Genso Suikoden 3 - Strategy Guide (Page 12)

Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for Genso Suikoden 3 - Strategy Guide (Page 12).

Defend:
-------
It seems we're both cautious.
Such dogged caution.
Hit me with everything you've got.  I'm ready.
Bring your worst.
I had better consider my options...

Deathblow:
----------
But can you handle this.
Rather heavy on defense.  Try defending this!
I've analyzed this enough.
See if you can figure this out.


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8.  Ernie's Quiz

Which musical ensemble only uses wind instruments?  3. Brass Band
Which of the following cannot fly?  1. Duck
Which one of these fruits grows on a tree?  2. Pomegranates
Which statement is false?  2.  Rice cleaned with soap
Which of these has nothing to do with farming?  3.  Quiver
What is the pattern on Karayan horses?  1.  Zebra pattern
What is the Duck Clan Chief's special characteristic?  1. Amazing tail
Which is the correct spelling?  1.  Sea bream
Which of the following phrases is not possible?  3.  I ate cactus for dinner
Which of these sounds is threatening?  2.  Gggrrr
Which skill can make a magical spell bounce back at its caster?  2.  Reflect
What are the colors of the Kamaro Free Knights' uniform?  2.  Green/Yellow
Of the following, which does not exist in blood?  2.  Blue blood cells
What is paper made from?  3.  Wood
Which of these cannot be found at any defensive gear shop?  Bizarre Chainmail
Where is the decorative feather worn on the head of the Flame Champ?  3.  Left
Which cannot be part of a string ensemble?  2.  Bodhran
Which one of these is a lizard man?  2.  Shiba
Of the following which one is not an insect?  3.  Serpent
What do Lizard Men do when they're surprised?  3.  Nothing


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9.  Boss/Battle Strategies

9a.  Introduction

I have included strategies for selected bosses and for all major battles in
this section.  The bosses I have left out, such as Nemesis, the Ghost Knights,
etc., are neither difficult nor do they require any special preparations.  The
bosses and battles are listed in the order they appear in the Walkthrough.
When I mention "Primary Armor", this means the main body armor for your
characters, not counting accessories.

The strategies for the boss battles are given with the goal for all party
characters to be alive at the end, not just win the battle itself.  For
strategy battles, the tips I give are intended to get the best possible
outcome, usually a Major Victory but in other instances a Safe Retreat.

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9b.  Strategy Battle 1, Chris chapter 1 (Plain Amur)

This is the battle where the Zexens are ambushed by the Lizard and Karaya Clans
at the truce meeting.  There are two ways to win this battle.  The first is the
conventional way which is to go for a safe retreat by making a beeline for the
exit circle.  The strategy below covers this first option.  The second is to
wipe out every Grassland unit.  The only reason to go for this is the Chris
Level 99 trick covered at suikosource.com in detail.

During the first turn, move Roland and the other Zexen unit into the same
circle as Chris.  End your turn.  During the Grasslanders' turn, Lucia and
Beecham will show up with some Karaya Units.  Salome will then suggest you
break through.  Use Roland's unit to attack the Karayan Unit (Unit #12) that's
blocking your exit.  If you didn't win, or somehow lost, send the mounted Zexen
unit (Unit #4) after them.  This should take out the Karayan Unit.  Send Chris
into the now empty circle that the Karayans were occupying.  Defend with the
remaining Zexen units.  The Grasslanders will no doubt attack you in the next
turn.  Just pick the retreat option.  You'll get attacked most of the time but
should make it into Chris' circle without much problems.  When your turn comes
up again, move any of the Zexen units into the exit circle (it doesn't have to
be Chris' unit).  This will conclude the strategy battle.

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9c.  Geddoe v. Chris and the Zexen Knights, Geddoe chapter 1 (Great Hollow)

This battle is all luck as far as I'm concerned.  Unless you went crazy with
leveling up and got your team's levels past 30, the outcome of the battle is
completely dependent on whether or not Chris casts Breath of Ice.  If she does,
it's all but over.  If she doesn't go for this spell, then the strategy below
has worked well for me.  All my characters were level 24 except Shiba.  Geddoe
had a Lightning Rune with a B grade and Joker had a Water Rune with a B grade
in the respective magic.  The formation I use:

Jacques
Joker
Queen
Geddoe
Ace
Shiba
(No Support)

Have Geddoe cast Soaring Bolt.  Have Ace do his Double Tusk attack on Chris.
Have Jacques attack Chris as well.  After that, concentrate your attacks on
Chris-she can cast Kindness Rain which heals all of her troops.  Use only
Items and Joker's Kindness Drops spell to heal.  If you kept Joker's Fire Rune,
you can try to get off some spells but keep in mind that most of those spells
will hit your own troops.  It usually takes about 3-5 turns before you win.
The loot you get is a few thousand potch and a nice bit of skill points.  The
best items I ever got were some Damaged Helms, New Chainmail, and Mega Medicine
D, so nothing all that great.

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9d.  Geddoe v. Borus, Geddoe chapter 1 (Karaya Village)

You get this fight if you select the first dialogue choice, "I have an
inkling."  Level 26 is plenty for Queen and Geddoe to win this battle.  If you
wanted to give yourself a little room for error, you could buy Sacrificial
Jizos from the Karaya Village Item Hut and equip them before the battle.
Equipping both with at least a full Medicine C each is also a good idea.  If
Geddoe's Lightning Magic skills is not at least a B, you'll have problems
winning this fight.  The formation I use:

Queen
Geddoe
-----
-----
-----
-----

I pair them together like this mainly so Queen can protect Geddoe while he
casts his spells.  If Queen's Repel Skill grade is decent (B or higher) she
has a great chance of evading at least 1 of the 3 attacks she'll face in the
first round.  In the first turn, cast Soaring Bolt with Geddoe.  Thereafter,
heal with Queen's Medicine items (Geddoe will attack automatically).  If Borus
misses or doesn't do too much damage, use Geddoe to cast Berserk Blow during
the next turn.  It usually takes me 5-6 turns to take him out.  At level 26, I
go up to level 28-29 and get about 100 skill points.

An alternative to the above strategy is if you fixed Queen with a Wind Rune
and trained up her Wind Magic skill to a decent level (B or higher).  If so,
you can cast Wind of Sleep.  If you use this strategy, flip flop Geddoe and
Queen in terms of the formation.

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9e.  The Blue Mantrix, Mt. Hei-Tou

The only times this treasure boss is a concern is in Geddoe's chapter 1 and
Chris' chapter 2.  The low to mid 20's level is plenty for beating this boss.
After chapter 2, he's ridiculously easy given the levels and skills of your
characters.  Note that Thomas can never fight the Blue Mantrix in his chapters.

The Blue Mantrix has a couple of attacks of note.  The first is a beam attack
that hits a single person.  He usually targets the person with the lowest DEF
rating in your party with this.  The other attack hits anyone within
hand-to-hand attack range with these multi-colored bubbles.  It doesn't do much
damage but there's a slight chance it will paralyze your guys.  The general
strategy to use is make sure someone has healing spells that can cure the
paralysis, meaning someone with either a Shield or Water Rune.  Send your
melee attackers up and keep your healer in the back.  Use your offensive magic
(e.g. Geddoe's Soaring Bolt) plus your melee attacks and you won't have much
problems taking it out.

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9f.  Twin-Head Snake, Mountain Path, Geddoe chapter 1

The only time this guy's really a problem is facing him in Geddoe's chapter 1.
Because of that, I am including a strategy only for Geddoe's team at that time.
Having your team in the upper 20's level to lower 30's levels is sufficient to
winning this battle.  Also make sure that Geddoe has at least a B+ in Lightning
Magic and Aila has at least a B in Shield Magic.  Having Joker with a Water
Rune helps but isn't essential.

This boss has four attacks.  The Left Head uses Wind Magic and casts healing
magic.  The Right Head casts Fire Magic.  The main head has a rather gross
looking tongue attack that hits those within hand-to-hand attack range.  Its
most dangerous attack is a combination magic attack that involves all three
heads.  This combo magic attack precedes almost all of your party's actions
except the fastest, such as tossing items or the spell Kindness Drops.

My strategy is to focus on taking out the Left Head first so it can't
regenerate HP or use the combination magic attack.  I cast Berserk Blow on the
Left Head with Geddoe and use the archers' regular melee attacks on it, too.
I then use Ace's Double Tusk Rune on the Left Head.  After that, I use Great
Blessing with Aila to heal if everyone's hurt or Medicine/Joker's Kindness
Drops to heal if only a certain pair are hurt.  Following the first round, I
focus my attacks on the Left Head again, using Berserk Blow with Geddoe and the
archers' melee attacks.  Once the Left Head is gone, I cast Soaring Bolt with
Geddoe and focus on the Right Head.  When only the main head is left, I cast
Battle Oath with Aila and mop up with melee attacks from there.  On occasion, I
lose Queen or Aila because of their low HP but as long as you keep everyone
healed properly, that shouldn't be a problem.  This battle usually takes me 4-6
turns with the aforementioned levels/skills.

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9g.  Zexen Raid on Great Hollow, Strategy Battle, Chris chapter 2

Make sure Chris, Percival, Borus, Leo, and Roland are level 34 or better for
this fight.  You can get them all to this level fairly quickly by fighting
random battles at Yaza Plain in this chapter.  Also max out Chris' Swing skill
grade to a B.  In the low to mid 30's level, this will give Chris two attacks
per turn, making this battle much easier.  I'd advise you to also raise Chris,
Borus, and Leo's Armor Protect skills to at least a B for each.  I also
recommend removing Roland's Great Hawk Rune, which is good advice for any
strategy battle Roland participates in unless you did the Chris level 99 trick.

The winning condition is to take out 5 enemy units.  The losing condition is
losing Chris' unit, so make sure she doesn't go down.  To get a Major Victory,
don't lose an entire unit while taking out the required number of enemies.  The
loot you get for a Major Victory is an Evasion Ring, which boosts the wearer's
Repel skill by 1 grade.

There's a few things to keep in mind here.  Borus and Percival will show up at
the start of your third turn.  The most dangerous units are Dupa's and Bazba's.
Dupa has a Fury Rune which puts him in Berserk status-if he gets one lucky
critical hit, it's lights out for whoever he hit.  Bazba will occasionally cast
a Cyclone Magic spell that can cause "Combat Stifled", which is another
automatic lights out.  Unless Dupa's team is damaged pretty well, only use Leo
to confront him.  As for Bazba, just don't let him engage Chris-anyone else is
fine.  Lastly, if you put your units in place to "Cover" this gives your
attacking unit a boost to the damage they do.  The more units covering, the
more damage.

At the start of the battle, move Chris one circle to the southeast.  Move Leo
and Roland one circle to the east.  Don't move past these circles until Borus
and Percival show up.  The computer's strategy can vary pretty wildly but it
usually will send the Lizard Units with 3 fighters up to meet your guys.  Just
use Roland and Chris at that point to try to take them out.  Once Borus and
Percival show up, try to put your units in position to cover each other.  Leo,
Chris, and Borus' units are the best to use for attacking.  As long as you
don't put your units in a position where they're attacked a consecutive number
of times, you shouldn't lose an entire unit.  If one of the units that's just
made up of Zexen Regulars is attacked by an enemy unit with full health, just
have them retreat.  This battle on average takes me two turns after Borus and
Percival show up to complete.

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9h.  Hugo v. The Man in Black (MIB), Hugo chapter 2 (Ancient Highway)

Note that you neither have to win this fight nor do you have to fight it at
all to proceed with the game.  To avoid the fight altogether, pick the dialogue
choice "Hmm, what's the best way" then agree with Lilly to attack.

The best preparations you can make for this fight are actually in Hugo's
chapter 1.  Specifically, how high you raised Hugo and Fubar's Accuracy skill
in chapter 1.  This is because the MIB has a high Repel rating and therefore is
very hard to hit.  In addition, you can't visit a Bujutsu Teacher in this
chapter until after you've gotten past the MIB.  If you have decent Accuracy
with Hugo and Fubar (B grade or higher), you can use the following strategy
starting with this formation:

Lilly
Samus
Hugo
Fubar
Reed
Sgt. Joe
(No Support)

Sharpen everyone's weapon up to level 7 via the Blacksmith in the eastern
courtyard of Brass Castle.  Armor that's around +24 DEF or better will be fine.
A level of 32 for everyone is plenty.  To give yourself some leeway, equip 2
Sacrificial Jizos and a Medicine B or higher on Fubar.  If you want to make
sure that Sgt. Joe and the Tinto team survive as well, put a Sacrificial Jizo
on each of them.

In the first round, use the Tinto combo and send the Hugo/Fubar pair in to
attack.  Rarely will the MIB move before Hugo/Fubar but if he does he'll
usually attack the middle where Hugo/Fubar are, which is what you want.  The
Tinto combo will do very little damage (most of the time only 1 point) but
that's not the point.  What you want to do is just attack with Hugo/Fubar and
have the MIB concentrate his attacks on them as well.  Heal Hugo/Fubar every
other round with Sgt. Joe's Kindness Drops unless the MIB got lucky and did
double damage.  You should be able to take him down before Sgt. Joe runs out of
Kindness Drops.  If not, use Samus' Wind Rune to heal them and if you run out
of _that_, use the Medicine you equipped on Fubar to heal (Hugo will still get
an attack).  Using this strategy, I'm able to win every time, although one of
the Tinto characters or Sgt. Joe may go down if they get hit with the
Eight-Devil Rune.  After you win, you'll get a Gold Emblem and some experience,
although usually only enough to bump a few people up 1 level if everyone's at
level 32.

The alternative is to focus on your Magic skills, which you can boost at Duck
Village via the Tutor.  This strategy focuses on raising Hugo's Wind Magic to
its maximum of B+.  All the same levels and other preparations apply,
especially equipping the Jizos.  The formation for this strategy:

Reed
Hugo
Fubar
Sgt. Joe
Lilly
Samus
(No Support)

Cast Wind of Sleep with Samus and Shredding with Hugo.  If you want to try your
luck, you could have Sgt. Joe cast Breath of Ice as well but there's a good
chance this will also hit your own troops.  If you got real lucky, Samus' spell
will put the MIB to sleep, lowering his ability to Repel/Counterattack.  Heal
when you need to with Sgt. Joe and your Medicine items and keep repeating with
the Wind Magic spells until the MIB goes down.

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9i.  Rock Golem, Mountain Path, Geddoe chapter 2

Recommendations for this boss battle include levels in the low 30's for all
your characters, B+ in Lightning Magic for Geddoe, and a B in Shield Magic for
Aila.  Weapons of level 10 are also highly recommended.  Primary Armor in the
+30 range or better will be fine.  The Rock Golem has a high Repel rate so
the Accuracy skill is helpful for melee attacks.

He's got three noteworthy attacks.  The most dangerous is a Fire Rune spell
called Explosion, which will hit everyone in your party for about 150-200 pts.
of damage.  It's very difficult to stop him from getting this spell off by
damaging him.  His other attacks are punches, one that swings around to hit
everyone in the immediate area and a super punch that targets one person. In
the first round, cast Geddoe's Soaring Bolt and Aila's Battle Oath spells.  Use
Ace's Double Tusk attack.  After that, use Geddoe's Berserk Blow, Ace's Double
Tusk, and everyone else's physical attacks.  Heal with Aila's Great Blessing
spell (if everyone's hurt) and Joker's Kindness Drops (if he has a Water rune).
It'll take a while (usually 6 rounds for me) but you'll wear him down.  If you
keep getting wiped out, consider using the Soaring Bolt items found as Rarity
at the Caleria Item shop and/or equipping everyone with a Sacrificial Jizo.

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9j.  Geddoe v. Duke and the Masked Bishop, Geddoe chapter 2 (Mt. Senai)

This fight's optional.  To avoid it, pick the third dialogue choice when you're
confronted by Duke, "That Bishop is up to something".  To get the fight, pick
the first dialogue choice, "Sorry but we have to keep going".  Picking the
second choice, BTW, just leads to the first and third choices.

If you opt to fight, I recommend that your team be at least level 36 with Aila
having a B+ in Shield Magic and Geddoe an A in Lightning Magic.  Primary armor
of at least +57 or better is also advisable (not too tough to get if you've
fought the treasure bosses in this chapter).  Equip each member of your team
with Sacrificial Jizos.  Wind, Water, and Flame Amulets are helpful but not
essential.  

My strategy for Duke's team:

Cast Berserk Blow with Geddoe on Duke, have Aila/Jacques attack Elaine, and use
Ace's Double Tusk on Elaine.  DO NOT use Geddoe's Soaring Bolt spell-you'll
need it for the next fight.  After that, target Duke and Gau using Geddoe's
Berserk Blow and everyone else's regular attacks.  Once their gone, mop up
Nicolas-he's tough to hit with melee attacks so use Geddoe's level 1 spell and
Ace's Double Tusk.  When you're close to winning, make sure you heal everyone
with Aila's Great Blessing spell since you'll get into another fight right
after.

My strategy for the Masked Bishop and Sarah:

Sarah will either go for Breath of Ice or a Fire spell.  The Ice spell is very
quick and will usually happen before you act.  On occasion, you might get
lucky and Sarah will go for Kindness Rain for her first move or both of them
will opt for melee attacks.  This is pretty rare though. The Masked Bishop will
go for either a Pale Gate or Wind spell usually but it'll come after everyone
in your group has acted.  I use Soaring Bolt with Geddoe, target Sarah with
Aila and Jacques, and have Ace do Double Tusk on her.  Most of your guys will
probably be reduced to 0 HP after the first round but that's what the
Sacrificial Jizos are for.  Sarah should've gone down in the first round.  Just
repeat what you did before and you should take out the Masked Bishop fine in
the next round.  You get a nice bump in experience and skill points for winning
these battles (2-3 experience levels if you're level 35-38).

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9k.  Azzodess, Flame Champion Hideaway Treasure Boss, chapter 3 (All)

It's advisable that you're at least level 36 when you take this boss on.  If
you have someone you rely on for healing magic, equip them with an item or
armor that negates the Silence status, such as a Yellow Scarf or the Taikyoku
Tunic.  The Tunic is a random item for the Mt. Hei-Tou treasure boss in chapter
3 and the Yellow Scarf is a Rarity at the VdZ Item Shop.  Lightning Amulets
are very handy for this fight but not essential.  Make sure 1 person in each of
your 3 pairs has a full stock of Medicine items (like a Medicine B x6).  Having
a high grade for the Accuracy skill for your characters is also very helpful
because the Azzodess has a good Repel rate.

You'll be relying on your melee attackers to win this fight, so the characters
you pick up automatically for Chris, Hugo, and Geddoe will work just fine for
winning this battle.  This boss is invulnerable to lightning magic.  She has 3
primary attacks.  The first one shoots beams from her at one person, doing some
nasty magic damage.  The second one she'll summon another winged creature to
damage everyone in your party.  In addition, this attack has a chance to hit
everyone with silence status.  The third is a heavy duty Lightning magic spell
that hits everyone (Thunder Storm).  This fight is very straightforward-send
your melee attackers up, heal when you're hurt with magic/items, and keep
hacking away until the Azzodess is dead.

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9l.  Chris v. Harmonia, Strategy Battle Chris chapter 3 (Chisha Village)

This takes place after you've brought Caesar from Duck Village.  Levels in the
upper 30's for Rico, Fred, Chris, Yumi, and Nash are advisable.  Rhett and
Wilder should already be in the low 40's.  In terms of skills, maxing out Nash
and Chris' Heavy Damage, Fred's Armor Protect, and Yumi's Swing are good
choices.  Note that you can equip everyone with a Sacrificial Jizo if you like
by talking to Sana at the inn and switching out party members to equip them.
Primary armor that's +57 or better and weapons at level 12 are also highly
recommended.

The winning condition for this battle is simply to stay alive until Apple
arrives with some help, usually 5-6 turns.  To get a Major Victory, you have
to take out at least 1 Harmonian unit and not lose an entire unit yourself.
You get Earth Chainmail as loot for getting a Major Victory.

This is the formation I use:

Chris (alone)       Rhett         Wilder
-----               Rico          -----
-----               -----         Yumi
-----               Fred          Nash
Yun                 Sana          Caesar

At the start of the battle, have your three units attack the enemy unit across
from them, including Chris. The Harmonians have an annoying habit of retreating
in this battle so it takes a few turns to finish them up.  The only unit of
concern is Dios' because he has four troops instead of three.  At the start of
your turn, some HP will be healed for each of your units.  If you've taken the
time to get good gear and skills for your team, these first four units should
not be a problem.  Do your best to move your units into position to cover each
others' attacks and use Chris' unit to heal anyone banged up.  If your party
is damaged pretty good, don't hesitate to try for a retreat.

The goal of this battle is just to stay alive, not eliminate the enemy units
but I take this approach because the characters match up very well.  If you're
having trouble with your units going down or losing characters, take a less
aggressive approach and only fight if you're attacked.  Don't hesitate to pull
back toward the village or retreat if you keep getting banged up because you'll
still satisfy the victory requirement for this battle.

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9m.  Chris v. the Masked Bishop, Chris chapter 3 (Alma Kinan)

The outcome of this fight does not affect the overall story-you can lose and
still proceed with the game.  I suggest a minimum level of 35 but recommend
that you're at least level 38 for this fight.  Notable skills to bump up as
high as you can are Rico's Water Magic, Yumi's Earth/Water Magic, and Accuracy
and Heavy Damage for Chris and Nash.  Primary Armor of +57 or better and
weapons sharpened to level 12 is plenty.  Sacrificial Jizos are good but not
essential for anyone except Fred because of his horrible Magic Defense stat.
You can opt to keep Yumi's Earth Rune and train that up (for the Earthquake
spell) or Forget the Earth Magic and give her Water Magic instead (for healing
and the Silent Lake spell).  Having items for healing are essential if you
intend to go the route of using Silent Lake.

The formation I use:

Chris
Nash
Yumi
Yuiri
Fred
Rico
(No Support)

Your priorities in order are Sarah, Masked Bishop, and Yuber.  In the first
round, send the Chris/Nash and Yuiri/Yumi pairs after Sarah-do NOT use the Alma
Kinan combo.  If you've trained up Yumi's Earth Magic, have her cast Earthquake
instead.  Have Rico cast Kindness Rain and center it on Yuiri.  The reason for
this is that this spell comes after Sarah's water attacks but before the Masked
Bishop's Pale Gate/Wind attacks.  If Sarah hits you with Breath of Ice, it can
really wallop your team but Rico should get her Kindness Rain spell off to heal
the damage.  You should take out Sarah in the first round with your attacks.
In the next round, heal your team with Rico's Kindness Drops or, if Yumi has
Water magic, Kindness Rain and cast it on whoever's at the very center of your
party.  It's hard to go after the Masked Bishop because Yuber will be blocking
you.  Try your best though-Fred and Yuiri will automatically attack him since
the Bishop should be the closest to them.  If you target him with Chris/Nash,
Nash should be able to hit him as well.  If Yuber has gotten in the way, then
take him out but this is dangerous because the Bishop's attacks are very
powerful.  Once it's down to the last person, just heal and mop up.

An alternative strategy is if you gave Yumi the Water Rune and trained up her
Water Magic skill.  If she's at level 38 or higher, she should have the Silent
Lake spell, which negates all spellcasting for 5 turns.  If you want to try
this strategy, do everything else the same (Rico cast Kindness Rain, Nash/Chris
go after Sarah) but cast Silent Lake with Yumi.  Rico should still get her
spell off but there's a good chance you'll stop the Masked Bishop's spell.
After that first round, heal everyone with your items and start hacking away in
the same order as above.

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9n.  Thomas v. the Wild Boar, Thomas chapter 1 (Mt. Hei-Tou)

There's not much to this fight, really, but I've gotten a few e-mails about it
so I'll go ahead and cover it.  If you want to be able to use Thomas, Cecile,
and Juan for this fight, take the time to get some money and sharpen their
weapons up to level 5 via the Blacksmith in the east courtyard of Brass Castle.
You really don't need to because the easiest way to win this fight is using
Piccolo's Lightning Magic.  Make sure Thomas and Cecile are at least level 6
for this fight and Juan and Thomas has a healing item each.  The formation:

Cecile
Thomas
-----
-----
Juan
Piccolo
(No Support)

In the first round, if you've leveled up Thomas and Cecile's weapons, use the
Best Effort Combo.  If not, just have them Defend.  Have Piccolo cast Berserk
Blow-this will take him 2 rounds to complete so continue to cast this in the
next round.  If you've leveled him up high enough where he has Soaring Bolt,
use that instead.  Use a healing item on Cecile if she got charged by the Boar
in the first round.  In the next round, Piccolo will get his spell off.  Use
Best Effort if you didn't in the previous round and this should kill off the
Boar.  If not, just repeat from step 1.

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9o.  Thomas v. the Zexen Army round 1, Thomas chapter 2 (Lake Castle)

This strategy battle occurs after you agree with Caesar to help Hugo escape.
The goal is to hold out long enough until you can move Hugo and Lilly's units
to the exit circle.  The key to winning this battle is to not be aggressive-
the vast majority of the time only 1 Zexen unit will actually attack you.  As
long as you don't try to wipe out everyone and take a defensive approach, you
will win this battle easily.

In the first turn, just defend with both Thomas and Cecile's units-don't move
them.  In the second turn, hit the Zexen unit that's moved up next to Thomas
with his Wind Magic skill.  Defend again with Cecile.  During your next turn
and every turn thereafter, move Hugo/Lilly's units to the exit circle.  Once
you move both Hugo and Lilly's units to the exit circle the battle will be
over.  With a Major Victory you'll get a Counter Ring for a prize.

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9p.  Thomas v. the Zexen Army round 2, Thomas chapter 2 (Lake Castle)

Take the same non-aggressive approach as advised in section 8o and you'll be
fine.  The best outcome for this battle is a Safe Retreat-you cannot get a
victory because Leo and Percival's HP will not drop below 1/2 in this battle.

In the first round, just defend with Thomas and swap Juan and Cecile's spots.
You'll get attacked in the next few rounds so just use Thomas' unit primarily
to take the attacks and retreat when you have to.  If you didn't get any
recruits in Thomas' chapters and only have Thomas, Juan, and Cecile, use
Cecile's unit instead to take the attacks.  If Leo or Percival's units attack
you retreat like crazy.  After 5-6 turns, the battle will be over.  If you got
a Safe Retreat, you'll get a Killer Rune as loot.

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9q.  The True Fire Rune Dragon, chapter 4 (Flame Champion Hideaway)

This fight isn't hard if you've leveled up Geddoe's Lightning Magic skill.  If
your characters' levels are in the low 40's, that's more than good enough to
win.  It's recommended that Chris have a Water Rune with her skill in it maxed
out but it's not essential.  If she doesn't have this, just equip her and
Geddoe with healing items.  Regardless of who is FC, I suggest this formation:

Chris
Hugo
-----
-----
-----
Geddoe
(No Support)

Send Hugo/Chris up with their melee attacks.  Cast the 4th level True Lightning
spell with Geddoe (Hammer of Raijin).  In the next round, heal Chris' unit with
Kindness Drops or her healing item.  Don't worry about healing Geddoe for now.
Cast Furious Blow from Geddoe's True Lightning Rune.  This should take out the
True Fire Dragon.  If you got unlucky and it didn't go down, heal everyone with
Chris' Kindness Rain or their items and send Geddoe up for a melee attack-this
should definitely take it down or you're too low of a level/don't have the
sufficient skills.  There's a very slim chance the Fire Dragon will reflect
Geddoe's magic attacks.  If this happens, just keep using Furious Blow with
Geddoe and Chris/Hugo's melee attacks until he goes down.

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9r.  The FC v. the Masked Bishop, chapter 4 (Flame Champion Hideaway)

This fight takes place right after you receive the True Fire Rune.  You do not
have to win this fight to make the story proceed.  The best way to ensure your
success is to have trained up Geddoe's Lightning and Fire Magic skills,
depending on whether or not he's the new FC.  Equip him with a Wizard Hat (a
common item at the Vinay del Zexay Armor Shop) and any Lightning/Fire Magic
Rings you've picked up to boost his grade in those skills.

If Geddoe is your Flame Champion, skip ahead to the next paragraph.  In the
first round, send up Chris/Hugo for melee attacks on Sarah.  If Chris has a
Water Rune, cast Kindness Drops on Geddoe if he's hurt.  Have Geddoe cast
Thunder Storm (3rd level spell).  This will wipe out all the Chimeras and
pretty much everyone else to boot.  Usually only Sarah and Yuber are left
standing.  In the second round, heal Chris/Hugo's pair (Hugo usually buys it
in my game) and cast Soaring Bolt with Geddoe's True Lightning to finish off
Sarah.  Heal everyone still alive in the next round.  Cast Geddoe's Soaring
Bolt one more time to finish up Yuber.

If Geddoe is Flame Champion, have him cast Explosion and center it on Yuber.
Heal him with Chris' Kindness Drops if she has a Water Rune and he's hurt from
the last battle.  If not, send her/Hugo to attack Sarah.  All the Chimera
should be gone in the next round.  After that, go for Final Flame on Sarah if
she's still up or the Masked Bishop if she went down.  Continue to heal with
Chris when necessary.  When you run out of Final Flame, use the Fire Magic
spell Blazing Wall and center it on whoever's farthest from Geddoe.  Once Sarah
and the Masked Bishop go down, it's smooth sailing against Yuber.

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9s.  Chris v. Harmonia round 2, chapter 4 (Outside Duck Village)

This strategy battle occurs if Chris is FC after your forces have retreated to
Duck Village.  The levels for the Six Zexen Knights should be in the mid-40's
for this battle.  Maxed out Armor Protect skills for Chris, Borus, and Leo are
highly recommended.  If you recruited Rody with Chris, remove his Firefly Rune
and attach it to Leo.  Equipping Chris and Leo with Sacrificial Jizos is also
a really good idea.  The formation I use:

Percival         Leo
-----            Borus
-----            Roland
Salome           Chris

At the start of the strategy battle, you just have to hold on for about 4-6
turns.  To get it over with as quickly as possible, move Units 1, 2, and 4 into
the far northwestern circle and units 3 and 5 into the far southwestern circle.
Only attack with the Duck Units if possible and heal with Dupa when you can.
Sarah will eventually conjure more units and one turn thereafter Chris will
show up to tell the Grasslanders to fall back.

You'll now just have to stay alive for 3 turns.  When it's your turn, move
Chris' Unit into the far SW circle.  Leave Salome/Percival where they are and
have them defend.  When it's the enemy's turn, just retreat Salome/Percival if
they get attacked.  If Chris gets attacked, go ahead and fight-her unit matches
up very well, especially if you put the Firefly Rune on Leo.  If they get
lucky, Chris will get HP back for her unit at the start of her turn to give you
a little leeway.  At the next turn, use Chris' Fire Rune to hit the circle with
the most enemy units on it that are adjacent to her.  Have Salome/Percival only
defend again and use Chris' unit to take the attacks.  Keep doing this until
Sarah's unit retreats and you withdraw yourself for a Safe Retreat.  No loot
for this battle.

In case you got Chris up to level 99 and were wiping out everyone, you still
can't win this battle outright because Sarah's HP won't drop below 1/2 so Safe
Retreat is the best possible outcome.

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9t.  The FC v. the MIB and the Harmonians, chapter 4 (outside Brass Castle)

This strategy battle takes place after your FC makes their speech.  If you've
taken the time to level up your story characters, e.g. Geddoe's mercenary team
and the Six Zexen Knights, this battle shouldn't be too tough.  The given
victory goal is to stay alive until help arrives (usually 5-6 turns).  If most
of your story characters are in the low to mid 40's level with decent skills
and equipment (+57 or better primary armor), you can win by wiping out the
enemy before your reinforcements show up.  In fact, this is the way to get a
Major Victory.  The loot for a Major Victory is a Silver Shield.

This is the setup I used regardless of FC:


Leo           Borus         -----         Ace           Shiba
Queen         Fred          Dupa          Fubar         Sgt. Joe
Roland        Jacques       -----         Percival      Bazba
Chris         Geddoe        -----         Hugo          Lucia
(Caesar)      (Apple)       (Beecham)     (Salome)      (Joker)


About these units.  Your FC will have a Fire Skill attack and either Geddoe or
Hugo will have a Lightning Skill attack.  You'll need 3 good units that can
take down enemy units so I choose to shift the best groups into Chris, Hugo,
and Geddoe's command.  After you've picked your formation, pick the 3rd choice
to ask Caesar to wait.  Go to the inn and save then come back to tell him 
you're ready.

At the start of the strategy battle, your FC will have a conversation with the
Harmonian commander.  Some Harmonian units will leave and only 7 are left
against your 5.  During your first turn, move the unit with Lightning and Fire
Skills together into the circle one move to the right from the starting point.
Put the other units together in the circle below them.  If you ever need to
heal, you can now move back just one circle to the starting point-this also
prevents the enemy from being able to attack with Cover help.  I'm quite sure
you can't lose anyone permanently in this battle.

The two main enemy units to be concerned with are Yuber's and Sasarai's.  You
won't have to take on Sasarai in the field (his unit is just made up of 4
Regular Harmonian troops) but he has two Lightning Skill attacks that knock out
1/4 of your unit's health every time he casts it.  The units commanded by Dios,
Albert, and Sasarai don't have a commander-to beat them you'll have to take out
all 4 Harmonians.

Until the Harmonian units get close, I just Defend with everyone.  I use my
Lightning and Fire Skill both on Yuber's unit-he's the most dangerous when you
actually get to the field battle.  Sasarai almost always will cast his
Lightning attacks on two different units but if he hits one unit with both of
them, pull them back immediately.  You can beat the enemy's 7 units with just
Chris, Hugo, and Geddoe's units with mop-up help from Lucia's unit to attack
enemy units that have been already hurt.  You can still score a Major Victory
even if one of your units is wiped out (I played it and lost Lucia's team).

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9u.  The True Water Rune Dragon, chapter 4 (Cyndar Ruins)

There's an easy way and a not-so-easy way to beat this boss.  First, make sure
everyone's at least level 52 for this battle.  Getting to this level shouldn't
take long fighting the Copper Suns in the Flame Champion Hideaway.  Take a
healer with you and affix a Water and Shield Rune to them (Rody, Salome, and
either Vikis are great choices for this).  Bring three strong melee attackers
with you and train up their Armor Protect and Magic Resistance as high as
possible.  For the melee attackers, their weapons should be at level 15 by now.
To get level 15 weapons requires the Silver Hammer.  At Duck Village's Tutor
Shop, talk to the Alma Kinan woman sitting at the table.  She'll give you this
hammer and you can then give it to Peggi.  Keep in mind that you can exit the
Cyndar Ruins at any time by using an Escape Scroll.

The easy way to win this fight is if you got a Pale Gate Rune.  A little girl
in the Iksay Item Shop gives you one and you can randomly find one on the first
corpse at the Flame Champion Hideaway (rare item).  You can affix this Rune to
either Viki, Estella, Piccolo, or Joker, who all have decent skill with Pale
Gate Magic.  The first level Pale Gate spell is Open Gate, which will instantly
knock out most to all of the Water Dragon's Icicles.  From there, you can just
mop up with the rest of your team.  The rest of the strategies below cover the
not-so-easy way with each character as FC.

The not-so-easy way is if you don't have a Pale Gate Rune.  It's tougher but
still very doable.  Along with a healer and three strong melee attackers, take
two other people who have very strong offensive magic skills.  This pool
includes Mel (S in Lightning), Estella (comes with a Rage rune), Alanis (Fire),
Joker (Fire), Rody (Lightning), and either Vikis (Lightning and Fire).  Giving
one of the characters who's tops with Lightning a Thunder Rune is highly
recommended.  A little girl in the Duck Village Rune Shop gives you one and
it's a drop item for the Sirens in the Cyndar Ruins.  You will also want to
equip anyone you'll use for Lightning/Fire Magic attacks with a Wizard Hat and
any Lightning/Fire Magic Rings you've gotten.  Jeane is the best choice for
support because her Rune Sage ability will quicken the speed of your spell
casting.

I recommend this party if your FC is Chris:

Chris
Mel (Thunder Rune)
Fubar
Salome (Water and Shield Runes)
Landis
Rody (Lightning Rune)
Jeane (Support)

In the first turn, cast Thunder Storm with Mel, Battle Oath with Salome, and
Furious Blow with Rody.  Landis and Fubar should attack and Chris will likely
stay in the back with Mel but that's not a big deal.  With any luck, you were
able to take out 1 or 2 icicles in the first round.  In the second round, heal
with Salome's Great Blessing spell if everyone still has around 100 HP left or
use Kindness Rain if everyone's near death.  Cast Furious Blow with Mel and
Soaring Bolt with Rody and attack with your melee fighters.  Repeat this with
the healing spells until the icicles all go down.  From here on out, it's just
a matter of mopping up.  If your characters keep getting KO'ed, equip a
Sacrificial Jizo on each.

If your FC is Geddoe, I suggest this formation: