Dark Falz
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Dark Falz is the main antagonist of the story of Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 and the area boss of the Ruins. It caused the explosion which destroyed the Central Dome and killed its inhabitants.
Defeating Dark Falz on certain Section IDs is the only source for a drop of 
Red Ring and is commonly farmed for this reason.
Mechanics/Behavior
The fight against Dark Falz occurs in three phases on Normal difficulty, and four phases on Hard difficulty and above. Upon arriving in the boss arena, begin the battle by approaching the monolith on the other side of the arena.
Darvants
- Note: Sometimes referred to as "Phase 0."
Dozens of Darvants spawn, filling the arena. Select Darvants can be targeted and killed; the rest are invulnerable. Darvants which are targetable appear with normal yellow dots on the minimap, whereas untargetable Darvants have faded yellow dots. The set of Darvants that are targetable will shift periodically. All Darvants deal damage on contact. This phase ends after a set number of Darvants are killed, after which all remaining Darvants die.
Phase 1
Dark Falz itself spawns, riding a huge three-headed beast. It will move around the arena, regularly disgorging Darvants from one of its heads. The Darvants it spawns will head toward one player and swarm around them, dealing damage on contact; these Darvants can be killed fairly easily. Dark Falz will also attack with 
Rafoie, 
Rabarta (potentially inflicting 
Freeze), and Divine Punishment.
During this phase, it is possible to become temporarily trapped against the edge of the arena by Dark Falz. This doesn't deal any damage or prevent attacks against Dark Falz, but it will be impossible to move away from the edge of the arena until Dark Falz shifts position again.
Phase 2
Dark Falz loses its mount and begins hovering around the edge of the arena. In between attacks, it will move to different positions around the edge. It can be attacked while moving or stopped, until it descends slightly to perform its own attacks. On Ultimate difficulty, it moves around the arena much more quickly.
Dark Falz continues to attack primarily with Rafoie from its right arm and Rabarta from its left. Before attacking, Falz raises the corresponding arm, then fires a line of attacks that travel across the arena, bounce off the back wall, and return along the same path. In Ultimate difficulty, three Darvants also spawn around each player, with a movement vector through their associated player. Dark Falz may also slam the ground, inflicting 
Slow on all non-android players, before attacking with Divine Punishment. Finally, Dark Falz will occasionally use a life-draining attack on a single player; this attack heals Dark Falz for a set amount of HP.
Phase 3
- Note: This phase only occurs on Hard difficulty or higher.
The battle arena transforms into a floating ring, with Dark Falz hovering in the center. After randomly swiping at the ring one to three times, it will move to the inner edge of the ring and hover in place for a few seconds before moving to a different spot. After a few such movements, Dark Falz will climb above the arena, make an attack, then cast 
Grants on all players. It will then descend back to the arena and repeat the cycle.
When beginning this phase, Dark Falz initially makes a swipe attack with its arm, dealing a large amount of fixed damage (see table below). It may make one or more of these attacks, switching position each time it does so to target different players.
Every few seconds, Dark Falz will gain an iridescent sheen. For the duration of this effect, Dark Falz is invulnerable to standard weapon damage. Special weapon attacks and techniques can still damage it.
When above the arena, Dark Falz attacks with a barrage of energy orbs which target and follow one player. These orbs also deal fixed damage; however, two orbs may make contact with the player at the same time, dealing double damage.
After Dark Falz reaches half HP, it will forego its initial swipe attack in favor of stealing a random player's soul. While it holds a player's soul, any damage Dark Falz takes is also dealt to the chosen player. If the chosen player dies, Dark Falz can be damaged as normal. After it completes a cycle while holding a soul, Dark Falz returns the soul to the player, then attacks them with a swipe. While holding a soul, after ascending above the arena, Dark Falz will substitute its energy orb attack with 
Megid.
Fixed damage
Many of Dark Falz's attacks do a set amount of damage.
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The rest are elemental attacks with a base damage that is scaled by resistance to that element (EFR, EIC, ELT).
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Megid levels
- Note: In Normal, Hard, and Very Hard difficulties, Megid does not work in boss maps if the attacker is a monster. This is presumed to be a bug in the client.
Strategy
Darvants
Hunters
Hunters should mostly rely on ranged weapons such as Handguns, as the erratic movements of Darvants can interrupt melee weapon attacks that have momentum, and repositioning to dodge Darvants will be easier if you do not need to close distance. The rare handguns 
Master Raven (for male classes) and Last Swan (for female classes) are particularly effective, as a single normal attack's 3-shot burst from these weapons can pick off Darvants quickly with minimal time spent standing still.
If a Force is using 
Gifoie from the center of the arena, focus on picking off Darvants at the edges of the arena that Gifoie doesn't reach.
Rangers
Rangers can be very effective during the Darvant phase. As above with Hunters, relying on ranged weaponry is typically ideal, but the ability to use weapons with unique targeting ranges (e.g. Yasminkov 7000V, Rianov 303SNR-2, or, while risky, the berserk special attack of Heaven Striker) and Shots (though these are much slower and more committal) can enable Rangers to kill multiple Darvants in short amounts of time. If a Ranger is unable to kill a Darvant in one attack, Master Raven and Last Swan are effective options here as well.
As with Hunters, if a Force in the party is using Gifoie from the center of the arena, efforts should be focused on dealing with Darvants at the edges. Rifles or the non-special attacks of Heaven Striker (which have rifle range) are effective for this.
Forces
One of the most effective strategies for Forces to employ is to repeatedly cast Gifoie from the center of the arena, as Darvants will be killed by it as soon as they become vulnerable (if the damage is high enough) or when they are hit by more than one instance. Gifoie's high endlag can leave the player vulnerable to Darvants, but being struck and having that endlag interrupted can actually be beneficial (being knocked down takes longer, but allows you to reposition).
If Gifoie proves ineffective (e.g. damage too low, Darvants swarming in the center), the techniques 
Barta and Grants can be used to strike Darvants from longer distances, with the latter having the advantages of high damage and an inability to miss.
Naturally, as the Force, it is also important to keep an eye on the status of your party members, providing 
Resta to those who sustain multiple attacks from stacked Darvants, 
Reverser if this can't be done in time, and re-applying 
Shifta as necessary. 
Deband is unnecessary throughout the entirety of the fight, as all of Dark Falz's attacks are either fixed-damage or elemental.
Phase 3
Dark Falz's third form can be handled in a number of different ways, as while his attacks are predictable, his movements and invincibility times are erratic. The best strategies to fight through phase three are highly dependent on multiple varying conditions, and are detailed and broken down below.
When the fight begins, Dark Falz will remain idle in the center of the arena for a short time before attacking with his fixed-damage swipe three times:
- All players should anticipate these attacks and restore their health as necessary, and if any member of the party is guaranteed to be killed by this attack, they should immediately group up with someone else who can revive them if they are hit.
Before the swipe attack happens, there is an opening to attack:
- Hunters and Rangers should attack Dark Falz with ranged attacks, advancing forward for attacks from sacrificial Handguns or Mechguns;
- If no Force is present, HUmar, HUnewearl, and RAmarl players should open the fight with
Zalure, as it will greatly speed up the fight. This may require advancing forward to bring Dark Falz into the technique's range. High-level HUnewearls and RAmarls with enough MST may utilize 
Clio to increase Zalure's range.
- If no Force is present, HUmar, HUnewearl, and RAmarl players should open the fight with
- Forces should immediately open the fight by casting Zalure on Dark Falz, as it will greatly speed up the fight.
For all classes, once Dark Falz has performed his three swipes, he will begin moving:
- If Dark Falz is not invincible, attack with the highest-damaging melee weapon if at close range, and the highest-damage ranged weapon at long range;
- If Dark Falz is invincible, determine and proceed as follows:
- If you need to be near your party to receive or provide healing, support, or revival, position yourself to do so;
- If you do not need support and are in no danger of dying, position yourself a medium distance away from your party to minimize collateral damage if you are the target of his next attacks, and to increase the chance that damage can be inflicted regardless of where Dark Falz moves;
- For Forces, if everyone is healthy and appropriately buffed,
Foie can be used to damage Dark Falz during his invincibility, and Foie boosted by items such as Club of Laconium or Summit Moon, 
Ignition Cloak, and Foie Merge or Red Merge is especially effective.
Shortly after moving, Dark Falz will fly to the upper ring of the arena and initiate his homing blue ball attacks, followed by casting Grants on all players:
- For all classes, determine the target of the homing blue ball attack (Dark Falz will face the target directly and track them), and have the target run away from the party to dodge (or be struck by) the attack without it striking any other party members;
- Alternatively for Forces, while Dark Falz is in the air, Gifoie may be stacked from the inner edge of the ring to inflict damage on him immediately as he descends, which is another effective tactic for reducing the duration of the fight. Fire Sceptre: Agni or Magical Piece, as well as Gifoie Merge are effective for increasing this damage.
Dark Falz will repeat the above cycle of using his swipe attacks followed by flying to the upper ring until his health reaches a low enough point. Once this point is reached, Dark Falz will use his soul steal attack on a single player upon descending from the top of the arena.
When the soul steal attack happens, all players should consider the amount of damage the party is able to deal with regard to Dark Falz's remaining health and the total health of the affected player:
- If Dark Falz is not near death:
- ...and the affected player is near the party, Resta can be cast on them repeatedly to continue dealing damage without killing the affected player. If Resta is not sufficient, revive the player upon death and re-apply Shifta as able;
- ...and the affected player is not near the party, allow the player to regroup with the party before proceeding with the above.
- ...and the affected player is near the party,
- If Dark Falz is near death:
- ...and the affected player has more health than Dark Falz, the party is free to attack until Dark Falz is defeated, as ending the fight will be of no threat to the affected player;
- ...and the affected player has less health than Dark Falz, the party should stop attacking until Dark Falz can be damaged enough--without killing the affected player--to bring him into kill range, at which point the party can continue attacking to end the fight.
Hunting
The following quests are recommended for hunting this enemy:
| Category | Quest | Details | Count |
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 VR
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 Towards the Future
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Clear quest | 1 |
| Maximum Attack
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Maximum Attack 4th Stage -1C-
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Clear quest | 1 |
| Maximum Attack E: Episode 1
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Clear quest | 1 |
Rare drops
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| Ultimate | |||||||||
| Red Ring | Red Ring | Red Ring | DF Shield | Rico's Earring | Rico's Glasses | Red Ring | DF Shield | Rico's Earring | Red Ring |
| 1/186 | 1/186 | 1/186 | 1/39.4 | 1/46.5 | 1/46.5 | 1/186 | 1/39.4 | 1/46.5 | 1/186 |
| Episode 1 Monsters | |
|---|---|
| Forest | Rag Rappy (Rare: Al Rappy) • Savage Wolf • Barbarous Wolf • Booma • Gobooma • Gigobooma • Mothmant • Monest • Hildebear (Rare: Hildeblue) |
| Cave | Evil Shark • Pal Shark • Guil Shark • Poison Lily (Rare: Nar Lily) • Nano Dragon • Pan Arms (Hidoom • Migium) • Grass Assassin • Pofuilly Slime (Rare: Pouilly Slime) |
| Mine | Gillchic • Dubchic • Dubwitch • Canadine • Canane • Sinow Beat • Sinow Gold • Garanz |
| Ruins | Dimenian • La Dimenian • So Dimenian • Claw • Bulclaw • Delsaber • Chaos Sorcerer • Dark Belra • Dark Gunner • Chaos Bringer |
| Bosses | Dragon • De Rol Le • Vol Opt • Dark Falz (Darvant) |
