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Metaphor: ReFantazio’s combat often throws specific conditions at you. They’re not outright necessary to abide by, but you will be far better off playing along with the idea. Psyocropos is one of the best examples of this; the fight goes from fairly manageable to remarkably intense if you break its golden rule.
Our guide covers Psyocropos' capabilities, as well as the way in which we chose to eviscerate it before it could blow us clean out of Scoundrel’s Hold. We did test the less desirable scenario, in which we allowed it to wreak havoc instead, and take it from us - it’s well worth avoiding.
How To Begin “The Greater One-Eyed Scoundrel”
Check theRecruitment Centreinmid-August. The exact timing seems to correlate withthe party’s trip to Virga Island. A bounty dispatcher will inform you of a menace atScoundrel’s Holdnear Grand Tran.
Getting there is easy enough:teleport to Grand Tran and then set course to the east. It’ll take you a single day to arrive at Scoundrel’s Hold.
Quest Prep
Scoundrel’s Hold is filled withGoborns, and if you’ve been doing other side quests in Metaphor: ReFantazio, by now you’ll surely know thatyou don’t want to bring Archetypes with staves or maces into battle with them.
If you’re able to cookSweeter than Poison, a recipe that should have arrived with Junah joining the team, then make this torestore 200 MPwhen used. This should help to ensure that you have ample MP forBullet Barrage and Magic Knight’s Hammerwhen you reach the boss.
Recommended Party Setup
Our party is built with the goal of this battle in mind:quickly eliminating one of the Goborns, while leaving the other alive until Psyocropos is killed.
It’s heavily reliant onsynthesis skillsbetween Strohl and Hulkenberg specifically, while leaving the protagonist to healing, and using Junah or Heismay in different roles.
Magic Seeker
Front
We’ll mainly be keeping the protagonist on healing duty, withMedica, inherited from theHealerlineage. If you have it, you’re able to also useVitaljaon Strohl toraise his Attack (and Defense)two ranks.
Sniper
Back
Use theBullet Barragesynthesis via Hulkenberg, which inflictslarge Pierce damage.It will routinely deliver well north of 1,000 damage against Psyocropos.
Magic Knight
Use theMagic Knight’s Hammersynthesis via Strohl, which inflictslarge Electric damage while making the opponent weak to that element. You can wipe out one of the Goborn flunkies in two blows with this.Heavy Rushon Psyocropos forPierce.
Junah or Heismay
Masked Dancer or Faker
Back/Front
Junah: Use the General mask; raise Strohl’sAttack statto hasten the battle. UseFrigid Fortress Tacticto force highIcedamage against foes. Heismay: Steady castings ofTarundaon whichever Goborn you keep alive so that Psyocropos doesn’t power up.
Movesets And Affinities
Psyocroposisweak to Pierce, which will be the principle reason we use Bullet Barrage. It, like its Goborn peers, can be forced into an Electric weakness via Magic Knight’s Hammer, or an Ice weakness via Frigid Fortress Tactic.
Moveset
Soul Scream
Gainsfour turn icons. In short, you don’t wantPsyocroposto have cause to use this.
TheGoborn on your leftwill repeatedly cast this medium-damage, party-wide,Firespell.
Vacant Stare
Psyocroposseems to use this in a bid toDaze or Stunthe target, but it never worked on us…
Battle Strategy
This battle boils down to one simple rule:you do not want Psyocropos to be the last foe remaining. NPCs allude to this by telling you to keep its Goborn subordinates around until it’s dead.
The truth, however, is thatyou can and should eliminateoneof the two Goborns, so as to limit the enemy team’s attack capabilities. You need tokeep the other one aliveuntil Psyocropos is dead, lest you find yourself in dire - winnable, but dire - straits.
Using our recommended party setup, you canuse Bullet Barrage on Psyocroposto whittle its HP down while usingMagic Knight’s Hammerand/orFrigid Fortress Tacticon one of the Goborns.
If you have Heismay here rather than Junah,Tarunda the remaining Goborn multiple timesso as to blunt the strength of its spells.
Vitaljavia the protagonist to bump up Strohl’s own attack power will speed things along.
Should you find yourself in the uncomfortable position of leaving Psyocropos for last, it’s still a doable fight, but you’ll be far better off if it’s at least at low HP at this point.Soul Scream gives it four (!) turn icons, and it’ll also begin to useChargeto raise its power.
The bottom line is that you want to avoid this. Doing so will leave Psyocroposfarmore manageable; it’s really little more than a souped-up version of the giants you’ve found elsewhere under normal conditions.
Rewards For Defeating Psyocropos
Delivering proof of Psyocropos' defeat to theRecruitment Centrenets you the customaryincrease to Couragethat comes with all bounties.
As well, you’ll receive a considerable sum of90,000 reeve(assuming you’ve ranked Catherina up highly enough, which should be the case by default at this point).
