Aranea (Final Fantasy XV gameplay)

Aranea appears as a boss and a guest party member in Final Fantasy XV and its DLC scenario "Episode Prompto". She embodies the classic Final Fantasy class Dragoon, able to fight airborne, uses jump attacks, wears black armor, and wields a lance. She is agile and powerful, and when in the party as a guest, can perform link-strikes with the player character and use Techniques. Unlike the other guest characters who only join as part of the story, Aranea has a chance of appearing randomly to help the party fight night-time enemies like daemons and hunt monsters that are available at any time of the day in Chapters 8 and 15.
==Final Fantasy XV==
===Boss===
Aranea is fought during Imperial Infiltration. She employs her signature move, Highwind, during battle to damage the party heavily. The best way to damage her is by blocking and parrying this attack.
She was added as a training partner for campsites in version 1.21. There are four training sessions with her at Lv. 26, Lv. 50, Lv. 99, and Lv. 120. Winning against her at Lv. 99 and Lv. 120 yield an Anklet of the Gods and a Dark Matter Bracelet, respectively. Noctis is now at the receiving end of Aranea's continuous barrage of attacks, rapidly draining MP to the point of preventing phasing (dodging). 
An easy way around this is to equip the Ring of the Lucii, as dodging attacks with the ring restores MP. However, it will not damage Aranea as she is immune to Light damage. Death can diminish her appearance, though this effect does not appear in the pre-rendered cutscene. If the player is undertaking a "single or low-level run", eating for Equalizer food buff through recipes such as Seasoned Midgardsormr can help.
===Party member===
Aranea will join the party as a guest in A Party of Three. The player cannot customize her equipment. Her Primary Arm is the Stoss Spear. Her accessories are Electric Actuator, A1-Class Powershield, and Inertia Controller. Her attire is Dragon Mail.
Aranea is a mid-range fighter, using her lance to create some distance between her and enemies, with occasional jump attacks. Like Cor, her stats are higher than the main party: Lv.48 with 2,848 HP, 405 Attack (164 Strength + 241 Stoss Spear), 94 Defense, 184 Magic Power, and 126 Spirit. The stats can be affected by food buffs, such as Memory Lane Pastry suppressing her Strength to zero.
Her party Technique is Highwind, where she jumps into the air before diving, slamming her lance into the ground, sending shockwaves around the immediate area. The attack deals massive damage at the cost of three tech bars. When the player character-swaps to Prompto, and Aranea is a guest member, the Technique command for her is available, too, because the two partner up in "Episode Prompto".
When she rescues Noctis or Prompto (in DLC) from Danger, she may slap them across the face.
After the party's first encounter with her in Chapter 7, there is a chance Aranea will temporarily join during nocturnal battles (00:00—03:00) on the open world, such as against daemons and hunt monsters. Her red assault craft will appear above the battle then she'll jump into the fray, serving as a guest party member for the duration of combat. Once the battle is over, she says some parting words and jumps into the air, vanishing. Aranea's assault craft is red as opposed to the ships that drop enemies. If Aranea arrives while Noctis is using Armiger Unleashed, his Armiger is cancelled.
While in the party, Aranea participates in camps and photos. She can't be targeted by items (save items that target the whole party), has no chocobo, and doesn't ride in the Regalia. Her presence blocks tour quests, and fishing. (Trying to fish with Aranea in the party spells out this message.) Cross chain never triggers when she is in the party as a guest.
====Linked attacks====
Aranea will perform linked attacks with Noctis in the main game, and with Prompto in "Episode Prompto". In the main game, if she is nearby and not busy, a linked attack can happen when the player parries (called link-strike) or blindsides an enemy (called blindside link). The animation of the linked attack depends on the player's weapon. Aranea commonly ruffles Noctis's hair after a successful link-strike as a celebratory maneuver.
Player's weapon	Type 	Description
Sword 	Link-strike	Noctis counterattacks with his sword while Aranea swoops in from behind to stab Noctis's target with her lance. (Video)
Sword 	Blindside 	Noctis does a jumping attack and stays crouched while Aranea jumps over him to impale the enemy with her spear. She ends up sitting on the crouched Noctis like on a chair. She hops off and Noctis gets up. (Video)
Polearm 	Link-strike	Noctis stabs the enemy whose attack he parried and Aranea performs her famous "dragoon dive" on it as a finisher. (Video)
Polearm 	Blindside 	Aranea appears besides Noctis as he is attacking an enemy and jumps high into the air. Noctis follows and both perform a "dragoon dive" on the enemy together. (Video)
Greatsword 	Link-strike	Noctis counterattacks and Aranea comes rushing down from the sky to perform her "dragoon dive", knocking Noctis down to the ground at the impact. (Video)
Greatsword 	Blindside 	Noctis readies his attack, Aranea jumps, Noctis attacks and Aranea lands onto the enemy. (Video) The animation tends to glitch.
====Weapons====
====Accessories====
====Attire====
====Photos====
Aranea doesn't wear her helmet in group photos when she is a guest character, even if her field model wears it. Aranea will pose in group photos, but in a normal playthrough the only photo spot one can use with her is by the Vesperpool. If the player had her in the party in other photo spots, she would be included in all of them. If the player has no pictures of Aranea saved, a selfie of Prompto with her appears in the ending credits. If the player has a saved picture with her, it appears instead.
Depending on which photo the player chooses as their "Certificate of Completion" at the end, the party will make different comments. Prompto comments on Aranea's picture (when she was a party member when the photo was taken, not photos taken from battles against her): "Hohoho... I totally know where you're coming from, dude."
====Aranea as a party member glitch====
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There was a glitch to get Aranea stuck in the player's party after the Chapter 7 temple mission. The original version of the glitch that players discovered was to camp at Cotisse Haven north of Hammerhead, then wait until midnight and save, wait for daemons to spawn and Aranea to arrive to help. The player could then exit the combat radius, bring up the map, and Return to rest point, open the camp menu before her animation started, and she would join. This method of keeping her in the party was patched out.
For the final version, another way was discovered using an adamantoise exploit. Subsequently, a relatively easier way was discovered using a character swap exploit.
Aranea would leave the party when the game resets at certain story events or quests. During the endgame, the player could remove her by repeating the final battles and reloading the new clear file. The player could also remove her by going to Pitioss Ruins secret dungeon, or by waiting for a second Aranea by fighting daemons at night, or by racing Iris in the Chocobo Races. There are locations where her red assault craft will not trigger at night, such as under one of the stone arches (Untamed Wild Horses).
===Recipe===
Aranea randomly cooks for the player in Final Fantasy XV: Comrades 1.2. Her Miss Mercenary's Cassoulet recipe became available in the main game since patch 1.27, when Comrades became a stand-alone title.
==Final Fantasy XV: Episode Prompto==
===Party member===
Aranea joins Prompto as a guest. She doesn't have an HP bar and thus cannot be KO'd in battle, making her "unstoppable". She acts autonomously and swiftly moves through the battlefield to attack enemies. When there are no enemies, she will follow the player. She can perform the DLC episode's version of link-strikes with Prompto if the opportunity arises (see below).
She has two Techniques: Highwind is used outdoors, while Dragoon Dive is used indoors. The player can invoke Aranea to use them with the Technique command, and her Techniques cost 2 tech bars. Aranea downing enemies can make enemies weak for Prompto to use his crackshot for critical damage.
The boss battle against Barbarus has the boss climb to the ceiling, during which time Aranea can't attack it.
If the player is doing well, Aranea will praise Prompto.
Aranea appears in some of the episode's Archive Highlights, and the photo ops with her do not trigger unless she is around.
The Prompto-Aranea pairing has four link-strikes: one with the knife and three with the handgun. The link-strikes trigger randomly when holding the Attack button, unlike in the main game. Link-strikes are a good way to break enemies and put them into the vulnerable state and thus susceptible to Prompto's powerful Crackshot command. "Episode Prompto" does not display a message on-screen when Prompto and Aranea link.
thumb|right|Showcase of Prompto-Aranea link-strikes by MemoriesLP
*Knife link-strike: Prompto stabs the enemy and Aranea swoops in with her spear and Prompto rolls over her body to give her space to attack.
*Attacking an enemy long-range with the basic handgun: Aranea climbs onto Prompto who throws her in the air, and she lands onto the enemy, reminiscent of the dragoons' traditional Jump command.
*Attacking an enemy mid-range with the basic handgun: Aranea climbs onto Prompto and uses him as a "launching pad" to propel herself toward the enemies like a torpedo while Prompto topples over.
*Attacking an enemy close-range: Aranea approaches from behind and dives under Prompto to attack his target while he rolls over her.
===Boss===
Completing the episode lets the player fight Aranea by choosing "Intensive Training" from the menu. Besting her earns another certificate of completion screen.
Category:Character gameplay in Final Fantasy XV
Category:Guest characters