Hi, Here are some strategies I've observed and developed over time as I do my dojo runs. As with my experience (as a Lv14x Shadower), this guide is targeted at players between Lv 12x ~15x (subjected to variations) and more towards party play instead of solo runs. Of course, you can adapt any of these strategies you find useful for your own play style. This is purely for completion and not necessarily the fastest method to earn points. Here, I will not cover the basic mechanics of this party quest as they can be found in the updates. Also, I will only include strategies from Stage 28 (Manon) onward since there should be little trouble getting here if you are within the level range. Do take note that these are only my opinions and there is no existing fool-proof strategy to my knowledge. My motivations for this guide is partly due to my frustration when it comes to conveying my rationale behind certain decisions in the heat of the boss-battles. Also, I always find it depressing to see a party member subject to an avoidable death. It is most satisfying when the whole party is able to complete together . Important Things to Note: Survivability: Some classes are blessed with high avoid capabilities, invincibility frames (i-frames) or healing skills and they tend to be able to survive well on their own without any support. Some of them include Bishops, Night Lords, Shadowers and Buccaneers. Of course, if you've washed your HP by a bunch, you get that benefit to some extent too. With that in mind, players using these characters should do their best to help keep the team alive, be it to loot pots when other members are low, healing, casting Smoke Shells or even drawing aggro. Energy Bar: At Lv 12x~15x, a huge chunk of your DPS will most probably come from the Bamboo Rain special skill. Power Explosion is beneficial if you already have god-tier DPS and invincibility can save you under tight circumstances. The bar is almost always most efficient to be spent on Bamboo Rain however. You can use the other 2 special skills if you deem it necessary, but for the most part, I would advise against it. For the purpose of this thread, I'll refer the Bamboo Rain as "Nuke" since it's the term I most often use. Some classes are excellent at building up the energy bar, particularly the Night Lords, Corsairs, Marksmen and Bowmasters from my observation (I'll refer to them as "bar builders"). Here's a good tip for Bishops: instead of being purely a healer, you can always cast Magic Claw / Energy Bolt whenever healing is not necessary. This way, you can build up your energy bar to be used as an offensive strategy. Nuking: The Bamboo Rain is an outstanding skill that immediately shaves off 30% of the boss' HP. However, I notice sometimes it may not respond as well on the key pad and you may need to try Ctrl + Alt + Up a few times before getting it to work. Additionally, you want to avoid casting it when the boss is all the way at the edge (you may miss your nuke if it's knocked back near the edge [not 100% verified]) or when it's in an invincible state (3 common instance is during Papulatus' healing spell animation, Papulatus shelled-up form and Mu Gong's Hadouken). Nuking drains your whole bar, so be wise about how your team use them (who, when, how many). HP: If you are low on HP, or have just been hit by a 1HP attack and have no means to heal up, do not play a "hero" and sacrifice your life for a few hits in. Instead, just move yourself to a safe position (when available) and depend on your other team mates to take it down or loot pots when available. DO NOT feel like you're a coward for doing so at all. My take on players hiding one corner to preserve themselves is this: I would rather they survive the boss than score in a few more hits before dying an unnecessary death - 1 more alive player is 1 more potential nuke. MP: While one can essentially go spamming their highest DPS skill, the MP cost needs to be considered as well, especially for long drawn-out battles (e.g. Papulatus). Be sure to be conservative about your MP usage should you notice you're low on it and when all (or most) available potions are already consumed. Minion Spawns: Of course by this point, you should be familiar with this, but always be mindful of how many potions they drop and how many times they are spawned. For bosses that take a long time to take down, you might also want to note that dropped potions only last on the field for 3 minutes from the time they were dropped. Bosses spawn their minions after being weakened to some extent (usually after weakening it by about 1/3), so don't expect them to summon their minions right when you enter the stage. There are special notes for spawns of Papulatus and Mu Gong that will be included later in the thread. *Also note that dropped potions apply to all party members regardless of whichever map (floor) they're on. (Does not apply as of latest patch) Time: This is usually not an issue if you are in a party, unless of course, if your party is shrunk down to 1 or 2 persons near the end. This might possibly happen at the last stage and unless you all have a good plan for it, the run might be over before you even clear it. Because this is a rather infrequent occurrence, I still advise to be careful especially during the last few bosses. Stage 28 (Manon): Notable boss attacks / patterns Debuff: One of the most annoying spells for bosses from this stage onward is the debuff. While it is a nuisance to most classes, it can be deadly to Arch Mages and Bishops as it removes Magic Guard too. Always be sure to check on your buffs, especially if they are crucial to you for whatever reason. Stun: Not the most deadly of skills, but can be rather annoying at times. 1HP Attack: Perhaps the second most deadly attack in dojo - it immediately reduces your HP to 1 (unless you have buffs to counter that). Manon casts this when it looks up and takes a huge breath before unleashing fire downwards. Spawn Minions: Manon spawns kentaurus up to 2 times during the fight. Strategies *For the following bosses, I'll assume that the most common method of attack would be to corner them to the right (example in image) and unleash all kinda skills on them. Debuff and the 1HP attack is the most dangerous threat in this battle, depending on your class. The 1HP attack does have a rather long build up and you have a few options to avoid the hit: - If you have a decent range from Manon, you can opt to retreat until the animation is over. - If you're a close ranged attacker or your DPS skill has long animation too, you may be better off running right into Manon to take contact damage instead. However, do move out from Manon's "contact-box" once the animation is over since you do not want to be stunned while in it (or debuffed as a magic user). - Alternatively, you can use just use your own i-frame or active mobility skills to dodge it. If you are low on HP and have no means to heal up, you can move yourself some distance away from Manon. It does not have an extended reach so you should be safe near the other edge. In most cases, you will not require any nukes to take down Manon at this level, if you have built up any even. But after Manon, this is where most people will have their energy bar built up. Possible Scenarios - You've just been hit by the 1HP move right before Manon is taken down and have no means to heal up... The next boss (Griffey) also does not have a large attacking range so you should be fine if you enter the next floor as long as you stay to the safe edge. But if you want to be extra safe, you can stay in this floor until your team mates manage to secure some potion drops for you. Just make sure your other team mates stick to the traditional mode of attack (cornering bosses to the right) and you should be healed up soon. - Your healer (BS) just died and you have no other means to heal yourself... Be sure to stay clear from Manon when your HP is low. In case the whole team is unable to heal themselves, you might need to activate your nuke or invincibility (depending on your DPS) though it is the last resort. Stage 29 (Griffey): Notable boss attacks / patterns Debuff: Like Manon, be watchful over important buffs during the fight. Griffey casts this after a blue glow from it's pendant. Stun: Just a nuisance. 1HP Attack: Griffey casts this after a yellow glow from it's pendant. Spawn Minions: Griffey spawns kentaurus up to 2 times during the fight. Strategies It has very similar traits to Manon, however, it's attacks are harder to dodge. Debuff and the 1HP attack is the most dangerous threat in this battle, depending on your class. Unlike Manon, the 1HP attack has a short animation and cannot be predicted or avoided easily. There are several ways you can try to get around it however: - If you've got plenty of HP to spare, you may be better off staying in the "contact-box". You do take a hefty chunk of damage, but if you've got 5 digit HP, you'd rather be hit by this then be lowered to 1. - Although it can be difficult to predict, the 1HP attack seems to only hit whoever's in front of it. Therefore, your tankier teammates might want to keep it in the centre and hopefully draw its aggro off you. If you are low on HP and have no means to heal up, you can move yourself some distance away from Griffey. It does not have an extended reach so you should be safe near the other edge (if you're not keeping it in the centre). In most cases, you will not require any nukes to take down Griffey at this level. Possible Scenarios - You've just been hit by the 1HP move right before Griffey is taken down and have no means to heal up... The next boss (Leviathan) HAS a large attacking range so you might want to stay in this floor until your team mates manage to secure some potion drops for you before calling you in. That is if your other teammates stick to the traditional mode of attack (cornering bosses to the right). - Your healer (BS) just died and you have no other means to heal yourself... Be sure to stay clear from Griffey when your HP is low. In case the whole team is unable to heal themselves, you might need to activate your nuke or invincibility (depending on your DPS) though it is the last resort. Stage 30 (Leviathan): Notable boss attacks / patterns Confusion: This status aliment flips your directional controls. However, do take note that you can still jump if you press the down key before jumping. Weaken: (Same animation as Confusion) This is NOT just a nuisance. Jumping is the only method to avoid the knock-back fire (to my knowledge) without any i-frames. Knock-back Fire: Leviathan glows yellow and spits fire in front of it. This attack seems to hit the entire map where it is facing. Spawn Minions: Leviathan spawn Wyverns up to 2 times during the fight. Strategies Unlike Manon and Griffey, Leviathan does not have a 1HP attack. However, it is beefier and has a ginormous hit box. And for those reasons, this is the stage where I observe many low survivability members actually fall. The knock-back fire seemingly hits the whole map where it is facing, so there really is not safe spot to sit around here. This attack has a load up and the only way I know to avoid this attack is by: - Jumping right before it breaths the fire. However, this can get really tricky if you don't have range from it. It has another frost breath that has a medium range and staying close to it might risk yourself getting weakened. - Staying in it's "contact-box". If you are low on HP and have no means to heal up, you have no where to run, sorry. You've probably got to do your best avoiding those fires when it comes. Alternatively, I've did this before and it does work to some degree. Instead of cornering it to the right, keep it away from the edges and let the tank'ier teammates draw it's aggro away (face away) from those with weaker survivability. If necessary, swap sides, though this will probably require you to take some contact damage. (Refer to example for Manon in image below.) Leviathan does have a healthier HP bar and running out of MP might become a problem here. Therefore, be conservative when looting potions and try to use skills that is most MP (rather than DPS) efficient if it comes to that point. You may have to use a nuke if all of you are out of MP. Usually for a team of 3 (exclude BS that primarily heals and not build their bar), I would only want to nuke it once (twice if you have 2 quick bar builders), and at the start so that it wouldn't miss (when it is cornered) and whoever nuked can have time to build it back up. If you have a team of 4, you should be good to nuke it twice. An even larger team will allow you to throw in 3 nukes if you're impatient. However, starting from this stage, your team will need to be wise about who and how many nukes you use. The rule of thumb is this: the more you nuke, the lesser boss HP you have to build your bar upon. Because nukes matter the most at Mu Gong, it'll be better if the slower bar builders use their nukes here and build up at Papulatus. Possible Scenarios - Your team is completely out of MP and Leviathan is down to it's last slither of health... Depending on how much more HP your team has, you might need to cast a nuke however wasteful it is - it's do-or-die. - So your team ended up finishing off Leviathan with almost no MP left... The next stage (Papulatus) is a long one and it will take time before it actually spawns anything. You can choose to sit and wait in the rest stop to heal up MP (though I suppose nobody's got time for that), or will most like need to cast your nukes right when Papulatus appears to trigger it to spawn. - Even more problematic: some of my team members are deathly low on HP and they can't just wait in this floor while the others deal with the next boss since the next floor is a rest stop... Like the previous point, you can choose either of the 2 options and hope for the best... Stage 31 (Papulatus): Notable boss attacks / patterns Stun: Usually just a nuisance. Debuff: Like other debuffers, be watchful over important buffs during the fight. The animation is the same as when it casts stun - Papulatus casts this after a blue glow from it's hands. Lightning: This attack has a ginormous range, though not as far reaching as Leviathan's knock-back fire. However, it hits all around it so you can't hide behind it either. From experience, you should be safe if you are standing on one edge while Papulatus is on the other edge. 1HP attack / Shell: Papulatus cast this when it opens it's mouth and forms a yellow, glow'ey plate over its face. This attack has a medium reach and usually after casting this attack, it will scrunch up and shield itself from any attacks. Spawn Minions: Papulatus spawn bombs up to 2 times during the fight. **Do take note that these bombs can self destruct if you come too close to it. You want to avoid this because if it self destructs, they do NOT drop pots at all. The spawn animation is clear: Papulatus will create a pink swirly thing in front of itself and the bluish stars indicates where these bombs will be spawned. If you are a close ranged attacker, either used longer ranged attacks, or immediately move away when you see it casting as they self-destruct very quickly. Let the ranged attackers take them down to be considered a normal kill, giving it a chance to drop pots. Strategies When it comes to boss attack patterns and strategies, it is very similar to Manon since it's 1HP attack has a preemptive animation and generally has the same notable attacks. The only difference is that it has a lightning attack that hits almost the full map. Therefore, if your team has DKs or Buccaneers, let them do they job to pin it to the edge right away to secure your team a safe spot on the other edge. Regardless of how many members there are in the team, I almost always advise to nuke 2 times (unless you have a party of 6) and NO MORE THAN THAT. Nuking 3 times basically drains out any opportunity for anyone to build up their bar once again and nukes are crucial in the next stage. Also, I would advise to nuke right when Papulatus appears in the map since it has the least chance to miss due to it getting cornered, or using attacks to put itself into an i-frame. Those nuking it should be the team's fastest bar builders since we hope to have 3 nukes by the time enter the next stage. Make the most out of the remaining 40% of Papulatus' HP to build up your bars. The 1HP attack has a short animation, though long enough for most people to react to. Avoiding it is similar to how it was done with Manon: - If you have a long range from Papulatus, you can opt to retreat until the animation is over, though I personally think it hits further than Manon. - Unlike Manon, this attack hits all around, not just the front. If you're a close ranged attacker, you may be better off running right into Papulatus to take contact damage instead. If your attack animation is long and drawn out, then you're probably out of luck since it comes rather quickly. - Use your own i-frame to dodge it. If you are low on HP and have no means to heal up, immediately retreat to the safe edge and let your other team members handle it. It is absolutely crucial that you stay alive at this point since 1 less potential nuke can drastically change your team's plan for the final stage. Mentioned above, the spawns for Papulatus can self destruct if anyone's within their proximity. Personally, I'd rather not have any close ranged attackers hitting Papulatus until it has spawned twice (or once, if the drops are good) since potions can be game changing in this floor. Papulatus have a huge HP bar and running out of MP is very likely should you not nuke it (or miss), and should not be taken lightly. Therefore, be conservative when looting potions and try to use skills that is most MP efficient (most damage done per MP instead of most damage done per second) if it comes to that point. You may have to use a nuke if all of you are out of MP. After taking down Papulatus, be sure to check who has a full energy bar in your team as this will be crucial if you want to have the highest survivability rate in the final stage. Ideally, you should have 3 nukes. Possible Scenarios - Your team is completely out of MP after taking down Papulatus... Like every other boss, the final floor (Mu Gong) boss only spawns after being damaged to some extent. Let those with enough MP to kill spawns enter the next floor first to nuke Mu Gong and trigger the spawns before entering. This applies also if you have team mates low on HP. - Due to unforeseen circumstances, your team is out of nukes... Don't worry. You can still work things out the traditional way until your bars are built again, though it requires you to have MP to last long enough. - My team is almost completely wiped out... If only 1 of you is left, the chances are very slim. If there's 2 and one has high survivability, you may still have a chance to complete it. 3 and more members should be a good number if everyone knows what they are doing in the final stage. Stage 32 (Mu Gong): HP: 27,523,000 Notable boss attacks / patterns 1HP attack: This is perhaps the easiest 1HP attack to avoid. Mu Gong bulks up and glows blue and you will see glowing panda statues appearing on the map. These statues indicates where the bamboo stacks will fall on, reducing you to 1HP. Seduce: Functions very much like stun. Because of Mu Gong's 1HP attack and relatively damaging hits and range, this can be a killer especially when you're positioned close to Mu Gong when this happens. Zombify: This is a devastating move especially for teams with a BS. Zombify makes your team an undead temporarily and if your BS is not careful, their heal will actually damage you and potentially kill off the whole team. The animation for this is the same animation for seduce: it bulks up and glow yellow before doing some twirling motion with its hands. Damage Reflect (DR): The most dangerous move in my opinion. Mu Gong bulks up and roars, creating a blue "spiritual" self over it. The damage reflect (DR) comes in 2 forms: Physical and Magic. Mu Gong usually casts this when it has been damaged by about 40%. (An example of the Physical DR icon can be seen in the image where it casts the 1HP attack.) For reference, this usually happens once it's HP drops just past your 4th buff icon as shown: Spawn Minions: Mu Gong only spawn little pandas 1 time during the fight (more minions compared to other bosses fortunately). Compared to other bosses, Mu Gong tends to summon them rather early on in the fight (when it is down by about 1/5). Hadouken: Mu Gong charges up an energy ball and fires it off in the direction of its target over a long distance, knocking back the target if contact is made. While it pose a small threat since the casting animation and travelling speed is slow (can be very easily anticipated and dodged), it can become tricky when seduced or weakened. However, most noteworthy is that when it just fires off, he gains a brief i-frame; I advice to avoid nuking whenever he is trying to cast this move as you may end up missing. Strategies Unlike the previous bosses, Mu Gong can be difficult to pin to a corner without shoving skills, but really, this shouldn't be the concern here. Before going into nuking, I'll explain the basic expectations when fighting Mu Gong the normal way. For the first 40% of Mu Gong's HP, you should be most weary of Seduce and Zombify. Seduce, coupled with the 1HP attack, or high damage from Mu Gong can be lethal, especially if you happen to be seduced right in it's "contact-box". Personally, I prefer longer ranged skills to minimise the risk of entering it's "contact box" even if they deal lesser damage. BS will need to pay extra attention to Mu Gong's animations and not heal right whenever a team member lost some HP. Additionally, your limited MP will hit you the hard in this stage, especially after a long battle with Papulatus so be sure to use MP efficient skills. You may even use swap to skills with faster casting animation to build your bar quicker instead. Once Mu Gong is down by about 1/3, here's where things get very tricky. This is where DR can happen any time. Although it has an animation for it, by the time the animation is shown, the DR is already in effect, so there's really no way to know when to stop attacking. Some tell-tale signs right before it cast DR is that it stops attacking and tends to start walking around briefly. I wouldn't count on it however, since this does not happen every time and a single misstep here will lead to death. My personal strategy on this is to only hit Mu Gong when it is in any other attacking animation - I wouldn't even hit it when it's just walking around or right before it is about to do anything. His DR most often swaps between physical and magic however, so you know for sure when is a safe time to land your skills upon it. For example, if I am a physical attacker and I just witness Mu Gong do a physical DR. Once the Physical DR wears out, I can hit it all I want since the next DR he cast will almost always be a magic DR. But after the magic DR wears out, I need to start being careful with my attacks again, since I never know when he will cast the next DR (physical). However, this is not always the case and there are some occasions where it doesn't follow this trend, though uncommon. In this floor, DR is almost always the reason the team is wiped out. Unless your team is very competent in dealing with the DR, you would be better off planning something out. There is a sure way to get around the DR and it involves planning your nukes carefully. Knowing that Mu Gong only cast DR once it is down by about 40%, you can essentially get past the DR if you all shave it down by 10% first then nuke 3 times. But this is assuming the team follow the correct orders. However, do pay special attention since Mu Gong's DR applies to your nukes too. Also, Mu Gong has a short i-frame during his "hadouken" move so avoid nuking when he't in that animation. If you're a team of 2: This is rather tricky since you'll most definitely need to deal with Mu Gong with his DR. I'll usually have the faster bar builder to nuke first (or just nuke together if both players are familiar with the DR patterns) and stall for as long as it takes for that bar to be rebuilt. Once it is rebuilt, this player should immediately cast his nuke as a cue for the other player to throw in his nuke. This should finish off Mu Gong, assuming none of you missed your nukes. If you're a team of 3: Preferably all of you already have full bars, or nearing full bars. Even if your bars are empty, your team should be able to manage as long as you have enough MP to last till the bars are built / summons drop potions. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT nuke it right away. If you do, and the other team mates have yet to complete their bars, you all have to deal with the DR and from my experience, people will die. Instead, shave it down by 10% (if all the bars are up) or until all 3 members have full bars. As a good gauge, once Mu Gong summon his minions, it is rather safe to assume it has been shave by at least 10%. Only when these 2 conditions are met then all the members should nuke TOGETHER to avoid Mu Gong casting his DR. If you're in a team of 4: If you already have all 4 bars when you enter, you know what you should do... But in case you don't, just apply the same strategy as that of a 3 man team and nuke it once at least 3 members have their bars up and Mu Gong is down by 10%. But again, coordinate your nukes and do not nuke whenever you like - it may end up killing your crew if you're not familiar with the DR patterns. If you're in a team of 5 or 6: You should have enough nukes to take it down right away. But in case you don't, just adopt the same strategies as that of a 3 or 4 man team. Possible Scenarios - You enter the stage with no HP/MP and absolutely have to use a nuke right when you get in... Then do it. However, do take note that you'll be put in the scenario of the 2 man team once you do that, unless of course, your other team mates have full bars too. - Your team decides to nuke whenever they please, and ended up killing themselves from the DR... Well, you still have a chance if the rest of you are careful when attacking Mu Gong. After all, it is supposedly about half-way down by the time the DR happens. Boss sprites extracted from: www.spriters-resource.com Game footage extracted from: MapleRoyals client As of now, this concludes my thread and I certainly hope it helps in some way. I understand it's a long read and I can get rather draggy at times and I do apologise for that . As stated at the very top, these are strategies I have observed or developed during my time spent at the dojo and I do not claim to be an expert on it. So feel free to criticise or add on to it should you feel it is lacking or providing false information. Perhaps you may have a defining strategy that would benefit everyone . Hope you all have a good time dojo-ing =D
Good guide like this should be bump! Realizing lots of people doesn't know the boss animation and good timing to bamboo
