Shadow Hearts 3 challenge update: In which I spend 75% of the post talking about the boss fight.
Onwards to Vilcabamba, Incan stronghold famous for its teleporters and floating elevators.
First, I clear out the second set of Lovecraft trials at this point. The only particularly tough one involves a variety of enemies ending with Malice Edna, all with greatly improved offensive stats so that they hit harder than they originally did unscaled. To make matters worse you have Tight Ring and Fake Ring. The durability isn't too special though, but I do have to grind this out boss-style.
Anyway, Vilcabama randoms are a bit of a step down. Of course, it helps that I am using Shania again but they're a step down even accounting for that. They're not jokes; they have a bunch of tricks which can add up if given too many turns: stock breaking, plenty of sanity-lowering (both SP Lowering and Panic), and lowering your defence so subsequent physicals kick ass. But the enemies don't make individually strong impressions and I rarely formed specific strategies for them. About the only really noteworthy thing is that unlike in most places, if I let a fight drag sanity could be an issue due to the ways enemies have of attacking that. Of course part of this is I didn't bother with the Blood Jewel and was using the Small Jug. Once again, Warning Device means the worst possibility for random fights can't materialise.
Before the boss fight I cap out La Sirene's skills, giving her the all-important Resurrection. It is a huge boon. (Current Breath, an M-radius Level 3 dark spell, is also very useful for the randoms, though a bit costly.)
Killer and Daoros (3 resets)
This one's a toughie, because there's two of them. And while their HP is about half what you'd expect from a "normal" boss at this point (i.e. their combined HP is normal), all their other stats are just fine. Damage is also a bit lower (mostly Daoros's) but nowhere near half as low. So they've got a lot of offence together.
Killer first. Vice Needle is pain, 2HKO except to fused Shania and inflicts Chain. Chain means that any attack used after it does significantly boosted damage. The status ends when the target gets a turn, but doubleturns, doubles, and combos make this deadly. Vice Needle seems to hit a narrow line like Rock Burst, so it only rarely gets both PCs but it sucks when it does. He also has a pair of physical attacks which do slightly less damage (borderline 2HKO to Johnny, low 3HKO Shania) that inflict either P-Atk Down or S-Atk Down. Each status cripples your ability to use attacks of that type for five turns, and can't be blocked or healed (like Slow). Fortunately they don't affect anything but offence; healing and buffing is unchanged. Finally, he has Red Bounce, which is relatively weak... 4-5HKO.
Killer uses his stock craftily. Alone, he'll use a boring combo of Vice Needle -> Flame Mine (the fire combo magic previously used by Ronwei), which borderline OHKOs Shania and obviously kills Johnny. However, as long as Daoros is alive, his game plan is different: save for a D-Combo (double followed by a combo into an immediate Daoros turn). This uses two stock but is extremelyd dangerous, as it means a Vice Needle followed a Red Bounce (only slightly less damaging than his normal double) followed by a Hail Solid from Daoros which WILL be fatal even if the PC has lived this long. Even worse, Daoros may double itself on this comboed attack which means four consecutive enemy moves. These turns are very scary.
Daoros is Gilbert's summoned pet which assists Killer. Statistically it's a bit worse off than Killer, and seems less overtly dangerous. Its three attacks are Apathy (usual fast-recharge MT status attack, this one prevents stock gain, not too big a deal), a 3-4HKO physical attack, and Hail Solid, which does similar damage to Killer's Red Bounce (i.e. pretty weak). It only hits aired targets so he'll normally only use it after a Killer Red Bounce or after a High Angle physical attack from Daoros proper, but if Shania's in a flying form he may cast it on her. This is good as it is weaker than his physicals, so having Shania in a flying form is actually subtly helpful here.
If Daoros sounds like a wuss compared to Killer, don't be fooled, as he has a nasty, nasty trick: he counters any positive status effects. If you cast a buff (including Entrance or elemental edges), he gets a free turn and uses it to cast one of his own. It'll be an Arc buff on both him and Killer. If it's Surge, Rage, or Gale, you're in deep trouble, as ~50% more damage even from limited sources gets you overwhelmed easily. It can be handled by a full team (though probably isn't desirable), but against this team? Yeah, no, not happening. Guess my first reset's cause, win nothing.
At first I am a bit despairing about this fight: as mentioned, each alone isn't quite as good as a normal boss (though Killer's fairly close), but together? Yeesh. Add in buff spoiling and I'm in real trouble. Fortunately Daoros has a big weakness: he can be poisoned. And you get Poison 2 in this dungeon. So I put that on Shania and we have a way to survive this madness; after only a few turns Daoros will fall and we're left with Killer, who alone is respectable but still more manageable than Jeb Niglas or Kerufe.
Strategy is fairly straightforward as such. Johnny uses Arc Cure often, defending if Shania doesn't need help. Raise Up -> Arc Cure double is handy if Shania falls. Shania uses physicals to poison Daoros (two successful landings of the status mean Deadly Poison which is 33%), Hard Hitting if stock destroying is useful, and she casts Resurrection if Johnny falls (this happens often) or Cure Plus if big singletarget healing is in order. Priority is of course on poisoning Daoros and just staying alive past that.
Once it's down to Killer, then buffs can be cast safely again. This is good because my party's offence needs to respond to what Killer does, and which stats of mine he decides to destroy (Arc Rage vs. Arc Surge). Aqua Edge on Shania can help if her going physical is an option (and it is the best overall option). Killer does need to be taken seriously and killing his stock is pretty handy of course (though not as crucial as for some bosses). If Shania gets both her offences dropped it's annoying but hey it means Johnny has to shine sometime!
I actually lose this battle once with Daoros dead, because I forget to heal Shania's sanity and right as I notice this, figuring ("oh I'll have Johnny do it before she goes berserk next turn"), Killer decides it's time to one-round a New Yorker and yeah I lose. Good times.
Accessories for this fight include Blood Jewel on Johnny (as usual) primarily because I'm less attached to his stock (stock goes away when Berserk kicks in even if the Blood Jewel saves him) due to Shania needing hers for Hard Hits, the usual defensive accessories, and Oracle Earrings for +20% MP and an SDef boost as filler. Maybe apathy blocking would be more valuable but I dunno. I go into the fight with full stock and don't use it very often so it's largely a non-factor.
Levels were 26 for both.
