Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation/Arkbolt
Path to Arkbolt
The path to Arkbolt is very straightforward; just warp to Port Haven, sail to the island slightly east of Scrimsley, and travel a little bit east. You shouldn't even encounter that many monsters along the way. Once you're there, make sure you have a Amos, Carver, Milly, and Ressa/Nevan party.
Arkbolt
There are yet more doors that you cannot unlock yet, but that's fine; you can still get two Mini Medals as well as some new equipment here. You'll want to buy the Battle Axe for Carver, but after that, shopping recommendations depend on which version you're playing; you'll want to use Ressa instead of Nevan, but remake players won't be using Ressa. Keep that in mind as you read these next few equipment recommendations (and note that this guide will no longer specify the amount of Yggdrasil Leaves you should have, as it will vary).
| Amos (Level 17): Fire Claw, Full Plate Armour/Platinum Mail, Iron Shield/Dragon Shield, Iron Mask |
| Carver (Level 18): Battle Axe, Full Plate Armour/Platinum Mail, Iron/Dragon Shield, Iron Mask, Agility Ring |
| Milly (Level 16): Enchanted Armour, Pot Lid, Bunny Ears, Gold Bracer |
| Nevan (Level 15): Morning Star, Full Plate Armour, Magic Shield, Hardwood Headware, Gold Bracer |
| Ressa (Level 12): Ghent Staff, Morning Star, Silver Cuirass, Pot Lid, Iron Mask, Gold Bracer |
Rest up at the Inn, talk to the guard blocking the entrance to the 2nd Floor, and you will fight a mini-boss!
VS. Bronson
| Recommended Level: | Amos Lvl 17, Carver Lvl 18, Milly Lvl 16, Nevan Lvl 15/Ressa Lvl 12 |
|---|---|
| Recommended A.I. Settings (Both Versions): | Everyone: Follow Orders (Buff everyone up), then Show No Mercy |
| HP: | 1300 |
| MP: | 0 |
| Item: | Seed of Strength (1/128 of dropping) |
| Attack: | 105 |
| Defense: | 95 |
| Agility: | 65 |
| EXP: | 310 |
| Gold: | None |
| Attack Patterns: | Desperate Attack [2.5x Damage] (33.3%), Attack (16.66%), Flame Slash [can do 1.3x regular physical damage] (16.66%), Flying Knee [1.5x Damage to flying monsters] (16.66%), Dodgy Dance [gives 50% chance of evasion for 2-3 turns] (16.66%) |
| A.I. Pecularities: | None |
| Resistances: | No resistance to Zap, 30% reduction of Frizz, Sizz, Bang, Crack, and Woosh, 15% resistance to Knuckle Sandwich, 50% to Sap, 100% resistance to everything else. |
This one is a fairly easy battle; Flame Slash is essentially just a physical attack that can do 1.3x regular damage to anyone who's not resistant. On the other hand, those who have strong resistance or immunity to Frizz will only take 75% and 30% Damage respectively. In other words, the elemental slashes are useful only to monsters, not to you.
In any case, Bronson has nothing but physical attacks to throw at you, so Buff and Kabuff utterly trivialize the fight. If you do not have those for whatever reason, you can simply heal everything off with the Ghent Staff. Once you defeat him, heal up at the Inn, get the Mini Medal on the next floor, and hurry to the next battle.
VS. Brick & Brock
| Brick | The knight on the left |
|---|---|
| Recommended Level: | Amos Lvl 17, Carver Lvl 18, Milly Lvl 16, Nevan Lvl 15/Ressa Lvl 12 |
| Recommended A.I. Settings (Remakes Only; SNES A.I. is bad): | Everyone: Follow Orders, then Show No Mercy once Brick is defeated |
| HP: | 1200 |
| MP: | 0 |
| Item: | Seed of Wisdom (1/64 of dropping) |
| Attack: | 85 |
| Defense: | 72 |
| Agility: | 20 |
| EXP: | 120 |
| Gold: | None |
| Attack Patterns: | Kasap -> Oomph -> Double Up [Double Damage in exchange for TAKING double damage. Always goes first in the remakes, unless Ironize is cast] -> Multiheal -> Kasap -> Attack |
| A.I. Pecularities: | Inverted Targetting (SNES only) and Concentrated Targetting |
| Resistances: | No resistance to Frizz, Sizz, Bang, Crack, Woosh, Zap, Fire, Ice, or Knuckle Sandwich, 15% resistance to Poison, 50% resistance to Dazzle, 100% resistance to everything else |
| Brock | The knight on the right |
|---|---|
| Recommended Level: | Amos Lvl 17, Carver Lvl 18, Milly Lvl 16, Nevan Lvl 15/Ressa Lvl 12 |
| Recommended A.I. Settings (Remakes Only; SNES A.I. is bad): | Amos and Carver: (Follow Orders), Milly: (Follow Orders, then Focus on Healing), Nevan: (Follow Orders, then Focus on Healing) |
| HP: | 1300 |
| MP: | 0 |
| Item: | Seed of Resilience (1/64 of dropping) |
| Attack: | 115 |
| Defense: | 83 |
| Agility: | 8 |
| EXP: | 110 |
| Gold: | None |
| Attack Patterns: | Attack -> Attack -> Selflesness -> Defend (80% Damage reduction) -> Mercurial Thrust (always goes first, unless Ironize or Remake!Double Up is used) -> Selflesness |
| A.I. Pecularities: | None |
| Resistances: | No resistance to Frizz, Sizz, Bang, Crack, Woosh, Zap, Fire, Ice, or Knuckle Sandwich, 15% resistance to Poison, 50% resistance to Dazzle, 100% resistance to everything else |
This fight is mildly harder than Bronson, but still nowhere close to the level of Murdaw. If you haven't gotten Buff on anyone but Milly, you may wish to remove Rex's vocation, and have him fight instead of Nevan or Ressa. If you decide to do that, do the same for Milly, and be sure to give Rex the Fire Claw to use while he's Sapping Brick and Bronson (Amos, for his part, does well with a Ghent Staff and Cautery Sword). If that's the route you decide to go, have Milly keep buffing people in order to stay ahead of Brick's Kasap.
None of this should be necessary, however, if you followed the walkthrough; you should be able to trivialize this fight just by spamming Kabuff and using Buff on Milly and Nevan/Ressa. Once you do that, you can essentially just pound the two into submission with Focus Strength + Knuckle Sandwich and Frizzle. And use Boom every 3 turns; Brock will cover Brick, meaning that he'll take double the amount of Boom strikes he would've otherwise taken.
Whatever you decide to do, kill Brock first; he may not have Kasap, Oomph, or Double Up, but he attacks more often than Brick does. Talk to the king after you have swept those two aside, and then talk to Brutus. He'll leave for the room marked by I; take the chance to equip the Fire Claw on Carver. This next boss is extremely resistant to almost all attack spells, so Frizzle will not do much good against him. After that, rest at the Inn; once everyone is healed up, get the second Mini Medal and fight Brutus!
VS. Brutus
| Recommended Level: | Amos Lvl 17, Carver Lvl 18, Milly Lvl 16, Nevan Lvl 15/Ressa Lvl 12 |
|---|---|
| Recommended A.I. Settings (Both Versions): | Amos: (Follow Orders if using Kabuff, otherwise Focus on Healing), Carver: (Follow Orders), Nevan: (Focus on Healing), Milly: (Focus on Healing on Turns 4, 7, 10, 13, and Follow Orders on all the other turns in order to Buff). |
| HP: | 1800 |
| MP: | 80 |
| Item: | Seed of Life (1/128 of dropping) |
| Attack: | 140 |
| Defense: | 105 |
| Agility: | 75 |
| EXP: | 450 |
| Gold: | None |
| Attack Patterns: | Thin Air [36-44 Woosh Damage to all in the SNES, 54-66 Woosh Damage to all in the remakes] or Multislice -> Kasap or Knuckle Sandwich -> Falcon Slash or Roundhouse Kick |
| A.I. Pecularities: | Concentrated Targetting |
| Resistances: | No resistance to Zap, Fire, or Ice, 30% reduction of Crack, 70% reduction of all other attack spells, 50% resistance to Knuckle Sandwich and Sap, 100% resistance to everything else |
Brutus is one of the very few fights that are harder in the remakes than they are in the original SNES. Thin Air only did (Level*2 + 30)* +/-10% in the SNES, but was increased to (Level*2 + 50)* +/-10% in all of the remakes. Every monster in the game has an internal level, and Brutus's happens to be 5, hence the damage ranges listed in the Attack Patterns.
In any case, you will want to use caution when fighting against him. On the very 1st turn, Milly will want to use Buff on Rex while he Defends. Ressa/Nevan will want to use the Ghent Staff on Milly before he does anything else in the next round; otherwise Milly could easily get killed by Knuckle Sandwich.
Carver and Amos will want to start using Kabuff; the battle should be fairly safe by the time Brutus gets to Turn 4. Two Kabuff users and one Buff user work wonders for the party's durability when they're working in tandem. After that, Amos should use Focus Strength + Double-Edged Slash while Carver uses Double Up. Be careful though; Double Up users will take double the amount of damage they would normally take, and Double-Edged Slash users will take 25% of the damage they do in exchange for doing 1.5x damage to their enemy.
This is assuming that you have followed the guide to the letter up until now. If you have not, or have only looked at this page, here are some general tips for how to use each character.
Amos: Give him the Ghent Staff if you are using Rex in your party; it would be redundant to give it to Milly, and Carver will always want to focus on damage. If he has Kabuff, he should use it at least twice. Aside from that, have him join Carver in whittling down Brutus's HP.
Carver: If he has Kabuff, he should use it at least twice. Otherwise, he should be using Focus Strength + Attack/Double-Edged Slash or Double Up (depending on his HP; Double Up users take double damage on the turn they use it. Double-Edged Slash users take 25% of the damage they deal in exchange for doing 1.5x Damage than normal to their foe).
Nevan/Ressa: Use the Ghent Staff if Amos has Kabuff; otherwise, use Nevan's natural healing spells (if you haven't followed the guide up to this point, you'll likely not have Ressa).
Milly: Keep Buffing people, and healing when needed
Rex: Use Sap on Brutus twice, and attack whenever he has the chance.
Path to Wayfarer's Pass
When all is said and done, talk to the King, then talk to the minister in order to receive an empty casket. Then go to Wayfarer's Pass.
