Octopath Traveler 0: How to beat King Pardis III

King Pardis III is Octopath Traveler 0’s Master of All and the final boss of the Master of All Chapter 8 quest. A dreadfully powerful, reprehensible king, he’s responsible for a great deal of misery across the kingdom of Edoras. At this point, you’ve defeated all of his guards, and his advisor/jester, Gonska. All that’s left is to defeat the evil king himself, and bring about peace in Edoras, stopping a series of wars that were plaguging Orsterra.

This battle comes at the end of Master of All, which is the follow-up quest following the defeat of Auguste, Herminia, and Tytos. He’s a very powerful warrior, despite his age, and it won’t be easy to defeat King Pardis III his second form, Pardis the Scholarking or as the Master of All in Octopath Traveler 0. Thankfully, we’re here to help.

Note: The footage for this guide features spoilers for Octopath Traveler 0.

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How to defeat both phases of King Pardis III in Octopath Traveler 0

King Pardis appears earlier in Octopath Traveler 0 as an unbeatable boss in the Master of All storyline. However, here at the end of the road, he must be bested, if you want to reach the finale of the game.

(Fight begins at 1:02:12)

We’ve got the details you need before you try and stop this tyrannical king once and for all. It’s also important that you explore his castle thoroughly and defeat all three of his elite officers. If you do not, he will likely summon them in for this fight as well. The above video is the full exploration of his castle and shows where they all are.

Defeating King Pardis III in Octopath Traveler 0

Stats

• Health: 52,640
• Vulnerabilities: Spear, Dagger, Staff, Ice Magic, Holy Magic (Swaps to Sword, Bow, Book, Fire Magic, Holy Magic)

Attacks

• Attack: Single-target sword damage. Can inflict Dread for 4 turns.
• Flood of Despair: Inflicts SP Sap and No Switch on a party member for 2 turns.
• Wild Infernal Blade: Inflicts Fire damage on 3 targets at random.
• Ring Emits an Eerie Light: Swaps Vulnerabilities.
• Frightening Pressure: Inflicts damage on the front row and Dread for 3 turns.
• On Your Knees: If left unbroken after his boost, inflicts physical damage on the front row, as well as Dread, Can’t Switch, Bleeding, and SP Sap for 4 turns.

King Pardis does not give up easy in Octopath Traveler 0 (Image via Square Enix)

King Pardis III isn’t quite as powerful as he was earlier in Octopath Traveler 0, that’s for sure. Wild Infernal Blade can be dangerous, since it’s random, but his most powerful attack is Frightening Pressure or On Your Knees.

Frightening Pressure inflicts Dread on the frontrow, and On Your Knees triggers if you let him attack after boosting (Ominous power flows forth from the ring).

This will make your whole party suffer Dread, Can’t Switch, Bleeding, and SP Sap. Other than that, be prepared to be flexible when you break him, because his weaknesses switch. Once you’ve bested him in Octopath Traveler 0, he shows his true form: Pardis the Scholarking!

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Defeating Pardis the Scholarking in Octopath Traveler 0

Stats

• Health: 84,194
• Vulnerabilities: Spear, Dagger, Staff, Ice Magic, Holy Magic (Spear, Bow, Tome, Fire Magic, Holy Magic)

Attacks

• Attack: Inflicts damage on one character and can inflict Dread for 4 turns.
• Wild Infernal Blade: Inflicts Fire damage on 3 random party members.
• Threatening Pressure: Inflicts Speed Down and Dread to the front row for 4 turns.
• Ring Emits an Eerie Light: After being broken, swaps weaknesses.
• Flood of Despair: Inflicts SP Sap and No Switch on a party member for 2 turns.
• Physical/Magical Counter Stance: When it appears, he counters physical attacks with Frenzy of the Absolute, which deals damage and grants +3 Shield. Swaps to Magic Counter Stance at the end of turn. That counters magic with Lightning damage and Paralysis for 3 turns.
• Magical Power overflows: When at 25% or less health, gains permanent Physical/Magical Attack Up.
• Divine Blow: Reduces character to 1 health.
• Unyielding Blade of Ruin: Deals damage to one character and inflicts Bleeding for 4 turns.
• On Your Knees: Triggers from Ominous power flows forth from the ring. Inflicts damage, Dread, Can’t Switch, Bleeding, and SP Sap for 4 turns.

Pardis the Scholarking has more attacks, and is deadlier than his previous form (Image via Square Enix)

Occasionally, Pardis the Scholarking will change his stance to Repel Elemental or Physical Attacks, so be prepared on the fly. It will be represented under his Vulnerabilities.

Unlike the mobile version, he doesn’t have five different Vulnerability sets. Pardis the Scholarking is stronger than his last form in Octopath Traveler 0, and has a few new tricks such as the aforementioned counters.

In addition, he can use Divine Blow to drop a party member to 1 health, and the painful Unyielding Blade of Ruin. Bleeding is such a frustrating status ailment. Like the previous fight, he can still punish you with On Your Knees, and this isn’t even his final form.

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Defeating the Master of All in Octopath Traveler 0

Stats

• Health: 120,995
• Vulnerabilities: Spear, Dagger, Staff, Ice Magic, Holy Magic (Sword, Bow, Tome, ??, Holy Magic, then Axe, Fan, Ice Magic, Wind Magic, Holy Magic, then Spear, Bow, Fire Magic, Lightning Magic, Holy Magic)

Attacks

• Crushing Death: Deals Shadow damage to the front row and inflicts Dread for 3 turns.
• UraaaAAARGHHH!: Physical damage to the front row.
• Crush: Inflicts damage on one party member, and Dread for 3 turns.
• Pulverize: Deals physical damage to 3 random party members.
• Rip and Tear: Physical damage to one target, also inflicts Can’t Switch and SP Sap for 3 turns.
• Ring Emits an Eerie Light: Changes Vulnerabilities.
• Ultimate Barrier of the Absolute: Counters non-weak point attacks with Chaos Vortex. This inflicts Poison, Bleeding, Silence, Sleep, Paralysis, Dread, and Weakness for 3 turns to one target.
• Divine Blow: Reduces character to 1 health.
• Divine Impact: If allowed to Boost for a turn, reduces front row’s HP to 1.

When the barrier is up, do not inflict attacks he's not weak to or you'll regret it (Image via Square Enix)

In this final phase, Princess Alaune joins as a guest character to help you defeat Pardis’ final form, Master of All in Octopath Traveler 0. She grants your party a full heal (HP/SP), to make this a bit fairer. She also periodically heals/buffs the front line, so that’s one more boon. This is to date, the hardest boss in the game, and it’s the third phase of one boss fight.

This fight is filled with status ailments and AOE damage, so make sure your healer is ready to go. Some of the status ailments are avoidable. For example, when Ultimate Barrier of the Absolute is up, only use attacks he’s weak to (or Almighty Soulstones), and nothing else. It goes away when you break him, so then you can crush him with whatever you want.

When Master of All is nearly dead, you’ll trigger a cutscene where Princess Alaune will heal the party, granting everyone full HP, SP, and BP. This is great, because now the Master of All has 21 Shield, and you need to break it down/defeat him as soon as possible in Octopath Traveler 0.

You don’t want him to survive a boost, because that means you’ll receive Divine Impact, which reduces your front row’s health to 1. After you clear out the Master of All, you can proceed to the Finale.

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Octopath Traveler 0 is an incredible new JRPG from Square Enix that takes the story from the mobile game Champions of the Continent, and expands it into a brilliant, tragic story. You can learn more about it in our in-depth review.