As predicted, Roque won’t go down without a fight. And he’s thrown a train at us in a wild, desperate attempt to rescind the contract. But the law’s the law, and performance is due. Here’s how to beat Steam Tank Obsidian in Octopath Traveler 2.
How to Beat the Steam Tank Obsidian in Octopath Traveler 2
Steam Tank Obsidian is an interesting beast. It’s a megaboss, in that it’s one entity with several components we’ll need to break: Glacis Plate, Smokestack, and the Cannon. Only once all three are destroyed can we gain access to the Steam Tank Obsidian itself. Here’s everything you need to know before the fight starts.
Cannon Stats and Weaknesses
- Shields: 4
- HP: 24,000
- Weaknesses: Sword, Dagger, Ice, Electricity
Smokestack Stats and Weaknesses
- Shields: 5
- HP: 22,000
- Weaknesses: Axe, Fire, Dagger, Lightning
Glacis Plate Stats and Weaknesses
- Shields: 6
- HP: 20,00
- Weaknesses: Sword, Axe, Staff, Fire, Ice
Smokestack Obsidian Stats and Weaknesses
- Shields: 40 (starts), 10 (after the rest of the train is destroyed)
- HP: 70,000
- Weaknesses: Polearm, Bow, Darkness
Before we even start, this is a tough fight. The train and each of its components hit hard. Breaking one part of it will likely lead to the Steam Tank using Emergency Maintenance in order to repair the broken part’s shields. This is also a boss that uses plenty of party-hitting moves (with debuffs like poison) and can insta-kill.
What I’m saying is you shouldn’t take it lightly.
Accessories to consider are Fire Resistance and Poison Resistance accessories and ensuring that your team is equipped with the best armor you can afford. It’s a great idea to have at least two characters that can heal and both to have the passive ability to revive upon being killed. In fact, go through to make sure all your characters have abilities that either 1) maximize their damage or 2) help them stay alive. It’s easy to neglect these passives, but they’re instrumental in difficult boss fights.
My favorite passive skills for this battle were:
- Hale and Hearty (Apothecary) – grant a character 500 HP.
- Rise Again (Cleric) – The equipping character will recover 25% of their max HP once per battle upon being incapacitated.
- Ever Evasive (Dancer) – Enables the equipping character to more easily evade enemy attacks.
- Salt in the Wound (Hunter) – The equipping character has a 50% chance of acting twice when breaking a foe. This will not trigger in succession.
- Hang Tough (Merchant) – When the equipping character is not near death, otherwise lethal attacks will instead leave them with 1 HP.
Hang Tough was particularly essential for my healer and glass cannons.
Jobs to consider are Apothecary, for the ability to both revive, heal, and use Axes, an extremely useful weapon for this fight. Additionally, with Dohter’s Charity, the Apothecary can clear Blindness and Poison. Both of which are debuffs you’re almost guaranteed to be afflicted by. Cleric is also a good idea for the final stretch of the boss fight, as your entire party will receive around 2,000 damage each round.
The Armsmaster, for the ability to both take a punch and use Sixfold Strike, a move that will hit random enemies six times with all six physical weapons. This is excellent at the start of the battle when you’re attempting to lower shields. Similarly, a Scholar is good because of their ability to use party-hitting elemental moves.
But for the final stage of the fight, you’ll want a Hunter for their ability to use Precise Shot and Draefendi’s Bow. The ability to hit an enemy with a bow multiple times will be extremely helpful when breaking Steam Tank Obsidian’s shields. Alternatively, you can opt for Hikari if he’s learned a multi-hit polearm or bow move.
Related: How to Easily Coerce in Octopath Traveler 2
The best strategy to take is to try to break multiple parts of the train in one go, prioritizing the Glacis Plate and the Smokestack, as they have the lowest health. The Smokestack can resummon these components, but you’ll have a few turns before that happens. But don’t take the Cannon lightly. When it attacks, it will do over 3000 damage. It’s impossible to know who it will target, but have one character prepared to revive and heal as necessary on the side.
Or you can skip the mess and just use one of Partitio’s best abilities: Hired Help. By breaking at least two of Steam Tank Obsidian’s parts, you’ll essentially be able to destroy the Glacis Plate, Smokestack, and Cannon with a x3 BP Hired Help for 30,000 leaves. You’ve already spent 80 billion, so what’s 30,000 in the grand scheme of things?
If you choose not to go for this strategy, expect a long and difficult fight. The only positive is that, unlike Thurstone, Steam Tank Obsidian will continue to take damage from the area of effect moves, even while his weaknesses are guarded.
But once Plate, Smokestack, and Cannon are broken, the Steam Tank Obsidian’s 40 shields will reduce to 10. Its weaknesses, Polearm, Bow, and Darkness will be revealed.
It will begin to use the attack Roll Out, an attack that hits one party member for around 800 damage, or Steam Whistle, a team-hit attack that will do around 600 damage. While you’re fighting Steam Tank Obsidian, this is your time to get your party back in order. Heal up your SP, get your HP back to where it needs to be. That’s because once Steam Tank Obsidian goes below 30,000 HP you’ll get a little dialogue exchange between Roque and Partitio. After they conclude their chat, Steam Tank Obsidian will use Repairs, and the rest of the train will respawn. Yes, Glacis Plate, the Cannon, and Smokestack will all appear again.
Use the same strategy that helped you destroy them in the first round. Once you’ve destroyed all three, you’ll have access to Steam Tank Obsidian again. At this point, you should only have around 10,000 – 15,000 HP more to go.
Steam Tank Obsidian may begin to use Run Away Train, its charge move. This is a good time to have your party defend, as this is a party hit move that will do over 1000 damage. Once this move triggers for the first time, the train will use Full Steam Ahead for every move. Each attack will hit all party members for 1000 damage. It will frequently attack twice in a row, meaning you can expect 2000 damage.
Just whittle away at its shields, then blow it up with as many fully stacked BP power moves and latent abilities as you can.
When it finally goes down, you’ll receive 28,000 leaves, 1920 EXP, and 600 JP for your trouble. It was a long fight, but you did it!
If you could use a few more levels, check out our Cait Farming Guide here!
