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While each of the Seven Heroes inRomancing Saga 2is a skilled warrior, Noel’s swordsmanship is without peer. Given that he’s had centuries to hone his edge, it’s no surprise that he’s one of the most dangerous enemies in the game when you finally face him at the Wandering Lake.
Noel’s sword strikes are capable of taking down members of your retinue in one blow, and he only gets more powerful as the fight goes on. The best way to handle him is to prepare with a build specifically designed to take him down.
How To Find Noel At The Wandering Lake
When you reach the town ofTeretuvain the Melu Desert, the citizens there will tell you that their soldiers have gone in search of Noel at the Wandering Lake. The fallen Hero has alsofilled the town’s towers with fiends; to fully liberate the region, you’ll need toclear the east and west towersto get the keys within, then use them to enter the central tower.
Once all three towers are cleared, the townsfolk will give you a hint about the last sighting of the Wandering Lake;return to Melu Desert and head south.
Your party’s maximum HP ishalved while in the desertdue to the extreme heat; bring characters with a high Speed who can strike quickly, ending fights before enemies have a chance to attack. It’s very easy to get wiped here if you aren’t careful - flee the moment a fight starts to turn against you.
Keep to the narrow paths of sand toavoid falling into worm nests; if you do fall, defeat the worm thenclimb out using the rocks. When you reach the objective marker, you’ll see the Wandering Lake in the distance.
Each time you find the Wandering Lake, there isa chance that it’s just a mirage.The only way to find out is to approach it. If the lake vanishes and you find yourself still in the desert, theobjective marker will move to a new spot. Keep trying, and eventually you’ll come upon the real lake.
Wandering Lake Treasure Chests
Noel is inside the temple at the Wandering Lake. There areno enemies inside, and the boss fight will triggeras soon as you open the doorpast the save point. Before you do soopen the chest in the middle of the main roomto get theBook of Water and Earth 2, which allows you to research theDragon Pulsespell. Opposite the chest is a crack in the wall; squeeze through it to find a second chest, which has theStar of Ilorina, a powerful rapier.
Best Build For Fighting Noel
Builds are important for any fight in Romancing Saga 2, but the boss battle against Noel is a special case. If your retinue isn’t a fine-tuned machine specifically designed to beat him, he’ll slice you to ribbons.
The most important thing is toensure that every member of your team has at least Cosmology Level 20.They need this level of Light magic to be able to castSword Barrier, which is essential for surviving Noel’s relentless onslaught.
Noel’s Weaknesses
Build your party to include the following damage types, as Noel is vulnerable to them:
Greatswordsare also an excellent choice against Noel; he may not be weak against them as a weapon type, but moves likeEmpty BladeandScattered Petalsdeal heavy Dark and Water damage, respectively.
Heals and revives party members, reduces Fire Affinity.
Recommended
Deals Water damage, increases Overdrive gauge.
It’s vital that you don’t use any Fire moves during this fight; leave your Pyrology experts in Avalon for this one!
Our winning team consisted of the following members:
Strategy For Fighting Noel
You’ll need to be patient and methodical to stand a chance against Noel’s fury.
Using Sword Barrier
As long as you pay careful attention to your buffs and status, you canget through the first phase of the fightrelatively unscathed. In the first round,have everyone cast Sword Barrier, with no exceptions. As long as the spell stays active, Noel will not be able to damage anyone who has it.
Noel is very fast, and it’s likely he will attack before everyone has had a chance to cast Sword Barrier. In the very likely event that a party member is incapacitated,get everyone’s Sword Barrier upbefore reviving the fallen.
As the fight progresses,watch the icon for Sword Barrier above each character’s portrait.If it’s blinking, that meansit will expire on their next turn.Forego all other priorities when that happens and verify to recast Sword Barrier so that there are no gaps in your defense!
Noel’s Shade
Early in the fight, Noel will castPhantom Chivalryto summon a shade. It has the same characteristics as him, save for alower HP total.As long as you keep Sword Barrier up, it won’t matter that there’s an extra combatant until the second phase, when it will suddenly matter a great deal.
The Shade changes positions each round;watch for it to stand directly behind Noel.When it does, use moves likeWater Blast 2andFissure Strikethat attack along a line to deal damage to both of them. Ideally, you want toget the Shade’s health bar down to almost zeroby the time the real Noel is at about half health. When that happens,leave the Shade alonefor now instead of finishing it off.
One reason it’s a good idea to keep the Shade alive is that it presents more opportunities to learn Evasions during the fight. That gives you some grace if Sword Barrier fails, and lets you keep the Evasions for later battles!
Second Phase: Red Drake Wave
When Noel’s health is at about forty percent, he will power up for his second phase. This is where things can get ugly fast, and the fight can become a race to defeat him before he overpowers you.
Noel opens the second phase with two new moves:Dragonfang Blade, which shouldn’t be a problem if you still have Sword Barrier active, andRed Drake Wave, which isn’t considered a sword attack and can therefore penetrate your perfect-until-now defense. Red Drake Wave can deal around 700 damage to your entire party, putting you in a critical state.Don’t panic; keep Sword Barrier up and stick to the plan.
As soon as the second phase starts,finish off the Shade.Noel can only cast Red Dragon Wave if the Shade is alive, so destroying it immediately buys you critical time. Noel will re-summon it in a few rounds, and you won’t have time to kill it again, so use the breathing room toheal up and deal as much damage to Noel as you canbefore his onslaught continues.
Once the Shade is back, it’s all or nothing; you can survive maybe another two Red Drake Waves, three at the absolute most. By this point, Noel’s health should be almost depleted; go all-in and take him down before he has a chance to finish you off. Even if you only have one character left standing, a win is a win!
The game will proceed to a new generation after you beat Noel, so you don’t need to worry about saving anyone for future battles; if you have to sacrifice a party member for the good of the Empire, so be it.
