Barthandelus ( boss ) Barthandelus is a powerful boss in " Final Fantasy XIII " . He is fought three times throughout the game . Battle . First encounter . Barthandelus has four adornments attached to the sides of his head that bestow him with elemental protection and also attack the party . He can open up his face to execute his Thanatosian Smile attack . Other attacks include Ruinga , Baptism in Ruin , and his ultimate attack , Destrudo . He will also cast Doom when the battle reaches the twenty minute mark . Right Pauldron Right Ailette Left Pauldron Left Ailette Barthandelus Recommended paradigm s : The party should start with Diversity and turn their attention to the adornments , using a Librascope at the start of the fight to deduce the respective elemental weakness for each one . After each adornment is destroyed , the party should quickly switch to Evened Odds or Bully and buff themselves up , hopefully getting a Slow on the boss at the same time . The party should then switch to Relentless Assault or back to Diversity to stagger him as quickly as possible . After Barthandelus has been staggered once , he will begin to randomly cast Destrudo . This can also happen if the party chips off enough of his HP without staggering him . Once Barthandelus begins to cast Destrudo , he will reset the chain gauge back to zero . The spell takes some time to cast ( approximately 26 seconds ) and the party must keep attacking until he is half - staggered and grunts and shakes his head . If they don ' t do this , Destrudo may kill the party . Equipping Doctor ' s Code will help give the party a second healer who can also attack . Barthandelus will cast Destrudo after about quarter of his HP is gone , regardless of whether he is staggered or not . If , when Barthandelus begins casting the spell , the team lack buffs and is in low health , they need to quickly switch to Evened Odds and heal up to 100 % while the Synergist buffs the team and the Saboteur weakens the boss , then switch to Solidarity to mitigate some of the damage from the attack . After has used Destrudo , the party should immediately swap to a paradigm with at least two Medics ( Combat Clinic ) to restore the lost health , but will soon be able to change to a more balanced / offensive paradigm . The party should be able to stagger Barthandelus a couple of times , although , when he begins to cast Destrudo , he will reset the chain gauge even if he ' s in the middle of stagger . Barthandelus can still be staggered when he ' s charging Destrudo . The party will only have to fill the chain gauge halfway to induce a sort of " mini - stagger " . This forces Barthandelus to restart his Destrudo charging , and the attack is weaker . Also , after the mini - stagger , the chain gauge remains half - full , meaning he ' s easier to stagger a second or third time . So instead of backing off and defending when Barthandelus begins charging Destrudo , it ' s wiser to heal up with Potions ( with main party member having the Doctor ' s Code accessory equipped for + 300 HP , rather than the + 150 without it ) , and continue attacking with Tri - disaster or Relentless Assault , depending on the party . Barthandelus will cast Doom on the party leader , if the battle lasts over 20 minutes . The time won ' t run during the time an Eidolon is being summoned . Second encounter . The battle plays differently than the first encounter . At first , Barthandelus only has access to a relatively weak laser attack that hits one party member . As he switches form , he uses the laser attack more frequently , and gains status - inflicting area - of - effect spells , including Poisonga , Cursega and Dazega . By the time Barthandelus transforms into his fourth form , his persistent laser attack can occasionally inflict Pain and Fog , and he gains access to two new attacks : Apoptosis , which removes all status enhancements from the party and all status ailments from Barthandelus , and Thanatosian Laughter , which inflicts a moderate amount of damage to all party members . As with many boss battles , Barthandelus can inflict Doom on the party leader after twenty minutes have elapsed . This strategy requires Vanille as a Saboteur . Also recommended is a character who will be a Sentinel throughout the battle , and Lightning as the party leader . Due to Apoptosis , Synergists are not particularly effective . Recommended paradigms : Barthandelus is vulnerable to Deprotect , Deshell and Imperil . Starting with the Dirty Fighting paradigm Vanille can inflict these status ailments while the Sentinel draws its laser attack and Lightning attacks . Once the debuffs are inflicted , the party should shift to Delta Attack for two turns , then shift to Mystic Tower . Once Barthandelus is staggered , the party should shift back to Delta Attack . If anybody ' s HP falls into the red zone , the party can shift to Solidarity to heal . As far as status effects are concerned , Poison and Curse can be safely ignored , but Daze costs valuable time . A Rainbow Anklet can help prevent this . If Lightning is afflicted with Daze , the player should shift to Solidarity until Vanille removes it . If Vanille is hit with the status , the player should shift to Entourage with Lightning as the Medic and remove it with Esuna . If Barthandelus uses Apoptosis , the party should shift to Dirty Fighting to reapply the expired debuffs , but only if the party is in a relatively healthy state . If Barthandelus begins readying Thanatosian Laughter , the party should shift to Solidarity immediately . With this strategy , Barthandelus should yield before he has a chance to inflict Doom , even with an under - leveled party , but in case he does cast it , one should use Relentless Assault and go for stagger if he still has over 400 , 000 HP remaining , and summon Odin just before the Doom counter reaches zero to buy some more time . After the battle the player obtains a Goddess ' s Favor , 100 , 000 CP , and a Crystarium expansion . Third encounter . Barthandelus has lost the ability to inflict status effects , but retains his standard laser attack , which a Sentinel should be able to withstand for a long period of time . He also uses the Ultima spell , which inflicts moderate damage to all party members . His Thanatosian Laughter attack is his strongest , which puts all party members ' health to HP Critical , and it can kill if they are afflicted with Deshell . As with the previous two battles , Barthandelus may inflict Doom on the party leader if the battle takes over 20 minutes . For this strategy , a party of Fang , Lightning , and Hope works best , with either Fang or Lightning as the party leader . Recommended paradigms : Bully or Evened Odds should be the default paradigm . Using a Fortisol and an Aegisol beforehand isn ' t needed , but they make the battle easier . Starting off with Fang casting debuffs on Barthandelus , the player should aim to get Deprotect , Deshell , Slow , and Imperil on him , with the latter debuff making for easy staggering . Once Barthandelus has been debuffed , the player should switch to Diversity or Mystic Tower to drive up the chain gauge . Once he ' s staggered , the party should stay in Diversity until the gauge is around 400 % - 500 % , then switch to Tireless Charge or Relentless Assault , depending on the party ' s health . If at any point while driving up the chain gauge the party is in good health , the player should switch to Mystic Tower . When Barthandelus is about to use Thanatosian Laughter , the player should shift to Combat Clinic , and do the same thing for Ultima as well . Thanatosian Laughter is usually quickly followed by Ultima so healing immediately is necessary . If the party ' s health is low , even if the chain gauge is high , healing the party is more important than driving up the chain gauge . If the party heal fast enough , they should be able to catch it since the chain gauge depletes slowly . If the party ' s buffs or Barthandelus ' s debuffs wear off , the party should switch back to Bully or Evened Odds to reactivate them . Etymology . Thanatosian Laughter refers to Thanatos .