Obtaining the Zodiac Spear early in the game
It's possible to get the Zodiac Spear (150 Attack Power) pretty early in the game. This is provided that you didn't open any of the four chests.
The earliest you can get it is after receiving the Dawn Shard.
I had written a post in that other Zodiac Spear thread about how to do it. Here it is (sorry if it's long):
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After receiving the Dawn Shard, just teleport to Nalbina Town, talk to the girl (named July) standing on the wall, then hop on the chocobo. Ride over to the guards. The guards will then let you by. You will then ride into the Mosphoran Highwaste. Ride through there into the camp, and save. Then put 1 person in your party at a time, and head north. Hold R2 the whole way to flee. Keep going north until you head to Salikawood. Go through the Salikawood until you reach the teleport crystal. Once again, hold R2. Save there. [Consult a map of area for help in directions to get there].
If anyone gets KO'ed, switch out, go to safe spot, and full heal. There's no use in pickin' fights in any of these areas as the enemies are too much for you at this point, and they will kill you in 1-2 hits.
Here comes the hardest part of this process. You have to fight the Bomb King. For prep, make sure you have enough Ethers, Hi-Potions, Elixers, and all 3 mist gauges for the battle. After saving at that crystal, enter the area to fight the Bomb King. Once you enter the room, leave right back out (the BK lunges right toward you as you enter). Buff up your character who has Belias & equip him/her w/ manufacted nethicite. Then go back in. Get out of BK's target range and summon Belias. Belias absorbs fire damage because he's fire elemental, so he will be getting healed by pretty much all of BK's attacks. Anyway, stay away from BK and let Belias deal with him. When Belias is about to go, and it shows that he is preparing for Hellfire, dismiss him (Hellfire will heal BK). Then resummon him staying out of BK's range. Keep repeating the process healing yourself as needed, walking around to help keep mana up, and staying buffed up. BK will full-heal couple times with Renew which is annoying, so be patient.
Once you defeated the BK (thank goodness!!!), then you get access to the NW part of Salikawood which leads to Necrohol of Nabudis and Nabreus Deadleads. Go to the southern edge of that NW Salikawood section and flee (R2) thru there. That leads to Necrohol of Nabudis which is where the spear is.
This place is very difficult as the enemies hit hard and will OHKO you at this point. Definitely no use in pickin' fights here either. Unequip everybody and have only 1 person active at a time (like you did in the other places). You need to do this to save time by not having your guys sheath or draw out weapons/shields, as you will be fleeing the whole time (every little bit of time counts). Anytime one ally dies, switch in another one. [To find where you need to go to get the spear, consult a map of Necrohol of Nabudis].
The first section of this place is the hardest to get through mainly because the goblins come tackling after you as you come through, and they keep chasing you, but there's a hallway (w/ deadend) that you can turn into, and they will turn around and leave you alone. That's a good time to full heal everybody. Right after you enter another section is any good time to full heal everyone. Once you approach the room to get the spear be careful with the gargoyles as they lurk around there. The spear should be in the 2nd chest from the left right in front of the entrance. After you get it, flee back out of the place, full-healing each time you enter another section, and in that deadend hallway, right before exiting.
It took me two tries to get the spear on my run through there. I died the first time because I had trouble finding which chest the spear was in, and the gargoyles had pwned me by the time I was able to get it.
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At what point in the game did you guys get it at?
On my first playthrough, I got it at level 25 right after finishing the Stilshrine of Miriam. To beat the Bomb King, I did an 11-hit quickening chain and then a 16-hit one w/ Black Hole (for 38500 HP damage). Those two took him out. I couldn't use Belias due to lack of ethers/elixers at the time.
Once I got the spear and got it licensed (along with couple Deathbringers), I was one-shotting many enemies, even some that were at least several levels above me.
