In addition to the normal enemies you will fight throughout Visions of Mana, there will be plenty of larger, and more dangerous, foes. While you get a taste of a boss in the prologue, the first proper boss of the game is Mantis Ant, whom you fight on Mt. Gala. You only have two characters for this fight, as well as a single Elemental Vessel, so you don’t have a full toolkit quite yet.

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Mantis Ant will be the first proper boss of the game.

All of Mantis Ant’s Attacks¶

The majority of bosses will use the same attacks throughout the fight, but they may have a trick or two up their sleeve at lower health.

• Slash: Mantis Ant will use one of its arms to perform a slicing slash on someone. This is a melee attack, so either dodge it or move away from the boss.

• Jumping Smash: Mantis Ant will jump into the air and crash down at a designated spot. When you see the big red circle, move away from it.

• Poison Breath: Mantis Ant will spew out a poisonous cloud right in front of it. Sidestep it to avoid being poisoned by this attack.

• Abdomen Blast: You will see a short scene that has the Mantis Ant shooting something off from its abdomen. All of the little projectiles will have markers on the ground, so avoid them.

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(1 of 5) The Slash attack will only hit so far in front of it, so it’s easy to dodge.

• Sickle Slicer: Mantis Ant will shoot ring-shaped projectiles from its arm, which can act like boomerangs. It seems to shoot three at a time and can sometimes do this back-to-back.

Mantis Ant Boss Strategy¶

As the first proper boss of the game, Mantis Ant can be fairly simple, but don’t get too complacent. The majority of its moves are pretty easy to dodge/avoid, but it starts getting a little hectic later on in the battle. The Slash attack is a simple melee one, so you can easily just try to dodge away from the boss when it does it. The Jumping Smash attack is one you should never get hit by, since there is a large marker for it. The same can be true for the Abdomen Blast, although there are a lot more projectiles from this attack.

The Sickle Slice is probably the worst attack of the bunch, as the projectiles can come back to the boss, so you need to be wary of their trajectory. The Mantis Ant is weak to wind, so your new Sylphid Boomerang will work wonders in this battle. Just remember to use the Vessel during the fight and target the spots that get hit, since that will cause a bunch of mini-tornadoes to spawn and hit the boss for more damage. Hinna will heal you throughout the fight, but you can also use items, if needed.

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(1 of 3) At lower health, the boss becomes enraged and will start chaining attacks together.

Once the Mantis Ant reaches a certain HP threshold, probably around 40-50%, it will become enraged. It doesn’t gain any new moves during this, but it will begin chaining its attacks together. For example, you might see it use the Slash attack 3-4 times in a row, followed by the Jumping Smash. Just keep moving to avoid the attacks, then resume your offense once the coast is clear. Don’t forget that most of the bosses will have multiple body parts to attack, with the Mantis’ belly being its weak point.

There are jars around the perimeter of the arena that you can use to heal, gain MP, or even get some CS gauge. Lastly, if your CS gauge is full, make sure you use the Class Strike for free damage. You’ll receive the Mantis Ant Corestone after the battle, although you can’t use it yet, then can continue on your way to the Lefeya Drifts.