The other 2 coliseums were challenging and fun. This is where the fun ends. If you enjoyed this game at all, this coliseum will likely make you hate it. This coliseum is very similiar to very hard in that it sucks all fun out of the game by being cheaply difficult. This forces you to resort to boring tactics. One shot mechanics on everything is not fun at all.

Once you get to the point where you can practice the final boss, you will be able to speed run all waves before him and it will be immensely boring. When doing waves/bosses perfectly they usually die before they can even attack. They are always the same as well. Continue this for 7-9 minutes to get one chance to practice the final boss. This isnt counting all the failed runs due to slipping up on the waves or getting killed by B mode glitches or targetting shenangains or crashes.

They had so much wasted potential with this arena. I think they should have disabled chip usage to normalize player power and given you limited healing items. That way you can design bosses that don't one shot on all attacks on every difficulty. This actually allows you to fight the bosses too, since they dont die in 10 seconds. This is the design philosophy of Dark Souls and it works well for creating real difficulty.

Now if you still wish to proceed, I hope to significantly cut down the time you need to spend here with my guide.

Originally posted by A2:

Better turn off your pain circuits.

Thanks to /u/Azothlike for some corrections which have been integrated to the guide.

If you like this guide be sure to leave a rating.
Check out the guides to the other 2 coliseums:
Forest
Desert

Defeat All Enemies in Wave 4-5 within 1 hour.

I suggest you turn the difficulty down to easy mode and beat it on easy first. This place is still hell even on easy. Everything still one shots you on any difficulty. This will allow you to be more consistent on all enemy waves and allow you to practice the final boss. The final boss in the only hard part of this coliseum, and it will take 7-9 minutes to get to each attempt on them. Once easy is beaten then you can go back and do it on hard/very hard.

Hard/Very Hard mode is the same thing except you do less damage and enemies have slightly more aggressive AI. This only impacts probability of quick kills on bosses as they will live to do 1 extra attack and the length of the final boss fight. Consistency is king on the enemy waves as failing an enemy wave late in the game is an easy way to waste 5+ minutes. The enemy waves will become muscle memory at some point.

Required Chips:
Pre Last Boss Waves:

• Skill Guage - Lets you accurately time when shields wear off. A 3 pod charge shield will wear off just after 1700 recharge if you have no Fast Cooldown chips. This will let you recover runs more easily when boss attack AI thwarts a quick kill.
  
• Weapon Attack +6-8 - Free damage to quickly mow down machines.
  I recommend you get a +8 under 25 cost.
  To farm these, load chapter 17-01 and unlock the subtower units. Fight along side Popola and Devola(Best Girls) to kill Medium Bipeds. You can farm the Medium Bipeds until they say "9S You must hack into the tower. We.. can't hold out like this" then jump into the pit towards the underground mothership and save and load. This will take you back to just before the tower event but after the subunit activation. 3~ runs should net you enough to make a decent +8. This should take under 20 minutes for a decent +8 chip.
  
• Shockwave +6-8 - Ranged damage to quickly mow down stragglers and handle Volt Walker Goliaths from range quickly.
  I got this to +8 but farming desert machines that have 3 other chip drops takes awhile. You get a free Shockwave +6 from partial clearing some of the coliseums.
  To farm these, use the infinitely spawning machines in the orgy pit where you first fight naked Adam. This will take around 2-3 hours depending on luck for a decent +8 chip.
  
• Overclock +3 x2 - The clock ticks in real time during slowdown, but this slowdown will allow you to mow down the entire wave usually. Be careful of dodging when there are only few enemies left.
  These are pretty quick to farm, if you get 2 of them under 10 cost just use those.
  To farm these, load Abandoned Factory: Hangar and run away from the elevator then make a right, kill the flying machines, loot, and run back to save and load. This should take around 30 minutes for 2 decent +3 chips.
  
• Taunt Up +4-8 - Taunt chips don't stack due to a bug, so to get full effect you need the highest Taunt Up chip you can get.
  I used +6 because farming Taunt Up chips is terrible. You get a free Taunt Up +6 from partial clearing some of the coliseums.
  To farm these, follow this route.
  
• Offensive Heal +4-6 - More reliable than deadly heal.
  You get a free Offensive Heal +6 from partial clearing some of the coliseums.
  To farm these, Load Forest: Center in a Route C chapter and kill Small Bipeds/Quadrapeds.

Last Boss Wave:

• Evasive System - There are 2 ranged attacks that the last bosses use which this works on, and it can save a run.
  
• Evade Range +3 x2-3 - These can be on a seperate chip layout for the last boss, but have them ready.
  To farm these, refer to the Chip Bible[docs.google.com]
  
• Critical +6 - This can replace Offensive Heal if you purposely let B mode run out on the wave before the last boss. You want to kill the last boss as fast as possible during overclocks to minimize chances to make mistakes.
  To farm these, refer to the Chip Bible[docs.google.com]

Optional Chips:

• Last Stand +6-8 - If you have all diamond chips you'll have room for last stand. You may make more mistakes due to missing color though. It is a personal choice.
  To farm these, refer to the Chip Bible[docs.google.com]
  
• Fast Cooldown +8 - This will allow 50% uptime on P Shield for last boss. This cuts down the time you actually need to be concentrating on dodging.
  To farm these, refer to the Chip Bible[docs.google.com]
  
• Reset +1-8 - These work on the last boss and can save a run.
  To farm these, refer to the Chip Bible[docs.google.com]

Chips to Avoid:

• Melee Defense
  
• Ranged Defense
  
• Max HP Up
  All bosses will one shot when taunted, and by the time you start practicing the last boss you will be able to speed run all the waves before the last boss anyway.
  You can survive a hit with Defense +8 and Max HP Up +8 if you do not use a taunt build.

Weapons:
Non Boss Waves -

• Any Attack Speed Combat Bracer - Fastest attack chain plus attack speed quickly kills little guys.
  
• Fang of the Twins - Rising attack hits all around you and bullet ruptures, allowing you to kill packs of flying machines quickly. Can easily cancel medium flyer blade spin attacks in overclock as well.

Boss Waves -

• Cursed Overlord - Critical damage will help chunk bosses quickly. Critical damage can only trigger off the melee attack and not the shockwave.
  
• Fang of the Twins - If you are too far from a boss to melee him in overclock, you can use the heavy weapon throw attack (Evade, Run at enemy, Heavy Attack) to get in a shockwave + triple hit that can crit before you start wailing on it.

Pod Programs:

• Pod A: P Shield - Used for last boss only
  
• Pod B: M Shield - Used to quick kill most wave bosses
  
• Pod C: Repair - Used to consistently keep B mode in between certain waves

B Mode causes you to explode when activated, causing high damage around you and improving your battle statistics. You will move faster, attack faster, and do more damage at the cost of your constantly draining health.

B Mode activation requires you to have at least 2 hp, so you cannot B Mode again immediately after losing B Mode without healing at least 1 hp first. If you activate B Mode near an enemy with an Offensive Heal chip, it will heal you to full regardless of how low your hp was. This can be used to clear out packs of enemies quickly.

B Mode allows you to take a 2nd hit in this mode, since the 1st hit will only cause you to burn out and take you out of B mode. However, I have encountered a glitch where you cannot move or do any input after burning out of B mode. This has ended 30+ runs. I do not know exactly what causes it, but if you do encounter it you can sometimes cancel the glitch by holding Pod Charge until level 1 charge. This will sometimes get you back to the limping animation instead of standing there for 5-10seconds before limping. No other input seems to do anything. I have been killed by single Small Stubbies with Guns across the room shooting one slow bullet stream at me because you cant shoot during this glitch. It feels like getting slowly killed by a zamboni. Here is a video of the glitch in action.


You can sometimes survive a one shot with Offensive Heal if you take damage and heal on the exact same frame. They will cancel each other out and you will be health positive. Usually you will be low health still so you will need to continue attacking or end up burning out of B mode.

You can also overclock dodge after being hit if the hit does a slowdown effect. This will give you enough time to get out of limping animation and allow for a free recovery.

B Mode Invincibility Frames:
Losing B mode has invincibility frames during the full limp animation. The problem is that these invincibility frames only last for a set amount of real time, and if the hit that loses you B mode has slow down, your invincibility time will be ticking away during that slowdown. This is why sometimes it feels like you are invincibile for a long time after B mode and sometimes for a short time.

B mode also has some invincibile frames shortly after activating.

Dodging Tips:
Be deliberate with dodging. Do not spam attack and dodge. You will accidentally do the heavy weapon throw dodge move that has very limited invincibile frames and end up dying a lot to it. You never want to use that dodge in this mode.

A companion video to visualize the strategy is available here.

• 1-1 (2 Medium Biped Lancers with Shield and 4 Small Stubbies with Guns):
  Bait attack and dodge for overclock, kill all with explosion. Do not end wave in overclock.
  
• 1-2 (3 Small Bipeds with Blades and 3 Small Bipeds with Saws):
  Taunt while waiting for them to spawn. Do not end wave in overclock.
  
• 1-3 (3 Medium Bipeds with Axes and 3 Small Bipeds with Fisticuffs):
  Taunt while waiting for them to spawn. Do not end wave in overclock.
  
• 1-4 (2 Medium Flyers with Guns/Explosives and Bunch of Small Flyers):
  Try for taunt, but do not give up the free kill on the Medium Flyer with Explosives. Once Medium flyer is dead go for taunt again and use rising attack to kill groups of Small Flyers. When wave is almost clear begin charging M Shield to charge 3 for next wave boss. Can end wave safely in overclock.
  
• 1-5 (Shade Tank Boss and 8 Shade Spider Machines with Guns/Blades):
  Boss will spawn in center of room facing you. Position near center but slightly away. When boss drops immediately attack once and hold for taunt. When taunt goes off release charge 3 M Shield and go ham on light attacks. Boss will get off 1 or 2 attacks at most and you don't have to worry about dodging bullets. Only beware of melee attacks.
  
  Once boss dies the 8 Shade Spider Machines will spawn in an octogon pattern around middle. Position in between 2 parts of the octogon and taunt when they are dropping. Once they drop immediately kill 2-3 from the sections you taunted then prepare to dodge. If you can bait out of melee attack for overclock this section goes much quicker. Try not to let your health get low from B Mode as multiple spiders using lasers can keep you dodging until it runs out and recovery during this section after B Mode dies out is usually low success rate. Spider Machines are relentless at hunting you down. This section is the first roadblock and once you are more consistent at it the rest is much easier.

• 2-1 (2 Medium Bipeds with Guns and 2 Small Bipeds with Axes):
  If spiders took long enough to get pod cooldown, use a repair in between waves to ensure B mode doesnt die out. If not, shoot down one of the Medium Bipeds to regen sooner. Do not end this wave in overclock. End this wave in the center of the room.
  
• 2-2 (8 Suicide Explosives):
  Focus one side and spam charged bouncing laser fire to kill suicide machines. Once one side is clear move over there and try to get the others to detonate on you at the same time. Use the invincibility after B mode dies out to explode all the machines. Once all dead begin charging M Shield to charge 3. You can kill them all without losing B mode, but it makes the next part easier if you don't.
  
• 2-3 (4 Sphere Machines with Guns and 2 Goliaths):
  Limp toward the 4 Sphere Machines and use charge 3 M Shield when close. Attack one for a heal and use taunt. Activate B mode and the explosion should kill all 4 Spheres. If done close enough, both Goliaths are taunted as well when they spawn. Kill them and finish in center of room. Do not end wave in overclock.
  
• 2-4 (2 Spider Machines and 4 Cactus Machines with Guns):
  Taunt spiders as they come down and kill them. Kill Cacti.
  
• 2-5 (Shade Simone Boss and 1 Shade Goliath):
  Stay near spawn point and taunt immediately on spawn. If you have a high enough damage output build. She will stagger before her first attack. If not just beware to dodge backwards whenever she opens her skirt, just like real life. She can do ranged attacks while you are in melee range and they come out immediately. She should get off 1-3 attacks and will usually die before the Goliath can do any attacks. If you get hit, recovery has a high probablility of succeeding as she doesnt have too many abilities to follow up on a kill.
  
  The hacking games in this version are insanely hard, some of them just overwhelm you with bullets on spherical plane, others have such tight time limits that you need to know exactly how to beat it beforehand to make it in time. When Simone dies the Shade Goliath is cake. Use a repair after this wave to avoid B mode falloff.
  
  Her attacks in melee range are:
  
  • Quick Foot Stomp - Lifts up the front of her skirt high and quickly stomps with 2 feet
    
  • Willy's Embrace - Lifts up all of skirt high and tries to grab you with her willy.
    
  • Fire exploding bullet rounds - Lifts up just the lower layers of the skirt and fires bullets from it
    
  • Fire bouncing bullet rounds - Lifts up just the lower layers of the skirt and fires bullets from it
  
  Her attacks at ranged are:
  
  • Buzz Saw - Reveals a saw from under her skirt and briskly chases you
    
  • Exploding Rings - Shoots out rings that explode around her
    
  • Bullet Balerina - Slowly shoots out a bunch of bullets in a wavey pattern
    
  • Homing Lasers - Shoots fast homing lasers
    
  • Homing Missles - Shoot 3 waves of homing missles
    
  • Hacksplosion - Shoots hacking beams everywhere (This attack is long and leaves melee range wide open, it is a good chance to taunt/reactivate B mode/go ham in melee range)

• 3-1 (2 Suicide Explosives, Bunch of Small Stubbies with Guns/Fisticuffs/Shields, 2 Suicide Explosives, More Small Stubbies with Guns/Fisticuffs/Shields):
  Use heavy weapon throw attack (Evade, Run at enemy, Heavy Attack) to get in a shockwave + triple hit on the shields, once thrown you can cancel into light attacks to break the shields fast. Each shield takes 5 hits to come off. End wave in corner of the room near one of the Medium Flyer spawns for next wave.
  
• 3-2 (2 Medium Flyers with Guns/Explosives and 1 Reverse Jointed Goliath):
  If you position near the Medium Flyer with Explosives and kill it immediately, you can then taunt the Reverse Jointed Goliath and kill it plus the other Medium Flyer with shockwaves. Do not end wave in overclock. Do not shoot at end of wave (Can knock down one of the next wave spiders early and mess up taunt. This makes the next wave much more difficult).
  
• 3-3 (1 Volt Walker Goliath and 4 Spider Machines with Guns):
  The Volt Walker Goliath spawns in middles and 4 Spiders in the corners, position between Goliath and one corner for a Spider and taunt before they drop. Quickly run to a different corner and kill the spider there. Aim the camera at the Goliath and use jump plus shockwaves to 3 shot it when taunted. Quickly turn back to the taunted spider and kill it as well. 3+ Spider Machines with Guns can lock you down with lasers and end runs easily. If done properly this is ensure you only have 2 Spiders alive before they can even attack you. Beware of the Volt Walker Goliath's corpse, the damage hitbox for the Volt Leggings persists on the corpse until it explodes and it will easily one shot you. Do not end wave in overclock.
  
• 3-4 (2 Drill Machines, 2 Sphere Machines with Axes and 3 Quadraped Machines):
  Remember the direction of the first Sphere Machine with Axe. Taunt in center of room and kill off Quadraped Machines first. Charge M Shield to charge 3 before ending this wave. Do not end wave in overclock.
  
• 3-5 (Shade Ro-Shi Boss and Random Shade Drill Machine/Sphere Machine with Gun/Explosive Ball Spawns):
  Shade Ro-Shi spawns in the center of the room, facing toward the position of the first Sphere Machine with Axe from last wave. The moment you see the shadow when the boss is dropping, let the charge 3 M Shield go and immediately attack and hold for taunt. Usually the boss will give you 1 ranged attack and you can quick kill it before it does more than 1-2 attacks.
  
  If the boss feels like being a prick, it will do its one melee attack immediately. This is signaled by it turning around and firing out its tail 3 times. If you are fast enough you can get the M Shield and taunt off before needing to dodge the tail. Dodge the first tail for overclock, jump attack the main body over the tail to regen health, then run right away from the tail until it turns back around. Do not overclock the tail more than once. If done properly you will still have enough M Shield left to quick kill it if the 2nd attack is a ranged attack. If not, you will need to do the boss normally until M Shield recharges.
  
  Phase 1 (No Energy Blades):
  Attacks in melee/ranged range:
  
  • Tail Triple Stab - Turns around and stabs 3 times with tail
    
  • Energy Ring Stomps - Each foot (6) stomps the ground and releases an energy ring
    
  • Triple Circle Bullets - Cannons on front of boss shoot gradually growing circle bullets
    
  • Cannon Bullet Spray - Cannons on front of boss just spray bullets everywhere
    
  • Homing Missle Barrage - Fires a bunch of homing missiles
  
  Attacks at ranged range:
  
  • Cannon Bullet Spray Spin - Same as Cannon Bullet Spray but boss spins.
    
  • Floor Smash - Hits the floor with its sphere butt, causing a melee ground based aoe attack.
    
  • Tail Spin - Quickly spins with its tail for a large aoe melee attack.
    
  • Explosive Stool - Shoots a bunch of exploding balls that follow you until destroyed.
  
  Phase 2 (Energy Blades on Front):
  Has all attacks from Phase 1
  Additional attacks at melee/ranged range:
  
  • Chop Chop Charge - Charges you while chopping with energy blades.
    
  • Weak Chop - Chops with a small arc in melee range
    
  • Energy Slash Vertical - Chops an energy projectile that is vertical
    
  • Energy Slash Horizontal - Chops an energy projectile that is Horizontal
    
  • Triple Laser Lights Show - Cannons on front of boss shoot out lasers while the boss spins. They move up and down which makes you wonder if it's actually trying to hit you or giving you a free show.

• 4-1 (2 Medium Flyers with Guns/Explosives and 2 Quadraped Machines):
  Do not use repair, next wave spawns immediately in center. Kill 1 of the Medium Flyers on spawn and back off from second to bait out its first attack. Do not end wave in overclock.
  
• 4-2 (6 Small Stubbies with Guns, 1 Medium Biped with Lance, and Bunch of Small Bipeds with Lances):
  Taunt on spawn and kill Medium Biped captain on spawn. Do not end wave in overclock. Do not shoot at end of wave.
  
• 4-3 (2 Volt Walker Goliaths and 2 Goliaths):
  Position in between the 2 Volt Walker Goliath spawns and taunt before they drop but not too early. You need at least 1 Volt Walker Goliath taunted to immediately kill or this wave can go bad fast. Once taunt is out run away from the Volt Walker Goliaths before they drop and kill them with shockwaves on spawn. If done properly you just have 2 Goliaths to deal with. Be aware of the Goliath mangina shoot attack. It will assume a birthing position and shoot out small stubby bullets or a saw snake machine bullet. These seem to do it more often than others and it's an easy way to die.
  
• 4-4 (3 Spider Machines with Blades and 2 Reverse Jointed Goliaths):
  Taunt in center and kill the spiders + 1 Reverse Jointed Goliath. If you choose to do Shade Adam/Eve without B mode, use the last Reverse Jointed Goliath to safely exit B mode. Change chips and set up equipment for last boss then kill the last wave enemy.
  
• 4-5 (Shade Adam and Shade Eve):
  Welcome to Hell. These are the real gatekeepers of this coliseum.
  
  I prefer to do this fight without B mode as the pressure to attack can be pretty insane when practicing. B mode also does not give you a 2nd hit against a majority of their attacks and chance of recovery against attacks that don't kill you through B mode is still pretty low.
  
  P Shield can block all attacks except grabs, the energy bullets and bullet reflect shield bullets. Use P Shield to block the first debris attack. Do not dodge while initially releasing the pod program input or it will release the charge but not give you a shield. This will likely end up with mistimed dodge and a dead run. The shield can then be used to trigger an easy 1 or 2 overclocks for free boss damage. With Fast Cooldown +8 chips you can have P Shield up 50% of the time. Do not use pod programs during overclock, pod programs execute at slow speed during overclock.
  
  Practice:
  Once you can get this far I suggest doing some Eve dodge timing practice. While preparing on the last wave, turn on debug mode invincibility (Hold Evade and tap Shortcuts, RT + select on control with default controls. Select Flags Mode. Set 0x30 to 1) and practice dodging Eve's debris at short, medium, and long ranges. Once you think you are comfortable with the timings do this exercise. Start a 5 minute timer and dodge every hit. Every time you get hit increase a counter. After the 5 minutes are up note how many times you were hit and multiply each hit by 8 minutes. That's how much time you will have just spent getting to the fight. Repeat the exercise until the number is acceptably low to you, proceed to try the actual fight. Review the last boss chip notes.
  
  Rules of the fight:
  
  • Keep all enemies on screen at all times. They will attack you from offscreen.
    
  • Only attack more than once in overclock.
    
  • Beware the other enemies, even in overclock. Many ranged attacks still travel very fast in overclock.
    
  • Always dodge attacks towards the boss, dodging away or to the side can easily get you caught by the attack at the end of the evade.
    
  • Kill Eve first, his attacks are brutal. Adam's attack are easy to read and dodge. Use Adam's attacks to trigger overclock to kill Eve. The bosses look like they share a health bar but in reality each one has half of the health bar.
  
  Phase 1 (Both Alive):
  Adam Specific Attacks:
  
  • Geometry Buckshot - Shoots a buckshot of squares at you
    
  • Geometry Stream - Shoots a stream of squares at you
  
  Eve Specific Attacks:
  
  • Single Debris Arm Swing - Gathers debris into an arm and swings counter clockwise to throw it at you
    
  • Single Debris Arm Overhand - Gathers debris into an arm and swings overhand to throw it at you (Can dodge this to the side if you are not comfortable with timing)
    
  • Double Debris Arm Swing - Gathers debris into two arms and swings counter clockwise to throw it at you
    
  • Double Debris Arm Overhand - Gathers debris into two arms and quickly swings overhand to throw it at you
    
  • Debris Throw no Jutsu - Spawns debris in front of him and quickly throws it forward. (Other debris arm attacks spawn debris around him, this one spawns it all in front and is a very quick startup. Be aware.)
  
  Shared Attacks (Both Can Do These):
  At Ranged:
  
  • Quick Energy Bullets - Fires energy bullets quickly at you, these will trigger evasive system.
    
  • Teleport - Teleports next to you. Possibly followed up with a Become the Tentacle. For safety you should always dodge right after a teleport.
    
  • Charge Dash Grab - Charges at you to grab, if successful you die through B mode and P Shield. (Adam uses this way more often than Eve)
    
  • Charge Dash C-C-C-Combo - Charges at you to perform a flurry of melee combos.
    
  • Air Kick - Jumps into the air and quickly kicks down towards you location to grab, if successful you die through B mode and P Shield. (Adam uses this way more often than Eve)
    
  • Tentacle Blasts - Puts arm into ground and shoots tentacles from under your feet. Dodge into them after they spawn for a free overclock.
    
  • Tentacle Grab - Thrusts out a single tentacle arm that grabs you. (This attack has a quick startup and is medium range)
  
  At Melee:
  
  • Flail Punch - Flails around aimlessly trying to punch you
    
  • High Kick - Kicks in melee range
    
  • Become the Tentacle - Transforms into a tentacle and attempts to grab you. (This attack has a nearly instant startup and I've never reaction dodged it. Mostly dodge it by accident. Avoid melee range outside of overclock.)
    
  • Double Tentacle Grab - Thrusts out two tentacle arms that grab you. (This attack has a quick startup)
  
  Shields:
  
  • Bullet Reflect Shield - Absorbs bullets and reflects them back in one burst afterward. Melee attacks will break the shield without any reflect.
    
  • Melee Reflect Shield - Absorbs melee attacks and does a mirage attack if broken. Bullets/shockwave will break the shield without any reflect.
  
  Phase 2 (Eve Dies):
  Adam Specific Attacks:
  
  • Clone no Jutsu: Creates 2 weaker copies of himself. Done immediately after Eve dies. If Eve is idle for too long once they die the clones will be recast. Clones are very weak to kill so should be taunted and targetted during overclocks. They can do all of Adam's Shared Attacks, but not his Specific Attacks.
  
  I've never killed Adam first, but Im sure he gets something different too.

When I initially did this coliseum I had forgotten about debug mode and ended up practicing the last boss the old fashion way by clearing all the waves every time. Here is a compilation of that journey. Good luck to those who attempt this.