Copen Gets an S+ Rank Without His Gun or EX Weapons
17An amusing fight where Copen flexes his Goomba-stomping skills against Tenjian’s incomplete form.
The few individual boss missions in GV2 offer players a chance to get a bit wacky with their strategies. This one is exclusive to Gunvolt’s story mode, but it can be accessed by Copen through the Score Attack menu. My goal in this particular battle is to get an S+ without using Copen’s gun or his EX Weapons. His only other attacking options to accumulate Kudos are dealing infinitesimally small amounts of damage by tagging enemies or spamming the shockwaves generated during a Reload Crush. Tenjian’s health is low enough here to make the latter a viable option, but optimizing your score, should you even care to, is quite the pain.
Copen has 30 seconds to get a 5-star time for this mission as opposed to Gunvolt’s 20. The fastest way to get an S+ under this stipulation is to land 10 Reload Crushes, which depletes half of Tenjian’s HP, then go for Shred Storm. However, Copen’s extended time limit grants the opportunity to push for more Kudos. 570 is the practical limit before having to use your skill—571, or perhaps even more, is theoretically possible if you happen to get a few glancing hits, not that I’d recommend deliberately trying that. Score Attack also rewards extra points based on completion time, so speed is a factor to consider as well.
While Tenjian doesn’t feature his full attack pattern here, his moves are still varied enough to cause luck to be the predominant factor determining your success or failure. None of his arsenal is difficult to respond to in isolation, but there exist no cues to highlight what his next action will be, so if he decides to perform a long jump over Copen during the recovery animation of a Reload Crush, your fate is sealed. Furthermore, if you vie for at least 500 Kudos in the half-minute you’re allotted, then you simply have to pray that you get an auspicious pattern; any more than two chakram throws is a reset.
I never witnessed a fight where he didn’t use his chakrams at all, so knowing the optimal counter is imperative. The Reload Crush shockwave has surprisingly impressive vertical coverage, and it lingers for longer than you’d expect. Initiating a Reload Crush just before the chakram returns to Tenjian will have him fall into the shockwave, granting time to go for another before having to scarper.
The ideal pattern is one where Tenjian wastes his action short-hopping over Copen, leaving you unharmed, and more pertinently, providing a wide-open window to attack with no downtime. As far as I can tell, you need Tenjian to short hop at least twice during the fight for over 500 Kudos to be achieved. Each time he does it, you’re given two “free” hits, and the hop is almost guaranteed to be followed by an ice slash.
Retaliating against the ice slash is simple enough; I use the markings on the floor as signposts for where to keep Copen situated. You’ve always got time to try for 3 Reload Crushes after each of Tenjian’s dashes toward the corner. With proper positioning, you won’t take damage if he short hops, and a potential thrown Chakram will barely sail over Copen’s head. The only danger is contact damage from a long jump; you can go for only 2 Reload Crushes before dashing away and attempting to pursue, but it’s a pure gamble. I should note that Tenjian’s behavior is such that he’ll never perform the same action twice in a row, taking at least that bit of guesswork out of the equation.
Now, concerning my efforts, 540 Kudos is as far as I was prepared to push this. It’s not exactly what I’d call a grueling battle, but it does become monotonous fast. By my observation, Tenjian’s short hop is his rarest movement, so it being so crucial to success assures lots of brainless repetition in a short time, which is the very antithesis of fun. I ended the fight at 27.73 seconds, so there was some time to spare, but it’s tough to say if I could’ve gotten 570 with this pattern. I was unwilling to welcome the risk of damage or going over time, so when I saw the counter read 540, I got Copen to safety and used Shred Storm. If Tenjian was philanthropic enough to use a third short hop after his second chakram toss, I would’ve gotten 570, but at that point, I’m basically asking to win the lottery.
While the process of refining your score in this fight isn’t the most enthralling prospect, I do find the idea of using Reload Crushes to win enticing. I’d recommend giving a 300 Kudos win a try at least once; it’s an out-there method of getting some extra value out of an otherwise throwaway mission.
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