How do I defeat Orphan?

Question

I'm walking in with Lightning (COM), Vanille (RAV/SAB/MED) and Snow (RAV/SEN) and am simply getting pummeled, especially when Orphan comes out of stagger. How do I keep myself from grinding for hours to finish this game? Is it too late (or even necessary) at this point to backtrack to Gran Pulse for some character development?

Answer

First of all, the FAQ of IceQueenZer0 and Split Infinity from gamefaqs.com is quite helpful. I found most of my information there.

Concidering Orphans first form, this is to a large extend a matter of staying alive. Be prepared to always heal and debuff the party completely, since a weakened party can be wiped out by a single attack (so you should bring MED/MED/SEN or even MED/MED/MED). To bring down Orphan, I found poison very helpful. In fact, when I was fighting Orphan, it perished almost unoticed by me due to the poison while I was panicking to keep the party alive. Also, I found it almost impossible to stagger Orphan since its stagger bar was constantly resetting.

On the other hand, its second form was much easier. While it seems invulnerable in normal state, once staggered, it takes heavy damage. The key is to hex Orphan while building up stagger as fast as possible, and then hit hard. Rinse and repeat, and you are done.

With respect to your question about leveling on Gran Pulse, you can always leave the Narthex through the portal behind you which will send you to the portals in the Cradle. From there, you may move freely between Gran Pulse, Eden, or the Narthex. However, I didn't find it necessary to level up at this point of the game. (Your Crystarium should already be almost maxed out on the Characters core disciplines anyway.) Success in FF XIII is much more a question of the right strategy.

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