In Final Fantasy XII, a bounty system was introduced to give yourself move elite enemies that you can take down to open the world up even more. As they are more elite enemies, they can be a lot harder to beat down! Here’s my step by step for preparing for a hunt!
Have a designated healer that has it’s gambits in perfect line
Going into basically a boss fight without having an idea as to healing strategies is a good way to catch death. As our goal is to make the enemy catch death, give your healer some love. Stats wise, Penelo and Ashe are the best ones to have set in the White Mage License board, but truthfully in many of these it doesn’t matter too much.
In terms of Gambits, I have my healer have a whole array of supportive, curative, and restorative gambits ready to go without being manually prompted. I’ll typically have them in this order:
- Ally health < 60% – Cura (or more)
- Ally status = Disease – Cleanse
- Ally Status = Poison – Poisona
- Ally Status = Stone – Stona
- Ally Status = Petrify – Stona
- Ally Status = Blind – Blindna
- Ally Status = Silence – Vox
I’ll also have a gambit that’s MP < 10% – Charge pretty high up just to ensure that Mana is going to stay up. I will always leave fighting to the others because my White Mage’s first and foremost job is to keep everyone else alive.
Tanks are just as important as healers!
You also need a person who can take all of the damage and not even flinch. These people will typically have the highest armor and a shield for blocking. My tank is pretty typically Basch or Balthier is also a good choice. High HP and decent evasion is super important. I keep a Bubble Belt on my tank and ensure that their health goes down below even 80%, my White Mage is on standby to throw a much needed heal.
Also, Lure is a key aspect in many cases too. It’s great to have a tank, but if your enemy has a hankering for your DPS or Healer? You’d gunna have a bad time.
Dispel, dispel, dispel!
Dispel is such a handy tool! Every time I go into a boss or a hunt or a creature harder than it should be, my first look is ‘can I dispel it?’. Most times you can and it’ll significantly make your fights easier!
Balance your melee and magic.
There are many different hunts that will put up protections, making them completely immune to physical or magical damage. If you go through the game with a super buff team, that can be absolutely crippling!
What I would do, is I kept my magical team and my physical team mixed. I’d always try to have one physical fighter, one magical, and my white mage (because I’m too chicken to go anywhere without my white mage). That way, they all keep up high on levels and they all are ready for if I need them in case specific immunities arise.
Pivot!
Do you have a weapon that you absolutely love? Everyone does.. Does that weapon have an element that does less damage to the boss? Change it! You can always optimize or redo gambits even in the middle of battle. You do not need to wait until it you’re in a safe space. If you notice a drastic change in the hunt’s fight pattern and your current equips aren’t working? PIVOT!
Remember: Dying is a learning experience!
The first thing to fall through will always be your plan. Dying can suck, but it’s also a very important tool in your roster for what you can and cannot do. Say you find a hunt and you weren’t aware it uses disease. Without Cleanse and Serum, you won’t make it very far at all. These can be very important lessons for a blind play through, so embrace the death and learn how to gain the upper hand!
