The later parts of Tunic can get pretty wild, especially once you find yourself stuck with your various stats limited to their original values from the beginning of the game. To fight your way through to the end of the game and the mysteries beyond it, you’re going to need a new tool in your arsenal: the laurels. But they won’t be easy to find.
First off, you’ll need to find your way to the Cathedral, accessed through the Old Burying Ground to the south-east of the Overworld. This can only be accessed after a certain point in the game, so don’t bother trying to fight your way in earlier. Once inside, wend your way around the Cathedral’s enemy-filled corridors and rooms until you find your way to the upper levels and to the monolith overlooking the central chamber. Pray at it, and you’ll unlock an elevator that will take you down into the depths below the building.
Keep descending, and you’ll eventually land in an arena with seven statues along the top wall. Each of the statues corresponds to a wave of enemies that you must fight, except for the one on the far right, which will grant you some health pickups and refilled health potion. Prepare yourself because this will be a tough fight, especially in your weakened state.
You can fight the waves in whichever order you want, but for most of them, the key is to keep from getting overwhelmed. Enemies won’t beam in all at once, so if you’re efficient, you can kill each new addition before the next one arrives. If things get out of hand, don’t be afraid to use the Magic Dagger to try and freeze a handful of them to give yourself some breathing room. It’s recommended to use the health statue at around the midpoint, but obviously, if you’re doing fine for health by that point, then don’t bother wasting it.
The far-left statue will summon a swarm of Fairies. They teleport in quickly, so you’re unlikely to be able to take them out efficiently, but they’re also pretty weak, going down in one hit from the Magic Rod. As a bonus, they drop MP-refilling pickups when they die. As such, the best strategy for this wave is to hold down LT to keep targeting new enemies and hammer the button for the Magic Rod. The magic pickups will essentially grant you infinite ammo, so just keep shooting until they’re all down.
The next one along will summon a wave of Fleemers, the skeletons you’ll no doubt be intimately familiar with from the Old Burying Ground. The regular skeletons should go down in a few hits, but towards the end of the wave a larger, stronger skeleton will beam in. If you’ve been keeping on top of the new arrivals, it shouldn’t pose too big a threat, but be careful not to get overwhelmed. Remember to use your shield to block and deflect attacks.
The next statue will bring in several Custodians from the Fortress of the Eastern Vault. This can be a nice little breather session, as their area-of-effect magic attacks are easily avoided, and they leave themselves wide open while casting. Just roll out of the attack zone and focus on one at a time until they’re all down.
It’s worth saving the central statue for last, so focus on the next one along first. This will summon in a wave of frog warriors from Frog’s Domain. As with the skeletons, the smaller frogs should go down in a few hits, but their lightweight nature may mean that they get knocked back out of range of your final swipe, so make sure to keep on them. When the larger frogs start arriving, focus first on taking out any remaining smaller ones and then take them out one at a time. Use the Magic Dagger to give yourself some space if you need it.
The statue next to the health offering will summon a wave of Rudelings, the knights from the Overworld. You shouldn’t have any problems with these guys — just remember to switch up your tactics depending on their equipment. Regular knights will go down easily, but let the ones with shields get a swipe off first before ducking in and countering. As for the Guard Captain, take out any remaining mooks, and the same tactics as at the beginning of the game apply.
The final, central statue is certainly the hardest, summoning in not one but two Garden Knights. You’ll have a bit of time before the second one spawns in, so you’re going to want to be a bit more aggressive than in the original fight with the Knight back in the Western Garden in order to not have to face off against two of them at once. Other than that, though, the Knight’s moves haven’t changed, so the same strategy will apply here. If you can get the first one down in time, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with the second.
After that lengthy ordeal, a chest will finally appear in the center of the arena. Open it up, and you’ll finally acquire the laurels. With these, your roll is replaced with a short-distance flashstep, which will allow you to cross small gaps easily, opening up much more of the world to you. Oh, and don’t forget to pray at that Hero’s Grave on the way out. You’ll need it.
