Suikoden II Boss FAQ by Sephiroth Katana (http://www.rpgclassics.com) The first Suikoden game had very few bosses. Zombie Dragon, Neclord, Barbarossa and...well, that's most of them, I think. Boss fights play a slightly larger role in the second game. Since there's no quick, one-stop reference for those fights, I figured I'd write one myself. Here you go. Mist Shade (very easy) HP: 800 This boss should pose no problem if you spend a couple of minutes hanging around the healing spring and fighting the enemies. Have Rina, Eilie and Bolgan use their Circus Attack, and have Hero and Jowy attack normally. The boss can attack twice per round, but it's not a big deal (around 15 damage per attack). Bonaparte (easy) HP: 600 If you agree to help Millie in Ryube, when you're going around recruiting people, you'll have to fight this fellow. Family Attack should do the job fast, but he can hit pretty hard. Double Head (very easy) HP: 2500 In this part of the game, your team will consist of Hero, Jowy, Nanami, and three randomly chosen characters. I happened to get Shiro, Kinnison and Rikimaru. This is an excellent team - Shiro and Kinnison's Loyal Dog Attack is very useful for fighting some of the enemy groups in this area, and it's pretty effective against this boss, too. In addition, have Hero and Nanami use the Family Attack, and try out Jowy's attack spells. He should have one that does 700 HP of damage to the boss. S.D. Sword (easy) HP: 2500 He can attack several characters at a time (he seems to especially like stabbing the middle column), but you can respond with Family Attack, Loyal Dog Attack, and Viktor's powerful regular attack. You'll have Freed Y in your team; he has a Lightning rune embedded in his sword, so he should do fairly well against the boss. Give him a Water Rune to heal in case Hero's Bright Shield Rune isn't enough. Abomination (hard) HP: 4400 His high HP is the biggest problem. Try using Kahn's Resurrection Rune. Also, if you gave a Fire Rune to someone, try that. Otherwise, Family Attack and Loyal Dog Attack are probably your best bet. You can have Hero alternate between Family Attack and healing. Unfortunately, the boss has an attack that can damage your whole party at once, and uses this attack twice in a row towards the end of the fight. Pest Rat (hard) HP: 5000 Flik's Lightning Rune should have a few good spells. After you've exhausted them, use Flik and Victor's Cross Attack, and Hero and Nanami's Family Attack. My other two characters in this battle were Clive and Freed Y. Freed Y can do 100 HP of damage with a regular attack, or heal with a Water Rune. The Water Rune also has a spell that repels magic attacks, which is useful because the boss has a magic breath attack that damages your whole party. I gave Clive a Wind Rune; if Clive can cast The Shredding, it's pretty useful. Otherwise, Clive's regular attack isn't bad either. Harpy (medium) HP: 7500 The enemies in this area tend to attack in large groups, so after dealing with them for a while, this boss might seem easy. His most frequently used attack does about 50 HP of damage and has a chance of unbalancing the target. He can thus screw up your Unite Attacks by unbalancing one of the participants. If your front row consists of Viktor, Flik and Humphrey, you can just go ahead and attack normally. By this point, Flik's Lightning Rune should have one cast of Thor Shot, so use that for 1000 HP of damage. Family Attack is good as always. Worm (easy) HP: 4200 Nothing to speak of, really. Thor Shot, followed by Cross Attack and Family Attack should do the job. The boss has a pretty damaging lightning attack, though, so try to kill it quickly. Worm & Poison Moth (easy) HP (Worm): 3200 HP (Poison Moth): 6800 Fight the Worm the same way you did the first time. When Poison Moth emerges, use the Soul Eater's best spells. If you take too long, there'll be a cut scene in which the boss is defeated for you. Luca Blight (very hard) HP: 6500 Not only does Luca have a lot of HP, but he also takes half damage from all magical attacks, and he gets to attack three times in one turn. He'll either slash one character three times for a total of 100 HP of damage, or he'll attack the front row or the middle column for 100 HP of damage to each character. Not only that, but he has an escort of five elite Highland troops. However, to make it a little more fair, you get to attack him with three teams. Flik leads the first team, but you can pick the other members. I recommend Shiro and Kinnison (for Loyal Dog Attack) and Camus. Camus has a Rage Rune, which he can use to quickly mop up Luca's cohorts. Flik can use Thor Shot to soften Luca up a bit. Don't put your strongest characters on this team, since you'll only be able to do about 2000 HP of damage to Luca before the action switches over to Viktor. Viktor's team will have to deal with Luca and three cohorts. I had Stallion in the back row; his regular attack seemed to be pretty accurate. I also put Gadget, of all characters, in the back. He has surprisingly decent attack and defence, and is good against Luca's bodyguard. In the front, I put Shin (use his Spider Rune on Luca for one solid triple hit) and Wakaba (who also has a good physical attack rune). I think my sixth character was Lorelai, but she wasn't particularly effective. If you give Viktor a Darkness Rune, he'll be able to drain some of Luca's HP, which will let him last longer. Again, after 2000 HP of damage, the action switches, this time to Hero's team. Hero's team will actually have to finish Luca off. Fortunately, Luca's HP doesn't get replenished in between fights, and this time he's alone. Put your strongest characters in Hero's unit. Of course, if you're like me, your strongest characters are Viktor and Flik, but you do have other options. I recommend filling the front row with Humphrey, Valeria, and Miklotov. If you take a little time to prepare before the fight with Luca, you can equip them with Dragon Armour and Guard Rings. Since many of Luca's attacks are fire-based, you can use Fire Emblems or Runes of Fire Sealing to dampen their effectiveness somewhat. In back, I recommend using Nanami and Clive in addition to Hero. Take some time to build up everyone's weapons using the blacksmith in Kuskus Town, and give Hero the Blue Gate Rune. If you take these precautions, the fight won't be too bad. Open with Pale Palace from Hero, The Shredding from Clive, regular attacks from the front row, and anything you like from Nanami. Then try to have Hero alternate between Family Attack and using the Bright Shield Rune, though you might have to heal every turn. If you're lucky, the Battle Oath spell will make one or more of your front-row fighters go berserk, increasing the damage they do. With their high defence, they can last a long time. Don't use Valeria's Falcon Rune, though, as it tends to miss (though if you get the special animation, it does very high damage). If the situation gets desperate, try using the Empty World spell. Sierra (easy) HP: 2500 Family Attack, Pale Palace, and The Shredding will make it a quick fight. Stone Golem (hard) HP: 7000 The problem with this guy is that all of his attacks hit multiple characters. He starts by attacking the entire front row for about 100 HP of damage to each character, then progresses to attacks that hit the entire team. Towards the end, he'll start to use a death-ray spell that does about 250 HP of damage to each character. You can't use Flik in this part of the game, as far as I know, so use Miklotov instead. If you upgrade his weapon, buy him a Full Plate, and give him the Full Helmet you find in the cave, you might gain a new appreciation for the Russian knight. Using Battle Oath might make him go berserk, in which case he'll easily do 1000 HP of damage with a critical hit. Viktor won't be far behind. If you don't need to heal (unlikely), use Family Attack. I also had Shiro and Kinnison in the team; their Loyal Dog Attack isn't bad either. Try not to use all your spells in this fight, since there's another one coming up. Pale Palace and Thor Shot are effective as always, though. Neclord (medium) HP: 4500 He wouldn't be hard at all if you hadn't just fought a boss. As it is, hopefully you have at least three casts of Great Blessing and one of Battle Oath. Open with Empty World, then heal with Battle Oath in your next turn (hopefully sending some of your front-row fighters berserk). After that, unload whatever powerful spells you have left. Neclord will attack the female members of your team (in my case, Nanami); if he manages to deplete their HP, he'll start using magical attacks that damage the whole team, at a rate of two per turn. Lucia (very easy) HP: 1500? You'll only have Hero, but it won't be hard at all. Lucia can only do about 50 HP of damage per turn, even with her Rage Rune. Use Pale Palace, then switch to regular attacks. Lucia (easy) HP: 4600 The game forces you to use Shin here, which might be a problem if you haven't used him often. Use Cross Attack, Family Attack, and Shin's Spider Rune on her, and have someone like Clive dispatch the cohorts with The Shredding. Feel free to use all your strong Lightning spells, since they'll be useless in the next fight anyway. Lucia has some strong fire magic, but you can defeat her before she gets a chance to use it. Bone Dragon (medium) HP: 9200 Make sure to heal in the gateway to the Academy before going into the city itself. That way you'll be at full power when you take on Bone Dragon. He's immune to Lightning spells, unfortunately, so Thor Shot won't help you. The Shredding, however, is very effective, as are Pale Palace and Empty World. Family Attack is good too, but more likely than not you'll have to heal with the Bright Shield Rune every turn. Use Shin's Spider Rune in the first turn, since he'll probably get knocked out immediately afterwards. The boss can damage the whole party for 150 or 250 HP of damage; he also has a bite attack which does about 450 HP of damage to one character. Fortunately, he doesn't use the bite attack often. Just hurl whatever spells you can at him. A Darkness Rune will let you drain his HP, which can keep one character standing that much longer. Gorudo (very easy) HP: 5000 Jowy teams up with Hero in this fight. Open with a Buddy Attack to dispatch Gorudo's cohorts, then go nuts with Pale Palace, Empty World, and Jowy's Hungry Friend. It should be over in seconds. Lucia (medium) HP: 6000 She gets to attack three times in one turn. Counter with Battle Oath to hopefully make your front-line fighters go berserk, and then attack her with Valeria's Falcon Rune, Cross Attack, Pale Palace and The Shredding. Don't be afraid to go all out, since you can just leave L'Renouille after the fight and go rest in your castle. If you have trouble with Lucia, take some time to prepare before heading to meet her. If you go back to Rockaxe Castle, return to the place where Gorudo attacked you, and go past that hall to his former office, you can pick up a Thunder Rune and Earth Armour. If you replace Flik's Lightning Rune with Thunder, you'll get several casts of Thor Shot, which will be quite useful. Additionally, the proprietor of the armour shop in Muse City will give you Silver Armour, and you can pick up Windspun Armour as a rare find in Sajah. On top of that, upgrade your weapons to their maximum level. I recommend using Flik, Viktor and Valeria in the front row (this was also my front row in Suikoden I, actually), and Hero and Clive in the back. The sixth character is up to you; I chose Kinnison. (The game seems to have a dearth of good back-row characters; for some reason, even the mages all have short range.) Culgan and Seed (medium) HP (Culgan): 3800 HP (Seed): 4000 They can attack with their swords or use area attack spells. They also have a fairly powerful unite attack. Focus on one of them at a time to neutralize the unite attack. I recommend Seed; once Culgan is alone, he'll try to heal himself and thus waste a turn, since you can do much more damage to him than he can heal. If you got the Fury Rune near the beginning of L'Renouille, I suggest going back to your castle and equipping it on Valeria (or another tough front-line fighter of your choice). Embed a Rage Rune in Viktor's weapon, and an Exertion Rune in Flik's. Then, when you get to Culgan and Seed, you'll be able to win using just Cross Attack, Falcon Rune, and regular attacks from your other three characters. Try not to use any magic (particularly healing magic) in this fight, since you'll need it shortly. Beast Rune (very hard) HP (Core): 3600 HP (Left Head): 4000 HP (Right Head): 4400 HP (Left Leg): 4000 HP (Right Leg): 5500 This is the final boss in the game, and also the hardest. He'll start out with five attacks per turn, but as you neutralize parts of his body, the remaining parts will get to attack more often. The Core and both heads all have very strong area attack spells (the Left Head's is the strongest), and they can unite together for a spell that does about 450 HP of damage to your whole party. The Right Leg can revive disabled parts, and the Left Leg will hit one character with random status ailments. In addition, all five parts are highly resistant to magic. First of all, you should distribute a Fury Rune, an Exertion Rune, and an embedded Rage Rune among your front-line fighters (before going all the way through L'Renouille, of course). If you can get a Double-Beat Rune (Gijimu comes equipped with one, and you can get more by fighting CutRabbits in North Sparrow Pass), equip that on someone, too. This will counteract the boss's extremely high defence. Flik, Viktor and Valeria will do almost all of the attacking. The back row (Hero, Kinnison and Clive in my case) should be equipped with support runes. I gave Clive a Cyclone Rune and Kinnison a Flowing Rune. That way, Kinnison was able to heal in case Hero got disabled, as well as cast Protect Mist on the party (helpful when all of the boss's attacks are magic-based), and Clive got a chance to avoid one magical attack completely thanks to Storm Warning. Throughout the fight, you should attack with Falcon Rune and Cross Attack. If you gave Valeria the Fury Rune, she can do a tremendous amount of damage if she gets the special Falcon Rune attack. Even without it, she'll do at least 750 HP of damage. Cross Attack will increase in effectiveness as the fight goes on, thanks to Flik's Exertion Rune. And, since the boss will do a lot of damage to you, you'll probably be healing with Hero's Battle Oath, meaning that there's a high chance of sending Viktor or Flik berserk. The obvious first target is the Right Leg, since it can revive other body parts, so take it out first. After that, your first priority is eliminating the boss's unite attack. The Core has the lowest HP and defence out of the three participants in the attack, so go for it. The Left Leg can be a serious annoyance, especially if it unbalances Hero or Flik. However, it only attacks once every other turn, so don't waste your time on it. If it unbalances Hero, have Kinnison (or whoever has the Flowing Rune) heal with Kindness Rain. If they don't have to heal, Clive and Kinnison should just use their regular attacks, or try their strongest spells. As a rule, magic is ineffective in this fight (even the Blue Gate spells), so don't waste your front-line fighters' time on it. After disabling Right Leg and Core, attack Left Head, since it's got the most powerful area attack spell. By this point, the heads will begin to cast their magic twice per turn. Race to eliminate the head as quickly as possible, and the Right Head will get to attack three times. The Left Leg will also get to mess with your status more frequently and affect multiple characters. Your HP should be getting low by this point, since you've probably used up your casts of Battle Oath and Forgiver Sign, so have both Hero and Kinnison heal with Great Blessing and Kindness Rain. The Right Head's attack does only about 100 HP of damage to each character, so if you can last a couple more turns, you should win. Suikoden II is copyrighted by Konami, 1999. This FAQ is copyrighted by Sephiroth Katana, 2004.