Gigantuar (Final Fantasy XIII-2)

The Gigantuar is an enemy in Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Finding Gigantuar
Gigantuar is found in the Archylte Steppe by examining blue cactuar statues, which only appear once Faeryl is defeated and when the weather is right. One of the stones is surrounded by a group of growing cacti on the east side of the gorge. The other two statues are on the west side, by the water, and require Moogle Hunt to find. The player can get to the other side of the gorge by teleporting from the yellow cactuar statue, which appears in the dust storm weather, or simply jumping across if they have unlocked the correct Fragment Skill from Serendipity.

Battle
During the battle, Gigantuar will be using 1000 Needles periodically, which can bring the party's HP to low levels and usually inflict Pain and Fog, which can be lethal, so a good stock of Remedies and Potions can help if the party's Medic becomes out of action (certain accessories and Veil can help prevent this). In turn, the actions of the player should be dependent on what happens during the 1000 Needles. Gigantuar is weak against Fire.

Strategy
A defensive strategy can be effective for a low level party.

For a defensive strategy, Serah must have unlocked the Saboteur role and should know the abilities Poison and Deshell as well as having access to the Medic role, knowing Esuna and possibly knowing Curasa. Noel should have access to the Medic role and should know Esuna, Raise and Curasa. Having the Synergist role with Faith also helps. A compulsory Feral Link is a Synergist which has the Faith ability - for example Microchu or Yakshini. Serah is probably the better of the two party leaders. The paradigms required are Salvation (MED/MED/MED), Perseverance (SAB/MED/MED) and Evened Odds (SAB/MED/SYN) - which should be the active paradigm.

When the battle starts, the player should try to get Poison and Deshell on Gigantuar immediately. Poison will typically take a long time to stick and so the player should keep on using a manual command set of Deshell followed by Poisons. By the time Poison is on the enemy, Faith should have been cast on the party.

Once Poison is applied, depending on the player's level, the player may wish to go into a defensive type paradigm such as Lifeguard or Salvation to keep HP high. Even in this paradigm the player can deal damage by utilizing Feral Links. Alternatively, the player may want to go into an offensive paradigm to raise the chain gauge using Relentless Assault (RAV/COM/RAV) or Tri-Disaster (RAV/RAV/RAV). Poison will probably have to be applied more than once to actually kill the Gigantuar. Once the enemy is staggered, Poison becomes much more easy to reapply, but if the player has low levels they may want to stay defensive.

As soon as a party member has been knocked out, the player should immediately switch to Salvation to revive them with a Phoenix Down if possible due to higher healing potential. Eventually, Poison will fully wear out the Gigantuar's HP, but it is good to reapply it regularly to prevent it from running out.

Alternate Strategy
This strategy can be used with parties of a higher level and so less healing is needed.

The player's Paradigm Pack should consist of a reliable Synergist that knows Faith (preferably Purple Chocobo or Yakshini), a Saboteur who knows Deshell and preferably Curse, and a choice between a Ravager or Medic depending on the party's HP. Noel should equip a Ribbon if possible, and Pain and Fog resistant accessories if not. The party's Paradigms should be Countermeasure (SAB/SEN/SAB), Prudent Planning (SYN/SEN/SYN), Attrition (MED/SEN/SAB), Tri-Disaster (RAV/RAV/RAV), Mystic Tower (RAV/SEN/RAV) and Cerberus (COM/COM/COM).

Starting with Prudent Planning, the player should manually cast Veil on Noel and then the rest of the party and wait until Faith is on the party. Once all of these are on, the party should switch to Countermeasure to apply Curse and Deshell (and Poison if struggling). Once the debuffs are on, the party should switch to Mystic Tower to bring up the stagger gauge. Once the stagger threshold is almost reached, the party should switch to Tri-Disaster to stagger the enemy and bring up the chain gauge further and after a couple of turns use Cerberus to do damage. The last two steps should be repeated if the enemy is not yet dead, and the first two if buffs and debuffs run out. If healing is needed the Attrition paradigm can be used to heal the damage.

Paradigm Pack
Gigantuar is one of the best Synergist monsters in the game, and is able to achieve over 7000 HP, 500 Strength, and 1200 Magic only using Potent materials. Its true strength lies in its ability execution speed, which is only beaten by Sahagin Princes. Strangely for a Synergist, it learns Fettered Magic even though its Feral Link is a physical attack.

Related Enemies

 * Cactuar
 * Giant Cactuar
 * Cactuaroni
 * Flowering Cactuar
 * Metallicactuar
 * Metal Gigantuar

Final Fantasy XIII

 * Cactuar
 * Giant Cactuar
 * Cactuar Prime
 * Flowering Cactuar
 * Gigantuar