The Solo Challenge

[Shin Gouken]

Gilgamesh

This battle is right up there with Cuchulainn and Carrot for most difficult battles so far.

I had two failed attempts before the winning one, and the winning one was so unbelievably close on more than one occasion that it should have been a game over. The first battle ended when i was hit by Stop, which is caused by his basic attacks and which caught me off gaurd because i didn't remember he could do that. The second battle ended when i had him below 20% of his HP and a 10 combo just destroyed me. I was going to give it one more shot before deciding i would come back with the defense of the Maximillion helping me out and somehow i managed a victory. Here's the battle details:

First, I Niho+Remedy Enkidu for the same Sleep and Oil combo as before. Firaga deals 9950HP without Flame Rod... I equip it just because. He also takes about 8000HP damage from poison which helps bring down his much higher HP. It takes about 10 Firaga's to kill him which requires I reapply Sleep because he wakes up before i can cast that many, while also having to cure once or twice from the damage i'm taking from Gilgy.

Gilgy initially hits for 1700HP with Protect active and at this stage only achieves two hit combo's at best. I'm keeping Protect, Haste, Bravery, Faith and Bubble active, and make sure to cast Bubble before it wears off to keep it constantly active. I'm also keeping my Ribbon equipped to prevent Stop. Occasionally he uses all his level spells one after the other, when he does this i switch in Cat Ear Hood just to Speed up my attacks and get in as many as I can but i'm not sure exactly how much difference it makes. After he loses enough HP he starts using Bitter End which hits for 3000HP (With Protect active) and the first time he uses it, he uses it twice in succession without even a second to heal. When his HP drops below 40% I have absolutley no choice but to set up a Gambit to keep Reverse active. His combo's are insane and as his HP drops his attacks deal more and more damage. At this point i have to keep my Indigo Pendant equipped but as I learned in my previous attempt when i was caught without my Ribbon, he doesn't inflict Stop with his physical attacks anymore and instead inflicts Sap... which is the only small break i get.

This is just... insane. If Protect, Bubble or Haste runs out, reapplying them usually brings me within an inch of death. When Reverse runs out I can only pray he doesn't ready Monarch Sword which at first hits for 4100HP, but soon climbs up to 5300HP even with Protect. The trick here, which was the difference between this battle and my previous failed attempt, is in the timing of Reverse. When it's cast, you have time to hit with three attacks before reapplying it, or cast two buffs. Once you've either attacked or buffed try and put as much distance between Gilgy and yourself as you can. This should allow you to charge Reverse and cast it while only taking a single hit from Gilgy. In my last attempt, Reverse ran out three hits into a 10 hit combo and I couldn't recast it before being killed. But that being said, i ran into the same problem here, but managed to recast Reverse with about 300HP left and the next attack in his combo about a fraction of a second away from connecting... and this happens twice. So i barely even made it through. I also had to use an Elixer when i suddenly noticed constant Reverse had robbed all my MP... my fault for forgetting MP actually runs out :P

Alot of this is luck. Not just the bit where i barely escape the clutches of death, but also how often Gilgy combo's, how many hits he gets, how often he blocks my hits and not having Monarch Sword hit when Reverse runs out. The timing trick certainly helped out alot but without a little luck i wouldn't have made it. It's a shame i can't record it though because it would have you sat on the edge of your seat! This battle and the one with Cuchulainn are so incredibly tense, you can't break concentration for second. As you can probably guess, i'm one happy dude right now

[Wolf Kanno]

Glad to hear you took down one of the most memorable battles in XII. God I love Gilgamesh and he's a handful when you have a full party...

[Shin Gouken]

Glad to hear you took down one of the most memorable battles in XII. God I love Gilgamesh and he's a handful when you have a full party...

His combo's and high damage are just insane! He's the best battle in the whole game in my opinion ^_^

Zalera

For some reason I thought he was Holy-weak and so I farmed some Holy Motes hoping to follow the same strategy as I did with Carrot... but he's immune to all elements. But i'd made the trip down there and decided to persist. I can comfortabley ignore any damage I receive because the Dead Bones only inflict about 200HP per hit and spend more time casting status ailments which miss because I have Ribbon equipped. As you can guess, Kill ends almost every attempt.

I really have no idea how this battle works, but if i try to hit him at the start of the battle with anything less than 100 attack power, i get 0HP damage. I discovered this when hoping to score a few high combo's with Masamune+Genji Glove while he casts Reflectga on himself and his minions. Zodiac Spear however hits for about 2700HP... after he drops to 65-75% HP my attacks start inflicting 6000HP+, but when he hits critical my damage drops down to about 2000HP. After I Dispel him i can rack up lots of damage while he casts Reflectga and aims a few status ailments at me, then his HP just drops like crazy when I start inflicting huge amounts of damage. So because of this, I can get him down to critical without too much effort.

I'm still level 59 which protects me from his level magics... but I didn't realize he had Prime Level Death which kills me if I'm a prime level... =/ bit cheeky. I tried a few runs where i attempted alternative strategies, for example he has an augment which reverses restorative items so I don't need Niho to make Potions deal damage to him... but Elixers don't harm him so that's kinda useless.

In the end, what it boiled down to was a case of trying to survive Kill and Death. Death is a spell so I equipped my Venetion Shield in an attempt to block it. That didn't work. So the only thing I have to play with is luck. About 8 attempts later I get a run where he only uses Kill twice and I survive both and claim victory. Yay

[Shin Gouken]

Zeromus

I thought I may as well give this a bash after my victory with Zalera. This was supposed to be a test run to see where i'd stand, i'd already decided i'd need a Euclids Sextant to keep Bubble active, I just wanted to see if there was anything else. Turns out I beat him without Bubble.

I aim at Dark Lords and ignore Zeromus entirely. With Zodiac Spear, they die in one hit. I clear them all out and whenever a new one might pop up, I make it priority to take them out. I kill about 35 throughout the course of the battle which has me on a chain level 3 and i picked up +500HP healing from their loot every so often. By the time Zeromus is down to 25% of his HP i don't have to worry about them because they stop spawning.

There's nothing I can do about his buffs which he recasts periodically. As for my own Buffs, I use Hastaga Motes for Haste, Equip a Gilt Measure and target myself with it for Haste, and do the same with the Arc Scale for Shell. I'd have done this with the Multiscale for Bravery and Euclids Sextant for Bubble if I'd had them but I don't so I make do without. I Burn about 22-25 or so X-potions to heal, without Pheasents Netsuke because I'm afraid to take off my Ribbon incase I'm hit with Blind from Dark Lords or Slowga or Stop from Zeromus which he likes to cast. Piercing Graviga missed 50% of the time but even when it hit, I was almost always over 90% HP so was always safe. He hits for about 1000HP, 700HP with Protect (Dark Lords hit for just 100HP) and I heal after every other attack. He doesn't have that much HP and goes down pretty quickly.

Not sure if I have the energy to do the Nabudis Medallion hunt... I think Chaos is the only remaining optional boss for where I am in the game???

[Shin Gouken]

Rafflesia
Niho+Remedy and attack. Don't need to heal, he dies in under a minute.

Daedalus
Niho+Remedy only hits him with Confuse and Silence which isn't very helpful but it prevents him from using Haste again which he puts up before it hits. I Dispel his Haste and begin hacking. He uses some of my least liked attacks such as Tri-attack (3000HP) Smite Of Rage, Tremor and Ice Break but overall the damage isn't too bad and i'm hitting him for 5700HP a hit so he falls pretty quickly.

Hydro
I neglected Shell with my buffs because I didn't realize he liked magick so much but it was of little consequence because his damage output isn't very high except maybe with Piercing Graviga. His Speed is pretty decent but nothing I can't handle. Again, he falls pretty quickly.

Ran into a spot of bother in the Great Crystal. I equipped my Diamond Armlet to get the Black Mask from a chest and forgot to re-equip Ribbon. Just as I killed an Ose it hit me with Hell Blaster and i got twatted with a dozen status ailments... I'd have died from Petrify and possibley Sap+Poison if I hadn't thought fast and made some adjustments to my equipment. I equipped Mirage Vest for +10 Vitality, Cat Ear Hood for +20 Vitality and a Diamond Helm for +3 Vitality. As you probabley know, the higher your Vitality is the quicker negative status ailments wear off. As i was about two seconds from being petrified I gained control (from either Stop or Disable) and Remedied myself as quickly as possible. If i hadn't boosted my Vitality up then I'd have to go fight Hydro again.

Shemhazai
Considering Ive gone to the extra effort of equipping the Firefly everywhere I go to prevent additional levelling, the storyline battles are ridiculously easy. Flare hits for 2500HP and Shock hits for 1700HP, physicals I easily shrug off and Silence misses with my Ribbon equipped. I stopped to heal just once and unleashed a fury off attacks which had the battle over in less than two minutes.

I really should do the Nabudis Medallion Hunt sidequest next but there are more Marks available and I'd rather get stuck in with them. When I pick this up tomorrow, I'll dart to the Necrohol Of Nabudis to pick up a Magepower Shishak and Maximillion. As for whether I'll do the Medallion Hunt or start on the new Mark Hunts... I don't know

[Wolf Kanno]

Oh I want to listen to your fight with the Fury so definetly do the Chaos sub-quest. You should also try Ultima now since she's easily the hardest of the Espers (ignoring that Zodiark is only difficult cause he's a cheating bastard). 59 is a pretty high level, seeing as 45 is the recommended level for beating the game. Not to mention you seem to have access to a lot of high grade equipment and that tends to matter much more in this game than levels do.

[Shin Gouken]

Oh I want to listen to your fight with the Fury so definetly do the Chaos sub-quest. You should also try Ultima now since she's easily the hardest of the Espers (ignoring that Zodiark is only difficult cause he's a cheating bastard). 59 is a pretty high level, seeing as 45 is the recommended level for beating the game. Not to mention you seem to have access to a lot of high grade equipment and that tends to matter much more in this game than levels do.

Ultima... ok lol err, I'll happily give her a bash I'm really glad i took on Cuchulainn and Gilgamesh fairly early so I should at least give it a go. I'll do the Nabudis Medallion Hunt first though.

I could easily be level 75+ now if I hadn't been using my Firefly... for a solo challenge I don't think that's too high. Behemoth King is now available and he has 1.6million HP and hits for about 5K... the difficulty is about to take a nasty turn. Have I been too generous with my equipment? I delayed picking up the Zodiac Spear for a very long time, ive only really started using it recently. I'm still wearing the same Crown Of Laurels and Rubber Suit I picked up way back when I fought Cuchulainn ( actually I switch in Mirage Vest now and again but so many enemies use Thunder attacks and without Rubber Suit I'm weak to thunder and take double damage because of Crown Of Laurels.)

Yeah Maximillion and Magepower Shishak are going to be great but I'm not picking them up early, Ive waited for them to become available to buy. Actually, thinking about it now, I'd need a White Mask for Ultima... need to see where I can get one.

[Wolf Kanno]

I believe you get them in Balfoheim same as the Black Masks. Though I can't remember if they open after Giruvegan or the Pharos.

I only mention your levels cause I was probably half that when I fought many of the espers and story bosses but of course I had a full party.

[Shin Gouken]

I believe you get them in Balfoheim same as the Black Masks. Though I can't remember if they open after Giruvegan or the Pharos.

I only mention your levels cause I was probably half that when I fought many of the espers and story bosses but of course I had a full party.

It's not until after the Pharos =/

Sorry for the lack of updates, I hope to get lots done this weekend.

I havn't neglected to play it, ive racked up 10-12 hours or so, i just havn't achieved anything.

I tried to chain Juggernaut because he has a chance to drop White Masks. But he only appears when the minute counter is between 0-10. I built up a full chain level before starting, manage to kill two in that 10 minute window (I have to leave the Feywood to respawn him) and then would leave the game for an hour before coming back to kill two more. In the end i simply gave up and bought a Sage's Ring instead. I'd prefer not to add another accesory to constantly switch between but i didn't have the patience to carry on chaining Juggernauts.

I actually entered the Great Crystal and started heading toward Ultima too, but after getting over halfway in, I reset. This was because I forgot to go and buy my Maxamillion and the damage i take from regular enemies in there is ridiculous, so I wanted to head back and grab my better armour. I'm somewhat reluctant to go back in with enemies being as tough as they are, and I may find myself hunting Marks this weekend instead but we'll see

[Shin Gouken]

Finally a decent update. Ive conquered almost everything before the Pharos, with the exception of Behemoth King and Ultima.

Fury
Nothing remarkable. I Dispel his Hero's March, Niho+Remedy for Slow, Silence and Sap and attack 2-3 times between healing. I bring out my Ribbon when he readies Time Requiem and switch back to Cameo Belt which allows me to bypass his evasion (I really hate the Evade+ augment). He Beserks himself at low HP which I initially Dispelled, but he recasts it instantly so I didn't bother to Dispel again and aimed for the KO. He hits alot faster but he's still not inflicting massive damage so it wasn't a problem.

Humbaba
Again, not a remarkable battle. I Dispel and Niho+Remedy for Slow, Silence and Sap again. Black Mask absorbs Darkga, Float makes me immune to his Earth based damage and his physicals only hit for about 500-600HP. He has a bit more HP than Fury so takes a little longer but wasn't difficult.

Chaos
This was harder than I thought it would be. I was on edge because I didn't leave to save after Fury and Humbaba and I thought I'd have to fight them again. Worse is navigating the Necrohol. Being surrounded by Baknamies can easily overwhelm you and having Reflect cast incase they cast Death at you means relying on items for healing. I'm not inclined to kill too many enemies either because Oversouls pinch all your MP as soon as they appear.

First, I aim Telekineses at the Chaos Jets which is 2-3 hits each (They're actually harmless and inflict hardly any damage at all) Now is a good time to mention Ive been to pick up Telekineses as well as a Maximillion and a Demon Shield from the Baknamy Merchant. Chaos can hit pretty hard, forcing me to heal after every other attack. The problem in this battle is constant switching between Maxamillion and Windbreaker armour. The damage from his attacks varies massively depending on what armour I have equipped, aswell as what buffs i have. To give you an idea of what I mean, Aeroja hits for about 2500 with Shell and Windbreaker equipped, without them, it hits for over 6000! And his physicals range from 2500 to 3500 depending on whether Protect and Maximillion are equipped. So I have to switch to Windbreaker when he readies Aeroga, Aeroja and Whirlwind and back to Maximillion for his physicals. But it's very easy to leave the wrong one equipped. I'd basically got it under control until he randomely tossed Fearga at me =/ that complicates things because I really really need Bubble, Protect, Shell and Haste active aswell as Curaja for healing. I had to use a few Hi-Ethers but managed to stay on track. As you can imagine, it was a long battle because I'm healing after every 1 or 2 attacks and squeezing in buffs where I can or restoring MP, so I wasn't attacking very frequently.

Catoblepas
Dispel and Niho+Remedy for Sleep, Slow and Blind. Regardless of what attack he used (Tailswipe, Smite Of Rage, Ram or Wail) with Blind and Demon Shield he didn't land a single hit. All I did was Dispel Protect when he recast it (Every 3 turns) and Haste which he cast at about a quarter of his health left.

Diabolos
Dispel and Niho+Remedy for Slow. Cameo Belt FTFW <3 Enemies with high evasion can just go die <_< I sneaked in the final blow before he could put up his Paling ^_^

Wild Malboro
This guy is just cheap and annoying. I Dispel his Buffs as usual but don't Niho+Remedy because there's no way I'm taking off my Ribbon with a pack of Malboro's aiming Breath attacks at me. I one hit KO the mini Malboro's one by one and get to work on the big guy. His Breath attacks prevent me from using Magicks or Items until the animation time is finished so I get in 2-3 free hits whenever he uses them. But otherwise I heal after every few attacks because he hits pretty hard (Not as hard as Carrot thankfully, about 1200 if I remember) Now for the annoying parts. When I finally get him down to critical HP, he uses Soul Etude, fully restoring his HP which is basically like sayin "Now you've got to do it all over again". OK you cheap git let's go. I aim a Remedy at him and score Blind which makes bringing his HP down a bit easier... for all of 15 seconds when he uses Purify to remove it and then scores a five his combo on me So I bring him back down to critical again and now he puts up a Paling guarding against physical attacks, and scores himself a 6 hit combo. Seriously, naff off you cheap bastard! I slowly manage to finish him off by aiming Bio at him but it doesn't hit for a lot of damage and takes forever. Finally he dies, good riddence

Deathgaze
If you thought Wild Malboro was annoying, meet the most annoying little prick in the game. I fought him 5 times altogether. The first four attempts all came to an end when Crushing Fangs instant killed me. The final attempt lasted an hour while I basically tried everything I could think of to kill him and honestly thought it wasn't going to happen until amazingly I pulled it off.

The first four attempts are easy to sum up. I charged in, lasted all of a few minutes before Crushing Fangs killed me. And every time this happens I have to fly around trying to get him to appear again.

The fifth attempt is where I managed to corner him and basically tried everything possible while he was unable to hurt me. I achieved this by staying long range so he couldn't reach me with physical attacks, and casting Silence on him preventing the use of his magicks, which just leaves his Fireball attack which, with Shell and an Adamant Hat only hits for 200HP.

Initially, I bring him down to critical without too much effort. But this is when he casts Renew, fully restoring his health. He does this depite being Silenced which already is cheating. But now he uses Renew every few minutes, giving me only enough time to take about a quarter of his HP. So first I tried casting Reflect on him because he doesn't have the Ignore Reflect augment. But just like how he is able to cast it when Silenced, he can also ignore Reflect despite not having the augment. He's susceptable to Reverse which is easily figured out because when not Silenced he likes to cast it on himself, so I reverse him and what do you know... His Renew ignores Reverse status too. There's no way to prevent him casting it or prevent it from hitting him because it ignores all factors which would otherwise change it.

He keeps a physical Paling atcive constantly. In the previous fights and the entire hour of this fight he would recast it as soon as it wore off. So I have to rely on Magicks. It's worth noting that Shock, Ardour, Flare and Scathe aren't available so "aga" spells is all I have. Thankfully he doesn't take half damage from elements like most late-game Marks so I gear up my Flame Rod, Faith and Firaga which hits for about 6500-7000HP. I managed to get it up to 7000-8500HP by equipping White Robes, but even if I prepare Haste and Faith before Renew, then get as many Firaga spells in as I can before Renew appears again, I still barely take him down past a third of his health.

I tried Niho+Remedy but items it seems are classified as physical attacks and fail. I tried Reverse and curative items, I tried everything I had access to but it simply wasn't happening.

Eventually I decided to Esuna his Silence to see if I could gain additional damage by Reflecting his spells at him. But in the 10minutes that followed he didn't use Renew at all. He used Restore but that only gives him about a third of his HP back. So I rebuff when he uses Reverse, Equip Adamant Hat against Firaga, unequip Adamant Hat against Blizzaga, equip Rubber suit against Thundaga, Ribbon against Curse and Bio, Heal from Shock and just Firaga him into oblivion.

Fafnir
This battle went exactly as planned. His physicals hit for 4000HP per hit so I obviously wasn't going to go toe-to-toe with him. I hid myself against the rock, preventing him from reaching me, equipped Mirror Mail so his magics would bounce back at him, and equipped Haste, Bravery, Sagittarious Bow, Lightening Arrows and Cat Ear Hood which hits him for over 9000HP a hit, sometimes hitting the damage cap. His Reflected Shock spell hits him for about 6000HP so his massive HP very quickly drops down. I switch to Ribbon when he readies Sleepga or Silencega and unequip Mirror Mail to recast buffs, but it was entirely unnecessary. It sped things up a little but I could have just put down the controller and gone for a walk.

Piscodaemon
I hit him lots and he died... oh you want more details. I buffed pre-battle because he uses Fearga at the start of the battle. Niho+Remedy for Slow and hacked. Healed a couple of times and sneaked in the last hit before he used Soul Etude (smurfin Soul Etude, cheapest attack ever)

I'm not heading to Ultima or Behomoth King until after the Pharos. Behomoth King because I need strong non-elemental spells for when his physical Paling is up, and Ultima because I need a White Mask

[Shin Gouken]

I tried farming Hi-ethers but after a few hours and only finding two (Via the cerobi steppe) I got bored and decided to go tackle...


Behomoth King

I was shocked to find that this battle wasn't all that difficult. It took well over two hours though (Less really because I took a few breaks)

The trick is to stay long range so he can't reach you with his physicals, which are dangerous due to his massive strength, chance to combo and his Disease touch.

Basically I just have to change my armour every turn to reduce what attack he uses. Adamant Hat reduces Firaga to just 700 damage and Ardour to 1500 (2500HP without) Rubber suit negates Thundaga, Ice Shield reduces Blizzaga to just 700 damage, Sages Ring absorbs Holy, Black Mask absorbs Darkga and Ribbon prevents Slow. .

Where possible I equip Cat Ear Hood and Sagittarius with Bravery which has me hitting for 3000-5000HP (No idea why the damage varies so much) When he's immune to physicals i use Faith + Bio (to save MP) for 2000HP. Occasionally I bring out Flame Staff and Firaga for 3000HP but my MP drains faster so I switch between this and Bio.

I rebuff and Cure when he uses Aga Spells and Slowga. I can't cast Magicks during the animation of Darkga, Ardour and Holy so I use this time to get in about three free hits. I also use Regan for the additional healing during lengthy animations.

At -50% HP he gains Magick = 0 CT which has him attacking alot faster, often beating me to attacks. Because I have to change armour, it cancels any action I'm using and I have to charge it again so the battle moves a little slower. I have a few mishaps where I forgot to refresh Bubble or accidently leave my Adamant Hat equipped when Blizzaga hits but it's not overly important because two of his attacks cure me, two I'm immune to, and the rest deal half damage.

Like I said, a really long battle but surprisingly not very difficult.

[Wolf Kanno]

When you're done with this challenge, I want you to do a summoner challenge.

[Shin Gouken]

When you're done with this challenge, I want you to do a summoner challenge.

What's a summoner challenge? I'm so crap with Espers, Ive never summoned them =/

Pharos is done

Hydro
Nothing to Dispel. Niho+Remedy for Oil, Confuse and Slow. I put down the controller and watched him die. No Gambits, I just attacked. He only hits for 300-500 depending on his attack (Physicals, Bio, Fireball and Curse) He scored a 6 hit combo which brought me down to low health but it wasn't quite enough to beat me

Pandemonium
Dispel and Niho+Remedy for Silence, Oil and Confuse. He hits for 700-800HP which is easy damage to keep on top of. I try to run circles around him when his barrier goes up, which saves me from alot of hits while he tries to catch me.

Slyt
.... Dispel and Niho+Remedy for Oil, Slow and Confuse. He surprised me with his speed. He only hits for 400 damage but he attacks fast enough that I have to heal frequently. At low health I'm only hitting for 1000 damage so I Firaga him which with Oil is 9999HP =p

Fenrir
Dispel and Niho+Remedy for Sleep and Oil. I'm not so cheap as to leave him sleeping. I don't abuse Oil either and just stick with a Physical assault. Everything in here is susceptable to Oil, even Pheonix in the subterra. He hits for 700HP but combo's a fair bit (I saw as high as 7 hits) which requires caution but isn't anything I can't handle.

The Pharos is fairly simple I'll mention. Chimera's love to evade so Cameo Belt comes out. I avoid any of the larger enemies (dragons) and Haste+Bravery Bunes and Reavers. The Bombs at the top are nice enough to heal me with all their attacks. I'm surprised by how quickly I stormed through the place tbh

Hashmal
He's got a fair bit more HP than all the previous bosses in here so he takes a little longer. But he's still only hitting for 700-800HP. Float keeps me safe from Quakeja and Roxxer .

Gabranth
This little pussy only hits for 600HP. I Dispel his Haste and kill him in about a minute. Didn't need to Heal and just unleashed my full wrath.

Cid
A little bit more interesting than any of the other bosses in here. He hits for 700HP and is fairly quick. His Gatling Gun looks nasty, but just like in the last battle with him, it does less damage than his regular attack (just 600HP) At half HP he summons Famfrit.
Famfrit
Cid will take shots at me with his Gun for 700HP while Famfrit only hits for about 300HP so the damage is far from overwhelming. I ignore Shell and Protect being cast on Famfrit by Cid but I Dispel Haste off whenever he casts it. They combine Special attacks (Forget the name of Cids but Famfrits is Waterja) which hit for 700HP + 1300HP each. Easy to simply cure off. It's a longer battle so I'm recasting buffs occasionally and Curing frequently but it's really straightforward. I finish off Famfrit, recast a couple of buffs and heal before finishing Cid.

""I Judge Magister, condemn you to oblivion"" <3<3<3

So here's what I got left.

Easy battles:

Vayne I expect
Ixion
Pylraster
Pheonix

Hard battles:

Ultima
Shadowseer

Pharos Subterra and Great Crystal will probably be pretty hard too. Ive already had a taste of the Great Crystal and I didn't like it and the Subterra scares me even with a full party

[Shin Gouken]

Pylraster
Went exactly according to plan. Equip Esanguined Shield and he can't touch you. Shield Lores offer 5% additional evasion so with Esanguined Shield my evasion sits on 105%. I Deathbringer him with Genji Glove for lots of 3-4 hit combo's. Regan and Haste negate the Sap and Slow side effects of my shield so i just have to heal off poison every so often.

Ixion
This was actually crazy hard. I thought it would be easy. I was under the false impression his physical attack hit for lightening damage so I wore a Rubber Suit, but I was wrong and his physicals hit for 2500HP nearly killing me before the battle had even properly started. With Maxamillion his damage still hits for 1700-2000HP but he likes to combo, at low health he nailed me with a 6hit combo which very nearly killed me. I took a risk at one point and Niho+Remedied him for Slow, Oil, Sap and Silence. Slow makes a huge difference in helping me keep up with the damage but at the same time, Silence prevents his magicks which, although he doesn't use them much, they're easier to handle. Sleepga and Silencega misses with Ribbon, Firaga can be halved with Adamant Hat and Thundaga I'm immune to with Rubber Suit so his magicks can buy me some precious time. He heals off his ailments anyway so It was a wasted effort. Fearga is next which massively complicates things because I'm using Curaja every few seconds to keep up with his damage. I opt to switch out my Pheasants Netsuke and abuse the skip delay time glitch to knock out fast X-potion healing. With Bravery and Zodiac Spear I'm at least reaching 9000+ damage on him, sometimes even hitting the damage cap so I bring him down fairly quickly. The most tense part of the battle was trying to recast buffs when he's in critical and throwing combo's at me. Thankfully Bubble can simply be refreshed so Protect is the important one I aim to get up fast. X-potions don't have a Charge Time so Haste isn't too important but I manage to get it up with Bravery which meant I could finish him faster. I was fairly surprised it ended up being quite tough but actually that just made it more tense and thus more enjoyable.

EDIT: I forgot to mention his Dispelga. Tense moment trying to restore buffs. He also makes himself immune to magick and status ailments at half health but It didn't affect my strategy

On a side note, my first journey into the Subterra was just crazy. I decided to clear up the enemies wandering around in the center area and all i can say is WTF. Enemies hit for over 1000HP and they swarm the out of you. I managed to just keep healed and pick them off but they just keep coming. I lost count of how many I killed and I swear they are just never ending. I reset after I levelled up 2 levels because I honestly thought I was wasting my time. When I come back down here I'll have to flee into the nearest room. The enemies in their will at least drop Black Orbs which I need to farm for so if I level up at least I'm actually achieving something and not just levelling up for the sake of it. I'm level 66 now btw, a result of all the Marks Ive fought and from trekking a hundred floors to the top of the Pharos

[Wolf Kanno]

Yes, I want you to play a game where all you are allowed to use to beat most of the Marks and story bosses is exclusively the summons. It will be another solo challenge except you must always have a summon and end all fights with the summons special attack only. You need to build your character to survive and keep the esper alive at all cost and build unique gambits for each esper.