Part 5: Sandserker

Part 4 - Sandserker



Zerky! lacks the restraint to ride a Black Chocobo.



Anyway, our next mission is to cross the desert to reach the last town we can reach to find King Tycoon.





This was an experiment more than a plan for the next boss. You see, the next boss is special. It is the bane of all berserkers, and Zerky! is no exception.





Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Sandworm.



The Sandworm itself is not that bad. Quicksand does a set 60 damage and inflicts HP Sap, and its physical attack is weak. In fact, the actual Sandworm is one of the least-threatening bosses in the game. People talk about what a nightmare the Sandworm is, but it's not the scary part of the battle.



It's the holes that will kill you.

That's it. The holes don't sound scary, and they aren't scary to someone who can actually control their attacks to not hit them. Holes don't even care about magic, so spamming Summon over and over does nothing but trigger a weak counter attack from the Sandworm itself.



Of course, we're playing with a character that targets randomly. So there's a 2/3 chance Zerky! will hit a hole and trigger a Gravity counter, halving Zerky!'s HP. Except since Zerky! is attacking with two weapons it actually triggers two Gravity counters. And the chance of hitting the wrong spot is actually a 5/6 chance because fuck you.

There's a pretty elaborate system in place to facilitate the Sandworm randomly changing places throughout the battle. I'm not sure of the details, but the result is that there's actually three extra targets in play, and they all counter with Demi. So the chances of actually hitting the Sandworm in the first place is 1/6.



Keep in mind you'll be triggering one or two Gravities, depending on whether you're using two weapons (fists count as two weapons) or whether any spells proc from weapons (Death Sickle with Death proc nets two Gravity counters). The Sandworm's attacks are pretty tame, but after a few Gravity spells they'll do in a Berserker.



And on top of that, after it takes me several attempts to even hit the guy, the damage turns out to be pretty bad! You see, on top of all the other layers of bullshit, the Sandworm is always considered to be in the back row, essentially halving your damage (it can actually be less than half damage if the multiplier is odd since this game rounds everything down). So with this set-up it'd take four attacks to kill Sandworm. And that's with dual-wield and not factoring in Death Sickles only having 85% accuracy.





Let me put it this way. Sulla is one of the few that actually beat Sandworm with a solo Berserker. He first reached it at L35, and had to grind to Level 62 to beat it. It took him SIX HUNDRED THIRTY-SEVEN FUCKING ATTEMPTS to win. That's 637. Of course, he didn't use abilities, so he was stuck using one Death Sickle.

It took Orange Fluffy Sheep 77 attempts with four of the guys at L37.

So, uh, the odds aren't in my favor. Dual-wield Death Sickles would require a lot of luck, including four hits at 1/6 chances, against an enemy that's always in the back row. But that's why this is an Omniserker, right? Surely Zerky! has some ability in his disposal to make this significantly more painless, right?

...Right?



After seven or so attempts, I decide to take a break and check out an area that could have some nice tools for me.



This is Jachol, which has some new weapons available. There's no forest here, but there's one not too far away from here. It's a bit of a walk, but it's not like I'm gonna get the airship anytime soon, right?



Random encounters are kinda nasty with Bombs exploding all over the place, but nothing too scary.



The Coral Sword and Trident are both thunder-elemental. Mage Mashers are also great since they have a 1/3 chance of proccing Silence. Too bad Silence doesn't work on the Holes, but I still buy two in case they come in handy later.



I also tackle Jachol Cave because why not.



The Blitz Whip is also lightning non-elemental because why not (thanks for the correction dis astranagant!). Unlike the other two lightning weapons, it can randomly proc Thunder, which does terrible damage because of Zerky!'s terrible Magic.



Death Sickle's one of the few ways to take care of Skull Eaters. Still not reliable, though.



Next is Istory. I'll need this if I ever get to Soul Cannon, and I have the cash, so might as well!



Also, the one Black Magic spell Zerky! can use.



Screw this encounter.



I end up at L33 and decide to grind up to L34 for the extra multiplier on desert enemies.



The desert enemies are non-issues.



So here we are, L34. If I can't figure out a way to beat Sandworm here, it's likely going to take a lot of grinding levels to be able to beat him, and then the rest of the game will be a cakewalk barring a few other battles. And that would just make for a boring LP, wouldn't it?

Here's a test for you guys. Can you think of any way I can use my current abilities and weaponry up to this point to kill Sandworm with only three attacks at L34?

Because I did.



One of the big issues with Sandworm is it being in the back row. Whips ignore row, including enemy rows. Also, the Blitz Whip is one of the strongest weapons in Zerky!'s arsenal, only a point below the Death Sickle and more reliable. And at L34 it deals just over 1000 damage, enough to kill the Sandworm in three hits. Three hits should be enough to brute force the RNG into a win.



Of course, there's the slight problem of a lightning proc triggering another Gravity attack, but it's worth it. Other variants have to rely on Death Sickles that have death procs anyway.



This still requires hitting on three 1/6 chances. I have a few rounds leeway to do it, but it's not gonna happen quickly. That said, once I figured this strategy out, it became a matter of "when," not "if." And that's pretty huge.



The lesson is that next time someone tells you whips suck, shove this video in their face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27hX6e-cMs4

FINAL LEVEL: 34
ATTEMPTS: 43

Yeah, I feel pretty damn good in beating this at such a low level and in so few attempts. Of course, there was still lots of luck involved in that run, including dodging two Gravity counters, but hey, I'll take it.

This took over two and a half hours to do without fast-forward. For reference, here's a 10x speed video starting from my first attempt at Sandworm until I finally beat it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST1BybqFrSE



Now, this still isn't the hardest boss for a Berserker even in World 1, let alone the rest of the game. But doing it at this low level is pretty damn significant, and lets me know that maybe my crazy idea of this challenge may not be so crazy after all. We'll certainly see about that, though.





After saving, the rest of this part isn't that big a deal.



Hey, I'd be excited too if I did what Zerky! just accomplished.



Another spell Zerky! can and probably will never use in the menu.





Cray Claw can be a pain in the wrong situations. Mucus inflicts Slow, which is bad, and Tailscrew can be pretty terrible to deal with. On the other hand, it's weak to lightning and is vulnerable to a ton of status effects.





I do Blitz Whip my first few attempts, especially since a combination of Thunder and Paralyze procs would be handy. Thunder does crap damage though and since Cray Claw is Heavy paralysis would wear off quick anyway. Blitz Whip actually is non-elemental and doesn't proc paralyze. Regardless, these attempts don't work well.



Despite being Heavy, Cray Claw is still vulnerable to Instant Death. So it was as simple as dual-wielding sickles to double the chances of Death proc and slicing the guy open.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5cxiaG-egs

FINAL LEVEL: 34
DEATHS: 4



Please, Cid, he had a family.





So we go to a town to go back to Cid to go to a meteor to get a thing to take to Cid to go to a castle.



Oh and there's a turtle.



Adamantoise does nothing but physical attacks. However, he has high defense and Protect/Shell on top of that.



He also hits like a truck.





Death Sickles reduces defense to a quarter though, so I was able to quickly kill this guy without even needing any death procs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8OTQPq5MwQ

FINAL LEVEL: 34
DEATHS: 0



Next time, we face off against a foe even scarier than a worm that lives in the sand... Soul Cannon. I may have a wee bit tougher time against it...