Greetings. If you are reading this, you are probably wondering either what this guide is all about or you are actually having difficulty doing things efficiently.

Well, I have been playing RPGs for almost 18 years now (first was Quest 64) and even I can get bored of the grinding process. But it doesn't have to be boring and long; there are always shortcuts or exploits that can be achieved to reduce the strain. Final Fantasy to me is no different.

After finally getting the Level 99 achievements for my 4 characters, I managed to find an efficient way to do things in the fewest moves possible. As efficiency in this case is factored based on these variables:

• The commands you input
  
• The duration of the animation of your attacks (eg. Rapid Fire vs Aim if you have something that can be slain in 1 hit)
  
• The enemies you are facing
  
• The damage you output
  
• The experience acquired at victory

I will be covering a guide for all playstyles in terms of level status and current standing in Sealed Temple, but it will be aimed more towards people who have unlocked all the locations (requires the player to slay Archeodemon). You will have to be the judge of what your characters can and can't do. But there will be some preparation work going in and it is recommended to follow the preparation guidelines to the letter if you wish to use this guide.

Bear in mind there are many ways to handle this and not everything will work in your favor. If you have a better idea, you can try your own. If not, at least use this guide's considerations to help build an idea or do it anyways.

Please feel free to comment about it or criticize it if you wish. But don't act like a jerk while you do the latter. Note that if you have an issue with the amount of text in this guide (I have been known to get the TL:DR excuse a lot), then you should put those issues aside as I cover ALL the loopholes, so there are fewer questions afterwards.

You will need to get all 4 of your characters at least to these abilities for this to effectively work.

If you have gotten the Job Mastery achievements, then you can ignore this. If not, acquire at least the following:

• Master Monk, Thief and Summoner or Oracle for highest base stats possible
  
• Master Ninja for Dual Wield (Carry 2 weapons) and Smoke
  
• Master Hunter for Rapid Fire
  
• Master Samurai for Shirahadori to carry over.
  
• Master Knight for Cover to carry over.
  
• Master Bard for Sing
  
• Master Gladiator for Lure
  
• Master Cannoneer for Exp UP
  
• Get highest level White Magic and Black Magic possible

You can accelerate your ABP gain at the Interdimensional Rift's Crystal Realm and using Oracle's ABP Up passive.


You will need access to the Sealed Temple. To use this guide to its highest possible experience potential, you will need to have slain Archeodemon.

It will help to have at least the following items:

• Angel Rings or Ribbons for Deathproofing
  
• Genji Items. Stolen from Gilgamesh at different points in the game. 2 of these provide Paralysis Protection.
  
• The 12 Legendary weapons. Specifically Magus Rod, Sage Staff, Apollo's Harp and Masamune
  
• Ultima Weapon, you will have to slay Neo-Shinryu for this. If not, Apocalypse, Ragnarok, Brave Blade or Chicken Knife will work fine.
  
• Rainbow Dress for Confuseproofing

This is to level all 4 characters at once. Although one strategy is to do 1-2 character(s) at a time, for these battles it isn't a safe idea. For instance, Dinozombie could cast Bone on you, reducing you to 1-9 HP and get lucky and whack your solo character for a KO. Or you could forget Confusion protection, get Enticed by Medusa and end up offing yourself in Confusion. Plus, my command structure uses all 4 to their full potential; either all 4 go, or nobody goes.

I have organized the locations by order of bottom to top of Sealed Temple. The deeper you are, the more experience you will get per victory, but the greater the risks you will face. Click on the proper section accordingly and use this list as a guideline:

• If you are pushing to 99 and want to make the most of your battles, use Lethe Court
  
• If you are near the bottom but have trouble in the Court, use Tomb of Memory
  
• If you are having difficulty getting to the above locations, use Arena to Tranquility
  
• If you just started the dungeon or you are low level party having problems, use the Halls.
  

Now that we got that in order, we will need to setup some characters. Skills and items are important but anyone can fill in these roles. Since each character has different stat mods, so you may need to play around with equipment. The setup will be explained in more detail in the Field Test section. This list will help you decide who you want to do what (assuming you mastered Monk, Oracle and Thief):

• Bartz has the highest Strength and Vitality of the 4. But is the slowest and lowest in Magic
  
• Lenna has the highest Magic power and 2nd fastesst, but she has 2nd worst Vitality and Strength,
  
• Faris is well rounded, but more geared towards melee.
  
• Krile is the fastest, but has a penalty with Strength and Vitality.

The First will be armed with Masamune and Mutsunokami. If you do not have Mutsunokami yet, you can steal a Murakumo from Yojimbo where you had to catch Behemoth or use the Kiku-ichimonji. Katanas have an innate critical chance. Masamune allows the user to go first and Mutsunokami has a 30% chance to critically hit, while Masamune is 20%. I used Bartz.

A suggestion brought up by Airen01 (see the Comments section) is to replace the Masamune with the Chicken Knife if you have ran away the necessary 127 times. Since this dagger not only buffs Speed and it adds Speed to damage calculations, turning it into a weapon far more reliable at dealing damage than the Masamune.


The second will be armed with your best Spellbladable weapons (knight swords or daggers) for most of the battles. The swords will destroy most enemies that survive attacks from the First or begin the damage process if the First is to put up defenses.




The Third will have any other weapons and the same armor that are as good as the First and Second. It doesn't matter which weapons. Several good options are Kagenui, Dragon Lances, Ragnarok or Earthbreaker (steal from Ironclad at Lethe Court as a rare steal).


The Bait will be dominantly fighting with magic. Use items that jack up the magic power of the individual. This person will also be a Mime as you need 3 command slots. This is covered in the Abiltiies section. Make sure she is Paralyze and Death Proof for Lethe. This is done through Genji Helmet, Shield and Angel Rings.

Once you are setup, do a random battle to ascertain how their ATB guages fill without the need of Hermes Boots (as there are better Accessories that will help you survive better). It should go like this:

• First starts with full guage (due to Masamune)
  
• Second guage fills next (2nd character to execute moves)
  
• Thitd guage fills next (3rd character to execute moves)
  
• Bait fills last (the Mime)

If it does, then you're ready. If not, rearrange your roles so that it optimally rolls out as such. I got these results from Bartz > Faris > Lenna > Krile.

This is important as I will be explaining commands in this fashion. For instance:
Say your turn order becomes Faris > Lenna > Krile > Bartz is Mime. And you see the command list is:

• First casts Requiem
  
• Second attacks with Rapid Fire
  
• Third attacks with Standard attack
  
• Bait defends or heals

Then this means that Faris will cast Requiem, followed by Lenna using Rapid Fire, then Krile using Fight, followed up by Bartz either skipping a turn or healing a friendly.

If for whatever reason your Mime/Bait intersects turns with your First through Third and doesn't go last, then treat him as Bait and the Third Freelancer to fill their slot will be the Third. This can be advantageous in some situations as you can get free healing in battle without having to go the menu. But try to modify your Agility parameters so that your Bait goes last.

This area is for people who are either mid to high level and wish to accelerate to 99 as soon as possible. This area also carries the highest risk potential of the 4 zones.

Abilities are extremely crucial for this area. You can also sub in EXP Up for 50% bonus experience without breaking efficiency, making this an effective leveling area.

Both hands will have Rapid Fire. This will allow you to attack 8 times. This will allow you to destroy high health targets very fast vs attacking the hard way. However, this attack is very uncontrollable if there is more than 1 opponent.


The Second will depend on if you don't mind running away from combat or not, which is a factor if you are using the Brave Blade. If you are using it and wish to keep using it, then equip Spellblade. If not, then equip Smoke. This will be useful for getting away from 1 of the fights in Lethe.



The bait's job is to heal everyone in mid fight to reduce the time it takes to go into the menu and do it manually, or raise anyone that gets killed. Also, he or she will be the one armed with Lure to attract more monsters to you faster.

Now the fun begins. You will be hanging out on the first Crystal Island (The island Mutsunokiri is on). This island has the best possible monster formations, no Crystal Dragons to Breath Wing spam and the only fight that offers 0 XP is with monsters that can be easily dealt with minimal risks.

As stated before, this area has the highest risk potential, so make sure you are high level yourself before attempting this. I recommend having at least 4-5K HP. Defeating Neo-Shinryu for Omega Weapon helps greatly.


Ironclad is the most efficient monster in this plane. Although he attacks hard physically, you still got a shot of blocking the attacks with Shirahadori and the Mirage Vest can take 1 hit. Your Bait should have a shield to have a shot at blocking attacks.

Commands:

• First will Rapid Fire
  
• Second will standard attack
  
• Third will Rapid Fire
  
• Bait heals

The combination should destroy it within the First's Rapid Fire katana barrage, as long as at least a few of the strikes critically hit (with Mutsunokami's 50% chance, the odds should be well in your favor).

If he survives, the Second or Third should be able to destroy it. If the counter attacks kill, use Bait to raise or if they severely damage, heal it off with Curaga.


Hades has a 6% chance of appearing. He is basically Ironclad with more health and carries a different set of attacks. Be warned: This enemy carries Death and Roulette. Death and Roulette will be blocked by Ribbons and Angel Rings, However, if Roulette hits Hades, it will fully heal him. He has a chance to counter damage with Sickle for around 1500 damage and Paralysis and can Flare a person for a OHKO if they don't have 7500 HP. It also carries the threat of Almagest, which can do 5000 damage and apply Sap if you drag the fight too long.

Commands

• First will Rapid Fire
  
• Second can Defend or Attack (Hades has evasion so it may be difficult)
  
• Third will Rapid Fire
  
• Bait heals or raises

The combination is the same as Ironclad but will take 1 more extra Rapid Fire or an attack as he has more health than Ironclad. To kill Hades in 1 barrage, you will need to critically strike most of your katana hits and be around Level 90+


This fight isnt worth the effort or the risk. The Behemoths don't do anything helpful and the normal Behemoth can cast Meteor when slain. Not to mention Rapid Fire will go off and hit at random. However, there are 2 methods to safely get rid of them.

Commands (Running)

• First Defends or attacks King Behemoth with Standard Attack
  
• Second casts Smoke or Flee

If done correctly, the battle ends in 3 seconds.

Commands (Fighting)

• First standard attacks King Behemoth or applies Haste via Masamune to Second.
  
• Second channels Silence Blade
  
• Third finishes off King Behemoth with standard attack
  
• Bait heals counter attacks
  
• Second standard attacks Behemoth when s/he can to apply Silence and damage. Third or First finish off with attack or Rapid Fire.

You should only have to fight if you are using the Brave Blade or if you are not a coward. If you are using the Chicken Knife or don't care, then you are better off just running away. Note that if Second kills the purple Behemoth via his or her attacks, Silence will not be applied.

This pairing is worth fighting, but you will have to handle this delicately for three reasons.

First, the Assassin has a special ability that will create a clone of himself when slain. He will only use this power from the Arena onward and only when he has been slain after doing an attack. This clone ALSO gives Experience, effectively doubling this enemy's output. The XP number mentioned above has factored this in.

Second, the Dinozombie will cast Poison Breath if he is the only monster left on the field, and this does damage plus stacks on a repair bill of Poison removal. He can also Bone a character to critical levels, causing the Assassin or Dinozombie to kill that person next turn. If you mastered Cover and Shirahadori, things are a lot simpler.

Finally, because we have 2 targets, the performance on Rapid Fire is hindered. If you cast it, you could either spread the damage to far out between the two of them, kill the Assassin completely before it makes a clone, or it could work properly and slay the Dinozombie on the first hit. But the odds of doing the last part are slim and we don't want to take that risk for a few extra turns. Every second counts!

Commands

• First will standard attack Dinozombie
  
• Second will finish off Dinozombie with standard attack.
  
• Third will Rapid Fire the lone Assassin. Assassin should duplicate itself when slain.
  
• Bait heals paralysis or damage. If Dinozombie is still alive, cast Holy. Otherwise, defend.
  
• First will Rapid Fire the Assassin again

This will ensure you get full experience from the fight. If you prefer fighting just Ironclads or Hades, you may use the Second to Smoke out.

• Your Second can carry 2 Dragon Lances or Whiskers to ensure Dinozombie destruction. But go back to swords if you are doing the slay Behemoth strategy.
  
• You can use Elixirs or Curaga after a fight to quickly heal someone.
  
• If you want to save, you simply just exit the Court and go heal up at the Save Point behind where you got Longinus.

This is for people who are having problems in the Lethe Court either because their levels are too small to effectively waste things or they want something a little bit more managable. The next best location is right next to the Well of Tranquility: The Tomb of Memory. This is where Omega Mark II hangs out.

In the first and third (the one you enter from the left most exit in the first room), all the enemies will net experience. The enemies are a lot weaker than the Lethe uniques as their Undead traits will be exploited.

DO NOT WANDER AROUND NEAR OR ENGAGE THE WALKING ROBOTS! They will cause you to enter a fight with Omega Mark I and this setup will NOT work against him!

The equipment should still be effective from Lethe Court. It will apply to both rooms.

Because of the Undead, you may opt out of using magic items on your Third and equip Apollo's Harp. This harp does 8x damage vs Undead and should be able to max damage anything it attacks. DO NOT use this with Aim or Rapid Fire or it will do nothing. If you do this, you may opt out of using Black Magic on your Third for anything you wish.

Unlike in Lethe Court, we have to sacrifice EXP Up for commands. But the Experience gain is still plenty enough to help mid levels acquire Experience.

Make sure you have learned Requiem from Quelb before attempting this.

The First will use these commands for Quick draw purposes. The Second is cleanup. This combination will quickly dispatch most of the battles here.


Assuming you are still using Magic buff items (Sage Staff, Rune Chime, Magus Rod), equip both Third and Bait with Black and White Magics. Give Lure to your Bait to speed up battles.

The battles in the Hall of Memory are more simpler as half the roster is Undead.Although this allows Requiem to slaughter them like cattle, they aren't to be taken lightly. It would be a safe idea to wear Confusion protection through Rainbow Dresses for the Medusa and Satanas.

Simple battle. Since both are Undead, 1 or 2 commands end this.

This setup also works against 3 Medusas when you reach the Throne Room.

Commands

• First casts Requiem
  
• Second casts Bladeblitz if either survive

Still a simple battle. You can win this in 2-3 commands.

Commands

• First casts Requiem to attack Medusa. It should fall in one cast if it does max damage.
  
• If Medusa survives, Second uses Aim to finish off. Otherwise, Second uses Aim on Satana.
  
• If Mini Satana puts up Reflect, Third dispels. Otherwise, smite with Holy.
  
• Repeat for Bait.
  
• First uses Standard Attack or Second uses Aim to finish off.

Dispelling Mini Satana may seem unnecessary, but its AI script checks if Reflect is attached to it. If it is, it resorts to using Status spells and aga attacks that can mess up your rhythm or do 2000+ damage without protection. Without Reflect, he either reapplies it or wastes time on pitiful attacks or Sap. This can save a lot of trouble if you are playing as a low level party.

This fight is the most dangerous for lowbies as the Dinozombie hides behind a Mecha Head, putting it in the back row. All your melee attacks do half damage (as will it) and once Mecha Head is destroyed, he will do Poison Breath or Zombie Breath next turn he gets. Not to mention he will be tossing Bones from behind the robot.

The Mecha Head's only threat is it can cast Missile, which does percentage based damage. If you also need MP and want to save Elixirs or Cottages, you can Osmose from this robot safely, but the odds are pretty low.

This battle is up to open debate on how to handle it quickly. But here is one suggestion.

Commands

• First casts Thundaga and it should destroy Mecha Head.
  
• Second uses Aim on Dinozombie.or Mecha Head if it is still standing. You can also use Bladeblitz if both are still standing. Just make sure Mecha Head falls this turn.
  
• Third either smites Dinozombie with Holy or attacks with Apollo's Harp for 9999.
  
• Bait should Cast or Mime Holy to finish off. You can also defend if you wish to save MP.
  
• First casts Requiem if Dinozombie still stands.

A single Dinozombie can do some damage, but seeing as it's only one target, you can unleash your hardest hitting attacks and have it killed within 1 rotation. Try to dispatch it before it casts any of it's Breath attacks. If zombification is driving you nuts, you may equip Angel Rings.

Commands:

• First casts Requiem
  
• Second uses Aim
  
• Third attacks with Holy or Apollo Harp
  
• Bait heals any damage(s)

Another simple battle. It is also 1 of the 2 only battles outside of Court of Lethe that breaks 10000 experience. The other battle is 3 Medusa in the Throne Room.

Unlike the Mecha Head assistance, this one comes with status effects at the cost of being Undead. This doesn't change the fact your First's Requiem willl be able to severely damage both of them or kill at least the Medusa. However, be ready for any Breath attacks Dinozombie will do once Medusa is destroyed.

Much like the above battle, you should be able to dispatch it all in 1 rotation.

Commands:

• First casts Requiem
  
• Second uses Aim or Bladeblitz if Medusa survives.
  
• Third attacks with Holy or Apollo Harp
  
• Bait heals any damage(s)

• You may opt out of Aim for Rapid Fire. I use Aim because these monsters are weak and Rapid Fire is an unnecessary amount of attacks in some cases. However, it can make the Dinozombie battles a whole lot easier. Rapid Fire can substitute for First's Black Magic.
  
• If you think your Katanas are capable of high damage, you may opt out of using Black Magic for your First and just attack. You may also equip a Lightning damage increase Rod to your First so that s/he can guarantee a smiting of Mecha Head. At around Level 60, you should be able to Thundaga OHKO without the need of damage increase items.
  
• If you want to be safe, arm your First with Genji Gloves to avoid getting Paralyzed by Ray on Medusa.

While you are heading down to the Lethe Court or Tomb of Memory, there are some optional fights that pay off well and can assist in Experience gaining. Most of the fights on the way down aren't that spectacular for gains, but 3 fights specifically can be worth the trouble. This section will help not only gain Experience on the way down, but survive the trip in the process, especially if you are trying to get Kagenui or Apocalypse.

Because there are Level Checkers and Mecha Head parties in the Ruins portion and Dragons can spawn in the caves portion, I do not recommend leveling in this region, but kill them anyways as any experience is helpful to the cause.

Follow the suggestions outlined in the previous sections, but carry Ribbons and Confusion protection for status defenses.

Things will be adapted heavily as you are fighting between 1 and 5 monsters. Your First and Second will be adapted to handle any number of monsters.

Your First will have Rapid Fire (for small groups or single targets) and Summon (to handle the large groups). Your Second will have Spellblade (1 of the fights and no monsters here have reliable Evasion, so Fight is good enough) and Bladeblitz (handles groups).

If enemies do survive, you should use Black and White Magic on your Third and Bait and using buff staves to increase damage potential.



If you wish to cut down on battles. you may use Smoke on your First or Second to escape and arm your Bait with Read Ahead (Oracle skil) to cut down the battles.

As stated above, most of the fights on the way to the Hall of Tranquility aren't really worth doing as they offer little experience due to Mecha Heads giving nothing. You can still eliminate those low gain groups for quick experience and to help recover HP via Curaga, White Wind, etc. or MP via Osmose/Lancer/Mixing Balm of Gillead (Ether+Hi Potion). Steal MP from the Level Checkers or Dragon Aevis.

The Exorays are incredibly dangerous, but they are managable. If you are swift enough with your First, you should be able to call Golem before any Powder attacks go off. You will need at least 3000 health to attempt this safely (in the event you fail and if you wish to survive Firaga).

Golem also protects 1 character for up to (20 + Caster Level) x 50 damage. It is wise to be at least level 40 (3000 HP protection) if wish to get reasonable resistance out of this.

Exorays will also regenerate their numbers if there is 1 left. It is wise to try to eliminate them either all at once or in groups.

Commands

• First summons Golem before Exoray makes a move. This will cancel all of the Exoray Powder attacks. Only Firaga will pass Golem.
  
• Second uses Bladeblitz. Optimally, it should kill the first 3, or at least bust them all up.
  
• Third and Bait should All target Firaga on the survivors.
  
• Repeat except First instead attacks if any survive.

Simple battle. Your Second will be able to trash these in 1 attack at the same time using 2 moves.. It is wise to have Confusion protection on your Second in the event Rocket Punches go off.

Commands

• First casts Haste through Masamune on Second or Summon Golem
  
• Second casts Break Spellblade
  
• Third, Bait, and First either Defend or Heal
  
• Second attacks with Bladeblitz. The Break effect will kill both at same time.

The Duelist isn't much of a threat, unless you fail to kill it in 1 attack. It will counter with a Strong Attack that can kill a person. However, if your First's Rapid fire does on average 2000 a hit, it should fall in 1 barrage.

Commands

• First casts Rapid Fire
  
• Revive any lost hands if Duelist counter(s)
  
• Next available fighter attacks with any method to finish off

The Hall of Souls and Doubt is a good place to level, preferably for low level parties who either just entered this place and want to get a feel for the dungeon's enemies or Grand Aevis and Gil Turtle are giving you trouble and a few HP helps.

Since all but Mini-Satana use magic as their main form of offense, it will be wise to either equip all hands with a Reflect Ring to cut down on summoning Carbuncle. If you want to ensure safety, pack Rainbow Dresses or Genji items for Confusion protection. Weaponry can stay the same as Lethe Court suggestions.

Your Third can be armed with either Magic or Physical, but it is recommended to do Magic. Arm your Third with either a Sage Staff (improves Holy) or the Magus Rod (improves Bio and Agas). or the Rune Chime (does both). Then, equip an Aegis Shield. The Bait gets the other rod.

For low level parties, you will need to do high damage, despite your subpar vitals and stats. Also, you will be fighting 3 enemies per battle in this region. Your First will have to choose between Summons and Zeninage.

What Zeninage does is you will consume Gil to attack your enemies, doing unabated non elemental damage without triggering enemy counters (which 2 species in this region have notorious counters)
The damage and Gil cost formulae are as follows:


You will need to be at least level 34 in order for Zeninage to at least OHKO Mini Satana. Any less and you will at least cripple them enough for 1 attack to finish them off, but you will need to deal with the counters the enemies return.

If you don't feel comfortable throwing Gil away, you don't want to take the risk of counters or you do not have enough Reflect Rings, then you can use Summon. The recommended attack summons for this region are Leviathan, Bahamut or Syldra if you have a Wind-elemental buff weapon (Air Knife or Rune Chime). If you want to go Summons, you may scrap the katanas on First for Magic equipment and then change Aim to something else like Black Magic. My guide assumes Aim so if you see that and you do Magic instead, do whatever spell you think will help you.

Aim will allow you to reliably finish off weakened enemies without your Rapid Fire going off on a tangent. This is good for single target survivors and you want to ensure your attacks will hit, especially against Mini Satanas and Chrono Controllers.

For any survivors, your Third and Bait should use Black or Summon Magics, followed by White. Magus Rods, Rune Chimes and Sage Staves will be factored in to how that person will fight. Magus users should Summon or use Agas/Bio (or Bio/Flare if you are facing Dark Elementals) and Sage users use Holy. Rune Chime is a combination of the two. Use your own Reflect status to bypass Mini-Satana reflects or Dispel it to cut down their offense.

I suggest magic because the monsters outside of Mini-Satana have armor (especially Dark Elemental with 70 armor) and it won't trigger counters.

These battles are split across Hall of Memory and Souls. You can decide which battles will be more managable for you. I will also mention what level you must be in order for Zeninage to OHKO the full party. If you are less than the level but greater than 34, all but the Mini-Satanas will be the only survivors. Otherwise, everything will be in critical status, which is enough for 1 attack to finish off.

• Required Zeninage Level to OHKO: 34
  Minimum Gil Cost to OHKO: 3400 Gil@ 34
  
• Gil Rate: 100 Gil/First's Level

The easiest of the groupings for Zeninage users and even those who do Summons. Both methods can be used with reckless abandon to dispatch these foes swiftly. Just be sure to bounce spells off yourself when they arm Reflect.

Commands:

• First casts Zeninage or Summons
  
• Second should Aim a Mini-Satana
  
• Third and Bait should bounce an attack spell off self or Dispel a Mini-Satana Reflect
  
• Repeat except First uses Aim

• Required Zeninage Level to OHKO: 44
  
• Minimum Gil Cost to OHKO: 6600 Gil @ 44
  
• Gil Rate: 150 Gil/First's Level

Furies are nasty as they can double cast various Black Magic, mostly Aga-type spells and even Death. If you are not using Reflect Rings, make sure you have Ribbon or Angel Ring protection against Death.You also get an advantage as these enemies vs Water, allow you to cast Leviathan over Bahamut for an easy OHKO and still damage Mini Satana significantly.

Commands:

• First casts Zeninage or Summon Leviathan
  
• Second should Aim Mini-Satana or Bladeblitz the Furies
  
• Third and Bait should cast their respective attack magic on the survivors.
  
• Repeat except First uses Aim

• Required Zeninage Level to OHKO: 45
  
• Minimum Gil Cost to OHKO: 6750 Gil @ 45
  
• Gil Rate: 150 Gil/First's Level

If a Flaremancer is struck with Aim or Zeninage and survives, it will counter attack with Strong Attacks. It has the power to OHKO a character in your party. If you don't plan on using Zeninage or Summons on Turn 1, make sure you can do 3300 damage with Aim.

Commands:

• First casts Zeninage if level is greater than 45. Otherwise, Summon or Aim Mini-Satana
  
• Second should Aim (Mini-Satana) or Bladeblitz the Flaremancers.
  
• Third and Bait should cast their respective magic attacks.
  
• Repeat except First uses Aim

• Required Zeninage Level to OHKO: 53
  
• Minimum Gil Cost to OHKO: 7950 Gil @ 53
  
• Gil Rate: 150 Gil/First's Level

If a Chrono Controller is struck with Aim or Zeninage and survives, it will counter attack with Meteor casts equal to the number of weapons the attacker wielded. The Meteor damage is devastating enough to either cripple a party or Game Over if you are struck If you plan on not using Zeninage or Summons with your First, you must be able to deal 2600 damage with Aim. Use Aim as Chrono Controllers have Evasion.

Commands:

• First casts Zeninage if level is 53 or higher. Otherwise, Summon or Aim Mini Satana
  
• Second should Aim either the Chrono Controller or Mini Satana.
  
• Third and Bait should do their respective magic attacks.
  
• Repeat except First uses Aim

• Required Zeninage Level to OHKO: 96
  
• Minimum Gil Cost to OHKO: 14400 Gil
  
• Gil Rate: 150 Gil/First's Level

Dark Elementals are nasty customers. It is definitely recommended to have Reflect Rings or summon Carbuncle for this fight as magic is their only form of offense. They will either cast Aeroga, a certain Aga (which they are weak against their own spell but absorb the other two. Eg. Firaga casters are weak vs Fire but absorb Ice and Lightning) and White Wind (heals HP equal to current HP of caster). If struck with an Aga spell, they will counter with said Aga. If they get hit with their own spell, the caster will either kill or cripple itself.

Be warned that Zeninage will do 0 damage if you are not level 60 or higher. If your Zeninage strategy is doing 0, then you may want to consider doing Summons or just Aim with your First.

If you face them in Abyssal Falls while you are fighting with the descent setup, it is wise to slap down Carbuncle as soon as possible or you will need to use your Third and Bait to heal any damages.

Commands (Reflect Rings)

• Wait until Dark Elementals do their 3 turns, then execute the following as fast as possible.
  
• First uses Zeninage or Summons. If First's level is <60 and using Zeninage, just Aim/Black Magic 1 of them.
  
• Second uses Blitzblade
  
• Third either attacks with Aim, cast Attack Magic or Summons
  
• Bait does Attack Magic or uses items to heal others.
  
• Repeat except First uses Aim/Black Magic

Commands (Carbuncle)

• First summons Carbuncle before Dark Elementals execute turns.
  
• Wait until Dark Elementals do their 3 turns, then execute the following as fast as possible.
  
• Second uses Blitzblade
  
• Third either Attacks with Aim, cast Attack Magic or Summons
  
• Bait does whatever you wish
  
• Repeat except First uses Aim

Why wait for them to attack? Because if you set off your attacks and they survive, White Wind can potentially undo the damage you have dealt. Attacking them heavy with 1 set of attacks will ensure they are either killed off or have such low HP that White Wind won't be able to recover much HP. White Wind is also useless to them if they all have max health. You may also off 1 of them in the crossifre or severely damage them with Aerogas. Even if White Wind undoes their first turn, you will have assurance your next attacks will cause unabated damage and hopefully kill them before they make their next move.

• Arm your Bait with Blue Magic if you wish to heal in combat. White Wind is the only healing spell outside of items that can heal past Reflect status. You may also use Hi-Potions or bring Mix and use X-Potion (Potion + Ether) to fully heal someone.
  
• If you are running low on MP, you may either briefly arm Osmose or Lancer and MP Steal or arm your Bait with Mix and use Balm of Gillead (Ether + Hi Potion) or Resurrection (Potion + Phoenix Down) if slain. MP steal is recommended on Flaremancers and Chrono Controller (No magic defenses or evasion).
  
• If you are running low on Gil, lay off on Zeninage to refill your pocket.
  
• You may use Rapid Fire over Aim, but it is not wise as Flaremancers and Chrono Controllers may counter if hit and not killed.
  
• If your damage is decent (approx 4000 with Aim), you may opt out of using Zeninage or Summons for the Hall of Memory fights and just Aim the Mini-Satana supports. You will have to take extra turns to take down Mini Satana(s).
  
• If you wish to cut down on damage vs Mini Satanas, you should consider dispelling their Reflect status. As stated in the Tomb of Memory, this makes a difference between taking 2000 damage a spell or nasty status effects that will slow you down vs crappy physicals and Sap.

And that is should help you level faster. Hopefully, Level 99 looks a lot closer now than ever before.

Even if you aren't doing this for achievements, a level can make a difference between you decimating your opponent or superboss and you getting decimated yourself. Plus, you can be better prepared for the offense Enuo, Neo-Shinryu and Omega Mark II will throw at you, whether you rely on the game's most broken spams or not.

If you got any monster ideas that help out, post them and I will see about finding an efficient way in fewest turns possible to slay them. It would be suggested that these be in the Sealed Temple, as the best source outside the palace is only 2500 XP all hands (1 Shield Dragon).

But as I said before, this guide is to help you give an idea, it doesn't mean it is the be-all end all of leveling solutions.

Final
Nov 9th 2015 - Reorganized sections to make it a bit more similar to the first 2.

v1.2
Nov 9th 2015 - Added Hall of Souls and Doubt Section for low level players. Modifed existing entries to make more sense.

V1.1
Nov 7th 2015 - Fixed a few errors and forgot to set language to English. Now appears correctly on Guides list.

V1.0
Nov 2nd 2015 - Guide written and released to public.