Mega Tonberry

Mega Tonberries are enemies in Final Fantasy X-2 found wandering the halls of Via Infinito. They cannot be encountered in random battles, and they are one of the strongest enemies in the game. A regular Tonberry is always fought alongside a Mega. Mega Tonberry is the only enemy to teach the Blue Bullet skill, Cry in the Night when Oversouled and low HP.

Battle
Mega Tonberry has high Agility and immense Attack Power and will kill the party in one hit unless they have over ~16,000 HP. If the party survives his physical attack he can still petrify the party and finish off that the Karma attack that also drains MP.

Oversouled Mega Tonberry is the only enemy in the game to give the Cry in the Night Blue Bullet skill, and it is notoriously difficult to learn. As Tonberry and Mega Tonberry always appear together, it is random which of them oversouls and if the player gets the wrong Tonberry they cannot run from the battle to try again.

Strategy
High health and Defense will be needed, so it is recommendable to use two Dark Knights together with the Valiant Lustre Garment Grid. One should give the two girls all the Defense and HP possible with any accessories available. The third girl should equip the Gunner dressphere with the ability Trigger Happy mastered for maximum combo time and the Highroad Winds Garment Grid for its First Strike auto-ability. She should equip the Cat Nip accessory and have HP Critical health upon entering the battle. Haste will be beneficial and will drastically increase the amount of hits dealt with the Trigger Happy salvo.

When the battle begins, the two Dark Knights should concentrate mainly on healing and buffing whereas the Gunner should do nothing but execute Trigger Happy. It should not take too long before the Mega Tonberry is dead. If the Gunner is killed reviving her is the first thing to do, as she is the only character capable of inflicting sufficient damage to kill the foe.

Another way of beating a Mega Tonberry is using a party of Warriors who have learned Sentinel. When the battle starts two girls should use Sentinel and Mega Tonberry will attack with Chef's Knife; if he hits a girl in Sentinel, it will hit deal 1 HP damage. The other girl can attack the regular Tonberry to dispose of him quickly. After the Sentinel runs out the player should use Sentinel again with two girls but not always use the same girls since Mega Tonberry picks his targets randomly. If he kills a girl not using Sentinel, a Phoenix Down can be used to revive.

Strategy for learning Cry in the Night
Mega Tonberry is the only one to have the Gun Mage's ultimate Blue Bullet skill Cry in the Night, which is tricky to learn, especially for all three girls.

One way is to use the Gunner equipped with Catnip accessory strategy by making sure the Gunner is in low health and has the First Strike ability. The other girls can be in Dark Knight job for better Defense and HP. When the battle starts the Gunner should use Trigger Happy three to five times. The player should wait for the girls to get their ATB up and switch to the Gun Mage dressphere and use the Gun Mages to bring the Mega Tonberry down to ~6500 HP for it to use Cry in the Night. Annihilator or Mortar are good attacks for them to use.

Scan can be used to check Mega Tonberry's HP.

Another strategy is to start with three Warriors with the Break HP Limit from the Higher Power Garment Grid with Crystal Gloves and Crystal Bangles equipped. When the battle begins the party should use a Stamina Tonic, a Megalixir and a Chocobo Wing, then Sentinel to protect against Mega Tonberry's Chef's Knife attack.

The party can either stall out until Mega Tonberry uses magic or keep using Sentinel and keep in sync with Mega Tonberry's attacks and attack right after he does. Once Mega Tonberry has around 12,000 HP remaining the player should wait for the girls' ATB to fill and spherechange to Gun Mage. Mega Tonberry should use Cry in the Night when he has ~6500 HP left. The party can survive due to their high HP.

If the party doesn't have access to Break HP Limit, and won't use the Catnip strategy, they can start the battle as Dark Knights wearing Crystal Gloves or Crystal Bangle and the Valiant Lustre Garment Grid. Dark Knight should be next to the Gun Mage on the Garment Grid and grid should be full of dresspheres. When the battle begins the party should use a Stamina Tonic and Megalixir and although the Stamina Tonic won't affect the Dark Knights, it will have an effect for the Gun Mages.

Dark Knights can withstand Mega Tonberry's Chef's Knife attacks if they are on a decent level. If the party uses a Twin Stars or Three Stars item the Dark Knight will not lose HP when using Darkness. To get a boost to the party's Defense the party can spherechange around the Garment Grid going through all the nodes to get the Magic Defense and Defense way up. After using Dark Knight's Darkness six to seven times the party should switch to Gun Mage, attack until Mega Tonberry has around 6500 HP remaining and wait for him to do Cry in the Night. The damage is mitigated by the defense boost gained by going round the Garment Grid.

Related Enemies

 * Tonberry

Final Fantasy X

 * Don Tonberry
 * Master Tonberry
 * Tonberry