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An Expansive Gameplay Guide to FINAL FANTASY XIII[docs.google.com]

Addressing all Frequently Asked Questions for New and Returning Players

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Source: PS3 Game Booklet

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Cocoon - a utopia in the sky.

Its inhabitants believed their world a paradise. Under the Sanctum’s rule, Cocoon had long known peace and prosperity.

Mankind was blessed by its protectors, the benevolent fal’Cie, and believed that their tranquil days would continue forever.

Their tranquility was shattered with the discovery of one hostile fal’Cie.

The moment that fal’Cie from Pulse - the feared and detested lowerworld - awoke from its slumber, peace on Cocoon came to an end.

Fal’Cie curse humans, turning them into magic-wielding servants.

They become l’Cie - chosen of the fal’Cie.

Those branded with the mark of a l’Cie carry the burden of either fulfilling their Focus or facing a fate harsher than death itself.

A prayer for redemption.
A wish to protect the world.
A promise to challenge destiny.

After thirteen days of fates intertwined,
the battle begins.

Let's get straight to the point. I made this guide because, speaking from experience, I believe a lot of the negativity surrounding the battle system may have stemmed from the fact that it isn't fully understood. See, I’ve been on both extreme sides of the FFXIII “opinion spectrum” so I understand where the complaints that are frequently brought up are coming from. Back when the game was first released, I was part of the "press X to win" crowd who found the battle system mindlessly tedious. But after revisiting it years later, I can confidently say that it’s among my top favorite battle systems of all time!

There have also been many testimonies in recent years from players who hated the game at Day 1, but then eventually came to appreciate the game for what it is years later. Because of this, I figured there might be new or returning players who could use a nudge in their approach to FFXIII’s battle system so that, maybe, it would be easier to see what the game actually has to offer.

• Help new players start on the right foot to avoid common traps that could sour their experience with the game. Traps which, admittedly, I’ve fallen into before.
  
• Encourage players who've had a negative experience with the battle system to give it another shot, armed with tips and tricks from this guide. Maybe try out a challenge run!

• As the description suggests, this guide addresses frequently asked questions and common complaints about FFXIII's gameplay.
  
• It is a one-stop-shop for all the need-to-know mechanics and general advice for casual playthroughs.
  
• It compiles relevant information from the Game Mechanics Guide (a.k.a. the “GMG” written by ximaus in GameFAQs) which is a translation of the FFXIII Ultimania Battle Guide.

One thing I must bring to attention is how the Piggyback Guide is riddled with misinformation and, at worst, terrible advice. Some of the information it presents is explicitly contradicted by the Ultimania Battle Guide, and some of the advice (particularly those regarding character development paths) have been deemed inaccurate by players who have thoroughly analyzed FFXIII's battle system.

Now, this is not to say that the Piggyback guide is completely untrustworthy. It serves as a great paper reference for maps, equipment, and ability lists to name a few. Just take any of its gameplay advice with a grain of salt.


This guide is not meant to imply that you must heed every word or you won't be able to beat the game. Rather, it is only meant to help enhance the players' overall experience by offering tips that have been tested and proven effective by speedruns and a variety of restrictive challenge runs.

You can very well ignore the equipment and development recommendations here and play the game however you want. But at the very least, please try to apply the tips regarding general approach to battles.


Shout-outs to tiornys and destrian from GameFAQs who are long time veterans of FFXIII, and Final Fantasy games in general. Their advice, insights, and experience based on FFXIII speedruns and challenge plays have been invaluable in the process of making this guide. They're the fact checkers, number crunchers, (spreadsheet hoarders,) and the main influences who've made sure the information provided here is as accurate as possible. Huge thanks to both of you!

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This guide contains no direct nor major story spoilers.
I sincerely hope it’ll prove useful in your journey through FFXIII.
Now, without further ado, on to the guide.

BEST OF LUCK!

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• What to know before starting the game
  
• General grievances
  
• Prologue: Chapters 1 and 2
  
• Early Game: Chapters 3 to 9
  
• Is it important to get a 5-star rating?

• Can’t I just press X to win this game?
  
• Why should I choose manual input if Auto-Battle is faster?
  
• Why do I need to use all the Roles?
  
• Why is the Chain/Stagger Gauge dropping so fast?
  
• Why did the enemy suddenly cast Doom?

• Why does it take so long to defeat enemies?
  
• Why am I taking so much damage?
  
• Why won’t the characters move away from the Sentinel?

• Are Potions worth using?
  
• Which Items are the most useful?
  
• Which Techniques are the most useful?
  
• When should I use Shrouds?
  
• How do I get more Shrouds?

• How do I defeat Eidolons?
  
• Why do Eidolons deal so little damage?
  
• What do I need to know about Eidolons?
  
• How do Eidolons function in battle and Gestalt Mode?

• Army of One / Cold Blood / Last Resort
  
• Sovereign Fist / Highwind
  
• Death

• What is the best team?
  
• What are the best Paradigms?
  
• Paradigm Deck Examples

• Commando
  
• Ravager
  
• Sentinel
  
• Saboteur
  
• Synergist
  
• Medic

• Are there abilities I should obtain first?
  
• Which Secondary Roles should I develop?

• How does equipment upgrading work?
  
• What are the most cost-effective components?
  
• When should I start upgrading?
  
• Is there anything worth upgrading before Chapter 11?

• What should I consider when choosing weapons?
  
• Which are the best weapons for each character?
  
• What do these weapon passive abilities do?
  
• Why do some weapons have negative passive abilities?

• Stat and Defense Boost
  
• Utility
  
• Farming
  
• Resist Element
  
• Resist Status
  
• Quick Battle

• Random: Instant Chain
  
• ATB Rate: +__%
  
• High HP: Power Surge
  
• Physical / Magic / Damage Wall
  
• <Status Ailment> Duration
  
• Buff Duration: +__%

• Which items are safe to sell?
  
• Which items can I sell to obtain gil before Chapter 11?
  
• Is there anything worth dismantling?

• Which Missions are worth noting?
  
• When and how can I get the Growth Egg? (Mission 55)
  
• How soon can I get a Genji Glove? (Mission 63)

• Where are the best farming spots?
  
  • Chapter 11
    
  • Chapter 13
    
  • Late Game to Post Game
• What are the most efficient ways to get Scarletite, Adamantite, Dark Matter, and Trapezohedrons?
  
• Where are the best farming spots before Chapter 11?
  
• What are the factors that affect drop rate?

• 3x Pulsework Knights - AoE Tactics
  
• Juggernaut - Low Stats
  
• Juggernaut - High Stats
  
• 2x Humbaba - No Stagger
  
• Adamantoise in Chapter 11
  
• Long Gui with No-Stats Crystarium Mod

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The game is divided into 13 Chapters which vary in terms of length. For the sake of simplicity, this guide will divide the Chapters into 5 categories.

• Prologue: Chapters 1 and 2
  
• Early Game: Chapters 3 to 9
  
• Mid Game: Chapters 10 and 11
  
• Late Game: Chapters 12 and 13
  
• Post Game: After defeating the Final Boss

The Paradigm System, FFXIII’s “real” battle system, unlocks at Chapter 3.
Equipment Upgrading becomes available mid-way through Chapter 4.
Party Customization becomes available near the end of Chapter 9.
Secondary Roles unlock at Chapter 10.

The Crystarium, FFXIII’s leveling system, has 10 Stages. These Stages unlock after beating certain bosses, usually at the end of a Chapter. The Stages that offer the most significant upgrades are 8 to 10.

• Stage 8 unlocks mid-way through Chapter 10.
  
• Stage 9 unlocks at the end of Chapter 11.
  
• Stage 10 unlocks after defeating the Final Boss.

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To be frank, I detest having to add a section like this, but I suppose it must be done to cover all bases. Let me first make it clear that I do not fault anyone who dislikes FFXIII. It is not my, nor anyone’s, place to declare that a person is wrong for holding whatever opinion they have, so long as it’s relatively harmless.

That said, listed here are some of the most common gameplay-related complaints which are hurled whenever FFXIII is brought into discussions. Perhaps these suggestions could help ease a few grievances. I don’t expect these to work for everyone but, at the very least, they’re worth a shot.

Don’t use Auto-Battle. Ever. Set the cursor to default to Abilities and manually input every command. It’s actually more beneficial to play this way from a strategic standpoint.

• Also, toss aside your preconceptions of what JRPGs should be like. You see, Paradigm Shifting is the principal mechanic of the game. Auto-Battle/Abilities/Techniques/Items function more as “submenus” within the scope of the Paradigm System. With that in mind, think of the Paradigm List as the “main menu” with [L1]/[LB] as the primary command point.

Consider this a challenge, not a flaw. Game Overs basically serve as learning experiences that prompt you to rethink your approach to battles. Because when you lose, you only get sent back to the point before the battle with all your resources intact. You don’t have to load up a save file! You don’t lose any hard earned drops and experience points! None of the progress you made is for naught! So don’t sweat getting a Game Over. Instead, learn from them.

The level caps serve to balance the gameplay so that at no point would the party be too OP. Use it as encouragement to focus on strategy rather than stats.

• If your objection against the caps is because you can’t beat a boss and feel you need to grind further beyond, then the level cap isn’t actually the problem. The problem is that your Paradigm Deck likely sucks (to put it bluntly). The main storyline has been proven to be beatable even when only fighting “mandatory battles” (e.g. bosses). This fact clearly demonstrates how level caps, in no way, hinder the player’s chance at victory.

Practice. Practice. Practice as early as Chapter 1 when the ability list isn’t yet robust. You’ll get the hang of it. There is also the invaluable Repeat function that’ll help you out. Hold down [right] when the cursor is on “Abilities” to change it to “Repeat.”

Press the [Select] button to turn off the mini-map so you could run through the areas without distractions. With that niggling line out of your periphery, you’ll find traversing the area, no matter how straightforward some may be, can become much more engaging.

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Since the Paradigm System doesn’t unlock until Chapter 3, you do not gain any experience points, called Crystogen Points (CP), during the Prologue. Because of this, you can freely skip battles if you wish. Just make sure to keep an eye out for treasure spheres.

That said, there are some benefits to engaging enemies during the Prologue. The soldier enemies in Chapter 1 may drop Potions and Phoenix Downs. Myrmidons may drop components to sell or to be used for upgrading. And Chapter 2 is the best place to farm Fortisol and Deceptisol Shrouds in the entire game.

If you do decide to engage in battles, take this opportunity to practice manual AoE targeting using Lightning’s Blitz. Also, Snow’s grenades are OP area-attacks, so take advantage of them because they’ll be gone after the Prologue.

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The chapters in the game vary in length, so what’s generally considered the half-way point is actually Chapter 11. Though not as short as the Prologue, the chapters in Early Game are also fairly short. The longest among them are Chapters 7 and 9.

Teams will keep switching around during Early Game, so it’s advisable to unequip all accessories from the current party before each chapter ends so that the party in the following chapter would be able to use them. You usually get some downtime after defeating the chapter’s end boss and before transitioning to the next chapter which gives the much needed opportunity to unequip accessories.

If you decide to go right ahead without unequipping accessories, that’s completely fine too. It definitely won’t make the game unwinnable in any way. This is simply a practical tactic for stretching the use of the most beneficial accessories (e.g. stat boosts), especially if those accessories have been upgraded.

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If you care about item drops and TP regeneration, yes. A high rating increases the drop rate of rare items and the amount of TP recovered. On the other hand, a low battle rating increases the drop rate of Shrouds.

You get 5-stars if your Battle Score equals 13,000 or higher. Target Time represents the amount of time necessary to achieve a score of 10,000 (3-stars). Defeating the enemy faster will result in a higher score.

Factors which affect Battle Score calculation that are within the player’s control are:

• Attack Power: Refers to either strength or magic stat. Only the higher of the two stats of each character affects the Battle Score calculation. The lower each character’s Attack Power, the higher the Target Time.
  
  • Best to rely on status effects to increase damage output without increasing Attack Power if you are struggling to get 5 stars. Accessories with Auto-Bravery or Auto-Faith are particularly useful for regular battles.
  
  
• ATB Level: Similar to Attack Power, the lower each character’s ATB Level, the higher the Target Time. Ultimate weapons (Tier 3 weapons) add 1 ATB Level, so not equipping them can make it easier to achieve 5-stars.
  
  
• Preemptive Strike: Adds a 20% bonus to the base Battle Score.
  
  
• Gold Watch: Accessory that increases Target Time by 10%. Obtained from Mission 64.

In addition, the star rating serves to reflect the effectiveness of your strategies. If you can’t seem to get 4 to 5-star ratings consistently, keep tuning your Paradigm Deck to figure out which combination would yield better results. Perhaps you could stand to be more aggressive in your approach to battles. As the saying goes, “offense is the best defense.”

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Early into the game, you can since the ability list isn’t yet robust. But as you progress, you’ll find that staying in one Paradigm and spamming Auto-Battle won’t cut it anymore. Not only will you be extending a fight which could’ve taken mere seconds to beat, but you’ll also end up sabotaging your own experience with the game. There are some vital gameplay mechanics which must be utilized in order to experience just how dynamic battles in XIII can be.

• ATB Refresh, as dubbed by the XIII community, is a hidden mechanic that fills up the ATB Gauge after a Paradigm Shift. It activates at the first Paradigm Shift, and then becomes available again every 12 seconds after each successful ATB Refresh. This means it is not advisable to stay in one Paradigm for extended periods of time.
  
  
• Ideally your deck should give you good options for frequent Paradigm shifts as battle conditions change. If you find that one of your Paradigms is used extensively (e.g. COM/RAV) consider setting two copies of that paradigm so you can shift between them to get a refill every 12s, thereby boosting your DPS (damage-per-second).
  
  
• The first Paradigm Shift will always have a longer animation. So at the start of battle, I usually Paradigm Shift immediately to get the long animation over with and to jumpstart the party’s ATB Gauges, EXCEPT during a Preemptive Strike.

There are ways to control command execution other than pressing [X]/[A] to enter commands and [O]/[\B] to cancel commands. You can also use [▲]/[Y] to execute partial command strings. You do not have to wait for the ATB Gauge to fully fill up in order to execute commands. Here are some examples on how to control command strings.

• Inputting partial command strings: Example, if you have 5 ATB slots but only want to bestow Bravery on a character (cost 2 ATB), simply add 1 Bravery command to the gauge then press [▲]/[Y] to proceed to choosing a target.
  
  
• Early execution of command strings: Example, when you see an enemy is only 1 or 2 hits away from being killed, rather than waiting for the ATB Gauge to fully charge a string of 5 Attacks, you can press [▲]/[Y] to immediately execute the Attack commands that have been charged so far.
  
  
• Cancelling command strings mid-action: Example, if you’re executing a string of 5 Deprotects, then the enemy gets inflicted after the 3rd cast, you can cancel the other 2 Deprotects by pressing [O]/[\B] to save the charged ATB slots and queue a different string of ailments.

Set the cursor to default on Abilities. You’ll find that there are benefits to this compared to defaulting the cursor to Auto-Battle.

• Auto-Battle is still quick and easy to select by pressing [up] and [X]/[A].
  
  
• Abilities can be instantly selected. If you’re having trouble navigating the Abilities menu and/or are unhappy with your input speed, here are some tips that may help.
  
  • Utilize the Repeat function to immediately queue up the previous set of commands used in the current Role.
    
  • Practice manual input as early as Chapter 1 while the ability list is still limited. Or if you’re already mid-way through the game, start practicing now.
    
  • Set the Battle Speed to Slow. Consider this only as a temporary solution until you get the hang of navigating the Abilities menu. Once you’re comfortable enough, switch back to Normal speed or else battles might end up feeling dull.
  
  
• Repeat is a lot easier to access by simply holding [right] then pressing [X]/[A].
  
  • The Repeat function queues up the previously executed string of commands in the respective Role. Notice the arrow pointing right (>) that appears next to the Abilities option. Holding down [right] will change “Abilities” to “Repeat.”

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Because there will be times when Auto-Battle will queue up strings that you won’t agree with. At worst, it will queue up strings that are entirely counterproductive. In this game, “fast” does not automatically equate to “efficient.” It’s better to be slow but smart in choosing abilities, rather than being fast but reliant on Auto-Battle.

Here are some situations where manual input would be preferable to auto.

• To queue up Sazh’s awesome Blitz ability. Also to employ AoE tactics consistently which is particularly vital when farming multi-enemy groups.
  
  • AoE tactics examples: Early Chapter Multi-Enemy Chain Building
    
  • Tip: Manually queue up Attack strings against the end boss of Chapter 7. Since it is out of physical attack range, Auto-Battle will only queue Ruin strings. However, Attack is far superior in this specific situation. You’ll see why.

• To cast Rav-spell exclusive strings which is the fastest command string for chaining. Alternating spell-strike-spell-strike, which the RAV AI usually does, causes an animation delay between abilities which reduces chaining efficiency. Even if a character has higher Strength than Magic, it’s still better to use Rav-spell strings because the goal here isn’t to deal damage, but rather to build Chain as quickly as possible.

• To help maintain Chain by spamming Provoke or Challenge. Also to choose Steelguard or Mediguard whenever Auto-Battle is queuing Vendetta or Entrench because the latter two abilities are only half as effective at reducing damage compared to the Guard abilities.

• To control prioritization of status ailments. Poison and Slow, for instance, are some of the ailments you’d want to stick asap when appropriate. Also to inflict Daze, whenever applicable, to stop enemies in their tracks and allow the party to safely buff and heal.

• To manage which enhancements should or shouldn’t be cast. The SYN AI likes to bestow both Bravery and Faith on all allies, even though each character only really needs one or the other. Manually selecting which enhancements you need for each fight will save you a lot of time versus constantly hitting Auto-Battle, waiting for the right enhancements to be cast.

• To set up an AoE healing string, either Curaja-Cura or Cura-Cura. When the party’s HP is 70%-99% (green), the MED AI will only cast one Cure spell at a time until everyone is at 100%. So, manually stringing AoE heals is the quickest way to top off everyones HP. You can also string Curasa-Curasa-Curasa-Cura to focus heals on an ally with the lowest HP first, then top off everyone’s HP at the end of the string.

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Some who gripe about how regular battles take too long to beat are usually those who make the mistake of not using Synergists and Saboteurs. And some who have trouble surviving regular battles usually make the mistake of not using Sentinels. This is why you must use all Roles. Don’t go into the game thinking all you need to do is Stagger enemies to win.

Each Role offers Role Bonuses that benefit the entire party. The “Self-Bonus'' applies to the character in the current Role, while the “Ally-Bonus” applies to the other allies. The Self-Bonus is always higher than the Ally-Bonus, and the Role Level determines how high the given bonuses are.

• Commando: Increases damage dealt.
  
• Ravager: Increases Chain Bonus.
  
• Sentinel: Reduces damage received.
  
  • Effective even against enemy attacks that ignore defensive buffs and accessories, such as those that deal damage based on the remaining HP of the target/s (%-based damage). Examples of such attacks are Destrudo, Ultima, and Merciless Judgement.
• Saboteur: Increases success rate of inflicting status ailments.
  
• Synergist: Increases duration of status enhancements.
  
• Medic: Increases HP recovered by healing abilities and items.

What’s most important to note is that Role Bonuses stack which is why Paradigms like Com/Com/Com and Rav/Rav/Rav are highly valuable and effective. But if allies get KO’d, or when they leave during an Eidolon summon, their Role Bonuses won’t take effect.

As an example, take the highly favored Sen/Sen/Sen Paradigm if it was made up of A) one Level 4 Sentinel and B) two Level 1 Sentinels. The Level 4 Sentinel will take at least 52.6% less damage from attacks, while the Level 1 Sentinels will take at least 46.7% less damage. If the Paradigm was made up of three Level 5 Sentinels, all characters will take at least 63% less damage. (Note: Numbers were calculated using info from the GMG.)

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Because you didn’t accumulate enough Chain Duration. Building a high Chain Bonus but accumulating low Chain Duration is what makes the gauge look like it’s dropping fast. It’s unfortunate how the game only teaches players about Chain Bonus building and never once explains how Chain Duration works. It’s not even mentioned in the Datalog’s Battle Primer. Basically, each attack has two effects on the Chain Gauge:

• Chain Bonus: Amount of Chain (expressed in %) added to build up the gauge.
  
• Chain Duration: Amount of time (in seconds) added before the gauge resets to 100.00%. Duration is capped at 30s and has a direct effect on Stagger Time.
  
  • Stagger Time: Equal to double the remaining Chain Duration when the enemy was Staggered + 8 seconds. Minimum of 8s. Maximum of 45s. You can reach the max Stagger Time if you accumulate at least 18.5s of Chain Duration by the time you Stagger an enemy.

As a rule of thumb, abilities that add a high amount of Bonus add little to Duration (RAV), and abilities that add high Duration add little Bonus (COM). Rounded to .5 to simplify:

• Commando: Attack and Ruin add 3s. Blitz adds 5s. Ruinga adds 6s.
  
  • Sazh’s Blitz adds 2.5s per bullet (7 bullets).
• Ravager: All abilities add 1s, except for Aeroga which adds 2s.
  
• Saboteur: All abilities add 2s. An additional 8s is added whenever an ailment is successfully inflicted.
  
• Sentinel: Provoke and Challenge add 5s each time a target is successfully provoked. Can be spammed to repeatedly provoke enemies.
  
• Quake: Adds 26.5s to all enemies.
  
• Preemptive Strike: Adds 10s to all enemies.
  
• Character Unique Abilities: Vanille’s Death adds 1s. Everything else adds 0s.

There is a short section in Chapter 4 where there is no Commando in the party, so some players might struggle getting enemies to Stagger. The key is to use Saboteur abilities to add Chain Duration so the gauge doesn’t reset too quickly. Start with Syn/Med to buff and only bring out the Saboteur when you’re ready to attack. Use Rav/Sab, then once your target gets inflicted with 1 debuff (Deprotect or Deshell), switch to Rav/Rav and keep attacking it until it’s dead. Make sure to take down only one opponent at a time.

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Certain bosses and Mission marks cast Doom once the Battle Duration has reached 20 minutes. This should serve as a sign that there’s something in your approach that needs to be improved. Before you consider grinding for CP and gil, try switching up your party and Paradigm deck first. Here are some things to take note of while adjusting your team.

• Which Paradigms did you barely use? Change them.
  
• What attacks did the enemy use that you’re having trouble with? Consider bringing a dedicated Sentinel or equipping more defensive accessories.
  
• What were the enemy’s elemental and status resistances and vulnerabilities? Choose Saboteurs and/or Synergists with relevant skillsets for the given situation.

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• Likely because you’re not taking advantage of buff+debuff combos. The damage multiplication from stacking buffs and debuffs could make it so you won’t even need to Stagger certain enemies in order to kill them.
  
  
• The standard combos are Bravery+Deprotect for physical damage, and Faith+Deshell for magic damage. But one that’s typically overlooked is EnElements+Commando(+Imperil). Damage output is doubled when hitting elemental weakness, so use En-spells to grant an elemental property to Commando abilities. Note that only one En-spell can be bestowed on a character at a time. If there’s no elemental weakness to exploit, Imperil makes enemies vulnerable to elements they’re normally neutral to. However, if an enemy halves, resists or is immune to elements by default, Imperil can’t make them vulnerable to any of those elements.
  
  
• With buff+debuff combos, Sazh’s Blitz can dish out great damage against large enemies. Blitz (cost 2 ATB) shoots out 7 bullets, while Attack shoots 2 bullets. This means queuing 1 Blitz command is superior to queuing 2 Attack commands, given that the target is large or close enough to get hit by at least 4 of Blitz’s bullets. Use Sazh as your party leader, buff him with Bravery and an applicable En-spell, Stagger the enemy, then queue up those Blitzes and watch as he shreds HP. This trick is particularly useful against certain fights in Chapter 11 and for early Turtle farming.
  
  
• If available, aim to use Saboteur’s Daze on every enemy that doesn’t resist it. Daze not only stops enemies from acting. It also doubles the damage they receive. This can be taken advantage of by using Sab/Com/Com. Control the Saboteur to spam Daze while the Commandos dish the damage. The SAB AI can also handle Daze spamming duty well enough as long as the applicable ailments have already been inflicted on the target. Snow in particular, because of his Saboteur skillset and fastest casting speed, is considered the community-favorite AI Daze spammer.

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• It could be due to lack of defensive accessories or defensive buffs used. Belts and Protect provide physical resistance. Bracelets and Shell provide magic resistance. Armlets provide both physical and magic resistance. Rings and Bar-spells provide elemental resistance.
  
  
• It could also be because you’re not making use of Sentinels. If you find your party overwhelmed by successive attacks from multiple enemies, bring out a dedicated Sentinel to tank the attacks. Or if you’re having trouble with a large area-attack, simply bringing out a Sentinel can reduce the damage taken by party members by 8% to 14%, depending on the Sentinel’s Role Level. Having more Sentinels decreases damage further, so Sen/Sen/Sen (i.e. Tortoise Paradigm) is particularly handy for tanking hard-hitting attacks since the damage taken by each party member gets reduced by at least 44%.
  
  
• If the particular problem you’re facing is an attack called “Destrudo” by the end boss of Chapter 9, then accessories, buffs and Sentinels won’t help you in this one specific circumstance. Instead, you must deal as much damage as you can to the boss while it’s still charging in order to weaken Destrudo before it’s fired.

It is possible to prevent damage by interrupting enemy actions. You may have noticed that the characters and enemies sometimes flinch when attacked. This happens whenever actions get interrupted. Interruption is determined by hidden values called Cut and Keep. Cut represents the ability to cause interruption while Keep represents defense against interruption.

• Stagger: Reduces enemy’s Keep to 0, making them completely vulnerable to interruption. Coordinate your attacks with your party members to keep the Staggered enemy disrupted. Note that some enemies and some specific enemy actions are immune to interruption, thus are still able to act despite being attacked while Staggered.
  
  
• Vigilance and Curse: Use these in conjunction to increase the chance of interrupting non-Staggered enemies and to decrease the chance that the party gets interrupted. Vigilance increases the Cut and Keep of the party while Curse decreases the Cut and Keep of enemies.
  
  
• Launch: The majority of non-airborne enemies can be launched by Commandos when Staggered which completely prevents them from attacking altogether. Coordinate your attacks with your party members to ensure that the target doesn’t get the chance to touch the ground. Characters who can learn Launch are Lightning, Fang, and Snow.
  
  • Ruinga and Ravager -Ga spells are capable of launching enemies as well, though they don’t go as high as the Commando’s Launch. Enemies will only get launched if the -Ga spell’s Cut is higher than the target’s Keep, so Vigilance and Curse are particularly handy here. -Ga spell launching can be guaranteed against most Staggered targets since their Keep gets reduced to 0.
  
  
• Items and Techniques: The party leader can temporarily become immune to interruption by tossing an item or casting a Technique. Consider this a reason to use Potions over Cure.

Another way to prevent, and even evade, damage is by using tactics dubbed as “Cancelling” by the XIII community.

• Summon Cancelling: Just before a big attack hits the party, use Summon to make the party leader immune to the incoming damage.
  
  
• Gestalt Cancelling: Same as Summon Cancelling except this time you switch to Gestalt Mode before an attack hits. While in Gestalt Mode, enemies temporarily stop attacking altogether.
  
  
• Stagger Cancelling: It’s possible to outright cancel some enemies’ attacks by Staggering them right when they’re about to unleash it. However, careful timing and foresight of the enemy's moveset would be needed to pull this off consistently. Most of the time, this would likely be achieved by sheer luck.

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It’s unfortunate that there’s no way to manually maneuver characters around the battlefield, especially since you’d want characters to stay away from the Sentinel so they don’t get swept up by area-attacks. The good news is there are a couple solutions. The bad news is they only work under certain conditions.

• First shift the Sentinel (likely Snow or Fang) to Commando so they run towards the enemy and away from the rest of the party. Once Snow/Fang is right in front of the enemy, shift them to Sentinel to have them do their thing. This is especially effective if the other members are ranged attackers since they won’t ever run beside Snow/Fang.

• Lightning hops backwards when she casts an offensive spell (RAV or SAB), so casting spells one at a time could effectively distance Lightning from enemies and/or the Sentinel. In some battles, Lightning can hop far enough away from the enemy that she can’t be hit by their attacks.
  
  • Note: Snow and Fang hop backwards when casting spells as well, however their hops are significantly smaller.
  
  
• Sazh takes a step backwards when alternating magic and physical attacks. This can be done by either COM or RAV. Start the command string with a magic attack (Ruin/Rav-spells) then keep alternating: magic -> physical -> magic -> physical. This way, every physical attack Sazh does (Attack/Rav-strikes) will make him take a step backwards.

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---

• Absolutely, especially during Early Game boss battles. There are times when it’s more efficient to toss a Potion than to cast Cure or Cura. For instance, it won’t hinder your offensive momentum since you won’t need to switch in a Medic to heal the party.
  
  
• Potions have a base heal of 150 HP which affects the entire party. But if a character has over 3,000 max HP, it will heal 5% of their max HP. Doctor’s Code doubles it to 300 HP and 10% max HP (must be equipped on the party leader). For example, a character with 5,000 max HP will receive 250 HP from a Potion, or 500 HP w/ Doc’s Code. Medic’s Role Bonus can further increase the amount of HP healed.

---

Note that all items used in battle return to your inventory if you get a Game Over or hit Retry. This applies to Shrouds as well.

• Phoenix Down revives KO’d allies with 70% of their max HP. In comparison, Medic’s Raise only revives with 18% max HP, so Phoenix Downs remain relevant up to Post Game. If a party member dies early in a battle, it may be better to hit Retry than to waste a Phoenix Down.
  
  
• Painkiller, Mallet and Foul Liquid remove Pain, Fog and Daze, respectively. These 3 ailments prevent the use of abilities, so keep some of these handy or else the party could end up not being able to act at all. Fog and Daze, particularly, prevent the use of Esuna so you can’t always rely on a Medic to remove these ailments.
  
  
• Librascope fully reveals Enemy Intel on all enemies. Best to save these for bosses and Mission marks since they’re only obtainable from treasure spheres and aren’t available for purchase until the end of Chapter 12 for 10,000 gil.
  
  
• Elixir fully heals the party’s HP and TP. However, it does not revive KO’d allies. There are only 4 Elixirs in the game, so use them wisely. Three are obtained by dismantling Doctor’s Codes, and one is obtained from a treasure sphere in Chapter 13 (missable).

---

Summon and Libra need no introduction and will likely see the most use. As for the others:

• Quake is best used during a Preemptive Strike. It can also be used for AoE (area-of-effect) tactics, paired with -Ra and -Ga spells. It adds 26s to Chain Duration.
  
  
• Renew revives KO’d allies and restores 50% of the party’s max HP. Medic’s Role Bonus can increase the amount of HP healed. Learned at Stage 6.
  
  
• Dispelga removes all positive and negative status effects from allies and enemies, except Provoke and Doom. Useful when your party gets overwhelmed by multiple ailments. Learned at Stage 8.
  
  
• Stopga resets the ATB Gauges of all allies and enemies. Learned at Stage 9.
  
  • Arguably the most useless ability in the game, I recommend not grabbing it at all. The 12,000-20,000 CP (varies for each character) it costs is better spent elsewhere.

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• Shrouds are rare to come by and only become purchasable at the end of Chapter 12, so it’s best to save them for bosses you’re having a tough time with.
  
  
  • Use Fortisol if your party only has access to defensive buffs, and Aegisol if your party only has access to augmentative buffs. The buffs bestowed by these Shrouds last for 5 minutes.
    
    
  • Ethersol is the hardest to obtain since it isn’t purchasable. If you need to regenerate TP, it’s best to aim for 5-star battles. If available, equip Energy Sashes and a Champion’s Badge. Save Ethersols as a last resort.
    
    
  • A trick that’s equivalent to previous FF’s “No Encounters” is called Deceptisol Cancelling. Basically, you use a Deceptisol to evade as many encounters as you can. Then before the effect wears off, initiate battle with any enemy group and then hit Retry so the Deceptisol you used returns to your inventory. You can do this trick again and again, as long as you don’t let the Shroud’s effect wear off before initiating battle. Deceptisol’s effect lasts for 30s.

---

The base drop rate of Shrouds decreases as you progress through the game, so the best time to farm Shrouds is in Chapter 2 (12%), Chapter 3 (8%), and Chapter 4 (6%). Once you reach Chapter 11, the Shroud drop rate becomes less than 0.5%. So by then, you must obtain the Survivalist Catalog from Mission 15 to set the drop rate of Shrouds to 5%. Make sure to aim for 0-stars when farming.

• Fortisol and Deceptisol: Chapter 2. The hall of single ghouls with Lightning and Sazh in, shortly before finding Serah (0-stars takes 33 seconds with Gladius and Power Wristband on Lightning). Respawn by going back to the previous area.
  
  
• Aegisol: Chapter 4. The 2x Gremlin fight in the 2nd Sazh/Vanille section. Respawn by running back to the area with the save point.
  
  
• Ethersols can only be obtained via treasure spheres or dismantling Doctor’s Code, Energy Sash, and Champion’s Badge. Items to dismantle are either rare or expensive. The most “accessible” way to get an Ethersol is by purchasing a Speed Sash (10,000 gil) and upgrading it with a Mnar Stone (60,000 gil) to get an Energy Sash to dismantle.
  
  
• Each enemy group drops only one type of Shroud. So if you obtain a Fortisol from a certain group, you can be sure that that group will only ever drop a Fortisol.
  
  
• At the end of Chapter 12, Shrouds (except Ethersol) become purchasable from Eden Pharmaceuticals. Fortisol and Aegisol cost 12,000 gil and Deceptisol costs 30,000 gil.

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Fighting Eidolons is not about dealing damage. Rather, it’s about filling up the Gestalt Gauge then pressing [◼]/[X] when prompted to finish the battle. The most straightforward way to fill the Gestalt Gauge is by building and maintaining the Chain. Strive not to let the Chain drop back to 100.00% or you’ll lose your Gestalt building momentum. The doom counter is equal to 3 minutes of battle time.

• Two-person teams: Have 2 Rav/Rav Paradigms to switch between for ATB Refresh. Make sure to switch in Commando every now and then to maintain the Chain.
  
  
• Three-person teams: Have 2 Mystic Tower (1 Sen, 2 Ravs) Paradigms to switch between for ATB Refresh. If the leader is the Sentinel, help the Ravagers maintain Chain by spamming Challenge.
  
  
• Cast all applicable status enhancements and ailments at the start of battle. The more status effects, the faster the Chain building.
  
  
• Snow and Fang: The Gestalt Gauge fills up when they’re taking damage from certain attacks while in Sentinel Role. Shift Snow to Sentinel against Wheel Grind and Pirouette, and shift Fang to Sentinel against Ignis. No need to assume a defensive stance. Being in Sentinel Role is enough.
  
  
• Vanille and Fang: Saboteur is better to use in place of Vanille's Ravager and Fang's Commando during their respective fights.

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• Because summons aren’t the single-hit nukes they used to be in early FF games, players instead use them to heal the party, revive KO’d allies, and escape hard-hitting attacks. However, even though their damage output seems underwhelming, Eidolon area-attacks are actually fairly effective at wiping out groups of quick and highly disruptive enemies.
  
  
• To deal good and consistent damage, you must build and maintain the enemies’ Chains and never use Auto in Gestalt Mode. For best results, fill up the Gestalt Gauge via chaining first before switching to Gestalt Mode. Then, spam 1 or 2 attacks that are most useful depending on the situation.
  
  
• Note that Eidolon finishers reset the Chain of all enemies to 100.00%. So if you wish to keep the Chain that’s been built, don’t go into Gestalt Mode and just wait for the Gestalt Gauge to run out so the Eidolon leaves the field.

---

The Eidolons’ stats (SP, Strength, and Magic) are determined by their Rank. Their Rank is determined by A) the Crystarium Stage currently unlocked, and B) the number of Level 5 Roles the Eidolon’s summoner has. The max Eidolon Rank is 16 (10 Stages + 6 Roles).

• E.g. If you have Crystarium Stage 10 unlocked and Lightning has Commando, Ravager, Saboteur, and Synergist Roles at Level 5, Odin’s Rank will be 14 (10 + 4).

All Eidolons’ base time in Normal Mode is 50 seconds, regardless of Rank or SP. It will leave the field when its SP and Gestalt Gauges are depleted. SP is basically the Eidolon’s HP, so each attack reduces SP by the amount of damage the enemy dealt. The more damage the Eidolon receives, the shorter the time it has before it leaves the field. Assuming the Eidolon never receives damage (highly unlikely), it will stay for the full 50 seconds.

The method to raise the Eidolons’ Gestalt Gauge is the same as the conditions needed to be met during their respective battles. While the main method for all Eidolons is to increase and maintain Chain, others have unique conditions which can be used to the summoner’s advantage. For example, Shiva and Bahamut “yield to those who defend against and endure attacks,” so having Snow and Fang tank attacks as a Sentinel can help build the Gestalt Gauge.

The Gestalt Gauge always starts at 50%. How high it is affects A) the number of Gestalt Points available in Gestalt Mode, and B) the Level of the Eidolon’s finisher.

• Gestalt Points determine how many Gestalt attacks could be performed before executing the finisher.
  
• Finisher Level determines how much Chain the finisher will add before it deals damage, thereby indirectly affecting the amount of damage the Eidolon’s finisher will deal.

Gestalt Mode attacks ignore physical, magic, and elemental resistances, but doesn’t ignore weaknesses. So if an enemy halves/resists/nulls certain elements or types of attacks, they will receive normal damage. But if an enemy is vulnerable to certain elements or types of attacks, they will still be treated as weakness.

• To switch targets in Gestalt Mode, press the [left] or [right] directional buttons.

---

All Eidolons, except Hecatoncheir, cast Curaga when their summoner’s HP falls below 70%. It’s great for keeping the summoner safe, but it hinders the Eidolon’s offensive momentum since it costs the Eidolon’s full ATB Gauge to cast.

Refer to the document for the full breakdown of Eidolons:

How Eidolons Function in Battle[docs.google.com]

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Character Unique Abilities are learned at Crystarium Stage 9 which unlocks after defeating the end boss of Chapter 11. They are tailored for specific circumstances, so if not used properly, they come across as completely useless.

All Character Unique Abilities ignore type-based resistance. This means physical abilities can still deal damage to enemies that are immune to physical attacks, and magic abilities can deal damage to enemies immune to magic. Downside is, because they ignore type-based resistance, they also ignore the benefits of Deprotect and Deshell.

Note that If a character is afflicted with either Pain or Fog, the unique ability becomes unusable regardless of the ability’s damage type.

• Ravager abilities that are used to significantly raise the Chain of a Staggered enemy. These are not meant to deal heavy damage. However, it’s still viable to increase the damage output by shifting to Com/Com/Com during the attack’s animation since these abilities can effectively raise the Chain of Staggered enemies regardless of what Role the party leader is in.
  
  
  • Army of One is an 11-hit, single-target physical attack which adds at least 132% Chain. The quick strikes of this ability’s animation are suitable for keeping the Staggered target under constant disruption.
    
    
  • Cold Blood is a 17-hit, single-target physical attack which adds at least 170% Chain. While superior to Army of One for chaining, it deals only half the damage Army of One can deal. The quick strikes of this ability’s animation are suitable for keeping the Staggered target under constant disruption.
    
    
  • Last Resort is an 8-hit, multi-target magic attack which adds at least 20% Chain per hit. The hits are distributed depending on the number of enemies present. E.g. if there are 4 enemies, each enemy will receive 2 hits. If used on a single enemy, it adds at least 160% Chain and deals more damage than Army of One.
  
  
• The Stagger status of an enemy will not end as long as the attack animation is still going, meaning these skills can effectively extend Stagger Time for a few seconds when used just before the enemy is about to recover from Stagger. It gives Commandos a last minute chance to deal some damage.

• Commando abilities that deal heavy physical damage but reset the Chain Gauge to 100.00% after they hit. They’re meant to be used as a finishing attack just before Stagger ends, or when they will be lethal. Bestow Bravery/-ra and make sure to have a Genji Glove equipped or else the damage will be hindered by the damage cap.
  
  
• Since Character Unique Abilities ignore resistance, these attacks can still be used to deal considerable damage to enemies that are immune to physical attacks.

• Has a 1% base success rate to instantly kill enemies that aren’t immune to Death. The rate increases by 1% for each status ailment inflicted on the target. For example, if the target is afflicted with Deprotect, Deshell and Imperil, the success rate becomes 4%. Maximizing Saboteur Role Bonus can further increase the success rate.
  
  • Note: Increasing the Chain and Belladonna Wand’s Improved Debuffing do not affect the success rate of Death.
  
  
• During Death’s animation, you can shift Vanille to Commando (or Com/Com/Com) before Death hits to deal a great amount of damage. Since Death ignores resistance, it can also damage enemies that are immune to magic attacks.
  
  
• Unlike the other unique abilities, Death is the only one that can be given an elemental property via En-spells, meaning damage can be doubled when hitting weakness. What makes it even better is that it doesn’t reset the Chain Gauge when used, so it can be spammed to your heart’s content. Bestow Faith/-ra and equip a Genji Glove to reach maximum effectiveness.

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The heart of this game’s customization is about choosing which characters to bring for which situations. All characters are unique and offer different things to the table. Just because all characters can eventually learn every Role, it doesn’t mean they can learn every ability. Because of this, there is no such thing as the single best party configuration for the entire game.



That said, what would be considered the “best team” depends on A) the challenge you’re facing and B) your level of development. Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing your best team.

1. Study an enemy’s strengths and weaknesses and then choose which characters have access to Roles and abilities you need. For instance, if an enemy resists all status ailments, shelve the Saboteurs. Or if an enemy is vulnerable to at least one of the main 4 elements, bring in a Synergist with access to En-spells.
   
   • To study Enemy Intel free of charge, enter battle and toss a Librascope. Look through the enemy notes and status/elemental resistances/vulnerabilities. When you get an idea what you need, hit Retry and the Librascope you used will return to your inventory.
   
   
2. Do not focus too heavily on stats. Just because a character has high Strength or Magic doesn’t mean they’ll net you the quickest victories. High stats won’t mean much if you’re not using methods to increase damage outside of the Chain. A team with lower stats but great offensive buff and debuff access will generally deal more DPS (damage-per-second) than a team with higher stats but limited to no access to offensive buffs and debuffs.

There is no such thing as “best Paradigms.” There also is no such thing as Paradigms that are completely unusable. There are only Paradigms that are preferable over others depending on the situation. Keep these in mind when building your deck.

1. Make sure you have a general idea of what you want to achieve. Don’t just throw in a random mish-mash of Paradigms. Set some goals, then build your deck. Here are some examples of Paradigms which don’t get cited much with corresponding goals in mind.
   
   • Sab/Med/Med: Main goal is to heal. Secondary goal is to refresh ailments and maintain the Chain.
     
   • Com/Com/Med: Main goal is to keep up damage momentum against enemies that can continue attacking even when Staggered.
     
   • Rav/Syn/Sab: Main goal is to get a jump start at building Chain while buffing and debuffing at the start of battle. Saboteur can add enough Duration to support the Ravager in Chain building. Best used if there is only 1 opponent.
   
   
2. Take advantage of Role Bonuses by having at least two similar Roles in a Paradigm. This isn’t to say that Paradigms with a mix of 3 Roles are useless. It just happens that “Double/Triple Role Paradigms” are generally more effective.
   
   • Trap: Diversity (Com/Rav/Med). This Paradigm is useful in Early Game when options are still limited. But once complete customization unlocks, there isn’t much reason to use this anymore. Because if the main goal of this Paradigm is to heal while dealing damage or maintaining the Chain, then Com/Med/Med would be quicker and far superior.
   
   
3. Sometimes you might find a character stuck having nothing to do. It could be because the Saboteur has inflicted all applicable ailments, the Synergist has bestowed all possible enhancements, or the party is already fully healed. Consider whether you can switch up at least one character’s Role to something more useful.
   
   • Trap: Evened Odds (Med/Syn/Sab). The problems listed above could easily apply to this Paradigm. Some players typically use this to buff and debuff at the start of battle. But at the start of battle, there’s no damage for the Medic to heal yet, thus they’re non-essential. If you want to employ buffing and debuffing at the start, Sen/Syn/Sab would work better since the Sentinel could protect allies from both damage and action interruption. Basically, “prevention is better than cure.”
     
   • Some would also use Evened Odds to heal mid-battle. But assuming all status enhancements and/or ailments are still up, the Synergist and/or Saboteur end up being useless. What’s worse, the healing process would go really slowly with only one Medic. Now, I’m not saying that Evened Odds should never be used. There are fights where Evened Odds would be desirable, after all. This situation just happens to be a common trap that players might fall into.

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In Chapters 4 to 8, you’ll mostly be playing with 2-person teams. From Chapter 9 and beyond, 3-person teams become the norm. Below are some example decks to give an idea how Paradigms could be set up so the deck doesn’t look like a random mess.

These are, by no means, the be-all-end-all decks that you must copy. These are simply examples based on personal preference and experience. There is no “one size fits all” deck, so make sure to customize, customize, customize, especially when you notice there’s a Paradigm in your deck that you’re not making much use of.

Each example deck was built with specific party configurations and situations in mind. The characters and chapters are left unnamed to avoid potential spoilers.






For a more offensive approach, you can switch the 5th Paradigm of each deck to:
Deck 1: From MED / MED to COM / RAV
Deck 2: From SYN / MED to COM / SAB
Deck 3: From SEN / MED to a second SAB / RAV

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• To clear any potential confusion, the difference between Commando and Ravager is that Commandos are damage dealers that chip away at an enemy’s HP, while Ravagers are damage multipliers that raise the Chain to push enemies into Stagger.
  
  
• Misinformation has circulated since the game’s release (perpetuated by the Piggyback Guide), saying that Commandos are physical attackers thus only benefit from Strength, while Ravagers are magic attackers thus only benefit from Magic. THIS IS FALSE. Both Roles have physical and magic abilities, thus they both benefit from strength and magic stats. Commandos will benefit more from these stats than Ravagers since they are the primary damage dealers.

• Commando abilities are all non-elemental, but they can be given an elemental property via Synergist’s En-spells. So whenever you encounter enemies with elemental weaknesses, have a Synergist bestow En-spells to double the damage output.

This is not the complete list. Only the more noteworthy abilities are included.

• Launch: Makes the Attack command launch Staggered enemies into the air. Note that some enemies cannot be launched.
  
• Smite and Scourge: If less than 2.4s remains before Stagger status ends, the Attack command changes to Smite (airborne) or Scourge (ground) which deals more than 4x the normal damage of Attack.
  
• Adrenaline: If the Commando's HP is >70% (green), their strength and magic stats increase by 20%.
  
• Faultsiphon: Each hit against enemies that are afflicted with any status ailments recovers 20% of an ATB slot.
  
• Lifesiphon: Recover 1 ATB slot after killing an enemy.

• Normally, when there are 2 or more Commandos out when fighting 2 or more enemies, each Commando will attack different targets. However, this rule gets shifted when Daze is involved. Dazed enemies won’t be targeted by Commandos as long as there’s at least one enemy that isn’t Dazed. If all enemies are Dazed, however, the COM AI will act as normal.
  
  
• If there are 5 enemies and 3 of them are Dazed, the Commandos will only target the 2 un-Dazed enemies. However, if the enemies are close together, the AI Commandos could use Blitz/Ruinga and end up waking the nearby Dazed enemies.

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• During Early Game, when En-spells aren’t fully accessible yet, a Ravager that’s hitting elemental weakness can deal comparable damage to a Commando’s non-elemental attacks. So in some cases, Rav/Rav may be preferable to Com/Rav since it could deal good damage on top of building Chain.

Conditional Modifiers increase the Chain Bonus added by abilities when certain conditions are met. These are vital when facing enemies with extremely high Chain Resistance. Listed here are the conditions that matter most and are easiest to fulfill.

• String different or alternating commands.
  
  • Don’t make a string with just one type of ability, e.g. Fire-Fire-Fire-Fire or Flamestrike-Flamestrike-Flamestrike-Flamestrike. At the very least, alternate two different abilities, e.g. Thunder-Fire-Thunder-Fire.
    
  • Preferably, use a full “spell string” or “-strike string” because stringing spell-strike-spell-strike causes an animation delay between abilities. This delay affects Lightning and Sazh’s chaining speed the most.
    
  • Note: This is why the RAV AI tosses out seemingly random spells. Stringing different abilities increases accumulated Chain Bonus.
  
  
• Hit the target’s elemental weakness.
  
  
• Increase the number of status enhancements on an ally.
  
  
• Increase the number of status ailments on the target.

• Rule of thumb: When building Chain, single-target spells are best against an un-Staggered enemy while -Ra spells are best against a Staggered enemy.
  
  
• The base Chain Bonus of Fire is 10% (cost 1 ATB), and the base Chain Bonus of Fira is 18% (cost 2 ATB). But when used against a Staggered target, Fira’s Chain Bonus becomes 25%.

• Vigor: If the Ravager’s HP is >70% (green), the base Chain Bonus value of their abilities increases by 1.0. Can’t be learned by Sazh and Vanille.
  
• Overwhelm: For each ally targeting the same enemy, the base Chain Bonus value of their Ravager abilities increases by 1.0.
  
• Fearsiphon: Each hit against Staggered enemies recovers 10% of an ATB slot.

• While there are no differences between a character's cast animations by element, the different projectiles travel at different speeds. Lightning-elemental spells have the fastest travel speed, while wind-elemental spells have the longest animation.

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• Guard: 20% base damage reduction. Used if the Sentinel’s HP is <30% (red).
  
  • Steelguard: Each attack received increases the damage reduction percentage by 1-3%. Can be raised up to 100%.
    
  • Mediguard: Each stocked Mediguard command recovers ~4% max HP.
    
  • Elude: Gives 50% chance to evade attacks, unless the attack ignores evasion. Note that Nimbletoe Boots does not improve the evasion chance of Elude. It only affects the Evade auto-ability.
  
  
• Counter: 10% base damage reduction. Used if the Sentinel’s HP is >30% (yellow/red).
  
  • Vendetta and Entrench make the Sentinel counterattack after defending. Being only half as effective at reducing damage, there is no situation where Counter stances would be more desirable than Guard stances. It doesn’t help that the damage dealt by counterattacks is negligible.
    
  • If possible, I suggest leaving these abilities unactivated so the SEN AI would go into a Guard stance regardless of their HP. Applicable only to Fang since her Counter stances are located on branches, thus they could be skipped. Snow, on the other hand, has to learn Vendetta in the main development path.
  
  
• The SEN AI could choose Guard over Counter stances, regardless of the Sentinel’s current HP, if the Enemy Intel notes reveal that the enemy executes “powerful” or “devastating” attacks.

• Provoke has a 45% chance of provoking all enemies, while Challenge has a 99% chance of provoking a single enemy.
  
  
• Each successful provocation adds 5s Chain Duration to the affected enemy, so spamming these abilities can effectively help maintain the Chain.
  
  
• When using Sen/Rav/Rav, rather than going into a defensive stance, spam Provoke/Challenge to help the Ravagers build Chain. Use Provoke against multiple enemies and Challenge against a single enemy.

• Deathward: If the Sentinel’s HP is <30% (red), the damage they receive from physical and magic attacks is reduced by 25%.
  
• Fringeward: If the Sentinel is the main target of an area-attack, the damage received by allies is reduced by 35%.
  
• Reprieve: If the Sentinel’s HP is >30% (yellow/green), they’ll be able to survive an attack that would’ve otherwise KO’d them with 1 HP remaining. Note that this auto-ability is ignored by Death and Doom.
  
• Evade and Counter: There’s a 20% chance for the Sentinel to evade attacks which can be evaded if they’re not taking any action (e.g. provoking, using items, defense stance, etc). After a successful evasion, there’s a 90% chance for the Sentinel to counterattack, assuming the evaded attack can be countered.

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Saboteur abilities have a base duration of 60s and are divided into 2 categories.

• Debuff: Focuses on weakening the enemy.
  
  • Deprotect, Deshell, Imperil, Poison
  
  
• Debilitation: Focuses on hindering enemy movement.
  
  • Slow, Curse, Pain, Fog, Daze
  
  
• Other: Dispel and Death don’t fall into either group.

• Increase Role Level of Saboteurs
  
• Bringing in more Saboteurs to stack Role Bonuses
  
• Raising the Chain (does not affect Death)
  
• Vanille’s Improved Debuffing and Fang’s Improved Debilitation weapons. Tier 1 and Tier 2 versions increase success rate by 20% and 40%, respectively

• Vanille first learns all single-target and multi-target Debuff abilities. Learns Pain and Fog at Stage 8. Does not learn Slow, Curse, and Daze. Is the preferable Saboteur during Mid Game because of Debuff’s damage multiplication.
  
  
• Fang first learns all single-target and multi-target Debilitation abilities. Learns Deprotect and Deshell at Stage 8. Learns Imperil at Stage 9. Does not learn Poison. Fang is notable for being the only reasonable access to Slow, Curse, and Daze for the majority of the game. Snow is the next best character who could provide access to these abilities, however it’s better left for Late to Post Game since it’s an expensive investment.

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• Augment: Bravery, Faith, Vigilance, Haste, En-spells
  
• Defense: Protect, Shell, Veil, Bar-spells

• Bravery/Faith: Increases strength/magic stat by 40%
  
• Bravera/Faithra: Increases strength/magic stat by 80%
  
• Protect/Shell: Reduces physical/magic damage received by 33%
  
• Protectra/Shellra: Reduces physical/magic damage received by 50%
  
• Veil: Reduces chance of receiving status ailments by 50%
  
• Bar-spells: Reduces corresponding elemental damage by 50%

• 180s: En-spells
  
• 150s: Bravery, Faith, Protect, Shell
  
• 90s: Haste, Vigilance, Veil, Bar-spells
  
• 30s: Bravera, Faithra, Protectra, Shellra

• For every 100 points of Magic, 1s is added to the base duration of buffs a character bestows. Faith/-ra and Power Surge abilities increase a character’s magic stat, thus they can further increase duration. Because of this, when you’re manually applying buffs, consider casting Faith/-ra on your party leader first.

• -Ra level buffs can only be learned by Vanille and Fang. They do not stack with their regular counterparts. i.e. Faith, Faithra, or Defaith cannot exist at the same time.

• Sazh first learns Augment abilities, then learns Defense abilities starting with Bar-spells at Stage 7. Learns Protect and Shell at Stage 9. Does not learn Veil. Is the preferable Synergist during Mid Game because of Haste, Bravery, and Faith access.
  
  
• Hope first learns Defense abilities, then learns Augment abilities starting with En-spells at Stage 7. Learns Bravery and Faith in Stage 8. Learns Haste at Stage 9. Does not learn Vigilance. Inferior to Sazh until he learns Bravery, Faith, and Haste.

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• What makes a good Medic is access to %-based abilities, Curasa and Curaja. Raise is not as important because Phoenix Downs are far superior and it’s Game Over when the party leader dies anyway. Strive to prevent allies from getting KO’d in the first place.
  
  
• The amount of HP healed by Curasa and Curaja depends on the amount of HP the target character/s lost. So when you’re manually stringing Medic commands, make sure to queue Curasa/-ja first and Cure/-ra last.

1. Hope: Learns every Medic ability, has the highest innate magic stat, and is the second fastest caster of healing magic.
   
   
2. Vanille: Learns every Medic ability, has the second highest innate magic stat, but is the slowest magic caster of the party. Vanille temporarily edges out Hope during Mid Game since she can learn Curaja at Chapter 10 (Stage 8) while Hope cannot learn it until the end of Chapter 11 (Stage 9).
   
   
3. Snow: Learns Curasa and is the fastest magic caster of the party. Curasa’s %-based heal makes Snow’s low magic irrelevant.
   
   
4. Sazh: Learns Curasa. However, he is the second slowest magic caster, thus is edged out by Snow.
   
   
5. Lightning: No access to Curasa/-ja makes her barely competent as a Primary Medic. Her startup casting speed is really slow, plus she only learns Cura at Stage 8 when Curasa/-ja have already become available for Hope and Vanille. She works as a support Medic at best.
   
   
6. Fang: No access to Curasa/-ja. Innately low magic stat.

1. Heal anyone with HP less than 30% starting with the leader.
   
2. Heal anyone with HP less than 70% starting with the leader.
   
3. Recover the dead.
   
4. Recover negative status effects.
   
5. Fill each character's life to full using only 1 cure stock at a time.

---

---

Don’t worry too much about which abilities to prioritize during Early Game. Usually, you’ll have enough CP to max the current Stage of the Crystarium before the end boss of the chapter as long as you fought all enemies at least once.

As a rule of thumb, it’s generally best to skip over side branches that only offer stat boosts in favor of reaching abilities and Role Level crystals asap. You can then return to those stat branches after the more useful crystals have been obtained. One ability you may really want to prioritize, for instance, is Sazh’s Blitz (380 CP) which is pretty much every XIII player’s best friend.

Starting Mid Game is when you should really start thinking about which abilities you’d want to obtain first. Even after Secondary Roles unlock, it’s still better to stick to upgrading Primary Roles since Secondaries are too pricey for Mid Game and offer negligible stat boosts. Here are some abilities to note when they become available.

• Commando: Jeopardize, Adrenaline, Fautsiphon
  
• Ravager: Vigor
  
• Sentinels: Reprieve
  
• Saboteur: Daze, Deprotect, Deshell, Imperil
  
• Synergist: Bravery, Faith, Haste
  
• Medic: Curasa, Curaja
  
• ATB Level at Stage 8
  
• Accessory Slot at Stages 8 and 10
  
• Character Unique Abilities at Stage 9

• Sentinel Abilities
  
  • Vendetta and Entrench (Sentinel): The SEN AI usually prioritizes Counter stances which are only half as effective as Guard stances at mitigating damage. To get around this, it is better to not activate Counter stances at all. This is only applicable to Fang because Vendetta is in Snow’s main path.
    
  • Counter (Sentinel): You can go through the entire game without ever seeing this in action. And even if you do, it doesn’t make much of an impact whatsoever since the damage from counterattacks is negligible.
  
  
• Techniques
  
  • Dispelga: A Technique which doesn’t usually see much use. Unlock only if you think it’ll help against an enemy you’re attempting to beat.
    
  • Stopga: A Technique which will, undoubtedly, be of little to no use. Ignore this and use your CP elsewhere.

---

• Mid Game: Priorities would be Ruin for Hope (6,000 CP) and Fire/Thunder for Fang (24,000 CP). After that, continue on the Primary Roles for the abilities and stat boosts.
  
  
• Late Game to Post Game: Invest in some Secondaries before maxing out Primaries. In most cases, Paradigm versatility is more important than increased stats.
  
  
• Secondary Sentinels: Unless stated otherwise, Secondary Sentinels only need to grab Provoke (21,000 CP) just so Sen/Sen/Sen can be accessed with any party configuration. Alternatively, you can activate a defensive stance for them to use which is located at Stage 2 for Sazh and Stage 3 for the rest. This can wait until Late Game or Post Game.

This section recommends the bare minimum Stages to make the characters effective in their Secondary Roles. It assumes that you don’t plan to Platinum the game.

• Sentinel: Specializes in evading attacks using Elude which makes her preferable over the Primary Sentinels for certain Missions. Learns all Sentinel auto-abilities. Upgrade to Elude at Stage 3.
  
  
• Saboteur: Learns all single-target and multi-target Debuff abilities. Provides the earliest alternative access to Poison. Upgrade to Poison at Stage 5.
  
  
• Synergist: Learns Augment abilities including En-spells first, Defense abilities later, and Haste last at Stage 10. Upgrade to Enfire at Stage 4.

Note: All of Lightning’s Secondaries are viable, so feel free to choose which to focus on depending on your playstyle. Note, though, that her Saboteur and Synergist skillsets can be easily covered by other characters, whereas her Sentinel skillset is unique because of Elude which enables her to rival the Primary Sentinels once she learns the relevant auto-abilities.

• Saboteur: Learns every single-target Saboteur abilities, including Dispel. Starts with Debuffs first, Debilitations later, and Slow last. Arguably the best Secondary Saboteur skillset. Upgrade as far as you wish.
  
  
• Medic: Becomes a passable Medic after learning Cura at Stage 7, and an effective Medic after learning Curasa at Stage 9. It's overall a good skillset, but Saboteur is the preferable Secondary to focus on.

• Saboteur: Learns all single-target and multi-target Debilitation abilities. Provides the earliest alternative access to Curse, Daze, and Slow. Upgrade to Slow at Stage 6.
  
  
• Synergist: Similar to Lightning except he A) learns Defense abilities first and Augment abilities later, B) doesn’t learn En-spells, and C) learns Haste at Stage 9. His skillset is worth considering to make him a support Synergist and to add versatility for Paradigm Deck building. Upgrade to Shell at Stage 3. Alternatively, free to ignore this in favor of other Secondaries.
  
  
• Medic: Becomes an effective Medic after learning Cura at Stage 3. Becomes a valuable Medic after learning Curasa at Stage 9. His low base magic is fairly offset by his incredible magic casting speed. Upgrade to Cura or reach for Curasa if you can.

• Commando: Cheap access to Ruin (6,000 CP) makes him a good Commando starting at Mid Game. Learns Ruinga at Stage 9. The only Secondary worth investing in. Upgrade as far as you wish.
  
  
• Saboteur: Learns every multi-target Saboteur abilities, plus Dispel. Starts with Debuffs first, then Debilitations later. Feel free to ignore. Alternatively, Dispel at Stage 4 may be worthwhile to grab to help with Mission marks that can buff themselves.

• Commando: Not useful until Ruin is unlocked at Stage 2 (57,000 CP). Learns Ruinga at Stage 10. The only Secondary worth investing in. Upgrade as far as you wish.
  
  
• Synergist: Learns Vigilance and Veil first which cover the gaps in Hope and Sazh’s skillsets, respectively. Learns Bar-spells and -Ra level buffs. Doesn’t learn Haste. Feel free to ignore. Alternatively, upgrade to Veil at Stage 2 to make her a support Synergist.

• Ravager: Unquestionably her best Secondary. Learns both physical and magic versions of all elements. Upgrade as far as you wish. Alternatively, upgrade only to Aero at Stage 3 in order to manipulate Fang’s AI to only cast spells, thus enabling her to Chain faster.
  
  
• Synergist: Learns -Ra level buffs. Secondary Synergist with the earliest access to Haste at Stage 8. Niche skillset. You can ignore this in favor of Ravager, or upgrade to Stage 8 for -Ra buffs and Haste.
  
  
• Medic: Has cheap access to Cure (6,000 CP) but is the absolute worst Medic due to lack of access to Curasa/-ja and her low magic stat. Feel free to ignore. Alternatively, only grab Cure at Stage 1 to access Med/Med/Med Paradigm.

---

---

The equipment upgrading system in FFXIII is simple but, sadly, severely lacking in transparency. All you have to do is add Exp points to a piece of equipment using Organic and Mechanical components to level it up. Max level is indicated by a ★ symbol. Unfortunately, the game never tells you how much Exp is required to reach max level, so you’ll most likely end up wasting resources when going in blind. I highly recommend searching for the FFXIII Experience Calculator online for this purpose.

1. Use Organic components to achieve a x3 Multiplier. The number of Organic components needed to get a x3 Multiplier (the highest that can be achieved) depends on the type of Organic component used.
   
   
2. Use Mechanical components to add Exp points and reach max level. Using Mechanical components lowers the Multiplier, so you must feed the required number of Mechanical components in one go to take advantage of the x3 Multiplier. The amount of Exp points added by a Mechanical component depends on A) the type of Mechanical component used and B) the equipment that’s being upgraded.
   
   
3. If applicable, use a Catalyst to raise the max level equipment to the next Tier.
   
   • All weapons have 3 Tiers. Each Tier increases the maximum strength and magic stats that the weapon grants. Tier 1 is the default form. Tier 2 improves the effect of the weapon’s passive ability, if it has one. Tier 3 is considered the “Ultimate” form which adds 1 ATB slot. The Catalyst needed to raise to Tier 2 depends on the weapon, while Trapezohedrons raise all weapons from Tier 2 to Tier 3.
     
   • Most accessories can be raised to a higher Tier (e.g. HP Bangles and Elemental Rings) to improve their effects. Some are changed to a different type of accessory entirely (e.g. Entite Ring turns into Goddess’s Favor).

---

During Early Game, A) use whatever organic and mechanical components you’ve collected along the way to upgrade equipment directly, and B) sell Credit Chips and Incentive Chips to purchase the recommended components, relative to the current chapter you’re in.

Purchase from Creature Comforts which unlocks at the end of Chapter 5.

• 36 Sturdy Bones, Barbed Tails, and/or Vibrant Ooze (80 gil each / 2,880 gil total)

Purchase from Lenora’s Garage or R&D Depot which unlocks after defeating Mission 7.

• Chapters 4 to 6: Polymer Emulsion (200 gil)
  
• Chapters 7 to 8: Turbojet (840 gil)
  
• Chapters 9 to 11: Crankshaft (840 gil)
  
• Chapter 11 to Post Game:
  
  • Superconductor (840 gil, after reaching Mah'habara - Earthworks)
    
  • Particle Accelerator (10,000 gil, R&D Depot)
    
  • Ultracompact Reactor (50,000 gil, R&D Depot)

---

• It’s true that you don’t need to upgrade equipment in order to beat the game. However, it’ll definitely make battles much easier, so why wouldn’t you?
  
  
• Many would recommend to only start upgrading when you reach Chapter 11, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with upgrading prior to that. Feel free to experiment as much as you want during Early Game since the components you obtain early on are “chump change” compared to the resources you’ll have access to starting Chapter 11. Just make sure to start out with Organic components to get a Multiplier, then Mechanical components to boost Exp.
  
  
• Only once you hit Mid Game, particularly Chapter 11, should you start taking resource management seriously. So before then, don’t sweat about making “mistakes” or having potential regrets in Early Game since they won’t matter in the long run.

---

Refer to these sections for methods to obtain gil for early upgrading:

• Which items can I sell to obtain gil before Chapter 11? (Sell & Dismantle)[docs.google.com]
  
• What are the best farming spots before Chapter 11? (Farming)[docs.google.com]

It’s advisable to start with accessories when first experimenting with the upgrading system since it’s hard to go wrong with these. Below are some Early Game accessories that are worth looking into.

• Black Belts and Rune Bracelets (4,380 Exp). Useful all the way to Post Game. Highly recommended.
  
  
• Power Wristband and Magician’s Mark (4,720 ep). Can stay useful up to Mid Game or even Late Game.
  
  
• Iron Bangle (780 Exp) and Silver Bangle (1,560 Exp). Useful strictly for Early Game. They become irrelevant once you hit Mid Game where you’ll be picking up better Bangles. Listed more as an option rather than a recommendation.
  
  
• You get a Whistlewind Scarf (350 Exp) and a Rhodochrosite from treasure spheres in Chapter 9. Use them to get an Aurora Scarf which enables the user to start battles with a full ATB Gauge. Great for regular battles.

HEADS UP: From Chapters 4 to 8, you may want to unequip Accessories before each chapter ends or else the party in the following chapter won’t be able to use them.



It’s advisable to start upgrading weapons in Chapter 7 since you’ll have access to Creature Comforts and Turbojets by then. Additionally, the soldier enemies in this chapter drop premium items that sell for a good amount of gil.

You can think of early weapon upgrades as short-term investments to carry up to Mid Game. Or, you can invest further to carry them all the way to Post Game. For comparison, other weapons require 50,000+ Exp to max out Tier 1 while offering inferior stat gains. The list below orders the characters by priority based on their usefulness and impact during Early Game:

• Lightning: Is a party leader or member for most of Early Game.
  
  • Blazefire Saber (24,600 Exp)
    
  • Edged Carbine (33,000 Exp)
  
  
• Sazh: Is the sole Commando during a fair chunk of Early Game.
  
  • Vega 42s (24,600 Exp)
    
  • Deneb Duellers (33,000 Exp)
  
  
• Fang: Joins later than others. Her early weapon is particularly valuable since you won’t obtain Fang’s best weapon, the Taming Pole, until near the end of Chapter 11.
  
  • Bladed Lance (24,600 Exp)
  
  
• Snow: Mostly irrelevant throughout Early Game, thus is the last Commando on the list.
  
  • Wild Bear (24,600 Exp)
  
  
• Hope: Hawkeye is considered Hope’s best weapon. But since he’s not a Primary Commando, upgrading this in Early Game won’t make much of an impact.
  
  • Hawkeye (33,000 Exp)
  
  
• Vanille: Pearlwing is listed more as an option since it gives the best magic stat w/ lesser Exp required. You may want to drop this once you pick up Vanille’s best weapon, the Belladonna Wand, in Chapter 6. Same as Hope, non-Primary Commando weapons won’t make much impact during Early Game.
  
  • Pearlwing Staff (33,00 Exp)
    
  • Belladonna Wand (38,000 Exp)

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---

This Weapons Section is a shortened version from the document. Refer here for the full breakdown:

• What should I consider when choosing weapons?
  
• Which are the best weapons for each character?
  
• What do these weapon passive abilities do?
  
• Why do some weapons have negative passive abilities?

Full Weapons Section[docs.google.com]

---

Listed here are the weapons which are preferable, assuming that you plan to take them to Tier 3. For a more detailed look into other weapon options, such as alternatives and which are better if you only plan to upgrade to Tier 2, check the Weapons section of the document.

• [SL] = Stagger Lock
  
• [PT] = Paper (Silk) Tiger
  
• [EF] = Enfeeblement
  
• [SM] = Stifled Magic

LIGHTNING

• Best physical and magic weapons which cap at 723 str/mag. respectively.
  
• Having both in hand is considered the optimal choice for Lightning because unbalancing her stats makes it easier to push the AI to all -strike or all spell RAV chains which are faster than mixing physical and magical abilities. Plus, you only need to maximize either Strength or Magic anyway, depending on the enemy/s you’re facing.
  
• If you failed to pick up Gladius in Chapter 2, you’ll have to wait until mid-Chapter 11 to purchase it from Up in Arms.

• Best balanced weapon, which caps at 711 str/mag, if you only want to upgrade one weapon per character.

---

SAZH

• Best balanced weapon, which caps at 1,010 str/mag, if you only want to upgrade one weapon per character.

• Best magic weapon with 1,125 mag and 608 str. Its high Magic and low Strength could manipulate Sazh’s RAV AI to only cast spells, thus enabling him to attack and chain faster.

• The Tier 2 strength stat caps at 1,040. No, this is not a typo. This shows that you can maximize Sazh’s Strength w/o upgrading to Tier 3, which makes this weapon favored for early Turtle farming. Tier 3 caps at 1,050. However, Silk Tiger may be a deal breaker since it lowers Sazh’s max HP by 40%.

---

SNOW

• Best strength-oriented weapon with 925 str and 202 mag. Downside is that it's costly to upgrade than average.

• Best magic-exclusive weapon with 1.050 mag and 0 str. Pairs great with Snow’s insane casting speed for DPS. Making Snow’s stats lean more towards magic can manipulate his RAV AI to only cast spells when chaining.

• Best balanced weapon, which caps at 1,020 str/mag, if you only want to upgrade one weapon per character. Downsides are that it must be purchased from Gilgamesh Inc. for 210,000 gil and Silk Tiger reduces Snow’s max HP by 40%.

Paladin and Umbra: Equip these only when you need Snow as a dedicated Sentinel. Paladin’s Improved Guard enhances Steelguard and Mediguard, making it ideal against single-target, multi-hit attacks. Umbra’s Improved Ward enhances Fringeward and Deathward, making it ideal for defending the party from area-attacks. Grab the Tier 2 versions to upgrade their respective passives if you wish. Just don’t bother maxing them since stats aren’t important on a dedicated Sentinel, plus they’re fairly pricey weapons (especially Umbra).

---

HOPE

• Widely regarded as Hope’s best weapon due to having the highest magic stat, 917 mag.

• Alternate option if you prefer speed over magic which caps at 713 mag.
  
• Siphon Boost allows Hope to attack and chain faster because it increases the effectiveness of Siphon-type abilities which involve charging the user’s ATB Gauge when conditions are met. The 3 Siphon abilities are Ravager’s Fearsiphon and Commando’s Faultsiphon and Lifesiphon. Since Commando is Hope’s Secondary Role, you won’t get the full benefit of Siphon Boost until you unlock Faultsiphon at Stage 3 and Lifesiphon at Stage 5.

---

VANILLE

• Widely regarded as Vanille’s best weapon because of its Improved Debuffing passive which increases the success rate of inflicting Deprotect, Deshell, Imperil, and Poison. Caps at 807 mag.

• Best magic weapon which caps at 912 mag.

---

FANG

• Widely regarded as Fang’s best weapon because of its high strength and magic stats which cap at 921 str/mag.

• Best strength-exclusive weapon with 962 str and 0 mag. favored for highly optimized Turtle farming. Downside is it must be purchased from Gilgamesh Inc for 230,000.

• Best magic-exclusive weapon with 941 mag and 0 str. Making Fang’s stats lean more towards magic can manipulate her RAV AI to only cast spells when chaining.

Pandoran Spear: Its Improved Debilitation passive increases the success rate to inflict Slow, Curse, Pain, Fog, and Daze. Not recommended as a main weapon. Use only as a support weapon whenever you need Fang to focus on Sabotaging. Grab the Tier 2 version to improve the passive and upgrade the stats if you wish.

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• Bangles: HP+ is good for Early Game and Mid Game, but they become less relevant in Late Game and Post Game since Crystarium Stages 9 and 10 offer high HP stat gains. At that point, you’d want to boost offensive stats rather than HP to achieve faster kills.
  
  
• Wristbands and Marks: These stay relevant throughout the game as long as you switch to stronger versions of these as they become available. Boosting offensive stats can support optimized strategies and farming.
  
  
• Belts and Bracelets: Since they provide %-based resistance rather than a set value like the Bangles/Wristbands/Marks, these can stay relevant all the way to Post Game.
  
  
• Armlets: Similar to Belts and Bracelets, %-based defense can stay relevant up to Post Game. However, upgrading a Royal Armlet to maxed Imperial Armlet is resource expensive compared to Belts and Bracelets combined. You get more value by selling these instead. Royal sells for 20,000 gil and Imperial sells for 50,000 gil.

• Doctor’s Code: Doubles the potency of Potions. Highly recommended in Early Game. Fairly viable in Mid Game. Must be equipped on the party leader. There are only 3 obtainable Doc’s Codes:
  
  1. Reward after defeating the end boss of Chapter 2
     
  2. Treasure sphere in Chapter 6 (missable)
     
  3. Reward for defeating Mission 41
  
  
• Genji Glove: Increases damage cap to 999,999. Obtained from Missions 51, 62, and 63. Mission 63 is the easiest way to get your first Genji Glove.
  
  
• Gold Watch: Increases Target Time, making it easier to get 5-star ratings in battle. Useful if you plan to Platinum the game. Obtained from Mission 64.

• Growth Egg: Doubles CP obtained from battle. Can be equipped on any party member. Obtained from Mission 55. The earliest you can get it is after defeating the end boss of Chapter 11.
  
  
• Collector, Connoisseur and Survivalist Catalogs: Increases the drop rate of common items, rare items and Shrouds, respectively. Can be equipped on any party member. Catalogs of the same name don’t stack, so keep only 1 of each type.
  
  
• Champion's Badge and Energy Sash: Increases TP regeneration. Their effects don’t stack, so equip only 1 Energy Sash on each character, and only 1 Champion’s Badge on any party member. There is only 1 Champion’s Badge in the game which is obtained from a treasure sphere in Chapter 12 (non-missable).

• Fire, Ice, Lightning and Water Rings: Whenever you pick up these rings during Early Game, they’ll usually be relevant against bosses and/or enemies in the chapter they’re obtained from. Check the monster notes in Enemy Intel to confirm.
  
  
• Wind Ring: Obtained starting Chapter 11. There aren’t many major fights that call for Wind Rings. However, this element is notable for not having a Bar-spell equivalent.
  
  • Note: Mission 64 has a deadly attack called “Wind Shear” which may tempt you to equip Wind Rings. DON’T. Wind Shear is a non-elemental magic attack, so the best accessories to defend against it are Bracelets.
  
  
• Earth Ring: Obtained starting at Chapter 11. The most useful Elemental Ring since many of the toughest enemies, especially the Turtles, employ heavy-hitting earth attacks. It also doesn’t have a Bar-spell equivalent.

HEADS UP! Elemental Rings and Charms are not purchasable. Be careful not to sell these if you plan to Platinum the game since it could lock you out of the Treasure Hunter trophy.

• Pain Dampener, White Cape, and Rainbow Anklet: Provides resistance to Pain, Fog and Daze, respectively.
  
  
• Cherub’s Crown: Provides resistance to Death. There are enemies and a boss in Late Game that use abilities which have a chance to inflict Instant Death. It may cause some rage quitting, especially if the party leader is the unlucky target.
  
  
• All other status-resist accessories are not worth equipping. Feel free to sell them.

• Aurora Scarf: Start battle with full ATB Gauge. Obtained by upgrading Whistlewind Scarf with a Rhodochrosite.
  
  
• Morale, Blessed and Battle Talismans: Bestows Bravery, Faith and Vigilance at the start of battle, respectively, for 60s. Obtained by upgrading their “Critical: Buff” equivalents (purchase from Magical Moments) with a Perovskite.
  
  
• Sprint Shoes: Bestows Haste at the start of battle for 60s. Obtained by upgrading Hermes Sandals with a Perovskite, or by dismantling a maxed Tetradic Tiara. Harder to obtain than the Talismans because Hermes Sandals can’t be purchased.
  
  
• Tetradic Tiara: Bestows Protect, Shell, Vigilance, and Veil at the start of battle for 30s. Obtained as rewards or by upgrading Tetradic Crown with a Scarletite. Tetradic Crowns and Tetradic Tiaras can be farmed from Missions 7 and 27.

---

Note: A full set of 3 Tetradic Tiaras and 3 Sprint Shoes can be obtained without the need to farm Missions 7 or 27. Only some minor upgrading and dismantling is required.

1. Tetradic Crown from Chapter 10 Boss
   
2. Tetradic Tiara from Chapter 11 Boss
   
3. Tetradic Crown as the 5th dig reward in Chocobo Digging
   
4. Tetradic Tiara as the 10th dig reward in Chocobo Digging
   
5. Tetradic Crown from a treasure sphere in Chapter 13 (missable)
   
6. Hermes Sandals as a reward for defeating Mission 34

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Synthesized Abilities are passive abilities that are added to a character if they’re using 2 or more equipment with the same Synthesis Group.

Generally, it’s best to outfit characters based on offensive and defensive needs. Unless it’s for Random: Instant Chain (R:IC), don’t choose equipment with the sole intention to unlock Synthesized Abilities. Instead, think of these abilities as coincidental bonuses or alternatives if no other useful accessories are available to equip.

Listed below are the noteworthy Synthesized Abilities. Only Tier 1 versions of weapons are listed. The weapons retain the same Synthesis Group at Tier 2. However, they lose their Synthesis Group property when they’re raised to Tier 3.

• Gives each attack a 0.5% chance to raise the Chain to the Stagger Threshold. Requires 2-3 “Gestalt” items to synthesize.
  
  • Hauteclaire, Lionheart, Rigels, Procyons, Unsetting Sun, Alicanto, Heavenly Axis, Taming Pole
    
  • Survivalist Catalog, Hunter’s Friend, Speed Sash, Energy Sash, and Champion’s Badge
  
  
• A game-changing Synthesized Ability since it could make an otherwise tough enemy easy to beat, given some patience and luck. Enemies that are Level 50 and above (check Enemy Intel), such as Missions 51 and 64, are immune to this effect.
  
  
• If 4-5 Gestalt items are equipped, Gestalt/TP Boost gets synthesized instead. So if you’re aiming to use R:IC, make sure not to equip more than 3 Gestalt items.

• Increases ATB charge rate by 10/15/20/30% depending on the number of “Boost” items equipped. Requires at least 2 items to synthesize. ATB Rate: +30% can only be achieved by Lightning, Sazh and Hope.
  
  • Axis Blade (Li), Antares Deluxes (Sz), Otshirvani (Ho)
    
  • Hermes Sandals, Sprint Shoes, Whistlewind Scarf, Aurora Scarf, Nimbletoe Boots

• Increases the character’s strength and magic stats by 20% when their HP is >90%. Requires only 2 “High HP” items to synthesize. Equipping 3 or more “High HP” items won’t increase the effect.
  
  • Paladin, Healer’s Staff
    
  • Iron Bangle, Mythril Bangle
  
  
• A counterpart to this ability is Low HP: Power Surge which increases the character’s strength and magic stats by 50% when their HP is <10%. From the description itself, and the equipment needed to synthesize it, this isn’t an ability that would be recommended.
  
  • Lifesaber, Rebel Heart, Airwing, Mistilteinn,
    
  • Tungsten Bangle

• Reduces Physical and/or Magic damage by 5-30 points per hit depending on the number of “Physical Defense,” “Magic Defense,” or “Damage Reduction” items equipped. Requires at least 2 items to synthesize.
  
  
  • Physical Wall
    
    • Blazefire Saber, Gladius, Wild Bear, Power Circle, Ninurta, Binding Rod, Bladed Lance
      
    • Silver/Platinum Bangles, Wristbands (Strength+), Power Glove, Belts, Protect and Bravery bestowing accessories
  
  
  • Magic Wall
    
    • Edged Carbine, Vega 42s, Deneb Duellers, Umbra, Hawkeye, Pearlwing Staff, Rod of Thorns, Partisan, Punisher
      
    • Gold/Diamond Bangles, Marks (Magic+), Weirding Glyph, Bracelets, Shell and Faith bestowing accessories
  
  
  • Damage Wall
    
    • Pleiades Hi-Powers, Sacrificial Circle, Malphas
      
    • Titanium and Adamant Bangles

• Reduces the duration of negative status effects inflicted on the character by 20/40/60% depending on the number of “<Status Ailment> Resistance” items equipped. Requires at least 2 items to synthesize.
  
  
• Rule of thumb: Equipping the same type of status-resist accessories reduces the duration of that same status effect. The only items that don’t follow this rule are Death-resist accessories.
  
  • Example: Equipping 2 Rainbow Anklets and 1 Moonbow Anklet (resist Daze) will decrease Daze’s duration by 40% if the character does get afflicted with Daze.

• Increases the duration of status enhancements bestowed by the character by 30/50/70/90% depending on the number of “Positive Effect” items equipped. However, this passive does not affect the duration of -Ra level enhancements. Requires at least 2 items to synthesize.
  
  • Spica Defenders, Vidofnir, Belladonna Wand, Pandoran Spear, Gae Bolg
    
  • Watchman’s Amulet, Shrouding Talisman (bestow Veil)

Listed here are abilities that are only notable for their unique effects. These are, by no means, practical for casual playthroughs considering the type of equipment needed and the amount of resources to be spent just to synthesize them.

• Ethereal Mantle: Grants the user immunity to physical damage, however they cannot be healed by Medic abilities or Renew. Only Items and Summon can heal. Requires 5 “Ultimate Physic” items to synthesize. Can only be achieved by Hope and Fang.
  
  • Simurgh (Ho), Dragoon Lance (Fa)
    
  • Kaiser Knuckle
  
  
• Magic Damper: Grants the user immunity to magic damage, however they cannot be healed by Medic abilities or Renew. Only Items and Summon can heal. Requires 5 “Ultimate Magic” items to synthesize. Can only be achieved by Snow and Fang.
  
  • Feymark (Sn), Shamanic Spear (Fa)
    
  • Magistral Crest
  
  
• Vampiric Strike: Absorbs 1% of damage dealt as HP. Requires 4-5 “Adamancy” items to synthesize.
  
  • Organyx, Aldebarans, Tigerclaw (Leadenstrike weapons)
    
  • Zealot’s Amulet, Battle Talisman (bestow Vigilance)
    
  • Cherub’s Crown, Seraph’s Crown (resist Death)

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• Extra Catalogs: You only need one of each since Catalogs don’t stack.
  
  • Collector Catalog: Upgrade with 1,050 Exp and a Mnar Stone you pick up in Chapter 11. Sell the resulting Connoisseur Catalog (125,000 gil).
  
  
• Entite Ring (60,000 gil) and Twenty-sided Die (22,500 gil): If you need protection against elemental attacks, it’s better to use Rings and Bar-spells.
  
  
• Royal Armlet (20,000 gil) and Imperial Armlet (50,000 gil): Belt and Bracelets offer better defense and are cheaper to upgrade.
  
  
• HP Bangles: Once better ones are obtained, sell anything lower than +300 HP.
  
  
• Resist <Status Ailment>: Only accessories that provide resistance to Pain, Fog, Daze, and Death are worth keeping.

HEADS UP! You must not sell Elemental Rings and Charms if you plan to Platinum the game since it could lock you out of the Treasure Hunter trophy.

• Anything that says “Can be sold for a premium” in the description.
  
  
• Organic
  
  • Green Needles, Dawnlight Dew, Dusklight Dew, Gloomstalk, Sunpetal, Mycelium
  
  
• Mechanical
  
  • Once Superconductors become available, sell anything that's worth less than 420 gil except Superconductors.
    
  • Iridium Plugs, Passive Detectors, Tungsten Tubes
  
  
• Catalysts
  
  • Millerite. There isn't any notable equipment which requires this catalyst.
    
  • Rhodochrosite. Keep 3 at most to make Aurora Scarves.
    
  • Cobaltite. Keep 6 at most to upgrade 3 elemental rings and 3 weapons.
    
  • Mnar Stone. Keep 2 at most to upgrade Collector’s Catalog to Connoisseur Catalog. Keep 1 Connoisseur Catalog and sell the other for 125,000 gil.

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Listed are components to be sold if you’re lucky enough to get some good drops. Only sell Rhodochrosite if you have more than 3, and Cobaltites if you have more than 6.





Refer to the document for some potential weapons and accessories you may want to consider selling. If you plan to Platinum, though, don’t sell any of the weapons.

Equipment to Sell (Pre-CH11)[docs.google.com]

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You occasionally get more gil by dismantling and then selling the resulting items. Selling these accessories directly will only give you 10 gil each. Make sure to level them to max first before dismantling, unless stated otherwise.

• Goddess’s Favor (1,800 Exp): Ribbon, Scarletite, Perfume. Sell Perfume for 12,500 gil.
  
• Ribbon (keep at base level): 6 Dusklight Dews. Sell Dusklight for 850 gil apiece.

You can get valuable components for upgrading by dismantling Speed Sashes. Use 9 Chocobo Tail Feathers to achieve x3 multipliers. Sell the Mycelia.

• Speed Sash (1,050 Exp): 40 Chocobo Tail Feathers, 10 Blue Mycelia

You can get items that are typically expensive to buy, rare, or hard to obtain. Refer to the document for the full list of items worth dismantling:

Items to Dismantle[docs.google.com]

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• Waystone Missions: 4, 6, 8, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20, 28, and 31.
  
• Mission 7: Unlocks R&D Depot which sells the best components and catalysts.
  
• Missions 12 / 30 / 34: Removes red barriers called “Palings” that block certain areas.
  
• Mission 14: Unlocks Chocobos and Chocobo Digging for gil farming.
  
• Mission 15: Rewards Survivalist Catalog which increases Shroud drop rate by 5%.
  
• Mission 46: Unlocks Gilgamesh Inc. which sells weapons, though most of them aren’t practical for casual playthroughs. Only buy them if you plan to Platinum the game.
  
• Mission 55: Rewards Growth Egg which doubles CP earned in battle.
  
• Missions 56 to 62: Replaces the Adamanturtles in the Archylte Steppe with Long Gui and Shaolong Gui, except for the Adamantoise in the Western Benchland.
  
• Missions 51 / 62 / 63: Rewards Genji Gloves which sets the damage cap to 999,999.
  
• Mission 64: Rewards the Gold Watch which increases Target Time, making it easier to attain 5-star battles.

Note: It’s been proven possible to 5-star all 64 Missions before moving on to Ch12. However, it takes a significant amount of grinding. Worth a mention in case you’re up for the challenge.

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The earliest you can obtain the Growth Egg is immediately after defeating the end boss of Chapter 11 and before moving on to Chapter 12. If you've moved on to Chapter 12, your next chance is at the start of Chapter 13.

The Mission 55 Cie’th Stone is found at the rooftop flower garden of the Deserted Schoolhouse in Oerba. Prerequisites:

• Complete Mission 14 to unlock Chocobos. You’ll need a chocobo to reach the mark.
  
• Vanille must learn Death. The early Growth Egg strategy is all about waiting until Death successfully procs.
  
• Have Vanille and Hope learn Curasa and Curaja. Have Snow or Fang, depending on which Sentinel you choose, learn Reprieve.

Video Guides:

• Early Growth Egg (Death, no Shrouds)
  
• Early Growth Egg (Death + Shrouds)
  
• Low Level Growth Egg (Death + Shrouds + Summon)

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Mission 63 is the easiest of the 3 Missions that rewards a Genji Glove. Technically, you can tackle this once you reach Sulyya Springs, however the battle would be too difficult under normal circumstances at this point. So realistically, the soonest you can obtain a Genji Glove is after defeating the end boss of Chapter 11 to unlock Crystarium Stage 9.

You likely won’t be hitting over 99,999 damage per attack until late into Post Game, so the main benefit of getting a Genji Glove early is to maximize the damage of Snow’s Sovereign Fist and Fang’s Highwind.

The Mission 63 Cie’th Stone initially lies dormant in Sulyya Springs. It will only awaken once you set foot in the Faultwarrens. Prerequisites:

• Complete Mission 14 to unlock Chocobos. Use a Chocobo to reach Missions 30 and 34. Completing them will clear the way to the Faultwarrens. You only need to reach the area itself. You don’t have to do any of the Missions there.
  
  
• Vanille must learn Death. Bring Fang equipped with Pandoran Spear. Have a Secondary Saboteur as the third party member, preferably with access to Haste. Alternatively, you can equip Sprint Shoes for Auto-Haste on Vanille, or use a Fortisol. All you need are 2 Sab/Sab/Sab Paradigms to switch between for ATB Refresh. Make sure your battle team can inflict Deprotect, Deshell, Imperil, Slow, Curse, and Daze. Sticking all these ailments, plus stacking SAB Roles Bonuses, will increase Death’s proc rate to at least 10%.
  
  
• Summon immediately at the start of battle to disable the mark’s legs. Stick Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil first to increase proc rate to 5%, then start spamming. When the Eidolon leaves and the party members return, Death’s proc rate will increase to 10% once Slow, Curse, and Daze have been inflicted. If Death doesn’t land before the Tortoise gets up, hit Retry and try again.

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Links lead to farming strategy videos.

Playlist:

• Optimal Farming Methods

• Behemoth King vs. Megistotherian (good CP only)
  
  
• Cryohedrons (good CP, mild gil). Sell all item drops or use the accumulated Bomb Cores to level up equipment. The 6x group in the Abandoned Dig area is even better if you’re strong enough to kill them quickly.
  
  
• Mission 24 (good gil, mild CP). Repeatable Moonblossom Seed reward for selling.

Chocobo Digging (gil only). Yields components that are meant to be sold for gil. When a treasure is near, take note where the chocobo is facing because it will lead you right to the dig site. The dig site is always a dark brown patch of land.

• High-value random rewards (~25% chance, total):
  
  • Gold Nugget - 60,000 gil (6.32%)
    
  • Plush Chocobo - 35,000 gil (4.75%)
    
  • Moogle Puppet - 18,000 gil (5%)
    
  • Gold Dust - 15,000 gil (9.52%)
• Guaranteed rewards:
  
  • 1st dig - Gold Nugget
    
  • 5th dig - Tetradic Crown
    
  • 10th dig - Tetradic Tiara
    
  • 15th dig - Entite Ring
    
  • 20th dig - Ribbon

• Sacrifice (great gil, good CP, Scarletites). Best done before fighting the 1st boss of Chapter 13. Still viable after defeating said boss, but harder to respawn.
  
  
• Wladislaus (best CP only). This is the fastest practical CP farming method. DO NOT enter the white portal after defeating the 3rd boss of Chapter 13 if you plan to power farm here or you won’t be able to access this spot again.

• Adamantoise (best CP and gil, Trapezohedrons). There are two viable Turtle Farming methods which yield more or less the same return rate, so feel free to choose either of them. Vanille’s Summon+Death spam can be used if your party’s level is still too low. But being subject to RNG, this strategy is extremely tedious and unreliable. Might as well farm Sacrifices until you’re ready for the Turtles.
  
  • Adamantoise in Eden
    
    • Easy Mode, Gil farming tip: If you have an applicable version of the game, set the difficulty to Easy and equip a Collector’s Catalog to raise the Platinum Ingot drop rate to 93%.
  • Adaman(tor)toise Circuit w/ Mission 63 in Archylte Steppe
    
    • Prerequisite: Reach the Faultwarrens to unlock Mission 63 which adds an Adamantortoise in the Eastern Tors.
      
    • Route: Activate Mission 63 in Sulyya Springs then teleport to Archylte Steppe. Run around the Steppe and fight every Adamantoise and Adamantortoise (5 total). Teleport back to Sulyya and activate Mission 63 again. Rinse and repeat.

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• Sacrifice (5% rare drop → 25% with 5 stars)

• Can only be purchased for 220,000 gil from R&D Depot.

• Shaolong Gui (5% rare drop → 25% with 5 stars)
  
  • Prerequisite: Complete Missions 56 to 62.
    
  • Note: Technically yields the best CP/hour rate in the entire game IF you could kill it quickly and consistently. It’s better than Wladislaus CP farming in Chapter 13 if you can win in 1:45 or less. It’s also better than every CP farming method in Post Game if you can win in 3:00 or less.

• Turtle Farming in Eden or Archylte (1% rare drop → 5% with 5 stars)
  
  
• Long Gui after completing Missions 56 to 62 (5% rare drop → 25% with 5 stars)
  
  
• Triple Trapz Trick: Normally, dismantling a maxed Ultimate weapon returns 2 Trapezohedrons. However, there are some weapons that return 3 which is an effective way to collect Trapz without heavy reliance on RNG, and it comes out cheaper than buying Trapz for 2M apiece. Purchase or farm your first Trapz and then you’re good to go. Note, though, that this method requires a significant gil investment so is mainly preferable if you have an excessive amount of gil.
  
  
• Genji Glove Dismantle: If you anticipate that you won’t need more than 1 or 2 Genji Gloves, you can upgrade (11,250 exp) and dismantle them to obtain Trapezohedrons. Just keep in mind that there are only 3 Genji Gloves in the game. So if you choose to dismantle them, they’ll be lost forever.

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Unless noted otherwise, these spots give good CP and components to sell for gil (“good” is measured relative to each chapter). Only farm if you’re still stuck on a boss even after you’ve tried tuning your Paradigms. Otherwise, it’s best to wait until Chapter 11 since the gains before then are paltry in the long run.

Available links lead to farming route guides.

• Chapter 4: After Lightning rejoins (making your party Sz/Li/Vn) and before fighting the Dreadnought. Go back to the 3-way battles that you went through with Sazh and Vanille.
  
  
• Chapter 5 (CP only): Frag Leeches. Use the nearby elevator to respawn.
  
  
• Chapter 7: Generally any soldier fights in this chapter are decent if you can respawn them easily. The soldiers inside the Residence, just before Chapter 7’s end boss, is considered the best spot.
  
  
• Chapter 8 (CP only): The 1x and 5x Zwerg Metrodroid fights. They guard treasure spheres and respawn each other.
  
  
• Chapter 9: The soldiers in the Crew Corridors.
  
  
• Chapter 9: The soldiers in the Bridge Access, just before Chapter 9’s end boss.
  
  
• Chapter 10 (CP only): The 10x Noctilucale fight in the Lower Traverse.
  
  
• Chapter 10: The 4x Circuitron fights in the Hypogeum. To respawn, run back to the Basement Conflux bridge and turn around.

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Aside from the varying base drop rates depending on the enemy, here are the factors that affect drop rate which are within the player’s control.

Battle Rank: Affects rare drops and Shrouds. Does not affect common drops. There’s no chance at getting rare drops if the Battle Rank is 2-stars or lower.



Catalog Accessories: Catalogs don’t stack, so only equip one of each type. Can be equipped on any party member.

• Collector Catalog: Obtained from Mission 8, plus 2 treasure spheres in Chapter 11. Increases the drop rate of common items by 50% (e.g. base 25% → 37.5%).
  
  
• Connoisseur Catalog: Obtained by upgrading Collector Catalog with a Mnar Stone. Increases the drop rate of rare items by 10% (e.g. base 25% → 27.5%).
  
  
• Survivalist Catalog: Obtained from Mission 15. Sets the drop rate of Shrouds 5% higher (e.g. base 0.38% → 5.38%).

Easy Mode: Only available in the PC version and Japan PS3/XBox360 versions of the game. Easy Mode greatly increases the drop rate of common items but prevents the drop of rare items.


Each enemy will only drop either a common item or rare item. It will never drop both. The chance for a rare drop is calculated first. If it “fails,” the chance for a common drop is calculated next. But if the calculation for a rare drop “succeeds,” the common drop won’t be calculated. Because of this, don’t equip Connoisseur Catalog if you’re primarily aiming for common drops since you get a better chance to obtain them if you don’t increase the chance of rare drops. Note that this does not affect Shroud drop rate. Common/Rare item drop rates are calculated per enemy. On the other hand, Shroud drop rate is calculated per battle.

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Included here are battles that showcase many of the tactics mentioned in the guide. All videos in this section feature enemies that you’ll see quite (or extremely) often, so these shouldn’t come across as too spoilery.

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• Stage 7 Primaries. Lv 1 Weapons. No Accessories. No Shrouds.
  
• Normally, fighting these robots is done by taking them out one-by-one while hiding behind a Sentinel to mitigate damage. This video, though, shows how to effectively deal with all the robots in one go using AoE tactics.

• Establishing Chain Duration early in the battle using Sentinel's provoke, Saboteur ailments, and Commando attacks.
  
• Spamming area-attacks (Fira-Thundara) to build the Chain of all enemies.
  
• Applying only the necessary buffs, at the necessary times, to the necessary characters.

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• Stage 6-7 Primaries. No Equipment Upgrades. No Shrouds.
  
• By the time you first encounter a Juggernaut, a typical party would have Crystarium Stage 8 partially developed and perhaps some good progress with equipment upgrading. In this video, however, the party is only leveled to Stage 6 with a few Stage 7 abilities grabbed and no upgraded equipment.

• Spamming Challenge to increase Chain Duration, and trusting Auto-Battle to quickly queue Mediguard when necessary.
  
• Using a Sentinel and stacking defensive buffs and accessories, including Barfire and Fire Rings, to survive attacks which otherwise would’ve KO’d the party.
  
• Using all available buff and debuff combos, enabling the party to deal meaningful damage despite having low offensive stats.

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• Late Game Stats. Partial Upgrades. No Shrouds.
  
• The party in the video has Late Game level stats in the sense that they have fairly developed Primaries, Secondaries, and equipment. With the high stats, the Target Time lowered to 2:22, making it tougher to achieve 5-stars. Compare this to the Low Stats video which has a Target Time of 15:33. So the best way to achieve 5-stars in this case is to go full aggro.

• Efficient deployment of damage multipliers while keeping up offensive momentum.
  
• Equipping Sprint Shoes and Aurora Scarves to jumpstart allies in battle.
  
• Sazh’s Blitz at its best with Bravery+Deprotect and En-spell to exploit elemental weakness.

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• Stage 8 Primaries. No Equipment Upgrades. No Shrouds.
  
• Like other Behemoth enemies, Humbaba stands up, grabs its weapon, and becomes more dangerous when its HP has been lowered to a certain point. When Humbaba shifts form, its HP completely heals up and all status ailments are removed. This video shows how to defeat Humbaba before it could even attempt to stand up.

• Keeping Humbaba disrupted with Vigilance+Curse combo and timing the party leader’s attacks with the members to ensure it’s under constant pressure.
  
• Only raising the Chain to an amount that’s enough to kill. The stacking damage multipliers practically makes Staggering unnecessary.

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• Stage 8 Crystarium. No Summon. No Shrouds.
  
• Normally, these Turtles couldn’t be easily defeated until Character Unique Abilities have been obtained from Crystarium Stage 9. Yet in this fight, despite being locked at Stage 8, the party actually manages to take the Turtle down without using Summon to instantly disable its legs. Granted, Tier 3 Weapons and Secondary Roles have been fully developed to offset the level cap which is a hefty investment that isn’t done in normal playthroughs. Still, the strategies employed in this fight are great to learn from.

• Casting Faithra on party leader first before bestowing buffs on the party.
  
• Showcases Snow’s potential as a Medic.
  
• Daze spam to double Commando damage output.

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• No Crystarium stat gains. No Summon. No Shrouds.
  
• Long Gui is considered THE toughest monster in the game. This battle was done with the No-Stats Crystarium Mod which sets all Crystarium stat gains to 0. This means you can only rely on equipment to boost HP, Strength, and Magic. What’s particularly impressive is how Summon was not used to disable the Turtle’s legs.

• Use of Sentinel’s Reprieve auto-ability to survive attacks that would’ve KO’d the party, then using Potions to quickly raise the party's HP to yellow so Reprieve can activate again.
  
• Casting Death then shifting to Com/Com/Com to maximize damage. Note that Long Gui is immune to Death’s effect, so the Death spell is used specifically for its damage dealing potential.

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For those who have played the game before and are looking to spice up their playthrough, here are some challenges you may want to try out. Come to the dark side~

• One Stage Behind (OSB/1SB)
  
• Two Stages Behind (TSB/2SB)
  
• Stage __ Crystarium (Stage _C)
  
• Primaries Stage __, Secondaries Stage __ (P_S_)
  
• Primary Roles Only, No Branches (PRO-NB)
  
• 1 Primary, 1 Secondary (1P1S)
  
• Single Crystarium Challenge (SCC or “Solo Character”)
  
• Secondary Roles Challenge (SRC)
  
• No Crystarium Use (NCU)

• No Equipment Purchasing (Treasure/Drop/Reward Equipment Only)
  
• No Trapezohedrons (No Ultimate Weapons)
  
• No Dark Matter and Trapezohedrons (No DM/Trapz)
  
• No Adamantite, DM, and Trapz (No R&D Depot Catalysts)
  
• Tier 1 Weapons Only (unrestricted Accessory access)
  
• No Catalysts (Tier 1 Weapons only + restricted Accessory access)
  
• No Equipment Upgrades (NEU)

• No Auto-Battle
  
• No Summons
  
• No Techniques
  
• No Items
  
• No Preemptive Strikes
  
• No Shrouds

Note: Be as creative as you want when making up your own restrictions. For instance, my personal favorite is Stage 9 Primaries-No Branches, Stage 6 Secondaries, No R&D Depot Catalysts, No Shrouds, and No Auto-Battle.

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• Mandatory, Mission, Treasure Fights Only (MMTFO)
  
• Mandatory Fights Only (MFO)

• Any% Speedrun (Goal: ~5 hours)
  
• Plat% Speedrun (Goal: ~17 hours)

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This is the one section in the guide that links to story spoilers since a lot of the fights featured are against Chapter Bosses. Do not click on any of the videos or playlists unless you’ve either finished the game or don’t care about spoilers. That said, these are some of my personal and/or community favorite stunt videos and challenge run playlists which showcase some neat tricks and obscure mechanics of the battle system.


Some links lead to videos on main story bosses.

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• Speed Kill - Shaolong Gui gets Whipped (a.k.a. Vanille goes ham) - by Arth
  
• Speed Kill - Chapter 7 Boss gets Rocked - by LogicDolphin
  
• Speed Kill - Chapter 10 Boss gets Chopped (NCU/NEU) - by Shinryu
  
• Speed Kill - Chapter 11 Boss gets Shredded (0:40) - by Etro’s Gate
  
• Speed Kill - Chapter 12 Boss gets Snowballed - by Etro’s Gate
  
• Speed Kill - Mission 64 gets Poofed - by Etro’s Gate
  
• Item Heals Only - Mission 64 (Ethereal Mantle/Magic Damper) - by Artificial PuP
  
• No Paradigm Shifts - Chapter 9 Boss - by Artificial PuP
  
• No Ravagers - Final Boss 3 - by NijiBashira

• Mash X to Win - playlist by Tiornys
  
• NCU/NEU - playlist by Groudonvert
  
• No-Stats Crystarium - playlist by NijiBashira
  
• Secondary Roles Challenge - playlist by Destrian
  
• Solo Lightning - playlist by Artificial PuP
  
• Solo Sazh - playlist by Destrian
  
• Solo Snow - playlist by ZorroLoco
  
• Solo Vanille - playlist by Dante777
  
• Solo Characters vs Final Boss 2 - playlist by NijiBashira
  
• Solo Characters vs Final Boss 3 - playlist by NijiBashira
  
• No Medics - playlist by NijiBashira

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The reason why I wanted to add a section dedicated to challenge runs is because I hope to A) give a sense of what these playthroughs are like, B) share some of the unique tactics employed in order to win, and C) encourage returning players to try it out for themselves. Speaking from experience, challenge playthroughs make a fine gateway to understanding the depth of FFXIII’s battle system. You’ll find how extremely satisfying it feels when you succeed in battles thanks to smart execution of strategies rather than devoutly grinding for stats. As I like to cheesily but unironically say:

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• Game Mechanics Guide[gamefaqs.gamespot.com] by ximaus
  
• Etro’s Gate Website (wayback machine)

• Tiornys
  
• Destrian

• Gamer Corner Guides: Final Fantasy XIII
  
• Final Fantasy 13 Experience Calculator by Concubidate

• Playlist: Optimal Farming Methods by Tiornys
  
• Playlist: Farming and Treasure Locations by Christian Nightingale
  
• Playlist: Sacrifice Farming by Stage by Etro’s Gate
  
• Playlist: Adamantoise Farming by Stage by Arth
  
• Video: Low Level Growth Egg by Artificial PuP
  
• Video: Dark Matter Farming by LogicDolphin
  
• Video: Long Gui, Farming Example #1 by Tiornys

• Groudonvert
  
• OgreBattle
  
• Borker223
  
• Christian Nightingale

• Tiornys for being the first to introduce me to challenge runs and for continuing to help players better understand FFXIII’s battle system. Credits for the Upgrading Equipment, Sell & Dismantle, and Farming sections go to him.
  
• Destrian from GameFAQs for his structured suggestions on what to include in this guide and for his advice on how to make it friendlier to new players.
  
• Etro’s Gate Website for the valuable analysis and guides it provided. It’s sadly now gone, but it can still be accessed via the Wayback Machine.
  
• Christian Nightingale from YouTube for sharing his farming tutorial videos.
  
• Groudonvert, OgreBattle, Borker223 from GateFAQs for additional suggestions on what to include in the guide. To name a few respectively, the “cancelling” tactics, how to defeat Eidolons, and calling out the Official FFXIII Piggyback Guide.
  
• NijiBashira, Arth, LogicDolphin, and Shinryu for their top-notch videos showcasing many strategies, stunts, and gimmicks that can be done with FFXIII’s battle system. Some of their best are shared in the Example Videos and Highlights & Stunt Fights sections.

Been planning on making this for a couple years now and it's finally done! Sure it’s years late, but here’s to hoping for a re-release of FFXIII on newer consoles. Again, huge thanks to tiornys and destrian for the fact-checking, suggestions, and insights. I wouldn't have made this guide otherwise. If anyone finds some possible inaccuracies or have any other reasonable suggestions to add to the guide, please feel free to reach out.

That said, if you’re done with the game and would be interested in diving into the world of Final Fantasy XIII and exploring the lore of Fabula Nova Crystallis, I’ve got just the thing!

• Diving into FINAL FANTASY XIII[docs.google.com]
• FFXIII Story Explained
  
  • tl'dr Steam Guide version

➤ /u/KuroPuP