[MIR:AM] Mirage Arena: Arena Matches

Master the Mirage Arena in Among the Sleep! Learn how to unlock, strategize for, and defeat all arena matches, including the challenging Iron Imprisoner boss.

The main events for the Mirage Arena are arena matches. Here you will be pitted against a large number of Unversed over several rounds, usually culminating in a boss fight of some sort. In this section, I will go over how to unlock each arena match, what you will have to fight there, what the rewards are, and how to deal with the bosses. These matches can be pretty challenging, you can't pause in the middle of them, and if you die, you have to start from the beginning... So get ready!

If you want information on the other Mirage Arena events, please see instead the Mini-Games section of the walkthrough: MIN

ARENA MATCH #1: DAY OF RECKONING

How to unlock: N/A
Battle level: 1 star
Reward: 75 Arena Medals
Location: Mirage Arena

Round 1:

• 1 Bruiser and 5 Floods
• 6 Scrappers and 3 Red Hot Chilis
• 3 Bruisers, 3 Red Hot Chilis, and 2 Floods

Round 2:

• 3 Thornbites and 2 Red Hot Chilis
• 3 Bruisers and 3 Red Hot Chilis
• 4 Scrappers
• 3 Bruisers and 3 Red Hot Chilis

Round 3:

• 6 Hareraisers
• 4 Bruisers
• 3 Bruisers and 3 Monotruckers
• 3 Bruisers and 4 Archravens

Round 4 (Boss): IRON IMPRISONER I

HP: 1200, Strength: 13, Defense: 4
Status effect vulnerabilities: None
Elemental weaknesses: None
Elemental resistances: None

The Iron Imprisoner will fly around in his cauldron, continually picking a random attack from the list below. Unless you are over-leveled, I strongly recommend standing back until he starts an attack, and then countering. If you try to be too aggressive, you will have problems with attack #3 below. And you will be fighting much harder versions of this same guy later, so it's worth building up the right habits now. Anyway, here's the list of attacks:

1. The Iron Imprisoner shoots lasers from the base of his cauldron to the ground all around him, and slowly moves around. Should you get too close, all the lasers will focus on you. This is a great time to hit him with ranged attacks and Shotlocks. If you cannot use those, it is POSSIBLE but difficult to use melee attacks. Thunder Surge and Fire are also quite effective if you have those. (Jump first and then use them.)
2. The Iron Imprisoner moves towards you and then swings his whole body at you as a melee attack. This is normally repeated several times. You can block this and counter (press X after blocking, assuming you have the relevant ability). Even if you do not have the counter ability for your character yet, you should still have time for a full combo. Just back off after you do your combo, because Block won't work on the next swing if you are too close. And as I said before, it's good to keep your distance anyway.
3. The Iron Imprisoner lights himself on fire and quickly spins towards you along the ground. After a while, he will try jumping into the air three times and pounding the ground near you. Use Dodge Roll, Slide, or Cartwheel to dodge to the side whenever he comes at you. If you get hit once, it can be difficult to recover even if you mash Square for a counter-attack. If you are having trouble here, it means you are probably being too aggressive. Back off between attacks, so you have lots of time to react whenever the Iron Imprisoner starts spinning. Also, make sure you are using REGULAR Slide/Dodge Roll/Cartwheel, not Sonic Impact/Thunder Roll/Firewheel. The offensive versions of these abilities are bad because they grant much less invincibility time.
4. The Iron Imprisoner makes a cage appear and sends it towards you under the ground. If it gets near you, it will pop up and try to trap you inside.