LogFAQs > #936059203

In fact, we're continuing right now

9. Arion (Genealogy Chapter 9)

I hope you're not tired of dracoknights (or wyvern riders, dragonmasters, wyvern lords, dracoriders...man these classes have had a lot of names)! Because the end of chapter 9 is going to bring four huge groups of them out to play. Three of them wander off to various castles to achieve jack shit because they all suck, but the fourth one that defends your final objective, Thracia castle, is a bit different. Stronger than the others and equipped with some trickier weaponry, notably the Sleep Edge wielders on the outside of the group, the highlight is their leader, Arion, arguably the most dangerous boss in the entire game.

The prince of Thracia comes with Pursuit, allowing him to double (because yes, this requires a skill in Genealogy), Adept to give him a chance to attack again on any given hit, and Nihil to negate critical hits and remove his weakness to arrows. He's also a powerhouse in general, with 70 HP, 26 strength, 21 speed and 27 defense, backed up by a whopping 5 leadership stars for +40 hit/avoid to himself and any allies within three tiles, making for an impressive adversary on its own...and that's before factoring in his weapon! The Gungnir has effectively 40 might and only 5 weight thanks to its +10 speed, and adds 10 defense just for kicks. And then just for kicks he has a Miracle Band, meaning his avoid skyrockets if he's reduced below 11 HP.

With 66 attack, Arion can one shot quite a few of your units, and 2HKOs everyone. 16 AS doubles a fair number of units, and even if you're faster than him the threat of 36% Adept activation looms. You do not ever want to allow him to get an attack off, but he's a 9 move flying unit accompanied by a whole bunch of others that you'll need to cut through to get to him, and his crew starts moving once you get in range of any one of them, so staying out of his range is easier said than done. 37 defense stymies almost all physical attacks, particularly most ranged ones, and combined with Miracle means chipping him down at low health is not an option. And naturally, his Sleep Edge minions can potentially put someone to sleep, leaving them open to annihilation.

Arion absolutely requires you to have a plan in place for how to tackle him the moment he starts moving. Luckily you do have a few options. If you had Arthur or Ced inherit the Forseti tome, they can capitalize on his low resistance by nuking him in two hits. Magic attackers in general can dish out hefty damage to him, so as long as you're wary about putting him into Miracle range you can take him down with a group effort. And even 37 defense and Nihil doesn't stop the Yewfelle from dishing out solid damage, though its accuracy can be pretty dubious. Or, if you're willing to blow one of the most expensive items in the game and can handle getting a staffbot in range while keeping them safe from the other enemies, you can use the Sleep staff to shut him down completely. It's even possible to avoid fighting him entirely if you really plan your dancing (and inherited the Rescue staff, since otherwise it's not available yet)!

It's pretty incredible that this guy is only the boss of the third last chapter. Arion is a monster in almost every way (even his 9 resistance, while a clear weakness, is solid for a physical unit in this game) and poses a massive threat to anyone who approaches him unprepared, but thankfully you can see him a few turns before you get to his range, giving you time to prepare, and you have enough options for dealing with him that you should be able to come up with a fairly reliable way of taking him down. It's a pretty neat deviation from the norm in Genealogy to have the final castle of a chapter be totally empty while the boss instead goes out onto the field to hunt you down, and it works to make for one of the games most memorable boss fights.

Up next: Another boss who, by coincidence I swear, ends up sharing a few qualities with the one we just discussed, though in this case they seem to have passed up one of the most important ones in favour of something that they seem to think benefits them more than it actually does...

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Meow!