Erazor Djinn (boss)

The Erazor Djini is the boss of  Night Palace  in ''Sonic and the Secret Rings. ''

Attacks

 * 1) Vertical Slash: He will spin his blade while chasing you from left or right. After he is done spinning, he will wield his blade vertically and slash straight down in a vertical line (normally near you).
 * 2) < Slash: He will spin his blade. After he is done spinning, he will wield his blade semi-vertically and slash in a < shape. Unlike the Vertical Slash, he doesn't chase you around so accurately.
 * 3) L Slash: He will head to the left side of the screen, spin his blade, wield it vertically, slash down vertically, and then slash to the right hitting the entire bottom screen. This attack leads him wide open for a homing attack on the head.
 * 4) Z Slash: When you have hit him a number of times, he will start using this attack. He will go to the middle of the screen and slash a total of three times to form a Z shape. If you jump after his second attack, you can home attack his head.
 * 5) Duel: The camera will change its view. You now have to hold down the 2 button and wait till Erazor moves forward in order to release and attack him when the lock-on appears.

Pattern
This boss uses the same attacks in the same pattern unlike all the other bosses. He only uses this specific pattern if you hit him every opportunity you get (i.e. 3 hits on his head each time):

< Slash

Vertical Slash

L Slash (Hit him 3 times)

Vertical Slash + Vertical Slash

Duel (Hit him for 6 damage)

Vertical Slash

L Slash (Hit him 3 times)

Vertical Slash + < Slash

Vertical Slash

Z Slash (Hit him 3 times)

Vertical Slash + < Slash + Vertical Slash

Z Slash (Hit him 3 times)

Vertical Slash + Vertical Slash + < Slash

L Slash (Hit him 3 times)

< Slash + < Slash

Z Slash (Hit him 3 times)

After the pattern above, you will need to hit him at least one more time, so just dodge and wait for the final strike.

Strategy
This battle is fought like the bosses before the Ifrit Golem, only the actual battle isn't quite as linear. This battle also consists of really spaced out Rich Rings and Rich Pearls, so try to conserve every item you obtain to maintain health and use Time Break when necessary. It is easy to miss hits in this battle, so I won't go into full detail of the battle in this strategy section, just simply tell how to dodge and attack.

Phase 1
This battle starts out with some Rich Pearls and a Rich Ring in front, so get them. Erazor always starts out by using his < Slash, simply move to the right in order to dodge. Erazor will then teleport to the back and later teleport in front of you again to use a Vertical Slash; you can move left or right respectively to dodge this attack. Erazor's third attack is the L Slash; he will move all the way to the left side of the screen and use an L shaped slash on you that hits the entire bottom screen; dodge by charge jumping, wait till a red lock-on appears on Erazor's head, and use the homing attack on him. Try to hit him a total of 3 times!

After you hit Erazor, his next attacks will be two Vertical Slashes in a row, so move left or right to dodge. After dodging, Erazor will teleport to the back and eventually the screen/camera will change views on you and Erazor; you have now reached the "duel" phase. What you must do is Charge a jump by holding the 2 button. Look at the bottom of the screen after Erazor stops blabbing to see some text in parenthesis or dialouge from Sonic. Release the 2 button the minute this text goes away in order to have Sonic jump; Erazor should charge forward right after. Wait for a red lock-on to appear on Erazor, then use the homing attack to damage him severly (6 HP of damage).

After the "Duel phase", the screen will change back to normal. Erazor's next attack will be a Vertical Slash, so dodge. Continue dodging Erazor's attacks and attacking him whenever you can do so. He will also start using his Z Slash from here on; he will move to the middle of the screen and use a Z-shaped slash. Dodge this by charge jumping after his second slash (you should be on the right side of the screen before dodging). After dodging, wait for a red lock-on and try to hit him 3 times on the head.

After hitting Erazor 6 times (for 15 damage in total) after the previous "Duel Phase", he will reach his Phase 2.

Phase 2
The only real changes in Phase 2 are that the speed of Erazor's attacks increase by a lot and he now uses 3 hit combos. Another really important thing to note is that the red lock-ons that appear on his head after he uses the attacks that leave him vulnerable (the L and Z Slashes) take longer to appear, so you have to stay in the air after a charge jump for a while until it appears (i.e. don't be impatient and use a homing attack immediatly after you jump, you will miss).

If you have successfully hit Erazor at every given opportunity (3 times everytime on his head and once during the duel phase), then you can use the pattern section above to figure out his attacks. If you missed any attacks, simply try to dodge all of his attacks and hit him 10 more times to defeat him.

How to get Gold Rank
Helpful skill(s): H-Mega Expand, Homing Recovery, Quick High Step, Super/Hyper Speed-Up, H/S-Pearl Collector, and Hyper Surge (optional).

Gold Rank tips:


 * 1) The easiest way to do a speed run against Erazor (and Gold Rank him) is by using Time Break before he uses the L or Z Slash. To have this strategy work, equip Hyper Surge (only if you want to because it is unnecessary) to make the movement during Time Break much smoother; equip H/S-Pearl Collector to attract all those Rich Pearls around and charge the Soul Gauge faster; equip Super/Hyper Speed-Up to have Sonic move fast enough to reach the pearls faster; and equip Homing Recovery to hit Erazor MULTIPLE times. To have this strategy work, wait till Erazor uses his L or Z Slash and use Time Break before he unleashes his attack; remember to charge your jump as well. When you jump at the right moment, wait till the red lock-on appears on Erazor (while in Time Break) and then attack. During Time Break, the red lock-on stays there for much longer and gives you more opportunities to hit Erazor, so if you have Homing Recovery equipped, you can hit Erazor 7+ times (you have to wait for the red lock-on to appear at times though) and defeat him fast enough to get a Gold Rank!
 * 2) It is always wise to have H-Mega Expand equipped. During his "Duel" attack, when he charges at you, your homing attack will have better range thanks to H-Mega Expand and thus make the red lock-on appear at a greater distance (which makes it easy to hit him during this duel phase).
 * 3) Quick High Step is always a great skill to have equipped during this boss battle because it makes left and right movements much smoother (which makes dodging his attacks VERY easy).
 * 4) You can also get a Gold Rank by simply following the pattern section above and hitting Erazor at every given opportunity (at least 3 times on his head each time and not failing during the "duel phase").