Final Fantasy XII

Esper Battle Guide

by twilightultima([email protected] or [email protected])

++++++Version 0.1++++++++++


------------------------------------------------------


This guide may not be placed on other websites without permission.
Email me if you have questions. 
Or find me on the FFXII boards.
Please no copying. 
I will haunt you if you do.
----------------------------------------------------

-------Upate Log--------

2, June, 2,006, began FAQ. Belias Strategy Completed for now.

3, June, 2,006, Mateus Strategy Added and Completed.
3, June, 2,006, Shumihaza Added and completed.
3, June, 2,006, Hashmalim Added and completed.

5, June, 2,006, Famfrit Added and Completed.
5, June, 2,006, Optional Espers started,
5, June, 2,006, Adramalech Finished
5, June, 2,006, Exdeath, Zeromus and Zalhera completed.

6, June, 2,006, Queklain, Chaos, Altima, and Zodiac Completed.
Part 14 and 15 completed. Guide Finished. 

17, October, 2,006, due a few emails 
about locations, 
Esper Locations Added, Esper Locations Finished

------------------------



[Table of Contents]

Introduction
00) What are Espers?

[Storyline Obtainable Espers]
01) Belias
02) Mateus
03) Shumihaza
04) Hashmalim
05) Famfrit

[Optional Espers]
06) Adramalech 
07) Exdeath
08) Zeromus
09) Zalhera
10) Queklain 
11) Chaos
12) Altima 
13) Zodiac

[Extra]
14) Recommended Equipment/ Spells
15) Credits

------------------------------------------------------------
00) What are Espers?
------------------------------------------------------------

Espers are the summons of FFXII. There are 13 in total. 
Each one represents a different part of the Zodiac. 
They are all unique. 


-------------------------------------------------------
Note: Some of the espers have a barrier ability
that protects them from any damage for a while.
You will have to wait for it to run out.
-------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------
Storyline Obtainable Espers
-----------------------------------------------------------

There are 5 in total that you will fight to advance the story.
You will find them usually at the end of the dungeon they are in.
Here they are.

-----------------------------------------------------------
01) Belias
-----------------------------------------------------------

Belias, the very first summon/esper you fight in FFXII. 
He's a pyro maniac with four arms and an axe like weapon. 
He doesn't really use it much but his fire is probably 
more than enough to BBQ you into Chicken Wings. 
Let's see what he's got.

Esper Battle: Belias
Location: Tomb of Ratihwall
Recommended Level: 20-23


Stuff you'll need:

Evil Slayer(Optional)
Water(Recommended)
Oil Remover(Must have these)

Here's your fiery friend, or more like enemy right now. 
If you have the spell Water, 
make one person continuosly spam it. That leaves two people. 
Have the character do the healing. 

Get Evil Slayer for the last person.

Back to Belias. 
He likes to use Fire a lot, so be sure to heal when low on HP. 
Once his HP Bar goes low, he'll use Firaja, an attack that hits all of 
your characters with Fire Elemental Damage and Oil Status.
Oil Status is your worst enemy here. 
Make Sure you cure it with Oil Remover, 
or else your partly doomed. Oil Status makes 
you much more vulnerable to fire attacks. 
And guess what that means. Firaja= Hell.
If you have Mist Knacks and enough MP, use them. 
And try to chain enough to take out the rest of his HP. 
If he has any HP, just whack him and use items to heal.

After defeating Belias, you will obtain him on the License Board. 
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Belias Ended..........
-----------------------------------------------------------------

If you think Belias was pretty easy,
the next esper, Mateus, will surely give you a ride of Antarctica.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
2)Mateus
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Mateus, the second Esper/Summon you fight in FFXII.
Here's another multi armed beast. Mateus has a lance like weapon. 
And unlike Belias, Mateus uses her weapon. 
Mateus is actually a man who turned into a woman.
Mateus is pretty tough, and with the aid of her Ice Azes,
it seems like you are doomed.But you still have a chance of winning.

Esper Battle: Mateus
Esper's Helper(s): Ice Aze x4
Location: Stillshrine of Miriam
Recommended Level: 33-35

Stuff you will need:

Thundara(Definitely needed)
Mist Knack Level 2 or 3(Optional, but more helpful than Thundara)
Plenty of Ethers


Notice the floating blue monsters with rock fragements? 
Those are the Ice Azes. Make sure you kill them first
before attacking Mateus, because they love to annoy
you with lots of Magic. Blizzara is the biggest threat,
because if all four cast it, your in the world of 
heavy damage. I place two strategies:

With Thundara:
Have everyone use Thundara on the Ice Azes to get rid of them.
If you need to switch people out for more Thundaras, go ahead.
Be careful about targeting an Ice Aze that is near Mateus.
Just use Libra and see if Mateus has reflect.
After the Ice Azes are gone, use Ethers to bring back 
your MP and then keep whacking Mateus. When Mateus gets 
low on HP, get ready for Blizzaja, 
which causes Ice Damage with the addition of Slip.
Heal when you need to, and soon enough, you'll defeat Mateus.

With Mist Knacks:
Much Easier with this than Thundara.
Just start by having a character aim for 
Mateus with his/her strongest Mist Knack. 
Then, keep chaining as much as you can. 
(press a button you see next to your characters 
name in the lower right corner, if there are no more, 
use R2 until the button 
commands appear again) If you chained more than three, the last blast 
that happens when you run out a time will hit everything  
if they are close to eachother. The Ice Azes should be dead, if not, 
get your reserves out on to the field to 
Thundara the Ice Azes to oblivion. Now, hopefully the Mist Knack you used 
chopped off a chunk of Mateus's HP.
Keep attacking and healing when needed 
and you will defeat Mateus eventually.

----------------------------------------------------
Mateus Ended.........
---------------------------------------------------

There we go, Icy Emperor dies and goes to your license board. 
Next up, Shumihaza.

---------------------------------------------------
03) Shumihaza
-------------------------------------------------

The Third Storyline obtainable summon in FFXII.
Finally, no multi armed fiend.
In replace of that, you get a mighty sorceress instead.
Let's see what she's got.

Esper Battle: Shumihaza
Location: Giruvegan
Recommended Level: 40+

She likes casting Silega(Silence to everyone 
in a certain amount of space) and another status
that is quite dangerous. If anyone has it, you will have
to win the fight quicker. Everytime that caharcter is 
damaged, instead of losing HP, they'll lose MAx HP instead.
So if someone has 3,000 HP and they get hit for 1,000, 
the max HP for them with the status is 2,000. Then on and 
on it goes. Hack away at her, and have items ready to 
heal the slience. Like any other Esper Battle, 
if you have spare MP left (at least one full cartirdge), 
spam a Mist Knack when the Esper is low on HP. 
Heal if neccessary before the Mist Knack. If you win, another little 
box attached to license board. Nothing much left to say.

------------------------------------------------
Shumihaza Ended.........
------------------------------------------------
 
Wait until you use Shumihaza, she's like a Moon Goddess or something.

Here comes Earth Esper Hashmalim.

------------------------------------------------
04) Hashmalim
------------------------------------------------

He's probably the Esper who's like 
Mr. Tough Guy of their Esper Group. 
Anyways, he's very easy. You just need two spells
and some heavy duty attackers.

Esper Battle: Hashmalim
Location: Ridorana Cataract
Recommended Level: 52-56
Recommended Spells: Levitaga, Curaga

Start with Levitaga and if you have Dispel, use it 
if Hashmalim has any buffs. Now just hack away at Hashmalim's HP. 
He'll use Quaja eventually after low life, but most of his attacks 
will miss because they are earth type, 
which doesn't effect you when you have Levitaga activated. 
If you need to use Mist Knacks, go ahead.
Nothing Left to say except good luck with fighting him. 
He isn't too hard.

-----------------------------------------------------
Hashmalim Ended.......
-----------------------------------------------------

Pretty short for an Esper battle. Next one should take longer.

Next up on the Esper List: Famfrit.

-------------------------------------------------------
05) Famfrit 
-------------------------------------------------------
Here's Famfrit, Esper of Water. He is also easy, 
cause the magic word is Dispel.

Esper Battle: Famfrit
Esper's Helper(s): Dr. Cid
Location: Top of Ridorana Cataract
Recommended Level: 56-59

Have someone continuously cast Dispel to remove 
Famfrit's buffs. Why continue? 
Because Cid will keep recasting the buffs 
and by continuously Dispelling the buffs, Cid won't attack you or 
do anything else except buffing Famfrit again.
Have someone with a HP<60% Curaga Gambit. While one person
Dispels, the other two attack and one of the 
other two will heal when needed.
Famfrit will only attack with his Water Jug, 
from what I have seen him do. 
Make sure your remaining two people Attack Famfrit. 
Cid can't be damaged until you defeat Famfrit. 
Good Luck with defeating the two.

------------------------------------------------
Famfrit Ended..........
-----------------------------------------------

Another Short esper fight, this ends the storyline obtainable espers.



---------------------------------------------------------------
Optional Espers
---------------------------------------------------------------

First one on the list is Adramalech, the Electro Dragon.

---------------------------------------------------
06) Adramalech
---------------------------------------------------

Here we go, it's Adramalech, a flying dragon that 
appears to have gone to Zeus for Lightning Energy.(just Kidding)
Bring along a team of people with high MP, cause this dragon
isn't a normal thunder freak.

Esper Battle: Adramalech
Esper's Helpers: Corspe Enemies
Location: Zertinian Caverns(In the Middle)
Recommended Level: 30-40
Recommended Spells: Blizzaga, Curaga

Here's the biggest problem. See the zombies that appear?
They respawn, CONSTANLY. And another problem,
Adramalech flies, so the melee weapons are pretty much
useless. So to solve those problems, you spam Blizzaga.
Adramalech is weak against Ice type damage, 
and Blizzaga has a circle when you select the target
so guess what that means. The zombies get hit also if 
they are within the circle. When Adramalech gets mad,
he'll use Thundaja, his special lightning attack.
Other than that, he'll attack you and do some pretty 
decent damage. If that happens a lot, Curaga Time!
Just becareful, cause I nearly died in the 40s
even with Blizzaga.

--------------------------------------------
Adramalech Ended........................
--------------------------------------------

Coming next on the list is: Exdeath.

--------------------------------------------
07) Exdeath
--------------------------------------------

Nothing to say for this intro of Exdeath.

Esper Battle: Exdeath
LOcation: Morsphorian Highwaste(DOn't know the exact, 
because My sister found it by acident)
Recommended Level: 40-50
Recommended Spells: Curaga, Dispel


Dispel Exdeath's Buffs. 
He'll re cast Reflect everytime it disappears 
so don't dispel. Or, Dispel it to keep him distracted.
Exdeath can do some heavy duty damaging, so heal when neccessary.
Exdeath also has some powerful Magic, like Flare and Collapse.
Attack, attack, attack, attack and attack!
Have some powerful weapons to Attack!
That's basically all I can say, Attack!


----------------------------------------------------
Exdeath Ended............
----------------------------------------------------

So short, I wish it wasn't. 
There's no challenge in short battles.

Here comes Zeromus, a gravity freak.

----------------------------------------------------
08) Zeromus
----------------------------------------------------

Gravity and Darkness is your worst enemy. 
Never join the Dark side. Trust me.
They cheat.


Esper Battle: Zeromus
Esper's Helpers: Dark Lords
Location: Stillshrine of Miriam(Go to the back 
of the first room, 
use the teleporter, if you don't appear 
in front of a large door and you 
see a purple horse, use the teleporter 
again, open the door once warped)
Recommended Level: 40-50

Magic is Sealed. Sealed, Go it memorized?
It means you can't use Magic, how cheap is that?
So now you will have to depend on items.
Have plenty of X Potions and  Ethers.
Why have ethers when Magic is sealed?
Don't forget Mist Knacks. They are you best buddies
in this fight. If you have any dark absobing armor,
equip them. The dark lords respawn and cast a lot of Dark 
like Dark, Darkra and Darkga. Now, pummel Zeromus's HP.
He uses Graviga a lot, so to counter that
you heal a lot. Graviga cuts your HP in half.
And if your unlucky, two will kill you.
It happened with me. Spam Mist Knacks
and heal MP with Ethers. Hopefully, the
dark lords get hit by the final blast.

If you beat him, Congratulations.

--------------------------------------------------
Zeromus Ended...............
--------------------------------------------------

He's tough, but defeatable.

Let's move on to Zalhera.

---------------------------------------------------
09) Zalhera
---------------------------------------------------

Death, people, Death.

This dude is a death angel.

Esper Battle: Zalhera
Esper's Helpers: Zombies
Location: Barheim
Recommended Level: 35-40

Your timed, so act quickly.
Zalhera will OHKO one person
at a time, so revive the KOed person.
Zombies  appear, but I have never met them.
I've heard of it. 
Some of his attacks are interesting.
They have to do with your levels. 
Whack Zalhera and just use Phoenix Down when needed.
You should be able to defeat him.

If you beat him, you get the Esper version of Batman
(Just Kidding).

----------------------------------------------
Zalhera Ended..........
----------------------------------------------

I hate short fights, don't you?

Next up, Queklain, the fat bastard of doom.

-----------------------------------------------
10) Queklain
-----------------------------------------------

Status Effect Arena.

Make sure you cast your buffs before fighting him
(Hastega, Protega, ETC)



Esper Battle: Queklain
Esper's Helpers: Dark Colored Flans
Location: Garasymthe Waterway
Recommended Level: 35-45(or 50+ if neccessary)
Recommended Spells: Holy, Curaga, Esunaga

Big Trouble, the field is filled with slip status effect.
You'll be curing like mad. And if you don't cure, the slip status 
will kill you, unlike normal slip status that you do to enemies.
And, he loves using Status Effects.

When the flans appear, have one person spam Holy on them. 
It will take three Holys to kill all three 
flans if your level is high enough, While that happens, 
let one of your members attack Queklain and 
the last one, of course, uses Curaga.
Queklain can use Immoblization Spells and Disable Spells.
Hope that he will do more immoblizing the disabling. 
Immoblizing prevents you from moving, but you can remove it.
Disabling means you will have to last out enough time 
since you can't do any actions. And it is 
combined with the Slip status on the field to kill you
and not allow you to heal. So you will have to
depend on reserves. Good Luck. If you need to use Mist Knacks,
go ahead. I used Mist Knacks when Queklain had low 
HP to make sure that I would Kill him before bad stuff. Got 19 hits.




--------------------------------------------------
Queklain Ended............
--------------------------------------------------

Coming up next is Chaos.

-------------------------------------------------
11) Chaos
-------------------------------------------------

Just like his name says, Chaos is supremely Chaotic.

Esper Battle: Chaos
Esper's Helpers: Chaos Juda x4
Location: Necrohol of Nabudis(Look at Kouli's FAQ for more info)
Recommended Level: 45-55(I was level 70+)


The Attacking Command is sealed, just 
like with Zeromus and the 
Magic Sealed, so now you will 
need to Mist Knack a lot or
cast spells. Start with a Mist Knack and 
chain a lot, target Chaos.
The last elemental Blast should knock the Chaos Judas out.
That is what happened for me. And with a high enough chain,
Chaos's HP will be pummeled. Heal with Ethers and Repeat.


Good luck, once again.

-------------------------------------------------------
Chaos Ended........
-------------------------------------------------------

Here comes another crazy esper.

-----------------------------------------------------
12) Altima
-----------------------------------------------------

.......(silent)


Esper Battle: Altima
Location: Crystal Grande(Go look for Kouli's FAQ)
Recommended Level: 60-70

Altima is dangerous.

Here's her attacks:

A Holy Laser Attack: does a lot of damage
Holyja: Damages all members and inflicts reverse status
(healing damages and damage heals)
Field Change: Changes Field Status
(Fight Sealed, Magic Sealed, Slip, MP Slip, Magnetic Field, 
Skills Sealed or Items Sealed)
 
Biggest Problem? Altima can change the field 
status anytime.
Get White Masks from Balfonheim to absorb Holyja.
Dispel Her buffs,
If Magic is sealed, Mist Knack Time!
If Fight is Sealed, Darkga Time!
If Items are sealed, Attack and use Magic!
If Skills Sealed, do whatever you want.

Don't cast any type of HP healing Magic, same with items 
when you have reverse. Just Let Altima
attack you if you have reverse. Reverse runs out qwickly, 
so you can use Healing Magic and Items after that.


Good Luck again!

-------------------------------------------------
Altima Ended.......
-------------------------------------------------

If you thought that was hard, try the next esper.


----------------------------------------------
13) Zodiac
----------------------------------------------

The last esper. He's powerful. 
Good Luck, you'll need tons of it.

Esper Battle: Zodiac
Location: Henne Mines- Secret Area(Look 
for Kouli's FAQ on how to unlock area, 
In area, find the map, 
then find a round circular area. 
That's where Zodiac lives)
Recommended Level: 70-80

Zodiac's attacks:

Darkja: Dark Damage to all members on field, 
or instant death to some members. 
Randomly chosen.

Collaspe: A Beam that hits all members in
a certain range of space.

Regular Attack: Damages one character.

Buffing up: Randomly casts
Protect, Reflect, Shell, Attack Up or Magic Up.

Barrier: Completely protects self from Physical Attacks.

Magic Barrier: Magic Version of Barrier.

Full Barrier: Both Magic and Normal Barrier 
put together.


Dispel him. Now attack him. Have only two of your members
on the field with your third most powerful in reserve
(incase of Darkja). Once he gets low on HP
(about 3 inches left of the HP bar), use Mist Knacks.
If you are not fast enough, he'll cast B/ MB/ FB.
Then you have to wait until he uses Darkja, 
then have someone quickly 
dispel him while the other prepares Collaspe spell.
He will take a while. Even though this strategy for him 
doesn't say it with its' super shortness.

Tons of Luck is needed.

--------------------------------------------- 
Zodiac Ended.............
---------------------------------------------

This ends Optional Espers.

Next Part: Extra.

-----------------------------------------------
14)Extra
----------------------------------------------

Here's help if you need it.

-------------------------------------------
Recommended Equipment and Spells
-------------------------------------------

Note: use other FAQs to find the locations.

Weapons:

Ragnarok: 109 Attack
Excalibur: 128 Attack 
Death Bringer: 90 attack
Masamune: 93 Attack


Helms/ Hats/ Caps:

Black Mask: Abosrb Darkness
White Mask: Absorb Holy

Accessories:

Bubble Chains: Doubles Max HP

Spells:

Bubble(If you aren't using Bubble Chain)
Curaga
Araise
Collaspe
Flare
Esunaga
Darkga
Thundara
Levitaga
Protega
Hastega

That's it.

----------------------------------------------------
Recommended Equipment and Spells Ended.....
----------------------------------------------------

Last thing left: Credits.



-------------------------------------------------
Credits
-------------------------------------------------

Special Thanks to:

- Square Enix for making FFXII
- Gamefaqs for putting this in FFXII's FAQ Section
- The 150 Hours of playing FFXII that helped me learn.

-----------------------------------------------
Esper battle Guide Finished......
-----------------------------------------------