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Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars can entertain any hack-and-slash fan RPG fan for dozens of hours. Grinding it out against hordes of cute monsters, or training in specified scenarios, is the key to strengthening your iconic gals for the (ninja) wars to come.
Boss battles are your ultimate tests, the proving ground in which players can demonstrate what they've learned and leave the minions of an evil corporation reeling in return. We're using a lot of words here to describe one of the basic forms of video game guide: "How do I win?" Stick around, shinobi pals, and we'll get you through every boss in Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars... like a boss.
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Your tango with this presently anonymous lass is designed to introduce you to the basics of boss fights. Pay close attention to the six mini-tutorial screens ahead of time; understanding the fundamentals they impart is really all you need in order to secure a victory.
Victory is as simple as building the break gauge until she staggers. Everything is quite telegraphed to emphasize the gameplay mechanics, including the motion your opponent will make once she's vulnerable to increased damage from your attacks. If you can get around her once she's temporarily downed, do so; as the game helpfully notes, you'll inflict extra damage in this fashion.
The amount of time you're given before this boss' break gauge recovers is generous relative to what you'll face further on.
Demon Bull
We can't help but empathize a little with this big guy. Being ignored is no fun at all. But neither is being pulverized, and that's precisely what he'll do to the girls if they don't knock him down first, so here we are.
As you've likely gathered per the pre-battle text boxes, this fight's a keen introduction to the Shinobi EX Gauge. Unleashing it is not unlike busting out a Limit Break in a Final Fantasy. But setting that aside, let's talk about Demon Bull's attack telegraphy. Like the first boss, it's pretty blatant.
When he kicks the ground a couple of times, it's an indicator that he'll soon stomp forward for moderate damage. Likewise, Demon Bull will rear up to one side as a precursor to swinging his weapon in a wide arc. In both cases, it's incredibly obvious what's about to transpire. The one attack you really need to watch out for is his overhead swing, which has about two seconds' worth of build-up and only strikes directly in front of him. Getting hit by this can tear Purple Heart's HP down practically in half in a single blow.
Steeme Legion Captain
Well, we've been offered free employment, but our steadfast heroines aren't interested, so we'll need to kill this mechanized town-destroying job recruiter instead. Steeme Legion Captain's primary offensive comes in the form of a slow but steady three-hit combo: a horizontal slash to one side, followed by a slash from that side to the other, and lastly a downward vertical slice. None of these attacks, individually, do much damage; get hit by all three, however, and it's a very different story.
Steeme Legion Captain will frequently teleport several meters behind you, but he's not in a great enough hurry to reach you afterward for this to be as deadly a technique as it otherwise would be. Activate your newly-awakened Fuurinkazan's Mountain form to mitigate some of the pain he's dishing out, and it shouldn't be long before he falls.
Jet
Poor Yuuki was convinced they're all acquaintances with Jet now. She's not wrong, but this is a Senran Kagura game. Acquaintances are commonly boss fights. Jet doesn't hold as much back this time, so unleash Fuurinkazan's Fire form to keep the pressure on her.
Try to pin Jet against one of the battleground's nooks, for lack of a better term – the spots where it's difficult to pull oneself back into the rest of the arena. It's possible to stunlock her in this fashion, but be careful, because she can do the same to you. Jet doesn't seem to sport multiple health bars, so this fight will be over quickly.
Steamax
As befits a chapter-ender, this guy is much more boss-like in execution than Jet was. He's got a full tank of health bars, his teleportation technique is much more impressive than Steeme Legion Captain's, and he sends his primary weapon spinning toward you on the regular.
Steamax has a tendency to teleport a short distance four to five times before moving in for a three-slash assault. Keep the camera focused on him and dodge after his third move. It's possible to avoid this damage entirely. Similarly, if you're on the edge of the field with him, he'll consistently swoop in across the perimeter with his blade held high, so it's best to avoid that situation altogether.
You should be able to break Steamax at least once, if not twice, before the fight is over. In his broken state, he'll take roughly one-third of a health bar per single strong hit, which can really speed things up toward the end.
Steamax Rematch
It might sound trite, but the best advice for this encore performance against Steamax is not to let him rattle you. Yes, he's faster. Sure, his teleportation is even more frequent, and he hops around with it in an intimidating fashion. And yes, he does hit a bit harder. But on the flip side, it's another chapter now. Your own characters are more capable. Your Spirit Gem options have expanded. And if you don't flinch too much from Steamax's quick warps, he might just be easier than before.
Toward the end, Steamax splits off into multiple images of himself. The old video game trope goes full force: only one image is the real him. We recommend going in strong with Fuurinkazan's Fire form at this point so that you're dealing with him decisively once you have sniffed him out from the pack.
Affimojas
Affimojas is huge, metal, and arguably more sympathetic by far, but take all his character qualities away and this boss is surprisingly akin to a revved-up version of the Demon Bull. He swings his big sword at wide and pronounced arcs, leaps back when necessary to avoid a relentless barrage from his adversaries, and he's much slower than most of the game's other bosses.
That slowness comes with the caveat that Affimojas is incredibly tanky. Conventional hits aren't going to do a ton of damage to the guy, so get used to that bit of frustration. Depending on your talent for performing a Just Guard, it may behoove you to use Mountain form Fuurinkazan; fighting defense with defense may not sound efficient, and it will prolong the battle, but it will also prevent Affimojas' mighty sword from destroying you in just two to three swipes.
Duplex
Duplex is unlike any other boss you've faced up to this point. The glossy purple bug-like machine launches its arm-wing things (excellent description, we know) like rocket punches, or deploys powerful streams of energy in an x-arc, striking you twice in rapid succession if you're unfortunate enough to get caught at the center of it.
At times, Duplex will cease movement for a prolonged period. This is followed by multiple "slaps" from its two arms, one every few seconds. The arms come together, but thankfully, you're only actually hit once each time.
Fight fire with fire here. Whether that means Fuurinkazan's Fire or a flurry of special attacks or even long-range warfare is up to you, but don't dawdle. The longer the clash against Duplex goes on, the likelier it is to wear you down. Step into this anticipating a harder bout than almost every other one in Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars and make sure you've got plenty of items.
Crimson Demon Bull
Dayuu's Yokai is exactly what the gals say he is: a juiced-up version of the Demon Bulls you've faced in the past. Whereas with Affimojas, our comparison was partial, with Crimson Demon Bull it's the whole nine yards. His attacks and abilities are virtually identical to his particular breed of monster, but they're predictably more powerful than ever before.
Getting hit with his axe during a horizontal slash can tear away about a fifth of the health gauge, but Crimson Demon Bull's vertical slash will bring you to your knees with just one blow, leaving you ready to be finished off with the former. Be patient with this guy. Whenever he shows signs of attacking, keep your distance if you aren't certain you can dodge.
Lastly, be careful when Crimson Demon Bull roars. The red waves that emanate from him will hurt if you're on the ground and there's not a lot of wiggle room to get away. Your HP will drain little by little for the wave's duration. Spam healing items if you're running low on health when this happens because the amount you'll be hit for seems to vary somewhat.
Dayuu Youtsubo
If you've been following the story, or heck, if you've skipped every cutscene but looked at this dude's face for longer than an instant, you won't be shocked to learn that Dayuu Youtsubo dispatches minions (or as we like to say, "trash mobs") to do most of his fighting for him. The lightning sparks Dayuu shoots out periodically are harmful and have a slight homing effect, but you can stay out of their way by sticking close to Dayuu himself.
In fact, "stay close to Dayuu" is a solid tactic for the majority of the battle. Slip through a hole in the ranks of the foes he sends out, ignoring them outright to center on relentlessly pummeling the fraudster. His Ghost Watermelons are especially good luck, as they tend to spawn behind Dayuu. Reaching him is thus quite simple.
Guardian Yoh Gamer
This Gundam-like guardian spends a great deal of the match keeping her distance, firing purplish projectiles for moderate damage (these can be defended against with ease) as well as quick fiery bursts that are nigh-impossible to dodge. You'll likely be soaking those attacks, so keep a steady hand on your inventory. Yoh Gamer loves her debuffs, too; expect to be paralyzed numerous times throughout the fight.
When Yoh moves in for a physical combo, blocking is best. Attempting to evade, especially when the camera zooms in as it can frustratingly love to do here, is often an exercise in futility. Yoh lays it on thick with the rapid jumping around the map when she's on her last health bar or so. It's best not to move very much, as she seems more successful with this attack the more frantically you react to it.
Enjoy Yoh's abrupt burst of English profanity after the battle. Whether intentional or otherwise, it's pretty goshdarn funny.
Steeme Legion Division Captain
The predominant issue here is that Steeme Legion Division Captain has a handful of tricks up his sleeve that Steeme Legion Captain (what a subtle differentiation in boss name) did not. For one thing, he's added another strike to his sword slash combo, and it's a swift one. You'll need fast reflexes (and some help from Spirit Gems) to outright avoid this, but it's only part of a four-hit combo so getting struck isn't the end of our ninja ladies' world.
Steeme Legion Division Captain also launches slow but strong beams of pure darkness. These are low enough to the ground that it's possible to leap past them, but he shoots a few at a time, so take care not to stand directly in front of him when he's doing this.
After he's charged up (a blue field of flames surrounds him), Steeme Legion Division Captain's sword swings are more ruthless, and he seems to take a bit less damage as well. It's best to stay mobile whenever he starts teleporting around, as he follows each motion with an instant short-range attack but has trouble reaching you if you're sprinting.
Full Duplex
Leave it to Neptunia to know a pending boss when she sees one. Full Duplex is, well, it's red. Its double x-arc beam shoots behind for a split second at the end this time around. We're basically looking for anything and everything that differentiates it from Duplex, you see. Its stats are higher all-around.
Another tidbit to look out now: a flurry of miniature pink comets. Full Duplex's arm-like apparatuses will tilt upright, after which it fires this burst that will chase after you. Just pick a direction and keep running until it's over.
Honestly, this is about it when it comes to differences between the two models. Stick with what you've gotten good at, and it won't take any longer to kill than its darker-tinted predecessor did.
Evil Spirit Phantamakia
Phantamakia's move set is more or less what one would anticipate from a colossal creature with massive limbs and a thirst for annihilation. It speeds up and adds a new trick with the passage of each health bar, and you'll note there are more of those than ever before, too. At first, its attacks are mostly limited to broad swipes from its meaty palms; these are appropriately painful, but proper defensive measures will go a long way toward diminishing their potential impact.
When Phantamakia adds a summoned sun-like sphere, don't even bother running. Instead, prepare to block; you can't get away from the attack (or at least, we couldn't!) but you can decrease the pain it doles out. For a mercy, it's not a ton regardless.
After eliminating three health bars, when the yellow-colored bar appears, Phantamakia fires a giant burst of energy and the battlefield changes entirely. It sticks to the same set of melee moves as before, but they're coming in faster now. Now's a great time to bust out attack-boosting scrolls, because while the final boss of Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars isn't exactly a battle of attrition in the strictest sense, the longer this goes on, the fewer healing items you'll have to bail you out with.
Each successive health bar is like a separate stage, after a fashion. Reach the red and Phantamakia has gone from two-hit combos in the beginning to gruesome six-hitters. Overleveling aside, there isn't much that can stop anything Phantamakia lands from crushing a sizable portion of your own health bar, so finish the game's story with your strongest specials and a little help from Fire-form Fuurinkazan.