Just a little tips for those who struggle beating the Final Boss.

[Hitoshizuku]

I just beat the final boss on Nightmare (first playthrough, not NG+; it took me around 10-20 hours worth of replaying and adapting because I'm M lol). Honestly, I really love this boss (The Azure Arbritator is such an absolute banger, btw). The real challenge within this final boss is two of the META in the game, namely, the bullsh*t Llyod evasive tank and Tio's Zero Field, which are practically useless in this boss. Finally, I can use my big brain rather than pull some low-IQ boss to the corner and let the art dealer do the talking.

First of all, I'm going to skip the first phase strat because I see a lot of people saying it's way too easy, so I don't feel the need to further explain how to beat it. Also, I didn't read the guide for how to beat it, so this is just my way of beating it.

The easiest way to beat the second phase is by stacking Time's master arts combined with Elie's Strike Bell, which will result in an infinite number of turns. Do this when the boss has around 20% HP left and a burst mode ready to use. When you think the boss is going down within a few turns, use the burst mode. Don't hesitate to use the burst orb within burst mode because it gives you one extra turn and maintains your party's CP regeneration. When your CP regains in burst mode, use all the remaining CP for combination craft or Wazy's Akashic Arms for a cool way of finishing it. Also, try to use burst mode when 100% critical effects are on the field and time it for the best attack possible.

Put Elie into the healer role by giving her Magius MQ (Lv. 5), Gladiator Belt, and setting her Aura Rain as her S-Break. With this combination, you can heal an area multiple times by using the Water's master arts (heal all + half damage reduction) as your main healing arts and Aura Rain as your second emergency heal (100 CP is more than enough).

I give Tio Criminal MQ (Lv. 5), Mercury Bell, and Time Gem. Use her Diamond Dust on the boss and Genesis Flood on the mob. When the boss is already nearing 20% HP left, change her role to supporting by using Time's master arts. This master's art is like Elie's Strike Bell, but with steroids, hitting all party members and using EP rather than CP (max CP only 200, EP? just use EP Cut 3 and EP 3). Tio needs to be at least near another damage dealer (I use Wazy) so Elie can use Strike Bell and reset the Time's master arts while damaging the boss with Wazy.

Wazy's main job is to steal 100% critical effects by using his S-Break. Build him with the ATS focus by giving him ATS-related tools like the Medal of Justice or Mind 3, and when the critical effects are ready to come, get prepared with the ATS + 50% effect and use Akashic Arms for a great chunk of damage. When critical effects do not appear, have him do whatever party members need, like casting Fortuna, giving Elie CP food, giving Tio ATS and EP food, or having him eat CP food himself. With his ATS high, he can also deal damage with Art. I think it's much better if either Tio or Wazy cast the offensive arts and not both at the same time.

Give Lloyd all the best quarts stats possible, Keeper MQ, True Gladiator Belt, and go spin brr brr. You don't need to build him into an evasive tank. If needed, try to make him help other party members by giving them food items when the mob has cleared (same as with Wazy).

Also stack up your food and healing items, especially EP charge 3, burst orbs, and food (I forgot the name) with CP+50/70/95, food that increases your ATS and EP. Always try to have Tio and Wazy with ATS + 50% and Elie with at least 100 CP all the time. Zeram item is also important, especially if you accidentally get wiped by the boss's strongest attack. You can give this to Elie to revive her and immediately use her S-Break to revive other party members. Take note that there are at least two necessary accessories called emergency puppets that can auto-revive one member one time only with full CP, with Lloyd also having one chance to automatically recover from K.O. by giving him Keeper MQ.

I hope this helps. Sorry for my bad English, and feel free to give additional tips. I just wrote something that is actually important, so whatever success you have in beating it or not is up to you.

[rachaellikesblue]

Thank you! I'm approaching the final boss and will incorporate some of your suggestions. I don't remember having too hard of a time last time, but this made me feel better because I get really anxious about fighting them.

[Hitoshizuku]

You're welcome!

I see a lot of people struggling with it. If you pre-plan your strat and give each of your party members a dedicated role instead of just randomly doing art or craft, you're going to be fine. I play it on Nightmare, and I don't even know what the boss is actually doing. I just believe in my stratbook and beat it.

Good luck!

[Sorrel]

Piggybacking on this thread, I'd like to share my strategy for the final boss sequence too; I agree that it's a fun mixup from the usual evasion tank + zero field + fortuna + arts spam that carries you through the rest of the game.

My setup on NG Nightmare for the final boss sequence was:
- Keeper Evasion tank Lloyd (mainly for Mariabell)
- Kusanagi wind bell Elie (backup healer/dmg/turn accel)
- Moebius mirage bell Wazy (support caster, Lv5 Moebius OP)
- Magius water bell Tio (main healer/dmg)

I did not use any master arts as I wasn't very experienced with them (spent the entire game trying to min-max MQ exp gain, rarely used Lv5 MQ). Therefore, I don't think you need any maxed MQ for this strategy [disclaimer: AoE items from Moebius is very, very broken, so it might be more difficult if you don't have access to this option]

Similarly, I didn't use any rare/limited items (zeram powders/capsules, burst orbs, etc. etc.) Mostly EP restoring items, curia balms / whatever random food I had lying around to cure statuses.

Against Mariabell, keep Zero Field up as much as possible, and spam Hydro Cannon through the middle with Tio and Avalon Gate with Wazy. Lloyd and Elie take turns stacking Fortuna buffs on Tio and Wazy, and heal if needed. The adds can be ignored.

As for the final boss, I found phase 1 harder because Tio could not contribute to reducing the adds' phys guard stacks (decided to go phys cause arts reflect is annoying), basically could only kill them with lucky support character turns or with burst. Also, Wazy's trinity card is surprisingly good at doing damage (well, he IS the best Crossbell character, so I guess it's only natural that he's awesome)

Onto phase 2 -- I got forced to hard reset once because it bugged out and got stuck in a never-ending dispel loop (was testing things and used stealth popcorn lol, don't use stealth)

Anyway, move Lloyd to one side and the rest of the party together on the opposite corner. Lloyd's job is to grab as many adds as he can, cast Tear/Fortuna as necessary, and manipulate turn order if needed.

Elie's job is similar, heal with Holy Breath if necessary, otherwise Spark Dyne/Fortuna depending on the turn order.

Wazy's job is to keep everyone's EP up, and cast Fortuna to buff Spark Dyne/Hydro Cannon -- Mirage arts take longer to cast so he won't be casting much attacks.

Tio is the MVP as she can throw out near-instant Tears (1 delay) on the entire party inbetween the boss' turns to invalidate all of its damage. Also, when nobody needs healing, Hydro Cannon has fast cast, decent AoE and good damage. I'd suggest giving her the strongest cast time reduction quartz.

Try to have burst up / be close to burst when the boss is nearing 20% HP. When the boss starts charging up its ultimate attack, stack up Fortuna and nuke it with Spark Dyne/Avalon Gate/Hydro Cannon before the cast goes off.

Didn't S-break much, if at all, because I prefer my characters getting their turns more often so I have extra flexibility to play around with the turn bonuses rather than being stuck in S-break delay.