Eltus

Eltus
Personal Status
Titles	Bloodsucking Fish
Aliases	Ghost Fish, Mist Fish
Race	Fiend
Professional Status
Affiliation	Fiends
Rank	Swarming Minion
Behind the Scenes
Appearances	Ninja Gaiden Ninja Gaiden Black Ninja Gaiden Sigma Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword Ninja Gaiden II Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus Ninja Gaiden II: Black Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Ninja Gaiden 4

Eltus, also known as Ghost Fish, is a recurring enemy in the modern Ninja Gaiden series, appearing in every game except for Ninja Gaiden 3 and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.

This fiend always appears in groups and attack by swarming the player.

Description

An airborne fish-like fiend with a faint blue glow, often found grouped together in schools.

With a diet primarily consisting of miasma, they suck toxin out of their prey along with the victim's blood. Despite each individual applying relatively weak suction, they are known to drain victims of all blood in a matter of seconds due to their natural tendency to act in vast numbers. Although the bites themselves are relatively strong, they lack physical endurance and can be easily removed by applying force.

The offspring of a certain large fiend, it moves slowly in its young form but grows gradually as it ingests miasma. A fully grown specimen is classified as a high threat level, and the Divine Dragon Order makes efforts to exterminate them as soon as they are discovered.

Appearance

Spectral fish emitting a blue glow, with a visible skeleton. Their size varies between games.

In Ninja Gaiden II some Ghost Fish wear white Hannya masks in the Mentor and Master Ninja difficulties.  

Abilities and Powers

The Ghost Fish swim through the air, usually appearing out of thin air. They can also to lurk inside treasure chests, preying on those who unsuspectingly open these chests and catching them by surprise.

Swarm: Ghost Fish's only and primary means of attack. The fiend quickly flies and latches itself on the player character, dealing damage and rendering the character vulnerable, preveting any movement and action. The player can escape by mashing buttons on the controller. By itself it's not a very threatening attack, but when in large groups Ghost Fishes can quickly swarm and stunlock the player. This attack is unblockable but only works while on the ground.

In Ninja Gaiden 4 the player can still move and attack while the fish are latched to the character, and can fend the Ghost Fish off by attacking normally.

History

In Ninja Gaiden and its enhanced versions, they are first encountered in Labyrinth area of Chapter 14, but appear earlier on higher difficulties.

In Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, they are first encountered on the beaches of the Isle of Destiny in Chapter 9.

In Ninja Gaiden II and its enhanced versions they are first encountered in Chapter 5, in the Underground Cavern right before the Water Dragon boss. Also appearing in later chapters.

Strategy

• Ghost Fish take one hit to kill, and the player can kill multiple small Ghost Fishes with one strike; large Ghost Fish can only be killed one at a time.
  • in Ninja Gaiden 4 they are more resilient and take more than one hit to be dispatched.
• In Ninja Gaiden II, at the Underground Cave during Chapter 5, killing the underwater Ghost Fish is easy by using the Lunar Staff's strong attack, where Ryu spins around hitting all enemies surrounding him while propelling him forward; this allows Ryu to hit multiple fish at once as they charge to him, and the Lunar's long range keeps him safe.
• A safe, though time consuming method is to use the single katana (Dragon Sword or Kitetsu) and jump back and forth while pressing the light attack to peform a air-spin attack, giving Ryu plenty of invincibility frames.
• Ninpo is also effective since the activation provides invincibility frames. The Art of Fire Wheels will also keep them at bay but there is a rare chance one or two could get through the spinning fireballs.
• Their bite attack will stun the player, but can be interrupted by mashing the controller's buttons. A large group of Ghost Fishes can easily kill the player character if not mashing fast enough.
• When they're far away and not showing aggressive behaviour, using long range Ultimate Techniques such as the Dabilahro's, Eclipse Scythe's or the Windmill Shuriken's is useful to take down many at once.
• Using the Dragon's Claw and Tiger's Fang in Sigma is a good strategy against Ghost Fish, as simply using the light attack repeatedly renders them completely unable to harm the player. However, this prevents essence from being absorbed during the fight.

Dispatching Ghost Fishes in Ninja Gaiden.

• The best strategy is to to jump cancel by attacking with a light attack, then jump and attack, without extending or finishing combos, as the ending frames leave Ryu. The Vigoorian Flail is the most effective weapon for this strategy, but the Lunar Staff also works well.

Trivia

• In Ninja Gaiden, killing ghost fish can be an excellent source of yellow essence, provided Ryu does not take damage. This is because the larger one's combo, the more yellow essence is dropped by an enemy.
• According to the interview with series creator Tomonobu Itagaki at this website, the Ghost Fish were originally not aggressive but just ornamental, which he promptly changed when he found out. "When I first saw the ghost fish that were in the game, they just kind of floated around near Ryu and they didn't do anything. I looked at the guy who worked on this and I said, "What is this; what's the point?" And he said it was "for atmosphere." I said, "This is an action game. You can't just put something in there for atmosphere that is taking up memory and disc space. You either take it out or make it an enemy and do what I say because this is an action game." That's how that enemy came into being. I felt it was ridiculous to have an object in an area where there are no other enemies."

Gallery

Ghost Fish in Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound

Eltus in Ninja Gaiden 4