stuck on the final boss...

[Rascalov]

I'm on my first playthrough and I just had my first attempt at beating the final boss. You have to fight the shadowlord in his winged form. I tried and it seems I am nowhere near strong enough to beat him. I am level 24 I think. I've been rushing through the game to get the 15 hours achievement, and I got to the final savepoint with 13.50 on the clock, which leaves me with 1 hour 10 minutes to beat the final dungeon. I think after getting to the final boss I was well beyond 15 hours after getting owned by the boar boss earlier in the dungeon, as well as popola and devola, before finally beating them. When I got to the final boss room I had no healing items left, and once you enter the final dungeon there is no way to go back and get more items. So no healing items, combined with being underleveled, leaves me wondering how the heck I'm going to beat the final boss and the game itself. What level were you guys when you beat him? I'm playing on normal difficulty btw.

[ninjachicken]

I don't think i used healing against him so you might be ok. I think i was around that level as well. If you can't do it becuase of the lack of items just play on easy to beat him :P

[Rascalov]

I just have an update to post about this. I went back through the dungeon a short time after I made the thread, and I beat the boss quite easily the second time. I made sure to save up all my healing items for the final boss, instead of wasting them in the previous battles. I found that essential to beating him. Also I made sure I had the best abilities (words) linked to Nier's weapons and magic. Those help quite a lot. I got owned on my first run, but the second time was relatively easy after making preparations.

[TPF_Raiden]

For anyone else looking for tips, since OP has already beat the shadowlord. Use Spears...They have the power of two-handed weaponry with the speed of one-handed. And the Y move is great for evading or taking out many units at once, like in The Aerie "Ambush". I only used Dark Lance and Dark Hand thorugh all my playthroughs as that is all that is needed. One long-range that can be charged alot and one close range that can be spammed against many foes. For the words, simply use the "Choose best" option. The only boss that can cause some trouble us Wendy because of the projectiles, but a charged Dark Lance is the best way to go.