Visions of Mana: How to defeat Mantis Ant

Visions of Mana brings back a classic Secret of Mana boss: Mantis Ant! The first boss of the classic SNES game, it comes back in the Mt. Gala region of the latest entry into this classic RPG series. While not the first boss of the game, one could argue that Mantis Ant is the first true boss - the one with any actual challenge to it. This fight also teaches you the value of targeting an enemy's weak points.

Thankfully, you won’t have to grind too hard to face this boss. If you’ve been taking the time to fight optional Nemeses battles, such as Tangoing Matsootaken, that will go a long way toward being ready. These optional fights give lots of exp and Lucre (gold), so you can stay at a decent level and be ready for Visions of Mana’s Mantis Ant fight.

Let's find out how to defeat the Mantis Ant in Visions of Mana.

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How to beat Visions of Mana’s Mantis Ant boss

The bio menu for the Mantis Ant fight (Image via Square Enix)

Mantis Ant is Level 7 in Visions of Mana and has a few dangerous attacks. It’s Weak to Bludgeoning Weapons and Wind Magic and is Resistant to Earth Magic. At this point, you have Val and Careena, with Hinna as a guest character. She can help you heal but don’t rely entirely on her. Make sure you have solid MP recovery items (Acorns) and HP restoratives (Candy, Chocolate) in the Item Ring.

This boss is massive and will likely open up by doing a huge AOE stomp attack. Dash and jump away from it to avoid the damage. Its primary melee attacks swing down and are relatively easy to evade. Also, its attacks are slow.

However, Mantis Ant can charge a strike (yellow glow to the blade), which will then send out Dragon Ball Z-style Destructo Discs. They move slowly, allowing you to easily evade them. It will likely follow this up with a stomp, so stay on the move.

Stay behind it as long as you can (Image via Square Enix)

Val will give the player a clue about this boss’s weak spot, too - the hindquarters. You can target both legs and the backside of the boss, where all the crystals are. The back side is the weak spot, so hammer away at it. Hitting a weak spot is an automatic critical, so take advantage.

What also makes Mantis Ant so dangerous in Visions of Mana is how easily he combines attacks. For example, he’s likely to drop a huge Poison Cloud on the ground and then hunch over to drop many AOE Earth Missiles. Try to avoid getting caught in this attack.

Continue moving and don't get pierced! (Image via Square Enix)

Mantis Ant will likely jump back to the center of the battlefield around 75% and start throwing more Destructo Discs. While they may be slow, evade them. Also, stay behind Mantis Ant at all times and keep hitting its weak point.

At 50%, it hunched over, seemingly stunned. It was likely due to us spending so much time working on the weak point - this was about the time we got the trophy for Fracturing a Weak Point of an enemy.

Once this ended, the boss began to glow red, and all of its attacks got faster. It didn’t introduce anything new, but everything was sped up. Victory earns you 300 Lucre, 1650 EXP, and the Mantis Ant Corestone.

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Visions of Mana releases on August 29, 2024, for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. You can find our in-depth review of Square Enix’s latest RPG hit here.