[Guide] Getting S Ranks

[MatildaWhiteKnightLeader]

I didn't mention this before but you should put all magical S rank prizes on Andarc. He will be able to kill an enemy in one hit using thunder runner or berserker blow without lightning terrain.

Xasta Grasslands (this place will open up from a quest- NOT part of the storyline).

Formation (front row): Andarc, Kyril, Seneca, Lazlo.
(back row): Noah (to help steal stuff), the rest is whoever you like (not underleveled).

First turn- Move Lazo as south as possible. Double-edge sword the Savage Sprout that is in range. Move Seneca down also. use wind force/cyclone force on her and Lazlo. Move everyone else down and set up their respective terrain elements.
The ostrich people have high movement. Just let them come to you. Blast them with magic and use weapon rune abilities when they're nearby. Be sure to save up Lazlo's double-edge sword spells unless Lazlo is about to level up. The sprouts don't do much damage when you're in their belly.
When the mercenaries appear, you have to aggressively go after them with the front row characters. Lazlo Double-Edge sword on wind terrain (set up by Seneca) the Red and Mercenary leader when they're in range. The blue mercenary is usually close by the red one so you can get them both with Lazlo's double-edge. If the Mercenary Leader stays back, then leave her alone until you finish off the other mercs. Then Rush her. Use kyril, seneca, andarc's cooperative attacks if you can. Attack the mercs from behind since their dodging is pretty good. But be sure to blast them with magic first and a Seneca Strong Arm (Hawk Rune).

Defeat Martin at Mido Shallows.
Mido Shallows: This map is almost entirely on Water Terrain. Do Not use fire characters. Use Lightning and Water characters. The enemies that spawn during battle will be water-type.

Front Row. Lazlo.
2nd row (left to right). Seneca Andarc.
3rd row. Jeane! Flare.
4th row. Eugene (mounted) Kyril Rene.

Move Lazlo up. double edge-sword the group of soldiers nearby (should kill at least 2, 3 preferable, 4 great!- Retry if you don't).
Move Seneca up, wind terrain on lazlo and seneca.
Andarc move up, clean up remaininng soldiers or lightning terrain.
Move everyone else up.
Move Rene straight up as far as possible. you should be able to see a treasure. After digging the treasure, keep moving Rene toward Martin through the middle of the map until you dug up 3 treasures. Be sure NOT to kill Martin before you get the 3rd treasure.

Basically keep moving everyone toward Martin while repeating the steps above and engage them. A lot more enemies will spawn so you will have to make a stand eventually. If Jeane is at a low level or initial level (16) keep her at a safe distance on lightning terrain and berserk blow any enemies within range.
Martin will not attack you unless you get real close to him. So finish off the other enemies before you send Kyril (with back up) to kill Martin. Be sure to put Kyril on the backend of a flame force with him facing the center when engaging Martin. Martin will be forced to fight Kyril face up so Kyrill can parry his attacks.

[MatildaWhiteKnightLeader]

Battle At The Palace Gates

If you want to get all the treasures, it's not possible to get an S rank. Don't worry, you will fight here again after the next battle anyway. There's a dig treasure around where King Lino will spawn. And there's 3 dig treasures in the courtyard behind the gates (west, middle, and east side).

have Kyril equipped with 2 Rage Force Beads and 2 Mega Medicine/Food. Seneca with a Cyclone Sword Rune.
you should use Lazlo, Andarc (both equipped with stat-up items) Seneca and Rene.

With Kyril's group, have Kyril follow Busk and Ornelia as they attack the patrlmen. If any of them are dangerous low in HP, heal them with Kyril's heal items. One of the patrolmen might lay down an earth force. Replace that with Kyril's Rage Force/Use Rage Force anyway since Busk and Kyril are Flame type. Move Corselia close to the Gate and cast water terrain on her. Then start casting Breath of Ice on the two mages that are directly behind the gate.

With Lazlo's group, aim the double-edge sword at the blue fish and get the orange fishes in range too. Have Andarc finish off whoever survives. Have Seneca as wind terrain support for lazlo.
When Lino appears, Mount him on a Kangacorn and head toward the gate.

Gather up your forces (excluding the slow obel soldiers) before you bust the gates. You can switch in some characters with cooperative Area attacks. You can bust the gate with Kyril attacking on fire terrain. More enemies will appear.
Lazlo's double edge and Kyril's swallow Cut should be good inside the courtyard. The cooperative area attacks and magic spells will also help eliminate the mass amount of enemies. Go after the east and middle dig treasures first. You might not be able to get the other one (stardust dress) with Busk and Ornelia cleaning house.
Eliminate any enemy that is casting magic first. Remeber to talk to Roget with Kyril before you finish off all enemies. Protect Kyril with fire terrain on your way there.


Battle In Graksa Palace

Get Kyril, Flare, and Eugene's Weapon sharpen to max possible and battle-ready (equipped with armor and Weapon Runes). Equip Kyril with a Berserker Belt (get it off someone if needed like Karl). Andarc should have most of special mage gear like simeon's spell book, archmage's glasses, etc. Have Lazlo equipped with some wind force beads.

Formation (left to right): Front Row: Andarc, Lazlo, Seneca
Back Row: Kyril, Eugene (mounted), Rene

There's dig treasure near the starting point, second window (top middle), and near the treasure chest behind the throne.

The first group of enemies are spread out.
Lazlo move up, eternal ordeal the archer.should be killed
Seneca move up, strong arm an enemy for a kill.
Andarc move up, thunder runner the blue spearman. should be killed.
The enemy mage should retreat if you killed off some enemies.
Kill off the remaining enemy with Eugene, Kyril. Use Kyril's swallow rune to attack for the entire battle.

More enemies will spawn and water terrain will be cast all over the place. Remeber those who laid down the water terrain. They will be your first targets. You can switch Seneca for Flare.

Keep and Remain at a safe distance away (6 squares) from the Eye Beast until you take out the enemies that can lay down water terrain.
Move Lazlo up the right side of the palace and take care of the targets with double-edge. Have Eugene for support. You can dismount Eugene and use his Unicorn Rune if you have to (like when your enemies line up).
Keep Kyril relatively toward the center.
have Andarc go up the left side of the palace and take care of the targets with lightning magic. Have Flare for support.

After you take out some enemies that can lay down water terrain, Move Kyril toward the Eye dragon BY Himself. He'll have to take an attack, but the attack will give him fire terrain. Introduce your recently regained Swallow Slash attack on the fire terrain to the Eye Beast for a kill.

Move Lazlo to Andarc's side. Send Kyril to Eugene's side. Take out any enemies appropriately. Move your units toward the rune cannons.
Don't kill the cannons yet, just kill the fishes that spawn.
Have Andarc cast Lightning terrain on the top left rune cannon. Have Lazlo on wind terrrain and then cast double edge sword with Only the rune cannon in range. He should be able to do around 1400 damage. This overkill is necessary for avg. damage dealt.
Finish off the cannon on the other side in the same manner after you get the third treasure with Rene. You can camp the fish spawn spots in the meantime. Set up the negative terrains for the fishes on those spawn spots and kill them each time they appear.


Battle Outside Graska Palace. (at the gates again but without the gate).
Rene should have S at treasure hunting.
There's a dig treasure around the center of the big Turn at the bottom of the stairs.

Front Row (left to right): Lazlo Kika Seneca Kyril Andarc (equip these guys with A or S skilled Dodge if they have it).
Back row: mages and archers.

Should be an easy battle. Have an strong archer and strong fire/lighting mage go back to open the chests. Keep them there and set up terrains. A group of enemies will spawn there latter in battle.

everyone else, move forward (away from the palace). You begin with a nice wall of characters. Keep the wall in-tact at all times. Remeber to always Face toward the enemies with your front row characters. Mow down the enemies with magic and archers and cooperative attacks while you move your wall forward. Switch in someone for Rene when you've gotten past the second set of stairs. You can send someone (mounted) back to help out the characters near the palace gate area if needed.

[G_G]

wew ... at last, got all S rank items on my first play (except for obel ruins S rank prizes ).

Thanks to MatildaWhiteKnightLeader, your guide is help me a lot. Good job

[Komataguri]

Night Sea- Part 2 (Goal: take out all enemies pirates or take out Steele).
Do NOT go after Steele. He has very high defense, counterattacks and has the RoP. You will not kill him in time for an S ranking..

Funny.


Since I went after, and killed him, and got the S Rank Prize [Steeles Shield] to boot.

[MatildaWhiteKnightLeader]

well if you kept reading, i also achieved that feat.
Just Thunder Runner him twice.

[highwind44029]

Or weaken him with Lightning terrain, and cast Thunder Runner once. That is, if you're limited in magic points.

[Ellerkerm5]

Is there an strategy for the following battle shown below?

Battle 10: El-Eal
Victory Conditions: Defeat all enemy units
Defeat Conditions: Lose all friendly units

This is in chapter 9 btw.

[Makaveli137]

Hello.
I would like to know if anyone got rank S at the last two missions and how ? Thank you.

[MatildaWhiteKnightLeader]

Hi guys, I'm back on the boards after 2 years, which is roughly how long it's been since Suikoden V. I got a job and got addicted to GoW. Due to numerous requests, I will work work on some strategies for the final battles to try to get the S rank on the first playthrough. I need to relearn the game to regain my tactics knowledge. It will take some time...

[Makaveli137]

Hey ! I still need to get these rank S. I didn't really retried them but I hope to get them done soon, maybe with your help.

[MatildaWhiteKnightLeader]

I'm re-learning the game, characters, skills, etc...
So I decided to do the Rank A quest: Rage Dragon Egg Wanted. This quest is also necessary if you want to recruit the mercenaries cause you'll fight them...again.
If you go to the Obel Ruins, the game will take you directly to the Rage Chamber so you don't have to go through the 5 levels.

Obel Ruins- Rage Chamber (Rage Dragon Egg Wanted version).
Front Row: Roget (Cyclone Rune), Lazlo (wind beads and Tome with RoP), Pable (Mother Earth Rune)
Back Row: Flare (on an Owl) facing left, Jewel (on an Owl) facing left, 6th-man (whatever character you like to level up using elemental beads, or sword rune)
What? no Kyril? ehh you don't need him. Owl Mount characters can also be to your choosing.

First Turn (Order maybe different, but everyone will have their turn)
Send Lazlo to the bridge as far as possible and cast a wind bead centered behind you.
Send Flare as far west as possible. Send Jewel to the spot is that just NorthEast of Flare and face the dragon.
Send Roget behind Lazlo and cast a Cyclone Force as far in front of Lazlo as possible for wind terrain.
Send Pablo near Roget and Lazlo, cast Canopy Defense or Vengeful Child on Lazlo.

Second Turn
Send Lazlo to the tip of the wind terrain and cast double-edge sword so it hits the Merc Warrior and kills him.
Send Flare to attack/open the treasure chest on the little island platform.
Send Jewel as far south as possible, don't attack it of course.
Send Roget behind Lazlo and cast another cyclone force in front of Lazlo.
Send Pablo onto the bridge but not too far into the bridge. Cast Vengeful Child on Roget if Roget isn't protected from magic.

Third Turn (you will get attacked by the rage dragon using magic- this is where the canopy defense and/or vengeful child comes in handy.)
Send Lazlo 2-3 squares forward and cast Double-edge sword so it hits the female Mage Mercenary. You might be able to target the Spear Merc as well. Just stay on the bridge and face the mercenaries.
Send Jewel close to the Dragon and switch in Noah so you can steal a Flame Force Mirror if you can. Otherwise stay put and don't attack the dragon.
Send Flare toward the second treasure chest, which is the goal.
Send Roget behind Lazlo and cast more wind terrain for both of them.
Send Pablo behind Roget to cast more vengeful child or canopy defense.

Fourth Turn
Send Lazlo nowhere, waste the Rage Dragon with double-edge sword and stay on the bridge facing the remaining mercenaries.
Switch in Rene for Noah/Jewel. There should be a treasure dig where the rage dragon was sitting at the begginning.
Send Flare toward the other treasure chest and dismount on land.
Switch Pablo for another character you want to level using force beads or sword rune if you wish. just keep getting good experience.
Keep Roget behind Lazlo and cast more wind terrain.

Fifth Turn
Send Lazlo toward the bridge exit and waste the remaining mercenaries with double-edge sword.
After digging up the treasure, send Rene toward the bridge exit for the second and last treasure dig. This might take a couple of turns.
Switch Flare for Kika and head toward the chest without opening it.
Play around with remaining character to get exp. Don't forget to kill the fire elemental.

After Rene digs up the second treasure, use Kika's 3rd level falcon rune on the second treasure chest to obtain the goal.
Enjoy the booty I mean prizes.

Still working on Patriarchal Facility. Might take a while...

[MatildaWhiteKnightLeader]

Rank S Quest: A Letter of Challenge
This is the quest to recruit the mercenaries. Be forwarned! Once you win and recruit the Mercenaries, they start off at lvl 30 with lvl 1 weapons and absolutely no skills.
The good side to do doing this quest is that you are automatically taken to the Flowing Chamber on a water day without having to go through the level 1-5 Ruins. However, there's no Flowing Dragon for you to get dragon scale, meat, fin, etc.

To get an S rank:
You're only allowed to deploy 4 units/characters. I used 3 (which I believe will help with beating the turn counts).
Kyril top spot
Second Row- (Left to Right) Lazlo (Tome with RoP) and Simeon/whoever can use the Flowing Rune cause you'll need some kindness rain.

First Turn
Send Lazlo to the left before reaching the bridge steps . Double-edge sword the skeletal soldiers and kill them both. A fly lizard will cast wind of sleep. it might work it might not, Lazlo gets wind terrain regardless.
Send Kyril forward to the left spot of the light post.
Send Simeon to cast kindness rain to wake up and unsilence Lazlo if he's in any of those status effects or cast wind force on the bridge steps for Lazlo's next turn if he's got a wind rune equipped or cast water terrain without hitting Kyril.

Second turn,
Keep Lazlo in the wind terrain and Eternal Ordeal the Fly Lizard. Keep Lazlo off the bridge steps for now.
Send Kyril up to the first bridge steps and throw a flame force on him.
Have Simeon cast wind force on the bridge steps for Lazlo's next turn or just cast water force on himself.
The Mercenaries will will threaten to move down the bridge steps, but they won't move down.

Third Turn,
Send Lazlo up the bridge steps and cast Double-edge sword on the Mercenary Leader and kill her. You may be able to target the other mercenaries but make sure you knock out the Mercenary Leader (mage).
With the Mercenary Leader gone, you can send Kyril up the bridge steps but keep distance from Lazlo so both of them don't get hit with one Wind of Sleep from the other Fly Lizard. Cast Flame Force or Rage force without hitting Lazlo.
Have Simeon follow behind them and cast Kindness Rain to anyone that is asleep because the Fly Lizard will have casted wind of sleep because that's what it does 80% of the time.

Fourth Turn,
Lazlo Double-edge sword the remaining mercenaries on wind terrain. Keep facing the mercenaries.
Send Kyril up the bridge steps and face the remaining mercenaries or attack them if they're in range with the Swallow Rune. Otherwise just keep a small distance from Lazlo. Continue casting Flame Force.
Have Simeon also follow up and cast silent lake on the remaining mercenaries cause that will knock out their weapon rune attacks.

Fifth Turn
Lazlo, Finish off the Fly Lizard with double-edge sword on wind terrain.
Kyril, Finish off any remaining mercenaries.

[KFCrispy]

i thought this was the toughest battle in the game. if you're level 50, the mercs are also level 50 when you fight them. you definitely don't want to end up too close to the mercs because they will pwn a character using their turns together.

[MatildaWhiteKnightLeader]

With Lazlo's double edge sword and Tome and Wizard Rune (2x magic atk, 1/2 magic defense) at long range, no enemy is too tough in the game. Not even the golems. It's also the second level spell so it's basically unlimited usage if you use it correctly. I can't stress this enough, you need to play Suikoden 4 to fully enjoy and understand the plot and most of the characters in this game. (I haven't gotten to a second playthrough yet to get Laracle but I heard she's also a top notch combat character in the game also).

But yea this battle is particularly tough because you're only allowed 4 deployments/characters max for this battle.
Problem arises when the Fly Lizards start putting your characters to sleep and also if you let the Mercenary Leader hit a long and big range Silent Lake on your party, which turns your party into full physical combat that you will have a hard time winning. The mercenaries also love to laid down the weak terrain on your characters. The Obel Ruins monsters level are +/- a couple of levels from Kyril's level. Kyril and Lazlo were at lvl 37/39 respectively in my party. Only the mercenaries, golems, and elemental dragons will have the same lvl as your highest lvl character in the Obel Ruins.

This is also a hint to NOT overuse Lazlo and end up making him like 10 lvls higher than any of your characters. If you are doing Obel Ruin runs with your main characters past lvl 35, you won't need Lazlo until the lvl 5 maps and elemental chambers.

[KFCrispy]

Kyril and Lazlo were at lvl 37/39 respectively in my party

that's why the enemies were lower level. they will always be near your average party level, maybe a little lower, while the Mercs will be on the upper end of your average.

having Lazlo is almost cheating, i definitely encourage using other characters for a greater challenge.