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The combat inSoul Hackers 2is visually and strategically satisfying. A true turn-based affair, players will have access to a variety of menus that allow them to pick through an array of skills, attacks, buffs, and other commands. During the opening hours of the game, combat is pretty simplistic, with players usually only choosing certain attacks or skills to do damage and keep themselves healed. Things change once the tutorial is over and Ringo has a full party. Players are free to unlock skills, recruit demons, and mix-and-match abilities to build their team as they see fit. With all the available abilities and attacks, it’s easy to see why Soul Hackers 2 can get a bit overwhelming.
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This difficulty spike is most apparent in the bosses that players will face. Although grinding and leveling up can help players dramatically by giving them additional skills, attack power, and defense, there are some bosses that are much more difficult than others. Ringo and her crew will begin to encounter truly powerful foes, and players will need to be quick on their feet to understand their mechanics and attack their weak points. Thanks to Ringo’s Sabbath ability, targeting weaknesses is a rather important mechanic inSoul Hackers 2’s combat. The following guide will give players a leg up on their competition by showcasing all the Boss Weaknesses inSoul Hackers 2, as well as some tips to take down some of the toughest foes in the main story.
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Ice
This fight is very straightforward as it is the Tutorial Boss. All players need to do is keep attacking R.S. and Bicorn, healing up and dealing damage by targeting weakness. Getting rid of Bicorn first can help players keep damage under control. Eventually, R.S. will charge a super move (around 40% health remaining) which will then proc players to Guard. After Guarding and shedding off the attack, players should continue as normal until he’s defeated.
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Thunder
Players should immediately focus Leanan Sidhe for this fight as she will constantly cast a weakness guarding ability on Kaburagi. She’s also capable of tossing out a heal, which can drag out the fight and can also use Lullaby, which is an AOE skill that has a chance to cause the Sleep status effect. Thanks to her high Luck stat, she has the capability of putting multiple party members to sleep at one time. Players should be sure to bring Loudres Balls to counteract this.
Kaburagi is the next target as he can increase the turn count for himself and also uses an ability called Unfair Game which will hit a single target with Gun damage and decrease their defense. At times, he can also use Fatal Roulette, which will randomly target two party members. The reason players need to target him is that he is capable of resummoning his demons. If players see him use Overdrive, they should rush to kill him or Guard with all players as he will unleash a move called Execution, an Almighty move that is capable of wiping the party if they are not prepared for it or at full health. After he uses Execution he will take a moment to recover, giving players a chance to heal up.
Kurama Tengu will use Force and Physical abilities but isn’t too much of a nuisance and won’t dish out enough damage to really cause too many problems for players. It’s much better to focus on Kaburagi once Leanan Sidhe is gone.
NOTE: The next fight is simply a plot-driving device and is not actually a winnable battle. Players need to conserve their items so as not to waste them.
N/A
This is not an actual boss fight that players can win and instead serves as a plot-driving encounter. All players need to do is survive this fight for a certain amount of turns, in which a cutscene will occur and the battle will end. Players should just use healing spells to keep their team healthy and not waste any items as if it was a real encounter.
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Pazuzu will likely cast Miasma Breath immediately, which will continuously dish out damage at the end of each turn. Players should focus on Pazuzu and eliminate him as quickly as possible to make the Miasma disappear. Pazuzu isn’t particularly damaging otherwise and is fairly easy to take down if players focus him with Ice.
Ash is weak to Force, but players should be careful to only attack her with single-target Force skills while Pazuzu is around, as he is capable of absorbing Force and healing off of it. Ash will use Blackout, an AOE Gun Damage attack that doesn’t hit too hard. She will also toss out Flame Shot, a Fire-based single-target skill. Once Ash reaches 75% percent health she will “get serious” and use a Summon skill to bring Inugami and Lilim onto the field. Soon after, she will summon Pazuzu back, as well as Cockatrice. By this point, Ash will have four demons on the field at once.
Players should immediately target Pazuzu again as he will once again start up the Miasma Breath damage-over-time attack. Next, players should focus on Lilim as she is capable of using a single-target attack called Bewitching Gaze that will inflict Daze on a party member. Inugami and Cockatrice are not particularly bad, with Inugami tossing out weak AOE physical moves and Cockatrice will use Ruin moves. Players can quickly incapacitate Inugami and Cockatrice by targeting their weaknesses and getting Sabbath stacks to deal extra damage.
Although it can seem overwhelming, players should take care of Pazuzu and Lilim before focusing fire on Ash. Like Kaburagi, she is capable of resummoning her demons, and taking care of her first will end the fight faster. Ash will occasionally cast Ashes to Ashes, a single-target heavy Almighty attack that will dish out a massive amount of damage.
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Ruin
This fight features a mechanic that will punish players for striking Iron Mask, as Zenon will strike out immediately with Vengeful Loyalty, an attack that inflicts the Seal Status Effect on the party member that attacked. Seal will keep players from being able to use abilities (only normal attacks) and will disappear after a few turns. It can also be cured with items. Players should focus on damaging Iron Mask as much as possible, but be aware that Zenon will strike each time. After taking some damage, Iron Mask will summon the demon Power. Although he seems intimidating, Power isn’t much of a threat and will only use Physical attacks. That said, the demon does have a move called Abyssal Veil which will shroud Zenon’s elemental weaknesses, making it tougher to damage him.
Zenon will pepper the players will powerful AOE attacks and Iron Mask will attack with an array of strong Gun Damage moves. He seems to favor Dual Shot, which will inflict damage two times to a single target. After Iron Mask takes enough damage he will then summon Silky. Players should immediately focus on Silky as she will spend most of her time healing her allies. As Zenon gets low enough he will begin to use Contract’s Ward, which will change his affinity, meaning players should keep a wide berth of skills to target his weakness. When Iron Mask is chipped low enough, he will finally summon Vouivre.
Although there will be many demons on the field, players should focus all of their attacks on Iron Mask and keep themselves as healthy as possible to withstand the barrage of attacks. Iron Mask will occasionally use the skill Command, which will put a target on a specific character and cause all the demons to focus their attacks. As soon as Iron Mask is defeated, all the demons except Zenon will vanish, allowing players to focus on him and finish the fight. Players should also be prepared to deal with Zenon’s Sabbath-eating ability that will (for one turn) cause Zenon to absorb any Sabbaths (as a product of weakness-targeted attacks) and transform them into health. Players should use an Almighty attack to cut through the defense and then continue attacking his weakness when the absorption fades.SPOILER ALERT: The next boss battles will contain heavy story spoilers from this point onward.
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The label for this subsection has been left as Iron Mask Redux, to avoid story spoilers that pertain to the reveal of Raven being the actual Iron Mask and players having to engage him in a boss battle. At the start of this battle the new “Iron Mask” will summon Silky, Power, and Vouivre immediately before the battle begins. This iteration of Iron Mask will use Stun Grenade, an AOE that has a chance of causing Paralysis on party members.
The strategy here is the same as the first Iron Mask fight, with players wanting to target Silky immediately to dismiss her healing effects. Since players will likely be at a higher level and with better skills, it should be easy to dispatch all the demons and then focus fire on Iron Mask. At around 70% health remaining, Raven will toss off the mask and enter a rage, casting Accelerate to gain increased Action Count and then using Reactive Armor, which will change his affinities. Before Reactive Armor, Raven is weak to Thunder, but after using the move he will change his affinities often, so players need to keep a slew of elemental moves on hand to combat this.
In this form, Raven will continuously cast a move called Purge, which will hit all characters with a specific element. Whichever element is used during purge is what Raven will be weak to when players take their turn. Players should keep their moves light and heal as much as possible. Raven will use an array of heavy-damage AOE skills. When he reaches Overdrive Mode, players should be sure to Guard immediately as he will case Aurora Blitz, which will do heavy damage if players are not blocking. It will also simultaneously lower the party’s Attack, Aim, Dodge, and Defense. After he uses Aurora Blitz he will take a moment to recover, giving players a window to heal up or deal damage.
Thunderbird
Gun
This fight is pretty straightforward forward, but players should be careful as the duo can hit pretty hard. Thunderbird will use Mazudyne and Dacarabia will use Makarakarn. The Mysterious Woman will often use Rampage Slash and the Mysterious Man will use Gun Damage moves. Players should be able to effectively dispatch the duo by simply keeping themselves healthy and taking care of the two Demons first. Once they’re gone, it’s simply a matter of taking out the duo.
24th Ward Municipal Tower - Sea Floor
Alternates
Azazel is also a fairly straightforward boss and players will only need to handle him alone. His main gimmick is that he will switch between affinity weakness by using Law of Wisdom. At the start of the fight, players will want to pepper him with Force as often as possible, until he takes enough damage to trigger a small dialogue about “things getting interesting.” Once this happens, he will begin to rotate his affinities each time he casts Law of Wisdom. He will also start using Megidolaon, an Almighty AOE.
The only thing that players will need to keep an eye out for is Guillotine Fake. Azazel will use this attack randomly and it will always reduce the entire party’s HP to 1. Players should be ready to reverse this with a large AOE heal. As long as players keep themselves healed up and pay attention to the affinity change, they shouldn’t have much problem whittling down the tanky boss.
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Physical
There is one more test that stands between players and the Final boss. Hozumi appears seemingly out of nowhere to stop the party from progressing to the Aion’s Core and can be quite the nuisance for those that are unprepared. After a cutscene, players are thrown into a battle with the Summoner, Cu Chulainn, and Cerberus. Although players will be tempted to focus on Hozumi, his mechanic sees his Demons instantly retaliate whenever he is attacked. Each time players attack Hozumi directly, all of his Demons will use Ally Counter and strike the attacker.To mitigate this, players should try their best to focus on eliminating the Demons while simultaneously whittling down Hozumi’s health with AOE moves and Sabbath attacks.
Alternating between striking Cu Chulainn with Thunder and Cerberus with Ice can be a great way to quickly incapacitate the Demons while simultaneously stacking a high Sabbath counter to dish out some hefty damage to Hozumi. Unfortunately, Hozumi will almost immediately summon another Demon to replace any that perish, meaning players will have to constantly keep pressure on him during this fight. Hozumi will also constantly buff his allies, increasing their Defense, Attack, and more. He’s also capable of reverting the party’s stat buffs and boosts. Players should prepare for a barrage of Physical attacks from Cu Chulainn and some Fire and Physical AOEs from Cerberus.
Once Hozumi gets low enough, he will Summon Titania and Girimekhala. Players should immediately focus on Titania as she is capable of healing the enemy and can also cast an ability that will cause them to reflect magic attacks. Players can immediately barrage her with Physical attacks to eliminate her and should keep her off the field at all times. Girimekhala is weak to many affinities (except Ruin and Force) but will reflect all Physical and Gun damage so players should be careful. The hulking beast will use Megaton Press often so players should be sure to keep healed while they continue to attack Demon weaknesses and hit Hozumi with AOE and Sabbath damage.
Although Hozumi will mostly buff his Demons, he is capable of dishing out heavy damage with a regular attack.
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Core
Force
During the start of this fight, players should focus all of their Force attacks at Figue, as it’s the only element that she’s weak to. During the start of the fight, Figue has access to three actions and will usually use Maziodyne, Tendril Gore, and a Gun Damage move. Sometimes she will mix in Spike of Grief and Neo Dogma, a move that will lower Gun Sharpness harshly. Occasionally, Figue will strike out with Arc Light, an Almighty damage AOE move that also lowers Attack, Defense, Aim, and Dodge. Players should be very careful during the opening fight, keeping themselves healed up while simultaneously reverting any stat reductions and peppering Figue with Force attacks when they can.
Once Figue hits 50% health, she will summon four copies of herself and become immune to damage. These four copies each have different moves and mechanics and are different colors. From left to right, players will see Green, Purple, Red, and Blue. The Green is weak to Thunder, Purple is weak to Physical, Red is weak to Ice, and Blue is weak to FIre. Players will want to immediately take down the Blue variant as quickly as possible as she is capable of performing a mass heal that will really drag out the fight.
Each variant will use moves that correlate to its color, with the Purple using a buffing move that is capable of shielding the entire team with Magic Reflect. During this stage, Figue will occasionally buff one of the variants, giving it extra actions. As soon as there are two variants remaining, they will begin to use mass AOE attacks that correlate to their damage type and Figue will also join in on damaging the player. Because of this, it is recommended that players immediately defeat the Blue variant to stop healing and then whittle away the other variants so that they become low health and can be defeated in one turn. This is because keeping three of them alive at once will increase the chances that Figue will simply buff them, rather than attack the player. Each time a copy is defeated it will hit Figue for 1500 damage. After all four copies are defeated, players simply need to hit Figue with another attack to finish her off.
Alternating
The name for this boss has been omitted in the header to preserve story spoilers. Once players down Figue, she will return as an extremely powerful amalgamation of Aion. This is the true final battle and although players won’t have a chance to do anything before the boss battle starts, they’ll be healed to full health and all their Command counters reset.
Figue will begin the battle by tossing out Enthumesis, an Almighty AOE that will dish out quite a bit of damage. She will most likely follow this up with Physis Paradox, which will lower the party’s Attack, Defense, Aim, and Dodge. In this form, Figue’s affinity weakness will fluctuate, but it should be Fire and Ice at the start of the battle. From there it will occasionally switch, and players should be prepared to cover a wide berth of affinity types. Other pairings that are common include Thunder and Force, or Physical and Gun.
Players should be sure to keep themselves healed up as much as possible during the battle as Figue is capable of dishing out some serious damage during each turn and those caught off guard can find themselves losing party members. She is capable of dealing affinity damage AOE style with multiple Pleroma types. She will also dish out a randomized Physical AOE damage attack called Flailing Frenzy that is capable of dishing out heavy damage if it strikes a party member multiple times. For this part of the battle, players should just keep themselves healed up and keep as much pressure on Figue as possible.
Once she reaches 66% HP she will Charge up before unleashing New World Dawn. Players need to be sure to Guard before New World Dawn goes off, or they risk having their entire party wiped out by the ability. As soon as New World Dawn finishes, Figue will immediately activate Apostle Genesis, which has her summon a cube-like entity onto the field. The Cube is capable of dealing damage, but its main mechanic is that it will cast Decoy Protocol, which means all Sabbaths will target it instead of Figue. Players should make sure to focus and eliminate the cube enemy as quickly as possible. Leaving it on the field for too long will cause it to Self Destruct, dealing heavy AOE damage to the party.
At 50% health, Figue will activate Pure Void, a move that decreases the amount of damage she takes from super-effective moves, helping to drag the fight out a bit longer. Players should simply keep themselves healed and dish out as much damage as possible whenever they have a chance. This stage of the fight will carry on until Figue reaches 33% HP remaining, where she will once again do her New World Dawn and Apostle Genesis rotation. Players should be prepared to handle this shift once it happens.
At 20% HP remaining, Figue will change her tactics and enter an “all out” state. Each turn she will use Abyssal Eye, which will sharply lower her affinity resistance but raise her Attack by quite a bit. She will use this buff to unleash heavy AOE Almighty moves which can hit the party pretty hard and wipe them out if players aren’t careful. Each turn, players should make sure to fully heal and try to pepper Figue with as much affinity-based damage as possible. This section of the fight is a race against the clock, with players trying to damage Figue as quickly as they can to avoid being steamrolled as she buffs up each turn.
