Thiefcat's Guide to Lvl 20 Avatar Fights.Follow

I just wanted to let yall know, Carbuncle's Searing Light hit Shiva fr 25 DMG, with 55 MP on Shiva's weak day (Fire). /sigh

i think people are trying too hard attemping the 3 searing lights method ^^
i too, failed 5 times against garuda and titan...
but i just added ONE extra step in my fights, then i was 1/1 against the rest of the avatars.

the extra step:
buy another yag drink, and let carby solo the avatar for 3 minutes first.
after that the avatar should be in 70~80% health.
pop another yag drink and start the 3 searing lights method.
those damage buffers will greatly ensure your victory.
i finished the fight with 2 unresisted searing light once, thanks to those damage buffers.
if you would like, buy 2 extra yag drinks
and let carby finish the fight if the avatar still survives after three searing lights.

the main idea here is to work around those resisted searing lights.

a few more tips:
-have yag drink on all the time so carby is out for free.
-stay as far away as possible. all the time.
-make sure avatars are hitting carby, not chasing you. if you have hate stand still and let them hit you, while carby take hate back from you.
-don't give up until you are KOed. don't.
-don't panic (this is the hardest one, and the best tip i have for you)

Just lost to Garuda again... now I'm 0/2 on her.

First time I followed Thiefcat's Guide word for word. I nearly beat her but I was just in range of her 2 hour and got hit. Couldn't recast Carby in time, and died.
I learned from this fight and figured I'd just be further away from Garuda at all times.

Second fight. I don't know what happened here, I summoned Carby and ran to the crystal (was going to do first searing light there). Not thinking, I used Astral flow on the side of the Prime nearer to the crystal, so I had to run further. Carby searing lighted for 104 damage ><. I ran back to the nest, and Garuda was somehow right behind me (Carby must have died fast). Tried recasting him at least 8 times, interrupted each time.

Losing my first 2 fights wasn't fun, and I only have 1k gil now...


I have a few tips though. If, after the first Searing Light, you get to the bottom before Carby dies, don't recast him as soon as his name dissapears.

I did this, and Carby began to fight Garuda once she was a bit further than halfway to the crystal. This meant that I didn't have enough space to run away and cast carby before Garuda came to get me back at the nest. Wait until the Prime is nearly halfway to the crystal to begin casting (maybe a bit before then).

And my other tip, remember to cast aquaveil, protect and shell! I was a bit anxious for my second battle and forgot each of these. If I had aquaveil at the point where I died, I may have been able to get Carby out and survived.

But great Guide Thiefcat! The strategy is great, I've just had some bad luck.

Edited, Mon Oct 31 01:47:52 2005 by Zeoxus

This is by far the best guide for summoner. Follow it to the letter, including the advice for beating Ramuh.

The only extra thing I recommend is having Pear Au Lait for HP stats, I fought Titan last night and didn't even use any of my hi-potions (but have 4 of them with you just in case).

This quick SL method is what keeps me alive, I've tried the "take your time" way, and I find it gives the avatar too much time to try another spell that kicks my butt. I've beaten the Shiva, Titan and Ifrit records on Pandemoniom. I'm not trying to beat the records, just trying to get those SLs off ASAP. But, it works, and that's the important thing!

I have only Leviathan to get now, but my fame isn't high enough in Norg (Tenshodo), so I'm off to raising that.

Thanks Thiefcat for an incredible guide.

I have to say thanks for the guide ^^. I used to two searing light method however the advice on this guide saved my butt on Ramuh.

Got Shiva last night .... woohoo!
This thread really helped.... thankyou to all.

Still took me 6 attempts to get an avatar :)
Oh well 1 down hey^^

Many thanks to Thiefcat for this guide. It is the only guide that I referenced for my avatar rounds and very helpful. Read this guide! Know it...live it...love it.

I have two pieces of advice for everyone:

1. Do not substitute Hi-Ether...let the Yagudo Drink do it's job.

I had the cash to burn, so I thought if Ether is recommended, then Hi-Ether would be even better. WRONG!!!! Sure I got by Titan and Leviathan okay, but Ramuh and Shiva beat me badly. In fact the first time I fought Ramuh, I could only get one SL off.

The "cast" time for Hi-ether is about 5 seconds; "cast" time for ether is 1.5 seconds. That is 3.5 seconds closer the avatar gets to you...and less breathing room to recast Carby!

After I switched to Ether...even when I lost I was close to winning.

2. It sucks but bad luck happens...and you are prolly going to die.

I went 6/12. Not a great record. 3 of those losses I account to my hi-ether screw-up. However 3 of those losses were just plan bad luck. I lost 3 times because while I was readying one of my Searing Lights...the prime used their two hour and killed Carby. This meant no Carby to get hate and I had just been hit by the 2 hour as well. Bad luck...not much you can do about that.

Those are the two main things I wanted to get out there. The only other thing is that I always did the 1st searing light down at the crystal. I would cast Carby...aggro the prime...and book it down to the crystal. I would set up and prepare for the 1st searing light there (see the Ramuh section of the guide).

Good luck everyone. Cause it is cool the 1st time you get to call your avatar.

Lol i probably have the worst luck on avatars... The 3 searing light method has got me killed on every fight but ifrit... cuz i decided to let carby fight for awhile b4 doing it. currently... im 0/16 on shiva..... 0/1 on ramuh..... and 1/3 on ifrit >.>..... yeah lol

Thiefcat, thank you so very much. I printed out your guide, studied it from end to end, and went on to try my Avatar fights. Because I knew what to expect and didn't panic when things whent wrong (Ifrit hits hard and so does Leviathan when Cloister of Tides gets double rain weather >.<) and everything when more or less as planned. I even cast Carby a little too late on Ramuh, and ended up summoning him AFTER Thunderspark had hit - so I got a paralyze-free Carbuncle right off the bat.

Long story short, I went 6/6. That's right. NO DEATHS AT ALL. And if it weren't for this guide, I'd have been lost. Thank you again, Thiefcat, and for all you aspiring SMNs out there, remember the most important part: don't panic!

Well nice guide thanks for it helped me out would have beat shiva on my first try just one probelm, i typed my Searing Lightl marco wrong shaved 30 seconds off and carby took a beating when i did my first SL he died too quick had half heath when 2nd SL hit then ge died to quick she used Diamond dust i had 15 health resummoned died before i could us hipotion =\

Followed this guide as close as I could tell... food/items/crack... I'm 1/7 now, got shiva barely. My problem seems to be carbuncle getting interrupted during his 2nd or 3rd Searing Light.

I'll run up next to the avatar, hit my Searing Light macro, stand still, and carby just stands still with those lights around him, but he doesn't jump. I heard from a friend, that standing as far away as possible is better than standing next to the avatar, but I dunno. Anyone have any idea why Carby isn't getting SL off?

Wow, excellent guide.

Thiefcat made one hell of a guide.. following it will get you the victories barring plain bad luck. Ramuh is the toughest of all the Avatars. They all like to start with a Bloodpact to begin the fight. Since they aren't outlined, I'll talk about them really quick:

Titan

Rock Buster - The damage isn't the scary part, it's the bind effect that goes with it. The great thing about this Bloodpact is that you can avoid it pretty easily. Titan will start off with Rock Buster.. soon as you see him charge it up, run away from him. You'll see the <yourname> is too far away. If you get hit with it, don't panic. Just fight as normal, and be prepared to use a couple hi-potions. After that, fight Titan as normal.

Leviathan

Tail Whip - This one inflicts gravity if it hits you. This could be worse than bind since it lasts longer. Avoid this the same way you avoid Rock Buster. Just run away from the Avatar till you see the <yourname> is too far away. Fight as normal after that.

Garuda

Aerial Armor - Ok, chalk this one up to a huge brain fart. Aerial Armor is blink, Searing Light is an AOE. AOE's go through and drop Blink. Pretend as if Garuda didn't do anything. First time I fought Garuda, I forgot that basic AOE fact, and waited till Carby dropped blink. This was on the last of 3 searing lights, and Astral Flow wore off JUST as Carby was beginning to charge up Searing light. This will interrupt and cancel Searing light. Oh well, lesson learned.. destroyed Garuda the next time out.

Shiva

Frost Armor - This can be dangerous if you get seriously unlucky. Do what you can to cast Searing Light before Carby gets too many whacks at Shiva. Last thing you want is a burnt Searing light because Carby was Paralyzed. Didn't happen to me, but I can see it happening to others.

Ifrit

Burning Strike - Not dangerous at all except to your HP. Come with a few extra Hi-potions for this fight. In my experience he hits harder than any of the other Avatars. Other than that, fight him as normal.

Ramuh

Thunderspark - Oh do I hate this move. Both times I fought Ramuh he cast Thunderspark as I was charging up Carby. Both times I got carby out before he hit me, and avoided getting Carby paralyzed. Cast a quick paralyna, Astral flow, and used Searing Light. The thing that kept killing me is that Ramuh would use Thunderspark AGAIN after he got to the bottom. Strategy that ended up helping me was to let carby melee Ramuh at the bottom. Run up a decent distance (just short of the bend), watch my bloodpact timer, then release Carby as soon as it was up. Ramuh came up, I cast carby again and used Searing light. Finished as normal.

Trying to wait for Ramuh to finish Carby off that second time is very risky. On the fight I lost, Ramuh missed like 3 times in a row, and I ended up dropping Astral Flow JUST as I was using Searing light, just like I did against Garuda the first time.


Just a few miscellaneous notes that helped me:

-- The avatars will normally finish off your second carby a little earlier due to their use of their 2 hour. Be ready to cast carby a little earlier than you may want. If you're a little unlucky, the Avatar will save their 2 hour for your 3rd carby AND you. This is doubly bad in that it kills carby and puts you very low on HP. If this happens, IMMEDIATELY use a Hi-pot, then IMMEDIATELY cast carby again. If you have smn skill maxed out, you should be able to get him out on the first or second cast. Use another Hi-pot if needed, an ether if needed, then use that last searing light. I had to do this on 3/6 Avatars. It does work. Aquaviel for the win ^^ Oh, I use Hermits Wand and Heko Obi +1 as well.

-- Do raise your smn skill to cap. I scoffed at this too, thinking that smn skill doesn't do anything. Well, My carby was getting decimated by the avatars way too fast, and Searing light was resisted about 50% of the time. I brought Smn skill to 63 and Carby held out longer, got resisted less (about 10%), and I also noticed a mark improvement in interruption rate while recasting Carby under Duress. That last one could just be coincidence, but I don't believe the first two are. Level your Summoning Skill!

-- Last note, Sometimes, I just got unlucky and the Avatar would finish off Carby too quick, so that when I recasted Carby and the Avatar got to the bottom, My bloodpact was 20+ seconds away from being ready. Don't Try to wait for it to come up. You'll end up losing carby too quick, and probably get hit by the Avatars 2 hour to boot. Run back up while Carby melees, wait for Bloodpact to come up, Release, and recast. Then continue on.

Well, those are my additions to this great guide, hope they help.


Edited, Sun Feb 26 16:25:31 2006 by ChaosRook

ok im at the end of my tether here with these fights...
so if possible id like some advice..

im 1/2 on titan which was cool however..

im 0/7 on shiva , 0/3 on leviathan and 0/2 on ifrit... the reason being due to every battle the prime using its 2hr on me.

i mean is this normal? is there anyway to counter it?
ive followed the guide to the letter and the ult always gets to me

I finally cleared Ramuh :o

My first run was a mess; on the second I wasted a needed Yag drink because I forgot about Paralyze; and on the third, the run was perfect... except that all 3 Searing light were resisted. 4th times a charm I guess.

Anyway: question... is there any reason to keep this damn fork? Or should I just pitch it?

This guide worked great! I'm 1/1 on Titan, and 0/1 on Ifrit and Ramuh. Ramuh was my first attempt, and I messed up and walked away from carby during my second Searing Light. I went on the wrong day for Ifrit, and got a lot of resists, but would have beat him if I could have got a second banish off.

One thing to always remember during these fights is to STAY AWAY from the avatars as much as possible. A few times I ws destroyed because they hit me with thier bloodpacts, and not Carby. The only reason I beat Ifrit was because I ran away at the right time and he missed me with three of his BP.

I found that a big mistake I was making was recasting Carby right after he died, when I wasn't all the way on the other side of the arena yet. Many times, after the first SL, I would run down the ramp and only get about halfway before the avatar would destroy Carby (and yes, most of them I fought on their weak day or lightsday, except Garuda and Leviathan who I actually got the record for).

So halfway down the ramp I would recast Carby and let him go after the avatar. Why was this a problem? Because then I had to wait out the BP timer and all the while, Carby is getting whooped on by the avatar. Then when the timer would be up, I'd go for the second SL, only to have carby destroyed by the time I reached the avatar.

Of course then it'd take a few tries to recast with the avatar beating on me. This would then lower my HP by a lot, often bring me near death, and worst of all, screw me on the third SL because I'd lose so much time, Astral Flow would be gone by the time I was ready for the third BP.

I found it worked much better to run all the way down, even if Carby was dead and the avatar was coming for me. Not once did the avatar reach me before I could summon Carby. Also, instead of spending the BP downtime watching Carby get eaten by the avatar, I used a little more of it running away. That way, Carby was always still alive for the second SL.

Finally, a suggestion for Titan. This ugly avatar took me five tries (two were completely my fault for hitting SL when I did not have 44 mp). Titan always uses Rock Buster right off the bat. Each time he did this, I was bound there momentarily allowing him to do some decent damage to me. So on my fifth time, as soon as I saw "Titan readies Rock Buster." I ran away, down the ramp, then saw "Jobberwock is too far away." Carby stopped him and he missed me luckily. Then I ran back and proceded to use the three SL. Surprisingly all I used to beat him was a Yagudo Drink, a Pamama au Lait and an ether. I was shocked at how easy this was compared to the previous four times.

Edited, Mon Apr 10 15:25:40 2006 by Jobberwock

Just to let everyone know, you DO NOT necessarily have to wait 24 hours to fight these avatars after being defeated by them. I myself have no idea how the time frame works (I know there are different theories) but I fought Ramuh and Titan on a Monday night at 10:30 and around 12:30 and lost to both.

The next day I was able to fight Ramuh at sometime around 11:00 AM and fought Titan later that afternoon. So you may as well try to see if the NPCs will let you fight them again about a half-day later, rather than wait a full 24 hours if you're lacking in patience as I am.

How do you get to the guide??? every time i go to click on the link it takes me to this forum page. Someone please help!!

Thank You :)

It's loss-free. I went in on a dry-run with a bigger buffer than I needed the first time, and I didn't lose any EXP. Therefore there's no reason why anyone else should...

Thanks, that should ake it slightly less painful, at least. :)

Yup, quite normal for an avatar to 2-hour after your second Searing Light - the avatar's HP will be less than 50% which seems to be the trigger. Only one battle didn't result in "[Avatar] readies [big scary move of death]" appearing in my battle log when I did these fights, so it's a given risk that the avatar WILL bomb you some time after your second SL.

Basically, you've hit the nail on the head. When I did my own avatar fights I started running before Carby jumped - incidentally I usually pegged it right past Carby as he did so - and if the avatar had a BP ready then s/he'd 2-hour, kill Carby and usually catch me in the crossfire for a hefty chunk of damage (Titan was worst! 145 damage straight past Earthen Ward, Aerial Armour, Barstonra and whatever level of Protect and Shell I had up, I think it was III)

Of course, if the avatar uses a BP before your second Searing Light, then s/he WILL 2-hour as soon as the next BP becomes available. So you can do one of two things: be prepared to try some very radical tactics (in my case, ignoring Searing Light opportunity number three, watching Carby get splatted, and then resummoning Carby right next to the avatar - just pray Aquaveil works) or be prepared for the avatar to use you as a mop. It's that simple...

It's largely dependant on HP and resistances as well. If you survive, you could still win, even if it means chugging Hi-Potions as fast as you can and resummoning Carby so close to the avatar that s/he's literally breathing down your neck...

Edited, Wed May 3 15:06:47 2006 by Lucinus

Well, I now have 4 of the avatars, just two more to go. 1/4 titan, 1/1 leviathan, 1/1 garuda, 1/2 shiva, 0/2 ifrit, haven't tried rauh yet.

One problem I am having, is that in each of the last six fights (titan, garuda, shiva x2, ifrit x2) the avatar has used its 2hr right as I am setting up the third SL. Every time, without fail. Is this normal? Since I have a good idea it's going to happen, should I just sacrifice Carby and run back down to the crystal, assuming the 2hr is coming, then resummon and use third SL at the crystal? If I do this and the avatar doesn't 2hr, the astral flow timer may just run out at that point. Not sure what is best.