Overview
My strategies for beating the Remix Bosses and getting their achievements.
Quick Note
These guys are TOUGH! Seriously, ♥♥♥♥ these guys!! I have such a love-hate relationship with the Remix bosses because I mean, I always love a good, challenging boss fight… but these jerks really push the limit.
I know a lot of what I’m about to tell you here is much easier said than done, but hopefully it will help you form your own strategies. These are just the methods I personally used to beat the bosses. (And I am assuming that you have already gotten all of the Obols and given them to Charon and such.)
Be prepared to die. A lot. I can never decide who’s the worst to deal with. (Based on how much I’ve written, it’s probably Alexander IV – although Alexander and Ponce seem to flip-flop on who is the least-defeated according to Steam’s global achievement stats.) They’re all bastards.
Here is how I would rank them difficulty-wise, from least annoying to most infuriating, along with approximately how long it took me to beat them:
Astrodotus & Herodotus (less than half an hour)
Neo Khidr (slightly over an hour)
Ponce de Freon ( still fighting :l )
Alexander IV (about two and a half hours)
Quite honestly I’m convinced that success in these battles is based more in luck than in skill.
Though you will definitely need skill.
But mostly luck.
(Wouldn’t it be nice to have both?)
So I mean it when I say, good luck.
1. Scotomaphobia: Fear of Eyes
Info: Completely stationary boss; 3 fireball attack patterns; 3 sections of spikes along the floor; 1 platform on either side of Neo Khidr
i.) Enter the boss door facing to the left and immediately use your large Sword Wall – it will be able to reach Neo Khidr even as you are standing on the floor. Also decide which side you prefer to fight on. I recommend staying on the floor rather than trying to jump around on the platforms. Personally I thought I fought better / more comfortably on the right side. When things got difficult, I would dodge towards the left, and when I was able, I would return again to the right side.
ii.) Know your strengths. You have 50MP. Don’t ever bother with your regular Sword Wall. Your large Sword Wall takes 30MP to use and you’ll need it if you hope to win because it does a good chunk of damage in a short amount of time. Each attack with your sword that you land regenerates 10MP. Use the Sword Wall ASAP every 3 sword strikes.
iii.) Get used to Neo Khidr’s attack patterns. Practice dodging. You have a handful of jumps as well as the ability to dash. You can take about 5 hits before dying.
iv.) Neo Khidr never moves but he makes up for it by pretty much never stopping firing at you. This is a battle that you can’t really drag out, no matter how good at dodging you are; eventually you will either be hit or accidentally fall onto the spikes. If you DO get hit, take the opportunity while you are temporarily invincible to at least land a few smacks on him so that you can use your Sword Wall.
v.) Cross your fingers and pray for attack patterns that are easy to dodge. For me the rotating wheel pattern was by far the most annoying to deal with. Keep smacking away whenever you’re comfortable dodging. If he’s firing a pattern that is difficult for you to dodge, don’t worry so much about attacking until things have calmed down a little bit.
2. Ostiophobia: Fear of Bones
Info: Occasionally stationary boss (when firing its 4-way cross attack); large yet somewhat slow; perpetually spawns smaller Skull enemies; room divided into 2 sides; walls and divide are completely covered in spikes; 4 platforms
i.) Start immediately by placing a Shadow Clone at your starting spawn point. This will come in handy as Alexander closes in and you’re forced to jump and dodge and dash around the stage. Whenever you return back to it, immediately place another one. Always have a Shadow Clone placed during the fight so that you can escape to it whenever needed.
ii.) Know your strengths. You have 6 glorious jumps and can dash. As an Hokage you can produce a Shadow Clone as well as poof around. Note that you can poof about the length of a platform, and that if you don’t poof close enough to the spikes when trying to pass through the divide in the center, you are going to hit the spikes and take about 20 damage, which is a great way to needlessly waste your HP.
iii.) Keeping yourself healed is super important during this fight. Alexander himself isn’t the biggest threat unless he corners you because of how large and clunky he is, but you can take a lot of damage from so many things on this stage. Luckily your abilities don’t take much MP, so don’t be afraid to abuse them. Also the Skull enemies can be killed in 1 hit (unless you hit them with a downward sword strike which will do less damage), and each kill recovers 4HP and 4MP. It’s small but it can really add up, especially since they just keep coming. If you notice you are low on health don’t be afraid to temporarily ignore smacking Alexander and focus on recovering your HP instead. Never let them build up too much. Even if you are fully healed you should try to constantly take them out whenever you get the opportunity; otherwise they will clutter up the entire stage and make maneuvering and dodging next to impossible.
iv.) Try to plan when and where you take damage. This may sound silly, but if you get hit at the edge of a platform, you will be knocked back and fall all the way to the bottom of the stage and this can really mess up your groove, not to mention possibly cause you to be cornered as you try to get back onto a nearby platform. Also be wary of when you return to your Shadow Clone. It’s possible that an enemy may be hovering on or near it, or that as you return you will knock into an attack that’s already been fired. Your enemies tend to flock toward the side that you’re on, so if you move back and forth between the left half and the right half, hopefully the chances of you landing on instant damage will be minimized.
v.) Cross your fingers and pray that Alexander will stop to do his attack in a sweet spot – just high enough above (or below) a platform where you can stand underneath (or above) the horizontal part of his attack without getting hit, thereby enabling you to smack away at him and deal a LOT of damage while he’s holding still. Be careful when you do this; sometimes after his attack he will continue to chase after you, and other times he will back off. You’ll need to watch Alexander’s movements carefully to successfully dodge around him.
3. Chemophobia: Fear of Chemicals
Info: Almost never stationary boss (pauses for a moment when it prepares to charge you); large room, empty except for a few platforms at the top; Ponce constantly drops fireballs in its path (they do fade on their own but it takes a while)
(I’m still working on Ponce so I may update this once I’ve taken him out. But so far this is the strategy I’ve been following. I can usually get him down to about 25% health.)
i.) Shake your fist and glare at Ponce and smack him a few times while you have the chance, before he’s produced too many stationary fireballs. Don’t chase him; he will come to you. He’s smaller than Alexander but unfortunately he’s also faster.
ii.) Know your strengths. You have 3 Fus Ro Dah shouts that can be used to clear all the fireballs in the vicinity left behind by Ponce – note that a shout will not clear ALL of the fireballs in the entire room, but it clears enough to give you much more breathing room at least. Also note that the shouts will not knock back Ponce. Again you have a bunch of jumps and can dash.
iii.) You can get hit 5 times; both Ponce and his fireballs do 100 damage each, so both are equally dangerous. If you are going to get hit, might as well smack yourself into a fireball because that will make it disappear. Anyways, dodge away. Try to keep him near the walls so that some of his fireballs land outside the stage where they won’t get in your way. I like to occasionally jump all around near the top to get him to chase after you and waste some of the fireballs up higher where you don’t fight as much.
iv.) I don’t recommend charging Ponce to try to get in a swipe or two when he’s preparing to charge at you. He only pauses for a brief moment, and he moves very quickly. If you get used to how far he dashes at you, you could wait for him and land a few smacks as he stops, and then back off quickly. Your dash may be able to help but honestly it’s easier to attack him when he’s moving normally about the stage. What makes this fight so long and difficult and ARGH frustrating is that he pretty much never sits still AND is regularly trailing fireballs – meaning you have to dodge and swing your sword at the same time, and basically just hope for the best. Sometimes you can get him to circle you – but that also leaves you somewhat at his mercy, if you’re surrounded by fireballs and he then decides to charge. A shout could save you from such a situation, but you only have three, and they need to be used VERY wisely. Also note that if he’s circling you, and you escape out of the circle, he will just chase after you all over again. If you can get him to circle you on one of the platforms at the top that would be perfect.
v.) Cross your fingers and pray that you’ve developed some mad dodging skills by this point. Use your shouts sparingly (I try to judge when to use them based on how much HP Ponce has left, but sometimes you don’t always have that luxury). The best strategy I can really come up with, is to methodically make Ponce chase you all around the stage, so that his fireballs get all spread out, rather than trap you somewhere and possibly force you to use up a shout. If you’re trapped at the top and need to fall to the bottom, remember that you have a bunch of jumps, and that they can save you from falling on a stray fireball.
4. Astrophobia: Fear of Space
Info: Never stationary boss; 2 jellies; red is faster; 1 small platform in the center of the stage; no walls; slight darkness
i.) Target the red jelly (Herodotus) first. It moves quicker than green (Astrodotus) and taking care of it first should make things much easier.
ii.) Know your strengths. Your Dragon can do 2 things: fly, and shoot fireballs (costs no MP!). Remember that if you get hit you will be knocked out of flight.
iii.) Aim carefully. Try not to miss and risk hitting another jelly, which would break it into another 2 jellies and make the room even more crowded and hectic. Technically you can rapid fire your fireballs but that is definitely not recommended. Your fireballs shoot fairly fast and far so don’t just shoot recklessly. If you somehow haven’t realized by now, these bosses take a bunch of patience. You can only take 3 hits for this fight, you can get hit again very quickly and you cannot heal, so again it comes down to juggling dodging and fighting at the same time.
iv.) No matter what size, each jelly will break apart into 2 parts with only one hit from a fireball, and of course they get smaller each time they break. Try to focus on one at a time, breaking them down into smaller and smaller pieces. Don’t break down a larger jelly if there are still smaller pieces floating around. The smaller they are the easier they are to dodge, but the harder they can be to hit (especially red). Don’t forget, you can move as freely through the walls as the jellies can (as can your fireballs, making a good aim all the more important).
v.) Cross your fingers and pray and fly and dodge and shoot. Unlike the other three bosses, this fight is not terribly difficult.