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Metaphor: ReFantazio

Goborn King, Forest Champion

By
Jarrod Garripoli

As you progress through the story of Metaphor: ReFantazio, you will unlock Bounties, strong monsters that are basically wanted for various reasons. One of the first Bounties you will unlock is for the Goborn King, Forest Champion. You will find this foe to the northeast of Martira, in the Imp’s Den, requiring you to travel there with your gauntlet runner. This page will detail when to get the bounty, where it is, as well as what you have to do to get the Goborn King to appear.

The Goborn King is one of the first bounties you will be able to access.

Goborn King Bounty Location

You won’t be able to get the Goborn King bounty until you reach Martira, the second town in the game. Once you do, there will be a little bit of story, then on 6/29, you’ll have full access to the recruiter, which is where the bounties will be found. There are only two additional bounties available at the start, other than the story-related one, with the Goborn King being the slightly more challenging of the two.

After accepting the bounty, the guy at the recruiter mentions going to the informant at the inn to get some more info. Purchase this and you will get the usual tips and tricks on the location/bounty, like the Goborns having no weaknesses, plus that you can put them to sleep. Also, like with the Belega Corridor, you don’t want anyone equipped with a staff-type weapon, so no Mages or Healers, as the Goborns will get enraged and have more actions per turn. He also mentions giant insects, called Vesps, in the forest, who will be weak to pierce attacks.

(1 of 3) Don’t forget to buy the info for this bounty from the Informant in Martira’s inn.

Once you’re free to go after the bounty, head to your gauntlet runner and access the map from the table there. Choose the Imp’s Den on the map, then you will travel there (can do some work on Bonds/Royal Virtues along the way). At the entrance of the Imp’s Den, make sure you talk with the guard, as he will provide a useful tip when you get to the Goborn King battle itself. Basically, he says to not save the King for last, as he gets stronger, so make sure you keep that in mind.

Imp’s Den Walkthrough

There’s not really much to talk about here with this little dungeon, as it’s pretty open-ended in terms of the structure. Most of the enemies you will find are Goborns, both the basic ones from Belega Corridor, as well as the upgraded Goborn Estos. The normal Goborn Esto can poison you, while the Archer and Manhunter ones are similar to their lesser brethren, although the Archers have an attack that decreases your defense. There are also the Vesps, the giant insects, which will be weak to both Pierce and Wind attacks. As long as you get ambushes on all of the enemies, you should be more than fine. Of course, there are also the Papyros, the moth-looking enemies, which are weak to Pierce, Wind, and Dark.

You will find seven markers on your map, which show the locations for the Hexer Goborn Estos. Only five of these are required to spawn the Goborn King, and you will immediately go into the battle as soon as you defeat the fifth one. That means you want to make sure you’re ready for the Goborn King at that point.

(1 of 3) The Hexer Goborn Estos are the ones you need to defeat to flush out the king.

Goborn King Boss Strategy

When the Goborn King shows up, he will be accompanied by one of each type of the Estos tiers. That means you will be fighting five enemies at once and since you don’t get to ambush him beforehand, things can get a little rough, especially since you have no weaknesses to exploit. Don’t forget about the tip given by the guard at the entrance to this dungeon, as he mentioned that if you save the Goborn King for last, he will become more powerful. So, you will want to defeat all other enemies, except for one, then go after the Goborn King.

Out of all the four other enemies, the least threatening is the Manhunter Goborn Esto, as it simply just attacks a single target. It’s probably for the best to go after the Hexer Goborn Esto first, then the Archer Goborn Esto second, and the normal Goborn Esto third. The Archer can attack your whole party with one of its skills, and the normal one can poison you. Once you have taken out those three enemies, you’ll be left with the Manhunter and the King.

As for the Goborn King, he has access to Matarukaja, which buffs all enemies’ attack power. He will pretty much always keep this up, so the damage you take will be more, but it’s also not him damaging you. With the attack buff, his Giant Slice attack will probably do around 90-100 damage to a single character. He also has Critical Strike, but there is a lower chance of that one connecting. As its name sounds, it will deal critical damage, so the enemies will gain an extra action that turn.

(1 of 3) The Goborn King will use Matarukaja to buff all of the enemies’ attack power.

If you somehow don’t heed the one guard’s warning and leave the Goborn King as the last enemy alive, he will use Unwavering Blade to buff his hit rate and evasion dramatically. This will make the battle much more difficult, since your attacks will miss and you lose actions with that. Thus, it’s a good idea to focus the Goborn King down when you have one other enemy left alive.

For winning this battle, you will receive a new Warrior weapon, the Scrapmetal Slab. You’ll also get the Imp’s Loincloth item to turn into the recruiter, as proof of your deed. Additionally, you will be prompted to either go back to the entrance or continue exploring the forest. You will probably want to fully explore the forest for the rest of the treasures, if you haven’t gotten them all.

Imp’s Den’s Treasures

There aren’t too many items in this short dungeon, with about half of them just being ones you can sell for money. There is a Graced Water towards the southwestern corner, which is used to purify items at the church. The Gritty Weapon is one you could potentially appraise and get a nice new weapon out of it. The biggest prize is definitely the Gold Beetle towards the northwestern corner, so make sure you pick that up while you’re here.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Atlus, Sega
  • Guide Release
    11 October 2024
  • Last Updated
    28 November 2024
    Version History
  • Guide Author

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