After picking up a bounty and making your way to Martira to apprehend the kidnapper in Metaphor: ReFantazio, you will eventually come face to face with the Homo Jaluzo boss. This boss concludes the mystery of Martira's missing people, but it won't be an easy fight and is potentially one of the most unsettling in the entire game.

***Warning: This article contains spoilers for the main story of Metaphor: ReFantazio***

Once you've progressed far enough to realize Heismay is not the kidnapper he's accused of being, you'll begin the city's real dungeon, Kreigante Castle, with Heismay at your side as an ally. As you work your way through the dungeon, you'll be given quick silhouette glimpses of the final boss waiting for you at the end, Homo Jaluzo.

How To Prepare For Homo Jaluzo

Stock Up On Supplies & Prepare Your Archetypes For Weaknesses

Homo Jaluzo is, horrifyingly, the Human baby of Joanna that is responsible for all the missing people of Martira. Though it may not look as immediately intimidating as some of the other bosses in Metaphor: ReFantazio, don't drop your guard. This baby is highly tanky and deals with damaging attacks that are enough to take out the entire party in just a few turns. To give you the best fighting chance, you'll want to make sure you're properly prepared to take advantage of its weaknesses and be aware of your own.

Unfortunately, Homo Jaluzo's actual body does not have any weakness or resistance, so your main priority with that is to worry about dealing the largest amount of damage you can on your turn. Thankfully, however, you will reach a point in the fight where you will be instructed to target the eyes, which do have a weakness. Both of Homo Jaluzo's eyes are resistant to slashing damage but weak to piercing damage. Therefore, ensure you have at least one party member capable of dealing with this type of damage.

If possible, try to do your shopping on Idles Day in Metaphor: ReFantazio. You will receive a discount from all the shops, and you can build up your stock of supplies or even purchase some better weapons and armor.

As for the rest of your preparations, you'll want to ensure you've fully stocked up on restorative items for both HP and MP and items that cure Daze. Additionally, check the armor and weapon shops and maybe even check out the church to see if any of your items can be purified using the Blessed Water found at some of the shops. You can also complete Alonzo's quest to unlock the Faker Archetype first if you have time, but it's not necessary.

Best Party Combo To Beat Homo Jaluzo

Create A Balanced Team With And Damage

Given that you only have four party in Metaphor: ReFantazio at this point, your party will, of course, consist of the protagonist, Strohl, Hulkenberg, and Heismay. However, with the addition of Heismay's Thief Archetype, you should have plenty of those to choose from at this point. Note that one of the cheese methods for this fight involves using four Merchants and utilizing the Gold attack, as depicted in Lilith's YouTube video above, which works fine if you're looking to breeze through the fight.

However, if you're looking to give the fight a real shot, keep in mind that everyone's playthrough is different, and not everyone will have the same Archetypes available at any given point or even the same attacks, so there is no singular way to win this fight. Personally, I was able to complete this fight without the Faker Archetype as I did not complete the associated quest for it until after the dungeon, but it is one of the ones often recommended to make this fight easier, as depicted below.

Regardless of what is recommended, this is simply one of many ways to approach this fight. You can still win this fight with a completely different party setup, and it may be easier or more difficult depending on it, but it won't be incorrect. The real thing you should be prioritizing above a specific setup is whether you have piercing damage on your team, who will be weak to Homo Jaluzo's attacks, who will be responsible for healing, and whether you have good Synthesis Skills available with your preferred combination.

How To Defeat Homo Jaluzo

Keep Your Party Healed & Deal As Much Damage As Possible

Instructing you to heal your party and deal damage may sound obvious when discussing how to approach a boss fight, but it's also true. You will not have access to Homo Jaluzo's eyes immediately, meaning you can't benefit from gaining an extra turn, so your initial goal will be to keep damaging the body, which has no weakness or resistance until the eyes become available for targeting.

Furthermore, while I would potentially recommend taking out the eyes initially as they buy you a little time to deal some damage to the body, don't focus on them every time they're healed. Homo Jaluzo will heal its eyes, so if you're hoping to get rid of them for good, you're simply wasting your MP. As for its attacks, you'll need to be wary that it will inflict party with Daze using Stare.

This is when your Healer comes in handy for curing ailments, but you should also have items available if you'd rather not waste the MP at this point. Keep in mind that when using defensive skills such as buffing or healing, you want to ensure your party member is in the back row to avoid taking more damage. Stare will not deal damage, but it does prevent the use of magic and Synthesis Skills, so get rid of it as soon as possible.

Aside from Stare, your other big concern will be Homo Jaluzo's larger attacks which it will power up for on the turn before. You have the luxury of knowing this attack is coming, so when you see it powering up, get everyone to the back row and guard. This will ensure you take minimal damage, which your Healer should be able to mostly restore. From there, you can get back to focusing damage on the body and healing your party.

Unfortunately, once you've defeated this Metaphor: ReFantazio boss, or so you think, you will experience the most gut-wrenching aspect of any fight: a self-HP restore. Before you have the chance to end Homo Jaluzo, Joanna will step in and heal them, forcing you to whittle them back down. Most of your MP is likely spent at this point, so I'd recommend relying heavily on your Synthesis Skills if you aren't already. Specifically, you'll want to focus on the ones between Strohl and Hulkenberg, as these are heavy damage dealers.

After some patience dealing with the restored HP bar and forgetting about the eyes altogether, you should be able to defeat Homo Jaluzo. It's a pretty tedious fight, but you're ultimately rewarded with one of the most heartfelt cutscenes in Metaphor: ReFantazio immediately after, making the fight feel a little worth its absurdity.

Source: Lillith/YouTube