Danger Level: 50
Location: North Riverford Traverse, southwest corner of the area
Another of the advanced job shrines, the Shrine of the Warbringer is a short, element-filled trek to a very painful boss fight. Raising your physical defense as high as it can go, and bringing a Merchant along for the Hired Help - Mercenary defensive buff, is highly recommended before you enter the shrine. A Scholar will also be quite handy. You'll run into the following enemies on the way to the boss:
- Animated Armor - Weak to Axe, Staff, Ice, and Light. Buffs its party, and can use Horrific Claw to inflict terror and lock away Boosting. A significant pain in large groups.
- Shadow Remnant Mk. II - Weak to Sword, Polearm, Axe, and Fire. Strong melee opponent with a Shadow leaning. Try to get them stunned first.
- Shadow Revenant - Weak to Sword, Bow, Staff, and Fire. Powerful golem that buffs itself and hits hard. Get it stunned as quick as you can.
- Flame Remnant Mk. II - Weak to Sword, Polearm, Axe, and Ice. Fire version of the Shadow Remnant Mk. II.
- Flame Revenant - Weak to Sword, Bow, Staff, and Ice. Fire version of the Shadow Revenant.
- Thunder Remnant Mk. II - Weak to Sword, Polearm, Axe, and Wind. Lightning version of the Shadow Remnant Mk. II.
- Thunder Revenant - Weak to Sword, Bow, Staff, and Wind. Lightning version of the Shadow Revenant.
Follow the path through the shrine roughly southwest, past the save point. Eventually you'll come to a ramp. Look to the side of the ramp to find a chest containing an Inspiriting Plum Basket. Go up the ramp and follow the path north until you see a chest on your left. It contains an Herb of Revival. North of the intersection is another intersection; follow the eastbound path until you find a Refreshing Jam.
Return to the main path and go north. There's a purple chest on your right that contains 30,000 leaves. Head west and the path will turn south. Check the wall to the left of the bend and you'll find a hidden passage leading to a Revitalizing Jam. Return to the main path and keep following it until you find the save point, and the final section of the shrine beyond. Interact with the icon on the pedestal to begin the fight.
Winnehild, Warbringer
Weakness: Staff, Ice, Wind, Dark or Sword, Fire, Lightning, Light
Hoo boy. This woman lives up to her title. Fighting with all six weapon types, Winnehild specializes entirely in physical attacks, striking one, some, or all members of your party multiple times a round. Most of her attacks just do damage, but Yatagarasu can poison a character, Fox Spirit can knock a character unconscious, and Qilin's Horn inflicts debuffs to everyone's defense. In addition to her weapon attacks Winnehild can use Counter Position to counter a single physical attack or Skill, and the effect will last until she breaks. If you mess up and hit Winnehild while Counter Position is active your character will almost certainly die in one hit.
Having fun yet? It gets better. Once Winnehild takes enough damage she'll go into Boost mode and if you don't break her before her turn she will hit your party six times. Yikes. Unless everyone is at maximum health and buffed - and you are way overleveled - this will probably wipe the party.
Whomever is your Merchant needs to use Hired Help - Mercenary throughout the fight to keep your defenses up, and your Thief should use Shackle Foe to lower Winnehild's attack power. Winnehild hits too many times per round to let her strike you at full strength every time. Sidestep is also useful, given that Winnehild only uses physical attacks. Beyond that, your task is pretty simple: Slowly wear Winnehild down to a break using your elemental Skills, only using weapons when you know they're going to cause a break. You can throw in the occasional Staff / Sword strike, but as soon as Counter Position goes up you have no choice but to use magic. Scholars can target her weaknesses twice per turn, as can Alfyn's Concoctions, and if you've already visited other advanced job shrines a Sorcerer can target Winnehild's weaknesses three times in a turn. (Sorcerers can also use Elemental Break to lower her elemental defense, which helps a lot.) Any Skill that hits more than once will make the fight substantially easier to survive. Put one character on healing duty so you can wipe up after Winnehild's turns, then let everyone else work her down to the break point.
Near the end of the fight, after recovering from a break, Winnehild will acquire all of her weapons and go into Boost mode. If she is allowed to carry through she'll use War Cry, which will likely wipe your party. If your characters are sufficiently built up you may be able to break her, though if not you should heal everyone, use Shackle Foe, and use Mercenaries. This should blunt Winnehild's attacks enough that she won't kill the party, assuming everyone has plenty of health. Winnehild will continue to go into Boost periodically after this, but you won't need to deal with a full twelve defensive shields most of the time, making it easier to avoid War Cry. Get to this point and you've probably won, assuming you don't do anything reckless.
You'll receive a Refreshing Jam for defeating Winnehild, Warbringer. Upon defeating the war god you'll also unlock Warmaster as a secondary job for your party, making one of your party members the ultimate in physical hitters. Congratulations! Winneheld is easily one of the hardest bosses in Octopath Traveler!