Final Fantasy X/Monster Arena

The Monster Arena is a place at the far eastern side of the Calm Lands area where you can fight fiends from all over Spira. However, when you first get there, the old man running it says all of the fiends escaped. So, prepare to do a nice big tour of Spira collecting them for him again!

Capture Weapons

In order to "capture" a fiend, you need to land the killing blow with a weapon that has the Capture auto-ability. This cannot be customised; instead, you need to buy it from the guy running the Monster Arena for 9075 Gil (there's a capture weapon for every character). All of these weapons come with Capture and one empty slot for you to customise.

You can't capture a fiend by killing it with a spell from a character who has their capture weapon equipped, or by using an Overdrive on it. You can, however, use a skill (like Mug or Dark Buster) to capture them.

There are numerous abilities that will make capturing fiends (especially the tougher ones) a lot easier:

• Sensor will help you determine how much HP your opponent has left and so you know whether or not you can switch in a more powerful character and use an Overdrive or spell on it.
• Deathstrike helps a lot; very few fiends in the game are immune to instant death and killing an enemy with Deathstrike still counts as a capture. Most of the fiends from earlier parts of the game are too weak to survive one hit from your weapons at this point anyway, but it helps when capturing monsters from Mt. Gagazet, Inside Sin, or Omega Ruins.
• Piercing can be quite useful for characters whose weapons are naturally piercing; whereas a monster may take three hits from other characters the likes of Auron (or possibly Kimahri, depending on his Strength skill and whether or not you got him his capture weapon or not) can kill it in one.
• Counter-attack/Evade & Counter/Magic Counter is useful against later enemies and ambushes as it will allow you to counter an attack, and with weaker enemies, kill and capture them without even taking a turn. Again, this isn't much use against weaker fiends but against stronger ones it really helps.

The Fiends

Below is a list of all the fiends in each area or category (and their species type), and any other information about them.

Besaid

• Dingo (wolf) [Costs 24 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Condor (bird) [Costs 18 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Water Flan (flan) [Costs 27 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]

Kilika Woods

• Dinonix (lizard) [Costs 40 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Killer Bee (bee) [Costs 34 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Yellow Element (element) [Costs 49 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Ragora (seed spitter) [Costs 72 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]

Mi'ihen Highroad

• Mi'ihen Fang (wolf) [Costs 49 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Ipiria (lizard) [Costs 69 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Floating Eye (eye) [Costs 66 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• White Element (element) [Costs 72 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Raldo (armoured mole) [Costs 63 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Vouivre (dragon) [Costs 90 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Bomb (bomb) [Costs 105 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]
• Dual Horn (horned beast) [Costs 157 gil to fight in the Monster Arena]

Note: Ipirias generally only appear along the Oldroad.

Mushroom Rock

• Raptor (lizard)
• Gandarewa (flying mage)
• Thunder Flan (flan)
• Red Element (element)
• Lamashtu (dragon)
• Funguar (fungus)
• Garuda (N/A)

Note: Thunder Flans also appear along Mi'ihen Oldroad.

Djose Road

• Garm (wolf)
• Simurgh (bird)
• Bite Bug (bee)
• Snow Flan (flan)
• Bunyip (armoured mole)
• Basilisk (N/A)
• Ochu (N/A)

Note: Simurghs and Basilisks generally only appear along the road leading away from the Battle Site. Ochus only appear along the road between the fork and the Moonflow.

Thunder Plains

• Melusine (lizard)
• Aerouge (flying mage)
• Buer (eye)
• Gold Element (element)
• Kusariqqu (dragon)
• Larva (N/A)
• Iron Giant (iron man)
• Qactuar (N/A)

Note: Iron Giants only appear in the northern section of the plains, and Qactuars appear more frequently after you've prayed at the Qactuar stones.

Macalania

• Snow Wolf (wolf)
• Iguion (lizard)
• Wasp (bee)
• Evil Eye (eye)
• Ice Flan (flan)
• Blue Element (element)
• Murussu (armoured mole)
• Mafdet (armoured mole)
• Xiphos (N/A)
• Chimera (N/A)

Note: Snow Wolves, Evil Eyes, Ice Flans and Mafdets appear in the Lake section, whereas the rest in the Forest part.

Bikanel

• Sand Wolf (wolf)
• Alcyone (bird)
• Mushussu (dragon)
• Zu (N/A)
• Sand Worm (N/A)
• Cactuar (N/A)

Calm Lands

• Skoll (wolf)
• Nebiros (bee)
• Flame Flan (flan)
• Shred (armoured mole)
• Anacondaur (N/A)
• Ogre (N/A)
• Coeurl (N/A)
• Chimera Brain (N/A)
• Malboro (N/A)

Note: Ogres, Anacondaurs and Malboros appear more often in the northwest.

Sunken Cave

• Yowie (lizard)
• Imp (flying mage)
• Dark Element (element)
• Nidhogg (dragon)
• Thorn (fungus)
• Valaha (horned beast)
• Epaaj (N/A)
• Ghost (N/A)
• Tonberry (N/A)

Note: The Nidhogg and Imp also appear on Mt. Gagazet, and Tonberries are quite rare (search in the green room right before entering The Chamber of the Fayth to find the highest encounter rate).

Mt. Gagazet

• Bandersnatch (wolf)
• Ahriman (eye)
• Dark Flan (flan)
• Grenade (bomb)
• Grat (N/A)
• Grendel (horned beast)
• Bashura (N/A)
• Mandragora (N/A)
• Behemoth (N/A)
• Splasher (N/A)
• Achelous (N/A)
• Maelspike (N/A)
• Nidhogg (horned beast)

Note 1: Bashuras, Ahrimans, Grendels, Mandragoras, Dark Flans, and Behemoths also appear in Zanarkand Ruins, otherwise they are only encountered inside Mt. Gagazet.

Note 2: Splashers, Achelouses and Maelspikes are encountered in the underwater sections of Mt. Gagazet.

Inside Sin

• Exoray (fungus)
• Wraith (N/A)
• Gemini A (iron man)
• Gemini B (iron man)
• Demonolith (N/A)
• Great Malboro (N/A)
• Barbatos (N/A)
• Adamantoise (N/A)
• Behemoth King (N/A)

Note 1: Demonoliths, Great Malboros and Barbatoses are only encountered in the "City of the Dead" section of Sin (where you enter).

Note 2: Geminis always come in pairs, one of them carries a sword, the other a club. Both count as a unique fiend, so you have to capture both types in order to complete the list.

Omega Ruins

• Zaurus (lizard)
• Floating Death (eye)
• Black Element (element)
• Halma (armoured mole)
• Puroboros (bomb)
• Spirit (N/A)
• Machea (N/A)
• Master Coeurl (N/A)
• Master Tonberry (N/A)
• Varuna (N/A)
• Demonolith (N/A)
• Gemini (armored giant)
• Wraith (ghost)

Note 1: Great Malboros will appear here; however, unlike the ones inside Sin, these will always ambush you and their first move is always Bad Breath, so watch out.

Note 2: Demonoliths counter with Pharaoh's Curse, which inflicts poison, curse, darkness, silence, so use Hastega and Quick Hit. They will use Breath to petrify your party, so equip stoneproofs. Adamantoises will appear here too, more often on the second area of the ruins (the series of platforms leading to Omega Weapon).

Note 3: Watch out for the Master Tonberry's everything-counter, Karma. Use Tidus or Rikku to avoid a 1-hit KO. Hastega and Auto-Pheonix are vital.

Note 4: I'm not sure how does it look like in International Version, but in North American on Omega Ruins' fiends list there are no Demonolith, Gemini or Wraith (all of these captured in Omega Ruins counts as 'Inside Sin').

Area Conquest

These are unlocked for capturing at least one of every fiend in a particular area.

• Stratoavis — Besaid
• Malboro Menace — Kilika
• Kottos — Mi'ihen Highroad
• Coeurlregina — Mushroom Rock Road
• Jormungand — Djose Road
• Cactuar King — Thunder Plains
• Espada — Macalania
• Abyss Worm — Bikanel
• Chimerageist — Calm Lands
• Don Tonberry — Sunken Cave
• Catoblepas — Mt. Gagazet
• Abbadon — Inside Sin
• Vorban — Omega Ruins

Species Conquest

These are unlocked for getting a capturing a specific amount of all of a species of fiend.

• Fenrir — 3 of all wolves (Dingo, Mi'ihen Fang, Garm, Snow Wolf, Sand Wolf, Skoll, Bandersnatch)
• Ornitholestes — 3 of all lizards (Dinonix, Ipiria, Raptor, Melusine, Iguion, Yowie, Zaurus)
• Pteryx — 4 of all birds (Condor, Simurgh, Alycone)
• Hornet — 4 of all bees (Killer Bee, Bite Bug, Wasp, Nebiros)
• Vidatu — 4 of all flying mages (Gandarewa, Aerouge and Imp)
• One-Eye — 4 of all flying eyeballs (Floating Eye, Buer, Evil Eye, Ahriman, Floating Death)
• Jumbo Flan — 3 of all flans (Water Flan, Thunder Flan, Snow Flan, Ice Flan, Flame Flan, Dark Flan)
• Nega Elemental — 3 of all elements (Yellow Element, White Element, Red Element, Gold Element, Blue Element, Dark Element, Black Element)
• Tanket — 3 of all armoured moles (Raldo, Bunyip, Murussu, Mafdet, Shred, Halma)
• Fafnir — 4 of all dragons (Vouivre, Lamashtu, Kusariqqu, Mushussu, Nidhogg)
• Sleep Sprout — 5 of all fungi (Funguar, Thorn, Exoray)
• Bomb King — 5 of all bombs (Bomb, Grenade, Puroboros)
• Juggernaut — 5 of all horned beasts (Dual Horn, Valaha, Grendel)
• Ironclad — 10 of all iron men (Iron Giant, Gemini A, Gemini B)

Original

These are unlocked when specific conditions are met.

• Earth Eater — capture all the fiends from 2 different areas
• Greater Sphere — conquer 2 species
• Catastrophe — capture all the fiends from 6 different areas
• Th'uban — conquer 6 species
• Neslug — capture 1 of every fiend (or, conquer all areas)
• Ultima Buster — capture 5 of every fiend
• Shinryu — capture 2 of each fiend in the underwater section of Mt. Gagazet
• Nemesis — capture 10 of every fiend and defeat all of the other arena creations

General Tactics

To even have a chance against almost any of the monster arena creations requires you to be considerably more powerful than you need to be to complete the main storyline. To achieve this powerful status will require 3 things:

• Suitable weapons
• Suitable armour
• Covering the sphere grid

Although described below is a method to fully meet these 3 objectives, bear in mind that you will be able to defeat the area creations after getting the weapons required and covering less than half of the sphere grid, the species creations after covering a bit more of the sphere grid (you will need to be able to hit for 99999) and the original creations with good armour and most of the sphere grid covered. You will only need to max out the sphere grid if you plan to take on the later Dark Aeons (the final 4) and Penance. (Only on International version)

Weapons

The celestial weapons are the way to go here. You will want to try and fully upgrade as many of the 7 weapons here as possible, or at least half upgrade them so the respective aeon can break the damage limit. The process to go through to upgrade each character's weapon is detailed on their individual character page.

You may notice that, with the celestial weapons, everybody's favourite big hitting character Auron does considerably less damage than the other 2 main attackers Tidus and Wakka. This is because while their weapons do more damage when they are at full HP, Auron's does more when he's on low HP. The direct effect of this is that Auron cannot be effectively used for the monster arena or beyond. In fact, the only characters you will need are Tidus, Wakka, Yuna and Rikku. At this point in the game as you will be getting everyone to cover the sphere grid the only thing that sets them apart are their overdrives, celestial weapon and in Yuna's case ability to summon.

Tidus should have his Blitz Ace overdrive, Wakka should have attack reels (which you should be able to get 12 hits every time with), Yuna should have all her aeons and Rikku has her mix overdrive. It is these features that sets these characters apart, and they are all you need for this part of the game (if you only intend to do the Monster Arena you will only need one of Yuna or Rikku).

Armour

You will most likely require two sets of armour for the monster arena, a general set and a set which protects against certain status ailments. To get the required armour you will need to obtain (either from defeating powerful fiends or more likely buying from Wantz in Macalania) a piece of armour with 4 free slots for each character. The anti-status ailments armour should be customised to include:

• [Auto-Med]
  • Requires 20 remedies
    • Bribe 80 from the Lord Ochu for 93 000 gil.
    • Bribe 70 from an Ochu for 144 000 gil.
    • Steal from Marlboro enemies.
• [Deathproof]
  • Requires 60 farplane winds
    • Bribe 60 from Wraiths for 445 000 gil.
    • Steal from Coeurl Regina.
• [Berserkproof]
  • Requires 32 hypello potions
    • Bribe 10 from Raldos for 5 000 gil.
    • Steal from Halma.
• [Confuseproof]
  • Requires 48 musks
    • Bribe 3 from Evil Eye A for 6 200 gil.
    • Steal from floating eye enemies (ideally Ahriman).

The general armour should consist of 4 of:

• [Break HP Limit]
  • Requires 30 wings to discovery.
    • Bribe 4 from Marlboros for 540 000 gil.
• [Auto Protect]
  • Requires 80 light curtains.
    • Steal from Iron Giants, Ironclad or Tanket.
• [Auto Shell]
  • Requires 80 lunar curtains.
    • Steal from Defender, Jumbo Flan or Juggernaut.
• [Auto Haste]
  • Requires 80 chocobo wings.
    • Bribe 60 from Machea for 360 000 gil.
    • Steal from Cactuar enemies (rare).
• [Auto Phoenix]
  • Requires 20 mega phoenixes.
    • Bribe 2 from Alcyone for 9 000 gil.
    • Bribe 38 from Ghost for 199,980 gil. (in Arena)

For your general armour you will want to choose between auto-phoenix and auto-haste. You will want auto-phoenix on at least one person in your chosen 3, but if you choose to put it on 2 then there is the advantage that you cannot die from enemies without multiple target attacks. However if you don't put auto-haste on, it means you will need to cast haste again every time someone is resurrected. If you choose to have just one character with auto-phoenix make sure they are always in auto-life status.

Finally, you will notice an awful lot of gil is required to obtain a lot of the items needed for customisation here. There are 2 ways the obtain it, the easiest of which (to start with) is to kill mimics in the omega ruins which give 50 000 gil each (and 100 000 gil if you hit them with a gillionaire enabled weapon such as the Godhand). When you are powerful enough to defeat One Eye he regularly drops equipment with triple AP on it which can be sold for upwards of 60 000 gil, and you don't have to go round looking for random encounters to fight him.

Covering the Sphere Grid

This section will cover how to max out the sphere grid, however this is not entirely necessary for the monster arena. With around 200 strength and magic, 150 or so defence, magic defence and agility and around 100 for the other stats you will be able to complete the monster arena. These stats are obtainable without having to clear any of the sphere grid, so only if you are a completest or if you intend to fight the Dark Aeons and Penance will you need to max out everyone's stats.

To fight the Area Creations you need a powerful Yuna and you can let the Aeons do the hard work for you, however the species and original creations (with a couple of exceptions) will require your party to reliably hit for 99999 a go. This is not as intimidating as it sounds, and in most cases with the celestial weapons requires a strength of just above 100.

Starting off

When you have learned Holy for Yuna she should progress by going along Auron's grid area. After this you should traverse Lulu's grid area ensuring to learn Doublecast and Ultima. Then she should be put along Tidus then Wakka's grid areas. Tidus, Wakka and Rikku should be taken along Auron's path, then each other's and finally along Yuna's then Lulu's. By the time you have done this you will most likely be powerful enough to take on the species and possibly original creations.

Some abilities you need to make sure all characters have are as follows:

• Quick hit
• Haste
• Auto-life
• Ultima
• Doublecast
• Copycat
• Quick pockets (EU version only)
• Use
• Entrust

Attacks like full break, bribe, zombie attack and holy would help but it is not necessary to have every character with these attacks. The overdrives Blitz Ace, Attack Reels and Banishing Blade are also a necessity.

Of course this requires a ridiculous amount of sphere levels which at first will be hard to get, so at low levels (where people have only just reached the end of their tracks on the sphere grid) your best bet would be to power Yuna up (especially in strength) as the Aeons will increase in power considerably. This will probably allow the likes of Anima, the Magus Sisters and Yojimbo to help you to defeat a fair proportion of the area creations.

After a bit of fighting you will be able to defeat the species creations One Eye and Pteryx with the help of the aeons which will open up the opportunity to collect huge amounts of AP. Pteryx will drop evasion spheres which will help you through a lot of the battles to come, but more importantly One Eye drops not only magic defence spheres but also weapons with triple AP. You will need to fight One Eye until you have a weapon of this type for each of the characters you want to level up.

Gaining Levels

If you have the time add double or triple overdrive onto your triple AP weapons, but most importantly add Overdrive->AP. This requires 10 doors to tommorow, 2 of which can be bribed from mech leaders on Mt. Gagazet for 74 000 gil or capture every monster in 6 areas and you will be rewarded with 99 of them. Now you will need to choose a sacrificial character (Kimhari would be a good choice) and if possible get rid of his HP nodes using clear spheres.

Next you must ensure he has defeated as many enemies as possible. The easiest way to do this is by constantly killing Dingos in the monster arena (which can easily be done by giving him a weapon with first strike and using a turbo controller). Now you must put your sacrifice in the first 3 with two other characters you wish to level up. Set their overdrive modes to Comrade (if they weren't already), equip your levelling up weapon and fight Don Tonberry.

Attack Don Tonberry with your sacrifice and he will counter with Karma which will hit for 99999 (if it doesn't you haven't killed nearly enough enemies). This would normally cause the overdrive bars to instantly fill, but you have Overdrive->AP on your weapons so instead you will have earned a copious amount of AP. At this point you can use flee and reap your rewards. If you haven't earned 99 sphere levels then either kill more Dingos or revive the sacrifice in the battle and repeat the process a few times until you do earn enough sphere levels.

You can use this tactic to earn as many sphere levels as you wish, but you will soon run out of power, mana and speed spheres (fortune spheres are another matter). To get more fight Kottos and use the relevant distil attack on him and, provided you overkill him, you will get 40 of the require sphere type from him.

Prizes

You get specific prizes for unlocking Area, Species, and Original Creations:

Area:

• Stratoavis — Stamina Tonic x99
• Malboro Menace — Poison Fang x99
• Kottos — Soul Spring x99
• Coeurlregina — Candle of Life x99
• Jormungand — Petrify Grenade x99
• Cactuar King — Chocobo Wing x99
• Espada — Shining Gem x60
• Abyss Worm — Shadow Gem x99
• Chimerageist — Farplane Wind x60
• Don Tonberry — Silver Hourglass x40
• Catoblepas — Blossom Crown
• Abaddon — Lunar Curtain x99
• Vorban — Designer Wallet x60

Species:

• Fenrir — Chocobo Feather x99
• Ornitholestes — Stamina Spring x99
• Pteryx — Mega Phoenix x99
• Hornet — Mana Tonic x60
• Vidatu — Mana Spring x99
• One-Eye — Stamina Tablet x60
• Jumbo Flan — Twin Stars x60
• Nega Elemental — Star Curtain x99
• Tanket — Gold Hourglass x99
• Fafnir — Purifying Salt x99
• Sleep Sprout — Healing Spring x99
• Bomb King — Turbo Ether x60
• Juggernaut — Light Curtain x99
• Ironclad — Mana Tablet x60

Original:

• Earth Eater — Three Stars x60
• Greater Sphere — Supreme Gem x60
• Catastrophe — Door to Tommorow x99
• Th'uban — Gambler's Spirit x99
• Neslug — Winning Formula x99
• Ultima Buster — Dark Matter x99
• Shinryu — Megalixir x30
• Nemesis — Master Sphere x10