thanks . . . no, i dont have Debarrier . . . i have Deathblow . . . uh . . . oh yeah! i always kept a Counter on Cloud, considering he does the most damage . . . other than that . . . ur suggestions for Cloud are nearly identical to wat they r now . . .

lol yeah . . . he used Shadow Flare on Vincent while he had like 500 HP left . . . and right b4 he died it was like "learned ES" & im like YAY! and then he drops dead . . .

Thanks for all the advice . . . i hope to get more still . . . but i have HW to do and will try Safer again later . . .