Boss Strategies - Guide for Drakengard

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Part 1: Various Chapters - Black Dragon
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The Black Dragon shows up several times over the course of the game, and
each battle is largely the same. When he floats around in circles, try
to lead a few unlocked shots on him. When he darts around, get ready to
dodge, as he will be launching a projectile attack on you. If he ever
flies far off into the distance and creates a big runic circle, he is
generating a magic attack. Try and fire off a magic attack of your own,
if you have on ready. If not, turn to face him as fast as you can and
fire some unlocked shots at him. If you hit him in time, it will
interupt his attack, although he will probably still retaliate with an
unguided projectile. When he's charging up a magic attack, he is very
open to attack himself, so make use of these opportunities. A magic
attack will stun him for a bit which should allow you to fire a couple
extra free unlocked shots. Also, when he is floating around in circles,
charge up some locked shots. They won't hurt him much, but they will
build up your magic gauge. Additionally, they will stun him briefly, and
if you're quick on the draw, you will be able to hit him with an
unlocked shot while he is being hit by the lock-on shots.


Here's an alternate strategy by Mark Reed -

Notice that everytime you use lock on shots all he counters with is
dodging all of them while shooting random counterattacks. Well, you
might hit him, but you'll do almost no damage. That's why you should
try and avoid using any lock on shots as they will more than likely
result in much more damage done to you. The main thing to do here is
stay close, while he's going in a circle, shoot as many unlocked
fireballs as possible in the spot you'll think he'll be going. If you
get a successfull hit (which shouldn't be hard if you're close) you have
the chance of taking off one whole point! Strafing is also a very good
idea here as his attacks can be very annoying to be hit by. Only use
your special when he goes up to do his (a blue circle around his face).
If you get this one right you could take anywhere from 3-5 points off.
A HUGE help. This guy's not too tough if you stay close and keep
firing! The moment you stop shooti! ng is the moment he's going to
start letting off tons of shots. Keep him guessing and put alot of
shots around to where he has no where to go and you'll be fine. Good
luck!


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Part 2: Chapter  8 V. 2 - Wyrm
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Ignore the little guys, they do negligble damage. Just charge Wrym, and
dodge if he shoots anything at you. Use only unlocked shots - they do a
ton more damage, and this guy is impossible to miss. Keep doing fly-bys.
Whenever he goes into a ball, shoot him with unlocked shots. I don't
know if it makes him come out faster but it seemed to help. He heals
when in ball state so get him out asap. When he is a floating skull,
just shoot random unlocked shots at him. Then he'll go back into a ball.
Just keep repeating this over and over until you beat him.

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Part 3: Chapter  8 V. 7 - Final Boss (Ending 1)
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This battle is hard, so its not a bad idea to go back and level some. I
didn't need to, but it woulnd't hurt to do so.

OK, first the basics. She has 3 attack modes here that occur when her
life is depleted by one-third. Since she is gigantic, only use unlocked
shots, as they do much more damage. Second, save all of your magic for
her third form. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE. Don't start using magic
until she begins her ridiculous stage 3 attacks, as it will be very hard
to use regular shots then. You will probably have 2 magic uses saved up
by then which will expedite things greatly.

Form 1: Nothing too tricky here. She encloses herself in a bubble, does
some gestures, and launches fireballs at you. When she begins her spell,
fly to the other end of the map and just hang out there. Once the
fireballs are right next to you, strafe (R1/L1) and dash (X) to avoid
them. It helps to do both (in that order) to prevent them from making a
sharp turn an nailing you. Once the fireballs are gone, just charge at
her and throw some fireballs of your own at her. Sometimes you'll get
unlucky and she'll throw a lot of fireballs at you; don't worry, just be
patient and wait for an opening. Eventually, she will summon a bubble
with runic circles all over. This is your queue her second stage is
starting and you should fly to the other end of the map to avoid some
serious pain.

Form 2: She will start releasing expaning horizontal runic circles from
her body. If you hang out at the edge of the map, they will dissipate
right before they hit you. However, you can't really snipe her - it
seems you can only do damage when you are closer to her. Don't blindly
charge her however - those circles do about 30-40 damage, and typically,
they will stun you long enough to get hit by one or two more. Bad news.
So, theres two ways to go about this - the fast insane way, or the easy
patient way. I myself did #2 here. -Method 1: If you are very confident
of your flying abilities, dash in on her. If a circle comes near you,
dash downwards or upwards quickly (coupled with a strafe for good
measure) to evade. Once you get close, launch a few shots at her, then
dash back to the other side. -Method 2: You'll notice after a while
there is some sort of vague pattern to her attacks. Sometimes she gets
pissed and launches circles all over the place in kind of a wall. Other
times, she will only launch a couple, and only from one part of her
body. Wait for these openings, and dash towards the open area. I myself
just waited on the upper half of the sceen (easier to hit her torso) and
once she started launching runes from her feet, I dashed in and fired
off shots at her. Overall, this form isn't too bad once you get the hang
of it and learn the patterns. Eventually, she'll have some more "Grr,
grr" dialouge. Now she's really pissed, run run run!

Form 3: This form is unbelievably annoying. She launches runic circles,
but at various angles. This often makes it impossible to close in on
her. However, since they are diagonal, you can strafe them, but its
difficult as they are very wide. First order of business is to close in
and launch both the magic attacks you've stored up. This will do a lot
of damage to her, almost killing her. Stay cool, and just do the same as
the last form: wait for an opening, then dash in and launch a couple
shots. If you stay patient and wait for openings, she is very beatable.
Just don't get overexcited when shes at low health and end up dashing
into her circles: they tend to come in groups now, so you could be
looking at 60-100+ damage. Once you deal the last bit of damage, the
screen will blur out, and you'll see her falling. Put the controller
down. Congratulations! You've earned the first ending, so sit back and
enjoy it. Grab a tissue too. :P



I discoverd this really "cheap" way of beating Manah by accident after a
couple frustrating lost battles.. ok, it's sort of like a bug When the
battle starts, just fly towards manah and, "fly underneath her skirt as
if to sneak a peak" = =" as perverted as that sounds, it's almost a
guaranteed victory ( you won't see anything, by the way) Once you're
there, you're pretty immune to manah's attack in her first 2 forms, and
u will rarely get hit by her rune circles in the third form. Oh, once
you are under her skirt, just turn and face up, since you are stuck
between her skirts (front and back piece) u can just stay there and
unleash alll ur rage and frustration~!


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Part 4: Chapter  9 V. 3 - Final Boss (Ending 2)
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OK, I had a lot of problems with this boss at first, when my attack was
a bit under 120. I levelled for a bit, collecting weapons from aerial
stages, and when I came back, my attack was just under 140, and I was
able to beat her. So, when in doubt, level up a bit. Unlike the other
final bosses, she does not have multiple forms or stages. So she is just
the same at low life as at full. IE, no big super attack to worry about
when shes down to the last dots of life :)Even so, she is still fairly
difficult. She has 3 main attack patterns:

Attack 1: She will hold still and launch two waves of magic at you - a
vertical wave, followed by a horizontal wave. When she charges the
attack, launch an unlocked shot or two. Then, once the wave gets close,
strafe at the last possible instant to dodge the attacks. The waves can
do a lot of damage, especially if you get caught by several at once. So,
it may take a few tries learning the strafe timing.

Attack 2: She will fly around in a large circle, occasionally shooting
horizontal waves at you. Hold R2 and lean in to the direction she is
going, and when she fires magic, dodge it in the direction you are
turning at the last possible instant. Dashing at the same time helps, as
I find these attacks are much harder to dodge than when she is
stationary. If you are really good at flying and shooting and dodging
simultaneously, try launching a few unlocked shots ahead of her.
Otherwise, just hold down R2 and try to get some locked shots charged
up/fired.

Attack 3: She will curl up, then summon a ring of swords around her. You
need to take these swords out ASAP. They will stay out for about 5-8
seconds before she uses an attack with them. Before then, you need to
use locked shots/magic attacks to remove those swords. She is immune to
damage while those swords are out. After a while, the swords will turn
on their end and point at you. A second or two later, all the remaining
swords will launch out at you. It is possible to dodge them, but
extremely difficult, and nigh impossible if more than 2 or 3 are out.
These swords do a lot of damage so it is imperitive you get rid of them
as quickly as you can. I recommend saving your magic attacks to clear
out these swords, as magic doesn't seem to do much damage to her (not
much more than a single unlocked shot, in any case.)

Just follow this pattern until you manage to kill her. If you
consistently have problems with her (as I did) just level up your dragon
for a while. Finally, the screen will blur out, and she will fall to the
earth. Congratulations, you've earned ending number two!

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Part 5: Chapter  9 V. 6 - Final Boss (Ending 3)
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First off, get Hymir's Finger and max it out. Chapter 1 Verse 8 is an
easy place to do this. Once maxed, it has an enormous 62 Attack.
Additionally, having Nobuyoshi along and maxed out helps too, but it is
not necessary.

Form 1: The Chaos Dragon will stay at one end of the hall and launch
dumbfire projectiles at you. However, they are stopped by the columns.
The projectile launched from the Hymir's Finger finishing move goes
through them. Hide behind a column where she can't see you, and charge
up ten attacks, and use his finisher for the eleventh. Just make sure
you're pointed at her and you'll do about one and a half life-dots of
damage. Keep repeating this until she flies to the other end of the
room. After a bit, she will begin using a new set of attacks. Form 2:
Now she will start to use firebreathing attacks. These are not stopped
by the wall, however, they are short range. Hide behind a column (just
in case she throws out a fireball instead) and repeat the earlier
process. Continue this  until she is at about half lifebar. If done
right, you will have taken zero damage to her 50%. Not a bad deal. Form
3: She will now begin to throw homing projectiles at you, so our method
of launching projectiles from behind columns is no longer workable.
These projectiles home in on geometric paths. Bunny-hop your way to her,
and use jump attacks if she has her head reared back. You might luck out
and she will bring her head down for a bit. Beat on it. If you find its
too difficult to use Hymir's Finger here, use Nobuyoshi. Charge up a
magic bar and use it on her for Susano's Veil. Although she is immune to
magic, she is not immune to the extra damage caused from freezing from
this magic attack. This can help expedite things greatly. If your life
gets low, there is a treasure chest in the SE corner containing a full
life orb. Keep beating on her till shes at one quarter life.

Form 4: Almost there! Now she gets really pissed and starts launching
homing fireballs. When the lock-on appears around you, start rolling
around all over the place to evade. If possible, jump in and attack her
when the dust settles. After a few hits, she will fly across to the
other side of the screen. Get ready to run at her, and do a jumping dash
attack. This should hit her, and might even stun her a bit, allowing you
to land a few beefy Hymir's Finger swings. If things get really tough,
remember you have allies. Try summoning Leonard a few times and try
using his magic attack on her (remember, magic immune enemies aren't
immune to allies magic.) Continue this until she falls dead.
Congratulations, you have earned the third ending!




Before you begin the battle make sure Caim's sword is maxed, this will
be the most important part. Remeber, she's magic resistant, so save
your magic for later. Also, if you run into health troubles (as most
probably will) there is a treasure chest with full health in it in one
of the corners on your left. Here's how I did it, and good luck.

Form 1: She'll do that thing where she stays still and shoots fireballs
at you. Easy enough, stay out on the middle of the floor and as you
move up keep hitting L1 or R1 to strafe (If you get into any immediate
danger hide behind a pillar, as the fireballs can't harm you there). As
soon as you get up to her head give it a few good whacks until she tries
to do a combo where again, all you have to do is strafe (R1/L1) and it
shouldn't hurt you. Since Caim's sword doesn't do a lot of damage make
sure that when she runs you're all ready moving to the other side...the
key word is strafe, and you should be fine. After all this fun you'll
reach ...

Form 2: Now this part can be one of the hardest if you don't know how
to get away without being knocked around like a rag doll. First off,
get behind the pillar closest to her (you'll have to be at the far edge
of it because the fire likes to come around somehow and knock you down,
causing a ton of frustration) after she gets done with one blast STRAFE
as fast as your little legs will take you to the opposite side of her
and she'll reload, this is where you need to strafe afap (as fast as
possible) to the other side of her, you need to be touching her for
this, so the fire won't harm you. After that when she's getting ready
to go for another one just crack her skull open with some combos. Keep
hitting her until she want's to do that combo again or fly to the other
direction. Pretty soon you'll be at ...

Form 3: All right, this form was probably the most anger causing one
because trying to dodge all the things she has follow you made it
impossible to get to her before she ran away. This is where you use
your magic (cometdance). The thing she'll be doing here is she'll take
off and these little ball things will go all around the room trying to
smack you around while she sits on the other side of the room staying
still. This is probably the eaisest form to beat. AS SOON as she takes
off use cometdance and all the balls should be gone (you can also
physically attack them, but that's not so much worth it as they'll
usually dodge and smack you around) if there are any left feel free to
cometdance again to get rid of them which should leave you plenty of
time to just go around and lay Caim's sword on her again. So, after
that completely annoying phase you'll reach the most dangerous, the most
anticipated, ...

Form 4: Probably the most dangerous phase because the fireballs that
were so fun to dodge in the beginning are now homing fireballs.
Excellent. Again, (L1/R1) strafe Caim as much as you possibly can,
sometimes even that's not enough, but remember, be getting as close as
you can while strafing. As soon as you're close enough lay some hits on
her until she goes to the other side. AS SOON as she goes into the air
be running to the other side and a running attack or a jump attack will
help here. She'll more than likely try a combo like she does everytime,
just strafe it again until you can finally lay her down. You've beat
her! Congrats and enjoy the ending.

As a side note: Any attack of hers can be interrupted by a physical
attack of yours, this can be VERY helpful.




Make sure you have Hymir's Finger for this battle. It is great if you can level
it up, but I use Level 1.

Form 1: This one is not too difficult. She stands there and shoots fireballs at
you. In the beginnning, just run straight at her. When she shoots a fireball,
change the course of your running to the left or right just enough to avoid it.
When you get to her, jump and hit her (X square). While her head is down, keep
jumping and hitting her (so you can use the slow weapon faster). As soon as her
head rises up, roll out of the way ( L1 or R1). She will either try to attack
you or fly to the other side of the room. If she does attack, continue hitting
her as soon as she is done attacking you. When the dragon flies to the other
side of the room, follow her as fast as you can and continue with the same
method.

Form 2: Now she introduces a new attack. It's just a different fire breath.
Continue the method in Form 1. As long as you roll correctly, you should be
able to dodge the fire.

Form 3: This time, the dragon will release lots of red glowy-things that will
go out in a few directions. Continue the fighting method used previously, but
you also have to dodge the glowy-things wihle you're running for the dragon. If
you need to, jump (X) to avoid the glowy-things, but the overall method should
stay the same.

Form 4: Normally, she will target in your direction and fire a bunch of homing
fireballs. But if you can get to her quickly enough, (make sure her head is
low), she won't even get a chance to fire.
But if she does get to fire, take the hits, and then she will briefly lower her
head. That's when you strike and keep hitting her (always use jump-strike when
using the Hymir's Finger) until the dragon dies.

If you need to, (you probably will), get the treasure box in the left corner of
the room if you are about to die.

Note: The dragon is also a great way to level up Caim. Also, instead of
rolling, you can also use the block (L2) when the dragon attacks, but note that
you will take a bit of damage from it.


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Part 6: Chapter  13 V. 3 - Final Boss (Ending 5)
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In this unusual boss battle, you must create rings of the same color the
boss does. Triangle emits a black ring, and Square creates a white one. The
first two waves aren't too bad, but the last part of the last wave is very
tough - you'll need many practice runs before you are able to successfully
complete it. One trick is to pause the game, look at the next couple rings, and
then unpause it and fire the rings. Then pause it again, look at the next
segment
of the pattern, and repeat. If you ever miss a ring, you will be stunned for a
second
and all of your rings will disappear - this means death towards the end. Also,
your
life constantly drains, but it regains whenever you fire off a ring. Make sure
after
you finish the last pattern, you fire off a ton of black rings to max out your
life.

Here is the full attack pattern, thanks to CoolCloud.

Wave 1: W W W W B B B B W B W B W B B B B W B W B W B W W W W

WAVE 2 : B W B W B B W W W W W B W B W B B B W W W W W B W B W B W W B W
B W B W W W W B B W W B B W W B B W B W B W B W B W W

WAVE 3 : B B W W W B W W W B W W W W W B W W W W W B
(Here's the long one) B W B B W B W B W B W B B W  B B W B W B W B W B W
W W B B B W B W B W W B B B W W W B W B W B W W B

Upon beating this mission, you will earn the fifth ending, achieve 100% story
completetion,
and will unlock a special free mission in Tokyo - highlight the top left of the
screen on the
Free Expedition select screen to play it.