=========================Shantotto: Hero of Windurst=========================== ================================User FAQ v1.0.0================================ The Foreward Thank you to all the contributors and all the sources from which I extracted some if not most of this information from. This FAQ is not to be used without express permission from me on any other website except GameFAQs.com. Thank you to GameFAQs for hosting this FAQ and in turn helping those that need the help. Last but not least, thank you for all of the staff behind the making of Square Enix's Dissidia:Final Fantasy. Can't wait till the NA release! Version History: v.1.0.0 - 1/2/2009, First Launch of the Guide. Major Contributors: www.dissidia.wikia.com Thank you for accessory translation, and any translation of equipment can be found on this website. If you find a piece of equipment that I mention and wish to use the same exact format, please feel free to search the exact same name used in this FAQ and you will find it on this website. The one-stop source for any translations for Square Enix's Dissidia:Final Fantasy. www.finalfantasy.wikia.com The background of Shantotto is creditted to www.finalfantasy.wikia.com. Thank you staff at finalfantasy.wikia.com. www.gamefaqs.com For hosting the FAQ and solving many questions. <<<<>>>> (Use Ctrl + F to find a section) 1. Introduction [INTRO] 2. Using Shantotto [USAGE] 2a. Ground BRV Attacks <> 2b. Air BRV Attacks <> 2c. HP Attacks (Ancient Magic) <> 2d. EX-Mode and EX-Burst: Manafont and Magic Burst <> 3. How to "Cheat" with Shantotto. [SHANCHEAT] 3a. Being a Cheaptaru: Tornado Tossing <> 3b. General Rules to Tornado Tossing <> 3c. Character Specific Strategies <> 3d. Fighting Chaos <> 4. Shantotto's Sets and Equipment [SHANEQUIP] ===============================Introduction==================================== ===============================Part I[INTRO]=================================== 1a. Why Bother? Well, regardless if you want to main her or not (I mained her), she can be used to gather items from the Duel Colliseum or item drops without great difficulty. However, if you are a bit more serious with her, or not, here are a few tips. Her tactics will be covered, whether you want to be cheesy or not. Shantotto is an incredible character that isn't easy to pick up, but is devastatingly effective. 1b. Who is Shantotto? Shantotto is a non playable character from Final Fantasy XI. She is a Tarutaru Black Mage from the Federation of Windurst and a hero of the Great Crystal War. She is famous for her iconic laugh and her habit of speaking in rhyme. Shantotto claims to have been born to a family of distinguished Tarutaru black mages. Her entire childhood was spent on honing her skills on black magic to utter perfection to ensure that her family line is preserved. However, when she is finally honored the title of mage, her life took a turn for the worse when her parents were divorced and her house was destroyed - not to mention her dog shrank thanks to the shrinking potion it drank. However, Shantotto keeps true to her mother's words, and persevered to become one of the top professors of Windurst. She participated in the Great Crystal War, defending her home nation. After the war, she ascended the ranks to become Windurst's Minister of Magic, in charge of the Windurst Department of Magic, or the Orastery. She was referred and revered by many as Professor Shantotto. She later resigns from the Orastery, with Ajido-Marujido succeeding her. She resides at her manor in the Windurst Walls and can still be seen berating adventurers during and after sending them to quests. 1c. Shantotto's Appearance in Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Shantotto is a guest character for Dissidia. Her Dissidia design is based off her original Final Fantasy XI in game design, and an alternate costume for her will feature her in Black Mage Artifact Armor. Shantotto plays no important role in the game's plot and has her own story, where she makes the player fight all the heroes of the game, only to be challenged in the end as the story's final boss. Her first appearance in-game happens after all the crystals have been gathered, where she can be seen alongside Cosmos, confronting Judge Gabranth. Her voice actress is Megumi Hayashibara. <> =============================Using Shantotto=================================== =============================Part II [USAGE]=================================== [[2a. Shantotto's BRAVE (BRV) Attacks on the Ground. <>]] The following attacks are listed in order they appear on the abilities list. 2-3 Staff Strike (BRV Ground Attack): Reminiscent of FFXI meleeing Black Mages Shantotto will take her staff in hand and strike the enemy in a staff melee combo. Quick start-up can be predicted quite easily. Shantotto is of course Tarutaru and thus cannot pick up a staff with a heavy jewel on the head of the staff, so she will have some lag before attacking. I personally do not use this, Shantotto does not belong on the ground, and if you are on the ground, you better be playing smart or wish for an early grave. Stun (BRV Ground Attack): Wow, if you thought Shantotto was useless, I suppose you were correct, at least in this respect. Even as avid of a fan I am of Shantotto, I have to say that this spell is not worth its repercussions. Stun is quick, as it should be, with less than a second for its casting time, it can come out quick without any threat of a block. Only real use of this attack causes the enemy to stay in place for a second or so, allowing Bio to attack them, or cause the enemy to fall while engaged in an aerial battle. Otherwise, this attack can be blocked and will stagger Shantotto. Don’t even bother to waste the CP/Time, there are better options for attacks. Bind (BRV Ground Attack): Her only useful BRV attack that is almost always in any build. Bind causes no damage, repeat, does not cause damage, takes a few seconds to cast, has downtime similar to Sephiroth’s attacks, and is easily dodged. On the bright side, Bind has incredible range and can be used when an opponent is staggered without any danger. Using Bind will cause opponents to act defensively and dodge out of the way, or in the way of Bio, irregardless to the distance between them and the spell. Mind games, mind games, mind games. Bind will cause the opponent to stay in place. For Shantotto, it is literally shooting an RPG at a sitting duck. However, avoid using 1-hit Ancient Magics (Like Flare or Freeze) because although the enemy cannot move, they can still dodge. If the enemy is bound, use Flood, Quake, Burst, Tornado. Bio (BRV Ground Attack) : Shantotto will cast Bio which seeks the opponent but very slowly. Similar in nature to The Emperor's first HP attack, except it does not reflect projectiles. Easily overcome by Air Dashing towards Shantotto then Air Evade to avoid any expected counterattacks. Due to its projectile nature, it CAN be reflected (through Exdeath's Shield HP attack or Kefka's Wings). However, while Bio is on the field, CPUs tend to behave defensively even if Bio is far away from them. Moreover, Bio is useful for HP spamming opponents, meaning they just spam HP Attacks. If their BRV is not all too high, and the Map BRV is relatively high, Bio is a decent attack to gain 5000 or more BRV because of enemy stupidity. I suggest tagging the enemy with Bio as often as possible, however true to the nature of FFXI, Bio DOES disrupt the duration of Bind. [[2b. Shantotto's BRAVE (BRV) attacks in the air. <>]] The following attacks are listed in the order they appear on the abilities list. Retribution (BRV Air Attack): Shantotto will spin her staff above her head then hurl it at the opponent like a boomerang yielding certain situations based on how the enemy was hit. If hit by both strikes of Retribution, it will cause the enemy to fly far away. However, if the initial hit misses, it causes Chase. More importantly, due to the nature of Shantotto's play style, Retribution is useful. More elaborately, Shantotto MUST stay far away from an opponent to grant ample time to react. As soon as your opponent realizes your gameplay, expect projectile motion. Retribution not only strikes the opponent, but reflects projectiles (if the said projectile can be reflected), and can catch enemies off guard. Probably her best BRV damaging attack, then again, its the best of the worst. Stun (BRV Air Attack): Same commentary as above, if properly timed, may cause the enemy to fall while stunned. Bind (BRV Air Attack): Same commentary as above. Bio (BRV Air Attack) : Same commentary as above. [[2c. Her HP Attacks (Ancient Magic) <>]] All of Shantotto’s HP attacks are magic in nature, and cause some BRV damage and can be chained with other HP Attacks. When chaining HP Attacks, the spells that are chained are dependent on Shantotto’s position. When using an HP attack in the Air, only Air HP Attacks will be chained. Similarly, when using Ground HP Attacks, only Ground HP attacks will be chained. Shantotto’s Ancient Magic has 3 stages based on Shantotto’s BRV. Stage 1 (0-2999), Stage 2 (3000-5999), then Stage 3 (6000-9999). //\\Flare//\\ (Ground HP Attack): Stage 1: Flare is great for mind games, especially when playing aggressively. Because Flare, unlike other Ancient Magic, takes some time to start the animation. Additionally, it is incredibly quick and is dependent on elevation. Similar to Terra’s BRV attack, it is faster, but with less range. If the enemy is on a higher elevation, Flare will most likely collide with the stage and you are stuck like a fool. Connected, Flare will deal small but frequent damage to BRV before finally doing HP damage. Stage 2: Flare splits into 3 different paths which converge on the opponent. Still very ground based, Flare travels according to elevation, meaning if there is an obstacle, it will collide. However, the HP damage is not dependent on all 3 Flares connecting, it just takes one. Better accuracy here and still has some start-up lag than can be used for Shantotto’s advantage. Stage 3: Flare is now a large explosion preceded by a multitude of smaller flares that deal small BRV damage. This flare will hit the opponent 10-13 times before exploding. However, hitting the enemy with the smaller fire crackers will NOT mean the enemy will be hit by the explosion. The explosion itself at the end of the attack has limited range, be warned. //\\Quake//\\ (Ground HP Attack): Stage 1: Quake has the furthest range of any Shantotto’s Ground HP Attacks and does not have a projectile path. Quake shows up underneath the opponent that looks similar to Stone I in FFXI. A gaping hole will open beneath the opponent sending up 3-4 small boulders before doing HP damage. Use this when the enemy is charging or is off-guard. Stage 2: Crags will pierce the enemy, and behaves similar to Stone 3 of FFXI. Better BRV damage. Stage 3: Large chunks of earth rise to attack the enemy dealing more BRV damage. //\\Burst//\\ (Ground HP Attack): Stage 1: The path of Burst travels in a direct straight line towards the opponent, striking the ground along the ground. If the enemy is caught in the lightning, it will juggle them in the air dealing BRV damage before dealing HP damage and most likely slamming them into the ground. Stage 2: No real change here, slightly more impressive animation at the end. Stray bolt makes an appearance (read below) Stage 3: Burst now takes a different nature, which is misleading to those not used to Shantotto. Although one lightning bolt still travels towards the opponent, there will be a stray lightning bolt that only does BRV damage. Usually, this stray bolt will cause enough downtime to cast another Burst. Impressive ending animation, hate to be caught in that. //\\Tornado//\\ (Air HP Attack): Stage 1: Looks like Aero 1. This attack is unique because of its Gravity effect, meaning the ability to suck in opponents. CPUs tend to be too stupid to avoid it one way or another (See Using Shantotto). Probably her best Ancient Magic. Medium range, can reflect projectiles that fly into its position. Stage 2: If Burst and Tornado had a child. . . the ending animation is far more true to the name Tornado. More BRV Damage, probably better gravity (unconfirmed). Stage 3: Tornado on steroids. . . a large cyclone before the HP damage. //\\Flood//\\ (Air HP Attack): Stage 1: Looks like Water II from FFXI, has the furthest range of her aerial HP attacks. No other attributes except damage and range, no suck in, nothing. Use with Bind is recommended. Stage 2: Looks more like Water III from FFXI, more BRV damage but nothing else. Stage 3: Looks like Bartz and Terra Flood, water gushes from the ground. Nothing special. //\\Freeze//\\ (Air HP Attack): Stage 1: A small ice floe launches towards the opponent and ricochets off of walls. Due to the speed of this attack, use when the opponent is wide open (especially in the middle of an attack) because this will usually hit first, and being an HP attack, has priority over BRV attacks. Will most likely cause the enemy to crash into the wall or fly far away. Do not use this with Bind as the first attack, unless you want it to be dodged. Stage 2: A larger chunk of ice deals more BRV damage, no major difference here. Stage 3: Freeze takes a whole new behavior here. It will instead be cast over the opponents head and crash straight down. If there is ground underneath, the opponent will freeze on the ground before the ice shatters dealing HP damage. However, if there is not, the enemy will be sent down and will usually take the 1/5 BRV damage penalty for staying in groundless-area for too long. There is a lag between the initial crash towards the floor and the solidification of Freeze, for the most part will be exploited by dodging leaving you wide open. [[2d. Shantotto's EX-Mode and Ex-Burst: Manafont and Magic Burst <>]] Manafont makes Shantotto's EX Mode one of the best tools for her magic casting arsenal. With this ability, her BRV does not decrease when casting Ancient Magic. Very useful to stack damage. If you wish, connect to her EX-Burst, which looks like Chainspell (RDM ability). A menu style seen in FFXI will pop up, much like Onion Knight, with 6 different Ancient Magics. It is important to note that you MUST PRESS CIRCLE TWICE IN ORDER TO CAST THE SPELL. Pressing it once will only lead to the “Select Target” then press circle to use the spell. Shantotto will chain all of her ancient magics. To get PERFECT, start with the fire element (THE RED ONE) followed by Flood, Burst, Quake, Tornado then Freeze. No real difference in damage whether 6-hit or PERFECT. Even better, Shantotto's Manafont extends to the last hit of her EX-Burst, meaning instead of losing your BRV after the EX-Burst, you keep it for more devastation. The name of the game for Shantotto is stack damage. =======================How to "Cheat" with Shantotto=========================== ===========================Part III [SHANCHEAT]================================ 3a. Being A Cheaptaru: Tornado Tossing. <> I used this build for grinding, because it is mindless and is not difficult in any sense of the word. This does NOT work on smart human opponents (smart being the operative word there). Unequip any abilities or attacks that you don’t find useful, but keep all of your ancient magic. I recommend keeping Counter-Attack Critical Up. Equip as much LUK as you want, or instead result to EX gear. I also recommend setting Tornado to Square instead of anything else, so that you don’t risk casting another spell. For starters, gear is irrelevant to this build, but if you can, equip as much BRV+ in your equipment as much as you can. It will help with Starting BRV value and thus every other tornado damage. Regarding summons, use any summon you have that can cause the enemy to break (Lich, Odin, etc.) or preserve BRV (Alexander, not Demon Wall). My favorite summons are Mandragora, Lich, Iron Giant, Alexander, Pupu, Omega Weapon, Ultima Weapon and Bahamut. Odin, Magic Pot, and Carbuncle are also recommended. For this build, you will be spamming Tornado regardless of your BRV. The most important hit is the first. Be wary, it can be very risky especially ranged opponents. Take time to play some mind games with Bind/Bio if you have it. My general rule is to avoid the opponent’s initial attack by dodging into the air then cast Tornado. After the first hit, casting Tornado repeatedly can work, but has a failure rate of about 40-50% on CPU. Take these rules as a general guide to Tornado Toss your opponent. 3b. General Rules to Tornado Tossing. <> 1. Stay below your enemy at all times, elevation wise. If you miss and your opponent is under you, you are royally screwed. However, if you miss and your enemy is above you, they are likely to fall into Tornado albeit without BRV damage. This is incredibly important to make sure your opponent doesn’t avoid the Tornado Toss or gets hit by all 4 strikes of Tornado (Stage 1 that is). 2. The 4-hit rule. As a general rule, if your opponent is getting hit by 4 hits of Tornado, you generally do not need to move. The converse is true, if your opponent is barely touching Tornado, aerial evasion is recommended. Stay close to your opponent so that they rarely have time to evade. Dodge side to side, dodging in the direction of the opponent is tricky, it changes the camera, thus the direction the opponent dodges. But if you listened to me, by setting Tornado to square, you won’t be affected by the direction change. See, there is method to my madness. 3. Avoid terrain when the enemy is caught in Tornado Toss. Giving the enemy a reason to escape is only spelling trouble, and it is spelling it like this: O-H C-R-A-P. Staying away from Lifestreams, Walls, or even edges will preserve the cheapness of this tactic. My favorite stage is Chaos’s Throne. Only 1 Terrain and I never go near it. Plus, I love moderately low ceilings. 4. Do not chain spell. You only need to cast Tornado, nothing else. Don’t get fancy with Flood or Freeze, no one is watching. If you get used to this, you can do it without even looking at the screen. 5. EX-Mode helps. . . a lot. Keeping BRV only helps to speed up the process, but avoid characters that have the Phoenix Down ring. If you EX-Burst and they have the ring, the end of the burst breaks the whole cycle, and you can lose even with the opponent at 1hp. Ouch. 6. Keep your distance with certain characters. Covered more in detail with character-specific Tornado Tossing, characters like Squall, Cloud of Darkness, and Onion Knight can attack fast in the air and may hit you before recasting Tornado. If you have having difficulty landing the first hit, here are a few tips. 1. Mind games, mind games, and more mind games. Like any great system, there are a series of reactions that are expected and thus can be exploited. For example, I can always predict Chaos’s move based on my distance/position in relation to his position. Casting Bio and Bind help shake the opponent which may help setting up Tornado Toss. I always recommend having Bio on the field, whether or not you are going to connect with it. 2. Use terrain. Yes, I know I said avoid terrain above but that is when you already have them in the Tornado Toss. I love using floors and walls because Tornado is not limited by terrain. My favorite: The Emperor’s Throne Room, casting Tornado between walls, not even seeing my opponent while they suffer. Why is this important? Well, for starters, opponents with projectiles, especially Terra/Bartz/The Emperor can be faster than Tornado. Additionally, because Tornado appears near the enemy, it may or may not always reflect the projectile back. Projectiles like The Emperor’s Rune, almost all of Kefka’s attacks (except Ultima), Blizzara by Terra are all annoying and can be dangerous. 3. Exploit openings. This rule can be applied to anything dealing with Dissidia, but is more important for Shantotto because regardless of her size, she is slow-taru (downtime wise). Dash to burst through projectiles, dodge attacks and attack from behind, or just play smart (I know that isn’t helpful). 3c. Character Specific Strategies <> //\\Warrior of Light//\\: Keep your distance. WoL is one of those characters where he can attack you in between Tornado casting. Especially since WoL can chain air attacks into HP attacks, you need to keep your range. Either stay on the same elevation with him but at max range of Tornado, or stay underneath him, both methods will prevent you from getting hit. Bio/Bind if you’d like, not necessary. //\\Garland//\\: Stay close to him as you can. His aerial attacks are long range for the most part, although occasionally he will do the drill with his sword which hurts. I’ve had no problems with him before, and I doubt you will either. //\\Frionel//\\: For a weapon master, he sure can’t top Tornado. His aerial attacks are pathetic, and Weapon Mastery HP attack is too slow to hit you. Stay out of his range unless you are sure you can get the first, otherwise, abuse him as much as you like. //\\The Emperor//\\: Pain. . pain . . all I can say. Shantotto is susceptible to his rune in the air, because it is much faster and can ricochet off of walls. Solution? Stay in the air, cast Tornado, hope you hit him. Staying in the air serves two advantages: Staying in the air prevents the Emperor from casting the Water Ball. Second, staying in the air provokes the enemy to join you in the air, which yields these two situations from The Emperor. Either he will do the rune (most likely) or do the mines in the air (not so likely). If you are close to him, the bullets will go past you and probably ricochet, but before they hit you, you will hit the Emperor. Staying close is key here. //\\Onion Knight//\\: Another pain in the taru. Onion Knight is incredibly fast but has some moves you can exploit to start up Tornado Toss. Blizzard (ground) has some recovery time, and Thundaga (air) has some recovery time as well. Keep your distance when you’ve gotten him in the Tornado Toss, but keep medium range if you haven’t yet. Thundaga has a strange flight pattern. His sword combo in the air can be chained into an HP attack that is nigh unavoidable. Be careful and keep your distance when you’ve got him. //\\Cloud of Darkness//\\: Pain again. Cloud of Darkness has that aerial attack that surrounds herself in her tentacles and is annoying. Charge her when she casts Meteor, interrupt her by casting Bio. Guard her if you must, but keep your range at all times. If not for safety, keep your range because her tentacles are scary. //\\Cecil Harvey//\\: Dark Knight form makes me laugh. His aerial attacks are laughable and easily avoided. If he is in Dark Knight form, you are in luck. If not, you can force him out of paladin form or try to dodge his Paladin Charge then cast Aero. It is less risky to initiate the Tornado Toss in Dark Knight form than in Paladin form. Also, watch out for his projectiles if you choose to bind him. Dark Knight can still hit you and Paladin has that annoying satellite-style projectile which always interrupts Tornado. //\\Golbeza//\\: No real problems here, avoid his HP attacks that can hit you in the air. With luck or skill, guard his attacks and cast Tornado. You will pretty much get him 100% of the time with that strategy. Keep your distance, he can attack you in the air with some fast attacks. //\\Bartz Klauser//\\: Wow, semi-annoying, depends on your situation. If you are below Bartz, he may do the Cecil HP attack, but more likely he will do Onion Knight’s Tornado Spin. His attacks can be fast (esp. the Tidus attack) and Holy is a pain. Stay close, his attacks have long start-up lag. If you are in the air with him, he will spam Holy, and if it hits, he can chain it into Onion Knight’s Flare for HP damage. Use Retribution to reflect the projectiles, then chain with Tornado. //\\Exdeath//\\: I’m sure by now everyone knows how to exploit Exdeath, but here. . . for fun. Exdeath can teleport in the air and it can be relatively fast if your Tornado doesn’t connect, but it does not matter. BRV is not all too important for Tornado Tossing because it will recover in about 2 seconds. Avoid staying on the ground with him. //\\Terra/Tina Branford//\\: Blizzara and Holy will be her primary attacks. Depending on your situation, she may also try casting Meltdown. Dodge as necessary or use Retribution. I recommend staying as close as possible in order to prevent her from casting her spells. Run away when she casts Tornado, Shantotto cannot stop her when she is casting that. //\\Kefka Palazzo//\\: His spells are annoying but can be managed. His shotgun blizzaga can be reflected back at him and usually gives you an opening to do Tornado. Watch out for his wings, which is incredibly fast and has medium range. Stay far away from him and reflect the magic back at him. //\\Cloud Strife//\\: He can be fast if he is close to you, so be prepared to dodge/guard. His range is somewhat limited so keep your distance. His aerial HP attacks have some range, I suggest dodge then Tornado. Keep your distance or stay close once you’ve gotten him. On another note: Watch out for Firaga or his Slash Wave while he’s on the floor. If you bind him to the floor, be very careful. //\\Sephiroth//\\: His attacks have huge range, and his HP attacks are no exception. Just keep your distance and time his attacks with your dodges. You should have no problem avoiding his attacks, they are blindingly obvious. Keep your distance to allow yourself time to adjust. //\\Squall Leonhart//\\: His aerial attack can propel him towards you, keep your distance at all costs. His attacks also have large downtime so exploit that. His HP attacks may or may not hit you due to their speed, just be careful and there should be no real problem. //\\Ultimecia//\\: There can be a huge problem if you cannot connect the first hit. Her projectiles are either numerous or have strange flight patterns. Stay close to her because her attacks have long start-up time. No problems otherwise. //\\Zidane Tribal//\\: The aerial master has met the ultimate counter,cheapness. Guard his attacks and then cast Tornado. Stay at max range of Tornado to be safe. His attacks can all lead into HP attacks and we don’t want that now do we? On the bright side, he may be fast but he is a bumbling idiot when you guard him. Exploit this if you have to. //\\Kuja//\\: Makes me laugh. His attacks may be fast, but he has no attacks that strike directly below him. Stay underneath him or at level and cast Tornado. Problem solved. Beware of Flare Star, but it’s rare that the opponent will use this unless you are level with them. //\\Tidus//\\: He is incredibly fast, to counter bind him in the air and cast Tornado. May be difficult but is not impossible. Guard his attacks if need be. Be careful too, sometimes Tidus has the Blitzball HP Attack in the air. Keep maximum distance is recommended. //\\Jecht//\\: Oh boy, this is the only exception to my rule. At first, when you want to get him into Tornado, stay at maximum range ABOVE him. The CPU will attempt to block it with his hand slap attack, and for the most part, they will. However, because you are directly above him, he will spam it continuously. Nail him with Tornado and stay below him in the air, the computer ALWAYS chains Brave -> HP. //\\Shantotto//\\: Mirror match, the CPU doesn’t know how to abuse her taru cuteness like we do. Stay above Shantotto while on the ground or in the air. She will try to throw Retribution at you, but it never goes upwards. Cast Tornado and enjoy beating a CPU that is less skilled than you. //\\Gabranth//\\: No problems at all, stay out of range of his spinning attack while in the air. It can suck in much like your Tornado but Shantotto has better range. If he does get into EX-Mode, don’t panic. Continue the same process, just be careful not to give him room to attack. 3d. Fighting Chaos <> Having trouble with Chaos? Is the CPU being a pain because you can't do anything while they spam HP attacks and BREAK you over and over? Try these suggestions: Chaos is very systemic, his attacks have patterns and due to his very slow nature combined with the long duration of his attacks, you can very much guess what he will do and react properly. I will tell you what to do in response to any of Chaos attacks. //The Ground 3-Strike Tail Spin\\ This attack is characterized by Chaos spinning around, swiping side to side while on the ground, and ending the attack by spinning 360 degrees with a tail swipe. This is an easy attack to avoid, jump up because it has no vertical clearance. To counter, jump, cast Tornado and initiate Tornado Toss. In his third form, flames spit out at 45 degree angles from his center. Flashy, not threatening, proceed as usual. //The Flame Wheel\\ This attack has an obvious flaw, it is completely linear with some aerial clearance but not full clearance. Chaos will wrap himself in fire then flip while on the ground. The resulting attack is a wave of fire launched towards the character. You can block this attack without suffering any BRV or Crash Damage, but you will be left staggering. Suggested action is to avoid by walking or dodging (if you are slow) then initiate Tornado Toss. The nature of this attack changes when he is in his third form, just avoid the waves of flame like normal and jump to initiate Tornado Toss. //\\underground Teleportation x3//\\ Chaos will vanish and if you are locked onto him, your camera will focus on the ground beneath you. Run, no need to dodge, all 3 and respond by jumping to avoid the last one. As you are in the air, Chaos is lagged up top at the end of his attack. Initiate Tornado Toss and he did most of the work for you. Because of the nature of the downtime of this attack, he is only a few meters away from the ceiling. This attack gains some speed when he is in his third form but has the same amount of downtime. //\\The 360 Degree Spin//\\ Chaos only uses this attack when he is in the air. In his first and second form, this attack is started with a dash towards the general direction of the character then a spin accompanied by fire lasting about 3 seconds. You can choose to guard all of the attack (It will require pressing R more than once), or dodge upwards then initiate Tornado Toss. This attack is most troublesome when he is in his third form. He can teleport to your position then deal tons of BRV damage. Either use EX-Mode to burst out of the chain or last it out. //\\Crater Slam//\\ Chaos will either use this attack alone or following the 360 Degree Spin. Either way, this attack can only be done in the air and is far from threatening. Depending on his angle with respect to your position, you can either single or double jump to avoid any damage. I recommend double jumping at all times then starting Tornado Toss. //\\Great Balls o' Fire//\\ Chaos jumps into the air and launches a series of meteors that travel across the stage in a random fashion. It seems that these explode randomly and upon contact. Either dodge towards Chaos or Guard them back at him. Either way, do not do anything afterwards and wait for Chaos to attack. //\\His HP Attacks//\\ I placed these in a general category because you should not encounter Chaos doing any HP attacks to you as long as you initiate Tornado Toss as soon as possible. Although, these are worth mention. If you find yourself caught in an HP attack that has a duration longer than a second, use your EX-Mode before you receive HP damage. There should be no real difficulty in attacking Chaos to prevent HP Attacks. ==========================Shantotto's Sets and Equipment======================= ===============================Part IV [SHANEQUIP]============================= 4a. Weapons <> Shantotto can only equip staves and rods. The rod set has the benefit of increasing magic damage, while the staves set benefits EX-Mode Duration. Here are my favorite weapons: Stardust Rod: I use this weapon when maining Shantotto and not cheating. It increases magic damage including Bio and her Ancient magics. However, I find that it is not as good as. . . . Nirvana: Ex-Mode Duration +50%, what a great weapon. I use this in combo with my Tornado Tossing set so that I can keep manafont possible. Combined with a few other accessories, I can maintain EX-Mode indefinitely. Not as good as. . . . Claustrum: Shantotto's Legendary Weapon and Black Mage relic weapons in Final Fantasy XI. This weapon awards +20% BRV at the start of battle and +40% Ex-Mode Duration. I prefer this to Nirvana, only because I worked hard to get this staff and it gives +1atk more than Nirvana. 4b. Armor <> Shantotto can only use light armor. 4c. Accessories < The accessories I use with my Ex-Mode build are as follows: 1x Super Gravity Sphere (EX-Force Absorption Range +3m) 2x White Necklace (EX-Force Absorption Amount +25%) 1x Pearl Necklace (EX-Force Absorption Amount +50%) 1x Shining Dragonfly Jewel (EX-Core Absorption Amount +50%) 2x Silver Hourglass (EX-Mode Duration +10%) 1x Gold Hourglass (EX-Mode Duration +20%) 1x Close to You (EX-Force Absorption during attack, while dealing damage, after using a summon) 1x Center of the World (Ex-Force Absorption Range +3m, Ex-Force Absorption Amount +20%, Ex-Core Absorption amount +20%) This section will be expanded when I have time. To be seen in further versions of this FAQ. You can contact me at the following email address: MattJumps@gmail.com Please send any criticism or comments to that email or find me on the GameFAQs Message Boards. Thank you for reading this FAQ, Enjoy!