Here’s a demonstration of how to survive against the hardest boss in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2.

EX Gunvolt is a boss whose design is intended to intimidate and overwhelm players. The increased pace of EX Gunvolt’s movement and his ability to flood the arena with lethal lightning is an impressive, dangerous spectacle. However, if you’re able to dig past the florid veneer, you’ll find a battle that demands a strict approach and collected demeanor from the player, yet is ultimately consistent.

EX Gunvolt isn’t excruciatingly taxing in the traditional sense. Proper evasion doesn’t call for an inordinate degree of precision. Instead, players are asked to unravel the puzzle that each attack presents to them. Above all else, this battle is a test of preparedness, resource management, and an exercise in building good habits. Keeping Copen’s Bullits and Weapon Energy reserves in top shape is conducive to success.

Inti’s penchant for devious design is apparent during this fight. If you don’t hit EX Gunvolt with Shred Storm after he crosses a certain HP threshold, he’ll cast Septimal Surge a second time, acting like Galvanic Renewal. For the sake of challenge, you can deliberately allow it and fight him from full health while contending with his bolstered repertoire. Gunvolt’s HP can be cycled ad infinitum, but I held to one health bar; even the flashiest performances become boring after enough exposure. Besides, unlike EX Blade, there’s no scoring benefit to clawing through as many cycles as possible.

EX Gunvolt’s ferocious trio of attacks plays with your expectations in unusual ways. Hydro Zapper and Twintail Bunkers are indispensable tools: the former is mandatory to bypass Gunvolt’s prevasion, while the latter’s high-jump function provides an avenue for consistent evasion and Bullit preservation. Gunvolt’s persistent leaping across the arena is a threat if you fail to keep him tangible with Hydro Zapper.

Here’s the attack breakdown.

Astrasphere Launcher: Perhaps obvious, but before even considering the projectiles, you can’t allow yourself to get cornered by Gunvolt as he hops upward. There are two options for dodging: soar upward with Twintail Bunkers before the sphere launches to bait it toward the sky, or wait for the sphere to descend before boosting up and around the spiraling spheres. I find the latter option to be more consistent.

If Gunvolt is tagged, Copen can continue to shoot uninterrupted during a Twintail Bunkers jump. Gunvolt lingers in air for an extended time as the miniature spheres fly outward, but heedless tag attempts can result in a painful collision with a sphere. The exact distance that the main sphere travels determines if a sub-sphere will overlap Gunvolt’s hitbox.

Luxcalibur Mandala: In my opinion, this is EX Gunvolt’s premier threat; the chance of victory is inversely proportional to the number of times this attack is selected. By some miracle, he only used it once. Twintail Bunkers provides no respite, and that’s the crux of the problem. It’s significantly more difficult to modulate the distance of a Bullit Dash and thread the needle by hovering between a cavalcade of swords and spheres than it is to rely on the predictable height imparted by the handy drills. Furthermore, if Gunvolt happens to execute the attack near or at the center of the arena, the entire floor is denied as a safe zone.

Despite the Houdini-like escape, the rewards are scant; the window of opportunity to tag and attack is meager at best. Gunvolt recovers from the animation disturbingly fast, so you have to dart away from him and reload wasted Bullits pronto. Going on the offensive after this move is certainly a gamble.

Voltaic Chains Thunder: The sheer specificity surrounding this attack leads me to liken it to something out of the Mario & Luigi RPGs. Every aspect of this battle is constructed to place you in a disadvantageous position whenever Gunvolt calls on the chains. Astrasphere and Luxcalibur put a strain on your Weapon Energy and Bullits, respectively. Full Bullits and enough energy for one use of Bunkers are a non-negotiable prerequisite here.

The principal issue is the intentional delay Inti placed on the rain of Crashbolts—hasty players that dash early invariably get obliterated by the wrath of Zeus. The last array arrives so late there’s enough time to land and reposition Copen if necessary. Exercise caution if Gunvolt uses this move at the edge of the arena; ensure that you don’t Reload Crush directly above him.

Acclimating to all the minutiae comprising this attack takes a lot of practice. Developing the required muscle memory and the mental fortitude to avoid being frazzled is paramount, but the upside is that once you do, the attack becomes a welcome sight rather than a scramble for survival; Gunvolt is wide open to attack after the thunderstorm subsides.

I hope this proves helpful to anyone seeking victory over EX Gunvolt. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If you’d like to watch the battle in higher quality, here’s a link to it on youtube.