Trouncing Rockshard Rampart's master

Well, that master was completely unexpected. After facing two masters that were more small and fast, I expected that trend to continue. Atop Rockshard Rampart, however, dwells a giant, scorpion-like master.

Now, this isn't to say that real scorpions are slow, but this master is almost as slow as the rocks that it inhabits.

The thing lumbers around the boss room, standing and more or less letting you hack away at its legs until it deigns to strike with its tail. A tail that always gets stuck in the ground. Hacking at the tail has the same effect as it does on the legs, a crystalline shell forms around the area that's struck.

Like other masters up to this point, this one's body seems to be a sort of metal. You can't fire the chain into it, it just bounces off. The crystalline shell that it puts up around its body for protection, however, is prime realty for the end of your chain. Its end eagerly sets up shop in this shell as soon as it connects.

Using this quality of its crystal shielding to your advantage, you climb your way up to the master's tail and then hop off onto its back. On the rolling vista that is this creature's spine you can get a clear shot at its master flesh. Take it, and then yank your chain out before the master climbs a wall and knocks you off. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

From the master's back, it looked like the joints of its legs were also viable targets. But, if hooking onto them with the chain yielded some sort of advantage it was entirely unnecessary. The curse gauge nearly emptied before I pulled the chain for the last time, but in the end I still had time to spare.

So, what this master lacked in speed it definitely made up for in strategy. Learning its attacks and how it telegraphs them makes it easier to exploit some generous openings. This exploitation in turn brings it down faster so you can hop into its back more frequently.

However, where with the previous two masters I felt like I was fighting to stay alive, with this master I felt more like I was fighting to keep the curse from devouring Elena. Even without the Lifeforce Band equipped, I would have finished the fight without having used a single curative.

On the one hand this sensation and lack of need for curatives suggests that this is an easy fight. On the other, feeling an urgent need to finish off the master so that the curse gauge doesn't entirely empty really brings you into Aeron's mindset.