Tales of Arise has some of the coolest fights in the franchise and one of the toughest is the Dohalim boss fight. One of the cooler characters in the game is Dohalim and he eventually joins your party, but first, you need to beat him in a fight that will use every resource and reflex you’ve got in order to survive his incredibly damaging and quick attacks. Here’s everything you need to beat Dohalim in Tales of Arise.
Preparation For Dohalim Boss Fight
Dohalim is an absolute menace to our defenses on all fronts, so in order to counter this, we’re going to make sure we have some accessories to defend against them. The most dangerous part of Dohalim is his Astral Artes attacks and for that, we need to up our elemental defenses. The best way to do this is by crafting accessories that have magic defense built into them. You can then upgrade these accessories to unlock even further bonuses like upping your own elemental attacks for example.
In addition to these, you want as many Life Bottles and Orange Gels that you can get your hands on. These are pricey, but Dohalim is going to drain your health at an insane pace and you need these to keep up.
Squad-wise, you’ll have some decisions to make as the addition of Kisara complicates things a bit. Simply put, you need Kisara in this battle, she’s incredibly valuable with her Boost Attack and her ability to guard is going to be needed along with her powerful attacking ability. That leaves two other members to fill out the starting lineup. You should go with Law and Shionne here while leaving Rinwell in the wings to come in and use her Boost Attack whenever Dohalim charges up a magic attack.
How to Beat Dohalim
Right off the bat, Dohalim is going to use his B-Naturae attack and what this does is rain rocks all around the battlefield. These are all dodgeable, so start off with controlling Alphen as he has the easiest dodge move in the game. While these rocks are dangerous, the most damaging move comes at the end when a gigantic boulder lodges itself in the middle of your party and explodes. Escape from this at all costs as it can really do a number on you. Once you’ve avoided this attack, it’s time to get to work.
Alphen should have some great Arte’s unlocked at this point, so it’s time to start comboing and getting your Boost Gauges filled. Law’s is first on deck as it can break Dohalim on occasion. One thing to make note of is just how easily Dohalim breaks after he’s done his big attacks, take these opportunities to unleash hell every time. Using Steel with Law is important as the attack and defense boost will come in handy very shortly.
About a third of the fight through, Dohalim will start his charging attacks. These are incredibly damaging and can completely knock you out in 3 hits or less. To counter this, we have two options. The first option is to dodge the attacks. If you are really confident in your timing, then you can completely avoid all the damage from this attack, but keep in mind it comes over and over again so your reflexes need to be really good.
The other option is to use Kisara’s Boost Attack. Her special ability is to stop charging enemies and this attack is right up her alley as triggering it on time will actually cause a cutscene to play where Kisara knocks the crap out of Dohalim, so this should clue you in that you’re on the right path.
The other way Dohalim deals his damage is through a variety of elemental spells, you should’ve mixed up your accessories among your party so that some are able to take a physical punishment while the others can handle the elemental attacks. Of course, if you have Rinwell ready to go with a Boost Attack as much as possible, you can Absord Dohalim’s attacks like any other enemies, and each time it will cause him to break.
If you are playing as Alphen, stay away from your Flaming Edge attacks as they just do too much damage to you compared to the amount you dish out. Stick to your Arte’s that attack quickly. You can also utilize long-range attacks here like Demon Fang, though the damage likely won’t be all that high at this point. Shionne is also very valuable here as most of her attacks are long-range and she can deal a ton of damage while avoiding the up-close attacks from Dohalim.
Like many battles in Tales of Arise, the Dohalim boss fight is going to be a war of attrition. To make sure you survive the marathon, you can try having decreased casting times on your Skill tree. This will allow healing and resurrection spells to fire off much quicker which will be important here as Dohalim moves across the battlefield very quickly. If you come equipped with good defensive accessories and constantly have your Boost Gauge filled, you should find yourself victorious.
Tales of Arise is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
