Survivor Rescue (solo)
Welcome to Shadow Tara! Ironically the first things you see will be some of the strongest bastards in this story arc. Those shadow ghosts are highly dangerous and for now it would be wiser to flank and avoid them to reach your destination. You will however need to fight some bone soldiers who are pretty much exactly like their shadow counterparts, so nothing new here.
Lezarro's Book (solo or with royal alch)
Standard fare of killing stuff in orb sections, just stick to the main roads. If you are having problems finding the orbs bring along some arat berries to radar them out until you get used to where they spawn. The boss room features zombie soldiers, who basically are just like the Tir Na Nog zombies. I hope you've been practicing your windmill - if not this could be a difficult fight and you may want to look for a royal alch to help you out. Or better yet, just practice windmill?
Lileas' Honey (solo)
Just want to point out your main target here are the honeycomb trees, not the bad dudes. You don't have to kill any of them.
Jousting Practice
The last bit of a large collection quest has you joust against an NPC in the arena. This is a pretty fun mini-game and it is worth paying the small amount of gold to get used to it even after you've completed this quest. You'll need at least a mid-level proficiency in it (reading NPCs) later on.
It's come a long way huh? :P
Cubic collection (fastest solo)
Getting you exploration up should be easy by now if you've been doing the Cor circuit. When it's time to get the cubic stuff just load up on passes before heading out. Fastest collection is by only doing the first 2-3 rooms, wiping out mimics, then leave and repeat until your collection book is complete.
Third Wheel in Maiz (as Arenren solo then as Voight and Isla - you need a friend)
If you haven't yet gone to get your Final Hit quest (humans) then there's a high chance you've not been in the Maiz Praire ruins before, and you are in for some tough opposition. When doing the 2 player version, Voight will be doing most of the fighting but Isla -MUST- still cover him. Use magic to buy him time to windmill or counter the multi-aggro mobs.
Slates
They behave like goblins but have very high protection (no passive defense though) and even higher damage. Using defense will probably still result in serious injury so windmill, counter, and smash if the opportunity presents itself.
Skeleton Ghost
Generally all ghosts in Mabi are bad news, at least this type has no passive defense. They do dual aggro quick and do very good damage in both melee and magic. Final hit may result in your death if two of them are on you, so you are better off luring one to a free corner and dealing with it the usual windmill, counter way. Be ready to take action if it charges up magic though as it will almost always move in for a melee swipe right after. They can also windmill.
Return to Longa (fastest with party)
Just variations of the critters you fought on your last run through here, the only thing new is the boss at the end - a familiar named alchemist. He tends to just behave like any other alchemist though, with the extra ability of healing to full if he yells "I am immortal!". Makes you wonder why he doesn't just keep doing it. Anyway, if you are solo just turn on trans and wipe the floor with him - get ready for the usual wind/water blast combo. If you have a group, just keep him on the floor so he can't do anything with smash-mill.
Fomor Mata (solo)
The fights to the arena should be nothing new for you, but when you get there your jousting skills will be put to the test against a fomor commander. Fail the joust and you fail the mission. Hope you've been practicing! Win the joust and then you have to beat him on foot. He is pretty much the same as the named commander in the previous story arc only in black armor instead of gold. Look out for his golems and his life drain and remember you can use the entire city to maneuver around if need be. Don't open with a smash as he has instinctive reaction. Poison may be useful against him if you or better yet, a pet has it.
Couracle's Heart Again, because you forgot to pick it up last time (bring full party)
Basically you'll be fighting a zillion baddies you've already fought before - just all at once. To this end bringing a full party is recommended. In the final area you'll be joined by NPCs from Tailltean who once again must survive the encounter. Don't worry, it's not as bad as the "Last Battle" in the previous story arc. Those shadow ghosts you avoided in the first mission will be here again, and this time you'll need to fight them. They have thunder (perhaps your first baddie with adv. magic) which can easily kill anyone and heavy stander so make sure they don't get to cast by standard gang smash-mill. One skilled person can disable the ghost long enough for his buddies to kill the rest then help out. Alternatively 2 should be able to take out a ghost directly by keeping it on its ass.
The only thing in your way is yourself (solo or with royal alch)
Before entering the shadow realm prep a cylinder in one weapon slot and your primary weapon in the other. Also prepare a hotkey for "life drain" even if it is at novice rank and move all your current life drain crystals to the top left of your inventory if you have any. The finale takes place in a very familiar place and has two stages. Your enemy will be using alchemy skills that you can use evasion to dodge plus demi god abilities which are evadable by just running around. Any damage you do to it will hurt you by 50% - but this is not a bad thing. Punch its face once (cylinder equipped) to injure yourself then evade like crazy. After it does the "area" attack (as opposed to the light spear attack) it will taunt you so use the music box to make it go crazy temporarily. As soon as this happens hit your life drain hot key and drain the bastard (if you brought a royal alch this is his job). To proceed to the next stage the life drain must restore you to full health, so you cannot be too injured (unless your life drain skill is unusually high) and not be on full health to start with. If you run out of dark life drain crystals or he kills you, you may as well restart the mission and save any nao stones you were planning on using for stage two.
Second stage has him summon some buddies but now you have the demigod power. Don't be hasty as it doesn't make you invulnerable! Your regen will be much higher now and you should be able to outrun all your enemies, but having HP and Mana pots in reserve is a good idea (you should know to be using mana shield by now). If you followed each story arc then the best thing to do now is stand in a clear side of the circle and call for a dragon strike on those bastards then work on slaying the main guy. He will resummon all his pals if you kill all of them, so if possible leave one or two far away so you can deal with the main baddie in peace. You can then go berserk using your new abilites on your foe to destroy it quicker. Ho ho ho, now you have demi-god mode. :)
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