Mirror Images/Paladin

Category:GuidesCategory:Strategies
*Paladin I went in with nin sub, bad equipment for lvl50: Royal Squire's Chainmail, breeches and mufflers, Eisenschaller and Eisenschuchs, Sniper's ring and Venerer's ring (although I'd suggest agi rings for evasion rather than accuracy), Spike Necklace, Swordbelt, Ice Brand (use a sword/shield if you can), Nomad's Mantle and a Tavnazian taco. So, if you have proper lvl50 equipment you should have an easier time. My NPC was a Soothing Healer since I anticipated taking a lot of damage, but thanks to Flash and Utsusemi I got hit once. The key is only to use just enough of your spells and abilities to keep hate from your npc. When he burns 2hr (Blighted Gloom starts with the 2hr animation for enemies to warn you), run away, and your npc will either grab hate from hits and use Blessed Radiance, or you will outrange his Blighted Gloom and nullify damage. After that, grab hate back with Flash if you need to. Your npc, if lvl50, should successfully debuff him with paralyze and other spells. She will also heal herself if she's really low on hp (I was about to lose, but she used Cure IV on herself with about 5% hp remaining and I won). However, as anyone who's used a healer class npc knows, they're not always dependable, so if she's running low on hp err on the side of caution if you can spare the mp. MP shouldn't be an issue, I was Elvaan with no mp boosts besides the taco, Vassago Aspired 56mp and I still managed. Just keep up the attack, don't do anything to grab a lot of hate or you'll regret it since you'll have trouble keeping shadows up, and you should be fine, no potions or anything needed. As a last note, when I did take damage it was for about 60, so keep that in mind.
*Paladin I just finished doing this as a PLD/NIN. My /NIN was underleveled at 18, but as I'd done it twice as DRK and lost, I took a shot with my PLD. My equipment list follows, but the basic strategy was simple. I set my NPC (level 39 at the time) to Soothing Healer. Used a Tavnazian Taco before entering the BCNM. Entered, and cast Protect III and Shell II on myself. Cast Utsusemi, and rested to full. Just before I left the tunnel, when I could see Vassago, I popped a Yagudo Drink, and a Pamama au Lait. Used Flash to get his attention, and started beating on him. AT 100% TP, kept firing Seraph Blade. He attacked so slowly, and missed fairly often that keeping my shadows up was fairly easy .. just a matter of timing. With a flash here and there, my NPC very rarely got the hate, and when she did, it was a simple matter of tossing a Cure III. When Vassago goes for Blighted Gloom, I ran back down the tunnel .. as soon as I saw the message that he'd missed, I turned .. ran back and used Flash to keep him off my NPC. I think somewhere I popped another Yagudo drink but it wasn't necessary. The fight took about 10 minutes, so no .. you're not going to break any records .. but I never dropped below half hit points either. For the record, I'm Hume if it matters. Equipment list: Tactician Magician's Espadon (Main), Temple Knight Army Sword (Sub), Happy Egg (Ammo), Valkyrie's Mask (Head .. I had it from my DRK and thought the added ATT would help), Tiger Stole (Neck), Reraise Earring (I actually mean to swap this out for a Drone Earring, but forgot to use the reraise and so it was on during the fight), Drone Earring, Iron Musketeer's cuirass (Body), Royal Knight's mufflers (Hands), Woodsman ring x 2, Jaguar mantle (Back), Life Belt (Waist), Iron Musketeer's cuisses (Legs), Royal Knight's sollerets (Feet). As I said, you won't break any records .. but this fight was easy, with an underleveled sub, and a NPC that was only level 39.
*Paladin Just won this fight. I went with crappy armors and Tactician sword. I took a Taco and casted Ichi when I entered + Protect III and Shell II then rested to full MP. The NM casted his special attack every ~30% of his HP (70% 50% 30% or close to that). The 1st time I was totally unprepared since I thought it will only use his special attack once and got hit for around 300 HP. I managed to not get hit the 2 other times. Except that; the NM hit me few times between 40 ~ 85 and Flash + Ichi worked well. I had to cure my npc about 3x with Cure III, she was < 10% HP and not curing herself!! Fight is pretty straight forward (I had full HP and 12 MP at the end without using 2 hours), the NM hit very slowly so the only possible item you might need in case of panic mode is some Hi-Ether.
*Paladin =D Just won on first try ^.^, i had on full pld af, parade gorget, espadon, koenig shield..gimped becuz of the cap of course. I set my npc to stalward shield and fought him on lightsday. I subbed whm to do silence on him and used 1 yagudo drink to keep up mp after i buffed both myself and my npc with protect III and shell II. My npc had hate the whole time so i had no worries bout his special attack landing on me, although i did run behind her for cover every time he announced it just in case ^^;;. I helped cure her when i could with cure II, and when he had her down to 30% hp during the fight i did divine seal + cure III which filled her hp right up. My npc used a club and shield so she used starlight a few times in the fight and got her own mp back. It actually wasn't that bad. OH...also i used the npc food i got from 'Mixed Signals' quest, which was homemade stew. Clear time was 9 minutes and 39 seconds. ^^
*Paladin Just won on my first try with /WAR. Had Adaman set (cept for feet) and Koenig Shield, Joytoy, and some generic rings and earrings. The fight took 8-9 minutes and was relatively painless. I ate a Rice Dumpking for a little extra accuracy and attack. I set my NPC to Soothing Healer and tanked Vassago myself. With Defender and Protect III, his attacks averaged probably 60 dmg, and Blessed Radiance hit twice, once for 150 dmg and the second time for 350 dmg. I think the disparity may be related to how close to Vassago I was; the first time I was running away from him, but the second time I met it full-on because I was behind my NPC and hoping she would counter it. But, aside from that, which put me at 450 HP (he followed Blighted Gloom with a critical for 150), MP and HP weren't really issues. It was just a straightforward fight.