Super Mario RPG Switch Remake - Low Level Part 20: Culex
22Challenge playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSv8zSDR9c1MMIPTlZnOvI4eiDzyABR_
Fighting the game's optional superboss before embarking to face the Axem Rangers. It's not the accessory we acquire here - the Quartz Charm - that makes the subsequent fights so much easier, but it's a nice tool to have in our arsenal nonetheless. The boss has been consistently rumoured to be a cameo appearance of some sort of enemy from FF4. No such enemy exists in that game, but you do get the reference to the classic FF title in the boss battle theme playing during the fight.
The Lazy Shell + Safety Ring combo on Bowser, our healthiest party member, works wonders here, and it's only failure to block Culex's physical attack and gross negligence that could possibly result in a negative outcome. We take very little damage from either the boss or his crystal minions, an effect further compounded by Safety Ring's 70% reduction of elemental damage, and the negative status ailments are no risk to us either.
It's inevitable that all four other party members will stay KO'd for most of the fight however. Outspeeding the bosses is accomplished with no investment into speed whatsoever, but after that you will start losing allies every time somebody uses MT magic or if you fail to time action blocks on ST attacks (it's hard to care about learning to block these when they either miss Bowser or inflict 1 dmg on him). When you get below 30-40 HP, it might be time to use another Mid Mushroom on Bowser.
Culex has 4,096 HP, with the crystals having anywhere from 800 to 3,200 HP and one elemental weakness/immunity. Resurrecting the other allies is generally not worth it until either one or no crystals are left alive. Peach can survive some of the attacks, but not others, and is mostly a liability. The boss's tendency to use Shredder to dispel buffs makes it largely a waste of turns to apply any buffs past the opening turn, and upon later use this move is just Culex wasting his FP, even if none of his other attacks are all that threatening.
By the time the last crystal dies, Culex is likely close to running out of FP. This is the perfect time to resurrect Mario, Peach and keep them alive. Mario's Jump competes with Star Egg's damage that costs us no expensive attack items, and I show how much damage attacking normally would do - it doesn't do a damn thing!
Because of the safety of the fight, you could technically attack with nothing but Star Egg to conserve bomb uses, but it's a long battle otherwise, and there's an at least 75% chance we'll have to do it again, so I'd rather use bombs that I can later farm coins for later.
Culex happens to be the enemy who gives the most experience by far, and you can see exactly how many levels everybody gains at the end, Mario not attacking with his Lucky Hammer anywhere in the fight. If you've followed this channel for many years, you can probably see it coming where I'm going next with my uploads - a biggest level leap vid is coming up.
In the Switch Remake, Culex 3D is the ultimate postgame boss. With 9,999 HP, the question is up in the air whether it's doable at all, but we'll try it when we get there.
Other Videos By MoogleBoss
Other Statistics
Super Mario RPG Statistics For MoogleBoss
There are 5,314 views in 18 videos for Super Mario RPG. Super Mario RPG has approximately 1 hour of watchable video on his channel, making up less than 0.56% of the total overall content on MoogleBoss's YouTube channel.