These guides are only released at least one day after the event has launched, because they are based on first-hand experience from testing and beating the fight with different team comps and strategies. And that takes a good amount of time!
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Page Contents
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Fight Overview
Mission Requirements:
Score: 890k | Clear without any KOs | Clear within 90 turns | Take 20000 or less HP damage
Featured Characters: Ultimecia, Palom, Papalymo, Penelo, Cyan, Thancred
Many team ideas with and without boosted characters are available in this event’s Call to Arms!
To choose the best Call Assists for your team, use the Tonberry Troupe’s Call Hub!
Move List
Wave 1: Heretic Shift Frame Type-BW x1, Heretic Death Machine x2
Base stats (courtesy of DissidiaDB):
Max HP: 9,000,000 | INT BRV: 4500 | MAX BRV: 50000 | ATK: 19000 | DEF: 25000 | SPD: 35 | Chase value: 40
| Charged Shot only Airborne |    attack |
| Wide-Range Shot only Airborne | Recovers from Break;   + attack |
| Rail Cannon only Airborne | Recovers from Break; + attack |
| Rapid Maneuver only Airborne | Recovers from Break; attack + attack |
| Land After going Airborne, will Land after your team takes 5 actions | Becomes [Grounded] (vulnerable to Magic damage); Summons Heretic Death Machines If 4 or more debuffs: Cleanses own team’s debuffs (even framed) |
| Lunge only Grounded |  attack |
| Sonic Edge only Grounded | attack; increases BRV if inflicts Break |
| Dash Slash only Grounded | attack; grants  5T ATK Up, 5T DEF Up, 5T MAX BRV Up, 5T SPD Up to allies |
| Assault Combo only Grounded | Recovers from Break; attack; grants party BRV |
| Rise Used when your team has taken 8 actions after the Death Machines die | Increases BRV; changes mode to [Airborne] (gains immunity to Delays, higher defense, BRV regen); If 4 or more debuffs: Cleanses own team’s debuffs (even framed) |
| Oil Injection! Used at 89%, 69% and 29% HP | Grants party a huge amout of BRV (up to 65k); Delays Heretic Death Machines 3 turns; If Death Machines are not present, will be used immediately when they appear. |
| 💀 Emitting jamming signal! Used when Grounded at 79%, 49% and 29% HP | Inflicts  10T Venom, 10T Oil Poisoning (10% HP damage every turn),  10T HP Damage Up on all targets;guaranteed hit; second use (49%HP): also dispels 3 buffs from each target (even framed) If 4 or more debuffs: also cleanses own team’s debuffs (even framed) |
Stat increases: Like all Chaos/Lufenia bosses, at 79% and 49% HP their base stats will get stronger.
Enrage: N/A. When the boss dies, all Heretic Death Machines die as well.
1% HP: 90,000
Boss Strategy
This fight is all about dealing a lot of group damage, really fast. First because of the Orb counters, which cannot be increased. But also because the boss will summon a new batch of Death Machines (with 600.000 HP each) every time it lands on the ground. You cannot ignore them, because they have their own Lufenia orbs and will kill you if not killed in time; and you cannot stop damaging the main boss to deal with them, or THAT orb will blow up instead. Bringing characters with heavy group damage is strongly recommended.
The boss will periodically switch stances between [Grounded] and [Airborne]. These changes are dictated by how many actions your team takes (enemy actions are not counted). The pattern goes like this:
Boss is [Airborne]:
Immune to Delays, has BRV Regen and higher DEF.
Has dangerous BRV+HP attacks.
Boss stays in the air until your team takes 5 actions, then:
Boss lands and becomes [Grounded]:
Can be delayed again, is vulnerable to Magic damage.
2 Death Machines are summoned (or living ones are healed to full HP).
Has no BRV+HP attacks, but is able to use Oil Injection and Jamming Signal.
When both Death Machines are killed:
After your team takes 8 actions, the boss goes [Airborne] again and restarts the cycle.
Every time the boss lands or goes airborne it will check how many debuffs it has; if it is 4 or more, it will cleanse all Debuffs (even framed) from itself and the Death Machines. If you plan on bringing characters who rely heavily on debuffs, consider making a team that inflicts no more than 3 debuffs total. That way, you will not need to worry about the frequent cleanses.
The killer move from this boss is the Jamming Signal, which happens exactly 3 times over the fight (79%, 49% and 29% HP). If the boss is flying when that threshold is hit, it will happen when it lands. This attack inflicts 3 strong framed debuffs on your team, and they last for 10 turns. Having 4+ framed buffs can only protect you from the first and third instances; the second use (at 49%) will dispel 3 of your buffs before the attack, making those debuffs unavoidable. Bringing a Debuff Cleanser is your best defense against this. Keep these HP thresholds in mind during the fight, since being hit by the Jamming Signal can remove vital buffs in the middle of a summon or burst phase, or leave you open for a deadly attack.
The other signature move is Oil Injection, which delays all Death Machines but gives all enemies a huge BRV gain (40k-60k) which needs to be shaved quickly. This fight heavily favors bringing someone with group BRV shaving or instant breaks/gravity attacks to deal with this. While the main boss resists Ranged damage, the Death Machines do not; so some ranged characters with group BRV+HP attacks, like Balthier, can be made to work easily even if you don’t bring party enchant/imperil.
Orb details
Lufenia Orb (if it reaches 0 = game over)
1st: Orb count: 15, appears at 79% HP, disappears at 49% HP
2nd: Orb count: 10, appears when [Grounded] at 29% HP, never disappears
Countdown: -1 when player acts, -2 when that boss acts.
Increase: by 1 if target’s BRV is under 20000 when turn ends.
These orbs are pure damage races. Each Orb phase on the main boss lasts for a 30% chunk of its HP, and in practice you can’t ever increase their counters, only slow down the decrease by keeping the enemy BRV low. You need to deal 2.700.000 HP damage to the boss before the counter reaches 0, or it’s a game over. The Heretic Death Machines summoned by the main boss also have their own orbs, which start at 18 and cannot be increased or slowed down by any means. Each of them have 600.000 HP, and you can expect to face 3 pairs of Heretic Death Machines through the fight. Characters with strong area attacks (full or splash damage, not split) are the best way to get rid of them while not slowing down the pace at which you are killing the main boss.
The second Orb only appears when the boss is on the Ground. You can use this to your advantage by trying to hit the 29% HP threshold right after the boss has taken flight, so you have a few more turns to deal damage before the counter appears.
The Cheese Corner
- Not really shocking: Of course the good old Lightning+Amidatelion pair can cheese this fight without any boosted units, especially with the addition of Balthier to the mix! Check out the description on Xcaliblur’s video for a detailed overview of the strategy.
- Your HP damage? No, OUR HP damage: Who needs debuff cleansing? Why worry about that pesky HP poison ruining your HP Damage Taken mission objective? The poison can’t deal a lot of HP damage if Vivi hurts you enough first! Xcaliblur’s video proves that either of the GL first LDs are awesome at cheesing everything. Detailed strategy in the description!
DISCLAIMER:
Challenge quests are just a small bonus if you have already geared up the characters it asks for. If you haven’t, it is NOT worth pulling for a new character or spending ingots if you only intend to use them here. You can easily clear it with any team to get 400 gems and 3 tickets. The extra rewards for a Perfect complete with boosted characters are a measly 100 gems and 2% of a BT weapon. Not worth the hassle!
For a good idea of what team comps are able to complete this, and which characters can help without having all their gear, check the Challenge Quest tab in the Call to Arms.
💪 Credits
Big thanks to the folks in our Dissidia FFOO Telegram Group, where @xcaliblur, @dreram and ScottOng11 KN helped test enemy behavior to speed up the creation of this guide!