Final Fantasy XIII/Crystarium

In Final Fantasy XIII, character progression is based around accumulating Crystogen Points from battles and spending them in the Crystarium to purchase stat increases, abilities, techniques, ATB segments, accessory slots and role levels. Each enemy gives you a certain amount of CP when you defeat them. You can upgrade your character by going to Crystarium in the menu and selecting the role you want to upgrade. The Crystarium becomes available in Lake Bresha, and your characters start out with three primary roles that can be upgraded.

Within each role, there are up to ten levels that look like discs being stacked on top of each other, expanding outward from the character's central l'Cie crystal. As the story progresses, the Crystarium will be expanded until they are all open, and this usually happens at the beginning of new chapters. The development path is mainly linear, going from node to node but including offshoots of one or many nodes, which can either be followed or passed up. Nodes along the main path must be acquired in order, and you can always go back later to pick up any crystals you've passed.

In the Crystarium you have the option to toggle the names of the crystals from nearest labeled (default), to all labeled to none labeled. You can also zoom in and out and move back and forth along the advancement path without spending CP to see what's coming up ahead. In general, it's better to get the special crystals on the main path and come back for stat increases on branches, as you'll get plenty of stat helpers on the main path and abilities, role levels, etc. will be more directly helpful in combat. Using the information on ../Characters/ and roles elsewhere in the guide, you can create a long-term plan for your party, then use the information here to upgrade in the Crystarium accordingly.

Crystarium Roles
An overview of the various roles each character gains throughout the game. All characters start with 3 main ones, then gain the other 3 as the game goes on.

Commando
This offensive role makes use of physical attacks and non-elemental magic spells to deal massive damage.

Successful attacks by Commandos also cause enemy Chain Gauges to drain less rapidly when building toward a Stagger. This feature makes Commandos especially effective when combined with Ravagers.

Commandos cannot charge Chain Bonuses by themselves, however, because their attacks have little impact on the Chain Gauge. Instead, Commandos have access to various passive abilities that greatly enhance their combat performance.

A Commando who obtains a Role Level crystal through their Crystarium development will be awarded the bonus of Augmented Attacks. This causes physical and magical assaults to cause extra damage, with allies sharing a smaller bonus. The bonus increases with each Role Level crystal.

Commando AI
Commandos select their own targets. If there is more than one Commando in the party, each will pick a different target when a choice exists.

An AI Commando will always opt to perform the attack that deals the maximum amount of damage, depending on the target's stats. They will use Attack and Blitz if the target is weak against physical attacks or strong against magical attacks; and they will switch to Ruin and Ruinga is strong against physical attacks or weak against magical attacks

Ravager
Ravagers excel at raising enemy Chain Bonuses, thereby increasing the damage done with each subsequent blow and leading the party to quicker Staggers. To achieve this, Ravagers have access to a wide variety of elemental magic and physical attacks.

The sudden hike in an enemy's Chain Bonus will drain away quickly after a Ravager's spell. This is why teaming Ravagers with Commandos works so well, as Commandos will prevent the Chain Bonus from slipping away while the Ravagers build it higher.

The Ravager's armory of elemental attacks enables them to exploit the weaknesses of foes, which can be especially effective after lowering your enemy's elemental resistances with the help of a Saboteur. Indeed, a Saboteur can sometimes effectively replace a Commando and combine with Ravagers to "fix" those bonuses in place on your opponents' Chain Gauges.

When a Ravager advances sufficently through the Crystarium to buy a Role Level crystal, they receive the bonus of Improved Chaining. This causes physical and magic attacks alike to impact on the Chain Bonus more significantly, with allies sharing a partial bonus.

Ravager AI
Unless they are the only attacker in the group, Ravagers will try to follow someone else's lead and so maximize the Chaining potenial on a single target.

In chossing their attacks, Ravagers assess the target's strengths and weaknesses to determine the highest possible Chain Bonus within their ability. If your Datalog's Enemy Intel or a Libra scan happens to reveal that an oppenent can nullify or absorb all elemental abilities, Ravagers won't waste attacks on targeting those enemies. When the enemy's details are unknown, the Ravager will unleash a variety of attacks to test for weaknesses and resistances.

Sentinel
Sentinels act as "tanks", drawing the attention of enemies on themselves with Provoke. This ability has a tremendous additional benefit as it extends the duration of Staggers, allowing enemies to inflict more damage during the process.

Keep in mind that when you switch your Sentinel to another role, the Provoke effect immediately wears off, freeing enemies to attack your other party members again.

Sentinels have access to numerous defensive skills that generally boost their (already high) resistance to damage. They are best placed in Paradigms that include Medics, Synergists and Saboteurs, as characters playing these roles tend to have lower HP and defense than more directly combative party members.

When a Sentinel advances sufficently through the Crystarium to buy a Role Level crystal, they will be awarded the bonus of Damage Reduction. This increases their resistance to both physical and magic damage, with a partial bonus extended to allies.

Sentinel AI
An AI Sentinel always starts by Provoking enemies. The Provoke ability is used against groups and has a 45% chance of succeeding, while the stronger Challenge ability works against a single enemy, with a 99% base chance.

If the Sentinel has high HP, they will then perform guard abilities with a counter-attack effect (like Vendetta or Entrench). When the Sentinel has low HP, they will favor the use of a guard ability that greatly boosts defense (Steelguard) or that gradually regenerates HP while defending (Mediguard).

Sentinels repeat this cycle by keeping their enemies in a Provoked state.

Saboteur
While Synergists cast status enhancements on your party to strengthen it, Saboteurs work to weaken your opponents by inflicting status ailments on them. Saboteurs also have access to Dispel, which cancels the last status enhancement of the target. Cancelling enemy status enhancements can also be done by casting the opposite status ailment on the enemy. For example, casting Deprotect (which lowers the enemy's defense) will negate their Protect status.

It is always worth casting Libra on new enemies to find out the status ailments to which they may be immune, as this will also improve the effectiveness of AI-controlled Saboteurs.

Saboteurs, like Synergists, are best used during the start of a tough battle that you believe with pose a challenge. Even though Saboteurs inflict damage with their spells, this cannont compare to the damage Commandos or Ravagers dish out in seconds. After inflicting sufficient status ailments on your opponent, switch your Saboteur to a more offensive role.

A Saboteur who advances through the Crystarium and buys a Role Level crystal will be awarded the bonus of Boosted Success Rates. This makes abilities more likely to succeed on enemies, with allies (including Sentinel's Provoke) sharing a reduced bonus.

Saboteur AI
An AI Saboteur will always make use of Enemy Intel to weaken opponents by exploiting any vulnerablitiles or eliminating the advantages. If the Enemy Intel reveals that the enemy has high defense, for example, then the Saboteur will try to lower that defense with Deprotect and Deshell. If an enemy turns out to be immune to certain ailments, the Saboteur will not waste time casting the corresponding spells.

As a rule, if there are few enemies around, a Saboteur will use direct weakening abilities; if there are many abilities around, a Saboteur will use hampering abilities such as Pain or Fog.

Synergist
The Synergist role empowers your characters with magic that improves the party's effectiveness. Status enhancements include increased damage, defense, speed and resistance to elements and status ailments. They can also imbue attacks with an elemental power.

These spells, also called buffs, enable your party to punch above it's weight. They take time to apply and so are sensibly reserved for a showdown with powerful enemies and bosses. In such instances, it's generally best to use Synerigts at the start of a battle so that you can make the most of your enhancements. When you feel the party has been sufficently buffed, switch to another Paradigm until your enhancements run out.

The Synergist is not required continuously throughout the battle, but it's a role to enlist in bursts every time you need a temporary boost to your performance.

When a Synergist develps sufficently to buy a Role Level crystal, they will be rewarded the bonus of Extended Enhancements. This increases the duration of all status enhancements casy by the character, with allies (including Saboteur's debuffs and Sentinel's Provoke) sharing a lesser bonus.

Synergist AI
Synergists make their decisions based on information that has been obtained from the Datalog's Enemy Intel or scanned with Libra. Their tendency is to strength allies when facing only a few enemies, and to use defensive abilities when at least four enemies are in battle. The type of buff is also prioritized by the needs of the role, such that Ravagers get Faith before Bravery, and so on.

If the Synergist is strengthing allies, the following priority order of roles is applied: Commando, Ravager, Saboteur, Sentinel, Synergist, Medic.

If the Synergist is using defensive abilities on allies, the following priority is applied: Sentinel, Commando, Ravager, Medic, Synergist, Saboteur.

If there are several characters with the same role, the Synergist will target the party leader and then the member closest to the party leader.

Medic
A Medic focuses on healing duties, which naturally include restoring the HP of party members, reviving fallen allies, and removing status ailments.

Knowing that your party will be fully healed and cured after each battle, you will find yourself making frequent judgement calls on your chances of survival. Even in a critical predicament, you might want to keep attacking if you believe you're about to finish off your enemy and steal a victory. In all other cases - whether one of your essitential characters is badly hurt, or you are hampered by status ailments - the Medic is your life-saver.

Take note that Medics cannot perform any actions at all once they are done with their healing tasks. In such situations, it's usually better to switch to a different role.

When a Medic advances sufficiently through the Crystarium to buy a Role Level crystal, they will be awarded the bonus of Augmented Healing. This increases the effectiveness of both healing abilities and items, with allies sharing a reduced bonus.

Note: this also applies to Sentinel's Mediguard.

Medic AI
The most important tasks of an AI Medic are, in order of priorty:

1. Heal characters with a red or yellow HP bar (prioritizing the party leader and Sentinels) 2. Raise KO'd party members 3. Cure status ailments with Esuna 4. Heal party members if their HP is not full.

If none of these actions are required, the Medic will do nothing at all. Note that Medics will always heal with the most efficient healing spell with regards to the amount of HP that needs to be restored.