Neo Exdeath

Battle Formation ID:	495
Enemies:	Neo Exdeath (Fake 1) Neo Exdeath (Fake 2) Exdeath Neo Exdeath (Dragon) Neo Exdeath (Creature) Neo Exdeath (Heavy) Neo Exdeath (Humanoid)
Escape%:	Can't Escape
ABP gained:	0
Music Control:	Track: The Last Battle
Visual Control:	Intro: Normal Invalid Targets
Parameters:	Boss Battle Denies Mute (Time spell) No Reward at the end
Terrain:	#31 - Distorted Space

Stats

Name	Neo Exdeath (Fake 1)	Neo Exdeath (Fake 2)	Neo Exdeath (Dragon)	Neo Exdeath (Creature)	Neo Exdeath (Heavy)	Neo Exdeath (Humanoid)
Level	97	97	83	67	81	86
Speed	1	1	27	35	55	35
HP	55500	55500	55000	55000	50000	60000
MP	55500	55500	65000	65000	65000	65000
Strength	1	1	99	99	99	99
Defense	0	0	30	30	30	30
Evasion	0	0	10	10	10	10
Magic	0	0	10	21	10	12
Magic Defense	0	0	20	19	25	20
Magic Evasion	10	10	75	80	76	66
Gil	0	0	0	0	0	0
Exp	0	0	0	0	0	0
Steal	Common: Nothing Rare: Nothing	Common: Nothing Rare: Nothing	Common: Nothing Rare: Dragon Lance	Common: Fuma Shuriken Rare: Nothing	Common: Nothing Rare: Murakumo	Common: Nothing Rare: Ragnarok
Drops	Always: Nothing Rare: Nothing	Always: Nothing Rare: Nothing	Always: Nothing Rare: Nothing	Always: Nothing Rare: Nothing	Always: Nothing Rare: Nothing	Always: Nothing Rare: Nothing

Status

Enemy Status

NAME	Neo Exdeath (Fake 1)	Neo Exdeath (Fake 2)	Neo Exdeath (Dragon)	Neo Exdeath (Creature)	Neo Exdeath (Heavy)	Neo Exdeath (Humanoid)
Elemental Immunity:	Fire, Ice, Lightning, Poison, Holy, Earth, Wind, Water	Fire, Ice, Lightning, Poison, Holy, Earth, Wind, Water	None	None	None	None
Elemental Absorb:	None	None	None	None	None	None
Elemental Weakness:	None	None	None	None	None	None
Status Vulnerability:	Regen, Slow, Haste, Shell, Armor, Wall	Regen, Slow, Haste, Shell, Armor, Wall	Darkness, Zombie, Float, Image, Mute, Paralyze, Regen, Haste, Stop, Shell, Armor, Wall	Darkness, Zombie, Float, Image, Mute, Aging, Regen, Haste, Stop, Shell, Armor, Wall	Darkness, Zombie, Float, Image, Mute, Regen, Slow, Haste, Stop, Shell, Armor, Wall	Darkness, Zombie, Poison, Float, Image, Mute, Regen, Slow, Haste, Stop, Shell, Armor, Wall
Initial Status:	(Always) Zombie, Invulnerable	(Always) Sleep, Invulnerable	None	None	None	None
Cannot Evade:	None	None	None	None	None	None
Creature Type:	Heavy	Heavy	Dragon, Heavy	Creature, Heavy	Heavy	Humanoid
Command Vulnerability:	None	None	HP Scan	HP Scan	HP Scan	HP Scan
Special Properties:	Critical Attack	Critical Attack	Vacuum Wave (+50% Attack)	Vacuum Wave (+50% Attack)	Vacuum Wave (+50% Attack)	Vacuum Wave (+50% Attack)

Summary

The void consumes all, and Exdeath is not excluded. What is left afterwards is a tangled four-part insane mass of demons and spirits that seek to destroy everything, one that stands between you and your final victory. Each of the four parts has their own abilities and weaknesses, and staying alive while taking full advantage of these weaknesses with whatever resources your jobs can muster is key to winning.

Good luck.

Attack Script

Neo Exdeath (Fake 1)

Note: This is just the front image of Neo Exdeath

Nothing

Neo Exdeath (Fake 2)

Note: This is just the back image of Neo Exdeath

Nothing

Neo Exdeath (Dragon)

Note: Has no image, but corresponds to the red horned beast on the top middle

Condition: If in Position ?? {
    No Interrupt {
         {Meteor, Almagest, Special}
         {Comet, Special, Special}
         }
    No Interrupt {
         {Meteor, Almagest, Special}
         {Maelstrom, Almagest, Special}
         }
    No Interrupt {
         {Meteor, Attack, Special}
         {Comet, Almagest, Special}
         }
    Grand Cross
    }

Condition: V00=01 {
    Attack
    {Meteor, Attack, Nothing}
    Nothing
    }

Condition: HP < 15000 {
    Display Text: The laws of the universe mean nothing!
    Change Music??
    Nothing
    Change Music??
    Grand Cross
    Set V00=01
    Nothing
    }

Condition: HP < 30000 {
    Display Text: The laws of the universe mean nothing!
    Nothing
    Grand Cross
    Nothing
    Nothing
    Attack
    Dispel
    Nothing
    Nothing
    }

Nothing
Display Text: The laws of the universe mean nothing!
Nothing
Grand Cross
Nothing
Nothing
Dispel
Nothing

Neo Exdeath (Creature)

Note: Has no image, but corresponds to the many women in the middle front

Condition: If in Position ?? {
    No Interrupt {
         {Meteor, Almagest, Special}
         {Comet, Special, Special}
         }
    No Interrupt {
         {Meteor, Almagest, Special}
         {Maelstrom, Almagest, Special}
         }
    No Interrupt {
         {Meteor, Attack, Special}
         {Comet, Almagest, Special}
         }
    }

Nothing
Almagest
Nothing
Nothing

Neo Exdeath (Heavy)

Note: Has no image, but corresponds to the horned centaur in the front

Condition: If in Position ?? {
    No Interrupt {
         {Meteor, Meteor, Special}
         {Comet, Special, Special}
         }
    No Interrupt {
         {Meteor, Meteor, Special}
         {Maelstrom, Maelstrom, Special}
         }
    No Interrupt {
         {Meteor, Attack, Special}
         {Comet, Almagest, Special}
         }
    }

{Attack, Special, Nothing}
{Attack, Attack, Special}
{Attack, Special, Dispel}

Neo Exdeath (Humanoid)

Note: Has no image, but corresponds to the skeletal torso in the rear

Condition: If in Position ?? {
    No Interrupt{
         {Meteor, Meteor, Special}
         {Comet, Special, Special}
         }
    No Interrupt{
         {Meteor, Meteor, Special}
         {Maelstrom, Maelstrom, Special}
         }
    No Interrupt{
         {Meteor, Attack, Special}
         {Comet, Almagest, Special}
         }
    }

{Aeroga, Delta Attack, Attack}
{Blizzaga, Attack, Dispel}
{Flare, Firaga, Attack}
{Holy, Thundaga, Nothing}

Strategies

Overview

As noted above, Neo Exdeath is divided into four different parts, each with their own hit point pool. All four parts must be killed to win. On older versions of the game, Neo Exdeath also has two dummy parts that do nothing, cannot be hurt, and only serve to absorb randomly targeted spells and attacks.

Thankfully, the four main parts generally act infrequently, with all of them having at least a chance to skip some turns. This is good, but it doesn't get around that when they do act, they are each capable of unleashing powerful attacks and abilities that can and will decimate an unprepared party. This is why it is generally recommended to do any setup work while fighting Exdeath's tree form, as any buffs from that fight carry over directly into this one.

While the forms mostly have different attack patterns (described below), the one thing they do have in common is infrequently using Dispel to remove one character's buffs. Be ready to reapply those if need be.

Once three of the four parts have been slain, Neo Exdeath's final part goes into hyperdeath mode, acting twice per turn and spamming powerful melee strikes, Meteor, and Almagest (more on what this does below). More than a couple turns of this is guaranteed to wipe out your party, so balancing your damage between different parts so that the final part is nearly dead when you reach this point is the preferred approach. Of course, there are other strategies, depending on what order you killed the parts in and what options you have.

On the SNES, Playstation, and GBA versions, Beastmaster can make the entire fight much less difficult with the right releases (like Dragon Aevis), potentially shaving 39996 health off of every part as an opener. During the fight, Geomancer's Gaia will always generate a Wind Slash. Certain AOE effects like Summoner boosted Syldra or Samurai's Zeninage throwing money around will allow you to AOE burn every part at the same time. Barring those, however, you will have to deal with each part individually.

Front

The front part is represented by the horned centaur creature that was Exdeath's beta design. It has 50000 hit points, and is Heavy.

It attacks entirely with physical strikes and Vacuum Wave attacks, which it uses fairly regularly every turn. Back row will half the damage, as will the Protect spell. Meanwhile the Blink spell, Ninja's Image, and summoning Golem can outright negate it. Just keep in mind the occasional Dispel which will remove all of these buffs except Golem. Equipped shields and other items that grant independent evade like the Elven Mantle or Sasuke's Katana can also mitigate some of the damage this part does.

Weakness wise, though, this part doesn't have a lot. It can be blinded to make it miss with its swings, but overcoming its high magic evasion is a bit of a tall order. There's no real shortcut to bringing this part down, though - you just have to burn through all of its hit points. Because of this lack of quickly exploitable weaknesses, you don't want to leave it alone to be the last part.

Top

The top part is represented by the red horned beast (possibly meant to evoke a mythological kirin) on Neo Exdeath's back. It has 55000 hit points, is Heavy, and is classified as a Dragon.

This part periodically lets out an emote regarding the laws of the universe, and then two turns later unleashes Grand Cross, an ability that just applies random negative status effects to your whole party. While Grand Cross is charging, Neo Exdeath cannot use Almagest. Depending on your luck, this can be a minor annoyance, or can immediately stop your fight cold. Any gear that grants you immunity to status effects, like Ribbon or Hermes Sandals, can make Grand Cross do nothing if it rolls a resisted effect.

Weapons that do extra damage to Dragon enemies, like Dragon Lance, Apollo's Harp, or Dragon's Whisker, will cut deep into this part's health. This is important because at specific health thresholds (30000 and 15000 hit points respectively), this part's script resets, meaning you can lock it out of casting Grand Cross if you do damage fast enough.

On top of that, this part is specifically weak to paralysis effects. If you can get this part locked down with paralysis, you can safely leave it for last, as it being paralyzed locks out even the final part's murderous script. A Blue Mage with Mind Blast makes this very easy, and a whip wielding Beastmaster with the right weapon (including the aforementioned Dragon's Whisker) can also potentially shut it down. If you're really desperate, you can gamble by spam summoning Remora, although this is unlikely to hit.

If you have none of these options, you will probably want to burn this part's hit points down in tandem with the front part's, so they die at roughly the same time, all while praying Grand Cross isn't too mean.

Middle

The middle part is represented either by the grinning horned skull or the woman in the red dress sticking out from underneath Neo Exdeath. (It's version dependent.) It has 55000 hit points, is Heavy, and is classified as a Magic Beast.

This part likes to make Neo Exdeath vibrate with power. After a turn of shaking, it unleashes Almagest, a massive magical attack that does around 1500-1600 damage and inflicts sap to your entire party. The Shell spell can half the initial damage. While this part is winding up for Almagest, Grand Cross is put on hold.

Because of the massive part-wide damage, dealing with Almagest is a very high priority. The easiest way to do this is via the art of petrification. Mystic Knights can just swing a Break spellblade to immediately do this with no trouble at all. Black Mages can try just casting Break, while Summoners can call on Catoblepas to do the same. (In the defunct mobile/Steam version, a Lamp summoned Catoblepas also can work nicely due to AOE targeting.) Certain Beastmaster releases like Mover or Orukat can also land a hit to do the same, although this is a bit more dicey.

If you do not have access to such, you will need to burn through this part's hit points the old fashioned way, and quickly. Again, this is typically the most dangerous part of Neo Exdeath, so taking Almagest off the board as soon as possible is highly recommended.

Back

The back part is represented by the skeletal torso towards the, well, back of Neo Exdeath. It has 60000 hit points, and is classified as a Humanoid.

The form is the spellcaster of the bunch, throwing out Firaga, Blizzaga, and Thundaga spells along with Holy and Flare. It will also sprinkle in a Delta Attack to petrify your party members, as well as the occasional expected Dispel.

And in the time it took you to read all that, this part is probably now dead, since it falls to a Magic Lamp summoned Odin. Given how any run can use the lamp, it's the preferred strategy to take advantage of this. The real question is whether to use the lamp to kill this part first, or save it for last. It's a bit of a matter of personal preference, but generally it isn't recommended to deal with this part's spell output and Almagest's damage at the same time.

Alternatively, if you want to be a rebel and not use the lamp, Blue Mage can hit this part with their Doom spell, Samurai can attempt Iainuki, and Time Mages can try to throw the Banish spell at it. The only reason you'd want to inflict hit point damage to this part is if you were going for strategy of spamming AOE attacks.

The End

Once the final part goes down, watch the credits roll and celebrate a fiesta run well done. That is, unless you have unfinished business with Shinryu and/or Omega...