Generation 11 Tips (Part 3) - Snakes. Why did it have to be Snakes?

Good news, if you're reading this you have already gotten past the "hard" part of the main arc and the end is nearly within reach. There is another extra mission though for those that love the babysitting castle run... extra annoying that is. :P

Showdown at the Castle (solo only)
You'll need to take care of some idiot python dudes first (beefed up but same AI is same AI), and I think you can call for dragon support to speed things up. You also have a big area to work with so archery skills are a bonus. Pick off those shamans first. Eventually the boss and his enterouge will spawn, deal with his minions first via range or lure the main guy away for one on one time. He should be easy enough to read to fend off until he uses his death shadow attack, which you strangely -want- to be hit by three times. you quickly use your shadow stone as soon as that happens though or you will really be dead. After that you will have perma-demi for the remainder of the mission and a new found (and very useful) power which you should use to slay the fool. Back it up with spears of light to speed things up but don't let him hit you with his shadow attack again.

Caliburn Pass (bring team)
With their leader dead, you should bring a team to chase down the remnants of the Python army. One NPC idiot will be with you and he needs to live against the huge number of baddies but this won't be so hard if you have a big group. This force is led by a python wizard (behaves like a shaman) has advanced heavy stander and cannot be knocked down/stunned so be careful when you final hit him as he can and will fight back. Use demi and trans as you see fit, and if you manage it you can also eliminate one wave using a dragon strike - just look out for friendly fire.

At least they're not on a Plane! (solo or with royal alchemist)
Now you have the finale - no not against those 4 shaman guys, against the 4 giant snake heads that appear after you kill them! I hope that by now you've got Rank 1 smash because that will come in really handy (and timely, you're on the clock) - in fact it is the only skill you need here. That's right, you just need to be the Hulk. Bring enough stam pots to let you keep using it along with the rest of your regular finale gear and try prioritize "downed" heads to deal real damage to them. The key to surviving is not getting hit! DUH. :P Fortunately the snakes follow a set pattern which should keep you ahead of their quite lethal breath attacks which come in two main variations:

Fireball - they launch projectiles exactly where you are standing. How to ever evade this? Oh yeah, just MOVE. Easy. May as well load up a smash while doing so, and if you feel like - sneak a smash in before the next attack begins.

Rivers of Fire - this is the one you really want to avoid as it is almost insta death to get hit. There are always safe spots to stand when they do this, it is just knowing where to be. They fire three of these in sequence (and I'm not kidding, it always follows the same sequence - after sequence III it goes back to the first one) so you can predict what's next. Generally it's not wise to attack them while they do this as you need to be thinking of the next safe spot to stand in.

General Behaviour:
Fireball (x2) . Resting (smash em) . Flame Throwing Pattern (see below) . Resting (smash em) . Fireball (x2)

Attack Sequence I: Circle, Cross, Circle
On Circle: Stand in the middle of the circle to evade.
On Cross: They are breathing at the head across them, so stand to edges of the screen not occupied by giant snake heads.

Attack Sequence II: Up or Down, Cross, Up or Down (opposite of 1st)
On Up or Down:  Stand on the left or right edges (remember the screen is at a slight angle) not occupied by giant snake heads.
On Cross: They are breathing at the head across them, so stand to edges of the screen not occupied by giant snake heads.
Recover: This is the only sequence where if you are standing on the left or right edges at the start, that you can get a breather to demi/trans or bandage as you don't need to move for the duration.

Attack Sequence III: Left or Right, Circle, Right or Left (opposite of 1st)
On Left or Right: Stand on the top or bottom edges (remember the screen is at a slight angle) not occupied by giant snake heads.
On Circle: Stand in the middle of the circle to evade.

Going for a Party Dress
After those giant snakes you may underestimate the little castle rats in this mission. They will be levelled to match you, so expect them to survive your first combo. Other than that, they're just rats. :P

Suspicious Rumor (solo or with royal alchemist)
Oh good, now you get to meet the 2nd most horrible "normal" spawn in the shadow castle (blinkers still worse)... sulphur spiders. These multi-aggro bastards are tough, do high damage, can take a beating, and enjoy spamming their deadly windmill. The non-colored ones are weaker, but tend to explode upon death. Be ready to heal/trans/and demi as needed, and use a shield if you are planning to use turtle defense. AoE summoned pets are also useful especially if they pin you to a wall.

Getting some Support (solo)
Just a really long castle mission here with nothing you haven't beaten before (no spiders, yay!). Bring gear to recover and look out for those wandering blinkers (damnit!).

Another Secret Experiment - Weapon X (solo with one NPC)
Oh man, you are really going to hate your stupid, suicidal friend here as he will probably die a bit to the many sulphur spiders in this mission. Just kill them as fast as you can and heal the fool when you are able. Say out loud the phrase in the secret note you found in the final chamber to access the second part. If you make it here then at least your pal will be fully healed and he actually does better against the enemies here (no spiders) but you should still help him out. Have the Brionac ready in your secondary slot once you reach the boss room because Deadpool (he's back!) can aggro you from very far away. Fastest way to beat him is to demi-god and spear of light him twice (with Brionac in your hands to increase damage). A drawn out battle is not good for the health of your allied NPC.

Generation 11 Tips (Part 2) - Beginning to Hate that Castle

The previous section sets the tone of what is to come (in a word: frustration), but nothing worth doing is ever easy so just grit your teeth and plow through these at your own pace - remember you can take breaks from this nightmarishly difficult story-arc by doing other things like normal dungeons, life skills, trading, tending to your homestead or just chatting with friends in town. :P

Song of Partholon (solo)
Woo a return to Ciar! Aren't those goddess statues grand? While it will scale to your level there is nothing you haven't fought variants of here before. Expect everything to multi-aggro, and windmill will serve you well. Don't forget, you have TWO transformation types to help you out by now if you really get into trouble.

The Three Stooges (solo with 2 NPCs, can bring royal alchemist on second run)
Remember how you kept those 2 twits alive a few missions back? Well you'll need to do that again, fighting pretty much the same baddies, through two MUCH longer castle missions so be sure to prep lots of gear. Fortunately they are both not timed, meaning you should bring bandages and heal them when you get the chance. Second time through offers a mini orb puzzle in the central castle room. Hit the orbs without dual wielding in the following order to avoid fighting extra bastards, or if you really want the EXP - just whack away. :P

Hit them in that order to sail through.

Seven Pages (solo, or with Royal alchy)
What is it with people leaving pages in the shadow castle? Well this time you can only find the pages inside a leprechaun's pants so you need to fight tooth and nail to get into them. Yah, Mabi is funny like that sometimes. :P You can only get 3 pages from the little man's pants (if you don't kill him) and one from the end chest which means you need to do this mission twice at the minimum. Due to repeated pages expect more like 3 times. Only "new" enemy are ghosts of partholon which are the weakest "ghosts" in the game. The behave exactly like the temple knights you caned in the previous story arc so they shouldn't be a problem.

Glimpse of Peaca (better bring a team)
Peaca is a really bad place, and even though it is "toned down" to have only one or two monsters per room you will need to be on your game to survive, especially if this is your first time coming in here. Fortunately there's a statue to revive and again, no time limit to complete so recovery in possible. The usual denizens in here are:

Ghouls
Ranged attacks are innefective and they have minor heavy stander. You can smash mill the bastards but they can windmill you back too so look out. "Ice Tennis" is recommended, that is one person fires an ice or lightning bolt to stun the enemy, while a second smashes it's face. Roles are then reversed and it continues until the enemy is dead.

Wights (Whites lol - they sound like laundry)
Immune to melee. Use ranged or magic to take them down. Like ghouls they can also windmill but these baddies also come with advanced magic and chain casting to back it up. If you are a melee only person, defend your archer by standing in front of them ready to windmill the threat away to buy them time for another shot.

Cloaker
Immune to magic and loves to cast death-dealing thunder. You can archer the thing to death or team smash as it has no windmill or counter, only defense.

Ghost
Immune to magic and highly resistant to anything else, they can also cast advanced magic (based on their color), teleport and windmill with high damage output. They will most likely kill you a few times, so don't be shy to trans/demi against them. Pin them to a corner and group-mill them to death or arrow revolver archer with windmill defeners like a wight. If you manage to pin it down with Pummel then your friends can get in free smashes.

Hollow knight
Stronger versions of the ghost armors you've fought in G1. High defense against melee, and team smashers should be careful of its windmill. Weak to magic, but it will take long to defeat with so many HPs. Magnum will work, but usually this begins an archery duel as the Hollow Knights also know magnum and worse, arrow revolver.

Lucas the Rapist
The boss of this version of Peaca, he behaves like a bear. If you've fought past everything else he should be easy enough to defeat. Unfortunately you can't kill the prick. In case you were glossing over the story, not talking to NPCs, or just unable to read between the lines, he basically raped Belita and attempted to drug-rape Dilys too. Scum like him deserve a painful death but in Mabi, a minor beating is all you can dish out.

Ancient Alchemy (solo)
Given that you've fought worse by now, the low number of spawns here shouldn't cause you any problems.

Everyone is in Danger, not just Jenna (solo with one NPC)
No combat required in this mission, just to be quick. Go in prepped with a cylinder and a shock crystal. You'll need to use shock on yourself then sprint to the Brionac (spear thing) and touch it to end the mission, before Navin kills you or your buddy. Steer clear of her when she's doing fury of light too.

Generation 11 Tips (Part 1) - We eat Demigods for Breakfast

You would think now you are a "demi-god" that things would be easier for you, but this story arc just ramps up the difficulty so much that it's almost like you need your new powers just to survive. There's a long list of trouble spots for this one so let's get right into it.

The not-so Hidden Page (fastest with some friends)
You'll be given a monacle to find a hidden page somewhere in the shadow castle. Fortunately these pages were written on sparkly paper and they emit a very visible shine when you are nearby, indicating when you should put on your eyepiece to pick it up. There are a few missions where these pages appear but for ease and speed I recommend running "The Other Alchemists" on basic and bring some friends to speed it up. You will meet a few new baddies here:

Blinker
The bane of castle missions, these multi aggro floating eye balls have a dendancy to hover around and using a spot-light, drain peoples HP. Prioritize them and open with a smash to hopefully take them out before they notice you. Supposedly sand-burst and frozen blast is good against them too but I'm no alchemist. For a change, windmill is not so good as if they survive it they usually do their hover attack. Also they can summon extra help if wounded too badly. If they cause you too much strife, use your new-found powers to wipe them out fast.

Python Soldier/Shaman
The extra help I was just talking about, though their AI is familiar enough. The soldiers are basically re-skinned shadow fighters while the shamans behave just like the hobgoblin shamans you would have already fought in G7 while looking for those artifacts. You didn't skip it like an idiot right?

Leprechaun (small and giant)
These jolly little fellows are very timid, weak, easy to read, and if you knock them down (without killing them) you can "harvest" their pants of loot. Yes, it is as wrong as it sounds. They've got pretty strong magic though so don't foo around too much. The "giant" version is a guardian of a mini treasure room where you need to shrink and go through a mousehole to reach. No point fighting him, just get a pet to distract him while you loot and escape!

Cerberus
Though you may not run into this in this particular mission I thought I'd add it now. It is an indestructable trap that appears in the middle of a room and will fire bolt magic or poison fumes every so often. You can duck into the corners to avoid the poison (it's eyes will glow purple as a warning) and use evasion for the bolts but the only real way past it is to clear the monster spawn quick. Poison spitters will never use bolt attacks and vice versa.

White Orb and Warp Rooms
Again you won't run into these right now, but you will eventually. In the "white orb" rooms one orb will glow white for a few seconds then move to another orb while you are fighting baddies - if you hit the white orb the door will open allowing you to cut short the combat. The opposite of this are the warp rooms, where you hit an orb (during combat) which opens a warp portal providing the only way out or face an unending spawn of monsters.

Basilisk
This large and heavy lizard has very high passive defense and will not be knocked down by anything, so just use the highest damage attacks you have available while you've got mana shield and pots keeping you alive. There are "gaming" ways to beat it in a less dangerous fashion but if you brought help and are running this on basic as I suggested, you should be fine especially with trans.

Royal Library (solo or with royal alchemist)
A short mission but the main problem is you will be facing a Blinker on "your level". Be prepared to use trans and demi-god powers to take it down. If it causes problems you can ask a Royal Alchemist for help.

Into the Frying Pan (solo with Gwelyas)
Now you will start getting killed by food. I kid you not. The main objective here is to "kill" 5 ~ 9 Fruit, 5 ~ 13 Flour, and 7 Eggs within the red circle and to hit the big spoon to exit after 7 minutes (important). These things have incredibly high protection so it helps to go after the things your NPC buddy has "tenderized". When the silverware starts spawning (behaves like flying swords) you can kill them to get a cooking knife for yourself which can help lower the defenses of the food. Expect to have to demi-god and pally or be prepared to be defeated by eggs and berries. I don't need to say that killing anything that shouldn't be in the dish within the red circle will stuff you up royally. :P

You probably need to trans/demi to beat these!

Strange Books (fastest solo)
An easy mission with a new enemy type. Strange books can launch explosive paper airplanes in random directions. They shouldn't cause too much problems to defeat however as they are just an upgrade of the mimic types. Windmill to open.

Getting the gang back together
Need to find some NPCs you've met before, and the first one is within the shadow castle again. You'll be fighting familiar spawn, just lots of them and by yourself (unless you have a royal alchemist buddy). Just trans and demi as needed, there's no time limit so you shouldn't be in a rush. Incase you've forgotten your priority should be wizard/archer -> lancer -> fighter. The next dude is in the shadow city, don't you miss this place? There are a few baddies that you can avoid, but for more fun I recommend dragon striking since you won't be able to use it for majority of this story arc.

Revenge (solo as Jenna)
To make it go a lot faster than the TV series of the same name, just stand far away from the multi-aggroing enemy alchemists and magnum shot all of them to death. Should be a piece of cake.

Caliburn Investigation (fastest solo with 2 NPCs)
The first of unfortunately many missions where you need to keep your stupid suicidal buddies alive. Expect to do most of the fighting and try kill things quick. It's the same baddies you've fought before but you may need to be more reckless this time since you're baby-sitting morons.

Generation 9 Tips (Part Three) - The War and the Time After

Now that you've gotten the bulk of the war out of the way and have stopped the (not so prevalent now) elf / giant conflict with a hand drawn picture in the previous part, it's time for the last push against the shadow bastards and put an end to their plans.

Scouting Mission (best bring party)
This mission features the return of Glas through random encounter, but this time he doesn't summon gargoyles - he summons crag cows. The alchemist method of beating him is to wind blast a cow 3 times so it gets confused and attacks Glas. The non stupid method of beating him pretty much just revolves around using trans and then Final Hit the fool. If you prefer you can lure him out with ranged attacks first. Crash shot will also hurt him badly when he's surrounded by the cows.  He still regenerates quick and will have a ton more HP this time around so you want high damage or wounding strikes.

 After he's done a named alchemist will show up and while he can also summon golems and invert your screen, if you've just beaten the big four armed monster there's not a lot this idiot can do to you.

Damsel in Distress (fastest solo)
Your first mission where you can bring a Royal Alchemist if you so choose (and if you know any that are free), but I think you should be able to handle this solo. The mission says to protect Jenna. This is BS. She can protect herself just fine against melee-ers. You keep -yourself- alive and kill any archers as soon as they show up. If you've cleared your sector -then- you can go help Jenna until the next wave arrives.

Alone in the Barri (solo based on level)
Whew, suddenly you get a normal dungeon. Makes you suddenly appreciate those goddess statues huh? Anyway this place will be geared to your level and if you are on a difficulty of advanced or below you would have already encountered everything in here in prior Generation quests. If you are on Hard, then there are a few new things but then again if you are on Hard you've prolly already fought them? :P In case you haven't,  they all multi-aggro and are:

Chon Chon
An ugly magic-using bird. Treat as a strong sprite. Weak to magic. Resistant to melee and range so big hits only if you're going that way.

Goblin Hunter/Archer
Sturdier goblins that can poison you. No passive defenses mean you can kill them however you like, though a high ranked windmill or final hit is probably the fastest way to take them out.

Spiked worm
Dangerous and highly resilient to all forms of attack. Treat as a heavily armored snake. The wiki advises fire bolt-counter. Being a non-mage I either bow them or smash-windmill.

Lost Sahagin
Are quite blind and have a small aggro range. However if you hurt him to less than half HP, he triggers his self-destruct - giving you mere moments to run away. Killing him outright also makes him explode so they are best dealt with using range or magic. The blast is strong enough to kill or seriously injure anything nearby (1/3rd dungeon room) and if there are many of them this could lead to a chain reaction.

Last Battle (full team recommended)
The allied army has now decided to attack the shadow realm in force! Your task is to make sure not a single one of them dies in the 15 minute blood bath about to follow. Strongly recommend a full team to handle the many waves of enemies that show up, as it is unlikely that you will be able to heal your compatriots between waves. Target the enemy golems first as their windmill can do a lot of damage in a wide area and try stagger your trans-times between your party so that 1 or 2 of you are beefed up at any given point. Always try pick up downed players when you are able to though.

Finale (full team recommended)
Usually the same team that helped with the Last Battle will want the XPs from this one so bring them in with you. Now that you don't have dorky NPCs to protect the fights should be a lot easier, and even the named shadow commander will suddenly be curb-stomped since there are more of you. Fight your way into town past numerous cutscenes and eventually you get to the big boss of this story arc.

Boss Fight!

OMG it's Deadpool!
Well, half of a giant version of him. He has life drain, a big stomp attack, a fast moving rush, and later giant flying swords all of which can easily kill those in range. He's got pretty high protection too so the best attacks are either from far with a high crit bow, or upclose using smash and windmill. He gets angrier at half HP, and at 1/3rd (the roof is opened) someone -has- to call Adniel for help or everything will do 1 point of damage. As usual, mana shield and many pots can keep you alive during this battle. I shouldn't need to remind you to use your trans by now. Winning gives you a groovy title, and a less groovy enchant for your shoes. :p

Pierrick's Violet Grave
A small side quest that you can do. Only dangerous part is wandering into Fiodh solo. You would have already fought everything here in previous generations though and have definitely defeated worse monsters so it should be a cake walk. A long cake walk.

Reminiscing with Andras
Another small side quest that opens after finishing the main Generation 9 arc. Two potential problem spots here, the first being Longa Emerald dungeon which (unless you are an elf) you may not have run yet before. Baddies spawn in big quantities here but they are individually weak. Things you'll encounter are:

Stone Masks - Treat like goblins that have magic.
Armored Hounds - Good old Wolf AI. They sound like a dude going "UHHH" when you knock them down though.
Pythons - Maybe big, but still just snakes.
Beetles - Similar to the Giant Dragonfly earlier. These Low HP flying bugs come in droves and some can windmill, so windmill THEM first!
Emerald Golem - Your main problem. This boss will only take big damage from Emerald Arrows that you get from running Longa normal. Still defeatable if you and your team just wail on him enough but expect to take a few hits because he won't go down so easy without a properly armed archer.

The 2nd problem spot which is an RP quest as Andras through a FULL Rabbie dungeon. She excels at magic so you may want to stick to that like you did with Tarlach during his run.

The Ending Question
If you say that today is important you'll get the Tailltean Two-hander. If you say that the past is more important you'll get Andras' Bow. Both are decent weapons so it just depends on what you want.

Generation 9 Tips (Part One) - Where the Fomors Hide

Now we begin the next major arc of the story and the introduction of alchemy! I am assuming that if you're still here that you've gone through at least some of my previous Mabinogi Classes. As usual I'm only covering the parts that may give you grief and boars and wolves should no longer be on that list! :P

Hero of Mag Tuireadh (solo as Fallon)
I think you actually fail the mission if any of your allied soldiers die (maybe not but it's good practice for later), which means you need to get moving quick and assist the dudes taking the most damage. Fallon is not bad in melee but he won't be as tough as your main character if you've done all the previous Generations so fight well and drink potions as needed. The black warrior boss behaves a lot like the Dark Lord with his teleportation antics and is the biggest threat to your buddies since he will be changing aggro a bit. Like the Dark Lord he can't do shit if he's on his ass so smash or WM that idiot and don't worry too much if you fail a few times, it's just an RP mission anyway.

Medal of Renkinjutsu! (fastest solo as Leymore)
Another RP this time as a mid level alchemist (alas not as either of the Elric brothers), and serves more as an introduction to alchemy skills if you haven't used them yourself yet. Like bolt magic you can load up to 5 units of whatever into your cylinder before firing it. Wind blast shoves things away, water kills em. Between those two plus standard counter you should be able to make short work of everything here. While this is technically the first quest that will be "scaled" based on your total level, have fun with it and try things out as you lose nothing really if you fail the mission.

Too easy if they were in it. :P

Supply Run (fastest solo)
I don't know why you have to hit a whole bunch of orbs while "delivering" stuff, but this serves as an introduction for your actual character to the denizens of the shadow realm (if you didn't just jump in here for the heck of it earlier). The last orb near the gate has around 2.5 times more spawn than the rest but you have all the room to back up to snipe and lure if they give you any issues. If you've never seen them before - here's a quick run down.

Grumbils
Basically just more colorful yet low-damage gremlins. They only spawn with other grumbils and given that you would have fought worse by now, should not be an issue.

Shadow Archer
Should be high on your priority target list as their ranged attack and magnum can do decent injury damage. They also dual aggro so you need to take em down fast. This shouldn't be a problem if you can get up to them as the only move they have at close quarters is defense. Once in melee they're pretty much screwed.

Shadow Lancer
After the archers you want to kill these guys next as they too dual aggro. They like to run around a lot like skelies though, giving you lots of time to counter or better yet, windmill.

Shadow Fighters
Dim-witted single aggro brutes that can pack a wallop. Basically treat them as goblins with large HP. They also hold defense up for a long time and tend to advance on you at the same time, giving you ample opportunity to smash their faces when they do.

Deliverance of Ice Mines (solo w/ Jenna NPC)
You'll have Jenna backing you up now and you must keep her and yourself alive as waves of shadow fighters and lancers assault from the small, nearby pathway. You have a minute or two to deploy those mines you were given which should help stem the tide. Enemy forces are bringing no ranged assistance, so feel free to annihilate the idiots how best you see fit. Don't worry too much about Jenna, she can usually handle stragglers - just make sure to stop or at least severely injure the bulk of the enemy as she can get overrun.

Rundal Temple Rumble (solo)
A small fun adventure in Rundal, where instead of skelies you get hooded cultists. While they have low passive defenses, they only single aggro, have pretty low HP, and run as slowly as human characters. The ones with shields are immune to ranged, but other than that you should be able to mop the floor with these guys.

Font Fighting - Corrupt Alchemist (solo w/ Jenna NPC)
Technically part of the NEXT generation (G10), this becomes available to you now so I'll just go through it quickly. Around 1/3rd in, Jenna will join and help you out with multi-aggro. At this point see to your own enemies first before helping her out as she can take a few hits. You can also patch her up in between fights. "New" baddies introduced are:

Bone Fighter/Lancer/Archer
Unlike your standard skeletons (which are actually more dangerous), these ones behave exactly like their "shadow" counterparts and should be treated as such. Bone coloration signifies their strength with gold (ironically) being the strongest and bronze the weakest.

Shadow Wizard Chick
Enjoys fire bolt and having nice hair-dos. Quite dangerous and should be high on your priority list of targets beside archers. Their punch does decent damage but it is preferable to their magic. They have a nasty habit of chain firebolting people to death. Smash or windmill them early to avoid this.

The Titluar Corrupt Alchemist
Fighting any alchemist sucks because you're going to be thrown around like a rag doll, set on fire (uncommon), hit by painful water balloons (often) and even frozen (corrupted ones only). They pack decent melee damage too and are again high on the list of "dudes to kill first". Fortunately they only know defense up close so get to them early and finish them quick. You'll be thankful to have Jenna with you for this run to interrupt his skills in this mission, but when you're on your own later I hope you either have a good charge, dodge or mana shield rank with multiple alchs gunning for you.

Shadow Walker (solo)
The main objective here is to find some psychadelic berries, consume them, and talk to some dude who only appears when you are high. Seriously. You'll want to hit trees to get red or purple berries, and they are often guarded by red spiders and skeleton wolves. They'll be stronger than the types you are used to, but more HP/damage does not mean smarter. If you are silly enough to rush in there and get surprised by multi-aggro then I think you've earned a butt whooping. :P