Limbus Company: 8-30 The Heart | Lei Heng Strategy

Lei Heng, the notorious boss of Stage 8-30 in Limbus Company, is widely regarded as one of the game’s toughest encounters. He features complex mechanics, punishing attacks, and highly specific counter-strategies. This guide will provide detailed insight into Lei Heng’s abilities, mechanics, and strategies for defeating him consistently. Drawing from extensive experience with this fight, I’ll share precise numerical data and optimal approaches.

Understanding Lei Heng’s Mechanics and Phases

Lei Heng’s encounter spans multiple phases, each introducing new mechanics. Initially, he appears manageable but quickly ramps up in difficulty as his health decreases.

Ammo and Reload Mechanics

Lei Heng utilizes a unique ammo system tied to his special skills. Each time he uses an ammo-loaded attack, he expends ammunition. Without ammo, his attacks become weaker and lose their burn-inflicting effects.

He reloads ammo between phases or before executing major attacks like Tanglecleaver or Savage Tigerslayer’s Perfected Flurry of Blades (STPFB). Your goal is to consistently win clashes to force him into using ammo ineffectively.

Inner Strength System

Lei Heng gains “Inner Strength” stacks under two conditions:

1. When attacking unopposed.
2. When participating in clashes.

Winning a clash against him removes one Inner Strength stack per clash won. Inner Strength increases the power of his special moves significantly at certain thresholds:

• At 3 stacks: +1 coin power
• At 6 stacks: +2 coin power
• At 9+ stacks: +3 coin power and additional attack weight

In the final phase, he gains Inner Strength twice as fast (+2 per clash). Keep Inner Strength low by consistently winning clashes.

Unbreakable Coins Explained

Lei Heng features “unbreakable coins,” represented visually by glowing red tokens on certain attacks. These coins cannot be destroyed via regular gameplay mechanics like evasion or defense skills alone.

They inflict high tremor and burn status effects even if you win clashes against them. As Lei Heng loses health, he gains more unbreakable coins per attack, dramatically increasing damage output.

Optimal Team Composition and Identity Recommendations

Your team should focus on survivability and sustained damage output. Specific Identities (IDs) excel in this fight:

Recommended IDs and EGO Choices

Slash-resistant IDs are crucial due to Lei Heng’s slash-heavy attacks:

1. Blade Lineage Yi Sang: High slash resistance (20%), excellent single-target damage.
2. Seven Association Ryoshu: Gains a stacking damage buff specifically against Lei Heng each turn she’s alive.
3. Kurokumo Clan Hong Lu: Strong bleed application helps wear down Lei Heng despite his status damage reduction.

Defensive EGO skills such as “Fluid Sac” (Faust) or “Lantern” (Meursault) can mitigate critical moments of extreme burst damage from STPFB.

Mastering Key Mechanics for Victory

Bind Status – Crucial for Control

Applying Bind status is essential to manage Lei Heng’s speed-dependent passive abilities. Binding reduces his speed, negating powerful passives:

• At speeds above 7+, Lei Heng deals +50% extra damage.
• Below speed 5 due to Bind stacks (ideally 3+ stacks), he suffers Defense Level Down (-10%) and cannot regenerate Sanity Points (SP).

Consistently applying Bind via IDs like G Corp Manager Gregor dramatically reduces incoming damage over time.

Managing Adds – Ammo Denial Strategy

Lei Heng summons adds periodically that grant him special ammo upon defeat of your sinners or if left alive too long. Prioritize killing these adds immediately upon appearance.

Each add kill denies ammo reload opportunities for Lei Heng, indirectly weakening upcoming big attacks significantly.

Leveraging Prey Status Effect

Lei Heng applies “Prey” to whichever Sinner inflicted the most damage last turn:

• Prey lowers your Sinner’s outgoing damage versus Lei (-10%).
• Prey grants -5 Clash Power penalty but rewards extra EGO resources if you still win the clash.
• Crucially, Prey reduces incoming damage from Lei by 20% when using defensive skills during clashes.

Intentionally triggering Prey onto tank-focused Sinners can greatly improve survivability during major attacks like STPFB.

Countering Lei Heng’s Major Attacks Precisely

Lei Heng cycles through major attacks every three turns after reaching final phase health thresholds (~1000 HP remaining):

Tanglecleaver Attack Breakdown

Tanglecleaver features three unbreakable coins dealing heavy tremor status on hit:

• Always clash with a high-speed ID; slower IDs take increased damage (+20% if speed difference >3).
• Winning this clash mitigates tremor buildup significantly; losing it grants Lei significant advantage next turn (+4 Power Up).

Savage Tigerslayer’s Perfected Flurry of Blades (STPFB)

STPFB is Lei’s deadliest move featuring five unbreakable coins dealing massive burn and tremor buildup:

• Clash STPFB with your fastest high-Clash ID; losing triggers devastating team-wide burn stacks.
• Use defensive EGOs on non-clashing Sinners to reduce AoE splash damage drastically.
• After STPFB occurs once at low HP (<1000), rush down immediately before another occurs (every three turns).

Advanced Tactics & Non-obvious Insights

One lesser-known tactic involves intentionally staggering key Sinners during Phase One intentionally:

During initial turn one burst from Lei Heng, allow your strongest melee DPS Sinners to become staggered purposefully by avoiding defensive actions entirely.

After the subsequent mid-fight cutscene occurs post-stagger recovery, previously staggered Sinners fully heal without stagger bars remaining at all permanently afterwards!

This hidden mechanic grants exceptional mid-to-late-fight survivability advantages against repeated tremor/burn stacking threats later on.

Additionally, spreading out tremor/burn statuses evenly across multiple Sinners prevents individual deaths from concentrated status buildup bursts during late-game phases effectively.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Do NOT underestimate the importance of clashing every single attack possible – even minor ones initially appearing trivial matter immensely later due Inner Strength stacking mechanics described earlier thoroughly above already!

Also avoid overly relying purely upon healing EGOs early; prioritize saving limited EGO resources strictly towards critical late-game defensive scenarios instead whenever feasible practically speaking overall strategically-wise here specifically indeed clearly ultimately now realistically!

Summary & Final Thoughts

Ultimately defeating Lei Heng demands precise understanding regarding multiple layered complex mechanics simultaneously interacting throughout entire lengthy multi-phase encounter duration comprehensively overall here indeed truly!