Cave Masters, Colosseum & Ultima Weapon
Ten trophies for the optional fights: the fifteen Cave Masters, the first three Colosseum leagues, the King Gil Snapper and Metal Gigantuar, Mechabo's three upgrades and the superboss, Ultima Weapon.
All 15 Cave Masters
| # | Cave Master | Where | Ch. | Lv | HP | Weak to | Notes | Drops |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marauder | Grandport island desert, just east of Siren's Tower | 1 | 15 | 30,000 | Wind | Magicite Shard | |
| 2 | Shoggoth | Dirnado's east coast, just north of Mt. Thunderclap | 2 | 25 | 45,500 | Water, Earth | Immune to physical attacks | Magicite Shard |
| 3 | Rukh | Olderion, south of the Aquapolis | 3 | 26 | 46,800 | Wind | Immune to Earth | Magicite Shard |
| 4 | Mindflayer | Olderion, west of the Town of Amore | 3 | 28 | 52,000 | Earth | Magicite | |
| 5 | Gogmagog | Zoldaad, just south-west of the Rebel Hideout | 4 | 34 | 78,000 | Wind, Light | Magicite | |
| 6 | Pyroviper | Zoldaad, south of the Weapons Factory | 4 | 37 | 89,700 | Water | Immune to Fire | Magicite |
| 7 | Salome | Mysidia, right next to (south of) the Village of Sunioo | 5 | 39 | 200,000 | Wind | Resists Earth | Magicite |
| 8 | Jotunn | Mysidia's west side, south of Victoria's Shrine | 5 | 42 | 240,000 | Fire, Dark | Immune to Ice | Magicite |
| 9 | Malboro Varietas | Island north-east of the Water Shrine (Olderion) | 5 | 45 | 270,000 | Fire | Airship | Magicite |
| 10 | Tartarosaurus | Pharm, the island north-east of Mysidia | 5 | 50 | 350,000 | Ice | Resists Earth | Magicite Cryst |
| 11 | Catacumba | Southern Gronoa, south-east of the Sanctissimus Shrine | 5 | 54 | 380,000 | Light, Fire | Magicite Cryst | |
| 12 | Necromonarch | Gronoa, south-east of the Town of Duggle | 7 | 55 | 444,444 | Fire, Light | Resists Earth | Magicite Cryst |
| 13 | Humbaba | North-east Gronoa, just east of the Bladerain Stele | 7 | 55 | 450,000 | Wind | Magicite Cryst | |
| 14 | Malboro Menace | Northern Pharm, north of the Abandoned Cabin | 5 | 60 | 700,000 | Fire | Magicite Cryst | |
| 15 | Titanoraidos | Western Pharm, right beside Mt. Reizan | 5 | 60 | 800,000 | Ice | Resists Lightning and Wind; the most HP of all | Magicite Cryst |
How to beat every Cave Master
General rules: each cave is one room with no save point, so save outside. Weakness hits deal 1.5× damage and triple stagger, and staggering cancels a devastating attack. From Pyroviper on, every Cave Master acts twice a turn. Useful tools: Shell (Fina, or Leah, Aileen, Charlotte), Protect (Rain, or Ayaka, Cecil, Warrior of Light), Fina's Light Veil (blocks one ailment or debuff for the party) and Dispel (Nichol or Ayaka).
Marauder (Lv 15): All physical. Protect the front line (Shell is useless). Its Thwack hits everyone four times: break the gauge before it. Defend while its Bravery is up, and cure Body Slam's Paralysis. Wind sources: Clive, Firion, Tidus, or Jake's Aero.
Shoggoth (Lv 25): Immune to physical attacks: magic only (Water or Earth). Shell the party, Dispel its Faith or break the gauge before the boosted Gigavolt, and keep Esuna for Sleep and Poison.
Rukh (Lv 26): Shell, then Dispel its Mighty Guard and Scatter Feathers (evasion). Light Veil blocks its Petrifying Gaze once.
Mindflayer (Lv 28): Kill the two Mind Elementals (weak to Fire) first so every break is a Sweeping Stagger. Stagger it or Light Veil before Mind Blast (Paralysis, Silence and Poison at once). Bring Esuna and a second healer.
Gogmagog (Lv 34): Almost all physical: Protect everyone and Dispel its Bravery (or Debrave with Cloud). Fist of Ferocity is its big single hit.
Pyroviper (Lv 37): Acts twice a turn from here on. Protect and Shell: it can follow Burn to Ashes (party Fire) with Thwack in the same turn.
Salome (Lv 39): Charm and Poison. Light Veil before Allure (party Charm), Esuna after Bio. 200,000 HP, so bring Wind damage.
Jotunn (Lv 42): Its Revenge Blast grows stronger as its HP drops: keep the gauge close to breaking late so you can cancel it, and heal before the break turn. Dispel Fist of Vigor.
Malboro Varietas (Lv 45): Bad Breath inflicts Poison, Blind, Silence and Confuse on everyone: Light Veil before it, Esuna after. Fire changes its behaviour, so be ready.
Tartarosaurus (Lv 50): Its Meteor is the hardest-hitting Cave Master move. Shell everyone and save your Limit Bursts and Resonances for its low-HP phase, when it uses big skills more often.
Catacumba (Lv 54): Instant-death attacks: Bone Toss takes 99% of a character's HP and Disaster adds Doom. Open hard (it's most dangerous at high HP), heal the Bone Toss target at once and keep Reraise on the party.
Necromonarch (Lv 55): It counters magic of its weakness: deliver Fire and Light with physical skills instead. It heals 20% with Rejuvenate, so keep the damage steady.
Humbaba (Lv 55): Ruthless Rampage paralyses, blinds and silences the party, and Revenge Blast grows at low HP. Two healers, Light Veil before Rampage, Esuna after.
Malboro Menace (Lv 60): Putrid Breath inflicts five ailments: Light Veil first. It counters after a set number of Fire hits, but each counter costs it an action, so keep using Fire.
Titanoraidos (Lv 60): 800,000 HP and it gets more dangerous the longer the fight lasts. Snort removes a character from the battle: break the gauge before it. Ice, speed, and your Resonances early.
The Colosseum
Four leagues of five fights, the sign-up tables from left to right. Each league opens when you clear the one before. Only the first three have trophies.
| League | Table | Rec. level | Trophy | Prizes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fledgling | green, far left | 25–32 | Just Getting Started | 1. Magicite Shard 2. Adamantite 3. Ancient Greatsword 4. Magicite Shard 5. Gaia Hammer (frees Titan) |
| Brawler | blue, second | 40–48 | Arena Fighter | 1. Magicite 2. Adamantite 3. Adamantite (Ochu + Microchus) 4. Magicite (five Flan Princesses) 5. Ancient Cuirass (Elementals) |
| Gladiator | purple, third | 55–70 | Career Fighter | 1. Magicite Cryst (Zone Eater) 2. Reflect Ring (Hidon) 3. Barrier Ring (Donchu) 4. Protect Ring (Death Machine) 5. Magicite Cryst (Gargantuan Gigantuar) |
| Champion | fourth | 75–99 | No trophy | 1. Malboro Queen 2. Holy Dragon 3. Beast of Ruin 4. Shinryu 5. Omega (Lv 99) |
No EXP or gil from Colosseum fights; the first win of each pays its prize, repeats pay a consumable. Fleeing counts as a loss but the fight stays open. Worth buying: the Rod of Focus (+30% stagger on weakness hits), Hermes Sandals (permanent Haste), Calm Armlet (Confuse/Berserk) and Jeweled Ring (Paralysis).
Every Colosseum fight
| League | # | Enemies | How to win | First-win prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fledgling | 1 | Wyvern, Magma Tortoise, Coeurl (Lv 26–27) | Mixed weaknesses: Ice/Dark, Water and Earth. Break all three in one turn for a Sweeping Stagger. | Magicite Shard |
| Fledgling | 2 | Chimera (Lv 28, about 14,800 HP) | The league's only duel. Weak to Earth and Dark, immune to Fire, Ice and Lightning, and casts party-wide magic, so Shell helps. | Adamantite |
| Fledgling | 3 | Two Balaurs, Simurgh, Blood Worm (Lv 32) | Fire for the Balaurs, Wind for the Simurgh, Ice or Water for the Blood Worm. | Ancient Greatsword |
| Fledgling | 4 | Ice Lizard, Gray Bomb, Lieutenant (Lv 33–34) | Fire for the lizard and bomb, Earth or Water for the Lieutenant (the tanky one). | Magicite Shard |
| Fledgling | 5 | Allosaur, Ice Sculpture, Ahriman (Lv 37) | Ice for the Allosaur and Ahriman, Fire for the Sculpture. | Gaia Hammer (frees Titan) |
| Brawler | 1 | Wild Maneuverer + Dark Fang (Lv 40) | Fire for the Maneuverer, Wind for the Fang (different from their field versions). Both have party-wide devastating attacks. | Magicite |
| Brawler | 2 | Chaos Dragon + Hexadragon (Lv 41) | Both counter physical and magic hits. Lightning or Light for Chaos Dragon (it absorbs Dark), Earth or Light for Hexadragon (it absorbs Fire). A Calm Armlet blocks Rabid Claw's Confuse/Berserk. | Adamantite |
| Brawler | 3 | Ochu (510,000 HP) + Microchus | Earth. Kill the Microchus first, before Call to Action gives them two actions; Calm Armlet vs Pollen, Jeweled Ring vs Charge. Staggering the Ochu cancels its big moves. | Adamantite |
| Brawler | 4 | Five Flan Princesses (Lv 45) | They absorb every element: non-elemental attacks only. Watch for party Berserk and Charm dances. | Magicite |
| Brawler | 5 | Seven Elementals in two waves (Lv 48) | Each is weak to one element and immune to its own: Red (Water), Blue (Fire), Earth (Wind), Aqua (Lightning), then Dark (Light), White (Dark), Green (Ice). | Ancient Cuirass |
| Gladiator | 1 | Zone Eater (Lv 55, 468,000 HP) | Wind and Light (it absorbs Earth and Dark). Swallow takes a character out of the fight until it spits them back out with ailments: don't waste a Raise, just Esuna afterwards. | Magicite Cryst |
| Gladiator | 2 | Hidon (Lv 58, 550,000 HP) | Fire and Light. Break it before Meteor or Disaster, and Raise anyone Doom takes. Jeweled Rings on everyone. | Reflect Ring |
| Gladiator | 3 | Donchu (Lv 62, 910,000 HP) | Earth, ideally physical (its Stamina is low). A countdown ends with it swallowing everything, so it's a damage race. Light Veil before Pollen, and rebuff after Bellow strips your buffs. | Barrier Ring |
| Gladiator | 4 | Death Machine (Lv 66) | No weakness, and each element you use gets nullified for four turns: rotate elements every hit. It counters non-elemental attacks and has instant-death moves, so put a Safety Bit on everyone (4,000 gil in Mysidia, the airship and the Crystal Tower). | Protect Ring |
| Gladiator | 5 | Gargantuan Gigantuar (Lv 70) | Fixed damage that ignores Protect and Shell: 100,000 Needles is ten hits of 10,000, and it does it again when it dies. Answer with a stagger or Sakura's Eternal Veil, and have Eternal Veil plus Reraise up before the final blow. | Magicite Cryst |
King Gil Snapper and Metal Gigantuar
Both live on the small forested island where the optional Dragon's Maw dungeon comes out (southern tip of the Kingdom of Pharm, recommended level 55, airship). Random battles there also bring Gigantuars, which give lots of MRP. King Gil Snapper: level 49, weak to Ice only (it absorbs the other elements), counters physical hits and can flee; about 28,000 gil a kill. Metal Gigantuar: a handful of HP, huge evasion, nullifies most damage and flees; Dualcast and your strongest spells, for about 150,000 EXP.
Mechabo's upgrades
| Quest | Upgrade | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Arise, Mechabo! | Repaired Mechabo | Chapter 2, after the Mobliz Shipyard events: talk to Verun at the Dwarven Forge and bring 2 Dynamo Stones from the Ipooh (big bears) outside the Forge. |
| Mechabo Evolved | Mechabo Tackle | Defeat 3 Dhorme Chimerae north-east of Grandport. |
| Mechabo Evolved | Overclock | Defeat 3 Medusae south-west of the Dwarven Forge. |
| Mechabo Evolved | Mecha Fat Chocobo | Defeat 3 Destroyers in the west of the Olderion Federation. |
| Mechabo Evolved | Mecha Behemoth | Defeat 3 sandworms in the south of Zoldaad. |
| Mechabo Unleashed | Overclock Zero | From Chapter 5, talk to Verun at the Forge again. Defeat 3 Mahadevas on the western island of Mysidia. |
| Mechabo Unleashed | Mechamog Scan | Defeat 3 Malbodooms in western Gronoa (Chapter 6+), then hand everything in and talk to Verun on the airship. |
How to beat Ultima Weapon
Where and when: after the credits, load your clear save. An airship scene reports a new presence in Ardra Crater in the south-east of the map. Ultima Weapon stands in the middle; you can't flee once it starts.
Stats: level 70, 3.9 million HP, a 5,000-point stagger gauge. It cycles through four modes, each with its own weaknesses: Infernus (Wind, Water), Keraunos (Ice, Earth), Cocytus (Fire, Light) and Nemea (Lightning, Dark). Hit the current mode's weakness to build stagger; staggering it cancels Ultima Beam.
Level and gear: level 60–65 is enough if your build is right: Aileen's Adamantite weapons and the Legendary Arms you've upgraded, several Visions at MR 9 and 3 stars, and Ribbons (or Terra's innate Ribbon) against status ailments.
Opening: have your healer (Fina) Dualcast Reraise on all four in the first two turns. Reapply it whenever someone gets KO'd.
Ultima Beam: it's telegraphed with an exclamation mark on the turn bar and red flames above its HP bar. Before it lands, either stagger it or use Sakura's Eternal Veil Limit Break, which nullifies all damage to the party for one bar of the gauge. Fina's healing builds Limit Break fast; pass it to Sakura with Entrust.
Damage: Sakura and Archwitch Fina with Dualcast Ultima (and the right element for its mode), Rain with Double Action skills and his Limit Break. Dispel whenever it casts Bravery, and use X-Ethers and Megalixirs freely: it's a war of attrition.
Reward: about 300,000 EXP, 500,000 gil, a Megalixir and the Ultima Reactor accessory.
The trophies
Just Getting Started
BronzeFull guideCollapse Clear all Fledgling League fights in the Colosseum.
Just Getting Started
BronzeFull guideCollapseHow to earn it
Win all five Fledgling League fights at the Grandshelt Colosseum, open from Chapter 4. The leagues are the sign-up tables from left to right; Fledgling is the green one on the left and starts at about level 25.
Tip
Its prizes are excellent: Adamantite (battle 2), the Ancient Greatsword (battle 3) and the Gaia Hammer for Titan (battle 5).
Arena Fighter
BronzeFull guideCollapse Clear all Brawler League fights in the Colosseum.
Arena Fighter
BronzeFull guideCollapseHow to earn it
Win all five Brawler League fights (the blue table, second from the left). It opens after you clear Fledgling; the fights run from about level 40 upwards.
Tip
Battle 3 is an Ochu with Microchus: kill the Microchus first. Battles 2 and 3 give Adamantite, battle 5 the Ancient Cuirass.
Career Fighter
SilverFull guideCollapse Clear all Gladiator League fights in the Colosseum.
Career Fighter
SilverFull guideCollapseHow to earn it
Win all five Gladiator League fights (the purple table, third from the left). Leave it for the late game, with Adamantite weapons and awakened Visions. The fourth league isn't needed for any trophy.
Tip
Reader reports say a few players got only two of the Colosseum's three Adamantite; keep a manual save before each Adamantite fight and check your inventory after.
Magicite Hunter
BronzeFull guideCollapse Defeat a cave master.
Magicite Hunter
BronzeFull guideCollapseHow to earn it
Defeat any Cave Master. The first is the Marauder in the central Grandshelt desert during Chapter 1 (level 15, weak to Wind).
Tip
The recommended level shows at every cave entrance. You interact with the boss inside to start the fight.
The Bigger They Are...
BronzeFull guideCollapse Defeat 5 cave masters.
The Bigger They Are...
BronzeFull guideCollapseHow to earn it
Defeat 5 Cave Masters. Marauder, Shoggoth, Rukh, Mindflayer and Gogmagog are all available by Chapter 4 at levels 15–34.
Tip
Shoggoth on Dirnado's east coast is immune to physical attacks: bring Water or Earth magic.
The Harder They Fall
GoldFull guideCollapse Defeat all cave masters.
The Harder They Fall
GoldFull guideCollapseHow to earn it
Defeat all 15 Cave Masters. Each can only be fought once, none are missable, and the last few (Malboro Menace, Titanoraidos) are level 60 with 700,000–800,000 HP. Locations, levels and weaknesses for all fifteen are on our bosses page.
Tip
Every Cave Master drops Magicite, and the late ones give Magicite Crysts: do them before Ultima Weapon.
Struck Gold
BronzeFull guideCollapse Defeat a King Gil Snapper for the first time.
Struck Gold
BronzeFull guideCollapseHow to earn it
Defeat a King Gil Snapper. It appears on the small forested island at the exit of Dragon's Maw (southern tip of the Kingdom of Pharm, recommended level 55). It's level 49, weak to Ice, absorbs every other element and has huge physical defence.
Tip
Bring two Ice casters or Ice-element Vision skills. It also gives a pile of gil for Making Lid Proud.
Priceless Experience
BronzeFull guideCollapse Defeat a Metal Gigantuar for the first time.
Priceless Experience
BronzeFull guideCollapseHow to earn it
Defeat a Metal Gigantuar, which also appears on the Dragon's Maw island. It has only a handful of HP (single digits to the low teens, depending on difficulty) but extreme evasion and resistances, and it runs away after a few turns.
Tip
Use Dualcast and your strongest spells to get as many hits in as possible. One kill gives a huge amount of EXP (about 150,000).
Mechabo Mania
BronzeFull guideCollapse Upgrade Mechabo to his ultimate form.
Mechabo Mania
BronzeFull guideCollapseHow to earn it
Upgrade Mechabo three times for Verun. Arise, Mechabo! (Chapter 2, Dwarven Forge): 2 Dynamo Stones from Ipooh bears outside the Forge. Mechabo Evolved: 3 each of Dhorme Chimerae, Medusae, Destroyers and sandworms. Mechabo Unleashed (Chapter 5+): 3 Mahadevas and 3 Malbodooms. Hand everything in and talk to Verun on the airship.
Tip
The hunting grounds are on our bosses page. The Malbodooms in western Gronoa only appear from Chapter 6.
My Name Is Ultima...
GoldFull guideCollapse Defeat Ultima Weapon.
My Name Is Ultima...
GoldFull guideCollapseHow to earn it
Defeat Ultima Weapon in Ardra Crater (south-east of the map) after the story: load your clear save and an airship cutscene points you there. It's level 70 with 3.9 million HP, and the hardest trophy in the game.
Tip
Win it with defence, not damage: Reraise everyone first, nullify each Ultima Beam with Sakura's Eternal Veil Limit Break, and Dispel when it uses Bravery. Full strategy on our bosses page.
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