Aeronite (Lightning Returns)

Aeronite is one of two superbosses in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, the other one being Ereshkigal. It inhabits the Dead Dunes and moves around the desert as a space distortion shooting lightning from it. It can be found in the Giant's Sandbox from Day 7 and onward. Upon defeat, it gives 50,000 gil, 9.00 EP and has a chance to drop a variety of rare components, including both Holy Forgefire and Demonic Forgefire.

Aeronite is considered to be a Last One, and defeating it will count towards the relevant achievements and trophies.

Battle
Aeronite has 8,800,000 HP on Easy Mode, 11,000,000 HP on Normal Mode and 38,000,000 HP on Hard Mode — more if one lets him follow to a Chaos infusion.

Aeronite requires the player to stagger it four consecutive times to do any significant damage to it. Upon starting the encounter, the player is given approximately three minutes to stagger Aeronite, after which there are another three minutes to reach the second stagger level and so on up to the fourth stagger level. If the player is not able to maintain stacking stagger effects, Aeronite will use Fed Up and flee the battle and fully heal itself when it is next encountered.

Megaton Break takes time to use and unleashes a major physical attack followed by a Quake magical attack. During this time Aeronite takes no damage from attacks.

Once Aeronite staggers for the first time, its behavior changes slightly. It casts "ga"-tier spells instead, which can be more detrimental given their longer duration, principally Aeroga, which can last very long. During this stage, Megaton Break will take longer to cast but is much more potent.

After its second stagger, its behavior is the same, except it tosses Megaton Break for Hellflare, a powerful move that ignores resistances even with Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit. Its execution is faster and requires either a high amount of HP or a perfect guard to parry it since it can deal 6,000+ worth of damage on Normal mode.

After its third Stagger, Aeronite uses Flare, Chill, Tornado and Surge as its spells of preference. Its attacks become less frequent, but Hellflare is stronger.

Only when staggered for the fourth time can Aeronite finally be truly damaged as it takes 500% damage from physical attacks. If one staggers him for the fourth time, he will be unable to use physical attacks for three minutes and will only use Aeroga, Firaga, Thundaga, Blizzaga and Ruinga. He will stay staggered for about three minutes, then stand up and fly away if not slain.

Strategy
The player should stock up on Ether (by breaking skeletons outside of Sacred Door Room, and killing lizards all over the desert and go appraise the items in Ruffian). The player should get some Phoenix Downs, Enaero Potions and any potion that gives Bravery.

Having Fang in the party, while not essential for victory, is helpful, as her attacks can aid Lightning in stagger maintenance.

Lightning should stay far away and stagger Aeronite with magic (preferably "ra"-tier spells). Once staggered four times, one can mash at Aeronite with everything they've got.

One trick is to have the Quiet Guardian or Cyber Jumpsuit garb, Preta Hood and Runic Ring accessories to gain a 100% resistance to magic damage, since using spells keeps one away from Aeronite. Whenever it uses a magic attack, one can switch to Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit to take no damage without the need to block while using the schema to attack with magic to keep the stagger running and not have to worry about its basic physical attack (any attack that isn't a usable spell will not be negated, e.g. Roar).

It is recommended to have "ra"-tier spells on at least two of the Schemata. The schema L'automne comes with two of those spells at level 3 and reduced ATB Cost and comes with +30 Maximum ATB. It is also recommended to wear White Strap to prevent the Fog Status since Aeronite casts Fogga after its first stagger. The Chaos's Revenge sword is recommended for either this or the Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit schema since it causes stagger at 75%, which greatly hastens the process and a shield that offers faster ATB recovery. The schemata should be equipped with Deprotect and Imperil as they will come handy for the last phase of the battle.

The Equilibrium+ garb is recommended for its increased ATB Recovery capabilities and Attack Level 4. The Equilibrium+ should be equipped with debuffs, such as Debrave and Defaith, to reduce the potency of Aeronite's attacks, and also with Ruin to maintain the stagger gauge stable. The schema should be equipped with a weapon that offers high Strength, preferably 800 or more points (the forge in Yusnaan offers such weaponry; otherwise the Flesh Render dropped by the Reaver Ω provides 900 to both Strength and Magic), Wolf's Emblem that increases physical damage and also the Enlister's Gloves dropped by the Skata'ne Ω which increases damage when the opponent is at close range.

The battle should start with the player casting debuffs, then use Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit and the other schemata to attack with spells and switch to Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit when Aeronite casts a spell. Learning the timing takes practice, but eventually the player can save precious time and launch combo finishers properly by learning when to switch in. One can easily use the other two schemata to pummel at Aeronite, and then shift at the last second to Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit to be immune to its spells and attack. The player should shift to Equilibrium+ to cast debuffs and Ruin when the other Schemata have run out of ATB.

When Aeronite attempts to perform Megaton Break, Equilibrium+ should be used to debuff Aeronite then one should mix between "ra"-tier spells and Ruin to maintain a stable stagger. Megaton Break takes time to use and unleashes a major physical attack followed by a Quake magical attack, the first one can be parried completely by perfectly timing the dash, which is not overly difficult to predict since the camera zooms at Aeronite when he is about to take flight. Otherwise Heavy Guard can still mitigate the damage, but still be harmful while the Quake attack is easily avoided by being in Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit. During this time, Aeronite takes no damage from attacks. Repeating this process will eventually stagger Aeronite, although it may take some tries for the party to have an easier time.

Once Aeronite staggers for the first time, he will cast "ga"-tier spells. The player should be careful about Aeronite's Fogga, which prevents the player from casting magic and wasting time or EP to heal it. Wearing a White Strap eliminates this annoyance. One should debuff and pummel him with "ra"-tier spells, since the longer cast time to Megaton Break gives the player a precious window to quickly stagger him and even prevent it altogether.

After its second stagger, Aeronite uses Hellflare that requires either a high amount of HP or a perfect guard to parry it since it can deal 6,000+ worth of damage. One should parry just before he's about to breathe it, when the camera shows both Aeronite and Lightning. Beyond this, the player should do the same as above and stagger him once more.

After the third Stagger, Aeronite uses Flare, Chill, Tornado and Surge, but with Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit they are meaningless. The player can repeat the same procedure and stagger him easier than in previous stages given the large windows now given, as he takes longer to charge Hellflare.

As soon as he's staggered for the fourth time, one should use the Enaero Potion and if possible a potion that gives Bravery and/or Haste, like the Hero's Potion and cast Deprotect and Imperil, then switch to Equilibrium+ and pummel him with Attack. If the player has performed nearly all quests and using the mentioned equipment, each slash of Attack will have 60,000+ of its HP with the combo finale being capable of inflicting 130,000+ and with Haste, the damage output is much more constant.

During this stage Aeronite will only cast "ga"-tier spells, which are easily blocked by changing to Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit. When the Equilibrium+ is about to run out of ATB one should use Overclock and keep eating at its HP. One should also take notice of any spell Aeronite may attempt to cast and shift to Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit once Overclock runs out. When the player runs out of EP to spare one should use the time when on the Quiet Guardian/Cyber Jumpsuit schema to use an Ether or another Bravery Potion to ensure the conditions are optimal, and recast Deprotect and Imperil when they're about to run out.

Stagger

 * Conditional Changes
 * Stagger Point: 1700 after 1st stagger, 1800 after 2nd stagger, 2000 after 3rd stagger.

Trivia

 * Aeronite on hard mode has the third most HP of all Final Fantasy bosses behind Chaos Aeronite in Hard Mode, and Yiazmat from Final Fantasy XII.
 * The quest that requires Aeronite's defeat, "What Rough Beast Slouches" is a direct reference to a W.B Yeats poem, Second Coming, which has the line "what rough beast slouches towards Bethlehem to be born, its hour come at last?". The poem references a coming Apocalypse, also alluding to the Apocalypse in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.
 * Aeronite is a light red recolor of Faeryl from Final Fantasy XIII-2. According to Nolan, the client for the quest, Aeronite appeared roughly 500 years ago, which is the setting of Final Fantasy XIII-2. Therefore, there is a possibility that Faeryl and Aeronite are the same.

Related Enemies

 * Chaos Aeronite

Final Fantasy XIII-2

 * Faeryl