Spirit Sanctum

To address problems relating to the Demon Realm, Rena and Rose travel with Ventus and Lincy to the Spirit Sanctum.

Up to two players battle Ventus and Lincy in a moderately sized arena with multiple platform heights.

Basic Mechanics

The battle against Ventus and Lincy is heavily seated in the fight's unique mechanics, and utilizing these mechanics is necessary to complete the fight at all, let alone in any timely manner.

Unlike the previous Master Road bosses, Ventus and Lincy recover from hitstun rather slowly, and can be comboed without much issue. However, the defensive mechanics used by Ventus and Lincy make up for this weakness.

At the start of the battle, each player will receive either a Wind Aura or Spirit Aura. (The first player always receives Wind, the second player always receives Spirit.) These auras can be changed by getting hit by certain boss attacks, or entering aura fields left behind by certain attacks.

Ventus and Lincy have constant shields that prevent attacks from hitting them. The only way to bypass these shields is to have the aura corresponding with the shield: having the Wind Aura will ignore green shields, and the Spirit Aura will ignore blue shields.

In phase 1, Ventus and Lincy split their time between fighting independently and fighting while paired together. While the two are apart, Ventus will always have a Wind barrier, and Lincy will always have a Spirit barrier. When together, they will use a barrier type selected at random, and players will be told what barrier type is in use.

Ventus and Lincy separate at fixed HP thresholds in the fight. They will start the fight divided, and will usually split up again every 50 HP bars. These thresholds are very difficult, if not impossible to skip: not only does Ventus recover very quickly from freezes and petrifies, he can also pause his health bar for the sake of meeting a threshold transition.

Ventus and Lincy will rejoin one another if either member of the pair loses a certain amount of health. This is tracked separately for Ventus and Lincy via a colored orb at the top of the screen.

When phase 2 begins, Ventus and Lincy will fuse together. Ventus and Lincy will no longer separate, and Ventus will slowly fly around the arena instead of fighting from the ground. Randomly chosen aura shields will protect Ventus.

Once you understand and get used to the fight's mechanics, this is a fairly manageable battle with a lot of room to breathe. This can be one of the easier Master Road dungeons, but clearing speed ultimately depends on execution and luck with auras... but this only goes that far if you're doing Normal difficulty or have a partner for Hell mode. Hell mode introduces a massive problem for solo players that we'll get to.

Attacks

The attacks you will encounter vary depending on what state Ventus and Lincy are in.

Lincy, alone

Raging Storm - Lincy will target a player, regardless of distance, indicated by a lit-up rectangular area. After a short time, a burst of wind will rise up; players hit will be launched and receive the Spirit aura.

• Lincy tends to use this as her first attack, and doesn't require proximity to her target. Be wary of this if you're going after Ventus at the time.
• Getting out of the way horizontally will handle this attack rather easily.
• The hitbox lingers for the entire time the graphics are active - be careful not to run into it after an initial dodge.

Rapid Spin - Lincy will wind up, then spin rapidly in place to create a strong gale around her. Getting hit by this gale will do moderate damage, knock you backwards a significant distance, and inflict the Spirit aura.

• Despite the length of the attack, the spin only hits one time, near the end of the move. This hitbox is surprisingly late, so caution is advised until you can mentally get used to it.

Spirit Spheres* - Lincy will prepare two large, magical orbs that she will then shoot forwards toward a player. Over time, these spheres will lose speed, but start homing in on targets. They finish with a final explosion that ignores I-frames.

• * - you can I-frame through the contact hits as the spheres fly around, but not the ending explosion.
• Lincy will only ever get to use this move if Ventus and Lincy have been allowed to stay split apart for a long time. This usually means you won't see it at all... but this move is threatening enough that you don't want to see it.
• If spheres are headed your way, stop attacking and bait them away. They'll cause trouble if they start homing in near Ventus or Lincy, as your attacks will get disrupted. Lure the homing spheres away for a bit first so you can head back to your target without the explosions being a threat.

Ventus, alone

Arc Shot* - Ventus will fire arrows in an arc in a player's direction. He will shoot one arrow, then a second, and lastly a spread of three shots at once. These arrows will land on the ground, then explode in the order they were fired, or explode early if they make contact with a player on the ground. The final three arrows are each colored either blue or green, and will respectively leave behind an aura after exploding that will inflict the Spirit or Wind aura on anyone who enters the aura, or was hit by the explosion. Ventus may choose to perform a short sidestep after this attack in an attempt to throw off attackers.

• *: you can I-frame through all damaging portions of this attack, but you cannot I-frame through the aura field that gets left behind.
• After the explosion, the aura field left behind isn't damaging. You can enter it to get the aura you need without being harmed. Just be aware that the explosion lingers slightly, and you can get hit by it if you try to get the aura too quickly.
• Ventus' arrows ignore the invisible walls of the arena, and can go out of bounds. Try to keep Ventus aiming toward the center of the arena, as you want the arrows' auras to be accessible.
• Ventus' arrows will generally all miss you if you stand a short distance in front of him - his shots will all sail right over your head.

Sniping Blast* - Ventus will take an aiming stance. For each player, three circular markers will appear, focused around their positions. A white marker, blue marker, and green marker will always appear. After a short while, these areas will explode. The blue and green markers will respectively inflict the Spirit and Wind auras on anyone hit by the explosion, or anyone who touches the aura zone left behind.

• *: you can I-frame through all damaging portions of this attack, but you cannot I-frame through the aura field that gets left behind.
• This attack is always centered around you at the time the markers appear, so you can move around before Ventus finishes aiming to manipulate where the shots will be placed.
• There tends to be one shot directly placed on you, and two shots skewed vertically and/or horizontally a set distance from you.
• You particularly want to lure these blasts upwards if you're on the ground level. If you're on the ground floor when the blasts are aimed, there's a chance that Ventus can aim one of the markers below you inside the floor. If this happens, it's very likely that any aura generated by that explosion will be inaccessible.

Kick Up - Ventus will perform a swift kick forwards that will launch any players hit. If the kick connects, he'll fire several arrows upwards at a fixed angle in an attempt to shoot the players.

• Ventus loses the ability to use this attack in phase 2 (since he's flying and is no longer on the ground).
• If Ventus' kick doesn't connect, he will end the attack there.
• Ventus will only use this move if there is a player fairly close to him.
• If this move is a concern, simply keep a small distance from Ventus until his next attack. The kick is somewhat fast, but it does give you enough time to walk away a small distance and make it whiff... assuming you aren't already far enough away that the kick misses you.

Ventus and Lincy, together

Rapid Spin - Ventus has Lincy perform her Rapid Spin attack around him. Unlike when Lincy used it by herself, the aura inflicted by this version of the move is random.

• Ventus will only use this move if a player is fairly close to him.

Homing Blast - Ventus and Lincy ascend into the air and ready themselves before unleashing one homing arrow per player. These arrows will appear from each side of the screen, and slowly chase down players for several seconds. Ventus and Lincy remain idle while this attack is occurring. These arrows deal moderate damage, but hit very rapidly and repeatedly if they connect.

• The first homing arrow will always appear from the center of the left side; the second, the center of the right side.
• The arrows are best handled by looping them around until they vanish. This can be done fairly easily by making use of the top platform: from its starting position, have the arrow chase you upwards toward the top platform. Jump over it to the lower side platforms, and you can just climb back up again while the arrow tries to catch up. Doing this also means there's zero risk of dragging your arrow in the way of the other player if both players use this strategy.
• Ventus and Lincy are completely vulnerable to damage during this move... if you can find time to attack them. Any moves that can deal damage while separate from the user are ideal ways to punish this attack. Just keep in mind that they also remain a physical obstacle that you must navigate around while luring the arrows. This also presents an attacking opportunity if, in a two-player run, the party can get both arrows chasing one player, but this is something that needs to be communicated first to avoid any accidental casualties.
• If Ventus and Lincy hit an HP threshold for starting phase 2, the arrows will vanish soon after regardless of their remaining lifespan. This means it may sometimes be in your best interest to rush down Ventus before the attack can become a threat.

Barrage of Wind and Spirit - this is Ventus' and Lincy's ultimate attack. The duo will teleport into the background, and begin shooting arrows into the foreground. They will fire 8 barrages of arrows: in each barrage, there are six white arrows fired at random locations at the map, a green arrow fired directly at the first player, and a blue arrow fired directly at the second player. If the players get the green and blue arrows to intersect, a field will form. If a field overlaps with another field, it will merge the two together and advance the field's state. A field that merges with two other fields will have a green and blue ring around its edges, and acts as a completed barrier. Being in a completed barrier is the only way to survive the full-screen blast Ventus and Lincy use after the 8 barrages. Ventus and Lincy will enter a fatigue state at the bottom of the arena afterwards.

• Note that being in a completed barrier makes you invulnerable. This isn't just for the ending blast, but the normal arrows as well, meaning you can have ample time to set up buffs/equipment if you bait the attack well.
• The visual warnings for the arrows are much larger than the arrows themselves. Stepping or jumping to the edge of an arrow's ring is usually more than enough to get you out of harm's way.
• Completing this attack successfully demands proximity to your partner at all times. The best meeting place is usually at the bottom of the arena, since Ventus will appear there after the attack ends. From there, focus on sidestepping arrows and causing fields to appear near each other to swiftly make the barrier you need.
• If a player is dead, Ventus will always aim that player's colored arrow at the spot where they died.
• If you are playing alone, the blue arrow does not exist, as there's no second player to aim it at. This means a solo player cannot create a barrier to survive this attack. This will result in forced deaths; players must use revival passives/effects to circumvent these deaths, and have the power necessary to defeat Ventus and Lincy before the player runs out of revival chances.

Strategies and Notes

Controlling attack placement is key to this battle going properly; this applies to both your attacks, as well as those from Ventus and Lincy. Ventus most reliably provides your chances to obtain Wind and Spirit auras through his Arc Shot and Sniping Blast attacks, but as previously mentioned, it's possible to have these attacks put out of bounds if your positioning is off. Keep Ventus shooting toward the arena's center to prevent Arc Shots from flying out of the arena, and keep off the ground when Sniping Blasts are aimed at you to keep the auras from being put underground.

When you have the auras you need, be wary of the attacks Ventus and Lincy are using in the meantime. While you do want to make the most of your opportunity to strike back, if you get careless, you could run yourself into the wrong aura and lose your ability to do damage. The same logic extends to Ventus' proximity-based attacks (primarily Rapid Spin) and the aura-inflicting attacks he has access to, which can switch your auras when you weren't prepared.

Do your best to work together with any partner you have in this battle. Having homing arrows lured to an unprepared ally can be disastrous and result in a death if they can't react in time (or get put in a situation where no good reaction is even possible). Clearing Ventus' and Lincy's ultimate attack is also impossible without coordinating arrow placements with your ally; try to match their movements and placements as much as possible.

A solo sample fight against Ventus and Lincy in Hell mode can be found here. The first 54 seconds are dedicated to showing an example of the ultimate attack being completed with two people, and explanation of how a single player can't clear the attack successfully.