Duelists are characters that Aura can pay money (with one exception) to fight. If she wins she gets Duel Experience, an ability that gives +1 attack and +5 max HP. With two exceptions she also gains some money for winning. Magic is not allowed when fighting duelists. That also includes enhancement spells, and neither can you have a slime summoned. It is not possible to use items in the fights either, but you can use items like coatings before the fight. Those rules are only valid outside Verdeaux, where all duels have other sets of rules.
If you lose the fight you lose the price for entering the fight and are reduced to 1 HP, but you can try the fight again.
- Brawler Quentin: He will simply alternate between a normal attack first, and Windup after. The best way to beat him is to guard when he attacks and attack when he uses windup. On Normal he can be beaten on the first day. On Nightmare you need 10 ATK to beat him.
- Guard Lorentz: He has very high defense, but the Heavy Armored trait that decreases his defense by 75% starting on turn 10. You can either guard for 9 turns and then attack, or you can use pierce instead of waiting if you have it.
- Mercenary Reiner: He has fairly high defense, and it doesn't get reduced, so pierce is very useful here. He will attack, then use Windup, Rampage I, then guard twice and then attack. This is the turn you want to finish the fight with a crit. In order to achieve that you need to keep in mind that you can only have tactical advantage every other turn, if you attack on the first turn he guards you will crit on the second turn he guards, but not be able to crit when he attacks. In order to get the crit on the right turn you need to guard the first turn he guards.
- Intermediate Adventurers (fought 2 on 2 together with John. Cost to fight and prize for winning are both Perika rather than gold). The man has 600 HP and lower defense than the woman. He uses Invest: Attack and the Windup+Slash I combo. The woman has higher defense and 400 HP. She uses Invest: Defense and the Windup+Pierce I combo. Both will use Invest: Health if they are low on health. It is a good idea to start the fight by using buffs and putting the Counter III state on John. After that focus on one foe at a time. Applying a poison coating on John before the fight to benefit from his Slash I skill and Counter III state makes the fight easier.
- Duelist Ray: Rampage makes this fight very easy. He will attack, then change to offensive stance, attack for two turns then use windup and attack. You want to guard when he attacks, attack when he changes stance and then finish the fight with rampage on the turn he uses windup.
- Knight Fleura: She attacks on her first turn, then uses the “attack, attack, Windup, Pierce II” pattern. Guard when she is about to use Pierce II. Her defense is high, so Pierce I is the only reasonable way to hurt her. At 26 Att, you can expect to win with 5 strikes. Important detail about the duel: using Poison Coating makes the fight pretty easy, but prevents you from getting Fleura to teach you Pierce II.
- Trickster Ralph (does not pay up if he loses). He has poison coating applied, making his attacks have a chance to poison you. He will attack and then switch to defensive stance, hoping to make the fight last long enough for the poison to take you down. Both rampage and offensive stance are good against him, since neither the weakness to physical damage from exhaustion or the decreased defenses from offensive stance affect the damage done by poison.
- Old Man Olaf: In his normal form, he is not threatening. He can use normal attacks and Slash II. Once he gets to half of his HP (he has 800 HP), he gets in his serious form, which is very strong and get the Windup + Rampage II combo. Note that after using this combo, Olaf will guard during three turns. The key to defeat Olaf is to survive his serious form during 9 turns. The best way to survive is to have Defensive Stance II on when he gets serious, then guard each turn he is not exhausted. After this, Olaf reverts to his normal form and gets the Defense Broken debuff. Deactivate the stance and finish him off.
- Item Duelist Clemence: This duel only allows items and skills in the Special category (meaning you can still win easily with Remove Collar). An acid bomb coupled with Bomb Proficiency is a good way to win without using too much bombs+ once Clemence gets his defenses broken. To resist Clemence's own onslaught, apply antimagic coating before the fight and know Coating Proficiency. Also prepare vitality potions in advance to heal and guard when Clemence is about to hit you.
- Thunder Duelist Rene: This duel only allows spells, martials and normal attacks. Having a summon or enhance spell prepared in advance is forbidden though. Rene is a glass canon with low MP. If you can cumulate Defensive Stance + Rock Armor + a prepared jelly jam coating, you become resistant to all of his attack and can beat him with you own offensive spells. You can also win without coating if you guard on the first turn, use Rock Armor on the second turn and guard until he exhausts his MP.
- Fire Duelist Lara: This duel only allows spells, martials and normal attacks. Having a summon or enhance spell prepared in advance is forbidden though. Lara uses an enhanced version of Fire II on every odd-numbered turn, except her first turn where she uses Flaming Robe II. She uses Pierce II or Heat Up II the other turns. Furthermore, Lara starts the fight with Defensive Stance II on and uses a coating suppressing her natural Thunder weakness. With high enough MATK and HP, there is a straightforward strategy to defeat her: use Water Skin on the first turn, then alternate between Thunderbolt and guard.
- Knight Duelist Francis: This duel forbids items, but allows anything else. Francis combines high stats and a diverse moveset. He can buff his ATK and debuff your DEF. His main combos are Thunderbolt II + Pierce II and Windup + Rampage II. However, Francis suffers from the Heavy Armored trait. Playing defensively is thus recommended until you can exploit this trait. Note that Francis will get exhausted from Rampage II before his defenses get broken. This gives you a window where you can defeat him quickly if you know Rampage II yourself.