After defeating Etreant at the bottom of the Fifth Stratum, you might imagine you’ve conquered the worstEtrian Odysseycan throw at you. The credits rolled—surelythisdungeon isn’t endless, right?
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Oh no,you are sorely mistaken. The Labyrinth still containsthree terrifying dragonsto vanquish before challenging thefinal super-boss on the 30th floor.
TheDrakeis the most brutal of this titanic trio. If you recruit the right adventurers, buy the right items, and use the right strategy, you’ll be able to bring it down.Who’s the dragonslayer now, Dohvakiin?
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Quest Requirements
For the Drake to spawn, you’ll first need to accept the questThe Azure Colossusfrom Valerie down at theGolden Deer Pub.She’ll offer once you’vefinished Proof of Heroism, and have alsoreached the Sixth Stratum.
Proof of Heroism, however, is plenty easy to clear. All you’re asked to do is find an adventurer’sFrozen Armon the ground near where you fought Cotrangl.
Head to floor 15and search the groundtwo spaces north of Cotrangl.If the Azure Rainforest’s boss has respawned, you may as well give it a rematch since you’re here.
Avoid using Fire magic or weapon buffs during the fight with Cotrangl, and there’s a chance it will drop a secret item—Sea King Ice.Sell it to Shilleka, and she’ll get the Arc Drawer in stock. It’s merelythe strongest bow in the game.
Once you’ve found the quest giver’s frozen arm, return to the Golden Deer Pub. Valerie rewards you with 30,000 ental and—more importantly—lets you take The Azure Colossus.
Preparing For The Fight
Don’t run off just yet—if you don’t have the right team, the Drake will shatter you. To beat this dragon, make sure you have aProtectorand aTroubadourin your party.
Also? You’llprobablywant your party to be Level 60 or higher.
The Protector
The main reason to bring a Protector is to avoid dying horribly toFrigid Breath.This attack targets the entire party, dealing massive ice damage. Like, 2,000+ damage—you can’t just tough this one out.
Surviving Absolute Zero consistently requireslearning Ice Wall to level 5 or greater.This Protector skill completely nullifies the first Ice attack each turn, and is the only way to consistently avoid a TPK.
If youwantto try tanking Absolute Zero, teach Immunity 10 to your Medic and bring a bunch of Ice Mist. While it’s possible you’ll avoid a TPK, I don’t recommend it. That strategy makes the fight significantly harder without any benefit.
If you don’t have enough skill points, head to the Explorer’s Guild andRest your Protector.Sure, it’ll cost 5 levels, but that’s still much quicker than leveling up a new adventurer.
While redistributing your Protector’s skill points, at minimumpurchase TP Up 5.In all likelihood, you’re going to need the Tech Points. Another handy skill is Provoke so that the Drake’s other attacks don’t target squishier members of the party.
The Troubadour
Just like the Protector, you’re bringing along a Troubadour all for the sake of one skill:Erasure.This song allows your Troubadour to strip pesky buffs off of your enemies.
Considering the Drake likes toregenerate while negating damage,Erasure is a must-include. The fight is probably impossible without it—I stopped counting after 30 wipes.
Fortunately, several more songs in the Troubadour’s repertoire will also make this fight easier. WhileBraveryis an all-around good skill for buffing your party’s combat damage, against the Drake you’ll also want to pick upBlaze.
Blaze adds the Fire element to all basic attacks by one party member. Buff up a Landsknecht or a Ronin and the Drake will start to melt.
Useful Items
Even with a skillful, high-level party this fight can turn south quickly. Make sure you stock up.
Requirements
Cross Seed
Adds the Fire element to all basic attacks by one party member (just like the Troubadour’s Blaze).
Strawberry
Restores 50 TP. Handy if the fight drags long!
Sap Wine, 3 Dry Peaches
Resurrects with about half health.
Axcela III
Oleander, 2 Shiny Seeds
Gives an adventurer 100 Boost Points. (Won’t work if they used their Boost on the same turn.)
If you have the spare cash, equipping aSapphireto adventurers in your front row will help them endure the Drake’s attacks. However, you’ll need to collect a whopping30 Azure Oresfrom monsters down in the Sixth Stratum before Shilleka can sell you one.
If you’ve beaten at least one dragon, then you may fight their weaker clonedown on the 30th floor.The clones have a chance to drop Volt Cores, which unlock Nectar III—resurrection at full health!
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Slaying The Drake
Got your party and inventory ready? Good, because even with preparation the Drake is tough enough tochallenge dungeon-crawling veterans.
No, seriously.Remember to quicksave before the fight.
To reach the Drake’s section of the Labyrinth, search thenorthwest corner of floor 16for a secret passage.This passage only appears if you’ve accepted The Azure Colossus quest.
Navigate your way through the secret passage to ascend back up from Sandy Barrens into the Azure Rainforest. Along the way you’ll fightSickwoodson floor 16, and threeTeralicheson floor 15. If you have any trouble with them, retreat—you need to level up more before fighting the Drake.
Once you’ve reached thenorthwest corner of floor 15,you’ll see the boss’s ominous black orb floating straight ahead.
Hit Points
Ice Breath, Glacial Regen, Iceblock, Icelance, Absolute Zero
Resistance
All Physical, Lightning
Status Immunity
Instant Death, Petrify
Status Resistance
Everything Else
Ice Fang, Ice Scale
The Drakebegins every fight with Ice Breath,dealing massive Ice damage to the entire party.Use Ice Wall,or you’ll regret it.
It repeats this trickevery four turns.So the first Ice Breath is on turn 1, then the next is on turn 5, then turn 9, turn 13, and so on.Always use Ice Wall on these turns.
During the turns in between, the Drake either clobbers you with its other attacks or puts up its buffs.
When the Drake uses its buffs, it almost always does so one after the other (unless interrupted by an Ice Breath turn). Both buffs are rough if left up.
If these buffs stay up, the fight will likely turn into a death spiral as the party begins to run out of TP and items.Remove them using Erasurethe first chance you get.
The Drake’s other attacks aren’t shabby, too.Icelancedeals massive physical damage to a single target, whileAbsolute Zerohits the whole party for Ice damage (and a 50% chance to inflict Instant Death).
Fortunately, Ice Wallalsoblocks Absolute Zero. If you’re confident in your damage-dealing, go ahead and spam Ice Wall to reduce the risk of really, really bad RNG.
To whittle down the Drake’s HP, either use Blaze Oil or cast Blaze on your melee damage dealers. The Alchemist’s Flame formula will do the trick, too.
With two damage dealers, a Protector, a Troubadour, and a Medic—always bring a Medic!—you’ll grind down the Drake and earn yourself a victory!
The Drake’s drops are the real prize here, since they unlock new gear. Valerie will also reward you with100,000 en for completing the quest.
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