Final Fantasy XIII - Neochu Battle Guide

2011-04-30

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Final Fantasy XIII - Neochu Encounter Guide & Strategies

During Final Fantasy XIII, Neochu is an optional enemy that can be battled towards the latter part of the game. Like many other encounters found on the world of Gran Pulse, Neochu is found during the games missions, which can be initiated by finding the 64 different Cie’th Stones around the game-world. Opening up after chapter 11, Neochu is specifically battled in both mission 45 and 55, allowing you two separate opportunities to fight the big Ochu. This article serves as a Final Fantasy XIII Neochu battle guide, detailing his weaknesses, strengths and how you can effectively battle then defeat the monster.

Where To Find The Final Fantasy XIII Neochu

Although Neochu can be an arduous and difficult challenge, the rewards and loot drops for defeating it on both occasions are perhaps worth the effort. Firstly, after the mission 45 battle, players will receive Hunter’s Friend, an item that automatically casts Libra on defeated foes. Upon defeating Neochu a second time in mission 55,the player will be rewarded with a Growth Egg, doubling CP (Crystarium Points) earned after an encounter. Growth Egg is perhaps the more integral or important of these two rewards, however both can be useful during the expanding open areas onwards of Chapter 11.

Neochu has a plentiful repository of health (2,625,000) and some dangerous physical attack strength (7,000). In addition to this, the monster’s chain resistance is 95% and it takes a whopping 888% to stagger and fill the chain gauge. Furthermore, Neochu is immune to many status ailments, with only Imperil and Provoke having any chance of hitting or working during the fight. It should also be noted that Neochu is immune to pre-emptive strikes, negating the idea of initiating the battle from behind it or using Deceptisol to gain the pre-emptive advantage.

Final Fantasy XIII - Neochu’s Attack Repertoire

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In Final Fantasy XIII, Neochu has four primary attacks that can disrupt buffs as well as inflict high damage and status ailments on your party. Like all enemies in Final Fantasy XIII, Neochu has a default physical attack that is the most common way of inflicting damage on the party – it also launches characters into the air. Seed Dispersion is a summon move, allowing smaller Picochus to enter the battle, with up to five being summoned per cast. Pollen heals all summoned Picochus while adding both Haste and Bravery to them. It also removes all party buffs and inflicts Poison, Curse, Imepril, Deshell and Deprotect.

Its final attack is Screech, which deals a high amount of damage to all party members while also removing your buffs. In summation, Neochu will often take away buffs and deal out a varying amount damage – between moderate to high. With this said however, in Final Fantasy XIII, Neochu has a weakness to Earth damage to contrast its absorption of Water elemental damage. Preparing for the battle ahead is important when dealing with Neochu. The party should have a gamut of Earth resistant items equipped as well as having used Aegisol and Fortisol pre-battle.

Defeating The Final Fantasy XIII Neochu Monster

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There isn’t really a need for Ravagers in this battle, as the chain bonus is almost useless against Neochu. Instead, a reliance on Sentinels will defend against the high powered attacks you’ll be facing. Having a party setup of COM/MED/SEN, COM/SEN/SYN or SAB/SEN/MED will slowly ebb away the health meter of Neochu, however there are quicker and more effective strategies to take the boss out. Neochu is susceptible to Death, which Vanilla can cast repeatedly while a Sentinel (SAB/SEN/MED paradigm) reduces party damage.

Lastly, the instant chain strategy is predicate to using a weapon that has a chance of filling the enemies chain gauge randomly, the Ultima Weapon and Lionheart are two examples of weapons that can be used to do this. This can be easier to accomplish than the Death or normal strategies as Neochu’s stagger number is so high (888%) that it can be completely defeated in one staggered state. It is recommended for this strategy to use only one attacker, perhaps two, while keeping a Medic in reserve to heal the party and/or Sentinel to soak up enemy pressure.

This post is part of the series: Final Fantasy XIII - Boss Battles

A selection of boss encounter strategy guides for various different fights found during the latter stages of Final Fantasy XIII.