Telperion

"Another bunch of cats have fortified themselves inside a tree, I see. I expected something more sinister to be at the bottom of this cursed dungeon."

―Lance, Epic Battle Fantasy 5

Telperion
Other Names	The Den of Ninjas
Roles	Boss, Summon
Appearances	Epic Battle Fantasy 5

Telperion (called the Den of Ninjas by Odin, the guardian of the Warp Zone) is an optional boss that appears in Epic Battle Fantasy 5. It is found in the Deathly Hollows dungeon.

Appearance

Telperion's appearance is very similar to Laurelin; a large, mostly spherical tree house filled with many, many cats, with a large hole on its front from which its occupants will emerge when casting spells. However, Telperion's bark is darker than its counterpart (which carries over to its Big Root attacks), and the blobs of sap/Slimes covering it have been replaced with spider webs and jagged bone-like protrusions.

Personality

Like Laurelin, Telperion does not seem to have a personality of its own, and its combat dialogue is provided by narration boxes that describe the actions of the cats living inside of it.

Unlike Laurelin, the cats inside Telperion are highly coordinated; they rarely argue among themselves and maintain focus throughout the battle. They seem to worship some sort of evil spirits, possibly related to their use of Grim Reaper and their signature Unholy Ritual skills. The Telperion's cats also abide by a strict code of honor; they start "committing Sudoku" at low HP (implying they are actually committing seppuku). If captured, the cats begrudgingly accept their fate and agree to serve the players in shame.

Strangely enough, the Telperion has no unique dialogue if Laurelin is summoned against it.

Overview

Like Laurelin, Telperion gets two actions per turn; one from the tree itself, and one from the cats within it. It uses Bio, Dark, Earth, and Bomb skills which can inflict a variety of status ailments; mostly Poison and Stagger, but also Virus, Doom, and even Instant Death - on higher difficulties, it can also inflict Bad Luck, exacerbating matters. It is also adept at debuffing the party's Defence, Magic Defence, and Evade, making it much more difficult to avoid and survive Telperion's attacks.

As it takes damage, Telperion will begin using both Bio and Bomb variants of Fly Bomb and its own version of M.O.A.B. When it nears defeat, it will resort to Unholy Ritual, hitting the entire party with powerful Dark magic that can Curse them and debuff their maximum HP.

Throughout the battle, Telperion will summon cats and undead enemies (including Skeleton Cat if Foe Remix is enabled) as reinforcements. However, it will only summon one foe at a time.

Telperion absorbs Earth and Water while being immune to Dark. It is weak to Fire, Holy, Wind and especially Bio. It has the standard boss immunities to Stun, Syphon, Freeze, Chill and Death; additionally, it is immune to Stagger and Dispel while resisting Heavy, Light, Weaken and Tired.

Statistics

	Telperion	EBF5
	The hidden hideout of the ninja cat gang. It attacks with powerful bio, dark, and bomb skills, and gets two turns.

Statistics
Base Statistics								Exp	AP	SP	Gold	Hit2HP	Catch
	6666	5.5	4	5.5	4	6	2	770	64	64	580	6	3
Elemental Resistance
	-50%	-	-	150%	-80%	-	150%	-50%	-50%	100%
Status Resistance
	-	100%	100%	-	100%	-	100%	-	50%	50%	100%	100%
Debuff Resistance
	30%	80%	80%	20%	20%	80%	80%

Item Drop Rate
Icon
Name	Bone Spike	Bone Spike	Bone Spike	Plutonium Core	Titanium
Chance	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

Status Damage
Damage taken from status effects, in % of maximum health (per turn), including elemental resistances:
Burn	Scorch	Poison	Virus	Doom (if Death fails)	Regen
0.63% per stack, up to 5.67%	1.26% per stack, up to 11.34%	0.648% per stack, up to 5.832%	1.296% per stack, up to 11.664%	Immune	-4%
Damage taken from first four is decreased by 30% on Easy and 65% on Zero difficulties. Final damage is randomized by ±5% (except for Doom) and rounded down.

Statistics with More Foe Resistance enabled.

	Telperion	EBF5
	The hidden hideout of the ninja cat gang. It attacks with powerful bio, dark, and bomb skills, and gets two turns.

Statistics
Base Statistics								Exp	AP	SP	Gold	Hit2HP	Catch
	6666	5.5	4	5.5	4	6	2	770	64	64	580	6	3
Elemental Resistance
	50%	50%	50%	150%	-	-	150%	-80%	-50%	100%
Status Resistance
	-	100%	100%	-	100%	-	100%	-	50%	50%	100%	100%
Debuff Resistance
	30%	80%	80%	40%	40%	80%	80%

Item Drop Rate
Icon
Name	Bone Spike	Bone Spike	Bone Spike	Plutonium Core	Titanium
Chance	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

Status Damage
Damage taken from status effects, in % of maximum health (per turn), including elemental resistances:
Burn	Scorch	Poison	Virus	Doom (if Death fails)	Regen
0.21% per stack, up to 1.89%	0.42% per stack, up to 3.78%	0.36% per stack, up to 3.24%	0.72% per stack, up to 6.48%	Immune	-4%
Damage taken from first four is decreased by 30% on Easy and 65% on Zero difficulties. Final damage is randomized by ±5% (except for Doom) and rounded down.

Attacks and Abilities

Attack List
Attack	Target	Power	Type	Element	Status Effect			Acc	Crit	RdF
Big Root	All	80		50%	50%	3x		100%	10%	10%
Bones	All	70/2		50%	100%	5x		100%	10%	10%
Notes: Status strength decreased to 2x on Hard or Epic difficulties.
Fly Bombs (Bio)	Random	245/7		50%	10%	2x		100%	10%	10%
Notes: Will not target the same player twice in a row unless they have Target or no other targets are available. If catch score >55 and all players have Lovable, targets completely randomly instead.
Fly Bombs (Bomb)	Random	315/7		100%	33%	2x		100%	10%	10%
Notes: Will not target the same player twice in a row unless they have Target or no other targets are available. If catch score >55 and all players have Lovable, targets completely randomly instead.
Poison Gas	All	30		100%	100%	5x		100%	10%	10%
Notes: Status strength increased to 9x on Hard or Epic difficulties.
Air Strike	All	65		100%	40%	1x		100%	10%	10%
Big Bomb	Single	180		100%	20%	2x		100%	10%	10%
M.O.A.B.	All	130		100%	80%	2x		100%	10%	10%
The Reaper	All	120		100%	100%	1x		25%	10%	10%
Debilitate	All	--	--	----	100%	30%		100%	--	--
Notes: Debuff strength increased to 60% on Hard or Epic difficulties.
Enfeeble	All	--	--	----	100%	30%		100%	--	--
Notes: Debuff strength increased to 60% on Hard or Epic difficulties.
Bind	All	--	--	----	100%	50%		150%	--	--
Spider Web	All	10	--	----	100%	50%		150%	10%	10%
Notes: Also gets 100% chance of 3x Bad Luck on Hard or Epic difficulties. Is used in combination with Spiders.
Spiders	All	--	--	----	50%	2x		100%	--	--
Notes: Due to an oversight, Virus is only inflicted to the bottommost player. Is only used in combination with Spider Web.
Unholy Ritual	All	95		100%	100% 100%	6x 25%		100%	10%	10%

Battle Logic

The following describes general logic of the enemy and attack patterns, with chances of each attack to be used. Conditions are listed from highest to lowest priority unless specified otherwise.

1st action

• <39% HP → Fly Bombs (Bio) (1/4), Fly Bombs (Bomb) (1/4), Spider Web (1/4), Unholy Ritual (1/4);
• <74% HP → Big Root (1/4), Bones (1/4), Fly Bombs (Bio) (1/4), Fly Bombs (Bomb) (1/4);
• Otherwise → Big Root (1/2), Bones (1/2).

Summoning

• If Foe Remix is enabled;
  • Summons a Skeleton Cat (3 levels above Telperion);
    • If playing on Hard/Epic → Summons a Skeleton Cat (3 levels above Telperion);
      • <65% HP → Summons either a Flame Wraith, Frost Wraith or Leaf Wraith (1 level above Telperion);
    • <65% HP → Summons either a Flame Wraith, Frost Wraith or Leaf Wraith (1 level above Telperion);
• Otherwise;
  • Summons either a Cat Sniper, Cat Bomber or Cat Ninja (1 level above Telperion);
    • If playing on Hard/Epic → Summons either a Cat Sniper, Cat Bomber, Cat Ninja or Haunted Mirror (same level as Telperion);
      • <65% HP → Summons either a Skeleton Hand, Zombie Hand, Haunted Mirror, Steel Wraith or Master Wraith (same level as Telperion);
    • <65% HP → Summons either a Skeleton Hand, Zombie Hand, Haunted Mirror, Steel Wraith or Master Wraith (same level as Telperion).

2nd action

• <39% HP and has only used M.O.A.B. once → M.O.A.B.;
• <74% HP and hasn't used M.O.A.B. yet → M.O.A.B.;
• If a randomly selected player doesn't have a Magic Defence debuff → Enfeeble (1/5);
  • If a randomly selected player doesn't have a Defence debuff → Debilitate (4/25);
    • If a randomly selected player has less than a 30% Evade debuff → Bind (16/125), The Reaper (16/125), Poison Gas (16/125), Big Bomb (16/125), Air Strike (16/125);
    • Otherwise → The Reaper (4/25), Poison Gas (4/25), Big Bomb (4/25), Air Strike (4/25);
  • Otherwise;
    • If a randomly selected player has less than a 30% Evade debuff → Bind (4/25), The Reaper (4/25), Poison Gas (4/25), Big Bomb (4/25), Air Strike (4/25);
    • Otherwise → The Reaper (1/5), Poison Gas (1/5), Big Bomb (1/5), Air Strike (1/5);
• Otherwise;
  • If a randomly selected player doesn't have a Defence debuff → Debilitate (1/5);
    • If a randomly selected player has less than a 30% Evade debuff → Bind (4/25), The Reaper (4/25), Poison Gas (4/25), Big Bomb (4/25), Air Strike (4/25);
    • Otherwise → The Reaper (1/5), Poison Gas (1/5), Big Bomb (1/5), Air Strike (1/5);
  • Otherwise;
    • If a randomly selected player has less than a 30% Evade debuff → Bind (1/5), The Reaper (1/5), Poison Gas (1/5), Big Bomb (1/5), Air Strike (1/5);
    • Otherwise → The Reaper (1/4), Poison Gas (1/4), Big Bomb (1/4), Air Strike (1/4).

* Big Bomb becomes Air Strike if catch score >55 and all players are Lovable.

Before the v2 update, Debilitate and Enfeeble had priority over M.O.A.B., which could lead to Telperion skipping the latter entirely, since it only checks to use it on the first turn after dropping below the required HP thresholds and never again.

Counter (only if Counter-Attacking Foes is enabled)

• If Tired → 22% → Poison Gas (2/6), The Reaper (1/6), Spider Web (1/6), Fly Bombs (Bomb) (1/6), Fly Bombs (Bio) (1/6);
• Otherwise → 33% → Poison Gas (2/6), The Reaper (1/6), Spider Web (1/6), Fly Bombs (Bomb) (1/6), Fly Bombs (Bio) (1/6).

Strategy

Telperion mostly uses Dark, Bio and Bomb elemental attacks, so resistance to these 3 elements is very helpful (Bomb in particular, since M.O.A.B. will deal tremendous damage if not resisted). Telperion can also inflict several status effects with its attacks, so some resistance against the most dangerous of them (Death/Doom and Stagger) is recommended.

In contrast to Laurelin, Telperion will use powerful multi-target debuffs to cripple your party's defensive capabilities; these will only be cast on the second action. Stay on top of your buffs and make use of Bless and Morale to block statuses and defensive debuffs respectively.

Offensively, Fire, Holy and Bio are strong choices. All of them work well and can be boosted by inflicting Dry, Curse and Tired respectively. Curse and Weaken are also helpful for their stat debuffs, especially since Telperion has no way to clear status effects or buff itself. However, Tired is only relevant to boost Bio damage since Telperion is immune to both Accuracy and Evade debuffs.

Virus Strategy

Between a severe weakness to Bio damage and an inability to cure its own ailments, Telperion is immensely vulnerable to a Virus-based strategy.

This is a fairly standard Virus strategy - give the characters on the front line Virus or Bio immunity, use the Beholding Eye or the Biohazard Blaster to apply Virus, add Poison and Tired to amplify the damage further, then play defensively until the statuses do their work. Assuming the player battles Telperion when it first becomes available, they should use the Surgical Mask and Gas Mask to provide Virus immunity to the other two players; if the player waits until later in the game, the Tentacle Flair can act as an additional source of Virus and Poison (especially combined with Anna's Combo Shot and Arrow Rain). Give everyone gear that improves their defenses, ailment infliction, and buffs; while dealing extra damage is nice, the goal of this strategy is to wait out the fight.

In terms of spreading Virus, Lance will likely be the main attacker, since Biohazard Blaster alone provides enough Bio resistance for him to actually heal himself off of Virus and Poison. In contrast, Natalie's Beholding Eye can greatly benefit the party with its boosted buffs, and its Tentacles unleash can stack Poison along with its on-hit Virus effect.

By casting Encore on the Virus spreader and attacking twice, one can get a high number of Virus stacks on the first turn alone. Afterwards, have everyone focus on applying Poison, Tired and optionally Burn. With 9 stacks of both Virus and Poison, along with Tired's Bio damage boost, Telperion will be taking about 26% of its maximum HP in damage every round, which can be doubled by applying Invisible with the Dark Tooth or Obsidian Staff.

Summon

"*the cats still believe that their empire will rise again, but are willing to compromise and live in shame until then*"

―Telperion and its cats when summoned
This boss can be captured to be used as a summon. When summoned Telperion casts a powered up version of Unholy Ritual that inflicts maximum Curse stacks.

	Telperion							SP
	Hits all foes with incredibly powerful dark magic, which curses them.							112	Cured
Target	Power	Type	Element	Status Effect			Acc	Crit	RdF
All	380		100%	100%	9x		150%	10%	10%
Note: Before the v2 update, cost 123 SP instead.

Trivia

• Telperion and Laurelin are named after the Two Trees of Valinor in J.R.R. Tolkien's writings.