OMG it is finally done. I completed the Aigaion trial and got my hands on that wonderful Martial Arts Mastery mwahahhaa!!! My A2 is a freakin’ beast now 💪😀
I had been avoiding the Aigaion trial like the plague ever since I heard it takes around 2 – 6 hours to beat it. I didn’t have any strong attackers at the time so it just didn’t make any sense to try. Then I pulled A2 and 2B and got my attackers. I heard of other players defeating Aigaion with these units relatively quickly so I figured I should at least attempt it. I spent some time farming TMRs to prepare for the trial and then a few days ago I decided to go for it.
I was following this guide from reddit that suggested using A2 + friend A2, along with enhanced Soleil (buffs), a re-raiser, a healer, and a tank. I was trying to decide between A2 or 2B. I knew that 2B has an extra Machine Killer buff so I figured she’d do more damage. I tried the trial with 2B + friend 2B first and unfortunately that didn’t go too well; I wasn’t doing enough damage and the battle kept dragging on with Aigaion healing itself past 70% and re-activating World Destroyer. At that time I was trying different combinations of materia so it could’ve been that I stacked on another Machine Killer materia instead of ATK+, which would’ve contributed to the lack of damage. Anyhow, I ended up switching over to A2 and noticed a huge difference in damage. I was wiping down the arms and Aigaion’s body pretty quickly. A2’s chains are so epic! Not only that, when chaining on Aigaion’s main body, they generated enough limit break crystals to practically refill Rikku’s LB gauge each turn. Oh, and Rikku was also equipped with Jack’s TMR (Ignorance) so I’m sure that helped.
Through the different trial attempts, I tried switching between WoL and Veritas of the Earth as the tank. The battles were much easier with WoL for me. I basically just needed “Light is with us!” (protects allies) up all of the time and the occasional AoE dispel with Bushido – Freedom when Aigaion is buffed.
My healer was Tilith (MVP!) and mostly just used Prism Heal to help A2s with their MP regeneration and Radiant Light for full healing during the scary near death moments. Whenever Rikku had a free turn, and if it were necessary, I would have her use items to help with Tilith’s MP recovery. MP management wasn’t bad as both A2s had Odin’s ability to drain MP. Whenever one was low on MP, I would cast MP drain and then get back to chaining.
One thing I wasn’t quite prepared for was the full party wipes after getting Aigaion’s body down to around half HP. It happened through multiple trial attempts and I was becoming increasingly frustrated. Maybe I didn’t have enough defense on my units but sometimes they couldn’t even survive the lesser damage World Destroyer waves. As I was following the guide, I used Meliadoul as my dedicated re-raiser but she just wasn’t cutting it especially when most of the party was dead. I ended up dropping Meliadoul for Rikku and that made all the difference. Duh, Rikku! Of course, she’s meta! Total noob moment lol. After switching her into the party and not caring about keeping both attackers alive at the same time, everything went pretty smoothly.
I got the right arm down below 10%, wiped the main body out, and then the right arm was healed back to around 58%. I panicked for a bit because I was afraid my units would get snorted if I didn’t kill the right arm in time – I couldn’t afford anyone being snorted 😱 !! Thankfully, within a few turns the right arm was gone. With just the left arm remaining, the rest of the battle was a piece of cake. I absolutely made sure to summon Ramuh (dat Martial Arts Mastery yo!) and completed the trial.
I can’t believe how epicly strong A2 is. I’m sure A2 and 2B make this trial way easier. I have a lot of respect for those who completed the trial before these strong machina units came out – good job, yo! I know I don’t have the patience for a 6 hour trial. Although… side note… I did spend a long time on Erinyes by noobishly bringing a physical attacker instead of a magical attacker (should’ve done some research first 😅). After 119 turns I finally got that harp 💪😭. Not sure why I didn’t quit and retry either – it’s not like the battle cost any NRG. Oh well, that was one #EpicNoobMoment 😜
I wonder which other trial boss I can pillage with A2 lol. I’m excited to find out mwahahaa *evil laughter* 😏
Game on!
– V