Guide:- Getting Lightning and Amodar in Final Fantasy XIII-2
The following guide is spoiler free and does not contain any hints to the story of Final Fantasy XIII-2.
If you’ve been playing the latest Final Fantasy you’re probably well aware that Lightning, whilst on the box and the main focus of the narrative, isn’t exactly around much when you play through the bulk of the game.
In our review of Final Fantasy XIII-2 Elliot said “absence makes the heart grow fonder” however I for one want to see her kick ass in something other than a cutscene. What luck then! For a mere £1.59 ($3 US) on PSN or 240 Moon Points on the XBox 360, you can download the Coliseum segment of the Historia Crux to battle against Lightning and perhaps even ‘tame’ her to fight alongside you.
So, how do you get through this battle and how on Earth do you get Lightning and Amodar in your squad? Well read on my friends, and I’ll tell you how…
The DLC is a simple affair, an initial match against Lightning; a few convincing hits later will prompt her commander, Amodar, to join the fight. What is less than obvious, and may well be overlooked by many, is the fact that recruiting both characters is not automatic. Lightning and Amodar are attained in much the same way as the taming system in the main game, there is a chance that winning a battle will produce a monster crystal, allowing you to use that monster in battle and develop the creature using the Crystarium.
What’s more, whilst the initial fight with Lightning is fairly easy, the second of the two fights is decidedly more difficult. This is not a challenge to be taken on during the early stages of the game (it is available from the moment you gain full access to the Historia Crux as long as you’ve downloaded the DLC).
I won’t provide any tips for beating Lightning on her own, as the battle is fairly easy, however use the ease of this battle to your advantage and fill the Feral Link guage of each of your monsters.
Actually Lightning, you're not that hard.
Once Amodar is on the scene, I recommend you deal with him swiftly; he is a much bigger pain in the ass on his own than if this twosome are reduced to Lightning fighting solo. Also, Lightning seems to leave you alone if you concentrate all fire on Amodar, which is handy.
You can find a suggested paradigm deck below. Following this strategy, use your saboteur and synergist to quickly lay down some buff and debuff magic, then switch to Tri-Disaster X to swiftly build up Amodar’s stagger bar. As soon as he’s staggered, switch between Cerberus X and Relentless Assault X to defeat him. Once he’s out of the way however, Lightning will begin to use her Feral Link ability. Without protect (and in some cases even with it) she will make short work of a single character. Make sure you switch to a paradigm with an effective healer to get your team back up to strength. I’d recommend using Evened Odds X to cast protect on your party whilst they’re healed. With a full strength party, it’s a similar strategy of using three ravagers to stagger Lightning before switching between attack focussed paradigms to knock down her health.
Suggested Paradigms:
The observant among you will notice my favouring of Chocobos. Once the ability ‘Pack Mentality’ has been learnt these present perhaps the best Paradigm Pack in the game. This Paradigm deck is also a touch aggressive; designed to finish the fight quickly. Notably, if things start to go wrong there’s little here to turn things around. If your characters are a lower level (if you haven’t yet reached level 99 in at least one class) you may wish to switch up one of the Cerberus X Paradigms to include a Sentinel or two. Finally, you’ll notice two of the same Paradigms in the deck. This is not a typo. By shifting between paradigms at the right time, your entire party will have their ATB guage fully charged, thus making your attacks relentless and minimising the time the stagger bar has to reduce.
There are many ways and strategies to defeat Lightning and Amodar, this being just one idea that worked. If you’ve got an alternate strategy please do sound off in the comments below.
Varying sources across the internet speculate on the percentage chance of taming Lightning and Amodar, however the consensus seems to be around 7%. So don’t be downhearted if you don’t manage it after a few fights, keep slogging away!
It's worth putting the time and energy in to obtaining Lighting and Amodar as they're both powerful characters
If you manage to attain both characters, your efforts will be rewarded. Lightning is a Ravager class with Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, Flamestrike, Frostrike, Sparkstrike, Galestrike all within her arsenal from the off. Every few levels will allow new unlocks to grant abilities Overwhelm, Electric Blitz, Aero Blitz, Ice Blitz, Heat Blitz, Fearsiphon, Thundaga and finally Siphon Boost when you reach her level cap of 13.
Amador is equally as formidable as the Commando class. Initial moves comprise of Attack, Ruin, Launch, Ally KO: Power Surge (yellow lock) with Powerchain, Critical: Shield, Blitz, Ravage, Blindside, Smite, Critical: Shield II, Adrenaline and Ally KO: Power Surge (red lock) all made available as you level.
Both characters have an initial ATB level of 6, meaning they can perform heavier moves from the get go. Lightning and Amodar also have extremely high initial stats, with around 5000 HP, 550 Strength, 550 Magic and 7000 HP, 600 Strength and 450 Magic respectively (all approximate).
So there you have it. On a first pass this DLC might seem like a bit of an afterthought and perhaps unnecessary. However, if you put in the time you’ll get two powerful allies to battle alongside you long after the crux of the DLC has lost its shine.
-Tom Wallis
