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Magicite Dungeons

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  1. -- Section 7.9 -- MAGICITE DUNGEONS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  2. Back to main guide: https://pastebin.com/LpNNnM37
  3.  
  4. INDEX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  5. [7.9.1] Introduction
  6. [7.9.2] Magicite Deck Building and Inheritance
  7. [7.9.3] 3☆ Magicite
  8. [3LGT] Hydra
  9. [3WTR] Bismarck
  10. [3FRE] Liquid Flame
  11. [3ICE] Sealion
  12. [3WND] Fenrir
  13. [3EAR] Golem
  14. [3HLY] Mist Dragon
  15. [3DRK] Shadow Dragon
  16. [7.9.4] 4☆ Magicite
  17. [4LGT] Ixion
  18. [4WTR] Kraken
  19. [4FRE] Maliris
  20. [4ICE] Isgebind
  21. [4WND] Tiamat
  22. [4EAR] Midgardsormr
  23. [4HLY] Siren
  24. [4DRK] Hades
  25. [7.9.5] 5☆ Magicite
  26. [5LGT] Lightning
  27. [5LGTp] Quetzalcoatl
  28. [5LGTm] Behemoth King
  29. [5WTR] Water
  30. [5WTRp] Famfrit
  31. [5WTRm] Geosgaeno
  32. [5FRE] Fire
  33. [5FREp] Phoenix
  34. [5FREm] Belias
  35. [5ICE] Ice
  36. [5ICEp] Mateus
  37. [5ICEm] Manticore
  38. [5WND] Wind
  39. [5WNDp] Syldra
  40. [5WNDm] Typhon
  41. [5EAR] Earth
  42. [5EARp] Hecatoncheir
  43. [5EARm] Adamantoise
  44. [5HLY] Holy
  45. [5HLYp] Lakshmi
  46. [5HLYm] Madeen
  47. [5DRK] Dark
  48. [5DRKp] Deathgaze
  49. [5DRKm] Ark
  50.  
  51. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  52.  
  53. [7.9.1] Introduction
  54.  
  55. So you've finished all the Nightmare Dungeons, you've started to clear Apocalypse+ bosses with a degree of regularity, and you're finally not dead weight when you're raiding with /ffg/, so you're probably feeling like hot shit right now.
  56.  
  57. Welcome to Magicite.
  58.  
  59. Magicite forms much of the current RK endgame, and it's a significant step up from most everything you've encountered thus far. The basic idea is this: eight bosses, one for each element except Poison, and beating them grants Magicite -- which allow you to minmax your party's strength even further. To summarize:
  60.  
  61. - You can equip up to 5 Magicites: one as a "main" magicite, and four as "sub" magicite.
  62. - Similar to a Roaming Warrior, your main magicite can be summoned in battle. All Magicite will periodically take actions separate from your party from time to time while the Magicite is "active". After some time, the Magicite will return to its stone, and will have a cooldown before they can be re-summoned. Just like a RW, they can be summoned up to twice per dungeon.
  63. - Main and sub magicite alike grant passive boosting effects to your party, ranging from innate elemental resistance to boosting your elemental attack to reducing the cast time of your actions.
  64. - Like characters, magicite can be leveled up to 99, but must be uncapped three times with duplicate magicites to do so. In the same way that you feed characters Growth Eggs and equipment Scarletite and Adamantite, magicites are upgraded using Arcana and throwaway magicites.
  65.  
  66. The catch is this: the Magicite bosses require a completely different approach from normal bosses, for the following reasons:
  67.  
  68. - Magicite bosses resist, null, or absorb all elements except for their weakness. On top of that, they have sky-high innate Defense and Resistance, meaning you can't expect to use non-elemental damage on them either and win easily -- they are DESIGNED to be fought with specific elemental set-ups.
  69. - Unlike most normal bosses, Magicite bosses have 80% break resistance as opposed to 50%. In regular content, it's perfectly viable to build teams centered on piling debuff after debuff against Apocalypse-level bosses so they barely scratch you, but in Magicite, bringing debuff effects is more of a luxury. Focus more on self-buffing and healing effects.
  70. - YOU CANNOT BRING NORMAL ROAMING WARRIORS INTO MAGICITE. The ability to clear Magicites is heavily dependent on the relics you own, from strong heals to elemental chains and native buffing effects.
  71. - After some number of turns or time on the clock, Magicite bosses will enter a "berserk" mode in which they will use their most powerful attack over and over and over and over again until you crumple. Attrition is not viable in Magicite -- the faster, the better, and the more attacking you can get away with trading defense and healing for, the better.
  72.  
  73. All this having been said: your first few Magicite clears WILL be the hardest. You won't have access to Magicite passives or be too familiar with their mechanics, and your only RW will be Elarra's version of Sentinel's Grimoire. Once you settle into the general method of building teams for Magicite and how your turn-by-turn movement needs to go, the learning curve will smooth quickly -- which is good in any case, since you'll need to farm for more copies to make your Magicites stronger. On top of that, there are weekly and monthly missions for clearing Magicites a number of times -- and the monthly ones give up to 5 Mythril. Magicite isn't a grind to be missed.
  74.  
  75. In Magicite, your clear times are recorded -- for the most part, this isn't really an issue. There used to be Major Orb and Crystal rewards associated with the fastest clear time (under 30 seconds), but now that the Keystone system no longer puts a timegate on Magicite, your fastest time is now more of an indicator of your relics and how strong you are in a particular element. It's still a good idea to learn how to speed-run Magicites to get a good picture of how well you might do in the future (e.g., a sub-30 3☆ Magicite is a good sign you're ready to handle the corresponding 4☆).
  76.  
  77. [7.9.2] Magicite Deck Building and Inheritance
  78.  
  79. There are several reasons why relying exclusively on raw buffs won't work:
  80. - ATK and MAG have both soft and hard caps
  81. - Cycling Burst and Ultra SBs for the purpose of gaining their stat buffs (e.g., EnElement, Imperil) is impractical -- DPS-wise, ideally you're spamming one of them exclusively
  82. - Boss mechanics often make it impractical or difficult to fit two buffers on a team in order to stack their buffs
  83.  
  84. This is where Magicite's main selling point is: stat passives. They provide flat damage boosts to your element of choice, flat damage mitigation (both elemental and non-elemental), and miscellaneous convenient effects (cutting down on cast time, increasing the chance or damage of critical hits).
  85.  
  86. Stacking multiples of the same passive has a diminishing effect. As a rule of thumb, the total passive effect per additional passive is halved by two, rounded up, or (x + x / 2 + x / 4 + x / 8...) where x is the level of the passive. For example, let's say you have four Lv. 20 Magic Boons. The total additive passive effect is +20% + 10% + 5% + 3%, yielding a Lv. 38 Magic Boon, or 38% of your Magicite deck's listed MAG stat, added to the MAG stat of all of your characters.
  87.  
  88. In brief, the passives are:
  89.  
  90. Attack / Magic / Defense / Resistance / Mind / Health Boon:
  91. Effect: ATK / MAG / DEF / RES / MND / HP +X%
  92.  
  93. - Attack, Magic, Defense, Resistance, and Mind cap at Lv. 10 for 3☆ Magicites, Lv. 15 for 4☆, and Lv. 20 for 5☆.
  94. - Health Boon caps at Lv. 3 for 3☆, and Lv. 5 for 4☆.
  95. - Calculates boost from the cumulative stat of your Magicite deck, not your characters' individual stats.
  96. - Typically, Attack and Magic Boons make it easier to reach soft caps, and reduce the need for buffs granted by SBs, especially in Torments where party composition and available Soul Breaks are limited.
  97. - Mind Boon is not particularly useful unless you are attempting to ensure that Stop landed on a White Mage wears off instantly. Defense and Resistance Boon are not high-priority.
  98. - Health Boon is useful for mages and providing just enough HP to survive attacks. This includes not triggering Last Stand effects, or sliding precisely into thresholds where Trance Legend Materias will trigger.
  99.  
  100. Empower Element: Elemental damage +X%
  101.  
  102. - Caps at Lv. 10 for 3☆, and Lv. 15 for 4☆ and 5☆.
  103. - Straightforward: provides a flat % damage boost to attacks of their specified element.
  104. - Not hindered by stat caps of any kind. Basic, but effective.
  105.  
  106. Dampen Element: Elemental damage -X%
  107.  
  108. - Caps at Lv. 6 for 3☆, and Lv. 10 for 4☆ and 5☆.
  109. - Flat cut to attacks of specified element. Stacks with Wards without penalty, see below.
  110. - Essential to surviving many of the DEF- and RES-piercing attacks, some of which have obnoxiously high damage multipliers. Basically a pre-requisite to many Boundless and Torment bosses.
  111. - Better in Magicites, where bosses typically only use one element for attacks, which is not a guarantee with other bosses.
  112.  
  113. Blade / Spell Ward: Physical / Magical damage -X%
  114.  
  115. - Caps at Lv. 3 for 3☆, Lv. 5 for 4☆, and Lv. 8 for 5☆.
  116. - Flat cut to attacks of specified type. Stacks with Dampens without penalty.
  117. - Effective catch-all passive in the vein of Dampen Elements, except that they account for bosses with multi-elemental attacks.
  118. - Multiple Lv. 8 wards are key to not being brutalized by devastating 5☆ Magicite and Torment attacks.
  119.  
  120. Precise / Deadly Strikes: Critical chance / damage +X%
  121.  
  122. - Caps at Lv. 5 for 3☆, Lv. 8 for 4☆, and Lv. 10 for 5☆.
  123. - Not used by magic teams, but useful for physical teams to have.
  124. - Precise Strikes becomes less useful if you use characters with "critfix" effects, such as those granted by Onion Knight's pUSB or Tyro USB4. Deadly Strikes conversely increases in usefulness.
  125.  
  126. Fast Act: Casting Time -X%
  127.  
  128. - Caps at Lv. 5 for 3☆, Lv. 8 for 4☆, and Lv. 10 for 5☆.
  129. - Reduces the casting time of abilities.
  130. - For your speedrunning needs.
  131. - Most end-game bosses act quickly or near instantaneously. Every split second saved casting might make the difference.
  132.  
  133. Surging Power: Damage increases as remaining HP increases
  134.  
  135. - Caps at Lv. 10 for 4☆, and Lv. 15 for 5☆.
  136. - Cannot be passed on during inheritance.
  137. - Literally a free damage boost for staying alive.
  138. - A highly useful effect, since it stacks with other damage-increasing passives without penalty.
  139. - Only found on the 4☆ holy magicite Evrae and the 5☆ holy magicite Madeen.
  140.  
  141. Hand of Vengeance: Damage increases as remaining HP decreases
  142. Healing Damper: Healing -X%
  143.  
  144. - These two skills come together.
  145. - Cannot be passed on during inheritance.
  146. - Useful for no-healer strategies that rely purely on Last Stand spam to survive.
  147. - In the event that you need to use a magicite with Healing Damper for general purposes, a Healing Boon passive may be a viable idea to counter-act its effect.
  148.  
  149. Healing Boon: Healing +X%
  150.  
  151. - A flat boost to healing effects.
  152. - This also increases HP recovered from fixed recovery effects such as Regenga.
  153. - Can be very useful for Radiant Shield-based strategies, or for bosses with strong Gravity-based attacks.
  154.  
  155. Damage Push: Damage +X%, SB gauge gain -25%
  156.  
  157. - Unhelpful in the current Soul Break-centric meta.
  158. - Using this necessitates knowing exactly how much you'll need. Not sustainable in long fights.
  159. - Could be useful in fights where the gauge doesn't fill.
  160. - Cannot be passed on during inheritance.
  161.  
  162. Once your magicites are Lv. 99, they can benefit from Inheritance -- by foddering off excess Magicites, you can increase the base stats of a target Magicite and also pass on skills from the fodder. There are a few rules regarding inheritance:
  163.  
  164. - Elemental skills can only be inherited by Magicites of related elements. Empower skills can only be inherited by Magicites of the same element. Dampen skills can only be inherited by Magicites of a matching or superior (i.e., Fire can inherit Dampen Ice, etc.) element.
  165. - You cannot overwrite inherent passives. There is one slot for inheritance for 3☆ and 4☆ magicites, and 2 slots for 5☆ magicites. Only inherited passives can be replaced.
  166.  
  167. Some examples of efficient Magicite builds can be found here:
  168. https://i.imgur.com/zh99lKk.jpg
  169. https://i.imgur.com/5vO2LhQ.jpg
  170.  
  171. Noticing the pattern? Let's break it down:
  172. - At least two, but usually no more than three separate elemental Empowers.
  173. - Two Dampen passives of the "weaker" element stacking.
  174. - Some combination of Precise and Deadly Strikes for physical teams; Health Boon for magical teams.
  175. - One or two Fast Act passives.
  176. - Surging Power is an obvious pick.
  177. - Whenever possible, slot in a Ward. Once you hit 5☆, they become more important, even moreso than Dampens due to end-game tendency to mix elements.
  178.  
  179. In brief: get some of everything, and don't invest too heavily in one specific passive. Simple enough, right?
  180.  
  181. [*] FOREWORD --------------------------------------------------------
  182.  
  183. ALL raw stats, notes on the AI, and information on Savage attacks is taken from https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/114492-final-fantasy-record-keeper/76119301, and all credit in those areas is theirs. I would strongly recommend looking up the AI patterns once you reach at least 4☆ Magicite, as they will be HEAVILY scripted.
  184.  
  185. All analysis below is mine. The thread linked, and most other resources on Magicite, do not typically describe specific strategy.
  186.  
  187. A few general notes apply to all Magicite bosses:
  188.  
  189. - As previously mentioned, debuffs will be a luxury. This gives you a bit more freedom with your party composition: focus on healers, elemental attackers, and characters who can build and feed SB meter.
  190. - Elemental resistance and status resist accessories are big. Savage attacks typically ignore Defense and Resistance like their Ultimate counterparts and often come with a flood of status ailments. In conjunction with the ineffectiveness of break debuffs, expect serious damage.
  191. - All Magicite bosses enter an "enraged" mode after some number of turns (expect shit to get real at about the 30- or 60-second mark), where they will begin to use their Savage attacks over and over again. At the start of the fight, their attacks are typically single-target, but soon progress to being all-target.
  192. - It should go without saying that EnElement / Imperil and Chain Soul Breaks are good effects to have.
  193. - For those attempting quick (i.e., sub-30) clears, having abilities and effects that give reduced delay / instant-cast, or Legend Materia / Soul Breaks that allow dual-casting or chasing damage effects are a major advantage. Of particular note are characters whose second innate Legend Materia grants Haste and three instant actions at the start of battle (for example, Luneth, Lightning, Noctis, and most notably Shelke and Morrow).
  194. - Magicite bosses' movesets are as dependent on their HP as they are on turns or time elapsed, and pushing bosses into different phases will require you to be mindful of their resultant patterns. This is especially important for bosses like Shadow and Mist Dragon, since anyone hoping for a fast clear will need to skip Black Fang or stall Mist Dragon's dissolution into mist, for example.
  195. - Attacks marked as NAT bypass effects such as Retaliate and Runic. There are a lot of them.
  196. - All attacks that are "piercing" ignore DEF and RES, and calculate damage using ATK^0.5 or MAG^0.5 as relevant.
  197.  
  198. -------------------------------------------------------------------
  199.  
  200. [7.9.3] 3☆ Magicite
  201.  
  202. The 3☆ Magicite level of bosses is marked in-game as D250, and is actually about the close equivalent of an Apocalypse++ (D260) event boss -- that is, if A++ bosses had omniresist and high break resistance. The Corridor of Trials series of bosses are a good measuring stick for your power going into Magicite, and serve as a "proper" bridge between Apocalypse+ and Magicite -- that is, if you actually ever catch them running.
  203.  
  204. Your Soul Break lineup at this point should primarily be composed of Bursts or higher -- this is the powercreep level at which 3☆ Magicites were released. Ultras, Chains, and Overstrikes will definitely make things easier but they're no means required at this stage.
  205.  
  206. --------------------------------------------------------------------
  207.  
  208. [3LGT] LIGHTNING: Hydra
  209.  
  210. D350 Hydra: 578,431 HP
  211. Phase 1: 1252 ATK / 12012 DEF / 1056 MAG / 16050 RES / 346 MND / 550 SPD
  212. Phase 2: 1311 ATK / 12012 DEF / 1114 MAG / 16050 RES / 346 MND / 600 SPD
  213. Phase 3: 1371 ATK / 12012 DEF / 1173 MAG / 16050 RES / 346 MND / 650 SPD
  214.  
  215. - 50% weak to Earth, absorbs Lightning, resists everything else.
  216. - Enters Phase 2 on its 6th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  217. - Enters Phase 3 on its 16th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  218. - Goes berserk on its 37th turn.
  219.  
  220. Savage attacks:
  221. - Savage Thunderbolt: (NAT) 490% AoE Lightning piercing magic + 123% chance for -20% Imperil Lightning. Only dangerous if you allow it to stack continuously.
  222.  
  223. 3☆ Magicite drops:
  224. 3☆ Humbaba (VI): L10 Empower Lightning & L5 Precise Strikes
  225. 3☆ Enlil (XIII): L10 Empower Lightning & L10 Attack Boon (US: 4 AOE Lightning magic attacks, +20% Water Resist to party)
  226. 3☆ Hydra (V): L6 Dampen Lightning & L10 Resistance Boon (US: 4 AOE Lightning magic attacks, -20% Imperil Lightning)
  227.  
  228. You'll want a complete Hydra: it's the main magicite of the optimized Lightning deck until the 5☆, Quetzalcoatl, finally provides a proper Imperil Lightning.
  229. -----------------------------------------
  230.  
  231. I would like to note at this stage that of all the Magicite bosses, Hydra is, canon-wise, the weakest: it's literally an ordinary mob in V's Ronka Ruins. The rest of the 3☆ Magicites are at least bosses of some sort, or they're actual Magicites from VI, or summons like Golem.
  232.  
  233. Consequentially, it fits that Hydra seems to be one of the easiest, if not the easiest of the first six Magicites. Earth was a fairly rare element at the time of its release, and now that this isn't quite so true, it could be even easier. It has a fairly tame moveset: Rush is a physical attack that's single-target and stays single-target. Maelstrom frequently misses. Thunderbolt and Thundara are ordinary.
  234.  
  235. Your main problem is Savage Thunderbolt, and only Savage Thunderbolt. As with all Magicite, it'll start getting used consecutively past the 1-minute mark, and that's where things will start to get dangerously out of hand. This is a test of your Earth team more than anything else.
  236.  
  237. Pretty much the only things you'll have to worry about are the strength of your own Earth team and how often Savage Thunderbolt gets used. The latter will often be dictated by the former.
  238.  
  239. [3WTR] WATER: Bismarck
  240.  
  241. D350 Bismarck: 591,588 HP
  242. Phase 1: 1386 ATK / 12443 DEF / 1212 MAG / 19602 RES / 372 MND / 550 SPD
  243. Phase 2: 1444 ATK / 12443 DEF / 1273 MAG / 19602 RES / 372 MND / 600 SPD
  244. Phase 3: 1502 ATK / 12443 DEF / 1333 MAG / 19602 RES / 372 MND / 650 SPD
  245.  
  246. - 50% weak to Lightning, absorbs Water, resists everything else.
  247. - Enters Phase 2 on its 6th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  248. - Enters Phase 3 on its 16th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  249. - Goes berserk on its 37th turn.
  250.  
  251. Savage attacks:
  252. - Savage Breach Blast: (NAT) 570% AoE Water piercing magic. No gimmicks, just pure pain. Breach Blast has the highest damage multiplier of any main-wheel 3☆ Savage attack.
  253.  
  254. 3☆ Magicite drops:
  255. 3☆ Bottomswell (VII): L10 Empower Water & L3 Spell Ward
  256. 3☆ Enki (XIII): L10 Empower Water & L10 Mind Boon (US: 4 AOE Water magic attacks, +20% Fire Resist to party)
  257. 3☆ Bismarck (VI): L6 Dampen Water & L10 Resistance Boon (US: 0CT 4 AOE Water magic attacks, Fire Blink 1 to party)
  258.  
  259. Bismarck's call effect is useful for situations where a Fire attack is liable to blow you to bits (Savage Maliris later on being a good example). Wards are nice and you'll appreciate them later.
  260. -----------------------------------------
  261. Recommendations: Water resistance; if possible, some additional ice, thunder, or fire resistance wouldn't go amiss
  262.  
  263. Bismarck is much more straightforward than most of the other Magicite bosses: it has no attacks that inflict debuffs, and it only has one Savage attack.
  264.  
  265. It makes up for this by frequently being rude and inflicting pain untold. You're not getting away with just Water resistance, because it uses all three of Fira, Blizzara, and Thundara, on top of Rush in case you thought you were getting away with just Shellga.
  266.  
  267. Pay attention to its HP bar. Its first move under 81% and 41% HP is Savage Breach Blast: the strongest Savage attack before you meet the Dark and Holy bosses. It also has a tendency to use Savage Breach Blast seemingly at random just because it hates you.
  268.  
  269. More than a test of your Lightning team, this is a test of your healer. Bring one that's either instant or packs a Stoneskin, or Last Stand, or if you're lucky, two of those effects at the same time. A Burst with an instant healing command will also work, but will be heavily taxed without one of the aforementioned effects. But there are no gimmicks to this: it's a question of whether you can outdamage a big fat whale or not.
  270.  
  271. [3FRE] Liquid Flame
  272.  
  273. D350 Liquid Flame: 594,089 HP
  274. Phase 1: 1408 ATK / 12938 DEF / 1173 MAG / 18975 RES / 289 MND / 250 SPD
  275. Phase 2: 1466 ATK / 12938 DEF / 1232 MAG / 18975 RES / 289 MND / 300 SPD
  276. Phase 3: 1525 ATK / 12938 DEF / 1290 MAG / 18975 RES / 289 MND / 350 SPD
  277.  
  278. - Immune to all status ailments, INCLUDING Reflect.
  279. - All forms are 50% weak to Water and absorb Fire and Wind.
  280. - The Human and Tornado forms take neutral damage from Ice and resist everything else.
  281. - The Hand form is immune to all elements except Water.
  282. - Enters Phase 2 below 81% of its HP.
  283. - Enters Phase 3 below 41% of its HP.
  284. - Changes form after every 3 attacks, dual-casted actions count as 1.
  285.  
  286. In all phases, Human form has a 20% chance to counter all actions with Blaze (AOE 20% maxHP damage, BLK).
  287. In all phases, the Hand has a 20% chance to counter all actions with Fira (410% ST Fire magic, BLK).
  288.  
  289. Savage attacks:
  290. - Savage Blaze: (BLK) AoE 50% maxHP damage + 123% chance to Sap; this can and will KO your characters -- it's not based on CURRENT HP like most %HP attacks.
  291. - Savage Firaga: (NAT) 490% AoE Fire piercing magic + 123% chance for -20% Imperil Fire. Will outright kill you if you allow it to stack.
  292.  
  293. 3☆ Magicite drops:
  294. 3☆ Salamander (III): L10 Empower Fire & L5 Deadly Strikes
  295. 3☆ Mom Bomb (IV): L10 Empower Fire & L10 Attack Boon (US: 4 AOE Fire magic attacks, -20% Imperil Fire)
  296. 3☆ Liquid Flame (V): L6 Dampen Fire & L10 Defense Boon (US: 0CT 4 AOE Fire magic attacks, Ice Blink 1 to party)
  297.  
  298. Nothing much to say. Imperil is the same as always. You'll want a complete Mom Bomb: it's the main magicite of the optimized Fire deck, even after 4☆ magicites come into play. I don't think the 5☆ Fire magicites have Imperil Fire.
  299. -----------------------------------------
  300. Recommendations: Paralyze and Instant KO resistance; Fire resistance would be nice
  301.  
  302. Liquid Flame is a very RNG-dependent fight. Like its normal version, it has three forms: hand, human-shape, and tornado, and different attacks for each form. It shifts forms randomly, and not in a predetermined order.
  303.  
  304. While fire resistance sounds like the obvious choice for a fire-elemental boss, in my opinion you'll actually want to prioritize Instant KO resistance here: its most dangerous attack, Savage Blaze, is not only blockable, but also the one Savage attack you will have to deal with the most.
  305.  
  306. It always starts in human-shape, and normally attacks with Blaze (low fixed damage based on HP) or Rush (physical damage to one target or the whole party). Later on, it'll start casting Savage Blaze at turn intervals as well. Annoyingly, it has a chance to counter any attack with Blaze, which could be trouble if it follows up with a Savage Blaze later or if every attack is countered.
  307.  
  308. - The tornado is initially the safest form to deal with. Once it starts casting Savage Firaga, it's serious trouble: one cast is fine, two casts is serious damage, and three is usually a full TPK. Its first turn under 41% HP is Savage Firaga; if you get caught in it instead of going up against the human-shape or hand, you're in trouble.
  309. - The hand form has NO SAVAGE ATTACK. Instead, it has the physical attack Ray, which has a chance to inflict Paralyze and ruin a perfectly good run. It has a chance to counter attacks with Fira. Honestly? Pray for the hand form if the fight ends up taking time.
  310. - To summarize: the tornado is the only form with no likelihood to counter all attacks. Note that dual-casted attacks have a chance to be countered separately.
  311.  
  312. Your best bet, simply, is to force it to switch forms constantly. If you're lucky and force a phase transition as it shifts into the Hand form, you may not see it cast Savage attacks at all.
  313.  
  314. [3ICE] ICE: Sealion
  315.  
  316. D350 Sealion: 569,264 HP
  317. Phase 1: 1252 ATK / 10355 DEF / 1108 MAG / 16620 RES / 359 MND / 550 SPD
  318. Phase 2: 1311 ATK / 10355 DEF / 1169 MAG / 16620 RES / 359 MND / 600 SPD
  319. Phase 3: 1371 ATK / 10355 DEF / 1231 MAG / 16620 RES / 359 MND / 650 SPD
  320.  
  321. - 50% weak to Fire, absorbs Ice, immune to Earth/Water, resists everything else.
  322. - Enters Phase 2 on its 6th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  323. - Enters Phase 3 on its 16th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  324. - Goes berserk on its 37th turn.
  325.  
  326. Savage attacks:
  327. - Savage Blizzaga: (NAT) 490% AoE Ice magic + 123% chance for -20% Imperil Ice. You know the drill.
  328. - Savage Wing: (NAT) 422% AoE physical. Straightforward.
  329.  
  330. 3☆ Magicite drops:
  331. 3☆ Taharka (IX): L10 Empower Ice & L3 Blade Ward
  332. 3☆ Wendigo (XII): L10 Empower Ice & L10 Magic Boon (US: 4 AOE Ice magic attacks, -20% Imperil Ice)
  333. 3☆ Sealion (IX): L6 Dampen Blizzard & L10 Defense Boon (US: 0CT 4 AOE Ice magic attacks, Wind Blink 1 to party)
  334.  
  335. Wendigo is Ice's imperil of choice until 5☆ Ice magicite; Ice-elemental imperils (or at least, useful ones) are, in fact, rarer than most others. Sealion is especially useful against one of 4☆ Magicite's royal pains in the ass, Tiamat.
  336. -----------------------------------------
  337. Recommendations: Resistance to Ice
  338.  
  339. Call me biased, but I think Sealion is, like Hydra, one of the easiest starting points.
  340.  
  341. Sealion, like Hydra, has no gimmicks. Even better: none of its attacks are piercing, which means Fabula Guardian and Protectga + Shellga will be very useful here. Breaks, even, if you can spare the slots. Unlike with Hydra, though, Fire has too many offensive options to count. As a result, Sealion will actually try to kill you. If you have Liquid Flame, use it so you don't die to Savage Blizzaga, and heal off Savage Wing -- it's not Ice-elemental. Apart from that, though, there's little to explain regarding Sealion. Kill it or get killed.
  342.  
  343. Most of the danger of Sealion derives from Savage Blizzaga (first cast: ~81% HP, or first turn of its second phase) and the ensuing Blizzagas that take advantage of your weakened team; Savage Wing is nowhere near as harmful. Relatively, that is.
  344.  
  345. [3WND] WIND: Fenrir
  346.  
  347. D350 Fenrir: 558,102 HP
  348. Phase 1: 1386 ATK / 9954 DEF / 1212 MAG / 16038 RES / 372 MND / 550 SPD
  349. Phase 2: 1444 ATK / 9954 DEF / 1273 MAG / 16038 RES / 372 MND / 600 SPD
  350. Phase 3: 1502 ATK / 9954 DEF / 1333 MAG / 16038 RES / 372 MND / 650 SPD
  351.  
  352. - 50% weak to Ice, absorbs Wind, resists everything else
  353. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  354. - Enters Phase 3 on its 25th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  355. - Goes berserk on its 50th turn.
  356.  
  357. Savage attacks:
  358. - Savage Withering Winds: (NAT) 490% AoE Wind piercing magic + 15% chance to Slow. Annoying attack. Bring Hastega.
  359. - Savage Howling Moon: Grants Fenrir Haste, one Blink stack, and +30% ATK. Get rid of the Haste if not the Blink. Removing the ATK boost is optional.
  360.  
  361. 3☆ Magicite drops:
  362. 3☆ Wing Raptor (V): L10 Empower Wind & L5 Fast Act
  363. 3☆ Enkidu (V): L10 Empower Wind & L10 Magic Boon (US: 0CT 40% maxHP heal & Esuna to party)
  364. 3☆ Fenrir (VI): L6 Dampen Air & L10 Resistance Boon (US: Physical Blink 1 & +20% Earth Resist to party)
  365.  
  366. It should probably be immediately obvious that Enkidu is an excellent panic button. Max it out as soon as you can. None of the Wind magicites have an imperil Wind effect; in general, Wind's source of imperil comes from Zack's and Zidane's Soul Breaks.
  367.  
  368. Don't bother with Fast Act just yet.
  369. -----------------------------------------
  370. Recommendations: Resistance to Wind and Slow; Hastega; a magic-based team would be helpful
  371.  
  372. Fenrir is, not to put it lightly, a pain in the ass. It has a regular Howling Moon attack that simply grants Blink -- it's not as bad as Golem's Earthen Wall and definitely isn't too discouraging to physical Ice teams, although it may cause some frustration. Apart from Savage Withering Winds, its non-piercing attacks (Wind Slash, Bite) are all physical and single-target. Leave Shellga out of your builds.
  373.  
  374. The real issue is in its Savage attacks. Slow RNG can and will ruin plenty of attempts, and Savage Withering Winds is first cast very early (around 9 seconds in); Savage Howling Moon's Haste needs to be removed ASAP, because allowing Fenrir to take up more turns is more dangerous purely by virtue of allowing him to go berserk earlier than usual. Dispel is obviously preferred over Banishing Strike in this case, due to the Blink.
  375.  
  376. Newer players are provided a tool that we didn't have until late into the 4* Magicite life cycle: Hastega. It will trivialize most of the problems created by Savage Withering Winds and comes highly recommended for this boss.
  377.  
  378. [3EAR] EARTH: Golem
  379.  
  380. D350 Golem: 580,426 HP
  381. Phase 1: 1386 ATK / 18249 DEF / 1212 MAG / 21384 RES / 372 MND / 500 SPD
  382. Phase 2: 1444 ATK / 18249 DEF / 1273 MAG / 21384 RES / 372 MND / 600 SPD
  383. Phase 3: 1502 ATK / 18249 DEF / 1333 MAG / 21384 RES / 372 MND / 650 SPD
  384.  
  385. - 50% weak to Wind, absorbs Earth, resists everything else.
  386. - Enters Phase 2 on its 6th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  387. - Enters Phase 3 on its 16th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  388. - Goes berserk on its 37th turn.
  389.  
  390. Savage attacks:
  391. - Savage Earth Shaker: (NAT) 570% AoE Earth piercing magic + 30% chance to Interrupt Actions. Prepare for capital-B BULLSHIT.
  392.  
  393. 3☆ Magicite drops:
  394. 3☆ Sandworm (X): L10 Empower Earth & L3 Health Boon
  395. 3☆ Shell Dragon (IX): L10 Empower Earth & L10 Defense Boon (US: 4 AOE Earth magic attacks, -20% Imperil Earth)
  396. 3☆ Golem (V): L6 Dampen Earth & L10 Resistance Boon (US: 30% Lightning Stoneskin to party, HP calculated via total Magicite deck HP)
  397.  
  398. Imperil Earth is rare. Seriously, who has it? Guy? Dorgann? In any case, since 5☆ Magicite bosses are being released in sequential order you're going to be stuck with Shell Dragon for a long while, so get one. Golem's call is useful, although it overwrites normal HP bubbles (like from Y'shtola's BSB Asylum), so watch out for that. As for Sand Worm... there are better Health Boon passives later on.
  399. -----------------------------------------
  400. Recommendations: Resistance to Earth and Interrupt Actions; a magic-based team is STRONGLY preferred
  401.  
  402. In case the all-caps didn't warn you enough, Golem has the potential for massive bullshit in the form of Interrupt Actions. On top of that, the devs put in as much work as they possibly could to discourage the usual UNGA BUNGA ME CLICK ULTRA CROSS SLASH wind gorilla strategy (though if you're gorilla enough, be my guest), thanks to two things:
  403.  
  404. - Golem's first action will always be casting Protect on itself; it never casts Shell
  405. - It will periodically re-cast Protect, and then follow up with Earthen Wall, which absorbs ONLY physical attacks
  406.  
  407. But what this amounts to, if you're using a magic-biased team, is several free turns. In fact, Alphinaud or Fujin as your sole or primary source of DPS (with their Bursts) could easily carry this boss -- just watch out for Savage Earth Shaker. A sub-60 run with average DPS will see this at around 20 seconds in.
  408.  
  409. Its toolkit of attacks is fairly small: it pretty much only has Cave In, which hits 4 random targets (and can be good for a little extra meter), the irrelevant Punch and its basic attack, and a non-Savage version of Earth Shaker. Can use Savage Earth Shaker seemingly at random and ruin your day.
  410.  
  411. [3HLY] HOLY: Mist Dragon
  412.  
  413. D350 Mist Dragon: 544,405 HP
  414. Phase 1: 1430 ATK / 12645 DEF / 1173 MAG / 19260 RES / 1173 MND / 550 SPD
  415. Phase 2: 1490 ATK / 13860 DEF / 1232 MAG / 19260 RES / 1232 MND / 600 SPD
  416. Phase 3: 1550 ATK / 13860 DEF / 1290 MAG / 19260 RES / 1290 MND / 650 SPD
  417.  
  418. - 50% weak to Dark, absorbs Holy, resists everything else.
  419. - Enters Phase 2 below 81% of its HP.
  420. - Enters Phase 3 below 41% of its HP.
  421. - Does not go berserk.
  422. - Enters Mist Form in Phase 1 T6, Phase 2 T8 & Phase 3 T10; phase transition does not reset turn counts.
  423. - Mist Form lasts for 2 turns. During this, all attacks will miss and be countered with Freezing Mist (NAT - 410% AOE Ice magic).
  424.  
  425. Savage attacks:
  426. - Savage Freezing Mist: (NAT) 490% AoE Holy AND Ice magic. This will hurt if you're taking damage from the Ice factor.
  427. - Savage Holy: (WHT) 3-slot 570% Holy magic. MND-based. Targets any consecutive three characters. A more targeted version of Savage Breach Blast.
  428.  
  429. 3☆ Magicite drops:
  430. 3☆ Kirin (VI): L10 Empower Holy & L5 Healing Boon
  431. 3☆ Unicorn (VI): L10 Empower Holy & L10 Mind Boon (High Regen & Astra to party)
  432. 3☆ Mist Dragon (IV): L6 Dampen Light & L10 Resistance Boon (4 AOE Holy magic attacks, +20% Dark Resist to party)
  433.  
  434. You'll want Unicorn. You'll DEFINITELY want Unicorn. On-call status blink, particularly, is vital to Hades later on as well as many other bosses (Boundless Ozma, several neo-Torments). The rest, not so much.
  435. -----------------------------------------
  436. Recommendations: Resistance to Holy (and preferably also Ice); Sealion's Ice resistance passive would be helpful
  437.  
  438. Once you clear the main wheel of Magicite dungeons, the Holy and Dark magicites will unlock. The same rules apply. Once you clear both, Elarra will gain Fabula Raider as a new RW option (+30% ATK / MAG and party Haste, very useful for speed clears).
  439.  
  440. Similar to Sealion, none of Mist Dragon's attacks are piercing, making Wall and Shellga all that more important.
  441.  
  442. Mist Dragon is pathetically easy if you can kill him fast, and much, much more annoying if you can't -- this is because of the one mechanic it shares with its normal counterpart: that where it dissolves into mist, and dodge-counters every attack you throw at it in the meantime. Literally the only thing you can do will be to wait -- and this generally isn't good for the timers on your buffs, much less any characters you might have with a Doom counter on them (if you're using Memento Mori). In general, it first dissolves into mist at the 15- or 16-second mark (Turn 6) if you don't push it out of its first phase quickly, and dissolves into mist again at about 15 seconds after it moves into the next phase. Bear this in mind when attacking.
  443.  
  444. Also particularly of note is Freezing Mist, which can really trip you up because it also has an Ice component to its attack (meaning if you're resisting Holy, it'll default to the Ice component and deal neutral damage). The intention is likely to have you bring Sealion for its passive -- not that there's any excuse not to have one, either, since you'll need to have cleared it to get here.
  445.  
  446. As with plenty of Holy bosses, you'll need to make space for Mind Breakdown as well as Magic Breakdown if you can afford to bring debuffs at all, so keep this in mind.
  447.  
  448. [7.9.8] DARK: Shadow Dragon
  449.  
  450. D350 Shadow Dragon: 601,114 HP
  451. Phase 1: 1430 ATK / 14784 DEF / 1232 MAG / 17655 RES / 346 MND / 550 SPD
  452. Phase 2: 1490 ATK / 14784 DEF / 1290 MAG / 17655 RES / 346 MND / 600 SPD
  453. Phase 3: 1550 ATK / 14784 DEF / 1290 MAG / 17655 RES / 1346 MND / 650 SPD
  454.  
  455. - 50% weak to Holy, absorbs Dark, resists everything else.
  456. - Enters Phase 2 on its 8th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  457. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  458. - Goes berserk on its 40th turn.
  459. - Black Fang will be used during Phase 1 T4 (~11s) and T8 (~21s).
  460.  
  461. Savage attacks:
  462. - Savage Dark Breath: (NAT) 570% AoE Dark piercing magic. Savage Breach Blast, reloaded.
  463. - Savage Binding Cold: (NAT) 344% AoE Dark physical + 21% chance to inflict 45-second Doom. The Doom isn't an issue; it's more indicative of the speed you'll be expected to dispatch this one.
  464. - Savage Black Fang: (NAT) 410% AoE Dark magic + 30% chance to inflict Sap. Users of Saint Cross will shrug off Sap; all else will find this annoying for Last Stand.
  465.  
  466. 3☆ Magicite drops:
  467. 3☆ Darkmare (XII): L10 Empower Dark, L5 Healing Damper & L10 Hand of Vengeance
  468. 3☆ Phantom (VI): L10 Empower Dark & L10 Attack Boon (US: Holy Blink 1 & Holy Resist to party)
  469. 3☆ Shadow Dragon (IV): L6 Dampen Dark & L10 Defense Boon (US: 6 ST Dark physical attacks, 100% Sap & Imperil Dark)
  470.  
  471. Shadow Dragon is Dark's main magicite of choice for its imperil Dark. Get one.
  472. -----------------------------------------
  473. Recommendations: Your best impression of a Cloud gorilla, except Holy-element (and some resist Dark accessories)
  474.  
  475. At around the 11-second mark, Shadow Dragon will cast Black Fang and kill the party member with the lowest HP remaining. This is impossible to block, even with Instant KO accessories or Astra.
  476.  
  477. The only way to avoid this is to deal something around 110k damage to Shadow Dragon before this happens. There are more ways to go about this than there used to be: the OG strat is to quickly entrust a gauge to an Overstrike nuke like Orlandeau or Agrias, and then use a crit buff like Cait Sith's BSB or Onion Knight's pUSB. The other method is simply to hit Assault Sabre and the rest of your 5* Knight skills as hard as possible.
  478.  
  479. But for most normal players, the best thing you can do is mitigate the effects of Black Fang. What this means is that you may have to manipulate HP, perhaps by attacking your own characters, and then continue with only the four characters you have. Alternatively, you could just do what Dr. Mog suggests and pack Arise or Raise. The side-effects of Shadow Dragon's Savage attacks aren't too bad: the Doom timer is mostly irrelevant when Shadow Dragon's going berserk is a good enough motivator to be quick as it is, and Sap is often cleared off by Saint Cross or similar, or is otherwise made irrelevant by the constant need to be topped off.
  480.  
  481. Two of its Savage attacks aren't piercing. This poses a problem if you're running Raise, Arise, or Curaise, as your revived character is not likely to stay alive for long unless you time a re-cast Fabula Guardian or any Wall effect right as they're revived.
  482.  
  483. Notably, Shadow Dragon only casts Black Fang during its first phase, and at fixed intervals. The second cast of Black Fang occurs at around the 21-second mark, and frankly if this happens you're probably doing something wrong.
  484.  
  485. [7.9.4] 4☆ Magicite
  486.  
  487. 4☆ Magicite is, in a word, difficult. By this point, you should probably be running characters and teams with complete or near-complete Legend Spheres and high hones. Get familiar with micromanaging your Soul Break gauges if you aren't already, and learn what works and what doesn't. Chains and Ultras will start to become more useful here, and at least one character with them can probably force a sub-30 if you know what you're doing.
  488.  
  489. At this point, you really should have some sort of healing Ultra, but barring that, instant and high-tier Bursts are still your friend. Asylum, Life Crystal, and Transcendent Dream especially come to mind.
  490.  
  491. A complete, 4☆-level magicite and sub-30 clears under your deck is almost a pre-requisite to clears of Boundless superbosses and the new Torments. If anything, consider this your first real warm-up.
  492.  
  493. General notes:
  494. - Unlike most event bosses and even 3* Magicite, you will have little (if any) breathing room to start: 4* Magicite bosses will typically use a Savage attack on their first or second turn.
  495. - For the most part, you're really expected to have high-tier Soul Breaks for each element to deal with this stuff. Ultra Soul Breaks with "chasing" effects (Chosen Traveler, Day to Remember, etc.) or those that enable dualcast or quickcast (Sword Saint, Sagefire) are typically the ticket.
  496. - Failing that, another option is ninjas with dualcast Legend Materia. There are three elemental variants (water, earth, and dark) of a particular Ninja skill combo (Mirror Image + multi-hit) which, with patience and enough Major Dark Orbs invested, can net you working 4* Magicite clears for three elements: fire, dark, and lightning.
  497. - An optimal magicite deck is helpful albeit not entirely necesssary (although if you're running poverty or largely Burst-reliant strategies, you'll definitely need one). At the very least I would suggest maxing out a Sealion, Enkidu, Bismarck, and Unicorn, and work with as much of the rest of the passives as you can.
  498.  
  499. --------------------------------------------------------------------
  500.  
  501. [4LGT] Ixion
  502.  
  503. D400 Ixion: 667,636 HP
  504. Phase 1: 1778 ATK / 19197 DEF / 1554 MAG / 27468 RES / 322 MND / 550 SPD
  505. Phase 2: 1778 ATK / 19197 DEF / 1554 MAG / 27468 RES / 322 MND / 600 SPD
  506. Phase 3: 1927 ATK / 19197 DEF / 1632 MAG / 27468 RES / 322 MND / 650 SPD
  507.  
  508. - 60% resistance to stat reduction debuffs, compared to 80% for all others.
  509. - 50% weak to Earth, absorbs Lightning, resists everything else.
  510. - Enters Phase 2 below 81% of its HP.
  511. - Enters Phase 3 below 41% of its HP.
  512. - As Ixion's HP changes, the chance of it entering Defenses Harden or Evasion Quickens forms changes as well. Respectively: 20 / 13.6 / 10% chance in Phase 1 / 2 / 3. Form-change actions are instant. Stat boosts last until Ixion's next action.
  513. - When Defense hardens, it has 38394 DEF & 50358 RES.
  514. - When Evasion quickens, it has 420 EVA (from 70) and gains +50 SPD (up to 650).
  515. - Does not go berserk.
  516.  
  517. Savage attacks:
  518. - Savage Aerospark: (NAT) 344% AoE Lightning ranged physical + Dispel. Clears all visible buffs (i.e., Protectga, Hastega, etc.) Ixion's most dangerous attack.
  519. - Savage Thor's Hammer: (NAT) AoE Lightning piercing magic + 123% chance for -20% Imperil Lightning. The usual Imperil-stacking Savage attack. Less troublesome compared to Savage Aerospark.
  520.  
  521. 4☆ Magicite drops:
  522. 4☆ Mimic Queen (XII): L15 Empower Lightning, L15 Attack Boon & L8 Precise Strikes (US: 5 AOE Lightning magic attacks, Water Blink 1 to party)
  523. 4☆ Garuda (III): L15 Empower Lightning, L15 Magic Boon & L8 Fast Act (US: 5 AOE Lightning magic attacks, +20% Lightning Boost to party)
  524. 4☆ Ixion (X): L10 Dampen Water, L15 Defense Boon & L8 Deadly Strikes (US: 5 AOE Lightning magic attacks, -20% Water Break)
  525.  
  526. 4☆ Lightning offers no Imperil calls, so your main Magicite will remain Hydra until you snag Quetzalcoatl. The rest are fairly self-explanatory. At least one Fast Act Lv. 8 source in a Magicite deck would be preferable; Mimic Queen and Ixion together provide Precise and Deadly Strikes for physical teams.
  527. --------------------------------------------------------------------
  528. Recommendations: Break debuffs, physical Blinks, and some source of Hastega always on hand
  529.  
  530. Survivors of the first released Apocalypse+ boss in RK, the Battle of Aeons, remember Ixion for its infamous Ultimate Aerospark, which did two things: an AOE party Dispel, with a chance to Stop. So the mention of Ixion naturally brings up bad memories for veterans.
  531.  
  532. This magicite version of Ixion bears some resemblance to said unfriendlier version, but it's thanks to the inclusion of Savage Aerospark's gimmick that Ixion has been "toned down" to compensate. First, break debuffs are viable here, as you're only going up against 60% resistance. Secondly, Ixion only has about 660k HP, a number very close to its 3☆ Magicite colleagues. Savage Aerospark aside, these two factors make Ixion a good entry point into 4☆ Magicite, and should familiarize you well with the difficulty spike.
  533.  
  534. The first thing you'll want to prepare for is Savage Aerospark -- it'll first be cast on Ixion's third turn. It doesn't ignore Blink. There are, fortunately, a collection of relics which grant party-wide physical Blink. Common ones include Edge's ever-important SSB2, Eblan Doppelganger or Penelo's USB1 Dance of Rapture, but the one most accessible to those who have it available from the Acolyte Archives is Arc's SSB2, Words of Kindness. It's instant, it's a physical Blink, and it'll heal off all the damage you took from Savage Thor's Hammer at the start. What's not to like?
  535.  
  536. Ixion can be fairly RNG-dependent, as fights go. It has a random chance of going into its Defensive or Evasive forms at any time. As their names imply, you're looking at a significant damage stall as log as they're active (until Ixion's next action). Magic teams can safely ignore the Evasive form, but physical teams will likely have to wait it out if you need to conserve hones. Once you go under 81% HP, Savage Aerosparks can also be cast at random, which can ruin attempts easily.
  537.  
  538. If you happen to have Rikku's USB1 (Hyper Mighty Guard) or Basch's USB2 (Exemplar of Honor) they're both quite useful for this fight: Rikku provides 5* Dancer skills (Enfeebling Jitterbug and Multi Break, for example) while Basch can contribute to damage with the 5* Earth Knight skills, on top of covering your entire buff suite should you ever be caught unawares by stray Savage Aerosparks. Barring that, it's a good assumption that you'll have to recast your own buffs at some point, so bringing all of Protectga, Shellga, and Hastega is a good option, as are double healers. Again, thanks to Ixion's lower HP, you should be able to get by with two attackers + two healers (one of which will likely be Arc) + support / buffing fairly well.
  539.  
  540. At the high end of things, Ixion clears are the fastest among all of 4☆ Magicite, and any competent Earth offense will demolish it quickly. Luck factor aside, it's a good starting point with the right tools.
  541.  
  542. [4WTR] Kraken
  543.  
  544. D400 Kraken: 783,848 HP
  545. Phase 1: 1778 ATK / 28650 DEF / 1505 MAG / 46925 RES / 333 MND / 550 SPD
  546. Phase 2: 1778 ATK / 28650 DEF / 1505 MAG / 46925 RES / 333 MND / 600 SPD
  547. Phase 3: 1927 ATK / 28650 DEF / 1580 MAG / 46925 RES / 333 MND / 650 SPD
  548.  
  549. D400 Tentacles: 241,184 HP each
  550. Phase 1~3: 1778 ATK / 20628 DEF / 1505 MAG / 46925 RES / 333 MND / 550 SPD
  551.  
  552. - Enters Phase 2 on its 6th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  553. - Enters Phase 3 on its 16th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  554. - Goes berserk on its 38th turn.
  555. - With Left Tentacle alive, Kraken has a chance to counter all attacks with Water Cannon (BLK - single-target 410% Water magic).
  556. - With Right Tentacle alive, Kraken has a chance to counter all attacks with Ink (PHY - single-target 266% ranged physical + 33% chance to Blind).
  557. - As Kraken's HP drops, the rate of counters triggering increases. Respectively: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50% in Phase 1 / 2 / 3 / berserk.
  558. - If both Tentacles are dead, Kraken has a flat 20% chance to counter all attacks with Leg (PHY - single-target 266% physical).
  559.  
  560. Savage attacks:
  561. - Savage Waterga: (NAT) 490% AoE Water piercing magic + weakens party RES by -30% for 20 seconds. Imperil under a different name. Thankfully not stackable.
  562. - Savage Leg (NAT) 266% AoE Water piercing ranged physical. Straightforward. Annoying.
  563.  
  564. 4☆ Magicite drops:
  565. 4☆ Gizamaluke (IX): L10 Dampen Fire, L15 Resistance Boon & L5 Spell Ward (US: 5 AOE Water magic attacks, -20% Fire Break)
  566. 4☆ Octomammoth (IV): L15 Empower Water, L15 Magic Boon & L5 Health Boon (US: 8 ST Water physical attacks, +20% Water Boost to party)
  567. 4☆ Kraken (IX): L15 Empower Water, L15 Attack Boon & L5 Blade Ward (US: 5 AOE Water magic attacks, -20% Imperil Water)
  568.  
  569. Kraken is Water's source of Imperil Water! And it comes with a Blade Ward for free! What's not to like? The Water 4☆ magicites in general have some pretty good passives to go around. Take Gizamaluke with you if you haven't fought Tiamat yet. Trust me on this one.
  570. --------------------------------------------------------------------
  571. Recommendations: Water resistance, patience
  572.  
  573. There are two 4☆ magicite bosses that infuriate me more than anything. Siren is one. To be fair, DeNA has a habit of making the Holy and Dark bosses harder, so I'll grant them that.
  574.  
  575. Kraken is bullshit, RNG, cancer, the work of /oneguy/, literally ass, except ass can bring pleasure, et cetera, on a scale indescribable by anything less than sheer frothing anger. I hate this piece of shit. I hate it so much.
  576.  
  577. Your biggest problem, bar none, are its counter-attacks. Allow me to illustrate. Every non-Soul Break attack you land on the main body has a chance to be countered. This includes every dual-casted or triple-casted attack, separately. In the first phase, each tentacle alive grants Kraken a separate 20% chance of countering.
  578.  
  579. Probability tells you that this is a 36% chance of being countered at least once (4% to be countered twice)*. A dual-cast proc from any second Legend Sphere materia is 35%, but to make things clearer, this is a little over a 1 in 3 chance. After Kraken reaches 81% HP, this rises to 49%, or a little under 1 in 2; at 41% HP, a staggering 64% chance of being countered at least once per hit (16% to be hit twice).
  580.  
  581. Every hit, dual-cast, or triple-cast, calculates separately. If you land a double-cast, don't be surprised if you get countered back by anywhere between one to four extra attacks. This is in addition to the regular Magicite repertoire of attacks. Just barely survived after a Savage Waterga or Savage Leg? Oops, you triggered a counter on an attack, nice Last Stand you got there kiddo. And enjoy watching your entire team get crippled by Blind!
  582.  
  583. To add insult to injury, Kraken has the obscene Frost Blast, an Ice attack with a chance to - you guessed it - Stop. Kraken has 333 MND; most Stops designed to be shrugged off quickly are from bosses under 200.
  584.  
  585. Anyone attempting to sub-30 this abscess of total metastasis will typically forfeit any ounce of safety and brave the RNG. Fortunately, if you are not so inclined, there's a few things you can do:
  586.  
  587. - Water Cannon is BLK; Ink is PHY. You can use Magic Lure and Draw Fire along with a specifically-geared Knight to absorb the counters, and occasionally spit some of it back out as Soul Breaks.
  588. - Don't attack Kraken before all your buffs are up. Unless, of course, you want to entice Kraken to nearly kill a character and trigger a Trance mode.
  589. - You can, of course, kill the Tentacles. This is a waste of time unless you for some reason are a merchant of Lightning summons.
  590. - Feed Soul Break gauge to one or two characters with Wrath + Entrust, then spam Soul Breaks. Those are not countered.
  591.  
  592. The multi-target nature of this boss also cripples an important Lightning character: the Imperil Lightning machinist Prompto, whose Soul Breaks are mostly random-target and will aim for the Tentacles and thus do no appreciable damage to Kraken.
  593.  
  594. Fuck this boss.
  595.  
  596. --------------------------------------------------------------------
  597.  
  598. * The probability for this calculation is based on P(A ∪ B) = 1 - ((1 - P(A)) * (1 - P(B))).
  599. * To find the probability that both counters trigger, this is P(A ∩ B) = (P(A) + P(B)) - P(A ∪ B).
  600.  
  601. [4FRE] Maliris
  602.  
  603. D400 Marilith: 1,001,454 HP
  604. Phase 1: 1835 ATK / 20460 DEF / 1579 MAG / 46992 RES / 311 MND / 550 SPD
  605. Phase 2: 1911 ATK / 20460 DEF / 1658 MAG / 46992 RES / 311 MND / 600 SPD
  606. Phase 3: 1988 ATK / 20460 DEF / 1737 MAG / 46992 RES / 311 MND / 650 SPD
  607.  
  608. - 50% weak to Water, absorbs Fire, resists everything else.
  609. - Enters Phase 2 on her 6th turn or below 81% of her HP.
  610. - Enters Phase 3 on her 16th turn or below 41% of her HP.
  611. - Goes berserk on her 38th turn.
  612. - Upon defeat, she will use Raining Swords (NAT - 344% AOE ranged physical). Survive it to win the fight.
  613.  
  614. Savage attacks:
  615. - Savage Flame Slash: (NAT) 266% 6 Fire physical random-target, NAT + 21% chance to Interrupt Actions EACH. This likely won't kill something, but it's likely to ruin something. For maximum RNG, watch as she hits all five of your party members and stuns all of them.
  616. - Savage Firaga: (NAT) 490% AoE Fire piercing magic + 123% chance for -20% Imperil Fire. You may remember this from Liquid Flame. Maliris is far, far more adept at using this to tear you to pieces.
  617.  
  618. 4* Magicite drops:
  619. 4☆ Firemane (XII): L10 Dampen Blizzard, L15 Resistance Boon & L5 Spell Ward (US: 5 AOE Fire magic attacks, 11% chance to Poison, +20% Ice Resist to party)
  620. 4☆ King Bomb (XII): L15 Empower Fire, L15 Magic Boon & L5 Health Boon (US: 5 AOE Fire magic attacks, +20% Fire Boost to party)
  621. 4☆ Marilith (IX): L15 Empower Fire, L15 Attack Boon & L8 Deadly Strikes (US: 6 ST Fire physical attacks, -20% Ice Break)
  622.  
  623. Firemane has a level 5 Spell Ward, which is pretty good for cutting down on damage from piercing attacks. King Bomb is, well... it's not Mom Bomb, but Fire boost on-call isn't bad, either. It, however, occasionally casts Short Fuse on a random party member, making their next turn a 0CT cast. You may find this useful for your sub-30 memes.
  624. --------------------------------------------------------------------
  625. Recommendations: Fire resistance
  626.  
  627. Of the 4* Magicite bosses, Maliris has the most HP (just over 1 million), but its AI is comparatively soft. In 4* Magicite, this isn't saying much.
  628.  
  629. Your main problem, without a doubt, will be Savage Firaga. Notably, after you take off about 60% of her HP, Maliris is scripted to fire off two Savage Firagas back-to-back on her next two turns, which can and will kill you if you don't have some way to block one or both of them, or survive it with Last Stand. The easiest solution here is to use Bismarck as your main magicite, which blocks the HP damage -- but not the fire Imperil, part of why you will straight up die if she decides to cast it too often.
  630.  
  631. Savage Flame Slash, while annoying, is not nearly as damaging or dangerous owing to its random-target nature. It's more likely to interfere with a sub-30 run than anything else.
  632.  
  633. If your main attackers are one of Yuffie or Edge, you'll have a much easier time here, especially if you can spare a Water-element Chain. How does seven hits with quick cast time and potential dual-cast sound to you for chain-building? Their blinks will dodge Flame Slash attacks, and if you're Edge and can spare some time for Eblan Doppelganger, you'll probably be more comfortable. Tidus is far more common as a primary attacker, but has no such luck with Flame Slash or getting roasted by Savage Firaga. Two healers, one preferably with Last Stand, may be prudent to deal with her if you can't kill her under 30 seconds.
  634.  
  635. Keep in mind that you'll also have to survive her desperation Raining Swords attack when she dies, which shouldn't be too much of a problem provided you're either running some sort of Last Stand or a ninja with Reflecting Pool + Raging Waters. Either way, it's not a fixed-9999 attack or some bullshit like that, so it's reasonably survivable even without either of the above.
  636.  
  637. [4ICE] Isgebind
  638.  
  639. D400 Isgebind: 932,775 HP
  640. Phase 1: 1835 ATK / 28476 DEF / 1505 MAG / 49536 RES / 299 MND / 550 SPD
  641. Phase 2: 1988 ATK / 28476 DEF / 1580 MAG / 49536 RES / 299 MND / 650 SPD
  642.  
  643. - 50% weak to Fire, absorbs Ice, resists everything else.
  644. - Enters Phase 2 below 51% of its HP.
  645. - Enters flight on Phase 1 T5 (~13s) & Phase 2 T4 (after its second Savage Frost Breath)
  646. - When flying, Isgebind can only be hit by magic or ranged physical attacks.
  647.  
  648. Savage attacks:
  649. - Savage Frost Breath: (NAT) 266% AoE Ice piercing ranged physical. Has a low multiplier and should be less painful than other Savage attacks in its class. Should.
  650.  
  651. 4☆ Magicite drops:
  652. 4☆ Krysta (VIII): L10 Dampen Air, L15 Defense Boon & L5 Blade Ward (US: 5 AOE Ice magic attacks, 30% Wind Stoneskin to party, HP calculated via total Magicite deck HP)
  653. 4☆ Dullahan (VI): L15 Empower Ice, L15 Magic Boon & L5 Spell Ward (US: 5 AOE Ice magic attacks, +20% Ice Boost to party)
  654. 4☆ Isgebind (XIV): L15 Empower Ice, L15 Attack Boon & L8 Precise Strikes (US: 5 AOE Ice ranged physical attacks, -20% Wind Break)
  655.  
  656. If farming Isgebind is easy for you compared to Tiamat, I'll take this opportunity to stress that you'll want a Krysta. Level it up, do it a second time, inherit a Dampen Wind onto it, and only then take on that saggy bitch.
  657.  
  658. No Imperil Ice relegates the 4☆ Ice magicites to your sub-deck. Thanks to Dullahan and Krysta combined, Ice joins Water as having both Ward passives native to its element, which, again, I will stress as crucial to easing up anything having to do with Isgebind's Wind-element compatriot.
  659. --------------------------------------------------------------------
  660. Recommendations: Physical Blink, Ice and/or paralysis resistance, ranged weapons whenever possible
  661.  
  662. Isgebind is another fairly simple 4☆ Magicite entry point. All of its attacks are physical (ergo, no Shellga), it only has two phases (ergo, fewer scripted Savage attacks), and its Savage attack is of fairly low potency.
  663.  
  664. So what's the catch? Just two: first, up to twice during the fight, Isgebind will fly up out of melee reach. Second, during said flight, Isgebind will hit your entire party with Sheet of Ice, a party-wide attack with a chance to Paralyze.
  665.  
  666. The first is irrelevant, should you happen to have a Fire magic team. Those using physical Fire will have it a little harder. Monks (e.g., Refia, Zell) have the 5* skill Fires Within, which is innately a ranged attack, but others (e.g., Bartz, Gilgamesh) have no such luxury. Unless you're fine with having them sit out on attacks entirely during its flight (which lasts two / three turns in Phase 1 / 2 respectively), hand them thrown or ranged weapons, even at the cost of any +Fire weapons they could have been using instead.
  667.  
  668. The second issue requires a bit more work. Horizon Rings are 5* accessories which conveniently provide both Ice and Paralysis resistance, and there should be one in the Gysahl Greens Exchange. If you have Edge's SSB2 (Eblan Doppelganger), it's not out of the question for him to also contribute damage on top of the AoE Blink: as a Ninja, he has access to the 5* skill Smoldering Fire, one of the two 5* ignore-RES Ninja magic skills. More options you're likely to have might be Ace's BSB (Firaga RF), or Arc's SSB2 (Word of Kindness).
  669.  
  670. Failing all those, there's always Unicorn, or Larsa's Astra, or Ultra Cure. And so on. Or you could brave the RNG -- it's only a 12% chance each, after all.
  671.  
  672. [4WND] Tiamat
  673.  
  674. D400 Tiamat: 915,815 HP
  675. Phase 1: 1835 ATK / 28713 DEF / 1505 MAG / 46440 RES / 299 MND / 550 SPD
  676. Phase 2: 1911 ATK / 28713 DEF / 1580 MAG / 46440 RES / 299 MND / 600 SPD
  677. Phase 3: 1988 ATK / 28713 DEF / 1656 MAG / 46440 RES / 299 MND / 650 SPD
  678.  
  679. - 50% weak to Ice, absorbs Wind, resists everything else.
  680. - Enters Phase 2 on her 6th turn or below 81% of her HP.
  681. - Enters Phase 3 on her 16th turn or below 41% of her HP.
  682. - Goes berserk on her 38th turn.
  683. - All of her actions have Celerity cast time. In other words, faster than most other Magicites.
  684. - Each use of Absorb Magic or Absorb Strength counts as two turns towards Tiamat's berserk mode.
  685.  
  686. Savage attacks:
  687. - Savage Jet Fire: (NAT) 500% AoE Wind AND Fire ranged physical. Say hello! This is the attack that will end your run. Over and over. You're going to get real acquainted with this thing. It's not piercing, so mind the damage and bring Protectga.
  688. - Savage Twister: (NAT) 570% AoE Wind piercing magic. The usual piercing, bruising attack. If Savage Jet Fire won't kill you, this will.
  689.  
  690. 4☆ Magicite drops:
  691. 4☆ Sylph (V): L10 Dampen Earth, L15 Mind Boon & L8 Fast Act (US: 8 ST Wind magic attacks, h82 heal to party)
  692. 4☆ Silver Dragon (IX): L15 Empower Wind, L15 Attack Boon & L8 Precise Strikes (US: 5 AOE Wind magic attacks, Haste to party)
  693. 4☆ Tiamat (IX): L15 Empower Wind, L15 Magic Boon & L5 Blade Ward (US: 5 AOE Wind magic attacks, +20% Wind Boost to party)
  694.  
  695. Sylph isn't instant, and neither does it grant Esuna, which makes it NOT an upgrade to Enkidu. And there's still no native Imperil Wind source. So Tiamat will have to do for now. Silver Dragon is an option for fights which Dispel constantly and where you could make do with an extra source of Hastega when your party members are otherwise kept busy.
  696. -----------------------------------------
  697. Recommendations: Mixed Wind AND Fire resistance, mixed buffs, Last Stand up the ass
  698.  
  699. So. Tiamat. If it could be said to be a gimmick, Tiamat has one, and only one: pure pain. She ties with Maliris and Isgebind for the highest natural ATK in 4☆ Magicite, but in practice, Tiamat will hit harder than any of the rest.
  700.  
  701. The reason? Absorb Strength and Absorb Magic. Tiamat will, at random, sap -20% ATK and -20% MAG from one of your party members to grant herself the same boost. In Phase 1, this pushes her MAG to 1806, and her ATK to 2202. The latter is higher than even the Phase 3 modes of 5☆ Magicite bosses. These moves are also why one-stat buffs such as Shout and its myriad successors are in trouble: Absorb Strength will entirely overwrite any ATK +50% buff. So this leaves you with two options: either bring some sort of mixed buff, like Hyper Mighty G (+30% ATK/MAG, which has a different buff ID and can't be overwritten), or restart every time an Absorb hits an attacker instead of a healer or support. (It's cast few enough times that this is a viable risk to take.)
  702.  
  703. Out of the gate, her first move is Absorb Magic, followed by a non-piercing Twister. Thanks to her Celerity cast time, this is not enough time to deploy Fabula Guardian or, say, Divine Veil Grimoire -- unless you have some sort of cast time reduction effect like Tyro LMR. It goes without saying that you will die without at the very least a Shellga AND some Wind resistance. If you somehow have free slots, the boosting effects of her Absorb effects can be negated by Magic and Power Breakdown, but as always, due to the -80% resistance, their utility is otherwise limited.
  704.  
  705. Tiamat is actually fairly predictable: every scripted cast of Savage Jet Fire and Savage Twister is predicated by Absorb Strength and Absorb Magic, respectively. But predictability won't help you very much if you are holding on for dear life: if you have no Fire resistance whatsoever, Savage Jet Fire will hit you at full blast, probably for about 7k and one-shotting your mages if you don't have Last Stand. Savage Twister isn't to be ignored, either.
  706.  
  707. If you're using them, Sealion's Wind Blink and Bismarck's Fire Blink effect interact with Savage Jet Fire in a strange way due to how multiple-element attacks calculate damage in RK: if your Fire resistance is higher than your Wind resistance, then Savage Jet Fire will attempt to deal damage using the Wind component, which can be blocked by Wind Blink. And vice versa. An elemental mis-match will obviously bypass the Blink, and potentially screw you over. It's possible to manipulate this, of course, but prioritizing Fire resistance will leave you more vulnerable to Savage Twister.
  708.  
  709. Only one accessory provides fire and wind resistance at the same time (Firewind Shard from the 3rd Anniversary events). Your only proper alternative is this: wind resistance accessories on your characters, and some sort of Dampen Fire effect (Gizamaluke works best) and as many Spell and Blade Wards as you can muster. Or some combo thereof, like fire resistance accessories and Dampen Wind.
  710.  
  711. Every phase transition will be telegraphed by Absorb Magic, followed by a Savage Twister (in Phase 3, two of them, one after another). For this reason, the faster you can go, the more "free turns" you can take: Tiamat will waste a great deal of its time on Absorb moves and less on actual bruising.
  712.  
  713. A great deal of Tiamat's difficulty lies in your speed: most of Tiamat's relentless Savage spam occurs after 30 seconds. Going slower, especially without an optimal Magicite deck, will almost certainly demand some sort of instant-cast Last Stand USB. If you're lacking for offensive Ice options, Radiant Shield is a legitimate option due to the sheer volume of damage, and conveniently Alphinaud's SSB, Deployment Tactics, is available from Vol. 5 of the Archives; from experience, some team of healer + Entrust feeder + Alphinaud + 2 attackers will work here, even if it's not a pretty solution. Feed the healer more gauge as the fight drags on.
  714.  
  715. Generally, the less time is spent popping Last Stand, the better. Don't hesitate to use your HP Crystal Water from the Record Dungeons, and make use of Health Boon passives should you have them. Keeping one bar of a heal free for one turn more will make the difference between beating and failing one of the hardest Magicite bosses.
  716.  
  717. [4EAR] Midgardsormr
  718.  
  719. D400 Midgardsormr: 934,690 HP
  720. Phase 1: 1778 ATK / 34380 DEF / 1482 MAG / 45924 RES / 322 MND / 550 SPD
  721. Phase 2: 1778 ATK / 34380 DEF / 1482 MAG / 45924 RES / 322 MND / 600 SPD
  722. Phase 3: 1927 ATK / 34380 DEF / 1556 MAG / 45924 RES / 322 MND / 650 SPD
  723.  
  724. - 50% weak to Wind, absorbs Earth, resists everything else.
  725. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  726. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  727. - Goes berserk on its 30th turn.
  728.  
  729. Savage attacks:
  730. - Savage Abyssal Maw: (NAT) 570% AoE Earth piercing magic + 21% chance to Slow. Hi, did you miss Fenrir? He's back!
  731.  
  732. 4☆ Magicite drops:
  733. 4☆ Earth Guardian (IX): L10 Dampen Lightning, L15 Defense Boon & L5 Health Boon (US: 5 AOE Earth magic attacks, +20% Lightning Resist to party)
  734. 4☆ Catastrophe (V): L15 Empower Earth, L15 Attack Boon & L8 Deadly Strikes (US: 5 AOE Earth magic attacks, -20% Lightning Break)
  735. 4☆ Midgardsormr (VI): L15 Empower Earth, L15 Magic Boon & L8 Fast Act (US: 5 AOE Earth magic attacks, +20% Earth Boost to party)
  736.  
  737. From personal experience, Earth Guardian is an excellent candidate for your main Magicite once you begin tackling the 5☆ lightning Magicite dungeons. Some prefer Midgardsormr as a main Magicite to Shell Dragon, I guess. In any case, your Earth team will be the first on trial when you begin tackling the 5☆ cycle, so for that much, farming out Midgardsormr for an optimized Earth deck is key.
  738. -----------------------------------------
  739. Recommendations: Pick up to two: Earth and / or Interrupt Actions / Slow resistance, patience, or your best impression of a gorilla
  740.  
  741. While no other Magicite will likely surpass the seething rage I feel towards Kraken, Midgardsormr is quite often also an exercise in frustration, and if you spend enough time on it, I opine that you'll understand why.
  742.  
  743. Of the 4☆ Magicites, Midgardsormr has the least threatening opening pattern: a normal attack to start, then three basic AOEs; it's the only one of them not to open with a crippling Savage attack or equivalent. This means you should have no problem at all with setting up your suite of buffs -- but once you actually start attacking, you'll notice caveat one: Midgardsormr is bulky. It's second only to Hades for highest DEF among the 4☆ Magicite bosses, and a wind-element Chain or Imperil will go a long way towards consistent damage capping.
  744.  
  745. In any case, keep an eye on Midgardsormr's HP. Once you enter the second phase, the real fun begins.
  746.  
  747. While Midgardsormr has none of Golem's Earthen Wall bullshit and physical teams are once again properly viable, Golem's Savage Earth Shaker returns for another round as the innocuous-sounding Tail; once your healer is conveniently stunned, Midgardsormr will then follow with Savage Abyssal Maw; God help you if it hits whoever needs to heal or cast Hastega. Oh, and on occasion, Entangle will Paralyze a random member. That's always fun.
  748.  
  749. Midgardsormr, like Ixion, is all too happy to ruin your day with Savage Abyssal Maw at random. Slow is one of the few statuses Enkidu will not heal, but it's still useful should you need a breather before the next Savage attack. That being said, should you have them, Tiamat (to boost your Wind power) or Silver Dragon (for Hastega) will probably serve you just as well or better.
  750.  
  751. I am under the impression that a great deal of RK players have some version of the gorilla-style Wind team featuring Cloud, Zack, and who cares just press button and win, in which case these problems will likely be minimized. For everyone else, yes, your magic Wind team from Golem will still work if you don't care much about the timer (or restarting as often as the Savage attacks ruin your run) and as it happens, Alphinaud can also use his Radiant Shield SSB if you have any extra SB gauge left over from Aerial Blast spam. So if you're either not as lucky or as willing to succumb to your base instincts as others are, bring Hastega, one or two good healers, and prepare to dig in your heels.
  752.  
  753. [4HLY] Siren
  754.  
  755. D400 Siren: 830,000 HP
  756. Phase 1: 1750 ATK / 27500 DEF / 1600 MAG / 50000 RES / 1750 MND / 550 SPD
  757. Phase 2: 1800 ATK / 27500 DEF / 1650 MAG / 50000 RES / 1800 MND / 600 SPD
  758. Phase 3: 1850 ATK / 27500 DEF / 1700 MAG / 50000 RES / 1850 MND / 650 SPD
  759.  
  760. - Is vulnerable to the Poison ailment.
  761. - 50% weak to Dark, absorbs Holy, resists everything else.
  762. - Enters Phase 2 on her 10th turn or below 81% of her HP.
  763. - Enters Phase 3 on her 20th turn or below 41% of her HP.
  764. - Goes berserk on her 30th turn.
  765. - All of her actions have Celerity cast time.
  766. - In Phase 3 or when berserk, she will 100% counter PHY/BLK/WHT/NIN (i.e., any non-counter ability) with Curaga (9999 self-heal).
  767.  
  768. Savage attacks:
  769. - Savage Holy: (WHT) 3-slot 810% Holy magic. MND-based. Targets any consecutive three characters. Mist Dragon's Savage attack returns. 810% multiplier on an attack is obscene and likely the strongest thing you've seen up to this point. Thankfully, it's not piercing.
  770. - Savage Venomous Clasp: (NAT) 578% AoE Holy physical + 123% chance to Sap. Esuna to self. The Sap is a major problem.
  771. - Savage Lunatic Voice: (NAT) 486% AoE Holy magic + 36% chance to inflict Silence. Regen to self. Hope you weren't planning on running a Dark magic team!
  772.  
  773. 4☆ Magicite drops:
  774. 4☆ Seraph (VI): L10 Dampen Dark, L15 Mind Boon & L5 Health Boon (US: AOE 10% Affliction Break, h82 heal to party)
  775. 4☆ Evrae (X): L15 Empower Holy, L15 Attack Boon & L10 Rise Power (US: 8 random Holy magic attacks, -20% Dark Break)
  776. 4☆ Siren (V): L15 Empower Holy, L15 Mind Boon & L10 Healing Boon (US: 5 AOE Holy magic attacks, +20% Holy Boost to party)
  777.  
  778. Siren is by far the most farmable Magicite boss: Siren itself is Holy's main magicite of choice in lieu of an imperil Holy effect; Evrae's Surging Power is essentially a second free attack boost, making it the best offensive magicite for passives; and Seraph's Dampen Dark effect is vital for several endgame bosses with punishing dark attacks (such as Boundless Zeromus EG's infamous Ultimate Drain).
  779. -----------------------------------------
  780. Recommendations: Wall, Holy resistance, Dispel
  781.  
  782. Same as last time: clear all six 4☆ main-element magicites to unlock Holy and Dark. Clearing Hades and Siren grants Elarra's third RW: Fabula Priestess, an instant large heal with no other effects. It's not generally used except by whales who have the rest of their setup covered for speedrunning.
  783.  
  784. Let me be frank: I hate Siren. Of the many 4* magicites, she requires you to account for the most utility slots, hits incredibly hard, punishes slow runs with counter Curaja, is faster than all the rest for some unknown reason, and outright makes it near-impossible to run anything but a physical team. I don't know who green-lit this but I want them dead. Hades may be harder on paper, but hot opinion: everyone and their mother tends to have a metric ton of Holy moreso than Dark, and most complaining about Hades features brainlets who can't think for themselves.
  785.  
  786. Siren is unique among the 4☆ Magicite bosses in that she features no piercing (i.e., DEF/RES-ignoring attacks) whatsoever. Have Wall in some form -- Fabula, Divine Veil, whatever, or you'll probably take a few 9999s to the face. To make matters worse for the would-be time attacker, Savage Lunatic Voice buffs her with Regen for 9999 per tick, and after 40% she will counter any non-Soul Break action against her with Curaja for an extra 9999. Dispel Regen, and unless you are thoroughly confident in your ability to not die, dispel the Haste too.
  787.  
  788. Magic-based teams are at a major disadvantage here, since Savage Lunatic Voice is also very likely to land Silence. If it's your first clear attempt, a physical team is probably less stressful. Your options will, in general, boil down to ninjas (Yuffie, Shadow, or Edge) and the myriad Darkness users. Be careful with Dualcast materias, especially if you're using Crimson Cross.
  789.  
  790. Those using ninjas with Ancestral Reflection + Shadow Embodied, take note: her first action in Phase 2 (about 80% of her health) is Savage Venomous Clasp, which saps one of your Mirror Images party-wide.
  791.  
  792. Phase 3 begins after 40% HP and is easily identified by her Curaja counter and a cast of Haste, a.k.a. a free turn to wail on her. If you plan to dispel it, I recommend not doing so until after she casts Savage Lunatic Voice next turn so you can also clear the Regen. Save your Soul Breaks for this phase so you trigger as few Curajas as possible.
  793.  
  794. At this point, you'll probably notice that Lifesiphon-based strats are showing their age; the meta is about to shift from Soul Break spam to ability spam supplanted by boosts from occasional Soul Breaks.
  795.  
  796. [4DRK] Hades
  797.  
  798. D400 Hades: 975,000 HP
  799. Phase 1: 1700 ATK / 35000 DEF / 1600 MAG / 48000 RES / 300 MND / 600 SPD
  800. Phase 2: 1750 ATK / 35000 DEF / 1650 MAG / 48000 RES / 300 MND / 625 SPD
  801. Phase 3: 1800 ATK / 35000 DEF / 1700 MAG / 48000 RES / 300 MND / 625 SPD
  802.  
  803. - 50% weak to Holy, absorbs Dark, resists everything else.
  804. - Enters Phase 2 on his 10th turn or below 81% of his HP.
  805. - Enters Phase 3 on his 20th turn or below 41% of his HP.
  806. - Goes berserk on his 30th turn.
  807. - Below 50% of his HP, casts Dispel (WHT) as an interrupt move on the whole party. Does not affect his scripted turn rotation.
  808.  
  809. Savage attacks:
  810. - Savage Black Cauldron: (NAT) 438% AoE Dark piercing magic. Ignores Magic Blink, has a 3000% chance to inflict a 60-second Doom. Only used once, at the start. Same as most bosses that cast Doom at the start, but with the usual "damage-at-the-start" you should have come to expect of 4☆ Magicite.
  811. - Savage Shadow Flare: (NAT) 534% AoE Dark piercing magic. No strings attached, no statuses attached, just damage.
  812. - Savage Strike: (PHY) 394% AoE Dark physical + 123% chance to Interrupt Actions. Guaranteed to trigger stun without mitigating effects. Will break Astra and leave you open to Black Cauldron if you don't resist the Stun in some way (e.g., Affliction Break, accessories, etc).
  813.  
  814. 4☆ Magicite drops:
  815. 4☆ Dragon Zombie (VII): L15 Empower Dark, L15 Attack Boon & L10 Damage Drive (US: 5 AOE Dark magic attacks, -20% Holy Break)
  816. 4☆ Necrophobe (V): L10 Dampen Light, L15 Defense Boon & L5 Spell Ward (US: 8 ST Dark magic attacks, 30% Holy Stoneskin to party, HP calculated via total Magicite deck HP)
  817. 4☆ Hades (VII): L15 Empower Dark, L15 Hand of Vengeance & L10 Healing Damper (US: 5 AOE Dark magic attacks, +20% Dark Boost to party, 10% chance to inflict any or all of Poison, Confuse, Sleep, Paralysis, Silence, and Slow)
  818.  
  819. Dragon Zombie is, by far, the most useless 4☆ Magicite. Should you complete a Lv. 99 of it, inherit it immediately onto something else for the Lv. 15 Empower Dark and leave it at that. Necrophobe has a Spell Ward, and anti-Holy when you need it speaks for itself. Hades is similar to Evrae, but it's far more niche and primarily used to pump out damage in no-healer Last Stand runs.
  820.  
  821. Your main magicite is still going to be Shadow Dragon.
  822. -----------------------------------------
  823. Recommendations: Unicorn, then some more Astra, resistance to Interrupt Actions, a sense of timing
  824.  
  825. Plenty of people have trouble with Hades. It's not difficult to see why: he has the highest DEF stats in 4☆ magicite, you're contending with the entire kitchen sink of statuses, and both Doom from Savage Black Cauldron and his berserk mode (Death every 3 turns) discourage slow or turtling strategies. Oh, and the Dispel.
  826.  
  827. The main problem is a move called Black Cauldron -- go through one without Astra and your run is dead in the water. For this reason, the best main magicite for this boss is Unicorn, and any healer or buffer that also provides Astra skyrockets in value. Common sources include Larsa (Life Crystal / Potions Aplenty) or Iris (Kupo Cure). Both of the healing Bursts mentioned are selectable from Acolyte Archives Vol. 6.
  828.  
  829. It's best to learn the script:
  830.  
  831. - During the first phase, you have 6 turns before Hades casts Black Cauldron.
  832. - After 81% and 41%, Hades will always use Savage Strike first (breaking any active Astra shields), then Black Cauldron on his fourth. (Astra shields won't break if the hit wouldn't have interrupted the character, such as when they have Interrupt Actions resist on an accessory.)
  833.  
  834. Your highest-DEF character should go in the middle: Hades uses Strike, which hits three random consecutive slots twice (similar to Savage Holy), and will always hit the middle character twice.
  835.  
  836. The other problem with Hades is the scripted Dispel at 50%; it triggers instantly on Hades's next ATB fill. Pay attention to how much of Hades' HP bar is taken off by your attacks, and either queue the Soul Break to follow up after one, or simply have a healer or buffer with Hastega standing by at or around that threshold.
  837.  
  838. If you push too fast, his next turn will likely be Savage Strike, which interrupts. If you don't have Protectga recast by then, Strike on the turn after will likely kill you without Last Stand. If you push too slow, on the other hand, his next move is likely Black Cauldron, which demands Shellga and Astra (the latter fortunately unaffected by Dispel). Timing around the 50% mark is crucial. After that, it's a matter of luck and surviving before the next Black Cauldron hits without some sort of shield.
  839.  
  840. Fast (i.e., sub-30) runs typically only need one or two Astra shields in total, and will spam Assault Sabres until Hades is dead. Slower runs will need more; if you can help it, bring fewer supports and more attackers. Hades does not play well in slow fights.
  841.  
  842. [7.9.5] 5☆ Magicite
  843.  
  844. Welcome to the endgame.
  845.  
  846. By now, you really should have a clear idea of where you stand and what you should be doing. Learn the boss script. Plan your turns out before your ATB gauges are filled. Optimize your Magicite passives. Finish your Legend Spheres, invest your Crystal Water, and work with what you have.
  847.  
  848. 5* Magicites introduce two new mechanics you'll learn to hate.
  849.  
  850. The first is Savage Mode. Known as Rage in-game, every 5* Magicite boss will enter Savage Mode after a certain period of time, and every one of them has a different set of effects associated with their Savage Mode, from increasing damage dealt, to reducing damage taken, or acting faster. Worse, even though Savage Mode can be canceled, the boss will enter it again after some period of time.
  851.  
  852. The only way to get rid of Savage Mode is by hitting them with an Overflow attack. This doesn't necessarily entail an Overstrike: the 5* Magicites themselves, when summoned as magicite stones, have cap-breaking attacks on their own. Two things have changed since the launch of 5* Magicite that have made getting into this cycle much easier: firstly, Overstrike Soul Break now only use one SB gauge (or half a bar, if you're a boomer); secondly, the Acolyte Archives now award one maxed copy of all 16 5* Magicites for free. This at least should help you take on any element you're ready for without having to worry about a Mega Man boss cycle.
  853.  
  854. The second mechanic: there are two bosses per element. One of them takes reduced damage from physical attacks, and one takes reduced damage from magic attacks. Did I mention that the magicite stone of the magic-weak boss is the one that does physical damage when summoned? In other words, to go around the 5* Magicite cycle, you'll have to beat the physical boss of an element to beat the magic boss of the next to beat the physical boss of the next... well, there's workarounds. Having 5* Magicites should make things easier, but without, expect an uphill battle.
  855.  
  856. General notes:
  857. - All 5☆ Magicite bosses only have 70% break debuff resistance as opposed to the 3☆ and 4☆ bosses' 80%.
  858. - All statuses inflicted by 5☆ Magicite bosses cannot be blocked or resisted by accessories -- only Astra. Focus on elemental resists.
  859. - From this point on, all the bosses will be completely scripted. Savage attacks will no longer ruin your day at random -- they will ruin your day exactly when they are supposed to. From this point on, 99% of the RNG will be in the hands of your Dualcasts, crits, and assorted chance-to-trigger effects.
  860. - As is the case in nearly all current end-game content, essentially all non-AOE attacks will target specific slots in your party formation. The spot you place party members in, once only an occasional concern, is now another factor you'll have to consider.
  861. --------------------------------------------------------------------
  862.  
  863. [5LGTp] Quetzalcoatl
  864.  
  865. D450 Quetzalcoatl: 1,500,000 HP
  866. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  867. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  868. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  869. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  870.  
  871. - 20% weak to Earth, absorbs Lightning, immune to everything else.
  872. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  873. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  874. - Goes berserk on its 30th turn.
  875. - Enters Lightning Rage after Turn 5, and then every 5th turn after it was last dispelled.
  876. - During Lightning Rage, Quetzalcoatl takes 50% less damage, but deals 20% less damage.
  877. - All MAG- and MND-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  878.  
  879. Savage attacks:
  880. - Savage Thundaja: (NAT) 650% single-target Lightning piercing magic + Paralysis. Only targets slots 1, 3, or 5: the top, center, and bottom. Your healer therefore goes in slots 2 or 4 and brings Ultra Cure.
  881. - Savage Thunder Call: (NAT) 534% AoE Lightning piercing magic + 303% chance for Imperil Lightning. Savage Thunder Call will always precede a Savage Thunderstorm; all odds are on the Imperil being your downfall.
  882. - Savage Thunderstorm: (NAT) 774% AoE Lightning piercing magic, NAT, ignores Magic Blink.
  883.  
  884. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  885. 5☆ Quetzalcoatl (VIII): L10 Dampen Water & L10 Fast Act (US: AOE Lightning Overflow magic attack, -20% Imperil Lightning)
  886.  
  887. Your Hydra replacement has arrived, and with it, Lv. 10 Fast Act. As a rule, the boss vulnerable to physical attacks is the main magicite intended for the magic-vulnerable boss it's strong against, and vice versa. Hence, Quetzalcoatl for Geosgaeno, Behemoth King for Famfrit.
  888. -----------------------------------------
  889.  
  890. Quetzalcoatl, providing that you have the right tools, is a matter of micro-management.
  891.  
  892. This is what you're juggling: Savage Thundaja will interrupt your party members every now and then, while Savage Thunder Call, although not doing that much damage comparatively, is around primarily to make sure Savage Thunderstorm is lethal.
  893.  
  894. Physical Earth teams are granted a tool designed to cancel Savage Mode: a 5* Heavy skill called Stone Press, an attack with the ability to natively break the damage cap. It goes without saying that every Stone Press should be used at two Heavy Charges. Common users include Galuf (who also happens to have an Earth chain), Cinque, and Gladiolus (both of the latter having USBs which make it easier for them to accumulate Heavy Charges).
  895.  
  896. However, without a Chain, Stone Press is going to need help. Quetzalcoatl's Savage Mode reduces damage taken, and without some level of Imperil active or a way to power up (like critical hits) or both, you're shit outta luck.
  897.  
  898. If you happen to have Ingus's Chain, Galuf is by no means superior to him: an extra source of Last Stand, which he provides, can easily offset the weaker Chain bonus and allow you to survive easier -- bonus points if you have his second Burst, Faith Escutcheon. Elemental Radiant Shields which prey on damage are excellent for adding to chain counters and making it easier for you to either cancel Savage Mode or do more damage in general.
  899.  
  900. Your healer should never be in a slot that Savage Thundaja can target, unless said healer is Larsa and Astra is shielding you from Paralyze. Or if you have really high MND. Learn when Tornado is used: it's a Gravity attack, and frankly, if you're using one or more sources of Last Stand, it's essentially a free / relief turn.
  901.  
  902. [5LGTm] Behemoth King
  903.  
  904. D450 Behemoth King: 1,500,000 HP
  905. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  906. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  907. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  908. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  909.  
  910. - 20% weak to Earth, absorbs Lightning, immune to everything else.
  911. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  912. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  913. - Goes berserk on its 30th turn.
  914. - Enters Lightning Rage after Turn 5, and then every 7th turn after it was last dispelled.
  915. - During Lightning Rage, Behemoth King takes 25% more damage, but deals 50% more damage. Its ATB and cast speed are also lowered by 10%.
  916. - All ATK-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  917.  
  918. Savage attacks:
  919. - Savage Shockstorm: (NAT) 468% AoE Lightning piercing ranged physical, ignoring physical Blinks.
  920. - Savage Sunder: (NAT) 468% AoE Earth ranged physical + removes Haste if it lands.
  921. - Savage Hurl: (NAT) 400% single-target piercing ranged physical + Interrupt Actions. In order, Behemoth King will target starting from your topmost slot in Phase 2 and go down, going back up once it hits your bottom slot. In Phase 3, Behemoth King will target starting from the bottom slot and go up.
  922.  
  923. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  924. 5☆ Behemoth King (XIII): L15 Empower Lightning & L10 Precise Strikes (US: ST Lightning Overflow physical attack, +10% Lightning Boost to party)
  925.  
  926. It's, uh, Precise Strikes. If you needed an extra 10% to add to your critfix boosts, well, sure. Cloud gorillas, look away.
  927. -----------------------------------------
  928.  
  929. Earth magic isn't particularly plentiful, but Behemoth King is well-documented as a boss that's doable with few relics. Its Savage Mode increases both damage it deals and damage it takes, and as a consequence it's one of three 5☆ Magicite bosses where there's actually an incentive not to break the rage mode.
  930.  
  931. This does not mean it's all smooth sailing: Savage Sunder is neither piercing nor a Lightning attack, and it removes Haste. Since you likely don't have access to multi-elemental resist accessories yet, you may want to consider bringing or adding Dampen Earth to your Magicite deck. Another alternative, and one that low-relic poverty strategies employ a lot, is Edge SSB2, available in the Anima Lens shop for 1000 Level 1 lenses.
  932.  
  933. Whatever strategy you do use, your first mage of choice will likely be Maria, whose BSB is a popular choice for this fight -- it's available in the free relics from the Acolyte Archive selections if you haven't made those. Buff her MAG (using her second Burst command if need be), then spam the CMD1.
  934.  
  935. [5WTRp] Famfrit
  936.  
  937. D450 Famfrit: 1,500,000 HP
  938. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  939. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  940. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  941. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  942.  
  943. - 20% weak to Lightning, absorbs Water, nulls everything else.
  944. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  945. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  946. - Goes berserk on its 30th turn.
  947. - Enters Water Rage after Turn 3, and then every 3rd turn after it was last dispelled.
  948. - During Water Rage, Famfrit deals 15% more damage, and its ATB & casting speed are increased by 15%.
  949. - All MAG- and MND-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  950.  
  951. Savage attacks:
  952. - Savage Briny Cannonade: (NAT) 730% 3-slot Water piercing magic + 303% chance for -20% Imperil Water. Ignores Magic Blink effects. Apart from the opening attack, this targets in a set rotation (e.g., 1-2-3 > 3-4-5 > 2-3-4...).
  953. - Savage Tsunami: (NAT) 582% AoE and self-targeting Water piercing magic. More or less ordinary. Pity-heals Famfrit for about ~5000 HP.
  954. - Savage Waterja: (NAT) 486% AoE Water piercing magic + Silence. If you can kill Famfrit under 30 seconds you'll likely never see this, but if you take any longer than that, you're going to run into this nasty problem.
  955.  
  956. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  957. 5☆ Famfrit (XII): L15 Dampen Fire & L8 Spell Ward (US: ST Water Overflow magic attack, 30% Fire Stoneskin to party, HP calculated via total Magicite deck HP)
  958.  
  959. If you're thinking to yourself that Precise Strikes and Fast Act were some of the least useful passives to get upgraded first, the Wards will probably at least make you look. Incoming damage isn't about to get any tamer. Spell Ward, especially, is one of the biggest upgrades in the game -- most endgame bosses' most dangerous attacks are spells.
  960. -----------------------------------------
  961.  
  962. Famfrit is essentially a beefier, glorified 4☆ Magicite. Its Savage Mode has no incoming damage reduction, which means that if you have a working Lightning team, this is as good a place as Quetzalcoatl to start your journey down the 5* Magicite wheel.
  963.  
  964. There's a few things you should know that will serve you well. The first is that every first Savage Tsunami Famfrit casts every phase will always be followed by Graviga, which is a non-lethal %currHP attack -- in other words, a free turn. Wait for the Graviga before recasting any heals you need.
  965.  
  966. The second is that if your team isn't sub-30 material, you should probably clear Famfrit's Faith buff. That shit hurts -- Savage Briny Cannonade, with Faith active, is all but guaranteed to pop your Last Stand effects if the Imperil Water wasn't enough.
  967.  
  968. The third is that the hardest part of Famfrit is the final third: Protect to slow you down, and Savage Waterja as Famfrit's 5th move (Protect -> Faith -> Savage Tsunami -> Graviga -> Savage Waterja) to turn the fight into a sudden-death race. If you have some sort of Lightning chain, consider ignoring the Protect buff and power on. Else, you'll probably have to bring a slot to clear it.
  969.  
  970. As for Savage Waterja, there's several workarounds. The simplest is, as usual, Astra. Larsa or Iris should theoretically work - Silence is Famfrit's only status ailment, but if you're not running, say, Larsa USB, timing your heals could be difficult. The second workaround is to use a healer whose healing Soul Break is classified as NAT and not WHT -- Silence will not prevent NAT heals. Examples include Selphie USB1 (Slots Full Cure) or Aphmau USB (Overdrive). NAT heals, of course, have a drawback - they aren't affected by Materia effects that boost WHT healing, such as with most healer LM1s. They will, however, be boosted by Healing Boon passives.
  971.  
  972. Of the potential healers mentioned above, each of them have methods of filling your utilities. Larsa's access to 4☆ Support enables him to use Magic Breakdown to clear Faith; Selphie and Iris can use Heathen Frolic Sarabande. If you're relying on Larsa or Iris BSB, you could probably also slot in Dispel as their second skill and rely purely on their BSB commands for healing, which isn't a bad idea.
  973.  
  974. [5WTRm] Geosgaeno
  975.  
  976. D450 Geosgaeno: 1,500,000 HP
  977. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  978. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  979. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  980. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  981.  
  982. - 20% weak to Lightning, absorbs Water, nulls everything else.
  983. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  984. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  985. - Goes berserk on its 30th turn.
  986. - All ATK-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  987. - Enters Water Rage after Turn 5, and then every 2nd turn after it was last dispelled.
  988. - During Water Rage, Geosgaeno takes a flat damage reduction of 37.5%.
  989.  
  990. Savage attacks:
  991. - Savage Siphon Vitality: (NAT) 730% single-target Dark piercing magic + 100% HP Drain + Interrupt Actions. Used sparingly, and only targets slots 1 and 5. You may want to abuse it to trigger Trance effects early.
  992. - Savage Regurgitate: (NAT) 392% AoE Water piercing ranged physical + Poison, ignoring physical Blinks.
  993. - Savage Stone Punch: (NAT) 347% 3-slot physical + Petrify. Only used once; targets the center slots 2, 3, and 4.
  994.  
  995. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  996. 5☆ Geosgaeno (X): L15 Empower Water & L8 Blade Ward (US: ST Water Overflow ranged physical attack, +10% Water Boost to party)
  997. -----------------------------------------
  998.  
  999. The first few seconds of Geosgaeno are a question of how little healing you can get away with.
  1000.  
  1001. Geosgaeno's first few turns are Savage Siphon Vitality to the first slot, followed by Regurgitate, which halves the entire party's HP. This is the sort of combo which, if it doesn't kill the first slot, will leave them at critical HP -- and this is something you can use to your advantage in the form of Trance Legend Materias. Native to Lightning magic are Shantotto and Garnet; if you're using alternative options for lack of others, Vivi and Terra also have Trance modes.
  1002.  
  1003. Adjust your Magicite passives to survive the opening combo and Trance away. Relevant to Savage Siphon Vitality are Health Boon, Blade Ward, and, if you need it or have space, Dampen Dark (although that may be a bit wasteful on an otherwise-Water-elemental boss). The rest of your party, should they also happen to have Trances, will probably begin to pop them as Geosgaeno continues its assault. Defend as necessary if need be.
  1004.  
  1005. You're going to have to heal at some point, and that usually tends to be after the first Punch or Aqua Breath (at which point he enters Savage mode).
  1006.  
  1007. [5FREp] Phoenix
  1008.  
  1009. D450 Phoenix: 1,500,000 HP
  1010. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 600 MND / 650 SPD
  1011. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 600 MND / 650 SPD
  1012. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 600 MND / 650 SPD
  1013. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 600 MND / 650 SPD
  1014.  
  1015. - 20% weak to Water, absorbs Fire, nulls everything else.
  1016. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  1017. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  1018. - Goes berserk on its 30th turn.
  1019. - Enters Fire Rage after Turn 3, and then every 3rd turn after it was last dispelled.
  1020. - During Fire Rage, Phoenix deals 20% less damage, but its ATB & casting speed are increased by 100%.
  1021. - All MAG- and MND-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  1022.  
  1023. Savage attacks:
  1024. - Savage Flames of Rebirth: (NAT) 678% AoE Fire piercing magic + 50,000 heal to self.
  1025. - Savage Meteor: (NAT) 2-hit AoE 30% maxHP Gravity damage, ignoring Instant KO resistance. This and Explosive Flame are DeNA's middle finger to Ninjas.
  1026. - Savage Meltdown: (NAT) 1014% AoE Fire piercing magic + Sap. Phoenix will use this often. It's not fun at all. Seriously, Sap. Fucking Sap.
  1027.  
  1028. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  1029. 5☆ Phoenix (VI): L10 Dampen Ice & L8 Health Boon (US: 1 x 63.75 AOE Fire Overflow magic attack, h55 heal or 40% Raise to party)
  1030.  
  1031. Phoenix is the second component towards improving your end-game survivability: one L8 Health Boon is already equal to two L5 Health Boons. For characters that go over 9999 HP thanks to this, you may find yourself surviving even 9999-cap blasts. It's pretty good!
  1032. -----------------------------------------
  1033.  
  1034. Remember Tiamat?
  1035.  
  1036. Welcome to Tiamat 2.0.
  1037.  
  1038. Phoenix was once the fastest boss in all of Record Keeper, and it will use every single second it gets to raze your party structure to the ground. You have three turns of respite at the beginning of the fight. Once Flames of Rebirth is cast, the onslaught begins.
  1039.  
  1040. More than anything, this is a fight that demands an instant-cast healing SB. Under Savage mode, Phoenix attacks roughly once per second, and if you're attempting to take it down the canon way, breaking Savage is critical. Thankfully, Savage doesn't grant Phoenix any form of incoming damage reduction.
  1041.  
  1042. An important threshold: without a Chain, Geosgaeno's follow-up attacks will only break the damage cap at roughly -20% Imperil Water and a DEF debuff or higher. With a Chain, you shouldn't really have much of a problem there.
  1043.  
  1044. There is an upside to Phoenix's incessant barrage of attacks: Soul Break meter gain. The Lionheart RM shines here like in no other fight, and your attackers will have plenty of Soul Break gauge even without Entrusts. Use this to your advantage. If you haven't cleared Geosgaeno and don't have a way to break Savage, in fact, you can turn to Radiant Shield as a form of offense.
  1045.  
  1046. [5FREm] Belias
  1047.  
  1048. D450 Belias: 1,500,000 HP
  1049. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1050. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1051. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1052. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1053.  
  1054. - 20% weak to Water, absorbs Fire, nulls everything else.
  1055. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  1056. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  1057. - Goes berserk on its 30th turn.
  1058. - All ATK-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  1059. - Enters Fire Rage after Turn 5, and then every 3rd turn after it was last dispelled.
  1060. - During Fire Rage, Belias takes 25% more damage and deals 50% more damage.
  1061.  
  1062. Savage attacks:
  1063. - Savage Firaja: (NAT) 486% AoE Fire piercing magic + 303% chance for -20% Imperil Fire.
  1064. - Savage Painflare: (NAT) 5-hit 2-slot 198% Fire piercing magic. Targets the top and bottom slot; will probably kill them without stacked Health Boons or Last Stand. It does make for great Lionheart RM fodder if survived.
  1065. - Savage Hellfire: (NAT) 430% AoE Fire piercing ranged physical, ignoring physical Blinks. Low multiplier is offset by Belias's Savage Mode and Saber. This will hurt; don't believe otherwise.
  1066.  
  1067. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  1068. 5☆ Belias (XII): L15 Empower Fire & L10 Deadly Strikes (US: ST Fire Overflow physical attack, +10% Fire Boost to party)
  1069.  
  1070. An upgrade to Maliris.
  1071. -----------------------------------------
  1072.  
  1073. Belias should be fairly reminiscent of Behemoth King down to the Savage Mode, but Water magic is rarer. Much, much rarer. As a boss it's not that hard. There are a few things to take note of: you need either a fast team of DPS or Astra to avoid two scripted Berserks on the top and bottom slot at certain points (Turn 10 of Phase 1 / Turn 6 of Phase 2).
  1074.  
  1075. As with Behemoth King, a sufficiently powerful physical Water team can beat Belias too! Just one thing to note: keep him in Savage Mode or your damage will likely take a huge hit. Physical Water is far more loaded than physical Earth, though -- assuming you have Tidus.
  1076.  
  1077. Watch out for Savage Painflare: the multiplier may seem low, but it's more likely to pop Last Stand than any of Belias's other attacks.
  1078.  
  1079. [5ICEp] Mateus
  1080.  
  1081. D450 Mateus: 1,500,000 HP
  1082. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1083. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1084. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1085. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1086.  
  1087. - 20% weak to Fire, absorbs Ice, nulls everything else.
  1088. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  1089. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  1090. - Goes berserk on its 30th turn.
  1091. - Enters Ice Rage after Turn 6, and then every 5th turn after it was last dispelled.
  1092. - During Ice Rage, Mateus takes 50% less damage, but deals 20% less damage.
  1093. - All MAG- and MND-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  1094.  
  1095. Savage attacks:
  1096. - Savage Frostwave: (NAT) 774% AoE Ice piercing magic + 303% chance for -30% Imperil Ice. Not 20% like usual -- 30%. Mateus will cap Imperils in just two hits of this.
  1097. - Savage Blizzaja: (NAT) 630% AoE Ice piercing magic + Sap.
  1098. - Savage Flash-Freeze: (BLK) 9999% single-target Ice overflowing magic. Typically targets the top and bottom slots at the same time, and then the center slot later on. And, no, the multiplier is not a typo. This attack is coded as BLK for a reason.
  1099.  
  1100. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  1101. 5☆ Mateus (XII): L10 Dampen Air & L8 Blade Ward (US: AOE Ice Overflow magic attack, Imperil Ice)
  1102.  
  1103. Adios Wendigo! This has the same passive as Geosgaeno earlier, but having one is far more crucial to an Ice team than having Geosgaeno is for a Water team.
  1104. -----------------------------------------
  1105.  
  1106. Mateus makes use of a mechanic that you probably haven't seen in a long time: Reflect on your party members. Specifically, this means you will be unable to directly heal your top and bottom members unless you're using a Soul Break.
  1107.  
  1108. You absolutely cannot afford to remove the Reflect. Mateus has a nasty attack known as Savage Flash-Freeze. With Reflect active, it'll bounce harmlessly off your characters to heal Mateus for about 55k, but without it, they will probably die, even with Last Stand (note the Sap from Savage Blizzaja).
  1109.  
  1110. So. A few considerations:
  1111.  
  1112. - The center slot will take the brunt of Mateus's onslaught. Heal them often.
  1113. - Fire monks using Fires Within and Thieves using Fire Assault are fairly good choices for the top and bottom slots, since they'll be able to sustain themselves. But it should be perfectly plausible to use just SBs to heal.
  1114. - Mateus also has a Blizzaga attack which, while targeting multiple characters at once, is coded in such a way that it can be Reflected. This has given rise to a few strategies which take Reflect a step further and use the Carbuncle summon to block more incoming damage, while again using Soul Breaks only to heal.
  1115. - The center slot, unlike the top and bottom, will not be granted Reflect at the start. But it'll also take a Savage Flash-Freeze later on, which WILL kill them without a Carbuncle or a well-timed Last Stand.
  1116.  
  1117. You'll have to account for two more things. The first is that Mateus is only the second Magicite to use an anti-element buff, after Geosgaeno. But unlike Lightning, Fire's 5☆ Magicites do not give Imperil Fire. What Fire does have are the Machinist skills Flame Offering -- and, if you've been keeping up with Torments, the far superior Burnt Offering. Bring a Machinist, or bring Locke, provided you have his Imperil Fire SBs.
  1118.  
  1119. The second is that Mateus uses Barrier to double its defense at certain points. The first is nearly unavoidable; the others not so much. If nothing else, they will make breaking Mateus's already obscene Savage Mode defenses even harder -- without a Chain, Belias has no hope of breaking Savage Mode outside of the initial summon, even with a maximum stack of Imperil. And this is before the Barrier reduction. So -- negate it with Armor Breakdown, or if you can't find the slots for that, stick Armor Break on one of your attackers (they really all should have 3☆ Combat access), or Exhausting Polka on a Dancer (hint hint: Penelo or Elarra, if they're your healers of choice).
  1120.  
  1121. [5ICEm] Manticore
  1122.  
  1123. D450 Manticore: 1,500,000 HP
  1124. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1125. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1126. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1127. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1128.  
  1129. - 20% weak to Fire, absorbs Ice, nulls everything else.
  1130. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  1131. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  1132. - Goes berserk on its 30th turn.
  1133. - All ATK-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  1134. - Enters Ice Rage after Turn 4, and then every 2nd turn after it was last dispelled.
  1135. - During Ice Rage, Manticore takes a flat damage reduction of 37.5%, and its ATB & casting speed are increased by 40%, but it deals 20% less damage.
  1136.  
  1137. Savage attacks:
  1138. - Savage Frost Breath: (NAT) 506% AoE Ice piercing ranged physical + Sap, ignoring physical Blinks.
  1139. - Savage Combo: (NAT) 202% 3-slot Ice piercing ranged physical. This may look weak, but it also has 0.01s CT and follows up after an attack which Saps the entire party. Targets 2-3-4 > 1-3-5 > 2-3-4...
  1140. - Savage Ice Storm: (NAT) 486% AoE Ice piercing magic + removes Haste if it lands. This will almost certainly be your downfall if you can't deal with it well. Manticore is a fast boss.
  1141.  
  1142. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  1143. 5☆ Manticore (X): L15 Empower Ice & L10 Precise Strikes (US: ST Ice Overflow ranged physical attack, +10% Ice Boost to party)
  1144.  
  1145. Again, an Isgebind upgrade. Primarily you want this because holy shit, fuck Syldra.
  1146. -----------------------------------------
  1147.  
  1148. In theory, Phoenix was the fastest boss in the game on release, but outside of Savage Mode, its attacks are only as fast as most Magicite bosses.
  1149.  
  1150. Manticore challenges Phoenix's spot for fastest with the aid of two factors:
  1151.  
  1152. - It re-enters Savage mode every two turns, compared to Phoenix which re-enters it every three.
  1153. - Its Combo and Savage Combo attacks have a cast time of 0.01s (e.g., instant). This means, essentially, that if you break Savage mode at the wrong time, Manticore will re-enter it after essentially one turn.
  1154.  
  1155. Fortunately, like with Phoenix, Manticore is an overtuned boss for an overtuned element: magical Fire. This is a realm with no less than five Arcanes (Terra, Papalymo, Ace, Vivi, Krile) and an array of powerful Ultras.
  1156.  
  1157. For the most part, Manticore's attacks, especially the Frost + Combo combination, shouldn't deal that much damage at the beginning and can be thought of as free SB points. The main problem will likely be Savage Frost Breath.
  1158.  
  1159. Similar to Mateus, Manticore has Magic Shield, which buffs its Resistance, and can be negated by Mental Breakdown. If your preferred method of breaking Savage Mode is with Phoenix, you'll definitely need to clear this. That and you'll also need either a high Imperil stack (Vincent's hybrid role makes him a good pick for the Machinist spot) and/or a Chain. Brave USBs should have an easier time of breaking Savage mode itself, but due to the nature of how Manticore enters and re-enters Savage, always be sure to break Savage after Manticore uses Combo in the script, or your effort will be wasted in no more than a turn.
  1160.  
  1161. [5WNDp] Syldra
  1162.  
  1163. D450 Syldra: 1,500,000 HP
  1164. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 575 SPD
  1165. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 575 SPD
  1166. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 575 SPD
  1167. Savage: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 575 SPD
  1168.  
  1169. - 20% weak to Ice, absorbs Wind, nulls everything else.
  1170. - Enters Phase 2 on her 10th turn or below 81% of her HP.
  1171. - Enters Phase 3 on her 20th turn or below 41% of her HP.
  1172. - Goes berserk on her 30th turn.
  1173. - All actions have 0.88s CT instead of the usual 1.76s CT, except for Haste (0.01s CT).
  1174. - Enters Wind Rage after Turn 3, and then the 5th turn after it was last dispelled, then the 4th turn after that, and every 3rd turn afterward.
  1175. - During Wind Rage, Syldra takes a flat damage reduction of 37.5%, and its ATB & casting speed are increased by 40%, but she deals 20% less damage.
  1176. - All MAG- and MND-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  1177.  
  1178. Savage attacks:
  1179. - Savage Aeroja: (NAT) 534% AoE Wind piercing magic + 303% chance for -20% Imperil Wind.
  1180. - Savage Thunderstorm: (NAT) 774% AoE Wind piercing magic, ignoring magical Blinks. From experience, this is typically its most dangerous attack, owing primarily to the endless stacks of Imperil Wind foisted on you by Savage Aeroja.
  1181. - Savage Thunderbolt: (NAT) AoE 75% maxHP Gravity damage, ignoring Instant KO resistance. A close second to Savage Thunderstorm. Phoenix came close with 60% maxHP, but no boss apart from maybe Transcendent superbosses will dare go higher than this.
  1182.  
  1183. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  1184. 5☆ Syldra (V): L10 Dampen Earth, L20 Magic Boon (US: AOE Wind Overflow magic attack, Imperil Wind; hidden damage increase if Faris is in the party)
  1185.  
  1186. Wind's rightful main Magicite arrives after all this time. The Magic Boon will be greatly appreciated for inheritance as well, and fortunately for would-be farmers, you'll only need to level each Magicite up to 80 to get the maxed Boon. A good thing, too, considering the bosses we're dealing with here...
  1187. -----------------------------------------
  1188.  
  1189. Syldra's 575 SPD justifies dispelling the Haste, which would typically not make a huge difference for bosses that have, say, 650 SPD.
  1190.  
  1191. That completely aside, she continues the time-honored tradition of Wind magicite bosses being the absolute worst. Attacks have shorter cast time than usual, deal stupidly high damage, and on top of that, she has NulFrost to force you to bring Imperil Ice.
  1192.  
  1193. Quite a few things are necessary here:
  1194.  
  1195. - A consistent method of getting Imperil Ice is a good start. Laguna USB1 is available from the Anima Lens selection, and it's a popular pick solely because Syldra is so difficult.
  1196. - A chain wouldn't go amiss. Laguna is, again, ideal (nice whale game, kupo), but Snow, Fran, or Serah can work. Fran can inflict Imperil Ice with one of her Ultras, and Serah can abuse Ice Radiant Shield. Snow can mitigate incoming damage with his AASB if you have it, help you survive one more turn thanks to Last Stand on his BSB1 (Here we go!, also in the Lens selection), or buff with his BSB2 or USB2 (A Hero Rides / Revenge Wall, namely) -- but access to Imperil through Machinist skills combined with a Gen 2 chain make Laguna the best if you have him.
  1197. - A really good healer. Healing Boon passives can in fact make a difference, so don't ignore them when building your deck.
  1198.  
  1199. If you happen to have Awakenings, make judicious use of them -- Syldra was overtuned for a game that was still using Ultras and Arcanes. The general idea is to ensure it stays out of Savage mode, and ensure that Syldra's Ice resistance is never more than 2 stacks of NulFrost or more, since attackers will gain more Soul Break gauge from exploiting the weakness. For the most part, this should be achievable by inflicting three Imperil Ice stacks at minimum throughout.
  1200.  
  1201. The biggest sticking point, from experience, is High Stakes in the last 40% of Syldra's health -- it triggers instantly the moment she enters her final phase, sharply boosts her DEF, and gives her Haste. The DEF increase is significant to a point where capped Arcane Overstrike hits will no longer do so; ideally, you would want to use them before Phase 3 hits. It's also immediately followed by Syldra casting all three of her Savage attacks in rapid succession. As a consequence, your healer should have a Soul Break cast ready when High Stakes hits, and hopefully Last Stand is active on the rest of the party as well.
  1202.  
  1203. Long story short, it's a damage race. Bring your best shit and hope for the best. Other really good Soul Breaks for this fight include Eight USB, an instant source of Last Stand that also does respectable damage if you have it.
  1204.  
  1205. ----- extra note ------
  1206.  
  1207. Of all sixteen 5☆ Magicites, it's worth noting that Syldra is the only one whose focus on sheer damage-dealing mechanics leaves it open to a full Radiant Shield cheese strategy. You'll need the following:
  1208.  
  1209. - Alphinaud's SSB, Deployment Tactics
  1210. - Eiko's USB1, Guardian Mog (or any equivalent USB which allows you to sustain party Haste)
  1211. - three other healers with Last Stand USBs (Elarra USB1 / Rosa USB2 can substitute for one of them, if you want)
  1212. - multiple Curajas / Ultra Cure / Curaise / Curada as necessary
  1213.  
  1214. Distribute the Soul Break charging RMs (Dr. Mog's Teachings, Battleforged / Ace Striker, Knight's Charge, etc.) among them as you see fit, and weather Syldra's assault until she reaches her end loop of Savage Thunderstorm -> Thunderbolt -> Aeroja. At this point, the general idea is to have Last Stand active at all times and accounting for gaps in healing as necessary. This takes somewhere about two in-game minutes (closer to about forty minutes in real life), so it's not really recommended for anything more than a first clear or your first maxed Syldra, unless you're really desperate.
  1215.  
  1216. [5WNDm] Typhon
  1217.  
  1218. D450 Typhon: 1,500,000 HP
  1219. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1220. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1221. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1222. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1223.  
  1224. - 20% weak to Ice, absorbs Wind, nulls everything else.
  1225. - Enters Phase 2 on his 10th turn or below 81% of his HP.
  1226. - Enters Phase 3 on his 20th turn or below 41% of his HP.
  1227. - Goes berserk on his 30th turn.
  1228. - All of Typhon's attacks are either Gravity-based or piercing.
  1229. - All ATK-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  1230. - Enters Wind Rage after Turn 3, and then every 3rd turn after it was last dispelled.
  1231. - During Wind Rage, Typhon takes a flat damage reduction of 20%, and his ATB & casting speed are increased by 80%, but he deals 20% less damage.
  1232.  
  1233. Savage attacks:
  1234. - Savage Snort: (NAT) 468% AoE Wind piercing ranged physical, ignoring physical Blinks. An ordinary attack boosted to absurd levels by Typhon's obscene Enaero stack.
  1235. - Savage Heavensfall: (NAT) 678% AoE Wind AND Earth piercing magic. Typhon's most dangerous attack, easily. Only used once at the start of both Phases 2 and 3.
  1236. - Savage Gale Cut: (NAT) 392% AoE Wind piercing ranged physical + Sap. If your healer is Elarra (it probably is), this might present a problem. Regenga will be useful in surviving Typhon's punishing Savage attacks, and being stripped of it might make the difference.
  1237.  
  1238. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  1239. 5☆ Typhon (VI): L15 Empower Wind, L20 Attack Boon (US: ST Wind Overflow ranged physical attack, -20% Earth Break)
  1240.  
  1241. Not as important as Syldra, but a Lv. 20 Attack Boon is a good upgrade. You should be able to gorilla Hecatoncheir down without this, though. Even Syldra will do fine. (Not that Syldra is an easier boss, but if you can beat that but not this, well... work with what you have.)
  1242. -----------------------------------------
  1243.  
  1244. Don't bother with Fabula Guardian. Use one of Fabula Raider or Priestess according to your needs.
  1245.  
  1246. For the most part, you'll have noticed that Magicite bosses typically do away with their canon mechanics: Siren doesn't turn undead, Geosgaeno doesn't swallow party members, and Famfrit doesn't stall with Palings.
  1247.  
  1248. This is not the case with Typhon. Put simply, Typhon still uses Snort to outright remove your characters, and unlike the usual Instant KO stuff, they can't be brought back by any means. Typhon's fight is therefore a huge race against time.
  1249.  
  1250. From the outset, you're on a ten-turn timer, after which Typhon will promptly Snort the entire party put of battle. This means you can't afford to start slow. Hastega and MAG boosts should be up after your first turn, and if you have a Chain, sooner is better than later.
  1251.  
  1252. You also can't rely on Typhon to build the Soul Break gauge for you through damage. Apart from the initial Savage Snort and a Sonic Boom before the AoE Snort, the entire first phase is marked by Typhon buffing himself. Chains, Hastegas, and sources of Quickcast such as Elarra USB need to provide their own meter. A common strategy uses Elarra with Valigarmanda and the Ace Striker RM to cast her USB1 early.
  1253.  
  1254. Other considerations:
  1255. - Snort isn't your only problem here: Typhon's massive Enaero stack can easily one-shot low-HP mages. Affliction Break, if you've never made it or have forgotten about it, suddenly becomes useful again, as it can cause Enaero to miss.
  1256. - While most Snorts are avoidable, there is one that likely isn't: Typhon will eject the center party member a turn after the first Savage Heavensfall. You could put your healer there and rely on Fabula Priestess from that point onward, or keep an Entrustbot there, or just a character you're mainly using for a chain (doubly so if that chain-holder is Laguna or Snow) if they otherwise have low damage output. Alternatively, you can use Kimahri's RM3 (Attack command becomes Jump) and time it to avoid that.
  1257. - Typhon's Savage Mode makes the threat of Snort more ever-present; it makes him nearly as fast as Phoenix. A Brave USB or Mateus as a main magicite to break it is essentially required.
  1258. - Include a Dampen Earth passive or two in your Magicite deck in addition to your Wind resist accessories, or risk getting mauled by Savage Heavensfall's Earth component.
  1259. - If you're using Elarra USB1, pay attention to the Gravity attacks and Sap. Sweltering Wind is the former, Savage Gale Cut has the latter, and Sonic Boom is both. If possible, time Elarra USB1 after those and rely on Fabula Priestess otherwise.
  1260.  
  1261. [5EARp] Hecatoncheir
  1262.  
  1263. D450 Hecatoncheir: 1,500,000 HP
  1264. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1265. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1266. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1267. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1268.  
  1269. - 20% weak to Wind, absorbs Earth, immune to everything else.
  1270. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  1271. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  1272. - Goes berserk on its 102nd turn.
  1273. - All MAG- and MND-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  1274. - Enters Earth Rage after Turn 3, and then every 2nd turn after it was last dispelled.
  1275. - During Earth Rage, Hecatoncheir's ATB & casting speed is increased by 100%, but it deals 20% less damage.
  1276.  
  1277. Savage attacks:
  1278. - Savage Gaian Salvo: (NAT) 392% AoE Earth piercing ranged physical, ATK & MAG -50% for 5 seconds, ignoring physical blinks.
  1279. - Savage Quake: (NAT) 582% AoE Earth magic, removes Haste. Cast at the start of Phase 3 and midway through Phase 2 if you're slow. Probably the only major stumbling block.
  1280. - Savage Looming Wrath: Grants self Instant Cast 3 and ATK & DEF +30% for 3 seconds. Replaces Looming Wrath and is functionally no different apart from the stat boost. The instant cast isn't particularly relevant either, as its attacks are more or less coded to have instant cast time anyway -- it's just an insurance for when its moveset is forcefully interrupted by a phase change.
  1281.  
  1282. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  1283. 5☆ Hecatoncheir (XIII): L10 Dampen Lightning & L20 Resistance Boon (US: ST Earth Overflow magic attack, -20% Lightning Break)
  1284.  
  1285. It's unfortunately the least important 5☆ magicite. Since most Behemoth King strategies exploit its Savage Mode, Hecatoncheir might actually detract from your Behemoth King setup. Resistance Boon is not Spell Ward.
  1286. -----------------------------------------
  1287.  
  1288. Hecatoncheir combines the speed of Phoenix with the casting time of Manticore's attacks. While normally this would make it much, much worse, most of its attacks are actually easily neutered by Divine Veil Grimoire or equivalent buff suite. It also happens that physical Wind is, on average, the most absurdly stacked of all the elemental teams. You'll probably get a sub-30 without trying with any decently good Wind team.
  1289.  
  1290. Lionheart on your healer, charge up your Soul Breaks with Lifesiphon or something, and then spam Soul Breaks until Hecatoncheir crumbles. No real strategy here. The main stumbling block is Savage Quake, which will remove Haste and entails that you bring Hastega to deal with it.
  1291.  
  1292. If given a choice, Elarra USB1 / Rosa USB2 are preferred here over their Last Stand counterparts (e.g., Aerith). Regenga heals off fairly weak attacks well, whereas Hecatoncheir might chip you down with attacks if you use a Last Stand healer.
  1293.  
  1294. A few things to note:
  1295. - Flash blinds the characters in the second and fourth slots, so keep physical attackers out of those positions whenever possible.
  1296. - It's best to stay in Phase 1 or Phase 2 as long as possible, and shred him down with quick-cast and Soul Break spam. Phase 3 is actually quite difficult to survive.
  1297.  
  1298. [5EARm] Adamantoise
  1299.  
  1300. D450 Adamantoise: 1,500,000 HP
  1301. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1302. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 50000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1303. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1304. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 50000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 66500 RES / 150 MND / 650 SPD
  1305.  
  1306. - 20% weak to Wind, absorbs Earth, immune to everything else.
  1307. - Enters Phase 2 on its 10th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  1308. - Enters Phase 3 on its 20th turn or below 41% of its HP.
  1309. - Goes berserk on its 30th turn.
  1310. - Adamant Guard & Savage Adamant Guard have 0.88s CT; all other attacks have 1.76s CT.
  1311. - All ATK-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  1312. - Enters Earth Rage after Turn 3, and then every 3rd turn after it was last dispelled.
  1313. - During Earth Rage, Adamantoise's ATB & casting speed is decreased by 30%, but it takes a flat damage reduction of 47.37%.
  1314.  
  1315. Savage attacks:
  1316. - Savage Bestial Resonance: (NAT) 582% AoE Earth piercing ranged magic, removes Haste. Most likely not skippable. Either block it with a magic Blink or anticipate with Hastega.
  1317. - Savage Adamant Guard: (NAT) Grants self Protect, Shell, and DEF / RES / MND +500% for 3 seconds. Notice the short duration: for the most part, this attack is a time-waster. Dispel the buff and move on. Unless you're using Fabula Mage (which you won't have until later on), wait until the three seconds are up before you try to break the Savage Mode. Note the MND buff: it exists solely to prevent you from overwriting this buff except with a few specific Soul Breaks.
  1318. - Savage Gaia's Fury: 468% AoE Earth piercing ranged physical + Interrupt Actions. You should really try to avoid this with a physical Blink or by bursting; it's the prelude to Adamantoise's last stand of stalling for time.
  1319.  
  1320. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  1321. 5☆ Adamantoise (XV): L15 Empower Earth & L20 Defense Boon (US: ST Earth Overflow ranged physical attack, Lightning Blink 1 to party)
  1322.  
  1323. Bosses like Odin and Quetzalcoatl will force you to bring Adamantoise to bypass their Savage Mode and other mechanics (in Odin's case, Savage Thunder Call), but if you have no particular need for an overflowing Earth attack, Shell Dragon will still be useful.
  1324. -----------------------------------------
  1325.  
  1326. Adamantoise is one of the bulkiest 5☆ Magicites, and the main difficulty in this fight will be breaking Savage Mode so you can deal enough damage.
  1327.  
  1328. Both Wind magic chainholders (Alphinaud and Fujin) are also two of the stronger attackers for the element. While canonically the method of breaking Savage Mode is to have your own Syldra (and before Awakenings, essentially this was the only way), with either Fujin's or Alphinaud's AASBs, breaking Savage is hardly an issue (Ninja magic ignores RES; summons have a minimum damage mechanic that makes it easy for them to cap).
  1329.  
  1330. The fight itself is a matter of micromanagement: you'll need to anticipate and recover from Adamantoise's time-wasting attacks. Prepare Dispel a second before Adamant Guard, Hastega before Bestial Resonance, and so on. Keep an eye on the timer so you know when Savage Adamant Guard wears off and it's time to break the Savage Mode.
  1331.  
  1332. If you happen to have Orran USB, you'll notice he's mostly a meme for plenty of other fights, but even in a normal Adamantoise party, he actually has a lot of utility here: he can carry Dispel, as well as a magic Blink and/or Hastega for Bestial Resonance. That, and the party instant-cast should help you burst and try to skip your way past a few annoying Savage attacks.
  1333.  
  1334. [5HLYm] Madeen
  1335.  
  1336. D450 Madeen: 1,500,000 HP
  1337. Phase 1: 1800 ATK / 60000 DEF / 1800 MAG / 80000 RES / 130 MND / 650 SPD
  1338. Phase 2: 1900 ATK / 60000 DEF / 1900 MAG / 80000 RES / 130 MND / 650 SPD
  1339. Phase 3: 2000 ATK / 60000 DEF / 2000 MAG / 80000 RES / 130 MND / 650 SPD
  1340. Enraged: 2500 ATK / 60000 DEF / 2500 MAG / 80000 RES / 130 MND / 650 SPD
  1341.  
  1342. - 20% weak to Dark, absorbs Holy, immune to everything else.
  1343. - Enters Phase 2 on her 11th turn or below 81% of its HP.
  1344. - Enters Phase 3 on her 22nd turn or below 41% of its HP.
  1345. - Goes berserk on her 40th turn.
  1346. - Curaja and Stop have 0.01s CT; all other attacks have 1.76s CT.
  1347. - All ATK-based damage is reduced to 1/3 of the damage it would deal.
  1348. - Enters Holy Rage after Turn 5, and then every 10% HP lost after it was last dispelled two times, and then every 5% HP lost or 2nd turn after it was last dispelled.
  1349. - During Holy Rage, Madeen's ATB & casting speed is decreased by 20%, but she takes a flat damage reduction of 16.67%, and deals 30% more damage.
  1350.  
  1351. Savage attacks:
  1352. - Savage Terra Homing: (NAT) 430% AoE Holy piercing ranged physical, ignoring physical Blinks. Grants self DEF/RES/MND +50% for 10 seconds. This is just about the only attack it has that deals major damage on a regular basis.
  1353. - Savage Holyja: (NAT) 534% AoE Holy magic, MND -50% for 25 seconds.
  1354. - Savage Diaja: (NAT) 630% Holy piercing magic + Sap, targeting slots 1 and 5. While this isn't a particularly dangerous attack on its own, it's always followed up by Stop on the same slots the next turn. With high enough MND, your healer should be shrugging this off just about instantly, but mind the other character.
  1355.  
  1356. 5☆ Magicite drops:
  1357. 5☆ Madeen (IX): L15 Empower Holy & L15 Surging Power (US: ST Holy Overflow ranged physical attack, -20% Dark Break)
  1358.  
  1359. As with Evrae before it, Madeen is the most farmable 5☆ Magicite thanks to Surging Power, made better by the fact that you now have two free inheritance slots, making them more generally effective. Personally I use some combination of Attack / Magic / Health / Healing / Mind Boon + Blade / Spell Ward on about... eight Madeens. Happy farming!
  1360. -----------------------------------------
  1361.  
  1362. Unlike the 4☆ Magicites, you don't need to beat any of the mainwheel 5☆ bosses to challenge Holy and Dark (a major change from the JP version). Which is just as well -- Madeen is one of the easiest 5☆ bosses. Imagine having to beat Syldra to get to farm this.
  1363.  
  1364. The Savage Mode is a non-issue, for the most part. Only two attacks deal major damage -- Savage Terra Homing and Terra Impact; the latter of which is a currHP% Gravity attack. Between Enlight, Curaja, and the slot-specific attacks, there's plenty of break turns.
  1365.  
  1366. This leaves your major issue as gathering a strong enough Dark team to handle this fight. If you have Awakenings for physical-focused Darkness characters (e.g., Sephiroth, Orlandeau), slap a MAG-boosting Dark artifact on them and call it a day. Otherwise, just about any magic USB user will do, with an honorable mention for Cid Raines' BSB. A Chain wouldn't hurt, but with Awakenings or a good Ability Double, it's not strictly necessary. Neither does it need to be a MAG-boosting chain: Seifer or Gabranth works, as will Vayne's CSB from the Black Chocobo event or Anima Lens shop (if it's there).
  1367.  
  1368. You might need to bring Dispel for Mighty Guard (or Banishing Strike). Probably the biggest stumbling block will be the Diaja + Savage Terra Homing combo at the beginning. There's three things to consider here:
  1369.  
  1370. - put your highest-HP characters in the second / fourth slots
  1371. - use Dire Heal to recover the damage taken from Diaja; or
  1372. - use the Defend command
  1373.  
  1374. Madeen will then waste three turns on Curaja, Terra Impact, and Enlight. You may want to save your heals for after Terra Impact in case a Trance mode (like Sephiroth's LM2) would trigger because of it.
  1375.  
  1376. Without a Chain, bring along some Imperil. Touched by Darkness is a pretty good investment from the Record Crucible considering how terrible the Imperil rate from Mark of Darkness is -- this is an issue which you might find relevant later on, against the Dark-weak Odin. Mind the Stops.
  1377.  
  1378. A sample clear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyMGji2Mwzc
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