by

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

Xcaliblur’s video and text guide

Detailed text explanation on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/DissidiaFFOO/comments/nmurqc/divine_alexander_setting_up_for_the_infamous/

How the Cheese works

Divine Alexander has a counter-type attack called Sacred Crime that gets triggered the moment your entire party has 100% or more mbrv. This attack gravity shaves everyone to zero brave but also triggers any Counterattacks your party may have.

Which is where Gladio comes in. Gladio’s counter is unique at this point in GL because it batteries the entire party based on 20% HP damage dealt

So, what happens if Gladio’s counter batteries everyone to 100% mbrv? It will trigger Sacred Crime AGAIN, which will trigger Gladio’s Counter again, which batteries the party again, thereby creating an infinite loop of Sacred Crime-Gladio Counter.

The cheese does require some degree of setup though since Gladio’s counter is a very mediocre battery. Luckily there’s many options available, even if you don’t have Gladio yourself!

Setting up Gladio

Whether you use Gladio in main party or you’re setting Gladio up as friend support try to do the following to optimize him for the cheese

  1. Have his HG armor, Bulletproof Suit, equipped (thanks to GarudaBF for the reminder on this!). This is critical because the HG armor increases the battery from his counter by a good 30%.
  2. Remove ALL mbrv passives. This also includes buff boost speed up, Vigor passive in th equipment tab, all summon passives with the word “boost up” in them, and of course any 330mbrv artifact passive
  3. IMPORTANT Many people miss this but there are some summon passives that boost brave gains by 5%. This is HUGE. The cheese works by having Gladio battery himself to full after all. Both Diabolos and Odin boards have a passive called “Greater brave rejuvenate”. Having both equipped on Gladio increases his brave gained from battery by 10%. If you are still missing out on capping his brave this may be one of the reasons why

Done properly, your Gladio should be sitting around 10k-14k mbrv before the fight (with synergy boost) and about 29k-33k mbrv with buffs during the fight. Obviously the lower the better but the cheese can work if it’s anywhere within that range.

Gladio-as-friend-support setup

IMO this is actually the ideal way since this party configuration allows for 3 characters who can stack auras/buffs/debuffs. It’s achieved by having 2 aurabots and a third party member with a strong debuff (“debuffer” in this fight) that you can swap out.

Try to pick a Gladio friend that has the lowest mbrv possible.

Aurabots

Aurabots provide Gladio attack boost which fuels his initial battery in the counter, and valuable brave/hp damage up effects which boosts his counter damage.

Ideally you want to have them at as low mbrv as possible. This can be easily achieved by equipping them with a 1* weapon, which is defaulted if you unequip their current weapon. Then remove all “boost up” and mbrv passives to reduce their mbrv to ~10k

Some options for aurabots:

  1. Paladin Cecil just by using his LD, you get 50% brave damage up and 20% hp damage up making him a popular choice. His 3/3 EX normally gives a buff at start of attack and mbrv boost to the party so you really want to unequip his EX if you use him.
  2. Serah is a strong choice as well as her LD buff provides brave overflow gain by 20%, 30% brave damage up and 20% hp damage up
  3. Aerith is somewhat special because she can fit the role of either an aurabot or hp damage debuffer in this fight. If you play her as an aurabot her Seal Evil buff provides 60% def down, and she carries 100% attack up boost as well as brave overflows. She also can land seal evil debuff which provides a 10% hp damage up boost.
  4. Ignis I prefer to use him as a call ability here but if you’re short on aurabots you can also use him. His First Aid framed buff provides a 40% mbrv boost though so you need to remove the passive that provides this at quest start. Otherwise he provides great attack up, fire enchant/Imperil and a 10% hp damage up in Sagefire.
  5. Seven is a very unusual choice as an “aurabot” but if you lack options she may be viable. One use of her LD debuffs Alex with 50% def down AND she gets a self buff that increases party brave and hp damage done by 20%, a 20% brave overflow boost and a modest 45% boost to attack. The only issue is this is tied to her self buff so you cannot swap her out. For that reason I place her here under the aurabot section.

Debuffers

These are not true Debuffers in the traditional sense like Faris or Kefka. In this fight their role is to land a strong debuff such as Kurasame’s Hyoro before bowing out to the support Gladio you have. You should try to include one party member fitting this role so that you actually have someone you can swap out for Gladio.

Since they will be going out, you don’t need to modify any of their gears or stats, just leave them maxed out.

Also since Alex cannot be delayed, if you use a debuffer like Kurasame that needs one turn to set up Hyoro before being swapped out, you can use Onion Knight LD CA to bring this character back after he/she has taken a turn.

Some options for debuffer:

  1. Kurasame is a fine choice since he can inflict 5 stacks of Hyoro with his LD. Pair him with an onion knight LD call or main party onion knight to bring him back so that you can swap him out after his LD. His biggest drawback is he cannot equip a call ability.
  2. Dark Knight Cecil is a good choice also because his LD inflicts 20% hp damage up AND is instant turn, allowing you to immediately swap him out for Gladio. His biggest drawback is that you cannot use him and Pecil together so I would only consider him if you don’t have Pecil.
  3. Aerith can also fit this role, just have her use Seal Evil for her debuff and the swap her out. You lose her sexy 60% def down debuff though.
  4. Gabranth can inflict 10% hp damage up through his debuff as well which isn’t as sexy as the rest but is enough to help trigger the cheese in the right party combination.
  5. Aranea deserves special mention. Although she doesn’t have any HP damage up boost, her Vitalcrusher debuff increases brave damage by a whopping 50%. She also gets a free follow up turn immediately after so you can immediately swap her out for Gladio, thereby saving you from the need of onion knight.

Gladio in main party setup

I think this is not as ideal but is certainly an option if you lack enough characters above to form a reliable main party for the cheese.

In this setup the strategy is to swap out one of the other two members for a support character with a STRONG burst aura such as onion knight or paladin Cecil or Terra, use their BT attack, which will allow Gladio to Counter under the BT aura effect.

The setup is as follows

  1. Gladio with setup as mentioned in above section
  2. One aurabot character – see above
  3. One “debuffer” character- see above

The idea is to swap out the debuffer character to a support unit with strong BT aura, do the BT attack, and then Gladio will benefit from the BT aura when he counters.

Call abilities

This is also very important as the right calls can help boost Gladio counter damage.

  1. Ignis LD call can enchant and Imperil the fire element, allowing Gladio to hit for weakness damage. His Sagefire also increases hp damage taken by 10%.
  2. Jack LD call as always provides both a nice buff to brave damage done and a def down in one use.
  3. Onion knight doesn’t provide any boost to damage but may be needed if you need some turn manipulation to allow you some turns to setup before starting the Gladio cheese. Good if paired with Kurasame since you need Kurasame to take two turns total.
  4. Krile LD call is second best element enchant/Imperil after Ignis. Her framed debuff actually carries a 30% def down which is somewhat helpful at least and she provides a weakness damage up buff to Gladio to power his counter.
  5. Gabranth LD call is an option if you are in need of hp damage up boost. His LD call provides a 10% HP damage up but unfortunately nothing much else useful for the cheese
  6. Aranea call should work as well because it inflicts Vitalcrusher which boosts brv damage by 50%. However keep in mind that this doesn’t come with any sort of hp damage up boost so it is also dependant on your party composition. Thanks to user Sensitive_Bench7378 for this tip.

Summon

You’ll never use summon mode so the goal in choosing is purely the blessing. IMO the choice should be between Ifrit (30% attack up), Shiva (15% attack up and speed up, which increases the odds of you going first before Alex) or Leviathan to slow Alex down at the start.

Putting it all together

So after all the above all you need to do is to decide if you want to go either Gladio as a support unit, in which case do a party setup of 2 aurabots and 1 debuffer.

Or main party Gladio with 1 aurabot and 1 debuffer.

ScottOng’s Visual Cheese Explanation

PDF Guide

Download here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17C1oV0W2zuCkQJvSgs8gpb3sDpHsLTNJ/view?usp=sharing

C0ffie’s alternative method using Burst

Party Member 1: Strong Burst of Choice (usually a strong brv+hp damage icnreasing burst. Onion Knight, Lightning or Garland is ideal, Terra should work too)
Party Member 2: HP/Brv Dmg Up unit. Examples: Serah, Pecil, Aerith, Seven (preferably one of the HP /BRV dmg uppers with a call slot)
Party Member 3: Your own Gladio if you do have it, random unit to replace with friend Gladio if not

Calls needed:
You can completely f2p this without any LDCAs. If you are using a HP/Brv dmg up unit with less brv dmg boosting, Aranea base call works perfectly well. Or Jack LDCA if you have access to it. If you are already using a heavy brv dmg burst call, a HP damage up Call is also an option. Ramza Call works too to boost your damage

Party member 1 or 3 must use a healing call for the whole party to ensure HP condition is met. Options: Rem, Ignis, Rude, Firion, Deuce LDCA, Mog LDCA, Hope LDCA, Ceodore LDCA

Precautions: LOWER YOUR MAX BRV. Around 30K or just below should be ideal. Remove most things that involve MAX BRV boosting, as well as summon board Boost up passives.

Strategy:

Start the fight “as normal”. Aim to use your Burst from your Burst user to help you break the shields! Normally most burst units, even with stripped down gears, should be able to break two or three shields anyways. If you are using a friend gladio, your replacement unit can be a well geared unit to help you break shields too.

IMPORTANT: Check your turn order after the next boss’ turn! Make sure you fit in at least Party member 2 and 3 before the boss gets another action with Party member 3 going last.

Tank the recast attack after breaking all of the barriers. Use one or two of the previously mentioned healing calls to ensure your HP Damage condition is met. Set up your debuff or debuffs from your previously chosen call unit with your HP/Brv Dmg up unit.

Unit 3 can also use its call if it has one, then you swap to Gladio, press LD and 😴.

Bonus: ScottOng’s Challenge Quest overview and video guide

💪 Credits

This guide was created by:

Xcaliblur, well known contributor the cheese corner! Check out his youtube channel for other informative videos.

DFFOO GL SO (ScottOng11), who frequentrly contributes to the site and on reddit. If you like it, follow his youtube channel!

C0ffie#1565 (discord) added the alternative method using a Burst if you don’t have some of the specific characters from the traditional version!