Tips for beating Zoh Shia

[mccloud]

Since people fail miserably at ZS en masse, I thought I'd list a few tips that make the fight not only possible but kinda easy.

1. Preparation :
a) EAT before you go in. Anything. The HP that any meal provides will help you survive. Don't go in with 5 minutes of food buff remaining - the fight easily lasts 15 minutes, so keep that in mind and prepare.

b) buffs - use a demondrug or a Nitroshroom (with mushroomancer) before you go in. Make that 15+ minute fight shorter, so you have fewer chances to die. You can also use armor buffs but these are optional as they don't help much. If you are a dodge class, use that potion that makes evading costing less stamina (Energy Drink ?) - if you run out of stamina and get clapped, you'd wish you prepared better, maybe that potion would've saved you.

2. Armor Skills

a) Mushroomancer is a godsend here - even with 1 point (1 deco), it gives you 10 more potions to use (Blue Mushrooms), with 3 points, you get 10 more pots (Mandragora) that heal you to FULL HEALTH. And eating mushrooms is MUCH faster than drinking a potion, even without Speed Eating. Use it, thank me later.

b) WIDE RANGE - perhaps this shoul've been #1. People fairly quickly realized this is OP in this fight and started using it. If you didn't know yet - this lets you heal your teammates when you heal yourself. Even 1 point makes all the difference (33% heals to allies). 3 points gives you a fairly large range to the heal and doubles it (66%) and 5 points makes it a 100% heal with the range basically all of Zoh Shia's arena.

If all 4 players use Wide Range, this basically quadrupples your potion count. It also gives you the tool to save another player from certain death, thus preventing a cart and potentially failing the quest.

The best thing about Wide Range is that there is a charm for it! Max upgraded, it gives you 4 points of Wide Range, which is plenty. You can put a +1 WR deco in your armor (it's a lvl1 deco, too) to max it out. There is no reason not to have Wide Range on such a long fight that solely relies on your teammates (and YOU) not dying more than 2 times. Even 1 point helps a bunch, don't be greedy with your decos, spare 1 slot for the better good.

c) Fire Resist - if your gear provides it, you'd find the fight much easier, see Charms. If not, whatever, but make sure you are not at -20 Fire Resist or something, don't gimp yourself.

d) Speed Eating - this saves lives, literally. Even though mushrooms are near instant, with this maxxed out, they ARE instant. And Mega Potions are chugged in 1.5 seconds. If you have deco slots to spare, use it. I used the Nu Udra gloves instead - they give you +2 Speed Eating and +1 Counterstrike (which funily enough pair very well with the Zoh Shia set and it's crappy gloves, heh) with 1x lvl1 socket (to max out Speed Eating) and 1 free I think lvl3 socket on top.

3. Charms - Your +2 Weakness Exploit or Agitator charm will do exactly NOTHING if you are dead. Or your teammates get carted. Use the charm slot for a helpfull one :

a) Wide Range - best in slot. 4 points in WR out of the gate that makes the fight much easier. You can maxx it out with a single lvl1 deco somewhere in your armor if you wish. But it is plenty powerfull on its own.

b) Fire Resist - while Zoh Shia's attacks hit like a truck, I've noticed the majority of deaths are because of the Fire Blight that people ignore and get cought with their pants down (<90% HP) and one-shotted. If you didn't know, having more fire resist lowers the fire damage you take (duh), BUT having 20 Fire Resist or more, prevents Fire Blight (basically burn damage) altogether! You are now immune to being set on fire ! That takes a huge chunk of ZS's damage out of the equation and you no longer have to roll repeatedly to get rid of it - instead, you could be dealing damage and saving your stamina for dodging when it matters. It's as much as a defensive charm as it is offensive in that matter. If you have Wide Range on your gear, conside using this - a maxx upgraded lvl3 Fire Resist charm give you 20 Fire Resist, so you only have to make sure you are not in the negative to begin with - balance your gear and eat food buffs with Elemental Resistances to take you to at least 0 Fire Resist before the charm.

c) Mushroomancer - If you are not wearing the pants that give +3 Mushroomancer or have it via decos, conside using the charm. It gives you maxxed out Mushroomancer. You can now chug mushrooms, doubling your potions. One thing to note here - eating Mandragora (100% HP heal) does NOT heal your teammates, for whatever reason. So use your regular Mega Potions first if you have Speed Eating, if not use Blue Mushrooms. When those are out, or you are very low HP, use the Mandragoras.

4. Helpful items - only one here - Farcaster. You can only carry 1 of those at a time, but if you are running out of potions, since you can't leave the arena once you are in, this is your only hope - a Farcaster will teleport you to the camp before the arena, so you can restock your potions, sharpen your blade, etc. If you are out of potions, don't sit there waiting to be devoured, use a Farcaster and you'd be back into the fight, guns (or swords) blazing in <1minute. It is worth it - don't be a target dummy (this is what you are without potions), be the aggressor!

5. Weapons

a) anything with a shield makes the fight much easier. BUT, there is a giant but (hehe) - you NEED Guard Up lvl3 AND at least Guard lvl2 on it. Chip damage is high in this fight, you need the Guard Up to survive and Guard lvl2 is JUST enough to give you fast enough back-to-back blocks to block everything Zoh Shia can (and will) throw at you. Having Guard lvl3 is a bonus to make your life easier but not necessary.

b) if you are so bad at this fight that you are getting PTSD-ed, pulling your hair out, etc, don't be alarmed - pick a Heavy Bowgun! Yes, it's damage is lower than other weapons. Yes, it's slow. But it has 2 major advantages - you are now RANGED, meaning you don't need to get close to get pummeled to death by Zoh Shia, you can shoot it from afar (very far!). And two, not only does it have block, it has AUTOBLOCK - the only thing you need to do when in danger is point the gun in the direction of the attack and NOT SHOOT. Your HBG will block the attack automatically. Make sure to Put Guard Up and some Guard in the weapon sockets, it helps immensely. Also use Ballistics decos - it makes your shooting range SO LONG that can basically be halfway across the arena and still shoot the boss.
If you cart repeatedly, despite everything, on your main weapon and you are about to give up Zoh Shia and it's sweet armor set, swallow your pride and pick up a Heavy Bowgun - ANY damage and no deaths is much better than carting 3 times.
If you are a dodge-god (but somehow struggle in Zoh Shia's fight...) , you can consider the Light Bowgun instead - it's much faster overall and relies on dodge, range is a bit shorter. Whatever works.

6. Fight and mechanics

a) The safest spot to be in straight in Zoh Shia's ... ahem, posterior. Not at the tail (he has a tail swipe, although uses is rarely; his tail is also the most hardened piece he's got - you damage is low here), not at the side (same damage as at the tail but now you are exposed to ALL of his attacks), and definitely not in front (for obvious reasons). That spot behind his legs and before his tail - this is where he can't hit you. If you need a breather or wanna play it safe, find that spot and get familiar with it.

b) that said, in the safe spot your damage is low. His tail and legs (in that order) are his most hardened parts - any damage helps but you can't stay here for all the fight or it will take an hour.... If you wanna deal massive DEEPS, you need to hit one of three things - front legs, wing-legs (these are 90% of the time in the air) or head (constantly moving and the source of all of your pains and carts). It's a balancing game with this monster - how safe you wanna be or can afford to be at each moment. Find that opening to hit his weaker parts and retreat to the safe spot when in danger. You wanna do as much damage to his front legs and head (and wing-legs when they are down) as possible without exposing yourself to his deadly attacks. Poke and retreat, poke and retreat. Dance under his legs.

c) since the monster is HUGE, his AoE-s are HUGE and the arena is HUGE, if you need to heal or retreat, call your Seikret - not only it is faster than you by a mile, but it can auto-dodge attacks while you are riding it (most of the time... don't rely too much on it). The Seikret is a key unit in this fight - use it ! If you are left in the middle of the arena, alone, with fiery wind in your face, and the boss is in the air, preparing to nuke the everliving pants out of you, you have two options - say you final prayers or call your Seikret to get out of dodge. Don't cart, use your feathery buddy. He is your best friend, at least in this fight.

d) don't forget to sharpen ! The fight is very long, your weapon will dull very often and fast - call your Seikret and sharpen when you have the time. Don't forget - your damage drops significantly when your weapon is dull - all your gear decos mean nothing and that "just one more hit" hits like a wet noodle when your deadly vorpal sword is reduced to walking stick that sometimes cuts. Sharpen!

e) use your slinger ! There are a number of Dragon shots on the ground in the arena and 2 Thunder shots on each end. Always have one of these with you - you'd need them to shoot the wylk crystals that the boss spawns. Any time he leaves a crystal - shoot it ! Not only it explodes and deals damage to the boss (and nothing to you btw, even though it throws you back) but it also robs Zoh Shia of the oportunity to use them against you - ZS hitting those wylk crystals means exploding them dealing damage to YOU (and nothing to him) and also expanding his breath attacks across the arena MASSIVELY. Shoot. Every. SIngle. One. Of. Them. There is plenty of ammo on the ground.
The same applies when he flies in the air and does the huge Fire nova thingy - hitting the wylk crystals as soon as you are able explodes them (making the arena safe instead of a fiery hell) and does massive damage to him if they are near him.

Don't be frustrated when you cart or you fail the quest - it happens. Focus on improving yourself - why did you cart and what you could've done differently to avoid it next time - sooner or later you will get the hang of it. Trust your teammates and don't get mad at them for carting - they are learning as well.

That is all. Lai-lai... ahem... - Sheebar.

[DarkNinjutzu]

Slinger is really helpful.
you can get lucky and hit 1k dmg with 1 shot. Also it seems to stun him 2-3 times in a fight may be more...

[mccloud]

Originally posted by DarkNinjutzu:

Slinger is really helpful.
you can get lucky and hit 1k dmg with 1 shot. Also it seems to stun him 2-3 times in a fight may be more...

Those are the special ammo that Zoh Shia drops every now and then - basically Heavy Pierce Ammo - you want to shoot him head-to-tail or reverse for maximum hits and damage. It does high damage, basically a bazooka-shot. And pierces through the body. But it's only 1 shot per pickup so they don't help as much with the fight. I usually pick them up and shoot them straight away to lower the clutter on the ground for when I am searching for the Dragon pods later.

[MCNacho-ナチョ]

just dodge, he isnt that hard actually. if he starts that pile up and hit the ground, make sure to hit him on the backside. Everything else is learning by doing.

[Wren]

I ain't reading all that

I see big monster, I hit it with a stick until it dies

what more so you need

[Jethro]

Good on you for the effort but People don't even use Life Powder and you expect a wall of text changes that?

[es.Iiden]

Originally posted by MCNacho-ナチョ:

just dodge, he isnt that hard actually. if he starts that pile up and hit the ground, make sure to hit him on the backside. Everything else is learning by doing.

Zho shia isnt hard but in MP you have like 4 chances at any moment for things to go wrong. I tend to see most people cart when he hits with a fireball and decides he's playing street fighter and combo's you

[MCNacho-ナチョ]

Originally posted by es.Iiden:

Originally posted by MCNacho-ナチョ:

just dodge, he isnt that hard actually. if he starts that pile up and hit the ground, make sure to hit him on the backside. Everything else is learning by doing.

Zho shia isnt hard but in MP you have like 4 chances at any moment for things to go wrong. I tend to see most people cart when he hits with a fireball and decides he's playing street fighter and combo's you

i dont play mp that much, because of that :D

[Gaidax]

Tip: Keep your HP above 0, while bringing monster HP to 0.

Works every time.

[NikemanBOOM]

I hope the poor hunters that are having trouble read this, and actually use it.

[mccloud]

Originally posted by es.Iiden:

Originally posted by MCNacho-ナチョ:

just dodge, he isnt that hard actually. if he starts that pile up and hit the ground, make sure to hit him on the backside. Everything else is learning by doing.

Zho shia isnt hard but in MP you have like 4 chances at any moment for things to go wrong. I tend to see most people cart when he hits with a fireball and decides he's playing street fighter and combo's you

This. This is mainly for those guys that play multi. Single player champs (mainly) know what they are doing and how to handle the fight. The problem is in multiplayer, you now have 3 other people that can cart at any time and fail the quest. You don't get 4x3=12 carts in multi, it stays the same 3.

Originally posted by Jethro:

Good on you for the effort but People don't even use Life Powder and you expect a wall of text changes that?

Well, I know... But I was shocked there was no guide or two for fighting Zoh Shia already, so I made my own, based on what I experienced yesterday. All I see is constant bickering about (mostly) irrelevant stuff, as usual....
Hope this helps someone, I am not very good at explaining stuff like this. But you gotta start somewhere, I am sure there are a lot of people that cart at ZH and cannot for the life of them figure out what are they supposed to do in that fight, since it's so different than what they've encountered so far.

[Krystal]

awww, you guys don't need a guide! This game IS TOO EASY REMEMBER?! Just walk in and supposedly own it with supposed ease as you all claim to have done before!

[Nauskills]

Extra tip: use the mighty hunting horn with health regen and see everyone at full hp during the entire fight :)

[Krystal]

Originally posted by Nauskills:

Extra tip: use the mighty hunting horn with health regen and see everyone at full hp during the entire fight :)

You don't need these tips because THE GAME IS TOO EASY, REMEMBER?!

[Nauskills]

Originally posted by Krystal:

Originally posted by Nauskills:

Extra tip: use the mighty hunting horn with health regen and see everyone at full hp during the entire fight :)

You don't need these tips because THE GAME IS TOO EASY, REMEMBER?!

Yeah we heard you the other 4 times you made that joke in the last 7 minutes

[Darth_Angeal]

Originally posted by Krystal:

Originally posted by Nauskills:

Extra tip: use the mighty hunting horn with health regen and see everyone at full hp during the entire fight :)

You don't need these tips because THE GAME IS TOO EASY, REMEMBER?!

The fight isn´t hard lol. It´s perhaps more about newcomers not knowing how to deal with big monsters properly as much as they don´t get behind the crystal-mechanic.

Originally posted by mccloud:

Since people fail miserably at ZS en masse, I thought I'd list a few tips that make the fight not only possible but kinda easy.

5. Weapons

a) anything with a shield makes the fight much easier.

I appreciate your work for the unknown or not so talented players. Yet you´ve forgotten the easiest choice to kill that thing...

INSECT GLAIVE!

Just stay in aerial combat most of the time and kill this one easily without incoming damage.