FF13-2: Guide to Defeating Level 70 Valfodr on Normal Mode

Here it is! My boyfriend's strategy for defeating level 70 Valfodr!
This is a complete and total work in progress. It probably always will be, considering that he keeps adjusting his strategy. Currently, this is based off of very quick notes I did. I will be taking more notes very soon. I also intend to take a video of this battle, in case people do not believe that this strategy works.
Please note that unless otherwise stated red text refers to commandos, yellow text refers to sentinels, purple text refers to synergists, green text refers to medics, blue text refers to ravagers, and pink text refers to saboteurs.

To begin with, you will want to have both Serah and Noel at level 99 in all roles. He advises having Noel as your leader, because Serah makes a better sentinel for the battle.

In his Paradigm Pack, he had DLC COM Lightning, a Goblin Chieftain as his Sentinel, and DLC Sazh as his Synergist.

Please note that from here until the end of these monster lists, red text refers to redlocked abilities, and yellow text refers to yellowlocked abilities.

Lightning's Abilities:
Uncapped Damage
Immovable MAX
Enhanced Commando
HP +25%
Role Resonance
Auto-Bravery
Strength +34
Siphon Boost II
Attack: ATB Charge II
Pack Mentality
(He would like me to note that Auto-Bravery and Pack Mentality are not actually useful in this battle.)
Lightning's Stats:
140 attack, 718 magic, 10,757 HP
Notable Attacks:
Armor Breaker, Adrenaline, Jeopardize
(He would like me to stress that Armor Breaker is absolutely necessary.)

Goblin Chieftain's Abilities:
All of it's original redlocked abilities.
Resist Magic + 36%
Resist Physical +36%
HP +25%
Goblin Chieftain's Stats:
293 attack, 298 magic, 7,987 HP
Notable Attacks:
Challenge, Steelguard, Mediguard, Fringeward

Sazh's Abilities:
Critical: Haste
Feral Speed II
Augment Maintenance
Item Collector
Resist Magic +36
Resist Elements +30%
Auto-Vigilance
Auto-Veil
Resist Physical +36%
Resist Dispel +66%
Sazh's Stats:
678 attack, 739 magic, 7,929 HP
Notable Attacks:
All en-buffs, Synergist Bonus Boost II, Boon
(Although he would like me to note that you will mainly be relying on the buffs from the Goblin Chieftain's Feral Link, and Sazh supplements what you are given from the FL)

*from this point on, colored text means the same as originally stated in the beginning of this guide*

Noel's Base Stats: 665 attack, 549 magic, 9,012 HP
Serah's Base Stats: 520 attack, 608 magic, 7,105 HP

Noel's Equipment: Romulus & Remus, Durable Grimoire Hat, Hypnocrown
Serah's Equipment: Indrajit, Durable Collector's Catalog (he was farming for a Nanochu, but said that instead you could switch it with a Durable Grimoire Hat and an item of your choice. He recommended a Defender's Topaz or Delicate Gold Bangle.)

Noel's Total Stats: 741 attack, 609 magic, (base HP)
Serah's Total Stats: 580 attack, 684 magic, (base HP)

Paradigms:
Premeditation-W SabSenSyn
Dirty Fighting X SabSenCom
Relentless Assault-X RavRavCom
Cerberus-X ComComCom
Offensive Screen-W ComSenCom (Otherwise known as the "Chichu Annihilator")
Tortoise-W SenSenSen

Tortoise-W should be your active Paradigm, although it should be at the bottom of your Paradigm list. Also, of equal importance as the Paradigms really, be absolutely positive that your Goblin Chieftain's Feral Link is all set to be used at the very start of the battle.

Things You Need to Know Before Battle:

• Your Team Leader should be Noel because Serah has Steelguard, which is necessary.
• You may have noticed above that there are no Medic Paradigms in this strategy. This is because you will rely entirely on Potions for healing.
• Whenever your Com hits, time attacks to hit immediately afterwards. I mean really time it. Watch your Com in battles before this and see how many hits they do per full ATB gauge. You want to hit immediately after they do so Valfodr is taking a constant stream of damage (the exception to this is obviously Dirty Fighting-X). I actually see him counting the amount of hits his Lightning does, and then attacking immediately after. He states "Timing is of the essence or you will die."
• When Valfodr's HP drops to about a tenth and/or his eyes begin to glow, switch to Tortoise-W immediately and guard.
• As soon as Chichus are summoned, switch to Tortoise-W because he will use Gagnrath twice in a row.
• He told me that Elixers are best for this battle. You can win a ton of them from Chocobo races. He has ~30.
• If Valfodr interrupts your attacks, cancel them immediately and re-do them.
• If you drop to yellow HP, use a Potion.

STRATEGY

The first thing that you need to do is use the Goblin Chieftain's Feral Link, and then switch to Premeditation.
Use Deshell - Deprotect - Deshell - Deprotect and keep going in that order (as in, all in that same ATB, do NOT use an ATB gauge of just Deshells, and then one of JUST Deprotects. You need them to be in the SAME turn!) until Valfodr has been Deshelled. Also, please be certain that it is in this specific order. Please do NOT use Deprotect and then Deshell. It must be Deshell and then Deprotect.
Keep using Deprotect after your Deshell sticks.
Use Imperil for one ATB charge.
Then switch to Tortoise and use the Goblin Chieftain's Feral Link again (it should be charged at this point).
Switch back to Premeditation and keep using Imperil until it sticks. During this time, your Syn should be using Endless Blessings. Once they've finished, move on to the next step.
Switch to Relentless Assault and hit as soon as your Com stops hitting.Time your attacks well.
Once Valfodr's eyes begin to glow, switch to Tortoise immediately; the Chichus are coming.
Use a Potion if necessary.
Keep guarding because Gagnrath is coming.
After the second Gagnrath, use the Goblin Chieftain's Feral Link.
Switch to Offensive Screen after Gagnrath so you can kill the Chichus.
Post-Chichu switch to Dirty Fighting, but repeat the white/yellow highlighted section of this guide when necessary.
Once again, use Deshell - Deprotect - Deshell - Deprotect. Once Deprotect sticks, switch to Relentless Assault.
Upon staggering Valfodr, use all of your attacks as well as your Com's Feral Link.

Congratulations! If all went well, you just defeated Valfodr level 70!

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This guide is, as I said before, a work in progress. He was going so quickly, that I am not certain of some parts of this guide at this time. I'll be fixing it frequently. In particular, I'm not entirely sure when that second Gagnrath comes in.

If you have any requests for guides, feel free to leave a comment and let me know. He's defeated every coliseum boss, every normal boss, and has 100% completed the game. He's also very skilled at Chocobo racing. He has an insane attention span for this game. He will not stop until he has his characters as powerful as he can make them, even if that means spending hours capturing rare monsters to infuse into his other monsters.
...Personally, I generally just get my monsters "good enough," which generally means slightly listening to what he's saying about what to do with them, but really not wanting to search for the rare monsters he wants me to search for. Oh, and annoying him constantly by using a Miniflan instead of a Behemoth! ;)

Nice Surprise Tomorrow!

I've got a nice surprise for anyone playing FF13-2 tomorrow!

My boyfriend has what he calls a "fail-safe" strategy for Valfodr Level 70, which takes him about 8 minutes. He says he can do it faster, but it would be more risky.
I'll be getting the whole strategy written down tomorrow, so it should be up by Saturday at the latest.

Look forward to it! :)
If people like his strategy for Valfodr, I'm pretty sure I can convince him to let me post some of his strategies for the other Coliseum bosses. I also play FF13-2, but his speed at these bosses completely baffles me. He plays completely legitimately, and I believe the only DLC monster he uses is Commando Lightning, although he says that a Chichu works just as well. He has an extraordinary amount of patience, so his monster's abilities and such may be unrealistic for some people (like me and my short attention span).

Edit: The above picture was what he just did. He actually emailed me a picture because he was so proud of himself. He says everything went perfectly for him that battle.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Guide to Clock Puzzles

I was talking to my boyfriend, and he asked me to write up a guide on how to do the clock puzzles in FF13-2. I thought it could probably be a nice idea. I know that he does not understand at all how they work, and I'm sure he's not the only one. I, on the other hand, understood it almost immediately.

This is a poorly drawn example of a clock puzzle that came up in my game a few days ago. I also added in letters, to make it easier for when I'm referring to each numbers (you know, because there's four 5s...).

The goal of a clock puzzle is to eliminate all the numbers on the clock.

To figure these out in the easiest way I can think of, you're going to need a lot of paper, and a pencil.
Write out the numbers on your clock. If you have a timed puzzle, pause the game first, and if you can't figure out what a number is through the pause screen, unpause, check quickly, and then pause again.
Make sure they're written out rather well, because you'll probably have to rewrite it quite a few times.

Pick a random number to start with. I usually like to start with a high number first. For this particular puzzle, I chose to start with 6J.
On your paper, circle the number you started with.

Now, from your starting number, count six from either side. For example, because I started with 6J, so I would move 6 spots away. This would get me to 5D in either direction.

Obviously, in this case, I will choose 5D. Whenever you choose a number, cross it out on your paper. Be sure that the number is still visible though, so you can rewrite it later if needed.
5 spaces away on either side will get me to 6K and 4I.
Now I have to choose which one I would like to try next. This is why we have paper. There are many, many options for what the answer could be.

For this clock, through trial and error, I chose 4I.
4 spaces away gets me to 1A and 5E.

And so on.

Ultimately, my answer came out to be:

6J, 5D, 4I, 1A, 1B, 5C, 3H, 5E, 5L, 4G, 6K.

The thing that my boyfriend was stuck on was what direction the clock's hands went in. I would like to stress, for him, that the hands go in both directions. At once. There will never be a time during a clock puzzle when the hands will go just clockwise or just counterclockwise. It goes both every time.

I hope you find this guide useful :)

Edit: I can't count and wrote that there were only three 5s up there instead of four...