Septerra Core Boss Guide (Ver 1.0)
by Joylock (joylock@hotmail.com)

Jan 25, 2003
by Alan Chan (joylock@hotmail.com)

The Usual:
This document is mine. Please don't rip it off or take credit for it. That
being said, feel free to post it on any site you want, provided you a) don't
make any changes to it, or b) charge money for it. You don't even have to get
my permission to post it, but it would be nice if you emailed me and let me
know.

Why?:
Septerra Core is a pretty good console-inspired pc game by Valkyrie Studios and
published by Monolith (of Lithtech fame). A fairly old game, you can find it
nowadays in the 9.99 bargain bin in a two-pack along with the FPS Shogo.
Several good walkthroughs already exist, but none go into much detail about the
game's many boss fights, so after playing through the game I decided to write
this quite boss guide in my spare time. Most of the bosses are fairly
straightforward, but several have puzzle elements which might stump you. That's
what this guide is for.

Warning:
This guide contains spoilers, which I make no effort to conceal. Although I
don't discuss the plot itself, the identity of the bosses including the final
boss are given.

*************
*BOSS GUIDE*
*************

Holy Guard Sargeant:
Your first major battle in the game can be annoying since you're fighting three
Wind City holy guards using only a low-level Maya. The Sargeant can heal his
two soldiers or himself slightly, or attack you with a fire-based sword hit
which does increased damage. The soldiers, meanwhile, simply whack at you with
their swords. Kill the soldiers, then the sargeant with level 3 attacks. If you
find yourself getting killed, level up a bit by hunting wolves in the desert.

Statue of Draxx:
The Statue of Draxx is rather tough, taking reduced damage from your attacks
while spitting fire at your party and constantly summoning zombies to help it
out. The best way to defeat it is to use healing items on it, since the statue
is undead these will damage it quickly. You'll face many similar undead demons
as regular enemies throughout the game.

Araym and Duke:
You'll fight these two bounty hunters twice in quick succession after Bowman's
death. Araym himself only does minimum damage even when using Level 3 attacks
(he's only making a half-ass attempt at killing you since he's ostinately a
good guy) so take out the machine-gun wielding Duke first. Neither does all
that much damage, so as long as you're close to full health when going into
these battles these guys really shouldn't pose much of a threat.

General Selina:
This is your first fight against the Chosen themselves, but don't worry,
they're not anything to write home about. At the beginning of this fight,
Selina casts Barrier+All on herself and her two guards, making this battle more
difficult than it has to be (but not that difficult). The guards don't do all
that much damage, but you should kill them first with Level 3 attacks so you
can concentrate on Selina. Pound on her until she gives up. Selina herself can
do quite a bit of damage, especially when she uses her own Level 3 attack, so
be prepared to heal if necessary.

The Duke:
The Duke tries to intercept you when you attempt to leave Shell 4 for Shell 7
with Araym in your party. His two goons are the same bounty hunters you've been
fighting on the previous level, and two Level 2 attacks should do them in
(they'll probably cast barrier on the Duke, though). The Duke attacks with
grenades and napalm which hit all of your party members for a decent amount of
damage, but once you kill his helpers you should be able to pound him into the
ground without him being a significant threat.

Sonic Lava Device:
This will probably be your first truely challenging boss battle. This
bio-organic Chosen device consists of three tentacles that shoot fire at your
party members, plus a central orb which can't be attacked but which can spray
your entire party with lava or heal the tentacles with fire. Physical attacks
do negligent damage to the tentacles. The trick is to use Summon + Water to
summon Sedna and Pilak, doing considerable water-based damage to the tentacles
(one or two summons is all that you need to destroy each one). Have your two
best magic users use the summon attack, while the third party member uses core
runes to keep your Core level up.

Mining Helgak:
The final battle aside, this is one of the longest and most annoying fights in
the game. Since the mining helgak attacks so often (at least twice per round),
the first thing each of your party members should do is cast Barrier on
themselves. Earth Barrier is a little more effective but really isn't worth the
extra Core cost. You have to hit the Helgak's protective shell five times
before it will open and you can damage the creature's head. Attack the head as
soon as it opens, because the helgak will do double damage as long as the head
is exposed, as well as use a nasty Earth-based attack which hits all your party
members for major damage. Once the head is damaged, the protective shell will
go up and you'll start the process all over again. The best strategy is to have
Maya and your third party member attack the shell with level 1 attacks, and
have Badu smash the helgak head with his level 3 attack as soon as the shell
opens.

Note: If combat doesn't end even after the "beam stalks" explode, have a party
member shoot, use a bread, or perform any action on another party member to end
combat. This is a bug found in the unpatched 1.00 version.

Conner (1st Battle):
This is more of a puzzle battle than a straightforward combat. Conner sits on
his throne, protected by two turrets that use a variety of gun, beam, and
grenade attacks on your party. Conner himself cannot be harmed by your attacks.
The trick is to attack the turrets three times (use level 1 attacks), this will
cause them to spin around and fire on Conner. Once a turret fires on Conner
shoot it three times again or else it will spin back to its original position
and attack your party. Conner fires an energy wave that does moderate damage to
one party member, but he shouldn't be a problem as long as you keep the turrets
from firing on you.

Yellow Magi:
The leader of the three Magi is also the first one you face inside the Imperial
Palace. Whatever you do, do not attack him directly. If you do, he unleashs a
sonic shockwave that does major damage to your entire party. You can lessen the
damage with barrier and by wearing Earplugs, but there's a better way to defeat
him. His regular attack consists of summoning three slow moving balls of energy
that float towards your party and explode upon contact. Shoot the balls to push
them back towards the magi, where they will explode in his face doing damage
without provoking the shockwave attack. If you have Araym or Runner in your
party, be careful that they don't shoot the Magi by accident with their
multi-hit attacks.

Blue Magi:
The Blue Magi is vulnerable to water attacks, and since he is resistant to
physical attacks your best bet is to have your two best magic users summon
Sedna and Pilak while the third party member uses core runes to restore your
core. The Magi will attack by teleporting up to one of your party members and
slapping him for big damage. Since his attacks are pretty powerful, it's a good
idea to start the battle out by having each of your characters cast Barrier on
themselves.
The Magi also has an annoying trick where he disappears and summons three
lightning summoning spiked balls to fight for him.

Red Magi:
The Red Magi is probably the easiest of the three to defeat. He's vulnerable to
fire magic, but unlike his brothers physical attacks on him are just as
effective. Throughout the battle he'll summon three colored balls and an energy
shield that makes him invulnerable. When he first summons them the three balls
they blink in a specific order, you'll have to shoot the balls in that order to
drop the shield. If you shoot a ball out of order, the magi will hit you with a
high-damaging attack that affects your entire party. Since the magi cannot
attack when his shield is up, a good strategy is to have your two other party
members charge their attacks to level 3, then have Maya shoot out the balls and
let the two other party members hit the magi with their strongest attacks when
the shield drops. The Red Magi can cast flame spells or Slow on a single
character when his shield is down, but the damage done is not significant.

Three Magi:
All three of the Magi will gang up on you in the Emperor's throne room for the
big boss fight. Since the Magi do a decent amount of damage, have each of your
party members start out by casting Barrier on themselves. Only the blue and red
Magi will attack you, the yellow Magi will simply float behind them doing
nothing. As before, the blue Magi will slap a single party member will a strong
elemental attack, while the red Magi will fire energy blasts that hit all your
party members for moderate damage. The Magi all have very high damage
resistance, so fighting them straight on isn't the way to go. The trick to
beating the Magi is that they will damage each other when attacked. Shooting
the yellow Magi will release a sonic wave that does big damage to the red Magi,
while shooting the red Magi causes him to blast the blue Magi. So just shoot
the red Magi with level 1 attacks until the blue Magi explodes, then shoot the
yellow Magi until the red one explodes, and finally finish off the yellow Magi
who can't fight back.

General Balcaam:
Like Selina, Balcaam starts the battle assisted by two Chosen soldiers, and
begins by casting Barrier+All on himself and his men. Balcaam's attacks do
decent damage, so you should start the battle by having each of your characters
cast barrier on themselves. Besides his sword attack, Balcaam can also summon a
quartet of Chosen ninjas to attack one character. Balcaam can also cast Slow on
one of your characters. Use the same basic strategy as you did against Selina,
kill Balcaam's helpers and finally pound on Balcaam himself with level 3
attacks until he falls.

The Hellgod:
The Hellgod has very high defense, so your attacks won't do all that much
damage to him. Expect this boss fight to take a while. The Hellgod attacks you
with a variety of fire elemental attacks that hit either one character or the
entire party. The Hellgod can also attack a single character with its ear
tentacles. Because this will be a long battle, you'll want to cast a Fire
Barrier on each of your party members. Just patiently sit there hitting the
Hellgod with your level 3 attacks. This fight takes a long, long time and you
may have to recast Barrier on your characters towards the end. Patience is the
key, the Hellgod's attacks shouldn't do much damage as long as you have a
Barrier up, so just keep slugging him until he dies.

General Kaleb (1st Battle):
Kaleb is the last of Doskias' three Generals. Unlike Selina and Balcaam, Kaleb
will fight you alone without help from Chosen soldiers. He attacks you with
elemental sword strikes as well as normal sword attacks, both of which do
moderate damage.Use Barrier+All to reduce the damage from his attacks and cast
Slow on him to reduce their frequency. Since Kaleb fights without bodyguards or
protective spells like barrier, he should fall fairly quickly. Whack him with
level 3 attacks until he retreats.

Doomsday Generator (Secondary):
You'll encounter several of these in the Doomsday Rift. They've got a nasty
fire elemental attack that can do lots of damage to the party, so you'll
probably want to protect your party with a Fire+Barrier+All at the start of the
fight. They can't survive all that much punishment, so a few level 3 attacks
should kill them quickly.

Doomsday Generator (Primary):
These generators look like giant brains. There's one in each of the two
sections of the Doomsday Rift, and you'll have to destroy them to open the exit
to the next section. They're much tougher than the smaller generators,
attacking with energy beams as well as a black energy wave that does massive
damage to your entire party. The trick is to use Air+Barrier+All to reduce the
damage done to a managable level, then destroy them with physical attacks.

Doomsday Brain (1st Form):
As usually, cast Barrier+All on your party as soon as the battle begins. The
Doomsday Brain is divided into four quadrants, each quadrant is protected by a
metal plate which raises and lowers at intervals. You can only attack a brain
quadrant and a brain quadrant can only attack you when that quadrant's plate is
open. The quadrants mostly cast status-causing spells such as Curse or Slow on
you, but they can also attack with life drain on a single character. Each brain
quadrant will close up immedietely after attacking, and will open again when
all the other quadrants have acted. While you're fighting the brain quadrants,
doomsday tentacles will periodically emerge from from the center of the brain
and attack you with either an earthquake or a black energy wave. These attacks
hit all party members for moderate damage, so be sure to keep tabs on your
health. Use physical attacks and focus on a single quadrant until it dies, then
move on to the next available quadrant. The battle ends when all four quadrants
are dead, but you'll have to fight another boss battle immedietely afterwards.

Doomsday Brain (2nd Form):
Immedietely after destroying the Doomsday Brain's outer layer you'll enter into
a battle with the inner brain from which the doomsday tentacles emerge. This is
actually an easier fight, as the tentacles use the same attack pattern as
before yet you won't have to worry about the annoying status changing attacks
of the outer brain quadrants. Once again, cast Barrier+All on yourself to
reduce the damage your characters take. The doomsday tentacles can now cast
Black Hole in addition to the earthquake and black energy wave attacks, but it
doesn't do significantly more damage that the other attacks.

Draxx:
Although technically a boss, Draxx is essentially the same as the rest of the
undead demons you've been fighting throughout the game, just slightly tougher
and colored blue. Use healing items on him for a quick victory (2 cornicopias +
1 root should do the job). Like the other undead demons he'll summon zombies
and use a nasty fireball attack if you give him the chance. Fighting him with
normal attacks is not advisable since he takes reduced damage from physical and
core attacks.

Markham:
This is the first half of the two part battle with Princess Alisa and her
forces. After a short standoff, Markham will attack you along with two Chosen
soldiers. The soldiers are regular enemies and die quickly, so kill them first
with level 3 attacks. Markham himself is a supped-up version of the regular
mechanical Chosen soldiers. Destroy him with level 3 attacks, but note that he
can take quite a bit of damage. Try not to use any core energy in this fight,
because it will carry over into the next battle.

Princess Alisa:
Princess Alisa is assisted by two Chosen soldiers. Alisa herself fights with a
throwing discus remenescent of the one from Tron. Like the previous Chosen
battles with Selina and Balcaam this is a straightforward fight, just kill the
helpers then the boss. Alisa does a decent amount of damage so you can cast
Barrier+All if you want. She's got a few status-enhancing spells, but nothing
major. A surprisingly easy fight.

Conner (2nd Battle):
For the game's secondary villain, Conner ain't too bright if he makes his
throne out of an electric chair. This battle is MUCH easier if you had Led or
Grubb reactivate the power generator in the SE section of the prison. Kill his
two helpers with level 3 attacks, then concentrate on shooting the switch at
the back of the room. Five hits will flip the switch and electrocute Conner for
big damage. Repeat until dead. Conner's energy wave attack now damages all your
party members, so a Barrier+All and possibly a Cloak+All  would definately be a
big help. If you didn't turn on the power generator you can still kill Conner
with regular attacks, but it will take a long time since Conner still has a
very high defense and thus takes very little damage from your attacks.

Elemental Guardians:
 You'll face four of these ancient war engines in the ruins of Marduk's city,
each one associated with an element (Water, Earth, Air, and Fire). Each
guardian consists of a central cannon protected by two floating chariot-shaped
orbs. A power gauge consisting of three dots on the cannon will fill up as the
battle goes on, and once the gauge is completely full the cannon will attack
your entire party with an elemental attack strong enough to kill them all. The
cannon can also spend time each round by firing a big energy beam at one of
your party members while it's waiting to full charge up. Meanwhile, the two
orbs will heal the cannon as well as attack single party members with laser
beams and ramming attacks. Start out by casting an elemental barrier
corrisponding to that of the specific guardian on all your party members
(you'll need this to survive the cannon's blast). Follow up with Speed+All and
Cloak+All to make things easier on you. Proceed to destroy the orbs followed by
the cannon with level 3 physical attacks, healing and re-casting barrier as
necessary. As bosses go these guys can be pretty tough, so be prepared.

Flagship Shield Generator:
You'll fight this boss twice, once with Grubb, Runner, and Badu and once with
Lobo, Led, and Araym. The generators consist of four switches, four brains, and
a central generator. Shooting a switch will open up a brain chamber, allowing
you to attack the brains, but it also allows the generator to charge up with
energy. The more switches are open, the faster the generator charges up. When
the charge reaches full, the generator will attack your entire party with a
powerful energy blast. The generator also periodically attacks single party
members with small energy beams on its own without charging. When using Lobo's
party, the following strategy works nicely: When all of the characters have
filled their 1st attack bar, have Lobo use his TorsoSpin to flip all the
switches and expose all four brains. Immedietely have Led and Araym use
Summon+All to hit the brains and switches with Summon Bowman. This will do
decent damage to the brains while at the same time lowering the switches before
they can charge the generator. Repeat until the brains explode. Use a similar
strategy for Grubb's party, only use Runner's Heatseeker attack instead of
Lobo's Torsospin to initially flip the switches.

General Kaleb (2nd Battle):
This is the first part of the final battle, the second part being with Lord
Doskias himself. As before Kaleb attacks with elemental spells and with his
sword. Both attacks still only hit one party member at a time, and do only
moderate damage. However in this battle Kaleb has two new tricks up his sleeve:
he can summon up to two powerful undead demons to assist him as well as erect
an elemental shield which protects him from damage. The shield is resistant to
physical attacks but weak against core spells. A single blast of Destroyer
(Law+Chaos) should be sufficient to destroy the shield, but Kaleb will quickly
put it up again so you should attack him as soon as possible after dropping the
shield. Kaleb's a pretty quick guy, so you'll definitely want to cast Slow on
him as well as Speed+All on yourself to keep up. It wouldn't hurt to put up a
Barrier+All and a Cloak+All as well since the undead demons can do a decent
amount of damage to you. The best way to defeat Kaleb is to hit him with Summon
Bowman and Destroyer (Law+Chaos) if he's alone or Black Hole (Law+Chaos+Mirror)
if he summons the demons. Be sure to restore your core energy whenever it runs
low, since this tactic eats up core energy pretty quickly. If Kaleb stops
putting up his shield in order to attack you, by all means punish him with
level 3 attacks. Kaleb's shield is annoying, but Kaleb himself can only
withstand a moderate amount of damage (5 or 6 level 3 hits or shots of
Destroyer/Black Hole should suffice).

Lord Doskias:
You'll go into this battle immediately after your fight with Kaleb, so if
you're running low on health or core energy your first action should be to have
one of your characters use a Soul Stone to fully restore the entire party.
Doskias is a truely worthy final adversary, with incredibly powerful attacks
coupled with high endurance. Doskias fights with his own unique elemental
attacks which hit one character for big damage. All of his attacks are powerful
enough to kill you in one hit even if you're equipped with the best armor and
are at very high levels. For this reason you should cast Speed+All followed by
Barrier+All and Cloak+All as soon as possible if you want to survive this
battle for more than a couple of rounds. Even with a barrier Doskias can still
kill any of your characters in two hits, so be sure to always keep fully
healed. Don't be shy about using up your Elixirs and Soul Stones (and Kyra's
Tears if any of your characters die), since this is the final battle and you
won't need them afterwards. Doskias can also create two mirror duplicates of
himself to help him fight. When Doskias summons his duplicates, the three of
them will whack you with sword attacks which do light-to-moderate damage. The
duplicates can also heal the real Doskias. Each duplicate can be destroyed by a
single hit from any attack, no matter how weak. If you hit the real Doskias
while the duplicates are still alive, Doskias will use a special
Armageddon-style big bad final boss summon (cracking open the ground to Hell
and spewing out lots of magma plus ghostly skulls and zombies) on all your
characters for big damage. Sorting out the clones from the real Doskias is more
trouble than it's worth, so just hit them with a weak attack that hits all
enemies (Maya's HeatSeeker is ideal for this). You should be able to survive
Doskias' doomsday summon if your characters are protected by barrier, after
which you can just heal them back to full health with an elixir.

Copyright 2003 Alan Chan