Here's how you complete Sword Hunter in the Decaying Temple in Octopath Traveler 2

The 'Sword Hunter in the Decaying Temple' side story is one of the most challenging to complete due to its rather specific requirements. While you will have your party by your side for most of your long Octopath Traveler 2 playtime, there is one particular area that delineates that you must go alone.

Thankfully we've got you covered with some tips and a walkthrough below, so make sure to carry on reading to figure out how to finish side story and beat Karma.

How to complete Sword Hunter in the Decaying Temple

In order to complete this side story in Octopath Traveler 2, you must first head to the Decaying Temple. This is found within the Eastern Sai Sands to the north, and will only open if you approach it on your own.

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That means that you must remove your three optional party members, which can dramatically increase the challenge of this particular dungeon and quest depending on whether you chose the best starting character in Octopath Traveler 2.

Then, you need to progress through the dungeon until you reach the boss at the end. Defeating the boss will reward you with the Keepsake Sword, which you can take back to the townsperson in Sai to complete the quest. It is rather underwhelming for how difficult the fight is, but it is still very enjoyable to embrace the challenge.

If you're struggling with the boss in the Decaying Temple though, make sure to carry on reading to see our tips for completion.

How to beat the Karma boss

As mentioned, the biggest aspect of why Karma is so difficult is because you have to tackle it solo. The challenge of this very much depends on your own starting character choice, which can leave you unable to break the boss or do any significant damage.

The one main way around this, if you're really stuck, is to wait until you've completed your main character's story, as they can then be removed from your party, allowing you to select a more optimal choice like Hikari or Ochette.

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However, you can play around with secondary jobs in order to make it work, and we've got some support skills below that you will definitely want to think about equipping too.

Perhaps the easiest route to take if you're really stuck is to apply the Merchant secondary job to your character and spend enough JP to get the Hired Help skill and the Hang Tough support skill.

Hang Tough is essential for pretty much any build in this fight, as it allows you to survive an otherwise lethal blow, leaving you with one health point.

Hired Help on the other hand is a little bit of a cheat code. Max boosted and against a broken enemy should result in about 40,000 damage - which can quickly take down the boss if you're weaker on damage otherwise. The biggest downside of this is the massive cost of 30,000 Silver Leaves per use, so you will need to have some significant bank in order to pull this off.

Alternatively, the Hunter or Warrior jobs are also an excellent choice as the Aggressive Slash and Precise Shot attacks allow you to hit up to five times at max boost, letting you quickly break the boss' shield.

If your character has access to an axe, getting the Tomahawk Axe is also an excellent choice. This will add an additional hit to any standard axe attack, allowing you to half the amount of time needed to break the shield.

Finally, while the Cleric is overall a terrible choice for a secondary job in this particular fight, the Rise Again support skill is very handy. It allows you to be resurrected one time with 25% HP, so pairing this with Hang Tough will give you two get-out jail free cards to rely on when Karma does his 9,999 damage attack.

If you're wondering how to unlock all secret jobs in Octopath Traveler 2, don't miss our excellent guide for all of the answers.