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The Mantis Ant is the very first major boss inVisions of Manaand offers a different flavor of combat than fighting against hordes of smaller enemies in the Aery Passage and the starting region.
While the Mantis Ant isn’t particularly difficult, it offers a challengeif faced on the Hard difficulty setting, especially if players haven’t optimized the build and Elemental Plot for Val and Careena.
Best Party Composition For Mantis Ant Fight
At this point in the game, Val is very much the stronger of the two characters and will deal the most damage to the Mantis Ant.Switch Val’s class to Rune Knight by giving him the Wind Vessel. Advance his Elemental Plot to the third stage, which gives him Thunder Saber, a wind-type move that imbues his Zweihander with wind elemental damage. Since Mantis Ant is weak to wind damage, this works out perfectly and remains the highest DPS option for the party. The third stage, Elemental Blade, buffs Saber magic damage by another 20%, which is very nice to have.
Give Careena Tornadoand set her AI to be aggressive so she spams the ability. It is the only way for her to be of help during this fight. Additionally, since there are plenty of mana pots in the boss arena, she won’t run out of juice easily.
If the party loses, they will automatically revive at the nearby Meridian thanks to thein-game auto-save.
Strategy
Slash Swipe
A simple slash that targets the area directly in front of the Mantis Ant.
Make sure to remain either by the boss’s side or near its back to render this attack useless.
Poison Mist
The Mantis Ant throws out a cloud of poison vapor in a large area in front of it. Inflicts the Poison status.
Either dodge to the side or run behind him. Once it starts this attack, it is animation-locked. If inflicted, the poison status fades over time.
Golden Chakrams
Throws three golden rings of light in an area in front of him. They return to his claws after a brief delay.
The Chakrams only deal damage to characters that are in the air; they pass over anyone walking on the ground.
Jump Slam
A large red circle appears in the arena to indicate that the Mantis Ant is about to jump and land there.
Dodging the circle completely is not necessary. The boss only deals damage if he catches someone directly in the middle.
Rock Barrage
The Mantis Ant stops and primes its abdomen (the bulbous tail at the end) and peppers the ground with a flurry of rocks that deal moderate damage.
This is the boss’s most dangerous attack. Avoid this attack by running past the red circles as they appear.
How to Beat Mantis Ant
Control Val in hisRune Knightform, as he is the one who will be dealing the majority of the damage to the Mantis Ant. This boss isweak to wind-type damage, which Val can consistently provide, thanks to hisThunder Blade. Dodge any and all attacks as they come, taking careful note of the boss’s attack patterns as you do.
Hugging the legs is an easy way to avoid getting hit, so verify to keep close whenever possible.
For damage,aim at the Mantis Ant’s tail(where the rock spikes grow). It is the easiest part of his body to hit and is susceptible to critical damage. Val’s wind ability costs7 MPand lasts for a considerable amount of time. If the timer on the ability does run out, make sure to reapply it often. If you run out of mana, break one of the purple pots at the edge of the arena.
The purple pots recover mana, the green ones recover health, and theblue ones recover Class Strike (CS) gauge. Val’s CS deals massive damage to the Mantis Ant so make sure to use it on cooldown. Each blue pot recovers 25% of the CS gauge, meaning you can go from zero to 100% by breaking four pots.
The Mantis Ant is a level 7 boss. If you’re facing it while under-leveled, it will take a long time to die. Be patient and wait for the right opportunity to deal damage.
