Girded for Freedom Pt.14
Boosted Characters: Ashe (EX+), Fran (EX+), Balthier
Mission Requirements: Score 410k, complete with no KOs, max 110 turns, max 20000 HP damage taken.
The CHAOS stage will be unlocked after you have completed the Lost Chapter in Normal mode. You can get 2 copies of Fran’s 35CP armor, along with her 15CP weapon, if you did not get them in her original event. If you did, you will get gil instead.
CHAOS Fight Overview
The main bosses for the battle are the Ankh Beasts. They are utterly fast and they hit pretty ferociously with their single target attacks. They also buff themselves often. This is the first CHAOS where we will start to fight bosses with enormous amounts of HP. As usual, the bosses are often designed around the mechanics of the boosted characters for the current event. Fran is good for the battle due to her ranged imperil and stacking debuffs. The leading man Balthier can steal their buffs for his own use. And Ashe can buff the party’s attack and have decent auras while providing clutch paralysis with her EX.
The CHAOs battle consists of 2 waves:
- Wave 1: Lich x1
- Wave 2: Ankh Beast x2
Although the Ankh Beasts don’t have hugely annoying gimmicks, they do hit pretty hard with their single target attacks. It is very doable to complete the CHAOS with a non-boosted team, as long as you set up your party well to counter them. Bear in mind that characters who rely on Last Stand to stay alive with 1 HP can’t count on it here, since their Onslaught attack deals HP damage twice.
Example team comps (with many more available in this event’s Call to Arms):
| Full Boosted Fran EX+3LB Balthier EX+3LB Ashe EX+3LB | Fran Boosted Fran EX+3LB WoL EX+3LB Leo EX+3LB | Non-boosted #1 Emperor EX+3LB Penelo EX+3LB Zack EX+3LB | Non-boosted #2 Zack EX+3LB Beatrix EX+3B Penelo EX+3LB | Non-boosted #3 Leo EX+3LB Vayne EX+3LB Aranea EX+3LB | |
| Turns for Wave 1 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 28 | 16 |
| Turns for Wave 2 | 80 | 84 | 83 | 98 | 63 |
| Friend | Agrias | Aranea | Aranea | Emperor | Aranea |
| Score | 732k | 746k | 715k | 538k | 999k |
| Summon | Ramuh | Ramuh | Ramuh | Ramuh | Ramuh |
| Video Link | Click Here | Click Here | Click Here | Click Here | Click Here |
| Creator | Fay Aneefas | DFFOO GL SO | DFFOO GL SO | DFFOO GL SO | mzpro2 |
Wave 1: Lich
The first wave is a fodder run with the boss having extremely slow speed. If you have Penelo, you can get a lot of turns before it even acts. Try to use minimum skills to clear the wave.
The Lich starts off using Death Cutter, removing unframed buffs and causing Doom (will break the character after 3 turns). It will follow that with Group Dark and then alternate between single target and group attacks. The Lich is pretty tanky for a sub-boss, trying to finish it fast without using too many skills is the key. It has low base SPD as well. Units with SPD Down debuff or SPD Up to your party will help you get more turns before it could really pose a threat. You don’t want to stretch this fight and give it a chance to hit you with Curse (see below).
Usual Action Order:
Death Cutter -> Group Dark -> Lifecut (if not broken)/Thrust of Darkness (if broken) -> Call of the Abyss -> Thrust of Darkness -> Death’s Ball (only used when above a certain amount of BRV).
Move set:
Lifecut: Melee 
attack
Dark: Magic 
attack
Group Dark: Group Magic attack
Curse: Magic attack; removes unframed debuffs; inflicts 3T 
Curse (halves MAX BRV and INT BRV)
Death Cutter: Melee attack; removes target’s unframed buffs; inflicts 3T Doom (causes a BRV Break upon expiration)
Thrust of Darkness: Melee attack with low turn rate
Death’s Ball: Melee attack + attack; inflicts 3T 
Poison (BRV damage every turn)
Darkness Falls: Raises ATK, SPD
Call of the Abyss: Grants 5T 
INT BRV Up and 5T 
HP Regen buffs; also Raises ATK, SPD, DEF
Death Cutter – Melee Dark BRV attack; removes target’s buffs without frames; inflicts Doom. Doom triggers a break after the 3 turns have lapsed.
Death’s Ball – Melee Dark BRV attack + HP attack; inflicts Poison; seems to only be used when the Lich is at lower HP ranges and above a certain BRV level.
Wave 2: Ankh Beast x2
The Ankh Beasts will start the wave using Rise to become Airborne (but one of them will use Monarch Disposition+ first).
Monarch Disposition+ increases that Ankh Beast’s ATK, DEF, MAX BRV and also grants it the Daunt+ buff (Raises party’s MAX BRV, ATK, SPD). The buff is pretty potent, and since it affects “the party”, it will strengthen both Ankh Beasts. It is best that you dispel it or apply debuffs to push it off.
The Ankh Beasts do not enrage when one of them dies, so focusing one down first is fine. Each will gain an invisible status increase (raising ATK, DEF, SPD, INT BRV and MAX BRV) at HP thresholds 80% (“Menacing this way…!”) and 50% (“Further menacing this way…!”), with the latter being more potent.
Overall, this is quite a straightforward CHAOS. However, you will face the threats of constant AOE breaks and if you are not careful, you will have to deal with Onslaughts out of nowhere. Having someone to provide AOE debuffs (e.g. Fran, Serah, Lilisette, etc.) or a dispeller (Balthier, Vanille, Faris) will help a lot since it will take Daunt+ out of the equation. Otherwise, you can cheese the entire fight with current meta teams – like Vayne, Leo and Aranea.
While in Airborne, watch for Raining Sky and Great Mazer. It will use Land to switch to Grounded. If it doesn’t get broken, there is a chance it will do Onslaught.
Move set:
[Airborne]
Aerora: Magic 
attack
Onslaught: Melee attack + Melee attack + Melee attack
Raining Sky: Group ranged attack
Great Mazer: Magic attack; inflicts unavoidable Break, regardless of evasion or shields
Noble Wing: Group Magic attack; low chance of inflicting 1T 
Paralyze
Land: Changes modes from airborne to grounded; cancels ATK, DEF, MAX BRV boost from Monarch’s Disposition
[Grounded]
Aerora: Magic attack
Onslaught: Melee attack + Melee attack + Melee attack
Rise: Changes modes from [Grounded] to [Airborne]; increases BRV
Monarch’s Disposition: Boosts own ATK, DEF, MAX BRV; also grants itself 5T Daunt+ (Raises party’s MAX BRV, ATK, SPD)
Grand Mash: Melee attack; inflicts 2T DEF Down, 2T SPD Down
Awful Stream: Recovers from Break; Magic attack + attack
Monoarch’s Disposition and Rise – Boss moves from Grounded to Airborne. Raises ATK, DEF, Max BRV. Dispel the Daunt+ buff if you can. Daunt+ provides Max BRV, ATK, SPD for the duo.
Raining Sky: Group ranged BRV attack. Try to avoid party BRV breaks when facing this or they will mess up your turn order.
Great Mazer: Magic BRV attack; grants SPD Up to self. Inflicts Break (guaranteed). Could use Onslaught on its next turn if it is not broken .
Awful Stream: Recovers from Break; magic BRV attack + HP attack. BRV Gain is stronger at the latter part of the stage so watch out for it.
Onslaught: HP attack, then melee BRV+HP. Minimize the BRV gain if possible, otherwise it will be an instant KO for the character (even those with the Last Stand ability). Make sure that the character has the ample HP to take the hit.
Grand Mash: Melee BRV attack; inflicts DEF Down, SPD Down. Often uses this before it uses Awful Stream on the next turn.
Noble Wing: Group magic BRV attack; low chance of inflicting Paralyze. The paralyze rate seems higher upon breaking target. Only start to use it in the later part of the stages.
