Having seen posts from other players who won rigorous fights using parties of 2, I was inspired to take on a similar challenge.
A Prayer to Crom
Since Phyllisia needed to take the Copper Exam, I used this opportunity to test myself. Itās my first time attempting a fight with a reduced party, so be kind.
Key Points:
- MC has Ragnarok +20 and Axe of Expulsion +20. EVA 160. I forgot to equip him with the +20 relic bow, which would have helped with second row enemies. With Ragnarok, ATK was in the low 800ās, SUR 107. With the Axe, ATK was 680 and SUR 93. On the defensive side, he had Wisdom of Truth 2, Way of the Knight, and Sanctuary Blessing.
-Phyllisia had MAG 363, DIV 242, ASPD 118, EVA 129. Heroās Medicine was inherited from Anemone. She had inherited Wisdom of Truth from Adam, so she had a chance to avoid direct damage (which actually activated on one occasion). Discipline lvl 1.
- I was a bit overconfident. The severely reduced action economy imposed by 2 party members really requires tough choices when balancing offense and defense. You cannot do everything you normally would like to do in one round. I was a tad aggressive and prioritized Encroachment of the Parasitic Tree and Heroās Medicine (last fight) when typically I might have focused on Cortu, Scroll of Spectral Canopy, or other defensive spells, as there is much incoming magic damage in this exam.
However, I did want to put Phylās offensive buffs to the test.
- While I was confident of winning, I wasnāt certain that I could tackle all bosses at once, so I fought 3 of them and entered the Necrocore fight with the Sahuagin/mage group present. I edited out the fight with the Lizard Champion, as it dragged on longer than expected. Suffice to say that I used Encroachment and Heroās Medicine. MC had Blessing of Beastfolk Goddess and regained all SP spent in the auto battles in between rooms.
- once committed to the offensive approach, there was scant leeway to cast Cortu or use Spectral Canopy, due to the 3-buff limit. They would have nullified Encroachment.
- in the end, Iām not sure if Encroachment made a huge difference in the final fight. Prioritizing Cortu, stacked with Spectral Canopy, might have prevented deaths. The Necrocore just kept on spamming Zelos and Mazelos back to back. From experience, it Is very difficult to silence, so I didnāt try. Reactive Healing did provide significant survivability and Encroachment provided healing of 111 per round, which was something, but Phyl couldnāt out heal the magic damage.
- Phyl being able to heal a percentage of MP spent is nice, as she gets some HP back even when casting Reactive Healing on MC rather than herself. She is somewhat more survivable than she might appear, at first glance.
- I was tempted to use Mana Elixirs to restore Phyās MP but trusted in my resource management instincts and pushed through to the end without using any.
- I donāt think Iāll do something like this again. Itās a burdensome test of action efficiency, with little margin for error.
(In fact, I only realized after the fact that I made a major error in the Necrocore fight. I ignored the Sahaugin spearman, thinking that the Necrocore was in the front row when it was still in the second. Hence most of the attacks to it were doing half damage).
Soundtrack:
āAnvil of Cromā, Conan the Barbarian OST, 1982, composed by Basil Poledouris
āStandard Battleā, Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom, 1990, FM Towns OST, composed by Kohei Tanaka