Help needed with Zodiark: Tips

[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...

[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.