Finally beat King Cobra! Warrior path, Mercenary title, 1.1K% Attack+ from Gluttony +10% from Greater Demon, +20% all from Transform into Power, SS Dragon/Brutal right arm/Sandworm/Lesser Wyvern/You/[Scarlet Dragon/Ogre], everyone set to Maximum Tackle in Friendly Formation. Just noting that for anyone trying to figure out what stats they need for King Cobra. [Hero: 160M/907M/286M/581M/529M] Took several tries.
Two minor exploits: (1) When you change your party, your in-battle stats update immediately even though your party doesn't. You can exploit this for "solo" fights like Father and Tournament: set your optimal stat-boosting party to a party shortcut, set the desired fight to an action shortcut, and empty out your party from the party screen. Hit the action shortcut and then the party shortcut. You'll still be fighting solo, but you'll have all the stat boosts from the party. (2) If you put an element-cap-boosting monster in your party, then remove it after the element fills to the cap, you retain the element at its 'overcapped' level until you deplete it. (For instance, say you have a Wind cap of 10 and you put Wyvern in your party for +4 Wind, let it fill to 14/14, and then remove the Wyvern. You'll have 14/10 Wind.) This can be used to up your Fire/Wind/Earth for the Scarlet Dragon and Silver Scale Dragon boosts.
It looks like the Bishop quest takes 630 Goddess Statues in all. Jeez. Before starting a run for Ending 2, you should get enough sin (save up for 3 sin before your first reincarnation if you plan to do it straightaway) to buy Loop Action+ for 50% more efficiency on loop actions. Since the key actions for Goddess Statues (Lumberjack, Carve a Wooden Statue, Knitting a Wreath, Create a Goddess Statue) are all loop actions, it saves a LOT of time. Beetle (+Lumberjack efficiency), Flower Fairy (Flower regen), and Elder Treant (+max Wood) are all useful for idling.
@ghostlyraider: Automation for those sorts of tasks unlocks after you get the first ending.
And thank goodness, because the other commenters weren't kidding about the Bishop questline. Talk about a grindfest...
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