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Post by dgunther on Mar 31, 2015 11:44:46 GMT -7
PREFACE
SO - Feeling stupid today? Gonna take on Penance? Who the hell do you think you are, boy?! He's probably one of the hardest bosses in all of Final Fantasy (including the "Weapons," Ozma, Yiazamat and Vercingetorix). In fact, Omega Gold (Nemesis) is a JOKE compared to Penance.
He's got 12 million HP, constantly revives the parts of him that you destroy, and he hits hard, fast, AND has an attack that is appropriately named “Armageddon,” which can insta-kill your entire party. Oh, and just because that isn't cheap enough, his arms will kill you IF you happen to get revived from auto-life after Armageddon. Bullshit.
The major problem in the battle is Penance’s arms. He can ONLY use Armageddon if both of his arms are alive and it is his turn. However, the arms only stay dead for a few turns. So essentially, you can only really SAFELY do damage to Penance if his arms are defeated. Wait too long to destroy an arm, and the other one revives… And you’re dead. Destroy both arms too quickly and they’ll revive at the same time… And you’re dead.
But he IS beatable! And with the right strategy, the battle becomes much more... Possible. Though not easy.
THE SETUP
First, you do NOT need more than 9,999 HP. ALL of his attacks can be reduced to doing less than that, and there are better abilities to have on your armor. You don’t even need Ribbon on your armor? What!? No, seriously.
Here’s what you need on your armor for all 3 characters:
Auto-Haste (Penance has 255 agility. Good luck getting around that without Auto-Haste)
Auto-Protect and
Defense +20% (VITAL to make sure none of your characters are killed by Immolation or Obliteration)
Auto-Potion (Don’t need to spend a single turn healing. Just make sure you ONLY have X-potions, and bring 99 of them)
Empty, 4-slotted armor can be purchased by O’aka (or his brother?) in Macalania Woods.
I don’t remember specifics on what items you need to get those abilities on your armor, but there are probably guides all over the internet.
Rikku is essential for her mixes, Tidus and Wakka are recommended 2nd and 3rd characters for your party. All 3 should have Celestial Weapons. I also recommend giving Yuna armor with Auto-Haste, in case you have an emergency and need to bring her in quickly for Aeon Cannon Fodder.
More to come!
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Post by dgunther on Mar 31, 2015 11:49:02 GMT -7
BUFFS
When the battle starts, Use a 3-stars so that you can spam Quick Hit (and anything else) without worrying about MP. Also, have Rikku mix an Ultra Nul-All to bring your defense up even higher. At 255 defense, Immolation will still kill you in one hit, unless you have Ultra Nul-All mixed, Defense +20% AND Auto-Protect. Having everybody stay alive is important since you waste valuable turns reviving characters (since you’ll need to restore ALL of their HP, and give them 3-Stars and mix another Ultra Null-All). Almost EVERY turn you will be using Quick Hit. In the first phase of the battle, just focus on killing the arms before they get turns (they have 500,000 HP each, so 6 Quick Hits will do them in), and then attacking Penance when you can. Throughout this battle, you’ll spend so much time dismembering him, that you’ll typically get to attack Penance’s body about once or twice every few minutes. After you do 3 million damage to him, his butt falls off (I think it’s supposed to be a tail). This is where the real battle starts… ARMAGEDDON
In the 2nd stage, start by using a Purifying Salt on him to remove the Haste Effect. He will now also begin to use Immolation constantly, and this is where he will use Armageddon if both arms are alive when he gets a turn. Now, just focus on killing the arms, one at a time. Any time you get a chance, attack Penance. When the Arms are revived, attack them until you can kill them in one more turn. ONLY kill an arm: 1. If that arm is about to get a turn, since the arms can inflict status effects, many of which can instantly kill you (and you don’t have Ribbon). Death. 2. If Penance is about to get a turn during the 2nd phase of battle while both arms are present. Death. If not, always kill the arms at the last possible moment. You typically want them to be destroyed several moves apart – This ensures both Arms won't reappear at the same time (and cause Armageddon) and you also don’t waste time attacking the arms, when you could be working the body. Just Quick Hit and repeat. It’s all about timing when to attack the arms and when to go for hits that actually COUNT towards the body.
CONTINGENCY
The ONLY times you will do something besides Quick Hit: 1. If he hits a character with Immolation, IMMEDIATELY cast Dispel on that character. Immolation causes Armor Break which will destroy you if you are hit again (remember, a character dying once can potentially ruin this strategy). 2. If you have a full Overdrive gauge, using Tidus’ Overdrive or Wakka’s Attack reels can sometimes inflict some heavy damage. Just be careful you don’t use it to kill 2 arms at once, or slow yourself down too much. If for some reason, you get screwed, and a character dies, make sure you immediately revive him/her, use another Ultra Nul-All, and a 3-Stars. 3. If he’s got two arms out is about to get a turn before you can kill one of the arms, quickly call in Yuna and an Aeon for Cannon Fodder. Get her OUT as soon as possible, though I’d recommend giving her an armor with Auto-Haste just to be on the safe side. Both of the above things happened to me when I fought him, but I did what I just mentioned, and still won. You’re in for a long fight. Seriously. Like, close to an hour. But if you play it conservatively, watch your timing, and set your defense up right, you’ll be alright. Of course you could just Zanmato him... May be a bit cheesy, but it works. Besides:
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Post by dgunther on Mar 31, 2015 11:50:24 GMT -7
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Post by oxbellows on Mar 31, 2015 13:26:27 GMT -7
This is definitely a sound strategy that works, and very similar to the one I used. Once you get the ball rolling you should be safe no matter what happens. Then, like you said, it mostly becomes a battle of attrition. Anyone going for the platinum should use this strategy. If you just want to beat him just for the sake of beating him you can just use Yojimbo, but if you're going for the platinum you have to max out the sphere grid anyway. This will likely be the last trophy you receive. But man after the hours of grinding and leveling up sphere grids it was such a great feeling to see that bastard disintegrate  |
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Post by dgunther on Mar 31, 2015 14:17:57 GMT -7
This is definitely a sound strategy that works, and very similar to the one I used. Once you get the ball rolling you should be safe no matter what happens. Then, like you said, it mostly becomes a battle of attrition. Anyone going for the platinum should use this strategy. If you just want to beat him just for the sake of beating him you can just use Yojimbo, but if you're going for the platinum you have to max out the sphere grid anyway. This will likely be the last trophy you receive. But man after the hours of grinding and leveling up sphere grids it was such a great feeling to see that bastard disintegrate You're right - There is something elementally SATISFYING when he goes down after that long, long battle. Attacus in XIII, and Erishkegal in Lightning Returns are also long battles, but nowhere near as long as Penance... |
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Post by dgunther on Mar 31, 2015 14:19:43 GMT -7
This is definitely a sound strategy that works, and very similar to the one I used. Once you get the ball rolling you should be safe no matter what happens. Then, like you said, it mostly becomes a battle of attrition. Anyone going for the platinum should use this strategy. If you just want to beat him just for the sake of beating him you can just use Yojimbo, but if you're going for the platinum you have to max out the sphere grid anyway. This will likely be the last trophy you receive. But man after the hours of grinding and leveling up sphere grids it was such a great feeling to see that bastard disintegrate I'm curious - What did you do differently? Change up your attacks, or the armor you used? I've met people who maxed out HP and used Auto-Regen and Ribbon on their armor. What did you do? |
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Post by oxbellows on Mar 31, 2015 14:43:20 GMT -7
I used some slightly different armor abilities as I was worried about running out of potions. I'm not sure how legitimate of a concern this actually is though. I mean if his attack hits the whole party, you're using 3 potions, you can only carry 99, so that gives you 33 attacks you can safely take before you're screwed. I believe if your damage output is consistent you shouldn't ever get to that point, but I wanted to be sure just in case.
It was a while ago when I beat him so I can't remember exactly, but I think I had one character with auto-phoenix, and one with ribbon (the auto-phoenix is there to revive the character with ribbon). As you said, no need to go beyond 9999 HP, although auto-haste, auto-protect and Def+20% are definitely mandatory for this to work.
I used Rikku (mandatory), Wakka and Tidus (for their multi-hit limit breaks). I used limit breaks sparingly, and only when it happened to work out that I needed to kill the one arm right before the other one revived, and only when there would still be an action available before Penance's next attack.
It took about 45-60 minutes to complete, but the strategy you've outlined is here is airtight and I don't think there was a single time where things went south and I had to enter panic mode, although even if you do you should be able to recover fairly quickly without too much worry.
It takes a lot of preparation to beat this guy, but then you can brag about beating what is definitely one of the hardest superbosses in the series! The only fight I remember taking longer was Yiazmat (although I think Yiaz was probably easier in the long run, he didn't require maxed levels/stats and insane equipment).
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Post by dgunther on Mar 31, 2015 15:20:26 GMT -7
I used some slightly different armor abilities as I was worried about running out of potions. I'm not sure how legitimate of a concern this actually is though. I mean if his attack hits the whole party, you're using 3 potions, you can only carry 99, so that gives you 33 attacks you can safely take before you're screwed. I believe if your damage output is consistent you shouldn't ever get to that point, but I wanted to be sure just in case. It was a while ago when I beat him so I can't remember exactly, but I think I had one character with auto-phoenix, and one with ribbon (the auto-phoenix is there to revive the character with ribbon). As you said, no need to go beyond 9999 HP, although auto-haste, auto-protect and Def+20% are definitely mandatory for this to work. I used Rikku (mandatory), Wakka and Tidus (for their multi-hit limit breaks). I used limit breaks sparingly, and only when it happened to work out that I needed to kill the one arm right before the other one revived, and only when there would still be an action available before Penance's next attack. It took about 45-60 minutes to complete, but the strategy you've outlined is here is airtight and I don't think there was a single time where things went south and I had to enter panic mode, although even if you do you should be able to recover fairly quickly without too much worry. It takes a lot of preparation to beat this guy, but then you can brag about beating what is definitely one of the hardest superbosses in the series! The only fight I remember taking longer was Yiazmat (although I think Yiaz was probably easier in the long run, he didn't require maxed levels/stats and insane equipment). Nice - Good move on having one character with Auto-Phoenix, and One with Ribbon. I think you can also mix a "Trio of 9999" or whatever it's called, and then even your regular potions will heal 9999. I think.....? Somebody Fact-Check me on that? |
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Post by Shinryu on Apr 1, 2015 1:34:31 GMT -7
Penance isn't even close to being the hardest since you can cheese him. I take it you haven't beat the optional bosses in FFX-2 *cringes* the optional bosses are just evil in that game like Chac and Trema finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Final_Fantasy_X-2_BossesNot to mention Chronodia FF1 and Iron Giant in FF3 are just sick as well as the optional Zeromus extra boss in FFIV complete or Proto Babil in the FF4 DS version or Neo Shinryu and Enuo in FFV as well as Ozma in FF9 since the entire battle relies on RNG Don't even get me started on the FF13-2 optional bosses like Gilgamesh and Valfodr |
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Post by oxbellows on Apr 1, 2015 11:20:16 GMT -7
Yeah, if you include Yojimbo any boss in FFX becomes a joke, but if you try and beat him the old fashioned way he takes an insane amount of preparation. Trema was a tough one, but that catnip tick really helps.
But at the end of the day I would put my money on Ozma being the hardest, because there is a big luck factor and no matter how prepared you are, he can still devastate you.
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Post by dgunther on Apr 1, 2015 12:45:26 GMT -7
Penance isn't even close to being the hardest since you can cheese him. I take it you haven't beat the optional bosses in FFX-2 *cringes* the optional bosses are just evil in that game like Chac and Trema finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Final_Fantasy_X-2_BossesNot to mention Chronodia FF1 and Iron Giant in FF3 are just sick as well as the optional Zeromus extra boss in FFIV complete or Proto Babil in the FF4 DS version or Neo Shinryu and Enuo in FFV as well as Ozma in FF9 since the entire battle relies on RNG Don't even get me started on the FF13-2 optional bosses like Gilgamesh and Valfodr The only reason I think that Penance is ridiculous is that even with MAX stats (which you often don't have in the other games), he can still be a nightmare. Ozma can be a pain because of how much luck is involved sometimes, but the fight doesn't last too long. So if you're high enough level, you can usually beat him relatively quickly, even though he counters EVERYTHING, and can occasionally decimate you if you get unlucky. Around level 80 or so, and with the right setup, Neo-Shinryu isn't THAT bad. And I didn't find Enuo that hard either. To be honest, I haven't Platinum'd X-2 yet. Shame.... I got frustrated when ONE missed conversation messed up my story %, so I'm gonna do a lot of the stuff in a NG+ this winter (If I ever have time). And I haven't tried the DLC's on XIII-2 yet. So now I really want to Can't leave a stone unturned or a Superboss unbeaten! |
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Post by dgunther on Apr 1, 2015 12:46:08 GMT -7
And, yes, I'm aware now that Zanmato can turn the fight into a joke  I'm tempted to try that sometime, just to laugh at the ease of it all  |
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Post by Shinryu on Apr 2, 2015 1:17:06 GMT -7
Yeah I like fighting superbosses too they are lots of fun |
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Post by dgunther on Apr 2, 2015 10:57:29 GMT -7
Yeah I like fighting superbosses too they are lots of fun It gives you a nice sense of accomplishment. I remember when I beat Final Fantasy 1 on NES, that alone was a badge of honor. Beating most of the Final Fantasy games isn't too hard anymore. Maybe that's because I usually over-level, but being able to take on a nice challenge or two at the end of the game feels nice |
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Post by dgunther on Apr 2, 2015 10:58:14 GMT -7
I think that's part of why I liked XIII - Because the Crystarium only levels up at certain points, it sort of forces you to NOT over-level, so you can't just cheese through the majority of the game, and have to actually rely on proper strategy.
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I'm tempted to try that sometime, just to laugh at the ease of it all 