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Non-elemental medium/short-range straight line attack, combos up to four hits

Asrai fills an interesting niche in Ellen's arsenal - it doesn't have the range of Bullseye or the spread of Hawk, but it makes an effective combo attack for those situations where rapid attacks are called for and melee range is just a bit too close. The problem is that it seems to miss in some situations where it looks like it should hit. Not very effective against moving targets.

How to fight it: Watch for its charge attacks and fight back with your favorite Folk - non-elemental, Slash, Destroy, or Thunder will work well. They're also vulnerable to Charm and Sleep if you have any effective attacks of those elements (read: Cu Sidhe).



Charm elemental attack with small area effect and extended duration

Cu Sidhe finally provides a useful Charm element attack - once you've unlocked its MC reduction Karmas, anyway. It comes out quickly and starts using its effect immediately, then lingers for a while and charms any vulnerable Folks that come close. It won't help much if your target is far away, but then, most Folks won't be able to hurt you from that range either.

How to fight it: If you want to capture it, just hit it with a single Bond attack and you're done. Dracae is probably the best way to do that. If you intend to defeat it, then you're in for a long battle - Cu Sidhe is small and difficult to hit, and once you hit it, it tends to fall down and can't be harmed again until it gets up. Immobilizing it with a Bond attack in the meantime works, but doesn't generally help much. As for avoiding its attacks... good luck. At close range, it can charm you, and from farther away, it can drop ice chunks on your head. It can also curl up and roll at you, but that's easy enough to avoid or block.



Bond elemental medium-range straight line attack

Dracae makes the Bond element a meaningful part of Ellen's strategy - its rapid attack is easy to aim and covers quite a distance once you've unlocked the appropriate Karma. The only thing you really need to know is which Folks are vulnerable to Bond - which sadly doesn't cover much in the Undersea City.

How to fight it: Dracae can test your patience if it dives underground too often - it can't be hurt until it's fully surfaced again. Avoid being too close when it rises, because the shockwave will hurt you and usually make you miss your chance to attack. Non-elemental and Thunder attacks are quite effective, and Quasarilli is also surprisingly useful if you've built up enough consecutive uses. Bullseye, as always, is a particularly good choice. If you're wearing the Faery Cloak, its Bond attack won't affect you, but you'll still need to watch out for its charging attack. Try to hit it rapidly and knock it off its feet to get a chance to attack.



Thunder elemental medium-short range straight line attack, chargeable

Hobbledy, at least so far, doesn't really measure up to a fully-powered Ga-boi. In the time it takes to charge up a good shot with Hobbledy, you can deliver several attacks with Ga-boi, and they can even be readjusted to follow a moving target. Chargeable attacks suffer from having to plant your feet to get the most use out of them, and Hobbledy's attack covers such a narrow area that it's easy to miss. It makes a good followup to a status effect, though. Immobilized Folks rarely dodge.

How to fight it: Once you've caught one, Peg Powler is especially effective. Until then, Hobbledy is vulnerable to Charm and helpless against long-range attacks of any kind. The attack to watch for is its straight line lightning attack - it can move slightly to track you and hits from farther away than it looks like it should. Sneaking up behind it isn't necessarily safe, though. It has a very short range spinning attack, but that's easy to dodge.



Slash elemental long-range projectile attack

Fraxinus suffers from being a slow-moving long-range attack - almost anything that moves can avoid the shockwave, and it has a minimum range as well, so you can't be too close to your target. (That's what Ogma is for, anyway.) It's one of the longest-range attacks available to Ellen at the moment, though, and is great for situations where keeping at a distance from the enemy is more important than accuracy.

How to fight it: Bond it and bag it. The techniques that worked on Ogma will generally work on Fraxinus as well, but by this point, you should have Dracae available for a much smoother Bond experience. Fraxinus can also use the blade shockwave attack from a distance, but by the time it wakes up, you should be within charging distance and that won't be an issue. Capture it with the Balance method.



Barrier

Ascidia is no substitute for a proper shield, but it's great in almost any situation where the shields you have aren't enough to protect you from damage and you have a slot available for it. It's not quite as transparently useful as Agar-agar is for Keats, since the MC consumed regenerates slowly, but that also makes its Karmas more important.

How to fight it: Stick with non-elemental attacks, or Slash and Destroy for groups - any other element will cause it to split. It moves pretty quickly for a giant blob, but doesn't have any significant ranged attacks. The Faery Cloak will neutralize its Bond attack, and its biting and twisting attacks won't touch you if you can keep your distance. The problem is that you'll be fighting it in a group, so general group-fighting tactics apply - try to lure them into a single place and keep away from all of them. Ascidia has a lot of HP and it takes a long time to expose its red Id, so capture it as quickly as possible.



Slash elemental medium-range straight line attack, chargeable

Alraune is one of those Folks that are really hard to categorize. On one hand, it's an attack that takes charging time to be effective and additional travel time to hit its target, which means it's not of much use on moving targets. On the other hand, it can score a few hits as it passes, so it's particularly good against Folks with a weakness to Slash. It's just such a pain to build up that I don't think it's particularly worth the effort. Rather a rare miss among Chapter 3 Folks.

How to fight it: Alraune doesn't have any ranged attacks and moves slowly most of the time, if at all, so staying at range and fighting back with Bullseye or Fraxinus tends to work well. The Battlefield Cloak would generally help, but it seems like a waste to choose that over a cloak that protects against a more prevalent and less easily avoided attack type. The problem is that it's invulnerable to damage most of the time, between its spinning and dancing attacks and its temporary shield. The key is persistence - just wait out its defenses and keep up the pressure, and you'll eventually bring it down. Capture it with the Balance method.



Water elemental medium-range attack with a wide area of effect

Peg Powler brings some much-needed utility to the Water element, with a powerful attack, decent range (which is horizontal, not vertical), and a particularly wide spread that can hit a lot of targets at once. With Peg Powler on your side, you may never need Henky again, unless you need to hit flying Folks.

How to fight it: The Cloak of the Deep is advised to defend against its water attacks, but you'll need to capture at least one Peg Powler before you can get that, so... Keeping a distance isn't as useful against Peg Powler because of its water attack, but if you get too close, it has a lunging attack that will really hurt. Thunder attacks are the way to go, but that means Ga-boi or Hobbledy. I recommend a strong offense - kill it before it kills you. And you'll need to finish the job, because you won't capture a Peg Powler unless it's on its own. Capture it with the Timing method.



Non-elemental long-range homing projectile attack, chargeable

Malabaricus is the kind of attack that all minibosses should aspire to be. It can be fired pretty quickly if you just need to hit something, or it can be charged to do some real damage. As long as you're targeting something, you'll hit it, and if you're not targeting anything, the projectiles will usually find something. It's great for flying Folks, strong Folks, weak Folks, or any other Folk that isn't immune to non-elemental damage. If it has a flaw, it's the sizeable MC cost and the fact that the projectiles launch from pretty high up, so they might not be as useful against targets near Ellen and close to the ground - you know, the ones that just about any melee attack will deal with handily.

How to fight it: Malabaricus isn't too bad when it's on its own, as long as you keep Patriot at the ready. Its two long-range attacks, a rapid-fire volley of missiles and a single volley of homing missiles, can be blocked entirely or dodged by strafing. The thing you really need to watch for is a series of charges. Those can be dodged, but if you've got the MC, putting up Patriot just long enough to block each charge is also effective. The best time to attack is after a series of three or four charges in a row - Malabaricus will tire itself out, giving you time to strike with Thunder or your favorite non-elemental or Destroy attack. Just don't get greedy, and be ready with the Patriot button - when Malabaricus recovers, it recovers quickly and will usually immediately charge at you. This is even more threatening during the short pauses after volleys of missiles. Try to play defensively, and remember that Bullseye is always an option. Capture it with the Balance method.



Destroy elemental medium-range attack, only effective at range

Coropuna doesn't really fill any needs - its effective range is about the same as Bargest or Degasser's basic attack, all things considered, and it doesn't hurt anything until it reaches the end of its run and explodes. It is, however, small enough to approach some enemies, like Gargantua, where Bargest or Degasser would be hit and pushed back. That also means that it's not an effective shield against those attacks, which would be one of the positives of Bargest and the reason I used it so much in my first playthrough. I'm sure you could find uses for Coropuna if you really wanted to, but then, you can find uses for Worthhog and Shefro if you're singularly determined. I just don't know why you would.

How to obtain it: Complete the "Raging Malabaricus" quest in Chapter 3. This involves running away from three Peg Powlers for several minutes, then defeating or capturing a Malabaricus with the three Peg Powlers still lurking around and attacking you. It's probably the one time you'll want to use Killmoulis and the Cloak of the Deep when fighting Malabaricus. All the other usual considerations apply.