In Cassette Beasts, there are 12 Ranger Captains to defeat, but the more impressive battles involve the eight Archangels. Each of these is a force to be reckoned with requiring precision strategy and more than a little raw firepower, lest you be overwhelmed by their own.
Poppetox is one of the earlier Archangels most players will face, and as such, it might seem less challenging at the outset. Instead, we've found it to be among the harder boss creatures, even when we overveled it. Here's how we beat it.
Preparing For Poppetox
It should go without saying that before you approach the next Archangel on your quest to compile the Song, you will want to have fully healed up at the Gramophone Cafe or abroad. Take a full stock of Rewinds and Respools; if you're within ten levels above Poppetox or less, we suggest waiting until you can have around seven or eight Rewinds and two to three Respools if possible.
We realize that sounds steep, but this is a rhythm battle of sorts; a false step can lead to disaster. You'll certainly want to have remastered your starter Cassette Beast as well, meaning resting and then answering the question the game asks you that determines its evolutionary route. Having multiple other remastered Beasts is great, but not necessary; so long as yours is in its evolved form (probably its first, not its second and final, since that's at high levels) you'll have good defenses.
If for whatever reason you've already managed to unlock the Gym Pass this 'early', consider raising your HP and Melee Defense to meet the occasion. But since Poppetox is only level 17, and his unlock quest is similarly soon into the game's proceedings, we figure most players won't have that yet. We sure didn't.
Last but not least, fill your Fusion Meter so that you can start the bout in a combined state.
Defeating Poppetox
Poppetox has one cruel trick, and it's a menace. Early in the fight, he summons two 'effigies'; each time his turn comes up, he exchanges his location with one, in a generally predictable rhythm, so that he's in effect something of a marionette shifting left and right across his side of the battlefield.
This is devious because not only will attacks intended for him fail to connect if he's moved first; the effigies will cause damage when you hit them. If Poppetox can manage to effectively dodge both your attacks each round and attack on his own, you're looking at a lot of pain on a routine basis.
A saving grace here we forgot to mention when our guide was first published - Poppetox places a spotlight on the effigy he intends to swap places with next, so keep an eye on him at all times and you should be able to predict the majority of his antics.
Hence, the trick is to curb his walking enthusiasm. If you can, put him to sleep with Hypnosis, though know that the odds are slim it'll connect. Perhaps it's better to lower his speed with various stat effects. Comb through your battle party to see if you can find stat-reducing stickers to assault him with.
Poppetox will routinely strike with 'The Old 1-2', a melee-based attack that hits each of your party members twice. That's a big part of why fusing helps, since your defenses will be higher and, well, you'll have fewer targets for him.
The strategy that worked best for us was to constantly pepper Poppetox with stat reductions as we built our AP toward powerhouse attacks; at this point, we were able to predict his motions from enough practice watching him flail about that we could reasonably determine where he'd be.
Use Rewinds and even Respools as necessary en route as you study him yourself, keeping calm during his slew of 'The Old 1-2' and whittling him down for a big attack. It'll take at least two big hits, but he'll go down in due time; his HP is actually not that noteworthy.