Neo Bahamut (Record Keeper)

Neo Bahamut in a Nightmare-class boss in Final Fantasy Record Keeper. It is the boss of the Crushdown Record in the Nightmare Dungeons. To face it, the player must first defeat Odin, Brothers, Magus Sisters, and Ark

Neo Bahamut is based on the recurring Neo Bahamut summon, specifically its first incarnation in Final Fantasy VII with which it shares its appearance. However its behavior is original, as it was not until Record Keeper that Neo Bahamut was ever fought as an enemy.

AI script
Neo Bahamut takes double damage from Summon-type commands, and in its second phase will counter any physical or Black Magic damage with Megaflare. Bahamut's attacks are Tail and Dragon Fang, single-target physical blows, Gale, a party-hitting magic Wind attack, Lunge, a party-hitting physical attack, Flare, which deals heavy non-elemental magic damage to one target, and Megaflare and Gigaflare, which deal non-elemental magic damage to the entire party, Gigaflare naturally being the stronger ability. The danger in Neo Bahamut's fight comes from Nightmare Gigaflare, which deals a fixed 5555 damage to the entire party and grows stronger depending on variables, up to 9999 damage. When Neo Bahamut falls to 80% HP (205,707 HP), or after it ends its fifth turn, it will give itself permanent Reflect status and shift into its second phase.

Neo Bahamut will cycle the stage background through Fire, Ice, and Lightning-elemental stages. In each stage it has a different weakness and resistance; in the Fire stage is resists Fire and is weak to Ice, in the Ice stage it is resistance to Ice and weak to Fire, and in the Lightning stage is is resistance to Lightning and weak to Water. If Bahamut is struck with its resistance, it spawns an Energy Orb, up to three as the fight continues. Depending on how much damage the player deals Bahamut with its resistances for the stage the Orb spawned from, they will charge energy through three stages, reaching stage two at 4,000 damage and stage three at 10,000 or higher. The Energy Orbs cannot be targeted and will use Energy Shell every turn, dealing non-elemental magic damage to one target that grows stronger as they charge up more power.

Neo Bahamut will cycle through the three elemental backgrounds twice each, taking two turns in each. Upon exiting the Lightning stage the second time on its twelfth turn, or upon being reduced to 50% HP (128,567 HP), it will shift to its third phase. Neo Bahamut loses all elemental weaknesses and resistances, and any Energy Orbs spawned become vulnerable. If there are no Energy Orbs present Neo Bahamut immediately uses Nightmare Gigaflare, otherwise it prepares to absorb the Energy Orbs to use Nightmare Gigaflare on its fifth turn. If it succeeds in this, Nightmare Gigaflare deals a fixed 5555 damage plus 1111 damage for each stage of power the absorbed Energy Orbs had charged up to.

The player must use this time to KO the Energy Orbs, which are now vulnerable and stop attacking. The Energy Orbs have 41,296 HP and must be KO'd all at once using a Summon attack; if one is KO'd but there are others alive, Neo Bahamut will immediately absorb the remaining Energy Orbs and use Nightmare Gigaflare. If all the Energy Orbs are KO'd at once using a Summon, they will explode on Neo Bahamut, dealing 9999 damage times the stage of power they charged up to.

Regardless of if it is able to cast Nightmare Gigaflare or if there were any Energy Orbs spawned, Neo Bahamut will cycle through its normal attacks for the rest of the battle until it is KO'd.

Turns
Phase One:
 * Dragon Fang
 * Gale
 * Flare
 * Megaflare
 * Gigaflare

Phase Two:
 * 10% Tail, 15% chance each Lunge or Gale, 20% chance each Dragon Fang, Flare, or Megaflare
 * When phase ends, if there is at least one Energy Orb present, uses Gigaflare
 * If no Energy Orbs are present, uses Nightmare Gigaflare

Phase Three:
 * If no Energy Orbs are present, uses Nightmare Gigaflare
 * 7% chance each Lunge or Gale, 18% chance each Flare or Megaflare, 50% Gigaflare
 * Will not use Gigaflare if there is an Energy Orb present
 * Fifth turn: absorbs Energy Orbs present (if any) and uses Nightmare Gigaflare

Strategy
Characters who can use 5⭐ Summoning abilities receive Record Synergy in the fight. Summon abilities tend to have low charges, so the player should invest in multiple Summon abilities and equip characters with more than one. Fire, Ice, Water, and Lightning summons should be the summons in demand, the first two more than the others. All Summon abilities should be honed to at least Rank 3, preferably higher. The player should also bring at least one White Mage-type character for healing.

Characters with Soul Breaks that deal Summon damage are particularly useful, especially Burst Soul Breaks which help alleviate the need for high ability hones. Braska is particularly notable due to his Soul Breaks dealing dual Fire/Lightning damage, letting him cover two of the needed elements, though his Burst Soul Break's commands are Fire. Otherwise for Burst Soul Breaks, Reynn covers Ice, Rydia and Meia have access to Water, and Garnet has access to Lightning. Other Summoners are still useful, but will not be able to hit Bahamut's weaknesses and resistances.

One option is to ignore Neo Bahamut's Water weakness in his Lightning stage and purposefully strike him with Lightning summons to spawn and charge up Energy Orbs. This reduces the elemental coverage the player will need to just Fire, Ice, and Lightning. Appropriately, if the player has already completed the Valigarmanda Record to craft it as a summon, it is perfect for this fight. The player should seek to spawn three Energy Orbs and charge them up to level 3; when they are KO'd in the third phase they will each deal three hits of 9999 damage to Neo Bahamut. The fight then boils down to balancing striking Bahamut's weakness to damage him while still attacking his resistance to generate Energy Orbs.

Alternatively, if the player's party is sufficiently strong with multiple Summoners with their Soul Breaks, they can disregard the Energy Orbs mechanic and brute force their way to victory. This method requires a Bomb or Ifrit summon to accomplish safely. Once Neo Bahamut enters his second phase, summon Bomb/Ifrit against him to trigger the spawn of one Energy Orb, then resume attacking normally. As long as there is one Energy Orb present, Neo Bahamut will not cast Nightmare Gigaflare when beginning his third phase, and the player has five turns to finish him off before he uses it.

For their victory the player receives the Record Crystal needed to craft the Rank 6 Summon ability Neo Bahamut.