The Cambria Arena is a location in the MARDEK series. In it, the party can compete in tournaments, which are essentially series of battles without breaks between each one. There are two kinds of tournaments:
- Champion Tournaments, introduced in MARDEK Chapter 2: A New Hero, pit the entire party against 20 waves of enemies for the chance to win that chapter's ultimate sword.
- Survival Tournaments, introduced in MARDEK Chapter 3: Keystones, pit one party member against 10 waves of enemies for the chance to win a powerful accessory exclusive to them.
In MARDEK Chapter 3: Keystones, the way to the arena is blocked by Lord Sir Bong-Bong McFtong the Moderately Bonkers and cannot be accessed until six Trilobite Warriors scattered throughout the world are defeated. They can be found in the Heroes' Den, Dark Temple, Water Temple, Fire Temple, Earth Temple and Miasmal Citadel. More details can be found here.
Chapter 2 Tournament[]
Reward: Champion Sword
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Strategy[]
Chapter 3 Champion Tournament[]
Rewards: Champion Sword II, ★ Dreamstone #8
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Strategy[]
The best team is Gloria, Sslen'ck, Legion and of course Mardek himself. Legion should have most of his elemental attacks, be sure to get at least Thunderstorm from the Air elemental Temperance and get Tsunami from the Water Guardian. It isn't needed but definitely helps. If you haven't been using this team throughout the game, use whatever team is the strongest. A well trained Legion helps tremendously though, as does Gloria. Be sure to have all of Mardek's elemental slashes.
Chapter 3 Survival Tournaments[]
General strategies[]
It is generally useful to have the character in question at somewhere around level 30 for best results, though oftentimes 26 will do. The character should also have Passive Skills like SPR+2 and VIT+2 equipped, preferably both +2 and +1 versions. However, keep in mind that it may be more useful to put those points into other categories if the character does not need the ability. For example, Zach does not need SPR, and Donovan does not need STR. You should also try to get as many reaction skills as possible (not to mention the active skill library.) It is preferential to have -20% and -30% and the like over the Soak reactions, but left over points should go into those. Remember to get the +6 Azure and Scarlet Stoles for offensive boosts (you can farm Posh Zombies to get Expensive suits to sell). The Elf Cap and the Regal Crown are the two standard equipment choices for hats. This is because the Elf Cap provides good defensive boosts (though the player may prefer the Skull Helm) and the Regal Crown provides +1 to each main stat, which is very useful.
Useful assets will be the character's ultimate weapon, Green Fairy, and Yellow Fairy. (While the Yellow Fairy is often listed as Mandatory, it is not actually needed. However, it is overwhelmingly harder without the Yellow Fairy unless you grind to level 36). These allow the character to have auto-Haste and auto-Regen, letting it make it through more battles without harm and healing off the damage they take. For characters that only have a few elements to use, buy offensive consumables like Bottle O' Acid from Gope and remember that you can use Soulstrike to effectively have two elements usable in the standard attack- one with Soulstrike and one without. (This is needed in Sslen'ck's challenge, where the player must use the Drackal Cresecent without triggering the Soulstrike reaction to defeat one foe and must use the Soulstrike reaction for the others in that round). In some circumstances, a specific foe can only be defeated with offensive consumables and standard physicals (such as in Sharla and Donovan's challenge) so Soulstrike is best left turned off.
Mardek[]
Reward: M Charm
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Strategy[]
NOTE: YOU SHOULD HAVE CHAMPION SWORD II, BUT YOU DO NOT NEED MARDEK'S SPECIAL HELM. SAVE THAT CANDRIATHOPE FOR LEGION
Mardek's Survival battle should be the easiest. As Mardek is the main character and a required member on your team, he will have the highest level (unless you have been using Donovan and Sharla from the start and never let them leave except for the Legion cutscene). Due to the abundance of Dark-elemental foes the battle is easy; bring Champion Sword II and assuming you have mastered all the elemental slashes you can take down most foes with elemental attacks.
Recommended Equipment[]
Rune Shield +/Glyph Shield/Shield of Darkness
Mythril Platemail/Scarlet Stole +6
Eclipse Amulet (Anything can really go here outside of the Scarab of Fury, Eclipse Amulet provides elemental resistance)
Donovan[]
Reward: Flame Charm
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Strategy[]
Either bring a Bottle O' Acid and a couple Really Cold Water or leave Soulstrike at home. You do, however, need Drain Hp in order to cure confusion. And rest assured, you will be confused by the I-Orb Spawn. Overall, the battles are simple. Multi Target Flame on the Topaz, multi target Blaze or single target Blaze on everything else not on the verge of death. For the Magmazards you have two choices. The first is long and tiring, which involves soulstrike-less physical attacks to slowly kill them. The other is tossing water at them. Also, to kill the Water Elemental either do the same or end it instantly with a Bottle O' Acid. The Griffin can be dispatched almost instantly with Blaze.
Recommended Equipment[]
Obelisk (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. If you can't get it, use the Magic Poker)
N/A
Yellow Fairy (Mandatory)
Sharla[]
Reward: Feather Charm
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Strategy[]
Sharla is quite fortunate, with the exception of the Fire Elemental and the Molestor...everything will fall to one or two Thunderbolts and will not be able to kill her before she does so. Obelisk is the weapon of choice, and Soulstrike is highly...discouraged. Bring some Really Cold Water and either Antidotes, Chocolate Milk or Remedies. The Fire Elemental must be dispatched through RCW or non-elemental attacks, though it will generally kill you before you can kill it if you try the latter. It can be done, it just is really annoying to do so.
The Molestor is actually a serious threat with Dark Claw, but honestly it will fall in around 3 blows with the recommended set up and +6 and +2 SPR.
Recommended Equipment[]
Obelisk (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. If you can't get it use the Magic Poker)
N/A
Yellow Fairy (Mandatory)
Sslen'ck[]
Reward: Dragon Charm
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Strategy[]
Sslen'ck has to deal with... well, it's a simple battle, but the strategy to beating it isn't really obvious. At all. You MUST have Drackal Crescent and you MUST have Soulstrike equipped. The funny thing about Soulstrike is that on one hand it makes all attacks the same element as your character. On the other hand, you have to trigger the reaction to cause the elemental shift. So with Drackal Cresecent you can deal either Earth-elemental (reaction command) or Fire-elemental (no reaction command) standard blows. Accuracy+50% is helpful if you get berserked in round 8.
To get through the first 7 rounds either do Earth Slash, Perforate or Fire Stream depending on the elemental weaknesses of the foes. Due to Sslen'ck's low SPR and massive STR, a whack from the Drackal Crescent is actually a more potent Fire-elemental attack than Fire Stream usually is, but only hits one target. Keep this in mind if one foe is walling you for some inexplicable reason.
It's the 8th round that is a real threat against even a trained Sslen'ck. There are two types of foes; Happy Johnny, which absorb Earth and will spray you with Numbness, and Furious Eyes, which absorb Fire and incite Berserk like its going out of style. Here is the predicament: If you have the Drackal Crescent, then you can bash the Johnny but the Eyes will Berserk you into being unable to land a non-fire (which heals them) blow. If you use the Stone Axe, the Happy Johnny will inflict Numbness, causing you to resort to Fire Breath... assuming you can endure the needles until Berserk wears off. Perforate seems like the logical solution; it deals heavy damage regardless of the foe. The issue is that this only takes out one, and the next foe will probably slam you with status. The answer to this elemental quandary? Soulstrike. By using Soulstrike, you can take out the Eyes, and then not trigger the reaction to wipe out the insolent Johnny.
Side note: because this requires the Drackal Crescent, the player must have access to the Earth Temple. The player should also complete the Trade Quest as soon as possible (or at least before the player completes the final Temple. This will be the third after getting the quest to get the crystals.)
Recommended Equipment[]
Drackal Crescent (Mandatory)
N/A
Scarlet Stole +6 (You may wish to use Mythril Platemail instead)
Yellow Fairy (Mandatory)
Green Fairy/Ruby/Boots of Celerity
Notes: Soulstrike must be equipped
Solaar[]
Reward: Star Charm
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Strategy[]
If you already have Guardian Claw, you can use Galaxy Burst for faster rounds at the cost of draining your MP.
Round 1-3: The first three rounds consist of repeated Solar Flare spam. Take advantage of Haste to use healing items on the first turn and KO on the second turn if possible. As Solaar's attacks tend to drain MP, avoid using MP if necessary by finishing off enemies with normal attacks.
Round 4: The fourth round is where things get tricky. Due to the Black Eye's high MDEF, spamming Solar Flare will simply drain your MP and take a ridiculous number of turns to kill. Instead, save your MP by throwing Bottle O' Acids at the big hypermelanistic eye thing until it goes down. You can use Solaar's physical attack as well, but it's less efficient the lower level xe is.
Round 5: Use Haste to cure any status afflictions on your first turn, and attack with Solar Flare on your second turn. The Pixie should go down in 2-3 hits. You may consider throwing a Noxious Bomb for a slightly easier fight.
Round 6: Solar Flare spam with Haste should let you take down all four Elementals in two turns.
Round 7: More Solar Flare spam! We're beginning to see a pattern here.
Round 8: It may be tempting, but don't bother with Really Cold Water on this one; it doesn't do a lot of damage. Just whack them a few times with Solaar's physical attack and they should go down. This is a good round to draw out if you need to restore HP or MP.
Round 9: Solar Flare spam, and heal if necessary. If you don't already have it, Evasion 20% from Eclipse Amulet is very useful to have here. Make sure you have at least 20MP going into the next round.
Round 10: Immediately cast Astral Form to become immune to any of the Golem's attacks for the remainder of the round. Solar Flare does okay damage, but not that much, and drains your MP. For the fastest kill, lob Liquid Lightning at it until it dies.
Recommended Equipment[]
Weapon: Any (Raptor Claw is preferred, or Guardian Claw if you have it)
Shield: N/A
Helmet: Black Hat
Armour: Green Stole +6
Accessory: Yellow Fairy (Mandatory)
Accessory: Scarab of Health/Green Fairy
Items: 10x Liquid Lightning, 15x Bottle O' Acid
Mandatory Skills: Astral Form
Elwyen[]
Reward: Song Charm
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Strategy[]
Elywen has a challenge ahead of her, but it isn't too hard. Due to how Siren Songs work, Auto-Haste from the Yellow Fairy is almost mandatory. You need only three songs to complete the challenge. These are Requiem, Dolorous Dirge and Ballad of Life. The entire challenge is simply switching between the three. Because Siren Songs are based off of Elywen's SPR stat, but not Magic Attack Reactions, you will want the most SPR you can get.
The reactions are based on evasion; if you have Spell Resist 30% and M DMG -10%,-20% and -30% along with Evasion +20% and Evasion +50% (along with whatever DMG -#%s you can fit in) you are effectively immortal with Auto-Haste. This sets the minimum requirements at 24-26. You will also want SPR +3 and SPR +2. AGL +2 and +1 are also potentially useful to stop foes from going first, but you may wish to substitute one of them for VIT +1 or +2 to help survive the final round.
The Battles themselves are trifling in nature; the pattern for each of them is the same. It is as follows:
When it is the first of your two turns, do Ballad of Life if needed. On the second turn, do Dolorous Dirge. If the foe is undead (spirits and Elementals do not count), do Requiem. Rinse and repeat for all rounds. You may wish to attack if Ballad of Life is not needed, but this isn't necessary unless the foe is on the verge of defeat. Also, no matter what, DO NOT ATTACK THE ELEMENTALS. They will counter with a strong attack that will take away a sizable amount of health, especially if the reaction fails. It is better to set up Dolorous Dirge and do nothing than to attack them. You won't even be doing major damage.
Recommended Equipment[]
Astral Harp (give up the Purple, Red and Blue Fairies)
Sheet Music of choice (V, VI and VII must be mastered or equipped)
Azure Stole +6 (Highly recommended)
Yellow Fairy (Mandatory)
Eclipse Amulet (Can be substituted for a Sapphire Bangle)
Zach[]
Reward: Bear Charm
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Strategy[]
Bring Suppleness and Really Cold Water. If you get Numbed you lose all of your attacks, so you will need to use consumables to deal damage. Sinstrike is the only way for Zach to attack the Flame Soul without items. To power Sinstrike up, go to the Eastern Glens and have Zach perform the finishing blow on everything in sight.
ALTERNATE STRATEGY: 'The End of the Rainbow'[]
Step one: no Soulstrike. Step two: get Coup de Grace. Step 3: get up to 18 Rainbow Juice. Use it on the foes you know you can't beat instantly and hit them with a Coup de Grace. They will be instantly annihlated. Does not work on foes resistant to the element being used. You will need to use either Sinstrike or Really Cold Water to take down the Flame Soul, but everything else will be taken down in two hits.
Recommended Equipment[]
N/A
Yellow Fairy (Mandatory)
Dragonblood Charm/Green Fairy (Use Dragonblood Charm if you don't have Suppleness equipped, if you do use the Green Fairy)
Gloria[]
Reward: Leaf Charm
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Strategy[]
Can you say 'elemental weakness'? Gloria has a similar battle style to Emela, and as such has to face an assortment of foes of many elements. Honestly the battle is not too challenging, just hit the foes with the right elements and you should do fine. Do be careful about multi targeting attacks in the 8th round, as they will heal another foe. Spell resistance +30% is highly recommended. You don't really need STR+ so feel free to replace the normally allotted points and maybe get a status immunity or something. Do however make sure to maximize your defenses.
Round 9: Watch out for the Oneironaut, who immediately summons three Yellow Souls. They will hit Gloria with Thunderbolt, and will do tons of damage to Gloria if you're not careful. If you take out the Yellow Souls, the Oneironaut will just summon more, so focus on using Twister to take out the Oneironaut first. Heal as necessary--if you are struggling with the Yellow Souls, consider using a Mirrilixir or equipping M AIR-50% to reduce damage. Be sure you are good on HP and MP before the last round; it is okay to delay killing the last Yellow Soul to take the time to heal up.
Round 10: Start by casting Null Air Once; always use your first turn to cast NullAir if you do not already have it. After that, spam Wildfire and heal when necessary for an easy win.
Recommended Equipment[]
Trilobite Staff/Yggdrasil's Finger (Yggdrasil is better but Trilobite works fine)
N/A
Yellow Fairy (Mandatory)
Sapphire Bangle (May be substituted for Eclipse Amulet)
Vehrn[]
Reward: YALORT Charm
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Strategy[]
Behold the glory of THE VEHRN. With the Champion Sword II in hand, bearing an Azure Stole +6 on thine back to raise Smite X to levels nigh incomprehensible by mere mortals, and the full library of Holy Arts, none shalt withstand the might of thine consecrated blade.
As the brief rant suggests, Vehrn is ludicrously strong given the set of foes he has to fight, especially with Smite X. Because Smite X multiplies damage based on Spirit, the Azure Stole +6 and the SPR +1/2/3 items/boosters will increase damage far more than the physical counterparts. Also, the final foe is best slain with magic, so the Spirit boost will also help there. Even the Wretched Soul is released into the aether when it comes in contact with the light enhanced blade Vehrn wields. Keep in mind that Divine glory is vastly weaker than Smite Evil or Disrupt Undead. However, it should be used on the Chaosouls because they are immune to the damage you can dish out through other means. This is because Divine Glory has a different Damage formula. It is more effective to have DMG +10%, DMG+20% and QUARRY: UNDEAD than it is to have DMG+10% and +30% because most foes are either undead or are easily killed. The Antares present in the battle is resistant to light, but is not immune. Carry on.
The final foe is fairly strong. It is actually the most difficult fight in terms of numbers; The Fallen Paladin is resilient when subject to the might of Green Lightning, and will beat you up before it can be defeated. The consecrated blade capable of slaying all in your path merely revitalizes the once holy knight, for it is healed by Holy Damage. However, you need not pull out the Alchemist's Fire, for it is Undead. And what happens to Undead foes when hit by healing moves? THEY DIE! Actually, since it is already dead it can't really "die", but that is a round of semantics for another time. The basic strategy for this battle is Lay on Hands on Fallen Paladin, then on you, then on Paladin, etc. The Paladin will take around 1.7k a hit, while Vehrn can completely heal himself if he has an Azure Stole +6
Recommended Equipment[]
Champion Sword II (Get the Holy Arts from the other weapons as well)
Glyph Shield/Rune Shield +/Shield of Light
Azure Stole +6 (Azure, not Scarlet. Azure boosts Smite X)
Meraeador[]
Reward: Spanner Charm
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Strategy[]
The thing about Meraedor is that his survival challenge is fun but also hellish. Trust me when I say that you will want to dedicate a save slot exclusively for Meraedor's survival challenge. If you have been selling all your random drops, get ready to buy them back. Meraedor requires serious training relative to all other player characters. The reactions are the same, but Meraedor needs to be at least 28 to do well with minor use of consumables and the easiest strategy. 30 is a good point to do it at if you are worried, but expect to be outsped without the Boots of Celerity. The fun part is that there are many, many ways to do it. Mirror strategies don't work without large amounts of consumables though.
Recommended Equipment[]
Invention of Choice (Depends on strategy used)
Invention of Choice (Depends on strategy used)
Elf Cap (Regal Crown is too weak for him)
Green Fairy/Boots of Celerity/Sapphire Bangle/Snakestone (or other poison resistant accessory)
Strategy 1 'Highly Combustible Gases'[]
This strategy is possibly the easiest and simplest to do. If you need to do Meraeador's challenge for completion, do this one. It involves the Gas-O-Matic and the Flamethrower. The Flamethrower is the main offense; with Azure Stole +6 and a Sapphire Bangle, a level 29 Merareador can almost always 2 hit KO the Molestor at the end. It is also worth noting that Flamethrower gives Mereador 95% resistance to Fire due to his natural resistance, so the Fire Elemental should be the second to go while you heal. Because the Fire Elemental is immune to poison and earth, you will need to pack Really Cold Water to get rid of it.
The Gas-O-Matic has one purpose: to be immune to the Leaf Stinger's poison, if you don't have healing capabilities then it will kill you unless you have brought Meraeador to an obscene level.
In essence, fling Flamethrower at everything but the Axolotl Chief (whom you should strike with the Gas-O-Matic), after killing the Earth Elemental heal before taking out the Fire Elemental with Really Cold Water, and remember to bring a remedy or Chocolate Milk in case you get Cursed at the end.
Strategy 2 'Silent Ring'[]
Yes, that is a reference to the book Silent Spring. This is a far more tedious and consumable heavy strategy and like all the strategies outside of the first one should only be done for fun or as a challenge. You will need around 5 of each of the consumable weapons, but bring more in case. This strategy involves a combination of the Gas-O-Matic and the Sleep-O-Matic. In retrospect the title should have been 'Death-o-matic' or something but oh well. Onwards to the strategy! The strategy is simple yet the foes make it so difficult. You need to look at the foe in question's stats (click their name in the top of the screen) and look for resistance to Sleep Poison and Earth. The Gas-O-Matic, though inferior to the Flamethrower in damage, still does good Earth Damage. As such, it can be used to wear down most foes. Do note that the Leaf Stingers, though not immune to poison damage, should probably be hit with the Consumable weapons. The Oneironaut can be hit by Earth attacks and poison and sleep. All souls are immune to poison, as are undead. However, undead can be hit by earth attacks and will fall to them quickly. Yellow souls must be slain with Alchemist's fire. The Molester battle is actually really easy; do Sleep then Gas-O-Matic until it dies or wakes up. If you are cursed just use chocolate milk. If you are low on health use chocolate milk.
Strategy 3 'Drill-o Inferno'[]
This is possibly the most self-sufficient strategy if you equip poison resistant accesories, as that is its only downside. The only reason why it isn't the best strategy is because of how annoying it is to get Monster Fangs (you already need 8 for Legion, and they only come from two places, one of which is the super super dungeon that requires completing all nooks and crannies besides this one). This is...Drill-o Inferno. As the name suggests, the two inventions are the Drill-O-Matic and the Flamethrower, or the best Physical invention and the best offensive invention. Simply Flamethrower everything not immune to fire and drill that which is and you are all set. You can even pull off a non-consumable run if you equip a Snakestone and Yalortian Robe
Legion[]
Reward: Cog Charm
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Strategy[]
Behold the Blue Mage; a being which gets stronger not by harming others, but by being harmed. Legion's survival challenge will either be lesser mortal agony or a gentle summer breeze depending on whether or not you have bothered mastering his skills. Check out Mimicry for more information. The more the better, but here are some basics: Dark Claw, Blood Claw, as many of the elemental multi targets as you can (Earthquake, Tsunami, Raging Inferno and Thunderstorm), Spirit Nova, Gemsplosion and 1000 Needles. The equpiment list is also odd and quite heavy duty: the player will want to have the Buzzsaw Arm, Titan Plating (as well as the reaction skills learned from the other equipment), things like M DMG+10% and M DMG Soak 20 from his many hats, and the equipped accesories should be either the Candriathope or the EveningStar in one slot and the fairy of choice in the other.
As for the battle itself, assuming one has the abilities mentioned it should be easy. Spam Gemsplosion if you aren't dealing enough damage as Fig and Thauma are unresisted by most foes.
Recommended Equipment[]
Buzzsaw Arm (Mandatory, must learn skills from the Hammerfist and Clasping Claws)
N/A
Elf Cap/Regal Crown (Can be almost anything but the Cursed Beret. Regal Crown is best but not needed)
Titan Plating (Mandatory, must learn skills from the Copper Plating and Steel Plating (do not use HP+))
Candriathope/EveningStar (Mandatory, pick whichever you want)
Yellow Fairy (Highly recommended)