Introduction

Let me first start by saying, this is by no means a TM-lite strat, nor does it use only 3-4* bases. In fact, every unit (including your friend unit) needs a ribbon. If that's enough to dissuade you from reading on, I totally understand.

Anyway, the main reason I'm writing this is because I wasn't able to get a Pod on the Nier banner and, after several Malboro attemps, I quickly realized that the fight basically requires some sort of physical AoE damage. Not only do you have to kill both Mini Malboro's at the same time, but you then have to kill them plus the Great Malboro at the same time to win.

I don't have 2 Rikkus, 2 Setzers, or 2 Amelias for the cheese strat and most of my best units are single target (Olive, Queen, Elza, etc...). I tried 2 Ashes but they didn't do enough damage and the chain wasn't built to max. Any other mages, such as Dark Fina, fell short due to low HP and/or heavy MP costs to their spells.

Now I did have an A2, but up until recently I was skeptical about using her to AoE chain. Her best chaining move hits 10 times with a 3.3x modifier and costs 48MP, but it requires her to use Dash Attack, which is single target, for 45 MP. That's 93 MP in total over 2 turns for a single AoE attack. That and the fact that she doesn't have any MP regen passives made me discount her early on.

However, with no other options for AoE physical damage, I thought about ways to mitigate the MP cost. My only real MP regen unit was Charlotte who, up until tonight, was without her ability enhancements. I took a risk and enhanced all of her abilities in the hopes that she could offset some of the cost of A2's MP heavy combo. And she did...

Team Composition

1. Wilhelm (or Snow/VoE/WoL)
Equip Abilities

Needs 100% Provoke. Needs Ribbon. 10K HP or more preferred. Dark Resist Preferred. As much DEF and SPR as possible.

2. Charlotte
Equip Abilities

All abilities enhanced. Needs Golem esper for 50% Provoke. Needs Ribbon. 10K HP or more preferred. Dark Resist Preferred. As much DEF and SPR as possible.

3. Tilith (or Ayaka)
Equip Abilities

Needs Ribbon. 6K or more HP preferred. Diabolos esper or dark resist equip. Needs 60-70 MP/turn regen.

4. A2
Equip Abilities

Needs Ribbon. 1K Attack or more. 6K HP or more needed. Ifrit or Diabolos esper for Plant/Demon killer. Non-elemental weapon (since there is no unit to debuff resistances).

5. Rikku
Equip Abilities

Needs Ribbon. Ignorance, Prodigy Goggles, Override/Aigaion's Fist preferred. Needs LB every 3 turns. Needs Analyze/Libra from Esper. 6K or more HP needed. Dark resist preferred. World Destroyer materia optional.

Friend unit - A2

Needs Ribbon. Neutral element weapon. Dark resist preferred. 6K HP needed. 1K attack preferred.

The Fight

Warning:
This will be a LONG fight. Mine took over 200 turns. If you don't have 3 or more hours to spare, don't begin.

Phase 1 - HP>50%

Wilhelm maintains provoke at all times. Turns where provoke is already active should be used buffing or using his LB to reduce incoming damage. Wilhelm should always be the one "Devoured".

Charlotte maintains a Grandshelt Shield for AoE Cover and Lift Spirits for AoE MP Regen. Once Wilhelm is devoured, Charlotte should use Golem's Provoke to tank Tentacle Blow.

Tilith uses Radiant Light every turn to cap all units' HP. When HP is near max already, she can use Prism Heal for MP recovery as well. Diabolos esper mean she won't take much damage from Acidic Spew.

Rikku has a 3 turn rotation. Synthesis -> Hyper NulAll -> Hyper Mighty G (LB). If LB is not needed, she can use World Destroyer instead to debuff enemy DEF.

A2 and friend are the damage dealers. They use their LB's, ideally on the same turn, whenever they can. They Dash Attack then Heavy Attack in that order. Try to kill the mini Malboros on turn multiples of 4 so that your tank isn't devoured.

Comments:
This is the easy part. Get used to the turn rotations for Rikku and Charlotte. Make sure MP is topped off all the time. If you find yourself running low, defend with some characters so Tilith can take a turn to use her HP/MP recovery move instead of full healing. Try to learn how much damage your A2's can do with and without LB, with and without enemy debuffs. You NEED to control the damage in this fight so that you are ALWAYS killing both little Malboro's simultaneously and NEVER bringing them below 10% without killing them.

Phase 2 - The 50% Threshold**

DO NOT TRIGGER THE 50% THRESHOLD ON A TURN MULTIPLE OF 4. You will die to Tentacle Rampage. Otherwise, make sure Rikku's LB is up. If you can have both your tanks in the fight when you cross the threshold, even better. The tanks are the ones who will feel the brunt of the threshold damage. Have them either defend or use Wilhelm's LB to reduce incoming damage. When it is your turn, DISPEL!!!

Phase 3 - 10%<HP<50%

Do everything the same as from phase 1, with the following adjustments:

Wilhelm only provokes since he will be the one Devoured, and thus he will be OUT FOR THE REST OF THE FIGHT.

Charlotte maintains her rotation but MUST have 50% Provoke up whenever Wilhelm is devoured. Not doing so will lead to other units being picked off by Tentacle Blow (this can happen anyway).

Tilith will have less chances to use her MP recovery ability, but she should still use it whenever it is safe. Otherwise she should full heal the entire party.

Rikku should adjust her rotation for whenever Synthesis falls on a turn multiple of 4. She should instead re-use HyperNulAll so that if she dies, her turn was not wasted. Then she should continue with another LB (if possible), and back to synthesis.

A2 and friend should defend on turn multiples of 4 as they need to survive in case a unit dies and needs to be revived next turn. Turn multiples of 3 are fine to attack through however. LB use should be minimized except when the mini Malboro's are low enough to be killed. The goal is to maximize damage to the big Malboro but minimize the risk of dying from A2's self-damaging LB. Try to kill the mini Malboros on turn multiples of 3 (but not 4) so that your tank isn't devoured.

Things to watch out for:

1. If Tilith dies and Rikku's LB isn't up, A2 needs to revive her with a phoenix down. Rikku then needs to adjust her rotation to use a LB or HyperNulAll.
2. If Rikku dies and is revived with her LB, the priority is to use Synthesis -> HyperNulAll instead of another LB.
3. If Rikku dies and her LB isn't up, A2 revives with phoenix down and Tilith full heals. Keep doing this if she dies again.
4. If A2 dies and Rikku's LB isn't up, revive her with the other A2.
5. If Charlotte dies and is revived with Rikku's LB, have her use Grandshelt Shield immediately and switch Rikku's rotation so that she uses HyperNulAll as soon as possible. This is probably the most dangerous situation.

Phase 4 - HP<10%

At this point, the big Malboro will "Feel Weak" and you now have 4 turns to get him as close to 0 HP as possible. DO NOT KILL HIM YET.

After 4 turns, use Rikku's analyze/Libra to measure his remaining HP. This will be RISKY since it will mess up Rikku's rotation, but use it in place of her LB rather than Synthesis or HyperNulAll.

Now start chipping away at the big Malboro's HP. Make sure you are approximating how much damage you are doing. If you don't, you may accidentally kill him (which would restart the fight). This will take some time and it really depends on how close to 0HP you got him earlier. You can analyze/Libra when you think you are ready to deal the killing blow. DO NOT KILL HIM YET.

Now start bringing the mini Malboros back to 10%. Make sure to use SINGLE TARGET abilities to do this, as any AoE attacks may kill the big Malboro unintentionally. Once the mini Malboros are near 10%, use Dash Attack to get them as close to 10% as possible.

For the last turn, use Rikku's World Destroyer to debuff all 3 Malboro's DEF. Use Charlotte's embolden for some extra ATK. Then go all-in and pray...

If you kill all 3, congratulations! You just beat the hardest fight this game has to offer (and probably will for a long time).

If not, don't panic. What likely happens is you have to scramble to get all of your buffs back up, and the mini Malboros respawn. Then just get them to 10% and try again. And if you're nervous to risk everything on one final attack, just know it took me 3 "All-ins" to kill all 3 at the same time, so it's not necessarily over if you fail.

Conclusion

Hopefully this guide helps people with what, in my opinion, is the hardest part of any new trial: making a viable team. Once that's done, the fight becomes a practice in repetition. If you can maintain your focus for 3 hours, always keeping track of the turn numbers, never missing your ability rotations, and adapting to any unexpected unit deaths, then you too can achieve victory.

Good luck!