The Nascent Throne

Walkthrough for Final Fantasy XIII's The Nascent Throne boss battles: Barthandelus, Orphan (First Form), and Orphan (Final Battle). Includes strategies and tips.

Walkthrough: Barthandelus

Barthandelus has lost its ability to inflict status effects but retains its standard laser attack. A Sentinel can withstand this for a long time.

1. Have Vanille cast Slow, Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil on Barthandelus.
2. Switch to Ravager (RAV) for a couple of turns, then to Saboteur (SAB) until the boss is broken.
3. Barthandelus has small heads that pester with lasers and a main head that can launch area attacks. The dangerous attack is 'Laughter,' where it opens its head to unleash a powerful blast. Switch to a defensive setup (Sentinel/Sentinel/Sentinel) before it fires to reduce damage.
4. Each time you are hit with Ultima or Laughter, switch to Medic (MED) for quick healing, then resume attacking.
5. You will likely require two Staggers to defeat Barthandelus. Remember to reapply debuffs when they wear off.

Recommended Paradigm Shifts for Barthandelus:

1. COM/RAV/COM
2. RAV/RAV/RAV
3. RAV/SAB/SYN (starting battle setup)
4. MED/MED/MED
5. MED/SAB/MED
6. SYN/MED/SYN

Walkthrough: Orphan (First Form)

The first form of Orphan is the penultimate boss. After Barthandelus is defeated, Orphan’s shell emerges and attacks the party.

Orphan (First Form) Stats:

• Level / HP: LV 54 / 5,227,500 HP
• Strength / Magic: 840 STR / 840 MAG
• Stagger / Chain Res. / CP: 250% / 70 Chain Resistance / 0 CP
• Vulnerabilities: All Elements (Halves)
• Common Drop / Rare Drop: None / None

1. The Orphan opens with a big attack that inflicts % damage based on current HP. It can kill you if you are under Deprotect and/or Imperil status. Having three MED roles in your setup is essential for this initial attack, as you cannot use paradigm shift during it.
2. Immediately after this attack, switch to MED/MED/MED to heal yourself.
3. When Orphan uses Judgment, its CG resets, and you have to start working on it again.
4. The boss will summon two allies: one that can heal the main boss and one that inflicts debuffs. These cannot be targeted but do not pose a significant threat.
5. Another dangerous move is when a tail appears, inflicting nasty debuffs like Poison and Imperil. Remove these ASAP.
6. 'Progenitorial Wrath' has a 50% base chance to KO a party member. Maxed Cherub’s Crown should prevent this.
7. Orphan's major weakness is Poison. Vanille can apply Poison until the boss is defeated.
8. Alternatively, go all out: start with COM/COM/COM for a couple of turns, then switch to RAV/RAV/RAV to Stagger the boss.
9. You may need 2-3 Staggers to defeat Orphan's first form.

Recommended Paradigm Shifts for Orphan (First Form): Retain the setups from the Barthandelus battle.

Walkthrough: Orphan (Final Battle)

Orphan’s second form is the final boss of Final Fantasy XIII. Defeating it completes the game.

Orphan (Final Battle) Stats:

• Level / HP: LV 51 / 3,390,000 HP
• Strength / Magic: 1,216 STR / 1,216 MAG
• Stagger / Chain Res. / CP: 500% / 50 Chain Resistance / 0 CP
• Vulnerabilities: Physical and Magic (Immune)
• Common Drop / Rare Drop: None / None

1. This boss is immune to all types of damage initially.
2. The boss begins by casting Doom on your leader and then switches its attack affinities. Its attacks are not very strong, dealing around 2000 damage at most to one character, and its AOE attack hits for about 900 damage.
3. Slowly build up the foe’s Chain Gauge while Sazh buffs your party and Vanille applies debuffs like Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil.
4. Once Deprotect and Deshell are applied, switch to COM/COM/RAV and continue attacking until the boss is broken.
5. At this point, it can be instakilled with Vanille’s Death (if controlled), and its immunity to damage disappears.
6. Upping the Chain Gauge to 999.9% is a matter of time, leading to its defeat.

• Beating Orphan with a five-star rating gives you the Superstar trophy and unlocks Lightning’s PS3 theme.
• 'Instrument of Change' achievement (95 points).
• 'Superstar' achievement (80 points).

Post-Game Content:

After the credits, you can make a clear game save. Loading this save places you before the final boss marathon. From here, you can:

• Raise your characters further using the Crystarium.
• Return to Gran Pulse and complete all 64 Missions.
• Take down other optional bosses.