JUDE'S PROFILE

Both. Some characters can be momentum-based, such that using stackable buffs is a part of their design.

Craze, when I said a full retaliate strategy, I meant a full party of retaliators like LockeZ mentioned. Everybody has retaliate. Gilgamesh has Armor Strike. Tyro has Shadowsteel. Everybody else has some form of double-hit. You can use Warrior of Light's light-element RM to get the medals for holy damage with a normal attack. If you decide to just forgo Shadowsteel and give Tyro haste, then you don't even need to worry about Holy or Shock as long as your Advanced retaliator has a good weapon. You'll force her into her scripted abilities with the rapid damage so she'll probably only have time to RNG a single Holy or Shock and you can afford to lose one member. Without haste, RNG will probably kill two and possibly more if you're unlucky, but you'll win the fight almost for sure. If Stock Break doesn't connect, then neither does its Sap effect. Dragon Force prevents it the same way. Man, Dragon Force is cool and I'm really happy about having it... I kind of wish I had Kimahri's Dusk Lance now.

Looking at the party you used, it actually seems like it'd be fine. My first party had an issue keeping Stoneskin active, but with Lifesiphon you shouldn't have that issue. When are you popping Sentinel's Guard? I would suggest using it after the first Climhazard. The only thing that hurts before the first Climhazard is Thunder Strike, but since you're using Draw Fire/Retaliate you don't have to worry about that. Drunk Cecil's Shadowblade buff has the same duration, and with Lifesiphon I have 100% uptime after its first usage, which is right before she Climhazards. I think Dr. Mog's Teachings will be roughly the same as Ace Striker overall, just hold off on your first usage. I am actually pretty certain my original party can beat Beatrix now, assuming I hold off on Stoneskin which I wasn't doing then. I do have a suggestion for you party setup, though. Drop Yuffie and put in Thancred instead. I know I recommended not using a ninja before, but that's because I always forget Thancred exists and can use Protectga/Shellga bard songs. Give Thancred Shadowsteel, Shellga bard song, and the Double Hit RM. Consider dropping Eiko in favor of a paladin. Beatrix and Pretty Cecil can use Double Cut and still put up very respectable numbers with Curaja. You also don't need Shellga until the the end, so you don't even need to bring it as a spell... You can keep Eiko and use her default limit break or use a generic Shellga soulbreak relic on any character if you've got one.

Actually, now that I look closer at your party I think you should drop Gilgamesh too. The way you're using Tyro is really weird. Keep in mind he can not generate any soul meter when he's Double Cutting Gilgamesh, since misses don't generate meter. Instead, make Tyro your retaliator so that his retaliates earn him meter for SG. Since you'll be running Lifesiphon/Retaliate/Untapped Power on Tyro you won't have Draw Fire and will need to mitigate Thunder Strike via Protectga somewhere. Don't worry about Tyro having less attack than others... Advance bumps your attack power up high enough that you're in the diminishing returns zone anyway. Keep in mind that if you're not hasted, you need to alternate between Lifesiphon and Retaliate. If you're hasted you can use Lifesiphon twice, or if insetad of Lifesphon he's using a celerity ability with a fast charge rate. Also make sure that you used Retaliate in the turn prior to using SG, and that you use Retaliate right after SG as well because of the lengthy cast time--again, you have an extra buffer turn if Tyro is hasted. Swap Gilgamesh for somebody who can Protectga and Double Cut like Beatrix or Pretty Cecil, or maybe a spellblade with Drain Strike and Double Cut to help your healers out and then put Protectga on your white mage or Thancred. You've got options, man.

If you still have issues with soul meter, consider not using any abilities during Beatrix's first phase and just drawing it out to accumulate meter. The only dangerous move she's got before her first Climhazard is Thunder Strike. I saved ability usage on this phase anyway, because I wanted to ensure I had enough to use after her second Climhazard when shit gets real and I need to burst.

I'm pretty fortunate when it comes to items. I have Boon, two group heals between Hymn of the Fayth and whatever Rosa's is called, Stoneskin, a group attack buff via Drunk Cecil's Shadowblade, and now a physical blink from Aeris's Dragon Force. This offers me a lot of flexibility in what RW I can bring to various fights.

Anyway, there's this orb fest thing going on so I'll delay the bonus battles for a bit. The mythril from the event and the orb festival means I can try for a 3-pull, which I've never tried before and generally recommend against since you miss out on a free item, but I've never done a pull on FF12 ever so I'm thinking about it. We'll see how I do against Vossler first, probably, then decide from there. I do have an FF12 Danjuro knife which I can't remember how I got (though definitely during a non-FF12 banner), and several strong 4++ weapons, so my synergy will probably be fine.

Alright, I've mastered Beatrix twice in a row with the following party, without any reloading, which is so breezy that it's actually overkill and I can probably tweak it to be more offensive.



Tyro uses Shadowsteel until Sap sticks, which deals over 4k damage per tick. Cecil spams Lifesiphon until he has enough to use Soul Eater, then alternates between Lifesiphon and Power Break, using Soul eater every time it's available. Y'shtola uses the first round to buff regen, both curing RM saps and giving Beatrix time to dispel Other Beatrix's Reflect so that Diaga can be used. Aeris buffs and heals... In fact, she heals even if she's only going to heal 500 HP just so that she can build soul meter.

When Other Beatrix's HP meter approaches her feet, being precasting your group heal, which may be an RW. Eiko's works well here because the Hastega allows you to recover more quickly and build more meter in less time. Other Beatrix is either preparing a Shock or a Stock Break at this point, so I use Y'shtola's Stoneskin. Tyro and Aeris heal until everybody is recovered. Soon, Tyro will have enough meter to use Emerald Bracer's Shellga, which will last the remainder of the fight and be ready for Holy spam.

As Other Beatrix's health bar approaches her back foot, precast group heal again in anticipation. Refresh Stoneskin soon. Use Aeris's Dragon Force limit break, and refresh it every time Other Beatrix uses Stock Break. The only damage I take at this point is from Holy and Shock, which are easy to heal through on their own. I recommend saving damage abilities for the last stretch since you want to kill Other Beatrix quickly. If Shadowsteel worked in the first few turns, then Sap has probably faded and needs to be reapplied with the remaining Shadowsteel charges. Except to dispel, I used only Armor Strike early on. Beatrix starts reflecting herself more regularly in this phase, so Banish Strike needs to be used every turn to allow Y'shtola to cast Diaga. Additionally, Banish Strike scales better with Attack than Armor Strike, such that it scales better with Soul Eater.

Dragon Force worked so well I don't know that I'm even going to try my other ideas. It works so well I don't think I even need to bring Stoneskin and should've brought another physical character to take advantage of Soul Eater's buff... like Pretty Cecil so I can still use Group Regen. Actually, I should've just used Steiner. I went in thinking Beatrix would bring a buff, but then didn't. My Steiner is level capped so he is stronger than her for the knight abilities, and then Beatrix can pick up Group Regen + Banish Strike. Steiner on Drain Strike and Armor Strike. That would make more sense. I think a Dispel/Reflect strategy would work, allowing a reflected, retaliating (to avoid Stock Break Sap) ally with 1 HP to draw and reflect any Holy spells. Dispel is needed because otherwise Other Beatrix will bounce Holy off of her own reflect bubble. Lure Magic won't work because it only affects black magic spells, as stated in its description.

author=MercynMetal
I... think they predominately look like Caucasians with a different skin tone, like what existed in VX Ace.

I think that's your own personal bias: seeing white folks as the default. RM characters are drawn by Japanese people in an anime style, and when some Japanese kid watches an anime about high schoolers saving the world by piloting giant robots, it takes place in a Japanese school and the Japanese kid perceives all of those characters as Japanese. Most anime abstracts people enough that you see what you're trained to expect. I mean, people think Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z is a black dude, even those he's clearly green, has pointy ears, stretchy arms, and his species is from another planet.

Beat Beatrix, but haven't mastered it yet. Shock is what's giving me trouble. I even brought Rosa to do her group heal/raise limit break to deal with it, but then the guys who get revived have no mitigation and get whacked immediately afterwards. I have a plan to master it, but it requires me to bring an SG/SS roamer, which is a bummer. Right now there are gaps in Y'shtola's Stoneskin, and during those gaps Shock will hit for 4k with Protectga and Steal Power active, and for 9k on some characters with no active mitigation. Sap is really strong and ticks for about 4k--I brought Bartz to achieve this since I have his Air Knife limit break, though you can always fit it in with an RW or Tyro with Shadowsteel. I think bringing an actual Ninja to do it might not be the best plan since abilities are weirdly tight on this fight. You can always just retaliate, but bear in mind that Shock and Holy ignore that so you are beholden to RNG, and you can probably only afford to let one party member die since you're guaranteed to lose all of your damage medals and retaliate eats up so many turns you will lose one on speed.

I'm quite interested in the second FF12 banner, but I blew my wad on FF9 already, which was more important. I will probably pull on the Advent Children one just for a shot at the new limit break, even if it makes Cloud look like a dork.

And I just got FuSoYa's Moon's Grace II RM in a daily. Restores white and black magic. I think Strago is my only synergy-specific RM that's left.