#thundagas_ff13

This is a post late-game guide to massive farm gil and Dark Matters, but mostly for gil that you'd need for Treasure Hunter trophy.

Characters Requirement:

Crystarium maxed out for all characters.

Equipments:

Sazh: Total Eclipse of Rigels 60+ OR Total Eclipse of Procyons (78+) Accessories: Kaiser Knuckles ★ × 3, Genji Gloves 1

Fang: Kain's Lance of Taming Pole ★ Accessories: Kaiser Knuckles ★ × 3, Genji Gloves 1

Vanille: Nirvana of Belladonna Wand 70+ Accessories: Collector's Catalog 1, Connoisseur Catalog 1, Kaiser Knuckles ★, Genji Gloves 1

After missions 56-62 are completed, all of Adamanchelids on the Archylte Steppe are replaced with Shaolong Guis (apart from mission 33). You will need Sazh (lead), Fang, and Vanille for these fights. Here are the paradigms needed:

Rapid Growth (SYN/SYN/SYN)

Tri-Attack (RAV/RAV/RAV)

Tortoise (SEN/SEN/SEN), default

Salvation (MED/MED/MED)

Infiltration (SAB/SAB/SAB)

Cerberus (COM/COM/COM)

At the start of every battle, Shaolong Gui will use Quake. Put a few Steelguards and be ready to switch to Rapid Growth after the damages are done. In Rapid Growth, Fang will cast Haste on her, you (Sazh), and you will want to caste Vigilance and EnAnything (will use Enwater in this example henceforth) on everyone. After one cast, the Shaolong Gui should lift its leg. Switch to Tortoise when it does, and switch immediately back after to continue what you were doing. After your casts, Fang and Vanille should also have already casted Bravera and Faithra on everybody. Now all members should have Bravera, Faithra, Enwater, Haste and Vigilance at least. Switch to Tortoise again to anticipate another stomp, and then switch to Infiltration. 

With Sazh, you want to fill your ATB bars with Slow, as that'll slow the Shaolong Gui's attacks. Vanille will take care of Deprotect, Deshell and Imperil. After Slow has been casted, just Daze until the others are in place. Fang's Curse is a nice to have on the gui, but it isn't required. Same goes with Daze. Make sure the Shaolong Gui has Deshell, Deprotect, Imperil and Slow. Of course, amidst of all this, if he's anticipating a stomp or preparing for Ultima, switch to Tortoise.

After this, you should have some time to go to Salvation and heal up, especially if the gui is Dazed. Then, Tri-Disaster to up the stagger. As Sazh, you want to be using Cold Blood, as that's the fastest way to do this. Continue until bar is at 970%+, best maxed out at 999.99%. 

Now, switch to Cerberus and fill up your bar with Sazh's specialty: Blitz, Sazh style. Sazh's Blitz will shoot like a machine gun, and will hit the gui at least 5-6 out of 8 times, dealing around 1.3 million HP in damager per ATB bar. Fang should also deal around 400000 to 500000 damage per attack. If everything goes well, Shaolong Gui should be down in a total of 1 minute and 47 seconds or so on average.

Because when he uses Ultima during stagger. It is still very important to switch to Tortoise, but not really necessary when he stomps. Now, if he uses Bay, Tortoise immediately. If you are too late, your characters may die or all be Dazed. If that's the case, wait till he uses Quake again to wake them up and continue, or if the stagger goes down to 0, you can just restart the battle. Since there are a group of 3 (inside) and 1 (outside) Shaolong Gui in an area of Archylte Steppe, and fighting all four would take around 10 minutes total, this is the fastest gil farming method. Best of luck!

It's been 3 years and I'm revisiting this game...

PSN: ArmyOfHidari

Date: 7/14/2014

————————- Progress Update III ————————-

Game Time: 109:06:55

Cash: 717,333 Gil Trapezohedron: 6 Dark Matter: 18

Battle Team:

Vanille (21050) @ Nirvana of Belladonna Wand 76 [ATB 6]

STR 1707 / MAG 3215; Improved Debuff II

- Magistral Crest ★, Magistral Crest ★, Magistral Crest ★, Genji Glove 1

COM 5 / RAV 5 / SEN 5 / SAB 5 / SYN 5 / MED 5

Fang (24000) @ Kain’s Lance of Taming Pole ★ [ATB 6]

STR 3826 / MAG 2221; Stagger Lock

- Genji Gloves 1, Kaiser Knuckles ★, Kaiser Knuckles ★, Kaiser Knuckles ★

COM 5 / RAV 5 / SEN 5 / SAB 5 / SYN 5 / MED 5

Lightning (20000) @ Omega Weapon of Lionheart ★ [ATB 6]

STR 2028 / MAG 2028; Quick Stagger

- Sprint Shoes ★, Connoisseur Catalog ★, -, -

COM 5 / RAV 5 / SEN 5 / SAB 5 / SYN 5 / MED 5

Hope (20430) @ Nue of Hawkeye 69 [ATB 6]

STR 1240 / MAG 2538

- Imperial Armlet ★, Survivalist Catalog 1, Sprint Shoes ★, Wurtzite Bangle 32

COM 5 / RAV 5 / SEN 5 / SAB 5 / SYN 5 / MED 5

Snow (30000) @ Save the Queen of Umbra ★ [ATB 6]

STR 1670 / MAG 1460; Improved Ward II

- Magus’s Bracelet ★, Imperial Armlet ★, Super Ribbon 4, Goddess’s Favor 1

COM 5 / RAV 5 / SEN 5 / SAB 5 / SYN 5 / MED 5

Sazh (27000) @ Total Eclipse of Rigels ★ [ATB 6]

STR 2786 / MAG 1894; Stagger Lock

- Kaiser Knuckles ★, Kaiser Knuckles ★, Kaiser Knuckles ★, Genji Gloves 1

COM 5 / RAV 5 / SEN 5 / SAB 5 / SYN 5 / MED 5

Trophies Obtained:

Instrument of Dissent (Bronze)

Instrument of Tragedy (Bronze)

Instrument of Flight (Bronze)

Instrument of Vengeance (Bronze)

Instrument of Survival (Bronze)

Instrument of Rebellion (Bronze)

Instrument of Shame (Bronze)

Instrument of Wrath (Bronze)

Instrument of Truth (Bronze)

Instrument of Hope (Bronze)

Commando’s Seal (Bronze)

Ravager’s Seal (Bronze)

Sentinel’s Seal (Bronze)

Saboteur’s Seal (Bronze)

Synergist’s Seal (Bronze)

Medic’s Seal (Bronze)

Pulsian Pioneer (Bronze)

Kelger’s Cup (Bronze)

Xezat’s Chalice (Bronze)

Gysahl Wreath (Bronze)

Instrument of Faith (Silver) - Vanille’s Theme

Instrument of Change (Silver) - Hope’s Theme

Floraphobe (Silver)

Adamant Will (Silver)

Dorgann’s Trophy (Silver)

Natural Selector (Silver)

Loremaster (Gold) - Sazh’s Theme

Superstar (Gold) - Lightning’s Theme

L'cie Paragon (Gold) - Snow's Theme

Trophies to go:

Treasure Hunter (Gold) - Fang's Theme

Since you are able to complete some of the toughest Missions in game now (at least once in the East Tors Cie'th Stone circle, such as Mission 62) and summoned Shaolong Guis and Long Guis, your characters should have relatively high stats and role levels in their sub-roles. Of course, if their main roles are yet to reach level 5, you should probably stay away from attempting these battles for now or they will be extremely tedious.

This method I will recommend is the Vanille Death Abuse. It is different than the Death Trick because you will not be relying on its instant-KO, but rather, the high damage dealt by Death as unlike the Adamantoises, Long Guis are IMMUNE to the instant-KO by death.

Below are the requirements in order to attempt this and succeed; the characters you will need to use are Vanille (lead), Fang and Lightning. Although Sazh may replace Lightning, it is recommended that you use Lightning for her fast ATB recharge rate with Enkindler (more attacks lead to faster stagger).

Characters Requirement:

General: Maxed out in all of their three main roles for the three characters in use; 3 TPs

Vanille: Nirvana of Belladonna Wand 70+, SYN 3+ with Bravera and Faithra, COM 3+, SEN 3+, 3000+ MAG, Genji Gloves equipped

Fang: Kain's Lance of Taming Pole 70+ OR Kain's Lance of Dragoon Lance 64+, RAV 4+, SYN 3+, 3000+ STR, Genji Glove equipped

Lightning: Enkindler ★ (do NOT upgrade this to Omega weapon because you will lose the extra 5% ATP recharge rate the Enkindler offers) OR Omega Weapon of Lionheart 50+, ATB Recharge Rate 15%+ if using Enkindler ★ (with any of two of these following items: Champion's Badge, Survivalist's Catalog, Nimbletoe Boots, Whistlewind Scarf, Aurora Scarf, Hermes Sandles and Sprint Shoes), SYN 3+ and must have En(element), SAB 2+, SEN 4+ and must have Reprieve, 1700+ STR and MAG

Half of the Adamantoises and all Adamantortoises will be replaced by Long Gui in the Archylte Steppe after you completed Mission 56-62, so finding one isn't hard. They have darker tusks than Adamantoises and are generally more bluish in appearance. Their strengths are about doubled that of Adamantoises and have tripled the HP. Moreover, Long Guis can cast one of the strongest spells in game: Ultima, which makes Adamantoises' Roar seem feeble, and they cast them much more often (and begins every battle with one). Here are the paradigms needed (in order of Vanille/Fang/Lightning):

Rapid Growth (SYN/SYN/SYN)

Tri-Attack (RAV/RAV/RAV)

Tortoise (SEN/SEN/SEN), default

Guerilla (SAB/RAV/SYN)

Devastation (SAB/COM/COM)

Cerberus (COM/COM/COM)

You do not need any MED in any of your paradigms because the goal is to use the Summon and beat Long Gui before it stands up.

Use a Librascope the first time you fight. This is important or else Lightning will not know to cast an En(element) spell on you. You will need this with Imperil to score higher damages later. Begin the battle with Tortoise, and choose 2 Steelguard manually, and wait for its Ultima to hit. Your HP, even with Tortoise, will probably be taken down to about half, and Lightning, if her Elude fails, may be down to 1 HP with Reprieve. Now, switch to Rapid Growth and cast Haste, Bravera, Faithra on Vanille. Don't wait for too long because if the Long Gui stomps, your entire party will be dead. Both Vanille and Fang can cast Bravera/Faithra, and Fang can cast Haste (Lightning too if her SYN is past Level 4). Once they're on Vanille, immediately Summon Hecatoncheir. Hecaton will use Field Projection, forcing the Long Gui onto its knees. You have roughly from the point Hecaton leaves about 2 minutes before the Long Gui stands up, gets rid of all debuffs and stomps you like a pancake, so you must make sure that you work through your paradigms EXTREMELY fast during this time and make absolutely no error at all.

Switch to Guerrilla after the summon, and cast bebuffs in this order: Poison, Deprotect, Imperil, Deshell. Once they're on the Gui, switch to Tri-Attack and hit the Gui some more to drive up his Gestalt mode. Poison will also take away his HP quite rapidly. Without it, most likely you will not have enough time before it stands up. Once you see Hecaton's Gestalt-HP bar goes to 0, switch back to Guerilla and refresh your last three debuffs on Long Gui. With Imperil, he will be weak to all elements, so Lightning should know to cast Enfire on you. Any other En(element) will also work. Go to RAPID GROWTH now and make sure you have these buffs on your characters before continuing:

Vanille: Haste, Faithra, Enfire

Fang: Haste, Bravera, Enfire

Lightning: Haste, Bravera, Faithra, Enfire

Now switch to Tri-Attack and drive its stagger beyond 970%, now switch to Decimation. What you want to do now is use Death, and then IMMEDIATELY switch to Cerberus. With Genji Gloves, Death should do 999,999 damages. After the attack lands, switch back to Decimation and repeat this process. Once his stagger bar goes down, go back to Tri-Attack and re-stagger him again, then repeat the Decimation-Death-Cerberus process. Make sure that you switch to Cerberus right after Death is cast and BEFORE it lands. Fang and Lightning will also spam away with harsh damages. Lightning should hit 99999 per hit, and Fang should hit beyond 1XXXXX or 2XXXXX damages.

Congratulations, you have killed a Long Gui and earned the Adamant Will trophy (Silver). Long Guis have a slightly higher chances of finding your precious Trapezohedrons, and each battle yields you 100000 CPs (200000 with Growth Egg) so this is by far the quickest way to farm some CPs. You can change equipments with some Energy Sashes and a Champion's Badge on your characters (or have them equipped to other characters and switch the battle team) to farm some TPs, then repeat this process. Good luck!

So, as you get stronger, you should stop relying on grinding 3 TPs per Adamantoise kill now, and you have advanced from Vanille's Death Trick to Sazh's Summon-Kill, to now, plain toise farming. Plain toise farming is not really for earlier times when your characters are relatively weak. Despite the fact that it is still possible to pull off, the battles may take very long, and you can randomly die, wasting your time that you might well go grind some TPs and kill the toises with Sazh's Blitz.

Here are the requirements and recommendations for this method:

Characters: Fang (lead), Vanille, Lightning or Sazh

These characters must have at least Level 2 in the every single role as they will need for these paradigms; I used Fang/Vanille/Lightning because Lightning's Enkindler and her +20% ATB rate hasted the stagger bar extremely fast.

Rapid Growth (SYN/SYN/SYN), default

Tri-Attack (RAV/RAV/RAV)

Tortoise (SEN/SEN/SEN)

Salvation (MED/MED/MED)

Infiltration (SAB/SAB/SAB)

Cerberus (COM/COM/COM)

Stats Requirement:

Fang: 2200+ STR

Vanille: 2200+ MAG

Lightning: 1500+ STR & 1500+ MAG or Sazh: 2000+ STR & 850+ MAG

Precaution Notice: At ANY time you see the Adamantoise lifts its leg up or uses Quake, switch to TORTOISE. If your HP gets below 2/5 of total, then heal with Salvation. If it uses Roar, go heal with Salvation immediately as you most likely won't have time to switch to Tortoise. After you dealt with the attack, then go back and do what you were doing before.

Start the battle with Rapid Growth, cast Bravera, Faithra and Haste on yourself (Fang). Vanille should cast Protectra on you. Cast Bravera and Faithra on Lightning too, then Faithra on Vanille. During any of these time, if it stomps, switch to Tortoise and switch back. Next, use Tri-Attack and stagger one of his legs, then immediately switch to Cerberus and use Highwind. The leg should die right away.

By this point, some of your buffs may be wearing out and your HP is relatively low. Go to Salvation and heal, then rebuff up, such as Lightning's Haste, then go to Tri-Attack again, and attack his Right Leg (or Left if you already killed the right one first); do the same thing you did for the first leg. Once it's staggered, Highwind away.

The Adamantoise should be on its knees by now, immobilized. Rebuff up all Bravera/Faithras if needed, then go to Infiltration and debuff Imperial on him manually. Vanille should take care of Deshell and Deprotect. Once these three are on, you don't need to worry about the others, go to Tri-Attack and attack until its stagger bar is over 950.

Finally, switch to Cerberus and spam away attacks with no mercy. When his HP is below 1 million, which you can check with R1 (or Right Bumper), then just Highwind his head and he'll die. Make sure you kill it before it stands.

This battle should give you a chance to get a Platinum Ingot or a Trapezohedron, on top of guarenteed 40000 CPs (80000 if you have Growth Egg equipped). Hopefully it had helped!