Visions of Mana: How to beat Tricky Buju

Visions of Mana introduces players to the Nemeses system early, with Tricky Buju. This enemy teaches players about an important system of the game: Nemeses. The Nemeses monsters are named versions of the various monster types found throughout the latest Mana series. They’re more powerful and drop useful Cores that can be used to enhance your skills.

This one might be easier than the other Nemeses to show up in Visions of Mana, but if you’re low-level, don’t underestimate it. Here’s what you need to know about Tricky Buju, the first of the Nemeses' enemies.

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How to find Tricky Buju in Visions of Mana

You will find the first Nemeses right along the main road (Image via Square Enix)

It’s almost impossible to miss Tricky Buju in Visions of Mana - it’s right in the path along the way to the Aery Passage. Shortly after passing the first Meridian (Save Point) of the Charred Passage, halfway through the map, you’ll see a green, glowing Rabite in the way.

The game will then prompt you about the Nemeses system, and how these are more dangerous monsters than what you normally would fight.

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How to defeat Tricky Buju in Visions of Mana

Here's the Encyclopedia Entry on Tricky Buju (Image via Square Enix)

Tricky Buju is a Level 2 Animal in the Charred Passage of Visions of Mana. It has No Weaknesses and is Immune to Wood Magic. While it is low-level, the player is likely only going to be level 3 or 4 by the time they find it - possibly less if they do less exploring and level grinding. We fought it at level 4.

While a relatively unassuming Rabite, it can knock the player back with a series of spinning jump attacks. It has a few basic attacks, such as a few rapid kicks with its adorable little feet, but this fight also teaches the player about another mechanic: Rapid AOE storms. Many fights in the future are going to use this.

Tricky Buju in Visions of Mana can mark several AOE targets on the ground, and after a brief delay, adorable, multi-colored Rabites will begin falling from the sky — being in those circular AOE zones means you’ll start taking damage.

Watch out for the cute, but deadly, Rabite storm (Image via Square Enix)

Thankfully, the attacks that Tricky Buju hits you with aren’t especially powerful. Don’t take this for granted, though - future Nemeses like Tangoing Matsootaken will have no problem putting you to sleep, and then putting your lights out.

Sticking to combos of Light or Heavy Attacks, and the occasional Fireball spell will put Tricky Buju down before long. Fireball is worth using solely for the fact that it can trigger the Burn status effect — dealing constant damage as long as it’s on the enemy. Defeating it will land you 55 Lucre, 166 EXP, and the Tricky Buju Corestone, which can be used as Ability Seed material later in the game.

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The game releases on August 29, 2024, on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC platforms. You can learn more about it in our Visions of Mana in-depth review.