Help needed with Zodiark: Tips

[thr33chears4Rikku!]

I want to do away with Zodiark once and all. I got owned by his paling last time. Anyone have any strategies?

[BG-57]

1) Equip Black Masks.

2) Start the battle with only one character then bring in others after his first Darkja.

3) Dispel his positive status ailments.

4) Keep up with Beserk and Haste when pummeling him with physical attacks.

5) Once he starts shifting his elemental weakness you can try finishing him off with a Quickening.

6) Alternatively, you can change your party's gambits so that their top action is to cast a spell like Scathe. There's a narrow window of oppurtunity to hit him with spells once he starts with his magick barrier and paling. He's easier to hit with spells than physical attacks.

[Anno Domini]

way to read straight out of the book.

He is right though. :/

[BG-57]

#6 is from personal experience.

[Anno Domini]

details... details...

[Vaan1980]

ok I've tried to kill Zodiark 3 times so far.. I'm running around with 2 masamune's, tournesol, zodiac spear, excaliber, and a bow... I tend to do well right up to the point where he's down to 1/4 life then he just goes crazy casting darkja and wipes my party out in 2 seconds.. the Dark Masks don't help me any... Dark Masks I THOUGHT!! were supposed to absorb dark magic.. kinda like the white masks absorb holy magic... So i have no idea what to do!!!!!

[BG-57]

What are your levels?

Black Masks absorb the Dark element but don't always block the instant death aspect of Darkja. Unfortunately you're going to have to revive sometimes.

I really advise you hold off until you get Scathe. It's the best way to put a dent in him once he starts dealing with palings. He resets the physical paling a lot faster than the magical one.

[Wolf Kanno]

Another word of advice, when the physical paling goes permenant (once he reaches 1/3 health) use Scathe, but make sure to spread your party around, they have a tendency to bunch together and can get quickly annihilated by Zodiark casting Scathe himself.

[Vaan1980]

The first time i played FFXII my characters levels were 75+, and I ended up getting so frustrated that I just went ahead and beat the game. This is my second time through and my characters lvl's are 60-65. I've got all the magics already, techniques also... When I beat chaos I used gil throw... would that be a useful technique to use against zodiark??? And what's the easiest way to separate the party because who ever is my party leader they all want to come close to him/her....???

[Wolf Kanno]

The first time i played FFXII my characters levels were 75+, and I ended up getting so frustrated that I just went ahead and beat the game. This is my second time through and my characters lvl's are 60-65. I've got all the magics already, techniques also... When I beat chaos I used gil throw... would that be a useful technique to use against zodiark??? And what's the easiest way to separate the party because who ever is my party leader they all want to come close to him/her....???

Sadly, once Physical Paling goes up Physical attacls, Techniques (like gil throw and souleater) and Quickenings have no affect whatsoever. You have to beat him with magick. Though if you get lucky and use a quickening when he's at half health and can pull off a long enough chain, you could kill him. Alas, I have bad luck with Quickenings and gave up using them except as a last resort.

To seperate your party members you basically need to individually move each of them. I formed a triangle arounf Zodiark and used one character to revive anyone who dies. Just make sure once the revival animation starts, you move your character back to the proper spot, otherwise the revived character will follow the leader a bit...

[Vaan1980]

so with them separated the gambits of party leaders target won't make them go back to the main?

[Wolf Kanno]

so with them separated the gambits of party leaders target won't make them go back to the main?

I'm not sure, I don't use that Gambit anymore.

[Marky Tee]

luck man

the first time i fought him i got my ass handed to me after a qucik and painfull beating

after that i levveled up loads and beat him down in about 5 minutes BUT!! accidently hit reset while the victory music was playing:(

so i just reloaded and fought agin but this time once he got down to that last ten percent or whatever health he jus would not go down
fight lasted for what seemed hours

so yea basicly i think how lucky you are on the occasion has a lot to do with it

[Vaan1980]

I'm not sure, I don't use that Gambit anymore.



If you don't mind me asking what gambit were you using or are you using?? I've thought about changing them to nearest target to see how that works....

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm not sure, I don't use that Gambit anymore.



If you don't mind me asking what gambit were you using or are you using?? I've thought about changing them to nearest target to see how that works....

I usually change them on based on the situation so I don't have a set Gambit for my party. In boss fights I like to use nearest but when battling groups I have everyone target something different unless there is a an obvious threat. In the case of Zodiark might I suggest farthest target with Scathe spell? That way, you should be able to manage your party and keep them at a distance from him better.

[Vaan1980]

I usually change them on based on the situation so I don't have a set Gambit for my party. In boss fights I like to use nearest but when battling groups I have everyone target something different unless there is a an obvious threat. In the case of Zodiark might I suggest farthest target with Scathe spell? That way, you should be able to manage your party and keep them at a distance from him better.


You always use scathe or do you have anyone actually manually attack them.

[Wolf Kanno]

I usually change them on based on the situation so I don't have a set Gambit for my party. In boss fights I like to use nearest but when battling groups I have everyone target something different unless there is a an obvious threat. In the case of Zodiark might I suggest farthest target with Scathe spell? That way, you should be able to manage your party and keep them at a distance from him better.


You always use scathe or do you have anyone actually manually attack them.

Once he loses 2/3 of his health he activates a physical paling rendering Physical attacks and Quickenings useless against him. It drops for maybe a second before he reacitvates it so basically you're stuck using magic against him. Scathe is your best choice cause it's powerful and it has a faster recovery time than Flare. Even then, he activates a magick paling as well but he doesn't keep it up like the physical paling. This combined with his Darkja attacks ability to instant kill is what makes Zodiark a pain in the ass to beat. Especially since death means you have to backtrack through his little dungeon...:mad:

[Melodies of Life]

I got Zodiark before the best magics (eg Scathe, Flare) were available.

Zodiark casts paling when his health reaches 20% so right before that I did a quickening and got off a decent chunk of his health. Then I gave all my characters either mirror mail or ruby ring so they all had reflect, and I cast Bio off of them which hit Zodiark 3x. I also had one of my guys casting reverse and decoy so that the other party members weren't affected by his scathe bombardment. Finally, I made sure that my characters all had shell on them to decrease the chances of Darkja from instant KO'ing my guys (if there wasn't time to cast shell I just gave them shell shields).

It definitely would have been easier to wait till after Pharos, but I really wanted to get Zodiark as soon as I could get him.