NINJA GAIDEN II XBOX 360 PATH OF THE MENTOR-A TACTICAL GUIDE Authored by gelgel88 Hello every Ninja Gaiden II fans! I am writing this guide because it is my impression that there are a lot of good players out there who are simply intimidated by the sudden leap in difficulties of Mentor compared with Warrior, that they have given up playing. In my opinion, the true worth of this game can only be appreciated by completing Mentor. I rate myself as merely a competent player, so if I can do it, so can you. As it is a tactical guide, my emphasis is on combat. I would not give the location of items unless it is of tactical interest nor would I give a step by step description of the quest. The game is fairly linear in any case. Some of the tactics I stumbled upon them by my numerous blunders. Others I learned from the Internet. Whenever possible, I shall name the origins and authors of these tactics to show my appreciation of their efforts and to help readers to view these tactics which are mostly in video form. Version 1.1 I have corrected some of the order of appearance of the enemies and added some more refined tactics for the fights. *GENERAL TACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS* 1. Weapons For Mentor, I upgraded the Lunar, Falcon Talons, Dragon�s Claws and Tiger Fang(DCTF) and the Eclipse Scythe to the max. The DCTF upgrade is not necessary but I am a lazy person and the DCTF have a special place against werewolves. My money will go to the Lunar. One can finish the whole Path of the Mentor by using this weapon. Its combos are simple. In fact one will need to learn just the XXY, jump XXY which is a very powerful combos for large enemies, jump XXY (Izuna Drop) for humanoid enemies and Gajas, 360 ET/UT and one is good to go. It is the ideal weapon to eliminate van Gelfs and let one fights with a reach advantage which is very important in Mentor. 2. Ninpos Use your Ninpos!!! Team Ninja had designed this game to encourage ninpo usage. There are a lot more red essence leftovers during fights and found in chests than the first game. For Mentor I max out the Art of the Wind Blades first, no doubt about that. The Art of the Inferno is generally useful but the Art of the Piercing Void has a special place of life saving usefulness. 3. Conserve your items Use your hard earned essence for weapon upgrade only, at least initially. The combat can be viewed as a �Battle to the next safe point�. Use health items only for boss fights. Don�t spend more than you earn! 4. Use the architecture and the landscape Don�t plunge straight into a fight. The enemies are numerous and powerful and they have no qualm about using projectiles. Use building corners, stone boulders etc. to shield yourself and to channel enemies so that you are not attacked from all directions. 5. Invincibility frame(i-frame) In Mentor, enemies are numerous and their damage to Ryu is high. The enemies, if not stunned, will counter attack during mid-combos which will cause Ryu damage and more deadly still, goes into a staggering animation, during which he is entirely defenseless. Proper usage of i-frame is imperative to success in combat. The more common i-frames are Windpath(A+X),Reverse Wind, during Essence /Ultimate technique(ET/UT), Obliteration technique(OT), during ninpo casting and the various Flying Swallow technique. Other weapons will have their special i-frames. Don't forget the Guillotine Throw but this move is more useful in Master Ninja than in Mentor. Enough of the talking, let the quest begins! CHAPTER 1 *OUTSIDE MURAMASA�S SHOP* The storm breaks! IS ninjas!!! They remind me of the �Rage� virus infected zombies in the movie �28 Days� in their relentless attacks. Death in 10 seconds!! Tactics : Don�t be defensive, be offensive! Go immediately into a Flying Swallow with the Dragon Sword, then another, then another. If you are lucky and good, you can probably do 4-5 swipes and rid yourself of 2 or 3 ninjas. If they still give you troubles, consider using the building corner where the SAVE STATUE is. This will almost restrict the IS ninja to fight you one on one and limit the number of incendiary shuriken(IS) that can be thrown at you. I notice that a lot of people are having issues with the IS ninjas. They are more of a problem in Master Ninja than in Mentor. You won't get to fight a lot of them until Chapter 8 and again in Chapter 11 where you face the upgraded version but by then you should have decent weapons and health bar and enough essence to stock up on health items. In my opinion, the Falcon Talons' Flying Swallow Izuna Drop is THE anti-IS ninja combos. The A+X Windpath offers a fairly long i-frame and helps you turn from defensive to offensive. It will jump you close to an enemy within range and if you can couple this with a shuriken stun, you are in business. Even if you cannot, this move brings you within range for the Falcon Talons' Flying Swallow Izuna Drop, the Lunar's XXY Izuna Drop, the Dragon Sword's Flying Swallow and the Guillotine Throw. The only problem is that with so many shuriken and explosions on screen, the poor CPU is sometimes overworked and may not register you input. If nothing works, at least hold block and dash. If done right, the explosion will simply guard break. Even if the explosion happens outside your i-frame, the damage caused is not of Game Over seriousness. The most important thing to remember is not to lose your cool and allow your anxiety or frustration gets the better of you. *OUTER SANCTUM* 4 Rocket ninjas will appear. Since this is a straight alleyway, the rockets can be fairly accurate. Although you can stun one ninja with shuriken to stop him from firing, there is no way to stop four. The Flying Swallow will be a death trap with Ryu being blasted like a human cannonball. Tactics : My suggestion would be to quickly dash through the gate to trigger the enemies then dash back to the SAVE STATUE corner and charge a UT. Wait for the enemies to follow you. As they come round the corner, usually one at a time, because of the proximity of Ryu, they will drop their rocket launcher and try to attack with their sword. You can slice them to pieces with the prepared UT. Easy and above all, safe. One word of caution. In Warrior, a common technique would be to break the wooden barrels near the gate for essence and use them to charge UT for those hapless Black Spider ninjas as they rush through the gate. These Rocket ninjas are much smarter. They will remain outside the gate where your UT cannot reach them and shoot their rockets through the open gate which will definitely reach you. Blast their cursed souls!! *INNER SANCTUM HALLWAY* Kick down the door, dash in and a group of Tac ninjas will show up. You know, those ninjas with MP5. They are a comparatively easy lot to deal with. The main aim here is not to lose too much health while finishing them off. There is a chest with blue essence here. If your health is reasonable, I would suggest that you leave it alone as a reserve. There are many tough fights ahead and you can always come back for it. Now quickly run-jump towards the gap on the floor! Why quickly, you may ask. Because 4 Rocket ninjas will turn up and you cannot afford to let them establish themselves into a firing position. Tactics : There are 2 ways to go about it. The hero�s way will be for you to wall run across the gap, hopefully fly swallow one of the Rocket ninja and fight it out. At any time if you pass beyond the left wall, you will trigger another group of Tac ninjas to join in the fight. Even if you win the fight, your health will be seriously depleted. On my second play through, I find out that if you cut off their left arm, they will continue firing their rockets single handed! The other way is tedious but safe. Quickly jump down the gap. Go towards the side where the Rocket ninjas are lining up above. Now use a vertical wall run and at the apex of your run, throw some shuriken. These will hit the ninjas and about 100 hits will kill one. WHERE IS THE WINDMILL SHURIKEN WHEN YOU NEED IT!! Don�t go near the other side because the rockets can reach you there. *ENGINE ROOM* You need to fight through 3 groups of Tac ninjas before you can arrive here. Outside the door there is a chest with your very first Herb of Spiritual Life. Treat it like gold! Now kick open the door and dash back round the corner to charge UT. If you are quick, your UT will be ready for the Tac ninjas who rush through the door. After finishing off these suckers, wall run to the next catwalk then go up the stairs and ��� MORE ROCKET NINJAS!!! Tactics : Now is a good time to use the Art of the Inferno ninpo. You don�t really want to die here with the SAVE STATUE almost within reach.The Herb is needed later on and shouldn�t be used. If you are feeling brave, you can jump over the gap which will trigger a group of Tac ninjas. Don�t fight here but quickly block dash towards the narrow passage. Dash all the way to the SAVE STATUE and finish off the Tac ninjas there. The oil tanks will shield you from the rockets. The downside is, you have to go back and whack those Rocket ninjas before the SAVE STATUE will light up. SAVE GAME *THE STEPS BEFORE CHERRY BLOSSOM STAIRWAY* You arrive at this spot after introducing 3 groups of Tac ninjas to your Dragon Sword and obtaining the Life of the Gods(LOTG). There is a chest on a sampan down by the stream which will either give yellow essence or Mutant bats. This will happen throughout the entire game. I shall bring up a controversial subject here. This is a safe FARMING spot. As you descend these steps, 2 Tac ninjas will run round the corner whom you can safely kill with a UT for 700 essences. And they will keep re-spawning for as long as you like. Whether to farm or not is entirely up to you. After you kill off the 2 Tac ninjas, you turn round the corner to encounter more Rocket ninjas up on a platform. Stun with your shuriken, get up on the ledge quick as you can and use Windpath to reach them. And they are all yours. *LOWER CATWALKS* There is a chest down there that contain some blue essence but I would suggest that you deal with the Rocket ninjas who appear across the gap first. You need to swing quickly across the gap on the floor to get close to these ninjas. Guillotine Throw them against a wall will de-limb followed by obliteration. The next one is a 2-bars swing and you really have to be quick. Now you can climb down the stairs. This is another Farming spot. 4 Tac ninjas and 1 Multi-rocket ninja will re-spawn for 1500-2000 essences per batch. SAVE GAME *ROOFTOP BALCONY* 4 Tac ninjas and 2 Rocket ninjas appear to make your day and my impression is that they will re-spawn 2 more times. Tactics : As soon as you hear a click sound behind you quickly dash round the shrine�s corner to charge a UT. The building will shield you from the rockets while you wait for the Tac ninjas to come round. With the leftover essence do lots of on-land-charge(OLC) ET/UT for the rest. If possible, limit your fighting to that enclosed area. Stun the Rocket ninjas with shuriken then hack them to pieces. Be on your guard until the cut scene appears. The shrine where you obtain the Lunar has a chest containing red essence. Unless your Ki slots are fully depleted, I would suggest you leave it unopened. SAVE GAME *FIRST MURAMASA STATUE* You arrive here after fighting through a group of Tac and Multi-rocket ninjas at the cherry blossom bridge, numerous Tac ninjas in the courtyard of the guest house and finally 2 Tac ninjas before the Muramasa statue. Tactics : Multi-rockets are twice as annoying. It is an area-effect weapon, meaning that unless you dodge, it will not miss unlike the single rocket which will occasionally miss. These ninjas will keep on firing their rockets unless they lost a limb. There is a moment�s delay from the last explosion and the next firing, meaning that as you draw nearer to them, the more rapid they will fire. To fight them properly, you need to dash in a zigzag pattern. At a distance, the rockets are harmless since you already dash away when the rockets land. As you draw nearer to these ninjas, you must judge your attacking range. The best sequence is to lure them into firing, dash, stun with a shuriken, terminate. The best combos to use is the Falcon Talons� Flying Swallow Izuna Drop(>AYXY). Now is the big decision � which weapon to upgrade? First upgrade would cost 15,000 essences, second upgrade is a staggering 35,000 essences. Whatever you do, please remember to go back and charge up your Ki slots as once you jump down the well, there is no coming back. *UPPER METAL CATWALKS* 2 Rocket ninjas will show up on the other side. If you wall run now, it is almost a certainty that you will be blasted back. What you should do, is quickly dash down the slope and kill the nearer ninja with shuriken by rapid jump and throw. The further ninja you cannot reach with your shuriken but with only one ninja, it would be safe to wall run across. There is a chest down here which will contain either yellow essence or Ghost Fish. And you hope that it is Ghost Fish so that their blue essences can replenish your health. Why? Because there is a tough battle up ahead. *SKY CITY WALKWAY* AS you land on the walkway, turn left towards the body. If you turn right, the fight will start immediately with 2 Multi-rocket ninjas placing far apart from each other and you will be caught in a cross-fire. If you turn left, at least all the enemies appear in one direction initially. Your enemies are Tac ninjas and 2 Multi-rocket ninjas and they will re-spawn. The worst bit is, there is no cover. Your health will drop rapidly and you will die ��� rapidly! My suggestion is fight to satisfy your honor and when your health is down ��� RUN!! Run towards the end of the walkway to trigger the cut scene and your health will also be miraculously restored to its full. *SKY CITY OFFICE BUILDING* IS ninjas will rush towards you and to wash away your shame, you also rush towards them which will actually set you up for a nice Lunar Izuna Drop on one of them. Hopefully your effort will not be defeated by the game for it is LOADGAME time!! Sometimes, after the load game, Your Izuna Drop will be successfully, sometimes not. SAVE GAME *BAMBOO ROOM* After polishing off 2 hordes of Tac ninjas and obtaining the CRACKED KEY CARD, you arrive here by way of the elevator shaft. The enemies you face will be another bunch of Tac ninjas with one lone Rocket ninja in the next room. Now is the time to test out your skill with the Lunar 360 OLC ET/UT and witness its power. There is a SAVE STATUE where the Rocket ninja is, but I would suggest that you kill off the last batch of Tac ninjas upstairs first before saving. SAVE GAME # BOSS BATTLE : RASETSU # Ideally you should go into this battle with 2 Herbs of Spiritual Life, 2 Grains of Spiritual Life, 1 Devil Way Mushroom, 1 Life of the Thousand Gods(LOTTG), full Ki slots and full health. You do not spend any essence to buy more health items because money is tight. Rasetsu will use IS ninjas to help him. Tactics : As soon as the fight starts Rasetsu will charge you. There is no time to charge even an ET, so don�t try it. In stead you also charge him and give him an aerial XXY with the Lunar. Most times the Y will connect. Now watch out for the IS ninjas and their shuriken. Utilize the i-frame of block and dash(Reverse Wind) and only jump rarely. If you see incendiary shuriken sticking out on Ryu, block and dash, don�t jump. For even with holding block, Ryu will get himself blown away from his jump. You will see and hear a lot of explosions but keep a cool head and don�t panic. While dodging, don�t dodge yourself into a corner because Rasetsu already occupies a lot of space and if there is a ninja near by, there is simply no room for Ryu to move. Wait for the right moment to either Izuna Drop the IS ninjas or do a quick XXY combos on them. Counter-attack if they use melee attacks but don�t stand still. They will grab if you are stationary for even a heartbeat. I have heard that a simple X,X with the Lunar will de-limb. If the IS ninjas lost a limb, they can only throw ordinary shuriken which cannot cancel a UT charge while an incendiary shuriken can. When there are essences floating about, do an OLC ET/UT but don�t rush yourself. The essence will remain for a reasonable time but Mentor is delighted in punishing those who don�t watch the environment. If you have no opportunity to perform ET/UT, do an aerial XXY on Rasetsu. The time I got through this fight, I actually had performed no ET/UT and to my surprise, killed Rasetsu with a Lunar aerial XXY while he still had 15% health left. Use your Art of the Inferno ninpo on either Rasetsu or the IS ninjas but I would suggest that Rasetsu takes priority. Once Rasetsu dies, the fight is over. Don�t use ninpo immediately at the start. It appears that the ninpo will take away more health when Rasetsu is injured. The moment to unleash your ninpo is when you have use up all your health items while Rasetsu still get 30-40% health left. Hurray!!! The sucker bites the dust��� FINALLY!! END CHAPTER. CHAPTER 2 *FIRST MURAMASA STATUE � CHAPTER 2* As you make your way down the path, 2 sorry bunch of Tac ninjas will attack you. After sending them to their maker, you descend to the castle gate entrance. In stead of the annoying Ninja dogs in Warrior, you get hordes of Tac and Rocket ninjas. Kill them all!! Enjoy your moment of glory until you reach the SAVE STATUE behind the Clan Chief House. SAVE GAME *CLAN CHIEF HOUSE* If your health is still reasonable, I would suggest that you do the next bit first. Go up the house patio and you will encounter some Tac and Rocket ninjas. By now you should be familiar with the �bait and hit� tactics. Dispatch the Tac ninjas first around the house corner, then stun the Rocket ninjas with shuriken followed by whacking. Now go inside the house to get the Falcon Talons. There are only Tac ninjas present, so who is going to stop you. And if you are a good boy, you should have enough essence to upgrade the Talons immediately. *THE FRONT COURTYARD* There are two stairs leading down to the front courtyard. You can run-jump down the stairs in front of the Clan Chief House, transcend the courtyard and Izuna Drop one Multi-rocket ninja at the bottom of the hilly stairs before one can say BOO! Unfortunately the LOADGAME monster will rear its ugly head here. There is a continuous string of LOADGAMES which make the game unplayable. So it is better to use the other stairs. As you descend into the courtyard, a bunch of Tac ninjas will attack. Kill them all around the big tree while remaining shielded from the Multi-rocket ninjas. Now stun and kill those Multi-rocket ninjas at the bottom of the stairs. As one is killed, another Multi-rocket ninja will run down the hill and one Tac ninja will jump down the wall on the other side of the courtyard. The Multi-rocket ninja won�t fire until he reaches the bottom of the stairs, so stick close to this area. Concentrate your effort on the Multi-rocket ninjas as they can rapid fire from close range. I believe there is a total of 6 Multi-rocket ninjas. When they are all killed, it is a simple matter to dispatch the rest of the Tac ninjas. ANY MORE! NO? After the cut scene, you will have THE ROD OF TRIAL! *SECOND MURAMASA STATUE � CHAPTER 2* Make your way up the hill to encounter more Tac ninjas. There is a pair of Rocket ninjas up on the first set of towers and a pair of Multi-rocket ninjas on the second set of towers. There is also a SAVE STATUE in front of the Muramasa Statue. SAVE GAME *CASTLE ROOFTOP* AS you go up the hill, you will meet more mixed groups of Tac and Multi-rocket ninjas. Simply kill them all with the �bait and hit� and the �dash and stun� technique. When you jump on the castle rooftop, 3 IS ninjas will join the party. Now that you should have the Falcon Talons at least at Lvl 2, show them your skill with the Flying Swallow Izuna Drop. Jump down the gap on the roof to kill off some Rocket ninjas. SAVE GAME # BOSS BATTLE : RASETSU � PART TWO # Again Rasetsu will use IS ninjas to help. As they say, they come in the same old way and we kill them in the same old way. Only this time, Rasetsu may allow you to charge up an ET. Lunar plus ninpo will get the job done. Also it would be better to use ninpo against the ninjas first since you still have to kill all the IS ninjas after Rasetsu is dead. Might as well get some quick essence for an ET/UT. For me at least, this boss battle is not particularly daunting but rather the grunt battle afterwards. You have to fight 2 Tac ninjas and 4 IS ninjas before you can reach the SAVE STATUE. With your health down from the boss battle, take special care with the 4 IS ninjas. After dispatching the 4 IS ninjas, cut open a paper door to see a SAVE STATUE. SAVE GAME *BALCONY ABOVE THE GOLDEN DRAGON ROOM* There is a left and a right balcony here. As you wall run across, 2 Rocket ninjas will appear on each balcony. Quickly kill off one with an Izuna Drop, then tear your way into the main room through the paper walls. Don�t tear all the paper walls down if possible, since they act as a shield against the rockets which can come from both balconies. Finish the fight and after you enter the dragon�s mouth, you will find a SAVE STATUE. Since these two SAVE STATUES are so close to each other and the fight in between is not particularly difficult, your health is probably still quite intact. Don�t waste the full health restore function here but rather use the previous statue to save your game. *CASTLE PENTHOUSE* Fight your way through Warlocks, Tac and Rocket ninjas, and finally 3 IS ninjas to arrive outside your father�s door. Downstairs, there is another SAVE STATUE and a MURAMASA STATUE through a mini-trapdoor. Prepare yourself, then enter into your father�s room for a boss battle. SAVE GAME # BOSS BATTLE � GENSHIN # Genshin is a purist. No projectiles use what so ever! Bless his soul! However he is using IS ninjas for help. Tactics : When the fight starts, move away from Genshin and wait for the IS ninjas to appear. Quickly Izuna Drop one of them and move into position for another. I find that an upgraded Falcon Talons has a high success rate for the Flying Swallow so if I want to do an Izuna Drop, I usually choose the Falcon Talons. Avoid Genshin for the time being. If the IS ninjas become too troublesome, just flame them with your Inferno ninpo. There seems to be only 4 of them, so it shouldn�t take long. Now position yourself at a medium distance from Genshin while holding block. This will usually lure him into a Shadow Rush or Flying Swallow attack. Simply block and dash, then quickly XXY with the Lunar. The Y which is an overhead smash will usually connect even if the XX misses. Dash away and reposition yourself once again. It is a small arena, so avoid the room edges otherwise Genshin will punish you there. If you are real quick, you can attack Genshin just after his 2-hits and 4-hits combos before he recover. But it requires precise timing. Otherwise you can hurt him a little but he will hurt you a lot with his counter-attack. If he goes into his whirling blade attack, dodge like hell! Before you know it, the fight is over. END CHAPTER. CHAPTER 3 *TIME SQUARE SOUTH* 4 Green van Gelfs make their appearance. They are the flying version that spit fireballs. They will re-spawn as you kill them, so the total to kill are 8 or is it 10? The number of enemies I give throughout this entire guide is merely my impression of that encounter. I didn�t actually count them. The game is quite sneaky that even with the Karma counter on and Ryu had done his Chiburi move, it sometimes will spawn one or two enemies behind your back and catch you totally by surprise. Tactics : Two weapons and two combos are supreme against the van Gelfs. Falcon Talon�s >Y, Y and the Lunar�s 360 ET. Why do I not say 360 UT? Because the UT is an overkill and the time difference between charging an ET and an UT is the difference between killing your van Gelfs and GAME OVER. (I learned these from reim at Iberians NG realm. There is a very nice demonstration video showing how these are done.) I use both weapons to good effect in Warrior but here in Mentor, the van Gelfs appear to be much more aggressive. The Falcon Talons is an up close and ersonal weapon and it is simply too risky for me. Whereas with the Lunar, with your back turn away from the van Gelfs which happens anyway, the camera being what it is, they usually allow you to charge an ET before attacking. The Purple van Gelfs won't attack with their Purple Fireballs and Purple Fire Breath if they are at your back which is quite a blessing but the Green van Gelfs will still spit fireballs at you. Luckily they are not too accurate. With just one solid hit, the Lunar ET can kill all versions of van Gelfs. If you are lucky, 2 van Gelfs will die at once. Sometimes the van Gelfs will keep in the air, shooting fireballs at you and refuse to come down and fight. If it happens, use the broken yellow taxi as cover and shoot them down with an Lvl 2 charged arrow. *FIRST SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 3* After the Green van Gelfs, exterminate first one mixed group of Tac and Multi-rocket ninjas. Make your way up the stairs, offing Rocket ninjas and Tac ninjas along the way until you reach the first SAVE STATUE in Chapter 3. This is a pivotal moment because many say that once you reach this spot, you can complete Mentor!! SAVE GAME *SECOND SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 3* Shoot lots of Mini-dragons on the rooftop. Approach the zip-line and 3-4 Rocket ninjas will appear from the opposite rooftop. Their rockets are not very accurate from such a long distance, so feel safe to kill them with Lvl 2 charged arrows. Take the zip-line to the other rooftop and be surprised to find a bunch of Rocket ninjas huddling in a corner. Take them out of their miseries. Jump down to encounter more Rocket ninjas. Since the SAVE STATUE is here, you kill them without a care in the world. SAVE GAME *THIRD SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 3* Jump down the building and practice your Izuna Drop on a bunch of Tac ninjas. Approach the sewer entrance and a lone Yellow van Gelf will attempt to jump on you after the cut scene. This Yellow van Gelf is the upgraded version of the Green van Gelf but it still dies quickly under the Lunar 360 ET. Then a whole bunch of Purple van Gelfs will come out to make an acquaintance with your Lunar. Now jump down the hole and see a SAVE STATUE. SAVE GAME *FOURTH SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 3* Purple van Gelfs, Green van Gelfs, Yellow van Gelfs, loads and loads of them will appear. If they keep staying in the air, you can kill them with an Lvl 2 charged arrow to the head with one shot. Just be aware of their fireballs. Sometimes they will fly nearer and nearer and will try to land on you. This move is unblockable, so listen carefully to the sound made by its flapping wings. Make your way to the next SAVE STATUE. SAVE GAME *SECOND MURAMASA STATUE � CHAPTER 3* Make your way to the second Muramasa Statue while killing off 2 Purple van Gelfs, 4 Tac ninjas and 1 Rocket ninja. Now you smell something sweet amongst the sewage. INCENDIARY SHURIKEN!!! They are just beyond the door! Kick open the door and you will encounter 4 IS ninjas and 2 Explosive Archers. Tactics : If you attack the IS ninjas on the upper landing, probably with an Izuna Drop, you will most likely drop into the sewer below and Purple van Gelfs will spawn. You won�t enjoy fighting IS ninjas coupled with van Gelfs in close combat while explosive arrows rain down on you from above. A better tactics would be to back yourself quickly out the door, jump down the broken stairway and wait for the IS ninjas to follow you. They will usually follow you one by one which make them easy meat. Get back to the door and you will see the Explosive Archers doing a funny running animation as if trying to follow you. Just kill them with charged arrows. You can of course fight the van Gelfs in the sewer or you can quickly climb up the ladder to the other side before they spawn and attack. Now you can simply shower the van Gelfs down below with incendiary shuriken and blow them to pieces. *LOWER SEWERS* As you descend the ladder, you can turn left and enter another sewer after blowing up the ventilation fans. There are IS ninjas and Explosive Archers present. Although they will shoot their arrows, the IS ninjas are caught in a running glitch. With your newly acquired incendiary shuriken, you�ll have little problem killing them. There is a chest here with the Grains of Spiritual Life or if you have already max out on this item, an equal amount in yellow essence. By turning right, you will make your way to the next SAVE STATUE. You will encounter one group of IS ninjas after you cross the blown out fans and 2 more at the SAVE STATUE and some Mutant bats. SAVE GAME *FINAL SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 3* When you Bird Flip up the vertical subway car, 3 Explosive Archers will shoot down at you. Dispose of them quickly by any means you like. There is a chest here with red essence. Wall run across to the next cavern and Purple Van Gelfs will appear. After dispatching those, jump down to the next area to meet Purple van Gelfs and an entire floor of Skeleton Bugs. These bugs are very weak and a Lunar UT with flame ring will kill 4-6 of them. Use the essence to do Lunar 360 ET/UT on the van Gelfs. Be careful of the Skeleton Bugs though. First, their leaping attack if hit home is very damaging, sometimes even cause instant death from a partially depleted health bar. Second, they can crawl very fast, so choose the landing place for your OLC carefully. 3 Rocket ninjas and a group of Tac ninjas will appear near the Muramasa Statue. Kill them off and you arrive at the final SAVE STATUE of Chapter 3. SAVE GAME Across from the SAVE STATUE is the first portal to the Test of Valor(ToV). Personally I don�t find these ToVs to be very enjoyable at Mentor level and one can certainly finish Mentor without doing any trial. I�ll simply give the enemies present but shall skip the tactical part. The enemies for ToV 1 are Fiend ninjas, Fiend IS ninjas and Fiend Warlocks. *LOWER SUBWAY NORTH* Jump down to the subway and rush towards the subway car. Tac ninjas will appear on the ground while 2 Rocket ninjas will start shooting at you from the subway car. Avoid the Tac ninjas if possible and quickly fling your incendiary shuriken at the Rocket ninjas. Once they have their arms blown off, the rocket barrage will stop. Wall run up into the subway car, dispatch these one-arm ninjas and let the Tac ninjas follow one by one. Kill one quickly and use the essence to ET/UT the rest. When the Tac ninjas are no more, 2 Rocket ninjas will spawn at the other end of the tunnel and are easily deal with. I would suggest that you jump back to the SAVE STATUE to save your game. What comes next is one hell of a fight!! Jump down from the other end of the car and you will be greeted by 4(?) Purple van Gelfs and 2 Green van Gelfs. They will re-spawn. My impression is, the total of kills is 12. All your previous skills gained from fighting them in this Chapter will be needed. Your aim here is to finish the fight without using any health items or too much health depletion. Once the area is clear, you are plunged immediately into a boss battle. # BOSS BATTLE : GIGADEATH # Many consider this boss to be the most annoying of all. There is actually a special technique for him. (Shinobier at Iberians NG realm has a very nice video showing this technique. He uses the Dragon Sword which is less effective in this situation than the Lunar) Tactics : As soon as the battle starts, immediately charged an Lvl 2 arrow. You can aim it but actually the timing is that when you shoot the arrow, most times it will catch Gigadeath full in the face even if you just let fly. Quickly recharged another arrow and shoot Gigadeath again, hopefully in the face as it commences to destroy the pillars. Now immediately jump to your right and charged a Lunar 360 UT. This UT will not harm Gigadeath but simply utilize the particularly long i-frame of the Lunar 360 UT to prevent Gigadeath from harming you. As it travels down the tunnel, quickly follow it part of the way and charged another arrow. As it turns around, give it another arrow full in the face. From this point on, many things will happen. It may send out its little metal fishes which you can destroy with the Lunar YYYY, leaving a lot of useful essence behind or it may shoot some blue electric balls at you, in which case quickly block and dash. It may send a blue Death Mask at you. Although you can jump away, the safest is to use ninpo because the sneaky bastard very often will send a wave of its metal fishes behind the Death mask and even if the Death Mask doesn�t catch you, the fishes will. Use ninpo also when it is almost upon you and there is no time even for an ET. When it turns upside down, it is the moment to do serious damage. One well timed Lunar 360 UT will take away a large chunk of its health. Remember that it is the Lunar that dealt out most of the damage not the arrows. On top of that, it is a lot safer to charge Lunar 360 ET/UT than arrows. Many a time when you are charging arrows, Gigadeath will send its metal fishes at you. By the time you come out of the charging animation, those fishes will reach you and done damage. Whereas if you are charging Lunar and the fishes come, there is always time for an ET which is quite adaquate to kill all the fishes. Between your arrows and your Lunar, it doesn�t take long before Gigadeath will turns belly up for you to obliterate. END CHAPTER. CHAPTER 4 *FIRST SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 4* As you travel along the tunnel, you will be attacked by Tac ninjas and Rocket ninjas. They are almost like old friends now, don�t they? When you reach the station platform, Yellow and Purple van Gelfs will appear. The Yellow van Gelf is very agile and very powerful, so you may want to lure one back into the tunnel to finish it off. Clear all the van Gelfs and you can go up the stairs to the SAVE STATUE. SAVE GAME *SECOND SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 4* At the top terminal, a vast horde of Tac ninjas will attack you. As you try to exit the terminal, Rocket ninjas will show up. Then you need to dispatch 2 more Tac ninjas on the stairs before you can finally exit the God forsaken place. As soon as you step onto the street, Ninja Dogs will arrive. Finish them off with some ninpo and fast combos. Clear the next area of 4 Warlocks and you will arrive at the next SAVE STATUE. Look down the street, there is a chest with red essence hidden behind some oil drums. To get the essence, you need to whack 4 IS ninjas. SAVE GAME *THIRD SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 4* Climb the ladder to a derelict highway. Look behind you to see another derelict highway below you. Jump down and to your right, there is a chest with a TALISMAN OF REBIRTH! Get it but don�t equip it. I shall tell you why later. Continue your journey by fighting off Mini-Dragons and Purple van Gelfs until you climb up onto the Brooklyn Bridge. Yellow and Purple van Gelfs will be there for your pleasure. Climb another ladder to reach the SAVE STATUE. There are some Mini-dragons there which you can kill or you can skip. SAVE GAME # BOSS BATTLE : BLIND GIANT OGRE # This boss is using Tac ninjas as minions. Tactics : This battle is not difficult but you need to be patient. Simply bash his legs and if he sticks out his jaw, bash that too for extra damage.All his moves can be blocked. It is safer to use some short and powerful combos like the Lunar XXY, XXY then hold block and wait for his attacks. They are mostly Ground Pound followed by a Ground Sweep. If you are blocking, they will not harm you. Once he has done that, it is back to the bashing again. Sometimes he will do a Super Ground Pound which can throw you in front of him. If this happens, quickly dash back behind him because he may do a scream which can kill instantly. The Tac ninjas you can mostly ignore. They are happy to remain on the sideline firing their submachine guns. The bullets will do minimal damage but they can stun you during mid-combos. What you don�t want to happen is while you are stunned, the big sweetie decides to Ground Pound or Ground Sweep. After firing off their guns, the Tac ninjas will remain quiet for a certain period of time. It would be safer to block all bullets and wait for an opportune moment to attack. *FOURTH SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 4* After the cut scene, Green van Gelfs will attack. This fight can be quite annoying when the game decides to keep them in the air and simply shoot fireballs down at you. If it turns out to be too unfair, you can always run inside the Museum. Inside the Museum there is a SAVE STATUE and plenty of good stuffs. The portal for ToV 2 is on the other side and the Silver Xbox which replenishes health is here too. The Silver Xbox is much more important in Mentor than in Warrior. Enemies to fight here are Tac ninjas and although there are a lot of them, it shouldn�t be a problem. Enemies for ToV 2 are Skeleton Bugs and Chain-saw Robots. This trail is certainly doable without item use. The reward is a Talisman of Rebirth but if you have kept the one obtained earlier, it will give 40,000 essences which is the price of buying a talisman at Muramasa�s. Now you can relax a bit about money. SAVE GAME *FIFTH SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 4* As you exit the Museum, your first enemies are 3 Rocket ninjas. Once you reach the Torch of Liberty Room, another group of Tac and Rocket ninjas will show up. A lone Purple van Gelf will fall through a window to give you the exit from this room. It is still a long way to the next SAVE STATUE and you are bound to get hurt. When you jump down from this window, do remember that you can use a vertical wall run to come back. Whenever your health is low, come back to the Museum to access the Silver Xbox to replenish your health. You have to fight through 3 large groups of Purple van Gelfs. The last 2 groups have assistance from Mini-dragons. It could be annoying because their fireballs can cancel your Lunar 360 ET. Finally you enter the Statue of Liberty to meet a welcoming committee of Tac and Rocket ninjas. There are 2 Tac ninjas up on a steel beam doing funny things. Dispose of them at you pleasure. Now you can see the SAVE STATUE. Your health at this stage is still high thanks to the Silver Xbox, I would suggest that you finish off the rest of the Tac and Rocket ninjas from upstairs first before saving. SAVE GAME # BOSS BATTLE : ALEXEI # AH, the big softie! I find that both form of Alexei in Mentor poses little problems. All your weapons will work well with him and he has no minions. Oh yes, you can equip the Talisman of Rebirth now since you will get a new one in the next Chapter. Tactics : His most damaging move is his almost instant Face Grab. He does raise his right hand first before the grab but the rest happen so fast and with the time lags in the program, you will mostly be grabbed. From my own experience, it seems that he will do a lot less grab if you stay at a one dash distance and to the side from him. The Lunar XXY combos will own him if you decide to use this weapon. He is also a sucker for Flying Swallow. Your Falcon Talons and Dragon Sword will rule. A Lvl 2 weapon can perform 2 attacks in i-frame while a Lvl 3 can do 3 but I doubt the last one will hit. After the Flying Swallow, if you land in front of him, quickly dash away to prevent him doing the grab but if you land anywhere beyond the 3 and 9 o�clock position, you can sneak in a short and powerful attack before dashing away. The rest of his attacks even the Whirlwind are nothing to write home about. Indeed I find that the minute size of the arena poses more problem than Alexei. Be aware of those invisible walls! END CHAPTER CHAPTER 5 It feels good to be out in the sun again! *FIRST SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 5* A group of White ninjas and Warlocks will attack you. The White ninjas seem to be a bit more aggressive than the Black Spider ninjas in Warrior. Beware of the Fireballs and Fire Geysers from the Warlocks. The Fire Geysers are particularly damaging. Learn to listen to the chants from the Warlocks to judge when it is coming. When they are out of the camera view, they will not attack. But if they have already finished their chants, the Fireballs and Fire Geysers will happen even if you spin them out of the camera view. This group is dangerous. After that encounter you will meet the WEREWOLVES. There are 2 mixed groups of Brown and Red Werewolves to fight through before you reach the SAVE STATUE. If you have an upgraded DCTF, an UT will kill at least 2, sometimes 3 Werewolves at one go. My impression is that you can direct your UT a little bit. So move your left joystick towards another Werewolf while Ryu is doing his thing. The Werewolves also give rich rewards in yellow essence. The Lunar is equally effective against Werewolves as it is against van Gelfs. Just one solid hit from an Lunar 360 ET will kill a Werewolf. SAVE GAME *SECOND SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 5* As you go along, 2 more groups of Werewolves will attack. After disposing of them, cross the little bridge from the outdoor restaurant and turn right into an alley. Turn right, then left and you will see a little enclosure. Bird Flip to an upper balcony and there is a body with a TALISMAN OF REBIRTH. 2 IS ninjas will jump down but you are ready for them. Once again, don�t equip the talisman. Go towards the Pantheon while dispatching one more group of Werewolves.3 Silver Gajas will meet you outside the Pantheon. One thing to note, Falcon Talons� Flying Swallow Izuna Drop won�t work on Gajas but its XX>XXXXXY Izuna Drop will. Dive and swim to the other side to try out your newly acquired Gatling Spear Gun on some jellyfish. Continue along the channel to be greeted by some Silver Gajas. These creatures are very agile on water surface so don�t try to be the hero. Simply stay in the water and rapid fire your Gatling Gun. It usually auto-aim itself but note the word USUALLY. After the Silver Gajas, you can shoot or ignore some more jellyfish. Now you can water run all the way to the next SAVE STATUE. SAVE GAME *THIRD SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 5* Kick open the door to meet some Purple and Green van Gelfs. You can fight them normal or you can jump back down to the SAVE STATUE. These suckers will follow you but mostly will get themselves stuck on the stairs. Satisfy you sadistic desire by molesting them with your various projectile weapons. After this piece of fun, progress along the way to dispose of one large and one small group of Werewolves. Then it is back in the water after opening the Drawbridge. Rid yourself of some more Silver Gajas and jellyfish. Do a bit of jump and swing to arrive in front of the SAVE STATUE. 4 more Werewolves show up to be made into mincemeat. SAVE GAME *LAST SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 5* When you enter the garden, hordes of Silver Gajas will turn up. They keep re-spawning so it is quite a big fight. The gate where you pass through is locked permanently so you cannot go back to save after this battle. After you enter the wine cellar, waves and waves of Purple van Gelfs and Silver Gajas will come and try to tear you apart. Luckily there is a Muramasa Statue here. If you have money, it is not so bad. Remember to stock up on arrows if you supply is low. Break the wooden floor and drop yourself down to the SAVE STATUE with the portal to ToV 3 nearby.If your health is still up, fight the next batch of Green van Gelfs and Silver Gajas first. When you finish with them, a last group of Silver Gajas will suddenly pop up. Don�t be caught by them. The enemies for ToV 3 are Ninja Dogs and Werewolves. SAVE GAME # BOSS BATTLE : WATER DRAGON # The Ghost Fish here are unpredictable. Sometimes they are inert while other times, they attack when you so much as look at them. There is a Talisman of Rebirth on the surrounding steps but since it is still present in the next Chapter, I would suggest that you trigger the boss battle as quickly as you can. The Water Dragon is the same as in Warrior except that its health goes down a bit slower. This is the tricky bit because even though you conserve your arrows and wait until you can shoot him in the head which is the most damaging, the number of arrows still don�t seem to get the job done. And there is no body sticking with arrows nearby. I finally ended up by jumping in the water and bashed it to death. If you have filled Ki slots, Inferno can dealt out quite significant damage. END CHAPTER. CHAPTER 6 *FIRST SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 6* There are 2 Talisman of Rebirth in this underground cavern. When the Chapter starts, look to your right. There is a chest sitting on a flight of stairs with a Talisman of Rebirth. After you Bird Flip yourself to the top, jump up the ruined roof and go round to the other side. There is another chest with a talisman down a hole on the roof. It is fairly hidden from view as you have to jump down, turn around before you can see it. Now you have 80,000 essences. SWEET!! Jump your good self to the SAVE STATUE while getting rid of some sorry Ghost Fish and Gajas along the way. Since these enemies can do little to your health, I would suggest that you finish the next battle first before saving. In Warrior when you put but two steps into the narrow cavern, Silver Gajas will come out but not here. Something is definitely wrong here! You make your way further and further into the cavern until you reach the middle of a big underground cave. BOOM!! You are surrounded by a large collection of Silver and Red Gajas. The red version is more aggressive and they seem to do the deadly tail smack more frequently. When you are pinned down by a Red Gaja and it starts doing its frantic stabs, it is almost certain death. However you have your trusted Lunar. 360 ET/UT will own them. Period. SAVE GAME Open the heavy door with the Skull Key and enter. There is no going back, so if you need anything, remember to stock up at the Muramasa Statue first. Go to the other side of the room and a large group of Skeleton Bugs will come out. Chain OLC Lunar UT to rid yourself of this nuisance. # BOSS BATTLE : SKELETAL T-REX # Skeleton Bugs will appear to lend their helping hands or feet. Tactics : Although people have said that you should concentrate on the boss, I find that it will lead to certain defeat. Kusari-Gama has its moment of glory here but you have to upgrade it and then learn how to use it properly whereas the old Lunar will work just as well. Start the fight by dashing sideways and charge a Lunar UT. The dash is important because Old Glory here likes to start the fight by kicking. If the bone fragments catch you fully, you will be slammed against the wall leading often to instant death. Game Over is one second!! The actual melee attack of the UT will not harm the boss but its ring of flame will. I have seen video where the Lunar 360 UT can cause damage but not in my experience. Perhaps when its health is down a bit more, the UT melee attacks will have effect. There will be loads of essence floating about but don�t go mad. Block and dash your way to a safe spot to charge UT again. Do the OLC very carefully, may be not at all because the boss is delighted to do his kick and smash while Ryu is in the air. The bone fragments will catch you, you may land in the wrong spot for the Skeleton Bugs to leap on you thus canceling the UT besides doing serious damage and you may be instantly grab by the boss. I have the boss literally kick and grab Ryu out of mid-air. Stay on the ground, block and dash and wait for an opportune moment to attack. After you thin out the Skelton Bugs a bit and the boss health is reduced somewhat, you can consider attacking his hind leg. When its health is really down, Old glory can go really berserk and starts pounding the ground almost nonstop. If it happens to you, just give him a taste of the Art of the Inferno. After the battle, Bird Flip yourself up the narrow path. To leave this gloomy place, you have to fight through 3 waves of Silver Gajas and an army of Skeleton Bugs. Fighting the Skeleton Bugs in narrow, winding passage could be dangerous especially when your health is low after the boss battle. The two chests where in Warrior will give Herb of Spiritual Life, contain something nasty in Mentor. Finally, you Bird Flip yourself up onto a guillotine platform and daylight. There is a SAVE STATUE here. SAVE GAME *THIRD SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 6* Go up to the watchtower to get some supplies and trigger a cut scene. After the cut scene, kill the 2 Werewolves which appear. Now make your way into Lycanthrope Castle disposing of first 2 groups of Werewolves, then 4 groups of Silver Gajas, the last group accompany by Mini-dragons. As you reach the castle entrance, 3 more Silver Gajas will show up. A chest on the left will contain red essence. 3 Werewolves will jump down when you arrive at the SAVE STATUE. SAVE GAME The portal to ToV 4 is under a Pantheon on the right side of the pond. Enemies are Hoverbots and Robot Spiders. *FOURTH SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 6* Shoot all the Mini-dragons as you work your way up to the castle�s rooftop. After killing 4 more Werewolves, you arrive at three flagpoles. Swing inside the Cathedral to encounter a large group of Silver and Red Gajas. After getting the Bronze Key, jump down into the kitchen and kill the 2 Werewolves there. Make your way out of the kitchen to find a SAVE STATUE. SAVE GAME *FIFTH SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 6* Work your way through the castle by killing 3 groups of Werewolves. When you enter the royal Room of Knights, Silver and Red Gajas will show up. Dispose of them to get the Cast Iron Key. There are no more enemies so just go to the SAVE STATUE. 2 IS ninjas are lurking just beyond the SAVE STATUE. Kill them at your pleasure. SAVE GAME *SIXTH SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 6* Kick open the door to find a meeting of IS ninjas. Crash the party and Bird Flip up through the fireplace. Enter the marble floor room to dispose of a large group of Silver and Red Gajas. The next room has IS ninjas. Another Bird Flip up and you arrive at the SAVE STATUE. You may want to go to the Muramasa Statue on the other side but you have to kill 3 Werewolves on the way back. SAVE GAME *FINAL SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 6* Go to the Throne Room door to find that it is locked. When you come back down about 8 Werewolves will attack. Rid them all to get the Golden Key. Enter the Throne Room and Volf will invite you to party at the Colosseum. After that, 8-10 Werewolves will make an acquaintance with your DCTF. Jump through the trapdoor and some Silver Gajas will show up. There is a SAVE STATUE here. But your blood rage is up, so you rush right down to the drawbridge. One wave of Silver Gajas and Two waves of Red Gajas will try to block your way but they are no match for you. When you arrive at the drawbridge, Mini-dragons will pop out but you shoot all of them to pieces. SAVE GAME # BOSS BATTLE : VOLF # Lunar, Falcon Talons, DCTF, Dragon Sword all work well with Volf. He is quite slow and fairly easy to hit. Tactics : Flying Swallow will work fine. The best time to do a Flying Swallow is when Volf is about to start an attack or finishes an attack. At the start of the battle, Volf will rush you. You can either dodge or counter with a Flying Swallow. From there it is just a simple matter of doing the Flying Swallow, block and dash to a medium distance from Volf, wait for him to do his antics while repositioning yourself, then repeat the Flying Swallow. If you land behind him, you can usually sneak in a fast combos too. With the Lunar, it is simply charging 360 UT at a safe distance, wait for him to rush near then release. After Volf topples, a large gang of Werewolves will jump down to avenge the leader. Simply spam the Scythe UT while watching out for thrown bodies until the cut scene occurs. END CHAPTER CHAPTER 7 Everything in Chapter 7 is the same in Mentor as in Warrior. So I am not going to do any tactical guide but simply would like to say that it is a Chapter that I enjoy and I hope you do too! Tov 5 here has a mixed bag of Four-Leg Machine Gun Mech and Missile Mech. There is also an army of Silver Bugs. As you have got a fully upgraded Scythe, you can finish this trial with no item usage. The reward is a JEWEL OF THE DEMON SEAL. CHAPTER 8 After the relaxing air cruise, it is back to the meat grinder again! To many, this Chapter can be brutal. *FIRST SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 8* Hand out some deaths to those blasted Multi-rocket ninjas with your incendiary shuriken. As you turn round the street corner, quickly go to the second row of sandbags and charge an Lvl 2 arrow. If you are fast, you can usually beat the Multi-rocket ninjas by a split second. Don�t move the joystick because they usually re-spawn in the same spot. If two re-spawn at the same time, you can shoot the oil drums there to give them a fiery death. Jump over the sandbags to trigger the appearance of a gang of Humanoid Mech. One on one I consider them to be the most dangerous non-boss enemies in the whole game. All its attacks can either guard break, guard lock or simply unblockable. Fighting them in a group is suicide. While you are still worrying about these Mech, those annoying Multi-rocket ninjas will appear in the distance. So it would be best to lure 1-2 of these Mech all the way back round the street corner to destroy. Unfortunately you have to stay quite close to the Humanoid Mech for them to respond. Luckily there are some covers like the destroyed tank near the building and some of the building entrances. After finishing off all the Humanoid Mech, dash from cover to cover to draw yourself nearer to those Multi-rocket ninjas. Blow them to pieces. There are several waves of Multi-rocket ninjas to deal with before you hear a click which signals the opening of the gate to the first SAVE STATUE. (WuXuzairen has done a no hurt run of this part of the fight at Iberians NG realm.) SAVE GAME *SECOND SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 8* Kill a large pack of Ninjas Dogs with ninpo and OLC UT before entering the shopping center. Tac ninjas will appear on the ground while Multi-rocket ninjas will rain down rockets on you from above. You can either Bird Flip yourself up and fight both groups on the first floor which is bothersome or you can dash into the shop with the Muramasa Statue and wait for the Tac ninjas to follow you one by one. After you kill all the Tac ninjas, go back outside to fling some incendiary shuriken to blow up those Multi-rocket ninjas. If you have the money and you should, stock up to the max here for there will be a LONG TIME before you see another Muramasa Statue and numerous tough enemies to vanquish. Exit the shopping center and you will see mines, lots of them. By some twisted logic, mine explosions can actually be blocked. Get through the minefield to enter an alley. A whole bunch of Rocket ninjas will start shooting at you from the end of the alley. You can stay near the sandbags to exchange fire with them or you can quickly dash through the minefield to Izuna Drop the lone ninja on the ground. Two gun turrets will start shooting, so it is another quick dash through the minefield to wipe them out. There is a DEVIL WAY MUSHROOM on the right gun platform which could prove significant. Open the gate to find a SAVE STATUE. SAVE GAME *THIRD SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 8* Before you enter the Chapel, take a look at your Ki slots. If they are more or less full, you should probably be fine. If they are all empty, you will be in for a rough time. Lucky you find that Devil Way Mushroom, don�t you think? Enter the Chapel and a large gang of IS ninjas will assault and molest you. My impression is they come in 3 waves of either 4 or 6. Use your incendiary shuriken, Art of the Wind Blades ninpo and all your skills to survive. Here you should also start thinking about items conservation. Don�t use up a significant portion of your items just for this fight. After a long trek, you arrive at the train station. Another group of IS ninjas will attack. The number in this group is less than the previous one and they seem to be less aggressive as well. Finish here then go upstairs to find a SAVE STATUE. SAVE GAME # BOSS BATTLE : BLIND GIANT OGRE � PART TWO # This battle gives me a lot of problems because of the two Humanoid Mech. Tactics : For this battle, I used the Lunar. I was killed so many times using the Scythe that I was getting frustrated. If you fight close to the edge of the arena, because of the size of your enemies, it is very easy to be blocked from moving. And I can assure you that half the time if you can�t move, a Humanoid Mech will stomp down on you. Their machine gun fire can also guard lock you, so that if you are near the big boss, you are in trouble. At the start of the battle, the Giant Ogre is roaring away in a corner. Quickly dash over to him and do an aerial XXY. Continue having your way with the boss until his health is down by about 20%. Then the two Mech will arrive. Quickly dash away from the boss and do an OLC 360 ET. Don�t expect you will have time for an UT unless you are lucky. One good Lunar 360 ET hit can destroy a Mech. Damage the other Mech a little but don�t kill it. If you kill both Mech and the boss doesn�t die quickly enough, 2 new Mech will come. When doing this, avoid the boss as best you can. With only one Mech, life is a bit easier. In fact you still have to kill the boss quickly otherwise a new Mech will arrive. My impression is the Giant Ogre is a lot more berserk than its first form. The window of opportunity for bashing his legs is quite small, so you really don�t want the Mech to stick around to ruin it for you. I did catch him once with the Lunar 360 UT and it did give some damage. When the boss dies, finish off the Mech first before dispatching the Rocket ninjas otherwise it could sneak in an off screen landing on you which is instant death from an 80% full health bar. *FOURTH SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 8* After this battle, make your way to the next SAVE STATUE. The enemies along the way are 2 groups of 3 IS ninjas, some Silver Gajas and some Ghost Fish. At this stage in the game, they shouldn�t pose any problem. After you reach the SAVE STATUE, when you go up to the Muramasa Statue, another group of IS ninjas will show up. Come back down the stairs to finish off one more group of IS ninjas. Outside the door of this Clock Tower Building is the portal to ToV 6. Enemies for this trial are Purple van Gelfs and Red Dragons. SAVE GAME *CLOCK TOWER GEARS* Jump on the first gear and a group of IS ninjas will jump down. Don�t be caught by surprise. Jump on the second gear and another group of IS ninjas will appear. This is quite different from Warrior. In Warrior, IS ninjas won�t appear until much further up. There are 4 waves of IS ninjas in total, the number in the last wave being the largest. Finally you jump to the SAVE STATUE. SAVE GAME # BOSS BATTLE : ZEDONIUS # Zedonius may summon some Silver Gajas as help or he may not. It depends on you luck really. Fighting Zedonius in Mentor is a lot more difficult than Warrior. Tactics : The Lunar again is the better weapon. Its XXY combos, the final Y which is an overhead smash can often catch Zedonius when he rises in the air. He will shoot 3 fireballs compare to 2 in Warrior. The fireballs are also slightly faster because while I can dodge the fireball in Warrior by dashing, here I need to jump. If he stays up in the air, try a Lunar aerial XXY, sometimes it will connect. But you must lure him to fight you on the ground by tempting him to do the Flaming Pounce. After the Pounce, quickly dash in for a XXY. Now stand still and just hold block. Ideally this should happen in the middle of the arena so that Zedonius can move. He will actually stalk you by taking two or three steps back. Adjust the camera angle to see what he is doing. Now he will twist his body and give a lightning fast attack. Just when he twists his body, dash towards his back, then do a quick XXY. Hopefully he will do 3-4 of this before attempting something else. The Scythe YYYY combos will also work and are more damaging. If you are lucky, sometimes you can bring Zedonius to his knee and get a free combos in. Don't be greedy, one combos is all the time you have. Anything above a 4-hits combos will get you grabbed and bashed. After the one combos, dash away fast! If he brings help, don�t despair. Quickly kill those Silver Gajas with your Inferno ninpo. You must aim your ninpo at the Gajas instead of Zedonius although Inferno does hurt him a little. END CHAPTER CHAPTER 9 All enemies are the same in Warrior and Mentor. I shall limit my discussion to one trouble spot in the Chapter and the final boss battle. *RIVER STRONGHOLD* This is the area you enter after the first SAVE STATUE. Once you are in the water, Multi-rocket ninjas will start firing from the opposite bungalows. If you attempt to run up the gangplank to attack, you will be shot at from all directions. Tactics : Do a Water Run and pay attention to where the rockets are coming from. When you are near, fling an incendiary shuriken. If you hear a grunt, then an explosion, that means you have blown off an arm. Continue doing this until all lost their arms. Kill at your leisure. They do re-spawn but one rocket launcher is no problem. After the ninjas, Hoverbots will appear. These are fairly weak and a good YYYY with the Scythe will finish one. The rest of the Chapter should be quite simple to those who completed Warrior. # BOSS BATTLE : TWIN YELLOW DRAGONS # For this battle, I max out the Art of the Piercing Void. By this stage of the game, you should have found enough Jewels of the Demon Seal. There is an easily missed one not far away, on a tiny piece of land at the left hand side of the pond where you kill those big Red Fish. Tactics : A max out Art of the Piercing Void will take away 60% of health from a Yellow Dragon so that two hits are more than sufficient to kill one. The main problem is the aiming. There is a really short time interval where you can move the left joystick to aim. It is actually better to position Ryu first before casting the ninpo. Ryu should stand facing the target, not too far and not too near. No other distraction should be present because the auto-aim is very stupid and will usually aim at something unimportant. The ninpo circle should be placed squarely on the target. There is little margin for error. The first dragon is quite easy. As soon as the battle starts, cast a ninpo and aim to the left of the distant mountain. In fact it requires little adjustment, so use a steady hand. It will catch the dragon most likely on the tail as it circles back. Now the dragon will hover in mid-air. Adjust Ryu�s position slightly so that he is facing the dragon more or less squarely. Cast your ninpo and you should have one dead dragon. The second dragon is not so simple. If you are lucky, it may flap around a bit before deciding to hover. You need to be quick in order to get into the right position. Most of the time, it will bring up some Mini-dragons. Stay calm, shoot down all the Mini-dragons. When Mini-dragons are present, don�t attempt to use ninpo, you will only waste it and there is a definitely limited supply. Concentrate on your shooting while avoiding damage. Sooner or later an opportune moment will arrive. The best time is when it hovers at the place where the two dragons first appear, trying to shoot its giant fireball. It will give you enough time to aim your ninpo. (There is a nice piece of video by Kl1n3 on YouTube to show you how it is done.) END CHAPTER CHAPTER 10 *FIRST SAVE STATUE � CHAPTER 10* It is a long way to the first SAVE STATUE. To get there, you have to get rid of, in this order, 2 waves of Red Gajas, 1 wave of Green van Gelfs and a final wave of Red Gajas. When you reach the large circular area near the SAVE STATUE, a large group of Green van Gelfs and Red Gajas will do their best to rip you apart. But don�t worry, your Lunar 360 ET/UT will save the day. SAVE GAME After the SAVE STATUE it is Rasetsu time!! You have to fight 3 Rasetsu at the same time. And they keep coming and coming until you are totally exhausted. My impression is you have to kill a total of 9. Tactics : When the battle starts, 3 Rasetsu will rush at you and you will rush at them because you need room to manoeuvre. Try to gain as much distance as you can before charging a Lunar 360 UT. Wait until the first Rasetsu is almost on top of you before unleashing it. Dash-jump away to prepare another 360 ET/UT. Watch out for their Wind Blades attacks. The Wind Blades will make a special sound so even if you can't see them, listen! Adjust your camera angle if you can. If you have to release your ET/UT blind, listen to their footsteps. Watch the edges of your screen, sometimes it will show just a tip of their hairy legs. Lunar is mandatory for this fight. (Bigalski has a video at Iberians NG realm showing this battle.) The rest of the Chapter is more or less the same as in Warrior. I would not bore you with a re-cap except to say that in the epic staircase fight, White ninjas take the place of the Black Spider ninjas. They sometimes fling the odd incendiary shuriken which will cancel your UT, so watch out for that. # BOSS BATTLE : ELIZEBET # Elizebet uses no minions in this battle. Tactics : Not much to say really. Elizebet fights no differently from Warrior. I used the Lunar for this fight and basically just the XXY combos. It is all a matter of dodging her attacks, wait for the right moment then a quick XXY and never mind the XX, I only need the Y. When she does the Blood Drain attack, you can either jump away and hopefully land a Flying Swallow, not with the Lunar of course, or you can cast ninpo. I tried to land an Art of the Piercing Void on her but no luck. The Inferno ninpo can damage her though. END CHAPTER CHAPTER 11 COOL!!! Chapter 11 is combat at its most intensive. Action is almost non-stop from start to finish and you probably would be a better player at Ninja Gaiden II at the end of it. For this chapter, I relaxed my rule of not using items for non-boss fights. I went in with 270K of essence and finished the Chapter with 280K. Considering the number of enemies I killed and the number of ET/UT/OT I performed, the number of items used was staggering. In Warrior, I can rip through the enemies with the Falcon Talons but not here. For the entire Chapter I used the Lunar because of its longer reach, crowd control ability and above all its powerful 360 ET which is the most powerful ET of all the weapons. I only switched to the True Dragon Sword inside the Ninja fortress because of its clamped environment. A max out Art of the Wind Blades and Art of the Inferno is indispensable. The enemies you face are Fiend IS ninjas, Fiend ninjas, Explosive Archers, Fiend Warlocks and Fiend ninja dogs. Don�t forget our old friend Rasetsu too. Fiend IS ninjas in my opinion are the second most dangerous non-boss enemies. They are very aggressive and powerful. Even without their legs and one arm, they can still chuck the occasional incendiary shuriken at you. The crawling ones are particularly dangerous. Normally I don�t even dare go near them for an OT but kill them at a distance with the Windmill Shuriken. And they cannot be killed by a single Izuna Drop. The Fiend ninjas are less dangerous but only just. They also cannot be killed by a single Izuna Drop. If you think that the Multi-rocket ninjas are a nuisance, think again when compare with the Explosive Archers. Fiend ninja dogs are much more agile and twice as aggressive as their normal counterparts. When it gets you on the ground to bite you, if you don�t break out in time, it will howl and blow itself up. I have actually got a list of enemies you will meet as you progress through the Chapter but it would be boring. There is no special tactics for these encounters except the general tactics at the beginning of this guide. I shall therefore limit myself to only discuss the big fight at the Open Range. (On my second play through, I use the Scythe UT for the first halve of the Chapter and it works to a certain extent. When you are descending those long, narrow stairs and passages, you can usually bait the ninjas to come at you in a column. One good UT will kill about 2-3 ninjas. Whether you have time to chain UT is doubtful because these ninjas are very agile. And they are tough too. Sometimes the UT will only de-limb and not kill outright so you still need your fighting skill. I also use the Falcon Talons more. It is good for de-limbing and a dead de- limbed enemy appears to have a higher chance to give blue and red essence which is more important in this Chapter.) *OPEN RANGE* For this battle you will need your ninpo, so make sure that your Ki slots are not empty. I use the DCTF as a starting weapon because I love the killing power of its UT. Jump towards the three bull�s eye target and 3 Rasetsu will pop down. I only have time to charge an OLC ET and Rasetsu is almost on top of me. After the animation of the ET, quickly dash away. Now cast a Wind Blades. Block and dash continuously but don�t jump. You will have an explosion up your backside if you jump. Cast another Wind Blades. Essences will start floating in the air. If the coast is clear, do a quick OLC UT. If you are lucky this one won�t be cancel by an incendiary shuriken. Hopefully it will catch some Fiend IS ninjas. You can direct the UT a little bit by the left joystick. More essences will appear. If the Fiend IS ninjas are giving you troubles, cast another Wind Blades. Now that the Fiend IS ninjas are thinned out somewhat, it is easier to do OLC UT. Once all the ninjas are dead, switch to the Lunar whose 360 ET/UT are very effective against Rasetsu. I believe there are a total of 6 Rasetsu to fight. After this battle you enter the building with the Muramasa Statue. You should stock up to the max and pay serious attention to items conservation during fights. Before you can see the next Muramasa Statue, you have to vanquish a vast horde of enemies including the big battle where you receive the rice ball from Muramasa himself. There are 4 SAVE STATUES for you to restore your health � one outside the Hayabusa village, another is outside the Ninja Fortress, the next is where you drop down from the zip-line and the final one is after the big battle. Assuming you survive to reach the Muramasa Statue, the same consideration will apply. Once you slide down the mountain, there is no going back and no SAVE STATUE. You have to survive attacks from Fiend ninja dogs, Explosive Archers, Fiend ninjas and Fiend IS ninjas before the boss battle with Genshin. # BOSS BATTLE : GENSHIN � PART THREE # Genshin is still his good old self. Do whatever you do best with him previously and the fight would end without too much frustration. There are no minions this time. END CHAPTER CHAPTER 12 The enemies in chapter 12 are more or less the same as in Warrior except that Yellow van Gelfs will take the place of Purple and Green van Gelfs at the beginning of the Chapter and replace Green van Gelfs at the battle before you meet Zedonius. # BOSS BATTLE : ZEDONIUS � PART TWO # For this battle, Zedonius may or may not summon Red Gajas to help, again it is unpredictable. My impression is that he does call up help more frequently than in the first encounter. He appears to be angrier this time and will dealt out more damage. Tactics : For this battle I switch my weapon to the True Dragon Sword(TDS). Although I am getting good results with the Lunar, I am not killing him fast enough. As I said he dealt out more damage this time and I find that I am using up my health items at an alarming rate. The TDS YYYY combos will tear away a large portion of his health each hit. Again the �hold block and stand still� technique will work. (An element of luck does come in with Zedonius. On my second play through, I did a no hurt battle with him simply because he chose to fight on the ground and summoned no minions. My point is, do persevere.) After killing Zedonius permanently, you enter a foggy forest with Robot Spiders. They are very weak and not very aggressive here and are easy prey for the Scythe UT. # BOSS BATTLE : VOLF � PART TWO # Volf comes with friends this time, Centaurs. After the tough Zedonius battle, this fight is quite relaxing. You can either concentrate on Volf and ignore the Centaurs or you can kill the Centaurs first with your Inferno ninpo and Lunar 360 UT. All weapons will work well with Volf. In fact, between your Inferno ninpo and Lunar 360 UT, this can be another no hurt, kill all enemies battle to really booster your morale. Volf is still vulnerable to the Flying Swallow. With your TDS he will quickly become dog food. END CHAPTER CHAPTER 13 There is only one Muramasa Statue in this Chapter and it will be locked out once combat starts. Items conservation is paramount and with only two SAVE STATUES to restore your health, do manage your fights with some care. The enemies are basically the same as in Warrior with two exceptions. First, Yellow van Gelfs will replace the mixed bag of van Gelfs in the Antechamber. Second, in the cavern where the first SAVE STATUE is, Ghost Fish will replace the Skeleton Bugs. The 3 chests in there all contain Ghost Fish which is rather welcoming since you can utilize their blue essences to replenish your health. Other than that, it is a matter of fighting through all your familiar enemies in Warrior until you reach Alexei. # BOSS BATTLE : ALEXEI � PART TWO # Alexei appears to be less vulnerable to the Flying Swallow than previously otherwise he is the same old self with the same old tricks. Now that you have the True Dragon Sword, simply YYYY him to an early grave. END CHAPTER CHAPTER 14 The game seems to have gone soft after the Zedonius battle because Chapter 14 is in fact quite easy. You meet the same old enemies, Robot Spiders and Centaurs, then those big Red Fish in a bloody pond. These fishes you can either shoot with your Gatling Gun or if you simply don�t want to bother, run yourself over the pond. # BOSS BATTLE : FIEND GENSHIN # Fiend Genshin is not much different than normal Genshin except that he has gained some flame and a bit more agile. Your controller also seems to vibrate with a bit more force when you block his hits, so I assume that he will do more damage. Fight him in the same way as before with your True Dragon Sword and he will quickly yield up his Blade of the Archfiend. On my second play through, Genshin proved to be a little bit more stubborn. If you get too far away from him, say more than two dash distance, he will spam his Fist Shockwave attack which can be quite damaging and cannot be blocked. To avoid damage, you have to dash just before his fist hit the ground. The best moment to attack him is right after he finishes his melee attack and is still in his recovery frame. A YYYY combos from the TDS will usually hit home and tear away a substantial portion of his health. Attacking after his Teleport Slam which he tends to do a lot, can be dangerous as he usually will counter- attack. # BOSS BATTLE : ELIZEBET � PART TWO # To vanquish Elizebet, there is the hero�s way and there is the fast way. In the hero�s way, you fight her normally, blocking and dodging while waiting for the right moment to attack. Elizebet also is angrier here so you will probably be pierced 3-4 times by her tail. The fast way is to fight her across Genshin�s body. You may have some trouble finding it as Elizebet�s attacks are relentless. Once you find it, simply face Elizebet across the body and discharge your Scythe UT. All her melee attacks can�t harm you and she won�t fly up or do anything funny. This being Mentor, sometimes she will move to your side and give you a fast and furious bashing. So don�t get too carry away with your UT. Now you are standing in front of the last SAVE STATUE in the whole game. Take stock of your supplies then Judgement Day! I know that a lot of people are hoarding their LOTTGs and LOTGs in anticipation for the upcoming battles. It is understandable but I can safely say that it is unnecessary. As long as you have full stock plus Muramasa's rice balls and the Talisman of Rebirth, you should sail through to the end without too much troubles. Of course you need to use your items sensibly. I would say that you reserve 1 Herb for the Archfiend Immature Form, the rice balls and talisman for the Archfiend Mature Form and the rest of the items for Dagra Dai, you should be very comfortable. Some van Gelfs will try to hinder your progress. Who do they think they are? Dispose of them! # BOSS BATTLE : DAGRA DAI # Dagra Dai will summon some Purple van Gelfs to help. May be I was lucky or may be I am really better but I find the battle to be surprisingly easy. Most of the time he wants to do his electric thing so you just fly into him and do a Scythe XXYYY combos. When he is lying on his tentacles, it is another aerial XXYYY with the Scythe. When he attacks you with his swords, dodge and counter attack. Just make sure that you don�t get caught at the edge of the arena. You can kill the van Gelfs if the opportunity arises but hurting Dagra Dai takes priority. Don't hesitate to use your ninpo especially when Dagra Dai is doing his Pillar attack. Of course you can dash around under him so that the laser cannot home in on you but sometimes it is not possible. I find that the Inferno works best. Besides protecting you with its i-frame, it will do damage to Dagra Dai albeit only a small amount and kill the Purple van Gelfs. And he is dead!! # BOSS BATTLE : ARCHFIEND INCOMPLETE FORM # Same tactics as in Warrior. Stand yourself right in front of him so that all his Fist Slams will miss you. Auto-aim your arrow, charge it to Lvl 2, shoot his head, dodge his last night�s dinner, charge, shoot his glowing orb, repeat. If he vomits some blue thingies at you, bash them with either the Lunar or the Flail for some essences, use them for a quick recharge. Then it is quick Bird Flip to the next level, repeat the same until he drops. There is one more level to do in Mentor than in Warrior but otherwise this is it! # BOSS BATTLE : ARCHFIEND MATURE FORM # Everyone knows about his weak right claw. Dash there and start bashing. Some of his laser won�t even reach you there but if it is coming near, dash under it. You will not be harmed. I have read somewhere that if he slams, do a Scythe aerial XYY on his second slam to prevent him from doing some more. When he is on the ground, use a Scythe aerial XXY to hurt him some more. And then there is the animation where you burst open his skull and the final credits!!! END GAME The character on the Achievement Icon when you completed Mentor can be translated as THE INITIATED!! Coming from Team Ninja it is high praise indeed. *ACKNOWLEDGEMENT* I use some of the place names from the walkthrough written by VampireHorde posted here at GameFAQS. My thanks go to him for writing such a detailed walkthrough. My thanks also go to many of the contributors to the Discussion Board who provided many valuable details about Ninja Gaiden II. *AUTHORISED LINKS* www.gamesradar.com www.cheatplanet.com www.supercheats.com www.neoseeker.com This guide is only for use on GameFAQS. You may not copy, reproduce or link to this guide without permission. If you want to use this guide on your website or publication, please e-mail me at [email protected]. I have no objections to anyone who asks. NOVEMBER 2008.