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Chapter 1 begins!

The Buster Basher[]

Another new character! Well, not really, you've used him in Reports, but it's his story now.


PLAYABLE CHARACTER - Cloud

Cloud Dissidia Artwork

Cloud is yet another character whose flat and shallow character arc in Dissidia was expanded on to give him genuine depth. As you know from the Reports, Cloud is a veteran of the war for Chaos, and has regained many of his memories and been victorious in many cycles, realizing it's pointless to keep fighting since they keep going. However, Tifa's appearance motivated him to try and take down Chaos and end the cycles for her sake, and when he blew it he was struck down and rescued by Cosmos. Now he's back as a hero and sporting a new outfit, but even though he was purified by Shinryu, his faded memories of endless conflict with no meaning still haunt him.

Cloud is a slow character, moving slow and with start-up to many of his attacks. However, he hits like a mack truck. Cloud's brute power is rivalled by few, his attacks are slow and short but do heavy damage and have Wall Rush to pile on more damage. He also learned a couple HP links and has strong close-range HP attacks. Where Cloud falls is his predictable moves due to being so slow to actually attack, and his lack of ranged moves, his Fire spells and Blade Beam suck, though Fire makes a decent distraction, and Meteorain is only useful when used on the ground against an opponent near a wall or some other obstacle to keep them from dodging properly. And when he enters EX Mode, Cloud's already impressive power blasts off into the upper atmosphere.

Cloud starts off with Double Cut, a quick keep-away two hit combo that begins a chase, and Climhazzard, a slow but powerful charging attack that knocks the opponent into the air then slams them back into the dirt. Slashing Blow is a slow but strong three-hit aerial combo and will eventually chain into the HP attack Omnislash Version 5. Aerial Fang is a slow (I use that word a lot huh?) attack that has Cloud dive down towards an opponent and launch them into the air with a single hit. His HP attacks are Cross-Slash, a three-hit charge with surprising range as Cloud moves to track opponents, and Braver, an aerial charge attack. Slashing Blow and Climhazzard are the best offense, Aerial Fang is useless, but Double Cut is a good quick attack and begins a Chase if desired.


  A B C D E F G H
1 500 gil   Stigma of Chaos   Buster Sword
2 Fleeting Flash False Hero Capricious Thief
3   Arcane Incense Capricious Thief    
4 Physical Critical Rate Up   Assist - Tidus
5        
6 DFF Start
7

I bought Cloud two more accessory slots and gave him a Sunrise, Hyper Ring, HP = 100%, BRV ≥ BRV Value, and Level 1-9. As the story begins, Cloud is travelling with Firion, Tidus and Cecil, hiding his doubts about their path from them.

Actually in our first gateway now, use a Multi Chain on the blue emblem at C4, which increases our physical attack critical hit rate. If you lack a Multichain, use a Cross Chain of course. Our Assist is Tidus. His aerial Assist is Hop Step which does a little damage and begins a chase. More impressive is his ground Assist Sonic Buster, a series of diving kicks that knocks the opponent down and away. It combos well with anything, but especially Climhazzard since that ensures the opponent will eat ground. The bonus line is 2, not a problem, and the KP chance is a 90 second victory, also not a problem.

First is a Fleeting Flash, she has a Hyper Ring and 8 HP = 100% boosters, you know what to do first. She's also packing the Leviathan summon and Crushing Blow HP attack. The arena is a new one, the top floor of Pandaemonium, but we can't Battlegen yet here. It's a pretty large and wide-open arena, you can stand on the crystals though. Next a Capricious Thief with the same accessories, it uses Solution 9, Scoop Art and Shift Break as its HP attack, the latter can be tricky to avoid due to the lightning knocking you in the center. Next up, a weaker Capricious Thief with the same moveset. The False Hero is likewise a wimp, he has Rising Buckler and Dayflash and is dumb as most enemies. However it has Shield or Light, and given all of Cloud's current Bravery attacks are blockable it might block on you and smack you with a beam of light in the head by accident.

The chests have an Arcane Incense, 500 gil, and a Buster Sword. The latter is probably Cloud's best usable weapon at the moment short of selling out over 10000 gil for a shop weapon, so go ahead and use it of course.

As we rest now, Cloud asks the three why they're fighting when they don't have a guarantee of victory. Tidus and Cecil want to settle things with their family member, but Firion needs time to explain his reason properly.

On the world map, turn around to find a Rosetta Stone, then go ahead to the right to find another chest with an Assist Charge. Now just shatter the four orbs of the dead for your new chain skill and head left to the next gateway.

A Reason To Fight[]

  A B C D E F G H
1  
2 Ephemeral Vision     Firion
3   Physical Critical Rate Up Imaginary Champion Assist - Firion
4 DFF Start    
5   KP +1 (if normal conditions are met)   Imaginary Brawler 500 gil
6 Delusory Dragoon  
7

Use a Straight Chain at B5 to chain three enemies, you'll miss one you could get with a Multichain at B3, but the purple emblem gives you two KP a fight, for a total of 18. Your Assist is Firion, he'll use Rope Knife on the ground and Spirit Art: Fire in the air. If you remember Kain's story you're familiar with how he works probably. The bonus level here is 3, and the KP Chance is a 60 second Break. During this gateway Cloud hit Level 4 and picked up Rising Fang, much more useful than Aerial Fang, it's a leaping attack that hits from below and then executes a cool spin around the opponent to hit several times and hit them into the air. As a note, Cloud recognizes the Tifa manikins here, neat little nod.

First, a Delusory Dragoon, it uses Spiral Blow, Lance Barrage, and the aerial version of Dragon's Fang. Next an Ephemeral Vision, it uses Bahamut and has the HP accessories, it uses Sonic Buster and the blitzball throw Wither Shot, and its HP attack is Spiral Cut, a series of flips on the ground, easily avoided by staying in the air and hitting it once it's done. Bahamut can make it difficult to Break though, bring Cactuar and activate it in the middle of a combo for an easy solution. Alternatively, just keep smashing him up until Bahamut ends, or quickly enter EX Mode and use the power boost to do it. The Imaginary Champion up next is pretty wimpy, just Oblivion and Fervent Blow, easy to block. It's the enemy we need to face though for the last components of the Muscle Belt. The Imaginary Brawler has Elbow Smash and the HP attack Meteor Crusher, along with Leviathan and those HP accessories.

Use the fights to charge up your EX Gauge for the boss. The chest has 500 gil, then head to the end piece. Firion explains to Cloud he fights to create a world full of wild roses, and that as long as he has that dream, he can keep fighting. It's so silly Cloud gets angry and challenges Firion to a battle, or something like that.

Boss
Firion
FirionDissidiaModel
HP Level Bravery
2,276 14 238
Brave Attacks
Lance Combo, Rope Knife, Swordslash (ground)
HP Attacks
Shield Bash, Weaponsmaster, Double Trouble
Summon Difficulty
None 1/5

Oooooh, this fight is not going to end well. That isn't a typo, Firion is Level 14, and your Cloud is about Level 4-6. So righrt off the bat he's got a 200 Bravery boost on you. He's also got a Guardian Ring and Hyper Ring to boost his attack and defense, with eight Grounded boosters for a total 25.6x booster level. Here's the problem - Firion likes being on the ground, a lot. It's where he excels, it's like giving Kuja a 25.6x multiplier for staying in the air. He's got Lance Combo and Swordslash to get you at close range, and Rope Knife for mid range to grab you in the air. Try to attack? Shield Bash, blocks you and attacks for HP damage. Get hit by Rope Knife or Lance Combo? Double Trouble HP link! To finish off he has Weaponsmaster, a mid-range attack that creates a cone-like field of pain in front of him for a couple seconds.

So yes, Firion is tough, a huge boost to his damage and defense on the ground, the ability to block all your Bravery attacks and counter for HP damage, and a lot of HP links. Guess where the fight gets easy. Yup....the AI. I appreciate the developers making him overleveled and giving him awesome accessories and Shield Bash to make him a challenge, but it doesn't work if the AI is too stupid to put them to proper use. Firion's defense boost is largely irrelevant since most of your attacks will put him in the air and deactivate those boosters instantly in doing so, and while his Bravery attacks are powered up, if he gets off a Double Trouble they deactivate the boosters again. And furthermore the AI is just too stupid. Hypothetically Firion is a powerful opponent, but he'll go down easily in practice.

I used my EX Mode to finish him off so let's go with that. Cloud's EX Mode gives him the Ultima Weapon, boosting his damage the more HP he has - at full HP, he does full double damage, in addition to the possibility of more critical hits. His attacks also all gain Melee High priority, so he can crush guards and cut through most attacks. His damage boost gives him the second-most powerful EX Burst in the game. The first is Gilgamesh's but it's execution makes getting a Perfect tricky. Break Firion, enter EX Mode and attack to end it with a Burst once his Bravery recovers. Even without a Break though, Cloud's EX Burst, only at Level 4 for me, did almost 1000 damage at full HP. With that kind of brute force at your disposal, EX Mode Cloud can kill pretty much anything he hits.

As the battle ends Firion tries to keep fighting, but is too weak. Nonetheless Cloud is impressed with the strength the dream gives him, but laments he has no such goal of his own to pursue. Meanwhile, Sephiroth pursues the answers to the questions of his memories being lost. This is explained in an official quest, in the 12th Sephiroth wondered if he was just an advanced manikin implanted with fake memories. So he killed himself to see if he got revived this time to test that theory. Well he does come back to life every time he dies, this is what, the sixth, seven resurrection? What's he care anymore?

Back on the world map, on the other side of the area you appear hidden behind the grass is a chest with a BRV Charge. Before you approach the gateway, smash the rock and cross to the beach to get the other two orbs of the dead and a chest with a Pink Tail.

  A B C D E F G H
1  
2   Delusory Knight Shiny Metal  
3 DFF Start    
Dissicon ff4 cecD1
Imaginary Champion Destruction Incense
4     Booster Accessory x5
5 Stigma of Chaos Delusory Knight Ephemeral Vision Imaginary Soldier
6
7

Multichain at C3 to get four enemies, but I didn't have one and odds are you're not exactly swimming in them yourself since we have yet to meet a moogle. I had to settle for a Round Chain at D4 to get three. The bonus line is 6 and the KP Chance is a 60 second Break. Cecil is our Assist here, his aerial attack is Radiant Wings, a spinning slash attack forward and up slightly, and then he slams the opponent to the ground, pretty effective. His ground attack is not effective, Shadow Lance. He chucks his lance at the opponent, knocking them back and wall rushing them, but in my experience it knocks them too far for you to follow up with an attack. Furthermore Shadow Lance does more damage the closer you are to the opponent as that way the lance makes contact longer, and Cecil appears too far away to get proper use of this when he's called as an Assist. A good combo is to do Climhazzard but don't slam the opponent to the ground, knock them into the air and call Cecil to strike them as they're still stunned, then let yourself fall to the ground and you'll have plenty of time to Cross-Slash the foe once Cecil slams them down.

Anyway, the opposition. Two Delusory Knights, they're got Valiant Blow, a surprisingly long-range melee attack (that is, long-range for a melee attack) that also hits pretty fast, and Gravity Ball, firing an orb of darkness in the air that drags you to the ground. The Ephemeral Phantom is back too, same as before. The two higher-level enemies are an Imaginary Champion with Fervent Blow, Oblivion, the HP attack Hell's Gate, and the Leviathan summon and Fallacious Wanderer Assist. The other is an Imaginary Soldier, Cloud's manikin of course, he has Sonic Break, Rising Fang, and the Imaginary Brawler Assist. You don't have Sonic Break yet, it's a short-range spinning three-hit combo on the ground, sort of but not quite a ground version of Slashing Blow in practice.

As you fight off this round of cannon fodder you'll notice another new arena, the Prima Vista. It's one of the smallest arenas in the game, an airship theater stage with a castle prop on one side. You can't pass outside the edge of the stage and the ceiling is very low, though not so low that aerial combat is hindered too greatly. One feature that might trip you up here is that the battlement (read - that rectangular jagged sort of design on top of castle turrets and such) is solid and stretches up a little bit from the top of the castle, so if you try to attack an enemy with it in the way, well, it might get in the way. And like the top floor of Pandaemonium, no Battlegen from it until you finish the 013 story.

The chest has Shiny Metal, a new trade accessory that of course unlocks new shop content. The Nodachi needs a katana to trade for and is a bit pricy but has a nice effect, it boosts the range you absorb EX Force at, so if you really like EX Mode go ahead and buy it. It won't go to waste, several other heroes will be able to use it in their own stories.

As we leave, Cecil and Cloud have a chat about Firion's dream, and with encouragement from the group Cloud decides to head off on his own to find his own reason to fight. This is another conflict between the Dissidia and D012 stories, in the 12th cycle the manikins caused the group to become fragmented and being alone was seen as a great danger since the heroes were often lost and outnumbered. Here? "Bye Cloud, have fun going it alone, send a postcard!"

The Lonesome Road[]

On the world map go forward and shatter the stone far ahead to grind over and find a Fish Scale. On the shore is a chest with a BRV Charge. I've got a lot of the Charge items, obviously ditch any Assist Charges you have, not much good now. There's a moogle here, he doesn't sell anything special but buy a Round Chain from him. Head into the nearby blue gateway.

  A B C D E F G H
1 Stigma of Chaos
2         Imaginary Soldier
3     Ephemeral Vision Delusory Knight
4     Stage BRV Boost at start
5     Capricious Thief   Fleeting Flash 1997 gil
6      
7 DFF Start

Oh yay, a gateway full of Strange Battle Pieces, this will be fun. They're all Level 15 with a Level 30 helmet to boost their Bravery, not to mention the likely level advantage they'll have, and a summon of varying effect. They also all have the same accessories, a Hyper Ring, 5 Near Opponent, a 2x version as opposed to the 1.2x you have, for a total 32x boost, and an Arcane Resin to begin with a full EX Gauge. As a result wait for them to enter EX Mode before you go on the offense, otherwise they'll use EX Revenge and hit you when you can't defend yourself. Round Chain at D4 on the purple emblem to get four of them, I used an EX Charge just in case I needed Cloud's EX Mode bonus to plow through their Bravery, as the KP Chance is a 30 second Break, but also as an emergency counter in case they used EX Revenge, I could do it back on them. Blue gateways have no bonus line and neither does this one.

First a Delusory Knight, he uses Searchlight, sending a crest of light at you that stops and fires a few projectiles, and for his HP attack he has Saint's Fall, he pauses for a moment then dashes forward and up on a curving arc, then slams you to the ground. It's easy to avoid as long as you don't dodge when he calls out and wait for him to start charging first, and don't jump up in front of him and get caught in the downward slam. For a summon, he's got Brynhildr, pretty harmless for this type of opponent. Rising Fang is a good counter for Saint's Fall, along with Braver, since you can use them from below as he finishes Saint's Fall, ensuring you won't accidentally get hit. The next opponent is an Ephemeral Vision, he uses Jecht Shot in the air, pausing for a moment then kicking a blitzball at you, also easy to dodge. What's more fun though is to counter with Braver, and have Cloud stab through the blitzball and then hit the Vision to kill it. Don't worry, Braver should charge before the blitzball fires, as long as you respond quickly. Or if you're using Cloud's EX Mode you can Slashing Blow or Climhazzard your way through the ball. The Visions's summon is Malboro, sapping your Bravery periodically and doing more damage the closer he is to you, not a problem since he only has 1 HP, and it won't stop your Break attempts.

Next, a Capricious Thief. It also uses Brynhildr and attacks with Tidal Flame, sending a ring of fire spinning along the ground, tracking us and eventually exploding. Use Cross-Slash to deflect it and then press your offense, and possibly enjoy the Thief getting blasted with its own reflected Tidal Flame. The Fleeting Flash uses Pupu and Crushing Blow, not a problem since Crushing Blow is telegraphed. The last enemy is an Imaginary Soldier, it uses Bahamut and the Slashing Blow-Omnislash Version 5 HP link. Hard to break so EX Mode is definitely helpful here, if you don't have an EX Charge then build up the gauge in the first four fights, or even easier, Cactuar summon. The chest has 1997 gil when you're done. That number should mean something to you FF7 fans. At Level 8 Cloud learns Meteorain, it calls six meteors to slam down on the opponent, each meteor tracking the opponent in sequence. If you're close enough they'll dodge the first few but the next ones will hit, otherwise at range use it against opponents near obstacles, and they might not have the room to dodge them. It's not awesome, but it's not horrible, that would be the aerial version of Meteorain, an attack so useless I have to wonder why they even gave it to Cloud, the tracking on the aerial version is so bad you almost don't have to dodge to avoid getting hit.

Back on the world map, buy two Multichains, and a few Rosetta Stones for later storylines since this is nearing the end. If you're low on KP you can revisit the moogle when you're done.

  A B C D E F G H
1 Mythril DFF Start
2 Delusory Warlock  
3 Booster Accessory x5     Initial BRV Boost for both at start Imaginary Soldier
4    
5 Stigma of Chaos Phantasmal Harlequin   Fallacious Wanderer
6
7

Multichain at B3 to get all four of them, the KP Chance is 90 seconds and the bonus line is 11. I still had two BRV Charge so I used one here. The opposition for the three normal enemies is a Phantasmal Harlequin, Fallacious Wanderer and Imaginary Soldier. The Harlequin has an Idle Sky Pirate Assist, the Brynhildr summon, uses Havoc Wing and has the HP = 100% accessory build. The Wanderer uses Holy and Dark Flame, Dark Flame sends a plume of black fire at you, tracking you through walls and into the air. It's similar to Shining Wave but moves a bit slower. The Soldier uses Braver. But of course, there's the Expert Battle Piece to look at...

The Delusory Warlock is Level 20, he has 8 HP = 100% boosters with a Hyper Ring and Guardian Bangle, similar to Firion's set-up. He's also fully equipped with good armor and a weapon. But, the problem here is, this is an entirely new enemy type, you're gonna be going in blind unless you played the original game and know what to expect from Golbez. First off, the Warlock uses mid-range attacks, but the trick to him, that is to say Golbez, is that when he saves his hand to create attack drones or energy plumes, the hand motions can hit you. What's more, he will move towards you on start-up to smack you with his hand, and furthermore, the attack changes its second part depending on if you got hit by the hand or by the actual attack. So contrary to what you may expect from a mage character, stay away, he's a melee fighter and he's pretty good at it, his attacks can be pretty quick and hard to expect, and a lot of them chain into HP links.

Now, the attack list. Attack System is a hand swing that creates three attack drones that fly at you, stop, and fire laser bursts, each drone firing in a random different direction. It's not at all dangerous, you might get caught off-guard because they don't aim right at you so maybe you dodge because you think they will and get hit when they aim somewhere else, but even if you get hit they do piddling damage, it barely even tickles. Next is Rising Wave, a hand swing that creates a plume of dark energy a ways in front of him, and he'll create it under you if you're within that range. If the hand smack gets you, he'll knock you into the plume and you'll be launched into the air by it, if the plume gets you it'll launch you into the air and he'll teleport to blast you backwards. Gravity System has him in the air, he flings his hand down to create an attack drove under you that fires a laser upwards, then he fires an energy blast at you, either going into a Chase or exploding it on you to damage you again. Again, the hand fling damage you and ensures the laser will hit. Finally, Gravity Force, he charges up a large orb of energy, then fires it, teleports, and reappears to knock you into the larger orb. This is the attack you want to see most often, charge a Braver as he vanishes and when he reappears Cloud will turn and stab him immediately.

For HP attacks, Nightglow has very quick start-up on close-range, his fastest attack, he summons a dark aura and creates an energy field under you that blasts lightning into the air to launch you up, and you will hit the ceiling for Wall Rush. The hand motions and dark aura are way too quick to anticipate, so don't get close when he's on the ground, otherwise the energy field is easy to dodge. Genesis Rock, he summons four boulders from below that circle him for a moment, then fire outwards. If he's above you, the rocks will hit you as they rise and drag you in front of him, and the rocks shooting out at the end can hit you too. Keep your distance and this attack is no threat, at close range, attack him as he summons them to stop him, or find a quickmove icon to get away quickly. Finally, Rising Wave, Gravity System and Float System all chain into the HP link Cosmic Ray, firing blasts of electricity at you and knocking you back into walls.

If you didn't play the first game and know what to expect, you're probably going to feel pain here. But if you play a practice fight or two to see how his attacks work, or did play the first game, he's not too bad. All his attacks can be blocked at melee range to stagger him if you know how to tell what he's doing, and at longer range his attacks are very obviously telegraphed. The worst danger is Nightglow because of course you can't block it and it's very fast, but only when you're right next to him, and Genesis Rock for being almost impossible to avoid if you're close when he begins it. So my best advice is to keep him in the air and stay close, that way Nightglow can't be used and if he begins Genesis Rock you can interrupt it. If you do get hit don't worry, he's the last enemy in the gateway so it's not a problem. BRV Charge gave me 1500 Bravery to start, so being able to instantly knock off half his HP helped a lot. His Brynhildr summon will help you more than him, boosting the stage Bravery so that once a BRV Charged HP attack goes off, a Break puts you back at the same amount and he's either dead or almost there. Feel free to spend the first three fights charging that EX Gauge, the power boost is a big help, and you've plenty of time to go for an EX Burst on him.

After that brawl, the chest has a piece of Mythril in it. Now we can at last complete the trio of Mythril Items we need! Go to the shop and grab a Mythril Sword and Mythril Helm (you should already have a Mythril Bangle). I say these exact items because most characters in the 013 storyline can use them, Cecil and Warrior of Light can't use the Bangle and Onion Knight can't use the Helm, and Terra can't use either of the two new pieces, but 6/10 isn't bad, and Cecil's storyline is Chapter 4 in which we can find two more Mythril pieces so he and the Warrior will be fine when it comes to their turns. Anyway, I'm sure you're curious what the Mythril stuff actually does, well go to the equipment screen and see. When three pieces of Mythril equipment are worn they activate the Mystic Mythril Combination, increasing EX Mode duration by 30%! A very nice boost and not an insignificant one. There are a lot of equipment sets like this called Combinations, giving you benefits often surpassing what your accessories can provide. Now true, even now you could get equipment with higher stats than the Mythril stuff, such as that Nodachi or the Buster Sword you found, but the EX Mode buff is worth losing 4 attack points for. Come on, it's not like you're having trouble with the enemies and need the extra 4 points, right?

Cloud hit Level 11 this time, so I swapped out the Level 1-9 for 10-19, naturally. As we leave the gateway now, Cloud runs into Sephiroth, who prepares for battle, but Cloud wants nothing to do with it. Cloud shows him the rose Firion had, taunting Cloud with it, and invites him to come pursue him. Cloud naturally goes after him. More stuff only explained in the official quests, aren't you glad you have me to fill you in on what the developers left out? They had the Reports for this sort of shit, really. Anyway, Sephiroth awoke in the 13th cycle, and since he killed himself rather than be defeated in the 12th, he wasn't properly purified or something, so his memories were hazy but not gone, and he remembers that he has to fight people from his world to recover his memories faster, and knows Cloud is unmotivated, so he did indeed attack Firion and get his rose, figuring this would be the trigger to make Cloud fight him.

The Volcano[]

I like this neat reference that Cloud pursues Sephiroth to Mt. Gulg, the ice-covered volcano crater in the mountains, the developers remember stuff like simple geological references and take the time to put them in. First, go back to where you came from, you're in a new arena now. Go back to where you left the others and you'll find an Imaginary Champion. Beat it up, because on my game anyway, this gave me the fifth and last Champion's Desire I needed! The Muscle Belt is mine! A-haha, a-haha-haha! Use it in place of the Hyper Ring, of course, the Power Ring is useless now since the Hyper Ring and Muscle Belt plus even a 1.2x booster gives a 14.4% boost to damage, opposed to the 15% with the Power Ring in place of the booster, but the boosters also boost our other stuff. The Hyper Ring though, even with a 1.5 booster the Muscle Belt alone only gives 10.5%, so the Hyper Ring stays. Also a note, I bought Cloud a sixth accessory slot to get him a Pearl Necklace, might as well use that EX Mode buff properly, right? My build now is Muscle Belt, Pearl Necklace, Sunrise, HP = 100%, BRV ≥ Base Value, and Level 10-19.

On the left is a chest with 1000 gil, then follow the path into the mountains. There's an EX Charge on the island here. Ahead is an Ephemeral Phantom, let it attack before you go for the attack, he charges his attack so he'll stagger your attack on the first hit and get you with the second. He's a pushover, three Cursed Rings and a Cracked Shield. Beyond him is a Hardhedge, not only a powerful weapon but also giving a 3% extra boost to physical damage. I'd like to use it if we can get a piece of Mythril armor so we can lose the Sword, but the Mythril Vest and Mythril Armor need two pieces of Mythril and well, I'm impatient. With the Phantom dead head into the volcano, grabbing the last few orbs of the dead, and enter the final gateway.

  A B C D E F G H
1 Idle Sky Pirate   Idle Sky Pirate  
2 DFF Start Initial BRV 0  
3       Sephiroth
4 Physical Critical Rate Up Capricious Reaper Transient Gunner   Counterfeit Wraith  
5 Potion  
6 KP Gambler
7

Multichain at A4 to get all five, this will let you use the blue emblem to improve your physical critical hit rate. The bonus line is 16, nowhere near a problem for my Level 11 Cloud, and the KP Chance is a 90 second victory. Bring Cactuar, there's an Expert Battle Piece here. I had a BRV Charge too so I used it here, saving the EX Charge since the game has conveniently given us a Potion to use before facing Sephy. And yup, there's another Expert Battle Piece to handle.

First enemy, the Transient Gunner, he has Homing Bazooka and Ricochet Shot, his HP is Satellite Laser. You know from fighting as him how much trouble Laguna has nailing that attack without comboing or relying on an Assist, so really, how much danger do you think you're in? Unless you try to do Meteorain as he begins the Laser, you won't get hit, even if he begins the Laser while you begin Meteorain, you'll get him before he gets you. Next, an Idle Sky Pirate, he has Sword & Shield to block you in the air and Cataclysm on the ground, again, not a problem. Then, a stronger Sky Pirate, with Brynhildr, a Counterfeit Wraith Assist, and those HP = 100% boosters with a Hyper Ring, with the same attacks as the first one. Then a Counterfeit Wraith herself, she has the Tentacle Attack with the swirling orb-shaped whip attack and the two energy bolts (it's Tentacle of Suffering but like the name matters aside from their effects), Fusillade Particle Beam, the Leviathan summon, those accessories again, and a Transient Gunner Assist.

Now for the Expert Battle Piece. He's a Capricious Reaper, he's Level 25, has that HP = 100% / Guardian Bangle / Hyper Ring set-up, full equipment, a Capricious Reaper Assist, the Demon Wall summon, and a full set of attacks. Remote Flare creates exploding fireballs around you, Ring Holy shoots three slow-moving rings of light, Strike Energy to strike with holy orbs at close range, Snatch Blow to fire the holy orbs are longer-range, Snatch Shot to fire two fireballs, and Burst Energy to create a quick explosion at melee range. HP attacks are Seraphic Star, throwing an exploding orb of light forward, Flare Star, creating an explosion in front of it and bringing down fireballs to explode again, and Force Symphony, firing a barrage of exploding holy orbs downwards as it floats above. Keep your distance and wait for openings when he uses Snatch Blow or Snatch Shot, since they're easy to block or dodge. My BRV Charge and Cactuar carried the day, my opening wall rush hit did almost 2000 damage, followed by Cactuar to sap his Bravery to 0 for a Break. After that it didn't take much to whittle down the little health he had left. You've faced Reapers before, so this one shouldn't be too much trouble for you.

Boss
Sephiroth
DissidiaSephirothRenderCropped
HP Level Bravery
3,101 20 282
Brave Attacks
Reaper, Transience, Oblivion, Godspeed
HP Attacks
Scintilla, Hell's Gate, Octaslash
Summon Difficulty
Hecatoncheir 1/5

At the end piece, we find Sephiroth, and he and Cloud have dry, pointless banter that makes no sense with what D012 changed about their backstories and character arcs. Then again it didn't make much sense in the first game either. Anyway, fight time.

Sephiroth has Hecatoncheir, ruining the first Break you'll get on him by sapping the Bravery pool to 0, and he has the Imaginary Soldier Assist. He has a Muscle Belt and 5 Near Opponent boosters for a 2.5 booster level...and for some reason they gave him two Cursed Rings. Dammit, developers, you make him higher level than us to give him better stats and make him a challenge, the Cursed Rings kinda make it pointless, if you're gonna make him higher level but then penalize him to remove the benefits of that higher level, why just remove his equipment?

Anyway, Sephiroth is really a pushover, and I came in at Level 14, and gained a few levels while fighting - the game developers actually allow me to be higher level than I was, and I still crushed him like an ant. You've fought the Imaginary Enemies before so you should know to handle his attacks, and he has those Cursed Rings so a single Slashing Blow combo on my game did 300 Bravery damage. But what really cripples him is that Potion the game gives you. Cloud's EX Mode is one of the best in the game in terms of raw damage output, smash Sephiroth around until you get 2000 Bravery - should only take one or two attacks - and let loose an EX Burst to clip this angel's wings, Omnislash alone will do enough damage to take off half his HP or more.

Cloud hit Level 15 from the fight and learned Fire. Fire is, ironically, Cloud's weakest spell attack and the most useful of them. It fires out a single, slow-moving fireball with tracking. Thus it's like Lightning's Watera, acting as a distraction to set the opponent up for melee attacks. His Fira and Firaga spells he learns later shoot out fireballs straight forward, only lasting for a couple seconds before they explore and doing comparatively little damage.

Cloud's Crystal manifests, looking a lot like a particular world-saving Materia, and Sephiroth taunts him some more. Cloud tells him to stuff it and takes the Crystal, Sephiroth teleporting away since well, he just got his ass kicked and now Cloud has the Crystal, time to run. And so our tale ends, but another begins.


Drake Clawfang's Dissidia 012 Walkthrough
Previous page
Treachery of the Gods
Prologue / Chapter 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - Epilogue
Light to All
Prologue - Chapter 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - Epilogue Part 1 - Part 2
Next page
Confessions of the Creator
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5
Extras
The Reports
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