Dark Aeons

[LazySloth]

How do you defeat the dark aeons? I am maxed out on everything and all three of my fighters keep getting one shoted. What should i do?

[Faint]

maxed out as in you have all the grid for all the people? after that you need some ribbons and speed, thats pretty much it. you need to be able to deal massive damage (around 500k +) before the aeon can attack plus you need to be able to survive an attack.

other than that though, every aeon has a strategy, there are probably guides about it here somewhere

[Hinnyuu]

All Dark Aeons can be defeated with the same basic strategy: maximum damage output via Quick Hit attacks, and survival via the right armor and knowing what abilities do what.

You don't need EVERY stat 255, as AGI is effectively capped at 170ish and LCK is a ridiculous pain to farm (though it is the best stat); it also works in conjunction with ACC/EVA so those have soft-caps as well. The defense stats should be maxed, but it's fairly trivial to max most stats anyway, except LCK and MAG (which is utterly irrelevant at endgame).

For weapons, Celestial Weapons are of course the best choice, as they have a hidden ability allowing your attacks to hit as though the enemy had DEF=0 (no other weapons in the game can mimic this, regardless of how you customize them).

For armor, you will want the following armor on each active party member:

Auto-Phoenix
Auto-Haste
Auto-Protect
Stoneproof

Auto-Phoenix will let you effectively survive any single-target attack, as you will be instantly revived if you die as long as you are carrying Phoenix Downs. Dark Aeons have many attacks that will deal 99,999 or close pretty much regardless, so this is pretty much required to fight effectively.

Auto-Haste is THE no-brainer ability, likely the most powerful armor stat in the game. Every single armor you ever use at endgame should have this. It's trivial to get because you can just bribe the materials at will.

Auto-Protect is very useful against certain attacks from Dark Aeons, e.g. Dark Yojimbo's Wakizashi which is a frequent party-wide attack that is physical and will thus be reduced below the lethal 9,999 through Protect.

Stoneproof is effectively the substitute for the better but INSANELY expensive Ribbon (you do get one for free, though, so use it if you like). Petrify is the only actually dangerous status effect you will be facing when fighting the Dark Aeons, as all the others can either be ignored or dealt with in other ways (mostly by simply reviving, whereas Petrify deaths will shatter the party member permanently making revival impossible).

Once you have 3 party member with sufficient stats and the above gear, you can kill any Dark Aeon. Most are very straightforward: buff with Aim/Cheer as needed (Rikku has an overdrive that can apply both at maximum x5 stacks instantly), then chain Quick Hits until the enemy falls over. For overdrive moves that generally deal 99,999 to the entire party, simply switch in Yuna shortly before and have her summon an Aeon to absorb the attack.

There are only 2 Dark Aeons that take a bit of practice to kill. The first is Dark Bahamut, which has a pattern of counterattacks that you should figure out and handle accordingly. The other is the Magus Sisters, which can be difficult for various reasons. There are several ways to tackle that fight, having high LCK helps but is not absolutely required. Taking out one of the three sisters will stop their Delta Attack overdrive, which is the main priority. You can use e.g. Wakka's Attack Reels overdrive to help defeat the weakest one (Mindy, 2mio HP) quickly, or you can set up the fight beforehand so you don't fight all three at once.

NOTE: Penance is best fought a bit differently so the above is for Dark Aeons only (and Monster Arena creations, generally).