- Location
- Land of the Midday Sun
Wiegraf: "So, you've come. Draw your sword, Ramza." [Ramza does not do so.] "Not in the mood? I hope you will not object to me drawing mine."
Ramza: "I pity you, Wiegraf. More than you know. What must Milleuda think, to see you now? You would sell your soul to the Lucavi to slake your thirst for revenge."
Wiegraf: "Revenge? You think that is what drives me? I have no such petty concerns. I do not fight to avenge Milleuda's death. I sow the seeds of chaos in the world of men, and reap the anguished cries of the weak. But worry not, Ramza. Yours is a special case. I shall kill *you* myself!"
Welcome everyone to the "Let's style on Wiegraf" hour, where I'll showcase strategies for this duel.
Now this is not a comprehensive list and it doesn't aim to be one, it's just a collection of strategies I've seen around. This list can work as inspiration if you find yourself stuck.
Let's first check who our opponent of the day is:
He's tough one! Diamond Helm + Armor is +180HP right here (you can get better, though, and at Orbonne he did have a better helm. What happende to that?), Diamond Shield is about as good as you can buy right now and the Diamond sword is ok; the Diamond Bracelet, meanwhile, gives +1 PA, +1MA and immunity to Slow. Safeguard means that this equipment won't come off, so leave your Rend Helm/Armor/Weapon/Shield at home (OTOH Rend Power works, keep that in mind).Okay, let's talk specific parameters.
Wiegraf is lv 28, and Ramza is also lv 28. So in theory, we are level-appropriate for this encounter. Of course, that's not the full story.
Between the Diamond Bracelet and Boss immunities the only status that work are Blind and Silence; Silence is useless and Blind is not much better. Also, while you can decrease his Bravery, he won't turn into a chicken when Bravery goes lower than 10.
Now of course the main problem is here Holy Sword: Wiegraf will blast you with Hallowed Bolt if given half a chance, to the tune of about 140 damage with neutral compatibility and a 25% Silence chance on top. He only has this one Holy Sword ability, so you don't have to worry about, say, Stop from Judgement Blade or KO from Northswain's Strike. Note that it can critical hit with a normal 5% chance: due to how critical hit works the damage is randomized and goes from normal damage (floor) to a bit less than double (ceiling).
As for Martial Arts, he has Aurablast and Shockwave; those are way weaker than Hallowed Bolt (about 60 damage for Aurablast, 50 for Shockwave on neutral compatibility) and are rarely used; you may see Shockwave if you're out of range for Hallowed Bolt, but that's it. Luckily he hasn't Chakra, so no self-healing.
Counter makes melee a dicey proposition, since with Bravery 71 there's a 71% chance you'll eat a counterattack for about 100 damage, and you have to deal with evasion if you don't attack from the back.
Safeguard is a pain, since it means we can't break or steal Wiegraf's sword to disable Holy Sword, nor any other equipment. Guess Wiegraf learned that being disarmed sucks.
To close the section he has Move +1; this, with the small area, the starting positions and Wiegraf's range make playing keep away difficult.
The objective here is twofold: survive and bring Wiegraf's HP under 20% (it's not necessary to KO him). Let's see how to do it.
- The One Punch Man strategy (aka Omi's choice): Just one-shot the guy, he can't hurt you that way. Here's some ways to go about it:
- Doublehand with a Sword or a Spear. Best buyables are the Partisan (11 WP) and the Platinum Sword (12 WP), you can get a better spear by this point but it's a pain in the ass. Then equip the Bracer for +3 PA, an on-level Dragoon should one-shot. You can also use Geomancer, Doublehanded Platinum Sword with Headband + Power Garb + Bracer (+7 PA in total) should one-shot if you have at least 14 PA. Hit from the sides or the back if you can, that way C-EV doesn't apply. You could try to use Teleport for the back attack (the "Nothing personnel, kid" special).
- Dual Wield. More or less the same as above, but with 2 weapons. Here you have a bit more options, you can use Swords (Platinum Sword is the best), Katanas (Kiyomori) or Ninja Blades (Ninja Longblade). Ninja Ramza with 2 Ninja Longblades, Headband + Power Garb + Bracer should be enough to outspeed and one shot (more like two tap) Wiegraf; you can use Concentrate to ignore Evasion or Attack Boost to secure the kill. As above, side or back attacks are preferred.
- Magic. The most realiable way is Holy, have a Japa Mala equipped for the 20% elemental boost and at least 10 MA (Wizard's Robe + Celebrant's Miter is +3 MA, Mage's Staff is another +1MA and Wizard's Rod a +2MA) and Faith around 80. It's about 300 damage with neutral compatibility. Flare also works, use a Magepower Glove (best) or a Diamond Bracelet (acceptable) instead of the Japa Mala in this case. Swiftness is good for faster casting time, Arcane Power is better if you want a sure kill. You could use Firaja/Blizzaja/Thundaja with a Japa Mala, but then you borderline need Swiftness and Flare probably still outdamages. Anyway you will have to contend with the 15% evade from the shield and the fact that Wiegraf has 64 Faith, this makes him slippery against magic. Also you need high Faith, but that's a given for mages in general.
- First survive, then attack: you set up a way to not get killed in 1-2 hits, then either power up and oneshot or whittle Wiegraf down slowly. Some ways to do it:
- I got money: Wiegraf deals around 140 damage a turn on neutral, 170 on best compatibility. X-Potions heal 150. Auto-Potion will only use X-Potions if you don't have any other potion, and are buyable at this point. Now Auto-Potion has to trigger, but it triggers Bravery% of the times and Ramza can have high permanent Bravery and has Steel to increase it further if needed. From here you can do more or less what you want, just be mindful of Counter and keep an eye on how many X-Potions you have. Easy setup is Chemist Ramza, Auto-Potion, Mettle as secondary; equip any gun (Mythril Gun is the best right now), run away and Tailwind yourself until you double-turn or more Wiegraf, healing as needed if Auto-Potion doesn't trigger. Then shoot him dead, he can't heal and will go down eventually.
- Mana Shield, son: when it trigger Mana Shield lets you use your MP as a secondary HP bar; notably any damage in excess of your MP just disappears. This means that as long you have at least 1 MP Mana Shield will absorb any single hit. Manafont lets you recover MP every time you move. The combination means that as long as you move you're invincible (barring Mana Shield not triggering); hit Wiegraf from non-adjacent spaces and he can't even Counter you. You could throw stones at his face while slowly dancing around him until he dies if you really wanted; other ranged options are Shockwave/Aurablast, any straight damage Iaido, guns, bows, bowguns, poles, spears, instruments, dictionaries, Throw, Elemental, Jump (if you can land it before Wiegraf moves), Darkness (though with a Dark Knight Ramza and the grind needed chances are you'll outlevel Wiegraf significantly!) and low-level magic if your MP hold. Again, you can Tailwind until double-turn then switch to Focus; at around 25 PA you can just one-shot Wiegraf and with the Speed you have by that point you can wreck havoc on Belias as well. Or you Tailwind to 50 Speed and Throw a Fuma Shuriken to Wiegraf and a Morning Star to Belias, that's 350 and 800 damage respectively. If Belias still lives Ramza has Speed:Yes and goes again, Throw another Fuma Shuriken and close this fight.
- I can't believe this works: Disclaimer: this strategy is based on a bug, so if you want a "fair" fight maybe don't use it. Holy Sword abilities are internally tagged as Holy-elemental, even if they in practice use the sword's element (so usually end up as non-elemental); the AI won't use attacks that your units will absorb. You can just equip Ramza with a Chameleon Robe and Wiegraf won't ever use Hallowed Bolt; you still have to contend with Martial Arts and normal attacks/Counter, so some self-healing is needed but in effect you more than halved Wiegraf's damage per turn. Also note that with this strategy you also reduce Wiegraf's effective range, Shockwave is a line and can be avoided (Winged Boots/Levitate make you immune, if you prefer) and Aurablast is range 3 without AoE, do keeping away is now easier.
- Where's your PA gone?: This feels very much like playing with food, but whatever. So, Safeguard means you can't break or steal equipment. Rends though can also reduce stats, and that we can still use. Here we have options: we can go ranged (Archer, Chemist or Mediator with guns, any Job with Equip Crossbows or Equip Guns) for a safer approach, or go risky with Dual Wield to get 2 chances per Rend. Rend Power is -3PA if it hits, so each one reduces Hallowed Bolt damage by 42 for a minimum 14 damage with neutral compatibility. Then go on with Rend Speed so that Wiegraf moves once every 3-4 of your turns. At this point just kill the guy, he's suffered enough. You'll likely need healing for this to work (though Lifefont might be enough) and high PA/Attack Boost helps in landing Rends. Note that any of the strategies above work in buying you enought ime to Rend his PA/Speed to the ground before going for the kill; Rends also work on Belias.
