Chapter 1 is when the kid gloves come off in Bravely Default 2. Orpheus is your first real boss fight — you won’t have your helpful Sir Sloan around to heal or deal huge damage.
Orpheus the Bard doesn’t fight alone either. As a support job, he has four monsters by his side to do his dirty work. You’ll be outnumbered, and Orpheus just loves to buff everything in sight with his special job powers.
This battle is all about managing the threat. It can be overwhelming at first, but with the right tools you can take Orpheus down for good.
More Bravely Default 2 guides:
9 Early Game Tips You Need To Know | Beginner’s Guide | How To Break The Game In The Prologue | XP & JP Farming Guide | How To Get Four Growth Eggs For Double XP & JP
Orpheus | Bard Boss Guide
- Recommended Level:
Orpheus is the boss of the Ancient Ruins, and the first boss of Chapter 1. Orpheus fights with two Diatryma and two Toxolotl. As with any boss like this, your first priority should be taking out the monsters.
- Orpheus: 10640 HP
- Weakness: Blizzard, Spear, Bow
- Diatryma [x2]: 752 HP
- Weakness: Thunder, Bow
- Toxolotl [x2]: 888 HP
- Weakness: Blizzard, Spear
At the beginning of the fight, Orpheus uses all four turns to cast Bard buffs — all enemies will always get -35% Phys. / Mag. Damage buffs. Once Orpheus gets another turn, he’ll use it to buff all monsters to deal +60% damage. First thing’s first — use all the BP you can to kill as many monsters as you can ASAP so they can’t take advantage of the damage buff.
- NOTE: Orpheus will counter White Magic with a Sleep spell. Bring Wakeup Bells — or just attack the sleeping party member to wake them up.
Four uses of Thundara or Blizzara [Black Mage] will kill one of the monsters. I recommend going for the Toxolotl first to neutralize their poison attacks. Use Aggravate [Vanguard] to protect your magic-users — you should be able to defeat at least two of the monsters before Orpheus takes his second turn. With focused attacks, you should be able to take out at least three. Don’t worry about using all your BP.
Use Benediction [White Mage] and Cura to keep your party healthy. Cross Cut [Vanguard] can defeat these monsters in two hits. Wipe out all four, trying to save BP on your White Mage to heal when necessary.
Once the monsters are taken out, you can fight much more carefully. Use Default to bank BP for later, and hammer Orpheus with Cross Cut, Sword of Stone, or buffed Monk attacks. Unleash Seth’s Special when everyone has an abundance of BP so you can use the buff period to deal max damage.