The Arsenal
The Arsenal is a giant mech that packs heavy artillery and appears in Sector 0. The boss comes with accompanying drones on the first encounter. The Arsenal is weak to Lightning.
Stats
| Level | – |
|---|---|
| HP | – |
| MP | – |
| Weakness | Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind |
| Strong Against | – |
| Absorbs | – |
| Immunity | – |
| EXP | 1300 |
| AP | 10 |
| SP | – |
| Rewards | 1300 gil |
Breakable Parts
–
Attacks
Saturation Fire
Sprays bullets using one arm.
Primary Fire
Charges and then expels a lone explosive using a single arm.
Voltaic Discharge
The Arsenal summons lightning jolts on the ground. If you get trapped, you receive heaps of damage. The attack goes through columns as well.
Homing Laser
The Arsenal sends lasers that bend, allowing them to come after hidden enemies.
Charge
Rotates its tires and then follows up by ramming the enemy.
Firewall
Lays pillars of fire to sandwich the enemy. Moving around it causes the enemy to take damage.
Pulse Cannon
Charges for a brief moment and then unleashes a powerful blue laser beam that breaks wreckage. The charge takes at most 10 seconds.
Cry Havoc
Similar to the Pulse Cannon, the attack takes a bit of time to charge. Any member who gets caught will be instantly wiped out.
Preparation
Prior to the boss fight, press and hold the Square button while aboard the lift to switch gear. Swap your current armor to Lightning element.
Unlike other fights that work better with sticking to shortcuts, we recommend choosing all abilities when taking on The Arsenal.
Strategy
Defeat the Drones.
Barret and Aerith accompany you in this fight alongside an AI controlled Red XIII. While the AI offers some help with close quarters, your best bet is to focus on factors that you have control over. Pick off the Barrier Drones that stand in the way to give some space between you and the boss. Have Aerith and Barret snipe it from behind while behind some wreckage. You need to take them out one by one. Have Aerith nuke them with Ray of Judgement.
Hide behind the columns.
After clearing the mobs, you’re left to deal with The Arsenal. The boss makes use of powerful ranged attacks. Stay away from the projectiles and quickly rush behind the columns to weather the storm. Have Aerith use Curage to regain health.
Assign roles.
Proper placement is a must against the fight, ideally you need one member to draw its attention while taking cover. You also need another ally to sneak around to reach its back. Ambush from the back and fire off some strong abilities to whittle it down.
Check when it’s charging.
While charging, The Arsenal’s Laser Cannon becomes vulnerable to attacks. Monitor it for when it decides to charge and then close in and combine powerful abilities like Maximum Fury. The window lasts for 10 seconds, which means you need to punish it before it expires. There are potentially two events that could happen when you dish out the attacks. One, it can fill up its Stagger bar immensely causing The Arsenal to stop its attack, or it can retaliate with its own ability. Think fast and take cover if you suspect the latter. After a series of attacks on its weakness, you’ll move on to the second phase.
Dodge its attacks.
When the next phase starts, The Arsenal makes use of a new attack, Charge. Do a side roll or better yet, stick behind another column to get past it. Instead of going for the tires, focus on wearing out the main structure. Lowering its health will cause it to rely on two other attacks. One consists of a wall of fire, while the other is a charged laser beam. You can withstand the beam if you’re health is full. If the Arsenal catches you between the fire, quickly side roll and take off to the nearest column. After it misses you with the laser beam, close in and use either Focused Shot or Ray of Judgement. Don’t use Limit Break just yet, you’ll need it for the last phase.
Switch elements.
When the boss uses Defense Protocol, immediately swap your character to gain momentum back.
Last phase.
The fight interrupts with a cutscene before moving on to the last phase. You’ll regain control while caught in a trap. Side roll and approach the wreckage. Wait until it fires off the attack to get back in one piece. The issue against this phase is that you’ll eventually run out of places to hide. That being said, you need to take it out before that occurs. When the boss is open to attacks, combine all your hardest hitting abilities with Barret’s Catastrophe to defeat it.
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