Foes & Bestiary
Foes are the enemies that the main characters must battle their way through in the Epic Battle Fantasy series. They consist of antagonists, and different species of monsters and mutants. In Epic Battle Fantasy 1 and 2, foes approach in waves that must be defeated progressively. Epic Battle Fantasy 3, 4 and 5 employ the exploration element, and groups of random foes can be encountered or avoided on the map. Each area generally has an elemental "theme" for the foes that will be encountered, although some foes may appear in more than one area. Stronger foes will appear as the game progresses.
The Bestiary is a recurring feature in the Epic Battle Fantasy series, making its first appearance in Epic Battle Fantasy 2. It holds records about all foes that have been scanned throughout the journey. Each entry consists of information about a specific foe's weaknesses and resistances and a small description which may include their special abilities, preferred attacks, and a flavor text. It also displays a picture of the foe (in EBF2) or the foe itself (since EBF3). In the latter case, foes with multiple possible appearances choose their variant at random.
The Bestiary can be accessed at any time by opening it from the respective game menu, and, in later installments, also by hovering over the question mark (?) icon which appears in the battle screen right next to every scanned foe.
Epic Battle Fantasy
EBF1 lacks a proper Bestiary, but most of the game's foes can be seen in the Gallery accessed from the main menu. The foes appearing in EBF1 are as follows:
- Furry Slime
- King Slime
- Eyeball
- Beholder
- Haunted Tree
- Defender
- Spiral Crab
- Regice and Regirock
- Ancient Eye
- Mecha
- Skull Ghost
- Roku
Epic Battle Fantasy 2
See also: List of Foes in Epic Battle Fantasy 2
This is the first game to feature a Bestiary. It has 27 pages, which can be unlocked by using the Scanbot summon (available to Natalie) on different foes as they are encountered in the game. Separate parts of bosses (e.g. the Guardian's arms or the Valkyrie Tank's various weapons) count as independent foes.
Due to this being its first appearance in the series, the Bestiary is somewhat unrefined; the foes' pictures are little more than hasty scribbles, and players must manually scroll through the entries to find a specific file.
The Beast Master medal is earned by scanning all 27 foes and completing the bestiary.
Epic Battle Fantasy 3
See also: List of Foes in Epic Battle Fantasy 3
There are a total of 75 creatures in EBF3´s Bestiary, which are added to the compendium by Lance's Scan skill. Compared to the previous game, the Bestiary has been substantially improved, with a full-screen profile for each foe that shows their elemental weaknesses, resistances, and status resistances, along with general information on their combat capabilities.
A total of three Medals can be awarded in-game by filling the Bestiary:
- Beast Tamer — Scan 25 different foes.
- Beast Hunter — Scan 50 different foes.
- Beast Scholar — Complete the Bestiary by scanning all 75 foes.
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
Post-BM Bestiary, page 1
Post-BM Bestiary, page 2
Post-BM Bestiary, page 3
See also: List of Foes in Epic Battle Fantasy 4
The fourth installment of the series features a much larger and more comprehensive Bestiary, with 124 entries at game's release, increasing up to 147 entries after the Battle Mountain update. The entries themselves have been updated into a more professional form, with a standard background and highly detailed information about each foe, including:
- Elemental, status and debuff weaknesses and resistances with exact percentages.
- Which items they may drop on defeat, including the percent chance of them dropping each item.
A total of two Medals can be awarded in-game by filling the Bestiary:
- Zoology Student — Scan a foe and begin filling in the bestiary.
- Zoology Expert — Scan all foes and complete the bestiary.
Certain foes have their data readily given in-battle, but cannot be added to the bestiary. Meeting one for the first time awards the player with the Unknown Power Level Medal.
Epic Battle Fantasy 5
See also: List of Foes in Epic Battle Fantasy 5
EBF5 features 149 foes in the free version and 216 in the premium one (164 before the v2 update). The Bestiary is very similar to the one from EBF4, but it includes also an icon on the foe's picture to indicate if they have been captured to be used as a summon.
In EBF5, the ability to scan foes becomes a tactical ability, which allows every character to perform it for no cost beyond the turn used to do so.
Capturing
EBF5 introduced the new Capture Foe tactic and mechanic, which allow players to capture most foes in the game by throwing a box at them, if the capture is successful, the foe can then be used as a summon (certain quests and equipment upgrades will also require captured foes).
The related Medals shifted from just scanning foes to capturing them. Only one Medal is related to scanning foes (X-Ray Goggles), while there are eight others related to capturing them.
- Slave Trader — Enslave a beast, later to be forced into combat against its will.
- Beast Tamer — Tame a strong monster as you work your way up the food chain.
- Unusual Torture — Melt down a captured foe and use it as a crafting material. The foe's consent is not required.
- Not Pok*mon — Equip more than 6 summons, but no more than 18, as that would be simply unfair.
- None Are Safe — Capture 50 different foes. No living creature can escape the completionist's snare.
- None Are Free — Capture 100 different foes. Leave no free animals to graze the fields - all bow before their master.
- Gotta Catch 'em All — Capture 151 different foes. This game won't actually make you catch all of them, but there was a time when 151 was considered impressive (added in the v2 update).
- Boss's Boss — Imprison your boss in a shipping container, for later use.
- X-Ray Goggles — Scan 125 different foes.
Foes AI
In EBF5, foes' artificial intelligence became slightly more complex than just "use a random attack on a random player", e.g., some will try to aim elemental attacks at players weaker to that element, focus attacks on whoever dealt damage to them most recently, or use a different spell when the originally planned one would be resisted. The following lists how are certain aspects calculated.
Scare
- "Intimidates or angers (group) enemies."
- ―Equips with this effect
Certain equips can "scare" certain foes if equipped by a player in the front row. This ability never has to be unlocked through upgrading.
| Icon | Name | Type | Affected group(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Devil's Fork | Sword | Slimes |
|
The Chopper | Sword | Trees |
|
Celtic Cross | Staff | Ghosts |
|
Oak Staff | Staff | Trees |
|
Slime Staff | Staff | Slimes |
|
Chainsaw Gun | Gun | Trees |
|
Dog Sausage | Toy | Dogs, Bears, Mammoths |
|
Pope Hat | Female Hat | Ghosts |
When scared (checked at the beginning of foe's turn), the foe either 
Surrenders, flees or goes 
Berserk, depending on which behavior is programmed for this specific foe.
| Icon | Name | Behavior | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Chocolate Slime | Flee | Slimes |
|
Sand Slime | ||
|
Icecream Slime | ||
|
Lava Slime | ||
|
Mud Slime | ||
|
Water Slime | ||
|
Slime Bunny | ||
|
Slime Mouse | ||
|
Green Pixel | Flee | Slimes |
|
Big Chocolate Slime | 2x
|
Slimes |
|
Big Sand Slime | ||
|
Big Icecream Slime | ||
|
Big Lava Slime | ||
|
Big Mud Slime | ||
|
Green Bush | Flee | Trees |
|
Red Bush | ||
|
Muddy Bush | ||
|
Sandy Bush | ||
|
Tanuki Dog |
|
Dogs |
|
Wolf Dog | ||
|
Zap Dog | 1x
| |
|
Mage Dog | ||
|
Brown Bear | 1x
|
Bears |
|
Black Bear | ||
|
Grolar Bear | ||
|
Panda Bear | ||
|
Camel Mammoth | 1x
|
Mammoths |
|
Wooly Mammoth | ||
|
War Mammoth | ||
|
Wooden Idol |
|
Trees |
|
Roasted Gloop | Flee | Trees |
|
Stumpy Gloop | ||
|
Fabulous Gloop | 2x
| |
|
Leafy Chomper | 1x
|
Trees |
|
Seaweed Chomper | ||
|
Flame Wraith |
|
Ghosts |
|
Frost Wraith | ||
|
Leaf Wraith | ||
|
Steel Wraith | 1x
| |
|
Master Wraith | ||
|
Burned Fallen | HP ≥49%: 1x HP <49%: Flee |
Ghosts |
|
Lost Fallen | ||
|
Crucified Fallen | ||
|
Drowned Fallen | ||
|
Beheaded Fallen |
Last attacker
Remembers the last player that attacked the foe (attacks that miss or don't deal damage due to resistances also count), auto skills (as long as they aren't summons) from equipment will also count. Spells that are cast by the weather won't count. Summons don't count, since they're treated as being cast by the weather. If a foe with this behavior hasn't been attacked yet or was last attacked by the weather, it will simply target randomly.
- Used mostly by certain beast type foes. Example: Brown Bear will always target its last attacker.
- Used by pretty much all foes for their counters, directing them to whoever made the last attack against them.
Most/least damaged entity
Calculates Remaining HP % rounded down + 1 for every player or foe, from top to bottom; when several entities score the same amount of points, the last one takes priority. For players, it respects 
Lovable and 
Target unless specified otherwise; for foes, both statuses are ignored. When all entities of the side have full health, targets a random one instead, ignoring Lovable but considering Target.
- Used by foes to target their healing spells to their most damaged allies. Example: Cutie Worm will target the foe with the least HP % with Renew.
- Used by some foes to target either the least or most hurt player with their attack(s). Example: Cat Ninja, has a high chance of targeting the player with the lowest HP % with their attacks.
Player weakness points
Counts how much are the players (or one player, if specified so) weak to an element, summing up the points from each alive player in the front line. Considers Lovable unless specified otherwise, but always ignores Target. Resistances are taken in format: -30% → 1.3, 60% → 0.4, 100% → 0, → 150% → -0.5 and so on; then it's multiplied by 1.5 for every status effect inflicted on the player that boost this element's damage, and by 0.5 for those that reduce it. The following shows how much a player is worth depending on their resistance (without taking into account amping/dampening statuses):
- ≥1.6 (≤-60%) → 8 points.
- ≥1.3 (≤-30%) → 4 points.
- ≥1 (≤0%) → 2 points.
- ≥0.7 (≤30%) → 1 point.
- <0.7 (>30%) → 0 points.
A player is considered "resistant" to an element as long as they score 0 points.
- Used by some "smarter" foes to target their attacks against players who have lower resistance to the element of their attack. Example: If a Burned Fallen chooses to use one of its single-target Fire attacks, it will target the player with the least Fire resistance.
- Also used to decide whether a foe should use an elemental attack, replacing it with a different attack if all players resist that attack's element. Example: a Sky Dragon will not use its Wind-elemental Gale Breath attack if all players are resistant to Wind, replacing it with Icestorm or Thunderstorm.
Best element
Counts player weakness points for every element to choose the most effective spell to use. Ignores Lovable. Counts them in the order entered, and when several elements score the same amount of points, the first one takes priority.
It should be noted that as seen from above, the AI only considers up to 30% resistance to an element, and makes no further distinction past that (i.e. if it needs to choose between Ice and Fire and the target has 100% Ice resistance and 50% Fire resistance, it simply considers the target resistant to both and picks the first element).
- Used by stronger foes to choose between a selection of elemental spells, using the one that the player (or active party for multi-target attacks) is least resistant against. Example: Vulcan chooses the element the party has least resistance to between Water, Earth, Fire, and Bomb (in that order) to select which magic to use.
(De)buff points
Counts how much is an entity buffed or debuffed, summing up the points from every stat (HP, Attack, Magic Attack, Defence, Magic Defence, Accuracy and Evade). Player formula simply returns points scored, in format: no buffs or debuffs → 100 points, +70% → 170, -20% → 80 and so on, essentially scoring higher the more buffed the players are. Formula for foes: 200 - points for each stat, scoring higher the more debuffed the foes are. Without any (de)buffs, both result in 700.
- Used by a few foes with multi-target Dispel abilities among their attacks to choose when it would be effective to use them. Example: a War Mammoth only uses its dispelling Trumpet attack if the total buffs of the 3 front line players add up to 70% or more.
- Used by Natalia and Laurelin to decide when to use Dispel on their own party to remove debuffs.
Best Reverse target
Counts (de)buff points for every player and every foe by their respective formulas, ignoring Lovable and Target. An entity has to score over 800 points to be considered an appropriate target; both sides are checked from top to bottom, and when several entities score the same amount of points, the first one takes priority — e.g., when the choice is between a player with +60% Defence and +60% Magic Defence and a foe with -40% Attack, -40% Magic Attack and -40% Accuracy, it'll choose the player.
- Used for the Recycle spell, making the respective foes only use it if a player/foe is buffed/debuffed enough, and also making them prioritize the target it'd be most effective on. Example: Red Flybot.
Best Dispel target
Calculated the exact same way as best reverse target, though it only considers players.
- Used for certain single target attacks that inflict Dispel, making the foes prioritize targeting buffed players with them; unlike Recycle, can be used even if the 800 point treshold is not reached, in which case it just targets randomly. Example: Origami Wraith.
Considering Surrendering
Foes can also decide to surrender on their own if they consider themselves in a very bad position, see Surrender for more info.
Certain foes also have specific conditions under which they'll Surrender (these are all listed in their Battle Logic), separate from the above.
Trivia
- In EBF4, Bestiary info is tied to a specific save file and has to be collected again when starting a new game, while in EBF2 and 3 it is saved into a separate file and can be accessed to from all saves.
- In earlier versions of EBF4, there was an empty slot between the Evil Worm and the Drill Bot. This was probably a bug caused by The Glitch occupying this slot, even though it could not be scanned and its data could not be added into the bestiary.