Ilknis

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31

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30

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14

Ilknis is the bat bandit boss and a recurring antagonist. Volga first met him after saving Aoba on the Road to Eastshire. He is finally confronted during the main quest 'A Deadly Plot' in Mount Milos.

## Bio

At first Ilknis seems to be a run-off-the-mill mob boss. He has a big mouth, but prefers to let his underlings Dugan and Rordan do the heavy lifting. At the first sign of trouble, he would skedaddle away. To put it lightly, his gang is not effective at all, and is usually played as comedic relief.

However, Ilknis has a dark past that he would like to put behind him. He can get deadly serious when the lives of his underlings are in danger. As a fellow avis, Aquilo worries about him, and wants to involve him in his plan to create a better future for their kind.

## Strategy

This battle has a special setup. You try together with Dugan and Aquilo to save the merchant Shuo from being assassinated by Ilknis. This manifests as the following special friendly gems during this battle:

* **[Assist - Dugan]**: Deal  *32 x L1* physical damage and destroy 12 random gems (acts as Bash).
* **[Assist - Aquilo]**: On turn start, detect up to 3 enemy Trap Gems (buggy). On friendly match, deal a critical hit of *32 x L1 x 1.5* physical damage (acts as Critical Shot).
* **[Assist - Shuo]**: On friendly match, move to a random non-attack gem and reinforce itself. On completely destroyed, lose the match.

Ilknis has only 2 phases (poor bandit can't even afford a second armor), but that doesn't matter as he fights dirty. With 71 TEC, Ilknis automatically starts the battle. At the beginning of every phase, he becomes airborne by creating a [Silent Retreat] Trap gem that is hidden. While airborne, he can't be targeted for damage, but he also doesn't do anything else besides building up [Echolocation] gems to locate Shuo. If 6 or more [Echolocation] gems are present during Ilknis' turn, it's game over unless you have reinforced [Assist - Shuo]. If you save the [Assist - Aquilo] gem for your turn start, you can detect the Trap gem and bring Ilknis down by destroying or matching it. You could also rely on sheer luck by matching random white or orange gems. Even when Ilknis is grounded, he can still assassinate Shuo by matching the [Assist - Shuo] gem unless it was reinforced. He could even use Silent Retreat again to become airborne.

This battle is really dependent on RNG, and it can be frustrating if the board is not in your favour. Your top priority is to reinforce [Assist - Shuo] asap, and reinforce him again after every assassination attempt. Charge up your skills during his airborne phase, so you can rush him down quickly when he is grounded. Skills that convert gems to white (Forward Dash) or orange gems (Insight), and [Bubble] enchantment to trigger cascade matches can help finding that Trap gem faster. If you are having trouble with the damage of [Echolocation], stack up your Guard Gauge before matching it. Since you are out of the volcano, you can rely on Ice magic and hence Armour of Ice again. When grounded, try to keep him that way by denying him yellow gems, applying [Strength Bind] and/or [Paralyze].

### Armour Bonus

When matching a friendly [Bleed] gem, heal for  *x 3*.

While the [Silent Retreat] Trap gem is active:
On turn start, enchant 2 random gems to friendly 9-turn [Echolocation] gems.
If there are at least 6 [Echolocation] gems, deal  *x L1* physical damage 4 times, disenchant all [Echolocation] gems and destroy all enemy [Assist] gems and friendly [Silent Retreat] gems.

 Body

### Skills

Heal for the same amount.
Create a friendly [Bleed] gem with a strength of 60% of the damage.
 Silent Retreat
Create a friendly reinforced [Speed] gem.

[Silent Retreat]
While active, prevent damage to owner that requires a target.
Skip owner's turn.
 Mind Drain
If there's a friendly [Curse] gem, enchant 3 friendly [Mind Drain] Trap gems instead.

[Mind Drain]
 Wind Breath
Reduce your Guard Gauge by half afterward.
Create a friendly 3-turn [Vortex] gem for every hit.
 Quick Strike
If there's a friendly [Vortex] gem, deal the damage 2 times.
If there's a friendly [Speed] gem, both strikes deal critical damage.
Disenchant the [Speed] gem afterwards.