#beware I overuse magic puns

[wantonglances]

Guide to beating Noctis in Friendly Match

hi all! With Episode Ignis comes the “Friendly Match,” where the King and his trusted adviser face-off in a battle of puns and mettle to see who needs more training (and vegetables): Ignis, acrobatic chef extraordinaire, or Noctis, one-man arsenal. You control a level 31 Ignis, equipped with spelldaggers, a lance, and the occasional Ravus Nox Fleuret, and face a level 66 Noctis, who has full control of the Armiger, Ring of the Lucii, and best buds, Prompto and Gladiolus. Seem impossible? The True King is quite a difficult opponent, but below the cut is a guide to conquering this quarrel and giving the King his comeuppance.

Basics

If you’ve played Episode Ignis, you’ll have noticed that the controls differ from the main game, as well as Episodes Gladio and Prompto. You can’t unlock the Friendly Match without first beating the Episode, so you should be familiar with how Ignis handles. The first tip is to exclusively use the Firedaggers. As with the battle with Ardyn, they’re the most effective because they 1)  do more damage to a single enemy than the Ice or Stormdaggers, 2) don’t leave Ignis open to attack nearly as much, 3) build up Ignis’ damage multiplier. You won’t get his multiplier nearly as high as the fight with Trash Jesus but any and every little bit helps; Noctis has a massive health bar, an impressive arsenal, and the ability to heal himself. Ignis will only use his lance when counterattacking or using his technique High Jump, so make the Firedaggers your best friends. A helpful tip for falling into danger: instead of using a curative, hold down Triangle while locked onto Noctis to regain about 20% of your health bar and exit danger status. This only works if you avoid being hit as much as possible while limping around Hammerhead and isn’t particularly effective when Noctis is using the Armiger. But, it’s a literal life-saver sometimes.

Dodging/Counterattacking

Counterattacking is key to surviving the tussle with this feisty Lucian royal. When Noct lands a hit, Ignis will fall backwards. At the bottom of your screen you’ll see a command to press the Square button (or the equivalent on XB1.) Doing so will cause Ignis to catch himself and flip into the air. This causes him to regain the amount of health he lost from Noct’s attack (you’ll see this amount in green.) Immediately after regaining your footing, press Circle (or equivalent) to counterattack. Counterattacks will not always land, but there’s two points to it: regaining health, and throwing Noct off-guard. Regaining health is most important, as you have a very limited number of curatives. Hitting him is a bonus. More often than not, his attack will land, but Noct can and will easily warp through them, so be prepared to dodge. Dodging is done the same way as regaining health. Any time during the battle you can lock onto your princely opponent and tap Square to perform a roll. Always keep Noctis in your sights, as he is extremely fast and will attack you from above or with ranged weapons, such as Bow of the Clever, Star of the Rogue, and a handgun. A very important tip is to use your High Jump technique when Noctis activates the Armiger. You’ll know he does this when you see the Royal Arms encircle him and hear the tell-tale shing, same as in the main game. He’ll use every weapon in the arsenal, then follow it with the Armiger Chain. Like wow, what a cheater. You should always have at least two of your tech bars full, three if possible, for when he uses these moves. The Armiger Chain is very dangerous, as Prompto and Gladio (traitors!) make an appearance to assist their King. But, the Armiger is just as much so, as it increases his speed and attack power substantially. Using High Jump grants Ignis a small frame of invincibility when it’s activated, so he avoids that massive damage. Your other technique, Overclock, is more for the Episode than Friendly Match. I would suggest not wasting your tech bars on it at all, as it doesn’t always activate on the Firedaggers.

Warping

A very helpful feature is that Noct’s warping ability can be turned to your advantage! Just as in the main game, Noctis will go into stasis if he overuses his magic. He is exceptionally vulnerable during stasis, allowing you to land heavy hits or charge your Total Clarity move (this is done by locking onto him and holding down Triangle or the equivalent.) If you’re near one of two of the billboards, he will warp to these to regain MP. While there’s no way to stop him from regaining this magic, you can deal a huge amount of damage to him while he’s stuck to the billboard. Approach it and press L2 to use your hookshot, as in the Episode. Continually press Circle to fill the gauge and Ignis will use his incredibly strength and cause the fixture to come crashing down, squishing His Majesty beneath it for around 3,000 damage. After being squashed, Noct will be vulnerable, once again perfect for landing heavy hits or charging Total Clarity. In addition, Noctis can also warp onto the roof of the garage and the awning above the store. Don’t follow him just yet! Use this time to lock onto him and charge Total Clarity, then hookshot onto the roof to continue the battle. Counterattacking is very difficult on top of the awning, so try to lure him away onto the ground or at least onto the garage roof instead. But beware! Staying on the ground while His Majesty is on the roof or a billboard is dangerous, as he can warp directly to your location and land heavy hits with a chance of putting you in danger. It’s the same way how your damage multiplies the further away you are from an enemy when you warpstrike to them in the main game. Remember to always keep a lock on him.

Total Clarity

Since you have Firedaggers equipped, the fully-charged Total Clarity will land several attacks on one target. There is a chance that his move can miss, but as long as you keep landing hits or taking time to charge it while Noct is distracted it should land. This move isn’t essential like Counterattacking, but is very helpful for dealing large amounts of damage, and, honestly, breaking the monotony of this long af battle.

Spells/Ring of the Lucii

Once Noctis takes a good amount of damage (no set amount, really. It ranges from a quarter to 3/4 of his health,) he will say the line, “I don’t like the way this is going.” This means he’s serious business now and will not hold back. It’s then that he gains the ability to use fire, lighting, and ice spells on you. Just as in the main game, he will hold up a sphere and lob it in your direction. You can see the approximate location where it will land when it shows the glowing blue sphere. Try your best to dodge it’s direct hit, or, even better, hookshot onto a roof. It’s always a wide-range spell, so going anywhere near it will cause status effects. He can also use machines that can inflict poison and, in rare cases, toad, confusion, or petrification. Do your best to avoid getting near him when he casts spells or uses machinery, and instead focus on getting Total Clarity up.

In addition, he has no qualms about using the Ring of the Lucii on his most trusted adviser. You will know when he equips the Ring when he lifts his hand to his face and it begins to glow blue, then glow pink and black. This pink and black aura will grow as he uses the Death Spell to suck the life from Ignis, causing him to slow down. Your best course of action is to immediately strike him when he equips the Ring, as one hit is all it takes for him to turn to another Arm. In the event you find yourself being drained of all life, get to him as fast as you can and hit him to stop the spell. If your health and danger bars deplete completely, Ignis can be revived with a Phoenix Down (he only has two, so make ‘em count!) 

Ravus Nox Fleuret

A special guest will appear when Ignis has no more curatives left and is in danger. Ravus will fight alongside Ignis and heal him when he falls into danger. Even though Ravus poses the bigger threat, Noctis will ignore him in favor of attacking Ignis, so continue keeping a lock on him and counterattacking. However! Ravus will only be in your party for anywhere from 2-3 minutes. He has the Last Rites for one tech bar, which can momentarily stun Noctis and allow some hits or charging of Total Clarity.

Final Thoughts

This battle is very challenging and will take more than one try! We get a taste of our own medicine in this “””Friendly Match””” and it tastes like shitty cherry cough syrup. But, it only makes it all the better when you defeat the Prince and he’s forced to eat a salad for once in his life. There’s a trophy for obtaining an A+ ranking during the battle (I’m not sure about an achievement for the XB1 but I assume it’s the same.) This rank is achieved by defeating the True King in under 15 minutes (Ravus can help expedite this process, but I don’t suggest purposefully running out of curatives to summon him,) evading Noctis, like a whole lot, and performing combos (counterstriking.) It took me five tries to finally defeat the Prince, and I ended with the following results, doing exactly as I’ve described in this guide:

Combo Score: 551,250

Evasion: 212,037

Battle Time: 12:37, 291,500

Total: 1,054,787

I really hope that this guide helps some of you in your endeavor to make the King eat his greens! My ask box is open to any questions or comments regarding the Friendly Match B)