Final Fantasy XIII

I have just got this achievement the easy way.

First of all, save your game before doing this. Then look through your inventory and look for the accessory 'Doctor's Code'.

You should have two/three of these by now, upgrade them to the star. Should cost around 200 Gil each, then dismantle. You will then get 1 Elixir per Doctors Code.

Start a battle with a Long Gui using:

SAB/SAB/SAB
RAV/RAV/RAV
COM/COM/COM

When the battle starts call in your summon, this will disable the Long Gui's legs. Then weaken the enemy with SAB/SAB/SAB, then switch to RAV/RAV/RAV and keep attacking till the Long Gui's Staggered. Make sure you get 999% Staggered.

Then switch to COM/COM/COM and keep attacking till it gets back up. Use another Elixir and call in your summon again. You should do this till you've killed it. Two Elixirs will be enough.

The party i used was Fang (Leader)/Snow/Vanille. The better the weapons you have, the easier it will be. Good luck :)

Kill a Long Gui.

Not an Adamantoise. The two are similar in appearance though, the Long Gui will be noticeably bluer with darker tusks and will only appear after completing Missions 56 - 62, they'll replace most of the Adamantoises in the Archlyte Steppe, but not all.

Fun Fact: Long Gui have a higher chance of dropping Trapezahedrons (5%) than Adamantoises (1%), but they'll be ALOT harder to kill, or so it may seem at first.

Further reading: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Long_Gui
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(Video.)

This is just the way I do it, though to use this strategy you'll always have to make Vanille the party leader.

I use:
Vanille, Fang, Lightning
(I use Lightning because she has ENFIRE, and Fang cos she's awesome)...

Paradigms:
COM COM COM
SAB COM COM
SYN SEN SYN
RAV RAV RAV

You'll only need these 4. Make Devestation (SAB COM COM) your active paradigm.

Equipment -
Vanille: NIRVANA. Genji Glove, Sprint Shoes, Weirding Glyph x2
Fang: KAIN'S LANCE. Genji Glove, Kaiser Knuckles, Collectors Catalog, Warriors Wristband
Lightning: ULTIMA WEAPON. Genji Glove, Kaiser Knuckles, Sprint Shoes, Brawlers Wristband

Don't worry if you don't have these exact items, just know that you don't need to bother with any physical/magic/elemental - or any damage resistant accessories at all. Just chuck on anything that ups Fang and Lightning's strength and Vanille's magic. I'm not gonna lie, Genji Gloves are made of win, you can get these from doing hunt missions. Though you will need Dark Matter to make Kasier Knuckles and Magistral Crests, which does mean beating a Shao Long Gui - If your lucky I may just make a tutorial on this too. > (http://www.youtube.com/user/Halogen182?feature=mhum#p/u/1/VG...)


Note: I also use a fully developed party - meaning, they've all hit level 5 for all roles in the crystarium.

Right! Let's do this.

1. Hover over Summon with Vanille but don't actually click/press it until you see Fang and Lightning take damage from the first weaker burst of Ultima.

2. SPAM POISION, SPAM IMPERIL and then cast deprotect and deshell once (you only need to cast these once, but you may need 6 -12 spells of poison, be persistent, poison is key).

3. Paradigm shift to SUPERIORITY (SYN SAB SYN) then cast Faithra and Bravera on yourself.
(If you have time at this point switch to Tri Disaster (RAV RAV RAV) quickly until you Eidolon leaves then) -

4. Make sure your paradigm is SUPERIORITY (SYN SAB SYN). Now cast Faithra and Bravera on Fang and Lightning. - Now watch. Lightning SHOULD be putting Haste and then Enfire on the party (if she's not, you may want to hit restart and try to get in a cheeky Libra during the Eidolon stage) once you see everyones weapons turn bright flaming orange -

5. Switch to TRI - DISASTER (RAV RAV RAV) and stagger him to 999%

6. Switch to Devastation (SAB COM COM) - HERE'S THE IMPORTANT BIT. Go down to abilities and select DEATH. Before Death hits (before it deals any damage they'll be a short animation during which you'll want to quickly change paradigm to) -

7. CERBERUS!!! (COM COM COM)

8. Rinse and repeat.

PS. He shouldn't get up... but if he does KEEP SPAMMING HIM WITH THE DEATH SWITCH!

Good luck!

Oh and PRO TIP, use the D-PAD for shifting paradigms not the joy stick.

I finally got this achievement without elixers and can now kill them regularly in around 6 minutes

Battle team is leader Vanille equipped with Marlboro Wand Lev*, Genji Glove Lev1, Sorcerers Mark Lev1, Shamans Mark Lev1, Shamans Mark Lev*

Fang equipped with Venus Gospel Lev26, Collectors Catalogue Lev*, 2 Witches Bracelets Lev1, Witches Bracelet Lev*

Lightning equipped with Ultima Weapon Lev* ,2 Witches Bracelets Lev1, 2 Witches Bracelet Lev*

I feel the equipment probably isn't that important given none of mine is top tier though the Genji Glove is a must, a maxed out crystarium will help a lot

Paradigms are all pure paradigms (3X commando, 3X sentinal, 3X Sabateur etc) to give us Tortoise, Rapid Growth, Infiltration, Cerberus, Tri Disaster, Salvation

Before you start you'll need at least 3 TP and a librascope, or 4 TP so you can summon Eidolon and cast Libra, Aegisol and Fortisol

So cast your shrouds and start the battle with the Long Gui with Tortoise set as you opening paradigm, after it does it's opening move (usually Ultima) switch to Salvation and quickly heal, 1-2 rounds should do this

Cast Libra or use Librascope, then switch to infiltration and just use auto hinder on both the legs ,with 3 Sabateurs both legs should get at least 3 status ailments, with Imperil being 1 of them, this should take 2-3 rounds, then do 2 rounds of rapid growth

Then switch to Tri Disaster and attack 1 of the legs, ensuring you keep your health up with a quick salvation anytime it attacks, the leg should stagger after 2 - 3 rounds, continue with Tri Disaster until the leg is 600%+ staggered,

Now switch to infiltration and this is where whats known as the Death Spell trick comes in, cast death at the staggered leg and quickly switch to Cerberus before the Death Spell lands, this will cause massive damage anything up to 999,999 depending on buffs/ debuffs/ stagger level,
If your lucky you'll hit it for 999,999 and take it out, if you hit for less switch back to Infiltration and cast Death again followed by the quick Switch to Cerberus before it lands. You'll have time to do this 3 times during this stagger should you need to,

So with the 1st leg dead Tri Disaster the second leg which will still have status ailments on it, fend off any attacks with salvation and after a few rounds the 2nd leg will stagger ,continue attacking until 600%+ staggered then use the Death Spell trick to take that leg out (i do not take credit for the Death Spell trick)

Now when it falls go into Rapid Growth ,3 rounds of this should do, just ensure Vanille has Enfire before switching to Infiltration, You're looking to give it at least 4 status ailments with Imperil being 1 of them, again i find 3 rounds of Infiltration does this, there's no need to heal even if the team is badly damaged (unless someone is down) as you will not be attacked again for the rest of the battle if you do it right

Now go Tri Disaster and it should stagger really quickly, 3 rounds will usually stagger it, then get it up to around 900% staggered and again do the Death Spell trick, cast Death switch to Cerberus before it lands ,quickly back to Infiltration cast Death and switch back to Cerberus before it lands,
This should be hitting for 999,999 every time you cast Death and you should be able to land it at least 5 times in this stagger, by now it should be just under half health,

So next do a quick rapid growth to get haste on you then, when it stands back up summon the Eidolon and get rid as quick as possible by pressing X then Y, the beast will fall again, 3 rounds of Infiltration to debuff again ensuring it has at least 4 status with Imperil being 1 of them, 3 rounds of rapid growth ensuring Enfire is on Vanille, Tri Disaster to stagger to 900%+ then same strategy as 1st stagger, this is more than enough to kill it and all in around 6 minutes.

Edit: Since figuring out how to kill them i have to say I've considerably improved in the method, I've found shrouds to be something of a hinderance, It's better just to go into Rapid Growth after the opening attack and give everyone the first 3 buffs on the left the menu, can't remember what they're called now, Faithra Bravara could be 2 of them, the buffs last way longer than the shrouds which is where i think I'm saving the time,
If you give Vanille an ultimate weapon she'll have 6 ATB segments so she can cast all 3 off in 1 go, you can usually buff everyone (3 rounds) before it attacks again, but it depends on the opening damage it does which i'm going to get to in a minute

I've stated Tortoise as opening paradigm, but after farming some TP i went into a battle with Long Gui with my paradigm set as Cerberus, a foolish mistake i thought, however i have found that the party takes a LOT LESS damage if you switch to the tortoise paradigm right at the start of the battle,

When i open with Tortoise it leaves everyone with red or at best yellow, but when i change it to Tortoise straight away all players health is still in green most of the time giving me time to buff and debuff before using salvation,

I've also found when switching to Tortoise it's actually best not to press A as autoprotect for Vanille is just all provoke and besides you don't really have time to use it, if she gets the provoke in before it hits she'll take more damage than she would had you not pressed A, plus you still have a full ATB bar when you switch, I've now got the kill down to 4 - 4 and a half minutes, and no longer need to spend 24000 gil on shrouds for every battle, and these guys drop trapezohedrons, and lots of them, for every 5 i kill i tend to get 2 platinum ingots and 1 trapezohedron, i have loads of ultimate weapons now:)

I've tried to do this according to stefb42's solution. Here's what worked for me after 5-10 tries in 8 min 8 sec).

I leaded with Vanille (you'll need her Death spell), and had Fang and Light in my party. I had an lvl-* Malboro Wand, a lvl-* Helter Skelter and a lvl-40 Glaive. Equip as many Genji Gloves as you have and try to raise strength-values of your party-members.
I played with only "Pure" paradigms, so only SEN, only RAV, only COM,....

I started switching to SEN, healed with MED immediately and continued with SYN for at least haste and the basic buffs. Everytime you see the Long Gui si about to stomp or attack you switch to SEN. So it's always good to remember how far away and in which direction your SEN-paradigm is, because it must go quite fast.
When buffed, sabotage it's feet, eventually heal once more without losing your stagger percentage completely -> then stagger his feet, raise the percentage until his nex attack, switch to SEN for the instant of the attack and then do the Death-Loop:
SAB: Cast Death and switch to COM. When you see the damage-value raising on the screen, get back to SAB and repeat by casting Death again.
1 or two of those loops should take out one foot.
Repeat the same with the other foot but try to be buffed recently before taking it out completely, because you'll instantly be given opportunity to damage the Long Gui itself.
Try to do some Libra till there (in an healing phase for instance - so your party can still do some healing while you reveal the Long Guis weakspots).

When he comes down - as I said you're hopefuly buffed - start to raise his stagger by debuffing him. When he has 3-6 devuffs on him, switch to RAV and stagger him and then start the Death loop again if possible with a percentage over 950%.
Every Death-Hit should cost him nearly a million and you should be able to hit him 5-7 times which will cost him about half his bar till he gets up again. When he's back on his feet summon your Eidolon and use the freetime of your partymembers to debuff him (and raise his staggerbar with the debuffs) and eventually buff your self. When your Eidolon is about to disappear again, switch to RAV so can instantly start filling his staggerbar.
Once filled the Death loop comes in to play - hopefully for the last time.



Note: When still on his feet try to heal only when a third of your energy is leftor less. But then heal completely, because sometimes he starts 2 or 3 attacks in a row an the you'll need full energy.

This enemy can be found on the Archlyte Steppe after you have completed the circle of Cie'th missions in the same area. It is extremely tough, so you will need a supremely advanced party.

Before the fight save your game as you most likely won't want to keep the changes you're about to make. Upgrade any Doctor's Code's you have to max level then dismantle them. From these, you'll have some Elixers. Three is prefered but the battle can be won with just two.

These are the paradigms I used (Fang / Vanille / Hope)
[1] Sab / Sab / Sab <- Start with this one
[2] Rav / Rav / Rav
[3] Com / Com / Com
[4] Com / Syn / Syn

Start out the fight by summoning Bahamut, skipping scenes with the back button. Dismiss him as soon as possible. Cast as many debuffs are you can on Long Gui, especially poison. Once he has a good 6-7 debuffs, switch to [2] until his stagger is up to 999%. After that, switch to [4]. When you have enough buffs on your party, switch to [3] before his stagger bar empties and use Fang's Highwind ability.

Just as Long Gui get's up, use an elixer and resummon Bahamut. Rinse and repeat the above method, but changing [4] for [3] until he's dead.

Finish Missions 57 - 62 ( or whatever the numbers are in that small circle near Titan / Adamantoise ) this will change all but 1 or 2 of the adamantoist into Long Gui, a much harder and stronger beast. along with Shaolong gui, the smaller guys, those drop dark matter.

***Key components to my strat***
Use Fang as Leader, Lightning and Vanille as the other 2.
Have atleast 3 TP for a summon for faster battles, or you can just knock him down 2 times.

Now to kill these it takes practice but once you got a good pattrn set its the easiest thing to kill and you should do it flawlessly every time in about 5 to 6 min. This is how my battles went.

I start out as Rav Rav Rav, and the moment the battle started I switched to Sen Sen Sen as fast as I could, because h always starts off with Ultima. ( reason I start as rav is because when you first switch forms, it takes a little longer to switch and it will remove the wait for when you do switch for the actual battle )

Once Ultima hits me if the damage isnt too bad, like half HP. I switch to Syn Syn Syn to toss on as many buffs as I possibly can, putting Faith/Bravery/Haste/Shell/Protect on all my guys also Enfire, as that will boost dmg too.

I do this untill I see Long gui lift his leg, I make sure he is always in my sight so I can pay attention to him, this is a MUST and you have to switch to Sen/Sen/Sen EVERY time you see him about to attack, it will reduce the stomps from 15000 to about 2000-5000 and when you got about 20000 + HP.. taking 2-5k a hit really makes this fight smooth.

Once buffs are on he should have hit 2 times, or 3 dpending if you had to switch back and forth to sen. I then switch to Sab/Sab/Sab and put Deprotect and Imperil on a leg, you can put desehll too but I never do.( do both if you want but I focus on 1 at a time. ) after those 2 are one go straight for rav/rav/rav and stagger the leg, putting it atleast 900% or higher. I always tried to go as close as 999 as I could.

Once thats done I would switch to Com/Med/Med and let my party heal with massive heals while I used highwind to take out the leg ( or brought it as low as 30000 HP making it easy to kill after )

rince repeat the other leg and down he comes.]

Once down spam slow with fang, and maybe imperil. the other will put the main 3 ( deprotect / deshell / imperil )
you MUST let vanille or light put Poison on him once you got the 5 debuffs on him go rav/rav/rav and push him to 999 quick.

After that its the same as the other fights, go com/com/com and bat on him till the stargger bar is about to go out and use Highwind for a 999,999 blast and aditional dmg.

( you may need to recast bravery on fang and lightning before he falls if it took too long to get him to drop for extra dmg, but its not needed )

onceyou use highwind go back to rav/rav/rav and try to stagger him again but be very careful at this point, he WILL stand up. and this is where you need to do this perfectly or it will mess it up making the 5 min fight to 9-10 min. try to hold your attacks till you can sorta time when he will stand up so that you can use your summon as hes standing up.

This is important because Long Gui will lose all debuffs on him once hes fully up and ready to fight back. IF you managed to summon Bahamut as hes in the process of standing he should fall back down and still have his debuffs. MAINLY Poison. ( reason for this is because fang cant cast poison so this will make the fight super fast )

at this point keep attacking with rav to stagger and then go com again and help bahamut attack. once bahamuts about to lose all HP press X to go in gesalt mode and this is where the fight will end. you should drag this mode as LONG as you can using your abilitys at th last moment to make it take the longest it can.. doing so will allow poison to dran his HP completely and your fight will end, ( I normally used his Megaflare just before his stagger went off as it would do 800k with 999% stagger.) if he didnt die, no panic Long gui will stay down for another complete round like he did before you summoned, if poison is off re-apply or just stagger and beat on him if you think you can.

Fight should be over by now. follow this method ( or your own) as long as you swap to sen/sen/sen every attack he does and you use poison. he will be on of the easiest fights there is. if you need CP he will grant you 100k or 200k if you got the egg.

Hope this helps and grats on the achievement :P

You must kill a Long Gui.
One can be found on Gran Pulse in the area where most of the Adamantoises dwell (Archlyte Steppes - Eastern Tors, near the Gigantuar's location for Mission 54).
The Long Gui replaces the Adamantortoises after completing the Circle of Cie'th Stone missions (Missions 56-62) .

Here's a video showing how to farm one for yourself:

All the guides I read, I just wasn't having any luck, so here's my strategy:

What you need:

Aegisol, Fortisol, 3TP, Librascope or Libra (1TP), minimum 2 Doctor's Codes (fully upgrade 2500xp and dismantle into 2 Elixir's + shrouds).

You get 3 Doctor's Codes in the game and 1 Elixir, assuming you didn't use the Elixir anywhere else in the game (you have no reason to) and assuming you didn't do something you now will regret like selling the Doctor's Codes. Upgrade the Codes and dismantle for 3 additional Elixirs. You now have 5 opportunities to disable Long Gui's legs.

All you really need for a Paradigm is Infiltration (SAB/SAB/SAB), Relentless Assault (RAV/COM/RAV) and Tortoise (SEN/SEN/SEN) which you will only use once the whole fight as your opener since he opens with Ultima.

What to do:

1.Set default Paradigm to Tortoise
2.Use Aegisol/Fortisol
3.Engage Long Gui
4.While he is casting Ultima, use Libra or Librascope (doesn't really matter since the legs will be on auto disable, but if you use the spell make sure to have the extra TP so you will need 4TP)
5.After Ultima hits, do not heal, just summon, X for Gestalt, use the Y attack
6.Switch to Infiltration (SAB/SAB/SAB) make sure your debuffs, especially Poison lands
7.Switch to Relentless Assault (RAV/COM/RAV) He should already be 50% to stagger from Eidolon and debuffs so he will stagger quickly, stay with Relentless Assault all the way til he recovers. Right before he gets back on his feet, use an Elixir but continue pounding at him until he is up and just re-summon your Eidolon and repeat. You will not need to heal through this or use Tortoise after the opener if done correctly.

In the end you will use 3 summons to take him down, 1 summon from TP and 2 summons from Elixirs (the other 2 Elixirs are extra in case your party is really weak)

Target time for this fight is 38 minutes, my battle duration was 4:47 and 5 stars. You will annihilate it! Best part is Long Gui's have a 5% chance to drop the Trapezohedron vs 1% chance with Adamantortoise (mission 63). What I'm getting at is after you get the achv, don't save. Keep reloading the game and killing Long Gui until the Trapezohedron drops and then save. Trust me, it is a lot faster than running back and forth to start mission 63 and using Vanille's Death method to kill the Tortoise and you have a higher drop rate. You also net 2 Trapezohedrons this way if you have all your Doctor's Codes and Elixir you received as rewards.

My set up was Vanille/Fang/Hope. I used Vanille for faster sticking debuffs, but really in the end, it doesn't matter who you use because the mob will have zero chance to react.

*Disclaimer: I know there are other alternatives/methods/strategies to kill it without Elixirs, however, purely for the achv, I found to be the easiest way. This is not a permanent farming solution for the the Trapezohedrons (due to limited materials), although if you have all the materials described at the beginning of the guide, you will net 2 of them with this method.*

-For the people voting this solution down, I would appreciate a reason why. If you have the items described in the beginning of the guide, mainly the Doctor's Codes, you can't not get this achievement. If you don't have them, then that's a fail on your part, not the solution's...

Hope this helps and good luck.

A quicker to kill him instead of attacking is Vanille's death spell.

Just follow what DubNut86 said about the elixir and summon right away. You will need one genji glove(allows you to break 99, 999) equiped to vanille and any magic boosters. Shrouds are also a must for this battle.

For paradigms use

Vanille/Fang/Lightning

Syn/Sab/Syn
Rav/Rav/Rav
Sab/Com/Com
Com/Com/Com

When battle starts summon and quickly go to gestalt mode and do your finisher. Then Libra him and cast faithra on yourself, once lightning casts enfire on you and Fang has imperil on him quickly switch to triple rav and stagger him to atleast 800%. Then switch to sab/com/com and cast death but as soon as you select it switch to com/com/com before it lands. If done correctly the spell will have done extra damage because of the com bonus, you should do 999, 999 damage every cast. Then just repeat until he stands back up then use your elixir and summon and repeat until he has imperil you cast faithra again(it will run out if you don't) and then stagger.

A quick break down is

Use shrouds
engage and summon
libra and faithra/ wait for enfire and imperil
rav/rav/rav
stagger 800%
sab/com/com
cast death and switch to com as described above
repeat once more and he should be dead

Vanille should have a maxed crystarium(you might be able to without not sure) for this with at least 1600 magic, maybe more.
Use link for a better understanding on the death spell trick.

You will have to defeat a Long Gui to earn this achievement. After you complete Ci’eth Stone Missions #52-62, they will replace Adama Tortoise enemies. They are formidable enemies, and possess some deadly attacks that will give all but the most advanced parties plenty of trouble.

Use Shrouds before the battle.
Use Infiltration (SAB+SAB+SAB) to weaken both legs.
Use Relentless Assault to disable the legs.
Use Infiltration (SAB+SAB+SAB) to weaken the knocked down Long Gui. Ensure that poison is active.
Use Relentless Assault to Stagger and inflict maximum damage on your target.
Switch to Tortoise (SEN+SEN+SEN) as the creature climbs back to its feet to better resist the attacks that follow.
Heal with Salvation (MED+MED+MED) and refresh your buffs with Rapid Growth (SYN+SYN+SYN).
In case of an emergency summon your Eidolin. This will not only instantly disable both legs, but also heal your party.

If you have Elixirs in your inventory, they can be used to turn the tide of battle. As they both fully heal the party and restore your TP gauge, this will enable you to summon your Eidolin one more time. This will provide you with another free knockdown and full healing for your party.

This guide provides a couple of approaches to defeat Long Gui and unlock the Adamant Will achievement. It will work on any Long Gui encounter but is specifically designed for a Chapter 11 encounter. The game is structured to prevent you from encountering Long Gui in Chapter 11. It expects the player to move on to Chapter 12 before completing missions 56-62 in the Cie'th Stone circle. Completing missions 56-62 in the Cie'th Stone circle is the trigger that causes the Long Gui to appear on Gran Pulse. The Adamantortoises disappear and the Adamantoises are reduced in number—the losses being replaced by Long Guis. Long Guis look like Adamantoises, but have a blue tint and darker tusks.

By the time players encounter the Long Gui, they are proficient in battle strategy and tactics. The prerequisite missions (56-62) are not easy and mission 62 has a high degree of difficulty. Accordingly, you should be well versed in the concepts discussed in this guide. I use Snow, Sazh, and Fang. Snow has the Midnight Sun, Sazh the Total Eclipse (from Rigels), and Fang has the Kain’s Lance from the Pandoran Spear.

The concept behind the weapons is to equip the two AI controlled members with powerful tier 3 weapons. The tier 3 weapons give Sazh and Fang an extra ATB segment so they will have six each. Sazh’s Total Eclipse has a Rigels base—magic and strength are balanced and each is just over a thousand points. The AI controls Sazh and Fang very efficiently. The sixth ATB segment, especially with Fang’s ATB boost, is capable of delivering deadly chains. Snow’s main job is to survive and assist in creating RICs. The slight delay in controlling Snow manually has the effect of better synching his five ATB segments with the six of Sazh and Fang. Snow is not a good medic, saboteur, or synergist—roles that best exploit the extra ATB slot. His value is in his high HP. His tier 2 weapon requires one accessory slot to give him RIC leaving two open for maxed out diamond bangles. With over 14,000 HPs, he can survive deadly attacks and, using Phoenix Downs, revive fallen comrades.

The Long Gui is one of the two most demanding battles in the game. The other is Vercingetorix whom you encounter in Mission 64. They are probably equally difficult but they are very different and need different parties and strategies. It is best to tackle Vercingetorix first. On defeating him, he drops the gold watch--am accessory that extends battle time by 10%. This makes it a lot easier to five-star battles. The gold watch could be the difference you need to five-star the Long Gui battle. If, even with the gold watch, you have trouble five-starring the Long Gui battle; a second approach is provided. The second approach is riskier but, when successful, results in a faster battle time. With the gold watch equipped, the second approach when successful should always provide a five-star result.

Snow Sazh Fang

Sen Sen Sen
Sab Sab Sab
Rav Syn Sab
Rav Rav Rav
Com Com Com
Med Med Med

Equipment:
Snow: Survivalist Catalog (for RIC), Diamond BangleX2
Sazh: Energy and Speed Sashes (for RIC), Diamond Bangle (Replace Bangle with Gold Watch if you need more time to five-star)
Fang: Aurora Scarf and Nimble Toe Boots (for ATB charge) Power Glove

The basic strategy is to knock down Long Gui by taking out its legs. This can be done in one of two ways. The easy way is to call an Eidolon. The summoning automatically takes out the Long Gui’s legs and knocks it to the ground. The hard way is to stagger first one leg, KO it, then stagger the other leg and KO it. Once both legs are knocked out the Long Gui falls to the ground and remains there until the legs regenerate. While prostrate, the Long Gui cannot attack. It is vulnerable to a number of status ailments that it is immune to when upright including poison. Whenever the Long Gui is knocked down, inflict poison on it to speed up the attrition of its hit points.

With a relatively undeveloped chapter 11 party, you need luck as well as skill. You have a low probability of success. I fail more often than I succeed. Long Gui’s most potent weapon is roar. It delivers immense damage and removes buffs. It is hard to survive even with a completely healthy party in a Sen-Sen-Sen defensive stance. Ultima is Long Gui’s second most potent weapon. Not only does it inflict tremendous damage but Long Gui often does an Ultima-Quake one-two punch. If you survive Ultima in Sen-Sen-Sen and immediately go to your healing paradigm, Quake will destroy you. Thus, whenever you survive Ultima remain in Sen Sen Sen while you imbibe one potion. If you see Quake on the screen, remain in Sen-Sen-Sen. When it’s over, go to the healing paradigm and restore your strength.

I try to win the battle in four knockdowns—without Eidolon, with Eidolon, without Eidolon, with Eidolon (after your attack chains have regenerated one of your TP segments).

You can start the battle out with Aegisol and Fortisol shrouds. However, I prefer not to. The Long Gui is much more aggressive when you use shrouds and always opens up with a particularly devastating version of Ultima. As often as not, this version of Ultima will KO Sazh while Snow and Fang survive with the one HP thanks to their reprieve ability. The opening Ultima seems to be much more potent than the mid-battle version. Since this is a long battle and shrouds last only a short time, it’s best to start right off managing your own buffs.

I start out in SEN SEN SEN and wait for the opening attack. The first time you encounter Long Gui, immediately use Librascope to gather info. The intelligence gathered by Librasope will cause Sazh’s AI to enflame weapons. The opening attack (usually Quake without shrouds always Ultima with shrouds) takes a second or so to execute. I use a potion right after it starts both for the curative effect and to help with the timing. If you’ve used shrouds and absorbed an Ultima attack, you will most likely have to immediately cure. Without shrouds and taking a Quake attack, all members should have at least half their HPs remaining. This is enough health to go to SAB SAB SAB immediately without healing. There, manually force Snow to cast Slow on the Long Gui. Then, heal in MED MED MED followed by RAV SYN SAB. Target the left leg with Snow as a Rav. Sazh’s AI will begin the buffs with haste and then enflame weapons.

Between enemy attacks, alternate between Rav Syn Sab and Rav Rav Rav until the leg is staggered and KO’d. I rarely see Roar during the initial knockdown and, more often than not, do not see Ultima. If Ultima does appear wait in Sen Sen Sen until you’re sure it will not be immediately followed by Quake. Generally, your party buffed by haste is several times faster than the Long Gui encumbered with slow. After a while, you can anticipate the attacks. The more complex the attack the longer it takes.

A buffed, healthy party can survive stomp without going to Sen Sen Sen. I generally absorb it and go to Med Med Med during an ATB recharging cycle and use potions while I’m waiting for the recharge. Then I’ll resume with Rav Rav Rav. If stomp does not come, I anticipate a more powerful attack and try to move to the Sen Sen Sen paradigm before an on-screen announcement. I will use a potion or two. Using the item(s), delays Snow attracting the Long Gui’s attention. Instead, one of the other two does so first, usually Fang. When you see the red exclamation point indicating the Long Gui’s attention has been captured by a sentinel, go into mediguard. This tactic increases Snow’s survival probability while decreasing that of the other members. If a member is KO’d, use Phoenix Down before paradigm shifting. This will give the revived members a full ATB gauge at the paradigm shift.

Snow and Sazh are both random instant chain (RIC) capable. Not infrequently, therefore, a stagger gauge will fill instantly. Both the Long Gui, itself, and the legs are vulnerable. Staggering the Long Gui while upright (which might occur when you inflict slow on it using the Sab Sab Sab paradigm) is of little benefit. I generally go to Com Com Com and instruct Snow to use Sovereign fist. This resets Long Gui’s stagger gauge and I turn my attention back to the legs.

While you are working on the legs you are also building your buffs. By the time the first leg is knocked out you should be fully buffed. Thus, the second leg tends to be easier and faster to knock out. As soon as the Long Gui topples, go to Sab Sab Sab. Your goal is to inflict poison which only Sazh can do in this party. When you see the poison icon, stagger the Long Gui (hopefully you’ll get an RIC to make it even faster). Drive up the stagger gauge to 999.99% and pummel it with Com Com Com.

End the stagger sequence with Sovereign Fist. Sovereign Fist resets the stagger gauge so, when you shift to Com Com Com to execute it, you’ll want to wait for Sazh and Fang to first execute their attacks. Start building the stagger gauge again. You might get lucky and get an RIC to stagger the Long Gui quickly. Your goal, though, is not to stagger the Long Gui at this time but to summon the Eidolon before the Long Gui gets to its feet. If you do, poison will still be active. If you’re too late, the Long Gui will remove most status afflictions when it gets to its feet.

If you’re timing is right, Shiva will appear and keep the poisoned Long Gui on the ground. If you’ve got a good head start you can quickly stagger the Long Gui. Keep switching between the two paradigms where Snow is a ravager and the Long Gui will be quickly staggered. Drive up the gauge to 999.99% and start pummeling it as a commando. Do not go into Gestalt mode but allow Nix and Stiria to leave on their own. This will ensure the Long Gui’s stagger gauge is not reset. The regular party using the Com Com Com paradigm can do more damage than the Eidolon’s Gestalt mode. When the stagger runs its course, you should have enough time to stagger it again, max the stagger gauge, and go a couple of rounds in Com Com Com. Make sure you use the Rav Syn Sab to remain buffed and refresh the slow status affliction while the Long Gui is down.

The Long Gui’s legs will recover and it will rise to its feet. It may still be staggered when this happens. Regardless, go to Sen Sen Sen and wait for its attack. At this point, it will most likely be more aggressive than it has been earlier. This phase of the battle is the most difficult. You must expect to see Roar and an Ultima-Quake one two punch. It is best to nip away at the legs at this point. After enduring the first attack upon its regaining its feet and healing up start getting into a rhythm of attack, max out HP gauges, and assume a defensive posture in Sen Sen Sen.

Roar is very difficult to survive with a chapter 11 party. It is best to be fully healed and established in the Sen Sen Sen paradigm when it hits. My hypothesis is that the Long Gui must fully charge the equivalent of its ATB gauge before using this attack. So, after a stomp, quake, ultima, or ultima-quake attack, you’ve got a little breathing room. It is important not to be impatient. You have time because you need to create chains in order to regenerate a TP segment so you can summon the Eidolon a second time. Heal fully, shelter in Sen Sen Sen, make a quick strike against a leg with Rav Rav Rav or Rav Syn Sab, then retreat to Sen Sen Sen. This makes for a good defensive rhythm that keeps you prepared for the deadliest attacks while slowly regenerating your HP gauge. Ideally, you will have regained your third TP segment before you KO both legs. You will be more dependent on RIC to stagger the legs in light of your defensive tactics.

When you KO the second leg and the Long Gui topples, adopt the same strategy as before. Poison the Long Gui as your first step (while refreshing slow), stagger it, max out the stagger gauge, and pummel it with Com Com Com. Refresh your buffs between Com Com Com rounds. As you did the first time, when the stagger runs its course start building the gauge again and summon Shiva before the Long Gui gets to its feet and dispels the status afflictions. Again, stagger the Long Gui, max out the stagger bar, and hit it as a commando. Let Nix and Stiria leave without going into Gestalt mode. Continue the punishment with your normal team. Keep an eye on the Long Gui’s green life bar. It may perish before Shiva leaves.

If you take down the Long Gui before your third TP bar reconstitutes, you have to be a little more cautious. If you get a high frequency of RICs, you might get a quick takedown. Thus, the Long Gui might recover the use of its legs before you get the third TP bar. This is not a big problem. If you have been efficient attacking the Long Gui while prostrate, the resulting chains will have helped the reconstitution of your bar. Accordingly, you should be very close to attaining the third TP bar. The threat is that the Long Gui is very aggressive at this point. I tend to stay in Sen Sen Sen and make quick visits to Sab Sab Sab or Rav Syn Sab. When the third bar is complete, I immediately summon the Eidolon and thank my lucky stars I survived. When Nix and Stiria leave, immediately go to Sab Sab Sab so Sazh can inflict poison. Then, continue the assault. As before keep the stagger gauge at the max and pummel the Long Gui with Com Com Com.

If the Long Gui survives the two knock downs plus two Eidolon follow-ons, your chances are not good. Twice, the Long Gui has regained its feet with the merest sliver of green in its life bar only to defeat me. Its attacks appear to become more debilitating as time goes on and/or its hit points diminish. I have, on occasion, prevailed on these circumstances but I have never been able to systematically attack the legs and topple the Long Gui as before. Instead, I attack the Long Gui directly with Rav Rav Rav or Com Com Com hoping for an RIC that greatly intensifies the damage I inflict.

The above approach might take too long. This is particularly the dase if you are unlucky in getting the RICs for quick staggers. If so, An alternative (but more risky) approach to the one described above is to equip Snow only with Gestalt items—Energy sash, Speed sash, & Survivalist Catalog for example. Remember, a chapter 11 party has only three accessory slots. Snow’s Midnight Sun weapon and three gestalt items provides him with a special gestalt/TP boost synthesis. Use the Aegisol and Fortisol shrouds beforehand and summon the Eidolon immediately to avoid Long Gui’s opening Ultima attack. As a SAB, cast slow and then stagger the Long Gui by shifting back and forth between the two RAV paradigms. Once staggered, pummel it with COM COM COM. Since you have a gestalt boost, go into gestalt mode. When Shiva leaves, the Long Gui’s stagger gauge will have been reset. Poison it (SAB SAB SAB), stagger it, max out the stagger gauge, and hammer it with COM COM COM. By the time it regains its feet, you will be well on your way to getting the third TP bar back.

At this point, stagger and KO the legs one at a time. Knock the Long Gui down, poison it, stagger it, max out the stagger bar, hit it with COM COM COM. Summon the Eidolon (you will have three TP segments plus). Hit it as before including going into Gestalt mode.

By the time you finish, you should emerge with almost two TP bars. The first two regenerate very quickly. Now comes the most difficult part. Adopt defensive tactics and stagger and KO the legs one by one. Your TP bar should reach three segments before you topple the Long Gui. If you’re successful, you should be home free. The third summoning of the Eidolon should wrap things up before you even go into Gestalt mode.

The problem with this second approach is that Snow is much more vulnerable without the 2,000 extra hit points the two diamond bangles provide him. Even when I am executing perfectly, I can still fall victim to either the Roar attack or the Ultima-Quake combo—attacks that are survivable if Snow has the two Diamond Bangles as in the first approach. The only times I have been successful with this second approach is when the Long Gui does not use Roar.

The TP boost synthesis can only be used with tier two weapons in chapter 11. The synthesis requires four items. Since, at this stage of the game, you only have three accessory slots, the weapon must serve as the fourth item. Since ultimate/tier 3 weapons lose the synthesis abilities of the base weapon that creates them, they cannot be used if you need the TP boost synthesis.

Whether you use the first or second riskier approach, the bottom line is that the weapons, accessories, and paradigms combine in a strategy designed to defeat the Long Gui in two takedown/Eidolon combos. The game is structured to prevent you from being able to do this. Accordingly, there is a certain satisfaction from obtaining the Adamant Will achievement before embarking upon chapter 12. Although I have completed the game on a different PSN ID and on the XBox 360, I have remained in Chapter 11 for one of my PSN ID's games--proof positive that the Long Gui can be defeated by the relatively underpowered chapter 11 party.