Barthandelus, Battle #2 Help?

[SoulOfTheSky]

Hey, I finally got up to Disc three about four days ago (Xbox360 Ver. Don't hate me, Im too poor) Which would be around the end of Chapter 11 for you PS3ers, I do fine up to the point when he uses Doom. I usually run out of time. Dose anyone have a helpful strategy for me that could get his HP down Faster?

My team, Which I found is a good Combo is Lightning, Sazh and Vannile. My Hp is in the 4k for everyone except Vannile and Hope. And my Weapons are Maxed out, But most of them are from Disc 1.

[TWOxACROSS]

Since you're using the same characters I did, the "Bully" [COM+SYN+SAB] Paradigm was great for me in that fight. Weakens the enemy and powers your characters. It's a good dynamic to start off the battle with. When things get really bad, like from Thanatosian Laughter, immediately switch to "Convalescence" [MED+SYN+MED] to heal an buff.

Make sure that the Crystarium is close to or already maxed out, otherwise you're just walking to your death. Mostly, you should be able to finish the fight before he casts Doom, or he casts it when he doesn't have much HP left. Doom itself is a "You're taking too long, so I'm ending this soon," trump card that he has.

If things get too hairy, you can use an Eidolon if you're in danger, because it will revive and restore all your characters to 100%. Plus, in dire straits, the Doom counter doesn't tick while you're in Gestalt Mode, so that's another saving grace.

[absolclaw]

Oh, and try and get his health down to somewhere near a 1/3 or 1/2 by the time all of his faces have appeared. If not, then you probably need to be trying to find a way to do more damage.

I'd suggest trying different weapon/accessory combos for things like auto-stagger, and other useful abilities. I think everything else is covered by Belts.

Also, I used the same characters too. Why do lots of people seemingly use Light, Sazh and Vanille on him :rolleyes:

[Mirsa]

hmmm....in this battle i was able to win it on my first try just using the same tatics i always use....my team leader was Fang and lightning and hope was ravagers...i switched to diversity after Fang's Hp(and only fang because if the leader dies it over obviously) falls to 20-30%...if i need to heal others then i switch to the one with Fang as Sentinel and hope and lightning as medics....

n all honesty...this boss's attacks wasnt very effective on me...i recovered everytime he did massive damage and kept on the pressure....and yes i weaken him and amplify myself too....iswitch to Fang(Sab)-Hope(Syn)-Lightning(Med) and until i have enough protection, enhancements and status afflictions(to the boss) then i go into relentless assault....after Fang(or any Commando) finishes a full combo of regular strikes then i switch to Tri-Disaster...when i need to i switch to diversity(or one Med and 2 Rav) and continue to stagger him...when he is staggered...switch i switch to a deck that has 2 Commandos and any kind of attacker(Rav or another Commando)...hmmm....

i think the estimated time was 10 min?....but yea the battle should end b4 that...u can stagger him about 3 times i think...he should fall after the 3rd(but its been a few weeks...or like 3 months)...and also he cast a Doom counter on u when he falls below 10% HP i beleive.....when that happens...go all-out and kill him...but he will still b aggressive as always...

hope this helps...ive only fought him once...and i beat him with this tatic...i scored a 5 star rank^^

[SoulOfTheSky]

Since you're using the same characters I did, the "Bully" [COM+SYN+SAB] Paradigm was great for me in that fight. Weakens the enemy and powers your characters. It's a good dynamic to start off the battle with. When things get really bad, like from Thanatosian Laughter, immediately switch to "Convalescence" [MED+SYN+MED] to heal an buff.

Make sure that the Crystarium is close to or already maxed out, otherwise you're just walking to your death. Mostly, you should be able to finish the fight before he casts Doom, or he casts it when he doesn't have much HP left. Doom itself is a "You're taking too long, so I'm ending this soon," trump card that he has.

If things get too hairy, you can use an Eidolon if you're in danger, because it will revive and restore all your characters to 100%. Plus, in dire straits, the Doom counter doesn't tick while you're in Gestalt Mode, so that's another saving grace.

Thanks, I'm gonna try it in a couple of hours. This strategy is similar to mine. The only problem was his Doom, and my Weapons being from Disc 1. Lol. Most of my Light and Sazh have all their Main Crystariums lvl 4 and vannile has 2 of hers. This fight was easy up till the point where he casted doom, So this strategy will help me beat him faster. Thanks.

[TWOxACROSS]

Yeah, that's the one problem. It's a fairly easy fight to just dwindle down his HP overtime, but then he casts Doom, which is the tell-tale sign that you're taking too long.

Are you still using first tier weapons? Like Blazefire Saber and stuff, because by now you should have the components to upgrade them to the next tier. Just be sure you have enough components to upgrade them past the stats they had before you upgraded them. Save beforehand, then remember the Star Level stats, then upgrade it to the next tier, and add components to it to upgrade it some more. If you're able to upgrade the weapon's stats past what the first tier's Star Level stats were, you're good.

You may only have enough components for one character, so you should focus on the person you're going to have attacking the most often, like Lightning. Otherwise, if you can get the second tier weapon up to the stats you need, just upgrade everyone's about evenly.

If you need some tips on upgrading, check out Fullmetal's Weapon Upgrading Guide (http://dissidiaforums.com/showthread.php?4319-Final-Fantasy-XIII-Weapon-Upgrading-Guide).

[533787655464]

Barthandelus was a bitch for me at first, you're not alone :P

And Belts did just own this thread.

Like a boss.

[TWOxACROSS]

Barthandelus was a bitch for me as well, because I was silly and didn't keep myself upgraded enough, and not until I was grinding did I find the awesomeness that is the Bully Paradigm, it's way too awesome.

[SoulOfTheSky]

When the bosses started getting harder, I found that i was way to under leveled. Maybe I should have read the weapon tuts. Because i have no idea how to upgrade to the next tier. Right now i think I set Light's Weapon to Gladius at Max level, which was from around chapter 5. I just gotta say, This game is pure epicness. The only problem was Vannile, I find myself yelling "Shut the hell up woman!'' Every time she talks, But thats what the VA was supposed to do, and she did a good job pissing everyone off. Lol.

Anyway, Thanks for the help. I'm gonna give this a try now.

[Eldritch Esper]

You need a Trapezohedron to upgrade the Gladius to the Omega Weapon. You can buy it after defeating Barthandelus for a minimal cost.

[absolclaw]

$2m is a minimal cost o.O

[Aevitas]

If you didn't do the Repair Bhakti Side Quest thing in Oerba, I highly recommend you go back and do it. You get 10 Deceptisol, 2 Ultracompact Reactors, a Gold Nugget, 5 Perfume, and 3 Platinum Ingots for completing the quest. The Ultracompact Reactors give a huge amount of EXP for upgrades, and the nugget, perfume and ingots can be sold for around 460,000 gil, which helps massively if you need to buy more components.

[SoulOfTheSky]

If you didn't do the Repair Bhakti Side Quest thing in Oerba, I highly recommend you go back and do it. You get 10 Deceptisol, 2 Ultracompact Reactors, a Gold Nugget, 5 Perfume, and 3 Platinum Ingots for completing the quest. The Ultracompact Reactors give a huge amount of EXP for upgrades, and the nugget, perfume and ingots can be sold for around 460,000 gil, which helps massively if you need to buy more components.

Woah, Thats really helpful. Thanks. I'll go back and do it.

[TWOxACROSS]

Which reminds me, don't be afraid to use a Fortisol and Aegisol before you start the fight. It'll give your characters really good buffs to help out in the opening stretch of the battle.

[Aveot]

If you're able to spare the CP, getting one of those characters just enough to earn the Sentinel role would help as well. Just by being in the role, the sentinel's defense increases and so does their party member's although to a lesser extent. If space pope is about to use a high power, multi target attack (such as Thantossian Laughter) switching to a role like Med/Sen/Med or Med/Sen/Syn right before the attack is unleashed can save you a lot of pain.

Edit: Although, after posting I just read the defense bonus depends on role level, so it wouldn't be that fantastic. Derp. Still may be worth considering swapping a sentinel in.

[SoulOfTheSky]

I don't have any of those. Lol. I forgot to farm them.

[TWOxACROSS]

To get the Fortisol/Aegisol items, just go through a bunch of battles and get low scores, like with no stars. The aerosols work as a consolation for doing really bad in battles :p

[Animax]

To get the Fortisol/Aegisol items, just go through a bunch of battles and get low scores, like with no stars. The aerosols work as a consolation for doing really bad in battles :p

Oh wow, I never knew that. Thanks Belts0091.

[.Wolfie-kun.]

Hmm, I'm going to try these tactics too, I'm stuck on this boss at the moment too. The announcement of XIII-2 reminded me that I REALLY need to finish this!

I heard somewhere that the Doom spell is only cast if the fight lasts for around 20mins or more. Could be wrong though.

[absolclaw]

Yep. Doom is cast if you take more then 20 minutes on any boss fight, iirc

[.Wolfie-kun.]

Really? I could've sworn I've taken longer than 20mins on a boss fight before and no Doom spell was cast, excluding Eidolon battles of course.

[absolclaw]

I wouldn't know, I either went to 7 minutes or died :rolleyes: But I'm fairly sure most end-game bosses have the 20 minute timer, anyway.

[TWOxACROSS]

Only when fighting Barthandelus are you slammed with Doom for taking too long.

[.Wolfie-kun.]

I hope I'm not breaking rules by posting here again after 2 months (I have checked them ^^) but I am still stuck on this guy. I really want to finish this game and I refuse to watch the XIII-2 trailer till I do.

I see videos and such talking about farming in the main greenland of Gran Pulse, but now that I'm saved in Oerba right before this boss, is there any possible place that I can properly gain a lot of CP? Or is there a quick way to backtrack?

[BluEyedLightning]

Having beaten FFXIII, I would recommend your party to be Lightning (Com/Rav/Med), Fang (Com/Sen/Sab) and Hope (Rav/Med/Syn). Sazh is pretty good with Synergist and Rav abilities, but Fang is the strongest of ALL the characters, and you really want a strong character to make the battle go a little faster (if Barthandalus casts Doom).
You should start with two round of Delta attack, then switch to Mystic Tower (I believe that's Rav/Com/Rav?) so he will stagger. When your party is afflicted with status ailments, make sure to switch to Combat Clinic (Med/Sen/Med), and also use that to heal your party. If the battle is still raging on and the boss uses Doom (shouldn't if you were using Delta Attack, Mystic Tower and Combat Clinic) then go with Relentless Assault, but make sure you switch to Combat Clinic if you're low on health. I should've put this note at the beginning, but DON'T waste your TP gauge until the last few minutes of the battle (if he casts Doom) When Barthandalus uses that Laughter attack, I would recommend you switch to Combat Clinic. Hope this helps!

[.Wolfie-kun.]

It's a good thing that my party has Lightning, Fang and Hope anyways :3 - I shall give this a shot, that Doom is a killer (No pun intended), I'd probably have beaten him slowly but surely before if it wasn't for that xD

EDIT: Got him to 600k then he cast Doom, and I lost >.> - Why do these guys such massive amounts of HP? My only criticism for this game.