by Hip Atia is the second boss you must defeat in Constance to complete the Astral Academy’s “Cosmic Deception” quest. This quest rewards you with one of the four Tears you need to face the final boss.
The other boss you have to defeat to complete this mission is Cosmic Monarch . It doesn’t really matter what order you do them in; I faced the Monarch first because I found him first, that’s all.
Review of Dead or Alive 2 slot by NetEnt
Hip Atia isn’t an overly difficult boss, although it might seem that way at first, but that changes once you learn her attack patterns. However, she does have a phase where she starts healing, and you’ll have to overcome a platforming section to prevent her from healing too much. If you stumble upon this platforming section… it can be quite frustrating.
Boss’s Location: Astral Academy
The first thing is that you will absolutely need the Brush Technique called “Brushstroke”, which is what allows you to use the teleport hook .
Assuming you already have it, the boss is located in the room highlighted in purple. As you can see, it’s near Vincent’s location (the Tear NPC), but you’ll have to take a rather circuitous route since you must enter it from the path on the right (the one above unlocks after defeating him).
Hip Atia’s Attack Guide
These are this boss’s attacks:
Circular Explosions
The first attack it starts with. The boss will fly around aimlessly, creating a series of circles in or near your position (they’re quite clever, they position themselves directly in your direction) that explode after a short while. You’re probably already familiar with this attack because there are painter enemies in the Astral Academy that do the exact same thing.
The first priority is to avoid taking damage from these explosions; the second is to try and land a few hits in between, and only when you see a clear opportunity. As usual, the Brush Thrust is very effective .
Attack of the Books
Hip Atia performs a kind of charging movement from one side of the screen to the other (the angle will change) while transformed into a mass of paper. The boss is immune while doing this, so just dodge him. Keep in mind that the “paper trail” he leaves behind doesn’t do damage; the damage comes from the paper ball itself.
After each charge, it summons a wall of books that moves from one side of the screen to the other (the direction is random). You can avoid damage by using the teleport hook on them, but sometimes the move backfires and you can end up falling off the bottom of the screen.
Therefore, what you can do, which is even better, is to stay on the central platform and hit the wall of books with Brush Thrust to create an opening right where you are (you stay still and when the wall gets close, you hit it to create the perfect opening). If you also have the “Sustain” Inspiration equipped, you’ll heal yourself a little in the process. Basically, if you do it right, this attack will become a small source of health recovery for your character.
Paper Airplanes
It creates a kind of circle of paper airplanes levitating around its body. The boss will slowly move in circles across the screen, occasionally launching one of these airplanes at you. When it runs out of airplanes, the attack ends.
Stay mostly on the central platform, dodging the planes and only using Brush Slash when you see a clear opening. Hit him and quickly dash away , or you’ll get hit by a plane. It’s better to land two very accurate hits (depending on his position, it will be more or less difficult) than to land four and take damage.
Platforming Phase
After a few rounds of these attacks (it will depend somewhat on how much health you reduce), the boss will perform a completely new “attack” in which the scenario will change a little and disappear.
You’ll see that you now have several of those circles where you can use the teleport hook (the configuration keeps changing), the boss is on the ceiling resting to slowly recover health.
You have to get to him, right at the top, and hit him . This will prevent him from healing further, and he’ll fall to the ground, becoming vulnerable to your attacks for a while. At that point, of course, you’re going to hit him with your normal attack combo as much as you can.
After this it will return with its previous attacks (eventually it will try to heal itself again) and so on in a loop.
Additional Tips
The “Sustain” Inspiration, as always, is essential because it’s incredibly helpful to heal yourself a bit with Brushstroke. If you’ve also upgraded it (by speaking with Clara at the base; she’ll ask for Light Stones in exchange), even better.
In my case, at this point I already had an eraser (it gives you more space for inspirations), so I used this combination of inspirations:
- Livelihood .
- Dark Embrace : Using the dash without paint causes no damage and does a little area damage.
- Replicas : The air dash launches small cross-shaped projectiles.
- Interests : To get more glimpses of enemies, I wear it because I have nothing else to put on that fits.
Rewards for Overcoming the Battle
These are the rewards for defeating the boss:
- Half of Vincent’s Notes : If you already have both parts, when you talk to Vincent (his location is marked with the Tear icon) you will have to overcome a rather complicated platforming area and after that you will get the Tear of Bond .
- Eraser : I imagine you get it when you defeat both bosses; someone who’s done the bosses in the opposite order would have to confirm. It’s an extremely useful item since it removes one of those smudges from your Inspirations, giving you four more slots.
- Some Glimpses and Stones of Light as usual.
