It was quite the shock when it was revealed that Zorba was back during the story segments at Altabury Heights. He continued to operate with Louis and basically became his right-hand man. You will finally confront him once more in the Skybound Avatar dungeon, after you get through all of the “traps” sprung by Louis. This will lead into one more battle with Zorba, who has become Melancholia Zorba.
All of Melancholia Zorba’s Attacks¶
Zorba will switch between two forms during the battle, one Offence and one Defence. He has no resistances/weaknesses in Offence form, and resists everything in Defense form.
Offence Form¶
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Mamudodyne: Heavy magic-based Dark damage against all characters.
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Gakandeon: Heavy magic-based Lightning damage against all characters.
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Sorrow Curse: Doesn’t deal damage, but high chance to inflict Anxiety on a single character.
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Madness Curse: Doesn’t deal any damage, but high chance to inflict Rage on a single character.
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Giant Scythe: Deals heavy physical Almighty damage to all characters. Increased damage against those afflicted with Anxiety.
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Defense Form Shift: He will switch to his Defense Form.
Defense Form¶
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Piercing Apostasy: Passive skill in Defense Form. Repels Slash/Pierce/Strike damage.
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All Reset: Defense Form only. Removes all buff effects from your entire party.
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Heat Riser: Defense Form only. Buff that boosts attack/defence/hit rate/evasion by one rank for three turns.
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Offence Form Shift: Zorba switches to his Offence Form.
Melancholia Zorba Boss Strategy¶
Zorba will switch between an Offence Form and a Defence Form during this battle, with him starting out in the Offence Form. Naturally, each form is pretty self-explanatory, as he will use attacks that deal damage in the former and buff/debuff in the latter. Naturally, being a former Necromancer, Zorba has access to dark spells, in the form of Mamudodyne, so make sure no one has a weakness to this. He can also inflict a few status ailments on your characters, but thankfully, he only targets single party members with both Sorrow Curse and Madness Curse. These will inflict Anxiety and Rage, respectively.
Both ailments are annoying and should be dealt with swiftly, especially since characters with them will take more damage from Giant Scythe. This attack hits your entire party and is probably Zorba’s worst attack, since he can sometimes do it twice in a row. At some point during the fight, Zorba will switch to Defence Mode, which will focus more on buffing himself and removing your own buffs. He also seems to have pretty good defenses here, including a resistance to all damage types, except for Almighty.
Another thing to watch out for with the Defence Mode is Piercing Apostasy, which is a passive ability that repels any Slash, Pierce and Strike attacks on him (non-elemental ones). So, don’t use any of those attacks while he’s in Defence Mode. If a character only has those attacks and nothing else, you could have them simply pass their turn to the next person, or use items to heal, if needed. So, you want to stick to Almighty attacks while in Defence Mode, remove his Heat Riser buffs, and simply wait until he switches back to Offence Form.
After defeating Zorba, there will be a few scenes, then you can continue past him. This will lead to a save point, but despite the implications of another boss fight, there won’t be one. Instead, you will witness another lengthy scene with Louis here, with there being a chance at another Bad Ending. Basically, just avoid agreeing with Louis, if the choices allow it, and you will be able to continue with the main story. If you thought Skybound Avatar was the final dungeon, well, you still have one more.
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