Before the Tower · Chapter 8
Tower 8: Auri & Xaolong
A 1.0 tower. Every older guide fails here — including the ones the first seven chapters of this column drew on.
| Recommended level | HP | Element | Counter direction | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lv68 | 327,600 | Dragon + Water | Weak to Ice (vs Dragon) + Electric (vs Water) | Sunreach |
Xaolong is dual-typed Dragon and Water, 327,600 HP, recommended level 68. It sits in Sunreach, the sky archipelago new to 1.0 — new Pals, new tower bosses, ores that need specialized equipment to mine. Which means something that matters to you as a reader: any older guide claiming "I beat this tower ages ago" is not talking about this tower.
Pre-fight checklist
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Recommended entry level | The site data anchor is Lv68. |
| Element to bring | Ice into Dragon, Electric into Water — you need both directions. |
| Your own kit | 1.0 raised the level cap to 80 and added an ancient-civilization technology tier. Around Tower 8 is where that tier actually earns its keep. |
| Supplies | The site's recomputation is generous here: alpha-tier Ice Pals at Lv60 and Lv65 carry 700-power moves, and the Electric side offers several 600-power options from dungeons around Lv35. |
Counter picks you can actually catch before this tower
Computed from this site's 1.0 data: wild, dungeon and alpha catches only, with skill-learning level at or below this tower's recommended level. High power does not guarantee a win — cooldowns, durability and your own weapon tier all count.
Ice coverage
| Pal | Counter skill | Power | Learned at | Earliest catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paladius | Absolute Frost | 700 | Lv55 | Lv60–60alpha |
| Frostallion | Crystal Wing | 700 | Lv30 | Lv60–60alpha |
| Frostallion Noct | Crystal Wing | 700 | Lv30 | Lv65–65alpha |
| Munchill | Diamond Rain | 600 | Lv50 | Lv10–20wild |
| Pierdon Cryst | Diamond Rain | 600 | Lv40 | Lv35–35dungeon |
| Azurobe Cryst | Diamond Rain | 600 | Lv50 | Lv36–48dungeon |
Electric coverage
| Pal | Counter skill | Power | Learned at | Earliest catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solmora Lux | Thunderstorm | 600 | Lv50 | Lv13–13dungeon |
| Helzephyr Lux | Thunderstorm | 600 | Lv50 | Lv35–35dungeon |
| Fenglope Lux | Thunderstorm | 600 | Lv50 | Lv35–35dungeon |
| Penking Lux | Thunderstorm | 600 | Lv50 | Lv36–48dungeon |
| Azurmane | Thunder Rail | 600 | Lv40 | Lv57–57alpha |
| Prixter Lux | Thunder Uppercut | 600 | Lv50 | Lv65–68wild |
Route and anchors Site 1.0 data recomputation
This chapter won't hand you a step-by-step route through Sunreach. The site's region material stops before 1.0, and I'm not going to fill a region I haven't been to with experience from old ones. What has been officially announced is this: Sunreach has new Pals, new tower bosses, ores requiring specialized mining equipment, and settlements with new NPCs and side missions.
What can be pinned down is the direction of preparation. For the Ice and Electric faces, the site's data can tell you who deals the damage, when they learn it, and at what level band you catch them — none of which depends on whether I've been to Sunreach.
1.0 also reworked dungeon layouts, rewards and chest drops. Whatever dungeon routes you noted down for the earlier towers need re-checking at this stage.
Inside the tower
Wide water volleys alternating with dives is this fight's basic rhythm. Hold mid range, move diagonally, and focus fire on the recovery after each dive lands.
Dual weaknesses mean something different this late than they did at Tower 3. Tower 3 asked whether you had a second face at all; Tower 8 asks whether both of your faces are strong enough. 327,000 HP across five minutes is 65,000 a minute, and one face rarely gets there.
This site has not yet obtained 1.0 measurements of this fight's actual moveset and dangerous animations. What's written above is what the data layer supports; treat your own first entry as the source for specific dodge windows, and treat it as reconnaissance rather than a clear attempt.
Failure diagnosis
| What you're seeing | Fix this first |
|---|---|
| Water volleys blanket the whole arena | Hold mid range and move diagonally. Too close and you can't dodge; too far and you can't reach. |
| You only brought one elemental face | Late-game dual-weakness towers don't accept a single face. Both Ice and Electric, and both levelled far enough to have their high-power moves. |
| You can't tell what it's about to do | That's normal — this site hasn't finished collecting the moveset for 1.0's new towers either. Treat your first entry as reconnaissance: note the dangerous animations and come back. |
After the fight
One tower left. The World Tree finale isn't a typing question, and the look-up-the-chart team building the first eight towers taught you fails for the first time at the ninth.