Incubus Prison

This page is a guide to the Incubus Prison which immediately follows the Incubus War. Expect SPOILERS.

Simon is stripped of everything and is set back to level 1. Progress will be slow and earned. This entire section is one giant puzzle.

However, there is an easy route. If at any point you accept any of the holy items from the glowing white crystals, the game sets you on an easy path. These holy items are incredibly powerful and can easily carry you through this section. Unfortunately, they also prevent you from obtaining the only two permanent items in this section: an Incubus Sword and Shining Sword.

This page is going to break down into two sections. A general information and tips section if you want to try this on your own, and a specific walkthrough. The specific walkthrough will assume you are not using the holy items.

Tips

 * Understanding how RPG Maker stats work is important for this section. You can read about them here.
 * Read enemy names and skill descriptions carefully. They will help you understand what stats you should try and increase. All six of the stats are important at various points.
 * There is no downside to using the healing save points. There is dialogue every so often when you do so.
 * With a few obvious exceptions, there is no need to clear an area fully in one go. You can and should exit and re-enter areas.
 * You will need some consumables to complete the final optional section - The Final Lock. You should be able to complete every fight outside of it without using any consumables if you heal at the save points.
 * You can escape most fights (hit the Left arrow key, then select Escape from the menu).
 * When you gain the Retreat skill, it can be used in most places but not all.
 * Status-preventing items can be used as out-of-battle cures. For example, if you are poisoned, equip a poison-immunity item, and the poison will vanish.

Temporary link to a 0.58.1 walkthrough that is likely relevant but could be outdated by changes made since 0.58.1.

At the start of this story arc, Simon wakes up in a little slice of hell - the Incubus Prison.

The Prison is divided into three sections, which will be dubbed the First, Second, and Third Zones. Each Zone has multiple areas to visit, each with their own unique names. Access to the Second and Third Zones requires defeating bosses, and moving through a connecting pathway … once. A final boss guards the exit from the Third Zone, and the end of this particular arc of the story. This walkthrough will describe an optimized path through the whole prison in order to handily conquer the Final Lock, but strict adherence to the order of actions is not required.

However, do note that consumables are best not used except as directed.

First zone
In the initial scene, you can gain the Black Gloves if Mestan survived until the very end of the last story section. If he died early, you get nothing. After the cutscene, you'll be in the overworld map for this section of the game, and will be facing in the direction you should go. If you got the Black Gloves, equip them immediately.

Walk to the magic glowing circle in the middle of the area to access the central hub for the First Zone.

Fragment of Rest
You'll pick up 50 Sx just for walking in on your first visit here.

Walk to the magic circle in the center of Fragment of rest to heal and save. On subsequent visits to this area's map icon, you'll have the choice of whether to enter.

Easy Mode Crystal: The Glowing Crystal on this map is an Easy Mode switch. If you accept the power, you'll get the Holy Sword, but you'll lock yourself out of the final reward. The other Easy Mode Crystal locations will be noted as well, but for the purposes of beating the Final Lock, do not ever accept the gift.

Here, you'll also meet your first "merchant." Like every shop here, it only sells one item, once. If you have extra Sx just before the Final Lock, then you can come back and get it, but there are much better purchases to make.

"Stealth" Running

At this point, Simon has no equipment, no abilities, and low stats. The first order of business is to scrape together some gear, and use the ability to Escape all fights to stay alive. For brevity, areas that are only briefly visited here will be expanded on later, once they're approached with seriousness.

Exit the Fragment of Rest and walk back to the crater you made on entry to the Prison.

Arrival Crater: Ignore the enemies - if one of the wandering mobs catches you, then hit Left and Escape. Go directly to the bone pile in the lower-right area with the shiny, to pick up your first weapon: the Broken Claw. Equip it immediately. If you want to, you can fight the spider mob now, but don't bother either the wandering jellyfish or the bat right now.

If you don't have the Black Gloves, go to the Tower in the south of the Zone. If you do have the Black Gloves, you can leave this for later.

Tower of Silence: Avoid the enemies, walk up the stairs, and grab the shiny to get the Feather accessory, which greatly boosts your AGI. The Black Gloves are superior in most cases.

Go to the lake in the lower left of the map.

Dreamlike Pond
As the area name suggests, this small map has a pond, and not much else. There is only one encounter in the area, and there's mercifully only one enemy in the encounter. If you came here first thing with no equipment, you can win, but it's RNG-dependent. With the Claw (and/or the Black Gloves), it's a guaranteed victory. Here's also where you'll find your second merchant: The stats make this equipment very appealing at this stage of the Prison, but you shouldn't: you'll get semi-equivalent gear for free soon, and the Sx is best preserved for later use.

Exit the pond and head to the Grey Cave in the Eastern area.

Note - Diverging paths:

This guide will take advantage of the Escape functionality to sneak through a higher-level area a little earlier than strictly intended. To keep with this guide's recommended path, scroll down to the Dreamlike Mine section and keep reading.

If you want to instead follow the likely intended progress, take the following steps:


 * 1) Grab the shiny in the Mine, equip the Leather, and leave.
 * 2) Go to the building in the eastern area (the Dreamlike Ruins; see that section further down for details)
 * 3) From the first chamber, go up, left, then up - be careful and run from enemies if you can't beat them.
 * 4) Grab the Shiny to get the Lantern. Equip it.
 * 5) Go to the Brown Cave directly north of the Save Point (the Cave of Darkness; see that section further down for details).
 * 6) Get the Skull Helm and the Magic Rock, and fight the cockatrice at the back of the cave on the right-hand side and get Familial Flame.
 * 7) Go back to the Ruins and fight the Idol in the bottom-right chamber, to get the Prophylactic Mushroom.
 * 8) With the mushroom's poison immunity, go to the Forest. See the Dreamlike Forest section.
 * 9) After clearing the Forest, you can go back to the Ruins to clean up; after this, you'll be roughly in line with the guide, but will still need to loot the Mine.

Dreamlike Mine
Enemies and encounters will be listed in the Take 2 of the mine - avoid all fights at this point in time.

Immediately on entry to the Mine, grab the shiny to the left to pick up a piece of armor: the Leather. Feel free to equip it, but you won't be wearing it for long.

You can leave and return freely as long as you don't drop through the hole to the actual mine tunnels, but that's exactly what we're here to do. Avoid the encounter (the bandit sprite) on your way to the hole - it's three enemies that you can't handle right now.

Once through the hole, you're in the mine tunnels. Note that if you went to the Forest earlier and grabbed the Retreat skill, it is disabled here - the only way out is through.

Combat notes: Avoid all fights on this first visit. All the encounters have more than one enemy, and you cannot win any of these fights with your current level and equipment. For bragging rights, try to avoid getting caught by any of them, but if you do get caught, Escape immediately.

Turn right, then up, then right to pick up 25 Sx. Go back down, then right. The way up leads to a blocked off Shiny, so go down the long corridor. Turn left, then down to flip the switch. Turn right to grab the Shiny for another 25 Sx. Go back the way you came and go all the way up to the now unblocked Shiny to get the Carapace Armor.

Run back to the start, and this time go up and left. Go past the downward turn to the end of the corridor for another Shiny - another 25 Sx. Now go down, and take the right-fork to grab another 25 Sx. Take the left fork, then down and right. The magic circle is a limited use heal; leave it for the second run through the mine.

Go down to reach an open area. Take a left, and go up to grab some Mana Leaves. Go down to flip another switch, then go back to the open area.

Go right and slightly down; grab a shiny in front of ruined boxes to the right of the exit for another 25 Sx. Go right for another Shiny in a short dead end: an Edible Root.

Go up and take the upward path on the right-hand side. Turn right and go to the end to grab another Shiny: Stunning Strike is a physical attack, with a chance to Stun the target.

Go down and exit. We'll be back here later to clear the place out.

Enough running; Time to Fight

Back on the world map, go to the cross-shaped forest.

Dreamlike Forest
Recommended equipment at area start:

Weapon: Broken Claw

Off-hand: - (Equip Log once you get it.)

Headgear: -

Bodygear: Carapace Armor

Accessory: Black Gloves. If you don't have the Black Gloves, use the Feather.

Combat notes: If you came here before, you'll have found that the initial enemies were doable, but only just, and that Wasps meant you needed to go heal. With the Carapace armor, nothing in here is a threat. Be careful with the multi-enemy encounters, and make sure to heal before taking on the final group, but you should be able to clear this entire section without issue.

Take the right-hand path from the entrance, and interact with the axe in the stump to get your first ability. Furious Strike is a workhorse Special skill. It deals Physical damage regardless of your equipment, based on the ATK stat, and does more damage than a standard attack.

Now take the left-most path, and pick up your first shield: the Log. Equip it.

Start clearing out enemies. The first five encounters in the Forest are all single-enemy encounters, and the encounters in the north are all multi-enemy encounters. Wasps will poison you, but with the Carapace Armor, that's no longer a threat.

Take the right branch in the middle area, and down the line of trees that don't match the rest of the forest to find an Edible Root. The left branch in the middle area leads to another 50 Sx.

Go north again, then take the left branch and grab the Mana Leaves, and the shiny at the end of this branch for your next ability. Retreat is an out-of-battle ability that warps you back to the save point from most areas - it's disabled anywhere that is meant to trap you (such as the Mines we visited earlier).

Finally, take the right branch and take on the stationary sprite to clear out the forest. Use Furious Strike on the Spiders to take them out first, then hit the bats, and finally the Wasp. With the gear you have at this point, and the level ups from getting abilities, you should barely break a sweat.

Get the shiny the sprite was guarding to get a weapon upgrade: the Sharp Horn. It's just as strong offensively as the Broken Claw, and also boosts your DEF.

Head to the square gray building in the East (not the tower).

Dreamlike Ruins
 Recommended equipment at area start: 

Weapon: Sharp Horn

Off-hand: Log

Headgear: -

Bodygear: Carapace Armor

Accessory: Black Gloves. If you don't have the Black Gloves, use the Feather.

Combat notes: The enemies here are much stronger than in the Forest. Some of them you may have seen in the Mine while running for your life. With your current gear and stats, you can handle single-enemy encounters, but you will need to run back and heal after every combat you take on.

In the entrance, you'll be greeted by a Thug. Defeat him, then go left. You can defeat the Plant here with your current abilities, or leave it for later; if you do defeat it, Simon will have some thoughts on best tactics for dealing with it. Grab the shiny for more Mana Leaves.

Go back to the entrance room. Go up: the enemies in the bottom-right room can't be fought yet. Bother the spiders (Furious Strike should kill a Spider in one hit by this point), then grab the item hidden behind the pillar: a Fat Root. Go left, to fight a Thug, then Up, to find another Plant. Grab the Shiny to pick up the Lantern, which is the main reason we're here.

Go back to the center room, then Up. This bandit sprite has two Thugs - this is doable, but be careful; use Stunning Strike to make sure that only one of them can attack you. The magic circle here is a limited use heal. The shiny is another 50 Sx.

If you'd like, you can challenge the stationary Flower. This fight is doable right now, but best left for later - for the purposes of this guide, we're leaving it for later. User Retreat from the skills menu to leave quickly.

Equip the Lantern, then go north from the Save Point to the brown cave.

Cave of Darkness
 Recommended equipment at area start: 

Weapon: Sharp Horn

Off-hand: Log

Headgear: None (equip Skull Helm once you get it)

Bodygear: Carapace Armor

Accessory: Lantern

Combat notes: This area applies Blind to Simon just by being in it, meaning you're almost guaranteed to miss with all your attacks. The solution is the Lantern. With the Lantern equipped, nothing in here is a threat.

There are narrow corridors, but this isn't exactly a maze. A corridor branching to the left from the central area leads to an Edible Root. The right hand side leads to a Nullshroom, and the right-most path leads to a spider that guards your first piece of Headgear: the Skull Helm.

The upper areas of the cave are split, and you have to return to the center areas to swap between them. The left-most chamber of the left-hand side has more spiders and the Magic Rock - your first magical weapon. Since Simon has not yet unlocked any magical skills, keep using the Sharp Horn.

Easy Mode Crystal: The right-hand chamber of the left-hand side has another Easy Mode Crystal (again, this guide assumes you aren't doing Easy Mode). This one gives you the Unchanging Helm.

The right-hand side of the upper area has more spiders, and the Cavern's "boss" - a Cockatrice. Hit it with a Furious Strike, which should take out over a third of its health. It will then Silence you, but you'll be able to kill it with regular attacks before it can threaten to kill you, if you went in with full health.

Grab the shiny for another Skill: Familial Flame is your first magic attack, and is essentially the same as Robin's Fire. Walk into the circle for a handy teleport out of the cave, or use Retreat.

Dreamlike Ruins (take 2)

 Recommended equipment build: 

Weapon: Magic Rock

Off-hand: Log

Headgear: Skull Helm

Bodygear: Carapace Armor

Accessory: Black Gloves (or Feather, if you don't have the gloves)

Guess what's weak to Fire? Plants are weak to fire. Equip the Magic rock, then go back to the Ruins and clean up any lingering plants, and fight the stationary plant in the upper-right chamber as well. Since Thugs are also weak to fire (though only by a little) best practice is pyromania. The shiny behind this fight unlocks your first Sex skill, and your first Sex attack: Sexual Impact. It uses both SP and MP, and uses the MAG stat for damage calculations.

If you've tested your luck against the jellyfish sprite, you'll have found that the Idols rebuffed any options you had up until this point. However, they are vulnerable to magic, and especially Sex attacks. Go to the bottom right room and kill the Idol that's guarding yet another shiny: the Prophylactic Mushroom. This item allows you to handle the Forest if you didn't sneak through the Mine. If you've already gotten the Carapace Armor, it's largely pointless, but can be useful later to give you poison immunity without tying up your Bodygear slot.

Exit and go back to the Crater.

Arrival Crater
 Recommended Equipment Build: 

Weapon: Sharp Horn | Magic Rock for the Idol fight

Off-hand: Log

Headgear: Skull Helm

Bodygear: Carapace Armor

Accessory: Black Gloves (or Feather, if you don't have the gloves)

While you can wait until you get something from the Third Zone to make the bats a walk-in-the-park, everything in this area is easily destroyed at this point in the run, so we might as well do it now. Combined with the levels Simon has gotten, the Magic Rock and Sexual Impact or Familial Flame will handle the Idol easily, while the Sharp Horn and the defensive equips will prevent the eight bats from doing any damage to Simon. Once you've cleared the bats, grab the Shiny to get the Scroll of Wendis. Put it away and forget it exists for now; it is reserved exclusively for the Final Lock.

Exit the crater and go to the Tower.

Tower of Silence
 Recommended Equipment Build: 

Weapon: Sharp Horn | Magic Rock for the Hornets

Off-hand: Log | Defensive Rod once you get it

Headgear: Skull Helm

Bodygear: Carapace Armor

Accessory: Black Gloves (or Feather, if you don't have the gloves)

Combat notes: Take it easy - at this point, you can handle anything in here with cautiousness. Since the Cockatrices wield silence, go physical - Furious Strike first turn, then attack after you're silenced. Retreat and heal when HP gets low, and there should not be much challenge. Refer to the encounter list so you know what you're dealing with.

On the first floor is a bat and a Cockatrice, both single enemies.

The second floor has the Feather (if you didn't get it earlier) and a stationary encounter blocking access to the next floor. With your current stats, the bats can't actually hurt you - focus on the Cockatrice and mop up the bats afterwards.

The third floor has no wandering enemies. Equip the magic rock and hit the hornets to the right. They will evade all physical attacks, so hit them with Familial Flame or Sexual Impact. They cannot actually hurt you at this point in the run, as Simon should have enough DEF to outright Block all damage they can do. Pick up the Shiny they were guarding for a new Off-hand item: the Defensive Rod. Equip it, as it's much better than the Log. Re-equip the Sharp Horn. The third floor guard is a Cockatrice, a Spider, and a Wasp. Familial Flame the spider for a one hit strike (Spiders have high enough ATK to be dangerous if left alone), then attack the Cockatrice after it Silences you. The Wasp is not a threat with the Carapace Armor on.

On the fourth floor, grab the Shiny for 100 Sx. The floor guard is a Cockatrice and a Thug - Sexual Impact the Thug for a one-hit kill, then focus on the Cockatrice.

On the fifth floor, there are two Cockatrices. Make sure you're fully healed - Furious Strike one of them, then attack until they're dead.

Grab the shiny for another Skill: Silent Shard. This is another magical attack, which does Ice element damage and can Silence enemies.

Return to the world map. Walk south and fight the Zone boss.

The Dream King
 Recommended Equipment Build: 

Weapon: Magic Rock

Off-hand: Defensive Rod

Headgear: Skull Helm

Bodygear: Carapace Armor (Leather if you didn't pick it up)

Accessory: Black Gloves (alternatively the Feather; or use the Prophylactic Mushroom if you don't have the Carapace Armor)

The Dream King is enough of a stone wall to wreck players who try to escape early, but if you clear everything except for the Mine you can still walk all over him. He's weak to Sex and Ice, but immune to Silence, so just hit him with Sexual Impact (which hits just a touch harder). His attacks can poison you if you're not immune, but at level 7 and with the Magic Rock, Sexual Impact will take him down in three turns, well before poison becomes a problem.

With the Dream King dead, we can leave the First Zone, but we're not done here yet. See those tents to the west, just before the mountain path? Walk in and pick up the final skill from the First Zone: Healing Surge. Finally, you can use your MP to heal yourself.

Before we move on to the next Zone, it's time to do some clean up! Head back to the Mine and prepare for some cautious killing. Why, you ask? EXP and Sx. If you decided to skip the stealth run through the Mine before, now's the time to pick all the Mine items as well.

Dreamlike Mine (take 2)
 Recommended Equipment Build: 

Weapon: Sharp Horn

Off-hand: Defensive Rod

Headgear: Skull Helm

Bodygear: Carapace Armor (Leather if you skipped the Stealth Run)

Accessory: Black Gloves (or Feather, if you don't have the gloves)

Combat notes: All the encounters in the mines are multi-enemy encounters, and remain dangerous even with your current level and gear. Be careful. There are two single-use full heal points in the mine, and remember that you can escape from fights, run out the exit, and then come back.

With a high LUK, status effects can sometimes fail to hit you - if you're blessed by a Cockatrice silence failing, take advantage with a Furious Strike. The guide will assume this doesn't happen.

Note: If you skipped the Stealth Run, just make sure to pick up every shiny you see. As soon as you get the Carapace Armor, throw it on.

Mine Entrance: Sexual Impact the thugs, then attack the Wasp. Heal with Healing Surge, then jump into the mine paths again.

Mine Tunnels:

Go right. The Spider mobs have five spiders in each encounter. Familial Flame will one-shot one spider per turn, and you can survive with your current defense as long as you're quick to reduce their numbers. You should be able to survive both spider encounters to the right without healing in between. Used Healing Surge to recover health, but leave at least 5 MP unspent.

Go down and attack the bandit. Sexual Impact one of the thugs. Use normal attacks once silenced, but focus on the remaining Thug first, then the Cockatrice, because the Thug goes down faster and is just as damaging.

Go back to the entry point for the tunnels, and then go down and around the loop to the heal circle (avoid the bandit encounter for now). Use the heal - it'll disable the circle, but it saves you a trip out of the mine to regain your MP. Go back left and attack the bandit. It's the same fight as above, so use the same strategy.

Heal up with Healing Surge, and head into the open area. Attack the bandit: it's two thugs and a wasp. Sexual Impact the thugs, attack the wasp.

Go up, and hunt the chicken. This is a Cockatrice, a Thug, and a Plant. Sexual Impact the Thug. Once silenced, normal attack the Cockatrice, and then the Plant (the Cockatrice does more damage). If you're lucky enough to not get Silenced on the first turn, then you can Silent Shard the plant to apply silence to it and reduce its damage. Familial Flame will be unlikely to one-shot it, so Silent Shard is the better choice in this battle.

Heal with Healing Surge, and make sure to leave at least 50 MP. Go to the right to find the spider - it's another 5 spiders, which should be killed with fire. Once they're dead, congrats! You have killed everything you can in the First Zone. We'll return for the Guardian (the Knight in the Ruins) a long time from now.

Sx Total (area pickups & monster drops): 505

Now it's time to leave the First Zone. Heal up, then walk to the mountain path the Dream King was guarding, and select Advance.

The Flickering Path
Warning: You can't come back to this area once you leave, so for best results, leave no path unexplored and leave no enemy unslain. Retreat is disabled, so once again the only way out is through.  Recommended Equipment Build: 

Weapon: Magic Rock

Off-hand: Defensive Rod

Headgear: Skull Helm

Bodygear: Carapace Armor

Accessory: Black Gloves (or Feather, if you don't have the gloves)

Combat notes: The area is set up to allow you to just walk on through without fighting anything, but again, you will not be able to return. Instead, deliberately challenge all enemies for experience, Sx, and the items they guard. All enemies in this area are stronger versions of ones you fought in the First Zone, with the same weaknesses.

Remember to heal between battles with Healing Surge - to conserve MP, you can afford to leave yourself just short of max HP. If you find yourself in an untenable position, reload and re-enter.

Approach the first encounter. With the Magic Rock equipped, Familial Flame should one-shot the Penitent Bat, and Sexual Impact should one-shot the Penitent Thug. Since the Bat does more damage, kill the Bat first. Walk down, pick up 100 Sx.

Approach the Jellyfish to meet a Penitent Idol and a Penitent Hornet. The Hornet evades all physical attacks, but will drop in one shot from either Familial Flame or Sexual Impact. Take it out first to reduce the damage you take.

The Idol is weak to Fire, Ice, and Sex, but is immune to Silence. Sexual Impact does the most damage for the smallest cost. Grab the shiny the Idol was protecting to get the Unwoman Potion. Like the Scroll of Wendis, forget that it exists for now; it will come in handy at the very end.

Walk down and trigger the next bandit encounter. Use fire on the Bat, sex on the Thug, and either option on the Hornet, in that order. Grab the Fire Leaves.

Walk down and trigger the final bandit encounter. Use fire on the bat, sex on the Thug, and sex on the Idol, in that order. If you're following the guide, you'll have enough MP to make it work.

The final clearing holds another 200 Sx (the left and right shinies) and the Pickaxe Charm. This accessory comes in handy when you need to focus on the Physical side of things.

Easy Mode Disable switch: If you haven't accepted either of the Easy Mode gifts from the glowing crystals up to now, you'll also see a Dark Crystal here, which will let you reject all Easy Mode gifts. Taking this option will make all of the crystals disappear, and lock you into the Hard Mode. Go ahead and do this now, if you're following this guide.

Having cleared out the area, go back to the start and take the left path. When you exit, the path will disappear.

Sx Total (area pickups & monsters): 835

Walk down, heal, and save. Welcome to the Second Zone!

Second zone
New zone, new areas, new threats! By now, Simon's hit his stride, has some useful gear, and combat feels a little less fraught. Should be smooth sailing from here, right? … Right? Head to the tent in the south-east.

Verdant Clearing / Scorched Clearing
The content of this area depends heavily on the status of your game.

If Fuzkao lived through the war section, then this is the Scorched Clearing, and you'll find that Fuzkao's set up shop here. You'll have to fight him to get anything in the area, and there will not be any Sx pickup. However, he does give you 5000 extra exp. Unfortunately, he's far too powerful to take on at this point in the run if you're not using the Easy Mode items, so you'll have to do without.

If you managed to kill Fuzkao in the last section, then you'll find the Verdant Clearing. The tent has a shiny that gives you the Flashfire Armor, a useful armor with better stats than the Carapace Armor and the ability to prevent Blind, which you might as well equip immediately. There will also be a shiny in the south-west corner that gives 50 Sx.

If Altina is part of the harem, there will be a shiny to the left that gives you the Poison Dart ability. It makes life easier in some future encounters.

If you were able to get the pick-ups, great! If not, you'll be back here again later. Either way, head to the city.

Tynaburg
Welcome to a facsimile of a City, named after a certain adorable and competent princess! You'll find a number of "merchants" here, as well as some encounters that you're best served to not mess with right now. Fortunately, there are no wandering monsters around here. Feel free to scout the enemies, but again, you're not equipped to deal with any of them just yet - enemy details will be provided when its time to face them. Instead, focus on picking up the shinies and seeing what the merchants have to offer.

You can find the following items out in the open:

Mana Leaves - east area, in a bush between two buildings.

Mana Leaves - west area, in a dead-end of an alley just above a bush.

50 Sx - North-west area, close to the central wall behind a building.

The important thing is the shiny at the far north-east, which gives you Blinding Pierce. This Physical Attack can inflict Blind, which is critical to dealing with certain enemies.

Next check out the merchants. Anything offered by the hooded figures is unnecessary, and you should skip it. The real important merchant is in the lower-right corner, and she looks different from the others. She sells Neranda's Wall for a whopping 1000 Sx… provided you've successfully freed Eustrin from Aram's grip. If you haven't then it will cost 1200 Sx instead. This is why saving Sx has been important.

Important: If the Wall costs 1200 Sx, then you'll need to choose between it and another later, high-cost item (the strongest physical armor in the Prison). If it costs 1000 Sx, then you can get both the Wall and the later item, provided you don't waste money on other items. Make your choices on purchases carefully, and figure out what you want; you can make it through the entirety of the Second Zone without the Wall, though it certainly makes it a lot easier, while waiting and grabbing the armor later on will make a significant portion of the Third Zone easier.

Right now, if you've been following the guide exactly, you should have around 885 Sx (from pickups and monster drops), which is just shy of the shield's lowered cost. We'll be back for it later.

For now, go to the north-east area of the city, and walk into the tent that's against the north wall.

Tent of Stabbiness
Welcome to the Tent of Stabbiness! An attraction befitting a carnival of horrors, this area is all about knowing your limits, and being able to do math. You have to walk over the spikes to get to the shinies, and each spike tile is deadly. There are no enemies, but there are items you want and need in here.

Walking onto a spike tile takes away 250 HP and 10 MP. If you reach 0 HP, you die. This means that if you have 1000 HP, you can walk on three spikes and not die, and with over 1000, up to four; at this point in the guide you should have around 1033 HP. Unfortunately, there's nothing within four spike tiles, and you have to get back, too (yes, Retreat is disabled in the Tent of Stabbiness). The solution? Healing Surge and careful checking of health throughout.

Since Healing Surge heals based on MAG, make sure you're wearing the Magic Rock and the Black Gloves (if you have them) to max out HP gain per MP.

On this first visit to the tent, we're here for a very specific item. Walk up (one spike) then left and up (across two more spikes). Having crossed three spikes, check your health. Heal until you have more than 500 hp, and go left again to get the Shiny. You have acquired the Big Axe! This item massively boosts ATK at the cost of heavy MAG reduction, and we will be leveraging it for some specific fights in the near future.

Again, heal until you have more than 500 hp, and walk back (two spikes). Heal again, this time for more than 750 hp, and leave the tent (three spikes). Nothing else is in reach at the moment, not without using one of the Mana Leaves or Fire Leaves, and they're best hoarded for later.

Instead, go to the ice mountains.

Dreamlike Spire
 Recommended Equipment Build: 

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Defensive Rod

Headgear: Skull Helm

Bodygear: Flashfire Armor (Carapace Armor if Fuzkao lived)

Accessory: Black Gloves (or Pickaxe Charm if you don't have the Black Gloves)

Combat notes: Pay attention to Simon's comments: you want to use Physical attacks here, and magic attacks are worthless. Therefore, pop on the Big Axe. You also want to stack MDF, since the enemies use magic attacks, but at this point in the run, there's not much to change defensively… yet.

Your workhorse ability will be Furious Strike; while Blinding Pierce and Stunning Strike are both physical, everything here resists Blind and Stun, and Furious Strike does more damage than either of those. You can also use just the regular attack to finish off nearly-dead enemies, but there's not much need to conserve MP.

Finally, remember to swap to the Magic Rock from the Big Axe when using Healing Surge out of battle - otherwise, you'll heal for negligible amounts with the spell. This also means you shouldn't bother trying to heal in-battle.

Walk up, meet the Ephemeral Wisp. Use Furious Strike to kill it. Walk north, grab the Shiny: the Frozen Hat. Equip it immediately for a significant MDF boost.

Attack the next enemy. The Mana Shard is much more dangerous than the Wisp; without the defense of the Hat, it can easily two-shot you. With the Big Axe on, though, you can two-shot it.

Heal up, walk up and grab the shiny for 50 Sx. Then take on the right-hand encounter. With the Hat, the Wisp should no longer be able to hurt you - focus on the Shard first.

Grab the shiny for another 100 Sx, and then leave. The left-hand encounter has two Mana Shards, and they hit too hard for you to survive right now. While you can muddle through with Blind or Stun, they're resistant to both and it takes too much luck to be reliable.

Instead, it's time to go on another brief Stealth Run. Go to the tree in the eastern area.

Dry Hollow
Simon warns you that this area is dangerous, and he's right. Don't try to fight anything here just yet. Of the encounters here, only the single Zombie, who starts in the north, is feasibly conquered at this point. Consider this optional at this point.

While avoiding the fast-moving zombie sprites, go west and grab the shiny on the northern wall for 50 Sx. Go south and grab the shiny on the big tree to get the reason we're here: the Icy Book. This is the strongest MDF shield, aside from Neranda's Wall. Then go east and grab the shiny along the eastern wall for another 50 Sx.

Easy Mode Crystal: There's another Easy Mode crystal here, which gives you the Ring of Unending Stamina. If you're committed to hard mode and used the Dark Crystal, then the crystal has vanished.

Leave; use Retreat to be safe.

Note - Diverging paths:

You have now gathered over 1000 Sx; if you're in lockstep with the guide, then you should have 1139. You can go ahead and buy the discounted Neranda's Wall at this point; accordingly, all equipment builds will incorporate it as an option from here on out.

The course to take at this point depends on available equipment. If you have either the Flashfire Armor or Neranda's Wall, you can return to the ice mountains now. In that case, feel free to move to the Dreamlike Spire (take 2) section. For this guide's purposes, we will continue to do some preparation.

If you're not skipping ahead, go to the Volcano.

Dreamlike Volcano
 Recommended Equipment Build: 

Weapon: Magic Rock

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Defensive Rod

Headgear: Skull Helm

Bodygear: Flashfire Armor (Carapace Armor if Fuzkao lived)

Accessory: Black Gloves (or Pickaxe Charm if you don't have the Black Gloves)

Combat notes: Pay attention to Simon's comments: physical attacks are worthless here, and you'll need to use magic attacks to progress. Accordingly, pop on the Magic Rock. You'll also want to stack DEF on the defensive side.

The only offensive ability you'll need here is Silent Shard, since everything is vulnerable to Ice. The other magical attacks you have are either resisted (Familial Flame) or are just not as strong against these enemies (Poison Dart and Sexual Impact).

This area's layout is exactly the same as the Dreamlike Spire; they are mirrors of each other.

The first encounter is a single Flamefly, the counterpart to the Ephemeral Wisp. Depending on your DEF, it may not be able to even harm you at this point. Two Silent Shards will take it down.

Walk up and get the shiny: the Burning Helm. If you haven't gotten Neranda's Wall, then this is the highest DEF boosting item you've found so far. Put it on immediately, heal up, and take on the next enemy.

The second encounter is a single Volcano Imp, the counterpart to the Mana Shard. It's strong enough to hit through your strong DEF, and at this point in time will go down in three Silent Shards. You can poison it, but it will still take three turns to kill.

Walk up and grab the shiny to pick up an Edible Root. Heal up, and take on the right-hand encounter.

This encounter is one Flamefly and one Volcano Imp. If your DEF is 100+ (easy to get with the Burning Helm), the Flamefly can't hurt you. Focus on the Imp - it will go down in three turns (two if you're lucky with the RNG).

Walk into the chamber and pick up the Mana Chalice. This accessory grants +100 MP and some minor magical stat boosts, which are generally useful. For now, though, leave the Pickaxe Charm on, for the extra DEF.

Heal (Retreat and full heal at the save point if you're low on MP). Make sure your DEF is 100+, then challenge the left-hand encounter.

Two Flameflies and one Volcano Imp will challenge you; the Flameflies cannot hurt you, so focus on the Imp again. Once it's dead, take out the Flameflies at your leisure.

Walk into the chamber, and grab the Ashen Spear. At this point in time, this is the best all-rounder weapon, since it boosts both ATK and MAG. We've gotten what we need from the Volcano for now, so go back to the Dreamlike Spire.

Dreamlike Spire (take 2)
The return to the Spire has different approaches depending on what gear you have available. Refer to the build that applies to you, and engage the left-hand chamber encounter (two Mana Shards) once ready.

Minimal build (No access to Neranda's Wall or Flashfire Armor):

Weapon: Ashen Spear

Off-hand: Icy Book

Headgear: Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Carapace Armor

Accessory: Mana Chalice

Build notes: If you use the Big Axe, your AGI will drop below 50, and the shards will move first. This means death. Therefore, you need to use the Ashen Spear to keep your AGI above 50, and also not to nerf your healing capability since you must heal to win.

Combat notes: Furious Strike x2 on one of the shards to kill it. You'll have taken enough damage that one more hit will kill you,and you'll need two hits to kill the remaining shard, so start healing instead. With the Ashen Spear, you'll heal slightly more than the Shard does in a single turn, so you'll be able to make gains. Watch for your health to hit over 400 after the Shard hits you, then Furious Strike x2 to finish off the Shard.

Early build (Skipping the Volcano):

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Icy Book

Headgear: Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Flashfire Armor

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm or Black Gloves

Build notes: You can only take this on this early if you have the Flashfire Armor, meaning Fuzkao must have died in the last story section. Without the Flashfire Armor, you don't have the MDF or AGI to survive the Shards' attacks. Neranda's Wall makes you doubly safe with the increase in HP and the even higher MDF, but the Icy Book suffices. The PickAxe Charm helps with the AGI and boosts your ATK even more, making it potentially possible to one-shot the Shards. The Black Gloves give a slight amount of DEF and ATK, so are a possible choice as well.

Combat notes: Furious Strike x2 to kill one shard, Furious Strike x2 to kill the other. The Shards will be able to hit you four times total, which you will be able to barely survive. Don't try to heal - the Big Axe debuffs your MAG so much that it's pointless.

Maximal Builds (all items; safest):

Weapon: Big Axe or Ashen Spear

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall

Headgear: Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Flashfire Armor

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm or Mana Chalice

Build notes: With all items available to you, you can choose your approach: Pickaxe Charm or Mana Chalice.

Pickaxe Charm: no MDF boost, but it boosts AGI over 50. Moving first means you take less damage, because you can kill one of the Shards before it attacks more than once. The ATK boost also gives you small chance to one-shot a Shard, though this can't be relied on. This is the safest choice - you'll end the fight with well over 400 HP.

Mana Chalice: a small amount of extra MDF, but your AGI will be less than 50, so the shards will attack first. This means you will take six attacks. With the MDF and the extra HP from Neranda's Wall you'll survive, but you'll likely be less than 200 HP left.

Combat notes: Furious Strike x4 until the shards are dead. Neutral attacks can be subbed in to finish off the shards, but there's no real reason to conserve MP.

Regardless of the strategy used, enter the chamber the shards were guarding and grab the Winter Cloak. Fitting the theme of this area, it's a MDF-heavy armor, and it's going to be a mainstay piece of gear for most of the run (especially if you don't have access to the Flashfire armor).

Heal up, then walk up and challenge the area boss. Equipment builds differ, but strategy does not.

Minimal build (No access to Neranda's Wall or Flashfire Armor):

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Icy Book

Headgear: Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Winter Cloak

Accessory: Lantern

Flashfire Armor build:

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Icy Book

Headgear: Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Flashfire Armor

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm

Build Notes: You must have Blind immunity. If you don't have the Flashfire Armor, then you need the Lantern. If you do have the Flashfire armor, then you can put on the Pickaxe Charm for its ATK boost. The Winter Cloak is a higher MDF, which is necessary when using the Lantern because it'll take longer to take down the boss.

Combat notes: Furious Strike the Spell Consumer until it dies. The Wisps cannot hurt you with either of the recommended builds. If you're wearing the Pickaxe Charm, it will go down in three turns. If you're wearing the Lantern, it'll take four to five turns. After that, Furious Strike the Wisps to take them out in one turn each.

Walk up and grab the Shiny to get an Ability: Defending Wall. This is an upgraded version of the Guard action, and we'll be using it for a certain fight later.

Retreat, heal, and save. If you haven't done the first part of the Dreamlike Volcano yet because you came here early, do so now.

Head back to the Tent of Stabbiness (North-East area of Tynaburg ). With the Ashen Spear and the Mana Chalice, our range has increased, and we can get more items!

Tent of Stabbiness (take 2)
If you have Neranda's wall, make sure you've equipped it and healed up. The extra 250 hp extends your range by one spike. Regardless of the Wall, make sure you have the Ashen Spear and the Mana Chalice equipped: the spear is your best MAG booster right now, and the Chalice's extra 100 MP greatly extends your range (even more than the Wall).

Remember, each spike hurts for 250 HP and 10 MP. By this point in time, you will have more than 1000 hp, so you can walk over at least four spikes before needing to heal when first entering the tent. Check your health regularly and heal as you go. To avoid wasting MP, don't max out health while using Healing Surge; heal enough to get through one spike at a time.

First Entry:

Take the right path from the entryway (four spikes). Heal, then keep going up the right-most path (six spikes). Go to the right and grab the shiny for the Tower Shield, which serves as the substitute for Neranda's Wall for those who don't have access to that item. The Tower Shield offers the same HP bonus, but not nearly the same defensive capabilities. If you don't have Neranda's Wall, equip the Tower Shield immediately.

Heal up, and head back toward the exit. Once you clear the six spike row, use up all your remaining MP on healing to get yourself over 1000 hp, and then leave the tent (four spikes).

Heal at the save point, and come back.

Second Entry:

Take the right path from the entryway (four spikes). Go up the second path from the right (three spikes) to pick up the shiny: Fire Leaves. Don't try to continue on from here: there's nothing further up the same path, and trying to get the final pick-up from here takes you through more spikes than you can handle. Instead, head back out of the tent the same way you came in (seven spikes total), heal at the save point, and return.

Third Entry:

You have to make it to the end of the tent, then back to the entrance, without dying. The path with the least spikes still takes you across 16 spikes, and then you have to get back, so the round trip involves crossing spikes 32 times. This means for the round trip you will lose 4000 hp and 320 mp from the spikes alone

On this run in particular, it's very important to save as much MP as you can. On the way in, watch your HP. Use Healing Surge whenever it drops below 250 HP, and only when it drops below 250 Hp.

Go up and take the left path (three spikes). Take the second-from-the-left path (four spikes) and keep moving up to the next group of spikes. To avoid walking over an extra spike tile, you will not take a straight path. Instead, walk up three spikes and turn right onto the empty tile. Walk up over two spikes and then to the wall. Walk left over one spike, then up over three to shiny.

Check your MP; depending on the RNG's blessings (HP gain from Healing Surge is variable), you will have between 90 and 110 MP.

Pick up the shiny: it's the Scroll of Sarai. The Experience gain should get you to level 11. Use the Scroll of Sarai to gain 25 more MAG; you should be at 95 MAG. Healing Surge is now much more effective. With less than 160 MP, you're going to lose the MP to Spikes before you reach the end, so pop two heals now and then start walking over spikes - if your health falls below 1000, heal again. Regardless of HP level, make sure to use the last 10 MP on a heal rather than waste it on a spike. However, you're only going to get through four spikes before you're out of MP.

While at 0 MP, walk through spikes until your HP is less than 250 MP, then use a Set of Mana Leaves to regain 100 MP. Again, heal up if you drop below 1000 HP, and don't be afraid to use up the last of your MP rather than feed it to spikes.

Once you exit the tent, retreat, heal, and then head for the Brown Cave to the North West.

Twisted Caverns
Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Ashen Spear

Off-hand: Tower Shield

Headgear: Burning Helm

Bodygear: Flashfire Armor or Winter Cloak

Accessory: Feather.

Build notes: For this area, you need DEF and AGI. The Lightning Snakes are fragile, fast, and hit ridiculously hard. You need more than 110 AGI to hit before them, which means the Feather is required. Neranda's Wall penalizes AGI too much, so even if you have it, leave it off. Not all encounters have the snakes, so you can shift equipment around a bit, but any encounter with a snake requires more than 110 AGI.

You can use Retreat at any time to get yourself out.

Walk up and meet your first snake. Attack it. If you're faster, you win, if you're slower, you'll survive, and find out why you need to be faster.

Most of the encounters in here will be doable with the recommended build, so long as you keep to the following rules:


 * 1) Kill Snakes first.
 * 2) Sexual Impact Orcs
 * 3) Use Blinding Pierce on Bears, followed by Poison Dart to inflict poison. Once blinded and poisoned, use Familial Flame. If you don't have Poison Dart, just blind the bear and then use fire.

Accordingly, this guide will focus on item locations and a recommended path through the area. Refer to the Enemy List and Encounter list for enemy details.

Take a right, then up. Ignore the Ogre for now. Turn right, then grab the shiny in the upward branch for … a hint about how to deal with the bears. Ignore the downward turn, and instead take the second upward branch to find a bear (which is actually a snake, a bear, and an orc), and beyond the bear a skeleton with a Shiny. This is the Knight Helm, which is currently the best all-rounder helm available, giving noticeable bonuses to all stats except HP, MP, MAG, and AGI. Equip it - the extra 10 DEF the Burning Helm gives doesn't outweigh the bonuses, and Burning Helm has a small AGI penalty.

Go back and take the downward path. Turn right, walk past an upward branch, then down to reach 50 Sx at a dead end. Go back and take the upward branch. If you keep going up and then left, you'll find another one-use full heal circle. This is best saved for when you're low on MP.

Go right and then up instead to progress past the blocking rockslide. Ignore the left turn and keep going up to find a Fat Root. Go back and take the left turn. Take the wide downward path to find another 50 Sx.

Continue left.

Easy Mode Crystal: Another Easy Mode Crystal may be found in the central dead-end path to the left; this one gives you the Brilliant Armor.

Take the upper path to find the final room.

The encounter in this room contains two bears and is tough enough that specific strategies are needed:

Equip the Pickaxe Charm instead of the Feather for the extra ATK and DEF. If you have Neranda's Wall, equip that too. Return to the single-use heal circle and use it before triggering the combat.

Open combat with Blinding Pierce to blind each bear. If Blind fails to apply to one of them the first turn, it's best to Escape the fight, heal with Healing Surge, and then re-engage. If you have Poison Dart, poison the bears - whenever Blind wears off, reapply it. If you don't have Poison Dart, things will take longer. Focus on surviving - keep Blind on, heal if your health gets below 600 hp, and use Familial Flame when you get a free turn.

The Shiny to the North is the Scroll of Lynine. Use it immediately to get a permanent +25 to both AGI and LUK.

The Shiny to the South is Mana Leaves.

Retreat, and heal. You now have over 1200 Sx, so if that's the cost of Neranda's Wall in your game and you're going to buy it, now is a good time to do so.

Note - Diverging paths:

If Fuzkao is alive, now is a good time to go deal with him, as the Flashfire Armor is the best armor option for the upcoming fight. If Altina is in the harem, it's doubly important, as Poison Dart is going to be even more useful than the Flashfire armor. Scroll down for details on his combat.

However, if he's already dead, then skip to the "Twisted Caverns (Ogre)" section.

Head to the tent in the southwest area.

Fuzkao (combat)
Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Magic Crystal or Ashen Spear

Off-hand: Flashy Shield

Headgear: Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Winter Cloak

Accessory: Mana Chalice

Build notes: You're building MAG over everything else. You can only hit Fuzkao's weaknesses with Magical attacks at this point.

Now that you have the stats and the gear, Fuzkao is no longer a threat. At level 11 and with the above build, you can walk up to him and drop him with two (with the Magic Crystal) or three (with the Ashen Spear) rounds of either Sexual Impact or Silent Shard (or any combination thereof). You'll get a whopping 5000 exp, and the Flashfire Armor. The other prize is the Poison Dart spell that he was gatekeeping, provided you rescued Altina and added her to the harem.

Twisted Caverns (Ogre)
Return to the Twisted Caverns for the Ogre.

Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Ashen Spear

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Tower Shield

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Flashfire Armor or Winter Cloak

Accessory: Mana Chalice

Build notes: You're stacking MAG and DEF again. The Mana Chalice's extended mana pool is helpful if you don't have access to Poison Dart.

The Ogre's critical weakness is blindness, much like the bears. Use Blinding Pierce, and re-use every time blindness runs out. From here, the fight has two paths depending on if you have Poison Dart or not.

If you have Poison Dart, use it to poison the Ogre. It will bleed 1500 hp per turn to Poison, and this makes the fight go much, much faster. Once poison has been applied, use Sexual Impact (remembering to keep it blind) until it dies. If it gets in a lucky swing and hits through blind, heal.

If you don't have Poison Dart, prepare yourself for a slog. Use Sexual Impact to do a little over 600 HP damage each time. Again, make sure the Ogre is always blind, and heal any lucky swings. Without Poison DoT, you'll be here for a while chipping at the Ogre's enormous health pool, but you'll still win.

Walk right and then down to pick up the Magic Crystal that the Ogre was guarding. This item is the exact opposite of the Big Axe: boosts MAG, heavily reduces ATK, and reduces AGI a small amount.

Exit, heal, and go to Tynaburg. We have a ghost to bust.

Tynaburg (first combat)
Head to the south-west area and approach the animated hooded figure sitting in the alleyway. You'll start combat with the Wraith. Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Magic Crystal

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Tower Shield

Headgear: Knight Helm or Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Winter Cloak

Accessory: Mana Chalice.

Build notes: You want MAG and AGI. If you're doing this before you get the Scroll of Lynine, use the Feather; but with the Scroll's bonus, you easily outspeed the Wraith. You can win with lower AGI, since Defending Wall has priority and will always trigger first, but it's more annoying.

The Wraith is designed around the ability you got from the Dreamlike Spire. It charges on one turn, healing for 100 HP, and then attacks with Life Destruction the next turn, which deals around 1300 HP regardless of your defensive stats. The only defense against Life Destruction is Defending Wall. This means that the turn after it heals itself, you must use Defending Wall, or die.

The first turn of combat, use Familial Flame. The second turn, use Defending Wall. Repeat until your health gets below 400 hp: Life Destruction still hits for around 350 hp through Defending Wall. Now, instead of attacking, heal every other turn. Once you have 400+ HP remaining after a Life Destruction, use Familial Flame. Repeat until the Wraith is dead.

Walk into the back-alley area it was guarding to pick up the Flashy Shield. The main utility is the immunity to Silence; based on stats, the Flashy Shield is slightly better than the Tower Shield, but lacks the bonus HP. If you don't have Neranda's Wall, the Flashy Shield is better in cases where you need more magical power and defense than physical. If you do have Neranda's Wall, then use the Flashy Shield only when you need Silence immunity.

Speaking of Silence Immunity, heal and head back to the Volcano.

Dreamlike Volcano (take 2)
We're here to clear out this area. Walk all the way up and challenge the final encounter.

Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Magic Crystal

Off-hand: Flashy Shield

Headgear: Knight Helm or Burning Helm

Bodygear: Flashfire Armor or Winter Cloak

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm or Mana Chalice

Build Notes: The Flashy Shield is required, as the boss will inflict Silence and is immune to physical damage. Stack MAG and DEF: The Winter Cloak is only for if the Flashfire Armor isn't available. If using the Winter Cloak, take the Burning Helm for the extra DEF. The Pickaxe Charm's DEF bonus is more useful than the Mana Chalice's minor MAG boost, as you're not going to have MP concerns in this fight.

The Flameflies either are fully Blocked, or will do scratch damage (Winter Cloak + Knight Helm allows Flameflies to do between 10 and 12 damage). Ignore them and cast Silent Shard on the Fireflier. He'll go down in 3 hits, after which you can hit the Flameflies with a Silent Shard each to win the day.

Walk up and grab the Shiny here for Crackling Lust, a strong Thunder element Sex ability. Like all the Sex abilities, its strength is based on the MAG stat.

Leave, and heal. It's time to move on. If Fuzkao is still alive for some reason, now is the time to deal with him: go back to the "Fuzkao (combat)" section in that case. If not, move on to the Dream Spirit.

The Dream Spirit
Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Flashy Shield

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Flashfire Armor

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm

Build notes: Build ATK. The Flashy Shield is required to prevent Silence. The Flashfire Armor or the Lantern are needed to prevent Blind.

The Dream Spirit's weaknesses cannot be taken advantage of. She cheats and uses Draining Light in a surprise first round, draining all of your SP and preventing you from using any Sex abilities in the first round. Her other attacks either apply Sexbind (this one also drains SP), Silence, or Blind, and apply various stat debuffs.

With Silence and Blind prevented, you can hit her with Furious Strike with impunity. By this point you have enough DEF, MDF, AGI, and ATK that even with the debuffs applied you still out class her, and her attacks don't hit hard enough to be a threat so long as you can still attack reliably. Her health will run out before yours.

Once she's beaten, congratulations! You've handled everything you needed to in the Second Zone, for now. We'll be coming back for the Unpeople in the Dry Hollow later.

Heal, save, and enter the mountain path.

Sx Total (area pickups & monsters): 1278 (Less 1000 or 1200 if you bought Neranda's Wall)

The Gentle Path
Warning: You can't come back to this area once you leave, so for best results, leave no path unexplored and leave no enemy unslain. Retreat is disabled, so once again the only way out is through. Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Ashen Spear

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Flashy Shield

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Winter Cloak

Accessory: Feather (Pickaxe Charm for one fight)

Build Notes: You need over 120 AGI to outspeed the Penitent Snakes. Even with Scroll of Lynine's bonus, this is only possible with the Feather. Neranda's Wall hurts AGI, but not enough to matter if the Feather is on. If you don't have the Wall, the Flashy Shield offers the best balance of DEF and MDF. A mix of ATK and MAG is needed, so the Ashen Spear is superior to either of the specialized items.

Combat notes: You cannot escape from encounters if you're not in Easy mode. The area is set up to allow you to just walk on through without fighting anything, but again, you will not be able to return. Instead, deliberately challenge all enemies for experience, Sx, and the items they guard. All enemies in this area are versions of ones you fought in the Second Zone, and need the same tactics to handle.

Also, during this section Simon is afflicted by the same HP draining Lust-starved effect that he dealt with at the start of the game. HP will drain in battle, and as you walk outside of it. Keep an eye on HP and heal when necessary. If you're particularly low, remember that you can put on the Magic Crystal for extra healing power.

The first encounter, a red flame, may well come to you, and comes with Penitent Snake and a Penitent Flamefly. Attack the snake first (no need to waste MP on an ability, it has only 1 HP). If you don't have the feather equipped, the snake will move first, and you're going to lose over 1000 hp in the first turn. If that happens, you might as well reload and try again. The Flamefly will die to single Silent Shard.

Walk right and open the chest for an Offensive Rod. As the name implies, it's an offensive piece of gear, offering +20 to ATK and MAG, but no defensive bonuses whatsoever. It'll be useful later, but don't equip it now.

Continue south and be careful of the encounters. The light-blue fire is more north - attack it before moving too far south.

This is a mirror of the red fire encounter: a Penitent Snake and a Penitent Shard. Again, hit the snake first. Then Furious Strike the Shard: its physical weakness ensures it dies in one hit.

Heal to full with Healing Surge. Equip the Pickaxe Charm and seek out the dark blue fire encounter, which has two Penitent Flameflies and two Penitent Shards. The strategy changes heavily depending on whether you have Neranda's Wall or the Flashy Shield:

Neranda's Wall: With the defenses from the Wall, this combat isn't a threat. The shards will do between 200 and 250 hp damage, while the Flameflies will do closer to 60. Furious Strike the shards, then Silent Shard the Flameflies. You should have around 50% of HP left.

Flashy Shield: Without the defenses from the Wall, these enemies can easily kill you. The Shards will do the most damage, between 350 and 400 with the Pickaxe Charm on, so Furious Strike each of them to take them out of the picture. The flameflies will be doing between 200 and 275 damage, and with the chip damage from Lust drain you will die in another hit. Heal instead. Keep Healing until you have more than 300 hp at the end of a turn, then Silent Shard a Flamefly. It will die, and you can tank one more hit. Silent Shard the last Flamefly, and you win.

Open the chest just north of the Forest for the Poison Spear. Like the Ashen Spear, it boosts both ATK and MAG, but the Poison spear boosts more MAG than ATK. It also reduces LUK, deals poison damage on a neutral attack, and confers Poison Immunity.

Heal to full and approach (but don't engage), the bear guarding the chest on the west. Equip the Feather. You can also swap to the Poison Spear or Magic Crystal, and the Burning Helm or Flashfire Armor, but it's not required.

Engage the bear, and you'll see a Penitent Bear and Penitent Snake. Hit the Snake first, as always, then Blinding Pierce the Bear. Unlike the regular bears, Poison Status is hard to apply; hit the bear with Familial Flame instead while keeping it Blind, and you'll win in a few turns.

The chest holds your glorious reward: another Shining Sword!

Note: If you're on Easy Mode, this chest instead holds a Holy Draught.

Pick up the shiny to the right for another 50 Sx.

Head south for a scene and some interesting information. Once it's done, you'll exit the Gentle Path, which will disappear.

Sx Total (area pickups & monsters): 1364 (Less 1000 or 1200 if you bought Neranda's Wall)

Walk down, heal, and save. Welcome to the Third and Final Zone!

Third zone
Another new circle, more new maps, and more new threats! You've overcome a lot to get here, and you're better situated than ever. Surely Simon can handle anything this place can throw at him now. Start by going to the colorful obelisk in the south-west area.

You'll be warped into an area that makes no physical sense, hanging in a void. Welcome to the House of Mystery!

House of Mystery
There are no enemies here (as Simon notes). This is a purely puzzle area, so there's no reason to put it off unless you can't figure out the solutions. If you'd prefer to work out the solutions yourself, skip this section.

Walk south and find the first "puzzle" - it's really more of an introduction to what the puzzles are, which is to get the boulder onto the switch tile. Push the boulder left to open the door to the south.

Move on to the second puzzle, which is an actual puzzle. See below for detailed instructions or refer to the image to the right.

Solution:


 * 1) Walk down the center path and push the western boulder west one tile.
 * 2) Walk back up, left, and down the west path. Push the western boulder south three tiles until it's on the switch.
 * 3) Push the eastern boulder south two tiles.
 * 4) Walk up, right, and then down the east path to reach the boulder, and push it west two tiles.
 * 5) Walk down, left, and up to reach the boulder, and push it north two tiles to reach the switch.

Pick up the three shinies for a total of 100 Sx and the Givini Potion. This consumable heals you to max HP and max MP.

If you are in Easy Mode, the third puzzle is skipped and the door at the beginning opens now.

Proceed to the third puzzle, and note the shiny Save Point. If you're going to tackle the puzzle yourself, save before you move any boulders so that you can easily reset the puzzle.

This puzzle has multiple solutions, some more complicated than others, but as long as you can get all switch tiles covered by a boulder, you will succeed.

The solution presented here is one of the more complex ones:


 * 1) Push the easternmost boulder up two tiles onto the switch.
 * 2) Use the loop to get north of that boulder, and push it south one tile.
 * 3) Walk west and loop around all the boulders, to reach the southernmost boulder from the west. Push it east one tile (locking yourself in).
 * 4) Walk north, then east, then push the first boulder you moved one tile north.
 * 5) Walk west, south, then west two tiles, so that you're south of the boulder that is south of the center tile. Push that boulder north two tiles, and stand on the switch.
 * 6) Push the boulder to the west one tile only to the west.
 * 7) Walk west, the north. Push the boulder east two tiles to the second eastern switch.
 * 8) Walk west two tiles, south three tiles, east two tiles, and north one tile. Push the boulder beside you one tile to the west, then push it one tile to the north, so it's on the center switch.
 * 9) Walk west around the loop, and push the westernmost boulder one tile to the east. Walk north, then east as far as possible. Push the boulder to the south two tiles.
 * 10) Walk one tile south, then one tile west. Push the boulder that's on the center switch one tile to the north, then push it west two tiles to the northwest switch.
 * 11) Walk south and then west around the loop. Push the boulder east one tile to the center switch.
 * 12) Walk north one tile, east two tiles, south two tiles, east one tile, and south one tile, to approach the final boulder from the east. Push the boulder to the west until it hits the switch.

Completing this puzzle opens the door at the start of the area. Go back and pick up the three shinies to get another 100 Sx and the Ribbon De Iris, the strongest universal stat-boosting accessory.

Leave via the teleport circle, save, and head to the red-roofed castle.

Castle Vera
Welcome to local civilization! Castle Vera, like Tynaburg in the Second Zone, has various merchants and some static puzzle encounters. The items offered by the robed figures all have the theme of sacrificing one type of stat to boost others. Of those, only the Stamina Charm is worth anything, but don't buy anything from the robes just yet.

Walk up to the throne room to find an Unsuccubus merchant. She sells the Golden Armor for a whopping 1200 Sx (no discounts!); if you aren't buying Neranda's Wall, buy this armor now; it outclasses anything else you own.

Easy Mode Crystal: If you didn't use the Dark Crystal, then another Easy Mode Crystal is here in one of the thrones, and will give you the Bands of Pure Strength. Again, do not take this gift if you are following this guide.

If you have bought the Golden Armor and intend to buy Neranda's Wall (1000 Sx version only) as well, save your Sx and don't buy anything else right now. If you can't buy Neranda's Wall (1200 Sx version only), or just don't plan to, then go ahead and buy the Stamina Charm here, and also feel free to buy Dream Potions from the merchants in the First and Second Zones. None of the other purchases are worthwhile.

Since you should have either the Golden Armor or the Wall at this point, most builds from here on out will assume you have one or the other. Meanwhile, the Stamina Charm is useful and recommended for those who can't get both Neranda's Wall and Golden Armor, but won't be included in any builds (with a couple exceptions), based on the assumption that you'll want both the Wall and Armor. After exploring the market, go to the southeast of the castle, through the armory and to the dormitory. You'll find a shiny (a Fat Root) and a wandering orc, who turns out to be a gift from Balia! It can't land any attacks and is weak to all elements; it's literally a free 9999 EXP and 100 Sx.

Go to the Northeast chamber of the castle and engage the blue fire encounter, to meet the Numbermaster. If you escape the fight, Simon will have some insights to share.

Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Magic Crystal

Off-hand: Offensive Rod

Headgear: Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Winter Cloak (or Golden Armor)

Accessory: Ribbon de Iris

Build Notes: Stack MAG and ignore everything else. The Numbermaster is a puzzle boss, and does fixed amounts of damage regardless of your defense.

The Numbermaster follows a set rotation: two turns of 500 HP damage followed by one turn of 1000 HP. If you Silence it, it swaps out the 500 HP attacks for 250 HP attacks, which is much more manageable.

To win, use Silent Shard in the first round. Since it wasn't silenced at the start of the round, you'll take 500 HP damage. Cast Familial Flame on the second round, then Healing Surge before it hits for 1000 HP. Watch it's Silenced status, which may only have 1 round left. You don't want to let it expire, since that will let a 500 HP attack in, so if at all possible always reapply Silence when there's one round left.

This is the basic rotation: Silent Shard to keep it weakened, Healing Surge to keep yourself out of danger from the 1000 HP damage that drops every three turns, and Familial Flame if you ever find yourself with a free turn.

With the Numbermaster defeated, walk into the chamber it was guarding and grab the Shiny to get the Sexual Strike ability. This ATK based Sex attack is also the only ability that doesn't use any MP, which makes it key to a couple of fights.

Heal, save, and come back to the castle. This time go to the dining room in the southwest and approach the blue flame encounter that's guarding the kitchen. Say hello to Lady Luck! If you escape her, Simon once again drops some hints. Pay attention to the name of her attack: Test Your Luck.

Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Magic Crystal

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Icy Book

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor or Winter Cloak

Accessory: Black Gloves or Ribbon de Iris

Build Notes: Stack LUK, then MAG. Neranda's Wall gives bonus HP and more Luck than the Icy Book, but if you don't have it, the Book gives some LUK and boosts MAG. The Knight Helm is the only headgear that boosts LUK at this point. The Golden Armor and Winter Cloak give the same LUK bonus, but the Golden Armor also boosts Max HP, making it preferred if you have it. The Black Gloves give a whopping +50 to LUK and also boost MAG slightly, but if you don't have them, the Ribbon de Iris does a good job of it too. Since there's no LUK boosting weapon at this point in the game, the Magic Crystal is preferred for its massive boost to MAG.

Lady Luck will switch between two attacks: Test Your Luck and Unlucky Break.


 * Test Your Luck is defended by the LUK stat rather than anything else. You can get over 180 LUK without access to the Black Gloves and Neranda's Wall, and over 260 if you do have those. Test Your Luck will do between 875 and 925 damage with the Book and the Ribbon, and around 450 with the Wall and the Gloves. Either way, it hits harder than Unlucky Break, and should be defended against with Defensive Wall. With either of the builds, this will completely block all damage.
 * Unlucky Break hits about half as hard as Test Your Luck, and has a good chance to apply ATK and MAG debuffs. This serves to prolong the fight, but gives you an opportunity to attack or heal in between defending.

To win, use Defensive Wall on the first turn, and then every other turn. On the alternate turns, use Poison Dart until Poison gets applied, then switch to Crackling Lust. Make sure to keep your health up with Healing Surge.

Once Lady Luck is defeated, walk into the kitchen for two shinies: 100 Sx on the prep table, and the Scroll of Tertia to the west in the storage corridor. Use it to get a permanent extra 250 max HP and 25 DEF.

Leave the castle, heal up, and go to the forest in the Northwest.

Outskirts
Welcome to the Outskirts, which plays host to some of the most ravenous bloodsuckers known to man. No, not vampires. Mosquitoes.

There's two types of mosquito here:


 * Blood Mosquitoes (red-orange) focus on the physical side of things. They drain HP and are blocked by high DEF.
 * Mana Mosquitoes (blue) focus on the magical side of things. They drain MP and are blocked by high MDF. If silenced, they will drain HP instead, but this is never something that's worth using.

In both cases Crackling Lust hits their weakness and can one-shot them, but they are also fully able to be killed by a neutral attack. Blood mozzies might make this hard by draining your HP and healing from it.

Recommended Equipment Builds:

Neranda's Wall

Weapon: Magic Crystal (or Ashen Spear)

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall

Headgear: Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Winter Cloak

Accessory: Ribbon de Iris

Golden Armor

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Tower Shield

Headgear: Burning Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm

Build notes: With either build, you'll have enough DEF and MDF that the mosquitoes will only be annoying, as opposed to deadly. If your MDF is too low, the Mana mozzies will drain you of all MP in a single turn, and you'll be hoofing it back from the save point after each battle. If your DEF is too low, then the Blood mozzies can prove to be a major issue, especially after the Mana mozzies eat all your MP.

With Neranda's Wall, Mana Mozzies will eat single digit MP numbers per hit (usually 2 MP), while Blood Mozzies will eat 100 to 155 HP, which is completely manageable, and lets you one-shot everything with Crackling Lust with impunity.

With the Golden Armor build, Blood Mozzies will eat single digit HP numbers per hit (usually 2 HP) while the Mana Mozzies will eat 100 to 200 MP per hit. You'll lose all MP, but nothing can eat through your HP before you kill it with neutral attacks.

With the Magic Crystal, Crackling Lust will one-shot any single mozzie. With the Big Axe, Furious Strike will one-shot any single mozzie.

Walk in and fight the first encounter. Crackling Lust or Furious Strike the one Mana Mozzie first, so that it doesn't eat any of your precious MP, and then Crackling Lust or Furious Strike the Blood Mozzie until it dies.

Keep going south, and meet another group of enemies: three Mana Mozzies. They cannot kill you, so use your method of choice to deal with them and move on.

Directly to the east of you is a stationary encounter guarding a skeleton. With Neranda's Wall, retreat and heal up if you're low on MP, otherwise go right ahead.

Neranda's Wall: Be bold and attack. You are greeted with eight mosquitoes: four Blood and four Mana. Crackling Lust the four Blood Mozzies, since the Mana Mozzies can't dent your mana pool. Once the Blood Mozzies are dead, the Mana mozzies can't kill you unless you silence them, so use anything other than Silent Shard to finish them off, but ideally Crackling Lust.

Golden Armor: If you have any MP going into the battle, Furious Strike one of the Blood Mozzies as your opening attack. You'll lose all your MP on the first turn, so just Attack from there on out, focusing on the Blood Mozzies first. In reality, it doesn't matter too much, since it would take hundreds of turns waiting and doing nothing for the Blood Mozzies to kill you with their 2 HP per hit attacks.

Search the skeleton to get Shockwave Strike: your one and only Area of Effect attack. Simon says what we're all thinking: this would have been super useful in the fight we had to win to get it.

Retreat and heal up, then return to the forest and go north. Address the wandering encounter to meet three Blood Mozzies. Kill them via your build's preferred method, then turn your attention to the stationary insect guarding another skeleton.

This is the Ravenous Mosquito, a mid-boss with a gimmick. To deal with it, we're going to change our equipment.

Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Offensive Rod

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor or Winter Cloak

Accessory: Ribbon de Iris

Unlike the other mozzies, the Ravenous Mozzie doesn't directly drain your HP. Instead, it "digests the blood" and heals to full after every turn, unless it is Stunned. Since Stunning Strike is based on ATK, building ATK will help.

Use Stunning Strike until it gets stunned. With the above builds, you'll do around 700 or more damage with each Stunning Strike, which means that as soon as it gets stunned and fails to heal up, you can hit one more time with either Stunning Strike or Furious Strike and it will die.

Pick up the Shiny the Ravenous Mozzie was guarding to get the Shielded Stance skill. This is effectively the same as Carina's Shield of Purity, healing for a reduced amount compared to Healing Surge and buffing DEF and MDF in battle.

At this point, you can return to the build recommended at the beginning of the area, or if you have the Golden Armor you can start making use of Shockwave Strike to eat through the encounters faster.

Shockwave Strike Build

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Offensive Rod

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm

This build is only feasible with the Golden Armor, because the armor gives you the ATK needed to kill the mozzies in one Shockwave Strike. Without the Golden Armor, it will take two hits, which means the Mana Mozzies will drain your MP before you can use Shockwave Strike again.

Move east and you'll meet an encounter with three Mana Mozzies. With the Shockwave Strike build, one such strike will kill all three Mana Mozzies in one hit. If you're using the original Neranda's Wall build, they can no longer drain any Mana from you since you should have leveled up to 20 by now.

Keep moving, and you'll meet an encounter with two Mana Mozzies and a Blood Mozzie. The original Golden Armor build means the Blood Mozzie can no longer do any damage to you. The Shockwave Strike build will kill the Mana Mozzies in one hit, and the Blood Mozzie can then be dealt with via any physical attack.

Keep moving, and you'll see three shinies: a Key (it dreams of doing Key-like things one day), and two sets of 50 Sx.

The chest is not a chest; surprise! It's a mimic! Second, nastier surprise: you can't escape.

If you came into this while low on HP or MP, you may wind up dead; hopefully you're properly paranoid and expected some kind of Monster in a Box. Adjust your equipment and prepare for a battle. See below for recommended strategy for your item.

Neranda's Wall

Weapon: Magic Crystal or Ashen Spear/Big Axe

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall

Headgear: Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Winter Cloak

Accessory: Ribbon de Iris

Use Shielded Stance to remove debuffs and heal, use Healing Surge if necessary to recover health. Offensively, it depends on the weapon used.

Magic Crystal: With the Wall, you can't get enough raw ATK to kill the Mana Mozzies with a single Shockwave Strike. The Mimic can debuff your MDF, which will let the Mana Mozzies drain all your MP, so build enough MAG to Crackling Lust them in one hit each. Do so, and it leaves just the Mimic. Attack with Familial Flame: while the Mimic resists Fire, it doesn't matter; with the above MAG-heavy build, Familial Flame still does around 600 to 700 damage, which is comparable to the damage of any physical attack based build you can put together at this point in time.

Ashen Spear/Big Axe: Shockwave Strike x2 to kill the Mana Mozzies, then Furious Strike the Mimic instead of Crackling Lust. However, your healing suffers, especially with the Big Axe.

Golden Armor

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Offensive Rod

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm

It's the Shockwave Strike build! This focuses on raw ATK, boosted by the Golden Armor. Shockwave Strike on the first turn to kill the Mana Mozzies, and then Furious Strike the mimic. Again, remove debuffs with Shielded Stance. Your MAG is low enough that Healing Surge is unlikely to be worth it. Furious Strike should be doing over 1000 damage per use, so the Mimic should go down quickly enough.

As your reward, you get the Heretic Robes. This Bodygear is the magical counterpart to the Golden Armor, and is your new mainstay armor if you chose Neranda's Wall.

Return, heal, and save. Now it's time to take care of some lingering business. First, go back to the red-roofed castle.

Castle Vera (take 2)
In the library (just west of where you fought the Numbermaster) there is a locked door, and you just picked up a Key in the Outskirts. Unlock the door, walk up, and grab the Pink Stone. This accessory has one single purpose: protecting you from Sexbind.

For the next bit of lingering business, go back to Tynaburg in the Second Zone.

Tynaburg (second combat)
There's two encounters we haven't dealt with in this city: the snakes in the northwest, and the big demon in the center of the city. With access to the Shockwave Strike, you can now actually take on the eight Lightning Snakes and live. Make sure you have more than 110 AGI, and don't use the Magic Crystal. One Shockwave Strike will kill them all, and you'll be able to go up and get the Scroll of Yelarel. Use it for +50 MP and +25 MDF.

Feel free to save, then go approach the big demon in the center of town.

Recommended Equipment Builds

Neranda's Wall

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Heretic's Robes

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm

Golden Armor

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Tower Shield

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm

The Mana Demon starts by draining all of your MP. This is why we've avoided doing anything with him, because it's not possible to take it down with standard attacks. Sexual Strike changes the equation, since it only uses SP, and hits the Mana Demon's weakness.

With either of the above builds, use Sexual Strike until the Mana Demon dies. Sexual Strike does around 2500 to 2800 per hit, depending on the build you use. If he were to only attack you, you'd lose, but on the fourth round he'll spend a turn trying to drain MP (thus why we don't bother use Fire Leaves to get around the mana problem). With no MP to drain, this means he does nothing for a turn, which lets you win. You'll be left with 200+ to 500+ HP; the extra HP from items provides insurance.

Walk up and grab the Scroll of Sabitha. Use it immediately for a permanent +25 to ATK.

Warning: You can walk north from the square the demon was guarding. If you exit to the north, Tynaburg will permanently disappear. This is purely for flavor and is not necessary to do at any point. If you still need to purchase Neranda's Wall, do not exit via the north. Go south or use Retreat instead.

Heal, save, and head to the tree in the Second Zone.

Dry Hollow (take 2)
We ran from the Unpeople in this area before. Now, Simon has drastically improved stats and much better gear, and most importantly, no longer has to worry about Sexbind due to the Pink Stone.

Recommended Equipment Builds:

Neranda's Wall

Weapon: Magic Crystal

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Heretic's Robes

Accessory: Pink Stone

Golden Armor

Weapon: Magic Crystal

Off-hand: Flashy Shield

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Heretic's Robes

Accessory: Pink Stone

Walk in and catch the northernmost Unperson. This is a single Zombie: hit it with a Crackling Lust to put it down.

To the west, you'll find a wandering single Unhuman. Where before it would easily have killed you, now it usually does less than 200 damage. With the Pink Stone, it can no longer Sexbind you and keep you from healing or using Crackling Lust to hit its weakness. You can use Shielded Stance to shut it down even further, but it's not necessary. Crackling Lust until it dies.

The unperson guarding the shiny in the cliff is a single Unwoman. If you used the Feather, you could exceed 150 AGI and thus move faster than her, but that would mean giving up the Pink Stone and Sexbind immunity, so just accept that she moves first. She does less damage than the Unhuman, so again, just use Crackling Lust to beat her.

The shiny is the Fire Shield, which gives 30 DEF, but -5 MDF; a mirror of the Icy Book. If you don't have Neranda's Wall, it's the strongest physical DEF shield.

Wandering to the east you'll find an encounter with a Zombie, an Unwoman, and an Unhuman. Hit Shielded Stance twice to shut down all possible damage from them, then use Crackling Lust to take them down one by one. Focus on the Unhuman first, since it can bebuff your offense.

The final encounter is a group of five: two Zombies, two Unwomen, and an Unhuman. Either use Shielded Stance twice and Crackling Lust to wipe them out (focus on the Unhuman first, since it can debuff your offense), or consider the following alternate solution:

Equip Big Axe and Pickaxe Charm. Use Shield Stance twice to block all damage (but not Sexbind). Use Shockwave Strike until only the Unhuman remains (usually three strikes), then switch to Furious Strike.

Grab the shiny they were guarding for Weakening Slash, a physical attack that can apply debuffs to ATK, MAG, and AGI.

Return to the Third Zone, save, and enter the gray rocky cave in the center of the cross of brown dirt.

Demonic Entrance
This place calls back to a number of the Tower explorations, and can be just as confusing. With the amount of prep-work we've done, though, there's nothing here that will constitute a real threat.

Recommended Equipment Builds:

Neranda's Wall

Weapon: Poison Spear

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Heretic's Robes

Accessory: Ribbon de Iris

Golden Armor

Weapon: Poison Spear

Off-hand: Flashy Shield

Headgear: Frozen Hat

Bodygear: Golden Armor

Accessory: Mana Chalice

Build Notes: The key to this dungeon is stacking enough MDF so that mana drain will not work, and stacking enough ATK and MAG so that you can quickly destroy your enemies (one hit kills). Both of the above builds put you over the needed thresholds, provided you have picked up both the Scroll of Sarai and the Scroll of Sabitha. The poison spear is the chosen weapon even with the Golden Armor, because it provides the right balance of ATK and MAG compared to the other weapons. Furious Strike does Physical damage regardless of the equipped weapon's damage type, so enemy poison resistance does not matter.

Combat Notes: The enemies in this area, and in the dungeon it links to, are familiar in form and weaknesses, and are also designed to test your endurance. Refer to the enemy list for weaknesses, but in general, know the following:


 * The demons that look like hands coming out of jars are the most damaging, even with high MDF. Kill them as a priority with Sexual Impact - the priority if you're using a recommended build.
 * The demons that look like melty black shadows will drain mana. If you're using a recommended build, they will fail entirely, so you can kill them last. If not, and your MDF is too low to stop the mana drain, they must be killed first, even before the jars - use Familial Flame.
 * The demons that look like red balls will poison you. With poison protection, they are no threat, and can be saved for last. If you can't stack enough ATK and MAG to one-shot everything, focus on MAG over ATK, and be content to 2-shot these enemies.

The idea is to attack and kill everything you see in the dungeon. You can dodge past enemies, but at this point, there is no need to.

When you enter, you are in a world of purple haze and a big room. There's multiple Large Crystals (two tiles tall) which are just obstacles, but in the western part of the room you will find a one-tile crystal which you should pick up: this is a Demonic Gem, which serves as a key to progress through the area. For a visual reference, see the map of Pseudodemonia.

Kill the demons in this first room (one ball demon and one shade demon), then walk north to the green teleport tile. You will find yourself to the west, behind the closed off doors. Flip the lever to open the doors, and then walk north.

You will find 50 Sx in a small equipment room, and to the left is another larger area with another set of demons (one shade demon and one jar demon).

At the northwest point of this room is the teleport to the actual larger dungeon, from which there is no retreat.

Walk onto the northwest teleport tile to be transported to the most confusing part of the Prison.

Pseudodemonia
This area calls back to some of the confusing Tower areas, especially since the map is set up to loop. The walkable paths do not connect in a loop, but if you walk far enough north, you'll see the southern paths, and the same goes for west to east. For ease of navigation, you are strongly recommended to open the map below in a new tab and maximize it. Enemy encounters are numbered in the order of recommended engagement.The area at the far southeast on the map is the area that houses the Fragile Killer - you cannot get to it from the main dungeon paths, so ignore it while you are navigating the main dungeon paths.

The enemies and equipment builds are exactly the same as in the Demonic Entrance - don't change anything around, and remember to kill the Jar Demons first with Sexual Impact, the Ball Demons second with Furious Strike (or Shockwave Strike if you are facing three of them), and the Shade Demons last with Familial Flame - unless you don't have enough MDF to shut down the Shade Demons mana drain, in which case they should be killed before anything else.

Remember to keep your health up, and watch your MP. If you're killing everything in one shot with the recommended attacks, you should be just fine.

Due to the long and confusing nature of this dungeon, instructions will be bullet pointed. Landmarks consist of junctions, where the single-tile wide purple paths fork, and the Platforms, which are larger areas with purple viney walls. They will be called First, Second, Third, etc. in order of recommended visitation.


 * Take note of the magic circle in the southwest corner of the starting point - it is a one-use full heal. You should not ever need it if you are following this guide, but if you are low on MP, feel free.
 * Walk north from the start point to the First Junction, and kill the demons (Encounter 1) here.
 * Walk south from the First Junction to the First Platform (walls on the north and south, two Large Crystals and one Small Crystal). Kill the demons (Encounter 2), then pick up the shiny (50 Sx) in the center and the Demonic Gem on the north wall of the platform.
 * Take the southeast path from the First Platform to its end to get another demonic gem, then return to the First Platform.
 * Take the west exit, which turns north. You will run into a green brazier, which costs 3 Demonic Gems to open. With the gem from the previous map, and the two you picked up on the way here, you have enough to open it. Do so, and then proceed west to the Second Junction.
 * Go south to the end of the path for another gem. Return to the Second Junction, and then go north to the Third Junction.
 * Go east from the Third Junction to pick up another Gem, then return to the Third Junction and go west.
 * You will reach the Second Platform (large ring of walls, two Large Crystals, black void chasm in the center). Kill the enemies here (encounter 3).
 * * There is a one-time use healing circle in the northeast corner of the platform. You shouldn't need it if you're using the recommended builds, but if you find yourself hurting you can always come back here for a full heal.
 * Take the southwest path from the Second Platform to get another Gem. Ignore the southeast path, it has nothing.
 * Return to the First Junction (north from Second platform, south from Third Junction, east from Second junction, and northeast path from First platform)
 * Go north from the First Junction to find the Fourth Junction, then go west to the Third Platform (circle of walls to west and south, black void chasm diagonally bisecting). Grab the shiny for 50 Sx.
 * Go back east, and then north from the Fourth Junction to the Fifth Junction.
 * Go east from the Fifth Junction to the Sixth Junction, and kill the demons on the path (encounter 4).
 * Go east from the Sixth Junction to find another Gem, then go North from the Sixth Junction to reach another green brazier. This one costs 2 Gems, and you have plenty.
 * Beyond the brazier is the Fourth Platform (dead-ends with a circle of walls north, west, and south, one Large Crystal and one Small Crystal). Pick up the shinies for 100 Sx total, and Fire Leaves. Also grab the Demonic Gem to the west.
 * Return to the Fifth Junction and head northwest this time to the Seventh Junction.
 * Go south, and you're on the other side of the chasm in the Third Platform - grab the Gem, and go back north to the Seventh Junction. The brazier to the east costs 2 Gems.
 * Continue east then north from the brazier to reach the Fifth Platform (center of map, most paths coming from it, void chasm in center, one Large Crystal, one Small Crystal).
 * Kill the demons (encounter 5), and pick up the shinies for another 50 Sx and a Nullshroom.
 * Take the north path from the Fifth Platform to pick up another Gem, then return.
 * Take the southeast path from the Fifth Platform to pick up another Gem, then return.
 * Take the northeast path from the Fifth Platform to reach the Sixth Platform (large diagonal platform running NW to SE, five Large Crystals and three Small Crystals), but rather than go on in, continue east to pick up a shiny for 50 Sx. Return to the Sixth Platform.
 * Kill the demons (encounter 6) and pick up the Gem.
 * Go west from the Sixth Platform to reach the eastern half of the Seventh Platform (walls on north and south, divided into east and west halves by small chasm, two Large Crystals and one Small Crystal).
 * Kill the demons (encounter 7) and pick up the Gem.
 * Return to the Fifth Platform (east from Seventh Platform, southwest path from Sixth Platform).
 * Take the southwest path from the Fifth Platform - it will wind around and dead-end at another Gem. Return to the platform.
 * Take the northwest path from the Fifth Platform to the Eighth Junction, and head west from the Eighth Junction to get another Gem.
 * Go north from the Eighth Junction to the Ninth Junction, which is the only one that is a 3x3 square. Kill the demons here (encounter 8). Be careful: if you cannot kill them in a single shot of Sexual Impact, you should Escape, as the three Jar Demons will very likely kill you well before you can take them down.
 * Go north from the Ninth Junction, which turns west to the Tenth Junction.
 * Go south from the Tenth Junction to get another Gem, then go north from the Tenth Junction to the western half of the Seventh Platform. Grab the shiny to get a Fat Root.
 * Return to the Ninth Junction, and this time go west to the Eighth Platform (very large bean-shaped platform with walls ringing to the north, west, and south, six Large Crystals and one Small Crystal). To gain access, you must unlock another green brazier with 2 Demonic Gems.
 * Kill the demons here (encounter 9), and congratulations, you have cleared all enemies from the dungeon. Grab the shiny to the north to get the Thick Helm.
 * * This piece of headgear has the distinction of being just as defensive as the Knight Helm, and adding 500 HP to your max (twice that of either Neranda's Wall or the Golden Armor). Only the Stamina Charm gives more bonus HP.
 * Walk onto the teleport tile in the southwest of the platform.

After teleporting, you will find yourself in the area at the upper right of the map. Go west from the junction to pick up a shiny for Fire Leaves, and keep going north. The brazier here costs 2 gems to open, and gives access to the big platform with the real rewards.

Easy Mode Crystal: If you didn't use the Dark Crystal, then another Easy Mode Crystal is here in one of the thrones, and will give you the Perfect Shield. Again, do not take this gift if you are following this guide.

The magic circle here is actually the exit from the area. Instead, go to the green brazier north of it, and spend the 5 Demonic Gems it needs to open it. If you went after the Fragile Killer earlier, you will have 2 Gems left over - if not, you will only have 1.

Behind the green brazier is Wynn's Scepter - the single strongest magic weapon in the Prison, and it doubles as a nice defensive item, too.

Important Note: If you freed Eustrin from Aram, you should now have over 1000 or 1200 Sx, depending on whether you bought the Golden Armor or Neranda's Wall. Regardless, now is the time to buy the one you didn't, so return to either Tynaburg or Castle Vera to take care of that.

With your new gear, you can now likely handle the Fragile Killer, a somewhat hidden boss. Save, and head right back into the Demon Entrance.

Fragile Killer (Pseudodemonia)
In the demonic entrance, head to the west, and this time go south from the lever. There is a somewhat hidden path in the southwest, lined with the large crystals, which will take you to a teleport tile.

This tile leads to the area in Pseudodemonia that is inaccessible from the rest of the dungeon. There's really one path - north, then west. There's a Demonic Gem here which is ultimately unnecessary, and the Fragile Killer itself. This boss must be killed in one turn, or it will hit you with Instant Death, which cannot be defended or avoided against, and will simply kill you. It is purely a question of whether you can stack enough ATK or MAG to do 1200 or more damage in a hit. Since it's a one-hit kill boss, there is very little strategy. Use Furious Strike if you are using an ATK build, or Familial Flame if you are using a MAG build. Unless you can't buy the Golden Armor, the ATK build is far more reliable, since the Pickaxe Charm and Knight Helm give you more ATK than the Ribbon De Iris and Frozen Hat can give MAG. Without the Golden Armor, the MAG build is more reliable, due to a slightly greater damage variation on Familial Flame granting more opportunity for the RNG to break 1200.

Hoewever, if you have Dominated Varia, then Furious Strike has a different damage calculation from the one you get with Reshaped Varia, which does a lot more damage against lower-defense enemies, allowing you to take on the Killer reliably even without the Golden Armor.

ATK Build

Weapon: Big Axe

Off-hand: Offensive Rod

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor

Accessory: Pickaxe Charm

MAG Build

Weapon: Wynn's Scepter

Off-hand: Offensive Rod

Headgear: Knight Helm

Bodygear: Heretic's Robes

Accessory: Ribbon De Iris

If the RNG is being particularly unkind with the MAG Build and you can't get Golden Armor, come back after you get the Empress Sword in the Elemental Vortex, and run an ATK build.

After you kill the Fragile Killer, go to the east and pick up the shiny to get Transcendent Strike, the best physical attack in the prison. This attack ignores all defense, and applies debuffs to DEF and MDF.

Exit via the magic circle, and then head to the First Zone. We're going back to the Ruins to tie off one last loose end.

Guardian (Dreamlike Ruin)
Back in the Ruin, go to the Knight in the middle right room who we ignored when we came through here. If you tried the Guardian earlier on, you'd have found it blocked everything you threw at it - it's defenses are just that high. Now, though, you literally go in naked and win. Attack the Guardian and use Transcendent Strike. It will die.

Grab the Shiny it was guarding for the Beloved Helm. This is the best overall Headgear in the Prison, offering Stun Immunity and strong bonuses to every attribute except for HP and MP.

Return to the Third Zone, and enter the brown Taj Mahal-style palace in the northeast of the Zone.

Elemental Vortex
The Elemental Vortex is an area that focuses on the three basic elements of the setting: Fire, Ice, and Thunder (really lightning). This is visible in the terrain itself, and in the enemies, which follow a rock-paper-scissors triangle of elemental effectiveness.

Vortex Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Wynn's Scepter

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Flashy Shield

Headgear: Beloved Helm or Thick Helm

Bodygear: Heretic's Robes

Accessory: Ribbon de Iris

Build notes: The most effective skills in this dungeon all depend on MAG. Both DEF and MDF are useful, with MDF being slightly more so.

Combat notes: Red goblins (Flamelins) are weak to thunder, yellow plants (lightnils) are weak to ice, blue bears (Icers) are weak to fire and hit hard. Everything here can still do damage, focus on killing enemies as quickly as possible. This means Flamelins first (one Crackling Lust), Lightnils second (two Silent Shards), and Icers last (two or three Familial Flames).

The enemies move around rather quickly, and will not occupy their starting rooms for very long, but they will tend to stay in the general area of their starting location. Kill any wandering orbs you see so that you have clear and unobstructed paths to the boss fights.

Move northwest to a yellow chamber with a short dead-end corridor and a shiny for some Mana Leaves. Head to the northeast green chamber (ignore the yellow button), then go south. You will find one of the stationary orbs. If you've fought everything so far, Retreat, heal, save, and return.

Pornucopia
Pornucopia Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Poison Spear (Poison immunity)

Off-hand: Flashy Shield (Silence immunity)

Headgear: Beloved Helm (Stun immunity)

Bodygear: Flashfire Armor (Blind immunity)

Accessory: Pink Stone (Sexbind immunity)

Build notes: This battle has one each of Flamelin, Lightnil, and Icer, and also has the Pornucopia. The trick with the Pornucopia is that it can apply Poison, Silence, Stun, Blind, and Sexbind to you. The recommended build blocks each and every one of those statuses, leaving you free to act.

Combat: Shielded Stance twice to double-stack defensive buffs. Keep the double buffs active throughout the fight. Use Weakening Slash once on the Icer, which will keep it from doing any damage to you. Use Crackling Lust on the Flamelin to kill it, then Silent Shard x2 on the Lightnil. Reapply defensive buffs, reapply weakening slash on the icer, and then kill it with Familial Flame.

This leaves just the Pornucopia left, which is weak to Sex. Keep double defensive buffs up, keep the Pornucopia debuffed with Weakening slash, and you cannot be damaged. Use Sexual impact to finish it off.

Behind the Pornucopia is either Amulet of Chaos or the Cracked Amulet, depending on whether or not Trin died in the war preceding this.


 * The Amulet of Chaos greatly boosts your LUK, and protects you from all statuses (with one exception).
 * The Cracked Amulet is purely negative, reducing ATK, MAG, and LUK, and granting no immunities.

Go back to the general Vortex build, retreat, heal, save, and return. Go straight north from the entrance and press the button, then go west. There's one last wandering encounter; retreat and heal afterward to ensure you go into the next battle at full.

Again, go northwest, and engage the stationary encounter.

Elite Elementals
These enemies have the same weaknesses as the regular versions, but have way more health and have more tricks. Unlike the basic versions, the Elite Lightnil is the most fragile, and it can debuff your defenses.

Shielded Stance once, then start throwing silent shards at the Lightnil to remove the debuff problem. If you ever get a stack of defensive debuffs, reapply Shielded Stance to return to neutral.

Once the Lightnil is dead, double-stack defensive buffs, which will fully block anything the Flamenil can do to you, so keep these double-stacked through the fight.

Use Weakening Slash once on the Icer, and the Icer can no longer hurt you either. If have Poison Dart, use it on the Icer until it is poisoned. Use Transcendent Strike to debuff the Icer, then use Familial Flame to finish it off.

Keep double-stack defensive buffs on, and Crackling Lust the Flamenil until its dead.

Walk east to pick the Empress Sword. This is the physical counterpart to Wynn's Scepter, and is the strongest physical weapon in the Prison.

Heal, save, and prepare for the last non-optional boss of the Prison.

Nyst
Recommended Equipment Build:

Weapon: Empress Sword

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Flashy Shield

Headgear: Beloved Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor or Heretic's Robe

Accessory: Ribbon de Iris

Talk to Nyst to start the fight.

This battle relies entirely on using buffs and debuffs to cripple Nyst's ability to hurt you. Use the following attack rotation to win without a problem:

With Nyst dead, you can leave the Prison, but there's one last thing to take care of: the Final Lock, which is only accessible if you never accepted the gift from any of the Easy Mode Crystals.
 * 1) Weakening Slash
 * 2) Shielded Stance
 * 3) Transcendent Strike
 * 4) Repeat

The Final Lock
This dark palace consists of a series of five consecutive boss fights. There is no exit and Retreat is disabled, so make sure you're properly equipped with the recommended build for the first fight and healed up before entering. Walk north to fight the first boss.

Ancient Guardian
Equipment Build:

Weapon: Wynn's Scepter

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Fire Shield

Headgear: Beloved Helm

Bodygear: Heretic's Robe

Accessory: Stamina Charm or Mana Chalice

The Stamina Charm or the Mana Chalice give you extra MP to work with going into the battle, which is important for surviving the full gauntlet.

The Ancient Guardian is vulnerable to ice and alternates between two attacks: Blade of Terror and Brinkman's Blade. If you blind it, it will instead use Spellsword every turn, making blinding it a bad idea. Notably, Brinkman's Blade reduces your health to exactly 1 regardless of current health or defenses. This boss is easily defeated by alternating between healing after Brinkman's Blade and attacking with Silent Shard after Blade of Terror. You can open the battle by using Silent Shard twice.

After the battle, equip the Flashy Shield, and then heal to full health with Healing Surge before changing to the rest of the equipment build for the next battle.

Soulbound Lamia
Equipment Build:

Weapon: Blade of the Empress

Off-hand: Flashy Shield

Headgear: Beloved Helm

Bodygear: Heretic's Robe

Accessory: Feather

The Soulbound Lamia uses the same mechanic as Lady Luck: the Test Your Speed attack is defended by AGI rather than the traditional defenses. Therefore, as with all the snakes in the prison, it's important to stack AGI.

Additionally, on the second turn and every third turn thereafter, the Soulbound Lamia attacks with Void Stare, which applies both Silence and Profound Silence. Profound Silence cannot be blocked, but also only lasts three turns, while regular Silence has a six-turn duration. The Flashy Shield therefore ensures you can actually use a spell when you need to.

Finally, the Lamia has more AGI than you can stack, and so will always move before you do. Weakening Slash cannot reliably debuff her AGI enough to be a good choice.

Open the battle with Familial Flame for the extra damage. On turn 2, do a normal attack, because you will be Profound Silenced before you get a spell off. From there, the combat follows a simple pattern: attack while Profound Silenced, and use Healing Surge when it wears off. The key is that Healing Surge has a speed boost, and will go off before the Lamia uses Void Stare again.

There can be cases where Profound Silence fails, due to Simon's high LUK. If that ever happens, take advantage by hitting the Lamia with Familial Flame.

Prepare your equipment and heal to full using Healing Surge.

Primordial Pool
Equipment Build:

Weapon: Blade of the Empress

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Fire Shield

Headgear: Beloved Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor or Heretic's Robe

Accessory: Ribbon de Iris

The Primordial Pool drains your SP and MP completely at the start of the battle. Additionally, every few turns it attacks with Punish Mana, dealing calamitous damage (close to 10,000) if you have any MP, and which does nothing if you have 0 MP, so don't use any mana consumables at any point during the batte.

To win, watch your SP - it will naturally replenish throughout the battle, and will never be drained by the boss. As soon as you have 20 or more, use Sexual Strike. Since Primordial Pool is vulnerable to sexual attacks, and will waste turns draining your non-existent MP, you can kill it off without needing to heal provided you never miss an opportunity to use Sexual Strike instead of attack.

Prepare your equipment and use your consumables to restore both MP and HP. By this point you should have plenty.

Interact with the shiny for ... nothing immediately tangible, which is fitting for Ginasta. You do get Ginasta RP.

Heart of Lust
This battle changes dramatically depending on whether you have the Amulet of Chaos or the Cracked Amulet, and whether you have access to the Golden Armor. With the Amulet of Chaos, the Heart's status effects are not a concern. Without it, they make the battle extremely difficult.

Amulet of Chaos

Weapon: Wynn's Scepter

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Flashy Shield

Headgear: Beloved Helm

Bodygear: Heretic's Robe

Accessory: Amulet of Chaos

The Heart of Lust starts with Horrific Pulse, which is relatively low damage, but applies all the same status effects that the Pornucopia did. With the Amulet of Chaos, this not a concern. Every other turn, it uses Ethereal Hand, which hits much harder (against MDF) and applies blind and silence.

Start by casting Shielded Stance twice. Make sure that the defensive buffs never drop off. Keep your HP above 1200 with Healing Surge and Shielded Stance, and use Sexual Impact for damage. When the Heart drops below 70% health, it will use Hollow Hand, which applies Hollowness for 8 turns. Immediately use the Unwoman potion to remove it, or you will die, because Hollowness significantly reduces all of your stats. You will get hit for over 1000 HP damage while doing so if you have the defensive buffs double-stacked, so heal back to high health before returning to Sexual Impact offense.

Cracked Amulet

Weapon: Wynn's Scepter

Off-hand: Flashy Shield

Headgear: Beloved Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor or Carapace Armor

Accessory: Pink Stone

With this build, Horrific Pulse can only apply Blind, which does not matter for the abilities you will use, and will also actually do damage even with double-stacked defensive buffs. If you have the Golden Armor, follow the same strategy as listed above.

If you don't have the Golden Armor, and are using the Carapace Armor, then you need to use the Scroll of Wendis first turn. Hit Shielded Stance once to double-stack the defensive buffs, which will then last for the rest of the fight. Use Healing Surge to keep your health over 2000 until after the Hollowness debuff is applied and removed. After that, keep your health above 1000. Again, Sexual Impact is your offensive attack.

Forgotten Shard
Equipment Build:

Weapon: Blade of the Empress

Off-hand: Neranda's Wall or Flashy Shield

Headgear: Beloved Helm

Bodygear: Golden Armor or Heretic's Robe

Accessory: Ribbon de Iris

The Forgotten Shard caps off the Prison with lengthy, intense fight, with three stages triggered by how close to death the Shard is.

Start with Blinding Pierce. Blind will effectively shut the Shard down in the first stage of the fight. After blinding the shard, use the Scroll of Wendis (if you haven't used it earlier). If you did use the Scroll, use Shielded Stance once.

Use Weakening Slash and Transcendent Strike to double-debuff the Shard, then use Sexual Strike to do damage in order to help conserve MP.

When the Shard has lost about 1/4 of its health, it will start using Incubus Authority, Lustful Light (which will debuff your DEF and MDF), and Reflect (which buffs its ATK, MAG, and AGI). None of these moves are affected by Blind, so stop using Blinding Pierce.

Instead, use Weakening Slash to keep the Shard at one stack of debuff, or at minimum keep its buffs off of it. Use Shielded Stance to either stay neutral on DEF and MDF buff, or one stack of buff. Maintaing double stacks of those debuffs and buffs is not feasible with the shard's attacks. Do keep defensive debuffs double-stacked with regular Transcendent Strikes, as it has no way to remove those debuffs.

Again, use Sexual Strike for damage to conserve MP, and keep your health up with Healing Surge.

If you find yourself low on MP, use whichever consumable is appropriate. If you're low on both HP and MP, or low on MP and SP, use the Givini Potion for full restoration of all your resources.

When the Shard reaches around the last 10% of its health, it will use Last Gasp, which applies Profound Silence, Profound Sexbind, reduces your HP to 1, and your MP to 0. It also destroys all your consumables.

Don't panic: Using a regular attack will deal many times the normal amount of damage, defeating it.

Victory over the Forgotten Shard rewards the Incubus King Sword, the fifth (and presumably last) item in the Incubus King gear set. Once you pick this up, you get kicked out to the Prison and the Final Lock disappears. Feel free to save and heal. Exit south through the path that Nyst was guarding to end the section ... but take note, Simon is not out of the Prison.

Skills
Continue to the Incubus War Aftermath page for the next section.