Clan Centurio and Mark Hunting Strategies
Here is a lot of information on Clan Centurio, Mark Hunting and some good battle strategies.
If you are looking for the actual Mark Hunts, please click here to check the Mark Hunting Guide.
Choose a section:
 Hunt Basics
Clan Ranks
Unlocking Hunts
Overview of Abilities
Status Spells
Buff Spells
Character Setups
Tanks
Weapon Based Damage Dealers
Healing Mage
Damage Mage
Parties
Weapons
Trying your own Stuff
Exploring
Ignoring Defense
Changing Target Groups
Shop Upgrades after Main Events
Giza Plains Seasons
Changing Equips during Battle
Gambits
A Few Great Mark Strategies
=Hunt Basics=[ Page Top ^ ]
=============
After finishing the Rogue Tomato hunt, Tomaj will tell you about Clan
Centurio which is in the North part of Rabanastre (it's on the map). Head
over to it and join it. The leader is the moogle Montblanc and he is
standing on the railing at the top of the stairs. Montblanc is where you
get elite marks such as Cluckitrice, Behemoth King, and so on. So aside from
Tavern boards you should also check with Montblanc for new hunts.
First of all remember that you have to talk to the client first after you
accept a hunt from a Notice Board or Montblanc. The location of the client is
shown when accepting a hunt from a tavern board or montblanc. You can also
check the hunt info in the clan primer if you forget. When you talk to the
client about the hunt pay attention to what they say especially AFTER you
accept and the "Hunt Begins" message shows up on the screen. They will
usually tell you the name of the area and possible spawn requirements. If you
miss it just talk to them again.
Often they will tell you the exact name of the area with it highlighted in
orange. Open up your area map by pressing "Select"(or select the right area
using the World Map from the menu). If you look at the upper left you can
see the name of the area and sub-area for example "Giza Plains/Nomad Village".
You can use the D-pad to highlight other areas and see what each of their
names are. Also if you know where an exit leads to you can jump to that area's
map by pressing X when you highlight the blue arrow.
-Clan Rank-
As you complete marks you will gain rank within Clan Centurio. As you're
rank improves you will get rewards from montblanc and you will be able to buy
more stuff at the Clan Provisioner in Muthra Bazaar in Rabanastre(the area
just south of the Clan Hall, you can get there by moogling). Check the end
of this guide for listing of ranks, requirements and what's available at each
rank.
=Ranks and Clan Shop List=[ Page Top ^ ]
==========================
Quick and dirty list. The clan shop is in Muthra Bazaar in Rabanastre. The
number of marks denotes how many marks you must complete. Points are clan
points you get for killing enemies. There is a person in the back left corner
of clan centurio that can tell you the requirements for your next rank as well
as can give you hints on the location of some marks.
Moppet - 0 Marks, 0 Points
Reward: N/A
Shop: Potion
Hedge Knight - 2 Marks, 700 Points
Reward: Potion x3
Shop: Hi-Potion
Rear Guard - 4 Marks, 8000 Points
Reward: Warp Mote x2, Teleport Stone x2
Shop: Gysahl Greens
Vanguard - 8 Marks, 20000 Points
Reward: Remedy x3, Teleport Stone x2
Shop: Gysahl Greens, Teleport Stone
Headhunter - 10 Marks, 30000 Points
Reward: Ether x2, Teleport Stone x2
Shop: Nihopalaoa, Reverse, Gysahl Greens, Teleport Stone
Ward of Justice - 12 Marks, 40000 Points
Reward: X-Potion x2, Teleport Stone x2
Shop: Nihopalaoa, Reverse, Bubble, Gysahl Greens, Teleport Stone
Brave Companion - 14 Marks, 100000 Points
Reward: Hi-Ether x2, Teleport Stone x3
Shop: Nihopalaoa, Reverse, Bubble, Faith, Gysahl Greens, Teleport Stone
Riskbreaker - 16 Marks, 200000 Points
Reward: Elixir x2, Teleport Stone x3
Shop: Nihopalaoa, Bubble Belt, Reverse, Bubble, Faith, Bravery, Gysahl Greens
Teleport Stone
Paragon of Justice - 24 Marks, 250000 Points
Reward: High Arcana, Teleport Stone x3
Shop: Nihopalaoa, Reverse, Bubble, Faith, Bravery, Gysahl Greens, Teleport
Stone, Warp Mote
High Guardian - 28 Marks, 300000 Points
Reward: Empyreal Soul, Teleport Stone x3
Shop: Nihopalaoa, Bubble Belt, Cat-ear Hood, Reverse, Bubble, Faith, Bravery
Gysahl Greens, Teleport Stone, Warp Mote
Knight of the Round - 32 Marks, 500000 Points
Reward: Megalixir x2, Teleport Stone x3
Shop: Nihopalaoa, Bubble Belt, Cat-ear Hood, Reverse, Bubble, Faith, Bravery
Gysahl Greens, Teleport Stone, Warp Mote, Knot of Rust
Order of Ambrosia - 45 Marks, 1000000 Points, Sky Pirates Den complete
Reward: Centurio Hero's Badge, Teleport Stone x3
Shop: Nihopalaoa, Bubble Belt, Cat-ear Hood, Reverse, Bubble, Faith, Bravery
Gysahl Greens, Teleport Stone, Warp Mote, Knot of Rust, Dark Matter
*I believe that's right for the shop, not quite here yet myself
-"Unlocking" Hunts-[ Page Top ^ ]
There are two main factors that "unlock" hunts on the boards or from
Montblanc. The first is story progression. Sometimes you need to advance
the story for more hunts to appear. The other is clan rank. Basically if
you are at the end of the game and some/many aren't available you need to
complete other hunts to raise your rank for them to show up.
A couple hunts have other requirements. King Behemoth requires the Fafnir
hunt completed and Yiazmat requires all other hunts and Hell Wyrm completed.
I don't believe there are others with special requirements but I've been
wrong before...
For more info refer to "Hunt Requirements" section
-There are no time limits-
You can wait till the end of the game to do the hunts(though nearly all of
them will be completely boring by that point) and it doesn't matter if you
wait a while to do a hunt after accepting it.
And yes you can have as many hunts active at one time as you wish
------------------
Bill Unlocking Requirements:
------------------
This table is to show what is needed for a mark's bill to show up on either
a tavern board or montblanc. So far I just know of two that have other
specific requirements but I don't imagine any others do. For Rank requirements
please consult that section at the end of the guide.
All marks with an "[E]" are elite marks obtained from Montblanc. For more
info on Montblanc and Clan Centurio please refer to "Hunt Basics".
Obviously you can get any hunt at any time so don't think that you can only
get a hunt of you're rank is vanguard or you must be at a certain part of the
story. Marks can be done at any time and you can wait till the end of the
game if you wish.
Mark Rank Story Completion and Other
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Rogue Tomato | N/A | N/A
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Thextera | N/A | N/A
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Flowering Cactoid | Hedge Knight | N/A
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Wraith | Hedge Knight | After Barhiem
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Cluckatrice[E] | Hedge Knight | After Barhiem
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Rocktoise[E] | Hedge Knight | After Barhiem
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Nidhogg | Hedge Knight | After Lhusu Mines
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Wyvern Lord | Rear Guard | After Leviathon
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Ring Wyrm | Vanguard | N/A
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White Mousse | Vanguard | N/A
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Marilith | Vanguard | N/A
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Croakadile | Rear Guard | After Raithwall's Tomb
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Enkelados | Rear Guard | After Raithwall's Tomb
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Gil Snapper[E] | Vanguard | After Raithwall's Tomb
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Orthros[E] | Headhunter | After Raithwall's Tomb
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Ixtab | Rear Guard | After Henne Mines
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Feral Retriever | Vanguard | Once on your way to Stilshrine
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Trickster[E] | Headhunter | Once on your way to Stilshrine
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Ant Lion[E] | Headhunter | Once on your way to Stilshrine
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Vorpal Bunny | Vanguard | After Judge Bergan
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Atomos | Vanguard | After Judge Bergan
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Mind Flayer | Headhunter | After Judge Bergan
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Braegh | Headhunter | After Judge Bergan
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Bloodwing | Ward of Justice | After Judge Bergan
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Carrot[E] | Brave Companion | After Judge Bergan
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Roblon | Ward of Justice | After Judge Bergan
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Darksteel | Headhunter | After reaching Archades gate crystal
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Vyraal | Ward of Justice | After Draklor Laboratory
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Lindwyrm | Ward of Justice | After Draklor Laboratory
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Overlord | Brave Companion | After Draklor Laboratory
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Belito[E] | ??? | After Draklor Laboratory and Trickster
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Goliath | Brave Companion | After Draklor Laboratory
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Deathscythe | Brave Companion | After Draklor Laboratory
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Gilgamesh[E] | ??? | After Draklor Laboratory and Antlion
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Deathgaze | Riskbreaker | After Reddas Joins
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Diabolos | Brave Companion | After Reddas Joins
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Piscodaemon | Ward of Justice | After Reddas Joins
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Wild Malboro | Riskbreaker | After Reddas Joins
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Catoblepas | Brave Companion | After Reddas Joins
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Fafnir | Riskbreaker | After Reddas Joins
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Behemoth King[E] | Riskbreaker | After Reddas Joins and Fafnir
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Pylraster | Riskbreaker | After Pharos
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Ixion[E] | Riskbreaker | After Pharos
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Shadowseer[E] | High Gaurdian | After Pharos
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Yiazmat[E] | N/A | After Pharos, Hell Wyrm and most hunts*
*I'm still not quite sure the exact requirements for this hunt. So far these
are the hunts I didn't have to do to get it to appear:
Orthros
Gil Snapper
Belito
Ixion
The Seer
Of course there could be more. I'm not sure whether it was Gilgamesh or
carrot where it first appeared. I still have to go back to my "End of game,
no hunts but RT and Thex done" save to test the rank requirements for Belito
and Gilgamesh so I'll try taking on different hunts this time. What a bastard
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Overview of Abilities: [ Page Top ^ ]
----------------------
An overview of some of the useful abilities for hunting. I shouldn't have
to go over some such as most white and black magick since most people
understand how and why to use them. magick power effects the strength and
accuracy of spells. So if you find that cure spell draggin with the next
upgrade down the road a ways consider equipping someone with mystic armor and
a magick boosting weapon to increase its effectiveness instead of just giving
everyone pointy sticks.
The reason I go over this is to explain the basics of how some of these work
is that way I don't have to explain every time I mention it later.
=Status Spells=[ Page Top ^ ]
===============
Why use them?
These are very, very helpful though it may take more than a few tries to
land effects. If a foe mainly uses physical attacks always try to blind it,
if it casts deadly spells try to silence it or berserk it. Slow helps with
everything and HP draining skills like poison, sap, ect.. can be great
against high defense enemies or simply to supplement dps. Use them, if you
don't you are only making things harder on yourself. Here's a great example:
The bomb king is an optional boss that can be quite hard. You can challenge
him as soon you complete events at Raithwall. He spams Fira, can call
minions to his aid and can use Renew to fully heal himself. To fight him at
that point in the game one might think you would need quickenings however if
you simply inflict silence on him he can no longer use Fira nor summon his
minions. You just made it a hell of a lot easier. You can go further with
the status by inflicting stuff like blind and slow. He can still cast renew
silenced but to deal with that inflict him with Disease(such as with
Nihopalaoa + remedy which I'll get to in a bit). With Disease it can't
renew since it's current HP is it's max HP(or is that vice versa?).
What can I do to improve my chances?
What determines success rate at casting status effects on enemies is your mag
power vs the target's vitality. Anything that modifies mag will obviously
increase or decrease the rate such as faith, serenity, shell, ect... Faith
ups the rate by 1.3 and Serenity/Spellbreaker by 2.0(maltzan). Shell halves
the chance(maltzan).
To make it much easier get the Nihopalaoa which you can buy fairly early from
the clan merchant in muthra bazaar with a high enough rank. It does cost a
bit of gil and someone needs to go deep into accessories but it's worth it.
It reverses the effects of items so phoenix downs will kill and Eye drops
will cause blind. The kicker is that they will never miss. So much easier.
It does include Remedy lore licenses so you can turn remedies into status
bombs to cripple foes. (Press L1/R1 to target enemies)
Nihopalaoa makes it so much less of a hassle(especially early on and if you
don't know what is making you miss when casting) to inflict status effects
that it's often consider to be cheap even though it can't do anything about
mob immunities.
Indigo pendent is something I didn't even know about till looked at the status
effect section in maltzan's Game Mechanics FAQ again and makes it a good
alternative to Nihopalaoa + if you're a heavy decoy user like myself it helps
there with it as well. Basically the Indigo Pendent sets the chance to land
status and any chance based spells to 100%. Makes using status spells, even
just for variety, a lot more fun and useful.
Unfortunately you can't easily buy Indigo Pendents till later in the game.
You can buy them on the Bhujerba - Balfonhiem airship or by giving 15
trophies to Stok in the rare game sidequest. It's also a rare drop from
level 38/39 Surianders in the optional part of Barhiem Passage.
Some Notes:
Sleep/Confuse(/Charm?) + magick/Techs: Magick attacks and some technicks
such as horology and traveler do not wake up foes under sleep or confuse.
A plus to this is that slept foes(or yourself) receive increased damage.
=Disease: While under Disease a target's current HP is their max HP so if
you have Disease on a foe it will appear as if it's always at 100%. So
how is that useful? Well first of all if an enemy can heal in some fashion
Disease will prevent that.
The other reason came to my attention from a tip from wrax_000. Basically
Disease can prevent the use of HP based skills and abilities. For
example a lot of enemies gain a bunch of passive abilities at critical and
may also change their attack to something nastier but if you inflict them
with Disease BEFORE then it will never happen.
=Buff Spells=[ Page Top ^ ]
=============
Why should I use them?
Again like negative status effects on enemies, you are only making things
more difficult if you don't use buff spells like protect and shell(which may
or may not be what you want :p). This includes your heal over time like
regen which like protect/shell is good to have on your tank. You can get
them early and they are easy to gambit. Reflect is also quite handy to
counter caster Marks, to reflect AOE spells back at a single Mark, or to get
spells past a Mark's Reflect as a spell can only be reflected once.
In the end the hardest part may be deciding which ones to use with your time
and MP. Sometimes they are a waste of time or use up too much time.
Gambiting buffs is generally the way to go however if a buff is vital you
may want to manually recast it before it runs out which will refresh the
duration.
Get the Spellbound Augment to increase the time buffs last
In cases where an enemy is killing you too quickly it's often a good idea
to turn off any buff gambits(sometimes even healing) inorder to make
progress.
Some Notes:
Decoy and Reverse quality as debuffs so the success rate is a factor of the
casters magick power vs the target's vitality. You can improve your success
rate with the Indigo Pendent which allows you to ignore Vitality.
Bubble: Bubble doubles you're current HP. This can exceed 9999 though it
doesn't show at the bottom right. Bubble also prevents Disease. The
earliest you can get this spell is from the clan provisioner with a high
enough rank(refer to the "Clan Ranks" section. Alternately you can buy it
on a certain airship ride I believe after giruvegan.
Bravery: Increases physical damage. Buy from the clan provisioner after
reaching a certain rank(refer to the "Clan Ranks" section
Faith: Increases damage of spells by 1.3 and healing and status infliction
rate by 1.5. Buy from the clan provisioner after reaching a certain rank
(refer to the "Clan Ranks" section).
Shell: Just like when enemies have shell, it will halve the chance of
being inflicted with status ailments in addition to reducing damage from
spells(not healing). This includes instant death, decoy and reverse so if
you like to use decoy avoid shell when possible. Otherwise shell is often
you're only way of avoiding chance based magic since most enemies seem to
ignore vitality.
Reverse + Stop: Stop freezes the duration of some ailments or buffs for
example Reverse. So with stop you can keep Reverse on someone for a lot
longer than the usual duration of Reverse. This is helpful for solo games
where an enemy inflicts stop. Stop removes decoy so you can't abuse it like
that and foes are less likely to attack someone stopped.
Reverse + Decoy: MP and time intensive but if you can pull it off you pretty
much can't lose. I don't use it for any my strategies except situationally
(ie to help deal with mantis onslaught while warping them during the antlion
hunt but not actually during the fight). Part of the reason I don't is
simply because I don't have the MP for it because I'm trying not to even buy
quickenings/espers which means no double/triple mp.
-----------------
Character Setups:[ Page Top ^ ]
-----------------
What does this section cover?
This section aims to cover 2 things:
1) How certain chars should be equiped or used to best effect depending
on how you want to use them. For example I got over the general rules of
thumb for how a person who is gonna take damage(refered to as a tank in this
guide) should be equipped for best effect.
Basically Like with my "Overview of Abilities" section this aims to
eliminate redundancy in the guide
2) To help give ideas on how to start out. Why? The best and most
challenging hunts IMO are in the first half of the game. They can drive
a fine line between too much to handle and overleveling yourself to deal
with them. I try to give ideas on how to distribute lp early on to avoid
grinding as much as possible as well as give advice on equipment. Not to
say it should be followed to the letter but it should hopefully get you
started
Notes:
By progressing chars to fill certain roles you can make encounters vastly
easier on yourself. There are a few main roles and then a number of mixed
roles. In the end everyone will end up the exact same(with a little bit of
difference from base stats) but if you are playing in such a way that limits
LP gains or you simply aren't going out of your way to farm LP then planning
out how to build up each char is important. Remember that the role(and
equipment) the char performs will define them even if they all have
overlapping licenses.
Remember that you have 6 chars(unless you choose just to go with 3) so you
don't have to fit everything into 3 chars so you can handle any situation.
If you use all 6 you can switch in another healer, ranged attacker(s), or
more melee depending on the situation and encounter. I like using everyone
because I feel more familiar with them ala if I don't use some people I'm
completely surprised to see them in scenes and it just throws off the
experience. Of course using just 3 is fine even if you are trying to keep
levels low for a challenge. Using everyone is just my thing. As I mention
the equipment and role play a bigger part than anything else and you can
always change all that on the fly on anyone.
It really doesn't matter who you choose to be a tank or mage as everyone has
pretty close stats. Some are more inclined at certain things than others
which is pretty easy to tell from base stats.
The reason I cover this is because I use some of these as terms. I'll often
refer to a tank or healer and such. I only list a few. I may or may not add
more in future revisions. Most of the license board stuff is just when
starting out as to what to focus on. Eventually you'll fill up a lot of the
same magick and techs which will make it easier to adjust your strategy as
you go as once you pretty much fill out the board it all comes down to
equipment and gambits. You cannot screw up license boards.
=Tank=[ Page Top ^ ]
======
This is a term used mostly in MMOs and so console gamers might not be
familiar with it. A tank is a char that will take all the punishment from the
enemy. They will have the highest damage reduction and block/evasion. The
main job of this char is to keep the enemy focused on them and block/absorb
all the damage. Obviously you want enemies to stay focused on them. In MMOs
you tend to have a concept called aggro or threat level tables that each
enemy has where the enemy will stay focused on whoever is highest and aggro
is built through threat generating skills, damage, and healing in very
defined amounts. Probably they will end up also as your melee damage dealer
using the Haste + Berserk + Bravery combo(if you don't have all 3 which it
seems the masses tend to do).
However FFXII doesn't appear to have threat and aggro like that. Rather
enemies have attack preferences more like gambits. Figuring them out will
help you keep enemies focused on who you want. The most common preferences
are Closest and Lowest HP. Just pay attention. Once you get Decoy you
never have to worry about it again though.
As far as licenses go you should focus on the lower portion of the
Augments. Priorities on Shield Block, swiftness, +HP licenses, and last
stand(which is surprisingly effective). The Item lore licenses are smart to
pick up as items will probably heal more with the lower magick power.
Spellbound is also highly recommended as your tank should be getting lots of
protective buffs from the start. It is up to you if you want to branch into
techniques or support/status magick and of course cure at the start. I don't
like seeing MP go to waste so I really suggest picking up Green Magick 1 for
Protect and Blind. Gambits as needed. Remember that these lisence
recommendations are just for starting up. Should be able to go unsaid to
buy everything eventually.
For equipment armor is simple. Heavy Armor which grants the best damage
mitigation. Early on Light Body Armor also makes a fine choice and is good
for enemies that have attacks that ignore physical defense(mostly magic
users). Hats are a little bit more open. Mystic armor hats seem to often
grant higher magick resistance and against mobs that don't use magick a light
armor hat for the HP boost is good. A mystic armor hat is also nice to boost
magick for the boost to spells.
In most cases, you'll want to equip a shield as well which would leave a one
handed weapon. I like daggers myself and you can get one early that gives a
bonus 34 evade (Main Gauche). Despite the solid evade measures add I wouldn't
suggest them on a tank unless you want to rely on tecks in which case you're
probably better off with the Main Gauche anyway(though honestly I just use it
more or less around the time you can get and just upgrade it). Early on Poles
can make a fine tanking weapon with their good evade bonus. Remember that a
Tank's main job is to take and mitigate damage and dealing damage is
secondary.
However, some bosses have unevadable attacks or simply rely on magick attacks
(unless berserked) so unless the shield has high magick evade you're often
better just going for the best damage. A tank is still nice in those cases
especially with decoy so you can keep those AoE magick attacks on one
person away from everyone else. Less healing would be needed and less chaos
from AoE status skills. Also others generally can benefit from Focus and
Serenity(atk and mag up at full HP).
=Weapon Based Damage Dealer=[ Page Top ^ ]
============================
Pretty simple, whack whack and whack some more. The key is knowing how
weapon damage is calculated. Unless you need them to also fill a support
function you should berserk them to increase their speed, attack power and
chance to combo. Don't forget appropriate buffs like Bravery/Protect/ect..
Anyway with the right setup weapons will have the best dps throughout the
game(which is sad to me since it's so boring which is why I like to try to
use other things).
Pretty simple license wise, go for Battle lore, Adrenaline/Focus, swiftness
and +HP augments first. Again picking up some techs or buff magick is
recommended. They are a good choice to pick up Techniques with as magick
users have more augments to buy. Expose would be good at least for themselves
to use.
Equipment is important. 2 handed weapons are generally much stronger though
a 1 handed weapon with the right elemental property can cause far more
damage. The important thing is to choose armor based on what it bases damage
on. If strength based equip Heavy Armor and if mag based equip mystic armor.
Various armor in all 3 schools have +speed. Contrary to popular belief, heavy
armor does not lower your speed and in fact some heavy increases speed and also
on the same note all light armor does not increase speed only some just like
with all 3 armor classes. Light armor only always boosts HP. I imagine this
got started because someone tried to equip a piece of heavy armor that didn't
increase speed and had a piece of light armor on that did.
=Healing Mage=[ Page Top ^ ]
==============
Primary role is obviously to keep the team alive and healthy with spells.
Faith is a great buff for all Magick users. To supplement damage you can do a
number of things, equip a long range weapon, go with damage magick at the cost
of MP, or use shades of black at the chance of healing the enemy. I like to
have my healer build MP through inquisitor with a ranged weapon
Always gotta get the licenses for those healing and status removing skills
first as well as charge. Then it's a bit difficult. Mages have a lot more
to buy on the board than non-magick users as the bottom half of the augment
board has a lot of helpful things in addition to the top magick focused part.
Buy other magick, MP conservation and gain, swiftness and +HP licenses as you
can or feel most needed. The licenses that improve parameters based on HP
such as serenity can be quite nice just like last stand but don't worry about
them early on.
Picking up Quickenings even if you aren't using them can help in the MP
department. The second quickening you get adds a second MP bar which doubles
your MP and the third quickening adds a third bar ending in triple MP.
Alternately if you get an Esper that requires multiple charges (ie multiple
mp bars) then you will automatically get them on obtaining the license for
it.
For pure healers I like to equip a ranged weapon and have the Inquisitor
augment(which unfortunately is at the bottom of the augment section though
close to the right and cheap). This way the healer can gain MP while
contributing when there isn't a need for recovery, support, ect.. magick.
Otherwise a Rod with its MP and slight Mag boost is good as well as staves
for the Mag boost. Measure + Shield can be helpful with the evasion if
your Healer is constantly targeted and measures can also be used to cure
confusion/sleep(by attacking since they're weak) or give free buffs. Mystic
armor is the way to go armor-wise.
=Damage Mage=[ Page Top ^ ]
=============
Primary role is to use spells to damage foes especially those the enemy is
weak to for massive damage. A great way get more damage out of a mage against
single foes that most hunts are is to use reflect on all allies and cast an
AoE spell on them. For each reflection it will hit the enemy so with one
cast you can hit an enemy 3 times or more if you have a guest and clan ally.
Obviously combined with a spell the enemy is weak too as well as possibly
sleep this is the fastest way to kill single targets in the game. AoE used
normally is of course one of the fastest ways to kill multiple weak targets
Again Faith is a great buff for all Magick users.
License is similar to the Healing mage. Get your spell licenses and charge
then go increase your MP efficiency, magick lore, swiftness and +HP. Again
getting second and third quickenings or certain espers, even if you aren't
using them, will double/triple your MP.
Equip to increase your spell damage as much as possible. Mystic Armor is
the obvious choice though weapons aren't. There are weapons that increase
a specific elements damage by a certain amount so you should try to equip a
weapon like that where appropriate.
=Parties=[ Page Top ^ ]
Well there are probably more types of roles you can do but that's all for the
first version at least. As I mentioned in the opening of this section is that
you can mix and match to create different groups. For example a balanced
team I like to use has a Tank, Support Mage and Healer Mage each mage with a
ranged weapon. This allows me to only have one person up with the enemy for
if it does any AoE attacks or to spread out if the enemy uses large area
magick attacks. Also if one of my mages are targeted I can switch to them
and run around with them to try to kite.
Or the most common party which would be 3 melee just casting healing when
needed. For anything normal this is the quickest, simplest and easiest
way to roll even under the challenge conditions.
If you face an enemy that just uses physical attacks but tends to bounce
around target wise you can put in 3 melee with shields and the ability to
blind and you can just watch them evade everything and beat it down with
the occasional potion.
You can also try a 3 mage party and try to put the enemy to sleep or
immobilized. A slept enemy will not wake if it with magick so they can just
beat it down especially with the reflect strategy I mentioned earlier.
A tactic I like to use to switch people in and out to reserve MP. For
example a boss might go crazy at critical and start doing insane damage where
I need the MP to spam heal. I'll hold off on putting my main healer in for
most of it and use my other chars to take care of maintaining buffs and
debuffing the boss as well as handling the less difficult healing. Of course
if you still get those quickenings/espers for the increased MP you probably
won't need to do this but in a pure no quick/esper play it's very helpful.
Just play around and try out different things :)
-----
Tips:
-----
=About Weapons=[ Page Top ^ ]
===============
As I mentioned when talking about weapon damage dealers, to maximize damage
you should know what they use to calculate damage. I suggest you check out
section 4 of Arthellinus's Power Walkthrough which is a lot of good down and
dirty info on damage calculation, weapon attack speed, ect... Basically just
remember that there is more to DPS with weapons than just it's attack power.
The speed that a weapon attacks with often makes a much bigger difference in
dps as well as the ability to combo more frequently.
Another good guide to check out is the Game Mechanics FAQ by maltzsan which
lists how many things in the game work from the effects of weather and
terrain on spells to the nitty gritty on how vague technicks work.
Ranged weapons I really like. They may be weaker but they often allow you to
spread your team out and keep people from getting hit by AoE attacks which
makes healing and status removal much easier and can often be the difference
between spending much of your time recovering everyone and having that one
person handle it or possibly rotate it. Aside from the defense ignoring part
of guns, I really love ammo. What I love about it is that you can upgrade
your weapon and still keep the same ammo and hence the same added effect or
change ammo depending on the foe without having to drop down to a weaker
weapon to get the effect.
=Try your own Stuff=[ Page Top ^ ]
====================
While I try to list more than one method I don't list every way nor will I
ever. Some I mention in other parts such as where I discuss the Damage
mage I mention the strategy of Sleep + Magick. It's likely that what I
suggest may not fit your playing style and that is why I also try to list what
Harmful Status effects work on each one, the stats and their Attacks. Be
creative and think about what you are facing and you can figure out how to
conquer the enemy. This is much more enjoyable than following guides and you
may find yourself with the great urge to rush off and tell someone about the
amazing battle you had and how >You< beat it. Especially when you find a way
that does not resort to spending 2 hours leveling up or something.
This is what the gameplay side of RPGs(and most games) is all about though rpgs
have the wonderful feeling of exploration and discovery that is wasted by using
walkthroughs step-by-step.
The other reason I suggest that is because I know very few people like to play
the way my style is. I learned this on the SO3 board discussing SSCC strategy.
My style is more of a "If they can't kill you, you can't lose" kinda thing
while most people prefer a "Kill it before it can kill you" kinda thing. Also
like I said in the introduction since I started this guide I've been trying not
to buy quickenings/espers so I don't have the benefit of double/triple MP. This
forces me to play a bit MP cost conscious and can't simply run up and spam
cura/curaja all the time. This is where the healers and mages and stuff come
in since mystic armor increases healing and such but then it also has poor
defense so I need that tank to not get chewed through and so on and so forth...
Items I always use as a last resort
=Explore=[ Page Top ^ ]
=========
Go ahead walk around town or explore new areas. Don't let the story confine
you. Exploration and Discovery are important parts of the game. You can
learn a lot of things from talking to people(such as don't use magick around
elementals or what conditions are needed for them to appear), find sidequests
or discover new areas where you might be able to buy better stuff.
For example if you do some exploring and questing after Raithwall's tomb then
you'll most likely complete the cactuar quest or chase of Deweg or hell even
beat earth tyrant to give you access to mosphoran highwastes. You can find a
merchant here where you can buy golden amulets, remedies and some other
useful things.
=Ignore Defense=[ Page Top ^ ]
================
I mention this in many of my strategies but it works for all. When taking on
marks at low level or when they hit critical they often have a high defense to
where you aren't doing that much damage. The best thing to do is to use and
abuse skills that ignore defense. Magick does, technicks like
Horology, traveler, 1000 needles, ect.. do as well as Balance. For enemies
with high defense it's easy to gambit with Foe HP = Critical which you get very
early.
=Changing Target Groups=[ Page Top ^ ]
========================
I didn't know this till a good bit into my first playthrough. When choosing a
target for a spell or whatever you can press L1/R1 to change through different
target groups. You can target your party, your reserves, an enemy, or an ally
This is how you can target enemies when using Nihopalaoa or casting reverse on
your own party for example
=Shops can upgrade after story events=[ Page Top ^ ]
======================================
Yes it's true and combined with the fact that equipment is more meaningful
than levels it can make a huge difference in difficulty throughout the game.
This includes spells and techs(though less often) as well. I'll try to list
them:
After Barhiem: Rabanastre *Better Weap/Armor than you can buy in Bhujerba
but remember that Bhujerba does have different
spells and such
After Leviathon: Rabanastre *Better Weap/Armor than you can buy in Bhujerba
but don't remember if spells and stuff update
After Raithwall's Tomb: Rabanastre
On the way to Henne Mines: Jahara
After Judge Bergen: Rabanastre, Nalbina, and Mosphoran Highwastes
update but unless you need it to make the journey to phon
coast save you're money and buy at phon coast. That
mostly goes for armor, moshoporan shops sells some
weapons that aren't at phon coast. Weapons are a bit
spread out with usually half the kinds updated per point.
Buy spells,techs, and gambits at Rab/Nalb/MH of course.
After Draklor: Airship gets Syphon at this point I believe
After Giruvegan: Balfonhiem and many of the "other" merchants upgrade
equippment.
*Best meaning best buyable
Best Light armor = Merchant in south lowtown(by dalans)
Best Heavy armor = Bakanamy merchant in Necrohal
Best Mystic armor = Merchant in Barhiem passage(gave fuse)
Many other merchants including those listed can have other
accessories to buy as well as weapons. Off the top of my
head:
Barhiem = Hermes sandles
Eastersands = Diamond armlet, golden axe
Baknamy = Demon Shield, Telekinesis
Westersands = Gungnir
Bhujerba(guy by where rocktoise client was) = turletshell
chocker, sweep
Old Archades = Sage's Ring
Various Aiship flights: Certain routes can offer special
spells and such such as Bubble and Indigo pendent
After Pharos: Balfonhiem, those "other" merchants above get a spell each
except Bhujerba, old archades and airship
May not be perfect but that's from my own experience.
=Giza Plains Seasons=[ Page Top ^ ]
=====================
So many people panic over the weather in giza plains it's not funny. The
weather in Giza is locked during two parts in the game. From the start till
Raithwalls tomb the season will always be dry. After Raithwalls tomb till
roughly after leaving Jahara the season will be locked as the rainy season.
After that the season changes over a period of time, takes roughly an hour.
There is a seeq in the southern exit of Rabanastre that calls himself the
weather eye and will tell you how close it is till the season in Giza changes
If he doesn't refer to himself as the weather eye it's likely too early yet
in the story for the seasons in giza to change. Advance the story and try
again later.
=Changing Equipment During Battle=[ Page Top ^ ]
==================================
The result of a spell isn't decided immediately when it's cast and is only
decided when it hits a target. With this knowledge you can change your
equipment mid-battle to protect yourself. For example if you see the enemy
use a thunder based spell you can equip a Rubber Suit(s) to negate it. If
the enemy casts a status effect spell like silence you can equip a Rose
Corsage to be immune. This also affects passive skills like Serenity.
Somewhat cheap but it can be a big difference maker in tough situations where
you really would rather not chance a gameover and have to redo a bunch of
stuff
=Gambits=[ Page Top ^ ]
=========
Basically there is some intelligence behind gambits. Maybe not enough to
make them stop stealing once there is nothing to steal but enough to prevent
them from repeatedly casting a buff or status effect when it is already
active and so on.
So for example you can use the gambit Ally:Any > Raise/Phoenix down/ect...
and they'll only use it when someone dies(making Ally:Status=KO unneeded).
Same for buffs, with Ally:Any > Protect they will cast protect on anyone
who isn't buffed and won't just keep casting it endlessly.
They aren't so intelligent when it comes to AoE spells. Basically say you
you have two people with the gambits Ally < 40% HP -> Curaja gambits. If
one person gets hurt <40% then only one of them will use Curaja. However
if two people get hurt then both will cast curaja even if both would be
fully healed by one casting. This is because the AI only sees it as
targeting just one person(which is understandable, it would be difficult
to say for sure the player might not move out of range of the spell in the
end) and so the second one will cast curaja targeting the other person.
This is the same for buff spells.
The best thing to make that more efficient is either to have one
person handle it(this works well in the case of 'ga buffs, usually
with the self gambit) or stagger the factor in the case of healing(ie one
at <60 and the other <30). Rotating who handles what depending on the
situation can also help with efficiency though this is something mainly
used with end foes like yiazmat.
Also remember that you can change gambits anytime so if you find you're
gambit setup isn't working just open up the menu and modify it to work.
----------------
Mark Strategies:[ Page Top ^ ]
----------------
Abbreviations:
HP-------------Hit Points
MP----------Magick Points
STR--------------Strength
MAG----------Magick Power
VIT--------------Vitality
SPD-----------------Speed
ATK----------Attack Power
DEF---------------Defense
MRES----Magick Resistance
EVA-----------------Evade
LP---------License Points
CP------------Clan Points
CT------------Charge Time
------------------------------------
Global Immunities and Un-Immunities:
------------------------------------
AKA all the abilities or effects that all marks are immune to as well as a
couple that work on all. I was pretty sure on some of them based on maltzan's
Game Mechanics guide listing that all marks should have a passive skill called
"Safety" which makes them immune to many things. I was stubborn and had to
see for myself to my sorrow.
The follow is the list of all the skills/effects that all marks are immune to:
Instant Death
Warp
Break
Gravity/Fangs
Syphon
Wither
Addle
Charm
Bonebreaker
Sight Unseeing
Achilles
Numerology
Countdown/Doom basically doesn't work on anything except for the Chickitrices.
The follow work on ALL marks:
Expose
Shear
As such you will not find these listed in the individual immunity tables for
each mark anymore.
=Note about enemy buffs pre-dispel=
===================================
Just a little note to try to avoid redundancy, from the start marks often
spawn with buffs but often don't recast them if they wear off. So if you
want to avoid tossing yourself at mark with Bravery and haste you can try
waiting around for it to wear off. The other thing is Shell, if you are
trying to cast a status effect shell will halve the chance that it'll work.
=About Kiting=
==============
I only mention this in a few hunts but it's something else you can try if you
get a little bored with "the gambits playing the game for you" and let you
take advantage of the fact that you can move around in battle. Like I said
for the most part this is something just to fool around with while playing.
It's somewhat humorous watching something chase you in circles >_> Aside
from the few marks I specifically mention this on I never used it and none
of them besides the ones that do were written with this in mind.
What is Kiting?
Kiting basically boils down to moving away from an enemy so they can't you
while hitting them yourself.
So what do I do?
For slow enemies:
Control the person targeted and run away from the enemy. Ranged abilities
help but they also stop you temporarily. Press Up/Down on the d-pad to
switch who you control.
For other enemies:
Try to use you're other allies to body block the enemy and then run in a
circle. Obstacles on the field(ie rocks, water, field edge, ect..) can also
be used. Wyrms generally have pretty bad pathing.
If Immobilize works that's another way while not exactly kiting but has the
same general idea. Just immobilize the enemy, move away from them and attack
from afar. If you the enemy casts spells you can sometimes reflect them as
well.
Ready for the mark hunts?
Click here!
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