What can I do when an enemy becomes immune to both Physical and Magical?
In Final Fantasy XII, sometimes Bosses and Marks will activate an ability that makes them immune to physical damage and magic such as Pandemonium and Doctor Cid in Pharos, though when Doctor Cid becomes immune you're supposed to defeat his Esper first but even after it's defeat he's still immune for a little while. When I originally played it on the PS2 I do recall The Undying and Diablos doing the same thing.
Generally when an enemy does this don't know what I can do aside from taking it since Dispel wont work to remove any of their buffs (i.e. Doctor Cid, I had to wait for his immunity to be removed before I could remove his Protect and Shell) so I'm just waiting.
Is there anything I can do to the enemy when they are like this? or is my only option to turn off anything Spending Attack Gambits (like Attack Magic or Items) and just wait it out?
Solution 1:
From my experience, the best thing to do is wait. Certain bosses and marks have a preset time that palings will stick around for, which sucks. There are, however, a few things you can do while waiting.
- Buff the party.
If the enemy is completely immune to damage sources from Physical Attacks and Magicks, you're kind of stuck waiting around. Use this time buff your party with things like Protect(ga), Shell(ga), Haste(ga), Faith, Bravery, Bubble, etc etc. This will ensure you're nice and tough for when the palings fall.
- Heal up.
Keep your party fresh by healing up during the immunity palings, including healing your reserve party. Cast a couple Curas on your reserve party to ensure they're good and ready to come out swinging if needed.
- Create a distraction.
One of the infamous tricks for end-game bosses is the Decoy-Reverse method. Some bosses, like Hell Wyrm and Yiazmat, can and will hit for 5000+ damage depending on the stage of the fight. Using Decoy and Reverse on one character, set up with gambits to recast, ensures they are the target of all damage, which will in turn heal them because of Reverse. Some bosses still hit hard during their immunity phases, like the Trickster Elite Mark, so this can be a good time to start casting that combo onto one character.