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There are a lot of things you can do after completingSuper Mario RPGand beating Smithy. You can set new records on Minigames, attempt to get all the weapons and armor pieces, explore more of the map, finish side-quests, and more. But there’s a challenge that shines above the rest, and it’s the one that makes you face Culex.
Culex is a mysterious character who appears behind a mysterious black door in Monstro Town. While finding him is not complicated, his battle is very challenging and demands you to be good at parrying and resource management. Nonetheless, there are some tricks you’re able to apply to beat him.
You can’t take this battle lightly; first,you’ll need to prepare.
Levelling Up
You can get all your party membersup to Level 30, and it’s necessary to do so for this battle, as it’s more of an endurance test. There are many ways tolevel up fastin this game, butthe easiest oneat this point is by going to the Factory, getting back to the Weapon World, anddefeating loads of Speardovich’s clones.
Go to Seaside Town and buy an EXP. Booster from the Frog Coin Emporium. Equip it on Mario, but don’t forget to take it off when you are ready to face Culex.
While levelling up, don’t forget to use the Level Up Bonusesto increase all your party’s Magic stats.This is vital, as Culex and his magical shardsusually use unblockable Special Moves.You canresist those blowswith a few extra points on your party’s Magic Stat.
Do Some Shopping
All that level grinding probably left you with some extra coins in your pockets. That’s great, as you’ll use this money to buy some resources, such asPick Me Ups and Max Mushrooms.The only place where you canbuy the Max Mushroomsis from theToad in the Factory, whileyou can buy Pick Me Ups basically anywhere.
That’s it.You don’t need the most powerful weapons and armor to defeat Culex; you can do it all by being smart with your moves during the battle.
Preferred Party
For this battle, you might want to leave Peach on the bench. Sorry, princess, but you are a really valuable asset, and risking yougettingmorphed into a mushroom or a scarecrow is not a goodthing.
Instead, go with your three best attackers.Mario, Bowser, and Geno are great.You can change Geno for Mallow if you like to use Special Moves, but it’s up to you.
Culex has no weaknesses, so creating a strategy where you constantly land specific Special Moves on him is pointless. In fact, if you aren’t using Mario’s Super Jump or Peach’s Group Hug,you won’t use these often.
Full Gauge
Mario, Bowser and Geno’sShooting Star ShotTriple Moveis excellent and will significantly help you during this battle. This is because it does not only deal damage but alsoincreases Mario, Geno, and Bowser’s Attack.
Sofill your Gauge Meterand start the battle by performing a Triple Move.
How To Defeat Culex
Nowit’s time to take on Culex.But first, if you haven’t yet, you need tounlock this battle.After doing that,you are free to challenge Culex.
This isn’t a one-versus-three battle;Culex has its crystals as allies.Each shard has different attacks;some are blockable, others not. It’s not a good idea to waste your resources trying to take the Crystals down, butit’s important to know what they can doso you can parry their attacks andfill your Gauge Meter properly.
Earth Crystal
The yellow crystal is also known as the Earth Crystal. Aside fromSpecial Moveslike Boulder, Sand Storm, and Water Blast, which you may’t block, it also hasStorm and Blast.You can parry both attacksexactly when the animation is about to end.
It’s hard to perform parries on these two attacks the first time, but as soon as you know how long the animation lasts, you’ll pull the parry constantly.
Fire Crystal
The Fire Crystal (the red one) is the weakest of the bunch.Aside from Flame Wall, which you can’t block, it’ll only doHot Shot, which you can block when the fire bullet is about to land on you.
Water Crystal
The blue Water Crystalis the crystal that deals the most damage out of the group.Aside from the Special Moves you can’t block, it can useDiamond Saw and Crystal.
BlockingCrystalis easy as you mustfollow the audio cue.When the crystals land on the target’s head, you’ll hear three sounds. Press A to block during the last one.
Diamond Saw is very hard to block; the snowflakes will brieflyleave the screen andthen come back.That’s the exact moment you must Press A.
Wind Crystal
The last crystal to explore in this battle is the green one, theWind Crystal.Its attacks are lightning-based, and they don’t deal much damage. Nonetheless, it has a very problematic move:Petal Blast.
Petal Blastdoes not only deal damage, but it’lltransform all the active party into Mushrooms, making them unable to attack. This is unavoidable, so you must draw up a plan to deal with it.
Peach’s Group Hug removes all status changesaside from healing; that’s why Peach is on the bench, asshe must always be ready to help.Bring Peach to the field, use a Group Hug, andswitch Peach backto the character you retrieved or your last character unaffected by Petal Blast.
The same goes for when Wind Crystal uses Light Bubble, which sends everyone to sleep.
Culex
Culex isn’t as active as the crystals; it does not attack often, but when it does, its attacks can seriously hurt you. The most important one you must blockis the Dark Star, which canpotentially defeat the target in one hit.
To block theDark Star, you mustwait and press A while it bounces for the third time.Remember that, as you’ll see this attack often in this battle.
If you don’t manage to block the Dark Star,don’t forget you have some Pick Me Ups in your items tab.Revive your defeated allyas soon as possible; you need all the damage you can deal to defeat Culex.
Culex also has a Special Move namedShredder.This one does not deal damage but insteadremoves all the Attack and Defense buffs you have gained during the battle, including the one you get when you perform a Shooting Star Shot Triple Move. There’sno way to avoid or block this move, so all you can do is perform a second Shooting Star Shot to regain the buffs.
The strategy is simple: as soon as the battle starts, just attack Culex constantly and block every attack that you possibly can.Don’t waste any time hitting the Crystals.Remember to use Peach to heal the party if they get Mushroom’d, so you’re able to keep landing hits on Culex. It has a whopping amount of7,000 HP, so this battle will take you a while, but it’s definitely doable for a highly-leveled party.
