The Let's Play Archive

Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight

by Ragnar Homsar, Dr. Fetus

Part 12: Pre-Update 8: Chimaera pre-fight overview

Chimaera pre-fight overview


Chimaera
HP: 8220 (can be reduced to 5500), STR: 21, TEC: 16, VIT: 17, AGI: 14, LUC: 17
Skills:
Drops:
Damage resistances:
100% 100% 100% 100% 125% 100%
Ailment and bind resistances:
50% 25% 50% 50% 100% 50% 50%
0% 0% 10%
50% 50% 75%

A horror born from the fusion of various creatures. It leads the charge in combat.

Chimaera is a very tough first boss. Its skillset mostly consists of hard-hitting attacks that can either kill or put your party members close to death, and his normal attacks hurt quite a lot, too. You may be ing at that "8220 HP" stat, but let me explain.

Chimaera is also an introduction to something EO2U does for a few of its bosses: having to solve a field puzzle similar to what we've had to do for the Raptors so far. Chimaera's boss room has 4 piles of rubble with pits at a corner; the idea there is to bait Chimaera into each of the pits, which will lower Chimaera's HP by ~10% each. Starting a fight with Chimaera while it's in a pit will also not only give you a free turn, but will automatically bind its legs. If you don't do this field puzzle, you're going to be in for some serious pain.

Snake Pile not only hits incredibly hard, if it inflicts poison, it's pretty much a death sentence for whoever it hits. Only Ursa with Desperation on can realistically survive being hit by Snake Pile + the poison, and even then that's not certain.

Great Blaze deals moderate Fire damage with a splash effect. It hurts, but it's (probably) not going to kill someone from full HP.

Double Strike hits a bit harder than Snake Pile, and can either hit one or two people. If it hits one person twice, they're pretty much dead. No questions asked.

Menacing Roar is something that you need to instantly dispel, pretty much. It turns Chimaera's already high-damage physical skills into overkill. It, thankfully, does not affect Great Blaze's damage. I should note that if someone has a defense buff on them when Menacing Roar is cast, all Menacing Roar will do is cancel out the buff.

Chimaera's AI will begin the fight by using either Great Blaze or its normal attack. Once Chimaera drops below 66% HP (or if you start the fight after dropping it in the pits four times), it will start throwing in Snake Pile into the mix. Chimaera also starts using Menacing Roar once it drops below 50% HP, as well as infrequently using Double Strike. Finally, once Chimaera's HP bar turns red (once you get it below 20%), it will start going berserk and using Double Strike a lot more, while using its normal attack quite a lot less.

I will note that, while conditional drops don't disqualify you from normal drops like in EO3, they don't sell for that much money, and we won't be able to use the equipment for a long while. With that in mind, onto the guild members:


Damage dealers
Zack: Zack can deal appreciable damage under the effects of Full Charge, and is durable enough to probably survive being hit by most of Chimaera's stuff outside of Snake Pile. Outside of Full Charge, though, his damage is moderate at best, and he'll run out of TP very quickly.

Freyja: Freyja doesn't deal amazing damage yet, but binding Chimaera can give the party a few breather turns to lower Chimaera's HP. She's fragile enough to die to even just one hit from Double Strike, as well as Snake Pile. Chimaera's normal attacks, and possibly the main hit from Great Blaze won't kill her, but they will leave her very badly hurt. Rose Prison and Viper can poison Chimaera, but neither of those poisons actually tick for that much damage.

Stardust: Chimaera has an Ice weakness, and Stardust has Compression access now. Even without Analysis active, Stardust can easily chew through Chimaera's HP with compressed Cocytus Formulas. She 100% will die to Snake Pile and will be left severely hurt by Double Strike, though.

Asriel: Asriel's damage output is pretty good vs. Chimaera. He also won't have to worry about TP too much given how little Horse Slash costs, especially with Immovable. He has the same fragility problem as Freyja, however.

Jackie: Jackie can deal decent Ice damage with Charged Ice, much like Stardust. Her damage isn't quite as ludicrous as Stardust with Compression's is, but Supreme Bolt can buy a free turn for the party to do whatever (unless I get unlucky and have Chimaera's stun resistance work against me), in addition to dealing quite heavy damage.

Colette: Ailing Slash deals very heavy damage even this early on, but Colette needs Nadia or Sophie to actually use it effectively. Otherwise, her damage is mediocre. Her survivability is slightly above that of Freyja and Asriel.

Tyler: Spear Assist can take advantage of Chimaera's weakness to Ice if we have Jackie or Stardust in the party. Tyler also has the HP and VIT to survive quite a bit of punishment compared to some of our other front liners. Delayed Charge and Cross Charge aren't at high enough levels to make that much of an impact yet, sadly.

Defense
Phoebe: Fire Wall completely nullifies Great Blaze, and Phoebe's TP pool is high enough that she can most likely cast it enough in the fight without running out of TP. Front Guard will greatly help with Chimaera's normal attacks and Double Strike, but it doesn't do much against Snake Pile (due to the poison component).

Ursa: Having Ursa in the party means that fragile characters like Freyja and Asriel are much safer picks than if we have Phoebe. Her HP is high enough that she can probably live through tanking Great Blaze (the main hit and the splash damage), and maybe Double Strike. Snake Pile WILL kill Ursa if she tanks it, though; if she doesn't die to the actual damage (incredibly unlikely), the Poison will do her in unless she has Desperation on.

Supports
Nadia: Chimaera doesn't resist blind or paralysis, and landing either of them will make the fight quite a bit easier. Sleep Arrow's also an option, given that Chimaera is weak to sleep. Nadia doesn't deal much damage or have the ability to dodge-tank yet, though, limiting her usefulness once she's landed an ailment.

Realga: If Ursa is in the party, Realga can help patch her up immediately with Chase Heal, which may actually let Ursa live through Snake Pile, and will take quite a bit of the sting out of Double Strike. She can't respond to Snake Pile's poison that effectively, though, given that it will almost certainly kill whoever gets hit with it. Medical Miracle can potentially turn the fight around if the party ends up in a bad situation.

Milly: Milly still lacks the skill points needed to really be an effective Troubador. Crusade can make some of the more bursty skills, like any Compressed Formulas from Stardust, Supreme Bolt from Jackie, or Tyler's Delayed Charge + Cross Charge combo, deal some serious hurt, but that's a one-time thing.

Sophie: Sophie's Venom Curse is our most reliable option for getting Chimaera's conditional drop. She's going to have a hard time landing Venom Curse, though, even while under the effects of Creeping Curse, and if the poison doesn't kill Chimaera, all will have been for naught. Outside of that, while most of Sophie's skill points will be invested in Venom Curse, she can still try to blind Chimaera or put it to sleep before we need to poison it. Note that stacking Nadia and Sophie in the same party isn't that great of an idea, due to the fact that enemies can only have one status ailment at a time; if you inflict a status ailment while an enemy's under the effects of one, the old one gets overwritten.

Rheine: Rheine provides speedy buffs, row-based (or party-based if she's using Victory Vow) healing, and can dispel Menacing Roar (or block it if the party has Guard Order on them). She contributes no damage yet, though.