Dissidia Final Fantasy Ultimecia Character Guide Version 3.0 Author - Zhang_He I have made this guide easily navigatable by using the Control+F feature. If you're searching for something in particular type the chapter into the control+F feature, press enter twice, and it'll jump right where you need it to! ----Updates!---- 4/15/09 – Uploaded to GameFAQ’s yay! 9/25/09 – Changes made for English version! 1/20/10 - Made some more minor changes to wording and strategies. Fixed a few grammar problems and typos! Overhaul on the VS. section for changes in the American version! Some terminology changed to American translation. Changed accessories in the “I recommend” section. Updated Ability List for the “I recommend” section. Table of Contents I. Legal Stuff and Contact Info II. About Zhang_He III. Ultimecia, The Sorceress from the Future IV. Ultimecia's Arsenal IVa) Brave Attacks IVb) HP Attacks IVc) EX Mode Breakdown V. General Tips on Playing with Ultimecia VI. Who Dares Face the Sorceress? 6W) Warrior of Light 6G) Garland 6F) Frioniel(Firion) 6E) The Emperor 6O) Onion Knight 6CD) Cloud of Darkness 6CH) Cecil Harvey 6GA) Golbeza(Golbez) 6B) Butz Klauser(Bartz Klauser) 6EX) ExDeath 6TB) Tina Branford (Terra Branford) 6KP) Cefca Palazzo (Kefka Palazzo) 6CS) Cloud Strife 6S) Sephiroth 6SL) Squall Leonheart 6U) Ultimecia 6Z) Zidane Tribal 6K) Kuja 6T) Tidus 6J) Jecht 6SH) Shantotto 6JG) Judge Gabranth 6C) Chaos VII. Breakdown of Stages - Where the Sorceress Shines 7a) Chaos Shrine (FF1) 7b) Pandemonium (FF2) 7c) World of Darkness (FF3) 7d) The Moon (FF4) 7e) Dimensional Fortress (FF5) 7f) Magicite Factory (FF6) 7g) Northern Crater (FF7) 7h) Ultimecia's Castle (FF8) 7i) Crystal World (FF9) 7j) Dream Zanarkand (FF10) 7k) Cosmos' Throne 7L) Chaos' Throne VIII. Abilities to Maximize Your Sorcerous Powers IX. Questions and Answers IX. Credit to Where it's Due and Thank You's <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | I. Legal Stuff and Contact Info | Ultima HP chain. Most Terra players like to give her an EX based build to accentuate her amazing EX mode, since she double casts every spell. When in EX Mode it’s best to stay far away from Terra out of the reach of both Meteor and Graviga as when coupled together they will eat your brave like a delcious cake. In EX-Mode as said before, Terra casts ALL spells (including HP attacks) twice, sometimes faster, sometimes just twice. Meltdown is ESPECIALLY deadly. Terra's Meltdown has 3 phases, a short range very fast phase, a mid range phase with heavy homing, and a long range, high speed ball with no homing but it bounces multiple times. Terra can cast this twice and choose between any of the three phases during EX-Mode, so for instance she'll case a Phase 3 Meltdown and then immediately cast a Phase 2 Meltdown to home in while you dodge the first. Be cautious, and keep your distance. Difficulty Level: 3.5 out of 5 ------------------------------ 6KP.) Cefka/Kefka Palazzo (Mad Mage) "How do I know if you're serious?" How appropriate that Kefka is a clown, because fighting against him is LAUGHABLE over how boring it is. Unlike Terra there are 3 HP attacks worth mentioning as a real threat, one is his basic air HP attack Trine, which summons 3 Triangular energies which have SLIGHT homing capabilities while these ARE easily dodgeable, if he catches you with them in the middle of an attack it is VERY hard to dodge out of. The other attack to mention is called Forsaken, in which Kefka remains stationary and creates a homing "portal" like thing which drops energy balls (looks more like static than anything) on your head, this one is a little trickier to dodge since the portal follows you around as long as kefka is stationary. The two best ways to counter this is to hit him before he even starts. The second is time an air dash towards him and Knight's Blade him out of it. The third is Overdrive which was modified for the NA version, when fully charged it will follow the enemy into the air and the blast radius also covers a large range both horizontal and vertical. None of his other attacks have the range or capabilities that yours do, and EVERY brave attack is blockable and reflectable. If your opponent uses Kefka you should pretty much have this in the bag. Be aware however, should Kefka get into EX-Mode his attacks are extremely deadly and barely blockable most times, in EX-Mode his attacks will change trajectories and have different ways of homing, attacking more than once, or delaying the attack. Keep in mind a Kefka has a lot of combos, especially in EX-Mode, if you get caught in a spell an experienced player will most likely break you or get close to it, in one spell combo. Keep an eye out for his Ultima, it hurts and has the ability to penetrate guard before it explodes. Difficulty Level: 2.5 out of 5 Code for practice - 20151231 (will have a picture of Seigfried) ------------------------------ 6CS.) Cloud Strife (Buster Basher) "No use trying to erase the past." Cloud is one of those characters Ultimecia either has extreme trouble with or is pathetically easy to kill, it's all dependant on the other player. Don't be fooled, Cloud is VERY dangerous up close, and players and CPU alike will be relentless in closing distance between the two of you. Always be ready for an Omnislash v.5 spammer both CPU and Humans do it, A LOT. Easy solution stay the hell away, at all costs! Knight's Blade and Axe are your best friends in fights against Cloud, forget the Arrows unless using the charged variation those seem to work best. Use Apocalypse when you see him dashing towards you, about 75% it will connect with a careless player and about 40% will connect with a CPU. The easiest way I've found to get his HP down is chase battles, using a quick Knight's Axe to execute the chase, and using HP attacks (against human players mix it up between brave and HP to keep them guessing.) Ultimecia's chase HP attack sends enemies FAR away, perfect time for arrows. If Cloud should get into Ex-Mode stay the hell away more so than you were before, there's no blocking during this time, keep him at bay by pressuring him with Apocalypse and Shockwave Pulsar. Cloud's attacks in general ARE slow to execute and are easy to see coming, guarding them is the best way to get back at him. Stay alert, stay cautious, and win. Difficulty Level: 3.5 out of 5 -------------------------------- 6S.) Sephiroth (Focused Blade) "Go back, to the time of your memory." The North American version of Dissidia has beefed up Sephiroth considerably. Most of his attacks come out faster, and he’s got a new aerial HP attack to boot! His Fervent Blow/Godspeed (the sword shockwave attack) is nigh instantaneous now. His HP attack, Hell’s Gate (the Aeris Stab) can now be stopped in mid air so don’t assume he has to hit the ground! His new HP attack, Heaven’s Light, is a diagonal upward slash, be sure to be wary if he hangs underneath you for a bit. However, even with all his new additions Sephiroth’s attacks remain blockable and his playstyle is fairly readable. He is fast and his EX attack Heartless Angel now allows him to move around while casting. Just stay on the defensive and keep to normal tactics and you’ll be just fine against “the legend”. On a side note, keep in mind with his considerable beef up in the NA version this opened up a lot of combos and a semi-infinite for Sephy that weren't there before so make sure if he slams you to the ground be pounding the block button to stop any endless combos. Difficulty Level: 3 out of 5 ------------------------------ 6SL.) Squall Leonheart (Relentless Revolver) "You do not have a place here." The sorceress' fated enemy, Squall plays a lot like Ultimecia only at short range. He IS the melee champ of BP rape however his HP attacks are either easy to avoid, or you can see coming a mile away. A great and easy strategy to beat him is simply stay above him, rain on him with arrows and axes (if you so choose). When you're done toying with him and his BP, comes the challenge, killing him. Even though you have the advantage over Squall in terms of range you two are in the same boat when it comes to HP attacks. I'd say if you're fighting an aerial Squall user, the tried and true Apocalypse would be most efficient, where as a more ground based player would be more easily dispatched with Shockwave Pulsar and Great Attractor(should he stay away long enough). Attacks to be wary of when against Squall, ALL of his ground based BP attacks, as his title implies they all combo well together and if up against a skilled player is easily stringed into a near endless combo. If you're aerial, be aware of his magic BP attacks as they do have slight homing and are fairly fast to come out. HP attacks to watch out for are Rough Divide (should you be on the air or ground this attack is extremely fast and closes distance like nobody's business) as well as Blasting Zone (the large pillar of light), Blasting Zone will knock you out of the air if you're mid range from Squall, good news is that it's very linear one side dodge and you're free to punish him as you see fit. A lot of Squall's attacks link to a chase so be prepared should you get caught in one of his combos! A good exploit against Squall is that his cooldown animations for his HP moves are very show-off poses, Perfect to hit him in the face with an axe/blade no? Difficulty Level: 3.5 out of 5 ------------------------------- 6U.) Ultimecia (Sorcerous Fusileer) "Either you or I is an imposter" The mirror match that takes AGES. As we all know by now, Ultimecia is great at prolonging fights so there's one against the other now. This battle plays out a lot like a thumb war, it flip flops between who's in control and who isn't. Be prepared for a long battle. On the bright side, you already know what she's got to throw at you! I'll be basing this character match up off of my experience with computer players (usually the Seifer friend card since that one has higher level of difficulty) as I've not found another skilled Ultimecia player. The CPU player tends not to use the quick Knight's Arrow so this gives you free range in the air. Remember to block the quick Knight's Axe, and dodge the charged one. I wont go into too much depth against yourself, just play like you would against someone like Tina or Kefka and you should be just fine. Difficulty Level: (based on CPU) 3 out of 5 Friend Code for Practice: 6764925796 (will have Seifer's picture) --------------------------------- 6Z.) Zidane Tribal (Aerial Ace) "I wonder if you can dance with me?" Imagine if Onion Knight grew up into some kind of preteen form, sacrificed magic for thief skills and multiplied his annoyance level to Ultimecia by 40 and you have Zidane. Probably one of your harder fights out of everyone, be very careful when in enclosed spaces or near walls with Zidane, most of his attacks chain to HP attacks. Those HP attacks are also impossible to dodge when they've been chained from brave attacks. To be more concise, stay the hell away from Zidane, ESPECIALLY in the air. I know as Ultimecia you'll be in the air most of the battle, be prepared to guard whenever he's near you, a staggered Zidane is the best kind. Zidane has few projectile attacks all of which are guardable as well as reflectable. Knight's Axe should be your attack of choice besides Knight's Blade when he's staggered. Again, and I can't tell you this enough, when fighting Zidane stay AWAY from the walls! Zidane's attacks have a good knockback if you're hit against a wall a lot of his chained HP attacks will hit you as Ultimecia is peeling herself off the wall, it's cheap and very abusable for Zidane players so don't let them do it to you! In short, stay away from him, stay away from walls, and guard OFTEN. Difficulty Level: 5 out of 5 JPN Friend Code for Practice: A3NASX6UXT7 (will have Steiner's picture) Sorry no NA friend code just yet. ------------------------------ 6K.) Kuja (Graceful Glider) "There are manners even in battle." Kuja is indeed a range free magic user, however, not in the sense that Ultimecia is. Only a select few of his attacks will hit at the range that almost all of Ultimecia's attacks do. Most notably of these two are 2 Brave attacks, Holy Ring and Remote Flare, and one HP attack, Ultima. We'll get to these later. Kuja could be possibly one of the most dangerous characters to Ultimecia from afar. Kuja is deadly at melee, mid and long range, his attacks come out very quickly and with great accuracy (most have homing capabilities). Many Kuja players like using Snatch Shots (two homing fireballs which pull you into him) and then following up with either a holy ring or flare spheres. The fireballs move fairly quickly so guarding them is difficult but dodging them is not however. A good strategy against Kuja is to stay a fair distance directly above or below him many of his attacks don’t reach at that angle, but yours do! Knight's Arrow, and Axe again are going to be great for this battle. About those "range free" attacks, let's start with the basic and easiest to get rid of, Holy Ring, Kuja will fire 3 rings at you that make a very distinct sound, they move at a steady pace until they get to you, just guard and reflect them back very easy, due to their speed. Next is the Remote Flare in which Kuja will spawn about 5-7 flares around you which have a slight draw in effect and will explode, these cannot be blocked so just jump or air dash out of them. The last is Ultima, the range free HP attack, Kuja players like to use this when you're in the middle of an attack. He'll summon an orb above you and drop many magic bullets on you and then the final one will do the HP damage, if this attack slams you into the ground it's possible to chain into ANOTHER Ultima where you can't do anything about it. So what’s the strategy? Dash towards him when he’s casting it and use a quick blade or shockwave to knock him out of it, Kuja can move fairly quickly while casting and during Ultima, some players like to sit inside the spell as a defense, if they do this then get back and assail with arrows while they enjoy the cooldown animation. The biggest disadvantage you have against Kuja is that he's VERY fast for a mage character and will DECIMATE you if you aren't on your toes at all times! Difficulty Level: 4.5 out of 5 Friend Code for Practice: 3784227940 (Will have Vivi's face) ------------------------------- 6T.) Tidus (Spry Striker) "Your mouth will get you in trouble." If Squall and Zidane had a strange lovechild, you'd get Tidus. 50% speed, 50% HP chain attacks, 100% annoying for you. Tidus is a relentless attacker, his attacks hit fast and hard. You can block most of his attacks and dodge most of the others, but he has almost zero cooldown time meaning he just keeps coming. These battles will be HARD. But where there's a will there's always a way. The strategy against Tidus will be very much like the one against Zidane, guard and guard frequently! A staggered Tidus is vulnerable to all kinds of punishment. Just about every attack Tidus does either leads into a chase sequence or chains into an HP attack. More than likely you'll be broken several times in this fight, and if you play well so will he. Battles against Tidus are NOT ones that you want to drag on, so if you get into a chase sequence (or initiate one with a quick Knight's Axe) try getting him away from you with the chase sequence's HP attack, then hail him with arrows and more axes, Knight's Blade would be best used sparingly in this fight, as the range is lacking and Tidus can initiate an attack from out of it's range and still hit you. A fairly good strategy is to flip flop between being on the ground and in the air. If you're fighting in the air, wait for him to attack and just let yourself drop and use a quick Apocalypse (it's easier said than done so be sure to practice). If on the ground jump over one of his brave or HP attacks and punish him with arrows or a quick Shockwave Pulsar (this one is little bit easier to execute than the previous). To sum up a Tidus battle, guard often, dodge often, and be one tricky little sorceress. Difficulty Level: 5 out of 5 Friend Code for practice against: 812417748 (will have Wakka's picture) --------------------------------- 6J.) Jecht (Brutal Blitzer) "Would you like to escape from infinity?" 100% Man vs. 100% Woman. Suprisingly, Jecht is MUCH easier than his son! Jecht has easily the shortest attack range in the game, however his combos are extremely deadly should they connect with you, every single attack of his CAN chain to an HP attack, not just that, but he can charge his BRV attacks to make them unblockable! Jecht sounds hard on paper but in reality isn’t that hard for Ultimecia, his lack of range is his downfall. His Jecht Block can still block every BRV attack except a charged axe or blade. Keep your distance, Jecht mainers will likely try to get and stay in your face, easily remedied with an uncharged blade attack. His HP attacks by themselves aren’t too worrisome aside from Jecht Blade which just has fairly good tracking and deceptive range. Jecht isn’t hard but has the potential to be if you don’t pay attention. Difficulty Level: 2.5 out of 5 Friend Code for practice: 1298228499 (Will have Auron’s picture) --------------------------------- 6SH.) Shantotto (Chainspeller) "I, am more powerful, than you." The biggest difficulty with the Taru Taru Sorceress is her small size, arrows will hit her less unless she's standing still, charged up Knight's Blade only half of the blades hit. The main problem with this battle is her in general, the best strategy against a Shantotto user is to keep her either in or around break state the entire battle, fairly simple, be wary of her Aero HP attack as it does draw you in and has a fairly long range. Her BP game however is a joke in itself, don't expect to be near break mode in this battle unless you're letting shantotto get too close, her attacks are blockable and interruptable. Her bio (green cloud) attack does stick to you for some time and would be best to be blocked or just send some bladess through the cloud to dissipate it. Should Shantotto get over 3000 brave points you'll have to start fighting a lot harder, her HP attacks get bigger at 3000 and then bigger again at 6000 brave points be sure not to let her have her taru taru way with you, be relentless, there's only room for one sorceress in this game! Keep in mind her HP attacks have GIGANTIC cooldowns should they miss, a charged Axe to the face is always the best policy against slow cooldown times! Difficulty Level: 3 out of 5 -------------------------------- 6JG.) Judge Gabranth (EXecutioner) "Have you lost something in the past?" To put this simply, out of his EX mode, the good judge is garbage. Slow, nothing to really hurt you with so have fun kicking his armored butt across the stage. He'll try to keep you far enough away so he can charge his EX gauge, good luck to him with that. Non stop arrows and charged axes will keep him on the ropes and make the player regret choosing him. Should for some reason, Gabranth get into EX-Mode you’ll have a lot more trouble pushing him around, his HP attacks are deadly and some have suction to them. He’s a relentless BRV attacker and is great in the air and on the ground. Keep your distance and you should be fine. Many players choose to give Gabranth a EX build so he can stay in EX Mode longer or activate it faster. Do your best to keep him away from EX Cores. Difficulty Level: 3 out of 5 -------------------------------- 6C.) Chaos (God of Discord) "You, are another victim of time." The big man on campus, right at the get go Ultimecia is at a disadvantage small stage, with a large guy who's attacks are largely unblockable. This battle is the hardest out of any other character. And to be honest I've only beaten him using the CPU exploit of Great Attractor. As I stated earlier in the FAQ the CPU opponents do not recognize the Great Attractor attack one the orb has been formed, this will allow you to stop his attacks and simply just destroy him that way. Another good trick to beating Chaos is equipping (if you have it) the accessory which increases your base Brave Points by 2000%, yes 3 zeroes (be careful with these they break after the battle is over). All conventional methods of dispatching enemies will be too slow to hit Chaos. Chaos is fast and cheap to say the least, his summons add even more difficulty to the fight. Most of Chaos' attacks can be guarded however, only few of those attacks actually cause him to stagger. If you get him staggered throw a charged axe in his face, and throw some arrows, get as much in control as you can. This battle is the toughest yet, and Ultimecia has it probably the hardest. The stage, the enemy, and the summons, are all gunning against her. When you aren't setting charged arrows or throwing axes you should be guarding or keeping away from him. Chaos' HP attacks may seem unavoidable but all of them require careful timing of dodges since his HP attacks usually hit more than once. The funny part though is that his "Limit Break" attack where he grows huge is actually very simple to dodge, the swords are slow, and the final explosion shows the area of effect and gives you time to move before it explodes! Be very careful and kill him as fast as possible. If all else fails be cheap and use the Great Attractor trick! :) Difficulty Level: 10 out of 5 ------------------------------------ <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | VII. Breakdown of the Stages - Where the Sorceress Shines |