Boss fights are a cornerstone of the gaming experience, and this franchise has featured memorable bosses for years. While some bosses are easy targets, others are truly difficult and test players' mettle. Which boss battles are the hardest, is a topic of discussion in this article.
Even the most tolerant player will eventually rage-quit to escape more hours of suffering and failure after being constantly punished by these bosses. Therefore, MMOGAH brings you just a few of the most notorious ones in FFXI. So let’s start.
Absolute Virtue
As with any list in video games, they will be mixed feelings about the toughness of certain bosses, but we can all agree on one thing. A list of the toughest bosses in FFXI without Absolute Virtue would be ridiculous. The first appearance of Absolute Virtue was in Final Fantasy 11's Chains of Promethea expansion pack.
So, what did the players have to do to meet Absolute Virtue?
Players had to face Lumoria's inhabitants through a challenging sequence of bosses, lastly leading to Absolute Virtue. The genuine threat, the Absolute Virtue, would appear after beating the last Jailer, the Jailer of Love.
And what made him so challenging, and what gave him the reputation of being one of this franchise's hardest bosses?
First of all, because of his stats and his powerful strikes, he was able to easily dispatch any opponents he targeted. All of this was little in comparison to his standout abilities. He had access to the most lethal skills available for all jobs at the time of his introduction, known as the "Two-Hour" skills, (they had a two-hour cooldown after usage). If you want to learn more about the Two-Hour Abilities by visiting this wiki page.
So, Absolute Virtue had unlimited access to all of these abilities and could use them whenever he liked. This included the Benediction ability of White Mage, which would fully heal him, as well as the Chain-spell and Manafont abilities, which would let him quickly and endlessly repeat one of his most lethal spells, such as the Meteor.
Notable Special Abilities
Apart from the above-listed abilities (Chainspell, Benediction, Meteor/Comet) and all 2-Hour abilities ( Hundred Fists, Invincible, Soul Voice, Meikyo Shisui, Mijin Gakure, Mighty Strikes, and others), these were also important:
Wing Thrust - Uses its wings to hit a single target four times. (Additional effect, Slow – slows the target).
Medusa Javelin – Impales one target. (Additional effect: Petrifications – turns the target to stone).
Draw in – This ability is used by Absolute Virtue only if someone tries to drag him too far from its spawn location.
Impact Stream – All nearby targets are damaged (10 AOE). (Additional effect: Stun - prohibits an enemy from acting for a short while, and Defense Down – disorienting targets).
Absolute Virtue always hovered over the Final Fantasy player-base like a nightmare because they wasted days, months, and even years on an enemy that wasn't designed to be defeated in the first place. Nowadays, beating Absolute Virtue is easier, especially for advanced players, with a little bit of help, but one thing is for sure, he'll always be considered as one of the GOATS.
Pandemonium Warden
At least in the Final Fantasy XI Level 75 era, the Pandemonium Warden was regarded as the second most challenging mob in the game, with Absolute Virtue being the hardest. He is the tier 5 Zeni Notorious Monster. Later on, Pandemonium Warden was patched, and Square Enix reduced his overall stats. His spawn-time was also limited to 2 hours, and they made the boss significantly easier to beat.
Spawn Conditions
Trade the Pandemonium Key to the three question marks (??? K-7 in Aydeewa Subterrane).
If you are an advanced player, the beginning will not be that challenging until his final form. Here, the biggest threat could be if you get "animation-locked". There is a good probability that you will find yourself just standing there getting hammered with spells while unable to respond. He will eventually summon all avatars to add a little bit of spice, and finally, if allowed to Astral Flow, he will probably kill you. Keep in mind that his final form does not have much HP, which means that one or two decent WS’s could kill him.
Notable Special Abilities
Astral Flow - enables avatars to exert their full strength. It is used only in its final form at 75%, 50%, and 25% HP. It will also recall all previously killed lamps.
PW also has the ability to replicate other High Notorious Monsters.
Kirin
Back in the day, Kirin (the original one – Sky God) was one of the toughest bosses in the game. But now, we will focus on the Escha version. There are two varieties of Kirin. His first one is the one you are familiar with from your first encounter in Sky. He will remain in this form up until he falls to 50 HP, at which point he will transform into Kouryu. The following abilities are what you can expect from the first form:
Tails Smash, Tail Swing, Deadly Hold (all single target Damage)
Great Whirlwind and Great Sandstorm ( Single target damage that will also ignore your shadows)
Heat Breath (Conal ability)
For advanced players, Kirin will probably be quite simple to defeat in its first form, but what makes it difficult is that he may also summon one of the four Gods, Seiryu, Suzaku, Genbu, and Byakko.
Kouryu
Kirin will vanish, and Kouryu will appear when its HP reaches 50%, and also any God that has been summoned will remain and not despawn.
Special Abilities
Horrid Roar (Wipes enmity and shadows, dispels buffs)
Absolute Terror (Freezes target in fear)
Geotic Breath (Conal Damage)
SP Abilities (Kouryu can use 4 SP abilities, Chainspell, Perfect Dodge, Invincible, and Astral Flow).
Ark Angel EV
Maybe not the toughest boss, but definitely a tricky one, and we also had to include a battlefield event (the Zilart Missions). Ark angel EV is a Notorious Monster (NM) and one of the five Ark Angels. She is a Paladin and also a White Mage.
Notable Abilities (Escha Ru’Aun)
Benediction (Restores a huge amount of HP, and every time someone receives a cure of more than 800 HP, it will be used)
Dominion Slash (800-1200 AOE Damage)
Arrogance Incarnate (can deal up to 3000 Damage to anybody within the Melee range)
Rewards (in two zones)
Zone: La’Loff Amphitheater (Level 113-121+), Dynasty Mitts, Anahera Sword, Sanare Earring, Pluton/Beitetsu/Riftborn, Exalted Log, Patricius Ring, Cagliostros’s Rod, Boulder.
Zone: Escha Ru’Aun (Level 140), Deacon Sword, Eschalixir (+1 and +2)
Cloud of Darkness
Cloud of Darkness is the Final Boss of Rhapsodies of Vana’diel, and CoD was also the final boss in Final Fantasy 3 on the NES. His attacks are all either AOE or Conal, meaning that your Shadows will be stripped before you can put them up.
Standard Attacks
His standard attack consists of three separate attacks:
AoE damage attack and the Knockback motion (a strong special attack that knocks your character backward)
Damage/TP Reduction ability (it will reduce your TP by 25%)
Ranged Attack
Special Abilities
Essence Devour (a Conal HP drain)
Ceiling Rapture (a Conal ability that causes a Knockback and a max HP reduction)
Destitution (same as Ceiling Rapture, but inflict Terror as well)
Primordial Surge (this is maybe the most important ability. This is an AOE HP drain, and it triggers the absorption of all damage until his next ability, which will either be Expunge or Waning Vigor)
Dark Spheres (will cause a variety of negative status effects around the arena)
Elemental Magic (depends on weather)
There is also one positive thing in this fight, and this is Iroha. She is going to help you during the entire battle, and she has some really nice skills, like the ability to raise herself (auto-reraise).
Summary
We hope you enjoyed our list of the toughest bosses to beat in Final Fantasy XI. It is always a great feeling to overcome a boss who was nearly impossible to beat, even if it took days, weeks, or even months. It's definitely worth the effort, as it teaches you a valuable lesson to never give in to a challenging situation. This is simply the mentality you need, especially for this game.
And last but not least, we will give you some honorable mentions down below.
Honorable Mentions
Vrtra, Tiamat, King Vinegarroon, Yilbegan, Dawon, Tojil, Nidhogg.
Related Link: https://www.mmogah.com/news/ffxi/ffxi-ambuscade-guide-requirements-rewards-battle-type-and-more