Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories/Episode 4: Axel's Scheme

Episode 4 begins like any other, and your first task will be to set out for another stage and battle wild monsters. If you haven't been talking to the Dark Secretary periodically, it'd be best to make that a habit now. New bills allowing you to create new types of characters and bills that will unlock new items for Holt's Shops, amongst other things, will start appearing around this point of the game.

Stage 4-1: Bloody Valley
Geo Symbols - Red Panels only
 * Red Symbol "No Range Attack" on red panels
 * Null Symbol "EXP +50%" on null panels

Enemies on this stage won't approach unless one of your units moves into their attack range.

The last thing you're going to want to do is cross over that bridge with active "No Range Attack" panels right away. Any character who reaches the other side without killing some enemies first will be the subject of four or more attacks and Special Moves. Aside from that, there are two near-equally effective strategies.

The first of the two strategies involves clearing up the bridge so you can cross it. First, position a gun-wielder on the right side of the bridge near the shore, and attack the Red Geo Symbol. Casting spells will also work. You can also choose to throw a character or two to attack the symbol at close range, but your units will most likely take heavy damage from Special Moves of the nearby Alraune and Ghost. If you decide to use the latter strategy, you can also throw the Null Symbol onto the red panels from the EXP boost (or destroy it to take down all of your foes' HP a few points).

Now that you've cleared up the bridge, it should be easier to attack since you can now use the support of long-ranged attacks. However, all that does is put you on even grounds with the foe, not an advantage. If you go to the lower banks on either side and toss over characters, you'll be able to attack from multiple angles. It'd be best if you waited a turn after lifting characters in preparation for the throw, so both the thrower and thrown will be able to move after the toss.

The second viable strategy just skips the whole process of clearing up the bridge, and goes straight for tossing characters over the river. If you create towers before tossing, it'll be easier to send over more units at once. However, if you send only one over instead of a tower, the thrown will be able to move and act right away. The second choice of throwing should be done first, since you'd be leaving yourself wide open for enemy attacks otherwise. After the first turn of throwing, a tower would be effective in getting the rest of your units over there.

If you decide to cross the bridge, whether or not you've cleared the "No Range Attacks" effect, try to compose your force of as many fighters as possible, and pack at least one unit with healing capabilities. Your greatest asset on the bridge will be endurance. At least two of the fighters should be equipped with either a spear, a sword and the "Blade Rush" ability, or some other sort of long-ranged attacks that can strike at least 20dm down. These will be useful if enemies attack you from the low river banks on either side of the bridge.

Whichever strategy you use, make sure to kill of the Alraunes as early as possible. Their Green Needle special is not only one of the strongest enemy attacks, but its long range can easily break through your defensive line and strike your weaker characters in the back. Because of Alraune's high RES and ability to resist magical attacks, try to save your offensive spells for the Orcs or Ghosts instead.

Stage 4-2: Life Exchange
Geo Symbols - Red and Yellow Panels
 * Moving Null Symbol "ATK +50%" on yellow panels

The Moving Geo Symbol will normally switch between yellow and red panels at the beginning of every enemy turn, so plan your defensive strategy around that. Attack whenever possible on the "active" panels, and do your best to keep characters away from the currently "blank" panels. As long as you follow that simple strategy, this stage should be fairly easy.

The monsters themselves aren't much of a threat, but the Beastmasters who constantly power them up should be taken out as soon as possible. Most of your forces should take the main, roundabout road. It's much easier to make use of the Geo Panels along there, and there's more room for your units. You should, however, throw at least two or three strong units over the river towards the "end" of the roundabout route. When sending units over, try to time it when the red panels have the ATK +50% effect, and wait a turn before throwing so the thrown characters can move after they've cleared the river. Your main task here will be to take out the two Beastmasters and prevent them from powering up the monsters. The Axe-wielding one will be closeby, and should be your first target. The Sword-wielding Beastmaster will approach if one of your units enters her attack range (if a character of yours was adjacent to the axe-wielder, they will be within the sword-fighter's range).

Once all four Beastmasters are gone, any remaining monsters will be a breeze to finish off.

Stage 4-3: Red Waterfall
Geo Symbols - Red Panels only
 * Null Symbol "Enemy Level Up 10%" on red panels

The first and most important task, obviously, is to get rid of that Geo Symbol as soon as possible. The most effective way of doing this is equipping three shoe items to a single character, and having them leap over cliffs to attack the symbol. If you don't have any Shoes, throw Tink or a character of the Thief class over one or two of the higher ledges, and they should be able to traverse the rest of the way on their own. Once geo panels is gon, the rest of this stage should be rather simple.

After the symbol is gone, an effective strategy is to send out a strong defender on one or both of the bridges, and line up ranged attackers behind him. After the line is set up, then lure enemies out to attack your defender by handfuls. None of the Nekomatas can attack further than a single panel, and the Beastmaster can't attack further than two, so your defender will be the only one taking damage. If the Nekos are on the bridge as well, they can't execute Team Attacks with more than two units. If the 'bridge line' strategy doesn't suit you, Tower Attacking will yield similar results, although it will be harder to lure in enemies.

Stage 4-4: Dragon's Mouth
Geo Symbols - Yellow, Blue, Aqua, Green, Purple, and Red panels
 * Null Symbol "No Entry" on yellow panels
 * Red Symbol "No Lifting" on red panels
 * Red Symbol "Invincibility" on red panels
 * Green Symbol "DEF +50%" on green panels
 * Aqua Symbol "DEF -50%" on aqua panels
 * Blue Symbol "ATK -50%" on blue panels

Your first task is to throw a unit or two to the other side of the river to remove the No Entry symbol, so the rest of your units can go forward. It doesn't really matter who you send over, as long as they can endure a couple attacks from the two weaker Thieves. While your unit(s) are fending off the Thief, take the time to buff your other characters and line them up close to the "No Entry" line. After your thrown unit(s) defeat the nearest Thief and destroy the Geo Symbol, send them off to defeat other Thief. Once that enemy is down, move them over to the Blue, Aqua, and Green Geo Symbols.

Meanwhile, your main force should be steadily advancing through enemy territory. The two Sinners should be easy to take care of, just make sure your fighters don't enter the "-50% DEF" and "-50% ATK" panels while fighting them, and try to keep the enemies on those tiles. Don't worry about the Heavy Knights, they won't move from their positions. However, the Thieves' bow attacks are something to watch out for. After clearing away the Sinners, attack the closest "PurplePanel" Thief with Adell's (or one of your own Sinner's, although Adell would be preferrable) Tiger Charge special move. If the Thief doesn't perish from the attack, at least their range will be pushed back (neither of the two PurplePanel Thieves will move from their positions). Don't send out any more characters past Adell's position before ending your turn. The "RedPanel" Thieves will likely attack Adell this turn, but he should be able to take the damage, especially if you have him equipped with at least one decent armor. Now that the Thieves are off the Invincibility panels and are sligned in a straight line, finish them off with area-of-effect attacks like Blade Rush, spells, or Tink's Sonic Roll.

By now, the unit you threw over to the other side of the river earlier should be getting close to the three Geo Symbols. For the moment, it might be best to keep your units in the realm of safety until your thrown characters arrives at their destination. You could attack the remaining Thief/Thieves with spells if your range for a spell has reached at least 5. With your thrown character, toss the "-50% DEF" geo symbol onto the nearby green panel, and throw the "+50% DEF" symbol onto an aqua panel. Now, with your main forces, it should be easy to defeat the otherwise nearly-invulnerable Heavy Knights will keeping a defensive boost on your own units.

Once all the small fry are defeated, focus your efforts on Axel. Ideally, you should move a character(s) onto the Invincibility panels while keeping Axel on the effect-less purple panels (you could toss the "-50% DEF" symbol onto a purple panel, although it wouldn't be necessary). If the Invincible character has the lowest HP of all allies within Axel's attack range, or is the only unit within Axel's attack range, the remainder of the battle would be a piece of cake. To achieve this easily, send out Tink or a Winged monster on the second-nearest purple panel to the invincibility panels, and have them eat Axel's first attack (you may want to equip extra muscles and armors). After Axel approaches and attacks, move your character through him and onto the invincibility panels. To be safe, move any other characters as far away from Axel as possible. Now you'll be able to attack Axel repeatedly without having to worry about taking damage.

After all foes are defeated, a cutscene will follow, and the next Episode will begin.

Return Visits
If you return to this stage later, Axel and the two Thieves closest to him will be replaced with a Warrior and two Togabito. The general strategy remains the same, there's just less tanged attacks to watch out for.