nicchae.........................01:
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : : Total Enemies...................13:
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : :-----------------------------------:
: Dark Dragon Blade :
: Lunar (lvl3) : Recommended: TDS, shuriken, Armlet of
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: Tranquility, Inazuma
: Shuriken * :
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : AlmaÕs big sister is here to kick
: Windmill Shuriken : your butt. Nicchae uses the same
: Smoke Bomb (x15) : moves as Alma I, but does more damage
: Strongbow (x15) : with each hit and has different A.I.;
: APFSDS Cores (x15) : whereas Alma likes projectiles,
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : Nicchae prefers her melee attacks
:---------------Armlets-----------------: (swoop, drop kick, Òbeam me upÓ).
: The Armlet of the Sun * : Incidentally, this is set in the
: The Armlet of the Moon : Shadow Realm (Hurricane Pack 2
: The Armlet of Benediction : arena).
: The Armlet of Tranquility :
: The Armlet of Celerity : Start off by doing an Izuna Drop on
: The Armlet of Potency : the closest minion. Then, if you can,
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: do it again to the nearest minion,
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : but watch what Nicchae does. If she
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : goes for a swoop, roll out of the
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) : way, otherwise youÕre going to lose
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl3) : half of your overall health. Then,
:----------------Items------------------: like you did for Alma, do a Haze
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x2) : Extinction Slash on her to knock her
: Great Spirit Elixir (x2) : down. If there are any minions left,
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: take this time to finish them off,
: Counter Attacks : before rejoining the fight. If there
: Guillotine Throw : arenÕt any minions, then use Gleaming
: Izuna Drop : Blade on Nicchae for serious damage.
:---------------------------------------:
**Note**
Blade of Nirrti (XYXXXX) does well against her, just as against Alma, in case
you cannot perform the GB easily.
Essentially, this is like fighting Alma, but she does the swoop move much more
often. So, thatÕs the easy part. The hard part is surviving the 12 minions
total that show up during this mission; 3 Lesser Imps, 3 Imps, 3 Bast and 3
Shadow Imps. The first 6 should cause you no problem (Izuna Drop FTW, etc). For
the Bast, you might want to consider using Inazuma ninpo (if you arenÕt
particularly upset about losing the extra karma) as either a) theyÕll rip you
apart or b) theyÕll distract you whilst Nicchae rips you apart.
For the last set of minions (Shadow Imps), equip the Dark Dragon Blade and spam
wall attacks (bird flip off of the nearest wall + Y). Yeah, itÕs cheap, but
considering that youÕve got the most physically strong boss in the game
attacking you, plus three incredibly annoying minions sliding about, itÕs the
easiest way out. Alternatively, save your Inazuma and use it on the Shadow Imps
instead of the Bast. If you want to save your ninpo altogether and
get karma for it, then use the Rapid Izuna Drop on everything (->YXXXY).
The only thing that should cause you trouble after all that is NicchaeÕs damned
skull throw. When she rises up (like Alma), take that as a signal to for a
Divine Cicada Slash, which will stop you taking damage from the skulls.
This mission is just practice. After a while, youÕll realise that once youÕve
got Nicchae down pat, itÕs not that hard. If you want something thatÕs hard,
you want Phase 5.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Phase 5 [6/10 Normal, 7/10 MN] (2.65)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:------------Melee Weapons--------------: :-------------Enemies---------------:
: True Dragon Sword * : : Monk Fiend......................08:
: Nunchaku : : Ishtaros........................01:
: Vigoorian Flail (lvl2) : : Total Enemies...................09:
: War Hammer (lvl2) : :-----------------------------------:
: Dabilahro (lvl3) :
: Wooden Sword (lvl1) : Recommended: TDS/DDB, Incendiary
: Kitetsu (lvl3) : Shuriken, Armlet of Tranquility, Art
: Dark Dragon Blade : of the Inazuma
: Lunar (lvl3) :
:----------Projectile Weapons-----------: DonÕt even think about doing this
: Shuriken * : fight unless you can already beat
: Incendiary Shuriken (x15) : Ishtaros on her own. If you havenÕt
: Windmill Shuriken : done that, then quit this mission and
: Smoke Bomb (x15) : go do Descent of the Fiends Phase 5,
: Strongbow (x15) : Eternal Legend or the Chapter 15 boss
: APFSDS Cores (x15) : sequence on VH/MN. Not Giants of the
: Explosive Arrows (x15) : Underworld 5. Trust me.
:---------------Armlets-----------------:
: The Armlet of the Sun * : Ishtaros is joined by monk fiends
: The Armlet of the Moon : (the scythe fiends from the
: The Armlet of Benediction : monastery). You donÕt need to worry
: The Armlet of Tranquility : about this physical attacks, but the
: The Armlet of Celerity : spells they cast can make your life
: The Armlet of Potency : miserable. Plus, youÕve got the whip
:-----------Ninpo (Slots=1)-------------: ***** attacking you as well,
: The Art of the Fire Wheels : particularly with her incredibly
: The Art of the Inferno (lvl3) * : powerful laser. ArenÕt you lucky?
: The Art of the Ice Storm (lvl3) :
: The Art of the Inazuma (lvl3) : There are two ways to do this fight.
:----------------Items------------------: The easier if risky way is to attack
: Elixir of Spiritual Life (x2) : the monk fiends like youÕre playing
: Great Spirit Elixir (x2) : story mode; jump at them (wind path)
:---------------Scrolls-----------------: and press X, then fiend sealer. If
: Counter Attacks : the X misses, then you can press Y
: Guillotine Throw : immediately and itÕll give you extra
: Izuna Drop : range. Then, when theyÕre down, use
:---------------------------------------: fiend sealer. The Monk fiends usually
leave blue essence, and believe me, youÕll need it.
The other way to do this fight is to take out the Dark Dragon Blade and use
wall attacks on the monk fiends. This should kill them in one hit, meaning
Ishtaros canÕt steal your kills as often as she does with the other method.
Monk fiends, however, have an annoying habit of teleporting out of the way when
youÕre about to hit them. You just need to persist in your attacks, and youÕll
eventually get them. Oh, and if Ishtaros uses her laser whilst youÕre
recovering, itÕs a guaranteed hit. You need to make sure youÕre at mid-range;
too close for her laser but not close enough for her combo attacks.
**Note**
You can instantly Wall Attack with any heavy weapon while you are wall running
horizontally. Just hit the X or Y button in the middle of it, and you will pull
off a wall attack, so you don't have to jump.
Now, to avoiding the bossÕ attacks. The easiest way to dodge all of IshtarosÕ
attacks is the Òright angle rollÓ. When she goes for her whip combo, block the
first hit, then roll-cancel immediately to her left or right side, still
holding block. ThereÕs no possibility of you being hit if you do this fast and
correctly. The same rule applies for IshtarosÕ kick attack, and her knee/ankle
throw combo.
**Note**
After her whip attack, it is very tough to hit her, although you can hit X to
interrupt her following whips from hitting you, and to potentially connect with
her to deal out a little damage.
Immediately after either of her kick attacks, you can go on the offensive with
Dragon Tear (X, X, X, Y). If the first hit connects, the odds are that the
others will follow. DonÕt use any other combinations; Ishtaros will either
break out of them, or sheÕll not take as much damage.
Finally, when Ishtaros jumps outside of the arena and starts spinning, start
charging a Gleaming Blade. Hopefully, youÕll have reached at least the first
explosion before she does her big kick. When you hear the Òuh!Ó sound before
the kick, release the ET / UT, which will make you invulnerable to her kick and
will also damage her.
Like Nicchae, this mission is practice. Keep trying, and youÕll eventually get
it right. See Weibull760Õs video of the VH boss sequence if you still find
yourself unable to land a hit, as itÕs an almost perfect example of beating
Ishtaros up.
Once Ishtaros is down, youÕve beaten Captivating Goddesses! Hurrah! Now your
clones get to beat you up.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Fateful Confrontation (2.70)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
