Part 72: A Ending (3)

The Battle Maiden blessed me to stand beside you, for old time's sake.



---



Ancel's back! Yaaaay!

Ancel joins as a Guest, at a very high level 46. He's pretty much equipped just right for the Garm fight, the only loss being that you can't give him an accessory and Dash.



Ancel also comes packed with top-tier equipment, including an Arectaris for lots of damage against Garm. Because of his high level he's worth using over Gwendal or Mischka, if you so feel.



I also make a few equipment changes - Heugoe gets a Paralyze Check, Wylfred gets the Omnicheck, and I buy a Longspear from the shop - 55 ATK, three attacks - for Heugoe. Wylfred also re-equips the Mirror Plate, and also equips Defiance. Everyone also equips Diminish Missile.



We also have lots of Expert's Experiences waiting to be used. I burn them all on Wylfred.



Before...



...and after. It just shows how far above Ancel is right now. You're likely not to be near his level unless you've been abusing Mischka the whole route.



And this is a big reason why I wanted Aullewyn Keep last. Wylfred, Ancel and Heugoe reunited and fighting together again. Can't say no to that, good thing you guys voted him in.





Let's do things right this time. It's just us against Garm.



Garm is a very unique boss in many ways, and is generally considered the hardest enemy in the game. Here's a quick rundown on what we're facing:

• Garm has 75,800 health. Which she technically has a movement of 1, she's immobile for all intents and purposes. However, she makes up for it with a huge attack range of 5 - allowing her to retaliate against any character except Cheripha with the Hoenir's Arc skill.
  
• Garm has a 100% resistance to Darkness and a 30% weakness to Holy. While her attacks are Darkness in nature, equipment like the Sylph Robe don't seem to reduce the damage significantly.
  
• Garm is the only unit immune to being launched, fazed, or knocked back.
  
• She knows Fire Storm, Poison Blow, Dark Savior and Heal, but seems to only use the latter two in this battle. She'll use Heal if she falls to around 20% health, provided she has enough AP.

Our starting position is our 'safe spot' - it lies just outside Garm's attack range, allowing you to fall back as many times as necessary to recuperate and revive allies. Bear in mind that since he has a movement of 3, Ancel needs two turns to get close enough to Garm to attack.

Let's talk about Garm's attacks.



She actually has an attack pattern similar to that of Harpies - a claw swipe, a whirlwind attack that inflicts paralysis, and a move where she detaches her 'wings' and uses them as makeshift stalactites. The latter two are projectiles - Diminish Missile is very handy here.



Nectar Potions immunize all allies in range from status. This is very useful in warding against Garm's paralysis-inducing whirlwind, and frees up accessory slots for Power/Magic Bangles or the Material Earring. Even if you opt to run Paralysis Checks, Ancel can't equip an accessory, so if you're using him you might just want to use one anyway. I choose to run Checks on Wylfred and Heugoe.



We can't reach Garm this turn, so Fauxnel just Reinforces Ancel.



Meanwhile, Heugoe hangs back.





Garm hits hard enough to discourage attacking her recklessly.



Garm Soul Crush



On the subject of what weapons to maximize damage on Garm, Wylfred should have the Moonfalx, Gwendal/Mischka should be using the Arectaris, Ushio the Kansesada and Cheripha the Blue Gale - if you've been getting double Sin throughout Chapter V you'll be fine. Also, if you're using Cheripha, there's no reason not to move in close enough to use Threefold at its best range. Natalia can buy a Holy-elemental Carnwennan from the shop. Lancers and Mireille/Darius are much more limited; the Swordsmen will have to make do with a shop-bought Damascus Sword, and since the Grasida is Darkness the Lancers' best option is the Longspear, both of which are much weaker than other characters' options.







Because of Garm's immunity to being launched or fazed, characters which are combo-dependent (Mireille, Darius, Cheripha) are weaker in this fight, while those that are normally awkward (Gwendal, Natalia, Ushio) become more useful. Darius, Heugoe and Earnest are negatively affected by the lack of a good weapon but their Soul Crushes do help make up for it a little. Mireille is kind of boned here though.



Holy-based attacks are great in this fight, and Spell Reinforced Phantom Destructions go a long way in chipping at Garm's massive health pool.



Ancel Soul Crush

It's been a while coming, but I finally get a proper video of Ancel's Soul Crush.



What makes Garm so dangerous is something that's unique to her - her retaliation hits everyone that attacks her. Her Soul Crush still hits one person, but otherwise she hits pretty hard, and if you're not warded against paralysis you'll end up with multiple paralyzed allies or even a fully paralyzed team if you have everyone attack.



One thing you want to get around is the possibility of Garm using Heal. There are two ways to circumvent this. The first is to do a combo that will take her out when she's at about 30% life left, before she can Heal. The other way is to get her to use up her AP on Dark Savior - grouping a few party members together is usually enough to do that - and kill her before she regains her AP again.



Fauxnel dies here. Ancel does knows First Aid, which gave him a healthy dose of life back.




This was where I decided to be a little gutsy and have everyone move in and attack.





The important thing is that since you can't get gems, saving attacks to get off a fourth Soul Crush is important in maximizing damage.



If you're doing a NG+, there isn't much you can bring over to make things easier, but there are a few. Lieselotte's Plume skill is useful against the Flames, and Phiona's and Auguste's are useful against Garm, though you'll still want to have paralysis protection. Heugoe and Earnest can get the Mistilteinn from the B path, which is Holy elemental, and Cheripha can get the Othinus' Bow from the C path. You can also get additional Power Bangles (the C path can give up to three), and more things like Material Earrings or Omnichecks. Mireille and Darius don't really get anything new though unless you're willing to run the A path twice to get another Moonfalx.




This is actually where I get very, very lucky - I had underestimated Garm's damage and thought Heugoe would be able to survive a combo at full health. He does not, and he and Fauxnel die, and Wylfred and Ancel barely live on, the former thanks to Defiance + Diminish Missile and the latter due to Guard Reinforce + First Aid. Keep in mind that the Mirror Plate has great RDM but it does tack on a weakness to Darkness.

If Garm had used her Soul Crush, I'd have one character left for her phase, and I'd have gotten a Game Over. I was actually having a moment of panic when I realized she wasn't doing one - that was probably my closest shave yet.



As it is, Garm just kills Wylfred on her turn, and Ancel has just enough AP to start a Union Plume Chain going.



But it's time to end this farce.






---

































Ancel Voice Collection

Ancel is voiced by Takuma Terashima in Japanese, who does mostly anime work - some of his roles include Alma from Sacred Seven and Kubo from Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts. His English VA is Yuri Lowenthal, who has done many, many roles that should be familiar to a Western audience - just a few of his more prominent ones are Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto, the Main Character, Ryoji and Nyx from Persona 3, and Yosuke Hanamura from Persona 4.

---























Wylfred Voice Collection

Wylfred's Japanese VA is Satoshi Hino, whose most famous roles are probably Saito from Zero no Tsukaima and Sai from Naruto. In English he's voiced by Darrel Guilbeau, who has had several uncredited roles, but one of his more recent ones would be Viewtiful Joe from Marvel vs. Capcom 3.





Next time: end.