Greatest swordsman in all Ivalice. He insists he knows what he's doing.
Description
Gilgamesh is an enemy and summon in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. In Chapter 10, the sidequest "Mission 81: Battle on the Big Bridge" becomes available, and Vaan and the others head to the Gates of Shattered Time where Gilgamesh walks about aimlessly with his companion Enkidu, wondering where he is.
When Enkidu spots the party, Gilgamesh recognizes them and first asks if they know the way back before blathering on about how their meeting was not by chance. Brandishing his swords, Gilgamesh challenges the party to a duel, Enkidu at his heels.
Upon defeat, Gilgamesh is obtained as a summon. He is a Rank III Melee Non-elemental Esper.
Obtained[]
Gilgamesh can be bought from the Ring of Pacts for 3 Auracite.
Gameplay[]
Summoning Gilgamesh costs 22 Affinity. His normal attack, Slice Thrice, attacks a single enemy three times in succession, and his special ability, Masamune, deals heavy melee damage to one foe.
Stats[]
Summon
Mission 81
Battle[]
The player is only allowed three Group Leaders in this battle. Auracite is not used to summon Yarhi at the battle's start, and there are no Summoning Gates on the field.
Gilgamesh begins in the center of the field, flanked by one Enkidu. The Enkidu will rush the party but Gilgamesh will stay put. After defeating the first of Gilgamesh's minions, more Enkidus will appear at the sides of the battlefields at regular intervals and head straight for the three units. After about 10 Enkidus have been felled, Gilgamesh himself will move from his perch and chase the player's units.
Strategy[]
Penelo is useful for her healing abilities and either Filo or Llyud are effective for their advantage against melee units. For the third Group Leader, either Vaan or Basch are good choices, but, alternately, one could choose both Filo and Llyud to face off Gilgamesh for a combined unit type advantage. All characters should be above level 50.
Each Enkidu should be KOed as quickly as possible. Buffs, such as War Dance, Protectga, and Dervish, should be in place at all times. It is best to stay near the starting point and destroy each Enkidu that comes. Penelo should be out of range of the Enkidus to cast Esunaga and prevent the Enkidus from inflicting Disable on the player units with Warcry. When Gilgamesh begins to move, the player should make a beeline for him and hit him with everything they've got.
Llyud should use Jump liberally, Filo should use Defense Snare or Power Snare and possibly Overdrive, and Vaan's Steal-type abilities can weaken Gilgamesh. About four Enkidus will attack the party from behind during the duel with Gilgamesh, usually targeting Penelo. The player should ignore this and focus on Gilgamesh. A Quickening may come up during the fight and using it can end the battle quickly.
An alternative strategy requires Llyud, Penelo, and any other character. The party should battle the Enkidus until Gilgamesh closes in, then ignore everyone but Llyud, allowing them to die, and guide Llyud around the arena: the Enkidus will follow him, but he should be quicker and cross the caverns. By combining Lancet and Jump, Llyud can deal damage to several Enkidus at once and heal himself.
The Enkidus will almost certainly get the opportunity to Disable him, but by running away again, Llyud can rid himself of that status while his Technicks recharge. By repeating this strategy, the Enkidus will get worn away. Llyud will probably cross his KO'd team mates who can be resurrected with Revive. Inevitably, the Enkidus will rush the revived team mate, but this buys time for Llyud to Jump-Lancet attack them again.
Eventually, the Enkidus will be felled, leaving just Llyud and Gilgamesh. The full team revived, they should be able to gang up on Gilgamesh. If it looks like the party is falling, Llyud should escape, lure Gilgamesh away, return and resurrect the others.
Etymology[]
Gilgamesh is the main character of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an Akkadian poem considered the first great work of literature. He is a demigod with superhuman strength who builds the walls of Uruk to defend his people and travels to meet the sage Utnapishtim, a survivor of the Great Flood.
Gilgamesh is believed to have actually existed by many scholars. It is estimated he lived sometime between 2800 and 2500 BC. The Sumerian King List claims Gilgamesh ruled the city of Uruk for 126 years.
Gilgamesh in Final Fantasy is also based on Benkei, a famous character in the Japanese mythologies and chronicles of the Genpei War. A powerful warrior monk said to have personally defeated 200 men in every battle he engaged in and said to have had the strength of demons, Benkei's introduction sees him set out to collect 1,000 weapons, and to this end he posted himself at Gōjō Bridge in Kyoto and challenged every warrior who attempted to cross. On his 1000th duel Benkei was defeated by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the only defeat he had ever known, and became his faithful retainer throughout the rest of his life.
From the story of Benkei, Gilgamesh takes his preference for the naginata (Benkei's traditional weapon as a monk), his penchant for fighting on bridges, his collecting of weapons from enemies he defeats, and his friendship with the player's characters who defeat him. Benkei's devotion to Yoshitsune is the basis for Gilgamesh's association with Genji equipment—the Minamoto Clan is also called the Genji Clan, using the alternate pronunciation for the Chinese characters for mina and moto, gen and uji, respectively. Gilgamesh's face paint is based on traditional kabuki actors, for which Benkei is a popular character to portray.