=============================================================================== ___ ___ / / / / / / / (___ ___ ___ ( (___ ___ ___ (___ ___ ___ (_/_ | | | )| )| | | )| )| | )|___ \ ) / ) | | | / |__/|| | |__/|| / |__ |__/| __/ \_/ / / _ _ _ , - - / - - ,, , , ('|| || || || ' _ || (( ||--|| || =||= \\ \\/\\/\\ < \, =||= _-_ (( ||--|| || || || || || || /-|| || || \\ (( / || || || || || || || (( || || ||/ -___-\\, \\ \\, \\ \\ \\ \\ \/\\ \\, \\,/ , ' || _-_ /'\\ \\ \\ \\ -_-_ \\/\\/\\ _-_ \\/\\ =||= || \\ || || || || || || \\ || || || || \\ || || || ||/ || || || || || || || || || || ||/ || || || \\,/ \\,|| \\/\\ \\ ||-' \\ \\ \\ \\,/ \\ \\ \\, || |/ '` ' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== ## # # # ### # ### # ### ### ## ### ### ### ### # # # ### ### ## # # # # ## # # # ## # # # # ### # # # ## # # # # # # ### ### ## ### ### ### # # # # ### ### # # ## ### # # # =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0 Version ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 3.00 (2016-06-28): - My third guide that has been completely redone years after writing the original. Especially this one seems to have been written up in a hurry: I've completely overhauled textual errors and the flow of the guide. See the section 'Version 3 overhaul' for more info. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1 FAQ Info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version: 3.00 Last update: 2016-06-28. Game version: INT/PAL (relevant for US version as well) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2 Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a FAQ of Qoko, known as TheaN on Gamefaqs messageboards. My real name is Arno Middelkoop and I'm from the Netherlands. View the credits section on how to contact me for additional info, questions or corrections, but refrain from flaming or insulting, because it will not do anything good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3 Subject introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is there really ultimate equipment? A doublesided answer: for weapons, Celestial weapons severely overperform customized weapons as Celestials ignore Defense. So for weapons, you can claim that the Celestials are ultimate. There is still an option of customizing magic weapons as Celestials do not ignore Magic Defense. This guide does not focus on Celestials, but rather on customized equipment. As for armors, you have to customize it yourself, and that's the main focus of this guide. In a sense, there is no true ultimate armor: each combination has their pros and cons. I will give a note to all non-obsolete armor abilities in the game. Where this guide originally was focused around the BHPL argument, it is now more mainstream for new user to FFX. Perhaps the introduction of this guide requires an additional note: many of the ideas presented in this guide were created in a collaboration of users on the GameFAQs messageboards. LOOK BELOW FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF USERS WHO WERE ONCE OR NOW INVOLVED IN THE CREATION OF THE ULTIMATE EQUIPMENT. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4 Collaborators ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section has been added to honor the users who were early on the messageboard, even before my account was created and found out most of the ability combinations presented in this guide. The concept of this guide and a few of the ideas (mainly to use BHPL with Regen, in combination with Sensorie) are mine, but almost all of the non-BHPL ideas aren't originally mine. The people who did come up with most of that: - Theoden - Thundaka - jobber2022497 - Masamune3 - Split Infinity - ArquillWephronic - Can Eater - Plushie - Terence - JungleJim - Ceebs! - darktemplar20 The user who put the strategies on the message board until the submission of this guide: - pjtierney2003 Since the creation of this FAQ, thanks go to: - zzanmato - GangstaL - Sensorie ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.5 Version 3 overhaul ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Of course the guide has been completely redone textual. It sometimes amazes me how terrible my English used to be while in high school. That said, certain sections were also set up just messy and redone to improve readability. As for content, I've decided to go into a different direction altogether: 1) I've first explained all ultimate armor abilities. 2) I've split up abilities based on what core they are part of: base, (non-)BHPL or specific. 3) The section after that explains the remaining unique armor abilities and why they have no spot on the ultimate armors. 4) The seperate ultimate armor section extends upon earlier explanations given. 5) In general, there is a lot more leniency for Break HP Limit: I've removed all direct quotes from the BHPL arguments: I feel that the core information for new users is that BHPL is not required for anything, but can still makes certain encounters more trivial instead. 6) Equipment lists have been completely removed. It served no purpose whatsoever. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6 Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ is created by me: Arno Middelkoop, aka TheaN. PERSONAL USE ============ Feel free to modify for PERSONAL USE ONLY. This includes, and is pretty much limited to, saving only sections you need onto your computer, copying/pasting sections to print out for personal use. Once you are distributing it to sites, magazines or selling it for profit, even without claiming it's your work, you are breaking my Copyright. SITES ONLINE ============ You cannot copy this FAQ/Guide to your site without my permission: - do without permission, and you're plagiarizing. - do with permission, but change a character, and you're plagiarizing. - do both, and you're a real bad copy person. Email me to grant permission on your site. Although I'll keep an eye out for plagiarizing or changing the format. In most cases, I'll reject the offer, unless I have proof of a good format. Linking to any of the allowed three however, is allowed. GameFAQs and Neoseeker both have connections to other sites, and it would be unfair to not grant them that connection. I am not aware of any connections to supercheats, but if it a connection, once again, don't mail me. Until now, these sites have permission to post: www.gamefaqs.com (main host) www.neoseeker.com (second host) www.supercheats.com (third host) ILLEGAL POSTING =============== These sites got their permission revoked: www.dlh.net (and connections) www.cheatbook.de (and connections) Email me if this FAQ is on one of the above sites or another one. BUT DON'T MAIL ME IF THEY LINKED IT. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.0 Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Introduction 1.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FAQ Info 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Subject Introduction 1.3 Collaborators 1.4 Version 3 changes 1.5 Copyright 1.6 =============================================================================== Table of Contents 2.0 =============================================================================== Ultimate armor abilities 3.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Auto-Haste (base core) 3.1 Auto-Protect (base core) 3.2 Auto-Phoenix (non-BHPL) 3.3 Auto-Potion (non-BHPL) 3.4 Ribbon (Dark Aeons) 3.5 Defense +20% (Penance) 3.6 Break HP Limit (BHPL) 3.7 Auto-Regen (BHPL) 3.8 =============================================================================== Remaining unique armor abilities 4.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Auto-Shell 4.1 No Encounters 4.2 Master Thief 4.3 Magic Def +20% 4.4 Auto-Reflect 4.5 Break MP Limit 4.6 Elemental Eaters 4.7 Obsolete 4.8 =============================================================================== Ultimate armors 5.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Core (Haste/Protect/Phoenix/Potion) 5.1 Dark Aeons (Haste/Protect/Phoenix/Ribbon) 5.2 Penance: (Haste/Protect/Defense +20%/Potion) 5.3 BHPL (Haste/Protect/BHPL/Regen) 5.4 Why Haste/Protect/Ribbon/BHPL does not synergize 5.5 =============================================================================== Ultimate weapons 6.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestials (BDL/Triple Overdrive/varies) 6.1 Magical (BDL/Magic Booster/One MP Cost/Magic +20%) 6.2 Capture weapons 6.3 =============================================================================== Credits 7.0 =============================================================================== _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.0 Ultimate armor abilities ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section describes every armor ability used in an ultimate armor, ranked based on the core use of the ability, the more mainstream the ability use the higher the ability is ranked. *REMEMBER* This whole guide is based on the end of the game. SOS abilities, Proofs and Eaters can be very useful in the storyline and are recommended to use as you will most likely not have superior abilities available. NOTE: customize item sources are described with x for mass sources and o for one time sources. Drop counts consider Overkills; non Overkills are halved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 Auto-Haste (base core) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: applies Haste automatically: halves character's counter value in the CTB bar (in practice leads to double the turns). - Drop source: Dark Mindy. - Customized: 80x Chocobo Wing x ~60x: bribe Machea (Omega Ruins) for 360k. o 99x: unlock Cactuar King. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In theory, Haste halves your character's Counter value in the CTB bar. This is pretty technical: considering FFX has a turn-based battle system, this had to be kind of complex. In practice, it means the characters get about double the turns. A huge benefit of starting the battle with Haste is that this is applied immediately, rather than after the first turn a character gets after applying Haste. Auto-Haste has several significant pros compared to Haste: it voids any dispel effects and Slow completely. Getting revived after death will instantly apply the effect. Casting manual Haste costs quite some crucial time, and especially if it gets dispelled regularly this can be troublesome. All in all, Auto-Haste is unarguably the best armor ability ingame. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2 Auto-Protect (base core) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: applies Protect automatically: halves physical attack damage. - Drop source: Dark Bahamut. - Customized: 70x Light Curtain x 40x: normal drop from Fafnir. o 99x: unlock Juggernaut. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Halves any physical damage. In general, most physical attacks in FFX are more powerful than the magical attacks and they are the great majority of attacks done by endgame bosses. Auto-Protect is a base core ability because 255 Defence can be easily broken by powerful common attacks (Obliteration, Dark Aeons normal attacks, etc). You must half them to stay below 9999 damage if you don't use BHPL, or to keep yourself in decent shape with BHPL. Auto-Protect's pros compared to Protect are similar as with the Haste comparison: it voids any dispel effects and getting revived after death will instantly apply the effect. Casting manual Protect costs quite some crucial time, especially because the game has no Protectega. If it gets dispelled regularly you are in serious danger of being overwhelmed by damage: once you are busier reviving and healing rather than casting Protect, you will eventually reach the bottom of the downward spiral and wipe. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.3 Auto-Phoenix (non-BHPL) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: revive other party members automatically with Phoenix Down. - Drop source: Greater Sphere or Dark Cindy. - Customized: 20x Mega-Phoenix x ~40x: bribe Ghost (Sunken Cave) for 200k. o 99x: unlock Pteryx. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With a maxed out amount of Phoenix Downs this armor ability makes you invulnerable to at least 99 non-party hits regardless of damage if all three party members have Auto-Phoenix. If two party members die, the third will revive both with a single Phoenix Down, Mega-Phoenixes are not used. Auto-Phoenix is part of the core of non-BHPL armors specifically: the problem with items is that they do not heal for more than 9999. When your HP is max 9999 this is obviously not a problem. It is a problem when you have 99999 because Celestial strength is based on current:max HP. If a PD heals you for just 10% of your HP Celestials are severely weakened, whereas it is not the case if it's 50%. The same logic applies to Auto-Potion. There are some subtle reasons why throwing PDs automatically is so much better than using Quick Pockets and do it manually: obviously, it costs one turn at least for the character throwing the PDs. More subtle is the fact that the KOd characters get less delay till their next turn if a PD is thrown the moment they die, thus allowing you to get back up sooner. When playing without BHPL, you'd want to have Auto-Phoenix. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.4 Auto-Potion (non-BHPL) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: uses your lowest potion available after reaching SOS-status. - Drop source: Earth Eater, Land Worm and Sand Worm. - Customized: 4x Stamina Tablet x 2x: steal from Dark Ixion (among other rare steals). o 60x: unlock One-Eye. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This ability might seem a bit outside the box, but for a non-BHPL armor Auto-Potion is amazing. If you run with only X-Potions (or mix Trio of 9999) Auto-Potion will protect you at least 99x times from any attack between 1-9998 damage. If the damage is lower than 5000 you can handle the attack at hand more than once before Auto-Potion triggers, making it even stronger. The combination of Auto-Phoenix and Auto-Potion makes the party surprisingly versatile against a great variaty of attacks: single KO attacks are taken care of by Auto-Phoenix, anything slightly lower will be healed up by Auto-Potion. The same restrictions apply as with Auto-Phoenix: the items cannot heal more than 9999. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.5 Ribbon (Dark Aeons) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: guards against all ailments, except Curse and Breaks. - Drop source: Dark Aeons and Penance. - Customized: 99x Dark Matter x 2x: rare drop from Monster Arena creations. o 99x: unlock Ultima Buster. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arguably Ribbon is the third best armor ability besides Auto-Haste and Auto-Protect, if it wasn't for the problem it doesn't apply to as many encounters as one'd expect. It is not required for any Area Creation, Nemesis or Penance: not because these enemies do not use status ailments but because they can be defeated before they apply them or just removed manually. Only a few Dark Aeons can truly screw you over with a fatal combination of ailments, and after they're defeated, Ribbon loses its purpose. As most keep Dark Yojimbo on farm you should keep the Ribbon armors, but it does not have to be used by default. Do beware that if you do not use Ribbon by default that you run through the Calm Lands and Omega Ruins with Initiative or First Strike for obvious multi-eyed reasons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.6 Defense +20% (Penance) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: increases max defense by 20%. - Drop source: none relevant. - Customized: 4x Blessed Gem x 6x: normal drop from Cactuar King. x 1x: rare steal from Barbatos, Coeurlregina or One-Eye. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't think this ability requires much explanation, it just increases your base defense by 20%. The reason why this is so high in the list it that it allows you to decrease Obliteration and Immolation from Penance below 9999, therefore voiding the need for BHPL or revivals if the arms are kept in check. See the Penance ultimate armor for more info. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.7 Break HP Limit (BHPL) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: increases the max HP limit from 9999 to 99999. - Drop source: Dark Aeons, Nemesis and Omega Weapon. - Customized: 30x Wings to Discovery x 2x: normal drop from Shinryu. x 2x: bribe Malboro (Calm Lands) for 270k. o 30x: win the Remiem Race with 3 chests and no poles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FFX's BHPL is perhaps the most discussed armor ability in any FF ever. At first glance, BHPL seems mandatory to increase the HP limit because of the enormous boosts in attacks later endgame bosses do. However, if one dives deeper into the actual numbers and mechanics it becomes clear that no single encounter in the game >requires< BHPL. Originally I presented it in this guide and then thrashed BHPL as completely unnecessary. The above does not rightfully claim BHPL is useless, however. All endgame encounters can be tackled with BHPL and a great majority actually becomes more trivial because you don't have to wait for Auto-Phoenix and Auto-Potion animations or plan your fight completely. If you are planning to max out, you might as well get BHPL armors. Granted, there are a few encounters that are actually more difficult because of the additional HP (Dark Anima as a clear exampkle), these fights can still be tackled with non-BHPL armors instead. Mind that with BHPL, Auto-Phoenix and Auto-Potion are severely undervalued as they can heal only max 9999. NOTE: if you max out all stats your max HP is around 67000, however, there is no need to cap out Accuracy and Evasion if you cap out Luck, or the other way around. This gives you enough space to max HP at 99999. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.8 Auto-Regen (BHPL) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: automatically applies Regen: heals some upon turn. - Drop source: Dark Valefor. - Customized: 80x Healing Spring x 40x: normal drop from Kottos. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Auto-Regen is an armor ability that still gets mixed responses from regulars playing the game. Some BHPL users swear with Auto-Regen, others, usually players that prefer to not use BHPL at all find this a very lackluster ability. Both sides of the argument are right, to some extend. Regen is really great with BHPL, but is still considerably weak. The idea of using Auto-Regen with BHPL is that it greatly reduces the amount of times you have to manually heal, given that you need a Mix to get yourself back up to 99999HP. Regen's formula contains a fixed value, the ticks since the last turn and a Max HP factor. Thus, with Haste and a full health pool Regen actually heals significantly up till the point the enemy gets the turn again. Even if your HP drops with Regen active it still requires the enemy to get the difference between their damage done and Regen's healing to 99999 (which assumes you do not manually heal yourself) to get a character KO'd, and that in itself requires a few turns for most bosses. In short, Auto-Regen's synergy with BHPL allows you to continue on the offensive longer than any other armor ability that could be added with BHPL. On non-BHPL armors, Auto-Regen does not keep up with the incoming damage. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 Remaining unique armor abilities ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For completion sake this section describes all the remaining unique armor abilities and why they are no part of the ultimate armors. The last section explains abilities that are obsolete. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 Auto-Shell ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: automatically applies Shell: halves magical damage. - Drop source: Dark Sandy. - Customize: 70x Lunar Curtain x 4x: normal steal from Jumbo Flan or Juggernaut. o 99x: unlock Abaddon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somewhat overrated ability that in theory seems to be as strong as Auto-Protect but there is a major catch. Magical attacks in the endgame are quite rare; from what does exist only few comes close or break 9999 damage without Shell, hence making Shell mostly unused. For the fights where it does help, Shell can be cast manually if really required. To clarify, Auto-Shell is not bad, there are just better options. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.2 No Encounters ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: negates all random encounters, even if not in the battle party. - Drop source: Geosgaeno (weapon) - Customize: 30x Purifying Salt o 99x: unlock Fafnir. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great ability to stroll the battle areas without the constant shattering and trivial battles. You need just one; Geosgaeno actually drops a weapon with No Encounters which is a unique piece of equipment as it is originally an armor ability. Get that instead of customizing an armor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.3 Master Thief ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: guaranteeds a rare steal if the steal is succesful. - Drop source: none. - Customize: 30x Pendulum o 30x: win the Remiem Race with four chests and no poles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pretty crucial to get some rarer items later in the game. As steals are limited by consecutive chance (the second steal has a 50% chance, the third 25% etc) you don't really need more than one Master Thief armor; just let the same character keep stealing until you get the item, twice if you wish, then repeat the battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4 Magic Def +20% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: increases max magical defense by 20%. - Drop source: none relevant. - Customized: 4x Blessed Gem x 6x: normal drop from Cactuar King. x 1x: rare steal from Barbatos, Coeurlregina or One-Eye. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The idea of using Magic Defense +20% was to reduce some more magical damage from Nemesis' attacks, but this proved to be unnecessary altogether. If this were to be useful, Shell has to be cast manually as there is not space for both Auto-Shell and Magic Def +20%. Alas, it is not. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5 Auto-Reflect ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: automatically applies Reflect: reflect single target spells. - Drop source: Geosgaeno. - Customized: 40x Star Curtain o 99x: unlock Nega Elemental. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With a different working mechanism than Shell (reflecting instead of reducing), Reflect has the potential to be stronger than Shell. There is a major flaw though: only a very select few magical abilities can be reflected in the endgame. Usually this actually leads to the enemy healing (Dark Aeon elemental spells etc). If Reflect is useful in a certain battle, Reflect can be cast manually instead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.6 Break MP Limit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: increases the max MP limit from 999 to 9999. - Drop source: Ultima Buster. - Customized: 30x Three Stars o 60x: unlock Earth Eater. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BMPL at most increases your magical load tenfold, whereas One MP Cost does so up to 90x for the more powerful spells. BMPL is actually obsolete to One MP Cost altogether, but BMPL is mentioned as One MP Cost is a weapon ability. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.7 Elemental Eaters ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: absorbs elemental damage from the specific Eater equipped. - Drop source: Jumbo Flan (among other seperate drops). - Customized: 20x Elemental specific gems, sources vary. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elemental Eaters have always been very popular as they are very useful during the storyline, especially near the end (S. Omnis for example), however nearly all endgame abilities are non-magical or elemental neutral. Even if they were useful, you'd have to make specific armors for each Eater which is a pain compared to the end result. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.8 Obsolete ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a short list of all armor abilities that were not covered, but are either obsolete to other abilities or do not work in battle. - Elemental SOS-Nul/Ward/Proof: obsolete to Eaters. - Ailment Ward/Proof: obsolete to Ribbon*. - Auto-Med: obsolete to Ribbon. - SOS-'buff': obsolete to Auto-'buff'. - Defense +3%/5%/10%: obsolete to Defense +20%**. - Magic Def +3%/5%/10%: obsolete to Magic Def +20%**. - Pickpocket: obsolete to Master Thief. - HP/MP +5%/10%/20%/30%: obsolete due to stat limit. - HP/MP Stroll: non-encounter benefit. *: Curseproof is an exception here; regardless, Curse is not really an issue. **: these abilities stack, but you'd be sacrificing too much to get multiple. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.0 Ultimate armors ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Although the combination of four abilities has been described somewhat in the third section, this section specifically describes why a four-ability combination works. NOTE: If you fully want to customize, 4-slotted-armours can be bought from Wantz in the beginning of the Macalania Woods for 100k. If he is not there because you didn't talk to him on Mount Gagazet, Adamantoise and Varuna drop them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1 Core (Auto-Haste/Auto-Protect/Auto-Phoenix/Auto-Potion) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 'core' ultimate armor consists of the base core Auto-Haste and Auto-Protect combined with Auto-Phoenix and Auto-Potion. This non-BHPL armor combination is surprisingly versatile for just random battles in Omega Ruins and Inside Sin, the entire Monster Arena and even a couple of Dark Aeons. This armor lacks ailment protection, making it less applicable for more dangerous Dark Aeons and only barely fails to survive Penance's abilities: even with Cheer 5x, Immolation and Obliteration can do slightly more than 9999, meaning you'll be constantly reviving up till a point where either the Arms get a turn in or Judgement Day hits, both leading to a game over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2 Dark Aeons (Auto-Haste/Auto-Protect/Auto-Phoenix/Ribbon) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Dark Aeon ultimate armor takes the status ailment spam of the DAs into account and replaces Auto-Potion in the core armor with Ribbon. The consequences of this change is that status ailments are no issue, but you need to be up to the task to heal yourself occasionally with Healing Waters and to plan your battles carefully in order to not be cornered by a combination of DA abilities as you tackle them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.3 Penance (Auto-Haste/Auto-Protect/Defense +20%/Auto-Potion) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Penance non-BHPL armor is completely focused around surviving Obliteration and Immolation with 9999HP. In order to achieve this, Defense +20% is required. You can replace Auto-Phoenix with Defense +20%, as no character will actually die if you can kill the Arms in time and survive everything Penance throws at you. In fact, it greatly trivializes Penance which might not be the prefered way for everyone. If you want somewhat of a challenge, use the next. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.4 BHPL (Auto-Haste/Auto-Protect/Break HP Limit/Auto-Regen) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By default, a BHPL armor needs Break HP Limit and the base core abilities Auto-Haste and Auto-Protect. This leaves just a spot for one ability. This ability came to the surface by shear deduction: Auto-Phoenix and Auto-Potion are just inefficient as they can heal 9999 at best. Ribbon is great, but with a BHPL setup it just doesn't suffice; for more info on that, see the next section. This left Auto-Regen, which worked surprisingly well with maxed HP. Unless the party is contested by severe damage (much greater than 10k each enemy attack), nasty status ailments or Demi effects characters with this armor and max HP seem like living tanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.5 Why Auto-Haste/Auto-Protect/Ribbon/BHPL does not synergize ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On first sight, the combination looks like an 'ultimate' one. However, in practice this armor has no specific use. This armor has no automatic healing, which forces you at some point to Mix an Ultra Potion or better, which is not always available. Eventually you'll be more focused on healing rather than damage in endgame encounters which makes this armor inefficient. Also, Ribbon and BHPL simply do not synergize well: fights where lots of HP can make a difference status ailments aren't the biggest issue whilst the opposite is true as well. Besides the non-mandatory use of this armor there is a practical problem too: getting Ribbon and BHPL on one armor is quite a pain, compared to Auto-Phoenix or Auto-Regen for the respective counterparts. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.0 Ultimate weapons ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now a small weapons section. Besides the magic weapons, no other weapon can actually beat the Celestials. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1 Celestials ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestial weapons ignore Defense and are superior to anything by a landslide. Each Celestial has Break Damage Limit and Triple Overdrive which are arguably the best two weapon abilities available for physical based characters. Each Celestial has their own strenghts for third and fourth ability which is actually pretty interesting. Celestial strength is based on the HP ratio for Tidus, Wakka, Kimahri and Rikku, reverse HP ratio for Auron and MP ratio for Yuna and Lulu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.2 Magic weapons ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu and Yuna's Celestials are based on their max MP and Osmose abilities can greatly drain MP (Dark Anima for example). There is no actual need for seven characters to be focused around physical damage, so for Yuna and Lulu you can make customized weapons tailed towards using magic. Break Damage Limit: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: increase the damage limit from 9999 to 99999. - Drop source: Nemesis. - Customized: 60x Dark Matter x 2x: rare drop from Monster Arena creations. o 99x: unlock Ultima Buster ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I guess it makes sense to have BDL on any customized endgame weapon. I'd suggest to farm BDL drops and customize the other three abilities, so that you can keep your Dark Matters for Ribbon. Magic Booster: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: doubles spell cost to make the spells more powerful. - Drop source: Jumbo Flan and Dark Mindy. - Customized: 30x Turbo Ether o 60x: unlock Bomb King. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is absolutely no reason to not have this ability. In combination with One MP Cost (see below) every spell costs 2MP for double the damage. One MP Cost: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Effect: reduce the MP cost of every spell to 1. - Drop source: Greater Sphere, Dark Bahamut, Dark Mindy and Dark Anima. - Customized: 20x Three Stars o 60x: unlock Earth Eater. o 60x: win the Remiem Race with 5 chests and no poles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are intending to massfire Flares and Ultimas, which I guess you want with magic weapons, One MP Cost is mandatory. One MP Cost greatly surpasses BMPL on spell load as it also reduces the MP cost of a doublecasted spell. A doublecasted boosted spell costs 4MP but does an insane amount of damage. Magic +20%: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ability facts: - Usage: increase your magic by 20%. - Drop source: none. - Customized: 4x Supreme Gem o 60x: unlock Greater Sphere. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With the lack of anything else useful, lets boost the damage by 20%. For what it's worth, this works with Demi as well, which is great for capturing higher HP enemies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.3 Capture weapons ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At first, I had only Stone & Deathstrike here. However, Theoden convinced me that overkills can help you early on, by boosting Aeon's abilities & attributes (Ability Spheres have no attribute, so every Aeon can easily learn Scan (& Extract Ability, if you're planning on maxing them). These I consider the best abilities on a capture weapon: 1) First Strike. A must when capturing in Inside Sin or the Omega Ruins. 2) Initiative. Just to prevent the battle from taking longer. 3) Gillionaire. It adds up throughout your capturing streak. 4) Evade & Counter. No regular attacks will hit you. 5) Stone/Deathstrike. For Omega Ruins or Inside Sin. You won't Overkill most fiends in those areas with 9999, so shattering or killing them doesn't matter then actually. I'd go with the first three by default. If you want an instant-kill in your party, you'd probably want to drop Initiative (or Gillionaire to be on the safe side): First Strike can still save you from ambushing Malboros. E&C is a bit the odd one out and is mostly great capturing midway the game where the Gil dropped is quite insignificant, so Gillionaire can be replaced by E&C for quicker capturing. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.0 Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope this guide was and is useful to you. This was TheaN (and many others), I'll be seeing you around! - I thank Squaresoft for creating the game. - I thank SCEE for publishing it in Europe. - I thank Theoden for the Break HP Limit discussion. - This guide is a creation of the whole messageboard. See 1.4 for the list of users that helped me write this guide up. - pjtierney2003 for putting up a mini version on the MB. - I thank GameFAQs for posting. If there are any questions, improvements, additional info or info I forgot, get in this list my mailing me at: arnomiddelkoop_1@hotmail.com Yours truly, Arno "TheaN" Middelkoop Copyright 2005-2016 Arno Middelkoop