Ardo is the last, true boss in Cris Tales. If you’re having trouble beating him, read this guide for the best strategy and item setup to take him down and get the ending credits rolling.
How To Beat Ardo in Cris Tales
Similar to the Time Empress, Ardo has no weaknesses. He lacks the annoying yet godly healing skill that the Time Empress possesses but makes up for it with his Perfect Counter skill.
Item Setup
The first thing you’d want to do is ensure your team resists the burn status condition. Ardo will use a combo of skills that will leave you with both 1 HP and the burn status. During your turn, you’ll be inflicted with the resulting damage from burn and lose the fight. You can find the Basalt Necklace in Cinder’s Item Store to help with this.
You’re going to want a high speed stat, so equip as many Light Armored Boots as you have to your party members. Anything that increases your attack stat helps, too. Dark Steel Wristguards and the Sapphire Rings are great items. Ensure your healer has good items that increase their Magic Attack stat as well. Healing in this game is determined by the user’s Magic Attack stat.
The Piercing Keychain is the best weapon upgrade you can have for this battle. It lowers the target’s defense by 15%, which is a massive advantage in your favor. Additionally, you should keep some healing items that restore your full HP in one use. There might be a time when it’s needed most if Kari, JKR-721, or Cristopher can’t heal your party.
Ardo has a skill that inflicts the paralysis status condition as well, but it’s not as bad as being reduced to 1 HP and dying from the burn status. But if you’re struggling with paralysis more, you can always use the Silicon Necklace—or even mix and match by using a combination of the Basalt Necklace and Silicon Necklace between your three characters.
Battling Ardo
The best characters to use for this battle are:
- Crisbell
- Zas
- Kari Hudo or Cristopher
Crisbell’s recommended skills for this battle are Heal/Rejuvenation, Celeritas, and Regio Regression. Using Regression on Ardo when he uses his Perfect Counter skill will not reverse its effect; there is even a chance you might get lucky and have him not use this godly skill. Regio Regression is an upgraded version of Regression, which comes in handy when you want to undo Ardo’s skill that reduces all of your characters’ HP to 1 (extremely helpful). While Heal and Rejuvenation are to heal your party members.
Kari Hudo’s attack-boosting skill comes in handy for this battle. She makes Zas’ regular attack something to fear. She also deals a decent amount of damage herself and has the possibility of obtaining a healing skill. I ditched Cristopher for this battle because his level wasn’t as high as Zas or Kari. I also didn’t want to grind, but he does have some hard-hitting magical attacks. I’d swap Kari Hudo out for Cristopher to take advantage of his elemental magic skills, but I’ve found that the attack and speed boost combined with the lower target’s defense to be more successful.
