Tales of Eternia Farah Solo: Cress & Arche [No Items/Hardcore/No Damage]

I wasn't sure how to approach this fight for a while but I finally got it. Arche may be like a tiger, but she can't beat a true horangi ;)





Strategy:
For accessories, I have the Derris Emblem and Faerie Ring equipped. These are just nice to have as always.

First things first, we have to get Arche out of the way. I can't play if she's casting spells on me. Arche can only use spells and she has access to:
-Eruption
-Fireball
-Freeze Lancer
-Indignation
-Ray
-Spark Wave
-Thunder Blade
Fireball, Freeze Lancer, Ray, and Spark Wave are her best spells as they are quite difficult to dodge (as usual). However, Arche is actually less threatening than most bosses that have these spells since she has no armor while casting nor does she insta-cast these spells. This means that Freeze Lancer and Fireball are actually dodgeable since I can see them coming. Each of her spells has a "range" of sorts. I can tell which spell she is using depending on where she is choosing to cast from. The most obvious one is Freeze Lancer. Arche will fly backwards to create a lot of distance in order to start casting this spell. That being said, if she's against a wall I can't tell what she's casting since she has no space to re-position.

The strategy I use to take out Arche is similar to my Rem strategy. Except this time, I have to dodge Cress instead of an orb. I use Eagle Rage-Palm Strike to try and get past Cress and attack Arche at the same time. Then, I use normal attacks to try and carry Arche to the wall. Once she gets to the wall, I jump attack her one last time to bounce her off the wall and get behind her. Next, I use Eagle Rage to try and get past Cress again. Depending on if Cress used Rising Phoenix or Spiral Destruction, I may have to dodge his Sonic Blades. If I'm in range for his Sonic Blade after those two artes, he will spam them so I have to get out of his range by either running or using Eagle Rage (I prefer running as Sonic Blade has a pretty ridiculous range). Of course, there's a lot that can go wrong with this strategy as kiting Cress around can be quite random and frustrating. For example, he might start running at me to use Spiral Destruction (he is very fast when he runs) or he might use Rising Phoenix instead of Sonic Blade when I expect him to use Sonic Blade as they both have pretty high range. Rising Phoenix in particular can really mess up the positioning of the fight if he's spamming it.

As for Cress himself, I played the 1v1 extremely safe. Engage with Eagle Rage and then knock him away with Chi. Once he gets below half-HP, he'll start using Dimensional Strike which counters this strategy. Once he starts using Dimensional Strike, I shift my focus to dodging this attack rather than being the one to engage first. I walk up to him slowly and then walk backwards when he's in range for Dimensional Strike in order to dodge it. If I get into range of him and he doesn't use Dimensional Strike or Rising Phoenix, I'll engage on him with Eagle Rage as this means he either has a melee attack or Spiral Destruction queued. If I get into his range and he uses Rising Phoenix instead of Dimensional Strike, I use Eagle Rage backwards to punish it. I should also note that using Maximum Burst when he's below half-HP is incredibly dangerous (unless used as a finisher) as this attack has a lot of end lag and will be instantly punished by Dimensional Strike.

BGM: Take up the Cross x For Achieve from Tales of the Rays