FFX End-Game Gil Farming

For those who don't want to use the MAX GIL feature offered in the game.

Introduction

Hello! This is the first guide I'm writing on Steam, and it's dedicated to those FFX fans who doesn't want to use the MAX GIL feature included in the game, since it feels like cheating (at least to me).

If you still haven't unlocked the Airship and the Monster Arena...

Just to make it clear, this Gil Farming Guide is intended to be used at the end-game.
If you still haven't unlocked the Airship and doesn't know how the Monster Arena works,
you should stop reading!!!

This guide is intended to people who have already unlocked most of their sphere grid, started pumping all stats and have few sidequests left to be done (such as Dark Aeons, Penance and Nemesis).

Before we start

This is a specific Gil Farming Guide, I'm not gonna go through all the pre-grinding you'd need to do to start this, but you should consider having:

• Kottos unlocked in the Monster Arena (Mi'hen Highroad - Area Conquest);
  
• At least three full-powered Celestial Weapons;
  
• At least three pieces of Auto-Haste armor.
  
• At least three pretty strong party members (99,999 damage, high stats in general);

If your party members aren't strong enough, I also recommend Auto-Phoenix in the armors, but really, if you aren't strong enough for quick kills yet, I strongly suggest you grind more first.

Check out these guides, it should help:

• Monster Arena Guide written by Sinister - to help you catch them all!
  (I strongly suggest capturing 10 of each for completion sakes)
  
• Celestial Weapons Guide written by Sinister - to start dealing high damage!
  
• Don Tonberry AP Trick Guide written by Dimo Sparks - for quick and easy AP!
  
• Bribe Guide written by srsface - to get those rare items fast!

You can also find many other guides and information within GameFAQs.[www.gamefaqs.com]

Why Kottos?

Alright! So there are probably other methods on farming Gil, but after searching around the internet, Kottos always seems to be the fastest.
Here's some (slightly edited) comments from GameFAQs Boards[www.gamefaqs.com]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Magnum_50 - 5 years ago
(...)
I did some new highly accurate tests and got this:
Sleep Sprout- 5.02 mil/hr
Kottos- 5.83 mil/hr
One-Eye- 2.28 mil/hr
(...)
(the comment above can be found on page 3[www.gamefaqs.com])

Magnum_50 - 5 years ago
(...)
So now I've done my final tests for one hour each.

Sleep Sprout- 5.859 M/hr
Kottos- 6.193 M/hr

These are about the fastest you can get with these methods.
(...)
(the comment above can be found on page 4[www.gamefaqs.com])

Sleep Sprout is a good alternative if you don't want to fumble into menus every 2 fights.
You can find more information on the GameFAQs Boards mentioned above.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
So the Kottos method ends up being the fastest still.
Also, thanks for all the info, Magnum_50!

In any case, I'll mention alternate ways to start off:

• Unlocking Stratavis (Area Conquest - Besaid) in the Monster Arena nets you 99 Stamina Tonics, which can be used to customize armor with +30% HP. You can then buy Tetra Armors in Kilika, customize them and sell them back for a lot of Gil.
  
• Unlocking Hornet (Insect Species) in the Monster Arena nets you 60 Mana Tonics, which can be used to customize armor with +30% MP. Same thing as above, buy, customize, sell, profit!
  
• And lastly, if you already burned those and is out of Gil again, you could try the Mimics in Omega Ruins. They'll give you 100,000 Gil per fight with Gillionaire. If you're like me, the only time you'll profit with them is while capturing the Omega Ruins Area Monsters.

The Kottos Method

The idea is to buy a lot of Tetra Armor from Kilika (2,250 Gil each).

Then head to the Monster Arena and kill Kottos (costs 6,000 Gil per fight).

He'll normally drop 40 Healing Springs per battle, along with a piece of weapon or armor which you can sell for some extra cash.

Finally, customize the Tetra Armors with SOS Regen and sell them (sells for 37,781 each piece).



Sounds kinda annoying, eh?
Customizing stuff every now and then, going to Kilika to buy armors, going back to the Arena, killing Kottos which counterattacks you after every attack...

But don't worry! With a proper setup, it can be pretty smooth, and feels a lot better than just randomly travelling/buying/customizing/selling.

The Basics

Before anything, I'm only considering Overkills;
Kottos should go down in 5 hits (considering 99,999 damage each hit);
He will counter-attack after every hit (or miss);
He also has a chance of dropping Dark Matters instead of Healing Springs, but I'll come to that later.

Speaking some numbers:

You'll have to invest some Gil. Yup. So make sure you have enough before you start. I'll use numbers considering the way I do these "Gil Farm Runs" (you'll understand it better later):

• 2,250 Gil x 100 Tetra Armors = 225,000 Gil
  
• 6,000 Gil x 30 Kottos = 180,000 Gil
  
• Minimum* investment of 405,000 Gil

*minimum because you'll probably fight more Kottos than you want.

Once you're done, you'll sell 100 pieces of Regen Armors, which will be a total of 3,778,100 Gil.
That's at least 3,373,100 Gil Profit, not including the extra equipment Kottos will drop.

Keep those in mind:

• Every Kottos nets you 40 Healing Springs;
  
• After 2 fights, it's 80 Healing Springs total, which customizes 6 pieces of armor and leaves us with 8 Healing Springs;
  
• Next 2 fights, you'll have 88 Healing Springs, which customizes 7 pieces of armor and leaves us with 4 Healing Springs;
  
• And then in the next 2 fights, you'll have 84 Healing Springs, which customizes 7 pieces of armor and leaves us with 0 Healing Springs;
  
• FFX has a maximum of 178 equipment slots, and everytime you kill Kottos, you get a piece of equipment.

This means we have a cycle of 6 Kottos (6-7-7, repeat).

How it works for me

Next I'll describe my planning for farming, and then you can adapt it to your save, regardless:

• I own 26 pieces of equipment, which leaves me with 152 free equipment slots;
  
• Every 6 Kottos, it's possible to customize 20 pieces of equipment (6-7-7, remember?).
  That's also 6 equipment drops, which sums up to 26 pieces of equipment every 6 Kottos;
  
• 152 free slots / 26 equips = 5.84 (let's consider 5);
  
• So, I have to kill 6 Kottos 5 times. 6 x 5 = 30 Kottos;
  
• 30 Kottos equals 1200 Healing Springs. That's a total of 100 customizations.
  
• So, I buy 100 pieces of Tetra Armor and kill 30 Kottos, which sums up to 130 pieces of equipment.
  
• I had 152 free slots and got 130 equips: that leaves me with 22 free equipment slots once I'm done.
  
• That means I can allow Kottos to drop Dark Matters 22 times before selling any piece of equipment to free inventory slots (that's really unlikely to happen).

(just in case, I'm not counting the amount of Dark Matters dropped, which is 2 per Overkill.
I'm counting the amount of times it happens)

How it will work for you

You probably have a different amount of free inventory space and these calcs doesn't cut...

Well, I want to help you!

• Let's recall that every 6 Kottos you can customize 20 pieces and it'll drop 6 extra pieces, which is a total of 26 equipment pieces, right?
  
• Let's also remember that FFX has 178 maximum equipment slots.

Use this list to see where your inventory space fits!

• 6 Kottos - 240 HS - buy 20 TA - drops 6 equips: needs 26 free space;
  
• 12 Kottos - 480 HS - buy 40 TA - drops 12 equips: needs 52 free space;
  
• 18 Kottos - 720 HS - buy 60 TA - drops 18 equips: needs 78 free space;
  
• 24 Kottos - 960 HS - buy 80 TA - drops 24 equips: needs 104 free space;
  
• 30 Kottos - 1200 HS - buy 100 TA - drops 30 equips: needs 130 free space;
  (This is where I am, with 152 free space)
  
• 36 Kottos - 1440 HS - buy 120 TA - drops 36 equips: needs 156 free space;
  
• 42 Kottos - 1680 HS - buy 140 TA - drops 42 equips: needs 182 free space;

(HS goes for Healing Springs and TA for Tetra Armors)

As you can see, 42 Kottos or any higher amount of kills is only possible if you sell equipment between the kills, which I don't recommend since it might just slow you down.

I do recommend leaving some space in case he drops Dark Matters instead of Healing Springs, because it will add the equipment count by 1 every time it happens.

Example: I have 152 free space before starting. Bought 100 Tetra Armors and killed 40 Kottos instead of 30 because he dropped 2 Dark Matters 10 times. That sums up to 140 total equipment after I'm done, leaving only 12 free space slots before selling everything instead of the regular 22.

Step-by-Step

1. Go to Kilika and buy those Tetra Armor (find your amount above);
   
2. Go back to Calm Lands into the Monster Arena;
   
3. Kill Kottos 2 times, then customize 6 to 7 pieces of Tetra Armor
   (kill extra in case of Dark Matters);
   
4. (optional) Talk to the Save Sphere for some healz! Save also if you want.
   
5. Repeat step 3 and 4 until you have no Tetra Armor left to customize;
   
6. Sell everything and repeat from step 1 (profit, yay!!! $_$).

If you don't have too much free space, make sure to keep note for each time it drops Dark Matters, so you can prevent going into full inventory and losing Gil.

How much time does it take?

I never thought I'd do this, but I did time one run (from Monster Arena, to Kilika, back to Monster Arena and finishing selling) and it was roughly 32 minutes.

• The trip from the Monster Arena to Kilika, buying all the equipment and running back into the Arena took me ~3min30sec (and I did miscount when buying, wasting some time checking);
  
• Each Kottos fight were ~40sec, including menus.
  
• One perfect "2-Kottos-Cycle" would take ~1min30sec, including all menus, customizing Regen Armors and talking to the Save Sphere. This considers no Dark Matters.
  
• In the end, selling all the equipment to the Arena guy took me ~1min40sec.

I did mess up a bit while doing it, so It could be slightly faster, but I can say it's around 30 minutes per run (for a 100 Tetra Armor run, of course). I suggest just mashing the Quick Hit command on all characters, using the Cursor Memory option in the Config menu.

(Much like Magnum_50 tests. This method can net you at least 3.3mil in ~30 minutes)

What about Sleep Sprouts?

Although I didn't test the method in-game, I did some calculations, so if you wanna try it, tell me your results later!

• For this, you'll need Auron dealing 99,999 damage and his Celestial Weapon fully charged.

Before you start:

• Sleep Sprouts have 98,000 maximum HP, they can be one-shotted by Auron, specially because his Celestial Weapon have the First Strike ability, so the fights will be pretty quick.
  
• Each Sleep Sprout drops 2 Teleport Spheres. Those can be customized into a weapon for Evade & Counter. You'll be buying weapons in Kilika as well.
  
• They also drop Dark Matters as a rare drop, so it might be a faster way to get them.
  
• You should use Mug for extra cash, getting 4 Poison Fangs per Mug and allowing the Poisonstrike customization on weapons as well.

Customizations:

• 1 Teleport Sphere per Evade & Counter (2 weapons per fight);
  
• 24 Poison Fangs per Poisonstrike (1 weapon every 6 fights).

I'll do a similar list as I did to Kottos:

• 06 SS - 12 E&C - 1 PS - 6 drops - 19 needed slots (buy 13 weapons)
  
• 12 SS - 24 E&C - 2 PS - 12 drops - 38 needed slots (buy 26 weapons)
  
• 18 SS - 36 E&C - 3 PS - 18 drops - 57 needed slots (buy 39 weapons)
  
• 24 SS - 48 E&C - 4 PS - 24 drops - 76 needed slots (buy 52 weapons)
  
• 30 SS - 60 E&C - 5 PS - 30 drops - 95 needed slots (buy 65 weapons)
  
• 36 SS - 72 E&C - 6 PS - 36 drops - 114 needed slots (buy 78 weapons)
  
• 42 SS - 84 E&C - 7 PS - 42 drops - 133 needed slots (buy 91 weapons)
  
• 48 SS - 96 E&C - 8 PS - 48 drops - 152 needed slots (buy 104 weapons)

(where SS means Sleep Sprout, E&C means Evade and Counter, PS means Poisonstrike)

Investment:

I'll consider 42 Sleep Sprouts (that's the empty slot range I feel comfortable with when dropping Dark Matters)

• 42 Sleep Sprouts (8,000 Gil each): 336,000 Gil
  
• 91 Weapons (1,875 Gil each): 170,625 Gil
  (I'd probably go for extra weapons, such as 95 maybe? You will drop Dark Matters between kills, while still mugging Poison Fangs now and then. Well you might sometimes steal 1 Farplane Wind (the rare steal) as well, right? Needs testing!)
  
• That's a minimum investment of 506,625 Gil.

I don't have the values of selling, since I didn't test it myself to say for sure, but should net you a good amount of Gil as well!

You should mod Poisonstrike every 16 mugs, which should be a total of 98 Poison Fangs, allowing you to mod 4 pieces of weapon. Might as well mod Evade & Counter.

And, well, if you're too lazy, maybe just ignore the Poisonstrike mod. Just kill bunches of them, probably using Mug to keep track of how many you killed (10 MP per kill, right?). This way I'd only mod before selling.

Lazy mode - Ignoring Poisonstrike:

• 2 Weapon mods per fight (2 teleport spheres)
  
• 1 Equipment drop per fight

3 Equipment Slots per SS kill:

• 01 SS - 2 E&C - 1 equip drop - 3 needed free slots (buy 2 weapons)
  
• 10 SS - 20 E&C - 10 equip drops - 30 needed free slots (buy 20 weapons)
  
• 20 SS - 40 E&C - 20 equip drops - 60 needed free slots (buy 40 weapons)
  
• 40 SS - 80 E&C - 40 equip drops - 120 needed free slots (buy 80 weapons)
  
• 45 SS - 90 E&C - 45 equip drops - 135 needed free slots (buy 90 weapons)
  (As you can see, the calculations are kinda easy to find your desired free slots requirements.)

I'd go with 45 SS since my inventory has 152 free slots. That allows me to drop Dark Matters a total of 17 times (which is slightly less than half of the kill number) before even thinking on selling extra equipment.(Dark Matter is a rare drop though and I doubt I'd ever need to sell anything before modding.)
And for the Step-by-Step, I'd do like this:

• Buy 90 Weapons at Kilika;
  
• Kill 45 Sleep Sprouts (extras in case of Dark Matters);
  
• Mod all Weapons with Evade & Counter;
  
• Sell everything, repeat.

You can keep track on how many Sleep Sprouts you killed by using any ability to kill them. I highly suggest Mug. 45 Kills would be 450 MP, which would leave Auron at 549 MP (considering 999 Max MP). Dark Matters will result in miscounting, so you could keep note of them just to know how much extra kills you need at the end.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this guide!
I tried to make it the easiest for you to understand and apply, I hope you enjoyed it!
This will help you farm tons of Gil (probably for bribes?) without using the MAX GIL feature implemented in the game, so you can feel really proud for not cheating!

And if you have any questions, just ask!

[tiamat12]

Although the profit is lower, the glorious armour from Besaid is a cheaper alternative to start with. 3 blank slots for 450 Gil per armour which goes to 22556 with SOS Regen / haste.

[ensbana]

Are there any ways to get “HP +30%” to the top of the customization list? Apart from selling the ingredients related to abilities preceding it of course.

[HIGHGRADESMOKER87]

is there any enemies you can just farm to get gil like omega ruins

[Anarkan]

This guide helped me a lot. I chose Sleep Sprout lazy mode because the other methods were too much work for me, and this way I didn't have to waste much time customizing weapons and I felt it way faster as I didn't have to press so many buttons. I needed money to bribe Sand Worms in order to finally get the Triple Overdrive weapons for all my characters and it felt so easy that way. Yojimbo also thanked me for the extra profit I had. Thanks!

[naoko]

I'm glad you guys share your experience! I'm too lazy at the moment to add anything to the guide but it's very nice of you guys to comment on other ways to farm Gil and give other ppl more options. The best way to farm gil is the way you enjoy =)

[Nerd_1991]

I think you should include Malboro Menace in your guide. He drops 4 Mana tonics from an OVERKILL !! Customize those into Armor from Kilika and you will have all the gil you need in 1 day, or maybe even just some hours.

[n00bular | fus!on]

Just thought I'd mention the quickest way I've found to kill Kottos is to just have Yuna Grand Summon Anima, and hit him with Oblivion, one hit should do it.

Yuna's gauge can be almost constantly full by just putting her Overdrive mode to Comrade, and then letting someone else on the party attack Kottos and get killed by the counter-attack. I can usually finish a Kottos fight in just two turns (one person to attack and get counter-attacked by Kottos, then Yuna Grand Summon Anima).

[Kiaos]

Seeing all this work makes me feel like using max gil. But then again ending my playthrough with max gil is not fun. I may just do mimics until I get bored