I am the Fear of the Universe, I am the Darkness in the Light, I am Your Nightmare

quote Seymor

Hello,
I am on chapter 18 on very hard mode and found out that on this mode i have to fight Istaros before Marbus.I have alot of problems with her.Anyone know a good strategy for her?
Thanks in advance.

In a nutshell:

UNLESS you master the art of evading a blow then IMMEDIATELY starting off a counterattack, you're doomed.

Ishtaros' combos are very nearly flawless and free of openings.

HOWEVER.......

The way this gal works (I assume that we are talking Miss Whip Arm) is that she can use the Long Range Unblockable Whip Attack [GRAB/THROW], the super-cheesy, almost unavoidable (and unblockable) Laser, the Swing Around the Stage Move/Super Knee Drop, and of course her regular melee attacks.

The key to beating this lady is as follows:

ONE. Stay close....stay close....and, oh yeah, stay close. Try to stay very close to her; move too far away and she WILL use that Laser, it WILL hurt, and it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to evade even with a Roll Jump.

TWO. Do not...I repeat, do NOT try anything air-related with her, not even a Wall Spam; she'll simply jump up with that kick and punish you for your impudence.

And don't even think about trying to use your Swallow Blade aerial; maybe one of those in hundred will connect, and on top of that you will be left vulnerable for waaaaaaay too long and she will, you guessed it, punish you for trying.

Now that we have those basic ground rules out of the way:

THREE. Patience is a virtue with her, no matter how much she whittles down your health (and she WILL whittle down your health; almost every hit of hers takes off a bit of life even if you're blocking.

FOUR. Do NOT try to counterattack during her Whip-Whip-Whip All-Whip combos; there are no openings in those attack patterns.

FIVE. Stay close and be patient until THE INSTANT that she does a combo that ends in either a High Kick or her wierd looking Roundhouse....then.....THEN....counter with either a [SQUARE/SQUARE/SQUARE/SQUARE] or [SQUARE/SQUARE/TRIANGLE] combo.

Remember what I told you earlier about having to master the Evade-And-Jump-Back-Then-Attack move??
Well, if it helps you, think of the opening in her foot combo as being about as small an opening of opportunity as the Black Dragon Clones' combos were (and maybe she's a tiny bit faster than that).

SIX. When you do the move sucessfully, it might SEEM like you're too far away or like the hits might nmot connect, but trust me, after you get the hang of it it will almost sem like she runs right into your Combo...and that particular attack will tear off a good chunk of damage.

And you wanna know what's so awesome about that??

well, that leads us to

SEVEN AND FINALLY. Significant Damage will, nine times out of ten, cause her to do that stupid Tail Swing move. If, and I say, IF, you can calculate that her swings will NOT hit you as she swings around for two to five times, charge up....(that's right...CHARGE up) an Ultimate Technique GLEAMING DRAGON attack; most of the time she will give you enough time to fully charge up to Max Level; wait patiently after you charge (I'll explain below).

Please note that ONLY the "Roaring Gleam" or "True Dragon Gleam" will work for this trick!!!

......Then.....

At the very end of her swinging, she screams out right before she does that unavoidable, highly damaging Drop Kick Attack; the instant that you hear her scream, release your charged-up Gleaming Attack and watch her lose as much as 20-25% percent of her Health bar.
(Don't worry, the Attack Animation only looks brief when you practice it and no enemies are present, but if it connects with an enemy, it makes MANY more hits as it spirals them into the air.)

If you want to practice on her before going through that grueling series of fights leading up to Marbus, find her in the "Missions" mode and practice there first (she'll have underlings in Missions Mode; take them out with some Ninpo so that you can practice with her all alone).

GOOD LUCK!!