Maddened Ascetic (rematch)

This page is about the Chapter 7 rematch. For the first fight in Chapter 1, see Maddened Ascetic.

Maddened Ascetic (rematch) is the second meeting with the Ascetic from Chapter 1, placed in the Underground Caves of Chapter 7 (Arena10010). It is the same model and the same move set as Maddened Ascetic, but the game treats this copy as a non-final boss, which changes how the fight starts and what it gives. It is one of the Bosses of the main story, fought before the Usurper.

Overview#

Phases#

It starts in phase 2. When the battle begins, Hero20007:StartBattle resets the grade and immediately adds one grade for every boss whose BossFinal is 0 (hero20007.lua:33-37). The Lunatic fade is therefore not needed: the rock throw LPH, the jump cleave D, the long-hold dash SPP and the ultimate OP (the moves marked P2) are available from the first second. Nothing in ES_StoryMonsterProperty changes for this grade, so the stats below do not move.

Stats#

How the numbers scale#

The level of the placement (Level_1 to Level_4 in ES_StoryMonster) feeds the model's attribute curves, and the placement's ES_StoryMonsterProperty row is added on top: see Enemies#How enemy stats are built and New Game Plus enemy scaling#How the level is chosen. The values below were calculated with the game's own formula and are rounded down.

Compared with other chapter bosses this fight has a very small Health pool, and the elemental resistances (205 to 312) are noticeably higher than the Defence, so the fire, arcane and dark moves of your own weapons and throwables are weak against it.

Moves#

The move set, the AI ranges and the flat power of every hit are the same as in the first fight: see Maddened Ascetic#Moves and Maddened Ascetic#Damage. Only the attack stat differs, so the hits are scaled by the numbers in the stats table above. The moves marked P2 there (LPH, D, SPP, OP) are available from the first second here.

Raw strength of three typical hits#

A move's raw strength is attack stat x the move's attack multiplier + the move's flat power, using the stat that matches its damage type; your defence or resistance then reduces it (see Damage formula and Damage types and resistances). The table shows that raw number before your defence is applied.

Drops and rewards#

Its normal drop list (DropId 70002; 70096; 70098) is rolled once on death (the roll shape is taken from the sanity-drop code in GetStoryDropItem; that the normal drops use the same roll is inferred). Each list is a set of weighted alternatives, and the columns in the table are your New Game Plus journey.

The Immundus Diamond is one of the five Immundus stones and is guaranteed every time. If you are Lunatic when it dies, SanDropId 70012 adds a 40% chance of 2 to 3 Anthozoan Bones (ES_ItemDropData rows 468 and 469). What a non-final boss kill does to your sanity was not traced (unverified; see Lunatic state).

Hidden mechanics#

• A free second phase. On a normal run the Ascetic only reaches phase 2 if you go Lunatic. Here phase 2 is unconditional, so you cannot use the Lunatic-only timing you learned in Chapter 1.
• The loot table is a roll, not a chest. Because the Immundus Diamond sits in its own list with 100% probability, it is the only reward you can count on.
• Dark ultimate and the Special blast. The ultimate OP (160 dark, 180 degree cone, 6.5 m, guard break 150) and the Special S (119 dark, -15 sanity, 120 degree cone) are its two dark-damage moves; the Special also removes sanity, as in the first fight (Maddened Ascetic#Moves).
• Sanity cost 75. Removing the whole Health bar costs 75 sanity, so you only reach the Lunatic line of 50 after about two thirds of its Health, and at that point nothing changes for the boss (it is already in phase 2). The Special S also costs 15 sanity per hit, as in the first fight.
• No phase-change heal. The 50% top-up of Bosses#Boss mode and the phase change is only applied for placements with BossFinal 1, and this one is 0.

Strategy#

• The fight is decided by Health: 2,637 at journey 1 is less than half of the Usurper's 5,860. A burst of damage after you dodge its combos is enough.
• Its AI never fires beyond 12 m and often hovers after a combo (see Maddened Ascetic#Phase 1), so attacks from range are safe, but the rock throws LS and LPH reach 12 to 15 m.
• Block or dodge the three-hit HLL (last hit breaks guard 150) and the two-hit LHH (guard break 200 on the lunge hit).

Sources#

• Tables: ES_StoryMonster row 7010 (levels, DropId, SanDropId, SanDamage 75, BossFinal 0); ES_ItemDropData DropId 70002, 70096, 70098, 70012 (StoryId 7); ES_ItemData 50004, 20001, 40001, 40002, 40011; ES_StoryMonsterProperty (one empty row); ES_HeroData 20007; ES_StoryQuest 71004, 71005.
• Code: hero20007.lua:30-45 (start in grade 2 when BossFinal <= 0); animalbase.lua:1527-1535 (the 50% heal needs BossFinal > 0); structdata/ms_storyitemdrop.lua (per-loop columns); controllerstorymode.lua:3392-3446, 5355-5400.
• Move list: reports/bosses_and_enemies.md section 1 and 13, reports/data/boss_moves.json (hero 20007).