whimper

Pretty much whatever level it takes you to buy a fully equipped Junk and to have highly experienced sailors manning the cannons. If you start with Berath’s Blessings for money, save all your money for upgrades, and focus on doing ship bounties as soon as you get off the starting island, then I would think you could do it pretty early. You get experience by doing those things, of course... so maybe level 10 or 11? EDIT: Or, more likely, what 1TTFFSSE said. : P

Oh, forgot about the ring, and the cauldron shard. Nice catch. @thundercleese: I didn’t know how to get the spirits to help either! I assumed it was either some invisible buff, or that there was some bug preventing them from doing anything useful, so I just fought her straight up. I’ll have to try it again and see if I can actually get them to help!

After losing my first solo fight against her, I won it by switching up weapons and gear. Weapon-wise, I switched to using the Animancer's energy blade to bypass her armor (together with a large shield). But that ended up being much less important than changing my other gear. What makes her fight last so long is that spell she casts that inflicts corrode damage and heals her for the amount of damage inflicted. And that spell targets fortitude. So if you can boost your fortitude a lot (so it doesn't hit much), and boost your corrode armor a lot (so it doesn't do much damage), then the fight becomes much easier. So equipment like: Rakhan Field Boots (boosts corrode armor), some legendary plate (which, unlike brigandine, isn't weak against corrode), cloak and rings of protection (to boost fortitude), might and constitution boosting items (which also boost fortitude), optionally coupled with some potions of elemental resistance, which you drink whenever you see her casting that spell. Worked for me, anyway!

As Boeroer noted, the difficulty on PotD is very front-loaded, so it's easiest to just stealth past most things on the first island no matter what build you're running. After that, though, there are definitely PotD solo builds you can facetank with (even with level scaling), that don't require using consumables, or only require using consumables in a handful of fights. (I've personally used the Stop-N-Go build to solo facetank on level-scaling PotD, including Beast of Winter, and I used virtually no consumables. And I'm confident that there are a number of other tanky builds which would allow you to do the same.) I will say, though, that in my experience stacking multiple forms of defense is highly desirable for this style of play -- e.g., you want a high deflection *and* a high armor rating *and* sources of damage reduction *and* a good source of regeneration. My attempts to facetank while just relying on one form of defense (just high deflection, or just a lot of sources of regeneration) didn't work very well.

Thanks! (It doesn't matter, but FWIW, the first word of the description line ("An") got cut off. : P)

When I skim through the builds, I generally skim for (1) whether they stiil work (which the depricated tag flags), (2) whether they work solo (which the solo entry flags), and then (3) whether they offer the kind of play I'm currently looking to play (a melee tank, or glass cannon caster, or something that does/does not require a lot micro-management). Some of the one-line descriptions tell you this, but it's not always clear. So this is the kind of thing that I, at least, would find useful. (And thanks, by the way, for compiling this list and keeping it updated -- really helpful!)

Oh, nice catch! I'll add that as another good foot-slot option. : )

Here's one more to add: Name: Stop-N-Go Subclasses: Rogue Streetfighter/Paladin Goldpact Description: An extremely tanky high DPS build that hovers in the Bloodied/Near Death zone while stacking stand-still abilities and teleporting around the battlefield. Author: whimper Game Version: 1.2 Difficulty: PotD Solo: Yes Companion: -

The "Stop-N-Go" or "The Jumping Fortress"* (Holy Slayer) [*Thanks to Dr <3 for this more evocative name.] Introduction: The idea behind this build is take advantage of several defense-boosting abilities that require you stand still (the large shield modal, Bronlar's Phalanx, Stoic Steel), combined with the fact that you count as "standing still" when you use Escape to teleport somewhere. In practice, this build has two modes. In the first mode we rush into the middle of your enemies with two weapons or a two-handed weapon and get ourself Flanked and Bloodied as quickly as possible. In the second "Stop-N-Go" mode, we shift to a heavy shield/weapon set-up, activate our stand-still abilities and spam Sworn Rival. This allows us to comfortably sit in the Bloodied/Near Death zone while enjoying a number of abilities that are conditional on being low health. And when we need to re-position to get flanked again, or need to move to take out potential threats, we use Escape to teleport there. In the latter mode, we're extremely tanky -- we have a high deflection, substantial damage reduction (especially against ranged and reflex-based attacks), multiple sources of regeneration, and a 20+ armor rating -- and we can pull out Lay on Hands in emergencies. And we also have an impressive array of offensive boosts that allows us to quickly obliterate targets around us. Difficulty: Solo PotD v.2.1 (with Berth's Blessing and level scaling) I completed my Solo PotD run using Berath's Blessings and level scaling. Berath's Blessings aren't necessary, but the 50k bonus blessing is recommended, as it will help you get some key equipment much sooner.Classes: Holy Slayer (Streetfighter Rogue/Goldpact Paladin) Rogue gives us a number of great offensive boosts (e.g., Deathblows) and Escape, which is crucial for this build. The Streetfighter specialty adds some fantastic offensive boosts while Bloodied and/or Flanked, which is most of the time. Paladin gives us a number of abilities that allow us to be very tanky, including Stoic Steel, one of the best "stand still" abilities. The Goldpact specialty allows our Sworn Rival ability to provide a temporary stacking armor boost whose cost is refunded when the target dies. And since we kill things very quickly, we can keep that armor bonus up pretty much all of the time. Race: Human The Human bonuses to accuracy and damage when Bloodied are great for this build, since it's built around being Bloodied or Near Death.Background: The White that Wends (Hunter, or anything else you like) The White that Wends gives a bonus for our most important stat, Perception. There are a number of reasonable choices for background, but Hunter probably provides the most generally useful skill bumps (Mechanics).Stats: Might: Very High Constitution: High Dexterity: Very High Perception: Max Intellect: Min Resolve: Medium Perception is our most important stat: since we'll frequently be seeing the massive Streetfighter bonus to critical damage kick in, we'll want to crit as much as possible. And we'll generally have a large shield accuracy penalty to overcome. Dexterity is our second most important stat; it's always nice to be able to do more, and do it quicker. Boosts to Perception, Dexterity and Might are DPS increases that are multiplicative with respect to each other, so in order to be a DPS machine we want to boost all three. Might is our third most important stat. It's nice -- it boosts our damage and our healing abilities. But the damage bonuses from the Rogue and Streetfighter abilities will quickly dwarf any bonuses Might provides, making this a lower priority than Perception and Dexterity. We want a reasonable amount of Constitution, to allow us to comfortabley stay Bloodied or Near Death most of the time. But this build gets so tanky that after the first third of the game, that a small boost to Constitution suffices. We want our Resolve to be flat. We don't want it to be too high, because we still want to be hit in our warm-up mode, and we don't want it to be too low, because we don't want to be hit in our stop-n-go mode. Intellect is the least important stat, since little hangs on it -- in a solo run we don't care about how big our aura is, we don't have any other interesting AoE abilities, and the only class ability with a duration we care about is Lay on Hands -- and that's partially a good thing, since it gives us more fine-grained control of how much health we have, making it easier to say in the Bloodied zone. For reference, in my run my starting stats were M16, C13, D20, P21, I10, R10. In hindsight this was a mistake -- M21, C13, D20, P21, I5, R10 would have been better. Skills: For the early game, this can be whatever makes things easiest -- I'd recommend starting with a point or two in Explosive and Arcana to provides some AoE options on the first island, and then some points in Stealth and Mechanics. After that you can retrain to take whatever you like. In my run I invested heavily in Explosives, but after level 10 I never bothered using them -- it was easier to just kill things the old fashioned way. Class Abilities: (Highly recommended abilities underlined.) Escape and Lay on Hands (You won't use Lay on Hands in 95% of your fights. But it's nice to have for the toughest fights.) Deep Faith Retribution Zealous Aura and Weapon and Shield Dirty Fighting Any (Crippling Strike, Flames of Devotion, Divine Purpose and Inspired Defenses are all reasonable choices.) Sworn Rival and Riposte Any (Snake's Reflexes, Bull's Will, Bear's Fortitude, and any leftover options from above are all reasonable choices.) Any (Ditto) Exalted Endurance and Persistent Distraction (Exalted Endurance is a little funny -- in a lot of fights you'll never even use it. But it's great in tougher fights, since you can turn it on and off as needed to keep you comfortably in the Bloodied zone.) Any (Any of the leftovers from above or Adept Evasion are decent choices) Any (Ditto) Any (Any of the leftovers from above or Uncanny Luck are decent choices) and Deep Wounds Any Any Improved Critical + Slippery Mind Any Any Stoic Steel and Deathblows Any Gear: (Highly recommended gear is underlined.) Armor: Bloody Links (early), Reckless Brigadine (later). You'll also want a set of legendary plate armor for fights against enemies with strong piercing or corrode attacks. Shield: Bronlar's Phalanx Weapons: ​(Initial Mode): Any nice 2-hander or pair of weapons will do nicely.A couple nice 2-handed choices: Lance of Midwood Stag (you can start wailing away, and when you get Blooded Woodskin kicks in and you can shift to Stop-N-Go mode, keeping the Woodskin armor boost for a while); Voidwheel (the self-damaging aspect of this sword is actually a perk, since it helps you become Bloodied more quickly); Wahai Poraga (you're often swarmed with enemies, so hitting several of them at a time is nice). If you go with two weapons, I'd recommend Rust's Poignard (with persistent distraction, enemies are usually flanked and you'll get the flanking bonuses) and Stalker's Patience (ditto). (Stop-N-Go mode): Kapana Taga (The Lone Champion enchantment gives you a stacking +4 deflection and +1 armor bonus whenever there are no nearby allies (i.e., always); and the Champion's Relic enchantment increases damage with # of people engaged and increases engagement limit, which is great when you're used to being swarmed.) You'll also want to have the Animancer's Energy Blade as a back-up weapon against high AR targets (which is about half of the fights in the BoW DLC). Neck: Protective Eothasian Charm (early): +1 to most important stat (perception) and hefty damage reduction and healing when Near Death? Perfect fit for this build. It's a decent choice for the entire game, or you can replace it with something like Bone Setter's Torc (+ crit chance and + healing for emergencies are both nice) or Claim and Refusal. Belt: The Undying Burden Rings: The Ring of Mule's Wit is fantastic with this build -- it drops our Int to 1, but we won't notice, and it gives us resistance to all Mind Afflictions(!). The Entonia Signet Ring and Ring of the Solitary Wanderer are also nice options. Hands: Firethrower's Gloves, Gatecrashers, Woedica's Strangling Grasp are all decent. Cloak: The Cloak of the Falling Star is great for solo play, and thus great for this build. (Violet Redemption would be perfect for this build, fitting nicely with the stand-still effects theme. Sadly, we can't get it until the very end of the game. ) Head: The Cap of the Laughingstock looks silly, but it's amazing for solo martial builds, effectively increasing our accuracy by +10. And since this build wants to get as many criticals as possible, to take advantage of the Streetfighter bonuses, it's especially good for this build. (It does make our enemies immune to resolve afflictions, but we don't care about that.) Feet: The Rakhan Field Boots are a nice choice, as they effectively give you an additional 1/encounter teleportation option, which also inflicts a full attack on anyone in the way. The Boots of the Stone and Footprints of Ahu Taka are also decent. Pet: Jules (+perception, and bonus to healing is nice for the toughest fights) and Nalvi (+resolve and reduced recovery) are nice options after you get to Neketaka. Avoid pets that give you healing after killing things, though, since you don't want them to force you out of the Bloodied zone! PROs of this build: It's great against single tanky enemies, since it can last forever and wear them down. Once you get the key equipment and your level 10 class abilities, the build really starts to take off, so we have a fun build to play for most of the game. It's really, really tough -- once everything comes together, we can beat every fight on upscaled PotD without having to pull mobs or use consumables. CONs of this build: Certain kinds of enemies can be a pain (e.g., spellcasters); in these cases we'll want to use Escape to teleport next to the most threatening opponents and take them down quickly. Since you lack AoE attacks, swarms can take a while to get through. You can compensate by investing in Explosives or Arcana, but I usually just hacked my way through them. You won't get everything online until fairly late (level 19). But most pieces of the build will be in place (and the build is fun to play) long before then.

In my experience with PotD solo runs, multiclassing with Paladin is almost always the right answer. : P

EDIT: This bug also didn't appear in the earliest versions of this game (which I completed). Unfortunately, I don't remember what version...

I can confirm this.

In the Guardian of Ukaizo fight, I reliably encounter the following bug. Late in the fight, the Guardian transitions into the three-headed state, heals around 787 health, and knocks my character prone. At this point, the prone condition never ends. Turns continue to pass, but all of the enemies ignore my character, and I'm unable to do anything. So far, this bug has happened every time I've gone through this fight. (With the character attached below it's happened 3 out of 3 times I've run through this fight. It also doesn't appear to be specific to this character; I ran through 2 fights with a character from another playthrough and encountered the same bug both times.) Pillars of Eternity version: v1.2.2.0033 Mac OS 10.13.6 MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) Dropbox link to save file and player logs: https://www.dropbox.com/l/scl/AADvCIaVum5eEpwhTUrZ4lP_J6do-OWBZVY

Very cool. Kind of like a tankier version of Dorftek's The Howitzer.. (I'm currently running a Goldpact Paladin/Streetfighter solo PotD run myself, and when I opened this I expected to see something similar. But it's completely different. Says a lot about the depth of the game, I think, that the same multiclass combinations can be used for completely different builds...)

Kapana Taga! (Surprised no one else has mentioned it, actually. One of the best "fit a certain style of play" weapons.)

Thanks! Unfortunately, the link doesn't seem to work. (It takes one to "orums.obsidian.net" instead of "forums.obsidian.net".) Probably another instance of the bug you were referring to earlier.

Looks pretty good! Were you thinking of this for a solo run, or as part of a party? For a solo run, two potential weak points might be (1) a lack of AOE attacks to deal with large crowds, and (2) fights that last so long that you have to burn up multiple doses of drugs to finish the fight, or even run out of drugs entirely. The first weak point might be patched up with a reasonably heavy investment in Arcana or Explosives skills. That might also speed up fights, patching up the second weak point as well. (Alternatively, perhaps some AOE weapon you can switch to?) In a similar vein, you might also consider boosting your Dexterity a bit more to allow you to take advantage of the high-perception deathblows-boosted attacks you'll be handing out (which would also help to speed up fights). I guess you could consider trading some Intellect and/or Might for extra Dexterity? (I think trading Might for Dexterity should net an increase in DPS once you add up all of the damage bonuses you get from things like Deathblows. And since Might doesn't boost drug healing anymore, and you don't have class abilities that heal, damage is all Might is good for. And Intellect is nice, but maybe something you can afford to drop a bit given plenty of guile to spam defensive spells, even if they don't last quite as long, since you don't need to use guile to activate Deathblows (given Distracting Presence). And, again, since Intellect doesn't boost drug duration anymore, it's not quite as important for Nalpazca monks at it used to be.)

Thanks! If anyone has any thoughts for how to make fights with the super-tanky bosses quicker and more reliable, I'd love to hear them. (Would also love to hear where people have found the Bracers of Greater Deflection. Are these just random drops you have to be lucky to find? Or can you only get these using the console?)

Are you asking about the Helwalker/Wizard combination in particular, or any Helwalker-based build? I managed to finish a solo PotD run (with Berath's Blessings and no level scaling) with this class combination (Helwalker/Wizard No Subclass). Of course, my build had to be much more defense-oriented than Cyrus': The Mirrorback. As far as the "hard time surviving" part, I'm not going to lie: even with the focus on defense, the first several levels were pretty painful. For the most part you want to sneak by as much as you can and do quests that don't require fighting. And even at higher levels, there are a couple fights involving incredibly tanky bosses with high accuracies that are very tough with this build. (In particular, the Engwithan Titan, the Kraken, and the Guardian of Ukaizo fights.) It's possible to win these fights, but not easy. As far as Helwalker builds in general, I've played out the end of the game solo on PotD (v1.1, with Berath's Blessings and no scaling) using a mix of Braven's No Pain, No Brains and Voltron's Burn Baby Burn! Paladin/Helwalker builds. Those are great builds, and that was considerably easier -- Paladins are the best tanks in the game, and they do a lot to cover up the Helwalker's weaknesses.

When I make the trip to Ukaizo, all of my resting bonuses vanish. Is this a recent change? Is there some way around this? If not, I'm not sure how viable it is to plan one's build around not resting, given that all of those bonuses will go away once you get to the toughest fight in the game...

Here's another build. It's similar in many ways to the Burning Sage build, but it has a distinctly different spin to it, and it's tailored for a solo PotD run: The Mirrorback Subclasses: Monk Helwalker/Wizard - A versatile build that can shift between powerful AOE blasting, single target DPS, and a "mirror mode" in which they reflect attacks and spells back at their attackers. Author: whimper Game Version: 1.2 Difficulty: PotD Solo: Yes Companion: -

"The Mirrorback" (Sage) Introduction: This build aims to take advantage of two clusters of class synergies. The first synergy is between abilities and class-tied items that help you not get hit (e.g., Blade Turning, Tuotilo's Palm, Mirrored Image, (Minor) Arcane Reflection, Chill Fog) and abilities and class-tied items that benefit from not getting hit (e.g., Mirrored Image, Enduring Dance, Soul Mirror, Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardry). The second synergy is between Monk abilities that boost Intellect and Might (e.g., Helwalker, Thunderous Blows, Duality of Mortal Presence) and Wizard spells that most benefit from Intellect and Might increases (see below). The result is a versatile build that can shift between powerful AOE blasting, single target DPS, and a "mirror mode" in which they reflect attacks and spells back at their attackers. Difficulty: Solo PotD v.2.1 I completed my Solo PotD run using Berath's Blessings and No Scaling. It should run fine without Berath's Blessing; I'm less confident about how it would hold up with level-scaling. Classes: Sage (Helwalker/Wizard) On the Monk side, we take the Helwalker subclass so our wounds boost Might as well as Intellect. This makes us a bit fragile, but our high defenses offset this. On the Wizard side, we take no subclass. It's tempting (and probably viable) to choose Evoker instead, given the recent boost to Evokers. But many of the spells that benefit most from our sky-high Might and Intellect aren't evocation spells. To spell this out a little, the spells that deal the most total base damage are duration-based damage-over-time spells: spells like Chill Fog, Ray of Fire, Ninagauth's Death Ray, Malignant Cloud, Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring, and Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar. Furthermore, while the total damage of most evocation spells can only be increased by boosting Might and Perception, the total damage of these spells can also be increased by Intellect, since this extends the amount of time they're dealing damage. And the damage boosts due to high Might, Intellect and Perception are all multiplicative. Since in this build all three of these stats are extremely high, these are the spells we want to focus on. Race: Wild Orlan Orlan boosts both our most important stat (Resolve) and our next most important stat (Perception), and the Wild Orlan gives us resistance to the afflications which decrease our most important stat (Resolve). Background: Ixamitl Plains (Mercenary) Ixamitl Plains for the Resolve bonus, and Mercenary for the boosts to Intimidate and Athletics, both which boost the deflection bonuses of our final gear. Stats: Might: High Constitution: Low Dexterity: Medium Perception: Very High Intellect: High Resolve: Max We want to maximize Resolve, since one of our primary goals is to not get hit. We want Perception to be very high to make sure our super-powered spells and attacks hit. We want both Might and Intellect high, but they'll already be getting large boosts from Helwalker. And making them too high is wasteful given the 35 stat cap (e.g., a 20 starting Might + 10 from Helwalker wounds and + 5 from Tenacious already puts you at 35, wasting any food or gear bonuses). Dexterity is great, but it's a lower priority than the other four. Constitution can be low, since we're planning on not getting hit much. (For reference, in my run my starting stats were M15, C6, D10, P22, I15, R22.) Skills: In the early game, I'd recommend a handful of points in Stealth, a fair amount in Mechanics, and the rest in some social skills (Diplomacy is a good bet). For the late game, you'll want to respec your passive skills and maximize Intimidate (if you're wearing Casita Semalia's Legacy). You'll also want to respect your active skills to match your plan for dealing with the Guardian of Ukaizo; I maximized Athletics to boost my deflection with Cadhu Skalth, but there are other (and probably better) options (e.g., boosting Arcana for scrolls, boosting Alchemy for drugs, potions and poisons, etc). Abilities: Highly recommended abilities are underlined: Swift Strikes, Chill Fog Lesser Wounds Any (Spirit Shield or Wizard's Double are reasonable options) Weapon and Shield Style, Mirrored Image Dance of Death Any (Two Weapon Style is good if you're using Tuitolo's Palm a lot) Soul Mirror, Bear's Fortitude Blade Turning Bull's Will Duality of Mortal Presence, Minor Arcane Reflection (or Ironskin if you want to pick up Arcane Reflection instead) Enduring Dance Thunderous Blows Enervating Blows, Rapid Casting Any (Crucible of Suffering, Rooting Pain, Malignant Cloud, Snake's Reflexes and Uncanny Luck are all decent choices) Any Turning Wheel, Arcane Reflection (if you don't have the minor version) or Improved Critical Any Any Heartbeat Drumming, Citzal's Martial Power or one of the earlier left-over options Any A note: Crucible of Suffering looks lackluster, but in tough fights we'll be hit with a reasonable number of afflictions and quickly shrug them off (with our sky-high Resolve). Getting a long-lasting and substantial boost to defenses after this is pretty good. Gear: Highly recommended gear is underlined. Pet: Socrates. (Since we don't have any healing abilities, the health on kills is extremely valuable. And the boost to melee deflection is great for this build.) Grimoire: Ninagauth's Teachings (The Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardry is a good quick slot option for that extra spells after you run out.) Armor: Casita Semalia's Legacy. As a back-up, you'll also want a set of legendary plate to switch into for certain fights (e.g., Neriscyrlas). Shield: Tuotilo's Palm, and Cadhu Skalth (Tuotilo's Palm is your default shield; it doesn't hurt your accuracy and gives you nice deflection bonuses and other perks. Cadhu Skalth is what you bring out for the long fights.) Other good large shields, like Bronlar's Phalanx also serve a decent backup shields for a second weapon set. Weapon: Gladiator's Sword (early game), Kapana Taga (late game). (Kapana Taga is amazing for this build. The Lone Champion enchantment gives you +4 deflection and +1 AR whenever there are no nearby allies (i.e., always), and the All Comers enchantment makes you immune to flanking, a potential -10 deflection penalty.) You'll also want the Animancer's Energy Blade as a backup weapon for certain fights (especially in the BoW DLC). Rings: Ring of Major Regeneration and the Entonian Signet Ring or a Ring of Minor Protection. Hands: Bracers of Greater Deflection, or Firethrower's Gloves (If you can't find the bracers; there's no 100% reliable way to get them, unfortunately.) Cloak: Cape of the Falling Star. (The best defensive option when playing solo, by far.) Belt: Girdle of Eoten Constitution or The Undying Burden. Head: Blackened Plate Helm, Mask of the Grotto Deep, Cap of the Laughingstock, or anything else you like. Neck: Token of Faith or Stone of Power (We'll frequently be using empower to replenish our spells, so we'll be resting a lot. As a result, we can use the +1 PL ability of the Stone of Power every big fight without worrying about it.) Food: This build benefits from pretty much every incredible-quality food, but the +7 to all defenses given by Ekkevit, and its relatively cheap price, makes it arguably the best default food for this build. PROs of this Build: It offers a fun and versatile playstyle. We can shift between three modes -- blasting away with spells, engaging in melee, or mirroring opponent's attacks back at them -- and adjust in response to the circumstances and opponent. The biggest drawback of Wizard spells -- friendly fire -- isn't a worry on a solo run. When combat starts, we run to the nearest wall, cast our buffs, and then start casting AOE spells around us, keeping ourself in the yellow ring. Tough fights involving lots of opponents (e.g., killing the Queen and her guards) are easier for this build than for many others, since this build has lots of ways to temporarily boost defenses, and enough AOE damage capabilities to quickly take down large swathes of enemies. ​CONs of this Build: Abilities that bypass defenses and aren't affected by Arcane Reflection are our kryptonite, given our low health and increased damage-taking (e.g., Paladins who hit you with Brand Enemy, the Cave Grub's Crush attack, and the Guardian of Ukaizo's Consume Essence attack). Try to kill these enemies off first. In some cases you can just run away when you see them starting to activate the ability so you're out of range when it goes off. Abilities that target Fortitude, our weakest defense, can also be a pain. With a little planning, food can help a lot here (e.g., Khapa Tea before fighting opponents who rely on fortitude-targeting poisons). Super-tanky boss fights -- e.g., the Engwithan Titan, the Kraken, and the Guardian of Ukaizo -- are tough for this build, since we'll run out of spells before we can drop them, and they'll generally have a high enough accuracy to hit us. Some tips for these (very tough) fights: Pick off the weaker "helper" enemies first. Use Enduring Dance to spam Blade Turning, interspersed with melee attacks, to wear them down. Take advantage of layered defenses (i.e., use Ironskin or Spirit Shield) to help protect us from attacks that make it through our defenses. Have plenty of healing consumables. Have a source of regeneration (since these fights last forever). Remember that we can spam wound using abilities (e.g., Thunderous Blows) to quickly drain all of our wounds if we need to lower the +% damage penalty that Helwalker imposes for a bit to heal up. I recommend starting the game with Hylea's ending, so we can use Hylea's Bounty to boost our defenses before the fight with the Guardian of Ukaizo.