The Lazy Man's Guide to 5 starring the harder Missions with tier 2
equipment
Ver. 1.04
Table of Contents
-----------------
-Version History
-Introduction
-General things about 5 starring
-Some tips for easier missions in general
-Requirements and Party setup.... {RQRM}
-Explanation on the Mission Tables.... {XPLN}
-The actual missions and strategies
Mission Nr. 41 - Gaian Grudge
Mission Nr. 51 - Attacus, the Soulless
Mission Nr. 44 - The Old Ones Go To Rust
Mission Nr. 46 - On Silent Wings
Mission Nr. 52 - Head In The Cloud
Mission Nr. 53 - Freedom From Fear
Mission Nr. 59 - Two-Faced Fiend
Mission Nr. 54 - The Bigger They Are...
Mission Nr. 62 - Indomitable Will
Mission Nr. 61 - I, Juggernaut
Mission Nr. 64 - The Doomherald
Mission Nr. 60 - Degela Vu
Mission Nr. 63 - Crushed By Doubt
Mission Nr. 55 - Can't We All Just Get Along?
Mission Nr. 45 - Emergent Evolution
-Copyright and Contact information
If you want to find a certain Mission quickly just CTRL+F for the search
menu and type the respective number (like "32" for expample if you want to
find mission 32) and you should be taken there immediately or at most after
2 clicks. Or if you want to skip to a certain part, use the markers that I
put in the "{}" brackets at the beginning of the guide.
Also don't be confused by the order of Missions. I didn't put them in
numerical order, cause as you all know, it doesn't make any sense anyway
for the most part.
---------------
Version History
---------------
V 1.0: Wrote Guide
V 1.01: Corrected typos
V 1.02: Corrected my email adress
V 1.03: Added a strategy for Mission 63 and a videolink for
the Gigantuar Mission
V 1.04: added some new sent in strats and made an index for
the missions
------------
Introduction
------------
This guide should help people getting 5 stars on the harder missions.
It's called the lazy man's guide, because no Tier 3 (Ultima) Weapons are
required thus safing you a lot of time farming for Trapezohedrons.
Also I won't describe any technique that requires luck (e.g. Random Instant
Chain or Death spamming), since there are enough of them to find on youtube
or basically any forum where people ask for help on certain missions.
Besides: this is a GUIDE, so it should use strategies that work every time
when executed properly.
---------------------------------------
General Things to know about 5 Starring
---------------------------------------
You get 5 Stars, when your score is above 13000. The score is calculated
with a formula, that's using Target Time and Battle Time as parameters,
meaning. They're the only 2 things that matter when it comes to ranking.
The Target time is influenced by how many ATB Bars your active characters
have and by the highest value of they're Strength/Magic attributes.
So if you have trouble because the Target Time is too low, then equipping
low level weapons is usually the solution. Often you don't need 3 hitters,
thus giving you the oportunity to give support characters weaker weapons.
Another way is to use equipment, which Auto-Buffs at the beginning (if the
Battle doesn't take that long), making you stronger without adding to the
Target Time. If you sneak up on an enemy the Score will be multiplied by
1.2, making it even easier to get 5 Stars.
----------------------------------------------
Tips on easier Missions which I didn't list up
----------------------------------------------
Generally, if you have finished the game your Party is more than strong
enough for all the D,C Class Missions. Mostly the Problem is getting them
in Time, since the Target Time is very low. To counteract this, you can
equip Aurora Scarfs, Sprint Shoes, Morale/Blessed Talismans and equip Lvl.1
Weapons.
Also I haven't listet some A Class Missions, which I think to be very easy
(like Verdelet/Tyrant). These can also be done by following said strategy
of being ultra aggresive and going into battle with Auto-Buffs.
In case of groups who summon other creatures, just spam Ruinga over and
over and have 3 Commandos, so that they get interrupt before being able to
finish a summon.
Since this guide concentrates on the hardest enemies in the game, a party
which is almost fully maxxed is quite a must. So depending on the mission
expect to need at least 5 out of 6 jobs mastered or at least halfway
developed so you have access to the abilities. (The stat points arent as
relevant since there's not really a lot more to be gained from the last 1
Million CP you spend on each secondary job. (Close to) Maximum Job ranks on
your Commandos and Ravagers are a must though)
Okay, Kaiser-san has informed me, that it's possible to get 5 stars on almost
every mission (so far he excluded only the last one) without even having to
max the primary jobs. SO, even though I use mostly strategies that require
some secondary jobs, feel free to ignore my advice and try it with your
current setup, since it might still work fine. (I can't say though since I
didn't test it that way, just putting it there, so you don't feel you
absolutely HAVE to CPgrind first or so..)
Well, Accesories are another thing, you absolutely need to have them in
order to survive certain battles. Also whenever I mention a certain item
it's always on max level.
Following Accesories are the ones I used and a quick overview where to get
them.
If you don't have some of them or not the exact amount, don't panic. Some
of them you only use once or twice and may be replacable by others, easier
to get Accesories. Though I try to not use the hard to get Accesories as
much as possible.
Note that this is just an overview of locations, usage of the Accs is
described in the actualy startegy where I use them.
-Aurora Scarf (upgrade from Whistlewind Scarf, Moogleworks)
-Morale Talisman (upgrade from Heroes Amulet, Magical Moments)
-Sprint Shoes (upgrade Tetradic Crowns/Tiaras (drop from Mission 7) and
then dismantle them for Sprint Shoes and Hermes Sandales. Upgrade Hermes
Sandals to get Sprint Shoes)
-Soulfront Talisman (upgraded from Auric Amulet, Magical Moments)
-Battle Talisman (upgraded from Zealot's Amulet)
-Pain Dampener/Deflector (bought at B&W Outfitters)
-Iron/Mythril Bangles (B&W Outfitters)
-White/Effulgent Cape (B&W Outfitters)
-Generals Belt/Witch's Bracelet(B&W Outfitters)
-Royal Armlet (Sanctum Labs)
-Power Glove (made from Warrior's Wristband, B&W Outfitters)
-Rainbow/Moonbow Anklet (B&W Outfitters)
-Genji Glove (Reward from Missions 51, 62 and 63)
-Gold Watch (Reward from Mission 64)
As I used Sazh/Fang/Hope for the most time all the Strategies are based on
that specific party. Even though most of the time, it probably wouldn't
have mattered as long as you play with members which have the abilites
needed for the battles and about the same Strength/Magic Stats.
The Tier 2 Weapons I used are the following. All the other weapons were
still on Tier 1 and Lvl. 1. The general idea was, having weapons with high
damage output, that neglect one attribute completely in order to max the
other as much as possible. So I used more or less those Tier 2 Weapons that
add the most to either Strength or Magic.
----
Sazh
----
-Hyades Magnums (max) (upgraded from Pleiades Hi-Power, Gilgamesh Inc.)
----
Fang
----
-Venus Gospel (max) (made from Teming Pole, Gilgamesh Inc.)
----
Hope
----
-Eagleton (max) (made from Hawkeye, Up in Arms)
-------------{XPLN}--------------
Explanation on the Mission Tables
---------------------------------
I will list all the Paradigms I used plus all the Accesories. Sometimes
there may be empty slots, which basically means you can add any Items that
tickle your fancy (like Growth Egg, Catalogues, more defense). I don't
claim this to be the optimal setup, just one that worked for me getting the
5 Stars, that's all.
Same with Paradigms/Party Member Constelations, since I only had 3 Tier 2
Weapons fully maxxed I generally used those Members who had them, thus
probably missing out on better constelations in certain battles.
If you want to find a certain Mission quickly just CTRL+F for the search
menu and type the respective number (like "32" for expample if you want to
find mission 32) and you should be taken there immediately or at most after
2 clicks.
-------------------------------
Mission Nr. 41 - Gaian Grudge
-------------------------------
Strategy: Well, since you have more than enough time for these, the real
trick is probably just killing them. Get a Preemptive Strike by walking up
on them and then retreating, so they follow you a bit, wait just out of
reach for them to turn around and walk back to their spot, so you can run
up to the closest one and get a PS.
Start with Paradigm 1. (Relentless Assault) and manually cast Firaga/Fira
with Sazh on Tonberry A, so that you Stagger 2 Tonberrys in one hit.
After that, just Firestrike/Sparkstrike until the first and second one go
down.
Don't Worry about your Buffs dissapearing after a short while, since the
Knife attacks dispels one Buff per hit, so don't even bother recasting them
again. After the first two Tonberrys go down, switch to Sab/Sab/Sab and
debuff him with Imperil/Deprotect/Deshell, then switch to Rav/Rav/Rav to
Chain it a bit and about when his health is halfway down you can switch to
Com/Com/Com for the killing blows.
Alternative Strategy submitted by anon
Seems you can just Preemptive strike them, then use Quake for all of them
to stagger and then the Eidolon finisher to kill them instantly.
So here you have it, an even more easy way to kill those little buggers.
----------------------------------------
Mission Nr. 51 - Attacus, the Soulless
----------------------------------------
Wpn. Hyades Magnums
Acc. Iron Bangle
Acc. Iron Bangle
Acc.
Acc.
Equipment Snow
Wpn. any Lvl.1 Weapon
Acc. General's Belt
Acc. General's Belt
Acc. Royal Armlet
Acc. Royal Armlet
Equipment Fang
Wpn. Venus Gospel
Acc. Iron Bangle
Acc. Iron Bangle
Acc. Power Glove
Acc. Power Glove
Strategy: Basically have a Sentinel active at all times. With all the Phys
Defense Acc. you have. This way you should never need to heal your
sentinel, thanks to the Mediguard Ability.
Start by Buffing yourself and Fang with Haste/Brave (you can also go for
Fang's Bravega, if you don't mind recasting it more often. If you do so, I
suggest exchanging the Syn/Sen/Sab with Syn/Sen/Syn Paradigm) and then
Deprotect Attacus (if Fang hasn't done that by then). After that Check
whether Sazh and Fang are above the 90% HP Threshhold for the "High HP:
Power Surge"-Ability from your 2 bangles to kick in (also the Commando
Skill Adrenaline starts working if HP is above 90%). Stick with Ravagers
until he is around 350% and has around 6 Million HP left, then switch to
Com/Sen/Com and stick with that until he's dead. Keep the Buffs/Debuffs
active and it shouldn't take any longer than 8:30 Minutes.
------------------------------------------
Mission Nr. 44 - The Old Ones Go To Rust
------------------------------------------
Strategy: I gave Sazh a weaker weapon for a higher Target Time (same with
Fang, as I just realized after the battle...^^) and since it's more a
question of staggering the Corrosive Custart quickly, so that you can start
dealing a reasonable amount of damage to it than having 3 high-damage-
dealers at all times, that seems to work just fine.
K, now to the actual Battle. Start with three Saboteurs and autocast on the
Hybrid Flora (Sazh should autocast Deshell), after Deshell sticks, switch
to Rav/Rav/Rav and kill it with that paradigm. Then Debuff the Monstrous
Flan with Deshell/Imperil (Your party members will first cast Slow, but
don't let that irritate you) and then attack again with three Ravs.
Same with the Corrosive Custart, except you probably have to rebuff your
party. So quickly cast Haste/Brave on Sazh and Fang (Hope will at least get
a Haste in that time as well) before attacking further with three Ravagers,
after he's staggered switch to three Commandos and that should kill it
right in time.
----------------------------------
Mission Nr. 46 - On Silent Wings
----------------------------------
-------------------------------------
Mission Nr. 52 - Head In The Clouds
-------------------------------------
------------------------------------
Mission Nr. 53 - Freedom From Fear
------------------------------------
----------------------------------
Mission Nr. 59 - Two-Faced Fiend
----------------------------------
(Mission 46 and 52 feature the exact same Enemy, that's why I paired them
together)
(Missions 53 and 59 feature also a Zirnitra, but also some small guys.
Still it's more or less the same)
Strategy Mission 53, 59: Ok, these are a bit more annoying, in the one
where there are Rafflesias, Start with Com/Sen/Com or Com/Sen/Rav to
dispatch them as quickly as possible then proceed with the usualy strategy
(listed below). In Mission 59 it's another thing, there I used Sazhs
Eidolon und its Finisher. So when the Battle starts, summon then switch to
gestalt and use the Finishing move (or weaken them up first, if you're
stats are still too low). This should dispatch of the annoying spammers
quickly. Note: That Sazh is imperative here, since his Eidolon is the only
one with a fire-based finisher.
Strategy Mission 46,52: Start with Sab/Sen/Sab and debuff Zirnitra with
Deshell/Deprotect/Imperil. By the time you're done with that your Sentinel
should have the attention of the flying pest and leave the rest alone.
You may have to rebuff Haste/Brave/Faith for your non-Sentinel Characters.
After that it's Ravagertime (Rav/Sen/Rav), stick with those until it
staggers. Keep an eye on your Sentinels health though and quickly
switch to Med/Sen/Med for healing (though don't waste too much time with
that, 2-3 ATB Parts of healing spells will suffice).
After Zirnitra Staggers have Sazh use his Cold Blood Ability for quickly
chaining the thing. As soon as the Animation starts you can switch the
Paradigm to Cerberus, thus allowing the other two chars to attack for some
nice damage, while you chain it. While firing the last two shots switch
back to Rav/Sen/Rav and use Cold Blood again and switch again to Cerberus
Paradigm. After that Zirnitra should be on 999.9% and you can stick with
Cerberus until it's done.
-----------------------------------------
Mission Nr. 54 - The Bigger They Are...
-----------------------------------------
Wpn. Any Lvl.1 Weapon without drawback
Acc. White Cape
Acc. White Cape
Acc. Iron Bangle
Acc. Iron Bangle
Equipment Fang
Wpn. Venus Gospel
Acc. Pain Dampener
Acc. Pain Dampener
Acc. Iron Bangle
Acc. Iron Bangle
Equipment Hope
Wpn. Any Lvl.1 weapon without drawback
Acc. White Cape
Acc. White Cape
Acc. Iron Bangle
Acc. Iron Bangle
Strategy: K, this fight can be a pain in the ass, but it's actually very
easy whith the right method (Who could've thought..^^)
The trick is knowing how Daze actually works. It's like Sleep from the old
games, so as long as you don't attack a dazed enemy, it won't do anything.
So you want to start having 3 Saboteurs. Now, if you don't have the info
about Gigantuar yet, so that your members autocast Daze from the start, use
Libra to get the info immediately. Also it helps A LOT to start with the
Buff Shrouds, especially when you have to Libra first. Honestly, I wouldn't
want to try it with no Shards AND no Info on Gigantuar.
So anyway, once you have dazed it, switch to Syn/Syn/Syn and buff your
party. Wait until Fang has Bravega/Faithga on everyone and cast Enfire on
all party members while she does so. Also have Veil on everyone, thus
further decreasing the Gigantuar's chances of inflicting Fog/Pain on your
chars once you attack him.(AND Of cource as usual, haste is a must).
Then switch to three Medics to fully heal yourself for the High HP
abilities to start working.
Then Cerbereus (Com/Com/Com) for ONE full out attack which uses all bars on
the ATB.
Switch to Sab/Sab/Sab again and repeat, except this time stay on Cerberus
untul he's done.
Shouldn't take more than 1:30 approximately, when you go in pre-buffed.
Also sometimes you may get real unlucky when after a full salve of dazes it
still doesn't stick and one (or two) of your chars are fogged. I'd suggest
you restart the battle then. This happened to me once, when I didn't use
shards, so maybe they're a must use here. But I dunno. Maybe I just got
extremely unlucky...
Note: I made a short 5 minute video demonstrating this method in case
you wanna watch here's the link www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_N5jSK_vKY
-----------------------------------
Mission Nr. 62 - Indomitable Will
-----------------------------------
Wpn. Venus Gospel
Acc. Power Glove
Acc. Royal Armlet
Acc. Rune Bracelet
Acc. Rune Bracelet
Equipment Hope
Wpn. Vidofnir (though any Lvl. 1 weapon is fine, I think)
Acc. Witch's Bracelet
Acc. Witch's Bracelet
Acc. Royal Armelt
Acc. (Sprint Shoes)
Strategy: Importantly you need about 50% Magic resistance for each
character. I had 52%,46% and 53% for Sazh, Fang and Hope.
Also DON'T USE any shards to start the battle with, because it will most
likely only mess up the timing. Meaning the Buffs will dissappear right
about that time, when you stagger the first Raktavija. If you let Hope cast
the buffs though they will dissappear after or at the end of the Stagger
Period, ensuring you to have a full partyboost while Attacking. Having Hope
start with haste can be of advantage though, since it ensures that you have
the offensive buffs after you're done debuffing the enemy and since Hope is
not your major damage dealer here, it doesn't matter that much if his Haste
runs out during the Stagger period.
Start with Sab/Sab/Syn, manually cast Slow on both, while Fang will
automatically cast Imperil and Hope will Haste/Shell and, if there's time,
Brave/Faith the party. After that you already may be deep in the red with
your HP and need to switch to Med/Med/Med for a quick heal. After that use
Rav/Rav/Med as your Paradigm until you stagger one of the Raktavija
You may be able to switch to Rav/Rav/Rav for a short while, but it's not
worth it, if you have to go back to Med/Med/Med after that. So only do it
when your HP is beyond 80% each and one of the Raktavija has just attacked
you (so you know, they're not going for a sudden double-attack which brings
you back to very low HP).
Keep a look out for the Stagger bar. The time it becomes Staggered
immediately switch to Rav/Com/Rav (unless you're low on life) and have Sazh
cast Cold Blood immediately. You may have to switch to Rav/Rav/Med (or even
Med/Med/Med) while he's in the process of casting it for a quick lifeburst.
But for the most part, just try to keep Relentless Assoult active for Fang
to dish out damage. Have Sazh use the Flame-/Spark-Strikes to ensure
maximum damage after he is done casting Cold Blood. You should be able to
drain more than half his life during that time.
Well, back to square one with Sab/Sab/Syn and repeat.
Once there's only one left, you can go all out on him with Rav/Rav/Rav and
(once he staggers) Com/Com/Com to finish him in one staggerperiod.
Alternatively, you can try the Rav/Com/Med paradigm instead of Com/Com/Com
or Rav/Rav/Rav, so that when you're low on life while the first Raktavija
is staggered you can still attack him for a lot of damage while healing
yourself when necessary.
--------------------------------
Mission Nr. 61 - I, Juggernaut
--------------------------------
Enemy: Juggernaut
Strategy: I'm just gonna omit the exact details. Since you can kill it
with really ANY equipment, and you need a Preemptive Strike for five stars
anyway.
Sneak up on him, which can be done when you're EXACTLY behind him, to get a
Preemptive Strike.
Have your party use the strongest weapons, prebuffs (haste and brave) and
two Iron Bangles each for the High HP: Power Surge (even though he attacks
once you should still be above the 90% threshhold if not, forget about the
bangles or replace them with Power Gloves). Start with three Saboteurs for
debuffing, and then Relentless Assault him for Sazh to use Cold Blood, then
switch to Cerberus to finish him.
Nothing more to it.
---------------------------------
Mission Nr. 64 - The Doomherald
---------------------------------
Wpn. Antares Deluxes
Acc. General's Belt
Acc. Witch's Bracelet
Acc. Royal Armlet
Acc.
Equipment Fang
Wpn. Venus Gospel
Acc. General's Belt
Acc. Witch's Bracelet
Acc. Royal Armlet
Acc.
Equipment Hope
Wpn. Eagletalon
Acc. General's Belt
Acc. Witch's Bracelet
Acc. Royal Armlet
Acc.
Strategy: Since Verci has the annoying habit of regularly hiding, healing,
dispelling and later buffing in his invincible cocoon, you really need to
adapt to that pattern. Once you're used to it, it gets very simple though.
And don't be discouraged from the first 1 or 2 Minutes. He hides himself
far less, the longer the battle takes (or the less HP he has, I honestly
don't know).
Anyway, start with Syn/Med/Syn to haste your party, then switch to the
Saboteurs to inflict Poison (which drains about 50k HP per second). After
that go back to buffing your party. After he goes invincible, heal your
group and buff some more (if you have time).
Switch to Infiltration and have a full ATB Chain of Poison ready for when
he gets out of his cocoon.
Once Poison is inflicted, cast Imperil. Once that is done too, switch to
Tri-Disaster until he staggers, then to Cerberus for damage. Heal when
necessary of course.
Don't get too frustrated when this doesn't work the first 3-5 times, since
at the beginning he really hides himself a lot faster than later in the
battle.
After he goes below a certain amount of HP he grows antother pair of wings
and starts buffing himself while in his cocoon. He will also start using an
attack which dispels the two latest buffs of the hit partymember. The good
news is, he'll stay out attacking longer so you get more time hitting HIM
as well. From the time he starts using the Debuff move it's not worth
buffing more than Haste imo, since it gets dispelled anyway and you usually
don't have the time. And since most of the Damage will come from Poison,
the most important part is being ready with your Saboteurs once he comes
out of his invincible state.
After he grows a third pair of wings, he becomes even more aggresive and
starts using his ubermove (the giant yellow Whirlwind-thingy called Wicked
Whirl), once you see that coming, switch immediately to 3 Sentinels in
order to survive it without being in the red. Heal immediately afterwards
of course.
That's really all there is to that one.
Strategy 2: If the above doesn't work for you, or if you're looking for
something with a little less effort try following: Equip only the lowest of
weapons and the same accesories.
Then instead of really fighting him just cast Poison and switch to the
Tortoise Paradigm. Heal when necessary, but don't attack him.
If he goes invincible, of course proceed as usual: buff, heal, get ready
with Saboteurs, but the only thing necessary to get the 5 Stars is Poison
(if you have low level Weapons equipped), so you can always be on the
defense, letting Poison do its job.
This will take about 12 Minutes (Out of approximately 20-22), so you
should still get the 5 Stars easily.
Will be a much more boring fight though.
----------------------------
Mission Nr. 60 - Degela Vu
----------------------------
Wpn. Otshirvani (though any lvl.1 Weapon will probably work)
Acc. Aurora Scarf
Acc. Blessed Talisman
Acc. Battle Talisman
Acc.
Strategy: In terms of finishing this mission with 5 stars, this is one of
the more difficult ones, since the target time is very low. To help against
that, equip your lowest weapons and the Gold Watch. (If you know how
Paradigm shifting into full ATB Bar works, you probably can do without the
Gold Watch, though it's still gonna be veeeery close.)
Anyway, start with Sab/Syn/Syn and cast imperil on one Titan, switch to
Rav/Rav/Rav until it staggers then immediately to Rav/Com/Rav until it's
dead. That's all, repeat that three times, for a Battle Time of about 2:05.
With the Goldwatch that should be enough for 5 Stars.
In case one of your members gets slowed by a titan, immediately switch to
Sab/Syn/Syn to have your members cast Haste again, then proceed where you
left.
I apologize for not having found a method that works without Gold Watch so
far.
-----------------------------------
Mission Nr. 63 - Crushed By Doubt
-----------------------------------
Strategy: The defensive Equipment is nice to have but not that much needed,
since you can (and should try to) tank every attack of the Ademantoise,
meaning, switch to Sen/Sen/Sen as soon as you see his leg lifting and this
alone will reduce the damage more than enough. Same with its Quake spell.
Anyway, you should start the battle without Shrouds, since it may mess up
the timing by the buffs dissappearing earlier than when you have Sazh and
Hope buff your party.
Start the Battle with Sab/Syn/Syn and start debuffing one of his legs (or
both if you have still time until the Buffs are active), while your party
members will start buffing. After all defensive and offensive buffs are
active, the leg should have Deprotect/Deshell/Imperil on it already, if not
quickly switch to Sab/Sab/Sab to make that happen faster. Then switch to
Rav/Rav/Rav for staggering it quickly. When the leg is staggered switch to
Cerberus and use Fangs Highwind on it, which should kill it immediately
thanks to uncapped damage from the Genji Glove.
Note that if you don't tank the hits, you will probably have to heal
yourself while in Tri-Disaster Paradigm. Never let your health stay at 50%
or lower, since that might be already too low sometimes. So better safe
than sorry. Plus the legs will go down in one attempt anyway, even if you
use short bursts of Salvation while Chaining.
Go Sab/Sab/Sab on the other leg and repeat.
After Highwinding the second leg switch to Sab/Sab/Sab and start casting
Imperil, since it is the last Debuff your party Members will cast, thus
reducing time to debuff the Ademantoise. Once
Slow/Course/Deprotect/Imperil/Deshell are active, switch to Tri-Disaster
until it's at 999.9% then go Cerberus on it. You should be able to kill it
though it's probably close. Once the Beast is around 1 Mio HP use Highwind
for the finishing blow bevor it gets back up.
Note, that if it DOES get back up it will start using Bay(Or Roar, can't
remember, but essentially the same thing), which has a high chance of
dazing your party. That's why I gave out Rainbow Anklets to some members in
case you wonder. After the Roar/Bay it will then use Quake or Stomp, so
don't let that catch you by surprise, cause it might kill you, since (if
all your members are dazed) you can't heal in between. Switch to Tortoise
to reduce the damage for a better chance of surviving, should that happen.
This Should take about 2:40.
Alternative strategy: This one was sent to me by Brian and Rade. Thanks
for that, guys.
It seems to work fine even with lower level parties and without
Genji Gloves.
You might want to use the 2 Buffshrouds for this one.
Use Fang as leader and your two strongest Ravs/Coms as additional party
members. Start the battle with summoning an Eidolon.
While the Eidolon hits the 'Toise cast the Deprotect/Deshell/Imperil.
After those are up quickly switch to Gestalt and use the Finisher, after
which the Toise should have lost between 350k-450k damage in total.
After that use three Ravs to quickly stagger it and then 3 Coms (or 2 Coms
and one Rav if you don't have three Coms yet) to finish it off. Which
seems to be close but should still work. Use Highwind if the stagger bar
seems close to its end.
Since I haven't tested this myself I can't really say how good this works
but since I got the same strategy sent to me by two different people
I thought it's probably a good one.
On a personal sidenote: If this doens't work you might wanna try the
same strategy with Sazh instead of Fang and then use his Blitz-Attack
once the Toise is down (since it will hit about 10 times and will deal
high amounts of damage).
-----------------------------------------------
Mission Nr. 55 - Can't We All Just Get Along?
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------
Mission Nr. 45 - Emergent Evolution
-----------------------------------
Wpn. Venus Gospel
Acc. Power Glove
Acc. Power Glove
Acc. Royal Armlet
Acc. General's Belt
Equipment Snow
Wpn. Paladin
Acc. General's Belt
Acc. Witch's Bracelet
Acc. Royal Armlet
Acc. Imperial Armlet
Equipment Hope
Wpn. Any Lvl. 1 weapon
Acc. General's Belt
Acc. Royal Armlet
Acc. Witch's Bracelet
Acc.
Strategy: This is surely one of the toughest enemies in the game and
probably the most annoying one too.
His Screech attack will deal some good damage to you plus dispel 4 Buffs
each. On top of that, after he Screeches, the next Attack will be Pollen,
which will inflict about 6-7 Debuffs on your enitre Party AND heal all his
Minions. AND on top of THAT, his Minions are also easily cabable of killing
your whole Party in less than a Minute, if you don't have a Sentinel who
takes the hits all the time.
Start the Battle with Syn/Sen/Syn to cast Haste and Bravega on Fang, after
that switch to Delta Attack (Com/Sen/Rav)
You should be able to dispatch of the Picochus quickly and effeciently. To
achieve this use Fang with Power Gloves. See to it, that she's alaways
having Haste and Bravega while fighting. Use the Delta Attack Paradigm and
an Attack-Chain with Blitz/Attack/Attack/Attack, so that the Ravage ability
is used for the Blitz. This will kill the Picochus very quickly. Also keep
an eye out for when they start using Plead. If you see one pleading attack
it with your next attack, so that it doesn't get healed by Neochu.
When you see Neochu using Screech, switch to Tortoise (Sen/Sen/Sen) to
absorb over half the damage, after that switch to Syn/Sen/Syn to recast
Haste/Bravega on fang and immediately switch back to Delta Attack and try
to get all the already damaged Picochus before Neochu uses Pollen and heals
them completely. Though that only works if you're not on critical health
already, if that's the case heal first, and buff afterwards, before trying
to take out the next minion.
Get ready for Pollen as well. Have the Syn/Sen/Syn paradigm active as soon
as he starts pollen, to immediately cast haste/protectra on your party
members after pollen debuffs you. You only need to really take care of
Deprotect and Slow (by casting Protectra and Haste), the rest of the
debuffs isn't as important to your survival. After you did that, you
probably want to use a quick Combat Clinic (Med/Sen/Med) to restore some
HP, then use Syn/Sen/Syn to rebuff Bravega for Fang before you go back on
attacking the Picochus (or skip the Combat Clinic, if your life total
allows it).
From that point on you will always have about 4-5 Debuffs on all of your
party, including Poison. Just try to ignore them, and rather heal yourself
occasionaly (i.e. when your life total is below 40-45%). The most important
ones to dispel are Slow and Deprotect, as you'll always have a Sentinel to
take the hits from the minions, the Deshell/Imperil don't really affect you
much, since Neochu's Root attack is the only one with an Element, and I
don't think he uses ANY Attacks, that are considered magic.
After you killed all the Picochus, switch to Sab/Sen/Med, and cast Imperil
on Neochu. If not all of your party is Hasted and Faithgaed/Bravegaed
quickkly do that, then use Relentless Assault and attack him hard.
What you're trying to do now is simply have your party in good health and
raise Neochu's Chain as much as possible, before he dispatches the next
wave of minions.
When he does that, it gets critical. You don't want to lose the already
built up chain (which should be around 200%, a bit less probably). But
obviosly you don't wanna have your party die either. So every time healing
or rebuffing/dispelling is needed do that as quickly as possible. The rest
of the time should be spent using Com/Sen/Rav to attack Neochu until he's
dead.
Alternatively if the its Chain does empty, dispatch of the Picochus first
and then start again with Relentless Assault and continue from there with
the procedure.
He will dispatch one more wave of minions though, so keep an eye out for
Snows health and really see to it, that he's not Deprotected. Protectra
really helps a lot as well if you have the time.
After Neochu falls, kill the remaining Picochus with Delta attack and don't
die cause of recklessness.
It should take you about 8 Minutes to kill it with that strategy (about 10
if you the Chain empties when it summons the second wave), though you'll
probably need some practice, to get the hang of switching, buffing,
dispelling debuffs with your buffs, etc.
Good Luck.
Mission 45 works the same, except you don't have to kill the Picochus
first, so start with buffing, debuffung and then go directly to Relentless
Assault.
------------
Congratulations, you should now have completed all the Missions with 5
Stars, gotten a Gold Trophy and a Theme for your PS3 (dunno about Xbox,
sorry)
---------------------------------
Copyright and Contact information
---------------------------------
okay, so after giving my email adress in this guide I just received
that much more spam (basically, I never had ANY spam before and now..)
so I decided to delete that in the hopes, that maybe the spam stops.
Unfortunately, noone will be able to contact me about the guide anymore.
So, sorry for that, but I think I didn't get much emails in the last
month anyway, so I guess, most of the guide works fine.
And there's of course still youtube with some useful tutorials etc.
In case, that now someone wants to ask permission for the guide:
just use it however you like (being credited would still be nice
of course), as I wrote this guide to help people with some missions
and if that piece of text does the job, then all is fine :)
