One of the hardest bosses in Live A Live is waiting under the water of a great fortress. In one chapter, you’ll play as a lone Shinobi infiltrating a massive castle ruled by the duplicitous Ode Clan. While you’re encouraged to use stealth, you can level up by defeating enemies — or finding very specific special enemies you can grind for free XP without raising your kill counter. Gaining XP is required if you want to take on Lord Iwama, a special bonus battle hidden in the watery passages of the castle. If you want to beat Lord Iwama, we have a few tips to make the battle a lot easier. He’s still ridiculously hard. But with these tactics, you might pull off a victory.
More Live A Live guides:
Endings Guide | O. Dio Boss Guide | Wild West Chapter | Odie O’Bright Boss Guide | Present Chapter | Secret Mimic Party Member | Edo Period Chapter
Lord Iwama | Bonus Boss Tips
Lord Iwama is a massive fish found in the watery entrance to the Castle Keep – Dungeon. You can either climb down the tree and follow the underground path from the outer walls and reach the ninja door in the lower levels of the dungeon, on the right side. Go out into the water and find the big dark spot. Entering it will initiate the boss fight.
Lord Iwama is easily the hardest boss of this chapter, and one of the hardest bonus bosses in the game. Defeating him unlocks the [Sujin Scale] which gives you a small +10 bonus to special attack. Not great, but we’re fighting Lord Iwama for the reputation.
- Recommended Level: Both Characters should be at least Level 12.
- Lord Iwama | Boss Tips
- Very vulnerable to poison. Apply poison to counteract healing. Deals 150~ damage per tic early in the fight. The boss has 2,000 HP — and heals itself constantly.
- Heals in water. Use Fireflies’s Wake to replace the water tiles with fire tiles when you can.
- Phantom Butterflies are also extremely useful against the boss. Deals high damage to
- Use Wind Slash to lower defense, then Phantom Butterflies while poison is active. Always keep poison active, even when he’s at very low HP. The lower his HP, the less you’ll damage him — but every 8-9 HP counts.
- The Prisoner isn’t very useful in this fight. Use him to tank hits and heal — he almost always draws Lord Iwama’s attention.
- You’ll need about x5 healing items or more to survive. Stay close enough that both characters can heal at the same time. You don’t want to waste turns.
The real final boss only requires one or two healing items — and that’s only if you fight Musashi, which is an optional boss you can run away from. If you have 14~ healing items, you can safely use 10 for just this fight.
