That was an annoying fight. I have very little FFIX item record synergy, but still beat it. I can probably master the encounter by swapping around a few things but we’ll have to see about that. So close :/. My setup:
| Character | Ability 1 | Ability 2 | Record Materia |
| Garnet | Diaga | Protectga | Prayer of the Cetra |
| Steiner | Fira Strike | Drain Strike | SOLDIER’s Pride |
| Zidane | Dark Buster | Steal Power | SOLDIER Strike |
| Vivi | Waterja | Firaga | Vow of Vengeance |
| Eiko | Renewing Cure | Shellga | Mako Might |
RW: Hymn of the Faith for regen and to take the edge off of the 2k AoE that is is almost guaranteed to get off before you can do anything at all. May have been better off with Boon for the group Haste, but reluctant to drop the group heal because Fira spam :/
First round starts off with: Dark Buster, Protectga, Shellga, Hymn of the Faith, and a melee attack. If Dark Buster doesn’t blind him on the first hit, you will probably have to S/L unless you are lucky enough get get it on the second try without being AoE’d down. The trick with the water and fire abilities is to chain cast them so that he is not stuck in the burning state for too long. Waterja has a shorter cast time, so it needs to be cast at just the right time to avoid it going off before Fira Strike. Because of the touchy timing, much of the battle was fought at an irritatingly low speed to make sure that all abilities were executed in a properly timed manner. He still will get a guaranteed Fire Blades cast off as soon as he gets set on fire. Luckily, since it is physical damage, it will most most of the time if he is blinded. MOST of the time…
Having both Shellga and Mass Shell wasn’t that useful. If I redo the fight, I will probably swap Eiko for Aerith (for Planet Protector). Also, Steal Power was resisted each time. I may be better off swapping that out for Dismissal or something else. I may swap Drain Strike out for Dismissal or some other higher physical damage ability.
Really wish I had Light’s Wrath for one of my physical characters.
Steal Power getting resisted is still a 25% damage reduction or so iirc, so it still is likely worth bringing.
Soul Cage also has ridiculous amounts of Resistance. Depending on your gear, you might be better off replacing Vivi with Cloud or another heavy physical hitter, and bring along an attack booster (Planet Protector, or iirc Eiko can use the Bard AoE attack boost). The burning state also increases Soul Cage’s defenses so you may be undoing your own handiwork. I opted out of fire personally and just brute forced him.
This fight was definitely up there in difficulty. Not as dumb as Sanctuary Keeper, but the S/L until you don’t take an unmitigated attack to the face is (still) annoying.
Yeah, thinking that I may be better off going straight up physical damage and forgoing magic altogether. All the S/Ling is so off putting though…
Agreed. I think I spent an hour S/Ling on Sanctuary Keeper trying to get my mitigation up fast enough. Once you can get it up, the rest of the fight is easy. Bad AI, poor encounter design, and a side effect of having too much stackable mitigation (to the point where it’s either required, or trivializes combat). Probably my biggest complaint, and likely one that won’t be fixed.
Dark Bahamut was probably my favourite +++ fight though. Sure he always opened up before you could get your mitigation up, but his AI wasn’t really random at all, making the fight a puzzle rather than an exercise in frustration. FFRK at its best imho.
Thanks for the tip by the way. Went straight up physical damage and mastered the fight. That was a lot easier than juggling Fire/Water. Well, that and getting a lucky Mustard Bomb on the first round >_<