The Octopath Traveler 2 Bandelam boss, also called The Reaper, is a dangerous foe that you will encounter during Hikari Ku’s Chapter 2. In this chapter, you will fight a lot of other dangerous enemies other than Bandelam with Hikari alone.
Bandelam, the Reaper, is a heavily armored individual that wields a large sword in one hand and a shield in the other. Although he can’t spawn any minions, he does use both the sword and the shield to attack you constantly during the fight – and these attacks hit hard!
That said, it won’t be easy to finish off Bandelam in Octopath Traveler 2 without having a proper strategy. Before we move on to the strategy though, you must first locate Bandelam and start a fight with him.
Bandelam location
Early on in Hikari’s Chapter 2, which takes place in Montwise, you will be tasked to find a few of his old friends. The first of these friends is Kazan, but he wants a favor. Kazan pushes Hikari into a ring and forces him to fight the Gladiator.
After finishing the Gladiator, Bandelam will make his first appearance but isn’t ready to fight yet. You will first have to complete a challenge and fight a few more opponents and Zeto the Butcher before finally starting a fight with The Reaper himself.
Bandelam weaknesses
To deal the most damage to the Octopath Traveler 2 Bandelam boss, you will need to exploit his weaknesses. This boss has a total of five of the, three of which are physical weaknesses – Dagger, Axe, and Polearm.
As for Bandelam’s elemental weaknesses, they are Fire and Light. Bandelam tends to lock some of his weaknesses during his fight after each break, so bringing a party that covers an array of his weaknesses is very important to bring to this fight.
Bandelam special attacks
Bandelam has a variety of attacks that hold the potential to one-shot your allies. These attacks include individual-targeted attacks as well as AoE attacks.
| Special Attacks | What They Do |
|---|---|
| Normal Attack | Basic melee sword attack |
| Shield Slam | Targets and stuns 2 party members at once |
| The Reaper | Charged AoE attack that can inflict terror on party members |
| Warrior’s Blade | Buffs boss’s melee attacks and deals lethal damage to an individual party member |
| Behead | Heavy melee attack targeted at a single character |
| Sweep | AoE attack targeting all party members |
| Downward Strike | Debuffs a party member’s physical attack |
| Double Cut | Targets and damages two party members in a single attack |
| Bandelam stands ready | Bandelam shifts his weaknesses |
| Now the real fun begins | Bandelam gains an additional move in a single turn |
How to defeat Bandelam in Octopath Traveler 2
Aside from having a fairly large health pool, Bandelam also hides his weaknesses at multiple points during the fight, which makes it very hard to break through his shields.
Moreover, he has a large number of Shield Points as well. Initially, he starts off the fight with a total of six shields but increases them by two on every break. Combine that with the ability to lock a set of weaknesses at will.
That said, it is vital that you bring along a party that has good physical defense stats and targets an array of Bandelam’s weaknesses. The major part of this fight is to keep an eye on your party’s HP and heal up constantly.
Bandelam can not only target and stun the whole party, potentially one-shotting some of them but can also attack twice in some turns. All of his attacks, however, are melee attacks, so physical defense will be of the most importance here.
The fight will begin with Bandelam attacking your whole party with the Shield Slam Attack, followed by the Reaper attack. It is important that you note the order of the attacks so you can prepare for the next turn.
At first, Bandelam locks his Polearm, Axe, and Light weaknesses, leaving only the Fire and the Dagger ones for you to exploit. Try to focus on these weaknesses and break Bandelam as soon as possible.
When the first break happens, Bandelam will shift weaknesses and lock the Fire and Dagger ones, leaving the others open. He will also now be able to use a few more attacks and get two more Shield Points.
He will still use the Shield Slam followed by The Reaper as well, which you can take on by shifting your party members to the defensive before the attack or buffing up your defenses.
You will now need to exploit the three newly unlocked weaknesses of his to break him again. Once that happens, Bandelam will alternate his weaknesses again and increase the shield count to ten.
Break him again in the same manner and he will shift weaknesses from that point onwards, but won’t increase the number of shields anymore. He will be able to use two attacks in a single turn though, which is very dangerous.
This phase of the fight will start once his HP turns red, and that is the point, the offense will be your top priority, trying to break as fast as possible. Hunter Skills like the Leghold Trap that force the enemy to go last will play a game-changing role here.
Keeping this in mind, try to go all out on Bandelam in the ending stages of the fight so you can end him before he ends you.
Best party for Bandelam
The best party members to bring to the fight against Bandelam are ones that have high physical defense stats and possess attacks that target one or more of Bandelam’s weaknesses.
First off, you will have to bring Hikari into this fight since the boss is encountered in his chapter. He can use the Spear to target one of the weaknesses of this boss, but can also learn other skills in duels. Moreover, he can also use the Vengeful Sword skill which counters 2 different attacks and lowers shield points along with it.
Agnea, in a similar manner, can also prove to be pretty useful in this fight as she can lower Bandelam’s Shield Points despite hidden weaknesses with her Ruinous Kick. She can even use Dagger attacks to target the boss’s weakness.
Although bringing a healer isn’t necessary for this fight if you still plan to bring one, make sure that the character has high defensive stats. Castti can work as a good healer in this fight, being able to withstand Bandelam’s heavy blows.
What else to bring to the fight?
The most important thing you would need in the fight against Bandelam is healing items. Since you won’t be paying much attention to monitoring your BP and SP during this fight, you can completely fill your bag with healing items – especially if you don’t plan to bring along a healer.
In this case, we recommend that you bring along plenty of Healing Grape Bunches and Olives of Life to heal and even revive your party members.
