FFXIII - Zirnitra, Mission 59 (Low Level/NEU/No Shrouds/No Preempt,

Check description for info.
Battle Conditions:
Limited Crystarium Use
No Equipment Upgrade
No Preemptive Strike
No Shrouds
No Auto-Battle
Doc's Code & Growth Egg Accessories Only
Sub-3:00 Battle Duration (2:26)
Full Playlist:
• FFXIII - Low Developme...
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=Start of Battle=
Start in Premeditation (SAB/SYN/SEN), wait for Hope to cast Haste on himself, then summon Bahamut to wipe the field. No Gestalt Gauge building necessary to achieve this.
After the wipe, stick Daze on Zirnitra asap.
=Notes=
Right after the Summon animation, Zirnitra will use Dragon's Breath (green ball thing) on a character that has buffs which Dispels at least 2 buffs from the target. That would be Hope in this case (yes, we're using the kid as a lure). After that first shot, either Lightning would have successfully Provoked Zirnitra, or Fang had successfully inflicted Daze, keeping Hope safe from KO.
If the former happens, keep casting until Daze sticks. If the latter, switch to your Synergist-focused Paradigm.
Once Lightning has exhausted all her buffs (I only have Bravery and Faith, though EnFire can be useful too which is above EnThunder), switch her back to Sentinel and have Hope continue the rest of the buffing.
When Provoked, the target will come out of Daze status. Because of this, it’s best to wait for Lightning to successfully Provoke Zirnitra before having Fang cast debuffs.
Stick Curse, Imperil, Deprotect/Deshell in that order of priority. Once all debuffs are up, you can use a Daze string to help increase damage output on top of interrupting Zirnitra.
Once Staggered, go all out. Most of your party's hits should be able to keep Zirnitra stunned and unable to retaliate.
=Setup=
This team locked me out of Vigilance which would've helped interrupt more of Zirnitra's attacks. It may not have enabled me to keep it fully stunned, but it would've increased the chance (2:27 was a really close call).
Lightning is the best Sentinel to use in this fight since her Elude ability gives her a 50% chance of evading certain attacks, on top of the level of defense Mediguard and Steelguard offers. Fully evading attacks means less time spent healing and restoring any buffs lost to Dragon's Breath.
Snow would've enabled access to Vigilance, however, him getting hit by Dragon's Breath every time further lengthened the buffing/chain building phase.
This battle can be done without a Summon and with the same party with slightly different Paradigms. However, the fight averaged 4-5mins.
=Other=
The only other Eidolon that can one-shot the Ceratoraptors w/o building gauge is Brynhildr since the raptors are weak against Fire. As for the others:
Hecatoncheir & Shiva - needs Preemptive Strike
Alexander - Needs to spam AoE Gestalt attacks before the finisher
Odin - Needs Preemptive AND AoE spam (weakest Eidolon if not used specifically for his Insta-Death mechanic)
Note that this only applies to Level 9 Eidolons/Crystarium Stage 9 (i.e. prior to the Final Boss)
This is, imo, the toughest Zirnitra mission since it comes with a Ceratoraptor posse. But it can be argued that Mission 46 is harder since, despite going solo, that Zirnitra can't be preempted while 59's posse can be wiped with a Summon.
Other Missions with Zirnitra:
Mission 46, On Silent Wings: Titan's Trials
Mission 52, Head in the Clouds: Archylte Steppe
Mission 53, Freedom from Fear: Yaschas Massif

[@zacatkinson3926]

Well done, I still cant beat this guy

[@Lilpuppyluvah]

Need any help formulating strategies?

[@zacatkinson3926]

@@Lilpuppyluvah actually I followed this video last night and I beat all 3 zirnitra bird-monsters, I couldn’t believe it. Hope was medic, fang just saboteur and snow as sentinel. Took all 3 down

[@Lilpuppyluvah]

@@zacatkinson3926 Awesome!