Attacus

Attacus is an enemy in Final Fantasy XIII. It is the mark of Cie'th Stone Mission 51 and is one of the Undying. It is fought via a third Cie'th Stone in the D stages after every stage has been cleared in the Faultwarrens. The fal'Cie Titan creates a Behemoth King for the final task, but Attacus appears and slays the Behemoth King, afterward turning on the party.
== Mission ==
===51 - Attacus, the Soulless===
Mark: 		Attacus
Locale:		Faultwarrens - Titan's Throne
Class: 		A
The soul defines existence. Its expression is found in feeling, choice, and action.
Entreat with the Undying Attacus, whose blade is hate made manifest, and become one with life's circle again.
== Stats ==
==Battle==
There are three phases to Attacus, with the second and third phases marked by the abilities Unrelenting Blade and Peerless Blade, respectively. The former lets him use Concentrate, while the latter has him use Meditate; both increase the power of his basic attack by 25%.
When Attacus uses Concentrate, he will attempt to clear his status ailments and debuff a party member with Deprotect and Deshell before unleashing a strong attack. Meditate consists of a deadlier barrage of attacks that will also clear his debuffs and inflict Slow. All of Attacus's attacks can dispel status enhancements, and Unrelenting Blade increases the dispelling rate of his basic attack from 10% to 50%.
===Strategy===
The fight can be surprisingly easy when using Fang, Lightning, and Snow, with Fang as the party leader. It is recommended to reach Stage 10 of the Crystarium for Lv. 5 Sentinel on Snow.
Using a Fortisol and Aegisol is not mandatory, but would make the beginning of the fight easier before switching over to any one of the paradigms with Snow as the Sentinel. It is advised to start with SAB/RAV/RAV, casting Deprotect and Slow. Slow is more important, as it lengthens the interval of Attacus's special attacks. Once Attacus is afflicted with the two ailments, the player should switch to SYN/RAV/RAV for Bravera. Only Lightning and Fang need it. The player should then switch over to RAV/RAV/SEN and bring the chain gauge up to 300%, then switch to COM/COM/SEN.
Whenever Attacus uses a special skill, the player can switch over to SAB/COM/SEN and recast Deprotect and Slow, then switch to SYN/COM/SEN to recast Bravera and Haste on Fang and Lightning. When the statuses are applied, the party should stay in COM/COM/SEN. The party will not have to heal Snow as he will use Mediguard.
If neither Fang nor Lightning can survive the initial period when the party is raising the chain gauge before Snow shifts to Sentinel, one can change the paradigms to have Snow as the Sentinel in all of the paradigms. One can also set Lightning as Ravager while Fang is buffing/debuffing instead of Commando to raise the chain gauge even higher. With Snow remaining as a Sentinel indefinitely, Fang and Lightning can spam Blindsides as Commandos to rack up damage.
This fight can also be completed relatively easily with Lightning, Fang, and Hope, as long as the player has developed Lightning in the Sentinel role to at least the point where she gains the defend ability, Elude. It is not necessary to have developed the characters in roles outside of their initial roles. It is also not necessary to have any level roles, but the increased health obtained from working towards the Level 5 boosts is helpful.
Once Attacus uses Peerless Blade, it may become necessary to use SEN/SEN/MED whenever he begins using Meditate, assuming he is not provoked already. With Lightning as the leader, she can use Elude instead of Provoke, and if it hits Lightning or Fang, they should survive easily, and Hope will quickly heal them; if it hits Hope, the player should switch to MED/SAB/SYN and use Raise (or Phoenix Down), then allow Hope to rebuff himself.
Attacus is immune to Random: Instant Chain. Although it can eventually be staggered at 999%, and can be launched when staggered, driving up the chain all the way to 999 will likely take too long, as Attacus will cast Doom on the party leader if the battle exceeds 20 minutes. If the characters are developed enough, the battle should end before the time limit. Summoning an Eidolon also halts the Doom counter.
===Low level strategy===
As Attacus gains strength whenever he moves to a new battle phase, a weaker party can end up in an endless loop of healing and defending while not getting many attacks in, prolonging the battle until Attacus uses Doom. In this case, the player can try to raise Attacus's chain gauge as high as possible before he powers up his attacks and moves to the next battle stage.
The player can use three Ravagers to drive up the gauge, particularly with Hope and Vanille as allies, as they cannot use elemental strikes. Magic will not deal much damage, but will rapidly increase the chain. Once Attacus's gauge is at around 600–700%, the party can resume the attack properly with three Commandos, killing Attacus much faster once he grows stronger. Teaching Hope and Vanille Attack is required, and boosting their Strength to balance out their stats will increase their damage output without hindering the target time.
Another strategy that can be utilized is a Sentinel-buffered Cold Blood. Due to conditional chaining modifiers, if Sazh has at least one status enhancement and is in critical HP, each attack from Cold Blood will increase Attacus's chain gauge by 2%. The player should use a Fortisol and Aegisol before the fight, with Sazh starting as a Sentinel to lower his HP, then switch to a paradigm with Sazh as a Ravager and another party member as a Sentinel to draw Attacus away. Switching back to a paradigm with Sazh as a Sentinel before Cold Blood goes off will allow it to be buffered.
==Gallery==
XIII attacus watching behemoth.PNG|Attacus about to slay the Behemoth King.
XIII attacus meditate.PNG|Meditate.
XIII attacus concentrate.PNG|Concentrate.
XIII attacus peerless blade.PNG|Peerless Blade.
XIII attacus unrelenting blade.PNG|Unrelenting Blade.
==Etymology==
Attacus's Japanese name is Spartacus. 
==Related enemies==
*Mithridates
*Bituitus
*Geiseric
*Syphax
*Numidia
*Zenobia
*Wladislaus
*Vercingetorix
de:Spartakus
Category:Final Fantasy XIII Marks