Subterranean Study

Guide your way through Octopath Traveler's first dungeon, the Subterranean Study. Learn enemy weaknesses, Boost Points, and find all the treasure chests!

Alright, so you've stepped into your first real dungeon in Octopath Traveler, the Subterranean Study! If Cyrus is your starting character, this is where you'll get your first taste of combat mechanics. Don't worry, it's pretty straightforward. You'll run into random battles, and the game will give you a quick rundown on how to exploit enemy weaknesses. Basically, every enemy has Shield Points (SP) shown next to some boxes. To 'break' an enemy, you need to hit them with something they're weak to, which knocks off one Shield Point. Take the Ice Sentinel in here, for example. It only has one Shield Point and is weak to staves and fire – lucky for us, Cyrus has both! So, instead of burning through his SP on magic, it's way more efficient to just whack it with his staff. Once an enemy is broken, they'll get stars above their head and be out of action for one turn. This is your chance to either attack them hard or take a breather and recover.

You'll also learn about Boost Points (BP). See those little dots above your HP? Those are BP, and you can use them to power up your attacks by pressing the [R] button. You get one BP each turn, and you can stack up to three. For physical attacks, each BP adds an extra hit, while for spells like Cyrus's, it just makes them hit harder. Just remember, you don't gain BP the turn after you use any, so think strategically about when to unleash your boosted attacks.

Exploring the Study

Your main goals here are to hit around level 5 and snag all the loot from the chests. Leveling up is great because it fully restores your HP and SP, so don't hold back in fights if you know you're about to level up.

Starting from the entrance, there's a path to your left that leads to a dead end with a chest containing a Healing Grape. Head back to the entrance and go right this time. You'll go up a hill, and there's another chest straight ahead to the north. Grab that for an Herb of Clamor. Keep following the path, and you'll spot another chest up above you.

Climb the next hill, and you'll reach a fork. Now, here's a little secret: slightly north of the fork, there's a hidden path to the right that leads to that chest you saw earlier. Inside, you'll find some Wind Attire, a pretty decent chest piece for Cyrus. Back at the fork, head north. It's another dead end, but there's a chest with an Inspiriting Plum. From the fork, you can now head east. Follow the path straight, and you'll find another chest at a dead end, just past some stairs. This one has an Herb of Light. Go up those stairs, and a bit further you'll find a merchant. He only sells healing items, so top up if you need to, but you can't Scrutinize him.

Before you head north to meet Cyrus's colleague, make sure to save your game! To your east, there's one more treasure chest containing a Light Soulstone. Once you've got that, the only thing left is to talk to Russell up north, which will trigger the boss fight. Before you do that, though, try to fight some more battles until you unlock enough Job Points (JP) to access the skill sub-menu. You'll need 30 JP for Cyrus's first skill. Skills come in two types: active and support. Active skills are your bread and butter attacks, while support skills offer passive bonuses. For Cyrus, most active skills are elemental spells like Lightning Bolt, Fireball, and Icewind, which hit all enemies once. Fire Storm, Blizzard, and Lightning Blast are just stronger versions that hit twice. Analyze is super useful too – it shows an enemy's HP and can even reveal a weakness, especially if you use it while Boosted!

Pro-Tip: If you're grinding for that level 5, do it right in front of the boss area. That way, you'll go into the fight with your HP and SP completely full!

BOSS - Russell

Russell isn't the toughest boss, but he does have two Water Wisps with him. These guys mostly use ice attacks like Icicle and Icewind, plus a weak physical hit. Since they're weak to fire, you can take them out pretty quickly with Cyrus's Fireball. Breaking them with two hits and then hitting them with a Boosted Fireball should do the trick. They have around 700 HP each, so it might take a few turns. Russell himself has a mix of physical attacks, like Attack and Tome Toss, and fire-based spells. Keep an eye on him; when he starts muttering an incantation, it usually means a powerful attack is coming next turn!