Postgame Boss Sienna Solo (Normal Mode)

[Xenocite]

After learning how the crystal system worked, most of the bosses became pretty easy thanks to some crystal grinding. Even the postgame boss went down in no time at all. I saved right before it in case I wanted to play around with different teams since I learned it wasn't re-fightable.

I decided to try soloing it and after upgrading my weapon/armor to 3 crystals instead of 2, I managed to do it after many failed attempts and some changes to the build:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2012579137824225019/B904A6D3FB82F244CB66D3930762ECB421787033/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Unfortunately, I didn't capture it when it said the boss was defeated, but I did indeed defeat him.

The build I used is below:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2012579137824234408/29CEFEAF671644E6B45A93C80C68DEC7AC88D794/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2012579137824237164/DFBEFABFECF78E98287184B0495413AA27210B05/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2012579137824241110/99517AD31DC816900348835AFEC28229333CDFB0/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2012579137824243782/6CDF5EA4FC4B0AF0F95DACF81AF0515302814274/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Note: The extra AGI UP might be wasted since I'm not sure if Call of Nature can boost AGI above the 50 softcap. I've heard some people say it does and some say it doesn't. Every extra bit of AGI helps since I'm relying on Calm Water to survive Physical Mode and it powers up with higher AGI.

Some things I learned through my run:

- Evasionist stacks with Calm Water
- Quickstep does not get removed when hit by magic attacks (or at least, none of the magic attacks the postgame boss uses)
- Quickstep gets removed even if Sienna dodges physical attacks
- Have Ether/Life Sucker is actually pretty important for giving a character safer ways to manipulate the Overdrive gauge.

Overall notes from my attempts:
- My only two reliable ways of recovery are Life Sucker and Dragonfang (with HP drain). Dragonfang pretty much always heals Sienna to full.
- Nukitsuke/crits didn't really make a difference whether I healed to full from Dragonfang or not, so those can probably be removed for more defensive options.
- If Sienna goes into overheat, she usually dies.
- When the boss is immune to damage, use Life Sucker if heals are needed.
- Ultra Moves are used if I really need to lower the overdrive gauge and heal in the same turn.
- Being poisoned makes things a bit tricky, but it should mostly be manageable. Just be aware how much dmg poison will and don't setup while poison can kill.
- X-slash is only there to give me a debuff move to control the overdrive gauge better.
- Counter can help out in a pinch during physical mode since if it triggers, Sienna can heal up between attacks but it's not reliable and I don't use it outside of needing a utility move for the moving the overdrive gauge.

Tips for physical mode:
- Start the fight with Calm Water and with both Calm Water + Evasionist, as long as you keep attacking to get HP back, you should survive the attacks
- Usually only one cast of Calm Water is needed since the boss should go into magic mode before long
- Sienna usually has 2 turns for every turn the boss has. In the first turn, do things like control the overdrive gauge, buffs, Ether Sucker, etc.
- Later on in the first phase, try to spend the first turn to setup Quickstep and the second to attack. Sometimes the boss will miss all their moves so you can setup on both turns.
- Hopefully, the boss changes to magic mode while Quickstep is active. Trying to setup quickstep during magic mode is extremely tricky and Sienna will probably die.

Tips for magical mode:
- With Quickstep active, Sienna will usually get 3 turns before the boss moves, like so:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2012579137824225019/B904A6D3FB82F244CB66D3930762ECB421787033
- I can't survive the boss's magical attacks head on, so I need to block the turn before the boss attacks.
- Later on in the fight, start casting Calm Water when it's safe to prepare for the switch back to physical mode

Basically try to go into physical mode with Calm Water on and try to go into magical mode with Quickstep on. Watch the overdrive gauge and make sure to keep your TP up with Ether Sucker when it's safe. I probably won't be trying in hard mode, but I did go a few rounds and it did seem to be doable.

This probably is not doable with the other characters, though Sienna's the only one I have with a full set of Crystals on her gears. Calm Water and Quickstep both played a pretty key role and if a character is too slow or too busy trying to keep their health up, the overdrive gauge will eventually go into overheat and the boss will overwhelm them.

[Nero]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I'm impressed.
That dude wasn't easy for me, using a full party on normal sliders.

Geez, I guess the min-max is real in this game

[アンジェル]

Yeah, that is pretty normal.

[Xenocite]

Bothered me that I didn't capture the screenshot when the defeat text popped up so I did it again:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2012579137827061558/3979ADF18D635495C709E2426E30940F1692C8B0/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

I realized that I never actually saw the Overdrive meter request a magic attack and I suspected it's because there's no one in my party with a magic attack. I decided to try removing X-Slash and Counter Stance from Sienna's active and both Utility and Debuffs stopped showing up as well so that suspicion was confirmed.

This made the fight quite a bit easier since I only needed to handle 3 types to manage the overdrive meter and all 3 types are moves I'd want to use anyways (though sometimes there isn't much need for a buff type move, but Quickstep and Calm Water are required to win).