SSSSS OOOOO UUU UUU LLL SS SS OO OO UU UU LL SS OO OO UU UU LL SS OO OO UU UU LL SS OO OO UU UU LL SS OO OO UU UU LL SS OO OO UU UU LL S SS OO OO UU UU LLLLLLLLL SSSSS OOOOO UUUUU LLLLLLLLL CCCCCC AAAAAA LL II BBBBBB UU UU RRRRRR CC AAAAAA LL II BB BB UU UU RR RR CC AA AA LL II BB BB UU UU RR RR CC AA AA LL II BB BB UU UU RRRRRR CC AAAAAA LL II BB BB UU UU RR RR CC AA AA LL II BB BB UU UU RR RR CCCCCC AA AA LLLLLLL II BBBBBB UUUUU RR RR 444 44 44 444 44 44 444 44 44 444 44 44 444 44 44 444 44 44 444 444 !!!! !!!!! !!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!! !!!! !!!!!!!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!!!!! !!! !! !!!!!! !!!!! !! !! !! !!!!!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!!!! !! !! !! !! !! !!!! !! !! !! ******************************************************************************* Contents: Copyright info..........................................[CPW] General Astaroth's Story & Ending.............................[GEN1] Astaroth's appearance & features......................[GEN2] Astaroth's awesome weapons............................[GEN3] Moves Key...................................................[MOV1] Commands..............................................[MOV2] Strategies Against tanking opponents.............................[STR1] Against balanced opponents............................[STR2] Against fast opponents................................[STR3] Against long-ranged opponents.........................[STR4] General strengths and weaknesses......................[STR5] Tower of Lost Souls tips..............................[STR6] Thanks & Contact info...................................[END] ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Copyright info [CPW] ----------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. You can email me however and ask me if you wish to put this on your site. My email address is matthewseb2611@yahoo.com Please no hate mail and no spam. ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- Astaroth's Story & Ending [GEN1] ----------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA, SO DON'T GIVE ME CREDIT FOR IT: The god of war and destruction, Ares, desired Soul Edge, so he ordered Kunpaetku, the grand priest of the cult order Fygul Cestemus, to seek it out. Astaroth, a golem, was created in hellish heat under the divine protection of the god of war (Ares) to head up the quest. Kunpaetku ordered his creation, Astaroth, to find the demonic blade. As he watched Astaroth depart from the shrine, the grand priest laughed to himself as he planned to keep the Soul Edge and become a god for himself. Unknown to Kunpaetku, however, Ares had possessed Astaroth with his servants, the Keres, to ensure that Kunpaetku would not betray him. When Astaroth finally found Soul Edge, it had lost half of itself during the battle with Sophitia Alexandra. Deciding that Ares would not be pleased with the sword in this condition, he agreed to help the azure knight, Nightmare, build its power by collecting souls by slaughtering countless victims. As Astaroth was finally ready to betray Nightmare and take the Soul Edge from him, Kilik, Xianghua and Maxi, stormed Ostrheinsburg Castle, and Astaroth was killed by Maxi. Four years later, signs of Soul Edge began to reemerge, and Ares resurrected Astaroth in an attempt to retrieve the evil blade once again. This time, though, his body had been infused with shards of the Soul Edge, making him more powerful and ruthless than ever before. Astaroth had set out on the trail for the evil blade, but a problem arose. The grand priest Kunpaetku had realized his golem was not behaving as originally instructed--that another force now claimed ownership over Astaroth since his initial creation. In order to reclaim Astaroth as his servant, Kunpaetku performed a ritual on the lowest level of the cult's temple and unleashed a powerful curse on him. But Astaroth fought back against the curse, for he had become an ideal host for the Keres, because of the fragments of Soul Edge he had taken in during his resurrection. He would destroy anyone who stood in his way, and now the cult had become nothing more than an obstacle in his path. Astaroth entered the temple to destroy the cult once and for all, and his whirlwind of destruction mowed down everything in his path. The curse had only fueled him with anger, and he was determined to destroy anything and everything he saw. The temple of the heretics had become a crucible of chaos. Astaroth pursued Kunpaetku into the deepest part of the temple, but the grand priest managed to escape at the last minute. Only the words the priest left behind remained, telling him that he was nothing more than a failed doll modeled after a mere human. Astaroth immediately stopped in his tracks, distracted with this newfound horrible knowledge, and began to search the temple's archives for his roots. He had been made in the image of a man called only by the name "White Giant." Astaroth destroyed the facility in which Kunpaetku's ritual had been performed, and his curse faded such that he regained his true strength. He then proceeded to destroy the temple completely until it became unrecognizable debris, and nothing was left but chaos and rubble. Fygul Cestemus had been wiped from history by the very being that they themselves had created. Astaroth stood within the ruined temple, quietly thinking to himself. If the "White Giant" he had been modeled after was as powerful as himself, then that man must surely be the greatest soul on earth, the perfect nourishment to resurrect the Soul Edge back to its full power. But perhaps Astaroth himself did not realize his own hidden desire to destroy the "White Giant"--to make himself a complete creature, unique without any model. The golem set out, his new objective set, disappearing into the mirages in the distance. Behind him was only a column of smoke rising from a ruinous wasteland; in front of him somewhere was the perfect soul. THE ENDING: Just like with most characters in SC4, Astaroth's final story boss is Algol. Astaroth finally gets the possession of Soul Edge and it gives him lots of power. However for Astaroth it's not enough and he wants more and more. And so Astaroth wandered the woods like a giant, seeking more power and not finding any, whilst spreading his evil energy all over the place. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ Astaroth's appearance & features [GEN2] ------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Astaroth is a golem, so he's very mascular and larger than a normal male human. He's obsessed with killing, murder and annihilation. As a weapon he wields a giant axe or hammer. His moves are among the slowest in the game, but definitely among the most powerful damage-wise, with a great reach too. Astaroth has 2 in-built skins/costumes in SC4. The first one is a new costume. Astaroth looks like he just climbed out of lava, as there is plenty of it all over him, even on his default axe Kulutues. His face also looks more menacing than before. The second one is a classic SC2 skin - Astaroth is wearing Executioner's set, i.e. the metal mask over the mouth, heavy metal boots, almost nothing on torso that reveals his explosed to the outside heart. As with most other characters you can customize a new costume for Astaroth. I personally don't think ordinary clothes suit him, he should only wear heavy armor, but it's up to you really. At the end stats and skills are more important than sense of fashion. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- Astaroth's awesome weapons [GEN3] ----------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First of all I must say that Astaroth has perhaps the coolest looking weapons in the game. In my opinion anyway. Here are the ones in this game and what they're best at. Kulutues and Bulova are free. Others you must buy. KULUTUES Astaroth's default weapon. It's a giant axe basically. The first skin's Kulutues is covered with lava slightly. Attack: 100 Defence: 50 HP: 30 Power: 50 Impact: 0 Boost: 50 Gauge: 0 Special: 0 Native skill: none BULOVA Just like Kulutues, this is also a giant axe, but the shape of the blade is different; it's kinda split and looks like two blades. Attack: 100 Defence: 40 HP: 40 Power: 0 Impact: 30 Boost: 0 Gauge: 30 Special: 30 Native skill: Soul Gauge Damage B TERROR MOON Another good-looking giant axe with a blade that looks like a crescent of a moon. Attack: 130 Defence: 45 HP: 35 Power: 0 Impact: 40 Boost: 0 Gauge: 60 Special: 30 Native skill: none GREAT MAUL This is a massive hammer/mallet that is partly metal and partly wooden. As you can see it's best for attack-oriented builds. Attack: 210 Defence: 35 HP: 25 Power: 50 Impact: 30 Boost: 50 Gauge: 0 Special: 0 Native skill: none NANBANFU Another one of the giant axes. It's a very balanced weapon in my opinion. Attack: 150 Defence: 30 HP: 50 Power: 50 Impact: 0 Boost: 30 Gauge: 30 Special: 30 Native skill: none SOUL EDGE This is a legendary weapon Soul Edge that is in the shape of a giant axe to suit Astaroth's fighting style. Attack: 190 Defence: 55 HP: 40 Power: 30 Impact: 30 Boost: 0 Gauge: 0 Special: 30 Native skill: Hyper mode POW HAMMER This is a joke weapon that looks like a toy hammer, but oversized version. Attack: 140 Defence: 40 HP: 20 Power: 100 Impact: 0 Boost: 100 Gauge: 0 Special: 0 Native skill: Double-edged sword ******************************************************************************** -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ Astaroth's moves: Key [MOV1] ------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The key I'll use in this guide is the following (assuming you're standing on the left side of the screen): Directional buttons: 7-8-9 ^ 4-5-6 - < + > 1-2-3 v So for example '3' would mean 'forwards + down at the same time'. Abbreviation - Type of command - Xbox 360 button ___________________________________________________ A - Horizontal attack - X B - Vertical attack - Y K - Kick - B G - Guard - A I would also provide comments on some of the moves, saying what I think about them, so hope you'll find them helpful. Also note that comma (,) means follow one attack after the other, while plus (+) means press them at the same time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- Astaroth's moves: Commands [MOV2] ---------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Input - Attack name - Comments PS: You can delay most of attacks within combos with Astaroth, so I won't bother mentioning every single one of them. Horizontal attacks A - Annihilation - holding it performs a small attack grab A,A - Annihilation - holding second one performs an unblockable attack grab A,B - Destruction 6A,B - Grip shot to Ax Volcano 3A - Minotaur crush 2A - Hades break 1A - Discus - Perhaps most useful attack by Astaroth; same with next two 1A(hold),A - Double discus 1A(hold),B - Discus breaker - second attack is an overhead one and guard breaks 4A - Hades control - holding it performs a small attack grab 2,1,4A (+Ax5) - Poseidon Tide Rush - If first attack hits then it's a powerful attack grab, if not then follow up with A 5 more times to cause Astaroth to spin fast. crouching + A - Hades break rising + A - Reverse spiral ax - a very powerful and useful attack as it is also relatively fast jump + A - Great annihilation turning + A - Reverse ax split crouching + turning + A - Lower Hades split Vertical attacks B,B - Hades Ax - holding second attack performs a guard break 6B - Ax side cannon - one of the very useful fast moves 3B - Ax Volcano - holding it performs an awesome unblockable 2B - Hades - holding it performs a guard break 1B - Ax Grave 4B - Bear fang - you can hold it for more damage crouching + B - Dark split rising + B - Hades rising jump + B - Greater divide turning + B - Reverse dark split crouching + turning + B - Lower dark split Kicks K- Moloch's Vise K(hold) - Valarion - this is a beautiful attack grab 6K - Hades knee - a very useful attack too because it's fast 3K,A - Dark Tamer - you can hold any of the two attacks in this combo 2K - Bull low kick 1K,A - Reverse Tamer 4K,K - Command kicks - another one of pretty useful attacks crouching + K - Bull kick 3K(hold) - Bull rush rising + K,A - Rising cyclone jump + K - Great kick - perhaps one of the most untrue names given to an attack (:D) turning + K - Reverse bull kick crouching + turning + K - Lower sweep Simultaneous attacks A + B - Titan Ax - the range of this attack is really awesome 3A + B - Offering - holding it performs an attack grab 4A + B - breath of Hades - holding it performs an unblockable attack grab B + K - Guard crusher - does a small attack grab 6B + K - Body splash - if an enemy attacks you during that it performs an impact 2B + K - Hades crush - you can then follow that up with a quick A+G, B+G, 2A+G or 2B+G grab 4B + K (,B) - Ax Lower cannon - Good ranged attack and if you follow up with B when enemy is close enough then it performs a cool attack grab 9B + K - Flying divide - holding it performs a guard break 2,3,6B + K - Demented Moon - A powerful unblockable attack facing away + B + K - Side divide K + G - Taunt 8-way run attacks (I indicated it by pressing directions twice fast) 6,6 A,B - Ares spiral rage 3,3 or 9,9 A - Ax blow 2,2 or 8,8 A - Poseidon crest 1,1 or 7,7 A - Discus 4,4A - Hades divide - can hold for more damage 6,6B - Ax Crash - Fast attack, but easily blocked or dodged 3,3 or 9,9 B - Ax Volcano - hold for unblockable 2,2 or 8,8 B - Hades Cannon - very powerful attack and good for ring outs; following up with a 4 causes the enemy to fly closer to you 1,1 or 7,7 B,K - Azazel tackle - second strike is more or less vital since the first one often misses. 4,4B - Canyon creation - Gotta love doing this attack on downed opponents; hold for unblockable 6,6K - Bull rush - holding causes enemies to fly upwards 3,3 or 9,9 K - Hades rush - holding will cause enemies to fly up 2,2 or 8,8 K - Stamp of Hades - holding will cause enemies to fly up 4,4 or 1,1 or 7,7 K - Lower command kick 2,2 or 8,8 A + B - Titan swing - hold for unblockable run + K - Sliding - everyone has this attack; good for ring outs Grabs/Throws A + G - Maelstrom divide B + G - Hades destroyer From the left side - Beat down From the right side - On Silent wings From the back side - Death crush crouching enemy + 3A + G - Plunging crush crouching enemy + 2A + G - Bludgeoning crush - I personally don't see anything different to the previous one crouching enemy + 3B + G - Flood of lava crouching enemy + 2B + G - Drop of lava - Same as with above case 6,3,2,1,4 A + G - Wicked judgement 6,3,2,1,4 B + G - Flight of the wicked mid air enemy + A + G - Wrath of the damned - you'll come to love this grab when characters like Maxi or Talim jump at you mid air enemy + 2,8 + B + G - Titan Bomb - Looks like the real deal, but hard to perform downed enemy (head to you) + 1A (or B) + G - Brutal grasp downed enemy + 2 + B + K, A + G - Wrath of the damned - it's different to the other one downed enemy + 2 + A + K - burial ******************************************************************************** -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- Strategies against tanking opponents [STR1] ------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good examples of tanking characters are Nightmare, Rock, Astaroth (himself), etc. These guys have slower moves than most, but very powerful and plenty of unblockables and attack grabs. Therefore against them the best moves to do are those that keep them at a distance and destroy the most health. Charge moves are good and of course the classic Discus move will be your best friend here. Watch carefully what they do, because their moves are easier to predict than most and therefore the right type of defence can be executed at the right time, i.e. blocking, 8-way run, impacts, etc. They have plenty of unblockables and guard breaks, so blocking does not save you a lot of the time from these guys. Sometimes it's useful to chip in a few fast moves in order to ruin their charging moves. Keep that in mind! Some Useful moves: Discus (1A) and its other 2 types (1A(hold),A & 1A(hold),B) Titan Ax (A + B) Hades break -> Reverse spiral ax (2A followed by A while rising) Hades Ax (B,B) Ax Volcano (3B) Canyon creation (4,4B) Hades Cannon (2,2 or 8,8 B) Dark Tamer/Reverse Tamer (3 (or 1)K,A) Bull rush (6,6K or 3K(hold)) Demented Moon (2,3,6B + K) All grabs/throws -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- Strategies against balanced opponents [STR2] ----------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The balanced characters are such like Mitsurugi, Setsuka, Raphael, etc. These characters still don't pose too much difficulty if you know what moves to execute and when. If you happen to attack at the same time as them, then they're much more likely to land a hit before you. Just the best thing to do is to combine both fast and powerful moves. When they are close you, you better off doing fast moves so to get some room between the two of you. Once they're at a distance then Astaroth can pull off some of the charging powerful moves, such as unblockables. Good fast moves are mostly kicks and also Ax side cannon (6B). Some Useful moves: Discus (1A) and its other 2 types (1A(hold),A & 1A(hold),B) Reverse Spiral Ax (A while rising) Ax side cannon (6B) Hades divide (4,4A) Command kicks (4K,K) Ax Volcano (3B) Canyon creation (4,4B) Dark Tamer/Reverse Tamer (3 (or 1)K,A) Titan Ax (A + B) Body Splash (6B + K) Hades knee (6K) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Strategies against fast opponents [STR3] ------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now these ones are the hardest characters to fight against with Astaroth since they are way too fast and a lot of the time may not let you breathe. Good examples of fast characters are Cassandra, Talim, Taki, Maxi, etc, even Cervantes at times. Most of your moves here should be fast moves, and once you get them down on the ground then you may perform some of the slower more powerful ones. Grabs/throws also come useful here since these guys will tend to be close to you most of the time regardless of your efforts to keep them away. They will also be jumping a lot, so the awesome Discus will miss them a lot of the time. I would also strongly advise against vertical moves, because these guys can 8-way run these moves easily. So to conclude - at the start of the battle perform any quick horizontal strike, and once they get close to you then go with fast attacks and grabs. When you manage to get them on the ground then perform stronger moves. Some Useful moves: Ax side cannon (6B) Hades knee (6K) Poseidon Crest (2,2 or 8,8 A) Poseidon Tide rush (2,1,4A (+Ax5)) (if you can input it fast enough) Reverse spiral ax (A while rising) Hades rising (B while rising) Ax Grave (1B) (fast low attacks are helpful, but make sure enemy is very close) Canyon creation (4,4B) (once you got them onto the ground) Discus (1A) (once you got them onto the ground) Command kicks (4K,K) Body splash (6B + K) Bull rush (6,6K or 3K(hold)) All grabs/throws -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ Strategies against long-ranged opponents [STR4] ------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm mostly talking about characters such as Kilik and Seung Mina, who may be long ranged, but many of their attacks are quite fast. Logic should say straight away that your best friends here are long ranged moves too. Make sure however you watch your opponents carefully, because these characters are still faster than you, so if you happen to attack at the same time, their attack is most likely to land first and therefore stopping your attack. There isn't much of a strategy here except for using their own medicine against them. I'll just provide a few useful moves to pull off. Some Useful moves: Discus (1A) and its other 2 types (1A(hold),A & 1A(hold),B) Titan Ax (A + B) Ax Lower Cannon (4B + K (,B)) Flying divide (9B + K) Reverse spiral ax (A while rising) Hades Cannon (2,2 or 8,8 B) Demented Moon (2,3,6B + K) Bull rush (6,6K or 3K(hold)) Titan swing (2,2 or 8,8 A + B) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- General strengths and weaknesses [STR5] ----------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As I mentioned earlier, Astaroth is a relatively slow character with a very few fast attacks who relies on keeping enemies at a long range. This says straight away that fast characters are his greatest weakness. Be in particular aware of Talim as she jumps a lot, meaning your Discus will miss her. Also Cervantes as he flies and heaves himself a lot. Discus is undoubtedly Astaroth's best move - it's low, quick and covers a huge area, managing to knock enemies off their feet, giving lots of possibilities for further attacks. Reverse spiral ax is also an amazing attack as it is fast and also covers big area. It's like a high version of Discus. Astaroth also has a few crappy attacks which rarely work and those you have to avoid inputting by accident. Of course they do land sometimes, but they're best avoided. Good examples would be Hades (2B), Minotaur Crush (3A), Bear fang (4B), etc. Astaroth is a power guy and so when customizing a costume for him I'd highly advise Auto unblockable attack skill (any grade, but the higher the better). Also maybe, and I am not sure about this, Strengthen horizontal is a good skill to give him because Astaroth afterall is a horizontal guy. Some of his horizontal attacks are Godly, whereas most Vertical ones suck because they easily miss. But anyways, don't forget to chip in fast attacks into the fight, they greatly string together the fighting technique in between all those powerful ones. And don't be cheap doing Discus all the time (except maybe floors 57 to 60 on Tower of Lost Souls :D) as doing the same attack only shows a lack of skill. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- Tower of Lost Souls tips [STR6] --------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This will be mostly about ascending as I haven't completed descending yet. And I won't include every floor on here, just the ones I felt were hard. But if you have difficulty on any other floors then feel free to send me an email. Floor 20 This is the one with the Taki style boss at the end. She has Grapple break S and also performs lots of impacts and on top of that heals every time she performs one. This means that you're very unlikely to win with K.O. and best two options are: Ring out or Critical finish. I personally won it with a critical finish the first time round. Astaroth's hits are powerful and therefore every block and impact she performs taint her soul strongly. Of course Astaroth has great ring out moves too, so you can win that way too, but if you critical you'll get a treasure chest for that floor. Floors 30-32 This is the one when you fight 11 people in a row with only 1 character and Zasalamel as the final boss. The others are not a problem. Zasalamel is a hard one because first of all you reach him with low health and secondly because he grabs a lot. With that being said make sure you don't come too close to him and treat him as a long-ranged character (refer to [STR4] section). Long ranged moves are your best friends in this fight. IF however he does get close then quickly unleash one of the quick strikes such as Hades knee or Ax side cannon followed by Discus or a grab. Floors 45-46 This one is tricky because the characters here are extremelly resistant to damage and also cannot be grabbed AT ALL. However to bypass the rules you can perform attack grabs, which will deal THEIR PROPER DAMAGE. Gladly Astaroth is a king of attack grabs. He's got loads of them. Though many of them are crap, he's got some impressive ones too, such as Ax Lower cannon and Poseidon tide rush. Though if it doesn't work with Astaroth you can unleash the prince of attack grabs Nightmare. He's got some good attack grabs too. Just take 2-3 attack grabs, practice using them so that you can input them fast enough and then keep on using them. Floors 50-52 Yes, again we have 1 character against a legion. The first stage is not too bad; just watch for Balduin - he's stubborn. The second stage is hard because all 3 characters there are fast women. Make sure to keep them at a distance and use quick attacks. Treat them all as fast opponents. The final stage is also tricky. The great danger here is Amy, because she can't be ringed out and also grapple breaks a lot. Kill her boyfriends off first so then she can't switch, as that's what computer likes to do when they have low health and while you fight the teammates the one you nearly killed regenerates plenty of health. Those 3 you can ring out, so make use of that if you can. Floors 53-56 This time it's 1 character against 4 floors worth of characters. None of the enemies particularly stand out with their might, it's just so many of them that you end up with a low health at the end. So my advice would be to customize a costume that favours plenty of health and defence. I would also advise you to perform powerful attacks so to take care of most enemies quickly before time runs out and before they can swap and heal. In the 3rd stage you face off Astaroth style characters and it's in an arena where it is easy to ring out. Make full use of that. Remember Astaroth has amazing ring out moves, so use them and don't get hit by them. Floors 57-59 My most hated stage in Tower of Lost Souls!!! This stage is actually ridiculous because it is so hard. You're allowed 2 characters here, but the problem with this one is that there isn't any good strategy here. Whereas with other floors you could always come up with a strategy that worked, here you just have to be good. I am talking in particular of floor 58 where you fight Mitsurugi and Cervantes. Mitsurugi manages to counter you a lot of the time and so I advise you to have Nullify counter skill somewhere. Cervantes is hard because he can easily avoid your Discus move, making him a tough opponent. Make sure both costumes you use have health in the blue section, i.e. more than 100% health, or even preferably more than 130ish% health. Don't forget about useful skills either. Nullify counter, Auto unblockable and HP Drain are among must haves here. This is also one of the times I'd say be cheap and utilise Discus and its variants at least 50% of the time. Grabbing enemies also works, though some of them are good at grapple breaking, so be aware of that. Floor 60 Algol like you've never seen him before. He's got HP Drain S, frequent impact spamming and nullify ring out S. This means that he can block and block and then without you expecting it performs a good combo that in the process will heal him LOADS!!! Again, best thing to do here is use Discus and also Reverse spiral ax a lot. Best method is to keep him at a distance. If he's far then you can hurt him and he can only shoot (which is easy to block and does little damage anyway). If he manages to get close then grab him. He does grapple break, but he doesn't have it set on A or S rank, so you can utilise grabs quite a lot here. Still, this stage is not as bad as the previous one, so if you've done that one, you'll definitely manage this one. **************************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- Thanks & Contact info [END] ------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to: - Developers and Publishers of Soul Calibur games - gamefaqs.com - wikipedia for Astaroth's backstory - Readers of this FAQ Websites that can post this FAQ: - gamefaqs.com - gamespot.com - neoseeker.com If you're not on the list then please ask me for my permission. I'm likely to say yes. Anyways, any questions also feel free to email me. My email address is: matthewseb2611@yahoo.co.uk **************************************************************************** © Copyright, Matthew Ashworth, 2008.