Gigantuar (Final Fantasy XIII-2)

The Gigantuar is an enemy in Final Fantasy XIII-2. It is a giant Cactuar.
==Finding Gigantuar==
Gigantuar is found in the Archylte Steppe by examining one of three blue cactuar statues, which appear once Faeryl is defeated, and in the case of two of the statues, when the weather is right. One of the stones is surrounded by a group of growing cacti on the east side of the gorge in the western area of the Stonestump Wasteland in any weather. The other two statues are in the Clearwater Marshes: one is in the northeast during sunny weather, and the other is in the center during rainy weather. Both statues require Moogle Hunt to find.
The player can get to the Clearwater Marshes by teleporting from the yellow cactuar statue, which appears in cloudy weather. One can also simply jump across if they have unlocked the correct Fragment Skill from Serendipity, or gotten the chocobo from the nomad camp (only after finding all five of the cactuar waystones, thus access to the western part of the map is needed anyway).
==Stats==
==Battle==
Gigantuar uses 1000 Needles periodically and usually inflicts Pain and Fog. The player's strategy depends on what happens during the 1000 Needles. Gigantuar is weak against Fire.
===Strategy===
A good stock of Remedies and Potions can help if the party's Medic becomes out of action (certain accessories and Veil can help prevent this).
====Defensive strategy====
A defensive strategy can be effective for a low level party.
For a defensive strategy, Serah must have unlocked the Saboteur role and should know the abilities Poison and Deshell as well as having access to the Medic role, knowing Esuna and possibly knowing Curasa. Noel should have access to the Medic role and should know Esuna, Raise and Curasa. Having the Synergist role with Faith also helps.
A useful Feral Link is a Synergist that has the Faith ability, for example Microchu or Yakshini. Serah is probably the better of the two party leaders. The paradigms required are Salvation (MED/MED/MED), Perseverance (SAB/MED/MED) and Evened Odds (SAB/MED/SYN), which should be the active paradigm.
When the battle starts, the player should try to get Poison and Deshell on Gigantuar. Poison will typically take a long time to stick, and so the player should keep on using a manual command set of Deshell followed by Poisons. By the time Poison is on the enemy, Faith should have been cast on the party.
Once Poison is applied, depending on the player's level, the player may wish to go into a defensive type paradigm, such as Lifeguard or Salvation, to keep HP high. Even in this paradigm the player can deal damage via Feral Links. Alternatively, the player may want to go into an offensive paradigm to raise the chain gauge using Relentless Assault (RAV/COM/RAV) or Tri-disaster (RAV/RAV/RAV). Poison will probably have to be applied more than once to actually kill the Gigantuar. Once the enemy is staggered, Poison becomes easier to reapply, but if the player has low levels they may want to stay defensive.
As soon as a party member has been knocked out, the player should switch to Salvation to revive them with a Phoenix Down if possible due to higher healing potential. Eventually, Poison will fully wear out the Gigantuar's HP, but it is good to reapply it regularly to prevent it from running out.
====Offensive strategy====
This strategy can be used with parties of a higher level and so less healing is needed.
The player's Paradigm Pack should consist of a reliable Synergist that knows Faith (preferably Purple Chocobo or Yakshini), a Saboteur who knows Deshell and preferably Curse, and a choice between a Ravager or Medic depending on the party's HP. Noel should equip a Ribbon if possible, and Pain and Fog resistant accessories if not. The party's paradigms should be Countermeasure (SAB/SEN/SAB), Prudent Planning (SYN/SEN/SYN), Attrition (MED/SEN/SAB), Tri-Disaster (RAV/RAV/RAV), Mystic Tower (RAV/SEN/RAV) and Cerberus (COM/COM/COM).
Starting with Prudent Planning, the player should manually cast Veil on Noel and then the rest and wait until Faith is on the party. The party should then switch to Countermeasure to apply Curse and Deshell (and Poison if struggling). Once the debuffs are on, the party should switch to Mystic Tower to bring up the stagger gauge.
Once the stagger threshold is almost reached, the party should switch to Tri-disaster to stagger the enemy and bring up the chain gauge further and after a couple of turns use Cerberus to do damage. The last two steps should be repeated if the enemy is not yet dead, and the first two if buffs and debuffs run out. If healing is needed the Attrition paradigm can be used.
==Paradigm Pack==
Gigantuar is a Synergist monster. It can get over 7000 HP, 500 Strength, and 1200 Magic only using Potent materials. Its true strength lies in its ability execution speed, which is only beaten by Sahagin Princes.
The Gigantuar crystal can be obtained three times; if the player does not have a crystal and fights a Gigantuar, they automatically obtain it. The Gigantuar can be leveled to 28 to obtain Auto-Protect, and then infused into another monster. The one big downside to this is the passive ability Fettered Magic, which reduces magic damage. It is a downside because it takes up an extra passive ability slot; it does not affect the Gigantuar's buffs nor its Feral Link. Infusing a Gigantuar into anything other than a Synergist or Sentinel would also gain the Fettered Magic's magic damage reduction. Gigantuar also learns Auto-Vigilance on the way to Auto-Protect, but this is arguably a detriment, as it is as useful as Auto-Protect and the like, but is ranked higher than them (Auto-Protect is Rank 7, Auto-Vigilance, Rank 8). Auto-Vigilance is impossible to get rid of without removing Auto-Protect, or the inefficient method of yellow-locking Auto-Protect and then adding it a third time to unlock it again.
===Monster stats===
===Abilities===
Ability 	Level 	Type 	Infuse
Bravery 	Initial	Command	
Fettered Magic 	Initial	Passive	
Faith 	2 	Command	
Endless Blessings	6 	Command	
Protect 	9 	Command	
Shell 	14 	Command	
Auto-Vigilance 	20 	Passive	
Auto-Protect 	28 	Passive	
Protectga 	33 	Command	
Strength: +25% 	40 	Passive	
Bravega 	42 	Command	
Magic: +25% 	49 	Passive	
Shellga 	59 	Command	
Pressure II 	69 	Passive	
Immovable II 	70 	Passive	
==Related enemies==
*Cactuar
*Giant Cactuar
*Cactuaroni
*Cactuarama
*Flowering Cactuar
*Metallicactuar
*Metal Gigantuar
===Final Fantasy XIII===
*Cactuar
*Giant Cactuar
*Cactuar Prime
*Flowering Cactuar
*Gigantuar
*Gigantuar Prime
===Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII===
*Cactuar
*Cactuar Ω
*Cactair
de:Kaktorius (FFXIII-2)
Category:Enemies in Final Fantasy XIII-2
Category:Final Fantasy XIII-2 Synergist Monsters