The Internet was right, Maduin wasn’t a very hard ultimate fight. After dealing with back-to-back Beatrix and Vossler, it’s nice having an easy one for once. His damage output is a joke until the end of the fight as long as you have some mitigation up. Magic Seal is mildly irritating, but it with decent enough damage output, it doesn’t last long enough to be that much of a threat. Here is the team that I went with:

Roaming Warrior: Tyro (Sentinal’s Grimoire)
Notable Soul Breaks: Planet Protector, Blade Beam

I don’t have much to say about this encounter as there was not a whole lot of finesse required: I just applied mitigation at the beginning of the fight and then again after mass dispel. He casts Mass Dispel after Chaos Wave. As long as you time it and get your mitigation up ASAP, it’s no big deal. Aside from that, powered him down with PP and Blade Beam towards the end of the fight per usual. It’s worth noting that I do have decent weapon synergy for Final Fantasy VI.

Small tangent: Armor Strike is an ability that I find myself using more and more. It is perfect for situations where there isn’t a synergy weapon to around for each character. It doesn’t have a secondary benefit such as Lifesiphon or dismissal per se, but having DEF based damage means that Armor Strike provides super beefy damage characters that aren’t going to compete with other characters for ATK gear. That and it’s really great for Pecil with Sentinal. I really like Pecil so any excuse to use him is a bonus

Knowing that Vossler was a tough fight, I wanted to start on him as soon as possible instead of waiting until the last ass minute as I did with Beatrix. I also figured that this post might be more useful not being posted on the last day of the event. Vossler wasn’t as difficult as I thought he was going to be. Once I had the right party configuration, it was a one shot. In summary: Super tank Pencil + Heroic Harmony + Unyielding Fist = trivial fight.

I usually don’t like using the cheese tactics but after Beatrix, I feel as if I deserve a small break. Having Heroic Harmony, Protectga, Steal Power, and Sentinel’s DEF buff however, increased Pecil’s mitigation and decreased Vossler’s attack so much that I am confident I could have mastered the fight without the need of Galuf’s RW cheese. So will I go back and do the fight sans Galuf? Well, we will have to see about that. This was the team that I used:

Roaming Warrior:  Galuf (Unyielding Fist)
Notable Soul Breaks: Heroic Harmony, Blade Beam, Sentinel
Other Soul Breaks: Soothing Aroma, Tides of Fate

Since an AoE heal + regen wasn’t necessary for once and even detrimental to the fight, Lenna and her lovely SB were not needed. I tried a couple of rounds with Aerith instead of Mog for Planet Protector and Fran instead of Cloud, because I wanted to know if RS + Full Break + Defense Breakdown made up for the DPS loss. It did not, particularly towards the end of the fight where SSB spam was necessary as it usually is to finish off the boss. Keep in mind that you do have to use Dispel in order to meet the medal requirement. Banishing Strike does not count :/

Vossler’s encounter isn’t very RNG heavy like most of the other Utimate Fights. There is a bit of timing involved with getting mitigation setup properly before he starts instagibbing people with triple/quad strike, but it’s not nearly as hairy as Beatrix’s Climhazzard. Vossler is however, very much an HP management fight. The trick to CT0 is that he will cast it on the character that has the highest HP percentage (unsure if it’s only the first attack that is like this or all of them). It is not avoidable with retaliate nor is it tauntable. It’s very tempting to heal everyone up to full towards the end of the fight, but you will want to keep enough of an HP gap between your tank and the rest of the party to allow for some leeway. Curaja is likely going to heal the non-Cecil party members too much so you may want to use Curaga or Renewing Cure instead.

Other than CT0, Vossler was a fairly vanilla fight in almost every aspect, to the point where I was wondering if this encounter even was the ultimate fight, until the point at which he started triple and quadruple striking people to death that is. Also, the target scores are kind of annoying…ability tetris. I took a gamble and used Tempo Flurry to fulfill the slow criteria instead of using something more reliable like Slowga. Luckily it proc’d on the first hit. I have had other runs in the past where it just slow just wouldn’t proc at all. My fight more or less went as follows:

Until the adds are down:
Cloud: Bladeblitz the adds down
Balthier: Steal Power on Voss then Tempo Flurry the adds to apply slow
Pecil: Draw Fire then auto attack or Dispel to build SB bar
Ashe: Ruinga until Slow hits then Meteor to burn them down
Mog: Protectga, Heroic Harmony, then Renewing Cure spam

First turn after the adds are down:
Cloud: Lifesiphon spam to build SB bar
Balthier: Refresh Steal Power as needed, otherwise Tempo Flurry pew pew
Pecil:  Sentinal, Dispel as needed
Ashe: Meteor/Ruinga spam
Mog: Renewing Cure

Phase 3 (somewhere between 40% and 50%)
Cloud: Blade Beam Spam
Balthier: Continue refreshing Steal Power as needed. Spam Tides of Fate
Pecil: Unyielding Fist, Dispel haste ASAP
Ashe: Continue Meteor/Ruinga spamming. Pop Soothing Aroma if everyone gets low but watch Pecil’s HP. He MUST remain #1 in HP%.
Mog: Refresh Protectga, keep Pecil topped off, Heroic Harmony

God. What a pain in the ass. I have a fairly okay set of gear and set of Soul Breaks (minus 2/3 of the holy trinity. No natural hastega or wall) and this one was barely doable. I am not even sure if this one is doable without at least a natural medica and possibly AoE regen without a thousand S/Ls. Beatrix is guaranteed to cast at least two Climhazzards at scripted points during the fight. The trick is to watch her health bar. When the bar touches her toes she will cast it. Climhazzard is NAT damage that cannot be avoided or mitigated.

She is also guaranteed to cast Stock Break several turns after Climhazzard which will do AoE physical damage as well as sap all characters. Sap needs to be removed ASAP before the second Climhazzard goes off otherwise instadeath will occur at the first damage tick. Stock Break is straight up physical damage so normal avoidance tactics apply (retaliate, etc). After numerous party configurations this is the team that I went with:

Roaming Warrior: Hymn of the Faith
Notable Soul Breaks: Blade Beam, Princess’s Favor, Planet Protector, Dragon Force
Notable Weapons: Ultima Sword

• Dragon Force: This actually ended up being a crucial spell because it completely negated Stock Break, saving me the hassle of burning a RW or SB charge to heal/regen sap off of everyone before Climhazzard #2. In all honesty, I had forgotten that I even had this SB. If I had remembered and realized that it cancelled out Stock Break, much time would have been saved…
• Planet Protector: Used it before Climhazzard #2 (if I recall correctly, the turn after popping Dragon Force). Allowed for massive Blade Beam spammage at maximum damage to burn her down.
• Shadowsteel: Spam this in the beginning to get her sapped as soon as possible; It does around 4k a tick. Though 4k may not seem to be a lot of damage, overtime it adds up.
• Banishing Strike: Fulfills the holy damage medal requirement and also dispels. Beatrix doesn’t cast Holy that often but when she does, she tends to bounce it off of her self. Keep in mind that Dispel only removes positive effects so it won’t remove Sap, etc.
• Haste: I had Aerith haste everyone before the first Climhazzard. I managed to squeeze in a refresh on Cloud during the last half of the fight.
• Steal Power/Protectga: Most of her attacks are physical damage. The ones that aren’t are either NAT or holy. So in other words, don’t bother bringing Shellga or Magic Breakdown. Protectga was cast once towards the beginning of the fight and then again at the half way point.
• Armor Strike: New ability, also a medal requirement. Really liking this ability so far; It’s damage multiplier is based off of DEF instead of ATK. I stacked Steiner with as much DEF gear as possible and kept his HP topped off so that he could soak Shock. Decent damage with enough DEF.

Overall, the trick was to remove the RNG deaths from Holy and Shock during the later half of the fight. Holy isn’t used very often but can dealt with by keeping reflect dispelled (luckily it’s not refreshed often, assuming it’s scripted in at a certain turn). Shock is cast on the character with the highest HP. As long as Steiner was topped off, it wasn’t a big deal. Tried the Retaliate cheese strategy but it was too RNG dependent (unlucky Holy and Shock hits…) and irritating to time.

Ultimate Godo was probably the easiest Ultimate to date aside from Advantaliate cheesing Yunalesca. It is worth noting however that FFVII is by far the realm that I have the strongest synergy with. He was basically brute forced down.

Godo was beaten but not mastered on the first attempt because I ate a string of bad AoEs at the very end of the fight which killed Barret. I did master it using the same party configuration during another attempt. With the recent introduction of the orb exchange and shatter mechanics, it was very easy to hone Shadowsteel to R3. It was also a good thing that I did so because Sap only proc’d on the very last charge on all boss attempts. It is a shame that it did not proc sooner because sap does around 4k a tick. Party used:

Roaming Warrior: Sentinal’s Grimoire
Notable Soul Breaks: Blade Beam, Planet Protector
Notable Weapons: Organics, Gatling Gun, Silver Barrette, Aurora Rod

• Red XIII was used as a Black Mage for the other Bonus Battles and as a support bot for Godo. I had forgotten to remove him from the back row when setting this party up. Whoops. I think hairpins are melee? Well, go go synergy and Planet Protector for making up the damage loss.
• Shellga and Sentinal’s Grimoire were sufficient mitigation to keep everyone alive but just barely towards the end of the fight. Using Renewing Cure over Curaja did help a bit because the regen effect will cancel out the poison effect.
• Haste RM on 3/5 characters = poor man’s hasteaga I guess.
• Full Break and Armor Breakdown really softened him up. With Planet Protector, even back row melee Red XIII was hitting for around 8k or so a pop.
• Oh man, Lifesiphon is a fantastic ability if you have a 4*+ combat character with a good SB (preferably multi-hit non-elemental damage). Having Ace Striker and Lifesiphon on Cloud meant that I could use Blade Beam for 3×9999 damage every third turn.

Round 1
Cloud: Lifesiphon
Barret: Full Break
Yuffie: Shadowsteel
Red XIII: Sentinal’s Grimoire
Aerith: Shellga

Round 2+
Cloud: Lifesiphon until SB is charged, use Blade Beam, repeat. Drain Strike if low to alleviate healing duties.
Barret: Full Break, Magic Breakdown, Magic Breakdown, Full Break. Use Full Break roughly every 25% health
Yuffie: Spam Shadowsteel until Sap procs then spam Dismissal
Red XIII: Alternate between Power Breakdown and Armor Breakdown
Aerith: Try to cast Planet Protector when possible. Otherwise, heal bot.

Sentinal’s Grimoire was cast at the beginning of the fight and then half way through the fight. I also recast Shellga at approximately the half point as well. Drain Strike and Dismissal can be replaced with whatever you feel is more suitable as both are filler abilities. Overall, the real MVPs of this fight are: Realm synergy, orb exchanging, and Lifesiphon + SSB spam.

Most of yesterday’s stamina was dedicated to Record Materia farming in the FFII dungeons with not much luck. Still need to do Rubicante Ultimate. For his fight I am thinking mage meta with Vaan to Steal when he cloaks and hit him with Magic Breakdown. If I recall correctly Rubicante counters physical attacks so I will probably have to shelf the usual suspects.

Leviathan and Major Ice Orbs
I went through a big effort to scrounge for the last 4 Major Ice Orbs needed to hone Full Break to R2; The last boss completed being Leviathan. It’s not so much that Leviathan was that much of a pain in the ass as it was mostly mastering the trash while not burning through to many ability uses. I was ready to burn a Mithril if need be but alas, it was not needed.

I didn’t have enough room for Carbuncle, but Sentinals’ Grimoire allowed everyone to stay alive long enough for Lenna to cast reflect on everyone. A few S/Ls were needed to reflect Leviathan before he started buffing himself.

I did run out of most abilities and ended up scratching my way through the last quarter of Leviathan. Gilgamesh’s self sustaining tauntaliate, Cloud’s Blade Beam, and Rinoa’s Angel Wing Bolt were the real MVPs of the fight. Honed Full Break about 2 weeks ago. Haven’t really needed it since :/

Yunalesca and friends
What an odd set of encounters, almost all of which are trivialized by Advantaliate or otherwise. For a super easy Yunalesca U master, it really did work like a charm. No wall, no hasteaga, no healing needed.

I ended up putting Omega off and to be honest, had almost forgotten that he was there. But at last, on the final day, he has been mastered. Go me I guess. Omega is weak to both lightning spells and stop so the strategy obviously is to keep him stopped as much as possible while nuking him down. In addition to having a SUPER high resistance and an array of AoE attacks/counters, Omega does two annoying things of note: Blind all and reflect-self.

I had originally tried having two white mages spamming stop in an attempt to keep him from casting anything at all for the duration of the fight. Unfortunately, because stop has a short duration (6 seconds) and a 30% miss rate, that was difficult to manage. It was much easier to just deal with blind than to avoid it altogether. Also, dedicating two characters instead of only one to casting stop is a significant DPS loss. Since Omega has a 1 stamina cost (versus Exdeath’s 60 stamina cost lol), it was kind of fun experimenting with odd party configurations. Ultimately, this is what worked for me:

RW: Boon for Hastega. Boon was cast at the beginning of the fight then again at the half-way point. Stop did drop off several times, but hastega helped significantly. If blind was cast, Sazh would Esuna Cloud and then himself; Everything else was offensive Black Magic and bypassed blind. Sazh would otherwise spam Mental Breakdown to allow the casters to do as much damage as possible.

Cloud attacked with Thundara/aga Strike and with his SSB when the bar was filled. Rinoa Reflected Thundaga/ja spells off of Aerith’s auto-reflect just in case stop dropped off and reflect was cast upon Omega. It is worth noting that the auto-reflect RM did last the entire fight. So with both Omega’s blind and reflect dealt with, the only major RNG factor was whether or not stop landed or not. Other than that, Shellga (from Boon) allowed my party to eat an AoE or two of any landed.

I found Swift Bolt to be an excellent alternative to Thundaga/ja if you do not have enough orbs to create a duplicate spell for a second black mage. In addition to being easy to create/hone, it has about half the cast time, ignores resistance, and bypasses reflect. Since I did not know how long auto-reflect would last and did not have enough ability space to include Reflect, the idea was that only one character would be rendered useless if it dropped off of Aerith.

Since I don’t have Shadow or Thancred’s relic, I felt that Tyro was the strongest ninja choice. He has a fairly high baseline magic stat and is beefier in general than the other ninjas, on top of being able to use literally any item.