The Stillshrine of Miriam
When you get inside, head down a little bit and locate a pedestal on one of the east-west walkways. Touching this pedestal will spawn three zombie enemies and have no other effect. In order to make it work as it is supposed to, you must equip your lead character with the Dawn Shard (which will reduce his/her MP to 0), so you probably won't want to keep it equipped for long.
Get ready to take down some large guardian creature when you appear in this area. There is a chest here (behind a trap) which will not respawn. It has a 50% chance of containing either an Elixir or Megalixir.
You will also have to face three difficult enemies in the next room, so be prepared with AoE attacks (Dark, "-ara" spells, etc) and perhaps a Quickening chain. The large stone heads will come to life on the west side when you approach them.
Climb the stairs and approach the pedestal on the east side. You will need to re-equip the Dark Shard before touching it again. Return to the room below and take either of the new staircases down.
The green crystal in this room is in fact an enemy that will spawn upon examination of the crystal. Defeating it will transform the crystal into a regular Save Crystal. In the next room, you need to run down to the south end and examine the "Sword of Judgment." Doing so will unlock the door at the north end. Head up there and examine the Way Stone to teleport back to the dungeon's entrance.
A bit of an "atypical" situation is coming up. That is, a boss without a save point prior to it. For this reason, I suggest you go outside to save your game now. Once that is done, return here and go to the northeast corner. Take the stairs down to the door that is no longer locked, then take the east exit from the Cold Distance.
* Note - It has been pointed out to me that there may be an error with the directions in this section such that the northeast door may be locked, requiring you take the northwest door and navigate around to the east side of the Cold Distance before you can reach the boss. I apologize for any misdirection there may be in this section, and hope that you can still manage to reach the correct destination through the use of the map. Credit to Michael for this correction.
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BOSS: Vinuskar - HP: 15138 - LV: 27
During your time in Mt Bur-Omisace I mentioned picking up a set of light armour for your party, well this battle was the reason. Anyone wearing heavy metal armour will be automatically burdened by a Slow effect, making their attack turns take almost three times as long as another character clad in light armour. Make sure to equip it. This is an interesting boss because he really isn't all that... difficult. You might think that his HP total is a typo, but it isn't. Almost all your attacks will really pound down his health bar, especially guns which penetrate all defenses. Your main goal is to just keep pounding this guy down with the heaviest attacks you have, His Sword Dance might cut you up a little, but it's nothing that Cura can't fix. |
Take the west door and examine the statue in here. Examine the statue, then rotate the statue counterclockwise once to face it west. Also, don't miss the urn with the map inside against the south wall. Now, exit from here back to the Cold Distance and go north to the entrance.
Save your game once again, and this time take the stairs leading down from the northwest corner of the Ward of Measure. Take the west exit from this area to reach the Walk of Prescience. Make an immediate right (north) and follow that walkway west.
When you come to the statue at the end of the room, turn it clockwise once so that it faces east. Now descend the stairs to the south.
Follow the path and go through the first door, then continue east through the second. If you want treasure, head south and find the treasure room at the southwest corner. Since it leads to a dead-end, come back here when you're done (ignore the staircase on the way).
Proceed north and go up. You will have the choice of either going up more stairs (south) or staying on this second level (north.) Take the stairs up to the third floor and go north. Beyond some enemies you'll find another treasure trove.
Now head south to find another statue. Rotate this one counterclockwise once to face north. From here, head east and the north. You may find a couple more chests (if they spawn) on your way up toward the north corner where the exit to the Cold Distance is found.
Head back to the Ward of Measure and take the Way Stone teleporter at the south end. You will definitely want to make a quick trip east to the Save Crystal (a much more difficult enemy that the "miniboss" Vinuskar awaits). Once that is done, run to the south end of the Ward of the Sword-King.
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BOSS: Mateus - HP: 34259 - LV: 30
You may find this to be quite the challenging fight, but I've got a few tips that should be enough to turn the tides in your favour. Your first concern (of course) is dealing with the little elemental friends that the boss summons at the beginning of the battle. The easiest and most efficient way to eliminate all of them is to run right in the middle, pull as many of them as possible and let loose the biggest Quickening you can chain. This should be more than enough to take everything down (or leave you in a position where you can finish it off easily yourself). If, for whatever reason, that is not a viable option, your next best bet is the Thundara spell. On the plus side, the minions are weak to Thunder and will all take quite a bit of damage, on the flipside the boss is protected by Reflect and this won't likely be a very pleasant experience for the caster. Here's how to survive the onslaught of enemies at the start of (and throughout) the battle: equip your main tank with an Ice Shield (which I told you to buy) and as many other characters as possible with one two. This will already halve the ice damage you take. In addition, a helpful tactic is to equip the tank with the Dawn Shard. The bonus of 20 Magick resist will often yield a wall of 0 damage hits as the ice spells come pounding in. It certainly couldn't hurt to cast Decoy on him/her either to alleviate the stress on the rest of your party. Now that everything is under control, it's time to dive in and pound the boss with physical attacks (remember, Reflect, avoid magic). With only about 35000 HP, you've pounded down larger foes in your time. It's all about maintaining control at the beginning. |
Take the southern door and approach the large glowing object to trigger an event. The Sword of Kings that you acquire here is an enormous and impressive paperweight. As impractical as a paperweight may sound in the context of this game, it still remains a better option than swinging this dull blade at an enemy.
Return to the entrance and leave the Stilshrine of Miriam. Doing so will initiate another cutscene. Use the crystal to save your game and then teleport back to Mt Bur-Omisace.
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