Description[]
Arma is the golem that visited your shop before she went haywire. She uses the Arm Parts weaponry which can alter her weapon time drastically. She is the penultimate new boss you will encounter in Recettear and though you encounter her a second time the final version is not in any way similar enough to be considered the same boss.
Appearances[]
| Location | Level | HP | Drops (c, uc, r) |
| Lapis Ruins (50F) | 50 | 2700 | Big Screw, Gold Horn, Black Horn |
| Crystal Nightmare (54F) | 90 | 4700 | Big Screw, Black Horn, Bloodblade/Holy Sword |
Boss Behaviour[]
As Arma uses Arm Parts she has a huge array of weaponry available for this fight, all of which resemble weapon parts that the player Arma can use:
- Flamethrower - Has a fairly narrow cone of damage but a long range and will leave part of the arena burning for a time. Appears to only hit once.
- Gatling Gun - Compared with all her other weapons this one has an extremely low range but with its very high rate of fire it can be easily the most deadly.
- Messiah Unit - This will launch a rocket creating a small explosion some distance away. Its range is not that high and its slow and easy to avoid but hits hard. It is sometimes used immediately after she hits you with a Flamethrower.
- Blade Launcher - Fires 4 discs in random places in a wide cone. This is sometimes used several times in a row which, combined with its far range, makes it difficult to avoid. The blades only inflict damage on the way back though, so the player should try and use this to their advantage as much as possible.
- Vector Cannon - Not technically a weapon but her special attack. She uses this sometimes after hitting you, normally with a rocket, when she's at the other end of the arena near the wall. It has a 3 second startup time but utterly devastates anyone caught in it.
Strategy[]
Similar to Charme and Griff, Arma is stunned when you hit her twice in a row which prevents you from causing more damage. Depending on your equipment this may be a tough fight but it will always be yours, this is not the case in the Crystal Nightmare and is probably the hardest fight you will have as her stats are high enough that they will cause high damage no matter what she hits you with. The best way to approach her is to move in close from the diagonals, after 2 hits, retreat and move back in once you are sure you're back out of her line of fire. Alternatively you can go for the cheap win by using Flame Charge type skills though with 2700hp in the Lapis Ruins and 4700hp in the Crystal Nightmare you will need a lot of SP. You should keep your HP high to avoid sudden spikes of damage. Another risky strategy for melee adventurers is to charge up in front of Arma when the battle begins and attack her only once, then move to her left or right to hit her once again. Continue to circle around her, landing one hit each time you move to her left or right (but in only one direction or you'll be hit by the returning blades) and you should be able to avoid major damage. This strategy is risky as if Arma escapes the circling, she can strike back hard, and she also tends to use the Gatling gun at least once as you circle around her (but it can be cut short by hitting her).
- Louie - Vacuum Sword will let you keep your distance but with its low damage you may be better off getting in close with normal attacks and Spin Slash. If Louie has a very high level and/or gear at this point, though, you can get away with vacuum sword keep-away and some SP-replenishing items. Keep in mind that none of her projectiles can be blocked by Louie.
- Charme - Mirror Images to the sides will let you keep slightly further away but the reduced damage dealt may lead to you taking more damage from accidents as the battle goes on for longer. Use your fast move speed to your advantage. Alternatively, you can keep a certain distance (just out of range of her flamethrower ability) use the Flame Charge ability while she begins her shooting attacks, and you will end up right behind her. Immediately use your basic attack for an easy knockdown. Afterwards, dodge her next attack, rinse, and repeat. It is strongly recommended that you have some SP-healing items on hand.
- Caillou - Sparkburst should be used as often as possible in single casts, using the cone to avoid the line of fire or the invincibility to dodge Blades. Though extremely expensive, Gemini Force can be used to stay completely out of harms way while still dealing damage. This is a very difficult match-up for Caillou as he is is too slow to avoid all of Arma's attack and they deal a lot of damage to Caillou in particular due to his low defense.
- Elan - The bad news is that it is almost impossible for you to avoid getting hit due to your low range but you have berserk to wear out her attack as well as add to your own for a quicker fight. When she fires her saws, try to attack from another direction and do your best to stay in a diagonal position. Use your healing items after berserk when needed and recast it. Arma should go down fairly quickly.
- Griff - Demon Soul should allow you to cause serious damage while allowing you to maintain a better diagonal attack position due to the range. Even if she manages to attack you, your increased stat and fast attack rate should knock her out of her attack. Another strategy involves a combination of Dark Claw and normal attacks. Using Dark Claw as soon as the fight commences followed by a single normal attack to slightly knock Arma backwards ensures that Arma will turn around and use her disc attack. Repeating this procedure, alternating between using Dark Claw towards the north and south directions with some level of timing renders Arma's invulnerability after two hits effect useless, as the startup delay from Dark Claw will "reset" the hit counter. As the discs only deal damage when they return, and because Arma will always open the fight with her disc attack, Arma will be locked into using her disc attack, ensuring an extremely easy and safe (but somewhat boring and SP intensive) boss fight. A third strategy would be to hit her twice (with Demon Soul active), dash straight through her so she turns around, and repeat. This prevents her from getting up against a wall while keeping Griff out of the way of blades. The author of this third strategy finds that it makes Arma trivial, even in the Crystal Nightmare
- Tielle - Cuterage! will be helpful for reaching high arrow charge quickly, giving you a cone to avoid line of fire. Try to stay far away as possible.
- Nagi - Because Arma attacks very quickly when aligned, Nagi will have a difficult time finding an opening. The safest option is to use vacuum to engage her from a range. A faster but more riskier method is to dash forward and strafe to adjust yourself to be slightly off of alignment from her attack direction and use your spear's larger stab width to stab her. Another method is to attack at close to mid range while Arma keeps using her disc attack, while quickly firestriking through Arma when the disks return to avoid damage. This is a difficult fight for Nagi.
- Arma - A ranged weapon is favourable for this fight, particularly ones with a large cone of fire or AoE damage.