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Update 88: Kraken
I’ve clearly been studying the wrong field before! This is producing much better results!
Right, so since Alice somehow got in a party meant for a boss again, I had to rearrange her skill points to make sure she can at least contribute to the upcoming fight. Pfffft, yeah that’s a good one.
Alice now has +32 evasion. Because she wasn’t enough of a dodge-master before. Not that this will matter in the upcoming fight.
Alice’s new skillset.
Now while Alice has high LUC, her low TEC drags down her infliction rate well below Kraken’s TEC and LUC. And trying to increase her LUC will actually lower Kagenui’s success rate due to the ailment infliction bug. So it’s in my best interest not to mess with it.
Now in Fang’s case, his LUC and TEC stats can go above Kraken’s, so I try to raise his LUC as high as possible. To the point where I even reforged his weapon to have all LUC forges.
Also as an extra precaution, I reskill Asteria so she can make better use of Meteor.
Well, um. I guess this could come in handy.
I don’t even know what to say to this.
Now this is just silly.
Charge works with Meteor, so I spent a lot of her skill points just to get this for her.
Asteria’s new skill build. I also outfit her with equipment with as many TEC forges as possible to increase her damage output.
While I was preparing for the Kraken fight, I went gathering in the 6th Stratum to build up some funds, and unlocked some items in the process.
The Stun Seal provides a 50% resistance to Stun. Which only really matters for slow characters. Stuns can be avoided entirely by just being faster than the enemy, so I don’t find this useful. Not many things even inflict it in the first place.
This is the party that was voted in to deal with Kraken. There’s a reason I was taking those precautions, as this isn’t really an excellent party to bring along. I mean for one thing, Alice could be replaced with a real party member, but whatever.
Uhhh, where’s the Kraken? I don’t see it anywhere on this map.
Maybe that guy was lying?
I don’t know. Would someone really spend all that ental just to play a jape on us?
Hmm... Missy did say that they managed to trap it. Maybe it didn’t get out yet.
Oh, so all we have to do is turn it off and... Hmm, how are we going to do that?
It doesn’t look like there’s any way around it. We’ll have to look for a way to turn it off.
Kraken is a little difficult to find. In order to actually fight it, you have to let the Kraken out of the trap first.
To do so, you have to have this shortcut unlocked.
So you can activate this switch.
Doing so opens up this cage, so you can fight the FOE there.
You normally would not have have noticed this... It’s a hidden switch! You can flip this switch, or be cautious and leave it alone.
Because this cage contains the switch needed to release the Kraken. Yeah, this quest is partly a tile hunt in which you are given no hints on where to look. It sucks! In fact, unlike with most other quest triggers, there’s nothing on this tile beforehand to let you know that there’s a quest trigger for later.
Wow, that’s a sneaky place to hide it!
Probably to stop some idiot from accidentally letting it out. Okay, let’s just flip that...
You reach out with great resolve and move the switch to its opposite position!
The sound of a gate opening is heard.
...Suddenly, a heavy, metallic sound echoes from around the center of this floor! You may go see what happened if you wish, or you can avoid the area if you fear danger.
And as you can see, the Kraken popped up in the middle of the map.
Ugh! Is that smell coming from that!?
I can’t- urk, imagine what else it could possibly be.
A dreadful monster writhes its countless suckered tentacles in anticipation of your arrival! Judging by the pieces of metal scattered about, that switch released the cage sealing it! This monster must be the Kraken that the client and his friend could not defeat in the past! The time is now. Draw your weapons and challenge it to fulfill a man’s dying wish!
That must’ve been one sturdy trap if it couldn’t break out before we got here.
Here’s my party setup for this fight. Yes, I do have Asteria in the front row. There’s a reason for that.
Time to crack down on this problem!
Video: Kraken
Here’s one of the post-game bosses, so let’s take a look at it.
Kraken
Level: 69
HP: 30000
STR: 80
VIT: 75
AGI: 24
LUC: 56
TEC: 80
Attack Type: Pierce
Exp: 180000
Item Drops:
-Gold: Offset Funnel - 100% Drop Rate. Unlocks the Yatagarasu (Ultimate Gun. Must be restocked.)
--Emits jets of fluid that allow for faster movement.
-Normal: Prisoner’s Arm - Kill while legs are bound. 100% Drop Rate. Prevents normal drops. Unlocks the Rhongomyniad (Spear. Must be restocked.)
--Gouges the insides of its prey as it twists painfully.
Description: A sea monster sealed by a nameless explorer decades ago. It whips its tentacles to attack.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 125% Strike: 125% Pierce: 125% Fire: 125% Ice: 125% Volt: 125%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 0% Confusion: 0% Plague: 0% Poison: 0% Blind: 0% Curse: 0% Paralysis: 0%
Bind Resistances: Head: 30% Arm: 30% Leg: 120%
Other Resistances: Death: LR – 6% Petrification: LR – 6% Stun: 0%
Skills:
Death Tentacle: Uses the Legs. Randomly hits the party 10 times, dealing 95% STR-based Pierce damage per hit. Has an action speed of -20. Has an accuracy of 180.
Squid Press: Uses the Legs. Deals 150% STR-based Strike damage to the entire party. Has an action speed of -20. Has an accuracy of 150.
Tidal Wave: Uses the Legs. Deals 85% TEC-based Ice damage to the entire party. Has an action speed of -10. Has an accuracy of 200.
Restoration: Uses the Legs. Heals Kraken for 15000 HP. Has an action speed of -20.
Kraken is immune to every single disable that isn’t a bind. However, leg binding it will make it completely helpless. There isn’t much to it other than dealing so much damage to your party. Death Tentacle is probably Kraken’s most deadly skill, as it deals a total of 950% damage across your entire party. Also, Kraken has the 3rd highest STR and TEC stats out of all the enemies in the game. So while those damage modifiers are low, the skills still deal a ton of damage due to those high stats. With that said, Kraken is slow, so your party members are pretty much guaranteed to move before it does.
Also since this is the post-game, I’ll be showing the bosses’ AI scripts as well, since they can be a little tough to deal with if you don’t have a great party.
Kraken’s AI Script posted:
If HP% is below 26%, cast Restoration. (Targets self.) Cannot be used again until Death Tentacle is cast.
From 100% to 76% HP:
19% chance to cast Death Tentacle. (Standard targeting.)
60% chance to cast Squid Press. (Standard targeting.)
21% chance to cast Tidal Wave. (Standard targeting.)
From 75% to 51% HP:
19% chance to cast Death Tentacle. (Standard targeting.)
20% chance to cast Squid Press. (Standard targeting.)
61% chance to cast Tidal Wave. (Standard targeting.)
From 50% HP to death:
59% chance to cast Death Tentacle. (Standard targeting.)
20% chance to cast Squid Press. (Standard targeting.)
11% chance to cast Tidal Wave. (Standard targeting.)
A rather simplistic AI script, but when all Kraken needs to do is cast a skill to kill everyone, it doesn’t really need much in that department.
First, I’ll have Scott cast Aegis Shield, just in case the leg binds don’t land on the first turn. Also so he and Asteria can cast Berserker Vow safely. Though really at this point, Kraken can kill them both, even if they have full health.
And here’s the reason I have Asteria in the front row. Namely so Susan can buff both her and Scott with one cast of Attack Order, instead of having to spend 2 turns buffing them both.
Both Fang and Alice are gonna try for a leg bind. If it doesn’t land this turn, well there’s always next turn.
Just try to sink this ship!
Oh dear, do I really have to do that?
I’d say you can ignore the pain once you get better at doing it. But-OW, no. It gets worse. So much worse.
Aw, I thought I had that.
And Alice failed to land the bind despite having a 72% to 82% chance to do so.
Ohoho, this battle is in the bag!
Can you stop moving around so much? I’m getting a headache.
Kraken should be helpless for a while.
If all goes as planned, Kraken won’t be able to do a single thing in this entire fight. Wait, that’s odd. Asteria should have cast Berserker Vow by now.
Wait, that’s not right.
UGH! I just realized I accidentally had Asteria cast Etheric Charge instead of Berserker Vow. Good going, Fetus.
Let me just rectify that.
Now that Fang’s job is done, I’ll have him spam Primal Drums to amplify Scott and Asteria’s damage outputs.
And Alice will... just be Alice, I guess.
OH GOODNESS, I CAN’T FEEL MY TIBIAS!
Ooga booga!
Kraken continues to be helpless.
Gonna have Scott and Susan lower Kraken’s defenses even further.
Roar. Eh, good enough.
Don’t think you can hide your weaknesses from me, puny Kraken!
Um, but it’s bigger than you.
Fang, I was just trying to intimidate the beast!
Honestly, if the Kraken had to be scared of anyone, I’d say it’d be more afraid of that mole than you.
Oh, Kraken’s leg bind came off. But I can reapply it easily.
In the meantime, I’ll just have Scott and Asteria Charge up for their attacks.
Maybe Alice will redeem herself?
...Maybe I should just stick to the exploration teams.
If you were honestly expecting her to be useful, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s Alice, she can’t do a thing in boss fights. But if you were deliberately voting for what amounted to an empty party slot, uh good job on that, I guess.
At least I have Fang as backup.
HRRRNNNNNGGHHH! Tch, I can’t believe I’m engaging in this barbaric behaviour.
And time to let loose.
By the way, this is how much HP Kraken has now.
I’m over here! No wait, over here! Ha ha!
Scott rolled all 3 hits, and dealt a respectable 8082 points of damage there.
You’re looking a little dirty there. You should go take a shower.
A meteor shower! Aha! Aha! Ahahahahaha!
Geez, are you trying to fill this place with craters or something!?
Though Asteria topped that by dealing a whopping 17023 points of damage! That’s over half of Kraken’s HP in one attack!
And that’s how much HP got chopped off after 1 turn. This fight is pretty much over.
Hey Kraken, what’s crackin’? Oh, you are! Ahahaha!
And, that’s it for Kraken. Yeah, you can see why it’s considered to be the easiest of the post-game quest bosses.
The Kraken writhes madly, spattering foul ichor all over, then finally lies still. After confirming its death, you proudly leave to report your victory to the client.
That Elval should be very happy to hear about this! Let us deliver the good news!
Wh-what do you mean?
Elval, the client... I received word just now that he passed away.
...Oh.
He seemed to be worried about you all until the moment of his death. Then he looked peaceful. You were able to defeat the Kraken, right?
Yeah, we managed to get that done at least.
Maybe that’s why he was peaceful at the end. He must have felt that you beat the Kraken. Yup, that’s what happened. No doubt! I’m glad his wish came true in the end! I even bet Elval’s glad about it, too! Elval entrusted me with this reward. Take it. Well... Until next time, right? Oh, and you guys...? ...Thank you for believing in Elval.
We get a ton of money for getting that quest done.
And a nice amount of exp. Though less than what the Kraken gave us.
And it’s time to spend all those skill points we got. Though at this point, level ups are starting to get a bit uninteresting, so I’ll just cover the interesting ones from now on.
Susan now has a 19% chance to strike 2 times.
Call Snake is 3 skill points away from being maxed out. At this rate, I should be able to max out all the binding animals well before they’re really needed.
Senpuku now provides +35 evasion. So if her stats are high enough, she should be able to dodge most attacks 65% of the time.
Oh, but we’re not done yet. We still need to grab Kraken’s actual conditional drop. Oh, yes. I’m going for it. Now I could just use the same strategy as before, and just wait for the leg bind to wear off before killing Kraken. But that wouldn’t be any fun, would it? No, instead. I’m gonna do the fight the hard way this time.
I want Cassandra to have as much agility as possible for later.
I buy 2 Pierce Amulets and 1 Crush Amulet for everyone on the team.
Aside from Cassandra, who I only stick 1 Pierce Amulet on. This is because she needs a shield to be able to use her skills, and I really need her to be able to do that. And no, defensive equipment cannot be placed in her weapon slot.
Feels like I’m wearing nothing at all!
EO3postgame.png.
Okay, so here’s the party I’m taking along for this fight.
And here’s the party’s equipment setup. The Pierce Amulets are for Death Tentacle, which is Kraken’s most deadly attack. One Crush Amulet makes Squid Press manageable to deal with, and Cassandra can just use Anticold to deal with Tidal Wave. Granted this is a bit cheesy, but I really don’t have a choice here. Even against a high level party, Kraken’s attacks deal so much damage, and there’s no way this party can survive its attacks at this point without the accessories. Really, the other option would just be to grind more, but that’s not really an interesting way to handle things.
Oh come on, that thing also came back!?
Eh, don’t worry. It’s just a ghost. Let’s just take it down again!
Video: Kraken
This time, let’s kill Kraken without making it completely helpless.
First, I’m gonna use Aegis Shield to ensure that both Scott and Asteria can cast Berserker Vow safely.
Cassandra will cast Indomitable just in case. I’m not bothering with Bunshin. It won’t help that much, and Aegis Shield won’t protect it since it gets summoned after the skill gets cast. Yeah, it’s kinda dumb!
This time I make sure that Asteria casts the right skill on the first turn. Unlike before, I don’t have that much room to mess up.
And the supports will do their thing.
You can never be too careful.
This ship is still unsinkable!
How do you- OW! Do this all the time!?
Very painfully.
Spreading the love!
Ha ha ha, no!
And now with Protect Order in play, the party is effectively invincible.
I’m not bothering with a 2nd Berserker Vow cast. Doing so means that I think that either Death Tentacle or Tidal Wave would come out. I can deal with those 2 moves, but not Squid Press. And it has a 60% chance of being used right now, so that’s a really risky move to take. Instead I’m just gonna have both Scott and Asteria use Charge.
Cassandra is just going to be spamming Anticold since Tidal Wave is the only other threatening move Kraken has. Death Tentacle can’t touch me, and Line Guard isn’t needed to survive Squid Press since I have the Crush Amulets on everyone.
Well, Asteria can survive Squid Press... in the back row. Even with a Crush Amulet, it still one shots her from full HP on the front row. So I’m gonna have Faye switch places with her since Faye can actually survive being hit by it.
And I’ll have MEGAQUEEN debuff Kraken.
Are you sure this will work?
Look, just trust me on this.
Mind if I move over here? Thanks.
Strike down that spot!
Oh dear. Behind me, now!
Told ya.
Faye, how am I supposed to use that technique of yours!?
Wha- Oh, uhh... that’s not supposed to happen!
And here’s a pretty significant glitch involved with Protect Order. As you can see, Scott and Cassandra are being healed for much less than before. That’s because Protect Order tracks the caster’s initial slot instead of the caster themselves. So it’s using Asteria’s TEC stat to calculate the amount of healing done to those two. And while Asteria has a higher TEC stat, she doesn’t have Form Qi, so Protect Order doesn’t heal as much. Yeah, that skill makes a pretty big difference.
Speaking of glitches involved with Protect Order, do not use Regroup Tactic or Switch Stab after using it. Regroup Tactic’s healing overwrites Protect Order’s healing instead of being added onto it. And if your Protect Order user knows Switch Stab, having them cast Switch Stab just causes it to stop healing altogether until you recast Protect Order.
Now I’ll just have Scott and Asteria cast Charge then their attack. Mainly because I don’t really have an opportunity to cast Berserker Vow until Aegis Shield can be cast again.
And let me just have Faye fix up that the effects of that glitch.
Stabby stabby!
I don’t have access to Primal Drums, so Pincushion isn’t dealing as much damage as before.
Eh heh heh, sorry about that. Lemme just fix that up...
Behold the meatballs!
Asteria’s TEC stat is a lot lower since she’s wearing the resistance accessories instead of the Wisdom Earrings. So she only dealt a total of 8424 damage compared to the 17023 points of damage she did before.
Yeah, if it wasn’t for those Crush Amulets, then entire party would be dead right now.
Protect Order undid most of that damage at least.
Unfortunately, most is not enough in Faye’s case, since her HP got into the single digits. So I’ll just have her cast Party Heal to top off everyone.
Patchy patchy!
Party Heal doesn’t heal as much as Protect Order, but it’s good for emergencies. And believe me, there are gonna be a lot more emergencies in the post-game.
That’s how much damage Charged Pincushions and Meteors do without Berserker Vow. Pretty big difference as you can see.
Unfortunately, that’s not going to be enough to lop off the rest of Kraken’s HP. And it’s going to cast Restoration this turn, so I’m gonna be set back by a lot.
...Then I realized it was going to cast Restoration this turn, which means a free opportunity to use Berserker Vow. You’ll see why that’s important in a bit.
I also realized that this meant I could cast Bunshin without being punished.
Some assistance, please!
What took you so long?
My apologies, I was too busy dealing with tidal waves.
Oh, really!? All our hard work, undone!
Ha ha, I don’t know if I would say that’s the case...
The reason that Berserker Vow cast was important? Aegis Shield is back up, meaning that I can use it for 2 turns in a row. Which means 6 straight turns where I can just go Charge > Attack. That finally gives my party enough offensive power to kill Kraken.
And using Bunshin meant that I could have the front Cassandra use Line Guard to deal with Squid Press, so that Protect Order can completely undo the damage it does.
No.
Well, goodbye Kraken. It was nice knowing you.
I wonder how these monsters keep coming back like that. You got any ideas, Asteria?
Sorry, that’s not something I can really comet on.
And that’s Kraken’s real conditional drop taken care of. You don’t have to fight it the hard way to get it. If you’re making use of leg binds, you can just wait for those to wear off once Kraken’s HP gets really low, then finish it off.
And yes, I realize I could have thrown down a Bash Mist to deal with Squid Press. But there are 2 problems with that.
1) Asteria’s Meteor deals Strike damage, so that would have severely cut down her offenses since Kraken’s Strike resistance would go from 125% to 75%. Yes I still could have killed it, but the fight would have taken a lot longer.
2) That kind of cheese strategy is boring to use.
Attack Order is pretty close to being maxed out.
Susan now has a 21% chance to attack 2 times when using regular attacks. Now let’s go cash in our prizes.
The Prisoner’s Arm unlocks the Rhongomyniad. It’s the penultimate Spear, rather than the ultimate Spear.
Eh, I prefer stabbing over shooting.
The Offset Funnel unlocks the Yatagarasu, which is the ultimate Gun. It provides a 10% boost to both HP and TP, and increases the user's speed by 4. I don’t get this for Scott, because I want him to have the ultimate Rapier instead.
Now let’s take on another post-game quest. There are a lot of bosses to tackle here compared to most other Etrian Odyssey games, so the post-game is gonna be packed with boss fight updates.
This sounds pretty serious.
When they say “skilled adventurers,” they have to be referring to you! This request is from the Armoroad fishing committee. They haven’t been catching fish! Supposedly there’s a giant sea anemone lurking on the 2nd Stratum eating all the fish. Tons of fishermen live in Armoroad, and they depend on the sea for their livings! If they go out of business, so will my bistro, and all of Armoroad, too! Ahahaha! ...... Wait... That’s not funny! Look, just hurry up and beat the tar out of that monster! Well then, I’m counting on you! Set out, adventurers!
Let’s take a look our guild and the upcoming boss.
Boss
HP: 17000
AT: 61
DF: 68
Weakness: Elemental
Resistance: Physical
The boss in question has pretty low offenses, but very high resistance to physical attacks.
Faye is probably the most important support to bring to this fight. The boss makes use of both ailments and binds, and it’s important to get rid of those as soon as possible in the fight, as there will be nasty consequences if you don’t. She also has access to Prevent Order to prevent ailments from landing in the first place.
Cassandra is a nice defensive support to have. If the party can stay on top of things and dispel binds as quickly as possible, she probably won’t be needed, as the boss doesn’t have great offenses in normal conditions. But if they can’t (which will likely be the case) then having her around will provide the party with a huge safety net.
MEGAQUEEN is also a nice support to have, but for different reasons than Faye. Namely, Limit Boost lets her cast Regroup Tactic fairly often, which can be nice. Unfortunately, Regroup Tactic does nothing against binds. Though due to the boss’ physical resistances, not too many party members can benefit from her damage boosting skills. She does have access to Prevent Order, so there’s that.
The only thing that Fang can possibly accomplish is leg binding the boss. While admittedly, that will shut most of its skillset down, that can only be pulled off once.
See Fang’s section.
Unfortunately, Scott is not a great choice to bring to the fight. The boss in question heavily resists physical attacks to the point where even Pincushion will barely do anything. You might as well be voting for an empty slot in this case.
See Scott’s section.
See Scott’s section.
See Fang’s and Scott’s sections.
See Scott’s secti- actually no. Sidney is a decent, well, one of the two viable physical attackers to bring to the fight. Namely because he has access to the Barrages, which gets around the boss’ heavy physical resistances. His real problem is the lack of defensive capabilities that Smith has. Though at least he doesn’t have to be placed in the front row since he won’t be able to make good use of Front Mortar, so he's not nearly as much of a glass cannon as in many other situations.
Asteria can gleefully exploit the boss’ weakness to elemental attacks. She’s also one of the few viable choices for an offensive party member for this fight.
Smith is an excellent choice for an offensive party member to to the fight. Breakfire Fist is a composite damage attack, so it’ll benefit from the boss’ weakness to elemental attacks. He also has some very good defensive capabilities as well. He’s naturally immune to binds, and Virus Scanner gives him a huge resistance to ailments.
Yeah you might have noticed that there are only 6 real viable choices for a party in there. Welcome to the post-game! It isn't until EO4 that the games get better about restrictive party compositions. But until then, enjoy sticking to a rigid meta!
So uh, vote for up to 3 characters to partake in this fight. Votes must be in bold.