Stuck in battle on Angra Mainyu

[Cuddlefish]

Soha has just joined the party again. Have easily walked through all the rest of the battles for this level but am getting masacred by Alexei. Doing something wrong, and possibly the same with skills, but I have no idea what. Need help or this is a game stopper. Would turn the difficulty down to easy but you can't do that mid a level. Any help would be great.

[Dancing Dragon Games]

Can you share your strategy?

What skills, items, formation are you using?

[Cuddlefish]

Thanks for writing back. I am not very good at any of this and the lack of a manual with the game has not helped a lot.

Formation Kesh and Lucian at the front; Soha and Esk next and behind esk Ingrid

items. - Kesh has a prismatic platina beacon
Esk has a platina dagger - I have not seen a crossbow for him anywhere, or plans but he has skills that are specific to a crossbow and Esk has bracelets of excess
Ingrid has a platina nailgun and ruby ring
Soha has a hermits lexicon
Lucien has a sharp steel claymore; stalwart platina cuirass; a ruby ring and ahorn of command

I went back to an earlier save and played the battle with Alexei on easy and it was very very easy. Quite a jump from easy to normal. Normally I play rpgs on normal.

have just got murdered by Kromag on normal, though I have lasted longer here then in the Alexi battle. What seemed to work well, as far as it went was Ingrid using the skill finding a weakness.

Suggestions would be great, also, where did I miss the crossbow and can I go back to get it?

PS. I probably don't have a coherent strategy outside of shooting at him.

[Stabbey]

Oh great, the developer didn't offer any aid to the last guy who asked.

***

This battle sucks on Hard difficulty. The enemy simply blasts the party to pieces. It's impossible to survive, and impossible to outheal the damage. Lucian and Kesh are sloooooooooooooooooow and it takes forever for them to even get one single turn at all, and that's not enough to even attack one enemy.

Apparently there might be infinite clones or something in this battle, but given I get wrecked in the first few turns, I don't see how I can survive by focusing Alexi down even if I could afford to ignore them. (Which I can't because two are blocking Alexi.)

Column: Front - Back
Column 1: Kesh - Esk - Soha
Column 2: Lucian - Ingrid

Lucian and Kesh are in full platina gear. Ingrid and Soha have platina weapons and

I still don't have most augment slots filled out because you only get a chance to buy those once every 4-5 dungeons.

Soha's passive which says "Humans don't target her" apparently the clones don't count as human. I'm not that surprised, but it sure doesn't help.


Loadout:

Lucian (Level 34)
Active
- Shock Blade 4
- Intercept 5
- Pommel Bash 3
- Hold the Line 4
- Wide Swing 3
- Stay Resolute 4
- Aetherial Strike 5

Passives
- Triage Orders
- Elesaber Mastery
- Battle Hardened

Equipment
Robust Platina Knightblade
-
-

Armor
- Obsidian Ingot
- Emerald Gem

Accessory
- Unwieldly Bulwark
- Horn of Command


Ingrid (Level 34)
Active
- Aimed Shot 5
- Scan 2
- Suppressive Fire 4
- Junk Pile 3
- Machine Gun Turret 5
- Spare Item 6
- Tesla Gun 3

Passives
- Deadeye
- Piercing Shot
- Master Mechanic

Equipment
Platina Sniper
- Genbu Shell Fragment
- Diamond Jewel

Accessory
- Emerald Ring
- Savage Pauldron

Soha
Active
- Nurture 5
- Gift of Life 5
- Blood Saber 4
- Dark Saber 4
- Siphon Power 4
- Shadow Bolt 4
- Mass Devour 1

Passives
- Blood Affinity
- Soul Stealer
- Agile Mind
- Dark Sorceress

Equipment
Stern Platina Runeblade
- Peridot Jewel
- Rainbow Shell

Accessory
- Peridot Ring
- Scrying Orb

Esk (Level 35)
Active
- Stealth 5
- Backstab 5
- Kidney Shot 2
- Heightened Senses 5
- Crossbow Barrage 2
- Heavy Bolt 5
- Hunter's Mark 2

Passives
- Cunning
- Acuity
- Thrill of the Hunt
- Assassin

Equipment
Platina Karambit
- Ruby Jewel
- Coral

- Sonorous Bell

Accessory
- Diamond Ring
- Talisman

Kesh (Level 39)
Active
- Divine Barrier 4
- Chi Blast 5
- Pressure Point 4
- Meditation 5
- Fortified Stance 4
- Yin Yang Strike 3
- Enhance Chi 3


Passives
- Purity
- Chi Channeling
- Aura Glaive

Equipment
Platina Glaive
-

- Aetherium Widget

Accessory
- Wanderer's Mantle
- Ruby Ring

[Cuddlefish]

I am the last guy and there was no response.

Good luck. I don't remember anything about the game and never tried to play on hard difficulty.

Shame. I remember it only as it had potential to be a good game, until it just wasn't

[Stabbey]

Even if I prioritize healing by having my characters desperately hand out healing items instead of doing anything productive - which is just a stall, it doesn't matter, because the enemy have moves which can one-shot characters at full health. Lucian gets one-shot with Searing Smite.

Healing is worthless anyway because the action economy wildly favors the enemy. Their entire team goes twice before Kesh and Lucian get a second turn of their own. You do not get turns fast enough to make healing useful at all.

Buffs are worthless. The "Stay Resolute" Buff which "grants increased defensive power" doesn't stop Kesh from being one-shot. The regeneration buff doesn't heal enough.

In order to delay death:

• Soha cannot do anything except heal and healing hurts her.
  
• Ingrid can't do anything but heal and toss items.
  
• Ecksander cannot do anything but toss items and the basic attack.
  
• Lucian can't do anything but buff.
  
• Kesh can't do anything but buff.

So my team is 0 for 5 on attackers.

You can't attack the enemy anyway because the only two characters capable of removing the barrier are slow as hell and by the time their turns come up, the team is crippled or dead. I can spare the time for maybe one barrier removal in total before the rest of the turns are trying to get people alive and healthy, which is pointless because one enemy can one-shot the toughest character in one hit and there are 5 enemies moving at once.

This fight is 1000000000000% impossible on Hard and anyone who claims otherwise is a filthy liar. Looks like the only way is to turn the difficulty down to Easy and leave it there, because the balance is f'ed up. The giant mech fight was a cakewalk on Hard.

It does not help that stores are available only once every 4-6 dungeon crawls at best so you can't even be assured of having a stock of items for this fight or augments.

Forges are available in every dungeon, but I'm unable to craft new items for reasons which are unclear. I do have a stash of healing items, but I can't get more for this fight. I can't buy more augments for all the empty slots in my armor, not that it'll matter.

[Sniii]

I couldn't find a save file before the fight, but I had a Hard mode save file from 17,5h something, where I had pretty much cleared the Angra Mainyu . That's as close as I could get! But here's an extensive list of my party after clearing the place, as I am inclined to believe. Some changes from Alexei to this point are possible, but you can get the main gist hopefully.

FORMATION:
EMPTY ROW FRONT (build a Junk Pile in front of Lucian)
_ Soha Lucian _ _
_ Ingrid Esk Kesh _

That's right - Soha is actually the best tank after getting her specialization slot. She and Lucian are in front, covering the others.

SKILLS WERE AS FOLLOWS. Just... Min-max, and focus heavily on Stagger because hoo boy it's good. Hard-mode is all about min-maxing.

LUCIAN
Passives: Battle Hardened, Triage orders, Press the attack
Actives:
Shock Blade 5
Pommel Bash 5 (STAGGER)
Aetherial Strike 4
Resolute 4
Hold the line 3
Enchant Lightning 3
Thunderstrike 4

INGRID
Passives: Pharmacology, Piercing Shot, Master Mechanic
Actives:
Aimed Shot 5
Junk Pile 5
Supressive Fire 4 (STAGGER)
Sonic Cannon 4 (STAGGER)
Turret 3
Poison nails 4
Fulgurite Shards 3

SOHA
Special: BLOOD KNIGHT (just always use Knight, trust me)
Passives: Life Beacon, Swordplay Mastery, Imbued Might/Blood affinity
Actives:
Blood Saber 5
Blood Tap 5
Coup De Grace 5
Nurture 4
Gift of Life 3
Blood Link 2
Siphon Might 3

Note: Soha's Blood magic uses the strength stat. Go blood knight, watch her HP skyrocket, and slash and feeeed. Forget the darkness skills for now...

ESKANDAR
Special: Nightblade (better one for bossfights)
Passives: Cunning, Poison Coating, Aquity
Actives:
Stealth 4
Backstab 4
Kidney Shot 5 (STAGGER)
Heavy Bolt 5
Hamstring Slash 2
Crossbow Barrage 5 (poisonssss)
Heightened Senses 2

KESH
Passives: Iron Will, Chi Channeling, Guardian Heart
Actives:
Pressure Point 5 (STAGGER)
Chi Blast 5
Meditation 4
Enhance Chi 3
Divine Barrier 4
Revive 3
Divine Wake 4

GEAR, ACCESSORIES:

LUCIAN lv 36
Weapon: Stable Platina Knightblade
Head: Stalwart Platina Helm
Body: Prismatic Platina Cuirass
Arms: Stalwart Aurite Gauntlets
Accessory1: Horn of Command
Accessory2: Brown Belt

INGRID lv 36
Weapon: Powerful Platina Sniper
Head: Robust Leather Headband
Body: Lithe Rugged Vest
Arms: Rugged Bracers
Accessory1: Emerald Ring
Accessory2: Diamond Ring

SOHA lv 36
Weapon: Prismatic Platina Rapier
Head: Powerful Rugged Headband
Body: Prismatic Platina Mail
Arms: Mighty Aurite Grips
Accessory1: Ruby Ring
Accessory2: Amber Ring

ESKANDAR lv 36
Weapon: Keen Aurite Karambit
Head: Lithe Rugged Headband
Body: Lithe Platina Mail
Arms: Keen Aurite Grips
Accessory1: Talisman
Accessory2: Sapphire Ring

KESH lv 41
Weapon: Powerful Platina Beacon
Head: Prismatic Platina Helm
Body: Stern Rugged Vest
Arms: Stern Aurite Gauntlets
Accessory1: Wanderer's Mantle
Accessory2: Unwieldy Bulwark

WEAPON AUGMENTS

Lucian: Contained Lightning, Coral
Ingrid: Genbu Shell Fragment, Drake Scale
Soha: Contained Lightning, Diamond Jewel
Eskandar: Diamond Jewel
Kesh: Drake Scale, Contained Lightning, Coral

ARMOR AUGMENTS

Lucian: Rainbow Shell, Aetherium Widget, Aurite ingot, Platina ingot, Obsidian ingot
Ingrid: Sonorous Bell, Sapphire jewel, Diamond jewel, Garnet Jewel
Soha: Sonorous Bell, Diamond jewel, Temporal Modulator (not sure if you have it at this point??), Diamond jewel
Eskandar: Emerald Jewel x3, Ruby jewel
Kesh: Rainbow Shell, Platina Ingot x2, Peridot jewel

...

So yeah. Main strategy in a nutshell: Junk Pile in front of Lucian, Staggerstaggerstagger, blind, blood saber & blood tap, buffs, poison... smite 'em.

[Dancing Dragon Games]

Thanks for helping out, Platy. Can't please 'em all, especially when it comes to RPG difficulty curves. lol

[Stabbey]

Thank you for the advice. I'm not sure how to craft things as most of the time the Combine option does not appear. In fact the only things the game seems to let me make are gems and swords for Lucian. Nothing else works and I have no idea why.

EDIT: It seems that when crafting, you're allowed to select items for a pattern which the pattern does not use. This will disable the option to combine, but there is no feedback about why.

***

I can give that strategy a shot, but don't have a Brown Belt, Amber Ring, or Temporal Modulator, and if I want more augments, I'll need to redo 3 dungeons because the last time to buy those was before going to Giovany's lab. Game balance!

I am also multiple levels behind because I didn't do the arena, which would again be before Giovany's lab.

Why do you have Ingrid with a Turret as one of her skills? I have tried the turrets and even at max level they absorb about one enemy shot and die without getting a turn, which doesn't seem worth the TP.

Originally posted by Dancing Dragon Games:

Thanks for helping out, Platy. Can't please 'em all, especially when it comes to RPG difficulty curves. lol

I enjoy the characters and story quite a lot.

I'm not so fond of needing to replay at least three dungeons and an hour or more of gameplay because that's the last time it's possible to get upgrades for equipment.

[Sniii]

If I remember correctly, Temporal Modulator is something you can get in Angra Mainyu, so maybe it's only after the Alexei battle. It's in a large treasure chest. In that case, don't worry about it.
The Rings such as Amber are honestly just something I used when I didn't have anything other substantial, so don't worry about that either. Brown Belt is an upgrade to a Purple Belt, these belts are available in the Arena. The belt mostly helps due to its stats and the possibility to Counter-attack.

I am sure that you can handle this battle without the same level of gear, with some other strategising! Because I honestly didn't have much problem at all with what I had, I was oftentimes OP.

The things I most saw in need of some tweaking for you are the skills. Try out Nightblade and poisons on Esk, max out stagger skills and junk pile, and most definitely at that point of game - focus on Blood Knight and blood magic with Soha. She sort of has two routes of builds: Blood or Dark, and in hardmode you really should try to avoid mixing them up. The only time I ever really needed darkness skills were certain Arena challenges.

It is actually paramount to max out Junk Pile, give Ingrid Master Mechanic (x2 HP), and prioritize puking one of those piles in front of your team ASAP. You'll see how much of a flippin sponge it is.

As for the Turret... I honestly had it many times as just "something to do" if I had the TP or my other stuff was on cooldown. Not really necessary. It's advisable to place the turret behind your tanks and junk - because like you said, it's not meant to soak up damage. It's a nice backup DPS, though. I usually just ended up spamming like 2-3 different skills on a character, not all of them... :D Why go all fancy when you can Stagger?

Also, do NOT worry about levels. EoA stats are built around gear. I advise against grinding levels, but do try to get as far as you can in the Arena challenges before moving on, when you can. You can get some pretty sweet gear there - such as the belt.

***
I agree that sometimes the crafting can get confusing if you're not used to it. Most of the time, if something doesn't work it's because of reagents. Like, standard quality Mail armor and the Beacon are actually made with Wood, not Coal.

***
As for having to replay... Heh, I missed some achievements and cards, and replayed the entire game because of it! :D
But, well, the reality of the situation is that you chose to go for Hard mode. In this game, Hard means Hard. It means min-maxing. I must admit, it kinda also means that you're gonna have to put in some real work and thought into what you're going to do. Not grinding, per se, but trying to exhaust different options such as the Arena as much as you can before moving on.
I put up with a ridiculous amount of chest farming in late-game, because I'm somewhat of a completionist. But after I was done, I was ludicrously strong... Definitely not needed to get ALL the max gear or half of it...
I do warmly recommend finishing the game, but don't feel bad about first going with Normal, to see where things go. You can always try another go with the Hard mode if you feel like a completionist. The second playthrough is way faster when you know what to do. ;)

[Stabbey]

I did the best I could at getting the formation, equipment and skills to match. Except that I chose Spare Item for Ingrid instead of Turret, since you said it was just something to do.

I hit one swordsman with two stagger attacks, then Soha, Esk and Lucian were all one-shot from full health with a Thunderstrike. After that I immediately switched to doing manual attacks on whoever until the battle ended.

Second attempt: Two stagger attacks, then Esk and Ingrid were one-shot from full to a Thunderstrike. Manual attacks until dead.

The third attempt eventually worked, once I was able to focus-stagger Alexi. So I have beaten the fight now and do not need to redo the dungeon on Easy.

Yes, I did play this dungeon on Hard, but in fairness, the last boss was not difficult on Hard (perhaps because I was already geared up for robot fighting).

[Sniii]

Good to hear it worked out for you! Once you get the hang of the best strengths of the characters and gear, things get interesting.

And yeah, I definitely underestimated Spare Item for the longest time, so I didn't have it on at the time. I probably could've used it more often myself. Combine that with Pharmacology and Ingrid's become a great speedy clutch! I also recommend Kesh's Divine Barrier.

At some point, the enemies started having Armor stats and Esk's Crossbow Barrage just stopped damaging anyone without counterweights... :D so I usually switched it out for something else when I wasn't building Poison stacks.