Code: Tsundere Seraph

Before starting the dungeon:

Stock up on potions. Solace, many of the other mobs, and various hazards throughout the dungeon do significant damage against you. Even if you’re well-equipped, the damage will pile up over time and you’ll definitely need to heal at least a few times per run. You’ll also need plenty of mana potions, especially for Solace. He has tons of i-frames (moments when he can’t be hit), so getting mana by hitting him is difficult.

Complete recovery potions are the best, but if you don’t have a lot of those or any other good potions...

Make sure you have plenty of res stones. It is extremely annoying when a party member dies and doesn’t res because they’ve run out of stones. Yes, maybe another party member will be nice enough to res you, but if you keep dying, they may decide to stop wasting their stones on you.

If you’ve run out or are running low on your 10 daily stones, it’s probably best to save the dungeon for tomorrow

Equip yourself with good gear. At this point in the game (Level: late 80s-early 90s) you should try to acquire your endgame gear (or temporary endgame, if you want to go for something else later). If you have a Secret Dungeon set, you should upgrade it to “Enhanced”, or at least "Grendized”. Personally, I use the 4th Dimension set on all my mains, with weapons enhanced to at least +8. You can also go for Heroic sets, but those take longer to acquire and achieve their full potential. If your current gear is garbage, I recommend putting the story quests and this dungeon on hold to get your endgame gear. Remember, you can share equipment with your shared bank!

Once you’ve got your gear, you’ll want to socket it of course. Get as much Maximize and Critical as you can. Your three speeds (Attack, Movement & Jump) are also important

Solace’s Normal Combos

I won’t really go over these in too much detail. If you get caught by one of his combos, it’s best to just mana break or tank it if you trust your gear. Remember, heal up with your potions.

TIP: One of his combos grants him invincibility, so in order to not waste mana, try to hit him with a few combos of your own to make sure he’s not invincible anymore, then use a skill.

REMEMBER: Solace is immune to debuffs, so it’s pointless to use debuffing skills (for the sake of debuffing) or throw items such as Wind Orbs.

Mark of Judgement

Solace’s HP bar also has a second bar underneath it. It starts at 0, and can go up to a maximum of 5. During the fight, Solace will use a bunch of Judgement skills to try to fill up his Mark of Judgement.

If you clear a Judgement skill, Solace loses one mark.

If you fail a Judgement skill, Solace gains one mark.

If Solace gets all 5 marks, he will burn HP from anyone who attacks him, so don’t attack him too much. Alternatively, you can keep healing yourself up with potions while attacking him.

After 30 seconds, the Mark of Judgement resets to 0

The following will also occur when you clear/fail a Judgement skill:

Clearing a Judgement skill gives you the El’s Blessing buff, which increases your movement and attack speed. The buff is indicated by a yellow circle above your head.

Failing a Judgement skill gives you the Sun’s Condemnation debuff, which decreases your movement and attack speed. The debuff is indicated by a red circle above your head.

Mark of Judgement Skills

(pic taken from lAmazonl / ElswordZero’s video here. As you can see, he has the El’s Blessing buff above his head)

Confusion Stigma: Every player and Solace will have an aura surrounding them and a timer that ticks down to 0 seconds. If your aura overlaps with anyone else’s aura when the timer hits 0, you will fail the Judgement skill. The aura turns red when it overlaps with another aura. 

This skill is the easiest out of all the Judgement skills, but be careful, as Solace will teleport around the map to try to overlap with you. He does this by launching flying swords, and if you get hit by them, he’ll teleport to you.

TIP: To avoid the swords, run to the edges of the stage and use combos that get you up into the air. Ciel’s >>^XXXX, Add’s hovering, double jumps, etc. are all useful.

(pic taken from lAmazonl / ElswordZero’s video here)

Darkness Flame: Solace teleports to the center of the stage and summons six scabbards, three white and three black. Remember, the white ones can only be attacked with combos, while the black ones can only be hit with skills. Solace then attempts to retrieve the scabbards one by one. If he recovers three of them, everyone fails the skill and there will be a massive explosion. However, if you can prevent him from getting three scabbards, he will be stunned for a few seconds, giving you an opportunity to attack him.

The black scabbards are easier to destroy, since they take damage from skills. Assuming you have a good weapon, one Bravery skill (250-300 MP skill) should be enough to destroy a scabbard. If not, be sure to have a mana potion ready to refill your mana and attack again. It’s best to have three or more people in your party. Have each person attack one black scabbard. Then, you can all converge on one white scabbard and destroy it together.

TIP: If you can’t stop Solace from getting his scabbards, you can still dodge the explosion by using a skill with invincibility frames. Right before the explosion happens, a dark-red spherical aura will envelop the stage. Immediately after the aura dissipates, use your skill, and you won’t be hit by the explosion. However, you will still receive the Sun’s Condemnation debuff.

Ignition Rain:

Part 1: Solace launches swords up from the ground, binding you in midair. To escape, simply press left and right quickly.

Part 2: Solace teleports to the center and prepares to detonate the swords. The resulting flames will cover most of the screen, except for the edges. At each side of the stage is a jump pad, which will launch you into the air just before detonation. However, only one of these pads is active, so you have to choose the correct side to run to.

To figure out which side has the active pad, look at Solace.

If he’s facing the screen and his left hand is raised and glowing, run to the right. This is shown in the picture above.

If he’s turned away from the screen his right hand is raised and glowing, run to the left. 

You can dodge the eruption with skills, combos, or running to the wrong side, but you will still receive the Sun’s Condemnation debuff and fail the skill. 

TIP: Stay near the center of the map so you can get a good view of Solace and have enough time to run to the correct side of the stage.

Phase 2 (Normal and True Endings)

So you’ve finally gotten through Phase 1. Whew! Good job, but there’s still more to follow...

The second phase will start when Solace’s health goes down to 12 HP bars. When Phase 2 begins, Solace’s Mark of Judgement goes up to 5 and he’ll burn HP from anyone who attacks him. This time, there is also a 60 second timer. The HP burn lasts for the full 60 seconds, even if you manage to reduce his Mark of Judgement to 0. Once the 60 second timer ends, the HP burn stops.

IMPORTANT: Don’t die! Dying causes Solace to recover 2 HP bars. Make sure you have plenty of potions and be careful when attacking Solace, since he burns your HP during the first 60 seconds.

Space of the Black Sun: If you reduce Solace’s health to 4 HP bars before the 60 seconds ends and he has at least one Mark of Judgement, he will become invincible for the remainder of the 60 seconds. After the timer ends, he can be damaged again.

To prevent this skill from triggering:

Remove all of his marks before lowering his health to four bars. As usual, Solace will use the same Judgement skills from before (except for Darkness Flame), giving you chances to remove the marks.

Let the 60 second timer run out before lowering his health to four bars.

Once the 60 seconds is over, the Mark of Judgement will turn off. Solace will still use Judgement skills, and you’ll still get buffs/debuffs by clearing/failing, but Solace won’t gain any more marks. You can also attack him freely without worrying about the HP burn. Remember, he will recover HP if you die.

The True Ending

The True Ending can only be (normally)* achieved with a party of 3 or more. To achieve the True Ending, you must defeat Solace before the 60 second timer expires. Remember, you must remove all the Marks of Judgement to prevent Space of the Black Sun from activating. With 3-4 people in your party, you can clear all the Marks of Judgement in just two moves, and you’ll also have enough people to take him down quickly and without anyone dying. Of course, even after clearing the marks, the HP burn will still be there, so be careful.

*Note: I say normally, because it is possible to solo it, but only with some advanced tactics. Before reaching 4 HP bars, you must one-shot him while also not dying. There are various ways to do it, such as the Eclipse title, which prevents death when hit with a killing blow (a.k.a. HP burn from the one-shot), but that title can’t be obtained anymore. Also, you need the equipment and skills to pull off a OHKO. As for a party of two people, maybe someone’s done it before, but it’s extremely hard to do.

(I’m too lazy to try to get the true ending! Tell me what it is!): Well, it’s not much. Solace’s end quote changes from his usual dialogue, and that’s it. However, there’s a random drop from Solace which you can only get by getting the True Ending. It’s called the Nocturn of Hernia, which looks pretty cool and has some nice effects. Also, you need the True Ending to obtain the title Shadow of the Sun, though it’s not really useful unless you’re farming 10-6 for the Nocturn of Hernia.

Summary (Phase 1):

Don’t let Solace fill up his Mark of Judgement, or else he’ll burn your HP

Confusion Stigma: Run away from everyone!

Darkness Flame: Destroy three black scabbards and one white, easier when with a large party

Ignition Rain: Look at Solace’s pose to figure out which side has the active jump pad

Summary (Phase 2):

The HP burn lasts for 60 seconds no matter what!

Remove all Marks of Judgement before lowering Solace’s health to 4 HP bars. Remember, this doesn’t remove the HP burn like in Phase 1

Don’t die! Solace will recover 2 HP bars if you do

Summary (True Ending):

Have a party of 3-4 people

Defeat Solace within 60 seconds

Remove all Marks of Judgement before 4 HP

Pay attention to your own health so you don’t die from the HP burn

Before starting the dungeon:

Stock up on potions. Solace, many of the other mobs, and various hazards throughout the dungeon do significant damage against you. Even if you’re well-equipped, the damage will pile up over time and you’ll definitely need to heal at least a few times per run. You’ll also need plenty of mana potions, especially for Solace. He has tons of i-frames (moments when he can’t be hit), so getting mana by hitting him is difficult.

Complete recovery potions are the best, but if you don’t have a lot of those or any other good potions...

Make sure you have plenty of res stones. It is extremely annoying when a party member dies and doesn’t res because they’ve run out of stones. Yes, maybe another party member will be nice enough to res you, but if you keep dying, they may decide to stop wasting their stones on you.

If you’ve run out or are running low on your 10 daily stones, it’s probably best to save the dungeon for tomorrow

Equip yourself with good gear. At this point in the game (Level: late 80s-early 90s) you should try to acquire your endgame gear (or temporary endgame, if you want to go for something else later). If you have a Secret Dungeon set, you should upgrade it to “Enhanced”, or at least "Grendized”. Personally, I use the 4th Dimension set on all my mains, with weapons enhanced to at least +8. You can also go for Heroic sets, but those take longer to acquire and achieve their full potential. If your current gear is garbage, I recommend putting the story quests and this dungeon on hold to get your endgame gear. Remember, you can share equipment with your shared bank!

Once you’ve got your gear, you’ll want to socket it of course. Get as much Maximize and Critical as you can. Your three speeds (Attack, Movement & Jump) are also important

Section 1: The Security Lasers (How to SKIP A STAGE!)

During the first two parts of the dungeon (the part where you keep falling down while a big laser descends upon you, and the part after that), you MUST destroy these guys before moving forward. While the Spear Organic Cores are alive, the laser security grid will be active. The lasers do immense amounts of damage, so you don’t want to hit them. More importantly, if you and your party don’t hit any of the lasers, you can skip a stage inside the fortress. This will save you tons of time and pain.

These cores can turn themselves invisible, but they don’t move and are always in the exact same locations. Furthermore, they have a faint outline around them, they become fully visible when you stand next to them, and they're very easy to kill. There are three in total. One is in the first stage, while the next two are after you and your party travel along the moving platform. 

TIP: I see this in dungeons all the time: overzealous people who want to get as many kills as possible and run far ahead while leaving the party behind. DO NOT BE THIS PERSON. You’re going to run into the security lasers and look like a complete idiot.

Note: I’m not talking about the lasers that spawn from dead mobs or the lasers fired by the core itself. This always happens no matter what, so don’t worry about them.

Section 2: Parkour!

(pic is from Danzaer’s video here)

If you managed to avoid all the lasers, you’ll skip the first indoor section of the dungeon. The skippable section has rotating axes, platforms that move in annoying patterns, and tons of mobs to kill. The parkour section here is very difficult, and it’ll take time to get through the mobs. Therefore, you definitely want to skip this part.

The stage after this (which is where you’ll start if you avoided the lasers) also has a parkour section, but it’s much easier. The platforms go up and down in a simple up-and-down pattern. Beyond that are only a few mobs, which should take no time to kill.

TIP: Be patient with the parkour section, even though it’s easier. Lag and the moving hitboxes often result in you getting smacked down for no apparent reason. Obviously this is the game’s fault, but to avoid this, go through the platforms slowly and carefully. 

Section 3: Mini Boss - COPY_S (CODE-Maya’s return)

This stage is set up exactly the same way as the boss stage in 10-3 Elysion Tower. There is an upper platform and a lower platform. Below the lower platform is a jump pad that will boost you up to the upper platform.

On the upper platform is a Diceon Core, which powers COPY_S. If you destroy it, COPY_S will be deactivated. Ignore COPY_S and only focus on destroying the core.

Of course, COPY_S will attack you, usually by knocking you off the platform. Don’t worry about her though, as you can use the jump pad to get back to the top. Also, when COPY_S is next to the Diceon Core, they’ll both become invincible. Once again, don’t worry about it, because COPY_S teleports between the top and bottom platforms a lot, giving you plenty of time to attack the Core.

Section 4: Now You’re Thinking With Portals

(pic is from Delete 193′s video here)

The next section has portals that take you to other parts of the map with more mobs. You need to kill them in order to proceed. The first stage (as shown above) contains two portals. Think of it like this: there’s a main island, connected to two smaller islands. Once you’ve killed all the mobs on a small island, return to the portal you came through. This will bring you back to the main island. The section barrier is located at the end of the main island.

Why am I talking about this? Because I’ve seen lots of people who keep going through the portals and can’t figure out where the section barrier is to move to the next stage. It wastes time, but it shouldn’t because the layout isn’t too complicated. 

There’s another stage after this, but it only contains one portal. Should be simple enough.

Section 5: Protecting Herbaon

Herbaon arrives to help you get into the inner gate by destroying one of the cores. It takes him 40 seconds to destroy the core, so you’ve got to protect yourself from the mobs that begin spawning during that time. But that’s not the important part.

In addition to the mobs, a Surveillan (the boss from 10-2 Atlas City) will appear and begin firing at you. It only fires one shot, but these shots can hurt Herbaon. If Herbaon gets hit, he’ll be stunned for a bit, which pauses the 40-second countdown. Therefore, in order to get through this stage quickly, make sure Surveillan's shots don’t hit Herbaon. Stand at the edges and the corners of the stage. The spawning mobs can’t hurt Herbaon. 

Also, before this stage begins, a cutscene plays. Don’t skip the cutscene! You’ll get 5 seconds off the timer, which means you only have to defend yourself (and Herbaon) for 35 seconds. 

Section 6: The Black and White Scabbards

This is honestly the easiest section of the whole dungeon, but people don’t read the dungeon warnings I guess, so...

You will have to destroy four massive scabbards. Two of them are white while the other two are black, but the order in which they appear are random. Sometimes you’ll get white black white black, other times it’s black white white black, etc. so pay attention! The white scabbards can only be attacked with combos (Z and X attacks). The black scabbards can only be attacked with skills. Don’t waste time and mana by attacking a scabbard with the wrong type of attack!

TIP: This is when mana potions are extremely useful. If you or your party don’t have good equipment (or your party can’t read), you may need to use several attacks to take down the black scabbards.

There’s also a massive energy bolt that slowly creeps up on you, but it doesn’t do a whole lot of damage, so don’t worry about it too much.

Now, REMEMBER this stage, because it’s important for the boss fight!

Section 7: The Last Diceon Core

I’ve seen people who think the stage is all done after the scabbards. It’s not! Don’t forget to destroy the final Diceon Core!

Summary:

Section 1: Destroy the invisible cores and don’t run into the lasers. This will let you skip a stage in Section 2.

Section 2: Be patient with the parkour.

Section 3: Ignore COPY_S, destroy the Diceon Core.

Section 4: Don’t forget about the mobs on the small islands, and return to the main island to move to the next stage.

Section 5: Stay at the corners and edges so that Surveillan doesn’t shoot Herbaon. Also, do not skip the cutscene. This shaves 5 seconds off the clock.

Section 6: White is for combos, black is for skills.