Do not move past the Save Point until you have collected the two treasures in this area: the left side has 2x Librascope and the right has a Phoenix Down . If you wish to reach the CP cap for this stage, backtrack and the enemies will have respawned, allowing you to acquire a bit more CP. This isn’t necessary but do what you will.

Before confronting the boss, equip the Spark Ring and spend any CP you have accumulated. If Sazh has unlocked Aero it will make the forthcoming battle a little easier so try and aim for that if you haven’t already done so.

Prepare the following paradigms:

• COM/RAV/RAV
• RAV/MED/RAV
• COM/MED/RAV (default)
• RAV/RAV/RAV
  Remember, use the COM role for a few assaults to drive up the Chain Gauge a fair bit and to stop it from depleting quickly. Then switch to RAV roles to fill up the remainder of the Chain Gauge in a quick fashion and Stagger the enemy successfully. Save your game at the Save Point and ascend the stairs.

Boss Battle: Garuda Interceptor¶

This is a two-part boss battle, and the first form is easier to deal with. Garuda has two types of physical attacks: the first hits everyone in the attack’s radius and the second hits one character. Both can stagger your characters easily. Begin the battle by using paradigm and bring the boss’s Chain Gauge to about 120% before switching to . Magical attacks will quickly bring the boss’s Chain Gauge to 170% in order to Stagger it.

After dispatching the first form, let’s have fun with the second form! Begin the battle with setup and keep pestering Garuda until it does its ultimate attack; it’ll circle in the air a few times and then shoot Hellstorm Bolt for moderate damage. Afterwards, switch to and Stagger the boss. Notice how your attacks do very little damage which ranges from 10-25? Pressing R1/RB to bring up the Libra screen will explain it - the boss is resistant to both physical and magical attacks, meaning it heavily reduces both types of damage. However, after the boss is staggered, those resistances are gone for as long as the boss is in the staggered state.

When Garuda is staggered, remain in setup - magical attacks will keep adding big points bonuses, thus increasing the damage you’re doing and offing the boss in one Stagger period.

There’s a chance you may win Fortisol after the battle. Beating the boss gives you the Up In Arms Key Item, which opens up a third shop at Save Points.

In addition, Sazh gets access to the Synergist role, and Vanille gets access to the Saboteur role.