Is there any reason to beat Sophora? (2024)

Not right now, AFAIK, but I'm not a backer so I haven't actually played it myself. There's going to be more content for her later, though no-one outside William has any idea how wins/losses are going to affect that. Given in-game precedents, I'd guess accessing that content will require fighting her, if not outright beating her, multiple times (and not getting Bad Ended in the process, of course).

Also, she's apparently much harder to beat than intended; her shield-piercing sword in particular is only supposed to ignore Shields by 30%, not 100%. In the meantime, stack Freezing resistance on your Steele.

I'm guessing she's also boosted a bit because she can be a recurring fight, rather than limited to Zheng Shi. She'll become more manageable as the max level is increased and we get better gear.

What are your class and stats, by the way? I know she can be affected by Paralyzing Shock.

Skylinegtr34 said:

Is she supposed to be perusing you?

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August 2022 – Fenoxo's Blog said:

Backer: A new enemy has been added to Zheng Shi and can be triggered in one of three ways: defeating Maike and the Forgehound, defeating 20 Bored Jumpers, or defeating the Shock Hopper. When a condition is met, an amazonian laquine will come after you, and can be a recurring nemesis on ZS and beyond… depending on your choices. (William & Leek)

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Since the first encounter has to be on Zheng Shi, she can be avoided indefinitely, if you leave before meeting her. If you want to stick around for a while, I've found the chance of meeting her is fairly low, so you should be able to save-scum.
I've found a Stun Weapon fairly useful, especially if you have 60 Physique/Aim.

Her Shield-bypassing attack is Freezing. Unfortunately, there aren't really any good +Freezing Resist armors on Zheng Shi, but you can pick up some underwear from Uveto and maybe the Hardlight Bodyplate/suit from Dhaal. Roasted Zhor Beast gives +10% Freezing Resist for 4 hours. That said, it is kind of annoying that you have to know it's coming and prepare for it specifically. There aren't a lot of other encounters like that. Fortunately, the class most vulnerable (Tech Specialist) is least dependent on armor, in my experience.
Her multi-ranged attack does take Evasion into account now, which helps. She is susceptible to Disarm.

I did encounter her but I reloaded a save, so the game reads it as I never did

Also that’s weird, I’ve encountered her on the 1st prob planet

For the tech specialist build which now that I think about it is literally the only one I have ever run, I have found the Reaper Stun Baton with its stun chance to be extremely helpful in fighting her, as well as being useful in regaining HP lost to her bypassing attacks.

Interestingly I also found that the Bimboleum Shield Defense did literally nothing to her, or at least, I'm pretty sure it didn't. The few times I actually had my shield drop fighting her (usually I lose from HP bypass damage), her lust did not change at all, whereas with Jasvalla or heck, even Dr. Lash the stoic unsexable creature, their lust went to 100 instantly (from my 350 shields) and I insta-won the fight. But not with Sophora, for some reason. It's annoying, but now that I have the Stun Baton I basically constantly stunlock her the entire fight, so now it's not even a challenging encounter.

aps said:

For the tech specialist build which now that I think about it is literally the only one I have ever run, I have found the Reaper Stun Baton with its stun chance to be extremely helpful in fighting her, as well as being useful in regaining HP lost to her bypassing attacks.

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How does the Stun Rod help with regaining HP? Rapid Recharge restores Shields, and the Rod doesn't have Vampiric.

aps said:

Interestingly I also found that the Bimboleum Shield Defense did literally nothing to her, or at least, I'm pretty sure it didn't. The few times I actually had my shield drop fighting her (usually I lose from HP bypass damage), her lust did not change at all, whereas with Jasvalla or heck, even Dr. Lash the stoic unsexable creature, their lust went to 100 instantly (from my 350 shields) and I insta-won the fight. But not with Sophora, for some reason.

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I just tested the BDS. Her Lust does change, it's just that Shield Defense Systems have a bug where they go off before Shields are totally depleted.
Sophora has 200 Max Lust. You'd need 400+ (Willpower defense) to instantly win. If you get her above 100, she loses Shields on the next round she's not Stunned. She has a weakness to Burning, so the Salamander DS would probably be better here.

aps said:

It's annoying, but now that I have the Stun Baton I basically constantly stunlock her the entire fight, so now it's not even a challenging encounter.

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Stun weapons work really well in general. Especially if you have relevant Cybernetic implant.

Skylinegtr34 said:

I did encounter her but I reloaded a save, so the game reads it as I never did

Also that’s weird, I’ve encountered her on the 1st prob planet

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Likewise. I first found her while exploring the northern most parts of Mengha.