.hack//G.U. Vol.2//Reminisce Doppelganger guide By Master ZED TOC: 0. Version history 1. Intro - Ctrl+F is your friend! 2. Doppelganger stats and facts - How to encounter Doppelganger - Out of battle - Battle - Rewards for winning 3. Weaknesses worth exposing 4. Strategies - The cheapest strategy - Preperation - Surprise attack methods - In battle - End of combat 5. Glitches and general fun 6. Credits Non-numbered. Legal bull ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Version history ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- v1.1 (7:41 AM 6/18/2007) Doppel's inability to go over the level cap has been confirmed with absolute certainty. Also, Doppelganger's armor and accessory abilities have also been confirmed. Section 2 has been edited accordingly. Section 5 has been edited to include a major bug that I finally got to see with my own eyes; invincibility! -------------------- -------------------- v1.0 (8:04 AM 6/12/2007) Initial release. -------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Intro ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- So you have a question on Doppelganger, eh? Well, you're not alone. By far. Doppelganger appears to be the most talked about subject on the Reminisce boards here and elsewhere; from how to get him to appear, to beating him, to why haven't I been able to get my twin blades from Doppel, he's surprisingly popular. Reminds me of Blitz in Final Fantasy 6 to tell you the truth. Seeing as how a guide was made specifically for Blitz beginners by my friend Yoshi6400, I figure a guide to Doppelganger for G.U. would be just as helpful to the .hack fanbase. It won't shut down every topic; some people just don't check the FAQs anyway before whining and crying to the boards. But I'm doing what I can. I've put in quite a bit of research (and gotten particularly lucky at points) to get this information together, and with any luck, this should be the definitive guide to defeating Doppel in volume 2. Yes, there are two editions of this guide, one for Rebirth and one for Reminisce; there will be a Redemption version when the final volume hits U.S. shores. ----- Ctrl+F is your friend! ----- First and foremost, LEARN CTRL+F!!! This is usually the shortcut for the Search function on your browser, which is also usually found under Edit. You can use this to look up certain words, sentences, etc., and is much easier than scrolling through the entire guide. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Doppelganger stats and facts ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- How to encounter Doppelganger ----- Doppelganger will appear five minutes after you're able to move on most fields, though he will not ever appear in dungeons. There are some fields such as Theta: Concealed Friend's Moonlight in which he simply will not appear, and those like Theta: Buzzing Ruined Gate that may have a special requirement; in this instance, the Battle Area must be active for Doppel to appear. There is no known way to predict whether a field falls into those rare categories, but most likely won't. If you're having problems, changing fields should be enough to get him to appear. Once Doppel has or should have arrived, the timer is disabled and he'll begin wandering the field, teleporting every-so-often to other parts of the area. When he's close by, a red arrow will appear, and once close enough, the camera will zoom in on him and give you the message "Encountered Doppelganger" provided you're not using a Smoke Screen or the Hit in the Dark ability on the bike. Doppelganger looks like Haseo's current form, constantly surrounded by dark smoke, and has glowing yellow eyes. Beware the following: - Doppel never appears at fields related to the storyline, such as Delta: Submissive Tragedy's 1000 Oaks. - Getting into battle resets Doppelganger's timer. If you want to see him as quickly as possible, you will have to wait out the 5 minutes immediately upon entering the field. - Entering the Beast Temple does nothing to stall Doppelganger's timer aside from the actions of using the door and acquiring the treasure. However, should Doppel's timer run out while you are inside the inner temple, Doppel will not appear on the field; you will have to leave and come back to wait out the timer again. Getting into a battle won't help, as the timer has already expired and cannot be reset once that occurs. - Breaking objects, gathering treasure, and getting on/off the bike freezes the Doppelganger timer for however long it takes to complete these actions. This also includes character, warp point, and platform interaction menus and dialogue where the game world doesn't appear to freeze save that monsters stop walking and flying around. Subscreens like the Trade menu and the map also freeze the timer for their duration. - Kicking Chim Chims that aren't the King do not affect the timer since they do nothing to disrupt the normal flow of time. ===== 3rd word: Moonlight ===== Using this special 3rd word will make Doppel appear with the rest of the monsters upon entering the field. You must beat the game then check the Special Words e-mail from CC Corp. to acquire this word. ----- Out of battle ----- - Doppel's sight is equivilent to that of flying monsters, but takes a few seconds to "boot up" once you've seen the "Encountered Doppelganger" message. - His true speed in catching up to you lies in short bursts taken when he sees you; though fast, this is mostly for show in this volume since Speed Talismans, Gudo Oil, and the bike can all help you to easily outrun him. ----- Battle ----- LV: Haseo's + 8* HP: Supposedly Haseo's unmodified count at said level SP: Supposedly Haseo's unmodified count at said level Stats: Supposedly Haseo's unmodified stats at said level, plus whatever Doppel's own equipment adds in. Weapon: Doppelganger uses his own weapon of the same type that Haseo is currently using, and switches whenever Haseo does. Note that during a weapon change, Doppelganger is invincible just like Haseo is, and if the Skill Trigger is used, Doppel will change his weapon after the Weapon Change animation is finished. Dual sword abilities: Critical hit rate +25% HP Drain 25% (heals Doppel for 25% whatever damage he inflicts with normal attacks occasionally) Chance to inflict Confuse Broadsword abilities: Half the target's current HP on critical hits SP Drain 25% (heals Doppel's SP for 25% whatever damage he inflicts with normal attacks occasionally) Chance to inflict Charm Scythe abilities: Critical hits lower target's current HP to 1/10, but only have a 10% chance of occurring HP Drain 50% (heals Doppel for 50% whatever damage he inflicts with normal attacks occasionally) SP Drain 25% (heals Doppel's SP for 25% whatever damage he inflicts with normal attacks occasionally) Armor abilities: Doppel Armor 1 (Physical -75%) no name (Magic -75%) Accessory abilities: Doppel Accessory 1 (Speed +50%) Doppel Accessory 2 (permanent custom Rig Saem: heals 1/50 max HP per second) Other abilities: Cannot be knocked back or juggled, attacks can not be interrupted** Skills: Healing - Ma Repth (heals 300 HP), SP cost unknown Attack - None Arts - Any of Haseo's (which he can use depends on Haseo's weapon) * - Doppelganger cannot go over the game's level limit for your characters (LV. 100); if by no other method, you can see this via his maximum HP count. It hits its maximum when Haseo reaches LV. 92, and Doppel will steadily get weaker in attack and defense as you approach 100. ** - The Steam Bike can send Doppelganger flying, but is the sole exception unless Doppel has died. If Rig Saem revives Doppel before he can become a ghost, the property will reassert itself once he has landed. ----- Rewards for winning ----- For the first defeat, you'll get Heine's Shadow and the Forgotten Shadow key item, along with Heine's Invasion if you have the Own King from the first volume (Rebirth). Heine's Shadow is Doppel's broadsword and Heine's Invasion is the name of Doppel's dual swords. A second defeat nets you the Moonlight Faith key item and Heine's Zero, Doppelganger's scythe. All subsequent defeats give you the normal mission reward. Note that Competing fields only give you Crimson VS. cards for opening a Beast Statue chest; Doppelganger and bosses will not drop cards. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Weaknesses worth exposing ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Doppelganger's inability to be knocked around prior to death is a double- edged sword; it prevents you from getting him away from you easily or juggling him, but it also keeps him from being knocked away during combos. This makes him easy prey for Rengekis if you can stand with him, and in volumes 2 and 3 makes him easy prey for Quick Rengeki weapons. - Doppel permits running away, and all of the abuse it brings. Constant surprise attacks, bike crashes, and multiple Sleipnir attacks can kill him easily especially if an Awakening and the bike's Hagane Armor are involved. - Awakenings halt regenerative status for the opposition. - Doppel's armor has no status immunities or Counter abilities. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Strategies ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section will go from flat-out too easy to mostly how Bamco and CC2 wanted the fight to go. ----- The cheapest strategy ----- If you absolutely must go cheap and fast, Sleipnir and Smoke Screens are your key. This combo will take out anyone quickly. First, find a field with Sleipnir using Zer0's guide: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/929996/46611 (Ctrl+F for the code "LUCKI", no quotes) I recommend kicking Sleipnir when you know Doppel has appeared or after all other enemies have been cleared from the field. If you're not confident that you can beat Doppel with just Sleipnir and the bike, fill your Morale gauge to full and be prepared to launch into a Beast or Divine Awakening. Find Doppel and engage him. A wheelie to the face, using a Smoke Screen to get behind him for an initial strike, running up before his eyes clear up and getting the surprise attack, I don't care. When battle begins, Sleipnir will halve Doppel's HP. Use a Smoke Screen and restart battle, and Sleipnir will do it again. You should be able to finish this by or at the fifth "battle." If not, on the fifth battle, immediately initiate your Beast or Divine Awakening and finish the fight. ----- Preperation ----- All I'm going to list is what I recommend for Haseo, but you can assume that this applies to the other characters as well and be mostly correct. This is what *I* recommend, keep that in mind. This is hardly required to win. Techniques and knowledge: Due to the fact that I recommend broadswords, guard cancelling is a must. What is guard cancelling? Basically the use of guard to cancel out an attack animation after the blow has been dealt, eliminating recovery time and letting you strike again quickly. Since the first attack is always normal, that's all you want since every weapon ability works with normal strikes. Guard cancelling is done by hitting X to attack, holding O until Haseo goes into his guard pose, letting go of O and repeating. If you haven't already, if you're going to actually fight Doppel and not just throw an Awakening in his face, know how long Rengeki rings last. The more damage you can inflict in this state and the longer you can hold back on using the Rengeki attack the better. It lasts for a few seconds, and while I could measure it and tell you, it won't help a lot. Experience is much better for this. Aside from that, basic RPG tactics should work well. Inventory: Weapon - Broadsword! The scythe is too slow and has too great a range, affecting everyone around him while making you put in extra effort to do anything. Doppel's defense will shut down a twin blade assault without someone aside from Haseo playing damage magnet; if you're alone and using dual swords, I can't imagine you'd be able to do much to him. The broadsword isn't as fast as dual swords coming out, though guard cancelling, which I suggest you pick up now if you haven't already, speeds it up greatly and makes it the best weapon Haseo has for this fight. A +5 Alchemized Broadsword is recommended assuming you have yet to earn Heine's Shadow, which is likely the best weapon for the second fight. Abilities: Quick Rengeki. Assuming you have a third slot, if alone, Backstab as well, if not, whatever you like. Armor - Custom, not rare. No rare armor carries Physical -(number) abilities. At the maximum level, this ability will assure you a lot of safety against Doppel's normal strikes. Furthermore, the Alchemized bonus works with Physical -(number) items, unlike the Physical -% items that cut damage after the check for the former has already come and gone, so a +5 armor is most certainly recommended. Abilities: Physical -50 and Counter Sleep. Below LV. 100, the proper weapon Angel add-on (Dual, Broad, or Scythe) for what weapon you're going to use and Physical -10% (assuming you have a third slot to spare) will likely be more effective. Accessory - Disregarding EXP/GP/Item drop boosters, I'd go with pure speed, both for walking and for the Skill Trigger. Abilities: Quick Charge and Speed +10%, and two more accessories with Speed +30% (Speed +10% x3) and Item Boost/Speed +10% respectively (if you have no third slot, forget one of the Speed +10% bonuses). Replacing Speed with Arts Knowledge wouldn't be a bad idea if you're cautious about SP. Item Boost is something I recommend more for your other characters though, since your Skill Trigger will have your gauge eaten a lot. Inventory - Get whatever the strongest healing items are HP and SP-wise (not both, those items aren't too effective and they're expensive) along with a *good* elemental for your attack scrolls along with The Hanged Man and The Emperor. Not Light or Fire elemental for example, but something that will kill fast and now. Hurricane Razor or Earth Rain are what I would recommend. The problems I have with the other elementals are that Vak Don waits too long to strike, and Rue Kruz is basically a harder-to-dodge Lei Zas, both of which only deal three hits and have shoddy areas of effect. Ani Zot just isn't as good as Wind and Earth are, but is otherwise okay. The reason you should grab scrolls is because of the dreadful power of Item Boost. 2X damage from magic even gets to Doppelganger a little, so it *might* actually work if his HP is almost zero and you need a quick win. Hand Boost Candles over to your allies too, so if you need a quick finish, someone will be open to deliver the kill. ----- Surprise attack methods ----- This is incredibly easy if you go at him fast enough before his vision clears. There's no way you can't surprise him that way. However, if he can see you, here's what you can do. - If you're playing volume 2 or 3, the Hit in the Dark ability of the Tidal Muffler is enough to surprise anyone, even Doppel. He can't teleport either since Hit in the Dark is just a modified Smoke Screen. Clearly this is the best way to surprise any normal field enemy. - Use a Smoke Screen to get behind him. Then you can surprise him or summon the bike and ram him easy. - Use a wheelie (hold Square, press X, then release Square). Lure Doppel close to you, face him, and use a wheelie to drop him before he can start the battle. You can see this done on my YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYVr5RTw9dY ----- In battle ----- Doppelganger is definitely tough. Even with the damage bonus from reaching the level limit, Doppel's defense is superb and his IMOQ throwback version of Rig Saem is headache-inducing. It takes a lot to finish him, and he can be a big challenge if you have no idea what you're doing. - The best strategy is to lower his HP a little and nail him with an Awakening. Ideally a Rengeki and then starting a Beast Awakening with an awakened Rengeki should be enough. - If you don't have a full Morale gauge yet, set the Strategies for your party members to Rage (or pick out your favorite Arts for both of them) and lay down a three-on-one beating using Haseo's Skill Trigger as protection. No new actions can be initiated while Haseo is using a Skill Trigger art with one important exception, so let your allies pick their skills and then use the trigger to stop Doppelganger from attacking. It will give you the combo hits you need to get Rengeki going on the next shot, but if that next shot is immediately after the arts end, without a Rapid accessory (which I suggested earlier when I mentioned Quick Charge) you may not be able to execute an art in time to catch the Rengeki rings. Should this be a problem, don't use the Skill Trigger, but instead engage Doppel and then tell your allies to attack. The important exception, of course, is Doppel's ability to change weapons. If you use the Skill Trigger to change, Doppel will likely avoid your attack entirely as his weapon change, unlike yours, hasn't changed from what it was in Rebirth. This gives Doppel ample ability to waste your SP and time. - Ailments! The reason I haven't said this yet is because Rengeki rings induce their own paralysis, making Rengeki status the best toxin. However, aside from that, The Hanged Man scrolls are useful for inducing the actual Paralysis ailment, which may have those small holes where Doppel can move but is better than nothing. Charm is just as good as paralysis mostly, but Doppel may still run around constantly since there's nothing stopping him from doing so. I prefer paralysis because at least he'll stay in place enough to make him reliably vulnerable to Backstab weapons. Unfortunately, until you beat him once and get Heine's Shadow, the only way to use Charm is through Endrance's Tempting Rose sword, making it that much more unreliable. Sleep... Sleep Attack on your weapon is nice for cancelling out a few attacks here and there on Doppel's part to give you the upper hand, though you likely won't get it to work when you want it to. The Moon, however, is something you use when you're about to die and absolutely need a reprieve, or if you want to build another Awakening through healing the team. In terms of killing Doppel directly, The Moon and Mumyn Lei/Mumin Lei are almost useless unless you keep an eye on him and catch the red waves coming from his feet. If you have the supplies to use a second Awakening through team healing, then Sleep is a great ailment since even IMOQ Rig Saem isn't that fast. Still, this can prove to be an expensive route; I suggest grabbing several Healing Rain from the Medic Union shop in Mac Anu if you don't have any from the previous volume. Seal is good only because Doppel *might* heal, and if might becomes does, Seal will shut him up. Doppel has little love for arts most of the time, so Seal should be restricted for later when he starts trying to recuperate. The last two ailments, Poison and Curse, are useless. Poison is no different than it was in IMOQ, and with the same Rig Saem status thrown in, it's not worth bothering with unless you have someone like Atoli who won't participate in direct combat sitting back doing nothing (whatever reason you have for bringing a Harvest Cleric to this fight at all is your business, not mine). You could drain his SP and use Curse to keep it down, which theoretically is better than using Seal, but... why? Now, where is Confusion on this list? Nowhere, because the use of Confusion means you have Heine's Invasion, which means you've beaten him on Rebirth and Reminisce, and you're just reading this for fun. Otherwise, see what I said about Charm and disregard the part about Endrance; Heine's Invasion is the only way your party can use Confusion. - If you wish to fight him alone, a weapon with Quick Rengeki and Backstab is preferable, along with a healthy stock of The Hanged Man and The Emperor, the latter for late in the fight. Bring plenty of healing items, attack him from behind as much as you can, keep from using your Rengeki until the very last second to get in as many free hits as possible, and though it will take a long time, if you don't let up, Doppel can and will fall. ----- End of combat ----- If you have a Covetous accessory, juggling Doppel for a couple thousand GP isn't too bad an idea provided you either have a rapid attack weapon or a Demon Awakening ready. The Awakening is of course best (unless it's Light-elemental, Lei Zas tends to be an awful juggling spell), but a rapid attack broadsword, if you use guard cancelling, can be just as good with the right positioning and finishing art. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Glitches and general fun ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Healing at death before becoming a ghost/fading away may make you unstrikeable - Just before a monster fades away or a character becomes a ghost after dying, there is a chance for that entity to be healed before death so Rip Maen or its item equivilent aren't necessary. However, starting in Reminisce, a bug has appeared in this code that may make the target in question unstrikeable by anything but status spells and scrolls. This effectively makes the affected invincible, with Duk Lei (Poison status) and special cutscene attacks as the only possible means of defeating them. This bug appears for characters when they are revived, usually by Rig Saem, and the limit for post-mortem attacks has been reached (think about when you juggle dead enemies, characters have a limit too), but Rig Saem saves them before they hit the ground anyway. That death protection that halts further juggling doesn't respond to revival before fading away/becoming a ghost, so it will remain on those lucky enough to hit their limit with Rig Saem reviving them. Monsters and Doppelganger won't see this bug unless they have Charm status. Doppelganger is closer to your typical PC (you, PK's, Arena fighters...), so he can revive under Charm status the same as you. Hit him too many times after death and if he stays in the air long enough after the final blow, the bug will trigger for him! See it for yourself at this YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW-eH6GAoSM - This was covered in section 2, but bears repeating; if you're inside the inner Beast Temple when Doppel's timer expires, Doppel will not appear on the field no matter what. You'll have to leave and come back before he can show up at the field in question. While the timer running inside the beast temple likely isn't a bug, this unfortunate side effect is. - Surprising Doppel counts toward the Surprise Attack count, but it actually shouldn't, so surprising everyone on the field including Doppel pushes the count over by one. - If you surprise Doppel and other monsters at the same time, hitting another monster first before him, Doppel will go flying AFTER he draws his weapon if you leave him alone. - In fields with underground entrances like Delta: Graceful Wrath's Shadow, if you position yourself far enough below ground (use the bike to descend) to not get warped above ground but not far down enough to be incapable of initiating a surprise attack, you can fight any enemy with Haseo below ground. Doppel is no different, though if you're not far down enough, beware that Doppel might still be able to hit you, especially with the scythe. Being knocked down with no ground beneath you may result in being forced to reset. - In Theta: Galloping Wrath's Blue Cloud, there is a gap just south of the first platform in which you can walk straight into the outer space of the field, or go underground with the bike. You can have Doppelganger chase you into the abyss and start battle with him there. Be warned, however, that unless the battle ends with a Smoke Screen, without solid ground, there will be no end. Otherwise you can do things like use the bike to let him fall to the "lost ground" below the limitless surface at the bottom of the canyon and use a Smoke Screen to halt his fall, then let him find you while you're still over open air and drag Haseo into a fight in the lost ground! There are many other things you can do as well, like use jumping arts such as Lotus Flower to dive low enough to escape the battle cage, or starting a fight with a Doppelganger near the canyon bottom while Haseo's allies are on solid ground, giving you a bird's eye view of the fight. There's nothing useful to this, of course, but who cares? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Credits ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HiroTheZero - Provided the strange field Theta: Buzzing Ruined Gate, which I used to finally and completely decipher Doppelganger's appearance requirements on non-Moonlight fields. Zer0 - I merely linked to your guide for those seeking Sleipnir, but the fact that the guide's there and I didn't have to look into it is enough for me to stick your name in the credits. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright ©2007 Master ZED The Unoriginal White Sheet: http://masterzed.cavesofnarshe.com/ .hack//G.U. Vol.2//Reminisce ©2006/2007 Namco Bandai/CyberConnect2 I'm not responsible should anything stated in this FAQ/guide do anything. I'm not responsible should anything stated in this FAQ/guide do nothing. I'm not responsible for whatever you or anyone else do with this FAQ/guide or the contents within it. I'm not responsible for whatever you or anyone else don't do with this FAQ /guide or the contents within it. The only places you should find this guide are GameFAQs and ZED's Unoriginal White Sheet. All rights reserved. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------