Can anyone give me some suggestions for gambits or weapon setups or anything for beating Zodiark?

I fight my whole way to get to him, get him to like 3% HP, then the fucker just unleashes Darkja again and again and again and again.....

HELP???!?!!?!??

Get him to 3%? I assume it's when he does his Physical Barrier/Magic Shield?

You don't want to let that happen. For the rest of the battle, the physical Paling only goes away for split seconds, so there's no getting around that. The Magic Shield stays away a little longer, but for someone like Zodiark relying on Magic alone, at random short intervals nonetheless, is gonna be hell. So, you're pretty much fucked if you let him do that. What you want to do, is release Quickenings like mad BEFORE he does that.

How do you know when he's about to do that, you ask? Well, when it says he's about to use "Shift", that's your cue, immediately get those Quickenings going.

Also you probably already know this but you could enter the battle with one character alone if you want to avoid the trouble of the opening Darkja.

Zak's strategy works, but Quickenings are really quite random, and are pretty much worthless if you have a small amount of MP. The way I did it, which may or may not work for you, is to use one character (to save the trouble of Darkja - a Black Mask may be necessary) and just focus on staying alive, casting Scathe whenever the magic shield falls. If your character dies, swap in another and revive them. I was at a fairly high level, though, so this might not always work...

Also you probably already know this but you could enter the battle with one character alone if you want to avoid the trouble of the opening Darkja.

Really? I never even considered that...


... Quickenings are really quite random, and are pretty much worthless if you have a small amount of MP. The way I did it, which may or may not work for you, is to use one character (to save the trouble of Darkja - a Black Mask may be necessary) and just focus on staying alive, casting Scathe whenever the magic shield falls...

Interesting... I shall try and tell you if it works!

Thanks for the info!

Sorry to double post but nope, it didn't work...

He still slaughters me with Darkja after Darkja and those fucking pailings! GRR I JUST WANT TO FKN KILL HIM!

Did you try the Black Masks? They absorb Dark damage. With these, if he spams Darkja he should only heal you. You can find these at the shop in Balfonheim.

Black Masks don't work for Darkja (well, they will for one random person) as the move instantly kills and blinds two characters.

Black Masks don't work for Darkja (well, they will for one random person) as the move instantly kills and blinds two characters.

Black Masks are a gamble, they either do or they don't heal you. Sometimes they heal, sometimes they fail. I don't know if it's random or if it's a way to determine that, but I always entered the battle ALONE so only one person would be affected by Darkja. And that person always had the exact same equipment on including a Black Mask. Sometimes he was killed, and sometimes he was healed. My only guess to how it WOULDN'T be random is if it depended whether you were hit from behind, but I doubt that's a factor.