Phoenix Magnion Challenge - Chain Rod Only & Shield Boomerang Only
73Back when I crossed 100 subscribers, I put out a request for challenges in a post on my community tab. This particular suggestion comes from @Endobendo756, and it’s to defeat Phoenix Magnion in two unique ways: using only the Chain Rod and using only the Shield Boomerang. Both methods, especially the latter, have their own specifics, so here are the details.
Starting with the easier of the two, Chain Rod only shares a decent amount in common with Z-Saber only, so I felt right at home here. Planning and execution didn’t take too long thankfully; there are two notable differences relative to Saber only: Firstly, rather than dashing underneath the flame charge, I simply jump over while angling a diagonal Chain Rod strike; this is consistent every time. Secondly, the Chain Rod is too slow to intercept the mirages, so I stay in the middle and jump in place to avoid the tendrils. Afterward, I have ample opportunity to retaliate. Obviously, the basic Chain Rod strike deals only 2 damage, so the fight takes rather long, but dodging is fairly simple so it’s not all that taxing.
The same can’t be said about the Shield Boomerang fight. To immediately address this point: Yes, I did equip the flame chip deliberately to reduce the charged Shield damage from 6 to 3. No, this was not part of the requested challenge; this particular brand of misery was entirely self-inflicted.
This fight resides somewhere between interesting and aggravating, with the scales tipping toward the latter as the fight progresses. Immediately, two distinct problems arise: Charging the Shield will always cause Phoenix to teleport away, as he perceives this as an attack. More pertinent however is the lack of access to the dash while charging. Technically, you can dash if you input jump and dash on the same frame, good luck doing that on a consistent basis though. It’s possible to dash when you release the Shield of course, but I wanted to hone in on Phoenix’s pattern and learn it to the best of my ability. For this reason, I attempted to win without dashing, and aside from one erroneous command dash, I do exactly that.
Due to Zero’s stunted movement, proper reaction is key; you can’t rely on the dash to bail you out of otherwise unavoidable scenarios. Rather than engaging in guesswork, it’s imperative to learn from what positions Phoenix launches specific attacks. His dive is particularly demanding, you need to either be already moving toward him as he initiates it, or move backward and jump over him; indecisiveness will be punished here. Manipulating his flame charge is key as well, as it’s a prime opportunity to both charge the Shield and potentially land hits. Perhaps the most important habit to develop is understanding when to focus on dodging, and when to attempt an interrupt via a Shield throw. The Boomerang never receives a quick charge upgrade; hastily releasing it early was all too common at the onset of attempting this challenge.
Phase 2 is where things get really dicey. The moment Phoenix crosses half-health, you need to keep your eyes trained on him to a retina-searing degree. The reason? His EX Skill is insanely difficult to avoid by conventional means. Unless you’re already walking forward before he disappears, you won’t be able to outrun him. The problem with doing this preemptively is that you can easily put yourself in a bad position and take a hit from a different pattern, doubly so whenever the flame pillars see fit to arrive and snipe you. As such, the exact frame you see Phoenix enveloped in that lambent orange, you have to shift your thought process to manipulating his vertical position via timed jumps. I do luck out at the very end and just barely managed to walk away from one of his charges, but this is entirely inconsistent, there’s no skill involved. Of course, I could circumvent all of this by equipping Active From, using its additional running speed to my advantage, but that would be intelligent, and we can’t have that.
This is by no means perfect, there’s unquestionably room for a lot of improvement. Particularly at the end where I get frazzled and miss a throw. Despite the fight being objectively short, I was rather tense as I’d already lost multiple attempts with Phoenix at 4HP, and two with him at 1HP. I also never show off how to intercept the jump-manipulated flame charge with a Shield throw, which I did many times in practice.
Overall, this was a satisfying challenge to undertake, I learned a lot about Phoenix’s behavior. In particular, I realized something that never occurred to me before, past 25% health, Phoenix will teleport almost immediately, even if you don’t attack him. It’s little bits of knowledge like this that make these endeavors worth it.
Here are the timestamps for both fights:
00:00 - Chain Rod Fight
02:19 - Shield Boomerang Fight
I hope you enjoyed this challenge! As usual, feel free to leave any comments or ask any questions you may have.
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