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Update 95: Dragon
Sometimes I wonder just how we got this far. Then the rest of the guild shows me why, ha ha!
Hee hee! Looking like a real pirate there, Scott! Not that you’ve done much of that. ...Did you?
Not really. I told you before, I got out of that business quickly to make an honest living. But I learned quite a few catchy sea shanties while I was one, so I don’t have all bad memories of that.
Time to buy some more ultimate equipment. Scott will certainly appreciate the +1 AGI, though +1 LUC and a 3% boost to crit rates aren’t really great bonuses to have.
Wait, what truth?
Hee hee, that’s classified info, Sid.
Wait, why is it classified?
Your poor little heads wouldn’t be able to handle it. Just trust me on that.
Faye will definitely get some usage out of that +1 TEC and +5% maximum HP increase. Though that +1 STR doesn’t do much for her. I guess Punch Monks would appreciate that particular bonus, though.
I’ll be seeing a lot of stars tonight!
+2 TEC and +5% maximum TP is a very good boost for Asteria. Though I’m really just getting this for theDEF boost, since an earlier piece of armor provides the exact same bonuses, only with less DEF.
This is the party that was voted in. Not exactly a great party for Dragon, but really no party composition is.
While heading to our target destination, Cassandra got a level up.
Guardian now reduces all physical damage by 21%,
Anyways, this is where we need to go in order to take on Dragon.
Whoa, nelly. Mind giving us more details on that?
The other day, the swordsman Lindworm pursued that rumor and ended up being hauled to the inn. If you’ve come to challenge the dragon, I can’t stop you, but... I do recommend you stop by the inn first and talk to Lindworm before committing to this.
Having cautioned you, the guard leaves to return to his post.
We should probably go back and listen to what this Lindworm guy has to say first.
Yeah, sounds like a good- wait what? S-Sid!? Did I hear that right? You... don’t wanna go after the dragon first?
Faye, ya can never be too careful when dealing with a dragon. We’re gonna need all the help we can get, trust me. Also I really don’t feel like going to that weird dark place again, thank you very much!
Hey, not like I can’t get us out of there again if we take a trip there! Hee hee!
Yes, well... I would like to avoid breaking reality more than we have to.
...B-breaking reality? J-just wh-what did we do?
Uhh, nothing big. I hope. But it’s kind of a weird story. I’ll tell you later. Probably after we go back to the inn first.
Sure did, kid!
We keep getting guests here who’ve come to Armoroad to chase after that rumor. It’s keeping me busy!
So is anyone named Lindworm staying here? We were hoping to talk to him about that.
Huh? That’s what you came to talk to Mr. Lindworm about? Okies. He’s probably well enough to have visitors by now. Follow me, okay?
Fade to black.
...Huh. Well that’s certainly an unexpected cameo.
Princesses in our nation tend to be soothsayers. My liege Princess Margarete is no exception. Recently, the Princess’s oracular guidance, apparently from a divine source, was to defeat a dragon. The Princess has since been haunted each night with visions of a golden dragon... The strain is showing. Hence, I was ordered to vanquish this golden dragon and end her nightmares. But I have failed. Your guild Tidehunt is, I am told, the strongest in all of Armoroad. Thus do I beseech you... Though we have only met, I have no choice. I am bedridden and my Princess grows weaker... Bluntly, I must ask you to go and defeat the golden dragon in my stead.
No.
Hmm, I don’t know if this is a good idea.
Then, since it directly concerns my own nation, I must deal with it myself. Once my wounds heal, I’ll make another attempt at vanquishing the dragon. I pray I won’t fail again. I’m sorry to have asked this of you. Please pay it no mind. If you’ll excuse me, I must rest.
Yes.
Whoa whoa whoa, you’re gonna try again all by yourself!?
I really don’t think that’s a good idea...
Gutsy, but that’s really suicidal, don’t you think? I mean from what it sounds like, you’re lucky you survived the first time! Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to kick his butt for you! Hey Scott, don’t even think about wimping out on this!
Fine, yeesh. Yeah, we’ll take care of it for you. I hope.
Thank you, warriors... I admire your courage and kindness. The Princess entrusted me with this Dragon Bell. Take it and use it to call forth the golden dragon.
I speak from experience when I say that this golden dragon is stronger than you may believe. Be careful.
In order to actually start the fight with Dragon, you need the Dragon Bell. So once you talk to that guard, it’s just best to come back here immediately, unless you haven’t explored the area.
Oh, and we can talk with Lindworm again if we wish.
Okies. I’ll show you to his room. Follow me!
Not yet, just wait for a little longer.
I wish I could do more to help... Please, slay the golden dragon for the sake of my Princess!
Don’t worry, we will! ...Huh? Asteria? Hello? You’ve been kinda staring at him for a while. Is something about that guy bothering you?
Oh! No. I’m just surprised to see a member of the Forest Folk here. I heard they were all wiped out a few years ago. Glad to see and hear that wasn’t the case.
Whoa, really!? What the heck wiped them out!? Err, made you think that, anyway?
Uhhh... I-um... can’t remember at the moment. I-It doesn’t matter. We should get going and kill that dragon. I’ll tell you when Faye’s not around.
So Lindworm isn’t a character that was seen in any of the past Etrian Odyssey game. However, he’s a member of the Forest Folk, a race of people that were encountered in EO1. (And by extension, EOU.) The Forest Folk lived in Etria’s Labyrinth, and were pretty protective of their home. Because of that, they blocked the progress of anyone who was hoping to explore past the Stratum they lived in. Which caused problems for Etria’s economy. As a result, your guild was assigned to... well... to annihilate the entire race. Yes, really. All in the name of tourism. Yeah, your guild in EO1 weren’t really good people. Though in actuality, the person who assigned that mission was actually trying to get your guild killed by them. It just backfired. Horribly.
Though given that this guy stuck around, and they have an established kingdom now, the attempted genocide didn’t wipe everyone out at the very least.
Oh, and one more thing about the Forest Folk. In the Japanese release of EO1 (And EOU), the Forest Folk were straight up direct parallels to the Ainu people. Yeah... Most of the references to that got scrubbed out in the international releases.
On a less grim note, let’s finally take down Dragon.
Now if we didn’t have the Dragon’s Bell, we’d get these lines of text once we went through that door.
As you open the door and enter a clearing in the forest, you gasp at the sight before you! Trees have been felled as if hit by lightning and a pungent smell of something singed is all around. Great gouges pock the earth... Some unimaginable battle must have been waged here! It must be the work of the dragon you heard about from the guard at the entrance. However, though you draw your weapons and look nervously about, you don’t detect any dragons...
But we do, so let’s get on with it.
You see the felled trees and pock-marked ground... but the gold dragon itself is absent. If you wish to challenge the gold dragon, you must lure it out with the Dragon Bell you received.
Ding-a-ling!
Music stops.
The bell sounds clearly, echoing slowly into the still forest... Suddenly, a roar that shatters the heavens answers the bell and bolts of lightning rain from above! A blinding white light shines; when it fades, a shining gold dragon is coiled before your eyes!
DAAAAHHH!
My, I’ve heard about those dragons before, but seeing one up close in person...
You all sure picked a big fight, didn’t you?
Let’s see here, crossbow is in working condition... Hmm, am I forgetting something? Nah, we should be good to go!
Here’s my party setup. I made sure to stack lots of speed boosts on Faye so she could be faster than Dragon.
And my Limit setup. I want Aegis Defense so I can guarantee myself free turns, and Hellfire makes for some good extra damage. By the way, I also recommend watching this upcoming video as well.
Time for some dragon slaying!
Video: Dragon
Alright, let’s take a more detailed look at this guy before we begin its execution take it down.
Dragon
Level: 74
HP: 25000
STR: 70
VIT: 77
AGI: 61
LUC: 53
TEC: 69
Attack Type: Slash
Exp: 207500
Item Drops:
-Normal: Thunder Scale - 100% Drop Rate. Unlocks the Dragonbane (Sword. Must be restocked.)
--An unimaginably sharp scale of the thunder walker.
-Gold: Thunder Horn - Kill with Volt damage. 100% Drop Rate. Prevents normal drops. Unlocks the Ukonvasara (Ultimate Club. Must be restocked.)
--Lightning dragon’s horn that still rumbles with thunder.
Description: A golden beast sent by the divine dragon. Its bright flash can alter entire landscapes.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 75% Strike: 75% Pierce: 75% Fire: 150% Ice: 100% Volt: 0%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 10% Confusion: 10% Plague: 10% Poison: 10% Blind: 10% Curse: 10% Paralysis: 10%
Bind Resistances: Head: 30% Arm: 30% Leg: 30%
Other Resistances: Death: LR – 10% Petrification: LR – 10% Stun: 10%
Skills:
Voltage: Uses the Head. Deals 300% TEC-based Volt damage to the entire party. Has an accuracy of 150. Has an action speed of +0.
Curse: Uses the Arms. Deals 150% STR-based Slash damage to a single target and heals Dragon for twice the damage dealt. Has a 70% chance to inflict Curse. Has an accuracy of 180. Has an action speed of +3.
Corrupt: Uses the Head. Dispels all buffs on the entire party, then attempts to inflict Instant Death and Curse with a 20% success rate. Has an action speed of -3.
Fangs: Uses the Legs. Randomly attacks the party 3 to 7 times and deals 130% STR-based Slash damage per hit. Targets have their physical defense reduced by 50% for 4 turns. Has an accuracy of 80. Has an action speed of -5.
Blow: Uses the Arms. Deals 160% STR-based Strike damage to the entire party. Has a 30% chance to inflict Paralysis. Has an accuracy of 100. Has an action speed of +2.
As I said in the last update, while Dragon is considered to be the easiest dragon to deal with in the other EO games, he’s not here because buffs are far more central to this game, and not being able to use them just cripples the party. Curse is pretty deadly for your damage dealers to be inflicted with, and Paralysis can just shut down your party members at very inopportune moments.
Also yes, Fangs uses the legs. I don’t know why it does. It uses the head in the next game, so it was probably just a mistake here.
Dragon’s AI Script posted:
Cast Voltage on the 1st turn. (Standard targeting.)
If self's head is bound:
-59% chance to cast Fangs. (Standard targeting.)
-41% chance to cast Curse. (Targets the party member with the lowest HP.)
If the party has 11 or more buffs, cast Corrupt. (Standard targeting.)
If self is below 51% HP and the party has 7 or more buffs, cast Corrupt. (Standard targeting.)
If HP is above 10%, cast Voltage on turns that are multiples of 5. (Standard targeting.)
From 100% to 76% HP:
-39% chance to cast Curse. (Standard targeting.)
-71% chance to cast Blow. (Standard targeting.)
From 75% to 51% HP:
-59% chance to cast Curse. (Standard targeting.)
-41% chance to cast Blow. (Standard targeting.)
From 50% to 26% HP:
-If at least 1 party member has a defense debuff:
--39% chance to cast Curse. (Targets party member with defense debuffs.)
--20% chance to cast Fangs. (Standard targeting.)
--41% chance to cast Blow. (Standard targeting.)
-Else:
--29% chance to cast Curse. (Targets the party member with the lowest HP.)
--50% chance to cast Fangs. (Standard targeting.)
--21% chance to cast Blow. (Standard targeting.)
From 25% HP to death:
-If at least 1 party member has a defense debuff:
--39% chance to cast Curse. (Targets party member with defense debuffs.)
--30% chance to cast Fangs. (Standard targeting.)
--31% chance to cast Blow. (Standard targeting.)
-Else:
--19% chance to cast Curse. (Targets the party member with the lowest HP.)
--60% chance to cast Fangs. (Standard targeting.)
--21% chance to cast Blow. (Standard targeting.)
By the way, you can’t use Prevent Order to avoid the effects of Corrupt. First of all, Prevent Order doesn’t work on the Instant Death component. Secondly, Corrupt wipes all your buffs before attempting to inflict Curse. So don’t bother trying.
Aside from that dick move, Dragon’s AI isn’t particularly notable. Just be sure to have Prevent Order up at all times and it’s gonna be another slugfest.
Oh and from what I could tell, Dragon was originally intended to be an even bigger dick, and would deliberately target the party members with the lowest HP with his skills if anyone’s HP got low enough. Though said routines that would cause that to happen appear to not work properly at all and none of that will ever happen as a result. So be thankful for that!
Anyways, like always, we want Cassandra to cast the proper Anti skill on the first turn, and on turns that are multiples of 5.
Setting up those damage multipliers.
Faye will set up Prevent Order, and that’s what she’ll mainly be doing in this fight. The reason I went with the Sonic Faye build was so she could react accordingly based on what Dragon did last turn. So if he dispels Prevent Order, I can have that back up in a jiffy. And if he just deals damage, I can just heal it all up.
I’ll take this opportunity to open up the fight with an Etheric Charged Hellfire.
An ounce of Faye is worth a pound of cure!
Resistance is not futile.
There’s nothing that my little eye can’t spy!
Let me just do some warm up exercises before I start shooting.
Ready when you are, Asteria.
Of course!
Burn to the... uhhh...
You know, uh. That uh...
Could have gone better, yes.
Only 3 hits. Only resulting in 3609 damage. Meh.
Buying myself another free turn.
Also gonna try to have it so that Dragon’s attacks get redirected towards Cassandra. Not like she has anything else better to do this turn. And I shouldn’t have to worry about the buff limit just yet.
Might as well have Asteria get ready to lob Meteors at him.
Can you get past this? I don’t think you can!
Your voodoo magic is weak, dragon!
Go ahead, just try to kill me!
Calculating trajectory... Yes, that should do it...
Alright, now that Dragon’s gonna be breaking out the physical attacks, I’m just gonna have Cassandra spam Line Guard when nencessary.
Gonna prep these two to attack next turn.
I don’t think Faye’s healing is gonna be enough to heal Sidney, so I’m just going to have her toss him a Medica IV.
Asteria was already charged up, so she’ll be dropping Meteors on Dragon’s head now.
Don’t work out too hard now, Sid!
Aw, thanks for that!
Stay behind me, everyone.
Welp, gonna have to refresh Prevent Order now.
Curse also heals Dragon, but the lifesteal component is inconsequential. It’s really more of a kick in the teeth than anything to actually be concerned about.
Watch out for falling rocks-
...I guess pebbles would be more accurate in this case.
Only a total of 1884 damage. It would have been more if I chose her to be the recipient of Berserker Vow. So all she can do is sort of chip away at him. Still, knocking off over 7% of Dragon’s HP is fairly respectable without that boost.
Gonna need a lot of gunpowder for this!
Isn’t that going overboard!?
No.
Time to start fighting.
Zip za-
...I think we might be screwed.
It was at this time that I realized I forgot to upgrade Scott’s Rapier. Oh well. His ultimate weapon will be available soon enough, anyway.
Yeesh. Good thing I refreshed that Prevent Order, or we would have been having some problems next turn.
Screwed? Pfft! Ya’ll just aren’t putting enough oomph in yer attacks! Watch this!
While Dragon restricts boosting damage through the use of buffs, there is one thing he can’t do anything about.
BOOM BOOM, BABY! Told ya it wasn’t overkill.
Pure dumb luck skill. Oh yeah.
Ahaha, Sidney did so much damage that we actually skipped Dragon’s 2nd phase!
Might as well heal up since this is pretty much a free turn for the team.
Don’t strain yourselves, everyone.
Free turn for the team.
Sure, why not stack on even more damage multipliers?
Arp awoooo!
Oh yeah, Dragon breaks out this move once he falls under 51%.
It randomly hits people in the party, and decreases the defenses of everyone it hits. Now you’re gonna wanna be very careful about using Guard Order to dispel this. If Fangs didn’t hit everyone in a row, that means casting Guard Order on that row will place the buff on the party members that didn’t get hit by Fangs. And remember, at this point in the fight, Dragon’s tolerance for buffs is very low, so casting that without a second thought can very easily cause the fight to go south, or outright cause you to lose thanks to Corrupt. Yeah, tricky little move to deal with.
The smartest way to deal with the Fangs debuff is to either cast Inspire, or to pop a Unihorn. Of course there is the option to ignore the debuff entirely, but unless your party members are particularly durable, it’s not something I would advise you to do.
Here’s a double donk, just for you!
Wow, you’re packing a lot of firepower.
Like I said, Faye. Ya can never be too careful around dragons! I mean just a while back, someone got themselves-
Ahem.
Oh uh, forget that last part.
A reminder that Double Action is only level 4 at this point, and only has a 16% activation rate. Yeah, only a 2.56% chance of that happening.
Goddamn, Sidney. We pretty much spent only 2 turns in Dragon’s 3rd phase.
Time to finish him off!
Spot the mistake I made on this turn.
Now for the big explosive final-
...Out of ammo.
...You mean you didn’t bring enough to take him down!?
Hey, honest mistake! I just forgot to restock my stuff. Hmm, wait a minute...
Not as good as my best shots, but this should work!
I was cursing myself for my stupidity, and checked to see how much HP Dragon had left. Then I realized I could go for his conditional drop right here and now.
But I’m gonna soften him up with Pincushion to ensure that Sidney gets the kill.
Meteor’s damage output it too high for me to risk using it, so I’m just gonna burn Asteria’s turn.
That’s not gonna help him now.
Hopefully that will be enough to get Dragon into killing range.
It’s such a shame that this fight will be over soon. I’ve taken quite a lycan to you. Aha ahaha!
The best way to kill something is with pure irony!
And that saves me from having to redo this fight the painful way! 
Double Action pretty much made this fight a lot less painful than it could have been. Having to deal with constant ailments on top of not being able to use buffs all that well makes for a very bad time.
The gold dragon’s corpse begins to emit a brilliant light, which then dissipates into golden particles! The particles drift in the air, eventually coming together to form a sphere! You reach out and touch the golden orb floating in midair... A rush of limitless energy staggers you! You have learned a great deal by overcoming the dragon’s ordeal. You leave with dignified steps.
So, there’s one more ordeal to take down, right?
Yep! Don’t worry, I’ll bring more ammo for that one-
Assuming-
Assuming I get picked for that team. Yeah I get it.
Remind me to buy a new weapon if I come along for that one. I could barely do anything to this dragon with my current one.
We get a 2nd crown to commemorate the fact that we’ve conquered 2 of the dragons.
Nobility Proof is now level 5. It restores 7 TP whenever a buff wears off. But more importantly, this unlocked Knighthood, which I’ll be grabbing on Faye’s next level up.
The Thunder Horn unlocks the Ukonvasara, which is the best Club in the game. A 20% HP boost and a 10% TP boost certainly isn’t bad, either. I’ll actually pick this up later as I have... plans for it.
Okies. I’ll show you to his room. Follow me!
Whoa whoa whoa, you don’t have to do that! We already killed it for you!
What...? You’ve already slain the golden dragon!? I swore to defeat it even at the cost of my life, but thanks to you, I’ll live to see my Princess again.
...That seems a little extreme.
Yes, I mean what would have happened if you didn’t succeed?
What is with these people and not caring about their own lives when it comes to these dragons?
Don’t ask me, I’m not that crazy!
Thank you, valiant warriors. When I return to my homeland, I will tell the story of your service. Well now... I must hurry home on the next ship to confirm the Princess’ safety. Farewell, noble warriors.
The same magnificent voice you heard before echoes from above!
Welcome, frail humans. It seems you have defeated one of the three dragons; the master of thunder... By now, you have surpassed the natural limits of man and gained new power...
Ya got that right!
But still... It is not enough. The path to heaven is long; you must defeat all of the dragons. The voice then fades away. Only the residual effects of that magnificent presence remain... It seems that the path will not open until you defeat whatever dragons remain. With that in mind, you set sail once again.
You heard the dragon. Just one left! Come on!
And onto the next dragon.
Here’s Wyrm.
Okay if this happens on the first turn, reset the game. You got insanely unlucky.
First of all, Howling decreases your offenses.
It also inflicts Confusion.
And it’s AOE. Yeah, a nasty move for Wyrm to use, but you really don’t want it to come out on the first turn, since it causes such a massive momentum loss, and you don’t want to spend your first few turns recovering from an unlucky turn of events.
He also has access to this skill.
Which deals a lot of damage to random targets.
It also stuns them. Pretty annoying. It’s also somewhat inaccurate.
However, Red Fang is the opposite of inaccurate. It is in fact, very accurate.
It also deals a ton of damage and causes leg binds, which can be pretty nasty when paired up with Beat.
And like the other dragons, he has his own dragon breath that he can use.
It hurts a lot.
Oh and Wyrm can also buff himself to boost his own damage output once he’s lost a bit of HP. Yeah, it would be bad if that buff stays on him.
Wyrm
HP: 25000
AT: 72
DF: 75
Weakness: Ice
Resistance: Physical, Fire
I honestly don’t have much to say about this guy. As far as the dragons go, he’s generally considered to be middle of the road in terms of difficulty in most Etrian Odyssey games, and this game is no exception. He’s harder than Drake, but that’s because he just hits really hard. And unlike Dragon, he couldn’t care any less about how many buffs you use. On top of that, he doesn’t really have any dick moves like Drake’s Iceblock or Dragon’s Corrupt. I guess there’s Howling, but there are plenty of ways to deal with that. You shouldn’t underestimate him, but there’s just nothing really noteworthy about him.
Banned
You know the drill by now. Cassandra is banned because if I don’t deal with Searing, I can’t win the fight.
She’s also really good at dealing with Wyrm’s physicals, thanks to Line Guard, so she can most certainly pull her weight here.
The Rest of the Guild
Faye is probably the best support to bring along (that isn’t Cassandra.) Lots of healing, can prevent Confusion from landing in the first place, can dispel any bits of Confusion that slipped past, and can dispel Wyrm’s leg binds. She also has access to Ad Nihilo, which can instantly get rid of Wyrm’s personal attack buff.
MEGAQUEEN is great support to bring along. Without something like Dragon hanging a sword over her head, she’s free to buff the party to her heart’s content. She can also debuff Wyrm to increase the amount of damage he takes, and can purge his attack buff with Ad Nihilo. The downside is that she has no way of dealing with Wyrm’s leg binds, but that’s not exactly a huge deal.
Rose is a reliable durable physical attacker. What’s not to like?
Charlotte is not as durable as Rose, but considering that Cassandra is coming along, that’s not a big deal. Though she’s not as reliable as Rose at dealing damage.
Scott is one of the best physical attackers we have (once I remember to upgrade his weapon). He’s also fast and has access to a defense debuff. A bit unreliable damage wise, but that’s not a dealbreaker.
Sidney is a bit fragile, but with Cassandra on the team, that’s not a huge concern as well. He’s a fantastic physical attacker, one of the best ones we have. Double Action procs can also make the fight go by far faster, but it’s best not to rely on those.
Akatsuki is also a great physical attacker thanks to Tagen Battou. Unfortunately, bringing him along means that Cassandra is essentially locked out of using Bunshin, and this is one fight in the game where I will actually want to make use of double Line Guards. Of course with enough defensive support from elsewhere, that won’t be a concern.
Asteria is a great all around attacker. Absolute Zero can deal some decent damage, as well as her meteors.
Smith is a horrible choice. Wyrm is immune to Fire, so he’s on the same level as everyone else when dealing with Wyrm’s physical resistances. And his damage output is really not that great compared to all the other physical attackers we have.
...What? You try coming up with several different ways to say “these two party members are horrible” without repeating yourself endlessly.
Vote for up to 3 party members to take on this final ordeal. Votes must be in bold.