FXIII - Barthandelus

[Deadly Whispers]

I can't defeat him! I've never had this much difficulty with a game boss before. Did anybody here get past him? It's the Doom counter that keeps doing me in - I have no trouble keeping alive other than that (and everyone is topped at their role levels). I just don't seem to be doing enough damage . . . Any tips on party members, Paradigms, and equipment? I would really appreciate it!

~ DW

[crackpot27]

I used the Fang (as the leader because she's the best at dodging attacks), Lightning, Hope combination because it gave you the sentinel, synergist, saboteur, as well as two characters with the medic ability (that and I think Bahamut did a decent amount of damage). I started the fight using the synergist, saboteur, medic combination, it speeds you up and slows him down
Also if you don't have your weapons and armor leveled up you might work on that. I think I had both at their maximum levels, and it was still a hard fight.
Any other advice would be the same you'd find online in a walkthrough, attack the armor first (each piece has a weakness), switch to a paradigm with all three attacking as much as possible, and have combat clinic at the ready for when he does his best to blow you away
Good luck , that was probably my least favorite fight of the game

[Strictly-Dragonball]

Buffs make a big difference, the best party to use is Lightning, Hope and Fang, as soon as the battle begins be sure to use something which puts Hope in the role of Synergist and wait until he casts Haste on everyone (most important) as well as other useful enhancements then immediately switch to a more aggressive Paradigm and target the left and right areas.

As soon as Staggered switch to Relentless Assault and hammer him until the first side falls then rinse and repeat for the next, healing when needed.

When going on the offensive you want to use a set up that has a Commando, Ravager and Fang as Sentinel, fill the chain gauge 30%-50% then use Relentless Assault for a quick stagger.

As soon as you see the caption appear for his most powerful attack which takes about 20 seconds to charge switch to Combat Clinic and wait until Barthandelus is finished attacking to immediately heal your leader as quick as possible, then return to using the Delta Attack/Relentless Assault combination to stagger him.

If you still find yourself unable to beat the Doom counter, create the Aggression Paradigm (Light = COM, Hope = RAV and Fang = COM.)

Having two Commando's attack simultaneously when he is staggered will cause big damage. Also when you find not much time left on the clock consider using Renew for healing instead of Paradigm Switching to save you time.

As soon as he casts Doom make an all out assault to finish him as quick as you can using Renew to heal when your HP drops dangerously low.

Hope this helps

The fight should take between 15-20 minutes.

[Strictly-Dragonball]

You don't really need worry about weapon upgrading (you won't have sufficient gill or components to get the most out of it until much, much later)

I got through the whole story without upgrading anything so it is very possible.

[Deadly Whispers]

You guys are wonderful, thank you! I tried your suggestions and then kept messing around on my own and FINALLY got him. Man, that was a beech!

I ended up with Lightning, Hope, and Sazh (who has the weapon that increases stagger time). Diversity and Relentless Assault got him staggered, Aggression dealt damage during stagger, and Convalescence kept everybody buffed and healed while waiting for his Destrudo attack. 22 minutes, standard equipment.

I am still in shock it took me as long as it did to find something that works - your suggestions really, really helped. Renew especially.

Later!

[crackpot27]

Congrats Now you only have to see his ugly mug a couple more times before the game ends
Luckily he doesn't use doom in the future fights, so they're not as bad

[Strictly-Dragonball]

Yeah, you fight him two more times but he isn't as imposing then, you are still in for long epic battles though!

A good strategy to implement from now on is turning the three party members you don't use into "Super Specialists", lets say you're using Lightning, Hope and Fang as your main team for example.

What you can do with Snow, Sazh and Vanille is dedicate all their development from this point on to one role, this would be Snow = Sentinel, Sazh = Synergist and make Vanille a Super Specialist Medic.

This is because from this point on the Crystarium gets very, very expensive and you will need your main party to be balanced in all three of their primary disciplines. By using all your CP points in the roles for the other 3 outlined above this can make things much easier post game.

[kathpatty]

My favorite group was Lightning, Snow and Hope
Beat the main game - but I need to kill some Shaolong Gui to get some dark matter......
Any hints?