Some games will have a different final boss if you do some extra stuff prior to fighting them and Sea of Stars is no different. Before you can even fight this boss, you will have to do all of the True Ending content, which you can find on the How to Unlock the True Ending page. Once you have done that, you can head to the top of the Fleshmancer’s Lair, where instead of Elysan’darelle being the final boss, it will now be Aephorul, the Fleshmancer himself.
The True Ending will actually pit you against the Fleshmancer himself.
How to Beat Aephorul in Sea of Stars¶
Aephorul is probably the toughest boss in the game, as he has a few moves that hurt a lot. Despite being what is considered a god, though, the battle plays out in a fairly normal process. You will definitely want to make sure you break his Locks whenever you can, since this will make sure you don’t have to worry about the Throne of Flesh. When the battle goes to the shoot-em-up section, you will want to make sure to know about the Dive move, which is very important here, unlike with the normal ending bit.
All Aephorul’s Attacks in Sea of Stars¶
For the True Ending final boss, Aephorul is fairly normal in the attacks he does. He doesn’t really have a lot of moves, either, although it’s important to try and break his Locks as much as possible.
- Laser Beam Tentacle: This is Aephorul’s normal attack and not only does it hurt a lot, it can be tricky to get the timed block, too. However, it seems that this attack will always deal 191 damage if you don’t block it, and around 143 damage if you do block it. That means it’s important to keep your characters’ health above that threshold when you know the attack is coming. Since it’s a normal attack, there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Also, Lunar Shield doesn’t seem to stop it, so you’re always taking damage.
(1 of 2) The Laser Beam Tentacle always seems to do 191 damage, if you don’t block it.
The Laser Beam Tentacle always seems to do 191 damage, if you don’t block it. (left), You want to time the block right when the mouths start moving towards your party. (right)
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Maw: A five-Lock special attack. Aephorul will summon two jaws, one on either side of the party, which will crash together in the middle of the screen. It does around 50 damage to the entire party, which is not really all too much, considering the other moves you will see. The timing for a block is a little weird, too, as it’s right when the jaws are starting to move toward your party.
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Absorption: A six-Lock special attack. Aephorul will do some kind of absorption on a single character, dealing major damage, which will summon some Seeds. These Seeds don’t do anything on their own and have 250 HP, as well as being resistant to all damage types. However, there is a follow-up attack from Aephorul after doing this move…
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Throne of Flesh: You will only see this move if Aephorul was successful in conjuring up Seeds. It is a five-Lock special and the Seeds will become Appendages. These Appendages will have one random weakness (Eye of Yomara can see it) and quite a bit of health (all other attacks deal normal damage). While Appendages are active, Aephorul cannot be attacked, although he also stops attacking himself. Defeat all Appendages to resume the normal flow of battle.
(1 of 4) Absorption will deal pretty good damage to a single character.
- Appendage Bite: This is the normal attack that the Appendage will do, should it be brought into the battle. It will cover a single character and suck on them, doing three hits that will deal around 90-100 damage.
Strategy for the Aephorul Boss in Sea of Stars¶
First and foremost, this is a long battle, so be prepared for that. Hopefully, you have all of the recipes, since you can make some great food that heals the entire party, or do a huge heal for a single character. One of the most important things during this battle is keeping your HP pools above 191, as that seems to be the unblocked damage for Aephorul’s normal attack. It doesn’t do any more than that, although you can time a block to make it deal around 145 damage. However, a timed block is tricky, since the attack isn’t a normal impact move.
Outside of the normal attack, the next one that does the most damage is the Absorption skill. This attack is also annoying, as it will summon Seeds on the battlefield. While the Seeds themselves do nothing, Aephorul will always follow up with Throne of Flesh, if there are still any Seeds on the field. Throne of Flesh will evolve the Seeds into Appendages, as well as make Aephorul invulnerable to attacks. All Appendages will need to be defeated before you can target Aephorul again. They have a fair bit of health, too, but their one random weakness will inflict pretty major damage, while all other attacks deal their normal amounts.
(1 of 2) Serai’s Disorient is always useful, especially in this battle.
Serai’s Disorient is always useful, especially in this battle. (left), Resh’an’s ultimate is still one of the best abilities in the game. (right)
The Appendages, should they be able to attack, will deal around 90-100 damage with their move. It’s just them biting you for like three hits, so keep that in mind when trying to time blocks. That’s about the whole battle with the Fleshmancer, with his normal attack being the biggest pain here. The Absorption attack also does a good bit of damage, plus there’s the Seeds to worry about, too. However, you have the option to stop that by breaking the Locks. Serai is going to be key here, especially with delaying the boss’ turns by using Disorient, so make sure you keep her MP up.
At some point during the fight, Aephorul will go into the sky and you will have a shmup section, similar to the World Eater in the normal ending. Aephorul is incorporated into this final battle, though, and is definitely more challenging than the World Eater version. He will have appendages on both sides, which will be using all of the same attacks, but they will be used simultaneously, so things can get a little hectic. The ones on the left side should be concentrated on first, as one of those is the bullet hell-like swarm of projectiles.
Of course, you actually need to get rid of all the arms before you can start damaging the core body. That’s the bar that’s underneath his health in the upper right. Whenever all of the arms have been destroyed, the core on the head will be susceptible to damage. You won’t see any attacks from the boss here, but after some time has passed, you won’t be able to damage him anymore. This is when he will fire a big laser from a crystal on its head. You will not be able to completely avoid this by going back and forth, as Aephorul will track your movements. However, this is where the Dive mechanic comes in (
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on Xbox/
on Switch). You can go underneath the laser with the Dive, and pretty much just do that over and over.
Keep doing this to drain his health all the way, after which, the battle will return to the ground. Should you have your own health depleted before the boss’, then you will return to the ground and there will be another instance where you do the same thing. Once you drain the space version’s health down, you will then just have to finish the ground version.
Upon finally defeating Aephorul, you will unlock the No God of Mine trophy/achievement. You will still have to do the World Eater bit, then there will be credits after that. The scenes during, and after, the credits will be a little different, so make sure you watch them all. Towards the very end, you will receive a Flimsy Hammer. You will be able to save your game, with that save file now having a gold star on it (the normal ending gave a silver star). There’s not really much to do now, other than find any missing chests, or try for the What a Technique trophy/achievement, as you did just about everything else for the True Ending!
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