How to beat Trial Mode Stage 91?

I've run into a bit of a snag when completing the Trial Mode. Stage 91 is a single Magick Pot, with random spawns of Hecteyes in the arena. The Magick Pot clamors for an Elixer, however it seems to wear off before I can kill it, leading to dismay and a very strong, angry Magick Pot. The constant assault from the Hecteyes doesn't help either.

My party is around level 78, and this stage is giving me a ton of trouble. I can buff up at the beginning of the round before moving, which is a nice break, but killing the pot is a different story. Technicks for this stage are disabled as well. Any videos that I've seen of this Trial have the party at level 99, with all the hidden god-mode weapons (Seitengrat bow, Tower Sword F, etc) which would be too much of a pain to obtain.

Solution 1:

I just did this, and as weird as it sounds, the answer seemed to be to use the Elixir as requested and then ignore the Hecteyes completely. (Since Technicks are disabled, you won't be able to steal the Elixir back. It's up to you if you're okay with that.)

This isn't 100% necessary, but it makes it a lot easier. I beat the level once before, with a party at closer to level 75, but then couldn't get past trial mode stage 98.

The easy way

I had a party at level 91-94 and had strong, but also not-"god-mode" weapons.

On previous attempts, I would intentionally walk over the traps, heal back up, buff with Protect, Shell, Haste, Regen, Bubble and Libra (and sometimes Float, because why not) and then charge in and get slaughtered. It didn't seem to matter if I threw an Elixir at the Magick Pot or not. Once the Hecteyes dropped, most of my weapons did 0 damage per hit to the Magick Pot.

Here's the detailed version of what worked:

1. prepare as described above
2. set gambits to Foe: highest max HP > Attack with non-elemental melee weapons (Magick Pot absorbs all elements), but leave gambits off
3. walk up to the Magick Pot and wait for it to clamor for an Elixir
4. throw an Elixir at the Magick Pot and wait for it to rejoice
5. turn gambits on
6. in about ten seconds, depending on your level and weapon strength, you'll be on stage 92

Before this worked for me, I tried the exact same thing except that I manually tried to Syphon one Hecteyes at the start of the fight (my black mage was low on MP) and I dealt way, way less damage to the Magick Pot.

The hard way

I don't recommend this, but if your inventory screen shows zero Elixirs...

One time, I actually did beat the Pot with a party around level 75, but it was really tough and I still couldn't make it to the end of Trial Mode.

My party was three roles: a Magick Pot attacker, a Hecteyes attacker and a supporter. The Magick Pot attacker was using a Fomalhaut with non-elemental bullets because that was about the only thing that could damage the enemy. The Hecteyes attacker was casting Scathe any time there were Hecteyes on the screen (defined as Foe: 2+ foes > Scathe; refined late in the battle to Foe: 3+ foes > Scathe followed by Foe: ice-weak > Shock). The supporter was casting Arise, Renew and buffs, and throwing ethers around like candy; never attacking, it doesn't help enough to justify the amount of time it takes. Both attackers wore Bubble Belts, and the supporter wore Germinas Boots.

Solution 2:

I found another way to reduce how many Hecteyes there are, it's using Warp instead of Scathe. I know it's not an exactly preferred type of spell but if you don't have Scathe, Warp is a good alternative Aeo removal resulting in the Hecteye all/mostly all disappearing giving you a lot of room to whale on the magic pot.