How to beat Karma?

[MrTherandomguy42]

So the one side story in the game, "Sword Hunter in the Decaying Temple," I found incredibly difficult for two reasons:
1. You have to do the boss alone (and dungeon but my protagonist Temenos is at level 60 so I have little issue with it).

2. Part way through the fight, he uses a skill that makes him dodge all forms of attacks, even magic.

So am I supposed to kill him before he has a chance to use that skill? It could be doable for me if I break him and use Temenos' EX skill Heavenly Shine. I got him the support skill Deal More Damage for that occasion. But question is, would that do enough damage to instantly kill him when broken? For reference, my Temenos is an Inventor at level 60 like I said. But would I be better off switching him to a Merchant and give him Hired Help?

[Nabs]

Been awhile since I did this fight so I don't remember completely. I believe that he can dodge only a limited number of times right? So two options you can use are:

-Skills that can nullify buffs (e.g. Abating Orb on Hunter)
-Multi-hit skills that can brute force and remove the multiple dodges

[Melodia]

Yeah I second multi-hit skills. He's weak to daggers, so HP Thief is a good choice. Don't remember what else.

[AL]

Warrior secondary, spam the vengeance blade and keep yourself healed if you have the merchant passive hold out you'll survive even a 9999 strike if your hp is above a certain treshold % before the hit. You'll outlast Karma and win easy.

[MrTherandomguy42]

Originally posted by Nabs:

Been awhile since I did this fight so I don't remember completely. I believe that he can dodge only a limited number of times right? So two options you can use are:

-Skills that can nullify buffs (e.g. Abating Orb on Hunter)
-Multi-hit skills that can brute force and remove the multiple dodges

I actually beat him yesterday after making this post. Switched to Armsmaster Hikari and had little to no issue with him. Now I am struggling with the Dreadwolf.

[JonWoo]

His skill doesn't let him dodge all attacks, just boosted and Latent Power attacks. If you have abilities that can hit his weaknesses multiple times without being boosted it's easy to break him.

[Axiom]

How do I take another character to face Karma, other than the character I started the game with?

[JonWoo]

Originally posted by Axiom:

How do I take another character to face Karma, other than the character I started the game with?

You'll have to finish their story before you can swap them out.

[Toyosatomimi no Miko]

People struggled with the mechanics of this boss? He seemed straightforward enough to me, break him in five turns or die and no boosts allowed in phase 2 unless he's broken. Simple enough, unlike some of the other extra bosses (looking at you, deep one, with your stupid phase-pushing party wipe ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥).

My strategy was as follows, using Partitio subbed as scholar. It costs 60k leaves to do but got me through the fight and you won't have to worry about healing either.
P1: boosted normal spear attacks to break shield, using Partitio's bp refill special ability as needed. Use a fully boosted 30k hired help once he's broken.
P2: elemental barrage to break, max power 30k hired help again once he's broken.
Elemental barrage works perfectly in phase 2 since he's weak to all three of the elements involved. It can break him in three turns at worst and two with some luck which can give you time for healing if you're adamant about not using hired help or just stingy with your leaves in general. In that case I'd use bifelgan's bounty for damage to recoup costs for the healing items used, or the cost of the first hired help.
You can also use advanced magic/alephan's wisdom ice or lightning spam in phase 1 to break him there, or rely on rng with elemental barrage since he's weak to 2/3 of it. The hired help is just so I could speed the fight along really.

"But where's your mouse icon"
I'm playing the switch version, not going to touch the PC version until denuvo is removed in a couple of months, if I bother with the PC ver at all.

[Sage Pirotess]

Originally posted by Toyosatomimi no Miko:

People struggled with the mechanics of this boss? He seemed straightforward enough to me, break him in five turns or die and no boosts allowed in phase 2 unless he's broken. Simple enough, unlike some of the other extra bosses (looking at you, deep one, with your stupid phase-pushing party wipe ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥).

My strategy was as follows, using Partitio subbed as scholar. It costs 60k leaves to do but got me through the fight and you won't have to worry about healing either.
P1: boosted normal spear attacks to break shield, using Partitio's bp refill special ability as needed. Use a fully boosted 30k hired help once he's broken.
P2: elemental barrage to break, max power 30k hired help again once he's broken.
Elemental barrage works perfectly in phase 2 since he's weak to all three of the elements involved. It can break him in three turns at worst and two with some luck which can give you time for healing if you're adamant about not using hired help or just stingy with your leaves in general. In that case I'd use bifelgan's bounty for damage to recoup costs for the healing items used, or the cost of the first hired help.
You can also use advanced magic/alephan's wisdom ice or lightning spam in phase 1 to break him there, or rely on rng with elemental barrage since he's weak to 2/3 of it. The hired help is just so I could speed the fight along really.

"But where's your mouse icon"
I'm playing the switch version, not going to touch the PC version until denuvo is removed in a couple of months, if I bother with the PC ver at all.

I just threw money at him. Have millions I money. And only a few bosez dont die within 1 to 3 hits with it.

[Anacra]

Just kill him in one hit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxTs1YySXGw

[Stormwolf]

Originally posted by Anacra:

Just kill him in one hit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxTs1YySXGw

That was technically 3 hits

[Bamethyst38]

The boss is relatively easy.

You basically have to break his stances by the time he reaches maximum hostility or he attacks you 4 times for 1 damage and then uses Killer Karma to kill you instantly for 9999 damage. The 4 attacks dispel Sidestep if you use that. Except for 1 stance, he is weak against Daggers.

If he goes into Tiger and Wolf Stance, you cannot use Latent Powers against him as he will counter attack you and dodge them.

What gets to people is the Flawless Stance having no Vulnerable. You basically have to do one of these things to break him at that point:

Temenos or Ochette's Latent Power (outside of Tiger and Wolf Stance)
Hikari or Warrior's Vengeful Blade (best method)
Agnea or Dancer's Ruinous Kick
Partitio or Merchant's Hired Help and summon a Beastling for 15k (or 12k if you got Vigilant)
Osvald's One True Magic if you beat his storyline
Castti or Apothecary can Weak to Poison him and then Poison Axe can poison him. A tick of poison will take a shield point. Alternatively you can use Ochette's Provoke and summon a Mad Ratking (Aberrant Poisonous Thrust) and apply both in 1 hit
Use an Almighty Soulstone on him. You get these from Thunder Elementals in the Stormhail Snows.

I obviously suggest Hikari/Armsmaster or Thief, Throne or Ochette/Warrior.

Armsmaster Sixfold Strike can do 3-4 Shield of damage and the Dagger is a universal weakness across all his stances bar Flawless in the event you go Thief. Hikari has the added benefit of always having Vengeful Blade, regardless of which configuration you have and Aggressive Slash can tear this boss a new one while he is in Tiger and Wolf Stance (don't use Shadow Hold/Light Radiance on this stance). If you did part-Thief, you can recover huge amounts of HP with Steal HP and does 2 hits of Dagger damage and you can Shackle Foe/Armor Corrosive when he isnt in a stance to cripple him. You can then use Brand's Blade when the boss is stunned, which is especially brutal if he does it with the Conquerer's Blade.

Throne has the added benefit of Shackle Foe/Armor Corrosive when he is attacking you in a non-stance and Steal HP can rob HP. You can also use her Latent Power in an emergency to break him if you cant stop Killer Karma in time. If you make her part-Warrior, you can use Vengeful Blade and enough Evasion to counter attack and possibly dodge the cuts, plus Abide can buff her attack for a strong Steal HP when the boss is broken and Aggressive Slash while he is in Tiger and Wolf to break him fast.

Ochette has Bestial Roar to smash him in Flawless Stance and there are various animals in the world that assist you. The Mad Ratking can apply Poison and Weak to Poison to him while also taking shield points by both the Poison and Polearms. This effect also works when he is in Flawless Stance. Ocean Lizardmen beyond V always have a double dagger attack and the Lizardking IIIs have a multi hit Dagger at the cost of some Accuracy. You can also bring a Dagger wielding simp to add another attack. Aim for one with Double Stab or Thousand Daggers as their ultimate skill to expedite the breaking process. Once the boss is broken, you can use her's or the Warrior's Divine Skill or do a full charge Provoke on a T8+ beast (especially if you have her 2nd EX skill fully charged) to do ridiculous damage. Just note that beasts cannot benefit from Deal More Damage.

In the event you don't have the Conquerer's Sword, the best sword for Vengeful Striking is the Bloodrinker (Mugged from Alrond's Store Merchant) as you heal half the damage you deal.

No matter who you bring, have high armor and/or evasion. You also have to consider the trip to the boss into your calculations.

[Rielle]

This fight is super easy with Merchant Ochette. Have the Frostwing Serpant and spam that skill until you break his shield, then use all your boosts on Hired Help