FF5 Solo Cannoneer Part V

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Picard would use the following setup for Omega. Aegis Shield would block 1/3 of all attacks being thrown at him. Hermes Sandles for haste, and Chicken Knife for a +5 to agility. The Royal Crown and Robe of Lords gave magic defense to help stop Encircle. As usual, it's the big danger for a solo character.


Omega has a vulnerability to Slow. So Picard hit with Slow Cannon for the big speed advantage. Again sticking with the policy of not abusing the no-counter bug, Picard did not use one of those combinations. He instead used Spark Cannon.


The machine's inherent Shell reduced this damage, but it couldn't stand up to this. Picard went a little crazy on the Aegis Shield blocks and dodges. That lingering float status also served to prevent a potential Earthquake (another reason I've been keeping it up). And with the huge speed advantage, he made short work of the boss.


Boom. Victory on the second try; the first was a back attack I decided to reset.


He can still rot. Picard could easily do this fight at this point, but he can still rot.


Funny enough, I always forget that Ramuh can show up here. He's almost useless for his worth at this point, unless you forgot him and want to use him on Omega (a friend of mine did so during the 2013 Four Job Fiesta), but it's pretty amusing to see it show all the same. A single Water Cannon ended it.


Yeah. This wasn't a contest. It was a curbstomping.


Much like Omega's stop/song weakness, Shinryu has an infamous vulnerability to Berserk. Main Gauche and Genji Shield made things a breeze...though the attacks that did get through hurt like hell. But that's no fun.


Aegis Shield to block his opening Tidal Wave, Slow Cannon, and devastate him with Dragon Cannon. Shinryu knew what was best for him and cast Mighty Guard to reduce the damage, but it was too little too late. He didn't even reach the second no interrupt part of his script. An easy victory.

If you're wondering, the strategy for the original superbosses would be no different at normal levels for the endgame. A bit of finesse with equipment against Shinryu would be required to protect against his various attacks, if the Berserk route isn't taken. And if it is, the fight would be a complete joke. Omega, there would be more counterattacks to worry about due to less damage, and you'd probably want to keep an eye on your lower HP as well as equip Lamia's Tiara for certainty in avoiding the confusion effect. But it's still quite doable. With the exploit, much of the nasty stuff is out of the picture.


But of course, those are just the originals we beat. The GBA version adds in upgraded versions of both. So back out of the cleft. I found out that Grass Turtles can be fought here in the third world, just south of where Tycoon used to be. Picard stocked up on around 30 Turtle Shells for the random encounters.


So Omega Mk-II. This time, the Lamia's Tiara was worn, after Rocket Punch's confusion kept popping up. Can Picard succeed where Rathma could not? He opened with a Flame Cannon to fish for his elemental weakness, to try to get an extra 8000~ in. If it didn't work, he went to Spark Cannon, before resetting. He would follow up the successful attack with Slow Cannon.


Since I'm not abusing the no-counterattack bug, I need to find a different attack. One that is non-elemental, but will trigger counters. So here's Normal Cannon, which is powered by Shruikens. It has a base attack of 210 and has no special properties. More often than not, it's not worth it. Too expensive to use, and not enough power to justify the cost. But for our circumstances and against a boss that absorbs the elements, it's the best we got. At Picard's absurd level of 89, this did in the neighborhood of 3800~ damage after inherent Shell reduced it.


This battle was more or less the same as the fight against the original. It's just that with the lower damage, Picard had to deal with twice as many counterattacks. He had a few tricks up his sleeve - after Omega Mk-II used Search, he swapped to the Flame Shield and waited. Omega would either used Rainbow Wind (no harm done), Atomic Ray, or Flamethrower (would heal him). This saved him an Elixir or two. The Aegis Shield again kept Picard safe from some of the attacks whenever it was in-place.

The robot went through three loops of its AI routine. I was especially afraid of Blaster...more than once, a death shot instantly ended the attempt. Once even at the very beginning of the fight.


Yet fortune smiled on Picard after about nine tries at the battle. He lost three times to a Blaster, three times to not landing the first shot, and at least once to a Rocket Punch/Wave Cannon combo. There's vengeance for Rathma!!


The prize for this fight is the Force Shield. It nullifies all elemental attacks that happen to be directed at the wielder. It has a defense rating of 15, as much as the unobtainable Cursed Shield. While its evasion is better than that's 1%, 10% is not really that good. Furthermore, its description is no lie - it has a weight of 15! Yikes. To add insult to injury, it also imposes an agility penalty of 5. Despite these flaws, the advantages it brings gives it a place in Picard's near-future.


Into Shinryu's lair, which is full of dragon enemies and lava. More good reason to keep up the float! Behind the Force Shield, he could steal Elixirs from these Crystal Dragons at his leisure - no need to worry about Breath Wing. And of course, Dragon Fang shots overkilled everything.


Here we go. Neo Shinryu attempts to start the battle with Mighty Guard. This is a fruitless effort due to his gimmick - his vulnerable form starts the battle in False Image status, and so it never actually affects it. So Picard could still do 9999 damage with every Dragon Cannon.

Picard tried to inflict Slow status on the dragon, and appeared to succeed. However, it didn't actually seem to be affecting the rate of attack. Hm. Let's check out his AI script.

Maelstrom
{Ice Storm,Ice Storm,Blaze}
Zombie Breath
{Earthquake,Earthquake,Lightning}
No Interrupt{Attack
Attack}
{Poison Breath,Poison Breath,Breath Wing}
Curse
{Tidal Wave,Tidal Wave,Almagest}

A lot of elemental attacks, so the shiny new Force Shield seemed like a no-brainer. But also around was a 1/3 chance to counter any successful strike with White Hole. Aegis Shield had its merits too. Then there's the nasty physicals.


These were highly damaging to Picard, and could very quickly kill him.

So the strategy for this battle was actually pretty complicated. Picard would walk in with the Force Shield equipped. Around the time or just before Zombie Breath popped up, he'd swap over to the Aegis Shield to guarantee cutting out White Hole - and for extra evasion. He could then swap back before Poison Breath or Tidal Wave/Almagest came along.


And once Neo Shinryu crossed over the 15000 HP threshold, Picard would swap to the Genji Shield, sporting 50% evade. A convoluted mess of shield swapping, but a strategy that works. Well, should work.

The whole danger in this fight came from the physicals. He just kept on getting unlucky with accumulated damage. The few times Picard did get by, he got wasted by the dragon's parting Giga Flare/Meteor combo. Isn't there anything we can do to make our chances better?

Well, let's look at the Algorithms guide. Neo Shinryu is vulnerable to slow as I figured he would be, he can't be Berserked, and...wow, seriously? Just what I need!


Dark Cannon, go!! And it worked!! ...but it didn't. Like the slow status from before, this only seemed to be affecting the vulnerable part of Neo Shinryu - not the invincible attacking part. So the physicals were going to be an issue, one way or another, ugh.


White Hole didn't show up that often, and sometimes - even without the Aegis Shield helping as seen here - Picard would simply dodge it. That high level helped a lot.


Picard got to the physical rampage part of the script several times. Here, he had noticed that he had been aged by an earlier Curse - it's kind of difficult to notice if that status has been inflicted with a big hat covering my character's head. This didn't affect his damage output, but now making enough dodges before he could attack again was nearly impossible. In another attempt...


Oh, great. Now he'll take more damage from physical attacks, and-...hmm, wait a minute. This could be a blessing in disguise. Mini doubles the target's evade. And with the Genji Shield's evasion of 50%...!


Yes!!


NOOOOOOOO!!!


Well, okay. We have our strategy. Picard managed to pick up Mini status from a Hades' Curse, and set back out. He kept a Reflect Ring on while going for it, because sometimes the Hades' would hit itself with Roulette, then counterattack by using Flare on Picard for over 7000 damage.


To go over the plan one more time, Picard went in minified with the Main Gauche, Force Shield, and magic evasiveness. He would swap to the Aegis Shield sometime after Zombie Breath in Neo Shinryu's script for added evasion and protection from a potential White Hole, and swap back to Force Shield after the physicals. He would try to hit with Slow Cannon (this would affect the vulnerable part's rate of switching), then tear into the dragon with Dragon Cannon for 9999, because its opening Mighty Guard never hits its first form. When the dragon went under 15000 HP and started its physical rampage, he would switch to the Genji Shield for maximum physical evasion. Picard had to use four Elixirs, and a Maiden's Kiss when Curse rolled frog status. Then it was just a matter of hoping Meteor rolled low enough damage on its four hits.


It took four fights to get the desired result, but it happened.



__________


Picard went back out of the temple to restock, because his supplies had really somehow run low during that excursion. Elixirs in particular had been drained, and that forced Picard to farm.


He settled in the Ronka Ruins section of the rift, where groups of Level Checkers were common. He used Blastshots with Mallets (Mini Burst) as the most cost-efficient Combines that could still one hit kill. During this, Picard was inducted into the 1/4096 item drop club by getting a Phoenix Down, Elixir, and Rune Chime drop all at once.


He settled on 18 Elixirs, and bought 7 more for a total of 25. Let's hope it's enough.


First attempt. Picard annihilated the first form of Enuo. At his level of 94, he could nail the ancient necromancer with Slow Cannon then fire away for over 9000 damage. Grand Cross came once, and did nothing. His equipment setup was Chicken Knife (+5 Agility), Force Shield, Royal Crown, Robe of Lords, and Hermes Sandles.


Ow. Dimension Zero hurts. It pierces defense and always hits. It also inflicts HP leak. That no interrupt section at the beginning really is brutal. Two of them in a row, which he's more than capable of doing, or Meteor followed by Dimension Zero, would be invariably fatal for Picard. So would Dimension Zero (including the one at the end of the script) into a successful Maelstrom.


Damn!! Using Force Shield means no protection from White Hole, or more importantly, Delta Attack. Well, I suppose shield swapping strategies are in order for that. The right timing to switch was roughly before the left arm charged for Grand Cross in phase 1, and right after the no interrupt section in phase 2. What to do...well, there is a way out of every box, a solution to every puzzle. It's just a matter of finding it.

For the heavy damage, Freelancer Rathma was able to use the Defender for Armor, as well as Shell to help with Meteor. Picard could only equip for Magic Defense and hope for luck with the latter. And there was only one option for the former...


And that was Golem from the Magic Lamp! It would block the nasty attacks. Defend didn't come to mind at the time, but it would be of questionable usefulness after Golem ran out. Picard still would've had to heal after the fixed Dimension Zero, and wouldn't have had the time to drink an Elixir and use Defend to protect against another potential double Dimension Zero.

The final decision I made was to use the counterattack exploit here. It felt okay - it really only served to eliminate an obnoxious omnipresent diceroll from the battle. Overcoming it was an inevitability at the end of the day.


By the way, I tried to see if you could skip the second phase. Unfortunately, you couldn't. They actually planned for that. Enuo disintegrates, but after a while, the message pops up, and he reintegrates. Oh well. It does give a breathing period to heal up and use the Magic Lamp, though, so I took advantage of it.


Picard got really close the first time I tried this. He got within three attacks of winning, getting around to three loops of Enuo's AI routine, dodging three Grand Crosses, before HP Leak and Maelstrom did him in.

What else to do? Well, the basics first. At level 98, the multiplier would be 20 - just one over the present 19. I calculated, the average hits (15) to take down Enuo would not increase. Unless we're using Divine Cannon. It'd be 14 at the current level and 13 at 98. Not worth the counters. Level 99 would give 21, but would open him up to Level 3 Flare.


Nothing else really helps. The Bone Mail helps stop some of the counterattacks and Berserk, but does nothing for Danse Macabre, and turns the Flare/Holy/Delta Attack part of the script into a diceroll. Chaos Orb lets Picard do 6600~ after a Shell, but loses haste and makes any Maelstrom or Hurricane fatal. Sorcerer's Mantle increases Magic Evade and makes it easier to go without Force Shield for longer, but also loses haste. Vishnu Vest loses too much Magic Evade. Looks like I had the right setup to begin with.

So let's recount our attempts after settling on the strategy. Full disclosure and whatnot - I reloaded a savestate from just before the fight, rather than walking back from the save point each time. Because there were a _lot_ of tries involved.

1. Condemn from Grand Cross. Went for broke at that point and died to Reaper's Sword.
2. Mistimed the shield switch, and Delta Attack appeared
3. First phase got hasted, Confuse from Grand Cross while waiting for White Hole/Evil Eye, things got out of hand
4. Berserk during phase 1
5. Meteor rolled too high damage, second cycle of phase 2.
6. Double Dimension Zero
7. Meteor into Dimension Zero.
8. Like 3. Decided not to switch the shield after Slow couldn't be reapplied, and petrify of all things came from Grand Cross.
9. Aging status out of Grand Cross in the first phase. Picard fought on and successfully handled the status, then Meteor into Dimension Zero.
10. White Hole in phase 1, couldn't switch shield.
11. Berserk during phase 1.
12. Berserk during phase 1.
13. Berserk during phase 1.
14. Triggered the second phase while poisoned. Meteor.
15. Zombie out of Grand Cross
16. Got really far - he had to have been dead within the next hit or two - then double Dimension Zero.
17. Berserk during phase 1.
18. Graviga and Meteor combo
19. Was presented with a decision due to poison: Magic Lamp to stop Dimension Zero, or heal to stop Meteor. I went with the latter, and got double Dimension Zero
20. Graviga and Meteor combo
21. Meteor into Dimension Zero.
22. Zombie out of Grand Cross
23. Double Dimension Zero. Began keeping track of second form HP at this point. It had 27149 left.
24. Berserk during phase 1.
25. Berserk during phase 1.
26. The first phase was routine. During the second phase, White Hole was the second attack of the no-interrupt phase all three times, and all three times it missed. Delta Attack showed up twice, and Holy was blocked once. The Grand Cross in phase one did nothing, and one that showed up in phase two did Mini. Picard just kept on blasting, and just before Enuo got to his third fixed Dimension Zero...


Finally, FINALLY it was over.


Picard was victorious!!

I tried to get an emulator movie of the Enuo battle, but unfortunately, it desynced when I tried to play it back. Similarly, I was streaming a few attempts at the fight, but wasn't streaming on the winning attempt.


So before the Cloister of the Dead, Solo exception #3 is here. If you don't have a Necromancer, this enemy just sits here growling at you. With it...


Picard used the Chaos Orb and Flame Cannon for fun here, hitting for 9999.


It's worth noting that the Ultima Weapon sword is a light sword, meaning it's not limited to the Knight and Gladiator. It actually does almost as much damage as the fully powered Chicken Knife. Picard equipped it at times for the novelty, but mostly stuck with the Main Gauche.

Not much to say about the boss rush. I realized at about Twin Tania that I had to be conservative with the Blitzshots. Even after that, Picard ended with only 8 of them in stock. A few highlights...


This time, it was Combine that did the most damage.


Sweet, sweet vengeance.


To stop its ???? counters, Picard used Power Cannon on Tyrannosaur


This time, the flowers didn't even get to show up.


Against the two who counter things that are not magic, Archeodemon got Power Cannoned to death, with it not triggering counters. He did the same to Omniscient before realizing he's vulnerable to Berserk - the attacks would do around 1000 damage. Picard pulled out Silver Cannon for aging to be on the safe side.


As mentioned before, Atomos will drag petrified party members if at least one is dead, but will Comet you if everyone is petrified. But it was petty damage at this point.

Catastrophe finally put an end to the float nonsense, and-


Oh.


Oh god.


OH GOD.


Yes!!


For the final fight, Picard used two shots to down the barriers, Dark Cannon followed by Slow Cannon on Necro, then blew him away.


And that's the postgame!!

So Picard had an easier time than Rathma through the postgame, and - certainly no doubt due to not having the Undead handicap - was able to get through it without having to go Bare/Freelancer. The ability to equip shields really isn't to be understated in this game, either. Picard found himself using three different shields at some points. And Combine is a very powerful ability, and was really able to show off its potential in the postgame. Again, that's not to understate the power of Open Fire - the only thing stopping it from being competitive at the end of the game was the power of Combine, as well as Chicken Knife/Ultima Weapon.

And that finally, really wraps up Picard's adventure. There are indeed classes out there that can handle the entire postgame on their own. The question thus arises of who else can accomplish this task? Picard was able to sleek by Enuo with his non-counterattack inducing Combines, but others would have to deal with them. Perhaps a question for another day.

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