Asturi

Asturi, the final boss and level of the game, is no fun past hard difficulty. However one of the greatest annoyances of this level is also the key to getting a high score no matter what. Unlike every other level of Crimson Alliance (including the other boss battle) this one has infinitely spawning minions. Asturi will spawn them for as long as she lives, which means it’s possible to cull them for points forever. So. When in doubt, farm minions for points.

But that’s not the key to victory, Asturi still must be defeated, and the way in which this achieved is pretty straightforward. Normally Asturi is surrounded by crooked insurmountable spikes of invulnerability, but the mighty horn of de-spike-ification can put an end to that! Unfortunately it’s guarded by an increasing amount of Hierophants who must be destroyed to relinquish the horn’s might. There are set platforms where the Hierophants will spawn and teleport to after being hit or having their shield broken. Each stage is accompanied by zombies and skeletons to ruin the fun, but also to farm for multiplier, and some other supplementary enemies. The amount of Hierophants increases with each stage, increasing to ridiculous amounts with higher difficulties. Also, stage 1 has Undead Archers, stage 2 has Undead Grenadiers (the poison-flinging ones with shields) and a regular Sorcerer (the one that casts purple blasts and the strange purple cage, and stage 3 and any after has the Undead Sorcerers (the ones that are the most annoying enemy in the game firing purple blasts from a strange head), regular Sorcerers, and a the fat exploding zombies. One thing that does remain constant, however, is Asturi’s power, which consist of a really annoying pseudo-homing attack that will chase if it catches the player and deal incredibly nominal damage (it’s just there to lower multiplier for some reason) and a hits-anywhere attack which launches several purple meteors from the sky on a specific location.

Soloing

Always take care of fodder first because they’re the most likely to kill multiplier, and remember to block Asturi’s attacks, or avoid them entirely. If a Hierophant is in a bad position, hit him quickly then run away to get him to teleport to a different spot. Usually the back corners are much safer than anything in the front row. Dealing with the elites is case by case, the last stage elites are incredibly irritating and are best dealt with right next to Asturi at the bottom of the stairs where her blast attack won’t hit. One thing to keep in mind is that health is limited here, so equip a piece of equipment with regenerative properties if the boss is proving to be difficult, and also don’t forget to carry the two health pots that are outside at the front gate into the fight.

Cooperating

Don’t get too eager and try to take every Hierophant out at once. It’s a million times easier to beat the snot out of one quickly then scatter. The more players the better, if one person can take the Hierophant and keep it stunned, the other should run crowd control (usually a Mercenary or Wizard). No matter what, stick together, any screen issues can be easily punished by the constant barrage of ranged attacks and fodder.