Monster Arena at Morrie's Place Side Quest
The Monster Arena, also known as Morrie's Place is one of the larger side quests to do in Dragon Quest 8. You get introduced to it fairly early in the game, when you get to the town of Pickham but the quest itself takes place throughout the whole game.
Morrie first asks you to find three different monsters for him, Slimy Smiley, Squiggly Squiggler and Hollow Knight. Slimy is found just south of Castle Trodain, Squiggler is found southwest of Morrie's Place and the last one, Hollow Knight, is found near Maella Abbey. If you want to see map locations for all these guys head over to my Walkthrough Chapter 5 I have maps for each of these enemies on that page that you can follow.
Morrie's Location near Pickham.
After you collect all three of the first monsters that Morrie asks you to collect you'll gain access to Morrie's Palace aka the Monster Arena. When you first enter Morrie gives you the run down of the place, basically you build a team of monsters and then fight other monsters with that team. Every time you win a battle with your monsters you'll move up a rank and you'll receive a reward.
You don't get to control your monsters during these battles and as Morrie explains to you there's no way to level the monsters up. The only way for you to make your team more powerful is to find new monsters to join it. This guide is going to cover the monsters you'll want to recruit to your monster team as well as the rewards you can expect to receive for participating in the Monster Arena.
First up, let's take a look at the monsters you will want to collect to make the best teams for each of the ranks. The monsters you start out with, Slimy Smiley, Squiggly Squiggler and Hollow Knight are usually not good enough to beat the first rank of the Monster Arena. That doesn't mean you can't beat Rank G with them, I did once - it'll just take a few tries. I'd recommend recruiting Potty Dragon, Hackzilla and Goldman all at once then going from Rank G - C.
Best Monster Team for Rank G - C: Potty Dragon (West of Hilltop Hut), Hackzilla (North of Farebury), Goldman (Island of Neos during the day)
If you are having a hard time with Rank C, recruit Talos and replace Goldman with him and you'll have a much easier time beating it. My success with taking down Rank C with the above mentioned team was mixed. I got 5 fights or so in a row where at least one of my team members got put to sleep or confused for a whole round and had another few rounds where almost all Potty Dragon did was throw sand.
Best Monster Team for Rank B: Talos (South of Neos; to the right of path), Hackzilla (North of Farebury), Dumbking (East of Argonia)
Rank B is the hardest ranks of all them to beat because this is the last rank that you have to use a very lackluster team of monsters. In order to beat Rank B you will need a lot of luck on your side, especially during the first match. What you're hoping for is Dumbking to cast Oomph early on during the first round and that you don't take too much damage the first round from the snapdragon's powerful fire attacks. The Snapdragon enemy gets to attack twice with each turn and he has powerful AoE attacks which could bring your entire party to half health before you even make it to the second match. Basically, if the Snapdragon gets off four or more Kafrizzles (especially if they hit Talos) you've already lost.
If you make it out of the first round with only taking minimal damage you likely will win the next 2. What you're shooting for is to end the first match with at least 3/4 health on everyone and to win the second match with all three of your party members still alive. If one dies that's ok so long as it isn't Talos. He's your highest damage dealer and losing him before the third round almost guarantees defeat.
Best Monster Team for Rank A & S: Talos (South of Neos; to the right of path), Skeledoid (West of Dark Ruins), Octurion (Beach Southeast of Argonia)
Monster Arena Rewards:
Rank G Rewards: Strength Ring; Morrie allows you to have 3 Reserve Monsters
Rank F Rewards: Bunny Suit; Able to have practice battles with all your own monsters
Rank E Rewards: Ring of Clarity; Hero Learns "Call Team"
Rank D Rewards: Mighty Armlet; Allows 3 more Reserve Monsters
Rank C Rewards: Saint's Ashes
Rank B Rewards: Bardiche of Binding; Allowed A Second Monster Team
Rank A Rewards: Hero Spear; Rank S Unlocked
Rank S Rewards: Dragon Robe; No Entry Fees to participate in the Arena and A Statue of you is placed outside.
Each time you beat a Rank you're granted two rewards, the item is typically your reward for winning the tournament and the other reward comes from Morrie himself. In addition to the rewards you're told about, sometimes beating a new rank adds new enemies for you to encounter on the world map which you can recruit to your Monster Arena team.
Morrie's rewards are all but useless except for "Call Team" in my opinion. Call Team allows you to call forth your team of monsters during a battle replacing your primary team.
