Welcome back to the world of Erion as we start the second part of the Odin Sphere Lefithrasir character guides, this time featuring Cornelius the Pooka Prince.
Despite being the second character people will get to play as, Cornelius' story takes place before Gwendolyn's even begins. However, don't let the chronology trick you into believing that things will get any easier. The action picks up right from the start, with the game introducing players — both new and old — to a brand new mechanic: the use of potions to interact with stage obstacles.
Fortunately, you won't be going in alone. Here are the essential things to know about Cornelius the Pooka Prince.
Starting Stats
HP: 120 PP: 15
STR: 17 DEX: 12 ATK: 12
CON: 17 LUC: 11 DEF: 0
Breakdown
Cornelius' defining traits are his speed and small size. His speed allows him to quickly move around the battlefield before he finds himself surrounded by multiple enemies or promptly eliminate weakened enemies/high-priority targets before they become a problem. On the other hand, his size allows him to avoid an assortment of attacks without the need to block or evade. Unfortunately, that size does come at a price: he also has low range, making it hard for him to reach certain enemies who like to stay up in the air.
Between his skills and spells, the former is definitely Cornelius' strong suit. He has four primary spin attacks, with each offering its own brand of utility, such as racking up damage or evading enemy attacks. These skills come with added bonuses as well: the spinning makes Cornelius nearly impervious to generic projectiles, allowing him to either reflect them or nullify them entirely, and each one of these attacks deal multiple hits, making them synergize quite well with his Assault High skill.
Though Cornelius' strong point is definitely his assortment of spin attacks, his spells are nothing to sneeze at. Whereas Gwendolyn has ice spells, Cornelius uses lightning spells, however, both serve the same purpose: crowd control. Upon making contact with an opponent, certain lightning spells will have a chance to stun enemies, making them more susceptible to being launched. Unfortunately, much like with being frozen, enemies gain an increased resistance to stun on higher difficulty levels, so you might find yourself having to use multiple spells just to stun a single foe.
In addition, Cornelius is balanced in both POW and PP — which is fortunate, since he'll be relying on both in combat (skills for damage and spells for utility/crowd control).
Interestingly, despite Cornelius gaining several passives that increase his effectiveness on the ground (movement, damage, etc.), aerial combos are his go-to for dealing damage. Even without Aerial Force, between his spin attacks and spells, it's easy for Cornelius to tear through large chunks of a boss' health by juggling them after a successful stagger — a quality that is extremely useful in higher difficulties.
Lastly, there's Caladbolg, Cornelius' ultimate attack. It doesn't have anything that makes it stand out like Gwendolyn's Gungnir, but it's strong nonetheless and doesn't have as much recovery time after execution, so feel free to use it when looking to pile on extra damage against a group of stronger foes.
Recommended Skills/Spells
In the end, players will need to level up all of Cornelius' abilities — both active and passive — in order to maximize his stats, but some of them are better than others and should be prioritized. Here's what they are:
Spiral Claw (Active): Cornelius' bread and butter, great for piling on extra damage, locking enemies down and synergizes well with Assault High and Skill Link. It loses effectiveness in higher difficulties when enemies gain an increased resistance to stagger, but it still shines during aerial combos.
Spark Bolt (Active): This is the spell you'll find yourself using more often than not. It's his first spell, so it doesn't cost much, and it can stun enemies, opening them up to further attacks. As a bonus, the spell is great for extending aerial combos — after using Spiral Claw once or twice, fall to the floor and use Spark Bolt to cause the enemy to be suspended in the air momentarily. At that point, you can hit them a few times with regular attacks to let your POW gauge recover before launching them in the air again.
Arc Wheel (Active): This skill is Cornelius' anti-air attack — something he needs desperately due to his small size. You could just jump to reach aerial enemies, but once the projectiles come flying in, it's safer to use this move to deflect/nullify them while reaching a higher elevation. With that in mind, it's not necessary to level the skill up entirely, but you'll be using it often, so why not?
Whirling Blade (Active): Cornelius' go-to attack for AOE. Everything around him will get sucked in and hit for lots of damage, and due to the nature of the attack, projectiles can be reflected/nullified for added damage/defense. What's more, enemies who get hit by the final part of the attack will get bounced off the side of the screen, allowing Cornelius to get a few easy hits in if he's close enough.
Streak Slash (Active): Just like with Gwendolyn's Beak Drive, this skill is mainly used for getting behind a boss before it can launch a frontal attack. Just like with Beak Drive, being placed behind an opponent will allow further attacks to proc her Backstab skill for extra damage. At higher levels, the skill produces additional blade effects and increases the chances of enemies being knocked up in the air.
Plasma Circle (Active): Cornelius' other spell that will see frequent use. This one creates multiple orbs of electricity around Cornelius, giving him an indirect damage boost. As an added bonus, these orbs can be used defensively, with each possessing the ability to protect Cornelius from certain projectiles.
Skill Link (Passive): Allows Cornelius to deal more damage to enemies based on how many skills he uses in a combo. Self-explanatory.
Stun Enhancement (Passive): Makes all stun effects caused by Cornelius' spells last longer.
Stun Striker (Passive): Allows Cornelius to deal more damage to stunned enemies. Since Cornelius should strive to stun enemies before comboing, getting this skill is a no-brainer.
Assault High (Passive): Allowing Cornelius to deal more damage the longer his combos last, this is particularly good, since all of his main attacks have multiple hits.
Beatdown (Passive): Lets Cornelius deal more damage to foes who are downed, i.e. slumped over on the ground. Self-explanatory.
Skill/Recipe Locations
Now that you have an idea of what skills you should be using, here's a set of maps (found on wikisp, edited thereafter) to help you find them. As an added bonus, the locations of alchemy and food recipes have also been listed.
Key: S = Starting Point, B = Battle Stage, R = Rest Area, H = Hidden Room, Boss = Boss Room
Chapter 1:
Spiral Claw – B2
Arc Wheel – H, look for a purple crevice in the background of the room before the boss and examine it.
Spark Bolt – Clear Chapter 1
Chapter 2:
Whirling Blade – B5
Pain Killer – B7
Assault High – H, in the room with the flying dwarves (after B7), go to the top-left then drop down to the middle, before heading left again
Plasma Circle – Clear Chapter 2
Chapter 3:
Churro – B2 (eat three times to unlock Chocolate Churro)
Pot-au-feu – Vendor
Thundercloud – B3
Inventory Expansion – B5
Spiral Fall – B9
Toxin – B10
Streak Slash – Clear Chapter 3
Chapter 4:
Ice Spirits – B2
French Onion Soup – Vendor
Gnocchi – In a treasure chest in the right-most room before heading down (eat three times to unlock Tricolor Gnocchi)
Reverse Claw – B3
Cheesecake – B9
Inventory Expansion – B11
Crepe – In a treasure chest in the room that leads to the hidden room
Skill Link – H, go to the room after B11 and head right on the mid-right cliff
Stun Enhancement – Clear Chapter 4
Chapter 5:
Tempest – B2
Lucky Mix – B6
Seafood Salad – B9 (eat three times to unlock Mulberry Seafood Salad)
Inventory Expansion – B11
Lightning Saber – H, examine the area on top of the giant vase in the second-to-last room
Stun Striker – Clear Chapter 5
Chapter 6:
Critical Heal – H, go to the room after B1 and drop down in front of the area where the lava is dripping down
Fire Spirits – B3
Brave Hurl – B7
Steak Tartare – B9
Inventory Expansion – B10
Strike Ray – Clear Chapter 6
Epilogue:
Caladbolg – B5
Floating Island – Vendor
Volcano – B3
Chips Salad – H, Blow up the wall in the room between B8 and B11
Metamorphosis – B9
Beatdown – Get the key in the room to the left of B3 by swinging your weapon above the ladder, then use it to open the door in the room before the final boss
Mega Spark – Epilogue Clear
There it is — everything you need to say with 100 percent certainty that you've obtained all the skills and food/alchemy recipes with Cornelius. To this point, we had the fortune of using two characters who play similarly to one another back-to-back. However, the upcoming three characters will change that in a big way, and the first among them is Mercedes, the Fairy Queen, who is coming up next.
