sh0e[gamefaqs.gamespot.com] for their No Future guide, which helped a lot writing mine
Nesouk1[gamefaqs.gamespot.com] for the math on the Fenrir Knight
Xeen and Square Enix for making this game!

No Future is a new level of difficulty introduced in the latest patch for Trials of Mana. No Future mode is more than just a straight increase in enemy strength, there are a number of changes and restrictions that alter gameplay. Not all team compositions will be viable, and several playthroughs on the standard difficulties will be necessary to prepare.

Here are the changes, as listed in the patch notes:

• All enemies, especially bosses, become much tougher and attack more regularly.
  
• Regular enemies attacks typically deal at least half of player's MAX HP even at the very beginning of the playthrough.
  
• Bosses attacks, especially special attacks often leave players with 1 HP or simply wipe them out completely.
  
• This difficulty can only be selected in a New Game Plus and resets players back to level 1.
  
• Some abilities cannot be equipped and will be marked with a black padlock symbol. Examples of disabled abilities include :
  
  • All the ones obtained very late in the main quest, typically from slaying the next-in-command from the main villain ( Crimson Wizard, Tainted Soul, Belladonna ).
    
  • The ability obtained by defeating the Black Rabite.
    
  • Those acquired from New Game Plus, including Class 4 challenge fight abilities, Grand Croix's and Anise's.
• Items used in combat can now only be used three times each at most.
  
• Bosses now sport time limits to defeat.
  
• Some boss fights can display a shorter attack range compared to the other difficulty levels.
  
• Players can now get high-performance equipment of the same name (No Future) by using the Rainbow Item Seeds. (Denoted by red icons)
  
• Two brand-new abilties have been added :
  
  • Guiding Sword I : Party members that you're not controlling will endure a knockout blow and remain with 1 HP.
    
  • Guiding Sword II : Recovers the HP of all party members by 100% after battle.
• Plays that successfully beat the game on the No Future difficulty will get the Rabite Slippers item on their main character.

All this means that No Future mode is much harder to get through than any previous difficulty level. However, it is still quite doable with the right preparation, and the goal of this guide is to help you plan out your No Future playthrough and provide tips for getting through the tough parts. With the right team composition and Chain abilities, No Future is actually not all that difficult, however, some parts require luck and can be frustrating. Your reward for beating No Future mode is the aforementioned Rabite Slippers, which allow you to ignore enemy encounters (and look adorable).

This guide assumes you are at least somewhat familiar with the game mechanics and may include spoilers.

The restrictions placed upon you in No Future mode necessitate a number of strategy changes, which reduce the value of some abilities and tactics and increase others. This list is by no means comprehensive, but will give you some idea of what you are facing.

First, in No Future mode, you get two new abilities:

Guiding Sword
This important ability leaves your allies at 1 hp instead of dying. While this seems broken, without it, your party members would be dying constantly and would be totally useless to you. This can be exploited in a number of ways, some of which will be detailed below. This ability should be on one of your supporting characters at all times.

Guiding Sword II
This restores all characters to full health at the end of each battle. While it can be useful in the early game, its value diminishes later, and in some cases can even be detrimental. Use it until you get the hang of things, then replace it with something else.

General Tips

• You are limited to only three of each item per battle. This has a number of important ramifications.
  
• Many enemies, especially bosses, will kill you in one hit. Since you are limited to only three Cups of Wishes per battle, this means you can take four hits before your party will likely be wiped out.
  
• Getting close to enemies to throw long melee combos becomes inherently dangerous. It is easy to slip up and take a hit, which can quickly lead to a party wipe. This greatly increases the value of ranged attacks and Class Strikes.
  
• Class Strikes are now valuable not only for dealing damage, but for granting invincibility frames. A level 1 class strike thrown at the right time can save you. It follows that any abilities that increase CS gauge generation are highly valued.
  
• MP efficiency and conservation are now extremely important. You only get three Faerie Walnuts and three Crawler Claws (which grant Leaf Saber) per battle. All Chain abilities that add passive MP regeneration are locked in this mode.
  
• Attack items, such as Bumpkins, Hand Axes, and the various elemental items (Fangs, Statues, Coins) gain much more value as a way to conserve scarce MP at lower levels and safely finish off enemies from a distance. Thrown items such as Bumpkins and Hand Axes key off of Luck, so Hawkeye is the best choice to throw them. Elemental items key off of Intelligence, so Angela should use those. The Basilisk Fang is of particular note, since it can petrify enemies.
  
• Though they can be difficult to acquire, Class Change items from ??? seeds can still be used in battle for various useful effects. Likewise, other items like Dryad Icons, which cast Crystalline, can be useful in a pinch. These are not sold at the Night Market and can be hard to find, however.
  
• Make use of the Cookies for increased EXP gain, especially before fighting Harcypete for class change 2 and after fighting Ludgar for class change 3.
  
• Healing takes on a different importance in this mode. Since most of the time you will die in one hit, healing is no longer used for keeping up your HP. Instead, healing becomes useful for "resetting" abilities that trigger at low health, such as Archmage Angela's class ability and most importantly, Miracle II.
  
• Defense is no longer meaningful. Since boss battles are timed, building for "glass cannons" with high attack and low defense is the way to go.
  
• Since your supporting characters will spend most of their time at 1 HP anyways thanks to Guiding Sword, this means that formerly high risk - high reward skills like Attack Help, Conflagration, Offensive Stance, and Attacker now have no downsides.
  
• Your control character should have Enigma, or have Duran with Provoke as a supporting character, in order to have your supporting characters soak attacks for you.
  
• If your main character is about to take a hit you don't think you can avoid, you can quickly switch to another character, let your main character tank the hit through Guiding Sword, then switch back. Be careful not to let your new control character die if you're relying on Miracle II, however.

Unlike in the standard difficulties, you cannot enter No Future mode with any party members and expect to power through. Only certain classes are viable, and your team composition will affect what Chain abilities are available from the start. First, I will go over each character, their viability in No Future mode, and what chain abilities you will want from them if they are not in your party. If I do not mention a class in this section, assume that it is not viable for No Future.

Before we start, there are two abilities that are of special note:

Crystalline
The Crystalline Spell from Hawkeye's Nomad class takes on special importance in this mode. When every boss attack can kill you in one hit, the ability to cancel that hit out is priceless. It's not infallible, attacks that hit multiple times will still break through. However, it can save you from most slip ups and allow you to conserve your precious Cups of Wishes. This ability can be duplicated using Dryad Icons, but those are not sold at the Night Market and so can be difficult to come by.

Miracle II
Acquired from Charlotte's Light Class 4, High Priestess. Miracle II allows you to survive a hit that would kill you, provided you are above 30% hp. In No Future mode, that's all of them. Again, it's not infallible, anything that hits multiple times before you are able to restore yourself back above 30% will still kill you. Nevertheless, it means a slip up that would normally send you back to the loading screen can now be survived.

While technically you can beat No Future with any team composition, it is very difficult to dodge perfectly all the time and even small mistakes can lead to death. Therefore, it is recommended that your final team have some combination of Crystalline and/or Miracle II, along with either Enigma on your control character or Duran with Provoke as an off character. If using Miracle II, it is recommended, but not essential, that one character have Heal Light.

For a first time No Future playthrough, I recommend Nomad Hawkeye as your main character, then Liege Duran and Archmage Angela as your off characters. This will give you both Crystalline and Miracle II, as well as a dedicated healer to keep it up. Angela will be your primary offense. While this is by no means the only viable team composition, it will probably be the easiest. If you feel confident enough in your dodging skills to only need one of these defensive abilities and want more offense on your team, then Fenrir Knight Riesz can be substituted for Duran or Hawkeye.

Duran has great value in No Future mode as a supporting character because of Provoke. If you have Archmage Angela or Miracle II, then the Liege is useful for resetting those abilities with Heal Light and also providing passive buffs to the party. Since you only need single target Heal Light for that, you are free to spend the rest of his training points elsewhere. If you have no need for Heal Light, then the Edelfrei brings high attack power and the strongest saber buffs. Be warned, however, his solo fight against Loki for Class 4 is probably one of the most difficult and frustrating in the game.

If not brought to the party, Duran should be left as any Light class for Attack Help or any Dark class for Flourish. You can also pick up Fraction if you need it for the Black Rabite.

Angela's powerful attack magic and Enigma make her a great addition to any No Future party. However, due to the dearth of MP restoration, she should only be brought as an Archmage. Her passive allows her to restore 40% of her MP whenever she drops below 10% health. With Guiding Sword or Miracle II, however, she can soak a hit and be left with 1 hp, then healed to reset it. This means that every healing item or ability now act as an extra Faerie Walnut. Combined with Move MP Saver I and II, and this allows her to fuel her spells almost indefinitely. Her Class 4 battle against Shadow Angela, notorious for its difficulty even in Normal mode, is just as bad here.

If not in the party, Angela should be left as an Archmage for Move MP Saver II, Reclaim, and Judge.

Though Kevin is capable of dishing out just as much melee damage as before, throwing long melee combos is much more dangerous in this mode. If you want to use him, it's best to carefully learn the timing for when to rush in or leave him as an off character. If protected by Crystalline and Miracle II, however, then this reduces a lot of the risk. He should be a Divine Fist for Nature Aura and Heal Light to reset Miracle II. His solo fight against the Beast King, like Duran's and Angela's, is very challenging and requires both skill and luck to get through.

If not in the party, Kevin can be left as any Light class for Attack Help, or any Dark class for Finishing Blow. While Attack Help is more reliable, many bosses become more dangerous at low health, so the attack boost from Finishing Blow can burn them through those phases more quickly. Both Light and Dark classes get Conflagration, a very useful chain ability for this mode. Kevin also gets Broken Lines III, which is nowhere close to as good as a dedicated debuffer with Super Stat Down, but better than nothing.

Unfortunately for the famous beauty from Wendell, Charlotte's best use in this mode is to be left behind in her Light classes for Miracle II. However, if you want to use her for completion's sake, then she can serve as your group debuffer as a Necromancer if you have Super Stat Down I and II from a previous playthrough with Dark Riesz. The Necromancer also has surprisingly high strength, meaning Charlotte can be decent in melee as this class.

If you already have Riesz in your party, then the Warlock provides passive debuffs, situational utility with Dispel Magic, and some decent damage support with her summons. I recommend only put 21 points in Spirit to avoid learning Fetid Breath, however. Riesz's Enfeeble will reduce MATK/MDEF much more than the baseline debuff Fetid Breath has, and Fetid Breath will overwrite it with the weaker version.

Ultimately, without Miracle II, Charlotte's healing abilities lose a lot of their value. Aside from healing, pretty much anything she can do, someone else can do better. Resetting Miracle II is pretty much the main use for healing in No Future, but bringing her means you won't have it available. Pairing her with Hawkeye as a Nomad is therefore strongly recommended.

As mentioned before, if not on the team, Charlotte should be a Sage for Miracle II, Recover Break, Bless, and Sturdy.

Hawkeye is one of the most useful characters in No Future. As mentioned before, Crystalline from the Nomad class is incredibly valuable. The Nomad also brings a number of other good abilities to the table, such as Nature Aura for faster CS generation, Moon Energy, which adds approximately 20% higher critical rate, and Poison Bubble, a decently powerful attack spell. When given all the critical boosting abilities, the Nomad can be equally viable in melee or spamming Poison Bubbles from afar. Since Hawkeye's power attacks hit multiple times, he should be given Reclaim from Angela. Combined with his own Move MP Saver, this will allow him to easily keep up his MP. The Swallow Throw class strike from Ranger is also one of the best for dropping shields and breaking super moves.

Hawkeye is also your best attack item chucker thanks to his high Luck, and his Ranger ability gives him a chance to conserve an item. While not reliable, having one of your Cups of Wishes or Faerie Walnuts refunded is always welcome. He also comes with Enigma.

While the Nomad is probably his best class in No Future, if you have Miracle II and don't feel the need for Crystalline on top of that, then he is also viable as other classes as well. The Rogue's powerful offensive techniques make a great substitute for (or compliment to!) Angela, just make sure to give him some MP mitigation abilities, as he eats through MP like crazy. The Ninja Master can replace Riesz as debuffer if you have Super Stat Down I and II, all while adding extra damage and rapid CS generation thanks to Ninja SP Boost I and II. The Nightblade is not recommended due to its deficiencies in boss fights, where most of your damage is needed.

If not in the party, Hawkeye should be a Ninja Master for Weak Point.

Debuffs are very powerful in this game, and Riesz gets the best ones. As a Fenrir Knight, she gets permanent multi-target debuffs, boosted by Super Stat Down and Bad Luck. An Enfeeble and Defenseless thrown at the start of a fight make a significant difference in clear time. Add on Attacker and Stat Down CS Boost, and she makes a fine striker as well. All this makes the Fenrir Knight a worthy addition to any party.

While on paper, the Starlancer looks attractive, since other classes can debuff and only the Starlancer can multi-target buff, in practice the Fenrir Knight's debuffs are mathematically much stronger. Debuffs are already better than buffs, and the Fenrir Knight adds 30% to her debuff strength while the Starlancer only gets 8%. Many bosses also dispel or replace buffs, while few bosses buff themselves. For pure DPS increases, which is what we need in this mode, the Fenrir Knight wins out.

The Dragon Master is also a decent choice due to her high attack power, though only as your control character and using Duran with Provoke as support. Keeping her health full is more difficult in this mode because of how few healing items you get, so you'll want to rely on Crystalline or have a dedicated healer with Recover Break if using Miracle II. A strong class, to be sure, but more of a challenge to play.

If not in the party, Riesz should be a Fenrir Knight for Attacker, Pinpoint, Super Stat Down, and Bad Luck.

Before you start your No Future run, there are some things you should do to prepare. You should do enough playthroughs that each character gets used at least once. After you beat Anise in each playthrough, make sure you have completed the following:

• Finish all the Lil Cactus sightings.
  
• Acquire any useful story chain abilities. Some particularly notable examples are: More Encounters (speak to Matelo in Beiser after the Ghost Ship), Converter (talk to the Tomatoman behind the totem pole in the Beuca Island village), Item Find II (enter Palo Port with Hawkeye after retaking Laurent), and Blacksmith (pay Watts the 5,000 lucre).
  
• Go to Pedda and buy their cheapest equipment for each character. This is the best gear you can equip in Class 1. Ignore the rest of the gear, it is only usable by Class 3 and outclassed by gear from item seeds.
  
• Use item seeds until you have all the Class 3 and 4 equipment for each character in each class you plan to use. Item seeds contain 1 piece of equipment or 1 item, and you can save and reload until you get the equipment. However, which piece of equipment drops is fixed and cannot be changed by save scumming.
  
• Use up all your Rainbow Item Seeds. Items from Rainbow Item Seeds in No Future mode drop stronger equipment (denoted by red icons). Any leftover Rainbow Seeds from previous playthroughs will only drop the normal level of equipment.
  
• Keep at least 1 piece of all equipment you find better than the equipment you got at Pedda. While the gear from Pedda will last you to Class 3, some equipment may be usable by Class 2. Sell all copies.
  
• Make sure you have all the Class Change items for the classes you want. You will want to change to class 3 as early as possible. I recommend grinding to 38 after you beat Ludgar and class change at Chartmoon Tower. The best places to farm ??? Seeds are from Queeneebs in the Woods of Wandara or the Silverwolves in Chartmoon Tower.
  
• If necessary, reset your classes and make sure you've acquired any useful Chain abilities for each character. Check each character's section for more information.
  
• Acquire enough copies of the Mana Bracelet and Mana Ring from Anise's Stockade to equip your party.
  
• Head to the Night Market at Beiser and stock up on items. The most important are Cups of Wishes, Faerie Walnuts, Bumpkins, Hand Axes, Drake Scales, Sahagin Chips, and all of the claws. You should also pick up at least 20 of each of the elemental attack items (Coins, Statues, Fangs) as these are very useful early on when MP is scarce.

Once all this is done, you're ready for No Future.

Equip the equipment you got from Pedda, the Mana Ring/Bracelet, and your best Chain abilities. You will note that all of your most powerful abilities will be locked.

At the beginning, if you do not have Miracle II, enemies will be able to kill you very easily, especially if you let yourself get surrounded. Use your knockback attack (Normal -> Power) to stun enemies. Make generous use of Hand Axes and Bumpkins to safely finish off enemies from a distance. Basilisk Fangs can inflict petrify, taking an enemy out instantly. Use your level one Class Strike to provide invincibility frames if you need to.

Once you get your other party members, set them to All Out Attack, target Other Enemies, set Moves and Class Strikes to use without conservation, and set item use to zero.

Make sure your control character has Enigma unless you also have Duran with Provoke. Equip Guiding Sword I on a support character. Equip Guiding Sword II on a support character if you feel you need it, otherwise replace it with something else. Equip your support characters with low-HP triggered abilities like Conflagration and Attack Help.

Remember you are only limited to three items per battle. In general, you should always bring Faerie Walnuts, Cups of Wishes, and enough healing items to reset Miracle II if you have it. Depending on your party composition, you may also want to bring Drake Scales and/or Sahagin Chips. From there, fill out the rest of your item slots with attack items. Switch them out depending on the elemental weaknesses of the next boss. Even if a boss has no weakness, you can still bring elemental attack items for extra ranged damage. Have your highest INT character throw those, your highest LUCK character the Bumpkins and Hand Axes. These can help add up a lot of damage early on when MP is scarce.

First, assume every boss attack will kill you in one hit. In general, the best strategy is to hang back with a ranged attack character under Enigma like Hawkeye or Angela so you know when to dodge. Expect to die a few times before you learn the patterns. Since the lethality of all bosses has been increased without altering their attack patterns much, this does tend to skew balance and make some bosses much harder than before.

Stack buffs and debuffs at the start of each battle to maximize damage. All bosses are on a time limit, so if you find yourself not dealing enough damage, you might want to go level up a bit. I will list each bosses elemental weakness, so plan ahead and bring items like claws and elemental coins to exploit it.

Fullmetal Hugger - Weak to dark
Very easy with Provoke/Enigma. Stay behind him and attack and he should go down easily.

Iron Golems - Weak to wind
Change your party to Same Enemy before the fight. Focus on dodging and let your off characters do most of the work. Throw items and dash in to attack when you get the chance, but play it safe until one of them is down.

Jewel Eater - Weak to wind
When attacking, stay on its left side because it will do a swipe attack with its right. Otherwise, hang back and let your off characters do most of the work. Its most dangerous attacks are the tongue and when it throws three boulders in a fan pattern. Save your level 1 Class Strike to avoid those. When it turns red and goes into the middle, hang back in the safe zone and throw items or spells.

Harcypete - Weak to earth
Make sure you get to Class 2 before this fight. Turn off Class Strikes. Watch out for the move where she creates green wind streamers around herself, because they will kill you if you try to melee her with those up. Otherwise, she has a lot of downtime in between each move, enough for a 3 hit combo, so watch her attack patterns carefully so you know when its safe to move in. Save your class strikes for her purple charge move. She starts to spam it towards the end so make sure you have enough built up to break her.

Zehnoa - Weak to water
Control your strongest melee character. Stay right next to Zehnoa and throw combos while avoiding the knockback. Use level 1 class strikes if needed to dodge. Ignore the shapeshifters, let your other party members take them out. When Zehnoa relights its fire, have one of your off characters throw a water magic attack item to put it out. Save the Poseidon Claws for when those run out, things get more intense later in the battle.

Bill and Ben - No weakness
They resist all elements except wood, light, and dark, so bring those items. They're also the only boss fight in the game, aside from the Black Rabite, where you can use Fraction. Their most dangerous attacks are Shuriken, Thunder Technique, and Water Diversion, as all of these hit multiple times and can break through Miracle II. Try to stay behind them to avoid their melee attacks, and watch for them to start doing the hand gestures so you can dodge their ninja techniques. Shuriken is the only one without a major tell or wind up, so save your level 1 Class Strike to dodge it if need be. Beware of killing one too early, if the other revives him it will likely mean your loss due to the boss timer.

Gova - Weak to light
This fight can be very difficult without Angela. If you have her, make sure you have Lucent Beam before the fight. He has a number of very hard to avoid attacks, especially his spin attack and his hand attack. His spin attack always goes in one direction however, so if you carefully watch his movements you can move to his side and dodge it. He has another attack called Silenced which moves very quickly with little warning. The key to dodging that attack is to control your Enigma character, but switch to the other one when you see him turn to stare at you. Going for the break during Ghost Leader is tricky, since using a Class Strike can leave you exposed to a ghost running over you.

Iron Golems 2 - Weak to wind
Set your party to Same Enemy. If you have a large area class strike, use it at the start to drop the shields. Play conservatively while all three are still active, hang back and throw items or spells when its safe but otherwise focus on dodging. Be patient and let your off characters grind down the first one, the other two go much quicker once the first one is down.

Bill and Ben 2 - No weakness
This fight is identical to the first, they don't have any new attacks. Follow the same advice as before.

Ludgar - No weakness
Overall, Ludgar has a lot of lag in between moves, and all his moves are predictable and easy to dodge. The one exception is Suzaku Aerial, which always targets your control character. If you see him winding up this move, immediately switch to another character once the red circle appears and then switch back after he attacks.

After defeating Ludgar, level up to 38 and change your class at the Moon Stone in Chartmoon Tower.

Grapplavine - No weakness
Attacking from its side is fairly safe, but watch out for Poison Bubbles. Those are hard to dodge and hit multiple times, and so will break through Crystalline or Miracle II. They can be dodged with a level 1 Class Strike. The bomb seeds are fairly easy to avoid. His vine attack can be dodged easily, but the indicator circle is small and easy to miss, so watch carefully.

Fight them in any order. Their level is fixed depending on what order you face them, so if you're having trouble with one, you can level up a bit first.

Lightgazer - Weak to dark
Turn off class strikes. He teleports around a lot, which makes it difficult to throw melee combos. Target his body, not his eye with spells. Save your class strikes for his charge move. If he does get it off, hide behind the wall next to him and you should be safe. He has no multi hit moves so Crystalline or Miracle II will work well here. Just don't trip over the mines.

Land Umber - Weak to wind and fire
Turn off class strikes and set allies to Same Enemy. His only really dangerous attack is Earthquake+, which will hit twice and break Crystalline/Miracle II. He always does it right after Hammer Fist, so after he punches, wait for the Earthquake to go off, then move in to attack. Once you kill the hands, he will cast Earth spells at your party, then charge his super move. Use class strikes to break him. He will then revive his hands, so just repeat until he's dead.

Dangaard - Weak to earth and dark
This fight is either really hard or really easy, depending on how fast you can break him. He will charge an attack while sending tornadoes and thunderballs at you in random, hard to dodge patterns. Control your strongest melee character and quickly combo him to break him. If you can do it quickly, it will interrupt his wind attacks and leave him vulnerable. Once he comes out of break, he will do a melee attack, so move back to avoid it. When he flies to the side, take the opportunity to refresh buffs since all his attacks in this phase are easy to avoid. If you are able to keep breaking him quickly, he should go down easy, if it takes you too long, it can get overwhelming. If you're having trouble, go level a bit.

Fiegmund - Weak to fire
Spike Freeze is his only multi hit attack. As long as you keep Crystalline/Miracle II up you should be fine. The slippery floor actually works to your advantage, since it allows you to get out of attack circles more quickly. Save class strikes for his charge move, but even if he does get it off, quickly reapplying Crystalline/Miracle II should get you through it.

Xan Bie - Weak to water and earth
Probably the most difficult Benevodon, and the one that requires the most planning. Switch to Undine or Gnome day to give yourself an advantage. Control your best melee character. Turn Class Strikes off. Have your control character take out the altars while manually commanding your caster to use spells on Xan Bie. Watch out for casts, be prepared to abort a combo and dodge or use a level 1 Class Strike for the invincibility frames.

Xan Bie has two modes. One has four fireballs swirling around him, while he casts fire spells at you. The fireballs will kill you, so be careful not to get trapped in a corner with him. The second turns him into a whirlwind, where he will cast Heat Beam either targeting your characters, or in a sweeping arc. He also takes half damage. Feel free to melee him in this mode, but save your class strikes. If you feel like you can regain your CS gauge quickly enough, then feel free to use them on him in fireball mode, but make sure you have at least three level 2 class strikes stored up among all your characters.

If he begins his super move, use a level 2 class strike on each one, preferably the one with the fastest cast animation. Level 3 strikes are too slow. Switch between your characters quickly, because Xan Bie likes to charge at the altars and kill you if you're too close to them. If he gets off his super move, it is possible to survive it by quickly refreshing Crystalline or Miracle II.

Dolan - No weakness
Dolan has no multi hit attacks, so Crystalline or Miracle II trivialize this fight. He likes to do melee swipes, so the best strategy is to hang back with your ranged character and let your other characters do all the work. Pummel is easy to dodge when you get the timing down, and even if you mess up, there's plenty of time in between each hit to refresh your defenses.

Mispolm - Weak to wind
There's a lot going on in this fight, so control your Enigma character, set allies to Other Enemy, and hang back while focusing on dodging. Attack the stalks when you get the chance, but focus on staying alive. Allow your team members to use their class strikes freely, but save your own. When they break him, use your strongest class strike on the head. However, prioritize using a level 1 class strike for invincibility frames over saving it if you keep dying to Poison Bubbles.

Word of warning, the stalks will cast Wall on themselves, and any reflected spell will go through Guiding Sword and kill the user. You might want to turn off Moves in the Strategy menu and manually cast everything yourself. Wall can be removed with Dispel Magic or a Spectre Eye.

Zable Fahr - Weak to light
Set allies to Same Target and turn off class strikes. Take out the head on the left first, it can cast a pillar attack that hits multiple times. Most other attacks only hit once, so just refresh your defenses. They should go down quickly with full buffs/debuffs and especially if you have Lucent Beam+. Save your class strikes for when they start charging their super move, especially if you have one that hits an area.

Darkshine Knight - Weak to light
This fight is easiest if you control a ranged attacker, using either Enigma or Provoke to distract him. If you have Angela, he goes down fast to Lucent Beam+. If fighting him in melee, watch the windups to his moves and move in for a combo when he does one of his class strikes, they'll leave him vulnerable. Every once in a while, he'll teleport to your main character and do a stab attack. Either quickly switch to another character or use a level 1 class strike to avoid this, but the timing can be tricky.

Crimson Wizard - No weaknesses
The Crimson Wizard is pretty easy if you control a ranged attacker under Enigma. All his spells are fairly easy to dodge. Even if he gets his super move off, it's only a single hit, so you can just refresh your defenses.

Goremand - Weak to fire
No big multi hit moves, easy to take out with Enigma/Provoke distractions. He casts a lot of spells at you, but you should be an old hand at dodging those by now. His only really dangerous multihit move is his spinning scythe strike, which is close range only. If you're controlling a ranged character or stay behind him you should be fine. Save a class strike or two when he does his soul steal move.

Tainted Soul - No weaknesses
His most dangerous move is when he teleports then throws purple discs at you, which can kill you through your defenses if you're too close. Hang back and attack him from range, only moving when you know it's safe.

Malocchio - Weak to fire
He'll summon a succubus and werewolf to help him. Take those out quickly then focus on him. His only really dangerous attack is Dark Force, which you can dodge if you see it coming. He also does a Dark Rain attack that follows you, but is easy to avoid. Feel free to use class strikes on him, but save at least one area effect class strike for when he does Ghoster, or he'll heal himself for 7200 per ghost.

Belladonna - Weak to ice and earth
She'll use melee attacks and a few spells that multi hit, so attacking her from range is the safest option. Her most dangerous attack is Roseslash, which moves quickly and is hard to dodge. It only does a single hit, but it targets all your party members and it can overlap if you're not careful. She throws it multiple times later in the fight. Breaking her charge attack can be tricky, since she likes to teleport around while charging it up, and can sometimes dodge class strikes that way.

Monodoragon - No weaknesses
He falls easy prey to the Enigma/Provoke ranged technique. Just hang back and spam attack spells at him. Just watch out for his whirlwind attack, that's the only attack he likes to throw at your control character specifically. Probably the easiest of the three.

Dark Lich - No weaknesses
He likes to spam purple beams all over the place, so it's hard to get in and throw long melee combos. Unless you have both Crystalline and Miracle II together, its best to let the AI control Kevin and hang back. If you're using Charlotte instead, control her and focus on dodging. Otherwise, control your ranged attacker and just toss spells at him until he goes down.

Archdemon - Rotating weakness in phase 1, no weakness in phase 2
He likes to open with a double cast spell on your main character, so be prepared to quickly dodge. After that, he'll mostly target your tank if you're using Provoke/Enigma, so you can attack him pretty freely. He'll change phases at half health. There's not much point in attacking the hands, so set your party to Same Enemy and attack him directly. Most of his attacks are single hit or heavily telegraphed, but make sure to take out the demons and imps he summons though, they tend to trip you up at inconvenient times. Save your class strikes for his charge move.

Angela, Duran, and Kevin all have solo fights, which makes them some of the most difficult boss fights in the game. Be prepared to restart multiple times until you learn the pattern.

Loki - No weaknesses
Quite possibly the most frustratingly difficult boss battle in the entire game. Loki has a number of attacks that are very difficult to dodge and will instantly kill you, even with Miracle II. Reset Duran to an Edelfrei if he isn't already. Equip all of your best offensive skills.

He opens with Glint Slash. First dodge the charge, then dodge immediately again to avoid the area attack. He will pause for a moment to recover, use that time to apply a buff, either a Drake Scale or an elemental saber if you have Attack Saber I and II equipped. Refresh this every time he does Glint Slash.

He has several basic attacks he will perform. The most dangerous is when he crouches and holds up his sword horizontally. He will then charge you and do a stab attack, this is multi hit and will kill you instantly. Use a level 1 class strike to avoid this if you're having trouble getting the timing down for a dodge. He will also do a three swipe combo or a single swipe. Both of these are easy to avoid, but can still kill you if you get too greedy with combos and can't get away in time.

He has three different class strikes. Spin Slash is the most common, and also the one with the largest window of vulnerability. If you stand directly behind him, even if it looks like you are slightly inside the red circle, you can safely attack him without getting hit. You can get off about four full combos this way. If he does Quakebringer, dodge backwards twice, then dodge left or right to get out of the attack. This one isn't too dangerous since its a single hit, followed by a significant delay before the second hit comes. That should be enough time to get away and heal yourself to refresh Miracle II. If you dodge correctly, you should have enough time to get a combo off. If he does Hollow Slash, simply dodge out of the cone and you should be fine.

If he goes into Counterattack mode, attack him to provoke the Quakebringer and dodge it normally, but don't move in to attack, he won't have the same window of vulnerability. With the boss timer going, you really can't wait around for it to wear off on its own.

Once he gets below 75%, his attack speed increases, so be more careful about moving in to combo him after each attack.

Once he gets below 50%, he gains a new attack where he quickly teleports in and stabs without much warning. If you're fast enough, you can get off a Cross Cut and avoid it, but this takes a lot of luck. It might be worth equipping Finishing Blow I and II in order to quickly burn him through this phase.

Shadow Angela - No weaknesses
This fight isn't any better than it was on the normal difficulties. Always cast using the ring menu for this fight, not hot keys. She will open with dual cast spells. The key to dodging these is to always be on the move when you know they're coming, then dodge twice when you see the ring. If you're standing still to cast, they will likely hit you. Sometimes, you will get lucky and just get clipped by the edge of the spell. If you see yourself start to take damage, quickly hit your level 1 class strike and sometimes you can invincibility frame out of it. If you ever get stuck on a stalagmite, use a level 1 class strike to break free.

After this, she will move in to melee you. If you're far enough away, you can get off a Lucent Beam+ before she reaches you. Use the ring menu to pause and decide if it's worth the risk. Either way, once she reaches you, dodge directly past her to avoid the melee attack, then cast another Lucent Beam+. Then stay on the move again. When she does Blessed Pledge, run in a semicircle around the room, careful to not get in between Shadow Angela and the red circle. Once the large circle appears, dodge out of it and cast Lucent Beam+. You should have enough time to get it off twice.

Once she drops below 50%, things actually get a little easier as long as you're not caught off guard. Now, she will always follow up her dual casts with Blessed Pledge, which means that as long as you're ready for it, you will have that window of vulnerability to exploit at the end.

King of Ferolia - No weaknesses
Reset yourself to Divine Fist if you haven't already. He opens with Genbu Bash. Dodge it, then use the window to apply Pressure Point and Nature Aura. Reapply these buffs every time he does Genbu Bash. If you're quick, you may even have time to get off a combo as well. His other two class strikes, Seiryu Strike and Suzaku Aerial, are fairly predictable and easy to dodge if you get the timing down, and allow enough time to get a combo off.

Once he gets down to around 50% he will break, but don't use your class strike on him. You will want to save those for the invincibility frames. Once he comes out of break he will attack much faster, and his most dangerous move is the one where he charges at you and swipes quickly. The timing for the dodge on this is tricky and you may want to use Phenomenal Fist to invincibility frame out of it. At this point, it's just a race to get him down as fast as you can before your CS gauge runs out.

Revenant - Weak to light
Pathetically easy. You have your full party for this, and all his attacks are slow and easy to dodge. Angela shreds him with Lucent Beam+.

Mimicqueen - No weaknesses
You have your full party for this, so it's not too difficult. If you're in melee, watch out for Bombbox, which hits in a circle around it. It has a slow charge though, so its easy to avoid. Other than that, it casts Earthquake+ and Explode+ which multihit, so be prepared to dodge. Cold Blaze is a single hit. Ground Slam acts like the same attack from Jewel Eater, so just move and you should be fine. It also shoots a laser that has very little windup, but is easy to avoid as long as you don't stay near your other characters and use Enigma.

Empreeb - No weaknesses
You have your full party. The bees accompanying her like to spam area effect class strikes, so take them out quickly from range. She likes to use area effect class strikes like Dragon Rend, which makes throwing long combos difficult, but otherwise she does not have any really dangerous attacks.

Once you reach Class 4, it might be a good idea to start farming Rainbow Seeds for the stronger equipment. I recommend checking out this guide to help you find a good spot.

Anise - No weaknesses in first phase, weak to light in dragon form
Take out one crystal quickly. Each crystal is weak to their elemental opposite (Earth/Wind, Fire/Water). Once Anise phases back in, quickly hit her with a combo or your best fast-casting spell. When she phases out again, hit the nearest crystal with a combo or a fast-casting spell. Repeat until she's dead.

In her dragon form, she always opens with a dive followed by an area spell, so when she dives, dodge immediately. When she comes back up she will cast two more spells, then have a window of vulnerability where you can attack freely.

Her other attacks are not too dangerous. When she casts Destructobomb you won't be able to get in melee for a bit, so control your ranged attacker and spam your best spell. Gust Blast can be jumped over, and her bite attack rarely goes after your control character if you have Enigma.

If she gets off her Crimson Rain charge ability, use a level 1 class strike to avoid it. Hit the class strike right as you see the text box appear.

Dragon form Anise has a large number of hitboxes, which means area effect spells and abilities like Poison Bubble, Grumpkin, and especially Lucent Beam+ do a lot of damage. Riesz with multi-target stat downs from the Fenrir Knight plus Stat Down CS Boost can gain 105% of her CS gauge in a single cast. Hawkeye as a Ninja Master and Ninja SP Boost can do likewise. Exploit these tricks and you can take her down quickly.

Black Rabite
Surprisingly, he's not as difficult as other bosses in this mode. He has a number of multi-hit attacks, but they don't tend to target your Enigma character. His most dangerous attack is probably the rotating laser. Take out any summons quickly. If you have the Fraction chain ability, it improves damage against him significantly.