You may be frustrated to find out that many achievements and unlocks are tied behind Multiplayer mode, but it's entirely possible to solo every single match like the loners you truly are. This is coming from someone who has no experience with combo-based hack n' slash gameplay. Many of the game mechanics will come naturally as you play and experiment. Meanwhile mastering/memorizing combos is optional, considering most characters combos behave in a similar fashion.

Some different terminology is used for attacks compared to the game because of how ambiguous the game's names are. The later two terms aren't used in the guide, but are helpful to know.

• Rush Attack (Billion attack, this just seems like a shoddy translation).
  
• Power Attack (Normal attack).
  
• Chip Damage (Damage taken when guarding).
  
• Guard Up (Rating for how little damage you'll take when guarding: XS, Sml, Med, Big, XL).

1. Start Multiplayer Mode
   
2. Co-op
   
3. Create
   
4. No settings need to be entered, but changing View Mode to Pause is recommended (settings are not remembered between sessions).
   
5. Start Session

From the Room (Lobby), both quest and character selection are independent from one another, neither one will directly begin a quest. Your characters share the same setups and levels as in Story mode. Lily ranks have no effect in multiplayer, and support abilities don't exist.

Quest Selection: When using the Quest menu, selecting a quest will mark it as active, but won't begin it. For the most part, quests will be unlocked as you complete earlier quests, you don't need to complete all quests in a star group to unlock the next group.

Under the Special group, there are 3 daily quests for Monday-Saturday. To cycle the dailies, you can change your system clock while in the Create / Search screen.

Character Selection: The Character menu is purely for selection, but using the Setup menu will also change your current character. Leaving the setup menu on a transformed character will use the transformed character.

Playing a Quest: Pressing Start will begin the last-selected Quest with the last-selected Character. These selections are remembered between runs. After completing a quest, there will be an annoying 10 second wait timer before exiting to the results screen.

Saving: To save, you'll need to either end a quest like normal, or leave to the Create / Search screen and press Start there.

Beat Story Mode to unlock easier level grinding methods and equipment that'll boost HP and Defense.

Grind the characters you want to use to Lv70-Lv90 for smooth sailing. You can get away with Lv60 for earlier bosses, but you'll have to carefully manage your health. Grinding to Lv99 isn't necessary, since you'll coast up to Lv99 from all the quest XP.

Put ability points into Defense and Power before HP, as Defense can reduce damage taken down to 1 HP. How many ability points you put into Technical is up to you, and also depends on the character's combos. I personally prioritize Power before Defense, and max out Technical before any other stat.

Complete the P Valun M treasure as soon as possible to get +50000 ability points for all characters. All P Valun M treasures are obtained from Thursday's Beginner daily quest.

Note: Steam has a tight limit on gif upload sizes, so larger-higher framerate versions are linked below each example gif. You can also view the full album[imgur.com].

Always attempt to stay locked-on to the boss (you need to hold down the button), you'll sometimes need to re-lock-on after performing an EXE Drive, due to it sharing the same input.

Bosses may have multiple parts on them. When you're seeing inconsistencies with the lock-on health bar, it's because of those extra parts. You don't need to worry about taking out individual parts.

Guarding is easier than dodging. You don't need to properly time your guard to block an attack, just holding it down when you "think something's coming" is good enough. Guarding works against all attacks, even laser beams! And it doesn't matter what direction you're facing when tanking an attack. You'll take a small amount of damage when blocking. If you're not sure about a boss's upcoming moves, it can't hurt to throw a hit or two in then immediately guard.


(full size)[i.imgur.com]

Don't worry too much about memorizing combos, it's easier to build the muscle memory for spamming Rush for enough attack animations, then Power to follow through with a powerful attack combo that doesn't stutter at the end.

For bosses that give more openings, fight using Rush attack (x1~6) -> Power attack combos. Many of these combos will send your character airborne, use another Power attack while airborne to bring down the hammer.


(full size)[i.imgur.com]

Use attacks or characters with combos that don't end in some uninterruptable animation (like Tamsoft's weapon sheathing). This can usually be avoided by Rush -> Power attack combos that send you airborne, but you can also Dash/Guard to exit some animations before its too late.

Certain attacks (depending on the character), all Special Skills, and EXE Drives will prevent your character from taking damage and getting knocked back for the duration of the attack. Use this to your advantage to go on the offensive while an enemy is attacking.


(full size)[i.imgur.com]

Forward-charging specials that give you freedom to steer are great for large bosses, and bosses that move or thrash around frequently.


(full size)[i.imgur.com]

This is a list of characters that I found most-viable for dealing with big bosses. Some non-transformed characters are also viable, though none are listed.

White Sister (Rom): You can easily cheese most bosses as her by using only her Rush attack and no combos. Getting closer will build EXE drive up faster, but keeping your distance is also a safe option. Use a patch for bosses that resist magic and you've got a great all-rounder. You still need to guard against attacks when in range.

Yellow Heart: Great rush attacks, a strong set of special skills for forward-charging and guarding, and her EXE drive can be controlled to a degree to U-turn back towards enemies.

Purple Heart: Easy to land hits and retreat, and rush attacks build up EXE at an insane rate. You can output EXE drives in quick succession if you're getting in attacks frequently.

Green Heart: Similar to Purple Heart, she can build up EXE at a decent rate. A lot of her combo attacks have a large area, to deal damage when an enemy is horizontally or vertically further away.

White Heart: Her attacks deal a ton of damage and have decent area coverage. Her spinning special skill is great for dealing damage to a moving target.

Tamsoft (Trans.): Combat relies on aerial combos to avoid the sheath animations at the end of her Rush attacks. A strong set of special skills for forward-charging and guarding. Her Power attack can be charged for invincible frames, though this method of fighting is incredibly slow.

Black Heart: Despite what the command list says, none of her (or Noire's) combos actually set her airborne, however her attacks from the ground are quick and easy to dish out.

Orange Heart: EXE drive deals massive damage if aimed properly, and is an all-around decent fighter with aerial combos.

White Sister (Ram): With ranged magic and a powerful spin attack, you can put more distance between you and the enemy. Her biggest weakness is that her combo attacks are harder to cancel and guard with.

Black Sister: Her ranged attacks can hit enemies from across the map, allowing to cheese most bosses. She just struggles with bosses that also use ranged attacks.

Below are boss first appearances by quest group. Each day (besides Sunday) will also have a daily quest with a big boss.

• Big Boss: HachimaJin
  
• Big Boss: Temdinkale
  
• Big Boss: Megadonkale
  
• Big Boss: Doomkale

• Big Boss: Mariwogeus
  
• Big Boss: Pechgeus
  
• Big Boss: Truenail

Clear all other 4★ quests:

• Fake Purple
  
• Fake Black
  
• Fake White
  
• Fake Green

• Big Boss: Deadring

Clear all Fake Hearts (and possibly other 5★ quests):

• Dark Purple
  
• Dark Black
  
• Dark White
  
• Dark Green

All big bosses operate using fixed attack and movement patterns. Most big bosses have some amount of attacks they use when the player is too close to them to knock them back. Some trigger when a player is facing the boss from a certain direction. Below is each big boss listed in order of perceived difficulty (but not order of appearance).

1. Mariwogeus: This boss moves around a lot, and at a very fast rate. It's constantly thrashing about, so it's hard to get more than a few hits in at a time. Facing them from the back will reward you with a swift kick in the NEP. If you're having trouble landing combo attacks, then rely more on special skills and just guard while your SP is recharging (a valid strat for most bosses).

2. Megadonkale: This boss moves incredibly often, usually hoping away from the player, but also charging towards. Many of its attacks come with little warning. It's hard to get long attacks in, so try to throw in shorter Rush attacks and use special skills often.

3. Deadring: This boss hits hard like a truck with their attacks, and many attacks can hit you 2-4 times while you're down. Many of their movement patterns will pace back away from the player. However, unlike the above bosses, it's easy to predict and guard against most of their attacks, though even at max DEF, you'll still take decent (chip) damage when guarding.

4. Pechgeus: Easier than Mariwogeus, this boss's movements are less sporadic. But it still has many of the same attack patterns. You have more time to get longer attacks in before guarding.

5. Truenail: Most of this boss's threats are at close-range combat, they have a handful of moves to knock the player back when getting too close, but all these attacks have a sign or situation where they occur. Throw guard up often between attacks.

6. Temdinkale: The Lite version of Megadonkale. It stays on its toes in close-quarters combat, but most of its attacks are overtheatric with tons of time given to react to them. You have plenty of time to get in long attacks, but you'll definitely take a few hits in the process.

7. HachimaJin: Half of this boss's attacks are easy to guard against. They don't move in an unpredictable way, but some of their attacks can come pretty quickly.

8. Doomkale: This boss is slow and clunky, easy to predict, and their attacks often land outside of melee range, making them barely register as a threat.

Fake Hearts are pretty insane to fight, as they take a very active approach to combat, unlike Big Bosses that rely on movement/attack patterns. With Fake White and a melee character, I was constantly getting knocked back with little time to recover. Bring lots of items, and good luck.

1. Fake White: By far the most brutal, Fake White's attacks are non-stop and have considerable knockback too them, getting knocked down will sign you up for a round of 3-4 more knockdowns until you can finally recover and escape. The only safe option is to use a ranged character (and patch if they're a magic attribute). If you can't do that then use special skills then guard while waiting for the recharge, or bring lots of items and good luck.

2. Fake Purple: Far-reaching energy slashes put you in harm's way even when outside of normal melee range. Her knockback isn't as strong as Fake White's, but it's still worth avoiding attacking her from the front. All Fakes aside from White are much less active, and easier to get hits in between their attacks. Attacking them from the side or back works better, and waiting until after they unleash an attack helps.

3. Fake Green: Despite real Green Heart's wide range attacks, Fake Green doesn't pose much threat from these. Attacks that do land rarely knock you back, so getting in close won't stop you from doing damage.

4. Fake Black: Similar to Fake Green, Fake Black doesn't pose much of a knockback threat either.

All Dark Hearts are essentially the same boss, they hit relatively hard, but it's easy to predict and guard against every one of their attacks. The most annoying part of these fights is the camera.