Devourer Pre-Venus' Guardian RANK 0 HARD MODE

58 HP, 1 DEF, Devourer

STRATEGY
--------
T1: Berry Jam Vi, Burly Bomb, Hurricane Toss (45, 5) [Vi in front]
T2: Hurricane Toss, Spicy Bomb, Roasted Berries (30, 0) [Vi in front]
T3: Spicy Bomb x3 (15, 0) [Healthiest character in front]
T4: Spicy Bomb x3 [KO]

Let's talk about this fight. Because I'm fighting him before fighting Zasp & Mothiva, I don't have access to a lot of really good items like Queen's Dinner, Tangy Carpaccio, Roasted Berries, etc... This means that, even with the added DEF from Berry Jam, one character can be targeted enough to be KO'd even with perfect blocking. It also means that good Super Blocking is crucial. Even just hitting Normal Blocks is better than nohing, because if I didn't, my chances of winning go way, way down.

The BIG, BIG thing about this fight that made it so difficult is the Devourer's Head Slam move. In my strat, the Devourer gets to attack 3 times. That's it. Out of those 3, the Devourer has to NOT use Head Slam on Turns 2 or 3. If he does, he had what felt like a 100% chance to devour a character, and so the fight would immediately end because there's just no way to come back from that. This move, in particular, was EXTREMELY frustrating because, even with a Super Block, a character can be devoured. My thoughts on that particular design choice aside, this move ended so many of my attempts and is the biggest reason it took me hours to beat. I guess the Devourer really likes to, uh...devour LOL You might think, "if he only uses it Turn 1, you're good, right?" Well, not exactly. If you didn't Super Block that attack Turn 1, that's 4 damage (3 to Vi) across the board. That's a lot of damage to go through, and you'll be lucky to have all 3 party members standing by Turn 4. Even with a Super Block, it was a lot of damage to overcome, because too much targeting on one character would basically be the end of me as well.

The best chance you have on this fight is to get the Poison Wind at least once and Super Block it; easier said than done, but luckily you can find visual cues off of your average mashing speed, which really saved me.