Barthandelus (boss)

Barthandelus is a powerful boss in Final Fantasy XIII. He is fought three times throughout the game.

First Encounter
Barthandelus has four adornments attached to the sides of his head that bestow him with elemental protection and also attack the party. He can open up his face to execute his Thanatosian Smile attack. Other attacks include Ruinga, Baptism in Ruin, and his ultimate attack, Destrudo. He will also cast Doom when the battle reaches the twenty minute mark.

Right Pauldron
 * Level: 51, HP: 50,400, Chain resistance: 80, Stagger Point: 150
 * Casts Fire, Fira, Firaga

Right Ailette
 * Level: 51, HP: 50,400, Chain resistance: 80, Stagger Point: 150
 * Casts Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga

Left Pauldron
 * Level: 51, HP: 50,400, Chain resistance: 80, Stagger Point: 150
 * Casts Water, Watera, Waterga

Left Ailette
 * Level: 51, HP: 50,400, Chain resistance: 80, Stagger Point: 150
 * Casts Blizzard, Blizzara, Blizzaga

Barthandelus
 * Level: 57, HP: 462,000, Chain Resistance 100, Stagger Point: 250 (Can not be staggered until adornments are destroyed)
 * Buffs adornments, Uses Magical Amplification to boost the spell levels of adornments

Recommended paradigms: (first bracket denotes party leader's paradigm)
 * Diversity (MED/COM/RAV)
 * Solidarity (COM/MED/SEN)
 * Relentless Assult (RAV/RAV/COM)
 * Combat Clinic (MED/MED/SEN)
 * Evened Odds (MED/SAB/SYN)
 * Bully (COM/SAB/SYN)

The party should start with Diversity and turn their attention to the adornments, using a Librascope at the start of the fight to deduce the respective elemental weakness for each one. After each adornment is destroyed, the party should quickly switch to Evened Odds or Bully and buff themselves up, hopefully getting a Slow on the boss at the same time. The party should then switch to Relentless Assault or back to Diversity to stagger him as quickly as possible.

After Barthandelus has been staggered once, he will begin to randomly cast Destrudo. This can also happen if the party chips off enough of his HP without staggering him. Once Barthandelus begins to cast Destrudo, he will reset the chain gauge back to zero. The spell takes some time to cast (approximately 26 seconds) and the party must keep attacking until he is half-staggered and grunts and shakes his head. If they don't do this, Destrudo may kill the party. Equipping Doctor's Code will help give the party a second healer who can also attack. Barthandelus will cast Destrudo after about quarter of his HP is gone, regardless of whether he is staggered or not. If, when Barthandelus begins casting the spell, the team lack buffs and is in low health, they need to quickly switch to Evened Odds and heal up to 100% while the Synergist buffs the team and the Saboteur weakens the boss, then switch to Solidarity to mitigate some of the damage from the attack. After has used Destrudo, the party should immediately swap to a paradigm with at least two Medics (Combat Clinic) to restore the lost health, but will soon be able to change to a more balanced/offensive paradigm.

The party should be able to stagger Barthandelus a couple of times, although, when he begins to cast Destrudo, he will reset the chain gauge even if he's in the middle of stagger. Barthandelus can still be staggered when he's charging Destrudo. The party will only have to fill the chain gauge halfway to induce a sort of "mini-stagger." This forces Barthandelus to restart his Destrudo charging, and the attack is weaker. Also, after the mini-stagger, the chain gauge remains half-full, meaning he's easier to stagger a second or third time. So instead of backing off and defending when Barthandelus begins charging Destrudo, it's wiser to heal up with Potions (with main party member having the Doctor's Code accessory equipped for +300 HP, rather than the +150 without it), and continue attacking with Tri-Disaster or Relentless Assault, depending on the party.

Barthandelus will cast Doom on the party leader, if the battle lasts over 20 minutes. The time won't run during the time an Eidolon is being summoned.

Second Encounter
The battle plays differently than the first encounter. At first, Barthandelus only has access to a relatively weak laser attack that hits one party member. As he switches form, he uses the laser attack more frequently, and gains status-inflicting area-of-effect spells, including Poisonga, Cursega and Dazega. By the time Barthandelus transforms into his fourth form, his persistent laser attack can occasionally inflict Pain and Fog, and he gains access to two new attacks: Apoptosis, which removes all status enhancements from the party and all status ailments from Barthandelus, and Thanatosian Laughter, which inflicts a moderate amount of damage to all party members. As with many boss battles, Barthandelus can inflict Doom on the party leader after twenty minutes have elapsed.

This strategy requires Vanille as a Saboteur. Also recommended is a character who will be a Sentinel throughout the battle, and Lightning as the party leader. Due to Apoptosis, Synergists are not particularly effective.

Recommended paradigms:


 * Dirty Fighting (COM/SEN/SAB)
 * Delta Attack (COM/SEN/RAV)
 * Mystic Tower (RAV/SEN/RAV)
 * Solidarity (COM/SEN/MED)
 * Entourage (MED/SEN/RAV)
 * Relentless Assault (RAV/COM/RAV)

Barthandelus is vulnerable to Deprotect, Deshell and Imperil. Starting with the Dirty Fighting paradigm Vanille can inflict these status ailments while the Sentinel draws its laser attack and Lightning attacks. Once the debuffs are inflicted, the party should shift to Delta Attack for two turns, then shift to Mystic Tower. Once Barthandelus is staggered, the party should shift back to Delta Attack. If anybody's HP falls into the red zone, the party can shift to Solidarity to heal.

As far as status effects are concerned, Poison and Curse can be safely ignored, but Daze costs valuable time. A Rainbow Anklet can help prevent this. If Lightning is afflicted with Daze, the player should shift to Solidarity until Vanille removes it. If Vanille is hit with the status, the player should shift to Entourage with Lightning as the Medic and remove it with Esuna. If Barthandelus uses Apoptosis, the party should shift to Dirty Fighting to reapply the expired debuffs, but only if the party is in a relatively healthy state. If Barthandelus begins readying Thanatosian Laughter, the party should shift to Solidarity immediately.

With this strategy, Barthandelus should yield before he has a chance to inflict Doom, even with an under-levelled party, but in case he does cast it, one should use Relentless Assault and go for stagger if he still has over 400,000 HP remaining, and summon Odin just before the Doom counter reaches zero to buy some more time.

After the battle the player obtains a Goddess's Favour, 100,000 CP, and a Crystarium expansion.

Third Encounter
Barthandelus has lost the ability to inflict status effects, but retains his standard laser attack, which a Sentinel should be able to withstand for a long period of time. He also uses the Ultima spell, which inflicts moderate damage to all party members. His Thanatosian Laughter attack is his strongest, which puts all party members' health to HP Critical, and it can kill if they are afflicted with Deshell. As with the previous two battles, Barthandelus may inflict Doom on the party leader if the battle takes over 20 minutes.

For this strategy, a party of Fang, Lightning, and Hope works best, with either Fang or Lightning as the party leader.

Recommended paradigms: Bully or Evened Odds should be the default paradigm. Casting a Fortisol and an Aegisol beforehand isn't needed, but they make the battle easier.
 * Combat Clinic (MED/SEN/MED)
 * Tireless Charge (COM/COM/MED)
 * Diversity (RAV/COM/MED)
 * Mystic Tower (RAV/SEN/RAV)
 * Bully (COM/SAB/SYN) or Evened Odds (MED/SAB/SYN)
 * Relentless Assault (COM/RAV/RAV) (Optional)

Starting off with Fang casting debuffs on Barthandelus, the player should aim to get Deprotect, Deshell, Slow, and Imperil on him, with the latter debuff making for easy staggering. Once Barthandelus has been debuffed, the player should switch to Diversity or Mystic Tower to drive up the chain gauge. Once he's staggered, the party should stay in Diversity until the gauge is around 400%-500%, then switch to Tireless Charge or Relentless Assault, depending on the party's health. If at any point while driving up the chain gauge the party is in good health, the player should switch to Mystic Tower.

When Barthandelus is about to use Thanatosian Laughter, the player should shift to Combat Clinic, and do the same thing for Ultima as well. Thanatosian Laughter is usually quickly followed by Ultima so healing immediately is necessary. If the party's health is low, even if the chain gauge is high, healing the party is more important than driving up the chain gauge. If the party heal fast enough, they should be able to catch it since the chain gauge depletes slowly. If the party's buffs or Barthandelus's debuffs wear off, the party should switch back to Bully or Evened Odds to reactivate them.

Trivia

 * When Lightning is the party leader in any of the three battles with Barthandelus (and she is forced to be during the first encounter with him), she may utter his name upon shifting paradigms. This is also true with Snow, Sazh, and Fang, all of whom can be potential party leaders in the second and third fights. Fang will call Barthandelus by his real name, Snow will call him "Dysley," and Sazh will call him "Primarch" or "Slime-arch."

Related Enemies

 * Right Pauldron
 * Right Ailette
 * Left Pauldron
 * Left Ailette
 * Anima
 * Dahaka
 * Orphan
 * Orphan (Final Boss)

Barthandelus (Boss) Baldanders (boss)