Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago

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Everyone's favorite Mr. Saturn knock-off comes to annoy me yet again.





Game Modifications:
-Modified party, stats, accessories, and arte list



Strategy:
Surprisingly a very annoying fight and the reason is because of an attack he didn't use lol (I got very lucky). This very scary arte is Snout Flare. It's an insanely quick dashing multi-hit attack which he can use multiple times in a row if he so chooses. It also has no set range, which means he can use it from anywhere he wants. It's also nearly impossible to react to if he uses it at close range. This means that whenever he attacks at close range is a moment where I could just die. The speed at which he moves when he activates this arte also means he dodges Spark Wave if I use it from a distance. Snout Flare has so many hits and lasts for such a long time that I can't even use my spell i-frames to get through it. This is why I keep targeting Gnome to see whether or not he's doing this attack because if I try to cast a spell when he does this, he'll likely be able to punish it (for spells that aren't Spark Wave he'll just punish the longer cast time). With this targeting method, I can see if he's using it before he zooms onto my screen and jump over him. I can tell when he's not using it when he starts his walk cycle which I discern by looking at if his eyes look "angry" or not since his eyes change shape when he walks compared to when he's standing still.

For his other attacks, they're generally a lot more fair than Snout Flare lol. He has Ultra Grave and Grave, both of which I can dodge by jumping at the correct timing. The difference between these two is the range at which he can activate them, with Ultra Grave having the longer range. These can also be spell-queued. He has a charge attack which he always insta-casts Stalagmite after. This can be pretty problematic since an advanced spell like this means I can't cast my own spell. On top of that, he's also active while Stalagmite is going on which means he can mask his Snout Flare or Grave animations within the Stalagmite which is... just awesome honestly. Luckily, I can generally know when he's going to use this attack since he walks up, stops, and then charges. This means I have plenty of time to cast Spark Wave and make sure he doesn't use Stalagmite. Although it has a similar range to Grave, so if I assume it's the charge I may end up jumping into a Grave instead. As for his ultimate attack, King Tackle, it's not an issue for Shizel as I can cancel it with a spell before he turns big. Thank god it's not considered a spell.

Gnome also has two spells: Earth Shaker (AKA Ground Dasher) and Summon Friends. Earth Shaker isn't a big deal at all since it takes a bit to cast. I can just jump out of it and then punish with Spark Wave. Summon Friends is a bit more interesting. I have to jump over it and the timing varies depending on how close I am to the East side of the map. What makes it interesting is that its cast time is very short so if I'm not careful he can spell-queue me with this very easily. He can also attempt to cast this during Stalagmite. If I try to cast my own spell before he can cast Summon Friends during Stalagmite's spell-queue, he will always cast faster than me so I can't contest that. Lastly, he recovers quickly from using Summon Friends and he can use Snout Flare before my spell goes off to quickly gap close on me so punishing Summon Friends can be risky.

My general plan is to make absolutely sure I'm safe to cast before doing so. This means that he has to not be casting Summon Friends and not be using Snout Flare. It almost feels a bit turn-based strategy wise lol. I had a lot of fun with this one overall though. A very methodical fight for Shizel.

BGM:
Star Wind - Atelier Mary