Ereshkigal (Lightning Returns)

Ereshkigal is one of the two superbosses in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, fought in bonus day in the Ultimate Lair which is unlocked after Lightning completes enough quests to unlock the dungeon. Ereshkigal is Bhunivelze's most powerful creation, hinted to be ready to replace humanity at any time when they no longer meet the deity's standards. Lightning faces the creature to prove humanity's worth to God.

Battle
Ereshkigal is slow, but has strong defences at first that will mitigate basically any damage. It will buff itself at certain intervals. Ereshkigal can use Grand Impulse, a physical attack that affects the entire floor, and Judgment, that shoots bolts at Lightning.

Ereshkigal uses a countdown by uttering phrases "Meteor unleashed", "Words of power intoned...", "Gathering energy...", "Invoking Meteor..." and lastly "Meteor". Each hit of Meteor can deal high damage and ignores resistances. It can deal 3,000 damage unless it has Defaith. Meteor increases in power the more Ereshkigal uses it, upgrading it to Mega Meteor, Giga Meteor, and finally Tera Meteor, which summons more Meteors and can land several strikes that can kill Lightning instantly.

Eventually, Ereshkigal can use Resonance, an attack that deals multiple strikes at once which increase in power with each successive hit. Even guarding this attack can do high damage, but it is not lethal if one heals.

After half of its HP is blown, Ereshkigal will use Awakening, forsaking its barriers. It becomes increasingly more aggressive and can use the powerful Super Nova that almost guarantees a kill if it is not under Defaith.

Strategy
The player should stock on some Ethers, Enaero Potions, Bravery or Hero's Potions. They should use Equilibrium+, L'automne and another garb preferably equipped with Heavy Slash. Heavy Slash should be equipped in two Schemata, except L'automne, with equipment to steal the buffs of Ereshkigal to ensure he remains depowered. Equilibrium+ should be equipped with Light Slash and Aero. Overall players should bring Deprotect, Imperil, Poison and Slow' the last one should not be equipped to L'automne, as it is crucial to keep it in offensive; one should equip L'automne with Chaos Revenge to ensure a faster stagger.

The player should immediately cast Slow to render Ereshkigal even slower than it already is (any debuff takes two castings to take effect on Ereshkigal), to give the player a better margin of time to stagger Ereshkigal without risk of Meteor or Resonance, although this must be cast frequently during the battle. The player should use Equilibrium+ to perform Light Slash, Aero and then switch to L'automne and cast Aerora twice, and then switch back to Equilibrium+ and perform Light Slash and Aero again and switch once more. With this tactic the player will remain afloat rendering Grand Impulse useless, and maintain a rapid and constant stagger level on Ereshkigal. As soon as Ereshkigal uses offensive buffs, like Bravery or Faith, the player should steal them. Continuing with this setup will guarantee Ereshkigal gets staggered.

Upon its first stagger, Ereshkigal suffers from Fog making him unable to use any attack except Grand Impulse, and has its stagger gauge rapidly affected by magic attacks. The player should repeat the above procedure until staggering him again.

On its second stagger, Ereshkigal is freed from Fog but the above methods still apply. The player should be persistent, or Ereshkigal will regenerate its barriers. The player should steal any offensive buff during this stage, preferably Bravery, as it will be crucial during its third stagger. The player should also use an Elemental Potion during this stage.

Once Ereshkigal is staggered a third time, any debuff takes a single casting to be effective. Further, it becomes susceptible to Poison, which the player should cast - preferably with a weapon of the Femme Fatale family - since at higher levels, Poison can deal enormous damage to Ereshkigal over time. If Poison comes with increased Status Ailment Duration, Poison can deal close to a million of HP with a single casting. The player should cast Deprotect and Imperil, then switch to Equilibrium+ and with the Enaero Potion equipped, one can hack at its HP quickly combined with Poison. One should also abuse Overclock if possible to cut Ereshkigal's HP as fast as possible.

If for any reason the player is unsuccessful at destroying Ereshkigal during this stage, and if its HP is lower than half it will use Awakening. During this stage Ereshkigal forsakes any defense in favour of faster and aggressive behavior. Any debuff will still require a single casting to take effect, and it is still vulnerable to Poison, so the player should just focus on damaging Ereshkigal and casting Slow and Poison regularly.

With this procedure the beast should fall in less than four minutes.

Creation and Development
The Final Fantasy XIII-2 Ultimania Omega has a concept art of an unused Cie'th design. However, the monster was planned to appear as early as in Final Fantasy XIII, but was dummied out for unknown reasons.

Music
"Time's Master" from Final Fantasy XIII-2 acts as the battle theme for Ereshkigal. At some point of the battle, "Unseen Abyss", final boss theme of the prequel, plays.