Cloud: I couldn't finish 'em. Looks like this's gonna get complicated.
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Valfodr's weakest form is relatively easy to defeat, as all of its attacks do not inflict a great deal of damage for a well developed party, so the player shouldn't require the services of a Sentinel. If the player is fighting this battle directly after Snow, the player may want to instantly retry the battle if they want to make any tweaks to their Paradigm Deck.
Valfodr is able to summon Leyaks into battle to assist him; they will bestow some buffs onto Valfodr. When this happens, the player should be able to easily defeat the Leyaks quickly enough before Valfodr's chain gauge resets. Once they are defeated, the player should shift to a Paradigm containing two Saboteurs and a monster Synergist to remove all of Valfodr's buffs, and also to apply some debuffs such as Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil, while the Synergist applies Bravery, Faith, and Enfire to the party. With these in place, Valfodr should fall quickly.
This battle follows similarly to the previous battle, only Valfodr now summons Golden Chocobo into battle. Whenever they are summoned, the player should aim to defeat the Golden Chocobos as quickly as possible, as they can inflict Daze, Deprotect and Deshell with Supersonic Wave if not dispatched quickly enough. Once Valfodr is on his own, the player can start inflicting debuffs and applying buffs as in the previous battle.
When Valfodr's HP is roughly halved, he will increase his Strength and Magic significantly. Even so, the player may be able to get away without using a Sentinel, but that would also mean the player would have to heal more often.
Valfodr doesn't summon monsters until the player removes around a third of his HP. This time around, Valfodr summons three Cactuaramas, who will remove all of Valfodr's debuffs and then proceed to restore his HP at an alarming rate. Valfodr will also cast Faithga to improve the Cactuaramas' healing abilities, and will quickly replace any fallen Cactuaramas. Therefore the player must attempt to inflict more damage to Valfodr than the Cactuaramas can heal.
The most efficient way to defeat Valfodr is to utilize a monster Synergist capable of casting Enfire, and possibly Bravega and/or Faithga. Cactuaramas are weak against fire and they can be defeated surprisingly quickly if the player quickly changes to an offensive Wide-tuned paradigm like Cerberus-W as soon as they spawn. Thus the player can spend longer periods of time battling Valfodr on his own until he summons more reinforcements.
When his HP is low, Valfodr will begin an attack that deals heavy damage and may also inflict Daze which, thankfully, does not last long. The player should avoid using a Sentinel and instead utilize paradigms such as Diversity-W to top up HP, and also use Noel or Serah as a Synergist from time to time to bestow Protect and Shell.
The player should use the same preparation as in the previous battle. This time around Valfodr is harder to debuff and will summon Chichus into battle. The player should use a monster Synergist to cast as many buffs as possible onto the party, but particularly an En-type buff as Chichu are weak against all elements. Valfodr only summons three Chichus at a time, but there can be as many as five Chichus in battle, so the key to victory is crowd control.
If the player uses Wide-tuned offensive paradigms whenever Chichus are summoned, particularly in combination with a En-type buff and either Bravery or Faith then the Chichus should not last long, allowing the player to concentrate on Valfodr. During the battle, Valfodr is capable of casting Bravega to augment his the Chichus' attacks, and also cast Deprotega and Cursega on the player party, so Medics should be employed to deal with the latter, and casting Veil will help as well.
When Valfodr's HP drops below half, his eyes will start to glow yellow, allowing him to use his signature move, Gagnrath. This move deals extreme damage to all nearby characters, so the player must be ready to shift to Tortoise to survive the Onslaught.
Valfodr does not summon reinforcements during this battle, but with him possessing a wide variety of powerful attacks and packing over 15,000,000 HP, it is one of the most difficult fights in the game. The player should bring a healthy stock of Wound Potions before engaging Valfodr for the final time. This fight is composed in two stages.
In the first stage Valfodr is capable of casting Ultima, which the player should defend with Tortoise immediately, as well as Cursega and Slowga. As in previous battles, the player should start by casting both offensive and defensive buffs on the party, and also debuff Valfodr with Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil (Valfodr is slightly easier to debuff than in the previous battle), but this time it may be wise to employ a Sentinel for much of the battle, as his standard attacks are much more powerful than before.
Valfodr is difficult to damage heavily most of the time, so the player must take advantage of the stagger period when it arrives. Using monsters with Feral Links that increase chain bonuses significantly when staggered (such as Lightning and Sazh) work well, as does the Cerberus Paradigm, but only employ Cerberus when the party is in healthy condition and employ it in small doses, otherwise Valfodr will easily decimate the whole party.
Valfodr's eyes will glow once his HP falls to around 9,000,000 HP and the second stage will begin. He will put away the Ultima spell, but will instead use Gagnrath, Deprotega, Cursega, and a new ability, Quasar, which deals heavy Wound damage along with standard damage. Valfodr will also buff himself with Bravery, Faith, and Haste. The player must dispel these buffs immediately, otherwise his attacks will easily overwhelm the party. The player should also use Tortoise whenever the prompt for Gagnrath and Quasar appears. Other than that, the player should continue employing the same strategy as in the first stage.
If the player is struggling to defeat Valfodr, note that, as opposed to other coliseum fights, Valfodr never heals his HP, and there is no time limit, so the player may wish to use a powerful monster Sentinel (Pulsework Gladiator and Snow are the two best Sentinels in the game) for the whole fight, and also cast defensive buffs, particularly Vigilance so that Wound damage is kept in check, and use a defensive strategy to gradually whittle Valfodr's HP down. However such a strategy would take many hours to complete.
While Valfodr can be tamed by defeating him at any level, he will most likely relinquish his crystal once defeated at level 99. A Ravager, his initial stats are very impressive, but they do not rise much beyond that as he levels up. Valfodr is incredibly useful when facing enemies with an elemental weakness or inflicted with Imperil, as he is the only monster that learns all the Fel-type abilities, as well as Weak Spot. His spellcasting is also incredibly fast.
His main fault is that he is inexorably expensive to develop. As defeating Valfodr at his most powerful is one of the biggest challenges in Final Fantasy XIII-2, once the player does beat him and obtain his crystal, there may be no other challenges on offer for the player to utilize him.
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Valfodr's introduction.
In-game stats.
Valfodr during battle.
Quasar.
Bolverk.
Gagnrath.
