Stage H2-8 in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Spirit hides one of the trickier star objectives in Hard Mode. To earn full marks, you have to hit the marked backline enemy before anything else on the field goes down, which means your damage has to be controlled rather than overwhelming. Get it right, and you unlock the last of the 30-star rewards for the stage.
Quick answer: Bring a healer (Giorno), a low-damage tank to pull the front enemies to the bottom right (Hermes), and a sniper positioned opposite the marked backline enemy (Gwess or Straizo). Let the sniper kill the marked target first, and keep high-collateral units like Bruford off the roster.
What “Attack marked enemies first” means in H2-8
H2-8 is a Hard Mode Minion stage. The battle marks a specific enemy sitting in the backline, and the star only counts if that marked unit is the first enemy your team defeats. The problem is positioning. The marked enemy is tucked behind a wall of front-line attackers, so most teams naturally chew through the closest targets first and fail the objective without realizing it.
The full star list for the stage includes four objectives you can stack for the maximum reward.
| Star objective | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Defeat all enemy units | Clear every enemy on the field |
| Clear with more than 30 seconds remaining | Finish the fight fast |
| Attack marked enemies first | Kill the marked backline unit before any other enemy dies |
| Clear with no allies defeated | Keep your whole team alive |
The 30-star reward you’re chasing
Completing the marked-enemy star is what pushes your total for this stage bracket to 30 stars, which is where the payout lives. That reward is worth going out of your way for if you are trying to build up recruitment currency.
| Reward | Summon value |
|---|---|
| 5 Soul Resonance cards | 5 summons |
| 500 Astrogems | Roughly 2.5 summons |
That adds up to about seven and a half pulls for clearing one Hard Mode stage properly, which is why the marked-enemy objective is worth learning rather than skipping.
Why the fight fails and how the roster fixes it
The star breaks for one reason. A high-damage assault character reaches the front-line enemies and kills one of them before your sniper finishes off the marked target. Bruford is the usual culprit here. His single-target and AoE output is high enough that his collateral damage takes down a non-marked enemy first, which instantly voids the objective.
The fix is to split the team into three jobs. A tank soaks and repositions the front line without killing it, a sniper class handles the marked backline unit specifically, and a healer keeps everyone alive so you also clear the “no allies defeated” star at the same time.
| Role | Character | Job in the fight |
|---|---|---|
| Healer | Giorno | Sustains the team and restores health and energy |
| Bait tank | Hermes | Pulls front-line enemies to the bottom right with low collateral |
| Sniper | Gwess or Straizo | Locks onto and kills the marked backline enemy first |
| Avoid | Bruford | Too much collateral damage; kills non-marked enemies early |
Note: The sniper matters because ranged units lock onto the enemy in the opposite position at the start of the battle. Placing Gwess or Straizo directly across from the marked target is what makes them commit to it first.
Step-by-step setup for H2-8
How to know it worked
The “Attack marked enemies first” star lights up on the results screen once the stage ends, as long as the marked backline enemy was the first to be defeated during the run. Combine it with the other three objectives and the stage reports a full clear, then the Soul Resonance cards and Astrogems land in your inventory.
If the star does not register, the cause is almost always the same. A front-line enemy died before your sniper finished the marked one, usually because a high-damage unit slipped into the fight or the sniper was placed off-position and never locked onto the correct target. Drop the collateral damage, re-check the sniper’s placement opposite the mark, and run it again.
