The easy way to earn XP and mini medals in Dragon Quest Heroes

And tips for those final bosses

Dragon Quest Heroes made my weekend disappear.

I had already invested enough time in finishing all of the side quests that I figured I might as well strive for full completion, but a few optional bosses stood in the way. They are absurdly difficult unless you’re at a high level (my whole group was in the mid-80s or above) and have the right mix of equipment. Even then, it’s a struggle. You’re going to need grind.

Thankfully, there are ways to quickly earn XP and the pain-in-the-ass rare currency, mini medals.

For leveling, you will want the Magnetic Necklace (earned by finishing Maya’s quests, the first of which is called The First Dance) to attract metal slimes. They’re hard to hit and quick to run away, but offer loads of XP. The map “Arba Town – Hero” is your best bet for finding them.

Head to that level and zoom around to the different nodes. Doing so will cause a group of enemies to spawn and a metal slime may be among them — if not, zoom to the next location. Once you’ve done that everywhere, select “Evac” from the start menu and try again.

If you’re struggling to kill metal slimes before they flee, try to land a critical attack. One should be enough. There are items that increase those odds, like the Raging Ruby, which is also used in mini medal grinding. You can also try raising the Deftness stat in your characters’ skill trees.

For farming mini medals, there is a very specific approach as outlined in this video.

To recap, you will want Bianca outfitted with a Raging Ruby (lower damage, more criticals +5%), Ace of Spoils (extra spoils +10%), and Allure Ring (mini medal drop rate +2%). That last item is the most important one, and it’s earned from the Yangus and Jessica quest line.

With Bianca in your party, head to the “Caliburgh – Captain” map. Zoom to the Geargate warp and look for a group of red she-slimes. Swap to Bianca and use her R1 + Triangle attack, which launches a volley of homing arrows (note: you don’t need to charge this move — just press triangle once!). Keep using that attack until the enemies in that area are all dead, and then walk back the way you came to force the group to respawn. You’ll do this over and over again and wrack up mini medals as well as some bonus XP and gold. This method is a slog, but it’s by far the best option.

If you’re having trouble maintaining Bianca’s mana, in the short term, just evac and start the map again. In the long term, make sure to unlock Powersaver and Critical Surge in her skill tree. She’ll never run out of mana again as long as your attacks don’t repeatedly miss.

A note on new game plus

After the credits roll, you can tie up loose ends or begin a new-game-plus run, though I’d hold off. By starting fresh, you’ll gain 50 skill points, but some of the best weapons and items in the game won’t carry over. Your Battle Records progress for certain trophies won’t transfer, either. It’s inefficient. If you want that Platinum trophy, you can and should stick to a single playthrough.

A note on those ridiculous post-story bosses

Bjorn is the easiest and should be your first target. Shoot him in the head with the turret on the left, and prioritize shooting down his boulder and fireball attacks. Eventually, you’ll be able to hop on his head and stab him in the eyes for a bit.

Nokturnus is no joke. Familiarize yourself with his moves above all else. The best advice I can give is to make sure your characters have Artful Dodger and Ace Evader in their skill trees. Without those upgrades, it’s very hard to avoid his one-hit-kill attack from above.

Atlas is unlocked after you beat all of the Veteran versions of the main story bosses (They’re called Grudge Matches on the level select screen.) He has a stupid amount of hit points, but there’s an easy way to bring him down: Terry! Equip him with a Mighty Armlet (critical hits on weak points +5%), Wrecklace (Coup de Grâce damage +7%), and Titan Belt (damage to weak points +6%).

During the fight, use Terry’s Falcon Slash (R1 + Circle) to create copies, then repeatedly spam Gust Slash (R1 + Square). This will rapidly build up his tension meter, at which point you can become invincible, activate his Coup de Grâce, stun Atlus, then repeat the process. You’ll need to have Terry at a high enough level for him to kill the boss in time, but otherwise it’s easy. (This tactic is super useful in most of the game, by the way.)

Zoma is the biggest jerk of them all. He should be your final target. You won’t win unless you have a high-level party and equipment to offset his magic. I gave my characters a Bunny Tail (reduced freeze time +40%), Lucky Dragon’s Wing (magical resistance +20%), and Raging Ruby (lower damage, more criticals +5%). That finally did the trick.