User blog comment:Allgorhythm/Farming Death/@comment-24458380-20150502023733/@comment-25604735-20150502031549

I like the speed and power of Magick Archer but Mystic Knight has more power. Ghost of Kirin has a technique where he, more or less, single-handedly defeats a full-health Death on Hard Difficulty:

 http://goo.gl/SZgmm5

 I am pawn-centric so I have a variation of the technique where I get some help from the pawns. Ghost relies on sheer, unadulterated power. I buy some time and keep Death off balance with a party that has extremely high stagger and knockdown thanks to each member being equipped with two Barbed Nails. In the first video, the battle is decided by a pawn Ranger's Great Gamble shot. In the second video, the cumulative stagger of the pawns staggers Death and prevents him from repeating. Note that in the first of the two videos I use the less powerful level 2 weapon rather than the more powerful level 3 Virge of Madness used in the second video. This is to illustrate that it is not power but stagger that is the deciding factor.



http://www.capcom-unity.com/allgorhythm/go/gallery/item/1537313?pref_tab=videos&type=video

http://www.capcom-unity.com/allgorhythm/go/gallery/item/1537319?pref_tab=videos&type=video

I have been doing a lot of experimenting with high stagger high knockdown tactics. Death is extremely hard to stagger on Hard Difficulty unless you can set him up in narrow confines and shred him with Ricochet Hunters. I build parties designed to inflict high stagger high knockdown attacks. The proof of their effectiveness is whether or not they can stagger Death on Hard Difficulty. Whereas, they are often the key to defeat Death in one go, they work on other bosses like Daimon and Ur-D.