For much of the story,Visions of Manacan seem a tad cut-and-dry. There are Alms and they must be guided to and sacrificed for the Mana Tree. This isn’t too heavily questioned until the appearance of Eoron, though the game doesn’t overall diverge from this pilgrimage. Until the Benevodons are introduced.

With the appearance of the Benevodons, the pilgrimage of the Alms is put on hold to face a much larger threat, and the first of these legendary beasts you must fight is Garethe, the Benevodon of Earth. They’re a challenging set piece, but one we’ll help you put back to dust in no time.

The Dyluck as it appears stranded in Zawhak desert in Visions of Mana.

Preparing For Garethe

Being a legendary creature of the past that was sealed away by a legendary hero, you may be expecting quite the battle on your hands. Indeed, Garethe is absurdly large to the point thatyou don’t actually battle them directlybut instead fire cannons at them.

Garethe is fought at Level 24, while our party was atLevel 28during the fight. That said, the majority of damage is dealt by the cannons soyour own strength is only relevant to the enemies that Garethe summons. You should be perfectly fine no matter what level you’re at.

Morley aiming a cannon at one of Garethe’s weak point during the boss battle in Visions of Mana.

Here’s the party we used for the battle, though we’ll recommend some alterations down below.

Many party members are subjective here, so take whoever you are most comfortable with. The most essential things to bring along are a party member withThunder Saber and a Wind class.

Garethe in the final stages of their boss battle with their mouth wide open in Visions of Mana.

While the majority of damage dealt to Garethe will not be dealt directly, there are benefits to having someone equipped with a Wind class in the party. For this battle, having the Slyphid Boomerang equippedcauses the cannons to reload more quickly, allowing you to fire at Garethe much more frequently.

On top of this,many of the enemies Garethe summons are weak to Wind, letting the Class Strike and Elemental do the heavy lifting for you against mobs of enemies.

Otherwise, make sure your Ring Menu is set up with your favoured abilities and healing items, anduse an EXP-boosting cookie before the battle beginsto gain yourself some extra experience.

The battle will beginas soon as you approach the Dyluck ship, so make sure you have everything ready for the fight beforehand.

Battling Garethe

Despite being a beast of great legend, Garethe is actually a fairly simple fight, though one that is spectacular in its visuals. More akin to Kraken earlier in the game, Garethe swims through the sand around the ship, Dyluck, while you aim the cannons at them.This is your only means of attacking them, so always keep an eye on the reload speed.

Garethe only has one major attack against you.They will summon a hail of meteors that strike the ship all over. They are given a red warning circle so you know where to avoid them, though they are used quite frequently so you have to be constantly on your toes.

These meteorites can even strike youwhile you’re manning the cannons, so always keep your eyes open for the red warning circle.

Along Garethe’s body, you will see a series of glowing spots that have armour around them that opens and closes periodically. As you probably guessed, these are Garethe’s weak points. Firing anywhere on Garethe’s body will dealapproximately 500 damage, though adirect hit on their weak points will deal about triple that.

The trick to getting the hit is toaim slightly in advanceas Garethe will continue moving even after you’ve fired.

Garethe will continually summon enemies throughout the fight, also Level 24. These includeSand Stingers, Ma Goblins, Bulettes, and even Clay Gorgsin the later stages of the fight. They’re also at relevant strength to their overworld versions, so they’re no pushovers.

After dealing enough damage to them, Garethe will jump into the sky and fly to the opposite side of the ship to let you aim at their other weak points. They will continually do this from this point on. Around this same time, they will also upgrade their raining meteorite attack, causing amassive single meteor to crash downon the ship that hits a very large area as well.

Once you’ve reduced Garethe’s health toapproximately a fifth,they will ascend from the sand and position themselves in the sky, aiming a powerful blast at the party. At this point, you must quicklyman the cannon and fire directly into their mouth. This will take two cannonballs before they are defeated, and possibly more if you’re not aiming right at the mouth.

With a final cannonball down their gullet, Garethe will be defeated, and you will be rewarded with5,000 Lucre, 14,850 EXP(alongside your various bonuses), and theLumina Lanternwhich gives you access to Light classes. Congratulations, and good luck with hunting down the rest of the Benevodons.