Elemental Strategy: Flex

Flex is the choice for expert players because he can be used to enter Warrior Focus easily. If you’re not an expert, you will likely use Flex more for his movement power (Sucka Shot) than his offensive capabilities, leaving the fighting to Elemental Warriors like Ash and Chilla.

Flex can only do significant damage against a foe that he can grab in his tentacles with the Sucka Shot. This is difficult to execute when you’re fighting large groups of enemies because of the time you must spend aiming. In addition, Sucka Shot doesn’t work against the heavily armored Trolls (which you’ll see more and more of later in the game).

Expert Tip: Flex actually walks (or hops) across water. Use him to quickly move across the top of bodies of water and angle the camera (the right stick) down to scout for secrets—chests, clamshells, crates, or other submerged items that may contain hearts, fruits, or other goodies.

Still, if you opt to use Flex for an extra combative challenge, you’ll want to upgrade all of his abilities. Upgrade to the Slapstorm and the Shocker Advanced Techniques first, followed by Spirit Up and Super Shocker. Slapstorm is an effective, medium range attack useful for engaging many enemies at once and keeping them at bay, although it does relatively little damage. Use Shocker/Super Shocker to really dish out heapin’ helpins’ of hurt.

Because the Shocker/Super Shocker can only attack a single enemy, however, make sure you’re clear of other enemies when you use it. You’ll also need to get really good at aiming and successfully grabbing enemies with Sucka Shot in order to use Flingshot (to hurl them away) or the Shocker/Supershocker to finish them off.