|
The main reason I have written this Final Boss Strategy is because The Lord of the Black Abyss can be incredibly difficult to beat if you arrive at him underleveled, and if you lose, you have to sit through a series of cutscenes and go through two other boss fights to get back up to him again. It's very time-consuming and most people are more likely to give up than sit through about 10-20 minutes of cutscenes and boss fights, only to get almost immediately wiped out again. I still suggest you give the final boss at least a few tries on your own before resorting to this guide. Of course, you'll get a greater feeling of satisfaction if you beat him on your own. But if you've tried enough times and just want to be done with it and see how the story concludes, this should help you.
     
The recommended team for this fight is Kharg, Maru, Bebedora, Camellia, Paulette, and Volk. You will split this group into two teams and send them to opposite ends of the room.
Left side of the room: Kharg, Maru, & Bebedora. Keep Kharg's team close together so that Kharg can heal, and you can move Bebedora and Kharg in to attack the boss when his shield is down. In this picture, Maru and Kharg are out-of-range of the boss's attacks. Bebedora is out-of-range of the shield-restoring attack, but can be hit by the life-sucking attack. NEVER move more than two characters into range of the life-sucking attack because the boss will gain too many hit points back from it.
Right side of the room: Camellia, Paulette, & Volk (Paulette is in the middle, it might be hard to see her in this shot.) Keep Volk's team situated like this. Camellia can heal. Volk and Paulette can use their long-range attacks to take out the brain cells that the boss shoots into the middle of the arena. Also, you can keep Paulette out-of-range of the boss's attacks, but just close enough to use "Heat Cannon" whenever his shield is down.
Keep Maru right about here. From here, he can hit the boss, but he is completely out-of-range of the boss's attacks. You can have him use Shuffle Shot or Great Hunter until his Spirit Stones run out, then just use normal attacks. From this position, Maru can also help take out the brain cells. He has such a wide range that he can take out quite a few of them. You don't even really have to worry about using anyone else on his team to do so.
Keep Camellia right about here. She can hit the boss, but he cannot hit her with any attacks at all. From here, Camellia can also help take out the brain cells. If you have Death Ant Nectar equipped on Camellia, sometimes she can take out a Brain Cell in one hit. If there are no Brain Cells within their range, and they don't need to heal anyone at the moment, even if the boss's shield is not completely down, have Maru and Camellia attack the boss anyway. Sometimes, they'll do a little over 100 points of damage if the shield has been weakened enough. (On a side note, now we know why the Divine Ruler put that giant eyeball on Bebedora's hat.)
Whenever Maru and Camellia take enough hits from the brain cells to be "on fire", they will do a dual-attack. The dual-attack can cut right through the boss's shield, so go ahead and have them do it, even if his shield is not completely gone. DO YOUR BEST TO KEEP THESE TWO ALIVE AT ALL COSTS!! Do NOT, under any circumstances, move their asses from the safe spots once you've found them!
Whenever a brain cell lands here, Volk should take it out. If you have at least two axes equipped on Volk, his range greatly increases. This, and healing his teammates with either Cure or items, is the only purpose Volk will serve in this fight. Do not worry about using Volk to attack the boss. If the boss's shield is still up, you can also use Paulette's long-range attack to help Volk take out the Brain Cells. If the boss's shield is down, however, it's best to have Paulette use Heat Cannon until she runs out of Spirit Stones and leave the Brain Cells to Volk.
Once the boss's shield is down, there are two ways you can deal with him. If you keep everyone out-of-range of his "Return to Darkness" attack, he cannot reform his shield. Therefore, you could just sit back and have Camellia, Maru, and Paulette whittle him away. (Maru and Camellia use normal attacks, Paulette uses Heat Cannon.) However, if you're worried that your items and Spirit Stones will not outlast the boss, you may want to take him out more quickly by "rushing in" some characters while his shield is down. You can opt to move Bebedora in just close enough to use "Dark Extreme" (unless you want to save her magic for the Revive spell). If Kharg or Bebedora are "on fire", you can move them in to do a dual-attack (it will happen with either Maru or Camellia since they are in range at all times.) Just remember to move the characters back out-of-range once he reforms his shield.
If you plan to "rush" the boss, or just as another way of getting Maru to be "on fire" so he can dual-attack with Camellia, here's another technique you can use: If you have enough Spirit Stones, you can have Kharg use "Raise Spirits" on his team. This will get their Tension Meters up and have them "on fire" more quickly than just waiting for the attacks from the Brain Cells. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use your dual-attacks on the boss, even if his shield is up, because it cuts right through it! DON'T waste dual-attacks on the Brain Cells!! And remember, don't put any more than two characters within range of the boss's "Life Sucking" attack at once.
As a final note, of course, always remember to heal and revive people as necessary. This is how I had my charactes equipped for this fight:
Volk:
Blue Wolf Blade
Raging War God's Blade
Blade of the Giants
Life Ring
Gale Headband
Titanium Armband |
Camellia:
Diamond Coating
Death Ant Nectar
Diamond Coating
Titanium Armband
Titanium Armband
Stone Bag |
Bebedora:
Diamond Coating
Clattery Dentures
Diamond Coating
Titanium Armband
Rabbit Stuffed Animal
Bear Stuffed Animal |
Kharg:
Hawk Eyes
Diamond Coating
Diamond Coating
Titanium Armband
Stone Bag
Hero Bandana |
Paulette:
Diamond Coating
Steel Ripper
Diamond Coating
Fireproof Gloves
Shoulder Spikes
Stone Bag |
Maru:
Diamond Coating
Crystal Arrowhead
Diamond Coating
Life Ring
Titanium Armband
Titanium Armband |
You don't have to worry about equipping items that help you dodge or guard, because you can't dodge or guard any attacks in the final fight. Don't worry about items that increase accuracy, either, because it's impossible to miss the final boss or his brain cells when attacking. If you're running out of Spirit Stones too quickly, you may opt to equip an extra Stone Bag on the characters that need them. Also remember that you can pick up more Spirit Stones that the Brain Cells drop, but just be sure to do it while the boss's shield is still up so he can't hit you with "Return to Darkness".
Special thanks go to James FP for suggesting this party combination. I originally beat the game using almost the same party, except I had Darc and Delma instead of Camellia and Volk. Although it is possible to beat this boss with any combination of party members, I believe this to be the fastest and easiest method if you don't have the secret characters unlocked. This is mainly because of Volk's extra wide range and the dual-attack advantage created by having both Camellia and Maru within targeting range of the boss at all times. Bebedora is sort of a "wild card" character in this fight. I like using her because of her Dark Extreme and Revive spells (and also because she's my favorite character in the game), but you could probably substitute any other character in for her and be just as well-off.
And once this mofo goes down for the count, prepare yourself for the craptacular ending!
This is the best part of the ending, so if you still can't beat the game, here you go.
|
