Incising Scalpel

Lore

Ozma Raid Lore Excerpt:
Scalpel was special.

With just a bit of energy of Chaos,
he became incapable of feeling pain
and sprouted another set of arms, which enabled him to rip apart more enemies at the same time.

While he fought on the battlefield,
his body was often riddled with enemies' weapons.
Scalpel made good use of them by swinging them back at them.

People were afraid of the Three Dark Knights,
but on the battlefield, Scalpel slaughtered more enemies than all of them combined.
When the number of enemies he killed reached a few hundreds, their spirits started haunting and bothering him.
So, he started carrying a coffin to keep them locked up inside.

His devastated mind didn't remember much about his past as a human,
but he figured that he never was a good man.

Because a good man would never feel so excited about butchering enemies like he did
or hearing the spirits of his dead enemies cry through the coffin he carried on his back.
^[1]

Move Set

Throwing Blades: He'll do a backstep and throws out two blades. When the blade collides with a player, it explodes immediately to deal damage. If the blade misses, it'll burrow into the ground and explodes after a while.

Spinning Blades: Scalpel gets into a stationary position as he charges up to throw out numerous blades that either go in a clockwise or counterclockwise motion around him.

Flame Body: Around 50% of his HP, Scalpel engulfs himself in flames as a power boost, letting him perform certain patterns much faster and can warp across the room with ease.

Blade Bombardment: He'll jump upwards to stay airborne, as he launches down a volley of blades that randomly drops around different parts of the ground, lingering for awhile until they explode before he lands.

Blade Boomerang: During Scapel's blade throwing patterns, he'll throw an additional blade which roams around the map for a while, then creates an indicator trajectory to attacks the targeted player. (Chaos Level 2 - 3 only)

Flame Dash: Scalpel does a forward dash attack either once or twice that leaves a fire trail behind him.

Blade Wave: He shoots out a large projectile in a front line, being identical to Asura's Spirit Crescent.

Berserk
- Fiery Storm: Scalpel pushes back everyone and throws down four blades that'll conjure into Flame Tornadoes, one of each tracking a party member's position. In order to successfully clear this pattern, all players must coordinate with each other by guiding their respective Tornadoes towards Scalpel's direction to at least hit him twice before the timer gauge below fills up as this causes those Tornadoes to accelerate in speed once the pattern ends. When done correctly, he'll go into a incapacitated state for at least 12 seconds with his defenses lowered.

Strategy

Scalpel himself isn't a difficult boss to face, but he can be very annoying due to his constant movement, numerous blade-related patterns and increased stats if Chaos Mode 1 - 3 is activated, including Jade's Oracle calls if Elinos is left ignored.
Green Parties during Ozma Raid's Phase 1 are generally responsible for clearing Corridor of the Dead where Scalpel is located as defeating him activates a temporary "Saint's Energy of the Land" damage buff across all particpating players for 5 minutes, while the dungeon itself is under a 2 minute regeneration time limit.
Stay away from him at close range when he peforms Spinning Blades, as these deal a respectable amount of damage per hit and could result in casualites among party members if they aren't careful.
During Fiery Storm:
- Everyone should at least stay in a corner and try to guide their respective Flame Tornado towards Scalpel without conflicting into anyone else's path as they too can leave a damaging flame trail behind.
- Failing the pattern does not come with a penalty, nor a party-wipe mechanic like most Raid bosses have.
- The Seraph's Edification or Enchantress's Hot Affection is helpful for those who have slower movement speed, but try not to collide with allies during the pattern.
- It's much easier to handle on Guide Mode since you're only being chased by two Tornadoes instead.
If your party is strong enough regardless of the Raid's Chaos Mode level, have the Crusader/Enchantress deploy their respective Neo: Awakenings Final Judgment, Laus di Angelus & Curtain Call on entry when approaching Scalpel and burst him down.