How to Beat Mantis Ant in Visions of Mana

After Careena joins your party in Visions of Mana, you have to chase down Sylphid to know if she’s worth becoming an alm, but the elemental is being attacked by the Mantis Ant. It’s up to you to bring this nefarious monster down, and here’s how to do it.

Preparing to Battle the Mantis Ant

Mantis Ant is weak to Strike and Wind attacks and resistant to Earth attacks, making whichever character you equip with the Sylphid Boomerang the prime attacker for the battle. We’d strongly recommend equipping Careena with the Sylphid Boomerang vessel to give her Dancer, but Rune Knight Val isn’t a bad choice either. In either case, make sure that Careena learns the Cyclone and Defenseless skills from her Elemental Plot, regardless of which class she’s using.

The Mantis Ant attacks with regular slashes in front of it and usually follows up by sending spinning wheels in your direction, so dodge accordingly. When it starts to jump, run away to avoid the impact. It can also spit poisonous air in front of it, so standing behind it is always your best choice. Don’t be poisoned here, or you’ll be forced to use some items to recover. Its most deadly attack involves standing on all fours while sending raining crystals that track you down.

Focus on its Belly (located in his backside) with wind attacks while it’s charging the raining crystals to break it down, inflicting extra damage to the Mantis Ant and canceling its move in the process. Also, don’t hesitate to use your Wind Class Strike as soon as the gauge is filled for some explosive damage. Bring a few Candies and Cups of Wishes if the worst happens, but most of the enemy’s attacks are slow and well telegraphed, so you should have no major issues if you’re exploiting its weakness.

Tips to Defeat Mantis Ant

In summary, the main tips for overcoming this first proper boss in the game are the following:

• Play as either of the two available Wind classes at this point (Dancer being preferred)
• Stay on its back to avoid most of its hits and go for the weak spot (the Belly)
• Focus down the Belly when it starts charging
• Respect its moves. They’re slow but can be deadly on higher difficulties (especially if you’re poisoned).

And that’s how you can defeat the Mantis Ant in Visions of Mana. Once you bring it down, Careena will be appointed as the Alm of Wind, and she’ll permanently join your party as you travel towards the Mana Tree. You got yourself a great ally there!

Visions of Mana is available for Xbox, Playstation and PC.