Penance ( Final Fantasy X ) Penance is the most powerful optional superboss in the PAL , International , and " HD Remaster " versions of " Final Fantasy X " . It is located in the Calm Lands , but fought on the deck of the airship alongside Left Arm and Right Arm . Penance is released after the Dark Aeon s , also powerful optional bosses , have been defeated . After all Dark Aeons are defeated , a scene will show that Penance is above the Calm Lands . The player needs to select Penance in the list of locations to fight it . Defeating Penance in the " Final Fantasy X HD Remaster " version earns the trophy Perseverance . Battle . Penance boasts 12 , 000 , 000 HP , high stats , absorbs elemental damage and has powerful attacks , making it what might be considered the most dangerous boss . Penance is accompanied by its two arms , Left Arm and Right Arm , which act independently with similarly powerful abilities , with 500 , 000 HP each . The arms regenerate a few rounds after defeat . Penance has two stages , with the second starting after it loses three million HP . In the first stage , its main attack is Obliteration , a group physical attack that inflicts Slow . In the second stage Penance will begin using Immolation , which is a single - target physical attack that also drains all the MP from the victim and always causes Armor Break and Mental Break . Penance gains Haste upon entering the second form , but this only lasts for one turn . Penance ' s ultimate attack is Judgement Day , which hits all party members for 99 , 999 HP and 999 MP . Penance requires both its arms active to perform this move . Unlike Dark Yojimbo ' s Zanmato , it will not cancel Auto - Life , but the arms will get turns after reviving and are likely to finish the party off before they get a chance to move . There is a secret counter for Judgement Day and Penance uses it when the counter reaches 19 . The counter increases by one every time the party inflicts damage on it , and by one every time it uses Immolation . Penance is imbued with Auto - Protect while in the first form , and with its high defenses , ordinary weapons will barely make a dent . Only the Celestial Weapon s , which ignore all defenses , will be useful . The arms will do most of the damage during the battle , but it is possible to prevent the arms from ever getting a turn . Both have powerful physical attacks , with the right arm able to petrify and instantly shatter a character , and the left will dispel any positive statuses . The right arm will use Calamity , which inflicts Poison , Silence , Darkness , Curse , and Full Break , and can also use Mighty Guard , which can heal Penance for over 100 , 000 HP a turn . The left arm uses Slowga , and also Tera - Graviton , which causes Darkness , Silence , Sleep , Doom , and deals magical fractional damage that will remove 75 % of the characters ' maximum HP and can kill the target . It is twice as powerful as Dark Anima ' s Mega - Graviton . The arms will drop Dark Matter , or rarely , Master Sphere , after each defeat , and even if the player flees from the battle they receive the rewards , making it sometimes more useful to farm Penance for the valuable items . Unlike most enemies , the arms do not give extra rewards for an Overkill ; the body however , does give extra . Strategy . Any party members can be used , but Rikku is recommended because of her Mixes . The recommended armor consists of Auto - Haste , Auto - Protect , Auto - Potion , and Defense + 20 % . To use the recommended armor , a large supply of X - Potions is required for Auto - Potion and the party must not have any supply of Potions and Hi - Potions . Alternatively , one can use Rikku ' s Trio of 9999 Mix so Potions and Hi - Potions also heal for 9999 . An alternate armor is Break HP Limit , Auto - Haste , Auto - Protect , and Auto - Regen . The alternate armor is functionally equivalent to the recommended armor , but it enables Penance to be defeated faster because it uses Auto - Regen to heal instead of Auto - Potion . However , the alternate armor requires 99 , 999 HP to use effectively . Ribbon is not necessary , as with the correct strategy the player can prevent the arms from attacking and the only status ailments inflicted by the main body are Slow , which is blocked by Auto - Haste , and Armor Break , which cannot be blocked . Quick Hit , Use , Cheer , and Dispel are useful commands . Useful items are Three Stars to allow the party to attack without using MP , Stamina Tonics to double the characters ' HP , and a Purifying Salt to remove Penance ' s Haste upon entering the second form . The party can use Rikku ' s Overdrive to reduce the damage of Penance ' s attacks . Mixing two Healing Springs to produce Ultra NulAll has the same effect as five Cheers , which can reduce the damage of Penance ' s attacks to below 9 , 999 because the party will take 1 / 3 less damage . If it is required to heal over 9 , 999 HP , a Healing Spring and Map can be mixed to produce Super Elixir that fully heals the party ' s HP and MP . To heal the party for 9 , 999 HP , the items Healing Water or Megalixir can be used . In Penance ' s first form the body only attacks with Obliteration , which deals around 23 , 000 HP damage to the whole party , but the effect can be halved with Protect and further reduced by Cheer or Ultra NulAll to do less than 9 , 999 damage . With the right strategy , the arms won ' t get a turn to attack . As soon as the battle starts the party should kill one of the arms , because if the party kills both in the same turn , both will also revive in the same turn , meaning the party won ' t have enough turns to kill both arms after they regenerate . By killing one arm off instantly the player can ensure the arms won ' t regenerate together . As soon as possible , a Three Stars should be used to reduce the MP cost to zero . Additionally , Ultra NulAll , or at least four Cheers , should be used to reduce the damage of Penance ' s attacks . The most effective strategy isn ' t to kill the arms as soon as possible , but to kill them right before their turn so they take longer to revive giving the party more time to attack the body . An arm is killed in six hits , so the best strategy is to start out by hitting an arm five times ( with Quick Hit ) leaving it in position where it can be killed at any time . After both arms have been hit five times the party can start attacking the body until the arms are about to get a turn , at which point the party should kill the arms . The party should never allow the arms to get a turn . After taking 3 , 000 , 000 HP damage , Penance ' s tail will fall off and it will enter its second form . In its second form Penance ' s only attack will be Immolation , which deals enormous HP and MP damage to one target and also inflicts Armor Break . It is necessary to use the White Magic , Dispel , to remove the Armor Break status from the victim of the attack . Otherwise , the character will be killed if he or she is hit again . On the plus side , since Immolation only hits one party member at a time , counterattacks work , so Tidus , Auron , Wakka and Kimahri can remove a significant portion of Penance ' s health through counterattacks . The damage from Immolation can be reduced to about 4 , 500 using various protections . During Penance ' s second form the party should continue on with the same strategy as in the first form , except to use a Purifying Salt to remove Penance ' s Haste status and Dispel to remove Armor Break from the victims of Immolation . It is not necessary to remove the Haste effect Penance casts when entering the second phase due to it only lasting one turn . As with any other enemy , Penance can also be killed instantly with Yojimbo ' s Zanmato . Musical themes . " A Contest of Aeons " plays during the battle with Penance . This is the same theme used for the fight with the aeons possessed by Yu Yevon . Etymology . In the Japanese , French , Italian , and German versions , Penance was known as " Der Richter " , which translates from German as " The Judge " , fitting as it is considered the " last resort " of Yevon ' s attempt to subdue Yuna and her guardians for good , since the Dark Aeons failed . In the Spanish version the boss is called " Verdugo Final " , which can be translated as " Final Executioner " .