Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner HD Edition

EmpMim has a very good strategy above, but for gamers who, like me, try to knock out the achievements/trophies while you play the game in the first run-through--so that the second playthrough becomes a speed run and minimal clean up--then I have some tips that helped me get the SS Ranking (to save all 40 LEVs), which really contributes to getting the S-rank ending later on. I did this on Easy difficulty, as all trophies can be attained on that setting.

This epic battle comes right after the Zakat boss fight. There'll be some cutscenes then you'll be thrust into the battle. Now I tried several variations of these methods such as: all-out offense, which is good for when you have Naked Jehuty on your second+ playthrough; the fight/heal 50-50 combo to make it easier for the LEVs, which does work if you're good at switching targets and multi-tasking; and then, what I did to get it after several attempts of the previous method, 90% full-time medic, where you just burst around to geyser the SoS'd.

Some notable tips to help:

1.) Save the game immediately once the fight starts, so you can continue to re-attempt the battle to get your desired ranking, whether that's an A or SS. Only way to tell how many are still alive is if you never see ADA announcing one is destroyed; when one goes down, you can just restart there if you're going after the SS ranking.

2.) Mute the sound. The LEVs will be distressed and constantly nag you about needing aid which can be confusing and misleading and, ultimately, distracting enough to disorient your focus.

3.) Focus on the mini-map to see where all the pings are coming from, so you can react swiftly to checking on your allies to see if any are SoS'd. Initially, there shouldn't be any real damage going out as all your allies are in tight groups and they fight back fairly effectively.

4.) To assist with above tip, keep your Lock-On Target DISENGAGED by holding down L2 until you don't have any unit targeted and can move freely, only need to hold it down for a couple seconds. At times, my finger slipped and locked-on, just make sure to disengage it once again. The only time you'll lock-on is when you have Geyser subweapon equipped and to lock-on a SoS'd LEV to mark them so Leo can come heal them.

Now, on to the strategy and play-by-play: Initially, when the fight starts, this is where you can fight a little bit and have some fun, because, nearly all of the time, none of your allies will be seriously damaged yet. I had Homing Missiles sub-weapon equipped and I'd fly out a bit in front of where your allies are dashing into charging groups of enemies and just go back and forth between Burst Lasers and Homing Missiles. In large groups of enemies, hold it all the way down for max missiles, but if only a few are around, just tap it for like 2-4 missiles, and then if you're running out of sub energy, use some burst lasers to farm some Metatron pick-ups to refill your sub bar, which later the LEVs will help when they kill enemies so you can recharge with nearly zero fighting. There will be about 3-4 sizable waves that you can engage and take down most of their squad, but after that, just switch to full-time medic.

Now, when you transition into Medic mode, you don't actually heal the LEVs, although you have the capacity to by grabbing them and holding R2, but it's very slow and mostly ineffective, especially later when the BAHRAM mass charge where you wouldn't have time anyway. So you can heal, but don't. The only purpose here is to focus on mini-map, and go back and forth spamming R2 to speed burst to your destinations where you'll Geyser the SoS for Leo to come heal them ASAP. Most of the pings will just be the LEVs incessant pleas for help and won't actually be them in serious trouble, but it was difficult to tell the difference of the colors. Red is definitely the SoS, but there are so many pings that it's difficult to keep track, so I would just run to all of them, left-to-right and right-to-left to any ping to check it out. As you get within a certain distance, there will be a dark-red SoS on your screen where the fallen LEV is downed at and there's a cam distance where you have to be close enough for it to appear on your UI, as you won't be able to see one all the way on the opposite side of the map. You'll have your Lock-On targeting disengaged so you can freely roam, have Geyser equipped and get close to the LEV, lock on to them, and fire 2-5 Geysers on them to call on Leo. If there are none or a couple enemy units, then 2-3 will be fine, but if there are tons swarming around, spam 4-5 so it immobilizes them and lets Leo get in. He says to help kill them, but when you're spamming all the Geysers, the LEVs are taking down the enemies, which helps to refill your sub energy bar without lifting a finger. Make sure to wait until Leo comes and then disengage your target and keep moving to the next ping. Do this until the LEVs take down everything. I took down the last half dozen flying around while most LEVs had crossed the entire field and exited the map.

One thing I noticed is that during that massive wave of enemies, your LEV allies will be constantly taking down enemies and refilling your sub bar, so I never ran out of energy to Geyser, probably get to like a little under half the bar by spamming only to have it get refilled with no effort on my part. Also, during the tiny bit of fighting I did initially, my allies didn't separate too far due to taking down a bunch of the enemy for a couple minutes early on, and afterwards, when switching to full-on medic, as you're dashing to each ping, most of the enemy tries to take you down, so they end up chasing you rendering them just moving targets for the allies to shoot down.

It looks lengthy, but the TL;DR would be: first 2 minutesor so, use Homing Missiles and burst lasers on the charging groups of enemies, then the next 5-10 minutes, just dash from ping to ping, get close enough to see if there is a SoS ally to flag for Leo and then roam again.

I got a little frustrated with several tries of the all-out attack and 50-50 fight/heal. so I decided to just be a medic and signal Leo and that worked first try.

I tried to be as thorough as possible in explanation. If any questions, comments, negative feedback, please provide details in comments to help others.

The easiest way to snag this trophy is simply beating the game. Once you do that, you will unlock a few other frames for Jehuty, including Naked Jehuty.

The benefits of Naked Jehuty are the following:

- Hits harder on all standard attacks
- Hits harder on all subweapon attacks
- Unlimited subweapon energy

That last one is the most beneficial, as you can go into an enemy filled area and seriously spam the crap out of any subweapon.

After you complete the game, start a new game on easy. Select Naked Jehuty, and play with all subweapons unlocked. Doing a pure speed run will get you to this rescue mission in ~45 minutes.

Save at the start of this mission. I can not stress that enough. If you fail to get the SS rank, all you need to do is reload the save and try again.

Then you need to wipe out everyone WHILE keeping the LEV's from going boom. Easier said than done I am afraid, however your subweapon of choice here will be a toss up between the Halberd and the Homing Missiles.

I started with the H. Missiles, and then when a group of baddies was coming down the field, I would jet to that location and spin around using my Halberd. The key here is to not lock on to a target - homing missiles will go to any, and every, enemy in your proximity, so just spamming that subweapon will be very, very effective.

The Halberd does a wonderful job clearing out groups, but you lose the mobility factor that you have with the H. Missiles, so use the Halberd wisely.

Also, keep your focus on the mini-map, and not so much on the actual field. The mini-map will tell you where the enemies are concentrated, and will let you know the direction you are heading.

You are going to hear LEV's crying for help every 10 seconds. DO NOT PANIC IF THEY STARTING SCREAMING. Seriously, the guys are a bunch of whiners. You do, however, need to concern yourself when you see one of the blue LEV icons with a flashing yellow square around it - this is your SOS warning. This means a LEV is down, as in immobilized. IT IS NOT DEAD, it just can't move. As long as it remains intact, you can still easily get the SS ranking.

If ADA says that a LEV is destroyed, then you will need to reload the mission. You must save all 40 LEV's - that is it. You could have 10 in SOS status, but as long as they are on the field, and not in several different pieces, then you will get the SS rank.

Questions, corrections and neg vote justifications in the comments below.