Oookay, now for the REAL reason I wanted to have a forum post: The Nightfall Bandit Dungeon. Arch nemesis of mine for the better part of 2 months, and only now have I finally broken its wicked spirit. This post will serve as the table of contents/outline.

1. Bandits and sylesties and treasure, oh my!
2. The first clue
3. The basement storm door
4. The second clue
5. Slide to the left~ Slide to the right~ Criss cross!~ Criss cross!~
6. The third clue
7. It's locked. It's locked. It's--
8. Talons Into Flesh
9. All that glitters...



A note on minimum requirements:
For the best experience in this dungeon, you need...

- Minimum level 30 pets, recommended higher
- All 3 battle party slots unlocked
(Note: if you start the dungeon right at level 30, you'll be level 33 once you reach the Talon fight, and if you can win the fight you'll make it just shy of level 34.)





Low-level low-stat team viability:

This section brought to you by:

Petunia --------- Artemas --------- Charlie ---------- Tundra --------- Sherbet --------- Thermopylae


Light/Air/Fire at level 30 -

Absolutely not. Team lasted well enough through the main dungeon (used 4 lesser revives and no potions), but was utterly destroyed in the Talon fight. Used a total of 9 greater revives and 12 Strong Restore Elixirs III to avoid total wipeout, and still came distressingly close on multiple occasions. This setup might be viable at higher levels (45, maybe?), but should not be a beginner dungeon team.
Light stats
Air stats
Fire stats


Shadow/Light/Fire at level 30 -

Not as good as I expected, honestly. Another team that survived fine in the main dungeon, but wasn't particularly strong in the boss fights (and very nearly wiped in the Talon fight). Used 4 greater revives, 8 lesser revives, and 6 Strong Restore Elixir III; a slight improvement over LAF, I'd say, but hardly perfect.
Shadow stats
Light stats
Fire stats


Water/Light/Fire at level 30 -

I got so, SO close to beating Talon. This team was incredible. With a few more levels and/or anything other than wild stat pets? I think you could actually do it. Note that I did die in that last fight (goodbye, my beloved win record!), and I used a fair few more potions this fight (5 Standard Restore Elixir II, 1 greater revive, *11* lesser revives), but I think, if you were to go into the dungeon thoroughly stocked up on potions and not afraid to use them, you clear the dungeon!

General strategy notes:
- Use Water's ice shield (key 2) whenever you can. Use Light's key 2 if more than 2 pets are below 95%.
- Neither the Storm Door fight nor the Slider Door fight posed any problem whatsoever.
- The Number Door fight used 2 Standard Restore Elixir I and 2 lesser revives, though if I had paid more attention to managing HP then I think I could have prevented using the revives.
Talon strategies here.

[TEMPLINKREPLACE]Water stats[/url]
Light stats
Fire stats



Need to try:
Shadow/Light/Air at level 30

Shadow/Water/Fire at level 30
Shadow/Water/Air at level 30


Earth/Light/Fire at level 30
Earth/Light/Air at level 30

Earth/Water/Fire at level 30
Earth/Water/Air at level 30


Water/Light/Air at level 30

Bandits and sylesties and treasure, oh my!

First of all, congratulations on working up the courage to do your first (or one of your first) dungeon runs! Hopefully you're at least level 30 and have all 3 party slots unlocked - this dungeon can be difficult if you're using low-stat pets, and especially so if you don't have harmonious elements with the right proficiency points chosen!

Now, what do I mean by "harmonious elements" and "the right proficiency points"? Well here's the short version, but smarter folks than I have put together better explanations than this, so if I were you I'd look up "Sylestia element proficiency" and go from there.


Ideal party elements:
Tank/Support/Damage
(or Light/Damage/Damage, if you're brave.)

Tank = Shadow or Earth
Support = Light or Water
Damage = Fire or Air


Ideal element proficiencies:

Shadow: Health, followed by intelligence
Earth: Health, followed by agility
Light: Intelligence, followed loosely by health
Water: Strength, followed by health
Fire: Intelligence
Air: Strength

My first dungeon team was a shadow with 2 health proficiencies, a light with 1 intelligence and 1 health, and a fire with 2 intelligence - but of course, feel free to mix and match to find what works with you.



Now, for the part of this post that's actually strictly related to the dungeon!

The NfBD is set up in a very specific way - fight your way through enemies with set checkpoints along the way, until you reach either a boss room or the boss room.

These checkpoints are always spaced out at exactly the same placements every time. And this is the only reason I wanted to make this thread - because I cannot for the life of me find anyone else who's documented this, and I want it to be out there so other people know. (Not that anybody will ever find this thread... but hey, you never know.)

The checkpoints are as follows:

- 9 random encounters
- Number clue
- 4 random encounters
- Storm Door
- 9 random encounters
- Number clue
- 4 random encounters
- Slider door
- 9 random encounters
- Number clue
- 4 random encounters
- Number door
- 4 random encounters
- Talon fight
- Final chest

Every time, without fail.

Random encounter possibilities:

Battles
Can either be nightfall bandits or sylesties. Difficulty ranges from 1 to 3 stars, and can be any mix of sylesties and bandits, with up to 3 enemies per encounter.

Crates
A crate, with a tiny amount of either gold or damage inside. From observation, both gold and damage can range from 10-50.

Treasure chests
A chest, with a small amount of either gold or damage inside. From observation, both gold and damage can range from 150-500.

The Peddler

The first clue

After completing 9 random encounters, Jinxie will pop up and point out a strange number and object combination. The object doesn't matter in the slightest, but the number will be important for later. (I personally pull up my computer's calculator, put it into popout mode so it sits in the corner even if I click into a different window, and type the numbers there).

The basement storm door

4 random encounters after finding your first number, you'll be met with a door with a riddle on it. Think it through carefully - the answer can be found without clicking out of the page (although it might not be contained within the dungeon screen itself). It's also something you can see on every page in Sylestia.

Behind this door you'll find a 3-star, uncatchable, probably very cool sylesti! This sylesti will be one of 36 combinations of Ripple, Quake, Zephyr, Blaze, Prism or Gloom, and aurleon, draeyl, qitari, sylvorpa, vulnyx, and zolnixi. Below is a handy grid of all 36! Click the images if you'd like to see a larger version.


Ripple ---------- Quake ---------- Zephyr ----------- Blaze ---------- Prism ---------- Gloom
Aurleon:


Draeyl:


Qitari:


Sylvorpa:


Vulnyx:


Zolnixi:

The second clue

Much like the first clue, after completing 9 random encounters, Jinxie will point out another number and object combination. Make a note of the number, ignore the object, and move on.

Slide to the left~ Slide to the right~ Criss cross!~ Criss cross!~

Ah slider door, my dearly beloved. Here are all the finished solutions, compiled:











Once you make it past the slider puzzle, you fight one of three possible named bandits.

Baeryl...


...Torus...


...or Zelia.

The third clue

You know the drill by now - Jinxie points out your clue, you make a note of it, and off you go.

It's locked. It's locked. It's--

...And now you know what those numbers are for! Put them in the door in the order you found them, one number per input box.

(I have a hypothesis that the site doesn't give out numbers less than 2 or greater than 9 - if you find anything to contradict this, PM me!)

Talons Into Flesh

The Talon boss fight! Here you fight Talon alongside his two sylesties Ember the draeyl and Sapphire the aurleon.

Here's Ember...


...and Sapphire.


(...and Talon, if you really want to see his ugly mug.)









How the Talon fight should play out:

Takedown order is Sapphire, Ember, Talon. Do NOT switch targets until the previous one is down. If you can knock out Sapphire, you have a decent shot at winning - the first third of the fight is by far the hardest.

First turn: Water gets a mana potion. Everyone focuses key 1 attacks on Sapphire.
Next few turns: Keep beating up Sapphire until Water can use Ice Shield (key 2) on itself.

After this point, you'll enter into a pattern. Actions are listed in order of priority; use potions if anybody's looking even a little low on HP, always pay attention to mend, and key 2 is your friend (unless you're fire).

Potions:
- Potions operate on a 1 turn cooldown - that is, you can use one potion every other turn. Potions can be used on a pet alongside their regular attacks, so you may end up following multiple steps at once.
- Though this may feel counterintuitive, the first third of the fight is when you want to be using the majority of your potions - expect to use about half of your stock before Sapphire goes down. The sooner you start using potions, the better.
- If you can't use mend for any reason and your HP is below 90%, use a potion. Water is the most critical to keep alive, followed by Light, then Fire.
- If Water or Light gets knocked out: Immediately revive the pet. If it gets knocked out again before 3 turns have passed, you likely will not win the fight, because your healing is less than the amount of damage you're taking. (Avoid this scenario at all costs! This can only be salvaged if you're on the brink of knocking out an enemy.)
- If Fire gets knocked out: if Water and Light are doing well on HP, use a revive. If they aren't, heal them first, then revive.

Mend:
- Is mend available? Are you lower than 80% HP? Use mend.
- Is mend not available, due to lack of mana? Are you between 70-80% HP? Use key 1 until you have the mana, then use mend. If you're below 70% HP, use a potion if you can.
- Is mend not available, due to cooldown? Is Water or Light lower than 80% HP, or Fire lower than 75% HP? Use a HP or HP+Mana potion. Water takes first priority, Light takes second, and Fire takes last (unless someone's about to die or otherwise disproportionately low). When in doubt, use the strongest potion you have.

Extra mana/key 2 attacks:
- For Water - do you have 50 or more mana? Use your key 2. Water should always shield itself unless you are absolutely certain it will not survive the round, in which case it goes to Light.
- For Light - do you have 50 or more mana? Use your key 2, targeted at whoever's next in the kill order.
- For Fire - do you have 50 or more mana? Too bad, fire key 2 is a disaster and rarely worth your time. Wait until you're within 9 or less points of full mana, then use finishing blow.

All that glitters...

Congratulations, you beat the entirety of the Nightfall Bandit Dungeon! Never again shall they torment the poor people of Esior's Haven-- the Viridian Meadows are finally at peace!

At least until tomorrow, when you get to do it all over again.