Cid Raines ( boss ) Cid Raines is a boss in " Final Fantasy XIII " , and the first boss fought in the Fifth Ark . He is the only l ' Cie fought in the game . Battle . In the first half of the battle Raines switches between Offensive Shift , Defensive Shift , and Recovery Shift , which are the enemy equivalent of the Commando , Sentinel , and Medic roles . During Offensive Shift he has access to a powerful physical combination attack against one character and can cast Ruin . During Defensive Shift he uses Guard to reduce damage , and during Recovery Shift he uses Cure and Esuna . When approximately half of his Hit Points have been depleted , Raines will use Metamorphose , immediately followed by Seraphic Ray , which deals high damage and removes all status effects from the party and himself . From this point on , Raines does not signal to the player which role he is currently assuming , but still uses Offensive Shift , Defensive Shift , and Recovery Shift as well as two new roles , analogous to Synergist and Saboteur . During Offensive Shift , he gains access to Ruinga , and his physical combination attack becomes more powerful . During Recovery Shift , he begins using Curasa instead of Cure . During his Synergist role he casts Protect , Shell , Vigilance , and Haste on himself in quick succession . During his Saboteur role he casts Poisonga , Deprotega , Deshellga , and Dazega . He will use Seraphic Ray periodically ; one can tell if he is going to use Seraphic Ray as he will uphold the guard position directly beforehand . Like many bosses , Raines will cast Doom on the party leader if the battle exceeds twenty minutes . Strategy . Before entering battle , the player may enhance the party with Fortisol and Aegisol . It is useful to have Phoenix Downs in the inventory . Stagger ing Raines is an effective way to defeat him , thus attacking fast with Ravagers in the paradigm is a good idea . When Raines uses his Defensive Shift it is a good time to heal . Saboteurs can be deployed to give him status ailments : he is most susceptible to Slow , but will heal any status abnormalities in his healing paradigm with Esuna . If he enters the healing phase , the player should switch to Relentless Assault and attack him until he switches to the offensive phase . If he goes back on the offensive , the player can switch their paradigm to include a Sentinel and / or Medic and continue attacking , as he will probably be targeting the Sentinel most of the time . When Raines is either nearing the stagger threshold , or is already staggered , and if Lightning is the leader , she can summon Odin , and remain as a Ravager to attack Raines . Once the Gestalt Gauge is filled , the player should ensure Raines ' s chain gauge is still high so that Odin and Lightning can devastate him in Gestalt Mode , repeatedly using Stormblade and Razor Gale before concluding with Zantetsuken , because Raines ' s chain gauge should already be running low . Ideally , this should defeat him , or at least leave him close to defeat . If Raines barely survives Zantetsuken , and the player still has TP left , Quake can be cast as soon as the party returns to deplete his final few Hit Points . Another good way to defeat Raines is to exploit the Commandos ' Launch ability . The idea is to stagger Raines , and then pummel him with launched Commando attacks . It is good to include Sazh as a Ravager for his Synergist beneficial status effects , and only attack when the party is fully enhanced . A good battle team for this strategy is Lightning ( as leader for a summon ) , Snow ( or Fang , but her RAV role will need some development ) and Sazh . This provides two Commandos with Launch , while Sazh provides the best Synergist statuses for the fight . The recommended paradigms are Protection ( MED / SEN / SYN ) as the active paradigm , plus Tri - Disaster ( RAV / RAV / RAV ) , Aggression ( COM / COM / RAV ) , Entourage ( MED / SEN / RAV ) and Thaumaturgy ( MED / RAV / RAV ) . Raines is easier to defeat while he is still in his first form . Ideally , the party will stagger him before he metamorphoses and once he is staggered , the two Commandos and one Ravager combo can defeat Raines , even if Raines has full Hit Points , before he recovers . By keeping him launched , the two Commandos prevent him from guarding or launching a counter attack . The party cannot launch Raines while he is guarding , so the party should finish filling the chain gauge immediately after he finishes defending , giving the party an opening to both stagger and launch him . Raines ' s guard periods cannot be avoided , but can be used to fill his chain gauge . If the party are on the verge of staggering Raines while he is still in his guard phase , they can switch to Protection to avoid pushing the gauge past the stagger limit .