The last few bars for Yiazmat

[Mongotha]

I have whittled Yiazmat down to the last 2 or 3 bars of his health and I can't seem to keep my characters alive as his normal attacks will almost always instantly K.O. me. I've seen videos on YouTube where they never get KOed. Is there something that I'm doing wrong? I'm having to run out every 30 seconds or so and sometimes I don't make it. A little help would be most excellent.

[sefirosu]

I think you may have to cast Decoy + Reverse on this one, in order for Yiazmat's attacks to heal you and focus the lionshare of his blows on one character. But you'd have to wear low-resist armour to bring about the status effect consistently.

Should you decide against this, then it might be a good idea to turn off your buff gambits so that when characters are revived, their first course of action is always to attack.

To sometimes make Deathstrike miss you, cast Shell on your party or equip a Shell Shield to the targeted character.

[gudkid]

ummm...
i would like to ask exactly what decoy+reverse does. how do you acquire it?

[sefirosu]

Decoy - causes one ally to be the target of all foes.

Reverse - causes healing and damage to have opposite effect on one foe.

Either of them should be available in shops once you've passed certain milestones in the story

[McLovin']

It's the best technique. Gambit > Cast reverse on any party member.

And you just keep reverse on and you never die. I beat him easily like this.

[Mongotha]

I've been doing the decoy reverse thing but with or without reverse his normal attacks still almost always do an instant K.O. or he just uses Deathstrike. Is there any way to make his normal attacks not instantly K.O. me or to get him to use Deathstrike less?

[McLovin']

whats ur level?

[Mongotha]

Vaan is 97 and Balthier and Fran are both at 96.

[ff is da best]

do u have the bubble belt.

[Mongotha]

I have three bubble belts and everything is as it should be with my characters according to everything I've read online and otherwise. The problem is that his normal attacks will almost always instantly K.O. me, regardless of weather or not reverse is in place. His attacks don't just cause damage, but are like an instant death spell. I need to know if there is a way to get him to do that less because unless that doesn't happen, I'll never beat him. It just isn't going to happen. I can't stay alive long enough.

[sefirosu]

Okay, forget the Decoy+Reverse strategy and try to grind out the victory by wearing high defence armours like Maximillians/Grand Armour and high magic resist headgears like Circlets or Golden Skullkaps. It's your choice if you want to wear Windbreakers to reduce the damage dealt by his Limit Break, but re-equip your normal armour immediately after the animation, since Windbreakers' defence stat is utter rubbish.

Don't just restrict your healing duties to one character, have all 3 do it. So that whenever 1 character dies, he/she will be revived promptly. This warrants having Ally: KO --> Arise for all characters and set as the Gambit with the highest priority.

Since it can be a pain recovering HP from all that comboing that Yiazmat dishes out on you, some people I know altered their curing Gambit to Ally: HP < 30% --> Curaja so that so that what the team do mainly throughout the battle is hacking away at the dragon. I had Ally: HP < 60% --> Curaja for 3 of my characters and had no problems with it. Your choice on this one.

Also, single-hitting buffs like Haste, Protect, Shell uses up too much space for your gambit combinations not to mention wastes time. Area-effect spells dedicated for one person like Protectga, Hastega and Shellga are the way to go. But in a situation where Yiazmat is at his most dangerous, Shellga is the most important since it does provide some protection against status effects like instant KO from Deathstrike and Rake. Hastega could be an option to speed things up, but don't bother with Protectga or Bravery unless you want to waste time.

For weaponry: the best would be the Yagyu Darkblade but Tournesol, Zodiac Spear and the Masamune are almost as good. Orochi, Ultima Blade and Formalhaut loaded with Dark Shot would suffice.

Finally, I don't know if this'll help much but if you haven't already done so, turn up the Battle Speed to max so that actions are performed quickly.

[ff is da best]

i think u should follow all the advice above my comment.

[Yiazmat]

I used similar principals to the 50 minute strategy up until the last 5 bars. The main exception, is I didn't apply the infuse technique. For some reason I never could get that to work. I also tweaked things around to my own preferences. In other words, I took basic fundamentals from the 50 minute strategy and made it my own.

Anyway, I found him far to dangerous to toy with by the time I got him down to the last few bars. I created a great strategy that worked wonders for me. It's pretty much full proof. If I can find time I may actually write a generic guide if anyone is interested.

[gudkid]

can you??? pls???

[Yiazmat]

can you??? pls???

If I can find time and a means.

It's sometimes difficult for me to get things on paper to come across the way I would like. Lol! In order to really do it right I would need to incorporate a video or some images. I don't really have anyway of doing that. The reason I want to provide a visual reference is because there is a certain place the party leader needs to stand and a specific path and save crystal that needs to be used. I'm not sure how to explain that on paper. My method for the last few bars is a safe method for players who don't want to find themselves dead just before defeating Yiazmat. I've heard many horror stories about folks getting the big game over after hours and hours of hell.

Another thing, is my method, is not for players who are wanting to kill Yiazmat in one stage. My method will consist of several stages, but it's safe and works!