Illfang the Kobold Lord

Illfang the Kobold Lord (イルファング・ザ・コボルド・ロード) was the boss of the 1st Floor of Aincrad in Sword Art Online.

Background
It took a month to find the boss, as the players were having a hard time finding the boss room. Beta testers, including Kirito, also had difficulty finding the boss room. Illfang the Kobold Lord was slain by Kirito, who gave the final blow to the boss, and received the last-attack bonus item, «Coat of Midnight».

Appearance and Abilities
Illfang's First Floor Boss Room is twenty meters wide by 100 meters deep.

He is over two meters tall, muscular, and covered in blue-grey fur. His eyes are golden-red. Illfang uses a large bone axe and a leather shield to attack, and has four HP bars. Behind his waist, he carries a meter and half long Talwar weapon. Three Ruin Kobold Sentinels spawns and defend the boss from the players at the start, and with the depletion of each of Illfang's HP bars, an additional three Sentinels are spawned (a total of 12).

Once its health is down to 1/3, it will toss the weapons away in favor of a nodachi in which it can use katana skills. Illfang in the Closed Beta Test did not use a nodachi, it used a talwar.

Pre-Battle Preparation
The Boss Room was found by Diabel and his six-person party on the 20th level of the First Floor Labyrinth. Several meetings were held in Tolbana, at which 44 players organized a strategy to face the first boss. They divided themselves into seven parties (six members each, with Kirito and Asuna left over). Groups A and B were heavy armor Tank parties. Groups C-E were high movement Assault parties. Groups F-G were long weapon Support parties. Kirito and Asuna (the 8th party) was delegated to support Group E.
 * 1) Group A - unnamed leader equipped with Iron Heater Shield and Hammer
 * 2) Group B - leader Agil
 * 3) Group C - leader and commander, Diabel
 * 4) Group D - tall, unnamed leader wielding a two-hand long sword
 * 5) Group E - leader Kibaou, with Kirito and Asuna as support
 * 6) Group F - equipped with pole arm
 * 7) Group G - equipped with pole arm

No scouting raids were made, as the information from Argo's handbook was deemed sufficient for the battle.

Strategy
The two Tank parties keep the attention and sustain the pressure of the boss. The Assault Parties C-D would concentrate on the dealing damage to the boss, while the Assault Party E would focus their attention on the sentinels. The Support parties would primarily use the Delay skill to interrupt either the boss's or guards' attacks, and relieve pressure whenever possible.

In general, the parties planned to rely on the "Switch and Pot" strategy.

Battle Summary

 * 10:00 AM on December 4th, 2022, the raid party meets in Tolbana.
 * 11:00 AM, the raid party reaches the First Floor Dungeon.
 * 12:30 PM, the raid party reaches the 20th level of the First Floor Dungeon.
 * 12:40 PM, the first Boss Battle is initiated.
 * Groups A to C engage Illfang at the front. Groups E and G engage the sentinels. Illfangs first HP gauge is depleted.
 * Group D rotates with Group C and engages Illfang for the second HP gauge. At this point, the Tank groups have their HP in the yellow region. The second HP gauge is depleted.
 * Group G changes targets and moves to engage Illfang. Support Groups F and G deplete Illfang's third HP gauge out of four.
 * Group C led by Diabel charge Illfang even though they are not fully recovered. They arrange themselves in an encircling formation. Illfang unexpectedly uses an omni-directional katana skill (Illfang does not have Katana skills in the Closed Beta) that knocks everyone back and affects Group C with the status effect, «Stun».
 * Illfang exclusively targets Diabel and kills him with a 4-hit combo.
 * Kirito and Asuna engage Illfang, and order everyone to retreat 10 steps. Kirito focuses on countering and delaying Illfang's attacks, while Asuna makes the strikes. Kirito is later struck down, and Group B (led by Agil) lends aid along with members of Groups A and D.
 * Kirito backs off and begins directing the attacking Groups. Groups E and G engage the Sentinels. While Groups A, B, and D provide cover, Asuna continues to land blows on Illfang. The final HP gauge drops below 30% in the red.
 * Kirito re-enters the fray at the critical point, and stuns Illfang. All groups begin a Full Attack and surround Illfang. Kirito deals the final blow with the Sword Skill, «Vertical Arc» killing the boss.

Casualties

 * Diabel

Trivia

 * According to the Light Novel text, Illfang has blue-grey fur, while both the novel's illustration and the anime portrays him with red fur.

Illfang el Señor Kobold Illfang the Kobold Lord