Chances are, if you’ve been playing Another Crabs Treasure, you’ve encountered those big, annoying glowing cubes blocking your path. The key to getting past those cubes is unlocking the mantis punch attribution, which can be gained by beating Grovekeeper Topoda in a one-on-one brawl. Below, we’ll show you where to find the Grovekeeper and list some tips on how to beat the manic mantis.
Another Crabs Treasure: How to Find and Beat Grovekeeper Topoda
How to Find Grovekeeper Topoda:
Before finding Grovekeeper Topoda, players must make their way through the shallows. After beating the Duchess in Fort Slacktide, exit her chambers and enter the newly opened door on the right. After going through the door, follow the path to the fort ramp and venture towards the bridge on the backside of the fort. This will take players to a new area, Reefs Edge.
Once players are finished loading into the new area they’ll be further along the bridge. Unfortunately, the bridge comes to an end. However, on the right side of a bridge, players will find a gap in the rail that leads to a new path. Follow this path until you see the Reefs Edge moon snail shell.
From here on forward, players should follow the beaten path. While a few side paths lead to extra items, the Reefs Edge is straightforward. At the end of the path, players should find themselves in New Caracinia. Once in the city, players should familiarize themselves with the NPCs and shops here, as the city acts as a hub location. There will be some story cutscenes here that will unlock the game’s next main objective and area.
Once you’re finished in New Caracinia and are tasked with finding the treasure maps, make your way to The Sands Between. Once in The Sands Between, follow the microplastic trail and the lifesaver rings to the east. Eventually, players will find themselves at the Expired Grove. Make your way through the beaten path. Players will encounter the Diseased Lycanthrope and Heikea, Intimidation Crab along the way. These bosses don’t pose a terrible threat and their arenas offer shells to utilize during their boss fights.
Getting Through the Curdled Village:
At the end of the Expired Grove, players will encounter the Curdled Village. This is the final path before getting to Grovekeeper Topoda. The first half of the village requires players to run up a slope while being shot at by arrows, while the second half requires them to maneuver around a lot with their grappling hook. Both sections of the path can feel quite daunting at times, as they’re littered with crab archers that give us flashbacks to those darn Anor Londo archers.
The first half of the curdled village can be misleading, as there are many empty milk and juice cartons to hide in while being pelted by arrows. Don’t rely on these. Sometimes, crabs hide in them and pop out of the sand at the last minute to attack. Utilize the cartons only when you know they are safe.
Two good skills for this area are Spearfishing, which allows you to pull an enemy forward at the expense of a barbed hook, and Wave breaker, which enables you to propel yourself toward enemies at the expense of a barbed hook. Both skills can be found in the way of the predator skill tree. These skills help close the gap between yourself and those pesky archers. But be careful; despite the amount of hooks in your inventory, you can only carry three hooks between moon snail rests. Sometimes, finding another hook drop will refill the expended slot after using a hook, but it’s still important to use the hooks only when necessary.
How to Beat Grovekeeper Topoda:
Congratulations! You’ve made your way through The Sands Between, The Expired Grove, and The Curled Village. Now, it’s time to face Topoda and claim that mantis punch! This is one of the harder boss fights that we have encountered, so here are some of our tips for toppling Topoda:
Stay Calm, Don’t Dodge, Parry.
In this game and other soul-like titles, it may be your first instinct to dodge out of an attack. In this boss fight, that won’t cut it. This fight takes notes from Sekiro, in the fact that you need to be persistent. Topoda may seem like a fast boss, but after a few rounds, you’ll notice he is very telegraphed. Two important skills for this boss fight are parry and riposte, which can be found in the way of the true crab skill tree. Parry Topoda and use your riposte ability for major posture damage when possible. This is the most important tip for this fight. If you don’t parry and riposte Topoda correctly, he will break down your shell too quickly, and you won’t be able to build enough poise to do serious damage during the fight.
Stay, Don’t Stray:
Topoda tends to move around a lot. He especially likes to jump in the seaweed surrounding the arena, which the player can’t enter. When he does enter the seaweed, sometimes that posture damage you’ve been working so hard to build may dwindle. Try to keep the fight in the center of the arena, giving Topoda less chance to jump away. Players should stick to Topoda like white on rice and attack him whenever possible to keep his poise bar high.
When He Strikes, Parry Twice:
Throughout the boss fight, Topoda will wind himself up for a move, where he swipes at you multiple times in succession. This is one of his easier moves to parry, as it’s his most telegraphed move. When parrying this move, it is important to parry again right after. After parrying his swipe attack, most players may feel it is safe to start attacking Topoda, but it isn’t. He will do a side punch move after he does his swipe attack, regardless of whether he’s been parried. Because of this, it is important to parry Topoda when he does the swipe and then once more, right after, when he does his side punch. After parrying Topoda a second time, use riposte for big posture damage.
Out of Sight, Listen to Fight:
One of Topoda’s most unpredictable moves is his teleport punch. This move has Topoda teleport out of the boss arena for a few seconds before teleporting in again to punch the player. This move ended most of our boss runs in shambles. If you get caught with this move without being at full health, it’ll probably send you to the grave.
The best method for avoiding this move is to listen to and work with the sound cues. When Topoda first teleports, a distinctive sound cue will match the teleportation; before he teleports back, there will be a sound effect that sounds like a bubble popping. When you hear the first sound effect of the teleportation, get into a position that you’d like Topoda to be in. Once the bubble pop sounds, start dodging away.
When Topoda reaches half health, he will create a sand vortex. During this sand vortex, he will use his teleport punch three times. It’s most important to utilize the sound effects here. If you cannot dodge Topoda’s punches, a last-ditch effort may be to use the crab husk umami powers, which can be accessed by equipping crab husks in the arena. The crab husk umami power allows players to ditch their shells as a decoy. When using this power before Topoda punches, he will focus on your expended shell rather than you. This should only be a last-ditch effort and something not to be relied on. There are only a few crab husks throughout the arena, and the decoy expends all the player’s umami charge.
Players should be able to beat the Grovekeeper by utilizing the tips listed above. Once players beat the Grovekeeper, he can upgrade attributions! He will also gift the mantis punch to players, which is a very useful move. That being said, good luck with your fight and good riddance, Grovekeeper!
