Dragon Quest IX: Legacy Boss Hunter - Murdaw

So, after countless days of grinding, I finally unlocked Murdaw! :D

As the title suggests, this hub will be all about Murdaw and how to defeat him in his Level 1 form. First, however, I'll explain how to actually acquire a treasure map that leads you to Murdaw. :)

Murdaw is a Legacy Boss that has appeared several times throughout the Dragon Quest franchise. However, earlier iterations called him Mudou. In either case Mudou/Murdaw's first appearance was in Dragon Quest VI, and he would later make an appearance in the Dragon Quest series spinoff Dragon Quest Monsters II (or Dragon Warrior Monsters II as it was called in North America).

Anyway, to find Murdaw, you need to level up the Archfiend Baramos to at least level 16. His drop table then becomes:

• Mini Medal: 100% (This is true of all Legacy Bosses so don't expect a change to this, ever.)
• Murdaw's Map: 10% (More like 1%...grr)
• Silver Orb: 6% (I got four of these before getting Murdaw's Map. Where's the love?)

So, as you can imagine, keep beating up Baramos until he coughs up the map (or level him up so the drop rate improves and then force him to cough it up; either way works fine. :P).

Once you do that, you'll get Murdaw's Map, which leads to a different location than Baramos' Map, and then you get to find the X on the map. I assume you're an expert grotto explorer by now! :P

Level 61 Minstrel

421 HP

151 MP

282 Attack

334 Defense

261 Agility

Level 62 Warrior

534 HP

55 MP

420 Attack

584 Defense

80 Agility

Level 55 Paladin

487 HP

101 MP

427 Attack

503 Defense

52 Agility

Level 55 Sage

337 HP

489 MP

207 Attack

257 Defense

236 Agility

As compared to a level 16 Baramos, Murdaw is much easier. His repertoire at Level 1 consists of:

• Buff. He'll use this every few turns to improve his defense, which can be quite annoying as this reduces the damage you do with physical attacks as well.
• Dazzleflash. I haven't seen him use this yet (must be because I beat him in under 8 turns). What this does is reduce your party's accuracy, making it harder to deal damage with physical attacks. Noticing a trend? :P
• Blazing fire. Much like Baramos, Murdaw can breathe fire onto the whole party, dealing from 130 to 150 damage. Reverse Cycle (from the Fan skill tree) can reflect this attack back on Murdaw.
• Kasap. Also haven't seen him use this, but you probably already know what this does. On the off chance you don't: It lowers your party's defense if they don't resist it.
• And finally, but definitely not least, he uses physical attacks. Unlike Baramos though, Level 1 Murdaw cannot critical, which ultimately makes him easier to deal with.

Some factoids about Murdaw:

• His attack and defense parameters seem to be marginally higher than Baramos at level 16.
• He's resistant to dark magic, unlike Baramos who took full damage from them.
• Kaboom, on the other hand, works as well as it did with Baramos.
• He can double attack, but doesn't do so all the time.
• Like Baramos, you cannot enrage Murdaw unless you use Knight Watch. Even then the rage wears off in about 2 actions (so usually one turn).
  

Here's what I did to defeat him:

Turn 1: Minstrel uses Egg On on the Warrior. Warrior uses Double Up. Paladin uses Reverse Cycle. Sage uses Caster Sugar.

Mudou will usually start the fight either with a breath attack or Buff. This only changes what the Sage will be doing, so it doesn't matter much.

Turn 2: Minstrel uses Egg On on the Warrior. Warrior uses Psyche Up (Tension at 50). Paladin uses Forbearance. Sage uses Multiheal if Murdaw used a breath attack or Disruptive Wave if he used Buff.

Turn 3: Minstrel uses Egg On on the Warrior (33% chance for 100 Tension). Warrior uses Falcon Slash. Paladin uses Forbearance. Sage uses Multiheal if necessary. Otherwise uses Kaboom.

Rinse, lather and repeat turns 2 and 3 until Murdaw falls.

This battle is awfully easier after the horror that was a level 16 Baramos that could and would spam Disruptive Wave to keep you off-balance. Unable to stop you from tanking his punishment and dealing out some punishment of your own, Murdaw should fall in short order. ;)

So, that's about it for now. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article, which I will write up as soon as I get Murdaw to the tender level of 8 (you need to get him to 16 to get the next Legacy Boss map...noticing a trend there? :P)

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment on any additional tips you'd like me to give or any suggestions for the article at hand.

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate