FINAL FANTASY XIII

For Chapter 12, your chapter boss will be a reunion with Yaag Rosch and The Proudclad. As always, you'll want to use a party of Fang (leader), Lightning and either Hope or Vanille. For paradigms, you'll want something akin to:

1. Relentless Assault: COM/RAV/RAV (default)
2. Solidarity: SEN/COM/MED
3. Protection: SEN/MED/SYN
4. Combat Clinic: SEN/MED/MED
5. Strategic Warfare: SEN/COM/SYN
6. Tireless Charge: COM/COM/MED

The Proudclad is immune to all debuffs, so having a Saboteur in the mix is useless. He will start off in Annihilation Mode (on the ground), so use COM/RAV/RAV to push up his stagger bar and alternate between SEN/COM/MED and SEN/MED/SYN for healing and buffs where necessary. Once he enters Aerial Defense Mode, alternate between COM/RAV/RAV and SEN/COM/SYN, until he's staggered. Once staggered, use COM/RAV/RAV and COM/COM/MED, ensuring you change to a defensive/healing paradigm just before the stagger ends so that you can heal.

Once you get him to about half health, he will use "Limiters Deactivated", which will fully heal him and buff him, but also lower his defenses. Once he does this, stick with COM/RAV/RAV to build his stagger bar, all the while maintaining your HP and buffs as necessary. Once he uses "Oneiric Maelstrom", you may find yourself needing to desperately heal - if a party member or two go down, don't be afraid to use Renew to revive them. This is much safer than reviving them via Medics or Phoenix Downs. Other than that attack, simply keep up with staggering, pummeling, healing and buffing until he drops.

For Chapter 13, you'll get to face three bosses back-to-back to finish off the story. The first of these you have seen a few times before: Barthandelus.

Barthandelus:

Have a party of Fang (leader), Lightning and either Hope or Vanille, along with the following paradigms:

1. Bully: SAB/COM/SYN (default)
2. Combat Clinic: SEN/MED/MED
3. Diversity: COM/RAV/MED
4. Mystic Tower: SEN/RAV/RAV
5. Tireless Charge: COM/COM/MED
6. Relentless Assault: COM/RAV/RAV

Starting with SAB/COM/SYN, have Fang stick Barthandelus with Deprotect, Deshell, Slow and Imperil, while Vanille/Hope buff the party. Once debuffed, change to COM/RAV/MED or SEN/RAV/RAV to drive up the chain gauge, depending on whether you need healing or not. Once staggered, continue with your selected paradigm until he reaches at least 400.00% stagger, then change to either COM/COM/MED or COM/RAV/RAV, once again depending on whether you need healing or not. Using Fang's Highwind when his stagger bar is about to empty is a good way to maximise damage.

If Barthandelus is about to use his infamous "Thanatosian Laughter" or "Ultima", immediately change to SEN/MED/MED to survive the assault and to heal the damage. Keep in mind that these two attacks usually come back-to-back, so don't change out of the healing paradigms until you're certain he won't launch off another attack. Healing should also always be first priority - if the HP of anyone dips critically low, you should heal them straight away, even if you're driving up the stagger gauge.

Rinse and repeat these processes until Barthandelus is no more.

Orphan (first battle):

After defeating Barthandelus, you'll be pitted against Orphan. If you want to change your party or paradigms, simply select Restart. Some good paradigms for Orphan are:

1. Combat Clinic: SEN/MED/MED (default)
2. Evened Odds: SAB/MED/SYN
3. Relentless Assault: COM/RAV/RAV
4. Aggression: COM/COM/RAV

You may also want to consider equipping some Death-resistant items (Cherub's Crown, Seraph's Crown), as Orphan does have an Instant Death attack.

As soon as the battle starts, Orphan will use "Merciless Judgement" on, so SEN/MED/MED will take the brunt of the attack. Once that is done, switch to SAB/MED/SYN, and ensure Fang sticks him with Slow, Imperil and most importantly, Poison. Given Poison takes a constant percentage of a target's maximum HP, it is highly effective against bosses with high HP. Always ensure Poison is on Orphan throughout the battle. Once he's debuffed and Hope/Vanille have buffed the party with at least Haste and Imperil, change to COM/RAV/RAV to quickly drive up his stagger bar. Once staggered, change to COM/COM/RAV to inflict maximum damage. Orphan will use "Merciless Judgement" upon leaving the stagger, so change to SEN/MED/MED before he does this.

If your stagger dropped Orphan below 50% HP, he'll combine his Consummate Light and Consummate Darkness modes. If however he is still above 50%, he will change to Consummate Darkness, which can be very painful if he remains like this for too long. Ignore buffs and debuffs and simply use COM/RAV/RAV to stagger Orphan as quickly as possible. Once staggered, you can buff and debuff before pummeling on Orphan with COM/COM/RAV. This stagger will definitely take him below 50% HP, meaning he'll now combine his modes.

In this new mode, Orphan will use "Merciless Judgement" without warning, along with "Progenitorial Wrath", which has a chance of inflicting Instant Death on your party members. This is where the Death-resistant equipment comes in handy. If someone does get hit with Death, simply use a Phoenix Down to bring them back as soon as possible. Just like before, the party will want to buff/debuff, stagger and pummel, all the while keeping an eye out for a drop in health, as healing may be necessary. A third stagger should be enough to finally drop Orphan.

Orphan (second battle):

After defeating Orphan for the first time, you'll get to fight the true form of Orphan, who is the final boss. For the last boss, Orphan poses little to no threat. Upon starting the battle, Orphan will cast Death at your party leader, giving you a few minutes to defeat him. Use SAB/MED/SYN to inflict Orphan with Deprotect, Deshell and Imperil, then to COM/RAV/RAV to drive up his stagger bar quickly. Once staggered, switch to COM/COM/RAV to deal high damage. If Fang has a Genji Glove equipped, her Highwind skill can instakill him from about half-HP. Regardless of whether you have a Genji Glove or not, Orphan can easily be defeated in one stagger.