Gilgamesh (Final Fantasy XIII-2)

Gilgamesh is a superboss in Final Fantasy XIII-2, available as part of the downloadable content challenge called "Clash on the Big Bridge".

Gilgamesh, along with Valfodr at Level 99, can be considered the most powerful bosses in the game.

Battle
In the first fight, Gilgamesh uses guns and rocket launchers. He can easily be poisoned at this stage, which will drain his HP quickly.

In the second fight, Gilgamesh switches to his collection of swords. Early on he will use one sword per attack, with each sword performing different effects. Excalibur inflicts physical damage on one opponent, Masamune inflicts greater damage, Muramasa has a drain effect, Bashosen inflicts Slow and removes a buff, Zantetsuken inflicts wound damage and Excalipoor only deals one point of damage. Gilgamesh can use Blitz and Launch in the same turn.

When the player removes approximately 10-15% of his HP, Gilgamesh will begin to use three swords in the same attack, and may sometimes use Blitz and Launch immediately after the third attack. He will start using Cross Slash, which is a powerful area-of-effect attack, and Vendetta. Gilgamesh will use Blitz immediately after Vendetta, so the player is advised against attacking Gilgamesh while he is guarding unless his chain gauge is about to reset, as this will increase the power of the Blitz attack that follows.

When Gilgamesh's HP is halved, he will boost his powers and place a permanent Haste status on himself, while increasing both his Strength and Magic. He will start using six sword attacks in quick succession, and can use Blitz, Launch, and Cross Slash in a single turn. Cross Slash will be used immediately after Vendetta, and will begin using Eerie Soundwave and Death Claw. Eerie Soundwave inflicts damage and may inflict Pain, Fog, Imperil and Curse. Death Claw may also inflict Imperil and inflicts wound damage.

Gilgamesh's most powerful attack at this stage is Divider, a cinematic attack that deals heavy damage to all characters and inflicts Daze on one of them. Gilgamesh will also use Divider as soon as he has recovered from stagger.

When Gilgamesh is staggered, he becomes susceptible to debuffs. Once the stagger ends, Gilgamesh will cleanse himself of debuffs, and heals himself by 10% of his maximum HP.

Strategy
The player can finish the first battle with Relentless Assault, Aggression, and Diversity paradigms.

In the second battle, it is recommended to stagger Gilgamesh and then apply debuffs on him. It is recommended to quickly place Deshell, Deprotect, and Imperil, and then switch to a high-damage paradigm (such as Relentless Assault or Tri-disaster) to raise his chain gauge. Once the chain gauge is maxed, switching to Cerberus is recommended. While staggered, Gilgamesh is limited to using Death Claw, Eerie Soundwave and Vendetta, with Death Claw immediately following Vendetta.

It is recommended to buff the party before staggering him, as the player must be highly aggressive with damage output while he is staggered. Remedies can be used to remove Pain and Fog instead of switching to Medic roles. Once the stagger ends, Gilgamesh will cleanse himself of debuffs, and heals himself by 10% of his maximum HP. This is why aggressive damage is necessary; the player must do enough damage to burn through the amount he heals back.

While Gilgamesh is not immune to debuffs when he is not staggered, he is resistant. It is possible to stagger him using only Saboteur spells, but it is not effective and will only usually apply one debuff at best. Given it only takes a cast or two to apply the debuffs while he is staggered, it is recommended to use a more aggressive paradigm.

A far more time-consuming, but viable option for those who cannot seem to damage him enough while he is staggered, is to avoid staggering Gilgamesh entirely by using Offensive Screen (COM/COM/SEN), and letting the chain gauge reset when it is nearly full by switching to a defensive paradigm like Combat Clinic (MED/MED/SEN) or Salvation (MED/MED/MED). While this strategy takes far longer, it avoids the chances that he will heal after recovering from stagger. This strategy works throughout the entire fight, although during later stages one must be prudent in regards to healing in-between his use of Divider.

As the player cannot perform any actions while Gilgamesh's cinematic attack is being performed, the player should shift to Tortoise as soon as Gilgamesh starts walking into position for the attack. One can easily note when Gilgamesh will use Divider when he jumps backwards and begins strafing, though he will not jump backwards if he decides to use it after Vendetta or Cross Slash, but will strafe.

It is recommended to bring a large stock of Phoenix Downs, Phoenix Blood and Wound Potions. Gilgamesh uses a wide variety of abilities that inflict a large amount of wound damage, and during later phases the player will not have time to use Raise.

It is possible to defeat Gilgamesh in his second form in under five minutes, but for this tactic to work one needs a considerable amount of preparation. The party needs the Goblin Chieftain with Feral Speed II, the Cloudburst, and the Chichu. After raising them for their full potential this Paradigm Pack can crush Gilgamesh.

Recommended paradigms:
 * RAV/RAV/SEN [start]
 * SAB/RAV/RAV
 * MED/MED/SEN
 * COM/COM/COM
 * COM/COM/COM

The last paradigm is optional. The player needs to play aggressively and play as Noel. After starting the fight with RAV/RAV/SEN and pushing Gilgamesh's stagger gauge up to around 230%, the player can unleash Goblin Chieftain's Feral Link to buff the party. After staggering Gilgamesh, the party should immediately switch to SAB/RAV/RAV and spam debuffs while the teammates continue push the stagger gauge. The player should queue in the spells 1x Deprotect, 1x Deshell and 4x Imperil. The former will stick immediately while Imperil needs four applies to stick. During this the player should activate Cloudburst's Feral Link to get the Enfrost buff. After the party is buffed, they can switch to COM/COM/COM and start attacking.

The ATB bar refresher glitch can be put to good use. After inputting six Attack commands into the queue and letting them connect, the player can put two more Attacks into the bar and then immediately switch to the other COM/COM/COM paradigm to refresh the ATB bar and the player can attack with a full six hit combo again. Repeating a few times until Gilgamesh's HP drops down to approximately 4,600,000, but it is critical not to let it drop further than this, as if Gilgamesh's HP drops below 4,500,000, he will enhance himself.

Waiting until the stagger wears off and healing up during the wait, and afterward Gilgamesh will heal for 1,000,000 HP. The party's Goblin Chieftain will focus Gilgamesh's aggro while the player can concentrate on surviving. Goblin Chieftain's Feral Speed II will quickly have the monsters' Feral Links active again.

After repeating the above method, the party can fully go out while Gilgamesh is staggered next. The Chichu will get the job done in a matter of seconds. For maximum damage potential in the second stagger, the teamleader should keep interrupting Gilgamesh by only attacking when the teammates don't so that he won't have the chance to counter with his Eerie Soundwave. This way, one will be able to defeat Gilgamesh in about 5 minutes and guarantee a five star battle rating and five Power Crystals.

Paradigm Pack
Gilgamesh is a high-end Commando with quick hitting attacks and spells; Gilgamesh casts magic at a faster speed than Serah, and his physical attacks are also swift. Gilgamesh has high Strength and Magic, and he can gain a massive amount of HP. All of his stats can be even further raised through infusions. With the right build, it is possible to have a Gilgamesh with over 14,000 hit points and over 1,200 Strength.

Gilgamesh's physical damage capability is dependent on which sword he uses in the attack, and may only deal 1 point of damage if he uses the Excalipoor. Because of this the AI tends to favor him using Ruin rather than Attack, despite him having higher Strength than Magic.

Gilgamesh's Feral Link, Divider, is a timing attack that hits three times; pressing / at the right time strengthens these attacks.

Development
Gilgamesh for Final Fantasy XIII-2 was designed by Nakano Chikako. According to Final Fantasy XIII-2 Ultimania Omega the glowing parts of his attire were added for a futuristic feel. Because Gilgamesh can be recruited as an ally more care was put into designing his backside, as this would be the angle the player would see when using him in battle. The red part of his face is supposed to look like the painted face of a kabuki.

Five of Gilgamesh's weapons are famous swords used throughout the Final Fantasy series, and Final Fantasy XIII-2 Ultimania Omega elaborates further on their origins: The Excalibur is from Final Fantasy IX, Excalipoor's origins are not mentioned, Muramasa is from Final Fantasy X, Masamune is from Final Fantasy VI, Zantetsuken is from Dissidia Final Fantasy, and Bashosen is from Cocoon of Final Fantasy XIII. The name of Gilgamesh's new sword, "Bashosen", is a reference to the Bashosen weapon from the classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West. In it, the Bashosen is not a sword, but a giant fan-like weapon used by the Demon King Ginkaku, and its name translates as "Banana Palm Fan". Gilgamesh's Bashonen resembles a large fan.

The Final Fantasy XIII-2 Ultimania Omega details the origins of the swords and it is said Gilgamesh found Excalibur in a hidden room in Alexandria, Muramasa from the ruins of Zanarkand, Zantetsuken from World B, and it is implied to belong to a manikin as it is said to be made of crystal and to be "just a husk", though Gilgamesh also suggests it is a nail shed by Chaos, the Masamune from a poisoned river in Doma and Bashosen Gilgamesh had custom-made using his old friend Enkidu as inspiration in Cocoon of Final Fantasy XIII.

This may be a reference to Gilgamesh having a weapon shop in Retail Network in said game. Although the guide mentions Gilgamesh having found the weapons (apart from Bashosen) from different Final Fantasy worlds, it is also said his swords are fakes, like the weapons Gilgamesh used in Final Fantasy XII.

Musical Themes
Gilgamesh's signature theme, "Clash on the Big Bridge", plays during the battle. This is the only Coliseum battle in which music not from Final Fantasy XIII: Original Soundtrack or Final Fantasy XIII-2: Original Soundtrack is played. The song is included in Final Fantasy XIII-2: Original Soundtrack PLUS.

Trivia

 * Snow makes a reference to previous games by calling Gilgamesh "The one who collects weapons".
 * Gilgamesh breaks the when he introduces himself in his match, even alluding to being part of downloadable content, as seen in his introduction. When the Gilgamesh battle is downloaded it becomes possible for Gilgamesh to be one of the people to say "FINAL FANTASY XIII-2: The Story So Far".
 * When Gilgamesh changes to his swords he says "And now, the true contest begins", a reference to his Final Fantasy XII battle where he said, "That was merely a test of your strength mortals, a prelude if you will, the real contest begins now!"
 * Gilgamesh's posture when using Divider is nearly identical to his EX Burst in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.
 * Compared to Valfodr at level 99, Gilgamesh has the second largest maximum HP in Final Fantasy XIII-2 with a combined total of 10,999,998 HP.
 * Gilgamesh's Cross-Slash attack uses the same motions as his Death Claw attack in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. While he does retain Death Claw as an attack, its animation in Final Fantasy XIII-2 looks more like its animation in Final Fantasy V, a spiral that grips the enemy.

Gilgamesh (Final Fantasy XIII-2)