Valley of Repose, Part 2
Assemble a group of blue pikmin and move to the right side of the Cave of Emergence. Go through the pool and break down the nearby wall. In the next pool, use the blue pikmin to break the rock. Doing so drains the lake so other pikmin can cross. Send some white pikmin across the first drained lake into the snowy bank. Look for your treasure gauge to reveal the location of a buried treasure. Recover the seed (Spiny Alien Treat) and bring it to the ship.
Take a group of white pikmin to the circular area where the sleeping bulborb hangs out. Note a narrow path through the snow on the right. Toss the white pikmin onto the path. Move to the other side of the path (through the drained lake) alone with your captain and find the same path on the other side. You can walk up it and rendezvous with your white pikmin. Avoid the snagret. You should be able to move the white pikmin to some buried treasure while avoiding the snagret. Recover the ring (Pink Menace) and take it to the ship.
Command a group of blue pikmin and cross the drained lake. Spot the log bridge overhead. Continue to the left and up the snow bank. Defeat the cannon. You can do so with your captains or get close so you can fire your pikmin onto its back. Just stay away from its mouth. Use captains to defeat the fiery blowhogs and tackle a second cannon nearby. Extend the log bridge. Usher other pikmin across the bridge safely. Look for a path on the right side. It leads up near a crown. Beware of another cannon here. Avoid its rock projectiles and eliminate it with pikmin or your captains. Toss yellow pikmin up to the crown (at least 30). Carry the crown (Unspeakable Wonder) back to the ship. Be sure the path is clear from here back to the ship. Eliminate any enemies (like the bulborbs near the landing spot) so your pikmin make it safely.
From the crown, hug the snow bank and follow it around to the left side. Spot a bear figurine up along a snowy path above you. If you have trouble finding it, just go forward from the circular clearing where the sleeping bulborb rests. Take a group of yellow pikmin along the snow bank until you can toss them up onto the path. Once the yellow pikmin land on the path, they’ll move toward the figurine (Fossilized Ursidae)
Take a group of pikmin to the pool in the back corner of the Valley of Repose. It’s just beyond the Fossilized Ursidae and Unspeakable Wonder treasures. Take out the dumples in the water (using captains if you don’t want to risk pikmin). There’s a fiery bulblax at the back of the clearing and he’s ingested some treasure. Lure the creature into the water with a captain. This extinguishes the fire. When he’s in the water, toss blue pikmin on its back. Eliminate the creature and recover the watch (Temporal Mechanism) and return it to the ship.
Assemble a mixed group of pikmin of all colors and proceed to the area just beyond where you recovered the crown. There’s a log here; use pikmin on the log to extend a ramp toward the cave entrance. Avoid or eliminate the hovering blowhog around here or suffer the loss of pikmin maturity. Enter the cave!
Frontier Cavern
Pikmin Needed: Red, Blue, Yellow, White, Purple (recommended)
Sublevel 1: The bushes can conceal enemies so tread carefully and eliminate the small bulborbs in one-on-one situations with swarming pikmin. Sneak up on sleeping snow bulborbs and bash them with tossed purple pikmin. Find and dig up the ornament (Essential Furnishing) and jewel (Essence of Rage) with white pikmin. Descend to the next level.
Sublevel 2: Keep your pikmin safe and patrol with your captain only. There are cannons on the level and you can use them to eliminate the other enemies (bulborbs) by guiding the rocks to enemy targets. Once done, take out the cannons with captains or pikmin attacking from the side. Recover the stocking (Icon of Progress) and the present (Joy Receptacle). Continue down into the next level.
Sublevel 3: The bulbear wandering the level poses the greatest danger. Be ready with tossed pikmin to fire onto its back and attack. It’s even more effective if you can attack the creature from behind--or just use some ultra-bitter spray. Attempt to battle the bulbear away from smaller counterparts. Disable electricity traps with yellow pikmin and poison traps with white pikmin. Gather the bell (Danger Chime), ring (Gemstar Husband), and candle (Fleeting Art Form). You may need to dig one of these treasures up. Find a possible white candypop bud to trade for white pikmin. Guide them using the treasure gauge. You may also gain some bulbmin here to add to your group. Finally, upgrade pikmin with nectar found in some of the level’s corners.
Sublevel 4: Beware of the flying bugs that grab your pikmin and captains. Pikmins grabbed are thrown into the dirt (whistle them back out) and captains thrown are injured significantly. Toss yellow pikmin at the flyers to eliminate them. Or you can just avoid them. Watch the flyers move and note the pattern. Eliminate the beetles with yellow pikmin. Trade some pikmin for purple using the candypop flower. Find the marble (Omniscient Sphere) and star (Innocence Lost)
Sublevel 5: Gain some purple and white pikmin using the candypop buds. Fight the blue spiders with blue pikmin or captains. The burly mamutas smash your pikmin into the ground but they end up flowered. Allow some pikmin to mature by allowing them to get hit! Then when you’re done, toss your purple pikmin onto the mamutas back. Defeat them all and recover the glove (Brute Knuckles) which increases your captains’ punch power with a special rocket glove attack (hit punch three times).
Sublevel 6: Eliminate the fire traps with red pikmin. Keep your pikmin safe and use your captain to guide cannon rocks to enemy targets. With just cannons left, eliminate them with your captains’ new punch combo or toss pikmin from the side. Use blue pikmin (with bulbmin if necessary) to grab the chess pieces (Worthless Statue and Priceless Statue) because of the level’s water pools. Descend deeper!
Sublevel 7: Eliminate the sleeping bulborbs from behind using purple pikmin on their backs. Navigate carefully to avoid the dropping rocks (which can hurt enemies also). Tackle the smaller bulborbs in little groups to minimize losses. Find and recover the ornament (Spouse Alert) and yo-yo (Flame Tiller). One might be buried. Use the white candypop bud to create white pikmin and search for the item using your treasure gauge.
Sublevel 8: This cave features another battle against the empress bulblax. She’s a bit more difficult this time because of the presence of her larvae. Her larvae stream from the empress’ location and through the narrow tunnels of the level. The larvae are easily defeated by captains (one punch will do) but can gobble up pikmin quick. There are two routes to the empress. Taking the long route puts your pikmin in larvae danger. Instead, find a ledge at the start location and toss your purple pikmin onto the ledge. Walk your captains through the tunnels and to the other side to rendezvous with your purple pikmin. Now you can mount the attack. Defeat her the same way as before. Launch purple pikmin onto her nose and whistle them back when she starts to shake. If she shakes them off, your purple pikmin will be in danger of her roll attack and the larvae. It’s wise to eliminate the bulk of the larvae with your captain so you don’t have to deal with them as heavily during the battle. After eliminating the empress again, recover the shoe (Repugnant Appendage) and return it to the pod. Escape the cave.
Assemble a mixed group of pikmin (red, yellow, white, purple) and cross the bridge over the drained lake. Locate the poisoned wall in the back. Use your white pikmin to disable the poison trap and then break down the wall. Find the cave entrance in the clearing beyond.
