But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some challenging enemies that could give you a tricky time. Some of these bosses require more than just girl power to defeat, and you’ll actually need to have some kind of strategy for a few of these fights. So let’s take a look at the hardest bosses in FFX-2 and how to defeat them.
8. Humbaba
Humbaba deals high physical damage and also delays, making him a formidable foe that you shouldn’t underestimate. He also applies Mighty Guard at the beginning of the battle, and again after you drain around a third of his HP. To counter this you should Dispel his barriers and Samurai Fingersnap to remove his stat gains. Then you should apply Protect to defend against his physical moves and his Meteor finishing move. To make Humbaba as easy as possible, you could drain his MP to prevent Mighty Guard and Thundaga, leaving his physical attacks as his only form of damage.
7. Shuyin
The final boss of the game is only ranking at #7 on this list? Just goes to show how steep the difficulty curve is when it comes to the other entries. Shuyin cycles through various iterations of Tidus’ Overdrives from FFX. Terror of Zanarkand has a high chance of killing a party member due to it ignoring defense. Typically you’ll want to equip high damaging Dresspheres like Samurai and Dark Knight, as well as any accessory that increases Luck and maximum HP. You can cheese this fight completely by utilizing a fiend that breaks damage limit, and casting Ultima with a high Magic stat. One or two casts should be enough to take Shuyin out.
6. Dark Magus Sisters
On their own, they aren’t all that threatening. But as a threesome, these sisters can very easily decimate your party. Each sister takes up a specific role. And you’ll want to thin them out as quickly as possible to save any headaches. Mindy should be taken out first, as her HP is the lowest. She uses Passado which is gravity-based and reduces your HP to critical levels. Taking her out first also prevents the sisters from using their dreaded Delta Attack Overdrive. Cindy should be targeted next due to her healing capabilities, leaving you to finally be able to pick Sandy off with ease.
5. Concherer
First of all, Concherer has a move which deals 65,000 damage to one party member. He also has insanely high HP, Defense, and Strength, and comes equipped with Auto-Shell and Auto-Protect. His other attacks deal around 3,000 damage – and did I mention he can also drain MP and inflict Poison? It’s a lot to deal with. To combat Concherer, if you’re playing the original PS2 version you can use the Gunner + Catnip + Trigger Happy to take him out in a few turns. If you’re playing the International or HD version then this isn’t viable due to Catnip being nerfed. But you can still give it to a Thief and watch them deal two lots of 9,999 damage with each phase of attacks. Since Concherer can only kill one member at a time, you should be ready to revive at all times.
4. Angra Mainyu
The secret superboss of FFX-2 packs a huge punch, and brings along two friends in Zarich and Tawrich. You know, just to make your efforts to take him out that little bit more difficult. Angra uses Perdition’s Flame, which can devastate your party. His two sidekicks each focus on inflicting status effects, lowering your stats, and draining your MP. There are a few strategies to take down Angra Mainyu’s enormous HP. But the easiest by far is to first focus your attention on the two friends, and once it’s just you and the boss left, you should drain his MP. Once he gets below 200 MP he’ll resort to using Osmose to drain your MP, and once he depletes your MP he in turn will have no way of topping up his own. This leaves him repeatedly casting Osmose over and over, leaving you free to whittle down his HP until you’re victorious.
3. Chac
The name of Chac’s game is petrification. And her Stony Glare will turn you to stone even if you have petrification immunity. She’ll then follow up with a physical attack to shatter any petrified party member and permanently remove them from battle. Chac can also bust out her ultimate move Heaven’s Cataract at any opportunity, which deals huge damage to your party as well as shattering anyone who’s currently petrified. Chac is one of the few bosses who’s arguably easier to defeat once she’s oversouled, as she loses Heaven’s Cataract from her arsenal. In turn, though, she carries attacks that permanently ‘break’ any Remedies or Softs in your inventory. There are a number of ways to defeat Chac. In the original PS2 version, The Gunner/Catnip combo will rip her to shreds. In any other version of FFX-2, you can drain her MP, which in turn removes a number of attacks from her moveset. Or if you have deep pockets you can Bribe Chac for the measly sum of 1.7m Gil.
2. Paragon
When setting up your party for Paragon you’ll have to keep one eye on Trema. His battle will commence immediately after downing Paragon – with no healing or equipment changing in between. And Paragon has a number of attacks that will devastate your party’s HP and remove all buffs, including Auto-Life. If you get hit by Big Bang or Genesis then there’s a good chance you’re dead meat, unless you have high defense and HP. Paragon is also another boss that’s slightly easier to handle if it’s oversouled. The Gunner/Catnip combo will work here, as will Bribe (which requires 800,000 Gil to get Paragon to leave). You can also drain his MP, although he can still cast magic without it. An oversouled Paragon counters every MP draining attack with Osmose. So you can gang up on him by having 1 member drain his MP, and the other 2 attack. Since his counter attack takes priority over his other attacks you should be able to freely attack without any harm.
1. Trema
Trema will hit hard and fast, and has access to powerful magic attacks such as Ultima and Meteor. He also has very high evasion, making him nearly impossible to hit with physical attacks. Once you’ve healed up from the previous fight you’ll want to utilize Dresspheres with high HP – such as the Dark Knight. And you’re going to want to try and get your stats as high as possible to survive Trema’s attacks, as well as to protect against status effects such as Poison and Stop. As always, Gunner/Catnip will allow you to rip through his HP. But you may also apply the Catnip with a Gunner’s Target MP until you’ve drained Trema’s MP to 0. This will prevent him from using any magic attack other than Meteor. Although this can be nerfed by using Sentinel, which is also useful against his remaining physical attacks.
