Gabriel Celeste is the main boss in the Indra’s Return area and is certainly a challenging opponent to face. The first time you face him, you will want your party to be around level 120, as that is his level and puts you on a somewhat even playing field. Gabriel is part of the Divinity class, so it’s a good idea to have God Slayer equipped on one of your characters, preferably your primary damage dealer or someone like Victor, since he should have the most HP out of everyone.

Preparations¶

Before you think of fighting him, you’ll want to deck out your characters with the best they can get at this point in the game. Elemental Leathers will suffice for Fidel, Victor, Emmerson and Anne, although the -10% damage from divinities from the Reflecting Plate you got after defeating Daril will help someone who can equip it. You will also want to augment your equipment to help your characters stay alive, preferably with something like Heroism Potions (20% chance to reduce damage by 20%) or with more DEF/HP. The Heroism Potions are ideal for melee characters, especially.

As for Roles, you should have most, if not all, of them unlocked and mastered. If you don’t, equip the Altruist role on someone and go grind on Metal Scumbags until you have all of the Roles complete; it shouldn’t take too long, as you get around 10-13K SP from a fight with three Scumbags. Miki should have Healer, Savior, Crusader and Sage. You could change out Healer/Crusader if you are controlling her yourself, as it doesn’t provide a benefit with manual control; Skulker or Assassin is good to try and keep Gabriel away from her. For a fantastic weapon for Miki, check out the Augmentation section of the guide.

A maxed out Berserker role is also good for someone like Emmerson, since he should be staying away from Gabriel. Since Gabriel is susceptible to stun, you could also equip Interceptor and Stun Supporter on him, then take control of Emmerson and use normal attacks. If you resort to using normal attacks, Daemon is incredibly useful for the DEF and MEN debuff. Fiore should be all INT, so anything that increases INT is ideal for this fight; Intelligence Indulger, Shrewd Overseer, and Enchanter are all good candidates.

Should you wish to make a tank character, then Victor is good for that, as he probably has the most HP out of everyone. You could equip God Slayer on him, although it might be more useful on someone who attacks, like Emmerson, just for the added damage and to avoid the bigger attacks from Gabriel. Stamina Stockpiler and Defensive Devotee are good Roles for Victor, as is Evasionist to reduce the chances of critical hits from Gabriel. Feel free to give whatever else to the other characters.

Battling Gabriel Celeste¶

As soon as the battle begins, you should take control of Emmerson, Miki and Fiore, and move them as far away Gabriel Celeste as you can. They should all be spread apart and not next to each other, in case they happen to catch the boss’ attention. Ideally, Gabriel should be fighting your melee characters on one edge of the arena, with the three ranged characters being at three separate points along the edge of the arena, away from the others.

Gabriel has a ton of attacks, some of which can really dish out the damage on your characters. Abject Misery is a single projectile that will travel the length of the battlefield and does medium damage. Celestial Fists of Fury is a melee combo that will end with Gabriel shooting out a beam that goes straight ahead (can stun characters). Indiscrimination is a skill that is similar to Divine Wave, a move Miki has access to, as well as one you’ve seen a few times from enemies (Thoras the Abomination had it), where Gabriel will conjure up some energy things around him like a shield and then shoot them straight out. This move is actually very welcomed, since it doesn’t do much damage., although it can inflict silence and/or fog.

As the battle prolongs, you will likely see Gabriel start using other moves, particularly ones with large area of effects. The first one, Partizan Gravepost , doesn’t do a ton of damage, but it is a weirdly-shaped AoE around him and can be used rather quick. Another move that you will see is named Thunderstroke Spear , where Gabriel will stab the ground in front of him and produce a sphere of energy, dealing some major damage to anyone caught in its range. Note that Thunderstroke Spear has a chance to inflict paralysis on characters, which you will want to quickly remove, should they happen to be still alive.

The most dangerous skill in Gabriel Celeste’s arsenal is called Brutish Bolt and if anyone gets hit by this, they are probably going to die. It’s probably the skill with the largest AoE and it lasts a decent while, so make sure it’s over before you start resurrecting anyone. There’s not much you can do about this maneuver, other than try to keep away from Gabriel should you see its name at the top of your screen. You’ll see him using this more and more as his health gets lower and on the off chance someone might survive (which is unlikely), it can paralyze.

Gabriel is more prone to damage from wind and darkness spells, but Fiore’s darkness skills might put her a little too close to him, so it’s probably not a wise idea to use them. That means you can turn off all of her other skills, except for the wind ones, and Raise Dead, as you will want her to help Miki in case she dies or needs some assistance with multiple KO’ed characters. Miki should have Faerie Star (maybe Faerie Light, too), Resurrection and Cure Condition.