The Ancient War: Mantroskylo

[Goopert]

I need tips and help for this quest because I believe I'm stuck.

Which BR is optimal for this? I'm around 26-27 and I can reduce him to 25% HP, unfortunatly tho my units decide to take the worst possible formation and they all line up for the breath attack and wipe.

Also which formation work best? Which kind of parties? (Currently I have 3 unions, 2 offensive and 1 with heals).

Overall it's a nice fight but I had over 10 attemps and can't seem to win it, my biggest problem is how they position themself against him, all lined up, is there a way to fix it?

[Avataristche]

They actually tell you which formations are best for the quest right before the fight, and even ask if you get them! (Vanguard and Batwings)
Anyway, id recommend having a resser in each union, put a Cavalier (for example, Emmy) in charge of one and make it use defend command all the time, while other two damage/heal/res, preferrably out of deadlock

[Goopert]

I'll try your suggestion, altho I have not unlocked Emmy yet, I can always find another Cavalier.

Also I know it tells me which formations, but Vanguard doesn't seem to help ♥♥♥♥ when it comes to the breath.

Thanks for the tips tho, I'll try and see if it works .

[Goopert]

Little update on this, I tried couple times more with my team (2 offensive and 1 healer) and with a bit of rng on my side I made it. One unit died, but it's all good.

Also I've used the arrow formation, seemed to work better xD.

[Azure_Sky]

Actually, there would be a far better solution, which would reduce the chances that a union is left dead:

Originally posted by Lilium:

I'll try your suggestion, altho I have not unlocked Emmy yet, I can always find another Cavalier.

Also I know it tells me which formations, but Vanguard doesn't seem to help ♥♥♥♥ when it comes to the breath.

Thanks for the tips tho, I'll try and see if it works :vert: .

The best time to do this quest, by the way, is JUST before you enter the triple boss fight in the Aqueducts, when you have 15 units!

At 15 units: 5-5-5

All 3 must have at least:

• One Item Reviver
  
• One Item Healer (Silence, anybody?)
  
• One Remedies Healer
  
  The Arrow of Athlum is a good one, but honestly, even though it says that Vanguard is good, I find that either Cup or Orb formation works better for me, since either an improvement in offense or a cut in AP costs help a lot.
  
  I would send two unions to face the three unions on one side and one to face the other 2 unions, then, when the support unions are killed, converge on the Dragon, and do this strat:
  
  
• Kill the other union first, ASAP
  
• One/Two unions on Dragon, others on Heal standby
  -Make SURE there is at least one on standby, because by this point, I don't believe you have a Psionics member or a Traps member with Retreat Flare? (A high morale effectively shuts down breath attacks)
  
  
  *Highly Reccomended* Hex units with Paralyze Gas, since Breath attacks are Physical.
  
  With that, even with 30+ Ally KOs, I was able to kill it on my first try.
  
  Strat credits go to pinkpanther, since I kinda just copied his strat.

[PinkPаптҥэя]

Originally posted by Lilium:

..., my biggest problem is how they position themself against him, all lined up, is there a way to fix it?

Against the Mantroskylo I'd recommend trying to deadlock with only half of your unions if possible. This would mean max. 2 for a 3 or 4 unions party.
Avoiding deadlock can be done by choosing the right union leader classes, e.g. Scout/Hunter for a healing oriented attack union which can get out of deadlock when needed, or Sorcerer/Healer/Bishop/Scholar for a pure healer union. These classes give you almost always some proper healing commands allowing you to step out of deadlock.
Also put your revivers in these unions in case you don't have one for each union.
If you have a Ranger in your party, you can use him leading an attack union which can flank even without all the deadlock slots being filled. This also keeps them out of deadlock.
I wouldn't recommend Cavalier, since there's no benefit in tanking, after all the other unions are already defeated.

Originally posted by Lilium:

Also I know it tells me which formations, but Vanguard doesn't seem to help ♥♥♥♥ when it comes to the breath.

Unfortunately most of these early game formations are a bit of a joke and can only be used to nerf something (like speed) rather than improving. Not even worth trying.

Only in the endgame they give you some formations worth using.

[Goopert]

Originally posted by xxroid:

All 3 must have at least:

• One Item Reviver
  
• One Item Healer (Silence, anybody?)
  
• One Remedies Healer

This is actually an awesome tip, I don't know much about this game yet but I'll be sure to include these in my next healer union.

Originally posted by xxroid:

Kill the other union first, ASAP
One/Two unions on Dragon, others on Heal standby
-Make SURE there is at least one on standby, because by this point, I don't believe you have a Psionics member or a Traps member with Retreat Flare? (A high morale effectively shuts down breath attacks)

I don't think there's either traps or psionics yet, but that's how I did it. Two unions deadlocking the dragon and the healers on standby.
Also I put a healer in each offensive unit just to be safe, so I could break the deadlock and heal and the other unit would tank.

Originally posted by xxroid:

*Highly Reccomended* Hex units with Paralyze Gas, since Breath attacks are Physical.

I didn't know about this either and wow, I'll be sure to use someone with Hex asap for the whole game, also I thought breath was not physical xD.

Originally posted by pinkpanther:

Avoiding deadlock can be done by choosing the right union leader classes, e.g. Scout/Hunter for a healing oriented attack union which can get out of deadlock when needed, or Sorcerer/Healer/Bishop/Scholar for a pure healer union. These classes give you almost always some proper healing commands allowing you to step out of deadlock.
Also put your revivers in these unions in case you don't have one for each union.
If you have a Ranger in your party, you can use him leading an attack union which can flank even without all the deadlock slots being filled. This also keeps them out of deadlock.

This is incredibly useful, I didn't know at all that changing leader would effect so much, thanks for the tip!

Originally posted by pinkpanther:

Unfortunately most of these early game formations are a bit of a joke and can only be used to nerf something (like speed) rather than improving. Not even worth trying.

Only in the endgame they give you some formations worth using.

Yes I can agree on this, they are all kinda bad for now.

Thank you so much for the guide and tips, even tho I already did it (with 3 unions, thanks rng) I learnt a lot of things I actually didn't know.

I'll be sure to ask again if I need :). Thanks again!

[Toshiro Kira]

I started with 3 Union, 2 Heavy Hitter, 1 Support. Take out the rest of the monster, then let the heavy hitter hit the Mantroskylo. I used Caedmon silence to avoid that aoe breath, although is lessen possibility of aoe rather than nothing. Every Union must have healer, just in case our support unable to heal ya... btw I was doing with 23 BR.. Maybe that could effect the frequecy of AOE attack.

[Azure_Sky]

Originally posted by Lilium:

I didn't know about this either and wow, I'll be sure to use someone with Hex asap for the whole game, also I thought breath was not physical xD.

If you care for another tip, try having at least three Hex units, you want to grind them to the last Hex art, Cachexia, because it's effect drains the AP of the opponent, thus rendering thier best moves null ( Except the WC... Damn that Bast@rd. You can practically do anything else with just one or zero hex units, but this guy needs AT least 3) 97% of the time.

[Zloth]

Hehehe, I do so love this game!

Cachexia is definitely a very good power. Being at the top of the list, though, it's not so easy to get. You've got to practice hexes at EVERY opportunity. And even then some won't make it so you better use a few people!

[PinkPаптҥэя]

Originally posted by Zloth:

Hehehe, I do so love this game!

Cachexia is definitely a very good power. Being at the top of the list, though, it's not so easy to get. You've got to practice hexes at EVERY opportunity. And even then some won't make it so you better use a few people!

Glad that we still have quite a few ppl who still love this game!

For Cachexia my prefered unit is Wyatt, a generic leader. He can be hired quite early in the game and comes pre-leveled in Hexes almost up to Dispirit. He'll have Cachexia ready just in time for our dear enemy The Fallen; just put him in leader spot and use his Hexes as often as possible.
You need to unlock Rank 2 of the Sword guild to hire him (Kill 5 Vultures and the Ruler of the Dawn).

[Avataristche]

I will try Joline next run (not sure only-girls, only-generic-girls or rush-with-girls). She is almost Wyatt, but comes couple battles later (hitting Aqueducts). She has same skills, but ends with +5 Mystic Weapon and towershield, like Vanquisher ^^

[Azure_Sky]

Originally posted by Toshiro Kira:

I started with 3 Union, 2 Heavy Hitter, 1 Support. Take out the rest of the monster, then let the heavy hitter hit the Mantroskylo. I used Caedmon silence to avoid that aoe breath, although is lessen possibility of aoe rather than nothing. Every Union must have healer, just in case our support unable to heal ya... btw I was doing with 23 BR.. Maybe that could effect the frequecy of AOE attack.

I did say that breath attacks are physical, no? (I used Protection and Orphic Ward to check, Protection helps keep my union alive). At that BR it's definitely doable, but it's not BR that determines if you're gonna come out on top, it's a mix of strategy, leaders, formations, and a decent stat/BR ratio. Breath attack frequency is affected high morale, because the dragon would use desperate wail instead, but unless you have someone flanking, or are playing NG+, you'll want to have members bunker down for some high end AOE damage. Another randomething that I found out sometimes is that, when the dragon uses it's breath attacks, it misses the union that it intends to hit and hits the union on standby instead (But was using orb formation)!

[PinkPаптҥэя]

Originally posted by Avataristche:

I will try Joline next run (not sure only-girls, only-generic-girls or rush-with-girls). She is almost Wyatt, but comes couple battles later (hitting Aqueducts). She has same skills, but ends with +5 Mystic Weapon and towershield, like Vanquisher ^^

Female-only run sounds pretty cool !
Upon hiring, Joline is at exactly the same level in Hexes as Wyatt, but comes quite a bit later.
Her strong weapons may be in her favour (but Wyatt's Aura Tataraichi is a cool weapon too).
You might have to work her Hexes a little harder if you want to have Cachexia ready for Fallen.

[DarkSide]

Fought him at ~28 BR (cannot remember exact number) with 3 groups in default melee formation. No problems at all. Hit him 2 times with Blackout and rest as usual.

[Azure_Sky]

Originally posted by Muspelheim:

Fought him at ~28 BR (cannot remember exact number) with 3 groups in default melee formation. No problems at all. Hit him 2 times with Blackout and rest as usual.

Good choice on the formation, but it's generally advised to avoid using Arcana because they don't level up normally!