Solo Olberic Route v1.4 (Lone Traveler) (non-buffer glitch differences included)

Lone Olberic Route Notes

Last Updated: Sep. 18, 2022
Contact: AnimeGamer#1297 on Discord if you'd like to reach me
Status: Complete with a section on non-buffer glitch runs and a comfortable amount of extra money routed in - Werner battle wants 158k for a very comfy minimum ish, and we have 161k as an extremely low end estimate (depends on encounter RNG money), while all the other fights have enough money/items as well. Werner fight also has 8 Pom L's and 3 Rev Jams, which should be enough even with bad EI luck, as long as turn RNG isn't horrendous.

Sample Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VVjZ9ezvVc

EDIT (after recording the video and running the route): I recently learned that some people cannot do buffer glitch on their computers, and I decided to add a section to the end denoting differences if you are one of them or just want to do a run without buffer glitches. Skip to the very end and see the "NO BUFFER GLITCH - ROUTE DIFFERENCES" section.

This is a solo speedrun route for Olberic, who has one of the hardest C4 bosses in a solo to defeat. Werner hits hard, hits multiple times, and can Terror/Unconscious in the second half. In order to stand a reasonable chance of victory (without relying on heavy RNG such as blindness procs), this route does grind for Patience, using its extra turns to help survive and trigger Werner's AI Loop Glitch, as he is one of the small handful of bosses susceptible to it. After triggering the glitch, the battle is virtually free.

(As a side-note, I did try to find a way around Werner without Patience, but Sidestep seems to be the best way to deal with his heavy hits, debuffs, and ailments, and Patience was the only way to get enough Sidesteps up and active (while also retaliating) at a low ish level since he multihits and acts twice per your action. Even a Thief build with defense up and Shackle Foe on Werner wasn't able to survive prolonged turns and could wipe from 4 back to back Werner turns, and my experiments with other strategies using Apothecary, Eye for an Eye, and others were similarly ineffective.)

Aside from Werner, C2 and C3 also have a lot of battles and take a longer amount of time than other runs, with more resources required as well.

However, Olberic does have some advantages, such as his final town, Riverford, being situated closely to Force Shield, Crystal Helm and Enchanted Rod, plus he has a good chunk of HP and most of his challenges aren't too difficult, just a bit time consuming altogether. Also, because he's already doing so many battles for his story, he has a lot of JP to work with. Getting Hunter's Second Serving actually does surprisingly help challenges, as does the critical bonus from Master's Spear and the Crit Nut L we get and use too. Even the small Light/Wind Stone S from the Tomb of Kings grind helps vs Werner. A lot of aspects like these come together to really help his solo.

The general overview of the route is that it rushes Scholar shrine, hoping for a Cait (if you want to do non-cait, you can get Scholar and Noblecourt's Light M with the NPC Challenge, then TP Cobbleston and do Whistling Cavern, get its Fire M in the back, and aim to defeat 2 encounters in there with the M Stones. Another alternative is to S+Q to get the Light M outside Stonegard for 2 M stones or just grind encounters to get to 130 JP on the way from Cobbleston to Scholar shrine. If you don't get a Cait, it may be useful to grind 1-3 extra encounters in Tomb of Kings later possibly as well depending on how safe you want to be for ranges and such). Then it gets the equipment for grinding and does the early JP grind in Tomb of Kings right away, before finishing off the exploration/looting, as having Hunter's Heighten Senses and the grind's levels helps avoid/flee random encounters. Afterwards, it focuses on clearing chapters quickly, typically entering Werner around level 27-29 range depending on grind/encounter RNG.

Note1: Prepare Buffer glitch beforehand if you need setup/practice or see Non-Buffer section notes.

Notation:
TP = Teleport
C = Chapter
x2,x3,x4 = boost with 1 BP, 2 BP, or the max 3 BP respectively. x1 is not used but would be 0 BP and a normal move.
S+Q = Save and Quit and reenter the game to reset/reload the encounter rate
Reload/Reset = usually exit and reenter a screen to reset the encounter rate
Buffer Glitch = use the Buffer Glitch to gain access to an item or area - see https://youtu.be/0XlAM3mTu0Q [NS/PC only, not XB]

Settings/Technical Things (recommended, but you can play how you want):
- English Audio (Olberic's JPN is slower on average than ENG)
- Message Speed Quick
- Revert to Original (Battle Cursor Position)
- Preload Before a Run (Start a new game with any character and exit to the menu, since the first load is slowest)
- Note that loading games directly from console is usually faster than loading from an SD/memory card
- Always Hold B to Skip Cutscenes, unless the textbox/scene is so short that it's faster to mash (Ex: usually 1-2 textbox scenes)

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Non-Cait note: I've optimized the early game for Non-Cait Olb getting EM in my notes for the northern non-cait 3c route, so you can reference those more thorough, updated methods for faster EM. https://pastebin.com/yEJ74GAE (It uses Whistling Caverns after getting the Noblecourt Light M, so I'd recommend tagging Quarrycrest and then TP back later to do the early game of this. Then you can switch back to this after getting EM from those notes.)

After 4 cutscenes, buy and equip Iron Sword + War Spear
Fight the two Challenges:
T1: Spear (if this hits below 50, do Spear x3 next)
T2: Spear x2 (check for 30% Wind Soulstone from left challenge)

Brigand I x2 & Brigand II [Repeat this for the same battle in the next screen]
T1: Sword Brigand II
T2: Level Slash
T3: Level Slash x4

Go toward Brigand den. After third set of stairs, go right, down to get Light Stone before the battle.

Enter cave. If no Wind Sstone drop from Challenge, go left and down after the stairs to the left get Fire Soulstone before Gaston.
Heal to full beforehand if needed.

Gaston
T1: Level Slash
T2: Fire/Wind Soulstone
T3: Light Soulstone
T4: Abide
T5: 4x Spear
T6: 3x Spear
T7: Heal
T8: Spear
T9: Abide
T10: 4x Spear
T11: Spear

NOTE: IF NON-CAIT, YOU CAN SKIP THOUSAND SPEARS TO SAVE 30 JP FOR EM, but you still need to get L5 to challenge Awkward Boy, so do Level Slash -> Level Slash x3 on 2 fish or just KO any encounters on the way for L5. Then after Challenge'ing NPC and Flee to get Scholar, Challenge again, go to Noblecourt, then get Light M outside, then do Whistling Caverns from TP Cobble to get Evasive Maneuvers. Continue on and learn Thousand Spears later when you have enough JP later, as you can usually use Spear taps to make up for Thousand Spears in the beginning. After Whistling, tag Quarrycrest, and you can TP back to do the early game of this route anytime before major fights begin (FoP loot, etc).

Teach Olberic Thousand Spears, KO Cait on way to Scholar Shrine.
Challenge Awkward Boy outside Scholar Shrine and Flee.
Get Scholar
Teach FireStorm + Lightning Blast, put on Evasive Manuevers

Go to Forest of Purgation + get Light L + 20k

TP Cobbleston, go toward Wellspring, challenge and Flee Injured Scout nearby
Tag Wellspring, get Fire L
TP Wellspring, exit and run toward Marsalim Catacombs

Enter Eastern Marsalim Sands
Get Thunder L then enter Marsalim Catacombs, exit
Tag Marsalim, exit
Return to the Catacombs (we need to get an item and TP out but want to tag Marsalim first for the TP)
Save on the way in in case of encounter/wipe. Tap the left side of boss area to reset encounters. Tap right side to reset again.

Get Calming Stone + tap Boss reset right
Get Master's Spear via Buffer Glitch + Exit left + tap Boss reset left
Get Rev Jam + tap Boss reset left + tap Boss reset right
Get Angel's Saber

TP Marsalim, buy to have total of:
11 Grape M
21 Plums
4 Plum M
2 Herb of Healing

Go to palace and loot top right room's 3 chests (High House Armor, 25k, Enchanted Circlet)
Equip -> Optimize + Calming Stone on

TP Cobbleston, go toward Quarrycrest
Tag Quarrycrest and exit
Go into Derelict Mine
Get Wind L, exit
Get Pom S on the way to South Orewell Pass
Go to South Orewell Pass

Challenge Mysterious Knight, flee
Get Pom L on right top side, then challenge and flee again
Enter Dragonsong Fane

Get Crystal Helm and Pom L down the stairs
Save and Quit (stay on the right side of Save Point)
Get Conscious Stone
Save on the way to exit in case of encounter, exit

Challenge Mysterious Knight upon leaving
T1: Thousand Spears x2, may need follow up spear tap to finish
(Quest reward is 11k + Crit Nut L, but he may drop a Rev Jam which is useful for Werner in not needing as much EI luck.)

Go to North Riverford Traverse
Tag Riverford.

Exit and loot Wind L on bottom leftward before entering Refuge Ruins
Enter Refuge Ruins, boss reset
Get Refreshing Jam
Buffer glitch to get Enchanted Rod + Force Shield
TP Riverford
Reenter Refuge Ruins, buffer glitch to get Pom M + Pom L

TP Wellspring, exit toward Stonegard

Equip + Optimize + Conscious Stone on
Heal HP + SP
Use Crit Nut L

Grab Light M when you enter from the botttom of Stonegard

If you get Buffalo + Bird encounter on way
T1: Firestorm (breaks buffalo)
T2: Lightning Blast x3 (defeats bird)

Then use Firestorm or Spears til Buffalo is defeated, depends on if you're silenced or not.
Tag Stonegard, exit
Go up toward Merchant Shrine

Heal HP + SP
Get Merchant Job but if Pirate encounter:
T1: Firestorm
T2: Firestorm x3
if confused, may need to delay the KO (Btw they're weak to spear too but the AoE of FireStorm is better)

Enter West Goldshore Coast + get Pom S on the way (first chest when entering map)
Enter Goldshore, get Thunder M, exit
Go to Captain's Bane, get Pom L
TP Goldshore
Get Thunder M before entering West Grandport Coast
(If encounter, Birds/Pirates are weak to Fire while Rock Tortoise weak to sword Scissor Crab nothing so just repeat FS -> FSx3)

Get Wind L + Challenge Best-Selling Author, flee
Get 20k, Save and Quit

Get Thunder L, tag Grandport, exit
Go to Loch of Lost King + Get Pom L in top left then exit and reenter
Get Wind L and 30k
TP Grandport + Silver-filled pouch, 25k, Dazzling Artwork in the back areas

TP Stonegard, go outside of Tomb of Kings
Remove Evasive Manuevers (if enough JP, do Merchant menu for Sidestep + Hired Help to put on Endless Items at same time before going back to Scholar and putting Enchanted Rod back on)
Enter Tomb of Kings for JP grind

Goal: get Endless Items early here then get 3057 JP while looting and then leave area

Once you get 130 JP plus,
Job Merchant + Sidestep + Hired Help + Endless Items on
Job Scholar + Optimize Equipment

Heal SP/HP as needed and can do a safety save upon entering though it should be 99% safe (can wipe at low levels if caught by surprise with 10 enemies before you all casting max range magic, but that's very unlikely)
Heal to > 800 HP and > 66 SP if you leave a battle below those numbers

How to beat monsters in Tomb of Kings (LB = Lightning Blast, LS = Level Slash):

2 Light Sentinels and 2 Guardians: (watch for Light S drops which can be used vs Joshua/Werner later in place of Bandits, up to you)
Level Slash -> Defend -> Level Slash -> Lightning Blast x4

4 Light Sentinels:
Defend -> Level Slash -> LB x4
(eventually just Level Slash -> LB x3 at level 20 and won't need Defend on T1)

2 Wind Sentinels and 2 Guardians:
LB -> LB x3 -> LB (at level 23 and up, the first two should KO)

4 Wind Sentinels
LB -> LB x3
(later can Level Slash -> LB x3 at level 18 and up)

Wind Remnant and 2 Guardians:
LB -> LBx3 -> Spear/Thousand Spear -> Spear x2/Thousand Spear x2

Light Remnant and 2 Guardians:
Level Slash -> Defend -> Level Slash -> Lightning Blast x4 (may need extra Spear hits depending on level)

Thief I/Thief II sets:
LB -> LB x3

Cait(s) + anything:
1 Thunder M -> LB x3 (if no EI procs/run out of Thunder M's, use Light M, then use LB x2 on T1 if you run out of all those)

As you grind, loot these items (you have ample time):
Fire L + 9400 leaves + Bright Stone + Curious Antique
After looting, grind near the exit until 3057 JP and Hired Help + Sidestep + Endless Items on

(Note: Olberic usually leaves Tomb of Kings grind around level 24 minimum, but lower is fine, just maybe more ranges possibly.)

When you're done, put on Evasive Manuevers and leave toward Everhold Tunnels
Get Pom M (we will get the Light L later, don't get it right now)
Enter Everhold Tunnels
Get Pom L + Boss Reset
Get 35k + Boss Reset + Death Cleaver

TP Quarrycrest
Go to Hunter Shrine area + get Hunter job
Tag Victor's Hollow + start chapter 2

Heal HP + SP (800 HP and 108 SP minimum for both back to back)

Challenge Left Guy (Contemptuous Warrior)
T1: Abide
T2: Thousand Spears
T3: Thousand Spears x4

Challenge Right Guy (Prideful Warrior)
T1: LB
T2: LB
T3: Thousand Spears x4

After cutscene, do menu:

Job Hunter + Thunderbird + Leghold Trap + Mercy Strike + Arrowstorm
Job Merchant
Heighten Senses + Second Serving on
Equipment + Crystal Helm on (no longer need Enchanted Circlet's SP until Werner)

Heal HP + SP (18 SP at least)

Victorino and 2 adds
T1: Level Slash
T2: Level Slash
T3: Vets x4

Note: You are full healed after this battle and also after each of these battles except after the last one against Gustav.

Joshua the Frostblade and two adds
T1: Bandits
T2: Bandits
T3: Bandits
T4: Defend
T5: Bandits x3
T6: Vets x4
(Note: The adds can drop up to 2 Ice M's which can help later but are RNG drops.)

Save before Archibold.

Archibold and two adds (order of pom S/M used here doesn't matter much but you can try to conserve an extra pom m if you want with EI procs to reuse Pom S + Defend an extra turn near the end since Pom M can help vs Werner)
T1: Pom S
T2: Dancer x4
T3: Pom S
T4: Pom M
T5: Dancer x3
T6: Vets x4 (this is a very rare range and may need a spear tap or so to finish)

Gustav the Black Knight and two adds (39,549 HP; uses 2 sets of Vets)

I think you're guaranteed to go first so no adds should have gone or done anything, so do
T1: Vets x2 (KOs adds outright)
T2: Abide
T3: Thousand Spears

but if an add somehow gets a defense buff, you can instead do
T1: HH Mercs
T2: HH Mercs
T3: Vets x4

This defeats adds and leaves Gustav with 30,500+ HP ish. The goal is to bring him very close to/over halfway, then quickly break and burst with Vets x4 to finish (4500x4 for 19k). Ideally we bring him over halfway in the same hit we break with before using the Vets x4, but regardless, we want to have BP/SP always ready to break with Thousand Spears/regular spear hits if we think he approaches halfway (use regular spear to conserve SP as needed/not need to plum at a critical moment).

Even if he gets turns after his halfway "My blade sunders all"/3 actions phase, it's still not dangerous, just keep healing with Grape M and watch the turn order in case he goes very often. (Max hit seems to be about 300 on crit with black blade with his average damage around 150 ish per action.)

We do want to hit him with one Abide Thousand Spears when broken to help accelerate the process but we also don't want it to do too much since it's slow if he triggers his 3 action phase while coming back from break, since it's the slowest to rebreak him. (It's still safe though, just slow.) Also reminder that Second Serving may trigger two Spear hits if using basic attacks. We have 1 Refreshing Jam to use for this, plus plenty of Grape M/Plum M's if needed.

Example continuation script (adapt as needed):

T4: Spear
T5: Grape M/Refreshing Jam
T6: Abide
T7: Thousand Spears
T8: Thousand Spears x4 (at this point, it depends on breaks and can vary depending on damage)
T9: Thousand Spear
T10: Refreshing Jam/Grape M/Plum
T11: Thousand Spears
T12: Thousand Spears
T13: Vets x4
The last turns I usually use are Refreshing Jam -> Thousand Spears -> Thousand Spears -> Thousand Spears/Vets x4 -> Thousand Spears/Vets x4 to finish.

Heal HP if you didn't level
Finish Chapter 2 and leave Victor's Hollow
Go to Shrine of the Archmagus (be wary of encounters, run efficiently)

Get Pom L on left
Save and Quit
Get 20k + Rev Jam

TP Victor's Hollow, exit, reset encounters in Duskbarrow area map then come back down
Go to Maw of the Ice Dragon
Go to boss reset + buffer glitch to get Forbidden Dagger
Optionally Save (unlikely encounter chance though)
Get Shadow L + 30k

TP Stonegard
Head toward Runeblade Shrine
Get Light L in West Everhold map, enter Runeblade Shrine
Save and Quit on right side of Save Point
Get 50k + Rev Jam

TP Wellspring and start chapter 3
Talk to the townspeople and go fight the lizards

Heal HP

Sand Lizardking x3
T1: Shadow L
T2: Ice M (any M stone works but if you used all on Caits and no EI proc's, throw Shadow L if proc'd or Fire L if needed)
(if you're damaged a lot and won't level off this fight, you can opt to Grape M if turn order permits and delay but it's slow.)

Sand Lizardking II x3
T1: Fire L
T2: Fire L (if no more Fire L's and nothing EI proc'd, then Light L)

Get 6k before entering Lizard Den
Enter cutscene of Erhardt and lizards then save before the boss

Heal HP + SP

Lizardman Chief
T1: Pom M
T2: Wind L
T3: Sidestep x4
T4: Sidestep
T5: Sidestep
T6: Sidestep
T7: Vets x4
T8: Thunder L
T9: Thunder L
T10: Pom S/Sidestep
T11: Defend/Sidestep (need 5 BP next turn)
T12: Vets x4
T13: Vets x3
(T2/T3 can switch if there are no adds between Olb's turns, which can help you survive since surviving T2-3 isn't guaranteed depending on attacks and turn order. You do NOT want the adds to eat any Sidestep stacks though. T10 can Pom M if you have and skip T11 Defend if Sidesteps running low, though having Pom M's on Werner is nice and better if you can conserve it.)

No need to Heal HP and SP before Erhardt as he auto-heals you pre-fight

Erhardt:

This fight is pretty free and can be sped up if Second Serving proc's often. The goal is to break and do Abide'd Thousand Spears x4 twice with 1 Grape M after he returns from break or when needed. Every turn should be spent either doing a sword attack or getting Abide up/maintaining Abide. If he's at 2 shields and you don't have enough BP for Thousand Spears x4, then just use Abide/Spear and don't risk Second Serving proc'ing prematurely.

Most damage he can do seems to be about 180-270 average with highest around 300 from triple strike, so Grape M if needed (though you should only have to use 0 or 1).

Example Script:
T1: Sword
T2: Abide x3
T3: Sword
T4: Sword
T5: Sword
T6: Sword
T7: Thousand Spears x4
T8: Sword
T9: Abide x3
T10: Grape M
T11: Sword
T12: Sword
T13: Sword
T14: Sword
T15: Thousand Spears x4
Depending on range, you may need an extra Spear tap or so at the end, though you can also just Thousand Spears again when he returns from break to be safe.

After cutscenes finish, exit Wellspring
Go to Eastern Wellspring Sands
Get Thunder L (may skip if EI proc'd a bunch for Light L/Thunder L/Wind L but having extras is very nice for Werner and recommended)

TP Riverford and do chapter 4

Heal HP + SP

Red Hat
This fight is very easy and should be safe. Goal is to break and do Vets x4 asap then break again and do an Abide'd Thousand Spears x4 to finish (needs 5 hits usually, can follow-up with another Thousand Spear cast if he's still alive somehow). The breaks are sped up by Second Serving, but don't attack or swap to spear attack if Second Serving would possibly break too soon, adjust as needed.

Heal poison with Herb of Healing if needed, but the average damage he does usually is about 150-300 with about 240 average ish, so just Grape M if somehow needed depending on turn order.
Example Script:
T1: Sword
T2: Sword
T3: Vets x4 (delay a turn or two if Second Servings didn't proc)
T4: Sword
T5: Sword
T6: Sword
T7: Abide
T8: Sword
T9: Thousand Spears x4
And do follow-up Thousand Spears if needed to finish.
(He might drop a Thunder M which could help vs Werner btw)

After cutscenes, enter Hidden Path sewers, do cutscene to spawn in mansion
Get Pom L all the way right chest in Mansion

TP Riverford
Menu:
Unequip Angel Saber + Master's Spear
Equip Enchanted Circlet over Crystal Helm
Job Hunter + Take Aim + Job back to Merchant
Patience on over Second Serving

Sell at item shop before Werner, want 158k minimum. We want enough for 10 casts of Bandits to feel comfy (800 each) and 5 casts of Vets in the worst case, though extra Bandit casts is nice.

You should have over this by selling all equipment etc >1k including money items, weapons, etc. If you are short, you can unequip and sell Conscious Stone (1.8k) and/or Force Shield (6k). In my test runs, I had around 160-170k ish.

Backup money/items if needed:
1. TP Goldshore and get 4,500 (and Pom M if you'd like) in manor district
2. TP Stonegard and get 5k chest in H'aanit chapter 2's Spectrewood Path
3. TP Victor's Holow's + Forest of No Return and Get Silent Bandana + Shadow L + Vivifying Stone for ~5k total and Shadow L
4. TP Quarrycrest and run into Derelict Mine for its 10k.

Go into Werner's mansion and save before Werner since we need Patience to proc on T1/T2 (we want to Sidestep x4 and Sidestep x3 on T1-2 to get a headstart on surviving).

Heal HP + SP

Werner

Shields: 5 -> 7 -> 9 after breaks
Weaknesses: Daggers Axes Lightning Wind Light

Because the battle against Werner relies on Patience and Endless Items proc's and varies depending on Sidesteps/turn order, it isn't feasible to make a script for him, but this write-up details how to approach the fight and the goals, and has a starting/sample script. You can vary this as you'd like to feel comfortable.

The goal vs Werner is to AI Loop Glitch him at half health, but the first half of the fight is all about tracking damage and keeping Sidesteps up. We break him once, do Vets x4, then bring him close to breaking again before activating the glitch. Once the glitch is activated, he permanently does a shield change and sweep action every single round, so he is easy to set up Sidesteps against and break/defeat.

To AI Loop Glitch him:

At just before the halfway point (50,698 HP), we want a specific turn order where either
First Pattern for AI Loop:
T1: Werner1 Werner2 Olberic1
T2: Werner3 Olberic2 Werner4
OR
Second Pattern for AI Loop:
T1: Werner1 Olberic1 Werner2 (and Werner1 didn't use Sweep)
T2: Werner3 Olberic2 Werner4

In either Pattern, Olberic1 does damage to push Werner BELOW half health without breaking (his name changes color after this attack if you did it right), then for his Olberic2 action breaks Werner (who needs to be on low shields prior to all this). That activates the glitch.

(See https://pastebin.com/Z7BrTyjA or https://www.reddit.com/r/SolopathTraveler/comments/jbijrj/octopath_traveler_ai_loop_glitch_conditions_and/ if you want to read more specific details.)

General flow of battle is get Sidesteps to 5+ and maintain it (preferably 6-9 to be comfortable), while doing damage with Soulstone L's/M's/Veterans and counting ALL damage you do until he gets close to halfway, then activating the glitch on him. The easiest way to track the damage is Stone M/L's that he is weak to as they do 1430/3509 consistently and is easy to count by watching his shields.

We have 150k for this battle. 90k to KO for the second half, 30k early on when he's broken to do 16k, then 30k to help trigger his activation that you can use freely depending on when the timing is good in your opinion. Then there's lots of Stones and possible EI proc's. We have about 10 ish Pom L/Rev Jam worth of items with more from EI, which is usually enough to get him to halfway from my tests.

Sample Script (PT denotes the Patience turn after the normal turn. T1/T2 Patience is near mandatory, so you may need to reset a few times.)

T1: Pom L
PT1: Sidestep x4
T2: Sidestep x3
T3: Pom L
T4: Sidestep x4
T5: Sidestep
T6: Sidestep x4

At this point, keep repeating the T3-T6 action to keep Sidesteps up but swap out T5's action from Sidestep to Soulstone M/L's (start with Thunder to break his shields then move on to  Wind/Light because he blocks off the Thunder weakness after his first break). You can also swap Pom L for Rev Jam depending on SP and BP management.

To be efficient, keep in mind/notes:
- if you have 5 BP, you should boost (usually Sidestep x4) to use up some BP
- if you boosted and get a Patience turn, it's efficient to use your Patience action to boost again since you wouldn't be gaining BP next round anyway (ex start with 5 BP and do Sidestep x4 but get a Patience turn so do Sidestep x3 since you aren't gonna be getting any BP anyway)
- if you boosted and have 0 BP left and get a Patience turn, it is efficient to use a Rev Jam for 5 BP since you wouldn't normally get a BP next turn anyway (ex Sidestep x4 down to 0 BP and then get a Patience turn and do Rev Jam to get the full usage out of getting 5 BP), unless you are gonna go over 9 Sidesteps by doing so
- if you have dead turns from Patience or so, you can always toss a stone or just do a singular Sidestep
- if you are about to break Werner, it is ideal to break at the start of a turn before he takes any actions, as he loses the most actions.
- be watchful of your SP as Sidestep costs 10 to use. We have enough Plum M's to not have to worry in the latter half but don't want to waste turns raising SP if you can avoid it by using Rev Jam at timely moments.
- use your items up as needed, esp in the second. Ex Pom M's can help with breaking in the second half or with getting Sidesteps, while light/wind/thunder helps with breaking depending on which weaknesses are locked.
- we enter with 8 Pom L and 3 Rev Jam, and it is recommended to try to be aggressive in triggering phase 2, as running out of Pom/Rev's means a reset usually. Messing up the glitch is also a reset.

You will eventually do 5 weakness Stone's of damage and break Werner. At that point, do Veterans x4.
If you get a Patience proc on his broken turn, avoid overdamaging Werner. I'd suggest to throw a normal L stone for 5400 and track that damage and recommend throwing the Shadow L or any other stone that can't help break him.

There's 30k extra to help damage him into his phase, so here's the unbroken Vets/Stone damage numbers:
1 Vets does 4578 ish damage for 4578 total
2 Vets does 2840 ish damage for 5680 total
3 Vets does 2440 ish damage for 7320 total
4 Vets does 2050 ish damage for 8200 total
More damage values:
Weakness Stone L: 3509
Weakness Stone M: 1430
Broken Stone L: 5400
Broken Stone M: 2200
Broken Vets x4: about 16200 total
Broken Vets x3: about 14500 total (just double the above values really)

Example: 6 Weakness Stone L's is 21k, Vets x4 is 16.2k, and it would be 37.2k together and would need about 13k more damage.

After he returns from his first break with 7 shields now, he locks off his Dagger/Lightning weaknesses, which doesn't affect us much as we can still throw Wind/Light Soulstones and always use Bandits' axe attack. They do not do damage like the Stone M/L's but they can be boosted at least. Keep doing damage and tracking it but do not break him again yet. We want to trigger the glitch with this break as next break has 9 shields and is too costly to break.

Reminder that the goal is to bring him close to 50,698 damage, like 49k damage, then bring him over in a single action like a 2700 normal Soulstone as the last action or second action of a round and then break when you go second on the round after.

Example:
Werner has 47k damage
Turn Order 1: Werner Werner Olberic (or Werner Olberic Werner is also fine)
Here, Olberic uses Vets x2 to do 5680 damage to push Werner over halfway
Turn Order 2: Werner Olberic Werner
Here, Olberic uses HH Bandits x3 to break

This would trigger the glitch and have Werner permanently shift weaknesses and Sweep each turn. You can use Sidestep to counteract each Sweep while letting BP accumulate or do actions like Bandit or any Light/Wind/Thunder that has an open shield (this is the time to use up the Wind/Light S stones that the Tomb of King grind may have yielded if you didn't earlier in the fight) and then do boosted Sidesteps x4, and then just break and use Vets x4 to deal damage.

After 3 breaks of Vets x4 damage (48k and he definitely has less than half of 51k) and maybe some soulstones, he should go down.

Time is after the cutscene fades of Erhardt and Olberic talking. GG.


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NO BUFFER GLITCH - ROUTE DIFFERENCES

There are 3 instances of buffer glitches in the route: Marsalim Catacombs, Maw of the Ice Dragon, and Refuge Ruins. If you cannot do the glitch, this section denotes what to do differently for each one and other differences throughout, though it is obviously slower than my speedrun.

Relevant videos (I made these videos to help explain this section, though you should still read the sections below if you want to run this and not do the buffer glitch. For the most part, they just demonstrate how to do the boss battles as solo Olberic as we still want the items.):
(Refuge Ruins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-qTGtwFLY
(Marsalim Catacombs and notes on backup money): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tKH2QlBqCE&feature=youtu.be
Anyway, keep reading for the explanation.

The biggest difference is to just do certain sections out of order - I would recommend doing Grandport and/or Runeblade early for the money (and sell as needed too) and doing save and quits/challenges to avoid encounters. In addition, you will want to loot some extra items while exploring:
- get 1200 chest near Cobbleston
- get Tempest Amulet in Forest of Purgation too, alongside the Light L
- get Olive of Life L in Hunter Shrine
- after chapter 4 sewers cutscene in the sewers, you spawn outside the steps. Run back into the steps, mash A through the one textbox cutscene, then you will be placed further along. Get the Pom L as usual back come back and redo the steps cutscene (Olberic says to leave it to Erhardt) to reset encounters, then get the Silver-Filled Pouch in the top right up the stairs.
That is a total of 14,400
During the selling section before Werner, you will also want to unequip Conscious Stone (1.8k) and Force Shield (6k) to bring that to 23k ish.

With all that money plus early Runeblade/Grandport money, it is possible to make up some of the money that will be lost in these sections:

For Refuge Ruins, save and fight the boss, Gigantes
T1-T2: Sidestep
T3: Sidestep x4
T4-6: Tradewinds
Repeat T3-6 and adjust as needed, until he breaks, then do Vets x4.
After the first Vets, Collect him until Collect works, then redo the steps to break and do another Vets x4 to finish.
Loot Enchanted Rod and Force Shield and TP out. Plum M as needed.

This works because Gigantes does 1 physical attack per turn and is easy to Sidestep. He give 31.2k and drops 15,600 + 1,560 for a total of 48360 money.

Thus, you lose about 12k, 1 Pom M, and 1 Pom L. The Pom L is fine as the route has excess and above average for Werner. Pom M is also unnecessary, though I will shortly detail a replacement for that anyway. Lastly, 12k is easily made up as well. Do the section going to Marsalim but pick up the palace chests right away.

Then a simple solution is to TP Cobbleston and go to Eastern Sunshade Sands and then go to Northern Wellspring Sands, running into Quicksand Caves while grabbing the Pom M on the way. Run back out and grab Imperial Lance (~8k), then back in to grab the Fire L before TPing to Marsalim for the Catacombs.

So far, our total is 31k ish extra but losing 12k ish, so we have 19k extra with these differences.

For Marsalim Catacombs, loot the place as normal except for the Angel Saber and Master's Spear, save and quit, then return to fight the boss.
T1: Vets x2
T2: Sidestep (if he attacks you, you will wipe, so just come back with the save)
T3: Sidestep
T4: Sidestep
T5: Sidestep x4
T6: Thousand Spears
Just repeat Sidesteps, Plum S/M, and Thousand Spears to do a broken Vets x4 on him.
Then Collect his 30k. Then break again and throw the Fire L you got earlier in Quicksand caves to finish. (Or 1 M while he's broken followed up by another M right afterward, up to you and how you want to adjust.)

Loot the Master's Spear and Angel's Saber before TPing out.
This loses about 12k as well, which brings our excess 19k down to 7k extra.

The last instance of buffer glitch is Maw of the Ice Dragon's Forbidden Dagger, which is really just 17k ish money. Thus, we are short 10k ish (though honestly, the route has so much extra, this should be fine in most average runs). If you are still short after selling right before Werner, you can consult the backup money section near Werner, which I will copy and paste again for convenience here.

Backup money/items if needed:
1. TP Goldshore and get 4,500 (and Pom M if you'd like) in manor district
2. TP Stonegard and get 5k chest in H'aanit chapter 2's Spectrewood Path
3. TP Victor's Holow's + Forest of No Return and Get Silent Bandana + Shadow L + Vivifying Stone for ~5k total and Shadow L
4. TP Quarrycrest and run into Derelict Mine for its 10k.

That altogether should account for the differences with a route that cannot do buffer glitches. If you are trying to do this for a speedrun, it will likely lose a decent chunk of time. When I timed it, it was around 7 minutes and 4 minutes for the bosses alone, and that does not include time TPing around and collecting some more items.

My Olberic sample run above clocked in at about 1h45m, but with the timelosses from these changes, I'd say 2h-2h10m would be an average run time or so.

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