The recommended level for dlc quests SUCKS

[Mochi]

After spending 3+ hours on the last part of the Labyrinth dlc I was finally ready to face the final boss. I was a level 136 and the recommended level was 120, but when I faced the boss, it knocked out my entire team and all of our healing items in less than 5 mins. I had 800+ damage weapons (which I now don't have because I died ;_;) and 400 defense armor. I also upgraded higgledies / spells / manuals to the max. Leading up to this fight, everything was a piece of cake. I fought off EVERY enemy at EVERY other part with such ease and this comes out of nowhere.

And its the same with A Tale of a Timeless Tome dlc! I go to fight the final bad guy and it is SO much harder than any of the precious enemies!

I've used the recommended levels from the start of the game, and I know that they are only showing the level of the enemy you are going up against, but when it says "recommended level" I expect it to be doable with good weapons, armor, higgledies, spells, manuals, and 10+ levels on top of it. But it's just not possible.

I'm sick of wasting hours and hours of my time, only to end up dead because of OP bosses. Do you guys have any advice for how to fight these stupid bosses? Should I just grind until I'm 50+ levels ahead of it, or is there some trick to it?

[Avarice]

It's entirely possible, depending on either your reflexes or your tolerance for tedium, to beat both of these bosses with your entire party well below the boss' level, so out-leveling them by 50 levels is technically not needed (also the cap is 150 anyway).

For the final Prince of Wraiths fight, first you want to have "survives big hits with 1 HP" or whatever the exact text is equipment slotted on whoever you're using; next set your tactic tweaker to 5 points in darkness resistance so his attacks don't kill your party members instantly and 5 points in damage to slimes. In the fight itself, the boss will either swing at or shoot his homing lasers at whoever you're controlling, so you can point where his attacks go to get the AI murdered a bit less (they'll probably still find ways to die). Personally, I beat him by just using Ding Dong Discipline on my character of choice, dodging into his horizontal swings and lasers, then whacking him during the time stop (make sure you don't power attack right as he swings again or you'll eat the hit when your invulnerability ends). When he starts teleporting around the perimeter shooting lasers, you can just run around dodging if you're not confident in attacking him or low on healing items. If this isn't something you'd enjoy (or something you have trouble timing), you can alternatively load up your characters with Gizmo Supremo, with black hole and impactotron, then unload on him while he's stuck in black hole (he can't jump at you or teleport out of it), switching to the next character when all of one's gizmos are on cooldown. Being over his level and out-gearing him, it would probably be possible to beat him with just this (and maybe a few higgle knights) and dodging like crazy in between black holes. Alternatively, can do both, use Gizmo for burst damage and switch to a Ding Dong Discipline character to dodge when Gizmos are on cooldown.

For the Madshadow from Timeless Tome, again set your tactics tweaker to resist darkness. His big spinning saws attack when his body is lit up will most likely kill both your AI helpers each time, and you don't want to revive into it because it'll just kill them again; wait until it ends, just make sure the character you control lives. Sometimes, you get lucky and the AI makes it through. His other attacks are pretty easy to avoid. As to killing him, the fastest way is to use Evan with Wizard's Companion and Sunrise. During downtime either before or right after an attack, target a lit up arm (or the main body, if it's lit up) and cast Sunrise at it, hit all the prompts and watch the pretty damage numbers. Can whack an arm or the body in the middle for MP after the arm attacks if you need it, and just focus on living during saws. Can switch to someone with another martial method for dodging if that's convenient for you, but only Evan has a light spell and that's what really hurts the boss.

Of course you could always just level grind to 150 in the Solosseum if you really want to overpower the bosses too, though their attacks can still easily kill you even at 150, you just do way more damage to them with higher levels and better gear.

[Mochi]

Originally posted by Avarice:

It's entirely possible, depending on either your reflexes or your tolerance for tedium, to beat both of these bosses with your entire party well below the boss' level, so out-leveling them by 50 levels is technically not needed (also the cap is 150 anyway).

For the final Prince of Wraiths fight, first you want to have "survives big hits with 1 HP" or whatever the exact text is equipment slotted on whoever you're using; next set your tactic tweaker to 5 points in darkness resistance so his attacks don't kill your party members instantly and 5 points in damage to slimes. In the fight itself, the boss will either swing at or shoot his homing lasers at whoever you're controlling, so you can point where his attacks go to get the AI murdered a bit less (they'll probably still find ways to die). Personally, I beat him by just using Ding Dong Discipline on my character of choice, dodging into his horizontal swings and lasers, then whacking him during the time stop (make sure you don't power attack right as he swings again or you'll eat the hit when your invulnerability ends). When he starts teleporting around the perimeter shooting lasers, you can just run around dodging if you're not confident in attacking him or low on healing items. If this isn't something you'd enjoy (or something you have trouble timing), you can alternatively load up your characters with Gizmo Supremo, with black hole and impactotron, then unload on him while he's stuck in black hole (he can't jump at you or teleport out of it), switching to the next character when all of one's gizmos are on cooldown. Being over his level and out-gearing him, it would probably be possible to beat him with just this (and maybe a few higgle knights) and dodging like crazy in between black holes. Alternatively, can do both, use Gizmo for burst damage and switch to a Ding Dong Discipline character to dodge when Gizmos are on cooldown.

For the Madshadow from Timeless Tome, again set your tactics tweaker to resist darkness. His big spinning saws attack when his body is lit up will most likely kill both your AI helpers each time, and you don't want to revive into it because it'll just kill them again; wait until it ends, just make sure the character you control lives. Sometimes, you get lucky and the AI makes it through. His other attacks are pretty easy to avoid. As to killing him, the fastest way is to use Evan with Wizard's Companion and Sunrise. During downtime either before or right after an attack, target a lit up arm (or the main body, if it's lit up) and cast Sunrise at it, hit all the prompts and watch the pretty damage numbers. Can whack an arm or the body in the middle for MP after the arm attacks if you need it, and just focus on living during saws. Can switch to someone with another martial method for dodging if that's convenient for you, but only Evan has a light spell and that's what really hurts the boss.

Of course you could always just level grind to 150 in the Solosseum if you really want to overpower the bosses too, though their attacks can still easily kill you even at 150, you just do way more damage to them with higher levels and better gear.

Damn dude, you know your stuff. I really appreciate you writing this, it will definitely help me out.