Jeanne fight in chapter 5 seems like a crazy difficulty spike

[Chucklehead]

I've pretty much been breezing through the game but suddenly I'm banging my head against this fight for nearly an hour. The fact that there's a stupid cutscene with a QTE in it that I have to replay every single time doesn't help either.

She can break combos at will and she takes giant chunks off my health bar. Is there some obvious strategy I'm missing here?

[Setnaro X]

She has the ability to parry so you should not just be attacking up close as that will leave you in a vulnerable state most of the time. Use your weapon's secondary abilities like shooting, dropping bombs (if you unlocked the Durga weapon), charged sword attack etc. etc. in order to deal some good damage to her. Be aware Jeanne can also flick away your bullets with ease but it's better to force her to do this as she is can be vulnerable to other attacks when she's busy doing this. Really, it's a matter of finding the right balance between attacking and shooting. Don't just run up to her and mash your punch and kick buttons as that's not gonna get you anywhere.

Focus on finishing Bayonetta's combos. Almost all of Bayonetta's combos ends with a wicked weave (the giant fist and feet). These attacks are powerful enough to shove Jeanne around. Be careful because she CAN dodge these but don't give up. Just position yourself away from here as she moves about so you can safely continue doing your combos. Some of Bayonetta's attacks can also make Jeanne trip to the floor. For example, Bayo's PPPKKK combo has her doing sweep kicks during the kicking parts. These sweep kicks will make Jeanne fall to the floor leaving her vulnerable to your follow up attacks.

By now, you should be aware not all of Jeanne's attacks can activate witch time. These include her regular punch and kick moves. The attacks that you CAN witch time are her wicked weaves so pay attention to her combos and watch for her she ends her combos, specifically her sword attacks. For her fist weaves, she'll usually snap her fingers. If you hear that snap, you got less than a second to react to it and these weaves will come out from beneath you. She'll also emit a little flash to indicate when she'll do her stomp kick which will come from above. These 2 attacks are the ones you gotta watch out for as they can do a lot of damage you.

Keep it at, and keep practicing. This game is tough but super rewarding when you start to master the gameplay. There's videos out there that explain stuff like Dodge Offsetting that's important to learn if you want more control over the combos you execute. These are helpful for taking down the toughest enemies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOVVmm4KOm4

GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN

[Chucklehead]

Thanks, I think I've been getting better by mostly focusing on dodging and damage avoidance. From the variety of offensive moves and combos the game kind of gives the impression of being offense-oriented but the more I've played the more it seems that is not the right approach.

[Starbug]

Originally posted by mrandoc:

Thanks, I think I've been getting better by mostly focusing on dodging and damage avoidance. From the variety of offensive moves and combos the game kind of gives the impression of being offense-oriented but the more I've played the more it seems that is not the right approach.

Master dodge offset and dodging is incorporated seamlessly into the big attack combos.

[Chucklehead]

God the fight in the 14th chapter is just awful. It is SO long and the camera is constantly jumping all over the place and making it difficult to track and dodge Jeanne's movements. Really irritating stuff.