need help with final boss: spoiler

[Ralz]

Help here please! I've been trying to beat Orphan all morning to no avail.. I've been hit with the death spell 4 times (I do have the Cherub Crown on all 3 characters and it's maxed out).. Twice I simply couldn't switch over fast enough to Combat Clinic before he hit with Merciless Judgment.. In each try I've only been able to stagger him twice, but he always gets me before I can do it a third time.. If this is how hard he is to be in his first form, I can't imagine how difficult it will be in his second..

Anyway, someone said I should use poison on him, that it will really help, so the last time I tried this morning I went in to Even Odds and watched as Fang threw out Deprotect/Deshell and Imperil on him, but as I'm waiting for her to throw poison and some of the many other sab options, I see, to my surprise, she doesn't do it.. She simply starts re-using deprotect, deshell and Imperil again.. I'm watching carefully while I'm desperately feeling the clock tick down, but she never throws any of her other arsenal of goodies at him at all.. Is this suppose to happen? Has it happened to anyone else?

And, if there are any other suggestions on how to beat this monster, I'd apprecaite them.. Any help at all!

BTW, I'm using Lightning, Hope and Fang.. Hope has died on me several times but I was able to use Raise before Light bought the farm too..

If you get past this battle, you've basically won as the second form is a cake-walk. No seriously.

In general, status debuffs won't work out too well with this one. The only ones you really need are Slow, Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil.

I assume you haven't even seen what he can do with status debuffs. I can tell you that Death is bad, but what he can do with debuffs can be even worse. Not to say its impossible to win. You want an assault-like strategy. Its the only way you'll win with Death just around the corner.

If that's the team you're using, and assuming its in the order of Lightning, Fang and Hope, go with one Diveristy (Rav, Com, Med), one Combat Clinic (Med, Sen, Med), one Tri-disaster (Rav, Rav, Rav), one Cerberus (Com, Com, Com), one Rapid Growth (Syn, Syn, Syn), and possibly one Infiltration (Sab, Sab, Sab.) This is what I used, but you can change some things around to suit your style better.

You have to apply things like Haste for yourself and Slow for Orphan, in a timely manner. His Merciless Judgment is annoying, but you can switch to Combat Clinic during the animation, and you can start healing. Your HP will be among the most important stats to watch in this fight. Death isn't the only thing that can kill you.

Once he has the four aformentioned debuffs, you can begin attacking. You can use Diversity to begin the combo with a chain by the Commando and Ravager. Once its begun, and your HP is sufficient, switch to Tri-disaster, and unload, basically. You want to not only stagger him, but get as close to 999% as you can. Use Army of One if you're maining Lightning for boosted Stagger percentage, and if you're using Fang, wait until the stagger meter is about to end, and use Highwing to deal huge damage.

Once its staggered, and its percentage is high, switch to Cerberus and you can deal crazy damage. Once it ends, prepare to reapply all the necessary statuses. If he's at half HP or so, this is usually where he'll start with the status ailments. Its not so bad if you use Combat Clinic often. But, really, the items you can buy beforehand work well, too. Most of your buffs will probably get taken out, so re-apply them. You do not want to get stuck with Slow.

Then, basically just repeat the same attacking method, and you should be able to win. When Orphan is staggered, it tends not to attack as much. And if you can't kill him by the second round, he must be close, so just keep surviving, and hoping Death misses, and you should be able to get him by the third time.

Having a completed Crystarium as best as you can is also a good idea. That, or a different set-up or team mates.

Of course, this is just a suggesstion. I've been through the hell of this boss, myself, but eventually, you just luck out, it seems. There will be times he'll always miss with Death, and he'll never use statuses. All in all, annoyingly difficult boss, but appropriate. Like I said before, take him down, and you've essentially won. Wait till you see how "difficult" the second part is. >_>

[Andromeda]

There is already a lot of advice in this thread. Anyone at this point is just going to be repeating themselves unless you have a very specific question. My advice and strategy on how to win is the fourth post from the top. It shouldn't be too hard to miss and it is pretty detailed and specific.

[GranFran]

If you get past this battle, you've basically won as the second form is a cake-walk. No seriously.

In general, status debuffs won't work out too well with this one. The only ones you really need are Slow, Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil.

I assume you haven't even seen what he can do with status debuffs. I can tell you that Death is bad, but what he can do with debuffs can be even worse. Not to say its impossible to win. You want an assault-like strategy. Its the only way you'll win with Death just around the corner.

If that's the team you're using, and assuming its in the order of Lightning, Fang and Hope, go with one Diveristy (Rav, Com, Med), one Combat Clinic (Med, Sen, Med), one Tri-disaster (Rav, Rav, Rav), one Cerberus (Com, Com, Com), one Rapid Growth (Syn, Syn, Syn), and possibly one Infiltration (Sab, Sab, Sab.) This is what I used, but you can change some things around to suit your style better.

You have to apply things like Haste for yourself and Slow for Orphan, in a timely manner. His Merciless Judgment is annoying, but you can switch to Combat Clinic during the animation, and you can start healing. Your HP will be among the most important stats to watch in this fight. Death isn't the only thing that can kill you.

Once he has the four aformentioned debuffs, you can begin attacking. You can use Diversity to begin the combo with a chain by the Commando and Ravager. Once its begun, and your HP is sufficient, switch to Tri-disaster, and unload, basically. You want to not only stagger him, but get as close to 999% as you can. Use Army of One if you're maining Lightning for boosted Stagger percentage, and if you're using Fang, wait until the stagger meter is about to end, and use Highwing to deal huge damage.

Once its staggered, and its percentage is high, switch to Cerberus and you can deal crazy damage. Once it ends, prepare to reapply all the necessary statuses. If he's at half HP or so, this is usually where he'll start with the status ailments. Its not so bad if you use Combat Clinic often. But, really, the items you can buy beforehand work well, too. Most of your buffs will probably get taken out, so re-apply them. You do not want to get stuck with Slow.

Then, basically just repeat the same attacking method, and you should be able to win. When Orphan is staggered, it tends not to attack as much. And if you can't kill him by the second round, he must be close, so just keep surviving, and hoping Death misses, and you should be able to get him by the third time.

Having a completed Crystarium as best as you can is also a good idea. That, or a different set-up or team mates.

Of course, this is just a suggesstion. I've been through the hell of this boss, myself, but eventually, you just luck out, it seems. There will be times he'll always miss with Death, and he'll never use statuses. All in all, annoyingly difficult boss, but appropriate. Like I said before, take him down, and you've essentially won. Wait till you see how "difficult" the second part is. >_>

Thanks hon, I think your right and I haven't been aggressive enough.. It seems as soon as I do start using relentless assault he starts blasting me with that Wrath hit and knocking one character, usually Hope, to 1/2 HP and then I have to switch over to Combat Clinic, then by the time I get thru with that, he's hitting me with something else that knocks the whole group down, like Dies Erie (or however it's spelled) so it's back to healing and buffing.. I just never seem able to get out of heal mode to do any real damage.. I wish he were slower (even when I get Fang to cast Slow he's still very fast)..

All six of my characters are at the top of their tiers.. I did a lot of grinding on Pulse to make sure of that.. However, I have not tried Army of One with Lightning nor the Highwind with Fang.. Lightning is my leader.. Don't you need Fang to use as Sentinel with Orphan? I find Fang using Sentinel as a leader is unwieldy and awkward..

I haven't even heard of most of the Paradigms so am going to try them.. I went back to my saved game before I went in and found Orphan, so I'll set them up and get used to them..

Thanks again, hon..

There is already a lot of advice in this thread. Anyone at this point is just going to be repeating themselves unless you have a very specific question. My advice and strategy on how to win is the fourth post from the top. It shouldn't be too hard to miss and it is pretty detailed and specific.

I read the advice, ALL of it.. It didn't help me any.. I still died.. I'll try Ralz's tips on using more aggressive paradigms and see it they help.. You have to realize you are young and have quick dexterity, something I don't have any longer, so I tend to need a little more help.. Be patient and quit nagging about people asking for more help.. Thanks