Stuck on Elemental Archfiends in the Giant (Hard Mode)

[Mori Raine Matsuko]

So yeah, as the title applies, I'm stuck on the Elemental Archfiends in the Giant on Hard Mode. It was going fine, until I started fighting Rubicante. Out of the four Archfiends, he's the hardest one, all thanks to a broken-ass ability he does: Inferno. It does at minimum about 3000 damage to everyone. The only one who could survive it would be Cecil, but when it hit, even he didn't survive it (probably because he wasn't fully healed).

Has anyone else beaten him on Hard Mode and could give me a few pointers or tips? I would be indebted to you.

[Calandril]

Been a while since I've played, but I believe the Steal trick still works. Keep Edge ready for the fight, and any time Rubicante opens his cape, have Edge quickly Steal from him. You won't get anything, but it prompts Rubicante to close his cape, so he won't use Inferno on you. Obviously try to slow the Archfiends and haste your own group to help you get this in before he can attack.

If you still have problems, I highly recommend SBAllen's DS version FAQ on gamefaqs. While the augment distributions he uses won't be quite right (due to PC only getting one Limit Break Augment), his general walkthrough and bosses strats are very good.

[Jyetta]

I don't recall Rubicante ever closing his cape during the rematch in the Giant. All of the Archfiends have their second, more powerful stances (Which makes the battle with Barbaricia a pain in the neck because she's ALWAYS in tornado form, which jacks her evasion to near absurd levels), so you would have to throw in or change some form of your original strategy of dispatching them.

If you want a quick, but tedious solution, give Cecil a Curse Ring and one of each elemental-halving equipment (Ice, Fire and Diamond). The Curse Ring will drop his stats, but compensates by reversing any elemental spells thrown at him based on the equipment that halves it, so the combination gives him a better chance of surviving than everyone else at this moment (who only get lightning-protective gear, which would only be useful when you get to Barbaricia as she will hit you with lightning spells almost immediately after she hits you with Maelstrom). Then, if you want to get rid of the fiends quickly, you can have Cecil wail on them with his Excalibur (assuming you picked it up before recruiting Fusoya) while healing himself if they decide to smack him with a physical attack.

Otherwise, cast Shell as soon as you get to Cecil, Rosa, or Fusoya, and either cast Slow or throw Spider Silk at the fiends before they could get off a second attack, then try as hard as you can to hit them with their elemental weaknesses and healing the second you get to Rosa (or Fusoya if he's still alive after the first attack; make sure you use Bless if he still is so you can keep your MP charged when you can't find the time to use Pray).

[RationalGaze912]

I'm stuck on this boss fight, too. What level should I be, because I'm mid-50s and Inferno one-shots everyone except Cecil.

If I'm going to use the Steal trick, what should I hit him with? Normal attacks? Because he counters those with Firaga.