The race between the 2nd place guy and me is heating up. I was at 1.11M and he was at 1.10M, and we are both using OS Silica with 3* Light Dagger.
Put a little separation between him and me by getting 1.13M, then had probably the best run yet. Kept my combo streak up throughout the first 3 bars of the boss, managed to parry his snake into the defense down debuff and decided to go for it. Took half his lifebar with SS3, defense debuff stayed on for another go, and casted SS3 again, hoping he would die. His lifebar was gone but he didn't die. Panic spammed switch and Sinon casted SS1 and killed him just before his sword swung down.
Final score: 1.18M, 0 damage taken 1:17
Not sure how I can improve on that run, I have a decent lead over 2nd place now, but 3rd and 4th place are only just starting Master +1 and have 4* weaps. Not sure how I can shave 3 secs from my time to get to 1.2M, I have already put all I can into skill slots, don't have hacking crystals for LB, don't have any other weapons. I suppose I could toss my saved up 400 MDs to try again for more weapons, but I already did an 11 pull to no success and there is the comp incoming.
Draggy's Guide to OS Ranking Event:
Boss Attacks:
Sonic Wave:
Description: One vertical slash (parriable), followed by one horizontal slash (not parriable, likely to guard break, can be jumped over).
Recognise this by: Long orange zone of damage
Deal with it by: If far away (so you have to deal with the waves), run around the vertical slash, jump over the vertical one. If nearby, parry (wait just a bit longer than the stab attack). If you dodged, go behind him and keep attacking, his second slash will hit below him but not behind.
Stab & Drag:
Description: One quick stab infront of him(parriable), followed by a rush towards you dragging his sword (parriable).
Recognise this by: small orange zone of damage
Deal with it by: If far away,let him stab and parry when he reaches you. If nearby, parry quickly. If you think you can't parry on time (or are not going for a no damage clear) block the stab, and parry the rush. If you dodged instinctively behind him, you can parry the drag portion even if you are slightly outside the drag hitbox (this is really good to ensure you are not missing out damage and keeps him close to you, missing the parry doesn't hurt you also)
Iai Slice:
Description: Puts his sword in its sheath, pauses, wide area attack (unparriable,guard breaks)
Recognise this by: wide purple zone of damage
Deal with it by: Dodge downwards. Its really difficult to avoid if he is at the bottom of the screen. If you want to risk it, you can rush in for a stab or 2 before you dodge down. After the slice, go back up and keep hitting him.
Slice:
Description: Slices down(unparriable,does not guard break), slices again (parriable, does not guard break)
Recognise this by: small purple zone of damage
Deal with it by: Dodge diagonally down to avoid the purple slice, then back up behind him to parry the second slice. Alternatively if you are just slightly below him, just dodge behind him and get ready to parry. The 2nd attack is probably the easiest to parry attack. The first attack is also the easiest to get hit by, since it comes up pretty quick and you can't parry. If you know you are going to get hit, block (it doesn't hurt much), and parry the 2nd one.
Snakes:
Description: Jumps away from you, fires snakes (parriable) which stun you if hit
Recognise this by: Will usually occur each time you take a health bar, usually one attack after the bar is depleted. Its usually the only time he jumps away from you, so watch out for that. Usually an audio cue as well.
Deal with it by: If you don't care about your combo count, dodge away, which gives you ample time to parry it back at him. Staying still and parrying also works, but the timing is fairly tight. To guarantee you keep the combo, dodge diagonally and rush him (parries sometimes break the combo even if you take no damage). If he gets hit by the reflected snake (some parries send the snake in other directions) he suffers a defense debuff. This usually (but not always) lasts for 2 rounds of attacks.
Strategies:
Note: Only Tested with OS Silica, other chars may get away with more or less attacks
Slow and safe way (untested): Dodge behind him. He doesn't really have any moves that hit behind him except for the wide unparriable attack (which is really slow, and you can dodge down to avoid) and the second swing of his slash (first swing is unparriable, second swing is easy to parry and time)
Greedy way: Besides parrying the attacks, you can squeeze in extra stabs in between nearly every single one of his attacks. This helps ensures your combo count never drops. Your routine becomes Dodge -> stab twice -> Parry -> SS3 -> stab twice -> Parry -> full chain of attacks (for MP) -> stab twice, etc. For example the wide Iai Strike becomes stab twice, dodge down (to avoid the strike), stab twice, prep for next attack.
