Overview
This guide will help you to get this achievement more easily, as you’ll never lose control over your spirit.
How easy is it ?
Since you’re going to create a new character and only play him on the 2 first levels (aka. in the Harfeld Manor), it should be one of the easiest achievement to get.
Which race should I take ?
First of all, create a new game on the easiest difficulty. I suggest you to take Human (+3 Karma) or Elf (+1 Charisma), since you’ll need Karma to spend on Charisma and Spirit Summoning. I’d suggest Human, since the Elf extra Charisma would get you to 2 Charisma, which is like getting only 2 extra Karma instead of 3.
Instead of choosing “Shaman”, create your own character. This way, you’ll have 63 Karma to spend if you picked human.
Spending Karma
Now, it’s time to spend everything into Charisma and Spirit Summoning.
If you’re afraid that 10 HP isn’t enough, you can get Charisma back to 7 and increase Body to 3 instead, so that you’ll have 30 HP. Having 8 in Charisma instead of 7 wouldn’t help much anyway, since only Spirit Summoning makes the spirit stronger.
« Hey ! If I don’t upgrade Spirit Control, my spirit will have 100% chance to run away !! »
Don’t worry. As you’re aware, when you reach 3 in Spirit Summoning, you must choose your Totem. And one of the available totems is going to be extremely useful.
This Totem will provide an area of effect buff. As long as the summoned spirit stands aside your character, its escape percentage will remain to 0%, even if you keep giving 4 AP. It lasts 2 turns for a cooldown of 3 turns. But buffs still remain on your character when the turn counter hits 0.
So basically, you’ll be able to use it again when it’s over. You’ll find yourself controlling a strong spirit which won’t run away until you die or send him too far away.
Time to run
As I already mentioned it above, the main drawback of these builds is the lack of survivability, especially the one with 10 HP. Although your spirit is really strong, your runner can die really easily.
In order to survive, you’ll have to :
– remain in cover
– keep Dietrich aside (his Dragonslayer buff will minus damages by 3)
– keep Glory nearby so she can patch you up
– use Monika as a meat shield, try to put her in front of your character so she can take the damages instead of you.
You’ll also have to keep your spirit nearby so your area of effect buff can prevent him from running away.
Although you have a lot of karma in Charisma and Spirit Summoning, the Force 1 Air Elemental Fetish you have in your inventory isn’t particularly useful. Instead, there’s 2 places where you can summon a spirit during the Harfeld Manor Run.
The First Spirit
The first one is in the first level, in the center of the room where the elevator is located.
Since it’s out of range, I suggest you to wisely move your characters so the 2nd turn can be used to spawn the spirit and bring it closer.
The spirit you can summon from that one is a melee spirit, so its range is quite limited. You’ll either have to keep enough AP to bring him back to your character, or your character will have to follow him around, which isn’t the greatest idea.
Basically, it’s not the best spirit to use, which is why I’d suggest you to go for the second one.
Edit: As someone pointed out in the comment section, you can also take advantage of the first spirit’s abilities and spells to hit on long range, which is probably a better idea than going melee and bringing him back to your character.
The Second Spirit
The second spirit is located in the second level, near the escape door.
This one is a Wind Dancer (aka. Air Elemental spirit) which has a ranged attack of 12, which is also good enough to deal with Audran (aka. the guy with the minigun).
Even though you have 1 less runner, this level is more suited for the achievement. The table provides a heavy cover bonus, whilst the presence of many walls will allow you to hide away, preventing the enemies from shooting you from everywhere.
If you take position around a table, your summoned spirit can do the job on its own, whilst you focus on keeping your runners alive.
The only danger in this level is when enemies show up. I once lost my summoned spirit because the buff went down by 1 turn but the cooldown didn’t (probably because they bypassed my turn to allow enemies to get in position). So I was 1 turn late and the spirit ran away.
I hope this guide will save you some time.