I need help with the chapter 5 boss.

[Digital Phoenix]

That big Bulbasaur monster boss is hard as hell. The game went from an absolute cakewalk to extremely difficult. One time I actually was about to stagger him a second time, but then he used this Heave move that I have never seen before taking 400+ health away and killing me.

This guy is really hard. I usually keep Lightning as the medic, but I switch back to that other thing to cast Ruin so the gauge doesn't go down so fast. I mean, everything has been so easy, and now I am stuck. What do I do? [!]IBF.ATTACHMENT_10559919[/!]

[VeloZer0]

Hope's buffs are a must have. Protect helps a lot, and the boss switches between elemental affinities, which Hope has an additional buff to defend against. (If you've learned them)

[PureMourning]

I made a custom paradigm set-up so that Hope is my primary medic and Lightning maintains Commando.

If I remember correctly, I started the battle out with Hope serving as Synergist, once he pulls off his appropriate spells, I switch him to Ravager.

If health falls to 50% I switch Hope to Medic, then right back to Ravager after he heals the party. This mobster has a lot of health and my buffs wore out eventually making me have to switch Hope back to Synergist one more time to re-buff.

In summary: Lightning stays Commando whole time; Hope starts out as Synergist, but for majority of battles goes back and forth between Ravager and Medic; Re-buff; rinse and repeat.

This was my angle. I'm curious to hear about others!

[Crowseye]

Start with Hope buffing both himself and Lightning with Protect and Shell.

Either have Lightning be a Medic until the buffs are applied or use potions to heal.

Use Libra because you want the AI aware of the boss's shifting elemental weaknesses.

Switch to a Commando + Ravager paradigm until the stagger gauge is maybe 35-40% of the way full, then switch to Ravager + Ravager to get a stagger. If you need to heal, switch to a Commando (Lightning) + Medic (Hope) combo to heal and keep the stagger gauge steady before switching back to Ravager + Ravager.

Once you get a stagger, switch to Commando + Ravager again to take advantage of the Commando's Launch ability.

When your buffs roll off, reapply them with Hope while Lightning heals again.

The Commando + Ravager to ~40% of the stagger bar and then Ravager+Ravager to quickly fill the gauge the rest of the way and switching to Commando + Medic when you need to heal works well in a lot of battles. Once you get the stagger bar a good portion of the way up with a Commando + Ravager, two Ravagers can generally hit fast enough to keep it from rolling off.

[VeloZer0]

I've had difficulty figuring out what exactly launch does (aside from looking cool)
Personally I have RAV+RAV on for most of the stagger. The % damage multiplier continues to increases after stagger, and at a much higher rate. You can usually have it up to double what the stagger started at by the end. I just pull out a COM for the last salvo before the stagger ends.

[Shlup]

You might want to start withe the Bully (Com/Syn/Sab) or Evened Odds (Med/Syn/Sab) paradigms. I find buffs and debuffs to be more useful in this game than they have been in previous FFs.

Other than that I don't really have advice; this is one of the random bosses I found super easy.

[PureMourning]

You might want to start withe the Bully (Com/Syn/Sab) or Evened Odds (Med/Syn/Sab) paradigms. I find buffs and debuffs to be more useful in this game than they have been in previous FFs.

Other than that I don't really have advice; this is one of the random bosses I found super easy.

This is a 2-party boss fight but nonetheless, I concur - auxiliary spells like buffing and debuffing are more predominant in this installment!

[Shlup]

Oh yeah, see I've been grinding so long I don't even remember this stuff anymore. Thank you.

[Shoeberto]

Buffs are a must-have in this. I totally recommend having a paradigm with Hope's Synergist and Lightning's Medic. Start the battle out with that, get all your buffs applied while Lightning keeps the team alive. Make sure you throw a Libra in, too. After that, switch between Slash and Burn (Com-Rav) and War and Peace (Com-Med). Slash and Burn will build up the combo meter fastest, but you'll probably take a lot of damage and need Hope to heal you. Keep up those two as long as your buffs stay up - if they drop, switch back to Med-Syn (I think it's Symbiosis, but I forget). I think I had to stagger it twice before I killed it. A fairly difficult battle, but if you make sure you get those buffs out and actively switch between paradigms to both keep the chain gauge building and keep your HP up, it's doable.

[Jings]

I've had difficulty figuring out what exactly launch does (aside from looking cool)

Doesn't it stop the enemy from attacking? Keep him in the air and you won't get hurt.

Can anyone remind me what boss this is? Bulbasaur isn't refreshing my memory.

[Madonna]

Aster Protoflorian, a big flower!

Launch comes into play once you stagger an enemy; then your Commando can knock the foe up into the air and beat it up!

[Raistlin]

I've had difficulty figuring out what exactly launch does (aside from looking cool)

Did you also notice that the enemy doesn't attack nearly as much when he's being hit around in the air? Launch is awesome.

[Aruu]

I spent the greater part of half an hour on this boss, I just couldn't figure out a decent strategy for it. In the end I had Lightning as commando and kept switching Hope from medic, to synergist, to ravager though he was a medic for most of the time for me.

Using Libra is a must to stop you from actually healing the boss. I think I only staggered him twice overall in the end.

[Shlup]

If you can juggle an enemy in the air using Launch you are golden. Just keep it up there and beat the crap out of it while it's totally helpless. I <3 Launch 4 ever.

[Siegurd]

Use libra or a librascope at the very onset of the fight so that when you use auto-attacks it'll automatically switch to whatever element he's weak against when he switches his elemental resistances.

Utilizing ravager roles is absolutely crucial - you need to play on enemy weaknesses, going straight melee most of the time just won't work. You only really want Lightning as a commando for the fight to maintain the stagger meter, so get a few commando attacks in then switch her to ravager.

This fight emphasizes a few keynote details about the game's mechanics that you should get used to: Always, always always play to the enemy's weaknesses, get a stagger as quickly as possible (except for one mob, whenever a mob is launched in the air they can't attack. Lightning's Thundaga spell later on is a way of hitting a non-staggered mob up in the air and is great crowd control to spam with someone else using blitzes) you will always do by far and away the most damage in a stagger, and finally get used to not always having a completely full health bar, it's just not an efficient use of time to get everyone at max health (unless you know a big attack is coming and can prep for it).

Aside from that, you've got to efficiently utilize paradigm shifts on the fly.

For this fight in particular - the faster you can stagger and launch the boss, the less you have to deal with it's potentially game-ending aoe attack, which is an important thing to note for future encounters, the more you can stagger, the quicker you kill the mob and the less you have to deal with it's party-killer attacks. The longer a fight goes your probability of dying from being "unlucky" increases exponentially.

[VeloZer0]

I've had difficulty figuring out what exactly launch does (aside from looking cool)

Did you also notice that the enemy doesn't attack nearly as much when he's being hit around in the air? Launch is awesome.

I just figured it had an ATB bar like you, so the time in the air is essentially ATB recharging time. Sure it helps a little, but I never found it significant. Juggling in the air, however, would be very much so.

[Shlup]

I've had difficulty figuring out what exactly launch does (aside from looking cool)

Did you also notice that the enemy doesn't attack nearly as much when he's being hit around in the air? Launch is awesome.

I just figured it had an ATB bar like you, so the time in the air is essentially ATB recharging time. Sure it helps a little, but I never found it significant.

You will also notice that when your characters are knocked down and suck their ATB is not charging for those few seconds. Regardless, if you Launch a staggered target and juggle him for several rounds it doesn't matter if his ATB is charged because he can't do anything.

[eestlinc]

wasn't too bad. won on first try under the time, four stars. But not easy.

[Shlup]

Way to just brag and be totally not helpful, eest. xD

[eestlinc]

You might want to start withe the Bully (Com/Syn/Sab) or Evened Odds (Med/Syn/Sab) paradigms. I find buffs and debuffs to be more useful in this game than they have been in previous FFs.

Other than that I don't really have advice; this is one of the random bosses I found super easy.

i learned it by watching you.

[Shlup]

Did you miss the first 2/3 where I gave actual advice? Fail upon you! Shuuuuuun!

[eestlinc]

i followed your advice and it worked!