OMORI ROUTE, Part 6: ONE MORE DAY - BOSS RUSH

MAIN WALKTHROUGH

A special end-game feature of the OMORI ROUTE, BOSS RUSH is one of the final challenges you're likely to complete in OMORI. Run by BOSS, the BOSS RUSH pits your team against a gauntlet of former bosses, and your objective is to defeat them all before your own team falls. Given the sheer number of bosses you need to face completing the BOSS RUSH is one of the most daunting tasks found in OMORI.

There are a few rules to BOSS RUSH:

  • You earn no EXP or CLAMS during BOSS RUSH.
  • The string of bosses is continuous. At no point can you stop, heal, and / or reequip your party. (Though one fight is a 'gimme' that gives you a chance to recuperate.)
  • Being defeated does not result in a GAME OVER, though you do need to start again from the first boss.
  • Only the mandatory bosses are included in BOSS RUSH. This does not include bosses from outside HEADSPACE, such as the SOMETHINGS.

It's a long, grueling process, and should only be undertaken by the strongest of parties. Think you have what it takes?

Even if you do, there's one more thing to note before you jump into the fights. Sitting on the west side of the BOSS RUSH lobby is a MAILBOX. This is likely the best MAILBOX in the game, as it sells a ton of high-level items that can see you all the way through the gauntlet. It's highly advisable to stock up on a bunch of EMOTION-changing items, MELON SMOOTHIES, and WHOLE CHICKENS.

THE OPPONENTS

You'll face a total of twelve battles as you make your way through BOSS RUSH. Their tactics are unchanged, though their stats have been beefed up to ensure you can't steamroll your way through the competition with your endgame party. The bosses consist of the following:

  • YE OLD SPROUT: Simple enemy. Pick a weakness and demolish it. HERO can heal as needed.
  • DOWNLOAD WINDOW: Only attacks every couple of turns. You have so many options for debuffing and demolishing it by now that it shouldn't even get a chance to attack.
  • SPACE EX-BOYFRIEND: Not a big deal if you make your hardest hitters HAPPY and hit him with multi-attack SKILLS. Critical hits will have him flying through his ANGRY phases.
  • KING CRAWLER: Barely regains any health when it eats its LOST SPROUT MOLE snacks, so you can pretty safely focus on the monster itself. SAD is good for this fight once KING CRAWLER is HAPPY.
  • SIR MAXIMUS, SIR MAXIMUS II, SIR MAXIMUS III: Yes, you fight all three at once this time, and they're surprisingly dangerous if they manage to get off critical hits - which they often do. Make sure you have advantageous EMOTIONS applied to your team so they can't hit you too hard. Don't kill them all at once, as they always use their 'ultimate attack' against your whole party just before they collapse.
  • LIFE JAM GUY: Gives you three free samples of LIFE JAM before ending the battle. This is your chance to heal your team.
  • SWEETHEART: Does a lot of damage swinging her mace each turn, and it only gets worse as she becomes HAPPIER. Reduce her ATTACK early on and consider making a few of your characters SAD so they take less damage.
  • MR. JAWSUM: Leaves the work to his GATOR GUYS. Take out the first two GATOR GUYS, then have KEL and OMORI take out any that JAWSUM summons. AUBREY and HERO can do the damage to JAWSUM once he's vulnerable.

  • PLUTO (EXPANDED): Hits hard, and gets worse over the course of the fight. Debuff him thoroughly at the start, make him SAD to further reduce his damage output, then ENRAGE your characters and go to town.
  • SLIME GIRLS: Make them SAD to deaden their attacks so their chainsaw triple-hit can't take out OMORI. Make sure everyone's JUICE stays high so when they flip your HEART and JUICE you're not left terribly vulnerable. Same goes for their ultimate attack as the girls get low on health. Likely the most dangerous fight in BOSS RUSH.
  • HUMPHREY: The same three-part fight as before. Make HUMPHREY'S three stages SAD, ENRAGE your characters, and hit every enemy once they're debuffed. Keep HERO on healing duty once you reach HUMPHREY'S final form. This fight takes a while, but if you can get past the SLIME GIRLS beating HUMPHREY shouldn't be that bad.

Losing in BOSS RUSH will prompt BOSS to display a PARTICIPATION RIBBON in the lobby of BOSS RUSH. If you manage to make it to at least the three SIR MAXIMUSES and win BOSS will display a COOL TROPHY. Reach PLUTO (EXPANDED) and win and BOSS will display a COOLER TROPHY. Reach HUMPHREY and win and BOSS will display a COOLEST TROPHY. You'll also receive an achievement for defeating HUMPHREY, because that's the final battle of BOSS RUSH. Congrats! 

Speak to MARI once you win. She'll give you MARI'S COOKIE by way of congratulations. MARI'S COOKIE is a single-use consumable that grants the eater +10 to all of their stats. It's a very powerful item that you only get once, so choose the lucky recipient wisely. (Though you should probably give it to OMORI if you're playing on a console, because...)

BASIL

If you're playing the console version of OMORI you can unlock a special version of BOSS RUSH by attempting it once. Speak to BASIL and the team will rope him into trying the mode out with OMORI. For the duration of the BOSS RUSH BASIL will become a playable character, matching OMORI'S level of strength, and he and OMORI will have to fight the lineup of bosses on their own.

BASIL has a complement of unique moves that make him a very powerful companion for OMORI:

  • CHEER: Restores 20% of BASIL and OMORI'S JUICE and increases ATTACK if BASIL is feeling any EMOTION. Excellent for the longevity of your party if you don't have many items.
  • HERBAL REMEDY: Restores 75% of a character's HEART and increases ENERGY by 1. A must-have move.
  • PHOTOGRAPH: Reduces HIT rate of all foes, and they all target BASIL for one turn. Useful, but there are better SKILLS in his repertoire.
  • BODY SLAM: Inflicts damage that increases with more ENERGY. He has a better offensive move.
  • TULIP: Inflicts damage on all foes based on OMORI'S stats. Decent, but there are better moves.
  • GLADIOLUS: Inflicts heavy damage that ignores DEFENSE and always hits in the HEART. Quite powerful, but BASIL still has a better attack move.
  • CACTUS: Inflicts damage based on BASIL'S defense and HEART rather than his ATTACK. Keep going...
  • ROSE: Goes off first, healing everyone's HEART by 40% while reducing the ATTACK stat of every enemy. You don't have many options for reducing ATTACK with just OMORI and BASIL, so ROSE is a fantastic move.
  • FLOWER CROWN: Inflicts heavy damage to one target four times. This is BASIL'S primary damage-dealing move, and is basically the same as OMORI'S RED HANDS. You should absolutely equip this on BASIL.

BASIL also has three FOLLOW-UPS with OMORI, all of which are very useful, and somewhat negate the need for items that change their EMOTIONS:

  • VENT: Attacks an enemy twice, and BASIL and OMORI both become ANGRY.
  • MULL: BASIL and OMORI both regain 25% of their JUICE, and both boys become SAD.
  • COMFORT: BASIL and OMORI both regain 25% of their HEART, and both boys become HAPPY.

All of this makes BASIL perhaps the most powerful - definitely the most versatile - character in the game, making up for the absence of KEL, AUBREY, and HERO in your battle party. Which SKILLS you equip on BASIL is up to you, though HERBAL REMEDY and FLOWER CROWN should always be a part of his moveset, given how powerful they are. CHEER and ROSE are also strong choices for their buffing / debuffing effects.

Facing down the BOSS RUSH with only two characters is harder than with four, no doubt, though the raw power of BASIL makes it a bit easier than you might think. Choose one of the boys to handle healing duties while the other stays on the offensive. Given his SKILLS, BASIL is more likely to handle healing and buffing while OMORI attacks every round. If you end a turn with OMORI and BASIL doing well on their health, switch BASIL to attacking. Between RED HANDS and FLOWER CROWN - especially if the boys are HAPPY and inflicting critical hits - you can chew up bosses pretty quickly. Note that both OMORI and BASIL can reach third-tier levels of EMOTIONS, allowing their attacks to really demolish the opposition.

In the normal mode BOSS RUSH ends with the battle against HUMPHREY. Once BASIL is on your team, however...

KEL, AUBREY, and HERO

Whaaaaaat is this? Yep, you have to fight your buddies. (Or... versions of them. The real things watch from the sidelines.) KEL, AUBREY, and HERO are weaker versions of their normal selves, but they share almost all of the same SKILLS - and they will use them all on you. This battle gets chaotic early, and stays chaotic until you've managed to defeat at least one member of the trio. Most of the time they don't hit especially hard, but adding up all the punishment over time can leave you struggling to keep up.

The greatest danger in this fight is KEL, as he combines FLEX with a normal attack to absolutely demolish one of your characters (typically BASIL) with a single hit. You can't survive this attack, so hopefully you have a DINO JAM handy that OMORI can use to bring KEL back. Beyond that your strategy is simple enough: Debuff the heck out of KEL, AUBREY, and HERO at the beginning of the fight, hit them hard with RED HANDS and FLOWER CROWN whenever your health is high, and heal via BASIL'S SKILLS or WHOLE CHICKENS whenever your health is low. Making your characters SAD will further reduce the damage they take, especially if KEL, AUBREY, and HERO are all HAPPY. Make sure you use OMORI'S RELEASE ENERGY attack at least once so both boys receive HEART and JUICE recovery at the end of their turns. 

Even though HERO is a nuisance thanks to his healing abilities you're still best off targeting KEL first, since he's the most likely to mess with your EMOTIONS. He also has the least amount of health, and will go down the fastest. With KEL gone the battle becomes much more manageable, and you can choose either AUBREY or HERO to go next. AUBREY has more HEART than HERO, so going after her last may make more sense, though she also hits harder than he does, so... go with your gut.

(Don't worry if you lose this fight. Unlike the rest of the BOSS RUSH, you don't have to start over from the beginning. Just try again with a new setup.)

Defeating KEL, AUBREY, and HERO will unlock one final battle in the BOSS RUSH. There's pretty much no way you can lose this one, so we'll leave it a secret. A horrifying, tragic secret. Have fun! Winning this one will permanently end BASIL'S time in BOSS RUSH, so if you want to keep playing as him you may want to reload an older save.