...so yeah. I'm at the end of chapter 11, at the Barthandelus battle. However, he is proving rediculously difficult for me to beat. I can endure his atacks (using Fang as a sentinel) until he casts doom on me, at 1.7 million hp. Relentless assault or no, I don't think there's any possible way to do that much damage before the counter hits zero. So... any of you who have managed this fght, how'd you do it? (Party members, strategies, etc.) Thanks!
EDIT: Wrong boss oops. Just have someone constantly healing and keeping someone like Sazh keeping helpful effects up while then switching between Commando, the magic one (I've forgot the name of it >>) and Medic and Commando, that one that can cast strengthening effects (for that one's name too >>) and Medic.
i don't remember but was that the boss battle that was completely immune to status effects? but the strategy i use for most bosses is controlling Sazh, adding Haste to everyone in the party. and when they stagger, i just keep spamming Sazh's Blitz because it does a HUGE amount of damage at that point.
I beat him on first try. Have lvl 8 Crystarium complete for their primary roles. I either used Hope, Vanille and Fang or Hope, Sazh and Fang, probably the former. Cast Libra at the start of the fight as many times as it takes to find out all about him. Start off in the even odds paradigm until everyone is buffed and he has slow and imperil. Use Relentless Assault until he gets you down to past half health, then use Combat Clinic. If your buffs run out re-apply them. Just keep him slowed at all times and you should be fine. Paragigm List: Syn/Sab/Sab Syn/Sab/Med Rav/Com/Rav Med/Sen/Med Syn/Sen/Med Rav/Sab/Rav. Also, note that if you can stagger him it's a bonus too ^_^.
The key is to level up your characters as far as they can go in their main roles. The team I used was Lightning, Fang, and Hope. This battle is kind of a preview of what's in store. When you win you obtain 100,000 CP points, so don't worry about using what you've saved up. I also went and upgraded my characters weapons (I don't really think that part matters, I just did it because I had nothing better to do with all of the items I collected). So here's what I did... First have this all set up: Hope/Light/Fang med/med/sen rav/com/sen rav/rav/sen syn/med/sen syn/med/sab rav/rav/com First thing to do is to cast some wonderful debuffs and such. You wanna weaken him as much as possible. You also need some nice buffs for your party. Have Lightning cast cura the entire time while Hope and Fang are doing their thing. If you can't take anymore damage and you need a sen you have two options: 1. switch to syn/med/sen and keep buffing up your party or 2. heal with cura then switch to rav/com/sen to begin your assault. What I always tried to do was to stagger him. To do this stick with Delta Attack and Mystic Tower. Delta helps you stabilize the stagger bar so if he uses one of his powerful attacks and you are forced to switch to Combat Clinic your hard work won't be wasted. Mystic Tower is for that extra little boost you will need. Now, when he is staggered you can either continue with Delta Attack or you can switch to Relentless Assault (keep in mind that he does not stop attacking once staggered). When Doom begins you really have to push. You can either stick to the strategy of staggering or go all out with Relentless Assault. If you have to heal I suggest using Combat Clinic or syn/med/sen (I forgot the name of that one). Hope this helps. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. (:
Holy crap. I tried your advice and not only did I beat Barthandelus on my first try, he didn't even cast doom on me until he was at about 200k hp! (That's about 1200k lower than my pervous tries.) Thanks everyone!
Glad it worked for you! Barthandelus is always a pain in the butt. Now you're on to the finale and one of my favorite cut scenes from the game! I'm really glad I was able to help. If you have anymore questions feel free to message me! (:
